Detailed parametric analyses of the effects of (1) net stress on the rock matrix and (2) fractional water saturation of pore volume upon permeability to gas were performed for four samples from each of two Mesa Verde depositional environments (paludal and coastal). This included measurement of the Klinkenberg parameters for the two net stresses for each sample and calculation of flow path characteristics (width and upper limit of tortuosity). The work simultaneously involved three categories of activity: (1) measuring matrix parameter values for computer simulation of production from DOE's MWX experiment; (2) improving understanding of tight sandstone pore morphology and the physical principles that control gas content and gas transport in the in-situ reservoir; and (3) advancing laboratory core analysis technology such that results are more likely to provide a valid description of the undisturbed in-situ reservoir from which the samples were obtained. Conclusions, implications of results obtained, and recommendations for future action on each of these topics are presented under the following subheadings: matrix parameters for computer simulation of production; pore morphology and the physics of fluid transport; and advances in core analysis technology. 9 refs., 38 figs., 10 tabs.


BACKGROUND: Variation in genetic ancestry among admixed racial/ethnic groups may influence the fit of guideline-recommended spirometry reference equations, which rely on self-identified race/ethnicity. RESEARCH QUESTION: What is the influence of genetic ancestry on the fit of the guideline-recommended racial/ethnic-based spirometry reference equations in populations of genetically admixed children? STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: Cross-sectional fit of guideline-recommended racial/ethnic-based spirometry reference equations was evaluated in control subjects from case-control studies of asthma. Anthropometry, blood samples, and spirometric measurements were obtained in 599 healthy admixed children, aged 8 to 21-years. Genetic ancestry was estimated using genome-wide genotype data. Equation fit was determined as a mean z-score between -0.5 and 0.5 and assessed in self-identified African American (N = 275) and Puerto Rican (N = 324) children using the distribution to determine cut points of genetic ancestry. RESULTS: For African American children, African American-derived equations fit for predicting FEV1 and FVC in those with an African ancestry above the median (81-100%), whereas composite equations for "other/mixed" populations fit for predicting FEV1 and FVC in those with an African ancestry below the median (31-81%). Among Puerto Rican children, White-derived equations fit for predicting FEV1, and the composite equations fit for predicting FVC for those with African ancestry above the median (21-88%). In contrast, in Puerto Rican children with African ancestry below the median (6-21%), only equations derived in Whites provide an adequate fit. INTERPRETATION: Guideline-recommended spirometry reference equations yielded biased estimates of lung function in admixed populations with high variation of African ancestry. Spirometry is due for reference equations that incorporate genetic ancestry, either for more precise application of the current equations or the derivation and utilization of new equations.


Background:  The risk of severe COVID-19 is potentiated by dysregulated inflammatory responses to the virus, and individuals with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) are particularly vulnerable. Glucose-regulating medications such as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists, dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP-4) inhibitors, and pioglitazone are known to have anti-inflammatory effects. The goal of this study was to investigate whether treatment of T2DM with these drugs was associated with improved outcomes in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Methods: In a multinational retrospective cohort study, we used the TriNetX COVID-19 Research Network of 50 large health care organizations to examine data from electronic medical records of 12,954 patients with T2DM who were diagnosed with COVID-19. We evaluated the relationship of the use of these drugs within 90 days preceding the diagnosis of COVID-19 with the incidence of hospital admissions, respiratory complications, and mortality within 28 days following the diagnosis of COVID-19.

Findings: After matching for age, sex, race, ethnicity, body mass index, and comorbidities, results show significant reductions in hospital admissions of 54∙1%, 40∙0% and 20∙5%, and significant reductions in mortality of 68∙4%, 47∙0%, and 26∙3%, with use of pioglitazone, GLP-1R agonists, and DPP-4 inhibitors, respectively, within 90 days preceding the diagnosis of COVID-19. Respiratory complications also were reduced by 46∙0% and 24∙7% for patients treated with a GLP-1R agonist or pioglitazone, respectively. Finally, hospitalized patients who continued treatment with DPP-4 inhibitors had a 62∙8% relative decrease in the incidence of mortality when compared with those who discontinued treatment with DPP-4 inhibitors.

Interpretation: In a multinational retrospective cohort study, use of GLP-1R agonists, pioglitazone, and DPP-4 inhibitors, is associated with reduced mortality and hospitalizations in patients with T2DM diagnosed with COVID-19. Randomized clinical trials are needed to further investigate this possibility.

Funding: TriNetX network access supported by NCATS Award (TR002014). Merit Award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse DA009815 (PSG).

Declaration of Interests: All authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics Approval Statement: As a federated network, TriNetX has an IRB waiver as it only provides aggregated counts, statistical summaries of de-identified information, and no protected health information. Penn State College of Medicine has an agreement in place to access the TriNetX COVID-19 Research Network. All analyses were conducted using the browser-based real-time analytics feature of TriNetX.


1. moldable biodegradable medical material, comprising a homopolymer based on epsilon-caprolactone having an average molecular weight ranging from 20000 g / mol <Mn <100,000 g / mol. ! 2. Material according to claim 1, characterized in that the polydispersity index of the polymer, measured on the basis of homopolymer of epsilon-caprolactone, is greater than 1.2. ! 3. Material according to claim 2, characterized in that the polydispersity index of the polymer, measured on the basis of homopolymer of epsilon-caprolactone, from about 1.5 to about 5! 4. Material according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that said average molecular weight of said homopolymer based on epsilon-caprolactone is in the range of 20,000 g / mol <Mn <80,000 g / mol, preferably between 25000 to 65000 g / mol, in particular from about 35,000 to 60,000 g / mol. ! 5. Material according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that said homopolymer based on epsilon caprolactone has an asymmetrical molecular weight distribution. ! 6. Material according to claim 5, characterized in that the fraction of low molecular weight polymer fraction exceeds that of high molecular weight polymer fraction. ! 7. Material according to any one of claims 1-3 or 6, characterized in that said polycaprolactone has a broad molecular weight distribution, wherein at least 5 mol.% Of polycaprolactone having a molecular weight of less than 25,000 g / mole and at least 5 mole .% polycaprolactone having a molecular weight greater than 60,000 g / mol. ! 8. Material according to any one of claims 1-3 or 6, characterized in that said material is capable of being formed by hand at a temperature of 70 ° C or less, in particular from 57 to 70 ° C. ! 9. Material according to any one of claims 1-3 or 6, characterized in that said mat


: Plasmonic waveguides are crucial building blocks for integrated on-chip mid-infrared (mid-IR) sensors, which have recently attracted great interest as a sensing platform to target enhanced molecular sensing. However, while hosting a wide range of applications from spectroscopy to telecommunication, the mid-IR lacks suitable broadband solutions that provide monolithic integration with III-V materials. This work reports a novel concept based on hybrid semiconductor-metal surface plasmon polariton waveguides, which result in experimentally demonstrated low loss and broadband devices. Composed of a thin germanium slab on top of a gold layer, the waveguiding properties can be directly controlled by changing the geometrical parameters. The measured losses of our devices are as low as 6.73 dB/mm at 9.12 µm and remain < 15 dB/mm in the mid-IR range of 5.6–11.2 µm. The octave-spanning capability of the waveguides makes them ideal candidates for combination with broadband mid-IR quantum cascade laser frequency combs and integrated spectroscopic sensors.


Techniques for designing the aft-end of fighter aircraft having twin buried engines and dual nozzles were developed using the thrust and drag results obtained from an experimental and analytical investigation of various twin-nozzle/aftbody configurations. Predesign guidelines were formulated for use in developing or modifying aircraft aft-end arrangements so that a high thrust minus drag can be achieved. Also, post-desigji methods for predicting the aft-end drag of the final aircraft designs were developed. These design techniques were utilized to improve five selected baseline configurations. Mission analysis studies were conducted to determine the tradeoff between engine thrust, aircraft weight, and external drag for three different mission profiles. Improvements in mission radius for a fixed aircraft takeoff gross weight were obtained by modifying the baseline configurations to include convergent-divergent nozzles, a horizontal wedge interfacing with the trailing edge terminating at the exit plane of the nozzles, and a single vertical stabilizer.


This paper evaluates the feasibility of a proposed ultrasound-based surgical navigation system for percutaneous renal intervention via in vivo measurements and in vitro assessment. The system integrates preoperative computer tomography (CT) planning with intraoperative ultrasonography (US) by means of a proposed semi-automatic US to CT rigid registration. The interventional procedure is performed with a visualized guidance interface. The navigation system is evaluated at two levels. Level I evaluation comprises measurements of the accuracy, precision, and processing time of our registration method on in vivo data provided by volunteers. For Level II, expert urologists are asked to rate the perceptual quality of the system via in vitro tests on a kidney phantom. Both objective and subjective evaluations validate the proposed surgical navigation system.


The purpose of this study is to explore gift purchase behaviour of Chinese outbound tourists. Data was obtained using in-depth interview with twenty Chinese people who have outbound travel experience in the past two years. Utilizing thematic analysis, three themes were revealed regarding the nature of gift purchase, the characteristics of gift purchase and the behaviour of gift purchase in tourism. In the tourism context, gift purchase decisions were influenced heavily by tour guides, sales assistant and other tourists. To select the right gift, participants invested considerable effort by taking into account the gift receiver and the product itself. Results were interpreted through cultural lens in the discussion section. Implications for destination practitioners and limitations are discussed at the end of this paper.


We propose a photonic beam‐forming network scheme based on a broadband optical source (BS), double sideband suppressed carrier (DSB‐SC) modulation, and a chirped fiber grating (CFG). The principle and feasibility are proved by both theoretical analysis and experiments. In 20–32 GHz microwave band, experimental results show a good delay time consistency and the ratio of RF signal to noise met the practical application demands. The time consistency errors are smaller than 3 ps in 20–40GHz band. Specially, compared with traditional double sideband (DSB) modulation scheme, in the proposed approach the dispersion‐induced RF power degradation is effectively mitigated over 24 dB at 30 GHz, and the experimental results agree well with the theoretical ones. © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Microwave Opt Technol Lett 50: 2992–2994, 2008; Published online in Wiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI 10.1002/mop.23802


According to the distribution characteristics of traffic accidents in time and space,an urban road traffic safety measure index system based on the spatial and temporal distribution is set up.On the basis of analyzing the main characteristics of road traffic accidents and the generation process of traffic accidents,a measuring model for urban road traffic safety is build with value function.Meanwhile,by defining the grades of urban road safety measurement values,different means to prevent and control road traffic accidents are designed.The measuring model of urban road traffic safety is aimed to maximize the efficiency of urban road network system by controlling the human's unsafe behaviors with greatest possibility.The actual application of the model shows that the assessment result can provide scientific foundation for the planning and management of expressway.


Original Research Article Students who are offered admission into higher institutions have varying educational and socio-economic backgrounds and indeed, some of these students have limited academic abilities. Universities therefore have to be creative in the manner that they facilitate learning; support students' needs; review curriculum to fit socioeconomic priorities; and respond to new realities and opportunities for this group of stakeholders. This study aimed at assessing the views and experiences of foreign trained pharmacy graduates on pharmacy curriculum's fitness of purpose for contemporary pharmacy practice. Student's level of satisfaction with how they are assessed can give invaluable insight into the responsiveness of the curriculum to issues and challenges associated with contextual practice. In this study, wellstructured questionnaires were administered to foreign trained pharmacy graduates with the ethical precepts of anonymity and confidentiality maintained. Likert type scale of 1 to 5 was adopted, and data were analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences software version 21. a total of 97 questionnaires were administered, response rate was 85.57%, respondents were made up of 39 males and 44 females, majority of them (66.3%) were between the age of 21 to 25, more than a third (37%) of them studied in Asia, less than one-tenth (7.2%) of them had MPharm degree, the factor loading for all the items were between 0.601 to 0.869 and the Cronbach alpha value for the questionnaire was 0.961. The study revealed that the respondents were satisfied with the method of assessment that was used for them in pharmacy school but would have preferred assessment and evaluation based on critical thinking feedback.


The perfect molding must have stability and dexterity,so "stability and dexterity" is the rule that the molding design of farm machineries have to observe.The stable product molding give person with safety,steady heavy felling,has the esthetics characteristic of the majesty,magnificence,grandiosity and strength.The agile product molding give person with lightness,clever felling,has the esthetics characteristic of the vividness,cordialness,motion and liberality.To make the farm machinery products have stable and agile,several aspects should be carried out from center of gravity of the object,center of visual sense,area of bottom,line's partition,relation between size of the objects,color distribution to material texture ect.,to make their molding give the person to enjoy beautifully while satisfying their function.


Aiming at designing and realizing the band-pass filter for Compass-M1 software receiver,the paper makes out the band-pass filter specifications based on frequency transformation on Chebyshev low-pass filter prototype at first.Based on the unified parameters of Chebyshev low -pass filter,the odd and even resistances of each stage parallel coupled microstrip lines are calculated.Then the odd and even resistances are transformed to dimensions of each coupled microstrip line by ADS LineCal tool after the substrate of the microstrip filter circuit is specified.The microstrip filter is optimized to amend the deviation of theory design.Finally the results of layout simulation are given,which suggest the request is fulfilled.


Home health nurses are at the forefront of protecting noninstitutionalized nursing patients and their caregivers from disasters. The September 11 terrorist attack on our nation magnifies the uncertainty of our lives and the need to be prepared through disaster planning education. Disasters—large or small, natural or man-made— can strike anywhere and anytime. The Neal Theory of Home Health Nursing posits that home health nurses progress through three stages (dependence, moderate dependence, and autonomy) as they spend time in home health nursing, adapting, gaining experience, and confidence. Neal's Theory can be applied to preparation for disasters that could confront home health nurses, providing the framework for planning, training, and oversight that the home health agency can use to ensure that the home health nurse is prepared. The role of collaborator is a cumulative result of the progression through Neal's three stages and positions the home health nurse to influence strategic disaster planning and education within the agency, community, state, and federal policy levels.


College athletics has seen the number of international student-athletes almost double in the last 10 years. In fact, participation rates for international student-athletes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association grew from almost 6,000 in the 1999–2000 academic year to 9,500 in 2013–2014.


paper had been revised in the light of comments by a referee. We also failed to pick up errors in line 6 of the summary and in line 40 on page 13. At both points the printed 'inflammation' should have been 'itch', which answers point 4. During the review process a referee specifically requested that non-parametric statistics should be used. The full details are shown in Table i. It is on this table that the text was based and we should have revised Figure i in accordance with it. The main point being made by Professor Greaves and Dr Corbett seems to be that the differences between the Efamol, evening primrose oil (EPO) and placebo groups are marginal and of doubtful clinical importance. We take a different view on the following grounds: (i) For all six clinical parameters assessed, EPO produced a significant improvement over baseline; for four of the six the P value was 001 or less. Placebo produced significant improvements over baseline in only two of the six parameters. (2) For every clinical parameter, except inflammation, the difference between the response to EPO and to placebo was in favour of EPO. This difference reached significance in the case of itch and came close to it for the area of skin involved. (3) Use of topical steroids in the EPO group was only 30% of that in the placebo group. This difference between the groups was significant. Therefore, the clinical improvements on EPO were achieved in spite of sharply reduced steroid use. (4) For five of the six clinical parameters, the differences between the EPO and placebo groups were greater at 12 weeks than at 6 weeks. It is, therefore, untrue to say that the differences between the two groups could simply be accounted for by more rapid improvement in the EPO group. The consistent responses of all parameters to EPO, the consistent differences (especially with regard to ich) between responses to EPO and placebo, the reduction in topical steroid use in the EPO group to less than a third of that in the placebo group and the increasing differences between EPO and placebo as the trial progressed, all indicate that EPO was having a clinically important as well as a statistically significant effect. Finally, we would point out that the biochemical rationale for using EPO has recently been strengthened by an independent study which indicated, on the basis of measurements in umbilical cord blood and in atopic children, that the metabolism of linoleic acid is indeed impaired in atopic eczema.'


Scalar fields can form real bound states around black holes for a specific frequency. In this work, we review the case of a charged and massive scalar field around a charged rotating black hole, in order to find these bound states. We analyze the behavior of these solutions for different parameters and also comment on analytic solutions for certain regimes.


An analytic method for designing full state observers for nonlinear Lipschitz systems is presented in this paper. The method is capable to accommodate the observer linear part pole-assignment requirements with the Lipschitz constant constraints. It is remarkable that the proposed design approach is easily implemented while in many cases can result in even more simplifications. The whole analysis is conducted by simply solving a Lyapunov-type equation that achieves both: to guarantee the observer global asymptotic stability and simultaneously to construct the corresponding gain matrix of the observer. The validity of the method is examined on an onelink manipulator system driven by a dc motor. The simulation results fully verify the theoretical analysis, while when these are compared with those obtained by using conventional LMI techniques, clearly indicate an improved performance.


ABSTRACT The aim of this study is to bring under the spotlight the need for a broader public sector accounting education plan that would facilitate the development of participatory citizens. The study develops a conceptual framework that links citizens' government accounting literacy with various community-related decisions and in particular citizens' voting decisions during election periods, building on democracy, democratic participation and the image of the 'participatory citizen'. It is suggested that democratic participation could be enhanced by educating citizens on issues of public sector accounting, making them able to understand, monitor and evaluate the performance of public administrations. Furthermore, the study discusses ways of enhancing citizens' government accounting literacy through the provision of public sector accounting education in a continuous life-long learning process. In particular, the introduction of school courses that would target citizens' education on these aspects from an early age is discussed.


It introduces a high performance machinecontrol system with PLC and HMI and inverter, and discusses the configuration and realization of the system in detail.


Joseph P. Laycock's Speak of the Devil is a fascinating account of the rise of The Satanic Temple (TST), a new religious movement that, unlike earlier forms of modern Satanism, has endeavored to change the reputation of Satanism from one of hedonistic individualism to that of benign social and political engagement. Despite its recent founding in 2013 and the small size of its membership, the TST is worth studying, according to Laycock, because the organization has been very successful at driving public discourse concerning religion in American public life in the brief time of its existence. Thus, like Catholics in the nineteenth century and Jehovah's Witnesses in the twentieth, TST demonstrates the powerful role minority religions continue to play in the United States of the twenty-first century. Laycock's book is roughly divided into two parts. The first charts the history and development of TST, while the second addresses how TST has shaped national debates on several fronts. In March 2012, Florida governor Rick Scott signed into law a bill "allowing students to read 'inspirational messages of their choosing' at assemblies and sporting events" (31). In order to push back against what they viewed as a violation of the separation of church and state, three friends, Malcolm Jarry, Doug Mesner, and David Guinan, decided to stage a public rally for a fictional organization called The Satanic Temple, praising Scott for finally allowing Satanists a public voice. Other publicity stunts followed, but by this time a creed had been created and TST began to coalesce into a real organization. This process was accelerated by TST's decision to protest the installation of the Ten Commandments in front of the Oklahoma State Capitol by demanding that a giant bronze statue of Baphomet, a pagan deity, be placed alongside them, and threatening legal action if denied. (Early deep-pocketed allies of TST included the Freedom from Religion Foundation and Americans United for the Separation of Church and State.) All of this garnered national attention, leading to the proliferation of TST branches, which resulted in growing pains such as power struggles within the organization and, perhaps inevitably, multiple schisms, contributing to the rise of more varieties of Satanism than ever before. As a coda to Nova Religio


We compute the structural and electronic properties of 111 -oriented InAs / InP nanowire heterostructures using Keating's valence force field and a tight-binding model. We focus on the optical properties exciton energies and polarization of InAs quantum dots embedded in InP nanowires and on the height of InP and InAsP tunnel barriers embedded in InAs nanowires. We show that InAs quantum dots exhibit bright optical transitions, at variance with the highly mismatched InAs /GaAs nanowire heterostructures. The polarization of the photons is perpendicular to the nanowire for thin InAs layers but rotates parallel to the nanowire for thick enough ones, as a result of the increasing light-hole character of the exciton. As for tunnel barriers, we show that the residual strains can significantly reduce the conduction band discontinuity in thin InAsP layers. This must be taken into account in the design of nanowire tunneling devices.


Impairments in the rapid reversal learning of stimulus-reward associations, when expected rewards are not obtained or punishers are obtained, are produced by damage to the orbitofrontal cortex; and contribute to the major changes in emotion, personality, and impulsiveness that can be produced by damage to the orbitofrontal cortex. Impairments in the processing of rewards are found, with alterations in food choice and eating, and in the identification of face and voice expressions, which are important for social behavior.


a powerful case (which the authors clearly believe there is) for fighting back. My concern is that the intended readers ('beginning practitioners ') will be discouraged by the situation they find at work and will be sighing, ' if only ', as they leaf through the book. That said, the book is sound and well presented. Part 1, 'The social work context ' gives a wide-ranging account of the background, ' themes and issues in ageing', including a full discussion of the organisational context and of interagency working. Part 2, 'Practice issues ', gives an orderly account of social-work processes, using case material skilfully. All the ingredients are there to make social work with older people as interesting, challenging and worthwhile as in any other field. I was surprised that the issue of abuse was not given more space; this may reflect my interests and it is clearly a challenge to cover the wide range of topics fairly. The fact that there has been official recognition of the problem, embodied in the publication No Secrets (Department of Health 2000), is however a landmark and, importantly opens up a route to develop social-work practice, using some of the experience gained in child protection. Of course, there are dangers in facile analogies but there is a very important space for social workers to occupy in this aspect of adult protection. In fairness, there is some discussion of this matter but it is very brief. I am left with an anxiety that the main work of community care may be in some way being split off from adult protection. I hope I am wrong. These comments are not intended to detract from the overall value of this welcome addition to the literature. It is good to have a scholarly, well founded book that makes the case for the importance of social work with older people.


Superconductivity in a ternary germanide, Y 2 AlGe 3 , was revealed at the transition temperature of 4.5 K by electrical resistivity and magnetic susceptibility measurements. The magnetization versus magnetic field ( M – H ) curve indicated that Y 2 AlGe 3 was a type-II superconductor. The lower critical field H c1 (0) and the upper critical field H c2 (0) were estimated to be 1.66(8) mT and 1.26(15) T. The coherence length ξ(0) GL , penetration depth λ(0) GL , and Ginzburg–Landau (GL) parameter κ(0) obtained from the critical fields were 16.2(5) nm, 631(16) nm, and 38(3), respectively. Specific heat measurements revealed that Y 2 AlGe 3 was a weak-coupling BCS superconductor with an isotropic superconducting gap. The electron–phonon mass enhancement parameter λ γ was calculated to be 0.13, which was in good agreement with the weak-coupling limit inferred from the specific heat Δ C e /γ T c and 2Δ(0)/ k B T c .


The replacement of teeth in humans is a technique that has been used since ancient civilizations such as the Mayas. The loss of one or more teeth entails several problems such as aesthetic appearance, speech defects and loss of quality of chewing. Nanomaterials are used effectively in different areas of dentistry. A nanostructure that seems promising in a wide range of areas of knowledge and has been little explored for this purpose is graphene oxide (GO). Thus, the aim of this study is to analyze the structural, electronic and energetic properties of the interaction between GO doped with calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and silver (Ag) atoms with TiO2 cluster. The bioatoms were chosen due to their compatibility with bone tissue (Ca and P) and antibacterial properties (Ag). Titanium was chosen because it is the most commonly used material in dental implant. For this, calculations of first principles, which is based on the Density Functional Theory (DFT) were used, this theory associated to the method of pseudopotencias is implemented in the SIESTA computational code. The most stable interactions between the doped GO with P, Ca and Ag associated with TiO2 showed binding energies of 3.16, 4.20 and 4.42 eV, respectively. There was chemical adsorption in the interactions with P and Ag. The results of this study show that GO doped with P and Ag may be a candidate for the creation of ultrathin films, and it can be used in implantology.


In adult mouse skeletal muscle, β-myosin heavy chain (βMyHC) gene expression is primarily restricted to slow-type I fibers but can be induced in fast-type II fibers by mechanical overload (MOV). Our previous transgenic analyses have delimited an 89-base pair (bp) MOV-responsive region (−293 to −205), and shown that mutation of the MCAT and C-rich elements within this region did not abolish βMyHC transgene induction by MOV. In this study we describe an A/T-rich element (βA/T-rich; −269 5′-GGAGATATTTTT-3′ −258) located within this 89-bp region that, only under MOV conditions, revealed enriched binding as characterized by electrophoretic mobility shift assays and dimethyl sulfate and diethyl pyrocarbonate interference footprinting. Direct, competition, and supershift electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed highly enriched specific binding activity at the βA/T-rich element that was antigenically distinct from GATA-4, MEF2A–D, SRF, and Oct-1, nuclear proteins that were previously shown to bind A/T-rich elements. In vitro translated GATA-4, MEF2C, SRF, and Oct-1 bound to consensus GATA, MEF2, SRE, and Oct-1 elements, respectively, but not to the βA/T-rich element. Two-dimensional UV cross-linking of the bromodeoxyuridine-substituted βA/T-rich element with mechanically overloaded plantaris (MOV-P) nuclear extract detected two proteins (44 and 48 kDa). Our results indicate that the βA/T-rich element may function in vivoas a βMyHC MOV-inducible element during hypertrophy of adult skeletal muscle by binding two distinct proteins identified only in MOV-P nuclear extract.


Distribution of food resources may influence northern bobwhite (Colinus virginianus) foraging decisions and demographic rates. We tested whether covey movements were sensitive to food availability by spreading sorghum (Sorghum bicolor) every 15 days at 3 rates; high rate (174 L/ha/yr), low rate (44 L/ha/yr), and no feed on 3 sections (~240 ha each) of Tall Timbers Research Station, 2009–2010. We measured sorghum availability spread along a 17 km feeding trail every 5 days. We determined seasonal (1 Nov 15 Mar) home ranges of radio-tagged coveys (n1⁄4 89) and daily movement rates and home ranges of a subset of coveys located every 30 mins, sunrise to sunset (1 Feb 15 Mar). Diet was determined from harvested bobwhites. Mean sorghum availability (seeds/0.5m) on the feed trail declined from 50 seeds at day 1 to 12 seeds at day 15, and 11 seeds at day 1 to 0 seeds at day 10, for high and low rates, respectively. Seasonal home ranges did not differ among treatments; however, daily home ranges were smaller for coveys on the high rate areas, as was dispersion of locations within home ranges. Distances to the feed trail from covey and random locations were similar. There was no difference in distance traveled (25.20 m; SE1⁄4 0.65) between consecutive covey locations among treatments. Proportion of sorghum in the diet declined precipitously when ,15 seeds/0.5m. We estimated an empirical giving up density of 10–14 seeds/0.5m, ~1.6 kcals/ 0.5m. Food availability, even at high levels, marginally affected covey space use and movement rates during late winter. Other factors affecting bobwhites, such as predator avoidance, or thermal regulation, may have a more significant effect on bobwhite covey daily movements and space use. Citation: Miller, R. S., W. E. Palmer, S. D. Wellendorf, and L. W. Burger, Jr. 2017. Foraging behavior of northern bobwhites in relation to resource availability. National Quail Symposium Proceedings 8:207–214.


A device is disclosed for providing a non-resettable visual indication of a shock above a predetermined value which is sustained by an object carrying the device, comprising a dome-like housing, at least part of which is transparent; a flange means secured to and extending radially outward from the dome-like housing; a plate-like biasing means secured to the dome-like housing, the plate-like biasing means and the interior surface of the top portion of the dome-like housing being spaced apart and defining a chamber therein; and an indicating body within the chamber positioned between the biasing means and the interior surface of the top portion of the housing. Prior to being subjected to a force above the predetermined value, the indicating body is maintained in a first position and when subjected to a force above the predetermined value is irreversibly released to a second position.


Iterative learning control for a class of nonlinear system is considered, and a kind of condition is presented for guaranteeing the convergence of the proposed iterative algorithm. The desired signal is tracked precisely after iteration step by step, and the iterative initial state does not depend on desired state and desired input. At last, simulation for robot system shows the effectiveness of our conclusion.


The aim of research is to improve the quality of domain dictionaries by expanding the corpus of the documents under study by using short documents. A document model is proposed that allows to define a short document and the need to combine it with other documents to highlight verbose terms. An algorithm for highlighting the substantive part of the document has been developed, since in a short document the heading and closing parts usually contain terms that are not related to the studied domain. A method for preliminary clustering of short documents to highlight verbose terms has been developed. The method is based on highlighting and counting occurrences of nouns (one-word terms) for all analyzed documents. The concept of document proximity is introduced, which is determined by the combination of two criteria: the relative number of matching terms and the relative frequency of occurrence of matching terms. The principle of grouping documents at the customer's site often does not correspond to the principles of grouping necessary for building a dictionary of the domain. In a short document, it is usually impossible to isolate a verbose term because the repetition of terms is very low. A method has been developed for virtual combining of short documents based on the principle of achieving the necessary repeatability of one-word terms. The merged document has the highest possible frequency of terms for the cluster it belongs to. At the same time, the original text of documents is preserved and the ability to associate the selected verbose term with those documents in which it is included. The experiment made it possible to find the best ratio for the elements of the document proximity coefficient and confirm the effectiveness of the proposed preliminary clustering method


This paper reviews state-of-the-art microwave fllter modeling, optimization and design methods using artiflcial neural network (ANN) technique. Innovative methodologies of using ANN in microwave fllter analysis and synthesis are discussed. Various ANN structures including wavelet and radial basis function have been utilized for this purpose. ANN also flnds application in fllter yield prediction and optimization. The results from difierent work demon- strate that ANN technique can reduce the cost of computation signiflcantly and thus can produce fast and accurate result compared to the conventional electromagnetic (EM) methods. DOI: 10.2529/PIERS060907172141 Microwave fllters are widely used in satellite and ground based communication systems. The full wave EM solvers have been utilized to design these kinds of fllters for a long time. Usually several simulations are required to meet the fllter speciflcations which takes considerable amount of time. In order to achieve flrst pass success with only minor tuning and adjustment in the manufacturing process, precise electromagnetic modeling is an essential condition. The design procedure usually involves iterating the design parameters until the flnal fllter response is realized. The whole process needs to be repeated even with a slight change in any of the design speciflcations. The modeling time increases as the fllter order increases. With the increasing complexity of wireless and satellite communication hardware, there is a need for faster method to design this kind of fllters. Artiflcial neural network (ANN) or simply neural network (NN) has been proven to be a fast and efiective means of modeling complex electromagnetic devices. It has been recognized as a powerful tool for predicting device behavior for which no mathematical model is available or the device has not been analyzed properly yet. ANN can be trained to capture arbitrary input-output relationship to any degree of accuracy. Once a model is developed it can be used over and over again. The trained model delivers the output parameters very quickly. This avoids any EM simulation where a simple change in the physical dimension requires a complete simulation. For these attractive qualities, ANN has been applied to difierent areas of engineering and biomedical. While the present state of the art neural network modeling technique for EM modeling and optimization is available in detail in (1{3), it is beyond the scope of this paper. This paper reviews the ANN techniques dealing with microwave fllter. Waveguide cavity fllters are very popular in microwave applications. Several results have been reported using neural network techniques to model cavity fllters including E-plane metal-insert fllter (4), rectangular waveguide H-plane iris bandpass fllter (5{8), dual mode pseudo elliptic fllter (9), cylindrical posts in waveguide fllter (10) and etc. The simplest form of modeling is the direct approach where the geometrical parameters are related to its frequency response. Response of a fllter is sampled at difierent frequency points to generate the training data. Result shows that ANN can provide accurate design parameters and after learning phase the computational cost is lower than the one associated with full wave model analysis (4). In a similar work the performance of fllter obtained from the ANN was much better than obtained from parametric curve and faster than flnite element method (FEM) analysis (5). Simpler structure or lower order fllter is feasible to realize the whole model in a single NN model. For higher order fllter several assumptions and simpliflcations are required to lower the number of NN inputs. Filter can be modeled by segmentation flnite element (SFE) method and using ANN (6). Filter structure was segmented into small regions connected by arbitrary cross section and then the smaller sections were analyzed separately. The generalized scattering matrix (GSM) was computed by FEM and the response of the complete circuit was obtained by connecting the smaller sections in proper order. In general the optimization of microwave circuits is time consuming. To attain a circuit response by analytical method is too slow. Therefore, ANN based analytical models were used. The method was applied to a three-cavity fllter. The response of the fllter rigorously found


In recent years, underground structures become more crowded in urban area, for reducing the interference with existing ground or underground structures, the construction cases of shield tunneling in extreme turn sections have an increasing tendency day by day. Before tunneling in the extreme turn section, it is necessary to study the geological condition, the proper advancing method, the specification of the segments, the over cut quantity, and the auxiliary ground treatment method previously. Adopting proper countermeasure can guarantee the construction safety of the extreme turn section. The present case of this article chooses a suitable shield machine and proper support system according to the geological condition of the extreme turn section (R=20m). Proposing a well developed grouting project from inside the shield, and by adjusting the stabilizer and the grout material, meets the demand of the construction of the extreme turn section. Some auxiliary countermeasures applied in this project are introduced, including special clay grouting, back fill grouting, and miniature fixed bags. Without executing any auxiliary ground treatment method, the surface is free from traffic inconvenience and environment pollution.


This article develops an exploratory - descriptive analysis about the relationship of smart tourism with sustainable development, analyzing and contrasting its characteristics, in order to show its contribution in achieving harmony between economic and social development and respect for the environment from the perspective of planning and managing smart tourism destinations. It begins with the conceptualization of tourism, sustainable tourism, smart tourist destination and points out how this notion developed from the smart city. Subsequently, after presenting the methodology followed, the four main characteristics of smart destinations are presented: innovation, technology, sustainability and accessibility. It continues with the presentation of a success story: Tequila (Mexico), and highlights the practices carried out by this destination to ensure the satisfaction of its citizens, as well as those who visit them. Later, a question is generated that can lead us to carry out an exploratory, descriptive and qualitative investigation of the municipality of León Guanajuato and its current state based on the four characteristics indicated to become a smart tourist destination.


Abstract—The feasibility of a multi-carrier system for data-transmission over copper wires at gigabit rates is analyzed. More specific, we look at the effects of jitter and duty-cycle deviations on the SNR and error rate using Matlab simulations. Jitter causes crosstalk between the inphase and quadrature channels of a given tone frequency. Given a certain rms jitter variance, low frequency tones can carry more bits than higher frequency tones for the same error rate. Duty-cycle deviations cause crosstalk both from other carrier frequencies and from quadrature channels. These problems seem so big that a PAM system is likely to be the better choice for gigabit transmission.


Through the analysis of coal property and synthesized mineral processing practice to enhance the coal flotation production efficiency of Qianjiaying cleaning plant,the author improved main process,and carried out a series of laboratory foundation research,and reasons of the increase of coal quality and improve the production efficiency are analyzed.The coal slurry gradually flotation separation and conventional process were difficult to realize of cleaner coal with low ash or higher yield,the good separation effect was realized through rougher concentrate and grinding,then obtained cleaner coal with ash 11.51% and yield 68.35%.


Abstract : The ESTCP Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) Mobility Model (MM) validation program expanded the capabilities of the vortex lattice based model previously developed by the Navy for mine modeling applications and then validated the MM with surrogate ordnance in two instrumented field demonstration, one in each of the most common coastal environmental types (Trailing Edge and Biogenic Reef):U.S. Army Filed Research Facility (FRF), Duck, NC, and pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF), Kauai, HI. The MM correctly predicted all the basic behaviors of the surrogates; the skill factor for modeling migration and burial exceeded 0.8 in both cases, a favorable result with respect to modeling coastal processes and mine burial prediction. The MM is calibrated for the most common coastal environmental and can use wither default environmental conditions or site-specific data inputs to more accurately predict overall probability of movement. It is noted that the primary cost drivers for varying levels of analysis is predicated on the amount of site data available.


This book is a compendium of Alok Bhargava's most important contributions in longitudinal econometric methods and their application to problems in food, nutrition and health-related research. It demonstrates the usefulness of rigorous econometric and statistical methods in addressing issues of under-nutrition and poor child health in developing countries, as well as obesity in developed countries. This volume compiles 27 published papers dealing with health and nutrition issues in developed and developing countries. Some of these papers are co-authored with prominent researchers in the specific fields. These papers, unarguably, cross the disciplinary borders by being published in several disciplinary and multi-disciplinary journals. Most of the methodological issues arising in nutrition, econometrics, development economics and population sciences are discussed in detail in this volume. This book is organized into six sections, namely, methodological contribution, food intakes, health and productivity in developing countries, child health and cognitive development in developing countries, population health and economic growth, economic demography, and behaviour, diet and obesity in developed countries. The reader is informed using examples from important surveys like the Michigan Panel Survey of Income Dynamics, the International Crops Research Institute for Semi-arid Tropics Data, National Family Health Survey, the PERFORM data, Women's Health Trial and the National Food Stamp Program Survey about various methodological challenges. The first section discusses in detail methodological issues and is a must read for quantitative researchers. All the four papers in this part focus on sophisticated econometric methods. In spite of its focus on important aspects of longitudinal methods with high relevance for research, it is surely not for undergraduates. The second section of this volume focuses on food intakes, health and productivity in developing countries. This section also highlights sophisticated methods to capture the relation between food intake and health. The third section (child health and cognitive development in developing countries) focuses on the very important yet neglected area of children-oriented research. The fourth section (population health and economic growth) consists of two articles using macroeconomic data; interestingly, the authors show a significant positive effect of higher ASR (Adult Survival Rate) on GDP growth in low-income countries. The fifth section, like section four, is interesting for economists as well as demographers and utilizes data at country, regional and household level. One of the interesting arguments is that the elasticities of infant and child mortality rates with respect to female literacy are smaller for non-African countries compared with African countries. Moreover, the finding that presence of older sisters in the


Cranial microsurgery is a prerequisite for neuroscience research, which provides an accessible brain for neural recording and optogenetic stimulation. As the scale of electrode implantation increases, massive delicate craniotomies are required to perform on the submillimeter-thick skull of small animals (e.g., mice). Automated craniotomy (AMC) is ideal for improving surgery efficiency and ensuring consistent results. However, due to the lack of effective feedback, the current AMC platforms are prone to over-drilling and injuring brain tissues. Fragile and ultrathin skulls of small objects also make it hard to integrate suitable sensors into the end-effector for accurate perception. Thus, this article proposes an integrated electrical bioimpedance measurement (EBIM) solution for the closed-loop AMC. A sensing drill and a custom EBIM device are implemented to form reliable electrical contact with the object and accurately measure the impedance. After evaluating the EBIM device's accuracy (< 2% relative error) and stability, we provide a modified judgment signal for breakthrough detection and further simulate closed-loop craniotomies on an equivalent model. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed system can achieve sensitive breakthrough detection (< 0.1 s delay at 100 Hz excitation) and consistent drilling depth ( $10.3 \mu \text{m}$ deviation with a 10-mm/min feed rate) in contrast to the gold standard (LCR meter).


The U.S. government established a national weather organization in 1870. Changes in Great Lakes cargo and hull losses, and shipping rates from Chicago to Buffalo, provide evidence of the value of storm warnings on the Great Lakes. Nearly half of the Great Lakes storm-warning stations were closed during the fall of 1883 because of appropriations reductions. This exogenous shock permits the econometric estimation of the value of storm-warning locations on the Great Lakes. The results indicate that the social rate of return for weather expenditures during the Weather Bureau's founding period was at least 60 percent. Copyright 1998 by American Economic Association.


Inverter and battery are become more important in many applications, such as ESS, Server power system, communication power system, portable power station...etc. The paper presents design and implementation of a two stages inverter module, and introduce the related challenges and solutions. The functional block of the inverter module and control block are also presented in this paper. Finally, a 2 kW inverter module was developed. From the results, the peak efficiency can achieve 96%, crest factor can be 2.5 and vTHD is below 2%.


Intussusception refers to the invagination of one part of intestine into itself. It is the most common abdominal emergency encountered in children younger than 2 years of age. Multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children or pediatric inflammatory multisystem syndrome temporally associated with covid -19{PIMS-TS} is a relatively rare complication of COVID 19 infection occurring in<1% of children who may have a past history of confirmed covid-19 infection. Many cases of intussusception are reported when a child suffers from acute covid 19 infection. But a case of intussusception which itself is a manifestation of MIS-C is not reported so far. A 7-year-old boy presented with fever, abdomen pain was found to have ileocolic intussusception. It was then successfully reduced pneumatically. But he continued to have high temperatures and later developed mucocutaneous manifestations and shock. Keeping the current pandemic in view, he was investigated and was found to be suffering from MIS-C. He was then treated by our hospital protocol successfully. This is a rare presentation of MIS-C, and so is reported here. This 7year old boy presented with fever, abdomen pain and was found to have ileocolic intussusception. It was then reduced pneumatically. He continued to have high temperature and later developed mucocutaneous manifestations and shock. With the investigations, he was found to be suffering from MIS-C. He was then treated by our hospital MISC-C protocol successfully. This is a rare presentation of MIS-C, which warrants a high index of suspicion.


The essential oil yield from separate parts of ledum butterbur and marsh tea is studied and the chemical composition and organoleptic properties are determined. 36 components are identified. The fields of its application are shown.


Physical-layer security is emerging as a promising paradigm of securing wireless communications against eavesdropping, with the purpose of improving the transmission reliability of the main link. We propose a best relay selection scheme with multi-eavesdropper cooperation, and deduce the corresponding outage probability and the intercept probability. The simulation results show that he proposed scheme can achieve lower system outage probability. The intercept probability can be reduced by increasing the number of relays in order to ensure the main link's reliable transmission, in spite of which can be increased by improving the eavesdropper number.


The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between literary and musical forms in a novel by Ugo Fleres, l'Anello ( 1898). Fleres, italian writer, Pirandello and Luigi Capuana's friend , tells the story of Ottavio, mediocre composer, who inherites by a suicidial musician a drama, L'Anello. He decides to stage the opera and lives by proxy the experience of artistic perfection, pretending to be the author of this brilliant composition ; the Anello, wagnerian drama, shocks the public at first but, after a while, it arouses an incredible enthusiasm. Ottavio, unable to repeat the work that he stole, characterized by incomparable modernity, composes wearily trivial operettas, and he turns into the distorted doppelganger of an ingenious artist. On the other hand, in his desperate attempts to create, the main character gets to futuristic solutions, that seem to overcome the antithesis among sound and noise as it will be placed by Luigi Russolo in his manifesto L'arte dei rumori, years later. The novel focuses the mechanism of musical composition and the interaction between word and sound, taking inspiration by Wagnerian total art but, at the same time, denying it in the deeply divided self of Ottavio. Equally significant in the story is the representation of contemporary Italian music and opera world, seen in all its aspects – public, singers, journalists, managers - , with a wickedness that eliminates definitively the last traces of Romantic idealization.


This article describes Calhoun and Weston's blue-collar approach to threat management. It defines seven concepts for an effective threat management program, including identifying hunters versus howlers, situation need to knows, situation dynamics and intervention synergy, and ways to avoid bunkers, silos, and myopic management strategies. The article also details 10 guidelines drawn from the authors' experiences managing both hunters and howlers. It looks back over the last 25 years to offer advice to the next generation about the profession's future after achieving professionalization.


Most of the recent vigilance studies have been concerned with the effeccs of signal variables on detection performance. McGrath, et al. (1960), while stressing the importance of individual differences on detection performance, also noted the lack of systematic studies of their effects. Two studies on the effects of intelligence by Solandt and Partridge (1946) and Mackworth ( 1950) indicated little or no relationship between intelligence test scores and vigilance performance. Since these conclusions were based on samples taken from the high end of the intelligence distribution (RAF cadets and antisubmarine detection devices operators) and because of the practical importance of the topic for selection, classificacion, and training, it was believed desirable to elaborate and expand the previous studies. The present study, therefore, was undertaken to test the effeccs of high and low intelligence, as measured by the GT scores of the Army Classification Battery, on detection performance in visual and auditory monitoring, and to compare the efficiency of signal detection for the two sense categories.


Infection Control Policy - Animals as Patients in Health Organisations , This document outlines strategies to reduce risks associated with the animals as patients in health organisations


The liquid feeding device 1 includes a rotating substrate 2. The rotary substrate 2 is formed with a flow path 8A that connects the supply tank 6A and the supply tank 7A. The inlet end 13 where the flow path 8A connects to the supply tank 6A extends in the clockwise direction R1 in the rotation direction of the rotary substrate 2. The inlet end 13 holds the liquid 9 in the supply tank 6A by capillary force. The rotation drive unit 4 drives the rotation substrate 2 so that an inertial force that exceeds the capillary force and is directed in the clockwise direction R1 acts on the liquid 9 at the inlet end 13. Liquid feeding behavior control of micro fluid with a high degree of freedom can be realized.


BackgroundStretch (mechanical stress)–induced membrane depolarization of smooth muscle may contribute to basal vascular tone and myogenic control. Propofol induces vasodilation and inhibits myogenic control. Hypotonic swelling was used as a model of mechanical stress. The authors investigated the effects of propofol and 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid, a chloride channel and nonselective cation channel blocker, on hypotonicity-induced membrane depolarization in cultured human coronary artery smooth muscle cells. MethodsA voltage-sensitive fluorescent dye, bis-(1,3-diethylthiobarbiturate)trimethine oxonol, was used to assess relative changes in membrane potential semiquantitatively. The cells were continuously perfused with Earle's balanced salt solution containing 200 nm bis-(1,3-diethylthiobarbiturate)trimethine oxonol and exposed sequentially to isotonic and hypotonic medium. In a second series of experiments, the cells were exposed to hypotonic media in the presence and absence of 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid or propofol. ResultsThe relative fluorescence values at 10, 20, and 30% hypotonicity were 147 ± 29, 214 ± 74, and 335 ± 102% of baseline, respectively. The changes were all significantly different from the isotonic time control group. In the presence of 200 &mgr;m 5-nitro-2-(3-phenylpropylamino)benzoic acid or 0.1, 1, 10, or 100 &mgr;g/ml propofol, the relative fluorescence values at 30% hypotonicity were 87 ± 17, 194 ± 27, 160 ± 18, 130 ± 18, and 84 ± 15%, respectively. These changes were significantly less than the 30% for the hypotonic control (246 ± 23%). ConclusionThese results suggest that volume-sensitive chloride channels and nonselective cation channels may participate in hypotonicity-induced membrane depolarization and that propofol inhibits hypotonicity-induced membrane depolarization in coronary artery smooth muscle.


An epidemic disease characterized by neurologic symptoms and death in neonatal piglets occurred in many large scale pig farms of mainland China since 2011.To investigate the causative agent of the disease,the gE of pseudorabies virus(PRV) was amplified by PCR from the brain tissues of dead piglets and the results showed that PRVs were found in all detected farms.Sequence alignments of gE indicated that gE genes from 14 farms of 5 provinces in 2012 were highly homologous and they were all belong to a relatively independent sub-branch in phylogenetic analysis.In addition,the isolated PRV named HeN1 was able to cause itch and death in experimentally infected mice and the LD50 of PRV HeN1 isolate was 102.37 TCID50 which was significantly lower than that of virulent PRV Shuangcheng strain(103.83 TCID50).Furthermore,the cross-neutralization tests indicated that the serum from Bartha k61 vaccine strain inoculated pigs had low neutralizing effect to the PRV HeN1 isolate,but serum from HeN1 inoculated pigs had higher neutralizing effect to both of the viruses.In conclusion,we speculated that the prevalence of PRVs might have antigenic variation to some extent since 2011.


We discuss the role of damping for surface-plasmon pulse propagation and refraction by analyzing calculated dispersion relations of a metal-dielectric interface. Results for a lossless Drude metal are compared to those for a lossy Drude metal and the application relevant materials gold and silver. We find that the imaginary part of the surface-plasmon wave vector rather than the surface-plasmon group velocity defines if normal or negative refraction takes place at lateral boundaries. As a consequence, the group velocity can be opposite to the energy flow. This is not in contradiction to causality, as due to large damping in regions of negative group velocities surface plasmons on a single interface are overdamped and evanescent in character. In addition, pulse spreading and the implications of the results for multilayer systems are discussed.


Hydrophobicity performance of polymeric insulator in severe condition has caused more concern about reliability of power system, which increasingly requires the evaluation method for the surface hydrophobicity. In this research, based on the dynamic dropping test (DDT) method, infrared characteristics of surface discharges induced by dynamic behaviors of water droplet were investigated to carry out the hydrophobicity evaluation for different ageing levels of silicone rubber insulator. Both the dynamic morphology of water droplet and the induced discharge phenomena on the sample surface were captured by using an infrared camera to establish the relationship between the infrared radiation along the sample surface and the surface hydrophobicity. Methods of image processing and fractal dimension were employed to quantitatively analyze the infrared images. It is found that the maximum temperature and thermal distribution of discharges increase with the decrease of hydrophobicity. The increasing tendency in discharge strength and fractal dimension of thermal pattern can reveal the decrease of hydrophobicity. The results obtained indicate that the infrared characteristics of discharges in DDT method are sensitive to the hydrophobic properties, which can be applied as non-contact method for hydrophobicity evaluation of polymeric insulators.


Construction sites are becoming larger and complex with the growth of national economy. Accordingly, it is important to identify real-time information about materials, equipments, and manpower during construction at sites. Even though research utilizing position tracking sensors has been conducted in architectural engineering fields, this area of research is almost nil in civil engineering fields. Therefore, a feasibility study to find a way to apply position tracking sensors to an in-situ tunnel construction site adopting conventional tunnelling method is performed in this study. A methodology is proposed that the progress management of the tunnelling work can be monitored by checking construction materials needed at job site and the safety management system can be assessed by checking distance between in-situ workers and construction equipments. The most representative materials were identified so that IT technology can be applied by attaching and monitoring sensors to the selected materials. Also, time of arrival (TOA) for a position determination technology along with a wireless network technology was chosen and build wireless network system. The adopted methodology was applied to an in-situ tunnelling site, and verified the usefulness of the proposed system.


We investigate the transient response of a $\ensuremath{\Lambda}$-type system with one transition decaying to a modified radiation reservoir with an inverse square-root singular density of modes at threshold, under conditions of transparency. We calculate the time evolution of the linear susceptibility for the probe laser field and show that, depending on the strength of the coupling to the modified vacuum and the background decay, the probe transmission can exhibit behavior ranging from underdamped to overdamped oscillations. Transient gain without population inversion is also possible depending on the system's parameters.


Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) for the treatment of depression and disorders associated with psychosis has been successful in a variety of clinical settings. However, ECT is associated with potentially serious risks. Thus, the indication of ECT must be put in place meticulously, and the expected benefits need to be carefully weighed against possible ECTrelated risks. This is of particular importance when ECT is performed during pregnancy. Apart from theoretical considerations regarding ECT-related risks to mother and embryo/fetus, experience emerging directly from clinical practice is indispensable for a meaningful safety assessment of ECT in pregnancy. Anderson and Reti (1) made a very important and helpful contribution by performing a review of the literature (1941Y2007) regarding the performance of ECT in pregnancy. Because this is the largest review and assessment of the available published data on ECT in pregnancy to date, Anderson and Reti provided what could be considered the ''standard'' reference regarding the safety of ECT in pregnancy. Hence, although the indication for ECT should always be based on an individual risk assessment, many physicians may refer to this review during the decision-making process of whether performing ECT in pregnancy or not. To improve this valuable study, rather than to express criticism, we would like to point out to some mistakes concerning the presentation of two studies that were included in the review (2,3). In the review of Anderson and Reti, the publication of Feldman et al. (2) is described to report on 16 patients (schizophrenia, depression) who received ECT during pregnancy. However, Feldman et al. report on 24 patients, 9 of them receiving exclusively ECT, 4 receiving ECT plus ''insulin-therapy'' (insulininduced shocks), and 10 receiving insulintherapy, metrazol, or ''no shock therapy.'' Apart from difficulties that arise from assessing 5 of 14 patients who were also treated with insulin-therapy, the basic problem is that Feldman at el. report only on patients who received ECT after delivery (see pages 494 and 501) (2). Therefore, the study of Feldman et al. should not have been included in the review. A further objection refers to the presentation of the publication by Forssman (3). Because this study exclusively reports on the follow-up of children (n = 16) whose mothers were treated with ECT during pregnancy, no conclusive statements regarding the safety of ECT during pregnancy are possible. This needs to be considered because Anderson and Reti summarize this study imprecisely by ''adverse events: nil'' (1). It will be important to continue systematic research on the benefits and adverse consequences of ECT for mother and child. The review by Anderson and Reti (1) sets the stage for such an evaluation and provides a framework for future research in this area.


There has been an increasing commercial and industrial demand for advanced polymeric materials capable of being utilised in harsh environments as electrical insulation. Aromatic polymers have proved to be chemically and mechanically stable in such a situation. They have been identified for use in the presence of ionizing radiation but little information is available as to their dielectric properties under such conditions. In this study poly(ether sulphone) (PES) and poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK), typical aromatic polymers, were irradiated to different dose levels using both a gamma ray source and a high energy electron source. Possible chemical and structural changes were examined using the techniques of differential scanning calorimeter (DSC), UV-Visible absorption spectroscopy and photo induced phosphorescence for irradiated films. Electrical changes induced by the radiation were studied using thermally stimulated discharge current (TSDC) measurements. The low frequency dielectric response was derived from the measurement of transient currents (TC).


respectively. Let S be a right circular cylindrical surface with radius of length r, such that r" = r. A sphere S< will be said to be inside S if its interior is completely in the interior of S. Let the spheres (1) be assigned positions inside S, no two having interior points in common. We say that the spheres (1) have been packed into S, and shall be referred to as a packing. All packings considered in this paper are subject to the restriction: (A) Let [pq] ^distance between the centers of Sp and Sq. Let


Folksonomy systems have shown to contribute to the quality of Web search ranking strategies. In this paper, we analyze and compare different graph-based ranking algorithms, namely FolkRank, SocialPageRank, and SocialSimRank. We enhance these algorithms by exploiting the context of tag assignmets, and evaluate the results on the GroupMe! dataset. In GroupMe!, users can organize and maintain arbitrary Web resources in self-defined groups. When users annotate resources in GroupMe!, this can be interpreted in context of a certain group. The grouping activity delivers valuable semantic information about resources and their context. We show how to use this information to improve the detection of relevant search results, and compare different strategies for ranking result lists in folksonomy systems.


A coupling process between Electrocoagulation (EC) and GAC was employed to separate dyes from aqueous solutions. The removal of an indigoid dye, namely C.I. Acid Blue 74, was tested. A novel approach for optimizing EC-based techniques is presented. In addition to maximizing removal efficiency, minimizing consumptions of energy and electrode materials were also targeted by means of multi-objective optimization in order to reduce the specific costs. A very good cost-efficiency feature of EC/GAC coupling process operated under optimal conditions to treat wastewater from dyestuff has been revealed. The independent variables considered were the current density, influent pH, contact time, granular activated carbon dose, and initial dye concentration. Simple maximization of color removal efficiency and multi-objective optimization were compared. Two different constraints were considered for each type of optimization. The determined costs outline the cheapness feature of the EC/GAC system as a potential dye wastewater treatment technology.


Chaotic spread spectrum communication systems provide a number of advantages for secure communications due to the apparent randomness of the underlying spreading signal. Many of these chaotic signals exhibit colored spectra, providing discernible features that enable their detection independent of the transmitted data. A recent digital chaotic circuit [1] has been shown to exhibit a truly white spectrum in addition to apparent time-domain randomness. This maximal entropy characteristic supports Shannon's criteria for maximal channel capacity communication, low probability of interception/ detection (LPI/LPD), and a compact bandlimited white spectrum. Such a signal is featureless, susceptible only by energy detection. The disadvantage of such spread communication systems, one shared equally by all spread spectrum systems, is that the channel capacity is constrained by the bandwidth increases required for spreading gain. A traditional approach to increasing bandwidth efficiency is generalizing the modulated digital signaling constellation to include multiple levels of amplitude and phase modulation, which enhances exploitable cyclostationary features unless compensated. This paper presents a framework for adapting the maximal entropy digital chaotic signal to featureless chaotic spread spectrum modulation of arbitrary discrete-time discrete-amplitude data constellations, permitting higher throughputs in chaotic spread spectrum communication systems without sacrificing any of the maximum entropy characteristics that provide LPI/LPD.


Differential cross sections and analyzing powers of the /sup 13/C( p,t)/sup 11/C and /sup 13/C( p,/sup 3/He)/sup 11/B reactions to the ground and the first excited states were measured at E/sub p/ = 65 MeV. They were analyzed by means of distorted-wave Born approximation calculations including both one- and two-step processes of p-d-t or -/sup 3/He. Attention was paid to an isospin symmetry of the reaction process consisting of both isospin 0 and 1 channels, which were important in a comparable order. As intermediate states of /sup 12/C in the sequential process, five states of either isospin 0 or 1, which were strongly excited by the /sup 13/C( p,d)/sup 12/C reaction, were taken into account. A good fit between the data and the theoretical values was obtained, especially for the ( p,t) reactions, concerning both differential cross sections and analyzing powers. The calculations including one-step and sequential processs induced, in some cases, remarkable differences from the one-step calculation for backward angles.


Based on the data in 2008,this paper analyses the effect of human capital,political capital and other factors on income in China.The study shows that with a higher level of education,one will receive a higher return on human capital.Being a member of communist party and holding the corresponding leader positions,one will be given a higher political capital return.The income of monopoly sector is significantly higher than competitive sector.Moreover,because of the regional disparity and the urban-rural gap,the income in the eastern and central regions is significantly higher than the western region,and the income in urban is higher than rural areas.


The group of patients with endogenous psychosis revealed associations of genetic polymorphisms of type 2 A serotonin receptor and type 3 dopamine receptor with the disease in case-control analysis.


Full proofs of the Gödel incompleteness theorems are highly intricate affairs. Much of the intricacy lies in the details of setting up and checking the properties of a coding system representing the syntax of an object language (typically, that of arithmetic) within that same language. These details are seldom illuminating and tend to obscure the core of the argument. For this reason a number of efforts have been made to present the essentials of the proofs of Gödel's theorems without getting mired in syntactic or computational details. One of the most important of these efforts was made by Löb [8] in connection with his analysis of sentences asserting their own provability. Löb formulated three conditions (now known as the Hilbert-Bernays-Löb derivability conditions), on the provability predicate in a formal system which are jointly sufficient to yield the Gödel's second incompleteness theorem for it. A key role in Löb's analysis is played by (a special case of) what later became known as the diagonalization or fixed point property of formal systems, a property which had already, in essence, been exploited by Gödel in his original proofs of the incompleteness theorems. The fixed point property plays a central role in Lawvere's [7] category-theoretic account of incompleteness phenomena (see also [10]).


The increasing demand for infrastructural development in the country has necessitated high demand for the construction materials which are already in short supply in some places. This study investigated the suitability of agro-waste materials; Crushed Clam(Egeria radiata) shells (CCS) as partial replacement for coarse aggregates in concrete production. Concrete cubes and beams of 100mmx100mmx100mm and 100mmx100mmx500mm were casted respectively. The (CCS) were used to replace coarse aggregates from 10% to 40% in steps of 10%. The compressive and flexural strength were evaluated at 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Increase in percentage of (CCS) in the concrete reduced the compressive and flexural strength of the concrete respectively. It was observed that, at a low replacement value of 10% CCS can produce light weight concrete of 18.7N/mm2 and 2.77N/mm 2 as compressive and flexural strength respectively, in the 28 days curing period, which met the ASTM-77 and BS 1881 part 4(1970) recommended standard minimum compressive and flexural strength for light weight concrete respectively. Using (CCS) in construction will not only reduce cost, but will also help to enhance the management of these non biodegradable wastes in the environment.


Reputation mechanisms for detecting and punishing free-riders in ad hoc networks depend on the local detection of selfish behavior. Although naive selfish strategies based on dropping data packets are readily detected, more sophisticated strategies that manipulate ad hoc routing protocols present a greater challenge. In this work we develop a method to distinguish selfish peers from cooperative ones based solely on local observations of AODV routing protocol behavior. Our approach uses the finite state machine model of locally observed AODV actions to build up a statistical description of the behavior of each neighbor. We apply a series of well-known statistical tests to features derived from this description to partition the set neighboring nodes into a cooperative and selfish class. Simulation results for a non-mobile ad hoc network show that our approach can detect two different types of routing manipulation while maintaining a low rate of false positives.


With the rapid development of network education,automatic scoring algorithm of subjective questions has become the key technology to realize online examination in network education;consequently,automatic assessment technology and automatic scoring algorithm of subjective questions have attracted great attention from people of different walks.The technology and principles of automatic scoring technology of subjective questions are introduced in this paper,and the problems that subjective assessment faces in network examination system are analyzed.The automatic scoring algorithm of subjective questions is put forward hereafter based on semantic context and dynamic programming algorithm.Such an algorithm is able to provide help for teachers and students.


We address the problem of reducing power dissipation on the time multiplexed address buses employed by contemporary DRAMs in SOC designs. We propose address encoding techniques to reduce the transition activity on the time-multiplexed address buses and hence reduce power dissipation. The reduction in transition activity is achieved by exploiting the principle of locality in address streams in addition to its sequential nature. We consider a realistic processor-memory architecture and apply the proposed techniques on the address streams derived from time-multiplexed DRAM addresses. Although the techniques by themselves axe not new, we show that a judicious combination of the existing techniques yield significant gains in power reductions. Experiments on SPEC95 benchmark programs show that our encoding techniques yield as much as 82% in transition activity compared to binary encoding. We show that these reductions amount to as much 60% reduction in the off-chip address bus power. Also since the encoder/decoder add some power overhead, we calculate the minimum off-chip bus capacitance to the internal node capacitance ratio needed to achieve power reductions.


Combined with the actual construction of the national backbone higher vocational college,the author elaborates the guiding ideology,construction target and construction ideas of the shipbuilding technology specialty core courses.Concrete measures are put forwards in the aspects of reforming course teaching content,perfecting course teaching conditions,innovating course teaching methods,constructing course teaching teams,building teaching resource library,improving examination and evaluation methods and establishing professional quality education platform.The urgent general questions about professional core courses construction in the national backbone higher vocational college construction are answered in this paper.


An important strategy for a highly efficient method to esterify cassava starch with a long‐chain hydrophobic acyl group in aqueous solution was reinvestigated. Most of the published reports relied on the elevated reaction temperature in order to disperse and gelatinize starch which negatively affects the esterification. To promote the esterification completion within a short reaction time, lower reaction temperature was employed which is made possible by an efficient method of cassava starch dispersion by NaOH (aq.). The low temperature reaction conditions were explored and found to improve the starch esterification efficiency in aqueous solution. The other reaction parameters including NaOH concentrations, reaction time, and fatty acid chloride chain lengths were also investigated. Low reaction temperature enhances the degree of substitution up to 0.31, and the yield to a range of 50–56%. The results indicate that the conditions for setting up a successful esterification reaction with high reaction efficiency are: i) low reaction temperature (4°C); ii) up to C₁₂ fatty acid chloride; and iii) low NaOH concentration (1.0–1.5M).


In the analysis of the HPIC data, a qualitative mechanism is proposed for the unused plating bath solution time dependency. The degradation of the plating bath is from a loss of Cr 3+ from the bath. This loss of the Cr 3+ appears to be due to the formation of a 1:1 complex with H2PO 2 - or by hydrolysis. A preliminary kinetic rate parameter estimate to confirm a chromium mechanism was performed with the available HPIC data using a proprietary program


The rnonoenergetic neutron transport equation with isotropic scattering has been applied to two-medium spherical and plane critical systems. The plane system has been considered both with vacuum boundary conditions and with repeated multiplying and non-multiplying material. The mean-free-path is assumed to be the same even though the multiplication factors are different in both media. The two coupled integral equations that are obtained are numerically solved using the spatial Legendre polynomial method (Carlvik's method). Benchmark values of the fundamental and higher eigenvalues are given for various dimensions of the bodies. The total flux is calculated from the eigenvector and the first 4 or 5 flux modes are plotted for some typical cases. The time-eigenvalue spectrum in subcritical two-medium sy^ems has also been studied for vacuum boundary conditions. Using the close relation between the eigenvalues arising from the time-dependent and stationary transport equation the results for the stationary, critical t r " have been transformed to those for the timedependent one. Further, the der .v < nstant.s have been calculated by an iterative process when some parameter.» .in id. In addition, simple '.pproxin >. / ormulae for very high-order eigenvalues have been derived for both homo f .-oi i and two-medium systems. The formulae were tested against available and jie i imerical results.


During the past 30 years two conflicting developments have taken place in wire rod production. Steelmaking heats and billet size have grown while the demand on the mill has changed to providing c ...


Theoretical discussions of primate browridge formation have resulted in several interpretations of its form and function. Lateral radiographs of adult Old World monkeys, representing most cercopithecine and colobine genera, were examined to address whether both biomechanical and spatial factors influence the development of a supraorbital torus.

A linear measurement of browridge size was compared with a series of measures related to each model. Partial correlations were used to ascertain the relative independence of biomechanical (model I or II) and spatial effects upon torus formation. Allometric (size-related) shape changes were evaluated with log-linear bivariate regression analysis; subfamily differences in scaling patterns, with an analysis of covariance. When spatial and biomechanical (I or II) factors were both significantly related to brow size, additive and interactive multiple regression models were used to further assess the manner by which each set mutually affects variation in browridge dimensions. Correlation analyses were repeated with size-corrected antilogged residuals to eliminate a potentially spurious effect of skull size.

Old World monkeys provide support of the spatial model. Also of interest is that skull size emerges as a primary influence on torus formation. Several alternative explanations are also put forward to account for browridge development in each subfamily.


To explore the relationship between changes of riverbed topography and adjustments of flood dynamic characteristics of the Pearl River Delta (PRD) in 1999-2008, a one-dimensional river network mathematical model was established based on the surveyed topography in 1999. The "08·6" flood was first reproduced and model-data comparison was implemented; then, the impact of topography change of river network on hydrodynamic characteristics during flood season in the PRD was investigated. Results show that the flood diversion capacity of channels is increased due to the down-cutting of riverbed in the PRD. During the flood "08·6" (a recurrence period of 30 years), the water surface elevations are generally lower than before, with a maximum decrease about 0.9 m at the Makou station. The tidal range and tidal velocity are found to increase, making the tidal limit move to above Makou and Sanshui stations. The riverbed down-cutting in the Xijiang river networks is larger than that in the Beijiang river networks. Uneven riverbed down-cutting leads to changes of discharge ratio in river network nodes, during the flood season, flood diversion of the Xijiang river networks increases by 2%, and the peak discharge of the Makou and Tianhe stations increass by about 1 500 m3/s and 1 000 m3/s, respectively. The trend that the diversion ratio at Makou station decreases with the increase of upstream flood discharge does not change. Nevertheless, the uneven-riverbed-down-cutting caused diversion ratio changes increase. The riverbed uneven down-cutting in recent years is the major reason for the reduction of flood risk of the river networks in the PRD, especially in the central region of the PRD.


Discusses the geopolitics of place, nation and dis/location. Knowledges produced in the metropoles and exported to the periphery, including those produced by the diasporic elites have been found to be economically useful, socially uplifting and politically benign.


Department of Immunology/ Microbiology, Rush-PresbyterianSt. Luke's Medical Center, Chicago, Illinois 60612 Paramyxoviruses, which cause severe childhood diseases like measles, mumps, pneumonia, and acute upper respiratory tract illnesses, are characterized by a single-strand of RNA genome of negative polarity.(1) Recently, mRNA editing during viral transcription has been discovered in several paramyxoviruses. (2,3) Sendal virus is a prototype paramyxovirus and its genome consists of six genes (NP, P, M, HN, F, and L) which are transcribed into seven subgenomic-size mRNA species. Except for P, all of the genes are transcribed linearly into single mRNA species. The P gene gives rise to two major mRNA species, P and V, as a result of editing during transcription. The functions of various Sendal virus proteins in replication and pathogenesis are poorly understood.(1,4) The entire 15.4-kb genome of Sendal virus has been cloned and sequenced. (1) The cDNA clones, however, represent either partial or overlapping fragments of both the genomic RNA and mRNAs, and often several manipulations are required to create the entire coding region of an mRNA from these clones. (5,6) Thus, obtaining full-length clones for all of the Sendai virus mRNAs to study viral proteins and their interactions may require an inordinately long time. In this communication, we describe a method that allows generation of full-length mRNA clones (NP, P, V, M, F, and HN), including putatively regulatory 5 ' a n d 3 ' untranslated regions (UTR) in a relatively short time using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We believe that this approach will also be suitable for cloning other viral and cellular mRNAs.


The integrodifferential equations which describe the pseudo-periodic (quasi-periodic) structures in quantum mechanics and electromagnetics have been proposed and the algorithms of its solutions have been suggested.


We can assume that customer loyalty is due, including the organization of employee loyalty. To determine the degree of influence, consider a system of internal marketing as part of the personnel management system. Formation of competitive advantage and increase the competitiveness of the organization will be determined by the development of customer-oriented staff.


WiMAX is an IEEE 802.16 standard based wireless broadband access technology,which can provide more convenient broadband wireless access for communication terminals of fixed,mobile and portable forms.Compared with Wi-Fi and other communication technologies,WiMAX provides stronger interference immunity,higher broadband utilization.Therefore,in building a wireless city,the technical integration of WiMAX,3G and WiFi will creates a perfect broadband wireless network and achieves a digital life dream people aspire for.


How will another 220,000,000 Americans affect you? Professionally? Personally? How
 about the environment? These are the preliminary questions raised by a recent article
 in The Economist . In this editorial I will try to sketch a way to look at the issues.
 The gist of The Economist's article is that America and Europe show strong signs of
 diverging demographically, after many years of moving in tandem. Before 1980, both were
 dropping so far in fertility rates (the number of children born to each woman) that both
 were below the replacement level of about 2.1 children per woman.


AbstractHC11 mouse mammary epithelial cells can undergo a limited functional differentiation in terms of β-casein synthesis in response to the combined action of dexamethasone and prolactin. Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) can inhibit β-casein expression in HC11 cells in a dose-dependent manner. This effect is reversible and specific as shown by comparison with the effect of other growth factors. TGF-β also inhibits DNA synthesis of HC11 cells.These findings suggest a possible role of TGF-β as an inhibitor of functional differentiation in the mammary gland.


The disappearance of nucleolus has been traced in the rat erythroid cells in relation with the cell specialization under varying conditions, i. e.
in anemia with or without treatment by bromouracil and aminopterin. To make the findings more reliable the observations have been made on tissue section as well as on the smeared samples as the nucleolus becomes
often indistinct in smeared cell. The results indicate that under anemic condition nucleolus is lost by the late basoplilic stage. Treatment with bromouracil retained the nucleoli and cytoplasmic basophilicity till later
stage of cell specialization suggesting some similar mechanism of RNA disintegration both in nucleolus and cytoplasm.


The traditional artificial neural network based on gradient descent method result in low computational efficiency and local convergence for transient electromagnetic inversion. To solve the these problems, a hybrid approach combining principal component analysis (PCA) and online sequential extreme learning machine (OSELM) is proposed in this paper (PCA-OSELM) and is applied in the transient electromagnetic inversion. First, a principal component analysis method is introduced to reduce the dimension of vertical magnetic field data and improves the computational efficiency. Then, the new samples obtained from the data sets are added to the training samples as the next update information to establish the OSELM prediction models, so that improve the inversion accuracy. Finally, the inversion results of the two typical layered geoelectric models and a quasi two-dimensional geoelectric model show that the proposed approach can well solve the modeling nonlinear problem that high-dimensional data generated by transient electromagnetic method. Moreover, compared with other nonlinear inversion methods (OSELM, ELM), the PCA-OSELM achieves more accurate, better generalization ability and higher computational efficiency, which can provide new ideas for the application of neural networks in geophysical inversion.


This paper reviews the status of real-time imaging systems which are used in radiation-therapy for radiotherapy localization and verification. Imaging systems under review include (1) metal- fluorescent screens, optically coupled to video cameras; (2) metal-phosphor screen in direct contact with two-dimensional photo-diode array (flat panel detector); (3) two-dimensional liquid ionization chamber; and (4) linear diode arrays. These systems permit frequent verification during the treatment and have been shown to be very useful. Unfortunately the image quality achieved, while impressive considering the short time the devices have been on the market, is significantly inferior to that which is available from the metal/film combination (port film).


Our topic is type 1 diabetes and omission of insulin care on losing weight purposes. We use in our thesis unofficial term "diabulimia". This subject has really little amount of researches and literature about it. Our thesis ́s goal was to collect information of Finnish Diabetes Nurses knowledge and capacity to recognize and take care of patients who have diabulimia. Our goal was also to give diabetes nurses information about subject and that way to increase their capability to react it. Thesis ́s purpose was to increase diabetes nurses' knowledge and skills to recognize diabulimia and that way to speed up care path for patients with diabulimia. We made this thesis in collaboration with Finnish Diabetes Association. Thesis was executed as qualitative research. We send 200 questionnaires by e-mail to Diabetes Nurses. Questionnaire included open questions. We used qualitative content analysis. Especially with diabetics, eating disorders are hard to recognize. Diabetic nurses who answered to our questionnaire, felt that diabulimia is serious and difficult condition. They felt that it is difficult to bring it up in conversations with clients. Based on answers, there is need of more information from this subject. Diabetes Nurses would also want more concrete ways and guides how to recognize and take care of patients with diabulimia.


The fatigue life of metallic structure has significant relationship with the level of its stress.In this paper fatigue crack propagation mechanism and formula of crack growth rate calculation under compressive loadings are introduced.Opinion is given to the future of the researches on compression fatigue failure based on new results and methods in this field.


AbstractConcrete pipes are widely used in underground infrastructure and subject to different environmental conditions resulting in deterioration. Deteriorated pipes need to be rehabilitated to res...


ABSTRACT The author reflects on the historical and present systemic violence of universities; highlighting the experience of graduate student exploitation within the academy and the field of communication studies in particular. The article asks what it could mean for those of us the university wasn't built for to not only survive the university but to outlive it. The author offers four starting points to the end of the violent university: centering care work, maneuvering university resources, resisting ableist notions of productivity, and stealing back time, labor, land, and energy.


The article presents the socio-economic characteristics of the activity of the region's agricultural enterprises by the results of the questionnaire survey of enterprises' managers conducted in 2013. The obtained information has been the basis for identifying problems in the functioning of the Vologda Oblast agriculture and proposes the ways to improve the current situation.


Every new program executed by BAE Systems Space Systems continues to improve and mature the Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) development position. While the benefits of MBSE are realized internally, each program is forced to regress to a legacy document-based structure for customer interaction and contract deliverables. Until there is a paradigm shift in how contracts are fulfilled, there will be a need to adapt the model to traditional document deliverables. This paper discusses the challenges of adapting Model Based System Engineering models and development processes with legacy document based contracts through document representation within the model combined with document exportation. BAE Systems has embraced Model Based Systems Engineering since 2016 and continues to expand its application. Satisfying document-based deliverables without duplication of effort and information is essential to continue the rapid adoption of Model Based Systems Engineering.


Appendix E presents the theoretical aspects of the game theory that are followed by participants in a restructured energy market.