Litter Gain traits, (from birth till both, 21 and weaning age and from 21 days till weaning, at 35 days), for two consecutive years on APRI rabbits. The data of Litter Gain traits (LG B-21; LGB-W and LG21-W) contained a total of 192 litters produced from 80 does pedigreed by 9 sires and 12 dams, were analyzed. Heritabilities of the considered doe traits were relatively low being 0.14, 0.14 and 0.13 for Litter Gains (LG B-21; LGB-W and LG21-W); resp. Furthermore, estimates of permanent litter effects were rather low being 0.0, 0.002 and 0.002 for Litter Gain at the same manner. The ranges of the APRI does' transmitting ability (TA ± SE) for LG B-21; LGB-W and LG21-W were (0.67 ± 0.19, 0.340 ± 0.13 and 0.10 ± 0.12 g.) with the accuracies being 0.51, 0.46 and 0.45. As for APRI dams' data transmitting ability (TA ± SE), the ranges for the same previous traits were 0.47 ± 0.22, 0.24 ± 015 and 0.07±0.14 g. Interestingly, and though of the larger numbers involved, ranges of accuracies estimates (rAP) of the predicted transmitting ability (TA) were mostly higher in the dams data set followed by those of does. Furthermore, significant moderate spearman correlation estimates were obtained among various ages' BV of the studied traits of data does. These estimates of correlation, however, were age dependent and decreased as age advance. In addition, estimated epigenetic trends (EP), for Litter Gain traits under study suggested that it is possible to achieve slow, but simultaneous improvement of litter traits with selection program in rabbits. LG traits recorded generally a negative EP trend during the majority of the year-seasons effects under study. As regard to EP with parities, the high LG response was postponed to the 1 st . parity.


AbstractWe studied the structure, IR absorption spectra, the spectral characteristics of photoluminescence and morphology of cerium- and terbium-doped orthoborates of gadolinium and yttrium obtained by hydrothermal synthesis at 200°C, as well as solid solutions of orthoborates on the basis of yttrium, gadolinium, and lutetium with composition RECe_0.01Tb_0.1BO_3 (RE = Lu_0.5Gd_0.39, Lu_0.5Y_0.39, and Y_0.5Gd_0.39). The X-ray diffraction spectrum of yttrium orthoborate Y_1 – _ x  _– _ y Ce_ x Tb_ y BO_3 is described by a hexagonal lattice with space group P 6_3/ m , which, after annealing at 970°C, transforms into a monoclinic lattice with space group C 2/ c . High-temperature annealing of the studied orthoborates leads to a multiple, more than two orders of magnitude, increase in the luminescence intensity of Tb^3+ ions when the samples are excited in the absorption band of cerium ions. This effect is the result of a significant increase in the concentration of Ce^3+ ions in the orthoborates at high temperatures. It is shown that the luminescence of terbium ions is due to energy transfer from Ce^3+ to Tb^3+, which proceeds with high efficiency (∼85%) by the mechanism of dipole-dipole interaction between cerium and terbium.


The year 2020 marks the silver jubilee of the Beijing Platform for Action, and was expected to be a moment to celebrate the milestones made in enhancing gender parity and opportunities. However, the effects of COVID-19 pandemic threaten to erode the minimal gains achieved this far. The pandemic, initially a health hazard, fast mutated to a twin-menace that would threaten both lives and livelihoods. Global stock markets plunged in value by about US$6 trillion in less than a week (24th to 28th February 2020), according to S & P Dow Jones Indices; with many yet to recover. The pandemic decelerated Kenya"s projected GDP growth; the Central Bank of Kenya revised its estimate for 2020 from the initial 6.2% to 3.4%. Most affected were Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; due to limited resources unable to withstand prolonged uncertainty and multi-faceted restrictions, as demanded of them by the pandemic. Key among the ventures threatened with extinction are women owned Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises that faced numerous pre-pandemic challenges. The inevitable priority shift for women entrepreneurs, diversion of business funds, sharp decline in demand and supply of commodities, and costly production, all stifled the mostly informal firms. Theories supporting this magnitude of impact are limited too; with the closest being resource dependency theory, structural inertia theory and real options theory. As uncertain as the viral spread is its ultimate impact on businesses and economies. This study uses available secondary multi-disciplinary resources; research papers, case studies, stakeholder reports and other online sources. Findings are that women owned businesses are disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The study recommends targeted policy, research and resource interventions to help small ventures prepare for recurrence of such contagions through resurgence of the same or new pandemics in future.


We obtained near total element geochemistry on 211 near-surface sediment samples from lakes along a transect across the Western Interior Platform to the central portion of the Slave Geological Province with a focus near the City of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, to document regional concentrations of arsenic (As) and other elements in lake sediments. Concentrations of major and trace elements, including elements of potential human and ecological concern (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn), were extracted from sediments using a modified aqua regia digestion. Concentrations of As exceed Canadian federal guidelines for the protection of aquatic life in most of the lakes sampled in the Slave Geological Province. Seventy one percent (n=149) of all sediment samples contain As concentrations higher than the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) Interim Freshwater Sediment Quality Guideline of 5.9 mg/kg and 54% (n=114) of the samples contain As concentrations that exceed the CCME Probable Effect Level of 17 mg/kg. Sediments with the highest As concentrations are from lakes near the City of Yellowknife and likely reflect a combination of contamination associated with past industrial activity and geogenic input from mineralized bedrock and derived surficial materials (median As concentration 107.9 mg/kg, range 6.30->10,000+, n=95). Arsenic concentrations in lake sediments sampled elsewhere in the central Northwest Territories are lower (Ingraham Trail, median As concentration 10.6 mg/kg, range 1.9-101.6, n=27; Tibbitt to Contwoyto Winter Road, median As concentration 7.9 mg/kg, 0.3-101.4, n=52; Western Interior Platform, median As concentration 1.1 mg/kg, 0.1-7.1, n=37). Based on our data and a review of existing literature, background As concentration in lake sediments appear to ~25 mg/kg for the Yellowknife region, and lower for other regions in the central NWT. Other elements (Cr, Cu, Pb, Zn) are below sediment quality guidelines in the majority of lake sediments sampled.


One of the Castilian collections of saints' lives, or santorales, derived in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries from Jacobus de Voragine's Legenda aurea was commissioned c. 1488 by Queen Isabel I of Castile. The process out of which Esc MS h‐II‐18 was born and its particularities, which often render it distinct from the other extant santorales, impel us to question the extent to which Isabel may have had input into the structural unity of the santoral, remodelling it according to her own designs. This study suggests that Esc MS h‐II‐18 mirrors the ideological imperatives that marked its patron's rule and that the representation of female saints in the collection is closely bound up with the gender ideology of which Isabel was at once agent and subject – fashioning herself and being depicted by those around her as an exemplary figure who would satisfy the needs of Spain, a model for women in contemporary society but, like the female saints in the hagiographic work, a safe exception, set apart from the general rule for others of her sex.


Among the c. 3,050 items, most of which are books in manuscript, that comprise the collection known as the Theater-Bibliothek of Hamburg's city and university library, 136 items contain censorship entries from the years when Hamburg was part of the Napoleonic Empire (1811–1814). Remarks in multiple hands make suggestions and negotiate how to avoid referring to the occupying forces, the English enemy, oppression, or upheaval. The prompt book for the 1812 revival of Hamburg's famous 1770s production of King Lear is particularly memorable in the ways a simplified adaptation (that was staged long after the occupation ended) is produced by the complex interactions of various hands. 1 Censorship of the Hamburg stage: the stake of handwriting In European theatre, censorship of the stage lasted well into the twentieth century in most countries. In the German-speaking areas of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century theatre companies that did not perform at court had to obtain approval for their performances with the local authorities in the first place. The content of the play itself was only one (albeit crucial) element of an overall administrative process. Theatre was a commercial enterprise and relied on pandering to the assumed prevalent taste. (Implicit) standards of offensiveness or objectionability were usually well known. Censorship of the printing press (with regard to journalism and literature) as well as that of public utterances in general provided a backdrop against which censorship of the stage was often not a problem by itself as long as plays and performances remained within an implicit framework of decorum. || 1 Cf. Goldstein 1989, 113–153; cf. Worrall 2017, 45–53. 2 Cf. Maurer-Schmoock 1982, 102–118. 3 Cf. Pieroth 2018, 18–22. 1044 | Martin Jörg Schäfer Potentially, theatre censorship can always go along with practices of handwriting: while the performance of a play is ephemeral the censor needs a tangible basis for his decision, e.g. the content of the play to be performed in a stable container, i.e. manuscript or print. Writing tool in hand, the censor can then cancel or 'amend' words as well as whole passages. However, it is safe to assume (and in a lot of cases well known) that in practice plays were approved or rejected altogether – at least plays by familiar authors. Either way, censorship annotations would not necessarily make their way into the prompt books used within the theatre to facilitate the actual performances: written artefact in hand, prompters help out with lines that may have been forgotten or just poorly memorised; stage managers see to the quiet operation of the performance. Around 1800, these two roles sometimes intermingled in European theatre. It is more likely that these prompt books would take the approved play or version of it as a starting point for producing a 'clean copy' manuscript that would then be put to use in everyday practice. Prompt books from the French occupation period in Hamburg (1806–1814) prove to be a fascinating exception to this rule of thumb: after the introduction of a due process of censorship in 1810/1811, the local censor, former Hamburg journalist Johann Philipp Nick (1777–1815), would note pages in need of change, suggest and insert amendments as well as sign the final version with a 'vu et approuvé' ('seen and approved') by 'Nick censeur' ('censor Nick') or simply 'Nick'. The prompt book of Kotezbue's popular melodrama Die SonnenJungfrau (about a fated transcultural love during the Spanish conquest of Peru) has only very few censorship interventions (despite hints to a minor riot in the subplot). Nick signed it on the date of the performance in question, '22 août 1813' (see Fig. 1). Although Nick is the only censor in town, the respective written artefacts put the interaction of several hands and writing tools on display. In some cases, they replaced the prompt books that had already been in use for several decades. Mostly, these written artefacts were already full of amendments and additions that had been added (e.g. by the principal or the prompter himself) whenever a production was revived after a hiatus. While future enrichments || 4 Cf. Hellmich 2014, 126. 5 Cf. Schröder and Klose 1870, 519; cf. Hellmich 2014, 30–31. 6 In some cases, such an original prompt book is part of the collection in addition to the censorship one. Cf. the 1777 manuscript based and the 1813 print based prompt books of local adaptations of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure: Hamburg, Staatsund Universitätsbibliothek 'Carl von Ossietzky' (Stabi), Theater-Bibliothek, 514 (Maaß für Maaß. Ein Schauspiel in fünf Aufzügen); cf. Hamburg, Stabi, Theater-Bibliothek, 948b (Maaß für Maaß. Ein Schauspiel in fünf Aufzügen). 'Vu et approuvé': Censorship Notes in Hamburg Prompt Books | 1045 were to be expected the original page layout hardly ever took them into account. Only few interleaved written artefacts or prompt books with margins for possible corrections are part of Theater-Bibliothek. These tended to be bulky and would have impeded their side stage use during the performance by the prompter or the inspector (a person of overall responsibility who was also the predecessor of today's stage manager). The manuscripts had been written (often by the prompter himself) in German cursive (with rare interjections of Latin) on low-price paper quires in whichever format and with whatever quill and ink seem to have been at hand; they had then been bound into inexpensive card board cover. They also include additional practical information for the subsequent use for a performance: the prompter and the inspector would be in need of cast, prop and set lists as well as cues for lighting, entrances and exits. These lists were often glued in on extra sheets after the production of the clean copy or added on folios that had been left blank (see Fig. 2). In the case of the French period prompt books, most of them were used (often with only minor changes) for a long time after Nick's work as censor ended. The following considerations examine Nick's interventions with respect to a prominent example, Friedrich Ludwig Schröder's 1812 reprisal of his own 1778 adaptation of William Shakespeare's early seventeenth-century King Lear. 2 'Nick censeur': Approval and rejection entries The French army captured Hamburg in 1806. As the capital of the newly founded department Bouches-de-l'Elbe, the city was a part of the Empire from late 1810 up to the expulsion of the occupying forces in 1814. Napoleon decreed the reintroduction of censorship in France in 1810; the new laws were applied in the new territories in the course of 1811. The central 'Direction de l'imprimerie et de la librairie' in Paris had a Hamburg-based agency closely aligned with the local police. Beside the control of printing and bookselling, the agency had its resident censor in Johann Philipp Nick who was responsible for the newspapers, for all published literature and also for the stage. All playbills, which advertised the venue, the date and the name of the play, needed to be bilingual. An overall list of the plays to be performed had to be presented to Nick's supervisor, Louis|| 7 Cf. Hamburg, Stabi, Theater-Bibliothek, 1989b (Dom Karlos, Infant von Spanien). 8 Cf. Hamburg, Stabi, Theater-Bibliothek, 499b (Macbeth. Ein Trauerspiel in Fünf Aufzügen). 9 Cf. Hellmich 2014, 123–124. 1046 | Martin Jörg Schäfer Philippe Brun d'Aubignosc, for approval. D'Aubignosc had the power to prohibit the performance of a play and to close down a theatre if his orders met with resistance. He could also interfere after the fact in case an approved play was deemed to have an undesirable effect upon the public. In general, plays needed to avoid utterances that could be construed as criticism of France and all things French. The English enemy was not to be mentioned; words such as 'homeland', 'patriotism', 'freedom', 'tyranny', 'oppression' etc. were to be avoided. As a matter of consequence, the agency tended to reject works by popular authors such as Friedrich Schiller wholesale. However, a lot of the plays that did reach Nick's desk give the impression to have been edited with a great deal of good will and attention to detail. Others hardly show any interventions. More than half of the c. 3,050 mostly handwritten prompt books in the Hamburg Theater-Bibliothek's collection (ranging from 1750 up to 1880), date from the 1770s to the 1810s. Written artefacts of plays that were never performed can be found next to one hit wonders (i.e. plays that were performed once or twice but never taken up again) and plays that became part of the repertory for decades. Some of the books were in use for quite some time afterwards, sometimes until the 1840s. For some especially successful plays (that were performed more than 50 times over a two or three decades) there is no written artefact preserved in the collection. These might have shown too many signs of wear to be considered worth preserving for another future performance. Before and after the time of French censorship, none of the many written artefacts in the collection bear witness to explicit censorship intervention (or, for that matter, a due process of censorship). The 136 written artefacts that bear the censor's, i.e. Nick's signature account for nearly all the plays known to have been performed during Nick's tenure from 1811 to 1814. The overwhelming bulk is signed with the aforementioned 'seen and approved' in a dark ink which had probably been black but faded into brown overtime. In various prompt books, || 10 Cf. Hellmich 2014, 124–127. 11 Cf. Stoltz 2016. (Dominik Stoltz has been part of the team that has compiled the index of Theater-Bibliothek but has only published this blogpost.) 12 Cf. Allgemeine Zeitung 1815, 1236. 13 Cf. Neubacher 2016. 14 Playbills from 1768 to 1850 can be accessed at <www.stadttheater.uni-hamburg.de>. 15 According to the index of Hamburg Staatsbibliothek 'Handschriftenkatalo


Projected enrollment in Pennsylvania high schools is expected to continue to decline over the next 10 to 15 years. Additionally, current economic and budget constraints are encouraging students to consider community colleges as the beginning of their baccalaureate degree programs. This increases the pressure on four-year colleges and universities to increase their recruiting efforts to attract community college transfer students. Articulation agreements are the traditional mechanism used to define and formalize the transfer process. In this paper we discuss a process for creating articulation agreements that expands the scope of programs transferring into a four-year degree. In particular we will discuss the effort to recruit students into a four-year Information Assurance and Security program. We will discuss the development of the methodology, the process currently used by the college for developing agreements, and the results of the effort.


The chilling requirement for breaking grape bud dormancy can be substituted with chemical treatment. Calcium cyanamide or cyanamide is frequently used for grape bud dormancy release. However, those chemicals are potentially harmful to humans. In this study, we used rare sugars that are less toxic to the environment and grape growers, such as L-fructose, D-psicose, and D-allose; methionine; and sea water to determine their effects on 'Kyoho' grape budbreak. The rare sugars improved percentage budbreak when applied at 1% concentration, but the improvement was insignificant. When the concentration was increased to 3%, percentage budbreak was increased. Among the rare sugars used, L-fructose at 3% gave the highest percentage budbreak and initiated earlier budbreak than the other rare sugars. On the other hand, methionine induced budbreak and slightly improved budbreak at 3% concentration compared to control. Sea water at either concentration did not improve budbreak.


Quantum trajectory theory is the best mathematical set up to model continual observations of a quantum system and feedback based on the observed output. Inside this framework, we study how to enhance the squeezing of the fluorescence light emitted by a two-level atom, stimulated by a coherent monochromatic laser. In the presence of a Wiseman-Milburn feedback scheme, based on the homodyne detection of a fraction of the emitted light, we analyze the squeezing dependence on the various control parameters.


The article regards the relevant issue of forming research competence in students working for their bachelor's degree in linguistics through elective classes. The latter make an educational practice within a higher educational institution curriculum. Elective classes are seen as an element of professional training for bachelor students. The article also proves the significant role of research competence in developing students' personalities as would-be researchers.


A series of experimental assays including 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyl tetrazolium bromide(MTT) test,alkaline phosphatase(ALP) activity measurement,mineralized function,oil red O stain and measurement were employed to assess the effects of Gd3+ on the osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of mouse primary bone marrow stromal cells(BMSCs).The results indicate that Gd3+ has no effect on the proliferation of BMSCs at concentrations of 1×10-10 and 1×10-8 mol·L-1,but inhibits the proliferation at other concentrations.The effect of Gd3+ on the osteogenic differentiation depends on concentrations at the 7th day,but Gd3+ inhibits the osteogenic differentiation at any concentration at the 14th day.Gd3+ can promote the formation of mineralized matrix nodules except at concentrations of 1×10-8 and 1×10-5 mol·L-1.Gd3+ can inhibit the adipogenic differentiation at any concentration at the 10th day,but inhibit the adipogenic differentiation except at a concentration of 1×10-9 mol·L-1 at the 16th day.These findings suggest Gd3+ may have protective effect on bone at appropriate dose by decreasing adipogenic differentiation and promoting osteogenic differentiation of BMSCs.The effects of Gd3+ on the osteogenic and adipogenic differentiation of BMSCs depend on the concentration and culture time,moreover,they are pivotal factors for switching the biological effects of Gd3+ from damage to protection.


A new 3-wire probe is presented,which is mainly used to measure the aft-deck flow field of a carrier model. A survey of three-dimensional flow field of the aft-deck has been worked out. Mounting the carrier model on a truck and running straight on the runway,the test was carried out. The setting angle 5 between the symmetrical plans of the model and the truck may be changed to meet the wind incidence requirements. It is revealed that a dead-water zone formed on the front of aft-deck is quite complicated. This is the first example in China. Through this test,more experiences of hot-wire techniques in field work are accumulated. Beside those outlined previously,the development of a 3-wire probe,the method of data acquisition and processing in field work,and the result and analysis of flow field around the aft--deck of a carrier model are briefly discussed.


Arabinoxylan gels are receiving increasing attention as oral delivery systems of biomolecules for therapeutic purposes. The aim of this research was to evaluate arabinoxylan gels as an oral delivery system for insulin, representing a painless therapy for diabetics. Gels at two concentrations of arabinoxylan were prepared (2.5 and 3.5 % w/v). One concentration of insulin (0.05 % w/v) entrapped in the arabinoxylan gels was investigated. At the end of gelation elasticity (G') values were 11 and 20 for gels at 2.5 and 3.5% (w/v) in arabinoxylan, respectively. The presence of insulin in the gels did not affect the values of G'. The apparent diffusion coefficient for insulin decreased from 1.30 x 10 -7 to 1.09 x 10 -7 cm 2 /s when the concentration of arabinoxylan in the gel increased from 2.5 to 3.5% (w/v). The percentage of proteolysis for insulin entrapped in the gels at 2.5 and 3.5% in arabinoxylan (w/v) were 35 and 17%, respectively, in relation to 100% hydrolysis of insulin in solution. Results indicate that arabinoxylan gels could be potential candidates as oral delivery systems for insulin.


................................................................................................................................... ii Chapter 1: INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................1 Chapter 2: HISTORIOGRAPHY.....................................................................................................9 Chapter 3: ESTABLISHING A COUNTERWEIGHT...................................................................48 Chapter 4: UPPER CREEK CORRIDORS OF COMMERICE..................................................108 Chapter 5: TEMPORAL ALIGNMENTS....................................................................................151 Chapter 6: NEUTRALITY IN TRANSITION ............................................................................175 Chapter 7: COMMERCE WITHOUT COMMITMENT.............................................................209 Chapter 8: UNCERTAIN BOUNDARIES AND THE PRICE OF CULTURE...........................253 BIBLIOGRAPHY........................................................................................................................279 APPENDICES .............................................................................................................................304 VITA ............................................................................................................................................317


The size and species composition of birds flocking in secondary forest of the Zuo Jia Nature Protection Region were nearly indentical in over two winters. The Great tit (Parus major), Marsh tit(Parus palustris)and Nuthatch(Sitta europaea)showed lower number of individuals per flock,but the highest number occurred in two winters in all flocks-75. 4% and 66. 7%; 66. 2%and 63.4% ;80%and 65. 6%respectively. Most species always contitued mono-specific flock or solitary foragers,although they occurred more often mixed-species flock. The flock size was significantly greater in early winter than that in middle and late winetr. The flock size was apparently influenced by weather condition. With regard to flock size and species-composition,that the flocks which were observed in secondary forest varied depending upon the time and space indecatied that many factors that were responsible for birds to join a flock,varied in space and time too.


This study aims to describe the development and implementation of the Village Information System (SID) in Kepek Village, Wonosari District, Gunungkidul Regency. The research method used is a qualitative approach with a case study design. Data was collected through interviews with related parties, observation, and analysis of documents related to SID. The results showed that Kepek Village has rich natural and cultural potential, but the management of information about village development potential and programs is still not optimal. SID development began in 20XX with a participatory approach, involving village communities and related parties in the development process.


An otter board is an important device that provides a desired horizontal opening of a trawl net. A high lift coefficient or lift-to-drag ratio is required for an otter board to maintain fishing efficiency. In the present work, the hydrodynamic performance of a circular cambered otter board was studied by numerical simulation, including the effects of aspect ratios (AR), and flow distribution around the otter board. Model tests were conducted in the flume tank as well as a comparison to the numerical results. It showed that simulation results exhibited very good agreement with experiment results. Results demonstrated that the model otter board had a critical angle of attack (AOA) of 50° (when the stall appeared). The maximum lift coefficient and lift-to-drag ratio of the model otter board were 2.421 and 3.719, respectively. However, the maximum values of the full-scale otter board increased first and then decreased with an increasing AR. And the full-scale otter board had a better performance when AR = 2.489, it can enhance the lift coefficient by 17.4% compared with the initial otter board (AR = 1.25). In addition, the flow distribution around the otter board showed that the flow was smooth at small AOAs, when it attacked at large AOA (exceeded 55°), flow separation and eddies were appeared at the lee-side of the otter board.


Photorefractive liquid crystal light-valves (LCLV) are built associating a liquid crystal layer with a thin Bi12SiO20 (BSO) photorefractive crystal [1]. The photoconductive and electro optic properties of the device are separately optimized. While the excellent photosensitivity arises from the photoconductivity of the BSO, the large electro-optic effect is due to the large birefringence of the liquid crystals. Photorefractive LCLVs have been demonstrated as attractive elements for nonlinear optical applications, such as two-wave mixing optical amplification and self-pumped phase conjugation [2]. Recently, we have introduced a new optical oscillator based on a photorefractive LCLV as a gain medium [3]. The large transverse size and high gain of the LCLV allows a large number of longitudinal and transverse modes to be simultaneously amplified in the cavity, thus giving rise to dynamical regimes remained inaccessible up to date. We report different dynamical regimes, in particular high amplitude spatiotemporal pulses that are confined along the three space directions.


The first years of teaching can be demanding, as the novice works to gain familiarity with many aspects of professional work. Often, what they have been prepared to do in teacher education programs is not aligned with what is expected at them in schools. As a consequence, many teachers leave the profession or move away from the reform-minded practice emphasized in their preparation as they accept the norms of their new community of practice. Using cultural historical activity theory, this comparative case study explored two beginning science teachers' transition into the teaching profession and the roles a community of practice played in this transition. Findings suggest that these science teachers were influenced by the social and professional structures at their schools and by the level of institutional and interpersonal support they received from peer teachers and administrators. The extent to which these teachers became involved in the community of practices at their schools greatly influenced their instructional practice. Implications suggest that science teacher preparation and induction programs must go beyond simply emphasizing teaching and learning—they must also address strategies young teachers can use to access the support they need to be able to consistently enact reform-based practices. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed93:996–1025, 2009


In 1999, the first year of larval lobster sampling, we sampled a series of nine transects radiating outward from the Vinalhaven/North Haven archipelago in the center of Penobscot Bay, Maine (Fig. 1). The transects, consisting of 39 stations, were organized to detect temporal and spatial changes in larval abundance between the west and east channels of lower Penobscot Bay and around the central island mass. At each station we sampled the abundance of planktonic lobsters, with an emphasis on the postlarval stage, and collected CTD, sea surface temperature (SST) and meteorological data (wind, air temperature, cloud cover). In conjunction with other components of this project (the "Penobscot Bay Collaborative"), our sampling program was designed to evaluate patterns and mechanisms of larval transport in and out of the bay and their influence on patterns of benthic recruitment. By understanding mechanisms and being able to model them, we are attempting to better understand the forces driving interannual and longer-term variations in recruitment as well as spatial relationships in the population (that is, the geography of egg production vs. the geography and variability of recruitment). Other components of the collaborative project (funded through a combination of NOAA/NESDIS and other sources) include satellite remote sensing (Andrew Thomas, UMaine), physical oceanography (Neal Pettigrew, UMaine), circulation modeling (Huijie Xue, UMaine), primary production (Maureen Keller, Bigelow Lab), benthic settlement and juvenile/adult lobster distribution patterns (Bob Steneck, UMaine), juvenile nursery-ground emigration and mortality rates (Rick Wahle, Bigelow Lab), fishery and sea-sampling data (Carl Wilson, Maine Dept. Marine Resources), and low inter-tidal lobster monitoring (Sara Ellis and Diane Cowan, The Lobster Conservancy).


This invention relates to a diagnostic test viral disease comprising the use of cells to amplify the virus to be identified from samples and thus making possible its detection, characterized in that the cells the frozen thawed for testing. the present invention also relates to a cell-freezing process in a support container consisting in particular in multi-well plates or tubes for cell preservation and use after thawing in a diagnostic test according to the invention, characterized in that: 1) is used cryopreservant chosen so that the number of viable and functional cells after thawing is optimal and especially greater than 80%; and 2) the number of cells to be frozen inserted into the support container is selected so that 24 hours after thawing cultured cells form a complete cell monolayer.


This paper develops a conceptual framework that links knowledge about global production networks (GPNs), international knowledge diffusion and local capability formation. The authors analyze the forces behind the rise of GPNs, such as liberalization, information and communication technologies as well as global competition. They then discuss the network flagship model and examine through which mechanism knowledge diffuses. The authors conclude that the major determinant for successful knowledge conversion by local suppliers is their absorptive capacity. The authors advise such firms to invest in highly skilled labor and train also their own suppliers.


(57) Abstract: The present invention relates to an enzyme L- galactose dehydrogenase, in particular the present invention relates to an enzyme that catalyzes the conversion of L- galactose L- galactosamine concert lactone.


Background:
 We developed a deep learning algorithm to predict elevated coronary artery calcium (CAC) score from 12-lead electrocardiograms (CAC- ECG). We tested the hypothesis that this CAC-ECG algorithm will independently predict long-term survival.

 Methods:
 We leveraged a historical cohort of 43,210 consecutive patients who from the years 1997-2020 underwent clinically indicated ECG-gated unenhanced chest computed tomography (CT) to identify and quantify CAC and had an ECG within 1 year of the CT. Data on cardiovascular risk (CV) factors, and to calculate the Pooled Cohort Equation (PCE) for ASCVD was collected as part of preventive cardiology or general medical evaluations. We used the oldest CAC in record and excluded those taking statins at the time of the CAC. The algorithm was trained in 60% of the cohort, and the association between CAC-ECG and survival was evaluated with multivariate cox proportional hazard models in 40% of the remaining observations.

 Results:
 Of the 17,284 evaluated patients, mean ± SD age 55.9 ± 9.9, 33% female, 3,714 (21%) had elevated CAC ≥ 300. During an average of 15±5.9 years follow-up, 848 (5%) patients died. The algorithm's area under the receiving operating characteristics curve (ROC), sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy to detect a CAC ≥ 300 were 0.83, 0.90%, 0.56%, 0.60%. Those with elevated CAC had a nearly two-fold risk of death, a value similar to those deemed positive by the ECG-CAC algorithm (
 Figure A
 ). Risk of death increased with CAC-ECG probability quartiles (
 Figure A
 ). The CAC-ECG algorithm enhanced predicted capabilities of the PCE across all ASCVD risk subgroups (
 Figure B
 ), as well as in those with no CAC and elevated CAC (
 Figure C
 ), all
 p
 for trend <0.001.

 Conclusions:
 A deep learning-enabled CAC-ECG algorithm was independently associated with long-term survival and enhanced current risk prediction paradigms. The CAC-ECG algorithm could help identify individuals at risk in primary prevention of CV disease.


Improvement of the existing and development of new technologies of forming multifunctional leather materials especially focuses on the final physicochemical processes – filling and plasticizing of the intermediate product. This is basically caused by completion of the chemical composition changes, the structure compaction, reduction in the moisture content due to its replacement with filler particles and plasticization reagents, levelling the physical and mechanical, sanitary and other performance properties throughout the area of the formed material. The efficiency of these processes is much affected by the conditions of their implementation, the chemical composition of the used reagents, colloid and chemical properties of the latter, and the structural state of the intermediate product that was achieved at the previous stages of treatment. A scientifically reasonable choice of fillers and plasticizers for further formation of the already structured intermediate products considers that some fillers impregnate, first of all, in relatively large pores, whereas plasticizing requires that some significantly smaller reagents should reach intermicrofibrous and intermolecular spaces that are 2.74 nm and 0.6–0.8 nm in size, respectively [1, 2]. Formation of multifunctional leather materials predetermines, to a large extent, significantly different contents of fillers and plasticizers [1, 3]. Hence, there has been intensive research on developing new chemical reagents to improve the filling and plasticizing technologies of producing leather materials.


Summary A new trend called "revolution of innovation" is clear visible in the development of the modern economy. Its benefits can be maximized through the rational approach to innovation activity management, knowledge management (treated as a source of innovation) and systemic connection between the science with industry and customers in the process of creating value. The content of the publication is thus the concept of systematic approach to innovation activity management, with special emphasis on the commercialization of innovation, and using of knowledge as a source of innovation. Three models of approach to management are proposed: 1) model of rational organization management, 2) model of conceptual structure of innovative activity management, 3) model of integration of knowledge management and innovation management. Management accordingto the proposed models allowsto use resources of various organizations in creating value materialized in innovations in the optimal way, especially in the context of the relatively low impact of universities and research organizations on creating ideas of innovations.


The bachelor thesis on Ethical Problems of Patients with Stoma for Tumour of Colon and Rectum is divided into theoretical and practical part. The theoretical part includes anatomy of the colon and rectum, information about colorectal cancer, stoma and last part is focused on the ethical problems of patients. The practical part has a survey, which was to find out information from the patients with stoma. The results are summarized in the discussion and compared with literature.


Seasonal variations in water and sodium turnover of resident populations of free-ranging Sericornis frontalis were measured at three sites in Western Australia ranging from arid, through semi-arid to mesic environments. Scrubwrens at all three sites maintained water and sodium balance despite the wide variation in environment. During winter at semi-arid Eyre, however, scrubwrens had a greatly increased dietary sodium intake resulting from the deposition of airborne oceanic salt over the coastal dunes. Scrubwrens at arid Hamelin had significantly lower water turnover rates (e.g. 1.3 ml 10 g-'d-') than those at Eyre and mesic Rockingham during hot, dry periods. The highest rates of water turnover were recorded at Rockingham during wet winters. We discuss the ecological implications of these results. In laboratory studies, scrubwrens from arid regions consumed NaCl solutions of up to 0.8 mol l-', compared with a maximum of only 0.6 ml l-' by scrubwrens from semi-arid and mesic regions. Shark Bay scrubwrens also had a much greater renal-concentrating ability which may be partially accounted for by the larger proportion of medullary tissue in the kidneys of these birds.


This paper discusses the mathematics that is involved in the construction of "Hex Signs" and describes the construction of such signs. Hex Signs are circular discs with intricate geometric designs with specific meanings that were hung on barns in the "Pennsylvania Dutch" region of the United States. Common designs include: Rosettes, Birds, and Star Polygons. 1. History of the "Hex Sign" Since the beginning of time man has created designs to portray his feelings. He used these designs to communicate his feelings, and at times, to protect him from what he did not understand or feared. Some common cave drawings are now believed to have been created for good luck for the upcoming harvest. In the middle ages, Europeans were using decorative symbols and motifs on everyday objects to brighten up their lives. These symbols also had a dual purpose, one of religious and ritual protection. Some symbols were used to ward off supposed evil spirits, while others were considered to be good luck or a key for a long and healthy life. Often these symbols took on specific geometric designs which were representative of their purpose. Others included everyday objects such as birds, tulips, hearts, and stars with each representing a specific and different meaning [6]. Over time these symbols became widely known and used among the Europeans. Figure 1: Single Distlefink, Double Eagle, and the Welcome Bird


In this paper Researchers discuss about the Strategic cost management and its various techniques of it. The basic aim of Strategic Cost Management (SCM) is to help the organisation to achieve the continuous advantages with the respect to cost reduction. Strategic Cost Management lays a greater focus on continuous improvement to deliver superior quality product to the customer's and stake-holders over the long period of the time. In this paper Researchers discuss about the just-In-Time (JIT), Kaizen costing and Quality Costing of Strategic cost management. Nature of JIT, JIT Production, JIT Purchasing, Principles of Kaizen Costing, and Barriers of Quality costing are described in this paper. SCM is a modern cost management approach consisting of changing cost and management accounting system, depending on the change of production system in highly competitive environment.


In Tunisia, the oak forest is essentially restricted to the north-west (Kroumirie and Mogods), which is the wettest zone of the country. It forms ecosystems of great ecological and socio-economic interest. This is a significant source of income for local population. In addition, it contributes to soil conservation and is home to a rich and diversified fauna and flora and offers the region a picturesque landscape. This precious and fragile forest capital is currently threatened under the effect of various pressures, mainly the browsing of young plants being reconstituted and vegetative competition regarding resources of the environment. Hence the interest in studying the intra and interspecific variability of the oak, this study is essentially based on the morphological and physiological comparison of the two species of oak, Quercus suber and Quercus canariensis with their cohabitation in the same area, this variability was carried out by multivariate biostatistical analyzes using a set of data including morphological traits, isotopic analysis of the leaves, water use efficiency, as well as the phenolic composition and antioxidant activities of the leaves extracts. The results showed that leaf morphology and water use efficiency are discriminating factors for differentiation to choose the right specie that will be used for reforestation. The Q. canariensis specie growing in the Bni Mtir region was characterized by a high intrinsic water-use efficiency and high biomass recovery. These results let us suppose that Q. canariensis was the perfect specie for reforestation given its ability to produce a large amount of biomass with less water, which is what environmentalists demand.


7, he influence of early childhood programs on the entire education community cannot be overstated. These programs have highlighted the important role that successful learning experiences at home and experiences in high-quality early childhood programs play in future academic success (Wesley & Buysse, 2003). Yet, many teachers assume that every child has the same or similar experiences prior to beginning school, thus creating a mindset in which students are considered either ready for school or deficient in some critical area of social, emotional, cognitive, or physical development. According to Carol Korn-Bursztyn (2004),


The ionic conductivity of lithium based solid polymer films prepared from poly (ethylene oxide) (PEO) and lithium hexafluoarsenate (LiAsF6) with varying compositions of plasticizers like dibutyl sebacate (DBS) and ethylene carbonate (EC) was measured by AC impedance method. Polymer film composition viz. (PEO)8LiAsF6-(DBS)0.4-(EC)0.1 has been evaluated as an optimum composition as evidenced from its high conductivity and freestanding ability. The high conductivity observed for the polymer electrolyte with this composition has been attributed to an enhanced amorphous character and a reduced energy barrier to the segmental motion of lithium ions in the matrix. The temperature dependence of conductivity on the polymer films, with and without plasticizers, appears to obey the Arrhenius law. However, the activation energy of the plasticized polymer film is 0.81 KJ/mol, a value considerably lower than 10 KJ/mol obtained for the unplasticized electrolyte, making the polymer to be a prospective candidate as lithium-ion conducting electrolyte for rechargeable lithium batteries.


Five new coordination polymers, {[Co2(μ-dmg)2(μ-p-tmbix)2]·H2On (1), [Co2(μ-dmg)2(μ-p-tmbix)2]n (2), [Zn2(μ-dmg)2(μ-p-tmbix)2]n (3), [Cd2(μ-dmg)2(μ-p-tmbix)2]n (4) and [Cd(μ-dmg)(μ-p-tmbix)]×H2O}n (5) were successfully synthesized by using H2dmg and p-tmbix ligands under hydrothermal conditions (p-tmbix = 1,4-bis(imidazol-1-ylmethyl)-2,3,5,6-tetramethylbenzene, H2dmg = 2,2-dimethylglutaric acid). Their structures were characterized by single crystal X-ray diffraction, elemental analyses, IR spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD). Single crystal X-ray diffraction analysis reveals that compounds 1-3 and 4 display 3D frameworks and 2D network, respectively, while compound 5 exhibits two-fold interpenetrated 3D structures with 66-dia topology. Furthermore, luminescence properties and thermal analysis (TG, DTA and DTA) of the complexes have been investigated.


This manuscript uses CO2 slicing method on thermal infrared spectra to retrieve cloud amount and cloud height and compared with data from other satellites. The study reports a reasonable practice though the idea is not novel. But as their results show, the manuscript does show an improvement to the CO2 slicing method with spectral data. This paper is well prepared and demonstrates an useful approach to an important, though old, research topic. The data and method applied are convincing. The presentation is clear and concise. This reviewer recommends this manuscript be published after minor revisions as suggested as follows


The invention relates to a drive device for a gripping device, wherein in a housing at least one electric motor and a plurality of gear units are arranged. The output member of the electric motor acts upon a lifting carriage that articulates the gripping elements, wherein between the gripping elements and the output member of the electric motor, at least one spring element is arranged. A first gearbox is a wheel gearbox. A second gearbox is a screw gearbox, the output-driving gear member of which is the lifting carriage. Between the output member of the electric motor and the lifting carriage, at least one elastically spring-mounted component is arranged, which in the event of a further rotation of at least one gear part after the electric motor was switched off exhausts the stroke thus generated. The invention relates to the development of a parallel gripping device, which at great clamping force, low installation space requirements, and long service life has, without pneumatic drive, a high level of dynamics.


Background: Nutrition programs in integrated service post was a part of health development which is a government program. The implementation of nutrition programs in integrated service post was used optimally by the public  indirectly able to overcome nutritional problems which occur recently in Indonesia. This research  have goals to identify factors that related to the use of nutririon programs in integrated service post by mother who have under five years old children. Method: This study was a descriptive analytic with cross sectional design. Sampling technique by proportional sampling with a total sample of 89 people. Data were collected through interviews using questionnaires The univariate and bivariate  used as the analysis to test chi-square. Result: variables that were statistically significantly associated with utilization of nutrition programs at integrated service post thatweres variable: age children (p-value=0,01,RP=3,53), knowledge (p-value=0,01, RP=3,49), the attitude (p-value=0,02, RP=3,07), the perception of (p-value=0,03, RP=2,84)  and the behavior of officers integrated service post (p-value=0,03, RP=2,85). Conclusion: Based on this study, needed increase the motivation and the quality of services from PHC staff at integrated service post activities, especially the efforts of health promotion (health education). Keywords: Utilization, Nutrition programs, Integrated service post


JPEG2000 standard provides many coding parameters that produce different compression performance. This paper analyzes the influence of coding parameters related to block coding on compression performance through experiments and provide some suggestions on how to choose these parameters.


This study aims to determine the effect of attitudes on behavior, perceived behavioral control, and subjective norms or to know perceptions and understandings and then develop into the intentions of Bengkulu city panoramic market traders in behaving using Islamic bank products. The sampling technique used is the theory of Hair obtained a sample of 230 respondents with the sampling technique used is accidental sampling. The analysis technique used Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the SmartPLS 3 tool. The results of this study indicate that the variables of attitude towards behavior, perceived behavioral control and subjective norms have a significant effect on intentions and intentions have a significant effect on the behavior of a trader at the Bengkulu city panorama market in behaving in using Islamic bank products.


Column loss is a type of damage that can occur in frame structures subjected to explosions or impacts. The response of such structures largely depends on the capacity of the assembly of elements and on the inertia effects due to the sudden nature of the phenomenon. Frame structures are able to develop various resisting mechanisms that prevent the collapse to progress. The assessment of the robustness often requires complex and detailed numerical modelling. For the preliminary design of a robust frame, simplified methods to assess the effectiveness of the redistribution of the loads after the removal of a member are welcome. In the present paper, an approach based on the idealisation of the damaged structure into a single degree-of-freedom system with an elastic-plastic compliance law is proposed. The output of the method is the dynamic response of a target point, which can serve for assessing the residual safety of the structure. Comparing the obtained results with the outputs of a more sophisticated FE (Finite Elements) analysis, a satisfying accuracy is found.


The structure of filament-wound composite is similar to that of unidirectional reinforcement materials. Therefore, two unique types of fracture appear in filament-wound composite under lateral load as in the case of unidirectional reinforcement materials. One of them is microscopic fracture which leads to a decrease in stiffness of filament-wound composite, and the other is macroscopic fracture due to interlamina delamination which causes large-scale dropping of lateral compressive load. Previously, the microscopic fracture had been investigated by using the elastic-plastic analysis.In this paper, the numerical model was improved in order to investigate the behaviours of both microscopic and macroscopic fracture.It was found that the numerical model considering the discontinuity of displacement at the node points and the Tresca's equivalent stress as the fracture criterion was in good agreement with the experiment results.


Future autonomous robots deployed in homes and workplaces must be able to competently ask for help when situations arise that fall outside of their knowledge or capabilities. When asking for help, these robots must provide enough information to solve the problem without giving overwhelming amounts of information. We present a novel algorithm that learns to predict how natural language utterances affect a classifier model of human task knowledge. We show how these predictions can be used to generate language that is both minimal and sufficiently communicative.


Geoffrey Hosking, a professor of Russian history at the University of London. clearly states his reason for writing Russiu and the Russians: A History in the first few pages of this impressive work. He criticizes western policymakers who believe that Russia can be ignored, and he argues that that attitude is based on ignorance of Russia and its history. The author of The First Socialist Soviet: A History of the Soviet Union ,from Within and Russia: People and Empire, Hosking asserts in his new book that his goal is to dispel this lack of knowledge and change that ~ iew. In his attempt to explore the ambi\,alence of the West toward Russia, Hosking also examines the ambivalence that Russians often express toward themselves and their own history. Hosking is remarkably successful in achieving his


Purpose Familial partial lipodystrophy type 3 (FPLD3) is an autosomal dominant disease. Patients typically present with loss of adipose tissue and metabolic complications. Here, we reported a Chinese FPLD3 patient with a novel PPARG gene mutation. Methods A 16-year-old female patient and her relatives were assessed by detailed clinical and biochemical examinations. Sequencing was performed by using the extracted DNA. Moreover, we identified FPLD3 patients from previous studies, and according to the protein region affected by the gene mutation. We divided the patients into the DNA-binding domain (DBD) group or the ligand-binding domain (LBD) group, and compared the clinical features between the two groups. Results We identified a novel gene mutation affecting the LBD of PPARγ c.929T > C (p.F310S). This mutation leads to the substitution of a phenylalanine by a serine. In our case, subcutaneous fat was significantly diminished in her face, hips and limbs. The patient was also presented with insulin resistance, diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, fatty liver, liver dysfunction, albuminuria and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. After literature review, a total of 58 FPLD3 patients were identified and we found no difference in clinical features between the DBD group and LBD group (all P > 0.05). Conclusions A Chinese FPLD3 patient with a novel PPARG gene mutation is described. Our case emphasized the importance of physical examination and genetic testing in young patients with severe metabolic syndromes.


The identification and management of tourism's actual and perceived social impacts in destination communities has recently received significant attention. Research has enhanced the understanding of these impacts and their incorporation into tourism policy. The contingent valuation (CV) method is presented as a technique for furthering this understanding and incorporation. By measuring selected social impacts in an economic metric, CV facilitates benefit-cost analysis of mitigation projects and contributes to integrated analysis of tourism's diverse impacts. Results from a CV application in Oregon (USA) communities indicate a mean annual household willingness-to-pay of $110 (policy model) to $186 (commodity model) to reduce tourism-related traffic congestion. Results for mitigation of noise and provision of lowincome housing are also presented.


Mathematical methods are developed to characterize the asymptotics of recurrent neural networks (RNN) as the number of hidden units, data samples in the sequence, hidden state updates, and training steps simultaneously grow to infinity. In the case of an RNN with a simplified weight matrix, we prove the convergence of the RNN to the solution of an infinite-dimensional ODE coupled with the fixed point of a random algebraic equation. The analysis requires addressing several challenges which are unique to RNNs. In typical mean-field applications (e.g., feedforward neural networks), discrete updates are of magnitude $\mathcal{O}(\frac{1}{N})$ and the number of updates is $\mathcal{O}(N)$. Therefore, the system can be represented as an Euler approximation of an appropriate ODE/PDE, which it will converge to as $N \rightarrow \infty$. However, the RNN hidden layer updates are $\mathcal{O}(1)$. Therefore, RNNs cannot be represented as a discretization of an ODE/PDE and standard mean-field techniques cannot be applied. Instead, we develop a fixed point analysis for the evolution of the RNN memory states, with convergence estimates in terms of the number of update steps and the number of hidden units. The RNN hidden layer is studied as a function in a Sobolev space, whose evolution is governed by the data sequence (a Markov chain), the parameter updates, and its dependence on the RNN hidden layer at the previous time step. Due to the strong correlation between updates, a Poisson equation must be used to bound the fluctuations of the RNN around its limit equation. These mathematical methods give rise to the neural tangent kernel (NTK) limits for RNNs trained on data sequences as the number of data samples and size of the neural network grow to infinity.


Multi-level inventory of tree structure which is composed of one campaign storage and multiple tactical warehouses is investigated.Based on the hypothesis that the ordering policy of campaign storage is equal quantity and equal interval or unequal quantity and equal interval respectively,the paper establishes optimization models and uses adaptive genetic algorithm to solve them.An example verifies the effectiveness of the algorithm.


Three related unknowns of major scientific interest concerning Mars are the size and the shape of the planet and the extent of surface topographic relief. Both local topographic relief and continental-scale topographic differences can be considered, along with the planetary ellipticity, as differences among the distances from the center of a planet to various points on the surface. The scientific value of determining the radius to a landed payload is discussed and a method for measuring the radius is suggested. By measuring the gravity field strength at the surface of the planet to an accuracy of 1 part in 104, it is possible to infer the radius to 1 km.


In order to investigate the propagation mechanism of Pi 2 in the magnetosphere, we analyzed a Pi 2 event, which occurred around 1019UT on January 24, 1997. This Pi 2 event was observed at six stations located from high-latitude to near-magnetic equatorial region along 210 magnetic meridian. This event occurred under geomagnetically quiet state (Kp=1- and Dst = -7nT). Ultra Violet Imager data obtained by the Polar satellite indicated that an auroral breakup occurred around 68 GMLAT and 22.5MLT slightly before the Pi 2 onset, and this event was accompanied by an isolated substorm event. Those ground stations were located in the dusk sector during the period of the event, and longitudinally separated away from the auroral region by more than two hours of MLT. The initial movements of the H component were synchronized at all the stations. However, some phase shifts occurred independently among stations until the end of the first quarter- to half-period of the Pi 2. After the phase shift was completed, those phase differences among stations were retained to the end of the event. It was numerically confirmed that the phase differences among the stations, which were located in the dusk sector, can be explained by the differences in the time-of-flights (TOFs) of MHD waves that propagated from an epicenter of Pi 2, which is expected to be located on the magnetic-equatorial plane, to the ground stations through individual paths. The epicenter is assumed as a point wave source, and the propagation path is assumed as follows: At first fast mode propagated from the epicenter to the equatorial crossing point of the magnetic line of force which was anchored to a ground station. Then Alfven mode wave was excited there, and it propagated from there to the ground station along the field line. On the other hand, it is assumed that the initial movements of the H component were caused by the MHD waves that propagated in the following way: For a low-latitude station, fast mode wave propagated directly from the epicenter to the ground station radially. For the mid- and high-latitude stations, at first fast mode wave propagated from the epicenter to a low-altitude region above a ground station. Then Alfven mode wave was excited there, and it propagated from there to the ground. It is estimated that the TOFs of these two paths were almost the same, thus the initial movements of the Pi 2 were observed concurrently. It is possible to discuss this event using the analogy to 'primary wave (P-wave)' and 'secondary wave (S-wave)' seen in seismic waves: The initial movement of the H component corresponds to the P-wave, and the successive part of the main oscillations of the H component corresponds to the S-wave. The present study reports for the first time the evidence of Primary- and Secondary magnetoseismic waves associated with a Pi 2 magnetic pulsation, which was observed in the dusk sector and away from the auroral occurrence region. The present event provides important information for better understanding of the propagation mechanism of Pi 2 in the magnetosphere, especially concerning the propagation path and the mode conversion process.


As the quickly expanding of the Web 2.0 concept , in this Web 2.0 trend, the service provided by the video Blog (vlog) which most important nature is based on user's demand, and it paid attention to user's experience and feelings, so the vlog is service-oriented platform . The vlog is most popular and rapid development of platform type. It provides higher information richness than the other types, so it needs more user experience. Therefore, how the vlog based on Web 2.0 concept through the experienced characteristics to upgrade user's intention is much public concerned issue. This study uses experienced points to explore user's intention of vlog , using participatory (including four constructs : information sharing, responsibility, platform interactive and community-ship) , immersion and absorbable (including two constructs : educational and Entertainment ) to measure the user's intention of vlog's users. In this study, the object of study is the Web 2.0 based vlog's users and adopts field experiments and purposive sampling to collect relevant data. This research adopted structural equation modeling (SEM) to analysis the collected data, and the software use Visual PLS 1.04 and SPSS 13.0 for Windows。 The results of this study found that : "the user's attitude" will be positive affected by "information sharing", "interactive platform" , "immersion", "educational" and "entertainment" ; "user's intention " will be positive affected by " user's attitude". The research results hope to provide the reference of how to build and design a vlog to Web 2.0 based vlog's service providers.


The aim of this study was to assess the effect of granulocyte colony‐stimulating factor (G‐CSF) on left ventricular (LV) function and volumes in patients with anterior ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and depressed LV ejection fraction (EF).


An improved portable gas chromatograph using a gas sensor as a detector was constructed and its efficiency was tested for the measurement of nitrogen-fixing activity. The ethylene was quantitatively determined by this gas chromatograph at the same sensitivity as that of a conventional gas chromatograph using a flame ionization detector, when the amount of ethylene injected was less than 1.5 nmol. The equipment was found to be handy and inexpensive, and suitable for the measurement of acetylene reduction activity in the field.


In this paper we survey on the existing work on some topics related with the propagation of waves and its discrete numerical approximations. We focus on the problem of observability arising in Control Theory but relevant also in other contexts like Optimal Design and Inverse Problems. The problem of observability consists, roughly, on analyzing whether the total energy of solutions may be estimated by means of partial measurements on a subset of the domain or of the boundary of the domain where waves propagate. Most of the paper is devoted to analyze the constant coefficient, scalar, linear wave equation. We show that most numerical schemes, due to high frequency spurious solutions for which the group velocity is not the one of the continuous wave equation, the property of observability may be lost under numerical discretizations when the mesh-size tends to zero. We then discuss some possible cures: Tychonoff regularization, multi-grid methods, mixed finite elements, numerical viscosity and filtering of high frequencies. As a consequence of the analysis we develop along the paper we conclude that controlling a numerical discretized model is not a guarantee of computing a good numerical approximation of the control of the continuous model. In other words, the classical convergence (consistency+stability) property of a numerical scheme does not suffice to guarantee its suitability to provide good approximations of the controls. We also briefly discuss the same topics for the heat and Schrodinger equations and we show that both diffusive and dispersive effects may help to keep the observability properties at the discrete level. We conclude by a list of open problems and future subjects of research.


One-dimensional nanoscale materials play a key role in nanotechnology, as well as provide model systems to explore new properties. Semiconductor nanowires grown by the vapor–liquid–solid (VLS) process are a natural choice to explore electronic and optoelectronic properties of 1D systems because of their high crystalline quality and because their diameters and length can be controlled during synthesis in a predictable manner. In VLS growth gaseous reactants drive nanowire growth from liquid metal catalyst nanodots, the size of which defines the diameter of the nanowires. [1–3] One aspect that is particularly desirable is the ability to nucleate and epitaxially grow nanowires at low temperatures on crystalline substrates. By nucleating epitaxial growth along a particularly crystallographic direction one can control the orientation of the nanowires relative to the substrate. Thus a better understanding of the connection between growth conditions and growth direction is of considerable practical interest. Using Si (111) substrates a number of recent investigations have demonstrated epitaxial growth of highly parallel vertical arrays of [111] oriented Si nanowires that formed the platform for achieving 1D vertical device structures such as vertical diode and FET arrays [4] However despite numerous studies there is still only limited understanding of the basic mechanisms that control nanowire nucleation and the resulting orientation dependence. [5–9] In the present work we introduce a plasma during silane-hydrogen VLS nanowire growth on Si (100) substrates and show that it has a significant effect on the nucleation of Au seeded Si nanowires. Plasma excitation strongly enhances the nucleation of [110] oriented nanowires, which are smaller in diameter compared to the [111] nano-wires. Growth rates are also enhanced, allowing the synthesis of [110] nanowires with diameters below


Objective:The study was designed to evaluate cataract extraction to help poor people to resume vision in the coteau. Methods : 2675 eyes with cataract were treated with modificatory modern extracapsular cataract extraction or non-phacoemulsification cataract extraction with small incision. Results: The first day of postoperation, the visual acuity with correction was 0.3 in 57 eyes(2.13%), 0.5 to 0.8 in 1829 eyes(68.37%), 50.9 in 509 eyes(19.03%).There were corneal edema in 71 cases (2.65%) , and vitreous hernia followed posterior capsular rupture in 87 cases (3.25%), and in the mean time all of the cases were implanted intraocular lens . Conclusion:It can be saved the money and material with modificatory cataract extraction,and more poor people can be received operation to resume vision, by the way the quality was kept well .


The authors present the results of measurements of the noise of open-loop and flux-locked DC SQUIDs (superconducting quantum interference devices) at frequencies from 100 kHz to 10/sup -4/ Hz. The SQUIDs studied in this work were low-1/f-noise devices. Measurements were made in DC magnetic fields of 2*10/sup -3/ G using conventional shielding and also in an ultralow magnetic field environment of 10/sup -7/ G using expanded superconducting foil shields and a feedback-controlled slow cooling technique. The open-loop results are consistent with the earlier work of C.D. Tesche (1985). Some of the runs in the moderate-background-field environment (those with reduced shielding) showed a metastable structure in which switching between the metastable states was stimulated by electromagnetic interference. A description of the apparatus used for obtaining the various noise measurements is provided. >


This paper presents the comparison of the BioRID Ⅱ and Hybrid Ⅲ in IIHS Rear Impacts FE Analysis. The Hybrid Ⅲ was developed in the early 1970s. Although it has primarily been used in frontal impact, it has also been used in rear, side and other type of impacts. The BioRID n was developed more recently and was intended specifically for use in low-severity rear impacts. We execute the IIHS rear impact FE Analysis of seat using the BioRID n and Hybrid Ⅲ. Therefore we compare to results each dummy. The FE Analysis is using the LS-DYNA explicit solver.


Abstract The study area is situated in the southern part of National Highway No. 1 in Gia Rai District(Bac Lieu Province) where farmers have traditionally practised rain-fed rice cultivation.However, in the last five years the high profits possible from shrimp production have led manyfarmers in the study area to convert their rice fields to shrimp production. This has occurred withlimited land use planning from government. In this study the suitability of land under differentfarming practices (in particular rice–shrimp farming) is assessed and recommendations are madefor land use planning. These recommendations incorporated government objectives and theneeds of local farmers. The study involved both soil and household surveys where a total of 249soil observation points were made and a total of 264 households were interviewed aboutsocioeconomic concerns. Land mapping units (LMU) were employed as a basis for the landevaluation. The land mapping units were identified on the basis of combinations of climatic, soiland hydrological characteristics — each of the 22 LMUs identified can be described in terms ofsoil type, rainfall, length of rainy period, maximum inundation depth, length of inundationperiod, tidal magnitude and present land use. The biophysical qualities of each LMU werecombined with information about the required land qualities of four key land use types (LUT)to provide insights for land use planning in the study region. The land use types included in thestudy were double rice cropping (LUT1), rice–shrimp (LUT2), improved–extensive shrimp(LUT3), and extensive shrimp (LUT4). The results showed that only LUT3 and LUT4 werehighly and moderately suitable for all LMUs, indicating that there is potential for fisherydevelopment in the study area. In several of the LMUs, however, LUT1 was found to be highlysuitable and LUT3 and LUT4 only moderately to marginally suitable. The results from theassessment of land suitability were used to evaluate three land-use planning scenarios. Thesescenarios were: 1. maximise rice area; 2. maximise shrimp area; 3. develop separate zones forintensive rice cultivation and shrimp-based systems prioritising rice–shrimp systems. The localgovernment objectives are most supportive of scenario 3; therefore, in this paper only the resultsfor this scenario are shown


Background : Addictive behaviors are common among young people and especially among students. Entry to university leads to a new way of life propelling students to meet different toxic products such as tobacco, alcohol and cannabis. Objectives: To determine the prevalence and dependence of psychoactive substance use among a group of nursing students and to deduce the factors associated with these behaviors. Methods : This is a cross-sectional study of a random sample of 500 students in a private nursing institute in the Tunisian center. This survey was based on an anonymous questionnaire containing socio-demographic characteristics, the Fagerström test to evaluate smoking dependence, the FACE test (Alcohol Attitude Formula by Interview) to detect alcoholic risk behavior and Cannabis Abuse Screening Test (CAST) to identify cannabis dependence. Results: A total of 455 students participated, representing a participation rate of 91 %. The mean age was 22.8 ± 2.6 years with a sex ratio of 1.05.


The resolution of remotely sensed data is becoming increasingly fine, and there are now many sources of data with a pixel size of 1 m×1 m. This produces huge amounts of data that have to be stored, processed and transmitted. For environmental applications this resolution possibly provides far more data than are needed: data overload. This poses the question: how much is too much? We have explored two resolutions of data—20 m pixel SPOT data and 1 m pixel Computerized Airborne Multispectral Imaging System (CAMIS) data from Fort A. P. Hill (Virginia, USA), using the variogram of geostatistics. For both we used the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Three scales of spatial variation were identified in both the SPOT and 1 m data: there was some overlap at the intermediate spatial scales of about 150 m and of 500 m–600 m. We sub‐sampled the 1 m data and scales of variation of about 30 m and of 300 m were identified consistently until the separation between pixel centroids was 15 m (or 1 in 225 pixels). At this stage, spatial scales of about 100 m and 600 m were described, which suggested that only now was there a real difference in the amount of spatial information available from an environmental perspective. These latter were similar spatial scales to those identified from the SPOT image. We have also analysed 1 m CAMIS data from Fort Story (Virginia, USA) for comparison and the outcome is similar. From these analyses it seems that a pixel size of 20 m is adequate for many environmental applications, and that if more detail is required the higher resolution data could be sub‐sampled to a 10 m separation between pixel centroids without any serious loss of information. This reduces significantly the amount of data that needs to be stored, transmitted and analysed and has important implications for data compression.


The present paper describes a case study on the effects of telecollaborative games on learners' motivation. 12 learners from a Dutch and a British secondary school participated in the study. Different games, which included gamification elements, were developed on OpenSim. The overall educational goals of the games were to enhance cultural awareness and intercultural communication of German as a foreign language. Three different cross-cultural groups played the telecollaborative games in two different sessions. Data from pre- and post-surveys were gathered for measuring the impact of telecollaborative games on learners' motivation. At the end of the game sessions, focus group discussions were organised for evaluating the experience. The results indicate that telecollaborative games have a positive impact on learners' motivation.


Michigan's former governor, John Engler, was naturally attracted to charter schools. He had seen for too long how school districts treated students as their property and the state as an endless funding source, and he wanted that to change. Engler saw the chartering strategy as a politically viable means for gaining leverage over school districts and other interests that he felt were not serious about improving education. He believed that chartering could foster choice and competition within public education. And, as in the business world, he hoped the creation of an education market-place would provide compelling incentives for schools to continuously improve or risk being put out of business. A key step in establishing a charter-school sector is identifying the institutions that can authorize would-be founders to create these new public schools and grant them charters. Authorizers are charged with evaluating charter applicants, awarding and overseeing charter contracts, assessing whether the school is improving student achievement and fulfilling the goals in its charter contract, renewing charter contracts for schools that perform, and closing schools that do not. Engler figured that for the chartering strategy to work in Michigan, he could not "just put authorizing in the hands of traditional school districts." He says, "The superintendents were far more defensive about and married to the status quo than anybody else we were dealing with ..." Just as it would be an inherent conflict to put McDonald's in charge of determining whether or not others should be allowed to open a new restaurant nearby, Engler reasoned that charter school authorizers should be outside the control of the traditional K-12 system. He designed Michigan's charter-school law to allow community colleges and the state's 15 public universities to authorize charter schools, along with school districts. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Engler signed Michigan's charter-school law into effect on January 14, 1994, and in August of that year, Central Michigan University (CMU) became the first university in the nation to authorize a charter school. Ironically, the same day CMU's board of trustees authorized its first three charter schools, a group spearheaded by the Michigan Education Association, called the Council of Organizations and Others for Education About Parochiaid, along with two members of the state board of education, filed a lawsuit challenging the law's constitutionality. Founded in 1892, CMU had a long history of preparing teachers and school administrators. Thus, its decision to authorize charter schools riled many of its alumni who were teaching in traditional public schools across the state. Some of them even notified the university that they would no longer donate to their alma mater because of the leadership role it was playing with charter schools. One now-infamous controversy arose when the superintendent of a school district in southeast Michigan wrote CMU's president notifying him that his district would no longer accept student teachers from CMU, hire CMU graduates, or recommend their high-school graduates attend CMU. W. Sidney Smith, who chaired CMU's board of trustees at the time, recalls that the president was out of town when the letter arrived. Not wanting to let the situation get out of hand, Smith says he "called a 'war room' together to strategize a response. We had over 200 CMU alumni attend the district's board meeting. They were wearing CMU colors and making it very clear that their children should be able to live, work, play and go to school wherever they choose and that the superintendent deserved to be reprimanded." The strategy worked, and the district and the superintendent soon recanted and apologized for the letter. This story illustrates the pressure that is brought to bear on those who disrupt the status quo and its existing arrangements, which is exactly what the chartering strategy is supposed to do. …


Hyperlocal e-commerce companies in India deliver food and groceries in around 20-40 minutes, and more recently, some companies focus on sub-ten-minute delivery targets. Such "instant" delivery platforms referred to as quick (q)-commerce onboard GPS locations of customer addresses along with their text addresses to enable Delivery Partners (DPs) navigate to the customer locations seamlessly. Inaccurate GPS locations lead to a breach of promises on delivery times for customers and order cancellations because the DPs may not be able to find the address easily or may not even navigate close to the actual address. As a first step towards correcting these inaccurate locations, in this work, we design a classifier to identify if the GPS location captured is incorrect using the text addresses. The classifier is trained in a self-supervised manner. We propose two strategies to generate the train set, one based on location perturbation using Gaussian noise and another based on swapping pairs of addresses in a dataset generated with accurate address locations. An ensemble of outputs of models trained on these two datasets give 84.5 % precision and 49 % recall in a large Indian city on our internal test set.


Software-Defined Real-Time Networking is an architecture for dynamic and incremental allocation of time-sensitive communication flows over embedded networks of various topologies and low-level properties. One of its major advantages is the ability to leverage the path redundancy provided by resilient (e.g. mesh) networks in order to recover from link or node failures through a flow reconfiguration process. However, it needs to be ensured that hard real-time packets will keep being delivered on time during this transient reconfiguration period. Anticipating every possible fault is very complex and can result in a waste of network resource. Our contribution combines optimized content-centric source routing in nominal mode with flexible and scalable destination-tag routing in transient recovery mode. We show the benefit of this approach in terms of flexibility and network resource utilization. We then detail our method for ensuring enforcement of real-time properties even during the transient reconfiguration period. Finally, we provide the necessary algorithms to extend the SDRN flow allocation and routing methods in order to implement this hybrid fault-tolerant extension.


Oxidation of primary, benzylic and secondary alcohols into their corresponding aldehydes and ketones with safe, inexpensive oxidants was achieved in good yields under mild conditions in the presence of catalytic amounts of 2.2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) radicals bearing perfluoroalkyl substituents. These "fluorous-tagged" TEMPOS were readily isolated from the reaction products by liquid-liquid or solid-phase extraction, considerably simplifying the purification step. Their recyclability was strongly influenced by the nature of the oxidizing system. The best results were obtained using either [bis(acetoxy)iodo]benzene (BAIB) or aqueous NaOCl as the primary oxidants. Fluorous TEMPO 10 could be reused up to six times in the BAIB oxidation of 1 -octanol with only minor loss of catalytic activity.


Serviceable functioning of radioelectronic equipment is determined by reliability parameters and achieved by the quality and efficiency of its operation system. The paper concentrates on problem solving of analysis and synthesis of algorithms for changepoint detection in the trend of changing the mean time between failures of radio equipment. In order to solve this problem, before and after deterioration of equipment technical condition an exponential models with different failure rates are used. The synthesis of the detection procedure is based on Neyman-Pearson criterion with a fixed sample size. The problem of analysis was solved analytically and by modelling based on the Monte-Carlo method. The simulation confirmed the correctness of theoretical calculations.


Hydrazine is advantageous for attitude control systems of satellites because it is space storable for long times and the developed thrusters are reliable for long term operations. Unfortunately hydrazine is very difficult to handle on ground due to its very high toxicity. Especially with regard to the REACH regulation of the European Community, which has passed some years ago, Hydrazine is on the candidate list of substances whose use could be limited in future. Thus strong research efforts have to be conducted today to find and to qualify alternative propellants, which have significantly simpler handling characteristics, are less toxic, environmentally benign and have similar or even better performance characteristics. One of the most promising candidates to replace hydrazine is the ADN based ionic liquid FLP-106, which is a monopropellant and has been developed by FOI. This monopropellant has a higher Isp in comparison to hydrazine and to LMP-103S which is currently used by the ECAPS company from Sweden. Also FLP-106 has a lower vapor pressure than LMP-103S.
Thrusters using ionic liquid propellants are working with heated catalysts to decompose the propellant. One of the main drawbacks of this design is the lack of cold-start capability. Additionally, the high combustion temperature is a concern, possibly requiring high-temperature alloys like Iridium/Rhenium.
FLP-106 consists of 64.6 % ADN (ammonium dinitramide), 23.9 % water and 11.5 % of a low volatile hydrocarbon fuel. In order to use simpler materials with lower melting points the combustion temperature of FLP-106 can be decreased by increasing the water content in the propellant. However, the increased water content will decrease the specific impulse and may also influence the ignition properties.


Expressways in India are vastly different from other roads of the country, as vehicles, such as bicycles, two-wheelers, three-wheelers and bullock carts, are not allowed in these roads and, additionally, there is no strict lane discipline. Nevertheless, there is not much research literature specific to these categories of roads. Hence, this work aims to model traffic flow on Indian Expressways and estimates its capacity using the micro-simulation model, VISSIM.


We propose a formal approach for adding fault detection to software. An assertion-based formalism is used to represent specifications and verify completeness and consistency. This specification is used to generate a flow graph, which is used to construct an exemplar-path tree. This representation is then used to generate an input set to exercise and verify the implementation. Previous software fault-tolerance (SFT) techniques emphasized algorithm-based fault tolerance (ABFT) which focused on detecting hardware faults that corrupted data structure contents. We propose a method that also detects hardware faults, which cause program flow errors. Our technique embeds two types of software checks. The first is based on the ABFT techniques described in the literature. The second type of check is used to detect faults that cause program flow errors. The exemplar-path tree provides information that can be used to predict a future program location, given the current location. During execution, program locations are recorded, along with expected locations, as determined from the exemplar-path tree. This information then is used to verify, that the future location is executed as expected. Hardware fault coverage has been estimated through experiments with the fault injection tool, SOFIT. Faults of differing durations were injected into memory, address bus, data bus, and CPU registers. The data presented, demonstrate the effectiveness of the method for detecting hardware faults.


Objective To investigate the effect of vaccinium myrtillus extract on improving the contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity of macular edema in diabetic retinopathy.Methods A total of 87 patients(87 eyes)with macular edema in non-proliferative diabetic retinopathy were selected and randomly divided into the experimental group(45 eyes)and control group(42 eyes).The vaccinium myrtillus extract were given to the patients in the experimental group,200 mg in each time for 3 months,the patients in the control group received no any drug related with visual acuity treatment.The contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity were detected by auto-contrast sensitivity examiner.The follow-up time of all patients was 3 months.Results There was no difference in preoperative normal index between the two groups.In the experimental group,the contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity in high frequency from 1.0° to 0.7°,moderate frequency from 2.5° to 1.6° and low frequency from 6.3° to 4.0° after treatment were higher than that before treatment,especially in the high and moderate frequency.But in the control group,the contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity in each frequency were all decreased.There was no difference of contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity in each frequency before and after treatment between and two groups.After the following up,the contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity in the experimental group were higher than that in the control group.The best corrected visual acuity in the experimental group was 0.42±0.09 at 3 months after treatment was better than 0.39±0.29 in the control group,but there was no difference before and after treatment in the experimental group or between and two groups.There was no obvious change in retinal thickness of two groups after treatment.Conclusion Vaccinium myrtillus can obviously improve the contrast sensitivity and glare sensitivity of patients with macular edema in diabetic retinopathy.


With the rapid development of information technology, China's new retail market is increasingly prosperous, and the requirements for modern logistics are also higher and higher. There is a close relationship between new retail and modern logistics. They influence each other and prosper together. However, there are insurmountable problems between modern logistics and new retail. Compared with new retail, the development of modern logistics is slow, which restricts the development of new retail. The synergy between the two is weak, especially when the output value of new retail increases in a short period of time. Therefore, the deep integration of modern logistics and new retail is not only an inevitable requirement to enhance the competitiveness of new retail industry, but also an important breakthrough to promote the development of modern logistics


Gender and sexualities used in construction of moral panic in ultraconservative political speeches in Brazil The discourse of Brazilian political and religious leaders regarding gender and sexualities contributed to bring moral panic to society, leading it to reproduce these discourses. The aim of this paper is to analyze, based on the theoretical contribution of Foucault's archeo-genealogy, how theses discourses are reproduced. The addressed categories are discourse/power/truth and normatization. With a qualitative approach, YouTube videos with statements of Brazilian religious political leaders were analyzed. Anchored in Discourse Analysis, from the categories: Who speaks? Where are you talking from? What effects of * Grupo de Pesquisa em Humanidades e Sociedade Contemporânea. Instituto Federal de Educação, Ciência e Tecnologia de Mato Grosso (IFMT), Brasil. Endereço postal: Av. Sen. Filinto Müller, 953 – Quilombo, Cuiabá – MT, 78043-400, Brasil. Endereço eletrónico: firstname.lastname@example.com ORCID: https//orcid.org/0000-0002-5094-235X ** Endereço eletrónico: email@example.com ORCID: https//orcid.org/0000-0002-0021-5437 *** Endereço eletrónico: firstname.lastname@example.com ORCID: https//orcid.org/0000-0003-1038-7387 **** Endereço eletrónico: email@example.com ORCID: https//orcid.org/0000-0002-2233-3100 ***** Endereço eletrónico: firstname.lastname@example.com ORCID: https//orcid.org./0000-0002-0118-023X ****** Endereço eletrónico: email@example.com ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0280-1322 28 Cleide Ester de Oliveira, Nadir de Fátima B. Bittencourt, Veralúcia G. de Souza, Paulo Sesar Pimentel, Kátia Terezinha P. Ormond, Isabel Cristina Silva ex æquo, n.o 41, pp. 27-44. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22355/exaequo.2020.41.02 meaning do they generate? we can notice that the subjects are crossed by moral, religious and pseudoscientific discourses that support heteronormativity and the groups that do not fit this pattern are excluded.


The utility model relates to a single tenon shackle floor, and is characterized in that a female tenon, a male tenon, a female shackle, and a male shackle are respectively arranged on two ends of the floor, the female tenon is tenon-connected with the male tenon, the female shackle is locked with the male shackle, a ramp is respectively arranged on the upper end of the female tenon and the lower end of the male tenon, when the floors are tiled, firstly, one end of the female tenon is tiled, and then one end of the male tenon is upwardly inclined to be inserted into the end of the female tenon, and the bond is completed by downward pressure. The utility model has the advantages that the nails and glue are not needed when in tiling, the interfaces are fastened, the floors are good in entire compression and dilatation and planeness, the slits are not easy to be found, and the finishing cost is lowered.


This paper studies the effect of a target-based performance evaluation system for high-level bureaucrats in China. In 2006, the Chinese central government made sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions cuts a main performance evaluation criterion for prefectural city mayors and party secretaries. Using a difference-in-difference framework, we compare emissions reductions in the so-called Two Control Zone cities, where more stringent emissions quotas were imposed, with reductions in non-control cities. Our results suggest that the target-based evaluation system is effective in achieving the targeted policy output. Adding the emission cuts into local bureaucrats' performance evaluations significantly reduces actual SO2 emissions. By exploring a rich set of official characteristics, we further analyze the channels through which the policy operates. We show that the target-based evaluation system changes bureaucrats' behavior and induces them to exert more effort on controlling environmental pollution. ∗firstname.lastname@example.com †firstname.lastname@example.com ‡firstname.lastname@example.com


This article examines contemporary artwork in South Africa in orderto understand its role within the larger process of transitional justice taking place in the country. How has contemporary art contributed to and/or shaped the construction of a 'collective memory' about Apartheid? How has this art interacted with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC)? The author argues that South African artists have played a significant role in the overall social transformation of the country, undertaking projects which continue to negotiate the legacies of Apartheid.


In order to fully realise the benefits of microscale mammalian cell culture and microbial fermentation systems, a device capable of online sample preparation to enable further investigation of product quality is a key requirement. The aim of this work is to move toward such a device by designing and characterising a microfluidic lysis device and microaffinity chromatography device that are compatible with each other. The resulting microfluidic lysis device is useful for preparatory lysis of microbial cells. It works by mixing a lysis reagent (BugBuster MastermixTM), with microbial culture, using a T-Piece connection. Lysis takes place in a 700µm internal diameter fused silica capillary. The device was able to successfully lyse microbial cells with similar active Glutathione S Transferase release to sonication. The operating flowrate range of the device was 3.207µL min-1 to 6.414 µL min-1 and the device volume was 30µL - 60µL. The microaffinity chromatography column performed well in studies with pure Glutathione S Transferase. It showed good loading and elution behaviour. The breakthrough and elution curves, and quantity of protein eluted per unit bed volume, were similar to lab scale. The difference being as a result of experimental error. The column also performed well with a 100% clarified Escherichia coli lysate containing recombinant Glutathione S Transferase from Schistosoma japonicum. The eluate had a purity of 55% and concentration of 2.24 mg/ml. The column was fabricated from inexpensive fused silica capillary. It had an internal diameter of 700µm, a length of 5cm (the same length as a typical lab scale Glutathione Affinity column), and a bed volume of approximately 19µL. The operating flowrate range for the column was the same as the microlysis device.


For three-phase (macro)emulsions formed by the top (T), middle (M), and bottom (B) phases of amphiphile/oil/water systems, it has been variously stated in the literature either (1) that the continuous phase is always M or (2) that the continuous phase is B below the phase inversion temperature (PIT) and T above the PIT. We show by means of isothermal electrical conductivity measurements at various temperatures on emulsions of known phase volume fractions that neither hypothesis is generally correct. For our experimental conditions the [open quotes]choice[close quotes] of continuous phase depends on the phase volume fractions, and at all temperatures - by appropriate choice of phase volume fractions - any of T, M, or B may be made the continuous phase. 21 refs., 6 figs.