In colloquial language a time series is a (mostly long) sequence of reals and a subsequence is a sequence of consecutive values in a time series. Two sequences of reals are matching if both have the same number of values and a very similar shape. A motif can be considered as a repetitive pattern in a time series and is represented by a sequence of reals that matches multiple subsequences in a time series. Motif discovery denotes the problem of finding a previously unknown motif in a time series. In chronological order the motif discovery problem was first tackled by Lin, Keogh, Lonardi, and Patel, 2002. They search for the subsequence in a time series that matches the largest number of subsequences of that time series within a given similarity range to discover a repeating pattern in a time series. We call this problem set motif problem. Next Mueen et al., 2009, faced the motif discovery problem. They search for the most similar pair(s) of subsequences in a time series to discover a repeating pattern. We call this problem pair motif problem. After that Grabocka et al., 2015, dealed with the motif discovery problem. They search for a sequence of reals, not necessarily a subsequence of the time series, that matches the largest number of subseqences in a time series within a given similarity range. We call this problem latent set motif problem. As the pair motif problem defines the motif as the most similar pair(s) of subsequences in a time series, the set motif defines potentially more subsequences in the same time series. The latent set motif matches potentially even more subsequences in the same time series than the set motif, since a repeating pattern in a time series occurs noisily under real conditions and may not be a subsequence of the time series. Therefore, the motif discovery problem is divided into the pair motif, set motif and latent set motif problem. Figure 1 illustrates all three motif discovery problems. In our previous student research project "A Synthetic Motif Generator" we


For reliable driving assistance or automated driving, pedestrian detection must be robust and performed in real time. In pedestrian detection, a linear support vector machine (linSVM) is popularly used as a classifier but exhibits degraded performance due to the multipostures of pedestrians. Kernel SVM (KSVM) could be a better choice for pedestrian detection, but it has a disadvantage in that it requires too much more computation than linSVM. In this paper, the cascade implementation of the additive KSVM (AKSVM) is proposed for the application of pedestrian detection. AKSVM avoids kernel expansion by using lookup tables, and it is implemented in cascade form, thereby speeding up pedestrian detection. The cascade implementation is trained by a genetic algorithm such that the computation time is minimized, whereas the detection accuracy is maximized. In experiments, the proposed method is tested with the INRIA dataset. The experimental results indicate that the proposed method has better detection accuracy and reduced computation time compared with conventional methods.


This paper addresses the problem of option bounds computation under the assumption that the price of the underlying asset follows a jump-diffusion Merton process as formulated in Perrakis (1993) extending the number of the jumps from one jump up and one jump down with fixed sizes to a finite number of jumps with sizes drawn from the lognormal distribution. The objective of this paper is to create a Monte Carlo simulation for the estimation of the bounds with various numbers of jumps and periods to maturity.


Is a literature review to analyse the existence or nonexistence of infringements to the principle of the ultima ratio, during the application of the Brazilian Criminal Law concerning environmental crimes. It will be examined protection was awarded by the Brazilian Constitution, conception of the environment as a legal entity, concept and the peculiar features to Brazilian Criminal Law, criminal law of risk and proliferation of punishable, which are gaining ground in the area of Environmental Law.At last, analyses the importance of environmental liability in Criminal Law through the optics that it does not violates the principle of the minimum intervention.


Antimicrobial effects of ozonated water for the planktonic cells and the biofilm cells of staphylococci were examined for clinical applications in the orthopaedic field. As a result, 7 mg/L of ozonated water showed anti‐ microbial effects for not only the planktonic cells but also for the biofilm cells. Additionally, antimicrobial ac‐ tivity of ozonated water was examined after destroying the biofilm using 1 M NaCl or proteolytic enzymes (pro‐ teinase K and trypsin). Interaction between ozonated water and biofilm destruction was statistically significant in 2 strains (SE21, MR23) out of 8 strains. However, the effects of proteinase K or trypsin with ozonated water were statistically significant only in MRSA MR23. MRSA MR23 was previously reported to be a proteinaceous biofilm producer, and its biofilm was destructed by various proteases.


Until recently, most high performance composites have been made with low-viscosity thermosetting polymers. These polymers are ideally suited for producing composites in low production quantities because a wide variety of custom shapes can be manufactured without a high degree of mechanization. As the demand for composites increases, there is a need to develop high-volume production techniques. Thermoplastic polymer-based composites are better suited to high-volume production than thermoset-based composites because only heat and pressure are needed to form parts; no chemical reaction is required. Thermoplastic matrix composites are not well suited for low-volume production runs because the need to handle high temperatures and pressures demands equipment that is best utilized for large production runs. In addition to processing advantages, thermoplastic matrix composites exhibit improved impact strength and chemical resistance over most thermoset-based composites. In the course of this work, composites reinforced with long and continuous glass fibers were produced that had tensile strengths as high as 270 MPa, tensile moduli of 16.2 GPa, and notched Izod impact strengths of 11.1 J/cm.


The temperature of an extremal Reissner - Nordstrom black hole is not restricted by the requirement of absence of a conical singularity. It is demonstrated how Kruskal-like coordinates may be constructed corresponding to any temperature whatsoever. A recently discovered stringy extremal black hole which apparently has an infinite temperature is also shown to have its temperature unrestricted by conical singularity arguments.


The single catastrophic event chromothripsis, initially uncovered in a case of chronic lymphocytic leukemia by whole genome sequencing,[1][1] is a novel phenomenon of genomic instability. It is characterized by extensive genomic rearrangements reflected by an oscillating pattern of DNA copy-number


INTRODUCTION The necessity of safe operations of energy nuclear plants requires addressing the problems of control of nuclear fission reactions, for the countries where they are present. For this purpose high purity boric acid is added to the cooling water used in high pressure reactors due to boron compounds are good absorbers of thermal neutrons, owing to isotope 10 B. Boric acid is crystallized from brines. They are multicomponent aqueous solutions that contain inorganic species such as Na + , Li + , K + , Mg 2+ , SO4 2and Cl . Those impurities affect the growth rate and purity of boric acid. In this context is the great importance to study the phenomena that govern the transport of impurities and the developments of models for the description of the migration processes during the crystal growth from impure solutions. In a former work 1 we have found that the reduction of the growth rate of boric acid by sodium sulfate could be due to that salt competes with boric acid for the adsorption sites on the crystal surface. It is adsorbed preferentially on the actives sites of the crystal surface as its concentration increases. Therefore it is utmost importance to take into account competition between species for active sites on the crystal surface to improve the quality of the boric acid. In addition in spite of Na + , Li + and SO4 2species are the main impurities presents on aqueous solutions of boric acid, studies on the uptake of them onto boric acid have not been reported yet in the literature.


The advancements in Edge computing have paved the way for deep learning in real-time systems. One of the beneficiaries is an adaptive traffic control system that responds to real-time traffic observations by governing the signal phase and timings. Reinforcement Learning (RL) is extensively utilized in the literature in order to decrease traffic congestion in a road network. However, most of the previous works leverage centralized and cloud-based RL due to the computational complexity of underlying deep neural networks (DNN). Therefore, a persistent challenge towards adopting Edge learning is in devising a Multi-Agent RL in which agents are simplified, and their state spaces are localized but they perform comparable to the centralized RL. This article presents a Collaborative and Adaptive Signaling on the Edge (CASE), a novel Multi-Agent RL approach to control the traffic signals' phase and timing. Each signalized intersection in the road network is provided with an Edge Learning Platform which hosts an RL-Agent that observes local traffic states and learns an optimum signal policy. Moreover, CASE allows collaboration among RL-Agents by sharing their signal phase and timings to achieve convergence and performance. This collaboration is limited to one's direct neighbours only to minimize the computational complexity. We performed rigorous evaluations in terms of the choice of RL methods and their state space/reward and found that our collaborative state-space has resulted in a performance comparable to a centralized RL yet with a cost similar to the decentralized RL. Finally, a performance comparison of the CASE controller ported to the state-of-the-art Edge learning platforms is presented in this article. The results show that the proposed CASE controller can achieve real-time performance when ported to a general-purpose GPU-based platform. This arrangement achieves more than 8 times improvement in computational time over conventional embedded platforms.


In this paper we show that the simple closed curve cannot be obtained as the inverse limit of an upper semi-continuous multivalued function from [0,1] into [0,1].


The aim in this project was to develop a tool which can reliably automatically score different behaviours performed by turkeys confided in cages of different heights. These behaviors may, after some further evaluation, be used as an assessment of welfare during transport. Eighteen weeks old male turkeys in two different cages with heights of 40 cm (low cage) and 90 cm (high cage) were followed. In the low cage the height was too low for the bird to assume a standing position whereas in the high cage the bird could stand in a normal position and had more opportunities to perform different behaviours like standing and turning. A camera captured videos simultaneously of one turkey in a low and high cage respectively. The four behaviours turning, lying, standing and wing flapping were chosen to represent different behaviours for welfare assessment. An algorithm based on image analysis was developed to classify the behaviour in real time and automatically. A coarse estimation of the bird was obtained through its colour filtering and shape properties. By using image enhancement and binarization techniques, a binary image is produced from each cage. Morphological operators were used to conclude if the cage was empty or not. Then, according to the binary image the boundary of the bird and the parameters of the best fitted ellipse are extracted. To speed up the procedure of finding the turkey the next time with the previous ellipse parameters, the search area was limited in order to update the new position. According to the ellipse parameters in each frame the four behaviours were categorized. Since the distinction between lying and standing postures from single top-view image is difficult and not accurate with ellipse fitting techniques further solutions are tested based on area and functional shape descriptor of the bird. In comparison with the manually labelled reference frame by frame, the algorithm applied on 60 hours video resulted in 100% correct classification of turning, 94% wing flapping, 83% of lying and 71% of standing behaviors.


The year 1863 was a watermark year in the history of Boston. In that year the house built in 1737 by Thomas Hancock, and later occupied by the Revolutionary patriot John Hancock, was demolished to make way for a real estate development. Although John Hancock had originally intended to bequeath the house to the state for use as a governor's mansion, he died before this intention had been expressed in his will. His heirs offered to sell the house to the state for that purpose, but the state legislature did not act. When the heirs finally sold the house to a real estate developer, that developer offered the House itself, minus the land, to the city of Boston if they would be willing to move it to a new site. The city did nothing, so in 1863, the John Hancock House came down.1 But although nobody acted to save it, everyone missed it when it was gone. The John Hancock House became a martyr, the rallying cry that would launch the movement to preserve historic buildings in Boston and throughout New England. People vowed never to let anything like that happen again. Although the destruction of the John Hancock House is the "event" that launched the preservation movement per se, it is by no means the deeper cause. For that one must look to the situation in Boston, and indeed a great part of America, found itself at the end of the nineteenth century. It was a nation coming of age, and a nation that, similar to half of the western world at the time, was struggling with the societal changes inherent in the Industrial Revolution. By the end of the nineteenth century, the earliest settled parts of the United States were, for the first time, old. A country that had always looked at itself as young was for the first time able to look back on more than two hundred years of history. The founding of Jamestown or Plymouth was something not even their grandfathers' grandfathers could have remembered first-hand. Not only did the nation finally have some antiquity worth mentioning, but that past was very different than the present in which most people lived. The Industrial Revolution had increased the pace of change in everything, such as technology, production, urban expansion, economics, society, transportation, to a rate unprecedented in the entire history of humanity. A man in 1650 could be teleported to 1750 and see a world much like his own. True, styles had changed, and technology evolved, but beyond a few surprises, at least in his every day existence, the man of 1650 would feel right at home in the world of his descendants one hundred years in the future. The man of 1800, however, would not even feel at home in the world of 1850. In those fifty years, so much had changed in the way people fundamentally lived (trains, factories, the arrival of immigrants and Catholics, mass-production, the explosion of cities, etc.) that a person of 1800 may as well be on another planet than live in 1850. As time passed, the pace of change only increased, and with the new pace of change the past, always distant and ancient, assumed in addition the aspect of the truly exotic. When visiting a historic building, one was no longer merely visiting the antiquity of his own experience, but a truly different world. Some people began to look back with pride to this exotic past. Not only was it now distant, not only was it a different world (with all the potential for both education and romanticism that such entails) but it was also the beginnings of a great country. The historic buildings were not just old shacks. They had seen the footsteps of Sam Adams, Paul Revere, John Hancock, and the other heroes that led and participated in the fight to make America an independent country. Many began to believe that to preserve these buildings was to preserve the memory of the historic people and events, and a way to instill people with a sense of national pride. Many Americans further believed that preserving the buildings would give new immigrants a stronger sense of identity with their new-found home. …


Investigations were carried out in the rainforest ecological zones of Anwai and Ugbolu in Upper Niger Delta to evaluate ten plant materials as organic mulch for the control of yam tuber beetles in 2004/2005 cropping seasons. Field experiments were laid out in randomized complete block design (RBCD) and replicated three times. Results indicated that the ten plants materials applied at 20 tons per hectare caused varied differences in the feeding activities of the beetle. Across locations and planting seasons, Cymbopogun citrates L. and Ocimum viride L. were superior as repellant or antifeedant botanicals to the beetle than others evaluated. Plots with these treatments had significantly higher (p<0.05) tuber yields and less beetle damages but none caused beetle mortality.


This paper describes how, "drosscapes", huge areas of waste and wasted land including ex-military land lie abandoned as a result of the socio- and spatio-economic processes of deindustrialization, post-Fordism and technological innovation. The earlier term brownfields does not have the dynamic implications of the re(land)scaping of drosscapes. The helpfulness of the two definitions towards stimulating reuse of redundant military sites is explored in this paper. Since 1990 more than 600,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites, including military sites, have been identified within American cities. It is difficult to quantify brownfields across Europe, where countries have no common legal definition for their redundant industrial land. However, the US can afford to leave a huge proportion of these sites fallow, while European countries, short of land, have a commitment to varying degrees to remediate their brownfields and reuse them, but disposal systems of state land have a major impact on land use outcomes. While free transfer to community interests and tax breaks are given to facilitate reuse are possible in the United States (US), other countries, such as the United Kingdom (UK) and Germany, require achievement of the highest price at maximum use value, with consequent effects on new land uses. These contrasts are a product of geography and history, but the US has exemplar transfer processes and fiscal regimes, particularly for its former military sites, which offer useful lessons to other countries. Best practice occurs in Europe, but the lack of local input, recompense and knowledge transfer mechanisms may mean that there is little potential for the collection and transmission of individual sites' experience into a model national or international process. Experience is drawn from examples on both sides of the Atlantic to demonstrate that the US and Europe have lessons to learn from each other on how to rise to a common challenge: the beneficial reuse of military brownfields.


We study the stochastic Multi-Armed Bandit (MAB) problem under worst-case regret and heavy-tailed reward distribution. We modify the minimax policy MOSS for the sub-Gaussian reward distribution by using saturated empirical mean to design a new algorithm called Robust MOSS. We show that if the moment of order <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$1+\epsilon $ </tex-math></inline-formula> for the reward distribution exists, then the refined strategy has a worst-case regret matching the lower bound while maintaining a distribution-dependent logarithm regret.


Analysis of 732 samples through 39 m of sediments from the ancient lake of Les Echets, 15 km northeast of Lyon, France, resulted in a long, continuous pollen diagram covering the interval from the Late Rissian to the Holocene. Above a complete Ecmian sequence, there are two Early Wiirmian temperate cycles (the older one including two climatic optima separated by a brief deterioration) with forest successions characterized by the spread of Carpinus at the end of the early temperate phase. These episodes, whose exact equivalents are found at Grande Pile in the Vosges area, are correlated with the Early Wiirmian trilogy Amersfoort-Brorup-Odderade of northern Europe. The absolute dates proposed for the Grande Pile sequence arc accepted, whereas those for the three northern European stratotypes are rejected. The Early Wiirmian is thus placed between 115,000 and 70,000 years B.P. In the Middle Wiirm, three undated intcrstadials arc characterized by a sparse forest cover. The long Late Wiirmian section is a characteristic feature of the sediment history at Les Echets. Very cold and arid conditions prevailed during this interval, without any unequivocal indications of intcrstadial episodes. A rise in Artemisia around 15,000 B.P. marks the transition from the Pleniglacial to the Oldest Dryas.


The study was designed to evaluate the effect of phytoestrogen rich foods to improve menopausal dietary quality in alleviating menopausal symptoms. A total of n=1000 women (aged 35–48 years) were scanned. Of these, a sub sample of n=30 women, based on their severity of menopause rating scale (was obtained from the Professor Heinemann from Center of Epidemiology and Health Studies in Berlin) were purposively enrolled. To these subjects nutrition health education (NHE) was provided for 2 months (reinforced at 15 days interval), focused on sources of phytoestrogen and importance of consumption of phytoestrogen rich foods. Before and after NHE intervention data was collected for serum level of gonadotropin hormones (FSH and LH) estimation and menopause rating scale. The study revealed that in urban Vadodara 17.1% had menopause related symptoms. The baseline data for women in perimenopause state (n=30) showed the 24% were obese, 20% were overweight, 8% were undernourished. After intervention daily consumption pattern of phytoestrogen foods has increased from 6.9% to 15.2%; and that for the fenugreek seeds increased from 12% to 24% and for sesame seeds increased from 11.5% to 48%. The menopause rating scale was reduced from 0–32 to 0–17 after intervention. The improvement in consumption pattern of phytoestrogen foods has effectively shown significant reduction in the severity of symptoms for forgetfulness, swelling and weight fluctuation (p=0.01). The results of serum gonadotropin estimation showed that mean FSH was reduced from 18.03±5.01 to 10.95±3.55 and mean LH from 19.95±4.92 to 14.1±4.55, though this was not up to a satisfactory level. Phytoestrogens being nonsteroidal compounds with estrogenic activity showed a significant reduction in alleviating menopausal symptoms.


Advances in the treatment of psychiatric illnesses have made it possible to use neuropharmacological drugs, in many instances, thus diminishing the need for somatic type of invasive treatment. However there still remains a core of patients with psychiatric illnesses for whom continued attempts at treatment with psychotherapy and drugs have not yielded good results. Such cases deserve consideration for treatment by other methods. One of the areas where such treatment is available for these intractable patients is in the field of functional neurosurgery. All psychiatrists are familiar with the history of prefrontal leucotomy proposed by Moniz in 1935 and later popularised by Freeman and Watts (1952). A large number of operations were performed in the forties and fifties of this century. Govindasami and Rao (1944) published the first series of leucotomies in India. Kolb (1953) reviewed 10,000 cases and f reported that the success of such surgery was dependent on the adequacy of the postoperative care and the attitude of relatives. Elithorm and Slater (1956) reported the views of relatives and of patients who had undergone prefrontal leucotomy. They found that in a series of 103 patients, 65 were happy to have had the operation, 11 regretted it, three thought it was a mistake and 23 were indifferent. Of 93 relatives interviewed, 72 thought the patient was better off. Miller (1967) in a ten-year followup of patients who underwent leucotomy for mental illness between 1948 and 1952 found that 6 1 % were working in the community. However it was obvious that, though about 60% of the patients improved, there were many who showed deterioration in their intellect and some who were reduced to a vegetable state. This led to a large scale condemnation of the type of surgery that produced such large lesions in the brain. Efforts were made to limit the ablation to only the effective and concerned areas of the brain. As early as 1949, Scoville devised modified leucotomies to obviate the unsatisfactory side effects. Sargant (1953) pleaded for confining the leucotomy to only the medial inferior quadrant of the frontal lobe. Lesions in this area divide the froiitohypothalamic connections which run just above area 13 (Knight and Tredgold 1955). Fulton (1947) suggested cingulumotomy as a form of restricted leucotomy (Ballantine et al. 1967). Since then our knowledge of the indications for cingulumotomy and the precision of our techniques have increased. Cingulumotomy for drug addiction was initiated and popularised in India by Balasubramaniam et al. (1974). With the advancement in our knowledge of the functional tracts in the human brain and with the advances that have taken place in the stereotactic techniques of brain surgery, it is now possible to place a small lesion in any desired area of the brain accurately and with great precision. This has proved to be a great benefit in the


This paper proposes to explore the educational process from the Alain Badiou ontology and theory of the subject. To do so, aims to analyze the educational situations not from the pedagogical triangle figure, but rather on the bases of a meeting of individuals with dual characterization: "equality" and "thinking". Thereby, incorporates alternative experiences to institutionalized education to the educational analysis, as the case of Jacotot, and the Jacques Ranciere's appropriation of it. Also, the article aims to characterize the concept of "subject" in education, from a disruption of distributional criteria associated to the alternative experiences and the Ranciere's critiques of the founding principles of modern education.


(1) Information Conveyance and ICT at Disaster-stricken Areas According to an interview survey conducted after the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on March 11, 2011, highly instantaneous broadcasting tools such as radio, TV, and disaster radio were used more frequently than other media for collecting tsunami and other information just after the earthquake's occurrence. Their evaluation concerning information-gathering media just after the earthquake suggest the necessity to secure multiple routes to transmit highly instantaneous information. At the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, mobile phones could not be used for a prolonged time due to network congestion, damage to base stations and back-up power fuel shortage, and disaster victims were left stranded. On the other hand, the significance of mobile phones as a lifeline was reaffirmed with their characteristics of being equipped with diverse functions including short-message and One-Seg-receiving functions. Based on such evaluation, the importance of securing multi-layered functions and power sources for mobile phones was pointed out in order to ensure information communication under all circumstances. During evacuation shelter life, mobile phones were the most needed ICT, followed by TVs and radios. Needs for the ICT environment are thus high in shelters and temporary housing. An environment is called for that enables disaster victims to collect and select necessary information by themselves.


STS-107 was a 16-day, dedicated research mission that included over 80 experiments, spanning many disciplines including biology, physics, chemistry, and earth sciences, including many student experiments. The mission was considered a resounding success until February 1, 2003, when tragedy struck the Columbia and her crew as she re-entered the atmosphere over Texas. During the mission, approximately one third of the overall data was obtained but much more was stored in the flight hardware systems. This paper documents a new set of STS-107 experiment objectives, a "mission after the mission," in which several experiment teams attempted, and, in many cases succeeded, to recover data from their flight hardware, now debris. A description of the data recovery efforts is included for these five experiment facilities: Combustion Module-2, Critical Viscosity of Xenon-2, Commercial Instrumentation Technology Associates Biomedical Experiments-2, Biological Research in Canisters-14, and Commercial Protein Crystal Growth.


The once-daily, long-acting, beta-2 agonist, indacaterol was initially released in Europe in 2009. On July 1st 2011 it was approved by the FDA for the United States under the trade name Arcapta Neoinhaler. There have been studies demonstrating Indacaterol as an efficacious alternative to twice daily bronchodilators such as formoterol (1). We reviewed the study published by Donahue et al. and examined how Indacaterol compared to the only other once daily long acting bronchodilator tiotropium. This was a large, two stage, randomized, controlled study performed between April, 2007 – August, 2008. The inclusion criteria were an age > 40, smoking history of > 20 pack/yrs and GOLD criteria COPD of moderate – severe COPD. The study was performed in 2 stages. A total of 2059 patients were included in the 1st stage which was performed to test dose efficacy. In this stage patients were randomized to receive either once daily indacaterol at doses of 75 ug, 150 ug, 300 ug or 600 ug, formoterol, tiotropium or placebo. At the end of this stage, two doses of indacaterol were selected for the second stage based on efficacy and safety. In the second stage, 1683 patients were randomized to once daily indacaterol 150 ug, 300 ug, tiotropium or placebo. Primary endpoints were FEV1 response against placebo at 24 hours, and again at 12 weeks. The secondary endpoint was to compare FEV1 at 12 weeks against tiotropium. A total of 1291 patients completed the study. The results showed there was a statistically significant increase in FEV1 at 24hrs and 12 weeks when compared to placebo. The study also demonstrated non-inferiority to tiotropium at 12 weeks with regards to improvement in FEV1 (see table below).


In this article, I challenge the scholarly consensus that suggests students only rarely forge meaningful connections between the genres they compose in different domains of writing (Reiff and Bawashi; Yancey, Robertson, and Taczak). I argue that the genre and domain categories composition researchers have imposed through data collection and analysis account for at least some of what has been identified as students' inability to articulate how they transfer prior knowledge. When four focus groups and ten college juniors and seniors were interviewed and prompted to compare and contrast their own writing from various contexts, they forged idiosyncratic, action-oriented metageneric connections that are not limited by domains. My data, illustrated here by close discussions of four of these students, suggests that this student-driven metagenre-invention process may have three benefits for students, teachers, and researchers: it enables students to access prior genre knowledge that they may not have otherwise considered relevant; it enables students to re-envision their goals as writers; and it offers researchers and teachers insight into ways we might foster transfer by attending to students' idiosyncratic metageneric connections.


This article probes the validity of the center-periphery relation as a model for studying postwar artistic exchange within the idiom of geometric abstraction. Focusing on Polish artist Henryk Stażewski's later work, the essay reflects on the complex temporal relationship between the avant-garde and the neo avant-garde in the context of transnationalism, exploring the potential of viewing US art through the eyes of a non-American artist.


Abstract In 1988 one of the least known members of the UN system, The Revolving Fund for Natural Resources Exploration, could celebrate its fifteenth anniversary. The Revolving Fund supplies financial and technical aid to developing countries in crucial moments of exploration and exploitation of mineral deposits and geothermal reserves. It supplies risk capital to high-risk ventures. Jan af Geijerstam and Robert Lilljequist have visited three projects of the Revolving Fund: the Ananea placer gold deposit in Peru, the Yuscaran area in Honduras and the geothermal project of St Lucia.


Johnson Matthey Technology Centre, Blounts Court, Sonning Common, Reading RG4 9NH, UK; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Analysis of the non-patent scientific literature can be used to reveal trends in platinum group metals (pgms) research. In this article, a study was carried out using the Chemical Abstracts database on key terms related to the pgms for the years 1998 and 2008, revealing an increase in research during this time period across most of the pgms both globally and especially in China. Platinum and ruthenium showed the most growth with areas such as nanotechnology and magnetic memory becoming particularly significant for ruthenium. In China, the fields of electrochemistry, and energy conversion technologies including fuel cells, were among those showing growth.


The purpose of this article is to study the relevance of ownership and top management characteristics in the implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. Specifically, it is proposed that ownership structure characterised by the presence of large shareholders is related to CSR activities and that this relationship may be mediated by the CEO management profile in accordance with the Agency–Stewardship approach. The results of mediation analysis on a sample of 101 non-listed companies in Spain show that those with a higher ownership concentration tend to be run by managers whose profile is closer to the steward than the agent model and to be more involved in CSR activities. Our findings also support the existence of the suggested mediating effect. This article goes further than existing research on owners and top managers as determinants of CSR and unveils new ways to address this topic empirically.


In Mali, the incidence of iron deficiency anemia during pregnancy is high. To help reduce this anemia, a project aimed at strengthening the knowledge of health professionals in perinatal nutrition and sensitize pregnant women for adequate iron/folate supplementation was initiated in 14 health centers in Bamako. This study evaluated the activity of this project during the first six months of its implementation. The knowledge of the professionals was assessed; the practices of midwives and matrons were observed during the check ups and registers were used to collect retrospective (6 months) and prospective (6 months) data on the number of nutrition education sessions held; the number of participants in these sessions and the quantity of iron/folate tablets sold. Results showed that nutrition education sessions increased from 13% to 40% of all health education sessions and the number of women who participated in these sessions increased from 2,016 to 11,079. The monthly mean of iron/folate tablets sold in the pharmacies of the centers to pregnant women increased from 20,030±3,764 a 38,005±2,412 (P <0.05) and midwives and matrons included nutrition counseling in their daily practice. This nutrition programme was mainstreamed easily in the routine activities of health services. The programme increased the knowledge of the personnel and the quality of services provided to pregnant women.


Background It is well known that sclera remodeling occurs during axial elongation in myopia under the control of growth hormone or its downstream effectors.The role of transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in myopia has been determined in previous studies.Bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) is one of members of the TGF-β superfamily,but if it plays an important role in the genesis and development of myopia is not completely clear.Objective This study was to identify the presence of BMPs in normal guinea pigs sclera and investigate the change of BMPs in the sclera in form-deprivation myopia (FDM) of guinea pigs.Methods Thirty young guinea pigs were randomized into normal control group and experimental group using table of random number.FDM models were established by occluding unilateral eyes of guinea pigs with a translucent lens for 14 days in the experimental group,and the fellow eyes served as the controls.Diopter of all eyes was tested by retinoscopy optometry,and ocular axial length was measured by A-sonography before and after modeling.Posterior sclera tissue of the animals was obtained on 14 days,and the relative expression level of BMPs mRNA and protein were assayed by reverse transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and Western blot.The use and care of the animals complied with ARVO Statement.Results On 14 days after occluding of unilateral eyes,the refraction diopter of the experimental group was (-0.48±0.51) D,and that of the fellow eyes was (3.22 ±0.34) D,showing a significant difference between them (t =-12.814,P =0.000).Also,a significant difference in the diopter was seen between the experimental group and normal control group ([-0.48±0.51]D vs.[2.97±0.70]D,t =-11.878,P=0.000).Axial length was (8.30 ± 0.05) mm in the experimental group,(8.11 ±0.06) mm in the fellow eyes and (8.06±0.06) mm in the normal control group,showing a significant increase in the experimental group compared with the fellow eyes and normal control group (t =7.230,P =0.000 ; t =9.084,P=0.000).The expressions of BMP-2 mRNA,BMP-4 mRNA,BMP-5 mRNA in posterior sclera were detected in the normal guinea pigs.Fourteen days after the induction of myopia,the relative levels of BMP-2 mRNA and BMP-5 mRNA in sclera were 0.41 ± 0.11 and 0.65 ± 0.06 in the experimental eyes,which were significantly lower than 0.62 ± 0.07 and 0.84 ± 0.03 in the fellow eyes with the descent range of 34.48% and 23.67% respectively (t=2.838,P=0.017; t=2.524,P=0.028).The relative values of BMP-2 protein and BMP-5 protein were 0.44±0.06 and 0.70±0.05 in the experimental eyes,and those of the fellow eyes were 0.61±0.05 and 0.82±0.03,showing significant decline in the experimental eyes with the lowing range of 23.42% and 15.21%,respectively (t =2.465,P =0.030;t =2.445,P=0.031).No significant differences were found in the expression of BMP-4 mRNA and protein in posterior sclera between the experimental eyes and the normal control eyes (mRNA:t =0.704,P=0.460;protein:t=0.987,P=0.365).Conclusions The expressions of the BMP-2 and BMP-5 in sclera down-regulate significantly in FDM eyes,which suggest that BMP-2 and BMP-5 participate in sclera remodeling during myopia induction.

Key words:
Transforming growth factor-β/bone morphogenetic protein;  Form-deprivation myopia;  Sclera


ABSTRACT Commercial films are important for deciding where to travel. Nonetheless, surprisingly little is known scientifically about which emotions tourist commercials trigger while watching them and how similarly or differently online vs. post hoc self-reported emotions affect travel intentions. In an experimental study, 142 tourists were randomly allocated into one of three groups. The first group was exposed to a tourist commercial film, the second group watched a different tourist commercial film and the third group saw a short amateur ski film. A subsample was also shown a popular comedy film. Online emotions were captured using FaceReader software that analyzed facial expressions. Self-reported emotions were measured with a questionnaire distributed immediately after each film. Results showed that tourist films elicited hardly any facial expressions at all, and that there was no correlation between those elicited and the same emotions measured with the post-film questionnaire. In contrast, the comedy film elicited higher levels of facial expressions and many of those emotions correlated significantly with those reported in the questionnaire afterwards. Finally, online more than self-reported emotions predicted future intentions to visit.


We report on the development of a distributed sensor system for strain measurement using Brillouin optical frequency domain analysis (BOFDA) in single-mode silica optical fibers. Our research aims at the application of the sensor system in flood protection. The sensing fibers are embedded into the soil body of river dikes, where they perform early detection of critical soil displacement. We present a BOFDA setup that performs strain measurements with a spatial resolution better than 3 meters over a length of 2 km. Its accuracy is verified by measurements on a calibrated strain profile as well as several laboratory tests that emulate the stressing of the optical fibers by soil movement. It is shown that the BOFDA approach offers feasible solutions to known critical issues of Brillouin sensing such as spectral broadening at high spatial resolution, digital filtering for enhancement of the dynamic range, and fluctuations of the Brillouin gain due to birefringence.


Despite the abundant legal literature and information available, several key issues of compliance, ranging from its own conceptual scope to its relationship to other similar disciplines and its fit within the criminal law system, remain unclear. This paper starts from the hypothesis that its eminently practical nature has led to contempt the conceptual approaches of this phenomenon. The purpose of this contribution is to clarify what is meant by criminal compliance and to explain its connections with economic criminal law and corporate self-regulation, as well as to analyze its compatibility with the principle of legality.


In order to research satellite attitude control system design and visual simulation, the simulation framework of satellite dynamics and attitude control using Simulink were established. The design of satellite earth-oriented control system based on quaternion feedback was completed. The 3D scene based on VR was created and models in the scene were driven by simulation data of Simulink. By coordinate transformation. successful observing the scene in inertial coordinate system, orbit coordinate system and body coordinate system. The result shows that application of simulation method of Simulink combined with VR in the design of satellite attitude control system field, has the advantages of high confidence level, hard real-time property, multi-perspective and multi-coordinate system observing the scene, and improves the comprehensibility and accuracy of the design.


The working paper looks at the history of Iranian media by and for women, culminating in cyberfeminism. The main focus are women's websites and cyber campaigns dedicated to improving women's rights, and how they helped to mobilize Iranian women's movements. There are two main case studies: The main case study on websites is the "Feminist School" as an important site for feminist discourse and women's movements managed from inside Iran. The main case study in relation to cyber campaigns is the "My stealthy freedom" campaign which is undertaken from outside Iran. Through these two case studies, the paper aims to answer the following questions: To what extent and how do these sites provide strategic opportunities for the Iranian women's movement to advocating gender equality and women's rights? And did the cyber campaign help to build coalitions between women's movements inside Iran and diaspora activism outside of Iran? The case studies are based on the author's earlier work on the history of the women' movement, interviews with leaders and directors of women's websites and directors of mobilizing cyber campaigns along with self-reflective and discourse analysis of the websites and campaigns. A biography of the author can be found here: (http://www.pen-deutschland.de/en/themen/writers-in-exile/ehemalige-stipendiaten/mansoureh-shojaee/)


First Person is a series of interviews with the first authors of a selection of papers published in Disease Models & Mechanisms, helping researchers promote themselves alongside their papers. Anaïs Kervadec and James Kezos are co-first authors on ' Multiplatform modeling of atrial fibrillation identifies phospholamban as a central regulator of cardiac rhythm', published in DMM. Anaïs conducted the research described in this article while a postdoctoral associate in Alexandre Colas' lab at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, and is now a scientist at Avidity Biosciences, La Jolla, CA, USA, utilising cutting-edge scientific approaches to discover molecular mechanisms of action, with the ultimate goal of developing novel therapies for patients in need. James is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Karen Ocorr at Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, La Jolla, CA, USA, utilising multimodel system approaches to investigate genetic, molecular and physiological mechanisms underlying cardiac development and disease.


Yttrium, lantanum and rare earth elements can be loaded with hydrogen inducing a metal–insulator transition and giving rise to optical switching from reflecting to transparent. We present angle-scanned photoemission experiments characterizing thin YbHx films grown on W(110) at room temperature. Hydrogen loading is performed in an ultrahigh-vacuum-compatible high pressure (1 bar) reaction cell. Via full-hemispherical X-ray photoelectron diffraction and low energy electron diffraction, it is demonstrated that these films grow well-ordered and single-crystalline. Ultraviolet photoemission reveals a gap for the dihydride phase confirming a transition from reflecting to transparent as seen by visual inspection. Ion implantation through additional H+ sputtering allows one to increase the hydrogen content to x ≈ 2.4.


To standardize business operation and improve sales management,a computer network based sales management information system is implemented in Locomotive and Car Institute,which integrates all separate sales management modules into one unified platform.Based on database and LAN techniques,the system is used to build a stable and efficient management framework,which can greatly improve the enterprise competitiveness.


1 Asst. Professor of Pathology, Tezpur Medical College, Assam Former Demonstrator, Department of Pathology, Gauhati Medical College, Guwahati, Assam 2 Director, Lab & Blood Bank, Rahman Hospitals Pvt. Ltd. Guwahati, Assam Former Prof. & HOD, Deptt. Of Pathology, Gauhati Medical College, Guwahati, Assam Corresponding Author Dr U.C. Dutta Abstract Background: Thyroid nodular lesions are common clinical problems worldwide for which surgical intervention was the treatment of choice in many cases. Thus, it is challenging for the pathologist to distinguish the neoplastic nodule from non neoplastic ones and further, categorize the malignant tumors wherever possible. Objective: The objective of this study was to cytological evaluation of FNAC based on the Bethesda thyroid FNA classification system in evaluation of thyroid nodules as well as correlate relevant cases them histopathologically. Materials and Methods: This study was conducted over 3 years. Fine needle aspiration was done by palpation or ultrasound guided, using a fine (25 G) needle, and cytological smears were stained by Giemsa, H&E and Papanicolaou stain. The cytological findings were classified according to the BSRTC. Results: Of the 154 cases examined, benign lesions were the most common (92.1%), followed by atypia/follicular lesion of undetermined significance (4.5 %),malignant (3.9%), suspicious for follicular neoplasm/follicular neoplasm (3.9%), and suspicious for malignancy (3.1%). Good cyto-histological correlation (94.4%) was observed. Only 4.5% smears were non-diagnostic. Conclusions: FNAC is a simple, safe and cost-effective diagnostic modality in the investigation of thyroid disease with high specificity and accuracy. Accurately evaluated, it can reduce surgical intervention in many patients. However, histopathological diagnosis of thyroid nodules is still the gold standard for thyroid lesions.


Objectives: This study was conducted to evaluate association between computerized neurobehavioral performance and blood lead concentration in Korean elementary school students. Methods: The subjects were 1,077 elementary school students of Seoul, Busan, Daegu and Gwangju. Blood lead concentration was measured and computerized neurobehavioral performance tests were performed. Results: Blood lead concentration of the subjects was in the range of 0.20 and 7.39 ㎍/㎗. The geometric mean of the subjects' blood lead concentration was 1.41 ㎍/㎗. As blood lead concentration increased, reaction time to the symbol digit tended to increase significantly and linearly. As a result of LOWESS(locally weighted scatterplot smoothing), increasing reaction time to the symbol digit was observed. Conclusions: As blood lead concentration under the CDC (center for disease control and prevention) reference value increased, reaction time to the symbol digit tended to increase. But, as the number of subjects over 3 ㎍/㎗ is small, it is difficult to make a definite conclusion. If confounding variables are controlled properly in a follow-up study, we can obtain a more definite conclusion.


This paper presents a novel feature set for steganalysis of motion vector-based steganography in H.264/AVC. First, the influence of steganographic embedding on the sum of absolute difference (SAD) and the motion vector difference (MVD) is analyzed, and then the statistical characteristics of these two aspects are combined to design features. In terms of SAD, the macroblock partition modes are used to measure the quantization distortion, and by using the optimality of SAD in neighborhood, the partition based neighborhood optimal probability features are extracted. In terms of MVD, it has been proved that MVD is better in feature construction than neighboring motion vector difference (NMVD) which has been widely used by traditional steganalyzers, and thus the inter and intra co-occurrence features are constructed based on the distribution of two components of neighboring MVDs and the distribution of two components of the same MVD. Finally, the combined features are enhanced by window optimal calibration, which utilizes the optimality of both SAD and MVD in a local window area. Experiments on various conditions demonstrate that the proposed scheme generally achieves a more accurate detection than current methods especially for videos encoded in variable block size and high quantization parameter values, and exhibits strong universality in applications.


The purpose of this paper is to investigate the existence of symmetric positive solutions for a class of fourth-order boundary value problem: , , , , where , . By using a monotone iterative technique, we prove that the above boundary value problem has symmetric positive solutions under certain conditions. In particular, these solutions are obtained via the iteration procedures.


This paper describes a laboratory investigation that simulates in situ treatment of leachate representative of that generated by a municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill. The objective of the investigation is to demonstrate that recycle of leachate and treatment within a leachate collection system (LCS) coupled with a nitrification reactor can provide significant decreases in leachate chemical oxygen demand (COD) and ammonia concentration. In the investigation five 15 cm (6 in.) diameter polyvinyl chloride (PVC) columns were packed with drainage media of various sizes consisting of natural gravel and (or) crushed concrete (washed and screened). Geotextiles were placed between the various media as filter–separators and to promote bacterial growth. Synthetic leachate was continuously fed into the top of each column and recirculated from the bottom at rates representative of operating field conditions. For each column, effluent was discharged to a nitrification reactor before recirculation. The tests were cond...


Harry Kantor, professor emeritus of political science at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and formerly professor at the University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida, 1952-1968, died unexpectedly at his home in Gainesville, Florida, on December 3 1 , 1985. He was author of the book, Patterns of Politics and Political Structures in Latin America (1969). He had directed a number of doctoral dissertations by students of Latin American governments, and his students in 1981 presented him with a festschrift edited by Howard Wiarda of the University of Massachusetts, entitled The Continuing Struggle for Democracy in Latin America. In 1982 Kantor delivered a principal address on Latin American governments at the White House Conference on Free Elections.


J. R. S. FINCHAM I953 omithine transaminase system alone is not adequate as an ornithine-synthesizing mechanism in vivo. Possibly one of the steps in the hypothetical part of the above cycle is deficient in these mutants. The conversion of A1-pyrroline-5-carboxylic acid to proline certainly occurs in E8ch. coli and Neurospora since either of these compounds will satisfy the growth requirements of certain mutant strains of both organisms. The E8ch. coli mutant 55-1 and the Neurospora crassa mutant 21863, both of which require proline specifically, are presumably unable to carry out this conversion. Taggart & Krakaur (1949) have concluded that L-proline is oxidized by the mammalian cyclophorase system by way of glutamic semialdehyde, and the reactions connecting these two compounds may be freely reversible.


The aim of research was a sanitary-and-hygienic estimation of drinking water quality in Novodvinsk for the period from 1994 to 2006. The basic water-user of town is ОАО «Arkhangelsk pulp-and-paper mill» which contribution to total amount of dumps from all enterprises makes more than 98 %. It is established, that average for all period and mid-annual values of the majority of investigated parameters of drinking water quality for the period did not exceed maximum permissible. However in separate years excess of maximum permissible concentration of the maintenance of iron, mercury and permanganat oxidability was observed. During research comparison of drinking water quality in different points of monitoring in the town has been lead. Statistically significant correlation between separate parameters of drinking water are revealed. It is necessary to note, that improvement of drinking water quality demands decrease in dumps from the industrial enterprises, perfection of system of clearing of dumps, replacements of water supply systems by pipes from a modern material, search of alternative sources of water supply.


Theoretical bases of decrease in power consumption of agricultural production are considered. Reserves of growth of efficiency of use of various kinds of power resources in agriculture are shown. The technique of an estimation of power efficiency of agrarian production is resulted.


A bioelectrochemical anaerobic digester for food waste was developed by installing an anode (−250 mV vs. Ag/AgCl) and a cathode (−550 mV vs. Ag/AgCl) inside a conventional lab-scale anaerobic digester. The performance of the bioelectrochemical anaerobic digester was investigated at different organic loading rates of 0.70-4.25 g VS/L.d. The bioelectrochemical anaerobic digester was rapidly stabilized within 25 days after start up, and at an organic loading rate of less than 1.97 g VS/L.d., state variables such as pH (7.0-7.8) and alkalinity (10-12 g/L as CaCO3) were very stable. The volatile fatty acids were maintained at 400-500 mg HAc/L with their main component being acetic acid (80%). At an organic loading rate of 1.97 g VS/L.d, the performance was significantly high in terms of the specific methane production rate (1.37 L CH4/L.d) and the methane content in the biogas (around 74%). The removal efficiencies of volatile solid and chemical oxygen demand were also as high as 80.1% and 85.1%, respectively, and the overall energy efficiency was 91.2%. However, the process stability deteriorated at an organic loading rate of 4.25 g VS/L.d.


The central circadian pacemaker in mammals, the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), is important for daily as well as seasonal rhythms. The SCN encodes seasonal changes in day length by adjusting phase distribution among oscillating neurons thereby shaping the output signal used for adaptation of physiology and behavior. It is well‐established that brief light exposure at the beginning and end of the day, also referred to as "skeleton" light pulses, are sufficient to evoke the seasonal behavioral phenotype. However, the effect of skeleton light exposure on SCN network reorganization remains unknown. Therefore, we exposed mice to brief morning and evening light pulses that mark the time of dawn and dusk in a short winter‐ or a long summer day. Single‐cell PER2::LUC recordings, electrophysiological recordings of SCN activity, and measurements of GABA response polarity revealed that skeleton light‐regimes affected the SCN network to the same degree as full photoperiod. These results indicate the powerful, yet potentially harmful effects of even relatively short light exposures during the evening or night for nocturnal animals.


Observing the world‐wide concentration and distribution of ozone is important for monitoring the evolution of the ozone layer, to derive the amount of UV, to provide ozone and UV forecasts and to improve weather forecasting. Monitoring ozone is the primary function of the Global Ozone Monitoring Experiment. Each day, space missions download, from space to ground, many raw images that are stored in ground stations located all over the world. How to process this data resource in real time — or almost real time — and effectively share spatial information among the remote sensing community is a pressing task. Grid computing can provide access to a globally distributed computing environment via authentication, authorization, negotiation and security. It can create a computational environment handling many PetaBytes of geographically distributed data, tens of thousands of heterogeneous computing resources and thousands of simultaneous users from many research institutions. It can provide a powerful tool for sharing both remote sensing data and processing middleware. This paper introduces the concept of grid computing, followed by its applications for atmospheric ozone retrieval. The special remote sensing data analysis note for the Spatial Information Grid (SIG) is addressed in detail. A series of remotely sensed image processing middleware is shown. Experience shows that near‐real‐time products, such as maps of ozone, from the processing and analysis of remotely sensed data are possible.


The article highlights the results of a theoretical study of the educational process of training students of the specialty 014.10 Secondary education (labor training and technologies), namely, the formation of technological competence, as an important element of professional competence. The components, established pedagogical conditions, selected pedagogical methods and criteria for formation and establishment of the technological competence formation level among the students of higher education have been determined.


It isn't likely that any experienced simulationist believes that simulation is a stand-alone means of decision making. It is not. It is one tool of many available to the decision maker. And the use of simulation for decision making will be strongly influenced by other things, many of them of human origin. However, because it is the model and the simulation itself with which we are usually concerned, we often talk--and write--as though the results of simulation studies are derived in a completely objective manner, and as though the decision maker will, or should, treat them as being free from personal bias.


Features of the book include: *Over 36 individual 2 colour maps *Each map is accompanied by a facing page of concise explanatory text *The maps have been carefully selected to provide a comprehensive and accurate coverage of all the major themes in African history from AD 1000 to the present day *Maps and texts are presented chronologically to help students following their own national history syllabuses *The maps have been expertly drawn to ensure maximum clarity and ease of understanding


The concept of \([r,s,t]\)-colourings was recently introduced by Hackmann, Kemnitz and Marangio [A. Kemnitz, M. Marangio, \([r,s,t]\)-Colorings of Graphs, Discrete Math., to appear] as follows: Given non-negative integers \(r\), \(s\) and \(t\), an \([r,s,t]\)-colouring of a graph \(G=(V(G),E(G))\) is a mapping \(c\) from \(V(G) \cup E(G)\) to the colour set \(\{1,2,\ldots ,k\}\) such that \(|c(v_i)-c(v_j)| \geq r\) for every two adjacent vertices \(v_i\), \(v_j\), \(|c(e_i)-c(e_j)| \geq s\) for every two adjacent edges \(e_i\), \(e_j\), and \(|c(v_i)-c(e_j)| \geq t\) for all pairs of incident vertices and edges, respectively. The \([r,s,t]\)-chromatic number \(\chi_{r,s,t}(G)\) of \(G\) is defined to be the minimum \(k\) such that \(G\) admits an \([r,s,t]\)-colouring. In this paper, we determine the \([r,s,t]\)-chromatic number for paths.


In this syndrome, the axillary nerve is compressed where is passes through the lateral axillary hiatus which is also known as the quadrangular or quadrilateral space. This can cause weakness of the deltoid, especially when tested above 90° or in a throwing position. An applied kinesiology protocol for testing and treating this syndrome is described for cases that are due to neurapraxia, or axontemesis.


A vital general condition for conurbations is detectable, continued growth in the number of residents and the working population. What is needed is an integrated concept with a comprehensive catalog of measures concerning structural aspects of residential accommodation, planning, administration, and political regulation, pricing, and finance. There is a need for investment and technical measures that are mutually supportive and all aim in the same direction. The questions posed in an integrated traffic investigation about environmentally oriented concepts for residential structures with regard to the Greater Stuttgart area are examined in two scenarios and compared with those of a Trend scenario. In both scenarios, various measures as part of an integrated traffic infrastructure concept are examined with and without concepts for charging road usage fees (so-called road pricing). To validate the effects of the examined concepts, a complex traffic and effect model was developed and calibrated in the study area. The analyses based on this model demonstrate that road pricing can contribute to a substantial reduction in the existing overloads in the road network. Moreover, road pricing demands considerable extension of the public transport network and comprehensive integration of roads and public transport through multifunctional P + R terminals. It also necessitates realignment of the road network. The studies relating to the integrated transport concept also revealed substantial future demand for research, in particular with regard to knowledge and impacts of new measures relating to pricing and organizational policy on the traffic and location behavior of the population and companies.


In this paper, a new device of FACTS family named as amalgam power flow controller (APFC) is proposed. APFC is the amalgamation of electromagnetic and voltage source based converter devices. The key feature of the model is that it inherits the characteristics of both devices. APFC is an economical FACTS device, which not only controls power flow in a network but also increases the reliability and security of power systems. This paper also proposes a new hybrid approach based modeling technique to develop a mathematical model of APFC. Converter losses of APFC are also incorporated in mathematical modeling. The feasibility and convergence characteristics of the proposed APFC are investigated using benchmark IEEE 30-bus and 118-bus test systems.


Most pesticides applied in the United States have labels that include language prohibiting application during temperature inversions. This restriction, which is well known and is followed by aerial pesticide applicators, has more recently become a focus for ground pesticide applicators. This is partially due to the recent introduction of genetically engineered soybean and cotton with tolerance to dicamba herbicide. Dicamba has been utilized for more than 50 years to control weeds in grain crops, such as corn. In 2017, dicamba was approved for use in dicamba-tolerant soybean and cotton. In 2017 and 2018, dicamba movement onto nontarget plants was substantial. As based on patterns of injury to nontolerant crops and time of applications, some of which occurred during the evening, inversions were likely contributors to off-target movement. Historically, most research on surface temperature inversions and pesticides focused on aerial applications. Research presented here focused on development of inversion profiles at atmospheric heights relevant to ground applications, which typically occur 46–107 cm above ground level (AGL). During the 2015–17 soybean growing seasons, data were collected at three heights AGL (46, 168, and 305 cm) in three soybean-producing regions of Missouri to characterize inversions. Over 600 inversions were characterized; all were nocturnal in nature. Inversions typically lasted overnight at two locations; duration varied at the third. The largest temperature difference recorded was 6°C. This research has resulted in real-time inversion monitoring that is available online to applicators (http://agebb.missouri.edu/weather/realTime/maps/index.php#temp_inversion), and the data generated can be utilized to improve accuracy of low-level inversion forecasting models.


The subject of the present diploma thesis is the presentation of the modern trends on the auditing of public financial management in Greece, especially in the field of external public financial audit held by the Hellenic Court of Audit which functions as a guardian of the governmental integrity during the implementation of governmental fiscal policy, and the examination of the challenges that lie ahead in the effort of the Supreme Court of Audit to comply with the new International Auditing Standards. With regard to the applied methodology, two approaches were combined. On one hand the ''institutional approach'' investigates the existing institutions, legislative frame and procedures. On the other hand the ''comparative approach'' contrasts the current status quo with the European and international system of public financial auditing and the new international standards. The essay reaches to the conclusion that public financial control is inspired henceforth by a radical philosophy to which the Hellenic Supreme Court of Audit attempts to adapt in order to achieve its institutional objective of accompanying the law on the implementation of the budget and guarantee sound financial management audit. However the next steps towards this direction should be based on systematic programming and careful planning.


Polio viral proteinase 2A performs several essential functions in genome replication. Its inhibition prevents viral replication, thus making it an excellent substrate for drug development. In this study, the three-dimensional structure of 2A protease was determined and optimized by homology modelling. To predict the molecular basis of the interaction of small molecular agonists, docking simulations were performed on a structurally diverse dataset of poliovirus 2A protease (PV2Apr°) inhibitors. Docking results were employed to identify high risk missense mutations that are highly damaging to the structure, as well as the function, of the protease. Intrinsic disorder regions (IDRs), drug binding sites (DBS), and protein stability changes upon mutations were also identified among them. Our results demonstrated dominant roles for Lys 15, His 20, Cys 55, Cys 57, Cys 64, Asp 108, Cys 109 and Gly 110, indicating the presence of various important drug binding sites of the protein. Upon subjecting these sites to single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis, we observed that out of 155 high risk SNPs, 139 residues decrease the protein stability. We conclude that these missense mutations can affect the functionality of the 2A protease, and that identified protein binding sites can be directed for the attachment and inhibition of the target proteins.


The fluorescent orange color of this Caribbean Great Star Coral comes from symbiotic bacteria that live inside the sea creature. Michael Lesser, a zoology research professor at the University of Ne...


Because the snowplow operator's tasks are predominately visual, warnings presented visually may interfere with critical tasks. Auditory warnings could reduce visual load if they are meaningful, effectively signal danger, and are not annoying. We conducted a driving simulation experiment and a field test to investigate using auditory icons as side- and forward-collision avoidance warnings. Participants in the experiment drove on simulated snow-covered roads in 105-meter (344 feet) visibility conditions. Analysis of data from 28 participants showed the side-collision avoidance warnings were equally effective; lane change response times were approximately 1.1 seconds for both a single- and double-beep car horn warning, although participants said the double-beep warning sounded more urgent. Analysis of the forward-collision avoidance warning data, obtained from 32 participants, showed the mean response time with a warning consisting of two bursts of screeching-tire sounds was significantly faster than with a single screech warning, with both warnings significantly faster than the mean time obtained when no warning was given. The poorest collision outcomes occurred with no warning. Outcomes were better with the single-screech warning, and better still with the double-screech warning (which the participants said sounded more urgent than the single-beep warning). In the field test, six of seven snowplow operators preferred the double-beep side-collision warning. We recommend an auditory icon sounding like the double-beep of a car horn be used as a side-collision avoidance warning and an auditory icon sounding like two successive bursts of screeching tires should be used as a forward-collision avoidance warning.


A center-fed circularly polarized (CP) antenna with zero phase center is proposed in this paper. The proposed antenna can work in the BeiDou satellite navigation system (CNSS) B1-band (1561.098 ± 2.046MHz), and it has been fabricated and tested. The center-fed antenna uses a square microstrip patch with four slots, and an annular slot is embedded into the patch to achieve the CP radiation. The structure is symmetric and it has a good zero-phase center. The measured -10dB impedance bandwidth is 116.5MHz, 7.46%, and the simulated 3dB axial ratio bandwidth is 26.05MHz, 1.67%. The peak radiation gain is 4.32dB at the B1-band, and it has a good upward radiation pattern. The measured results agree well with the simulation ones, that verifies the correctness of the theoretical analysis.


To develop a novel, single-shot, non-destructive method of determining the time structure of the relativistic electron bunch length in the sub-picosecond resolution. Using an electro-optical flash (EO-flash) detection technique, we will demonstrate that the electron bunch length can be converted from time to spatial information. An additional task added for the continuation is advanced topics of particle acceleration in vacuum with high-power lasers.


The article is devoted to Polish deanthroponymic oikonyms created from the name Stanisław and its derivatives. The aim of the paper was to show the frequency of one of the most popular male names and its numerous derivative forms in place names, both the oldest ones, created by the end of the 16 th century, and newer ones, created later in the 18 th century, and especially in the 19 th and in the first half of the 20 th centuries. The name Stanisław was the basis of few (approx. 10) toponyms (patronymic with the suffix -ice, possessive with -j-, -ów, -owo) included in the oldest naming layer. Many more medieval oikonyms (about 30) have as their basis the derivatives of the name Stanisław (Stan/Stań, Staniek, Stańko, Stasz(o), Staś, Stanisz, Stachel, Stanięta, *Stanom(a), *Stanim(a), *Staniątek). These are possessive names with suffixes -ew, -ewo, -ów, -owo, -owa, -in, -ówka, patronymic names ending with -owice, -ewice, -ęta and plural names Stany, Staniątki. The 18 th century bestowals refer to 9 place names from the name Stanisław and about 9 from its derivatives, while approx. 70 oikonyms with a full name in the base and approx. 20 toponyms motivated by shortened form of compound name come from the 19 th and 20 th centuries. Many of names are certainly related to the cult of St. Stanislaus. Among them there are also names commemorating King Stanisław August Poniatowski and founders of settlements. Over a dozen toponyms were officially introduced after 1945 to replace German or Germanized names with Polish ones.


Since John Hilton (1873), an anatomist physician and British surgeon, joint sensitive innervation had been studied. Understanding this anatomy allows neuroablative joint denervation (NJD) through percutaneous access to the treatment of joint pain in cases of osteoarthritis and shoulder capsulitis, for examples. The shoulder has a rich sensory innervation from mixed nerves, with motor components. Thus, for the NJD the approach should be guided to the sensitive branches of the nerves, avoiding motor sequelae. Suprascapular (SSN), axillary (AN) and lateral pectoral (PLN) nerves are responsible for 98% of sensory innervation of the glenohumeral joint, then represent the most important anatomical target in NDJ procedure.


The joining of Al-Fe nanoparticles (NPs) by femtosecond (fs) laser irradiation is reported in this paper. Fe and Al NPs were deposited on a carbon film in vacuum via fs laser ablation. Particles were then exposed to multiple fs laser pulses at fluences between 0.5 and 1.3 mJ/cm2. Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) and Electron Diffraction X-ray observations indicate that Al and Fe NPs bond to each other under these conditions. For comparison, bonding of Al to Al and Fe to Fe NPs was also investigated. The nanostructure, as observed using TEM, showed that individual Al NPs were monocrystalline while individual Fe NPs were polycrystalline prior to joining and that these structures are retained after the formation of Al-Al and Fe-Fe NPs. Al-Fe NPs produced by fs laser joining exhibited a mixed amorphous and crystalline phase at the interface. Bonding is suggested to originate from intermixing within a region of high field intensity between particles.


This article introduces the safety culture training process and its effects in China University of M ining and Technology( Beijing) Safety Management Research Center. Safety culture training processes mainly includes training needs su-r vey-making training plan-implementing the training programs-training assessment. Training needs survey include organizational support, organizational analysis, job analysis, personnel analysis and the necessity of training; training plans includes identifying the training target, object, content, form, teacher, time, location and safety culture quantitative measurement preparation; implementing training programs include the original safety culture quantitative measuring-training-measurement-training-measuring again; training evaluation includes knowing about the reactions of trainees, safety culture assessment of the staff before and after training and measurement of enterprise operating performance change. Since 2007,safety culture training for trainees of 38 enterprises has been conducted, safety culture has also been quantitatively measured, the fractional increases to a maximum of 12. 3 points, an average of 4 point and it increases significantly.


Citation: Jin, C., & Lin, C. D. (2016). Spatially coherent high-order harmonics generated at optimal high gas pressure with high-intensity one- or two-color laser pulses. Physical Review A, 94(4), 6. doi:10.1103/PhysRevA.94.043804


Abstract Computational fluid dynamics results are presented providing information on the influence of multiple injection strategy on fuel vaporization characteristics under conditions typical of direct injection, turbocharged, high-speed automotive diesel engines. The fuel is assumed to be injected from a high-pressure common rail injector nozzle. Focus is given on the number of multiple injections and dwell-time on the evaporating spray plume development. Comparison between the different cases is performed in terms of liquid and vapour penetration curves, the spatial distribution of the air—fuel equivalence ratio and the fuel vapour spatial distribution difference between the cases considered. The results confirm that, under the operating conditions investigated, the liquid penetration length, known to freeze at a distance from the nozzle exit, is not significantly affected by the injection strategy, while vapour penetration follows the time-shift of the dwell-time. Longer dwell-times retard the diffusion of the vapour in the carrier gas. Although injection of small fuel quantities prior to the main pulse does not affect the liquid penetration, it contributes up to 5 per cent more stoichiometric fuel vapour present in the area of observed auto-ignition sites. Post injection and splitting of the main injection in two pulses modify the vapour distribution by creating two spatially separated fuel-rich zones.


This chapter on Pasteuria spp. highlights Metchnikoff's thinking that Pasteuria spp. was able to undergo as many as five longitudinal divisions at the same time, giving it a characteristic fan shape. Germination of P. penetrans endospores occurs about 6 to 8 days after the endospore-encumbered nematode enters the plant root and begins to feed. The germ tube emerges through a central opening in the basal attachment layer and penetrates the cuticle of the nematode. After entering the hypodermal tissue of the nematode, the germ tube develops into a filamentous microcolony consisting of a dichotomously branched septate mycelium. Close scrutiny of the vegetative stage reveals its bacterial nature. The current inability to axenically cultivate these bacteria is not from any lack of trying. Even Metchnikoff mentioned his attempts at cultivation with gelatin, glycerin gels, and other nutrient media. The diversity in fine structures of sporangia has been exploited as a means of separating the several species of Pasteuria found in various nematode hosts. The emergence and increase in population of a natural control agent of nematodes are most probable under annual monocropping or in perennial crops. The examples of nematode-suppressive soils that have been discussed in this chapter appear to support the theory. Pasteuria spp. appear to have characteristics that make them ideal control agents for protecting crops against several plant-parasitic nematodes.


Multi-hop device-to-device (D2D) communications play an important role in expanding D2D coverage. In this paper, we study a relay-based and network-coding-assisted (in particular, XOR coding) multi-hop D2D communication system. In the system, toward jointly considering the impact of interference and network traffic conditions on the quality of D2D communications, various channel fading models and traffic models are investigated, and the packet loss probability of D2D links is meticulously computed using these models. With the packet loss probability of D2D links, the general closed-form expressions of end-to-end packet loss probability (E2EPLP) of the system with the presence (or absence) of XOR coding are subsequently derived. Our experiments reveal that both the number of relays and the mechanism of XOR coding can affect the system performance. Specifically, the increase in the number of relays will lower the overall system performance (e.g., an increase in the E2EPLP and end-to-end completion time, and a decrease of the end-to-end rate may follow as a result). On the other hand, although the presence of XOR coding unfortunately raises the system E2EPLP, it can effectively improve the end-to-end completion time and end-to-end rate. It is our belief that the analytical approach proposed in this paper and the results found in our work can be useful to peer studies in the context of applying network coding in multi-hop D2D networks.


NMDA receptor (NMDA-R) antagonists are extensively used as schizoph- renia models due to their ability to evoke positive and negative symptoms as well as cog- nitive deficits similar to those of the illness. Likewise, 5-HT 2A receptor agonists display hallucinogen actions resembling psychotic symptoms. Overall, these drugs are useful mo- dels of schizophrenia for the screening of new antipsychotic drugs. However, the cellular and network elements involved in these actions are poorly known. Data obtained by several groups in recent years indicate that the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and anatomically related areas play a major role in these actions. This paper summarizes data obtained by the authors supporting that a) NMDA-R antagonists (phencyclidine -PCP-, dizocilpine -MK-801-) and 5-HT 2A agonists (DOI) alter the function of PFC in a similar fashion, and b) antipsy- chotic drugs exert their therapeutic action, at least in part, by normalizing hyperactivity states in PFC. While the actions of NMDA-R antagonists may involve blockade of these receptors in PFC and subcortical areas, that of antipsychotic drugs, in particular atypical drugs like clozapine, appear to be mediated essentially by a local action in PFC. These re- sults help to better understand the neurobiological basis of the action of pharmacological models of schizophrenia and the mode of action of antipsychotic drugs.


The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council put forward a policy goal that 10 million affordable houses would be planed to be constructed in 2011 and at the end of the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan",36 million affordable houses would be constructed,which draws extensive attention.Among them,source of capital used to construct affordable houses becomes the focus.The paper sets Beijing as the case to analyze the capital demand and supply of constructing affordable houses and estimates the capital gap of public rental houses construction in Beijing.On the summarizing the experience of financing modes of affordable houses in America,Germany,Japan and Singapore,the paper puts forward the policy suggestion on perfecting financing system of affordable houses in China.


Objective To assess the diagnostic performance of contrast-enhanced ultrasound in characterization of focal liver lesions after liver transplantation in comparison with baseline ultrasound.Methods Sixty-eight patients with focal liver lesions after liver transplantation were examined by baseline and contrast-enhanced ultrasound.Two independent investigators with different experience reviewed the images of baseline and contrast-enhanced ultrasound.The diagnostic performances were evaluated using sensitivity,specificity and accuracy.The interobserver agreement was analyzed.Results The sensitivity and accuracy for both investigatorswith different experience improved significantly after reviewing contrast-enhanced ultrasound(all P<0.05).There was greater improvement in inexperienced investigator compared with experienced investigator.A better interobserver agreement was achieved after reviewing contrast-enhanced ultrasound(к=0.632 at baseline ultrasound versus к=0.931 at contrast-enhanced ultrasound).Conclusions Contrast-enhanced ultrasound improves the diagnostic performance in focal liver lesions for discrimination between malignancy and benignity after liver transplantation.

Key words:
Ultrasonography; Microbubbles; Liver transplantation; Liver diseases


Problem statement: The main task of this study was finding out an eff ective algorithm in order to match two fingerprints taken from database . The fingerprint identification techniques used in a small database in order to find out an effective al gorithm to develop the accuracy in matching process . Higher-level application of this proposed algorithm was determined. Approach: The main objectives in this study were the construction of fingerprint database and matching algorithm for comparison of two fingerprints. Results: In this study, Visual C ++ with the library software Open CV implemented the proposed algorithm. The main program operated in two distinct modes. Conclusion: Fingerprint identification was that utilized the frequency and orientation information available in a fingerprint. The technique exploited both local and global character istics in a fingerprint image to verify an identity .


A new training paradigm, called the "comparison paradigm," is introduced for tasks in which a network must learn to choose a preferred pattern from a set of n alternatives, based on examples of human expert preferences. In this paradigm, the input to the network consists of two of the n alternatives, and the trained output is the expert's judgement of which pattern is better. This paradigm is applied to the learning of backgammon, a difficult board game in which the expert selects a move from a set of legal moves. With comparison training, much higher levels of performance can be achieved, with networks that are much smaller, and with coding schemes that are much simpler and easier to understand. Furthermore, it is possible to set up the network so that it always produces consistent rank-orderings.


The purpose of this study was to compare and analyze differences in fetal heart rate (FHR) parameters during pregnancy, and pregnancy outcomes between fetuses of normal and mothers with partial abruptio placenta. We surveyed all non-stress test (NST) data acquired using a computerized FHR analysis system at Hanyang University Hospital between 2003 and 2010, and selected 56 cases of normal pregnancy that were matched to abruptio placenta cases for gestational age (abruptio placenta vs normal; mean (range), 37.10 (31-42) vs 37.11 (31-42) weeks), rate of signal loss (3.40 (0.0-9.0) vs 3.41 (0.0-9.0) %), and mean FHR (144.20 (136-150) vs 144.20 (133-151) bpm). The average abruption rate was 23% (SD=13.4; 10%=4, 20%=1, 30%=4 and 50%=1 case), and all cases were identified after delivery. NSTs were performed between 31 and 42 weeks of gestation. Perinatal outcomes were compared, and FHR parameters analyzed using a linear method and a non-linear method using approximate entropy (ApEn). Perinatal outcomes and NST parameters showed no significant difference between two groups. However, only the ApEn of the partial abruptio placenta group was significantly lower than the normal group (mean±SD, 0.74±0.16 vs 0.89±0.12; 95% CI, 0.62-0.85 vs 0.86-0.93, p=0.0007). ApEn is a useful tool for detecting abnormal FHR patterns that are not found in patients with partial abruptio placenta using conventional linear analysis.


Saskia Sassen's concept of the 'global city' has evolved in a complex relation with other urban, economic and social students that deal with these strategic sites of the contemporary global urban architecture. This multidisciplinary set of authors could be metaphorically grouped within what John Friedmann described as the 'invisible college' of world city researchers. In light of this tradition, the global city is described here in its various theoretical guises, in a chronological account from the early 1900s roots to present-day formulations, in order to establish an eclectic understanding that can speak beyond the college, opening the dialogue on globalisation and cities beyond urban studies. In this sense, the essay describes the 'global city' as the status of connectedness to the global attained by some world cities, which rests upon an urban entrepreneurial spirit that situates these metropolises as the strategic hinges of globalisation.


As with improved fuel savings and further preventing metal fatigue has excellent heat resistance and excellent lubricating oil composition, to provide transmission lubricating oil composition, comprising: comprising (A) 50 to 97% by mass kinematic viscosity at 100 deg.] C of from 1.5 to 3.5mm2 / s, a pour point of -25 deg.] C, a viscosity index of 105 or more,% CP value of more than 85,% CN value of 2 to 20,% CA values and 3 the following lubricating base oil a mineral oil-based base oil and the kinematic viscosity of (B) 3 to 10% by mass of 2 to 100 deg.] C 10mm2 / s monoesters based base oil; (C) a phosphorus content of the composition press the phosphorus atom content in terms of such an amount becomes 250 to 350 mass ppm phosphites; and (D) an amount of a boronated ashless 30 to 120 ppm by weight with respect to the total amount of the lubricating oil composition in terms of the boron atom content by powder. In the oil composition, the amount (mass%) boron atom ratio (mass%) of the phosphorus atom (i.e., B / P) is 0.07 to 0.42 and a kinematic viscosity of the composition at 100 deg.] C of 2.5 to 4.0 mm2 / s.


Abstract : The free flight technique was extended to low density flows to measure sphere drag at approximately Mach 15 over a free stream Knudsen number range of .0027 to .25. Comparison of the data obtained with those of other investigators indicates that: (a) The free flight technique is useful for shock tunnel measurements of aero dynamic forces in non-continuum flows. (b) There is little to choose from between free stream Knudsen and Reynold's Numbers, and Reynold's Number (at conditions behind normal shock) as a correlating variable for experimental sphere drag coefficients. (c) The parameter CD - CDi/CDfm - CDi yields a useful correlation of sphere drag over a wide range of Mach numbers, Reynolds number and wall Temperatures.


This paper presents a method for estimating compressor stall margin and the results of applying the estimation technique to an axial compressor rig. Stall margin estimation is accomplished through the use of a compressor stability detection parameter called the "correlation measure." The correlation measure captures the periodicity of the pressure in the rotor tip region of the compressor. The downcrossing frequency of the correlation measure across some preset threshold is measured while operating the compressor rig at various steady-state points along the design speed characteristic line. These measurements are used to generate a relationship with stall margin as a function of downcrossing frequency. The estimation technique is evaluated by applying it while dynamically ramping the operating point of the compressor up the design speed line towards surge. A brief investigation on the effects of inlet distortions on the correlation measure-based estimation system is also given.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


The publication presents scientific and methodological approaches to the analysis of NCTS as a European digital practice of common transit in Ukraine and the study of its implementation in the IT tools of customs authorities. The process of Ukraine's accession to the Convention on the Common Transit Procedure was considered and such stages of NCTS implementation as: pilot project, national and international application were determined. The differences in filling out international transit declarations compared to the national application are identified and the elements of the joint transit regime interpreted in the NCTS system are highlighted. The functional interaction of customs: «departure», «transit» and «destination» with the subjects of the procedure and carriers in the NCTS system was studied. Prospective opportunities from simplifications in customs procedures obtained as a result of the implementation of NCTS for Ukrainian traders have been identified. It has been proven that NCTS is an IT tool in the customs practice of EU countries, which is implemented in the software of the customs authorities of Ukraine for the purpose of joint management and control over the transit of goods and vehicles. Its implementation ensures speeding up and increasing the efficiency of basic and related transit procedures, prevents fraud and smuggling by traders.


The ability to suppress space charge accumulation at high electric fields makes nanocomposites attract significant research interest as potential insulation materials in high-voltage direct current cable development. At present, the deep trap introduced by nanoparticles is frequently applied to be responsible for the observed space charge suppression in nanocomposites. However, the experimental results that support deep-trap formation have not been rigorously examined. We therefore propose herein a simple and more direct approach based on isothermal surface potential decay combined with pulsed electro-acoustic measurements to verify the presence of deep traps in silica-based blend polyethylene nanocomposites. The results indicate that the deep traps are indeed introduced by filling nanosilica and the space charge suppression observed in the nanocomposite with a low loading ratio is caused by deeply trapped charges in the sub-surface region of specimens.The ability to suppress space charge accumulation at high electric fields makes nanocomposites attract significant research interest as potential insulation materials in high-voltage direct current cable development. At present, the deep trap introduced by nanoparticles is frequently applied to be responsible for the observed space charge suppression in nanocomposites. However, the experimental results that support deep-trap formation have not been rigorously examined. We therefore propose herein a simple and more direct approach based on isothermal surface potential decay combined with pulsed electro-acoustic measurements to verify the presence of deep traps in silica-based blend polyethylene nanocomposites. The results indicate that the deep traps are indeed introduced by filling nanosilica and the space charge suppression observed in the nanocomposite with a low loading ratio is caused by deeply trapped charges in the sub-surface region of specimens.


PURPOSE: A bracket for the installation of construction subsidiary materials is provided to reduce material costs and increase compatibility by corresponding to the various shapes of an upper structure. CONSTITUTION: A bracket for the installation of construction subsidiary materials comprises a main beam(110), an upper support beam(120), and a lower support part(130). The main beam is mounted on a building support(10). The main beam supports the upper support beam and the lower support part. The upper support beam is hinge-coupled with the upper part of the main beam. The upper support beam supports the lower part of the upper structure. One side of the lower support part is hinge-coupled with the lower part of the main beam. The other side of the lower support part is hinge-coupled with the upper support beam.


Omeprazole, at present the only substituted benzimidazole in clinical evaluation for the treatment of acid related diseases, shows a novel mechanism of action. It interferes with the proton pump in the secretory membrane of the parietal cell, the H+K+ATPase, an enzyme unique to the gastric mucosa (1). Due to its potent and long lasting antisecretory activity, omeprazole may be used in a once daily regimen for ulcer therapy. Omeprazole is the only anti-secretory drug known to reduce gastric acidity during both the day and the night, by almost 100% and 85% respectively (2, 3). While very high 14-day healing rates can be achieved in duodenal ulcer disease (4–6), nothing is known of the efficacy of omeprazole in the treatment of gastric ulcer.


Access to health care is a key health policy issue faced by countries in the WHO European Region and Serbia is not an exception. There is increasing concern that financial and economic crisis may have delay progress regarding the performance of the Serbian health system. While substantial development has been experienced by the Serbian health system since 2000, we analyse whether barriers to health care access exist in the country and the underlying causes.

 We combine quantitative and qualitative methods to assess the accessibility of the Serbian health system. We use the latest data available both at national (e.g. National Health Survey) and European (EUSILC) level to understand whether barriers to access exist and the underlying causes. On the qualitative side, we analyse the different policies implemented by the Serbian government to improve the accessibility of the health system in the last decade, identifying the challenges ahead for the country.

 We find that, in 2018, 5.8% of the Serbian population reported unmet need for medical care due to costs, travel distances or waiting lists, well above the EU28 average and much higher than in neighbouring countries. Financial constraints are reported to be the main reason for unmet needs for medical care. Long waiting times also impede the accessibility of health services in Serbia.

 Serbia has a comprehensive universal health system with free access to health care, however, some vulnerable groups, such as those living in poverty or Roma people in settlements, have more barriers in accessing health care. It is expected that Serbia will continue to develop policies focused on reducing barriers to accessing health care and improving the efficiency of the health system, supported by international organisations and in the context of the EU accession negotiations.

 Some vulnerable groups have more barriers in accessing adequate care in Serbia. National initiatives are in place to increase access to the health system but there is scope for further work.