The CEq Emergence Assistant, or CEq-EA, is a computerised tool for supporting the analysis along with our underlining technologies along the CEq formal method. The main purpose is to develop a feasible formal tool for studying in systems biology; i.e., aimed for building-up a comprehensive understanding and analysing for emergent properties of the target system. The tool provides not only ability to automate the CEq analysis, but also the input/output languages and selected parameters used in performing the analysis.


Subject of Research. The paper proposes an approach to the use of gradient boosted decision trees algorithm. For this Научно-технический вестник информационных технологий, механики и оптики, 2018, том 18, No 6 1016 К.И. Салахутдинова, И.С. Лебедев, И.Е. Кривцова purpose, CatBoost algorithm developed by Yandex is proposed. Its implementation is aimed at the problem solution of OS Linux software identification in order to reduce the number of system vulnerabilities, which occur due to the installation of unauthorized software by automated system users. We consider an approach to the program signatures formation and further training of CatBoostClassifier classifier model. The subsequent recognition task is set for the identified programs that were not previously involved in the model training process. Method. Free CatBoost software was used for implementation of the gradient boosted decision trees algorithm. CatBoostClassifier multi-classification model was created on its basis. The use of this model allows identifying test sample elf-files. Main Results. The training parameters of the classification model are selected. An experiment is carried out to identify elf-files with the use of ten different features of emerging signature programs. The results obtained in the new approach are compared with the results of the previously developed method of identification based on the application of the statistical criterion of Chi-square homogeneity at the significance level p = 0.01. Practical Relevance. The results of the study can be recommended to information security specialists for data media audit. The developed approach gives the possibility to identify violations of the established security policy in the processing of confidential information.


We present a logic LL which uses a modal operator L to help capture the notion of likely. Despite the fact that no use is made of numbers, LL can capture many of the properties of likelihood in an intuitively appealing way. Using standard techniques of modal logic, we give a complete axiomatization for LL and show that satisfiability of LL formulas can be decided in exponential time. We discuss how the logic might be used in areas where decision making is crucial, such as management and medical diagnosis, and conclude by using LL to give a formal proof of correctness of a protocol for exchanging secrets.


This paper deals with stator current control in scalar control system of frequency controlled induction motor drives and describes mathematical model of induction motor's stator current unit taking into account induction motor's electromagnetic transient responses. Several stator current controller's with signal adaptation structures have been tested, such as based on both constant and variable parameters PID-controller. Also an approach to controller's parameters synthesis is described. For the proposed control system's properties estimation the following time-domain criteria were selected: transient response time, overshoot, maximum reaching time. Reactions for both reference and disturbing influences have been tested. It is shown that application of PID-controller with variable parameters and signal adaptation provides high performance combined with robustness toward disturbances, as which internal electromotive force inducted in rotor circuit are taken into account. Rational field of use for proposed current controller with signal adaptation are scalar control system with enhanced electromagnetic torque forming ability.


One can distinguish two different approaches of neural networks the supervised networks and the self organizing or unsupervised neural networks. The first type of neural nets is supplied with an ideal result regarding the input. During the learning procedure, the neural net adjusts weighting factors of the links between neurons so that the input feature vectors map to the ideal output. Those nets are used for example in robotics, where the ideal result is well known: it is the position the robot should be placed in. For the cases where no ideal result is known, the second type of neural nets, the so called self-learning Topological Feature Map (TFM) is appropriate. This paper will introduce such a neural net based on the idea of Kohonen's TFM. The original algorithm was extremely sequential and therefore not suitable for an APL implementation. The parallelization of the algorithm led to important improvements in speed and convergence to the global optimum.


We put forward a framework, inspired by recent axiomatic and operational approaches to generalized quantum theories, wherein we investigate the possibility of unifying quantum theories and relativity theories. The framework concentrates on a detailed analysis of a general construction of reality, that can be used in both, quantum and relativity theories. By means of this construction of reality we clarify some well known conceptual problems that stand in the way for a conceptual unification of quantum and relativity theories on a more profound physical level than the purely mathematical algebraic level on which now unification attempts are investigated. More specifically we concentrate on the problem of 'what is physical reality' in quantum and relativity theories. ∗Published as: Aerts, D., 1996, "Towards a framework for possible unification of quantum and relativity theories", Int. J. Theor. Phys., 35, 2399-2416


In this paper the behavioural response of a frequency offset retrodirective antenna array [1 ] in the presence of multiple signals at different frequencies is investigated. It is shown that when separate frequency sources exist, the re-transmited beam of the retrodirective array will split into multiple beams, with each re-transmitted beam forming in the direction of the respective incoming source frequency. Measurements were performed on the retrodirective array in the presence of two closely spaced sources operating at frequencies within the bandwidth of the array and it is shown that the retrodirective array can simultaneously respond to each individual signal proving its usefulness in mobile wireless applications where multiple signal tracking is required.


Three fish protein sources and milk by-products were used in milk replacers. Thirty Holstein heifer calves were fed five different milk replacers as follows: all-milk nitrogen control, and four with 65% of the nitrogen supplied by steam-dried herring meal and the remaining nitrogen from milk as: (a) skim milk powder, (b) skim milk and acid whey powders; and (c) acid whey powder partially neutralized with NaOH or (d) Ca(OH)2. Body weight gains were greater for calves fed the control milk replacer; from birth to 26 wk of age, calves weaned from this milk replacer gained 822 g/day, compared with 662, 731, 741 and 699 g/day, respectively, on diets a to d noted above (P < 0.05). A digestion and nitrogen balance trial with four bull calves fed the four herring meal milk replacers in a 4 × 4 latin square showed relatively poor utilization of the herring meal, especially for calves at 2–4 wk of age. The apparent dry matter digestibility was 75% when the acid whey in the diet was neutralized with Ca(OH)2, compared...


Abstract Drivers of land use change were captured by the use of DPSIR model where Drivers (D) represented human needs, Pressures (P), human activities, State (S), the ecosystem, Impact (I) services from the ecosystem and Response (R), the decisions taken by land users. Land sat MSS and Land sat ETM+ (path 185, row 31) were used in this study. The Land sat ETM+ image (June 1987, May, 2000 and July, 2014) was downloaded from USGS Earth Resources Observation Systems data website. Remote sensing image processing was performed by using ERDAS Imagine 9.1. Two land use/land cover (LULC) classes were established as forest and shrub land. Severe land cover changes was found to have occurred from 1987-2000, where shrub land reduced by −19%, and forestry reduced by −72%. In 2000 – 2014 shrub land reduced by-45%, and forestry reduced by −64%. Forestry and shrub land were found to be consistently reducing.


Gbeat Law. By Robert Walter, M.D. Vol. I.: Principles. (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Triibner and Co.) The writer of this book conceives himself to have discovered a truth not less important than the law of gravitation. This he names " Life's Great Law." It is the outcome, he tells us, of " twenty years of study and reflection." In its practical value to mankind it " exceeds all other forms of human knowledge." And the discoveries associated with it yield a basis for a " reasonable philosophy of existence consistent with all known truth." These terms, be it observed, are not phrases expressing appreciation of the triumphs of Francis Bacon or Charles Darwin. They are descriptions by the author (who, of course, must know) of the work which, in the form of a book, Dr. Robert Walter, of Walter's Park, Pennsylvania, U.S.A., now sends forth " on an errand of mercy to suffering millions." In our own opinion the book is a verbose, wearisome, and pretentious jumble of copy-book platitudes and pseudo-scientific nonsense. We find in it no redeeming feature. It is difficult, indeed, to imagine the methods of study and the nature of the reflections which, pursued during a period of twenty years, can have produced


Transparent haptic rendering of the contact between a tool and its environment requires very frequent update of the contact forces acting on the tool. Given a rigid tool and a deformable environment, we define contact constraints by solving a constrained dynamic simulation problem, typically at a low update rate. A generalized contact Jacobian defines velocities at the constraints given the velocity of the rigid tool. We define an inverse of the contact Jacobian that is dynamically consistent with the constraints and, once we know other forces acting on the rigid tool, it allows a fast update of the accumulated contact forces, and thereby highly transparent rendering


Benjamin Gardener. 2016. Selling the Serengeti: The Cultural Politics of Safari Tourism. Athens and London: The University of Georgia Press. 256 pp. This book explores the linkages and disconnections between local, regional, national and global influences on the politics of rural resource use and conservation. It uses the Maasai ethnic group of Northeastern Tanzania and tourism activities to demonstrate adaptation and change of perceptions and meanings of the physical, social, and cultural spaces of the Serengeti landscape and ecosystem. The author argues that both local and wider influences on the Serengeti ecosystem and landscapes are outcomes of negotiated processes involving policy changes, global tourist and conservation interests, and Maasai agency. It adds a significant contribution to understanding local adaptations towards fragile politico-environmental spheres in Tanzania. Most importantly, the book takes a further step from previous publications about Maasai in Tanzania to show that the Maasai did not always remain passive to changes affecting their interactions with natural resources. Rather, they used tourism opportunities to redefine meanings and values of their landscapes to make sense of the wider influences on their culture, society, economy, environment, and generally the rural livelihoods in Loliondo. The book has come at an opportune time, a time that is characterized by a scholarly trend that reconsiders the role of local knowledge, agency, and participation in resource's ownership, use, and management. The book takes further the discussions on the environmental degradation narratives that have over the past two to three decades occupied the work of historians, human geographers, and social anthropologists. Gardener cross-examines how imposed perceptions towards environmental and resource conservation, protection, and use collided with local perceptions. Towards the end of the book, he manages to show that local environmental constructions and use was considerate of various factors and maintained an ecosystem that allowed both wildlife and human activities like domestic livestock to take place. This was revealed by the failure of newly introduced "Ranching Associations" scheme under the auspices of modernization of traditional Maasai pastoralism. The author shows that the conflict of interest between the projects under the scheme and the members who joined them ended in total failure after pastoralists thought it worthless in terms of the effort they were investing. If anything is to be highly acknowledged in this book it is the choice of the title and the way the title is reflected in the main text. It clearly captures the whole story in the book. This is done in two ways. Firstly, the author provides the dynamics of pastoral-tourism land uses and cross-examines state and private investments in the Serengeti ecosystem as key factors for the social, economic, and environmental changes in the ecosystem. …


ABSTRACT The scheduling of (parallel) serial-batch processing machines is a task arising in many industrial sectors. In the metal-processing industry for instance, cutting operations are necessary to fabricate varying metal pieces out of large base slides. Here, the (cutting) jobs have individual, arbitrary base slide capacity requirements (sizes), individual processing times and due dates, and specific material requirements (i.e. each job belongs to one specific job family, whereby jobs of different families cannot be processed within the same batch and thus are incompatible). In addition, switching of base metal slides and material dependent adjustments of machine parameters cause sequence-dependent setup times. All these conditions need to be considered while minimising total weighted tardiness. For solving the scheduling problem, a mixed-integer program and several tailor-made construction heuristics (enhanced by local search mechanisms) are presented. The experimental results show that problem instances with up to five machines and 60 jobs can be tackled using the optimisation model. The experiments on small and large problem instances (with up to 400 jobs) show that a purposefully used batch capacity limitation improves the solution quality remarkably. Applying the best heuristic to the data of two real-world application cases shows its huge potential to increase delivery reliability.


Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) aims to support Condition-Based Maintenance (CBM) by monitoring, diagnosing, and prognosing the health of the host system. One of the technologies required by IVHM to carry out its objectives is the means to emulate the functioning of the host system, and the concept of a Digital Twin (DT) was introduced in aerospace IVHM to represent the functioning of such a complex system. This paper aims to discuss the role played by DT in the field of IVHM. A DT is the virtual representation of any physical product, that is used to project the functioning of the product at a given instance. The DT is used across the lifecycle of any product, and its output can be customized depending upon the area of application. The DT is currently popular in industry because of the technologies like sensors, cloud computing, Internet of Things, machine learning, and advanced software, which enabled its development. This paper discusses what encompasses a DT, the technologies that support the DT, its applications across industries, and its development in academia. This paper also talks about how a DT can combine with IVHM technology to assess the health of complex systems like an aircraft. Lastly, this paper presents various challenges faced by industry during the implementation of a DT and some of the possible opportunities for future growth.


This paper present an exploration of soil matric suction effected by water uptake via tree root at toe of slope on various condition between wet condition (high rainfall) and dry condition (prolonged no rainfall). Matric suction generated by active root tree has substantial influence soil moisture content on residual soil slope. A field monitoring was carried out to collect matric suction data at slope in two conditions; with a tree located at toe of slope and absent of a tree. The installations of instruments particularly at slope with tree at toe were placed within vicinity of the tree with certain depths and distances. The matric suction data from field monitoring was influence by the rainfall events that lead to the instability of soils slope. Analysis of soil matric suction distribution pattern indicates that the highest matric suction value was at shallower depth and proximity of tree. The matric suction profiles obtained from field monitoring are applied as an input data to develop soil matric suction contour. The effect of transpiration driven by active root zone generated matric suction on soil at vicinity of tree may create dry soil to increase soil shear strength.


The utility model discloses a peritoneal dialysis floating catheter corrector and belongs to medical instruments. According to the peritoneal dialysis floating catheter corrector, a tubular corrector body is sleeved with a handle sliding sleeve in the mode that the handle sliding sleeve can move in the axial direction, one side of a flexible steel wire is inserted in a tube hole of the tubular corrector body, the inner end of the flexible steel wire is fixedly connected with the handle sliding sleeve, the other side of the flexible steel wire is sleeved with a flexible pressure spring, one end of the flexible pressure spring is fixedly connected with the tubular corrector body, the other end of the flexible pressure spring is fixedly connected with the outer end of the flexible steel wire, and a thumb ring is fixedly installed at the other end of the tubular corrector body. The peritoneal dialysis floating catheter corrector has the advantages that the design is novel, the structure is simple, manufacturing cost is low, operation is easy and convenient, the correcting effect is good, pain of patients is little, using is safe and reliable, disinfection and sterilization can be conducted conveniently, and the corrector can be used repeatedly.


Context. White dwarf-main sequence (WDMS) binaries are used to study several different important open problems in modern astrophysics.
Aims. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) identified the largest catalogue of WDMS binaries currently known. However, this sample is seriously affected by selection effects and the population of systems containing cool white dwarfs and early-type companions is under-represented.Here we search for WDMS binaries within the spectroscopic data release 1 of the LAMOST (Large sky Area Multi-Object fiber Spectroscopic Telescope) survey. LAMOST and SDSS follow different target selection algorithms. Hence, LAMOST WDMS binaries may be drawn from a different parent population and thus help in overcoming the selection effects incorporated by SDSS on the current observed population.
Methods. We develop a fast and efficient routine based on the wavelet transform to identify LAMOST WDMS binaries containing a DA white dwarf and a M dwarf companion, and apply a decomposition/fitting routine to their LAMOST spectra to estimate their distances and measure their stellar parameters, namely the white dwarf effective temperatures, surface gravities and masses, and the secondary star spectral types.
Results. We identify 121 LAMOST WDMS binaries, 80 of which are new discoveries, and estimate the sample to be \sim90 per cent complete. The LAMOST and SDSS WDMS binaries are found to be statistically different. However, this result is not due to the different target selection criteria of both surveys, but likely a simple consequence of the different observing conditions. Thus, the LAMOST population is found at considerably shorter distances (\sim50-450 pc) and is dominated by systems containing early-type companions and hot white dwarfs. (abridged)


In this study we investigated the compressive quasi-static mechanical properties and dynamic impact behavior of baseballs. Our purpose was to determine if static testing could be used to describe dynamic ball impact properties, and to compare static and dynamic properties between traditional and modified baseballs. Average stiffness and energy loss from 19 ball models were calculated from quasi-static compression data. Dynamic impact variables were determined from force–time profiles of balls impacted into a flat stationary target at velocities from 13.4 to 40.2 m/s. Peak force increased linearly with increasing ball model stiffness. Impulse of impact increased linearly with ball mass. Coefficient of restitution (COR) decreased with increasing velocity in all balls tested, although the rate of decrease varied among the different ball models. Neither quasi-static energy loss nor hysteresis was useful in predicting dynamic energy loss (COR2). The results between traditional and modified balls varied widely ...


We experimentally evaluated an active speech control scheme which reduces unnecessary speech radiated into the surrounding space. The intended application of this system, typically cellular phones, does not require speech to be radiated into the surrounding space, but only into the microphone. We previously proposed to reduce speech by generating phase-inverted predicted speech from a secondary loudspeaker. We used LPC recursively to predict samples ahead of the associated processing delay, which could go up to a few milliseconds. First, predicted samples of recorded speech were prepared off line. Then, both the original and the phase-inverted predicted samples were played out simultaneously from two loud speakers. It was found that: 1) speech cancellation of 10 dB is possible, but is highly speaker dependent; 2) the secondary loudspeaker should be oriented in the same direction as the primary source, i.e., the mouth for maximum cancellation.


This article describes the creation and development of the First Hospice of Samara. Founded on the Christian values that were at the origin of the modern "hospice movement," it works on the basis of WHO's definition of palliative care. Obstacles to the development of palliative care in the Russian Federation include 1) health care policy and financing; 2) doctor-patient communication; 3) availability of opiates and other essential drugs. We describe a long-term partnership between Russian, Swiss, and British professionals. The current needs of the Hospice, for which the help of foreign structures would be welcome, are underlined.


: Introduction: Vaginal birth is known to be the main etiological factor for development of levator ani defects. Transperineal ultrasonography has been used extensively for pelvic floor assessment with minimal discomfort to the patient and lower cost. The aim : is to define and evaluate changes in the levator ani muscle in the first week and at 6 weeks after delivery with 3D Transperineal ultrasonography. Methods: retrospective study of 355 eligible primiparous women who delivered vaginally, and had been examined within the first week and 6 weeks after delivery with 3D transperineal ultrasonography. Results: women showed a significantly larger hiatal area at rest and on Valsalva, 6weeks post partum, LAM avulsions decreased at 6weeks to be 13.2%. Conclusions: first vaginal delivery led to persistent hiatal area enlargement. Levator ani muscle avulsions can be diagnosed easily by 3D ultrasound, and they are not the only cause of stress urinary incontinence after vaginal delivery. The study included all primipara who delivered singleton full-term fetus with cephalic presentation and they were recruited during their first post-partum visit and one week post-delivery. The study did not include any woman who had multifetal pregnancy or congenital anomalies of the genital tract. All data about maternal medical, surgical and obstetrical history, maternal age, and maternal body mass index, duration of second stage of labor, episiotomy, maternal injuries, neonatal birth weight, and neonatal head circumference were obtained from the files. Also records of vaginal examination and pelvic organ prolapse quantification were obtained and analyzed. The modified questionnaire on symptoms of pelvic floor dysfunction was filled by the patients in both visits. Offline analysis of the stored volumes of the two 3D ultrasound examinations was done. The first examination was performed 7days after delivery and the second examination was done 6weeks post-delivery by experienced sonographers using a GE Voluson p8 (GE Healthcare) equipped with a 4–8 ‐ MHz curved array 3D ultrasound transducer. The field of view angle was set to a maximum of 70° in the sagittal plane and the volume acquisition angle to 85° in the axial plane. Two 3D volumes (one with the patient at rest and one during valsalva maneuver), were recorded. Ultrasound images were obtained after empting the bladder, while the patient in the supine position. Measurements were performed in the axial plane at the level of 'minimal hiatal dimensions'. The following sonographic parameters were measured and recorded:


The Government of Prince Edward Island and PEI pharmacists have signed a new Pharmacy Services Agreement that will allow the province to achieve savings in public drug plans, while setting the stage for expanded pharmacy services in the future.

Under the terms of the new agreement, a working group will be set up with a mandate to determine which additional professional services will be publicly funded, said Erin MacKenzie, the executive director of the Prince Edward Island Pharmacists Association (PEIPA), in an e-mail to CPJ.

The government has agreed to support expanded scope of practice for pharmacists and is expected to introduce enabling legislation next spring. The Prince Edward Island Pharmacy Board has proposed authority for a number of additional services, including immunizations and prescribing for minor ailments.

"Funding has been set aside for our reimbursement package in advance of any legislative change, as the new agreement is in effect until 2016," said Ms. MacKenzie. "We needed a framework, so that we weren't waiting until the next round of negotiations to start seeing any payment for services."

The services agreement with the pharmacists incorporates the government's revised generic pricing structure, which came into effect in July 2012. Generic drug prices are now 35% of brand-name prices; before the change, the price for generics was 60% of the brand-name price — the highest in Canada.

The province estimates the new regime will save $2.4 million a year. It has agreed to reinvest some of the savings in additional pharmacy services, while using other funds to expand drug-plan coverage and add more drugs to the provincial formulary.

The agreement with PEIPA includes a series of phased increases in dispensing fees, as well as provisions that will further lower costs for the drug programs, as well as for patients. For example, the day-supply eligibility for maintenance drugs has been increased from 30 to 90 days.


A study was conducted to assess veterinary students' and faculty perceptions of a variety of academic and classroom behaviors, and the degree to which these are acceptable or not. Two instruments were developed for this purpose: 1) The Exams and Assignments Scale (EAS), consisted of 23 items measuring the extent to which a variety of examination and assignment-related actions and behaviors constituted misconduct, and 2) The Classroom Behavior Scale (CBS), consisted of 8 items and measured the extent to which a variety of classroom behaviors were acceptable professional behaviors. Student responses were pooled for analysis and compared to faculty perceptions. This comparison resulted in statistically significant differences on 11 of the 23 EAS indicators. In all cases, faculty felt the described actions were more severe offenses than students with most of these discrepancies centering on situations regarding examinations and clinical skills. Both groups felt that offenses pertaining to cheating in exam settings were the most severe infractions, and the least severe issues pertained to laboratories/assignments and other out of class behaviors. On the CBS scale, there were statistically significant differences on 3 of the 8 measures, with faculty reporting the behaviors as less acceptable. The most concerning behaviors involved actions that could potentially impact people other than the offender, while the most acceptable behaviors seemed to only impact the person committing them.


Most of Saudi Arabia can be considered a typically arid region where the annual average amount of rainfall varies between 50 and 100 mm. Asser Region in western Saudi Arabia is characterized by high rainfall intensity that leads to flash floods. Using digital elevation model (DEM) Watershed and its stream were delineated and morphological parameters calculated using Watershed Modeling System (WMS). Rainfall frequency analysis was performed for selected three rainfall gages using annual maximums of 24-h rainfall. As a result of the sparse hydrologic information, the relation between rainfall and runoff was calculated depending on the morphometric parameters, GIS techniques, Watershed Modeling System (WMS) and Hydrologic Engineering Center- Hydrologic Modeling System software (HEC HMS). In this work, the flood risks were studied and the results are considered the baseline data required to designate the required protection system against these risks. This study aims to assess the impact of flash floods in the Wadi Reem basin, which located in Assir Region, Saudi Arabia


Currently, MSMEs in their constant search for quality services must implement continuous improvements in their processes. One of the sectors that shows constant variations in its methods is the manufacturing sector, which in its eagerness to innovate constantly must include new methodologies to improve its productivity, for this reason, the present investigation aims to evaluate the Six Sigma methodology as an alternative of solution for the manufacturing MSME located in the city of Milagro, Province of Guayas, Ecuador, with the purpose of obtaining the complete satisfaction of the client having a production process with high quality. A descriptive methodology was used, through the application of surveys and subsequent descriptive analysis to the owner managers of MSMEs, finding that more than 60% of them want to apply the methodology in their production processes.
Keywords: Six Sigma, MSME, Manufacturing Sector, Quality.
References
[1] F. Ortiz Z, E. Brito A and M . Ovalles, "Sistema de medicion de la capacidad de innovacion tecnologica aplicado a una empresa manufacturera", Universidad, Ciencia y Tecnologia, 11, pp. 013-020, 2007.
[2]T. F. Herrera, "Aplicacion de Seis Sigma en una empresa productora de Cemento.," Escenarios, vol. 9, no 1, pp. 7-17, 2011.
[3]L. Socconini, "Lean manufacturing: paso a paso", Mexico: Norma, 2008.
[4]S. Marash, "Six Sigma: Business Results Through Innovation", Quality Congress. ASQ´s World Conference on Quality and Improvement Proceedings, pp. 627, 2002
[5]F. Gomez Fraile, J. F. Vilar Barrio and M. Tejero Monzon, "Seis Sigma", Madrid: Fundacion Confemental, 2003
[6]R. Schroeder, K. Linderman, C. Liedke and A. Choo, "Six Sigma: Definition and urderlying theory," Journal of Operations Management, no 26, pp. 536-554, 2008.
[7]J. Mast and J. Lokkerbol, "An analysis of the Six Sigma DMAIC method from the perspective of problem solving", International Journal of Production Economics, Volume 139, Issue 2, pp 604-614, 2012.
[8]K. Linderman, R.G. Schroeder, S. Zaheer and A.S. Choo, "Six Sigma: a goal-theoretic perspective", Journal of Operations Management, Volume 21, Issue 2, Pages 193-203, 2003.


This paper presents interesting observations based on the long term Data of whistlers and VLF hiss emission at a low latitude ground station Jammu (Geomagn. lat. 22°16′ N, L = 1.17) . The simultaneous observations presented in this paper are unique and are reported for the i¬rst time from low latitude ground station Jammu. The present observation of VLF emissions and whistlers along with ESD whistlers at Jammu clearly suggest that these VLF emissions are generated in the magnetosphere due to whistler mode wave-interaction with particles. This experimental study is unlikely to be the i¬nal word on the origin of these events and further experimental coni¬rmation will, of course, be required at low latitudes. From the dispersion analysis of the day time whistlers recorded at Jammu, it is found that all the Whistlers have extremely small dispersion (ESD) in the range of 5-10 s1/2, which clearly supports non-ducted propagation .With the advent of the satellites ,VLF receivers were placed  on rockets and satellites. These receivers detected whistlers whose paths deviated from Earth's magnetic field lines. Such whistlers are called unducted or non-ducted whistlers of day-time whistlers at low latitudes, completely in contrast with the earlier findings of ducted propagation of day-time whistlers.
VLF emissions are known to originate within the ionosphere/magnetosphere but no satisfactory theory of their origin has yet been advanced. These are generally originated in the ionosphere/magnetosphere by two mechanisms, viz incoherent Cerenkov radiation mechanism and electron cyclotron resonance instability mechanisms. The generation mechanism of whistler-mode VLF hiss remain controversial inspite of extensive amount of experimental and theoretical work. A number of mechanisms have been suggested for the generation of VLF hiss from time to time. Sazhin et al.,(1993) has reviewed the generation mechanism of the VLF hiss and have projected out that the most likely energy source of VLF hiss lie in the electrons at energies below 100 electron volts precipitating to the auroral ionosphere. They have shown that initially the waves are generated due to incoherent Cerenkov radiation and they are then amplified due to beam plasma instabilities in the Cerenkov resonance.


A general method is set up, which casts problems of electromagnetic waves in random media into a systematic formalism akin to that of supersymmetric quantum field theory, by analogy with electrons in disordered metals. The characteristic functional of the field is related to that of trie medium by means of a diagrammatic expansion; for a linear medium, trie vertices are trie cumulants of trie permittivity, conductivity and permeability. Among trie auxiliary fields introduced to account for trie field equations, fermionic ones can be eliminated by discarding closed loops m the diagrams. A matrix Green function relates the expectation value of trie field to electric and magnetic monopole sources; its general structure and properties are reviewed. The versatility of trie approach, which allows us to take advantage of perturbative and variational techniques drawn from quantum field theory or statistical mechamcs, is fllustrated by examples: electromagnetic response of a weakly disordered medium, representation of correlations and of energy dissipation by means of four-leg diagrams. The couphng induced by disorder between long- and short-range effects, between transverse and longitudinal parts of the wave, is accounted for. The convergence of the expansions can be improved by making them self-consistent, and also by charactenzing the medium by the statistics of its polarizability rather than that of its permittivity, which partly accounts for screemng or depolanzation. The resulting expansions are of Pade type. Bruggeman's approximation is recovered in the low-frequency, weak-disorder limit; corrections are evaluated. An intricate structure for the electromagnetic response, involving several potes and a transition fine, anses in the high-frequency, weak-disorder limit.


The utility model relates to a novel operating room cleaning system, comprising walls, an automatic door, a waste discharge door and a crane tower, wherein the waste discharge door is arranged in the left-side wall; the automatic door is arranged in the right-side wall; the crane tower is connected onto the ceiling of the walls; and return air inlets are arranged at the corners of the walls. The novel operating room cleaning system has the beneficial effects that a new draught fan unit, a circling unit system and an air supply ceiling are integrally combined to form an integrated type clean ceiling; therefore, not only is the equipment space decreased, but also equipment and air pipes are reduced, and the initial investment on a project is decreased; and meanwhile, since the air pipes are reduced, the construction duration is shortened and an operating room is modified quite conveniently.


Background: Severe acute malnutrition remains one of the most common causes of morbidity and mortality among children in developing countries, including Ethiopia. Knowing the local burden of SAM has huge importance for public health interventions. Therefore this study aimed to assess the level of severe acute malnutrition and feeding practice of children aged 6–59 months in Abaa'la district, Afar, Northeast, Ethiopia. Methods: Community-based descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 422 mother-child pairs of children aged 6–59 months. Kebeles were selected randomly after stratifying the district in to urban and rural, and study participants were selected using a cluster sampling technique. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire, and child nutritional status was measured using WHO Mid upper arm circumference measuring tape. Data were entered into Epi data version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 22 for analysis. The result was presented using Descriptive statistics. Results: The prevalence of severe acute malnutrition (SAM) was found to be 4.3% (95% CI, 2.3-6.1%) and that of moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) was 21.1 %. Almost all (98.8%) of children were ever breastfed. Prelacteal feeding and bottle feeding was practiced by 31% and 33.9% of children, respectively. Only 68.5% of children were feed colostrum. Around 45.5% of children were exclusively breastfed for the first six months, and 70.4% of children wean breastfeeding before the age of two years. Conclusion: The prevalence of severe acute malnutrition in the study area was lower than the regional figures, but still, it is a public health priority. There are improper child care and feeding practices. Therefore, public health interventions that can improve those practices should be strengthened.


The India, Brazil and South Africa Dialogue Forum (IBSA) established in 2003 brings together three like-minded, democratic, market economies of multi-cultural and multi-ethnic character, sharing a broadly similar economic, political and development situation. At the time of its formation, IBSA was widely regarded as representing a novel form of SouthSouth cooperation, transcending older models rooted in the logic of North-South confrontation in the post-colonial, Cold-War world. However, the forum seems to face a growing sense of irrelevance, perhaps even an existential crisis. This paper suggests a common vision for IBSA, based on the concept of international liberalism, implying an open international market, well-regulated capital markets and tailored domestic policies such as social policy, health policy and education policy, may well increase the weight IBSA can gain in different international forums. [R, abr.]


Objectives: To use 99m Tc sulfur colloid ( 99m Tc-SC) and 99m Tc mebrofenin ( 99m Tc-BrIDA) to study liver function in normal and diabetic rats. Materials and Methods: Radionuclide imaging was performed on 2 groups of rats, using 99m Tc-SC for one group and 99m Tc-BrIDA for the other (20 rats per group) before and after induction of diabetes mellitus (DM) using streptozotocin administration (55 mg/kg i.p.). Dynamic acquisition was obtained for 1 h after the injection of 37 MBq of radiotracer. For the 99m Tc-SC group, organ/tissue uptake was determined by drawing regions of interest (ROI) over the heart, liver, spleen and also the whole body (WB). The ratio of the ROI of each organ to the WB ROI was calculated. For 99m Tc-BrIDA, ratios of cumulative count rates in liver, liver parenchyma, biliary tree and abdomen ROI to a WB ROI were also calculated. Statistical analysis was performed to compare the ratios of organ/tissue uptake to WB uptake before and after DM induction using the paired t test. Results: 99m Tc-SC uptake ratios (means 8 SD) showed a lower liver-toWB uptake ratio (0.75 8 0.05) in the rats after DM induction compared to baseline (0.81 8 0.06), while the cardiac blood pool showed higher uptake ratios in the rats after DM induction (p = 0.026). For 99m Tc-BrIDA, there was no significant difference in radiotracer uptake ratios obtained from the rats before and after DM induction (p = 0.41). Conclusion: Using Received: December 13, 2009 Accepted: May 30, 2010 Fatma Al-Saeedi, Assistant Prof. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Faculty of Medicine Health Sciences Centre, Kuwait University P.O. Box 24923, 13110 Safat (Kuwait) Tel. +965 2498 6409, Fax +965 2533 8936, E-Mail fatimas @ hsc.edu.kw © 2011 S. Karger AG, Basel 1011–7571/11/0202–0129$38.00/0 Accessible online at: www.karger.com/mpp D ow nl oa de d by : 54 .7 0. 40 .1 1 10 /6 /2 01 7 5: 17 :1 1 A M Al-Saeedi/Loutfi Med Princ Pract 2011;20:129–132 130 phagocytic and hepatobiliary imaging in diabetic patients or even animal models of diabetes. Hence, the objective of this study was to use 99m Tc-SC and 99m Tc-BrIDA imaging to investigate liver functions in diabetic rats, and to check whether or not it could provide an experimental model for the pathophysiologic changes associated with this condition. Materials and Methods Radiopharmaceuticals Mebrofenin (bromo iminodiacetic acid, BrIDA) and SC were purchased as commercial kits from Amersham International plc (Amersham GE, UK). 99m Tc-SC and 99m Tc-BrIDA were prepared according to the manufacturer's recommendations. All other chemicals used in this study were purchased and supplied by Sigma-Aldrich (UK). Experimental Animals Adult male Sprague-Dawley rats (250 8 50 g body weight) bred at the animal facility of the Faculty of Medicine, Kuwait University, were used in this study (n = 40). The animals had free access to water and food and were handled in accordance with an established animal use protocol following recommendations of the Helsinki Declaration and Kuwait University's institutional animal care and use committee. Induction of Diabetes in Rats and Blood Glucose Assay DM was induced in the rats by intraperitoneal injection of 55  mg/kg body weight streptozotocin (STZ) freshly dissolved in 5 mmol/l citrate buffer at a pH of 4.5 [6, 7] . Blood was tested before the induction of diabetes for basal glucose determination, and 2 and 7 days after the induction of diabetes using the FreeStyle Freedom Lite blood glucose monitoring system (Abbott Laboratories, Ill., USA). All rats showed elevated glucose levels equal to or higher than 11 mmol/l after having received the induction protocol. Experimental Protocol The 40 rats were divided into 2 equal groups for 99m Tc-SC and 99m Tc-BrIDA imaging. As a prediabetes baseline study, 99m Tc-SC and 99m Tc-BrIDA imaging were performed on all animals. At 1 week after induction of diabetes, both 99m Tc-SC and 99m Tc-BrIDA imaging was repeated using the same imaging protocol. Imaging Protocol The rats were anesthetized using an intraperitoneal injection of ketamine:xylazine (40 mg/kg:5 mg/kg body weight; Serumwerk Bernburg, Germany), and an intravenous line Butterfly 21G IV catheter (Medi Move Ltd., UK) was placed in the dorsal tail vein for radiopharmaceutical injection. The rats were positioned face up, and an anterior view of whole body (WB) was taken using a large-field-of-view, 40 ! 60 cm clinical gamma camera (Philips camera, Odyssey LX; Philips, UK) fitted with a low-energy, all-purpose, parallel-hole collimator connected to a data acquisition computer. Imaging involved 2 dynamic phases, a vascular phase of 1 s/frame for 1 min, followed by a parenchymal phase at 1 min/frame for 1 h after the injection of 37 MBq of 99m Tc-SC or 99m TC-BrIDA. Images were acquired in a 64 ! 64 pixel matrix, using a photopeak centered at 140 keV with a symmetric 20% window and zoom of 4. The pinhole collimator was not used because quantitative analysis could not be applied and the parallel hole collimator was suitable for this purpose. Image Processing On a 0to 61-min composite image, the regional distribution of the radiotracer was determined by drawing regions of interest (ROI) over the heart, liver, spleen and WB for 99m Tc-SC ( fig. 1 a), and over the liver, liver parenchyma, bile in the liver hilum, abdomen and WB for 99m Tc-BrIDA ( fig. 1 b). The following ratios were obtained: heart, liver or spleen to WB for 99m Tc-SC, and liver, biliary tree, liver parenchyma or abdominal cavity to WB for 99m TcBrIDA for both baseline and diabetic rat scans. These ratios represent the percentage of radioactivity uptake in each organ compared to the WB counts accumulated over 60 min. In addition, a ratio before and after DM for each organ was calculated. The anterior view was adequate for imaging the organs of interest, i.e. the heart, liver and spleen. Data Presentation and Statistical Analysis All data, unless otherwise stated, are expressed as means 8 SD. The paired t test was used to evaluate differences between baseline control and diabetic rats. Statistical analysis was performed using the SPSS software, version 13 (SSPS Inc., Chicago, Ill., USA).


Research background: The first notable early chatbots were created in the sixties, but the growing use of artificial intelligence (AI) has powered them significantly. Studies show that basically chatbots are created and used for purposes by government and business, mostly in consumer service and marketing. The new Proposal of the Artificial intelligence act aims to promote the uptake of AI and address the risks associated with certain uses of such technology. However, the act contains only minimum transparency obligation for some specific AL systems such as chatbots.
Purpose of the article: In light of this issue, the article aims to discuss how existing European Union (EU) consumer law is equipped to deal with situations in which the use of chatbots can pose the risks of manipulation, aggressive commercial practices, intrusion into privacy, exploitation of a consumer's vulnerabilities and algorithmic decision making based on biased or discriminatory results.
Methods: The article will analyse the legal framework, compare guidance documents and countries' experiences, study results of different consumer behavior researches and scientific articles.
Findings & Value added: The article reveals several gaps in current EU consumer law and discusses the flaws of proposing legislation (particularly the Proposal for an Artificial intelligence act) regarding relations between business and consumers.


Multi-level transmission having advantage of wider dispersion tolerance and narrower bandwidth, is one of the strong candidate for ultra high-speed serial interface. We review recent progress in multi-level systems, especially, incoherent multi-level receiver.


A log periodic dipole array with switching to select sub-bands is presented. Recently we have proposed a 3 to 1 bandwidth reconfigurable printed dipole antenna with harmonic trap. One of the frequency bands can be selected by changing the length of the dipole. In this paper a reconfigurable log periodic printed dipole array (LPDA) is proposed. The frequency bands can be selected by switching the printed dipoles of the LPDA. The flexibility of the reconfigurable LPDA lies in selecting the frequency bands with different bandwidths and directive patterns. This is a significant advantage over reconfigurable printed dipole antenna. The antenna is designed, fabricated and measured. The measurement results show that the reconfigurable LPDA operates over a frequency range of 3:1. The antenna is thus suitable for frequency switching in the FCC ultra wideband allocation.


To address the problem of surface-induced thrombosis and restenosis, an extracellular matrix–like biological membrane was constructed from collagen, heparin, vascular endothelial growth factor, and an anti-CD34 antibody. This membrane was assembled on a titanium surface using a layer-by-layer self-assembly technique and induced the spontaneous endothelialization of synthetic cardiovascular implants in vivo. The multilayer growth process was carried out by first depositing a single layer of positively charged poly-L-lysine on the negatively charged NaOH-treated titanium substrate. This was followed by alternating depositions of negatively charged heparin, containing vascular endothelial growth factor and an anti-CD34 antibody and positively charged collagen, terminating with an outermost layer of heparin containing vascular endothelial growth factor and the anti-CD34 antibody. The uncoated and coated titanium samples were exposed to platelet-rich plasma and endothelial progenitor cells, respectively, under static and flow conditions in vitro. Then, the samples were implanted into dog femoral arteries. The results suggest that the multilayering process led to reduced platelet adhesion and activation, promoted the attachment and growth of endothelial progenitor cells in vitro, and induced the rapid and complete endothelialization of the lumenal surface of the implant. Thus, the approach described here may be used in the fabrication of titanium-based vascular implant surfaces to induce endothelialization in vivo.


Big Data" has existed for some time in various industries such as military, finance and communication, but has attracted attention because of the development of Internet and information industry in recent years. With the extensive development of big data applications has increased the demand for talents, and the number of big data training courses has increased. Due to the unique content of big data teaching, it can be appropriate to teach big data through network teaching platform, so this paper explores the application of big data teaching based on network teaching platform for big data teaching.


We studied in detail the propagation of a massive tachyonic scalar field in the background of a five-dimensional ($5D$) Einstein-Yang-Mills-Born-Infeld-dilaton black string: the massive Klein-Gordon equation was solved, exactly. Next we obtained complete analytical expressions for the greybody factor, absorption cross-section, and decay-rate for the tachyonic scalar field in the geometry under consideration. The behaviors of the obtained results are graphically represented for different values of the theory's free parameters. We also discuss why tachyons should be used instead of ordinary particles for the analytical derivation of the greybody factor of the dilatonic $5D$ black string.


The effect of a co-channel interfering carrier on the frequency response of a passive hybrid-tee microwave discriminator has been studied experimentally as well as theoretically in this paper. The interfering tone introduces asymmetry in the frequency response of the discriminator, shifts the response around the crossover line and changes the crossover frequency of the discriminator. Experimental measurement of the crossover frequency shifts of the discriminator shows a periodic variation with a variation in the interference frequency.


European economy is still experiencing a difficult period in terms of recovery. Efforts are directed towards the accumulation of growth to an extent that growth trend to be positive. An engine of growth in Europe is represented by small and medium enterprises, generating jobs and sustaining economic and social cohesion. The same time, the proper functioning and development of this important sector generates wealth among European citizens. Ultimately, amid the ongoing economic situation the SMEs capacity of adaptation and reconfiguration represents now the key factor on which depends a significant part of the economy locally, regionally and globally.


In this article, we discuss HMC effects, notably the timing of verb movement and do-support in English, within the Minimalist framework. To derive HMC effects (and ultimately, RM) from a basic mechanism of Attract/Move, we introduce some autosegmental theoretic notions, such as feature organization, adjacency and tier scansion and combine them with Attract/Move. Analyzing do-support as an HMC effect, we argue that Neg(ative)0 has a feature which attracts V0's feature. We also discuss the historical change in the feature specification of English Neg0 and parametric differences in Neg0's feature. Finally, it is suggested that a more general condition replace Chomsky's (1995: Ch. 4) MLC.*


There is an increasing trend of using structural aluminium within the construction industry, due to its superior mechanical properties, such as high strength‐to‐weight ratio and high resistance to corrosion. The use of aluminium combined with concrete can be advantageous in terms of the resultant structural capacity. Currently, the design standards for the structural use of aluminium are substantially conservative and less exhaustive, which limits the full exploitation of aluminium as a structural material. This paper aims at developing more reliable structural design specifications based on experimental testing of aluminium‐concrete composite columns. A series of specimens comprising concrete‐filled aluminium hollow sections were experimentally investigated. Square hollow sections and rectangular hollow sections with different aspect ratios were considered. The hollow sections employed 6082‐T6 aluminium alloy and were filled with concrete of C30 grade. The specimens were subjected to gradually increasing axial compressive loading until their failure. The behaviour of the specimens was observed through continuous monitoring and recording of the strain and displacement through instrumentation mounted on the specimens at critical locations. The experimentally obtained load capacities were compared to those predicted by European design specifications. Conclusions with regards to the structural efficiency of concrete‐filled aluminium alloy columns are drawn and design recommendations in line with the observed structural response are made.


The electrophoretic deposition (EPD) technique was used to create a uniform SiO2 thin film coating on boiling plates, 4 mm in width and 9 mm in length. Significant enhancement in critical heat flux (CHF), for the hydrophilic surfaces generated by this anodic EPD method, has been observed. In order to increase the coating strength, the plates were sintered at various temperatures. To find the thickness and uniformity of the coatings, the SEM images were captured. The captured images showed that the coating thickness uniformly increased up to 90 nm for 0.5% nanofluid percentage by the EPD method. The results show that the hydrophilic and super-hydrophilic surfaces have different boiling heat transfer (BHT) coefficients and CHF behaviors. Also, the results showed an increase of 160% in the CHF value by sintering compared to a bare surface. However, because of the setup simplicity, the shape independency, the particle-coating uniformity, and thickness controllability, the EPD technique can be an appropriate option for modification of the surface and coating on the nuclear fuel cladding.


We applied the Small BAseline Subset Differential Interferometic SAR (SBAS-DInSAR) technique to study the city of Beijing (China) aiming to detect and measure the surface movements of buildings and urban structures. The available SAR dataset has been used coming from Envisat ASAR and ranges the period 2003-2009. The SBAS deformation map shows a general stability in the most areas except for some very local areas affected by displacement rate larger than -10 mm/year. These large displacement places mostly happen in the high rapid developed regions caused by the urbanization. The main city areas are stable with very small displacement. The result is very helpful for indicating the urban development.


This article argues that the recognition of anomaly in organizations is socially organized through the formation of virtual entrepreneurial groups. The process of group formation and incorporation within the organization Is described. The new group, e.g. a virtual group, Is a mobile strategic position within an existing organization. Case data is drawn from a two-year observational period in a firm which underwent a major reorganization. A mix of qualitative and quantitative methodologies is used to describe the adjustment of this new group with existing groups before and after reorganization. Differences in inter- and intra-communication and work patterns are discussed.


A mascara composition is provided to secure excellent covering power at a temperature higher than a specific temperature by having a liquid phase formulation with significant flowing property, maintain curling excellently and secure the function of voluminous power at a temperature lower than a specific temperature by having wax phase or paste phase. A mascara composition comprises 1-50 wt.% of at least one selected from the group consisting of oil such as caprylic/capric/myristic/stearic triglyceride and waxes having fluidity at a temperature of 50-70 deg.C such as hydrogenated vegetable oils, ceresin and ozokerite and 20-25 wt.% of a thermoplastic resin having a glass transition temperature of 55-65 deg.C such as acryl silicate and trimethylsiloxy silicate and is characterized in that it has a liquid phase formulation at a temperature of more than 50 deg.C and a wax phase or a paste-phase formulation at a temperature of less than 50 deg.C without flowing properties and improves the covering powder and curling and voluminous feeling.


The article is devoted to a comparative examination of variants of writing the three names of the Iranian loanwords in A. S. Griboyedov's travel notes and letters and geographical maps of the 19 th century, published in Russia. It emphasizes the possibility of drawing on sources of literary origins in the study of historical formation of cartographic toponymy norms.


Pig liver esterase-catalyzed hydrolyses of racemic diacetates of bicyclic compounds, bicyclo[2.2.1]heptanes, bicyclo[2.2.2]octanes, and bicyclo[3.2.1]octanes gave the optically active monoacetates and diacetates. The enantiomeric specificity of PLE toward diacetates of racemic diol substrates was analyzed by using the active site model.


The systematics of the multiplicity‐free unitary irreducible representations of SL(4,R ) are restudied, and an amended list is presented. An automorphism essential to the physical application for particles and fields in Minkowski space is described.


Recent studies have revealed that infants' goal-directed action execution strongly alters their perception of similar actions performed by other individuals. Such an ability to recognize correspondences between self-experience and others' actions may be crucial for the development of higher cognitive social skills. However, there is not yet a computational model or constructive explanation accounting for the role of action generation in the perception of others' actions. We hypothesize that the sensory and motor information are integrated at a neural level through a predictive learning process. Thus, the experience of motor actions alters the representation of the sensorimotor integration, which causes changes in the perception of others' actions. To test this hypothesis, we built a computational model that integrates visual and motor (hereafter, visuomotor) information using a Recurrent Neural Network (RNN) which is capable of learning temporal sequences of data. We modeled the visual attention of the system based on a prediction error calculated as the difference between the predicted sensory values and the actual sensory values, which maximizes the attention toward not too predictable and not too unpredictable sensory information. We performed a series of experiments with a simulated humanoid robot. The experiments showed that the motor activation during self-generated actions biased the robot's perception of others' actions. These results highlight the important role of modalities integration in humans, which accounts for a biased perception of our environment based on a restricted repertoire of own experienced actions.


The theoretical electron mobility limited by dislocation scattering of a two‐dimensional electron gas confined near the interface of an AlxGa1−xN/GaN heterostructure is calculated. The accurate wave functions and electron distributions of the three lowest subbands for a typical structure are obtained by solving the Schrödinger and Poisson equations self‐consistently. Based on the model of treating dislocation as a charged line, a simple scattering potential, a square‐well potential, is utilized. The estimated mobility suggests that such a choice can simplify the calculation without introducing significant deviation from experimental data. It is also found that the dislocation scattering dominates both the low‐ and moderate‐temperature mobilities and accounts for the nearly flattening‐out behavior with increasing temperature. To clarify the role of dislocation scattering all standard scattering mechanisms are included in the calculation. (© 2004 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


BRETT A. McGUIRE, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA; SERGIO IOPPOLO, Geological and Planetary Sciences , California Institute of Techonolgy, Pasadena, CA, USA; MARCO A. ALLODI, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA; XANDER DE VRIES, Theoretical Chemistry, University of Nijmegen, Nijmegen, Netherlands; IAN FINNERAN, BRANDON CARROLL, GEOFFREY BLAKE, Division of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.


Objectives. To study x‐ray development and clinical effects, tolerability and safety after 2 years treatment of RA patients with Reumacon (CPH82) or methotrexate (MTX). Patients and methods. This study is a 74 week open continuation of a 24 week double blind comparison of 100 patients with early RA (disease duration less than 2 years) treated either with Reumacon or MTX. Results. The mean Larsen scores and the mean number of erosions increased significantly from baseline to 24 weeks and from 24 weeks to endpoint in both groups with no significant difference between them. Both groups had improved significantly in all clinical variables after 24 weeks and this improvement was sustained after two years. Conclusions. Radiological progression in patients treated with CPH82 was similar to that in patients treated with MTX. The clinical effect of the two drugs was sustained over the two year trial in both treatment groups.


Summary The infectious disease of measles is becoming a rarity in the member states of the European Union. After the implementation of the mandatory immunization calendar, cases of measles among children rarely encounter while those that have been registered usually pass lightly and without any significant complications. We present two cases of a measles-type infection with a fatal outcome for two children - 4 and 11 years of age respectively - who had not been immunized by the time of the event and who developed an unfolding clinical picture with the respective complications. In a number of countries in the European Union (as well as within some ethnical groups, the Roma population included), standard-type vaccinations may appear to be problematic. The most frequently encountered complications, resulting from such "blunders", are pneumonia and encephalitis but controlling the clinical symptoms is not always possible because of: 1) late medical intervention due to the poor knowledge ability of the respective ethnical group (overdue contact with the specialized medical personnel), as well as 2) the superposed bacterial infections which unmask the initial diagnosis. Obtaining a clear picture of the symptoms in such patients is difficult. In the rare cases, when the therapy is rewarded with some success, patients remain partial or permanent invalids because of the irreversible damage to the brain and/or the functions of the lungs.


253 Background: An international staging collaboration for cancer of the prostate (STAR-CAP) was recently established and used for predicting oncological outcomes for patients with prostate cancer. However, the validation of STAR-CAP has not yet been performed in the Japanese cohort. Our study aimed to assess the STAR-CAP prognostic model for Japanese patients with prostate cancer and compare it to the CAPRA score for the prediction of biochemical recurrence (BCR) after radical prostatectomy. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data from a multi-institution database of 1,645 patients who underwent radical prostatectomy between 2010 and 2020. We excluded patients with inadequate follow-up duration ( < 1 year), missing or incomplete perioperative clinical parameters relevant for STAR-CAP, and patients who received neoadjuvant therapy. BCR was defined as two consecutive prostate-specific antigen values ≥ 0.2 ng/mL. The 3-year BCR-free survival was assessed by Kaplan-Meier analyses and log-rank test. The performance of both models to predict 3-year BCR-free survival was assessed using the area under the curve (AUC). Results: The 3-year BCR-free survival ranged from 47.3% (high risk) to 93.5% (low risk) in the STAR-CAP classification ( p< 0.001) and from 62.5% (high risk) to 94.6% (low risk) in the CAPRA classification ( p< 0.001). AUCs for the 3-year BCR prediction were 0.756 and 0.784 for STAR-CAP and CAPRA, respectively. Conclusions: In Japanese patients, both STAR-CAP and CAPRA prognostic systems provide sufficient stratification and their predictive ability for 3-year BCR-free survival is comparable, with a small advantage for CAPRA (2.8%).


Traceability is an increasingly important aspect of the supply chain with several highlights throughout the last few decades. Parties, such as consumers and government agencies, have shown an increase in demand for information regarding their products and materials. Although there exist numerous frameworks for traceability solutions, these frameworks fail to address the concerns with regards to privacy-sensitive information, certificate verifiability, and auditability. Our contribution is in two-fold: a traceability system DECOUPLES and the product-auditable PASTA protocol. DECOUPLES is the first decentralized, unlinkable and privacy-preserving traceability system for the supply chain, to the best of our knowledge. The system incorporates cryptographic techniques to address the aforementioned concerns. Our second contribution is the PASTA protocol, which allows unique tracking keys per product, per actor. The protocol also anonymizes the receiver of a transaction. Our complexity analysis and proof-of-concept implementation results show that DECOUPLES is a feasible traceability system for the supply chain.


Power utility allocates defense resources to prevent unscheduled load shedding due to transmission line failure caused by the malicious physical attacks. Game theory explains the interaction between the defender and the attacker, overcoming the shortage of unilateral vulnerability analysis. Different from previous researches typically assuming the players are rational and the total defense resources are fixed, this paper investigates the bounded rationality and allows variable total defense resources aiming for a higher level of practicability. Stochastic response to strategies of the bounded rational attacker is described by the Quantal Response Equilibrium (QRE) model. A two-layer defense resources allocation optimization framework is established to obtain both optimal total defense resources and optimal resource distribution, and we design a combined power-of-two and dichotomy (CPTD) algorithm for solution. We also explore the multiple properties of bounded rational behaviors in the attack-defense game. Besides, a unified resources allocation framework of bilateral players is established, which advantages in both cost and reward calculations. To the knowledge of the authors, this work is more general and more practical than previous relevant publications. The experimental studies on the IEEE 14-bus system and the IEEE 118-bus system empirically justify the improvements by our modeling and solution approaches.


From the outset of To Create: Imagining the Good Life through Music, Clint Randles makes clear that this book is 'not for music or music education, but for everyone from the perspective of music and music education' (p. 17, my emphasis). His aim is that, through conceptualising creativity in relation to his own life in music and music education, the reader 'will be better able to create in [their own] domain' (p. 45). Over nine chapters, he conceptualises the Person, Process, Press, Product, Position model of creativity using his original driving analogy (Chapter 1), in relation to spirituality, imagination and individual and socio-cultural creativity (Chapter 4), and alongside heroic narratives from comparative mythology (Chapter 5). Interspersed within this conceptualisation are a description of Randles' personal creative identity (Chapter 2), examples of creative performance in the music classroom (Chapters 3 and 7) and stories of creativity in the lives of professional musicians and music teachers (Chapters 6 and 8). Reading this book from the perspective of music education was, to some extent, rather disorienting. On the one hand, I was curious to read about Randles' research into musical creativity and its potential applications in the music classroom. On the other hand, I wanted to consider the question he poses: 'can this book be practical, not just for scholars and researchers?' (p. 25). How might (or might not) his ideas be relevant when I next embark on a knitting project, or tend to my garden, or rehearse with an ad hoc chamber ensemble? I therefore want to address these two perspectives in turn. First, what is the place of To Create in music and music education scholarship? And second, to what extent does it successfully speak into other creative domains? Despite Randles' background in music education scholarship, To Create is not intended as an academic publication. Though it has a comprehensive bibliography, there are no in-text references and few footnotes. Nonetheless, to the discerning reader, there are clear links between Randles' descriptions of the creative music classroom and the principles of autonomy, experimentation, dialogue and ownership that are well-established in complementary literature on the child-centred progressive tradition (e.g., Finney, 2011). There are also important associations with seminal music education research in creativity (e.g., Burnard, 2012) and eudaimonia—the good or flourishing life (e.g., Elliott & Silverman, 2015). Randles' overarching premise is that understanding and appreciating creativity in the (small-scale) context of music making can help foster the experience of eudaimonia through living 'in tune' with our (large-scale) social and environmental surroundings (p. 45). However, in his attempt to marry existing conceptualisations of creativity and eudaimonia with the aforementioned driving analogy and heroic narratives, Randles overlooks some important aspects of contemporary music education research. For example, in Chapter 3, he compares creative chamber ensemble learning to driving a car and sets it in opposition to the 'bus tour' of large ensemble, classroom-based learning (pp. 94–95). Though he does acknowledge some nuance in both driving and touring scenarios (the probable chaos of everyone driving all the time, and the enjoyment of being taken on a tour), this stark dichotomy potentially diminishes readers' understandings of creativity by not accounting for creative processes in large-ensemble or teacherdirected classrooms. Similar issues are evident in Chapter 7. In depicting the 'hero collective' of music education as those who embrace the challenge to recognise more diverse modes of music making than the traditional, notation-based modes that typically dominate classroom teaching (p. 165), Randles claims that 'extreme promoters of read-from-notation-only music making


STRACT ; group. The Suicide Intent Score, which was of medium severity, was found to be higher in Suicidal behavior is commonly seen in the scluzophrenic population, as various international schizophrenic group (50%) as compared to data speak about as much as 40% attempts in this depression group (2S0/u). The risk of repetition was found to be present in 6.67% of special group of population. The data also say schzophrenic group. that 10% of this population in this group successfully end their lives. This is quite alarming, CONCT.USIONS ; as we tend to ignore this big number. The We conclude that special attention should psychiatrists and the general physicians are busy in be given when evaluating every patient suffering looking for suicides in depression and don't pay from schizophrenia, for suicide, as it is a known the required attention to assess suicidal behavior fact that asking about suicide will not induce in schizophrenic population. We have seen that suicidal ideas, and we can save lives by just asking many times it happens that, only drect questioning questions about suicide. Number of attempts can bring the idea of suicide into the picture, increase as the patient unsuccessfully to end otherwise we miss this catastrophe. his life. Special areas of concern found were, We have taken 30 patients in our study who occasions which are stressful, cornorbid substance werc diagnosed as schizophrenia paranoid type abuse, non compliance on drugs and family history (ICD-10) and 30 patients having diagnosis of of suicide. Special concern is required at the time severe depression (ICD-10). We used Suicide of distress and social changes in the family and Intent Scale for evaluation of suicidal behavior. surroundings. I t is not just depression but Very interesting results were obtained, younger age schizophrenia also takes life. group (1 5-24 years) was frequently associated with schizophrenia than dcprcssion rather, more number of males were present in schizophrenia group. 30°/u had poor drug compliance, 20% had substance abuse, and family history of suicide was found in 23.3% of patients among schizophrenia group.


Successful designs to eliminate Mn from mine discharge are necessary for both restoring abandoned mine lands and permitting the mining of high sulfur coal in the eastern United States. A passive in-line system that meets Mn discharge limits was built at the discharge from the former Shade Township coal mine in south central Pennsylvania. Qualitative research on monthly changes in the microbial and algal community that removes Mn is underway. Epilithic attachment of microorganisms was analyzed on artificial (glass microscope slides) and natural substrates (limestone thin sections) that were immersed in surface water for one month periods over 6 months. Organisms attached to both glass and limestone substrates. Limestone became coated with 34--86% more Mn that did glass surfaces. Light microscopy revealed 12 different strategies are being used by bacteria, cyan bacteria, diatoms, green algae, and fungi to oxidize Mn. the dominant method used by the epilithic community to oxidize Mn is coating of holdfasts by the iron bacterium, Liptothrix discophora, and the green alga, Ulothrix sp. Other methods for Mn removal by oxidation include coating of individual cells, filaments/sheaths/hyphae, extracellular polysaccharides, and biofilms. The unplanned community at the site is multifaceted and extremely efficient in its Mn removal ability.more » Community interactions or complexity may play roles in the stability of the ecosystem and the efficiency of its Mn oxidizing ability.« less


OBJECTIVE
The purification and identification of heme oxygenase isoforms (HO-1) and HO-2 from human liver were described and Sn-protoporphyrin (SnPP) was used to inhibit HO-1 activity in order to provide a new method for prevention and treatment of neonatal jaundice.

METHODS
Human hepatic microsomal fractions were purified by DEAE-Sephadex A-25 and hydroxylapatite chromatography. The enzyme activities of the two isoforms were detected with and without Snpp.

RESULTS
HO-1 was the predominant form with a ratio of 2.4:1 (HO-1:HO-2). The apparent molecular weight of HO-1 and HO-2 on SDS-PAGE was 30,000 and 36,000 under reducing conditions, respectively. The study also showed that HO-1 was the traditional inducible heme oxygenase and HO-2 was a non-inducible heme oxygenase.

CONCLUSION
The efficient inhibition effect of SnPP on HO-1 is suggested.


In the 5V2 thousand years of recorded history there have been 14 Vi thousand wars. In the last 30 years nations have fought some 30 times nowadays by forms of military intervention without formal declaration of war which nevertheless mount the most awesome armaments of conventional weaponry in human history. As the Pax Britannica is succeeded by the Pax Americana, the Pax Ballistica continues to masquerade as society's chief political stabilizer. International education therefore arises in our time as a reach for a Pax Pedagogica, which in a thermonuclear age may be mankind's last hope of averting a global holocaust which would indeed be a war to end our civilization. Whether the universalizing of education for peaceful development will succeed in mollifying mankind will depend upon its being seen as the court of final appeal for rational man in irrational society. The United States is the first paramount nation to have set about secondary education for all its people. It is customary to boast that a quarter of the total American population is now under formal instruction of one kind or another; that there are 2,337 universities, colleges and junior colleges, both public and private, now offering higher education of some kind to almost 7,000,000 students, with 500,000 teachers plus 85,000 administrative and service staff. The full magnitude of the American educational enterprise appears when to all this is added the basic structure of school systems 93,000 elementary and 31,000 secondary schools with a total enrollment of 51,000,000 pupils, with some 2,104,000 teachers and about 120,000 superintendents, principals and supervisors. The annual expenditure on schools is $35 billion, and on higher education $20 billion (a massive total which is nevertheless only 5.5 per cent of the gross national product).1 In grand total, the United States provides for 57V2 million educands,


Abstract Participants that complete online surveys and experiments may be inattentive, which can hinder researchers' abilityto draw substantive or causal inferences. As such, many practitioners include multiple factualor instructional closed-ended manipulation checks to identify low-attention respondents. However, closed-ended manipulation checks are either correct or incorrect, which allows participants to more easily guess and it reduces the potential variation in attention between respondents. In response to these shortcomings, I develop an automatic and standardized methodology to measure attention that relies on the text that respondents provide in an open-ended manipulation check. There are multiple benefits to this approach. First, it provides a continuous measure of attention, which allows for greater variation between respondents. Second, it reduces the reliance on subjective, paid humans to analyze open-ended responses. Last, I outline how to diagnose the impact of inattentive workers on the overall results, including how to assess the average treatment effect of those respondents that likely received the treatment. I provide easy-to-use software in R to implement these suggestions for open-ended manipulation checks.


The primary aim of the study was to determine the effects of an eight-week barefoot training programme on ankle stability, agility and speed in 20 competitive female netball players (age 20 ±2 years). Before and after the intervention, all players were assessed for stability, agility and speed. The barefoot training group (n = 10) significantly improved their overall stability of the right leg (p = 0.01; d = 1.62), anterior-posterior stability of the right leg (p = 0.01; d = 1.63), the medial-lateral stability of the right leg (p = 0.04; d = 1.14) and performance in the 505-Agility test to the left (p = 0.01; d = 1.04) and right (p = 0.002; d = 1.4). The shod or control group (n=10) showed no statistically significant improvements in any of the performance tests. A large practical significant difference between the barefoot and control group was found in their 10 m (d = 1.01) and 20 m sprint (d = 0.8) performances after the intervention period. It could be concluded that barefoot training had a positive effect on agility and ankle stability, which could possibly enhance netball performance and play a role in the prevention of ankle injuries.


Physical activity should be constantly accompanied by people of all ages, at any stage of life. Movement is often the most effective and cheapest cure for many diseases. The public is slowly beginning to realize the enormous benefits of taking action movement. Arises even fashion a healthy lifestyle and so. being "fit". Nothing, however, would not be able to start without the proper motivation, which should be a strong incentive to compel action. In this work the study of women's motivation to engage in physical activity. The role of women over the years radically changed. More and more women are choosing to stay at home and devote their lives exclusively family. Modern woman has shown that it is possible to meet a professional, he is also a wonderful mother and wife. It's amazing how strong, independent and resourceful in this day and age can be a person, which is commonly say "weaker sex". It is very important to the whole multitude of responsibilities, each woman found a little time to take care of themselves, hence the choice of this topic work. Aim of the study is to identify the factors motivating women to engage in physical activity, to investigate the frequency and the most popular forms of movement, to specify the components of healthy lifestyles and attitudes towards physical activity undertaken by the respondents.


The dispersion equations of magnetostatic spin wave modes in thin ferromagnetic plates are derived within the linear phenomenological theory for a general anisotropic tensor of the dynamic susceptibility (Polder tensor). The equations are discussed for the two special cases of the effective magnetic field being parallel or perpendicular to the surface of the plate. In the Appendix the Polder tensor is derived for crystals with an anisotropic gyromagnetic ratio.

Die Dispersionsgleichungen fur magnetostatische Spinwellenmoden in dunnen, ferromagnetischen Platten werden nach der linearen phaomenologischen Theorie fur einen allgemeinen anisotropen Tensor der dynamischen Suszeptibilitat (Polder-Tensor) hergeleitet. Die Gleichungen werden fur die beiden Sonderfalle diskutiert, bei denen das effektive Magnetfeld parallel oder senkrecht ZUP Plattenoberflache liegt. Im Anhang wird der Polder-Tensor fur Kristalle mit anisotropen gyromagnetischem Verhaltnis hergeleitet.


The growth and physiology characteristics of Phoenix canariensis seedlings were studied cultured on different soil salinity ranged from 1.2 to 14.5.The results showed that the number of new leaves decreased and death leaves increased with soil salinity increment.The chlorophyll content increased under high soil salinity,while chlorophyll a/b increased under low salinity and declined under high salinity more than 5.1.MDA content maintained about 4.30 μmol g-1 under salinity from 1.2 to 5.1,then increased with soil salinity.The SOD activity increased under low salinity,while decreased rapidly when salinity higher than 10.8.Under salt stress,Na+ and Cl-contents in leaves increased,while K+,Ca2+ and Mg2+ contents and ratio of K+/Na+ declined.The main reasons of growth decline under salt stress were effective photosynthetic area decrease and destroy of ions balance.These indicated that Phoenix canariensis displayed high resistance to salt stress was suitable to plant widely in coastal districts,which could grow normally under soil salinity lower than 5.1 and only shown damage symptoms above salinity of 10.8.


This study aims to fully explore the influence of rock joint roughness in the slope stability analysis of an open mine. Therefore, based on the least squares parameter estimation method, a generalized shear strength parameter coupling roughness, which is used to evaluate a slope design, was established by a matching formula reflecting the relationship between the roughness coefficient and the shear strength parameter. Firstly, to verify and calibrate the model, physical direct shear tests were conducted on serrated rock joints, and the effect of roughness was analyzed qualitatively. The results show that an increase in tooth height increases the internal friction angle but decreases cohesion. Therefore, the rock joint direct shear test numerical model by PFC-2D was established and compared with the physical test curve, effectively verifying its correctness. The relationship between cohesion c and internal friction angle φ with roughness coefficient JRC was further quantified, and the new model was then fitted to characterize the relationship between roughness and shear strength parameters. This method is applied to the design optimization of an open pit mine slope. The new parameters are input to GeoSMA-3D, which is used to search for the key block of a bedding slope on an open-pit mine, to optimize the design of the slope.


and Society," Mendoza comes to several conclusions. She asserts that the local (San Jerónimo) prominence of the Majeños and Qollas comparsas while she conducted her research was due partly to their historical "authenticity," but even more to their symbolic success in representing "the high [Majeños] and low [Qollas] extremes of society" (p. 234), at both the danza level and the comparsa-member level. A Majeño is in fact a member of a local elite, whereas a Qolla, in his ambiguous choreographic role, becomes a townsperson who can "sometimes subvert stereotypes about indigenous identity fostered by regional and national elites' promotion of folklore" (p. 236). The fourteen music examples on the accompanying compact disc, all fieldrecorded in 1989 or 1990 in Coya District, San Jerónimo, or Paucartambo, Cusco, offer a good sampling of the Cusco-area dances and songs discussed in the book. These substantial, extended selections are well recorded, providing a vivid aural image and a clear natural context. For the ethnomusicologist interested in Andean phenomena, some specific music analysis of each recorded example would have been illuminating, and the original text for the examples sung in Quechua, along with the English translation, would have been welcome. As a student of north-Andean Quechua and mestizo musical culture, I found it fascinating to hear Quechua-language song accompanied by what are, in the north-Andean setting, traditional mestizo ensembles (accordion or brass band), yet in a unison male choral setting evocative of mestizo performance practice in Peru. Mendoza's Shaping Society through Dance is a well-researched, well-written, and informative volume, marked by thorough ethnography and appropriate and necessary historical and theoretical underpinnings. Mendoza has skillfully revealed how the local processional danza in the south-Andean festival setting serves as a focal point for the expression of both local town identity and individual or generational identity. At the same time, she has provided us with important data on south-Andean town choreography, costume, and choreographic history, and on the anthropology of Andean dance. Her book is appropriate for university courses in Latin American studies, in the anthropology of Latin America or South America, and in the anthropology of dance. It will also be useful to students of Andean ethnomusicology even though it lacks in-depth music analysis. In short, this is a valuable addition to a group of recent books on Peruvian dance and culture: Música, danzas y máscaras en los Andes (cited above), Elisabeth den Otter's Music and Dance of Indians and Mestizos in an Andean Valley of Peru (Delft: Eburon, 1985) for music and dance in the Callejón de Huaylas, and Thomas Turino's Moving Away from Silence: Music of the Peruvian Altiplano and the Experience of Urban Migration (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993) for instrumental ensembles in Conima (north-shore Titicaca) and Lima. Of particular merit, in Mendoza's volume, is the in-depth local field research, intensive work that has culminated in a volume of substantial insight and value.


Objective To determine the contents of astragaloside Ⅳand isoflavoniods in Gansu Astragalus membranaceus. Methods RP-HPLC on a Kromasil ODS-1 column(5 μm, 4.6 mm × 250 mm) was employed, and astragaloside Ⅳ was detected by evaporative light scattering detector in a gradient of methanol-water at eluent gas rate of 2.0 mL/min and under a drift tube temperature of 80 ℃. Formononetin and calycosin were also eluted in a gradient of methanol-water, but detected by photodiode array detector at a wavelength of 254 nm. Results The concentration range of astragaloside Ⅳ, formononetin and calycosin was 8.06-28.2 μg/mL, 2.35-47.0μg/mL and 2.32-46.5 μg/mL respectively, and correlation coefficient0.9938. Conclusion We established a simple and practical method for determining the contents of above three compounds.


Adsorption and dissociation of O2 molecule on the MoSe2 and MoTe2 monolayers are studied by using density functional theory (DFT) within the generalized gradient approximation (GGA) and a supercell approach. The physisorbed O2 molecule on MoSe2 and MoTe2 with a magnetic moment (MM) close to that for an isolated O2 molecule has small adsorption energy and long distance from the surface. The dissociative adsorption of configuration R5(R6) is the most stable adsorption site, whereas the chemisorption of O2 is unfavorable at all adsorption sites. The dissociative adsorption of configuration R4 induces dramatic changes of electronic structures and localized spin polarization both for monolayer MoSe2 and MoTe2. The analysis of electronic density of states (DOSs) shows that the contribution of spin polarization is mainly from the hybridization between O–p, Se(Te)–p and Mo–d orbitals.


We suggest one variant of generalization of the Hurwitz transformation by adding seven extra variables that allow an inverse transformation to be obtained. Using this generalized transformation we establish the connection between the Schrödinger equation of a 16-dimensional isotropic harmonic oscillator and that of a nine-dimensional hydrogen-like atom in the field of a monopole described by a septet of potential vectors in a non-Abelian model of 28 operators. The explicit form of the potential vectors and all the commutation relations of the algebra are given.


An optimum position setting method of a measurement object of a measuring system using a three-dimensional scanner is provided to set up the optimum position of the measurement object using the basic configuration. An optimum position setting method of a measurement object of a measuring system using a three-dimensional scanner comprises followings. The measurement object is positioned at a same cord with an optical axis of an image acquisition part(S100). The pattern light in which the on/off domain is segmented based on a central vertical line of the pattern is projected on a screen(S110). An measurement object surface image, in which the same pattern light is projected, is obtained by the image acquisition part(S120). The size of a first area and a second area is calculated and determine after the first and second area is classified according to the brightness of the obtained image(S130). If the size of the first area and the second area is same, the corresponding point is set as an optimum point(S140). If the size of the first area and the second area is not same, the size of the first area and the second area is compared(S150). If the size of the first area is bigger than the size of the second area, the measurement object is rearwards moved(S160). The S120 step and S130 step are repeated until the size of the first area and the second area is identical.


Increased competition between economic agents significantly increases the importance of various factors that characterize the company's internal environment. It is from the state of this environment that the success in competition between firms depends to a large extent. The concept of "competence" is used to characterize the situation. Modern competence is a strategic factor in the company's development in a competitive environment. Competences allow a correct choice of new products and services, new economic alliances, promising new development programs for any company. A company that aims to commercial success should be able to change the concept of development. Successful competition is the ability to create and develop one's own competitive advantage. The struggle for leadership is a struggle for leadership in the field of key competencies. Any intellectual achievement sooner or later begins to depreciate. If the firm's management remains too long in the belief in the truth of their knowledge and competences, this substantially worsens its position in the market. To win in a competitive competition, the firm should continuously generate its own changes, including changes in the competencies. Under these conditions, knowledge becomes a strategic factor in the success of an industrial enterprise in the future.


Sea transport has a significant impact on the development of the country's economy. The development of the project to create a raid complex in the seaport of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky can give a new impetus to realizing the potential of the region. The problems of the development of sea transport are caused by the lag in the development of domestic seaports. Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky can become a base port providing services of supply, bunkering, and vessel repair, technical and other inter-river service of ships. The additional cargo traffic of the point will affect the increase of cargo turnover in the Kamchatka Territory and the Northern Sea Route. The construction of the raid complex is a prospect for the development of maritime infrastructure. The authors presented a promising project with the resulting cash flows and calculation criteria for its effectiveness. In order to take into account the main risks associated with the construction of the raid complex, geological, engineering, construction, force majeure, sensitivity analysis to variable parameters has been carried out. The substantiation of the choice of the type of the raid quay facility is carried out. The proposed project has an economic and social effect, will ensure the development of the PetropavlovskKamchatsky sea terminal to the international level. The use of the transit potential of the territory is of strategic importance on a national scale.


This paper discusses on the influences of the natural geographical conditions (including the geographical location, the natural conditions, and the natural geographical conditions along the trade seaway) and the humanistic geographic conditions (including the quantity of population, the economic growth level, the market potentiality, the political geographic conditions, and other humanistic geographical conditions) on the international trades.


Abstract Problem Identification Many BRCA1/2 carriers experience an increase in distress after diagnosis; however, there is a need to review the longer term psychological implications of genetic confirmation and the factors associated with persistent distress. Literature Search This article systematically reviewed the literature in line with PRISMA guidelines on distress a minimum of six months after BRCA1/2 confirmation focusing on prevalence rates and factors associated with distress. Data Evaluation and Synthesis Fifteen studies were identified for inclusion and a narrative synthesis was conducted. Distress was associated with a range of demographic, clinical and psychological factors. A consistent finding was that although most carriers experience a reduction in distress 6–12 months after BRCA1/2 confirmation, those who experience persistent distress are more likely to have had higher distress levels at time of genetic testing. Risk reducing surgery may also play a role in reducing distress. Conclusion The review highlights the importance of psychological assessment and the use of specific distress measures. Given the considerable challenges in synthesizing the data there is a need for further prospective studies of high methodological quality.


The vacuum state in quantum field theory is known to exhibit an important number of fundamental physical features. In this work we explore the possibility that this state could also present a nontrivial spacetime structure on large scales. In particular, we will show that by imposing the renormalized vacuum energy–momentum tensor to be conserved and compatible with cosmological observations, the vacuum energy of sufficiently heavy fields behaves at late times as nonrelativistic matter rather than as a cosmological constant. In this limit, the vacuum state supports perturbations whose speed of sound is negligible and accordingly allows the growth of structures in the vacuum energy itself. This large-scale structure of vacuum could seed the formation of galaxies and clusters very much in the same way as cold dark matter does.