Quantitative structure‐activity relationship models (QSAR models) predict the physical properties or biological effects based on physicochemical properties or molecular descriptors of chemical structures. Our work focuses on the construction of optimal linear and nonlinear weighted mixes of individual QSAR models to more accurately predict their performance. How the splitting of the application domain by a nonlinear gating network in a "mixture of experts" model structure is suitable for the determination of the optimal domain‐specific QSAR model and how the optimal QSAR model for certain chemical groups can be determined is highlighted. The input of the gating network is arbitrarily formed by the various molecular structure descriptors and/or even the prediction of the individual QSAR models. The applicability of the method is demonstrated on the pK a values of the OASIS database (1912 chemicals) by the combination of four acidic pK a predictions of the OECD QSAR Toolbox. According to the results, the prediction performance was enhanced by more than 15% (root‐mean‐square error [RMSE] value) compared with the predictions of the best individual QSAR model.


This paper operationalizes the Sen-Nussbaum Capabilities Approach (CA) towards measuring household travel welfare shifts after relocating government jobs to China's new towns. As a major type of urban decentralization practice, government job resettlement (GJR) programs have been implemented in several Chinese cities in an attempt to provide seed employment and population in new towns. Nevertheless, the travel welfare impacts of GJR programs are largely under-examined. In this paper, we make the first attempt by proposing a quantitative modelling approach to examining how households undergoing GJR programs have experienced changes in their travel welfare after job resettlement. We contend that travel welfare evaluation should be extended from the current paradigm that focuses on subjective feelings (e.g., satisfaction and happiness) about travel activities and objective measures of trip characteristics (e.g., travel time, travel costs and travel mode choices). We argue that the current evaluative framework can be enhanced by operationalizing the CA. That is, re-conceptualizing travel welfare as having real opportunities or freedom to achieve valuable doings and beings that people have reason to value for their own travel activities. We further propose our CA-based modeling approach and illustrate its promise in correcting some of the conceptual errors in the current travel-welfare models.


A knowledge of the flow characteristics in bends is necessary for designing the bend in open channels and is useful for the economical design of canals. Some of the important characteristics like energy loss, velocity distribution, superelevation have bcen studied in detail by Raju [1], Mockmore [2], Shukry [3] and many others [4, 5, 6 and 7]. But to the knowledge of the authors no literature is available regarding the studies on separation characteristics, except the work of Shukry [3]. Shukry [3, 8] has correlated the position of separation point with Reynolds N umbcr for bends of different central angle (8) and radius (r,). Occurrence of hydraulic jump was observed by Mostafa and Tinney [9] and Marris [10]. In the present investigation length of separation, coefficient of contraction, pressure distribution etc. were studied for subcritical flow for various Reynolds Number, Froude Number and Manning's roughness (n).


In design of a parallel resonant induction heating system, choosing a proper capacitancefor the resonant circuit is quite important. The capacitance affects the resonant frequency, outputpower, Q-factor, heating efficiency and power factor. In this paper, the role of equivalent seriesresistance (ESR) in the choice of capacitance is significantly recognized. Optimal value of resonancecapacitor is achieved by using genetic algorithm method under voltage constraint for maximizing theoutput power of an induction heater, while minimizing the power loss and inverter switchingfrequency at the same time. Based on the equivalent circuit model of an induction heating system, theoutput power, and the capacitor losses are calculated. The effectiveness of the proposed method isverified by computer simulations.


With multi-core technology,parallel computing and parallel programming are increasingly becoming the focus of attention.This paper introduces the concept of parallel computing,and parallel computer architecture;went on to discuss the parallel programming environment and tools,mainly two-MPI and OpenMP model.


This paper presents a summary of the findings that we obtained based on the shared task on machine translation of Dravidian languages. As a part of this shared task, we carried out neural machine translations for the following five language pairs: Kannada to Tamil, Kannada to Telugu, Kannada to Malayalam, Kannada to Sanskrit, and Kannada to Tulu. The datasets for each of the five language pairs were used to train various translation models, including Seq2Seq models such as LSTM, bidirectional LSTM, Conv Seq2Seq, and training state-of-the-art as transformers from scratch, and fine-tuning already pre-trained models. For some models involving monolingual corpora, we implemented backtranslation as well. These models' accuracy was later tested with a part of the same dataset using BLEU score as an evaluation metric.


The elastic moduli of subsurface rocks saturated with geofluid often depend on the wave frequency and confining pressure due to the wave‐induced fluid flow and their significant intrinsic compressibility. Therefore, the knowledge of the pressure‐dependent dispersion of elastic moduli is usually used in broad practical scenarios such as geofluid discrimination and in situ abnormal pressure detection. We propose a simple dual‐porosity model to describe the pressure and frequency dependence of elastic moduli of fluid‐saturated rocks. First, we follow the idea of the Shapiro dual‐porosity model to yield more accurate formulas for pressure‐dependent stiff porosity and crack porosity. Then the new formulas for stiff and crack porosities are utilized to express the bulk and shear moduli of dry rocks as a function of pressure. Further, the bulk and shear moduli of a modified frame (i.e. a rock skeleton with the dry stiff pores and fluid‐saturated cracks) are formulated with the pressure‐dependent elastic moduli of dry rock. In order to consider the wave energy attenuation induced by fluid in cracks, the frequency‐independent fluid modulus imbedded in the formulas for bulk and shear moduli of a modified frame is replaced with a frequency‐dependent one incorporating the effect of viscoelastic relaxation. The effective bulk and shear moduli of entire fluid‐saturated body can be computed by inserting the pressure‐dependent stiff porosity and elastic moduli of a modified frame into the Gassmann equation. Moreover, appropriate simplification is performed on the central equations in the case of low porosity and weak deformation of stiff pores to yield an approximate model. Modelling results show that the proposed model can reasonably account for the nonlinear variation of bulk and shear moduli with the elevating effective pressure and cautiously predict the wave dispersion and attenuation. We validate our model by comparing the predicted elastic moduli with the corresponding results given by Shapiro model–based equations and with the laboratory measurements of five different fluid‐saturated rock samples.


Objective: The dissociative anesthetic tiletamine, which acts on the central nervous system (CNS), is widely used in veterinary medicine and animal experiments. Recent studies indicate that adenosine 5′-monophosphate activated protein kinase (AMPK) plays a key role in the analgesic action of tiletamine. In the present study, the effects of tiletamine on the AMPK signaling pathway in rats were investigated. Methods: Sprague-Dawley rats were injected intraperitoneally with tiletamine and executed at 10, 20, 40 and 60 min post injection. The cerebral cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, cerebellum and brainstem were immediately taken out to evaluate the mRNA and protein phosphorylation levels of liver kinase B1 (LKB1), AMPKα and eIF4E-binding protein 1 (4EBP1) using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction and western blot


Direct emission of terahertz (THz) radiation out of a two-colour semiconductor laser is reported and analysed. The geometry of the tunable two-colour laser is described together with the physical mechanisms responsible for the emission at the THz difference frequency of the two pump colours used. On the basis of this analysis, different possibilities are suggested to increase the emitted THz intensity towards application relevant levels.


In large fiber-glass project, many new techniques will be applied in the aspect of material,craft and installation methods. Inevitably the project management will be more difficult than the normal project. This article introduces the characters and construction methods of a large membrane project and discusses the management of this kind of project. It is promised to be a good reference for any other similar project.


Singular optics studying optical vortices, or phase singularities, has grown rapidly recently because optical vortices have some interesting properties and promising applications, for instance, to construct highly versatile optical tweezers. In this article, the focusing properties of hyperbolic-cosine-Gaussian beam, which contains a non-spiral optical vortex and a spiral optical vortex, are investigated numerically. The phase plate may be used to construct non-spiral optical vortex by putting phase plate in a half section part of hyperbolic-cosine-Gaussian beam. Results show that the parameters of nonspiral optical vortex and spiral optical vortex influence focal intensity distribution considerably, and some novel focal patterns, such as line focal spot, "H" shape focal spot, and intensity peaks array, may occur. Focal shift and focal split may also appear in focal evolution with tunable parameters of vortices terms. The focal evolution differs for different parameters in cosh parts of hyperbolic-cosine-Gaussian beam.


In order to improve the measurement accuracy of seawater salinity,a new measurement method is given.Making use of the character of nuclear magnetic resonance which is fit for liquid,precise quantitative analysis of seawater elements is carried out.At last,the precise value and more detailed and complete procession is got across establishing mathematical model.This measurement is a creative mind and is still in the theoretical research stage at present.There are much more work to do to go deeply into the research and discussion for the future,a breakthrough in the theory and method maybe possible.The accuracy of measuring instrument for seawater salinity will be highly improved,which will be very important to the oceanography and bring our country more participation in the new edition of the international salinity scale in the future.


Abstract Masons' marks can be found on stone buildings where the stone is taken to a high degree of finish, but the date of the introduction of this practice into England has yet to be established. Buildings from the Anglo-Norman Period display marks, but it is not clear whether the Normans introduced the concept or it was present in the Anglo-Saxon Period. The fabric of buildings from both sides of the Conquest, and from Roman sites, is therefore analysed to determine the date of introduction, drawing comparisons with early 11th-century buildings in Europe. Since the degree of finish of the stonework closely connects to the use of marks, the treatment of stonework in the 11th century and in the earlier Anglo-Saxon Period is considered, and comments made on the organisation of the building and stone-supply industries of the mid-11th century.


The present invention relates to a method for using the apparatus and this acquisition apparatus for acquiring information on the person of one or both iris check the person's identity, identity verification process according to the present invention, either or both of the person the image of the iris 102, the first axis and the first axis and perpendicular to claim 2 wherein one or both iris 102 image along an axis passing through the center of both the iris 102 of the person why ideal conversion (歪 像 的 變換, anamorphosic transformation) step of capturing through the optical transformation means 160 of the acquisition unit (150) configured to have an effect (202); Processing for encoding the captured image in the form of one or two models (204); Further comprising: control the resultant model and the reference model stored in the storage means 156 (206); From the results of the verification step 206 comprises the step 208 of determining whether or not with respect to the authorization of the identity of the person. Iris, identification, anamorphic, acquisition device, biometric Science,


A shower apparatus equipped with a water purifying device and a direr is provided to allow safe shower for sensitive skin by removing rusts, colloids, and heavy metals contained in tap water and to facilitate drying a user's face body using hot wind supplied by the direr without a towel. A shower apparatus comprises: a water supplying housing(8) including a shower(6) connected to cold and hot water pipe(11,11') established in the wall through a flexible tube(7); a box shaped main body; a water purifying device to filter and remove foreign matters contained in water; a direr box(2) to supply hot wind to a user's face and body through a hot wind pipe for the face and a hot wind pipe for the body(17); a body drier(13) having a hot wind outlet(14) for exhausting hot wind toward the use's body; a connective pipe(12) one end which is established on top of the main body and which includes a water discharging pipe; and a shower head(16) established on the other end of the connective pipe, which is connected to the water discharging pipe and the hot wind pipe for face.


Etching of GaN materials has attracted great attention because of the need in fabricating blue-green light-emitting diodes, laser diodes and possibly other optoelectronic devices.


Experiments at SLC and LEP have made preliminary measurements of the relative partial widths of the c and b quarks. Using D* tagging, DELPHI has found R{sub c}{bar c}{triple bond}/{Gamma}{sub c}{bar c}/{Gamma}{sub hadr.} = 0.162 {plus minus} 0.032 {plus minus} 0.031, in good agreement with the Standard Model value of 0.171. ALEPH has used semileptonic decays of charm to obtain 0.148 {plus minus} 0.044 {sub {minus}0.038}{sup +0.045}. Three experiments have used semileptonic {Beta} decays to measurement R{sub b}{bar b}: R{sub b}{bar b} = 0.23 {plus minus} 0.10 (Mark II), 0.218 {plus minus} 0.010 {plus minus} 0.021 (L3), and 0.220 {plus minus} 0.016 {plus minus} 0.024 (ALEPH). All agree well with the expected value of 0.217. The uncertainty in branching ratios of c and b hadrons is the largest systematic error in all of the results. Future LEP measurements of the branching ratios may reduce the errors. R{sub b}{bar b} will also be measured with different, and possibly lower, systematic errors by Mark II using impact parameter tagging.


A mode choice model that generates on-demand air travel forecasts at a set of GA airports based on changes in economic characteristics, vehicle performance characteristics such as speed and cost, and demographic trends has been integrated with a model to generate itinerate aircraft operations by airplane category at a set of 3227 airports. Numerous intermediate outputs can be generated, such as the number of additional trips diverted from automobiles and schedule air by the improved performance and cost of on-demand air vehicles. The total number of transported passenger miles that are diverted is also available. From these results the number of new aircraft to service the increased demand can be calculated. Output from the models discussed is in the format to generate the origin and destination traffic flow between the 3227 airports based on solutions to a gravity model.


We study the semigroup IO∞(Znlex) of monotone injective partial selfmaps of the set of Ln ×lex Z having co-finite domain and image, where Ln ×lex Z is the lexicographic product of n-elements chain and the set of integers with the usual order. We show that IO∞(Znlex) is bisimple and establish its projective congruences. We prove that IO∞(Znlex) is finitely generated, and for n = 1 every automorphism of IO∞(Znlex) is inner and show that in the case n > 2 the semigroup IO∞(Znlex) has non-inner automorphisms. Also we show that every Baire topology τ on IO∞(Znlex) such that (IO∞(Znlex), τ) is a Hausdorff semitopological semigroup is discrete, construct a non-discrete Hausdorff semigroup inverse topology on IO∞(Znlex), and prove that the discrete semigroup IO∞(Z n lex ) cannot be embedded into some classes of compact-like topological semigroups and that its remainder under the closure in a topological semigroup S is an ideal in S.


Objective To investigate the changes of right heart function of patients with atrial septal defect closure before and after treatment by using real-time three-dimensional echocardiogranhy(RT-3DE).Methods A total of 33 patients diagnosed ostium secundum ASD were selected.All of the patients were checked through transthoracic real-time three-dimensional echocardiography(RT-3D-TEE).Then we detected and analysed the indexes related to right ventricular function before and after closure treatment.Results The indexes of ASD patients such as right ventricular end diastolic diameter(RVEDd),right ventricular end-diastolic volume(RVEDV) and right ventricular end-systolic volume(RVESV) reduced obviously(P 0.01) then those before closure treatment.While right ventricular fractional area change(RVFAC) and three-dimensional right ventricular ejection fraction(3D-RVEF) of the patients after transcatheter closure were lower than those before operation(P 0.01).But after operated for 3 months it slowed down,and for 6 months achieved a new balance.Conclusion ①The right heart function of ASD patients can be improved in different degree after interventional therapy.②Real-time three-dimensional echocardiography(RT-3 DE) evaluating for the right heart function is convenient,noninvasive,easily repeatable,sensitive,accurate and advanced.It can evaluate for the right heart function accurately and comprehensively.


Using a Chandlerian strategy/structure framework for comparative purposes, the authors examine the early development of an important public institution, The World Bank Group. As they demonstrate, The Bank gradually evolved toward the model provided by the multidivisional or M-form corporation. In its early years, The Bank was a centralized organization with functional departments and a unique check and balance system to control lending. Guided by signals coming from its development personnel, The Bank evolved incrementally until 1952, when a formal reorganization took place. In the years that followed, functional considerations continued to reshape this innovative institution. Then, under President Robert McNamara, The Bank acquired a new and broader mission that led to another formal reorganization in 1972. The authors analyze the cultural as well as organizational aspects of these changes, relating them to a series of long cycles of innovation at The Bank.


The three coal char samples gasification processes at various temperature in carbon dioxide were studied via thermogravimetry analyzer Netzsch STA 449. Samples of Kuznetskiy deposit anthracite and bituminous coal and Kansko-Achinskiy deposit lignite with different carbon content were used. Experimental results were analyzed via three kinetic models: volumetric, shrinking core and random pore. The particle size distribution function was used as well. The obtained activation energy values are in good agreement with previously published data. The particle size distribution function implementation in reaction rate analysis allowed to increase a correlation coefficient value up to 0,9 for all models.


The recycling of endogenous calcium across the inner membrane of incubated mitochondria consists of a passive efflux of calcium from the matrix which is compensated by an active re-uptake of this ion from the medium. Upon addition of ruthenium red which inhibits only the re-uptake, mitochondrial calcium accumulated in the medium at a rate of 3.5 nmol × min−1× mg protein−1. The ATP balance of this experiment, measured with the help of [2-14C]pyruvate as a substrate, revealed that ruthenium red inhibited about 20% of the energy dissipation of the mitochondria. It is concluded that the calcium recycling is one of the processes related to state 4 respiration of the mitochondria.

Ca/O ratios for the calcium recycling were calculated from the rates of calcium release into the medium and the concomitant decrease in the respiratory rates observed after addition of ruthenium red. When the calcium transport system was progressively inhibited with increasing concentrations of ruthenium red, the intramitochondrial ATP/ADP ratios and the rates of calcium release gradually increased up to a maximal value, whereas the Ca/O ratios concomitantly decreased. Moreover, in the presence of barely uncoupling concentrations of dinitrophenol the Ca/O ratios were larger than in the control, whereas in the presence of oligomycin they were smaller. These results indicate that the efficiency of mitochondrial calcium transport decreases when the mitochondria approach a state of a maximal energy charge.


Capacitive sensor for detecting a physical quantity, comprising: - a sensor element (10) having a movable electrode (1a, 1b), which is in accordance with a change of a physical quantity displaceable, and a first and a second fixed electrode (2a, 2b) (the movable electrode 1a, 1b ) are opposed, wherein a first voltage (PW1) (with a periodic carrier wave to the first fixed electrode 2a) and a second voltage (PW2) with a periodic carrier wave to the second fixed electrode (2b) is placed, and wherein the first and the second voltage (PW1, PW2) are connected to the periodic carrier waves inversely to each other; and - a detection circuit (20) having a capacitance-voltage converter (21) to which an input voltage (Vin) corresponding to a change of a capacitance (C1, C2) between the movable electrode (1a, 1b) and the first and the second fixed electrode (2a, 2b) is added, and output from a voltage signal corresponding to the change of the capacitance (C1, C2), wherein ...


In the title compound, C21H17N3O2, the triazole ring system is inclined at dihedral angles of 4.14 (18) and 69.24 (11)° with the naphthalene ring system and phenyl ring, respectively. In the crystal, molecules are linked by C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds into double columns propagating along the b-axis direction.


A senior American economic geographer examines a broad array of geographical factors affecting economic relations among the Soviet successor states (particularly Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan) and relations among their constituent regions. Special attention is devoted to legacies of unequal resource endowment and infrastructure development from the Soviet period (e.g., monopolization and spatial concentration of production capacity, "trunklining" of distribution nets) and other factors perpetuating dependency relationships in post-Soviet economic space. 3 tables, 66 references.


The housing includes a body 112 made of aluminum having formed therein an elongate concavity and an end plate 114 steel in which is formed an elongate concavity, the casing and the plate are adapted against each other with interposition of a gasket 118 made of steel and a support 118a to the gasket so that the two concavities form a chamber 120 pressure-resistant due to the presence of reinforcement means 126, the concavity of the plate having a slot 128 through which sealingly passes a plate 145 carrying a series of detector elements, the chamber also containing a clamping plate 144 parallel to the plate which carries the detector elements and being filled with a dielectric gas under pressure ( xenon) which can be ionized by the radiation. (CF DRAWING IN BOPI)


A measurement of the magnetic form factor of a ferromagnetic actinide compound of UTe with circularly polarized X-rays is reported. The present geometrical configuration of the measurement gives a form factor of L ( k )+0.3 S ( k ), where L ( k ) and S ( k ) are the form factors of the orbital and the spin magnetic moment, respectively. We have combined the X-ray magnetic form factor with the neutron one which gives L(k)+2S(k) (G. Busch e t a l .: J. Phys. C 12 (1979) 1391), and have deduced L ( k ) and S ( k ) separately. The obtained profiles of L ( k ) and S ( k ) show that the orbital and the spin magnetic moments are spatially spread out more than those calculated for a free uranium ion.


Joseph and Ernest Docker made photographs of their pastoral property, Thornthwaite, near Scone, between 1860 and 1869. Their small, delicate photographs are presented in album format and depict the homestead from different angles and from varying degrees of distance. The photographs show the cleared land, a garden, river scenery and the wider environment, including the Liverpool Ranges to the north. In addition to the circulatory pattern of photographing the homestead the album of photographs situates Thornthwaite within the wider Australian environment and wilderness scenery, especially from North America. This paper will argue that the album of photographs creates Thornthwaite as a wilderness, despite signs of settlement. The Dockers, moreover, choose a melancholic rather than optimistic tone for their photographs, further enhancing the perception of the land as isolated and empty. Disavowing the Indigenous understanding of the land (including their prior ownership, cultural interaction and continued presence within the landscape) the photographs create Thornthwaite as a romanticised, nostalgic and isolated wilderness space. Indeed, later in his life, Ernest Docker reproduced a photograph of a river scene taken on Thornthwaite with the title Evenings Shadows, a possible reference to Stephen Johnstone's painting. Although the paradigm of melancholia has been significant within Australian literature and painting it is subject to little commentary in relation to photographs. Using Ian McLean's proposition of melancholia as denial of Indigenous heritage, this paper will argue that the Dockers' photographs work to overcome the horror of dispossession. Whilst the photographs could be seen as a tacit acknowledgement of colonial guilt, Ernest Docker took a nostalgic pleasure in seeing Thornthwaite as melancholic, troubling a possible redemptive interpretation of the images.


A family of CoCl2(PNpy) complexes were prepared, where PNpy = 2-iminopyridyl-phosphine ligands derived from aminoalkyl and aminoaryl phosphines and 2-keto- and 2-formylpyridines. Reduction of CoCl2(PNpy) complexes in the presence of PPh3 gave CoH(PNpy)(PPh3) and CoMe(PNpy)(PPh3), which were active for hydrofunctionalization of alkenes. According to DFT calculations, the CoMe(PNpy)(PPh3) complexes are best described as Co(II) derivatives of the anion [PNpy]−, with a labile PPh3 coligand. Metalation of Na[Ph2PC2NHpy] gave the dimers [CoCl(Ph2PC2NHpy)]2. Monomeric complexes catalyze hydrosilylation of 1-octene with Ph2SiH2, with the CoCl2(iPr2PC3NHpy)/2NaBEt3H system exhibiting the highest rate and selectivity for anti-Markovnikov product. In situ NMR studies established the following: (i) silanes protonolyze catalyst precursors to give the Co-silyl complexes Co(SiR3)(Ph2PC6H4NPhpy)(PPh3), (ii) alkenes compete with PPh3 to give Co(SiHPh2)(Ph2PC6H4NPhpy)(η2-alkene), (iii) ethylene inserts into the Co–Si bond ...


A fixing device which can reduce an overshoot of the surface temperature of a main heating section without lengthening a warming-up period of time, an image forming apparatus equipped therewith, and a recording medium on which is recorded the temperature control program are provided. In a standby mode, control is performed to stop an operation of a halogen lamp which is an internal heat source, when a surface temperature of a heating roller reaches a certain temperature lower than a target temperature, or when the operating period of time of the halogen lamp reaches a certain period of time. By so doing, as the heating roller ceases to be heated at a point at which it reaches a temperature lower than the target temperature, it is possible to reduce the overshoot of the surface temperatureof the heating roller.


Neural networks and their variations have been widely applied to classification problems. Among them, the classification of mixtures using neural networks has been investigated by experts from both signal processing and chemical fields. However, the extracted features of beverages such as water, soft drinks, and alcohols, are usually highly collinear. Therefore, traditional methods or simple artificial neural networks may not yield the most accurate results. In this article, several steps were introduced to improve the classification accuracy. Firstly, proper system design and measurement methods were used to mitigate errors. Secondly, deep belief network was applied to adapt to the non-linearity and collinear of features. Finally, suitable learning method was selected. As a result, our system could classify samples from various bottled water branches with nearly 100% accuracy.


INTRODUCTION In 2016, a new revision of the ASTM C457 Standard Test Method for Microscopical Determination of Parameters of the Air-Void System in Hardened Concrete was introduced that includes for the first time a Procedure C automated contrast enhanced method [1]. Automated methods for performing hardened air void analyses are nothing new, and have been around in one form or another since the 1970s [2]. Round-robin test regimes that compare automated methods with the traditional manual linear traverse (Procedure A) and manual modified point count (Procedure B) methods are nothing new either [3-5]. In these previous round robins, concrete samples were prepared and analyzed by one lab, and the same samples circulated to other labs for measurement on the already-prepared surfaces. The only added twist with the round robin regime introduced here, is that each lab had to prepare their own concrete coupon, with all coupons cut from a pair of concrete cylinders—cylinders cast during the construction of the CN Tower. As a result, the variability of sample preparation is included, as well as potential variation within the concrete itself, in addition to the already-explored issues of operator variability, and variability introduced by different analytical equipment. This approach provides a more holistic assessment of the inherent variability within the ASTM C457 test method.


A quantitative data set of RNA, proteins, and metabolites provides an unprecedented starting point to understand, at a systems level, the effects of perturbations on a cell.


Vital statistics of a population of a non native freshwater fish, the guppy Poecilia reticulata Peters, 1859 from a semi-abandoned pond nearby Santa Marta, Colombia, are reported. Estimates include growth, mortality, length-weight relationship, sex ratio and male versus female numbers and sizes. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters were found typical of the species, growth form was isometric for both sexes and under lab versus field conditions, and females were significantly more numerous and bigger than males. Results were compared to published data and the plasticity of this species is discussed.


The catalytic activities of three kinds of transition metal salts—AuBr3,CuCl and CuBr2—have been compared in A3 coupling reaction to synthesize propargyl amines.The activities of aromatic aldehydes,aliphatic aldehydes,primary amines,and secondary amines have also been compared,with the reasons analyzed.The results showed that AuBr3 had the best catalytic activity,while aromatic aldehydes and secondary amines had the highest production rate and the best effect.


The kinoform is attractive because of the high diffraction efficiency and the manner of on-axial reconstruction. In this work, we use the Gerchberg-Saxton iterative algorithms to optimize phase distribution of the kinoform. The phase in each pixel is then quantized into a set of eight-level values. The surface of quartz glass plate is etched to a depth determined by the corresponding phase retard, forming a kinform with stair-like surface relief. The optical experiments are canied out. The on-axial reconstruction image with high fidelity and high efficiency is obtained.


The structural consequences of proton transfer in complexes of phenol (1), 2,6-dichlorophenol (2), 4-nitrophenol (3) and 2,6-dichloro-4-nitrophenol (4) with pyridine were analyzed on the basis of results of B3LYP/6–31G** calculations. Three methods of describing the progress of proton transfer are proposed: the O—H [d(OH)] and C—O [d(CO)] bond lengths and the fraction XPT of the proton transfer form, calculated from the values of the dipole moments. The d(OH) parameter reveals behaviour near to XPT and can be used as a universal measure of the degree of proton transfer. The d(CO) parameter gives nearly linear dependences for various structural parameters, but independent estimation of the specific effects of the substituents is necessary, as separate correlations for each complex are found. A role of resonance interaction in systems containing a p-NO2 substituent is demonstrated. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Aquaporin(AQP) is critical in coupling water and nutrients,which is an important mechanism of crop water(WUE) and nutrient(NUE) use efficiency.Differences in leaf water use efficiency(LWUE) and in aquaporin gene expression in waxy maize varieties were tested under various stress conditions.The stress conditions used in the study included low nitrogen(0.5N,half dose nitrogen of 0.5 Hoagland solution),high nitrogen(1.5N,1.5 times nitrogen of 0.5 Hoagland solution),drought(10% PEG with ?0.1 MPa water potential) and salt(200 mmol·L?1 NaCl).Expressions of three AQP genes in the roots of waxy maize were tested by the RT-PCR method.The results showed that LWUE in three waxy maize varieties was less under 0.5N treatment than that under CK.It was,however,higher than that of CK under 1.5N and PEG treatments.TIP2a,TIP2b and TIP3.1 genes expressions were partially or completely suppressed under 0.5N stress treatment.The gene expressions were,however,amplified under 1.5N(for 6 h) and PEG(for 9 h) treatments.This suggested that TIP gene family was enhanced by nitrogen,drought and salt stress.Furthermore,the expression of TIP and LWUE were weaker under 0.5N treatment than under CK,but stronger on different degrees under PEG and 1.5N treatments than under CK.Close relations were noted between TIP gene expression and change in WUEL.These findings indicated that WUE was largely controlled by the levels of TIP expression,which was different among waxy maize varieties.


SMART is a medium sized integral type advanced pressurized water reactor currently under development at KAERI. The steam generators of SMART are designed with helically coiled tubes and these are designed to produce superheated steam. The helical shape of the tubes can induce strong centrifugal effect on the secondary coolant as it flows inside the tubes. The presence of centrifugal effect is expected to enhance the formation of cross-sectional circulation flows within the tubes that will increase the overall heat transfer. Furthermore, the centrifugal effect is expected to enhance the moisture separation and thus make it easier to produce superheated steam. MARS is a best-estimate thermal-hydraulic systems analysis code with multi-phase, multi-dimensional analysis capability. The MARS code was produced by restructuring and merging the RELAP5 and the COBRA-TF codes. However, MARS as well as most other best-estimate systems analysis codes in current use lack the detailed models needed to describe the thermal hydraulics of helically coiled tubes. In this study, the heat transfer characteristics and relevant correlations for both the tube and shell sides of helical tubes have been investigated, and the appropriate models have been incorporated into the MARS code. The newly incorporated helical tube heat transfer package ismore » available to the MARS users via selection of the appropriate option in the input. A performance analysis on the steam generator of SMART under full power operation was carried out using the modified MARS code. The results of the analysis indicate that there is a significant improvement in the code predictability. (authors)« less


Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) has been used for the production of fused silica optics in high power laser applications. However, relatively little is known about the ultraviolet (UV) laser damage threshold of CVD films and how they relate to intrinsic defects produced during deposition. We present a study relating structural and electronic defects in CVD films to the 355 nm pulsed laser damage threshold as a function of post-deposition annealing temperature (THT). Plasma-enhanced CVD, based on SiH4/N2O under oxygen-rich conditions, was used to deposit 1.5, 3.1 and 6.4 μm thick films on etched SiO2 substrates. Rapid annealing was performed using a scanned CO2 laser beam up to THT~2100 K. The films were then characterized using X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and photoluminescence (PL). A gradual transition in the damage threshold of annealed films was observed at THT up to 1600 K, correlating with a decrease in NB silanol and broadband PL emission. An additional sharp transition in damage threshold also occurs at ~1850 K indicating substrate annealing. Based on our results, a mechanism for damage-related defect annealing is proposed, and the potential of using high-THT CVD SiO2 to mitigate optical damage is also discussed.


Given the importance of family ties for social skills learning and development, as well as the role of behavior transmission from parent to child, the aim of this paper is to present two studies on intergenerational family relationships. The first study assessed 142 dyads of adult parents and adolescents, and the results showed evidence of intergenerational transmission of various social skills, especially among mothers and their adolescent children. Furthermore, the data show the influence of the relationship between parents and adolescents in the repertoire of social skills of children, suggesting the importance of this relationship. The second study investigated 113 dyads of older parents and adult children. Similarities were found for 29 of the 38 evaluated social skills as well as between the overall scores of social skills for both age groups, which highlights the intergenerational transmission of social skills for elderly parents to their adult children. One has found positive correlations between social skills and relationship quality assessed by parents and children. We discuss the evidence of the intergenerational transmission of social skills and the impact on the quality of family relationships, and the implications of these results for planning intervention programs in social skills and quality of life.


In terms of designing daylighting of good quality, it is very important and necessary to predict and evaluate in advance the luminous environment in an interior space. Therefore, not only illuminance but also luminance distributions by daylight in an interior space should be predicted as precisely as possible. A new method of daylight calculation was developed. This method predicts luminous environment in an interior space of arbitrary shape lit by sunlight and skylight through the translucent or transparent openings. A new daylight source model under all-weather conditions is developed for the direct illuminance calculation. The luminous flux transfer method is adopted for the indirect or total illuminance calculation. In the luminance calculation, the sky luminance distribution seen through the transparent openings is predicted as well as the interior luminance distribution. The method was applied to a computer program of daylight and artificial light calculation on a membrane structure with open and closed translucent roofs under any condition of weather, location, date and hour. The program predicts the illuminance distribution in the interior space and the luminance distribution on the visual field watched at any view point. The luminance contrast of the fly ball is also predicted in the case of a baseball stadium.


pandemics like SARS were partly affected by climatic variations such as air pollutant, air temperature and 7 humidity. Recent studies also reported the connection between environmental variables and COVID-19. All studies have consensus that the transmissibility of COVID-19 are more communal in winter season as compare to summers, further they evaluated that air quality is also impacting the severity of COVID-19, as lungs function become 8,9 compromised due to certain air contaminants. Moreover, the viruses like corona virus can stay on 10 different material surfaces for many hours. Furthermore, the behavior of humans is also contributing to the spread of these pandemic. Human behavior depend on the demography, population size, migration, agriculture growth, contact with domestic and wild animals and climate change which includes soil erosion, habitat invasion 11,12 and deforestation and pattern of rainfalls. To prevent COVID -19 rapid spread is a global challenge., because variability of this disease also depends upon the type of the environment and climate factors. This aspectneed thorough investigation. This review aimed to examine the role and effect of various environmental factors such as temperature, humidity, air quality, water and surfaces, on the prevalence and transmission of COVID-19 pandemic (Figure 1). Introduction SARS-COVID-19 outbreak was first reported in the city of Wuhan, China , in December, 2019 and initially 1 treated as pneumonia of unknown etiology. Afterwards, Center for Disease Control (CDC) present in China, analyzed the respiratory samples of the patient and declared that the pneumonia is caused by a novel corona virus and they named it as Novel 2 Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP). Later on the International Committee on Taxonomy of virus named it as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome 3 Coronavirus-2. World Health Organization (WHO) th named it as COVID-19 on 11 February, 2020 and 4 declared it as pandemic. In an attempt to understand the pandemics like coronavirus, studies have inspected the factors that 5 could influence the spread of coronaviruses. In general, three major factors are affects the epidemiology of communicable diseases. These includes agent for transmission, host and 6 environment. In history, the occurrence of COVID-19 and Environment Mahwish Ali


The study investigated mentalistic and descriptive discourse between school-aged children with visual impairment (VI) from birth, age 6-12 years, and their sighted mothers during joint book narrative (n=12), and in comparison to a group of sighted children of comparable age and verbal ability, and their mothers (n=14). The mothers of children with VI referred to the story characters' mental states and used descriptive elaborations to a greater extent than did the mothers of sighted children. The more mentalistic language the mothers of children with VI produced, the more mentalistic language was spoken by their children, although this was not independent of mothers' verbosity. The frequency of maternal elaborations, including their mentalistic language, was related the VI child's verbal cognition and socio-communicative competence. The findings offer an insight into nature and value of verbal scaffolding provided by mothers to their children with VI, shedding light on a potential candidate for future interventions.


This study aimed to evaluate the outcomes in patients undergoing balloon‐assisted enteroscopy (BAE) with heat probe or argon plasma coagulation and to identify risk factors for recurrent bleeding.


The utility model relates to a new electrochemical capacitor, which is characterized in that: ion insertion materials are used in the anode of the capacitor as anode active materials; a porous carbon electrode with larger specific surface area is used in the cathode of the capacitor; organic electrolyte solution is adopted as the electrolyte; an electronic insulating membrane is arranged between the anode and the cathode electrode for the ion passing through. The utility model has the advantages of high energy and power density, better application prospect, and is widely used in the electric energy storage in the fields as the electronic industries, transportation, electric power, and mining and metallurgy.


Heterogeneous gas–liquid interactions play a fundamental role in many atmospheric processes. Pivotal for the understanding of such processes is the rate of gas uptake by the relevant liquid. Accurate experimental techniques have been developed to study uptake of gases by liquids. Gas–liquid interactions have already been investigated for more than thirty gas-phase species encompassing two classes of molecules: (1) those that do not react in the liquid but are readily solvated by it and (2) those that have low solubility in the liquid but react in the liquid rapidly to form highly soluble species. Uptake studies of non-reactive gas molecules in water have been explained by a model which treats the water surface as a narrow region of a dense gas-like state within which trace gas–solvent collisions occur. Gas accommodation occurs via nucleation of solvent molecules. Uptake studies for reactive gas molecules indicate that, for some species, reaction rates are much more rapid at the liquid interface than in the bulk liquid. The results of non-reactive and reactive uptake experiments are brought together here. The uptake model is briefly described, and the implication of the model for the kinetic nature of liquid surfaces is examined. Reaction-driven uptake studies which provide clear evidence for reactions at the gas/liquid interface are presented. The nature of interfacial reactions and their connection to the uptake model are examined.


Is it possible to verify the statements of faith? This article claims to open a discussion with the French philosopher Dominique Dubarle's teaching, expressed particularly in a lecture titled The Verification of the Statements of Faith and the Theological Experience. Theological experience must here be understood in a strong meaning of both parts of this term: it is not only a 'religious experience', which has too ambiguous or too weak meaning, but an experience with a certain objectivity, mediating a knowledge of God. How this experience can be situated in the structure of the mind? Dominique Dubarle in his lecture introduces an interesting discussion on the meaning of the 'active mind'. Under which conditions a human experience can be qualified as the theological one, it is a real experience of God? Considering the role of freedom in the constitution of faith, we should not forget that the statements of faith are always singular.


The reduction of the Δ2-oxazolinones (I) in the presence of (S)-(-)-α- phenylethylamine (II) leads to the formation of the amide (III), preferred in the (R,S)-configuration.


A high-pressure gas discharge lamp with a cooling arrangement (7, 71, 83, 82) is described, which is characterized in particular in that the lamp can be operated at an increased power, an increase in the temperature of the coldest spot in the lamp interior generating a higher gas pressure, while the cooling arrangement (7, 71, 83, 82) is constructed and dimensioned such that a devitrification of the lamp bulb (43) and a condensation of the filling gas are substantially prevented at said increased power. A lighting unit with such a high-pressure gas discharge lamp is further described, as is a power supply unit for operating the lamp. This not only considerably improves the spectral properties of the light, but the lamp also operates at a higher operating voltage because of the higher gas pressure, so that a correspondingly higher lamp power is achieved for a given lamp current. On the other hand, given the same lamp power, a weaker current is required, so that the electrodes will have a substantially longer useful life. All this is achieved without any change in the geometry of the lamp.


The author describes the different types of cognitive deficiencies found in children, some of which have organic causes, others psychological causes, and some that are of mixed origin. Among these deficiencies, he distinguishes the


Vitamin D insufficiency [25‐hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] <30 ng/ml] is common in individuals with chronic kidney disease (CKD), even in the earlier stages. We aimed to determine if high‐dose vitamin D3 could prevent vitamin D insufficiency in early stage CKD (stage 2 and 3).


Due to the inclusion of Distributed Generation (DG) in modern power systems, there are certain changes in the distribution and transmission stage, either by impedance reflected by the lines and the increase of short circuit currents. This context has a direct impact on protection coordination which is the priority of study in this paper. One of the significant impacts due to DG is the reverse power flow (RPF), which generally occur when the generation of a distributed power plant exceeds the local load demand, causing power to flow in the opposite direction to normal. The consequences can be evidenced in the power system with voltage peaks; therefore the sensitivity and various parameters of protection coordination are critically affected. This work proposes a tool to identify possible scenarios of reverse power flows and a feasible solution is introduced. A comparative assessment is done in order to minimize the possibility of an RPF in the IEEE 13 Node radial system with conclusive results.


The aim of this research is to determine whether the Illinois test (IL), T-test (Tt), 4x5m Shuttle run (4x5m), 20 m Sprint (S20m), 10 m Sprint (S10m) are reliable tests in assessing the speed and agility of cadet basketball players. The strategy of this research involved a traditional quantitative approach to research with a correlation studies design. The total sample consisted of 38 male participants. The mean age of the participants was -AGE=16.03 years, body height-BH=183.5 cm; body mass-BM=74.1 kg; Body Mass Index-BMI=22.08 kg/m 2 . The most reliable agility test when performing without a ball is IL NB , while less reliable are Tt NB and the 4x5m NB , both without a ball. A reliable test that is performed without a ball to assess the speed of a cadet basketball player is the S10m NB . On the other hand, all speed and agility tests when performed with a ball are reliable for testing cadet basketball players. The proposed speed and agility tests have proven to be reliable for cadet basketball players.


BACKGROUND: The number of patients with myocardial infarction and severe obesity is increasing and there is a lack of evidence how these patients should be treated. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between metabolic surgery (Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy) and major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with previous myocardial infarction (MI) and severe obesity.


Governments affect the standard of living of households through direct income transfers, through the provision of goods and services and by means of taxation. Around 68 per cent of Brazilian households receive some kind of cash transfer from the government, which accounts in average for 30 per cent of their incomes. All households in Brazil pay taxes directly on their income and/or indirectly on their consumption of goods and services, and many benefit from public expenditures on such services as health and education.


ABSTRACT Objective to identify the facilitating factors and barriers that influence patient involvement in hospital services. Method integrative review; search of articles published between January 2011 and December 2020, in the electronic databases PubMed, Web of Science, Cinahl, Lilacs and Scopus, using descriptors related to "patient involvement", Barriers, Facilitators, in English, Spanish and Portuguese. Data collection was performed from May to June 2021, identifying 32 publications that met the inclusion criteria. Results the analysis resulted in three categories of facilitating factors and barriers: communication, actors of involvement and organizational culture, allowing the elaboration of a theoretical model of patient involvement. This model shows that in the centrality of the process are the actors involved, that is, patients and professionals, inserted in an organizational context, being influenced by leadership, culture, environment, available resources and processes, where communication permeates as a basis for involvement. Conclusion the facilitating factors and barriers identified in this review, synthesized in a theoretical model, allow transcending theoretical knowledge for practice. The complexity to operationalize this model requires patients, professionals, health services and society join forces to make this theoretical proposition a practice incorporated by the services.


(57) ABSTRACT A CVT combined with a gearshift mechanism to permit shifting of power flow under conditions of zero load and synchronous speed. The CVT can adjust the output speed within a gear ratio without resetting of the CVT ratio during a shift. The full speed range of the CVT is matched by two planetary drivetrains having normal and inverted characteristics and driven by two shifting gearboxes. Input power is divided into three paths to drive a central CVT and the two shifting gearboxes. The output of one of the gear-boxes is clutched to the normal input of a compound planetary drivetrain and the output of the other gearbox is clutched to the in verted input of the compound planetary. The CVT is coupled to the sun gear input of the compound plane tary with the output of the compound planetary provid ing the output of the gear-assisted CVT, Operation occurs with either of the two clutches engaged to a respective input but not both, so that each gearbox may be shifted when its output is disengaged. Continuous operation from full forward through zero to full reverse is achieved. A control mechanism is provided to attain the necessary synchronization of clutches and gearshifts for proper operation. The gearbox reduces the capacity requirements and energy losses of the CVT for a given overall output. The result is a transmission that utilizes the benefits of the CWT over the full speed range in which losses are reduced and capacity increased by the number of gear steps.


Abstract At age 101, Walter Munk passed away in 2019. His groundbreaking discoveries will still guide and amaze oceanography students for years to come. Here, we perceive patterns in rotating tank with Munk's circulation theory aided by a Lagrangian particles tracking algorithm and numerical modeling. From information captured by video, we track the trajectories of drifters, and then objectively mapped the streamfunction to obtain the mean circulation pattern. We were able to reproduce the wind-forced anticyclonic and asymmetric gyre, including the western boundary intensification and its retroflection. The latter phenomenon was predicted by the non-linear version of Munk's model and observed in real subtropical gyres as small recirculation regions. We have configured two numerical model simulations mimicking the physical experiment, with linear and non-linear terms. The comparison between the numerical and physical experiments confirmed the effect of non-linear distortion of the gyre. Geophysical fluid dynamics is often hard to visualize, and counter-intuitive in a rotating system. We present this set of experiments as a tool for oceanography teaching. Besides studying general ocean circulation theories and observations through practical examples, this experiment provides an opportunity to develop basic image processing and geophysical modelling skills.


This paper addresses the problem of designing optimal stack filters under the most commonly used error criterion in filter design, namely, the minimum mean square error (MSE) between the desired signal and the estimated signal. It is shown that the MSE can be expressed as a linear combination of the responses of positive Boolean filters to different binary input vectors. As a result, a stack filter which is optimal for signal estimation in the MSE sense can be determined as the solution of a linear program.


First, we have analyzed the stability of two isomers of the magic cluster CAl12, the first one with the carbon atom in the center of Al12 icosahedral cage and the second one with the carbon atom located at the surface of the cluster, since photoelectron spectroscopy (PES) experiments [1] indicate that the carbon atom is located at the surface of cluster in de anionic case. Our calculations show that the anionic cluster is more stable with the carbon atom at the cluster ́s surface than with the C at the central position. However, the neutral cluster isomer is more stable with the C located at the central position of the Al12 icosahedral cage. Our results are in agreement with previous calculations [2]. This is the reason why in order to study the interaction between the magic cluster CAl12 and a sheet of graphene, we have used the cluster C@Al12 (C located in center of the cage). As a previous step, we have performed a complete relaxation of C@Al12 resulting a structure which can be considered as a slightly distorted icosahedron.


Seismic waves carry the earthquake's kinetic energy to the structure, where it is then transferred into vibrational motion through the foundations. The reaction acceleration for extremely short time period (high frequency) structures will be close to the maximum acceleration felt by the ground. Long-lasting buildings can take use of the system's adaptability; the mass won't budge no matter how much the earth shifts underneath it, and the relative deformation will be just as large. Examine the impact of higher modes on earthquake-proof building design in this research.


Indonesia is most populous Muslim-majority country and its the world's 14th-largest country in terms of land area and world's 7th-largest country in terms of combined sea and land area. Nevertheless, based on Thomson Reuters data of 2016, the score of Islamic economic indicators Indonesia is ranked 10th, while Malaysia is ranked first. This research is implemented TPB theory with the aim of expanding some previous research in term of examining halal food purchasing behavior in muslim-consumers. Data are collected via questionnaires with purposive sampling technique. This research uses structural equation model (SEM) analysis to identify the impact of three independent variables on halal food purchasing behavior. The result shows that there is a positive relationship between attitude and purchase intention. Attitude is an important factor in influencing consumer intention in purchasing Halal products. Secondly, subjective norms is important in influencing consumers' purchase intention, especially in Indonesian context. Furthermore, this study also reveals that perceived behavioral control has a significant correlation on intention and satisfaction, because in collectivistic cultures like Muslim culture, people tend to perceive themselves as interdependent with their group and tend to strive for in group rather than personal goals. Last but not least, there is a positive relationship or impact of purchase intention on satisfaction. This research contributes to gain a new insight of understanding halal food purchasing behavior in Indonesia and provide some data for managerial/ entrepreneurship practitioners to make a decision. One of the limitations is this study only covered Halal consumers in Indonesia, especially in Jakarta City. Despite its limited sample, the findings from this study can be used to better undestand the purchasing behavior which related to purchasing and level of satisfaction of Halal products.


ACCORDING to the present invention, there is provided a device for stabilizing and / or handle moving tissue, such as a beating heart, A SURGICAL PROCEDURES TO FACILITATE SUCH FABRICS. The device includes a tube having a proximal end, a distal end and a lumen extending therebetween. TUBE VA operably connected to a suction source ORDER TO EXTRACT air through the tube from the distal to proximal end. The device further includes at least one PEDAL operatively connected to the distal end of tube. THE PEDAL extends laterally from the tube. In a preferred embodiment, the device includes a pair of legs are separated laterally from each other. Each leg has a proximal surface and a distal surface for contact with tissue. The distal surface of each foot has an outer perimeter with a profile practically spherical. THIS PROFILE ESFERICO DEVICE HELPS TO ESTABLISH A BETTER CONTACT WITH TISSUE, SO THIS CAN BE HANDLED LAST more effectively.


According to the current situation,we summarize and analyze the dilemma and strategies of maintenance bilingual teaching in course of cell biology.The suggertions concerning raising the efficiency in class,enhancing the supply of bilingual teachers,selecting textbooks and establishing the correlated policiesare are put forward.These measures may be beneficial to the bilingual teaching in course of cell biology.


The future of Australian engineering services will be in adding value to the early conceptual and pre-feasibility phases of project delivery. Traditionally this phase of projects has been the domain of the owners' engineering team, but with smaller organisations to deliver new projects, owners are relying more on the contractors. Over the past years Uhde Shedden has transformed itself to be ready for this new role and within the past 12 months has been able to deliver on very large, technically demanding projects in the international market. This paper describes the development of systems, procedures and personnel within one of the regions leading multidiscipline engineering and project delivery contractors.


New kinds of foods, so-called functional foods, have been developed and launched in recent years. They provide a novel approach to the idea of healthy eating by linking a single component with a certain health benefit in a single product. However, comprehensive knowledge on the dimensions behind the acceptance of functional foods is lacking and there is no clear understanding of the consumer's perceptions of single functional foods. In addition, it is not known how the dimensions describing functional foods in consumers' minds could explain consumers' willingness to use such foods. The general aim of this study was to investigate how functional foods are perceived in Finland, what kinds of dimensions underlie the acceptance of functional foods among Finns and could these dimensions be used as a tool in explaining consumers' willingness to use such foods. Seven data sets involving 4536 Finnish participants were included in this study between 1999 and 2004. As the health effects attached to food products cannot be perceived directly from the product itself, they have to be communicated to consumers. Usually, socalled health-related claims are used. The perception of different types of healthrelated claims, varying in their intensities, was studied by a survey (n = 958) in which respondents evaluated the perceived disadvantages/advantages of eight health-related claims. All claims were seen as advantages regardless the intensity level of the claim. Women and respondents who trusted the sources of food information reacted more positively towards the claims than men and nontrusting respondents, respectively. However, none of these groups viewed the claims negatively. Next, the reasons behind choosing or not choosing six functional foods were studied by laddering interviews (n = 50). The functional food products were not


The optical absorption of tetrahedrical anions such as phosphates and sulfates has been studied in fluorozirconate glasses. A ternary fluoride glass in the system ZrF4-BaF2-LaF3, was doped with calculated amounts of KHSO4 or NaPO3. A significant reduction of the OH-absorption has been achieved using a low temperature fluorination treatment and a high temperature refining under a very dry atmosphere. A minimum transmission loss of 58 dB/km at 2.9 μm was observed on a fiber 60 meters in length. Increasing heating time or temperature for the refining stage however results in higher scattering losses.


Despite the limitations of the models used in the climate change analyses, some overall conclusions can be made concerning climate change impacts on Northwest forests. The foremost of these is that the distribution and composition of forests in Washington and Oregon could change substantially under the GCM scenarios of regional climate change. The Holdridge, climate/forest correlations, and forest gap models (except for the CLIMACS results) all forecast shifts to forests better adapted to warmer and drier conditions. Temperate forests in the Holdridge scenarios are generally restricted to upper elevations and total forest acreage decreases by 5% to 25% depending on the climate scenario used. In central Oregon, total forested area is projected to decrease by almost half under a 5C warming. Oak woodlands and dry Douglas-fir dominated forests are likely to increase in areal extent, while the more productive western hemlock - Douglas-fir forest will undergo significant contraction. Subalpine and alpine vegetation are likely to be reduced substantially. Declines in moisture availability would decrease forest productivity and long-term timber production.


This article details the experiences of motorists during the first day of operation of the E-ZPass electronic toll collection system on the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Some motorists had positive experiences, while others did not. Comments included: "the windshield was too cold to attach it"; "those buses are going through E-ZPass; they can't dot that"


The increasing ubiquity of mobile device and social media (SM) use has generated a substantial amount of research examining how these phenomena may impact public health. Prior studies have found that mobile device and SM use are associated with various aspects of well-being. However, a large portion of these studies relied upon self-reported estimates to measure amount of use, which can be inaccurate. Utilizing Apple's "Screen Time" application to obtain actual iPhone and SM use data, the current study examined the accuracy of self-reported estimates, how inaccuracies bias relationships between use and well-being (depression, loneliness, and life satisfaction), and the degree to which inaccuracies were predicted by levels of well-being. Among a sample of 393 iPhone users, we found that: a.) participants misestimated their weekly overall iPhone and SM use by 22.1 and 16.6 hours, respectively; b.) the correlations between estimated use and well-being variables were consistently stronger than the correlations between actual use and well-being variables; and c.) the amount of inaccuracy in estimated use is associated with levels of participant well-being as well as amount of use. These findings suggest that estimates of device/SM use may be biased by factors that are fundamental to the relationships being investigated. **This manuscript is currently under review**


It would be foreign to the purpose of my paper to enter upon the much debated and still unsolved question as to who were the Iberians and from whence they came, nor, indeed, has that question any direct bearing upon the subject-matter with which I deal. A few words as to the state of the country during the period under review, the organization of the peoples who inhabited it, their physical and moral conditions, and the influence of their surroundings upon their practice and methods in war and in strife may, however, not be out of place.


The influence of contents of fly-ash and gypsum on the hydration of special purpose cement for road base was studied with a non-contact electrical resistivity measurement device,the relation between electrical resistivity and the setting time of this cement was investigated compared with Portland slag cement.The results indicate that the special purpose cement has a long setting time and its setting time increases with the increase in the content of gypsum and fly-ash,the effect of the content of fly ash is more significant than that of the content of gypsum.The special purpose cement has lower density,lower volume fraction in liquid phase and poor pore ctonnectivity,low ion concentration compared with that of ordinary cement.The addition of fly ash makes this tendency more significant,so that its electrical resistivity becomes higher with increase of the fly ash content.The critical point time in the electrical resistivity curves and differential curves show a very significant correlation with the setting time tested by Vicat apparatus.


The scientific fraternity and coating companies have researched and developed coatings with superhydrophobic features for a wide range of applications, varying from automotive, oceanic, pharmaceutical, and thermal and power sectors, over the preceding few years. The self-cleaning features of superhydrophobic surfaces exhibit pronounced dust repelling and lower dust adhesiveness qualities, along with incomparable water repellence for maritime, automotive, and pharmaceutical applications. The advancement of super-hydrophobic surfaces for averting the accrual of impurities on surfaces is an active space of exploration globally. A lesser hysteresis of contact angle leads to drops of water sliding effortlessly on such surfaces. The solid surfaces' surface energy can be weakened by fixing materials of lesser surface energy on the exterior, which can be performed by the following dual methods; either by fixing materials of reduced surface energy straight onto the exterior of a substrate in the form of a coating of that material, or by fixing materials of less surface energy on the exterior of nano-architectural structures and then dropping the coating of those nanoscale materials on the exterior of the substrate. The generation of nanoscale irregularities on substrates by dropping nanostructure layers on surfaces makes it an attractive option since, usually, nanomaterials have a minimum of one dimension, ranging from 1 - 100 nm. The nanostructures' sizes unveil exceptional physical and chemical characteristics, principally owing to their greater specific surface area to volume quotient. This review encompasses the non-fluorinated superhydrophobic coatings developed to date.


Road traffic injuries could become the fifth leading cause of death globally by 2030 unless appropriate countermeasures are taken. Reliable reconstruction of collisions is essential for understanding and hence reducing the injuries sustained by pedestrians. The significant influence of vehicle speed, pedestrian speed and pedestrian gait on pedestrian transverse motion and rotation about the longitudinal axis has been qualitatively noted in the literature, but there has been no quantitative approach to this problem. The MADYMO multibody pedestrian model is widely used for collision reconstruction, but its validation to date mostly remains limited to body segment trajectories in the vertical plane along the direction of vehicle travel. In this article, the MADYMO pedestrian model is compared to staged tests and a real collision in terms of head trajectory, longitudinal and transverse head translations relative to the primary contact location of the pedestrian on the vehicle, impact location on the head (and hence longitudinal rotation of the body), head impact time and head impact velocity. It is shown that the model can reproduce staged cadaver and dummy tests in terms of head trajectory (mostly within 10%), longitudinal head translation (within 17%), transverse translation (two cases: errors of 0% and 19%), impact location on the head (within 45° in the majority of cases), head impact time (mean difference of 8.7 ms) and head impact velocity (mean difference of 1.8 m/s). A sensitivity analysis showed that the model is largely unaffected by changes in vehicle stiffness and vehicle–pedestrian friction, while variations in the pedestrian stance and the height of the vehicle front have a considerable effect on the kinematics of a collision. This is the first time that the MADYMO pedestrian model has been evaluated with regard to transverse motion and longitudinal rotation of the pedestrian. The results presented here mean that the MADYMO model is appropriate for further analysis of the influence of gait on pedestrian post-impact kinematics.


1. To study the functional role of negatively charged amino acids (E327 and D925) located in the transmembrane region of the rat alpha 2‐isoform of the Na+, K(+)‐ATPase (rat alpha 2*) in ion transport, the effects of mutations on external K+ dependence and internal Na+ dependence of pump currents were assessed by the patch‐clamp technique in combination with a system for rapid solution changes. 2. Amino acid residues were replaced by glutamine (E327Q) or leucine (D925L) and were introduced into rat alpha 2* cDNA which encodes a ouabain‐resistant isoform. These mutant enzymes were stably expressed in HeLa cells. The endogenous ouabain‐sensitive HeLa cell Na+, K(+)‐ATPase activity was selectively inhibited by 1 microM ouabain present in both the growing media and the assay solution. 3. External K(+)‐ and internal Na(+)‐dependent pump activation was observed in all cells expressing rat alpha 2*, E327Q or D925L; however, the apparent affinities were significantly reduced by the mutations. 4. In E327Q, the activation of pump current was slightly slower than for rat alpha 2*, whereas the deactivation rate was faster. In contrast, D925L produced pump current having dramatically slower activation and deactivation kinetics. 5. These results indicate that these negatively charged amino acids (E327 and D925) are important in cation‐induced conformational changes of the protein, which are intermediate steps in the pump mechanism.


The invention discloses a difunctional nanoprobe based on lanthanide metal as well as a preparation method and an application of the difunctional nanoprobe. The preparation method of the difunctional nanoprobe based on the lanthanide metal comprises steps as follows: 1), polypeptides containing DEVD amino acid residues are taken as a bridging agent and firstly react with antenna molecules BCTOT (10-bis(5'-chlorosulfo-thiophene-2' -yl)-4,4,5,5,6,6,7,7-octafluorodecane-1,3,8,10-tetraone), and BCTOT modified polypeptides are obtained; 2), the BCTOT modified polypeptides have a chelation reaction with lanthanide metal ions, and a chelated polypeptide solution is obtained; 3), the chelated polypeptide solution reacts with a nanomaterial solution, and the difunctional nanoprobe based on the lanthanide metal is obtained. The difunctional nanoprobe based on the lanthanide metal is applied to caspase-3 spectrum detection, mass spectrometric detection, cell imaging and/or ICP-MS (inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry) quantitative detection. Dynamic visualization of biomolecule sites and high-sensitivity quantitative analysis can be achieved.


The paper presents the views of AIP system and PM electric propulsion system. It is proposed that the combination of AIP system and PM electric propulsion system is used as new high-effective power system of conventional submarine. The studies on such a system are introduced. Key technologies to be studied and application perspectives are given.


A modified orthogonal search (OS) algorithm via gradient descent is proposed for fast motion estimation (ME). Gradient descent method, a first-order optimization algorithm in machine learning, is employed in video coding to reduce the ME time for coding performance enhancement. An improved OS algorithm is created in our proposed method. Through this method, the number of search points is reduced significantly and lower computation time can be achieved. Experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can greatly improve the coding performance of H.264/AVC.


Objective To analyze the factors for influencing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis(CAPD)-related peritonitis.Methods Of 131 patients with chronic renal failure undergoing regular peritoneal dialysis,54 patients(88 incidents) occurred CAPD-related peritonitis.The incidence of peritonitis was compared among the patients with diabetes mellitus,cultural level,nutritional status,operation environment and other subgroups.Results Of 88 incidents,69 incidents(78.4%) were bacteria culture positive(Gram-positive cocci for 48 incidents,Gram-negative bacillus for 19 incidents,fungal for 2 incidents).The resistance to cefazolin,gentamicin,ceftazidime,ciprofloxacin was higher.Compared with nondiabetic patients,the incidence of CAPD-related peritonitis in diabetic patients was higher.The decreased hemoglobin and serum albumin were the high risk factors for peritonitis.Conclusion CAPD-related peritonitis is affected by many factors.The majority of bacteria in CAPD-related peritonitis are Gram-positive cocci and the results of bacterial culture and drug sensitive test are important in guiding selection for antibiotics.


This article proposes an approach to resolve the dynamic fracture of brittle materials by incorporating eigenerosion into the material point method (MPM) framework. The eigenerosion approach links the crack propagation to energy conservation based on the variational theory of fracture mechanics. This idea closely resembles the conventional treatment for the phase‐field method. The major difference is that the effective energy release rate of each particle that controls the crack propagation is only calculated within its neighborhood domain for the eigenerosion approach. Because evaluation of the material's fracture behavior can be decoupled from the governing equations as a separate solution step, the eigenerosion scheme allows straightforward implementation into any standard MPM solver with minor modifications. In addition, a phantom‐node method is employed to handle the preexisting crack. With these settings, the proposed model can capture complex fracture behaviors. Several representative benchmark tests demonstrate the efficiency and validity of the proposed model.


Chen River pitched tune is a big local opera in Hunan province,which is popular in the upper reaches of Yuan River.It is hailed as "the living fossil of Chinese opera" by theater scholars and scientists.Since the introduction of Yiyang tune,it appeared Chen River pitched tune in the upstream area of Yuan River.In local region,"Buddha","Dao","Exorcism" and other music tunes were used in opera,so that the contents of Chen River pitched tune in the play and its form and the style have its own characteristics.Traditional Chen River pitched tune has a strong political tendency、the spirit pray of praising good and punishing bad,and it reflects the ethical and moral thoughts that good and evil has been reported.From the opera itself,Chen River pitched tune has "freehand","vivid" and "virtual and real" aesthetic characteristics.


Abstract This research deals with the puzzle of why China intervenes militarily in its neighboring countries, and attempts to explain China's use of force. The paper will address four hypotheses related to China's geostrategic vulnerability, and test the hypotheses through two case studies of the Korean War and the Sino-Vietnamese War. Then, as a conclusion, theoretical implications and future prospects for China's use of force against its neighbors will be suggested. The author's argument is that China's geostrategic vulnerability caused its military interventions during the Cold War era. In geostrategic terms, its weakening capability to control a "crucial space"—i.e. a neighboring state or a traditional sphere of influence, both of which are imperative for national security—was the main factor increasing China's geostrategic vulnerability, because it resulted in antagonization of the neighboring states, the loss of its traditional spheres of influence, and the possibility of strategic encirclement by t...


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PURPOSE: A light source control device for image photographing, a system thereof, and a method thereof are provided to photograph an image of a desired quality without post-correction by controlling a color temperature, a color, the brightness of a light source. CONSTITUTION: A user interface(12) receives optical characteristics for a light source(15). A control unit(13) generates a light source control signal for setting a lightning state of the source by using the optical characteristics. A wireless communication module(14) transmits the light source control signal to the light source. [Reference numerals] (11) Image photographing unit; (12) User interface; (13) Control unit; (14) Wireless communication unit; (15-1) Receiving unit; (15-2) Operation control unit; (15-3) Lamp


This paper describes the results of preliminary analysis of the TRMM standard algorithm 2A25 which estimates the instantaneous vertical profile of rain from Precipitation Radar (PR) data. It first estimates the attenuation-corrected radar reflectivity factor from the measured reflectivity factor. The attenuation-corrected radar reflectivity factor (Z) is then converted to the rainfall rate (R) at each radar resolution cell. The major challenge of the algorithm lies in the attenuation correction that also takes into account the non-uniform beam filling effect. The attenuation correction is carried out with the combination of the Hitschfeld-Bordan method and the surface reference method. The bias in the attenuation estimate to the surface caused by the non-uniform distribution of rain is estimated from the spatial variations of the estimated total attenuations from the top of rain to the surface in the vicinity of the radar beam concerned. The Z-R relationship is also modified by the non-uniformity of rain distribution as well as rain type and height. The performance of the algorithm is analyzed with data in the initial phase of the mission. Results from such analysis are described.


The basic problem of methodology lies in method,the purpose of understanding is to get truth.Only by means of correct method,can we get truth.In his book "The Guiding Principle of Getting the Truth",Descartes shows us two ways of seeking truth: intuition and deduction,which are quite different from the traditional rationalism in which the source of knowledge is deduction.


The present invention relates to a battery module structure modification restraint, comprising a housing with a battery pack and a number of battery cells; a separator between the two adjacent battery cells disposed; pack case comprises an upper cover plate, a bottom plate , side panel, side panels and reinforcing screw; between the upper cover plate and the bottom plate are connected by the side plates, the left and right side outer panel covered with the reinforcing plate, two side reinforcing plates are connected by screw.


This paper utilizes particle swarm optimization method to train the weights of neural network (NN). Particle swarm optimization (PSO) is a population based stochastic optimization technique. Unlike genetic Algorithm (GA), PSO has no evolution operators such as crossover and mutation. Compared to GA, the advantages of PSO are that it is easy to implement and there are few parameters to adjust. In this paper, NN is trained to extract important features from the input current waveform to uniquely identify various types of devices using their distinct harmonic "signatures." Such automated, noninvasive device identification will be critical in future power-quality monitoring and enhancement systems. A comparative study is made in different training algorithms — Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO), Genetic Algorithm (GA), gradient descent(GD) and hybrid of PSO&GD for neural network in the mentioned problem. Simulation results show superiority of hybrid algorithm (a combination of GD& PSO) as optimizer over other techniques.


A revision is presented to the procedures and guidelines recommended by FAA for frictional standards involving maintenance of highly skid resistant runway pavement surfaces at civil airports that have commercial turbojet aircraft operations. Revision of AC 150/5320-12B presents guidance relative to the visual inspection of runway pavement surface condition, when continuous friction measuring equipment is not available at civil airports, and the use of continuous friction measuring equipment, when available at civil airports, to monitor the deterioration of runway pavement surfaces. Periodic friction surveys will help identify those areas on the runway that are potentially hazardous conditions for aircraft braking and directional control. Once the deficient areas have been located and the cause of the deterioration identified, corrective action can be determined and expedited by the airport management. Guidance is also given on types of surface treatments that successfully mitigate aircraft hydroplaning potential and maintenance methods used to remove rubber deposits in the touchdown zones of runway pavement surfaces.


This paper describes some recent developments in the field of desktop PC software that could have a serious impact on Microsoft Corp.'s stronghold over the market. These include the increasing popularity of the Linux operating system, the introduction of the Mac Mini from Apple Computer Inc., and the growing market share of Firefox open-source browser from Mozilla Foundation.


The paper of A.R. Ayupova deals with answers of Muslim communities in Great Britain to challenges of the modern globalizing world. In the twentieth century Muslim diaspora in the country changed a lot. First, its identity was much influenced by colonial legacy of the British Empire. Massive immigration was caused first by reasons of economic development in England of the mid-twentieth century. From the 1980s British Muslim population increased due to political immigrant flows from the Middle East and other Asian and African countries of the Third World. In the 1990s 68,000 immigrants are estimated to have been installed in Great Britain. In diaspora they formed communities according to their ethnic, confessional and regional origin. Adherents of Islam constitute today the second largest confession after Christianity. Transformation of Muslim diaspora is going on.


Ductile to brittle transition (DTBT) is extensively observed in materials under cryogenic temperatures, thereby observing brittle failure due to the non-resistance of crack propagation. Owing to its outstanding mechanical and thermal properties, Kevlar 49 composites are widely used in aerospace applications under cryogenic temperatures. Therefore, in this paper, involving the assumption of linear elastic fracture mechanics (LEFM), mechanical characterization of Kevlar 49 composite is done using Extended Finite Element Method (X-FEM) technique in Abaqus/CAE software. Further, the failure of Kevlar 49 composites due to the propagation of crack at room temperature and the cryogenic temperature is investigated. Stress, strain and strain energy density as a function of the width of the Kevlar specimen is predicted, indicates that Kevlar 49 composites are suitable for use under cryogenic temperatures.


Research suggested the possibility that temporal cognition may be different in autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). Although there are some empirical studies examining timing ability in these individuals, to our knowledge, no one directly assessed the ability to predict when an event will occur. Here, we report a study on implicit temporal preparation in individuals with ASD as indexed by the variable foreperiod (FP) effect. We compared a group of adult ASD participants to a group of typically‐developed (TD) controls, for their respective abilities to utilize implicit temporal information in a simple detection task with three different preparatory intervals (FP, short, middle and long). Participants were given a warning tone to signal an imminent stimulus, and asked to press a key as quickly as they could upon detection of the stimulus. Both groups were able to use implicit temporal information, as revealed by both the variable‐FP effect (i.e., faster response for targets appearing after a long FP) and asymmetric sequential effects (i.e., slower response in short‐FP trials following a previous long‐FP trial). The TD group exhibited a faster response in a long‐FP trial that was preceded by short‐FP one, whereas the ASD group did not, as reflected in their higher percentage of response omissions for a target that appeared later than in the previous trial. The reduced ability of ASD participants to modulate their responses under these conditions might reflect a difficulty in time‐based monitoring of stimulus occurrence.


This paper gives an introduction about a self-made fatigue limit testing system,which is designed in accordance with the theory of a tuning fork and controlled by a microcomputer.With the help of well-designed hardware and software,this system can automatically test the fatigue limit of any crankshaft and perform data processing and so on.The tested results show that this system is intelligent to a high degree and that the data are reliable.The paper also puts forward some measures to make a further improvement of it.


Communication is a lifelong phenomenon. It cuts across all human segments of the Nigerian society irrespective of age, sex, educational qualification, gender, race or religion. Communication is a power tool in every society without which that society cannot function effectively. Learning to communicate for the illiterate group is problematic in Nigeria as the illiteracy rate is high. This group is usually misunderstood as they live in ignorance, abject poverty and are often neglected. This paper seek the direction in which poor illiterate Nigerians can be assisted to attain literacy education so that they can learn to communicate effectively, live healthier lives as well as enhance their standard of living.


We introduce a new spectral approach to non-perturbative field theory within the periodic field formalism. As an example we calculate the real and imaginary parts of the propagator in 1 + 1 dimensional φ theory, identifying both one-particle and multi-particle contributions. The techniques we discuss have broad applications to the study of particle phenomenology and Minkowski-space dynamics. [PACS numbers: 11.10Kk, 12.38Lg]


Two new methods used in high firing-rate muzzle velocity radar system are presented. A time-frequency algorithm is presented instead of the conventional FFT-based algorithm to get a high resolution of Doppler frequency caused by different bullets. And a wavelet algorithm is presented to calculate the exact time when the bullets are fired out of muzzle instead of conventional optical sensor methods. And the simulation results show those new methods are more effective than the old one.


The precision of the laser optic gyro north-finder was influenced by kinds of errors. The main static error which includes the drift of gyroscope, incline measurement error, mounting error, position transformation error and the time delay were analyzed based on the four-position north-finding scheme, and effect model of all errors, and the simulation was carried out based on the study above. Simulation result indicates that the most important impact fact is the precision of the gyroscope, and the second is the time delay, and the influence of the position transformation error and mounting error both are bigger than that of the incline measurement error. Based on the study of the errors, the scheme which was used to improve the precision of the north-finder was advanced and the time delay compensation method was expatiated specially, and the simulation was carried out to validate the effectiveness of the scheme. Simulation result shows that the scheme can improve the precision of the north-finder.


Reanalysis of 1hc Taylor. Kantor. and Sysoev (1993) data set on conoidean gastropods failed to reproduce their resu lts. Taylor er al. found more than 900 trees of length 189: reanalysis yielded 32.700 tre es of leng1h 187. The number of trees they found was limited by the memory available on the compu1cr used for the analys is. The Taylor er al. consensus tree omilled the slated outgroup /Je111hobia (Pscudolividae ); reanalysis including the outgroup yielded 3.1 49 trees of length l93, in all of which Bemhobia fell within the ingroup. Strict and majority-rule consensus trees differed considerably in topology from those wilh Be111lwbia exc luded. Reanalysis excluding 1hc hypothetical ancest0r. whose characrer s1a1 es Taylor er al. determined in part by ingroup anal ysis. yielded additional topologies of consensus trees. Only eight of 38 cladcs in the Taylor er al. tree appeared in all three stricl consensus trees: 17 cladcs were not supported by any of the majority rule consensus trees. All three majority-rule consensus trees did suppon the transfer to Conidae by Taylor er al. of 1hc !lmid subfami lie~ Clathurellina.e. Conorbinae, Oenopotinae. Mangeliin~e. Daphnellinae. and Taraninae . This clade. however, did not appear in two of 1 hc s1rict consensus trees. so support for it is equ ivoca l. Additional problems with the analysis include incon·ect character mappings. use of characters primari ly from one organ sys rem. connictS between text and data ma1ri x. choice of taxa. and inclusion of data from taxa not included in the cladistic analysis in formulating the classification . The Taylor el al. data set docs not suppor1 srrong inferences about conoidean phylogeny. and there is nor yet convincing evidence for abandoning the 1rnditional classifica1 ion of the group . Nonethe less. their dala are an immensely valuable contribution 10 he built on as informarion abou t conoidean taxa, characters. organ systems. and outgroups accumulates. Taylor, Kantor, and Sysoev (1993) presented a enor mous body of anatomical data on conoidean gastropods, along with a phylogenetic analysis of their data. The phylo genetic tree they presented is reproduced here (Fig. I), and wi ll be referred to hereafter as the TKS tree, from the au thors' initials. Based on their analysis, Taylor e1 al. intro duced a revised classification of the superfamily Conoidea, which differs in a number of respects from the traditi onal c lassification that recognizes three families. Conidac, Turridae, and Terebridae. In particular, the turrid subfami lies Clathurellinae, Conorbinae, Oenopotinae, Mangeliinae, Daphnellinac, and Taraninae were transferred to Conidae, and Drilliidae, Pseudomelatomidae, and Strictispiridae, for merly subfamilies of Turridae, were elevated to familial status. Kohn and McLean ( 1994) critiqued th e c lassifica tion, but ~id not try to replicate the analysis. l attempted to reproduce the results of Taylor el al., by reanalyzing their data, but was unable to do so. I found many more, and shorter trees, than they did, but because they gave insuffi cient detail about methods, it was difficult to tell why we had gotten different results.


We present a new method for solving linear systems with uncertainty in the context of Fuzzy Finite Element Methods. We use a simple application, axially loaded Bar, to demonstrate our method. We build on an approach for solving general fuzzy linear systems presented by Vroman et al. [2]. Their method is based on parametric functions and has an exponential time complexity in the number of fuzzy numbers in the fuzzy linear system. The uncertainty model associated to uncertain parameters in Stiffness matrix is formulated as a coherent lower prevision P [3] (and its conjugate upper prevision P ). By using the Probability-Box (P-Box) model presented by Miranda et al. [1] to model uncertainty, our method is an optimization problem in intervals that are the approximation of a P-Box. In case of the Bar example we have very efficient solution, because of monotonicity in the parametric functions, in general it is a local optimization problem in extreme points of the parametric functions.


We carried out a mean-field calculation of the antiferromagnetic instability of orthorhombic La/sub 2-//sub x/Sr/sub x/CuO/sub 4/ as a function of the doping x by looking at the eigenvalues of the vertex function. We found that there are two bands close to the Fermi energy that participate strongly in the instability. As a consequence of the tetragonal-to-orthorhombic transition, a saddle point with high local density of states is developed close to the Fermi energy. The magnetic instability is caused by a kind of Fermi-surface nesting with a wave vector connecting the saddle points. Good agreement of the transition temperature as a function of doping is found.