Conventional balanced antipodal Vivaldi antennas (BAVAs) normally have deep ripple levels in mainlobe region and significant beamwidth variation over upper frequency band, which are drawbacks for ultra-wideband (UWB) applications. This letter describes two types of lenses in front of BAVA to overcome these defects. A gradient-index semi-cylindrical lens and a cylindrical lens are utilized to improve ripples depth of E-plane mainlobe and broaden H-plane beamwidth, respectively. Both these lenses and BAVA are integrated on the same substrate and the desired refractive indexes of lenses are realized by a combination of a set of air-filled holes in the substrate. The detailed analysis, design and discussion for the modified BAVA with lenses (BAVA-L) and conventional BAVA are performed. The results show that BAVA-Ls offer attractive features such as smaller ripple levels in E-plane mainlobe, wider H-plane beamwidth and higher aperture efficiency, while maintaining good bandwidth characteristics over 2-18GHz.


The present project assembles and analyzes health systems data for small areas in contiguous regions of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland in 1988. The data were collected and maintained by the Communist central governments of East Germany and Czechoslovakia, and by the voivodships in Poland during the command system era. Analyses of these regions are compared to contemporary data from U.S. regions. Instead of assuming a common goal for each region, the data are studied to ascertain whether they reflect an identifiable, de facto goal. The key findings are that coefficients of variation of health care resource availability are somewhat larger in the command systems; and coefficients of variation in mortality rates are smaller in two of the command systems, suggesting a de facto emphasis on health status equality. The U.S. regions' data appear to be more consistent with an implicit goal of regional health status maximization. Discussions explain the relationships between the alternative goals and suggest which systems succeed in achieving a particular goal.


Lentigo maligna (LM) and lentigo maligna‐melanoma (LMM) are histotypes of melanoma arising in skin with cumulative solar radiation damage. The extension of atypical melanocytes to the hair follicle (folliculotropism) is a histopathological feature of LM/LMM. Its role has not been totally clarified, but it may be correlated to treatment response in LM or to progression in LMM.


It is shown that for N = 2 supersymmetry a hidden symmetry arises from the hybrid structure of a quartic algebra. The implications for invariant Lagrangians and multiplets are explored.


The continuously increasing use of power capacitors throughout utility and industrial paper systems has resulted in an increased awareness level of the application considerations associated with capacitor switching and harmonics. The author reviews these topics from a system point of view, emphasizing the system interaction effects and the means that can be used to minimize this interaction. It is noted that the switching of a capacitor bank can cause transient overvoltage concerns at other points in the system under certain conditions. A number of methods are discussed for reducing these transients, including closing and opening resistors, controlled closing, staggered closing, reactors, and surge arresters. Capacitor banks throughout the system can influence the distortion level that occurs due to a harmonic source. That effect can be minimized by using filter capacitor banks in the plant at the medium or low voltage buses which would be at or near the source of the harmonics.<<ETX>>


Searching for new process models which satisfy the embedded systems demands, has been reflected in efforts to develop reusable IP-cores based on the Rational Unified Process (RUP). Among the alternative process, highlight the ipPROCESS, a Brazilian initiative in order to create a standard and enhance the development of integrated circuit design in the country. In this context, this paper presents an application of ipPROCESS designing a set of IP-cores for FPGA game projects. The design is based on a car racing game to support the construction of IP-cores considered essential for game project, such as control, handling and visualization.


transformation and formation of new law and order based on the modern constitutionalism values. Legal awareness peculiarities in the post-soviet period and certain aspects of the legal mechanism of providing national sovereignty are analyzed by the author.


The objective of the proposed PRODERMO project is to improve access to water and increase incomes for rural communities in the project areas using a participatory and integrated approach to community-based development. To achieve its objectives, the project will support several activities including: (i) mobilization of surface water for human and animal consumption and for small-scale agricultural production to ensure the resilience of rural households to face uncertainty climatic events such as droughts and floods, (ii) the promotion of production and value-added agricultural and livestock farming activities around the water points, and (iii) capacity building to increase organizational, technical and management skills at community level and of local, regional and national institutions. The PRODERMO is a participatory project designed to meet the social, environmental and economic needs of beneficiaries. Overall, project activities (sub projects) will result in positive impacts on the environment and living conditions of affected populations. However, some activities of the Project could have a negative impact if adequate mitigation measures are not implemented. The environmental assessment established that the project will not create significant or irreversible potential negative impacts on the environment. The main risks identified with minor impacts can be controlled by implementing good practices in the design and operation of sub-projects. The most important impacts will require the implementation of appropriate mitigation actions covering: the hydrological functioning of watersheds; the availability of water resources; the monitoring of groundwater quality; the monitoring and improvement of water quality in the infrastructures created (especially in tanks intended for human consumption); a breakdown of hydraulic infrastructures; the risk of overgrazing and degradation of vegetation cover; the modality of use and access to land; and the rehabilitation of the desalination plant at Khor Angar.


A steady-state current can be produced in a toroidal plasma by absorption of an electron cyclotron heating wave in the region of a localized magnetic field gradient along the magnetic field lines. The current produced by this mechanism flows in the same direction as the Fisch-Boozer current and it is equivalent in magnitude for reasonable values of ΔB/B. The scaling of the ratio current to RF power absorbed with the plasma variables n, T, and R (major radius), is the same for both currents, namely T/nR.


Objective: To reexamine the existing medications for the potential treatment of extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), based on susceptibility data, and to identify potential future medications from the literature. Data Sources: Relevant information was identified through a search of MEDLINE (1966–November 2007), PubMed (1955–November 2007), American Search Premier (1975–November 2007), International Pharmaceutical Abstracts (1960–November 2007), Science Citation Index Expanded (1996–November 2007), Cochrane Databases (publications archived until November 2007), and various tertiary sources as listed in the references, using the terms extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), ethambutol, pyrazinamide, para-aminosalicylic acid, cycloserine, linezolid, diarylquinoline, nitroimidazopyran, fluoroquinolones, β-lactams, new treatments, and ethionamide alone or in combination regimens. Study Selection and Data Extraction: After identification of the relevant information, the data presented in this article were selected based on clinical relevance and value of information. Data Synthesis: Based on susceptibility data, pyrazinamide, ethambutol, para-aminosalicylic acid, cycloserine, and ethionamide may be used for the treatment of tuberculosis. However, due to the emergence of XDR-TB, many of these agents are no longer successful treatment regimens. We have found limited data supporting potential future use of β-lactams, clarithromycin, and linezolid in resistant TB infections. TMC207, nitroimidazopyran, and SQ109 compounds may also prove to be viable options in the near future for treatment of tuberculosis, especially in cases with resistance to mainstay medications. Conclusions: Extensively resistant tuberculosis appears to be a potentially catastrophic disease if allowed to spread. Due to its resistance profile, very few potentially effective agents are available, calling attention to this growing problem.


ABSTRACT This paper argues that Ben Lerner's discussions of poetry and poetics in his two acclaimed novels, Leaving the Atocha Station and 10.04, have not received the serious attention they deserve. Here, I examine the novels as clear extensions of Lerner's poetic project as seen in his three volumes of 'verse', and link them to the theoretical discussions of poetics one finds in the prose of poets like Baudelaire, Rimbaud, Dickinson, or Pound. This in turn opens the way to seeing Lerner as engaged in an ongoing project in which neither prose nor poetry is privileged, but each dialogues with the other in what must be considered a serial prosimetrum. Following from this, I examine how the prose writings illuminate and enact the poetics of virtuality which Lerner favours and explores in many ways, not least of which being the displacement of poetry and poetics into novels, and the disturbing of the claims generally made for each genre. Ultimately, Lerner's opposition to 'mere actuality' or 'mere positivity' can only be understood if his novels are allowed to be disturbed by the volumes of poetry that surround them, rather than being left to stand as copious containers that might bound the poetic impulse.


Abstract : This paper describes Stat Lady -- an experimental approach to teaching and learning probability based on the postulate that learning is a constructive process, fostered by an experimental learning environment that is anchored in real-world problems. Two experiments are discussed, comparing learning from Stat Lady vs. more traditional approaches -- classroom lecture, and paper-and-pencil workbook. Findings showed that Stat Lady learners performed at least as well on the outcome tests as the Lecture and Workbook groups despite the presence of many factors strongly favoring the traditional conditions. In some cases, Stat Lady subjects greatly exceeded the performance of the other groups.


A comprehensive formulation for momentum input to plasma‐facing material surfaces is newly tried, including a momentum increase due to ion reflection on surfaces with a new definition of momentum reflection coefficient, a momentum due to reaction of evaporated atoms, an increase due to physical sputtering, and the effect of plasma flow. Experimentally observed momentum input is evaluated with a simple formula as well as a mechanical cantilever model. In addition, the measurement with dial tension gauge in off‐plasma condition gives a total force, the value of which is compared with the above two estimations. (© 2015 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


C raniofacial surgeons are fascinated by the spectrum of human dysmorphology. The nomenclature in this field derives from Greek and Latin (prefixes, roots, and suffixes). However, most craniofacial surgeons have only a cursory understanding of the words they use. Why burrow in dusty dictionaries in search of etymologic minutiae? After all, a surgeon can successfully repair a craniofacial condition without knowing the origins of anatomicopathologic terms. On the other hand, etymology helps to refine definitions of medical terms and permits more precise diagnosis and communication. Furthermore, for the surgeon with a sense of history or a love of curiosa, words embody the romance and wonder of our medical heritage. They connect us to our physician forebears in the ancient world and sustain a sense of wonder in our profession. Words for anatomic abnormalities take on a fresh meaning when viewed through an educated eye. This glossary (brief dictionary) comprises words that apply to diagnosis and surgical management of craniofacial disorders. It is not meant to be inclusive. Most of these terms are anatomic or anatomicopathologic; a few are used in anthropometry, cephalometry, and craniometry. Some terms seem antiquated and no longer useful. We have attempted to breathe life into all the words. So keep this glossary within arm's length. These entries are likely to engender lively discussion in the operating room or on rounds. Craniofacial etymology also can be used to assess (or impress) medical students and residents. But take care not to be sciolistic.


Semicrystalline polymers' properties are strongly influenced by the presence of a "rigid amorphous fraction" (RAF) of material with enhanced glass transition temperature and suppressed mobility. Here, we review striking similarities between this domain and near-interface regions of altered dynamics in other nanostructured polymers, including thin films, nanocomposites, layered films, and ionomers. Building on these observations, we present results of molecular simulations of model nanolayered polymers in which one layer is crystalline. The results of these simulations, which bear close similarities to semicrystalline homopolymers while providing a well-defined equilibrium crystal size, suggest that the RAF shares the same phenomenology and mechanism as dynamic interphases in these other polymeric systems. Specifically, the fraction of rigid amorphous material is driven by the scale of cooperative rearrangements characteristic of dynamics in polymers and other supercooled liquids. These results situate the RAF as a specific instance of a general tendency towards broad dynamic interphases in polymers and other glass-forming materials. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part B: Polym. Phys. 2017, 55, 907–918


An automated, multi-mode, fuzzy logic controller design method is presented. The method uses the sum of weights method to design consequences of an initial control rule base. The performance of the multi-mode controller is then improved using a model reference adaptive control scheme. The performance of the multi-mode fuzzy logic controller is compared to a self-learning, single-mode fuzzy logic controller using computer simulations and nonlinear plants.


Introduction. The space of the children's world evolves together with a person's ideas about oneself,  the world around them, the development  of scientific and technological  progress. The purpose of this study is to describe the transformation of the space of the child's world, the  change  in the  socio-cultural  position  of the  child through  the  acquisition  of his / her personal  physical  space  along  with the  discovery  of  his  /her  inner  mental  world. The relevance  is determined  by the complexity of the spatial coordinates of the children's world associated with the digitalization of childhood. Scientific novelty consists  in an attempt  to systematize  scientific knowledge in the description of the space of the children's world and to evaluate them from the point of view of the modern socio-cultural state.Methodology and sources. The methodological basis of the work is a cultural philosophical analysis. The works of G. Bachelard,  A. Lefebvre, M. Foucault and other authors  were used as  a  philosophical  understanding  of  the  problem  of  space.  Cultural and  ethnographic analysis  of the  phenomenon of childhood,  carried  out  in the  works of F. Aries,  J. Duby, M. Mead, K. Levi-Strauss, contributed  to the  understanding  of the  space  of the  children's world and the problem of its transformation.Results and discussion. The space of the children's world is associated with a combination of various socio-cultural  factors  that change  throughout  historical  time. The space  of the children's  world opens  up in the  eyes  of  an  adult with the  manifestation  of  interest  in children's  experiences, the inner psychological structure  of the child. Great importance  in the transformation of the childhood space occurs at the moment  when the child finds his / her own "place" in the house. The traditional expansion  of the space of the children's world (house-street-city-country-world) in modern times acquires another  dimension – virtuality.Conclusion.  The evolution of the socio-cultural position of the child in society depended  on the specifics of ideas about  the rules of behavior, social habits, ritual practices.  For a long time, the space  of the children's world was perceived as fundamentally different from the space of an adult, carried beyond its limits. The digitalization of childhood has provided the world with new dangers associated with the risks of finding a child in virtual spaces  beyond the control of an adult.


Any serotypes of dengue virus (DENV), which are DENV1-4, may lead to dengue infections. DENV spread via mosquito vector, primarily Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes. DENV is one of the most prevalent viruses, which is causing dengue fever (DF), dengue haemorrhagic fever (DHF) and dengue shock syndrome (DSS) that may be fatal. Currently, there are no antiviral drugs and effective vaccination available to combat DENV infections. Major component of DENV which plays the important role for viral binding to the receptor to induce the infection is an envelope (E) glycoprotein. The B-cell and T-cell epitopes for DENV1-4 are not yet determined. An effective vaccine against DENV infections should be a tetravalent vaccine that can counter-attack all four serotypes. Therefore, E glycoproteins of all four serotypes was chosen to be analyzed. Conserved regions were found in 100 sequences of each DENV serotype. Multiple sequence alignments was done to obtain consensus sequence. Multiple bioinformatics tools were used for prediction of B-cell and T-cell epitopes based on antigenicity, hydrophilicity, beta-turn, flexibility and surface accessibility. Secondary and tertiary structures of E glycoprotein for each serotypes were predicted and aligned. Complete analysis showed that predicted epitopes were located within conserved regions, and DENV2 showed the highest percentage of mutation rates and had the highest similarity to DENV1, DENV3 and DENV4.


Objective . We investigated the T factors, lymph node metastasis in patients with resected T3 nonsmall cell lung cancer (NSCLC) , and the influences of these factors on prognosis. Study Design. Of 851 patients with NSCLC who underwent surgery between August 1979 and April 2000, this study included 107 patients with T3 lung cancer. Patient ages ranged from 33 to 85 years, with a mean of 65.0 years. The subjects consisted of 97 men and 10 women. The histopathological type was squamous cell carcinoma in 56 patients, adenocarcinoma in 27 patients, large cell carcinoma in 16 patients, and others in 8 patients. Results . In 107 patients with T3 NSCLC, the 5-year survival rate was 32.7 % (MST: 672 days) . T factors consisted of chest wall invasion in 40 patients, parietal pleural infiltration in 31 patients, pericardial infiltration in 18 patients, infiltration within 2 cm from the tracheal bifurcation area in 12 patients, and others 1産 業医科大学第2外 科;2北 九州市立医療 センター. 別刷請求先:市 来嘉伸,産 業医科大学第2外 科,〒807存8555北 九州市八幡西 区医生 ヶ丘1-1. 'Department of Surgery II , School of Medicine, Univercity of Occupational and Environmental Health , Japan ; 2Kitakyushu City Medical Center, Japan. Reprints: Yoshinobu Ichiki, Department of Surgery II, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, 1-1 Iseigaoka, Yahatanishi-ku, Kitakyushu 807-8555, Japan. Received September 6, 2002; accepted October 16, 2002. (C) 2003 The Japan Lung Cancer Society Japanese Journal of Lung Cancer—Vol 43, No 1, Feb 20, 2003—www.haigan.gr.jp 1 Surgical Treatment of Patients With T3 Non-small Cell Lung Cancer—Ichiki et al in 7 patients. The status of lymph node metastasis was evaluated as NO in 55 patients, N1 in 21 patients, and N2 in 31 patients. Five-year survival rates were 48.4%, 27.1%, and 8.1% in the NO, N1, and N2 groups, respectively showing a significant difference. In stage IIB (T3NOMO) and stage IIIA (T3N 1-2M0) patients, 5-year survival rates were 48.4% and 16.6%, respectively, which was significantly different. In T3NOMO and T2N1M0 (stage IIB) patients, 5-year survival rates were 48.4% and 45.1%, which was very similar. Complete resection was performed in 87 patients, and incomplete resection in the remaining 20. Five-year survival rates were 36.6% and 15.8%, respectively, showing a significant difference. With respect to T factors, there were no significant differences in prognosis. Patients in whom the stage was evaluated as T3NOMO had a similar prognosis as patients in whom the stage was evaluated as T2N IMO (stage IIB) , and were considered appropriate as stage IIB. In the surgical treatment of T3 NSCLC, complete resection may improve the prognosis. (JJLC. 2003;43:1-6)


Coral reef biodiversity is rapidly decreasing as a result of the loss of coral cover, which modifies the structure and functioning of the ecosystem. Understanding how coral reef communities respond in space and over the long term is essential in order to implement management strategies and reduce the effects of biodiversity loss on coral reefs. Fish, coral, and algae communities were used as indicators to evaluate changes in coral reef systems. The variation of these communities was studied in a marine protected area composed of three management zones in Cozumel Coral Reef National Park in Quintana Roo, Mexico, over a period of 11 years (2004–2014). The following parameters were monitored annually: (i) total fish density; (ii) fish trophic group densities; (iii) species richness and three fish diversity indices; (iv) relative scleractinian coral cover; and (v) relative macroalgae cover. In the years in which coastal development, such as the construction of a marina, took place, an increase in the abundance of territorial herbivorous and planktivorous fish was observed. As the coral recovered, macrocarnivores and sessile benthic invertivores were re‐established, whereas scraper herbivores showed no changes in the period of study in any of the three management zones. Coral cover recovery showed rapid phase‐shift reversal (phase‐shift, macroalgae dominance over coral) in the three zones. Even though the fish density and coral cover recovered, the diversity indices of each fish trophic group exhibited a reduction in the three management zones over time.


A fourth-order difference method is combined with the vorticity-vector potential formulation in the generalized coordinate. Turbulent flaws are computed in channels with the transverse riblet of convex or concave wall surface using the large eddy simulation technique with the dynamic subgrid scale model. As a result it is shown that turbulence is weakened by the concave transverse riblet and effect of drag reduction is found at the Reynolds number 8, 000 and when the interval of the riblet corresponds to the length of the Tollmien-Schlichting wave. The reason is that the fluid moves toward the concave wall and the strengthening of the streamwise vorticity is protected.


People and households have a growing number of devices, and multiple devices are increasingly used simultaneously.  The presence of multiple devices opens for interesting multidevice services and applications, but many of these require a relatively tight synchronization between the devices.  Norut has created the concept of Shared Motion to address this problem, providing a generic and high quality timing mechanism for web based applications over the Internet. Motion Corporation was founded to provide Shared Motion as a commercial service. Motion Corporation offers InMotion, the first production quality implementation of Shared Motion, and the first hosted service of this kind. In this report we analyze the quality of synchronization we can expect when synchronizing HTML5 audio and video on multiple devices using Shared Motion. We demonstrate that the concept of Shared Motion enables subframe synchronization for video, and near perfect synchronization for audio. Experiments are conducted in real world scenarios. See the Demo section at the end of this document to test it for yourself.


In this reflection, I argue for using the therapeutic landscapes concept as a tool for mobilizing positive change in the world. I first lay out three major research areas in therapeutic landscapes inquiry, and provide a review of similarities in this area of inquiry in both health geography and medical anthropology. Next, I argue for the application of the therapeutic landscapes concept in liberating, if even in a small way, the growing population of the most vulnerable in our society, countries, and the world. I note two anthropological contributions that illustrate how the concept of therapeutic landscapes can be employed in liberating vulnerability, before discussing a work in progress, specific to an intentional ashram community with a mandate dedicated to world peace. I conclude by setting out the importance of this new direction for the future application of the therapeutic landscape concept as a tool for liberation.


China is implementing increasing stringent command-and-control environmental regulations to achieve high-quality development. However, we have limited understanding about whether such policies are effective. This study selects the policy of China's National Environmental Protection "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" as a quasi-natural experiment and uses the difference-in-differences (DID) method to analyze the effect of stricter command-controlled environmental regulations on total factor productivity from the enterprise level. Our results indicate that stricter command-and-control environmental regulation promotes TFP of enterprises throughout the country. This effect is even greater in long-established, large-scale, or low capital density enterprises. In addition, stricter command-and-control environmental regulation has a greater positive effect on the TFP of companies in industries with high pollution intensity and fierce competition. Furthermore, government transformation and market green preference will magnify the positive effect of stricter command-and-control environmental regulation on corporate TFP. Moreover, stricter command-and-control environmental regulation promotes the growth of enterprise TFP mainly by improving the efficiency of resource allocation within and between enterprises, rather than stimulating innovation. Local governments should refine pollution control policies, optimize the external environment, and enhance the innovation power of enterprises.


Continuing one's education is a challenging task for anyone. It is even more so for the isolated practitioner.
How can doctors, even those in remote areas, be helped to effectively continue their medical education?
This paper attempts to answer this question using a problem-solving approach, using the following outline:
1. Definition, Aims and Objectives of Continuing Medical Education - are they appropriate?
2.The Problems - especially those encountered by the rural doctor.
3. Teaching and Learning Theory - some observations.
4. The Implications for Continuing Medical Education. The approach taken by the Department of Family Medicine at Medunsa is described. Five basic premises are stated and their implications discussed.


Heredity has long been suspected to play an important role in the occurrence of bronchial asthma. Recently familial and twin sibling studies demonstrated the role of genetic factors in asthma. Therefore, we measured HLA antigens of 53 asthmatics and analyzed the relationship to clinical parameters to elucidate the role of HLA in the occurrence of bronchial asthma. Four major findings were obtained. 1) Study of the HLA system in asthmatics showed a significantly higher frequency of DR53 and DQ3 and lower frequency of DQ1, DQ6 (1) and DQ7(3). This suggests that DR molecules demonstrate positive associations and DQ molecules negative associations with bronchial asthma. 2) DQ1 was associated with IgE production in asthmatics. 3) B39(16) positively associated with RAST score of Candida. 4) The study of late onset asthmatics, intractable asthmatics and the high responder group of in vitro lymphocyte reaction to Candida allergen showed a cooperatively and significantly higher frequency of DR53(P<0.05). These findings suggest that DR53 has a positive association with onset of late onset intractable asthma.


Electric fields are generally known to favor the ferroelectric polar state over the antiferroelectric non-polar state for their Coulomb interactions with dipoles in the crystal. In this communication, we directly image an electric field-assisted ferroelectric-to-antiferroelectric phase transition during polarization reversal of the ferroelectric phase in polycrystalline Pb 0.99 {Nb 0.02 [(Zr 0.57 Sn 0.43 ) 0.92 Ti 0.08 ] 0.98 }O 3 . With the electric field in situ transmission electron microscopy technique, such an unlikely phenomenon is verified to occur by both domain morphology change and electron diffraction analysis. The slower kinetics of the phase transition, compared with ferroelectric polarization reversal, is suggested to contribute to this unusual behavior.


To study the elastic state of rocks in large depths of Earth's crust and upper mantle and to compote the speed model of rocks it is very important to dispose data about elastic wave speeds in the specimens of rather various crust matter under pressures up to 20 Kbar.


In this article we study the N83-84-85 region of the inner wing of the SMC. Direct and low-dispersion objective prism plates taken with the 1.2 m UK Schmidt Telescope have been digitized by the SuperCOSMOS machine. Star counts have been performed for our region in selected luminosity slices in the U filter and isodensity contours have been used to identify the structures with enhanced stellar number density. We find evidence of triggered star formation from massive stars of older to more recent OB associations. Circular arcs constructed by O and B stars have been detected. A study of the population places stars with more recent ages in the groups of the arcs than of their centers. These effects can be explained by supernova explosions. A catalogue of the non-saturated detected OB stars in this region is given.


Birnessite type manganese dioxides doped with cobalt were synthesized by calcination of a mixture of KMnO4 and Co(NO3)2·6H2O at 600°C in air. The artificial birnessite was consisted of differently stacked slab phases depending on the cobalt content. These birnessites doped with Co exhibited different ratio of two phases; two-layer hexagonal (2H) and three-layer rhombohedral (3R) whose stacking sequences are different but belong to birnessite. The ratio of 3R/2H phases increased with increasing the Co quantity. Their electrochemical performances in Li cells were investigated in a LiClO4-propylene carbonate solution. As a result, the Co-doped birnessite demonstrated the smaller charge transfer resistance and higher reversible capacities than Co-free birnessite.


A 75-year-old woman, who was recovering from a recent episode of urosepsis, presented with 3 days of recurrent focal motor seizures affecting the right arm. She was aware and orientated throughout each episode but experienced confusion and weakness afterwards. On examination, she had mild pyramidal weakness of the right arm. CT scan of head showed no acute abnormality. She was started on levetiracetam. Her history included type 2 diabetes mellitus, posterior circulation stroke, and known asymptomatic meningiomas at the left frontal lobe and left parietal lobe. She had no personal or family history of seizures.

Her seizures became more frequent despite rapid titration of levetiracetam, with later addition of sodium valproate and phenytoin. Five days later, her condition rapidly decompensated and progressed into generalised convulsive status epilepticus, refractory to lorazepam, phenytoin, sodium valproate, levetiracetam and midazolam. She was transferred to the …


Diphenylacetylene (DPA) is a precursor of stilbene and benzil, and reduction of DPA or its derivatives with metallic reagents is both an old and contemporary topic of research. By means of density function theory (DFT) calculations, a detailed investigation of the mechanism of the hydrogenation of DPA over Pd clusters was carried out at the molecular level. The various species structures in the hydrogenation of DPA over Pd clusters were optimized and analyzed. The calculations indicate that the reactions over different Pd clusters share similar reaction mechanisms, and the entire reaction path could be divided into approximately two stages: stage 1: the hydrogenation of DPA to stilbene by the addition of one hydrogen molecule; and stage 2: the hydrogenation of stilbene to the final product diphenylethane (DPE) with the recovery of the catalyst. The Pd2and Pd3-catalyzed systems exhibit the smallest rate-determining step (RDS) energy barrier, and these systems might be the most active and effective catalytic species among the Pd clusters. Although the Pd clusters used in the current work are simple systems, these clusters could eventually provide insights into the specific structure of the Pd catalyst, since Pd and/or clusters and/or nanoparticles could be envisioned as active catalysts in experiments.


Mercury has perhaps the strangest behavior of any of the metals. Although the other metals in column IIB have an $hcp$ ground state, mercury's ground state is the body centered tetragonal $\beta$Hg phase. The most common phase of mercury is the rhombohedral $\alpha$Hg phase, which is stable from 79K to the melting point and meta-stable below 79K. Another rhombohedral phase, $\gamma$Hg, is believed to exist at low temperatures. First-principles calculations are used to study the energetics of the various phases of mercury. Even when partial spin-orbit effects are included, the calculations indicate that the hexagonal close packed structure is the ground state. It is suggested that a better treatment of the spin-orbit interaction might alter this result.


With the publishment and execution of "Curriculum Standards of English for Ordinary Higher Schools",autonomous learning has become one of the important issues in EFL research and teaching,and cultivating abilities in autonomous learning one of the important goals.The understanding of autonomous learning has two meanings:(1) autonomous learning is a kind of state and process characterised with particular learning mode;(2)autonomous learning ability is a kind of psychological tendency and ability of understanding and application.To make autonomous learning available and practical,we need to have a good understanding of autonomy;adjust our teaching ideal and methods;and train students' autonomous learning ability by creating favorable conditions.


Tannin from "Acacia Mearnsii" usually called Mimosa, is largely employed in vegetal tanning of hide even if the quality of the leather is poorer than that obtained using chromium as tanning agents. However, taking into account the natural resources of this product and its reduced environmental impact, mimosa tannin has been modified to obtain leather having improved properties. Tannin was modified using formaldehyde, urea, a sulfonic acid and a sulfiting agent: The new products show a higher molecular weight than mimosa tannin but maintain a good solubility in water. Modified tannins were characterized through physicochemical and technological tests and evaluated as tanning agents. The properties of tanned leathers obtained using the new tannin products and mimosa were compared. Some of the polymers containing phenolsulfonic acid are good tannin agents, especially those with a suitable molecular weight. The technological and sensorial properties of the leather obtained using modified tannins (distension and strength of grain, tensile strength, elongation, and tear load) are better than those obtained using mimosa when an appropriate ratio of the reagents were employed. At the same time the feeling of the tanned leather was improved and the final products show fullness, elasticity, fluency, reactivity, and a thin and fine grain. Some of the tannins modified with naphtalensulfonic acid show poor tanning properties but good penetration in the leather suggesting their use as auxiliary sintans in the pretanning process. A simple procedure to prepare these modified tanning agents in the course of the tannin extraction is suggested. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2008


Traditional methods such as the finite difference method, the finite element method, and the finite volume method are all based on continuous interpolation. In general, if discontinuity occurred, the calculation result would show low accuracy and poor stability. In this paper, the numerical manifold method is used to capture numerical discontinuities, in a one-dimensional space. It is verified that the high-degree Legendre polynomials can be selected as the local approximation without leading to linear dependency, a notorious "nail" issue in Numerical Manifold Method. A series of numerical tests are carried out to evaluate the performance of the proposed method, suggesting that the accuracy by the numerical manifold method is higher than that by the later finite difference method and finite volume method using the same number of unknowns.


SUMMARY

 The present investigation was related in the Parish of Cahuasqui, Canton Urcuqui, Province of Imbabura, whose theme was: Identification of the main damages caused by the Antracnosis disease in the cultivation of Granadilla (Passiflora ligularis Juss.), Whose obtetives were: Determine the ways of controlling anthracnose in the cultivation of passion fruit by producers in the Cahuasqui area; evaluate the damages caused by Anthracnose in the passion fruit cultivation; to know the type of management that the producers carry out in the cultivation of granadilla. The cultivation of passion fruit is attacked by several diseases but the most preponderant one is anthracnosis, with the purpose of making appropriate decisions to prevent and in the case of attack, using the best control methods. And a good management of the crop in the harvest and post harvest for its commercialization. The information was obtained by making a literature review to better understand the disease that attacks the crop and its control, also in the field a survey was applied to 12 producers in the area to strengthen the bibliographic information and know the actions in the field. From the information obtained in the field, 75% of the producers that sow this crop were determined by adding the sum of 2 to more than 3ha sowing passion fruit and only 25% sowing less than 2ha; the variety that is sown is the Colombian one for its properties as: good weight, color flavor, size, hardness of shell and its productivity, which is well appreciated in the market. The only control method is the application of chemical products, which depending on weather conditions farmers perform applications for 12 to 15 days, the doses of chemical products depend on the active ingredient ranging from 100 to 400cc./200ltro. tank.

 Keywords: Control method, IPM Integrated management of pests and diseases


The use of a managed, type-safe language such as Java in real-time and embedded systems offers productivity and, in particular, safety and dependability benefits at a reasonable cost. It has been shown for commodity systems that Escape Analysis (EA) enables a set of useful optimizations, and benefits from the properties of a type-safe language. In this article, we explore the application of escape analysis in KESO [Stilkerich et al. 2012], a Java ahead-of-time compiler targeting embedded real-time systems. We present specific applications of EA for embedded programs that go beyond the widely known stack-allocation and synchronization optimizations such as extended remote-procedure-call (RPC) support for software-isolated applications, automated inference of immutable data, or improved upper space and time bounds for worst-case estimations.


The examination, by 1H NMR, of anionic hydroxytelechelic polybutadienes in conjunction with accurately measured Mn values allows the simultaneous determination of the number average functionality and the identification of the nature of the chain ends bearing the functional groups. The microstructure of the polymer chains has been studied by 13C NMR. A high proportion of isolated vinyl units has been found only if the percentage of vinyl is less than 70%, whereas the vinyl sequences are atactic. During the functionalization, if lithium is utilized as catalyst, only one molecule of ethylene oxide is added at each end of the polymer chain. With potassium, ethylene oxide polymerizes. Owing to the chain ends, reaction mechanisms of the addition of ethylene oxide onto the living polymer have been proposed.


Through the analysis of problems in production and application of bridge bearing and maintenance characteristics of lower pier and dry bridge, the bearings are replaced through pushing the whole beam using skin tough hydraulic jack. The construction scheme design, preparation, procedures and notice are expounded. This paper can provide references for replacement of laminated rubber bearing.


Taking the dominant couplings in the standard model to be the quartic scalar coupling, the Yukawa coupling of the top quark, and the SU(3) gauge coupling, we consider their associated running couplings to one-loop order. Despite the nonlinear nature of the differential equations governing these functions, we show that they can be solved exactly. The nature of these solutions is discussed and their singularity structure is examined. It is shown that for a sufficiently small Higgs mass, the quartic scalar coupling decreases with increasing energy scale and becomes negative, indicative of vacuum instability. This behavior changes for a Higgs mass greater than 168 GeV, beyond which this couplant increases with increasing energy scales and becomes singular prior to the ultraviolet pole of the Yukawa coupling. Upper and lower bounds on the Higgs mass corresponding to new physics at the TeV scale are obtained and compare favourably with the numerical results of the one-loop and two-loop analyses with inclusion o...


Recently, advanced packaging technology has continued to develop towards the miniaturization and heterogeneous integration of devices in the post-Moore era [1]. In order to be suitable for requirement of ultrathin packaging, smaller form factor, more comprehensive functions and lower cost, temporary bonding and debonding (TBDB) as a significant technology for handling ultrathin wafers has been contributed in many sections of the semiconductor industry. Several researchers have shown solutions in TBDB technology which focus on various design materials, including releasing layer, bonding layer, and adhesion promotion layer [2], [3]. However, the implementation of multi-layer coating and baking and cleaning process greatly increases the cost and construction difficulty, reduces the throughput, and is not disproportionate with the performance of final devices.In order to coinage more cost-effective way with lower risk to handle ultrathin packaging, the single-layer thermoplastic adhesive with organic flexible moieties has been developed [4], [5]. We found that temporary bond adhesive based on thermoplastic polyimide could not only function as a releasing layer but also as a bonding layer which is not like other multi-layer TBDB solutions shows. Wafer bonding evaluation shows the single-layer bonds the wafer on glass carrier for 120s at 230~250ºC with 100% yield. Meanwhile, low modulus of thermoplastic based adhesive weakens warpage of highly stressed substrates and increases the yield of the temporary bonding process. The results of ultrasonic scanning microscope shows there is no outgassing and defect can be found between the interfaces of the bonding pair and low TTV and warpage bonding pair has been observed. Excellent thermal stability, robust mechanical stability, laser response performance and simple material cleaning making it suitable for wafer level assembly with a carrier.


For a multifactor weather prediction problem,this paper constructs a new model of fuzzy neural network based on rough set.This model applies the rough set theory to reduce factors of weather and extract rules,the model of fuzzy neural network is built by these rules,and the initial parameters' value of fuzzy neural networks is decided by the statistical parameters of rules and the result of discretization and the networks is trained by BP methods.The application example showi that this model is superior to the traditional one on fitting precision and training rate.


This paper presents combined system identifica- tion and controller design methods to dampen low-frequency oscillations in multimachine power systems. An iterative closed-loop identification method is used to find a linear model for the power system. Linear quadratic Gaussian controller design with loop transfer recovery (LQGLTR), based on a generalized technique for the nonminimum phase (NMP) power system model, is used to design controllers. Simulation results are presented to demonstrate the robustness of controllers based on closed-loop identified plant models and the amount of loop transfer recovery that is possible for NMP plant models.


The prevalence of either completely online or hybrid courses has continued to increase over the past decade, but properly designing the delivery mode of these courses remains a challenge. Whereas fully online institutions of higher education may focus on a purely online delivery format, more traditional colleges and universities have the challenge of balancing online and traditional classroom instruction using the hybrid course format. Whereas basic hybrid courses may have relied more on visual aids of instruction, this paper focuses on the effectiveness of enhancing these hybrid courses with audio lectures. Hybrid courses were created using PowerPoint slides consisting of a mix of visual and audio instructional delivery modes, and student surveys were subsequently administered at the conclusion of the semester to determine the ultimate effectiveness of audio enhancements. This paper presents the details of this case study, the corresponding statistical analyses and interpretations, and general concluding recommendations for audio-enhanced course design. Overall, the addition of the audio component to the hybrid course structure made the hybrid course experience more effective, increased the likelihood that the students would take or recommend future hybrid courses that contained audio enhancements, and made it more likely that the students would prefer a hybrid course to a traditional classroom-only course. Continued research is necessary to provide a more active learning experience and class community during the online components, and synergistically utilize classroom time more effectively to truly capture the benefits of both online and traditional instruction using the audio-enhanced hybrid course format.


This research presents Rverse Engineering of a Impeller The modeling Introduced in this paper adopts polynomial regression that is utilizing approximating technique The measured data are obtained from measuring with Coordinate Measuring Machine This paper introduces efficient methods of Reverse Engineering using Polynomial Regression


ABSTRACT Models of reading development point to a role for knowledge about the orthography quite late in children's reading development; here we explore the contributions of early orthographic knowledge – of the features of print – to word reading development between kindergarten and Grade 1. We did so in a longitudinal study of 93 emergent bilingual children whose formal instruction was in French, a different language than they spoke at home, followed from senior kindergarten to Grade 1. Linear regression analyses showed that early print knowledge in both English and French significantly predicted French word reading in Grade 1; no such relations emerged to English word reading. Analyses included control measures of parental education and English vocabulary, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and autoregressive controls of earlier word reading. These results suggest that print knowledge can be used to predict progress in second language word reading in emergent bilingual children.


• It's all electromagnetic (EM) radiation – Different colors correspond to different wavelengths λ – Intensity of each wavelength specified by amplitude – Frequency ν = 2 π / λ • long wavelength is low frequency • short wavelength is high frequency We perceive EM radiation with in the 400-700 nm range Color: What's There vs. What We See • Human eyes respond to " visible light " – tiny piece of spectrum between infra-red and ultraviolet • Color defined by emission spectrum of light source – amplitude vs wavelength (or frequency) plot UV IR Visible Wavelength λ λ λ λ Amplitude


By disseminating this working paper on an open access platform, the authors hope to entice wider discussion among the research and practitioner communities engaged in public sector and digital government research about the ideas and propositions presented. Parts of the working paper will be converted into a journal publication and later extended into a book.


Like many pastimes (fashion, cookery and popular music would offer equally rich pickings), sport generates a wealth of expressions used enthusiastically by participants and aficionados that can mystify the uninitiated, sometimes intentionally. Cricketing terminology is particular renowned for being impenetrable to outsiders, so the prospect of the 2015 Ashes series between England and Australia prompts the revisiting of lexical items particularly related to cricket.


Hybrid methods filtering of images generally put in collaboration two filters: the first is used for the pre-smoothing and the second to finalise the filtering operation. This approach permits to smoothen the image efficiently while preserving at best its contours and fine structures. Unfortunately, the pre-smoothing generally induces a blur which is not taken into account during the smoothing. In this study, the authors propose a hybrid diffusion method based on the Jeffreys-type equation (JTE). The method proposed provides two steps: a pre-smoothing stage called adaptive-linear diffusion (A-LD) and a smoothing stage called Jeffreys anisotropic diffusion (JAD). A stopping criterion for A-LD, called variance absolute error (VAE) which estimates the noise level, is proposed in order to guarantee the optimality of the smoothing filter. A diffusion function is proposed as well in order to take into account the blurring induced by the pre-smoothing. The proposed hybrid method is compared with the Perona and Malick, telegraph equation, artefact suppressed large-scale non-local means and Xu-AD models. Experimental results show that the proposed hybrid method is efficient both on noise reduction and preservation of contours and fine structures.


A novel colorimetric aptasensor was developed for sensitive and selective determination of chloramphenicol (CAP) based on gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) labeled with Power Vision (PV) and magnetic separation. PV, with a high enzyme-to-antibody ratio, is composed of a compact enzyme-linker antibody conjunction. In this assay, an aptamer of CAP was immobilized on Fe3O4@Au magnetic nanoparticles as a capture probe (AuMNPs–Apt) to concentrate target CAP. The complementary DNA (cDNA) and PV were both labeled on AuNPs to form a nano-peroxidase polymer as a signal tag (cDNA–AuNPs–PV). And the special tags could hybridize with the aptamer and cDNA to form AuMNP–Apt/cDNA–AuNP–PV conjugates. In the presence of CAP, the aptamer preferentially bound to CAP and caused the dissociation of some cDNA–AuNPs–PV on the conjugates with magnetic separation. PV, carried on signal tags, could greatly catalyze 3,3′,5,5′-tetramethylbenzidine (TMB) leading to color development, which could be quantified by Ultraviolet-visible (UV-vis) spectroscopy. A linear response to CAP concentration in the range of 0.05–200 ng mL−1 was obtained by this proposed method, with a low detection limit down to 0.02 ng mL−1. Besides, this assay was successfully employed to analyze CAP in fish and pork samples, whose results were consistent with those of the conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) method.


Objective To explore the correlative factors among the hearing loss and birth weight,gestational age,hurt degree in the various low birth weight infants.Methods Aduical brainstem response (ABR) was used to test the hearing loss unilateral ear V-wave reaction valve30dBnHz were used as the injury index between 2-4 kHZ.Results 246 infants of various low birth weight were tested and 63 infants with hearing loss were diagnosed.3 cases with extreme low birth weight under 1 000 g (1.21%) had hearing disorder.Out of 46 cases with very low birth weight under 1 500 g (12.6%),18 cases suffered with hearing loss (39.1%).From 197 infants of low birth weight under 2 500 g(80.1%),42 cases were found to have hearing loss (21.3%).A significant difference was found between low birth weight and hearing loss (χ 2=15.01,P0.001).All 3 cases under 30 week's gestation age had hearing loss and 27 infants out of 47 prematures of the gestation age from 30 to 34 weeks had hearing loss (46.8%).30 hearing loss from 171 prematures (17.5%) with the gestation age from 34 to 37 weeks were found to have hearing loss and 8 with hearing loss from 25 small for gestational age.Gestation ages are obviously related to hearing loss (χ 2=26.18,P0.001).Conclusion Infant of various low birth weights are at high risk of hearing loss and show an obvious negative correlation with gestation age.Small for gestational age is an independent risky factor.


The management of the design process is fundamental to succeed in the development of product. One of the finicky and energy-greedy step is the link between the CAD process and the CAE process. This break point needs a particular attention. The rupture between geometric models, methodology or vision of work between the disciplines can really affect the quality of the product development (and therefore the time and the cost). The reality of the ground shows that it isreally difficult to obtain a CAD model that contains CAE constraints (mesh quality, loads and boundaries conditions set …). There are many ways to manage this link but we argue that the right way is to work with best practices and a methodology from the CAD process. The aim of this paper is to present this methodology. Keyword -- Computer Aided Engineering (CAE), Computer Aided Design (CAD), Finite Element, Methodology, Best practices


Ethylene, a natural product of sensitive fern (Onoclea sensibilis L.) gametophytes, has been demonstrated to inhibit cell division in light-grown prothallia. When plants were grown on Knop's solution plus 1 % sucrose under 300 ft-c or more of white light, all ethylene concentrations from 1-1000 pl/liter reduced the rate of increase of cell number by about one-half. The over-all rate of increase of cell number was regulated by various environmental and chemical factors, but regardless of the rate established in control cultures, ethylene treatment of 1-1000 ,ul/liter produced a relative 50% depression of cell number. Ethylene was specific for inhibition of cell division and was not a general inhibitor of growth. The ethylene inhibition did not result from a reduction of photosynthesis or energy supply. Further demonstration of ethylene as the active gaseous component resulted when cultures were grown in small enclosed containers with an ethylene absorbent, mercuric perchlorate, and consequently the cell number of gametophytes was restored to the level of unenclosed controls.


The invention discloses an integrated circuit protection method of a mining electric wheel dump truck. The mining electric wheel dump truck is protected in real time in three layers namely a system level, a hydraulic device level and a converter device level; a failure base is called to classify failures through a vehicle control unit; the failures are graded according to different failure types, the severity of the failures is judged, corresponding protection strategies are taken for handling the failures, and corresponding alarming and corresponding motion are carried out for the failures. The integrated circuit protection method has the advantages of simple principle, high reliability, better performance, quickness and convenience in maintenance and detection, and the like.


In presenting this report on primary syphilis of the anorectal region, we are constrained to mention the fact that proctology seems to be the one outstanding field wherein the charlatan still prospers. This situation is directly due to the distressing lack of systematic and comprehensive examinations of the anus, rectum and colon. When one considers that the majority of rectal carcinomas are discovered in the advanced, inoperable stage, having usually been treated for months as "intestinal indigestion" or "piles," and with the knowledge that 85 per cent, of the people suffer from some form of anorectal disease, it is difficult to understand why an examination of the rectum and anus is so commonly omitted. In the course of our work in the rectal clinic of the Detroit city physician's office and Receiving Hospital, we are impressed with the large number of cases of primary syphilis involving the anorectal region. This


A photovoltaic system includes a photovoltaic cell including a sun tracker, a top surface configured to generate electrical energy from the incident sunlight, and a bottom surface configured to thermally dispel heat generated by the photovoltaic cell; at least one mirror including a reflective surface; a plurality of actuators securing the at least one mirror the photovoltaic cell; at least one actuator pump connected to the plurality of actuators and configured to extend or retract the plurality of actuators and adjust the distance of the at least one mirror from the top surface; a heat exchanger thermally coupled to the bottom surface of the photovoltaic cell; and a fluid pump connected to the heat exchanger and configured to circulate the fluid through the heat exchanger.


Abstract The aim of the current study was to examine how bullying by peers relates to self-esteem, school connectedness and motivation for academic success in an Australian high school. Questionnaires were completed by 975 students across years 7 to 12. As predicted, male students were subjected to more direct forms of bullying than female students. However, contrary to expectations, there were no significant differences between males and females in their reported experience of indirect forms of bullying. Also, students in the lower year levels of high school reported being bullied more frequently than students in high year levels. Findings supported predictions that students who were bullied by their peers at school tended to report having lower levels of self-esteem, feeling less connected to their peers, teachers and school, and being less motivated to perform well at school. These results may have implications for school-based intervention programs that are designed to reduce bullying behaviours.


This is a review article about Professor Daniel Bodansky's, "The Art and Craft of International Environmental Law." The book provides an accessible, yet comprehensive overview of international environmental law; a field that has undergone rapid development, and has become one of the most important issues of our time. Although there are many treatises and casebooks on this subject, this single source stands out because of its thematic and pragmatic approaches to the problem. The author's characterization of international environmental law as an "art" and a "craft" is quite convincing, and every reader will enjoy reading this excellent book.


Abstract The opinion expressed, is thai the Pogonophora have evolved from a bitentaculate ancestral form. In the evolutionary process the primitive two tentacles have been reduced to one, or they have been retained, or by a process of polymerization a complex tentacular apparatus has been formed. These last two evolutionary trends are represented in both orders.


In this study, a novel fractional fuzzy proportional-integral proportional-derivative (PI-PD) based modified Smith predictor (SP) is presented for controlling of an industrial air heating system with time delay. The performance of the proposed controller is validated with real-time experimental applications. Furthermore, a performance comparison is demonstrated via results of real-time applications through a set of performance indices.


Homogenization treatment of as-cast Zn-16Al alloy was investigated. Effects of various parameters on the microstructure transformation and the mechanical properties were researched with the methods of hardness test, tensile test, scanning electron microscopy analysis, etc. The results indicate that 360°C × 8 h with furnace cooling is the most reasonable homogenization process for Zn-16Al alloy. Additionally, a new kind of needle-shaped or shuttle-shaped η phase is observed during the furnace-cooled homogenization, which exhibits an extremely regular distribution with an included angle of 120° and a location between the lamellar eutectoids (α + η). The formation of the new η phase is mainly attributed to the Al-depleted-zones left behind by the decomposition of supersaturated α phase. The α′ phase precipitating from eutectoid reaction α → α′ + η contains a much higher Al-content than that of original α phase.


In the last years we have developed some methods for 3D reconstruction. First we began with the problem of reconstructing a 3D scene from a stereoscopic pair of images. We developed some methods based on energy functionals which produce dense disparity maps by preserving discontinuities from image boundaries. Then we passed to the problem of reconstructing a 3D scene from multiple views (more than 2). The method for multiple view reconstruction relies on the method for stereoscopic reconstruction. For every pair of consecutive images we estimate a disparity map and then we apply a robust method that searches for good correspondences through the sequence of images. Recently we have proposed several methods for 3D surface regularization. This is a postprocessing step necessary for smoothing the final surface, which could be afected by noise or mismatch correspondences. These regularization methods are interesting because they use the information from the reconstructing process and not only from the 3D surface. We have tackled all these problems from an energy minimization approach. We investigate the associated Euler–Lagrange equation of the energy functional, and we approach the solution of the underlying partial differential equation (PDE) using a gradient descent method.


Synopsis The influence of carbon, boron, and nitrogen on the creep-rupture strength and the structural changes, especially the morphological changes of carbides precipitated during creep of 18 Cr-10 Ni austenitic steel have been studied, and the relationships between the strength and the structures in the steel have been discussed. Following results were obtained. 1) The addition of carbon up to 0.32% increases the 103 hr rupture strength of the steel at temperature of 600•Ž, but at 650•Ž and 700•Ž, the strength reaches the maximum at the carbon content of 0.23%. The reason is that, by the coalescence of carbides precipitated, the solid solution strengthening of carbon and the dispersion strengthening of carbides decrease with rising temperature. 2) The addition of boron up to 0.009% maintains the high creep-rupture strength, especially at high temperatures and for long time. Boron prevents the carbide precipitation on grain boundaries or the precipitation of the grain boundary reaction type and makes carbides precipitated within grains fine and uniform. 3) The addition of nitrogen up to 0.15% to the steel increases the 103 hr creep-rupture strength at 600•Ž, where the steel is effectively strengthened by finely dispersed precipitates, but nitrogen is not effective on the long time creep-rupture strength at 800•Ž, where the coalecence of the carbide is accelerated on grain boundaries and within grains. (Received Feb. 16, 1970)


In this paper, the use of time domain data from piezoelectric active-sensing techniques is investigated for structural health monitoring (SHM) applications. Piezoelectric transducers have been increasingly used in SHM because of their proven advantages. Especially, the use of known and repeatable inputs at high frequency ranges makes the development of SHM signal processing algorithm easier and more efficient. However, to date, most of these techniques have been based on frequency domain analyses, such as impedance-based or high-frequency response functions (FRF) -based SHM techniques. Even with Lamb wave propagations, most researchers adopt frequency domain or wavelets analysis for damage-sensitive feature extraction. This process usually requires excessive averaging to reduce measurement noise and more computational resources, which is not ideal from both memory and power consumption standpoints. Therefore in this study, we investigate the use of autoregressive models with exogenous inputs (ARX) with the measured time series data from piezoelectric active-sensors. The test structure considered in this study is a composite plate, where several damage conditions were manually imposed. The performance of this technique is compared to that of traditional autoregressive models, traditionally used in low-frequency passive sensing SHM applications, and that of FRF-based analysis, and its superior capability for SHM is demonstrated.


Background: Diagnostic coronary angiography is oftenfol‐lowed by coronary stenting. Therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel is currently the standard treatment for patients undergoing coronary stenting. Clopidogrel loading is usually given prior to the procedure. Some pretreated patients, however, are found to have triple‐vessel disease (3 VD) or left main disease (LMD) that requires referral for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. Surgery in patients pretreated with clopidogrel may be complicated by excessive bleeding or delayed to avoid that risk.


shapes'depends on the purpose the recognizer has in mind, the'general shapes'cannot be dealt with in general, while symbolic patterns such as letters of alphabet connote their categories a priori, the features that declare each symbolic patterns are evident. On the other hand, the human being can discriminate not only symbolic patterns but also'general shapes', for example, the random shapes dealt with in this paper. The authors consider the discrimination of the human be-


A basic aim of the study is to discuss the change in the business models architecture of high-growth enterprises during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the stream of theoretical research, consideration was given to the interpretation of the essence of the business model and its features, which will allow to know the conceptual assumptions of business model construction and to describe the essential components of its architecture. Empirical research on the change in the structure of business models of high-growth enterprises was based on data obtained from a survey conducted on a group of 150 enterprises of this type in Poland. Identification of the direction of change was made by comparing the results obtained from a study on the construction of business models of high-growth enterprises conducted in 2019 to the results of a study identical in terms of scope and participants conducted in 2021 during the COVID-19 pandemic. On this basis, the research hypothesis assuming that changes in the business models of high-growth companies, occurring during the COVID-19 pandemic, did not affect the fundamental reconstruction of their architecture, was positively verified.


BACKGROUND
Allergic rhinitis and bronchial asthma are inflammatory conditions that have increased in prevalence over the past two decades; studies of the inflammatory response in these diseases have determined that T regulatory cells (Treg) have been considered as responsible for allergens tolerance. The expression of CTLA-4 (CD152) in Treg is associated with the functional activity of this population, moreover the expression of 4-1BB (CD137) has a controversial function.

OBJECTIVE
To determine the existence of CTLA-4 and 4-1BB in Treg cells in peripheral blood of patients with rhinitis and/or asthma.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
A comparative cross-sectional study was done with three groups of patients: 20 subjects with allergic rhinitis, 17 subjects with bronchial asthma and 17 subjects with both disorders; 19 healthy subjects conformed the control group. The frequency of Treg (CD4+, FoxP3+ and CD25hight) and the expression of CD152 and CD137 in these cells were assessed by flow cytometry in peripheral blood.

RESULTS
We found that the group of subjects with bronchial asthma (p<0.001) and allergic rhinitis bronchial asthma (p<0.001) showed a significantly lower percentage of Treg (CD4+, CD25hight and FoxP3+) in peripheral blood compared to the healthy subjects controls. Only the group of subjects with bronchial asthma showed a significantly higher percentage of CD152+ (p<0.01) and CD137+ (p<0.01) Treg compared to control group.

CONCLUSIONS
Subjects with bronchial asthma and bronchial asthma and allergic rhinitis disorders have a deficiency of CD4+, CD25hight and FoxP3+ Treg in peripheral blood; however, subjects with bronchial asthma had a higher frequency of CD152+ and CD137+ Treg cells.


An autonomous distributed control is presented as a new control method. The control method is expected to be a very useful for large or complex systems. The control method makes it possible that system has parallel processing structure, flexible extendibility and fault-tolerance. The authors verify the effectiveness of the control. As a case study, the control method is applied to the control of variable geometry trusses that has high redundancy. The main task of the control is a position control of the variable geometry trusses for the docking to a certain target. Through the computer simulations, it is shown that various behaviors of variable geometry trusses are realized by very simple control rules of subsystems. For the cases in which the system size is extended and some subsystems can not function, simulations are also carried out. For both cases, the docking task is accomplished. Through these simulations, the flexible extendibility and fault-tolerance of the system are confirmed. Behaviors for obstacle avoidance are also checked as a subtask, which is realized by using the redundancy of the system. It is demonstrated that obstacles over wide area are avoidable by simple actions of avoidance. Furthermore, through the cooperation of each subsystem the area of avoidable obstacles can be extended. Compared with a conventional control method using inverse kinematics, the


A surface wave-based planar endfire antenna with wideband performance is presented. Surface waves are excited and supported to propagate in a required direction in a surface-wave guide (SWG)-high impedance surface (HIS) hybrid structure. Four surface-wave modes are excited, and thus the antenna resonates at 4.5 and 5.5 GHz. The proposed antenna supports a operation band from 4.08 to 5.72 GHz and the realized gains in a range of 5.75 ~ 7.05 dBi.


Objective To study the suborbicularis oculi fat pad anatomy,and the adjacent tissue structure of the relationship,in the evaluation of its eye younger operation.Methods On the skulls of adult human specimens from 7 cadavers(14 sides eye specimens) of orbital anatomy study;50 patients had obvious signs of facial aging before the patients were eye operation,operation will oculi fat pad component removal.Results The orbicularis oculi muscle and maxillary,zygomatic periosteum on the superficial surface,there is a fat pad,most of its distribution in orbital peripheral,and the peripheral fat pad phase continuous.In 50 cases patients with postoperative lower eyelid blepharoplasty,area spreading,orbital fat bag away,lower orbital margin channel disappears,the orbital bone and lateral edge contour.Among the 19 patients with upper eyelid and ptosis patients,postoperative eye fissure width,eyelid thinning,supreme lateral palpebral fat performance.Conclusion The eye younger operation appropriately removing oculi fat pad,can significantly improve the operation effect.


The invention provides an improved draining pot and belongs to the technical field of kitchen utensils. The improved draining pot comprises a pot body and a refrigeration refreshing module, wherein the pot body is provided with an accommodating cavity and a functional cavity formed at the outer side of the accommodating cavity; the accommodating cavity is used for accommodating tableware and/or fruits and vegetables; the bottom of the accommodating cavity is provided with a water diversion hole used for discharging water drained from the tableware and/or fruits and vegetables; the refrigeration refreshing module is arranged in the functional cavity and used for performing refrigeration refreshing on the accommodating cavity. The improved draining pot has the advantages of reasonable layout, and refrigeration refreshing function.


In view of the abnormal increase in bearing vibration of a certain 300 MW unit,because high speed dynamic balancing could not clear up the fault entirely,a series of tests were devised to reveal the reason,and a large amount of valuable data was obtained.On this basis,the abnormal bearing liner vibration of exciter rotor is analyzed and the cause of the defect expounded.An improvement was made which effectively eliminated the vibration.


Migas, now a hearty dish in some Mexico City restaurants, originated as scrap food in Tepito, a barrio of the city. Made of pig bones, stale tacos and stale bread, migas have become iconic of Tepito and its people. The residents historically maintained themselves and their neighborhood's viability by rehabilitating discards—appliances, clothing, and food. Surrounded by new upscale residences and under pressure to succumb to urban development, Tepitenos have shown defiance and successfully resist such encroachment. (Barrio, Mexico City, recycling food, appliances, and clothing)


The important and well-established performance criteria for assessment of a gas turbine cogeneration plant (GTCP) were examined. It was found that expressions could be derived for these criteria in terms of two key parameters: work efficiency and boiler efficiency. Three characteristics charts were then constructed. These covered gas turbine analysis, boiler analysis and GTCP performance analysis respectively. It is then demonstrated how these charts may be used as an effective tool for both performance prediction and preliminary design analysis.Thermodynamic design of a GTCP as an integrated system is also investigated and discussed.Copyright © 1995 by ASME


The invention provides a search engine result sequencing method and a search engine result sequencing device. The method comprises the following steps that: a sample pair is selected according to historical query data, wherein each sample pair comprises one query term and at least two commodities obtained through searching via the query term, and the relative sequencing of the commodities in the sample pair is set; the characteristic scores of each sequencing characteristic of each commodity in the sampling pair under the query term are calculated; a machine learning model training is carried out according to the characteristic scores of the commodities in each sample pair in each sequencing characteristic and the relative sequencing of the commodities in each sample pair, and the weight of each sequencing characteristic is obtained; and for each commodity in a commodity list recalled according to the query term currently input by a user, the weighted summation of the characteristics scores of each sequencing characteristic of each commodity in the commodity list under the currently input query term is carried out according to the obtained weight, and the commodity sequencing is carried out according to the weighted summation result. The method and the device provided by the invention can be used for optimizing the search engine result sequencing.


This article is devoted to the issue of the language policy of the European Union, particularly in Member States and proposition of Ukraine language policy.
The definition of language policy proposed by linguists from different countries and their division due to the using of the relevant authorities is presented at the beginning of the article. EU policy is aimed at promoting multilingualism and teaching foreign languages from childhood until old age. The main EU institutions engaged in language policy are also briefly presented in the article. Taking into account the fact that besides the common language policy, each Member States hasve the right to have their own language policies the second part of article is devoted to language policy in Estonia and Poland.
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The example of Estonia is very important due to the fact that this state, similarly to Ukraine, was part of the USSR. The effective language policy created a necessity to study the state language, despite the less prestige and number of speakers compared to Russian language. Part of Estonian language policy reforms can be used as an example for reforms in Ukraine in this sphere.
Another example is Poland. Despite the fact that the history of the Polish state and status of language is significantly different, noteworthy are the tools of language policy in monolingual state. In addition, strong conditions for foreigners who want to obtain Polish citizenship or study. Effective language policy elevates the status of the Polish language in the EU and in the world, as a result elevates the status of the language within the country
Taking into account the language policy of the EU author presents own proposal of language policy according to the sociolinguistic research of motivation of Ukrainian language behavior and examples of European countries that can be used in Ukraine. Author also proposes to create the Council of the Ukrainian language and opportunities for completing the domination of the Ukrainian language in all spheres of Ukrainians' life.


Foxtail millet is high nutrient minor grain potentially as food. The aims of the research were to study the response of foxtail millet under different nitrogen fertilizers sources and population. The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block Design with 2 factors. The first factors were nitrogen fertilizers source/polybag, i.e. Control, U2 (urea 2g), U4 (urea 4g), Z2 (ZA 2g) and Z4 (ZA 4g). The second factors were population plant/polybag. i.e. 3 plants and 5 plants. The observations parameters were plant growth and production, chlorophyll content (CC), photosynthesis rates (PR) and stomatal conductance (SC). The results showed that on 6 weeks after planting (WAP), urea treatment showed higher CC (52.37 SPAD). The flag leaf CC on 4g urea treatment showed the highest value both in 3 plants (42.6 SPAD) and also in 5 plants (41.70 SPAD). On 3 plant treatment, the urea 4g treatment showed the highest PR (26.2 µmolm-2s-1) and SC (1.47molm-2s-1). On 5 plant treatment, the urea 2 g showed the highest PR (22.66 µmolm-2s-1) and SC (1.48 µmolm-2s-1). Although nitrogen treatments were not significantly affected plant production, but urea fertilizers tend more suitable as a source of nitrogen on growth and production of foxtail millet. Population treatment significantly affected plant growth.Foxtail millet is high nutrient minor grain potentially as food. The aims of the research were to study the response of foxtail millet under different nitrogen fertilizers sources and population. The experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block Design with 2 factors. The first factors were nitrogen fertilizers source/polybag, i.e. Control, U2 (urea 2g), U4 (urea 4g), Z2 (ZA 2g) and Z4 (ZA 4g). The second factors were population plant/polybag. i.e. 3 plants and 5 plants. The observations parameters were plant growth and production, chlorophyll content (CC), photosynthesis rates (PR) and stomatal conductance (SC). The results showed that on 6 weeks after planting (WAP), urea treatment showed higher CC (52.37 SPAD). The flag leaf CC on 4g urea treatment showed the highest value both in 3 plants (42.6 SPAD) and also in 5 plants (41.70 SPAD). On 3 plant treatment, the urea 4g treatment showed the highest PR (26.2 µmolm-2s-1) and SC (1.47molm-2s-1). On 5 plant treatment, the urea 2 g showed the highest P...


Parkinson's disease is currently incurable and affects 120 000 people in the UK. Research using donated brain tissue is essential in the search for a cure. The Parkinson's Disease Society has launched a nationwide Brain Donor Appeal to raise awareness and encourage more people—with or without Parkinson's—to pledge to donate their brains, as some celebrities have done, such as BBC Newsnight presenter Jeremy Paxman and actress Jane Asher.


Abstract : Many military airfields are located in nonattainment areas for fine particulate matter (PM2.5) but the contribution of aircraft emissions to local and regional PM2.5 concentrations is not well understood. Aircraft directly emit particles, but the vast majority of the emissions are gases and vapors, some of which undergo gas-to-particle conversion in the atmosphere. Primary particulate matter is defined as directly emitted particles plus any material that condenses into the particle phase without undergoing chemical reactions. This latter component is often referred to as volatile particulate matter. Secondary particulate matter is formed from oxidation of gas-phase species such as sulfur dioxide and organics. To develop effective control strategies one must understand the overall contribution of military aircraft emissions to ambient particulate matter? both direct particle emissions and particulate matter formed in the atmosphere. To assist the Department of Defense in meeting the current and future regulations related to PM2.5 concentrations, SERDP initiated a research program in 2007 to investigate volatile particulate matter emissions. Three projects were funded within this program; the lead organizations of these programs were Aerodyne Research Inc., Carnegie Mellon University, and Oak Ridge National Laboratories. The projects included experiments to measure the formation and atmospheric evolution of volatile particulate matter, the development volatile emission models, and the evaluation of new instrumentation and experimental techniques. This presentation will summarize the major findings of the SERDP volatile particulate matter program, including the contribution of lubricating oil and atmospheric oxidation to volatile particulate matter emissions.


A method for producing a B-column assembly of a motor vehicle in which a first metallic base body (2) is reinforced in the form of a B-column of at least one reinforcing member (3) consists of a fiber-plastic composite, which with the metallic base body (2) is connected to an adhesive, wherein the at least one reinforcing member (3) is placed between the first and a second base body (2) so that the two base bodies (2) via the reinforcing member (3) are connected to each other, comprising the steps of: a) Several pre-impregnated with a curable synthetic resin fibers (prepreg) are stacked one above the other, wherein an outer (with a base body 2) is provided to be connected with an adhesive prepreg impregnation or with an outwardly facing adhesive coating; b) cutting the prepregs before or after step a), (according to the geometry of the basic body 2); c) forming of the stacked prepregs into a 3-dimensional preform; d) pressing together the preform and the base body (2) in a pressing tool for bonding the preform with the base bodies (2) and for curing the adhesive; e) retrieval of the interconnected components to cure.


Cervical lymph node metastasis from oral carcinoma is usually treated surgically because of its relatively low response to radiochemotherapy.We report the case of a 75-year-old woman with large metastatic lymph nodes and local recurrence of lower gingival carcinoma, which were treated successfully by nedaplatin (CDGP) plus 5-fluorouracil with radiation therapy.


A detailed study of a robust and fast laser cooling scheme on a three level system is presented. A special laser configuration, applicable to trapped ions, atoms or cantilevers, designs a quantum interference that eliminates the blue sideband in addition to the carrier transition, thus excluding any heating process involving up to one-phonon processes. As a consequence cooling achieves vanishing phonon occupation up to first order in the Lamb-Dicke parameter expansion. Underlying this scheme is a combined action of two cooling schemes which makes the proposal very stable under fluctuations of the physical parameters such as laser intensity or detuning, making it a viable candidate for experimental implementation. Furthermore, it is considerably faster than existing ground state cooling schemes, overcoming one of the limitations of current quantum information processing implementations. Its suitability as a cooling scheme for several ions in a trap or for a cloud of atoms in a dipole trap is shown.


The University of Toronto Library's experience with a microcatalog over the past three years has been positive. Most staff and users take it for granted and have few difficulties with it. Much of the original user instruction program de signed by our Implementation Team on Orientation and Training is intact, though there have been significant modi fications. In general, the team overesti mated the user's affinity for a card catalog and underestimated the library staff s resistance to change. Today, our microcatalog represents one of the largest COM catalogs in North America. We have 1.4 million unique rec ords in machine-readable form with more than 6 million access points. Three cen tral library buildings and more than forty campus libraries contain a total of 5.4 mil lion volumes. About a million of these volumes (the retrospective material in some campus libraries) have not yet been added to our data base. We produce the microcatalog in two forms: microfiche and microfilm. It takes six microfilm


This paper is intended to investigate the determinants of urbanization in Pakistan using the annual time series data from 1973 to 2018. Our aim with this paper is to analyze the short run and long run relationship between urbanization and its key determinants. We employed the ARDL (Autoregressive Distributed Lag) model for estimation purpose. We applied a cointegration approach i.e., the ARDL bounds test to confirm the relationship between urbanization (dependent variable) and other independent variables including GDP per capita growth, unemployment, literacy rate and energy demand. Diagnostic tests ensured the statistical soundness and validity of model. This study concluded that, in short run, the GDP per capita growth, literacy rate and energy demand positively influence the urbanization, while unemployment in urban areas is negatively associated with urbanization. Some policy implications are drawn, and some suggestions are given to deal with the substantial challenges of urbanization.


We describe a consensus service and suggest its use for the construction of fault-tolerant agreement protocols. We show how to build agreement protocols, using a classical client-server interaction, where: the clients are the processes that must solve the agreement problem; and the servers implement the consensus service. Using a generic notion, called consensus filter, we illustrate our approach on non-blocking atomic commitment and on view synchronous multicast. The approach can trivially be used for total order broadcast. In addition of its modularity, our approach enables efficient implementations of the protocols, and precise characterization of their liveness.


[Objective] The research aimed to discuss the effects of different soil conditioner on the improvement effect of saline land and rice yield.[Method] 8 kinds of soil conditioners were applied in saline land of Ningxia to study the effects of different soil conditioner on the chemical and physical properties,pH value and salt ions of soil in saline land and the growth and yield of rice were studied.[Result] The application of soil conditioners not only decreased the bulk density and pH value of soil,had different effects on soil salt ions,but it also sped up the growth process of rice,increase the total rice stems,panicle number and yield.[Conclusion] Applying different soil conditioners all had certain positive effects on soil and rice growth and ORYKTA,Danlu microbial inoculum and Danlu bacterial fertilizer had more significant effects on increasing yield.


A new technique was developed to produce high quality, uniform and attractive thin sliced, cured dried pork. The effects of nitrate, packaging method and storage time on residual nitrite, TBA values, sensory properties and microbiological counts were determined. Residual nitrite decreased with increased storage time at 3 ± 1°C. The addition of nitrate plus vacuum packaging caused a greater residual nitrite level and a lower TBA value during storage. Nitrite and/or nitrate acted as an antioxidant to retard oxidative rancidity (TBA value). Dried pork manufactured by the technique described had no major rancidity problem and had an acceptable shelf life. Total aerobic plate counts, lactic acid producing microbial counts and total anaerobic counts were not affected by nitrate or packaging methods. Coliforms, molds and yeasts were not found in this dried pork.


The busts of Louis XIV by Bernini and Warin: marbles, bronzes and copies. This article explores, in greater detail than has been done before, Jean Warin's public criticism of Bernini's marble bust of Louis XIV (1665) and his own contending portrait in the same material (1665-1666). Chantelou's "Journal" is the primary source for Warin's negative comments, which were focused on the forehead of Bernini's bust. The forehead was precisely the area that Bernini based on coins of Alexander the Great, thus creating a link between the King and the ancient conqueror, but Warin apparently did not recognize this. His rival bust is proto-neo-classical: Louis is dressed in ancient Roman armor, not contemporary dress and armor as in the Italian work, without the suggested movement of the latter, and with a forehead more covered with hair -a pointed riposte. The two busts were displayed as a pair in changing royal locations (Louvre, Palais des Tuileries, Versailles). Warin's enjoyed a place of honor in the Escalier des Ambassadeurs at Versailles for a few years from 1679 on, but eventually lost favor, whereas Bernini's (after which many casts were made) was set up in the Salon de Diane at Versailles in 1684, where it has remained ever since. Documents indicate that although Warin made the model, it was Gerard Leonard Herard, his collaborator, who actually carved the rival marble bust. The article also discusses the evidence for a bronze bust of Louis XIV by Warin, which remains untraced.


Transformation methods are used to calculate the second-order contributions to the effective hamiltonian of a D(T2) ion coupled to E-type displacements in a cubic crystal. It is found that it is only possible to relate the first- and second-order Jahn-Teller reduction factors when a cluster model is used. For other lattice models, the parameters are unrelated. Finally, the orbital contribution to the magnetic susceptibility of a crystal containing delta (T2) ions is calculated.


The British Empire was instrumental in shaping the modern world as we know it. Despite its significance for today, controversies rage over how we should teach it to younger generations. Writing for Frontier, Dr Adam D. Burns discusses his recent investigations into the different educational factors influencing students' perceptions of the British Empire.


Recent work on granular computing has introduced new notions which apply to research network structure. In this paper, we present a study of a multiple level of granularity for network. The first problem is how to model the multiple level network based on granular structure. We then propose a method of constructing a multiple level network. Compared with flooded searching path network, the proposed one is more effective.


Introduction Space communication systems are designed based on the prime requirements of size, weight, on-board power requirements and reliability. Various factors limit the transmission of data from satellites and the design of the system becomes more complex with an increase in data rates. Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites provide data in a variety of spatial, spectral and temporal resolutions. The data transmission requirement for IRS satellites has increased from 20Mbps to 640Mbps. There is a need to improve the resolution of images and hence there is increase in demand for higher data rate transmitters. This calls for developing new data transmitting systems—the modulator in particular. Data transmission from space to ground needs to be carried out in the frequency band allotted by International Telecommunication Union (ITU). The S-band is overcrowded and moreover higher data rates cannot be accommodated in the allowable 20MHz bandwidth. The other bands allotted for data transmission from space to ground are X-band and Ka-band with 375MHz and 1500MHz bandwidth, respectively. At present, data transmission from remote sensing satellites is confined to X-band, with data rates as high as 210Mbps on two different carriers using QPSK modulation. The next generation satellite will transmit data rates as high as 640Mbps on a single carrier using dual polarization. If the data rates are increased further, transmission at Ka-band is the only option. In a digital communication system, especially in satellite links, there is a trade-off between bandwidth efficiency and power efficiency when selecting a suitable modulation scheme. The QPSK modulation scheme, which is optimum in terms of power and bandwidth efficiency, is widely used for high bit rate data transmission for terrestrial as well as satellite communications. A miniaturized QPSK modulator was designed at X-band using micro-strip line techniques. It was tested for its performance up to a data rate of 800 Mbps. The high data rate ensures the transmission of images acquired by high resolution cameras to ground. Realization of the unit and its test results are explained in this paper.


This paper describes the participation of the #NonDicevoSulSerio team at SemEval2018-Task3, which focused on Irony Detection in English Tweets and was articulated in two tasks addressing the identification of irony at different levels of granularity. We participated in both tasks proposed: Task A is a classical binary classification task to determine whether a tweet is ironic or not, while Task B is a multiclass classification task devoted to distinguish different types of irony, where systems have to predict one out of four labels describing verbal irony by clash, other verbal irony, situational irony, and non-irony. We addressed both tasks by proposing a model built upon a well-engineered features set involving both syntactic and lexical features, and a wide range of affective-based features, covering different facets of sentiment and emotions. The use of new features for taking advantage of the affective information conveyed by emojis has been analyzed. On this line, we also tried to exploit the possible incongruity between sentiment expressed in the text and in the emojis included in a tweet. We used a Support Vector Machine classifier, and obtained promising results. We also carried on experiments in an unconstrained setting.


The spin‐lattice relaxation time (T1) of water adsorbed on collagen fibers was determined at six frequencies and temperatures varying from 25° to −80°C. Care was taken to eliminate the contributions to the signal of protons other than those in the adsorbed water. Quantitative calculations were made on T1 and the results were compared with the experimental data. It is suggested that a maximum of about 0.50–0.55 g water per g collagen forms a hydration layer, which cannot be frozen down to −90°C and exhibits a distribution of motional correlation times. For collagen samples containing a larger quantity of adsorbed water, the additional water molecules behave like ordinary isotropic water, having a single correlation time and a freezing temperature of about −10°C.


Pollution is the entry of contaminants into the environment or ecosystem which causes adverse change. The severe cases of radiation contamination lead to changes in DNA leading to genetic mutation, as happened in Hiroshima and Nakzaki in Japan and Chernobyl. Radioactive contamination in Iraq was resulted in the recent wars (1991-2015), because of uranium munitions. It is led to serious environmental and health disasters such as cancer, leukemia, and birth defects. The Iraqi Ministry of Environment has indicated that more than 300 sites in Iraq were polluted by mercury pesticides, heavy metals, polyol, chlorine, and depleted uranium, because of the abandoned weapons in some parts of Iraq from the remnants of the wars that have occurred in the Iraq.


The complexity of multi-dimensional data structure affects the efficiency of OLAP, because there are too many drill-down paths to be chosen from when analysis. While most methods in the literature are associated to some specific analysis tasks, so they cannot get reasonable effect. In this paper, we proposed a new method that is irrelevant to analysis task that we try to prune the invalid drill-down operations. The vectorial angle method is employed to evaluate the validness of every drill-down operation. We give the corresponding path pruning algorithm, and it is effective that it takes the fact table as the input in only one pass scanning. The experiments show that our method is feasible, effective, sparsity-proof and skewness-proof