One of the new objectives laid out by the European Union's Common Agriculture Policy is increasing environmental sustainability. In this paper we compare the degree of average dependence index for each member state (ADIMS) in EU28 from 2007 to 2019 in order to verify the following: (1) whether there was a difference in this index when comparing two CAP periods—(a) from 2007 to 2013 and (b) from 2014 to 2019—and (2) which crops had a larger effect on the ADIMS. The study showed no significant variation in the average ADIMS at EU level between the first (2007–2013) and second (2014–2019) CAP periods. The AIDMS index highlighted three types of EU agriculture: (1) agriculture in Eastern Europe, including Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia, characterized by a high level of ADIMS (10.7–22) due to the widespread cultivation of oil crops as rapeseed and sunflower; (2) Mediterranean agriculture including Portugal, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Greece, Malta, Cyprus and France with lower AIDMS levels (5.3–10.3) given their heterogeneous crop portfolios with different degrees of dependence on animal pollination (almond, soy, rapeseed, sunflower and tomatoes) and (3) continental agriculture including Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Baltic countries, Benelux, Finland, Sweden and Ireland, which are characterized by the lowest ADIMS level (0.7–10.6) due to the widespread cultivation of cereals (anemophily and self-pollination) which increase the denominator of the index. The study suggests that a sustainable management of the agroecosystem will be possible in the future only if CAP considers pollinators' requirements by quantifying the timing and spatial food availability from cultivated and uncultivated areas.


The present invention relates to compounds of formula (the I), a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, which method of treating bacterial infections and methods for their preparation.


The commonly used method of preparing RS/Au self-assembled monolayers (SAMs) involves a passive incubation process in a nonabsorbing solvent. Preparation of mixed-component SAMs is particularly problematic under these conditions. The time course of the open circuit potential in the passive adsorption experiment suggests that control of the deposition potential could lead to a faster and ultimately more complete SAM formation process. This is shown to be the case, as both C16 RS/Au SAMs and mixed C16/HOOCC15S/Au SAMs are shown to be readily prepared in approximately 15 min from 5 mM thiol solutions at potentials ranging from 200 to 600 mV (vs Ag/AgCl). The blocking properties of the resulting C16 SAMs are excellent. This technique provides access to mixed-composition SAMs otherwise inaccessible using deposition under open circuit conditions.


A description is given of a study of rutile ceramics, including the selection of raw materials, composition ratio, technical processes, and other relationships. Conclusions are presented as to which raw materials are suitable for rutile ceramics. The search for technical improvements is discussed.<<ETX>>


Attitude is the gifted student's visible manifestation of inner adaptation to the environment. While there is much research describing factors that can lead to gifted students' negative attitudes towards school there is also a great deal of evidence that many gifted students are well adjusted and, therefore, quite likely to demonstrate positive attitudes towards school. Lewis Terman, in his 1925 classic longitudinal study of gifted individuals, found that 60-80% of his research subjects had qualities of humor, truthfulness, conscientiousness, and leadership. Furthermore, these characteristics carried over into adulthood. In a review of research in gifted education that spans 70 years, Linda Silverman found that in addition to positive characteristics similar to Terman's findings, as a group, gifted children show diminished tendencies to boast, to engage in delinquent activity, to aggress, withdraw, or be domineering. In research with gifted students in rural areas and small towns, Virginia Burney and Tracy Cross found that in spite of the challenges these students encountered with limited academic course offerings and few academic peers, many had positive attitudes toward school. Gifted students often described their small schools as having a family-like atmosphere. They experienced little stigma from being academically gifted and they had many opportunities for extracurricular activities which allowed them to be seen as more than a single dimension of giftedness. Others find evidence of a positive attitude even when it is partially hidden in underachievement. Betsy McCoach and Del Siegle researched the differences between high and low achieving gifted high school students using the School Attitude Assessment Survey-R. Using this instrument, they assessed five factors that include academic self-concept, attitudes toward school, attitudes toward teachers, motivation/self-regulation, and goal valuation which means the value students' place on academic goals or school assignments. In four areas, attitudes toward school, attitudes toward teachers, self-regulation, and goal valuation, McCoach found significant differences between the achieving and underachieving students. However, there was no significant difference in the academic self-concept factor. Regardless of differences found in the other factors, these students demonstrated a positive attitude about their learning abilities. Both groups were equally confident in their own intellectual abilities and inwardly maintained positive attitudes towards themselves as learners. In Maureen Neihart's review of the literature on social adjustment in gifted students, she found the majority of studies to reveal high to normal levels of adjustment among the subjects. In reviewing discreet categories of adjustment, however, she found a correlation between the thinking processes of those with certain psychiatric disorders and highly creative adults. However, she cautioned against extrapolating these results obtained with adults to creatively


TWA Threshold After TOF Repair. Introduction: Sustained microvolt‐level T wave alternans (TWA) is a marker of increased risk for malignant ventricular arrhythmia. There is a significant risk of arrhythmia and sudden death after repair of congenital heart disease. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and characteristics of TWA after repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF).


One approach to plagiarism prevention focuses on improving students' authorial identity, but work in this area depends on robust measures. This paper presents the development of a psychometrically robust measure of authorial identity – the Student Attitudes and Beliefs about Authorship Scale. In the item generation phase, a pool of items was developed and assessed for content validity by subject matter experts. In the exploratory phase, data from 439 higher education students were used to identify a latent variable model with three factors: 'authorial confidence', 'valuing writing' and 'identification with author'. In the confirmatory phase, data from 306 higher education students were used to test the three-factor model's reliability and validity. The three-factor structure was confirmed, and the results showed that the SABAS has a stronger psychometric basis than previously available measures. This measure of authorial identity can be used with confidence in research and pedagogy to help students improve their authorial identity.


In order to investigate the synapses on the terminals of primary auditory afferents in the bushcricket and cricket, these were impaled with microelectrodes and after physiological characterisation, injected intracellularly with horseradish peroxidase. The tissue was prepared for electron microscopy, and immunocytochemistry for γ‐aminobutyric acid (GABA) and glutamate was carried out on ultrathin sections by using a post‐embedding immunogold technique. The afferent terminals received many input synapses. Between 60–65% of these were made by processes immunoreactive for GABA and approximately 25% from processes immunoreactive for glutamate. The relative distribution of the different classes of input were analysed from serial section reconstruction of terminal afferent branches. Inputs from GABA and glutamate‐immunoreactive processes appeared to be scattered at random over the terminal arborisation of the afferents both with respect to each other and to the architecture of the terminals. They were, however, always found close to the output synapses. The possible roles of presynaptic inhibition in the auditory afferents is discussed in the context of the auditory responses of the animals. J. Comp. Neurol. 403:281–294, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


In the last twenty years hip-hop culture has been fairly extensively researched within academia. However, relatively little work has considered, in detail, the language of rap lyrics. Approaching the lyrics of a hip-hop track from a stylistic perspective and employing cognitive linguistic frameworks, this article has two primary aims: firstly, to stimulate further discussion of the rich linguistic texture inherent to the genre and secondly to consider how these lyrics problematise simplistic notions of belonging and identity in hip-hop culture. I consider a number of different raps, but particularly focus on a track by Rakim, one of the most revered MCs in hip-hop history.


Cooperative communication provides an efficient and low-cost way to achieve spatial diversity without deploying multiple antennas on each node in wireless networks. In a channel-constrained environment, such as cognitive radio networks, the channel allocation as well as relay assignment have been identified as two critical factors in determining the performance of multiple source-destination pairs. However, the advantage of channel diversity has little been exploited in such networks under a simplified model where the transmissions within a cooperative communication pair are on a common channel. In this paper, we consider a fine-grained channel allocation scheme that the source and the relay can work on different channels to complete a signal transmission. We study its performance gain in maximizing the minimum throughput among multiple source-destination pairs in channel-constrained wireless networks with a number of dedicated relay nodes. This problem is proved to be NP-hard and an online algorithm is proposed for a dynamic wireless network where the accessible channels of each node may vary from time to time. Extensive simulations are conducted to show that the proposed fine-grained channel allocation scheme can effectively improve the performance under various network settings.


Human-scent contamination of bird nests and the human-made trails leading to them is suspected to influence nest survival by attracting or deterring predatory mammals. This paper (1) reviews studies in which human-scent contamination was suspected to have biased the survival of real and artificial nests by influencing the behaviour of predatory mammals, (2) summarizes the procedures used in attempts to mitigate human-scent contamination in nest-survival studies, and (3) describes procedures to enhance the design and interpretation of nest-survival experiments. The behaviour of various non-domesticated mammals is confirmed or suspected to be affected by human scent, so similar effects on nest predators are plausible. However, suggestions that human scent affects nest survival by influencing the behaviour of predatory mammals are poorly supported, due to a dearth of appropriately designed experiments. Some studies failed to include measures to reduce human-scent contamination, and the effectiveness of scent-mitigation methods used in other studies has seldom been verified. In addition, volatile compounds arising from soil and vegetation disturbed underfoot by field researchers may have confounded many nestsurvival studies. Investigators have routinely inferred human-scent effects from post hoc predation patterns or have simply acknowledged possible human-scent effects among other potential influences of nest fate. Studies are needed of the effects of human scent using uniform methods of scent application and verified methods of scent mitigation, where the fates of different types of nests are examined under a range of field conditions. More fundamentally, studies of na€ıve and experienced mammals are needed to assess their responses to human scent and clarify its salience in wildlife disturbance.


We continue with the application of the linear model described in [2016WP22] to the Italian soccer championship. We consider the simulation taking the data from the final results of the 2016-2017 championship. We intend first to see if the model gives rise again to some discrepancies with the official final results and we want to study the reasons for that. The problem of ranking a set of elements, namely giving a "rank" to the elements of the set, may arise in very different contexts and may be handled in some possible different ways, depending on the ways these elements are set in competition the ones against the others. In this working paper we deal with a so called even paired competition, where the pairings are evenly matched: in a national soccer championship actually each team is paired with every other team the same number of times. A mathematically based ranking scheme can be easily defined in order to get the scores for all the teams. The underlined structure of the model depends on the existence and uniqueness of a particular eigenvalue of the preference matrix. At this point the Perron– Frobenius theorem is involved. In the previous working paper [2016WP22] we showed how in the ranking process some fundamental Linear Algebra concepts and results are important, mainly the dominant eigenvalue and a corresponding eigenvector. The linear ranking model was also applied to a first numerical simulation. This gave evidence of some discrepancies between the actual final placements of teams and the ones provided by the model. We want to go here into a more detailed study about this aspect.


LetY be a smooth oriented Riemannian manifold which is compact, connected, without boundary and with second homology group without torsion. In this paper we characterize the sequential weak closure of smooth graphs in Bn×Y with equibounded Dirichlet energies, Bn being the unit ball inRn. More precisely, weak limits of graphs of smooth maps uk : Bn → Y with equibounded Dirichlet integral give rise to elements of the space cart 2,1(Bn×Y) (cf. [4], [5], [6]). In this paper we prove that every element T in cart2,1(Bn×Y) is the weak limit of a sequence {uk} of smooth graphs with equibounded Dirichlet energies. Moreover, in dimension = 2, we show that the sequence {uk} can be chosen in such a way that the energy of uk converges to the energy of T . 1. Notation and preliminary results In this section we recall some facts from the theory of Cartesian currents with finite Dirichlet energy. We refer to [6] and [4] for proofs and details. LetB be the unit ball inR and letY be a smooth oriented Riemannian manifold of dimensionM ≥ 2. By the Nash theorem we can suppose that Y is isometrically embedded in R for someN ≥ 3. We shall assume that Y is compact, connected, without boundary and that its integral 2-homology group H2(Y,Z) has no torsion, so that H2(Y, X) = H2(Y,Z)⊗X for X = R,Q. Note that the last condition automatically holds if M = 2. Dn,2-currents. Every differentialn-formω∈D(B×Y) splits as a sumω = ∑n k=0ω , n := min(n,M), where theω's aren-forms that contain exactly k differentials in the verticalY variables. We denote by Dn,2(Bn×Y) the subspace of D(B×Y) of n-forms of the typeω = ∑2 k=0ω , and byDn,2(B×Y) the dual space of Dn,2(Bn×Y). Every (n,2)-currentT ∈ Dn,2(B×Y) splits asT = ∑2 k=0 T(k), whereT(k)(ω) = T (ω ). For example, ifu ∈ W1,2(Bn,Y), i.e.,u ∈ W1,2(Bn,RN ) with u(x) ∈ Y for a.e.x ∈ B, thenGu ∈ Dn,2(B × Y), where in an approximate sense Gu := (Id FG u)#[[ B ]], (Id FG u)(x) := (x, u(x)) (cf. [6]). M. Giaquinta: Scuola Normale Superiore, Piazza dei Cavalieri 7, I-56100 Pisa; e-mail: email@example.com D. Mucci: Dipartimento di Matematica dell'Universit à di Parma, Via D'Azeglio 85/A, I-43100 Parma; e-mail: email@example.com 96 Mariano Giaquinta, Domenico Mucci D-norm. Forω ∈ Dn,2(Bn × Y) we set ‖ω‖D := max { sup x,y |ω(0)(x, y)| 1 + |y|2 , ∫ Bn sup y |ω(1)(x, y)|2 dx, ∫ Bn sup y |ω(2)(x, y)| dx } , ‖T ‖D := sup{T (ω) | ω ∈ Dn,2(Bn × Y), ‖ω‖D ≤ 1}. It is not difficult to show that‖T ‖D is a norm on{T ∈ Dn,2(B × Y) | ‖T ‖D < ∞}. WeakDn,2-convergence.If {Tk} ∈ Dn,2(B×Y), we say that {Tk} converges weakly in Dn,2(B × Y), Tk ⇀ T , if Tk(ω) → T (ω) for everyω ∈ Dn,2(Bn × Y). Now, the class Dn,2(B × Y) is closed under weak convergence and ‖ · ‖D is weakly lower semicontinuous. Moreover, if sup k ‖Tk‖D < ∞, then there is a subsequence which weakly converges to someT ∈ Dn,2(B × Y) with ‖T ‖D < ∞. Boundaries. The exterior differential, d splits into a horizontal and a vertical differential, d = dx + dy . Clearly∂xT (ω) := T (dxω) defines a boundary operator ∂x : Dn,2(B ×Y) → Dn−1,2(B × Y). Now, for anyω ∈ Dn−1,2(Bn × Y), dyω belongs toDn,2(Bn × Y) if and only if dyω = 0. Then∂yT makes sense only as an element of the dual space of Zn−1,2(Bn × Y) := {ω ∈ Dn−1,2(Bn × Y) | dyω = 0}. D-graphs. The study of weak limits of sequences of maps with equibounded Dirichlet energy, minimization problems and concentration phenomena (see [6]) drew the authors of [5] to introduce the subclass D-graph(B × Y) given by the(n,2)-currents T ∈ Dn,2(B × Y) with ‖T ‖D < ∞ and such that T = GuT + ST (1.1) for some functionuT ∈ W1,2(Bn,Y) and someST ∈ Dn,2(B × Y) with ST (0) = ST (1) = 0, i.e.ST is completely vertical, so that ∂xT = 0 onDn−1,2(Bn × Y), ∂yT = 0 onZn−1,2(Bn × Y). They also showed that: (i) the decomposition (1.1) is unique; (ii) weak limits inDn,2 of sequences of graphs of smooth maps uk : B → Y, with equibounded Dirichlet energy, belong to D-graph(B × Y); (iii) if T ∈ D-graph(B × Y), then in general ∂GuT 6= 0, but ∂GuT = 0 onD n−1,1(Bn×Y), ∂GuT (ω (2)) = 0 if ω(2) = dη and sptη ⊂ B×Y and ∂yGuT = 0 onZ n−1,1(Bn × Y), ∂GuT = ∂xGuT onZ n−1,2(Bn × Y); in particular ∂yST (ω (2)) = 0 if ω(2) = dη and sptη ⊂ B×Y, ∂xST = 0 onDn−1,2(Bn×Y); (iv) ‖GuT ‖D = ‖uT ‖W1,2 ≤ ‖T ‖D, and consequently ‖ST ‖D ≤ 2‖T ‖D; Density results for the Dirichlet energy 97 (v) D-graph(B × Y) is closed under weak convergence in Dn,2 with equiboundedDnorm. The 2-dimensional case.If n = 2, obviouslyDn,2(B × Y) = D2(B × Y) and∂T is the usual boundary of currents, whereas M(T ) ≤ c‖T ‖D for some absolute constant. Consequently, weak limits of smooth graphs with equibounded Dirichlet energy are integer multiplicity (briefly i.m.) rectifiable currents in R2(B ×Y), andD-graph(B2 ×Y)∩ R2(B × Y) is closed under weak convergence with equibounded D-norm. It was proved in [5] and [6] that every T in D-graph(B2 × Y) ∩R2(B × Y) decomposes as T = GuT + ST , ST = I ∑ i=1 δxi × Ci + ST ,sing, (1.2) whereδx is the Dirac mass at x, xi ∈ B2, Ci ∈ Z2(Y) are integral cycles with nontrivial homology andST ,sing is a completely vertical, homologically trivial, i.m. rectifiable current supported on a set not containing {xi} × Y, i = 1, . . . , I . More precisely, for every Borel setA ⊂ B2 we have∂(ST A × R ) = 0. Moreover, ifπ : R2 × R → R2 andπ̂ : R2 × R → R denote the orthogonal projections onto the first and the second factor, respectively, then for any bounded Borel function φ i B2 we have ST ,sing(π #φ ∧ π̂#σ) = 0 for every element [ σ ] in the second de Rham cohomology group H 2 dR(Y). Finally, ‖ST ,sing‖({x1, . . . , xI } × Y) = 0, ‖ · ‖ denoting the total variation. As a consequence, we have ST ,sing(ω) 6= 0 only on formsω ∈ D2(B2 × Y) such thatdyω 6= 0. In particular, ifY has dimension 2, then ST ,sing = 0, whereas ifY = S2, the unit 2-sphere inR3, thenCi = zi [[ S2 ]] for some integerzi . Definition 1.1. We say that an integral 2-cycleC ∈ Z2(Y) is of spherical typeif its homology class contains a Lipschitz image of the 2-sphereS2; more precisely, if there existZ ∈ Z2(Y), R ∈ R3(Y) and a Lipschitz functionφ : S2 → Y such that C − Z = ∂R and φ#[[ S 2 ]] = Z. Spherical cycles come into play since, as proved in [5], [6], if T is in the sequential weak closure of smooth graphs with equibounded Dirichlet energies, then every Ci is of spherical type. This fact leads to the following Definition 1.2. If n = 2, we denote by cart2,1(B2×Y) the class of i.m. rectifiable currents T in D-graph(B2 ×Y) which decompose as in (1.2), where theCi 's are of spherical type. It turns out (see [4], [5]) that cart 2,1(B2 × Y) is closed under weak convergence, with equiboundedD-norm, and contains the weak limits of sequences of smooth graphs with equiboundedD-norm. The n-dimensional case.As before, letπ : R × R → R denote the orthogonal projection onto the first factor. Let P be an oriented 2-plane in R, andPt := 98 Mariano Giaquinta, Domenico Mucci P + ∑n−2 i=1 tiνi the family of oriented 2-planes parallel to P , t = (t1, . . . , tn−2) ∈ R n−2, span(ν1, . . . , νn−2) being the orthogonal subspace to P . Similarly to the case of normal currents, for everyT ∈ Dn,2(B × Y) with ‖T ‖D < ∞, for Hn−2-a.e.t the slice T π(Pt ) of T overπ(Pt ) is a well defined current in D2((B∩Pt )×Y) with finite D-norm. Moreover, ifTk ⇀ T with equiboundedD-norm, forHn−2-a.e.t , passing to a subsequence we have Tk π(Pt ) ⇀ T π(Pt ) with equiboundedD-norm. Finally, if T ∈ D-graph(B×Y), forHn−2-a.e.t we haveT π(Pt ) ∈ D-graph((B∩Pt )×Y). Therefore in any dimensionthe following definition was introduced in [4]: Definition 1.3. We say thatT is in cart2,1(Bn × Y) if T ∈ D-graph(B × Y) and for any 2-planeP and forHn−2-a.e. t the 2-dimensional currentT π(Pt ) belongs to cart2,1((Bn ∩ Pt )× Y). It turns out that the class cart 2,1(Bn × Y) is closed under weak convergence with equiboundedD-norm and, in caseY = S2, that the class cart 2,1(Bn × S2) coincides with D-graph(B × S2), ST ,sing = 0 and T = GuT + LT × [[ S 2 ]] , (1.3) whereLT ∈ Rn−2(B) is an i.m. rectifiable current. Definition 1.4. We say that a Sobolev map u ∈ W1,2(Bn,Y) is in cart2,1(Bn,Y) if the currentGu associated to its graph is in cart2,1(Bn × Y). Therefore, aW1,2 mapu is in cart2,1(Bn,Y) if its graph has no inner boundary, i.e., ∂xGu = 0 onDn−1,2(Bn × Y), ∂yGu = 0 onZn−1,2(Bn × Y). Remark 1.5.If u : B → Y is a continuous map inW1,2(Bn,Y), by a standard convolution and projection argument it can be approximated in W1,2-strong sense by a smooth sequence inC(B,Y). This implies in particular that u ∈ cart2,1(Bn,Y). The Dirichlet energy in cart2,1. Denote by ∧ n R the space of n-vectors inR . Moreover, ifG : R → R is a linear transformation, and with the same notation G := (Gji ) n,M i,j=1 is the associated (M × n)-matrix, we let M(G) := (e1 +Ge1) ∧ · · · ∧ (en +Gen) ∈ ∧ n R , (ei) n i=1 being the canonical basis in R . ThenM(G) determines the plane graph of G in R , and in fact orients such an n-plane. IfT ∈ D-graph(B × Y), we define the Dirichlet density as the function of y ∈ Y, ξ ∈ ∧ n R given by F(y, ξ) := sup{φ(ξ) | φ : ∧ n R → R linear,φ(M(G)) ≤ 1 2|G| 2 for all linear mapsG : R → TyY}, TyY being the tangent M-space toY aty. The Dirichlet integral then extends to D-graphs T (cf. [6]) as D(T ) := ∫ F(y, E T ) d‖T ‖D, Density results for the Dirichlet energy 99 E T being the Radon–Nikodym derivative dT /d‖T ‖D, and if (1.1) holds, one has


Implementing behavioral marital therapy is discussed with emphasis on the techniques of problem-solving, communications training, behavioral contracting, and homework assignments. The therapist's intervention style and the aspects of treatment which aid in generalization and maintenance of therapeutic gains are also described, and a typical treatment session is outlined.


The use of NVIDIA's CUDA parallel computing graphic processing unit(GPU) architecture was studied.Flame radiation from a pool fire was used as the computational example.Three GPU's having different capabilities(v.1.1,1.2,and 2.1) were used.A Monte-Carlo heat radiation calculation of the fire was performed and the computation times determined.If several blocks,the number being an integral multiple of the processor number,were used with the maximum allowed number of threads and a high capability GPU the computation speed is greater.For a five million beams calculation the timing for the 1.1,1.2,and 2.1 GPU was 0.44,0.167,and 0.084 seconds,respectively.This is 62,167,and 333 times faster than the central processing unit.It is concluded that GPU based,CUDA parallel computing significantly increases the computational efficiency of the Monte-Carlo method while still providing equal accuracy of the results.


The density-based spatial clustering DBSCAN algorithm can realize clustering of arbitrary shapes in noisy data sets. The DBSCAN algorithm needs to manually determine the Eps and Min Pts parameters. As a result, the accuracy of the clustering results directly depends on the user's choice of parameters. In the face of large-scale irregular data, fixed parameters lead to ineffective multi-density data clustering. ideal. In response to the above situation, an improved DBSCAN algorithm for adaptively determining parameters in a multi-density environment is proposed. The non-parametric kernel density estimation theory is used to analyze the distribution characteristics of data samples to automatically determine the Eps parameters, preprocess the data, and identify each Based on the density around the data object, the density threshold MinPts suitable for the density of the area is automatically generated. The manual intervention of the clustering process is avoided, and the automation of the clustering process is realized. This method can select reasonable Eps and MinPts parameters, and obtains clustering results with higher accuracy.


Vehicular Delay-Tolerant Networks (VDTNs) were proposed as a solution to overcome some issues found in other vehicular technologies. VDTNs assume the bundle layer placement under the network layer. This vehicular architecture can be applied in sparse regions characterized by sparse connectivity, long propagation delays, high error rates, and short contact durations. Although some of the major issues were already solved and several improvements were already achieved, VDTNs still have several issues that should be overcome. One of these issues is related with nodes cooperation and nodes share their own resources to deliver packets from others. This can be a difficult task if selfish nodes affect the performance of cooperative nodes. To detect, identify, and avoid communications with selfish nodes, this paper proposes a reputation system with four different reputation mechanisms and studies their impact on the performance of the network. This reputation system is enforced on two different routing protocols (Spray-and-Wait and GeoSpray). Across all the experiments, it was shown that reputation mechanisms that punish aggressively selfish nodes contribute to an increase of the overall network performance by increase the number of delivery messages and decrease the message average delivery delay.


When two studies last year detailed how the World Bank's research unit had been systematically manipulating data to show that neo-liberal market reforms were promoting growth and reducing poverty in developing countries, development circles were not shocked. They merely saw the devastating findings of a study by American University Professor Robin Broad and a report by Princeton University Professor Angus Deaton and former International Monetary Fund chief economist Ken Rogoff as but the latest episode in the collapse of the so-called Washington Consensus.


The WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) on immunization recently published their conclusions from a systematic review of the 'non-specific' or 'heterologous effects' of vaccines, hailing a new era in our understanding of what vaccines do to the immune system. The report recognizes that bacille Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccine and measles vaccine (MV) may provide survival benefits against infectious diseases other than those targeted by the vaccine. These non-specific or heterologous effects of vaccines, whereby vaccines alter susceptibility to infections other than that targeted by the vaccine, can be beneficial as is the case for BCG and MV; but other vaccines such as diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine may increase susceptibilty to infections, although WHO conclude that the data supporting deleterious effects of DTP are inconclusive. As a rule females seem to be more susceptible to these vaccine-induced heterologous effects than males. This special issue contains a series of reviews and original research articles further exploring the important topic of heterologous effects of vaccines and their sex-differential nature. Many of the studies have hailed from Guinea-Bissau and there has been a need for research from other countries. Peter Aaby and colleagues carried out a retrospective analysis of the effect of vaccine sequence in 4133 children in Senegal, concluding that the sequence in which vaccines are given can impact child survival in a sex-differential manner. A second paper by Aaby and colleagues reviewed all available studies containing data on MV in early life and mortality, concluding that child mortality may be reduced if MV is given earlier than currently recommended. Frank Shann offers his personal view for a revised Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) schedule designed to reduce time of exposure to the potential harmful effect of DTP, including the use of an early dose of MV and no booster DTP in females in the second year of life. Such simple changes to the EPI schedule could reduce child mortality at minimal cost. The immunological mechanisms for the heterologous effects of vaccines are far from understood, and studies remain scarce. A comprehensive review by Klein and colleagues summarizes the evidence for sex differences in immunity to vaccines, and explores the potential mechanisms, concluding that vaccine strategies should be sex-specific. Gil and colleagues review the data on heterologous cross-reactive T cell immunity in animals and humans, concluding that this is commonplace and that vaccine induced cross-reactive T cell responses to other infections could accout for vaccine heterologous effects. The concept of 'trained innate immunity' is described by Kleinnijenhuis et al., whereby BCG vaccination causes a longterm increase in pro-inflammatory innate capacity via an epigenetic modification of an innate receptor on monocytes and macrophages. This provides a convincing mechanistic explanation for how BCG vaccination improves survival against infections other than TB. Levy and Levy discuss how trained immunity might be harnessed in future vaccine approaches for infants. Freyne and colleagues carried out two wide-ranging reviews of the effects of BCG vaccination: the first aimed at interrogating the literature for immunological mechanisms for the heterologous effects of BCG; and the second describes studies where BCG has been used as an intervention in animal models of infectious diseases. They conclude that BCG likely mediates protective effects via a number of mechansisms, including epigentic modification. It has long been known that micronutrients can have effects on immunity and vaccine responses and there has been increasing evidence that vitamin A supplementation (VAS) in particular can influence the heterologous effects of vaccines, generally enhancing them. A literature review by Jensen and colleagues provides the first comprehensive summary of the role VAS plays in modulating the heterologous effects of vaccines, and sex differences in these effects. A study by Xiang et al. provide data demonstrating that naked polystyrene nanoparticle vaccines carrying no antigens can provide protection against a non-lethal murine malaria challenge. They go on to demonstrate that this protection is mediated by an effect on dendritic cell homeostatsis, providing a novel


Recent significant advancements in computer vision (CV) and natural language processing (NLP) have showcased the vital importance of leveraging prior knowledge obtained from extensive data for a generalist agent. However, there are limited explorations in utilizing internetscale data to train embodied generalist agents. In this work, we propose a hypothetical framework that integrates the prior knowledge from foundation models into each component of the actor-critic algorithms for the generalist agents.


An experimental study of the flow boiling heat transfer characteristics under microgravity conditions is presented. The experiments were conducted using R-113 by rewetting a heated bottom plate of a rectangular channel, 40 mm wide, 5 mm high and 200 mm long, aboard the KC-135 parabolic aircraft. The local surface heat flux and temperature were measured by a 2-{micro}m thick micro sensor directly fabricated on the surface of the heated plate. The film boiling heat transfer coefficients in microgravity were 70% to 80% of the values in normal gravity, and the results in both gravity conditions showed reasonable agreement with the predictions of Bromley (1953) correlation. Under microgravity, the flow rate had less effect but subcooling had a significant effect on nucleate boiling heat transfer. The effect of microgravity is similar to that due to the absence of subcooling in normal gravity, because both result in a thicker and more stable vapor layer. Also, the nucleate boiling regime covered a wider range of wall superheat below the maximum heat flux in the absence of gravity or subcooling than in the case of high subcooling and normal gravity.


Abstract: Four basal protein rations, either low in available zinc (sesame meal) or low in zinc casein-gelatin, egg albumen and soybean meal) were fed to day-old chicks for three weeks. Supplements of zinc, histidine, glutamic acid or aspirin, or a combination of zinc and histidine or aspirin were fed. Chick weights, leg deformities (indicated by leg score and length to width ratio), and tibia zinc and nitrogen content were determined. Tibia of chicks given sesame, 0 and 60 mg/kg zinc and histidine, or histidine, 30 mg/kg zinc; casein-gelatin, 0 and 10 mg/kg zinc and histidine, or histidine, 5 mg/kg zinc rations were separated into four fractions on the basis of probable time of deposition of collagen. The nitrogen of each fraction was measured. The hydroxyproline content of the tibia of chicks given sesame rations with and without histidine was determined as a measure of collagen.


This report summarizes the results of the work performed under the project "Alternative Performance Measures for Evaluating Congestion." The study first outlines existing approaches to looking at congestion. It then builds on the previous work in the area of evaluating congestion by incorporating the public's perception of what they consider to be congested through the use of a web-based survey. The idea of utilizing public input is not frequently seen in studies that look at congestion and its impacts, and what makes this study additionally more unique is the focus on drivers in the State of New Jersey. The results presented are specific to the area and allow for conclusions in terms of the entire state, various classifications throughout the state (age, income, etc.) as well as more disaggregated county level findings. The major findings of this effort are that New Jersey motorists are more tolerant of congestion than what is expected according to nationally used traffic engineering principles. The study also found that although New Jersey motorists are tolerant of congestion, they experience a very significant amount of stress while driving.


pH dependent proteins, such as the pH Low Insertion Peptide (pHLIP), are of great interest due to their capability for inserting into lipid bilayers under acidic conditions. This characteristic allows them to take advantage of the acidic microenvironment surrounding cancer cells, and thus, makes them ideal candidates for targeted drug delivery and early‐stage detection of diseases connected to acidosis. pHLIP is a 36‐residue peptide that is known to exist in 3 different states based on the pH and environmental conditions: as an intrinsically disordered peptide in solution (state I), bound to the cell membrane surface (state II), and inserted as a transmembrane helix (state III) at acidic pH. While states II and III have been thoroughly studied both through experimental and computational techniques, state I remains a mystery due to its tendency to aggregate in solution. Our hypothesis is that increasing concentrations of salt drive sampling of secondary structures of pHLIP in solution. Specifically, we hypothesize that interactions between NaCl ions and charged residues of pHLIP increase the stability of the secondary structure of the peptide, thus increasing helicity. In this study we characterized the effect of salt concentration on pHLIP in state I using molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. We found that, at higher salt concentrations, pHLIP tends to increase sampling of helical conformation and becomes more compacted, indicating an increase of stabilized secondary structures of pHLIP. Understanding the effects of salt concentration on pHLIP's structure could be crucial towards further cognizance of pHLIP's predisposition to bind and insert into the membrane, which will ultimately lead towards optimized variants of the peptide for targeted drug delivery and diagnosis applications.


R anesthesia improves cardiovascular, pulmonary, gastrointestinal, coagulative, immunological, and cognitive functions, and provides perioperative pain management. Its popularity has increased over the last 30 years. However, these techniques have their own risks. Neurological complications are rare and potentially catastrophic complications of spinal anesthesia. These occur 0.5 in 10,000 in general surveys of spinal anesthesia,1 and the incidence of neurological complications in obstetric spinal anesthesia is higher than that of general surveys. It is 35.4 in 10,000 in obstetric patients, which includes reversible neuropathies, permanent neuropathies, and reversible sixth cranial nerve palsies.2 If these complications are not recognized in time, the patient may be exposed to considerable risk from regional anesthesia. A 28-year-old woman at 40 weeks gestation was urgently admitted for cesarean section with 7 cm dilated cervix. She had a history of cesarean section 2 years ago. She had no history of any bleeding disorder. The patient's physical examination on admission was unremarkable. Her blood pressure was 110/70 mm Hg, heart rate 75 bpm. The blood values on admission were as follows; hemoglobin = 10.8 mg/dl, platelets = 271,000 per mm3, prothrombin time = 124%, international normalized ratio (INR) = 0.96, partial thromboplastin time 32.2s. A senior experienced anesthesiologist performed spinal anesthesia using a 26 gauge Atraucan needle at the level of L2-3 where the inter space was best palpated. During insertion of the spinal needle, the anesthesiologist felt the spinal needle piercing the dura approximately 85 mm beyond the skin, but failed to obtain cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). At this stage, she complained of a shooting pain radiating from the lumbar region, down to the back of the left leg, and foot. When the spinal needle was withdrawn 2-3 mm, CSF flowed freely. Then, 2.5 ml of bupivacaine 0.5% was injected through the spinal needle without resistance, pain, or any problems. Pinprick test was used to confirm loss of sensation, which extended T4 bilaterally 10 minutes after the spinal injection. The cesarean section was completed successfully under spinal anesthesia. Maternal blood pressure was well maintained throughout surgery, and sympathomimetics were not required. Review the following morning was unremarkable; she was mobilized with no headache or back pain. On the second post-operative day she complained of back pain, and causalgiform pain radiating to the left leg. Her walk was painful. The knee (patella) and ankle (Achilles) reflexes were weak. She was unable to distinguish between touch and pinprick at the L3 and L4 dermatomes. Neurological examination of the other leg was normal. Bladder sensation was intact. No fever, neck stiffness, back pain, or tenderness of the back was noted. Her MRI scans showed a hyper-intense lesion (small hemorrhage) at the rostral end of the spinal cord (conus medullaris) (Figure 1). There was moderate edema around the lesion. The epidural space at the lesion level was normal. With advice from the neurosurgical team, treatment with 30mg kg-1 of methylprednisolone intravenously was given. Treatment was continued by 5.4 mg kg-1 methylprednisolone hourly for 24 hours. She was able to walk without assistance, but still suffered from mild pain in her left leg. She was prescribed paracetamol and vitamin B. Her complaints diminished gradually. Two months after surgery, there was no pain, and neurological function had fully recovered. Regional anesthesia is commonly administered to patients undergoing obstetric surgical procedures. It provides higher quality pain relief for labor than any of the alternatives and anesthetic mortality during cesarean section is approximately 17 times greater when general anesthesia is used. The main advantage of spinal anesthesia, which is technically quicker and easier to perform, is a rapid onset with complete motor and sensory block. It is claimed that it is as safe as epidural anesthesia, but superior in terms of reliability. In our patient, spinal anesthesia was chosen because of its lower onset time with complete and sensory block. Neurological complications are fortunately uncommon, provided that the contraindications to regional anesthesia are observed correctly, and obvious technical errors are avoided.3 Although neurological deficits may Clinical Notes


This article deals with the popular instrumental art as a system of specific conventions, codes and as a communicative channel transferring music information from generation to generation, from music website (anonymous) or composer to performer, from the performer to the listener. The functions of modern trends in the national instrumental art are based on the creative activities of the various groups which push the boundaries of folk instrumental functioning art, beyond the folk music-making, enriching by academic traditions and penetrating into the sphere of «elitist» art. It is proved by specific samples. The contemporary folk instrumental art carries out the communication functions between the past and the future, which is today the mechanisms and pathways in translation the most important information about the history, culture and art from remote past of Russia, Europe, East, and also which helps in improving the people's instrumentalism.


One hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease (AD), is the formation of neurofibrillary tangles by hyperphosphorylated Tau in the brain, resulting in neuronal death and cognitive decline. In the adult human brain, six Tau‐isoforms are expressed, originating from alternative splicing of exons 2, 3, and 10 of the MAPT gene. The isoforms differ in the number of N‐terminal inserts (0, 1, or 2N) and the C‐terminal repeat number (3 or 4R). Recent results from murine neurons highlight that the six human‐specific isoforms are differentially localized within neurons and influence microtubule dynamics in an isoform‐specific manner. In this study, we generated a human neuronal model system to further characterize the human‐specific Tau‐isoforms under basic and pathological conditions.


The Tabula Rasa idea (model) applicable to building designing and urban planning means such a fashion or way of urban development that existing buildings and landscapes in certain spatial scales are entirely cleared up and substituted by brand-new building agglomerates or landscapes. By analyzing several typical cases, the paper, with special respect to the Yuelu District, Changsha City, Hunan, explores its forms, advantages and disadvantages in 30 years or so since China's reform and openness to the outside. Thus far, it has been extended into diverse fields nationally, with significantly promoting life quality and level of the most Chinese, considerably updating urban appearances and styles, and stimulating the high-speed development of urban economy. The model employed extensively and intensively, nevertheless, has brought up such adverse results as huge extravagance, duplicative constructions, a vicious loop of construction-demolition/displacement, and extremely loss of initiation for a city. Therefore, when applying, it ought to integrally consider multiple social needs from various people groups, make urban plans for a long future, calculate in-depth all relevant aspects, in order to reserve, re-use and modify imaginatively existing buildings, urban facilities and urban landscapes, to the best of one's power. From now on, strict restraints should be imposed intentionally onto demolitions and displacements, as well as planning and designing, necessary public participation and supervision should be complemented legislatively, and where possible the local whole history, traditions and cultures should be reserved to the greatest extent.


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is interested in developing low-cost highly efficient solar cells on light-weight flexible substrates, which will ultimately lower the mass-specific power (W/kg) of the cell allowing extra payload for missions in space as well as cost reduction. In addition, thin film cells are anticipated to have greater resistance to radiation damage in space, prolonging their lifetime. The flexibility of the substrate has the added benefit of enabling roll-to-roll processing. The first major thin film solar cell was the "CdS solar cell" - a heterojunction between p-type CuxS and n-type CdS. The research on CdS cells started in the late 1950s and the efficiency in the laboratory was up to about 10 % in the 1980s. Today, three different thin film materials are leading the field. They include amorphous Si, CdTe, and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS). The best thin film solar cell efficiency of 19.2 % was recently set by CIGS on glass. Typical module efficiencies, however, remain below 15 %.


A new species of Streptaxidae, Ptychotrema gelegelei ,
is described from the Gelegele Forest Reserve, Edo
State, Nigeria. The usual palatal fold of the shell that
characterizes the subgenus Parennea , is displaced to
the basal region. The presence of a basal spiral fold and
the corresponding furrow suggest that this may not be
a typical Parennea .


discovered incidentally. Chronic cough, sputum production, dyspnea are the most frequently reported symptoms.1,4 Chest x-ray is usually normal. Computed tomography scan shows calcification of the distal two third of trachea and major airways and presence of diffuse submucosal nodules with posterior membranous wall sparing.2 The last one distinguishes TPO from other airway diseases such as tracheobronchial amyloidosis, endobronchial sarcoidosis, and granulomatosis with polyangiitis.1,4 In bronchoscopy, presence of diffuse submucosal nodules, protruding into the anterolateral wall of trachea and main bronchi creating a "cobblestone," "rock garden" or "stalactitic cave" appearance without involvement of the membranous wall, is crucial for the diagnosis.1,4 The diagnosis TPO is confirmed histologically after biopsy of the submucosal nodules; yet, biopsy is not considered mandatory. However, it is crucial to rule out disorders such as amyloidosis, endobronchial sarcoidosis, tuberculoid calcinosis, papillomatosis, relapsing polychondritis and granulomatosis with polyangiitis.3,4 Typical biopsy findings include epithelium squamous metaplasia and cartilaginous, bone islands with or without calcification.2 There is no specific treatment for TPO. Symptomatic management includes antitussive, inhaled corticosteroids and antibiotics to alleviate the cough and respiratory infections, respectively.1,3,4 Bronchoscopic or operative interventions such as mechanical debulking with the tip of rigid bronchoscope, Nd:YAG laser photoevaporation, cryotherapy, stents, and tracheoplasty can also be applied.5 Prognosis is generally favorable. Evidence derived from the literature showed minimal progression over the years. In summary, coexistence of TPO with Sarcoidosis has not been described. A question arises in the present case whether there is a common underlying etiopathogenetic mechanism connecting both entities given that infectious, genetic, immunologic, and environmental are the main predisposing and triggering factors for both diseases. More studies and experience are required to help us improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of TPO and Sarcoidosis.


Electron microscopy morphometric studies were carried out on material obtained from children with minimal change disease (MCD), mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis (GNMES) and focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). The results indicated that an increase in the volume of the matrix in mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis was due to an increase in the number of cells. The amount of produced matrix in mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis was proportional to the number of cells in mesangium (so there is no overproduction of matrix). The ratios of mesangial matrix volume to cell volume and matrix volume to the volume of the entire mesangial region in MCD and GNMES were similar and differed significantly from the ratios found in FSGS. The present findings indicate that morphometric studies may be useful in the early diagnosis of glomerular sclerosis. This is particularly significant in cases where light microscopic examination fails to reveal changes indicative of glomerular sclerosis.


A four year history of the Sales and Service of set converters has provided the technical profile for the development of a new cordless converter which amply reflects the current demands of the consumer market.


In the City of Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara Province, the development carried out by the government continues. One of them is the construction of a park which is a green open space for the community. One of the parks which is very popular as a recreation area in the City of Kupang is the Nostalgia Park, therefore researchers are interested in conducting research on the sustainability of the construction of green open spaces in the City of Kupang Nostalgia Park.The method utilized in this study is a descriptive research method with a qualitative approach, conducted in Kupang City with a total of 15 informants, and data gathering procedures include observation, interview, and document search techniques. The acquired data is then examined using data analysis techniques developed by Creswell (2016: 264-268). The sustainability of the development The Methodology in Sustainable Development Indicators (Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2001: 14) was used to analyze the green open space in Nostalgia Park in Kupang City, which is described in three aspects with the findings on; (a) the social aspect with the construction of the City of Kupang Nostalgia Park can provide a positive social impact but is still constrained by theft and destruction of park facilities and infrastructure while from an economic aspect the c The availability of city parks as the city's lungs has been fulfilled in the framework of the development of the Kupang City Nostalgia Park


The article deals with optimization of undulated heat transfer surface of plate heat exchanger. The goal of optimization is not only to increase effectiveness of heat transfer but also to reduce the pressure drop. A combined pattern of undulation which combines herringbone pattern and wavy pattern was optimized and best values of four parameters were found; angle of herringbone pattern, number, phase and amplitude of longitudinal waves of wavy pattern. The optimization procedure looked for maximum of objective function which was a linear combination of effectiveness and pressure drop. We used simple Monte Carlo method and the optimum was searched for four values of reference pressure drop. Four different optimization were run and we investigated the effect of various definition of objective function and parameters of undulation. It was found that during optimization of combined pattern, the herringbone pattern is more favoured than wavy pattern. It is caused by the fact that herringbone pattern was described by the only one free parameter, which was the angle of undulation, and therefore it is more likely to be found by a stochastic method. This assumption was confirmed when simple wavy pattern was optimized and higher values of objective function and effectiveness were found.


Studies have shown an association between cesarean section (CS) and increased prevalence of childhood allergic diseases. While these observations have been consistent in industrialized countries, evidence from developing countries is limited.


This study aims to determine the process of implementing career guidance services based on life skills and to determine whether the services provided have an effect on or not after providing career guidance services based on life skills on career planning for students at State Vocational High School 6 Palembang. The research method is a quasi experimental design. The population of the study is the entire class XI TBB and a sample of 10 students at State Vocational High School 6 Palembang and the sampling in this study is by using simple purposive. The results of the study show that tcount > ttable = 4.14 > 1.83. This shows that career guidance services based on life skills affect the ability of career planning. Based on the results of the t-test analysis, the comparison of the pre-test and posttest results, it showed the influence of the implementation of career guidance services based on life skills on the ability of career planning for students of class XI TBB at State Vocational High School 6 Palembang.


Purpose
Corruption is a global phenomenon. The 2016 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Report and the 2019 Malaysia National Anti-Corruption Plan (NACP) Report stated that the government sector most prone to corruption is procurement. The purpose of this study is to explore what drives the government procurement practitioners to commit corruption or uphold integrity. The novelty of this research is it focusses on the human aspect based on a human model which comprises both the physical and non-physical dimensions. It incorporated four theories which are the virtue theory, transaction cost theory (TCT), human governance (HG) philosophy and Al-Ghazali theory of the soul to design the research framework.

Design/methodology/approach
This approach to counteract corruption is through the inner "Self" (spirituality) and is not limited or bound to processes, procedures, rules, regulations, systems and structures.

Findings
The findings obtained through the phenomenological method suggest that the Inciting Soul is the driver behind corruption. This happens when intellect ('Aql) becomes submissive to appetition (Shahwa) and self-assertion (Ghadab) resulting in vice characters. In upholding integrity, Soul-at-Peace is the driver where intellect dominates appetition and self-assertion leading to virtue characters. The HG philosophy is what encapsulates the taxonomy of virtue character.

Research limitations/implications
This research concentrates only on understanding why corruption happens among those with authority. Nevertheless, this research did not delve into the inculcation of HG. Therefore, the authors would suggest for future research is to explore techniques to inculcate the ability of an individual to exercise all the necessary inner "Self" functions (to curb corruption) without having intervention from an external authority.

Practical implications
Corruption is a global phenomenon. The 2016 OECD Report and the 2019 Malaysia NACP Report found that procurement is the government sector most prone to corruption.

Originality/value
The novelty of this research is its focus on the human aspect based on the model of a human comprising both the physical and non-physical dimensions. The theoretical framework integrates the virtue theory, TCT, HG philosophy and Al-Ghazali theory of the Soul.


In the financial circle,controversy on size premium and value premium has long history.There are two kinds of theories explaining the premium phenomenon:Traditional paradigm and behavioral paradigm.The former believes that the pre- mium should be compensation for higher risks,whereas the later insists that the premium should be generated from correction of irrational pricing.By sampling A-share stocks in the Shanghai and Sbenzhen Stock Exchange from 1993 to 2003,the authors find the above theories are both limited in explaining the premium phenomenon.By virtue of Prospect Theory's reference-dependency principle,the concept of relative profitability is raised and can be used to fully explain the premium phenomenon.


The fuel cell is regarded as a highly efficient, low-pollution power generation system. In particular, Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) has a high generation efficiency. However, a crucial issue in putting SOFC to practical use is the establishment of a technique for evaluating the deterioration. We previously developed a technique by which to measure the mechanical damage of SOFC using the Acoustic Emission (AE) method. In the present paper, we applied the kernel Self-Organizing Map (SOM), which is an extended neural network model, to produce a cluster map reflecting the similarity of AE events. The obtained map visualized the change in occurrence patterns of similar AE events, revealing four phases of damage progress. The methodology of the present study provides a common foundation for a comprehensive damage evaluation system and a damage monitoring system.


The present cross sectional study was carried out on 516 subjects with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and 234 control subjects from tertiary health care hospitals to identify the predictors of T2DM. In univariate testing diabetes mellitus was observed to be strongly associated with age group 46-55 years (P=0.04), sedentary life style (P=0.004), smoking (P=0.04), drinking alcohol (P=0.008), systolic blood pressure >120mmHg (P100mg/dl (P=0.001), triglycerides (TG) >150mg/dl (P


This study aims to investigate the relationship between employee attitudes toward organizational change, human resource management (HRM) practices, and social support in Chinese State-owned enterprises (SOEs). It also explores how the SOEs context impacts the above relationships. Quantitative research was conducted using 143 participants from Chinese SOEs. A hierarchical regression model was built to test how social support and HRM practices impact employee attitudes toward organizational change. The results indicate that social support and most HRM practices in SOEs are not statistically significant predictors of an employee's positive attitude. This finding suggests that contextual influences of SOEs limit the effectiveness of HRM practices. This research contributes to our understanding of the Chinese government's impact on employee attitudes in SOEs and the complexity of multi-party reciprocity dynamics.


Education Forest of Tadulako University located in Central Sulawesi that has ± 6.000 Ha large  is one of habitat of Sulawesi endemic and rare animal, anoa. The research aimed to find out the characteristic of abiotic component of anoa (Bubalus sp) habitat in Education Forest of Tadulako University area. The conservation effort toward the rare animals necessary to be done in order to keep the preservation and the balance of ecosystem. The research applied survey method based the track and feces of anoa then the spot of anoa habitat determined. To take the sample of abiotic component of anoa habitat was done purposively where the mud hole found, the place to find food, drink, doing activity and taking rest of anoa. The research focused on abiotic components of anoa habitat such as , soil, water, temperature and air humidity. The information about soil, water, temperature, and air humidity of anoa habitat were expected to make the preservation activities of the wildlife easier. Based on the result of the research and laboratory analysis, five spots of observation of anoa; places for doing activities, for resting, for finding food, drinking and wallowing in the mud hole, the air temperature was about 19 0 C - 23 0 C and the air humidity was about 80,5 % - 84,2 %, turbiditas of dringking water was about 0,07 FAU, water of mud hole 0,22 FAU, water salinity and mud hole was 0,00 ppt, pH of drinking water was 6,75, water of mud hole was 5,66, pH of soil was about 4,38 - 5,68 and it dominated by clay soil, the height was about 690 - 712 mdpl  generally had slope slightly topography. Keywords : Anoa, Bubalus sp, Habitat, Education Fores


We explore how different proof orderings induce different n o ions of saturation. We relate completion, paramodulation, saturation, r edundancy elimination, and rewrite system reduction to proof orderings.


The Santa Fe Bypass for transport of transuranic waste (TRU) to the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) near Carlsbad, New Mexico has been constructed and is operational (as of 2000). This paper presents a review of actual empirical data from the sales of real estate in the Santa Fe City/County area since the filing of the City of Santa Fe v. Komis lawsuit in 1988. The data analyzed covers the time period from 1989 through the last quarter of 2001.


A selective adjustment algorithm was proposed to improve the image quality in flat panel display (FPD). This method can enhance the image luminance and reserve the dark detail of original image at the same time. In gray mode,it can avoid the decrease of contrast caused by traditional luminance enhancement method. In RGB mode,this method can make the RGB continuous distribution in histogram in order to achieve larger color range and higher color saturation.


For Thomas Hunt Morgan [4] clarity was of utmost importance. He was, therefore, frustrated with the many disparate, disconnected terms that were used to refer to similar, if not the same, regenerative processes within organisms. By 1901, the year his book Regeneration [5] appeared, the resulting inconsistencies had made it difficult to discuss results comparatively and a challenge to generalize. Defining terms was a priority for Morgan. He appreciated the diversity of phenomena that had been studied and sought to develop language to facilitate further studies and interpretations.


Restriction analyses of the DNA repeat unit coding for the production of 5.8S, 17S, and 26S ribosomal RNA (rDNA) isolated from several different Pythium species revealed polymorphic forms within a single-oospore isolate. Restriction mapping of cloned rDNA from Pythium paroecandrum indicated that two major forms were present in approximately equal ratios (A and B, 11.6 and 11.9 kb in size, respectively), which differed in the nontranscribed spacer region for numbers and locations of restriction sites for HaeIII, SalI, and KpnI and an insertion–deletion adjacent to the 3′ end of the 26S RNA coding region. The insertion–deletion makes form B 0.27 kb larger than form A. An additional insertion–deletion in both forms of approximately 60 bp in the same region makes a total of four polymorphic types in the isolate investigated. Similar results also were obtained for Pythium spinosum following restriction digestion of purified rDNA. A survey of other Pythium species indicates that the presence of polymorphic form...


Odontogenic sinusitis is a well‐recognized, but understudied form of sinusitis. Odontogenic sinusitis requires unique diagnostic criteria and a treatment regimen that differs from non‐odontogenic sinusitis. The purpose of this article is to present a case series of patients with odontogenic sinusitis in order to clarify key disease characteristics and management techniques.


We consider second order quasilinear parabolic equations where also the main part contains functional dependence on the unknown function. Existence and some qualitative properties of the solutions are shown. AMS Subject Classifications: 35R10


For bigger incremental step and higher calculating efficiency, rigid plastic FEM has been applied in the simulation of metal plastic forming process. The penalty function method is a common method used for treating the condition of constant volume in rigid plastic FEM. The effect of penalty constant in penalty function method on calculation accuracy and calculation efficiency of rigid plastic FEM is studied, and methods of selecting penalty constant under some typical stress strain modes are proposed to improve the usage of rigid plastic forming process.


We investigate the optical bistability (OB) behavior in a unidirectional ring cavity containing an asymmetric semiconductor double quantum dot (QD) system that forms a three-level V type system. We apply a probe and a coupling field to the system and it is shown that in the presence of inter-dot tunneling, the bistability of the system can be controlled by amplitude and relative phase of applied fields.


An apparent discrepancy between the kinetics reported for the alcoholysis of ketenes is resolved by examining conditions under which third-order kinetic behaviour can be mistaken for secondorder behaviour.


In this paper, we propose a derivative-free quasi-Newton condition, which results in a new class of quasi-Newton updating formulas for unconstrained optimization. Each updating formula in this class is a rank-two updating formula and preserves the positive definiteness of the second derivative matrix of the quadratic model. Its first two terms are the same as the first two terms of the BFGS updating formula. We establish global convergence of quasi-Newton methods based upon the updating formulas in this class, and superlinear convergence of a special quasi-Newton method among them. Then we propose a special quasi-Newton updating formula, which repetitively uses the new quasi-Newton condition. This updating formula is derivative-free. Numerical results are reported. Dedicated to Professor M.J.D. Powell on the occasion of his 70th birthday


The article examines the worldview of the 18th–19th centuries developed by three contemporaries. The philosophy of Immanuel Kant is placed at the center of the worldview, in relation to which the views of Alexander von Humboldt represent a return to Cartesianism, and the views of Carl Friedrich Gauss – an appeal to the future, to the theory of relativity of space and time. I. Kant taught that Euclidean space is, as the critique of pure reason asserts, the form of our contemplation, prescribed to every possible experience. For Humboldt, the world is fully measurable within three-dimensional Euclidean space. Gauss, on the other hand, thinks of Kant further, theoretically admitting and mathematically calculating the various possibilities of conceivability of space, thus the world for him is more relative, fiction, or a beautiful dream. Space is folded, curved and very strange. Cartesianism and the relativism of both scientists also extend to their ethical concepts: for Humboldt, man is a machine of "highest skill" designed to serve humanistic goals; for Gauss, human behavior admits of accidents and exceptions, although it did not reach the proper rationality and does not deserve attention, but yet, genius is possible. The personal characteristics of both scientists, as well as the connection with their epoch are revealed. Humboldt appears as a humanist, and Gauss as a misanthrope. It is concluded that the worldview is not one-dimensional, but includes the past, present, future of science, and also allows for mystery, chance, mystical elements present in culture.


During the last decade, fewer young drivers have been killed or injured in Sweden. The decrease in numbers of killed and injured per 100,000 of population has been reduced by almost 50% since 1990. The reason for this is, however, not only that the drivers have become safer and better drivers. The main reason is that the number of licence holders in the lower age groups have decreased. The current structure of Swedish driver education is a program which can begin at the age of 16 and provide a full licence at 18. An application for a learner's permit and for a supervisor's permit must be sent to the authorities. A supervisor must have had a driving licence continuously for the past 5 years without it having been recalled by the authorities and must be at least 24 years old. Skid training is mandatory and the learner is otherwise free to choose between learning to drive with a lay instructor or a professional teacher. For the covering abstract see ITRD E109236.


North Africa is very likely to warm over the coming century, but there is fundamental disagreement among climate model projections over the predicted response of rainfall to that warming. Geological records of wind-blown dust accumulating in marine sediment cores in the North Atlantic Ocean provide a way to assess the response of rainfall climate in the region to past intervals of global warmth.

Dust is transported to the North Atlantic Ocean from North Africa via two routes, a summer (northern) route and a winter (southern) route. Virtually everything we have learnt so far from marine sediment cores about North African hydroclimate has come from drill sites located beneath the summer (northern) dust plume. Here we report (i) geochemical records (radiogenic isotope (87Sr/86Sr and eNd) and XRF core scanning) from Ocean Drilling Project (ODP) Site 662 in the eastern equatorial Atlantic spanning the last 200,000 years and (ii) new 87Sr/86Sr and eNd data from North African dust sources. We redefine existing dust Preferential Source Areas (PSAs) into three geochemically distinct (Western, Central and Eastern) source regions. We show that ODP Site 662 is well-situated to study the palaeo-history of the previously under-studied African winter (southern) dust plume. We find that the primary source of terrigenous material to Site 662 throughout the past 200,000 years is palaeolake Megachad in the Central source region. This palaeolake basin is often described as the largest single dust source on Earth but comparatively little is known on geological timescales about its history. We show that its dust contribution to ODP Site 662 varies on orbital timescales, and that it reaches a minimum during insolation maxima, such as the last African Humid Period, coincident with lake high-stands. Large excursions in radiogenic isotope data reveal extreme variability in the relative strength of aeolian dust and distal riverine sources of terrigenous material, associated with hydroclimate change over the last 200 thousand years.


One-pot, two-step cyclization of o-aminophenyl ketones 1 and methyl perfluoroalk-2-ynoates 2 takes place in the presence of copper(I) as catalyst and diisopropylethylamine as base, leading to 2-perfluoroalkylated quinolines. Compared with previous methods that have been used to generate quinoline skeletons, this technique uses inexpensive copper salt as catalyst, methyl perfluoroalk-2-ynoate as fluorinated building block and proceeds smoothly under mild conditions, which makes the transformation both sustainable and practical.


The effects of dams on carbon dioxide (CO2) fluxes in downstream lakes remain elusive. Here we combined eddy covariance observations and random forest models to examine multi‐decadal variations in CO2 fluxes in the Poyang Lake, the largest freshwater lake in China, and quantified the contribution of the Three Gorges Dam (TGD), the world's largest hydraulic project. We found the lake fluctuated between CO2 source and sink in 1961–2016, and tended to be CO2 sink in the post‐TGD period (2003–2016) when vegetation expanded early and spatially due to declining water level. TGD can explain approximately 6% of the total differences in annual CO2 fluxes, with major contributions in the impoundment period (up to 22% in middle September to October). The results show a positive side of operational major hydraulic projects on lake carbon sink, and probably caution the negative side of carbon release after dam removal.


UV flash processes, also referred to as isoenergetic-isochoric flash processes, occur for dynamic simulation and optimization of vapor-liquid equilibrium processes. Dynamic optimization and nonlinear model predictive control of distillation columns, certain two-phase flow problems, as well as oil reservoirs with significant compositional and thermal effects may be conducted as dynamic optimization of UV flash processes. The dynamic optimization problem involving a UV flash problem is formulated as a bilevel optimization problem. This problem is solved using a gradient based single-shooting method. The gradients are computed using the adjoint method and different off-the-shelf optimization software (fmincon, IPOPT, KNITRO, NPSOL) are used for the numerical optimization. Computational results are reported for a flash process involving benzene, toluene and diphenyl. The computational experiments demonstrate that the optimization solver, the compiler, and high-performance linear algebra software are all important for efficient dynamic optimization of UV flash processes.


In southern China, the silver pheasant (Lophura nycthemera) is a widespread species due to complex topography and sufficient habitats and food resources. We investigated the microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA control region sequence of 115 individuals from 7 locations in China to study population dynamics of the silver pheasant during the Pleistocene. The neutrality test and mismatch distribution analyses showed that population expansion began in the interglacial period (76,053 years ago), and the latest common ancestor appeared approximately 970,300 years ago. Most populations exhibited a high level of genetic diversity as well as gene flow. Results of phylogenetic trees and network and STRUCTURE analyses provided insights into the weak population structure of this species. The weak phylogeographic and complex historical expansion population of the silver pheasant during the interglacial period could probably be related to its complex topography and the sufficient amount of suitable habitats and food resources in southern China.


Coastal management has been emerging as a distinct profession drawing from numerous fields within the natural and social sciences. We argue for an expanded discourse and a body of coastal theory that both examines coastal management as a distinct professional endeavor and, in turn, guides best practices. Urban and regional planning and coastal management are in many respects overlapping professions, each of which is itself informed by multiple disciplines and each dealing with coupled natural and human systems. This article presents ideas existing within planning theory, which has a robust history, and explores the applicability of major themes in the discourse to the growing field of coastal management. We explore five clusters of ideas within planning theory including: the nature of problems and solutions, landscape meaning, the ecological landscape planning framework, the epistemologies of knowledge communities, and communicative planning. Following a review and discussion of key concepts and literature relating to these themes, we discuss lessons from the history and development of planning theory for developing coastal theory. Particular lessons are the open-ended nature of future coastal theory, the significance of the role of the professional manager, and the critical linkage between theory and practice.


The use of the solar energy for greenhouse heating has gained an increasing acceptance during the last years. There are primarily two types of the heating system that utilize solar energy: active and passive systems. in this paper, the passive and active solar systems are classifıed according to the characteristics of the heat storage materials and units. The efficiencies of the solar systems are evaluated depending on the size and cover material of the greenhouse, the type of cultivation, the desired day and night temperatures inside the greenhouse, and the outdoor conditions. Available results on the performance of the each system in different greenhouses are given for the technical and economical feasibilities of the passive and active solar heating systems.


The development of quantum computers is bringing major changes to the IT sector. These computers, based on completely new principles, can provide effective solutions to previously unsolvable problems. Regulations have already been introduced in the European Union and Hungarian law to confirm that we are getting closer to the era of quantum computers. Therefore, we believe that education and teachers should follow the development of these machines so that future students in the field of information technology, whether they are IT teachers, physicists, or programmers, are not caught unawares. In this article, we present some examples from abroad where quantum computing topics are already included at certain levels of education.


A mathematical model based on the equations of particle motion was used to predict inclusion behavior observed at steel‐slag interface in an in‐situ Confocal Scanning Laser Microscope. The results show that the model can be used to explain some phenomena observed in the experiments. In addition, a parameter study was done in order to illustrate how the model can be used to study the effect of physical properties on the inclusion behavior at the slag‐steel interface for some typical industrial ladle metallurgy conditions. Furthermore, to study the effect of steel temperature, sulfur and oxygen content in the steel, slag and inclusion density as well as initial inclusion velocity on the inclusions behavior at the slag‐steel interface. The results show that the temperature and initial velocity was of less importance and that the oxygen content in the steel had a larger influence on the inclusion behavior than the sulfur content in the steel.


We designed a novel chemically-amplified negative-tone molecular-resist compound of 3M6C-MBSA-BL, which is a γ-hydroxycarboxylated polyphenol (4,4'-methylenebis[2-[di(2-methyl-4-hydroxy-5-cyclohexylphenyl)] methyl]phenol (3M6C-MBSA)) for EB and EUV lithographies to be used in hp 45 and beyond technology nodes. After selection of photo acid generators (PAGs) and optimization of the concentration of PAG in the resist, we could demonstrate 40-nm line and space patterns resolution by EB exposure. Also dry-etching durability and 1-month shelf life at -20oC were confirmed. Small line-edge roughness (LER) values of 4.5 nm (inspection length: L = 620 nm) and 6.2 nm (L = 1800 nm) were achieved using the 3M6C-MBSA-BL resist.


An obligatory step in the mammalian nutritional utilization of pyridoxine-5′-β-d-glucoside (PNG) is the intestinal hydrolysis of its β-glucosidic bond that releases pyridoxine (PN). This laboratory previously reported the purification and partial characterization of a novel cytosolic enzyme, designated PNG hydrolase, which hydrolyzed PNG. An investigation of the subcellular distribution of intestinal PNG hydrolysis found substantial hydrolytic activity in the total membrane fraction, of which 40–50% was localized to brush border membrane. To investigate the possible role of a brush border β-glucosidase in the hydrolysis of PNG, lactase phlorizin hydrolase (LPH) was purified from rat small intestinal mucosa. LPH hydrolyzed PNG with a K m of 1.0 ± 0.1 mm, a V max of 0.11 ± 0.01 μmol/min·mg protein, and ak cat of 1.0 s−1. LPH-catalyzed PNG hydrolysis was inhibited by glucose, lactose, and cellobiose but not by PN. Specific blockage of the phlorizin hydrolase site of LPH using 2′,4′-dintrophenyl-2-fluoro-2-deoxy-β-d-glucopyranoside did not reduce PNG hydrolysis. Evidence of transferase activity was also obtained. Reaction mixtures containing LPH, PNG, and lactose yielded the formation of another PN derivative that was identified as a pyridoxine disaccharide. These results indicate that LPH may play an important role in the bioavailability of PNG, but further characterization is needed to assess its physiological function.


The all-round goal to build a well-being society has been put forward at the sixteenth national people's
congress.In this course,non-governmental economy with a rapid development has played and will continue to play
a very important role in the social and economic development.At present,the term of non-governmental economy
has been widely used.But the definition to this term and the connotation it reflects draw little attention.And there
are still some misconceptions about non-governmental economy in people's minds.So this paper tries to explore
different aspects of this phenomenon,such as the evolution,the understanding of the non-governmental economy,
and future trend of the economy.


Disturbed lipid metabolism and some trace elements, including iron, may be involved in pathogenesis of experimental pulmonary emphysema via different mechanisms. We studied serum lipid profile and iron content in serum and pulmonary tissue of rabbits with experimental pulmonary emphysema. The study was done on three groups of animals: E (n=16) – experimental group on hypercholesterolemic diet (4% crystalline cholesterol in edible oil solution), C (n=16) – control group on standard diet for that animal species, and O (n=13) – group on oily diet. Serum lipid profile (total cholesterol, triglycerides, HDL, VLDL and LDL cholesterol fractions) was determined by enzymatic colorimetric method and iron content in serum and pulmonary tissue by atomic absorptive spectrophotometric method. Pulmonary emphysema was pathohistologicaly confirmed. There was a significant increase in total serum cholesterol (p


This paper describes the implementation of a disturbance rejection controller for a 6-DOF PUMA manipulator mounted on a 3-DOF platform. A control algorithm is designed to track the desired position and attitude of the end-effector in inertial space, subject to unknown disturbances in the platform axes. Experimental results are presented for step, sinusoidal, and random disturbances in the platform rotational axis and in the neighborhood of kinematic singularities.<<ETX>>


Formally and officially, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) was not about forgiveness. Forgiveness is essentially interpersonal, and can be given only by the person who has been wronged, or perhaps by someone closely associated with her; it cannot be granted by an official body. However, much of Archbishop Tutu's discourse about the TRC in his capacity as its chair, explicitly linked it to forgiveness, and the TRC certainly facilitated individual events of forgiving. There are a number of philosophical questions which can be asked about the notion of forgiveness in the context of the TRC, such as : under what conditions should we forgive? Is forgiveness always a good thing? Are there circumstances in which forgiveness would be wrong? Is forgiving compatible with punishing?


This paper begins with a social network analysis of the actors that have made the Uyghurs an issue in the international arena. This a llows us to see the transnational nature of the Uyghur activism to promote the rights of their kindred back in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Next, I provide a c se study of Uyghur mobilization in Germany by first examining the grow ing (albeit still low and marginal) visibility of the Uyghur issue in German legislative discussions. In Germany, the issue concerning granting political as ylum to Guantanamo Bay Uyghur detainees, for instance, has been one of the key areas where Uyghur diaspora wish to win the support from German politi cians and the public. My case study exemplifies how the Uyghurs strive to bring t he Guantanamo Bay issue into German parliamentary debate, but achieve no success in terms of having any bills passed in favor of such legislative move so far, le t a one to make actual influences on Germany's policies towards China.


AIM To determine whether the I Kr channel protein is altered and its response to dofetilide and verapamil in cardiac remodeling by L thy roxin. METHODS Saturation binding assays in guinea pig ventricular membrane preparation with 125 I dofetilide, a radioligand for the cardiac rapidly activating delayed outward rectifier channel (I Kr ) was conducted respectively in normal, hypertrophied, Verapamil or dofetilide intervened group. RESULTS Scatchard analysis revealed two binding sites with different affinities in normal guinea pig ventricle: a high affinity site [ K d=(1 27±0 11) nmol, B max =(34 67±3 23) nmol·g -1 ] and a low affinity site [ K d=(43 48±4 83) nmol, B max =(76 41±5 37) nmol·g -1 ] ( n =5), only the high affinity site was associated with the I Kr in guinea pig ventricle. The B max of high affinity site in the hypertrophied ventricle induced by L thyroxin was down regulated to (18 13±2 27) nmol·g -1 ( n =6). Verapamil was effective to up regulate the high affinity B max to (37 26±4 32) nmol·g -1 ( n =5) but dofetilide had hardly effect on it. CONCLUSION The I Kr channel protein in guinea pig ventricular membrane was down regulated in remodeling ventricle by chronic L thyroxin treatment and improved by verapamil.


Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L) leaves and stems were incubated in the rumen of an alfalfa-fed steer for 0, 12, 24 and 48 h. Residues were analysed for monosaccharides remaining in chemically isolated fractions. Pectic substances were rapidly and extensively degraded. Xyloglucans also were quite degradable, whereas glucuronoxylans were very resistant to fermentation. Cellulose disappearance was intermediate between that of xylan and xyloglucan. For all non-pectic polysaccharides, leaf material was more degradable than stem, and this difference between leaf and stem was greater for cellulose than for most hemicellulosic fractions. Acetyl groups associated with the oxalate-insoluble fractions were degraded similarly to xylans. Alkali-labile phenolic acid content was lower in stems than in leaves, but contributed only 4 g kg−1 of leaf DM. Less than 10% of alkali-labile phenolics were associated with hemicelluloses. Structures which limit alfalfa xylan fermentation may include acetyl groups and linkages of uronic acid side chains to phenolic material.


Wireless LANs (WLANs) are being more and more widely deployed at present. They are a key element in dynamic business environments where permanent access to network resources is vital. They also provide a perfect solution for the creation of ad-hoc networks in emergency conditions within areas where dense wireless networks are in place. Voice over IP (VoIP) is a form of voice communication that uses data networks to transmit voice signals. The signal is appropriately encoded at one end of the communication channel, sent as packets through the data network, then decoded at the receiving end and transformed back into a voice signal. Since both technologies are sufficiently mature at the moment, VoIP over WLAN communication is being developed. However the intrinsic characteristics of each of these two technologies cause specific issues to appear that must be addressed in order to ensure a successful deployment of VoIP over WLANs. This is particularly important when considering the use of WLAN technology in the context of emergency situations. In order to improve the service quality of voice over wireless networks an innovative MDC-based hybrid speech coding scheme was developed. Two main aspects are aimed while development. Firstly, the scheme must be channel-adaptive to withstand difficult network conditions while in parallel fine-grain scalable concerning bandwidth demands to further support the adaption mechanism, secondly. To prove the concepts, a universal network- and error simulation tool was implemented which allows for simulation of various network conditions. Achieved improvements compared to current state-of-the-art solutions are verified by objective speech quality measurement tools introduced with ITU-T P.862.2.


The invention relates to a solar constant pressure heating hot airflow engine generation system which comprises a double-shaft tracking solar focusing reflector surface system, a solar constant pressure heating power conversion unit (i.e. a hot airflow engine) and a generator, and is characterized in that: the solar constant pressure heating power conversion unit comprises an air compressor, an air storage tank, a solar energy absorber and an output shaft power cylinder component; the output shaft power cylinder component comprises a cylinder, a piston, a connecting rod and a crank; an air inlet and an exhaust port which are arranged on the cylinder, an air inlet valve which is arranged on the air inlet, an exhaust valve which is arranged on the exhaust port, the air compressor, the air storage tank and the solar energy absorber are sequentially and serially connected by an air transmission pipe and then are connected with the air inlet; the piston is connected with the crank through the connecting rod; ; and a crank shaft is coupled with the generator. The solar constant pressure heating hot airflow engine generation system has the advantages that: the air serves as a working substance, no water needs to serve as the working substance, no tower tube (or chimney) is needed, a huge radiating mechanism of a Stirling engine is cancelled, the cost is low, the generation efficiencyis high and the stability is good.


________________ Gunther Kress, a highly respected literacy theorist, has recently argued that literacy in the "new media age" is significantly different from conventional print literacy (2003). However, much of what happens when readers process text and/or images entails basic processes used in print and electronic environments with text and image. To demonstrate the consistency of the underlying capabilities, we can examine Steven Johnson's (2001) claims about the nature of emergence, which explain key features of how the Internet operates. As we spend more time looking at screens, reading text and processing images, sounds and movements, our print-based reading skills will continue to be challenged. Johnson's analysis can be applied to reading to show that it resembles other emergent systems, showing the same fundamental features: neighbor interaction, pattern recognition, feedback, and indirect control. Similarly, the principles of visual processing and cognitive processing identified by cognitive scientist Steven Pinker (1997), including identification, categorization and discrimination, make paper and electronic critical literacy possible for human beings. Examining the critical literacy demonstrated by readers of both print and electronic text from the perspective of emergence and cognitive science shows the fundamental similarities between them and suggests that the "new media age" isn't really new. In Emergence (2001), cultural critic Steven Johnson argues that much of the human behavior found on the Internet, including websites, chat rooms, email, online discussion boards and so on, reflects similar behavior in other environments, whether human (as in the construction of a neighborhood) or animal (as in an ant colony). In a similar way, studies of human linguistic processing reflect research on the patterns and strategies of human cognitive processing. Humans are pattern-loving creatures; our willingness to follow both conscious and unconscious patterns is fundamental to human psychology and, when unhealthy, accounts for how psychotherapists stay in business. Following this pattern-loving model to understand electronic reading, then, leads to a clear connection between human cognitive processing mechanisms and reading in print and on the Internet. Gunther Kress, British education and literacy scholar, proposes that we are in a new relationship with text now because of the Internet, such that images dominate over text and the screen dominates over books (2003, p. 1). Kress believes that the screen is a "visual entity" such that text that appears there is treated like an image, following principles of visual design like other images. Images also appear with text, with the result that text, according to Kress, plays a secondary role to image in terms of conveying meaning (Kress, 2003, pp. 65-66). However, the new relationship described by Kress shows many of the characteristics of emergence described by Johnson and explicated by cognitive scientist Steven Pinker's understanding of the mental and linguistic processes (1997). Our new strategies in


Frame Gain, Frame Class Information Weigelt L. F et al: "Plosive/Fricative Distinction: The Voice less Case" Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, US, American Institute of Physics. New York, vol. 87, No. 6, Jun. 1, 1990, pp. 2729–2737. "An Improved Mixed Excitation Linear Prediction (MELP) Coder", Unno et al., Proc. IEEE Intl. Conf. on Audio, Speech & Signal Processing, 1999, vol. 1., pp. 245–248.


A rapid and efficient method for preparing leu‐kocyte‐poor red blood cells, utilizing inexpensive, commercially available material, is described. Whole blood anticoagulated with ACD was collected into standard quadruple packs and centrifuged. Platelet‐rich plasma and buffy coat were extracted as part of the routine preparation of platelet concentrate, cryoprecipitate and residual plasma. Heparin and CaCl2 were added to the packed cells which were then filtered through a nylon column (LEUKO‐PAK®). This method for preparing leukocyte‐poor erythrocytes removed 97 per cent of the white blood cells and 99 per cent of the platelets.


Magnetic susceptibility measurements have been made between 4.2 and 160 K on the powdered salts (4-XC6H4NH3)2MnCl4(X = F, Cl, Br, or Bun). These compounds have layer structures of the K2NiF4 type, with interlayer spacings of 15.8, 16.6, 18.8, and 23.5 A, respectively. Broad susceptibility maxima are observed at ca. 70 K, and can be fitted on the assumption of a two-dimensional exchange interaction of Heisenberg (–2JSi. Sj) form, with –J/k= 4.25, 4.50, 4.00, and 3.75 (±0.1) K, respectively. All four compounds show weak ferromagnetism below the Neel temperature (TNca. 40 K), which is attributed to spin canting in the antiferromagnetically ordered state. The transition temperature is practically independent of the layer spacing. Measurements on a single crystal of the 4-chloro-compound indicate a canting angle of ca. 0.06°, and show that the resulting magnetisation lies in the layer plane. Powder susceptibility measurements on (4-ClC6H4NH3)2FeCl4 indicate that this compound is also a two-dimensional antiferromagnet, with –J/k= 10.7 ± 0.5 K (TNca. 87 K) and a canting angle ca. 0.8° in the ordered state. Below TN the magnetic behaviour shows unusual dependence on the thermal and magnetic history of the sample, possibly due to a nearly degenerate magnetostrictive distortion.


The ongoing global financial crisis is underlining the relevance of restructuring bank balance sheets. Questions regarding the methods available for assisting banks and other financial institutions are more pertinent now than ever before. Many of the methods described in this paper have recently been the subject of an economic policy debate in the Czech Republic and around the world.1 Providing banks in difficulty with assistance that does not directly penalise shareholders and managers for crisis situations has proven to be risky and associated with high moral hazard. Where liquidating a bank and paying out insured deposits seems systemically risky – despite being the cleanest method from the market perspective – and where public money has to be used, the state should gain a majority stake in the problem bank. This gives it control over the bank and minimises the influence of existing shareholders and managers over the running of the bank, whose managers, with the shareholders' agreement, got the bank into difficulties to start with. The goal of this paper is to provide the reader with an overview of the Czech experience with problem bank assets, together with the theoretical background for asset management companies.


The Knowledge economy sets up in the production, distribution and the use of the knowledge and information, which is different from agricultural economy and industrial economy. Up to now, technological innovation and industry innovation have become one of the most important strengths in economic growth, So we should keep the stability, continuity of the financial rule structure under the existing economic shape of development at present, and also pay attention to strengthening the research about the financial rule under the new Knowledge economy shape. Only in this way, financial institutional construction and reform could comply with our national conditions, but also could catch up the more excellent international financial rule which has dynamic develops.


4-Methoxybenzenethiol (15.19 g, 0.105 mol) and phthalimide (14.70 g, 0.10 mol) were dissolved in hot pyridine (40 ml) and acetonitrile (50 ml), and the stirred solution was cooled to room temperature. A solution of bromine (19.2 g, 6.19 ml, 0.12 mol) in acetonitrile (50 ml) was then added dropwise over a period of 30 min. After a further 2 h, methanol (200 ml) was added dropwise over a period of 30 min. The products were cooled (ice–water bath) for 30 min, and then filtered to give (I) as yellow crystals (yield 11.70 g, 76%; m.p 475.0–477.5 K).


This paper is a study of Turkish and Bulgarian SMEs and the impact of SCM and IS practices on operational performance


Transmit diversity techniques are used to increase the forward-link receiving performance in3G mobile communication system.The diversity transmit methods of OTD and STS used in CDMA2000sys-tem are introduced.This paper analyses the transmit diversity principles and combining schemes and gives the correspondent emulation results of these techniques.