The nine Making Services Work for the Poor (MSWP) case studies synthesized in this paper reviewed innovations in service delivery at the local level in Indonesia in the wake of decentralization. It is hoped that this synthesis will be useful to donors and government in Indonesia and other countries interested in practical ideas for improving local service delivery. About half the cases focus on externally driven innovations; half were led by locals. The innovations in nearly all cases have made a clear positive impact on service provision and reached a total of at least half a million people. Research was based on semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with approximately 600 people over 80 days of fieldwork in 25 villages and cities between February and April 2005. Decentralization and leadership were found to be the key factors for success of innovative service delivery arrangements. Most of the innovations studied would not have been possible without the support of national-level laws and policies that devolved authority to the local level. The districts' new power over finance and administration gave some local leaders the means to pay for locally conceived reforms without the need for external donors, giving a boost to the potential for financial sustainability from the start. Districts' greater power made local politicians and citizens, as well as donors, more interested in good governance. The positive impact of the innovations is, however, threatened where local supporting laws and regulations are weak or lacking. Innovations in service delivery were found to be dependent on local rather than external leaders, whether externally conceived and funded or not. Local leaders' style, emphasizing personal involvement and flexibility, was key to their ability to ensure positive impact. Leaders built trust by raising awareness about the inadequacy of service delivery, by broadening their support among civil servants, and by working through local organizations and processes. The financial sustainability of all six externally financed cases is in doubt, and locally conceived reforms that pass on substantial new costs to clients are also facing financial difficulties. Ongoing funding is assured in only two cases, where reforms were locally conceived, relatively cheap, and locally funded. None of the cases had effective data collection systems, making mid-course project adjustments to strengthen impact difficult. Inadequate information dissemination also likely reduced the impact of reforms. The cases show that impact can be stronger when service delivery innovations are implemented flexibly. In many cases, leaders developed new strategies to strengthen positive or reverse negative impact. In the five case studies where the poor were not targeted, the poor were as likely to lose out as to benefit from service delivery innovations. In the four cases where the poor were a target group, impact on them was mainly positive. Findings from the nine MSWP case studies underscore the importance of the following "best practices" for service providers and donors: • Target the poor in service delivery projects to ensure they benefit. • Invest in good information dissemination mechanisms to help build trust in service delivery projects. • Support leaders within local government and local NGOs for service delivery reform. • Ensure financial sustainability for service delivery projects. • Ensure all service delivery projects include an effective monitoring component. • Build flexibility into project rules to strengthen positive or reverse negative project impact. • Assist in the implementation of local laws and regulations supporting reform. Making Services Work for the Poor: A Synthesis of Nine Case Studies from Indonesia


Herpes zoster virus (HZV) infections are caused by reactivation of the varicella zoster virus. Reactivation symptoms commonly affect the thoracolumbar trunk, and rarely affect the mandibular branches of the trigeminal nerve. When the mandibular branches are involved, lesions appear proximal to the innervation area. This condition may be associated with exfoliation of the teeth and osteonecrosis of the jawbone. We report a case of mandibular osteomyelitis after herpes zoster infection and we present a review of the literature on mandibular-branch involvement of HZV-related osteonecrosis.


The 2019 pandemic is fueling benefits and inconveniences around the world. This scourge has subjected humans to wearing masks to curb the spread of the virus. The mask remains one of the effective means that has slowed down the wreak effect. Faced with the concern of the production of local masks on the eve of the shortage of medical masks, one solution is the regulation of the production sector through manufacturing control. No studies have been conducted on the effectiveness of locally manufactured fabric masks. Devices for testing for respirable fine particles are very expensive. The objective of our study is to present the design and manufacture of the breathability and filtration test bench for local masks. To analyze and test the locally manufactured masks, they are listed on the market in the city, visually inspected, tested and controlled by means of the bench designed and manufactured. The results of the trials showed significant satisfaction in the effectiveness on the pleated masks


Aim at the problem of the optimal access of the fluctuation source and storage device in Distribution Network (DN), this paper transforms it into a multi-objective optimization problem considering the economy, safety and reliability for power supply at the same time, and make a research on the optimal location and sizing of the wind/diesel engine/storage device in a specific independent low-voltage power grid of 30 bus. In order to reflect the uncertainty and volatility of wind generator and load power, we regard them as probabilistic variables, calculate probabilistic power flow with probabilistic variables using the point estimation method; and solve the optimization problem using the multi-objective particle swarm optimization algorithm based on niche (NMOPSO) and quasi steady state simulation method, The calculation method of the best compromise solution among the Pareto solution set based on the fuzzy theory is designed.


The paper proposes a novel multiple access scheme, which is a combination of inhibit sense multiple access (ISMA) and frequency division multiple access (FDMA). Two types of the proposed protocol are considered. They are based on FDD and TDD modes. The performance of each hybrid protocol is evaluated in terms of throughput; the comparison of the proposed schemes with the pure ISMA scheme is discussed. Two examples are constructed to show the main property of the ISMA/FDMA scheme.


Objective: To assess the clinical efficacy of percutaneous thermal ablation and liver resection for small hepatocellular carcinoma by means of systematic review.Methods: The randomized controlled trials concerning percutaneous thermal ablation and hepatectomy for treatment of small liver cancer were collected through literature retrieval from native and foreign databases.The quality of included studies was assessed according to the Cochrane systematic review method and statistical analysis of data was performed using RevMan 5.1.17 software.Results: Four randomized controlled studies finally met the inclusion criteria,with a total of 683 patients,of whom,340 cases underwent percutaneous thermal ablation and 343 cases underwent hepatectomy.The results of meta-analysis indicated that the 1-and 3-year overall survival rate,1-year tumor-free survival rate and 1-year local tumor recurrence rate in the patients undergoing either of the two methods had no statistical difference(all P0.05).The 3-year disease-free survival rate and 2-year local tumor recurrence rate in patients undergoing liver resection were better than those in patients with percutaneous thermal ablation(both P0.05).The incidence of major complications in patients receiving percutaneous thermal ablation was significantly lower than that in patients undergoing liver resection(P0.05),and patients after percutaneous thermal ablation showed shorter hospital stay,lower cost and better systemic conditions.Conclusion: For small liver cancer,percutaneous thermal ablation and liver resection present similar short-term efficacy,but liver resection has better long-term results.


Using the noncompact SO(2,1)∼SU(1,1) Lie algebra the Schwinger–de Witt kernels for massive spin‐1/2 fields are obtained in some classical background gravitational fields. The method makes use of the Schwinger–de Witt proper time representation and Baker–Campbell–Hausdorff formulas.


The embodiment of the invention provides a method and device for detecting PCIE hardware faults. The method can be applied to a PCIE system not comprising or comprising an NT port. When the method is applied to the PCIE system not comprising the NT port, the method comprises the steps of determining a PCIE port corresponding to an MSI address by an RC according to the MSI address carried in the received MSI message and the corresponding relation between the pre-configured MSI address and the PCIE port; determining a first link negotiation mode status value of the PCIE port and comparing the first link negotiation mode status value with a second link negotiation mode status value pre-stored by itself; when the comparing result is inconsistent, determining that the link where the PCIE port is located fails. According to the method, an MSI interrupt mechanism is utilized for determining the link negotiation mode status value of the corresponding PCIE port in the PCIE system, the link where the faults exist is accurately detected, and according to the method for detecting the PCIE hardware faults, the accuracy is higher.


THE American eagles have declined over much of their former range. Recently a notable decrease in the number of Bald Eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) occurred on the eastern coast of the United States (Carson, 1962); this decline emphasized the need of determining population norms for the Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysagtos) so that any reduction could be recognized early and the possible causes isolated and evaluated. The stability of Golden Eagle populations is threatened by several factors. Although a federal law was enacted in 1962 to provide protection for this species, limited seasons have been reopened in many of the western states for killing eagles that are purported to be taking livestock. The widespread use of pesticides has introduced another threat (Cramp, 1963; Dewitt and Buckley, 1963; Lockie and Ratcliffe, 1964; Watson and Morgan, 1964). The conservation and management of any species is contingent upon an understanding of its population dynamics. The effects of a new environmental influence impressed upon any population of organisms can only be determined accurately if a thorough study has been made earlier. The object of this paper is to provide basic information. The density, productivity, nesting success, and mortality of a Montana population of Golden Eagles were determined; nesting behavior and movements were observed. These data can aid in determining the effects of such changes as the expanded use of pesticides, by comparing them either with data taken where pesticide levels are much higher or with data obtained if pesticides are introduced directly into the study area. In addition, data on the food habits of this population are of value for estimating the economic status of this large raptor.


Effects of porting arrangements on intake swirl and scavenging performance were investigated numerically.A three-dimensional transient numerical model was established for the in-cylinder processes.Intake swirl was introduced by changing port tangential inclinations and scavenging performance was evaluated by normalized carbon dioxide mass fraction.The intake swirl intensity and scavenging performance with different porting arrangements were compared.The results show:(1) Rotation flow including swirl can be generated by port tangential inclination arrangements,and the swirl approximates to solid-body swirl approaching the top dead center.(2) Intake swirl results in short-circuiting during the scavenge processes and a concentrated carbon dioxide central core.(3) The short-circuiting can be reduced by increasing the axial inclination of inlet ports or extending the distance between inlet and exhaust ports in the flow direction.Swirl intensity can be decreased by reducing scavenge port tangential inclinations,leading to increase of short-circuiting.


The first attempt to hold a Car Free Day-like event was in Delft, The Netherlands in 1972. The event was organized by civic groups, not by a municipality. Bogota, Colombia was the first to close an entire city to private cars on a normal working day on Thursday, February 24, 2000. While some 850,000 private cars stayed in their garages, city residents turned to public transit, bicycles, taxis, regional trains, roller skates and other modes of transit. The purpose of Car Free Days is to publicize the benefits of reducing automobile use in the city and enjoy streets without noise, traffic, air pollution, and dangerous traffic. There is unprecedented social integration, environmental quality rises as noise and pollution fall, and tranquility replaces the stress of driving.


In order to gain the reasonable configuration of honeycomb sandwich structure's core meeting different performance requirements,a method of approximate design is present for the core,where approximate design based on manufacturability is aimed to the result of topology optimization with different volume fraction through the construction of multi-constraint topology optimization model to obtain a basic cell configuration of honeycomb sandwich structure's core,and the cell configuration's performance is analyzed by finite element method for further verification,modification and improvement.Finally,a type of chassis deck of electrical motorcycle is taken as an example to realize the process of approximate design and performance analysis for its honeycomb sandwich structure's core,and the result shows the performance of rigidness and strength is satisfied while the total weight of the deck is reduced remarkably.


Admission to a BSW program is a significant stage of professional development for social work students. Thus, the purpose of this study is to learn how social work students experienced selective ad...


Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks form a serious threat to the security of Internet services. However, despite over a decade of research, and the existence of several proposals to address this problem, there has been little progress to date on actual adoption. We present Mirage, a protocol that achieves comparable performance to other DDoS mitigation schemes while providing benefits when deployed only in the server's local network and its upstream ISP, where local business objectives may incentivize deployment. Mirage does not require source end hosts to install any software to access Mirage protected websites. Unlike previous proposals, Mirage only requires functionality from routers that is already deployed in today's routers, though this functionality may need to be scaled depending on the point of deployment.
Our approach is that end hosts can thwart the attackers by employing the principle of a moving target: end hosts in our architecture periodically change IP addresses to keep the attackers guessing. Knowledge of an active IP address of the destination end host can act as an implicit authorization to send data. We evaluate Mirage using theoretical analysis, simulations and a prototype implementation on PlanetLab. We find that our design provides a first step towards a deployable, yet effective DDoS defense.


A novel high-temperature plasma tube has been developed that overcomes the meltdown problem of the conventional water- and gas-cooled quartz plasma tubes commonly used. The key feature of this system is the placement of heavy-walled, water-cooled copper fingers inside a quartz mantle to shield the mantle from the intense radiation of the plasma. The copper fingers act as transformers to couple the plasma to the applied rf field. This system has been used to produce ultrafine, ultrapure silicon carbide powder by reaction of silane and methane. Powder of ..beta..-SiC has been obtained with a BET surface area of > 160 m/sup 2//g and a particle size range of 10 to 20 nm. Likewise, powder of silicon nitride has been synthesized by reaction of silane and ammonia in the plasma. The resulting powder is approximately 50% Si/sub 3/N/sub 4/ with a mixture of ..cap alpha..- and ..beta..-polymorphic forms. Boron carbide has also been successfully synthesized from diborane and methane.


Leptin, a hormone secreted by fat cells, decreases food intake by animals. Now researchers at Concordia University's Centre for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology (CSBN) in Montreal have found key clues to how it does this ( Science 2000;287:125-8). They say leptin appears to regulate eating


This study sought to identify and document the symptoms associated with dampness in the walls of 5,800 residential buildings in Ghana through a questionnaire survey in the Dry Equatorial, South Western Equatorial, Tropical Continental and the Wet Semi Equatorial climatic zones. A quantitative approach to data analysis was used in which the symptoms associated with dampness were analyzed using severity index. Majority of the houses surveyed were of lateritic materials and sandcrete block walls. The results showed that the most severe symptoms associated with dampness in the walls of the residential buildings surveyed were hygroscopic salts, decayed skirting, dampness below 1.5m and mold growth on walls up to 1m high. These identified symptoms are indications of the severity of the problem of dampness in residential buildings in Ghana. It is recommended that further studies be conducted to identify the lead source of dampness in the walls of residential buildings as this will assist in the recommendation of appropriate actions to remedy the problem. Keywords: Buildings, climatic zones, dampness, Ghana, symptoms


Abstract. Sex allocation theory predicts equal offspring sex ratio when costs/benefits of producing each sex are comparable. However, when costs of rearing or fitness values of sexes vary, skewed offspring sex ratio toward the one sex may be beneficial. In this study we analysed seasonal secondary sex ratio (proportion of males) in broods of the Common Kingfisher Alcedo atthis, the socially monogamous, three- to four-brooded (per season) species with biparental care in which adult females are slightly larger than males. Fieldwork was carried out in the Danube river system from Bratislava to Gabčíkovo (SW Slovakia) during 2014–2018. In total, 959 nestlings from 149 broods of 78 breeding pairs were sexed, amongst which 483 were males and 476 were females. We considered the following assumptions: 1) no seasonal shift in sex ratio, as studied population occupies habitats rich in food; 2) female biased broods early in the season, as females' rapid maturation enables them to breed in the season they have been born; 3) male biased broods early in the season as several young males have been documented to be nest helpers. However, only a few such cases were observed, so it should be treated with caution. The sex ratio of individual broods ranged from 0 (all female) to 1 (all male), but the mean nestling sex ratio did not deviate from parity. We found no effect of year, brood size, or laying date. Thus, our results agree with outcomes of other avian studies where balanced seasonal sex ratio has been found.


Measurements of the miscibility gaps in the Li2O- and Na2O-SiO2 binaries are reported and compared to data of other workers. Heat treatments by brief immersion in liquid Sn were used for measuring the properties of glasses with a strong devitrification tendency. The miscibility-gap boundaries of both systems are successfully described by modified regular-mixing equations based on the concept that the thermodynamic mixing processes are controlled by complex but discrete molecular structures which exist in the melt. The assumptions and implications of the model are discussed.


Article history: Received January 2, 2020 Received in revised format June 8, 2020 Accepted July 17 2020 Available online July 17 2020 This study explains the role of institutional performance and new product development (NPD) value chain strategies to enhance entrepreneurial competitive advantage. The analysis was based on survey data on 125 entrepreneurial households, taken using the multi-stage random sampling technique in Central Java and Yogyakarta. The path analysis model is used to explain the role and strategy used quantitatively. It was supplemented by a value chain analysis (VCA) model based on a supply chain management (MSC) approach in a more classical, linear, complex, and descriptive sub-sector analysis. The results show that the NPD factors significantly contribute to increasing the entrepreneurial competitive advantage. Furthermore, the NPD value chain strategy, apart from benefiting managers, provides employment opportunities and new markets to the community holistically. Its chain strategy changes the role and atmosphere of people's lives more humane. . 2020 by the authors; license Growing Science, Canada ©


In a roll-up mortgage, the borrower receives a loan in the form of a lump sum. The loan is rolled up with interest until the borrower dies, sells the house, or moves into long-term care permanently. The house is sold at that time, and the proceeds are used to repay the loan and interest. Most roll-up mortgages are sold with a no-negative-equity guarantee (NNEG), which caps the redemption amount at the lesser of the face amount of the loan and the sale proceeds. The core of this study is to develop a framework for pricing and managing the risks of the NNEG.


The main objective of this paper is to empirically reinvestigate the long-run Malaysian M2 money demand function and its stability over the period from 1971:1 to 2007:3. The Johansen-Juselius cointegration test in association with the modified Pantula's principle is employed to examine the long-run equilibrium relationship between M2 money demand and its determinants, such as real income, inflation rate and exchange rate. Apart from this, the rolling regression procedure is also used to examine the stability of M2 money demand function. The Johansen-Juselius test result suggests that the variables are cointegrated. However, the rolling regression procedure indicates that the Malaysian M2 money demand function was not stable over the analysis period owing to a series of shocks in the Malaysian monetary policy environment.


Trash racks are widely used in the water conveyance systems to prevent trappings of floating and submerged debris that would cause operational problems at downstream reaches. Head loss through the trash rack is one of the key parameters in designing trash racks. The trash racks commonly used in Sri Lanka are with circular bars. The existing methods to estimate head loss through these trash racks give very wide results which make it difficult for engineers to produce reliable designs for water conveyance systems. In order to investigate this problem in detail and to develop a methodology to estimate head loss through trash racks a set of experiments was performed in open channel with trash racks by considering the variable parameters such as bar diameter, clear spacing, inclination angle and unit discharge. In this study, a new head loss equation is proposed based on the experimental findings to estimate the head loss through trash racks made up of circular bars.


We propose a remarkably simple electronic refrigerator based on the Coulomb barrier for single-electron tunneling. A fully normal single-electron transistor is voltage $V$ biased at a gate position such that tunneling through one of the junctions costs an energy of about $k_BT \ll eV, E_C$, where $T$ is the temperature and $E_C$ is the transistor charging energy. The tunneling in the junction with positive energy cost cools both the electrodes attached to it. Immediate practical realizations of such a refrigerator make use of Andreev mirrors which suppress heat current while maintaining full electric contact.


Objective To determine the potency of gentamycin sulfate and its preparations.Methods The turbidimetric method was used to determine the content of gentamycin sulfate and its preparations.Results The linear range was 0.41~1.00U/ml,r=0.9948(n=5).Conclusion Factors affecting the experiment were summarized,and corresponding control measures were suggested to reduce experimental errors and ensure the reliability of test results.


This paper presents a low-profile, low cost and easy to fabricate triple band ISM dipole antenna. The proposed antenna was designed to operate in the 434 MHz, 915 MHz and 2.45 GHz ISM bands. The antenna was fabricated with 20.7 × 2.7 × 0.15 (cm) dimensions and tested. The measurements show successful operation in the above-mentioned ISM bands and good performances for the antenna including −15 dB bandwidths, gain and omnidirectional radiation patterns. From measurements, this antenna also covers wireless applications within the 1.644 – 2.612 GHz frequency range including WLAN, Wi-Max and GSM.


I learned my most important lessons about criminal justice reform more than 30 years ago while working on what has become known as the Attica Prison rebellion. The Attica Prison rebellion took place in September 1971 in the maximum security prison in upstate New York. Led by prisoners with a broad social justice agenda, the prisoners' demands were focused on basic human rights, including the right to organise, the right to be free from abuse from prison guards and the right to basic living conditions – health and sanitary conditions among others. The rebellion was ended when then Governor Nelson Rockefeller sent in state troopers to retake the prison by force, resulting in the death of 39 prisoners and prison guards. A political and legal struggle to defend prisoners charged in the uprising ensued, eventually resulting in the dismissal of the charges against the prisoners. In 2000, the people who had been prisoners at Attica during the 1971 rebellion were awarded an $8m settlement from the State of New York.


Household is the unit of society, and its development is the basis for sustainable development of society. Food consumption is one of the most important parts of family life. This article, which is based on official data, analyses the differences in food consumptions and the input of energy, agrochemical and other materials between urban inhabitants and rural inhabitants. On this basis, the article quantifies the impact of carbon emission caused by food consumption. The results indicated that the impact on carbon emission by food consumption is increasing according to the economic development and urban inhabitants generate more food consumption carbon emission than the rural inhabitants. In the respect of direct carbon emission per capita, rural inhabitants generate more than city inhabitants, but the indirect carbon emission of urban inhabitants far outweighs the amount of rural inhabitants. City residents are inclined to eat more non -staple foods, processed foods or attractively-packaged foods and the increase in indirect energy and the input of other materials will increase markedly. The key to mitigating the impact on carbon emission by food consumption is to advocate low-carbon food habit and improve energy utilization of relevant industries.


Examination of the cuticle of 'Cortland', 'Mcintosh' and 'Golden Delicious' apple under a scanning electron microscope (SEM) showed differences between cultivars in structure of the wax coating. A possible relationship was observed between wax structure and the occurrence and nature of surface breaks to scald susceptibility. Cuticle thickness had no apparent bearing on susceptibility to scald.


Secondary schools incubate and hatch the youth from their teens and transform them into adults in pursuit of vocational and academic careers in the Kenyan economy. The success of a secondary school is determined by the performance of its students in Kenya certificate of secondary examination. Each secondary school should identify its competitive advantage that would help it to ensure high performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination (KCSE). This study aimed at examining school infrastructure and culture as competitive advantage that would enhance school's performance in KCSE. The study used descriptive survey design. The target population was 4112 encompassing major stakeholders in the provision of education. Sample of the study was 317. Stratified random sampling was applied to pick 84 principals, 118 school board members and 115 Parent and Teachers Association (PTA) members as respondents for the study. Questionnaires were used to collect data analyzed using SPSS computer processing package. The study found that well established school culture and infrastructure enhance school's performance in KCSE. ICT did not show any significant contribution to schools' KCSE performance in Bungoma


Method for generating a high rate channel using a set of transfer channels N lower rate, the method comprising: generating a set of N sinusoids having a corresponding set of N phase shifts with predetermined phase rotations; lifting convert said set of N lower rate channels using said set ofN sinusoids and N phase shifts, producing a set of upconverted signals; summing said set of upconverted signals, producing a summed signal whereby the peak-to-average amplitude of said summed signal is reduced based on said phase rotations; transmitting said summed signal; and wherein, prior to said generating a set ofN sinusoids, the method comprising: generating an inphase component and a quadrature component of phase from each of said N lower rate channels transfer; and then summing the phase component of said N channels lower rate with the quadrature component phase of another of said N channels lower rate, wherein said generating a set ofN sinusoids comprises further rotation of 90of N phase shifts of said set of N phase shifts.


Labor camps in California have proved a new and substantial basis for citizenship on the part of a class heretofore scarcely considered in the problem of government. With camps having proper sanitation the lower type of labor and the agitator are eliminated. Campers of today aid the inspectors by giving notice of bad sanitary conditions.


an outbreak of ' exfoliative glossitis ' associated with Assuring at the angles of the mouth in the jail population of this country. Later Nicholls (1934) reported the incidence of this particular labial lesion, i.e. angular stomatitis, along with phrynoderma in poorer school children and inmates of asylums in Ceylon. The existence of angular stomatitis amongst the prison population of the Malay Peninsula was reported by Landor and Pallister (1935) but with scrotal dermatitis added to the syndrome. Such findings were reported from other parts of the world also (Wright, 1936; Moore, 1937), and Stannus (1936) suggested that the oral syndrome was the earliest manifestation of pellagra. In this country, Aykroyd and his co-workers (1936 and 1939) and later Karunakaran and Nair (1940) have made serious attempts to study the setiology of the syndrome by the therapeutic administration of protective foods such as skimmed milk, yeast powder, and soya bean, and drugs such as marmite and nicotinic acid. In the present investigation, an attempt has been made to find out the results of treatment of the oral and genital conditions referred to above, by the administration of two components of the B2 complex, riboflavin and nicotinic acid, and also of some of the yeast and milk preparations.


The study examined the longitudinal impact of soccer training on the physiological profile of soccer beginners. Anthropometrical (e.g. body mass index, body fat) and physiological characteristics (e.g. speed, agility, vertical jump, VO2max) were measured at the beginning, middle and end of the season. Seventeen soccer beginners aged from 10 to 15 years old (12.41 ± 1.734) participated in the study. They all had less than one year of soccer training experience. The results confirmed the impact of soccer training on anthropometrical and physiological variables of the beginners. The peak performance of some variables such as speed, agility and VO2max achieved in the middle of the season that training sessions were combined with soccer games. Therefore it is of great importance for youngsters to participate to a soccer team with regular training sessions and games so as to improve their physiological as well as their health profiles.


PVP/PNIPAAm copolymers exhibit a temperature sensitive nature that makes them an attractive candidate for controlled drug delivery devices. Diclofenac sodium was added to the monomeric mixture, which included an initiator and crosslinking agent (where appropriate), prior to UV photopolymerisation. It was found that the xerogels retained similar properties as the original samples (not containing drug) at lower levels of drug integration. In all cases, drug dissolution analysis showed that the active agent was released at a slower rate at temperatures above the Lower Critical Solution Temperature (LCST). Interestingly, the drug release trends were almost identical for both the physically and chemically crosslinked hydrogels, when the decrease in transition temperature caused by the incorporated crosslinking agent is taken into consideration. It is believed that both types of copolymers reached a constant maximum swollen weight at a set of temperatures above their transition temperatures. When this swollen plateau is attained, the hydrophilic-hydrophobic interactions are balanced, thus the gel does not swell or shrink further and the drug diffuses out at a constant rate.


The origin ofthe crystalfield and its variation with temperature in several ~,-alums have been studied by NMR of 27A1 and EPR of Cr 3+ at high hydrostatic pressures and low temperatures. The results lead to an explanation of the anomalous temperature variation of the axial crystal field at the trivalent ion site. The mechanism of the phase transition in ammonium alum is also explained. A correlation between the axial crystal field as determined by NMR (e2qQ/h) and that determined by EPR (D) has been obtained.


Classification of mRNA expression data in order to determine the presence of a severe disease is an active topic of bioinformatic research. In recent years, the newly-discovered microRNAs, a group of compounds inhibiting mRNAs, have been gaining prominence in these tasks. The thesis explores the current trends in integration of mRNA and microRNA data and the effect of integration on the quality of class prediction. The thesis also proposes two new integration methods which use microRNA-mRNA target prediction databases as prior knowledge — one based on dimensionality reduction using singular value decomposition, one based on subtracting a proportion of microRNA expression levels from the expression levels of the related inhibited mRNAs. The existing and newly proposed integration methods are experimentally evaluated on myelodysplastic syndrome data. The experiments show that the models trained on datasets integrated using the new methods outperform both the models trained on datasets integrated trivially and the models trained on non-integrated datasets.


Sr1-xGdxTiO3 (0.00 ≤ x ≤ 0.11) ceramics by the addition of Gd3+ on A-sites, were processed and fabricated through the conventional sintering method and optimised the sintering temperature at 1390 °C–1470 °C for 2 h. The experimentation shows that all ceramics are possessed by cubic structure, in which the increment of Gd3+ content, in terms of x, decreases the lattice parameters of the ceramics, as well as affects the grain size. Comparing the results to pure SrTiO3 (STO) compounds, the addition of Gd3+ lowers the mass loss, increased the conductivity as well as permittivity by decreasing the dielectric losses at lower frequencies. The x = 0.03 and 0.01 evidenced the maximum Seeback Coefficient, ∼281 μV K−1 at ∼370 K confirming the higher carrier concentration. Also, the magnetic properties as a function of Gd3+ ions doped with STO showed gradual improvement, showing maximum saturation with the maximum concentration of x.


Contemporary motion picture content, consisting of scenes with different amounts of visual complexity or camera noise, represents demanding input for video encoders operating in rate control (RC) modes. This paper presents improvements to the 2-pass RC method integrated into VVenC, an open VVC encoder implementation, outlined in previous publications. We specifically introduce three extensions to our RC solution: first, frame type adaptation operating near scene cuts, along with an associated simple detector; second, rate stabilization means to allow for more reliable lookahead based 2-pass RC operation in on-the-fly encoding applications; and third, a low-complexity approach for estimating the instantaneous intensity of camera noise or film grain to avoid large variations in bit consumption when encoding individual frames in the final RC pass. Experimental evaluation confirms that these extensions significantly improve both the objective (BD rate) and subjective (visual) RC performance of VVenC especially on challenging video content.


We investigate the properties of star formation-driven outflows by using a large spectroscopic sample of ~160,000 local "normal" star forming galaxies, drawn from the SDSS, spanning a wide range of star formation rates and stellar masses. The galaxy sample is divided into a fine grid of bins in the M_*-SFR parameter space, for each of which we produce a composite spectrum by stacking together the SDSS spectra of the galaxies contained in that bin. We exploit the high signal-to-noise of the stacked spectra to study the emergence of faint features of optical emission lines that may trace galactic outflows and would otherwise be too faint to detect in individual galaxy spectra. We adopt a novel approach that relies on the comparison between the line-of-sight velocity distribution (LoSVD) of the ionised gas (as traced by the [OIII]5007 and Halpha+[NII]6548,6583 emission lines) and the LoSVD of the stars, which are used as a reference tracing virial motions. Significant deviations of the gas kinematics from the stellar kinematics in the high velocity tail of the LoSVDs are interpreted as a signature of outflows. Our results suggest that the incidence of ionised outflows increases with SFR and sSFR. The outflow velocity (v_out) correlates tightly with the SFR for SFR>1 M_Sun/yr, whereas at lower SFRs the dependence of v_out on SFR is nearly flat. The outflow velocity, although with a much larger scatter, increases also with the stellar velocity dispersion, and we infer velocities as high as v_out~(6-8)*sigma_stars. Strikingly, we detect the signature of ionised outflows only in galaxies located above the main sequence (MS) of star forming galaxies in the M_*-SFR diagram, and the incidence of such outflows increases sharply with the offset from the MS. Our complementary analysis of the stellar kinematics reveals the presence of blue asymmetries of a few 10 km/s in the stellar LoSVDs. [abridged]


Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is one of the most important crops in the world, and it is considered the primary source of nutritional layout in developing countries in Asia. The glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) superfamily confers to rice protection against biotic and abiotic stress, and herbicide resistance. However, the three-dimensional structure of a GST Tau class, is unsolved. The objectives of this work were to develop a reliable comparative model for the s-transferase glutathione class Tau 4 from rice, and simulate docking interactions, against herbicides bentazon and metsulfuron. Results showed that the predicted model is reliable and has structural quality. Ramachandran plot set 91.9% of the residues in the most favored regions. All complexes showed negative binding energies values; and metsulfuron docked to the glutathione tripeptide, and it represents a possible insilico evidence of glutathione conjugation with this herbicide.


This note presents a generalization of the main theorem of the sequential maximization technique given in Fiacco and McCormick's paper just preceding this note.


In order to study bubble behavior in a pulsed fluidized bed,experiments for bubble behavior in a two-dimensional pulsed fluidized bed(PFB)were carried out.The instantaneous state of gas-solid flows in fluidized bed was caught by means of camera.By the medium of analysis of the images,the bubble size along the PFB was compared with that in a conventional fluidized bed.The bubble size and rising velocity were affected by the pulse parameters and the particle properties by image analysis.Results show that pulsating stream is possible to restrain large bubble formation and promote gas-solid contacting.And the bubble rising velocity was reduced with the frequency increased.


The hyper‐response of dendritic cell (DC) is believed to participate in the pathogenesis of immune thrombocytopenia (ITP). The CD70 expression on the surface of DCs that takes part in the CD27‐CD70 costimulation pathway is an important element of DC 'licensing', which may initiate a series of autoreactive immune responses. To elucidate the roles CD70 molecules play in the DCs of ITP patients, we first stimulated the CD70 molecules on the DCs of ITP patients and normal controls, and found that the stimulated DCs from ITP patients exhibited higher ability to induce CD4+CD25− T lymphocytes proliferation, while lowering the ability of the induction of regulatory T cells (Tregs) from CD4+CD25− T lymphocytes. Meanwhile, higher IFN‐γ and lower IL‐10 levels were found in the co‐culture system of stimulated DCs and CD4+CD25− T cells. We then silenced the CD70 genes on the induced DCs of ITP patients and normal controls by siRNA, and confirmed our suggestion that the silence of CD70 expression on the surface of DCs from ITP patients would decrease the CD4+CD25− T lymphocytes proliferation and Tregs differentiation, simultaneously inducing higher IL‐10 and lower IFN‐γ levels. Thus, the interference with the CD27‐CD70 costimulatory pathway might lead to the alleviation of the consequent immune reactions, polarisation of Th2, induction of immune tolerance as well as shed new light on treatment of autoimmune diseases.


The construction economy is strong, and many construction management programs are experiencing record attendance. However, the coming decline within the U.S. in the number of college students (15% decline beginning in 2026) looms large. This exploratory research project seeks to illuminate the potential impact of this demographic shift in five states where a diversity of construction management and geography exists: Alabama, Colorado, Illinois, Texas, and Washington. Results indicate substantial drops in enrollment for schools in Alabama and Illinois and illuminate that almost all regional universities will suffer as a result of the anticipated demographic shifts. Construction management programs should prepare for the coming shifts and increased competition for students. Options include additional emphasis on growing demographic sectors, an additional focus on gender diversity, and shifts in instructional approaches.


Consider an option with maturity time T corresponding to a contingent claim H in an incomplete market. A fair hedging price for H should take into account an optimal dynamical hedging plan against H. Let Ct be the cumulative cost and ℑt be the set of events of the history up to time t. You can choose the plan at time t such that you minimize

i E[{Ct+1-Ct}2 ∣ ℑt],

ii E[{CT-Ct}2 ∣ ℑt], or

iii E[{CT-C0}2].

Sufficient conditions on the underlying stochastic process in discrete time are provided such that the fair hedging price does not depend on the choice of i, ii, or iii, which fact should increase its acceptability.


In this paper, we propose a novel free-rider detection scheme for IEEE 802.11 wireless networks. In our proposed scheme, various characteristics extracted from different layers in the TCP/IP stack are exploited to detect a free-rider. Specifically, these characteristics are combined and applied to a simple but powerful probabilistic-based classifier. To the best of our knowledge, our scheme is the first to target the detection of a ``mercurial'' free-rider. In addition, it does not require additional hardware support or changes to the current IEEE 802.11 standards so as to implement our proposed scheme. A comprehensive evaluation study is conducted to examine the performance of our proposed scheme. The evaluation results demonstrate that the proposed scheme is able to effectively detect mercurial free-riders under different network settings.


Ultrafast dynamics of bismuth excited by femtosecond laser pulses was studied varying wavelength of pump and probe pulses from 400 to 2500 nm and from 400 to 900 nm respectively. Three relaxational components with decay rates of 1 ps, 7 ps and ~ 1 ns were found in the photoinduced response. The fastest process is ascribed to the excited electrons at T6+ point of the Brillouin zone, that are responsible for coherent A1g phonon generation and its frequency softening. Intermediate component is due to crystal heating via electron-phonon interaction. Finally, a long-lived nanosecond signal is linked to electrons near the Fermi level at Ls point.


Gene expression changes in peripheral leukocytes display distinctive profiles after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) and ischemic stroke (IS), differentiating both conditions at the molecular level. The breadth of data produced by high-throughput transcriptomic analyses can identify groups of genes and main gene expression drivers that have meaningful functional associations with the disease. This can help prioritize the investigation of key genes for diagnosis and treatment. Thus, we performed whole transcriptome analyses on ICH and IS samples and constructed gene networks from a genome-wide perspective. RNA-seq was performed on peripheral blood (WB) and isolated monocytes (MON) and neutrophils (NEU) (n=6 ICH, n=33 IS and n=9 vascular risk factors control (VRFC) subjects). Gene expression results were used to construct separate co-expression networks for all datasets analyzed (ICH + VRFCs, and IS + VRFCs, for MON, NEU and WB) using Weighted Gene Co-expression Network Analysis. Modules of genes significantly associated with ICH in the ICH + VRFCs network, and with IS in the IS + VRFCs network, were identified. The most highly interconnected genes in each of these modules were identified, representing hub genes that are potential master regulators. Functional annotation of the modules and hubs were done using gene ontology. From the significantly associated modules for ICH and IS in all sample types analyzed, there was little overlap in genes between diagnoses (≤2% in MON, ≤21 % in NEU and ≤16% in WB), and no overlap of ICH or IS hub genes from MON and NEU. In WB, ≤2% of the hubs were common to ICH and IS. It is plausible that these potential master regulators drive diagnosis-specific gene expression profiles. ICH hubs were associated with RNA splicing and mRNA processing (MON), cell adhesion (NEU) and NF-κβ signaling (WB). IS hubs were associated with cell migration (MON), T cell chemotaxis (NEU) and transcription factor activity (WB). In addition, most hubs in IS MON were noncoding RNA. The gene networks and their respective hub genes provide novel cell-specific pathophysiological insights and could represent potential key pharmacological targets and biomarkers.


Introduction Salinity is one of the most measured parameters in oceanography. The importance of high quality salinity data has long been recognised in open ocean studies and more recently in coastal and estuarine processes. Many of the data are collected using in-situ instrumentation but the measurement of salinity in the laboratory also remains an important and widely used technique. This article describes the methodology used in the high precision, accurate measurement of Practical Salinity in the laboratory.


Repeated implantation failure (RIF) is a challenging problem for the development of assisted reproductive technology (ART). Endometrial receptivity is one of the key factors for the management of in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). How to improve the endometrial receptivity of patients with RIF has received considerable attentions by the reproductive medicine. This article reviewed evaluation indexes for endometrial receptivity and detailed treatments for improving the endometrial receptivity in order to provide the evidence-based reference for clinical researches. These treatments include the hysteroscopy treatment, endometrial mechanical injury, regulation of maternal-fetal immune tolerance, drug inhibition of uterine contraction, endometrial thickness improvement, and improvement of endometrial blood flow.

Key words:
Repeated implantation failure (RIF); Endometrial receptivity; In vitro fertilization-embryo transfer(IVF-ET)


The wave nature of electrons in semiconductor nanostructures results in spatial interference effects similar to those exhibited by coherent light. The presence of spin–orbit coupling renders interference in spin space and in real space interdependent, making it possible to manipulate the electron's spin state by addressing its orbital degree of freedom. This suggests the utility of electronic analogs of optical interferometers as blueprints for new spintronics devices. We demonstrate the usefulness of this concept using the Mach–Zehnder interferometer as an example. Its spin-dependent analog realizes a spin-controlled field-effect transistor without magnetic contacts and may be used as a quantum logical gate.


After describing the meaning,function and existing problems in wetland ecosystem,the current situa- tion of wetland ecosystems (WE) in Hainan,which plays an important role in WE of China,is described.From 1995 to 2003,the area of inland-wetland system,ocean and coastal wetland system has been reduced 20.7% and 41.4% respectively.The area of artificial wetland system has only been increased 1.2%.The worse situa- tion was mainly caused by reclamation and reformed without carefully planning.WE was destroyed by a vicious circle caused by the development of ecological tour,pollution and the destruction of biodiversities.These four reasons were interconnected which made the situation of WE in Hainan worse.Six management suggestions were proposed.They included the change of development conception,more detail investigation on WE,more financial support,strengthening the legislation and its implementation to protect WE,and to recover wetland on the basis of reasonable utilization.


We report the case of a 16-year-old female who presented to us with a recurrent cheek abscess following a blow to the cheek. On drainage of the abscess, a piece of betel nut was retrieved from the cheek. The patient recalled having a betel nut in her mouth at the time of the blow.


An external fixator for calcaneus pry-poking relates to the field of fixators for the treatment of calcaneus fractures. The main technology is characterized in that the utility model consists of two pry-poking needles and a two-way regulating screw which is fixed with the two needles; the two-way regulating screw consists of two expansion screws and a two-way regulating screw cap which is connected with the two expansion screws. The utility model has simple and complete structure, the interval distance of the two pry-poking needles can be regulated after surgery, so as to maintain enough rebound force, the Bohler angle and the transverse diameter of the calcaneus; the needle puncture is less, the injury is small, the utility model can promote blood circulation and prevent joint adhesion.


Workplace helping is essential to the success of organizations and economies. Given the economic benefits of helping, it seems important that, during difficult economic periods, the amount of helpi...


A series of mercaptopropyl-functionalized wormhole mesostructures, denoted MP-HMS, have been prepared through the S0I0 assembly of alkylamine surfactants (S0) and mixtures of 3-mercaptopropyltrimet...


Variant‐specific zinc transporter 8 autoantibodies (ZnT8A) against either arginine (R) or tryptophan (W) at amino acid (aa) position 325 of the zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) has been identified in type 1 diabetes (T1D) patients. Reciprocal cross‐over tests revealed differences in half‐maximal binding to indicate variable affinity of patient ZnT8 autoantibodies. Insufficient recombinant ZnT8 variant proteins have precluded detailed analyses of ZnT8 autoantibody affinity. The aims in the present study were to (i) generate recombinant ZnT8R‐ and ZnT8W‐aa275‐369 proteins; (ii) test the ZnT8R‐ and ZnT8W‐aa275‐369 proteins in reciprocal competitive radiobinding assays (RBA) against ZnT8R‐ and ZnT8W‐aa268‐369 labelled with 35S‐methionine; and (iii) determine the specificity and affinity of sera specific for either ZnT8 arginine (R) or ZnT8 tryptophan (W) autoantibodies in newly diagnosed T1D patients. The results demonstrate, first, that it was possible to produce recombinant human MBP–ZnT8‐aa275‐369 protein purified to homogeneity for RBA reciprocal competition experiments. Secondly, high‐titre ZnT8WA sera diluted to half maximal binding showed significant specificity for respective variants of either ZnT8R or ZnT8W. Thirdly, ZnT8WA‐positive sera showed high affinity for ZnT8W compared to ZnT8RA for ZnT8R. These data demonstrate that T1D patients may have single amino acid‐specific autoantibodies directed against either ZnT8R or ZnT8W and that the autoantibody affinity to the respective variant may be different. Further studies are needed to assess the mechanisms by which variant‐specific ZnT8A of variable affinity develop and their possible role in the pathogenic process leading to the clinical onset of T1D.


The article presents the author's view on the history of the emergence and development of marketing. In its essence, it does not differ significantly from the generally accepted history. The main difference is systematization by dividing the story into two stages and several stages. In addition, this systematization is based not on marketing concepts, but on its functions.


Finger millet (Eleusine coracana L. Gaertn) is one of the important millets grown extensively in Dharmapuri District. It is a hardy crop, has good adaption to wide range of environment especially heat, drought, marginal and degraded soils (Okalebo et al., 1991). Finger millet is the principal food grain of the rural population in India, especially in South India. It is very nutritious with respect to minerals, dietary fiber and essential amino acids. Amongst cereals, Ragi provides highest level of calcium including International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 8 (2020) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com


Life table methodology and interference index of population control(IIPC) were used to determine the suppressive effect of azadirachtin on litchi fruit borer(Conopomorpha sinensis Bradley).The results showed that the main suppression of 0.3% azadirachtin was its strong oviposition deterrent effect.When 6 mL/L and 3 mL/L of azadirachtin were applied on litchi fruit borer laboratory cohorts,the oviposition deterrence rates were 89.3% and(86.2%,) respectively.In the field experiment,when litchi plants were sprayed with 6 mL/L and 3 mL/L of azadirachtin,the indices of population trend(I),estimated from life table,were 1.23 and 1.45,respectively,which were much lower than that in control field(11.60),and the corresponding IIPC were 0.106 and 0.112,respectively.The suppressive effects of these two concentrations of azadirachtin on litchi fruit borer were 89.4% and 87.5%,respectively.Depended on these conclusions,it will be feasible and profitable to introduce azadirachtin into litchi fruit borer IPM system.


Occurrence of shoals of the Javanese cownose ray, Rhinoptera javanica Miiller & Henle in the Gulf of Mannar in the vicinity of Mandapam was reported once
earlier by the author (James, 1962). Since then, no reports of such instances were
made nor the author came across such heavy landings of this species till the 1st of
February 1969 when about 130 rays of the same species were landed by a shore
seine operated at about 3 a.m. (high tide period) at approximately 6 metres depth
off Vedalai in the Gulf of Mannar. The author had opportunity to examine 113
of these specimens, the results of which along with a note on the structure of teeth
in this species are given in this paper.


INTRODUCTIONFinancial statement fraud is one of the main problems of the economic world. External and internal users of the financial statements is increasingly cast doubt on the financial statement, and regulatory authorities can't claim with certainty that financial statement is reliable and prepared in accordance with all regulatory and ethical provisions of the activities of accountants and auditors.In the current economic conditions the cause of fraud is using of different methods to measure assets and liabilities. Thus the improvement of financial reporting quality which is the basic source for the conduction of enterprise's financial state and results of activity analysis is continuously connected to the efficiency of assets and liabilities, their quantification and classification (Kulikova, L.I., Grigoryeva, L.L., Gubaidullina, A.R., 2014, p.61). It's important to note the fact that the companies try to show the results of its business in the best light, increase the attractiveness to investors and the value of its own capitalization.The aim of the research is to describe the possibility of internal controls in improving the process of management in the company, to work out the model of compliance-control, which can improve the quality of the financial statement.METHODSince the beginning of the twentieth century the problem of falsification was actively studied by researchers. Among them are: Gerard M. Zack, Rezai Zabiholla, Joseph T. Wells, Sherr I.F., Arinushkin N. S. and others. For example Ya.M. Galperin noted that falsification represents the distortion of balance sheet resulting in changes in the material contents of accounts and groups of balance sheet items (Galperin, 1925). I.F. Sherr claimed that falsification of the reporting is directed on distortion of a condition and a size of property and profitability of a company (Sherr, 1926). N. S. Arinushkin narrowed a falsification problem to balance sheet and the misstatement of its items (Arinushkin, 1927) (Kulikova, L.I., Gafieva, G.M., 2014, p.41).Financial statement fraud often starts with a small misstatement or earnings management of quarterly financial reports that presumes not to be material but eventually grows into fullblown fraud and producing materially misleading annual financial statements (Zabihollah Rezaee, 2002, p.336).It's important to note that there is no effective method to control the quality of financial statement nowadays. In our opinion among the tools that can detect and prevent falsification and manipulation of financial statement, can be consider internal control and compliance-control as one element of internal control system.Concerning the research of Association of Certified Fraud Examiners (ACFE), the typical organization loses 5% of revenues each year to fraud (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 2014).Next, examine the possibility of the internal control as the method of management, and compliance-control as the method of detection and prevention of financial statement fraudThe main method used in this study is the comparison method, the methods of analysis and synthesisRESULTInternal control originated in the United States after major scandals involving the falsification of financial statements.The Sarbanes-Oxley Act was enacted in 2002 after a number of corporate scandals in the United States, connected with disturbances in corporate governance and financial reporting in the cases of Enron, Tyco International, Peregrine Systems, and World-Com, which led to multimillion investors' losses (Tofeluc E., 2015, p. 57). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) mandates management evaluation and independent audits of internal control effectiveness (Ashbaugh-Skaife, H., Collins, D., Kinney Jr., W., Lafond, R., 2009, p. 41). The law consists of eleven sections and applies to US and international companies whose securities are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). …


This work described here then proceeds to evaluate (1) the cost of migration using an industry standard micro-benchmark 'lmbench' on a uniquely configured piece of hardware to ensure fair comparison, (2) the number of migrations on a representative operating system used for departmental HPC (dominated by the GNU Linux operating system) using a GNU Linux Scheduler simulator, and finally (3) proposes, implements and evaluates a dynamic load balancer triggering, based on the number of tasks in the system and the number of processing cores for a most effective utilisation of the processing cores. The benefits is illustrated using synthetic benchmarks and standard HPC benchmarks, the NASA Parallel Benchmarks. In this work, the proposed method achieved up to a 27% improvement.


This work investigates the dependence of minority carrier lifetime on dopant concentration and injection level in p-type silicon. For current high-purity material grown by the conventional Czochralski technique or applying a magnetic field, iron is no longer the dominant recombination center. An approach based on Shockley-Read-Hall theory using published iron-related recombination centers is shown to be unsuccessful in explaining the experimentally observed behavior. In this work, the variation of lifetime with doping concentration and injection level in high-purity silicon is examined assuming the presence of a distribution of energy levels in the bandgap, possibly due to some kind of grown-in recombination centers (high-purity silicon recombination centers), and it is shown that this approach can indeed explain the experimental behavior. According to the results, even in the presence of a moderate iron contamination (5E10 cm -3 ) the contribution of high-purity silicon recombination centers is necessary to fit the experimental data. The comparison between samples grown with and without magnetic field suggests that oxygen might be involved in the formation of these recombination centers.


We read with interest the case of dengue encephalopathy by Kanade and Shah1 and have the following comments to offer: The authors have correctly listed the three types of neurological manifestations associated with dengue infection1. We would like to add 'acute disseminated encephalomyelitis' (ADEM) to the list of post-infection neurological manifestation of dengue fever. ADEM is a monophasic, post-infectious or post-vaccine acute inflammatory demyelinating disorder of central nervous system2. The pathophysiology involves transient autoimmune response directed at myelin or other self-antigens, possibly by molecular mimicry or by non-specific activation of autoreactive T-cell clones2. ADEM is often preceded by a viral or bacterial infection; usually in the form of a non-specific upper respiratory tract infection3. Neurologic symptoms of ADEM commonly appear 4 to 13 days after the infection. ADEM can affect any part of the nervous system and thus the clinical presentation is variable. Patients can present with altered mental status, seizures, pyramidal dysfunction, cerebellar ataxia, brainstem syndromes, optic neuritis, myelitis, and rarely myeloradiculopathy and extrapyramidal syndromes2. The diagnosis of ADEM is based on clinical presentation and neuroimaging2,3. ADEM following dengue infection has been described in literature4,5. Although, ADEM following dengue infections is rare, it deserves mention as the management and prognosis depend on early recognition and treatment. It has been seen that the recovery is incomplete in patients with ADEM not receiving any form of immune modulation treatment (high dose methylprednisolone, intravenous immunoglobulin or plasmapheresis)2,3. The clinical presentation of the infant and cerebrospinal fluid analysis described by Kanade and Shah1 is similar to that of ADEM. However, the normal magnetic resonance imaging findings and the complete recovery without immune modulation treatment goes against ADEM. In conclusion, we would like to highlight that ADEM should be suspected in a child who develops multifocal neurologic abnormalities with encephalopathy, especially if onset occurs one to two weeks after dengue fever. REFERENCES


In this paper, the effect of plane spacing between electrode planes on Electrical Impedance Tomography (EIT) reconstructed images is investigated. Image properties of models for various plane spacings between electrode planes on EIT imaging were investigated by applying conventional measurement strategies. Sensitivity analysis and spatial resolution analysis were used to study the influence of the different plane spacing between electrode planes on imaging properties. In the sensitivity analyses, the results indicate that there are insignificant differences in sensitivity level for the models with different plane spacings, regardless of measurement strategies applied. From the spatial resolution analyses, the findings are conclusive as there are visible differences in the spatial resolution across the off-electrode plane. A comparative study using reconstructed images was also done. The true distributions with the different number of objects are used as references to assess resulting reconstructed images obtained from models with different plane spacing between electrode planes. Results indicate the model with plane spacing between electrodes planes, which is one quarter to the height of the model, provides the better quality of reconstructed images, in terms of estimations of dimension, and colour contrast of the imaged object.


Due to the increasing complexity of electronic systems and subsystems, versatile simulation approaches, able to combine electromagnetic full-wave analysis with models of non linear electronic devices, are becoming very attractive. Among them, the so called Lumped Element (LE)-FDTD method, for its characteristic to easily account for non linearities is one of the most promising ones. Unfortunately, its application to practical circuits is still limited by the long simulation time needed to achieve the biasing condition all over the structure. This work proposes a way to avoid the simulation of the transient, thus allowing efficient FDTD analysis of the dynamic behaviour of interest. The approach has been validated by simulating a simple but comprehensive BJT CE amplifier enclosed in a metallic package. Results show an improvement of the efficiency without any reduction of the accuracy.


AbstractThis note is concerned with the linear Volterra equation of hyperbolic type
$$\partial _{tt} u(t) - \alpha \Delta u(t) + \int_0^t {\mu (s)\Delta u(t - s)} ds = 0$$
 on the whole space ℝN. New results concerning the decay of the associated energy as time goes to infinity were established.


It presents the Lego-type dye-sensitized solar cell module. According to the invention, the mutually opposed aligned introduction of the transparent two first substrates, the first relatively turned to put out projecting relative to the first substrate doedoe introduce overlap shifted for the first substrate between the first substrate iron (凸) provides a space between the transparent first substrate, the first substrate and the second substrate forms becomes relatively slide are in the opposite direction corresponding to the convex parts of the first substrate portion that is relatively projected to constitute a yaw (凹) and sealed portions, the first substrate or the second surfaces onto transparent two electrodes are introduced, respectively, the transparent two dyes were introduced to be respectively opposed to the two electrodes sensitive film of the substrates, the dye that is opposite to the inner side of the sealed portions introduced sensitive film and an electrolyte introduced between the electrodes, and the substrate and the dye-sensitized film and between the substrate and the electrodes introduced between doedoe form a solar cell block including a transparent conductive film extending in the sealing portion the outer unit the presentation, and this solar cell is the convex portion of the unit cell is a cell block to another block number dog main portion of any one of the cell blocks is inserted presents a mutually fastening the module in a manner of being connected to each other electrically. Solar cells, solar modules, Lego, dye sensitized, transparent electrodes


The major genes of restoring recessive fertility of wild--abortive type hybrid rice were analyzed by both methods of maximum likelihood and EM algorithm. The results indicated that the recessive fertility were controlled by two pairs major effect genes. Moreover, additive effect of the stronger restoring gene was the double of the weaker ones.


Objective To clone mitofusin-2(mfn2) gene and construct a new kind of recombinant vector containing rat mitofusin-2(mfn2) cDNA neither cytotoxicity nor activating prot-oncogenes.Methods The RNA was extracted from rat vascular smooth muscle cell(A7r5) with efficient Trizol reagent.The mfn2 cDNA was obtained from it by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction(RT-PCR) and was amplified,purified and retrieved.To digest pEGFP-N1 plasmid and mfn2 gene with dual-endonuclease,we retrieved a big fragment from pEGFP-N1 and a 2.2 kb fragment from mfn2 gene.The big fragment and the 2.2 kb fragment were recombined.The recombination pEGFPmfn2 plasmid was identified and sequenced by mono-endonuclease and dual-endonuclease.Results We have cloned mfn2 gene from A7r5 and constructed a sort of eukaryon expression plasmid vector with pEGFPmfn2.A 6.9kb fragment was found in the recombination pEGFP-N1/mfn2 after digesting with mono-endonuclease.By digesting the 6.9kb fragment with dual-endonuclease,we obtained two fragments,one is 4.7 kb,the other is 2.2 kb.It was identified by sequencing that the 2.2 kb fragment was same as rats'.Conclusion A new eukaryon expression plasmid with mfn2 gene has been constructed.It is the basis for studying mfn2 function and the relationship with cardiovascular diseases.


This paper mainly analyses the recessive weakness in Superbuck Converter and proposes a diagnosis method through kernel principal component analysis (KPCA) and incremental probabilistic neural network (IPNN). The Superbuck Converter presents excellent performance in many applications and is nowadays faced with demands of higher reliability and steadier operation. Firstly, the character of recessive weakness in both time and frequency domain are demonstrated to clearly reveal the inner actual deterioration of the circuit system. Furthermore, wavelet packet decomposition (WPD) and Parseval's theorem are utilized to extract the feature of recessive weakness. KPCA is also used to the dimensionality reduction of feature vectors. IPNN is applied to the automatic classification of the recessive weakness aroused from different components on the basis of the extracted features. Finally, the classification accuracy of the proposed algorithm is also verified through simulation experiments, the results of which present both satisfying classification accuracy and rapid detection speed.


Abstract: A better understanding of preferential water flow is important because water-related crises, i.e., water scarcity and security, are strongly associated with water retention rates in different landscapes. This review aims to evaluate significant advances in the main themes of preferential water flow to establish the inconsistent roles of preferential water flow in eco-hydrology and suggest promising areas for future work. Results showed that preferential water flow studies have made significant advances in our understanding of certain parameters functioning at multiple scales but that most studies focus on preferential water flow in the vadose zone, whereas few studies on the soil surface. Preferential water flow can have a positive effect on averting water crises, such as when it affects surface runoff soil erosion, soil formation as ecosystem services, nutrient cycling in root zone, and overall water regulation of the water cycle. Conversely, preferential water flow can have a negative effect on eco-hydrological issues via slope stability, gully erosion, geological disaster, waste treatment, water supply in root zone, and food production. Our review concludes that more information is required on preferential water flow before we can assess its role in mitigating water-related crisis events.


Next week on 14 April, the March for Science will once again demonstrate the widespread public support for science around the world. Nowhere is this message more needed than in Washington, D.C., where the federal government continues to ignore the value of independent science advice to inform decision-making. Given this lack of expertise at the national level, it is critical to bolster the role of science in policy-making at the state government level. Here, California can lead by example.


ing the secretion of gastric juice, which injures the stomach lining, are frequently used as antiulcer drugs. On the other hand, other types of antiulcer drugs that enhance the effects of protective factors to repair and protect the gastric mucosa have been used for a long time because they have comparatively few side effects. Natural material-derived plaunotol and teprenone, which are examples of the latter type of drugs, are used to enhance such protective factors. It has been reported that Cladosiphon okamuranus TOKIDA, a polysaccharide fucoidan from Nemacystis decipiens OKINAWA, and an extract of Acanthopanax senticosus HARMS were effective in repressing ulcers in a rat gastric ulcer model. Previously, we reported that compounds 1, 2, and 3 were effective for lipid peroxidation and anti oxidation of 1,1diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl. In addition, we demonstrated that 3 had anti viral effects against human cytomegalovirus. Additionally, we discovered new antiulcer effects of these compounds. We evaluated those effects using a rat acute gastric lesion model and investigated the mechanism of such antiulcer effects in isolated rat fundus.


This study evaluated the action at the cellular level of long life whole milk, full type of six renowned companies operating in the Brazilian market, as well as in other South American countries. The evaluation was performed using root meristem cells of Allium cepa L., at exposure times 24 and 48 hours, directly in milk products marketed. The results indicated that all the milk samples reduced root meristem cell proliferation, proving, in this study, a significant cytotoxic effect. Still, exposure to milk resulted in a significant frequency of mitotic spindle changes in meristem cells, characterizing these foods as genotoxic and mutagenic under the study conditions. It can be concluded that the long life milk samples caused significant genetic instability to cells of the examined tissue. The results obtained for cytotoxic, mutagenic and genotoxic action of these long life milks are of great relevance because, to date, there are no published toxicity studies on such foods and food additives present in the composition.


This paper briefly analyzes the environmental compact of different refrigerants,and combined with the present development level of refrigerating technology in China,this paper brings up viewpoints on the choice of refrigerants that considering the misconceptions concerning the choice and substitution of the refrigerants,not only higher technical contents but also China's basic conditions as well as the development trend of refrigerants should be taken into consideration.


We present a case of azygos pericallosal artery mimicking an anterior communicating artery aneurysm in a patient with headache that we thought the first reported case detected by CT angiography. Neuroanatomy; 2006; 5: 27–29.


Effects of different culture methods on mycelial biomass and exopolysaccharides production in a submerged culture of Cordyceps militaris were investigated.The results showed that two-stage process for exopolysaccharides production was superior to other culture method.The exopolysaccharides production was improved by adding cetyltriethylammnonium bromide(CTAB).Then,central composite design(CCD)and response surface methodology(RSM)were utilized to optimize the two-stage fermentation process.A quadratic model was found to fit the exopolysaccharides production.CCD revealed that the optimum values of the test variables for exopolysaccharides production were shaken for 115h followed by 120h static culture.The maximum exopolysaccharide production reached 3.02g/L under optimized two-stage culture,exopolysaccharide production was above 2-fold and 1.5-fold in comparison with those of original static culture and shake culture method.It was indicated that the new two-stage culture method obtained in this work possessed a high potential for the industrial production of exopolysaccharide of Cordyceps militaris.


In his Perspective "Ensuring the data-rich future of the social sciences" (special section on Dealing with Data, 11 February, p. [719][1]), G. King discusses the potential to transform the future of social science using existing "huge quantities of digital information about people." As King states, the business sector has proven that powerful informatics applied to data about people can support better decision-making and foster innovation.

The same could be done to tackle difficult social problems once we figure out how to assemble and share large data sets while protecting privacy. King suggests building data archives to facilitate reuse of data. Large data archives already exist on survey data ([ 1 ][2]–[ 5 ][3]), but little attention has been given to government administrative data, which is a key source of information about our society. From the day we are born until we die, most of our activities leave traces in various government databases. Indeed, these government information systems continuously generate data about all aspects of our society, much like the satellites we use to monitor our physical surroundings.

Unfortunately, most administrative data are left to languish in legacy databases after their original use. We must invest in efforts to build a systematic pipeline to extract data from these systems for secondary analysis. A well-integrated federated data system of administrative databases updated on an ongoing basis could hold a collective representation of our society. Designed, built, and properly managed by experts under appropriate protocols and oversight, such a data infrastructure could transform the social sciences and still protect individual privacy, just as well-maintained satellite data have transformed astronomy. A secure data infrastructure is critical for government decision support systems, transparency and accountability in government, and ultimately computational social science research. The Census Bureau ([ 5 ][3]) and others ([ 6 ][4], [ 7 ][5]) have already demonstrated the enormous potential of federated administrative data systems.

1. [↵][6] The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) National Center for Health Statistics Research Data Center ([www.cdc.gov/rdc/][7]).

2. The Dataverse Network Project ( ).

3. NORC Data Enclave ([www.norc.uchicago.edu/DataEnclave/default.htm][8]).

4. Odum Institute Dataverse Network Project ( ).

5. [↵][9] U.S. Census Bureau Longitudinal Employer Household Dynamics (LEHD) ( ).

6. [↵][10] U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Central Data Exchange ([www.epa.gov/cdx/index.htm][11]).

7. [↵][12] 1. H. C. Kum, 2. D. F. Duncan, 3. C. J. Stewart
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This study shows a methodology for the detection, classification, and location of bearings that presented ball faults, cage faults, and outer race faults. For this study, a three-phase induction motor was used, in which the stator current and voltage signals were measured. By calculating the total harmonic distortion and using the Stockwell Transform, different characteristics were obtained in the electrical signals that allowed defining fault conditions in the bearing, classification of the type of fault, and the location of the defective bearing (fan side or load side). By calculating the difference between the total harmonic distortion of the current and voltage signal, it is possible to identify a threshold value of 0.004 that separates a healthy condition and a fault condition. The joint use of the Stockwell Transform and the Fisher Scoring Algorithm allows us to classify the fault conditions with an average precision of 92.5%. The location of a bearing with defects on the load side generates a greater amplitude in the signal compared to those located on the fan side. This behavior allows establishing a threshold value of 1.6 for ball faults and 0.001 for cage faults and outer race. Due to the results obtained, the algorithm proposed in the study is considered to be a tool with a high degree of reliability for the diagnosis of bearings in induction motors.


In this study the factors behind the decision‐makers' erroneous judgements regarding failure prediction (classification of firms as bankrupt and non‐bankrupt) are analysed. The purpose is to find out the factors causing incorrect responses, i.e. the cases in which the decision‐maker is for some reason incapable of using the given information to arrive at the correct classification. The following five possible sources of disturbance in this decision‐making were hypothesized: firm‐specific factors, data, decision‐maker‐specific factors, external factors, and failure process. In further analysis these factors were empirically operationalized and their significance was tested applying logistic (logit) analysis separately for the Type I and Type II classification errors identified in an HIP study. The results indicated that the effect of all of the five hypothesized factors on misclassifications is statistically significant. The inconsistency of the cues (firm‐specific factors) may be the main factor causing errors in evaluation. Moreover, the failure process is another important factor (Type I error). Thus, human bankruptcy prediction can be improved mainly by checking the consistency of financial statements (that they give a true view of the firm's economic status) and by paying special attention to timely identification of the possible failure process. Future HIP studies on bankruptcy prediction and also other economic events should pay attention to control the kinds of sources of disturbance identified in this study, to maintain validity.


The high precise measurement technique based on FPGA is different from frequency measurement or period measurement.This paper presents the way of frequency measurement not only eliminat ion of direct frequency measurement method for measuring frequency required by subparagraph liner test,but also in the entire test frequency can be maintained within the same precision,because FPGA chip to achieve frequency measurement,Hence,it has high integration,high speed and high reliability features.


This paper reports on productivity of wire spark-erosion-machining (WSEM) process for manufacturing meso-sized helical gear (MHG) and meso-sized bevel gear (MBG). Productivity of WSEM process is measured by volumetric gear cutting rate (VGCR). Variation in VGCR with four WSEM parameters such as servo voltage 'SV' pulse-on time 'Ton', pulse-off time 'Toff', and feed rate of wire 'WF' is also studied. Box-Behnken design approach of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to design and conduct 29 experimental runs with replicates twice for analysis of VGCR. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to determine the significant parameters and their interactions. It was observed that all considered WSEM parameters are significant and considerably affect VGCR. Desirability function analysis was used to find the optimum WSEM parameters so as to enhance the productivity of WSEM process to manufacture the better quality of MHG and MBG. Confirmation experiments were performed to validate the optimized values of VGCR corresponding to MHG and MBG and achieved much closer to it. Scanning electron micrographs (SEM) of MHG and MBG revealed uniform and burr-free tooth profile, bore and smoother cracks-free flank surfaces.


If a person is attracted to another person, he will tend to attribute qualities which he likes to that attractive person; and to an unattractive person, he will attribute undesirable qualities (Flyer & Carp, 1962). This assumption lies behind the present attempt to assess the atcit~tde of college students toward marriage by finding out whether they thought attractive or unattractive people were married. Forty Ss (20 male, 20 female), ranging in age from 17 to 19 and all unmarried, made judgments of rwo sets of facial photographs clipped from an old high school annual. The first set was composed of pictures of 12 young men, the second of 12 young women. Six pictures from each set were rated (unanimously by the authors and one other rater) as "good-looking" and six were rated as "plain." The photos were randomly placed on cards, six to a card. Ss were told that half the photos were of married persons and were asked to pick the ones they thought were married. Each S responded first to the male set and then to the female set. When males rated the male pictures, only 36% of the "good-looking" men were chosen as married. When males rated female pictures, 63% of the "goodlooking" females were chosen as married. Females, on the other hand, decided that 76% of the "good-looking" men were married and only 40% of the women. The proportions are significantly different from chance at the .05 level, or better. Each sex chose as being married those of their own sex who were "plain" and those of the opposite sex who were "good-looking." The implication is that persons in the age range of Ss in this st~idy hold inconsistent attitudes toward marriage.


As network interaction increases, social experience design has been increasing in its importance. Interpersonal interaction is an essential part of social experience design. Gifts play an important role in society in social rewarding and the expectation of reciprocity. In the virtual world, gifts can be represented through an intangible format, as "information treats." The author discusses the characteristics of "information treats." Then, the author proposes an information treat theory that deals with social interaction in the virtual world from the viewpoint of virtual gifts. Then, the author describes how the proposed approach impacts social services and senior services.


1. We investigated the hepatobiliary transport of doxorubicin in the isolated perfused liver prepared from the adjuvant arthritis rat, an animal model for rheumatoid arthritis, to examine the hepatic P-glycoprotein activity in the adjuvant arthritis rat. 2. Liver was isolated from the normal and the adjuvant arthritis rat and perfused for 60 min with recirculating buffer and the perfusate and bile samples were collected at timed interval. 3. The elimination of doxorubicin in the adjuvant arthritis rat tended to be reduced, but it was not significantly different from the normal rat. Biliary clearance (CLbile) in the normal rat was 1.93 ± 0.48ml min−1, whereas, CLbile in the adjuvant arthritis rat was significantly decreased to 0.40 ± 0.13ml min−1. 4. CLbile was markedly decreased to about 0.15ml min−1 in the presence of 100 µM verapamil in both types of rat. Methotrexate treatment had no effect on CLbile in both the normal and adjuvant arthritis rat (2.18 ± 0.22 and 0.47 ± 0.22ml min−1, respectively). 5. The results suggest that the hepatic P-glycoprotein activity was markedly decreased in the adjuvant arthritis rat and the effect of methotrexate on the hepatic P-glycoprotein activity did not corresponded to its anti-inflammatory effect.


Field investigations in the western part of the Cape Smith Belt outlined four fault-bounded lithological assemblages tectonically overlying foliated to gneissic granitoids of the Archean Superior Province. These assemblages comprise sequences of pillowed volcanic rocks, sedimentary rocks of pelitic and psammitic composition, and volcaniclastic rocks. They are juxtaposed along the Lanyan Lake Fault against a structurally thickened sequence of mafic to ultramafic pillowed volcanic suite belonging to the Chukotat Group. The occurrence of volcaniclastic horizons in the uppermost levels of the Chukotat Group may indicate a northward facies transition from sea-floor volcanism to arc sedimentation, the latter corresponding to the Parent Group. A major pluton intruding the upper Chukotat Group, if assigned to the younger Narsajuaq intrusive suite, provides support for an 1844 – 1826 Ma link between two tectonic domains, formerly considered "suspect." These domains lie on either side of the Bergeron Fault in the e...


KRAS oncogenes are present in 30% of all human cancers and are required for tumor development and maintenance and although clearly important efforts to target KRAS mutant tumors remains a major challenge. Several systematic approaches have been made to target these RAS-dependent cancers through small molecule screening and genome-scale RNAi screens to identify KRAS Synthetic Lethal (SL) genes. We applied and network based approached to integrate published KRAS SL screen data to uncover protein networks enriched with KRAS SL genes. We are using these proteins networks to generate a KRAS genetic interaction map (E-MAP) using combinatorial RNAi to identify candidate drug combinations, which may be useful to treat KRAS mutant cancers. Our network analysis revealed a dozen protein networks enriched with KRAS SL genes. Our pilot RNAi screen revealed that KRAS mutant tumors are sensitive to PAPR inhibition. Furthermore our isogenic models reveal that KRAS mutant cells harbor active DNA repair pathways in the absence of DNA damaging agents and are likely suffering from replication stress. A combinatorial RNAi screen revealed a KRAS specific synthetic lethal interaction with PARP inhibitors and knock down of MEK-ERK pathway genes. Our results suggest that PARP inhibitions have some efficacy in treating KRAS mutant tumors undergoing replication stress single agents and potentially combined with inhibitors of MEK-ERK signaling. Future studies are underway to determine if PAPR inhibitors are effective in cancer cell in vitro and in vivo models. Citation Format: Angel A. Ku, Sourav Bandyopadhyay. Discovery and functional characterization of essential pathways in KRAS mutant cancers [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Precision Medicine Series: Opportunities and Challenges of Exploiting Synthetic Lethality in Cancer; Jan 4-7, 2017; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Ther 2017;16(10 Suppl):Abstract nr A16.


Various types of cutters (spherical, toroidal, etc.) are used in surface processing of parts of a transmission mechanism. The cost of a special profile tool is somewhat higher than that of such cutters. But the increase in the cost of the tool is compensated by a significant reduction in the time of processing parts. The present paper deals with a mathematical model of a profile cutter surface (as a surface of revolution) for processing parts of a cylindrical transmission gear with an eccentrically cycloidal gearing (EC-gearing). A computer program for determining radii of the cutter's circular cross sections for a given set of axial displacements was created.


In this study, the consensus tracking control problem is considered for a class of second-order non-linear multi-agent systems with unmodelled dynamics. Radial basis function neural networks are introduced to approximate the unknown non-linearities and a dynamic signal is utilised to deal with the unmodelled dynamics. Meanwhile, appropriate Lyapunov functions are constructed and a new distributed adaptive control protocol is designed to guarantee that all the tracking error signals in the considered multi-agent systems are ultimately bounded, under which the distributed tracking consensus is reached for all undirected connected communication graphs. Finally, two demonstrative examples are given to illustrate the validity of the designed protocols.


Overlay control is gaining more attention in recent years as technology moves into the 32nm era. Strict overlay requirements are being driven not only by the process node but also the process techniques required to meet the design requirements. Double patterning lithography and spacer pitch splitting techniques are driving innovative thinking with respect to overlay control. As lithographers push the current capabilities of their 193nm immersion exposure tools they are utilizing newly enabled control 'knobs'. 'Knobs' are defined as the adjustment points that add new degrees of freedom for lithographers to control the scanner. Expanded control is required as current scanner capabilities are at best marginal in meeting the performance requirements to support the ever demanding process nodes. This abstract is an extension of the SPIE 2008 paper in which we performed thorough sources of variance analysis to provide insight as to the benefits of utilizing high order scanner control knobs [1]. The extension this year is to expand the modeling strategies and to validate the benefit through carefully designed experiments. The expanded modeling characterization will explore not only high order correction capabilities but also characterize the use of field by field corrections as a means to improve the overlay performance of the latest generation of immersion lithography tools. We will explore various correction strategies for both grid and field modeling using KT AnalyzerTM.


Most new immigrants from the mainland China in overseas countries since the reform and opening up in China face a complicated cultural background and experience a hard career development. The New Immigrant Literature gives a vivid picture of these immigrants' life. The present paper explains the concept and implication of the New Immigrant Literature, then makes thorough analysis on the nature of cultural conflict as reflected in the New Immigrant Literature from two aspects: values and language.


To establish a stable method for determining the tannins in Rosa laevigata Michx. by casein method. The optimum conditions of determination were adopting 400mg caseins,adding 1.5% Na2CO3 and detemining after 30 min. The selected method has a good liner dependance. The average recovery of tannin acid was 100.5%,RSD=1.85%. The method is rapid and reliable for the determination of tannins in Rosa laevigata Michx. and determined the contents of the fruits in eight different disturbs and xi'an 's content has the highest,3.96%.


The present invention aims at a method of handling unusual POC business and a POC server. The present invention include as follows. POC server resources sent the message of resources occupation to thePOC terminals, if it is determined that the POC terminal has not yet received the referred message of resources occupation after the scheduled time, the POC terminal server would re-sent the messageof resources occupation to the POC terminal. The present invention could be realized in the POC server using the corresponding timing mechanism, which can save the progress of launching a new floor request message from POC client to network, thus effectively would decrease the frequency of information interaction between the POC client and server, reduce the related treatment, shorten the time that floor is invalidly occupied, and also reduce the' treatment process of information interaction implemented by POC server.


This research reports the extraction of cellulose obtained from natural fibers. Agave cantala leaf is the resource of the cellulose. The extraction process of the fibers has been carried out in two stages; the first one is the immersion of the fiber in a chemical solution, and the second one is a mechanical process using a high-speed blender. The high-speed blender has been set at 7500 RPM, with processing time varies in 15, 30, and 45 minutes. The homogenized size of cellulose has been processed using ultrasonic homogenizer for 60 minutes. Cellulose sheet has been prepared by casting homogenous solution at temperature of 90 °C in 4 hours in an oven until dry. The result of this process is a cellulose sheet, with a thickness of approximately 40 µm. Cellulose Sheet Composite has been produced by the addition of unsaturated polyester resin as a matrix that has been carried out through a vacuum infusion process. The result shows that the optimum time of the high-speed blending process is 15 minutes, which is shown by the highest mechanical properties compared to other processing time. The Scanning Electron Microscopy indicates that the cellulose fibers has a good bonding with the unsaturated polyester matrix. Further characterization has been performed on the Cellulose Sheet Composite using X-ray diffraction, Fourier transforms infrared spectroscopy, and Thermal gravimetric analyzer.


This paper investigated the ultrasonic test on the welded strength of Aluminum-steel compound material formed by dynamistic welding. Its strength used to be tested by destructive "mechanics performance test".