There is a significant rise in interest in Gifted Education nationally. Recent federal legislation, increasing demand for teachers of gifted, and more theoretically-based research are encouraging developments. Prospects are bright that schools will be developing and expanding their programs to serve these exceptional children. What, then, are the needs of teachers in rural schools in the area of gifted education? A survey of selected teachers of gifted children and facilitators of gifted programs in rural schools showed a tremendous need for instructional services in all areas of gifted education. Fifty-three professionals in a midwestern state were included in this study. They were regular class teachers of identified gifted elementary and secondary students, facilitators and consultants of programs in local school systems, and resource and special class teachers of gifted children. These educators were from rural districts (K-12 schools with less than twelve teachers) and rural communities (high schools with less than forty teachers in cities whose populations are under 20,000). The participants were enrolled in college courses in gifted education, offered both oncampus and off-campus during the Spring and Summer of 1978. Only those members of the class who volunteered and consented to complete the instrument were included in the data collection. A needs assessment instrument, based upon a number of nonstandardized techniques utilized to collect data on teacher awareness and competencies, was designed and administered. A brief, informal interview with the participants to clarify responses was conducted in the Fall of 1978. Results of the survey are presented in Table No. I. Instructional services perceived as being needed the most by at least three-fourths of rural educators included in this survey are as follows: (1) knowledge of the needs and problems of gifted/ talented children (i.e., the nature of giftedness), 81.1%; (2) competencies in the use of formal and informal identification instruments, 77.4% ; (3) the preparation of curriculum materials and activities, 79.2%; (4) the evaluation of teaching skills and the


1. Microfluidic device for detecting the presence of one or more analytes in a saliva sample, comprising: (A) one or more pre-treatment regions comprising a molecule for specific or nonspecific removal of at least part of the fraction of mucin in the saliva sample interfering detecting one or more analytes; and! (B) detection area which includes the surface of the biosensor, comprising: - molecules capable of specifically binding one or more analytes; or ! - one or more analytes and / or molecules structurally related to the analyte and binding the analyte-specific probes. ! 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more pre-treatment regions are included in one or more separate chambers containing magnetizable particles coated with a molecule capable of specifically or non-specifically bind to mucin in the saliva sample interfering detecting one or more analytes. ! 3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein one or more pre-treatment regions comprise a surface which comprises a molecule capable of specifically or non-specifically bind to mucin in the saliva sample interfering detecting one or more analytes. ! 4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein the surface is porous. ! 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the surface pore structure is obtained by sintering. ! 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the molecule binding to components in the saliva sample, preventing detection of one or more analytes is hydroxyapatite. ! 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the antibody is an antibody against mucin. ! 8. The apparatus of claim 1, which additional dome


A SPICE circuit model for the evaluation of the effects of the bulk current injection test on coaxial shielded cables is developed. The proposed equivalent circuits do not need the usual subdivision of the circuits in elementary cells, it is valid in both frequency and time domain and is based on the exact solution of the equations stemming from a lossless transmission line model. The intermediate and final results are validated by means of comparison with others, evaluated by independent methods.


The utility model discloses a numerical control feeding platform which comprises a frame. The frame is slidably connected with a lower supporting frame driven by a longitudinal power mechanism to longitudinally slide along the frame, the lower supporting frame comprises two longitudinal edge frames and a plurality of transverse supporting rods connected between the two edge frames, the supporting rods are uniformly arranged at intervals, a supporting pallet driven by a transverse power device to transversely move along the frame is slidably connected between the two edge frames, a plurality of longitudinally spaced plate grips are mounted on the supporting pallet, nips of the plate grips are higher than the upper surfaces of the supporting rods, each plate grip is positioned between the two corresponding adjacent supporting rods, a plurality of transversely spaced circular holes are formed in the upper surface of each supporting rod, the bottoms of the supporting rods are connected with supporting bowls corresponding to the circular holes, freely rotating balls are placed in the supporting bowls, and the outer surfaces of the balls are exposed to the circular holes. Plates can be rapidly and two-dimensionally positioned and shifted, and the numerical control feeding platform has the advantages of high feeding efficiency and feeding accuracy.


PARATIJBERCULOSIS is a condition met with in certain species of the lower animals only, and is not, as far as our knowledge stands at present, communicable to man. Paratuberculosis, or Johne's disease, as it is more commonly called in this country, is essentially a bovine condition, but it has also been recorded in deer, sheep, swine, and goats. It has not, so far, been detected in the horse, and no one has yet succeeded in transmitting it to any of the small laboratory animals. Boquet (1925), some years ago, attempted its passage into white rats, but after a lengthy incubation period during which time none of his rats exhibited symptoms which might have been interpreted as those of experimental Johne's disease, his rats were killed and the post-mortem examination revealed no gross lesions other than a few pin-head areas in the omentum. I have repeated this experiment, and although my rats lived for two years, the post-mortem examination was identical with that described by Boquet and grosser lesions were not observed. The small pin-head areas seen in the omentum, but not elsewhere, were calcareous in character, and when finely ground in an agate mortar and examined microscopically, were seen to contain countless numbers of acid-fast organisms identical with those associated with Johne's disease. The bovine disease.-The naturally occurring disease in cattle is more or less general throughout the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Holland, and Italy. It has also been seen in New Zealand and Australia. In India it is also not unknown and personal reports of cases have reached me from South Africa. The advanced clinical case is recognized by the progressive wasting of the patient accompanied by a persistent diarrhcea which it is almost impossible to check by therapeutic means. Emaciation becomes a feature and eventually the animal is unable to rise from the recumbent position.


Unhappy with the censorship of his treatises in 1778, Gothold Ephraim Lessing decided to choose another medium. In writing Nathan, he wanted to mount his old pulpit, the stage. this was more than a clever excuse, since there was indeed a sort of enlightened parish which was used to hearing Lessing as a prophetic preacher: the Remarian cicle in Hamburg. Lessing saw his Nathan as a kind of sermon which had a persuasive story and did not try to convince with rational arguments. His view of theater as a place for preaching seems to have been inspired by his intense occupation with the Reformation poet Hans Sachs at that time. Combined with some explicit theological statements, this shows that Lessing could regard himself as the legitimate heir of the Reformtion.


This paper presents an expedite methodology to make community noise field measurements To make field measurements (LAeq or LA50 related to the "day", or "night" period) in a vast number of points and using large periods of sampling in every location, is a very large time consuming task. Therefore it would be very useful, in alternative, to know at what time during the day or night the measurements should be done but using a short time interval to achieve similar results as the ones found by long and regular measurements procedures. Following a large campaign of field measurements near the town of Porto (Portugal) the presented results show the time periods and measurements durations found for this speedy methodology that is based in the concept of "acoustic scenarios" also explained in the paper.


Videoconferencing provides an alternative means to actual face‐to‐face contact of 'transporting' business information. This paper develops a simple economic model to examine the comparative costs of using videoconferencing as opposed to making journeys for face‐to‐face meetings. It explores, looking at developments in both the United Kingdom and Switzerland, the actual use of videoconferencing to‐date and the factors influencing its adoption. In particular, it looks at the nature of substitutability and complementarity of videoconferencing and travel focusing on the importance of influences such as the nature of the firms involved and their internal managerial structure. There is, finally, a consideration of longer term influences on the up‐take of such telecommunications technology.


may begin at puberty, and in which the great point is usually the hypertrophy or enlargement of the muscles. The muscles most commonly affected are those of the calf, the extensors of the knee, and the glutei. Certain muscles in the upper extremity are also affected. Sometimes atrophy occurs without preceding hypertrophy. (2) The juvenile form described by Erb, in which the onset is about puberty, or from puberty to 20 years of age. As a rule there is no hypertrophy in this disease, and the muscles which are atrophied are different from


Sarcomatoid sweat gland carcinomas are rare among cutaneous cancers, with less than 20 cases described. A 54‐year‐old woman with sarcomatoid sweat gland carcinoma of the right upper extremity suffered extensive recurrence at 15 months, unresponsive to chemotherapy. There is no standard treatment or chemotherapy regimens for metastatic sweat gland carcinoma.


Abstract : The problem in this research is the low students achievement on social studies IVB grade students of SDN 4 Pekanbaru with average 68,47 and clasical completeness 42,86% within Minimum Criteria Completeness (KKM) stipulated by schools is 75. The study is in the form of classroom action research (PTK) which aims to improve students achievement on social studies IVB SDN 4 Pekanbaru with the application of the approach Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL). After applied the approach Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) increased student learning outcomes in UAS I with an average 70.71 with a large increase from basic score 3.27% with classical completeness amounted to 66.67% (not completed) the average UAS II was 81.90 with a large increase from basic score of 19.61% with classical completeness 85.72% (completed). The average percentage of the activity of teachers in the first cycle of the first meeting is 56.25% with sufficient category and then increased by 12.5% in the second meeting be 68.75% with the good category. At the second cycle of the first meeting the average percentage of the activity of teachers increased by 6.25% to 75% with the good category and at the second meeting increased by 12.5% to 87.5% with very good category. Besides the activity of students in the first cycle the first meeting with the average percentage was 56.25% with sufficient category increased by 6.25% in the second meeting to 62.5% with the good category. At the second cycle of the first meeting the average percentage of the activity of students increased by 12.5% to 75% with the good category and at the second meeting increased by 12.5% to 87.5% with very good category. Based on these results it can be concluded that the application of the approach of Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL) can improve learning outcomes social studies IVB grade students of SDN 4 Pekanbaru. Key words: Contextual Teaching and Learning (CTL), Students Achievement the Result Of Social Studies


An oncogene is a gene that has the potential to cause cancer. In tumor cells, these genes are often mutated, or expressed at high levels. Most normal cells will undergo a programmed form of rapid cell death (apoptosis) when critical functions are altered and malfunctioning. Activated oncogenes can cause those cells designated for apoptosis to survive and proliferate instead. Most oncogenes began as proto-oncogenes: normal genes involved in cell growth and proliferation or inhibition of apoptosis. If, through mutation, normal genes promoting cellular growth are up-regulated (gain-of-function mutation), they will predispose the cell to cancer; thus, they are termed "oncogenes".


Objective: To explore the effective method to identify mental disorder among the Chinese rural youth suicides. Methods: A total of 392 suicide cases aged 15- 34 years w ere collected betw een 2005 and 2008 from 16 rural counties of three provinces( Liaoning,Hunan,and Shandong) in China. Tw o informants w ere interview ed for each of the suicides w ith the psychological autopsy method to assess the life before the suicide. The results of the retrospective diagnose w ith the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders( SCID-I) w ere compared w ith the detailed reports of suicide provided by the informants. Results: Informants of 379 suicides provided detailed process of suicide. The positive retrospective diagnosis rate of suicide mental disorder identified by SCID w as higher than the recognition rates claimed by informants [48. 0%( 188 /392) vs. 21. 9 %( 86( /392),P 0. 001]. The recognition rates of mental symptom by the informants w ere higher than that of mental disorder [ 48. 2%( 189 /392) vs. 21. 9%( 86 /392),P 0. 001]. Conclusion: The retrospective diagnose w ith the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders( SCID-I) may be effective to detect mental disorder among the Chinese rural youths. It is found that detecting the mental symptom may be easier than detecting mental disorder for informants.


Millimeter-wave circuit design is extremely complex and time-consuming. One of the reasons is the dependence on electromagnetic simulators used to accurately predict the performance of the high amount of passive structures that compose such circuits. Also, achieving optimal performances is not trivial in the millimeter-wave regime. Although synthesis methodologies can aid the designer to achieve optimal circuit performances, the usage of electromagnetic simulators is prohibitive in such methodologies due to efficiency issues. In this work, a new synthesis methodology is presented where the accuracy of electromagnetic simulations can be included without losing efficiency.


Objective To optimize extraction process condition for total flavonoids in Xinhui dry orange peel.Methods On the basis of the single experimental factor,the optimized extraction condition on the basis of total flavonoids were determined by orthogonal design.Results The order of factors which affected the total flavonoids' extraction was: solvent quantityextraction temperatureextraction duration;The optimum extraction conditions are extraction once with 60% ethanol,solvent ratio 1∶25 at 70 ℃ for 3 hours in water bath.Conclusion The method is simple,convenient,and accurate.


An increase in Type II diabetes in Tamil Nadu state in India This research study aims to analyse the impact of Physioball exercises on glycemic control and quality of life among male Type II diabetic patients. Experimental with a sample size of 100 male Type II diabetic randomly allotted in two groups at Sree Balaji College of Physiotherapy, Chennai – 600 100 from October 2012 to December 2012. Experimental group have performed specific exercises using Physioball, while all the subjects have continued diabetic Medication pre and post HbbA1C and quality of questionere were analysed after 12 weeks completion. Indicated 6% decrease in mean HbA1C and improved quality of life by 13% among subjects who have done exercises using Physioball


Single crystals of RbMnCl3 and CsMnCl3 were prepared from the melt. Their optical spectroscopic properties were studied by absorption, luminescence and excitation spectroscopy. The focus was on the 6A1 to or from 4T1(G) transitions. Sharp fine structure was observed in the overlap region of the luminescence and excitation spectra by high-resolution dye laser spectroscopy. The fine structure is rationalised and correlated with the magnetic and energy transfer properties of the compounds.


It is no secret that these days many instructors in institutions of higher learning who are unhappy with what is going on in the sphere of state-run education are attempting to solve their problems on their own, in particular by organizing their own, fundamentally new, educational institutions. And we ourselves have succumbed to this temptation; in the past we were permanent staff associate professors at the Astrakhan' Higher Educational Institution of the Fishing Industry, which is rather "venerable."


Real time 3D echocardiography (RT3DE) has been applied for the assessment of left atrial (LA) function in patients with adult heart disease; however, LA function is not well known in children. We aimed at determining the normal range of LA volume (LAV) using RT3DE and the feasibility and reproducibility of this method in healthy subjects and at elucidating the developmental changes in the LAV with aging.


Leary, M. R. (1983). A brief version of the Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 9, 371–375. Moroi, K. (1991). Dimensions of the revised UCLA Loneliness Scale. Studies in Humanities: Annual reports of Departments of Sociology and Humanities, 42, 23–51. (In Japanese) Sasagawa, S., Kanai, Y., Muranaka, Y., Suzuki, S., Shimada, H., & Sakano, Y. (2004). Development of a Short Fear of Negative Evaluation Scale for Japanese using item response theory. Japanese Journal of Behavior erapy, 30, 87–98. (In Japanese with English abstract) Shima, S., Shikano, T., Kitamura, T., & Asai, M. (1985). New self-rating scales for depression. Clinical Psychiatry, 27, 717–723. (In Japanese) Smith, R. E., & Campbell, A. L. (1973). Social anxiety and strain toward symmetry in dyadic attraction. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 28, 101–107. Taniguchi, H. (2013a). Individual differences in the effects of interpersonal stress coping, Bulletin of Faculty of Education, Nagasaki University: Educational Science, 77, 51–57. (In Japanese with English abstract) Taniguchi, H. (2013b). Individual differences in the effects of interpersonal stress coping among elementary, junior high, and senior high school students. Bulletin of Center for Education Research and Training, 12, 97–105. (In Japanese with English abstract) Taniguchi, H. (2014). Individual differences in the effects of interpersonal stress coping: Focusing on interpersonal intolerance of ambiguity. Bulletin of Faculty of Education, Nagasaki University: Educational Science, 78, 67–72. (In Japanese with English abstract) Taniguchi, H. (2017). Individual differences in the effects of interpersonal stress coping: Focusing on independent and interdependent view of self. Bulletin of Center for Education Research and Training, 16, 130–136. (In Japanese with English abstract) Tomono, T. (2010). The relationships among interpersonal intolerance of ambiguity, dispositional interpersonal stress coping, and mental health. Japanese Journal of Social Psychology, 25, 221–226. (In Japanese with English abstract) Tomono, T., & Hashimoto, T. (2005). Development of revised interpersonal intolerance of ambiguity scale. Japanese Journal of Personality, 13, 220–230. (In Japanese with English abstract) Watson, D., & Friend, R. (1969). Measurement of socialevaluative anxiety. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 33, 448–457. ―2017.11.20受稿,2018.5.8受理― Individual Di erences in the E ects of Interpersonal Stress Coping: Focusing on Fear of Negative Evaluation


P.Munoz 1 , J. Ruiz-Hervias 1 , J.A. Porro 2 and J.L. Ocana2 1 Departamento de Ciencia de Materiales, UPM, Madrid, Spain 2 Centro Laser UPM. Universidad Politecnica de Madrid, Spain Laser Shock Processing (LSP) is employed to produce compressive residual stresses in the subsurface region of the material by using high-intensity laser impulses to increase the durability of machinery or structural components subjected to fatigue or stress corrosion cracking. By using this technique it is intended to increase the maximum depth at which compressive residual stresses are present in the material with respect to the values obtained with traditional shot peening. In addition, as the supplied energy can be accurately controlled, it is expected that the repeatability of the residual stress field would be improved. However, sometimes tensile residual stresses have been found at the surface of LSP samples. Consequently, it is important to understand the generation of residual stresses during LSP in order to explain this behavior. In this work, residual stresses were measured by X-ray diffraction both at the surface and at the subsurface region (using electro-polishing up to 400 micron depth) of several metallic materials subjected to LSP. The effect of the pulse density on the residual stress field is discussed for all tested materials.


This thesis studies the work of artist Běla Kolářová in the context of gender. This aspect of her work has not been fully analysed yet. Although often being associated with the socalled 'female essence', Kolářová's work is very diverse in terms of style and content. While she works predominantly with everyday objects which have traditionally been connected to women's activities such as sewing, cooking or applying make-up, she also uses tools as well as gender neutral objects in her material assemblages. This thesis deals with the diverse nature of Kolářová's work and argues against the one-dimensional view that her work only addresses an antiquated image of feminine character


Prior work towards the subject of higher-dimensional categories gives rise to several examples of a category over Cat to which the slice-category construction can be lifted universally. The present paper starts by supplying this last clause with a precise meaning. It goes on to establish for any such category a certain embedding in a presheaf category, to describe the image, and hence to derive conditions collectively sufficient for that functor to be an equivalence. These conditions are met in the foremost of the examples: the category of dendrotopic sets.


Recycling carbon dioxide (CO2) into chemicals or fuels presents a promising avenue for mitigating carbon emissions and addressing the energy crisis. Plants serve as the ideal platform for the production of materials and chemicals, thanks to their innate capacity to directly use CO2 in the synthesis of various organic compounds. While conventional methods for enhancing plant CO2 fixation may reach their limits, novel technological solutions are imperative. Synthetic biology has illuminated the potential for biosynthesising multiple carbon sources through artificial CO2 fixation pathways in vitro. Recent breakthroughs in photorespiratory bypasses and artificial carboxylation modules offer significant promise for engineering plants to improve carbon fixation, guiding the design and development of plants with more efficient CO2 utilisation. In this context, we begin by summarising recent progress in designing or engineering in vitro CO2 fixation pathways, as well as those solely established in microbes. Subsequently, we delineate strategies employed to enhance CO2 fixation in plants. Finally, we explore potential methods for introducing artificial CO2 fixation pathways into plants. These advancements are critical in advancing synthetic biology's efforts to tackle future challenges related to food and energy scarcity.


(1) Carcass quality covers the total lean meat content and the distribution of fat and lean meat in carcasses and cuts. The carcass geometry expressed as the weight, dimensions and shape of the major cuts is also a feature of carcass quality. The increasing importance of carcass quality and consumer awareness of the nutritional and health aspects of eating a diet containing less fat have influenced the market greatly. (2) Meat quality includes the sensoric, technological and nutritional properties of muscles and fat. Absence of deviating meat quality characteristics such as pale, soft and exudative (PSE) or dark, firm, dry (DFD) muscle structure are important for yield, appearance and eating quality. The composition and colour offat (the fatty acid composition) are also aspects of meat quality. Sexually controlled offodour which can be found during heating of meat from some male pig carcasses also plays a role and is discussed in more detail later in this chapter. (3) Hygienic quality covers wholesomeness and safety aspects, particularly contamination with pathogens and the potential presence of unwanted chemical residues such as antibiotics, sulfonamides and other drugs, pesticides, heavy metals and mycotoxins. The influence of bacteria on shelf-life is also an important factor. (4) Ethical quality aspects are currently subject to an increasing emphasis by consumers and by the media. This deals with aspects that normally cannot be measured in carcasses or finished products and therefore require a tight control of the complete process from conception to consumption. Environmental factors in animal production and animal welfare can influence consumers in their choice of food.


The R&D of a high current proton RFQ is one of the most important research tasks of the Accelerator Driven Sub-critical system (ADS) basic research project. In preliminary research phase, the 352.2MHz RF system will be operated in pulse mode. CERN kindly provided IHEP with some RF equipment. Because the given RF system was used for CW operation at CERN before, to apply them to our pulse mode operation, some modifications and improvements are necessary. We have made some indispensable assemblies, and also did some tests and commissioning of every sub-system. At present, the initial high power conditioning of the klystron is carried out. A description of RF power system is given, in particularly, the performance of HV power supply, thyratron crowbar and capacitors, hard tube modulator and its control electronics, and klystron power conditioning are presented.


Twenty five patients with idiopathic scoliosis were treated by corrective cast. The localizer cast was applied to the twenty patients and the E.D.F, cast was applied to the five patients. The Cotrel traction was performed for two weeks in all cases prior to casting. Mean corrective rate was about 30 % in the patients with curve less than 50 degrees. Good correction of the curve and rib hump was obtained in the cases with younger bone age and the Harrington factor below six. Five cases suffered from pressure sore during the cast treatment which was most important complication of the treatment.


Selective detection of specific DNA sequences is increasingly getting momentum in clinical diagnosis, pathology, genetics [1–3] and food analysis [4, 5]. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is a commonly used technique to amplify specific sequence segment in nearly all DNA-based assays [3]. The use of PCR addresses both the sensitivity issues and sample purification steps producing a large quantity DNA from as little as single copy. However, post- PCR analysis of PCR amplified DNA involves complex and time consuming electrophoresis, blot analysis or sequencing [3].


Redo cardiac surgery through median sternotomy still represents a challenging procedure due to the high risk of graft injuries, the presence of dense adhesions and complex valve exposure. The use of a minithoracotomy approach may reduce the surgical complexity. We report our experience performing redo mitral valve surgery through a right–sided mini–thoracotomy.

 From march 2010 to May 2022, 58 patients (Median age 68 years (IQR 56–76) and 41.4% females) underwent redo mitral valve surgery through right anterior thoracotomy at our institution. Median EuroSCORE II was 3.83 (IQR 2.54–7.28).

 The median time from the original operation to redo surgery was 6.1 (1.0–10.3) years. First surgery was mitral repair in 60% of patients, mitral valve replacement in 15%, Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in 12% and Aortic valve Replacement in nearly 9% of our population. Four patients (6.9%) were affected by active endocarditis at the time of surgery. Median cardiopulmonary bypass and cross–clamp times were 120 (IQR 80–148) minutes and 81 (IQR 59.5–114) minutes, respectively. No conversion to full sternotomy was necessary. Twenty–eight patients (48.3%) required transfusions with packed blood cells. Post–operative atrial fibrillation was observed in 6 patients (10.3%) and 7 patient (12.1%) required Pace–maker implantation due to third degree AV block. Moreover, we observed 1 rethoracotomy for bleeding (1.7%). One patient (1.7%) required re–intubation, dialysis and Extracorporeal Life Support, for a septic shock that finally caused exitus. Median ventilation time was 7 hours (IQR 4–13). Median ICU and in–hospital length of stay were 2 (IQR 2–3) days and 10 (IQR 8–15) days respectively. In–hospital and 30–days mortality was 1.7%.

 In our experience, a minimally invasive approach through right thoracotomy for redo mitral valve procedures is safe and feasible, with acceptable CPB and Cross–clamp times and good in–hospital outcomes. Therefore, it can be an attractive option for patients with previous cardiac surgery, above all for patients with patent grafts. Further studies are needed with a bigger population and a comparison to full sternotomy results.


The tea industry in India-concentrated in Assam and North Bengal-was the most spectacularly successful colonial business enterprise. In the case of Assam tea plantations, the success was built upon a highly exploitative and draconian labour regime. No other 'modem' Indian industry operated for so long with labour tied down by penal contracts in the harshest of physical conditions. The Assam labour system was likened to 'slavery' in its own time and in more recent times to an oppressive form of 'serfdom'.' It should not perhaps surprise us that while urban industries like jute, cotton, steel, chemicals and engineering were being progressively masculinized in the early twentieth century, tea plantations were being feminized through comparison with manual agricultural work, but more importantly, through the large-scale deployment of cheap female and child labour in the labour-intensive task of plucking leaves. Indeed the only 'skill' associated with tea plantations was a feminine skill. The nimble and tender fingers of women and children were considered suited to the delic-ate task of picking leaves. The tea plantations thus were the only 'modem' Indian industry that consistently employed more women than men. In the 1920s and 1930s, when women's proportions were declining in most factories and mines, their share in plantation labour remained assured.' We know now that the gendering of 'skill' draws on physiological.or biological differences but is rarely about such differences. How and why was the plucking of leaves constructed as feminine skill in Assam tea plantations in the nineteenth century? These plantations were set up by clearing jungles in insalubrious areas with very low population density. Planting and cultivating tea was a hugely labourintensive process. Despite the colonial Government's ready agreement to introduce a high-revenue regime in plantation districts, it became clear to the planters' fraternity that there was no possibility of drawing local peasants into plantation work. Moreover, there was no transport and communication infrastructure to facilitate


Based on a Zambian case study of the Movement for Multiparty Democracy (MMD), this paper applies the behavioural theory of party competition to explain how, through vote-seeking and office-seeking strategies, political parties may employ rapacious predatory co-optation of members from competing political parties as a mobilisation strategy. The paper concludes that in the absence of a dominant political party, parties and political elites may resort to predation to bolster their electoral fortunes. While predatory co-optation may strengthen some parties, it also weakens others and undermines or reverses party system institutionalisation and vertical accountability.


The ideological and political work of universities in the new period is a systematic project.We have to be fully aware of its importance,set up effective working mechanisms,and stress the essentials.In addition,we have to attach importance to the staff and front construction and focus on innovation.Further,we should motivate people's enthusiasm in their work.Only in this way can we make some achievements.


In dynamic spectrum access systems, such as cognitive radio networks, spectrum pooling is one of the approaches to manage the available spectrum bands from different licensed networks. Based on the concept of spectrum pooling, most previous work focuses on the system architecture and the design of flexible access algorithms and schemes. In this paper, a cooperative and distributed scheme for dynamic internetwork spectrum sharing among multiple networks is proposed, taking into account the spectrum access price and the spectrum efficiency. Specifically, the spectrum sharing problem is formulated as a restless bandits model-based optimization system, which dramatically reduces the complexity of the scheme by allowing the spectrum allocation scheme to be simply select the network with the lowest index. Extensive simulation results illustrate that the proposed scheme improves the performance significantly compared to the existing scheme that ignores the distributed and cooperative spectrum sharing.


This report provides a background for the financing of local infrastructure investment in Romania. It summarizes the U.S. Agency for International Development's strategic context, discusses municipal creditworthiness and decentralized creditworthiness, and provides specific findings related to developing a municipal credit facility for Romania.


The article examines the problem of combating theft of horses and livestock in pre-revolutionary Russia at the state and local level in Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces. The relevance of the opposition to horse-stealing was not so much due to its wide spread as to its negative impact on the socio-economic development of the state. The research aims to find the causes that hindered the effective fight against horse theft in the late XIX - early XX centuries. the example of the largest regions of Eastern Siberia - Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces. Materials of pre-revolutionary research, legislative acts of the Russian Empire, published historical sources, documents of the state archive of Irkutsk region, and modern scientific articles were used for the research. The author analyzed the development of legislation on theft of horses and livestock. It was established that horse theft as a social and legal problem tended to professionalize, and loop holes in law contributed to this trend. The decision on the issue at the local level was initiated by the Ministers of internal Affairs and justice, who communicated with the governors-General and governors, but this did not lead to the adoption of real measures. The foreign population of Irkutsk and Yenisei provinces, among which the problem was most evident, was working to raise awareness of the authorities of the need to integrate legislation from foreign societies into the criminal law system.


N-(3-Azidopropyl)vinylsulfonamide was developed as a new bifunctional bioconjugation reagent suitable for the cross-linking of biomolecules through copper(I)-catalyzed azide-alkyne cycloaddition and thiol Michael addition reactions under biorthogonal conditions. The reagent is easily clicked to an acetylene-containing DNA or protein and then reacts with cysteine-containing peptides or proteins to form covalent cross-links. Several examples of bioconjugations of ethynyl- or octadiynyl-modified DNA with peptides, p53 protein, or alkyne-modified human carbonic anhydrase with peptides are given.


Objective To investigate the prevalence of enterococcus with high-lev-el aminoglycoside resistance,and the synergistic bacteriocidal actions of penicillins or glycopeptides and aminoglycosides to enterococci causing nosocomial infections in order to provide reference and guide for clinical treatment of nosocomial enterococcal infec-tions.Methods The resistance to ampicillin,pencillin,vancomycin,and high-level gentamicin resistance(HLGR)and high-level streptomycin resistance(HLSR)in101strains of enterococci from isolated clinical samples were determined by VITEK-AMS.Results Among the101enterococal strains,were enteroccus faecalis,E.faecium,E.avi-um,E.gallinarum and E.durans,accounted for71,13,8,7and2respectively;the resistant strains of enterococci to ampicillin,pencillin and vancomycin were21,34and0,HLGR and HLSR were65and39respectively.Conclusion Enterococci causing nosocomial infections have higher resistance to antibiotics,so appropriate antimicrobial treatment is very important in patient's outcome when infected with HLAR enterococci.


Authoritative representatives on any field of work rarely hesitate to attach the term rhetoric to discourse they dislike. To students of rhetoric, having been taught that rhetoric is concerned with persuasive language, words refusing to become marginalized, this might seem paradoxical. But clearly efficient discourse, for example public policy, can gain in legitimacy by symbolically excluding language that does not work. This happens also in literature and love, in science and scholarship. Such a recurrent tendency to become persuasive by means of exclusion hints at the possibility of understanding more about each particular field of work, through comparison. Thereby we might also learn more about the general character of efficient discourse.


The aims of the research is to test the effect of corporate governance on firm value mediated by risk. The populations used are listed companies on Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) and period of 2013-2018. Purposive sampling is used to determine the sample and secondary data are used in the form of annual and financial reports of the companies. Path analysis and Sobel tests are utilized to test the hypothesis. Research results found that corporate governance has positive and significant effect on risk. Meanwhile, risk has positive and significant effect on firm value. This research also found that risk mediate the effect of corporate governance to firm value. The research implications is to enrich literature of agency theory and stakeholder theory and provide suggestions to companies, investors and the government on the prominence of implementing corporate governance to manage risks for the sustainability of the company which will provide benefits to its stakeholders.


Abstract 5045 Observation remains the standard approach to patients with monoclonal gammopathy of undetermined significance (MGUS) and asymptomatic multiple myeloma (AMM) who lack end-organ impairment characteristic of symptomatic MM. Institution of early MM therapy has not been shown to improve survival or alter the natural progression of the disease. Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX2) inhibitors inhibit proliferation and induce apoptosis in drug resistant MM cell lines. 23 asymptomatic adult patients with a serum monoclonal protein >1g/dL, from Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic, or University of Arkansas Medical Center between August 2005 and April 2008 were randomized to either celecoxib or placebo in a double-blind, 1:1 fashion. The primary end point was change in the monoclonal protein concentration after 6 months. Correlative biomarkers, including IL6 and IL-6R, CD4/CD8+ T-cell ratios, and beta-2 microglobulin, were examined before and after treatment. Celecoxib had no significant effect on the median monoclonal protein concentration, which went from a median of 1. 44 to 1. 65 g/dL with placebo and 2. 42 to 2. 24 g/dL with Celecoxib (p=0. 36), or on any of the analyzed correlative markers (all p-values >0. 34). One patient9s monoclonal protein concentration increased on placebo, but he did not require treatment for symptomatic MM. There were no adverse events of Grade 2 or higher. Celecoxib was well tolerated in contrast to previous reports when given in higher doses and in combination with thalidomide. Although accrual was limited we conclude that celecoxib has no clinical or immunologic effect on high risk asymptomatic plasma cell disorders. This study does not support using celecoxib for preventing progression to symptomatic MM. Future studies on progression of MGUS to symptomatic MM would require more patients and a longer follow-up period. Disclosures: Off Label Use: Celecoxib for chemoprophylaxis. Hussein:Celgene: Employment. Reu:Celgene: Research Funding.


This paper identifies skill sets that contribute to effective InfoSec incident response. Even though many organizations have staff dedicated to InfoSec incident response teams, there is a lack of consensus as to the skill set each team member needs to effectively perform his/her job, and general and specialized skills that need to be represented in incident response teams (but usually not all held by each team member). Previous guidance was offered based on non-empirical methods. In this study, we used the Repertory Grid (RepGrid) method to elicit lists of incident response skills from industry experts. Skill archetypes were then identified by clustering incident responders who share similar characteristics. The findings extend the Theory of Resource Complements and provide managers with practical guidance regarding the skill sets most critical to the incident response role.


A integration constant h width of bearing, m c radial clearance of journal bearing, m e eccentricity of journal bearing, m ft film thickness, m ftm film thickness where dp/c%<^ =1 0, m TVa angular velocity, rpm P dimensionless pressure Pm dimensionless pressure where p pressure, N/m^ Pm pressure where dp/<%) = 0 9 volumetric How rate, m^/s q^ volumetric flow rate per width in transverse direction, m^/s <7^, volumetric How rate per width in <^< direction, m^/s Q dimensionless How rate r radius of journal, m fa radius of shaft, m ?"b radius of journal, m dimensionless resultant load in a journal bearing resultant load per unit width in a journal bearing, N/m load per width perpendicular to line of centers, N/m load per width along line of centers, N/m normal applied toad, N angle used in defining film thickness in journal bearing Sommerfeld variable eccentricity ratio, e/e absolute viscosity, Pa-s absolute viscosity at p = 0 and constant temperature, Pa-s attitude angle angle in cylindrical coordinates angle where o!p/d<^=0 angle where p = 0 and dp/^ = 0 angular velocity, 2^.%., rad/s angular velocity of surface &, rad/s 269


The utility model relates to a gas turbine mechanical structure design technical field provides a gas turbine turbine and sealed tooth thereof. Wherein, the sealed tooth of gas turbine turbine is including the active section, linkage segment and the construction section that connect gradually, active section, linkage segment and construction section are rotator and coaxial setting, the wing that stretches out of active section and rotor rim plate matches in order to form high pressure disk chamber and low pressure disk chamber, the construction section is connected with the mounting groove of seting up on quiet leaf sealing ring to fix through the setting element on the quiet leaf sealing ring. The utility model discloses a gas turbine turbine seals the tooth, and its simple structure, installation and dismantlement are convenient. Its during operation disappearance seal failure's the condition can be guaranteed through the axial dimensions who adjusts sealed tooth, in addition, damage the back at sealed tooth, only need will annular sealed tooth to change can, and need not to change quiet leaf sealing ring, solved high, the cycle length scheduling problem of the sealed tooth replacement cost of traditional turbine, assurance gas turbine is reliably, work steadily.


Bad influence technology and environment can damage to teenagers, in major cities (Padang) of the development of the number of cases of teenage behavior abuse. For such cases, is not uncommon for law enforcers to experience difficulties in investigations, especially in determining who is guilty, because deviations in behavior can occur without cause. therefore there must be correct and prompt investigation to make it easier decisions. way that can be done is by using data mining FP-Growth method. FP-Growth can determine the set of frequent itemset using the concept of tree development. The study was conducted by observing several cases of adolescents that are often reported, namely the perpetrators, victims, types of cases and the location of the case. The result is a new knowledge that helps the investigation.


In order to solve the problem of voltage fluctuation caused by unbalanced load rate and reactive power of traditional substation main transformer, the concept of Flexible Interconnected Substation(FIS) based on Back-to-Back Modular Multilevel Converter(B2B-MMC) is defined; An additional active / reactive power control strategy is designed to realize online load transfer according to the continuous power regulation characteristics of B2B-MMC. furthermore, the dynamic balance of load rate and constant power factor of main transformer are realized, and the utilization rate and service life of main transformer and the power supply quality of FIS are improved; Finally, taking a 110kV substation with double main transformers as the object, the FIS simulation system based on B2B-MMC is built by PSCAD / EMTDC simulation software, and the corresponding control strategy is designed to verify the correctness and effectiveness of the proposed control method.


We use molecular dynamics simulations to study the behavior of a compressible Lennard-Jones fluid in simple shear flow in a two-dimensional nanochannel. The system is equilibrated in the fluid phase close to the triple point at which gas, liquid and solid phases coexist and is subjected to steady shear in Couette geometry. It is observed that at higher shear rates, the system develops a density gradient perpendicular to the direction of flow and exhibits solid-like layering near the boundaries. Both the number of solid-like layers and the number of layers that move with the velocity of the neighboring wall, increase with the shear rate. We argue that the inhomogeneous density profile develops as the consequence of thermophoresis due to the non-uniform temperature profile produced by shear-induced viscous heating in the simulated flow cell. The above phenomena are accompanied by non-Newtonian effects such as nonlinear velocity profiles, inhomogeneous stress distributions and shear rate dependent viscosity which exhibits shear thinning followed by shear thickening as the shear rate is increased. The connection between these phenomena is discussed.


Multi-index fusion has demonstrated impressive performances in the retrieval task by integrating different visual representations in a unified framework. However, previous works mainly consider propagating similarities via a neighbor structure, ignoring the high-order information among different visual representations. In this paper, we propose a new multi-index fusion scheme for image retrieval. By formulating this procedure as a multilinear-based optimization problem, the complementary information hidden in different indexes can be explored more thoroughly. Specifically, we first build our multiple indexes from various visual representations. Then, a so-called index-specific functional matrix, which aims to propagate similarities, is introduced to update the original index. The functional matrices are then optimized in a unified tensor space to achieve a refinement, such that the relevant images can be pushed closer. The optimization problem can be efficiently solved by the augmented Lagrangian method with a theoretical convergence guarantee. Unlike the traditional multi-index fusion scheme, our approach embeds the multi-index subspace structure into the new indexes with sparse constraint and, thus, it has little additional memory consumption in the online query stage. Experimental evaluation on three benchmark datasets reveals that the proposed approach achieves state-of-the-art performance, that is, N-score 3.94 on UKBench, mAP 94.1% on Holiday, and 62.39% on Market-1501.


Correlations will be presented to describe liquid hold up, loading and flooding capacity, volumetric mass transfer coefficients on liquid and gas or vapour phase and the pressure drop as a basis for computing packed columns, dumped and regular as well, including the influence of end effects on scaling. The relationships are found on a sound physical and mathematical basis and their validity were confirmed by experimental investigations of many packings; some of them were selected to be considered in this work.


The aim of this paper is threefold. First, it provides a description of the morphological and syntactic properties of comitative adverbs in Japhug and other Gyalrong languages, a class of adverbs derived from nouns by a combination of prefixation and reduplication. Second, it argues that they result from a two-step derivation, first from noun into proprietive denominal verb, then from that verb into a participial form. The resulting form is later reanalyzed as a single morphological derivation from the noun. Third, this paper contributes to the study of language contact within the Gyalrongic group by showing how one of the two processes for building comitative adverbs in Japhug is borrowed from the neighbouring Tshobdun language.


Purpose
This study aims to examine the potential disparities in environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting among emerging Chinese enterprises (ECEs). ECEs are subject to a set of internationally oriented ESG requirements imposed by the regulator of a global financial center that is exposed to diverse stakeholders. The authors also consider ECEs' underlying institutional ownership, which exhibits influence over governance as a salient component of ESG.

Design/methodology/approach
This study is based on a random sample of 500 ECEs listed on the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong (SEHK) – the global financial center of China. ESG reporting is measured by using the key performance indicators of the SEHK's ESG Reporting Guide. The data are collected from annual reports that contain ESG disclosures or standalone ESG/sustainability reports published during the 2018–2019 fiscal year. The authors adopt binary logistic regressions and Chi-square tests to test the proposed hypotheses.

Findings
The authors find that ECEs' heterogeneous institutional ownership and the extent of overseas development are associated with their disclosures on climate change. ECEs with international institutional ownership are found to be a significant factor for reporting aligned with the United Nations sustainable development goals (SDGs), using external assurance and stakeholder engagement, rather than state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and private companies. The authors also document that the presence of independent nonexecutive directors (INEDs) is significantly associated with reporting on meeting the SDGs and its use of external assurance, while the presence of female directors is a significant factor influencing disclosure emphasis on energy-saving initiatives.

Practical implications
The authors provide an empirical study of ECEs beyond the focus on SOEs that are expected to produce comprehensive ESG reporting in addressing a broader international community of stakeholders apart from the regime of their home country. The authors document the pertinence of ECEs' institutional ownership and governance diversity to ESG reporting. In particular, international stakeholders need to recognize such underlying differences among ECEs rather than viewing them as a homogeneous group.

Social implications
The authors suggest that policymakers and practitioners in Asian countries consider increasing the presence of INEDs and gender diversity on ECE boards to enhance ESG reporting, which reinforces the findings of prior international studies suggesting such governance practices.

Originality/value
This study contributes to the existing body of knowledge about ESG reporting by documenting the underlying heterogeneity within ECEs, which are subject to a set of internationally oriented standards, as evidenced by their disparities in ESG reporting.


This paper investigates a problem of broad practical interest, namely, the reconstruction of a large-dimensional low-rank tensor from highly incomplete and randomly corrupted observations of its entries. Although a number of papers have been dedicated to this tensor completion problem, prior algorithms either are computationally too expensive for large-scale applications or come with suboptimal statistical performance. Motivated by this, we propose a fast two-stage nonconvex algorithm—a gradient method following a rough initialization—that achieves the best of both worlds: optimal statistical accuracy and computational efficiency. Specifically, the proposed algorithm provably completes the tensor and retrieves all low-rank factors within nearly linear time, while at the same time enjoying near-optimal statistical guarantees (i.e., minimal sample complexity and optimal estimation accuracy). The insights conveyed through our analysis of nonconvex optimization might have implications for a broader family of tensor reconstruction problems beyond tensor completion.


For an improved design of ships and offshore structures with regard to their behavior under severe weather conditions, wave height and steepness as well as the shape of the wave profile have to be considered. In this paper, the extreme new year wave as documented in numerous publications is varied with respect to wave height and period. These varied wave sequences are realized and measured in a model tank and applied to the investigation of motions and bending moments of a floating production storage and offloading ship. The results are compared to the responses in the original wave train. An investigation of the riskiness of extreme wave sequences in comparison with existing rules concludes this paper.


With increase of utilization and development of underground space and combination of ordinary use with air sheltering of civil defense projects, the earthquake-resistant characteristics of various kinds of underground structures attract people's attention. In this paper, the dynamic response character of civil defense projects under seismic action was introduced and the possible damage during earthquake was shown. This is to clarify the significance of the study on earthquake resistance of civil defense projects. [


Water injection is an important measure for stabilizing oilfield production and the quality of the injected water directly influences the crude oil production. In the requirements for injected water, its suspension solid content is one important index. To study the sensitivity of the suspension solid content in injected water to low permeability reservoirs, the core flooding laboratory test was carried out. It is shown that the low permeability reservoir is very sensitive to the change of suspension solid content. Once the latter reaches the critical value, the reservoir permeability would decline clearly.


Integration of cognitive aspects into an autonomous perceptual robot is described. The work is based on a virtual autonomous perceptual robot presented earlier. In this work the extension ofthe earlier work with some cognitive features is investigated making use of intelligent technologies and evolutionary multi-objective optimization technology. In particular, intelligent technologies are from the domain of computational intelligence which is an emerging concept employed by the intelligent computing community. The cognitive functions are formed by the integration of a neural tree model for knowledge representation and evolutionary multi-objective optimization for a decision-making outcome among several equaUy valid options. Cognition is defined as the final decision-making based on not only the optimization outcomes but also some higher-order aspects which do not play role on the pure optimization process. By doing so, the decisions are not merely subject to rationales of the computations but they are the resolutions with the presence of higher-order considerations integrated into computations. The work describes a novel tree structure serving for this purpose and a novel evolutionary multi-objective optimization strategy for effective Pareto-front formation serving for the goal. Cognition is exemplified by means of a cognitive design example using human-like visual perceptions provided by a virtual perceptual robot and integration of the cognitive properties to this robot is discussed in the framework of autonomous cognitive robotics.


GaAs monolithic variable attenuators have been developed. They operate in a very wide frequency band, are very small, and are controlled by one voltage. Insertion loss of 2-3 dB and a dynamic range of attenuation of 10 dB were obtained in the 2-18 GHz frequency range,


In a two-year study involving two sites in western Canada, the dissipation of bromoxynil octanoate alone at 0.35 or 0.42 kg phenol equivalent (pe)/ha and the tank mixture of MCPA iso-octyl ester at 0.28 kg ae/ha plus bromoxynil octanoate at 0.28 kg pe/ha was monitored in postemergence-treated triticale. Initial foliar residues on the day after application (three- to four-leaf stage of the crop) were of the order of 14 and 5 mg/kg for MCPA and bromoxynil, respectively. Residues of both herbicides decreased to less than the limit of quantification (0.025 mg/kg) of the analytical method 21 d after application. At crop maturity, herbicide residues were non-detectable in the straw and seed. There was little or no effect on the dissipation of bromoxynil residues due to tank mixing with MCPA.


Hazardous waste production in Turkey has increased considerably since 1980ies due to strong economic growth. Turkey's data, inventories or estimations on waste, though incomplete, indicated that between 2000 and 2003 more than 1 Mio. ton of industrial hazardous waste were generated annually. Because of its hazardous characteristics, these wastes are significant risk for environment and human health and therefore need to be specially controlled by the authorities.


By concentrating on the debut process and activities of the dance critics, one of the primary purpose of this study is...


High-energy synchrotron x-rays were used in this work to monitor the internal strain behavior of Thermal Barrier Coatings (TBC) under thermal gradient and mechanical loading. Tubular specimens made from Nickel based super alloy with a TBC-system applied onto the outer surface by Electron Beam Physical Vapor Deposition were used to allow for cooling of the internal surface of the substrate while heating the external surface during thermal mechanical cycling. The coating system consisted of a Yittria Stabilized Zirconia (YSZ) top coat and a MCrAlY bond coat. Through transmission along with a 2D detector allowed for the 2D strain monitoring of each layer during high temperature operation. Monitoring the micro-strain of each phase within the layers provides insight into their high temperature behavior which can be used to further develop predictive models including evolution of elastic strain as well as creep and plasticity. Obtained results have shown a large variation in strains during ramp up of in-phase thermal and/or mechanical load with a significant tensile strain mismatch between the two prominent phases of the bond coat. The YSZ has displayed residual compressive strains at the bond coat/YSZ interface and maintained some compressive residual strain during high temperature holds. These results give valuable insight into the mechanics of these complex systems under various high temperature conditions.


The state-owned forests in Heilongjiang province made significant contribution to China's economic development, but with a huge price of serious ecological deterioration. So modern forestry construction of the state-owned forest focuses on strengthening the modern forestry ecological system. The key is the selection of key areas of ecological system. This paper takes Yichun state-owned forest for example, builds evaluation index system and factor analysis model to key areas choice of modern forestry ecological system and studying Yichun in Heilongjiang Province. This paper has important studying significance to promote the state-owned forest modern forestry ecological construction.


The paper examines real and nominal convergence of North Macedonia toward European Union (EU) and European Monetary Union (EMU), with regard to real and external sector developments as well as fiscal and monetary developments in the country, in line with the Copenhagen and Maastricht criteria. Hence, the North Macedonia's economic developments in prices, fiscal balances and debt ratio, exchange rates and long-term interest rates are reviewed from a backward – looking perspective, focusing mainly on the last 10 years. The results of the paper suggest that the country is on a good shape, with respect to transition developments, as well as real sector and external sector developments, thus enhancing the advancement of the country's EU approximation path and is far away from monetary integration.


This paper presents a novel controller architecture for a quadcopter. A two-loop controller using dynamic inversion is designed that finally allows direct commands for position. The inner loop is the body-fixed angular rate control and the outer loop is the position control. This derived controller is capable of decoupling the strongly coupled dynamics of the quadcopter and maximizing the transmission bandwidth of the position control without sacrificing the controller robustness, as well as eliminating the singularities caused by the attitude control (e.g. pitch angle at 90 degree). A distinguished difference of this two loop architecture and other designs is that the attitude of the quadcopter (be it Euler angle or quaternion) is not a controlled state. It only implicitly appears in the transformation matrix. Hence the position dynamics are controlled with relative degree 3, and rate control is applied with relative degree 1. Higher bandwidth can be achieved with this design compared with a more common two-loop structure 1-3 (position control with relative degree 2 plus attitude control with relative degree 2). Moreover, the dynamic equation appears in a simpler form and can be easily feedback linearized.In addition, the yaw dynamics is inherently decoupled from position dynamics; hence the heading can be well controlled by the inner loop. Fast update rate is essential for the high bandwidth controller. Control errors due to parameter uncertainties in the dynamic inversion and disturbances can be quickly compensated. Fast and robust sensor data fusion is also one key requirement to achieve high bandwidth of system dynamics. A specific Kalman based state observer is developed to fuse the IMU and vision sensor data, with consideration of the limited onboard memory and processing capacity of the onboard micro-processor. A Vicon system 4 is used to provide accurate position measurements for the state observer, which also accounts for the time delay due to the communication between the Vicon system and the quadcopter.


We show that in the first sub-Riemannian Heisenberg group there are intrinsic graphs of smooth functions that are both critical and stable points of the sub-Riemannian perimeter under compactly supported variations of contact diffeomorphisms, despite the fact that they are not area-minimizing surfaces. In particular, we show that if $f:\mathbb{R}^2\rightarrow\mathbb{R}$ is a $C^1$-intrinsic function, and $\nabla^f\nabla^ff=0$, then the first contact variation of the sub-Riemannian area of its intrinsic graph is zero and the second contact variation is positive.


Board level drop impact tests to evaluate electronic package mounts on printed circuit board (PCB) solder joint reliability is critical, especially for handheld and mobile consumer products. Standard drop tests refer the JEDEC specification (JESD22-B111) for PCB design and testing conditions. There are several studies about the board level drop reliability of electronic products to focus on the solder joint failure mechanism (e.g., the crack location and characteristics) under the JEDEC standard. However, the literatures lack a study of the correlation of the PCB dynamic strain and solder joint stress during the board level drop impact and real product system level shock test. In this work, a 15x15 mm2 Quad Flat No Leads (QFN) package which is Wi-Fi module function used in industry scanner product was chosen to measure the peak acceleration and PCB strain under 1.2 meter height system level free drop. The maximum PCB strain would be used to correlate with standard board level drop tests to measure and calculate acceleration response. From the result, it shows that at similar PCB strain response the system level free drop tests peak acceleration is about 2900G and the board level drop tests peak acceleration is about 325G.Besides, the 3D transient numerical model based on the support excitation scheme was also performed to obtain thorough understanding of structural responses of the test vehicle and reliability of its solder joints under different test conditions. This model would be used to compute solder joint maximum interfacial normal and shear stresses. A fatigue reliability model that predicts the drop counts for different drop test conditions of JEDEC drop test condition: B (1500 G; 0.5 ms) and system-like condition: (325 G; 0.576 ms) was established. This study provides an accurate and reliable way to understand the correlation between system level and board level drop tests solder joint stress and to help to achieve service life improvements in early development stage.


Establishing an efficient and successful extracellular electron transfer (EET) between microorganisms and electrode surfaces plays a critical role in the design, development, and application of mediated microbial electrochemical technologies, such as microbial fuel cells (MFCs). Most microbial-based systems require the use of artificial, redox-active mediator systems in order to facilitate and/or increase electron transfer. Our previous work established an exogenous phenazine-based library as a mediator system to enable electron transfer from the model microorganism Escherichia coli. However, the addition of exogenous mediators to a microbial electrochemical system has certain limiting downsides, specifically with regard to mediator toxicity to cells and increased operational expenses. Herein, we demonstrate the metabolic and genetic engineering of E. coli to self-generate phenazine metabolites endogenously by introducing the phenazine biosynthetic pathway from Pseudomonas aeruginosa into E. coli. This pathway consists of a seven-gene phenazine biosynthetic cluster phzA-G responsible for the synthesis of phenazine-1-carboxylic acid (PCA) and two phenazine accessory genes phzM and phzS to produce pyocyanin (PYO). We present the characterization of the engineered E. coli cells via electrochemical measurements, RNA sequencing, and microscopy imaging. Finally, the engineered E. coli cells were used for the design of a microbial fuel cell with enhanced performances, demonstrating a maximum power density increase from 305 mW/m2 with non-engineered E. coli cells to 1555 mW/m2 with the genetically engineered, phenazine-producing E. coli. Our results indicate that introducing a heterologous electron shuttle into E. coli can be an efficient approach to establishing efficacious mediation in living bioelectrochemical systems and improving the performance of MFCs.


Introduction International relations and the security debate have been characterized by the presence of different and competing-yet complementary-theoretical paradigms. These are: Political Realism (Mercantilism, Neorealism, Structural Realism); Liberalism (Neoliberalism, Institutional Liberalism, Idealism); Constructivism (Cognitivism); and Critical Security Theories. All of these theories are largely reflected in the values, attitudes, opinions and beliefs that can be found among the general public in contemporary societies. We developed a model in which the main indicators of general theoretical concepts (i.e. attitude towards threats, values, security concepts/policies, security mechanisms/instruments) are complemented with variables from the public opinion surveys in order to analyze the general public's propensity towards these various theoretical paradigms. Selected variables from the Slovenian Public Opinion (SPO) surveys on national and international security (from 1990 to 2012) were tested against the aforementioned theoretical paradigms. Our discussion attempts to place the public attitude to the selected security issues within the framework of the aforementioned theories and observe the longitudinal course starting with Slovenian independence in the early nineties. Therefore, this article aims to: 1) briefly and schematically introduce the security-related theoretical paradigms; 2) extract the main theoretical concepts, identify public opinion variables explaining theoretical paradigms and develop a model of the public's attitude towards security; 3) identify the public perception of the security and explain the changes in the public's attitude towards security over the period of Slovenia's independence in light of the security theory paradigms. The General Characteristics of the Theoretical Paradigms A typical feature of Realism is the state-centric paradigm of international relations, which, according to the advocates of this theory, regards the state as the primary agent within an international system of states, and attributes it a monopoly over the legitimate use of force (Little and Smith, 1991: 4; Freedman, 1994: 3; Benko, 1997: 63). State actors are the only actors that matter. By contrast, international organizations and nongovernmental organizations only exert as much influence in international relations as they do on the state itself. According to Realists, the world is anarchic, but not necessarily disordered and disorganized. The structure of anarchy is permanent, thus the security of the nation state is dependent upon this structure (Russett and Starr, 1996: 92; Baylis, 2008: 26; Walt, 1998: 29; Kapstein, 1992: 2). The world is also brutal, which compels states to act egoistically to preserve their own independence and sovereignty ('the world of self-help') (Baylis, 2008: 29-30; Kapstein, 1992: 2). According to the theorists of Realism, the state operates on behalf of its national interest, while commonly presenting its actions as general moral objectives (Benko, 1997: 63, 65, 67). Realists justify the idea that the success of a state's foreign policy depends upon the use of force or the threat thereof (Little and Smith, 1991: 5). This justification stems from the historical experience which has not changed since the end of the Cold War. States form an exclusive club, but they also compete for scarce resources, including security, which Realists consider to be a 'zero-sum game' (Kapstein, 1992: 2). This means that no state can acquire more security without causing a loss in security of another state. Realists juxtapose this thesis with the thesis of hegemonic stability, which claims that a single world power provides the world with economic stability and security (Kapstein, 1992: 3), and with the thesis of the balance of power, which claims that the more equally-spread power is among the key actors of a world system the less likely they will engage in armed conflict among themselves (Navari, 2008: 31; Brown, 1999: 99; Walt, 1998: 30; Benko, 1997: 68; Elman 2008: 27). …


The main objective of this study was focused on cultural diversities among Chinese and Malay families (50 each participating) relating to sleeping arrangements for their infants and toddlers, such as sleeping locations, bedtime routine and nighttime feeding practices. One hundred Chinese and Malay two-parent families, residing around the city of Malacca, Malaysia participated in this study. A modified questionnaire was used for collecting data for investigation. Descriptive analysis was conducted to analyze the data. Results indicated that Chinese and Malay families were different in child-rearing practices in general and sleeping arrangements in particular. Both Chinese and Malay families practiced different bedtime routine, provided different type of nighttime feedings and arranged different sleeping location for their infants and toddlers.


Revista Cubana de Anestesiologìa y Reanimaciòn .2010; 9(3)142-149 http://scielo.sld.cu 143 In general, we belief that the regional anesthesia has less risks than the general anesthesia and that the accidents during its conduction are "uncommon", "unusual" and "unexpected"; however, with some frequency these events are present in its more severe means. Thus, it is mandatory for anesthesiologists the frequent study of this subject. Objective: In present paper authors identify the risk factors, the pathophysiology leading to the cardiac arrest during the regional anesthesia and the prevention methods and treatment. Development: After the review of the related bibliography, it is offered an abstract of leading causes of the cardiac arrest during the regional anesthesia including the patients with a greater risk of bradycardia, arterial hypotension and the physiological changes during the neural-axial anesthesia, toxicity of local anesthetics in peripheral nerves blocks, the human mistake role related to these complications, as well as the essential measures of prevention and treatment. Conclusions: The regional anesthesia is not free from the severe complications. The appropriate choice of patients, of local anesthetics and its dose as well as the technique used decrease its incidence. The close monitoring and surveillance of patients under these circumstances are essential since they allow an early diagnosis and the timely treatment of the concerned eventualities.


The utility model submarine cable adaptor box relates to a seabed optical cable adaptor box, which is suitable for the connection of the seabed optical cable communication system and the maintenance of the seabed optical cable accident. The submarine cable adaptor box is characterized in that the structure comprises a curved limiter, a submarine cable armouring fixing device, a sealing seat, a supporting disc and a sealing tube body, wherein two ends of the supporting disc are equipped with the sealing seat, the submarine cable armouring fixing device is connected on two ends of the sealing seat, the sealing seat and the supporting disc outer jacket are equipped with a sealing tube body, the curved limiter is equipped on two ends of the sealing tube body, the supporting disc is equipped with a disc, the upper and the lower two faces of the disc are equipped with a fiber storage unit, and the inside of the fiber storage unit is equipped with an submarine cable adaptor protection dent. The sealing seat comprises a sealing seat body, a conductive female screw, an insulation body, a conductive awl, a pressure ring, an optical cable guiding-sheathing and an O shaped liner jacket.


The discrete element method (DEM) is used in engine er g to simulate a wide area of processes: from storage and packing to mixing and e ven in the field of environmental particle physics for land slide probability computation. In pharmaceutical engineering, it is used for example to simulate the mixing of granular media or the behavior of tablets in a drum. The first DEM simulations some 35 years ago were tw o-dimensional and used circles to discretize particle. With the rising computational power, the simulations got more and more complex. First, ellipses were introduced to simulat e more sophisticated forms. Later, the simulations where expanded to the third dimension. The number of simulated particles also increased from a few hundred at the first DEM simul ations to over 24 million spheres in stateof-the-art applications. To emulate the real physical world in more detail, he particles have to become more complex. An important step is to move away from sph erical particles. One way of making more sophisticated shapes is the multi element mode l; stacking together simple shapes to get more sophisticated particles. In this work, we introduce the multi element model to the "eXtended Particle System". The XPS program uses GPUs for the parallelization of th e DEM method. The implementation was tested to see if the model w orks as intended. Different tests were performed for evaluation, starting with particle particle collisions and going to particle cluster behavior. Modeling off non-spherical particles in the Discret e Element Method simulations 2014


The present invention discloses a device for delivering a fluid to a patient, including the inlet and outlet tubes connected to one another at the angular joint. Mounted to the rotary valve and the piston chamber is formed angular with a linker. It is provided with a rotary valve and a pump priming channel notch recesses. To prime the fluid delivery device, the user will position the rotary valve placed in perfusion. During the pumping operation, the rotary valve rotating with the piston, so that a quantity of fluid from the chamber via the inlet tube to the outlet tube. Alternatively, the second piston is provided on the output pipe, in order to stabilize the flow rate of the pulsation.


Prevention of postdelivery intraoperative nausea and vomiting (IONV) is one of the concerns of anesthesiologist during surgery. The main aim is to keep the patient as comfortable as possible perioperatively. Various drugs, especially prokinetics and serotonin receptor antagonists, are frequently used to overcome IONV. Among them, ondansetron is most commonly used due to lack of drug interactions and good potency. Although rare, various side effects including cardiovascular system are found with this drug. We encountered a case of symptomatic sinus bradycardia with ventricular ectopic beats after rapid intravenous ondansetron in a 31-year-old pregnant lady posted for emergency lower segment cesarean section.


In this research, we evaluate the performance for preventing frost damage at early age of mortar using variable cement and self-heating binder. Purpose of final research is preventing freezing and thawing by making the compressive strength 5MPa in 3days b


The microprocess of deformation and fracture for pure and Bi‐segregated Σ3(111)/[101] 70.53° and Σ33(545)/[101] 58.99° tilt bicrystals of metal copper has been studied by the molecular dynamics method. It has been found that deformation and fracture are dependent on the grain boundary (GB) structure and bismuth segregation. For pure Σ33 bicrystal, the deformation is mainly due to the glide of partial dislocations generated from the GB structural units where the GB dislocations exist. The ductile fracture is attributed to the dislocation emission, which leads to vacancy generation and void coalescence. The bismuth segregation weakens the atomic bonds between copper atoms in the vicinity of GB. Under the action of the external load, the weakened bonds break and lead to formation of microcracks. Finally, the brittle fracture takes place along the binding weakening region. For Σ3 bicrystal, the ductile fracture is related to the void coalescence generated not by dislocation emission but by lattice distort...


Human activities have always impacted the climate, but since the Industrial Revolution these impacts have been rapidly growing. Conversely, climate change also impacts human life, since humanity must adapt to these changes. Variations in precipitation patterns, duration of droughts and an increase in extreme events, for instance, have created a new set of threats and a new group of vulnerable populations. These factors enhance the dialectic relationship between human activities and climate change. The purpose of this paper is to highlight the most important aspects of climate change and their impacts on human activities, emphasizing the Brazilian case, focusing on the coastal zone. It also intends to call attention to the contribution of human activities in bringing about climate change in both rural and urban areas.


Remote sensing data has been used to examine and classify the mixture state of a mangrove forest in Okinawa, so it is possible with some degree of accuracy to classify a mangrove forest composed of two species into at least three mixture states. Thus, the area of each classified item can be easily obtained. In this paper, the construction of estimation methods of forest resources using remote sensing was discussed. This paper also presents a description of a practical trial of one method which combines the area of each classified mangrove forest through the processing of remote sensing data and the quantity of growing stock per haG of some sample plots through the ground survey. In addition, the direction in which to look for a new index was examined. This new index would be expected to relate the conditions of mangrove resources.


The European Southern Observatory is an intergovernmental organisation with its headquarters in Garching near Munich, Germany. It was founded in 1962 and operates astronomical observatories in ...


In this article, a high-power microwave (HPM) oscillator magnetically insulated line oscillator (MILO) design study has been carried out to improve its performance. Impedances of different subsections of the device have been matched. An equivalent circuit approach, which is simpler and easy to handle, has been adopted for this purpose. First, the input impedance of the tapered inner conductor of the coaxial structure has been matched with the impedance of the choke disks. Then, the extractor inner radius and extractor gap impedance have been optimized at the output section. This impedance matching scheme provides the maximum efficiency of the device with the maximum RF transmission. The optimum position of the stub to match the impedance with the output side has also been analyzed. To validate our concept, initially, an experimentally reported $L$ -band MILO has been simulated using commercial particle-in-cell (PIC) code, which provides an RF output power of 1.38 GW with the efficiency of 7.8%. The PIC simulation results have been found in agreement of ~5% with the experimental values. Furthermore, the PIC simulation with the optimized design parameters has improved the RF output power of 2.5 GW with an efficiency of 14.4%.


AbstractThe desirability of determining as accurately as possible the latitudes and longitudes of a number of points in Mauritius appears to have first appealed to the French astronomer M. L'Abbe de la Caille, who was sent to the island by the French East India Company in 1753. His observatory was situated 4,730 feet east and 2,610 feet north of Port Louis Time Ball, and in addition to determining the geographical position of this. 0bservatory (the house, later demolished, of a Mr Mabile, where Mr D'Apres had made observations the previous year)—Latitude 20° 09′ 42″ S.; Longitude 55° 08′ 15″ E. of Paris—,he succeeded in effecting a triangulation of the island. Four bases were measured with wooden scales which previously had been compared with an iron toise (6.394 feet—the French fathom) approved by the Academy of Sciences, Paris; a I4-inch quadrant fitted with micrometer was used to measure the angles.


Modern technology presently available for gasifying biomass is reviewed. The major demonstration projects and commercial plants are identified. The emphasis is on the larger units (≥5MWt), potentially suitable for electricity production in Western Europe. Important development items are identified and the ongoing research in Europe is briefly summarized.


The Bacillus cereus sensu lato group is composed of six closely-related bacterial species, exhibiting a broad range of virulence activities. B. anthracis causes anthrax to human and mammals and B. thuringiensis is an entomopathogen against Lepidopteran, Coleopteran and Dipteran larvae. B. cereus s.s. and B. weihenstephanensis are opportunistic bacteria, causing gastro-enteritis and more acute diseases in immuno-compromised people. B. mycoides and B. pseudomycoides are generally considered as non-pathogenic. In addition to the specific virulence factors, several generic toxins have been described in the B. cereus s.l. members (phospholipases, enterotoxins, proteases and hemolysins). Among these virulence factors, cereolysin O was first characterised in 1967 by Cowell and Bernheimer, who suggested it to be a member of the cholesterol-dependent cytolysins. This toxin family cause the lysis of cholesterol-containing membranes and their activity, inhibited by oxidising agents, is restored by reducing agents. Moreover, small amount of free cholesterol irreversibly inactivate the toxins. The first part of this thesis gives a description of the hemolytic activities of the different species of the B. cereus s.l. members, with regard to the international ISO norm for the characterisation of B. cereus s.s. in food. One hundred strains were analysed for their hemolytic and lecithinase activities on different blood-containing media, and the results showed that the most sensitive was the sheep erythrocytes-containing medium. The hemolytic activity of B. cereus s.l. is due to at least five hemolysins whose precise roles in pathogenesis are largely unknown. The continuation of this thesis was focused on one of these hemolysins, cereolysin O. PCR, RFLP and Southern blotting analysis pointed out that the clo gene was present and highly conserved in all the strains of the six tested species. The results also indicated that two copies of the clo gene are present in at least 20% of the strains. The last part of this work was to evaluate the hemolytic activity of Clo by knock-out and cloning experiments. The results revealed the importance of cereolysin O in the lysis of human blood as it is not the case on sheep blood.


The present invention relates to an electrical device for a device with a locking attachment (2), in particular for a power tool (4) and a battery block (6) lock, having a guide portion, the guide the accessory part is guided in a predetermined direction of movement between a locking position movement and a withdrawn position in which the locking position and the locking accessory of the electric appliance in which the attachment is removed from the electric position remove the appliance. The present invention provides: a guide portion (10, 12) has an interruption portion in at least one location between the locking position and a removal position; and a force acting on the attachment (6) of the accessory (6) on movement of the portion to a retaining position, retaining the attachment position (6) along the guide portion (10, 12) is prevented from further movement towards the removal position.


This article explores aspects of risk, safety, and hostility as perceived and experienced by participants at large-scale gay and lesbian festivals and special events held in Australia. These public celebrations of gay and lesbian identity have considerable economic, social, and cultural benefits and they contribute significantly to the creation of cosmopolitan imagery for the cities in which they are held. In particular, the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) is now internationally known as a major gay and lesbian festival and attracts substantial numbers of both domestic and inbound tourists. The article reports on the results of an Internet-based questionnaire survey that sought information concerning gay, lesbian, and queer participants' perceptions and experiences of hostility, threats, and violence on the basis of their sexual identity before, during, and after these events. Event organizers and public officials involved in planning and management emphasize the order and goodwill of these occasions. Nevertheless, participants from these sexual nimorities feel notably unsafe or threatened in relation to significant aspects of attendance at largescale nighttime events with a wide heterosexual participation, and this may prove to be an important factor in the long term viability of these events.


Introduction: Calotes nigrilabris is an endemic, endangered lizard species, restricted to a few localities in the central highlands of Sri Lanka and is the only agamid species found in montane high altitude grasslands of the island. This study was focused on the microhabitat preference of this species to help conservation and management of its small populations. Association of endangered C. nigrilabris with the "wet patana" grasslands of Horton Plains National Park has long been observed and it was interesting to study how this species utilize this unique grasslands habitat which was subjected to human interferences from time to time.


a46stmd- In this work we propose a PD plus adaptive fuzzy compensation applied to a second order nonlinear sewo. The approach is based on Lyapunov theory and it is compared against a standard adaptive scheme. Experimental results are shown to validate the proposed approach. the motor inertia is needed. Kovacic et a1 (2j describe a self- learning fuzzy logic controller. This control law contains a learning algorithm designed using a sensitivity approach. Stability of the closed loop system was not undertaken. In this paper we presented an adaptive fuzzy control applied to a second order nonlinear servomechanism. The controller is composed of two main parts. A PD controlIer set the dynamic behaviour of the system and a fuzzy logic- based compensation is empIoyed to compensate the servo nonlinear term. Lyapunov Stability Theory is employed to asses stability of the closed loop Fstem in the same way as in (3). The paper is organized as follows. The model of the second order control of servomechanism analyzed in this work is given in section 11. The control law for the servomechanism is designed in section 111, including the different strategies used for compensating the nonlinear term. The stability analysis is also performed. Simulation results are presented in section IV. The paper ends with some concluding remarks in section V. 11. THE SECOND ORDER NONLlNEAR SERV0MECHANISh.I MODEL


Background: We present a case of progressive back pain associated with weight loss and low-grade fever in a 17-year-old patient previously diagnosed with spinal tuberculosis (TB) also known as tuberculous spondylitis or Pott's disease.
Case presentation: Upon the patient's presentation to the clinic, a differential diagnosis including infectious and non-infectious causes such as extra-pulmonary tuberculosis, septic arthritis, malignancy, rheumatologic diseases, and physical abuse was made. Her preliminary workup was suggestive of granulomatous disease. A positive tuberculin skin test (TST), and a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test of the tissue with mycobacterium tuberculosis deoxyribonucleic acid (MTB DNA), confirmed the diagnosis of musculoskeletal TB.
Conclusion: The patient was treated with anti-TB regimen and Pyridoxine to avoid peripheral neuropathy associated with isoniazid use. Her clinical follow-up showed improvement with a proper response to treatment and no sequelae.


AbstractA change in temperature induces thermo-osmosis (T-O) and thermofiltration (T-F) effects in soils, which can influence consolidation under certain conditions. Whether such conditions are met...


A rank 2 dimension 3 tensor formulation for polarized neutron transport in a magnetic field is derived. Using this formulation, the rotating magnetic field problem is revisited to produce a single 3 × 3 vector-transformation matrix that describes the polarization transport. That result is then used to fashion a new strategy for a numerical approximation of polarization transport in an arbitrary magnetic field using time-dependent perturbation theory.


IL-10 plays an important role in anti-virus immunity system.The genetic polymorphisms of IL-10 gene will affect the individual level of cell factor.Then it will cause the difference of the immunity answer of HBV infection between individuals,and affect the susceptibility to HBV in different people.The main content of this article is about the association of interleukin-10(IL-10)genetic polymorphisms with HBV susceptilility.


Nitrosation of 2-methylisoquinoline-1, 3 (2H, 4H)-dione (I) with NaNO2 in AcOH afforded the 4-nitroso compound (II) in almost quantitative yield. Catalytic reduction of II produced 4-imino-2-methylisoquinoline-1, 3 (2H, 4H)-dione (III) and a small amount of 4, 4'-bi-2-methylisoquinoline-1, 3 (2H, 4H)-dione (IV). Acidic hydrolysis of III gave 2-methylisoquinoline-1, 3, 4 (2H)-trione (V). The hydrogenated mixture of II was allowed to react with methyl- and phenylisocyanate under an inert atmosphere to give 4-ureido compounds (VIIa, b) in yields of 79% (both). Dehydrogenation of VIIa, b with Pd-C afforded the 4-carbamoylimino compounds (VIIIa, b) in 60 and 87% yields, respectively. When their methanol solutions were refluxed with base catalyst, the compounds (VIIIa, b) were transformed into spiro [imidazolidin-4, 1'-isoindoline]-2, 3', 5-triones (XIIa, b) in yields of 80 and 86%, respectively.


In this article the author considers the issue of exploitation of Arctic region, especially of NSR. This transport corridor is very important from geopolitical point of view. The future of NSR will be thoroughly considered and the author will pay attention to the political horizons that opens as far as the interest of international community to Arctic rises and socio-economical processes are accelerating. The political institutions which regulate exploitation of NSR, legal framework, estimations of experts from different relevant fields and the problems of exploitation of Arctic region that have emerged on grounds of the current political situation in the world - all these aspects will be considered in the article. The special attention will be paid to the possible Russian self-determined exploitation of Arctic and NSR. Even though there are considerable reserves of natural resources in Arctic, its' capacity does not afford carry out its' active exploitation in short-term. Consequently, its' capacity does not permit exclusion of exploitation of NSR on account of transit route. Saving of the current relations with Western partners and development of opportunities to exploit Arctic region on our own - the main political goals of Russia. Recent events of this year demonstrate two important forces which have an impact on the exploitation of NSR. Firstly, an important role of Russia in international exploitation of Arctic, understanding of that at the international level and interest of foreign partners in cooperation with Russia in Arctic including over the question of NSR despite exacerbation of relation with the West. Secondly, present state of Arctic territories in terms of economics and socio-political aspect does not correspond to the boost of geopolitical power of Russia in Arctic. Western sanctions seriously harm sustainable development of Arctic in short-term. However, they will accelerate political processes in the region in case Russia wants exploit Arctic and take the lead among Arctic states. There is a necessity to overcome the technological and economical lag from the West, to create better infrastructure along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, to attract human resources in High North, to increase the government support of business in Arctic.


Fly and bottom ashes are the main by-products derived from the combustion of solid biomass. Since the production of energy from this source is increasing, processing and disposal of its ash has become an environmental and economic issue. This research investigates the potential use of ash from biomass as filler in asphalt mixtures. Morphological, physical and chemical characteristics of twenty-seven different ashes and two traditional fillers were evaluated according to European standard EN 13043. Leaching tests were also performed in order to quantify possible release of pollutants. Experimental results show a wide range of values of almost all the investigated properties and low correlation with biomass type. As most of the ashes do not respect acceptance limits for grading and release of pollutants, it can be concluded that processing the raw material before its reuse is necessary. However, the low content of organic matter and harmful fines and the high stiffening power of the ashes suggest that ash from biomass combustion may be considered for the replacement of filler in asphalt mixtures


This research aims to determine how the application of problem-based learning (PBL) model in learning Biology on the concept of immune system to improve science literacy. This research is a class action research conducted in 2 cycles in class XI SMA Negeri 5 Kota Serang. This research consists of planning, action, observation and reflection stages in each cycle. The research subjects were students of class XI MIPA 6 SMA Negeri 5 Kota Serang. Data and data sources used were obtained from teachers, students and documentation. Data collection techniques include tests, observation. The results obtained in the implementation of class action research show that the problem-based learning model is a model that can be implemented in Biology learning to improve students' science literacy. In cycle I, the average score of science literacy skills was 70.75. The average value of students' science literacy skills in cycle II was 80.51. Thus, it can be concluded that the problem-based learning model can be used as one of the learning designs to improve students' science literacy skills.
Keyword: Scientific literacy, Problem Based Learning, Immune System