Skepticism about the external world may very well be correct, so the question is in order: what theory of knowledge flows from skepticism itself? The skeptic can give a relatively simple and intuitive account of knowledge by identifying it with indubitable certainty. Our everyday 'I know that p' claims, which typically are part of practical projects, deploy the ideal of knowledge to make assertions closely related to, but weaker than, knowledge claims. The truth of such claims is consistent with skepticism; various other vexing problems don't arise. In addition, even if no claim about the world outside my mind can be more probable than its negation, the project of pure scientific research remains well motivated. Epistemology is largely a response to skepticism. A subtext of virtually every theory of knowledge has been to show how knowledge is possible or, at the least, to avoid an account that delivers us unto the skeptic. Yet skepticism remains robust after 2,500 years. The question is surely in order: what if skepticism is correct? How bad would that be? And what sort of epistemology flows from skepticism? A tortured epistemology has resulted from the conviction that a theory of knowledge must explain how knowledge is possible. If its consequences turn out not to be so terrible as we feared, and it yields an intuitive and useful account of knowledge, then skepticism itself becomes an attractive option in epistemology. This paper will support that alternative. In any case, it is unlikely that skepticism should have proved so durable if it reveals nothing of importance about knowledge; and we can hardly expect to learn what something teaches so long as we doggedly resist it. To learn what it teaches, therefore, I propose to capitulate to skepticism. The skepticism that will concern me is three-fold: the Problem of the External World, the Problem of Induction, and the Problem of the Past-we don't know there is a world outside our minds, we know nothing about the future, and we don't know there is a past. (The area of traditional epistemology these constitute might be called 'The Problem of the External World and Its Suburbs.') I focus on these problems because each of them is of particular concern to science, and because all are motivated by forceful arguments.' Skepticism remains unalarming, of course, if it merely insists that we don't


In this paper we have described the methodologies that we have used in data collection and recording for our Hindi Text to Speech system. Design of the speech corpus plays a very important role in overall quality of the text-to-speech system. A huge text corpus of one million words was created for existing text-to-speech system. We have crawled text from many domains like financial, government, current news etc. along with pre-built dictionaries. For the very first time, we have also generated and incorporated text from Hindi Short-Messaging-Service (SMS). The efforts were made to make the generic speech corpus for Hindi. The crawled text was first filtered for correctness e.g. spelling mistakes, validity to Hindi, word lengths etc. The filtered words were then carefully analyzed and ensured that phonetically balanced text is prepared. This cured text is then recorded by professional recordist in a studio environment. The recorded speech data is then processed and annotated to generate the final speech corpus. The paper explains the speech corpus creation process, beginning with text data crawling, filtering, recording and annotation phases. The final speech corpus thus generated is used in the Hindi Text-to-Speech system with the MOS of 2.8.


We demonstrated that the vertically aligned gold nanorods (AuNRs) were quickly and easily formed by using inkjet printing when aqueous dispersion of AuNRs containing a small amount of ethylene glycol (EG) was employed as an ink. It was observed that the content of EG in water suppressed rapid drying and convection in the droplets, which is favorable for the formation of the nanostructures.


We study the character of the equations in the traditional formulation of one-dimensional immiscible three-phase (cid:176)ow with gravity, in the limit of negligible capillarity. We restrict our analysis to co-current (cid:176)ow required for a displacement process; in cases of mixed co-current and counter-current (cid:176)ow, capillarity efiects cannot be dropped from the formulation. The model makes use of the classical multiphase extension of Darcy's equation. It is well known that, if relative permeabilities are taken as flxed functions of saturations, the model yields regions in the saturation space where the system of equations is locally elliptic. We regard elliptic behavior as a nonphysical artifact of an incomplete formulation, and derive conditions on the relative permeabilities that ensure strict hyperbolicity of the governing equations. The key point is to acknowledge that a Darcy-type formulation is insu–cient to capture all the physics of three-phase (cid:176)ow and that, consequently, the relative permeabilities are functionals that depend on the (cid:176)uid viscosity ratio and the gravity number. The derived conditions are consistent with the type of displacements that take place in porous media. By means of an illustrative example, we show how elliptic behavior can be removed, even when using simplistic relative permeability models.


The dead-end elimination (DEE) theorems are powerful tools for the combinatorial optimization of protein side-chain placement in protein design and homology modeling. In order to reach their full potential, the theorems must be extended to handle very hard problems. We present a suite of new algorithms within the DEE paradigm that significantly extend its range of convergence and reduce run time. As a demonstration, we show that a total protein design problem of 10(115) combinations, a hydrophobic core design problem of 10(244) combinations, and a side-chain placement problem of 10(1044) combinations are solved in less than two weeks, a day and a half, and an hour of CPU time, respectively. This extends the range of the method by approximately 53, 144 and 851 log-units, respectively, using modest computational resources. Small to average-sized protein domains can now be designed automatically, and side-chain placement calculations can be solved for nearly all sizes of proteins and protein complexes in the growing field of structural genomics.


Maize (Zea mays L.) is the cereal most produced in the world, due to its wide scope and utilization in human and animal diet. This study aims to evaluate the agronomic performance of intervarietal maize hybrids, as well as the linear associations, interrelations of cause and effect, and the genotypes dispersion through canonical variates. The experiment was conducted in the agricultural year of 2014/2015. The crosses that originated the hybrids were carried out on the growing season of 2013/2014 and hybrids evaluated on 2014/2015. The hybrids were arranged in randomized blocks, being 13 treatments with five repetitions. The measured characters were: plant height, spike insertion height, stem diameter, spike diameter, spike length, spike mass, number of rows of grains per spike, number of grains per row, cob diameter, cob mass, spike grains mass, mass of a thousand grains, gra in length and grain yield. The data were submitted to analysis of variance and mean values compared by the Tukey test at 5% of probability. The Pearson's linear correlation analysis and path analysis were performed using grain yield as a dependent character. Furthermore, the analysis of canonical variables was carried out. The hybrid H5: G3 X G4 revealed higher grain yield, spike grains mass, number of grains per row and spike diameter. Grain yield of intervarietal hybrids presented positive correlations with the traits such as stem diameter, spike diameter, spike length, number of grains per row, mass of a thousand grains, grain length and spike grains mass. Spike diameter and spike length presented higher direct effects on grain yield of intervarietal hybrids. The canonical variates revealed the formation of five phenotypically distinct groups of intervarietal hybrids.


The horizontal distribution of the water vapor pressure through perforated plastic plates was studied using the cup method. To analyze the horizontal distribution, 3 different factors, that is, water vapor permeability, height from the plate surface and inside diameter of the cup were modified. The results showed that the water vapor pressures above the perforated plates were constant at a distance of more than 1.5cm from the inside wall of the cups. Therefore, the diameter of the cup should be at least greater than 3cm in order to analyze the water vapor diffusion mechanism based on the vertical distribution of the water vapor pressure.


BACKGROUND: The purpose of this project is to formally evaluate the benefits and the risks of allowing patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection or hepatitis to donate blood for autologous use. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: With data on the incidence of transfusion‐ transmitted hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), and HIV; administrative error; and health‐care worker exposure, decision analysis was used to quantitate the benefits and risks of autologous blood transfusions versus those of transfusions of blood from allogeneic donors. RESULTS: Assuming the highest documented probability of transfusion‐related infection, the days of life saved by allowing the transfusion of autologous blood to a 30‐year‐old noninfected or HBV‐, HCV‐, or HIV‐infected patient are 92.52, 70.60, 0.95, and 5.69, respectively. Assuming the lowest documented probability of transfusion‐ related infection, the days of life saved decrease to 2.96, 2.26, 0.15, and 0.18, respectively. Avoidance of HCV accounts for over 90 percent of the days gained. The days of life lost by other noninfected patients through administrative error average 0.11 in the case of HIV and those lost by health care workers average 0.04, 0.18, and 0.07 in the case of HBV, HCV, and HIV, respectively. CONCLUSION: The benefit of autologous transfusions in patients infected with HBV, HCV, and HIV is significantly less than that in noninfected patients. The risks of this infected blood to other noninfected patients are significant only in the case of HIV‐infected blood transfusions; however, there is a measurable risk to health‐care workers should all infected blood be allowed into the blood supply.


With the athletes who have attended the final games of the 41st,42nd world championship during London Olympic Period and the parallel bars final of the Beijing Olympics being the main research objects,this paper makes a study of the development trend of male parallel bars during London Olympic period.The results show: the average difficulty of complete contents(D score) is 6.5,which is relatively low and there is still some space to improve it.For the would-be winners,the highest score D is supposed to be7.0.The structure of complete movements is mainly about support and swing while giant hanging swing and short-radius circle increasing rapidly,being nearly half of the total and the main cause of the difficulty of complete movements.The number of shoulder swing movements is decreasing,but its difficulty will become increasingly high."Pike back flip 2 circles" is still the main dismount action,and there is a tendency to develop other ways of dismounting.The average score E is decreasing for it is strictly scored.The victory depends on the quality of their performance which based on the given movements difficulty(especially close to 7.0).Our players have a good command of advanced techniques which have made our country take the lead of parallel bars in the world and ensure the whole team keeping advantages during the London Olympics.


We construct a theory of Maxwell stresses in Rindler space, presenting both a noncovariant and a covariant formulation. The theory shows how the Maxwell stresses are modified by a nonvanishing acceleration of gravity and that the Maxwell stresses of an electromagnetic field produce a volume stress force which vanishes in an inertial frame. In the noncovariant formulation we deduce the Maxwellian force due to the bending of the field lines by the acceleration of gravity. In the covariant formulation we show that Archimedes' law is valid for stationary electromagnetic fields in Rindler space: The Maxwellian surface forces acting from the outside field upon a closed surface produce a buoyancy equal to the weight of the electromagnetic field enclosed by the surface. Generally the mechanism is different from that in a fluid in which the buoyancy is due to a pressure which increases with depth. In a vertical electrical field the buoyancy is due to a tension that increases with height, but in a horizontal field it is due to a Maxwellian pressure which increases with the depth.


We consider universal quantization with side information for Gaussian observations, where the side information is a noisy version of the sender's observation with an unknown noise variance. We propose a universally rate optimal and practical quantization scheme for all values of unknown noise variance. Our scheme is interactive, uses Polar lattices from prior work, and proceeds by checking in each round if a reliable estimate has been formed. In particular, our scheme is based on a structural decomposition of the underlying auxiliaries so that even when recovery fails in a round, the parties agree on a common "reference point" that is closer than the previous one.


Chinese authorities have initiated disposal methods ranging from loans sales to debtfor-equity swaps to resolve the country's Non-Performing Loans (NPL). NPL securitization, a form of structured finance, tops the list of innovative financing techniques to resolve the remaining USD$73.1 billion of the original USD$170 billion removed from the banking system by Asset Management Companies (AMC), which were formed specifically to handle NPL disposal. With increased securitization activity within the Asia-Pacific, this paper seeks to determine if the People's Republic of China's (PRC) legal and economic underpinnings are conducive for a broad implementation of NPL securitization. This paper finds that government participation must persist through ongoing policy adjustments, and debt restructuring schemes must be initiated before securitization structures can accommodate the continuing NPL disposal effort and elicit sustained investor interest. 1 I owe the completion of this paper to Nicholas Hope, whose continued support, sustained interest and insightful questions helped immensely in formulating this project. I sincerely acknowledge Jenny Cheung, John Cieslewicz, Gabrielle Moyer, and Hilton Obenzinger for their valuable inputs. I also thank John Shoven and Geoffrey Rothwell for their endorsement of my thesis. 2 As of September, 2003. Asset Management Reference, Sept. 2003. No. 9. Translated from original Chinese text.


Abstract The author analyses economic inequalities among the main social groups in Montenegro at the end of the socialist system and during the postsocialist transformation. Economic inequalities are analysed based on an economic status index, which is a composite index made up of multiple indicators: income, consumption, and asset ownership. The empirical basis for the analysis are survey results from 1989, 2003, and 2015. The findings show that there were economic inequalities during the entire period. In the late 1980s, the economic differentiation of social classes was very pronounced, despite the principle of equality with which the socialist system had legitimized itself. The period of postsocialist transformation raised the economic status of all social groups. Notwithstanding such improvement, the differences between the higher and lower social classes persisted.


1
Sodium dodecyl sulphate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis has been applied to proteins extracted from 32 strains of Bacteroides melaninogenicus.

2
Strains of subspecies melaninogenicus gave similar electrophoretic patterns which differed from those of strains outside the subspecies.

3
Strains of subspecies intermedius serotype C were similar to one another in electrophoretic pattern, and were different from strains outside the subspecies and from one strain of subspecies intermedius of serotype C1.

4
Greater variation was observed between asaccharolytic than between saccharolytic strains.

5
The group within subspecies asaccharolyticus with low G + C content stained poorly and showed few bands.

6
The group within subspecies asaccharolyticus with high G + C content showed interstrain differences but none would be confused with strains of the saccharolytic subspecies. The strain that did not react with type B antiserum was electrophoretically different from those strains that did.

7
The asaccharolytic Lev type strains form a separate group based on both electrophoretic and physiological criteria.


Clean-in-place (CIP) is the cleaning of the assembled plant (vats, fermenters, tanks, processing equipment, probes) and pipeline circuits (values, flowmeters, gaskets) by the jetting or spraying of surfaces or the circulation of cleaning solutions under conditions of high temperature, turbulence and flow velocity. CIP involves little or no manual involvement from an operator. Cleaning efficiency is associated with mechanical, thermal, and chemical activity. Important factors influencing the effectiveness of the CIP include the nature of the material to be removed, the design of the plant and CIP system, the type of surface requiring cleaning, the concentration and nature of the cleaning solution, and the temperature and duration of the cleaning stages [1]. Compared to manual cleaning regimes, a well-designed, validated, operated, and monitored CIP system will dramatically increase cleaning effectiveness and reproducibility, reduce costs, and enhance operator safety.

Keywords:

cleaning;
automation;
alkali;
acid;
hygienic processing


The invention discloses an automobile stabilizing method. The method is characterized in that drainage tubes are included and arranged in columns B of an automobile, air inlets of the drainage tubes are located on an automobile chassis, and exhaust ports of the draught tubes are located in an automobile roof. The method has the beneficial effects that the air pressure at the bottom of the automobile is reduced through the drainage tubes, the purpose of air lift force reduction is achieved, the road holding force of the automobile is increased, and therefore the automobile is more stable under the high-speed running condition.


The aim of this research is to verify the hypotheses on the asymmetry between source and goal PPs from both a syntactic and a cognitive point of view.Nam's (2004) syntactic analysis shows that Goal PPs behave like adjuncts while Source PPs are internal arguments. Lakusta and Landau's (2005) cognitive experimental research reveals the tendency in speakers to express Goal paths over Source paths. Landau (2010) suggests that one of the causes of this asymmetry might be related to the lexicon: are there more attachment verbs than detachment verbs? If so, the more frequent exposure to goal paths would explain the goal bias.For this purpose I have classified approximately 500 Italian transitive verbs of motion, the analysis of which revealed that verbs showing a goal pattern account for the vast majority in the lexicon, but also that goal verbs and source verbs behave differently with respect to such properties as transitive-intransitive pronominal alternation and subject alternation. The former is much more frequent with goal verbs, while the latter is applicable only to goal verbs.Furthermore, the application of diagnostics like topicalization and pro-form confirms the syntactic asymmetry between source and goal PPs.


A 65-year-old upland black spruce stand was thinned and fertilized with urea in 1961. The 15-year total volume increases ranged from 3 to 9 m3 for an application of 112 kg N/ha and from 11.5 to 12.5 m3 for 448 kg N/ha. Most of the volume increases due to treatment took place in the first 10 years. Heavy thinning and fertilization had almost additive effects to produce an 86% increase in periodic gross increment. Neither periodic tree mortality nor distribution of response by tree size appeared to have been affected by treatment. Humus analyses of control plots and of plots treated with 448 kg N/ha, conducted in 1961, 1966, 1971, and 1976, indicated that after 15 years pH values were still higher, NH4-N levels approached equilibrium values twice as high as controls after 10 years, leaching and volatilization losses of N were negligible, the C/N ratios were lower, and the potential for N mineralization and total biological activity were higher on the N-treated plots. Significant black spruce stand responses...


The purpose of the work was to identify the potential microbial hazards that may occur during the manufacturing process of creamy cream cheese, and to present the means of their elimination or minimization. The analysis demonstrated that among the most crucial stages that should be particularly monitored are: the quality of raw materials, the control of pasteurization and souring parameters as well as temperature of product packaging, ensuring proper storage conditions of the finished product and hygiene throughout the production. Of these, the most critical step in the entire process (critical control points CCP) is a heat treatment process which is pasteurization. On the basis of the analysis, it can be concluded that the monitoring of such a process and consistent adherence to Operational Pre-Condition Programs at the thermisation and centrifuging and later packaging, can help guarantee a safe product and its long shelf life.


A control strategy is presented for the no-load cutting-in of VSCF doubly fed wind power generator,which combines the vector control,inverse system method and variable structure control.The math model of doubly fed induction generator is a nonlinear coupling system in m-t coordinates.With the inverse system method,the rotator voltage equations are linearized and decoupled to build a pseudo linear system,for which the variable structure controller is designed.The simulative model of VSCF doubly fed wind power generation system is established with Matlab.Simulative results prove that the generator cuts in grid smoothly under the decoupled control of stator active power and reactive power.Compared with the PI controller,the variable structure controller shows better dynamic performance.


This paper continues the functional approach to the P-versus-NP problem, begun in [1]. Here we focus on the monoid RM_2^P of right-ideal morphisms of the free monoid, that have polynomial input balance and polynomial time-complexity. We construct a machine model for the functions in RM_2^P, and evaluation functions. We prove that RM_2^P is not finitely generated, and use this to show separation results for time-complexity.


Proliferation of personalization technologies online results in an increasingly large number of choices. In addition to the choice of products and services, a consumer is also faced with the choice of the recommendation technology itself. A recommendation agent (RA) is a mediator between a user and a vendor. Existing literature seems to focus on designing RAs as a persuasion tool, which more likely focuses on the vendor's needs. As an alternative, this paper suggests a theory-grounded model of designing an RA as an extension of a user. This paper examines a new construct, user's identification with an RA, as an indicator of connectivity in the user-IT relationship. The paper explores different effects of surface similarity (e.g. attribute-based RA which is widely used now) and deep similarity (e.g. value-based RA which rarely exists now) on cognitive and emotional identification with the RA and contributes by exploring theoretical and practical considerations of user-centered design.


The article argues a lecture of H. Arendt's The burden of our times (1951), which takes into account this work as an analysis of the causes that led to the crisis and fall of the modern Nation-state, displaying the elements which brought forth the most destructive experiment which the political condition of man was subjected to, i.e. the totalitarian phenomenon. I shall begin by outlining the reasons of Arendt's disdain for the rules of sociological method, since she considers that human actions can only retrospectively illuminate which are the elements that actually led to the historical events. Secondly, I tackle the incompatibility that Arendt highlights between political and boundless economic enrichment with the help of the criticism she addressed to Hobbes's Leviathan, that would be guilty of granting theoretical legitimacy to the specific needs of a rising class, the bourgeoisie. Imperialism would thus be the logical consequence of forgetting the principle that commands men transforming the earth as a habitable place, inserting in it a system of legal mediations. Finally, I will deal with the criticism of Arendt on human rights —near to the criticism that she leveled at the nationalism concealed by every national state, whose content she drastically reduces to the requirement of belonging effectively to a political community. Concerning this topic I aim at exploring the possibilities for setting up a dialogue with Kant's Doctrine of Right, which also assesses the foundation of a civil union as an essential condition for upholding human rights.


Timing of food intake has emerged as a novel risk factor for weight gain and obesity. Higher evening food intake, especially during insufficient sleep, is associated with weight gain. We aimed to explore initial changes in evening food intake and the respiratory quotient (RQ) during insufficient sleep and subsequent weight gain. We also explored sex differences.

 28 healthy adults (14F) aged 26.3±4.5y completed a 14–16 daylong laboratory protocol. In their home environment participants maintained one week of ~9h/night sleep schedules and consumed energy balanced diets for 3 days prior to completing the laboratory protocol. The laboratory protocol consisted of 3 baseline days of 9h/night scheduled sleep with energy balanced diets followed by 10 days of 5h/night scheduled sleep with ad-libitum food intake, with (n=14) and without (n=14) weekend recovery sleep. RQ was assessed on days 3 and 5 in a whole room calorimeter. Evening (dinner and after-dinner snacks) energy intake and body weight were assessed daily.

 A significant sex by condition effect was observed for evening food intake such that men and women were similar at baseline, but men ate more than women during insufficient sleep, when controlling for body mass (p<0.05). A significant sex by condition effect was also observed for RQ with women showing similar RQ during baseline and insufficient sleep and men showing a higher RQ during insufficient sleep versus baseline (p<0.05). Linear regression with food intake and RQ as predictors of weight gain showed that increased evening food intake, but not RQ, on the second day of sleep restriction was associated with weight gain in men, but not women, at the end of the study eight days later (p<0.05).

 Findings suggest that rapid changes in evening food intake during insufficient sleep contributes to subsequent weight gain during sustained insufficient sleep, especially in men.

 NIH HL109706, DK111161, TR001082, DK048520, Sleep Research Society Foundation grant 011-JP-16 and Office of Naval Research MURI (N00014-15-1-2809).


On the basis of orthogonal experiment, the effect of Mg content and heat treatment on mechanical properties of near eutectic Al Si cast alloys modified with Sr has been investigated. The results show that the order of influential factors on tensile strength is solution time,aging time,Mg content and aging temperature and that the order of influential factors on elongation is Mg content,solution time ,anging time and aging temperature.Solution time is an important factor to both UST and elongation during solution,and it relates to the remarkable transformation of Si morphology.By a proper heat treatment,the mechanical properties of the alloy could reach σ b≥315MPa, δ ≥6%.


Various federal enactments in 1963, 1968. and 1976, for vocational education have brought about numerous structural changes and innovations in vocational agriculture education programs and in the ways in which the teacher develops and implements these programs (U.S. Office of Education, 1965; Phipps, 1980). Consequently, there are many additional competencies that secondary vocational agriculture education teachers must possess in order to plan and implement successful program offerings (King & Miller, 1985).


This paper presents Eva, a tool for evaluating image descriptors for content-based image retrieval. Eva integrates the most common stages of an image retrieval process and provides functionalities to facilitate the comparison of image descriptors in the context of content-based image retrieval. Eva supports the management of image descriptors and image collections and creates a standardized environment to run comparative experiments using them.


The emerging technology of Microgrid (MG) is required to fulfill the objective of increased robustness in terms of availability, efficiency, reliability, and green energy usage. Various kinds of sophisticated control techniques are developed to realize these goals. However, due to the requirement of a costly hardware testbed, various challenges in the development and validation of the control strategy are faced by the academic world. Real-time simulation is the promising solution that allows the smooth implementation of the complex microgrid testbed with the development of real-time control hardware to realize and validate the optimal control scheme. This paper conveys the real-time validation of autonomous microgrid network which implement the idea of demand side management (DSM) with the support of voltage-current (V-I) droop. The control strategy adopts a high bandwidth current and low bandwidth voltage regulator to develop the predefined voltage. The potency of the DSM enabled control mechanism is realized through a virtual Typhoon HIL 402.


Objective: To observe the effect of repair in bone defect with VMF and BMRMs in vivo. Methods: To prepare chitosan-sodium alginate microspheres(CSAMs) wrapped with BMP, 15 mm radius bone defect was made, and implanted with the denerved and vascularized muscle flap of flexor digitorum profundus. BMPMs, CSAMs and BMP were distributed in muscle flaps respectively. The osteogenesis was investigated by gross examination, X-ray, histology at second, fourth, eighth week postoperative, thereby the repair of bone defect was evaluated with them. Results: BMRMs was implanted with the vascularized muscle flap into radius bone defect of rabbits. The bone defects have recovered at eighth week and the formation of mature bone tissue have showed by histology examine. The capability of repair bone defect with VMF/BMPMs was better than both of VMF/BMP and VMF/CSAMs. Conclusions: Microspheres which were prepared with chitosan and sodium alginate can be used as carrier of the BMP. VMF combined, with BMPMs have recovered 15 mm radius bone defect of rabbits.


Neither of the two general councils of the western Church held between the Second and Third Lateran (1139, 1179) produced a large body of legislation: the genuine canons of the Council of Rheims (1148) number eighteen; those of Tours (1163) about ten. But in the great collection of Mansi this meagre store is eked out by an equal weight of additional canons, sixteen for Rheims and ten for Tours. Mansi looked on them with no great favor, but offered no criterion by which their validity and value might be judged. The Rheims canons, so far as I am aware, have never been submitted to critical study. The Tours canons, on the other hand, were examined and shown to be spurious by Seckel in a valuable appendix to his article on the sources of the canons of the English council of 1175, which he published in the Deutsche Zeitschrift für Kirchenrecht in 1899.


Abstract The purpose of this study is to provide knowledge about how children in a preschool class use access strategies and exclusion strategies in the free play. Also why children exclude each ot ...


The state of economic development in recent years of a village of Inner Mongolia is introduced.The cause of the involution phenomenon of rural economy is analyzed.The suggestions and measures of solving the economic stagnation of riral area are proposed.


The mental lexicon is a complex cognitive system representing information about the words/concepts that one knows. Decades of psychological experiments have shown that conceptual associations across multiple, interactive cognitive levels can greatly influence word acquisition, storage, and processing. How can semantic, phonological, syntactic, and other types of conceptual associations be mapped within a coherent mathematical framework to study how the mental lexicon works? We here review cognitive multilayer networks as a promising quantitative and interpretative framework for investigating the mental lexicon. Cognitive multilayer networks can map multiple types of information at once, thus capturing how different layers of associations might co-exist within the mental lexicon and influence cognitive processing. This review starts with a gentle introduction to the structure and formalism of multilayer networks. We then discuss quantitative mechanisms of psychological phenomena that could not be observed in single-layer networks and were only unveiled by combining multiple layers of the lexicon: (i) multiplex viability highlights language kernels and facilitative effects of knowledge processing in healthy and clinical populations; (ii) multilayer community detection enables contextual meaning reconstruction depending on psycholinguistic features; (iii) layer analysis can mediate latent interactions of mediation, suppression and facilitation for lexical access. By outlining novel quantitative perspectives where multilayer networks can shed light on cognitive knowledge representations, also in next-generation brain/mind models, we discuss key limitations and promising directions for cutting-edge future research.


Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the reliability for dosage individualization and Bayesian adaptive control of several literature‐retrieved amikacin population pharmacokinetic models in patients who were critically ill.


Abstract : The impact of climatology on an insurgency has received little attention, particularly in the Equatorial region of Africa, where the seasonal north-south shift of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) creates distinct wet and dry seasons throughout the region. During the wet season, widespread flooding and inclement weather dominate, severely impacting ground mobility and air operations, and severely restricting a government's ability to attack insurgents. During the dry season, the skies are generally clear and ground mobility is good, making counterinsurgency operations feasible. An evaluation of insurgencies that occurred from 1979-2007 in Equatorial Africa, coupled with climatological data of the position of the ITCZ, shows that a definite correlation exists between the relative intensity of conflict within an insurgency and the seasonal shift in the ITCZ. When the ITCZ dominated the region, insurgencies tended to be relatively quiescent. As the ITCZ shifted south, insurgencies had a tendency to intensify. Also linked to this correlation is the historical record of U.S. military deployments to the region in response to the intensified fighting within the insurgencies. The repeating pattern is one of heavy insurgent fighting during the latter half of the dry season (March through May), which in turn precipitates a crisis which the U.S. military is then tasked to respond to. The linkage between the ITCZ and the intensity of an insurgency, in light of the historical pattern of U.S. military deployments to Equatorial Africa, can be used by military planners as a planning tool to better allocate forces and schedule exercises within the AFRICOM theater, such that the U.S. military is poised and prepared to respond to any crisis in the region.


A planar antenna array that includes 12 corrugated tapered slot elements for use in ultrawideband (UWB) biomedical microwave imaging systems is presented. The used corrugate tapered slot antenna has a compact size, low profile, moderate gain, and distortionless performance in the time domain. The array is immersed in a carefully designed matching liquid of suitable dielectric constant to improve the matching between the array and the imaged object, and thus, to increase the dynamic range of the imaging system. A suitable platform is designed and fabricated to accommodate the array, breast phantom, and a coupling liquid for the case of UWB breast imaging. The design of the whole system is optimized using trust‐region framework method in the simulation tool CST Microwave Studio. The performance of the designed array is confirmed via measurements in a realistic imaging environment. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Int J RF and Microwave CAE, 2013.


Modern software systems are subject to continuous change and often need to exist in many variants addressing different requirements. Yet, software versions resulting from evolution in time (aka revisions) and variants resulting from evolution in space are managed radically differently, but none of the traditional technologies have been successful in effectively supporting unified revision and variant management in practice. Recent research activities focused on the integrated management of evolution and variability. They stem most notably from the fields of software configuration management and software product line engineering, but also from, e.g., software modularity and software architecture. VariVolution (the 1st International Workshop on Variability and Evolution of Software-intensive Systems) aims at bringing together active researchers studying software evolution and variability from different angles as well as practitioners who encounter these phenomena in real-world applications and systems. In an interactive environment, the workshop offers a platform for exchanging new ideas and fostering future research collaborations and synergies. Workshop website: http://varivolution2018.softeam-rd.eu/


An ingot fixing unit and apparatus for cutting ingot having the same is provided to prevent the planarity of a wafer from being deteriorated at the rear part of an ingot cutting rear part by circulating cooling water into a beam inside cooling bar and a beam side cooling bar, and thus preventing thermal expansion of beam. An ingot fixing unit(200) comprises a beam(100) having a cooling bar insertion groove formed inside a main body, in which an ingot(I) is attached to the bottom; a work plate having a shape fitting to the later part along the length of the ingot, attached to the top of the beam; an ingot feed table(110) in which the work plate is inserted, having a recessed groove matching with the fitting; and a beam inside cooling bar(102) mounted to the cooling bar insertion groove of the beam. The cooling bar insertion groove is formed at the multiple spots.


Travel and travel writing have a long history of lending support to other works of non-fiction or fiction. Good travel writing from 1900 up to World War II is the capstone of the genre, with an emphasis on adventure gradually being replaced by critical reappraisal of society. The modern travel book, replete with richly experiential narratives anchored in real places, is worthy of more attention from geographers. Harry Franck was a prolific travel writer during the first half of the twentieth century, became intimately familiar with South America, and wrote extensively about its peoples and places. This paper addresses several major themes in his books on South America: the struggle with nature, landscape appreciation, and "the other" and its relationship with self. Although Franck's books are now old and partly dated, they still stir our imaginations and transport us to distant places. His work serves as an excellent informal geography, a garden from which we can harvest what remains attractive to fertilize and quicken more formal geography.


Since taking office in 2006, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has transformed science in Canada, particularly for government scientists. The author describes and assesses these changes, from revised communication policies for government scientists, to the closure of scientific facilities and offices, to the altered landscape for science funding. In these changes, one can see an importation of a corporate model into governance, with government practices streamlined to ensure near-exclusive focus on the particular agenda of the government. But democracies should not be run like corporations; they require greater openness and acceptance of divergent interests within government science. In particular, government research is often crucial to the assessment of government actions and policies, and citizens require access to this information to be able to assess their government at times of election. The author articulates four implementable principles that can help maintain science's important place in democratic governance.


The CAP theorem has detected and proven universal limitations on distributed systems design and implementation. It states that it is impossible for a distributed computer system to simultaneously be Consistent (all nodes output the same information at all times), Available (every request receives a response about whether it was successful or failed) and Partition tolerant (the system continues to operate despite arbitrary message loss or failure of part of the system). These proven limitations affect how systems are implemented and therefore must be tackled early in the design stage. Using the CAP theorem as a known limitation we analyzed how its restrictions were negotiated in current spacecraft systems and evaluated its use for future more complex missions.


Cows could be classified in two major groups including taurine breeds (Bos taurus) and indicine breeds (Bos indicus) (Zhang et al. 2015). The indicine breeds belong to tropical regions where natural selection and adaptation to harsh environmental conditions caused them superior in this environment due to disease resistance and food shortage (Wilson, 2009). Iranian native cows are classified in the indicine breeds and could be grouped in the six groups including Sarabi, Golpaigani, Sistani, Dashtyari, Najdi and Guilan native cows or Taleshi (Iran's country report on farm animal, 2004). Based on the report of JihadKeshavarzi organization of Guilan province in 2015 there are 312107 Guilan native cows in Guilan province that includes 70 percent of all cows in this province. According to the reports of Iranian national animal breeding center and promotion of animal products (INABC-PAP), average of test-day milk yield in Iranian Holstein, crossbred, and native cattle populations are 28.1, 10.3 and 4.68 kg/day, respectively. Because of low milk and meat production in Iranian native cattle populations, the crossbreeding proRNA-sequencing is a new method of transcriptome characterization of organisms. Based on identity and relatedness, there are large genetic variations among different cattle breeds. The goal of the current study was to sequence the transcriptome of Guilan native cow and compare with available reference genome using RNA-sequencing method. Blood samples were collected from 14 Guilan native cows and then were pooled with same ratios of 3 micrograms per sample. Sequencing of the pooled sample was carried out using Illumina Hiseq 2000 from both end and 100 base pair of reading length. Tophat2 software was used to align the reads with reference genome and identify splice junctions and insertions and deletions. Cufflinks software was used to assemble transcripts and calculate their abundances. Total numbers of sequenced RNA fragments were 28434708 and the overall reading map was 87.4 percent. Total numbers of expressed genes were 24616 genes, which 19994 genes from these were protein coding genes and 3825 genes were non-coding. Adenosine triphosphate synthase 6 (ATP6) and ribosomal protein, large, P1 (RPLP1) genes showed the highest abundances of all expressed genes. The majority of highly expressed genes were involved in ribosomal structures and translational activities; moreover, they were belonging to housekeeping genes. The current study is a report of leukocytes transcriptome sequencing of Guilan native cow which have been not reported, so far. As Guilan native cow has the biggest population among all native populations in Iran, such studies could help to evaluate the genetic potential of this high precise genetic resource in Western Asia.


It is described a method and a controller for managing physical memory of a data storage, in particular a heap, the method comprising: requesting a memory portion having a memory portion size; identifying a pool, wherein the pool is provided for storing at least one access information indicative of an address of a memory block of the data storage, the memory block having a memory block size equal to or larger than the memory portion size; determining whether the access information is stored in the pool; if the access information is stored in the pool, returning address data of the memory block, wherein the address data are based on the access information and removing the access information from the pool; if the access information is not stored in the pool, creating the access information, and returning address data of the memory block.


Aiming for the current control type virtual synchronous generator (VSG) battery energy storage system, the interaction between VSG and power grid is firstly demonstrated and the regulation principle of inertia and damping is also analyzed. Then, the calculation method of active/reactive circulating power under steady state is derived based on two fully independent converters and the mitigation method of circulating power is also proposed. The corresponding MATLAB/Simulation model is built and load step response, short circuit fault operation as well as parallel operation are performed. The simulation results show that the current control type VSG could increase system equivalent inertia and consequently improve the frequency regulation of power grid.


This paper describes a multiwavelength optical pyrometer designed to measure, with a 3 ns rise-time, the evolution of a fast varying temperature as can be encountered in the detonation products of an explosive. By measuring six luminance temperatures within the visible and near infra-red spectra, this apparatus allows to determine a true surface temperature over the range 1500 to 6000 K. It has been used for studies of detonation in nitromethane, a transparent liquid explosive.


The medical service with a high data rate can be supported in mobile emergency telemedicine system by development of cellular communications networks. In Korea, the commercial service of CDMA2000 1X-EVDO is provided since 2002. In this paper, we designed the system that transfers biological signal and video signal information of patients simultaneously based on this communication network environment. In CDMA2000 1X-EVDO, the maximum backward speed is observed to be 153.6Kbps. Several field tests are performed using commercial CDMA2000 1XEVDO to realize the emergency telemedicine system fitted to feature of CDMA2000 1X-EVDO. With the designed system, we could transmit biological signals and MPEG4 images of spatial resolution 640x480 simultaneously. We set up the system in an ambulance and tested it on the road.


In a large number of electromagnetic problems, the spatial discretization is dominated by very fine geometric details rather than the smallest wavelength of interest. These fine details dictate a small time-step due to the Courant-Friedrichs-Lewy stability bound when an explicit finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) scheme is used, which in turn leads to a large number of computational steps. The use of the alternating direction implicit (ADI) method was introduced for the time-domain analysis of electromagnetic problems to eliminate the Courant stability bound of the explicit FDTD method. We present an improved anisotropic PML (perfectly matched layer) for the unconditionally stable D-H ADI-FDTD method. The relative reflection error observed from numerical experiments is reduced by 15 to 20 dB as compared to the formulation of G. Lazzi (see IEEE Microwave Wireless Comp. Lett., vol.11, no.4, 2001). The error is bound in late time, even for time step lengths that are larger than the Courant stability limit, which implies that the method is unconditionally stable for late time.


Euglena sp. is a member of the Euglena genus that has been successfully isolated under extreme conditions. The pH level of Dieng Peatland is 2.0-3.5. that suitable for the growth of Euglena. There are several ways to increase biofuel production in Euglena sp. by increasing the production of lipids and fatty acids produced through cultivation engineering, metabolic engineering and genetic engineering. One of the efforts in increasing growth, biomass and lipid levels in microalgae, especially Euglena sp. is to provide nitrogen variation in his cultivation medium. The concentration of nitrogen applied to the culture medium is able to increase growth, biomass production and total lipids in microalgae. The aim of this article was to analyze the effect of nitrogen sources in form of Sodium Nitrate (NaNO3) on the growth of microalgae and biomass production. The results showed that NaNO3 stimulated Euglena sp. to produce the highest amount of biomass (0,377 gram/L) after adding 1,5 grams of NaNO3.


The use of stormwater detention basins for the dual purpose of flood control and mitigation of pollutant runoff loads has been promoted. However, only limited data and methods for analysis and prediction of pollutant removal in detention basins exist. This paper presents the results of a stormwater quality sampling program conducted to describe the particle size distribution and the time variable influent and effluent concentrations of chemical oxygen demand, total phosphorus, total kjeldahl nitrogen, and solids during various storm events. Concentrations in three separate particle size ranges for each of the four parameters was determined. The basin is shown to be generally effective in reducing solids, chemical oxygen demand, (COD), and total phosphorus. Total kjeldah nitrogen (TKN) concentrations and loadings were generally increased. The effectiveness of the detention basin in reducing pollutant loads appears to be related to two factors, namely, equalization and sedimentation. Dry weather water quality in the detention basin determines the importance of the former, whereas the particle size distribution for each pollutant determines the degree of sedimentation.


The aim of the study was to investigate involuntary admissions in two psychiatric hospitals from different catchment areas in Croatia, six months after the Law on Mental Health was passed. Medical records were surveyed in the six-month period. The sample comprised 380 men and 335 women hospitalized voluntarily, and 48 men and 125 women hospitalized involuntarily. The results showed a higher prevalence of involuntary hospitalization in the Psychiatric Hospital Rab, in comparison to the University Department of the Psychiatric Hospital Vrapce. Most patients from both hospitals had the final diagnosis of psychosis. Although there were some differences between the two hospitals regarding factors distinguishing involuntary from voluntary patients, the most consistent factor related to involuntary hospitalization was "being female".


The purpose of our investigation is to evaluate the anti‐arthritic potential of isolated rosmarinic acid from the rind of Punica granatum.


End-tidal CO2 detection is the standard for confirmation of endotracheal tube (ETT) placement. However, CO2 detection has limited utility in patients


It is speculated that the correct theory of fundamental physics includes a large landscape of states, which can be described as a potential which is a function of N scalar fields and some number of discrete variables. The properties of such a landscape are crucial in determining key cosmological parameters including the dark energy density, the stability of the vacuum, the naturalness of inflation and the properties of the resulting perturbations, and the likelihood of bubble nucleation events. We codify an approach to landscape cosmology based on specifications of the overall form of the landscape potential and illustrate this approach with a detailed analysis of the properties of N-dimensional Gaussian random landscapes. We clarify the correlations between the different matrix elements of the Hessian at the stationary points of the potential. We show that these potentials generically contain a large number of minima. More generally, these results elucidate how random function theory is of central importance to this approach to landscape cosmology, yielding results that differ substantially from those obtained by treating the matrix elements of the Hessian as independent random variables.


Abstract : During routine examination of quarantined primates at Edgewood Arsenal Medical Research Laboratory, a rhesus monkey was observed with ulcerative and papillary lesions on the mucocutaneous border of the upper and lower lips and the anterior one-third of the dorsum of the tongue. Microscopic examination of a biopsy of the lower lip disclosed type A intranuclear inclusion bodies in the epithelial cells in and adjacent to the ulcer. Serum samples revealed a marked increase in titer to Herpesvirus simiae and Herpes simplex virus. Methods of diagnosis and quarantine procedures are discussed. (Author)


Mathematical reasoning is crucial especially at school since students need to think logically and be able to draw new conclusion based on evidence. This is a descriptive qualitative research which aims to analyze mathematical reasoning ability viewed from logical mathematical intelligence with 32 eight graders of Junior High School of 01 Jiwan involved. Instrument used is mathematical reasoning ability and logical mathematical intelligence test. The result of the research shows that students with high logical mathematical intelligence were able to present mathematical statement (88.89%), compile evidences or create solution (81.48%), design the characteristic or relationship pattern of mathematical phenomena (74.07%), and describe the logical conclusion related to ideas and their relationship (77.78%). Students with medium logical mathematical intelligence were able to present mathematical statement (60%), compile evidences or create solution (71.11%), design the characteristics or relationship pattern of mathematical phenomena (55.56%), and describe the logical conclusion related to some ideas and their relationship (57.78%). Students with low logical mathematical intelligence were able to present mathematical statement (58.33%), compile evidences or create solution (54.17%), design the characteristics or relationship pattern of mathematical phenomena (50%), and describe the logical conclusion related to some ideas and their relationship (45.83%).


A mesh system composed of multiple overset body-conforming grids is described for adapting finite-difference procedures to complex aircraft configurations. In this so-called 'chimera mesh,' a major grid is generated about a main component of the configuration and overset minor grids are used to resolve all other features. Methods for connecting overset multiple grids and modifications of flow-simulation algorithms are discussed. Computational tests in two dimensions indicate that the use of multiple overset grids can simplify the task of grid generation without an adverse effect on flow-field algorithms and computer code complexity.


Since 1981, when magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was first introduced, a plentitude of neurologic MRI books has become available. Val M. Runge has long been involved with MRI scanning, especially with the use of contrast material. Together with Mitchell A. Brack, Robert A. Garneau, and John E. Kirsch, he has written an excellent and comprehensive book. Although we are still early in the decade of the brain, MRI has already become a well-established diagnostic modality. Although the book takes a clinical approach to presenting the findings seen on MRI in various diseases, the pathologic appearance is also presented, if available. For reference and continuity, the book is organized according to the pathology code of the American College of Radiology's Index for Radiological Diagnosis (third edition). For reference, the pathology code is presented at the beginning of each case. The book includes three chapters. Since MRI physics continue to challenge even


This paper studies the Stackelberg-Nash game problem of nonlinear systems with three players, in which the leader at the upper layer prioritizes decisions while two followers at the lower layer make decisions based on the responses of the leader and they also constitute a zero-sum game. Depending on the coupling relationship of the three players, we define a performance function for each layer. According to Bellman's principle of optimality, we build two Hamilton-Jacobi-Bellman(HJB) equations and derive optimal policies for three players which form a Stackelberg-Nash equilibrium. An integral reinforcement learning-based policy iteration (PI) algorithm is proposed for online learning of the solutions to HJB equations, which relies only on partial information of the system. We build a critical neural network to implement the PI algorithm. Finally, the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm has been demonstrated through a simulation example.


The growing demand for products originated from Brazilian sugarcane has created the need to adapt the supply chain by focusing on clients' growing demands for quality, low prices and goods produced sustainably. The sugar market is one of the most important in Brazil and has one of the best organised supply chains in the agricultural sector. Because of the market's high competitiveness, logistics has become a key component. The aim of this paper is to compare roadway and railway modes in the transportation of sugar from the sugar mills to the harbour in Santos. The comparison is mainly based on distance ranges. The results show that the transportation costs for rail were lower than those for roads in all distance ranges analysed.


Objective: The primary outcome of this study utilizing ketamine assisted opioid detoxification is long-term opioid cessation, while secondary outcomes are assessments of opioid withdrawal, pain reduction, and ketamine side effects.
Design: Preliminary observational study involving a comprehensive review of a prospectively collected database.
Setting: Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
Subjects: 41 veterans with chronic non-cancer pain and on chronic opioids who received ketamine assisted opioid detoxification.
Methods: The authors conducted a review of a real time data collection of forty-one patients who met inclusion criteria. The authors reviewed data collected over a 28-month period (April 2016-July 2018). Following detoxification and the initial ketamine infusion series, the patients were monitored at regular intervals for up to 12 months postinfusion; this monitoring period extended through October 2018 to ensure all patients had at least 3 months of monitoring data.
Results: Most veterans remained opioid free long after treatment: 83%, 75%, and 58% at one, three, and six months respectively (p=0.0001). Seventy-six percent of patients reported opioid withdrawal as either none or mild severity. Median pain reductions at one and three months were 50% and 40%, respectively. The incidence of troubling ketamine side effects was low.
Conclusion: Ketamine assisted opioid detoxification appears to be a safe and effective tool to target opioid misuse and has the potential to decrease opioid consumption, overdose related deaths, and chronic pain.


Objectives Despite the increasing availability of feline blood collected and stored for transfusion purposes, few studies have been performed on feline blood units. The aim of this prospective in vitro study was to evaluate haematological and morphological changes in feline blood cells in whole blood units between collection and end of storage. Methods Haematological examination (red blood cells [RBCs], haemoglobin, haematocrit, red cell distribution width, mean cell volume, mean cell haemoglobin concentration, mean cell haemoglobin, white blood cells [WBCs] and platelet [PLT] count) was performed on 40 non-leukoreduced feline whole blood units at the time of collection (day[D]0) and after storage (D35). The blood was collected into citrate–phosphate–dextrose–adenine anticoagulant-preservative solution using an open system in a veterinary blood bank and stored for 35 days at 4 ± 2°C. Twenty of these feline whole blood units were also analysed for blood cell morphology (normal RBCs, macrocytes, echinocytes, spherocytes, schistocytes, lysed RBCs, RBCs with Heinz bodies and recognisable WBC and PLT count). Differences between the two examination times were statistically analysed. Results There was a statistically significant decrease in WBC and PLT counts after storage at D35 (P <0.0001 for both). The most significant cellular morphological changes after storage were an increase in echinocyte count (P = 0.0001), and lysed RBCs (P <0.0001), and a decrease in normal RBCs (P <0.0001). Recognisable WBCs – mainly lymphocytes – were present at the end of storage. Conclusions and relevance This study showed that significant morphological changes occur in RBCs in feline blood units during storage for 35 days. In vivo studies are required to establish if these changes could affect the ability of stored RBCs to circulate and provide adequate oxygen delivery after transfusion.


The telomere length and telomerase activity of Korean Native Chicken cells were analyzed along with aging. The cells were collected from brain, heart, liver, kidney and testis tissues during physiological stages. Telomere length was analyzed by Q-FISH using the telomeric DNA probe. Telomerase activity was performed by TRAP assay. The amount of telomeres on chicken cells was decreased along with aging in most tissues. Furthermore, telomere quantity was significantly different among tissues. The telomeres in gonadal cells had much more than those of other cells. The telomerase activity was down-regulated in cells of brain, heart and liver tissues. Whereas gonadal cells showed a constitutive telomerase activity during all stage of life. In conclusions, the telomere quantity and telomerase activity in chicken are closely relate to cell proliferation and tissue specificity during developmental stages and aging.


In the production of sterilized dairy products, a relevant problem is the control of vegetative and spore forms of thermophilic bacteria, whose active growth by the end of the technological process in milk can reach a high number and form a biofilm on the equipment parts which have elevated temperatures. The results of the experiments showed the possibility of cleaning raw milk from spore forms of bacteria by provoking their germination by preliminary low-temperature heat treatment with their further destruction by pasteurization. Spores of Bacillus cereus, after primary heat treatment (65 or 72 °C), do not germinate both at low storage temperatures (at + 5 °C) and when stored in uncooled milk (51–65 °C), at least for six hours. To provoke the germination of spores of Bacillus cereus, it is necessary to lower the temperature to +37 °C and hold for 5-6 hours; at the end of the sixth hour, the proportion of spores germinated into the vegetative state is about 35%. Primary heat treatment of milk reduces the germination time of spores of Bacillus cereus by half: from 10-12 hours to six. With the help of further pasteurization at 75 °C, it is possible to reduce the concentration of spore forms of microorganisms in milk to 3.102 CFU/cm3. The technology of double heat treatment of milk with its intermediate exposure for an hour and a half prevents the accumulation of metabolic products of a large group of bacteria: spore and vegetative, psychrophilic and thermophilic ones.


The Suez Canal, which connects Asia and Africa, is a bridge between Egypt and Asia Minor. Also, due to being a shipping trade route, it has never lost its importance throughout history. This is why it has been the stage for several political and military events.


A six-compartment ecosystem model defined by a simple nitrogen cycle is coupled with a general circulation model in the Black Sea so as to examine the seasonal variability of the ecohydrodynamics. Model results show that the annual cycle of the biological productivity of the whole basin is characterized by the presence of a winter-early spring bloom. In all the regions this bloom precedes the onset of the seasonal thermocline and occurs as soon as the vertical winter mixing decreases. Phytoplankton development starts in winter in the central basin, while in coastal areas ( except in the river discharge area) it begins in early spring. In the Danube's discharge area and along the western coast, where surface waters are almost continuously enriched in nutrient by river inputs, the phytoplankton development is sustained during the whole year at the surface. The seasonal variability of the northwestern shelf circulation induced by the seasonal variations in the Danube discharge and the wind stress intensity has been found to have a major impact on the primary production repartition of the area. In the central basin the primary production in the surface layer relies essentially on nutrients being entrained in the upper layer from below. Simulated phytoplankton concentrations are compared with satellite and field data. It has been found that the model is able to reproduce the main characteristics of the space-time evolution of the Black Sea's biological productivity but underestimates the phytoplankton biomass especially in regions extremely rich in nutrients such as the Danube discharge area. [KEYWORDS: mathematical modeling ecosystem Black Sea]


This paper presents the results of development, design and implementation of a Simultaneous Localization And Mapping (SLAM) system for autonomous real-time localization with application to Underground Transportation Infrastructure (UTI) such as tunnels. Localization is achieved in absence of any GPS or auxiliary system. The system is a necessary element of a fully autonomous platform for detection of cracks and other anomalies on the interior surfaces of tunnels and other UTI. It can be used for tagging of high-resolution sensor data obtained with low-cost prototype data acquisition platforms previously developed [1], [2]. Visual based SLAM has been used as the core element in an architecture also employing a Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) ZED stereocamera from Stereolabs. To achieve real-time operation, an NVIDIA Jetson Tx2 massively parallel Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) has been used as the core computational engine employing two different software libraries. We achieved localization at 5 frames per second (fps) using ORBSLAM2 open source software library, while the much lighter but proprietary ZED SDK was able to deliver performance at nearly 60 fps.


The invention discloses a method and a system for cleaning the surface of strip steel through hot-water circulation, wherein the surface of the strip steel is subjected to alkali scrubbing, electrolytic cleaning and hot-water poaching; before carrying out the alkali scrubbing on the surface of the strip steel, the two surfaces of the strip steel are sprayed and cleaned at the pressure of 8-12 MPaby using spraying and cleaning hot water through a pressure-stabilizing and pressure-accumulating tank; the temperature of the spraying and cleaning hot water is 40-70 DEG C; the waste water after the hot-water poaching enters a buffer tank; the waste water for spraying and cleaning the surface of the strip steel enters the buffer tank; after being filtered, water in the buffer tank enters a water storage tank; and the water in the water storage tank forms the spraying and cleaning hot water. According to the method disclosed by the invention, all factors by using the hot-water spraying and cleaning and the hot-water circulation are comprehensively considered; the optimization of a process for cleaning and degreasing the surface of the strip steel is realized; the equipment combination number of the subsequent alkali scrubbing and the electrolytic process section and the energy consumption are reduced by more than 40%; and the purposes of saving energy and reducing consumption are achieved.


Can a Destroyer displacing 6,000 tons provide a motion environment fully supportive of combat operations in a Sea State 6? This question is one of generic seakeeping performance assessment. The paper provides guidelines for answering such questions. The inter-relationships between hull size, hull configuration, and the ability of the hull to support combat operations, to maintain speed, and to survive in a seaway are explored. Results are presented graphically as envelopes of attainable performance versus hull size with the scope of the envelope at a given size representing the influence of hull configuration. These performance envelopes can be utilized at the earliest stages of the ship design process. The range of hull sizes required to attain a given performance level or the performance levels attainable at a given hull size can be determined. Further, the feasibility of satisfying constraints on both size and performance can be evaluated or such constraints can be imposed in a rational manner.


This study describes the role of rice as it causes the shifts that are happening in the Palaw'an labor culture as well as its effect to the students' attendance in school.  Further, this study presents how the shifts affect the consumption and production patterns of the Palaw'an and identifies some opportunities that could be utilized to help them cope with the challenges they face. This study reveals that the place of rice in their culture has evolved from being a sacred and ceremonial crop to being a staple food source. This shift is connected to their new lifestyle and changes in their livelihood patterns. The shift contributed to the increase in the demand for rice and presumably added to their food insecurity which was seemingly not much of a problem before the shift occurred. Contributory to this problem are the challenges posed by the changing environmental conditions which resulted in the decrease in harvest of their crops. These consequences caused the shifting livelihood patterns of the present Palaw'an communities. The concept of income and the increase in demand for rice changed their labor culture.  They adopted new labor activities to cope with the changing realities they now encounter.


It is well known that the structure of preform is one of key factors for mechanical performance of three-dimension braided composite.In this paper,according to the yarn's regulation of four-step braiding pattern,a yarn unit model is presented which is of benefit to computer graphic modeling.At the same time,using Visual C~(++) and SolidWorks API,the software is programmed which can automatically generate the integral geometric structure of three-dimension braided performs.As a result,inputting different braided parameters,such as braided angle,fraction volume of fiber,yarn radius and different number of rows and columns,the software can automatically generate the braided entity.The three-dimension braided preforms with braided angle 22°,33°;fraction volume of fiber 40%,30%;number of rows and columns 2×2,2×4,4×4,4×6 are simulated.The simulated results are well in correspondence with the practical preforms.It helps to investigate the microstructure in three-dimension braided preforms.And then,it is the foundation to establish the mechanical model for finite element analysis.


A cargo hold barrier structure is disclosed. A cargo hold barrier structure according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises heat-insulating boards arranged side by side in a plurality of rows and columns on the upper portion of the inner wall of the cargo hold; and secondary and primary barriers successively stacked on the upper portion of each of the heat-insulating boards, wherein each of the secondary and primary barriers has corrugated portions formed side by side in the shape of curved surfaces protruding upwards so as to correspond to and overlap with each other.


In this paper we show the use of evolutionary algorithms for discovering prediction rules to improve web-based adaptive hypermedia courses. We have developed a specific data mining tool to discover relationship between the usage data pickup during the execution of different students. This information can be very useful to the courseware author in order to make decisions about what are the most appropriated modifications to improve the learning of the students. In order to do prediction rule discovering we have used multi-objective grammar-based genetic programming and we have compared it with other classic algorithm for rule discovering.


This paper aims to extend the concept of cyclic single-valued mapping to the case of multi-valued mapping in dislocated quasi-b-metric spaces. The existence of fixed point in dislocated quasi-b-metric spaces. AMS Subject Classification: 47H10, 54H25


Clinical Chinese medical practitioners at all times considered eighteen incompatible medicaments as incompatibility,which would lead to toxicity.However,the tradition to utilize eighteen incompatible medicaments for remedying human disease has been passed down from one generation to another.In this paper,based on the historical development of eighteen incompatible medicaments and analysis of its application in formulae,we found that the formulae in Veratrum group reached the heap in Song and Yuan Dynasties,while,the formulae in Glycyrrhiza and Aconitum group were at most in Ming and Qing Dynasties,but they all gradually disappeared since the 20th century.It is also informed that the formulae containing eighteen incompatible medicaments for external use are more than others,and the number of medicines used in these formulae was higher,usually 8 to 9.Therefore,the eighteen incompatible medicaments which are closely related to toxic medicines is a conditional incompatibility such as different pathophysiologic conditions,variation in ratio and dose,different administration routes and application with other medicines.The clarification of the toxicity mechanism for the eighteen incompatible medicaments would offer scientific support for safe medicine utilization in clinical practice,help to promote the development of TCM property theories and TCM formulae compatibility rules,and provide reference for the research about other incompatibility theory.


The on-farm study described in this thesis involved the use of novel research methodologies and approaches including the application of Participatory Epidemiological tools in conjunction with conventional veterinary investigation techniques to analyse the causes of poor calf health and production in Maasai pastoral systems in the southern rangelands of Kenya. The use of participatory approaches ensured that Maasai pastoralists were involved in the design of the study through identification and ranking of calf health and production constraints. Thus, neither did the Principal Investigator choose the disease or diseases to be investigated nor did he envisage the emphasis on tick borne diseases, especially East Coast fever or theileriosis. The epidemiological study on factors associated with poor health and slow growth rate of calves in Maasai pastoral systems was implemented in three phases using a combination of different study approaches for data collection, i.e Rapid Rural Appraisal (RRA), Cross-section Survey and Longitudinal Observational Study, consecutively. The RRA was used to assess the community's perceptions of the causes of the constraints for improved calf health and productivity in the district. The results indicate shortage of water was the most important constraint followed by high incidence of disease, lack of extension services, feed shortage, wildlife menace, costly inputs, lack of credit facilities, livestock marketing, communal land ownership. Of the diseases of calves that were cited, tick-borne diseases (especially theileriosis) were ranked the highest, followed by foot and mouth and helminthosis. Due to the limited extension services, many pastoralists were forced to treat their own animals. Although the pastoralists have a wide


The invention relates to a method for preparing biodiesel by floating slag from an in-situ esterification sewage treatment plant. The method comprises the following steps: performing pretreatment on the floating slag to get sludge after drying; adding methanol and a sulfuric acid solution into the sludge after drying, performing a stirring reaction at appropriate temperature and performing in-situ esterification; and reducing a mixed solution after in-situ esterification to room temperature, adding an n-hexane solution, and performing mixed reaction-centrifugation-abandonment of solids-recovery of supernatant fluid-extraction-filtration to get the biodiesel. According to the method disclosed by the invention, the biodiesel is prepared by taking the floating slag from an urban sewage treatment plant as a raw material for in-situ esterification, the problem of treatment and disposal of the floating slag from the sewage treatment plant can be solved, and the productivity of the biodiesel can be more than 20%, which can be improved by at least 100% in comparison with the productivity of the biodiesel prepared from the sludge.


Background Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory disease that poses a challenge in its pathogenesis and treatment. Calprotectin is upregulated in psoriatic epidermis and is supposed to have a role in the inflammatory process of psoriasis. Calprotectin was suggested as a biomarker to detect responders to methotrexate in juvenile idiopathic arthritis. Objective To evaluate the relation of calprotectin serum level and psoriasis severity and to assess if it can predict response to methotrexate and disease relapse after stoppage of the treatment. Patients and methods Thirty patients with psoriasis vulgaris and 30 controls were included. Serum calprotectin was measured in controls and in patients before and after methotrexate therapy for 3 months. The patients were followed up for 6 months to detect disease stability or relapse and its relation to calprotectin level at the end of therapy. Results Higher calprotectin level in psoriatic patients was detected before methotrexate treatment than after treatment. Significant positive correlation was found between serum calprotectin and psoriasis area and severity index score. Calprotectin was higher in patients before starting methotrexate in those defined as responders than nonresponders (P=0.015) and can predict response to treatment with a cutoff value of 60 ng/ml (sensitivity 82.35% and specificity 69.23%). The level of calprotectin was higher in patients during their clinical remission who relapsed after stoppage of methotrexate than the nonrelapsed cases (P=0.021) and can predict the relapse with a cutoff value of 56.5 ng/ml (sensitivity 66.67% and specificity 100%). Conclusion Calprotectin can be a marker of psoriasis severity. Higher level of baseline serum calprotectin can predict psoriatic patients who will improve on methotrexate therapy. In addition, higher calprotectin levels were associated with relapse risk after stoppage of methotrexate.


ABSTRACT The paper deals with the identification from some pumping tests of unknown storativity and transmissivity functions defining a confined aquifer. We introduce an appropriate change of variables that transforms the groundwater equation into a diffusion-reaction one wherein the diffusion term is defined by the fraction transmissivity/storativity and the reaction term yields the right hand side of a second-order nonlinear elliptic partial differential equation satisfied by the unknown storativity function. Using time records of the drawdown taken at some measuring wells within the monitored aquifer, we establish identifiability results on the involved unknown variables. We develop an identification approach that starts by determining the two auxiliary diffusion and reaction variables. Afterwards, the developed approach proposes local and global procedures to reconstruct the unknown storativity function. That leads to deduce the sought transmissivity function from the product of the two identified storativity and diffusion functions. Some numerical experiments on a variant of groundwater equations are presented.


A series of polyether with different molecular structures prepared in our lab were evaluated as deinking agent.The contact angle of the polyether aqueous solution on ink was measured.Adhesion work of the polyether on ink was also determined.It was found that the ratio of epoxy-ethane/epoxy-propane in the molecular structure plays a key role in deinking efficiency(brightness).When the contact angle is less than 33.3°and adhesion work is about 55mN/m,the highest deinking efficiency is achieved.


Objective  This study was designed to determine the safety of nevirapine (NVP)‐based highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in a cohort of HIV‐positive pregnant women.


Host‐associated differentiation (HAD) is the formation of genetically divergent host‐associated sub‐populations. Evidence of HAD has been reported for multiple insect herbivores to date, but published studies testing more than one herbivore for any given host‐plant species pair is limited to herbivores on goldenrods. This limits the number of pair‐wise comparisons that can be made about insect life‐history traits that might facilitate or inhibit host‐race development in general. Two traits previously proposed to facilitate HAD include endophagy and parthenogenesis. We tested for HAD in two herbivores, a quasi‐endophagous caterpillar and a parthenogenetic aphid, feeding on two closely related species of hickories. We found that the quasi‐endophage is panmictic, whereas the parthenogen exhibits HAD on their sympatric host plants, pecan and water hickory, at a geographic mesoscale. This is an important first step in the characterization of HAD in multiple insect herbivores using North American hickories, a host‐plant system with many shared parthenogens.


Abstract : Contents: Introduction-Reasons for Studying Spherical Shock Waves, Physics of Cavity Expansion due to Explosive Impact, General Nature of Shock Waves, and Statement of Problem and Scope of Thesis; Brief Review of Past Work-Elastic Plastic Effects, Similarity Solutions of Equations of Gas Dynamics, Self-Similar Solutions of the Problem of Cratering Due to Hypervelocity Impact, and Numerical Integration of the Differential Equation of Spherical Blast Waves in a Gas and Hydrodynamics of Hypervelocity Impact; Self-Similar Solution for Problems with Spherical Symmetry-Theory, and Solution of the Governing Differential Equation of Self-Similar Motion; Application of the Theory of Self-Similar Motion to the Problem of Expansion of a Spherical Cavity in a Metal Due to Explosive Impact-Description of Model and Assumptions, Equations of State of Metals, Solution of the Blast Wave Problem in Aluminum, Blast Waves in Other Metals; and Consideration of the Non-Similar Aspects of the Blast Wave Problem; Experimental Procedure and Results; Singular Point of Ordinary Differential Equations; Numerical Program-Fortran Program.


In this research,an in vitro proliferation system of mutiple shoot clumps was established by using shoot apices of seedlings as explants at a high efficiency.The results showed that swelled bases were induced from shoot apices on MS medium supplemented with 0.5 mg/L 2,4-D and 3.0 mg/L 6-BA,then were transferred to shoot clumps induction medium containing 2.0 mg/L 6-BA for the formation of mutiple shoot clumps,and multiple shoot clumps were obtained on proliferation medium supplemented with 3.0 mg/L 6-BA and 0.07 mg/L 2,4-D.The rate of rooting of Poa pratensis L.on 1/2 MS medium reached 100%.


Intact human erythrocytes, initially depleted of Mg2+ by EDTA incubation in the presence of A23187, exhibit Mg2+‐dependent phosphate production of around 1.5 mmol per liter cells · h, half‐maximally activated at around 0.4 mM added free Mg2+. This appears to correspond to Mg2+‐stimulated adenosine triphosphatase (Mg2+‐ATPase) activity found in isolated membranes, which is known to have a similar activity and affinity for Mg2+. Vanadate (up to 100 μM) inhibited Mg2+‐dependent phosphate production and ATP breakdown in intact cells. Over a similar concentration range vanadate (3–100 μM) transformed intact cells from normal discocytes to echinocytes within 4–8 h at 37°C, and more rapidly in Mg2+‐depleted cells. The rate of Ca2+‐induced echinocytosis was also enhanced in Mg2+‐depleted cells. These results support previous studies in erythrocyte ghosts suggesting that vanadate‐induced shape change is associated with inhibition of Mg2+‐ATPase activity localized in the plasma membrane of the red blood cell.


A box model of the interhemispheric thermohaline circulation (THC) in atmosphere-ocean for globe climate is considered. By using the homotopic mapping method, a class of simplified nonlinear model is studied, and the approximate solution is obtained. The homotopic mapping is an analytic method, which gives solutions that can be analytically operated subsequently to show diversified qualitative and quantitative behaviors of corresponding physical quantities.


In the present paper an efficient simulation of an Additive Manufacturing process is presented. The analysis is aiming to quantify the relations between process parameters and material characteristics. The methodology is demonstrated in the fabrication of an open-lattice BodyCentred-Cubic (BCC) cellular core, produced by means of the Additive Manufacturing Selective Laser Melting method. The results of the developed finite element model are compared to experimental results demonstrating a successful validation of the simulation methodology. The results of the present simulation can be used as input for the prediction of the mechanical properties of the cellular materials under investigation.


Research into second language writing has developed in depth and scope over the past few decades. Researchers have shown growing interest in new approaches to the teaching and assessing of writing. The provision of diagnostic and/or (automated) corrective feedback (Lee & Coniam, 2013; Liu & Kunnan, 2016), predicting writers' ability using psycholinguistic features of their essays (Riazi, 2016) and rater performance (Schaefer, 2008) are but a few major research streams in second language writing. Such new approaches have been discussed heatedly in the scholarly literature, but there remains a need to investigate new issues emerging from these fields in different environments. Specifically, the role of assessment in writing, the validity of the uses and interpretations of qualitative feedback and scores, and the effectiveness of genre-based approaches to writing continue to be major causes of concerns for practitioners and researchers alike. Assessment is a burgeoning field in second language writing research and can be characterised as comprising three fundamental subfields. The first line of research focuses on the development of assessment instruments for various purposes and stakes, including proficiency and/or in-class assessment. Specifically, developing and validating rubrics for diagnostic assessment (Kim, 2011) and investigating the quality of feedback provided by teachers (Bruton, 2009; Diab, 2011) are areas that have drawn intense interest. For example, Kim (2011) investigated the validity of an assessment tool (checklist) for providing diagnostic feedback on writing, which achieved considerable success. Kim showed that the assessment tool – which taps into five dimensions of writing (e.g. 'content fulfilment' and 'organizational effectiveness') – is psychometrically reliable and can be used effectively to diagnose English learners' errors. Kim's research is one of the first studies that examines the underlying structure of a diagnostic writing tool, and more research of this kind is required to explore the benefits that language learners can reap from such pedagogical instruments. Specifically, the development and validation of reliable in-class assessments, which includes diagnostic and formative tasks, is an area in second language writing that requires further research attention and investment. The second line of research in second language writing concerns the validity of the uses and interpretations of scores and qualitative feedback provided by teachers/raters as well as automated writing evaluation (AWE) systems such as Criterion, My Access and WriteToLearn (Attali & Burstein, 2005; Dikli, 2010; Dikli & Bleyle, 2014; Liu & Kunnan, 2016). A recent meta-analysis suggests that the effectiveness and role of teacher feedback in second language writing remains an open question (Liu & Brown, 2015), which is in line with an extensive survey of the literature conducted by Van Beuningen (2010). Van Beuningen divided feedback research into the learning-to-write approach (Leki, Cumming, & Silva, 2008) and the writing-to-learn approach (Ortega, 2009). The former approach aims to foster students' writing ability through continuous corrective feedback and to help them become independent and effective writers. On the other hand, the writing-to-learn agenda, which emerges from, for example, Manchón (2009) and Ortega (2009), takes a more quantitative approach by applying more controlled research methods and looking into the psycholinguistic and (meta)cognitive aspects of learning (Van Beuningen, 2010). This stream of research provides convincing evidence that, despite all articulated objections and controversies, providing corrective feedback to students can facilitate their learning


The coagulation technology of turbulence can improve the PM2.5 removal efficiency of ESP effectively, which is a hot technology researched by the scholars and manufacture. The turbulence produced by vortex column is the main power supply in the turbulence coagulation device, the velocity distribution, turbulence intensity, turbulence viscosity and pressure loss of single vortex column in different shapes and sizes were calculated in this paper. The turbulence produced by angle-steel had a better velocity and character than cylindrical vortex, and if the size of angle-steel and cylindrical vortex was bigge, the turbulence effect of the flow field would become better, but the pressure loss of different shapes would increase. We need to ensure the turbulence effect as well as minimize unnecessary pressure loss in practical applications.


The concern shown by energy leaders regarding the continuing decline in productivity is not just academic. Rather, it is viewed as a serious threat, not only to the industry but also to the national economy. Recently, a mine operator commented on the productivity decline by saying that the decline does not affect his company because it merely raises the price and then passes the price increase on to the consumer. He felt that, while the mine operator is interested in reducing costs, legislation, labor unrest, and other factors contributing to increased costs are all beyond his control. Although a great many people in the coal industry do not share these views, many do. Therefore, a study of the underlying causes of the decline in productivity is extremely important and is, in essence, truly a national issue. The observation is that as productivity declines, the cost of coal rises proportionally. Obviously the coal industry is in business to make a profit. As conditions change (e.g., more laws are passed, labor unrest increases, and worker attitudes worsen) and resultant productivity declines occur, the costs of coal extraction will increase. Undoubtedly these costs will be passed along to the consumer. The USBM, asmore » a part of an overall effort by the government to solve energy problems, is playing an important role in the coal industry. By identifying the causes of the decline in productivity, it can better direct its efforts in reversing the trend. This can be and is being accomplished by advancing mechanization and developing new technologies in coal mining that better meet the requirements of legislation, improve safety and productivity, and are less sensitive to the impacts of labor unrest, attitudinal shifts, and motivational problems.« less


Stable reverse vesicles (RV) of salt-free catanionic surfactant system of tetradecyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (TTAOH) and lauric acid (LA) in toluene/water mixtures were prepared for the first ti...


The interest for spherical arrays is based on their possibility to direct single or multiple beams through complete hemisphere. In this article, circular stacked-patch antennas embedded in a multilayer spherical structure are analyzed using the spectral-domain approach and the moment method. The influence of structure radius on input impedance, mutual coupling and radiation pattern is investigated. It is shown that the properties the most affected by the variation of structure radius are the resonant frequency and the mutual coupling level. The results confirm the importance of rigorous analysis of curved patch antennas. Furthermore, a laboratory model is built to validate the developed program. The agreement between measured and calculated results is good


Control of rising groundwater levels in Australia's Murray Basin requires the pumping of groundwater, and natural salt lakes seem ideal areas in which to dispose of the pumped water. A thorough understanding of the interaction of chemical and physical processes in particular geologic settings should be the basis for selection and management of appropriate disposal sites. In this work we use chemical modeling to predict the equilibrium evolutionary path of evaporating brines in two operating disposal basins and two natural salt lake complexes in the Murray Basin. Evaporative brines from an engineered and a natural, salt lake, groundwater disposal basin showed close correspondence with the predicted equilibrium evaporation pathways for the relevant inlet waters. There was no evidence of re-solution of salts during evaporation in the salt lake disposal basin. The predicted evaporite suites for these two disposal basins differ because the inlet waters are derived from different sedimentary regions of the basin. In the two natural salt lake complexes studied, the comparison of field samples with predicted evaporation of regional groundwater indicates that brine evolution is a complex process of evaporation and re-solution of salts, and this is strongly influenced by the lithostratigraphic setting. Re-solution is favored where thick clayey sediments overlie the regional, unconfined aquifer, and such a site is favorable for disposal of pumped groundwater.


In several approaches to the quantum-gravity problem evidence has emerged of the validity of a "GUP" (a Generalized position-momentum Uncertainty Principle) and/or a "MDR" (a modification of the energy-momentum dispersion relation), but very little is known about the implications of GUPs and MDRs for black-hole thermodynamics, another key topic for quantum-gravity research. We investigate an apparent link, already suggested in an earlier exploratory study involving two of us, between the possibility of a GUP and/or a MDR and the possibility of a log term in the area-entropy black-hole formula. We then obtain, from that same perspective, a modified relation between the mass of a black hole and its temperature, and we examine the validity of the "Generalized Second Law of black-hole thermodynamics" in theories with a GUP and/or a MDR. After an analysis of GUPand MDR-modifications of the black-body radiation spectrum, we conclude the study with a description of the black-hole evaporation process.


Ondansetron is a potent, highly selective 5-hydroxytryptamine3(5-HT3) receptor- antagonist, for the management of nausea and vomiting induced by cytotoxic chemotherapy and radiography, and the treatment of post-operative nausea and vomiting. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the bioequivalence of two ondansetron tablets, , (Glaxo Wellcome Korea Ltd.) and Hana ondansetron (Hana Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.), according to the guidelines of Korea Food and Drug Administration (KFDA). Eighteen normal male volunteers, year in age and in body weight, were divided into two groups and a randomized cross-over study was employed. After one tablet containing 8 mg of ondansetron was orally administered, blood was taken at predetermined time intervals and the concentrations of ondansetron in serum were determined using HPLC with UV detector. Pharmacokinetic parameters such as were calculated and ANOVA test was utilized for the statistical analysis of the parameters. The results showed that the differences in between two tablets were 7.53%, -0.23% and -3.92%, respectively when calculated against the , tablet. The powers for were above 99.00%, above 99.00% and 84.99%, respectively. Minimum detectable differences were all less than 20% (e.g., 12.25%, 10.88% and 18.37% for , respectively). The 90% confidence intervals were all within (e.g., , respectively). All of the above parameters met the criteria of KFDA for bioequivalence, indicating that Hana ondansetron tablet is bioequivalent to , tablet.


We consider two different relativistic versions of the Kepler problem in the plane: the first one involves the relativistic differential operator, the second one involves a correction for the usual gravitational potential due to Levi-Civita. When a small external perturbation is added into such equations, we investigate the existence of periodic solutions with prescribed energy bifurcating from periodic invariant tori of the unperturbed problems. Our main tool is an abstract bifurcation theory from periodic manifolds developed by Weinstein, which is applied in the case of nearly integrable Hamiltonian systems satisfying the usual KAM isoenergetic non-degeneracy condition.