This study set out to investigate the relationship between individual values of final year occupational therapy students at seven universities as well as the eventual performance of each student during the final evaluation. Using a quantitative research method, a total of 154 final year students were assessed in the early part of their final year by means of the Value Scale - a standardised instrument for the multicultural population in South Africa. The final grade each student obtained was reflected by the mean of the grades obtained in all the subjects for that study year. This grade reflected both theoretical knowledge and the practical application of such knowledge. No positive correlations were found between the six second-order value factors and their achievement percentages for the sample as a whole. However, a negative correlation was obtained in terms of autonomous lifestyle and the students' levels of achievement (r= -0,169; p -0,036) for the sample as a whole. This result indicates that the higher the students rated independence of action within their work, as well as creativity, diversity, change of activities and risk incurred in projects proposed, the lower their average grades tended to be. In a profession that sets a high value on creativity and independence, it is specifically those students possessing these values who seem to flounder. It is recommended that the autonomy and creativity of occupational therapy students in the clinical field be researched by means of a qualitative method since the declared values by means of self-report measures in quantitative research may not reveal a student's operational value system.


: This paper aims to analyze the development of trade facilitation and the existing problems in Chins cross-border e-commerce. Then, it analyses the influence mechanism of trade facilitation on cross-border e-commerce from the theoretical basis and evaluation system. Second, it establishes the trade facilitation system, including five primary indicators and thirty-one secondary indicators from the Global Competitiveness Report. Third, it establishes the gravity model to analyse the impact of TFI on Chinas cross-border e-commerce exports. Chinas cross-border e-commerce export is taken as the explained variable. The empirical result shows that trade facilitation has a significant positive impact on Chinas cross-border e-commerce exports. The customs environment of high-income and lower-middle-income countries has the most obvious impact on cross-border e-commerce exports. The infrastructure of upper-middle-income countries has the most significant impact on cross-border e-commerce exports. Finally, it makes policy recommendations on the aspects of TFI that countries should prioritize.


Methylammonium (MA) lead hybrid perovskite single crystal recently received attention as a potential radiation detection material. Here, we report the MAPbBr3 bulk crystals grown by the modified an...


In this paper we describe the analysis framework system GEOAIDA with view of an application for a versatile and efficient quality assessment of geodata. GEOAIDA allows to develop image analysis strategies for complex object class definitions being provided by different GIS databases. The image analysis strategy and GIS data model can be expressed in tree-like semantic networks. The multi-hierarchical architecture allows multiple combinations of image analysis tools for a multifaceted use. A practical application is the semiautomatic quality assessment of MGCP data by using IKONOS imagery. For the comparision of MGCP and image content, information about different object classes is extracted from the image. The landcover objects are detected by color texture classification combined with structural analyzing methods. Roads are detected by a line based extraction algorithm combined with color texture classification results. The MGCP database itself is used as prior knowledge to perform the image analysis.


Robots, in particular humanoid (service) robots, are artificial systems which can reasonably be expected to interact with non-expert humans in their application domains. The onus therefore has to be on the design of the robot to facilitate this interaction (as opposed to human users having to learn how to interact with a robot). To facilitate robots' understanding of human intentions, actions, etc, robots require at least a rudimentary form of what in psychology is called "theory of mind" (ToM), i.e. the ability to create a model of of other agents' mental states. Here, we discuss relevant work on inferring human intentions from observation alone.


When comparing withse 2 temporal LANDSAT images of Kanto area acquired in 1972 and 1976, these images show us, first of all, the increasing of reclaimed area around Tokyo bay and the Kashima industrial region. In this report, the distribution and amount of the reclaimed area increased through those 4 years are surveyed by using 2 temporal LANDSAT MSS CCT data.For surveying the environmental change by temporal LANDSAT data, first necessity is correct registration of the images. Next one is the method by which the. environmental change are detected from those registrated images. With consideration of these two points, the distribution of new reclaimed area around Tokyo bay is investigated and the area is known about 33.8 sq.km.


The temperature dependence of the low-cycle fatigue behaviour of a Cu bicrystal containing dispersed SiO2 particles and having a [011], 18° twist boundary has been studied. Failure occurred at shorter times with increasing temperature and stress amplitude. Crack nucleation took place at the particles' surfaces on the grain boundary where slip lines intersected. The crack tended to propagate along primary slip lines and this tendency became stronger as the temperature was increased.


The presence of heavy metals is one of the main obstacles for agricultural use of sewage sludge. Electrokinetic treatment can be applied to remove heavy metals from sludge. This method uses a low-level electrical energy and is known for removal of heavy metals like lead, copper and the metalloid arsenic from sludge. The driving force is the migration of those ions in the sludge body by the applied electric field. In most cases the heavy metals are concentrated near the cathode depending on the actual pH value and the solubility products of formed non-soluble compounds. Sometimes it is also possible to deposit heavy metals directly at the cathode surface. pH value influences the reactions of the heavy metals during such an electrochemical process. Therefore, the relationship between pH value of sludge and the removal efficiency of Pb was studied . This article took the sludge from Kuai an sewage treatment plant as the research object. After acidified with HNO_3, the pH values of sludge were 1.05, 2.30, 3.26, and 4.66 respectively . After five days experiments at voltage gradient 1.0 V/cm, removal efficiency of Pb at part 1 were 48.5%, 47.9%, 33.7% and 32.3% respectively which are 21.1%, 20.5%, 6.3%, 4.9% higher than not acidified sewage sludge. Study shows lower the pH value of sludge can change the distribution of Pb by transfer of its different fractions into more mobile forms and improve the removal efficiency of Electrokinetic treatment of Pb.


Flame retardant floor coating according to the present invention belongs to the technical field of decoration materials. The ingredients of wood powder and cold caulking urea resin, a weight ratio of wood powder: cold caulking urea resin = 1/5 to 6. Flame retardant floor coating according to the present invention can also be made through the processing section. The true nature of the coating can be made, pigments can also be added. Prepared paint or the coating of the present invention is made of floorboards, flame-retardant, waterproof, moth, dourable, noise, long life, and low production costs; for indoor floor, may be street, Square and other places use.


Introduction: In Malaysia, herbal medicines are used for variety of reasons including health promotion and home remedies during pregnancy and postpartum with Manjakani (Quercus infectoria) as one of the most commonly consumed herbs. Herbal medicines consumption had been linked to heavy metals contamination and transfer from mother to infant and may affect infant's growth and development. This study aims to (i) determine Manjakani consumption among postpartum mothers, (ii) quantify its heavy metals level, namely lead, cadmium, arsenic and chromium, and (iii) determine health risk associated with its consumption. Methods: A cross-sectional study involving 106 postpartum mothers was carried out in Kuala Lumpur. Six samples of Manjakani were sampled and extracted using microwave digester and analysed using Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Non-carcinogenic health risks for herbal medicine consumption were calculated using Hazard Quotient (HQ). Results: Manjakani was consumed by 16% of mothers (n=17). Highest level of the metals was shown by chromium with mean concentration of 4210 ± 1910 ug/kg, followed by lead (170.8 ± 193.2), arsenic (39.3 ± 27.1) and cadmium (7.7 ± 0.76). There were no significant non-carcinogenic health risks with lead, arsenic, chromium and cadmium contamination (HQ < 1). Conclusion: Manjakani is consumed by mothers during confinement period. Heavy metals were quantified in Manjakani although no significant association was observed with socio-demographic characteristics and birth outcomes.


This paper discusses the status of mental illness in Kenya from an educational perspective with regard to awareness, and attention to school pupils experiencing mental disorders. In most cases such pupils drop out of school through expulsion for misbehaviour, stigmatization if the mental illness is obvious, or inability to cope with curriculum. Yet education is a right for every child born in the Universe. According to World Health Organization, 4 in 10 people are likely to suffer from a mental illness in their life time. Majority of the world population are children and adolescents and consequently, the number of children experiencing mental issues could be higher than that of adults. While attempts have been made to address for mental health for general public, there are few programs tailored for children, especially in Kenya where health budget is wanting. This paper discusses the need to involve the community, teachers and the students as a way of broadening the field to assist the youth in addressing mental health issues. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Date of Submission: 21-02-2019 Date of acceptance: 08-03-2019 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Social media recently became convenient platforms for different groups with common concerns to share their experiences, including Adverse Drug Reactions (ADRs). In this paper, we propose a two stage intelligent algorithm which we call "Simi_to_Prob", that utilizes social media forums; for ranking ADRs, and evaluating the ADRs prevalence considering different age and gender groups as its first stage. In the second stage, ADRs are predicted utilizing a different data set from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In particular, Natural Language Processing (NLP) is used on social media to extract ranked lists of ADRs, which are then validated using novel intrinsic evaluation methods. In the second stage, feature engineering is used to extend the input feature space, then a two stage supervised machine learning method is used to predict future ADRs incidences. Our results show correct ranked list of ADRs for three antihypertensive drugs, where high Spearman's rank correlation coefficients (rs) of of 0.7458, 0.6678 and 0.5929 were obtained between SIDER database for drug ADRs, and our obtained lists from social media. Furthermore, Relatedness between ADRs and age and gender groups achieved high area under the ROC curve (AUC) reaching 0.959. The second stage results showed high AUCs of 0.96 and 0.99 for the prediction of future ADRs probabilities. The proposed algorithm shows that mining social media can provide reliable source of information, and additional features that can be used to boost supervised machine learning methods' performance in different domains including Pharmacovigilance research.


With the integration of communication and computing, it is expected that part of the computing is transferred to the transmitter side. In this paper we address the general problem of Frequency Modulation (FM) for function approximation through a communication channel. We exploit the benefits of the Discrete Cosine Transform (DCT) to approximate the function and design the waveform. In front of other approximation schemes, the DCT uses basis of controlled dynamic, which is a desirable property for a practical implementation. Furthermore, the proposed modulation allows to recover both the measurement and the function in a single transmission. Our experiments show that this scheme outperforms the double side-band (DSB) modulation in terms of mean squared error (MSE). This can also be implemented with an agnostic receiver, in which the function is unknown to the receiver. Finally, the proposed modulation is compatible with some of the existing transmission technologies for sensor networks.


Younes. Froozan 1 and Abdolreza Alishahi 2 . 1. PhD Student in Communication Sciences of Allameh Tabatabaei University,Tehran, Iran. 2. Master of Political Science, University of Isfahan, Isfahan,Iran ...................................................................................................................... Manuscript Info Abstract ......................... ........................................................................ Manuscript History


Abstract
 The northern limits of three mangrove species—Avicennia germinans (Black Mangrove), Rhizophora mangle (Red Mangrove), Laguncularia racemosa (White Mangrove)—on the United States Atlantic coast are vouchered and described in comparison to previous boundaries defined in literature and herbarium collections. The location and general status of individual trees were used to delineate northern maxima and show that present ranges extend beyond historic records. The gradient structure of the ecotone within an area of uniform climate is interpreted as ongoing latitudinal movement.


Background/aims: Sulfur mustard (2,2′‐dichlorodiethyl sulfide, HD) is a potent vesicating (blistering) agent. In this report, we describe the time‐course and the dose‐dependent response following cutaneous exposure to sulfur mustard (HD) in the haired guinea pig model. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the usefulness of the haired guinea pig as a vesicant research model.


Resources play an important role in how subjects act and think. Teachers, throughout their professional career, develop ways of teaching mathematics —articulated by the organization and type of activities that guide their class, the resources they use and their forms of intervention; these are modified when a new resource is integrated. In this paper we present evidence of this phenomenon using the case study of a teacher who, as a result of her participation in a professional development course that we implemented, integrated digital resources into her documentation work, destabilizing her previous forms of teaching.


In this paper, a multi-agent model is proposed for considering the human resources factor in decision making in relation to the six sigma project. The proposed multi-agent system is expected to increase the acccuracy of project prioritization and to stabilize the human resources service level. A simulation of the proposed multi-agent model is conducted. The results show that a multi-agent model which takes into consideration human resources when making decisions about project selection and project team formation is important in enabling efficient and effective project management. The multi-agent modeling approach provides an alternative approach for improving communication and the autonomy of six sigma projects in business organizations.


Given that countervailing duties and import tariffs are set in different ways and for different purposes, I re-examine the relationship between countervailing duties, foreign export subsidies and import tariffs under imperfect competition. I find that (i) the optimal countervailing duty depends on the existing import tariff level; (ii) the optimal import tariff is so high that the optimal countervailing duty is zero and hence foreign export subsidization occurs; and (iii) it is more likely for countervailing duties to be imposed on a foreign firm whose government takes no action when other foreign countries reduce or eliminate their subsidies on exports.


The problem of domestic violence in the United States has been inextricably linked with cultural and judicial constructions of privacy. The history of privacy in this country—as it has been recognized, understood, and continually reinterpreted by both state actors and the general public—has had significant and lasting implications for the issue of domestic violence. Specifically, the various ways in which courts, police, and battered women's advocates have understood privacy have determined the extent of civil and criminal protection afforded to victims of intimate partner violence—and, concurrently, the extent of punishment meted out to batterers. An understanding of the historical development and application of the privacy right is therefore crucial to understanding the history of domestic violence in this country. The preceding chapters have examined the many ways that shifting meanings of privacy have shaped responses to the issue of domestic abuse, from condoning the problem to ignoring or minimizing it to recognizing it as an infringement on women's rights. Rooted in liberal individualism, privacy has most often been construed as a negative right: the freedom of individuals from state intervention in the home. Historically, however, this right has been imbued with two powerful assumptions, both of which have significantly affected the application of the right to privacy. First, the home has generally been presumed to be the haven of a traditional, nuclear (and often white, middle-class) family. Second, this family is presumably headed by a man who can do as he pleases—the "king of his castle." As a result of these underlying assumptions, the privacy right has primarily served the interests of such men and privileged the patriarchal and heterosexual family form. The judicial implications of these assumptions for battered women became clear in the late nineteenth century. When state appellate courts began to hear domestic violence cases at this time, they considered the privacy implications of these cases first, and the violence second. Thus, even when courts did condemn the abusive acts, they often refused to punish the perpetrators out of respect for the privacy of the domestic sphere. Interestingly, when judges finally, unequivocally repudiated the right of chastisement—and punished batterers—they often did so in cases involving batterers whose claim to a right of privacy was diminished as a result of their racial identity and/or class status. In this way, courts were able to condemn domestic violence without fundamentally altering the hierarchical implications of the right to privacy. The uneasy relationship between privacy and domestic violence continued throughout the twentieth century and into the twenty-first. After several decades of relative silence from courts and activists around this issue, domestic violence garnered public attention in the early 1970s via the consciousness-raising efforts of the second-wave women's movement. The battered


The present paper reports the influence in dielectric properties caused by gamma radiation. The dielectric parameters have been measured for both unirradiated and gamma irradiated 5CB nematic liquid crystal with temperature variation in the frequency range 100 Hz to 10 MHz. Dielectric permittivity with variation in temperature has also been observed. The dielectric permittivity is found to increase for gamma irradiated sample as compared to the unirradiated sample with variation in temperature and frequency and well explained in this paper.


In this article, a matrix-based Padé rational interpolation is used to couple a 3-D eddy-current code with a linear magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) solver. This approach is a general methodology viable for multiphysics problems involving the coupling of an electromagnetic model with another nonalgebraic physical model, which has to be solved in a certain region of space. The matrix-based Padé interpolation has been applied to a typical plasma physics problem of modeling the plasma response to external perturbation, providing an accurate and reliable mathematical model viable for the feedback stabilization of resistive wall modes (RWMs) in fusion plasmas. The choice of matrix-based Padé interpolation gives a reliable approach for the considered problem and can be viewed as a convenient formalism for the coupling strategy in this class of multi-physics problems.


We present an industry paper on novel insect monitoring appliances in the field of Information and Communication Technologies in Agriculture, Food and Environment. We augment typical, low-cost, plastic McPhail-type traps, with an optoelectronic sensor that identifies the incoming fruit fly from its wingbeat. The insect counts, environmental parameters, time stamps and GPS coordinates are transmitted wirelessly from the field, straight to the remote monitoring agency. We believe that smart traps that report daily the state of the infestation can, in the very near future, have a profound impact on the decision making process in crop protection and will be disruptive of existing manual practices.


Neil Postman is a critic, writer, communications theorist, and professor of communication arts and sciences at New York University. Educated at the State University of New York and Columbia University, he holds the Christian Lindback Award for Excellence in Teaching and in 1987 was given the George Orwell Award for Clarity in Language by the National Council of Teachers of English. He was for ten years editor of Et Cetera, the journal of general semantics.

He has written 17 books on a range of topics from the crisis in our schools, to the effect of television on our public and political life, to the nature of modern childhood and education. Throughout, his position is that of the "conscientious objector"— standing aside from what he sees as institutionalized mistakes or commonplace stupidities, and raising questions about them.


Session 1 COVID-19 Impacts on Higher Education Policy Making and Internationalization  The COVID-19 Pandemic and Internationalisation of Higher Education: International Students' Knowledge, Experiences, and Wellbeing 5  A Critical Exploration of an Integrated Approach for Crisis Management in Taiwan Higher Education under and after COVID-19 Crisis: Success, Disruption and Transformative Mode for Quality Assurance 6  Impact of COVID-19 on the Education System: Local Insights from Pakistan 7  Development of Distance Education in Chinese Higher Education in Perspectives of Accessibility, Quality, and Equity Under COVID-19 9 Session 2 Digitalization and Student Learning Outcomes  Designing Knowledge Building Environment as a Reform Site for Innovation in University Teaching 10  Can Blended Learning Ease the Impact of COVID-19 in Rural Schools in Sabah, Malaysia? 11  Facilitating Discourse-Based Promisingness Knowledge in a Computer-Supported Knowledge-Building Community 12  Digitalization and Learning Outcomes under COVID-19: Insights from Literature and Practices 13 Session 3 Research Development and New Mode of Learning  Becoming Resilient and Creative Researchers in Higher Education Facing COVID-19: A Bioecological Model by Bibliometric Mapping 14  The Feasibility of Integrating O2O Education into Adult ESL Curriculum 16  The Perception of Public University Students on the Impact of COVID-19 on Learning in Nigeria 17  Effects of Knowledge Building Activities on Students' Learning in a Positive Psychology Course 18 Session 4 Distance Education and Student Experiences  Hong Kong University Students' Online Learning Experiences under the COVID-19 Pandemic 19  Challenges and Transformation: Students' Perspectives toward Online Learning Experiences under the Covid-19 Pandemic 21  Online Teaching and Learning in Medical Education under COVID-19 22  Higher Education and COVID-19: Is Hybrid Teaching/Learning the Solution? 23  Digitalisation Strategies and Responses during COVID-19 in Norwegian Higher Education 24 CONTENTS


In this paper,"Medical imaging and three-dimensional image reconstruction" course,as an example of the network multimedia courseware development,introduced the production of the network multimedia courseware technology platform,production process,website design and implementation,and web site evaluation of multimedia courseware,etc.


This paper reviews recent changes in the geographic pattern of regional trading agreements (RTAs), focusing on examples from the Asia-Pacific area. The general pattern is one of new bilateral agreements combined with a trend towards continentalism. The new trend towards bilateralism can be explained largely by a fear of countries being excluded from their major markets as other countries secure preferential and superior access to these markets. This pattern is creating many intersections between RTAs with consequential multi-tiered preferences and multiple systems of trade rules. Viewed dynamically, however, this pattern may have positive effects on world trade. It mitigates the effects of large continental RTAs and may lead to coalescence or enlargement of RTAs. The paper reviews models which ask the important question as to whether this process will progress all the way to free trade for the world economy. Copyright Blackwell Publishers Ltd 2002.


The purpose of this study was to examine differences in microleakage of enamel-sealant interface when all-in-one adhesives were used compared with conventional acid etching and single-bottle adhesive system. Seventy-five extracted permanent third molars were randomly divided into 5 groups and treated with only Etching, L-Pop, AQ-bond and One-up Bond F each. After sealant application, the samples were thermocycled and the degree of microleakage was determined. The results were as follows : 1. Group 3, 4, 5 using the all-in-one adhesive system showed significantly higher microleakage score than Group 1(p0.05) between Group 4 and Group 5. 5. In SEM examination, all the groups used all-in-one adhesive showed shorter resin tags than Group 1.


Based on the analysis of investment ventures faced by venture capital. The content and procedures of risk management are discussed in detail, and some venture precautions are put forward. It offers guidance to the venture capital.


Lung cancer harms people's health or even lives severely.Currently,the morbidity and mortality of lung cancer are ascending all over the world.Accounting for 38.08%of malignant tumor caused death in male and 16% in female in cities,ranking top in both sex.Especially,the therapy of non-small cell lung cancer has not been obviously improved for many years.Recently,sodium/iodide transporter gene transfection and the therapy of molecular target drugs mediated radionuclide are being taken into account and become the new research directions in treatment of advanced lung cancer patients with the development of technology and theory for medical molecular biology and the new knowledge of lung cancer's pathogenesis.

Key words:
Lung neoplasms;  Radioisotopes;  Brachytherapy;  Sodium/iodide transporter


The objectives of this research are to investigate the correlation between students' interest in speaking materials and debate speaking competence then investigate the correlation between students' interest in speaking materials and speaking learning achievement and investigate the correlation between debate speaking competence and speaking learning achievement simultaneously. This research is mix method, quantitative approach by using the correlational study as its method and qualitative. The samples of this research are 21 students. The data were gathered by using a questionnaire, interview, speaking test, and documentation value and were analysed by application SPSS. The findings showed the correlation between students' interest in speaking materials and debate speaking competence at English student Muhammadiyah University of Bengkulu was 0.587. Furthermore, the correlation between students' interest in speaking materials and speaking learning achievement was 0,460. In conclusion, interest in speaking materials gives a positive influence between debate speaking competence and achievement.
Keywords: Interest, Speaking Competence, Speaking Learning Achievement, Speaking Materials


Background At the moment, over 180,000 breast cancer survivors are living in the Netherlands and survival after a breast cancer diagnosis and treatment is still increasing. Therefore, the number of survivors is rising, and these patients are at risk of metachronous metastases. Data at a national level on the development of metachronous metastases are limited, as this is not registered in the Netherlands Cancer Registry on a regular basis. Due to the vast amount of survivors, it is not feasible to actively monitor all patients to signal and register metachronous metastases. Applying machine learning may be an option to overcome this issue. The aim of our study is to develop a M1 detection algorithm based on hospital data to signal patients who developed metachronous metastases after their primary breast cancer treatment. Methods The Netherlands Cancer Registry (NCR) collects data on all individuals newly diagnosed with cancer in one of the 76 hospitals in the Netherlands since 1989. Dutch Hospital Data (DHD) collects and processes data from hospitals, including data on diagnosis and treatment. DHD data from 2019-2020 were linked to the NCR using a probabilistic matching method. We matched on date of birth, gender, diagnosis, postal code, hospital and patient ID. Column values that matched were weighted inversely proportional to the respective column's probability distribution, where a match on a rare column value (e.g. postal codes with a relatively small population) increased the probability that the match was correct. Scores for each column were combined and patients with high matching scores were included in the algorithm development, validation and deployment. Actively signaled and manually registered data on metastases were available for subgroups of breast cancer patients included in previous studies ('the golden standard'). First, 80% of these data was used to train the model, 20% was used to validate the model. Second, a pilot study was performed in which patients files were checked for 928 patients, sampled with variance in prediction probability, to evaluate a diverse range of cases. Results We included 4,395 patients. Variables that were included to predict metastases were i.e. specific medication for metastatic disease (palbociblib), counselling for metastatic breast cancer, Carcinoembryonic Antigen test, a confirmed diagnosis of metastases, and number of patient visits. The first validation step (including 20% of known data) showed that the model had a precision of 0.91 to predict metachronous metastases, 0.93 to predict free of metastases. The pilot study confirmed that a higher prediction probability of >0.8 correlated with a higher chance that a patient has metachronous metastases. However, false positive predictions did occur. Conclusion We developed a M1 detection algorithm to signal patients with metachronous metastases after breast cancer treatment on a national level. With this algorithm we are one step closer to identify all patients with metachronous metastases and to reach a complete registration of all breast cancer metastases reusing existing data sources. After review of patients with a high prediction probability, the model will be re-trained using these data and updated data from DHD.
 Citation Format: Linda de Munck, Daan Knoors, Harm Buisman, Koen Scholman, Janneke Verloop, Sabine Siesling. M1 registration: Signaling patients who develop metachronous metastases after primary breast cancer [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2022 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2022 Dec 6-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(5 Suppl):Abstract nr P3-03-18.


Mass mobilization (MM) is an important driver of political change. While some citizens organize in favor of more democratic institutions, others take to the streets to support an authoritarian status quo. This article introduces measures of pro-democratic and pro-autocratic MM using expert assessments for 179 polities from 1900–2021. The data allow us to trace patterns in MM over time, across regions and regime types. We use this new data to systematically analyze the relationship between both types of mobilization and regime change. We confirm the findings of the literature on contentious democratic politics, and our analysis of autocratic mobilization allows us to make sense of the controversy in the literature on "bad actors" in civil society. We show that MM in favor of autocracy negatively affects democracy, making a case for specifying the goals of the actors involved in contentious politics to more precisely understand their impact.


Background and aims. Chronic pain is a major part of the disease burden in Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT) disease. Current pharmacotherapies to manage symptoms of CMT disease, particularly pain, are inadequate. This exploratory study examined the patient reported efficacy of medical cannabis among CMT patients. Methods. Participants (N = 56; 71.4% female; Age = 48.9, SD = 14.6; 48.5% CMT1) were recruited though the Hereditary Neuropathy Foundations Global Registry for Inherited Neuropathies. The online survey contained 52 multiple choice questions about demographics, medical cannabis use, symptomology, efficacy, and adverse effects. Results. When asked about how much relief they experience from using cannabis as a method of symptom relief, respondents reported an average of 69.6% (SEM + 2.6). Women were more likely to report experiencing pain than men (p < .05). Participants who perceived support from their providers were more likely to inform them of their cannabis use (p < .05). Interpretation. Patients reported that cannabis was effective to manage symptoms. More prospective and controlled research needs to be conducted to better serve and optimize the potential use of cannabis to treat CMT.


The present paper reports the effect of Band BN-doped C60 as catalysts for lowering the dehydrogenation energy in MXH4 clusters (M = Na and Li, X = Al and B) using density functional calculations. MXH4 interacts strongly with B-doped C60 and weakly with BN-doped C60 in comparison with pure C60 with binding energy 0.56–0.80 and 0.05–0.34 eV, respectively. The hydrogen release energy (EHRE) of MXH4 decreases sharply in the range of 38–49% when adsorbed on B-doped C60; however, with BN-doped C60 the decrease in the EHRE varies in the range of 6–20% as compared with pure MXH4 clusters. The hydrogen release energy of second hydrogen atom in MXH4 decreases sharply in the range of 1.7–41% for BN-doped C60 and decreases in the range of 0.2–11.3% for B-doped C60 as compared with pure MXH4 clusters. The results can be explained on the basis of charge transfer within MXH4 cluster and with the doped C60.


The present invention relates to a method of forming source / drain regions of the semiconductor device, the scope of the invention is first in the semiconductor substrate defined, separated by a having a gate electrode pattern for the provided with a gate electrode pattern for PMOS PMOS region and the NMOS NMOS region 1, an ion implantation barrier forming an insulating film, the method comprising: after exposing the NMOS region performing an ion implantation process, by performing the step of removing the strip process of the photoresist pattern, the photoresist, removing the pattern at the same time, the NMOS region of the first ion-implanted barrier removing a predetermined thickness of the insulating film to form a second ion implantation barrier insulating film, forming a PMOS pocket area for the semiconductor substrate of the PMOS region, a gate for a PMOS to which the spacer having electrodes after such that the PMOS region exposed in the resulting pattern is formed by performing an ion implantation process, pocket regions for the PMOS After such that the NMOS region exposed in the formed step and output the spacer is formed of a NMOS gate electrode patterns provided for forming a PMOS for the source / drain regions in the semiconductor substrate by performing an ion implantation process, for the NMOS LDD and a step of forming a region formed for NMOS source / drain regions in the semiconductor substrate. Source / drain region


This study was conducted to address the rock burst problem caused by serious stress concentrations in coal seams. Based on the principle of inducing agent corrosion affecting coal components to soften coal, different inducers were selected to study the desensitization effect of acid leaching induction on coal components. The microscopic behavior characteristics of coal under acid leaching were analyzed, and the qualitative and quantitative laws were obtained for different acid leaching times and microscopic behavior characteristics. The results show the following: (1) The mixed acid solution as an inducer has the effect of immersion, dissolution, and fracture on coal. During the reaction process, the internal pores of the coal expand, and the height of the external liquid decreases. The mixed acid solution had the best effect in terms of the removal of minerals in coal. (2) Under microscopic conditions, the internal crack width of the coal body expanded several times after mixed acid soaking; the difference in the unevenness before and after compression fracture was stable at 25–27%, and the mixed acid expanded the gap in the coal. (3) This practical study shows that the characterization changes of the mixed acid solution, injected into the borehole, combines the characteristics of the citric acid and phosphoric acid solution. The minerals around the borehole are dissolved, and the debris fuses with the solution. The liquid is viscous and forms a film on the surface of the solution. The mixed acid has a more obvious effect on the immersion and dissolution of coal.


This paper studies the necessity of the higher vocational education to be actively adapted to the social development, and introduces the main work and achievements in the construction of majors and courses and the training of abilities in order to be adapted to the demand of the local society and economic development in the recent years.


Existing resource scheduling methodologies are insufficient for controlling workflows for individual craft persons in project and workface planning. In practice, the workflow of an individual resource is assigned by a project manager in consideration of the resource supply and resource demand for particular time periods of the project duration. This research study proposes a crew-job allocation methodology to facilitate scheduling and resource management at both project and workface levels. We propose the use of a mathematical model to formulate and solve for the identified problem factoring in resource-time tradeoff options on individual activities. Then a crew-job interaction table is instrumental in visualizing the optimum resource-loaded schedule, which features the shortest project duration and the leanest resource supply under time-dependent resource constraints. Case studies are given to illustrate application of the proposed methodology. This technique potentially provides analytical decision support for not only making cost-effective resource-loaded schedules, but also facilitating the controllability of schedule execution.


Purpose To evaluate the results and complications of Des-cemet membrane endothelial keratoplasty (DMEK) in previously vitrectomized eyes. Design Retrospective study of 35 eyes that had undergone DMEK, due to Fuchs endothelial corneal dystrophy (FECD), at our department with a follow-up after 6 months postoperatively. We compared the intraoperative procedure, complications, and results of DMEK between 14 previously vitrectom-ized pseudophakic eyes (group 1) and a control group of 21 pseudophakic non-vitrectomized eyes (group 2)


Influenced by the individualism,the scholars in the fictions of the middle and late Ming Dynasty have strong narcissistic psychology.This is best expressed in aspects of showing off one's talent and self-enjoying games.The reasons for such psychology are the scholars' strong attention to their own value and image,and their strong desire for the spirit freedom.


Abstract. Flutter instability caused by follower loads has become a reality after the invention of the "freely-rotating wheel device" by Bigoni and Noselli, of the "flutter machine", and of the device to generate Reut-type loads. Further research has proven that flutter instability, Hopf bifurcation, dissipation instabilities, and the Ziegler paradox are all possible in conservative systems, thus disproving an erroneous belief continuing since at least 50 years. Finally, a new type of flutter instability has been addressed, generated by the "fusion" of two structures which are separately stable, but become unstable when joined together. The analysis of instability involves here the treatment of a discontinuity in the curvature of a constraint.


Abstract : Geiger counter and x-ray film techniques were used to study the crystalline structures of thin titanium films and coatings formed by vacuum deposition. An x-ray analysis of the various titanium films, was used to determine the effects of temperature and base metal orientation upon the structures of the deposited films. Results indicate that the degree of preferred orientation of the films can be altered by variations in the vacuum deposition technique. Attempts were made to correlate film orientation with adhesion and corrosion resistance properties.


Abstract. Sari EK, Mulyana A, Antoni M, Adriani D. 2022. Economic values of environmental services of three forest areas in South Ogan Komering Ulu District, South Sumatra, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 6180-6190. Forest provides environmental services in the form of provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. However, forest is often valued from its timber products, neglecting its broader role in delivering environmental services especially its role in maintaining ecological functions. Forests in South Ogan Komering Ulu District, South Sumatra, Indonesia have high ecological importance in delivering environmental services, yet these forests are pressured by clearing and conversion into plantations and agriculture. The study aimed to comprehensively calculate the total economic value of environmental services delivered by three forest areas in South Ogan Komering Ulu, namely Gunung Raya Wildlife Reserve, Saka Production Forest and Saka Limited Production Forest. We calculated total economic value by incorporating the use value, which consists of direct use value and indirect use value, and the non-use value, which consists of option value, existence value and bequest value. The results revealed that the total economic value of the three forest areas is IDR 863,868,883,037. In more detail, the use value consisted of direct use value with IDR 354,378,792,460 contributing to 41.02% and indirect use value with IDR 509,309,370,324 contributing to 58.96% to the total economic value. The non-use value is from the option value, the existence value and bequest value with IDR 97,449,120 (0.01%), IDR 65,512,153 (0.01%) and IDR 17,758,980 (0.0021), respectively. Our study implies that forest has tremendous ecological functions which provide a very high economic value and environmental services, where these functions are often neglected.


Abstract. Introduction. The determining share of bank resources is formed in the process of implementation of deposit operations, the productivity of which depends on the stability, sufficiency and liquidity of banks. They need to systematically maintain proper customer service, use the latest deposit products and investment requirements to expand their customer base. That is why the assessment of the bank's deposit operations, identifying their problems and areas for improvement is very important. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to study the state of deposit operations of domestic banks, identify their problems and improve. Results. The article examines the essence of deposits, which is regulated by various regulations. The classification of deposits on various grounds is considered. The focus is on such types of deposits as: time deposits and demand deposits, their disadvantages and advantages are presented. The analysis of deposit operations in Ukraine is carried out. In particular, the following was assessed during 2010-2020: dynamics of residents 'deposits, dynamics of non-residents' deposits, residents 'deposits by maturity, residents' deposits by types of currencies, corporate and retail deposits, distribution of retail deposits by groups of banks and value of time deposits by data of statistical reporting of banks of Ukraine. It is indicated that in the development of deposits over the past ten years there are both quantitative and qualitative trends that reflect certain aspects of banks' deposit policy. Currently, there is a situation when the amount of deposits increases by sectors of the economy, in terms of types of currencies and maturities and the cost of their use decreases. The main problems of the deposit operations market of Ukraine as well as the directions of improving the efficiency of banks' deposit policy are identified. Conclusions. The study shows that currently there is a situation where the amount of deposits increases by sectors of the economy, in terms of types of currencies and maturities, and the cost of their use decreases. Summarizing the practice of banks and the views of scientists, identified the main problems of the deposit market of Ukraine. The directions of improvement of banks 'deposit policy are also covered, namely, introduction and expansion of innovative banking services, restoration of depositors' confidence in banks, modernization of deposit policy on the basis of modern inquiries, increase of interest in placing funds on deposit accounts.


A simple gas chromatographic procedure for the determination of lenthionine, a flavor component in shiitake mushroom, was developed. The method involves the extraction of lenthionine with n-hexane from the soaked mushrooms and soak solution and subsequent determination by flame photometric detector gas chromatography. Lenthionine was formed by soaking dried mushroom in water and warming at neutral or alkaline pH, but a little amount of lenthionine was produced at acidic pH. The relation coefficient between the formation of lenthionine and the evolution of carbon disulfide in 20 samples was 0.507. It is assumed that lenthionine is formed by immersing the dried mushroom in water and gradually decomposes to carbon disulfide.


The purpose of this study was to review retrospectively recent results In 372 patients wlth thoracoabdomlnal aneurysm treated by a single surgeon and to Identify variables associated wlth early death, renal failure, and postoperative neurologlcal deficlts In patlents undergoing thoracoabdomlnal aortic resection. Between January 11, 1986 and March 1, 1994, 203 males (55%) and 169 females (45%) (mean age 65 years) were treated. Aortic dissection was present In 93 patients (25%). The extent of repair Included type I (137 patients), type II (95 patients), type III (73 patients), and type IV (67 patients). The overall 30‐day survival rate was 95% (352/372 patients). The overall risk of postoperative neurological deficit was 6.4% (24/372 patients). In 309 patients treated without atrlofemoral bypass, paraplegla or paraparesls developed in 23 (7.4%). In 63 patlents in whom atrlofemoral bypass was utilized, the overall risk of paraplegla or paraparesls was 1.6% (1/63). The use of atriofemoral bypass has had a favorable impact on postoperative neurological complications in selected patients. (J Card Surg 1994;9:638–647)


An inverse heat conduction problem(IHCP) arises when unknown heat fluxes and whole temperature field are to be found with temperature measurements of a few points. In this paper, observers are proposed as solution algorithm for the IHCP. A 1-dimensional heat transfer problem is modeled with modal analysis and state space equations. Position of the heat source is estimated through test heat inputs and the autocorrelation among a few of temperature data. The modified Bass-Gura method is used to design a state observer to estimate the intensity of heat source and the whole temperature field of a 1-dimensional body. To verify the reliability of this estimator, analytic solutions obtained from the proposed method are compared.


Abstract:Lamu community members used performances of taarab, a music genre popular in East Africa, to localize experiences of social, economic, and cultural change. Performers and audience members regarded their brand of taarab as distinct from elsewhere on the coast, basing such claims on a narrative of leisure-based performances and community entertainment, which they contrasted with the imagined fame and income of urban musicians. Lyrics intellectually grounded audiences' experiences of living in a dynamic and externally connected society into local moral discourses and community intimacies. Lamu taarab has undergone significant transformations in recent decades, reflecting shifting economic structures, audience preferences, and patterns of work and leisure. Taken together, this article underscores the regional, national, and global processes that shaped local identity and cosmopolitanism.


As social websites get more and more users across internet, Cross Site Scripting is becoming one of the major problems, which results in serious consequences, such as theft of some personal trusted data and information. This Paper describes the possibilities of securing web applications on client side as well as on server side. The attacks are the worst because they are easy to make but very tough to be traced. Cross-Site Scripting is one of the major attacks of many Web based Applications. Web browsers support the execution of Malicious JavaScript and Attacker access the system feature maliciously to violate the security such as confidentiality. Networking sites (i.e. social network) provide the attacker with flexibility to put there malicious code into the web applications. Detecting these malicious script codes is very tough for client side; the detection can be done by using detection tools both at client end and server end as well. Our approach is to minimize theft space for such unlawful contents by using QualysGuard (WAS) tool, so to minimize the vulnerabilities to cause any harm to web applications. This paper will help us to overcome from this problem and elaborates on the possibilities to reduce this problem of Cross-Site Scripting attack to some extent. Keywords— XSS Cross Site Scripting,DOM Document Object Model, HTML Hypertext Markup Language, HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol, IDS Intrusion Detection System, URL Uniform Resource Locator, WAS Web Application Scanning


The philosophy of religion and the quest for spiritual truth preoccupied Albert Einstein - so much that it has been sadi "one might suspect he was a disguised theologion". Nevertheless, the literature on the life and work of Einstein, extensive as it is, does not provide an adequate account of his religious conception and sentiments. Only fragmentarily known, Einstein's ideas about religion have been often distorted both by atheists and by religious groups eager to claim him as one of their own. But what exactly was Einstein's religious credo? In this book, the distinguished physicist and philosopher Max Jammer offers an answer to this question.


Consideration subject in article are vacuum cycles of microgas turbine plants (MGTP) for the purpose of studying of their profitability and perspectives of use for heatpower supply of local objects. Vacuum MGTP of a simple cycle and with warmth regeneration is investigated. Optimum parameters of cycles – ratio of turbine expansion and regeneration ratio are found. It is established that profitability of MGTP with regeneration of warmth is higher in comparison with MGTP of a simple cycle almost twice, specific power decreases approximately by 1,35 times. By virtue of profitability and smaller values of compressor pressure ratio increase of the microturbine it is reasonable to apply in MGTP of a vacuum cycle with warmth regeneration.


By a comparison on the Japanese phonetic-reading and Chinese mediaeval time tone,discovering that intense corresponding relationship existed in the mutual aspect.With a neat correspondence existed in Katakana and mediaeval initial consonant,the phenomenon proved ubiquitous in the Japanese linguistic tradition and evolution that lasting for centuries.


The flow characteristics of the two-phase system —white mineral oil and water—were examined in a horizontal, smooth, one-inch pipe. Flow conditions were investigated over a range of input oil-water volume ratios from 0.1 to 10 at thirteen superficial water velocities ranging from 0.116 ft./sec. to 3.55 ft./sec. A theoretical analysis of the laminar flow of two immiscible liquids between wide parallel plates yielded a modified parallel plate friction factor based on the water properties and the superficial water velocity. It was evaluated for a number of input oil-water volume ratios and plotted against the superficial water velocity. The experimental pressure drop data that were obtained were correlated using a modified Fanning friction factor which was evaluated for the range of input ratios studied and correlated with the superfical water velocity. A flow pattern correlation was obtained for visually observed types of flow—bubble, stratified and mixed—and it was shown that these patterns occurred in laminar, transitional or turbulent conditions of flow. The theoretical analysis for flow between wide parallel plates was adapted to obtain hold-up relationships, and a plot of the hold-up ratio HR (the input divided by the in situ oil-water volume ratio) versus the input oil-water ratio was constructed. This plot indicated that in the laminar region of flow the hold-up was not dependent on the superficial water velocity but was only a function of liquid viscosity and input ratio. Experimental results for flow in the pipe conformed with this prediction while indicating that in the turbulent region superficial water velocity was also a factor.


Functionalized graphene oxide modified polysebacic anhydride composites were synthesized by Steglich esterification and characterized by various techniques such as Fourier transform-infrared spectrometry, differential scanning calorimetry, gel permeation chromatography, X-ray powder diffraction, dynamic light scattering, and scanning electron microscopy. In the release study using these composites, the release kinetics of drug loaded composites were studied in phosphate buffer saline, when the pH value was 7.4, at 37 °C using levofloxacin as a model antibacterial drug. In contrast to the pure polysebacic anhydride, different feeding ratio of graphene oxide modified polysebacic anhydride provides much longer drug release duration, and the drug release duration could be controlled by the molecular weight of the composites. In addition, the 2% graphene oxide modified polysebacic anhydride (Mw = 5000 D) exhibits a nearly perfect linear release behavior with an extended release time as long as 80 days, and the effective drug release amount exceeding 95%. The results of XRD indicated that the prepared graphene oxide contains adsorbing water, and it led to an obvious decrease in the molecular weight of polysebacic anhydride grafted on graphene oxide. This has affected the release behaviors to a certain extent. High molecular weight polysebacic anhydride grafted on dried graphene oxide and their release behaviors will be provided in our future work.


After the retofic made on the burner,it realized stable combustion under low land and increased the peak load regulation performence of the boiler.By the way,oil used for ignition was also saved.Enviromental benifct are obrious.


Land tenure has been a major issue in Ghana. Land is an important asset that improves the livelihoods of poorer groups in every society, the world over. Farmer livelihood decisions as regards cropping strategies and input are strongly influenced by land tenure arrangements. Efforts by investors particularly migrants who need land to invest are hampered by the tenurial arrangements prevailing in our societies as is the case of Wenchi traditional area. Rights to land by these migrants are limited as the indigenous Bono are not willing to lease land for longer periods for long term investment purposes. They argue that migrant farmers from north-west of Ghana do not usually put the land to efficient use for it to maintain some level of nutrients. Another argument is that migrant farmers always try to cheat them on their own land by hiding some of the produce from their landlords. The migrants also argue that once they are not allowed to take greater percentage of farm produce from the farm, it would not be economical for them to manage the land the way their landlords want them to do. They argue further that cost of input on the farms is borne by them for only the landlords to get almost the same benefits as them (under the Abunu). Therefore, the use of land breeds tension between the two parties. A case study approach using Dagara migrant farmers from north western Ghana who migrate to Bono area in search of farm lands was used.An extensive literature review was also used in the methodology. The issues that emanated from the findings indicated that different communities and different people have their own ways of tenurial arrangements that result in conflicts most often. The conclusions drawn from the analysis show that conflict is pervasive due to disagreements over share of produce. It is recommended that efforts should be made by both parties to ensure that appropriate measures are put in place for efficient and appropriate land use by integrating customary and statutory policies.


The National Grid in the U.K. proposed the firm frequency response (FFR) documents on recent developments regarding tendering options for active balancing mechanism units, specifically for batteries. However, frequent bipolar converting and instantaneous high power demand challenge battery lifetime and operation cost in the FFR. Combining a battery with a supercapacitor (SC) has several advantages, but the system cost may rise. Targeting the FFR service, this article presents a new variable voltage control within a semiactive battery SC hybrid scheme. In the proposed hybrid energy storage system, the dc bus voltage is controllable to improve the SC use ratio while reducing the converter's cost. A power management strategy integrating fuzzy logic with dynamic filtering method is proposed benefiting in broadening the filtering flexibility while reducing battery degradation. In addition, both the long-term simulations and scaled-down experiments are implemented to verify the proposed topology with the control strategy and power management by quantitative comparisons of battery degradations and SC use ratios.


Physiological wear and tear causes bone microdamage at several hierarchical levels, and these have different biological consequences. Bone remodeling is widely held to be the mechanism by which bone microdamage is repaired. However, recent studies showed that unlike typical linear microcracks, small crack damage, the clusters of submicron‐sized matrix cracks also known as diffuse damage (Dif.Dx), does not activate remodeling. Thus, the fate of diffuse damage in vivo is not known. To examine this, we induced selectively Dif.Dx in rat ulnae in vivo by using end‐load ulnar bending creep model. Changes in damage content were assessed by histomorphometry and mechanical testing immediately after loading (ie, acute loaded) or at 14 days after damage induction (ie, survival ulnae). Dif.Dx area was markedly reduced over the 14‐day survival period after loading (p < 0.02). We did not observe any intracortical resorption, and there was no increase in cortical bone area in survival ulnae. The reduction in whole bone stiffness in acute loaded ulnae was restored to baseline levels in survival ulnae (p > 0.6). Microindentation studies showed that Dif.Dx caused a highly localized reduction in elastic modulus in diffuse damage regions of the ulnar cortex. Moduli in these previously damaged bone areas were restored to control values by 14 days after loading. Our current findings indicate that small crack damage in bone can be repaired without bone remodeling, and they suggest that alternative repair mechanisms exist in bone to deal with submicron‐sized matrix cracks. Those mechanisms are currently unknown and further investigations are needed to elucidate the mechanisms by which this direct repair occurs. © 2014 American Society for Bone and Mineral Research


At Swinburne University of Technology, the Faculty of Engineering and Industrial Sciences (FEIS) has charged the Engineering and Science Education Research (ESER) group with facilitating change to increase the level of engineering education research within FEIS. This paper reports on the first of a two-stage project, with the research question: How can the barriers to academic staff undertaking engineering education research be usefully conceived and framed to assist academics (and those supporting them) to overcome those barriers? Data was collected using critical reflection and dialogue in reference to the literature. Our findings suggest that barriers can at times be tacit, murky and unnamed—effectively hidden. This paper argues that to support staff to engage in education research and scholarship there is a need to understand and address not only institutional barriers, but also underlying, hidden barriers. This paper proposes an approach to such barriers and describes future research.


Clinics and pathology Disease Myeloid disorders: Myelodysplastic syndrome ( MDS ) type refractory anemia (RA) (Wlodarska et al., 1995) and refractory anemia with excess blasts (RAEB) (Struski et al., 2008). Philadelphia chromosome positive chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) in transformation (Aguiar et al., 1997). Etiology Only 3 cases so far; 77-year old male (MDS-RA) and 71-year old female (MDS-RAEB). No data available on a case of CML. Prognosis Unknown so far.


This paper analyzes the relationship between stock index futures markets and stock markets from three aspects,namely market structure,trade execution efficiency and information diffusion.The establishment of stock index futures markets enhances the markets stability by changing the market structure from one-track to two-track,improves the efficiency of trade execution via the adoption of future trading system,and promotes the diffusion of information through the future prices which reveal more information.As a whole,Stock Index Future is absolute a kind of risk management instrument,suitable to work well during the period of financial crisis,and has been an important part of modern capital market and a kind of fundamental and interior stability system.


To understand and study accurately the growing complexity of battlefield electromagnetic environment,viewpoints and methods of system theories are applied to analyze and research battlefield electromagnetic environment.The concepts and constituent of battlefield electromagnetic environment are summarized and the structure,hierarchy ranks and unity prominence property of battlefield electromagnetic environment are analyzed based on a systematic analysis and thinking from the literature on electromagnetic environment.Valuable ideas and viewpoints are presented for analyzing and studying battlefield electromagnetic environment scientifically.


. Any information system requires the funds reservation for the elimination of the consequences of information security incidents in the event of their occurrence. To estimate the amount of damage, we used multi-modal probability densities distribution laws for the damage in a single information security incident, while the information security incidents are considered as Poisson flow events. The paper defines the relationships between the intensity of information security events, the characteristics of the


Nowadays, we live in a society focused on mobile devices. The development of mobile technologies is opening important perspectives in the field of marketing. In order to make marketers adopt the best strategies, it is very important to analyse and understand the different factors that influence consumers' acceptance of mobile technologies for online shopping. The aim of this paper is to understand which technological, psychological and/or social factors encourage people to accept mobile commerce. This paper particularly analyses the weight of social influence on the intention to use mobile technologies for shopping purposes. Two integrated methods: indepth interviews and Open Space Technology have been carried out to identify the main factors that influence the acceptance of shopping using mobile technologies and to validate a new model. Starting from the results of the qualitative analysis, we propose a new theoretical acceptance model based on the circularity of social influence: the Mobile Commerce Acceptance Model (M-CAM).


Abstract : The prosecution of war has always been tempered by constraints, both real and artificial. These constraints are described by Clausewitz as the factors which prevent the conduct of absolute war. These factors include moral and professional codes of conduct many of which have been codified through the Geneva and Hague Conventions, International Humanitarian Law, military doctrine and others to establish expectations for behavior. It is the adherence to these norms or expectations that allow belligerents to argue the legitimacy of their actions and to maintain international and domestic popular support. Among these expectations is the treatment of civilians and noncombatants. Attacks against the civilian population have been a part of warfare since its inception, from siege craft in antiquity through strategic bombing to the modern concept of information warfare, the civilian populace has paid a heavy price for it's defense. Today the classification and legitimate targeting of civilians and noncombatants through the use of lethal and non-lethal fires is critical for any military operation, which has as it's operational or strategic objectives/aims the separation of civilian leadership or the military from the popular (civilian) support of the people. It is also critical in a time when the destruction of key military infrastructure (fuel, power generation, communications) has first, second and third order effects that ripple through the civilian populace. Finally, this classification, targeting and the impact of collateral damage is critical in a period when technology creates expectations which when failed to be met, threaten international legitimacy and often popular support within fragile coalitions.


Based on the three decade (1971~2000) meteorological data of the farming pastoral ecotone in the North of Mount Yin of Inner Mongolia, With the aid of theory of random statistics ,This paper made a preliminary study on the corelationship between sand storm and rainfall?ground temperature?high wind in the north of Mount Yin of Inner Mongolia ,At the same time, it also made a preliminary analysis on the corelationship between the genesis of sand storm weather and nature climate.The result reveal: the simultaneous appearance and common action of dryness?rapid rise of ground temperature and high wind is the main reason leading to sandstorms weather in farming pastoral ecotone of the north side of the Mount Yin.Monthly mean amounts of rainfall of April and May amounts to 11.2 percent of the annual mean rainfall ;monthly mean high wind days comes up to 41.8 percent of the annual mean days of high wind in the same period; besides ,the raried range of ground temperature is 8.5℃ in this period(April to May) .At the same time , in this period sandstorm days comes up to 85.7 percent of the annual mean days of sandstorms .Days of sandstorms represents a direct corelationship with high wind days and ground temperature during in the same period ,and a inverse corelationship with the amounts of rainfall.this paper through discuss the contents mentioned above ,in order to reveal the formation and varied regulation of sand storm.


Experiments of gas explosion dissemination were carried out in the large experimental pipeline, and analysis of gas explosion pressure peak, flame velocity and exposure time is made. It indicates that the pressure peak near the explosive source is the maximum value of the whole pipeline when there is no detonation occurring. The explosion peak pressure increases firstly and then decreases, and then gradually rises again in the propagation along the pipeline; and the peak is firstly presented near the outlet. The velocity of flame propagation increases with a faster rate of acceleration in the initial explosion, and increases gradually with the propagation distance. The gas concentration has a significant impact on explosion peak pressure, velocity and time of flame propagation.


Sentimental, bawdy, and personal--these were the songs working cowboys sang for fun. Guy Logsdon's field collection of the cowboy is truthful and vastly entertaining. Illustrated.


Glycogen synthase kinase‐3β (GSK‐3β) is a target enzyme considered for the treatment of multiple human diseases, from neurodegenerative pathologies to viral infections and cancers. Numerous inhibitors of GSK‐3β have been discovered but thus far only a few have reached clinical trials and only one drug, tideglusib (1), has been registered. Natural products targeting GSK‐3β have been identified, including the two anticancer limonoids obacunone (5) and gedunin (4), both presenting a furyl‐δ‐lactone core. To help identifying novel GSK‐3β ligands, we have performed a molecular docking study with 15 complementary natural products bearing a furyl‐δ‐lactone unit (such as limonin (6) and kihadanins A (8) and B (9)) or a closely related structure (such as cedrelone (10) and nimbolide (11)). The formation of GSK‐3β‐binding complexes for those natural products was compared to reference GSK‐3β ATP‐competitive inhibitors LY2090314 (3) and AR‐A014418 (2). Our in silico analysis led to the identification of two new GSK‐3β‐binding natural products: kihadanin B (9) and nomilin (7). The latter surpassed the reference compounds in terms of calculated empirical energy of interaction (ΔE). Nomilin (7) can possibly bind to the active site of GSK‐3β, notably via the furyl‐δ‐lactone core and its 1‐acetyl group, implicated in the protein interaction. Compound structure‐binding relationships are discussed. The study should help the discovery of novel natural products targeting GSK‐3β.


This paper reviews recent human factors research studies conducted in the Aerospace Human Factors Research Division at NASA Ames Research Center on superimposed symbology and head-up displays (HUDs). We first identify various performance problems that have been associated with HUD use. Results of experiments that suggest an attentional account of these problems are described. A design solution involving the concept of `scene-linked` HUDs is developed, and an experiment testing the design solution is discussed. 24 refs., 5 figs.


Objective
To assess the safety and influence of the stents extended into inferior vena cava in patients with non-thrombotic iliac vein lesions (NIVLs) on the bilateral iliac vein blood flow.

Methods
We retrospectively reviewed data from July 2008 to June 2017 in 197 patients with NIVLs who underwent iliac vein stenting and complete follow-up was obtained at our institution.Of these patients, stents extended into IVC more than 10 mm in 141 cases, less than 5 mm in 22 cases, and 34 cases were between 5 and 10 mm.Restenosis and thrombosis of bilateral iliac vein and patency of these stents were assessed in the follow-up.The count data were expressed by percentage (%), and the sample comparison rate was analyzed by Fisher exact test formula.The measurement data were first tested for normal distribution and homogeneity of variance, and then corrected t test.

Results
The two hundred and five iliac vein stents were placed in 197 patients. During a mean follow-up of 58.7 months (6 to 98 months), there were no thrombosis occurred in the contralateral iliac vein, 6 patients suffered restenosis or new thrombosis in the stents, the incidence between stenting positions less than 5 mm (13.6%, 3/22) and those more than 5 mm (3.43%, 6/175) was sighificantly different (P<0.001), and 5 of 6 patients had a good patency after endovascular therapy. During the fllow-up, the primary and assisted-primary patency rates were 97.0% and 99.5%.

Conclusions
From these data, it appears that there is a very high patency rates of the stenting treatment for the NIVLs, and it is safe for the stents extended into the IVC, stenting across the iliocaval confluence can result in a small number of new contralateral thromboses. Moreover, the risk of stents restenosis or occlusion is high when stents are not extended into IVC.

Key words:
Iliac vein; Stent; Vein thrombosis; Interventional therapy


Herpes virus 2 (HHV-2) is the main cause of genital herpes, which is the cause of one of the most prevalent sexually transmitted infections in the world. In prison populations, sexually transmitted infections (STIs) are a public health problem, since this population is directly exposed to the risks of infection and transmission of several STIs due to behaviors that facilitate exposure to various pathogens. The present study aimed to estimate the prevalence and associated risk factors of HHV2 in a prison population deprived of freedom in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul. Serum samples were collected from January to March 2013 and collected from sources (questionnaire), structured with socio-demographic and behavioral data, the data were collected after consent of the participants. In total, 872 serum samples, 732 males and 140 females, were tested for IgG antibodies. Among the samples tested, 43.1% (375/872) presented anti-HHV2 IgG, demonstrating a high prevalence when compared to the data in the general population and to other studies in the prison population worldwide. Through statistical analysis, the risk behaviors associated with the increased prevalence of HHV-2 were evaluated The analysis of the results showed that the prevalence of HHV-2 was higher in women (68%) than in men (37%) and the chance of women being seroprevalent was four times higher than in men (CI 2.53-7.16). The increase of the age group was associated to the increase of the seroprevalence, since the greater the age the longer the exposure time. A multivariate analysis was performed by sex, the increase of the age group, and already having some sexually transmitted disease was associated with an increase in the prevalence of HHV-2 in the female sex, in which there is concern about the congenital transmission of HHV-2, in women of childbearing age, while increasing age, lower scholarity, occasional use of condoms (condoms) and having had HIV, syphilis or hepatitis were associated with males. This study was important to collect data on HHV-2 seroprevalence in the prison population, and to investigate the risk behaviors that are most associated with HHV-2. In addition, contribute with data relevant to the implementation of prevention and control of STIs in prison population.


BACKGROUND
The discovery of Sodium-Glucose co-transporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors had rewritten the treatment of diabetes mellitus with an impressive fall in incidence of death and associated complications.

INTRODUCTION
The SGLT2 inhibitors by inhibiting the SGLT2 in the proximal nephron, helps in reducing the reabsorption of approximately 90% of the filtered glucose and increased urinary glucose excretion (UGE).

METHOD
The literature related to SGLT2 inhibitors has been thoroughly explored from various available public domains and reviewed extensively for this article. Detailed and updated information related to SGLT2 inhibitors with a major focus on the recently approved Ertuglifolzin is structured in this review.

RESULT
Present review is an effort in understanding the management of diabetes mellitus over the past few decades with a special focus on role of SGLT2 receptor in the causes of and therapeutic and preventive strategies for diabetes mellitus. Pragmatic placement of the currently available Canagliflozin, Dapagliflozin, and Empagliflozin as oral anti-diabetic agents has been done. Well accommodated stereochemistry and a high docking score of Ertugliflozin in ligand receptor simulation studies attributes to its high potency.

CONCLUSION
This review highlights the unique mechanism of SGLT2 Inhibitors coupled with pleiotropic benefits on weight and blood pressure, which make it an attractive choice of therapy to diabetic patients, not controlled by other medications.


The technique of carrier phase-shift control is employed by CRH four-quardrant inverter to eliminate ultraharmonics on the side of traction grid. In this paper, this technique is assessed theoretically over four-quardrant pulse rectifier. According to the example of Japanese 300# EMU phase shift and the assessment of the test data from an EMU type in China, carrier phase shift proved effective and practical in suppressing EMU from injecting harmonic in the grid side.


The objective of this article is to bring together geographic, marketing and economic perspectives to examine how far infrastructure development can offset adverse national geographies in aiding economic development and involvement in the global economy. We use LISREL structural equation modelling to investigate relationships between geography, infrastructure, economic development and country's involvement in trade and foreign direct investment. Results identify key geographic factors affecting global market involvement and key infrastructures (electricity production, telephone lines and container facilities at ports) facilitating economic development and international participation.


The supervision and administration on farm products concerts the national development and the stability and the country.Therefore,it is imperative to establish a public supervision system in this area.This article presents the significance of establishing such a system,the present state of the system establishment in Liaoning province,and the issues to be dealt with.Consequently,the author puts forward correspondent measures to address these problems.


I will discuss our recent nanoscale nonlinear optic experiments (e.g., quantum emitters, wavelength converters, ultrafast lasers) with one-dimensional (e.g., carbon nanotubes), two-dimensional (e.g., graphene, MoS2, phosphorene) nanomaterials and their hybrid structures (e.g., heterostructures, plasmonic structures, silicon/fibre integrated structures).


Benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) is nonmalignant overgrowth of the prostate gland. Symptoms can be of an obstructive or irritative nature and include: weak stream, hesitancy, urinary frequency, urgency, nocturia (nighttime urination), incomplete emptying, dribbling, overflow or urge incontinence, and even complete inability to urinate. The diagnosis is based primarily on digital rectal examination and symptoms. Sometimes cystoscopy, Urodynamics, or other imaging studies may be needed. Treatment options include observation, 5α-reductase inhibitors, α-blockers, minimally invasive thermal therapies and surgery.


Abstract Open spaces are considered important assets for urban inhabitants. The acoustic quality in these open spaces can enhance the visitors' experience and enjoyment. This study attempts to characterize the acoustic environment of urban open spaces in Hong Kong and unravel how visitors evaluate the acoustic environment. The study selected 25 urban open spaces of various sizes and types in six districts with different surrounding land-uses and development history. At these study sites, a total of 1610 visitors were successfully interviewed and 210 sound recordings were taken. Analysis of the sound recordings shows that the sound level and sound sources in the selected open spaces vary with time and place. Because of the dense road network and proximity of urban open spaces to the roadways in Hong Kong, traffic noise is the dominant sound source. Notwithstanding, human voice and sounds from birds and fountain are also commonly heard. Among these sound sources, visitors generally prefer bird songs and water sound to other sources. The survey results also show that the acoustic quality perceived by the visitors is only weakly related to the overall sound level and determined more by the presence or absence of wanted sound. The finding highlights the importance of context in the visitors' subjective evaluation of the acoustic quality which has implications on soundscape design of urban open spaces.


Nowadays,more and more companies are building a ODS operational data storage system to meet the needs of its strategic decision-making. ETL tools can make use of heterogeneous data sources in the data extraction and conversion operations,and its load to the ODS,the data based on the enterprise,the uniform application of decision analysis to provide high-quality data. Therefore,to build an efficient ETL platform,in the ODS system has very important significance.


Aims and objectives: The incidence of primary spontaneous pneumothorax (PSP) is 6-7/100000 among all population. Although its etiology is unknown, it is thought to be occurring due to rupturation of bullae or bleb formations localized in apex of lung of tall and thin young adults. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relation between puberty growth and PSP. Methods: The records of 246 patients who were treated for PSP between 2013-2015 were analyzed. A questionnaire designed by pediatric endocrinology specialists about puberty was performed to 80 patients who answered the recall for an outpatient control. Data about pubertal development and rate was collected. Results: The mean of age and length of patients (74 male, 6 female) were 26.05 ± 7.2 years (range 17 to 34 years) and 179.73 ± 7.2 cm (range, 165 to 197 cm), respectively. Although few number of female patients, their mean age of menarch was 14.50 years and it was higher than the mean age of menarch of Turkish females (12.20 years). The mean age of facial hair shaving of males was 16.81 ± 1.7 years (range, 13 to 22 years) and it was higher than the mean age, 14.9 years, that was reported for US population. After exclusion of females and smokers, the means of length and age of facial hair growing of 33 patients, were 181.09 cm and 16.76 years respectively. Twenty patients in this group described a rapid growth in length after age of 16 years compared to the others at the same age. Conclusions: In this study, it had been seen that the mean puberty age of PSP patients was higher than normal population and their pubertal growth attack was occured in a shorter period. We think that these factors effect the maturation of lung and cause to PSP.


Transmitter might have available power surplus is enabled to retransmit a frame previously sent including autonomously same data. The transmitter transmits the initial frame to the base transceiver station (BTS), immediately retransmit the same frame regardless of the ACK / NAK transmission from the BTS. Its retransmission are accumulated at the receiver, a sufficient amount of the frame is decoded after transmission. After receiving the last retransmitted frame, BTS sends an ACK / NAK to the transmitter, it is accepted.


Provided is a photocatalyst functional film comprisRD: an accumulated structure of a substrate layer, a barrier layer and a photocatalyst layer, wherein the barrier layer is an amorphous TiO2 film and the photocatalyst layer is an amorphous TiO2 film; and a visible light active photocatalyst particle formed on the surface of the amorphous TiO2 film. In addition, provided is a method for manufacturing a photocatalyst functional film comprising the steps of: obtaining a TiO2 amorphous sol by means of dehydrating and dealcoholizing reactions by adding an alcohol solvent and an acid to a titanium precursor; forming a barrier layer by applying and drying the TiO2 amorphous sol on a substrate; and forming a photocatalyst layer by applying and drying, on the barrier layer, a composition formed by mixing the TiO2 amorphous sol with a visible light active photocatalyst particle.


Background. Oboe as a concert instrument has passed a rather long path of evolution, on which it has been improved according the parameters of its design, the technique of virtuoso play and the requests of composer writing. The concentrate of universal capabilities of the soloing (concerting) oboe is the concerto genre, in which all these parameters are combined in an integral entire. The objective of this article is to sequentially consider the components of the concerting oboe "image", such as timbre and articulation-and-stroke technique, including typical and latestmethods of writing and playing. The methodology of researching based on the set of such approaches to the phenomenon under study as historical-and-genetic, deductive, system-and-structural. Results. Based on the consideration of the concerting principle in its historical and stylistic dynamics, the article reveals the specifications of timbre-and-technical means characterized the oboe in various genre forms of the concert. The data on the specifics of the oboe effects found in the concert music for this instrument are also systematized. The latest methods of playing are characterized, and a refined classification of multiphonics used in modern oboe practice is proposed. It is noted that the concept of concerting style first appeared in the Baroque era, when instruments and voices in the new homophonic practice began to reach the level of soloing. At the same time, the principles of concerting manner as a dialogue in various forms of its implementation were formed, among which the form of group or collective concerting represented by the genre of concerto grosso was primary in instrumental music. Within this form, the concerting oboe stands out, and for a long time it participated in a trio of soloists who performed in this genre as concertino opposing to grosso – the mass of the rest of the orchestra. The article identifies the main specific features of the timbre and technique associated with the oboe design (double reed) and the performer's breathing (gradual exhalation). Particular attention is paid to the oboe effects technique, as well as a set of means for sound-producing and sound-leading characterized this instrument in its comparison with others belonging to the same family (wood winds) or to others (bowed string, brass instruments). On this basis, a description of the performing means of expressiveness of the oboe is proposed, including not only the specific (timbre-and-acoustic), but also the universal components that the oboe takes over from others instruments playing with him in an ensemble or an orchestra. In particular, among such there is the vibrato technique, which came to the oboe practice from the string instruments, as well as the two main groups of effects – connected (legato and its types), divided (staccato, spiccato, martele) and the special methods of playing adapted "for the oboe", in particular, pizzicato and "slap". (For an oboe, the "slap" is a sharp tongue strike on the reed with a simultaneous key strike or without it, as well as a key strike without blowing air in). Among the techniques that have the specific forms of reproduction on the oboe, the article discusses tremolo of different interval volumes, to which a special fingering is adjusted; frullato (the "oral" kind with using of the "r" sound like in a trumpet, and "overtone" kind producing by a performer's throat); glissando, existing on the oboe in two versions, labial and finger. As examples of the latest methods of playing specified to the concerting oboe practice, those are discussed that contribute to the timbre re-coloring of the same sound or the sound set that significantly expands the sound-and-color capabilities of the instrument, and promotes to the process of its further universalization. These, for example, are bisbigliando, the technique that came from the harp practice, when an oboist gets the same sound in different ways; variety kinds of multiphonics; smorzato (a slow fluctuation of sound volume), oscillato (a similar change in pitch). Also the technique of doubletone is mentioned, when the oboist sings along with playing, which allows to produce consonances (intervals and even chords) on the instrument. Conclusions. The results of the research confirm the fact that the solo concerting oboe was formed in the process of a long historical and stylistic evolution, which is reflected in the genre of concerto for oboe, where the timbre-and-technical capabilities of the instrument are most complete. The complex of technique effects as the component of musical expressiveness was especially importance in formation of the cumulative sound image of the "universal" oboe. Thus, the concerting oboe was formed in line with the general processes of the development of musical thinking, which was connected with the practice of concert style, the principle of concerting as a musical and aesthetic category. Reflecting in different genre forms the development of the concert music, collective and solo, the oboe "sound image" has acquired by now the quality of genuine universalism, while retaining its specificity, connected with the features of its performing factor. The prospects for further study of the stated topic are seen, firstly, in the concretization of the stylistics of the concert oboe on examples of works of the concert genre; it will be necessary to build a certain logic of selection of material, which should not only illustrate the historical process, but also contain characteristics of individual creative embodiments of the "image" of the oboe by composers and performers. Secondly, they may be connected with the possibilities of projection in the proposed research methodology onto the concert music for others instruments.


Enhancement of photoluminescence (PL) from semiconducting two dimensional (2D), is crucially important for nanophotonic and nanoelectronic applications. However, low refractive index of strongly confined 2D materials, i.e. molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) and boron nitride (BN) results in poor light‐matter interactions. Heterostructuring with plasmonic supported metallic nanostructures has been reported as a potential method to boost photo‐activity of 2D materials. Here, we developed a PL enhancement strategy by perforating 2D materials with hole‐arrays followed by embedding silver nanostructures inside them. Over 30‐times enhancement of the photoluminescence from monolayer molybdenum disulphide (MoS2) and two orders of magnitude enhancement from hexagonal boron nitride (h‐BN), both synthesized by chemical vapour deposition (CVD), were achieved by embedding engineered plasmonic nano‐disc inside perforated flakes. Furthermore, we observed that use of silver dimer array, as opposed to monomer array, lead to stronger enhancements due to their superior collective optical modes in planar surface plasmon resonance (SPR). Those observations were confirmed by simulation results which demonstrated the generation of confined in‐plane dipolar resonance at metal‐substrate interface. This strategy will certainly pave the way toward providing general protocol for further improvement of photoluminescence of 2D materials. M P h il T h e is P re se n ttio n D e p artm e n t o f C h e m ic al an d B io lo ic al E n in e e in g


In this paper, we present a combinatorial approach to the opposite 2-variable bi-free partial $S$-transforms where the opposite multiplication is used on the right. In addition, extensions of this partial $S$-transforms to the conditional bi-free and operator-valued bi-free settings are discussed.


Objective To summarize the experience of heterogeneous skin to increase the surgical accuracy in Superficial malignant tumor resection during Special circumstances.Methods Wounds are covered by the heterogeneous skin after tumor extended resection,waiting for the results of pathological examination.If it is confirmed tumor excision,the wounds are repaired by skin graft or flap,if there is still residual tumor,extended resection is needed,following by skin graft or flap to repair.Results 5 cases still need extended resection,accounted for 15% of the total number of cases.Moreover,blind extended resection is avoided in other 27 cases while the results of pathological examination is doubted.Conclusion This method can improve the accuracy of the treatment


A cross-sectional study was conducted in Heilongjiang in a representative sample of 2 875Chinese adults aged from 20 to 74 years. Questionnaire was conducted. Their height, weight, waist circumference,blood pressure, blood glucose, serum insulin, lipids, and other indexes were determined. The criterion of International Diabetes Federation was applied for metabolic syndrome (MS) diagnosis. The results showed that the preliminary prevalence rate of MS was 19.34% and the age-adjusted prevalence rate of MS was 21.92% ( male 20.41% , female 23.11% ). The prevalence rate of MS increased with the age. The prevalence rate in the urban area was higher than that in the town and rural area ( both P < 0.05 ). The result of multiple factor logistic regression analysis showed that body fat content, insulin resistance, age, residential difference, drinking habit,daily staple food quantity, urine albumin, education, family history of obesity, and gender were related with MS.

Key words:
Metabolic syndrome;  Prevalence;  Epidemiology;  Risk factors


Software exploitation detection remains unresolved problem. Software exploits that target known and unknown vulnerabilities are constantly used in attacks. Signature-based detection techniques are limited to known exploits and susceptible to circumvention. Current research on the use of Machine Learning (ML) for software exploitation detection is limited in quantity and use cases. Existing research lacks the use of public datasets, discussions of feature importance, and elaboration of parameters that affect data preparation and subsequently model performance. This paper presents ML models based on different ensemble algorithms to detect software exploitation using runtime traces. We focus on buffer overflow vulnerabilities in user-space applications within Windows Operating Systems (OS), given the prevalence of the type of vulnerability and the OS. We utilized a publicly available raw dataset of 11 Windows applications under exploitation. Multiple distinct models (based on Random Forest and XGBoost) are created and tested. Testing was performed several times using various aggregation parameters and different testing applications. Our results demonstrate that we can achieve up to 100% recall with 0% false positive rate. We report on the different parameters that must be addressed to curate runtime traces and demonstrate their impact on the performance of the ML models. We demonstrate that the proper training of models on a subset of exploitation techniques enables the model to detect techniques never seen before, such as return-oriented programming. Finally, we conclude with a discussion of the important features that had the highest impact on each of the models, along with the key takeaways.


Recently, Adaptive Random Testing through Iterative Partitioning (IP-ART) has been proposed as a random testing method that is more effective than pure Random Testing. Besides this, it is supposed to be equally effective as very good random testing techniques, namely Distance-Based Adaptive Random Testing and Restricted Random Testing, while only having between linear and quadratic runtime. In the present paper, it is investigated what influence the ratio of width and height of a rectangular input domain has on the effectiveness of various Adaptive Random Testing methods. Based on our findings, an improved version of IP-ART is proposed. The effectiveness of the new method is also analyzed for various ratios of width and height of the input domain.


Automated guided vehicles (AGVs) have many potential applications in manufacturing, medicine, space and defense. The purpose of this paper is to describe exploratory research on the design of an obstacle avoidance system using sonar sensors for a modular autonomous mobile robot controller. The advantages of a modular system are related to portability and the fact that any vehicle can become autonomous with minimal modifications. A mobile robot test-bed has been constructed using a golf cart base. The obstacle avoidance system is based on a micro-controller interfaced with multiple ultrasonic transducers. This micro-controller independently handles all timing and distance calculations and sends a distance measurement back to the computer via the serial line. This design yields a portable independent system. Testing of these systems has been done in the lab as well as on an outside test track with positive results that show that at five mph the vehicle can follow a line and at the same time avoid obstacles. This design, in its modularity, creates a portable autonomous obstacle avoidance controller applicable for any mobile vehicle with only minor adaptations.