We measured the electrical conductivity of 1-2 /spl mu/m thick n-type intentionally and unintentionally doped gallium nitride samples from 1.5 to 290 K. Room-temperature Hall measurements show carrier densities in the range of 6.6/spl times/10/sup 16/ to 3.7/spl times/10/sup 18/ cm/sup -3/, and mobility values from 543 to 261 cm/sup 2//V-sec over this carrier density range. Hopping is among impurity sites, and the hopping distance increases with decreasing doping concentration for the silicon-doped samples.


The proposal by Bucciarelli and Drew for Liberal Studies in Engineering (LSE) programs responds to the growing call for more broadly educated engineers. The Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology, Inc. (ABET) EC2000 criteria call for exactly this change in engineering education, but change has been slow in coming. Is the problem that engineering students need to learn everything about everything? Or is the problem that these students need to learn the limits of their knowledge and how and when to reach out to experts in other areas? Both questions are important. Bucciarelli and Drew focus on the first, but the second is perhaps more important. In particular, LSE programs are ideally suited to explore the limits of engineering.


Bottles off a heat-annealing conveyor, either open or closed with a plastic stopper, in cases closed with an adhesive ribbon, may be used unrinsed for the bottling of dry wine. Microorganism is new bottles will be further diminished by disinfecting the end of the heat-annealing equipment. Then even sweet table wines can be filled, as proposed and practiced in Germany.


In recent years, Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN) perform very well in many complex tasks. When we train CNN, the Stochastic Gradient Descent (SGD) algorithm is widely used to optimize the loss function of CNN. However, SGD algorithm has some disadvantages such as being easy to fall into local optimum and vanishing gradient problems that need to be solved. In this paper, we propose a new hybrid algorithm that aims to tackle the disadvantage mentioned above by combining the advantages of the Lclose Particle Swarm Optimization (LPSO) and SGD algorithm. Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) is a Global optimization algorithm, but it does not perform very well in optimizing the loss function of the neural network because of the neural network's high dimensional weight parameters and the infinite search area. To take advantage of the excellent global search capability of LPSO and the rapid convergence capability, we design the LPSO-SGD algorithm. In the experimental part, we construct the LeNet-5 deep CNN to classify the MNIST data set and the experimental results demonstrate that the proposed algorithm perform better than standard SGD algorithm.


This paper presents a procedure to robustly distribute control point (CP) pairs in high-resolution satellite images as a preliminary step for accurate image registration. The proper distribution of the CPs is achieved by means of a quadtree decomposition of a coarse digital terrain model (DTM) of the sensed region. This technique parcels up the image according to its relief variance yielding almost planar pieces of land. A corner detector is then employed to identify key points in the reference image and an affinity-based feature tracker that searches for their corresponding corner in the target one. This search is executed in every parcel, selecting (at-least) one CP, ensuring thus denser distributions in rugged regions than in flat ones. Additionally, robustness to mismatches is attained by exploiting the intrinsic affine epipolar geometry of the two images. The proposed method has been successfully tested with a broad variety of panchromatic high-resolution images of the city of the Rincón de la Victoria (Málaga, Spain).


Abstract This essay discusses the German television series Tannbach (Line of Separation) to ask new questions about the representation of village life in German cinema and television. Though set during the Cold War, the series – I argue – invites us to rethink the conventional image of the village against the backdrop of twenty-first century perspectives on borders and migration, the commodification of technologies of seeing, and the Anthropocene's impact on so-called natural habitats.


Increased interest in community mental health today is being manifested not only by the psychiatrist, but by the informed public. The internist, dealing as he must with the application of the whole network of health services to his patient, similarly can be expected to have great interest in this developing area. Dr. Caplan's provocative book presents lucidly both the theoretical aspects of preventive psychiatry and the methods appropriate to its use. Preventive psychiatry is coming to have the same relationship to psychiatry that preventive medicine has had to medical practice. Originating from the core of clinical knowledge, its techniques are aimed at reducing tensions not only for the individual "patient," but for the nonpatient living in a complex social framework. Recognizing the limited manpower available for purely individual psychotherapy, preventive psychiatrists (among whom Dr. Caplan is preeminent) see the need for "substantial changes in professional training in order to prepare


Despite both business models and market orientation being relevant to value creation and firm performance, little research has investigated their relationship. Importantly, designing a business mod...


Note: References listed are not all encompassing. The listed references are provided as a starting point to provoke thought. Use any reference you feel would be beneficial to addressing the task. The following links will provide access to the current instructions/manuals: Special Note: All SELs should ensure references listed in the CPODG are available either via INTERNET, Command Web Site, or hard copy in order for Sailors to complete the CPODG. Requests for materials can be made directly to NPC by contacting NPC Helpdesk at 1 (866)-U-ASK-NPC or Email at email@example.com.


In March, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bill to overturn an earlier non-discrimination ordinance in Charlotte, North Carolina, which had expanded protections for the transgendered. Sierra Smucker writes that the situation shows the complexities of the US federal system, which was established as a compromise between the national government and the states. This federal system allows the states – and even cities and local constituencies – to make their own policies, but these policies can still lead to conflict with the laws and norms of the rest of the country, and the federal government.


• Resolving, but not hyperinflammatory stimuli create a microenvironment conducive for the optimal development of adaptive immunity. • After onset and resolution, we introduce a third phase to acute inflammatory responses dominated by macrophages and lymphocytes. Acute inflammation is traditionally characterized by polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMN) influx followed by phagocytosing macrophage (Mws) that clear injurious stimuli leading to resolution and tissue homeostasis. However, using the peritoneal cavity, we found that although innate immune-mediated responses to low-dose zymosan or bacteria resolve within days, these stimuli, but not hyperinflammatory stimuli, trigger a previously overlooked second wave of leukocyte influx into tissues that persists for weeks. These cells comprise distinct populations of tissue-resident Mws (resMws), Ly6c monocyte-derivedMws (moMws), monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDCs), andmyeloidderived suppressor cells (MDSCs). Postresolutionmononuclear phagocyteswere observed alongside lymph node expansion and increased numbers of blood and peritoneal memoryTandB lymphocytes. The resMwsandmoMws triggeredFoxP3expressionwithin CD4 cells, whereas moDCs drive T-cell proliferation. The resMws preferentially clear apoptoticPMNsandmigrate to lymphnodes tobringabout their contraction inan inducible nitric oxide synthase-dependent manner. Finally, moMws remain in tissues for months postresolution, alongside altered numbers of T cells collectively dictating themagnitude of subsequentacute inflammatory reactions.Thesedatachallenge theprevailing idea that resolution leadsback tohomeostasisandasserts that resolution actsas abridgebetween innateandadaptive immunity, aswell as tissue reprogramming. (Blood. 2014;124(11):1748-1764)


Objective: To evaluate thyroid hormones in cord blood and peripheral blood collected 18 to 24 hours after birth of asphyxiated (AG) and normal (CG) full term newborn infants.


The recent computer numerical simulation approach for the MMT NC kinetics considered here is based on the foundations of the irreversible thermodynamics such as: multi(n)–component (n=6) mass balance n–Eqns. mentioned; the k(2) (6)–variance (where k(2) is determined as "the degree of freedom" for the MMT NC sorption system considered here by the modeling); the fundamental wave concept (W) of the propagating mode of the multi–component {Xn(L,T)}– concentration waves; two Mass Action Laws (MALS) with the {KS m1,2}–two Selectivity parameters; the "sink–source" (or in other words "sorption– desorption") mass transformation mechanism for various Jk,m,p–mass fluxes, and including some others.


Determining the time since death of an individual from skeletal remains is a challenging stage. In determination of time since death, climate conditions, environmental factors, conditions such as whether the body was buried or not, and genetic and personal factors must be evaluated all together. With these factors changing and with the exposure duration growing longer, changes occur in the morphology of the bone might increase. In this study, as part of an investigation, bones which had been found in a water-well during an excavation work in Mardin was used. After 36 pieces of bone that belong to a human were analyzed, it was found that the bones had lost most of their weight and density, that they were considerably fragile, that their medulla was emptied, and that there were intense erosions on the surfaces of bony tissue. While under normal circumstances and under the condition that it was a buried body it would take at least 50 years for these changes to occur, considering that the bones remained in water for a very long time, the corrosion had to be much more than expected. With the DNA comparison, it was found that the bones belonged to people who were claimed to have been killed in the 90's. In this study, it was aimed to determine the time of death of remains which were reported to have stayed in contact with water, and to study the effect of the environmental circumstances in which the bodies are found on the bones.


Management of chest-pain patients who are not at high risk for acute coronary syndromes remains difficult, costly, and vulnerable to litigation. This


Application of a prototype capillary free-flow electrophoresis (CFFE) device for separation of different solution species of Co, Cr, and As is explored. A unique free-flow electrophoresis (FFE) design is employed, which makes use of internal capillary cooling tubes to minimize thermal convection due to Joule heating.


Previous studies on the hematopoietic tissue of the chick blastoderm by Levere and Granick' 2 have led to the following tentative interpretations and hypotheses regarding the control of hemoglobin synthesis. The presence of heme appears to be necessary for the globin polypeptide chain to be completed, possibly for its appropriate folding around the heme. The synthesis of heme is limited by a repressor-operator mechanism that controls the synthesis of the limiting enzyme, 6-aminolevulinic acid synthetase. The colorless erythroid cells of the blastoderm appear to contain nonlimiting amounts of stable ribosomes and stable messenger RNA for the synthesis of globin, yet no globin is made until heme is synthesized. In these cells all of the enzymes of the heme biosynthetic chain are at nonlimiting activities except the first enzyme, 8-aminolevulinic acid synthetase. Once the repressor-operator mechanism is derepressed by some as yet unknown derepressor, the messenger RNA for 5-aminolevulinic acid synthetase is made and this enzyme is synthesized. Then follows the synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid which is eventually converted to heme. In the presence of heme, globin can be synthesized. In summary, according to this hypothesis, the formation of hemoglobin awaits the appearance of an unknown derepressor that will permit the synthesis of the messenger RNA of 6-aminolevulinic acid synthetase. The studies reported here on the control of hemoglobin synthesis in erythroid cells were prompted by earlier studies by Granick3 on the control of heme synthesis in chick embryo liver cells. Treatment of these cells in culture with certain drugs and chemicals was found to result in an increased de novo synthesis of 6-aminolevulinic acid synthetase and, as a consequence, a marked increase in porphyrin formation. Later, it was found by Granick and Kappas4 that certain 5,B-H steriods which are derived metabolically from several hormonal precursors and intermediates in man could also induce an increase in porphyrin formation in chick embryo liver cells. These results then raised the question of whether the same steroid metabolites, acting on the erythroid precursor cells of the chick blastoderm, could also induce the synthesis of 6-aminolevulinic acid synthetase and thus result in the more rapid formation of hemoglobin. This paper reports that the same steroids which induce enhanced porphyrin synthesis in chick embryo liver cells also induce a more rapid synthesis of hemoglobin in the erythroblasts of the chick blastoderm. It is possible that these, or related, steroids are the physiologic derepressors which have been postulated to cause the increased synthesis of 5-aminolevulinic acid synthetase. Materials and Methods.-The chick blastoderm, de-embryonated and cultured in vitro, was used to study the effect of certain 5,6-H C19 and C21 steroid metabolites on hemoglobin synthesis. As previously described,2 when blastoderms are obtained before the sixth somite stage of embryonic


I can't remember his name, but I recall that he worked as a shoemaker in a local shoe store. All the girls in town were secretly in love with him, which was no wonder because he was tall and good looking and always well dressed. In a football-mad town, he played at centre half back on the local team and was in that position the year they were beaten in the championship final. After that game, he disappeared.


The basic elements involved in the determination of the factor of safety commonly used in preliminary design procedures of marine structures are outlined. The main factors affecting the magnitude of the factor of safety are highlighted. Probabilistic and semi-probabilistic approaches are briefly presented. The general equation and the main variables affecting the total safety factor are given. The different approaches used for the determination of the partial factors of safety are discussed and supported by numerical examples. Particular emphasis is placed on the characteristic and design value approaches. The variation of the factor of safety with time is illustrated. The effect of corrosion on the deterioration of the factor of safety is highlighted. The impact of the magnitude of the total factor of safety on the total life cost of the marine structure is clarified.


To solve the problem that network resources could not be shared in Windows XP OS with SP2, it was analyzed the causations of the problem, introduced the solution and provided the implementation steps about how to secure the shared network resources in lntranet.


This thesis describes the dynamics of mitochondrial RNA-binding protein 1 and 2 (MRP1/2) complex in different cell lines of Trypanosoma brucei under an optimized immobilized condition. This study reveals the influence of RNA on the complex's dynamics. Furthermore, the function of RNA-binding complex 1 (MRB1) core has been studied via reverse genetic, biochemical and molecular techniques, with its role in RNA editing being proposed.


The article deals with the contemporary problems content of the General Physics Course inthe High Education Establishment. The example of this problem and their solution is showed. Suchexamples of modern scientific and technological achievements used in the problems allow toexplain the methodology of scientific research, the motives and means with the help of which thescientists came to them. The scientific research mastering promotes to a better understanding of thescience content and the formation of creative qualities in future teacher of Physics.


AIM To develop a method of LC-MS/MS for determination of continine in human serum. METHODS After adding stable isotope chemical compound(continine-D3) as the internal standard,the analyte was achieved by direct serum protein precipitation and then XBridge~(TM) Phenyl(2.1 mm×150 mm, 5μm) was utilized for the analytical column,with 0.02%formic acid water solution-0.02%formic acid acetonitrile solution(83:17,V/V) as the mobile phase.After analysis by electrospray ionization source with positive ion Multiple Reaction Monitoring(MRM) scans,the outcomings of continine and continine-D3 were m/z 177.0→80.0 and m/z 180.5→80.2,respectively.RESULTS The linear calibration curve of continine showed excellent correlation in the concentration range of 10 - 2 000μg·L~(-1) with the lower limit of quantitation 10μg·L~(-1).The inter-and intra-run precision(RSD) were less than 5%and the average recovery rate of 77.9%to 88.6%.CONCLUSION The established LC-MS/MS method is shown to be sensitive, accurate,simple and suitable for the determination of continine in human serum.


Abstract Aicardi–Goutières syndrome (AGS) is a rare disorder characterized by acquired microcephaly, cerebral calcifications, leukodystrophy, cerebral atrophy, chronic lymphocytosis, and increased interferon-α in cerebrospinal fluid. We report on two children affected by AGS type 2, caused by mutations in RNASEH2B. The first child had the mutation c.529G > A (p.A177T) and presented with an atypical and mild phenotype, with delayed psychomotor development, calcifications of the brain white matter and basal ganglia, and interferon signature positivity. The disease course was stable. The second child presented the mutation c.554T > G (p.V185G) and showed a later onset (15 months) and a more progressive clinical course with functional inability in the upper limbs, steppage gait, and irritability. Despite immunoglobulin therapy, she developed to progressive tetraparesis and severe hypotonia. This case report highlights that RNASEH2B mutation cannot fully predict the phenotype of AGS type 2 when a mutation c.529G > A occurs. Moreover, an earlier symptomatology may be not related to a more severe prognosis or to a partial or absent response to treatment.


Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) plays an important role in global business. It can provide a firm with new marketing channels, cheaper production facilities, access to technology transfer, product, skills and financing. With the advent of globalization and strong governmental support, foreign investment has helped the Indian economy grow tremendously. India has continuously sought to attract investment from the world's major investors. In 1998 and 1999, the Government of India announced a number of reforms designed to encourage and promote a favorable business environment for investors. Foreign investments in the country can take in the form of investments in listed companies i.e., Foreign Institutional Investors'(FIIs) investments, investments in listed/unlisted companies other than through stock exchanges i.e., through the foreign direct investment or private equity/foreign venture capital investment route, investments through American Depository Receipts (ADR), Global Depository Receipts (GDR), or investments by Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) and Persons of Indian Origin (PIOs) in various forms. This paper attempts to review the importance of foreign direct investments in Indian economy, particularly after a decade of economic reforms and analyze the role played by the FDI in the economic development of the country. The study is diagnostic and exploratory in nature and makes use of secondary data. The study finds and concludes that the foreign direct investment in India have significantly improved and developed the economy as well.


A newapproach todigital measurements ofangular velocity forcontrol applications isdiscussed. Anoptical transducer isdescribed whichprovides apulse rate. Thepulse period ismeas- uredandthedivision oftimeisachieved byeither ageneral purpose oraspecial purpose processor. Since sampling intervals aresmall, measurements areavailable indigital formalmost immediately. Otheradvantages include thecapability tomeasuretransient angular velocity characteristics andtheaccurate measurement of angular velocity nearzero. Withmodifications thesystem canbe transformed into anaccelerometer.


The corrosion behaviors of the high-performance weathering test steel for bridge and the reference (09CuPCrNi-A) were symmetrically studied under 3.5% NaCl neutral wet/dry alternate condition,revealing their dynamics line tendency of primary corrosion and the rusting flow in the simulative marine atmosphere environment.By observing the corrosion evolution of surface microstructures and composition by the scanning electronic microscope (SEM) and the energy dispersive spectrometer (EDS) at the different stages,the corrosion mechanism was further discussed in details.


Seizures are defined as a transient occurrence of signs and symptoms due to an abnormal, excessive or synchronous neuronal activity in the brain, characterized by abrupt and involuntary skeletal muscle activity. The presence of cephalgic syndrome, infectious-toxic encephalopathy, hypo- and anosmia and ageusia are pathognomonic conditions in COVID-19 infected patients.
Post-Covid 19 encephalitis develops to encephalopathy in children with epilepsy. Based on the clinical appearance and the parameters that showed past Covid-19 infection, a diagnosis of post-COVID19 encephalopathy was confirmed. To confirm the diagnosis, clinical examinations, MRI of the brain, electroencephalography, lumbar puncture, laboratory tests (including CBC, CRP, basic metabolic panel, liver panel, hemostasis with D-dimer) are necessary. Based on the brain changes registered on the EEG record, the physical findings and the presence of SARS CoV 2 IgG antibodies, it was concluded that a child with an initial diagnosis of epilepsy, developed encephalopathy after asymptomatic COVID 19 infection.
Keywords: Post-COVID19 complications, encephalitis, Dravet syndrome, epilepsy, de novo mutation, children


Abstract From the perspective of industrial small and medium size enterprises (SMEs), this study explores the implementation of performance measurement practices and challenges in university–industry innovation networks. In this research, two single-case studies were conducted to explore the implementation practices and challenges of performance measurement in university–industry collaborations. Thirty Finnish SMEs in the first innovation network and 10 Finnish SMEs in the second innovation network participated in university–industry collaboration that were established to facilitate their involvement in a long-term innovation process. The results of the study revealed that industrial SMEs are interested in the performance measurement of societal-level outputs by university–industry innovation networks, even though they face challenges in understanding the aims and goals of the funding programmes. Furthermore, the results showed that the industrial SMEs understood the intellectual nature of the university–industry innovation networks, but their performance measurement activities were business related. Also the lack of understanding of the context and the process of the performance measurement in university–industry collaborations seemed to shift industrial organisations' focus to the content stage of the performance measurement and to the use of traditional performance measures and tools to estimate the advantages gained.


We derive constraints on cosmological parameters using the power spectrum of galaxy clustering measured from the final two-degree field galaxy redshift survey (2dFGRS) and a compilation of measurements of the temperature power spectrum and temperature-polarization cross-correlation of the cosmic microwave background radiation. We analyse a range of parameter sets and priors, allowing for massive neutrinos, curvature, tensors and general dark energy models. In all cases, the combination of datasets tightens the constraints, with the most dramatic improvements found for the density of dark matter and the energy-density of dark energy. If we assume a flat universe, we find a matter density parameter of $\Omega_{\rm m}=0.237 \pm 0.020$, a baryon density parameter of $\Omega_{\rm b} = 0.041 \pm 0.002$, a Hubble constant of $H_{0}=74\pm2 {\rm kms}^{-1}{\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, a linear theory matter fluctuation amplitude of $\sigma_{8}=0.77\pm0.05$ and a scalar spectral index of $n_{\rm s}=0.954 \pm 0.023$ (all errors show the 68% interval). Our estimate of $n_{\rm s}$ is only marginally consistent with the scale invariant value $n_{\rm s}=1$; this spectrum is formally excluded at the 95% confidence level. However, the detection of a tilt in the spectrum is sensitive to the choice of parameter space. If we allow the equation of state of the dark energy to float, we find $w_{\rm DE}= -0.85_{-0.17}^{+0.18}$, consistent with a cosmological constant. We also place new limits on the mass fraction of massive neutrinos: $f_{\nu} < 0.105$ at the 95% level, corresponding to $\sum m_{\nu} < 1.2$ eV.


Advances in pharmacological agents and surgical and laser technology have had significant effects on the practice of ophthalmology in recent years. The widespread recognition and use of anti‐vascular endothelial growth factor (anti‐VEGF) drugs, as intravitreal injections, started with the treatment of age related macular degeneration (ARMD) several years ago. This is now standard treatment and has improved the visual prognosis for those affected with 'wet' ARMD, previously an untreatable and blinding condition. In the past two years these treatments have been discovered to be effective in different diagnoses including diabetic macular oedema (DMO) and retinal vein occlusions. These conditions cause blinding macular oedema and current evidence indicates that they are treatable with anti‐VEGF injections. These drugs are administered by intra‐ vitreal injection, as an out‐patient procedure; evidence to date suggests that several injections will be required for each patient over at least two years and possibly longer. 1‐4 There is also an increasing body of evidence to support the use of intravitreal steroids in the treatment of macular oedema due to retinal vein occlusions. 5 The steroids are being delivered as small, slow release, implants – this is an exciting development and it is likely that these will become more important for all forms of intra‐vitreal treatments. Corneal graft surgery can restore vision to patients with disorders causing corneal scars or opacities. In the past the surgery was performed with a full thickness graft (ie replacing all the layers of the cornea), despite the pathology sometimes being isolated to one layer. For example, the scar may have only affected the endothelium of the cornea, a layer that is only one cell thick. In recent years surgical and laser advances have made it possible to dissect off the endothelium, the inner‐most layer of cells in the cornea, in isolation and replace this alone with a thin specific endothelial donor layer. This technique provides quicker recovery, less morbidity and reduces the probability of graft rejection. This technique can be performed manually or can be done using a highly specialised laser called a femtosecond laser which can be used as a surgical 'knife'. 6‐7 Femtosecond lasers are new, powerful and precise lasers which deliver optical pulses that have a variety of roles within ophthalmology. As well as corneal graft surgery they have been used previously in refractive corneal surgery and are also starting to be used in cataract surgery. Recent studies have shown …


The article describes the main approaches to developing and testing the unified federal evaluation tools (UFET) used for studying subject and methodological competencies of teachers in the Russian Federation. The authors propose a level assessment model of teacher competencies based on the professional standard for teachers. Results of the research helped to identify the shortcomings of teacher training which make carrying out professional activities difficult for teachers. The article describes the terms of using UFET in the procedures of teacher certification and presents the main developmental directions for the current system of continuing teacher education. The authors argue that applying UFET at different stages of teacher training and professional development may ensure the formation of more effective individual educational routes for every teacher aimed at eliminating their professional deficits and improving the standards of education in general.


Silicon microring modulators (MRM) are a promising technology for next generation datacenter interconnects, where migration to higher data capacities will require the increasing use of wavelength division multiplexing (WDM). However the periodic repetition of wavelength resonances, and the limited free-spectral range (FSR) of MRMs, can limit the number of WDM channels when we use the wavelength selectivity of the MRM to modulate a particular wavelength from frequency comb sources or other multi-wavelength sources propagating in the bus waveguide. In this paper, we realize an ultra-compact, high bandwidth, CMOS compatible MRM which has an ultra-wide FSR of 4 THz, 3-dB electro-optic (EO) bandwidth of >67 GHz and which can operate at high datarates for standard single mode fiber transmission in the C-band. Using the modulator, we demonstrate 100 Gbaud PAM-4 intensity modulation-direct detection (IM-DD) with 4 wavelengths within a single FSR in the wavelength range of 1540 nm–1570 nm. The bit-error-rate (BER) of the transmission was below the general 7% hard-decision forward-error correction (HD-FEC) of 3.8 × 10−3.


-Populations of the grooved Tanner crab. Chionoecetes tanneri, and the triangle Tanner crab. C. angulatus, were surveyed along the continental slope of the eastern Bering Sea with a bottom trawl. Over the depth range sampled nOO-l,OOO mI. the relative abundance of the two species was about equal. Mature male and female C. tanneri occurred at the same depths, but for C. angulatus. males were found at significantly shallower depths than were females. Carapace widths at 50% maturity for males and females were 118.7 mm and 79.2 mm for C. tanneri and 91.4 mm and 57.8 mm for C. angulatus. Fecundity of C. tanneri did not increase with carapace width ICW. mm) and averaged 86.500 eggs over the sizes sampled. Fecundity ofC. angulatus increased with carapace width according to the following formula: eggs = -65,600 + 1660 x CWo Mean egg diameter was 0.75 mm for C. tanneri and 0.74 mm for C. angulatus. The relationship between body weight (gml and carapace width did not differ between species: weight = 1.219/104 x Cl¥3·183• Manuscript accepted 17 November 1995. Fishery Bulletin 94:348-357 n996). William Donaldson Alaska Department of Fish and Game 2 I J Mission Road. Kodiak, Alaska 996 J5 The continental slope of the North Pacific Ocean is inhabited by several species of crabs in the genus Chionoecetes that are similar in size to their shallower, commercially harvested relatives C. bairdi and C. opilio but are immediately distinguishable by their brilliant orange or red color and slender legs. In the eastern North Pacific Ocean there are two species: the grooved Tanner crab, C. tanneri, ranging from northern Mexico to Kamchatka, and the triangle Tanner crab, C. angulatus, ranging from Oregon to the Sea of Okhotsk (Hart, 1982). In the western North Pacific there is a single species, C. japonicus, which occurs in the Sea of Japan (Sinoda, 1982). Although the potential for commercial fisheries for C. tanneri has been recognized for quite some time (Pereyra, 1967), commercially successful fishing ventures have occurred only recently <Jamieson, 1990). In contrast, C.japonicus has been commercially fished since the mid-1960's (Sinoda, 1982), The primary impediment to the development of commercial fisheries for C. tanneri and C. angulatus has been that the large supply of other Chionoecetes species on the world market has kept the price too low to offset the high costs of fishing in deep water. Fisheries for other slopedwelling species, however, have developed when the catches of shallower, related species have declined. For example, in Japan the fishery for C. japonicus developed after the local stocks of C. opilio declined <Sinoda, 19821. In Alaska, the fishery for the slope-dwelling king crab Lithod.es aequispina developed after the decline in abundance ofthe shelf-dwelling king crabs Paralithodes camtschaticus and P. platypus (Somerton and Otto, 1986). This pattern may be reflected inAlaskan Chionoecetes because as C. bairdi and C. opilio populations in the Bering Sea have declined, landings of C. fanneri have increased from a negligible amount in 1992 to 360 metric tons in 1993, and to 414 metric tons in 1994.1 Although aspects ofthe biology of C. tanneri have been documented in areas off Oregon <Pereyra, 1966, 1968; Tester and Carey, 1986) and British Columbia (Jamieson et aI., 1990), only information on size dis1 1995. Alaska Department of Fish and Game. 211 Mission Road, Kodiak. AK 99615. Unpubl. data. Somerton and Donaldson: Biology of Chionoecetes tanneri and C. angulatus 349


Objective
We examine how Latino constituencies—their percentage of the population and their percentage of voters—influence the propensity of states to pass restrictive immigration policy, testing two competing theories.

Method
Using state-level data from 2009 through 2012, we examine the influence of Latino constituency size and Latino electoral strength on the number of restrictive immigration laws enacted by U.S. state legislatures.

Results
We find that states with larger Latino populations pass more restrictive laws, but greater Latino electoral strength leads states to pass fewer restrictive policies. This relationship is interactive such that increases in Latino turnout act to mitigate the positive effect of Latino population size on restrictive policies. Finally, we show that the positive effect of Latino mobilization is indirect, meditated by their electoral influence on the partisan and ethnic composition of state legislatures.

Conclusions
Our findings emphasize the importance of voting for minority substantive representation.


The subject of this research is the justification of the category of "terminology mobility". The question arises about the need to study the mobility of terminology, which has not been previously analyzed. The authors focus on the characteristics of terminology mobility based on theoretical assumptions related to the concept of knowledge transfer and the dynamic nature of terminology. The authors consider mobility as a complex evolutionary process, which, unlike dynamics comparable to movement or simple replacement of linguistic units, serves as a source of terminology renewal in language. A review of modern terminological studies is carried out in order to identify the theoretical foundations and prerequisites for the formation of the new concept of "terminology mobility". A significant role is given to discourse and social (extralinguistic) factors. We see a unique cycle of terminology mobility, starting with the identification of a term as a linguistic sign and ending with a metaterm. It is asserted that terminology mobility goes through five stages of development. The multi-stage structure of terminology mobility is manifested in the transition to a more complex sphere (domain) of functioning: from a unit of specialized knowledge, through a specialized form of their organization — a terminological system, through a specialized text, communicative situation, professional activity to the tasks and needs of society.


We report the first application of hydrophobic interaction between graphene oxide (GO) and negatively charged enzymes to fabricate CE‐integrated immobilized enzyme microreactors (IMERs) by a simple and reliable immobilization procedure based on layer by layer assembly. L‐lactate dehydrogenase (L‐LDH), which is negatively charged during the enzymatic reaction, is selected as the model enzyme. Various spectroscopic techniques, including SEM, FTIR, and UV‐vis are used to characterize the fabricated CE‐IMERs, demonstrating the successful immobilization of enzymes on the negatively charged GO layer in the capillary surface. The IMER exhibits excellent repeatability with RSDs of inter‐day and batch‐to‐batch less than 3.49 and 6.37%, respectively, and the activity of immobilized enzymes remains about 90% after five‐day usage. The measured Km values of pyruvate and NADH of the immobilized L‐LDH are in good agreement with those obtained by free enzymes. The results demonstrate that the hydrophobic interactions and/or π‐π stacking is significant between the GO backbone and the aromatic residues of L‐LDH and favorable to fabrication of CE‐integrated IMERs. Finally, the method is successfully applied to the determination of pyruvate in beer samples.


THE GREEN REVOLUTION P.Fitzgerald-Moore and B.J. Parai Foreword This chapter started life as lecture notes and graphical displays prepared by Douglas H. Norrie (with data up to 1975) for his class "Technology in Contemporary Society." In 1984 Fitzgerald-Moore amplified the notes and started an annual revision of the data. In 1996, the notes and graphs were turned over to Brian Parai to form the basis of a term paper under Fitzgerald-Moore's supervision. Parai's paper has been extensively quarried during the revision of this chapter in the series "Lectures on Technology". We wish to thank the following who provided additional input : Parampreet Singh Sekhon; Ravi Bhalla ; and Zaheer Baber. Research is still in progress; many reference materials are not locally available; the paper must therefore be treated as an incomplete first draft. Readers' comments would be welcomed.


Driven by an ever-increasing awareness of environmental issues, today's structural engineers and architects pay particular attention to the effects of thermal bridging at junctions within buildings. This article focuses on the effects of thermal bridging at the interface between concrete balconies and supporting slabs, and how the problem can be solved simply and effectively by incorporating thermally insulated balcony connectors.


Title: Pre-contrast T1 and cartilage thickness as confounding factors in dGEMRIC when evaluating human cartilage adaptation to physical activity Authors: Carl Johan Tiderius (email@example.com) Zana Hawezi (email@example.com) Lars Olsson (firstname.lastname@example.com) Leif Dahlberg (email@example.com) Version: 1 Date: 08 Nov 2019 Author's response to reviews: Response to reviewers for the manuscript "Pre-contrast T1 and cartilage thickness as confounding factors in dGEMRIC when evaluating human cartilage adaptation to physical activity"


MODERATOR: I'm absolutely delighted that we have such a distinguished speaker to address us at this morning's session. Professor Malcolm Sears is one of those individuals who, I think we can honestly sa3~ in his career in medicine has made a very important contribution in his specific area, that being in the whole area of identifying the changing trends in asthma mortali~. Dr. Sears is a distinguished researcher and educator and you'll find him to be a delightful speaker.


We define a Susskind–Glogower operator that is unitary and acts as a true ladder operator for photons of a given frequency and any polarization. The operator acts on a Hilbert space consisting of all number states in both polarizations. The phase operator derived from this ladder operator satisfies the canonical commutation relations with the number operator. The eigenstates of this ladder operator are also found. Our method based on all the observable states enables us to write the operators for objects such as beam splitters, phase shifters or polarizers, as constant matrices; those used to study classical polarized beams. The Pegg–Barnett operator and the two-mode operator of Ban are special cases of our operator. We compared the phase state defined here with that obtained from the original Susskind–Glogower case, as well as that obtained by the method of Pegg and Barnett in the limit of a very small number of photons being present, and found that there are differences which may enable a direct experimental comparison of these operators.


An ability to quickly access and run computer architecture tools via the Internet would be very beneecial to users. Towards this end, we have developed a prototype network-computing system (the Purdue University Network-Computing Hubs) that allows designers, researchers, and students to access and run existing tools via standard worldwide web browsers. PUNCH currently provides access to a number of independently-developed tools for computer architecture research and education, and has been used by students in several undergraduate and graduate courses at Purdue and elsewhere. Users have logged more than 850,000 hits and have performed over 50,000 simulations. This paper focuses on user-interface issues that must be addressed when tools that were originally developed for local use are executed via a network-computing environment.


While technology is providing railway operators with unprecedented opportunities to connect and interact with passengers, these developments are set to provide significant benefits to operators, as well as enhancing passenger experience. This article discusses the advances being made in discrete passenger information systems (PIS), as well as the increasingly influential role of social media on passenger communication, and strategies for utilizing these technologies to their fullest advantage.


Realization of high‐speed rail track demands continuous welded rail (CWR) to be laid on bridges without providing special expansion joints. In India, the existing rail bridges must be evaluated for their suitability for upgradation to CWR. CWR Inherently develops axial stress on account of the surrounding temperature changes. CWR in track‐bridge transition zone is subjected to additional stress and displacements as a result of track‐bridge interaction (TBI). Longitudinal thermal loading is a major source of rail stress and substructure forces due to TBI. Also, TBI results in accumulation of large compressive stress in transition zone. Further, the tamping effect in the transition zone by passing vehicles due to sudden change in vertical stiffness weakens the transition zone ballast. CWR is a slender steel element prone to buckling under large compressive stress. A numerical model is developed for track bridge interaction phenomenon in SAP2000 considering the aspect of CWR track buckling. In this study, the developed model is utilized to perform nonlinear buckling analysis to assess the influence of change in ballast stiffness on CWR stability in transition zone. Also, the influence of missing ballast contact raising from ballast subsidence locally in the transition zone was investigated. A single span simply supported steel bridge is considered. Longitudinal thermal loading is considered in this study. CWR supported on the ballasted track is considered. Material Nonlinearity associated with ballast is considered. Maintenance of CWR track is found to play a key role in track stability as the loose ballast or missing of ballast underneath the rail sleeper is to introduce discontinuity in CWR track support and reduces the critical buckling temperatures of the track considerably. Overall, this study contributes to the understanding of track‐bridge interaction and the stability of CWR in the transition zone.


Damping resulting from ion magnetic drift and Landau resonances is shown to strongly stabilize the ion temperature gradient mode in tokamaks. The instability requires a steep temperature gradient eT=LT/T ≲0.05.


In order to simultaneously obtain global optimal model structure and coefficients, this paper proposes a novel Wiener model to identify the dynamic and static behavior of a gas turbine engine. An improved kernel extreme learning machine is presented to build up a bank of self-tuning block-oriented Wiener models; the time constant values of linear dynamic element in Wiener model are designed to tune engine operating conditions. Reduced-dimension matrix inversion incorporated with the fast leave one out cross validation strategy is utilized to decrease computational time for the selection of engine model feature parameters. An optimization algorithm is no longer needed compared to the former method. The contribution of this study is that a more convenient and appropriate methodology is developed to describe aircraft engine thermodynamic behavior during its static and dynamic operations. The methodology is evaluated in terms of computational efforts, dynamic and static estimation accuracy through a case study involving data that are generated by general aircraft engine simulation. The results confirm our viewpoints in this paper.


The paper reports on a management initiative within an iconic global high-tech company to facilitate technical innovation within two teams (situated in different global locations of the company) that had been unable to produce any form of technical innovation over a period of several years. Experimenting with an action research strategy, this initiative had the practical goal of generating technical innovation and the research goal of gaining insight into the social dynamics that may facilitate such innovation. The two-year process delivered novel insights into the circumstances that enabled these teams to deliver four company-lauded technical innovations. The principal finding of the research - that social innovation is an antecedent of technical innovation - highlights the importance of alternative research methodologies (to that of the dominant research approach involved in R&D facilities) in addressing the politics of innovation within large organisations.


Background: Translating clinical research evidence into routine practice regularly involves healthcare professional behaviour change. Theories used in behavioural science typically assume that healthcare professional behaviour is the result of a reflective decision-making process. The current study aimed to systematically review the literature investigating the influence of automatic processes on healthcare professional behaviour (i.e. habit).
Methods: A systematic search of five electronic databases identified 66 potentially relevant papers. Two reviewers independently selected nine studies for inclusion. The same reviewers extracted data using a structured extraction form to capture details of study characteristics; methodological quality; measures of clinical behaviour and habit; and correlation coefficients of the habit-behaviour relationships.
Results: Eight of the nine identified studies found a statistically significant correlation between habit and behaviour ranging from r = 0.25-0.68. The overall quality of studies was moderate with considerable variation across studies. Habit was assessed using three different types of self-reported habit measures across the studies. Seven studies made explicit use of theory to predict clinical behaviour. Habit was measured as a construct within Operant Learning Theory or a Dual Process Model. Potential effect modifiers included the type of clinical behaviour, job title, type of habit measure and theory.
Discussion: Results suggest that habit is an important predictor of healthcare professional behaviour. Effective behaviour change interventions should target both reflective and impulsive processes that underlie healthcare professional behaviour. Future studies would benefit from the development of objective measures of habit as current measures are limited to self-report.


This study describes the use of statistical optimization techniques on a laboratory scale reverse flow reactor for the catalytic partial oxidation of methane on Ni-MgO/α-alumina monolith catalyst. The effects of initial temperature (Tini), switching time (τ), total flow rate (F), mole fraction of methane (M), and catalyst length on hydrogen yield and methane conversion are investigated using systematic experimental design. In the first experimental phase, the steepest ascent path was established by ridge analysis to determine the stationary point. The optimum operating conditions were determined in the second experimental phase. The following interactions were found to be significant for methane conversion: M*τ, F*τ and M*F. The interaction of F*τ also affected the hydrogen yield. The third-order interaction of F*τ*M was also found to be statistically significant. The optimum methane conversion value of 57.36% could be obtained by setting switching time, total flow rate and a mole fraction of methane of 4.24 minutes, 543ml/min and 0.6043, respectively. The optimum value of hydrogen yield of 36.73% was reached by setting total flow rate, mole fraction of methane and switching time of 540ml/min, 0.5845 and 4.15 minutes, respectively. The analysis of reactor operation showed that optimization of the system required changing more than one factor and that there is a complex interplay of the different experimental factors. The influence of the factors may all be interpreted in terms of heat release and heat loss in the system.


Chapter 1 A Park Avenue View of Palestine Chapter 2 Problems in Palestine, Solutions in New York Chapter 3 Enter Edward Norman Chapter 4 Americans Negotiate a Palestine Solution Chapter 5 The Negotiations Begin Chapter 6 Partners in Secret Diplomacy Chapter 7 From Washington to London Chapter 8 Jewish Money, Iraqi Promises Chapter 9 Epilogue


Adult learners are different from younger learners. Many have taken Knowles' ideas to work with adult learners as if they all are the same. Knowles described adult learners as more self-directed, willing to be responsible for what they do, unwilling to have teachers impose arbitrary information on them, ready to learn, task oriented, and experienced. Prather adds many adults have more immediate goals for their lives and careers. Kenner and Weinerman find adults want more collaborative relationships with professors. Adult students are unique and come to classes from a variety of backgrounds and circumstances, with different needs, wants, and learning preferences. Many students are prepared for college, while others are petrified. In this chapter, the authors argue that instructors should understand their students in order to help them be successful. Students are not alternative students; they are normal, intelligent people who can and will learn. Thus, the goal should be student-centered online learning.


Security for multicast communication by mutual (sender and receiver) authentication is a challenging problem in the smart grid given the unique constraints in communication bandwidth, computation time, and computational resources of field devices. Traditional public-key infrastructure based digital signature schemes (such as RSA) cannot be naively adapted for secure communication in the smart-grid because of: (i) increased communication burden (large key sizes which increase communication bandwidth), (ii) increased time for decryption/verification (which increase latency) and (iii) the limited computational capabilities of smart-meters and other field devices. These unique constraints limit the direct application of generic solutions with one-time signature schemes, (OTS), or the Bins and Balls (BiBa) scheme for broadcast authentication, or improvements via HORS (Hash to Obtain Random Subset). While the signature size and verification time are small, the public-key size is large with moderate overhead for signature generation with BiBa. A significant reduction in signing overhead is achieved with HORS which makes it useful for several multicast authentication applications. However, even HORS is not well suited for smart grid applications mainly because it requires large public key sizes. For power-grid communications, the most recent multicast authentication protocol called Tunable Signing and Verification (TSV) [1] reduces the signature size (over HORS) at the expense of increased computations at sender or receiver. Hence the need for better one-time signature schemes that will require fewer resources at the receiver, with modest signature sizes and low sender computations is both urgent and important in the smart-grid environment.


Mechanical systems with time-varying topology appear frequently in various applications. The nature of topology transition is a key characteristic in the performance of such systems. In this paper, a concept to decouple kinematic and kinetic quantities at the time of topology transition is used. This approach relies on the use of impulsive bilateral constraints and it is a useful tool for the analysis of energy redistribution and velocity change when these constraints are suddenly established. Based on this concept, two examples of systems with time-varying topology are analyzed: a bipedal walking system and a dual-pantograph robotic prototype interacting with a stiff environment. Detailed numerical and experimental analysis to gain insight into the dynamics and energetics of topology transitions is presented.


To assess genetic variation within a cultivar, four commercial varieties with five individual G. hirsutum genotypes and their bulk were assayed with selected forty 10-mer RAPDs per cultivar via PCR. CIM-473 cultivar showed amplification of 321 bands in total per primer with an average of 8 bands. A range of similarity i.e.; 80% - 100% within the cultivar has been observed for minimum and maximum respectively. CIM-448 showed amplification of 300 bands in total per primer with an average of 7.5 bands. Maximum similarity of 95% and minimum similarity of 84% was observed within the cultivar. In CIM-1100 the total numbers of fragments amplified are 304, with the average of 7.6 bands per primer and are 12% - 20% polymorphic. Similarly, in NIAB-78 the total numbers of fragments amplified were 310, with the average of 7.7 bands per primer. The reliability of RAPD technique for finding genetic resemblances is indicated by the mentioned results. Numerous groups within 5 individual genotypes bulk among 4 cultivars of G. hirsutum L. have been through cluster analysis which was by the unweighted pair group method of arithmetic means (UPGMA). Dendrograms have been used for showing cultivar relationship.


This issue of Public Health Reports makes significant contributions to the available evidence used to support decisions addressing disparities in U.S. child health and health care. Per capita spending for health care in the U.S. in 2001 was $4,887, nearly twice that for Japan ($2,627) and more than 2.5 times that for the United Kingdom ($1,835).1 This relatively large and growing investment of public and private U.S. dollars does not necessarily result in commensurate returns in health: the U.S. ranks in the third decile for many measures of population health for children and adults. In 2000, infant mortality in the U.S., roughly 7 infant deaths for every 1,000 live births, was no better than that observed either in the UK or in Japan, which reported an infant mortality rate of 3 per 1,000 births.2 This paradox exists in a disconcerting context. The health of U.S. residents overall and the health of many U.S. subgroups has improved remarkably by nearly all measures over recent decades. Many individuals enjoy better health, yet large disparities persist among racial/ethnic, socioeconomic, and geographic subgroups. It is these disparities that in large part explain the persistently low U.S. ranking in international comparisons. For example, if the U.S. infant mortality rate for African Americans (14.4 deaths for every 1,000 live births in 2002) was similar to that for whites (5.8 deaths for every 1,000 live births), the U.S. ranking among reporting United Nations member countries would rise from 24th to approximately 7th. In economic terms, the primary output of the U.S. health care system is the health of its citizens. In the broadest sense, health care is supported by both public and private sources of funding and encompasses both preventive and treatment services. Health, as a public good, returns to society as improved productivity and reduced downstream expenditures for care. Because health is also subject to influences that are independent of health care, it is difficult sometimes to identify the sources of suboptimal health. Moreover, those responsible for specific health-related inputs may find opportunity to attribute poor health to inputs other than those for which they are responsible. For example, those with poor health sometimes blame the health care delivery system. The delivery system tends to blame harmful behaviors and social inequities related to poverty and discrimination. Some health inputs depend neither on individual behavior nor the functioning of the health care system. These include community structures and policies that influence health, environmental, and workplace hazards and external barriers to care access. Complicating the independent influences of individual decision-making, socio-environmental context, and health care delivery are important but poorly understood interactions among these sets of effects. Distinctly, but also importantly, health status impacts personal decision-making and may even influence the behavior of the delivery system to the extent that systems perceive themselves as relevant only to narrowly defined disease states (Figure 1). Interactions between preventive services that might be available in the largely government-funded U.S. public health arena and health services provided outside the public health system may be particularly important determinants of the apparent discrepancy between spending for health services and health. National investments in public health services, which are largely preventive, vary greatly in international comparisons as a proportion of total health care spending, and perhaps carry a stronger association with overall population health (Table 1). Funding decisions for public health services in the U.S. tend to be made independently from such decisions for other health services. Moreover, public health practitioners tend to be segregated both professionally and geographically from other health care providers. In response to criticism that they pay insufficient attention to prevention, nonpublic health physicians and the organizations with which they are associated sometimes offer suboptimal training and associated inefficiencies in busy practices as explanations. These separations between public health providers and other health care providers in the U.S. offer opportunities to partition care and thus responsibility. Poor use of preventive services, high prevalence of potentially preventable conditions, and suboptimal access to care become public health issues—while poor response to treatment, errors in care, unsafe care delivery, and high costs of cure are outside the responsibility of public health officials. Consumer decisions are sandwiched between, and as perceived by some, layered


To achieve high accuracy of positioning method for ships which have good mobility and are uninfluenced by the water depth, the dynamic positioning system has come into being. More and more ships working in deepwater area tend to install dynamic positioning system. The main objective of this study is to discuss the effects of different wave spectra on the dynamic positioning accuracy. First, considering some parameters of a certain dynamic positioning ship, the Response Amplitude Operator (RAO) is calculated by AQWA. Then, time domain simulations and calculations for the ship motion have been conducted by OrcaFlex based on JONSWAP, ISSC, Ochi-Hubble, Torsethaugen and Gaussian Swell, respectively. Finally, the analysis results are compared to discuss the dynamic positioning accuracy. Some useful conclusions and recommendations are obtained to lay a theoretical foundation of actual project practice.


Objective To explore the influence of education model based on health consciousness theory on the health behaviors ability in discharged patients with acute pancreatitis. Methods Ninety eight cases of patients with first symptom of acute pancreatitis are divided into treatment group(n=48)and control group(n=50).The treatment group was tested with education model based on health consciousness theory,while the control group was given routine health education.With Health BehaviorsAbility Quantization Table,the 100 patients were investigated before discharge and 2 weeks,1 month,3 months after discharge.Results There was no statistical difference between the two groups before their being discharged.But all kindsof scoresof the treatment group were higher than those of the control group in another three investigations two weeks, one month,and three months after discharge respectives,which had statistical significance(P0. 05).After discharge,scores of the treatment group increased gradually as time went by,while the control group′s score in all was higher in one month than in two weeks,and began to fall after one month,and overtopped before discharge in every side three months later.Conclusion Compared with routine health education,the education model based on health consciousness theory can significantly improve the health behaviors ability in discharged patients with acute pancreatitis.


This paper discusses the complementarity of the Humanity disciplines from a textlinguistic perspective,claiming that the textlinguistic approach is possible and plausible in humanity studies.This is mainly demonstrated from three aspects: their common ground,their complementarities and the ancient Chinese textological ideas.


Abstract Fumed titania and silica/titania (ST) were studied by optical spectroscopy of an adsorbed color indicator, X-ray, high-energy electron diffraction, electrophoresis, and quantum chemical methods. Titania in ST with the TiO 2 concentration ( C TiO 2 ) above 5 wt % as well as original fumed titania has blended crystalline structure with rutile and anatase; therewith particle cores consist of rutile, and particle shells are mainly anatase. The ST surface possesses higher Bronsted acidity, caused by bridging hydroxy groups Ti—O(H)—Si, than that for original titania (Ti—O(H)—Ti) or silica (SiOH), and its maximum is for C TiO 2 ≈ 20 wt %. Electrophoretic mobility of the ST particles depends on the titania concentration nonlinearly and passes though a maximum for C TiO 2 = 9 wt % if pH ≥ 5. A C TiO 2 increase leads to reduction of a ST particle size in aqueous suspensions from effective diameter of 15 μm for agglomerates of pure silica to 0.4 μm for ST with C TiO 2 = 36 wt %. According to theoretical simulation, the Ti atoms in the boundary cells on the steps of the titania or ST particles can easily change the coordination number upon water adsorption and desorption.


This paper approaches pragmatic translation from the perspective of the theory of relativity in communication. For this purpose we first introduce a few essential concepts of this theory, such as the inferential nature of communication, context, optimal relevance and the like. Then, we deal with the pragmatic role of the notion of translation: translation as an interpretive use of language, text typologies as guides to relativity, context-based problems in translation, and other. We hold that this study will help us better understand the nature of pragmatic translation, and thus increase the success of likelihood in our translation work.


Technologic advances and a better understanding of the pathophysiologic basis of neurologic diseases have greatly improved the care of critically ill patients after neurosurgical procedures. Risk factors for the development of adverse events have been identified, and early identification and treatment of complications are essential. This chapter provides an overview of the initial evaluation of patients for intensive care unit admission after intracranial procedures, general care of those patients, and specific management strategies for early detection and treatment of complications.


AbstractThis paper investigates the temperature–time evolution of the rheological properties of nanosilica (NS)-modified cement paste. A rheometer was used to determine the rheology curves of the p...


In this paper we study coexistence of 5G small cells with fixed satellite systems (FSSs) in a scenario where both systems operate co-channel in the large spectrum bandwidth available around 28 GHz. Such studies are of great importance to inform the research community,industry and regulators which are currently investigating spectrum requirements and technology options for 5G systems. Focusing on the FSS uplink scenario, we use realistic FSS parameters and radiation pattern, combined with very recent channel from the literature, we analyzed the impact of interference resulting from FSS radiation on the achievable capacity and throughput of 5G small cells considering various multiple antenna configurations at the base stations (BSs) and different deployments of the mobile transmitters when no cooperation is allowed between the BSs. Starting from the lower bound, represented by an omnidirectional configuration of the transmitters, we extend our work to the analysis of large antenna arrays that will be used in the new generation of mobile cellular systems. Our results indicate that by exploiting a large number of antennas at the BSs and properly setting the protection distance between FSS and cellular BS, co-channel deployment of 5G small cells with FSS earth stations is possible, in the sense that adequate user data rates could be provided to the majority of mobile users.


The management of environmental resources at regional level is closely related to social, economic and community's activities. Community's activities should be led taking into account the environmental sustainability. Preserving and improving environment's quality is one of the main national objectives in nowadays Romania. Under these circumstances the main purpose of our research is to highlight the major aspects of this debate. Therefore, the study of social and economic activities impact on the environment is a major issue that modern society has to face today. As a consequence there is necessary a well balanced management for the environment resources in accordance with certain rules and terms, not only at local level, but also at regional and national level.


To understand the quality of grocery store bought chicken, this research determined if chicken samples from four commonly purchased brands were contaminated with antibiotic resistant Escherichia coli (E. coli). Chicken was placed into enrichment culture, samples were inoculated on plates with antibiotics and growth was measured. Results revealed that Gold'n Plump (antibiotic free) chicken had the least amount of antibiotic resistant bacteria followed by Whole Foods (antibiotic free), and Cub and Market Pantry (both conventionally raised) had the largest. Additionally, most chicken contained ampicillin resistant bacteria and gentamicin sensitive bacteria. A Kirby-Bauer assay was then performed, followed by the use of matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization and time of flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF MS) technology. The Kirby-Bauer assay revealed that Market Pantry had bacteria resistant to the highest average number of drug classes. The MALDI-TOF MS reported that the majority of the bacteria in the chicken was E. coli. Given the results, it can be concluded that Market Pantry contained the highest amount of antibiotic resistant E. coli, and Whole Foods and Gold'n Plump contained the least.


The aim of the dissertation is to highlight the role of the reinforcement in the compaction of concrete elements whether they are reinforced with fiber-reinforced polymers or simply. With the non-destructive ultrasound method, the development of the breakage will be monitored at various stages in the reinforced and non-specimens critical conclusions. This will be done through the experiment at the concrete laboratory of the University of Western Attica, where in the first phase four strands of reinforced concrete were made, the two being simple and the other two reinforced with FRP. In the second phase of the experiment we tested a separate concrete specimen where there are three pieces of polystyrene to control the cracks through the ultrasonic instrument and to adjust the instrument properly. Then, through the ultrasound, we checked the cracks existing before sadness of specimens.
In the third phase, we placed the test pieces on the compressor, where they were compressed with compressive forces and recorded the strengths at the same time. At the end, we recalled with the non-suprasorphic method of ultrasound the samples, recorded them and compared them with the previous ones and with each other. We have drawn the appropriate conclusions on the advantages of FRP reinforcement in the structural elements of a structure compared to older methods. Also, the advantages of non-destructive testing through the ultrasonic ultrasonic instrument. Finally, through the work and the experiment I have mastered the knowledge of reinforced concrete and repairs and building aids. Also, I got knowledge of modern technology in repairs and non-destructive NDT instruments.


A systematic investigation on major tea garden natural enemy spiders in Guilin Institute of Tea Sciences was conducted. The results showed that total 687 specimens were collected,belonging to 34 species,2 suborder 14 families 27 genera,a new record species Suining badger spider from Guangxi. Spider is a major developing natural enemy group on tea insect pests,with features of wide distribution,large quantity,long duration,strong predatorprey and stress resistance,has strong predation on tea leafhopper,dnymphs and tea geometrid young larvae.


Contemporary human diet is poor in proteins. Therefore, the modern food science should find new sources of high-grade protein. The bracken fern is rich in proteins can be an unconventional solution to this problem. The research objective was to study the protein contents of Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn, which grows on the territory of the Krasnoyarsk Region.
The study featured Pteridium aquilinum (L.) Kuhn harvested in several districts of the Kozulka, Kuragino and Shushenskoye districts Krasnoyarsk Region in May 2021. Spectrophotometry and chromatography were used to assess the proteins and amino acids, respectively.
The protein content in the dried fern samples ranged from 24 to 27%. All the samples contained fifteen amino acids, including seven essential ones, mostly represented by phenylalanine+tyrosine (2.17 g/100 g of protein). Glutamine was the dominating essential amino acid (4.98 g/100 g of protein). The score of all the essential amino acids was more than 100%. The limiting amino acid was represented by methionine+cystine. From the total of fifteen amino acids, twelve belonged to various classes of aliphatic amino acids, one – to aromatic amino acids, and two – to heterocyclic amino acids. In terms of biological value, the samples collected in the Kuragino district surpassed those from the Kozulka and Shushenskoye districts because they had a lower value of amino acid score difference coefficient (78) and the highest value of coefficient of amino acid utility (0.55). The index of essential amino acids for all the fresh fern samples ranged from 1.04 to 1.1, which indicates a greater value of the total of essential amino acids than in the reference protein.
The qualitative and quantitative composition of amino acids of the bracken fern in the Krasnoyarsk Region showed that it can be used in food industry as an additional source of protein.


To improve the performance of the vaneless counter-rotating turbine(VCRT),numerical simulation had been carried out to investigate the flow in the VCRT at different pressure ratios of two turning speeds,and the numerical results were compared with the experimental data.Numerical results show good agreement with test data on the design condition and conditions which are close to the design condition.Outlet pressure of the VCRT has greater influence on the performance of low pressure rotor,but smaller influence on that of high pressure rotor,which results in the work ratio of the high pressure turbine to low pressure turbine of the VCRT increased gradually when the condition is farther and farther from the design point.Finally,the flow structure of the farthest off-design condition in experimental test at the speed of 5000 r/min was compared with that of the design condition.Results show that serious separations produce in the high pressure rotor on off-design condition.High pressure rotor and low pressure rotor cannot match well at far off-design conditions, thereby,performance of the turbine get worse there.Appropriate flow control technology is necessary to be taken to improve the performance of the VCRT on off-design condition.


In this study, the subject of regular star polygons, which is one of the important topics of geometry and which has taken place in many works since the fourteenth century, is discussed. A significant number of new definitions and features were added at the end of the process to the known definitions and features related to the subject. Based on the basic logic of regular star polygons, a new drawing technique has been developed, which is different from the known drawing technique using regular polygons. Equivalent parts of regular star polygons connecting the corner points are called formation lines and the study is dealt with around this scope. The lines of formation are classified as acute and obtuse according to the angles they form with the horizontal axis and important results are obtained. The angular arrangement of the layout of acute and obtuse formation lines on regular star polygons and the number of acute and obtuse formation lines are generalized according to mode 4. The circles connecting the points formed by the intersection of the formation lines on any regular star polygon are called the circle layers and the intersection points of the formation lines are called star coordinates and their properties are examined. A method in which we can determine the position of the star coordinates in any regular star polygon in four steps without drawing shapes has been developed and supported by applications. The determination of the position of the star coordinates for all star polygons without the need for drawing will prepare the ground for new studies. Conceptually, the fact that all regular polygons are also regular star polygons puts a special emphasis on the subject.


Oxytocin (OT) and Vasopressin (VP) are neuroendocrine hormone developed from Hypothalamus neuroes, which contains two substances mainly distribute in Paraventricular nucleus(PVN), Supraoptic nucleus(SON), whose fibers project widely in Cerebrum and Spinal cord, OT and VP co-exist in many cells. They bring into physiological effect through conjecting corresponding receptors. The receptors have certain homogeneity, wide distribution and physiological effect. This article merely makes abrief summary on pain modulation study field in the past few years.


This study estimated hydraulic conductivity, transmissivity, and interpreted the environment of deposition of the Owelli Sandstone in Mbanabor area of Anambra Basin, Southeastern Nigeria. These were achieved using grain size distribution analysis, and borehole lithological logs. The results indicated that values of hydraulic conductivity (m/s) and transmissivity (m 2 /s) range between 2.89 x 10 -2 – 1.52 x 10 -1 , and 4.8 x 10 -1 - 5.3 x10 -1 , respectively, indicating prevalence of aquifer of good performance. The aquifer units are predominantly unconfined, with variable thicknesses and depth of occurrence. The values of the mean, sorting, skewness and kurtosis, from sieve data range between 0.2 - 0.9Φ, 0.49 - 1.97Φ, -0.05 - 0.21Φ and 0.96 - 1.52Φ respectively. Multivariate discriminate functions revealed that Owelli Sandstone may have been deposited dominantly by beach process, in shallow agitated marine, and shallow marine environment. Key words: Hydraulic Conductivity, Transmissivity, Owelli Sandstone, Anambra Basin, Depositional Environment.


: Privacy is a very complex concept that concerns all areas of human activity. Even more so, it has acquired whole new importance and has become a hot-button topic in the era of ubiquitous computing. The emergence of Active and Assisted Living (AAL) technologies is offering the improvement of the quality of life and maintaining the independence of older adults in their preferred environment. Especially with the advancement of computer vision, video-based technological solutions are giving us promising results but bring along significant risks of privacy violation. With this qualitative study, we aim to explore older adults' understanding of privacy as a construct and their privacy considerations for technology-based monitoring applications in eldercare, for video-based systems among them. Exploratory interview sessions were conducted with 12 older adults 66 and plus of age living in care homes and in private households. Findings indicate that the concept of privacy is indeed difficult to understand and define for older adults. However, the context of video monitoring elicits clear privacy concerns. The nudity aspect of privacy was proved to be the most important among the participants, yet, the attitudinal shift in the perception of nudity was observed in older adults living in care homes. Eight out of 12 interviewed older adults did not like the idea of having a camera-based assistive technology, however, some of their worries were alleviated after explaining to them the possible technology's inherent privacy-preserving techniques.


SEBAL (Surface Energy Balance Algorithm for Land) developed by Bastiaanssen (1995) is an image-processing model comprised of twenty-five sub models that calculates spatial evapotranspiration (ET) and other energy exchanges at the surface. SEBAL uses image data from Landsat or other satellites measuring thermal infrared radiation, visible and near infrared. In this study, the model was applied to Gyeongancheon watershed, the main tributary of Han river Basin. ET was computed on a pixel-by-pixel basis from an energy balance using 4 years (2001-2004) Landsat and MODIS images. The scale effect between Landsat (30 m) and MODIS (1 ㎞) was evaluated. The results both from Landsat and MODIS were compared with FAO Penman-Monteith ET. The absolute errors between satellite ETs and Penman-Monteith ET were within 12%. The spatial and temporal characteristics of ET distribution within the watershed were also analyzed.


WPSAR Vol 4, No 2, 2013 | doi: 10.5365/wpsar.2013.4.2.008 www.wpro.who.int/wpsar 1 a Division of Health Securities and Emergencies, World Health Organization Regional Offi ce for Western Pacifi c, Manila, Philippines. b World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. c Emerging Diseases Surveillance and Response, World Health Organization, China Offi ce, Beijing, China. d Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Beijing, China. * Members of the World Health Organization Regional Offi ce for the Western Pacifi c Event Management Team: Nyka Alexander, Steve Bice, Joy Rivaca Caminade, Xavier Dufrenot, Emily Jane Fearnley, Alice Ruth Foxwell, Nori Isoda, Michelle McPherson, Zu Rongqiang, Tomoe Shimada. Submitted: 8 May 2013; Published: 21 May 2013 doi: 10.5365/wpsar.2013.4.2.008 On 31 March 2013, the National Health and Family Planning Commission, China notified the World Health Organization of three cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) from Shanghai and Anhui.1 By 8 May, 131 cases, including 26 deaths, had been notified from 11 provinces/ municipalities.1,2 The majority (81%) of reported cases were from Shanghai municipality and Zhejiang and Jiangsu provinces. Available data indicate that more than three quarters of cases (59/77, 76%) had recent exposure to animals. Among these, 58% (34/59) had direct contact with chickens and 64% (38/59) visited a live bird market (LBM).3 Provincial and national authorities in China have collected more than 80 000 samples from LBMs, poultry slaughter houses, poultry farms, wild bird habitats, pig slaughter houses and their environments. As of 7 May, 50 samples were positive for avian influenza A(H7N9): 39 samples from poultry from LBMs in Anhui, Jiangsu, Jiangxi, Guangdong, Shanghai and Zhejiang provinces (26 chickens, three ducks, four pigeons, six unknown) and 11 environmental samples from LBMs in Shanghai, Henan and Shandong provinces.4 None of the samples from poultry farms or pigs were positive.5


It is an important problem to develop the financial ecosystem for financial innovation. Under the same adjust and control policies, institutional laws, credit circumstance, like, and others, the level of financial ecosystem is different. These not only affect the financial deep development, but also block the economic stable development. The main reasons are national non-equilibrium development static, the different regional government actions and different financial structure. So, improvement of the national development static and optimization of the financial structure are the necessary choice.


In this paper the KM governance configuration of a knowledge intensive research organisation is outlined, and the impact of this configuration on the organisational KM approach is discussed. Findings show the particular importance of the structure of the KM function, the communication and coordination processes that have been put in place, and the provision of leadership for the knowledge management approach. The paper concludes that the KM governance configuration describes a trade-off between creating synergies among the different support functions and integrating the knowledge management initiatives with the various business operations.


Fujian dramatist Chen Renjian's puxian opera works,After the Reunion and Chun Cao Barge the Hall and so on,represent strong anit-feudal times spirit,humanity consciousness awakening,connotative desolation,new reunion ending and distinct contemporary consciousness with dramatic stories and impart the inevitable development of humanistic spirit on the contemporary.


A hand-held spray bottle (10, 400, 500, 500') is provided, which includes a liquid reservoir (12, 52, 88, 510), a liquid outlet (14, 74, 89, 508), an electrolysis cell (18, 50, 80, 406, 552, 708, 804), a power source (32, 402, 542) and a DC-to-DC converter (1004). The electrolysis cell (18, 50, 80, 406, 552, 708, 804) is carried by the spray bottle (10, 400, 500, 500') and is fluidically coupled between the reservoir (12, 52, 88, 510) and the liquid outlet (14, 74, 89, 508). The power source (32, 402, 542) is carried by the spray bottle (10, 400, 500, 500') and has a voltage output. The DC-to-DC converter (1004) is coupled between the voltage output and the electrolysis cell (18, 50, 80, 406, 552, 708, 804) and provides a stepped-up voltage, which is greater than the voltage output of the power source (32, 402, 542), to energize the electrolysis cell (18, 50, 80, 406, 552, 708, 804).


The expected return time to the original state is a key concept characterizing systems obeying both classical or quantum dynamics. We consider iterated open quantum dynamical systems in finite-dimensional Hilbert spaces, a broad class of systems that includes classical Markov chains and unitary discrete-time quantum walks on networks. Starting from a pure state, the time evolution is induced by repeated applications of a superoperator (quantum channel) in each time step followed by a measurement to detect whether the system has returned to the original state. We prove that if the superoperator is unital in the part of the Hilbert space explored by the system, then the expectation value of the return time is an integer, equal to the dimension of this relevant Hilbert space. We illustrate our results on partially coherent quantum walks on finite graphs. Our work shows that the expected return time is a quantitative measure of the size of the part of the Hilbert space available to the system when the dynamics is started from a certain state.


Forming mechanism of double percolation phenomenon in electrical conductive composites, distribution of carbon black particles and its application were reviewed.


The objective of modern on-farm irrigation should be to use the available natural resources, especially water and energy as efficiently as possible, reasonable economic viability and with low/minimal impact on environment. Besides the proven advantages of micro irrigation technologies like enhanced crop water productivity, increased crop yields and profits, improved quality of production, increased fertilizers use efficiency, reduced costs on weed control and environmentally responsible, there are some bottlenecks like need for higher management skills, high investment cost for large-scale application of the technology. The responsibility for the researchers, manufacturers, suppliers is therefore to provide practical and useful technology to the farmers with full services including agronomical aspects. Farmers must understand the operation and maintenance of the system fully so as to harness the potential benefits of the micro irrigation. The success or failure of a micro irrigation system depends to a large extent on careful selection, through planning accurate design and effective management. The innovative irrigation technology like mobile drip irrigation has the potential to use less energy (by about 45%), less operatingpressure (byabout50%kPa),minimumorno lossesofwaterdue toaccurateapplicationofwater (savingachieved is about 20%) and has low investment cost compared to conventional center pivot sprinkler irrigation system. In view of increasing importance of Micro Irrigation as above, the ICID Asian Regional Conference (2009) gave a particular focus on Micro Irrigation. A Special Session on the subject was coordinated byDr. T.B.S. Rajput (India). Theworld wide scenariowas highlighted byVPHFelixB. Reinders (SouthAfrica)who chaired the Session.Dr. P. Sonam, Jain Irrigation SystemsLtd. (India) shared his experiences as a co-chairman with all the participants and touched upon important dimensions of micro irrigation technologies. A total of seven (7) papers were presented in the session that covered a wide range of micro irrigation technologies, polices policy and success stories related to India in particular and South Asian region in general. One paper specifically discussed the prospects of micro irrigation and mechanization in rice production. The use of expert system in planning in efficient use of water through micro irrigation came up in the session. Three key issues related to food security indices are (i) growing population, (ii) constraints related to productivity and production of food articles and (iii) physical and economical access to adequate nutritious food. Though successful applicationofmicro irrigationatmicro-level standwell established,upscaling to theextentdesired isyet adreamtocometrue. The keypolicy issue that seems tohinder thewatermanagementworldwide are (i) rational pricingofwater; (ii) technological gap and (iii) sufficient awareness. Some major recommendations emerged from the Special Session include:


This is the first of a series of short papers intended to demonstrate the application of a broadened concept of electronegativity toward explaining chemistry.


The effects of Sm and Zr amount on the properties of Mg-Cu-Sm-Zr alloys were systematically investigated. The results showed that the Mg99Cu alloy consist of-Mg matrix and Mg2Cu phase. After the addition of Sm and Zr, it was confirmed that Sm and Zr change the structure and distribution of Mg2Cu phase. In the meantime, the CuZr2 and CuSm phases which make a major contribution to mechanical properties were observed in the Mg-Cu-Sm-Zr alloys. The addition of Sm and Zr can also greatly refine the grains. The strength continuously increased due to the increase of Sm and Zr content. The elongation first increased within the range of 0-1.5%Sm 0-0.9%Zr, and the decreased. The alloys with 0.5wt%Sm and 1.9wt%Zr had the best combination of mechanical properties.


Preface. (S T. Gottesman, J-R Buchler, and M E. Mahon). 1. In Memory of Henry Emil Kandrup. (James R. Ipser). 2. Henry Kandrup's Ideas About Relaxation of Stellar Systems. (David Merritt). 3. Chaotic Collisionless Evolution in Galaxies and Charged-Particle Beams. (Henry E. Kandrup, Courtlandt L. Bohn, Rami A. Kishek, Patrick G. O'shea, Martin Reiser, and Ioannis V. Sideris). 4. Chaotic Dynamics in Charged-Particle Beams: Possible Analogs of Galactic Evolution. (Courtlandt L. Bohn). 5. The University of Maryland Electron Ring: A Platform For Study of Galactic Dynamics on a Laboratory Scale. (R A. Kishek, P G. O'shea, S Bernal, I Haber, J R. Harris, Y Huo, H Li, and M Reiser). 6. Wavelet-Based Poisson Solver for Use in Particle-in-Cell Simulations. (Balsa Terzic and Ilya V. Pogorelov). 7. Energy Trapping in Loaded String Models with Long- and Short-Range Couplings. (Ilya V. Pogorelov and Henry E. Kandrup). 8. Characterization of Chaos: A New, Fast, and Effective Measure. (Ioannis V. Sideris). 9. Hard Sphere Dynamics for Normal and Granular Fluids. (James W. Dufty and Aparna Baskaran). 10. Nonlinear Stability of Newtonian Galaxies and Stars from a Mathematical Perspective. (Gerhard Rein). 11. Chaos in Orbits Due to Disk Crossings. (C Hunter). 12. Systems with Escapes. (G Contopoulos and M Harsoula). 13. On Bars and Haloes: Their Interaction and Their Orbital Structure. (E Athanassoula). 14. The Basic Dynamical Mechanism in Spiral Galaxies. (Daniel Pfenniger and Yves Revaz). 15. The Two Pattern Speeds of NGC 335. (Veera Boonyasait, P A Patsis, and S T Gottesman). 16. Evolution of Binary Supermassive Black Holes via Chain Regularization. (Andras Szell, David Merritt, and Seppo Mikkola). 17. Gravitomagnetic Field and Penrose Scattering Processes. (Reva Kay Williams). 18. Self-Gravity Driven Instabilities at Accelerated Interfaces. (Robert M. Hueckstaedt, James H. Hunter, Jr., and Richard V.E. Lovelace). 19. Dynamics of Intracluster Gas and Bulk Motions in Clusters. (Renato Dupke). 20. Resonance Bands and Binary-Star Formation. (Norman R. Lebovitz). 21. The Symplectic Group and Classical Mechanics. (Alex J. Dragt). 22. Chaos and Quantum Mechanics. (Salman Habib, Tanmoy Bhattacharya, Benjamin Greenbaum, Kurt Jacobs, Kosuke Shizume, and Bala Sundaram). Afterword. (Chris Hunter). aindex of Contributors.


The government white paper, Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS ( Department of Health 2010 ), signals a significant restructuring of the NHS in England.


We present the structure of a GaAs/GaAlAs quantum well, which can promote strong mixing rates upon high‐dose implantation, with good recovery of the electronic properties after annealing. This structure is employed to fabricate quantum‐well wires by Ga+ masked implantation. Low‐temperature photoluminescence measurements reveal large lateral modulations of the effective band gap (≳178 meV), and small lateral interdiffusion lengths (10 nm). A simple calculation shows that one‐dimensional quantization energies between 11 and 20 meV can be expected in these structures.


A system and method for secure electronic management services for. The system and method can eliminate lottery players need to go to an authorized retailer, it is because it can be anywhere at any time via the Internet makes buying easier. In addition, the use of the system, the winning game ticket or be automatically identified, and buyers are notified immediately, and the use of various electronic mechanisms to notify the winners and the prize money can be paid in accordance with state law, and the prize will be automatically assigned to the account of the winner. The system and method also can be used in similar applications such as business systems and voting systems in the bank, in these systems, a high level of safety standards, the responsibility of the purchaser and transaction systems to bear, as well as verification of these transactions is needed.


Many applications need to segment out all small round regions in an image. This task of finding dots can be viewed as a region segmentation problem where the dots form one region and the areas between dots form the other. We formulate it as a graph cuts problem with two types of grouping cues: short-range attraction based on feature similarity and long-range repulsion based on feature dissimilarity. The feature we use is a pixel-centric relational representation that encodes local convexity: Pixels inside the dots and outside the dots become sinks and sources of the feature vector. Normalized cuts on both attraction and repulsion pop out all the dots in a single binary segmentation. Our experiments show that our method is more accurate and robust than state-of-art segmentation algorithms on four categories of microscopic images. It can also detect textons in natural scene images with the same set of parameters.


This paper characterises the joint impacts of intra- and extra-organisational contexts on innovation development during the socio-economic crisis in Portugal. The characterisation of these contexts in 309 firms of the Information and Communication Technology services sector allowed for the identification of two profiles via a cluster analysis. These were mostly discriminated by financial resources and clients and not by science and technology activities. Subsequently, these profiles were related to innovation, top managers' perceptions and expectations for the future. The data shows that under favourable contexts, innovation increases, the firm is perceived to drive innovation and confidence in the companies' future emerges. In more unfavourable scenarios, innovation is compromised, the environment is perceived to block innovation and confidence is halted. This paper establishes companies' profiles for the first time in Portugal and suggests that intra- and extra-organisational contexts have to be jointly tackled to foster present innovation and promote future activities.


Due to a large amount of data collected in genetic evaluation systems, it is clear that the presence of errors is nearly inevitable, therefore, outliers or abnormal test-day (TD) yields are common in production data of dairy cattle. Such abnormal measurements may adversely affect genetic evaluation if not accounted for properly. Thus, appropriate quantitative tools have to be devised for detecting and treating outliers. The examination of residuals is one of the earliest methods proposed for detecting outliers. Scaling the residuals by dividing by standard error is an alternative in the situation that they have different variances. For the purpose of this study, two different treatment schemes, discarding and adjusting of outliers have been implemented prior to variance component estimation using a fixed regression TD model. Each of the two treating schemes were applied to three different regression procedures; simple (SR), robust (RR) and local regressions with both linear (LR1) and quadratic (LR2) polynomial degrees, to remove or to reduce the effects of TD records that are labelled as outliers. In order to do the discarding scheme, various percentage of outlying TD records (0.1, 0.2, 0.4, 0.8, 1.6, 3.2 and 6.4%) which represented the highest values of either absolute residual (ABSR) or absolute standardized residual (ASTAR) have been excluded. The adjusting procedure consisted of estimating residuals from each three regression estimation procedures, computing the standard deviation for each cow, and restricting the outlier residuals to be within k standard deviations (SD). Thus, a new observation (=k×SD) was created for use in the genetic evaluation. The objectives were to compare three regression procedures applied to 111,599 TD milk yield records of 11,620 German Holstein cows and to determine the impact of treating outlying milk records on numbers and distributions of outliers, mean of absolute residuals (MAR), mean of squared residuals (MSR), standard deviation of residuals (SDR), variance


Comfort is a sensation and state of being that many people seek when they are working in the office, driving in a car, flying on an airplane, or laying in a hospital bed. The literature identifies many definitions and interpretations for comfort and discomfort, and many different ways that researchers have tried to measure comfort and discomfort. de Looze proposed a model to explain the relationship between comfort and discomfort using three key components: (a) the human, (b) the product, and (c) the environment. This dissertation added a measurement component to the model. In a repeated measures design, subjects (n=35) sat in three different office chairs for 60 minutes each on two different dates. Researchers collected subjective survey data and objective electronic data related to perceived sitting comfort and discomfort while participants completed office computer tasks. Data were analyzed to predict and quantify office worker seated comfort and discomfort using linear modeling and neural network modeling. Correlation values from the linear regression model developed in this experiment were R < 0.70, while the single hidden-layer neural network model predicted the comfort/discomfort responses with a higher correlation (R=0.997). The 35 subjects in the study perceived measurable comfort differences between the three chairs tested. Subjective questions that treated comfort and discomfort in a non-linear relationship discriminated chair differences better than questions using a linear relationship. There was no significant difference between male and female comfort/discomfort responses. Comfort ratings decreased over time, while discomfort increased over time; at least 45minute comfort testing is needed to understand subjects' comfort/discomfort in a particular office chair.