Resumen de la Tesis: The focal point of this Thesis is obtain the crustal composition of SW-Iberia using as a geophysical data two densely spaced wide-angle seismic reflection/refraction data (IBERSEIS Wide-Angle). The study area is the south westernmost exposed part of the Variscan Belt in Europe and offers the opportunity to study the Variscan orogeny (480 - 290 Ma), that in the region is formed by the collision of three continental blocks: the South Portuguese Zone (SPZ), the Ossa-Morena Zone (OMZ) and the Central Iberian Zone (CIZ). The two wide-angle surveys were designed to determine the physical properties in SW-Iberia and complement the normal incidence seismic survey IBERSEIS (Simancas et al., 2003). Both transects crossed the 3 main tectonic units in the area and their tectonic contacts. Transect A was 300 km long and Transect B was 250 km long. The data set was recorded by vertical component recorders with a station spacing of 400 m and 150 m for Transect A and B, respectively. The close station spacing allows the identification and correlation of more phases, as well as increases the lateral continuity of them. It increases the interpretative complexity as more events are identified. As a result a complex P-wave velocity model has been obtained by forward modeling. Some S-wave arrivals were also identified on the shot gathers that were modeled. From the P- and S-wave velocity models, the Poisson's ratio distribution for the crust was calculated. From the P-wave velocities the crustal density models were derived and constrained by the geopotential fields response. As a result, two density and two thermal lithospheric models and the topography of the lithosphere-astenosphere boundary were obtained. The P- and S-wave velocity, Poisson's ratio and density distribution for the crust constrain the nature of the structures imaged by the IBERSEIS transect. Linking the estimated P-waves velocities with rocks types results in a broad range of possible lithologies. The integration with other geophysical observables as Poisson's ratio and density narrowed the range of possible rock types in order to get a sound interpretation of the crustal model. The P-waves velocity, Poisson's ratio and density models feature high values at mid crustal depths, coincident with the position and shape of the Iberseis Reflective Body (IRB) imaged by IBERSEIS. The compatible lithologies for this body are rocks of mafic composition. Modeling also shows the nonuniqueness of the IRB, since another body with the similar physical characteristics is mapped to the SWS of the IRB. Furthermore, the reflected phases that image these volumes or structures that are characterized by high velocity values, feature a coda indicating the complex nature of these areas. Lensing consisting of lamellae of different rock types featuring small changes in physical properties can account for the observed coda recorded. The size of the lenses is not big enough to be resolvable by the seismic technique. Therefore, the measured physical properties have to be considered as the average estimates of these laminated areas.
This geophysical study has also revealed an upper mantle reflector identified at far offsets in the wide-angle shot records. The modeling of this arrival indicates that it could correspond to a gradient zone consistent with the phase transition from spinel-herzolite to garnet-lherzolite, i.e., the Hales transition zone. The mafic intrusions at mid crustal levels that cross the tectonic limits, the derived nature of the rocks, the uplift of the LAB beneath the IRB, jointly with the observed surface geology, suggest a new and unique tectonic scenario involving a post collisional intraorogenic intrusion of mantle derived rocks.


Dietary niche breadth, spatial changes in the diet and analysis of interspecific niche overlap of ninety-two species from four different ecological zones along the longitudinal gradient of River Teesta in West Bengal were studied from December, 2010 to November, 2013. We observed mean niche breadth values to be consistently low (0-0.39) and niche overlap values to be high (0.61-1.0) at most of the zones. High niche overlap tends to reflect intense competition for shared resources which might tend to a strong driving force for fish assemblage pattern and species sorting and survival in nature. However, on analysis of cooccurrence, its low value implied that the fish community is not competitively structured based on their diet intake. Although majority of the species utilize the same resource (aquatic invertebrates), competition apparently did not the main structuring force within the studied fish assemblage in this river which might be attributed to continuous resource replenishment.


Objective Signal transducers and activators of transcription 3 (STAT3) silenced by RNA interference (RNAi) technique were used to induce the apoptosis and growth inhibition in T24 and 5637 bladder cancer cells. Methods Three recombinant plasmids pGenesil-1-shRNA-STAT3 was constructed and transfected into T24 and 5637 cells. The expression of STAT3 gene was detected by RT-PCR and Western blotting. FCM was used to observe the apoptosis in T24 and 5637 cells. Results pGenesil-1-shRNA-STAT3 was successfully constructed, and transfected into T24 and 5637 cells. RT-PCR and Western blot analysis demonstrated that pGenesil-1-shRNA-STAT3 could significantly inhibit the expression of STAT3 in T24 and 5637 cells; FCM results show that it could suppress the growth of 1'24 and 5637 cells. Conclusion pGeneSiI-1-shRNA-STAT3 could significantly inhibit STAT3 expression, suppress the growth of T24 and 5637 cells.

Key words:
Urinary bladder neoplasms;  RNA interference;  STAT3 transcription factor


Although problem solving is a major goal for most science educators, many still rely on the demonstration method as an approach to teach it. This remains the case even though most are not happy with the results. Using a web-based problem delivery system to track students' performance, we have investigated the effects of collaborative learning, and concept mapping on student problem solving ability. We find that student ability in general can be improved by about 10% after a group problem solving intervention. Furthermore we find differences in improvement depending upon the students' level of logical thinking and gender.


The high content of crude protein was produced from the apple pomace fermented by multi-microbial agent including Aspergillus niger ZM-8,Saccharomyces cerevisiae,Candida tropicalis and Geotrichum candidum,which were treated by space mutagenesis.The optimal formula of complex microbial agent were as followed;A.niger ZM-8 1.5g,S.cerevisiae 0.5g,C.tropicalis 1.0g and G.candidum 0.5g.The crude protein content of the product reached 27.9%,which was increased by 337.5% compared to that before optimization.The optimal medium was as followed: sugar 4g,ammonium sulphate 7g,urea 1g and salt 2g.Under these conditions,the crude protein content of the product was 26.4%,which was increased by 306.3% compared to that before optimization.


A case report of a 46-year-old Belgian man with a subacute myelo-optic neuropathy is presented. Arguments in favour of a neurotoxic etiology are stressed.


The ship security alert system were designed with 89C51 single-chip microcomputer as its core,in which RS-232 serial interface was used to connect the system with GPS on aboard.The GPS signal was collected and processed by a C-program, and the alert signal could be sent by Inmarsat-C.


Missile staging and airframe separation simulation were performed by using a numerical technique for simulating the dynamics of multiple moving bodies. A 6DOF model is fully integrated into the CFD solution procedure to determine the body dynamics. Chimera grid technique offered efficient CFD simulation of multiple moving bodies. Through this simulation the safety of deployed staging and airframe separation mechanism was verified.


A cryptographic hash is an important tool in the area of a modern cryptography. It comprises a compression function, where the compression function can be built by a scratch or blockcipher. There are some familiar schemes of blockcipher compression function such as Weimar, Hirose, Tandem, Abreast, Nandi, ISA-09. Interestingly, the security proof of all the mentioned schemes are based on the ideal cipher model (ICM), which depends on ideal environment. Therefore, it is desired to use such a proof technique model, which is close to the real world such as weak cipher model (WCM). Hence, we proposed an (n, 2n) blockcipher compression function, which is secure under the ideal cipher model, weak cipher model and extended weak cipher model (ext.WCM). Additionally, the majority of the existing schemes need multiple key schedules, where the proposed scheme and the Hirose-DM follow single key scheduling property. The efficiency-rate of our scheme is r = 1/2. Moreover, the number of blockcipher call of this scheme is 2 and it runs in parallel. key words: cryptographic hash, blockcipher, ideal cipher model, weak cipher model, collision and preimage resistance


A parallel CRC design based on FPGA was proposed to be applied to the error correction for high-speed data access.The recursive expression of the parallel CRC was obtained by the deduction of the serial CRC architecture.Instead by direct access and NOT operations,the XOR operations of the generation polynomial were simplified to reduce the logic cost and critical data-path delay.Compared to the conventional literatures,the proposed design costs less hardware,and the arrival time reduces at least by 22.68%.


Background and Purpose. A landmark 2008 Institute of Medicine report concluded that the health care workforce is not prepared to deliver effective and efficient health care services to older adults, and the numbers of health care practitioners specializing in geriatrics are insufficient to meet the needs of this population. The purposes of this paper are to: (1) advocate for the use of essential competencies developed by the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA) Section on Geriatrics (now known as the Academy of Geriatric Physical Therapy) to guide curriculum development for physical therapist (PT) and physical therapist assistant (PTA) education programs; (2) describe key modifiable barriers to educating PTs and PTAs to meet the health care needs of older adults in the US; and (3) recommend curriculum strategies and enhancements to achieve student readiness to deliver effective and efficient services to older adults at completion of their education. Position and Rationale. Similar to graduates in other health professions, graduating PTs and PTAs are under‐prepared to deliver effective and efficient physical therapy services to older adults. The Essential Competencies in the Care of Older Adults at the Completion of the Entry‐level Physical Therapist Professional Program of Study, and emerging PTA documents, should guide curriculum development and assessment efforts. Course work, including clinical education, must carefully and deliberately include sufficient and targeted learning activities to ensure students acquire the requisite knowledge, attitudes, and skills. Faculty attitudes must convey value for the impact physical therapy can have in achieving optimal aging. Students should interact with a variety of older adults, from fit to frail, including those with multimorbidity. Discussion and Conclusion. Since older adults will comprise the largest percentage of patients/clients across most practice settings, all PT and PTA graduates must be competent in their care. To enhance PT and PTA education, we suggest a curricular approach that includes important characteristics of the educational setting, practice expectations and competency domains, and critical curricular themes. Modifiable factors influencing decisions regarding geriatric‐focused curricular content are highlighted. Through the explicit and concerted efforts outlined in this paper, we believe that the physical therapy profession will be better prepared to meet the workforce needs created by an aging America.


Carbon molecules were produced by evaporation of graphite and matrix-isolated in solid neon and argon. Using synchrotron radiation, the absorption spectra of the carbon clusters were recorded from 1100 to 5600 A, and the fluorescence or phosphorescence spectra were recorded from 1200 to 9000 A. We observed an intense, broad absorption band system centered at around 1600 A in neon and 1700 A in argon. By measuring the excitation spectrum of the a 3Πu → X 1Σ+g phosphorescence and checking the intensity correlation with the known 1Πu ← X 1Σ+g absorption band, we could show that the observed VUV band system is the allowed 1Σ+u ← X 1Σ+g electronic transition of the C3 molecule. At the blue and the red side of the band system, distinct progressions can be observed which most likely correspond to a symmetric stretch of about ν1 ≈ 1100 cm-1 and a bending mode of about ν3 ≈ 550 cm-1, respectively. In the band center, however, a complicated superposition of several vibrational progressions appears indicating that b...


I congratulate the Journal for publishing this helpful tool to modernize perfusion practices in Brazil. Old ideas and norms that governed behaviors in the past may not be effective nowadays, therefore we cannot continue doing the same things and expect different results. The function and performance of complex systems like Heart Centers depend on the interactions of precise technical and organizational factors. Their structure will not be resilient if perfusion — a vital component — malfunction. These systems require everyone to understand WHY they do what they do. Interestingly, every person and every organization know WHAT they do and know HOW they do it. Unfortunately, very few people or organizations know WHY they do what they do — that reflects believes, reasons and objectives of an institution and determines the outcomes. Doing things without reason can harm organizations. In medicine, many things that doctors and nurses do is because "that is the way we have always done it"— a parallel play in which each one does their things — that can hurt patients. It can be due to lack of knowledge, attitude or practices that have become automatic — ignoring WHY that would allows people to abandon pseudoscientific theories. While vanguard organizations are efficient in dealing with the problems of unpredictable systems, in those that fail, their parts come together through hard work, goodwill, and improvisation. In addition, their components are managed independently when, in fact, they are interdependent. In them, it is essential to avoid complacency — feeling satisfied with your abilities or situation and believing that you do not need to try harder.


This article is devoted to the problem of distance education, namely the use of information technology in higher education. This paper examines modern approaches to learning based on Internet technologies, presents the main factors that determine the need for the use of distance learning technology in the education system, and shows the advantages and disadvantages of distance education as an innovative form of learning. The article is devoted to the possibilities of expanding the potential of traditional distance education through Internet technologies, describes the grounds for their use and the advantages of using them, and reveals the essential characteristics and specific features of distance learning. The author considers both positive and negative aspects of distance learning and focuses on certain issues of the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of distance education. There are two types of factors for the use of distance learning in the education system: external and internal factors.


A person is detected from a moving image of the monitoring area, and position information on the person is acquired. Temporal statistical processing is performed on the position information, statistical information relating to a staying situation of the person is acquired in accordance with setting of a target period of time for the statistical processing, and thus a heat map moving image is generated. Furthermore, a mask image corresponding to a person image area is generated at every predetermined point in time based on the position information on the person. A monitoring moving image that results from superimposing the heat map image and the mask image onto a background image is generated and is output at every predetermined point in time.


Toni Morrison`s Paradise is an open text. The symbols and the stories in the text delay fixing their meanings, drifting endlessly, seen from Roland Barthes` concept of text. According to Barthes, a text, not a literary work, is a fabric of quotations drawn from many different cultures, having multiple layers and meanings. Among layers, there are numerous gaps which should be filled in by the reader`s interpretations. Ironically, a paradise is not found anywhere in the Paradise text. On the surface of the text, the original nine families of coal black African-Americans tried to build a paradise called Haven. This effort is followed by their descendents in Ruby near the Convent where five women live. There are no nuns in the Convent. All of these processes are double coded with the Biblical texts in the perspective of Umberto Eco. He said that post-modern texts have at least two layers called double coding for their different levels of readers. Zechariah, Haven, and the Oven in the text correspond with Moses, Canaan, and the Tabernacle in the Biblical text. But instead of truth and happiness, there are deceptions, lies, distortions, and prejudices in Ruby. The Oven and the Cross lose their power as symbols. Men in Ruby need a scapegoat to blame for their failure. They attack the Convent and kill the women, who are later resurrected. The Convent, a potential paradise, is destroyed by the men, and there is no paradise in the Paradise text. But putting together all the fragments of texts and filling in the gaps of the text, the reader realizes that a paradise is found in his/her mind.


Changes, both in the enterprise and in the country, are associated with development, which is the main characteristic of any economic system or organization. Under contemporary conditions, the international position of individual countries and enterprises is determined by the intensity of application of the achievements of science and technology. Therefore, due to innovative changes, you can make a profit, create jobs, and increase prestige in the international arena. The relevance of the topic is due to the need to improve organizations and develop their activities in a competitive environment by introducing the contemporary innovative technologies and reducing the staff resistance to these transformations. The article topic is disclosed by the example of organization of the Sverdlovsk Directorate of Passenger Arrangements of JSC Russian Railways. The paper discusses the theoretical foundations of the technology to overcome the staff resistance to innovation in the organization, analyzes the technology using a specific example and offers recommendations for its improvement.


CHEN Ting-zhuo's Baiyuzhai Cihua emphasized essence,whose theory was mainly originated from Guofeng and Lisao,used good-naturedness as its writing style and gloomyness for practiacl application.Deepness refers to style,which is from poetry style and seems too serious.Gloomy refers to depressed complex,which could be staked on Xing while overdo.Good-natured is from TAN Xian,also pays more attention to deep feelings,but Confucian moralization style is deeper than it.


Purpose – Since the late 1980s, much attention has been afforded to the notion of social exclusion and how governments might address this problem. One such solution has been the encouragement of self employment amongst those considered to be socially excluded with the aim of creating opportunity for individuals, generating new jobs and contributing to local economic regeneration. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate the relationship between entrepreneurship and social exclusion by considering the potential for benefit dependent lone mothers to enter self employment in order to escape disadvantage.Design/methodology/approach – A theoretical paper which draws upon the concepts of gender, enterprise and social exclusion which are then linked through an analysis of the possibilities which self employment may offer benefit dependent lone mothers to undertake an economically viable activity.Findings – From the arguments explored here, it would appear that self employment is limited in terms of me...


18-information track circuits and UM-71 series jointless track circuits have become the dominant techniques for Chinese railway,featuring Frequency Shift Keying modulating pattern.The frequency of signal modulation is an important parameter for train security scheduling.To improve real-time capability and frequency detection accuracy,the under-sampling technology is applied in the traditional ZFFT algorithm,thus realizing the optimization of the software program and improving the detection speed of the algorithm.This algorithm is implemented on detection platform based on DSP TMS320VC5402,and the practical application indicates that the optimized ZFFT algorithm is of strong anti-interference ability,and could both improve the frequency resolution and meet real-time requirement of the system.


The purpose of this study was to find out the effectiveness of these learning media and students' responses to learning in the Covid-19 pandemic era. The research method is descriptive with a survey approach. The instrument used was a questionnaire with a google form regarding the media used in the learning process during the Covid 19 Pandemic era. The technical data analysis used in this study was to count the number of respondents' answers from each port. The results of this study are that the learning media most used by lecturers and preferred is Google meet, the obstacles faced by students in daring learning are easily bored and difficult to understand the material, and student responses to learning from the Covid-19 Pandemic era are very happy. In conclusion, online learning media has its own advantages and disadvantages, but most prefer Google Meet as a learning medium, because it is easy to use, has complete learning features, is flexible and safer.

Keywords: Covid-19 Pandemic, Learning Media, Effectiveness


This article aims to reflect about the institutionalization process of Distance Education (DE) in Brazil based on analysis of activities established by the General Coordinators Forum System Open University of Brazil (UAB) and the Chamber of Distance Learning Association Brazilian University Rectors State and Municipal (ABRUEM). Through documental and bibliography research could be systematized: a brief overview of Distance Education in Brazil; issues relating to legislation and quality criterion recommended by the Ministry of Education and finally to finish a display of some points that are necessary to build a academic culture of Distance Education that in the future will serve as regulatory boundary for institutionalization of Distance Education in Brazil. Thus, Education and Research Institutions that educate professionals from different fields of knowledge can get through the Distance Education (DE), alternative to overcome the geographical dimensions, enabling people from remote areas have access to open and democratic education. Research in this modality have shown that DE, besides reducing the problems of access to knowledge, can also provide quality education and guided practice and social context of the learner.


Major depressive disorder (MDD) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) are leading causes of disease burden in Europe, with MDD disproportionately affecting women and AUD being more prevalent among men. However, it is unclear how country-level political and socio-cultural characteristics contribute to gender differences in these conditions.

 Data for 30,416 participants from 16 countries were obtained from the 2014 European Social Survey. Depressive symptoms were ascertained using the 8-item CES-D scale, and alcohol use was assessed with items on past-year alcohol use frequency and quantity, as well as frequency of heavy episodic drinking. Country-level data for attitudes to gender equality, needs-adjusted public social expenditure, and other covariates came from the 2012 International Social Survey Programme and the OECD. Modified Poisson and linear regression with log link examined additive and multiplicative interactions of country-level characteristics with gender for MDD, AUD, and their specific symptoms/dimensions.

 Public social expenditure was not associated with gender differences in MDD (CES-D>10), but with greater differences in the prevalence of the loneliness and sadness symptoms; support for gender equality was associated with smaller differences in loneliness (p < 0.05). For AUD, there was evidence of increased alcohol use frequency and quantity among women, and decreased frequency and quantity among men associated with support for gender equality, resulting in lower gender differences in predicted probabilities (from 23% to 5% across exposure levels; p < 0.001). Heavy episodic drinking was strongly positively associated with support for gender equality among women (p < 0.001), but not among men.

 Country-level characteristics appear to exert differential impact on the prevalence of AUD and certain psychological symptoms of MDD among men and women in Europe. Pending replication, future research should examine underlying mechanisms.


Large earthquakes are expected to cause structural damage even in modern buildings in full compliance with current design codes. While presumably safe, these and the much more frequent moderately sized earthquakes, can still negatively affect critical structures' function. For example, hospitals, by distressing staff and patients as well as supporting systems such as critical utilities, medical gases, and surrounding infrastructure (e.g. roads/bridges). Energy producing facilities, may overact shutting down plant functions or initiating evacuations which potentially costs millions of dollars in business interruption. Today most earthquake instrumented structures focused their purpose on recording structural responses to damaging and potentially damaging earthquakes. This recorded data is then used to further understanding of actual building dynamic behavior, ultimately leading to advancements in research (e.g., damage detection) and building codes (e.g., improved empirical relations), Goel and Chopra [1]. Over time, owners, residents, and operators indirectly benefit from this work by owning, residing, operating safer structures. However, there is opportunity to benefit directly from structural monitoring technology. Advances in technology and client-based information-driven services have led to proven applications of structural monitoring in support of operational/business continuity ultimately contributing to resilience. Although this concept of using earthquake recorded data to the benefit of building owners has been considered in the past, Celebi et.al. [2], there has only been a few implementation cases as a holistic, commercially viable solution for operational/business continuity, as a result of strategic industry partnerships (e.g., technology provider, engineering consultant, etc.), academia, and a growing knowledge and experience on the topic; mostly in the Middle East, Skolnik et.al. [3]. This paper will present commercially available technology platforms comprised of advanced sensing, performance-based engineering, centralized command console tied to mobile check-in, standard-based safety inspection tools, as well as training and certification. Implementation is illustrated with deployments at Hospitals and Energy producing facilities around the world.


Data are compiled based upon a review of the literature, concerning the relative density, penetration resistance, compressibility and rate of consolidation. Only hydraulic fills placed by sluicing through pipes are considered, and emphasis is upon performance under ordinary dead and live loads. Fills are classified according to the nature of the borrow materials: (1) fairly clean sand, resulting in a reasonably uniform fill of moderate density; (2) silty or clayey sand, for inhomogeneous fill of large void ratio; (3) stiff cohesive soil, resulting in a skeleton of clay balls with a matrix of sand and clay; and (4) soft cohesive soil, resulting in a laminated normally consolidated clay. The characteristics of each type of fill are illustrated by a case study. The placement and engineering properties of the most desirable type of fill—that derived from a fairly clean sand—are considered in detail.


The addition reactions of NO3 to limonene have been investigated using ab initio methods. Six different possibilities for NO3 addition to the double bonds, which correspond to the two C–C double bonds (endocyclic or exocyclic) have been considered. The negative activation energies for the addition of NO3 to limonene are calculated and the energies of NO3-limonene radical adducts are found to be 14.55 to 20.17 kcal mol-1 more stable than the separated NO3 and limonene at the CCSD(T)/6–31G(d) + CF level. The results also indicate that the endocyclic addition reaction is more energetically favorable than the exocyclic one.


Starting from the account of the treatment of Alice related by Michele Van Lysebeth-Ledent and using Perrault's famous fairytale Peau d'âne as a metaphor, the author visits the defensive character of the notion of the unconscious ego, its mechanisms, splitting and denial, as well as its inclination towards drive regressivity.


Exemplary embodiments are directed to a wireless power transmitter control (700A) of field distribution. The transmitter may comprise an antenna configured to transmit the generated field (601). The transmitter may further comprise a field distribution and configured to modify the generated at least one parasitic antenna close to the transmitting antenna.


In the last few years, High Voltage Direct current (HVDC) based Modular Multilevel Converter (MMC) has been heavily used in wind power plants (WPP) integration due to its benefit of independent controllability of active and reactive power. This paper offers a mode switch control strategy for the wind power plant-connected converter. This proposed strategy provides two control modes for the MMC on the WPP side to adjust to various operational conditions. Then, the controllers for the different modes are designed and analyzed using Backstepping and Lyapunov approaches. Finally, in order to validate the performance and effectiveness of the proposed control strategy, we simulate it in a Matlab/Simulink environment.


The present FNAL Hinjector has been operational since 1978 and consists of a magnetron Hsource and a 750keV Cockcroft-Walton Accelerator. The upgrade of this injector consists of replacing the present magnetron with a slit aperture and Cockcroft-Walton with a new magnetron with a round aperture and 200MHz RFQ. Operational experience from BNL (Brookhaven National Laboratory) has shown that a similar upgraded source and RFQ design will be more reliable and require less manpower to maintain than the present system.


As the final days of the summer of 1995 unfolded, a remarkable convergence of events emerged. Bombs found near the Arch de Triomphe prompted French security forces to round up Muslims, deport immigrants, and tighten surveillance. General Abacha of Nigeria staged a fake "coup" to justify a brutal crackdown on his political opponents. And Israel extended the authority of its secret service "to use physical force during intimidation" in response to recent terrorist acts (that the group Hamas called "acts of war" but which were instead regarded as "terrorist," just as had all Palestinian resistance against the Jews before that, and all Jewish resistance to the British before that). Furthermore, a bomb set by rebels in the capital of Kashmir killed 13 and wounded 25; hostages were taken. A bomb killed the top official and 12 others in the Indian state of Punjab, where Sikh militants seek revenge. A bomb exploded in Tblisi, wounding Georgian head of state Eduard Shevardnadze, who had come to power, marked by te...


In this study, we investigated the sediment transport due to the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami along the natural coast at Hambantota, Sri-lanka. Bathymetry and topography surveys before and after the tsunami were conducted and results showed significant erosion by the tsunami, especially around the places where shoreline discontinuations were observed. We conducted a numerical simulation of tsunami propagation as well as the bathymetry change induced by the tsunami. Furthermore, we also estimated the bathymetry change due to the usual sea waves at the coast. Our numerical results suggested that the tsunami has strong bottom shear stress at specific landform such as a river mouth and a cape. We also found that the sediment erosion and accretion due to the tsunami had been mitigated by usual waves after the tsunami. th /Dec/2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, we conducted the bathymetry survey and compared the depth before and after the tsunami to grasp the geological change induced by the tsunami. Moreover, we executed the additional survey about 3 years after the tsunami in order to comprehend the influence of the coastal process by the usual ocean waves. In this study, we also apply numerical simulation to the event and use the survey data as the evidence by inspection. In the numerical analysis, we reproduce not only the propagation of the tsunami and topography change by the tsunami but also the bathymetry change caused by the usual ocean waves after the tsunami. The purpose of the study is to consider sediment transport mechanism along the natural coast by the tsunami and the influence of the sea waves after the tsunami.


We explore the inflation forecasts of the respondents to the Survey of Professional Forecasters, and assess the role of the conditioning variables in driving their dynamics. (JEL: E31, E52, E58)


—In West European context, the first fully-fledged populist government that entered office in Italy in 2018 (Conte I) has been presented as a peculiar case. After discussing party dilemmas within coalitions, the article analyses – in comparative perspective – the way in which the two partners M5S and League managed inter-party relations despite their divergent policy preferences. The work focuses on both structural and dynamic mechanisms of coalition governance. Particular attention is paid to the coalition agreement, which is compared to the benchmark case of the German Merkel IV cabinet. Findings show that the Conte I cabinet diverged from the Italian tradition, but approached other European models, despite its rhetoric of exceptionality. Yet, poor definition of policy goals and ambiguous governance mechanisms are observed.


The Botanical Garden of Rio de Janeiro / Brazil (JBRJ) is an institution that cares about social and environmental
responsibility by preparing and serving the community on their needs through continuing education programs in
Botany. Ethnobotany, like science, is tool has been used in the evaluation of vocational course in gardening.
Assists in qualitative and quantitative assessment of tacit and academic acquired by gardening course graduates
of the Social Program Education and Labor JBRJ knowledge. Thus, the selection of graduates was made in semistructured
interviews and non-probabilistic methodology of the "snowball". The results were compared with
Brazilian legal frameworks and data obtained in the search for technological forecasting. We interviewed 76
graduates, with 445 citations in 82 species belonging to 40 families who brought a unique diversity. Demonstrated
that there is an emerging need for enhancement of urban ethnobotany, for understanding the human-plantenvironment
relationship. The botanical gardens are established as enabling environment for the dissemination
of such knowledge and to promote the conservation of plant resources and cultural values among scientific and
technical tacit.


Summary: An international review of the literature showed that although technologies are available for segregating stems, stands and logs based on some internal wood properties the benefits are not always clear due to high variability of wood properties, poor market signals (in terms of price) for wood with superior properties, and poor understanding of the costs involved across the value chain. A structure for an economic model to determine the viability of segregation for various intervention points in the standing tree to mill supply chain is presented.


Original: 01/11/2017 Revised: 07/01/2018 Accepted: 06/02/2018 Published online: In order to determine the effect of water stress on biomass accumulation of root and shoot, and their ratio of two maize hybrids (Zea mays L.) under the effect of three different irrigation levels, two different field experiments were conducted in a silty clay soil during the autumn season of 2014 and spring season of 2015 at the Agricultural research station of Qlyasan – University of Sulaimani. A split plot design with three replications were used. Three different levels of irrigation were applied, I1 represented the water requirements of the two hybrids along the growing season from seedling to physiological maturity, I2 breaking one irrigation after each two irrigation during the vegetative growing season only, but I3 applied with breaking one irrigation after each two irrigations during the vegetative and reproductive growing season till physiological maturity. Effect of water deficit levels on the growth and development of root and shoot as well as the root-shoot ratio were determined. The root-shoot ratio of the two hybrids was increased with the extended growing period through the growing seasons. The effect of I3 level of maize rootshoot ratio was greater in comparison to I1 and I2. There were differences in response of H1 and H2 to irrigation levels, the ratio of root to shoot for the H2 was greater than H1 in both seasons.


Objective To explore the treatment and prognosis of low congenital proctatresia by a new anoplasty through T-shaped incision of rectal blind end.Methods Retrospective analyses of 45 cases of low congenital proctaresia were conducted.19 cases in the contrast group were treated by anaplasty through cross-incision of rectal blind end,and other cases were treated by a new anoplasty through T-shaped incision of rectal blind end.The following-up surveys of the rates of stricture of anus,the length of anal high pressure of Anus and recta,the anal function and the maximal anal canal rest pressure was conducted and analyzed.Results The incidence of stricture of anus was much lower treated by the new operation than by routine method(P0.05)the clinical score of anal functions were better than the contrast group(P0.05),the length of anal high pressure of Anus and recta was longer than in the contrast group(P0.05),and the maximal anal canal rest pressure was higher than in the contrast group(P0.05).Conclusion The anoplasty through T-shaped incision of rectal blind end can help to reduce the incidence of stricture of anus,prevent anal dysfunction and promote the life quality of patients.


In the context of probabilistic AAFs, we introduce AAFs with marginal probabilities (mAAFs) requiring only marginal probabilities of arguments/attacks to be specified and not relying on the independence assumption. Differently from the literature, reasoning over mAAFs requires taking into account multiple probability distributions over the possible worlds, so that the probability of extensions is not determined by a unique value, but by an interval. We focus on the problems of computing the maximum and minimum probabilities of extensions over mAAFs under Dungeon semantics and characterize their complexity


A presentation is given of the stages through which Ormond in 1962 managed to define Idiopathic Retroperitoneal Fibrosis (RPF), thereby giving it a precise clinical identity while the disease became known with his name. In the following years Ormond examined some etiopathogenetic hypotheses and showed that the etiology of RPF was still unknown, even if in some cases the cause had been traced to some medicines, such as methysergide, which were thought to act as haptens. The anatomical limits of the retroperitoneum and its structures are then outlined, in particular the retroperitoneal connective tissue.


The Laplace transform clearly provides a rigorization of the operational calculus. This paper proceeds in the opposite direction. It relies heavily on work by Carson, but removes it from its explicitly electrical context.


Convectively-coupled waves (CCWs) over the Western Hemisphere are classified based on their governing thermodynamics. It is found that only the tropical depressions (TD-waves) satisfy the criteria necessary to be considered a moisture mode, as in the Rossby-like wave found in an earlier study. In this wave, water vapor fluctuations play a much greater role in the thermodynamics than temperature fluctuations. Only in the eastward-propagating inertiogravity (EIG) wave does temperature govern the thermodynamics. Temperature and moisture play comparable roles in all the other waves, including the Madden-Julian oscillation over the Western Hemisphere (MJO-W). The moist static energy (MSE) budget of CCWs is investigated by analyzing ERA5 data and data from the 2014-15 Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon 2014/15) field c ampaign. Results reveal that vertical advection of MSE acts as a primary driver of the propagation of column MSE in westward inertio-gravity (WIG) wave, Kelvin wave, and MJO-W while horizontal advection plays a central role in the mixed Rossby gravity (MRG) and TD-wave. Results also suggest that cloud-radiative heating and the horizontal MSE advection govern the maintenance of most of the CCWs. Major disagreements are found between ERA5 and GoAmazon. In GoAmazon, convection is more tightly coupled to variations in column MSE and vertical MSE advection plays a more prominent role in the MSE tendency. These results along with substantial budget residuals found in ERA5 data suggest that CCWs over tropical Western Hemisphere are not represented adequately in the reanalysis.


The effects of gallium and indium p-type doping on the photoconductivity of hydrogenated amorphous germanium (a-Ge:H) thin films deposited by the rf-sputtering method are reported. The quantum efficiency-mobility-lifetime (ημτ) product was determined at room temperature as a function of the dark Fermi energy EF on samples with a relative dopant concentration range between ≈3×10−5 and ≈10−2. A decrease of ημτ is observed with the increase of the Ga concentration until a minimum is reached for compensated samples (EF close to midgap level), where ημτ is about 16 times lower than the value obtained for intrinsic samples. This behavior is followed by an ημτ increase as EF crosses the midgap level. Then, for higher Ga doping levels, ημτ decreases again. For In-doped samples, on the other hand, a monotonic decrease of ημτ is measured for all the impurity concentration range. These results are consistent with a model which assumes that the dangling bond is the main recombination path, and give independent eviden...


The authors present a Spanish retrospective study in which type A behaviour is related to the prevalence of different disorders and diseases in a white-collar sample of both sexes (n = 963). This survey was aimed to ascertain if type A behaviour is a general risk factor, able to initiate different pathophysiological mechanisms. Data about general health were collected through the Blackburn Health Questionnaire and type A behaviour was assessed by the Bortner questionnaire. Results showed that among A people there was a significantly higher prevalence of disorders and diseases related to the respiratory and circulatory systems.


"All safety sensitive software is now written in language with poor simplicity of expression compared to what was designed in the early 1970s and implemnted in the early 1980s by leading computer vendors."


The sub-fertile couple support program of Korea started in 2006 to provide partial funding for sub-fertile couples who choose the Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART). This is a large scale national project with plan to support 76,185 cases of ART with a budget of 89.6 billion won (as of 2015) fro...


This study seeks to give nuance to the current scholarship on the Islamist movement in post-authoritarian Indonesia that largely focuses on its transnational features. Through an analysis of a local Islamist movement, tied to a particular place and local history and detailed reconstruction of contestation over religion and identity in South Sulawesi during the turbulent years following the collapse of Suharto, I argue that its success in the area was based on its effective use of local repertoires of reasoning (local history, adat, rituals and memory), rather than through scriptural arguments. Often thought as being an antithesis to local elements and rituals, the various Islamist movements also exploit local repertoires of reasoning to justify their agenda: the formalisation of sharia. In contrast to the existing studies about the Islamist movement in post-Suharto Indonesia which often emphasises the violence and the vigilantism, this study invites us to see the intellectualism of an Islamist movement born during the period.


This paper describes PREDATOR, a freely available object-relational database system that has been developed at Cornell University. A major motivation in developing PREDATOR was to create a modern code base that could act as a research vehicle for the database community. Pursuing this goal, this paper briefly describes several features of the system that should make it attractive for database research and education.


Background: The rate of prematurity in twin pregnancies is higher than 50%. Due to
its multifactorial nature, different strategies are necessary to reduce the
incidence of premature birth or to increase the gestational age at birth of
pregnancies at risk. In this context, cervical pessary may be indicated in twin
pregnancies with short cervix. Methods: In this case series, we describe six twin pregnancies that were considered as
high-risk for preterm labor due to short cervix (CL at
second trimester and multiple risk factors for prematurity. Several strategies
were associated for the goal of delaying gestational age at birth. The main
strategies were: removal of labor activities, treatment of infections, vaginal
micronized progesterone 400 mg/day and vaginal pessary insertion (Ingamed® Brazil). Results: The gestational age of
insertion of the pessary ranged from 16 to 24 weeks. The gestational age of
birth ranged from 26 to 34 weeks. Three of the pregnancies were delivered due
to spontaneous onset of labor, and three were delivered due to medical reasons.
The mean length of pregnancy since pessary insertion to birth was 9 weeks
(range 2 to 17 weeks). All infants without severe fetal malformation were
discharged from the hospital without major sequelae. Conclusion: The use of cervical pessaries associated to micronized progesterone at a dose
of 400 mg/day may be an option in the management of twins at risk for preterm
birth. More controlled studies are needed to evaluate the simultaneous use of
cervical pessary and progesterone on twin pregnancies.


Objective To investigate the hyperostotic changes in meningioma of the cranial base associated with tumor invasion and its clinical significance.Methods Sixty patients underwent resection for meningioma involving the cranial base.Preoperative radiographic evaluation using computed tomography was performed,and areas of hyperostosis were identified.During the resection of the tumor,biopsis from these hyperostotic regions were sent for histolagical evaluation regarding the presence or absence of tumor invasion of the bone.Results Preoperative neuroradiological assessment identified 34 patients with radiographic evidence of hyperostosis.Histological examination of the resected bone showed tumor invasion in 31 patients,including the area of radiographically identified hyperostosis in all of the 34 patients.Conclusion Hyperostotic changes in meningioma of the cranial base are caused by tumor invasion of the bone histologically.


In animals, middle and late auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) originate in the cerebral cortex. An infant with hydranencephally provided an opportunity to make this previously undescribed anatomic correlation in humans. On CT scan, no tissue above the level of the thalamus was noted. Macrocephally was present along with markedly increased transillumination. Evoked potential testing was carried out at 1 week, 3 and 8 months of age according to standard techniques. Brain stem AEPs were essentially intact, except for increased conduction times (I-V) on the left. Middle AEPs showed normal No and Po, suggesting that these components may depend upon the thalamus rather than the cortex. By contrast, N1, P1, N2, P2, long latency AEPs and the cortical visual evoked responses were all completely absent (isoelectric) suggesting no electrical tissue response above the level of the thalamus. Further confirmation was noted in the absence of any components after 14 m sec recorded from the scalp on somatosensory AEPs. In this hydranencephalic infant, the absence of middle and long latency auditory, visual and somatosensory evoked responses strongly suggests that, in man, these middle and late potentials are dependent upon intact cerebral hemispheres.


Abstract For more than four decades, China has been commonly recognized as North Korea's closest patron—it has served as a conduit for communication between the major regional powers and the "Hermit Kingdom," a political and diplomatic protector of the neighboring socialist brethren, and an indispensable source of economic support. But the more important strategic glue binding the two countries has been the "Sino-North Korean Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance" of 1961. However, since its reform and open-door policy in 1978, China has pursued a different set of strategies and directions for its national development, only to witness an ever-widening gap between its national interests and North Korea. The Sino-North Korean alliance has been redefined from a traditional alliance of "lips-to-teeth" to an alliance of asymmetrical interdependence. Unambiguous signs of future changes in their relationship include: China's active and immediate diplomatic involvement in dealing with North Kore...


The data confidentiality of the short command applications, like control system, is especially important for evade the eavesdropping and masquerading of intruders. In this paper, we propose the mechanism to provide the access control and data confidential services in the network protocol in order to provide a robust security protection fulfilling the characteristics of applications. The access control service is accomplished by the challenge/response authentication with the keyed hash function, and the data confidential service is achieved by an approximated one-time pad encryption scheme as to provide perfect security. The operation of the proposed mechanism is simple and can be applied to most of the short command delivery network.


This paper explores how a learning theory enriched a collaborative teacher inquiry discourse where lesson study was adopted as the educational action research model to promote teacher professional development. Four Grade 9–10 biology teachers in Singapore drew from variation theory to collaboratively plan and teach new genetics content as part of teacher research. As a researcher-facilitator, I have drawn from the teachers' experiences of infusing variation theory into their teaching practice, of developing their own theories of teaching and learning, and of developing student-focused pedagogies to highlight the roles variation theory played. These included providing concrete examples of patterns of variations teachers could use, increasing the teachers' attention and sensitivity to students, and developing the teachers' theoretical lens in their approach to teaching. Reflecting on the teachers' experiences, I made an appeal for teachers' development of theoretical lenses in teacher inquiry, and bridging of theory and research to teaching practice.


Abstract : This project has aimed to develop predictive, analytical tools to help determine the ability of marine mammal populations to respond to behavioral disturbances. These tools are to be generic and applicable in a wide range of conditions, including scenarios where data might be limited. Building on recent advances in the field of behavioral ecology, we have focussed on defining the state resilience of behavioral strategies by considering the transient dynamics of these behavioral strategies, using systems of linear equations. The aim has been to provide a framework that allows an assessment of how probable it is that disturbance events lead to population scale consequences.


Quantum Lovász number is a quantum generalization of the Lovász number in graph theory. It is the best known efficiently computable upper bound of the entanglement-assisted zero-error classical capacity of a quantum channel. However, it remains an intriguing open problem whether quantum entanglement can always enhance the zero-error capacity to achieve the quantum Lovász number. In this paper, by constructing a particular class of qutrit-to-qutrit channels, we show that there exists a strict gap between the entanglement-assisted zero-error capacity and the quantum Lovász number. Interestingly, for this class of quantum channels, the quantum generalization of fractional packing number is strictly larger than the zero-error capacity assisted with feedback or no-signaling correlations, which differs from the case of classical channels.


Dust sucking mouth as one of vacuum sweeping vehicle's key parts plays a decisive role on dust sucking ability.Traditional dust sucking mouth is designed based on analog design.In order to more reasonably design the dust sucking mouth,the influences of its structure parameters on dust sucking ability is analyzed by means of computational fluid dynamics(CFD) software.The results shows the dust sucking effect in both speed and pressure may be improved because of the increase in the horizontal inclination of the side plate or diameter of sucking pipe,and decrease in the height of the backboard;the pressure in the entrance of inhaling pipe is influenced by the inclination of backboard;both the entrance speed through the front board and the pressure in the entrance of inhaling pipe will be reduced.This research has a quite strong practice meaning for the design of the dust sucking mouth vacuum of sweeping vehicle.


This paper investigates dielectric properties of the blends of poly(vinylidene fluoride-trifluoroethylene-chlorofluoroethylene) terpolymer and poly(vinylidene fluoride-chlorotrifluoroethylene) copolymer. The high field (>50 MV/m) polarization response of the blends with a small amount of copolymer (5 and 10 wt % copolymer) is higher than that of the neat terpolymer due to the interface contribution. At the same time the breakdown field was also greatly improved by mixing a small amount of the copolymer with the terpolymer. Consequently, a higher energy density of about 11.5 J/cm3 is obtained in these blends in contrast to about 9 J/cm3 in the terpolymer.


Pancreatic carcinoma has proven largely resistant to immunotherapies as strategies directly targeting T cells or their receptors have failed in early clinical trials. Basic research has shown that effector T-cell infiltration and phenotype in pancreatic cancer is controlled by diverse innate immune elements including dendritic cells, macrophages and other myeloid cells, and subsets of innate-like T cells. However, the phenotype of macrophages and myeloid cells infiltrating pancreatic carcinoma is, for the most part, highly suppressive of effective adaptive antitumor immunity. Therefore, rather than directly targeting T cells in isolation, immunotherapeutic strategies addressing toleorogenic innate immune cell populations hold greater promise. New potential avenues for immunotherapy include activating or blockade of select innate immune receptors on tumor-associated macrophages to reprogram their suppressive phenotype, targeting the microbiome to modulate the intratumoral inflammatory environment toward a more favorable phenotype, or deleting select subsets of tolerogenic T cells such as delta1 cells. These type of approaches have the potential to enable efficacy for more traditional immunotherapies that target checkpoint or costimulatory receptors, and these strategies can also potentiate the effects of systemic chemotherapy or radiation therapy. Citation Format: George Miller. Targeting Innate immunity in pancreatic carcinoma [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Advances in Science and Clinical Care; 2019 Sept 6-9; Boston, MA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2019;79(24 Suppl):Abstract nr I02.


Context. Formaldehyde H2CO was the first organic polyatomic molecule discovered in the interstellar medium to have been detected in a variety of sources. However, pathways to synthesize this molecule under interstellar conditions have yet to be discussed.
Aims. We carried out a systematic study to analyze the chemical processes that can explain the H2CO formation mechanism toward a decamer of methanol (CH3OH)10 as target material to mimic an ice mantle bombarded by an OH+ cation.
Methods. We performed Born-Oppenheimer (ab initio) molecular dynamics simulations to obtain the formation mechanisms of complex organic molecules (COMs) such as formaldehyde H2CO and its HCOH isomer.
Results. We found that CH2OH+ and CH2(OH)2 are the main precursors to form H2CO and HCOH. We discuss its formation mechanisms and the astrophysical implications in star-forming regions. These processes are likely relevant to the production of COMs.


PURPOSE: A multi-view display system using selective sub-pixel rendering and method thereof are provided to determine pixel values by reducing interference between movement points through sub pixel rendering. CONSTITUTION: A contribution level providing unit(510) provides contribution levels for plural view points. The contribution level is determined by the watching point of a user. A pixel value determination unit(520) determines the pixel value of a sub pixel based on a contribution level for the center point of other sub pixel and a contribution level for the center point of the sub pixel.


Abstract Aromatic nitration has tremendous importance in organic chemistry as nitroaromatic compounds serve as versatile building blocks. This study represents the electrochemical aromatic nitration with NBu4NO2, which serves a dual role as supporting electrolyte and as a safe, readily available, and easy‐to‐handle nitro source. Stoichiometric amounts of 1,1,1‐3,3,3‐hexafluoroisopropan‐2‐ol (HFIP) in MeCN significantly increase the yield by solvent control. The reaction mechanism is based on electrochemical oxidation of nitrite to NO2, which initiates the nitration reaction in a divided electrolysis cell with inexpensive graphite electrodes. Overall, the reaction is demonstrated for 20 examples with yields of up to 88 %. Scalability is demonstrated by a 13‐fold scale‐up.


Abstract : One of the primary lessons leamed from Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) is that the United Sates needs to put more emphasis on postwar security strategy and be better prepared for the complex tasks of security and nation building. Captured enemy ammunition (CEA) has significantly impacted operations in Iraq and has hampered US achievement of strategic goals for stability and democracy in the region of the Middle East. Presented are lessons learned from an ammunition officer's perspective related to CEA operations in OIF with applicable recommendations for future operations. Emphasis of the paper is on post-conflict planning and the need for pre-war identification of CEA and its consideration as a factor influencing security and significantly impacting resources in post-conflict operations.


The major revised version of Japanese Evaluated Nuclear Data Library (JENDL), JENDL-4.0, was released in May, 2010. As the benchmark test of JENDL-4.0 in the shielding and fusion neutronics fields, we analyzed many integral benchmark experiments (in-situ and Time-of-Flight (TOF) experiments) with DT neutrons at JAEA/FNS with the MCNP code and JENDL-4.0. The experiments with assemblies including beryllium, carbon, silicon, vanadium, copper, tungsten and lead, nuclear data of which were revised in JENDL-4.0, were selected for this benchmark test. As a result, it is demonstrated that JENDL-4.0 improves some problems pointed out in JENDL-3.3. JENDL-4.0 is comparable to ENDF/B-VII.0 and JEFF-3.1.


Abstract Heat‐stable antigen (HSA), expressed by various antigen‐presenting cells (APC), has been described as a costimulatory molecule for CD4+ T cells. Recently, we observed that HSA also serves as an important costimulatory molecule on epidermal Langerhans cells (LC). During these studies, low levels of HSA staining were also detected on normal murine keratinocytes (KC). To investigate whether HSA also is involved in T‐cell activation by KC, normal murine KC or the spontaneously transformed KC cell‐line PAM 212 were treated with PDB or PMA to induce HSA‐expression. FACS analyses showed induction of HSA expression on normal murine KC, as well as PAM 212 cells. In functional assays PDB or PMA‐treated normal or transformed KC were far more potent inducers of primary allogeneic T‐cell responses than untreated KC. Addition of anti‐HSA‐specific mAb 20C9 specifically inhibited the costimulatory activity of KC, an effect that was even more pronounced when CTLA‐4Ig was added to the cultures. Cleavage of HSA on KC surfaces by a phosphoinositol‐specific phospholipase C (PI‐PLC) also significantly inhibited the costimulatory capacity of KC for naive CD4+ T cells. In aggregate, our data indicate that expression of HSA on activated KC contributes to the capacity of these cells to induce proliferation of allogeneic T cells.


ABSTRACT Families that are affected by sexual abuse experience high levels of isolation within their existing communities. The four interventions the authors detail—the community sandtray, creating a sandtray story, creating a community/city, and the welcome to the new group activity—highlight ways to utilize expressive techniques to build community and promote mutual aid. By promoting mutual aid through the use of activity, the communication and establishment of common ground between age-varied families may be achieved. The use of metaphor and other expressive techniques allows for safety to be maintained while dealing with taboo topics. These newly created communities and shared worlds allow clients to reconnected to the world after experiences that test one's ability to trust and share with others.


Abstract Besides many interesting applications to the study of the foundations of quantum mechanics, entangled states are now assuming much relevance for some practical applications. In particular, we discuss the use of two-photon entangled states produced in parametric down conversion for absolute quantum efficiency calibration of photodetectors, in the photon counting regime.


We consider a principal who periodically offers a fixed, binary, and costly non-monetary reward to agents endowed with private information, to incentivize the agents to invest effort over the long run. An agent's output, as a function of his effort, is a priori uncertain and is worth a fixed per-unit value to the principal. The principal's goal is to design an attractive reward policy that specifies how the rewards are to be given to an agent over time, based on that agent's past performance. This problem, which we denote by P, is motivated by practical examples from both academia (a reduced teaching load for achieving a certain research-productivity threshold) and industry ("Supplier of the Year" awards in recognition of excellent past performance). The following "limited-term'' reward policy structure has been quite popular in practice: The principal evaluates each agent periodically; if an agent's performance over a certain (limited) number of periods in the immediate past exceeds a pre-defined threshold, then the principal rewards him for a certain (limited) number of periods in the immediate future. For the deterministic special case of problem P, where there is no uncertainty in any agent's output given his effort, we show that there always exists an optimal policy that is a limited-term policy and also obtain such a policy. When agents' outputs are stochastic, we show that the class of limited-term policies may not contain any optimal policy of problem P but is guaranteed to contain policies that are arbitrarily near-optimal: Given any epsilon>0, we show how to obtain a limited-term policy whose performance is within epsilon of that of an optimal policy. This guarantee depends crucially on the use of sufficiently long histories of the agents' outputs for the determination of the rewards. In situations where access to this historical information is limited, we derive structural insights on the role played by (i) the length of the available history and (ii) the variability in the random variable governing an agent's output, on the performance of this class of policies. Finally, we introduce and analyze the class of "score-based'' reward policies - we show that this class is guaranteed to contain an optimal policy and also obtain such a policy.


ABSTRACT Long-term exposure to contaminated water can cause health effects, such as cancer. Accurate spatial prediction of inorganic compounds (e.g. arsenic) and pathogens in groundwater is critical for water supply management. Ideally, environmental health agencies would have access to an early warning system to alert well owners of risks of such contamination. The estimation and dissemination of these risks can be facilitated by the combination of Geographic Information Systems and spatial analysis capabilities – i.e., spatial decision support system (SDSS). However, the use of SDSS, especially web-based SDSS, is rare for spatially explicit studies of drinking water quality of private wells. In this study, we introduce the interactive Well Water Risk Estimation(iWWRE), a web-based SDSS to facilitate the monitoring of water contamination in private wells across Gaston County, North Carolina (US). Our system implements geoprocessing web services and generates dynamic spatial analysis results based on a database of private wells. Environmental health scientists using our system can conduct fine-grained spatial interpolation on 1) a particular type of contaminant such as arsenic, 2) on various subsets through a temporal query. Visuals consist of an estimation map, cross validation information, Kriging variance and contour lines that delineate areas with maximum contaminant levels (MCL), as set by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Our web-based SDSS was developed jointly with environmental health specialists who found it particularly critical for the monitoring of local contamination trends, and a useful tool to reach out to private well users in highly elevated contaminated areas.


Abstract : A study is presented on DC, AC, and RF HEATING METHODS FOR A MULTI-FILAMENT BORON REACTOR. Components of advanced reactors are designed, fabricated and tested. Technical feasibility of an RF heated multi-filament reactor is demonstrated and a production demonstration of a monofilament AC heated reactor shows the potential for significant price/cost reduction. (Author, modified-PL)


: Ionic liquids are a class of solvents with peculiar properties and have many advantages in comparison to classical organic solvent from the standpoint of sustainable green chemistry. Aiming to discuss potential of ionic liquids for organic syntheses, this mini review has been focused on three top-ics: the first is recent trend of the use of ILs for organic syntheses, and the second is activation meth-ods of several types of reactions using ionic liquids. The last is application of ILs for enzymatic reactions using typical lipase-catalyzed reactions as model reaction.


The adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT) in the medical sector improves health care services and guarantees continuous and efficient monitoring of patients with chronic disease. Accordingly, heterogeneous health data (medical devices and medical records) is obtained and requires to be efficiently managed and diverse risk factors should be smartly considered in order to predict and prevent complex and dangerous events. The modeling and processing of this kind of events present an emerging challenge that necessitates to be addressed. In this context, we aim to propose a semantic-driven complex event processing approach for Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) prevention for diabetic patients. Particularly, we focus on the semantic modeling of medical events; Then, we propose diverse rules for processing purposes.


As the first commitment period ended in 2012, the Clean Development Mechanism was predicted to die down. yet data shows that it has not. Around 130 million CERs were issued in the year 2016. With the Kyoto mechanism still in place, countries like China, India, and Brazil along with new entrants like Cambodia will keep the CDM mechanism going. The year 2016 saw a rise in the number of CERs issued. Figures of India in the year 2015 (9.5 million) were similar to the figures in 2010 (9.4 million) whereas figures in 2016 (13 million) are higher. Even though the talk in climate change has drifted towards the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDC), there is still no consensus on every country sharing a mandatory responsibility to reduce its emissions. Hence mechanisms like CDM (in its second commitment period till the year 2020) which are still funding projects in developing countries and hence transferring funds hold importance. In no way the interest in CDM has died down.


In this paper,the colour corrections for the Photoelectric Astrolabe Type I were theoretically computed and the difference of the colour corrections for speetral types B and M is 0.″21.This is in agreement with the result obtaind from the observa- tions.In a similar way,the colour corrections for Danjon Astrolabe were theore- tically computed and the difference between B and M is 0.″05.


The linear behavior of plasmoid instability in double current sheet configurations, namely, double plasmoid mode (DPM), is analytically and numerically investigated within the framework of a reduced magnetohydrodynamic model. Analytical analysis shows that if the separation of double current sheets is sufficiently small [ κxs≪κ2/9SL1/3], the growth rate of DPMs scales as κ2/3SL0 in the non-constant- ψ regime, where κ=kLCS/2 is the wave vector measured by the half length of the system LCS/2, 2xs is the separation between two resonant surfaces, and SL=LCSVA/2η is Lundquist number with VA and η being Alfven velocity and resistivity, respectively. If the separation is very large [ κxs≫κ2/9SL1/3], the growth rate scales as κ−2/5SL2/5 in the constant- ψ regime. Furthermore, it is also analytically found that the maximum wave number scales as xs−9/7SL3/7 at the transition position between these two regimes, and the corresponding maximum growth rate scales as xs−6/7SL2/7 there. The analytically predicted scalings...


The Wnt signaling pathway must be properly modulated to ensure an appropriate output: pathological conditions result from either insufficient or excessive levels of Wnt signal. For example, hyperactivation of the Wnt pathway is associated with various cancers and subnormal Wnt signaling can lead to increased invasiveness of tumor cells. We found that the C. elegans orthologue of the Fer non-receptor tyrosine kinase, FRK-1, limits Wnt signaling by preventing the adhesion complex-associated β -catenin, HMP-2, from participating in Wnt-dependent specification of the endoderm during embryogenesis. Removal of FRK-1 function results in relocalization of HMP-2 to the nucleus of epidermal cells, and allows it to substitute for WRM-1, the nuclear β -catenin that normally transduces the Wnt signal during endoderm development. APR-1, the C. elegans APC orthologue, is similarly required to prevent HMP-2 relocalization and keeps it from participating in Wnt signal transduction; this finding partially explains the paradoxical observation that APR-1 acts either negatively or positively in Wnt signaling depending on context. The apparent hyperactivation of the Wnt response in the absence of FRK-1 leads to hyperproliferation in the endoderm, as is also seen when WRM-1 is overexpressed in wildtype embryos. The specification and proliferation activities of Wnt signaling are separable: while the Tcf/Lef factor POP-1 acts in Wnt-dependent endoderm specification, it is not apparently required for hyperproliferation resulting from excessive Wnt signaling. These findings highlight a role for a Fer-type kinase in setting the proper levels of Wnt signaling and demonstrate the importance of this modulation in ensuring appropriate cell division.


Objective: To inspect and compare the twenty-four different kinds of elements quality in local natural products of higher quality like Ganxi Salvia przewalskii.Method:By using ICP method and Alkali hydrolysis distilling method.Result: The total constant of the twenty-four elements is 33.347 mg/g in the natural variety.The ration between ordinary elements and trace elements is 45.73:∶1.00.The crude drug's products contain less than 0.5 μg/g Hg,Cd,Pb,As.Conclusion:The elements quality in Salvia przewalskii is varying with the ecological effects of their environment,soil and cultivation.The active elements with different content are an important factor which influences the clinical effects of different local Salvia przewalskii of high quality.There is relatively stable proportions of elements in native green products of higher quality like Ganxi Salvia przewalskii.


We use a new magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model to study the effects of thermal-electron heating in Titan's ionosphere. This model improves the previously used multispecies MHD model by solving both t ...


We have studied the structure and optical properties of CdS:O films deposited on SLG (soda lime glass) substrates by cathode sputtering in the atmosphere of oxygen/argon gases. According to X-ray diffraction (XRD) and confocal Raman scattering data, the films annealed in vacuum at temperatures above 300 °C exhibited crystalline structure of CdS. On the other hand, XRD, confocal Raman scattering, AFM (atomic force microscopy) and TEM (transmission electron microscopy) data indicated amorphous structure nano-crystallization in CdS:O films annealed in vacuum at 400 °C. For the films, the emissions located at 3.35 eV were evident from photoluminescence measurements. The origin of this energy gap is discussed by taking into account redistribution of electronic density of states in the amorphous phase and quantum-size effect. (© 2015 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The types and amounts of removed dissolved organic matter(DOM) during artificial groundwater recharging with reclaimed water were studied using a three-dimensional excitation/emission matrix(3DEEM)of the DOM for each process effluent of an ozonation+sand filtration+well irrigation reclaimed water recharging system.The results show that ozonation and sand filtration greatly reduce the fluorescence intensities of the reclaimed water and that the removed DOM was mostly humus.After recharging into the aquifer,48.71% of the DOM was removed from the reclaimed water.Anaerobic conditions occured when reclaimed water flows into the aquifer.Anaerobic bacteria produced energy for metabolic processes wih large molecule DOM decomposed into small molecule DOM.Thus,ozonation and the aquifer together effectively remove DOM during reclaimed water recharging.


This paper considers the application of fixed partition policies(FPP) to a decentralized supply chain on the assumption that each retailer faces a deterministic demand rate and no backlogging.In this supply chain,the supplier places orders with outside manufacturers at first,and then distributes the goods to retailers.After that retailers sell the products to customers.The whole supply chain profit is increased by decreasing the transportation cost.The supplier can use the pricing strategy to reallocate the saving profit in order to make the retailer accept unified arrangements of distribution periods and routes made by the supplier.An algorithm of the model and an example for demonstration is given.


Dear Editor:

Acral persistent papular mucinosis (APPM) is a rare subtype of localized lichen myxedematosus (LM)1 with unknown etiology. To our knowledge only six cases tried treatment1,2,3, and two cases showed family history1.

A 53-year-old woman presented with asymptomatic 1~3 mm flesh-colored papules symmetrically located on both dorsum of hands and wrists, and on anterior chest. It first appeared 7~8 years ago and did not disappear. She was previously healthy and no abnormalities were found in annual check-up. Her two brothers had same lesions on their dorsum of hands. Biopsy was done on the hand lesion and discrete mucin depositions in upper dermis with spared grenz zone confirmed the diagnosis of APPM (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

(A) Epidermis is normal. Deposition of bluish material is seen at upper to mid dermis, fairly discrete (H&E, ×20). (B) Small grenz zone was spared. Fibroblasts were present among the deposition but not seem to be proliferated. Inflammatory ...

Tacrolimus ointment 0.1% was applied once a day for 15 weeks but responded partially (Fig. 2).

Fig. 2

(A) Left dorsum of hand and anterior chest before treatment. (B) Left dorsum of hand and anterior chest after 15 weeks of tacrolimus ointment 0.1% application.

In our patient, anterior chest was also involved and differential diagnosis with discrete papular lichen myxedematosus (DPLM–other subtype of LM) was needed. In DPLM, papules may occur anywhere on the body, usually asymmetrically. Histologically, DPLM shows more diffuse deposition of mucin than APPM, which interspersed among large collagen bundles in the reticular dermis4. Our patient showed characteristic symmetric distribution of papules on the extensor side of distal upper extremities, and characteristic histologic features such as focal accumulation of mucin in upper dermis and spared grenz zone. These features fit well into the diagnostic criteria of APPM4, so we concluded the diagnosis was APPM. Since we didn't do biopsy on the chest lesion, we couldn't completely rule out the possibility of the chest lesion being DPLM accompanied with APPM of hands. But since there are no reported cases of two other types occurring at once, it is reasonable to think chest lesion was also APPM. There was a report of successful treatment of two DPLM cases with tacrolimus ointment5, but our case was the first reported case to apply tacrolimus in APPM. In contrast to DPLM, our patient showed only partial response despite fifteen weeks of long term application. This might imply that the pathogenesis of two diseases is different. It is known that tacrolimus inhibits tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α secretion in human keratinocytes and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β-nduced collagen synthesis. TNF-α and TGF-β stimulate glycosaminoglycan synthesis from skin fibroblast, and Rongioletti et al.5 suggested that inhibiting these cytokines might be the mechanism of the tacrolimus on DPLM. The difference of the contributing proportion of these cytokines in DPLM and APPM might be the reason for different response to tacrolimus.

Although the etiology of APPM is yet unknown, our patient showed familial occurrence and it raises the possibility of the genetic role in APPM pathogenesis along with previous reports of familial occurrences1.

Our case gives some notable points on the pathophysiology of APPM, and we hope that this case may add to the growing body of literature of APPM.


Objective. To compare the Business process management and the analytic hierarchy process as the tools of process performance assessment. Instruments and Methods. Case study of the attention process of rheumatology patients. Business process management and analytic hierarchy process were applied to assess the redesign of the attention process. The two methods were compared. The data were obtained through personal observations, an interview with a Colombian health insurer's senior executive, and retrospective documentary analysis. Results. Both methods assessed the process redesign as an improvement. While Business process management made a qualitative evaluation, the analytic hierarchy process allowed for a quantitative approach. Conclusions. Business process management is helpful in process performance assessment because it offers a conceptual foundation. Analytic hierarchy process is a complement which makes the intuitions based on business process management rigorous.


Suffering and how one relates to one's own and others' sufferings are important themes in Nietzsche's works from the first to the last, as I examined in my recent monograph, Human Emotions in Nietzsche (Basel: Schwabe, 2021). In this article, I will build on what I wrote on this subject in this book and elsewhere, as I examine five paradigms for dealing with suffering, which I name: aesthetic, critical/historic, emotional, power, and transfiguration. Although these paradigms and the ideas that support them are present in Nietzsche's works and many Nietzsche readers may be aware of them, their organization in this form has appeared to me during the pandemic. I do not claim that these paradigms form a complete picture, but I believe they are sufficient to give us a broad picture of Nietzsche's teachings on suffering.


entiation, to which burial habits, human sacrifices, and the presence of largescale mausoleums attest. That the ceremonial center served as an administrative and religious focus and performed an economic redistributive function for nearby villages and hamlets is evidenced by the existence of storage pits, archives of oracle bones, and bronze and other ceremonial utensils as well as the dwellings of the craftsmen who produced them. Invariably, these complexes assumed a square or rectangular form with a north-south orientation, and available evidence suggests that the structures within them corresponded to heavenly constellations, underscoring their cosmic relationship and their orthogenic role and centripetal character on earth. The Western Chou period (?1122770 B.C.) saw a significant areal extension of these "dispersed" ceremonial centers, but it was not until the Spring and Autumn period (722-481 B.C.) that the "compact city" emerged. The dense population and workshops which had gathered around the walls of the ceremonial complex were now enclosed by an outer wall without causing serious distortion to the cardinal bearing of the urban settlement as a whole. During the Warring States period (403221 B.C.), the number of these compact cities grew rapidly owing tor disunity and intense strife. Under these conditions, the city enjoyed far more autonomy than it previously had, but it is important to note that this autonomy was ephemeral, for the city lacked ideological, political, or legal basis as an independent entity. Social stratification within the city, except for the presence of royal clans, aristocracy, and priests, was still the same as that found in the society at large. City and countryside shared similar tempo of life, value system, and mores; the wide gap between the two, so typical of modern urbanism, had not yet emerged, even though a certain degree of secularization of the ceremonial center had taken place over this period of time. Drawing detailed examples from all seven regions of primary urban generation as well as regions of secondary urban generation, Wheatley finds much validity in the assertion that the ceremonial center, despite cultural differences, is "essentially urban in character," not so much in terms of -the characteristics of the Western city as in terms


Indirect wildlife population surveying largely depends upon counts of artefacts of behavior (e.g., nests or dung). Likelihood to encounter these artefacts is derived from both artefact production and decay, and variability in production behavior is considered to contribute minimally to inaccuracy in wildlife estimation. Here, we demonstrate how ignoring behavioral variability contributes to significant population misestimation, using an example of an endangered ape, the bonobo (Pan paniscus). Until now, a single estimate of nest construction rate has been used to extrapolate bonobo densities, assumed to be broadly representative of bonobo sign production behavior. We estimated nest construction rates across seasons and social groups at the Kokolopori Bonobo Reserve, DRC, and find nest construction rates in bonobos to be highly variable across populations as well as seasonal. Failure to account for this variability led to degradation in the accuracy of bonobo population estimates of abundance, accounting for a likely overestimation of bonobo numbers by 34%, and at worst as high as 80%. With this example, we demonstrate that failure to account for inter- and intra-population behavioral variation compromises the ability to estimate both relative and absolute wildlife abundances. We argue that variation in sign production is but one of several potential ways that behavioral variability can affect conservation monitoring, should be measured across contexts whenever possible, and must be considered in population estimation confidence intervals. With increasing attention to be-havioral variability as a potential tool for conservation, conservationists must also account for the impact that behavioral variability can play upon wildlife population estimation. Our results underline the importance of observational research to wildlife monitoring schemes as a critical component of conservation management. We discuss the avenues through which behavioral variability is likely to impact wildlife monitoring accuracy and precision and propose potential approaches for accounting for behavioral variability in wildlife monitoring.


A generalized competitive system with stochastic perturbations is proposed in this paper, in which the stochastic disturbances are described by the famous Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process. By theories of stochastic differential equations, such as comparison theorem, Itô's integration formula, Chebyshev's inequality, martingale's properties, etc., the existence and the uniqueness of global positive solution of the system are obtained. Then sufficient conditions for the extinction of the species almost surely, persistence in the mean and the stochastic permanence for the system are derived, respectively. Finally, by a series of numerical examples, the feasibility and correctness of the theoretical analysis results are verified intuitively. Moreover, the effects of the intensity of the stochastic perturbations and the speed of the reverse in the Ornstein–Uhlenbeck process to the dynamical behavior of the system are also discussed.


t Pour hundred eightlenale'msers of cosine s in i MadisOne ViscOntin, respdnded to questionnaires which soUght-to .discover correlations among the goal of-the purchaser and the type. and source of information sought in ,the buying .decision. Two goals vup'identified; rational (cost, functional benefits of product, or possible undesirable consequences fros,use of.the product) and social .(conformity to_ perceived egOectations of others); Users who haze specific goils seek evaluative. information of one sort or another. Par',instancee those who have social goals tend to depend on others' opinion's for information and areyapt to-rely on the sass. media' Consumer's with economic goal* are apt to-prefer print advertisements, And those who perceive perforsaice risk are likely to viewsalespeople as important inforeatilon sources. The more important 'the


Major principles of the method of the linear codes multithreshhold decoding as search for the global functional extremum for a great number of variables are considered. It was demonstrated that the multithreshold decoding efficiency is close to the results ensured by the optimum exhaustive search methods. Decoding complexity under software and hardware realizations is evaluated.


M e t h o d s Design: Randomized placebo-controlled trial (Video-Imaging Synthesis of Treated Alzheimer's Disease [VISTA] trial). Allocation: Concealed.* Blinding: Blinded (clinicians, patients, outcome assessors, data analysts, {and data collectors}†).* Follow-up period: 16 weeks. Setting: 14 sites in Canada. Patients: 130 patients 51 to 94 years of age (mean age 77 y, 63% women) with mild-tomoderate dementia (Mini-Mental State Examination score 10 to 25 and cognitive subscale of the Alzheimer Disease Assessment Scale [ADAS-cog] score ≥ 18). Exclusion criteria were residence in nursing homes, disabling communication difficulties, active medical issues or competing causes of dementia, receipt of antidementia medications within 30 days, hypersensitivity to cholinomimetic agents or bromide, or participation in other galantamine trials. Intervention: Galantamine, 8 mg/d for 4 weeks, followed by 16 mg/d for 4 weeks, then 16 to 24 mg/d for 8 weeks (n = 64), or placebo (n = 66). Outcomes: Extent of attainment of personal goals on the Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS) score (much worse, no change, much better) assessed by physicians and by patients and caregivers. Secondary outcomes included mean change on the 11-item ADAS-cog (0 = no impairment to 70 = severe impairment), Clinician's Interview-based Impression of Change plus Care-giver Input (CIBIC-plus) (1 = very much improved to 7 = very much worse), Disability Assessment for Dementia (DAD) (higher scores = better performance), and Caregiving Burden Scale (CBS) scores (higher scores = higher burden); and adverse events. Patient follow-up: 98% (intention-to-treat analysis).


VoIP has developed into a specialized voice communication technology currently,whose application is wider and wider.But the research shows that the security is the main content considered by the enterprise when VoIP is decided besides the service quality issue.In the real application,the reason that the enterprise doesn't want to deploy VoIP is that the security situation can't reach the application standard.This article studies the secure hash algorithm,discusses its implementation process and carries out the implementation of VC.Real-time voice encryption is completed by using the combination between elliptic curve cryptography and SHA,and the encryption between voice and data.


The pipe of tradition elutriating apparatus was replaced by impulse pipe,in order to increase turbulence and wash small particles absorbing on big particles.The particles were dispersed fully by impact board,then rapid dropped in inertia and collided with inducing sheets.Dust was wafted up by inlet air and then was vented,product enter into the bottom of elutriating apparatus.Experiment results showed that the dust content was droped from tradition 0.31% to 0.08%,the quality of product had a greatly enhancement.


I n many nations around the world there has been increasing demand for scientific research and high-quality graduate medical education in subspecialty areas of medicine, surgery, and hospital-based specialties to provide a high standard of patient care. In North America, subspecialties have been evolving since the beginning of the 20th century. This evolution has been due in part to the introduction of new technologies and treatment modalities and growing awareness of the needs of patients with chronic disorders. Common health problems and diseases with known therapies continue to be managed by generalists, but for patients with complex diseases access to subspecialty care is critically important. In addition, having trained subspecialists contributes to discovery and the scholarly application of knowledge to patient care, with subspecialists functioning as scholarly leaders and educators in their field. In North America, subspecialists have made major and unique contributions to health care by advancing medical knowledge and technology and promoting excellence in the management of complex illnesses. In present-day Iraq, the infrastructure for various subspecialties has not yet been established, a ''modern'' subspecialty physician workforce does not exist, and the requirement for subspecialty training as in North America and Europe currently cannot be met. The delay in the introduction of modern technologies and advances in medicine and surgery has been largely attributed to a lack of qualified faculty, educators, and leaders in various subspecialty fields. This has resulted in delay in building subspecialty centers. Particularly, training and recognition of surgical subspecialties and subspecialists in Iraq is not possible without the presence of qualified faculty to teach in these fields. The purpose of this letter is to propose an alternative mechanism for recognizing subspecialty clinicians in Iraq and other nations in similar circumstances. Historical accounts of the establishment of subspecialties in North America and Europe have identified the following steps:


BACKGROUND: This work reports the kinetic and biodegradability analysis of bisphenol A (BPA) Fenton oxidation. An experimental study was carried out within the variables H2O2/Fe (II)/BPA in the range 10/3/1 to 50/3/1 and at temperatures of 25–70 ∘ C. Kinetics of the environmental parameters dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and chemical oxygen demand (COD) were analysed. RESULTS: The concentration of H2O2 and the temperature have a strong influence on the kinetics of Fenton mineralization of BPA. Working at 70 ∘ C, the measured DOC values matched that calculated using the measured organic acids, which demonstrates that the oxidation reactions proceeded at a sufficient rate to form organic acids. Moreover, as BPA solutions are not easily biodegradable, the biodegradability of the solution during Fenton oxidation was studied by means of respirometry assays, evaluating the short-term biochemical oxygen demand (BODst)/COD ratio. CONCLUSIONS: The kinetic models proposed are capable of predicting the rate of H 2 O 2 consumption and the oxidation of DOC and COD as a function of the temperature. Under the process conditions tested the treated effluents increased their biodegradability, facilitating compatibility with further biological treatment. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry Supporting information may be found in the online version of this article.


FIELD: oil and gas industry. SUBSTANCE: invention may be used in oil industry for the purpose of oil dehydration. Water-in-oil emulsion separation method using ultrasonic exposure includes treatment of emulsion with ultrasound, at that optimal ultrasonic frequencies are pre-determined depending on size of water drops in emulsion that allow minimum water share in oil. Emulsion treatment is carried out with change in optimal ultrasonic frequency depending on change in size of water drops in the process of treatment. EFFECT: invention allows increase in oil dehydration degree and reduction of settling time thus allowing reduced capital costs for oil dehydration. 1 ex, 3 tbl


This paper is concerned with the existence of large positive spiky
steady states for S-K-T competition systems with cross-diffusion.
Firstly by detailed integral and perturbation estimates, the
existence and detailed fast-slow structure of a class of spiky
steady states are obtained for the corresponding shadow system,
which also verify and extend some existence results on spiky steady
states obtained in [10] by different method of proof. Further
by applying special perturbation method, we prove the existence of
large positive spiky steady states for the original competition
systems with large cross-diffusion rate.


Ammonia and carbon dioxide were evaluated as attractants in canopy traps for Hybomitra lasiophthalma (Macquart). Ammonia-baited traps collected 2.5 times as many flies as did unbaited traps (33.27 versus 12.93 per trap per day). Over 45 times as many flies were captured in carbon dioxide-baited traps as in unbaited traps (1,630.64 versus 35.82 per trap per day). Both ammonia and carbon dioxide are effective attractants for H. lasiophthalma.


Decisions are often made under conditions of uncertainty about the actions of supposedly-rational competitors. The modeling of optimal behavior under such conditions is the subject of noncooperative game theory, of which a cornerstone is Harsanyi's formulation of games of incomplete information. In an incomplete-information game, uncertainty may surround the attributes as well as the strategic intentions of opposing players. Harsanyi develops the concept of a Bayesian equilibrium, which is a Nash equilibrium of a game in which the players' reciprocal beliefs about each others' attributes are consistent with a common prior distribution, as though they had been jointly drawn at random from populations with commonly-known proportions of types. The relation of such game-theoretic solution concepts to subjective probability theory and nonstrategic decision analysis has been controversial, as reflected in critiques by Kadane and Larkey and responses from Harsanyi, Shubik, and others, which have appeared in this journal. This paper shows that the Bayesian equilibrium concept and common prior assumption can be reconciled with a subjective view of probability by i supposing that players elicit each others' probabilities and utilities through the acceptance of gambles, and ii invoking a multi-agent extension of de Finetti's axiom of coherence no arbitrage opportunities, a.k.a. "Dutch books". However, the Nash property of statistical independence between players is weakened, and the probability distributions characterizing a solution of the game admit novel interpretations.