This paper demonstrates novel Complete Coverage Path Planning using reinforcement learning to enable a robot to complete map coverage at high speeds in complicated environments, like factories and airline cabins, with many repeated obstacles, such as furniture and walls. Our framework trains the robot in a simulated environment to move to uncovered areas and to avoid frequent collisions using rewards. Additionally, it encourages the robot to complete map coverage missions efficiently and quickly. We select the Machine-Learning Agent provided by Unity3D to build a fragment (sample cell) of an airline cabin environment in which to train the robot. We implement Proximal Policy Optimization as the main training network, and added curiosity functions (i.e., intrinsic rewards) to encourage the robot to explore uncovered areas during training. We use Generative Adversarial Imitation Learning to guide the training policy's convergence close to the expert data. Experimental results show that our optimal policy enables complete map coverage in complicated environments. We provide demonstrations comparing random motion methods to reinforcement learning networks to show differences in map coverage, trajectory length, and time-cost.


This paper empirically estimates the impact of sustainability development on the market value of the firm. We use a firm's receipt of a sustainability award as a proxy for its sustainability development effectiveness. Based on data from 398 announcements of sustainability awards given to the firms during the period 2010–2015, the evidence suggests that, on average, the stock market reaction to sustainability award winning announcement is value neutral, the stock market reacts more positively under certain award giver category. We conclude that companies should analyze and choose better sustainable action to enhance companies' competitiveness.


The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) delivery is being increasingly used in the field of logistics. However, it is highly challenging for a UAV to precisely identify the position for parcel delivering if it is only aided by the GPS, especially in some complex environments with weak signals and high interference. To address this issue, we present a knowledge distillation empowered edge intelligence framework, KeepEdge, to achieve visual information-assisted positioning for the last mile UAV delivery services. In our approach, we integrate deep neural networks (DNN) into an edge computing framework to enable edge intelligence which empowers the UAVs to autonomously identify the expected delivery position using visual information. Deploying the DNN model and conducting model inference on UAVs however, requires high computing performance. To manage the trade-off between the limited resources onboard the UAVs and high-performance requirements, here, we employ knowledge distillation to produce a lightweight model with high accuracy based on the full model trained in the Cloud. The lightweight model with significantly lower complexity and less inference latency is used onboard of the UAVs for accurate positioning. Comprehensive experiments show that the proposed framework achieves satisfactory performance for assisted positioning. A real-world case study is also presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed edge intelligence solution for UAV delivery services.


In recent years there have been several Su- preme Court adjudications concerning an- drological issues. Among other things it was reconfirmed that drug therapy for erec- tile dysfunction does not have to be paid by compulsory health insurance providers. In contrast one Supreme Court decided that cryoconservation of ejaculates has to be paid by compulsory health insurance providers under certain circumstances. Vasectomy in men under guardianship is performed approximately 100 times per year in Germany. Before vasectomy is performed judicial authorisation has to be obtained in an extensive court proceeding. The Tissue Act regulates the implementa- tion of the EG guideline 2004/23/EG into Ger- man law. This is only important for urologists who perform MESA/TESE procedures. Current case law does not allow use of the title Man- nerarzt as patients can confuse it with the official title andrologist.


Sustainability transitions have caused major changes in the energy sector which has drove electricity companies to seek new processes, products, and services. Within this context, business models are conceptual tools that express business logic. Furthermore, they consist of a value proposition in services that at the same time generates benefits for consumers of energy and revenue for these companies. This work aims to show one of the innovations in the electricity company in Brazil – CPFL Energia, which is the third biggest Brazilian electricity utility company, as well as its presentation through the development of three Canvas business models. The methodology was a literature review on the proposed theme through a bibliometric analysis. The single case methodology was applied to target: residential and industrial consumers with hour-seasonal tariffs. The study concluded that for it to become economically viable, electricity regulatory evolution is necessary which encourages the use of energy storage systems. Furthermore, industrial consumers still have the benefit of reducing the energy demand contract.


Objective To summarize the experience in therapy of iatrogenic bile duct injuries(IBDI). Methods A retrospective study was made on the treatment of 54 patients with IBDI. Results Six cases of them were damaged by laparoscopic cholecystectomy(LC), and the others by open cholecystectomy. 18 cases(33.3%) were found during the operations; 24 cases(44.4%) were found more than 24 hours after operation; 12 cases(22.3%) were diagnosed a month later after operation. Thirty three of the 54 cases got curative effects after the reoperation, 28 having 2 or more times operations. Three patients died after reoperation. Conclusions Correctly handling the principle and means of IBDI therapy, and realize the characteristics of IBDI of LC are important for treatment of IDBI. Roux en y cholangiojejunostomy is the best effective treatment for IBDI.


Summary. We present a Borsuk's theorem published first in [3] (compare also [4, pages 119–120]). It is slightly generalized, the assumption of metrizability is omitted. We introduce concepts needed for the formulation and the proof of theorems on upper semi-continuous decompositions, retracts, strong deformation retract. However, only those facts that are necessary in the proof have been proved.


In recent years, user-created content websites have gained extensive popularity. An example is provided by the HP Labs' website, MagCloud, a web service that enables anyone to publish his or her own magazine. In this paper, we explain how this novel platform works and how we can use a quantitative model to estimate the patterns of its adoption by publishers and consumers so far. The resulting multisided ecosystem captures non-trivial externalities between publishers, subscribers and potentially advertisers. Real world data was used to estimate the model and the results can be used to optimize marketing strategies to accelerate adoption as well as to forecast growth trajectories and opportunities. As a result of this work, we found that website visitors from different sources adopt its services with varying propensities. Our modeling framework allows us to identify whether increases in publications or orders originate from increases in website traffic or from past actions of publishers and consumers.


Traditional paste materials and additives for investigation were selected through careful literature survey. We used the immersed glutinous rice flour, soybean as a traditional paste materials and a yellow wax, alum, and lime as additives. The effect of additives on viscosity, pH, adhesive strength, flexibility, antibacterial activities, mildew resistance, and conservation properties were examined. It was found that there was a relationship between the properties(viscosity, pH, and adhesive strength) and the characteristics of additives. Alum increased flexibilty but decreased viscosity, adhesive strength, and pH. Yellow wax deceased flexibilty, viscosity, adhesive strength, and pH. Lime increased flexibilty, viscosity, adhesive strength, and pH. The conservation properties increased by adding all additive. The present work was therefore carried out with the objective of offering the base datum for keeping traditional papers and textiles using traditional paste.


The subject of the article is the ecosystem approach in the modernization of transport systems during the formation of the 8th technological order; the object of the article is the sphere of transport; the purpose of the work is to increase the efficiency of management of the development of transport ecosystems; to achieve this goal, the following tasks are solved: the tasks of system analysis of the development of a new technological order in the transport industry are clarified; the methodology of system analysis of international transport corridors is formed; the image of the future ecosystem of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) is synthesized after modernization on the basis of scientific achievements of the 8th technological order; scientific methods are the theory of hierarchical systems, system synthesis and analysis, logical and heuristic methods, system approach, heuristic forecasting, expert methods, efficiency theory; scientific novelty of the work is determined by the development of methods of system analysis in the field of transport, the methodology of forming the program of modernization of the Northern Sea Route (NSR) on the basis of scientific achievements of the 8th technological order.


The reaction of actively controlled power-electronics converters connected to the grid to grid-fault conditions becomes more and more important. This results, on the one hand, from standards defining increasingly demanding characteristics for such converters. On the other hand, the number of such devices increases steadily, especially for infeed use, in the context of renewable energy, bi-directional charging and energy-storage applications. With increase in numbers and power, these converters play an increasingly important role concerning grid conditions during faults. Consequently, their reaction to such conditions needs careful analysis - not only by simulation, but also by experiment. Two approaches to this challenge are known: Mechanical switches for defining these fault conditions and power-electronic converters generating test grids emulating fault conditions. They each have advantages and disadvantages. This paper proposes a new, combined strategy: Power-electronic switches are used for the precisely defined emulation of grid faults, combining advantages and avoiding disadvantages of known methods. Loads with high grid-fault currents, like doubly-fed induction machines, can be tested under realistic conditions with comparatively low effort.


Abstract The majority of research on the human–nonhuman animal bond has considered its advantages for the human. Research investigating the benefits of the bond for the companion animal has focused primarily on the relationship between owner attachment and the relinquishment or abandonment of pets. Shore, Douglas and Riley (2005) compiled a list of 67 behaviors of pet owners of potential benefit to the dog or cat, categorized the behaviors as Essential, Standard, Enriched, or Luxury Care, and studied the relationship between these behaviors and a measure of attachment. The present study continues the investigation of more routine pet-keeping activities by examining the prevalence of such behaviors among a subset of dog owners who keep their dogs out of doors as compared with those whose dogs live primarily in the house. Participants were 322 largely non-traditional college students at a university in the Midwestern United States. Scores on two attachment measures were significantly higher for owners of house dogs as compared with those of owners of yard dogs. Although the majority of both house and yard dogs received basic care, fewer yard dogs received as high levels of attention to some of their physical and safety needs. The gap between yard and house dogs widened as the category of care moved from Essential to Enriched. Involvement in agility training, being taken to events for pets, and exercising with a member of the family were notable exceptions, in that they occurred in equal proportions for yard and house dogs, and perhaps represent opportunities for yard dogs to be in closer contact with a human caretaker. The results suggest that adoptions of sheltered or rescued dogs to people who plan to keep the pet outside can be made with confidence that the dog will be cared for, but that programs to educate the public on the social needs of dogs and the benefits of keeping dogs indoors might result in increased attention to the needs of the animals, strengthening of the human–nonhuman animal bond, and reduction of relinquishment.


Objective To illustrate the effects of endothelin-1(ET-1) and calcitonin gene related peptide(CGRP) in different blood pressure grade in essential hypertension.Methods The study was carried out on 120 patients with EH according to the 1999 WHO/ISH Guidelines for the management of Hypertensian.The patients with EH were divided in three groups: grade one(n=40),grade two(n=40) and grade three(n=40).40 healthy subjects were recruited as normal controls.The plasma levels of ET-1 and CGRP were measured.Results EH patients with different blood pressure grade with plasma ET-1,CGRP concentrations were compared with the normal significant difference(P0.01),each group ET-1,CGRP pairwise comparisons were statistically significant(P0.05).With the progress of EH CGRP decreased progressively,plasma ET-1 was progressive increase.Conclusion With the progress of EH CGRP decreased progressively,plasma ET-1 was progressive increase,and correlate to the severity of the disease,measuements of their plasma concentrations help to pre-dict these verity of the disease.


We introduce the notion of Graph Sketches. They can be thought of as visual indices that guide the navigation of a multi-graph too large to fit on the available display. We adhere to the Visual Information-Seeking Mantra: Overview first, zoom and filter, then details on demand. Graph Sketches are incorporated into MGV, an integrated visualization and exploration system for massive multi-digraph navigation. We highlight the main algorithmic and visualization tasks behind the computation of Graph Sketches and illustrate several application scenarios. Graph Sketches will be used to guide the navigation of multi-digraphs defined on vertex sets with sizes ranging from 100 to 250 million vertices.


In the advertising specialty core curriculum "computer graphic design" teaching,from teaching philosophy,teaching content,teaching methods,teaching means and other aspects of innovation and teaching effectiveness,through comprehensive training model of innovative design establishment,practical training for the lord's case teaching content design studio founded entrepreneurship and innovation to enhance creative design teamwork and the spirit of entrepreneurship and innovation works,to establish evaluation system settings,and innovative use of experimental teaching methods,students' ability to master the software,the actual hands-on capability,job adaptability and ability to apply theoretical knowledge with a comprehensive training process and cultivating comprehensive high quality,comprehensive thinking to composite design talent,and it plays a catalytic role to promote our school advertising specialty course system and teaching content.


In Civil Engineering, there have been challenges in the structural design of buildings due to municipal ordinances, architectural designs or lighting issues; this is the main reason why the present study had the purpose of determining the maximum degree of inclination of the straight columns of a building, based on its seismic behavior without altering the design of the structural elements, for which the architectural and structural drawings of a 4-story building destined for hotels, located in the city of Cajamarca, whose resistant system is made of reinforced concrete frames, were used. This building was modeled in a structural model using the ETABS software, inclining the exterior columns from 0° to 10° starting from the base inwards, following the spectral modal analysis procedure indicated in the Peruvian standard E.030 to determine the maximum drifts compliance and thus calculate the maximum degree of inclination. The results showed that when the columns are inclined at an angle greater than or equal to 2°, an irregularity in height catalogued as "Discontinuity in the Resistant Systems" will be produced, causing an increase in the basal shear forces, and resulting in a new design of the structural elements, even though the drifts originated were smaller than those obtained in the building with straight columns. Therefore, it is concluded that the maximum degree of inclination of the straight columns of the building under analysis will be when the mentioned irregularity is not originated, being this value 1.9°, with which the hypothesis proposed is accepted, verifying that with this inclination the limit for the distortion of the mezzanine (drift) of 0.007 indicated by the Peruvian standard E.030 is complied with.


The influencing factors on the workpiece quality of aluminium alloy sheet forming, such as material properties, forming condition, stress status and lubrication types were concluded . And how to improve the performance of aluminium alloy sheet forming was pointed out.


This study is conducted to evaluate the effect of feeding frequency on growth, feed conversion ratio and survival rate of white leg shrimp (Litopenaeus vannamei) post-larvae in 56 days. Final mean weights obtained for 2 and 4 times/day (6.73 ± 0.09 g and 6.98 ± 0.15 g, respectively) were significantly lower than treatment 6 times/day (8.56 ± 0.16 g) (P


There is a point in most of the stories of El llano en llamas where an individual comes up against the discourse of others, in the form of an accusation or declaration, and is annulled by it. His memory, knowledge, consciousness, sanity or even identity is destroyed. My first task is to describe the mechanism of that loss of consciousness. Though the alien discourse originates in a clearly identifiable figure of authority (cacique, parent, priest, government, army, the law), it is usually mediated by an unidentifiable impersonal or plural voice. The second question is thus why the voice of authority has become so fragmented, impersonal and empty. Three factors recur constantly: violence, transgression of structure, often family structure, its most basic form, and the death of the father. I have found it difficult to establish any strict hierarchy between these factors, any clear process of cause and effect. Rather they seem to be linked in an ever degenerating vicious circle. "En la madrugada" provides a labyrinthine example of the mediation of the annihilating word, when the cowherd Esteban is accused of killing his land-owner employer: "Me llegaron con ese aviso. Y que dizque yo lo habia matado, dijeron los dfceres. Bien pudo ser; pero yo no me acuerdo" (48).1 In "Macario", the repetition by the authoritarian figure of the madrina of the plural accusation that the boy had attacked a woman turns the report into an absolute truth for him, again to the detriment of his knowledge and memory: "Yo no se por qu6 me amarrard las manos; pero dice que porque dizque luego hago locuras. Un dia inventaron que yo andaba ahorcando a alguien; que le aprete el pescuezo a una sefiora nada mas por nomas. Yo no me acuerdo. Pero, a todo esto, es mi madrina la que dice lo que yo hago y ella nunca anda con mentiras" (8). In "Diles que no me maten", the accusing voice of the colonel comes from inside a


Raman spectra of diluted magnetic semiconductor GaMnAs alloy were reported. The coupled plamon-LO-phonon ( CPLP) mode has LO-like polarization properties. With increasing Mn concentration, the CPLP mode shifts to low frequency. The hole density in the alloy was determined from the ratio of the intensity of the CPLP mode to that of the unscreened LO mode in the depletion layer. The hole density increases with the increase of the Mn composition. The Raman spectra of GaMnAs alloy were measured at different temperature. It is confirmed that the hole density in the alloy increases with the increase of the temperature.


Contains an introduction by Trevor Lloyd, on the changes now taking place among Eskimos of Greenland, and on the author's part in education there. Then follows Dean Bugge's presentation of Eskimos' psychology; the "closed" and "open" types among them; their emotional life, fatalism, conservatism, especially in their language, love of nature and children and gaiety; to understand and preserve these positive traits, whilst planning reforms, is the author's plea. This paper is translated from one originally prepared for the Greenland Society (and pub. in its Aarsskrift 1950, p. 136-44) and modified slightly for a wider public.


In psychiatry more than in any other branch of medicine illness cannot be divorced from its social setting. It is for this reason that psychiatric social workers are playing an increasingly important part in the welfare of the mentally ill. The profession, which had its roots in America, was established in the United Kingdom in 1930 with the formation of the Association of Psychiatric Social Workers. P.S.W.s work mainly in three branches of mental welfarein child guidance clinics, in psychiatric hospitals, and in the community welfare services.' The P.S.W. makes a valuable contribution to psychiatric practice by providing information about the patient's social environment. The patient's relationship with others-relatives, friends, and work-fellows-can contribute to the cause of his mental illness, influence its form and prognosis, and suffer under its impact. Relatives may find it easier to divulge their feelings to the P.S.W. than to the psychiatrist, whose allegiance is to the patient. A home visit, when relatives can be seen en famille, may reveal important conflicts and attitudes which might otherwise be missed in the detached setting of the consulting-room. The P.S.W. is thus well placed to supply the psychiatrist with information which, together with the clinical findings, provides a comprehensive view of the patient at all stages of his illness. A special province for the P.S.W. is the welfare of those patients who are leaving hospital and returning to live in the community. Relatives, as well as reacting with strong emotions such as guilt and resentment to the illness, may have adapted to it by changing their way of life-a wife may have taken over her husband's responsibilities ; an eldest daughter may have cared for her siblings while her mother has been ill. If the patient's stay in hospital has been long his family may have closed their ranks and adapted to life without him. The P.S.W. can prepare for the patient's return home in several ways. She can encourage relatives to dissipate disruptive emotions by creating an atmosphere in which they can be aired without fear of censure. She can try to dispel misconceptions about the illness, and she can point out the problems that will occur. She can use her knowledge of local resources to rehabilitate the patient both socially and at work. When it is not feasible or appropriate for the patient to return home the P.S.W. can look for other suitable accommodation.2 During the last decade there has been a move towards providing psychiatric care in the community rather than in institutions such as mental and subnormality hospitals. This policy, embodied in the 1959 Mental Health Act, enables some patients to live with their families and to lead as full a life as possible. Local authorities entrusted by the Act with the responsibility for community care are employing more P.S.W.s. Because of the newv policy, general practitioners now have patients suffering from chronic schizophrenia, chronic neuroses, and subnormality,4 who in the past would have spent their lives in an institution. General practitioners technically have access to local authority P.S.W.s, but this is still a tentative arrangement in most parts of the country. Experience of closer collaboration between P.S.W.s and general practitioners was described by N. Davis and E. Heimler,5 who felt that the experimental attachment of a P.S.W. to a general practice for one year had been a worthwhile venture. The Social Work (Scotland) Bill6 recently introduced brings the many aspects of social welfare, including mental welfare, under the supervision of a single department of the local authority. This legislation will enable the P.S.W. to deal more effectively with the whole problem of the mentally ill patient and his dependants. The organization of social work in England and Wales is being studied by the Seebohm Committee, whose findings have not yet been published, but it is possible that the Scottish Bill foreshadows similar changes.


The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant was damaged by a huge earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, resulting in the release of radioactive nuclides, primarily 134Cs and 137Cs, to the atmosphere. These radioactive nuclides contaminated the disaster waste, municipal solid waste (MSW), and sewage sludge from the surrounding area. According to the IAEA guidelines, incineration is the most commonly used thermal process for reducing the volume of such waste [1]. In Japan, waste that contains 134Cs and 137Cs exceeding 8,000 Bq/kg activity is referred to as "specified radioactive waste." Although approximately 80% of the specified radioactive waste consisted of incinerated ash and inorganic soils, the other 20% was combustible waste, i.e., sewage sludge, agricultural waste, and MSW to be treated [2]. Radioactive nuclides in waste can concentrate in the resulting ash (fly ash and bottom ash) formed by incineration and may be in different chemical forms in either ash. The chemical forms of Cs in ash are important for the determination of appropriate treatment and stabilization of the ash, but there is little information about the forms. Our study attempts to clarify the chemical forms of cesium in ash generated from waste incineration. Specifically, refuse-derived fuel (RDF) with added 133Cs ( a stable nuclide) was combusted using a pilotscale incinerator, and the chemical forms of 133Cs in the bottom ash and fly ash were investigated in relation to the equivalence air ratio (EAR) by X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) analysis. The RDF pellets used in this study were manufactured from MSW from a plant located in west Japan. An aqueous solution containing nuclides was added to the RDF, and the sample was adjusted to 30% moisture content. The nuclide concentration in the RDF was 5,100 mg/kg for 133Cs added as Cs2CO3. A rotary kiln-stoker furnace (processing capacity ~1,000 kg/h, NGK Insulators Ltd.) was used in this study (Fig. 1). The bottom ash was collected from the rotary kiln and stoker. Flue gas was recombusted in the secondary combustor at 900°C. After recombustion, the gas was cooled in the cooling tower, and the fly ash was collected in the ceramic filter. The RDF was incinerated in the rotary kiln at 700°C at a rate of 30 kg/h while being stirred. The EAR was controlled to 2.2, 1.7, and 1.4 by varying the amount of combustion air. MSW ash generally has a high titanium (Ti) content. The energy of the Ti K-edge (4,964 eV) is close to that of the Cs L3-edge (5,011 eV). Therefore, the Cs K-edge XAFS spectra of bottom ash and fly ash at beamline BL01B1 were measured [3]. The differential X-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectra of standard Cs substances (CsSO4, pollucite: the (Cs,Na)(AlSi2)O6·nH2O, Cs2CO3, and CsCl), bottom ash, and fly ash samples are shown in Fig. 2. These spectra of the bottom ash and fly ash were different despite the small effect of the EAR, indicating that the EAR has a minimal effect on the Cs in each ash. While the differential XANES spectrum of the bottom ash had a positive peak within the range of 36,032 eV to 36,033 eV and appeared similar to the spectrum for Cs2CO3, the spectrum of Cs2CO3 in fly ash had a peak in the range of 36,034 eV to 36,035 eV, which was more similar to the spectrum of CsCl.


The present invention in one embodiment, in order to test the electrical circuitry on the device under test, to provide a test assembly for electrically connecting to the mechanical testing the device under test. The assembly includes a contactor assembly is interconnected with the device under test, the probe assembly to mechanically support the contactor assembly, for electrically connecting the contactor assembly to the test machine, the first clamping and a clamping mechanism comprising a member and a second clamping member, both the clamping member, so as to apply a clamping force to deform the conductive bumps of the electrical connection between the probe assembly and the contactor assembly It is pressed against the.


[1] Undular patterns on two ENVISAT ASAR images taken over the eastern coastal area of the Korean Peninsula on May 18–19, 2004 were interpreted as shoreward propagating near-inertial ocean internal waves by Kim et al. [2005]. The link between the undular patterns and nearinertial ocean internal waves the authors found, is a phenomenal wave phase speed of 0.3 ms , which was directly estimated from the two successively acquired SAR images. From this so-called phase speed and locally measured near-inertial wave spectra, the authors further obtained a wavelength of near-inertial waves of 18 km, which was believed to be close to wavelengths of observed waves from 13 km to 20 km. The authors also used the isopycnal shoaling near the coast to explain the largest wavelength lining on the shoreward side in the observed wave packet. [2] Examining the SAR images the authors used and their paper, however, I found two major faults. 1) The phase speed the authors derived from two SAR images should actually be related to the group speed (to be analyzed later on). All calculated results based on this speed are incorrect. 2) The isopycnal shoaling cannot be used to explain the increase in the wavelength as the waves approach the coast. Oppositely, the isopycnal shoaling should lead to the decrease in the wavelength as analyzed previously [Zheng et al., 2001]. Therefore, I think that the authors' interpretation is not convincing. [3] My interpretation is that undular patterns on the SAR images are the footprints of coastal lee waves induced by a katabatic wind. The katabatic wind originates from the cold dense mass of air that slides down a mountainside under the gravity to the valley below [Adedokun and Holmgren, 1991]. In late fall, winter and spring, the katabatic wind may develop in the early morning when the density difference between cold air at high elevation and warm air at the valley becomes a maximum. Meanwhile, a long and narrow mountain valley can channel and force the katabatic airflow to converge, causing the katabatic wind to strengthen. The SAR-imaged eastern Korean Peninsula area satisfies all favorable conditions for the katabatic wind formation: mountainous topography with many peaks from 1300 m to 1700 m and steep shore, favorable season (May, local spring), favorable timing (local midnight and early morning), and favorable offshore wind of 3 to 4 ms 1 [Kim et al., 2005]. Furthermore, on the SAR images, one can see apparent offshore jet-like patterns with axes perpendicular to the coastline distributed between 37 N and 39 N (five on Kim et al.'s [2005] Figure 2a in bright, and four on Kim et al.'s [2005] Figure 2b in dark, respectively). Consulting the topographic map, one can see that each location of the offshore jet-like pattern corresponds to an outlet of a long and narrow mountain valley, implying that the airflow jet is caused by the convergent effect of mountain valley on the katabatic wind. [4] As follows a dynamic explanation to my interpretation is given. Figure 1 shows a two-dimensional schematic diagram describing an offshoreward katabatic wind system. Here x represents a horizontal axis offshoreward positive, z a vertical axis upward positive, u0 a large-scale mean flow wind velocity, U a katabatic wind velocity with a horizontal component u and a vertical component w, a is an angle included between u and U, hm a height of the mountain, h1 a height of a stream line above the mountain, h2 a height of the stream line above the sea surface, and L represents a width of a shadow area behind the shore. After simple geometric derivation, we obtain an approximate expression for w within a range from L to x as


The development of internet and mobile communication technology makes mobile phone become the most potential information media terminal,mobile phone library becomes the concern hot spot in library and information science area.The paper briefly introduces the advantages of mobile phone library and the development of mobile phone library both in China and abroad,points out that establishing mobile phone library is the urgent need for library development,proposes some thinking points for constructing mobile phone library.


We report a controllable method for producing mixed two-photon states via spontaneous parametric down-conversion with a two-type-I crystal geometry. By using variable polarization rotators (VPRs), one obtains mixed states of various purities and degrees of entanglement depending on the parameters of the VPRs. The generated states are characterized by quantum state tomography. The experimental results are found to be in good agreement with the theory. The method can be easily implemented for various experiments that require the generation of states with controllable degrees of entanglement or mixedness.


We study completely positive maps and injectivity for Yetter-Drinfeld algebras over compact quantum groups, and module categories over rigid C*-tensor categories. This gives a generalization of Hamana's theory of injective envelopes to the framework of dynamical systems over quantum groups. As a byproduct we also establish a duality between the Yetter-Drinfeld algebras and certain bimodule categories with central generators.


This book describes the expansion of EU power in health care and public health and analyses the implications of this expansion on EU health values and rights. The main conclusion of the book is that the EU is de facto balancing fundamental rights and values relating to health, implicitly taking on obligations for safeguarding fundamental rights in the field of health and affecting individuals' rights sometimes without an explicit legal competence to do so. This brings to light instances where EU health policy has implications for fundamental rights and values without the possibility to challenge the exercise of power of the EU in human health. This begs the question of whether subsidiarity is still the most relevant legal principle for the division of powers and tasks among the Member States, particularly when EU policy and law involves the politically sensitive areas of health care and public health. This question draws out the parameter for continuing the debate on the role of the European Union in promoting its own values and the wellbeing of its peoples, in light of its ever-growing role in human health issues.


In the extant ample research on news engagement on social media, a majority of studies thus far have centered mainly on users' motivations, gratifications, and characteristics and less on platforms in which they operate. Yet, it is well recognized that users' behavior is shaped by technological interfaces, and that users differentiate between platforms and switch to suit their specific needs. The current study, therefore, adopts a cross-platform (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, and instant messaging apps) approach to explore how users' engagement with news varies, with a focus on users' perceptions of platforms' affordances as a main predictor. Based on an online survey in eight countries (the United States, United Kingdom, France, Israel, Sweden, Germany, Hong Kong, and Japan), the study identifies as key affordances, which determine both receiving and dissemination of news, users' perceptions regarding a platform's personalization, network association, anonymity, and content persistence. The findings also highlight the differences between countries and between platforms.


The paper aimed to present some aspects regarding milk production and farm size and their relationship to economic efficiency in dairy farming. For this purpose, three variants of hers size have been taken into consideration as follows: F1– raising 12 dairy cows whose milk yield is 3,500 kg /cow/lactation; F2- raising 50 dairy cows whose milk yield is 5,000 kg /cow and year and F3 – rearing 150 dairy cows, producing 6,000 kg milk per cow/year. For each variant, the following economic parameters have been determined: gross product, variable costs, fixed costs, gross margin, gross and net profit, profit rate and other specific indicators of economic efficiency such as: milk yield, milk cost, cost /cow/year, profit/cow, profit rate /cow, income /cow, profit/farm and profit rate at farm level. In conclusion, the higher the farm size and milk yield, the higher gross margin, net profit and profit rate


Motivated by the applications of the automatic transmissions and the cruise controllers to automobiles, this paper investigates the guaranteed performance control problem for uncertain impulsive hybrid dynamic systems. The method is proposed for designing the guaranteed performance control laws via hybrid state feedback. By the obtained controllers, the perturbed impulsive hybrid systems can be robustly stabilized and the close loop performance is guaranteed. Finally, an example is given to show the potential of the proposed techniques.


Farmland is one of the key factors affecting national or regional food security, and farmland suitability evaluation can provide critical information for the spatial layout of farmland. Previous studies have mainly focused on the role of natural factors in suitability evaluation, while ignoring the important influence of socio-economic activities. This study selects natural factors such as elevation and slope and non-agriculturalization sensitivity factors to build a farmland suitability evaluation framework of "natural non-agriculturalization sensitivity", quantify the farmland suitability, and uses GIS technology to classify the evaluation results into four levels: highly, moderately, barely, and unsuitable. The results show that the non-agriculturalization sensitivity of farmland in Hubei Province shows the spatial characteristics of multi-point clustering, with density increasing from west and north to central and east; the overall farmland suitability in Hubei Province is high, and the areas of highly, moderately, barely, and unsuitable farmland account for 2.32%, 67.69%, 11.49%, and 18.50%, respectively. In terms of spatial distribution, there are obvious spatial differences in the farmland suitability, with highly and moderately suitable areas mainly distributed in the central and eastern regions and barely suitable and unsuitable areas mainly distributed in the western, northeastern, and southeastern parts of Hubei Province.


We present a low-resolution content-based image-watermarking scheme. The watermark is embedded in the lowest resolution representation of the original image obtained after applying three-level wavelet decomposition. In order to increase the invisibility of the watermarking algorithm, a visual model based on local image characteristics, such as textures and edges is incorporated in the watermarking algorithm. In this way, the watermark is embedded in the areas of high detail. To evaluate the performance of the proposed scheme, a comparison with two existing watermarking schemes is done. Experimental results show that the proposed scheme is robust against DCT- and DWT-based compression and common image processing operations.


Experiments were performed using APPR-1 fuel elements in cores having various diameters, metal to water ratios and boron-10 distributions. The presence of steel in the reflector made a noticeable increase in the core reactivity under certain circumstances. A relatively simple technique was used to determine the gamma dose rates through shielding materials yielding values in reasonable agreement with theory. Many gross and fine structure tranverses were made with gold, indium and uranium foils including traverses in cores with uniform and non-uniform poison distributions and various control rod configurations. Temperature coefficients of reactivity were nearly identical for various cores from 65 to 130 deg F. (auth)


This article explores how the Learning Together form of cooperative learning influenced opportunities for acquiring academic English by L2 learners in a 6th-grade social studies classroom. Our findings present a complex picture. Cooperative learning gave L2 learners a wide range of opportunities to acquire academic English. They gave and received help with academic terms, difficult academic concepts, and para-academic knowledge. They were exposed to and produced lexical and conceptual explorations and homonymic word associations. They received help with conventions of written English. They used language for self-help and were invited by their peers to contribute more to the group. Many of these categories included both input and output opportunities, with L2 learners helping others as much as they were helped. However, except for help with decoding academic terms, the various kinds of opportunities occurred relatively infrequently. Moreover, there were some missed opportunities and some negative input. Several local contextual features (e.g., students' definitions of the task, features of the task, and participant structures) helped us understand the complex picture we found. Our findings suggest that (a) developers and disseminators need to take context into account, and (b) teachers who want to maximize the benefits of cooperative learning in support of second language acquisition (SLA) need to have a broad understanding of academic language, include SLA in their instructional goals, structure classroom tasks to support the desired opportunities for L2 learners, monitor what is happening in the groups, and fine tune their implementation if they are not getting what they want.


AIMS
Current guidelines recommend the use of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAT) (aspirin+clopidogrel) for patients after acute myocardial infarction (MI). In relation to this, we sought to examine the adherence to this recommended treatment regimen in a population of patients admitted with MI and subsequent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

METHODS AND RESULTS
A cohort study was conducted using data from the main health insurance reimbursement database of South West France. Patients hospitalised for MI in 2008 were identified, and then their reimbursement form of DAT for the subsequent 12 months was reviewed. Adherence was assessed by using the proportion of days covered by the treatment and persistence. Among the 634 patients included in the study, 34 had no reimbursement for DAT immediately after discharge. For the remaining patients, the probability of stopping DAT at least for one month was 18.6% (95% CI [15.4;21.8]) during the first three months and 49.1% (95% CI [44.9;53.2]) at 12 months, although the medication availability was 90%.

CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that while this medication is available to patients, the treatment is often stopped before one year. This may account for what has been reported as "resistance" to antiplatelet therapy described in a subset of patients.


For the powder mixed electrical discharge machining (PM-EDM) process, the aluminum powder particle suspended in the dielectric fluid disperses and uniforms the discharging energy dispersion, and displays multiple discharging effects within a single input pulse. The objective of this paper was to present the mathematical models for modeling and analysis of the effects of processing parameters, including the discharge current, pulse on time, grain size and concentration of aluminum powder particle, on the machinability evaluation in terms of material removal rate (MRR), electrode wear ratio (EWR) and surface roughness (SR) in the PM-EDM process of cobalt-bonded tungsten carbide. An experimental plan of a central composite design (CCD) based on the response surface methodology (RSM) was employed to carry out the experimental study. This study highlighted the development of mathematical models for investigating the influences of processing parameters on the machinability evaluation, and the proposed mathematical models in this study had proven to fit and predict values of performance characteristics close to those readings recorded experimentally with a 95% confidence interval. Results show that the effect of aluminum powder particle added in the dielectric fluid promotes both the values of MRR and EWR, simultaneously. The value of SR decreases with an increase of powder concentration, and increases with an increase of grain size for various powder concentrations. The discharge current and the pulse on time have statistically significant on the values of MRR, EWR and SR.


I ncreasingly, microfinance institutions are including individual microlending as part of their loan portfolios, and this has been said to be a positive development in the microfinance mission. In this study, we build a borrower's simple decision model in a context of asymmetric information in order to analyze individual microlending (IML) technology and its ability to contribute to development by financing microenterprises, overcoming the limitations of group microlending. We conclude that the collection system holds the key to resolving the problems of adverse selection and moral hazard, although this has not been referred to in previous studies. Our finding are that IML technology is inefficient in offering a product at a cost that might be compatible with microenterprises' average profitability, and therefore they choose not to use it. We provide possible reasons to explain why this technology is more expensive and poses a greater risk than traditional group lending.


In 1972, there was a symbolic incident of `the death of functionalism`. Lesson from this incident was functionalism design which is economics and functionality oriented design is irrational design. The reason of irrational design is focusing on functionality brought out ignorance of humanity. In post-industrial society, an ethic for sustainable well-being has been emerging issue due to industrialization. Before the time, industrial society`s a matter of primary concern was filing people`s basic needs. As design follows desire, designers focused on function more than the other. When need for tangible things has been satiated people divert their desires to additional things like designed things, fun, beautiful and etc.. Then people think about the quality of their life, society and environment. Now post-industrial societies are at this new level of desires. Design follows desires and needs. That is why in the past goal of design was productivity. The goal of industrial society brought out an issue which is absence of humanity. Absence of humanity brings problems about conflict with new desires which chase after satisfaction of tangible needs. Now, there has been an imbalance between the goals of design and design method appropriate an industrial society. This thesis suggest that need to include humanity in design.


This paper investigates the joint design of transmit waveform and receive filter bank for airborne multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar in the presence of uncertainties of target parameters. Assuming an unknown spatial angle and Doppler frequency for the target, the worst-case Signal-to-Interference-plus-Noise-Ratio (SINR) at the output of the receive filter bank is considered as the figure of merit. The max-min joint design problem with constant-modulus constraint and similarity constraint on the transmit waveform is formulated. To solve this problem, a computational efficiently algorithm based on majorization-minimization (MM) technique is developed. Several numerical results are provided to demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the devised method.


Objective
To investigate the adaption changes in HA and NA of H3N2 influenza viruses occurred during passage in MDCK cells from different sources.

Methods
Thirteen throat swabs, which were H3N2 influenza virus RNA positive, were selected to be inoculated onto three MDCK cell lines and the obtained influenza viruses were continuously passaged for 5 times in the above cell lines. HA and NA of H3N2 viruses from throat swabs and different passages were sequenced and the variation of HA and NA were analyzed.

Results
Compared to the viruses from throat swabs, all the MDCK passaged H3N2 viruses had HA/NA variation. Nine viruses had P221L/H substitutions or polymorphism in HA after 5 passages in MDCK cell line. Eight of them had polymorphism at position 148 or 151 of NA (148 (T to I) and 151 (G/N/D)). Two viruses had polymorphism in position 221 of HA after 5 passages in MDCK-parent cell line. All the viruses had NA polymorphism after passaged in MDCK-parent cells, most variatons were in position 151. While after passaged in MDCK-SIAT, only three strains had NA variation, no HA variation was observed.

Conclusions
Adaption changes could occur during the passage before the antigenetic characterization analysis. There may be HA and NA variations of influenza virus H3N2 after passage in MDCK and MDCK-parent cells. Passage in MDCK-SIAT can significantly decreased variation.

Key words:
Influenza virus; Variation; MDCK cell


Given an o-minimal expansion R of the ordered additive group of real numbers and E ⊆ R, we consider the extent to which basic metric and topological properties of subsets of R definable in the expansion (R, E) are inherited by the subsets of R definable in certain expansions of (R, E). In particular, suppose that f(E) has no interior for each m ∈ N and f : R → R definable in R, and that every subset of R definable in (R, E) has interior or is nowhere dense. Then every subset of R definable in (R, (S)) has interior or is nowhere dense, where S ranges over all nonempty subsets of all cartesian products E (k ≥ 1). The same holds true with "nowhere dense" replaced by any of "null" (in the sense of Lebesgue), "countable", "a finite union of discrete sets", or "discrete". We use this (together with a result of L. van den Dries) to give an example of an expansion of the real field that defines an isomorphic copy of the ordered ring of integers, yet does not define Z. Given a first-order expansion R of the real line and E ⊆ R, let (R, E)# denote the structure (R, (S)), where S ranges over all nonempty subsets of all cartesian products E (k ranging over all positive integers). Here is the main technical result of this paper: Theorem A. Let R be an o-minimal expansion of (R, <,+). Let E ⊆ R be such that , for every m ∈ N and f : R → R definable in R, the closure of f(E) is nowhere dense. Then every subset of R definable in (R, E)# either has interior or is nowhere dense. The same holds true with "nowhere dense" replaced (uniformly) by any of "null" (in the sense of Lebesgue), "countable", "a finite union of discrete sets", or "discrete". (Throughout, "definable" means "definable with parameters" in the structure under consideration. An expansion of the real line (R, <) is 2000 Mathematics Subject Classification: Primary 03C64. The first author was supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-734164. The second author was supported by NSF Grant No. DMS-9896225 and, in part, by the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute (Berkeley).


This atlas is a comprehensive description of the techniques of ocular surgery which are in use today. Fourteen chapters are devoted to general surgical considerations, anesthesia, and surgery of the eye and its adnexa. The illustrations are numerous, detailed, and well executed. The artist, Robert Bray Wingate, is to be commended for his clear, precise drawings, for, as is customary with atlases, the value of this book rests as much upon its descriptive illustrations as upon its text. In fact, the text is reduced to a minimum and is used only to supplement the pictorial representation of various surgical procedures. Many, if not all, of the operations for such pathologic processes as entropion and ptosis are described. The discussion of cataract extraction includes such controversial operative techniques as the use of α-chymotrypsin and anterior chamber implants. However, the use of intrascleral implants in retinal detachment surgery is not mentioned. There


Vocational Education Test is one of Criterion Referenced Test.Because the results of Criterion Referenced Test were in abnormal distribution,when analyzing the results contrastively,corresponding nonparametric statistics method should be chosen according to data type and analytical purpose.


. The only separable unital continuous C ([0 , 1])-algebra with fibres isomorphic to the Cuntz algebra O ∞ is the trivial continuous field O ∞ ⊗ C ([0 , 1]). But there exist non properly infinite separable unital continuous C ([0 , 1])-algebras with properly infinite fibres.


Compensation structures are proposed in the CPW directional couplers with finite-extent backed conductor. The proposed strnctures are realized the T-type expanded slot and/or modified finite-extent backed conductor in CPW coupled structures. To enhance directivity, inductance is added by T-type slot and modified backed conductor changes capacitance. The proposed CPW directional coupler at 1 GHz has good directivity in simulation and measurement.


A meningioma is usually a slow growing tumor originating from the outer coverings of the brain and spinal cord. Many are asymptomatic and occur in 2-3% of the population. Symptomatic meningiomas in the skull can cause patients a range of neurological symptoms including sensory loss, headaches, seizures, and paralysis. 28 Symptomatic spinal meningiomas can cause pain, sensory loss, weakness, and bowel and bladder dysfunction. 14 Meningiomas can be diagnosed with CT (Computed Tomography) or MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) scans with contrast although MRI with contrast is preferred. They can be treated with radiosurgery or surgical removal, with endovascular treatment and radiotherapy as an additional treatment. 28


This paper describes the WPRAM programming model, supported on a derivative of the Bulk Synchronous Parallel (BSP) architecture. The WPRAM provides a weakly coherent shared address space with asynchronous concurrent requests for shared variables. All operations have an associated time cost, and are scalable with respect to increasing machine size. This provides a basis for designing scalable parallel algorithms whose time complexity accounts for all overheads. A simulator for the WPRAM enables absolute performance to be estimated, using machine parameters from Inmos T9000 and C104 components. We outline a programming methodology in which an algorithm is rst expressed in terms of the more abstract Strong PRAM model. This algorithm is then transformed onto the WPRAM model by considering practical issues of data locality, process synchronization and granularity. The scalability characteristics of the algorithm can then be analysed; a new approach to assessing scalability is proposed. Experimental results from the simulator may be used to validate this analysis. These ideas are demonstrated using the Simplex method for linear programming as a case study.


We analyzed biogeochemical characteristics of two temperate constructed wetlands in early and late spring to evaluate the utility of the macroinvertebrate community as an indicator of ecosystem development. The wetlands were similar in area, hydrologic regime, and influent water quality, but one was younger (15 y) and supported an early successional plant community while the older system (45 y) was forested. To characterize structural habitat in the two wetlands we analyzed water and soil quality, plant community characteristics, coarse woody debris, topographic variance and hydrologic regime. The correlation of macroinvertebrate community characteristics with structural variables was compared among wetlands, and macroinvertebrates were compared temporally within wetlands. Despite differences in nutrient concentration, substrate conditions, plant cover, and microtopography, the overall macroinvertebrate guild structure in the two systems was similar in terms of taxa richness, Simpson diversity, tolerance, and trophic distribution. Total abundance of macroinvertebrates was significantly correlated with a number of structural wetland characteristics, but trophic distribution was correlated only with nutrient availability. Temporal changes were apparent in both wetlands. The two wetlands supported proportionally different guild biomass in early spring, with the forested wetland dominated by grazing herbivores and shredders and the non-forested system by detritivores and predators. In late spring, however, there was no statistical difference in trophic distribution among the two wetlands, as both were dominated by grazing herbivores. These results suggest that macroinvertebrate community characteristics have limited utility as an indicator of successional development in created wetlands, as community characteristics are readily influenced by nutrient availability and temporal changes.


Spiritus 15 (2015): 75–80 © 2015 by The Johns Hopkins University Press Jan Willis describes a remarkable spiritual journey in her memoir Dreaming Me. Raised in Alabama as part of an African American Baptist family, Willis travelled to India and Nepal while in college. She spent several months in a Buddhist monastery being mentored by Lama Yeshe, a Tibetan monk, and ultimately adopted a Buddhist identity and practice. Later in life, Willis returned to the Baptist congregation of her father, finally able and ready to recognize and reclaim the dimensions of her Baptist heritage that had shaped her identity and which resonated with her Buddhist practice. She identifies herself as a "Black Baptist-Buddhist." Near the end of her memoir, Willis describes her responses in the midst of a harrowing flight experience: she found herself calling upon both her guru and Jesus for blessing. Willis finds it significant that in the midst of fear and threat, when circumstances evoke expressions that rise up from the core of her self, "I call on both traditions. It is a deep response." Willis frames her spiritual identity this way: "in my deepest core I am a human being, graced by the eternal truths espoused both by Baptists and Buddhists."1 Willis is part of a growing population of persons described by Ursula King as "spiritually multi-lingual."2 Scholars of religion have coined various terms to name the phenomenon of which Willis is a part: "multiple-religious belonging;" "multiple-religious identities;" "hyphenated-religious identity;" "religious hybridity," and "spiritual hybridity."3 Recent studies indicate that increasing numbers of Americans make distinctions between being "spiritual" and being "religious."4 One important finding of these studies is that persons who consider themselves spiritual are "involved in intentional, active seeking that does not limit itself to one source."5 This is true not only of those who identify as "spiritual but not religious," but also of persons who locate themselves firmly within the Christian tradition, whose spiritualities are grounded in and shaped by the classic narratives, rituals, symbols, and doctrines of Christian faith, and who are drawing on the sources and engaging in the rites and practices of other-than-Christian traditions as part of their lived religious experience. As Catherine Cornille puts it, in our contemporary religiously plural context "the idea of belonging exclusively to one religious tradition or of drawing from only one set of spiritual, symbolic, or ritual resources is no longer self-evident."6 Introduction


Patient behavior is often described as disruptive behavior as they have an altered mental stage of fear of being sick, anxious about out of the pocket cost, alteration of lifestyle if suffered from a chronic illness. And the outcomes often faced by providers are inappropriate language, make unreasonable demands, and may even resort to physical abuse. The article comprises a few of this unusual behavior and a simple comparison between patients from developed world with those of the under-developed east. Purpose of the study: Discussion and projection of behavior pattern, health seeking behavior and monitoring status in both developed and under-privileged countries. The pharmacists have a vital role to play which is discussed along with comparison. Findings: Developed or under developed country, patients have a separate behavior pattern which develops and worsen with disease progression mostly. So many factors are behind but one thing clearly understood that the handling of such situation is a provider's function, a challenge they have to face along with treatment intervention. Research Limitations: Very few articles found in matters regarding along with a very less interest paid by general people to talk about healthcare matters. It was very difficult to bring out facts of irrational patient behavior, giving it a substantial figure to discuss in this article. However, the major limitation is the article could be a comparison of behaviors of developed and under-privileged countries which requires an enormous exposure and financial support. However, the sole focus was to detail mysterious patient behavior and a greater part is covered. Practical Implication: The soul of this article was to detail about patient behavior, both in Bangladesh and developed countries. Along with students, researchers and professionals of different background and disciplines, eg. Pharmacists, marketers, doctors, nurses, hospital authorities, public representatives, policy makers and regulatory authorities have to acquire much from this article. Social Implication: Patient behavior is the Sole of healing system and a scope for pharmacists and other healthcare providers to work with in both developed or under developed countries. The article should contribute an integrated guideline for patient compliance, demand rational behavior and last but not the least a silvery lining to better pharmacists' dealings with them in near future.


Biofilms are aggregates formed as a protective survival state by microorganisms to adapt to the environment and can be resistant to antimicrobial agents and host immune responses due to chemical or physical diffusion barriers, modified nutrient environments, suppression of the growth rate within biofilms, and the genetic adaptation of cells within biofilms. With the widespread use of medical devices, medical device-associated biofilms continue to pose a serious threat to human health, and these biofilms have become the most important source of nosocomial infections. However, traditional antimicrobial agents cannot completely eliminate medical device-associated biofilms. New strategies for the treatment of these biofilms and targeting biofilm infections are urgently required. Several novel approaches have been developed and identified as effective and promising treatments. In this review, we briefly summarize the challenges associated with the treatment of medical device-associated biofilm infections and highlight the latest promising approaches aimed at preventing or eradicating these biofilms.


Polymerization in high-temperature (adiabatic, frontal) modes proceeding in periodic systems is of high practical significance as a simple method of chemical formation of articles of various geometry and production of polymeric composition of the desired properties. Frontal polymerization under continuous attains still higher importance, since such processes cannot be in principle performed in pipe reactors. In the present paper the results of the experimental and theoretical study of frontal plymerization of methylmethacrylate in a cylindrical reactor are reported. Particular attention is paid to the influence of various initiators, their mixtures, low addition of the polymer, the flow rates and temperatures on the structure of the thermal autowaves, the conversion depth, and molecular mass characteristics of the polymer formed. The loss of stability by thermal polymerization autowaves under the action of various pertubations (fluctuation, pressure-consuming characteristics, heat loss and the like) arising during polymerization in cylindrical flow reactors of the frontal type is also discussed.


eThis ,e(Grui report bv thr ITA WarkmgGroup On (~eneral .ipproaches to th« Drsuin or Tunnels presents IrllernatlOl1a! desHUl procedures iot tunnels. In most tW1nt'lIzrzç proterts. CTround actiuel» pcructpates In prooiding stabilitv to openmg-. T heretore, t he urnerai approach la the desIgn o! tunnels includes site i.Ilvestl,;;atwns. ground prooines and in-situ mO/uIoTln,;;, as ue]! as he ana/vszs oi stresses and deiormntions, For the latter, the ditierent .tructural desz,;;n models' apolied at present-s-including the obseruationai method-e-are presented. Guidelines lar the structural .ieuuline ol the tunnel Immg and natzonal recommendalzons on ,,,mze! design are aiso gn'en. ft Is hoped that the mlormatlOn herrin, based 011 expertences [rom a unde range of tunnel/mgprovects. uull be -tissemrnated la tunnel designers throughout ihe world. I 1 , Scope of the Guidelines rr he International Tunnelling Associauon (ITA) \Vorking Group on General Approaches to the Design , of Tunnels was established in 1978. As its Iirst project, the group developed aquestionnaire aimed at compiling inforrnation about structural design models used in different countries for tunnels eenstrucred prior to 1980. A synopsis of rhe answers to the questionnaire was published bv the International Tunnelling Association in ]982 (ITA ]982). As a continuation of that Iirst report, the working group herein presents guidelines that atternpt to condense the varrous answers from the first report and include additional experiences in the general approaches to the design ol tunnel structures, These guidelines tulfill one of the rnain objectives of the International Tunnelling Associauon, namelv, to disperse intermation on underground use and underground llillllia.;nuctur,esth,roughom the world bv crossing national borders F'l"'Î ,<I language harriers. j hose iruerested in the subject of tunnel design should also consult nuhlished reporisot other ITA work ing groups. e.g, the recent IT,\ report on contractual sharing of risk (see Tijt/ST 3:2) and ITA recommendations on mairnenance of runn-Is (see [:rUST 2:3). Furtherrnore, a number of national ~Hld international organizarions. such as the International Societv on Rock Meeharnes. have published recornmendauons on related subjects, such as field measurernents and laboratorv iesungs lor rock and ground. Some ol these publications and reports are lisred in the Appendix. In tunne llina, most otten the ground acuveiv partir ipates in providinz stahilitv ro the opening. Theretore. the design procedure lor tunnels. as cornpared 10 aboveground -trucrures. is much more dependent on such factors as the SHe SI rnanon. ihe rharacter ist ics, and [he excavarion and support rnerhods used. Recornrnendauons on tunnel design This report IS rditeti 0'11 Heinz Duddeck. Ammateur o! the ITA Warkmg Group on (;meral Approaches m (he Design of Tunnels. Present address: Prof. Hein: Duddeck, Techrucal [!mver.\!l1l ol Braunschwezg. Beethouenstrasse 5I. ,,00 Braunschusrig, Fed eral Reoublic of (;ermanv. {(wl'ullmQ; (Hlä {'r:JnQ'1'ound SplKt j't-,f!'lmloU;'V, Vol No pp. :"::57-2'i9. 19X~ Pnmed Hl (~i(';l.i Hnt~Hn. Résumè-Le grouoe de tmvazi AITES SUf ie dimensionnemeni des tunnels presente ici .Ion deu xteme rapport. En rassemblant loutes :nfol'matuJns, 'lUl rtaient accessibles entre les pa»: :>IU i, dimens!071nement des tunnels, nous espérons, que les expenences gagnées sur beaucoup de protets des travaux souterrams seron/ propagèes dans tout Ie monde. Parce que Ie sol parucipe d'une grarui» partie à iournir des moyens de stabilitè pour des ouvertures souterrames, des methodes de dlmenszonnement comprennent ausSI hlen les inVestlgatlOns sur Ie chantler. ies essais laboratolTes et la surveIllance pendant Ie progres du travai/ que l'analvse des contramles et des detormations. Concemant ce dernzer ootnt, Jes mode/es de dimenswnnement diitèrents et actuellement ~ppliqués sont prèsentès, y compris auss! la methode d'obseroation, Recommendations oous les details de revêtement et queiou-, recommandatlOns natlOnaies sur Ie dimenswnnement des tunnels achèoent ce rapport. naturaHy are lirnited with regard to their consistencv and applicabilitv because each tunnelling project is àffected by special features that must be considered in the design. Nevertheless, it is hoped that the general outline provided in these guidelines, based on the experience gained hom manv tunnelling projects, may be of sorne help for these staTting a project. 2. Outline of General Approaches 2.1. General Procedure in


Present day urbanization of most of the Indian cities and towns is not well associated with the rapid improvement of urban socio-economic facility and urban governance. Increasing percentage of urban population does not always mean increasing level of urban development, because, for example, more urban population means that they consume vast amount of resources and generate heave of waste and garbage which is not totally managed by urban local governing body due to less equipments, shortage of manpower and low circulation of existing facility in drainage, sewage, public sanitation and solid waste management. Being an emergent urban centre and close proximity to Kolkata, Durgapur and Asansol cities, Barddhaman (or Burdwan) municipal area has expanded in a haphazard manner from 1980s. The existing facility of waste management and drainage does not cope up with the increasing load of population and daily waste, for example, due to easy accessibility of the main town, except jobs or fmding out new settlements, in every day almost 2 lakhs population come to Barddhaman for education, business, health facility, shopping and entertainments. The result is environmental pollution and reduction in long-term prosperity of urban health. So the present article is a concise attempt to analyse critically (using statistical techniques and Geographic Information System) the present condition and problems of drainage, sewage and solid waste management in Barddhaman municipal area, West Bengal.


This paper highlights some important issues for those attempting to enable such entrepreneurial knowledge and skills to be developed using CBL materials. This study has implications for the design and use of CBL material for entrepreneurship education at all levels. The implications have importance for strategic decision makers, educators, technologists and designers within the educational and digital domains in the short, medium and long term.


Scientific computing involves the development, analysis, and execution of computational algorithms to solve mathematical problems from science and engineering. Effective implementation of these algorithms on highperformance computers requires knowledge and techniques from mathematics, statistics, and several areas in computer science including parallel computing, compilers, and theory. Although hydrologic field engineers have a wide array of research tools to use, they face the problem that all of these tools are loosely coupled. In this paper, we propose a new framework to solve these problems. The framework is scalable and extensible, and it can be used to execute jobs either locally and on a cluster as needed. A canonical hydrograph format is defined using eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format to exchanging flow information between disparate software packages, and translators are developed to convert between formats.


T ? a HOUGH much recent commentary has been devoted to the predicament of ASEAN, the problems that have been its focus have been the regional financial crisis, and the internal tensions generated by the enlargement of the membership. These have been serious enough, and their resolution will leave their marks on the organization. But a further problem, the more serious because it is home-grown, has revealed important failings within the structure of ASEAN. This is the "haze" of 1997-98. It is the argument of this paper that the haze crisis poses a dual challenge for the group. First, conventional ASEAN modalities have proved a severe disappointment. A proliferation of meetings and plans have produced little of consequence. The Indonesian regime has been unwilling or unable to put the interest of the neighborhood ahead of those of its closest associates. The effect on the self-image of the group has been corrosive, and the likelihood that these modalities will fail when tested by a crisis of a different kind has increased. Second, non-conventional approaches have been the desperate resort of ASEAN elites, a strategy that has had major implications. Prominent in these approaches has been the positive role accorded to NGOs and transnational opinion groups. This has posed a challenge to the character ofASEAN, given that a number of regimes within the group have been reluctant to accept the legitimacy of such political activity, and also in light of the fact that the accord and consensus of ASEAN has been largely the creature of agreement among in some cases narrow and unrepresentative national elites.


This paper reviews important aspects of the current state of mathematical programming ― the use of optimisation techniques to model and solve constrained optimisation problems. The approach is non-technical, but seeks to give an understanding of the mathematical programming paradigm and its scope, computational issues, and important system features enabling the use and understanding of mathematical models. Within the limits of reported results, examples are given of the approach to large-scale mathematical programming applications in resource management and some conclusions are drawn about the requirements to generate successful applications


: Rural amenity is a key concept in rural studies in western developed countries. However, it has drawn little attention from Chinese scholars, and very little work has been done to date in China's context. One plausible reason is that the longstanding urban-rural divide has left rural regions in China far behind the urban areas and thus lacks the quality to be considered amiable. However, with the recent development, especially under the current nationwide campaign on rural revitalization, rural areas in China has witnessed a rapid improvement of facilities and infrastructure, which has laid the foundation for examining rural amenity with Chinese characteristics. This study aimed to introduce the concept of rural amenity to the academia in China. Through a systematic literature review of existing studies on rural amenity published in international journals, the study aimed to stimulate discussions and debates on the concept from Chinese scholars. This article reviews and summarizes the definition, connotation, and characteristics of the concept adopted by international scholars. It then focuses on four major research areas on rural amenity: Rural amenity index and its impacts, rural amenity and counter- urbanization, rural amenity and rural development, and amenity migration. This article further discusses several issues related to the theoretical aspects of the concept, including comparison of urban amenity and rural amenity, comparison of rural amenity and rural gentrification, and translation of rural amenity/ amenities into Chinese. Finally, this article concludes with four insights that can be drawn from understanding rural amenity in China: First, defining rural amenity in China based on traditional Chinese culture. Second, building rural attractiveness and competitiveness based on quality of place. Third, improving rural ecosystem and built environment based on the needs of a variety of dwellers. Fourth, exploring ways of co-development of rural amenity and rural industries with a focus on synergy. This article emphasizes that with continuous deepening of rural revitalization and improvement of rural ecological environment and infrastructure in China, it is of great theoretical and practical value to conduct comprehensive and in- depth research on rural amenity within the Chinese context.


clinical entity, which was first described by Bartels (1933). In the majority of cases, it is asymptomatic, infero-temporal, nonprogressive and does not require treatment unless complicated by an outer layer detachment (Byer 1968, 1986). Confusion of the retinoschisis elevation with rhegmatogenous retinal detachment does occur and results in unnecessary laser or surgical intervention. We present four cases in which the diagnosis was in dispute and define characteristics that made for the diagnosis of retinoschisis. Case #1: A 26-year-old male was referred to the retina service after three retina specialists had diagnosed bilateral retinal detachment and recommended urgent surgery. He was asymptomatic. On examination, his visual acuity was 20 ⁄ 20 with spherical equivalent corrections of )12.00 in both eyes. Funduscopic examination revealed bilateral 360 peripheral retinal elevations anterior to the equator and extending to the ora serrata. In the right eye, there were horseshoe retinal tears at 1:30, 5:30 and 7:00 o'clock near the posterior edge of the retinal elevation (Fig. 1, left). In the left eye, seven horseshoe tears were found near the posterior edge of the elevations at 12:30, 3:30, 4:00, 5:30, 7:00 and 11:00 o'clock (Fig. 1, right). The patient was diagnosed as having retinoschisis with multiple inner layer breaks in both eyes. He was taught how to monitor his peripheral visual field and asked to report any change without delay. Examination 11 and 22 months later revealed no change in the extent of the retinal elevations, and no pigment lines had developed at the posterior border of the retinal elevations. His visual acuity remained 20 ⁄20 in both eyes. A 360 of retinoschisis in the periphery is not exceptional. The presence of retinal breaks provoked some concern, but considering that the shape of the retinal elevations did not relate to the breaks, did not progress and did not cause a pigmentation line to form over 22 months, reassured us that the breaks were in the inner layers of peripheral schisis. Case #2: A 35-year-old female was referred to the retina service in October 1989 for treatment of a retinal detachment in her left eye. Her corrected visual acuity with )9.00 in both eyes was 20 ⁄ 20. The fundus examination revealed bilateral peripheral inferotemporal retinal elevations anterior to the equator. There were multiple holes in the elevation in the left eye (Fig. 2, left). Bilateral retinoschisis was diagnosed, and the patient was advised upon how to monitor her visual field and asked to report any changes without delay. Five years later in June 1994, the patient presented complaining of a shadow developing supero-nasally in the visual field of the left eye. Fundus examination revealed an infero-temporal retinal detachment extending posterior to the schisis elevation and to within a disc diameter of the macula. The detachment emanated from an outer layer break that had developed at the inferior edge of the temporal retinoschisis (Fig. 2, right). A local buckle procedure with a silicone sponge applied to the outer layer break reattached the retina without drainage of the subretinal fluid. The schisis elevation remained unchanged. Case #3: A 46-year-old female first came to the retina clinic in February 1999 looking for a second opinion. She had undergone surgery for 'retinal detachment' in the left eye 4 months before and was told that it was not successful. She did not have any visual symptoms and her corrected visual acuity with )7.50 spheres in both eyes was 20 ⁄ 20. Examination of the right eye revealed an inferior bullous retinal elevation extending posteriorly to within two disc diameters of the macula. There was a round hole at 6 o'clock anterior to the equator. A laser test through the hole was positive for retinoschisis (Fig. 3, left). Examination of the left eye revealed an infero-temporal buckle covered with coagulation scars and with retinoschisis on the internal surface that extended beyond the posterior edge of the buckle (Fig. 3, right). No additional surgery was recommended, and the patient was instructed upon how to monitor her visual field. Eight years after the initial presentation, the retinoschisis posterior to the buckle in the left eye was unchanged. The right eye developed Diagnosis ⁄Therapy in Ophthalmology


This presentation compares loss of load expectation and wind and solar capacity values to the rules of thumb used in the Western Interconnection planning and provides alternative recommendations to the modeling efforts of the Western Electricity Coordinating Council's Transmission Expansion Planning Policy Committee.


Construction represents an important branch of the Romanian economy. The construction branch must be characterized by flexibility and diversity, attributes that favor change, through generation, continuous development and rapid transposition into practice of new ideas. The demands of society are becoming more and more severe throughout the all countries of the world. Expectations and needs are becoming increasingly explicit for issues such as: health and safety of the place where we live or work environmental protection, operational safety.


•  What is the central question of this study? Maternal separation exacerbates behavioural deficits induced by 6‐hydroxydopamine lesioning in a rat model of Parkinson's disease. In contrast, voluntary exercise reduces these effects due to compensation in the non‐lesioned hemisphere. We have asked how maternal separation and exercise affect protein expression in lesioned and non‐lesioned hemispheres of the rat brain. •  What is the main finding and its importance? Using isobaric tagging and quantification of peptides by matrix‐assisted laser desorption/ionization tandem mass spectrometry, we show that exercise and maternal separation have opposing effects on the hippocampus in the non‐lesioned hemisphere, with exercise partially reversing effects of maternal separation on the levels of energy metabolism and synaptic plasticity proteins.


This paper presents relation management for machine socialization. Machine socialization is making thing or machines to talk to and say what they do or need to each other follow each other, discuss with each other and collaborate with each other. Relation is an association between or among object capability within machine enabling to share or provide capability to achieve the task in collaboration. Relation includes scheduling of process between or among machines during performing the task This paper also presents relation models for machine socialization.


The essential principle of polar complex vector method was presented. Through two mechanism examples, its application in mechanism motion analysis was discussed.


Occupational and educational aspirationis of 800 urban high school students were studied in relation to social class and types of family influence. The actual career plans of the students were also studied. Aspirations and plans showed little variation among social classes. Only occupational plans varied significantly witlh class. However, type of influence varied dramatically with class. Maternal influence appeared to b,e stronger and more effective (relative to paternal influence) at lower class levels, regardless of the race of the student. E vidence gathered in the last decade seems overwhelmingly to indicate that social classes in the United States hold disparate values about occupational and educational aspirations. Reissman sums up this literature as follows: "There are several independent studies of widely different samples of individuals that all come to a reasonably common conclusion about aspirations: that striving for (success' is strongest among those in tlle middle or upper classes."1 However, for two reasons it was felt that this area needs further exploration. First, the dearth of theory surrounding the studies of social status and aspiration makes extrapolation to future situations quite difficult. The question should be: Why do different social strata (defined by occupation, income, or the like) seem to adhere to different subcultures? For example, do people in different social strata receive influences from differenit sources? Are they exposed to different mass media pressures? A second and related reason for reexamining differences in aspirations among social class "'subcultures" is that, indeed, times are changinig. Social structures that conditioned different values in different strata ten years ago miay well be undergoing many changes. One of these, the rapid increase in automation, has threateined many jobs formerly classed as lower or working class. At the same time there seemis to be an increased dlemandl for people to fill "higher" class jobs, like teaclher, physician, or technicians. The present study, though not attempting to answer directly the questions raised here, proposes to reexamine social class differences in attitudes toward occupations and education. The study focuses on urban high school students as the carriers of these attitudes. The study also attempts to examine differences between aspirations of the students and their actual occupational plans. This distinction was earlier made by Steplhensen,2 wllo found that in his sample different social classes did not differ significantly in their aspirations (what they wanted for a career), yet did differ in their plans (what they realistically expected to achieve). He explained this finding by proposing, contrary to the rest of the literature, that there are no maj or differences between social classes in regard to attittudes toward education and occupation. In his opinion the future plans of classes differ because of objective (lifferen-ces in opportunity. The issue is not clear-cut, however; Holloway anid Berreman3 could verify this tlheory (Steplhensen's) only witlh attitudes toward education. Where occupations were concerned the latter authors found considerable differences between lower and middle class aspirations. 2 This research was supported by grants fromn Community Studies, Inc., of Kansas City and the Research Coutncil of the University of Missouri. lLeonard Reissman, Class in American. Society (New York: The Free Press of Glencoe, 1959), pp. 361-362. 2 Richard M. Stephensen, "Mobility Orientation and Stratification of 1000 Ninth Graders," Amnericant Sociological Revizew, 22 (April 1957), pp. 204212. 3 Robert G. Holloway anid Joel V. Berremain, "The Educational and Occupational Aspirations and Plans of Negro and White Male Elementary Sclhool Students," Pacific Sociological Reviewzc, 2 (Fall 1959), pp. 56-60. This content downloaded from 220.127.116.11 on Tue, 18 Oct 2016 05:43:02 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms


The AGAMOUS gene isolated from Arabidopsis thaliana is required by stamen and carpel determination of flower.The structure,function of AGAMOUS gene and its homologues in other species as well as its expression regulation are reviewed in this paper.Finally,the problem and research points of AG gene are discussed.


Chinese water chestnuts (CWC) fail to soften during cooking. This is due to thermal stability of cell wall polymers involved in cell-cell adhesion. Information concerning these polymers was obtained by subjecting CWC tissues to a range of chemical and biochemical treatments designed to cleave selectively cell wall chemical bonds. Neither chelating agents nor weak base (Na 2 CO 3 , 0.05 M) facilitated vortex-induced cell separation (VICS) in fresh or canned tissues. However, VICS could be induced after extraction in dilute, cold alkali (0.1 M KOH), dilute hot acid, or a purified, specific endoxylanase. The CWC cell walls also exhibited considerable pH-dependent autofluorescence which originated mainly from ferulic acid and its derivatives. This disappeared during alkali-induced VICS. The results are consistent with the involvement of ferulic acid-containing cell wall hemicelluloses in the thermal stability of cell-cell adhesion and therefore texture in CWC tissues.


In this paper we consider the problem of detecting for breaks in the long memory indexes in presence of breaks in mean. The limiting distribution is derived under the null hypothesis and the alternative hypothesis, the ratio tests also diverge to infinity as the sample size grows. These results show that the reject rate seriously depends on the magnitude of change points. Finally, the Monte Carlo study presents that our test has reasonably good size and power properties.


Abstract: Recent studies suggest that isotope fractionation occurring in plants during photosynthesis influence the δ18O signal in atmospheric CO2, providing useful information on the global carbon cycle. The estimate of δ18O depends from the accuracy of existing models used. Complications arise due to uncertainties associated with: i) leaf water heterogeneity; ii) calculation of the CO2 concentrations at the site of CO2-H2O equilibrium; iii) rate of catalytic activity of enzyme carbonic anhydrase (CA). This research aimed to investigate the applicability of two models (Peclet & Craig-Gordon) to predict the δ18 O in leaf water and the extent to which the evaporative enrichment of δ18O in leaf water is reflected in the oxygen isotope ratio of CO2 passing over the leaf. The experiment was carried out on cotton plants grown from seeds in a temperature and humidity controlled glasshouse. Environmental conditions (vapor pressure deficit, leaf temperature, light intensity and oxygen composition) were altered to induce large variation in photosynthetic activity and evaporative conditions and therefore different values of Δc (Δ18O of chloroplast CO2) and Δe (Δ18O of H2O at the evaporating site) respectively. The results indicate that Peclet model can predict total leaf water enrichment more accurately than the Craig-Gordon model. We obtained the reasonable L value, an important parameter in the Peclet model, compared to those of the previous reports when we removed the unenriched vein water. The L was not influenced by the change in the environmental conditions. The results showed that Δc was highly significantly correlated with Δe. The proportional oxygen isotope equilibrium between CO2 and chloroplast water was calculated to be very near unity at leaf temperatures of 29 °C, and approximately 0.8 at leaf temperatures of 20 °C. This large discrepancy confirmed that leaf temperature has a large impact on CA activity and as a consequence on the equilibrium of CO2 with water inside the leaf. Such differences should be taken into consideration in carbon balance model at the ecosystem level.


The Lord of the Rings film franchise is not over, nor will it be for years. I originally intended to end this book's coverage shortly after the extendedversion DVD of The Return of the King was released. The extensive cooperation I received from the people I interviewed, however, entailed more travel than I expected, and as time went on, my files swelled with more notes, clippings, photocopies, and printouts on a huge variety of related topics. The flow of information has slowed but definitely not stopped, and there is always the temptation to go on and describe the next video game or tiein book. Certainly new signs of the trilogy's influence on the film industry surface regularly, and some seem to be important examples that would bolster my claim that Rings' broad impact makes it one of the most important films ever made. The coverage of even an ongoing phenomenon must end, however, and I find myself with a complete manuscript at the end of April 2006. I may be able to update here and there during the copyediting process, but essentially this book can claim to cover events only up to that date. Once in a lifetime: I encountered this phrase again and again, in print and in my interviews. Even people who played nonspeaking roles or made promotional documentaries feel that they experienced something unique. Perhaps Cate Blanchett sums the attitude up most succinctly: "It's something that will be passed on from generation to generation. So many people have said how they wanted to be part of this because it is historic. They know it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience." While researching and writing this book, I have felt the same way—that I have participated, albeit on the sidelines, in an extraordinary event that is indeed historic—so much so that I felt it deserved a more in-depth examination than the many licensed making-of coaee-table books could give it.


In this paper, a novel analytical method based on CADET (covariance analysis description equation technique) is proposed to solve the computing problem of the precision of the three-dimensional shooting engine when evaluating the effectiveness of the three-dimensional virtual shooting system. This method statistical linearizes the nonlinear factors that will affect shooting accuracy, and then get the propagation equation of mean and covariance. The simulation results show that compared with the Monte-Carlo method, and under conditions of the closely accuracy, computational complexity is greatly reduced with the method CADET, and the calculation results are more accurate.


It is difficult to solve the problem of land supply in the process of accelerating industrialization and urbanization in China and the only way out is to improve the efficiency of land use.Since land is a special factor of production,the efficiency of land use should be understood integratedly from the perspective of public administration,i.e.,such characteristics must be considered as externality of land use,functional diversity,sustainability and constitutive property of the system.To this end,it is necessary to establish appropriate mechanisms on the levels of both central and local governments to improve the overall efficiency of land use.


Using a dependently typed host language, we give a well scoped-and-typed by construction presentation of a minimal two level simply typed calculus with a static and a dynamic stage. The staging function partially evaluating the part of a term that are static is obtained by a model construction inspired by normalisation by evaluation. We then go on to demonstrate how this minimal language can be extended to provide additional metaprogramming capabilities, and to define a higher order functional language evaluating to digital circuit descriptions.


: The human nature is based on curiosity and people have been always looking for new opportunity, trying to find new places, to exchange products and ideas. Cross-cultural interactions are not new, they are just constantly changing. The forces driving internationalization have been mainly, trade of goods and flows of finances. Nowadays the drivers of global interaction are increasingly knowledge-based. The unprecedented fast technological change in Information Communication Technology (ICT), the internet and the rise of emerging economies have transformed the nature of international linkages. The global environment impose additional challenges, such as changes in climate, financial crises and others. This article attempts to gain additional, deeper understanding of the role of Clusters on the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises' (SMEs) international linkages, learning processes and cooperation. Although these issues have been studied within the Clusters and industrial regions literature, the aim of the article is to provide additional view on the collaborative mechanisms of learning. The knowledge and the technological learning of SMEs are strongly influenced by the context and the region. The industrial districts and Clusters are important as a collective entity of economic activities, social and institutional relationships. Cluster management reinforce the notion of making the knowledge of each individual firm meaningful by recognizing the social nature of leaning and knowledge creation. Exchange of ideas and international cooperation stimulate the human creativity and accelerate the innovation. Cheaper inputs and new technology from abroad make the companies (SMEs) more competitive. It creates inequality among people and districts. The future studies shall focus more on the human side of Cluster knowledge management. The SMEs have usually limited capacity, scarce financial possibilities, lack of opportunities and less business partners. To be able to operate internationally the small firms need support. Cluster organizations, being created as teams of Cluster SMEs managers, understand the needs of each cluster member and serve as an activating agent for international initiatives. Although many Clusters have been studied in the business literature, this article attempts to gain deeper understanding of the Clusters as main driving force for SMEs internationalization. The Cluster Organizations are facilitating the access to market information. They are helping the SMEs in networking and for obtaining new international contacts and business partners. They introduce SMEs' managers to the desired contacts. Thus the firms can gain new insights and inspiration, which are considered of being driving forces for innovation. The Cluster Organizations provide channels for easier access to new markets and the Cluster SMEs, have better opportunity for knowledge sharing and expanded networking.


The state evolution of the initial optical \textit{noon} state is investigated. The residue entanglement of the state is calculated after it is damped by amplitude and phase damping. The relative entropy of entanglement of the damped state is exactly obtained. The performance of direct application of the damped \textit{noon} state is compared with that of firstly distilling the docoherence damped state then applying it in measurement.