High molecular weight vinyl fluoride (VF)–vinylidene fluoride (VF2) and vinyl fluoride (VF)–tetrafluoroethylene (TFE) copolymers in a wide range of compositions have been synthesized at low pressure at 25°C. with the aid of a catalytic system consisting of triisobutyl boron activated with molecular oxygen. With the same catalytic system, highly crystalline homopolymers of VF and VF2, melting above the usually reported temperatures, have been obtained. The x-ray and thermal analyses of crystalline molecular mixtures of PVF and PVF2, as well as of VF–VF2 copolymers, have shown that in both cases the monomeric units of the two types may be present in the same crystallites, giving rise to a phenomenon very similar to the isomorphism in the case of low molecular weight substances; an analogous phenomenon was already described by some of us1 for other polymeric systems. In the actual case we have observed the isomorphism between the VF and VF2 monomeric units in all the range of compositions, both for the homopolymer mixtures and for the copolymers. The VF–TFE copolymer samples, in the range of compositions examined (0–75% in TFE) show a crystal structure essentially similar to that of PVF. Due to the fact that the crystal structure of PVF is not strictly analogous to that of PVFE, in the compositions containing 75–100% TFE units a phenomenon of isodimorphism, or isopolymorphism, probably takes place. Over a wide range of compositions of the monomeric reactant mixture, a marked tendency for formation of alternating (...ABAB...)sequences within the copolymer chains has been observed.


Many pro-life supporters accept the substance view (SV) of human value, tying intrinsic value to properties essential to all human beings. Many pro-choice supporters accept the functionalist view (FV) of human value, tying intrinsic value to accidental functional properties. They argue that there are circumstances in which terminating human beings is permissible. I offer three reasons for rejecting FV. First, FV fails to ontologically ground intrinsic qualities. Second, FV entails that technologically enhanced human beings may have greater intrinsic value than unenhanced human beings. Third, FV entails a problematic pragmatic-utilitarian view of value that undermines widespread convictions about human dignity.


The embodiment of the invention provides a primary power supply system which comprises an AC/DC conversion unit, a battery pack, an error amplifier and a mode switching unit, wherein the AC/DC conversion unit comprises a self-adaptation adjusting module, the mode switching unit comprises a floating module and an activating module, the voltage of the activating module is lower than that of the floating module, and the AC/DC conversion unit is used for converting an AC power supply to a DC power supply and supplying the DC power supply to the battery pack and a load; and the error amplifier is used for acquiring the feedback voltage of the AC/DC conversion unit and adjusting the output voltage of the AC/DC conversion unit by using the self-adaptation adjusting module based on the feedback voltage, and is also used for selecting a floating mode or an activating mode for the primary power supply system, wherein the output voltage of the AC/DC conversion unit in the activating mode is lower than the output voltage in the floating mode. The embodiment of the invention cancels the equalized charging mode causing great damage to the life of the storage battery, simultaneously ensures the activity of the storage battery, and avoids the deposition phenomenon in the storage battery, thereby prolonging the life of the storage battery to a greater degree.


This paper explores Piketty's analytical model in contrast to the classical/Marxian approach. The main point raised herein is that Piketty's reliance on neoclassical growth theory is not suitable for the explanation of the dynamics of incomes and wealth. However, certain mainstream economists have attempted to attribute the shortcomings of Piketty's reasoning to some alleged methodological connection with Ricardo and Marx. I argue that Piketty's theory has nothing to do with the classical political economy and Marx. The latter associates endogenous technology and population growth with unemployment and class struggle in determining the wage and profit share. Recent econometric studies indicate that this approach provides a much more rigorous explanation of the dynamics of inequality. Moreover, contrary to the argument of Piketty, the classical approach suggests that labor can regain what it has lost during the neoliberal era through the class struggle


The National Science Foundation (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (ERC-SOPS) conducts research related to pharmaceutical technology. Rowan University is one of the Center's Outreach Partners responsible for developing educational materials related to the Center's area of study. Textbook style problems introducing pharmaceutical topics at the level of an introductory chemical engineering course have been created, along with detailed solutions. The problems illustrate subjects and skills students would learn and use if they were to pursue a career in pharmaceutical engineering. The procedure and rationale followed in the development of the problems is outlined, and representative problems with solutions are shown. Introduction Rowan University is an Outreach Partner for the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Engineering Research Center for Structured Organic Particulate Systems (ERC-SOPS) led by Rutgers University. The Center conducts research related to pharmaceutical technology and coordinates educational outreach programs with member schools. Rowan University's role is to produce educational materials related to the pharmaceutical industry to be used by the ERC in education and outreach programs. At Rowan University, student teams take a 2-credit course during each academic term in which they work on various projects under the direction of faculty members. Professors Savelski, Farrell, and Slater are the local contacts for the ERC and have overseen student teams working on ERC projects for several terms. The purposes of the projects to date have been the creation of in-class and homework (textbook) problems focusing on pharmaceutical aspects of science and engineering. Previous teams have focused on the production of problems for students ranging in educational level from late middle school to the second year of a baccalaureate degree. The teams this semester have been focused solely on the revision of old problems and production of new problems for students of introductory chemical engineering courses, usually taught during the freshman or sophomore year. This paper presents the problems developed during this semester for use in these courses. The formatting, layout, style and focus of the problems are based on those of Felder and Rousseau's Elementary Principles of Chemical Processes 1 , a widely-used textbook for these types of courses. Courses taught with a different textbook may still use the problems developed since they cover topics such as units and conversions, material balances with and without reaction, single and multiphase systems, and energy balances.


The spectrum of density perturbations is calculated in the new-inflationary-universe scenario. The main source is the quantum fluctuations of the Higgs field, which lead to fluctuations in the time at which the false vacuum energy is released. The value of δρρ on any given length scale l, at the time when the Hubble radius ≫l, is estimated. This quantity is nearly scale invariant (as desired), but is unfortunately about 105 times too large.


Background: Generation Y (Millennial) and generation Z (IGeneration) are proven to be the two generations that dominate the use of information communication technology today. Living in a rapidly developing technology era and abundant information should make them have nutritional knowledge, attitudes and behavior towards a good visual balanced nutrition. However, Riskesdas 2018 shows an increase in the prevalence of obesity in adults by 21.8%. This high prevalence is said to be an indicator of low knowledge about balanced nutrition even though the two generations live in an era of abundant information.Objectives: Analyzing differences in nutritional knowledge, attitudes and behavior regarding visual balanced nutrition between generation Y and generation Z.Methods: This research is an observational analytic study with cross sectional design. Selection of research subjects with total sampling. A sample of 40 respondents was obtained from generation Y and 40 respondents from generation Z. Using the independent t-test statistical test to determine differences in nutritional knowledge, attitudes and behaviors regarding balanced nutrition visuals (balanced nutrition cone and my plate) in generation Y and generation Z.Results: There are differences in nutritional knowledge in generation Y and generation Z (p = 0.0001), there are differences in attitudes about visual balanced nutrition in generation and generation Z (p = 0.0001), and there are differences in nutritional behavior towards visual balanced nutrition of generation Y and generation Z (p = 0.029). From the above values, it can be said that the value of sampling bias on nutritional knowledge and attitudes is smaller than behavior.Conclusion: The three results show that there are differences in nutritional knowledge, attitudes and behavior between these two generations.


Poly(2-cyanoethylpyrrole) films were electrochemically prepared on pt electrode in an organic electrolyte solution. The polymer films were studied using UV-Vis absorption spectroscopy with various applied potentials


We studied and compared the long term average hard X‐ray (>20 keV) spectra of a sample of twelve bright low‐mass X‐ray binaries hosting a neutron star (NS). Our sample comprises the six well studied Galactic Z sources and six Atoll sources, four of which are bright ("GX") bulge sources while two are weaker ones in the 2–10 keV range (H 1750‐440 and H 1608‐55). For all the sources of our sample, we analysed available public data and extracted average spectra from the IBIS/ISGRI detector on board INTEGRAL. We extend the detection of H 1750‐440 up to 150 keV and discover a hard tail in the spectrum of the Atoll source GX 13+1. We can describe all the spectral states as well as the long known variability of the hard X‐ray tails detected in some of these objects in terms of the bulk motion Comptonisation scenario. We find evidence that bulk motion, at the origin of the hard X‐ray tail, is always present, its strength is related to the accretion rate and it is suppressed only in the presence of high local lumin...


Simple Summary Radioembolization is a kind of internal radiation therapy which is currently used in non-operable HCC. Several radiolabeled product can be used as 90Y-loaded microspheres or less frequently radiolabeled lipiodol either with iodine 131 (in the past) or currently with rhenium 188 (188Re). Currently used 188Re-labeled compounds are limited by in vivo instability. This study sought to evaluate the safety, bio-distribution, and response to 188Re-SSS lipiodol, a new and more stable compound. Method: Lip-Re-01 was an activity-escalation Phase 1 study involving HCC patients progressing after sorafenib. The primary endpoint was safety. Secondary endpoints included bio-distribution and response evaluation. Results: Fourteen heavily pre-treated HCC patients were treated in Level 1 (n = 6), Level 2 (n = 6), and Level 3 (n = 2). Safety was acceptable with only 1/6 of Level 1 and 1/6 of Level 2 patients experiencing limiting toxicity. The study was prematurely discontinued unrelated to clinical outcomes. Cumulative urinary elimination and fecal eliminations at 72 h were very low, confirming high in vivo stability. Partial response occurred in 37.5% of the patients receiving 3.6 GBq of 188Re-SSS lipiodol or more. Conclusion: As the 3.6 GBq activity proved to be safe, it will be used in an ongoing Phase 2 study. Abstract Background: Despite the wide development of 90Y-loaded microspheres, 188Re-labeled lipiodol is still being used for radioembolization of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the use of this latter compound is limited by in vivo instability. This study sought to evaluate the safety, bio-distribution, and response to 188Re-SSS lipiodol, a new and more stable compound. Method: Lip-Re-01 was an activity-escalation Phase 1 study involving HCC patients progressing after sorafenib. The primary endpoint was safety based on Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (AEs) of Grade ≥3 within 2 months. Secondary endpoints included bio-distribution assessed by scintigraphy quantification from 1 to 72 h, tumor to non-tumor uptake ratio (T/NT), as well as blood, urine and feces collection over 72 h, dosimetry, and response evaluation (mRECIST). Results: Overall, 14 heavily pre-treated HCC patients were treated using a whole liver approach. The mean injected activity was 1.5 ± 0.4 GBq for activity Level 1 (n = 6), 3.6 ± 0.3 GBq for Level 2 (n = 6), and 5.0 ± 0.4 GBq for Level 3 (n = 2). Safety was acceptable with only 1/6 of Level 1 and 1/6 of Level 2 patients experiencing limiting toxicity (one liver failure; one lung disease). The study was prematurely discontinued unrelated to clinical outcomes. Uptake occurred in the tumor, liver, and lungs, and only sometimes in the bladder. The T/NT ratio was high with a mean of 24.9 ± 23.4. Cumulative urinary elimination and fecal eliminations at 72 h were very low, 4.8 ± 3.2% and 0.7 ± 0.8%, respectively. Partial response occurred in 21% of patients (0% in the first activity level; 37.5% in the others). Conclusion: The high in vivo stability of 188Re-SSS lipiodol was confirmed, resulting in encouraging responses for a Phase 1 study. As the 3.6 GBq activity proved to be safe, it will be used in a future Phase 2 study.


Objective To explore the relationship between helicobacter pylori(Hp) infection and blood-lipoids,systatin C(Cyc) in patients with acute ischemic stroke.Methods 48 patients with acute ischemic stroke in our hospital from June to December 2012 were selected as stroke group and 40 health people as control group.Serum specific antibodies to Hp(Hp-IgG) and serum Cyc were measured in two groups by ELISA,and the blood lipids were tested.The relationship of Hp and the expression of serum Cyc and blood lipids were analyzed.Results The positive rate of Hp-IgG(77.08%) and the expression of serum TC[(5.36±0.68)mmol/L],TG[(1.95±0.49)mmol/L],LDL-C[(3.16±0.68)mmol/L] and Cyc[(1.37±0.37)mg/L] in stroke group were higher than those in control group,which were 32.50%,(4.12±0.45)mmol/L(1.15±0.39)mmol/L,(2.21±0.64)mmol/L,(0.85±0.16)mg/L(P0.05).The expression of serum HDL-C[(1.02±0.29)mmol/L] in stroke group was lower than that in control group[(1.28±0.26)mmol/L](P0.05).Those who were Hp-IgG positive had significant higher levels of TC[(5.79±0.94)mmol/L],TG[(2.09±0.62)mmol/L],LDL-C[(3.46±0.72)mmol/L] and Cyc[(1.67±0.56)mg/L] than those who were Hp-IgG negative,which were(4.85±0.69)mmol/L,(1.53±0.34)mmol/L,(2.84±0.81)mmol/L,(1.09±0.24)mg/L(P0.05).Those who were Hp-IgG positive had significant lower level of HDL-C[(0.88±0.19)mmol/L] than that who were Hp-IgG negative[(1.12±0.28))mmol/L](P0.05).Conclusion There is significant correlation between Hp infection and acute ischemic stroke.Hp infection may be involved in the pathogenesis of acute ischemic stroke by increasing the expression of blood lipids and Cyc.


T he undergraduate course in chemical engineering thermodynamics continues to present teaching challenges despite its long-term presence in the curriculum. Students often complain that it seems "too esoteric." But it is also a course that can provide opportunities for giving students a strong sense of "manipulating molecules" by illustrating the development of engineering models which address molecular scale interactions. Then students might say that "it was especially good as an introduction to engineering,"-and what a healthy shift in perception that would be. The approach advocated here is to integrate the esoteric principles with the students' inherent intuition so they can see all levels of the modeling process. This general approach may seem obvious, but introducing fluid structure as a means of reducing the esoteric perception is probably not so obvious. There always seems to be more subject matter than there is time to cover it, and as a result there is a tendency to reduce thermodynamics to its smallest kernel of unique and general concepts (Maxwell's relations and the Gibbs-Duhem equation, for instance). Focusing so much on those concepts, however, would be too esoteric-by themselves, these concepts do not help students understand how liquefaction or distillation works or why polymer blending rarely works. Clearly, there must be some additional relations which demonstrate the utility of the "pure thermodynamics." We faculty recognize these as constitutive relations like equations of state or Gibbs excess functions , and when pressed for time it is tempting to present them macroscopically, as empirical relations that should


A wide dynamic range, high current efficient switched-LNA has been developed by using SiGe BiCMOS technology. The low loss RF MOSFET reduced silicon substrate effect at high frequency is used as a bypass switch for the LNA. The 800-900 MHz LNA is demonstrated in this work. In high gain/low distortion mode for transmitting and receiving simultaneously, the amplifier achieves 15.3 dB gain, 1.4 dB noise figure and +1.6 dBm IIP3 with 5.9 mA DC current. In high gain/low current mode for receiving only, 13.3 dB gain, 1.6 dB noise figure and -0.6 dBm IIP3 are achieved with 3.0 mA. In low gain mode, 1.5 dB insertion loss and +16.1 dBm IIP3 with <10 /spl mu/A are realized by the bypass switch. The switched-LNA is housed in a very small and low cost SON12 plastic package with a down-mixer.


Parathyroid computed tomography using multiple phases (four‐dimensional computed tomography (4DCT) for parathyroid localization was first described in 2006. Since its inception, there has been variable uptake of this technique due to inconsistency of results between institutions and perceived higher radiation dose than technetium‐99 sestamibi scans (MIBI). 4DCT has been the primary imaging modality for parathyroid localization at our institution since 2013.


This paper bases on three micro-satellites which formation fly on a same orbit and perform three dimension solid mapping for terra.The calculating formula of LEO formation-flying satellite inter-satellite links is guided according to the special require of formation-flying micro-satellite inter-satellite links.A new communication project which changes code rate according to the inter-satellite communication distance is brought forward to suit this situation.And the simulation of volatile code rate inter-satellite communication system for micro-satellite formation-flying constellation is performed.


VoIP services are becoming increasingly a big competition to existing telephony services (POTS / ISDN). The increasing number of customers using VoIP makes VoIP services a valuable target for attackers that want to bring down the service, take it over or simply abuse it to distribute their own content, like SPAM. Hence, the need arises to protect VoIP services from all kinds of attacks that target network bandwidth, server capacity or server architectural constrains. In this article we present VoIP Defender, a generic security architecture, called VoIP-Defender, to monitor, detect, analyze and counter attacks relevant for a SIP-based VoIP infrastructure. The VoIP-Defender is highly scalable and can be easily extended with new detection algorithms. Analysis and traffic control can be performed from the SIP layer down to the transport-, network- and MAC layer. VoIP Defender is designed to work fully transparent to clients and SIP servers, and can analyze and filter traffic in real time, which we demonstrate with measurements with our implementation.


Objective To investigate the epidemic features of pediatric allergic rhnitis(AR) and its related-risk factors in Zhuhai City. Methods A questionnaire survey on AR was conducted for pupils aged from 7 to 11 from April to September, 2006. Patients suspected as AR received specialist examinations. Results 854 papers were effective, and the prevalence of AR was 15.3%. There were no significant differences between males and females. Being sensitive to some drugs and foods, patients were also affected by the dwelling conditions and family aggregation.Conclusion This provides a path to know the epidemic features of children with AR in Zhuhai City and supports epidemiologic materials to prevent and treat AR.


We tested various ohmic contact metallizations schemes on AlGaN/GaN heterostructures to achieve good surface topography and proper line edge definition. Ti, Ru, Pt and Mo barrier layers replaced the intermediate Ni layer in Ti/Al/Ni/Au multilayer metallization. We observed significant difference in proposed schemes topography and line edge definition. The Ti/Al/Mo/Au contact had not only good surface morphology but also proper line edge definition.


Rice is a staple food crop of India, providing 43% of calorie requirement for more than 70% of Indian population. India is the second largest country after China, wich has deployed hybrid rice technology on a commercial scale. According to preliminary estimates approximately 1.0 million ha rice area has been planted to hybrids, which is likely to add an additional 1 million tons of paddy rice to our food basket. The present investigation was conducted at crop Research Centre, Kanke, Ranchi under Birsa Agricultural University during Kharif 2007 under rainfed condition. The experimental design was RBD having three replications. The variability, correlation and path analysis studies were done in sixteen genotypes of rice including two high yielding varieties as checks for twelve quantitative characters and three diseases of rice. The analysis of variance revealed that there were significant differences among all the characters except number of productive tillers per plant which was significant only at 5 % level. The mean table revealed that the seven entries, viz. PHB-71, PA-27P77, PA-25P25, US-312, PA-6444, EURO-9 and NPH-207 were statistically superior to the best check, IR-64 in grain yield (q/ha) and were found at par with each other. The characters, viz. number of spikelets per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle, number of sterile spikelets per panicle, number of panicles per m2 and days to 50% flowering showed wide range of variability. The high values of phenotypic and genotypic coefficient of variations were observed for false smut, number of sterile spikelets per panicle and number of spikelets per panicle. High heritability accompanied with high genetic advance were found for the characters,viz. number of spikelets per panicle, number of sterile spikelets per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle and false smut. Correlation analysis revealed that grain yield (q/ha) was positively and highly significantly associated with days to 50% flowering, plant height, number of productive tillers per plant, number of panicles per m2, number of spikelets per panicle and number of filled grains per panicle, while negative and highly significant correlation was observed for thousand grain weight. Path coefficient analysis revealed that the characters, viz. days to 50% flowering, number of productive tillers per plant, number of panicles per m2, number of spikelets per panicle, false smut and brown spot had positive, direct effect towards grain yield while thousand grain weight showed negative direct effect. The result obtained in the present investigation indicated that the characters, viz. days to 50% flowering, number of productive tillers per plant, number of panicles per m2, number of spikelets per panicle and number of filled grains per panicle were yield contributing characters in hybrid rice and may be utilized for further selection. These characters were correlated positively and significantly with grain yield and also had high value of heritability, genetic advance and genetic advance as percent of mean. Out of the seven entries which were found statistically superior genotype, PHB-71 gave the highest yield potential (61.12 q/ha) along with less infestation of diseases. CHAPTER PARTICULARS PAGE NO.


The present invention provides a method for preparing front side silver paste and silicon-based solar cell side surface of the high resistance, comprising the following weight percentages of components: 80% to 90% silver, 0.5% to 6% glass frit, organic vehicle 5 % to 15%; wherein the frit glass frit comprises from the following components by weight percent: 25% to 75% TeO2,20% ~ 55% of PbO, 1% ~ 20% of the of Na2O; an organic resin and an organic vehicle comprising solvent. Silver is the present invention is applicable to a high sheet resistance of the surface of the silicon solar cell, a good ohmic contact can be formed on a silicon high square resistance of the battery, thus significantly improving the conversion efficiency of the solar cell, and by adjusting the Na2O content of the slurry the welding can be maintained after high tension lead sintered silver paste on the solar cell, and effectively extends the sintering temperature, to ensure the stability of the product performance.


This article starts from the actuality of the railway transport agent, discussing the subject that the logistics industry is the development direction of the trade issue. It also introduces the concept of the logistics, characteristics and advantages of the third-party logistics, as well as the development status of the domestic third party logistics. Through the statements about the concept, features, functions of the transport agent, it summarized that the third-party logistics is the development direction of the railway transport agent. It proposed the necessity, the favorable conditions of the development of the railway transport agent.


Objective To investigate the Infectious diseases interrelated with blood transfusion of donates. Methods HBsAg,Anti-HCV,Anti-HIV1/2 were detected by ELISA;Treponema Pallidum's antibody was detected by RPR or Trust;ALT was detected by Reitman-Frankel. Results were compared between. Result 99 689 (4.25%)of the 2 342 897 plasma samples were found unqualified,the level of ALT,HBsAg ,anti-HCV ,Treponema Pallidum's antibody and anti-HIV1/2 were 37 278(1.59%),36 152(1.54%),20 515(0.88%),3 140(0.13%),2 604(0.11%),respectively.There were significant differences between different years. Conclusion The rates of unqualified samples are falling and that are associoated with free donate. The increasing of anti-HIV1/2,Treponema Pallidum are associoated with epidemiology.


We investigate the relation between the notion of e-exactness, recently introduced by Akray and Zebary, and some functors naturally related to it, such as the functor P : Mod-R → Spec(Mod-R), where Spec(Mod-R) denotes the spectral category of Mod-R, and the localization functor with respect to the singular torsion theory.


A cellular neural network (CNN) is an information processing system with a large scale nonlinear analog circuit. Setting up a CNN for a particular task needs a proper selection of circuit parameters (cloning template) which determines the dynamics of the network. The present paper provides a methodology, demonstrating the capability of Genetic Algorithms, for aUiomatic selection of cloning templates when CNN is used in extracting object regions from noisy images. This relieves the CNN from using heuristics for template selection procedure and performs consistently well in noisy environments for both synthetic and real images.


Pitman shorthand system is one of the most popular of nowadays shorthand systems. It has been taught and widely used throughout the world to help the stenographers in improving the writing speed. In this research, a Pitman shorthand's alphabets interpretation mobile system is established purposely to ease the stenographers in interpreting the shorthand script into English text. The outlines are interpreted using dictionary-based approach. This system can display alphabet list, so that it also can be used by the students who wish to learn this shorthand system. All symbols are rendered with JSR-226 (Scalable Vector Graphics API). The system implements Ternary Search Tree (TST) algorithm to improve data searching speed. According to the experiments, the system can successfully interpret inputted alphabets up to 71.95%.


Abstract Quality control of laser additive manufactured medical implants is of interest, especially if nondestructive quality control can be performed on parts before implantation. X-ray micro-computed tomography (microCT or CT) can be used for defect/porosity analysis as well as for comparing the part surface with its computer-aided design (CAD) file. In both cases, the limited use of CT is partly due to the variation in scan types and the quality of scans that can occur. We present a simple method demonstrating the use of a light metal casting as a reference porosity sample, to confirm good CT image quality and to quantify minimum detectable pore size for the selected CT scan settings. This makes a good comparison for additive manufactured parts, since castings generally contain more porosity. A full part-to-CAD comparison shows how the part is compared with its CAD file, as a second-quality control. The accuracy of the CAD variance is given by the minimum detectable pore size. Finally, the part is sect...


A gain cell embedded DRAM (eDRAM) in a 65 nm LP process achieves a 1.0 GHz random read access frequency by eliminating the write-back operation. The read bitline swing of the 2T1D cell is improved by employing short local bitlines connected to local voltage sense amplifiers. A low-overhead dual-row access mode improves the worst-case cell retention time by 3X, minimizing standby power at times when only a fraction of the entire memory is utilized. Measurement results from a 64 kb eDRAM test chip in 65 nm CMOS demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed circuit techniques.


In this paper, we present a configurable IP for the mode decision in intra predictor of H.264 system. The parallel architecture with three computational cores is proposed by using configurable structure to process YUV pixels, where the number of pixel parallelism is 10 in the output. A commonly hardware is used to computed various coding modes by arranging an efficient schedule for YUV Plane modes computing. The configurable circuit is controlled with multiplex to compute mode parameters to reduce the hardware cost. The luminance with 4times4 and 16x16 block mode and chrominance with 8times8 block mode can be finished during 256 cycles for one MB coding. The throughput rate is about 4~5 times compared to the previous works, and the proposed architecture can meet the speed requirement for 1920*1080/50 Hz HDTV encoder.


Subjects hearing their speech through a real-time cochlear implant (CI) simulator alter their production in multiple ways, e.g., reducing speaking rate and constricting F1/F2 vowel space. The motivations behind these alterations, however, are currently unknown. Two possibilities are that the changes in speech are due to the influence of a direct feedback loop in which the subject is adjusting speech production to minimize acoustic "error," or that the changes could reflect the indirect influence of a high cognitive load (stemming from the challenge of hearing through the real-time CI simulator). We explored these two possibilities by conducting a playback experiment in which 35 naive listeners assessed the intelligibility of speech produced under conditions of normal versus vocoded feedback. Intelligibility of vocoded isolated word stimuli in each condition was tested in both a two-alternative forced choice task ("Which recording is easier to understand?") and an open-set word recognition task. Listeners found normal-feedback speech significantly more intelligible in both tasks (p's < 0.0125), suggesting that speakers were not adjusting for direct error correction, but rather due to the influence of an intervening factor, e.g., high cognitive load. Confusion matrix analyses further illuminate the perceptual consequences of the effects of CI-simulated speech feedback.


Serious location-based games offer ways to play in and play with public space, often drawing on a range of creative methodologies to engage citizens. These may include speculative design approaches to imagine possible worlds, digital placemaking to situate those worlds, and public artmaking them tangible through temporary installation. Collectively, this approach to playful urbanism impacts our experience and perception of place in different ways. In this article we reflect on creative practice research in an outer suburb of Melbourne and propose a design framework for playful urbanism informed by field research. In this article, we make arguments for the broader impact and value of urban play in creative placemaking through the analysis of three case studies from the Lilllydale Alternate Welcoming Society (LAWS)—a creative project commissioned by local government to activate locations along Main Street in Lilydale. We define three urban play principles developed through this project and reflect on how these played out in practice through description and analysis of the creative project. Our goal is to propose these principles as part of the emerging practice of urban play more broadly—both for practitioners to apply to their own projects and for scholars analyzing urban play in relation to its impacts on people and place. The first project of its kind to be staged in Lilydale, it demonstrated an approach for embedding and distributing multiple forms of expression in public space that facilitated a playful engagement with the township—for both its community and visitors. Lilydale was founded as an independent township and


Objectives: More than one-third of patients with hypertension have metabolic syndrome, a condition characterized by the co-occurrence of inter-related metabolic abnormalities that increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. These patients typically require treatment with two or more antihypertensive agents to achieve blood pressure (BP) control. This 8-week, double-blind study assessed the efficacy and safety of the direct renin inhibitor aliskiren, alone and in combination with the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCT), in patients with stage 2 systolic hypertension (baseline mean sitting systolic BP [msSBP] 160–<200 mmHg) and metabolic syndrome (as defined by NCEP ATP III criteria). Methods: After an initial washout (1–4 weeks), 532 patients were randomized to once-daily aliskiren/HCT 150/12.5 mg or aliskiren 150 mg for 1 week. Doses were then doubled and treatment continued for another 7 weeks. Changes from baseline in msSBP and mean sitting diastolic BP (msDBP) were evaluated using ANCOVA with treatment and region as factors, and baseline BP as a covariate. The proportion of patients achieving BP goal (msSBP/DBP <140/90 mmHg) was also assessed. Results: Overall baseline BP was 165.9/95.6 mmHg. Both aliskiren/HCT and aliskiren provided large BP reductions from baseline at week 8 endpoint (Table). The BP reductions differed significantly between treatments, with least-squares mean differences of –10.2 mmHg (95% CI; –12.9, –7.5; p < 0.0001) for msSBP and –4.4 mmHg (95% CI; –6.0, –2.8; p < 0.0001) for msDBP. A significantly greater proportion of patients treated with aliskiren/HCT achieved BP goal at week 8 endpoint than with aliskiren alone (58.7% vs 34.5%; p < 0.0001). Both treatments were generally well tolerated. Conclusion: Aliskiren monotherapy provided large SBP reductions (–20 mmHg) in patients with stage 2 hypertension and metabolic syndrome. Aliskiren/HCT provided even greater SBP reductions (–30 mmHg) and brought more patients to BP goal. Aliskiren, alone or in combination with HCT, is a highly effective treatment option for patients with stage 2 hypertension and metabolic syndrome. Figure 1. No caption available.


IN asking your attention for the subject of this paper, I feel it necessary to define what seems most properly to be the position it occupies in the work of a Congress of so important a character as the present one. If the object of the Congress were purely the advance of sanitary science into regions of knowledge yet unexplored then it would, I confess, have no place. But the objects of the Sanitary Institute are not only 11 the advancement of sanitary science,&dquo; but also &dquo;the diffusion of knowledge relating thereto,&dquo; and, carrying the application of this knowledge into hractice, also the realisation of this diffused knowledge in improved sanitary arrangements for our population. It is especially in these two last departments that the work of Sanitary Associations claims a recognition in the deliberations of this Congr ess. It is sometimes a long journey to travel from the certain discovery of a scientific troth, through its gradual admission by the educated world, to its incorporation into the beliefs of the mass of the people and its final fruitful result in widespr ead benefit to mankind. The hand that laboured and the brain that


Sapphire is a transparent crystalline dielectric of high hardness with many important applications, specifically to the next-generation touchscreens and to the LED growth, as substrates. However, sapphire cutting by ablative techniques is rather slow therefore fast material separation techniques are needed. Material separation by "stealth dicing" has been recently developed, it is based on material cleaving along a plane weakened by multiple ultrafast laser illuminations. This allows usually generating taper-free cutting and avoids material loss. However, the illuminated plane needs small spacing between the shot to shot (typically a few μm) and long damages inside the bulk. This requires lasers with both high repetition rate and high energy to allow high speed cutting and high aspect ratio damages.


The numerical discretization of problems with stochastic data or stochastic parameters generally involves the introduction of coordinates that describe the stochastic behavior, such as coefficients in a series expansion or values at discrete points. The series expansion of a Gaussian field with respect to any orthonormal basis of its Cameron–Martin space has independent standard normal coefficients. A standard choice for numerical simulations is the Karhunen–Loeve series, which is based on eigenfunctions of the covariance operator. We suggest an alternative, the hierarchic discrete spectral expansion, which can be constructed directly from the covariance kernel. The resulting basis functions are often well localized, and the convergence of the series expansion seems to be comparable to that of the Karhunen–Loeve series. We provide explicit formulas for particular cases, and general numerical methods for computing exact representations of such bases. Finally, we relate our approach to numerical discretizations based on replacing a random field by its values on a finite set. Introduction The numerical discretization of problems with stochastic data or stochastic parameters requires that the random inputs are approximated by finite quantities. This is generally done in one of two ways. Either the random data is expanded in a series, which can be truncated for numerical computations, or it is replaced by a finite dimensional random variable, describing for example the value of a random field on a discrete set of points. A standard approach, falling strictly into the first category, is to expand a random field into its Karhunen–Loeve series. For Gaussian fields, the coefficients in this series are independent standard normal random variables. The independence of these coefficients is crucial to many numerical methods. For example, in Monte Carlo simulation, coefficient sequences can be generated by independent draws of pseudorandom numbers. The construction of polynomial chaos bases as tensor products of orthonormal bases with respect to the distributions of the coefficients also requires that these are independent. Similarly, in collocation and quasi Monte Carlo methods, constructions of collocation points make use of the product structure of the joint distribution of the coefficients. Nevertheless, the Karhunen–Loeve series is often ill-suited for numerical computations, as it requires eigenfunctions of the covariance operator. These are usually not known exactly, and are expensive to approximate numerically. Furthermore, the eigenfunctions generally have global supports. We suggest an alternative to the Karhunen–Loeve series for general continuous Gaussian fields on bounded domains, which we call the hierarchic discrete spectral expansion. Assuming that the covariance kernel is given, the basis functions in our series expansion can be constructed exactly. As these form an orthonormal basis of Date: September 29, 2010. Research supported in part by the Swiss National Science Foundation grant No. 200021120290/1. The author wishes to thank Hans-Jorg Starkloff for his insightful suggestions. 1


Clidinium bromide, rabeprazole sodium, chlordiazepoxide and dicyclomine hydrochloride(COLIWIN-R) drug combinations are used for the treatment of gastric acidity, anxiety, intestinal ulcers, abdominal cramps, irritable bowel syndrome and abdominal pain. A high performance liquid chromatographic method has been developed and validated for the simultaneous determination of clidinium bromide, rabeprazole sodium, chlordiazepoxide and dicyclomine hydrochloride in capsules dosage forms using WATERS C18 column (50 mm × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) with mobile phase consisting of methanol, acetonitrile and phosphate buffer 40:30:30 (V/V) (0.05M, pH 4.0 adjusting with 0.5% ortho phosphoric acid) at a flow rate of 1.0 mL/ min monitoring the effluents at 220 nm. The retention times of clidinium bromide, rabeprazole sodium, chlordiazepoxide and dicyclomine hydrochloride in capsule formulation were found to be 2.9 min, 3.5 min, 4.7 min, and 8.0 min, respectively. The method was validated according to the ICH guidelines for specificity, LOD, LOQ, precision, accuracy, linearity, ruggedness and robustness. The method show good reproducibility and recovery with % RSD less than 2. The proposed method was found to be simple, specific, precise, accurate and linear. Hence, it can be applied for routine analysis of clidinium bromide, rabeprazole sodium, chlordiazepoxide and dicyclomine hydrochloride in pharmaceutical combined dosage forms.


The growth laws that characterize the nonequilibrium kinetics of one-dimensional models with conserved dynamics as they are quenched from a low to a high temperature are examined. Exact results are obtained for the antiferromagnetic Ising model at infinite final temperature. Finite final temperature quenches and models with two competing interactions are studied with Monte Carlo simulations. In all cases, exponential decay of the peak intensity and invariance of the full width at half maximum of the structure factor S(q,t) is found, contrary to results applicable to similar processes in two dimensions. A possible experimental realization of the above models is the disordering of the Si(100)-2 x n metastable state.


A quaternion-based attitude control system is developed for the X-33 in the ascent flight phase. A non-linear control law commands body-axis rotation rates that align the angular velocity vector with an Euler-axis defining the axis of rotation that takes the body-axis system into a desired-axis system. The magnitude of the commanded body rates are deter- mined by the magnitude of the rotation error. The commanded body rates form the input to a dynamic inversion-based adaptive/reconfigurable control law. The indirect adaptive control portion uses on-line system identification to estimate the current control effectiveness matrix to update a control allocation module. The control allocation runs in a null-space injection mode that excites and decorrelates the ef- fectors without degrading the vehicle response in or- der to enable on-line system identification. A direct adaptive control scheme uses the output of a neural network to compensate for dynamic inversion error. The overall system is designed to provide fault and damage tolerance for the X-33 on ascent. Prelimi- nary results are shown to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.


: The article is devoted to the study of the influence of revolution on the cultural processes of society in the "extra-artistic" work of I.A. Bunin, who reacted to the situation of expulsion from the homeland by seeking spiritual support in the values of the traditional faith and D.S. Merezhkovsky, associated with the traditions of romantic theology. The degree of freedom and the dependence of the individual on the social environment is examined, the eternal values of human life, that are necessary for determining the problems of revolution and culture in publicism and writers' diaries of the 1920s, are revealed.


The accurate material parameters of hyperelastic constitutive models are the critical factors for the precision assurance of structural finite element calculation for rubber components. Three basic types of mechanical tests, including uniaxial simple tension(ST), planar tension(PT) and equibiaxial tension(ET), were conducted on carbon black filled rubber, and based on these test data, the fitting abilities of six often used hyperelastic constitutive models were investigated. The prediction performances of these models and the model selection strategies were explored in the case of the incompletion of the three basic types of mechanical tests. It is shown that, in order to accurately describe the large and complex deformation behavior of rubber materials, constitutive model selection strategies should be varied with the combination of the mechanical test types. In the case of complete data under ST, PT and ET tests, Ogden model(N=3) is the first choice, and the Yeoh and Arruda-Boyce model are the substitutive ones. If there are only two types of basic tests available, ET test is preferred, and the Ogden model(N=3) is the best model that can precisely predict the third deformation mode. The Arruda-Boyce model provides most excellent prediction for PT and ET deformation based on the ST test data only.


Abstract : We analyze the robustness of various standard finite element schemes for the Reissner-Mindlin plate and obtain asymptotic convergence estimates that are uniform in terms of the thickness d. We identify h version schemes that show locking, i.e. for which the asymptotic convergence rate deteriorates as d (right arrow) 0 and also show that the p version is free of locking. In order to isolate locking effects from boundary layer effects (which also arise as d (right arrow) 0, our analysis is carried out for the periodic case, which is free of boundary layers.


About 25% of all prostate cancers occur in the transition zone (TZ). TZ carcinoma are often well differenziateci and considered clinically unimportant. On the other site a subset of these tumours characterized by high tumour grade has a significant risk of extraprostatic spread, margin positivity and possible biochemical failure. Routine TZ biopsy does not substantially increase the prostate cancer detection rate; however, it can be useful in patients that require repeat biopsy. We retrospectively analyzed 13 patients with TZ prostate carcinoma in order to evaluate the incidence and the biological behaviour of these types of neoplasm.


Much work has been done in the last two decades extolling the possibilities of digital technologies and their contribution to democratic governance (e.g. Landsberger & Wolken, 2001; West, 2005; Noveck, 2009; Reddick, 2012). A dominant theme in this area is the positive impact of digital technologies, especially communication and information management, in strengthening democratic practices. Such technologies, it is argued, offer the promise of granting voice and access to new or traditionally excluded populations, with far greater efficiency than was possible in the past with older technologies. The topic of this series, Resilient Governance, suggests a new perspective from which to consider digital technologies and the extent to which they can contribute to democratic governance. The question explored here is, how might digitally mediated political processes contribute to the sort of resilience necessary to support a vibrant democracy? In an effort to reveal a different way of conceptualizing applications of digital technology, we take an approach consistent with Raadschelders' (2011) and Newland's (1994) admonitions to broaden and extend the connectedness of governance to other areas of inquiry. Towards that end, this essay proceeds in several steps. First, it presents one depiction of the relationship between resilience and authenticity in governance as a way of considering the role of technology. It then describes a particular sort of threat that technology poses to authenticity and resilience, before defining the concept of authenticity (e.g. King, Felty and Susel, 1998 and Kierkegaard, 1962) and the effect that authenticity has on democratic discourse. In doing so, it also draws on recent thinking about the role of relationship or the social bond in the formation of effective and ethical discourse (Harmon and McSwite, 2011 and Austin, 2010). The essay considers the possible expressions of authenticity and relationship in digitally mediated environments. The piece offers two conclusions. Significant barriers limit authenticity and creation of a robust social bond in digital environments. However, evidence and practices from outside mainstream public administration suggest ways that digital technology and authentic, resilient governance are not wholly incompatible. RESILIENCE, CIVILITY AND AUTHENTICITY In an earlier essay in this series, Mingus and Horiuchi (2012) contend that the rise of incivility constitutes a significant threat to the sustainability of democratic governance in the US. For them, civility entails the capacity to engage in honest, robust discourse, and when combined with resilience, are constitutes a means to combat or resist the malignant problems reflected in ideologically stymied discourse. We want to take up this line of thought and suggest that resilience is a critical attribute of the sort of democratic governance described by King and Stivers (1998), McSwite (1997), Box (1998) and others. In other words, resilience, conceived in this way, is a necessary element in any effort to improve the outcomes of governance processes. To support this claim, we must first point out that civility is more than simply being civil, nice, or polite to one another as some have suggested (e.g. see Martin, 1996). In fact, if we accept that the sort of problems we face as a community are increasingly complex, and even wicked, then our ability to disagree--and perhaps fight--in a productive way, may be crucial to not only political sustainability, but physical sustainability as well. Authentic civility, or social engagement that, "works for all parties and stimulates interest and investment in both administrators and citizens" (King, et. al., 1998, p. 317) and is grounded in such a way as to overcome interest-based divisiveness (Austin, 2010) is central to that ability. For Heidegger (1962), authenticity is a result of critical reflection on one's situation, and the degree to which family, culture, experience and so forth shape it. …


Aim Arctic plants survived the Pleistocene glaciations in unglaciated refugia, but the number of these refugia is often unclear. We use high-resolution genomic data from present-day and Little-Ice-Age populations of Arctic White Heather (Cassiope tetragona) to re-evaluate the biogeography of this species and determine whether it had multiple independent refugia or a single refugium in Beringia. Location Circumpolar Arctic and Coastal British Columbia (BC) alpine Taxon Cassiope tetragona L., subspecies saximontana and tetragona, outgroup C. mertensiana (Ericaceae) Methods We built genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) libraries using Cassiope tetragona tissue from 36 Arctic locations, including two ∼250-500-year-old populations collected under glacial ice on Ellesmere Island, Canada. We assembled a de novo GBS reference and called variants in dDocent. Population structure, genetic diversity, and demography were inferred from PCA, ADMIXTURE, fastsimcoal2, SplitsTree, and several population genomics statistics. Results Population structure analyses identified 4-5 clusters that align with geographic locations. Nucleotide diversity was highest in Beringia and decreased eastwards across Canada. Demographic coalescent analysis of the site-frequency-spectrum dated the following splits from Alaska: BC subspecies saximontana (6 mya), Russia (1.5 mya), Europe (>300-600 kya), Greenland (100 kya). Northern Canada populations appear to be from the current interglacial (7-9 kya). Genetic variants from Alaska appeared more frequently in present-day than historic plants on Ellesmere Island. Conclusions Demographic analyses show BC, Alaska, Russia, Europe, and Greenland all had separate refugia during the last major glaciations. Northern Canadian populations appear to be founded during the current interglacial with genetic contributions from Alaska, Europe, and Greenland. On Ellesmere Island, there is evidence for continued, recent gene flow with foreign variants introduced in the last 250-500 years. These results suggest that a re-analysis of other Arctic species with shallow population structure using higher resolution genomic markers and demographic analyses may help reveal deeper structure and other circumpolar glacial refugia.


mally develop in embryo sac with defective antipodal complex� The antipodal complex is located between the endosperm and the maternal tissues of ovule� The main function of antipodal cells with polytene chromosomes is synthesis of substances for the formation and protection of endosperm syncytium� The antipodal cells of Poaceae pass through consecutive stages of proliferation, differentiation and death� During their differentiation, antipodals nourish the emerging endosperm and the endosperm cellularization induces antipodal cell death� Speculated, the functioning of polyploid antipodal cells gives Poaceae an evolutionary advantage over other plants, because Poaceae is a most widespread group of plants on the Earth� Moreover, antipodal complex is a unique model for understanding the structure of polytene chromosomes� The aim of our work was to study the morphology of the nuclei of antipodal cells isolated from fertilized ovules (containing an inducer of cell death, endosperm) and unfertilized ovules (without endosperm) at different stages of programmed cell death� The work was performed on total specimens of embryo sacs isolated from fixed wheat ovules� We used methods of light microscopy (DAPI staining, acridine orange staining, Ag-Nor staining, immunocytochemical staining by the antibodies to fibrillarin, TUNEL assay) and transmission electron microscopy� We demonstrated that in fertilized embryo sacs during the differentiation, individual giant polytene chromosomes are formed in the nuclei of antipodal cells� During the death, chromosomes become more condensed and come together� Components of nucleoli segregate into the cavities of chromosomes, chromosomes become indistinguishable� Some nuclei can be strongly flattened and oblong. Dense chromatin of some nuclei may be fragmented� Then antipodal cells strongly converge and are absorbed by the endosperm� In the nuclei of antipodal cells from unfertilized embryo sacs, individual chromosomes can be detected at the stage of differentiation� During the death, chromosomes condense, in some cells, chromosomes come together, but complete integration of all chromosomes does not occur� In some nuclei, fragmentation of chromatin takes place, in others degradation of chromatin is observed in the central region of the nucleus� Segregation of the nucleolar components does not occur; nucleoli remain intact longer than the chromatin� Nuclei of antipodals from fertilized and unfertilized embryo sacs at the stage of the death are TUNEL-positive� To sum up, the morphology of the antipodal nuclei from fertilized and unfertilized ovules differs and has its own features�


Safety of beta-carotene in sterilized dairy products under different methods of sterilization, keeping conditions, packing and food form of carotene has been investigated. The standard documentation on sterilized milk "Provita" with different level of fat and content of beta-carotene (0.25 mg/100 g) has been developed.


Telemedicine has been in existence for years with little traction for global mainstream medicine. COVID19 has exposed the importance of providing continued care for patients while minimizing the risk of exposure during pandemics. There has been robust growth in the use of telemedicine since the pandemic began rendering care possible while providing safety to patients and healthcare workers. Various digital applications are available to facilitate telehealth. Even in the absence of a pandemic, telemedicine allows the care of patients who may live in remote areas, or those who have issues with transportation or comorbidities prohibiting ambulation. This study is based on a questionnaire of providers who have been exposed to telemedicine during COVID19. A survey was shared in social media forums involving groups of physicians, and nurse practitioners who were willing to take the survey. Telemedicine is one of the best approaches to handling situations like pandemics or disease surges. In these circumstances, a virtual visit is beneficial for social distancing if a laptop, smartphone, or tablet is available, along with an internet or cellular coverage. Based on this survey conducted for healthcare workers from a variety of specialties, there was a considerable impetus for the continued benefit from telemedicine as an alternative to in-person visits for selected patients. Ongoing improvements in quality of applications/tools, education, and the cost are essential to maintain the benefits of telemedicine. There is also an ongoing necessity for vast improvements in healthcare policies and reimbursements.


in course of pursuing Responsible Development Plan presented the Constitution of Business, in which it included the project of the bill changing the Law of Entrepreneurs. In fact it is merely the amendment of the freedom of economic activity bill (referred to as "USDG") which is currently in force. The ratio of these changes is to stimulate entrepreneurship and to introduce solutions that facilitate the carrying out of business. The purpose of this publication is to analysis rules/declarations contained in the draft law, set out to regulate the status of the entrepreneur in a democratic state of law. The most important solutions have been carefully considered yet despite numerous objections and con-cerns the Ministry of Economic Development is going to introduce them to the legal system. The synthesis of this development is especially current as provisions of a similar wording will appear very often in the course of work on the various normative acts, also on the project of the administrative procedure code.


Gray relational analysis(GRA)method was used to analyze maritime violations happened from 2003 to 2006 over the Nantong water area of Yangtze river.The analysis was ear- fled out from different aspects,in which diverse correlation de- grees were calculated.Based on the result of GRA,reasons were analyzed and countermeasures were discussed.The paper sug- gests that improving crew's quality,enhancing shipping compa- ny's management and strengthening administration of supervis- ing authorities could reduce the maritime violations,and then improve maritime safety.


Electronic structures of organic/organic (O/O) heterojunctions have been studied by photoemission spectroscopy. We showed that vacuum level alignment is only valid for certain O/O heterojunctions rather than a general rule for organic junctions. The mode of energy level alignment is found to depend on the Fermi level position in the organic energy gap. In general, when the Fermi level is near the midgap position, vacuum level alignment at the O/O heterojunction is observed, whereas when the Fermi level is close to the edge of the lowest unoccupied or highest occupied molecular orbital level, Fermi level pinning accompanied by molecular orbital level bending is observed at the O/O heterojunction.


This paper presents the agrochemical mapping model which contains visualization of agrochemical soil characteristics and recommended fertilizations doses. It"s necessary part of systemic continuated monitoring and soil testings with permanent check points. All data are kept in data base which is source of input data (coordinates and agrochemical characteristics of plots) used for mapping and calculation of ferilizer recommendations. This model was written in QBASIC for PC compatible computers. Agrochemical maps and recommended fertilizations for some field crops can be printed on A3 or A4 paper using HPGL device and saved in HPGL files.


The paper deals with density-based clustering of events, i.e. objects positioned in space and time, such as occurrences of earthquakes, forest fires, mobile phone calls, or photos taken by Flickr users. Finding concentrations of events in space and time can help to discover interesting places and time periods. The spatial and temporal properties of event clusters, in particular, their spatial and temporal extents and densities, can be related to each other. According to Tobler's Law, the relationship can be described as follows. Events in a small area can be sparse in time and still connected. On the other hand, events in large areas are likely to be connected if they are close in time. Hence, the temporal distance threshold for density-based clustering should vary depending on the spatial extent of the area in which events happen. Therefore, we suggest a two-step clustering method. In the first step, spatial clusters of events are detected. In the second step, density-based clustering is applied to the temporal positions of spatially clustered events. The temporal distance threshold is chosen individually for each spatial cluster depending on its spatial extent. We demonstrate the work of the method on several examples of real data.


Incorporation of victim participation in the sentencing process through a victim impact statement ('VIS') has been a prominent feature of penal policy in Australian jurisdictions for more than two decades. VISs are mechanisms designed to provide victims with a voice in the hearing and space in which to express their feelings about the impact of the crime. While research suggests that VISs have generally had little impact on sentencing outcomes or patterns more generally, VISs remain a contentious feature of contemporary criminal justice. In particular, the integration of victims in courtroom proceedings is emerging as a challenging issue for the court. Questions are raised about the role of VISs in an adversarial legal framework and the requirement of fairness in the conduct of the proceedings. Fairness is a 'core value in the administration of justice' and is usually associated with the defendant's right to a fair hearing. Nonetheless, the High Court has made it clear that the requirement extends to the interests of all parties to the matter as well as to victims and the community at large.


Nanoparticle stability against coarsening is one of the keys to allow better exploitation of the properties of nanoscale materials. The intrinsically high interfacial energies of nanoparticles constitute the driving force for coarsening, and therefore can serve as targets to design materials with improved thermal stability. In this study, we discuss the surface engineering of TiO2 nanocatalysts for artificial photosynthesis by exploiting the spontaneous segregation of Ba2+ ions to the interfaces of TiO2 nanocrystals. Ba2+ is a strong candidate for photoelectrocatalytic reduction of CO2 and its effects on interfacial energies lead to a remarkable increase in thermal stability. By using a systematic lixiviation method, we quantified the Ba2+ content located at both the surface and at grain boundary interfaces and combined with direct calorimetric measurements of surface energies and microstructural studies to demonstrate that Ba2+ excess quantities directly impact coarsening of TiO2 nanocatalysts by creatin...


Report number 4 of the series synthesizing results of scientific research related to the effects of air pollution and acid deposition on fish and wildlife resources deals with lake ecosystems. The effects of photochemical oxidants, particulates, and acidifying air pollutants on water quality and lake and wetland biota are summarized. The characteristics which indicate lake sensitivity to air pollutants, in particular acidifying pollutants, are discussed.


Within NASA's Project Prometheus, high specific impulse ion thrusters for electric propulsion of spacecraft for the proposed Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter (JIMO) mission to three of Jupiter's moons: Callisto, Ganymede and Europa will require high voltage operation to meet mission propulsion. The anticipated ~6,500 volt net ion energy will require electrical insulation and propellant isolation which must exceed that used successfully by the NASA Solar Electric Propulsion Technology Readiness (NSTAR) Deep Space 1 mission thruster by a factor of ~6. Xenon propellant isolator prototypes that operate at near one atmosphere and prototypes that operate at low pressures (<100 Torr) have been designed and are being tested for suitability to the JIMO mission requirements. Propellant isolators must be durable to Paschen breakdown, sputter contamination, high temperature, and high voltage while operating for factors longer duration than for the Deep Space 1 Mission. Insulators used to mount the thrusters as well as those needed to support the ion optics have also been designed and are under evaluation. Isolator and insulator concepts, design issues, design guidelines, fabrication considerations and performance issues are presented. The objective of the investigation was to identify candidate isolators and insulators that are sufficiently robust to perform durably and reliably during the proposed JIMO mission.


Abstract : Techniques were developed for the accurate measurement of load, elongation and torque generated in a wire rope during an axial static mode of tensile loading. Selection of parameter measurement systems was based upon the unique response of wire rope to axial loads. A tension-torque transducer was designed for the simultaneous but independent measurement of applied load and induced torque. An electro-optical tracking system was adapted for use as a rope extensometer. Measurement of elongation is performed continuously and directly upon a section of the rope. Furthermore, expendable electro-optical- targets permit extension measurements up to and including specimen rupture. Both measurement systems are capable of an accuracy of 1%.


Background: There are clinical studies, where healing of human AT ruptures and specially tendon elongation have been monitored with titan markers. (Mortensen et al, Kangas et al). ANSWER: We agree and now refer to both Mortensen et al. and Kangas et al. (which was unpublished when our manuscript was submitted) in the introduction. The abstract has been changed to highlight that we were interested specifically in the mechanics of healing. Methods: 10 patients is insufficient number. ANSWER: The statistical analysis is correct, and compensates for the number of patients. In spite of this, we now describe this as a pilot study. Results: Included only the median strain per force, which however did not correlate significantly with clinical outcome. Conclusion: Some of this belongs to results, for instance sentence: "Modulus of elasticity..... ANSWER: This has now been corrected, so that results are presented under the right subheading. The centence "RSA has potiential for comparing different treatments of AT ruptures" cannot be a conclusion, because this did not belong to a study protocol. The same concerns individual training and the influence of surgery on the outcome. ANSWER: This has now been corrected, we only say that that the RSA method might have potential for comparing different treatments of Achilles tendon ruptures. Background First sentence is " It is impossible to know when a patient with a healing tendon injury can first be recommended load-bearing, and how much load to start with." There are studies concerning loading after AT rupture repair and the authors could refer to them. ANSWER: None of these studies suggest a method for individual adjustment, but can only suggest general treatment regimes, i.e. "rules of thumb". "Postsurgical treatment has to rely on rules of thumb" There are a few randomized prospective studies concerning postsurgical treatment. See latest Cochrane from AT ruptures. Does preinjury acticity (athlete, recreational athlete, nonathlete) play any role. Does previous tendon problems, tendinopathy play any role. ANSWER: All patients were recreational athletes without previous tendon problems. This is now mentioned in the methods section. Methods Demographic data is insufficient. What is time from injury to treatment? What was preinjury activity of the patients (competitive athletes, recreational athletes, nonathletes). Did any has previous AT problems, and treatment of these? ANSWER: All patients were operated on less than 2 days after injury, and all were seen on the day of injury. This is now mentioned. All patients were recreational athletes without previous tendon problems. This is now mentioned in the methods section. Surgical technique: What was the thickness of Vigryl? Use of one or two Kessler loops? Use of circumferential sutures? Answer: This is now described in the manuscript. Postoperative treatment with 6 weeks of immobilization is today quite conservative postoperative treatment. Today the trend is early motion. Why early motion was not used allowing free plantar flexion but restricting dorsiflexion to neutral? ANSWER: We used the most common treatment, but agree that the trend is going towards early motion. "In this study weight bearing was allowed as tolerated." What does this mean? How it was tolerated? ANSWER: They were allowed full weight-bearing. "as tolerated" has been removed from the text. "Postoperatively the patients started training program." What kind of program? Was it standardized program? How long a time? ANSWER: All patients were seen by the same physiotherapist. This is now described in the text. The elongation was measured first time after six weeks. This is problem, because elongation occurs in every repaired Achilles tendon already within six weeks. (See Kangas et al 2007, Mortensen). ANSWER: Our main interest was to estimate the mechanical properties of the callus tissue at different times. Measuring the elongation from one examination to the next was a secondary objective. We agree that it would be of interest to study elongation during immobilization and intend to do that in a new study. The discussion of this has been rephrased. At one year examination there were 2 major problems: Why repeat loadings were mot measured? Why the pedal forces did not include 200N as in previous measures? ANSWER: Due to the radiation dose, we had to limit the number of exposures. At the one year examination, we chose to use the limited number of exposures allowed, to make a rough load-deformation curve, instead of repeat measurements. We agree that the approximation of the loaddeformation curve as linear is a simplification that makes our estimates rough. However, in a future comparative study this will be a systemic error, and it will be the same for all patients. US was use to measure the transverse area. What was the level? Was it the thickest level? ANSWER: For reasons of standardization, this was done mid-between the distal and proximal markers. The measure error? ANSWER: We did not determine this. Functional outcomes . Functional results were not as good as usually reported in the literature. 50% of the results were unsuccessful (3 fair results, 2 poor results). The analysis of unsuccessful results are lacking. There was only one excellent result. ANSWER: This is probably how the results normally are in an orthopaedic department without special dedication to athletes. These patients were all treated according to every-day routines. Strain per force values had a considerable variation, but did not correlate significantly with outcome. Also the modulus of elasticity showed a great variation. There was also variation in stiffness, but also this did not correlate significantly with outcome. ANSWER: The high variation is one of the important findings of this study. As motivated in the discussion, this variation most probably reflects true biological variation (not measuring error). Why the elongation was not measured within the first 6 weeks. Previous studies of Mortensen et al, Kangas et al) have shown, that elongation is significant already during the first 6 weeks. 4 of eight AT shortened between 18 weeks and 1 year but have no correlation with mechanical property. ANSWER: Our main interest was to estimate the mechanical properties at different times, in order to follow healing. Measuring elongation was a secondary objective. We agree that it would be of interest to study elongation during immobilization and intend to do that in a new study. The discussion of this has been rephrased. (se above) Discussion Discussion is also too long and not compact. Measurement of hysteresis is not perhaps possible with RSA. This is however discussed. Conclusion: My conclusion is, that RSA can be used in this kind of study, but methods have so serious weakneses that his study is insufficient to be published in this journal. ANSWER: It is an entirely new concept to use RSA in this context. The method is simple and fast. We believe that there is interest in the possibilities that the method might enable in future studies. Therefore, we have now rewritten it as a pilot study. Minor Essential Revisions (such as missing labels on figures, or the wrong use of a term, which the author can be trusted to correct) Authors reply to Dr. Narici


In late 2008 the global financial crisis (GFC) sparked a boom in Keynesian economic commentary and activist fiscal policies. The Australian government responded with an immediate $10.4 billion 'cash-splash' to households (Commonwealth Treasury 2008), followed by a $42 billion 'Nation Building and Jobs Plan', which was to include $12.7 billion more hand-outs as well as a $28.8 billion increase in government capital investment. In total, the government 'stimulus' was estimated to be about $52 billion. If we included all discretionary government spending that happened after the GFC then the number would be far higher.


Xiaoshan gold–polymetallic concentrated area is located in Henan Province, central China. The area is principally underlain by typical metamorphic core complexes (MCCs), along with essential components of the basins and ranges of western Henan. Mineralization occurs in the regions where the geochemical anomalies of Au and related elements are widely distributed and consist predominantly of mineralized altered rocks and auriferous quartz veins, both of which are hosted within shear zones or fractures of varying sizes and orientations. Several small‐ to medium‐sized gold–polymetallic ore deposits, along with numerous clustered occurrences, have been found in the area in recent years. However, despite the fact that the Xiaoshan District has traditionally been deemed as an excellent geological endowment area with enormous potential for large‐sized deposits, no significant discoveries have been made to date. It is suggested that the main reason responsible for the present exploration situation could be the scarcity of applications of deep‐penetration geophysical prospecting in the area. It is anticipated that integrating geological and geophysical data would be crucial to enhance the successful mineral explorations. In this contribution, a conceptual geological model for the study area was initially reviewed so that the corresponding electromagnetic responses could then be modelled, which would simulate a geophysical type of survey, with appropriate uncertainties added into the analyses. Then, based on such an integrated approach, the required precision of detecting deep‐buried deposits could then be evaluated. In addition, by employing supplementary geophysical data acquired over known deposits, it is possible to gain more instructive insights into the practical geological model. The viabilities of this approach were demonstrated through a case study in which a hidden gold deposit in the studied area was successfully detected. Geophysical surveys were carried out by employing a grounded‐wire short‐offset TEM (SOTEM) technique and revealed two new anomalies (one of which was subsequently tested by drilling). The drilling then confirmed that this anomaly was caused by an ore body 30 m in thickness occurring at about 550 m below surface.


An ideal model of gastroesophageal reflux produces reflux without altering the anatomic relationships of the reflux barrier. Surgical models which produce reflux, therefore, are not ideal. This study utilized atropine to produce acute changes in reflux parameters without a requirement for invasive surgery. The esophageal components of the reflux barrier, as well as the gastric pressure and volume immediately prior to a reflux event were then measured. Reflux was quantitated by pH monitoring before and after atropine administration. The esophageal component of the reflux barrier was defined as the lower esophageal sphincter pressure and length. The gastric pressure and volumes were measured just prior to a reflux episode and are referred to as the lower esophagus sphincter opening pressure and opening volume. Atropine caused marked reflux in all animals, decreasing all measure components of the esophageal and the gastric components of the reflux barrier. The atropine model of canine gastroesophageal reflux is useful for defining the mechanical aspects of the reflux barrier and has advantages over surgical models which create gastroesophageal reflux.


The method of continuous foam beads moldable, including making: Let comprising a non-crosslinkable composition and the crosslinking agent or a crosslinkable thermoplastic polymers or thermoplastic polymers, as additive to obtain specific properties, a foaming agent prepared by mixing the non-crosslinked or crosslinked thermoplastic polymer foam; and the mixture was extruded under pressure; crosslinked, when used, the mixture under pressure; adjusting the temperature of the mixture to obtain the desired foaming properties; and the mixture was then foamed in a region having a lower pressure to form the foam beads can be molded.


Short-chain alcohols as e.g. methanol and ethanol were found to suppress both the formation of NADP-glycohydrolase by S. griseus and the excretion of enzyme into the medium. The results suggest that the generation of enzyme represents a compartmentized process in which membrane structure is involved.


Replicated field trials to compare the effects on aquatic weed communities of physical (weed cutting) and chemical (diquat-alginate) management techniques were carried out in four U.K. rivers. These rivers varied in water quality but all supported macrophyte communities that included species of Ranunculus subgenus Batrachium. The efficacies of the management techniques were quantitatively evaluated by plant biomass sampling and by the mapping of permanent transects (...)


Objective To observe the toxic effect of erythromycin lactobionate,tetracycline hydrochloride,cyclophosphamide,and ifosfamide on Balb/c mouse liver using gene expression profiles.Methods The mouse toxicological microarray and animal models of four drugs-induced mouse hepatotoxicity established in our laboratory were used to observe the gene expression profiles at different doses and time points after treatment,and to analyze the differential expressed genes by hierarchical clustering and biologic information data-base.Results A total of 302 differential expressed genes were screened out.Clustering analysis showed that cyclophosphamide group and ifosfamide group were classified into one cluster,erythromycin lactobionate group and tetracycline hydrochloride group were classified into the other one,and different cluster characters were found to exist in various time point groups and dose groups.Moreover,some differential expressed genes revealed up-regulation or down-regulation together in the drug groups.Analysis of all differntial expressed genes in genecards showed that they are related to multiple physiolgical functions such as fat metabolism,protein synthesis in stress,antioxidation,inflammation,cell cycle regulation,and drug metabolism,etc.Conclusion The study revealed the gene expression profiles and characteristic genes related to hepatotoxicity in Balb/c mouse induced by four drugs,which may give clues to further studying the molecular mechanism of drug's hepatotoxicity.


This article outlines the evolution of communication studies within the university sector in Aotearoa New Zealand and how this diverse disciplinary field is situated within the academy through teaching and research. It identifies the highly competitive tertiary education structures and systems that can create disincentives for the collective organising of communication scholars both within and between tertiary institutions. At the same time, it acknowledges the international disciplinary contribution of Aotearoa New Zealand researchers, and recent successful inroads into gaining major grants. The article reflects on the challenges that come with the need to position ourselves as 'internationally relevant' while also finding ways of developing and supporting local communication studies initiatives, and contributing to the advancement of Aotearoa New Zealand as a bicultural nation.


Background/Purpose: Multi-primer realtime PCR technique has high sensitivity, high specificity, short result time, simultaneously detecting 19 viruses and 7 types of bacteria at the same time. This study is to determine the prevalence of some bacteria and viruses in children with recurrent pneumonia has respiratory failure by multiplex real-time PCR at the Vietnam National Children's Hospital. Methods: 95 patients (2 months 60 months) with recurrent pneumonia with respiratory failure from May 2019 to April 2020. A prospective study was conducted on convenient sample size. Results: The rate of bacteria was 68,4%, of which H. influenzae infection accounted for 35,8%, S.pneumoniae accounted for 22,1%, atypical bacteria accounted for 9,5%, mainly Mycoplasma Pneumonia. Whooping cough only accounts for 2.1%. The rate of virus was 42,1%, mainly Adenovirus (16.8%), Rhinovirus (8.4%) and RSV (8.4%). The rate of coinfection is 23,2%, most of them are co-infection with bacteria virus (10,5%), coinfection with bacteria bacteria accounts for 9,5%. Virus-virus co-infection only accounts for 3,2%. Conclusion: Most children with severe recurrent pneumonia have Gram-negative infections. Nearly half of them co-infected with viruses or other bacteria. The common agents that cause recurrent pneumonia are H. influenzae, S. pneumoniae and Adenovirus.


Purpose – China is undergoing a radical change as the forces of industrialization and modernization transform its society. Money is taking on an increasingly important role, particularly among young Chinese, as the Western ideals of individualism and hedonism thrive. The goal of this research is to understand attitudes towards money in China and how these attitudes affect elements of consumer behavior such as materialism and vanity.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a well‐accepted scale (with several dimensions) to explore attitudes towards money. Research questions examine how the dimensions of attitudes towards money affect materialism and achievement vanity. The sample comprises 127 young Chinese consumers. Statistical results based on confirmatory factor analysis as well as path analysis are reported.Findings – The findings clearly show that attitudes towards money in China are not monolithic; instead there are variations among young Chinese. Materialism is affected by the power‐prestige an...


We have developed a computational method based on a family of geometric measures for the purpose of classification and identification of families of sulcal curves from human brain surfaces. Topologically correct cortical surfaces of the human brain were extracted from magnetic resonance images. Polygonal curves representing sulcal curves were then generated on each surface. Geometric measures including Gauss integrals, moments and topological features were computed for each curve to obtain a set of feature vectors in a high dimensional vector space. These feature were used to classify the curves into sulcal and hemispheric classes. In our preliminary results, an automatic differentiation between sulcal paths from the left or right hemispheres and individual sulcal curve classification were achieved, indicating these measures may have biological significance in neuroscientific data.


Aims Asthma is the most prevalent long term childhood disease and remains the commonest reason for urgent admissions to hospital in England.1 Providing effective asthma education is associated with reduced hospitalisations.2 The aim of this project was to enhance the awareness of asthma and its understanding through a new informative and engaging educational resource. Methods We designed an educational booklet aimed at children aged 4–10 called Asthmanauts. The child becomes the hero defeating space villains (triggers including pollen and cigarettes) with their inhaler rockets named Captain Blue and Commander Brown. The booklet was trialled at two hospital outpatient departments. A questionnaire given before and after reading the booklet was used to assess its impact on patients' awareness and perceived understanding of key terms. In addition parents were asked if the booklet could enhance their child's knowledge and whether they would recommend it. Results 87.5% of parents (n=16 mean age of child=6 years; 11 males and 5 females) found the booklet enjoyable to read with their children; over 90% found it useful in furthering their child's understanding and would recommend it to others. The correct understanding among children of key terms including triggers, reliever and preventer showed a 14% improvement with the greatest impact on trigger understanding. Doctors and nurses also complimented the booklet requesting copies to use. Conclusion The initial results of this pilot study are very promising and have shown that Asthmanauts has a potential role in asthma education for children. It provided effective information and was recognised and commended by health professionals and patients while being engaging and enjoyable. We now hope to distribute the booklet and determine its role in longer term management. References . NHS England. Childhood asthma 10.10.17. https://www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/ltc-op-eolc/ltc-eolc/our-work-on-long-term-conditions/si-areas/childhood-asthma/ . Coffmann JM, Cabana MD, Halpin HA, Yelin EH. Effects of asthma education on children's use of acute care services: A meta-analysis. Paediatrics2008March;121(3):575–86.


Abstrcat The paper is an empirical study of the popular sociolinguistic phenomenon ChineseEnglish codeswitching on campus in China. The result shows that a positive correlation exists between codeswitching and students' English proficiency,and that gender and topic differences also have some influence on codeswitching. The study reveals that ChineseEnglish codeswitching is a symbol of higher bilingual competence, an effective communicative strategy, and thus beneficial to communication without doing harm to the Matrix Language Chinese.


Understanding physical mechanisms underlying morphogenesis requires the knowledge of the mechanical properties of embryonic tissue. Despite a long-standing interest in this subject, very few in vivo measurements are currently available. Here, using the early fly embryo as a model, we describe a novel cantilever-based technique for measuring material properties of embryonic tissues. A major advantage of our approach is the ability to exert large (nanonewton-range) forces with subcellular spatial precision: our technique improves signal to noise by approximately an order of magnitude compared to previous methods. This advance allowed us to demonstrate that deformation caused by force applied to a single cell edge spreads across the whole embryo on a time scale of seconds and that the mechanical response is dominated by system-size effects, and not friction between the tissue and its environment. Based on these measurements, we estimate the Young's modulus of the cellular edges in the early embryo.


Variation method is widespread adopted to calculate shear lag effect in thin-walled box girder under vertical bending currently.With the development of China′s transportation,the number of long-span,wide and curved box girder bridges are increasing.According to a large number of engineering surveys,it is indicated the shear lag effect result are different between the variation theories and the actual engineering.Focus on the situation,the two methods of variation principle and finite element method are used to calculate the shear lag effect of thin-walled box girder in both concentration and the case of uniform load.Comparative analysis of the differences between the two results provides some reference for shear lag effect calculation of the wide thin-walled box girder.


Fish are the vertebrates that have the greatest number and diversity of parasitic species. Auchenipterus nuchalis (Spix & Agassiz, 1829) is a small fish that occurs in South America, popularly known as "Peruvian mandi". It has twilight habits and its diet is basically composed of aquatic insects and microcrustaceans, which are intermediate hosts of several parasitic species. Although fish are the vertebrate group with the highest number of parasitic species, most of these species are still unknown, therefore, the main objective of this study was to know and identify the Nematoda species that parasitize A. nuchalis and calculate the parasitological indices of each species. 38 A. nuchalis were captured in four expeditions in September, October, November and December 2016, in the Catalao lake complex in the municipality of Iranduba, Amazonas, on the left bank of the Solimoes river and on the right bank of the Negro river, Brazil. The fish measured, on average, 11.8 - 18 (15.1 ± 1.35) cm in standard length and weighed 30.1 – 71.0 (47 ± 10.66) g. The individuals' digestive tract was preserved in 70% ethanol and transported to the laboratory for analysis. Of the total fish collected and examined, 31 were parasitized. Temporary and permanent slides were mounted to identify the parasitic specimens. The measurements of the individuals were made with the aid of a micrometric eyepiece, coupled to an optical microscope. Eighteen individuals of Spinitectus rodolphiheringi Vaz & Pereira, 1934 parasitizing the intestine and stomach of the hosts were collected. Presenting an infection prevalence rate of 26.3%, which characterizes it as a satellite species. Furthermore, this is an unpublished record of this parasite for A. nuchalis and for the Amazon region.


Industrial hygiene gas surveys play a key role in helping industrial hygienists evaluate and determine whether workers are being exposed to hazardous conditions within their workplace environment. Portable gas monitoring instruments can be a valuable tool used in these surveys to provide data that is vital to the success of the mission. In order to ensure the data collected from the instruments is accurate, it is important that the industrial hygienist performing the survey has a clear understanding of the workings of the instrument and the methods it uses for collecting information.


This paper is a study of PWM control method of a circulating current type cycloconverter with a resonant circuit for induction heating. A method of input power factor improvement in the cycloconverter is proposed. Since a circulating current flows through the circulating current reactor, the output currents are nearlly sinusoid and continuous. The cycloconverter can be keep the input displacement factor at 1.0 by control reactive power regardless of load. The operational principles are descrived, the PWM control functions are derived. The simulation results are presented.


Abstract: This work explores the development of automated systems in vehicles to prevent signal jumping, which is a major road safety issue. Advanced sensors and algorithms are utilized to detect traffic signals and maintain a safe speed and distance from other vehicles. The goal is to reduce the number of accidents caused by human error and improve driving experiences. The proposed system has the potential to significantly enhance road safety and help prevent dangerous driving behaviour, such as signal jumping. This work presents the development of automated systems in vehicles to prevent signal jumping, a leading cause of road accidents. The system incorporates advanced sensors and algorithms to accurately detect traffic signals and regulate the vehicle's speed and distance from other vehicles. The goal is to enhance road safety and reduce the incidents of signal jumping caused by human error. The results of this study demonstrate the potential of these technologies to improve driving experiences and make our roads safer for all.


Due to the rapid course of urbanization, the haphazard growth of major cities is one of the challenging situations in front of any country. As unorganized urbanization is becoming the major problem, it requires the immediate solution for sustainable development of urban land. In the emerging scenario it is essential to have updated information on urban growth patterns and its impact on the living environment. The growth and development of cities are likely to continue and therefore there will be a need for proper planning and managing or improving the existing infrastructure facilities. In this juncture, the state of the art technologies Remote Sensing (RS) and Geographic Information System (GIS) can play an imperative role. Pune metropolis is one such rapidly developing city in Maharashtra. This paper explores the study of Urbanization growth of Pune city using RS data and GIS. Keywords - Remote Sensing, Geographic Information system, urbanization, land use, Land cover, town planning


Face recognition on still images has been extensively studied. Given sufficient training data (many gallery stills of each person) and/or high resolution images, the 90% recognition barrier can be exceeded, even for hundreds of different people to be recognized (Phillips et al., 2006). Face recognition on video streams has only recently begun to receive attention (Weng et al., 2000; Li et al., 2001; Gorodnichy, 2003; Lee et al., 2003; Liu and Chen, 2003; Raytchev and Murase, 2003; Aggarval et al., 2004; Xie et al., 2004; Stergiou et al., 2006). Video-to-video face recognition refers to the problem of training and testing face recognition systems using video streams. Usually these video streams are near-field, where the person to be recognized occupies most of the frame. They are also constrained in the sense that the person looks mainly at the camera. Typical such video streams originate from video-calls and news narration, where a person's head and upper torso is visible. A much more interesting application domain is that of the far-field unconstrained video streams. In such streams the people are far from the camera, which is typically mounted on a room corner near the ceiling. VGA-resolution cameras in such a setup can easily lead to quite small faces – down to less than ten pixels between the eyes (Stiefelhagen et al., 2007), contrasted to over two hundred pixels in many of the latest face recognition evaluations (Phillips et al., 2006). Also, the people go about their business, almost never facing the camera directly. As a result, faces undergo large pose, expression and lighting variations. Part of the problem is alleviated by the use of multiple cameras; getting approximately frontal faces is more probable with four cameras at the corners of a room than with a single one. The problem is further alleviated by the fact that the goal is not to derive a person's identity from a single frame, but rather from some video duration. Faces to be recognized are collected from a number of frames; the person identity is then established based on that collection of faces. Far-field unconstrained video-to-video face recognition needs to address the following challenges: • Detection, tracking and segmentation of the faces from the video streams, both for system training and recognition. • Selection of the most suitable faces to train the system and to base the recognition upon. • The face recognition algorithm needs to cope with very small faces, with unconstrained pose, expression and illumination, and also with inaccurate face framing. • Fusion of the individual decisions on faces, to provide the identity of the person given some time interval.


DNA sequence alignment is the most commonly application in computational biology. It is essential pre-requisite of many other operations in computational biology applications. Optimal alignment for a large scale size DNA sequence dataset is a known example of a time and space consuming. The Smith-Waterman algorithm is a well recognized technique to produce optimal alignment between DNA sequences. In this paper, we present a parallel technique for computing Smith-Waterman algorithm. The implementation is done under a master-worker based distributed memory multiprocessors with Single Program Multiple Data (SPMD) architecture. The MPJ Express, an object oriented Message Passing Interface software is utilized to enable instructions and messages to be exchanged between processors. A DNA sequence database is replicated on each processor and therefore the processor has read and writes access to its own database. The model has been evaluated over a network of six processors (one master and five workers) and 24,000 real DNA sequences downloaded from the bio-mirror portal have been used in the experiments.