A CNF formula ψ is k-satisfiable if each k clauses of ψ can be satisfied simultaneously. Let π<inf>k</inf> be the largest real number such that for each k-satisfiable formula with variables x<inf>i</inf>, there are probabilities p<inf>i</inf> with the following property: If each variable x<inf>i</inf> is chosen randomly and independently to be true with the probability p<inf>i</inf>, then each clause of is satisfied with the probability at least π<inf>k</inf>.We determine the numbers π<inf>k</inf> and design a linear-time algorithm which given a formula either outputs that ψ is not k-satisfiable or finds probabilities p<inf>i</inf> such that each clause ψ of is satisfied with the probability at least π<inf>k</inf>. Our approach yields a robust linear-time deterministic algorithm which finds for a k-satisfiable formula a truth assignment satisfying at least the fraction of π<inf>k</inf> of the clauses.A related parameter is r<inf>k</inf> which is the largest ratio such that for each k-satisfiable CNF formula with m clauses, there is a truth assignment which satisfies at least r<inf>k</inf>m clauses. It was known that π<inf>k</inf> = r<inf>k</inf> for k = 1, 2, 3. We compute the ratio r<inf>4</inf> and show π<inf>4</inf> 6 = r<inf>4</inf>. We also design a linear-time algorithm which finds a truth assignment satisfying at least the fraction r<inf>4</inf> of the clauses for 4-satisfiable formulas.


The importance of classifying connections in large graphs has been the motivation for a rich line of work on distributed subgraph finding that has led to exciting recent breakthroughs. A crucial aspect that remained open was whether deterministic algorithms can be as efficient as their randomized counterparts, where the latter are known to be tight up to polylogarithmic factors. We give deterministic distributed algorithms for listing cliques of size p in n1 - 2/p + o(1) rounds in the Congest model. For triangles, our n1/3+o(1) round complexity improves upon the previous state of the art of n2/3+o(1) rounds [Chang and Saranurak, FOCS 2020]. For cliques of size p ≥ 4, ours are the first non-trivial deterministic distributed algorithms. Given known lower bounds, for all values p ≥ 3 our algorithms are tight up to a no(1) subpolynomial factor, which comes from the deterministic routing procedure we use.


The offshore industry, in particular the Gulf of Mexico, is still in a retrospective mode, assessing the impact from the subsea blowout in early 2010 and the ongoing global economic crisis.


This paper considers the question of whether international banks learn from their previous crisis experiences and reduce their lending to developing countries in the event of a financial crisis. The analysis combines a bank-level dataset of bank activity and ownership with country-level data on the stock of historical crisis events between 1800 and 2005. To circumvent selection and endogeneity concerns, the paper exploits temporal variations in the relative recency of crises as instruments for crisis experience. The results indicate that foreign banks with greater crisis experience reduced their lending significantly more relative to other foreign banks, which can be interpreted as evidence in favor of a learning effect. The findings survive robustness checks that include alternative measures of crisis experience, additional controls, and decompositions into different types of crises. The question of learning is also examined from the perspective of other measures of bank performance.


Contents: Introduction. Jamming in Jazz and Improv Theater. Interaction and Emergence: An Interactional Semiotics. Group Creativity and the Arts. Group Creativity as Mediated Action. Degrees of Improvisation in Group Creativity. Collective Ideation: Creativity, Teamwork, and Collaboration.


The optimum conditions for growth and lipid production of Rhodotorula marina IFO 0879 were investigated. The optimum temperature and pH of cultivation was and pH 6.0-7.0, respectively. During shaking of the culture for 8 days at , the maximum cell biomass of Rh. marina was 9.82g per liter of the medium, and the lipid content obtained was 35.4(w/w) of the dry cell biomass. Lactose and glucose were the most effective carbon sources for the lipid production. Ammonium sulfate was found to be the most effective nitrogen in culture medium the growth of the yeast was retarded, whereas its growth was favored at high concentrations with decreased lipid yield. When lacose was added during fermentation, in the initial stage cell biomass and lipid production were lower than those of the control, but in the later stage the trend were reversed. The major fatty acids of yeast lipid were palmitic acid(20.3%), oleic acid(46.6%) and linoleic acid(16.2%)


Presently, there is much interest in models of the measurement process. We use the technique of Markovian master equations to describe the interaction of various systems with an environment of harmonic oscillators. As described by Zurek,' we find that certain couplings tend to diagonalize the system's reduced density operator in the so-called pointer basis. In general terms, we are considering a quantum system, S, on which one carries out measurements via a quantum apparatus, A, which is coupled to an environment, E. In the first stage of the measurement (as shown by von Neumann'), unitary evolution introduces correlations between the state vectors of S and A . (This is not destroyed by the presence of the environment.) Also, after the correlation has been established, the interaction between S and A is essentially negligible. However, when the measurement is completed, there is an apparent ambiguity as to which states the quantum system will find itself in; this in turn stems from the ambiguity in the choice of the preferred basis for A (the variables of A being "traced out" in the second stage of the measurement). Zurek argues that a natural choice of what is actually observed emerges by consideration of an interaction, H A E , between A and E that establishes correlations between A and E. In essence, HA, determines the so-called "pointer observable," P, as being the observable for which [ P , H A ~ ] = 0. In other words, taking the environment, E, into account determines the mixture into which the S-A-E collapsed. There has been a recent surge of activity in many different areas that focuses on the crucial role of the environment. For example, in condensed matter physics, Caldeira and Leggett' and many others have considered the effect of dissipation due to the environment on quantum tunneling of a macroscopic variable. Zeh4 and Wigner' pointed out that it is virtually impossible to isolate a macroscopic body, which, in turn,


The South African photographer Michelle Booth exhibited her highly discussed show "Seeing White" in Cape Town (2003) and Johannesburg (2004) and Sao Paulo, Brazil (2004). Having been involved in anti-apartheid politics since the late eighties, she continued to be active in politics after 1994, hence with a changing approach. Being involved in close personal relationships with Black people increased her awareness of the continuing everyday reality of racism in Postapartheids South Africa.' Michelle Booth chose the arts as her actual medium of commitment towards change by identifying dominant concepts of whiteness as still highly problematic. The persistent chance of not seeing whiteness, taking it as a given centre, provides a non-fractured comfort zone of hegemonial white selfidentification. A kind of invisible white inner space for those included, serving as a comfort zone/centre, that is defined by surrounding ethicized and culturally othered' groups which are excluded from within. Michelle Booth is publicly interrogating whiteness, intending to take away white comfort zones by visualizing them as such.


This case study involves an 8-year-old American Indian student with a disability, who was videotaped assaulting another student as they exited the school bus. Although acts of school violence are common on campuses across the nation, this incident is particularly complex, given the disability status of the student committing this act. This case provides an opportunity for both practicing and aspiring school leaders to explore a number of administrative and ethical dilemmas related to the discipline of students with disabilities and other special educational needs, utilizing a framework grounded in principles of social justice and equity.


With the ever-growing bandwidth consumption and malicious activity, detecting malicious traffic and reactively filtering this malicious traffic is essential to protect networks. Running an Intrusion Detection System (IDS) can be done on a separate, dedicated machine, but can also be done on a Data Processing Unit (DPU). This research looks into the possibilities and limitations of the Nvidia BlueField DPU. This in regards to the optimization of IDS software, where we implement an IDS on the BlueField DPU. To measure the performance, large amounts of (malicious) traffic are sent to be processed by the DPU. We found several general optimizationand Bluefield specific optimization techniques for the IDS software, like DOCA, DPDK and XDP & eBPF. Unfortunately, due to compatibility constraints, we experienced issues regarding compiling and running these optimizations. Because of the limitations, we experimented with running an IDS on the BlueField DPU without any optimizations and sent traffic with various throughputs to measure its performance. The results showed that the BlueField-1 is capable of running a transparent IDS on the DPU, but lacks the performance when processing large amounts of malicious traffic. This is due to the lack of optimizations within the software, and the lack of hardware acceleration features on the BlueField-1 to process traffic more efficiently.


present study predicted and showed a differentiated influence of nice and nasty environments on complex problem solving (CPS). Environments were constructed by manipulating the target value ''capital'' of a complex scenario: Participants in the nice environment (N042) easily raised the capital and received positive feedback, whereas those in the nasty environment (N042) hardly enhanced the capital and got negative feedback. The results showed that nasty environments increased negative and decreased positive affect. The reverse was true for nice environments. Furthermore, nasty environments influenced CPS by leading to a higher information retrieval and a better CPS performance. Surprisingly, the influence of environment on CPS was not mediated through affect (cf. Soldat & Sinclair, 2001), as recent affectÁcognition theories suggest. The missing influence of affect and the strong impact of environment are discussed. Individuals face complex problems every day, ranging from personal problems like relationships to more general ones like the current banking crisis. Beside the personal ability to solve a problem, the environment has a great influence on problem solving. A manager, for instance, changes the style of leading a company depending on the economic situation. This paper analyses the influence of environments on complex problem solving by distinguishing between a nice and nasty ones. A problem per definition arises ''when we have a goal*a state of affairs that we want to achieve* and it is not immediately apparent how the goal can be attained'' (Holyoak, 1995, p. 269). Problem solving consists of an initial state, a goal state, a number of intermediate states, and a set of operators. A problem solver uses the operators to


The present invention provides a plurality of different types of wireless transmit receive unit (WRTU), method and system for handling wireless services efficiently across the radio access technology in a wireless transmit receive unit (WTRU) capable of operating in a network of multiple machines.


Abstract The existence of three types of salts of amino acid hexafluorosilicates 2 A+ · SiF62–, A2+ · SiF62– and 2(A ··· A+) · SiF62–, where A is an amino acid in zwitterionic state, A+ is a singly charged cation, A2+ is a doubly charged cation and (A ··· A+) is a dimeric cation with a short hydrogen bond, have been established, in the literature (Ghazaryan, V. V.; Fleck, M.; Petrosyan, A. M.: Salts of amino acids with hexafluorosilicate anion. J. Cryst. Growth (2011), doi: 10.1016/j.jcysgro.2011.11.017). Here we report the investigation of hexafluorosilicates of α-alanine. Both L- and DL-alanine form salts according to the main 2 A+ · SiF62– type: 2L-Ala+ · SiF62– · 3 H2O and 2DL-Ala+ · SiF62– · 2 H2O. In addition we found that L-alanine forms a new A+ · (A ··· A+) · SiF62– type of salt: L-Ala+ · (L-Ala ··· L-Ala+) · SiF62– · H2O. Results of structural and vibrational spectroscopic studies are described and discussed.


In the magnetized plasma of a hollow cathode arc the longitudinal and rotational drift velocities of ions have been measured, together with the electron and neutral densities and the temperatures of ions, electrons, and neutrals. The radial and longitudinal gradients of these quantities have been established. The ions drift against the electric field towards the anode with velocities between about 500 and 2500 m/s, driven by the plasma pressure gradient which is balanced by viscous deceleration and by friction against the surrounding neutral gas. The classical theory of the momentum balance with a turbulent contribution to the viscosity provides a good description of the longitudinal ion transport and explains direction and magnitude of the occurring drift velocity.


An FEM model of studying sound propagation in annular duct with mean swirling flow is developped in this paper,and shows a discussion about homoenropic and isentropic flows.Classical FEM can be applied to solve single governing equation with one variable,but for the model of sound propagation in annular duct with ununiform mean flow such as swirling flow,the governing equations cannot be simplified.A method of solving coupled equations for sound propagation study of ducts is proposed.The paper gives a show of the effects of different impedance of liner on sound propagation, and we also study sound propagation rules of different modes including cut-on and cut-off modes. Through the comparison of results from FEM and normal mode analysis method,the FEM model has been proved.


According to the function of cluster technology,the characteristics of ant colony algorithm and clustering technology have been cleared and applied flexibly in network monitoring so as to improve the monitoring performance. This thesis is to analyze intrusion technology and clustering algorithm,pinpoint the problems existing in practice of the related technology,then analyze the variation factors. The accuracy of calculation can be ensured through the working of related programs. Another research point is to systematically explore the improvement of ant colony technology through related issues.


Glenvale Christian School is on an exciting journey. Run by an association of parents who are striving to provide the best Christian education for their children, the school is an exciting alternative for parents who want Christ centred education and the ability to be part of the educational process. This means more than just dropping and picking up their children to the school gate. With 58 students at the end of June, the school enjoys having a culture that children are safe to grow to their potential. We are blessed with our new library which contains our administration, computer lab of 20 computers and a growing collection of reading material with healthy content. This will be opened early Term 4, 2010. Even though we are blessed with resources, our caring teachers are what make the school what it is.


A HPLC method was established for determining 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl(DPPH) free radical scavenging activity of Desmodium renifolium Schindl methanol extracts.The best chromatographic conditions: the mobile phase was a mixture of methanol and water pumped at a flow rate of 1 mL/min,the DPPH peaks were monitored at 517 nm,the column temperature was 20 oC,and the Sample volume was 20.0 μL.Under the optimal conditions,IC50 of scavenging DPPH free radical of methanol extracts from Desmodium renifolium Schindl is 1.51 mg/mL.


Abstract In this research article, a metasurface (MTS)-loaded high-gain and broadband circularly polarized (CP) monopole antenna is reported. The proposed antenna configuration consists of a symmetric Y-shaped radiating monopole over a partial ground plane with extended twin parasitic conducting strips (PCS) loaded with a MTS reflector. To achieve left-hand circular polarization characteristics, a metallic copper strip is utilized to short the partial ground plane with one of the twin PCS [PCS(L)]. By using the grid-slotted sub patches on a rectangular MTS a reflector of 2λfa × 1.65λfa × 0.02λfa is placed just below the monopole radiator at a height of 0.33λfa, which provides broadened impedance (IBW) and 3 dB axial ratio bandwidth (ARBW) responses with high gain. The proposed prototype with an volumetric dimension of 1.33λfa × 0.9λfa × 0.02λfa at fa = 5 GHz is designed and characterized. It exhibits a measured IBW of 48.45% (3.57–5.89 GHz), ARBW of 25.25% (4.21–5.42 GHz), and CP gain of > 8.35 dBic with the antenna efficiency of > 75% in the desired operating frequency bands. The obtained performances of the proposed MTS antenna confirm its suitability for RF energy harvesting application.


To the railway driver system,the theoretical ideas about integrating traction,running gear and braking technology have been bring forward,and integrating traction,running gear,braking technology are designed to a whole.This device together in a highly integrated form,the integration and in particular the technology switch within these three areas yield a number of synergies.A more detailed analysis is done on through curve of the subway locomotive with static and dynamic performance,derailment coefficient and friction power.Research shows that integration subway power car has good static and dynamic performance through the curve and it can pass a smaller radius curve.


In the advanced countries there is an increasingly strong realisation that science and technology have been used irrationally with total disregard and to the detriment of societies and man. It has been built to help a technocratic society which is not only artificial but highly fragile and potentially catastrophic in that its breakdown would threaten the lives of millions of people. The recent oil crisis has brought it home to many.


centuries had been Spain's American empire had become independent Spanish America. Cuba and Puerto Rico alone remained colonies. Before 1795 only a restricted group of merchant houses in Mexico City were legally permitted to trade directly with Spain. But in 1795 Charles IV opened Veracruz and Guadalajara to direct trade. The commercial consequences of the change were not immediately apparent. By late 1796 Spain had gone to war with Great Britain and was cut off from the American empire by the British navy. As Javier Ortiz de la Tabla demonstrated in Comercio exterior de Veracruz, 1778-1821 (Sevilla, 1978), trade through Veracruz remained erratic. Jackie Booker summarizes the secondary literature on these subjects and provides a serviceable mise-en-scene. But his interest is merchants rather than merchandise. The Veracruz merchants were, as a group, not unlike their (sometimes literal) cousins in Mexico City. Generally recruited from the montanas of Santander, they went out to Mexico as young bachelors and joined uncles, fathers, and brothers already established in commerce. They formed trading partnerships among themselves and trafficked in everything: sugar, flour, cotton, fruit, wood, cochineal, cloth, and silver. Although overseas trade from Veracruz inevitably centered on Spain, its merchant community had a certain cosmopolitanism. The powerful Anglo-Mexican house of Gordon and Murphy operated out of Veracruz and exported specie during the war with the connivance of Great Britain. Merchants involved in the Caribbean flour trade that linked Philadelphia, Baltimore, Havana, and La Guayra were based in Veracruz as well. Booker figures that Veracruz wholesalers typically earned about 15 percent on their investments, but privileged houses such as Gordon and Murphy certainly did far better. These profits found their way into a variety of other enterprises. Veracruz merchants were particularly active in financing cotton textile producers in Puebla, to whom they advanced substantial sums. The strategies that Veracruz merchants employed to consolidate and preserve their wealth, and to advance their status, prestige, and power, were not unlike those employed by merchants elsewhere in Mexico. A good marriage, substantial inheritance, and ordinary thrift helped ensure success. Readers familiar with David Brading's Miners and Merchants in Bourbon Mexico, 1763-1810 (Cambridge, 1971) will find little to surprise them in Booker's account of mercantile families and the Veracruz elite. After 1800 the merchants of Veracruz faced a series of reverses and contretemps: the secularization of church mortgages, tensions associated with the overthrow of Viceroy Iturrigaray (1808), the commercial contraction that accompanied the insurgency of the 1810s, and the uncertainties associated with anti-Spanish laws of 1827 and 1829. The legal opening of Tampico as an alternative to Veracruz in late 1814 was of considerable significance. By 1827 exports through Tampico had grown to nearly 50 percent of exports through Veracruz. The erosion of the dominance of Veracruz was not simply a matter of politics. Comparative advantage counted as well. This is, in short, an informative and useful volume. Future students of Veracruz will consider it a point of departure. Commercial historians of Latin America will consult it as well. RICHARD SALVUCCI, Trinity University


Upon growing up in a home permeated with the tones of his sister's professional-level piano playing of the greatest classical composers, Alexander Gurwitsch set out to pursue an artistic life of his own, as a painter, but in failing his entrance exams to the academy of arts, embarked instead on a path that would forever change the course of science. Though he never lost the passion for the classical arts, and spent many hours of his own playing through the works of Beethoven in particular, Alexander Gurwitsch's revolutionary contributions to human progress would come out of his works in the domain of biology, the implications of which are only now becoming recognized for what they imply pertaining to the universal domain of what we call "cosmic radiation". In his first year of medical college Alexander's mind was shaped in a fundamental way through intensive work with a relative of his, later a famous member of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, Leonid Mandelstamm, who worked him through the newly published works of Einstein, on the theory of relativity. It was out of this work that Gurwitsch was led to introduce into biology, for the first time in modern history, the concept of the field.


Hu Jichuang was one of the main exploiters and founders of the history of Chinese economic thoughts In the process of analyzing and studying the Chinese History of Economic Thoughts, he explored a suit of scientific methods, put forward a series of original opinions about the development and evolvement of ancient and modern Chinese economic thoughts


Motivation. Substituted 1,3,5-triazines are known as useful herbicidal substances. In view of reducing the cost of biological screening, computational methods are carried out for evaluating the biological activity of organic compounds. Often a class of bioactives differs only in the substituent attached to a basic skeleton. In such cases substituent descriptors will give the same prospecting results as in case of using the whole molecule description, but with significantly reduced computational time. Such descriptors are useful in describing steric effects involved in chemical reactions. Method. Molecular topology is the method used for substituent description and multi linear regression analysis as a statistical tool. Results. Novel topological descriptors, XLDS and Ws, based on the layer matrix of distance sums and walks in molecular graphs, respectively, are proposed for describing the topology of substituents linked on a chemical skeleton. They are tested for modeling the esterification reaction in the class of benzoic acids and herbicidal activity of 2-difluoromethylthio-4,6-bis(monoalkylamino)-1,3,5-triazines. Conclusions. Ws substituent descriptor, based on walks in graph, satisfactorily describes the steric effect of alkyl substituents behaving in esterification reaction, with good correlations to the Taft and Charton steric parameters, respectively. Modeling the herbicidal activity of the seo of 1,3,5-triazines exceeded the models reported in literature, so far.


Michael Benton's book focuses on the largest mass extinction of life on Earth known to science, when indeed, life did nearly die! The book is organized into twelve chapters. Chapters 1–4 provide a historical discourse which explores early discoveries of vertebrate fossils, the development of Cuvier's concept of extinction, and the contributions of Murchison, Smith, Phillips, Lyell and others to stratigraphy in general, to the Permian in particular, and to the development of the concept of catastrophism. I enjoyed these early chapters, into which Benton folds his own personal experiences, and in which he brings alive Victorian geology. Like Benton, I also cut my geological teeth in the Yorkshire dales and on the Yorkshire coast, and yes, I still dream about finding a 'Yorkshire crocodile' of my own! Chapter 5, 'Impact!', heralds the Alvarez 'neocatastrophism' era and the rise of the extra-terrestrial impact 'mafia'. Studies of the Ries Tertiary impact and the Cretaceous–Tertiary impact event and mass extinction are provided as a necessary backdrop to considerations for causative mechanisms for the greatest mass extinction of them …


The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DS) is a multisystem chromosomal deletion disorder with pleotropic phenotypic presentations that may be subtle. We examine retrospectively whether we can support the diagnosis of 22q11.2DS by flow cytometric analysis of platelets for surface CD42 (GPIb/V/IX) as ~89% of these patients (with the classical deletion) should have a deficiency of GPIbbeta due to loss of one copy of the GPIBB gene. Loss of one copy of GPIBB may result in macrothrombocytopenia and a mild bleeding diathesis. We characterized the bleeding manifestations and the level of expression of the CD42 complex in patients with known 22q11.2 deletion to determine if CD42 levels could be used to assess bleeding risk. We evaluated 56 patients with 22q11.2 deletion and compared them to age-matched controls with normal platelet counts and no bleeding as well as with controls evaluated for concern for platelet disorder (platelet disorder subjects – PDS), mostly other thrombocytopenias. Comparisons were also made for other platelet parameters. Expression of the CD42b (GP1bb) varied in individuals with the 22q11.2 deletion. Although only 30/56 (54%) subjects had low CD42 expression ( 2 0.18, p 9, plt 7), the diagnosis of 22q11.2 deletion syndrome results in a specificty of 85% to detect 22q11.2DS with a positive predictive value of 67% when at least 3 of the 4 criteria are present. We suggest that if subjects evaluated for thrombocytopenia manifest this constellation, appropriate genetic testing should be considered and sent, especially given that the manifestations of the disorder can be subtle, but the consequences for management are significant. Future studies will focus on prospectively evaluating all subjects with the combination of decreased CD42 expression, macrothrombocytopenia and low normalized CD42:CD41 ratio to see if this combination can predict the presence of 22q11.2 deletion. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


This article explores the evolution of the eschatological identity of the Church of Scotland within the framework of English puritan apocalyptic thought in the period 1630–50. From the beginnings of reformation, English protestant theologians constructed an elaborate series of readings of Biblical apocalyptic texts through which they attempted to understand contemporary events. By the 1630s, English puritan exegetes had begun to identify within the Biblical text a distinctive role for Scottish Presbyterianism. The Scottish church, which, in the opinion of many English puritans, moved towards a more rigorously reformed ecclesiology as the 1630s progressed, was identified as a harbinger of the millennial glory that English puritans would shortly share. But as the relationship between Parliament and Presbytery turned sour, English puritans increasingly identified the Scottish church as the apocalyptic menace that stood in the way of their millennial fulfilment – a feeling made vivid in the rhetoric of the Cr...


By reviewing the research of development economics in recent years, five key terms of 'innovation, coordination, green, openness and sharing' are extracted, corresponding to the five dimensions of the New Development Concept advocated by China. Based on this, an evaluation index system of the development quality of China's fishery industry is constructed. The spatio-temporal characteristics of China's fishery industry development quality were analyzed by using the provincial panel data from 2007 to 2017. The results show that: i) China's fishery industry overall development quality continues to grow, while the variation of provincial quality is also increasing, and the contribution of innovation quality and sharing quality is increasing, becoming an important sub-dimension leading the overall development quality.ii) there is a significant spatial dependence among provincial quality, and the significance is further strengthening. The Hangzhou Bay area and Bohai Bay area have gradually become a dual-core area where the high-quality development of China's fishery industry agglomeration, and the radiation from the dual-core area to the peripheral areas may still be in the process of enhancement. The spatial and temporal distribution of China's fishery industry development quality keeps the trend of 'from northeast to southwest', which is almost parallel to Hu Huanyong line. The gravity center of its distribution is close to the gravity center of Chinese population and economy, and the development quality experienced a process from relatively concentrated to dispersed and then returned to concentrated, and the development speed in the later period was higher than that in the earlier period. iii) Capital accumulation level is the dominant positive influencing factors, while government support level is the dominant negative influencing factors respectively, and both have significant spatial differentiation among provinces.


SiCTiB_2 composites with TiC and B_4C as raw materials were obtained by in-situ synthesis on the basis of SiC.Tribological characteristics of SiC and SiCTiB_2 at elevated temperature were investigated by testing the fraction coefficient and specific wear rate at different temperatures and different pressures.For the self-mated pairs of SiCTiB_2(SiCTiB_2/SiCTiB_2),the self-lubrication characteristic is good at elevated temperature in the air with a contact pressure of 0.2 MPa,and at a sliding velocity of 0.3 m/s.The impacts of temperature on friction coefficients and specific wear rates of self-mated pairs of(SiC)TiB_2 depend on the contact pressure.The maximum specific wear rate is obtained at the contact pressure of 0.4 MPa.The components in the worn debris of SiCTiB_2/SiCTiB_2 were determined by X-ray diffraction,and the worn cross-section of SiCTiB_2/SiCTiB_2 were observed by scanning electron microscope,the tribo-oxidization at elevated temperature is the dominant wear mechanism of SiCTiB_2/SiCTiB_2.The worn cross-section of the sample includes an oxide thin film,a transitional layer and the sub-surface of the matrix,among which the oxide thin film and transitional layer of SiCTiB_2 composites contact with each other closely,the worn debris has a typical parcel structure and the major oxide is amorphous silica.The smooth oxidation layer improves the plastic deformation of the contact surface,decreases the frictional stress,and reduces the specific wear rate of SiCTiB_2/SiCTiB_2.


Summary This paper presents a hybrid strategy-based coordinate controller with a novel nonlinear disturbance observer for autonomous underwater vehicle manipulator systems (UVMSs). This method can reduce the influence from external unknown disturbances, inner coupling effects and model uncertainties by using a modified disturbance observer. Considering the natural redundancy property of the UVMS, the redundancy resolution algorithm is often utilized to give desired trajectories in the vehicle–joint space. However, because of the calibration errors, assembling errors and numerical errors, these desired trajectories may not lead the end-effector to the goal point accurately. To realize accurate motion control even when small errors exist in the planning phase, a hybrid strategy is introduced to transform the controller in the joint–vehicle space to the controller in the task space. Numerical simulations based on a UVMS have been carried out to testify the effectiveness of the proposed coordinate controller and the hybrid strategy. During the simulations, unknown disturbances are exerted upon the system. The trajectory tracking and error fixing performances are discussed in comparative analyses. The controller also maintains robust characteristics in comparison with the passivity-based controller and the proposed controller but without the disturbance observer. Experiments are also carried out to test its performance.


Vaults are evolutionarily highly conserved ribonucleoprotein (RNP) particles with a hollow barrel‐like structure. Although roles in multidrug resistance and innate immunity have been suggested, the physiological function of vaults remains unclear. Major vault protein (MVP), the main component of the vault particle, has been reported to be induced by hypoxia. However, there are no reports about the effect of vaults on cellular responses to hypoxia. We thus examined whether vaults are implicated in cellular responses to hypoxia. In this study, we focused on hypoxia‐inducible factor‐1α (HIF‐1α), which is a master regulator of hypoxic responses, and found that: (i) MVP knockdown by RNA interference increases HIF‐1α protein levels induced by hypoxia and hypoxia mimetics; (ii) MVP knockdown does not affect HIF‐1α mRNA levels, but decreases the ubiquitination and degradation of HIF‐1α protein; and (iii) vaults form complexes with HIF‐1α, PHD2, and pVHL. Taken together, these results suggest that vaults function as scaffolds in HIF‐1α degradation pathway and promote the ubiquitination and degradation of HIF‐1α.


Electric power industry is extensively using gas-insulated systems for the transmission and distribution of electrical energy. In high-voltage technology, the gas insulation is dominated by Sulphur-hexafluoride (SF6) since the early 60th. It is a greenhouse gas and has long atmospheric lifetime. This paper proposes comparatively more environmental friendly R410 gas as an alternative to SF6 for high-voltage applications. To validate the performance and theoretical concepts, it has been analysed experimentally. Buffer gases air and carbon dioxide were mixed with the base gas R410A to reduce the liquification temperature and global warming potential. Dielectric strength of R410A was tested for DC as well as AC voltage, results were compared with that of SF6 and other alternatives available in literature, and the results were comparable. Insulation self-recoverability test of R410A was performed and the synergistic effect of the mixed gases was calculated. Consequently, this work has discovered that R410A is the suitable alternative to SF6 for high-voltage applications.


Lodz Province is one of the regions o f high unemployment, where the majority are older people. The aim of this study is to present and estimate the specific problems o f people over 45 on the labour market based on the opinions o f the participants o f "'Alliance for Work" project. Respondents were uniform when it comes to sex, age and long job seniority; they work on the positions that require average qualifications. The dominating positions are taken mainly by people at the age of 45-50: 77.8% nurses, 68.6% office workers, 75% medical technicians. To sum up, the respondents' opinion about the situation of employees over 45 on the labour market in Lodz, older workers may face difficulties in finding work or even be discriminated because o f their age. However the problem should not concern all groups o f workers over 45 in the same extent. Preliminary research indicated that people who had changed work at least few times, representatives o f some professions (f.e. doctors, nurses), employees on certain positions (f.e. managers), people with higher education, may have less problems in linding work.


In view of the characteristics of spacecraft control system software and spacecraft rendezvous and docking(RVD),several methods for enhancing software reliability are proposed by using the software reliability theory in this paper.The reliability design of the RVD mission software is proposed,which enhances the spacecraft control system reliability.


Various campaigns such as 'Save the Earth', 'Earth Hour', and 'Reduce, Reuse, Recycle' are held to create environmental awareness among the general public. The effort is seen endlessly using any means of presentation and communication medium in order to ensure the intended message reach its audience. Meanwhile, the availability of mobile devices and the advent of natural user interfaces have simplified the interaction in games so that it is intuitive for vast audience at different abilities. Hence, this would possibly provide wider audience an engaging experience while playing games and at the same time absorbing the intended message. This article describes the process of designing and developing a go-green tridimensional (3D) game on a mobile platform. It also discusses educational benefits of games and how the concept of environmental awareness is integrated into the game play in order to educate the general public especially the young ones about their social roles. Initial results on performance assessment reveal that the functionality of interactive elements in the game is excellent and young ones did not have difficulties in playing the game. Future work will focus on how 3D mobile games facilitate informal learning process such as inculcating environmental awareness to the general public. DOI:  http://dx.doi.org/10.11591/telkomnika.v11i6.2657


This paper analyzes employees' needs based on different human nature hypothesis, and deduces their turnover intention from Motivator-Hygiene Theory. Employees with Economic Man Hypothesis have no satisfaction in turnover intention, whether to leave job is mainly determined by costs of turnover. Employees with social man hypothesis have partial non-satisfaction and dissatisfaction in turnover intention, whether to leave is determined by organizational commitment. Employees with self-actualizing man hypothesis have dissatisfaction in turnover intention, whether to leave job is mainly determined by job satisfaction.


Stimulated emission from single-crystal ZnSe and ZnTe films grown on sapphire was observed when they were excited longitudinally by an electron beam.


The major health indexes based on the classical concepts of mortality and morbidity are reviewed while emphasizing their limitations: underestimation of health problems socio-economic impact, inadequacy for the evaluation of certain main objectives of health care delivery systems, purely negative measurement of health. This paper investigates the recent attempts to improve these aspects: extension of the concept of morbidity by the introduction of disability measurements and the development of a "positive health" concept. Finally, a discussion is presented of the major health indexes whose development is based on the use of these concepts and the main conceptual, methodological problems they give rise to.


We present an efficient neuromorphic formulation to accurately solve the inverse kinematics problem for redundant manipulators. Our approach involves a dynamical learning procedure based on a novel formalism in neural network theory: the concept of "terminal" attractors. Topographically mapped terminal attractors are used to define a neural network whose synaptic elements can rapidly encapture the inverse kinematics transformations, and, subsequently generalize to compute joint-space coordinates required to achieve arbitrary end-effector configurations. Unlike prior neuromorphic im-plementations, this technique can also systematically exploit redundancy to optimize kinematic criteria, e.g. torque optimization. Simulations on 3-DOF and 7-DOF redundant manipulators, are used to validate our theoretical framework and illustrate its computational efficacy.


The purpose of this thesis is to develop a model to enhance the effectiveness of machining centers with multi-pallet automatic pallet changers (APCs). From critical literature review no existing th ...


Based on the careful sedimentary facies analysis of Devonian in SE Yunnan, there are 9 third-order sequences in the platform and platform margin areas, whereas only 3 second-order ones in the deep basin. According to the analysis of sea l evel fluctuation and tectonic movement, we think the origin of this difference i s the tilt tensioning which causes the sinking velocity of depression side to be always larger than the velocity of sea levels falling and sedimentation so th at the sedimentary sequence is fewer. The third-order and higher (high-frequen cy) sequence are mainly controlled by the tectonism. Because the intensity of te ctonism is different, they cant be correlated regionally. And the same sequenc e boundary in different region shows different features.


Myocardial infarction (MI) is characterized by an inequity of coronary blood supply and demand, which results in myocardial ischemic injury and damages the cardiomyocytes. Isoproterenol (ISO) is a synthetic catecholamine cause toxicity leading to severe stress in the myocardium of experimental animals. The aim of the present article is to investigate cardioprotective activity of cranberry extract against ISO-induced cardiotoxicity in adult rats. Oral administration of cranberry extract at a concentration of 75 and 150 mg/kg b.wt. daily for 28 days showed a significant protection againstinduced alteration in plasma total cholesterol (TC), triacyclglycerols (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein (LDL-C), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) and nitric oxide (NO) as well as cardiac superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), reduced glutathione (GSH), catalase (CAT) levels. In addition, cranberry extract reduced plasma Creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB), lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) as well as cardiac thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) levels (MDA) as compared to control group. In conclusion, cranberry extract renders resiliency against isoproterenol cardiotoxicity due to its antioxidant and free radical scavenging activity.


Green thunderstorms are observed occasionally. Only the severest
 thunderstorms are green. With one exception, they have received no
 scientific attention, experimental or theoretical. Fraser suggested
 that a thick thunderstorm provides a dark backdrop. Greenness is a
 consequence of reddened sunlight illuminating selective scatterers
 along the observer's line of sight. Thus a thunderstorm is not green,
 it is a black backdrop for green airlight near sundown. An alternative
 explanation, more in accord with my observations, is that green
 thunderstorms may be a consequence of the intrinsic blueness of clouds
 because of absorption by pure water, liquid or ice. Most clouds are so
 thin that the light transmitted by them is not markedly colored
 because of absorption. Only the most massive clouds, large both
 vertically and horizontally, are thick enough to color incident
 sunlight upon transmission. If that incident light is reddened, the
 transmitted light can be perceptually green.


This article advances the perspective that consumers who engage in online collaboration construct, re-present, and create their Net self not primarily for others to view, but also for self-realization. A review of different ontological realities of the Net as a space for consumer activity provides the contextual framework from where possible forms and expressions of consumer self-realization on the Net become apparent. Empirical evidence is based on an online questionnaire and netnographic observation of the free/open-source movement. The findings reveal that consum-ers' various forms of self-realization on the Net are characterized by 'materialization of mind' and 'passionate work', 'gift-giving' and 'the communal self', 'tech-culture' and 'revolution'. The achieve-ment of a digital Higher self is accompanied by a 'sense of immortality' and 'merging with the Other'.


In the loose credit policy environment, regional economic growth in China is facing the hitherto unknown opportunities, the dynamic prediction of regional economic growth is researched to improve macro-control ability of trade and economy, the traditional Lyapunove index prediction accuracy is not high, the dynamic prediction of regional economic growth under the loose credit policy is proposed based on Bayesian game model. The regional economic growth constraint parameter model under the loose credit policy is constructed, and the mathematical model is constructed by using the dynamic model of regional economic growth, interest rate and liquidity. Prediction model of regional economic growth is constructed by currency devaluation, national economic growth index of GDP, prices rising consumer price index (CPI), correlation index. Bayesian game model is used for the contribution weight equilibrium game. The dynamical accurate prediction of regional economic growth is realized. The empirical analysis results show that, the method for prediction of regional economy is more accurate, the confidence is good, it has high regional economic analysis, under the loose monetary and credit conditions, with the group state holding enterprises of bank enterprise relation adjustment, policy guidance financial institutions with economic structure adjustment, and economic growth is promoted.


Co-evolutionary learning of the iterated prisoner's dilemma (IPD) has been used to model and simulate interactions, which may not be realistic due to assumptions of a fixed and symmetric payoff matrix for all players. Recently, we proposed to extend the co-evolutionary learning framework for any two-player repeated encounter game to model more realistic behavioral interactions. One issue we studied is to endow players with individual and self-adaptive payoff matrix to model individual variations in their utility expectations of rewards for making certain decisions. Here, we study a different issue involving contextual asymmetric actors. The differences in the utility expectations (payoff matrix) are due to contextual circumstances (external) such as political roles rather than variations in individual preferences (internal). We emphasize the model of interactions among contextually asymmetric actors through a multi-population structure in the co-evolutionary learning framework where different populations representing different actor roles interact. We study how different actor roles modelled by fixed and asymmetric payoff matrices can have an impact to the outcome of co-evolutionary learning. As an illustration, we apply co-evolutionary learning of two contextually asymmetric actors from the spanish democratic transition.


The invention relates to a method for producing a cassava food. The outer skin of cassava tuberous roots is peeled, and then the cassava tuberous roots are sliced, precooked, steamed with steam, dried and sieved to obtain finished products. The method has simple operation and low production cost; the finished products do not contain hydrocyanic acid, have the original flavor of cassava and can be eaten directly.


A weak f-contact structure, introduced in our recent works, generalizes the classical f-contact structure on a smooth manifold, and its characteristic distribution defines a totally geodesic foliation with flat leaves. We find the splitting tensor of this foliation and use it to show positive definiteness of the Jacobi operators in the characteristic directions and to obtain a topological obstruction (including the Adams number) to the existence of weak f-K-contact manifolds, and prove integral formulas for a compact weak f-contact manifold. Based on applications of the weak f-contact structure in Riemannian contact geometry considered in the article, we expect that this structure will also be fruitful in theoretical physics, e.g., in QFT.


Semantic (ontology-based) collaborative web tools are promising means for supporting stakeholder collaboration for integrated infrastructure development. However, the development of a single ontology to serve the variety of collaborating stakeholders is not feasible given the multidisciplinary nature of the domain and the uniqueness of each project. As such, to efficiently develop and deploy such collaborative tools, ontology merging techniques are required for facilitating interoperability among ontologies of collaborating stakeholders. However, since none of the existing ontology merging tools allow for the merging of ontology axioms, there is still a need for developing tools for axiom merging to provide full interoperability between stakeholder ontologies. This paper discusses the relation between knowledge base integration and ontology axiom merging. It then presents an existing methodology for knowledge base integration. Further, a discussion of this methodology is provided in the context of ontology axiom merging. Finally, the paper proposes a semi-automatic approach for ontology axiom merging.


During the last few years, several studies have proposed the existence of a threshold separating classical from quantum behavior of objects that is dependent on the size and mass of an object as well as being dependent on certain properties usually associated with the universe as a whole. Here, we reexamine the results of these studies and recast the threshold criteria in terms of a critical threshold value for the moments of inertia of physical objects. Physical objects having moments of inertia above this critical threshold value would be expected to behave necessarily in a classical manner in terms of their center of mass motion as entire objects, while physical objects having moments of inertia lower than this threshold value could exhibit quantum behavior unless brought into classicality by other effects. A comparison with observed values of moments of inertia is presented, and the moment of inertia is suggested as a classifying parameter for examination of the quantum versus classical behavior of objects in the mesoscale domain.


A new room-temperature (RT) data-collection method for microcrystals was developed by combining serial synchrotron rotation crystallography with the humid air and glue-coating method. The RT data-collection strategy for micro-crystallography was evaluated by examining the efficiency, the influence of non-isomorphism and radiation damage, and the effectiveness of increasing the number of merged images. An equation was proposed that relates the achievable resolution to the total photon flux used to obtain a data set.


For certain pointwise dual ergodic transformations T we prove almost sure convergence of the log-averages ... (formule) and the Chung-Erdos averages ... (formule) towards ∫ f, where a(n) denotes the return sequence of T


The present invention relates to suitable as a component of a liquid crystal medium, relates to a compound of formula I: Formula I Wherein R is H, C And can be) optionally substituted by, -CO-, -CO-O-, -O-CO- or -O-CO-O-, A (a) trans-1,4-cyclohexylene radical (wherein one or more non-adjacent CH (B) 1,4- phenylene radical (wherein one or two CH groups can also be replaced by N), (C) 1,4-butylene cyclohexenyl, 1,4-bicyclo [2.2.2] octylene, piperidine-1,4-diyl, naphthalene-2,6-diyl, decahydronaphthalene-2, from 6-diyl and 1,2,3,4-tetrahydronaphthalene-2,6-group consisting of a radical selected days (wherein the radical (a) and (b) may be substituted by CN or fluorine), with a , Z And L is H or F, M is 0, 1 or 2; And Y is F or Cl, Q is a single bond, -CF


Abstract : A high-powered, continuous beam laser system is examined in terms of the physical conditions which exist if the laser beam is brought to a diffraction-limited, real focus in a moderate vacuum environment. Ionization of the gas at the focus by multiphoton processes is extensive, but it is shown that neither reflection of the beam by the plasma at the focus nor absorption by ionization is sufficient to disrupt propagation of the beam through the focus.


Many wireless sensor network datasets suffer from the effects of acquisition noise, channel noise, fading, and fusion of different nodes with huge amounts of data. Any of these effects alone or their combination could adversely affect the decision made at the fusion center. We have developed computationally low power, low bandwidth, and low cost filters that will remove the noise and compress the data so that a decision can be made at the node level. This wavelet-based method is guaranteed to converge to a stationary point for both uncorrelated and correlated sensor data. Presented here is the theoretical background with examples showing the performance and merits of this novel approach compared to other alternatives.


The book lives up to its title by providing an up-todate synopsis of current approaches and research dealing with "sustainability." Sustainability refers generally to the well-known Brundtland Report (1987: 41) definition of sustainable development, i.e., development that "meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs." Sustainability is an increasingly topical issue. Most academics, politicians, and practitioners accept that consideration of sustainability, sustainable development, or triple bottom line issues is inescapable. The strength of the book is twofold. The first strength is its cross-disciplinary nature in that it familiarizes the reader with the current research being undertaken by the many disciplines involved with "sustainability" issues. It discusses research in sustainability in relation to ethics, ecology, economics, human resource management, technology, investment, and supply chain management. Research dealing with the applicability of systems thinking and futures analysis to sustainability issues is also discussed. By offering an update on research undertaken in a wide range of fields, the book offers a researcher interested in one aspect of sustainability a quick way of assimilating what is currently of importance in other fields. The second strength is being current. This is the first edition of the book and brings the reader up to speed with a brief history of sustainability research. The plan is to update the book every two years to keep current with this fast developing area, which would capitalize on this second strength. The book is not an introductory text on sustainability. Rather, it presents the research frontier and provides questions and areas for further research in this field. The book would suit postgraduate scholars searching for research topics in the sustainability area, lecturers teaching sustainability aspects, as well as seasoned academics and industry researchers in sustainability. Business, science, and social science researchers in sustainability could all benefit by gaining a better understanding of the approaches and areas deemed worthy of research in other fields of study. The authors bring many years of academic and practical experience to the discussions. An appreciation of sustainability issues and current research is relevant to business-to-business (B2B) marketing academics because sustainability issues pervade all areas of business, such as sustainable purchasing and sustainable supply chains. Thus, even if sustainability is not a primary research area, the book could be of benefit to B2B marketing academics by keeping them abreast of sustainability issues related to their research area. The book consists of a foreword, a short introduction followed by eight potentially stand-alone chapters. Each of the eight chapters discusses sustainability research in a different research discipline. The idea is that the reader can read the book in its entirety to get a cross-disciplinary perspective of current sustainability research, or alternatively read only the chapter that aligns with their more narrow research focus. The foreword and introduction highlight the importance of sustainability issues and the growth in sustainability research. The reader is challenged to rethink certain traditional notions of economic growth and the very purpose of business. The wide variety of stakeholders interested in sustainability issues, such as governments, industry, not-for-profit organizations, global organizations, and celebrity stars is emphasized. The tone is unashamedly normative and invites the reader to engage in the sustainability debate. In contrast to the normative tone in the foreword and introduction, most of the remaining chapters attempt to present balanced arguments concerning sustainability issues. The methodology used in the eight chapters is predominantly review based, with some chapters providing brief case studies. Examples of real-life sustainability


PURPOSE: An I P S type liquid crystal display having a touch function is provided to improve the touch effect and precision. CONSTITUTION: An active matrix transistor board is located in the bottom of the liquid crystal layer. A color filter(CF) substrate(18) is located in the top of the liquid crystal layer. A sensing electrode layer is formed on the color filter substrate. A polarizer(22) is made with the polyvinyl alcohol(PVA) or the other material.


There has been only a few technical progress which contribute to wound healing in the last century. Despite these advances wound healing is very hard issue to study because of its subjectivity, diversity and complexity of the wound healing process and diversity of patients. Molecules are insufficient in the chronic wound and unlike other cells multiplying endothelial cells interrupt the healing process. To restart this process, cells can be excitated by pulsed electromagnetic fields stimulation method. When a suitable frequency and waveform electromagnetic field (EMF) signal is applied to the target tissue with the help of a coil or applicator physiological effects occurs at the cellular size. Low-frequency electromagnetic fields are non-ionizing part of the EM spectrum and they are used as adjunct therapy in soft tissue injuries. In this study, an antenna-applicator design was performed and the effect of non-thermal pulsed radio frequency energy (PRFE) system to the wound created rat skin was examined.


In this paper, we construct some new classes of topological black hole solutions in the context of mimetic gravity and investigate their properties. We study the uncharged and charged black holes, separately. We find the following novel results: (i) In the absence of a potential for the mimetic field, black hole solutions can address the flat rotation curves of spiral galaxies and alleviate the dark matter problem without invoking particle dark matter. Thus, mimetic gravity can provide a theoretical background for understanding flat galactic rotation curves through modifying Schwarzschild space–time. (ii) We also investigate the casual structure and physical properties of the solutions. We observe that in the absence of a potential, our solutions are not asymptotically flat, while in the presence of a negative constant potential for the mimetic field, the solutions are asymptotically anti-de Sitter (AdS). (iii) Finally, we explore the motion of massless and massive particles and give a list of the types of orbits. We study the differences of geodesic motion in the Einstein gravity and in mimetic gravity. In contrast to the Einstein gravity, massive particles always move on bound orbits and cannot escape the black hole in mimetic gravity. Furthermore, we find stable bound orbits for massless particles.


Mature lymphocyte immigration into the thymus has been documented in mouse, rat, and pig models, and highly increases when cells acquire an activated phenotype. Entrance of peripheral B and T cells into the thymus has been described in healthy and pathological situations. However, it has not been proposed that leukocyte recirculation to the thymus could be a common feature occurring during the early phase of a Th1 inflammatory/infectious process when a large number of peripheral cells acquire an activated phenotype and the cellularity of the thymus is seriously compromised. The data we present here demonstrate that in well‐established Th1 models triggered by different types of immunogens, for example, LPS treatment (a bacterial product), Candida albicans infection (a fungus), and after Trypanosoma cruzi infection (a parasite), a large number of mature peripheral B and T cells enter the thymus. This effect is dependent on, but not exclusive of, the available space in the thymus. Our data also demonstrate that MCP‐1/CCR2 (where MCP‐1 is monocyte chemoattractant protein‐1) interaction is responsible for the infiltration of peripheral cells to the thymus in these Th1‐inflammatory/infectious situations. Finally, systemic expression of IL‐12 and IL‐18 produced during the inflammatory process is ultimately responsible for these migratory events.


MECHANISM FOR CORE DRILLING MACHINE ASCENT. IT INVOLVES A DRIVE SHAFT AND CHUCK 200 218 224 WHO RECEIVES DRILL ROD AND HE SENDS 202 TORQUE SHAFT . CHUCK IS CONNECTED TO THE TREE BY A CLUTCH 214, 216 ALLOWING MOVEMENT ON AXIAL. ARE FORMED OF FIRST CONTACT SURFACES ON A NECKLACE 248 FIXED AT THE TREE AND THE BELL 218 CHUCK AND SECONDS ARE TRAINED CONTACT SURFACES ON THE BELL AND A NUT SCREWED ON 206 TREE TO TRANSMIT IN BOTH SENSE, THE THRUST FORCES FROM THE TREE TO CHUCK. SECONDS SURFACES ALLOW A SLIGHT MOVEMENT FOR THEM WHEN THE SHAFT DRILLING deflected TRANSVERSELY AND SUPPORT OUTSIDE NO ROTARY 232 IS LOCATED ON THE PATH MOVEMENT CHUCK TO ABSORB THE CHARGES BENDING EXERCISED BY DRILLING ROD. APPLICATION TO DRILLS.


The present invention discloses an ice-over resistant on-line decision method of transmission line load circuits, in the method: 1. data collection; 2. calculation; 3. current calculation; 4. stable calculation; 5. on-line decision. Time needed by the ice-over resistance of a transmission line which uses load circuit ice-over resistance can be calculated at the same time, and the above information is synchronously displayed at a normal image or form type. On the premise that the safe and stable running of an electric fence can be ensured by using the method, the advantage of load circuit ice-over resistance is sufficiently exerted, and the labor strength for dispatching running staffs is reduced; the load circuit ice-over resistance is automatically decided whether can be used on line, so the safety risk brought by load circuit de-icing for the electric fence is reduced, and large social benefits and economic benefits can generate.


ABSTRACT Recently, natural dyes are used because these are environment-friendly, less lethal, and do not have any detrimental effect on health. For the present study, the cotton fabric and the mixed powder (pomegranate rind and turmeric rhizome) have been irradiated for (1–5) min. It has been found that 3 min is the effective exposure time for improvement in dyeing behavior of cellulosic fabric. Good color strength was observed by dyeing fabric irradiated at 65°C for 40 min in dyeing bath having pH 6. For improvements in color fastness, the optimum concentration of pre-mordant (4% copper) and post-mordant (8% chrome) was employed. It is observed that microwaves increased the color strength as well as color fastness properties of irradiated cotton using aqueous solubilized mixed extract of irradiated pomegranate rind and turmeric rhizome powder.


A Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) consists of a large number of distributed sensors nodes, each of which is capable of performing computational operations, storage and communication capability. Extending Network Lifetime and energy efficiency are important objectives and challenges in wireless sensor networks. The nodes near the sink are more likely to use up their energy because they have to forward all the data generated by the nodes farther away. With a mobile sink, the nodes around the sink always changes, thus balancing the energy consumption in the network and improving the network lifetime. Mobile sinks reduce End to End Delay, increases success rate and decreases energy dissipation in wireless sensor networks. We evaluate the effect of sink mobility pattern on Network Lifetime in wireless sensor networks.


In this paper, current advances in electric motors and power converters for variable speed applications are presented. A short overview of both electric machines and power converters are given. Permanent magnet assisted synchronous reluctance motors (PMa-SynRM) are introduced and their effects are studied. Also, a novel soft switched AC-link buck-boost converter for AC-AC power conversion is presented. This configuration uses two bi-directional switches per leg of the converter resulting in a 12 bi-directional switch topology. Power transfer is accomplished via a link inductor which is first charged from the input, then discharged to the output with a precisely controllable current PWM technique which results in near zero harmonics at all frequencies below twice the link frequency, as there are two power transfers for each link cycle. Capacitance in parallel with the link inductor produces zero-voltage switching for both turn-on and turn-off.


Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) is an advanced technology that provides fundamental elements for various Internet-of-Things (IoT) applications. Operation with low energy consumption is one of the requirements in designing routing protocol in WSN since each node has limited and non-renewable source of energy. In this paper, we proposed the Hybrid-ALEACH-Plus and Hybrid-ALEACH-Plus2 protocol with the main goal to increase wireless sensor network lifetime. The protocol introduces a new cluster head based routing algorithms with two cluster head selection processes that employ neighbor node threshold and ALEACH-Plus threshold as the selection criteria. We evaluated the performance of both proposed protocols by comparing with existing cluster head based routing protocols such as LEACH and ALEACH. Simulation results showed that our proposed protocols outperform the existing cluster head based routing protocols in terms of energy consumption level, the first dead node (FDN), last dead node (LDN) and amount of delivered data message.


Employing a combination of mechanistic, kinetic and computational studies we have examined the mechanism of the TBD-catalyzed carboxylative cyclization of indole derivatives. Our studies provide insight into the role of the guanidine superbase TBD in catalyzing C-C bond formation between indole derivatives and CO2.


Particle image velocimetry(PIV) system,pump experimental facility and test scheme were introduced.An experimental investigation of flow in the impeller was conducted at three different flow rates on three measurement planes by means of PIV.The velocity vector distribution was obtained.The velocity distribution in circumferential and axial directions and the influence of flow rate on the distribution were investigated.The results indicate that,the velocity near the suction surface decreases slightly,and that near the pressure surface changes dramatically with decreasing flow rate.The fluid flows back near the pressure surface when the flow rate reaches 0.6Qd.At the outlet of impeller,the flow rate has no significant influence on the direction of relative velocity.The velocity in the impeller passage distributes homogeneously in axial direction.The absolute velocity shows an increasing trend in radial direction.The circumferential component of nondimensional absolute velocity decreases from the pressure surface to the suction surface,and also increases with the decline of flow rate.The results provide valuable information for the design of impeller and experimental study on flow in the centrifugal pump.


The shelter provides a radiant heating plate for a generally used as internal walls and ceiling of the radiant heating plate manufacturing step involving at least one continuous sheet, settable material and heating element. It is also provided a method of mounting such a heating plate, and a method and apparatus for terminating such a heating plate.


The production and use of methyl bromide, a traditional soil biofumigant in vegetable nurseries in being phased out because it depletes the ozone layer in the stratosphere. An affordable and effective alternative method, preferably a non-chemical one, for seedbed sterilisation is needed. On-farm seed-bed trials were established in Chinyika Resettlement Area, Zimbabwe in 2001–2003 cropping seasons to evaluate the effectiveness of some non-chemical alternatives to methyl bromide for soil sterilization. Methyl bromide, soil solarisation and dry heat by burning cowdung, maize cob, and brushwood (twigs) as a source of heat were evaluated for sterilisation of paprika nursery seedbed soil. Burning of brushwood and cowdung treatments resulted in highest soil temperatures at the two sites and in both seasons. Area under disease progress curve for disease incidence was least in the brushwood treated seedbeds. Methyl bromide and use of brushwood had a seedling emergence which 61% and 57.3% higher, respectively than non-sterilised control in 2001/2002 season. The inconsistencies associated with dry heat methods in controlling soil microbes and weeds requires a combination of them with other sterilising agents such as chloropicrin, methyl iodide and dazomet, if they have to match the efÞ cacy of methyl bromide treatment for soil sterilisation.


This research study stress upon the qualified or comparative analysis between commercial and non-commercial Enterprise Service Buses (ESB) for large-scale organizations. We have used Multi Criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) method known as Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) based on three criteria i.e. Information Security, Interoperability & High availability. Many comparative analysis reports and papers are available having proven results of comparing non-commercial ESB(s), however, very few reports were found having performed their analysis on commercial ESB(s). We have performed this analysis on the basis of tabular and mathematical proofs by comparing commercially known ESB i.e. Oracle ESB with two non-commercial yet very famous ESB(s) i.e. Mule & Fuse. This research analysis will motivate decision makers to choose the best rated ESB on the basis of our criteria. To achieve our objective we have presented the problem as hierarchy, established the priorities, criteria and performed mathematical computing to prove our analysis.


Background: Bullying, suicide, and self-injury are significant public health issues among young people. Extensive research has documented bullying victimization associations with suicidal ideation and self-injury; however, the modeling approaches used have mostly not addressed the relations between these constructs at the within-person level and it is these links that are critical for testing developmental theories and guiding intervention efforts. This study thus aimed to examine the within-person, bidirectional relations between these constructs in adolescence and early adulthood. Methods: Participants were from the Zurich Project on Social Development from Childhood to Adulthood (z-proso). Random intercept cross-lagged panel models (RI-CLPMs) were employed to evaluate the within-person associations between general and sexual bullying victimization and suicidal ideation and direct self-injurious behavior (D-SIB). Results: There was a positive within-person effect of age 15 general bullying victimization on age 17 suicidal ideation (β=.10) and age 17 suicidal ideation on age 20 general bullying victimization (β=.14), suggesting that these constructs may be reciprocally related. Conclusions: Results imply that general bullying victimization and suicidal ideation can have detrimental effects on each other over developmental time but at different stages. Future studies employing briefer intervals will be needed to investigate short-term dynamics between bullying victimization and suicidality/self-injury.


Background:
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a rare cause of infective endocarditis. There is no standard treatment regimen for the management of infective endocarditis caused by this organism. Pseudomonas aeruginosa produces biofilm on the endocardial surface which can be difficult to eradicate, and monotherapy with a traditional beta-lactam agent may fail due to inadequate penetration into biofilm and low or absent activity on non-dividing cells. Prolonged courses and surgical intervention may be required to treat this infection.
Case Description:
A case of infective endocarditis caused by P. aeruginosa which showed inadequate response to beta-lactam plus beta-lactamase-inhibitor therapy and was later successfully managed without surgical intervention but a combination of a beta-lactam and an aminoglycoside is described here. This case which was treated with amikacin was followed up for ototoxicity. Ototoxicity is an irreversible side effect of amikacin and close follow-up with serial audiograms is required during therapy, especially when therapeutic drug monitoring is not possible.
Conclusion:
A combination regimen of a beta-lactam active against P. aeruginosa plus an aminoglycoside for a duration of four weeks can be an effective treatment for infective endocarditis caused by P. aeruginosa. Periodic monitoring for adverse drug events should be undertaken during therapy.


A Study of the Effects of Strictness and Level of Church-Relatedness on Female Job Satisfaction among Christian College Administrators The purpose of this study was to examine levels of job satisfaction of female administrators at Christian church-related colleges and universities in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States by examining differences based on the level of an institution's church-relatedness and the strictness of sponsoring church doctrine. This was a quantitative, non-experimental study. The effects of additional variables on job satisfaction including age, length of service at an institution, length of service in a position of employment, and personal religious preference were also studied. The population for the study was all female administrators at Protestant Christian colleges in Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Data was obtained on 101 women through the Job Satisfaction Survey and an additional demographic survey created by the author. Results indicated that female administrators at Christian colleges related to conservative church denominations had higher levels of job satisfaction that their counterparts at colleges related to liberal denominations. Also, female administrators at Christian colleges with a close relationship to the sponsoring church were more satisfied than those women at colleges with only an historical relationship to the church. However, when controlling for religious preference, women were more satisfied at institutions with only an historical relationship to the church. Age and length of service were found to have no significant influence on job satisfaction among the respondents.


The suggestion arises as to whether the movement which has been described may not open the way to a vital and satisfactorv solution of the problem of cultural and vocatio'nal education and of some other current problems. May not the principles of efficiency be analyzed into elements and built up into a system which shall lead out in one direction to disciplinary and cultural work and in another to study and work which are directly bread winning in character. By recognizing the efficiency principles which underlie and control a given so-called cultural or disciplinary study, this study will be made vocational in a far reaching way. For example in the study of geometry, when an unlimited straight line is represented by two points on the line, we have a case of efficiency of unlimited or infinite degree. In handling a cube or other; solid, by means of one or more of its bounding lines in various ways, we have various degrees of efficiency, some of them infinite. When these and like facts are appreciated a spirit of efficiency is inculcated in the pupil which has applications in every concrete field of life and work. In like manner if the abstract and general efficiency methods which are inherent in each instance of vocational work or study be determined, these methods will be found to have a general and cultural value. In this connection the methods of judging cattle and agricultural products by points to each of which a particular weight is attached, were discussed in a recent editorial in the Journal of Education. Such exercises involve the analysis of an object in its prime or most important elements, an establishment of ratios between these elements, and a summation of results, Evidently a thorough mastery of sucli processes must have a formal, general disciplinary effect on the mind, with wide and deep cultural values. About twenty years ago, in the high schools of the country, a movement arose by which the. study of physics was largely substituted for Latin. as a leading disciplinary subject. For reasons which need not be here discussed, the study of the' science in the form then attempted was found to be not generally satisfactory, and in a few -years. t~he pendulum swung back again to Latin. Appa ntly there was a feeling that the high school' c irriculum should not be made up wholly or primarilv of directlv vocational studies, and should. contain some vitally disciplinary study, but that neither Latin nor formal science answered the purpose. :-'Ic y not the science and art of achieving results, that is, the principles of efficiency;" when built up into a system form the disciplinary study that is needed in this case? It will, at least, he interesting in this connection to note the outcome of the new departure at Denver University, and the results in other institutions which may try a like experiment. JOUlUfAL (OF<EDUCATmN


This paper is a review of the book M.C. Ricklefs , The Seen and Unseen Worlds in Java: History, Literature and Islam in the Court of Pakubuwana II 1726-1749, (Honolulu: Asian Studies Association of Australian in association with Allen & Unwin and University of Hawaii Press, 1998). As for as the Indonesian studies are concerned,  Java has become the most various points of view, concerning the javanese society and culture. The book by M.C Ricklefs, which is under discussion, can be said to have specific importance. Copyright (c) 2014 by SDI. All right reserved. DOI:  10.15408/sdi.v5i2.757


The paper raises the problem of media ecology. The concept of media ecology is considered from the standpoint of post-nonclassical rationality: the object of research is viewed as a system that unifies communicants, their communities and the information environment within the framework of ongoing interactions, which, in turn, affect all elements of the ecosystem. The authors analyze socio-cultural changes caused by media influence and give the interpretation of the manifestations of media toxicity through five components of communication (toxicity factors): (1) subject; (2) sign code; (3) content; (4) method and (5) discourse background. The experimental base of the research is represented by a lexical-semantic analysis of materials from print and electronic media and students' essays (n>300), an associative experiment conducted with students of the direction of training "Advertising and public relations" (Moscow and St. Petersburg, n> 200). At the end the authors share the experience of holding a scientific conference dedicated to the discussed problem as an optimal format for involving students in the problems of the ecology of media communication.


With China entering WTO and the development of the I nternet, China is becoming part of the process of globalization. This article di scusses the impact of globalization on the development of Chinese press and publ ishing industry and analyzes the defect of Chinese press and publishing industry in the globalization age. At last,a proposal is put forward as to how Chinese p ress and publishing industry can manage to meet the challenge of globalization.


This pamphlet outlines the limitations of "special transport" services which fall into three basic categories, with all the vehicles operated being capable of carrying people in their wheelchair: (1) dial-a-ride services using vehicles carrying more than one person at a time, with each person's origin and destination being different; (2) dial-a-ride services using vehicles carrying one person at a time, operating like a taxi service; (3) services using vehicles carrying more than one person at a time, with each person's origin being either the same or different, but with their destination being the same, eg a shopping centre. Door to door services in the United Kingdom are reviewed together with some of the services operating in Europe. All vehicles currently in operation, except for the new telebus, are adapted or converted cars and vans. Examples are shown, and a list of coachbuilders is included, together with addresses for wheelchair restraint fittings, harnesses, chair-lifts and wheelchair taxis. (TRRL)


The relationship between unrealistically positive self-evaluations and performance in an academic setting was examined in the present study. As suggested by Colvin and Block (1 994), objective criteria were used to identify individuals who held unrealistically positive self-views. More specifically, academic records were compared to self-ratings of academic ability to classify students as accurate, unrealistically positive, or unrealistically negative about their academic abilities. Consistent with Taylor and Brown's (1988) theory of positive illusions, students who were unrealistically positive achieved higher grades the semester following the study than students who were realistic or unrealistically negative.


The aim of this paper is to analyze the future perspectives of the new technologies of Concentrated Solar Power systems (CSP) systems. The author proves that new CSP technologies like the "Central Receiver and Parabolic Trough" can be used as a key instrument for secure and affordable Energy Supply in Europe by the DESERTEC project.


Series Editor Maynard M. Cohen, Chicago, Ill. Immunological Aspects of Neurological Diseases J.A. Aarti and O. Tnder, Bergen S. Karger Basel Mnchen Paris London New York Sydney Immunological Aspects of Neurological Diseases Monographs in Neural Sciences Vol. 6 Series Editor: Maynard M. Cohen, Chicago, Ill. S. Karger Basel Mnchen Paris London New York Sydney Immunological Aspects of Neurological Diseases Johan A. Aarli and Olav Tnder University of Bergen, Bergen 21 figures and 2 tables, 1980 S. Karger Basel Mnchen Paris London New York Sydney Monographs in Neural Sciences Editor: Maynard M. Cohen, Chicago, Ill. Vol. 2: H. L. Klawans, Jr., Chicago, Ill.: The Pharmacology of Extrapyramidal Movement Disorders. VII+ 136 p., 3 fig., 9 tab., 1973. ISBN 3-8055-1421-2 Vol. 3: Clinical Pharmacology of Serotonin. Proceedings of a Symposium held in Helsinki, July 1975. Editors: F. Sicuteri, Firenze, and E. Schnbaum, Oss. VIII+ 140 p., 33 fig., 23 tab., 1976. ISBN 3-8055-2328-9


working report - Former investigation (Approximation of Profit-and-Loss Distributions, Part I) introduces the application of the barycentric approximation methodology for evaluating profit-and-loss distributions numerically. Although, convergence of the quantiles is ensured by the weak convergence of the discrete measures, as proclaimed in Part I, recent numerical results have indicated that the approximations of the profit-and-loss distribution are less practical when the portfolio gets a reasonable complexity. This experience has revealed that the weak convergence of the probability measures appears not to be strong enough for evaluating quantiles numerically in a satisfactory way. Thereupon, the authors have focused on information offered by the barycentric approximation but still unused in the algorithmic procedure of Part I. It has been realized that the dual to the derived discrete probability measure helps evaluate the profit-and-loss distribution in a better way. In this Part II, the barycentric approximation technique is outlined and benchmarked with the intention to focus on the dual viewpoint for simplicial refinement. This technique poses no assumption on the risk factor space, except that the variance-covariance matrix of the risk factors exist. Therefore, it is applicable for general multivariate or empirical distributions. Furthermore, the technique provides approximation of the risk profile as well as of the risk factor distribution.Beforehand, various test environments are specified which help illustrate the sensitivity of value-at-risk numbers. These environments are characterized by the probability measure P of the risk factors and a risk profile g which represents the payoff structure of some portfolio. The corresponding numerical results illustrate the sensitivity of value-at-risk with respect to market volatility and correlation of risk factors. This provides information on the model risk one is exposed to within the value-at-risk approach.


Abstract A study was made on the effects of light and temperature combinations, nitrogen (N) carriers, and N levels on the growth and free amino‐N pool size of rice plants. The experiment was conducted in a growth chamber in nutrient solution. Combinations of high light supply (40,000 lux), or high temperature (35°C), or both, resulted in accumulation of large amino‐N pools. There were negative relationships between free amino‐N pool sizes and the fresh weight of plants. These negative relationships could be best described by decay curves. On the other hand, in plants under the low light (17,280 lux) and low temperature (24°C) combination, the amino‐N to fresh weight relationship was positive, and fitted to a straight line. The amino‐N to free sugars relationship fitted decay curves, irrespective of light and temperature combinations. The ammonium‐N to amino‐N relationship under high light and/or high temperature combinations showed a quadratic response. Analysis of these curves suggests that deamination ...


Professionals working with prelingually, profoundly deaf children with cochlear implants must be able to give both qualitative and quantitative information regarding vocabulary acquisition and all areas of language development. The following investigation is an initial attempt to address this need. This single subject study evaluated a 4-year-old, prelingually, profoundly deaf child's acquisition of receptive and expressive spoken vocabulary in the first year of multichannel cochlear implant use. Three standardized assessments were utilized to evaluate these areas of langu age development. A prelingually deaf child, after 12 months of cochlear implant use can be described as having a 'hearing age' of 12 months. It was hypothesized that the subject of this study would be more likely to acquire vocabulary at a rate similar to that of a hearing-age control, rather than that of a chronological-age control. In order to test this hypothesis, comparisons were made with standardized data for nor mally-hearing children. It was found that this child acquired vocabulary at approximately twice the rate of a hearing age control.


There are common characteristics and also differences in the price-supporting policies of farm produce among the main developed countries: the US,the European Union and Japan.The common characteristics are: market-oriented principle,rigid budget constraint of price subsidy,the setup of the special executive subject for the implement of price subsidy,the orientation adjustment by abandoning price-supporting in favor of direct income subsidy,and the reforming direction of retaining the price-supporting policies for sensitive farm produce.The difference includes the following aspects: as for the characteristics of the price-supporting,the US is distinctively market-oriented,the European Union shows somewhat discrimination,and Japan takes on its obvious administrative management color;as for the emphasis of the supporting,the US and the European Union give the price subsidy to agricultural production and export,whereas Japan uses it in agricultural circulation;as for the reform strategy,the US initiatively cuts off the price subsidy,the European Union emphasizes on adjusting the price subsidy structure,and Japan gradually broadens the price management and introduces a competitive mechanism.


Calculations of the electronic structure of a stacked dimmer sequence from the D-(GCAAACGTTTGC)2 B-DNA dodecamer resolved in a PDB file 1HQ7 are performed within density functional theory. Seeking to understand the minimum level of theory that yields a reliable description for these systems, the basis sets 6-31g*, 6-31g*+BSSE, 6-311g*, 6-311g**, 6-311++g** along with the B3LYP and PBE0 exchange-correlation functionals were employed. These results are then used to implement a one-dimensional model of long stacked systems to obtain a new semiempirical method that can be employed at low computational cost.


A consistent analysis of relativistic pionic correlations and meson-exchange currents for electroweak quasielastic electron scattering from nuclei is carried out. Fully relativistic one-pion-exchange electromagnetic operators are developed for use in one-particle emission electronuclear reactions within the context of the relativistic Fermi gas model. Then the exchange and pionic correlation currents are set up fully respecting the gauge invariance of the theory. Emphasis is placed on the self-energy current which, being in8nite, needs to be renormalized. This is achieved starting in the Hartree–Fock framework and then expanding the Hartree–Fock current to 8rst order in the square of the pion coupling constant to obtain a truly gauge invariant, one-pion-exchange current. The model is applied to the calculation of the parity-conserving and parity-violating inclusive responses of nuclei. Interestingly, in the pionic correlations terms exist which arise uniquely from relativity, although their impact on the responses is found to be modest. c © 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved. PACS: 25.30.Rw; 14.20.Gk; 24.10.Jv; 24.30.Gd; 13.40.Gp


Hyperspectral image (HSI) classification (HIC) has attracted much attention in the last decade. Spectral–spatial HIC methods have been the state-of-the-art methods in recent years. Small labeled training sample size (SLTSS) problem is still an important issue in HIC. This paper presents a spectral–spatial HIC method that is based on superpixel (SP) segmentation and distance-weighted linear regression classifier to tackle the SLTSS problem. First, SP segmentation is applied to the original HSI. Then, those SPs that contain training samples belonging to only one class are first searched out, and all the pixels of each of these SPs are assigned to the class of the training samples it contains. Next, with the identified labels, all these classified pixels are added to the initial training sample set for training sample set enlargement. Later, using this enlarged training sample set, the distance-weighted linear regression classifier is applied to classify each mean vector of each SP. Finally, the last classification map is obtained by assigning each SP with the same label as its mean vector. Experimental results on three HSI data sets demonstrate that the proposed approach can solve SLTSS problem very well and outperforms several state-of-the-art algorithms in classification accuracy under different training samples sizes.


Respiratory muscle training has demonstrated improvement in exercise performance in both healthy adults and in patients with chronic respiratory illnesses. Such programs often ask to perform respiratory efforts against a pressure load equivalent to a certain percent of maximal respiratory pressures. Portable devices are available to measure those maximal pressures, but it can be highly dependent on participant effort. Our aim was to find out whether maximal inspiratory pressure (MIP) correlates with different flow-volume loop parameters in a group of college level rowers and to compare the data from athletes with reference values. We studied 19-33 year-old rowers (n=14, two of them female) with height 173-202 cm. Spirometry was performed to determine FVC, FEV 1 , PEF and PIF. MIP was measured with a hand-held mouth pressure meter. All measured values were compared with reference data and correlations between MIP, lung function and anthropometric indices were found. Compared to reference population values of FVC and FEV 1 from rowers were mostly above average (97-130% pred.), whereas PEF ranged from 85 to 120% of predicted. All 3 forced expiration indices correlated with height (p 2 O). The only significant positive correlation was found between MIP and PIF (p Relatively high lung volumes and flows compared to the predicted values indicate the increased functional capacity of respiratory system in rowers. We found a wide between-individual variability of MIP in young subjects. MIP values did correlate with neither anthropometric nor spirometric indices (except for PIF).


Discretization is the process of converting a continuous function or model or equation into discrete steps. In this work, learning and adaptive techniques are implemented to control DC motors that are used for actuating control surfaces of unmanned underwater vehicles. Adaptive control is a strategy wherein the controller is designed to adapt the system with parameters that vary or are uncertain. Parameter estimation is the process of computing the parameters of a system using a model and measured data. Adaptive methods have been used in conjunction with different parameter estimation techniques. As opposed to the ubiquitous stochastic artificial intelligence approaches, very recently proposed deterministic artificial intelligence, a learning-based approach that uses the physics-defined process dynamics, is also applied to control the output of the DC motor to track a specified trajectory. This work goes further to evaluate the performance of the adaptive and learning techniques based on different discretization methods. The results are evaluated based on the absolute error mean between the output and the reference trajectory and the standard deviation of the error. The first-order hold method of discretization and surprisingly large sample time of seven-tenths of a second yields greater than sixty percent improvement over the results presented in the prequel literature.


Abstract : In the short-term, bacteria isolated from the same marine biofilms as diatoms caused the diatoms to form cellular aggregates, to lose their motility and their ability to adhere to surfaces. Longer incubation times lead to diatom lysis. A result of these actions was the reduction in structural stability of the mixed species biofilm to hydraulic stress. The active compound(s) from the bacteria was found to he secreted into the bacterial growth medium (MW> 10K Daltons) There is sufficient evidence to regard its mode of action as being lectin-like. Experiments with plant-derived fluorescently-conjugated lectins showed that the extracellular polymers of several diatoms stained specifically indicating the presence of galactose, glucose and mannose moieties, but not those of fucose. Our results are significant in terms of the use of bioassays to test the efficacy of candidate antifouling surfaces and studies of littoral sediment stabililization.


The Ministry of Economic and Social (MIES) Education to help in child development in the city of Machala is in charge of the Children's Center of Good Living (CIBV) "Fernando Ugarte," where there are early learning programs for children from 0 to 3 years, but the monitoring and control of the development had been doing manually; causing overwork for the educator and feedback to parents were not given in adequate time.


Proper identification of medicinally important plant species is useful for their efficient utilization as food and medicine. Seventy eight species belonging to different plant families were characterized through chloroplast DNA gene sequences of rbcL, matK and intergenic spacer region psbA-trnH. These species were used to search possible relationships through phylogenetic analysis. The phylogenetic tree based on matK (~800 bp), rbcL (~1400 bp) and psbA-trnH (~500 bp) sequences showed 6, 8 and 4 diverged groups, respectively. Our analysis suggests that Ajuga bracteosa, Salvia aegyptiaca, Bupleurum falcatum and Acorus calamus are highly diverged from rest of seventy four different species. Based on the results of medicinal plants from Pakistan, we validate that matK and rbcL are more useful as barcode for studying large population of plant species. The present study is useful for authentic identification of new plant species and clearly shows high degree of intra-specific and inter-specific evolutionary relation among all tested species from different medicinally important plant families. Our findings suggest that proper identification of some of the plant species is still challenging and these unique species need further studies. The present study can serve as a model to identify and differentiate new medicinal plant species from Pakistan and neighboring countries through similar methods.