............................................................................................................................ v List of Tables .................................................................................................................... ix Chapter I: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 Statement of the Problem ............................................................................................ 1 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................... 2 Significance of the Study ............................................................................................ 2 Assumptions and Limitations ..................................................................................... 3 Operational Definitions ............................................................................................... 4 Research Questions ..................................................................................................... 6 Overview of the Study ................................................................................................ 6 Chapter II: Review of Literature ....................................................................................... 8 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 8 Defining a College Town ............................................................................................ 9 Constituencies ....................................................................................................... 10 Historical Review........................................................................................................ 11 Rowan and Glassboro Begins ............................................................................... 11 Rowan and Glassboro Today ................................................................................ 13 Theories of Town-Gown Impact ................................................................................. 15 Stakeholder Theory ............................................................................................... 15 Optimal College Town Assessment ...................................................................... 17 Issues of Town-Gown Conflict ................................................................................... 18


 Abstract — A compact planar monopole antenna with dual-band operation suitable for wireless local area network (WLAN) application is presented in this paper. The antenna occupies an overall area of 18 ×12 mm 2 . The antenna is fed by a coplanar waveguide (CPW) transmission line and it combines two folded strips, which radiates at 2.4 and 5.2 GHz. In the proposed antenna, by optimally selecting the antenna dimensions, dual-band resonant modes with a much wider impedance matching at the higher band can be produced. Prototypes of the obtained optimized design have been simulated using EM solver. The simulated results explore good dual-band operation with -10 dB impedance bandwidths of 50 MHz and 2400 MHz at bands of 2.4 and 5.2 GHz, respectively, which cover the 2.4/5.2/5.8 GHz WLAN operating bands. Good antenna performances such as radiation patterns and antenna gains over the operating bands have also been observed. The antenna with a compact size of 18×12×1.6 mm 3 is designed on an FR4 substrate with a dielectric constant of 4.4.


We investigate the local distinguishability of a set of orthogonal states on C2⊗Cn by mathematical induction. We prove that a set of 2n − 1 orthogonal states on C2⊗Cn can be locally discriminated by local operation and classical communication if and only if at most one of them is entangled, that is, the sum of Schmidt rank of these states should be no greater than the total Hilbert space dimension, 2n. Furthermore, we give some discussion about locally distinguishing any number of orthogonal states on C2⊗Cn and explain why this Schmidt-rank criterion cannot be generalized to locally discriminate any number of orthogonal states.


Black hat search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns attract and monetize traffic using abusive schemes. Using a combination of Web site compromise, keyword stuffing and cloaking, a SEO botnet operator can manipulate search engine rankings for key search terms, ultimately directing users to sites promoting some kind of scam (e.g., fake antivirus). In this paper, we infiltrate an influential SEO botnet, GR, characterize its dynamics and effectiveness and identify the key scams driving its innovation. Surprisingly, we find that, unlike e-mail spam botnets, this botnet is both modest in size and has low churn—suggesting little adversarial pressure from defenders. Belying its small size, however, the GR botnet is able to successfully "juice" the rankings of trending search terms and, during its peak, appears to have been the dominant source of trending search term poisoning for Google. Finally, we document the range of scams it promoted and the role played by fake anti-virus programs in driving innovation.


In the stable marriage (SM) problem, there are two sets of agents—traditionally referred to as men and women—and each agent has a preference list that ranks (a subset of) agents of the opposite sex. The goal is to find a matching between men and women that is stable in the sense that no man-woman pair mutually prefers each other to their assigned partners. In a seminal work, Gale and Shapley [16] showed that stable matchings always exist and described an efficient algorithm for finding one. Irving and Leather [24] defined the rotation poset of an SM instance and showed that it determines the structure of the set of stable matchings of the instance. They further showed that every finite poset can be realized as the rotation poset of some SM instance. Consequently, many problems—such as counting stable matchings and finding certain "fair" stable matchings—are computationally intractable (NP-hard) in general. In this article, we consider SM instances in which certain restrictions are placed on the preference lists. We show that three natural preference models—k-bounded, k-attribute, and (k1, k2)-list—can realize arbitrary rotation posets for constant values of k. Hence, even in these highly restricted preference models, many stable matching problems remain intractable. In contrast, we show that for any fixed constant k, the rotation posets of k-range instances are highly restricted. As a consequence, we show that exactly counting and uniformly sampling stable matchings, finding median, sex-equal, and balanced stable matchings, are fixed-parameter tractable when parameterized by the range of the instance. Thus, these problems can be solved in polynomial time on instances of the k-range model for any fixed constant k.


This article details the specifications authorised for human use in the clinical practice for the radiopharmaceutical products composed of iobenguane ((123)I) marketed in Spain.


A method of providing a plurality of versions of a content stream with different bit-rates is suggested. According to the method a set of versions of a content stream with different bit-rates is offered to a client. A manifest part describing the offered set of versions of the content stream is submitted to the client. The client requests one version of the content stream having a specific bit-rate. The bit-rate of the versions offered to the client is dynamically selected such that the difference between bit-rates of neighbouring versions is dynamically adapted. The suggested method improves adaptive transcoding so that it uses a small manifest part based on a small set of bit-rate values distributed around the currently delivered bit-rate. In addition to that a system is suggested for implementing the method.


The dependence of follicular growth on an adequate supply of gonadotrophic hormones is well documented for laboratory rodents and farm animals (e.g. Mauleon, 1969; Eshkol, Lunenfeld & Peters, 1971; Baker & Neal, 1972), and is inferred from some clinical studies on women (Speroff & Vande Wiele, 1971; Baker, 1972). Similarly, the final maturation changes affecting both the oocyte and its follicle are known to be dependent on a pre-ovulatory rise in the levels of luteinizing hormone (LH: Speroff & Vande Wiele, 1971; Yang & Papkoff, 1973). However, the sequence of events and factors controlling these changes in human ovaries are difficult to study in vivo. An organ culture procedure was therefore developed to determine: (i) the response to gonadotrophic hormones of pre-antral follicles from human ovaries; and (ii) pre-ovulatory changes within large antral (Graafian) follicles. If successful, these techniques should provide a means for investigating physiological and endocrine functions within the ovary, and could provide a supply of oocytes for experiments involving in vitro fertilization.


The aim of this project is to single out sections along the final tract of the river Tiber, from the Castel Giubileo breakwater to the estuary, including main feeders, in need of flood defence management interventions and environmental redevelopment. After running through the city of Rome, the Tiber flows downstream through a territory where urban needs coexist with cultural heritage and a particularly riparian ecosystem. For this project it was therefore decided to use bioengineering techniques in order to bring about the minimum impact on both the environment and the landscape. These can be used to minimise streambank erosion, to prevent flood events and for streambed shaping. Furthermore, they are a valid tool for the restoration of the ecological integrity of the riparian ecosystems and wetlands. The next step was to pinpoint critical zones in need of a new embankment system for the security of Rome's suburban districts nearby. The final product was the development of a cartographic support of the study area, elaborated with GIS software "Arc Gis 9.1", listing all the planned works by area as well as the most suitable techniques in accordance with the entity of the problem and the constraints of that zone. In addition, we drew up a technical data sheet for each kind of intervention, pinpointing all the locations along the Tiber where each intervention is planned. The shapefiles and technical data sheets are useful instruments for the requalification of what remains one of the most beautiful and vulnerable sections of the river Tiber.


Official organisational myths and storytelling constitute a powerful, persuasive force in both the public representation and the internal shaping of executive identity. Leaders of corportate culture are aligned with legendary heroes to promote images of the senior manager as a heroic and transformational leader. This process plays upon subconscious images, beliefs and expectations to reinforce the concept of leadership as archetype. Much of the persuasive power of leadership as archetype arises from the continual reclaiming and honouring of past and present leaders, within the ongoing stories of executive identity. For the most part, this process involves an active role of gendering that reiterates a hierarchical and masculinist paradigm of leadership, while it leaves female leadership as absence or "other". In this paper, rather than focus on the issue of female leadership as "other", the ongoing, if shifting nature of gendered organisational lives is taken to be a continuing given. From this given, examines the self‐representations of male and female executives within a framework of leadership as archetype. Argues that these self‐representations provide similar and parallel male and female paradigms of leadership, while they depict the "gendered heroes" of executive culture.


Jingzhou Flower-drum opera is one of the well-known operas in Jianghan Plain, Hubei Province, and was also included in the first batch of national Intangible cultural heritage list in 2006. Jingzhou Flower-drum opera has a long history, but with the rapid development of the digital era and the impact of emerging culture, Jingzhou Flower-drum opera has also encountered an irresistible inheritance crisis. As the further development of virtual reality technology, hybrid reality technology has attracted many young people's interest in its interactivity and creativity. Secondly, as an emerging industry, hybrid reality technology has a certain degree of progress in the times, and it also has a certain degree of agreement with the protection of Intangible cultural heritage. This paper will elaborate on the development of hybrid reality technology and the current protection situation of Jingzhou Flower-drum opera, analyze the difficulties and solutions currently facing, and discuss the inheritance and development of traditional Intangible cultural heritage from the perspective of how intangible cultural heritage survives in the digital era and how to integrate with hybrid reality technology.


The life of a country and a society, as a whole, is financed from public revenues. Taxes are one, probably the most important, form of public revenue, and every legislator, including ours, regulates in detail the establishment and functioning of the tax system as a whole. Failure to collect taxes would lead to a complete financial collapse of a country, so certain forms of avoiding tax obligations - tax evasion - are sanctioned by legislators most severely. Such behaviour is considered as a delict, as the legislator applies the ultima ratio, and criminalizes certain evasive actions as criminal acts, i.e., defines a special set of criminal acts as tax crimes. Bearing in mind the relative prevalence of this phenomenon, as well as the exceptional effect and importance that tax evasion has, both for the state as a whole, and for the individual, this paper, in the first place, characterizes the phenomenon of tax evasion and its forms. Using the historical-legal method, the paper gives an overview of the issue of tax evasion and the way it was dealt with historically, starting with Dušan's code and ending with the former Yugoslav legislation. Then, by looking at the relevant legislation, some positive criminal-legal incriminations of tax evasion are pointed out, particularly the incrimination of tax evasion as a criminal offense in the domestic legislation. Finally, the concluding thoughts speak about the potential need for a different regulation of this criminal offense, while paying attention to the practical implementation of legal rules in connection with the detection and prosecution of the criminal offense of tax evasion.


TRU Library is proud to be able to provide our students and members of faculty with access to this modern Law Library (via swipe card), as well as provide access to the wealth of materials and services from the entire TRU Library.


ABSTRACT Decentralisation and the centre right in the UK and Spain: central power and regional responsibility. Territory, Politics, Governance. The British Conservative Party and the Spanish Partido Popular (PP) have been hostile, at least at times, to devolving greater power to regions. Although both parties might be expected to support decentralization on economically liberal grounds, in fact both have found it extremely difficult to reconcile their centre-right economic instincts with a deeply ingrained commitment to the integrity of the state. This paper explores the tension in conservative and liberal ideology between supporting sub-state political responsibility through decentralization and supporting strong central government able to take long-term (and potentially unpopular) decisions in times of economic crisis. We examine these two parties in light of Toubeau and Wagner's [2015. Explaining party positions on decentralization. British Journal of Political Science, 45(1), 97–119] framework, finding that market liberalism can be interpreted differently when it comes to decentralization: both the PP and the Conservative Party have both at different times used economic justifications for a strong central state. The PP continues to hold a conservative view of decentralization and the Conservatives have only recently started to link their market liberalism to a justification for decentralization. Thus, whilst it is possible to construct a liberal economic case for devolving power away from the central state, one does not necessarily follow the other.


Published in J. Nat. Resour. Life Sci. Educ. 27:122–128 (1998). http://www.agronomy.org/journals/jnrlse/1998/ Abbreviations: TPH, total petroleum hydrocarbons; MW, monitoring wells; BTEX, benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene; MCLs, maximum contaminant levels; UST, underground storage tank; IDEM, Indiana Department of Environmental Management; EAE, environmentally acceptable endpoint. ABSTRACT


The motion of a charged particle through a low-density electron plasma placed in an external magnetic field has been investigated by using transport equations. The motion of the particle in the direction of the applied magnetic field is considered in some detail; the particles moving at right angles to the magnetic field are considered very briefly. The charge density developed in the medium as a result of interaction of the medium with the moving particle through a long-range Coulomb force is evaluated for the wavelength λ, which is such that R > λ > λD, where R is the distance from the moving particle and λD the Debye wavelength. Three types of charge-density waves have been found to be associated with the moving test particle. One is a `plasma electron' wave that exists only for velocities of the test particle that are greater than the average thermal speed of the plasma electron; this wave also shows a Mach cone distribution. The second is an elliptically shaped `extraordinary' electromagnetic wave that exists for all velocities of the test particle, and is coupled to the plasma electron wave. The third is an almost spherical weak wave associated with the ordinary electromagnetic wave. This third wave is not coupled to the other two waves within the range of approximation considered here, and it goes over to an exponentially decreasing charge distribution in the limit of a very small magnetic field.


The invention relates to a new use of alpha-ketoglutarate for manufacturing of medical preparation for prophylaxis or treatment of undesired medical conditions associated with the presence and/or activity of ureolytic bacteria in living organisms, including a human being, pet and farm animal, such as mammal, bird, amphibian, fish, molluse or arthropod, whereas the undesired medical conditions is a condition associated with the presence and/or activity in the gastrointestinal tract, respiratory and/or urogenital system of ureolytic bacteria from the group including Helicobacter pylori, bacterial strains from the Brucella genus, urease-positive bacteria such as Ureaplasma ureolyticum and other alkalophilic bacteria, such as for instance Bacillus pasteurii, urease-producing Yersinia enterocolica rods, ureolytic bacteria that participate in the formation of biofilm and mineralisation of deposits on catheters and other medical equipment, ureolytic bacteria causing infections of the mucous membrane in the oral cavity, gingival diseases, dental caries, causing formation of tartar, ureolytic bacteria responsible for formation of infectious stones in course of urinary system infections of the genii: Proteus, Ureaplasma, Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Staphylococcus, Providencia, Corynebacterium, in particular P. mirabilis, and mycoplasmas causing genital tract - in particular its lower part infections, Mycoplasma hominis and U. urealyticum. The invention also covers new medical preparations, dietary supplements, special medicated food and food/feed additives containing alpha-ketoglutarate, useful in prophylaxis and inhibition of colonisation of living organisms.


Abstract : Data collected from wind instrumentation installed on a 152.4 meter meteorological tower located on White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, are analyzed to determine gustiness characteristics during both unstable and very stable regimes. The following results are indicated: an increase in gust factors occurs as the air mass instability becomes greater and as the mean wind speed time averaging period is enlarged; however, a decrease in gust factors is associated with increases in height and wind speed and as the peak wind speed averaging interval is extended. Also, estimates of gust factors to a height of 152.4 meters are obtained for different averaging times and stability conditions by introducing a known gust factor value at 15.3 meters and a computed constant into a simple power-law expression. (Author)


Mean of Neighbors of Minimum Degree Algorithm (MNMA) is proposed in this paper. The MNMA produces optimal or near optimal vertex cover for any known undirected, un-weighted graph. The MNMA adds a vertex cover at each step among those vertices which are neighbors of minimum degree vertices having degree equal to the mean value to construct vertex cover. The performance of MNMA is compared with other algorithms on small benchmark instances as well as on large benchmark instances such as BHOLIB and DIMACS. The MNMA is an efficient and fast algorithm and outperformed all the algorithms.


Regression analysis is a statistical technique used to explain the relationship between an independent variable (independent) as a predictor variable (X) and the dependent variable as a response variable (Y) which can be expressed as a form of mathematical model. In linear regression analysis there are two models, namely a simple linear regression model where the independent variable is only one and a multiple linear regression model where the independent variable is more than one. This study aims to infer the parameters of the linear regression model both estimation and hypothesis testing and to apply the inference results to the export and import case of South Kalimantan province in 2020. This research method uses a literature study by collecting all materials and data, be it books, journals, web.site or other references that support and are relevant to the material to be discussed and researched. From the results of research on exports and imports of South Kalimantan province in 2022, inference results are obtained in the form of explicit forms for each parameter for point and interval estimates from linear regression models. Furthermore, an inference is obtained about hypothesis testing for each parameter, the results of which show that both significant parameters are included in the linear regression model


An increase in absolute neutrophil count (ANC) is seen after oral food challenge test (OFC) in patients with food protein‐induced enterocolitis syndrome (FPIES). Although it has been suggested that interleukin (IL)‐8 is involved in this phenomenon, a possible role for cortisol has not yet been studied.


We developed a 1-hour field enzyme immunoassay (EIA) for detecting antibody to Sin Nombre virus in deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus). The assay specificity and sensitivity were comparable to those of a standard EIA. This test will permit identification of rodents with antibody to this and perhaps other hantaviruses.


Squamous differentiation occurs in 25 to 50% of endometrial endometrioid adenocarcinomas. In this study, we analyzed the immunohistochemical expression and localization of &bgr;- and &ggr;-catenin, molecular changes in the &bgr;-catenin gene, and the subcellular localization of the desmosomal component protein, desmoplakin, by laser scanning microscopy in 35 endometrial carcinomas with squamous differentiation. In the glandular component, &bgr;-catenin showed nuclear localization in 10 of 35 (28.5%) samples, whereas in the squamous component, nuclear localization was found in 15 of 35 (42.9%). Of the 15 samples that showed nuclear localization of &bgr;-catenin in the squamous component, seven samples (46.7%) did not express &ggr;-catenin. The phenomenon was not correlated with mutation in exon 3 region of &bgr;-catenin gene. Furthermore, in these samples, there was diffuse cytoplasmic staining for desmoplakin. These observations have not been reported in other tumors. Our results suggest that unique molecular events, i.e., stimulation of &bgr;-catenin and suppression of &ggr;-catenin expression, occur within endometrial carcinomas with squamous differentiation.


The harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is one of the most common species of cetaceans in European waters. In Portugal, it has a vulnerable status and to date there is no available study about its diet. Therefore, the main goal of this work is to provide information about this species food habits along the Portuguese continental coast. In order to accomplish this 60 stomach contents of dead animals were analized, which were collected along the Portuguese continental coast by SPVS (Portuguese Wildlife Society) through their regional networks, presently operating under the LIFE+ MarPro framework. The diet was described in qualitative and quantitative terms, using indexes of frequency and occurrence and estimated weight, that allowed to determine the relative importance of the prey species. The diet of harbour porpoise is constituted mostly by fish, the majority of them commercial species and a small amount of cephalopods. Crustaceans and polychaetes were also found in some stomach contents, but their contribution to the diet was residual and suspected of secondary predation. Overall, dragonet (Callionymus lyra) was the most important prey species, as given by the occurrence and frequency indices, followed by pout (Trisopterus sp.) and mullet species of the genus Liza. Harbour porpoise shows a preference for demersal prey, although it feeds on pelagic and mesopelagic prey too. The results also revealed that smallest individuals ingest less demersal prey when compared with bigger harbour porpoises and that females, when compared with males, ingest a bigger amount of pelagic prey. Significant differences were found in the diet of animals with different causes of death which revealed that harbour porpoises dying from incidental or probable incidental capture have a high amount of demersal prey species in their stomach contents. The diet of harbour porpoise has also a temporal variability with seasonal and interanual changes in the relative importance of its main preys, suggesting that it may be an opportunistic feeder that chooses its preys depending on its local abundance.


Hewlett Packard's use of private investigators to obtain the phone records of HP board members and others under false pretenses captured the attention of not only the media, but also of corporate CEOs and directors across the country. It also resulted in criminal charges filed by California's Attorney General against HP's former chairman and others. In the wake of this, it is fair for bank managers and directors to ask how, when, and why--and how not and when not-to use a private investigator or other commercial investigation service. Never investigate as discipline What is clearer than ever is that a bank or other company should never use private investigators as part of an effort to "discipline" its management of directors. Could the HP scandal demonstrate that point any more vividly? Leak investigations are appropriate in governmental contexts involving national security. But business is not government. A business should follow different management and legal strategies to enforce internal management discipline and control when confidential information is being released to its detriment. All that ends up happening when a high-profile corporate leak investigation is badly handled is that it turns into a feeding frenzy for the media. Newspapermen, especially, like nothing better than to "write about writers writing" and to scrutinize any effort to discover sources protected by journalists who break a story. At best, the leaked activity becomes a distraction. At worst, the journalist ceases to be a reporter and instead becomes the story. Then the activity harms the company's image and hurts its future business prospects. When professional inquiries fit Nonetheless, the careful and appropriate use of outside professional investigation services can be very useful to a bank's management and its board in the proper context. One such example is when there is evidence of the alleged misuse of bank resources for private benefit, or worse, an accusation of embezzlement or theft of bank property or funds. In those circumstances, the best course of action for a board is to obtain all the material facts. One approach is for the board to ask a small number of directors--most likely no more than three--to form a special committee to investigate whether the matter is significant; involves a systemic failure of internal controls; or implicates directors or officers. Upon the completion of its work and, as necessary on an interim basis, the special committee should report the facts to the full board with recommendations on how to respond to the concerns raised by the matter. Of course, the selection of the directors overseeing the inquiry demands care; they must be ones who are highly regarded for their personal integrity and who will be thoughtful and energetic in reviewing the matter. The board should give the special committee a broad mandate to find out what happened, and to ascertain who is responsible for any confirmed problems. The special committee should have wide latitude to do its job and be authorized to hire outside advisors who, in general, should be independent of the bank. Depending on the nature of the matter, the special committee may require the expertise of forensic accountants, outside counsel, financial advisers, investment bankers, of computer consultants. In some situations, the special committee might require the use of a private investigator. For example, a private investigator could be useful in locating assets allegedly acquired and hidden by the target of an investigation. However, in light of HP's experience, a board should carefully establish procedures for employing a private investigator and for processing the information that investigator may uncover. These procedures must be both straightforward and transparent. Moreover, such procedures should be established well in advance of any precipitating situation, so that when the need for an investigator arises, there are no surprises either to the outside experts assisting the special committee or to the other board members of bank management. …


The thesis focuses on the history of Opavia company situated the town of Opava. It presents the progress of the company since its foundation through the ownership and organization transformations until today. Beside that, the economic situation in the region and its influence on the observed subject is covered. The document also briefly describes the history of phenomenon of candies and sweets from the society's point of view. The objective of this bachelor thesis is to present the biggest manufacturer of durable pastry in the Czech Republic, to sum up its historical evolution, consider effects of politics and to point out the today's importance and exclusivity of this branch with respect to future expectations.


The study of the foundations of data mining may be viewed as a scientific inquiry into the nature of data mining and the scope of data mining methods. There is not enough attention paid to the study of the nature of data mining, or its philosophical foundations. It is evident that conceptual studies of data mining as a scientific fields, instead of a collection of isolated algorithms, are needed for the further development of the field. A three-layered conceptual framework is thus proposed, consisting of the philosophy layer, the technique layer and the application layer. Each layer focuses on different types of fundamental questions regarding data mining, and jointly they form a complete characterization of the field. To complement the extensive technique layer and application layer studies, we discuss in detail the main issues of the philosophy layer study.


Through a teacher educator's study of her own practice as a faculty advisor (university supervisor), this paper focuses on studying theory-practice transitions with respect to mathematics pre-service teacher field experience. The purpose of the research study was to disrupt traditional discourses on these theory-practice transitions by reconceptualising the role of the faculty advisor through the development of a Teacher-Intern-Faculty Advisor (TIFA) Learning Community. Drawing on Bourdieu's social field theory, this paper establishes the TIFA community as a productive space of collaboration and dialogue on the process of becoming a mathematics teacher. The paper proposes that this productive space functions as a new Bourdieuian field which rests in the theory-practice nexus and holds promise for deconstructing the scripts of fields in pre-service teacher education.


Aims: On 1 October 2007 the law protecting nonsmokers became effective in the German state of Hessen. At the Vitos Haina Forensic Psychiatric Hospital we had to develop a strategy to implement this law. Methods: Following comprehensive literature research concerning the impact of tobacco consumption on mental Illness, a complete smoking ban was implemented in all buildings and open areas. Results: Contrary to the significant amount of apprehension existing prior to the ban, no increase of aggressive behaviour was observed, and violations of the law decreased over the succeeding 18 months. However, the smoking ban proved to be a very unpopular measure and stirred up a very negative media response. Legal challenges by the patients forced the clinic to reverse the ban in the open areas. Conclusions: A smoking ban can be successfully instituted even in a forensic psychiatric hospital without necessarily increasing aggressive behaviour in the patients. Appropriate staff qualification, a less stringent schedule, and better financial resources - and therefore a more suitable preparation - would lead to a greater acceptance of bans.


None of the lossless entropy encoding methods so far have addressed compression of small strings of arbitrary lengths. Although it appears inconsequent, space occupied by several independent small strings become significant in memory constrained environments. It is also significant when attempting efficient storage of such small strings in a database where while block compression is most efficient, retrieval efficiency could be improved if the strings are individually compressed. This paper formulates a hybrid encoding method with which small strings could be compressed using context aware static codes resulting in surprisingly good ratios and also be used in constrained environments like Arduino. We also go on to prove that this technique can guarantee compression for any English language sentence of minimum 3 words.


At the time when the Emden and all other German ships had ended their careers on the high seas, and England thought herself safe from the inroads of German cruisers on the ocean, about the middle of January, 1916, the Liverpool liner Appam disappeared on a voyage from Dakar, West Africa, to Plymouth, England. This ship had left its port of departure on January 11th and was expectgd in Plymouth the 21st of that month. After four days, wireless communication with the vessel ceased suddenly, and as nothing was heard of the ship during the following days, it was given up for lost. It was admitted that it had either gone down in a severe storm which had been raging on the West African coast, or had been sunk by a German submarine which had extended its radius of action.


Abstract Each year about 250 million people around the world are infected with parasites from the Plasmodium group causing malaria. Although more than 50 antimalarials are currently being tested, cinchona tree alkaloids in the form of quinoline derivatives are still used to treat the disease. The objective of this work was to develop and apply a novel method for separation and determination of six biologically active alkaloids using isotachophoresis. The following derivatives were involved in the study: quinine, quinidine, cinchonine, cinchonidine, acetylcinchonine, and acetylquinidine. Successful application of isotachophoresis for the separation of these diastereoisomers required a new terminating electrolyte. The developed method allows for separation of the above-mentioned alkaloids in less than 33 minutes. Linear regression coefficients were high and ranged from 0.9995 to 0.9999. Relative standard deviation did not exceed 5%, and the standard measurement uncertainty was below 3 μgL−1. The new method was then successfully used to determine quinine content in selected products. Graphical Abstract


A great amount of research is being conducted to incorporate smart material actuators in aerospace applications such as (1) turbo fan engines (2) servo flap actuators for helicopter rotor control. For example, a piezoelectric stack actuator, coupled with mechanical or hydraulic amplification could provide the actuation required for the variable pitch fan system with a potentially higher level of reliability. In addition, piezoelectric actuation system could do so at a lower overall weight. However, there are limitations with existing piezoelectric stack actuators relative to power requirements. Therefore, a new approach has been investigated to improve these characteristics in order for piezoelectric stacks to be a feasible solution for these types of large scale applications. A new configuration involving dielectric, conductor, piezoelectric material in a particular sequence of stack actuation is examined and experimented. A nonlinear lumped parameter model of a piezoelectric stack has been developed to describe the behavior for the purpose of control actuation analysis.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


So far, the majority of deadlock control policies for automated manufacturing systems (AMSs) are based on the assumption that no resource fails; while for AMSs with unreliable resources, the main concerns are deadlock avoidance problems. This paper focuses on the robust deadlock prevention problem for AMSs with a type of unreliable resources, and assumes that at most one of unreliable resources fails at a time. Petri net is introduced to model the considered AMS. Deadlock can be characterized in terms of maximal perfect resource transition-circuits (MPRT-circuits). To develop robust Petri net deadlock controllers with small structures for the system, a new concept of strong transition covers is presented, which is a special kind of transition covers. By designing a control place with a proper control variable to each MPRT-circuit in the strong transition cover, a 1-robust Petri net controller is obtained, whereas the control variables can be determined by an integer linear programming. Such a 1-robust controller ensures that the system can process all types of parts infinitely even if one of unreliable resources fails. Since the number of MPRT-circuits in a strong transition cover is much less than that of all MPRT-circuits, our Petri net controller is of small structural size. Each AMS with a type of unreliable resources has at least a transition cover. An algorithm is presented for checking the strongness of transition covers, and transforming weak transition covers into strong ones. Finally, some examples are given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed method.


Background: COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the newly discovered coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). Efforts are being taken to control the spread of this disease, of which the development of vaccine against COVID-19 is a major landmark. However, doubts on the efficacy of the vaccine do exist among the population. Aim: The aim of this study was to know the reasons for, perceptions of, and knowledge about the COVID-19 vaccination among dental undergraduate students. Materials and Methods: The study was conducted using an online survey and distributed among undergraduate dental students throughout India. An online validated and piloted questionnaire was sent to dental colleges throughout India using the Google Forms platform. The responses were downloaded in MS Excel 2019. Descriptive analysis (SPSS IBM, USA version 25) was used. Results: The response rate of the study was 32%. Preventing the spread of COVID-19 infection was the primary reason for getting vaccinated and nonavailability of long-term safety data was the main reason for not getting vaccinated. Majority of the students agree that wearing masks, frequent handwashing, hand sanitation, and social distancing postvaccination are necessary. Conclusion: The study points to a rational wait-and-watch strategy adopted by majority of vaccine-hesitant dental students, though the flaws in reasons for getting vaccinated were observed in the present study. These flaws point to the need for a genuine, consolidated, up-to-date, unified easily available, and succinct source of information on all aspects of the present COVID-19 pandemic.


The results of investigations of special features of fatigue failure of the metal of welded joints using the new methods of fractal analysis of the fracture surfaces in metals science of welding are presented. The fractal dimension of the fracture surface is determined and its relationship with the kinetic characteristic of the process – the fatigue crack growth rate – is investigated. The relationships governing the effect of the composition of electrode coatings on the fatigue fracture characteristics are determined.


Introduction: According to the Barcelona Clinic Liver Cancer (BCLC) algorithm, transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) is recommended in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) of intermediate stage (BCLC-B), whereas partial hepatectomy (PH) is restricted to early stage A. Expanding the indication for PH to intermediate stage remains debated. Objective: This meta-analysis aimed to analyze short- and long-term outcomes of PH compared to TACE in patients with intermediate-stage HCC. Methods: A meta-analysis was conducted according to PRISMA guidelines. Trials comparing PH with TACE in patients with intermediate-stage HCC were selected. Only patients of BCLC-B stage were included in the analyses. Primary endpoint was overall survival (OS) and secondary endpoint was 90-day postprocedural mortality. Random-effects models were used to analyze time ratios (TRs). Results: Seven eligible trials were analyzed, including 1,730 BCLC-B patients undergoing PH (n = 750) or TACE (n = 980). Comparison of OS between PH and TACE determined a pooled TR of 1.91 (95% CI 1.24–2.94; p < 0.001). Survival rates at 1-, 3-, and 5-year were 85, 60, and 42% after PH, compared to 73, 60, and 20% after TACE (p < 0.001). There was no difference in postprocedural mortality between PH and TACE with rates of 3.7 and 3.4%, respectively (TR 0.95; 95% CI 0.17–5.50; p = 0.879). Conclusions: In patients with intermediate HCC, PH was associated with increased long-term survival compared to TACE, with comparable postprocedural mortality. These results suggest considering PH as treatment option in intermediate HCC and highlight the urgent need to refine the selection of patients with BCLC-B stage who may benefit from PH.


This study strives to highlight some aspects of finger dermatoglyphics of the Oraons who are now divided in two separate religious groups i.e. Christian and Traditional Oraons. It is based on the data which consists of 400 Oraon finger prints equally representing each group i.e. 200 Christian Oraon and 200 Non-Christian Oraons. The analysis includes both qualitative as well as quantitative measures. It is noted that no clear picture of differentiation between two religious groups emerges exept few micro changes who are statistically insignificant. However, in some instances the significant bisexual differentiation is observed. Lastly, the facts are put into discussion with their neighbour groups to find out the dermatoglyphic relations of the Oraons with other Indian populations


The present work focuses its interest in analyzing and reflecting on the link between the indigenous world view, the farm, and the social determination of health. Due to the importance of the knowledge of traditional medicine, critical epidemiology shows the importance of incorporating this ancestral knowledge into conventional medicine. The study was based on the theoretical and methodological contributions of research, reflection, and participatory action with the community, using as techniques the observation of cases, the field diary, recordings, interviews, and others; He concludes that the study of the square cross and its quadrants determines the understanding of the integrity of harmonically linked and interdependent knowledge, allowing us to understand the chacaric thinking canari, erected and sustained as a worldview.


The aim of this paper is to find a reliable function using Time-Frequency Representations (TFR) for epoch detection, making no assumptions about the speech production model. This is achieved by adapting the optimum time-frequency detector to the problem of glottal closure instant (GCI) determination. An ideal function for such purpose may show only one maximum per period. However, since this situation is not assured because secondary maxima may appear, we also propose a post-processing method based on morphological filtering.


In epidemiological research literatures, a latent or incubation period can be medelled by incorporating it as a delay effect (delayed SIR models), or by introducing an exposed class (SEIR models). In this paper we propose a comparison of a delayed SIR model and its corresponding SEIR model in terms of local stability. Also some numerical simulations are given to illustrate the theoretical results.


Abstract Background National linked mortality and census data have not previously been available for Australia. We estimated education-based mortality inequalities from linked census and mortality data that are suitable for international comparisons. Methods We used the Australian Bureau of Statistics Death Registrations to Census file, with data on deaths (2011–2012) linked probabilistically to census data (linkage rate 81%). To assess validity, we compared mortality rates by age group (25–44, 45–64, 65–84 years), sex and area-inequality measures to those based on complete death registration data. We used negative binomial regression to quantify inequalities in all-cause mortality in relation to five levels of education ['Bachelor degree or higher' (highest) to 'no Year 12 and no post-secondary qualification' (lowest)], separately by sex and age group, adjusting for single year of age and correcting for linkage bias and missing education data. Results Mortality rates and area-based inequality estimates were comparable to published national estimates. Men aged 25–84 years with the lowest education had age-adjusted mortality rates 2.20 [95% confidence interval (CI): 2.08‒2.33] times those of men with the highest education. Among women, the rate ratio was 1.64 (1.55‒1.74). Rate ratios were 3.87 (3.38‒4.44) in men and 2.57 (2.15‒3.07) in women aged 25–44 years, decreasing to 1.68 (1.60‒1.76) in men and 1.44 (1.36‒1.53) in women aged 65–84 years. Absolute education inequalities increased with age. One in three to four deaths (31%) was associated with less than Bachelor level education. Conclusions These linked national data enabled valid estimates of education inequality in mortality suitable for international comparisons. The magnitude of relative inequality is substantial and similar to that reported for other high-income countries.


A method of preparing food using flesh and skin of ginseng fruit which is discarded as waste is provided to effectively utilize active ingredients contained in the flesh and skin of ginseng seed. Ginseng flesh and skin are removed from the seed of ginseng fruit to obtain ginseng seed extract and solid. The ginseng seed extract is mixed with 15 to 30% by weight of any one of honey, sugar and oligosaccharide and added with solid powder to give food. The ginseng seed solid is dried at less than 100deg.C in a dryer, ground, mixed with 4 to 25% by weight of the ginseng seed extract, based on the total weight of the seed solid, kneaded and formed into a specified shape to give food. The ginseng seed extract is obtained by mixing 750g ginseng seed flesh and skin and 4 to 15L water as a solvent and extracting at 70 to 100deg.C for 12 to 72hr. In the process, the ginseng seed solid can be mixed with 1 to 21% by weight of herbal extract containing Jujube fruit, ginger, Licorice root, Schizandra fruit, Lycium fruit, Cornus fruit, Liriope tuber and corn silk.


Inthis paper, wepresent acoordinated video surveillance system that canminimize thespatial limitation andcanprecisely extract the3Dposition ofobjects. Todothis, oursystemusedanagent basedsystem andalso tracked thenormalized object using active wide-baseline stereo method. Thesystem iscomposed oftwoparts: multiple camera agents (CAs)andasupport module(SM).EachCA treats imageprocessing andcamera controlling. A SM performs a rolethat manages communication between CAs.Ourproposed system extracts object positions independent ofenvironment viathecollaboration ofCAsandaSM.Finally, through experimental results we showthattheproposed system successfully tracks anobject onreal-time. IndexTerms-Surveillance, Stereo vision, Active vision, Cooperative systems,


Over the last 10 years, the solar photovoltaic (PV) market has grown rapidly due in part to government incentive programs. We estimate a dynamic model to evaluate the effects of actual and counterfactual policies on residential solar installations. Our results indicate that with a $120 social cost of carbon, the total subsidies in California would be welfare neutral. When comparing the two most frequently-used incentive schemes and in particular when the planner and agents have different discount rates, we find that the upfront capacity-based subsidies result in lower welfare costs and more solar adoptions than production-based subsidies. Overall, we find that the welfare cost of encouraging prolific solar adoptions in a suboptimal location is extremely high. JEL codes: C23, D12, D61, H23, Q41, Q42, Q48.


This research is aimed to study and analyze the relationship between the earthquake events and the disturbance of ionosphere. The method is by using the International Reference Ionosphere (IRI) model to get Total Electron Content (TEC) values and then find the correlation on earthquake events and ionosphere. The result is to be correlated at 0.056, which shows the evidence of correlationon earthquake events and ionosphere. For the future work, we  will  study  the  significant  on  the  development of earthquake  warning  system. This  study  can  be  used  for educational purposes.


ABSTRACT As antibiotic resistance is increasing daily, the desire to treat an infection without causing any harmful effects assumes increasing importance. Ozone gas is a reactive antioxidant. Its role in blood circulation and uplifting immunity is an ideal complement to achieving curative care treatments. Aside from treatments, the therapeutic and biological effects of ozone may have positive results by reducing tooth demineralization, its antimicrobial capabilities rely upon its ability to oxidize, which produces free radicals, and has immediate action on microbes. The usage of ozone in dentistry is recommended for a variety of purposes, which comprises carious lesion treatments, root canal disinfection, post-surgical treatment, tooth bleaching, periodontal problems, prosthodontics, and orthodontics. Ozone has the potential to be a promising alternative therapy in dentistry. However, well-designed research is needed to analyze ozone's utilization in the field of dentistry to determine its importance from a clinical perspective so that the general public can benefit from it. This systematic review aims to describe the technique in which ozone can be advantageous as well as the many ways of applications of ozone therapy in dentistry.


The present invention is an electro so as to maximize the area of the image display unit of a predetermined size formed on the substrate, relates to a luminous display device. Electroporation according to the embodiment of the present invention luminescence display device substrate, and electroluminescence display having gate lines and the pixel been arranged for each intersection of the defined areas of data lines formed on the substrate, the electro luminescent is formed in the left side region of the substrate adjacent to the left side of the sense display portion on the right side region of the substrate adjacent the right side of the first gate driver and the electroluminescence display unit for driving the odd-numbered gate lines among the gate lines It is formed is formed on the substrate adjacent to any one of the second gate driver and the upper side and lower side of the electro-luminescence display part to drive the solid-th gate line of the gate lines for a data driver for driving the data line It characterized in that it comprises. The present invention is electroporation formed on a substrate having a certain size depending on the resolution can maximize the area of the luminous display unit.


In order to study the effect of salt content on the compost of restaurant garbage,experiments are carried out in 4 sets of horizontal composting reactors.The salt contents of the 4 sets of windrow are 0%,1%,1.5% and 2% respectively.The influences of salt content of restaurant garbage on reaction temperature,pH,water content,water-soluble C/N of compost system are analyzed.Experiment results show that the more salt in the windrow is,the shorter high-temperature period maintains,which is not beneficial for sterilization.The microbial activity is obviously restrained when the salt content is higher than 1.5% and the pH of the system remains below 5.5.The water contents of the windrow in 4 reactors decrease from 56.12% to 41.63%,43.57%,39.04%,36.18% respectively at the end of composting.The higher salt content in the windrow is,the more water content decreases.The water-soluble C/Ns of the 4 reactors decrease from the initial value of 30 to 9,10,15 and 17,respectively.And a higher level of salt content is,the more slowly the water-soluble C/N decreases.


The method SCAmod for fractional snow cover (FSC) retrieval for Northern Eurasia boreal forest zone and tundra is presented, together with the accuracy assessment using high resolution Landsat TM/ETM+ data as a reference. Employing an apparent forest transmissivity, SCAmod accounts for forest canopy effect into the observed reflectance. Today, the method is implemented for Northern Hemisphere Snow extent production in European Space Agency DUE-project GlobSnow. It is therefore interesting to assess SCAmod performance in continental scale. We apply SCAmod to MODIS and compare the result with FSC derived from TM/ETM+ imagery over selected areas. Also validation against Finnish ground truth data is presented. Results indicate that high resolution data-derived FSC can be used to represent the ground truth, but this depends on the size and spatial distribution of snow-free patches as well as on the forest density in the target area. In dense forests, TM/ETM+ FSC showed strong underestimation, implying that these data cannot be used to represent the ground truth but only as suggestive reference.


Regarding to the desorption of the soluble matter erosion in rivers,the currently used steady-state models including Herry model,Langmuir model,Freundlich model and Surface Complexation model for predicting the desorption quantity of soluble matters were summarized. Taking Ca2 + as the representative index of soluble matters and based on the static state experimental results,the validity of the above four models were checked. The comparison indicated that because the initial occurrence of soluble matters in desorption was greatly different from it in sorption,the diffusion process in desorption was not considered in any of the above models. Then by the analysis of the desorption mode of soluble matters ,it was found that the desorption was an integrated process of diffusion and ion exchange. At last,the above models were improved in which the total desorption quantity of soluble matters was devided into diffusion quantity and ion exchange quantity.


Faint residual fringe contrast was observed in some regions of stacking faults (SF) in Si for which unfaulting reactions had apparently occurred. This phenomenon is attributed to an error which occurred in the apparent unfaulting process. Such an error produces, for the simplest case, a four‐atom‐layer‐thick region on the {111} which was twinned and may also be regarded as normal {111} layers of matrix material containing an intrinsic‐extrinsic SF pair. Thus, no normal SF contrast was observed; instead, the small twin boundary dilations produced the SF‐like faint fringe contrast. Twin reflections were observed from such material regions.


It has been recently realized (Rephaeli 1995) that the relativistic corrections to the spectral distortions of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) measured in the direction of clusters of galaxies containing hot gas are significant and should be detectable with the forthcoming experiments. In the present paper we calculate the correction terms that are proportional to $V_{r}/c\times kT_e/m_ec^2$ and $(V/c)^2$ to the standard formulae describing the spectral distortions caused by the bulk motion of the free electrons (kinematic effect) and due to the presence of the hot gas (thermal effect) for the case of a cluster having a peculiar velocity $V$ ($V_{r}$ is its radial component). The results of our analytical calculations are confirmed by Monte-Carlo simulations (Sazonov & Sunyaev 1998).


The rise and proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to influence and disrupt many aspects of society as we currently know it. While it has been a long-held belief that robots are limited to physical tasks and therefore only capable of replacing blue collar workers, many concerns exist that continued developments will yield artificial minds capable of replacing knowledge workers. These advancements have led people to ask the question, "What will our society look like when AI is everywhere?" [1].


This paper deals with finding of the limiting validity conditions for non-linear freesurface boundary conditions of the finite amplitude standing wave theories includingprogressive wave ones derived by the perturbation method. Free surface boundary con-dition errors for validity of the wave theories are described in detail, based on the resultsof numerical computation of the errors for various kinds of wave characteristics expressedby dimensionless parameters. Graphs expressing the decreasing regions, estimated ap-proximately, of the errors by the successive approximation are provided respectively forboth the theories.


Applications of organoclays to polymer resins are potentially of great technical interest. This research targets preparation and characterization of nanocomposites of organoclays in an unsaturated polyester resin (UP). The nanocomposites with two distinct dispersion levels were compounded in a complex multisteps mixing process at three concentrations and subsequently their microstructures were characterized by XRD. The solution-state rheological properties of layered silicate/UP were measured in the start-up of steady state in the simple shear mode and analyzed based on our observations of internal structure of nanoparticles dispersion. Strong shear thinning behavior caused by increasing particle alignment induced by the shear field was observed for the suspensions. Effects of nanoparticles loadings and shearing on transient viscosity of the UP resin were examined. The experimental results show that increasing shear time in nanosuspension preparation steps and hence improvements of nanoplate dispersion in the polyester resin give rise to viscosity of the suspensions. A theoretical analysis of the motion of rigid ellipsoidal particles in a Newtonian fluid based on the thermodynamic approach and Jeffery's analysis of the motion of ellipsoid particles with an interaction term was developed to determine the orientation state of disc-shape layers and then, the expression for the extra stress tensor was calculated to predict transient viscosity and normal stress differences. It is found that the thin oblate particles have significant orientation preference in the shearing direction. POLYM. COMPOS., 2009. © 2008 Society of Plastics Engineers


Purifying apparatus exhaust gas for internal combustion engine comprising: a device (14) fuel addition provided in a gas exhaust internal combustion engine and adds fuel to the gas exhaust form of fine fuel droplets; and a catalyst (12, 13) adsorptive NOx reduction is provided downstream of the device (14) adding the fuel in exhaust gas and adsorbs NOx contained in the exhaust gas entering the catalyst ( 12, 13) of adsorption-reduction NOx when the air-fuel exhaust gas ratio is lean and releases the adsorbed NOx when the air-fuel exhaust gas ratio is rich, wherein when the air-fuel exhaust gas entering the catalyst (12, 13) of adsorption-reduction NOx has to be made rich to release the adsorbed NOx catalyst (12, 13) of adsorption-reduction NOx, fuel is added from the device (14) fuel addition such that the added fuel adheres to the catalyst (12, 13) of adsorption-reduction NOx in the form of fuel droplets, whereby the catalyst (12, 13) of adsorption-reduction NOx is formed by a a plurality of catalysts (12, 13) of adsorption-reduction NOx arranged in series, including a catalyst (12) adsorption-reduction NOx upstream on which platinum is supported Pt and, optionally, palladium Pd, and a catalyst (13) adsorption-reduction NOx downstream which is disposed downstream of the catalyst (12) adsorption-reduction NOx upstream and on which platinum Pt and palladium Pd are supported; the apparatus gas purification characterized escape in that: the ratio of the mole number of the platinum Pt supported on the catalyst (13) adsorption-reduction NOx downstream with respect to the sum of the mole numbers of the platinum Pt and palladium Pd supported on the catalyst (13) adsorption-reduction NOx downstream is from about 50% to about 80%; and the ratio of the mole number of the platinum Pt supported on the catalyst (12) adsorption-reduction NOx upstream with respect to the sum of the mole numbers of the platinum Pt and the palladium Pd supported on the catalyst (12) adsorption- NOx reduction upstream is greater than the ratio of the mole number of the platinum Pt supported on the catalyst (13) adsorption-reduction NOx downstream with respect to the sum of the mole numbers of the platinum Pt and the palladium Pd supported on the catalyst (13) adsorption-reduction NOx downstream.


This paper studies surprise clearance as an innovative business model to increase store profit and reduce food waste. A store holding surprise clearance sells "surprise bags" composed of surplus food that would otherwise go to waste. At the time of ordering, consumers are uncertain about the quantity of food items included in a surprise bag. We model surprise clearance and compare it with both no clearance and transparent clearance, which sets a transparent unit clearance price based on the amount of surplus food after regular sales. We find that surprise clearance achieves the highest store profit and induces the most store production among the three selling schemes. While both clearance schemes have the ability to eliminate store waste, the store effectively does so under surprise clearance but deliberately does not under transparent clearance. In fact, transparent clearance may generate even more store waste than no clearance. Further, both clearance schemes exacerbate the problem of consumer waste compared to no clearance, and despite zero store waste, surprise clearance generates the most consumer waste among the three schemes. If clearance sales target a consumer segment with a sufficiently low valuation of consumption, both clearance schemes reduce total food waste and surprise clearance represents a win-win solution that maximizes store profit and minimizes total waste among the three schemes. However, there are circumstances under which both clearance schemes fail to reduce total waste, and surprise clearance may end up with the most total waste among the three schemes.


We present component-based design of a fault-tolerant (FT) multimedia communication protocol. Specifically, we show how a fault-intolerant multimedia protocol can be transformed to be able to handle certain fault cases by composing it with FT components, thereby providing dependability attributes in the resulting FT version of the protocol. We present the design of the FT components, namely correctors and detectors, and then show their correctness as well as that of the final FT protocol. Utilizing the concepts of category theory, we elucidate the overall composition of FT components and the fault-intolerant program to result in a FT program. The proposed methodology is illustrated by transforming the label distribution protocol into its FT version considering specific failure scenarios.


The invention relates to a bicomponent environment-friendly adhesive of enhanced type which comprises base and curing agent. The main point of the technology is that a certain amount of polyvinyl alcohol and water are added in a reaction vessel to be continuously stirred to lead the temperature to be increased; after the mixture is fully dissolved and cooled, a certain amount of emulsifier OP-10 and dodecyl benzene sodium sulfate are added into the obtained material and stirred, then added with proper amount of persulphate water solution and prepared alkenyl unsaturated acid ester and alkeneyl unsaturated anhydride or acid mixture; after the temperature is increased to 80 DEG C, the rest alkenyl unsaturated acid ester and alkeneyl unsaturated anhydride or acid mixture are added, then evenly added with the rest persulphate water solution; the obtained material is added with addictive after 2-4 hours, stirred and cooled to 30 DEG C, and the final base product is obtained. The curing agent is prepared by the method of subpackage polyisocyanate, or mixing and continuously stirring compound containing more than one hydroxyl, polyisocyanate and organic acid ester, thus getting the curing agent finished product.


As social and economic development, rural economy gradually becomes the focus of one of the items, building a new socialist countryside in China has become an important topic of urban and rural integrated development. However, rural economic development is inseparable from agricultural machinery, mechanization development, supervision is particularly important. This article mainly from agricultural safety supervision and administration in regard to the status of rural economic development analysis, work on farm machinery safety supervision to discuss the current situation and problems of supervision do make a few reasonable suggestions.


Research has found that as pet ownership increases, fertility declines in
the United States. Many single people have lost interest in growing families
due to high cost of child care and lack of time. Other people speculate that it
is easier to manage pets than children and pets give them more freedom than children.
The main objective of this research therefore was to find out through Bowlby's
attachment theory the extent to which preference to pet relates with other variables
like pet attachment, security, loss, care and communication. The researcher
developed six hypotheses and two research questions. Survey samples of 274
respondents were collected through Qualtrics using Amazon Mturk as recruitment
platform. Ethical approval was gotten from an institute's review board. Studies
show significant connection between pet attachment, pet security but show no
significance to pet preference as many of the participants still prefer to have
children. However, there is a need for government's intervention in terms of improving care for both
pets and children.


The Vuelta a España is one of the three cycling Grand Tours, a long-established (first staged in 1935) and global sports mega event. Nonetheless, in the mid-noughties, it went through a financial and identity crisis, which culminated with the French company, Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO), the organizer of the Tour de France, taking over the Spanish race in 2008. This research, an in-depth case study based on semistructured interviews and analysis of all the relevant corporate documentation and online activity, aims at shedding light on how the new ASO management has refloated the race through a reinforcement of its globalization and mediatization, on the lines of the managerial policies already in place for the Tour de France since the early 80s. This article also proposes a small theoretical refinement of the "mega sporting event" concept, moving from a binary, yes–not typology, to a four-level scale including micro (local), meso (provincial/subnational), macro (national or regional), and mega (global) sporting events. In this sense, this article concludes that the communication strategies set up by the new ASO management have pushed the Vuelta beyond the macro and towards the mega level.


This thesis identifies a style of thinking shaping the sixteenth-century corpus of
the Portuguese colonizers about Brazil, and by doing so it comes to terms with
significant elements of this corpus that until now have been simply dismissed as
early-modern eccentricities. The thesis characterizes this style of thinking as
being constituted by an ontological concern and three corresponding
methodological strategies. The ontological concern is the following: to
understand the connection between ordinary visible things and a (supposed)
hidden supernatural realm, which constantly maintains their existence and
stability. The methodological strategies are the following: a very bold use of
analogy, the blurring of the distinction between words and things, the blurring of
the distinction between the feigned and ordinary reality. The three
epistemological procedures minimally enable a satisfaction of the ontological
concern, since the entities of the hidden realm could not be subsumed under the
same categories in which ordinary things are given. There are two additional
points that will also be defended in this thesis that are parallel but related to the
style of thinking we identify in the corpus. The first is that there is a further
epistemological characteristic of the corpus: its dependence upon the emergence and growth of a net of visible relations enabling a somewhat systematic
accumulation of narratives. This dependency of the corpus upon visible relations is not incompatible with the fact that its authors are concerned not merely with what is visible, but with the connection between the visible and the invisible. The second point is that the style of thinking identified in the corpus of the Portuguese can be labelled a kind of Christian neo-Platonism. This is because the ontological concern and the three corresponding methodological strategies that constitute this style of thinking were already present in Christian neo-Platonic authors who influenced the cognitive context of the Portuguese. By way of conclusion, and in view of future perspectives of research, it will be suggested, in the last chapter of the thesis, that the kind of style of thinking identified in the corpus of the Portuguese might not be extinguished,


ABSTRACT Wastewater-source heat pump (WWSHP) applications to wastewater collection systems provide an attractive option for recovery of thermal energy. Although the idea is not new, there are few if any existing studies that talk about how the WWSHP location relative to the collection system influences efficiency. We used a wastewater collection system model and cost-benefit analysis to examine the payback time for a WWSHP relative to a conventional hot water boiler. The best location for WWSHP implementation depends on design capacity and collection system size, and the payback time could be as low as 3 years. There is a threshold of design capacity (160 kW) in the range of sizes that we investigated, and hourly variations leading to a higher electricity price could lead to a longer payback time. However, that threshold should increase and the payback time may decrease (<2 years) if larger sizes are included in the investigation.


Artists' cultural accomplishments should be divided into general culture,artistic companion culture and specialized culture.general culture is the base of artistic culture;companion culture is relative with specialized culture;the accomplishments of artistic companion culture direct and indirect influence the growth and development of specialized aesthetic culture.


A novel scanning charge-pumping method using one or more extra contactless gates is proposed for silicon-on-insulator (SOI) wafer inspection. In the proposed method, a contactless; gate electrode is used as a measuring gate instead of the permanent gate electrode of normal metal-oxide-semiconductor transistors, allowing a wafer map of interface trap density to be obtained. A preliminary study is carried out using a sample device having two extra gate electrodes in the close vicinity of a measuring gate electrode, which are contacted on an oxidized SOI wafer. The results demonstrate that the proposed method is a promising technique for the characterization of interface trap density in SOI wafers.


As star hotels develop fast, yet there is always a gap of the supply of economical hotels in our country. And there are many problems, for example the unreasonable price, the single management mode, the lack of a chain of famous and large economical hotels group. China faced by the obstacles that hold back the development of economical hotels in China, this paper discusses the status quo and development of economical hotels in China.


The paper presents an estimation method to determine the synchronous impedance of the synchronous generator. The synchronous impedance of cylindrical rotor alternator is estimated based on the equivalent circuit model and voltage regulation. Genetic algorithm based impedance estimation technique is adopted, where only machine rating is used. Conventional methods viz., synchronous impedance method uses rated voltage and rated current obtained from more than one operating condition to determine synchronous impedance value. However, Genetic Algorithm based method uses the rated voltage and current, i.e. without isolation or disturbing the normal operating condition of the machine to estimate the value. The test results of the GA-based estimation method are found to be closer to test results of conventional methods.


¢ Wi~:h increasing frequency, information systems management is turning to commercial software packages to perform data processing functions. Management bases its decision on data similar to those in the graph below.


The character of a transmitting source plays an important part in seismic model experiments for obtaining a distinct wave form with short duration on the receiving record. The present paper describes two kinds of transmitting sources: the source of central expanding force and the source of normally concentrated force. A cylindrical piezo-electrical crystal of barium titanate inserted in the central hole of a circular plate was used as the source of a central expanding force. It is found when the initiating electrical pulse has a time duration corresponding to one cycle of the radial resonant frequency of the crystal, the received seismogram shows the most distinct wave form with short duration. A rod type transducer of barium titanate in contact with the edge of a semi-circular plate with a thickness of 2mm was used as a source of normally concentrated force. It is found that when the diameter of the transducer is less than 5mm, the directional effect of intensity is similar to that of a point source. In general, this kind of transducer will produce a satisfactory wave form in the receiving record. The detector consisting of a barium titanate cylinder attached to the end of a brass rod with the same diameter were used in all the experiments.


The exchange is so blatantly racist that one might feel that to look for nuance here is like trying to classify manure. Why bother? It all stinks. Yet perhaps the most important aspect of Benjamin Isaac's painstaking study of the origins of racism is his belief that racism is a tapestry of fear, hate and even self-loathing, the threads of which can and should be teased out. What are the threads? Environmental determinism, myths of autochthony, ethnic stereotypes, manufactured blood-lines (inevitably pure) and bogus physiognomics, all combined to provide a conceptual underpinning to ancient imperialism. Some of these elements are depressingly familiar, such as the rhetoric that derides the enemy. There is a direct line from Manlius Acilius, describing his enemies as 'Syrians and Asiatic Greeks, the most worthless peoples among mankind and born for slavery' to the rant cited above. Isaac, however, does more than chart ancient examples of familiar modern prejudices. In fact, he recognizes that the pseudo-science underlying much modern racism does not have an exact ancient corollary. Accordingly, Isaac employs the term 'proto-racism' to designate explanations of 'presumed superiority or inferiority of specific groups' when these explanations 'consist of theories regarding heredity or unalterable exterior influence' (37). What is distinctive in Isaac's treatment of proto-racism is his insistence that there is an important difference between ethnic prejudice and racial prejudice. The former consists of descriptions or judgements that recognize 'human actions or social relations within people's own control. . . . If, however, we read that people are stupid and courageous because they live in a cold climate, then it can be argued that this is a form of proto-racism, since there is an implicit assumption that these people are stupid through physical factors beyond their control'


Accumulating evidence shows that auditory cortex (AC) of humans, and other primates, is involved in more complex cognitive processes than feature segregation only, which are shaped by experience-dependent plasticity and thus likely show substantial individual variability. However, thus far, individual variability of ACs has been considered a methodological impediment rather than a phenomenon of theoretical importance. Here, we examined the variability of ACs using intrinsic functional connectivity patterns in humans and macaques. Our results demonstrate that in humans, functional variability is 1) greater near the non-primary than primary ACs, 2) greater in ACs than comparable visual areas, and 3) greater in the left than right ACs. Remarkably similar modality differences and lateralization of variability were observed in macaques. These connectivity-based findings are consistent with a confirmatory task-based fMRI analysis. The quantitative proof of the exceptional variability of ACs has implications for understanding the evolution of advanced auditory functions in humans.


We analyse the experimental data on near threshold $\pi$, $\eta$, $\omega$, $\eta'$ and $K^+$ production from $pp$ collisions and show that all information gained so far is compatible with approximately constant production matrix elements when including the rescattering between the baryons in the final states. Different methods to include the final state interactions are discussed and their range of validity is indicated. We, furthermore, show that Dalitz plots for the proton-meson invariant mass spectra at different energies should be suited to distinguish between final state interactions and resonant production amplitudes.


This paper deals with a variant of the multifacility location-routing problem in urban areas. The distribution network is modelled by an undirected graph, in which the nodes are split into a set of pickup-delivery stations, a depot, and a set of customers. The arcs represent the minimum-cost connections between nodes. A customer is assigned to a pickup-delivery station if he or she can reach it at the lowest sustainable cost, i.e., on foot or by bicycle, without exceeding a predefined maximum distance. The goal is to minimise the goods' total delivery cost, including pollutant emissions. In this perspective, both travel distance and means of transport play a key role. We present an exact novel approach based on partitioning the research space of the solutions of a Mixed Integer Linear Programming model. In the model, Boolean decisional variables, representing the selection of the locations for the pickup-delivery stations, are fixed simultaneously with the solution of the classical Travelling Salesman Problem. A branching constraint allows us to determine the route that serves the selected pickup-delivery stations and the route, if any, that serves customers who do not go to any pickup-delivery station. We conduct extensive experimentation to test the proposed approach's computational efficiency and analyse the optimal solution's robustness with respect to the maximum distance of customers from the stations, their activation cost and the pollutant emissions. The effectiveness of the proposed approach in terms of solution quality and computation time is certified by a set of computational tests based on randomly generated instances with up to 150 customers and 30 pickup-delivery stations. The application of the proposed exact method to a case study related to a district of the city of Genoa (Italy) confirms its validity also for sustainably addressing real-size urban delivery problems. An evaluation of incentives for customers using pickup-delivery stations, possibly by implementing discount policies on orders, is also proposed.


We proposed an iterative algorithm for radio sources coordinates estimating by the range-difference method using the multiposition passive satellite system. We simulated the coordinates estimating algorithm. We defined requirements to the satellite orbit altitude and to the distance between the satellites for the small satellites group. We estimated time of arrival estimation accuracy, which is necessary to achieve the required coordinates estimation accuracy.


The use of radiofrequency (RF) fields in the megahertz range to produce the initial plasmas for nuclear fusion experiments can provide a broader operating regime for many stellarator devices and can result in a saving of volt-seconds in tokamaks. This process has been used for many years in various devices at the Institute of Physics and Technology at Khar'kov. The initial breakdown of neutral gas by non-resonant RF near-fields can be understood in terms of RF electric fields parallel to the static magnetic field and a ponderomotive trap with a long scale length parallel to the static magnetic field. If the parallel fields are not too strong for a given antenna geometry, the concept of a ponderomotive trap is valid and the trapped electrons can oscillate in the near-field region for many RF periods. Efficient breakdown can begin if the oscillation energy of these trapped electrons is sufficient to ionize the gas. Good agreement between the experimental observations and an analytic model for the early phase of the breakdown process is presented.


The efficacy of topical Coletex-gel-DNA and Coletex-gel-DNA-L was analyzed in the radiotherapy of patients with otopharyngeal malignancies. The application of these agents was found to significantly reduce the magnitude of grade III radiation-induced oral and pharyngeal reactions from 66.8 to 24.6% as compared to the classical way of preventing these reactions.


In civil engineering, it is necessary to conduct weathering detection on the ground rock to validate the firmness and stability of the foundation, so as to avoid uneven settlement. Traditional detecting methods usually require collecting samples and then sending them to the specific research institutes for testing. This process usually takes several days, which has already been a choke point of the whole construction. In this paper, we combined Vgg, GoogLNet, ResNet, EfficientNet and other network structures to construct a detection algorithm for a simple discussion on this issue, and found that deep learning algorithms have better accuracy and robustness than traditional algorithms. Great, the accuracy of the neural network algorithm can reach up to 93% in our experiment, while under the same data, the SVM algorithm is only 58%. This shows that mudstone detection based on deep learning has a good research prospect and significance.


Service learning has been used to supplement a standard business curriculum, but not typically in an international business context. We report the results of two short-term study abroad programs in which we incorporated service learning projects, one in Cambodia and the other in Vietnam. Our objective is to assess how we organized and delivered effective service learning projects in short-term study tours, and to assess students' learning outcomes on global poverty issues in a business curriculum. We used both quantitative and qualitative assessment measures. The findings suggest that several types of learning outcomes did occur through the service learning projects, as the literature suggested. Seeing poverty firsthand and doing something about it through service learning may be a first experience for many students, but it seems to be a transformational one for many. We conclude that students may approach business and even political decisions with a greater understanding of their impact on poverty in the developing world.


Switching and short-circuit field tests have been performed on a 500 kV prototype NGH subsynchronous resonance damping scheme. Ihis damping scheme was developed in response to solving a subsynchronous resonance (SSR) problem on the eastern portion of the Southern California Edison Company's 500 kV transmission system. The present solution to the SSR problem is to reduce the series capacitor compensation from 70 percent to 26 percent but this limits the transmission capability of the system. It is desirable to return to the 70 percent compensation level and various schemes, including this damping scheme, have been investigated. Ihe details of this damping scheme are covered in Part 1 of this paper but the basic scheme consists of a low-ohmic resistor in parallel with the series capacitor element. The resistor is switched by thyristor switches controlled by the control system. The device is designated as the NGH scheme after its inventor, N. G. Hingorani of EPRI [1-4]. The NGH device was installed on one segment of the 500 kV series capacitor for tests and field evaluation purposes. This paper describes the results of the field tests, which included line switching and short-circuit tests.


Secure access to the services in intelligent city is challenging,because of the computing environment with heterogeneous modalities.Conventional static access control mechanisms are not able to accommodate complex secure access requirements.An adaptive secure access mechanism to address this problem is proposed.It not only adapts access control policies to diverse requirements but also introduces adaptation access control algorithms during the service invocation.Through the analysis of the performance of the algorithms,it is proved that the model can fulfill the dynamic security requirements in intelligent city,and compared to the traditional models,the performance of this model is superior.


Associated with the change of life style, due to reasons such as time constraints, information access, and alternatives comparison easiness, consumers prefer directed shopping on the internet. Shopping is done along with the initiation by the internet, in the scope of study such as web site service innovativeness, perceived overall service quality, customer loyalty, and perceived customer value. What are the effects of service innovativeness on perceived overall service quality, customer loyalty and perceived customer value? In order to answer this question, theoretical and empirical research is structured. From a holistic point of view the results suggest the positive effect of service innovativeness on perceived overall service quality, customer loyalty, and perceived customer value. Website service innovativeness influences behavioural intentions such as perceived overall service quality, customer loyalty, and perceived customer value. Following the examination of the results, the present article discussed the implications for practice and future research.


The rheological property and proppant-carrying capacity of fracturing fluid are key factors for successful fracturing. The settling velocity of suspended sand in fracturing fluid reflects the proppant-carrying capacity of fracturing fluid,reversible cross-linking polymer SRFP fracturing fluid is prepared by SRFP-1 gelling,SRFC-1 cross-linker,and KCl products. The rheological properties of SRFP fracturing fluid are evaluated under the conditions of 100 ~ 160 ℃. The static suspension experiments are carried out by 20 /40 ceramic. Proppant-carrying capacity of different temperature formula for fracturing fluid is studied by single-particle method and sand-ratio method. Proppant-carrying capacity of SRFP fracturing fluid and other different kinds of fracturing fluids is compared.


Column Editor's Notes The "Digital Heritage: Spotlight on Europe" column examines technological advances internal and external to cultural institutions. The digital shift changed radically how cultural heritage is made, disseminated, distributed, accessed, consumed, and monetized. One of the most important revolutions is that the user's role changed dramatically, shifting from passive observers to active participants and content producers with many new and exciting opportunities for engagement, creative use, and access. The strength of the column is its broad, international focus, and contributors are encouraged to explore issues and recent advances in digital heritage theories, methodologies, standards relevant to the European region, as well as the larger, global audience. Interested authors are invited to submit proposals and articles to the column editor at firstname.lastname@example.com. Please include "IILR submission" in the subject line of the e-mail. ABSTRACT Digitizing Europe's cultural heritage, making it accessible online, and preserving it for future generations is one of the challenges of the digital single market. It is estimated that 90% of the cultural heritage has not been digitized yet. While endeavours to increase the digitization continue, equal commitment is essential to assure that the digitally available content is not only accessible online, but also accessed. The European framework is evolving toward a culture of participatory heritage, and the digitization itself is perceived as a joint endeavour of institutions and communities. In the past decade, many initiatives have been undertaken by cultural and education institutions to harness the capabilities of information and communication technology and explore novel forms of partnership with the public. Among the emerging models of collaboration, heritage crowdsourcing has become very popular. Nevertheless, crowdsourcing is only part of a wider context exploring innovative, inclusive, and cohesive trajectories of engagement. Numerous projects have been carried out locally—with the community at the heart of the initiatives—but they are dispersed and difficult to map. This article presents a brief overview of those models of participation, and how they contribute to engaged access to digital cultural resources and to scaffold citizen scholarship within the culture of participatory heritage.


A physically based model of the frictional interaction between dry surfaces is presented. The paper reviews a number of static and dynamic friction models, and discusses numerical techniques for the accurate and efficient numerical implementation of a dynamic elasto-plastic model. An application to the bowed string is provided, and the resulting simulations are compared to recent results from the literature.


Abstract A new method to solve linear dynamics problems using an asymptotic method is presented. Asymptotic methods have been efficiently used for many decades to solve non-linear quasistatic structural problems. Generally, structural dynamics problems are solved using finite elements for the discretization of the space domain of the differential equations, and explicit or implicit schemes for the time domain. With the asymptotic method, time schemes are not necessary to solve the discretized (space) equations. Using the analytical solution of a single degree of freedom (DOF) problem, it is demonstrated, that the Dynamic Asymptotic Method (DAM) converges to the exact solution when an infinite series expansion is used. The stability of the method has been studied. DAM is conditionally stable for a finite series expansion and unconditionally stable for an infinite series expansion. This method is similar to the analytical method of undetermined coefficients or to power series method being used to solve ordinary differential equations. For a multi-degree-of-freedom (MDOF) problem with a lumped mass matrix, no factorization or explicit inversion of global matrices is necessary. It is shown that this conditionally stable method is more efficient than other conditionally stable explicit central difference integration techniques. The solution is continuous irrespective of the time segment (step) and the derivatives are continuous up to orderN-1 whereNis the order of the series expansion.


This work presents the comparison of various Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) techniques for the chosen single phase half bridge FCMLI (Flying Capacitor Multi Level Inverter). In this paper, a single phase half bridge flying capacitor multilevel inverter is controlled with sinusoidal, THI (Third Harmonic Injection), Trapezoidal and TAR (Trapezoidal Amalgamated Reference)reference with Equal Amplitude Carriers (EAC) and UEAC (Un Equal Amplitude Carriers). The proposed EAC and UEAC is applied for various PWM strategies. The PWM methods used for the analysis are PD (Phase Disposition) PWM, POD (Phase Opposition and Disposition) PWM, APOD (Alternative Phase Opposition and Disposition) PWM and CO (Carrier Overlapping) PWM with EAC and UEAC. For all the PWM methods and references the UEAC produces less THD and higher fundamental RMS (Root Mean Square) values except for ma =1. For ma =1 the EAC provides less THD (Total Harmonic Distortion) and higher fundamental RMS (Root Mean Square) values for all the PWM methods and references. To validate the developed technique, simulations are carried out through Power System Block Set.


Corn is one of the possibilities for diversification of Brazilian ethanol production. Four scenarios of analysis were established. The environmental dimension was evaluated by the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) approach, whereas the Thermodynamic performance was verified by applying the techniques of Cumulative Energy Demand (CED) and Cumulative Exergy Demand (CExD). The production of ethanol from corn using wood chips for energy supply of the plant resulted in a homogeneous environmental performance. Factors such direct seeding – and the LHV of the wood for energy support this result. For both Thermodynamic analysis the production of sugarcane ethanol had better indexes because the use of bagasse replaced other sources of primary energy. This result remained for a combined analysis between the two dimensions, which related environmental effects in terms of Climate Change with the aggregation of primary energy consumption for ideal systems.


Passive and active vertical stability properties of ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) are presented based on a linearized, rigid body model of plasma motion within a set of axisymmetric conducting elements. The proposed passive twin loops concept and a single, midplane symmetric coil pair are analyzed with emphasis on the active control problem. An ideal proportional/derivative controller is used to predict system performance for nominal and off-nominal plasma conditions. The proposed system is shown to meet the primary fast active control specifications for vertical control in ITER. Recommendations are made for improvements in performance based on active control coil position. The combined vacuum vessel and passive shell structure in ITER is shown to be sufficient to meet the design requirements for vertical passive stabilization and the power requirements for the active control system. The proposed system, operating with the baseline plasma, has a 105% margin against Alfven time scale growth and a growth rate of approximately 20 s/sup -1/. The active control system can stabilize a 10-cm initial displacement for the nominal plasma and a 5-cm displacement for the deteriorated plasma within a 1-GVA power supply limit.<<ETX>>


Purpose – This paper explores the perspectives of patients subject to supervised community treatment (SCT) within two mental health teams in Merseyside. Design/methodology/approach – A structured survey tool was developed to explore patient perspective. In total, 17 patients agreed to participate in the study subject to informed consent. Findings – The majority of patients believed SCT facilitated early hospital discharge but felt uninvolved in the process. A significant proportion lacked the motivation or ability to understand the verbal and written information pertaining to their legal rights at the time it was given, usually immediately prior to hospital discharge. All felt they must strictly abide to the SCT conditions to remain in the community. There was a lack of knowledge about the harm criteria and the responsible clinician's ability to recall a service user to hospital even if they abided by the conditions. Research limitations/implications – This study is based upon a small sample size. There i...


In order to overcome the difficulty of cognitive and mining for large-scale multi-relationship system, we take the advantages of intelligent computing of FCM (Fuzzy Cognitive Map) and update the traditional FCM to MRFCM (Multi-Relationship based Fuzzy Cognitive Map) for multi-relationship data mining. The state mining of hyper-node and multi-relationship inference of MRFCM are studied and implemented. The steady of the mining is proved and the experimental results of multi-relationship classification demonstrate the efficiency of MRFCM.