In EDM, the thermal energy of the discharge causing material erosion which is supplied by the power source unit as electrical input. The discharge energy may be recognized by the current and voltage pulses on time transient discharge characteristic curve (V-I curve) during machining. However, the plasma resistance is very short for a smaller interelectrode gap in micro-EDM compared to the impedance of the circuit. Hence, direct probe-based measurement of current and voltage pulses may include the voltage drop across the stray impedance which causes variation in its exact value. Here, a modeling-based approach may help to analyze the energy interaction with the interelectrode gap. This article presents a theoretical modeling approach to predict the interelectrode gap based on gap voltage, gap current, and plasma characteristics. Initially, a simplified two-dimensional heat conduction equation (cylindrical form) was studied to understand the asymmetry of heat flow in Gaussian distribution. A numerical analysis of a single discharge pulse was considered by applying some basic assumptions. A numerical model has been developed to predict gap distance and MRR considering gap voltage, gap current, and plasma properties. The predicted model was validated against previously reported data from the literature. Later on, the impact of gap voltage on gap distance, plasma resistance, and material erosion rate was analyzed and discussed briefly.


The AEC (architecture, engineering and construction) industry is the largest industry in the world and is often described as a laggard industry in adopting new products and processes. Research on this topic has almost exclusively focused on the behavior of firms. This project report presents the CIFE Seed Grant research completed to date on the structural mechanisms that might contribute to an explanation of this phenomenon. Our research focused primarily on product and process innovations of a systemic nature (i.e., those that require multiple specialist firms to change their process in a coordinated fashion) though we also investigated localized innovations (i.e., those that imply change only within a specific specialty type). Systemic innovations researched include integrated supply chain management, the prefabrication of building systems, and the evolution to virtual design and construction. By gaining insight into the mechanisms that impact adoption of systemic innovations in the AEC industry, we can hope to bridge the innovation gap. In doing so we can begin to capture the productivity gains that manufacturing industries earned in adopting systemic innovations. During the course of the first year of this seed project, we have: • Completed a comprehensive study of the AEC innovation literature which includes approximately 60 journal papers over the past 20 years which debate the innovativeness of the industry. We also completed an expanded literature survey on innovation in project-based industries more generally and reviewed papers on the project-based motion picture, pharmaceutical, healthcare, and biotechnology industries. • Collected case histories of innovations from an international sample of contractors, architects, engineers, facility owners, and companies promoting innovations. When possible quantitative data was collected to support assertions that systemic innovations diffused more slowly than comparable localized innovations. • Established a point of departure framework and conceptual model for understanding the innovation gap phenomenon. The findings are also to be included as a chapter in a book on advanced project management to be published by the Project Management Institute in 2005. • Submitted proposals for funding which were accepted by CIFE member Tekes, by the CIFE Seed Grant program (2 nd year award), and the Stanford Lieberman Graduate Research Fellowship. • Enlarged the scope of the research to investigate how market structures in different institutional contexts impact the diffusion process for localized and systemic innovations. Research on this topic has yielded interesting insights into strategies for diffusing product and process innovations.


There are many research issues involved with designing, constructing, and applying Human-Machine Interfaces. This thesis addresses three areas of HMI research, 1) operational concerns for multi-task, high workload environments, 2) basic research in sensorimotor and manual control strategies, and 3) computer workstation HMI evaluation for telemedicine applications. 1) The Canadian Astronaut Program Space Unit Life Simulation (CAPSULS) mission offered an ideal opportunity to collect human performance data for individuals in extreme isolation to compliment data collected in microgravity on the International Microgravity Laboratory (IML-1) Space Shuttle mission (STS-42) using similar protocol, hardware, and software. Subjects performed a dual-task experiment to assess cognitive and fine motor control both during isolation alone and when paired with induced sensorimotor adaptation through spaceflight or prism adaptation. Sensorimotor alterations significantly degraded motor but not cognitive performance. 2) Implementing controllers for telerobotic applications is dependent on what we know about the human operator's ability. All controllers induce some sort of sensorimotor transformation so it is important to understand and quantify human performance using different control strategies under different demands of sensorimotor adaptation. Chapter 3 builds on the results from Chapter 2 and tests the hypothesis that performance depends on manual control strategy particularly during induced sensorimotor transformations. In general, rate-control produces slower time constants of adaptation and worse steady-state performance. 3) Telemedicine programs are being designed and developed for health care providers and patients who have limited access to medical facilities due to location or cost. The HMI for telemedicine workstations is of particular concern because of the underlying technical complexities. Chapter 4 describes several potential user scenarios for telemedicine that would benefit from workstation development such as ground-based medical support for astronauts, disaster prevention and relief, and medical education. Thesis Supervisor: Professor Dava Newman Title: Assistant Professor, Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics ...ce n'est pas assez d'avoir l'esprit bon, mais le principal est de l'appliquer bien. ...it is not enough to have a good mind, but most importantly, to use it to do good works. -DESCARTES (1596-1650)


Abstract. Spatial-energy distributions of the stationary fluxes of protons,
helium, and ions of the carbon–nitrogen–oxygen (CNO) group, with energy from E ∼100  keV to 200 MeV, in the Earth's radiation belts (ERBs), at L∼1 –8, are considered here using data from satellites during the period from
1961 to 2017. It has been found that the results of these measurements line up
in the {E,L} space, following some regular
patterns. The ion ERB shows a single intensity peak that moves toward Earth
with increasing energy and decreasing ion mass. Solar-cyclic (11-year)
variations in the distributions of protons, helium, and the CNO group ion fluxes
in the ERB are studied. In the inner regions of
the ERB, it has been observed that fluxes decrease with increasing solar activity and that the
solar-cyclic variations of fluxes of Z≥2  ions are much greater than those
for protons; moreover, it seems that they increase with increasing atomic
number Z . It is suggested that heavier ion intensities peak further from the
Earth and vary more over the solar cycle, as they have more strong
ionization losses. These results also indicate that the coefficient DLL of the radial diffusion of
the ERB ions changes much less than the ionization loss rates of ions with
 Z≥2 due to variations in the
level of solar activity.


To assess young children's understanding of false belief, investigators often show them a familiar container, then demonstrate that it holds an object different from the one the children expected. The children are then asked what they originally thought the container held, and what another container will hold. Three-year-old children typically answer with the name of the unexpected object. This behavior is usually interpreted to mean that children cannot comprehend false belief. To test this interpretation, two experiments were conducted. In the first experiment, 3-year-old children's answers to belief questions did not differ between conditions in which the questions employed the word "think" and conditions in which a nonsense word replaced "think." The second experiment found that, unlike 3-year-olds, 4-year-old children responded differently to belief questions containing "think" than to questions in which a nonsense word was substituted. Results from these experiments seem to demonstrate that 3-year-old children may not understand the relevant sense of the word "think," and therefore, that the common version of the paradigm of the familiar container and the unexpected object is not suitable for assessing their understanding of false belief. Contains 21 references. (Author/MM) ****************************r****************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. *********************************************************************** False Belief U.S. DEPARTNIENT Of EDUCATION Office of Educattonsi Retwarch and improvement EDUCATIONAL CENTER RESOURCES INFORMATION RIC) Nktrhos document has been reproduced as *cowed from the person or organuat.on omionstmg II O Minor changes have been made tO nmProve reproduCtiOn Quality Potntsot avow or op °lona Stated in this document do not necassanty represent official OERI potiffOn Or policy Assessing False Belief Attribution in Preschool Children: The Validity of the Unexpected-Object/Familiar-Container Paradigm James Ramsey Speer Cheryl Wiederhold Stephen F. Austin State University PERMISSION TO REP'-,s'OLICE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN ....)ANTED BY


The hybrid pruning algorithm can not only ensure the precision of the network, but also achieve a good balance between pruning ratio and computation. However, traditional pruning algorithms use coarse-grained or fine-grained pruning networks, which have the tradeoff problem between pruning rate and computation amount. To this end, this paper presents. A hybrid pruning method of sensitivity and statistical threshold. Firstly, coarse-grained pruning is carried out on the network, and a fast sensitivity test is conducted on the convolutional layer of the network to determine the channels that need pruning within the tolerance range of network precision decline. Then, fine-grained pruning is performed on the network. Count the weights of the pruned network, calculate the thresholds of the weights of each layer, and delete the weights less than the thresholds so as to further reduce the size of the network and the amount of calculation. Hybrid pruning performs very well in AlexNet and Resnet networks. In particular, the method proposed in this paper is used in CIFAR-10 dataset, and the compression of FLOPs is 60%, while the compression of parameter number is nearly 80%. Compared with single pruning method, Hybrid pruning is better.


The KdUINO is a Do-It-Yourself buoy with low-cost radiometers that
measure a parameter related to water transparency, the diffuse attenuation coefficient
integrated into all the photosynthetically active radiation. In this contribution,
we analyze the measurement errors of a novel low-cost multispectral radiometer
that is used with the KdUINO.


Reusable rocket stages is a trend in launch vehicles that have been observed for some time now. Even reusable upper stages have been seen in the Space Shuttle, Kistler K-1 and now the SpaceX Starship. This thesis is on the development of a genetic optimisation algorithm to determine the economic feasibility of upper stage reusability. Genetic optimisation has been chosen due to the mixed-integer nonlinear nature of the Reuse Index proposed by United Launch Alliance. The optimisation algorithm uses a modified version of ParSim v3 made by the Parachute Research Group (PRG) of Delft Aerospace rocket Engineering (DARE). The thesis gives an overview of the various dynamic, mass and cost models used in the tool together with the verification and validation of these models. Based upon the conclusions of the various runs performed recommendations are given on if and when upper stages can be reused.


Abstract : Covariant description of particles polarization is explained from the foundation of quantum theory and relativistic invariance. Several applications in High Energy Physics are presented. (Author)


We investigated the effects of acute hypoxia on heart rate variability (HRV) parameters during supine rest and moderate-intensity exercise. 27 male (age= 28±11 yr, height= 177±6 cm, mass= 79±9 kg) and 4 female (age= 25±7 yr, height= 169±7 cm, mass= 60±5kg) participants were recruited. Participants rested for 30 minutes in a supine position, after which 5 minutes of isometric squat-stands (0.05 Hz) were performed. This was performed under both normoxic and hypoxic (14.8% oxygen; ~2750m) conditions. Within subject comparisons were made between the last 5 minutes of each supine portion, and between the squat-stand maneuvers at normoxia vs. hypoxia. Depending on normality distribution, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test or a paired sample t-test was used with alpha set at p<0.05. Significant differences in %LF (48±18 vs 56±16), %HF (44±19 vs 35±18), LF/HF ratio (1.8±2 vs 2.3±1), NN50 beats (104±61 vs 82±70), pNN50 (36±22 vs 27±24), SD1 (50±31 vs 42±30), SD2 (101±55 vs 90±46), SD2/SD1 ratio (2.4±1 vs 2.7±1), and % determinism (97±2 vs 98±1) were seen between normoxia and hypoxia, respectively. Significant differences in NN50 (92±26 vs 81±30), pNN50 (21±6 vs 17±7), SD2 (188±60 vs 177±56) and sample entropy (0.3±0.2 vs 0.2±0.1) were also seen during squat-stands between normoxia and hypoxia, respectively. These results suggest changes in physiology and HRV parameters during exposure to acute hypoxia. This research has implications for autonomic function and its influence on cardiac control at altitude.


The robust distributed state estimation for a class of continuous-time linear time-invariant systems is achieved by a novel kernel-based distributed observer, which, for the first time, ensures fixed-time convergence properties. The communication network between the agents is prescribed by a directed graph in which each node involves a fixed-time convergent estimator. The local observer estimates and broadcasts the observable states among neighbors so that the full-state vector can be recovered at each node and the estimation error reaches zero after a predefined fixed time in the absence of perturbation. This represents a new distributed estimation framework that enables faster convergence speed and further reduced information exchange compared to a conventional Luenberger-like approach. The ubiquitous time-varying communication delay across the network is suitably compensated by a prediction scheme. Moreover, the robustness of the algorithm in the presence of bounded measurement and process noise is characterized. Numerical simulations and comparisons demonstrate the effectiveness of the observer and its advantages over the existing methods.


The purpose of this paper is to examine risk judgement and affect when using mental imagery. Four hypotheses were tested; 1. Risk judgement was expected to be higher when using mental imagery than without using mental imagery. 2. Participants who used mental imagery were expected to have a more negative mood than the ones who didn't use mental imagery. 3. A negative correlation between mood and risk judgement was expected. 4. Women were hypothesized to give higher risk ratings than men. Calculations were made using 347 surveys from students of behavioral sciences. The hypothesized difference in risk judgement when using mental imagery was found between participants instructed to use mental imagery and those without specific instructions. However no difference was found between mental imagery instructions and reasoning instructions, or between reasoning and no instructions. No significant difference was found for mood. A weak correlation was found between negative mood and risk judgement. Women rated risks higher than men. Both risk judgement and mood seem to be influenced negatively by mental imagery. However the difference between instructions of mental imagery and reasoning that was found in an earlier study was not present here. The sex differences were consistent with earlier studies. The weak correlation between risk judgement and mood found in this study tells us that the two are connected but mental imagery doesn't seem to lead to usage of affect heuristics. More studies are needed to understand the connection between mental imagery, mood and risk judgement.


According to Sonia Colina (2003) foreign language teachers have difficulties in determining a didactic approach to teaching translation in foreign language education (FLE). In search of a solution, we will examine to what extent the didactic insights in Translation Studies on intercultural communicative competence (ICC) are compatible with those for the enhancement of the same competence in FLE. In this article we present some findings of a pilot study in which an integrated didactical model was tested on its implementability in the framework of translation classes for Dutch Foreign Language Teaching.


The role of IT devices and technology in our everyday lives is growing. The commercial availability of sensor and wireless communications technologies has led to an increase in the number of systems utilizing these to provide compelling experiences. Designing embedded systems is challenging, as the properties involved are often hard to observe, touch, and experiment with. Being that these technologies can inspire, drive, or limit design processes, methods and tools must be developed to create a shared knowledge for multidisciplinary design teams. This thesis focuses on how engineers can better communicate their knowledge of digital materials to non-expert technology designers and multidisciplinary design teams.\\In particular, this thesis focuses on a class of embedded systems that we have named Proxessories. Proxessories consist of sensors, actuators, and wireless communication together forming accessories placed on or around the body that communicate with other devices, acting as accessories to other devices and objects. The goal of this research is to contribute new approaches and tools to help engineers convey their technological knowledge while working within a multidisciplinary design team. To accomplish this, the emerging topic of materiality in interaction design is introduced and used to discuss how an engineering perspective can be altered to cater to processes wherein digital materials are utilized as a design resource to create a better understanding of their experiential properties.\\The research method of this work falls broadly under the header Research through Design (RtD). That is, this work claims that through designing a range of Proxessory applications, a set of tools and methods can be extracted to better support the dialogue between engineers and other competencies in a multidisciplinary design team.\\This thesis results in providing an engineering design approach that is instantiated and materialized through hardware and software tools. The first tool, Inspirational Bits, is an approach where bits and pieces of technology are revealed to a multidisciplinary design team in a playful manner, exposing them to the interactive, dynamic properties of digital materials. The second tool, the rFlea, is an Arduino-based board, with an inbuilt ultra-low power wireless connection, the size of a coin cell battery. rFlea can connect wirelessly to another rFlea or existing tablets and mobile phones by means of pre-made libraries. The third tool, Insbits Studio is a cloud-based visual programming platform that can connect to the rFlea, adding cloud services abilities and connections to Internet of Things products and services. Together these three tools point to a novel philosophy of how to approach engineering. Instead of solving a given problem, engineers must open the design space and expose the material properties and affordances in such a manner that the team can experience them in the early phases of a design project.


Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) is a well-known aerosol hotspot in the world, located in the western Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP). Understanding the size and evolution of organic aerosol (OA) sources at NCR in winter period is very important due to their complexity in origin and processing. High-Resolution Particle Time of Flight (HR-PToF) size distribution analysis is performed on the HRToF aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) derived data at two sites, i.e., Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IITD) and Manav Rachna University, Faridabad (MRU) in NCR region to understand the size distribution and evolution of OA. Proxies of UMR sources of Hydrocarbon OA (m/z 57), Biomass burning OA (m/z 60), Semi volatile OA (m/z 43) and Low-volatile oxygenated OA (m/z 44) are selected to understand the size distribution of the isobaric high-resolution fragments at these proxies. The HR size distribution of primary and secondary fragments at these organic proxies shows relatively distinct mass distributions at lower and higher size bins. The diurnal variation of the mean modal diameters (MMD) of the HR fragments indicates that the C 4 H 9 + (Hydrocarbon OA proxy) shows much diurnal variation in both the sites than the other proxies, where CO 2 + shows the least variation.


A dual-mode 3D based subband video coder operating at very low bit rates for PSTN and mobile networks, is proposed. When operating in baseline mode, the input video sequence is coded using a hybrid SIM3 algorithm. In 3D mode, the encoder performed subband temporal-spatial analysis using a short length QMF filter on the motion compensated frame difference frames and the resulting subbands are vector quantized using different constrained techniques. Histogram studies and modelling are also performed on the subbands and codebooks are designed according to known source distribution. Simulation results are presented at 19.2 kbit/s at 5 frame/s on QCIF format videoconferencing and videotelephony type of sequences. Subjective evaluation revealed that the annoying 'blocking' artifacts are not visible when operating in 3D mode. In addition, due to its dual-mode capability, it also performed better than SIM3 both objectively and subjectively during period of aggressive scene changes.<<ETX>>


This article discusses how technology potentially impacts higher education.It focuses the analysis on five areas: technology and modern society; a historical perspective on technology and education; the arenas of technology impact on higher education; policy pressures and legitimacy; resistance to technological change within higher education.


Abstract Because turfgrass is maintained in various settings, such as golf courses, lawns, and commercially grown in sod farms, it is critical to understand its major insect pests and management practices. A survey was conducted to determine the major insect pests and current management practices in the commercial turfgrass industries in Georgia. A total of 32 respondents representing golf courses and sod farms participated in the survey. A significantly greater number of respondents represented golf courses (75% of 32 respondents) than sod farms (25%). The respondents (n =31) identified fall armyworm, Spodoptera frugiperda J.E. Smith (32.5%), white grubs, Phyllophaga spp. (20.8%), mole crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllotalpidae; 16.9%), and others (22%) as major pests in comparison to billbugs, Sphenophorus spp. (7.8%) and chinch bugs, Blissus spp. (0%). Of 31 respondents, 64.5% applied insecticides two to five times and 22.5% respondents applied insecticides 5–10 times for insect management each year. Among nonchemical tools (n=24), most respondents opted to do nothing (70.8%) than use biological control (0%), host plant resistance (25%), or other management tools (4.2%).


This chapter considers the concepts of criminalization and liberalism. Criminal sanctions are just one of a range of means by which society can respond to sexual misconduct, but they are a particularly important method in light of their stigmatizing effects and potential to deprive persons of liberty. The theory developed here assumes that it is intrinsically wrong to punish criminal offenders who are blameless and also wrong to punish blameworthy offenders more harshly than they deserve. One of the most important elements of blameworthiness is wrongfulness, which is understood to involve a violation of a victim's rights. The approach followed here is liberal in the sense that it emphasizes the freedom of the individual. It recognizes that the government has an obligation to protect individuals from being harmed by others but also that government itself can pose a threat to liberty. A key feature of this approach is liberal neutrality, the idea that the state should not reward or punish particular conceptions of the good life but should instead provide a neutral framework within which citizens can pursue their own conception of the good.


Histogram shifting (HS) has been proved to be a great success in reversible data hiding (RDH). To reduce the quality loss of marked media and the increase in file size, several two-dimensional (2D) HS schemes based on the characteristics of cover media have been proposed recently. However, our analysis shows that the embedding strategies used in these methods can be further optimized. In this paper, two new 2D HS schemes for RDH in H.264/AVC video are developed, one of which uses the DCT coefficient pairs with both values 0 and the other does not. The embedding efficiency of a DCT coefficient pair in different embedding modes is firstly calculated. Then, based on the obtained embedding efficiency along with the statistical distribution of DCT coefficient pairs, two better embedding strategies are proposed. The secret data is finally embedded into the pairs of DCT coefficients of the middle and high frequencies using our proposed strategies. The comparison experiment results demonstrate that our schemes can achieve enhanced visual quality in terms of PSNR, SSIM, and entropy in most cases, and the increase in file size is smaller.


Performance of nineteen exotic genotypes along with local check variety was studied during 2009-10 at Wheat Research Institute, AARI, Faisalabad, Pakistan. The experiment was conducted under two field conditions i.e., stress and irrigated conditions. In case of water stress experiment, only soaking irrigation was applied for seed bed preparation and no further irrigation was applied up to maturity. While, four irrigations were applied at critical growth stages to the second experiment (irrigated). At maturity, grain yield was recorded in both experiments (stress Ys and irrigated Yp). From grain yield data, some drought tolerance/resistance indices such as tolerance index (TOL), mean productivity (MP), harmonic mean (HM), stress susceptibility index (SSI), geometric mean productivity (GMP), stress tolerance index (STI), yield index (YI), yield stability index (YSI) and modified stress tolerance index (k1STI & k2STI) were calculated. Genotypic correlation, genetic components and heritability were also calculated for grain yield and all indices. Significant differences among genotypes were observed for Yp, Ys and all other drought tolerance indices. Moderate to high heritability and genetic advance were observed for Yp, Ys and all drought tolerance indices. Grain yield under irrigated environment (Yp) was positively and significantly correlated with MP, HM, GMP, STI and k1STI. Similarly, positive and significant association has also been observed between grain yield under stress condition (Ys) and MP, HM, GMP, STI, YI and k2STI so they were the better predictor of potential yield Yp and Ys than TOL, SSI and YSI. According to Fernandez model; genotypes No. 2, 4, 6, 7, 9 and 13 have uniform superiority under both conditions (stress and irrigated). Genotypes No. 1, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18 and 19 were recommended for irrigated conditions. Genotypes No. 3 and 5 were identified suitable for stress conditions. While genotypes No. 8, 10, 12, 14 and 20 performed poorly under either environments (stress and irrigated).


Building Reputation for Contract Renewal: Implications for Performance Dynamics and Contract Duration Elisabetta Iossa, University of Rome "Tor Vergata" and Patrick Rey, Toulouse School of Economics We study how career concerns affect the dynamics of incentives in a multi-period contract, when the agent's productivity is a stochastic function of his past productivity and investment. We show that incentives are stronger and performance is higher when the contract approaches its expiry date. Contrary to common wisdom, long-term contracts may strengthen reputational effects whereas shortterm contracting may be optimal when investment has persistent, long-term effects. Materials Prices and Productivity Enghin Atalay, University of Chicago There is substantial within-industry variation in the prices that plants pay for their material inputs. Using plant-level data from the U.S. Census Bureau, I explore the consequences and sources of this variation in materials prices. For a sample of industries with relatively homogeneous products, the standard deviation of plant-level productivity would be 7% smaller if all plants faced the same materials prices. Moreover, plant-level materials prices are persistent, spatially correlated, and positively associated with the probability of exit. The contribution of entry and exit to aggregate productivity growth is smaller for productivity measures that are purged of materials price variation. After documenting these patterns, I discuss three potential sources of materials price variation: geography, differences in suppliers' marginal costs, and within-supplier markup differences. Together, these variables explain 15% of the variation of materials prices. Ecology, Trade and States in Pre-Colonial Africa James Fenske, University of Oxford State capacity matters for growth. I test Bates' explanation of pre-colonial African states. He argues that trade across ecological boundaries promoted states. I find that African societies in ecologically diverse environments had more centralized states. This is robust to reverse causation, omitted heterogeneity, and alternative interpretations of the link between diversity and states. The result survives including non-African societies. I test mechanisms connecting trade to states, and find that trade supported class stratification between rulers and ruled. I underscore the importance of ethnic institutions and inform our knowledge of the effects of trade on institutions. Knowing the Right Person in the Right Place: Political Connections and Resistance to Change Giorgio Bellettini, University of Bologna, Carlotta Berti Ceroni, University of Bologna, and Giovanni Prarolo, University of Bologna In a political economy model of Schumpeterian growth with entry, we investigate how an incumbent politician can strategically use the level of red tape to acquire incumbency advantage. By setting sufficiently high red tape, the politician induces the incumbent firm in the intermediate sector to invest in political connections which are valued also by voters, who recognize that bureaucratic costs can be reduced by connected firms. Within this framework, we study the Markov perfect equilibria of an infinitely repeated game between politicians, firms and voters and show that all equilibria are characterized by investment in political connections and re-election of the incumbent politician. Political connections may prevent entry of advanced competitors and cause the economy to lag behind the technological frontier. Our model provides a possible explanation for the persistence of inefficient democracies and political barriers to technology development, where these reflect shared rather than conflicting interests. Optimal Aging and Death: Understanding the Preston Curve Carl-Johan Dalgaard, University of Copenhagen and Holger Strulik, University of Goettingen Does prosperity lead to greater longevity? If so, what is the strength of the income channel? To address these questions we develop a life cycle model in which households are subject to physiological aging. In modeling aging we draw on recent research in the fields of biology and medicine. The speed of the aging process, and thus the age of death, are endogenously determined by optimal health investments. A calibrated version of the model accounts well for the observed nonlinear cross-country link between longevity and income, also known as the Preston curve. Designing Order-Book Transparency in Electronic Communication Networks Romans Pancs, University of Rochester A significant fraction of trade in stock exchanges (e.g., Euronext and NASDAQ) involves "iceberg orders," which are orders to sell or buy a certain number of shares with the caveat that only a part of that number be made public. This paper provides a normative justification for the lack of transparency in this kind of orders: imperfect disclosure is shown to be a necessary feature of any optimal mechanism when the asset's potential buyers must incur a cost in order to become active and learn their valuations for the asset. This finding raises a caveat for regulation that seeks to mandate the open order-book or otherwise increase the pre-trade transparency of stock exchanges. Technology Adoption, Turbulence and the Dynamics of Unemployment Georg Duernecker, University of Mannheim Starting in the late 1970s, European unemployment began to increase while US unemployment remained constant. At the same time, capital-embodied technical change began to accelerate, and the US adopted the new capital much faster than Europe. I argue that these two facts are related. The main idea is that if there is capital-embodied technical change, then the unemployment rate depends critically on how obsolete the installed capital stock is compared to the frontier. In particular, European workers initially worked with relatively obsolete capital, and so they lacked the skills required to work with frontier capital. When they lost their jobs they therefore stayed unemployed for longer than their American counterparts. I find that this channel accounts for about 70 percent of the discrepancy between the behavior of unemployment rates in Europe and the US. Competitive Markets with Endogenous Health Risks Alberto Bennardo, Università di Salerno (DISES) and Salvatore Piccolo, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Milano), DEF We study an economy where agents' productivity and labor endowment depend on their health status, and indivisible occupational choices affect individual health distributions. We show that efficiency requires cross-transfers across occupations. Moreover, workers with relatively less safe jobs must get positive transfers whenever labor supply is not very reactive to wages, a condition in line with the findings of a large empirical literature. In these instances, compensating wage differentials equalizing the utilities of ex ante identical workers in different jobs undermine ex ante efficiency. Moreover, competitive equilibria where only assets with deterministic payoffs are traded are not first-best. Finally, we show that simple transfer schemes, implemented through linear subsidies to health insurance, enhance efficiency. Sales and Collusion in a Market with Storage Francesco Nava, London School of Economics and Political Science and Pasquale Schiraldi, London School of Economics and Political Science Sales are a widespread and well-known phenomenon documented in several product markets. This paper presents a novel rationale for sales that does not rely on consumer heterogeneity, or on any form of randomness to explain such periodic price fluctuations. The analysis is carried out in the context of a simple repeated price competition model, and establishes that firms must periodically reduce prices in order to sustain collusion when goods are storable and the market is large. The largest equilibrium profits are characterized at any market size. A trade-off between the size of the industry and its profits arises. Sales foster collusion, by magnifying the inter-temporal links in consumers' decisions.


Separation anxiety syndrome in animals is a behavioral disorder characterized by undesirable wanted behaviour showed by dogs when they are away from their attachment figures. In this study, with the goal of understanding the syndrome in indoor dogs from a suburb of the city of Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro (RJ), two questionnaires were used: a questionnaire to identify separation anxiety syndrome in animals (QI-SASA) and a questionnaire of support. In the surveyed population, 55.9% of the dogs presented clinical signs of SASA, being the most frequent excessive vocalizations (53.8%), destructive behaviours (46.1%), and depressive behaviour (34.6%). The results also suggest a negative impact on the life quality of the owners and dogs.


Abstract The purpose of this research is to improve student learning outcomes using a type of think pair share on mathematics learning materials determine KPK and GCF in the fourth grade Elementary School 54 West Pontianak. The  method is used descriptively. Results of the study (1) Theability of teachers to design learning using a type of think pair share increased from the first cycle of meetings 1 3,15 0,18 to 3,33 medium category and the second cycle of meeting 1 3,41 0,1 to 3,51 high category. (2) The ability of teachers to implement the learning of mathematics using a type of think pair share increased from the first cycle of meetings 1 3,05 0,27 to 3,32 into the medium category and the second cycle of meeting increased 1 3,24 0,14 to 3,38 category being.(3) The average results of study in the first cycle of meetings 1 rose 75,78 80,31 4,53 into  the excellent category, and the second cycle of meetings 1 increased 7,19 75,62 82,81 with very good categories. Conclusions using a type of think pair share to improve learning outcomes in mathematics at the fourth grade Elementary School 54 West Pontianak. Keyword s: Improvement, Learning outcomes, Think pair share


We show that every definable subset of an uncountably categorical pseudofinite structure has pseudofinite cardinality which is polynomial (over the rationals) in the size of any strongly minimal subset, with the degree of the polynomial equal to the Morley rank of the subset. From this fact, we show that classes of finite structures whose ultraproducts all satisfy the same uncountably categorical theory are polynomial $R$-mecs as well as $N$-dimensional asymptotic classes, where $N$ is the Morley rank of the theory.


The term 'editor' covers a wide variety of activities related to the production of a literary text. Editors, apparently, are not always held in high regard by either academics or authors and dictionary definitions reflect the ambiguity of the general attitude. According to the Shorter Oxford Dictionary, editors prepare literary material and set it in order for publication, but they can also be charged with incompetence and with garbling or distorting the text.


This paper describes two aspects of the work going on to computerise resources for the Maltese language. The first part describes work on labelling and annotation of spoken Maltese to generate a database suitable for use in deriving speech and speaker recognition tools. It also describes an interactive development system SSUNN that is being used for this work. The second part describes approaches taken in the Maltilex project to the problem of discovering an exhaustive list of headwords for a computational lexicon of Maltese.


4??-Hydroxywithanolide E (4HE), withaferin A (WA), and peruvianolide H (PAH) are withanolides from Solanaceae plants. In the present study, both 4HE and WA potently inhibited the growth of MDA-MB-231, a human breast cancer cell line, with IC50 values of 0.70 and 0.75 ?嵱, respectively. In contrast, PAH showed only weak antitumor activity. 4HE- and WA-induced growth inhibition was associated with G2/M cell cycle arrest. MDA-MB-231 cells treated with 4HE or WA showed induction of apoptosis, as indicated by morphological changes, increased subG1 cell population, caspase-3, -8, -9 activation, and the cleavage of poly(ADP-ribose)polymerase. Pretreatment of a pan-caspase inhibitor z-VAD-fmk significantly prevented either 4HE or WA-induced apoptosis. The levels of anti-apoptotic proteins, Bcl-2 and Bcl-XL, were decreased after 4HE or WA treatment. 4HE and WA also caused an increase in ROS generation and induced the expression of heat shock protein (Hsp)70. In addition, several Hsp90 client proteins (Raf, Cdk4, Cyclin D, and AKT) were degraded in 4HE- or WA-treated cells. All of these effects caused by 4HE and WA were prevented by N-acetylcysteine, an antioxidant and thiol-reducing agent . Taken together, our results suggest that the withanolides 4HE and WA induced cell cycle arrest and caspase-dependent apoptosis in human breast cancer MDA-MB-231 cells. Protein thiol oxidation and Hsp90 inhibition might be involved in the mechanism of 4HE- and WA-induced antitumor effect.


Nine giant star's spectra in NGC 3201 were obtained using the image tube in Sutherland. From the analysis of these spectra we found the increase of Ca I and CH abundances with decreasing the radial distnace, but CN, Ca II and Fe abundances do not show this. Dependence of the calculated parameters seems to exist among CN, Ca I, Ca II and CH abundances.


Introduction: In contemporary corporate scene, one of the most essential and prevalent needs is to satisfy the request of the client in a timely manner. This need has brought about the incorporation of eSupply Chain Management process in business strategy. This is especially prevalent following monumental improvements with incorporating technology into business operations, replacing the previously prevalent and hectic traditional concepts. Considering this, the study explored the various concepts associated with the eSupply Chain Management process, such as its key factors, the various components of the process as well as the various benefits and drawbacks of the process. Lastly, the future scope of the process has also been established in this study to provide recommendations regarding the way in which organisational efficiency can be improved through the incorporation of eSupply Chain Management process rather than the traditional supply chain management process. Methods: A review of case studies and publications on supply chain and eSupply chain management processes, factors, advantages and disadvantages was carefully done to provide a good understanding and comparison of both systems and understand the impact of eSupply chain management on businesses. Results: The effective management of information, material and financial resources flow was seen to be important to both traditional and eSupply chain systems, but more critical to eSupply chain systems. Conclusion: eSupply chain management facilitates the efficiency of other business processes such as procurement and distribution just in time to satisfy customer's expectations.


Electroweak bosons produced in ultrarelativistic heavy-ion collisions serve as excellent probes of the collision geometry and centrality. Their production rates should be unaffected by finalstate effects. Due to the correlation between the kinematics of quarks from incoming nuclei and the rapidity of produced electroweak bosons, they also provide insight into nuclear modifications of parton distribution functions (PDFs). We present the latest ATLAS results on massive electroweak boson production in Pb+Pb and pp collisions at √ sNN = 5.02 TeV using data collected by the ATLAS experiment in 2015. The yields of W and Z bosons produced per inelastic Pb+Pb collision are compared to cross-sections measured in pp collisions and used to construct nuclear modification factors. A comparison of the measured yields and cross-sections to calculations obtained with various (nuclear) PDF sets is also presented. Also selected results on prompt photon production in p+Pb collisions at √ sNN = 8.16 TeV are discussed.


In the applied engineering colleges and universities,College English Course began to be transformed from basic English course to EGAP( English for general academic purposes). The purpose of EGAP is to provide students with language support and abilities when they are in the process of professional learning and academic activities. Based on the theory of demand analysis,it is necessary for applied engineering colleges and universities to undergo such transformation. The author argues that it should take a dialectical view of EGAP teaching and learning and develop flexible College English curriculum and examination system. Moreover,we can take advantage of lexical chunks to motivate students in EGAP teaching.


This paper reviews a general layout methodology for compact integrated inductor design. The compact layout methodology enables uncoupled inductor layouts with compact footprint without degrading individual inductor performance. The design methodology is demonstrated on two application examples of compact output matching network (OMN) redesign for a commercial 28 GHz LNA and 5.8 GHz PA.


Many issues and elements—including ethnic nomenclature, racial attitudes, and the legal and political status of American Indian nations and Indian people—influence Native American identity.


Scholars have long acknowledged the substantial influence of the Renaissance movement on Luther's Reformation. However, due to the absence of comprehensive studies on Luther's contexts, a thorough and detailed analysis of this influence in Luther's thought and writings has been hindered. The aforementioned circumstance has resulted in the overall disregard of this contribution in the history of Western philosophy. This paper aims to analyze the distinct impact of Renaissance ideology on the evolution of Luther's concept of liberty. The first section will discuss the background of Luther's reform movement and the fundamental place of the humanist concept of liberty in its impact on the destruction of the religious power of the Catholic Church. The second section will examine the significant role played by humanists, such as Erasmus, in shaping Luther's liberal ideas during his early years. The third section will examine how Luther's understanding of liberty was developed through his polemical exchanges with Erasmus and other thinkers. This process ultimately resulted in Luther's distinctive and paradoxical conception of freedom, which highlights Luther's and humanists' historical influence on the independence, emancipation, and autonomy of the individual personality in their age. The fourth section will examine the influence of Luther's paradoxical ontological theory on the development of Western intellectual history. Additionally, it will address the misinterpretation of this intellectual history lineage by the mainstream of Western intellectual history that occurred concurrently. Finally, in the twentieth century, the revival of Luther's thought, which was gradually revitalized by Heidegger, Karl Barth, and other contemporary scholars, also highlights the significant influence of Renaissance thought on Luther's theory and the whole history of Western thought.


In this illuminating study Professor Schramm shows how the mass media of press, radio broadcasting, film and television, if used wisely, can speed and smooth the ascent of the developing countries towards economic and social modernity. His book draws upon a recent survey, carried out by Unesco at the request of the United Nations, on means of helping these countries to build up their mass media. In his present book Professor Schramm traces the role of information in national development, describes how the mass media channel information throughout the world, and shows how the media can be used in campaigns to wipe out ignorance, hunger and disease and spur the growth of rising nations. He concludes with recommendations on ways to build up and use these media for national progress. In addition to its general interest as a reference work, &dquo;Mass Media and National Development&dquo; is a valuable guide to government and industrial planners, economists, educators, mass media specialists and others concerned, in the developing countries, with applying knowledge of the mass media for the welfare of their people.


An automatic speed enforcement (ASES) system is described that was developed specifically for use on heavy general merchandise, unit, and intermodal trains. With this automatic system, a microprocessor generates a speed profile corresponding to a specific change of cab signal. The system monitors train speed and, following a downward change of cab signal, requires that train speed be gradually reduced as the train moves farther into the block. The engineer can use a minimal air brake application, throttle reduction, dynamic braking, or a combination of the three to comply with the speed limit safely. A penalty brake application is imposed when the speed profile is violated. The automatic train control system was overlaid onto an existing continuous cab signal system.<<ETX>>


After a lot of analysis in USA, USNRC has accepted a leak before break procedure developed in NUREG 1061 [4]. An updated version is under preparation in particular for operating plant to include field experience, but also for future plants. In France, EDF and AREVA have developed a new "break exclusion" methodology in 2 steps: - the safety consideration and defense in depth principle, - a modernized procedure to justify applications of break exclusion on a given system. Finally, large piping double-ended guillotine break are not considered in EPR-FA3 as a design transient. The Large Break Loss of Coolant Accident (LB-LOCA) is not considered as a design transient, only safety analysis with realistic data and methods are performed. For EPR-FA3, the larger break considered is the double end guillotine break of the surge line (16″ instead of 28 or 32″ ). The paper will present the details of these 2 step procedure and will discuss possible extension to other piping systems.Copyright © 2010 by ASME


The separation of aluminum chlorides from aqueous ether solutions by precipitation using water and moist ether solutions is evaluated. The preparation of aluminum chloride with ether at dry ice temperatures is described. The reaction of diethyl ether with aluminum chloride is discussed. Techniques for the purification of hydrobromic acid are evaluated. (N.W.R.)


The title eco-friendly and economic reaction furnishes some novel pyrano[3,2-c]chromene-5-ones containing an aroyl substituent by using a recyclable and safe catalyst and a green solvent.


The link between gun ownership victimization by violent crime remains one of the most contested issues in criminology. Some authors claim that high gun availability facilitates serious violence. Others claim that gun ownership prevents crime. This article revisits these issues using individual and aggregate data on gun ownership and victimization from the International Crime Victims Survey (ICVS). Analysis at country level shows that the level of handgun ownership is positively related to serious violence but not for less serious violent crimes. Multilevel analyses on the data from 26 developed countries show that owners of a handgun show increased risk for victimization by violent crime. High ownership levels, however, seem to diminish the victimization level for the less serious violent crimes for the non-owners. Language: en


In this article we develop procedures for one- and two-sided tolerance intervals for normal general linear models in which there exists a set of independent scaled chi-squared random variables. The proposed procedures are based on the concept of generalized pivotal quantities and are applicable to general mixed models provided that balanced data are available. However, this study focuses on situations involving unbalanced data. Specific attention is given to the unbalanced one-way random model. It is shown that the use of generalized pivotal quantities allows the construction of the tolerance intervals of interest fairly straightforward. Some practical examples are given to illustrate the proposed procedures. Furthermore, detailed statistical simulation studies are conducted to evaluate their performance, showing that the proposed procedures can be recommended for practical use.


We motivate and formally define a new task for fine-tuning rule-like generalization in large language models. It is conjectured that the shortcomings of current LLMs are due to a lack of ability to generalize. It has been argued that, instead, humans are better at generalization because they have a tendency at extracting rules from complex data. We try to recreate this tendency to rule-based generalization. When exposed to tests of analytic intelligence, for example, the visual RAVEN IQ test, human problem-solvers identify the relevant objects in the picture and their relevant attributes and reason based on rules applied to these objects and attributes. Based on the induced rules, they are able to provide a solution to the test. We propose a task that translates this IQ task into language. In this paper, we provide the formal specification for the task and the generative process of its datasets.


Abstract This paper reviews the distance learning development in the world and in Lithuania. Nine years of theoretical and practical experience of distance learning under two study programmes at the Department of Construction Economics and Property Management at Vilnius Gediminas Technical University is presented. These masters degree study programmes were one of the first in Central and Easten Europe. According to the questionnaire of both former and current students, the findings of this poll are analysed. Mostly there were employees from real estate sector and construction enterprises questioned. The conclusions are drawn, emphasising the problems of learning process. In addition, social, economical, technological, and ethical points are analysed as well as the problem of the integration of trained professionals into the market.


The purpose of this study on customer satisfaction will help us to understand the needs & Wants of the customers towards Royal Enfield. The study could provide appropriate and timely information about the position of preference level of customer towards Royal Enfield. As the objectives of this study is to analyse the customer satisfaction level towards the ironic brand Royal Enfield. This study also investigates the services and factors which influence the customers to purchase the Royal Enfield bikes and also identify what customers are expecting from the Royal Enfield. To know about the customer satisfaction and factor which influence the customer's buying decision process. Customer satisfaction is influenced strongly by culture, social, personal and psychological factors. For this purpose, 50 customers were selected and obtained the various responses based on the questionnaire method. By and large it was found that most of the customers are choosing Royal Enfield vehicles because of its Vehicle Appearance, pickup, good models and engine appearance etc.


The number of layers of a micro-holographic disk is limited by wavefront aberration which is strongly dependent on the photopolymer initiation, termination and inhibition kinetics. 3D metrology is used to validate predicted index profiles.


For the reasons stated, it is seen that feet like these cannot be corrected except by operation. From the photographic and roentgenographic demonstration, it is seen that they can be anatomically corrected by the above described operative plan if it is accurately carried out.


Andrew Go Lee, MD Department of Ophthalmology The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX Department of Ophthalmology The Methodist Hospital, Houston, TX Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX Departments of Ophthalmology Neurology, and Neurosurgery Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY Department of Ophthalmology The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Iowa City, IA email@example.com


There is definite law about the measurement criterion of the legal compensation in China's intellectual right.As a result,there are different sentences for the same case,which is bad for the legal unity.In practice,there are deficiencies in terms of the criterion of the subject of right,the subject of infringement,behavior,and products.Since laws are supposed to protect the benefit of subject of right,right should be the measurement criterion of legal compensation of intellectual right.


A negative-pion capture process for several kinds of hydrocarbons was studied by the simultaneous observation of low-energy pionic x rays and {pi}{sup 0} decays following the nuclear capture of pions by hydrogen. We measured the pionic x-ray intensity pattern and the pion-capture probabilities of constituent carbon and hydrogen. The x-ray intensity pattern depends on the chemical environment; a cascade calculation showed that this can be qualitatively attributed to the effects of a pion transfer from hydrogen. The pion-capture probabilities on hydrogen could be explained by a combined model involving a modified large mesomolecular model and an external transfer process. The external transfer parameter of the pion from a pionic hydrogen atom to carbon atoms was deduced to be {Lambda}{sub C}=1.7{plus_minus}0.2 based on the results for a series of alkanes in the condensed phase. The large difference between the pion-capture probabilities on hydrogen observed in alkanes and that in benzene can be well understood based on the proposed model. {copyright} {ital 1996 The American Physical Society.}


To the Editor: An 18-year-old 12th-grade student presented with a one-month history of an ichthyosis-like dermatosis (Figure 1), which symmetrically involved the lower limbs, elbows, and hands. Blo...


Jonathan Gornall has tried to clarify the issues in the MIST trial and NMT Medical's libel action against me, but he has made some errors.1

His statement that "the trial ran from January to July 2005" is taken from NMT's particulars of claim and is wrong. NMT now concedes in the company's reply to my defence that the clinical phase was from "November 2004 to early 2006."

Gornall states that my finding of a high residual shunt rate "seemed to contradict clinical experience with the device, including a 2006 study that had reviewed outcomes in 42 cases in which atrial septal defects had been repaired with STARFlex and found complete closure in 39 (93%) …."2 The letter before claim from NMT's lawyers also makes that argument, but …


A historical commentary on the chronicle of Pacific explorer Pedro Fernandez de Quiros. The article begins contextualizing the initial voyages to the Pacific and considering their political motivation, specially the Union de Coronas (Union of Crowns). There is a brief introduction to the personality of Fernandez de Quiros, his personal motivations for this endeavour and, finally, an attempt to define the precise navigation route he performed, based on the chronicle and other contemporary documents.


Aluminum ion (Al) is one of the most critical factors that inhibit plant growth in acid soils. Al triggers the rapid inhibition of root elongation at the root apex, although there are great differences in the susceptibility among plant species and cultivars. A number of highly Al-tolerant woody plants can withstand high Al concentrations that exceed the thresholds for most of annual plants. To understand high Al tolerance mechanisms in woody plants, we investigated long-term root elongation and Al accumulation in seedlings of Cinnamomum camphora, a broad-leaved multipurpose tree used in camphor production. Root elongation in C. camphora was only reduced to 70% of the control even at 500 micro M Al for a 60-day pulse exposure period. This Al stress level was tenfold higher when compared with the same Al condition that caused 70% of root elongation inhibition to an Al-resistant wheat cultivar for 48 h. Al accumulation pattern in each organ revealed that the discharge of accumulated Al from the root apex may be partly accounted for the rapid removal of Al in C. camphora. These results suggest that the maintenance of low Al accumulation in the root apex may be an important factor for the long-term Al-resistant root elongation of C. camphora.


Batting teams get two resources in cricket to score runs with, viz. wickets and balls. Trying to score as many runs as possible off every ball a team faces risks losing wickets. Trying to preserve wickets comes at the cost of not enough runs being scored. Thus, to maximize the runs scored, teams need to make efficient use of the balls and wickets available to them. To that end, teams primarily employ two types of batsmen-aggressive batsmen who try to score as many runs as possible off the balls they face and defensive batsmen who try to protect their wickets. Having too many aggressive batsmen helps a team score more runs off the balls they face but it stands the risk of a team losing all its wickets before they face all of their allotted balls. Having too many defensive batsmen helps a team face all the balls allotted to them but they may not end up scoring enough runs. Hence, selecting the right combination of defensive and aggressive batsmen is essential to maximize the runs a batting team scores. However, this is a computationally complex problem to solve. This study proposes the use of genetic algorithm to optimize the batting lineup of a team to help it maximize the runs scored in an innings. The test results indicate, by using the genetic algorithm, the number of runs scored batting first by the full member teams in the last five years can be improved by 5.46% on average.


Introduction: The role of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection in pathogenesis of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) remains controversial. It seems that the genotype of H. pylori influences that dependence. Aim: To assess the significance of H. pylori genotype in gastroesophageal reflux (GER) in children and teenagers. Material and methods: Hundred and one children in whom endoscopy of the upper part of the gastrointestinal tract was performed and H. pylori infection was demonstrated in histopathological and/or urease test and urea breath test. Helicobacter pylori identification was performed using the PCR method to determine the genetic type of CagA and VacA. Triple-drug eradication therapy was introduced. pH-metric examination was performed before and after treatment. Results: Infection with type I strain was found in 32.7% of patients, type II in 67.3%. Concerning the group of patients infected with type I H. pylori, GER was found in 57.6% of patients, while 45.6% infected with type II H. pylori suffered from GER. It was induced de novo in 15% of patients in the group of patients infected with type I and in 15% of cases was removed after eradication. Change concerning GER intensity degree did not occur in 70% of patients. Gastroesophageal reflux was induced de novo in the group of patients infected with type II H. pylori in 12.8% of cases and GER was removed


We prove the following two theorems: (I) Let $n \geqslant 1$ be a (fixed) integer. Then we have for $\theta \in (0, \pi)$: \[ \sum\limits^n_{k=1}\frac{\cos (k\theta)}{k}\leqslant -\log\left(\sin\left(\frac{\theta}{2}\right)\right)+\frac{\pi-\theta}{2}+\sigma_n, \] with the best possible constant $\sigma_n = \sum\nolimits^n_{k=1}(-1)^k/k$. (II) For even integers $n \geqslant 2$ and for $\theta \in (0, \pi)$ we have \[ \sum\limits^n_{k=1}\frac{\sin(k\theta)}{k}\leqslant\alpha(\pi-\theta), \] with the best possible constant $\alpha = 0.66 395\ldots$. Our results refine inequalities due to C. Hyltén-Cavallius '11' and P. Turán '23', respectively.


A concept of the model intended for measuring emotions is grounded. The efficiency of evolutionary analysis when forming the model of measuring the emotions which are contained in acoustic and visual impacts is demonstrated. The possibility to develop a corresponding measurement instrument is shown.


Objective
Median nerve motor conduction studies should be performed with supramaximal stimulation. However, overstimulation at the wrist can cause co-stimulation of the ulnar nerve which results in depolarization of ulnar innervated muscles in the thenar space and changes in the CMAP distal latency and amplitude. In testing carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), this is a common technical error for both the beginners and experienced electromyographers. This study reports the normal ulnar-thenar CMAP distal latency relevant to the electrodiagnostic evaluation for CTS.

Methods
Median and ulnar nerve motor nerve conduction studies were performed in 112 normal subjects on 224 sides, and in 16 individuals with CTS on 18 sides. In a subset of 10 healthy subjects, the median nerve was stimulated with sequentially increasing currents to obtain 30%, 50%, 70%, and 100% of maximum CMAP amplitude, and with 120%, 150% and 200% supra-maximal stimulation. CMAP characteristics were measured for all stimulation currents. In CTS subjects, after obtaining the median-APB CMAP, the currents were sequentially increased until ulnar co-stimulation was obtained with changes of CMAP latency and waveform.

Results
In normal subjects, the ulnar-thenar CMAP distal latency was 3.17±0.25 ms, and amplitude 6.60±1.07 mV; the median-APB latency was 3.45±0.31 ms and the amplitude was 6.47±1.08 mV. In normal subjects, the increased stimulation intensity reduced the median- APB distal latency by 0.1 to 0.3 ms. There was no further change in latency with up to 200% supra-maximal stimulation. In CTS patients, with increased intensity of stimulation resulting in co-stimulation of ulnar nerve, the median-thenar distal latency reduced by 0.5-8.7 ms.

Conclusions
During median-APB testing with increasing intensity of stimulation, a decrease in latency of over 0.3 ms with a shortened latency in the range of 2.9 to 4.1 ms might be suggestive of probable co-stimulation of the ulnar nerve.

Key words:
Carpal tunnel syndrome; Ulnar nerve co-stimulation; Ulnar-thenar distal latency


In this note we discuss algebraic cohomology groups of topological groups. Eilenberg-Maclane [3] and Hopf [ô] introduced the notion of algebraic cohomology of abstract groups, and definitions taking into account the topology are given in [2], [4], [5], and [8]. We give a definition which coincides with the usual one for discrete groups and generalizes those in [2], [5] and [8] for topological groups. I t has the good functorial properties of being an "exact connected sequence of functors" in a suitable sense, and of being effaceable and universal. All groups and modules considered will be Hausdorff. The classical theory assigns to an abstract group G and a Gmodule A an exact connected sequence of functors Jï*(G, A) ( 0 ^ i < o o ) . I t can be shown that this sequence is universal and effaceable, and for any other effaceable exact connected sequence of functors H with jff°(G, A)^H°(Gf A) for all A, one has È*(G, A) ~i?*(G, A) for all i by Buchsbaum's criterion. If G is a topological group, a topological G-module A will mean an abelian topological group A with a jointly continuous action of G satisfying g(a+a') = ga+ga'y (gg')a = g(g'a), la —a. We show that topological G-modules form a quasi-abelian category in the sense of Yoneda [9], and define H(G, A) =Ext*(Z, A) where Ext is given by the definition of Yoneda for the quasi-abelian category of topological G-modules. H°(G, A) will then be the abstract group of points of A fixed under the action of G. If the underlying spaces of all groups and modules in question are limits of sequences of compact sets, we show that H and H have the obvious interpretations in terms of continuous crossed homomorphisms and extensions of topological groups. Yoneda shows that with the appropriate definitions the Ext* form an effaceable exact connected sequence of functors; one can further show that they are universal and prove a modified form of Buchsbaum's criterion. The "bar construction" semisimplicial resolution of an abstract group G [7] becomes a semisimplicial space in an obvious way if G is a topological group. If A is a G-module consider the sheaf of germs of A -valued functions on each space of this semisimplicial resolution. The canonical resolutions of these sheaves give rise to a


The presence of two of more linguistically separated public spaces in a given country (e.g., Belgium, Canada, Switzerland) may constitute an obstacle for a functioning democracy since in such places a united public opinion can hardly exist. Is it possible to bridge this gap? The main claim of this paper is that this goal can be achieved, provided that we have integrative institutions. Starting from the Swiss experience, the paper will highlight possible advantages that direct democracy – i.e., a frequent use of referendums – can bring in a linguistically fragmented country.


This article aims at scrutinising the narrative power of a medium which one considers unable to perform narrative tasks: photography. Not only has photography a problem when it wants to tackle issues of time, storytelling and fiction; moreover, the medium is suffering from the negative comparison with one of the media that has replaced it ('remediated' in the sense coined by Bolter and Grusin), film – a medium initially called 'animated photography'. Yet the analysis of an example, a picture by Henri Cartier-Bresson which also exists in movie form, suggests that the power of a fixed image may exceed, under certain circumstances, that of a mobile image. In order to understand this paradox, however, one needs to analyse narrativity not only in terms of media forms, but also in terms of media practices and to stress the role of the reader.


We analyze the results from over 20 numerical experiments with a global ocean general circulation model (OGCM) under different present and last glacial maximum (LGM) surface boundary conditions. The model exhibits a large range of circulation strengths and patterns, including strong and deep overturning of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) under LGM boundary conditions. Parameterizations tuned for today's ocean and fixed atmospheric temperatures contribute to this failure. The experiments show a close relation between the NADW and Antarctic Bottom Water (AABW) overturning cells in the Atlantic. High transport in the NADW cell is associated with little or no transport of AABW. The strength of the AABW overturning cell depends sensitively on the treatment of sea ice in the Southern Ocean. An atmospheric energy balance model coupled with the OGCM allows a free response of the sea ice component. Because of the close link between NADW and AABW, the northern source of deep water must be relatively weak during the LGM. An ocean circulation consistent with paleoclimatic evidence only results when the surface salinity in the northern North Atlantic is reduced. The solution then shows a southward expansion of the Arctic domain and a southward shift of the deep water formation area in the North Atlantic. The glacial NADW is less dense than modern NADW, and AABW occupies a larger part of the abyssal ocean. Compared to modern distributions, there is almost no glacial Antarctic Intermediate Water causing middepth warming in the southern and tropical Atlantic.


This paper presents the analog predistortion abilities to linearize power amplifiers used in satellite and mobile applications. A design example is done in Ku-band downlink satellite communication application with an integrated reflector-based analog predistortion. The proposed solution implements two cells nonlinear load-based AM/AM and AM/PM generation circuits made in a 130nm BiCMOS technology. The measurements performed for different biasing voltages and at different frequencies result in a gain compensation range between 0 dB and 9 dB and a phase compensation range between 0 and 50°. The size of each cell is 0.2 mm2. The total maximum power consumption is as low as 9 mW.


The submerged semicircular breakwater (SBW) is mainly adopted to prevent beach erosion and to reduce the incident wave energy on its leeside, if it is used in front of a vertical breakwater. In addition, it facilitates the premature wave breaking, which in turn causes the reduction in wave energy. The dynamic pressures and forces exerted on the submerged SBW with 7%, 11 %, and 17% of the exposed surface area with perforations on its seaside due to regular waves were measured. The hydrodynamic characteristics such as variations in the dimensionless pressures and forces, reflection and transmission coefficients on the semicircular caisson as a function of scattering parameter for three different water depths are presented and an optimum depth of submergence is arrived. The results on the above stated variables for seaside perforated SBWs are compared with the results of an impermeable SBW to study the effect of perforations.


The present study aimed to analyze the profile of anti-rabies prophylactic treatment of children and adolescents aged between zero and 15 years old, in the city of Maringa, state of Parana, Brazil. Data were collected on the Brazilian Notification Aggravation Information System (SINAN) from January to December 2010. Simple and absolute frequencies were performed for categorical variables, and, for associations of interest, univariate analyzes were carried out through Pearson's chi-square test, with confidence interval of 95% and level of confidence set at <0.05 for all analyzes. Among all 311 care services performed, 101 involved anti-rabies care records of children and adolescents. Regarding treatment prescriptions, out of 101, 37 (36.6%) were made to subjects aged between 0 and 10 years old, and 64 (63.4%) to those aged ≥ 10 and < 15 years old. The treatment prescribed presented statistically significant association with age (p= 0.0288). There is a need for an educative work with children, parents and the general population, toward raising their awareness on the risks and seriousness of rabies, besides the update of and attention to the therapeutic method employed by health professionals.


The two Hewlett-Packard divisions in Vancouver, Washington are responsible for establishing and maintaining HP color inkjet printers as market leading personal products in the home and office computing environments. These divisions have a ten-year history of successful products starting with the original HP DeskJet printer in 1986 and culminating most recently with the introduction of the new HP DeskJet 820C (Fig. 1) in the spring of 1996.


To understand the fauna of sucking lice on mammals in Yunnan Province of China,seventeen counties(towns) in Yunnan Province were chosen as the investigation sites.The hosts were captured by traps.The sucking lice on the body surface of mammals were all collected and identified.Total(7 305) individuals of 47 species of mammals were captured and(34 540) individuals of sucking lice from the hosts were collected.The(7 305) mammals were identified as 47 species,28 genera,11 families in 6 orders:Rodentia,Insectivora,Scandentia,Canivora,Lagomorpha and Artiodactyla.The lice were identified as 29 species of 9 genera in 7 families,including 2 species of 2 genera in 2 families from cloven-hoof mammals(Artiodactyla).The findings suggest that the louse species are much less than the species of their mammal hosts and geographical distribution of sucking lice are disparity in different areas.The species of sucking lice is relatively abundant in middle subregion of Hengduan Mountains and southern subregion of Hengduan Mountains of Yunnan Province.The wide spread species of sucking lice are Hoplopleura pacifica,Polyplax spinulosa and Ancistroplax crocidurae.


The warbler genus Locustella contains seven species, six of which have occurred in Europe. Lanceolated Warbler L. lanceolata is the smallest, usually the most heavily streaked, and shows clearly the characteristics of the genus: markedly rounded tail, long undertail-coverts, and secretive, skulking behaviour (and a reeling grasshopper-like song in summer). It most closely resembles Grasshopper Warbler L. naevia, and a further potential confusion species is Pallas's Grasshopper Warbler L. certhiola. It is unlikely to be confused with other Locustella species, unless views are particularly poor. Generalised description and habits A detailed description, drawn from notes on 13 Lanceolated Warblers studied closely in the field and/or in the hand on Fair Isle, Shetland, and many individuals studied by PVH in southeast Asia, is given below. Additional notes, taken from examination of skins at the British Museum (Natural History), Tring, are also incorporated. Particular attention has been paid to the individual feather patterns of certain plumage tracts; although this may seem to favour in-the-hand circumstances, Lanceolated Warblers are frequently tame enough to allow very close approach, and, furthermore, correct determination of those patterns is the major key to unequivocal identification. The description is inevitably generalised, as the species is variable in a number of plumage features. Size and structure The species is tiny to very small, in body bulk being similar to, or even smaller than, Chiffchaff Phylloscopus collybita, and with a relatively short tail. The bill is short and, because of its dark upper mandible and the bird's size, often looks rather fine. The legs are stouter than those of Phylloscopus warblers of similar size, but do not look so sturdy as those of other, larger, Locustella warblers.


The present invention relates to a method to improve network performance by controlling a virtual link and a network system applying the same. The purpose of the present invention is to provide a method to improve AFDX network performance which converts and transmits BAG and Lmax of a virtual link, and performs frame reassembly; and an AFDX network system applying the same. The method of the present invention receives at least one frame from a first end system and a second end system, converts BAG and Lmax of a virtual link based on a conversion table, transmits fragmented frames, and reassembles the received frames and transmits the completed frames. According to the present invention, the switch memory requirements can be reduced by performing optimized fragmentation when transmitting frames. The costs of the memory in developing the switch and the switch development costs can be reduced by decreasing the maximum memory size. Also, the network performance can be improved by setting up an upper range of network delay lower than the existing technology since an end-to-end delay time decreases when frames arrived in a plurality of input ports outputs through one output port through the fragmentation of the length Lmax. Furthermore, the network performance can be improved by increasing the number of virtual links since the amount of packets can be transmitted with the same delay range.


This paper presents a new strategy based on Multi-stage Fuzzy (MSF) PID controller based on Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) for damping Power System Stabilizer (PSS) in multi- machine environment. The recent studies in artificial intelligence demonstrated that the ABC optimization is strong intelligent method in complicated stability problems. Also, finding the parameters of PID controller in power system has direct effect for damping oscillation. Thus, to reduce the design effort and find a better fuzzy system control, the parameters of proposed controller is obtained by ABC that leads to design controller with simple structure that is easy to implement. The effectiveness of the proposed technique is applied to Single machine connected to Infinite Bus (SMIB) and IEEE 3-9 bus power system. The proposed technique is compared with other techniques through ITAE and FD


A close reading of Native American land transactions aids in the identification of the inhabitants of southern Maine in the seventeenth century, a region that traditionally has been an ethnohistorical no-man's-land. Organized at the village level, Native peoples answered to no supreme sachem but had strong ties across the area through alliance and intermarriage. The residents of coastal Maine remained culturally and politically tied to their neighbors in southern New Hampshire and northeastern Massachusetts throughout the seventeenth century. Essentially, all of the people from the Androscoggin River in Maine southward to the north shore of Massachusetts made up the group Champlain called the "Almouchiquois."


On the basis of review research on the control mechanism of the electromagnetic speed regulating shearer, a mathematical model with dual-loop control system of continuous-time system of electromagnetic speed regulating shearer was built. According to the control types and characteristics of each link in the continuous control system, the pulse transfer function was adopted in the discrete time domain to deduce the expression form of Z transformation parameters system of the discrete-time model. The stability of the system and operation characteristics of electromagnetic speed regulating shearer were analyzed on the Z plane; the response curves of discrete controller and frequency response curve of the system of the step signal were simulated in the zero-order holder. By combining the actual electromagnetic speed regulating shearer, the relevant application programs were written to respectively test the electromagnetic speed regulating shearer in the dual–closed loop control system under the conditions of no-load, free parking and the applied load so as to contrast the consistency of test data and simulation results.


We show that the intensity of "keeping up with the Joneses" behavior is largely determined by the extent to which a community is socially connected. Using a unique dataset on car purchases in Southern California, we find that social influence intensifies in suburban communities in which neighbors are likely to know each other well. The effect of connected communities is particularly apparent in higher price segments and cannot be fully explained by word-of-mouth as it spills across car makes. Our findings suggest that positional externalities from the consumption of visible status goods are higher in closer-knitted social networks. Abstract We show that the intensity of "keeping up with the Joneses" behavior is largely determined by the extent to which a community is socially connected. Using a unique dataset on car purchases in Southern California, we find that social influence intensifies in suburban communities in which neighbors are likely to know each other well. The effect of connected communities is particularly apparent in higher price segments and cannot be fully explained by word-of-mouth as it spills across car makes. Our findings suggest that positional externalities from the consumption of visible status goods are higher in closer-knitted social networks. divided by the overall number of transactions of all makes in a BG during a calendar quarter in percentage terms (i.e., multiplied by 100). SameMake equals 1 if at least one car of the same make was purchased within the same block group within the previous quarter. DifferentMake equals 1 if at least one car of a different make was purchased within the same block group within the previous quarter. Quarter fixed-effects control for within-year seasonality, while census tract fixed-effects control for neighborhood characteristics. Block Groups (BG) and Tracts are delimited by the U.S. Census Bureau, and demographic information at the BG level is from the 2000 U.S. census. Family Income is scaled to 100,000. In Models 5–6 we examine non-luxury and luxury makes, respectively. Luxury makes are BMW, LEXUS, and MERCEDES-BENZ. In these subsamples, DifferentMake equals 1 if at least one car of a different make but of the same type (luxury/non-luxury) was purchased within the same block group within the previous quarter. equals 1 if at one car of the same purchased within a different BG in the same zip code during the previous DifferentMake equals 1 if at least one car of a different make was purchased within a different BG in the same zip code during the previous quarter. fixed-effects control for within-year seasonality. Zip codes are delimited by the U.S. Block Groups (BG) are delimited by the U.S. Census Bureau, and demographic information at the BG level is from the 2000 U.S. census. Density is defined per square meter as in the U.S. census. Family Income is scaled to 100,000. In Models 2–3 we examine non-luxury makes Luxury makes are In these subsamples, DifferentMake equals if at least one car of a different make but of the same type (luxury/non-luxury) within a different BG in the same zip code during the previous quarter.


This paper presents an efficient monitoring solution for greenhouses. The solution implements the Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) monitoring system and then expands the monitoring concept to an Internet of Things (IoT) solution, by employing 3G access, web services, database and a web interface for user interaction. The main advantage of this modular monitoring system relies on the fact that the End-Devices are highly configurable, enabling several monitoring solutions with different types of sensors and including energy harvesting capabilities. This modular development approach allows the system to be highly scalable and reusable. TI's Z-Stack and SDK support all the network nodes' firmware development. The gateway application software was developed in C++ and Sencha Ext JS framework was employed to implement the web services and the web user interface.


Based on a method of network split through different nature of time-delay, this paper is further investigates the pinning synchronization of the directed complex dynamical networks with multi-links. Via the theory of Lyapunov stability combined with linear matrix inequalities(LMIs) technique and the method of the free-weighting matrix, some sufficient conditions for global synchronization by adding linear feedback controllers to a part of nodes are obtained. Numerical examples are also provided to demonstrate the effectiveness of the theory.


Earth pressure on a vertical wall in a sliding mass changes al ong the sliding surface, and it changes also time to time . An active or passive failure will take place along a slidi ngsurface inthe sliding soil mass. The auther pointed out that this idea might be helpful for designing countermeasures by remov ing a part of soil mass or drainage . The ground surface is extended, and extension cracks are observed in the active pressure region . The ground surface is compressed and swell up in the passive region. Wh ena part of soil mass is removed, the area is extended from the activepressureregion to theinter mediate region, and should not be extended to the passive pressure region.


Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are major reservoirs of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (ARB) which are transported to the natural environment with discharged effluents. Samples of untreated wastewater (UWW) and treated wastewater (TWW) from four municipal WWTPs and samples of river water collected upstream (URW) and downstream (DRW) from the effluent discharge point were analyzed in the study. The total counts of bacteria resistant to β-lactams and tetracyclines and the counts of antibiotic-resistant Escherichia coli were determined. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria, including antibiotic-resistant E. coli, were removed with up to 99.9% efficiency in the evaluated WWTPs. Despite the above, ARB counts in TWW samples were high at up to 1.25x105 CFU/mL in winter and 1.25x103 CFU/mL in summer. Antibiotic-resistant bacteria were also abundant (up to 103 CFU/ml) in URW and DRW samples collected in winter and summer. In both UWW and TWW samples, the counts of ARB and antibiotic-resistant E. coli were at least one order of magnitude lower in summer than in winter. The study revealed that despite the high efficiency of bacterial removal in the wastewater treatment processes, considerable amounts of ARB are released into the environment with TWW and that the percentage of ARB in total bacterial counts increases after wastewater treatment.


The purpose of this study was to examine private security services and crime control in Karen location Nairobi county. The study was necessitated by the upsurge of insecurity in Karen location, which has led the majority of residents to engage the services of private security companies to provide security. This study was informed by Situational crime prevention and Crime prevention through environmental design theories. Descriptive survey research design was used, and the study utilized stratified random sampling technique to select respondents from the study population which was 450 respondents. The sample size was 152 respondents, who were drawn from the private security personnel in the seven private security companies in the area of study, and the members of staff working in the private institutions and also the home owners. Questionnaires and interview schedules were used as the major data collection instruments, and were administered by the researcher to the respondents. Data collected was analyzed quantitatively and descriptive statistics such as means, standard deviation and frequency distribution were used to analyze the data. The study provided deeper knowledge to the security industry, the private security management and members of public and is also expected to yield tangible results that would assist a long way in curbing insecurity in Karen. The study found that majority of the residents in the study area go for the medium security premium which offers alarm response and security guarding services. The study recommended that there is need for the government to come up with a clear policy framework that sets the rules and guidelines for the private security industry.


The aim of this study was to find out the effect of leadership styles of school principals on organizational citizenship behaviors of teachers. Participants of the study were 125 preschool, class and branch teachers who were randomly selected. Data of the study were collected through "Multifactor Leadership Scale" and "Organizational Citizenship Behaviors Scale". In order to find out the relationship among variables, multiple regression analysis was applied through SPSS 20 program. According to the results of this analysis, there was a positive relationship between overall average of leadership styles of school principals and organizational citizenship behaviors sub-dimensions and membership morality dimensions. Key words: Leadership, leadership styles, organizational citizenship behavior.


It is always being a concern since many years that data moving in networks must be secured from eavesdropping. Data encryption is considered one of the effective methods which challenge cryptanalyst to find the useful information from the encrypted data. Recently this focus has now shifted to encrypting data at rest that is encrypting data for secondary storage devices. The usefulness of this data encryption method is always a challenge for cryptographic researchers to prevent it from cryptanalyst attacks. AES-XTS is the method of encrypting data that is designed for storage devices that provides encryption based on tweak value which makes it less vulnerable for cryptanalyst attacks. This mode has been recently implemented on software as well as hardware. The FPGA provides a way to achieve the fast encryption process with sustainable throughput with a little cost. This paper presents an implementation of AES-XTS on FPGA using memory based pipelined design. After successful synthesizing, placement and routing we got the highest efficiency of the proposed design. The implementation is being incorporated by using the Digital Clock Manager (DCM) feature of FPGA with two DCMs are cascaded with the incorporation of on-the-fly key generation to achieve the time effective implementation and also an enhanced implementation of one of the AES sub-modules is incorporated. The proposed scheme is implemented on Virtex V- XC5vlx50-3ff676 FPGA.


This paper proposes a sliding mode control strategy aiming at the complex chaotic behavior of permanent magnet synchronous motor (PMSM). The chaotic behaviors of the PMSM will impact the stability of the drive system and deteriorate the operational performance. In order to control the undesirable chaos in PMSM, a controller is established based on second order sliding mode control. Furthermore, the chattering effects are also overcome using proposed controller. Simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of proposed control scheme.


Summary form only given, as follows. Electrical characteristics of capacitively coupled plasma at low Pressure (20 mTorr) are measured with different driving frequency. From these measurements, we found a significant change of the power characteristics during frequency increase, which is square dependence of power characteristics changes to a linear dependence. The observed result reveals a power dissipation mode transition induced by driving frequency modulation. Both calculated result from a simple sheath model and PIC have a good agreement with the experimental data.


This report shares insights and open problems that I have found from exploring the literature and various existing systems produced by the movement computation community which analyze, visualize, generate, or annotate motion. The state of the art is moving towards real-time, fully-immersive choreographic interfaces that can intuitively represent the high-dimensional feature space of movement and allow us to infer physiological experiences, relationality to technique, experience, and community, and expression of conscious and subconscious cognitive states through movement – an expansion of knowledge that would push the boundaries in both art and science. Selected from a larger set of design principles, motivations, technologies, and methodologies that have shaped this interdisciplinary field, this report highlights those findings from the research that may be relevant for grounding future work in developing novel interactive embodied visualization tools that support dance education as well as the creative practice of improvisers and choreographers. Finally, I posit that the identified open areas will necessitate an integration of state-of-the-art solutions across scientific visualization, computer vision, AI, biomechanics, pattern recognition, cognitive science, and dance studies, positioning this inquiry as an interdisciplinary science.


The professional and political debate on the superficial or in-depth reorganization and re-form of Hungary 's administrative regions – which has been a constant feature on the agenda, albeit with varying levels of importance since the regime change of 1990 – has today been revived. The reforms carried out in Hungary during the part decade, although affecting area organization at many levels, have failed within the modified conditional system to provide a viable and comprehensive system. The internal structure of a state is determined by the state boundaries. To speak of state borders with regard to a uniting Europe is no easy task, since the import of the expression is changing within the framework of this integration. The outer borders of the EU lie along natural boundaries, and therefore may be clearly de-fined, while serving as protective enclosures for achievements which present inhabitants reached over many decades. In recent decades this produced a predominantly isolating tendency, and its liberalization in relation to penetrability may be mainly interpreted as a result of the expansion process. It seems appropriate to emphasise this notion, since after enlargement in 2004, today's Schengen border will partly become an internal one, and in parallel will be gradually pushed eastwards, creating a wall or barrier in regions where it was traditionally desirable to maintain penetrability.


Background: Postmenopause is the name given to the time when a woman stops periodical bleeding for an entire year. In this stage of postmenopause, women remain at increased risk of several health anomalies, such as osteoporosis, diabetes, vision problem, dental problem, and heart disease. Hence, the purpose of the study was to assess the status of vitamin D3 and vitamin K2 [menaquinone-4 (MK-4)] among Bangladeshi postmenopausal women especially those confined to Dhaka city. Methods: A cross-sectional analytical study was done in the Retired Government Employees Hospital in the year 2019 where 55 postmenopausal women below 60 years were selected. The blood sample was collected from them and the level of serum vitamin D3 [25(OH)D] and vitamin K2 [menaquinone-4 (MK-4)] were determined by the high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method. Binary logistic regression was used for model fitness and its significance. Results: The mean ages of the postmenopausal women were 55.80±3.55 years. Their body mass index and waist-hip ratio were 26.03±2.66 kg/m2 and 0.93±0.05 cm, respectively. Serum levels of vitamin D3 [25(OH) D] and menaquinone-4 (MK-4) from postmenopausal women were 14.80±6.36 ng/mL and0.38±0.21 ng/mL, respectively. The regression model used in this study was 74% fit, and diabetes, cardiovascular disease (CVD), dental problems, vision problems, and hearing problems were significant for postmenopausal women. However, serum vitamin D3 and serum vitamin K2 were non-significant at the 5% significance level. A high incidence of insufficient serum vitamin D3 [25(OH) D] level and sufficient serum vitamin K2 (MK-4) level were found among postmenopausal women with pre-obese and high waist-hip ratio (WHR). Conclusion: The level of serum vitamin D3 and K2 and their correlation with BMI, WHR, and overall health status may provide insight to medical professionals and dietitians to take necessary action to address various health issues faced by postmenopausal women.