We investigated labile P and roots distribution in the soil profile and their effect on phosphorus uptake and soybean and corn yield under different tillage systems and phosphate fertilization managements. In a long-term experiment fertilized with triple superphosphate (TSP) or reactive phosphate rock (RPR), where the fertilizer was band-applied in the crop row or broadcasted under conventional tillage (CT) or no-tillage (NT), we evaluated labile P (Bray-1) and root density distribution in depth, and crop yield, biomass production and P uptake by soybean (16th crop) and corn (17th crop). The soil disturbance in CT promoted more homogeneous soil P distribution while in NT there was a strong gradient in depth, with nutrient accumulation in the fertilizer application zone. In general, the average content of P in the 0–20 cm layer was similar for the two soil management systems and for the two application methods, but higher for TSP in relation to RPR. Root distribution of soybeans in NT and corn in both tillage systems showed a strong relationship with soil P distribution. The production of biomass, P uptake and grain yield of soybean in CT was influenced by phosphate fertilization management and generally presented lower performance than in NT, what did not occur for corn possibly due to a better P uptake efficiency compared to that of soybean. Greater stratification on the distribution of soil P and soybean and corn roots in NT did not represent any limitation on the nutrient uptake and yield of these crops, not even in the extreme case where the fertilizer was continuously broadcast on the soil surface. The influence of soil tillage management and phosphate fertilization was more evident in soybeans than corn.


This paper presents the development of Single-stage String Photovoltaic (PV) Inverter with Modified Perturb and Observe (P&O) Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) based-Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT) technique. Previous works on Single-stage string PV inverter come with various types of the circuit configuration and switching technique incorporating with a different type of MPPT. Each circuit topology and MPPT technique have their advantages and disadvantages and also has their performance limitation. Perturb and Observe (P&O) is mostly used MPPT technique due to simple algorithm and fewer parameters requirement. Fuzzy Logic Control (FLC) technique is also simple but requires studies and well-understanding on the nature of the system as to develop good design control. The proposed work is to develop the Single-stage H-Bridge PV inverter with simple MPPT technique that combines the advantages of the P&O and FLC technique. The proposed system is mainly tested on the 340W system by using two series mono-crystalline STP170s24/Ac PV modules. The system is modelled in MATLAB/Simulink, and the performance is compared with the conventional P&O technique. The performance of the system in simulation and experimental is evaluated under steady state and dynamic response.


The continuity of a narrow meandering strip of Udoll (prairie) soils running east and west for approximately 40 miles across north central Indiana in an area predominantly of Udalfs (timber soils) was detected from LANDSAT-1 data taken on June 9, 1973. This data was processed through a clustering procedure and classified with resulting increased definition of the boundaries among soils grouped according to nine categories and vegetation to two categories of reflectance. This dark stretch of prairie soil is believed to have formed in the heavy textured, poorly drained glacial debris which filled a major pre-glacial tributary of the Teays River System. Ready identification and location of the valley has significance to soil survey and land classification people as a guide to soil classification and land use and to geologists as a guide to location of a potentially economically significant aquifer.


This paper examines U.S. immigration policies in the Trump era. By 2017,
there were over 250 million international migrants in nations across the world.
The world has progressed substantially primarily due to this phenomenon. The
GDP of the world increased from $22.6 trillion in 1990 to $80.738 trillion in
2017. The number of billionaires in the world increased from 140 in 1987 to 2153
in March 2019. The number of millionaires in the world in 2017 was 42.155
million. The paper claims that the United States has played an important
leadership role in not just hosting the largest share of international
migrants, but it has also encouraged other wealthy nations to accept more
immigrants. The paper points out, however, that all of this progress is now
being undermined by President Donald Trump and his administration by
implementing immigration policies that are sharply reducing the number of
immigrants entering the United States during his presidency and also calling
for European nations to sharply reduce immigration. Immigrant
and non-immigrant visas to the United States have all experienced a sharp
decline during the Trump presidency. Among
the causes of international migration are, fleeing violence, family
reunification, education, and job/employment. Among the implications of the
Trump administration's immigration policies are loss of skilled immigrants, decline in
U.S. innovation, decline in the U.S.
economy, negative effects of family separation, and the stagnation or decline
of the U.S. population.


THE RANDOM WALK and martingale efficient market theories of security price behavior imply that stock market trading rules based solely on the past price series cannot earn profits greater than those generated by a simple buy-and-hold policy1. A vast amount of statistical testing of the behavior of security prices indicates very little evidence of any important dependencies in security price changes through time.2 Technical analysts or chartists, however, have insisted that this evidence does not imply their methods are invalid and have argued that the dependencies upon which their rules are based are much too subtle to be captured by simple statistical tests. In an effort to meet these criticisms Alexander (1961, 1964) and later Fama and Blume (1966) have examined the profitability of various "filter" trading rules based only on the past price series which purportedly capture the essential characteristics of many technical theories. These studies indicate the "filter" rules do not yield profits net of transactions costs which are higher than those earned by a simple buy-andhold strategy. Similarly, James (1968) and Van Horne and Parker (1967) have found that various trading rules based upon moving averages of past prices do not yield profits greater than those of a buy-and-hold policy.


are distinguished (in coordinates "time – residual strain"). At the last stage, when the strain is built up at an accelerated pace, micropores or/and wedge-shaped microcracks appear at the metal grain boundaries. The number of micropores and microcracks increases with time resulting in sample failure. These micro defects' dimensions are not greater than a few micra, and are smaller than threshold sensitivity of fault detection regular methods – ultrasonic (in its amplitude version), whirlcurrent, liquid-penetrant, magnetic-particle and others. The creep third stage duration in most commonly used steel (12X1MФ and 15X1M1Ф) may reach one half of the general running time, and the information about the degree to which metal structure is affected by creep micropores enables the samples' residual service life to be specified and their accidental failure to be excluded. The problem of defining the number of creep micropores using the change of speed of ultrasonic waves within the frequency range of 1 – 10 Hz in terms of the wave theory relates to the Rayleigh dispersion region. This is due to the fact that the ultrasonic wave length is much longer (= 10 3 times) than the micropores dimensions. As a result of the principal wave and the scattered wave interference there is a phase shift and the resultant wave velocity decrease as compared with the principal wave.


Copper(II) complex 1 efficiently catalyses the oxidation of alcohols to the corresponding carboxylic acid analogues and ketones in the presence of H2O2 in high yields. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2003)


Copper phthalocyanine (CuPc) nanowires were prepared through simple chemical route at room temperature. As-synthesized samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, Field emission scanning electron microscope. The self-assembly mechanism regarding the formation of copper phthalocyanine nanowires has also been presented here. Field emission of as prepared nanowires has been studied for a particular anode-sample spacing of 220 μm. The chemically synthesized CuPc nanowires portray a good field emission property with turn-on field of 7.6 V/μm and field enhancement factor (β) of 1512, which might have promising application as a competitive cold cathode material in field emitting microelectronic devices.


As a random process, the temperature microstructure in water exhibits both time and spatial correlation characteristics. Thus, acoustic signals propagated along diverging or converging paths should indicate some degree of cross correlation due to the temperature microstructure. This dependence is investigated in a water tank with a controlled temperature microstructure. The angular separation between paths is varied and cross‐correlation functions are computed for the various separations. The measurements were made using pulsed signals at 500 kHz. The correlation between the received signals decreases as the angular separation between the paths is increased.


For some time, concern has been expressed by persons interested in legal communication about t h e ef fects o f incidenta l learn ing f rom television programs upon t h e at t i tudes and bel iefs people ho ld about t h e court room process. Television programs such as P e r r y Mason o r Hawkins, which revolved around t h e act iv i t ies o f lawyers, presented a simplistic, of ten false, view o f t h e legal process. Many persons feared t h a t v iewers learned false and harmful information about t h e legal process b y watching these programs.


Scheduling problem is one of the most important factors to facilitate effective manufacturing operation and rapid product development. De-centralized scheduling architecture with flexibility and robustness is required in manufacturing systems. This paper studies the abilities of evolutionary computation with multi-agent paradigm to move appropriately in relation to several process machines. Genetic algorithm is applied into the self-organization scheduling so as to improve the scheduling efficiency. Self-organized work flow is formulated with coordinated motions amongst autonomous work agents. The evolving work agents are capable of robustness and reliability coping with the several scheduling demands.


This paper describes a micro-level planning methodology for primary health care service which has been developed and tested in India. As compared to current top-down target-based planning, the methodology uses village level data on client needs to formulate micro-level plans aimed at improving service coverage. A quick sample survey to assess service need, coverage-gaps and reasons for non-utilization of services form the basis for identifying village level variations and developing village profiles. From such disaggregated analysis of data general interventions for overall service-coverage improvement and targeted interventions for selected villages are also identified. This system was tried out in 113 villages of three Primary Health Care centres of a district in Gujarat state of India. It demonstrated the feasibility and utility of this approach. However, it also revealed the barriers in the institutionalization of the system on a wider scale. The proposed micro-level planning methodology would improve client-responsiveness of the heath care service delivery system and provide a basis for increased decentralization and community involvement. By focusing attention on under-served areas, it would promoted equity in the use of health services. It also helps improve efficiency by focusing the efforts on small group of villages which contribute to most of the service coverage gaps.


Background: Mechanical stimuli in the microenvironment may provide cues for differentiation, maintenance of phenotypes, and extracellular matrix homeostasis. This study investigated bone marrow-derived stem cells (BMSCs) response to mechanical stresses in terms of differentiation and the extracellular matrix/matrix metalloproteinase genes expression. Materials & Methods: Human BMSCs were exposed to shear stresses (20 rpm or 50 rpm) for 2, 5, or 10 days with or without osteogenic induction medium. The expression of chondrogenic (type II collagen and aggrecan) and osteogenic (type I collagen, alkaline phosphatase, osteopontin, osteocalcin) phenotypic genes and matrix metalloproteinase genes (aggrecanse, MMP-2, and MMP-9) were analyzed by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction. In vitro differentiation of BMSCs after shear stress treatment were analyzed by von Kossa staining on monolayer cultures and safarin-O staining on pelleted cells. Results: Shear stress at 20 rpm significantly upregulatedexpression of type II collagen on the 5th day, type I collagen on the 2nd, 5th, and 10th day, osteopontin on the 2nd and 5th day, and osteocalcin on the 5th day as compared to shear stress at 50 rpm. Combination of osteogenic induction medium and shear stress at 20 rpm decreased the mRNA expression levels of chondrogenic genes (type II collagen on all time points and aggrecan on the 5th and 10th day) as compared with shear stress alone. It also decreased the expression of osteogenic genes (type I collagen, alkaline phosphatase, and osteopontin) on the 10th day as compared to osteogenic induction medium. Concomitantly, shear stress upregulated aggrecanase on the 10th day, MMP-2 on the 10th day, and MMP-9 on the 5th and 10th day as compared with osteogenic induction medium. Shear stress increased mineralization of the extracellular matrix as shown by von Kossa staining on the 2nd, 5th, and 10th day. Chondrogenic differentiation by cell pellet analysis found similar amount of proteoglycans but less organized extracellular matrix in shear stress-treated BMSCs as compared to control cells. Discussion: Although shear stress could modulate chondrogenic gene expression as well as osteogenic genes expression in BMSCs, the combination of shear stress inhibited the expression of osteogenic phenotypic genes induced by osteogenic induction medium. Parallel studies revealed that shear stress concomitantly modulate the expression of extracellular matrix genes and the matrix metalloproteinase genes. In vitro differentiation analysis found that shear stress may enhance osteogenesis but interfere with chondrogenesis. Our results may provide data for the design or development of in vitro bioreactor systems to control lineage differentiation of stem cells for tissue engineering. More studies on the mechanotransduction pathways are needed in the future.


We study a generalized ladder resummation in the superfluid phase of the nuclear matter. The approach is based on a conserving generalization of the usual T-matrix approximation including also anomalous self-energies and propagators. The approximation here discussed is a generalization of the usual mean-field BCS approach and of the in medium T-matrix approximation in the normal phase. The numerical results in this work are obtained in the quasi-particle approximation. Properties of the resulting self-energy, superfluid gap and spectral functions are studied.


This study analyses modal choice decisions in metropolitan Toronto, in order to establish whether rising petrol prices, traffic congestion and environmental pollution caused by cars, would imply fewer cars and an increased use of urban public transport. The analysis is based on an extension of existing modal choice models into a model which is fully consistent with the "new demand theory" as developed by Becker, Lancaster and others. The estimation procedure adopted is the McFadden random utility model. Findings of the study help to explain why the car is used for most urban trips in Toronto in spite of higher costs than for public transport. They also show that users are more responsive to improvements in public transport services than to reduction of fares. (TRRL)


DURING the period covered by this review, there has been a continued increase in the amount of factual information as well as of periodical literature dealing with the subject of revenues and taxation. This suggests a continuation of the increase in realization by school people of the fundamental importance of school support in its entire social and economic setting. The conditions of financial support of schools over the period covered in this issue of the Review of Educational Research have been of particular significance from the standpoint of lending opportunities to the research worker for study of the traditional mechanisms under the stress of worldwide economic chaos.


The demand analysis method of maritime emergency resources is the key technology to promote a reasonable emergency resource allocation during maritime emergency management. It is widely used to improve the efficiency of maritime emergency rescue and reduce the loss of maritime accidents. However, it requires a scientific and effective method of the demand analysis of maritime emergency resources. This paper aims to analyze the underlying modeling paradigms and to assess the extent to which the demand analysis methods of maritime emergency resources can meet the requirements. Focusing on the demand analysis methods, this paper provides a broad overview of the current literature on maritime emergency resources of the last decades, by considering the models' purposes, theoretical frameworks, factors, and outputs. The results indicate that the existing methods can be classified into three concepts: the linear regression theory, Back Propagation (BP) Neural Network, and Case-based Reasoning (CBR) technology. Combined with the characteristics of China's maritime emergency management field, the interaction between theoretical framework and applications is not sufficiently understood and thus needs to be further studied. Being familiar with knowledge gaps acts as a catalyst for further research on scientific and efficient demand analysis methods of maritime emergency resources in various navigation conditions.


With the approach of the third millennium, we get a crystalline view that one of the most predictable futures on this capitalist planet is that, regarding social priorities, the youth mass is located at the end of a long line. The youth mass will not certainly be part of tomorrow's working class. They will not just be prevented from being part of the powerless working class, but they will not integrate into the formal economy under any circumstances. In other words, if society continues within the existing trajectory, the sons and daughters of working-class people, for instance, will no longer be seen as the future work force because they will not belong to the restricted sector composed of more qualified workers—the kind of workers that postmodern capitalism needs. Furthermore, along with working-class people, there exists also a huge group that lives under miserable and sometimes starving conditions. These are just a few examples to illustrate the ways in which minority groups are not minorities anymore; they are the majority that has been swallowed by postmodern forms of capitalism. It is exactly within a broader theoretical understanding of postmodern capitalism that I place Peter McLaren's Revolutionary Multiculturalism: Pedagogies of Dissent for the New Millennium . This book provokes a lib erating social project that certainly fosters the recuperation of the capacity of human indignation toward the formation of nonconformed subjectivi ties. The revolutionary multiculturalism addressed by McLaren goes beyond the trends of multicultural education as it has been presented by liberals and their melting pot/pluralist assumptions or even by radical scholars in their struggle for social justice. According to McLaren, "We as critical researchers should move beyond a research agenda that simply celebrates liberal pluralism—because such a pluralism has an ideological center of gravity that rarely ever gets defined for what it is" (p. 214). From


Spirometry is of great value for understanding respiratory function and management of lung diseases. Adaptations in the exam were made to meet paediatric population since the forced expiratory manoeuvres (FEM) present in the exam require effort and cooperation; therefore, its use should be reconsidered.


Vladimir Il'ich Lenin (1870-1924), who had given little attention to the threat to peace in Europe, responded to the outbreak of war with only weeks delay. From a Russian Social Democracy standpoint, he predicted the tsarist government's defeat in the war and called for all socialists to adopt this revolutionary defeatism against their own governments in order to transform the imperialist Table of


Increased serum viscosity is recognized in primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS); however, a classic hyperviscosity syndrome (HVS) is rare. We compared the clinical and serological profile among three groups of pSS patients: (i) with HVS; (ii) with high serum viscosity (≥ 1.9 cP [centipoises]) but without HVS; and (iii) with normal viscosity (< 1.9 cP).


The nexus between education and sovereign debt has not always been obvious, although it is not difficult to conceive. This is because the stakeholders involved in debt politics and economics, but particularly its protagonists, namely creditor states and multilateral international financial institutions (IFIs), do not view educational imperatives through a human rights or developmental lens. The chapter demonstrates the inextricable link between the right to education and development and then trace international efforts to entrench the former in developmental agendas, particularly the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), as more recently transformed into Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The object of the chapter is to show that behind the pledges and rhetoric of development finance the reality is that the promotion of the right to education is not high on the agenda of industrialised nations (but equally perhaps on the agendas of least developed nations). We supply numbers-based scenaria in order to demonstrate that most instances of debt servicing, even if combined with debt relief and other forms of co-financing may ultimately fail to comply with the internationally accepted indicators of the right to education.


A number of inherent weaknesses are identified with using addresses to reference values. These weaknesses negatively impact on the development of architectures using addressing. It is proposed that values should be referenced using semantic information retained with the value. A computational model based on simple arithmetic and natural deduction is presented that illustrates how such a referencing model can be implemented. This model overcomes the weaknesses identified with the von Neumann address-based architecture and compares well to what we ideally hope for in an architecture. The model goes a long way towards making it easy to write programs that execute efficiently on multi- or many-core systems.


An improved combination weighting radar chart method is provided and applied to the synthetic evaluation of power quality. The probability theory and mathematical statistics methods are used for processing the weight of index,which is decided by the subjective or objective weighting method. The optimization model is established based on minimizing the total deviations between each original evaluation weight and the combination weight. In the improved combination weighting radar chart,the sector area is ranked and the angle of the sector area is distributed by the weighting. The diagonal of sector area is employed by using the radar chart as index axes. The combination weighting radar chart method can not only focus on the importance degree of different evaluation indexes,but also reflect the interaction. Verification results verify the reliability and validity of the method.


The algorithms and cross sections in the Monte Carlo code ETRAN used for the calculation of coupled electron-photon transport in extended media serve also as the physics engine in the ITS (Integrated Tiger Series) code, which provides a much more elaborate geometrical treatment. In turn, relevant parts of the ITS code have been incorporated into a recent version of the MCNP code to furnish treatment of electron transport. Our improvements to the model tend to proceed from implementation in ETRAN to ITS and then others. The code was intended to be of general purpose for the calculation of a wide variety of quantities, including all generations in the electron-photon cascade in the energy region from 100 GeV to 1 keV. In an effort to make use of the most accurate cross-section information available, much of the sampling is done from numerical distributions rather than from approximation formulas. This brief overview merely outlines the methods used; further details and references can be found in earlier papers of Berger and Seltzer.


Radiostereometric analysis (RSA) is the most accurate method of measuring component migration using radiographs but is restricted to use in prospective studies. Ein‐Bild‐Roentgen‐analyze (EBRA)‐Cup can be used retrospectively, but its accuracy to measure component migration following revision is unknown. This study aimed to determine the accuracy of EBRA‐Cup measurements of uncemented acetabular component migration after revision total hip replacement (THR). The secondary aim was to compare the number of cases identified using EBRA‐Cup and RSA as having proximally migrated above and below 1 mm at 2 years postoperatively. EBRA‐Cup measurements were performed on plain antero‐posterior pelvic radiographs taken at the same time as RSA radiographs in a prospective cohort of 53 hips undergoing acetabular revision. At 2 years, the mean difference between the RSA and EBRA‐Cup measurements for 17 components used to treat pelvic discontinuity was 0.90 mm, significantly greater than the mean difference of 0.28 mm for 36 components without discontinuity (P = .0001). The mean difference between the RSA and EBRA‐Cup measurements at 2 years for hips that were reconstructed with an acetabular component alone, 0.28 mm, was significantly lower than hips that were reconstructed with an acetabular component in combination with an augment and/or cage, 0.74 mm (P = .0005). In conclusion, EBRA‐Cup can accurately measure migration of uncemented acetabular components used at revision THR. The presence of pelvic discontinuity, and addition of augments and cages, significantly influenced the accuracy of EBRA‐Cup measurements. EBRA‐Cup and RSA had good agreement on classification of components that migrated proximally above or below 1 mm at 2 years, with 100% sensitivity, and 87% specificity.


This paper addresses a scheduling scheme for Flexible Flow Shop(FFS) in the case that a factory is a sub-plant of an electronic device manufacturing plant. Under this environment, job orders for the sub-plants in the production route are generated together with job processing time bucket when the customer places orders for final product. The processing time bucket for each job is a duration from possible release date to permissible due date. A sub-plant modeled FFS should schedule these jobs orders within time bucket. Viewing a Printed Circuit Board(PCB) assembly line as a FFS, the developed scheme schedules an incoming order along with the orders already placed on the scheduled. The scheme consists of the four steps, 1)assigning operation release date and due date to each work cells in the FFS, 2)job grouping, 3)dispatching and 4)machine allocation. Since the FFS scheduling problem is NP-complete, the logics used are heuristic. Using a real case, we tested the scheme and compared it with the John's algorithm and other dispatching rules.


This study investigates the influence of social, economic, and environmental impacts on the promotion and marketing systems of local food products from mountain areas in Slovenia. These impacts were assessed using an econometric modelling approach. Two econometric models were developed (one for production and one for marketing). The case studies of local food products were selected from Slovenian mountain regions, most of which were from less-favored areas (LFAs). A majority of the selected food commodities were of high quality, with or without protected designations. Data collection was carried out via interviews. Due to production limitation on mountain areas in Slovenia and other constraints in LFAs, the socio-economic and environmental impacts on success of production and marketing systems need to be clarified. These relations present a potential impact on the wider socio-economic development in the region. The empirical results, obtained using an econometric modelling approach, clearly show the importance of encouraging the socio-economic and environmental impacts in ensuring the marketing and production potentials of local food products. The result express good relationships, and cooperation between the actors in the food supply chains contributing to a successful marketing system and production system of local food products (small, average, large) is dependent on the available local labour in mountain rural areas.


Here we consider the areas located below the descending branch of the Hadley cell and characterized by arid or semiarid climate in the northern hemisphere. There are controversial suggestions that they are shifting northwards and this trend will continue during the 21st century.  We investigate the time-of-emergence (ToE) of corresponding climate change signals using  the Max Planck Institute Grand Ensemble (MPI-GE), a model experiment which allows by design to disentangle the role of external forcing from the internal climate variability on climate signals. Here we show that the ToE and the regions where it will occur are strongly dependent on the variable that is adopted for the analysis. For most  variables, ToE of regional subtropical expansion would occur only after the end of the 21st century and only in few irregularly distributed areas. Therefore, in spite of the consensus among projections on the future boreal subtropical broadening, the strong role played by the internal climate variability prevents to consider the observed trends in reanalyses over last decades a robust signal of anthropogenic forcing.


This is an analysis of the findings from three comparable national studies of current change in the provision of initial teacher education. These three studies are: the Mode of Teacher Education (MOTE) survey, covering England and Wales; the Research about Teacher Education (RATE) Project, covering the United States; and the Study of Initial Teacher Education (SITE), covering Australia. Each of the studies examines comparable issues and identifies a range of common policy strategies being pursued by the respective governments. There appears to be a global move toward educational reform. Many countries are dismantling centralized educational structures and replacing them with systems having local institutional autonomy and control. These are often linked to an increased emphasis on parental choice and competition between institutions for students. These changes are leading to a market model of educational services. There is more encouragement of the growth of different types of schools, responsive to local needs and particular communities and interest groups. This trend is also linked to growing notions of cultural pluralism as schools shift from a modern to postmodern model. (Contains 39 references.) (JLS) ******************************************************************************** * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made * * from the original document. * ********************************************************************************


Stockade is a network-layer spam-mitigation software designed to prevent spammers from consuming excess bandwidth on a mail server. Several experiments have been conducted on Stockade to assess the performance and stability of the software. The first experiment revealed that Stockade could achieve approximately a 93% reduction in spam traffic under our test conditions. Stockade's automatic rehabilitation feature was shown to operate accordingly and allowed blacklisted hosts to eventually become unblacklisted over a period of time. Further testing into the rehabilitation feature showed that a client re- blacklisted during their rehabilitation was eventually unblacklisted by Stockade. Lastly we examined Stockade's method of blocking an entire subnet which operated effectively. We also verified that neighbouring blacklisted/greylisted IP entries would be merged automatically into a single blacklist entry. In section VII I have mentioned possible future endeavors for testing Stockade.


Floating drug delivery systems (FDDS) are utilized to target drug discharge in the stomach or to the upper parts of intestine. Famotidine has been the most extensively used drug for the management of peptic ulcer for various decades. The current study concerns the development and evaluation of floating tablets of famotidine which, after oral administration, are planned to extend the gastric residence time, enhance drug bioavailability and aim the gastric ulcer. A FDDS was expanded using gas-forming agents, like sodium bicarbonate, citric acid and hydrocolloids, like hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) and carbopol 934P. The prepared tablets were evaluated in terms of their pre-compression parameters, physical characteristics, buoyancy, buoyancy lag-time, in vitro release, and swelling index. The formulations were optimized for the different viscosity grades of HPMC, carbopol 934P and its concentrations and combinations. The consequences of the in vitro release studies demonstrated that the optimized formulation (F6) could sustain drug release (98%) for 24 h and remain buoyant for 24 hr. Optimized formulation (F6) showed no considerable change in physical appearance, drug content, total buoyancy time or in vitro dissolution study after storage at 40°C/75% RH for 3 months. Lastly the tablet formulations establish to be economical and may conquer the draw backs associated with the drug during its absorption.
Keywords: Famotidine, Floating drug delivery system, Hydrocolloids, Gastric residence time.


All-solid-state Li metal batteries (ASSLMBs) have attracted significant attention because of their high energy density and improved safety. However, the poor stability at the Li anode/solid-state e...


Abstract Falco columbarius (merlin) was observed attacking and feeding on Tadarida brasiliensis (Mexican free-tailed bat) in downtown Abilene, Texas. The number of bats, time of emergence, the number of attacks by merlin, and success of merlin capturing bats were recorded. This study also documents techniques used by bats to avoid predation. To our knowledge, this study documents the first known predation of Mexican free-tailed bat by merlin and is one of the few that shows sustained predation on Mexican free-tailed bat by any species of bird of prey.


Cucumber is an annual plant whose life is creeping or climbing on twisted or spiral handles with a fairly high nutritional content, namely 0.65% protein, 0.1% fat and carbohydrates, 2.2%, calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamin A. , B1, B2 and C. To meet the needs of cucumbers, it can be started by providing quality seeds by optimizing cucumber seed production activities through the application of Gandasil D leaf fertilizer as well as shoot pruning treatment. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of interaction between gandasil D leaf fertilizer and shoot pruning on the production and quality of cucumber seeds. The research was conducted for 3 months at PT. Wira Agro Nusantara Sejahtera Kediri with a factorial randomized block design (RBD). The first factor is the concentration of gandasil D leaf fertilizer (K) with 3 levels, namely Concentration of 0 grams/liter (K0), Concentration of 2 grams/liter (K1), and Concentration of 4 grams/liter (K2). While the second factor was shoot pruning (P) with 3 levels, without pruning (P0), trimming shoots on the 10th segment (P1), and trimming the shoots on the 20th segment (P2). Data were analyzed by ANOVA followed by Duncan's Multiple Range Test further test at 95% significance level. The results showed that the concentration treatment of Gandasil D leaf fertilizer had a very significant effect on fruit weight, but had no significant effect on other parameters. The shoot pruning treatment had a very significant effect on fruit weight, fruit diameter, seed weight per plant, seed weight per hectare, and weight of 100 grains. Cucumber plants that were trimmed at the 20th segment (K2) showed the highest values, namely 5.29 cm for fruit diameter, 12.66 grams for seed weight per plant, 334,83 kgs for seed production per hectart, and 2.23 grams for weight of 100 grains. The interaction of the two treatments only affected fruit weight, where cucumber plants fertilized with Gandasil leaves with a concentration of 4 grams/l (K2) and trimmed shoots on the 20th segment (P2) had the highest fruit weight, which was 278.40 grams.


being necessary the deployment of services and attractions susceptible recognized by these adolescents as important places for support. Objective: To promote the bond and adherence of adolescent students to services offered in primary care unit, especially the reproductive planning program. Method: This is a descriptive study with educational intervention, conducted during August-October 2009 with 80 students enrolled on eighth and ninth series in a basic education school located in the coverage area of the Mal Cozinhado Family Health Strategy, in the city of Horizonte - CE. Among the strategies adopted, it was pointed out the educational visit to primary care unit. Two visits were performed, each one including 40 students. Results: Each visit lasted one hour, providing students with opportunities to get to know the dependencies of the health care unit, materials and equipment used in reproductive planning consultations. Final considerations: Performance of educational visits articulated between the school and the health unit was proven to be effective in increasing demand by adolescents to health services in the locality studied, and their consequent adherence to the health promotion proposals implemented in reproductive planning program.

DESCRIPTORS: Health promotion. Health Education. Health Communication. Adolescent. Adolescent Health Services.


Many new distributed multimedia applications involve dynamic multiple participants, have stringent end-to-end delay requirement and consume large amount of network resources. In this paper, we propose a new distributed dynamic delay-constrained least-cost multicast routing algorithm (DDDCLCMR) to support these applications. DDDCLCMR scales well because the source of the multicast tree needs only limited computation or may even not be involved in the route computation. When group membership changes, the existing multicast tree is perturbed as little as possible. Simulation results show that DDDCLCMR performs very good in terms of delay and cost for both, static and dynamic multicast groups, when compared to the best multicast algorithms known.


Objective: To analyze teachers' perceptions of the teaching work and the repercussions on their health. Methods: Qualitative study conducted with twelve teachers from public schools of a municipality of Bahia. Data were collected between October 2011 and January 2012 using focus group. Data were analyzed and interpreted using the Content Analysis Technique resulting into three thematic categories: Needs for changes in the work environment; Factors influencing the teacher's health; Consequence of the teaching work on their health. Results: It was verified that teachers need assistance for their health and familiar arch with public policies aimed at disease prevention. They reflect that the teaching work is demanding and requires discipline in the classroom but is undervalued, which contributes to the development of musculoskeletal and emotional disorders. Multiple job factors and lifestyle have consequences on teachers' health, changing their quality of life. Conclusion: This study allowed to assess the teaching scenario, characterized by a high demand of activities, physical and mental overload and professional undervaluation. The development of intervention strategies and the evaluation of its applicability are needed to improve teachers' the quality of life.

doi:10.5020/18061230.2014.p276


The asymptotic expansions for the coverage probability of a confidence set centred at the James–Stein estimator presented in our previous publications show that this probability depends on the non-centrality parameter τ2 (the sum of the squares of the means of normal distributions). In this paper we establish how these expansions can be used for a construction of confidence region with constant confidence level, which is asymptotically (the same formula for both case τ→0 and τ→∞) equal to some fixed value 1−α. We establish the shrinkage rate for the confidence region according to the growth of the dimension p and also the value of τ for which we observe quick decreasing of the coverage probability to the nominal level 1−α. When p→∞ this value of τ increases as O(p1/4). The accuracy of the results obtained is shown by the Monte-Carlo statistical simulations.


Prostate cancer is the second‐most common malignancy of the male genitourinary system. TNF‐α has attracted intense attention as a potential therapeutic agent against various cancers. However, its therapeutic application is restricted by short half life and severe toxic side‐effects. In this study, we constructed a stable nanodrug called TNF‐α–derived polypeptide (P16)‐conjugated, chitosan (CTS)‐modified selenium nanoparticle (SC; SCP), which is composed of SC as a slow‐release carrier conjugated to P16. SCP had significant inhibitory effects on multiple types of tumor cells, especially DU145 prostate cancer cells, but not on RWPE‐1 normal human prostate epithelial cells. SCP could induce G0/G1 cell‐cycle arrest and apoptosis in DU145 cells more effectively than could P16 and TNF‐α. In DU145 xenograft tumor models, SCP exerted much stronger antitumor effects than P16 or estramustine (the clinical drug for prostate cancer) but caused fewer toxic side‐effects. In addition, SCP significantly inhibited proliferation and accelerated apoptosis in DU145 xenograft tumors. Further mechanistic studies revealed that SCP exerted antitumor effects via activation of the p38 MAPK/JNK pathway, thus inducing G0/G1 cell‐cycle arrest and caspase‐dependent apoptosis. These findings suggest that SCP may represent a potential long‐lasting therapeutic agent for human prostate cancer with fewer side effects.—Yan, Q., Chen, X., Gong H., Qiu, P., Xiao, X., Dang S., Hong A., Ma, Y. Delivery of a TNF‐α–derived peptide by nanoparticles enhances its antitumor activity by inducing cell‐cycle arrest and caspase‐dependent apoptosis. FASEB J. 32, 6948–6964 (2018). www.fasebj.org


The vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR) is a simple reflex that stabilizes gaze by moving the eyes in the opposite direction to the head. The gain of the VOR (ratio of head to eye velocity) can be increased or decreased during motor learning. It is thought that the memory for learned changes in the VOR gain is initially encoded within the cerebellar flocculus. Furthermore, these learned gain changes can be disrupted or consolidated into a long-term memory. In this thesis we describe novel results that show that consolidation of the VOR can take place rapidly, within 1 hour after learning has stopped. Furthermore, we demonstrated that unlike learning, which has been shown to have frequency selectivity, disruption and rapid consolidation generalize across the range of frequencies. We suggest that disruption and rapid consolidation in the VOR are local mechanisms within the cerebellar cortex, and do not require new learning. This thesis also provides additional evidence for the idea that learned gain increases and decreases are the result of separate mechanisms, most likely long-term depression and potentiation respectively, at the parallel fibre-Purkinje cell synapses. We demonstrate that learned gain increases, but not decreases, require the activation of type 1 metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluR1) and B type γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAB) receptors. Blocking one or both of these receptors with an


Abstract 6-Bromo-6-deoxy-α-d-glucopyranosyl fluoride (2) was prepared in good yield from α-d-glucopyranosyl fluoride (1) by treatment with PPh3 and CBr4 in pyridine. Catalytic reduction of 2 gave the corresponding 6-deoxy-α-d-glucopyranosyl fluoride (3) while treatment with NaN3 in DMF gave the 6-azido-6-deoxy-α-d-glucopyranosyl fluoride (4). The latter could be reduced to the 6-amino-6-deoxyglucosyl fluoride (5) which was converted into the 6-acetamido-6-deoxy-α-d-glucopyranosyl fluoride (6). The C-6 modified glucosyl fluorides 2, 3, 4, and 6 are crystalline compounds.


Overview This module focuses on a selection of commonly prescribed oral hypoglycaemic agents (OHAs) in the management of Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). The module contains an overview of the global incidence of diabetes, followed by an introduction to glucose homeostasis, pathophysiology, and clinical interventions in the management of patients with T2DM. The module provides a detailed introduction to the topic. Further reading is recommended to gain a greater understanding of the burden of T2DM on both patients and NHS resources.


Sector 1-ID at the APS accommodates a number of different experimental techniques in the same spatial envelope of the E-hutch end station. These include highenergy small and wide angle X-ray scattering (SAXS and WAXS), high-energy diffraction microscopy (HEDM, both near and far field modes) and high-energy X-ray tomography. These techniques are frequently combined to allow the users to obtain multimodal data, often attaining 1 m spatial resolution and <0.05o angular resolution. Furthermore, these techniques are utilized while the sample is thermo-mechanically loaded to mimic real operating conditions. The instrumentation required for each of these techniques and environments has been designed and configured in a modular way with a focus on stability and repeatability between changeovers. This approach allows the end station to be more versatile, capable of collecting multi-modal data in-situ while reducing time and effort typically required for set up and alignment, resulting in more efficient beam time use. Key instrumentation design features and layout of the end station are presented.


In this work we propose a novel method for fast and reliable evaluation of the retention properties of phase-change memory cells, based on the modeling of the temperature-ramp characteristics. Using this method we investigate the influence of the length and thickness of the amorphous mark on the retention lifetime. The results show that the degradation of the retention properties with the cell scaling is limited.


Single-agent reinforcement learning algorithms in a multi-agent environment are inadequate for fostering cooperation. If intelligent agents are to interact and work together to solve complex problems, methods that counter non-cooperative behavior are needed to facilitate the training of multiple agents. This is the goal of cooperative AI. Recent research in adversarial machine learning, however, shows that models (e.g., image classifiers) can be easily deceived into making inferior decisions. Meanwhile, an important line of research in cooperative AI has focused on introducing algorithmic improvements that accelerate learning of optimally cooperative behavior. We argue that prominent methods of cooperative AI are exposed to weaknesses analogous to those studied in prior machine learning research. More specifically, we show that three algorithms inspired by human-like social intelligence are, in principle, vulnerable to attacks that exploit weaknesses introduced by cooperative AI's algorithmic improvements and report experimental findings that illustrate how these vulnerabilities can be exploited in practice.


Objective To compare dosage and effects of postoperative analgesia between patients of Uygur and Han nationalities after spinal surgery.Methods Ninty-four ASA Ⅰ or Ⅱ patients(47 Uygur nationality,47 Han nationality) undergoing posterior laminectomy,discectomy interbody pedicle fixation operation under general anesthesia were divided into two groups (U and H).The patients in both groups received fentanyl patient-controlled intravenous analgesia after surgery.Visual analog scale (VAS),Ramsay sedation scale score,the vital signs at 6,12,24,48 h after operation and the total consumption of fentanyl,the total number and the valid number of pressing patient-controlled analgesia (PCA) pump,the adverse effects at 48 h after operation were recorded and compared.Results There were no difference in the mean artery pressure (MAP),pulse oxygen saturation(SpO2),Ramsay score and VAS score at the time points of patients between two groups (P>0.05).The total consumption of fentanyl,the total number and the valid number of pressing PCA pump (times) in group U were (1 203±217) pg,(21.8±6.8),(13.2±3.0) respectively.It was significantly higher than those of group H,which were (793±138) μg,(12.5±3.2),(7.9±2.6) respectively.Compared with group H (15%),the occurrence rate of postoperative nausea and vomiting in group U (27%)was significantly higher (P<0.05).Condusions There is a significant difference in the total consumption of fentanyl between Uygur and Han nationalities.The influence of nationality on recommended dosage of fentanyl should be considered.

Key words:
Race;  Fentanil ;  Postoperative analgesia


Abstract This paper presents a survey on different showcases for potential measures on particle swarm optimization (PSO). First, a potential is analyzed to prove convergence to non-optimal points. Second, one can apply a minor modification to PSO to prevent convergence to non-optimal points by using an easy potential measure. Finally, analyzing this potential measure yields a reliable stopping criterion for the modified PSO.


A finite element model for the elastohydrodynamic lubrication problem is presented. A coupling between the hydrodynamic equation and the foundation compliance equation is performed, then the resulting functional problem is given an 'extended' variational formulation. Some preliminary numerical results are also presented.


We propose a simple and precise time distribution technique utilizing multipoint control protocol in EPON, and also experimentally demonstrate time transfer within plusmn100 ns and frequency synchronization within plusmn10-10.


The study aims at describing teachers' activities based on the aspects of preparation, implementation, and evaluation of learning in Mathematics learning process which affected on students' character building at SMPN 5 Mandai. The type of this study was descriptive research with qualitative approach. The research subjects were 2 Mathematics teachers at SMPN 5 Mandai who applied 2013 curriculum and teachers who applied character education in learning process. Data collecting method of the study were interview, observation, and documentation. The study employed triangulation method by comparing the data obtained through documentation with observation, and observation with interview. The results of the study reveal that (1) teachers' activities based on the aspects of preparation in Mathematics learning process which affected on the students' character building can be seen from syllabus arrangement and lesson plan of teachers, (2) teachers' activities based on the implementation aspect in Mathematics learning process which affected on students' character building are the teachers applied character education started from opening activity, main activity, and closing activity, (3) teachers' activities based on the evaluation aspect in Mathematics learning process which affected on students' character building are through competence of students' attitude aspect, knowledge aspect such as giving daily examination, and skills. Students' development can be acknowledged by teachers and parents as well as by students' themselves. The evaluation of Mathematics learning with character at SMPN 5 Mandai in Maros discrit has been conducted integrated with teaching and learning activity


Multivitamin tablets containing various substances of varying characteristics may have a problem in quantitative analysis. This research has developed HPLC method for simultaneous determination of three vitamin components that is thiamine (Vit. B1), riboflavin (Vit. B2) and pyridoxine (Vit. B3) in tablet formulation. The chromatographic separation was achieved by using a C-18 column with dimension of 4.6 mm I.D.X 250 mm and particle size of 5μm. A mixture of methanol: water (22:78) was used as mobile phase. The aqueous mobile phase contained Ophosphoric acid adjusted to pH 2.5, with flow rate of 1mL/min. The effluent was monitored at 290 nm at ambient temperature. Effective separation and quantification was achieved in less than 10 min. The method was simple, accurate, precise, and could be successfully applied for the analysis of thiamine, riboflavin, and pyridoxine multivitamin tablets. The HPLC results revealed that % vitamins were found to be for B1, B2 and B6 respectively in marketed multivitamin formulation. HPLC analysis of biological fluid (urine) showed that % Vit.B1 in 2, 4, 6 hrs were found to be 0.69, 0.12 and 0.015. INTRODUCTION: The vitamins are a disparate group of compounds; they have little in common either chemically or in their metabolic functions. Nutritionally, they form a cohesive group of organic compounds that are required in the diet in small amounts (micrograms or milligrams per day) for the maintenance of normal health and metabolic integrity. They are thus, differentiated from the essential minerals and trace elements (which are inorganic) and from essential amino and fatty acids, which are required in larger amounts. The discovery of the vitamins began with experiments performed by Hopkins at the beginning of the twentieth century; he fed rats on a defined diet providing the then known nutrients: fats, proteins, carbohydrates, and mineral salts. The animals failed to grow, but the addition of a small amount of milk to the diet both permitted the animals to maintain normal growth and restored growth to the animals that had previously been fed the defined diet. He suggested that milk contained one or more "accessory growth factors" – essential nutrients present in small amounts, because the addition of only a small amount of milk to the diet was sufficient to maintain normal growth and development. The first of the accessory food factors to be isolated and identified was found to be chemically an amine; therefore, in 1912, Funk coined the term vitamine, from the Latin vita for "life" and amine, for the prominent chemical reactive group. Although subsequent accessory growth factors were not found to be amines, the name has been retained–with the loss of the final"-e" to avoid chemical confusion.


In 1988 the 1893 road bridge at Cowra over the Lachlan River, consisting of the only bowstring composite timber and steel trusses in Australia, was threatened with oblivion. This paper describes how a cooperative venture between civil engineering students from the University of New South Wales and the Cowra Shire Council saved one truss span, and located it in the adjacent riverside park as a landmark of engineering heritage.


C. T. ethanolicus was known to contain a bipolar very long chain fatty acylcomponent such as α,ω-13,16-dimethyloctacosanedioate as one of the major membrane components.However, exact physiological role of this unusual component in the membrane remains unknown. Such a verylong chain fatty acyl component, α,ω-13,16-dimethyloctacosanedioate dimethyl ester (DME C30), wasisolated, and purified from the membrane of T. ethanolicus. As a function of added concentrations of the α,ω-13,16-dimethyloctacosanedioate dimethyl ester (DME C30) or cholesterol into the standard liposomes, the acylchain ordering effect was investigated by the steady-state anisotropy with 1,6-diphenyl-1,3,5-hexatriene (DPH)as a fluorescent probe. Acyl chain order parameter (S) of vesicles containing DME C30 is higher comparingwith phosphatidylcholine (PC) only vesicles. This result was discussed thermodynamically with the aid of thesimulated annealing molecular dynamics simulations. Through the investigation of all the possibleconformational changes of DME C30 or cholesterol, we showed that DME C30 is very flexible and itsconformation is variable depending on the temperature comparing with cholesterol, which is rigid andrestricted at overall temperature. We propose that the conformational change of DME C30, not theconfigurational change, may be involved in the regulation of the membrane fluidity against the changes ofexternal temperature. Keywords : Very long chain fatty acid, Liposome, Membrane fluidity, Molecular dynamics.IntroductionThermoanaerobacter ethanolicus is a strictly anaerobicand thermophilic bacterium whose optimum temperature is65-68


Pulmonary dendritic cells (DCs) take up inhaled allergens and migrate to draining lymph nodes (LN) to present antigens to naïve T cells. However, pulmonary DCs are also required to elicit inflammation after allergen challenge, suggesting the presence of both migratory and non-migratory DCs. There are two phenotypically distinct major lung DC subsets, defined by their expression of CD103 and CD11b, respectively. We used a novel Ccr7-gfp knock-in reporter mouse to study Ccr7 expression in lung DCs. Ccr7-gfp was expressed in many CD103 DCs, but in few CD11bhi DCs. Using the dye PKH26 to track lung DCs, we found that many CD103+ DCs migrate to draining LNs, whereas relatively few CD11bhi DCs do so. Thus, CD11bhi lung DCs are comprised of both migratory and non-migratory cells. Further analysis revealed that monocyte-derived (mo)CD14hi CD11bhi DCs, including LPS-elicited Ly-6Chi inflammatory DCs, do not express Ccr7 or migrate to LNs. Flt3l-/- mice, which lack DCs derived from the common DC precursor (CDP) but retain moDCs, possessed almost no migratory Ccr7-expressing DCs in the lung. Conversely, mice lacking both Ccr2 and Cx3cr1 lacked moDCs, but retained migratory, CDP-derived DCs. These findings show that the migratory activity of CD11bhi DCs is developmentally programmed; CDP-derived CD103+ and CD11bhi pulmonary DCs are migratory, whereas monocyte-derived CD11bhi DCs do not express Ccr7 and therefore remain in the lung, even during acute pulmonary inflammation.


This report describes the development and scale up of the synthesis of oxaisoxazolidinone 1, a significant synthon in the synthesis of the MRSA development compound AZD5847. Studies were carried out to ensure a short-term, risk based preparation of 9 on a 5 L scale with a solid isolation procedure and a safe, long-term manufacturing process for both 1 and 9 through extensive hazards evaluation.


72 posts for hospital psychiatric social workers; this means that 65 of the advertisements were repeats, and indeed many posts are advertised repeatedly without success. In addition it is probable that many hospitals do not advertise for staff as frequently as they might, since experience has shown that the advertisements draw no response. In following through some of the advertisements it was noted that several hospitals and clinics lowered their original objectives: they had initially asked for fully qualified P.S.W.s but latermodifiedtheiradvertisements to ask for


Many people are interested in online user documentation for supercomputers and the continuing problems that plague us: problems of delivering online information in a heterogeneous computing environment that includes supercomputers and workstations, and lack of vendor solutions that work in diverse computing environments for diverse types of documentation. These problems have made it difficult to develop online documentation systems that have proved to be broadly effective. With changing technology and supercomputing environments, we believe the time is right to make substantial progress in this field. It was in this context that the National Center for Atmospheric Research and Los Alamos National Laboratory organized the Workshop on Online Documentation in the Supercomputing Environment in Colorado Springs, April 3--6, 1990. Twenty-eight participants came from leading supercomputing sites, including the national laboratories, National Institute of Standards and Technology, the National Science Foundation supercomputing centers, university and regional supercomputing centers and Cray Research and IBM. As a group representing twelve diverse supercomputing centers, participants in the workshop saw a need for a common online documentation system that could serve a heterogeneous distributed computing environment. We also desired the efficiency to be gained of sharing documentation in machine-readable form among hardware and software vendors asmore » well as between supercomputing centers. We did not see any currently existing software products meeting all of these needs. We thus believed we needed to establish a forum to advocate the development or evolution of a suitable online documentation system. We hope that this workshop has resulted in increased understanding and will have served as another step toward the development of online documentation for supercomputer users.« less


The comfort aspect in the vehicle interior is becoming increasingly important. A high comfort level offers the driver a good and secure feeling and has a strong influence on passive traffic safety. One important part of comfort is the climate aspect, especially the microclimate that emerges between passenger and seat. In this research, different combinations of typical seat materials are used. Fourteen woven and knitted fabrics and eight leathers and its substitutes for the face fabric layer, one foam, one non-woven and one 3D spacer for the plus pad layer and for the support layer three foam types with variations in structure and raw material as well as one rubber hair structure were investigated. To characterise this sample set by thermo-physiological aspects (e.g. water vapour resistance Ret, thermal resistance Rct, buffering capacity of water vapour Fd) regular and modified sweating guarded hotplates were used according to DIN EN ISO 11092. The results of the material characterisation confirm the common knowledge that seat covers out of textiles have better water vapour resistance values than leathers and its substitutes. Subject trials in a driving simulator were executed to rate the subjective sensation while driving in a vehicle seat. With a thermal, sweating Manikin (Newton Type, Thermetrics) objective product measurements were carried out on the same seat. Indeed the subject trials show that every test subject has his or her own subjective perception concerning the climate comfort. The results of the subject trials offered the parameters for the Newton measuring method. Respectively the sweating rate, sit-in procedure, ambient conditions and sensor positions on and between the seat layers must be comparable with the subject trials. By taking care of all these parameters it is possible to get repeatable and reliable results with the Newton Manikin. The subjective feelings of the test subjects, concerning the microclimate between seat and passenger, provide the evaluation of the Manikins output (Rc and Re values).


Abstract Rheological characterisation of hydroxyapatite–high density polyethylene (HA–HDPE) composites has been performed in terms of isothermal compressibility and wall slip. Addition of HA to the polymer melt decreases the compressibility of the melt. The unfilled HDPE was found to exhibit wall slip at shear stresses as low as 0·10 MPa. The flow curves of the composites showed three distinct regions: a gradient at low shear rates; a plateau region; and a gradient at higher shear rate. An increase in rheometer pressure seems to suppress the slip in composites. The 40 vol.-% HA–HDPE composite exhibited two critical shear stresses, one corresponding to wall slip, which occurs in the lower shear rate region of the flow curve, and the other corresponding to a plateau, which is identified with the stick–slip behaviour of unfilled HDPE reported in the literature. The plateau shear stress increased with filler volume fraction and this effect is attributed to the decreased compressibility of the melt. A good correlation with a negative correlation coefficient was found to exist between compressibility and shear stress in the plateau region. The slip observed in unfilled HDPE and at low shear rates in the 40 vol.-% HA–HDPE systems has been explained in terms of a low molecular weight polymer layer formed at the melt/wall interface. The large interfacial slip observed in the plateau region is attributed to complete disentanglement of adsorbed chains from free chains at the melt/wall interface at and beyond the plateau region.


Objective
To integrative the difference of effects of different nursing mode to psychological situation of ICU patients.

Methods
85 patients in ICU were randomly divided into observed group(45 cases) and control group(40 cases), patients in control group received the conventional nursing combined with psychological nursing mode, while others received the treatment of only conventional nursing mode.

Results
After 3 weeks'treatment, the factors of anxiety, fear, loneliness, and insecurity in observed group were significantly lower than those in control group(P<0.05); the factors of anxiety, fear, loneliness, and insecurity in observed group after treatment were significantly lower than those in observed group before treatment(P< 0.05).

Conclusions
The conventional nursing combined with psychological nursing mode had good effects in improving negative psychological situation in ICU patients, it is worth clinical promotion and further research.

Key words:
Different nursing mode; ICU patients; Psychological situation; Comparative study


The field of psychological help in Latvia is undergoing significant changes that require reviewing past practices and professional activities. The term "psychological help" is used quite widely in Latvian regulation, not revealing the semantic difference from other terms as psychological treatment, psychological care, psychological support or psychological aid. The purpose of this article is to find out how the term "psychological help" is used in the regulatory documents of Latvia. The method of qualitative thematic analysis was used to analyse terminology use in selected documents (n115). As a result five topics describing psychological help were identified and defined in the regulatory documents of Latvia: "Professional diversity of psychological help providers", "Indicators for professional help", "Targets of professional help", "Beneficiaries of psychological help", "Methods of professional help". The term psychological help in Latvian regulatory documents is revealed in a fragmentary and non-systematic way, which contributes to the confusion of terminological diffusion and boundaries of professional competences.


BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Low back pain (LBP) results in loss in productivity than any other medical condition. Approximately 70-80% of all people will develop LBP in their life. There are various causes of LBP, out of which the lumber disc herniation is one of the most frequent reason for physical, functional restriction in patients. Patients who have undergone surgical treatment are found to possess increased short term outcome instead of conservative treated patients. Surgically treated patients experienced fast pain relief, improvement of function & satisfaction in comparison to conservative patients. The comparative results of patients treated with surgery and conservatively treated patients have revealed that surgical treatment is much better at short term follow up (upto 1 year) however no variations have been shown among treatment at long term follow up. Some patients operated for spine diseases are still left with poor results. The present study aims to evaluate the efficiency of open discectomy for L4-L5 IVDP prospectively. METHODS: 30 cases of lumbar disc prolapse, above 18 years of age admitted at KIMS hospital, Bangalore with MRI showing conclusive disc prolapsed were taken for the study. They were pre operatively evaluated for their ODI score. Only those patients who have scored 40% and above in ODI were included in the study. They underwent discectomy. Methods of surgery used were fenestration, extended fenestration, hemilaminectomy & total laminectomy as per operative requirement. Follow- ups were carried out at 6, 12 and 24weeks on selected areas. Pre and post of ODI total and sub scale scores were compared at the end of 24 weeks. RESULTS: There was a significant reduction of post operative ODI score indicating good success rate in open disectomy. The pre operative mean ODI score was 58.28, SD was 5.06 and the post operative mean ODI score was 15.28 and SD was 2.40 with t value of 38.56 and p value of 0.000 which was significant at p<0.001 level. The ten sub scales of ODI also showed significant reduction of post operative ODI scores indicating open disectomy resulted in significant improvement in the functional outcome. INTERPRETATION AND CONCLUSION: The procedure of discectomy (fenestration) for LIVDP in relieving symptoms and restoring the function of patients is excellent.


Many have noted shifts in the travel behavior of today's young people, who are driving less and making fewer trips overall, compared to older generations. Millennials are the first generation in the United States not to grow up with consistently cheap gasoline. How might this "new normal" of volatile and frequently high gasoline prices influence Millennial's future travel patterns? Does today's young cohort expect driving to become considerably more expensive in the coming years? The authors surveyed 750 Rutgers University affiliates, both Millennials and non-Millennials, to assess whether today's young people expect future fuel prices to be higher than non-Millennials expect. They find that, while Millennials are considerably less likely to be aware of contemporarygasoline prices, they—just as older respondents do—expect only modest increases in gasoline prices in the coming years. Their results challenge current theories about changing Millennial travel behavior, and suggest that young people may not be aware enough of changes in gasoline prices to make the decision to take alternate transportation modes on that reasoning alone.


MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES Cardiovascular deaths, major coronary events (MCE) (including fatal IHD and nonfatal myocardial infarction), ischemic stroke (IS), major occlusive vascular disease (MOVD) (including MCE or IS), and intracerebral hemorrhage. Preliminary validation of stroke and IHD events demonstrated positive predictive values of approximately 90% and 85%, respectively. Cox regression yielded adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) for CVD associated with RPG levels.


This work presents a rapid prototyping methodology for the design, production, and deployment of a Learning
Object (LO). The methodology focuses on reducing the development process to the minimum number of steps necessary to
produce a quality learning resource. The methodology is based on clearly defining the subject matter domain, establishing
learning objectives using Bloom's taxonomy, developing an ontology of learning resources that satisfy the learning objectives
for different learning styles, and producing and testing the learning resource. The methodology was used to develop a
Learning Object on surface tension directed to undergraduate Agricultural and Biological Engineering students. The LO was
tested for quality and effectiveness with a group of undergraduate students. Students using the LO were able to meet the
required learning objectives in a reasonable amount of time on task and found the learning experience to be of quality.


The numbers in square brackets are cross-references to the numbered paragraphs in the review article Medical Treatment for Stroke Prevention (see pages 41-53). Stroke includes various disorders that lead to the destruction of brain tissue, functional disability, and often death. The most common strokes result from atherothrombosis in the extracranial and larger intracranial arteries. Approximately 30% of ischemic strokes are of this origin. Cardioembolic strokes account for 20% to 25% of all ischemic strokes. Intracardiac thrombi secondary either to myocardial infarction or atrial fibrillation are the two most common causes of such strokes. Lacunar strokes account for 15% to 20% of ischemic lesions and are most commonly caused by the small vessel changes associated with hypertension of long duration. The remaining 30% of ischemic strokes are secondary to less common conditions or are of unknown origin. Approximately 15% of strokes result from cerebral hemorrhage, usually due to rupture of aneurysms or other vascular malformations, hypertensive arterial disease, and lobar hemorrhages in the elderly due to amyloid angiopathy. Therapeutic interventions directed at general, modifiable risk factors for stroke should be part of any effort to reduce the risk for stroke, regardless of whether the patient receives more specific medical or surgical treatment. These potentially modifiable risk factors include hypertension (including isolated systolic hypertension), heart disease, cigarette smoking, diabetes mellitus, heavy alcohol use, and hypercholesterolemia [2.1.1]. Several conditions are associated with an especially high risk for stroke and are potentially amenable to medical treatment, including carotid artery stenosis in asymptomatic patients, atrial fibrillation, transient ischemic attacks (TIAs) or stroke, and previous myocardial infarction [2.1.2]. Treatment Strategies for Stroke Prevention The question of medical treatment for stroke prevention must be considered in the context of surgical options, particularly carotid endarterectomy. Three recently completed studies have indicated that when surgery can be done in a low-risk setting (total perioperative stroke and death rate less than 6%), symptomatic patients who have anterior circulation TIAs or minor completed strokes and carotid stenosis greater than 70% (by strict measurement criteria) benefit from carotid endarterectomy. The evidence is less clear for patients with lower degrees of stenosis or asymptomatic patients with high degrees of stenosis. On average, patients with less than 30% stenosis have been shown to have worse outcomes with carotid endarterectomy [2.2]. Medical treatments for stroke prevention include anticoagulation (for example, warfarin) and platelet antiaggregants (for example, aspirin and ticlopidine). Additional interventions for stroke prevention include methods for controlling risk factors, such as management of hypertension, smoking cessation, and control of blood cholesterol. Recommendations Recommendations are graded A, B, or C according to the level of evidence that supports them. Grade A recommendations are supported by one or more level I studies or by a meta-analysis where the lower limit of the confidence interval for the effect of treatment exceeds the minimal clinically significant benefit. Grade B recommendations are supported by one or more level II studies or by a meta-analysis where the estimate of treatment effect exceeds the minimal clinically significant benefit but the lower limit of the confidence interval does not. Grade C recommendations are supported by published data other than randomized trials including secondary analyses of level I or II studies. Level I studies are randomized trials with low false-positive or low false-negative errors, or both. Level II studies are randomized trials with high false-positive and high false-negative errors. Based on the evidence cited, several recommendations can be supported. 1. Nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: Warfarin is the drug of choice for patients who are candidates for anticoagulation (grade A recommendation). However, patients younger than 60 years without specific clinical or echocardiographic risk factors have a low risk for stroke and do not need treatment with warfarin (grade C recommendation). To achieve an acceptable benefit-to-risk ratio, it is crucial to carefully monitor the intensity of anticoagulation based on the international normalized ratio (INR), aiming for a ratio approximately between 2 and 3 (grade C recommendation). For patients unwilling or unable to take warfarin, aspirin is an appropriate alternative (grade A recommendation). The dose of 325 mg/d is supported by available evidence (grade A recommendation). For patients older than 75 years, aspirin may not be effective (grade C recommendation). Data are currently unavailable on the effectiveness of aspirin in lower-risk patients, such as those younger than 60 years without specific clinical or echocardiographic risk factors [4.1.2, 4.2.1]. 2. Transient ischemic attack and stroke: Aspirin is effective in reducing the risk for stroke in patients with TIA and minor stroke (grade A recommendation); however, the benefit-to-risk ratio is approximately 5:2. All aspirin doses studied have been found to be similarly effective, which suggests that decisions about dose should be based on patient tolerance (grade C recommendation). No evidence suggests that aspirin reduces the risk for stroke in patients who have had major stroke, but aspirin therapy is a reasonable option (grade C recommendation). Patients who do not respond to or tolerate aspirin are candidates for ticlopidine (grade A recommendation). Patients offered ticlopidine must be willing to accept the supervision and expense associated with this agent [4.1.3, 4.2.2]. 3. Previous myocardial infarction: Warfarin has been shown to reduce the rate of stroke in patients who have had myocardial infarction (grade A recommendation). However, this recommendation is tempered by the high rate of major complications in several studies. The resulting estimate of benefit-to-risk ratio is 3:2. These high complication rates may be caused by the use of relatively high-intensity anticoagulation in the included studies (INR, 2.5 to 4.8). Lower levels of anticoagulation are safer and, if as effective as the studied doses, would make warfarin a clear recommendation (grade C recommendation). Aspirin is an alternative treatment strategy for stroke reduction in patients who have had myocardial infarction (grade B recommendation); however, the benefits of this are likely to be small. For patients who have had myocardial infarction, neither anticoagulation nor antiplatelet agents are specifically recommended for stroke reduction. However, use of these agents may be justified on the basis of reduction in all nonfatal vascular events [4.1.4, 4.2.3]. Rationale These recommendations are primarily based on data from randomized, controlled trials indicating that three agents significantly reduce the risk for stroke in specific high-risk patients: warfarin for patients with atrial fibrillation or myocardial infarction, aspirin for patients with TIA or minor completed stroke, and ticlopidine for patients with TIA and completed stroke. However, the clinical decision to use medical therapy for stroke prevention is complicated by the potential risk of complications, some of which may be fatal. These recommendations are based ultimately on a judgment about when benefits appear to sufficiently outweigh risks.


Objective To investigate the efficacy and security of vinorelbine combined with cisplatin in the treatment of advanced breast cancer patients resistant to antracyclines and/or taxanes.Methods Seventy-three patients with advanced breast cancer resistant to anthracyclines and/or taxanes received NP regimen:Vinorelbine(NVB 25 mg/m2,intravenous infusion, day 1,8) plus cisplatin(DDP 75-85 mg/m2,intravenous infusion in 2-5 days).Three weeks as one period of treatment.The evaluation was performed two weeks after every two periods of treatment. Results Seventy-one patients were evaluated for efficacy and toxicity of the therapy, the overall response was 63.4%(45/71),3 cases (4.2%) had complete response,42 cases(59.2%)had partial response,while 23 cases(32.4%) had stable disease and progressive disease were 3 cases(4.2%).The efficacy in patients who had received radiotherapy were more effective than those without radiotherapy(P=0.029).The efficacy in patients with single metastatic organ were more effective than those with multiple organs(P=0.005). The common toxicities were myelosuppression and gastrointestinal reactions.Conclusions Vinorelbine combined with cisplatin are tolerable and effective in the treatment of advanced breast cancer with anthracycine and/or taxanes resistance.

Key words:
Advanced breast cancer ;  Vinorelbine ;  Cisplatin ;  Combination chemotherapy ;


This paper reports the fabrication and characterization of add-drop filters based on vertically coupled microdisk resonators in silicon. SIMOX 3-D sculpting is the technique used to fabricate monolithically integrated filters based on microdisk resonator structures that show adjacent channel cross talk suppression as high as 15 dB for channels that are separated by 1.5 nm.


Facing the rapidly changed international environment,the reforms of higher education have been taking in Switzerland,which include revising of higher education act,changing of the governance structure and distribution of funding,as well as establishing quality guarantee system.Regarding Swiss experiences,it's important for our higher education system to improve the higher education legislation system,program the funding system to universities,and promote the cooperation and coordination between different administration departments.


In order to solve the problem of passenger risk classification, an assessment model for air passenger risk classification based on the analytic hierarchy process and improved fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is constructed. The existing index systems are improved by the comprehensive method. The index system of passenger risk assessment is established, which includes 23 indexes from five aspects: basic background, personal status, economic situation, personal conduct and civil aviation travel. In addition, the weight of each index is determined by the analytic hierarchy process. An improved method of determining fuzzy relation matrixes is proposed. The single factor evaluation vectors of discrete indexes can be determined according to the results of probability statistics, and the single factor evaluation vectors of continuous indexes are calculated by fitting function. Then the assessment model for passenger risk classification based on the improved fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method is established. According to the characteristic analysis of civil aviation passengers and terrorists, typical passenger samples of high, medium and low risk are set to verify the model. The results show that the evaluation results of typical passenger samples are consistent with the basic assumptions. The model is suitable for risk classification assessment of air passengers. Moreover, the tedious evaluation process is reduced compared with the traditional fuzzy comprehensive evaluation method.


Protein C undergoes Ca2+-induced conformational changes  required  for  activation  by  the  thrombinthrombomodulin complex. A Ca2+-dependent monoclonal antibody (HPC4) that blocks protein C activation was used to study conformational changes near the activation site in protein C. The half-maximal Caz+ dependence was similar for protein C and y-carboxyglutamic acid-domainless protein C for binding to HPC4 (205 f 23 and 110 f 29 p~ Ca2+, respectively), activation rates (214 f 22 and 210 f 37 p ~ ) , and intrinsic fluorescence of y-carboxyglutamic acid-domainless protein c (176 f 34 pM). Protein c heavy chain binding to HPC4 was half-maximal at 36 p~ Ca2+, although neither the heavy chain nor HPC4 separately bound Ca" with high affinity. The epitope was lost when the activation peptide was released. A synthetic peptide, P(6-17), which spans the activation site, exhibited Ca2+-dependent binding to HPC4 (halfmaximal binding = 6 p~ Ca2+). Thus, each decrease in antigen structure resulted in a reduced Ca2+ requirement for binding to HPC4. Tb3+ and Ca2+ binding studies demonstrated a Ca2+-binding site in HPC4 required for high affinity antigen binding. These studies provide the first direct evidence for a Ca2+-induced conformational change in the activation region of a vitamin Kdependent zymogen. Furthermore, Ca2+ binding to HPC4 is required for antigen binding. The multiple roles of Ca2+ described may be useful in interpretation of other metal-dependent antibodylantigen interactions.


New Zealand photographer Anne Noble, herself a beekeeper, first encountered the Abbaye de Noirlac in 2014 when she accompanied apiculturist Jean-Pierre Martin on one of his visits to tend the abbey's beehives. The twelfth-century abbey near the French town of Bourges stands out as one of the best-preserved, and extensively restored, historical monuments in a region where most stone buildings are older than the celebrated Stone Store building in Northland, New Zealand. Now doubling as a cultural center, this is a historic institution with an ambitious agenda that values and enables dialogue between the past and the contemporary.1 It hosts numerous musical, artistic, and literary events as well as the creative residency that Noble was granted in 2015 to develop new work and this year to complete and install her exhibition Abeille, presented at Noirlac until November 2016. The installation results from Noble's passion for bees and her sharp command of photographic processes paired with the interdisciplinary collaborations she undertook with Martin and New Zealand jazz musician Hayden Chisholm, who partook in the creation of soundtracks for the two video works on display. Noble is a well-established photographer in New Zealand and abroad, known for her direct approach to environmental realities and her ability to tell a story through subtle signifiers. While the bee and concerns around its disappearance hold center stage in all the work presented at Noirlac, Noble continues to explore her medium in this exhibition, which includes video work, photograms, images made with a microscope, and, the central element of the exhibition and culmination of her collaboration with the local apiculturist: a live colony of bees. This is an unprecedented leap for Noble who has shown consistent interest for the social aspects of her subjects while also expanding the possibilities of photography beyond the flat printed image. Certain series of images on display were produced and previously shown elsewhere, but the exhibition Abeille is unique for showing them together with new work, thereby offering a comprehensive overview of an ongoing artistic experimentation on a subject the artist holds dear, the honeybee. Singing with the Bees: Abeille, an exhibition by Anne Noble


In mid-term planning, the objective of an electricity retailer is to procure the electricity energy to supply its demands, while efficient control of the financial risks under uncertainties is as vital as maximizing profit. To meet these challenges, this paper proposes and compares different stochastic-based risk measures including minimax regret (MMR), chance-constrained (CC), and conditional value-at-risk (CVaR) criteria, which are useful tools for assessing the risk levels, considering whether a retailer is a risk-taking or a risk-averse participant. To obtain an optimal procurement strategy, robust versions of implemented approaches are applied. To show the real performance of the proposed procurement solutions, postoptimization procedures with different price behaviors are performed to carry out experimental results on the basis of realistic data. The results show that for the same robustness degree of strategy, CVaR is less conservative than MMR and CC is less conservative than CVaR.


This study aims to empirically examine the effect of profitability, solvency, and reputation of a Public Accounting Firm (KAP) on audit delay. The control variables used in this study are firm size, firm age, and audit opinion. The dependent in this study is audit delay which is measured quantitatively in the number of days using the difference between the issuance date of the financial statements and the issuance of the audit report variables. The research population is Food and Beverage Companies in the non-Cyclical Consumer Sectors which are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) during 2019-2021. Determination of the sample in this study using purposive sampling and obtained a sample of 21 Food and Beverage Companies. Data analysis used multiple linear regression analysis with SPSS version 25. The results of this study indicate that profitability has no significant effect on audit delay, while solvency and reputation of KAP have a negative but significant effect on audit delay. The control variables of firm size and audit opinion have no significant effect on audit delay, while firm age has a negative but significant effect on audit delay.


Paper presents some remarks about designing angular positioners having significant angular displacement and shifted axis of rotation. Those driving mechanism are useful in specific applications where mechanism wraps around other object or there is a need of  rotation around virtual axis. Examples of those applications like orthotic robots or gimbals for panoramic motions where developed at Faculty of Mechatronics WUT. Usage of exact constraint method was described including its influence to a kinematic structure of designed mechanism.


A tunable microstrip antenna with circular polarization across a frequency span of 1.4:1 is presented. A dual mode microstrip antenna element with independent frequency control for each polarization is designed. Circular polarization is then achieved with both modes tuned to resonate slightly offset from the intended operating frequency. Measured return loss and patterns are presented.


Ice jams in the Grasse River have caused the erosion of capping material designed to prevent the resurfacing of the bed sediment in the PCB-contaminated area. Two in-stream ice-control structures are proposed to avoid the jam-induced erosion of the capping material. These two ice-control options are a pier-type ice-control structure and a reconstruction of a small hydropower dam upstream of the capping site. A numerical model study using the DynaRICE model is conducted to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed design. Flow and ice conditions corresponding to the 100-year return period of ice jam events obtained from analyzing historical breakup ice jam data are used in the evaluation. The results showed that these ice-control structures could reduce the ice discharge downstream and the size of the ice jam at the capping site to prevent the erosion and scour of the PCB-contaminated bed.


This paper presents the results of the development of new silencers with spherical baffles for submachine guns. Submachine guns are intermediate between pistols and rifles. They provide a high fire density at close range. Submachine guns are automatic weapons that usually use pistol cartridges and are designed, as a rule, for continuous fire at a rate up to 1,000 rounds/min. Submachine guns are equipped with capacious magazines (20 to 40 rounds) and a simple sight, which provides a firing range up to 200 m. The MP5 developed by Heckler & Koch for the 9×19 mm cartridge is the most widely used submachine gun in the world. Due to its reliability and accuracy, the MP5 has become very popular and is officially adopted in more than forty countries. In Ukraine, the MP5 is adopted by law-enforcement agencies. One of its modifications – the MKM-091 for the 9×21 mm cartridge – is produced in Ukraine. Because of this, our attention was focused on the development of silencers for MP5 submachine guns. In this paper, the distribution of the powder gas flow inside silencers of these types is considered, the features of design solutions are shown, and the design of the internal components is described with reference to their effect on the overall performance depending on their embodiments. Silencers with spherical baffles completely eliminate muzzle flash. Full-scale tests of the silencers developed were conducted with cartridges of different energy capacities, and the test results showed that: the sound suppression efficiency of the silencers compares well with that for the best foreign silencers at comparable dimensions and mass; the silencers are less expensive due to the use of advanced technologies in the manufacture of their structural components and the silencers as a whole; the silencers do not affect the automatic operation, firing accuracy, shot grouping, or performance characteristics of submachine guns. The technical characteristics of the silencers reported in this paper demonstrate their compactness, reliability, and high sound suppression efficiency.


This article mainly focuses on the large concrete construction in dock entrance of Bohai Sea ship heavy industry second dock project,in order to avoid the harmful cracks,work out a practical anti-crack technology by processing basically,reducing constraint,controlling temperature,strengthening concrete conservation,and so on.The construction of this project attains good results and guarantees the construction quality.It can provide references for similar constructions in the future.


A modem structure for high speed digital (QPSK) communications in the time division multiple access (TDMA) mode is presented that overcomes the problems of intersymbol interference and acquisition of each TDMA burst. The first part of the design involves the examination of an IF adaptive equalizer to compensate for channel distortion. The second part of the design involves a reexamination of traditional carrier and clock recovery networks and the proposal for their replacement by (560 MHz) synchronous oscillators.


This paper introduces a novel approach for the recognition of a wide vocabulary of Arabic handwritten words. Note that there is an essential difference between the global and analytic approaches in pattern recognition. While the global approach is limited to reduced vocabulary, the analytic approach succeeds to recognize a wide vocabulary but meets the problems of word segmentation especially for Arabic. Combining the neural approach with some linguistic characteristics of the Arabic, it is expected that we become able to recognize better and to handle a large vocabulary of Arabic handwritten words. The proposed approach invokes two transparent neural networks, TNN_1 and TNN_2, to respectively recognize roots, schemes and the elements of conjugation from the structural primitives of the words. The approach was evaluated using examples from a database established for this purpose. The results are promising, and suggestions for improvements are proposed.


The first true biography of America's earliest and most influential master of the comic strip and animated cartoon, beautifully illustrated with rare photographs, memorabilia, and original art.


INTRODUCTION The formulation of EU Directive 2004/40/EC 1 has focussed attention on the issue of occupational exposure in MRI. Whilst the EU's attempts to regulate occupational exposure to electro-magnetic (EM) fields is recent, the underlying exposure guidance from ICNIRP has been in existence for some time. Other occupational exposure guidance is also available 4 but has been ignored by regulators.


A methacrylate monomer, cyclohexene-3-yl methyl methacrylate (CHMA) was synthesized by reaction of 3-cyclohexene-1-methanol with methacryloyl chloride in the presence of triethylamine at 0–5 °C. The homopolymer of CHMA and its copolymer with styrene (St) were prepared by free radical polymerization. The Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), 1H NMR, and 13C NMR spectroscopic techniques were used to characterize the homopolymers and copolymers. 1H NMR spectra were used to determine the compositions of the copolymers. Linearization methods such as Kelen–Tüdös, Extended Kelen–Tüdös, and a non-linear least squares method were all used to determine the reactivity ratios of the monomers. The effect of copolymer compositions on their thermal behavior was studied by differential thermal analysis and thermogravimetric analysis methods.


and ECA coal analysers have been used to control sorting and blending operations at coal mines, power plants and coal terminals. In sorting operations, the analyser results are used to sort coal into piles, bins or silos based on the measured quality. Coals can be sorted by the ash, sulphur, moisture, heating value, or by combinations of these. Sorting can be used to allow low-ash coals to bypass coal preparation plants, thereby reducing the mining cost of the coal. Sorting can also be used to maximise the quantity of a premium quality coal available to an operation. For example, if an analyser is used to sort coal based on its sulphur content, a mine can ensure that all of the low-sulphur coal mined is stored separately, so that the maximum low-sulphur tonnage possible is available for blending or for high value contracts. Sorting of clean coal product allows coal to be segregated by qualities that are not controllable by washing, for example sulphur. Having coals of different qualities is required before blending can occur. Good sorting improves a blending operation. Blending with a coal analyser allows the following three objectives to be realised: