Based on the experience of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the following tsunami, this study aims to develop effective analytical tools that can comprehensively be applied to buildings under multi-phase hazardous loads such as seismic motion, fluid force, and debris impact. Simulations by two kinds of analytical tools were conducted. First, a structural collapse analysis of a steel frame building under successive applications of varying loads was performed using the ASI (Adaptively Shifted Integration)-Gauss code, which simulates behaviors of structures by simple modeling. The steel frame building model was first excited under an acceleration record observed in Kesennuma-shi during the earthquake, and fluid forces due to a tsunami wave were applied. Then, the collapse behavior of the building was investigated by implementing a sophisticated contact algorithm in the numerical code to express a collision between debris and a building. It became evident that the damage to the building intensifies if a head-on collision occurs under a tsunami flow with a lower inundation height, and the damage to the building becomes larger if sideway collisions occur under a tsunami flow with a higher inundation height and higher velocity. The second simulation was conducted by using the stabilized finite element method based on the volume of fluid method, to estimate a drag coefficient of an actual tsunami evacuation building with openings. The practicability of an estimated wave force using the drag coefficient was confirmed by comparing with the wave force obtained from the fluid analysis. Finally, a sequential structural analysis, with a debris collision phase at the end, was conducted using the ASI-Gauss code to simulate the washout behavior of the building.


In this technological revulsion world there is no time for anyone to know what happening round them they keep on moving without any care. As they give importance to their work rather than others. Due to reduce in moral values once cannot get proper help when they need. This can be solved by this technology itself. Due to time laps many lives are in risk. To reduce this risk factor automatic accident detection and victim analysis plays an important role. Reducing the time laps will reduce the death rate. As reducing the time taken to take first aid will reduce the effect of accident on the victim. Probability of victim security will be more. As now a day's mobile is common electronic gadget that is present with everyone and this problem can be solved by it only. By the short message service (SMS) on of the fetcher of mobile will help to solve this problem. By this embedded system we can now the place of accident, rate of accident, status of the victim like blood pressure and heart beat. By this information rescue team will be easily help the victim. By using technologies GPS and GPRS one can easily locate the position of the accident. This paper say the technologies that how an accident is detected and victim status. The technology needs to have more features like pre analysis of driver and then the vehicles get started. As prevention is better than cure. The main motive of this paper is to reduce the accident rate and reduce the time forfirst aid.The proposed system ensures that to reduce the human death ratio by accidents.


Climate modeling is a critical resource that helps scientists understand the processes and ramifications of global climate change. At the Los Alamos National Laboratory, The High-Latitude Application and Testing of Earth System Models (HiLAT) Science Focus Area, in collaboration with the Regional Arctic Systems Model (RASM) use a specialized configuration of the DOE's Energy Exascale Earth System Model (E3SM) to study the changing Arctic environment. Here we describe the collaborative effort to visualize the interactions between the ocean, sea ice, Arctic cyclones and atmospheric rivers.


The purpose of this study is to add more insight to the relationship between recent climate change and modifications in plant cover in supratimberline areas of Spain's Central Mountain Range. A 118 hectare study site was chosen at Puerto de los Neveros pass (2100 m) located on the ridge Penalara (Montes


Purpose: The purpose with this study is to clarify what importance a co-occurrence event can have on a smaller town, and also what positive and negative consequences it can have on the town seen from a social, economic and political aspect. I will also look at what magnitude the festival have on the local commercial and industrial life and how it affects those who live there. I will also determent how the moving of the festival might come and affect the local businesses, the local population and the community it-self.Method: I will thorough-out this study work with qualitative research methodology. I will there-for process the empirical data that will be collected and used for this study from a qualitative research methodology point of view. I will likewise go through with two deep-going interviews with people well familiar with the subject to increase and strengthen the validity of my study. The information this will give me will be discussed and analyzed from a hermeneutic perspective. Result: The result of this study shows the tremendous value a specific event can have on its host community. In Hultsfred, where the local population is very proud over the music festival, there are no limits for the development of the event it-self, and its impact on Hultsfred. The festival contributes with a big local commitment and a lot of enthusiasm, which makes the expansion of the festival possible.In the case of Hultsfred, the festival has generated in several education opportunities, a new form of truism, increase knowledge of the town Hultsfred, a stronger community brand and a bigger and more improved industrial life.The town of Hultsfred has seized the opportunity of maximizing the music festival and its benefit towards the community. They have also used the festival for making them-self a brand and a niche, all in favor of evolving and expanding the community.


It is difficult for China to recognize, measure, record and report the production activity of oil and gas industry. So this article is to review the construction of the accounting standards for oil and gas industry in the world, and analyzes the situation in China, then it presents some advice for the construction of such standards in China.


Abstract Objectives: A descriptive study was carried out to establish the levels of psychological distress amongst female inmates at a high-security prison in Lima in November 2020, after the first wave of COVID-19. Material and method: The Brief Symptoms Inventory-18 (BSI-18) was applied to a representative sample of 314 female inmates who agreed to participate in the study. Results: Results showed that 34.6% of the inmates could be considered as cases of psychological distress. Moreover, the depression subscale had the highest score, followed by the anxiety and the somatisation subscales. The most prevalent symptom was "feeling blue". Discussion: The prevalence of distress symptoms was analyzed, taking into account the effects of the first wave of COVID-19, the suspension of family visits, the restriction of treatment and leisure activities, etc. Gender aspects were also taken into consideration.


Based on the previous research of tourism development potential assessment system about the intangible cultural heritage.Investigation and evaluation of the SangZhi folk songs' tourism development potential by experts,residents and visitors to find the existing problems,and provides guidance for SangZhi folklore and other intangible culture heritages to promote tourism protective development.


Internal oxidation in binary alloys of nickel with chromium or aluminum is possible only if the concentration is kept below 9 weight‐percent for chromium respectively 4 weight‐percent for aluminum. With higher concentration the increased velocity of diffusion of the admixed metals creates surface oxidation.With a concentration of 2 weight‐percent of aluminum the size of the oxyde particles changes as a function of oxidation temperature from 10 micron to 0, 1 micron, if the temperature decreases from 1300 °C to 700 °C.


Amandla: The freed men respond to ANC [African National Congress] slogans from more than 100 supporters who gathered when the ferry arrived at the harbour.


In order to improve the stability of power system, a low-frequency vibration mode identification model of power system with large generator and small grid is designed in this paper. Based on the analysis of the mechanism of low frequency oscillation in large generator and small grid power system, the sliding mode variable structure control method is used to control the transient stability of power system. Through the feature selection, processing, extraction and state identification of power system low-frequency oscillation mode, the model of low-frequency oscillation mode identification is constructed. Experiments show that the model designed in this paper has high identification accuracy, can effectively reduce the risk of safety accidents and ensure the safe and stable operation of the power system.


We present an implementation of a finite-difference approximation for the solution of partial differential equations on transputer networks. The grid structure associated with the finite-difference approximation is exploited by using geometric partitioning of the data among the processors. This provides a very low degree of communication between the processors. The resultant system of linear equations is then solved by a variety of Conjugate Gradient methods. Care has been taken to ensure that the basic linear algebra operations are implemented as efficiently as possible for the particular geometric partitioning used.


Fast ripple (FR) activity has received increasing attention as a potential epileptic marker. The current knowledge on how neurostimulation affects FRs is, however, very limited. In this study, we assess the influence of the vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) and spinal cord stimulation (SCS) frequency on ictal FRs associated with spike‐and‐wave (SW) seizures.


Restriction fragment length polymorphisms (RFLPs) in types I and III procollagen genes were studied in 62 scleroderma patients and 138 healthy controls. Allelic frequencies were determined for each RFLP, and comparisons were made between the 2 populations, stratifying them by race when appropriate. No statistically significant differences were observed for the frequencies of any of the RFLPs studied.


A new object-based method is developed to extract moving vehicles and subsequently detect their speeds from two consecutive images automatically. Several global and local parameters of gray values and sizes are examined to classify the objects in the image. Vehicles and their associated shadows can be discriminated by removing big objects such as roads. To detect speed, firstly vehicles and shadows are extracted from two consecutive images. The corresponding vehicles from the two images are then linked based on the similarity in shape and size and on the distance within a threshold. Finally, using the distance between the corresponding vehicles and time lag between two images, we can detect the moving speed and azimuth angle. Our test shows promising results for detecting vehicles speeds. Further development will employ the proposed method to a pair of QuickBird panchromatic and multi-spectral images, which are at a coarser spatial resolution.


Information retrieval systems offer an attractive alternative to construction of a topic tracking system from scratch. The freely available PRISE vector space text retrieval system was applied to the TDT-2 topic tracking task. A simple version of the Rocchio formula was used for profile formulation and a retrieval status value threshold was used in conjunction with a temporal cutoff to make hard decisions. The results indicate that our simple approach produced a credible system, but comparison with results achieved by other systems indicates that there is room for improvement. The paper concludes by identifying some promising directions for further work that would be compatible with our approach.


While working on cw CO2 rangefinders with amplitude modulation in homodyne configuration, it became clear that optical isolation between the transmitter and local oscillator paths was a major problem. In the case of moving targets with Doppler shifts much larger than the modulation fre quency (fm = 15 kHz), adequate isolation was achieved through use of an electronic high-pass filter (fcutoff ≥ fm )• But then the system is unable to range on stationary targets. We, therefore, looked at a heterodyne configuration with two in dependently stabilized CO2 lasers. While this should elimi nate the isolation problem, questions arise about the behavior of the SNR with respect to Doppler shifts and to variations of the relative frequency between the two lasers. Provided that the detector has a sufficient bandwidth, this problem of intermediate-frequency shifts should be treated as in the single-laser case with moving targets. To test this statement, we used a laboratory setup (Fig. 1) with a conventional lowpressure (2.7-kPa) cw CO2 laser as transmitter and a dc-excited waveguide CO2 laser as local oscillator. Both lasers are dither-stabilized to the peak of the P20 line. The waveguide laser is made of a BeO tube (2-mm bore diameter, 20 cm long), has a Littrow-mounted grating (135 lines/mm), and uses a gas mixture (8.8 kPa) containing Xe so that it produces ~1 W on P20 in the lowest-order transverse mode. The conventional laser also has a grating and emits ~1 W on the TEM00 mode.


To assess the effectiveness and safety of an implanted portal with a central venous brachial implanted catheter, P.A.S. Port TM(P–P), and the accuracy of its Cath Finder TM tracking system (C–F), (Pharmacia Deltec) vs. radiology, a phase II multicentric study was designed.


Congruent / Incongruent trials refer to the trials with the stimulus and responding hand on the same / different side(s) Manganese Induced Changes In Thalamic GABA Levels Influence Cognitive and Motor Performance Ruoyun Ma, Ann-Kathrin Stock, S.Elizabeth Zauber, James B. Murdoch, Shalmali Dharmadhikari, Zaiyang Long, Christian Beste, and Ulrike Dydak School of Health Sciences, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, United States, Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States, Cognitive Neurophysiology Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Technical University Dresden, Dresden, Germany, Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, United States, Toshiba Medical Research Institute USA, Mayfield Village, OH, United States


The economic and qualitative characters of table corn Huziheinuo 1 were studied under 7 different harvesting times(or harvesting respectively at 16,18,20,22,24,26 and 28 days after pollination). The results showed that the harvesting time had significant effects on the ear length,ear diameter, seed-setting rate and 100-seed weight.The suitable harvesting time was at 20 - 24 days after pollination,and the best was about at 22 days after pollination,at which time the ear length,ear diameter, ear weight,seed-setting rate,100-seed weight,score in glutinousness,and total score in table quality were respectively 17.3 cm,5.3 cm,258.4 g,67.45%,36.35 g,17.0 points,and 92.5 points,and the fresh ear entirely changed in color,showing glossy black.


Born in Gerona, Catalonia, c. 1200, Rabbi Jonah ben Abraham the Pious died in Toledo, November, 1263. He belonged to the best Jewish families in Gerona, for we know that he was a cousin of Nachmanides, one of the greatest Rabbis of the thirteenth century. R. Jonah occupies a niche in Jewish history on account of his participation in a famous controversy. He was one of the most prominent pupils of R. Solomon of Montpellier, the leader of the opponents of Maimonides' philosophical works, and was one of the signers of the ban (at the beginning of 1232) against all those who read Maimonides' philosophical compositions and occupied themselves with any studies except those of the Bible and the Talmud. The publication of a letter by the physician Hillel of Verona, who for three years attended the lectures of R. Jonah at Barcelona, throws some interesting light on the controversy. Hillel informs us that this man was the instigator of the public burning of Maimonides' writings by order of the authorities at Paris in 1233, but that he publicly repented of his opposition to Maimonides, and vowed a pilgrimage to Palestine to the grave of the offended scholar. He delayed the performance of his vow; but having eventually set out, he was detained on his passage through Toledo by the wish of some scholars


Driver Fatigue is one of the major reasons causing most fatal road accidents around the world. This shows that in the transportation industry specially, where a heavy vehicle driver is often open to hours of monotonous driving which causes fatigue without frequent rest period. Due to the frequent driver fatigue occurrence, this has become an area of great socio economic concern. Consequently, it is very essential to design a road accidents prevention system by detecting driver's drowsiness, which determines the level of driver inattention and give a warning when an impending hazard exists. In this paper the aim is to design a prototype system which detects driver's drowsiness based on eye blinking and yawning to prevent road accidents.


In order to account for some special features of lunar seismograms, namely, the gradual build-up of the signal, the extremely prolonged tail, and the lack of apparent coherence among three orthogonal components of ground motion, a statistical approach is proposed for describing transmission of seismic energy through a medium in which strong scattering takes place. A seismic diffusion theory is presented for a medium with randomly distributed scatterers of a given size distribution. A solution of the resulting diffusion equation for an impulsive energy source gives a curve which fairly closely reproduces the envelope of typical lunar impact seismograms. Since the model is based on constant diffusivity, long-range transmission will require a combination of diffusion and wave propagation treatments for accurate description.


We present Raman structural study of two grades of random propylene/1-octene copolymers with low and high molecular weights and the 1-octene content up to 4.5 mole %. The copolymer spectra are compared with the spectra of the α, γ, and smectic modifications of isotactic polypropylene. Raman investigation has showed that the degree of crystallinity and conformational order of the copolymer macromolecules slightly decrease with the growth of the 1-octene content. The degree of crystallinity is slightly higher for the samples of the high-molecular-weight grade compared to the low-molecular-weight one. Furthermore, we present Raman spectra of polyethylene/polypropylene (90/10) blends, mixed in the polyethylene melt at three different temperatures, corresponding to three different states of polypropylene macromolecules. It was concluded that the degree of crystallinity and conformational order of the polyethylene macromolecules in the blends are the highest for the temperature, at which polypropylene macromolecules have lost their packing and conformational order.


A biphasic calcium phosphate (BCP) --reinforced high-density polyethylene (HDPE) hybrid bone plate is a new biomateria l. was made as a copy of a natural bone composition with the aim of a replacement for bone tissues. The HDPE!BCP hybrid bone plates were produced by replacing a mineral component and soft collagen tissue of bone with BCP and HDPE. respectively. HDPE/BCP hybrid bone plate was fabricated by a brander and heat pressings. using commercial granular HDPE and a different volume percentage of synthesized BCP nano-powder (l0. 20. 30. 40 and 50 vol%). Density. Vickers hardness. Young' s modulus. bending strength and tensile strength were obtained depending on the volume fractions. The evaluation of the mechanical behavior showed an increase in the Young' s modulus and a resistance at beak values attributed to the BCP addition. Elongation at a break decreased considerably. During the bending strength measurement. all the samples did not show a flat fracture surface which is frequently observed in ceramic materials.


The magnetocaloric properties of melt-spun ribbons of the Laves phase DyNi2 have been investigated. The as-quenched ribbons crystallize in a single-phase MgCu2-type crystal structure (C15; space group Fd3¯m) exhibiting a saturation magnetization and Curie temperature of MS = 157 ± 2 A m2 kg−1 and TC = 21.5 ± 1 K, respectively. For a magnetic field change of 2 T, ribbons show a maximum value of the isothermal magnetic entropy change |ΔSMpeak| = 13.5 J kg−1 K−1, and a refrigerant capacity RC = 209 J kg−1. Both values are superior to those found for bulk polycrystalline DyNi2 alloys (25% and 49%, respectively). In particular, the RC is comparable or larger than that reported for other potential magnetic refrigerants operating at low temperatures, making DyNi2 ribbons promising materials for use in low-temperature magnetic refrigeration applications.


Endocannabinoids are neuromodulatory lipids that regulate central and peripheral physiological functions. Endocannabinoids have emerged as effective antitumor drugs due to their ability to induce apoptosis in various cancer studies. The G‐protein coupled cannabinoid receptors (CB1 and CB2) and the TRPV1 ion channel were reported to mediate the antiproliferative activity of endocannabinoids. However, receptor‐independent effects also account for their activity. Our previous studies showed that the antiproliferative activity of anandamide (AEA) was regulated by cyclooxygenase‐2 (COX‐2) via induction of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. We also determined that AEA induced oxidative stress. However, the role of oxidative stress, the cannabinoid receptors, and TRPV1 in AEA‐induced ER stress‐apoptosis was unclear. Therefore, the current study examines the role of oxidative stress in ER stress‐apoptosis and investigates whether this effect is modulated by CB1, CB2, or TRPV1. In non‐melanoma skin cancer (NMSC) cells, AEA reduced the total intracellular level of glutathione and induced oxidative stress. To evaluate the importance of oxidative stress in AEA‐induced cell death, the antioxidants, N‐acetylcysteine (NAC) and Trolox, were utilized. Each antioxidant ameliorated the antiproliferative effect of AEA. Furthermore, Trolox inhibited AEA‐induced CHOP10 expression and caspase 3 activity, indicating that oxidative stress was required for AEA‐induced ER stress‐apoptosis. On the other hand, selective blockade of CB1, CB2, and TRPV1 did not inhibit AEA‐induced oxidative stress or ER stress‐apoptosis. These findings suggest that AEA‐induced ER stress‐apoptosis in NMSC cells is mediated by oxidative stress through a receptor‐independent mechanism. Hence, receptor‐independent AEA signaling pathways may be targeted to eliminate NMSC. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


There has recently been a renewal of interest in the roles of intensity and time in the lateralization of sounds. The technique generally employed is to offset the effect of an interaural time difference in one direction with a difference of level in the opposite. In the present series of experiments a different method was used, that of having the subject adjust the interaural time relation for a noise until it appears to be in the same lateral position as the stimulus tone. Using this procedure, we have obtained results which support the findings of other recent workers that increasing the intensity of the stimulus to an ear will cause it to transmit earlier in time. We have found additional evidence, however, which shows that the central nervous system, too, responds to interaural intensity differences, and that its response is different from that of the peripheral system. When time and intensity are opposed, time has less effect on it than when time and intensity both favor the same side.


Course Description The role and mission of the faculty and students of the Department of Communication Studies are to examine human symbolic activity as it shapes and is shaped by relationships, institutions, and societies. This work concerns the creation, analysis, and critique of messages. The department's research, teaching, and service devote particular attention to understanding the ways in which communication sustains and erodes collaboration within and among local, national, and global communities. This course is designed to give you insight into the nature of communication and aging. Specifically, you should exit the course with: (a) a familiarity with the central theories of communication and aging as well as approaches to studying intergenerational communication, (b) knowledge of societal attitudes about age groups and intergenerational communication, (c) an enhanced understanding of cultural variations in aging and attitudes toward intergenerational communication, (d) recognition of the role of media and technology in intergenerational relations, (e) an increased appreciation of health and health care issues, and (f) awareness of local issues and organizations relevant to the context of communication and aging. As a prerequisite for this course, you are expected to have completed COMM 200 and COMM 201 if you are a Communication Studies major. If you are a Communication Studies minor, you should have completed either one of these courses. If you are not a Communication Studies major/minor or would like more information, please talk to me about the expectations concerning students' familiarity with concepts, theories, and methods of inquiry in our discipline. As a student in a 400-level course, you are expected to: (a) attend class and be actively engaged, (b) complete assigned readings, (c) complete all work by the assigned due date, (d) be able to find, read, and analyze scholarly sources, (e) construct a literature review, and (f) critically reflect on course concepts.


The Bayes factor is a useful summary for model selection. Calculation of this measure involves evaluating the integrated likelihood (or prior predictive density), which can be estimated from the output of MCMC and other posterior simulation methods using the harmonic mean estimator. vVhile this is a simulation-consistent estimator, it can have infinite variance. In this article we describe a method to stabilize the harmonic mean estimator. Under this approach, the parameter space is reduced such that the modified estimator involves a harmonic mean of heavier tailed densities, thus resulting in a finite variance estimator. We discuss general conditions under which this reduction is applicable and illustrate the proposed method through several examples. Bayes factor, Beta-binomial, Integrated likelihood, Poisson-Gamma distribution, Statistical Variance reduction.


When inter particle distance is comparable to the de Broglies wavelength of charged particles, quantum effects in plasmas are unavoidable. We have exploited an influence of light absorption on self-focusing of Gaussian laser beam in cold quantum plasma by considering relativistic nonlinearity. Nonlinear differential equation governing beam-width parameter has been established by using parabolic equation approach under paraxial and WKB approximations. The effect of light absorption on variation of beam-width parameter with dimensionless distance of propagation is presented graphically and discussed. It is found that light absorption plays vital role in weakening the relativistic self-focusing of laser beam during propagation in cold quantum plasma and gives reasonably interesting results.


One of the characteristics of the people of Tuvalu (the Ellice Islands) is a tendency to depart from scenes of trouble and personal shame. Even at the present day, a man who is not bound by the close ties of family and of property will sometimes take a canoe and a few coconuts and trust himself to the mercy of the ocean rather than endure the reproach of his fellows. In the uncertain currents of the atoll groups this is virtual suicide; and although it is tem pered by an element of chance, the primary intention of the one who thus sets out is to sever himself from all past con nections even by death. Often, one or more sympathetic companions will accompany him, and their intention in thus wilfully sacrificing themselves is to bring repentance upon the persons responsible for their friend's grievance. In many cases, the departure of young folks is deliberately undertaken in order to punish older relatives for some real or fancied misuse of their authority.


Due to the importance of IgM immunoglobulin as the predominant antibody in the newborn animal and in the primary immune response, as well as its role in various autoimmune diseases, we have undertaken to determine the complete amino acid sequence of a human IgM macroglobulin with a covalent molecular weight approximating one million. This protein (Ou) from a patient with macroglobulinemia serves as a model for structural study of IgM antibodies, just as Bence-Jones proteins have for light chains and myeloma globulins have for IgG immunog1obulins.l Structural study of such proteins has shown that antibodies are composed of a pair of heavy and a pair of light polypeptide chains disulfide-bonded together to form a tetrachain immunoglobulin molecule with two specific combining sites (FIGURE 1) . In the three major classes of immunoglobulins IgG, IgM, and IgA (or yG, yM, and yA), the heavy chains are y, p , and a, respectively, and the light chains may be either K or A. IgM is unique in having a pentameric structure with a sedimentation coefficient of 19s (corrected value); even higher polymers of about 29s and 38s may be present in small amounts. Because of the myriad possible number of antigens that exist, a capacity for great variability is required for the structure of the antibody combining site. Amino acid sequence analysis of pathological proteins has shown that this is provided for by a variable-sequence region of some 110-120 amino acid residues at the NH, terminus of each chain.' Both the heavy and the light chains are divided into regions of variable and constant sequence. The variable (V) regions of the heavy and light chains differ in sequence and together determine the structure of the combining site. The constant (C) regions determine the class of the chain and certain associated biological properties. Whereas both the variable and constant regions of light chains are characteristic of the light chain type (i.e., are either both K or X),3 the class character of heavy chains is not expressed in the variable region (V,) but only in the constant region (CH). Thus, a comparison 4, of the NH,-terminal region of several p, y, and (Y chains has indicated that four variable-sequence subgroups are common to heavy chains ( V H I V H I V ) . Although the complete amino acid sequence of the y chains of at least five human IgG myeloma globulins is now and much sequence information is available on the VH portions of y and p chains,4, lo only fragmentary portions of the sequence of the C,, region of p chains are published.,. Comparative sequence data on human p and y chains would be of great value for testing the hypothesis that immunoglobulins evolved by gene duplication after early divergence of V and


Electron Emission.- Electron Emission from Solids During Ion Bombardment. Theoretical Aspects.- Ion-Induced Auger Electron Emission from Solids.- Interaction Between Metastable Rare Gas Atoms and Surfaces.- Deexcitation of Metastable He-Atoms Interacting with Clean and Adsorbate Covered Metal Surfaces.- Electron and Photon Impact.- The Use of Angle-Resolved Electron and Photon Stimulated Desorption for Surface Structural Studies.- Auger-Initiated Desorption from Surfaces: Review + Prospects.- Optical Radiation from Electron Sputtering of Alkali Halides.- Electron Transfer.- Electron Capture and Loss to Continuum States in Gases and Solids.- New Experiments with Electron Capture Spectroscopy at Ni, Cd and Cr Surfaces.- Electronic Excitation in Ion-Molecule Collisions.- Charge Fractions of Reflected Particles.- Plasma Effects in the Theory of Charge Fractions.- Polarized Light Emission.- Polarization of Balmer Radiation from Crazing Incidence Collisions of Protons on Surfaces.- LY? Polarization After Electron Capture in Ion-Surface Interaction.- Light Emission and Circular Polarization by Ion Surface Scattering at Crazing Incidence.- Orientation of Target and Projectile States After N+-He-Collisions with Impact Parameter Selection.- Excited Particle Emission.- Outer Shell Excitation During Sputtering and Low Energy lon Scattering.- Comment on the Energy Distribution of Excited Recoil Atoms.- Quantitative Aspects of Outer-Shell Excitation in lon-Surface Collisions.- Theory of Charge States in Sputtering.- Boundary Conditions for Models of Ion and Excited-State Formation in the Sputtering Process.- On the Velocity Measurements of Sputtered Excited Atoms.- Index of Contributors.


Further comprising: an electronic device requests the application list to the server that includes the identification of at least one application that can be downloaded (download); Receiving a list of applications, including power consumption rates of application from a server; Displaying the application list and a graphical interface representing the power consumption rates; an electronic device including a discloses a method for displaying a list of applications.


This study aims to analyze the recognition and demands of church school kindergarten teachers enrolled in a kindergarten teacher training program. 278 kindergarten teachers in the Seoul and Gyeonggido area were chosen as the research objects and questionnaires were distributed to and recollected from them. The questions cover 3 areas: the recognition, necessity and contents of the training program for kindergarten teachers. The data from the collected questioners were processed to bring in frequency and percentage by question and an X2 test was employed to see whether there was a difference among background variables. In addition, mean and standard deviation were used for the questions regarding the program contents. The results showed that the teachers had a deep interest in and awareness of the necessity of the program. Among the demographic variables, they turned out statistically different by academic career, education-related career and major. Second, the list of the demands they made for the training contents for kindergarten teachers showed that they wanted, in the order of importance; educating parents, understanding young children, handling techniques of troubled children, effective communication skills with young children, and understanding their traits and teaching methods by trait and spiritual training of teachers.


It is known that fixed-interval schedules generate, at certain values, alt ernat ing short and Long postreinforcetnent pauses. TEtis effect has ben analyzed through autocorrelation methods with one-lag. However, this mnethods has shortcomings since it is unable to detect regularities in sequences of pauses that are non strictly cyclic. A computerprogram designed to assess cotnplex sequences of postreinforcement pauses is proposed. 1208 sequences of four pauses each, produced by a rat exposed to a fixed interval 60 sec schedule were analysed with tEtis alternative method. In agreement with previous reports. the analysis showed that alt cornbinotions of four pauses were equally lihely to occur.Cotnparisons of actual distributions of short and long pauses with a binornial distribu¬tion showed that 100% of total variance was accounted for. It was coneluded that dura¬tion of postreinforcement pause is a truly randotn event, at least for tEte conditions described Acre.


Tourism is a socioeconomic phenomenon with important effects on human life and on national economies. The journey, i.e. the movement of people from their permanent residence in another place, is the key element of tourism. The basic component of tourism is leisure and relaxation, which are fundamentals rights of all people. The broad concept of tourism allows determining as tourism, different movements, such as business travel, participation in conferences, in education etc. In this broad context the travel for health reasons, is called "medical tourism". This study through the review of the literature on the use of the term medical tourism and related concepts reviels, reveal that the term medical tourism is widely used by both actors in the tourism industry, and in health system. It appears that the term medical tourism, although it is used widely is not valid/reliable. As for the content of the term, there is acute confusion due to the contradiction that contain the words tourism and hospitalization, which is a key element of medical tourism. In conclusion, it's necessary to distinguish the movement of people according to the dominant motive in a) health tourism, where the dominant motive of the movement is the holiday leisure, with supportive service the receiving of a kind of medical care and b) travel health, where the dominant motive is the restoration of health.


The fifth phase of the Coupled Model Inter-Comparison Project (CMIP5) is frequently used to force regional climate models for dynamic downscaling and projections, which decision makers in turn use for future plans in different sectors. It is, therefore, highly important to assess their performance in order to use them as reliable tools. A weather-type approach for the evaluation of the performance of CMIP5 models is employed in this study, with the objective of providing insight into model errors under a set of distinct synoptic conditions and circulation types associated with the rainy season over Mexico and Central America. The Self-Organizing Maps algorithm is used to identify the main weather regimes (constructed from sea level pressure, specific humidity, and low-level winds at a daily time-scale), which are then evaluated against reanalysis. The results show that model performance depends on the weather type in all of the variables except for sea level pressure, which confirms the usefulness of this approach. The models simulate better the humidity patterns that show weak deviations from the climatological norm. In addition, the wind pattern representing the Caribbean Low Level Jet is well reproduced by all the models. The results show the capacity of this methodology for determining the extent to which climate models represent the main circulation patterns that characterize the climate and local weather in Mexico.


Objective To develop xMAP suspension arrays for simultaneous detection of tick borne pathogens including forest encephalitis virus, Xinjiang hemorrhagic fever virus, spotted fever group rickettsiae,Babesiaspp.,Ehrlichieae,Francisella tularensis,Coxiella burneti,Borrelia burgdorferi, andBartonella.Methods The 9 tick borne pathogens were divided into two groups, and a multiplex PCR system was designed with up primers labelled with anti TAG and down primers labelled with biotin.The PCR products were hybridized to the magnetic microspheres coupled with x TAG. The conjugates were tested using the Bio plex 100 system, and the 9 tick borne pathogens were subjected to single and multiple detections and analyses.Results The mean fluorescence intensity three times higher than that of the background was judged as positive reaction. The results of single plex and multiplex assays for the pathogen cultures demonstrated specific positive signals, without cross reaction, and the stability, sensitivity, and specificity of the method was good.Conclusion The liquid biochip technology platform with the beads coupled with x TAG, which can simultaneously detect 9 tick borne pathogens, has been successfully established. This platform holds promise for detection of tick borne pathogens.


The evaluation of left ventricular function is important to identify individuals at high risk for cardiovascular disease. The genetic differences underlying variability in the expression of ventricular function are not totally elucidated. This knowledge will provide a methodology for treatment more selective in retardation myocardial dysfunction. The aim of this study was to identify the relationship between metalloproteinase 3 (MMP3) 5A/6A and metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) C/T single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with left ventricular function parameters considered normal and pathologic and to identify the contribution of the polymorphisms on left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) variance. Two hundred and five patients underwent myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS) with 99mTc-tetrofosmin, and the left ventricular function parameters were determined. Patients without evidence of ischaemic heart disease which was confirmed with the study of negative MPS were included in Group I and patients with histor...


Cell-free massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) systems are envisioned to achieve the improved spectral efficiency by supporting users via nearby access points (APs). This work addresses the optimization of beamforming weights for cell-free massive MIMO systems. The connectivity level constraints are taken into account to accommodate finite-rate fronthaul links. The minimum rate maximization problem is tackled by the weighted minimum mean squared error (WMMSE) algorithm. Numerical results show that the proposed scheme achieves significantly improved performance than a baseline scheme in overall signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) regime.


Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) convection maps obtained simultaneously in both hemispheres are averaged to infer polar cap ionospheric flow patterns under strongly dominant positive interplanetary magnetic field (IMF) Bz component. The data set consisted of winter observations in the Northern Hemisphere simultaneously with summer observations in the Southern Hemisphere. Long‐lasting high‐latitude dayside reverse convection cells are shown to have faster sunward flows at near‐magnetic noon hours in the summer/Southern Hemisphere. Sunward flows typically deviate from the midnight‐noon meridian toward 10–11 h of magnetic local time in the summer/Southern Hemisphere and are more aligned with the midnight‐noon meridian in the winter/Northern Hemisphere. Flow deviations in the winter/Northern Hemisphere can be both toward prenoon and postnoon hours, and there is no clear relationship between flow deviation and the IMF By component. No strong preference for the sunward flow occurrence depending on the IMF Bx polarity was found. In addition, the rate of the sunward flow speed increase in response to an increase in driving conditions was found to be comparable for the IMF Bx > 0 and Bx < 0.


The natural supersymmetry (SUSY) requires light stop quarks, light sbottom quark, and gluino to be around one TeV or lighter. The first generation squarks can be effectively large which does not introduce any hierarchy problem in order to escape the constraints from LHC. In this paper we consider a Yukawa deflect medation to realize the effective natural supersymmetry where the interaction between squarks and messenger are made natural under certain Frogget-Nelson $U(1)_X$ charge. The first generation squarks obtain large and postive contribution from the yukawa deflect mediation. The corresponding phenomenology as well as sparticle spectrum are discussed in detail.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the prenatal attachment, the factors affecting the attachment and the risk factors of pregnant women who were reported to be at risk during pregnancy period. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted with the 2018 report of Kadikoy District Health Directorate with pregnant women who were notified as risky pregnant and have not yet given birth. The sample was calculated using probabilistic sampling method among 220 high-risk pregnant women, and 105 high-risk pregnant women emerged. Since the risky pregnant women included in the study will be selected by 95% Confidence Interval and simple random sampling method, 10% rejection and inability to reach were taken into consideration and 115 risky pregnant women accepted the study. Results: The mean age of the pregnant women included in the study was 33.65 ± 4.80 (min: 17, max: 45). A little over half of women (51.9%) are over 35 years of age. When the prenatal attachment of the risky pregnants was examined, the mean attachment scale was found to be 61.52 ± 15.44 and the minimum score of the scale was 21.00 and the maximum score of 84.00. The average scale of risky pregnant women shows that the attachment of pregnant women is also slightly lower. A statistical relationship was found between stillbirths of risky pregnants and prenatal attachment. (z: -3,150, p: 0,002). Conclusion: The problems experienced during pregnancy increase with the risky pregnancy. Early detection of inadequate attachment during this period is very important. In this period, the factors that support or prevent attachment are determined and the preparation of the mother for motherhood should be supported.


Sitosterolemia is a rare, inherited, autosomal recessive disorder of lipid metabolism, we report on the diagnosis and treatment of a child with sitosterolemia misdiagnosed as a skin disease.


Abstract Introduction: Tuberculosis (TB), a common condition worldwide, is still among the main infectious diseases with high mortality rates, both in adults and infants. Drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) drugs, revised by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2018, are a prolonged and complex therapy associated with many adverse drug effects (ADEs). Aim: To systematically review the ADEs of second-line anti-TB drugs reported in multicentric studies published after the latest WHO guidelines, compared with those from clinical trials published before 2018. Material and methods: A PubMed search, using keywords (TB OR DR-TB) AND (adverse effects) AND "second-line anti-TB drugs", resulted in 56 studies. Only two studies, published after the last update of WHO guidelines in 2018, reported ADEs. Results: A total of 223 participants were included in the two selected studies. The use of multidrug regimens has been associated with an increased incidence of ADEs: 42 ADEs were recorded in 30 patients (26.3%) in the first study, while all patients had at least one ADE that occurred or worsened during treatment; and 19 (17%) had severe ADEs in the second study. However, both studies had a good favourable outcome rate (90% and 79.8%, respectively). Gastrointestinal disturbances, hepatotoxicity, headache and dizziness are the most common ADEs induced by a majority of second-line DR-TB treatments. A special attention should be given in the case of association of drugs determining QT interval (QT) prolongation on electrocardiogram, or psychiatric disorders. Conclusions: Proper strategies about ADE management have to be planned for timely detection of the possible ADEs that can be induced by second-line anti-TB therapy.


Objective: To observe the clinical effect of elderly after psychological intervention on post-stroke depression.Method: 58 patients were recruited and divided into 2 groups: a psychological intervention group and a control group.Both groups were treated with routine medications for stroke and anti-depressant drugs as well as rehabilitation interventions,while the psychological intervention group was also treated with psychological approaches in addition.All the patients were evaluated before and after the treatment with the Hamilton Assessment of Depression(HMAD),Neurological Function Assessment(NFA),Barthel Index(BI) and the Fugl-Meyer Assessment (FMA).Result: The clinical effect of interference group is obviously superior to the control group in the scores of HMAD,NFA,BI and FMA(P0.05).The incidence rate of depression in elderly was lower than that in control group after psychological intervention(P0.05).Conclusion: Psychological intervention can lessen depression in elderly obviously,and can increase curative effect,promote the sports function rehabilitation of PSD patients.


We decompose real appreciation in tradables derived from producer price indexes in three Central European countries between the pricing-to-market component (disparity) and the local relative price component (the substitution ratio). Appreciation is only partially explained by local relative prices. The rest is absorbed by disparity, depending on the size of the no-arbitrage band. The observed disparity fluctuates in a wider band for differentiated products than for commodity like goods.


The characteristics of photovoltaic cells and the realization methods of MPPT were analyzed,and the method to realize MPPT for wind power was also analyzed.For LED lamp,its characteristics and drive circuit requirements and the dimming way was introduced,and the inductance switch converting circuit drive strengths and advantages of the PWM dimming was described.For wind and solar LED street light system,using innovative structural design,a Boost circuit and one Bi Boost-Buck circuit was adopted to achieve MPPT of PV and wind power respectively,and achieve the constant current driver for LED lights and PWM dimming.At last,a method to optimize the system configuration was given.


The present work reports the synthesis and characterization of 1-benzyl-1,4-
diazoniabicyclo[2.2.1]hepta-2,4(7)-diene dibromide for phase transfer catalyst (PTC) applications.
The derived quaternary salt was characterized by UV, FTIR and NMR spectral techniques. The structure
has been optimized by density functional theory (DFT) in water and diethyl ether solvation conditions.
The DFT outcomes showed the good chemical potential of the compound between 2.15 eV and 6.8 eV
in both media. Extended research examined the nature of phase transfer by adjusting dosage, temperature
and solvents in the O-propargylation reaction under normal conditions for useful precursor synthesis.
The kinetic data revealed that the novel bisite quaternary amine bromide salt was effective in a variety
of conditions. The chlorobenzene and water biphasic system yielded 88% of bioactive molecule
precursor when compare to other immiscible systems.


ABSTRACT This experiment was conducted in outdoor tanks to evaluate the effect of inclusion of ractopamine at increasing levels (0, 4, 8, 12, and 16 mg kg−1) as additive in Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) diet in the final grow-out period (750-920 g) during 31 days. Therefore, 400 fish were housed into 20 experimental tanks, in a completely randomized design with five treatments and four replications. Growth performance, body yield, and chemical composition of fish muscle and organs were evaluated. Fish [...]


This study investigates the success factors that can influence the performance and the continuity of the French and Lebanese family firms. Based on the literature review, the performance of the family firms was found to be linked to effective success keys like the succession planning, networking strategy, financial structure, management practices and finally the governance structure. Effectively, the results of this study indicate that French family firms are linked to four success keys (Planning for Succession, Using of Emotional intelligence, Professional HR management and Long Term Overview) while the Lebanese family firms are linked to five success keys (Financial structure with low leverage, Planning for Succession, Using of Emotional intelligence, professional HR management and Governmental Networking). Due to the nonsignificant impact of governance structure, an advanced investigation has been applied to detect the impact of this variable on the performance of family firm. The results of this advanced study indicate a negative correlation between the performance of family firms and the board of directors' size. Moreover, a positive correlation has been found between family firm performance and the presence of the outsiders in the board of directors. 1-Introduction A family business is a business owned, controlled and managed by one or more of the family members who are actively involved in running of the company activities. Family businesses are vital for the economic growth in many countries and constitute a primary source of employment. Actually, family firms receive an ample consideration in the literature. For many researchers, succession is a big issue in family owned business which constitutes the main success element of the company. Without indicating the main failure factors many studies showed that a limited number of family firms survive for the next generation. Accordingly, Ward (1988) found through a study of 200 family firms that only 13 percent complete successfully the succession to the next generation. Birley (1986), suggest that only 30 percent survive into the next generation. For Bernice et al. (2007) the growth of family firms is less probable than the non-family firms, mainly because their management practices are less formal. For others researchers, the family firm problems begin when the mechanism of succession arises and when the business faces some conflicts between the family members after the first and the second succession level. Most often, ownership becomes increasingly diluted from a single majority owner to a few or several owners. In this stage of family firm life, an important question arises: for how many times the family firms Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR) Vol. 8 Issue 1 October 2013 A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 2 can resist, and what are the success keys that can be used and valued to extend the continuity of the family in the business system? This study investigates the success factors that can influence the performance and the continuity of the family firm. Consequently, the purpose of this study is to explore the main factors that can contribute to the family business success. After detecting the global success keys for family firms, this study try to compare these factors between two countries with two different cultures (Lebanon and France) in order to identify the interaction between the family success keys and the country culture. In other words, we will try through this paper to test if the family success keys can be generated in two different countries. To attempt our objectives, the following study will be divided into five sections; section one is a literature review on the success keys of family firms. Sections two and three discuss data selection; sample construction, variables and finally the methodology of the study. The last two sections (four and five) include the descriptive and the multivariate results of the study. 2-Literature Review: Family firms are the driving force behind economic development. By their continuity, they perform an essential role as providers of employment and innovation opportunities and act as a key player for regional and local development. This continuity was found to be linked to effective success keys like the succession planning, networking strategy, financial structure, management practices and finally the unity of command and control through the convergence between family governance and firm government. 2-1-Family involvement and performance: Numerous study show a positive impact of family ownership on firm performance (Anderson and Reeb, 2003; Andres, 2008; Ahmad and Amran, 2010). For Anderson and Reeb (2003), the performance of private family firm can be explained by limited agency costs due to high level of ownership concentration. In this context of concentrated ownership structure, the constraints of external shareholders are reduced (Morck et al. 1988), as well as the cost of control (Jensen and Meckeling, 1976). Other arguments based on psychological dimension arise to explain the family firm performance. For Nahapiet and Ghoshal (1998), the social capital established by the family can explain the positive relation between family ownership and firm performance. The involvement of family owners in the management ensures the development of trust and loyalty with all their stakeholders. Based on these conceptions, Lee (2006) argues that family and non-family employees are improved by implementing the sense of involvement. Finally, Arregle et al. (2007) indicate that the combination of several inputs in term of capital, trust and culture improve the governance structure and the decision making process. To summarize, family involvement is a positive source for the firm performance and the majority of researches have been showing that family firms outperform the non-family firms by focusing on capital structure, and governance structure. This study is focusing on several factors in order to highlight the dark sides of family firm performance. Journal of Business and Retail Management Research (JBRMR) Vol. 8 Issue 1 October 2013 A Journal of the Academy of Business and Retail Management (ABRM) 3 2-2-Succession Planning: The owner of the firm is concerned in the continuity of the family firm. By using a succession planning, he has to choose and train a member of his family that should lead successfully the firm continuity. The absence of a succession plan is one reason why most family businesses do not survive to the next generation. A review of the literature suggests that success of family firms are related to the succession planning process as well as to the founder, successor and family harmony. Succession planning is the explicit process by which management control is transferred from one family member to another. Therefore, an owner can keep a written successor plan that indicates that he has already chosen his successor in order to alleviate anxiety associated with the one who will run the business in the future. This written successor plan is an important element in the case of the sudden death of the ultimate owner, specifically when remaining family members do not know from where to begin. For the founder, a successful succession is to choose firstly the right successor before leaving the control of the family firm. But the selection of a successor is a big issue for the owner, that is why Morris et al. (1997), indicate that 60% of family problems arising after and during the selection process of the successor. Consequently, the owner must be very aware in order to find the right successor who has the potential and the skills to run the business in the future. Once the founder decides the successor, he has to prepare and to train him for a leadership role. In 1968, Davis stated that succession means the transfer of leadership from one generation to the next in order to guarantee the stability of family possession. Another important factor of success is the willingness of the successor to take over the Business (Chua et al. 1999). It's very important for the successor to join the business as early as possible in order to gain experience, loyalty and emotional preparation through on-job training. If the successor is underqualified and does not have the needed skills to run the family business, the firm will suffer and its continuity will be threatened. Therefore, succession planning helps in creating a required talent pool of family members for the future organizational needs. By considering these results, the first hypothesis of the research is defined as follows: H1: Succession planning is positively correlated with family firm performance. 2-3-The family networks strategy: In addition to a successful transition, the key defining the characteristics of the family firm implies a successful strategy. In the family firms it's very difficult to separate between the business system and the family system, accordingly personal goals of the owner cannot be separated from the business strategies (Chua et al. 2003). One of the most used strategies inside the family firms is the creation of a solid and enduring social connection between the family and the external environment. Thus social networking relationships developed with the external stakeholders help to build a social capital and enable them to obtain some critical resources in the form of information, knowledge, financial and human capital. Both political and governmental leaders have a considerable power and control over the allocation of resources. Therefore, the family members create networks with the politics leaders because they are very influential in garnering resources and providing access to valuable needed information and knowledge. At the same time, the family members try to establish a durable links with the leaders at different levels of government in order to have all the authoritie


Let G be a connected graph on n vertices, and let ; ; and be edge-disjoint cycles in G such that (i) ; (resp. ;) are vertex-disjoint and (ii) jj + jj = jj+ jj = n, where jj denotes the length of. We say that ; ; and yield two edge-disjoint hamiltonian cycles by edge exchanges if the four cycles respectively contain edges e; f; g and h such that each of (? feg) S (? ffg) S fg; hg and (? fgg) S (? fhg) S fe; fg constitutes a hamiltonian cycle in G. We show that if G is a non-bipartite, hamiltonian decomposable graph on an even number of vertices which satisses certain conditions, then Kronecker product of G and K 2 as well as Kronecker product of G and an even cycle admits of a hamiltonian decomposition by means of appropriate edge exchanges among smaller cycles in the product graph. AMS classiication code: 05C45 Key terms: Kronecker product Hamiltonian decomposition Alternate four-cycle Edge exchange


It is argued that community participation in development interventions result in positive outcomes and sustainability, unlike where it is absent. This article assesses the extent of community involvement in communal water interventions in Malawi. This came against a backdrop of witnessing high failure rate, that is, about 30%. The study, therefore, sought to assess the extent of community stakeholders' involvement, and whether this can explain the outcomes in these interventions. A mixed methods approach was followed, and primary data was collected through a survey and key informant interviews. Key documents were also reviewed. The study findings show that the very idea to bring a communal water point into the community is largely exogenous, and that there are significant levels of exclusion of community-based stakeholders in first three phases of water projects, with the exception of maintenance phase as it is essentially fate accompli. When functional and non-functional water points are compared in areas where there is evidence of community involvement, the former shows significant degrees of community involvement unlike the latter. This is one key aspect explaining positive outcomes and sustainability. All this, arguably, entails serious shortcomings in water sector in Malawi, demonstrated by failure of policy and enforcement of standards.


grave about three feet deep. The inscription on the plate was-" Catherine Sandys, aged 2 years 4 months, 1840." On removing the coffin lid, the face of the corpse was exposed. The forehead was covered witlh white mould, and the features considerably decomposed. There was a cap on the head of common net, with a plain net border. The rest of the body was enveloped in a piece of calico, on removing which the bodv was discovered to be that of a female about the age marked on the coffin plate. The right arm was placed across the chest. ''lie skin of the belly was not in a decomposed state; that of the chest and the legs was more decomposed, and separating on the feet. On opening the chest, the lungs were in a state of far advanced decomposition, and collapsed; much more so than the heart. Thie ribs had separated from the spine. Oni cutting throuigh the integuments of the abdomen, (which exhibited no external marks of decomposition,) the fat was firm, anid of the consistenice of suet; the belly was flat. The stoinach and bowels were in a good state of preservation. The liver was more decomposed than aniy otlher parts; and the skin aiid flesh of the back, which were in apposition witlh it, were externally deconmposed. Thie intestines exhibited patches of yellow in different parts, which were visible through their coats; they also contained a small quantity of gas. The stomach and bowels were first examined. The whole hiterior of the stomach lhad a reddened appearance; its left side was thickened and corrugated. Its riglht side was much inflamed. It was empty; but on careful inspection, a few very small whitislh or greyish specks were discovered adhering to its liiing membrane. The duodenum had also a red appearance, and contained a few yellowish white specks. Thejeunum was likewise red, and contained a few white gritty particles of matter. At the upper part of liis gut there was a bright yellow stain. The ikeum contained a yellow pasty substance, which gave an orange tint to the fingers. The ascending and transverse portions of the colon had a healthy appearance. The valve between the small and large bowels (ileo-ccecal) was inflamed; the descending part of the colon was of a rosy liie. The rectum was healthy, and filled with fieces of a light yellow colour. The liver appeared healthy, though more putrified than any other part of the belly. Its gall bladder was empty. The spleen, pancreas, and kidneys, were healtlhy, as was also the urinary bladder. The whole of the stomachl and bowels were in an excellent state of preservation. The lungs were very soft and putrid. The heart appeared redder than natural. The stomach and bowels were cut into small pieces, and boiled in distilled water with pure potass for the space of half an hour, and filtered. A portion of this solution (after being rendered neutral witlh potass) was used for the trial test of anmmoniacal nitrate of silver, which cast down its characteristic lemoncoloured precipitate. The remaining portion of it, after being acidulated with acetic acid, was submitted to a stream of sulphuretted hydrogen gas for about half an hour. An abundant sulphur-yellow precipitate was thus obtained, and dried in a watch glass over a vapour bath, and became of a brownish yellow colour. One part of this precipitate was next initroduced into a Berzelius tube, and covered with black flux, and reduced by means of the spirit lamnp. Brillianit specks of a metallic lustre, and of an iron grey colour, were easily detected, and an alliaceous odour was recognized. A second portion of it was again operated on in a simnilar manner, and a satisfactory metallic crust was obtained. The end of the tube containingf the flux was next filed off; and the crust carefully examined. Its exterior was of the iron grey colour of arsenicum. Its interior had a dull greyish white appearance. This metallic crust was then converted into arsenious acid by the spirit lamp. a third portion of the powder was put into Marsh's apparatus, and the gas being ignited, burnt with a blue flame, and deposited a metallic crust on several pieces of glass.* Several of the glasses containing crusts, and the arsenious acid obtained ill the Berzelius tube, were boiled for upwards of half an hour in distilled water, and filtered. To this filtered solution, in divided portions, the same liquid tests were applied, when the arsenites of silver, copper, and lime, and the suiphuret of arseni^, were obtained. One of the glasses containing the metallic crust from Marsh's test, on being held over the spirit lamp, soon lost it by volatilization, and this before a red heat was applied. Another, after being boiled in distilled water for some minutes, became of a pure white.


Based on the coincidence site lattice model and by use of the molecular dynamics method, the relaxation calculations on the atomic structures of the grain boundaries of various generating functions (SIGMA3, SIGMA5, ..., SIGMA19, ..., SIGMA33) in the transition metal Ni are performed. The features of atomic structures corresponding to the grain boundaries arid the effects of the pre-parameter on the interface structures are given. To study the doping response relating to the properties of materials, the SIGMA3 tilt grain boundary is selected. Based on the interstice and vacancy mechanisms, the interface responses doping boron, nitrogen and phosphorus for the grain boundary are investigated. According to the criterion of the energy in molecular dynamics simulation, the most probable positions of doping impurities and effect of doping impurities on the interface structure are given, and the dependence of the fine structure on doping type and the order of the impurity amount are obtained. The analysis of the local energy for the relaxation region shows that the light impurities, boron, nitrogen arid phosphorus, all have a tendency to segregate on the grain boundary and change the feature of the atomic configuration of the interface to a distinct extent. Then the effects of doping impurities on the interface can be predicted.


The present research is a systematic computational study focused on structural, mechanical, electronic, vibrational, optical and thermo-dynamical properties of zincblende (B3) structured beryllium chalcogenides BeZ (Z=S, Se, Te) compounds using ATK-DFT method using PZ and PBEsol exchange and correlation potentials within the local density approximation (LDA) and the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) respectively and their comparison. The k-point and energy cut-off values were tested and provided convergence in self-consistent calculations. The structural parameters such as lattice constant, bulk modulus, second order elastic constants (C11, C12, C44) and material properties (B, G, Y and σ) for these crystals are computed and discussed. To explain the electronic properties, electronic energy band structure, complex band structures, phonon band structure, phonon density of state and electron density distribution are plotted. The effect of pressure on elastic constant, material properties and phase transitions are also studied, including phase transition from ZB structure to NiAs appearing at 53 GPa, 49 GPa and 33 GPa for BeS, BeSe, and BeTe respectively.


A three degrees of freedom aeroelastic typical section with control surface is theoretically modeled including nonlinear springs and augmented states for linear unsteady aerodynamic description. The system response is determined by time marching of the governing equations by using a standard Runge-Kutta algorithm in conjunction with a 'shooting method' to find out stable and unstable limit cycles along with stability reversal in the neighborhood of the Hopf bifurcation. Furthermore, the equations of motion are analyzed by a singular perturbation technique, specifically, by using a normal form method. Approximate analytical expressions for amplitudes and frequencies of limit cycles are obtained and the terms which are responsible of the nonlinear system behavior are identified.Copyright © 2002 by ASME


Cotton, Gossypium barbadense L (Malvaceae) is attacked by different insects, reducing  productivity and fibre quality. This study aimed to determine the natural enemies attacking the key cotton pests in Barbados. Seventeen farms were monitored weekly during  cotton seasons to determine presence of predators and parasitoids. The monitoring method used was zig-zag evaluating 25 plants in each location. The different stages of the predators presented at the field level were observed and evaluated. Attacked eggs of Lepidoptera and larvae having external parasitoids were collected and isolated to study the endo- and ectoparasitoid species. In addition to the natural enemie's evaluation, a study was carried out at the field level selecting 10 farmers in order to evaluate the main pest found that leaded to the application of chemical control. Seven predator species and two parasitoid species were found. The most frequent predator species were Chrysoperla sp. (40 %), followed by Cycloneda sanguinea (L). and Allograpta exotica Wiedemann (15 % and 14.5 %, respectively). Parasitoid species found were: Trichogramma chilonis (Ishii) parasitizing Helicoverpa and Heliothis eggs, and Euplectrus sp. as an ectoparasitoid on Alabama argillacea larvae.


Today's operations in the spectrum occur across many disparate and unique devices. For example, a military or commercial maritime platform can have dozens of apertures used for various functions. Utilizing software-defined radios and dynamic analog front ends, we propose that future systems involving multiple applications for RF, virtualize operations to gain performance efficiencies. The concept of virtualization of electromagnetic operations (VEMO) is considered a means to enable flexible use of hardware and spectrum resources to achieve diverse mission requirements in military and commercial settings. This will result in more efficient use of resources, including size/weight/power and integration of objectives across systems that employ the electromagnetic spectrum.


The highlight of in vivo or ex vivo measurement to monitor the pH value from blood or saliva is emerging in these years since changes in pH suggest that hidden diseases are about to occur. In this paper, we design and implement a SoC for pH measurement, and a dual offset cancelation technique in comparator featured with 150‐uV input referred voltage and 1‐GHz comparison bandwidth is verified. The SoC by utilizing proposed dual offset cancelation technique can sense 8 femto farad capacitance change in the deionized water, 12 femto farad change in the glucose liquid, and 14 femto farad in the 0.5% hydrochloric acid. The SoC for pH measurement is not only used to detect pH change in blood or saliva, but can also extend to wearable device to monitor human's biomarkers such as pH and Na+ in sweat to prevent the disease in advance.


Packaging developers in the food industry must consider several, sometimes conflicting, environmental requirements on packaging along with an already complex combination of marketing, logistics and production requirements. Existing methods for the environmental evaluation of packaging either focus on a limited amount of environmental packaging criteria (such as recyclability or renewable content) or rely on life cycle assessment methodology requiring expert competence. To support the food industry in their efforts toward developing product and packaging combinations that reduce the total environmental impact in food supply chains, this article presents a simplified environmental evaluation tool for food packaging. The presented tool was developed through an iterative process in a collaborative research project with the food industry. It evaluates packaging systems based on packaging criteria sorted into four areas that represent the life‐cycle steps packaging material production, transport, household and end‐of‐life. A comparison of the tool results and screening LCA results for three packaging cases showed no major differences. From the practitioners' perspective, the main advantages of the suggested tool are that it does not require LCA‐competence, that the required input data is commonly available in packaging development projects and that its overall structure invites several functions of the company to participate. The theoretical benefits of the suggested tool are that it allows for a parallel assessment of eco‐efficiency and eco‐effectiveness criteria in a life cycle perspective and that it considers littering risk as well as the influence of packaging on food waste in households


This paper proposes a novel use of haptic feedback for human navigation with a mobile robot. Assuming that a path-planner has provided a mobile robot with an obstacle-free trajectory, the vehicle must steer the human from an initial to a desired target position by only interacting with him/her via a custom-designed vibro-tactile bracelet. The subject is free to decide his/her own pace and a warning vibrational signal is generated by the bracelet only when a large deviation with respect to the planned trajectory is detected by the vision sensor on-board the robot. This leads to a cooperative navigation system that is less intrusive, more flexible and easy-to-use than the ones existing in literature. The effectiveness of the proposed system is demonstrated via extensive real-world experiments.


"Modern" is not the spirit of the meaning of the "pseudo-modernism",but the real exploration of the survival state of the generation after the"Cultural Revolution",and further to question the meaning of the existence of the individual destiny.Therefore,"modern"literary aspires with the idea of modernity."Pioneer literature" inherited the "modernist" the mantle of literary narrative,but later went to the narrative extremes: the reject of significance,the pursuit of formal ontology,and the narrative changes in from spirit essence to form of ontology,which deeply reflects the historical process of the Chinese literature's pursuit from modernity to post-modernity,and which is full of ideological and cultural significance.


In this article, school disciplinary exclusions in high schools in Ghana are highlighted to explore alternatives to school exclusions. The 2017 budget and the preceding budgets of the Republic of G...


Transthoracic ultrasonography (US) has become an essential tool for respiratory, emergency, and critical care physicians. It can be performed with basic equipment and by personnel with minimum training as a modality for the evaluation of a wide range of thoracic pathologies. Its advantages include immediate application at the point of care, low cost, and lack of radiation. The main indications for transthoracic US are the qualitative and quantitative assessment of pleural effusions, pleural thickening, diaphragmatic pathology, as well as chest wall and pleural tumors. Transthoracic US is also useful in visualizing pulmonary pathologies that abut the pleura, such as pneumonic consolidation and interstitial syndromes, including pulmonary edema. Transthoracic US is more sensitive than the traditional chest radiograph in the detection of pneumothoraces, and it is useful in diagnosing skeletal abnormalities such as rib fractures. It is the ideal tool to guide transthoracic procedures, including thoracocentesis and pleural biopsy. Moreover, transthoracic US-guided procedures can be performed by a single clinician with no sedation and minimal monitoring. Transthoracic US-guided fine needle aspiration and/or cutting needle biopsy of extrathoracic lymph nodes and lesions arising from the chest wall, pleura, peripheral lung, and mediastinum are safe to perform and have a high yield in the of hands of experienced clinicians. Transthoracic US can also potentially guide the aspiration and biopsy of diffuse pulmonary infiltrates, consolidations, and lung abscesses. Moreover, transthoracic US may be used in the detection of pulmonary embolism.


A bolted joint is frequently used in practical applications under thermal load, such as in internal combustion engines, steam and gas turbines, pressure vessels, etc. In order to accurately evaluate the thermal stresses thus produced, the effects of thermal contact resistance at the interface and the heat flow through small gaps, which exist around the bolted joint, must be taken into account. An empirical equation for the thermal contact co-efficient at the interface composed of similar materials was presented in a previous paper. In this study, the thermal contact coefficient is measured for the case of dissimilar materials using the same procedure. Further, a simple equation for apparent thermal contact coefficient is proposed to calculate the amount of heat flow through small gaps. By incorporating the effects of such contact resistance into the finite element formulation, thermal behaviors of a bolted joint with typical configuration are to be analyzed as elastic contact problems in the transient temperature field. It is shown that among various factors, coefficient of linear expansion has a dominant effect on the variations of bolt stress.


Conservation of the invaluable sericigenous genetic resources is of prime importance with respect to their utilization and improvement for wider exploitation. Conservation of wild silkworms and its applicability in hybridization have limitations due to incompatibility, less amenability, change of behaviour under ex situ conditions, non-synchronization of moth eclosion and difficulties in mating between variables. In view of this, the newer technologies such as cryopreservation and artificial insemination are offering better strategies for preservation of biologically active samples like semen at sub-zero temperature (-196º C) conditions for longer duration. In this context, under standardization of sperms preservation from wild silkworms, two methods of semen collection were scrutinized for obtaining active and viable sperm for cryopreservation and further artificial insemination. Semen collection from the seminal vesicle of freshly emerged male moth and the other from the bursa copulatrix (BC) and spermatheca of the female moth after mating. The sperms in the semen collected from seminal vesicle are in the form of bundles known as eupyrene sperm bundles and apyrene sperms. The morphology and behaviour of these sperm bundles were recorded through microscopic examination. To study the density and motility behaviour of the sperms, sperm bundles were treated with proteolytic enzyme (~2-3µg/ml) to digest the membrane and release the sperms. The density and motility behaviour of sperms in the semen recovered from the BC and spermatheca of female moth after mating were higher compared to those released after digestion of sperm bundles from seminal vesicle of the male moth.


Typical criteria for selecting species of trees for yard planting are beauty, shape, size, rate of growth, and length of life. Attention is also given to adaptedness to various environmental factors but seldom to wind resistance, despite the frequent occurrence of damaging wind storms. Such a storm struck Hays on June 27, 1951, with winds of 60 to 65 miles per hour. Streets and yards were littered with branches from damaged trees. Opportunity was taken to determine relative extent of injury to various species. Examination was made of each tree in the parkings in representative parts of the city. A record was made of 500 trees as to species, size, number and size of broken branches, and nature of injury. Data collected indicate to a certain extent relative resistance of common


Basilica in Poznan was built in a centre of power next to a palace and chapel, linked with the first decades of Christianity in Poland. In the middle of the main nave were discovered two tomb-like ...


Allelopathy is commonly defined as any direct or indirect effect by one plant, including microorganisms, on another through the production of chemical compounds released into the environment. Recently, allelopathic agents have received considerable attention due to the agricultural potential as environmentally benign agrochemicals from the viewpoint of environmental conservation. Thus, we have been engaged in synthetic studies on allelopathic agents and consequently have accomplished the syntheses of two allelopathic terpenoids, annuionone A and brevione B. In this account, we would like to present these two synthetic studies.


observes that this might be disappointing for those who hope for the universality of critical methodology. This view suggests a profound respect for the critical tool and a sense that it is the Chinese material that is somehow lacking. Perhaps a certain amount of recalibration of the critical tool would offer an alternative approach to the question of universality. In his analysis of Shi Tuo's 'A Kiss', Huters writes that in applying Western critical approaches to Chinese literature, the structuralist perspective, in which the issues of history and specific rhetorical traditions are largely irrelevant, posed fewer problems than later theories, such as deconstruction or reception theory, which focus on how contextual influences affect the generation and reception of a work of fiction. Perhaps the greater leeway that this allows for consideration of the specifics of Chinese or any other culture could provide the means to recalibrate the tool—that is, to adjust the dimensions of the glass of Western theory through which the literature is analysed to make the process of scrutiny less unjust and distorting.


2014 A systematic comparison of flat-plate collector efficiencies is performed, using hourly solar radiation measurements at Trappes and Carpentras. The integration to space heating or domestic hot water production systems is studied. The influence of some parameters as operation temperature, collection area, collector orientation, thermal inertia and thermal storage volume is considered. The interest of using collectors of high performance (selective-non-convective) is clearly established. A 50 m2 captation area of such collectors to heat a building of 225 m3 in volume and a volumic loss coefficient of 1.5 W/m3 °C, enables 45 % savings in the region of Paris at an operation temperature of 70 °C. Revue Phys. Appl.15 (1980) 131-138 FÉVRIER 1980, PAGE Classification Physics Abstracts 86. 10K 86.30S


For the purpose of improving the resistance and seakeeping qualities of high speed displacement hulls, experimental investigations on models fitted with chine strips, stern trim flaps, bow anti-wave hydrofoils and bow spray strips have been carried out at the Ship Hydrodynamics Laboratory of Shanghai Chiao Tung University. The test results show that all the methods are quite effective when they are properly used. Most of the model results have been confirmed by full-scale trials.


FIELD: electrical engineering. SUBSTANCE: proposed method for forming thin-walled electrochemical cell 50 includes bringing negative-pole layer 52 in contact with positive pole layer 54 or with optional layer disposed in-between. Pole layers and optional layer disposed in-between are chosen so as to ensure self-formation of boundary separating layer 56 between pole layers as these poles are brought in contact. Electrochemical cells formed in this way are characterized in that their thickness and porosity can be adjusted and, consequently, their power characteristics can be controlled. EFFECT: reduced in-storage swelling of batteries assembled of such cells due to gas escape or eliminated accumulation of unwanted gases in thin-walled liquid batteries. 93 cl, 3 dwg


The effects of bromide, nitrate, iodide, and thiocyanate ions on the neurally evoked fast and slow contractions of a crab muscle were investigated. Both types of contraction were depressed in bromide and nitrate. In iodide and thiocyanate, the slow contraction was often depressed but the fast contraction was potentiated. The foreign anions increased muscle fiber membrane resistance and the amplitudes of both fast and slow postsynaptic potentials. Records of tension development in single muscle fibers showed that more stimulating current was required to produce a given tension in nitrate than in the standard bathing fluid; this change was related to hyperpolarization of the muscle fiber membrane in nitrate. Potassium contractures also were inhibited by nitrate, because of the less effective depolarization of the cell membrane by potassium ion in the presence of nitrate. No marked shift in the membrane potential threshold for contraction occurred after treatment with the foreign anions.


Critical and epistemological reflections on the use of experimental methods in social psychology are often made to distinguish between two types of settings where these methods are used: The laboratory and the social field. But it is by no means certain that such a division has, from the start and at its own level, real significance: for one thing, because in social psychology, laboratory work is probably never merely laboratory work; and for another, because an analysis of what happens in practice would show that much experimental research work carried out in the social field merely transfers into that setting tools, concepts and a theoretical intention derived from the laboratory. If that is so, it follows that it is not at its own level that the laboratory-social field distinction has a heuristic and epistemological significance, nor is that the real location of the breaking-point between the methodologies. Perhaps the real 'dividing' line is one which separates experimental work which, whether in the laboratory or in the social field, concentrates on social interactions which are miniaturized or able to be so, from work which, in the social field, aims to concentrcte on processes which cannot be simulated or miniaturized without becoming distorted and seeks to reach social systems which are relatively complete and essentially intact.


We discuss the prospects for rare K and p decays and neutrino physics at Japan Hadron Facility (JHF) at KEK.


Abstract : Drainage areas were determined for more than 7,000 sites in Wisconsin's 11 major river basins, including all named streams draining 5 or more square miles, and all unnamed streams draining 10 or more square miles. Also determined are drainage areas for gaging stations, sewage-treatment plants, dams, major highway crossings, and other sites where discharge measurements or water-quality data are available. Drainage areas were delineated on U.S. Geological Survey topographic maps. Drainage areas are shown in tabular form under six headings: station number; stream name, rank, and location; township, range, and section; county; type of site; and drainage area. Eleven major-river-basin maps show the location and station number of key sites.


A case of enlargement of prostate (BPH) was treated with Bala Taila Matra Basti (instillation of medicated oilthrough rectal route) 60 ml once daily for 21 consecutive days in the morning hours. The patient was assessed on the basis of subjective parameters i.e. IPSS (International Prostate System Score) and objective parameters (USG of Prostate gland and Uroflowmetry). After completion of treatment, significant relief was observed in signs and symptoms of enlarged prostate. This case highlights the fact that it is possible to treat a case of benign enlargement of prostate with Bala Taila Matra Basti.


This research aimed at producing coal agglomerated surfaces of 15-27.51m for the measurement of contact angle of the agglomerates surfaces to achieve the surface free energy for coal powder agglomerates. Kerosene (paraffin oil) was used as a binder, the agglomerated coal oil mixtures was created with the coal agglomerates. The contact angles formed by the liquid at the three phase boundary where the solid intersect were measured on each coal surface by drop liquid, gas and technique, using kerosene. In all cases the contact angle θ ≈ 0. Complete wetting of the powder apparently took place (cos 0 ≈ 1). With this value of zero, surface free energy of coal for high energy solids could not be calculated. In other to calculate the surface free energy of coal, a good value was measured from the contact angle using mercury as an additional solvent and also as an extension. The relationship between assumed values of ץsv and RHS showed the deduction of the surface free energy ץSv of coal agglomerates to be 340J as expected.


This study describes the aerobic and anaerobic decay of soluble carbohydrates (CH) and polyphenols (PH) during decomposition of Montrichardia arborescens. Plant and water samples were collected in the Canta stream (2o 49' 11" N and 60o 40' 24" W), Roraima, Brazil. Decomposition chambers with plant fragments and stream water were incubated. Particulate organic matter was separated from dissolved organic matter and concentrations of CH and PH were determined. The results were fitted to 1st order kinetics models. CH and PH comprised a labile fraction (LCH and LPH) and a refractory fraction (RCH and RPH). The global coefficient associated with LCH weight loss was 1.4 times higher under aerobic conditions (3.4 day-1) higher than for anaerobic conditions. On the other hand, the RCH decay rate in the anaerobic process (0.0074 day-1) was 1.39 times higher. LCH was estimated to be 92% while RCH amounted to 8%. The LPH anaerobic decay was 5.2 times the value for the aerobic decay (0.67 day-1). For both conditions, RPH decay coefficients were similar (» 0.011 day-1). In the aerobic experiments LPH and RPH corresponded to 92.5% and 7.5%, respectively. For the anaerobic process these contents were 85.5% and 14.5%, respectively. From these results, we concluded that in the Canta stream, the anaerobic degradation of phenols is more efficient than the aerobic counterpart. The aerobic condition provides a faster decay of carbohydrates of this plant.


The rapid identification and quantification of virus in diseased fish is a goal both conservationists and commercial aquaculturists have struggled to attain. Recently a technique for the detection of viral mRNA particles that uses fluorescent tagging and amplification has been developed. Utilizing primers and fluorescent labelled probes generated for the specific identification of the nucleocapsid (N) and glycoprotein (G) genes of infectious haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHNV), and an instrument that measures cyclic emittance of fluorescence, the presence or absence of virus can be easily and rapidly confirmed. This method is not only useful in confirming viral presence but is effective in measuring the relative or absolute quantity of virus present within the sample. This allows for the determination of the health status of a carrier fish by measuring the quantity of viral genomes or transcribed viral genes present. Because this method is based on sequence detection, instead of virus isolation in cell culture, it is also effective in determining the presence of pathogenic organisms from water, fish feeds, or other potential reservoirs of infection.


The strategic choices of enterprises have faced conflicts of diversification and specialization,and how to resolve this contradiction affects the issue of long-term development of enterprises.In this paper,the methodologies of logical inference and comparison research are used to explore the core competencies of network organization(NO),which has many functions of complementary innovation,multi-buffer,win-win,and value chain optimization,but its main function is exactly the equilibrium between diversification and specialization,that is,rich diversity in the network level and intensive profession in the enterprise level.The balanced solution provides a realistic support for the future development and cooperation of enterprises.


A system and method to monitor and control the valves in industrial process control and automation using Near-Field Communication (NFC) is disclosed. The system comprises a NFC-Equipment Interface Unit (NFC-EIU) to acquire parameters from the valves through a port and send the parameters to any handheld device by NFC for analysis. The NFC-EIU on receiving the analysis results from the hand held device can control the valves too.


Cooperative vehicular systems are expected to play a significant role in future transportation systems by enabling vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-infrastructure wireless communications. Based on the real-time information exchange among vehicles, and among vehicles and infrastructure units, cooperative vehicular systems will improve traffic safety and efficiency by extending, in space and time, the drivers' awareness of the surrounding environment. However, the challenging vehicular environment, together with the strict requirements of cooperative vehicular applications, and the scarcity of the radio spectrum, require the development of advanced communication protocols, especially to support cooperative road safety applications. In this context, this thesis focuses on the design and evaluation of adaptive communication protocols that are able to satisfy the strict requirements of cooperative vehicular applications, and efficiently use the radio channel. To reach these goals, this thesis performs a dimensioning and sensitivity analysis of cooperative vehicular systems from the application's perspective, in which the system and application's performance are analysed under different operating conditions. This study shows the demanding communication requirements of cooperative applications, especially under adverse operating conditions, and the need of efficiently controlling the channel load. It also demonstrates the importance of using adequate models for the dimensioning and performance evaluation of cooperative vehicular systems, and in particular, accurate radio channel models. This thesis also addresses the design and evaluation of an opportunistic communication mechanism that is able to satisfy the application requirements of stringent cooperative traffic safety applications, while efficiently using the radio channel. The reliability and scalability of the proposed mechanism is demonstrated under simplified and realistic operating conditions. The conducted analysis shows that the proposed mechanism significantly reduces the channel load with respect to fixed transmission power policies, thus demonstrating the channel congestion control benefits of opportunistic cooperative vehicular communication protocols. The work reported in this thesis demonstrates the need of considering each vehicle's traffic context information to exploit the dependencies between different applications. Cooperative vehicular applications have been normally studied separately. However, the conducted research shows that the traffic context information could be employed to improve the joint application traffic safety performance. Finally, this thesis addresses the design and evaluation of different channel congestion control policies based on the individual application requirements of each vehicle to proactively control the channel load. The proposed congestion control policies are also able to exploit the local traffic context information of each vehicle to avoid unnecessary interferences and reduce the channel load without sacrificing the applications reliability. To summarise, this thesis has contributed towards a better understanding of the operation and performance of cooperative vehicular communication protocols and applications. The proposed protocols and policies push forward the consideration of cooperative application requirements in the design of cooperative systems for an improved system reliability and increased efficiency.