The Workshop Program of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence's Sixth AAAI Conference on Human Computation and Crowdsourcing was held on the campus of the University of Zurich in Zurich, Switzerland on 5 July 2018. There were three full-day workshops in the program: CrowdBias: Disentangling the Relation between Crowdsourcing and Bias Management; Subjectivity, Ambiguity, and Disagreement in Crowdsourcing; Work in the Age of Intelligent Machines; a three-quarter day workshop, Advancing Human Computation with Complexity Science; and Project Networking; and a quarter day Project Networking workshop. This report contains summaries of three of the events.


-A nnual reproductive cycle of the helmet crab Telmessus cheiragonus was investigated based o n the histological observations of the ovary and the gonadosomatic indices (GSI = ovarian weight x 100 I body weight). The ovarian maturity w a s divided into five phases (Phase I-V). M i n i m u m mature size of female w a s 36.0 rnrn in carapace length. T h e annual reproductive cycle in the adult females (more than 36.0 m m carapace length) consisted of the incubating period (October-March) and the maturing period (April-September). During the incubating period, the ovarian rnaturity was Phase 1-11 (rnean GSI士S D = 3.8 :t 4.7 % ) w h e n rnost of the ferna1es were ovigerous. During the maturing period, the ovarian maturity increased to Phase V (GSI 21.6 % ) w h e n the females seemed to be frequently copulating, because the soft shell adult females, which could copulate, occurred with highest frequency. τ'he spawning of most females seemed to occur at the end of the maturing period. These results suggest that the ovarian rnaturation cycle requires one year, and during the incubation period ovaries are imrnature.


: Physical Web enables smartphone users to interact with physical objects and locations through the use of beacon technology. Beacons are small devices placed on physical objects or at specific places that can be detected by users' smartphones when within a range of up to some tens of meters. In this way, users can receive notifications on their handset or associate their presence with a specific place, enabling indoor localization. In this paper, we present the design and the prototype development of a platform for Smart Campus management based on the Physical Web metaphor. This beacon-enabled platform provides services for the registration and analysis of student attendance and for the scheduling of lectures, classrooms allocation, and event notifications (e.g., notify students when teachers are in their office). The software prototype has been implemented using state-of-the-practice technologies such as Node.js, Android, and MySQL and has been preliminary tested in real setting in the context of the Computer Science Bachelor degree at the University of Genova obtaining encouraging results.


Effect of TDZ on formation and types of calli,induction and development of somatic embryos on leaf explants of 2 African violets varieties,Elizabeth and Nilson Blue were studied.The result showed that there were significant differences on response of culture regeneration potential and approach of morphogenesis between Elizabeth and Nilson Blue.TDZ increased the rate of callus formation and promoted the growth of calli with a suitable range of 0.5-1.0 mg·L-1.By combining with NAA,TDZ induced embryogenic callus formation and somatic embryogenesis actively.Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) observation indicated that TDZ prompted the development of somatic embryos with increasing of TDZ concentration,thus improved synchronization level of somatic embryos.MS + 0.2 mg·L-1 NAA + 1.0 mg·L-1 TDZ was the best somatic embryo induction medium for leaf explants of Elizabeth.


The debut work of Mattie Do and Anysay Keola attests to the manner in which Lao cinema is being shaped by a new wave of young filmmakers determined to build a viable movie industry in the Lao PDR. With Chantaly, the first Lao horror movie, Mattie Do conjures up a world that cannot be fully explained rationally. She relies on the phi figure, and the belief of Lao people in supernatural beings, to raise serious questions about the traditional position occupied by women in the Lao family. Another film, Anysay Keola's At the Horizon, the first Lao thriller, provides an edgy vision of contemporary Laos. The divide between the poor and the rich, tradition and modernity, is conveyed most originally via the soundtrack. Mattie Do and Anysay Keola are part of a new wave of promising young Lao directors who are fashioning a modern film industry in Laos.


Objectives: We sought to investigate the relationship between the size of the left atrial (LA) isolated surface area (ISA) after pulmonary vein antrum isolation (PVAI) for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) and rhythm outcome after a 12 month follow up. Methods: One-hundred-one consecutive patients with paroxysmal AF after PVAI were enrolled. ISA was expressed as the proportion of isolated surface areas (cm2), i.e. the isolated antral regions of the LA excluding the PVs, to the sum of the surface areas of the antral regions plus the surface of the posterior wall (cm2) taking into consideration the individual antral anatomy. All surface areas were assessed using a special software of the NavX system. Patients were arbitrarily divided into four groups according to ISA (Group I: <50%, group II: 50 to <60%, group III: 60 to <70%, group IV: ≥70%). Results: In Kaplan-Meier analysis, recurrence rate was significantly lower in group III and group IV, respectively, as compared to group I (p<0.03 for both comparisons). According to receiver-operator characteristic curve analysis, the optimal cutoff value of ISA was 55%. Conclusion: After 12 months, a larger ISA was associated with a significantly lower AF/MRT recurrence rate. ISA ≥55% might serve as a predictor for long-term success after PVAI.


Computational creativity (CC) is a multidisciplinary research field, studying how to engineer software that exhibits behavior that would reasonably be deemed creative. This paper shows how composition of software solutions in this field can effectively be supported through a CC infrastructure that supports user-friendly development of CC software components and workflows, their sharing, execution, and reuse. The infrastructure allows CC researchers to build workflows that can be executed online and be easily reused by others through the workflow web address. Moreover, it enables the building of procedures composed of software developed by different researchers from different laboratories, leading to novel ways of software composition for computational purposes that were not expected in advance. This capability is illustrated on a workflow that implements a Concept Generator prototype based on the Conceptual Blending framework. The prototype consists of a composition of modules made available as web services, and is explored and tested through experiments involving blending of texts from different domains, blending of images, and poetry generation.


THE ESTABLISHMENT of the first Synod of the Presbyterian Church in Nova Scotia on July 3, 1817, was an attempt to meet more effectively the religious challenge of the times. The current supply of ministers was not equal to the immediate demand. Immigration was increasing. The connection with the Secession Churches was the main source of life and strength for Presbyterianism in the Province, but reluctance to leave Scotland made the prospect of a supply of missionaries from that quarter very dim, and the perpetuation in Nova Scotia of divisions then existing in Scotland had for decades delayed a systematic and co-<>rdinated prosecution of missionary labour. Hence the formation of a Synod in 1817, bringing what had been the Burgher Presbytery of Truro and the Antiburgher Presbytery of Pictou into one body, called the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, was a signifkant step not only in mobilizing the available forces in harmonious action, but also in harnessing those resources for the training of a native ministry. Nova Scotia had made considerable progress since the days of John Cabot's landfall in 1497. The colonial enterprises of DeMonts and Sir William Alexander (afterwards Earl of Stirling) were now far in the past. Angl~ French rivalry for a century and a half had left Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island in British control. The country became British in fact as well as in name with the founding of Halifax in 1749 and of other towmhips in the 1750s and 1760s. Population had increased with the return of Acadians, the coming of Yorkshiremen, the inflow of Loyalists, and the arrival of Scots, Irish, and English. There had been Scots at Halifax from the time of its founding. The Hector brought 200 Scots to Pictou in 1773. Direct immigration from Scotland to Cape Breton Island resumed in 1802. Between 1790 and 1815, about 3,500-5,500 Scots came into Nova Scotia and Cape Breton Island, and following the Napoleonic Wars immigration increased. By 1817, when there


5579Background: Germline and somatic genetic testing have traditionally been offered separately; however, the clinical applications of these tests are now converging with continued FDA approval of ...


The situation of the change of education stage is an important moment in life of school children. Finishing elementary school education and transition into the first grade of junior high school is parallel to developmental psychophysiological changes which occur in the early adolescence. The need of acceptance of these changes and the necessity of adaptation to new environment and school demands, may be interpreted by students as a developmental chance or a risk. The article presents the results of research conducted on 560 students from first grades of junior high schools in the school year 2016/2017. The analysis pertained to estimate connections between personality traits in Big Five Model measured with Obrazkowy Pomiar Cech Osobowości Dzieci OPCO-D (Maćkiewicz, Cieciuch, 2012), and locus of control in the situations of successes and failures measured with Kwestionariusz do Badania Poczucia Kontroli KBPK (Krasowicz, Kurzyp-Wojarska, 1990). Boys are more extravert, eager to engage and experience more positive emotions in social interactions than girls. Girls, in turn, scored higher in features linked with anxiety than boys. In terms of locus of control, results indicate it is not formed yet, both in the situations of successes and failures. There is no difference between boys and girls in the way how they explain causes of events which they experience. The strongest correlations between personality traits and locus of control were reported in links between locus of control and consciousness, openness to experience and agreeableness. Moreover, the results revealed interaction effect between gender and openness to experience, only in the situations of successes.


Stingless bees propolis antimicrobial activity in combination with garlic, Allium sativum (Amaryllidaceae). Introduction: The excessive use of antibiotics has increased pathogenic microorganisms resistance, which derives in patient mortality. Therefore, the strategies for searching new natural and unconventional strategies has become constant and important. Objective: To determine the antimicrobial activity against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) against stingless bees propolis. Methods: We evaluated nine (20 %) propolis from stingless bees ethanolic extracts from different regions: Melipona beecheii, Melipona solani, Tetragonisca angustula and Scaptotrigona mexicana. The chemical characterization was performed by liquid chromatography (HPLC) and microbial resistance tests by the macrodilution method, to determine the effect of the combinations. Results: The compounds that were of interests and the most abundant were the following; hydroxycinnamic acids, flavanones, flavonoids and the glycosylated derivatives. Four of the nine propolis were effective against MRSA, which came from the following species; one from M. solani and three from S. mexicana. The minimum inhibitory concentration for S. mexicana was in the range of 3-8 mg mL-1 and for M. solani it was 4 mg mL-1. Isobolographic studies resulted in an additive effect (ɤ = 1) for the combination of Allium sativum with the S. mexicana propolis sambles and an antagonistic effect (ɤ > 1) for the combination of A. sativum with the propolis of M. solani. Conclusions: the combination of extracts with lower concentrations of A. sativum, may be the most effective, than those that were individually tested. More detailed studies are required to define the mechanisms of stingless bees propolis as well as their combination with other organic substances.


Introduction While awaiting prospective randomized studies comparing patients' survival with selective [SLND, based on sentinel lymph node (SLN)] versus elective radical lymph node dissection (ELND), SLN remains a recognized way to avoid ELND in SLN negative patients. As SLN is already proposed in patients cumulating known risk factors (Breslow/ulceration), the aim of the study is to determine whether a metastatic SLN itself is an independent survival risk factor.


This paper underlines the relevance of sociological research focused on the study of the multiple changes that have affected Mexican rural society over the last decade. It also expects to contribute to the knowledge of the social sector that this rural society belongs to: the small grain producers for the market who are undergoing a transformation encouraged by the new economical policies within the neoliberal framework currently ruling the country. This work attempts to contribute as discussion material both for people who study rural matters, as well as for students who are interested in the subject.


As of 2008, approximately 150 institutions of higher education, with 550 partnering K-12 school districts, had received funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to implement Math Science Partnership (MSP) programs which focused on improving teacher content knowledge and pedagogical skills (NSF, 2008). A common strategy for professional development (PD) in these programs was to develop professional learning communities (PLCs) between teachers and higher education faculty members to collaborate to positively impact student learning. In order to attain ABstrAct


We develop a method for calculating the (quasi)energy eigenvalue E(F) of a hydrogen atom in a nonperturbative ac field of strength F starting from a knowledge of the coefficients ${\mathit{E}}^{(2\mathit{m})}$ of the Rayleigh-Schr\"odinger perturbation series E(F)=${\mathit{tsum}}_{\mathit{m}=0}^{\mathit{M}}$${\mathit{E}}^{(2\mathit{m})}$${\mathit{F}}^{2\mathit{m}}$. We first use the coefficients ${\mathit{E}}^{(2\mathit{m})}$ (the unperturbed energy is ${\mathit{E}}^{(0)}$) to construct the inverse series ${\mathit{F}}^{2}$(E)=${\mathit{tsum}}_{\mathit{m}=1}^{\mathit{M}}$${\mathit{F}}^{(\mathit{m})}$(E-${\mathit{E}}^{(0)}$${)}^{\mathit{m}}$. We resum the latter series using the Pad\'e method, and solve the implicit equation ${\mathit{F}}^{2}$(E)=F${\mathrm{\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}}}^{2}$ for E(F\ifmmode\bar\else\textasciimacron\fi{}). The reconstructed function E(F) has the singularity structure appropriate to the true E(F). We are able to obtain good results for the lifetime of a hydrogen atom in a high-frequency field up to very high intensities, well into the (highly nonperturbative) stabilization regime.


The main body of Greek scientific and philosophical writings which reached the Arabic-Islamic world from the ninth century onwards included material on visual and optical theories. As information about Abū 'l-Ḥasan al-ʿĀmirī is rather scarce and only few of his writings are known to be extant, we might be at a loss how to assess the position of the Ibṣār within al-ʿĀmirī's work. Having outlined the general structure of the Ibṣār this chapter present some of al-ʿĀmirī's rather original interpretations of traditional views on vision concerning the following issues: the objects of vision; the transparent and the visible bodies; the structure of the eye; and the instruments and tools of vision. Keywords: Abū 'l-Ḥasan al-ʿĀmirī; Arabic-Islamic world; Ibṣār ; traditional visual theories


Abstract o-Quinones are thought to play a key role in the photoyellowing of mechanical pulps. The facile reaction between o-quinones and o-phenylenediamine to give fluorescent phenazines is examined as a possible way to detect quinonoid intermediates in pulp sheets. The method was tested on o-quinone-rich mechanical pulp sheets prepared by chemical treatment with Fremy's salt (potassium nitrosodisulphonate). The presence of photochemically generated o-quinone groups in peroxide-bleached mechanical pulps was inferred from the fluorescence observed from o-phenylenediamine treated sheets. This fluorescence increased with increasing radiation time up to a limiting value. The quinones (but not their phenazine derivatives) are stable upon storage in the dark.


Composite components are components that have internal structures. Supported by almost all architecture description languages, composite components can organize architectural models in a hierarchical structure. However, most analysis and verification tools for SA model do not support composite components, neither do most component frameworks. Therefore, it is necessary to flatten the hierarchical SA model so that SA can play a more important role in practice. The most challenging issue in the flattening is how to assure the consistency between architectural models with and without composite components. In this paper, a formal definition of the consistency of an SA model is presented. Based on that, principles and guidelines for consistency assurance in flattening a hierarchical SA model are provided. Their feasibility is exemplified by a componentized email client.


Background: Platelet concentrate (PC) has a short shelf life (5 days). Expired PC cannot be used for clinical purposes. PC is used for human platelet lysate (HPL) production, which was found to be more effective than FBS at increasing T47D cell proliferation. HPL production using expired PC has not been reported. This study aimed to investigate whether the use of HPL produced from expired PC (storage duration >5 days) can increase the proliferation of T47D cells in vitro.Materials and methods: Expired PC samples with a shelf life of 7 and 11 days were used to produce HPL via freeze/thaw method. pH, total protein content, glucose and albumin levels were measured. The 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay was used to measure proliferation rate and doubling time of HPL-treated T47D cells.Results: After HPL production, the glucose level was influenced by the pH (p=0.003), and albumin level was influenced by total protein content (p=0.030). HPL stored for 7 and 11 days increased cell proliferation rate by 1.41 and 1.80 times higher than 10% FBS, respectively. HPL produced from expired PC did not cause morphological abnormality of the cells. In this study, the glucose levels affected cell proliferation (p=0.030). High glucose levels inhibited T47D cell proliferation.Conclusion: Expired PC can be used as a potential material for HPL production, since HPL produced from expired PC increases cell proliferation rate and shortens cell doubling time.Keywords: cell proliferation, human platelet lysate, platelet concentrate, thrombocyte, T47D


Conceptual design for determination of strategically directed stimulation system is described, the basic principles of its function are presented, the structure is described. System-formatted analysis of motivational investigations in Russia during last 10 years is presented on the basis of contentanalysis. The review of existent approaches to the understanding of business motivation in firm theory is given, the sources of its stimulation in modern conditions are determined.


The invention provides a certificate verification method, a system and a certificate verification terminal, aiming at solving the problem in the traditional checking system which checks the verification of certificates by manually inputting the certificate number and has the disadvantages of wasting time and energy and having high error rate. The method comprises the following steps of: obtainingan area image containing a certificate number; carrying out character segmentation to the area image, thus obtaining images of all the characters; utilizing a classifier obtained by training in advance to carry out identification to the images of all the characters, thus obtaining the certificate number information; and sending the certificate number information to a server side for verification and then receiving the returned checking result. The invention can identify certificate numbers automatically and does not need to input certificate numbers manually, thus greatly raising the efficiency of certificate checking; besides, the identification processing of certificate numbers is carried out in a system terminal, thus occupying little bandwidth and reducing the demand for the performance of network and server terminals.


Two different patterns of Bolometer and the 2×4 array microbridge device are designed and fabricated using ordinary photolithography with high Tc superconducting GdBaCuO thin film.Using the blackbody of 500K and He2Ne laser,the properties of the devices are measured.The optimun results are as follows:NEP( 500,10,1)= 3.6×10WHz1/2,D3( 500,10,1) = 1.6×1010 cmHz1/2W-1,Rv=8.2×103VW- 1.The steps characteristic of the series microbridge device will be applied in the inf rared detectors in future.


A new process, which employs the photoresist or SiO2 as a mask, the CH4‐CO2 gas mixtures as the gas source of diamond deposition, and the HF:HNO3:H2O (1:1.1:10) solution as etching solution after the first step deposition, has been developed to improve the selective growth of diamond films. The longer etching time would result in increasing the selectivity during the following step of diamond film growth. The diamond nuclei growth on the undesired region would be removed and a thin SiO2 layer would be formed using the above solution, therefore, increasing the selectivity. Scanning electron microscopy and electron spectroscopy for chemical analysis were used to examine the selective loss and morphological change for the as‐grown diamond films.


The molecular weights of the three major proteins in the soluble fraction of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) eggs were found to be: lipovitellin, 390,000; β′-component, 30,000; and phosvitin, 27,000. Immunological techniques showed that these proteins were present in the plasma of sexually maturing female coho and of estrogenized prepuberal coho of both sexes but not of sexually maturing males or nonestrogenized prepuberal coho. These findings support the previous postulation that the β′-component should be classified not as a livetin but as an egg protein, as are lipovitellin and phosvitin.


P A p w b i e s a p g chalasia is a primary esophageal motility disorder of unlear etiology. As treatment has evolved during the past 10 o 15 years, it has become primarily a surgical disease. It is ncommon, but not rare, affecting approximately 1 in 00,000 individuals per year. Occurring equally in men nd women, it is an acquired condition usually diagnosed etween 20 and 50 years of age, but can occur at any age. In 672, Sir Thomas William first described the disease as cardiospasm" and treated the problem with dilation using whale sponge attached to a whale bone. It was not until 927, when A F Hurst determined that the problem was he result of an inability of the lower esophageal sphincter LES) to relax, and named the disease achalasia, a Greek erm meaning failure to relax. Normal individuals have a ower esophageal high-pressure zone, which completely reaxes with initiation of a swallow. In achalasia, residual ressures in the LES remain well above normal after swalowing, resulting in a functional outflow obstruction at the astroesophageal junction. In addition, the LES can be ypertensive, resulting in higher than normal resting presures, and the esophageal body is aperistaltic, all leading to ailure of bolus transport. When untreated, intraesophaeal pressures rise and the esophagus slowly dilates, often to he point of gross deformity.


Subwavelength photonics is about generation, control and use of light with structures whose dimensions (or feature sizes) are at or below the wavelength of light. Much exciting progress has been made recently in this area. For example, subwavelength plasmonics devices can reduce the device size and improve the functionality. Smartly designed subwavelength structures (including optical metamaterials) can open up new avenues to achieving unprecedented physical properties and functionality unattainable with traditional materials. Nanoparticles or wires of some advanced photonic materials can also be utilized for various applications. For decades, China has been taking optics and photonics very seriously as a key discipline. For example, the Chinese Academy of Sciences has at least four institutes dedicated to optics, and this is exceptional. Recently, China has also invested massive resources in nanotechnologies, which facilitate greatly the advances in subwavelength photonics in China. On the other hand, one of the guest-editors (S.H.) noticed two years ago as an editorial advisor of this journal that China was somehow quite underrepresented from the country distribution of the authors' affiliations of this journal. This was actually a main motivation to start the current special issue on Advances in Subwavelength Photonics in China. This special issue consists of three reviews, 14 original papers and two letters. A plasmonic waveguide can confine guided light very well, down to the subwavelength scale. This can improve greatly the integration density and functionality of planar lightwave circuits. In this special issue there are four papers on plasmonic waveguides and some associated devices, namely, "Deep-subwavelength light confinement and transport in hybrid dielectric-loaded metal wedges" (pp. 549– 561) by Yusheng Bian and Qihuang Gong (Peking University); "Manipulate transverse magnetic modes in waveguide using thin plasmonic materials" (pp. 562–568) by Yadong Xu, Qiannan Wu, and Huanyang Chen (Soochow University); "Tunable graphene-based plasmonic waveguides: nanomodulators and nanoattenuators" (pp. 569–574) by Jieer Lao, Jin Tao, Qi Jie Wang, and Xu Guang Huang (South China Normal University); and "Plasmonic switch based on composite interference in metallic strip Waveguides" (pp. L47–L51) by Yulin Wang, Tao Li, Lei Wang, Hao He, Lin Li, Qianjin Wang, and Shining Zhu (Nanjing University). In the area of light emission and lasing, Chunxiang Xu, Jun Dai, Guangping Zhu, Gangyi Zhu, Yi Lin, Jitao Li, and Zengliang Shi of Southeast University have reviewed whispering-gallery mode lasing in ZnO microcavities (pp. 469–494), and Wu Suli, Liu Ye, Chang Jie, Ning Yanhui, and Zhang Shufen of Dalian University of Technology have contributed a paper entitled "β-NaYF4:Yb3+, Er3+ upconversion microcrystals with both high emission intensity and controlled morphology" (pp. 575–582). Light absorbers have drawn intensive attention as crucial components for solar-energy harvesting, organic light-emitting diodes, sensors, thermal emission tailoring, modulators, detectors, etc. Yanxia Cui, Yingran He, Yi Jin, Fei Ding, Liu Yang, Yuqian Ye, Shoumin Zhong, Yinyue Lin, and Sailing He of Zhejiang University have reviewed a variety of mechanisms for electromagnetic absorbers based on plasmonic and metamaterial structures (pp. 495–520). In subwavelength cavities, Jiao Wang, Tianrong Zhan, Gaoshan Huang, Paul K. Chu, and Yongfeng Mei (Fudan University) have presented a review entitled "Optical microcavities with tubular geometry: properties and applications" (pp. 521–547). Some new aspects and interesting properties of photonic crystals are presented in the following two papers: "Trapped photons at a Dirac point: a new horizon for photonic crystals" (pp. 583–589) by Kang Xie, Haiming Jiang, Allan D. Boardman, Yong Liu, Zhenhai Wu, Ming Xie, Ping Jiang, Quan Xu, Ming Yu, and Lionel E. Davis (Hefei University of Technology), and "Plasmonic lattice solitons beyond the coupled-mode theory" (pp. L52–L57) by Ying Xue, Fangwei Ye, Dumitru Mihalache, Nicolae C. Panoiu, and Xianfeng Chen (Shanghai Jiao Tong University). Plasmonic nanoantennas and radiation are important topics of subwavelength photonics. Here we can find two interesting papers: "Broadband spin-controlled surface plasmon polariton launching and radiation via L-shaped optical slot nanoantennas" (pp. 590–595) by Jing Yang, Shuxiang Zhou, Chuang Hu, Weiwei Zhang, Xiao Xiao, and Jiasen Zhang (Peking University) and "Controlling the radiation direction of propagating surface plasmons on silver nanowires" (pp. 596–601) by Zhuoxian Wang, Hong Wei, Deng Pan, and Hongxing Xu (Beijing National Laboratory for Condensed Matter Physics). Nanofocusing has various important applications. Jiafang Li, Jiajia Mu, Benli Wang, Wei Ding, Ju Liu, Honglian Guo, Wuxia Li, Changzhi Gu, and Zhi-Yuan Li of the Chinese Academy of Sciences have contributed a nice study entitled "Direct laser writing of symmetrybroken conical tapers for polarization-insensitive threedimensional plasmonic focusing" (pp. 602–609). In the past decades, with the demand for high sensitivity and characterization of specific molecules, biosensors based on localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR)


7 This article considers the problem of determining critical points and areas in a system that is 8 exposed to external forces. As a result, the system can lose its stability and go into a 9 non-equilibrium state, and then collapse and cause various kinds of catastrophes. The study of 10 the problem of identification and prediction of disasters is relevant, because. allows you to 11 take preventive measures to prevent them and reduce the risks of various negative scenarios.


Evolution of adiabatic remnants of an aspherical supernova explosion in uniform medium are considered. Thermal X-ray emission of such remnants are investigated. It is shown that integral thermal X-ray characteristics (X-ray luminosity and spectrum) of the objects do not allow us to reveal the assymetry in the explosion because these characteristics are close to their Sedov counterparts. Surface distribution of X-ray emission is sensitive to anisotropy of the explosion and nonuniformity of the interstellar medium.


Expanded school mental health (ESMH) professionals routinely partner with schools to provide ESMH services. An improved understanding of educators' perspectives in these partnerships is essential. In fact, these approaches often rely on educators as critical change agents. However, educators have traditionally received little training or preparation in children's mental health (Koller & Bertel, 2006). Existing research identifies the importance of readiness as a key construct for individuals' willingness to adopt innovations. Educators in Missouri (N = 89), Ohio (N = 32), and Kansas (N = 1) completed a 66-item online survey assessing readiness to adopt ESMH approaches, perceptions of stress, teaching self-efficacy, professional support, and students' mental health needs. Hierarchical regression analysis revealed that educator stress, perceptions of students' mental health needs, and teaching self-efficacy were all predictors of educators' readiness to adopt ESMH approaches. These findings could prove relevant to collaborative efforts across systems and help ESMH professionals understand the various factors related to educator readiness.


The ability of modified (MA) atmosphere systems and chemical inhibitors to prevent ethylene -
stimulated banana fruits ripening was investigated with Giant Cavendish bananas. Silicone membranes and
diffusion channels, installed on the experimental chambers, were used to maintain stable gas concentrations
and high humidity levels, which were optimum for banana storage at 15°C. A silicone membrane window, or
diffusion channels, were installed on laboratory scale chambers and used to provide atmospheres with
modified CO2/O2 concentrations. Chemical inhibition of fruit ripening was assessed by applying treatments with
ethylene oxide (EO) and sulphur dioxide (SO2). Fruit stored at regular atmosphere (RA) was wrapped in
perforated polyethylene bags while fruit stored in MA was sealed in experimental chambers. The gas
concentration in chambers was analyzed using gas chromatography. Fruit quality was evaluated through
sensory evaluations and physiological assessments.


The purpose of the thesis is to investigate if the balanced scorecard is suitable for companies working in the fashion industry with the support of the cases of two international fashion firms and their relative experience with the BSC


Abstract— Evidence is presented to support the hypothesis that 5‐hydroxytryptamine (5‐HT) in the rat brain is synthesized by two separate pathways and stored in two or more compartments. Lysergic acid diethylamide in doses down to 50 μg/kg was shown to reduce the formation of 5‐[3H]HT from [3H]tryptophan in the presence of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor, although the total rate of accumulation of 5‐HT was unchanged. Conversely, adrenalectomy was found to increase the total synthesis of 5‐HT measured in the same way, although the amount of 5‐[3H]HT formed suggested that there was no increase in the synthesis of the amine. In a third experiment it was found that electrical stimulation of 5‐HT‐containing nerves following labelling of 5‐HT stores with [3H]tryptophan led to a biphasic disappearance of 5‐[3H]HT. It is suggested that the method of measuring 5‐HT synthesis by measuring 5‐[3H]HT formed from[3H]tryptophan in the presence of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor may be a way of selectively measuring the turnover of the functional pool of 5‐HT.


The Indigenous Autonomous University of Mexico, located in Sinaloa, receives indigenous students from all the states of the republic, it has a student dormitory and a dining room free for them.
At UAIM students have access to library services and computer centers, in addition to wireless internet, so they do not have connectivity problems.
However, when confinement began and they retired to their homes, the complete lack of connectivity for some was evident, because there is no internet service nearby or poor service.
The objective of this article is to identify the main difficulties faced by students according to the teachers to maintain quality education in the virtual classrooms and propose possible strategies to replace content for the return. face-to-face.
This essay was done through the biographical narrative methodology with a report on the experiences of 8 professors of the Law degree at the Autonomous Indigenous University of Mexico who for two years worked in the Classroom at Home with their students, their strategies and frustrations to complete course after course. Monthly reports issued by the Coordination of the school were consulted.
It is concluded that a great effort was made by all the actors involved for the preparation of the students, however, the distance, the times and the deficiencies, but above all the lack of formal preparation of the teachers in the use of the educational platforms, but above all due to the extreme flexibility during the pandemic, the quality decreased a lot and did not allow more than 80% of the expected learning to be achieved among students and that as teachers they must be aware of it, but above all do it know the students.


Abstract Peer feedback is increasingly used to train assessment skills in teacher-training programs. However, studies investigating the roles of peer feedback providers' beliefs about peer feedback provision, their perceptions of their peer feedback message and their experienced emotions are still limited. This study aimed to explore how peer feedback accuracy and providers' comprehension of the learning task were related to these characteristics. Analysis of peer feedback provided by 53 preservice mathematics teachers revealed that peer feedback accuracy was predicted by cognitive-verification, cognitive elaboration and self-efficacy types of peer feedback. Providers' perceptions of their peer feedback message and anxiety also predicted peer feedback accuracy. No evidence was found that peer feedback related beliefs and perceptions predicted providers' comprehension of the learning task.


The aim of the research. To carry out a comparative analysis of registration of primary and overall incidence of gonarthritis (GA) and the factors affecting these indices in clinics of Arkhangelsk. Material and methods. Th e population of Arkhangelsk is attached to fi ve main polyclinics: No. 1, 2, 4 (AGKP1, AGKP2, AGKP4), the first city clinical hospital named aft er E. E. Volosevich (PGKB1) and the Primorsky Central district hospital (PPRCRB) together serving 74.7 % of the population. We formed a continuous sample based on the medical service utilisation rate in the attached population for gonarthritis patients within the period from 2016 to 2019. Th e analysed parameters were: gender, age, acute or chronic form of the disease, diagnosis according to ICD-10 and the specialist visited by the patient. The features in registration of GA at the level of primary healthcare institutions and their effect on primary and overall incidence were analysed. Results. In four years, a total of 3,282 of primary GA patients were registered in the fi ve clinics, the mean age was 55.9 years, female patients accounted to 1,952 (59 %), male patients – to 1,329 (41 %). The average annual levels of primary GA incidence per 1000 population ranged from 0.98 to 1.38, with the maximum of 3.05 registered in PGCB1. The overall incidence of GA per 1000 population in polyclinics 1, 2 and 4 was 26.2-27.4, with the values of 15.6 and 4.5 for PGKB 1 and PPRCRB, respectively. Patients over 60 years of age predominated in PGKB1 (48 %), amounting to 41 % in AGKP1, 27 % in AGKP2, 33 % in AGKP4, 32 % in PPRCRB. Maximal prevalence was 105 cases per 1000 population (1 % of the attached population) by 45 years in AGCP1, in other polyclinics the indicator was lower. More oft en, GA was diagnosed by general practitioners – 2296 (71 %), traumatologists and surgeons – 647 (20 %), rheumatologists – 302 (9 %). Th e most common diagnoses were M17.9-966 (30 %), M17.0 10 939 (29 %), less oft en: M17.2 – 66 (2 %) and M17.4 – 75 (2 %). Conclusion. Th ere is no unifi ed system of primary and general morbidity registration at the level of primary healthcare institutions within the same region. To objectify GA registration, it is necessary to introduce a single registry of patients.


This study aims to determine the effectiveness of learning by using the recitation method on the social studies learning outcomes of students at SD Negeri 2 Wonco. Methods This research uses a quantitative approach to the type of experimental research and the design of this study uses a quasi-experiment design. Data collection techniques through questionnaires and documentation. The population is all students of SD Negeri 2 Wonco, totaling 136 odd semesters for the 2021/2022 academic year. The sampling technique used was purposive sampling so that a sample of 40 people was determined and the group was divided heterogeneously. The data analysis technique used descriptive statistics and inferential statistics. The results showed that the implementation of learning using the recitation method was proven to have an effect on the social studies learning outcomes of fifth grade students of SD Negeri 2 Wonco. There is a significant difference between learning outcomes before the action is taken and after the action is taken so that the implementation of learning using the recitation method is effective on social studies learning outcomes for class V SD Negeri 2 Wonco.


To the Editor: Group A streptococci (GAS) can cause severe invasive diseases, such as necrotizing fasciitis, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome, and sepsis. In 2012, ≈11,000 cases of invasive GAS (iGAS) disease and 1,100 associated deaths occurred in the United States (1,2). The risk for iGAS infection is 10 times higher among Native Americans than among the general population (3). Other predisposing factors for iGAS infection include skin wounds and underlying diseases, such as diabetes (1,3,4). Household risk factors include exposure to children with pharyngitis and crowding (4). Most iGAS infections occur sporadically within the community. Postpartum and postsurgical clusters arising from a common nosocomial source occur but are rare (5).

During the winter of 2012–13, a 3-fold increase in necrotizing fasciitis was observed at an Arizona hospital (hospital X) that predominantly treats Native Americans. Tribal leadership initiated a collaborative investigation with state and federal officials to characterize the outbreak and implement appropriate control measures.

A confirmed case of iGAS was defined as isolation of GAS from normally sterile sites (i.e., blood) or isolation of GAS from nonsterile sites (i.e., wound) in the presence of necrotizing fasciitis or streptococcal toxic shock syndrome among patients who sought care at hospital X during August 2012–March 2013. Hospital X serves ≈45,000 persons in a rural community. Eleven confirmed iGAS cases were identified (Figure), of which 8 (73%) occurred in women and 3 (27%) occurred in men. The case-patients had a mean age of 63 years (range 32–92 years). All cases were community-onset illnesses; none of the case-patients had recent exposures to health care settings, and all were of Native American ancestry. Of the 11 case-patients, 8 required critical care treatment and 3 died. Nine (82%) case-patients had open wounds or skin breakdown (e.g., skin abrasion, burns), and 9 had underlying medical conditions that are known risk factors for iGAS (e.g., obesity, diabetes, chronic kidney or heart disease, alcoholism).

Figure

Week of symptom onset and principal clinical syndrome of patients with confirmed invasive group A streptococcus infections at hospital X, Arizona, August 2012–March 2013. STSS, streptococcal toxic shock syndrome.

Five GAS isolates were available. Two of the isolates were emm type 11; antimicrobial drug–susceptibility profiles for the 2 were identical (i.e., tetracycline resistant). The 2 patients reported no close contact with each other, but they had the same home health aide. The other 3 isolates had different emm types (1, 12, and 82) and were antimicrobial drug pansensitive.

We interviewed 58 household contacts of the case-patients (35 adults, 23 children) regarding symptoms and risks for secondary GAS infection. Among these contacts, 2 adults reported a sore throat and 6 children reported fever (without sore throat), but no confirmed secondary GAS infections were identified. Because of the known increased risk for iGAS among Native Americans and the level of crowding (average of 2–3 persons/bedroom) and the high proportion of adult household contacts with predisposing underlying conditions (29%) in this population, azithromycin prophylaxis was offered to household contacts who spent >24 hours with a case-patient during the 7 days preceding the onset of illness.

With the exception of the 2 case-patients with a common health aide, we found no common epidemiologic links or common behaviors among patients that suggested a single-source outbreak. This was further supported by the finding of multiple emm types among the isolates. These are not unusual findings in community outbreaks of iGAS; clusters of iGAS cases have often been observed without a common source (6–8). Localized and transient increases in sporadic GAS infections may occur because of an influx of a new emm type into a population with low levels of community immunity to that specific emm type; an increase in the detection and reporting of iGAS without a true increase in infection; or an increase in conditions that predispose persons to iGAS, such as GAS pharyngitis among children or concurrent influenza or other virus outbreaks in the community.

Past studies have shown that the risk of secondary iGAS infection among household contacts of patients with iGAS disease is higher than that among the general population but still low (5). Although Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines do not recommend routine chemoprophylaxis for household contacts of patients with iGAS infection, the guidelines state that providers may choose to offer antimicrobial drug prophylaxis to those household contacts at increased risk for iGAS infection (5). Because Native Americans have increased rates of iGAS disease, compared with those of the general population, and because households in this investigation were crowded and many contacts had predisposing underlying conditions, we recommended that household contacts receive prophylaxis if given within 30 days of the index case-patient's illness (5). No additional cases were reported at least 3 months after the investigation and intervention.


Alumina-on-alumina total hip arthroplasty has been used for 32 years in Europe. The theoretical advantages of this combination are represented by its remarkable sliding characteristics, its very low wear debris generation, and its improved fracture toughness. These advantages are achieved if the material is properly processed with high density, high purity, and small grains. The authors summarize the results obtained with the alumina-on-alumina combination concerning in vitro and in vivo wear behavior with special emphasis on wear debris characterization and quantification and histological tissue examinations. Alumina-on-alumina seems to be one of the best choices in young and active patients provided that sound socket fixation is maintained in the long term.


Research on opportunities has received significant attention in entrepreneurship in the last decade. However, recently the focus has shifted from opportunities themselves to the processes that form and exploit them. This paper traces the history of opportunity origins and draws upon the implications of opportunity types to suggest associated entrepreneurial processes. This paper then suggests future research and applications based on processes used to form and exploit opportunities.


In China traditional culture,"three obedience" thought is an important part of woman standard.From the special angle of view of china ancient woman's three obedience" thought,with cultural criticism method,this article analyzes the profound effect of Xiang linsao tragedy and promulgates the false and brutal of feudal ethics and rites.


The invention discloses a paint with favorable waterproof effect, which is prepared from the following raw materials in parts by weight: 1-2 parts of glass fiber, 1-2 parts of rosin, 1-2 parts of dioctyl phthalate, 1-2 parts of paraffin, 1-3 parts of oxalic acid, 3-5 parts of nano kaolin, 75-85 parts of epoxy powder, 1-2 parts of dibutyltin dilaurate, 0.1-0.2 part of calcium acetylacetonate, 1-2 parts of dipropylene glycol monobutyl ether, 4-6 parts of dicyandiamide, 0.1-0.2 part of potassium laurate, 3-5 parts of meerschaum powder, 1-3 parts of polyvinyl butyral, 0.1-0.2 part of ethylenediamine and 3-8 parts of compound adhesive. The paint contains the nano material, and has the advantages of favorable adhesive force, excellent water resistance, high film hardness, high wear resistance and low cracking tendency.


A new paradigm is now emerging that has the potential to transform fracture control and, in fact, to transform the entire material and structural design process. In a nutshell, the new paradigm is to design and virtually evaluate the material, the manufacturing process, and the structure in an integrated manner for the specific purpose of meeting structural reliability goals in a fraction of the currently required time. The engine of the new paradigm is a set of robust computational models for fatigue crack growth (FCG) and fracture that are fully integrated with computational models for material microstructure and properties, manufacturing processes, and structural response. Efficient methods for calculating stress intensity factors are linked directly with 2D and 3D finite-element models for stress and thermal analysis to perform automated FCG life analysis, next incorporating advanced probabilistic models to calculate fracture risk. The initial conditions for these calculations are informed by direct links to manufacturing process simulation software to determine bulk residual stress fields and location-specific microstructure and properties. Crack origins are linked to specific quantified threats, such as inherent material anomalies, induced manufacturing or maintenance anomalies, or naturally occurring fatigue damage. The entire calculation process is performed in an appropriate probabilistic framework to quantify significant uncertainty and variability. Several specific examples of recent efforts to build and extend this integrated framework are cited, and several suggestions are offered for future work.


In recent years researchers have developed a range of perspectives for conceptualizing the influences of culture on thinking and behaving. Three perspectives which are of special potential relevance to language teaching are the following: the distinction between collectivism and individualism; different perceptions of power and authority; and different types of achievement motivation. These dimensions were taken as the basis for a survey of students' attitudes towards classroom English learning in eight East Asian countries and three European countries. It was found that most students in all countries question the traditional authority-based, transmission mode of learning. They wish to participate actively in exploring knowledge and have positive attitudes towards working purposefully, in groups, towards common goals. Whilst there were statistically significant differences between the mean responses of Asian and European students on several items, the numerical differences were not great and the overall patterns of responses were strikingly similar. Furthermore, within Asia and within Europe, there were significant differences between individual countries, and in every country there was a wide range of individual differences. Whilst these 'deep-structure' cross-cultural similarities may hide important 'surface-structure' differences in how students like to learn, they also serve to make us question some commonly held assumptions about the attitudes of Asian and Western students.


Night run-ups at the Vancouver International Airport often occur between the hours of 11 p.m. and 6 a.m., creating noise in the neighboring communities to the north and south of the airport. These run-ups consist of revving up the engine, sometimes to full power, as part of normal maintenance of the aircraft. The aim of this research is to determine the feasibility of using an Active Noise Control (ANC) system in order to reduce run-up noise that impacts on nearby communities. Propeller aircraft are commonly the source of most complaints, probably due to the tonal nature of the noise produced by exposed propellers. In this paper, the selection of ANC strategies, run-up noise analysis, and computer simulations of a local control ANC system are discussed.


We discuss the freedom available in hybrid loop quantum cosmology to define canonical variables for the matter content and investigate whether this can be used to derive a quantum field theory with good properties for the matter sector. We study a primordial, inflationary, cosmological spacetime with inhomogeneous perturbations at lowest non-trivial order, and focus our attention on the contribution of minimally coupled fermionic perturbations of Dirac type. Within the framework of the hybrid quantization, we analyze the different possible separations of the homogeneous background and the inhomogeneous perturbations, by means of canonical transformations that mix the two separated sectors. These possibilities provide a family of sets of annihilation and creation-like fermionic variables, each of them with a different associated contribution to the total Hamiltonian. In all cases, imposing the quantum constraints and introducing a Born-Oppenheimer approximation, one can derive a Schr\"odinger equation for the fermionic part of the wavefunctions. The resulting evolution turns out to be generated, for each of the allowed choices of variables, by a version of the fermionic contribution to the Hamiltonian which is obtained by evaluating all the dependence on the homogeneous geometry at quantum expectation values. This equation contains a term that encodes the backreaction of the fermionic perturbations on the quantum dynamics of the homogeneous sector. We analyze this backreaction by solving the associated Heisenberg evolution of the fermionic annihilation and creation operators. Then, we identify the conditions that the choice of those operators must satisfy in order to lead to a finite backreaction. Finally, we discuss further restrictions on this choice so that the fermionic Hamiltonian that dictates the Schr\"odinger dynamics is densely defined in Fock space.


One in 10 Canadians (9.6%) has problems affording prescription drugs, leading them to skip doses of their medications or to decide against filling or refilling prescriptions.

The findings come from a study conducted by researchers at the University of Toronto, the University of British Columbia and the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, and published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ) on January 16, 2012.

The research found the cost barrier to be most prevalent among Canadians without drug insurance, with 26.5% reporting problems with affordability. The study was based on analysis of data from more than 5700 people in the 2007 Canadian Community Health Survey, conducted by Statistics Canada.

Two-thirds of Canadian households pay out of pocket for at least some portion of their prescription drug costs. In 2010, these expenditures totalled $4.6 billion — about 17.5% of total prescription-drug spending in the country.

The study also found that Canadians who reported fair or poor health status were 2.6 times more likely to avoid taking prescription medications because of cost, and those with chronic health conditions were 1.6 times more likely not to take their medicines as directed — due to cost.

Provincially, those living in British Columbia were more than twice as likely to report not being able to afford their prescription drugs than those living in other large provinces.


Parthenium weed (Parthenium hysterophorus L.) is an erect, branched, annual plant of the family Asteraceae. It is native to the tropical Americas, while now widely distributed throughout Africa, Asia, Oceania, and Australasia. Due to its allelopathic and toxic characteristics, parthenium weed has been considered to be a weed of global significance. These effects occur across agriculture (crops and pastures), within natural ecosystems, and has impacts upon health (human and animals). Although integrated weed management (IWM) for parthenium weed has had some success, due to its tolerance and good adaptability to temperature, precipitation, and CO2, this weed has been predicted to become more vigorous under a changing climate resulting in an altered canopy architecture. From the viewpoint of IWM, the altered canopy architecture may be associated with not only improved competitive ability and replacement but also may alter the effectiveness of biocontrol agents and other management strategies.

This paper reports on a preliminary study on parthenium weed canopy architecture at three temperature regimes (day/night 22/15 °C, 27/20 °C, and 32/25 °C in thermal time 12/12 hours) and establishes a threedimensional (3D) canopy model using Lindenmayer-systems (L-systems). This experiment was conducted in a series of controlled environment rooms with parthenium weed plants being grown in a heavy clay soil. A sonic digitizer system was used to record the morphology, topology, and geometry of the plants for model construction.

The main findings include the determination of the phyllochron which enables the prediction of parthenium weed growth under different temperature regimes and that increased temperature enhances growth and enlarges the plants canopy size and structure. The developed 3D canopy model provides a tool to simulate and predict the weed growth in response to temperature, and can be adjusted for studies of other climatic variables such as precipitation and CO2. Further studies are planned to investigate the effects of other climatic variables, and the predicted changes in the pathogenic biocontrol agent effectiveness.


We have demonstrated two-stage optical memory in a photoaddressable azo polymer. The polymer serves as a data storage medium with two recording mechanisms: photoanisotropic modulation and surface-shape modulation. We can select the recording mechanism by manipulating beam energies for recording. The characteristics can be motivated to rewritable and write-once optical memories: polarization-multiplex bit memories, surface-modulated bit memories and surface-modulated holographic memories.


As the technology moves into deep sub-micron region, the power consumption of the integrated circuit will be more. In the current technologies, the leakage power is the major part in the total power consumption. Power gating is a technique which is used to reduce the leakage power by shutting off the idle logic blocks using sleep transistors. Different power gating methods are available now. These helps in reducing the power, delay and switching time of the logics. This survey paper mentions some important power gating techniques and its comparison. Keywords— CMOS, MTCMOS, power gating, threshold voltage, sleep mode etc.


This research addresses the problem of CO2, CH4, and N2O emissions in the EU for the 2008–2018 period, and their contributing factors, through extensive and complex analysis. The research incubated in the manuscript answers the question of whether new state members managed to catch up with old state members regarding technology innovation and mitigation of N2O emissions from agriculture activities. The methodology used includes Tapio decoupling index and the metafrontier non-radial Malmquist N2O emission performance index. The research considers short-term, medium-term, and long-term decoupling analyses. Results suggest a shift of decoupling status is worse for the 2013–2018 period compared to the 2008–2013 period which should concern low-carbon agriculture policy-makers. Also, it was noticed an increase in total-factor N2O emission performance for the 2008–2018 period. New state members managed to catch up with old state members regarding technology innovation and mitigation of N2O emissions from agricultural activities; however, not all countries managed to do so. For example, Romania has experienced an efficiency loss due to a technology change and from this perspective, Romania should address first managing N2O and CO2 emissions. The findings extend the traditional framework of investigating the effects of CO2, CH4, and N2O in agriculture and highlight the necessity of addressing environmental aspects from a broader perspective of the policymakers and in developing innovative decoupling indexes. The research investigation is reporting from a post-transition country by prioritizing the measures to be implemented.


The relationship between summarization and text comprehension is particularly relevant from an instructional perspective. The ability to summarize a text adequately in either oral or written form is a basic tool to assess student comprehension and a learning strategy. The difficulty that children experience with writing adequate summaries has primarily three reasons, which pertain to the reading and writing activities involved in summarization: the complexity of expository texts, which are the typical genre of materials that are to be studied and summarized, the strategies and cognitive processes to be used during summarization, and the specificity of summaries as a writing genre. This chapter focuses on using summaries as a learning strategy. Specifically, it analyzes the effects of writing a summary on expository text comprehension. The chapter analyzes the effects of summary instruction on the expository text comprehension of fourth graders. Keywords: cognitive process; instructional perspective; learning strategy; summarization; text comprehension; writing genre


Nb2O5 films were grown by atomic layer deposition using (tert-butylimido)tris(diethylamido)niobium as the niobium source and ozone as the oxygen source. The effects of deposition and post-deposition annealing conditions, physical thickness as well as the phase composition on the dielectric properties of Nb2O5 thin films have been investigated. In addition, the optical properties of the films have been evaluated. It was found that by tuning the deposition parameters and post deposition treatments it was possible to obtain high k-values up to 120 with reasonably low leakage current.


MIMO schemes can improve the capacity observably. The co-channel interference (CCI) and noise are two major impairments to a multi-user MIMO downlink. The precoding based on signal-to-leakage-and-noise ratio (SLNR) makes a balance between eliminating the CCI and the noise, so it improves the system performance. But the channel state of every user is different, the channel quality effects the performance of the system. This paper designs a dynamic power allocation can get a better performance. Simulation results prove the theory at last. We also illustrate that the system performance will degrade when the transmitter knows the imperfect channel state information.


Primary Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma of the cranial scalp and skull vault is an uncommon cancer. We describe a similar incidence in a 40-year-old female. She had a widespread growth on the left side of her head that had been growing in size for three months. There was a widespread swelling in the left parietal and occipital region of the scalp on local examination. A contrast-enhancing tumor emerging from the left parieto-occipital bone with surrounding dura was seen on imaging. The lesion involves both the marrow and the cortex, with infiltration of the neighboring dura and a large subgaleal component, resembling an enplaque meningioma. The patient had craniotomy and lesion removal. Histopathology revealed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma with a preference for diffuse large B cell lymphoma.


First described by Von Arlt in 1845, the Goldenhar syndrome was not recognized as an entity until 1952, when the Belgian-American ophthalmologist described the syndrome that bears his name [1]. It has a rare incidence and multifactorial etiology with many prenatal risk factors involved, such as vasoactive drugs, gestational diabetes, twin pregnancies, second trimester bleeding, and artificial reproductive techniques [2]. The syndrome is characterized by peribulbar and/or labial dermoids, atrial appendages and atrial fistulas with a blind bottom located in the pretragus region, microtia and vertebral anomalies [3]. Due to the occurrence of several cases of hemifacial microsomia, this change was considered a distinctive feature of the entity in 1976 [4]. That means the maxillofacial surgeon is under obligation to update and recycle to work with these patients. The syndrome should be diagnosed as soon as possible so the treatment is early and patients do not suffer from physical, psychological, and social developmental delays. Variouc techniques are used in the treatment of hemifacial microsomia, such as bone grafts, customized prosthesis, and bone distraction [5]. The first report on the use of bone distraction in the treatment of hemifacial microsomia in patients with Goldenhar Syndrome dates back to 1996 and is now, after 25 years, it is one of the treatments with considerable acceptance in the literature, although there are not many publications on the subject. Hemifacial microsomia is the second-highest incidence of congenital craniofacial malformations after cleft lip and palate [5].


ABSTRACT Liu, X., 2020. A visualization analysis on researches of Internet finance credit risk in coastal area. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 85–89. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. As technologies of big data and blockchain advancing, the financial credit risk in the context of the Internet has become a popular research subject. This paper researches 754 journal articles on Internet financial credit risk published during the period from 2000 to 2018 as listed on CNKI.com, an academic document and paper databank in China. Cite Space, a software, is used as the research tool to analyze the age, authors, institutions, and keywords of relevant documents. The analysis shows that researches on the subject of Internet financial credit risk have witnessed three stages; no core scholars leading in this field; the literature is mainly published by universities, banks, companies or governments independently or in a cooperative manner. According to the cluster analysis of Cite Space, there are five most researched topics in Internet financial credit risk.


Muslim-Friendly Airline (MFA) is an emerging trend in the aviation industry whereby efforts of integrating shariah elements into the airline industry are established through shariah-compliant airlines. However, to date, such establishment is self-proclaimed due to lack of specific guidelines issued by authorities. Research in this area is also still in its infancy thus this paper attempts to explore the important shariah-guided elements that should be available in an MFA service. Data was gathered through library research and qualitative analysis was carried out utilising secondary data obtained. Several important elements for MFA were found, namely the availability of halal food and beverages, facilities to perform prayer, notice of prayer time, ablution, qiblah direction, recitation of du'a, dress code, segregation of gender and shariah-compliant entertainment. These elements can be ranked into essential, complimentary and embellishment as guided by shariah principles; and are recommended to be fulfilled by airlines towards establishing Muslim-friendly services.


Student examination is an important part of the educational process. Although various electronic testing and grading solutions have been developed and gained interest in the last years, classic paper quiz examination is still a preferred method of examination, due to the simplicity of implementation and low technical requirements. Korect is a complete solution for automatic test generation, processing and grading, with inline answer marks, and answer sheet processing using auto feed scanners and OCR detection. This paper presents the research performed for optimizing the preprocessing phase and the scan folder polling during the automatic verification flow. This research brings improved stability and performance for the Korect automatic quiz evaluation solution presented in the paper.


Internet development, along with improvement in the tools of digital multimedia has created a most important impact in creating the content of multimedia for storage and distribution is a straightforward tasks. To provide security for contents of multimedia becomes a very important issue and there is a requirement in protection of the digital content against illegal copying, counterfeiting. Digital watermarking is a developing field that needs continuous try to find the possible method for protection of multimedia content. In this project embedding a watermark within an image and extracting watermark from an image no distortion of original image using interpolation method and cosine function. Recover back the original image after embedding and extracting of watermark using proposed method. The Peak Signal to Noise Ratio values provides the robustness of the proposed technique.


Active submarine canyons are major sedimentary conduits between the coastal zone and the deep oceanic domain affecting the oceanic productivity, circulation pattern and with a strong influence in the adjacent sedimentary cover. This study aims to evaluate the relation between the Oporto, Aveiro and Nazare Submarine Canyons (NW off Portugal) and the distribution of the surrounding bottom sedimentary cover in order to evaluate their influence. Thus a summary textural description of the superficial sedimentary cover of the northern Portuguese continental shelf was performed, based on the N – S direction trend distribution of the percentage values of the main textural classes (gravel, sand, silt and clay). Results allowed to establish some relations between depth and the general textural characteristics of the superficial sedimentary cover, mostly in the sectors where the three submarine canyons are located, suggesting that canyon's morphology, incision degree and the distance of the canyon's heads to the coastline have an important role in the distribution of bottom particles and in the sedimentary dynamic processes close to the submarine valley, which is reflected in the textural characteristics of the bottom sediments.


Using measurements made on light Rayleigh scattering from the beam, a new system for characterizing the laser beam. And for beam profiling using the image of the Rayleigh scattered light, for the laser beam power measurements using the integrated Rayleigh scattered light, different implementation are used. Since the measurement insertion of any element into the beam itself without requesting, dependent on light scattered laterally from the beam passing rather that both their implementation is applied to a laser beam having a high power it can. Measurements Depending, in contrast to prior art methods require an element that is inserted in the beam, may be referred to as "non-contact" measurements. System, so as not to require special scattering chamber or liquid for measurement, using Rayleigh scattering from a laser beam passing through the surrounding air. In order to identify the light resulting from scattering from dust particles, it is used a special cancellation algorithm or filter.


Teplizumab-mzwv (Tzield – Provention Bio), an anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody, has been approved by the FDA to delay the onset of stage 3 type 1 diabetes in patients ≥8 years old who have stage 2 type 1 diabetes. It is the first drug to become available in the US that delays the onset of type 1 diabetes.


The expression of two male sterile candidate genes,HLsp and orfH79,in root,stem,leaf,meiosis spikelet,and trinucleate pollen of rice HongLian cytoplasmic male sterile(HL-CMS) sterile line,YTA,were studied with real-time PCR.The results showed that the expression of both HLsp and orfH79 were higher in meiosis spikelet than that in the root,stem,leaf,and trinucleate pollen.The expression level of HLsp was lower than that of orfH79 in different tissues of YTA,but the expression difference of HLsp between meiosis spikelet and other tissues was higher than that of orfH79.This difference maybe indicate that HLsp and orfH79 play a different role in the abortion process of rice HL-CMS pollen.


Background: Surgical site infections (SSI) continue to be one of the most common post-operative consequences following surgery, it is an infection that develops in the incision made during a surgical operation is a significant cause of hospital morbidity, increasing ICU admission rates, hospital readmission, lengthening total hospital stay and tripling death rates. To assess knowledge and awareness about wound infection after surgery among population in Saudi Arabia.
Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conduct in Saudi Arabia during July to December 2021, we distributed our questionnaire in Kingdome of Saudi Arabia, the participants involving general population adult living in Saudi (>15). The sample size was 3357 participants. The sample size was estimated using the Qualtrics calculator with a confidence level of 95%. Our inclusion criteria were Age,15 years old and older, residency in Saudi Arabia, Male and female, Saudi and non-Saudi, agree to participate. Analyzes was done by using the "Microsoft Office Excel Software" (2019) for Windows was used to enter data on the computer. The data was then statistically evaluated using the SPSS program, version 23.
Results: 63.8% of the participants were females. More than half of the respondents were younger than 25 years old. Most of the respondents (9.1%) had a university degree or higher education. Regards area of residence, 10.1% lived in Riyadh, 14.0% in Medina. The prevalence of SSI was 8.0%. There are 50.2% of respondents have reported that times being admitted to hospital were 5 or less, 53.9% have denied history of undergoing other previous surgeries. Also, 95.5% of respondents denied having a hospital acquired infection besides surgical site infection.
Conclusion: SSI is one of the commonest healthcare related infections which have a great impact on patient morbidity and mortality. The causes of SSIs are multi-factorial. The antimicrobial regimen isn't much more effective than the persuasive strategy in controlling antimicrobial use in the long-term. Moreover, in many settings, there may be inadequate personnel for a restrictive approach and restriction strategies are unable to consider the appropriateness of use of non-restricted antibiotics, which forms the vast majority of antibiotics used in hospital.


With the energy market undergoing a profound transition, this book examines some of the risks and rewards, the incentives and disincentives at work shaping the search for and the production and utilization of oil and other energy sources. Some of the trade-offs, inequities, and bureaucratic insanities (and occasional inspirations) that drive and retard rational energy developments and energy transition are explored. In particular, concern is with trying to understand some of the factors shaping the evolving balance between market forces and government regulation. Unlike many who study the world energy market, the authors in this book do not emphasize the question of what constitutes the best guess on the future distribution of supply and demand for specific fuels for specific nations or regions. The collection tries to shift the focus away from crystal-ball gazing and, instead, explore how and why major public and private participants in the energy market make their choices about energy strategies. A separate abstract was prepared for each of the 8 individual presentations.


If, in the Francophone communities of Eastern Canada, family dramas and large-scale productions prevail, in Western Canadian communities, monodramas dominate. The monodramatic form privileged by these Francophone artists is representative of a marginality (exiguite) specific to this region that inscribes itself in three ways: the conditions of production, the themes and the form of the monodrama. The modalities of this marginality are intimately negotiated between the artist and the audience. If the themes evolve with the passage from identity-based to post-identity theatre, the form of the monodrama remains as the ultimate trace of marginality.


Experiments in atomic physics using several synchrotron radiation sources worldwide over the last 40 years, and in which I have been personally involved, are described.


In a push to reduce obesity, the mayor of New York City has proposed a ban that would prevent the use of government subsidised food stamps to purchase soda or sugary drinks.

Mayor Michael R Bloomberg submitted the proposal to the US Department of Agriculture, which allocates funding for the food stamps programme. The stamps are used by 1.7 million New York City residents on low incomes. The proposal follows a failed attempt to impose a penny per ounce tax on the drinks.

According to a news release by the mayor, the city currently "subsidizes a serious public health epidemic" by allowing the use of food stamps to purchase sugary …


Reaction of carbonyl compounds with Al-alkoxydiisobutylalane (DIBAOR, R=H, Et, i-Pr, t-Bu) has been investigated in detail so as to establish their usefulness as selective reducing agents in organic synthesis. The reagents appear to be extremely mild and can reduce only aldehydes and ketones effectively under mild conditions. All the other common organic functional groups are not affected by these reagents. The reagents can also reduce α,β-unsaturated aldehydes and ketones to the corresponding allylic alcohols without any detectable 1,4-reduction. Furthermore, the reagents show a highly chemoselective discrimination between aldehyde and ketone, between aldehydes, and between ketones. Even more remarkable is the stereoselective reduction of cyclic ketones to the thermodynamically more stable alcohol epimers.


The Crystal Structures of (DDI)2[Sb2F6O] and (DDI)2[Sb3F7O2] (DDI = 1,3-Diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazolium) — a Contribution to the Hydrolysis of SbF3 [1]

The salts (DDI)2[Sb2F6O] (2) and (DDI)2[Sb3F7O2] (3), (DDI = 1,3-diisopropyl-4,5-dimethylimidazolium) are obtained by hydrolysis of C11H20N2SbF3 (1). The anion [Sb2F6O]2− consists of two SbF2 fragments linked by a symmetrical oxygen bridge and two unsymmetrical fluorine bridges to form a distored ψ-octahedral coordination sphere at the antimony atoms. In [Sb3F7O2]2−, two SbF2 units are linked by a symmetrical fluorine bridge, while the third antimony atom is connected with each SbF2 fragment by a symmetrical oxygen and an unsymmetrical fluorine bridge. The antimony atoms adopt the centres of strongly distored ψ-polyhedra.


Effective therapists need guiding models, but, paradoxically, the benefits of psychoanalytic psychotherapy may not flow from its espoused theories. Using an attachment framework, it is argued that psychoanalytic psychotherapy in common with all therapies, has three principal components: an attachment relationship; meaning-making; and change-promotion. Secure and insecure models of attachment help us to understand how therapists guide the therapeutic relationship in helpful or unhelpful directions. Freedom of meaning-making is a mark of secure attachment. Change is promoted by placing clients in a 'benign bind' characterized by: close engagement; discrepancy between client transferential expectations and therapist response; exploration and verbal descriptions of the feelings arising from these discrepancies. An attachment meta-perspective helps to reconcile apparent differences between psychoanalytic philosophies, and is inherently integrative.


Preliminary detection of bacterial pathogens and isolation in pure culture on solid media was followed by culture confirmation using one of the early-generation kits for bacterial identification. In more recent years, the development and, in some cases, very common use of direct antigen testing has revolutionized the algorithms for specimen testing which are used today in physicians' office laboratories, community hospitals, and tertiary-care medical centers. Early antigen tests sometimes lacked the sensitivity which was offered by conventional testing. Researchers tested 345 strains of coryneform bacteria and 33 strains of Listeria spp. (representing 49 taxa). In this study, 80.9% were identified to the species level and 12.2% were identified to the genus level, with 3.7% of the strains misidentified and 3.2% of the strains not identified. Prepackaged commercially available kit systems for the identification of clinically significant gram-negative bacteria have been available for a number of years and offer the clinical microbiologist several distinct advantages over previously available methodologies. The identification systems have evolved over time and have been based on either growth dependent or enzyme-mediated substrate utilization or on the detection of specific nucleic acid sequences. A section talks about fastidious bacteria that include Haemophilus spp., Neisseria spp., Gardnerella vaginalis, Bordetella spp., and Legionella spp.


This paper presents the development of a comprehensive bridge management system that optimizes repair decisions considering multiple bridge elements and large networks of bridges. The strength of the system stems from its integration of project-level decisions of the best repair strategies to use on the elements of each bridge, and network-level decisions of the most beneficial repair year for each bridge. These decisions, however, represent complex optimization problems that traditional optimization techniques are often unable to solve. To handle such a large problem, the proposed system uniquely segments the problem into smaller sequential optimizations that are solved using the genetic algorithms technique. The system uses a year-by-year optimization formulation to maximize the benefit/cost ratio of the repairs, and to maximize the overall network condition. The paper provides a description of the multiple-element system, its life-cycle formulation, and its related models for deterioration analysis and repair cost estimation. System implementation and an example application are then presented to demonstrate the practicality of the system and its performance on different sizes of bridge networks.


Diabetes is a real public health problem in the world. In Africa in general and in Cote d'Ivoire in particular, the management of diabetes is complicated by socio-economic difficulties. After the diagnosis of diabetes, its typing is carried out on the basis of clinical criteria. With the discovery of many subgroups of diabetes especially in Africa, the classification of diabetes is made difficult. This difficulty may raise questions about the adequacy of the therapeutic treatment of patients. The purpose of this study was to study mainly the contribution of basal C-peptidemia in the typing of diabetic subjects. The material concerned a population of 220 diabetics who carried out their peptide C assay and monitored at the Yopougon-ABIDJAN University and Hospital Center. Basal C-Peptidemia was assayed by competitive radio-immunoassay using the kit CIS –BIO Shering. The results revealed that the classification based on clinical signs was improved after the C-peptide assay. Indeed, after C-peptidemia, type 1 diabetics with low C-peptidemia (<0.5 ng/ml) and type 2 diabetics with normal C-peptidemia (0.5 ng/ml to 3 ng/ml). In conclusion, the determination of peptide C appears as an undeniable tool for better classification of diabetic patients. The results of C-peptidemia would direct the practitioner towards a more adequate treatment in the patients studied.


University of Minnesota, has given teachers of English, especially in industrial or continuation schools, a valuable handbook for teaching correct usage and effective composition. The presentation makes a distinct departure from the usual method in that in the arrangement of materials the logical order of grammar is entirely subordinated to the actual order of the need of the untrained worker who seeks to improve his oral and written expression. The book indicates clearly that it has grown out of the author's experience in industrial education; in so far as his experience may be accepted as typical of universal experience in this type of work, the book may be considered as meeting a universal need in English training in trade schools. Each lesson is a unit in itself; the learner may enter the book at any lesson which a pre-test would indicate to be suitable for him. The book permits, therefore, individualization of instruction to a high degree. Among the elements presented are: the making of sentences, spelling, homonyms, syllables, accent, synonyms, the various parts of speech, punctuation, miscellaneous errors for correction, and paragraphbuilding. There is constant reiteration of the problem of effective sentencebuilding, and in all of the exercises the subject-matter is drawn from the probable experiences of the men for whom the book is written. Part III presents a brief course in business letters. Noteworthy special features are paragraphs of motivation addressed directly to the student and here and there well-selected extracts from good literature to attract his attention. Teachers in vocational schools and classes will find the book useful and stimu-


This essay is about this world, the world around us, and the crevices of society where asylum seekers and refugees exist. In 2009 there were already 40 million people worldwide who were victims of war, political oppression, and torture in all their insidious forms and humanly devised demonic variations (Di Tomasso, 2010). This showed a huge increase of asylum seekers and refugees compared to 9.9 million refugees worldwide in 2006 (Murray, Davidson, and Schweitzer, 2008, p. 5). Asylum seekers and refugees are disenfranchised people whose lives are dominated on a daily basis by fear, shame, guilt, and terrorized nightmares, flashbacks, or unwanted memories of painful, life-threatening experiences they have been through. They are individuals wrestling with feelings of hate and love, searching for safety, trust, and respect somewhere in the world, far from their homes. It is about people who were confronted with evil and who tried to rebuild their lives in unknown, new surroundings, facing another culture, language, norms, and values. It is about existence in societies often indifferent to their hardship and marginal lives.


Macbeth is the most tremendous of the Shakespeare tragedies. The Emperor Jones is Eugene O'Neill's first expressionistic play. In both plays, Shakespeare and O'Neill adopt aural effect to create the frightful atmosphere and externalize the internal fear of our heroes. And both plays resort to similar symbols such as blackness or darkness, the royal robe and sea to depict the characters. Besides, through soliloquies, both plays tend to reveal the character's conscious thought and unconscious emotions.


How to develop and cultivate college students as Party members is a new subject for the workers of party department and college.This paper carries out research and practice into the construction of the CPC Branch in college student's apartment,which is of positive significance to the party construction and student management in colleges.


This article deals with the main trends in the language policy of totalitarian states as one of the basic elements of totalitarian linguistics, which, like a totalitarian state, includes certain features. A hypothesis based on a comparative analysis of the language policy in totalitarian Italy, Germany, Spain and China is formed about appropriates of two periods of this policy and their contents.


Subcutaneous inoculation gave rise to the severest lesions in the inoculated site, but the individual variations of animals caused marked differences in some of the initiations of the disease. By intra-testis inoculation the disease developed favorably all without distinction. Intracerebral injection caused the similar progress as intratestis inoculation. And intravenous injection is not suitable for the deveiopment of the disease.


Demyelinating diseases of the brain may show mass effects and/or contrast enhancement on CT scans, simulating the appearance of infiltrating glioma. A 36-year-old male, had suffered from gait disturbance and convulsive attacks involving the right lower limb since the age of 30. He had gradually developed character changes and urine incontinence. Six months prior to admission he experienced several attacks of generalized convulsions. On admission, he showed a mild hemiparesis, bilateral Babinski signs, and ataxic gait. He was disoriented and had memory disturbance and moria. CT scan showed low density areas in the bilateral frontal lobes and corpus callosum associated with a mild mass effect. Contrast study revealed irregular enhancement along the edge of the low density area and another small enhancing lesion in the left temporal lobe. This CT finding was interpreted as that of "butterfly" glioma. Craniotomy and right frontal lobectomy were performed. Histological study, however, demonstrated demyelination in the white matter associated with perivascular proliferation of lymphocytes. The final diagnosis was the 'transitional sclerosis' of Poser.


Objective To investigate the incidence of secondary hyperparathyroidism in patients with 3 ~5 stage of Chronic Kidney Disease(CKD) and their treatment by detecting metabolism of calcium and phosphorus and the PTH level. Methods By analyzing retrospectively the clinical date of 268 patients with 3 ~ 5 stage of CKD who was admitted into our hospital from November 2008 to November 2009,serum calcium,phosphorus,calcium-phosphorus product,PTH and corresponding managemant. Results ①73. 88 % patients with 3 ~ 5 stage of CKD had secondary hyperparathyroidism of different severity. ②The levels of PTH is positive correlation with those of serum phosphorus、calcium-phosphorus product(P 0. 001) and negative correlation with adjusted serum calcium (P 0. 001) . ③According to K/DOQI guideline,119 patients should receive active vitamin D therapy and 49. 58% patients used calcitriol,and the proportion of patients who potentially underused was to 50. 42% . HP + HD can remove PTH more effective than HD. Conclusion Disturbances in mineral and bone metabolsm caused secondary hyperparathyroidism are prevalent in 3 ~ 5 stage of CKD. HP + HD can remove PTH more effective than HD. Clinician couldn't think highly of their diagnosis and management.


Recent observations of regularly pulsating x-ray sources in binary star systems are analyzed in the framework of the "emission" theory of light. Assuming that light emitted by a source moving at velocity $v$ with respect to an observer has a speed ${c}^{\ensuremath{'}}=c+kv$ in the observer's rest frame, we find that the arrival time of pulses from the binary x-ray sources implies $kl2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}9}$. This appears to be the most direct and sensitive demonstration that the speed of light is independent of the velocity of the source.


Machine learning encompasses a diverse array of both supervised and unsupervised techniques that facilitate prediction, classification, and anomaly detection. Among the many fields of application for such techniques, customer churn prediction is a prominent one. In order to forecast customer switching, data scientists employ a variety of demographic, social, transactional, and behavioral variables and attributes. Unfortunately, many businesses in the United Kingdom still lack the comprehensive and adaptable consumer data required to perform accurate analyses. As a result, they often rely heavily on data produced by Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, which is primarily transactional in nature. Consequently, businesses are often limited to modeling and forecasting on transactional data alone and are unlikely to invest significantly in marketing research or other customer-related sources. Businesses are often limited to performing modeling and forecasting on transactional data that are most often not based on advanced techniques like RFM and ML. So, the major objective of the current work is to provide a mix of machine learning and Recency, frequency and monetary (RFM) analysis techniques for churn prediction using mostly transactional data. The dataset was taken from the dataset search website containing online retail datasets. Every customer's Recency, frequency and monetary (RFM) scores are computed based on the available data. A churn metric that indicates whether or not the customer has made a transaction in a limited time. Through this paper, different techniques are compared. We used K-means and DBSCAN clustering. By the end of this paper, it may be inferred that the act of dividing customers into six distinct clusters is a more practical and straightforward approach.


2‐[18F]Fluoro‐2‐deoxy‐d‐glucose positron emission tomography (FDG‐PET) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) may assist in identifying the epileptogenic zone in children with nonlesional localization‐related epilepsy. The aim of this study was to evaluate sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of FDG‐PET, MEG, FDG‐PET + MEG, and FDG‐PET/MEG in children with nonlesional localization‐related epilepsy.


The annual Critique Conference was held, as announced, at Student Central, the former ULU, in Malet Street London on 14 May 2016. Savas Matsas, Hillel Ticktin, Raquel Varela and Yassamine Mather spoke at the conference. The theme was on War and Capitalism in the context of the anniversary of the Russian Revolution in 1917. There was also a Critique panel at the annual Left Forum in New York, at which Michael Hudson and Hillel Ticktin spoke, and Suzi Weissman chaired the meeting. The theme was on the present stage of the global crisis. There was a substantial attendance at both meetings.


Globalisation induces internalization of normative systems and national a and national judicial behavior and the nationalization of law and international procedures. A case that may demonstrate the movement described above is the incorporation of accounting standards for companies to the Brazilian legal system. Brazil adopted the International Accounting Standards , more commonly known as International Financial Reporting Standards ( IFRS) since 2008 , with the enactment of Law No. 11,638 , of December 28, 2007. The main change introduced by convergence with international standards refers to changes in Brazilian accounting practices, which it becomes much more based on interpretation of the pronouncements of the Accounting Pronouncements Committee (CPC) than the application of national rules , as in the recent past.


This paper reports a study of the historical and functional morphology of the Stone Town of Zanzibar in Tanzania. The town is interesting because its mostly fine-grained physical fabric with an irregular street grid shows a remarkable degree of consistency despite the fact that it evolved under significantly different social, economic and political conditions. Therefore, the study of historical morphology was aimed at identifying if the town went through any structural changes despite its physical continuity; and the study of functional morphology was aimed at identifying the relationship between functions and the structure of the town. For historical morphology, three street maps representing three distinct historical phases of the town were studied using the techniques of the axial map analysis of Space Syntax. For functional morphology, the relationships between the axial structure of the present-day street grid and land use patterns, ownership patterns, building classifications based on ethnic influences, significant buildings and streetscape elements, and building conditions were studied explaining the spatial distribution of functions in the town. The study found that the axial structure of this town had a diffused pattern of syntactic centrality that took different shapes in different phases of its development. The study also found that the axial structure of the town has been a strong force determining the present-day spatial distribution of functions in the town. Based on the findings, the paper then describes a dialectical relationship between history and function in the Stone Town. By combining historical and functional morphology, this study provides a methodology for an enriched understanding of the morphological processes of growth and transformation of a city, in which the historical and functional specificity of the city is complemented by a more generic description of the street network offered by Space Syntax. As a result, the study contributes to standard Space Syntax analysis that usually takes a synchronic view of cities and spatial structures for the sake of a more generic theory of urban form; and to historical research that usually consults any number of historical sources for the sake of a rich description specific to an historical reality, but does not analyse the spatial morphology of cities in a comparative or systematic way. With the enriched morphological perspective of this study, it may now be possible to describe precisely the socio-spatial and spatio-temporal processes, emphasising the relationship between design and the politics of power of other traditional cities that went through similar historical experiences as the Stone Town of Zanzibar.


The objective of this research is to develop a flexible stochastic intensity-function model for traffic arrivals arising in an Ethernet local area network. To test some well-known Bellcore datasets for long-rangedependence or nonstationarity, a battery of statistical tests was applied – including a new extensionof the classical Priestley-Rao test for nonstationarity; and the results of this analysis revealedpronounced nonstationarity in all of the Bellcore datasets. To model such teletraffic arrivalprocesses accurately, a stochastic intensity function was formulated as a nonlinear extension of theCox regression model that incorporates a general time trend together with cyclic effects andpacket-size effects. The proposed intensity-function model has anexponential-polynomial-trigonometric form that includes a covariate representing the latest packet size. Maximum likelihoodestimates of the unknown continuous parameters of the stochastic intensity function areobtained numerically, and the degrees of the polynomial time and packet-size components aredetermined by a likelihood ratio test. Although this approach yielded excellent fits to the Bellcoredatasets, it also yielded the surprising conclusion that packet size has a negligible effect on thepacket arrival rate. A follow-up analysis of the packet-size process confirmed this conclusion andshed additional light on the packet-generation mechanism in Ethernet local area networks. This research also includes the development of procedures for simulating traffic processes having a stochastic intensity function of the proposed form. An extensive Monte Carlo performanceevaluation demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed procedure for modeling and simulation ofteletraffic arrival processes.