The BaFe12O19–BaTiO3 composite ferroelectric/ferromagnetic ceramics were prepared by conventional solid-state sintering technique. The magnetic properties are consistent with the ratio of the magnetic phase present but ferroelectric properties are degraded due to a sufficiently high degree of conductivity in the ceramics. Magnetoelectric coupling was observed at a local level by means of the scanning probe microscopy (SPM). Piezoresponse and magnetic force modes of SPM were both utilized to assess strain-mediated magnetoelectric coupling between neighboring grains. The observed variation in the magnetic signal after the electrical poling with SPM was attested to the changes in the magnetic interactions and magnetic anisotropy leading to broadening of the magnetic domain wall.


loods can have a huge impact on the regions they affect. The impact of these disasters can be reduced with a flood risk management system. Flood-prone regions often require a combination of interventions to reduce the risk to an acceptable level. The amount of risk reduction provided by various interventions can be quantified using probabilistic risk analysis.


The design of equipment reliability data collection base is based upon the analysis of various data source in a nuclear power plant(NPP). The structure of data collection table can both ensure the rationality of data and show the current state of equipment. The method of getting sample data is described through an example of calculating failure rate of service water(SW) pump. The result shows that this data base can provide the sample data for the calculation of equipment reliability parameters in NPP.


Diabetic foot infection, particularly osteomyelitis, is a major risk factor of amputation in persons with diabetes. Bone biopsy with microbial examination is considered the gold standard of diagnosis of osteomyelitis, providing information about the offending pathogens as well as their antibiotics susceptibility. This allows targeting of these pathogens with narrow spectrum antibiotics, potentially reducing emergence of antimicrobial resistance. Percutaneous fluoroscopy guided bone biopsy allows accurate and safe targeting of the affected bone.


The influence of the purity of the source materials on the structural and dimensional stability of micro-composites obtained in the process of controlled invariant phase transformation is investigated. The influence of high-temperature post-crystallization heat treatment on the processes of cleaning and increasing the technological ductility of structural materials is considered. The possibility of their practical use is discussed.


This paper discusses the results obtained from a diagnostic study of a monsoon depression which formed in the northern part of the Bay of Bengal, The depression, while intensifying, progressed westwards across India with a speed of about 5° longitude per day, The computed vertical velocity is in good agreement with the observed asymmetric distribution of rainfall around the depression, The presence of a low level of nondivergence, i.e. around 850 mb, is found to have a significant role in the dynamics of the monsoon depression.
The important result of the computed vorticity budget over the period of the intensification of the depression is the detection of a middle and upper tropospheric cyclonic vorticity depletion with time due to large scale dynamics in the western sector of the depression. This result is rather unexpected because of the' fact that the depression's observed cyclonic vorticity increases, not only in the lower troposphere but also in the middle and upper troposphere while progressing westwards. It has been shown that the presence of deep convective cloud activity in the western sector provides the necessary process to compensate the negative vorticity tendency in the middle and upper troposphere. Through a simple parameterization, it has been shown quantitatively that the transport of subgrid scale vorticity by deep convective clouds in the western sector is significant.
This mechanism of vertical transport of extremely rich boundary layer cyclonic vorticity by deep convective clouds is found to be very essential for the intensification and, as well, for the westward movement of the monsoon depression


Introduction Putting a high permeability layer beneath the Co-Cr layer of double-layer perpendicular magnetic recording film media can make the single-pole head recording/reproducing sensitivity substantially higher for Co-Cr single-layer film media [1]. We will report the effects of the Co-Cr layer on the magnetic characteristics of Permalloy underlayer film. The research group headed by Mr. Sugita has made reports on evaporated film lately [2].


At present,Traditional Chinese medicine regard the "diabetes" of western medicine as the ancient of "xiaoke Disease",and consider the basic pathogenesis of Xiaoke disease is "Yin deficiency",usually adopt the principle of Nourishing Yin and lowering hot in treatment,but the effect is not satisfactory. Combined with the theory of "Yang growing and Yin developping,Yang killing and Yin hidden" from "Huang-Di's Classic of internal Medicine",we can see this understanding can be seen ignoring the characteristics of alternating and rooting between yin and yang,too much emphasis on "yin deficiency" side of xiaoke disease, did not see "yin deficiency" reality is "Yang cant generate and vary yin" on the side.


Targeted at an online health monitoring technique for in-service composite structures, a Lamb wave propagation-based deterioration assessment approach is developed using an artificial neural network (ANN) algorithm and a PZT transducer network. Structural dynamic responses are numerically simulated using three-dimensional FEM analyses, and signal characteristics are then extracted with a Signal Processing and Interpretation Package (SPIP) in terms of the wavelet transform technique. A damage parameters database (DPD) is constructed to accommodate the extracted wave spectrographic characteristics, and adopted for ANN training under the supervision of an error-backpropagation neural algorithm. The validity of this methodology is evaluated by identifying through-hole-type damages in [45/45/0/90]s quasi-isotropic CF/EP (T650/F584) laminates. The results exhibit excellent quantitative prediction for damage in the CF/EP composites, including position, geometric identity, and orientation. Additionally, the dependence of ANN performance on inherent network configurations is also evaluated.


The study on financial management system is the important premium of the profound discussion about national (or local) financial revenue and expenditure scale and structure. The article analyses Tumd's financial management system (including its management institutions and systems) and its evolution from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China Period. The nature of its management system was that its expenses were paid by its earnings,but in the meantime,it could not control its earnings and had no freedom to decide its expenses. Such a state made its finance withered gradually since the middle of Qing and on the edge of collapse,which seriously restricted its social and economic development.


Identification of races, strains, or subpopulations of walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) by examining differences in the morphology or biochemistry has met with relatively limited success. Although there is some genotypic evidence for stock discreteness, most evidence points to differences (age, growth, fecundity, maturity) which are believed to be phenotypic expressions induced by the environment. Thus, in the absence of clear genetic evidence, the biological differences are the reliable means of identifying and managing walleye stocks.Walleye populations are spatially distinct, varying greatly in their rate of growth, rate of maturity, and longevity throughout their distributional range. Any genotypic expression of these population characteristics would probably be masked by environmental influences. There is no concrete evidence that differences in growth, age to maturity, fecundity, and longevity among walleyes are inheritable. The possibility of southern walleye populations being obligative rive...


Objective To establish the brain radiation injury experimental model of Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat being irradiated in wakefulness so that the side effects from the anesthetics can be eliminated. Methods Experiment animals were divided into 4 groups randomly according to the difference of radiation dose. Each group involved 25 rats. "Thermoplastic material fixing cage" was used to keep rats in wakefulness during irradiation. The whole brains of SD rats were irradiated by 4MeV electron beam at a single dose of 0 Gy,2 Gy,15 Gy and 30 Gy,which was measured by therapy beam analyser and dosimeter. The scores of gross neurological symptoms and changes in body weight were sequentially evaluated twice every week after irradiation. The examination of the head skin inside the field was performed as well. The changes of the nerve cell in the hippocampus region of rats with the Hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining were observed at the time of 6 hours、1 day、1 week and 1 month after irradiation. Results The peak dosage depth of 4MeV electron beam was 14.3mm,and the dosimetry homogeneity of the radiation field was within 5%. The dose attenuation rate was less than 2.57% because of the thermoplastic material fixing cage. Intra-portal alopecia was observed in all the rats ex-posed to radiation at the dose of 30 Gy and in some of the rats exposed to radiation at the dose of 15 Gy. There was no significant difference in increasing trend of body weight and the score changes of the gross neurological symptoms in all groups. The obvious lesion was observed in the hippocampus region of rats after 30 Gy irradiated. Conclusion The brain radiation injury experimental model of SD rat in wakefulness with whole brain radiation eliminates the side effects from the anesthetic. It appears to be an excellent model for studying on the brain radiation injury in the early stage.


Fowls were completely resistant to a third inoculation with E. maxima oocysts given after two graded and spaced infections. Resistance was complete to a fourth inoculation of E. brunetti oocysts after a series of three infections. Birds made resistant to E. maxima and then inoculated with E. brunetti showed very little evidence of this infection when the intestines were examined on the sixth day and they passed very few oocysts in the faeces. The resistance of E. brunetti-immunized chickens to E. maxima infection was not quite so strong. The results indicate that, under the conditions of the experiment, infection with either of these species will protect in some degree against subsequent infection with the other. These results suggest that the species specificity of acquired resistance is not so complete as previously reported. I am indebted to my colleague, Mr P. L. Long, for his interest throughout the experiment and, in particular, for assistance with the examination of the intestines. The excellent technical assistance of other members of the Parasitology Department is also gratefully acknowledged. Mr Paul Rogers took the photographs.


A method for calculating the exact ..beta..-function (in all orders in the coupling constant), proposed earlier in supersymmetric electrodynamics, is generalized. The starting point is the observation that the low-energy effective action is exhausted by one loop, provided that the theory is supersymmetrically regularized both in the ultraviolet and in the infrared region in four dimensions. For the ultraviolet regularization the Pauli-Villars method is used, while for the infrared regularization two variants are considered. The first: quantization in a box of finite volume L/sup 3/: is universally applicable to any gauge theory. The second variant is based on an effective Higgs mechanism for generation of mass, and requires the presence of certain matter superfields in the Lagrangian. For the second method a necessary condition is the existence of flat directions: so-called valleys along which the energy of the vacuum vanishes. We quantize the field near a nonzero value of the scalar field from the bottom of the valley. After calculation of the one-loop effective action both variants give for the ..beta..-function the same exact expression which, in addition, coincides with our previous result extracted from instanton calculus. A few remarks on the problem of anomalies in supersymmetric gauge theories aremore » presented.« less


The concept of the local Chern marker has gained a lot of attention especially in the field of ultracold quantum gases in optical lattices and artificial gauge fields. We investigate in further detail the microscopic real-space characteristics of the local Chern marker for the two-band Harper- Hofstadter-Hatsugai model and propose a tomographic scheme for the experimental detection of an approximate local Chern marker neglecting higher orders.


This panel summary reviews the senior design process for power projects at Drexel University. Senior design is a stand-alone course which spans one academic year; the structure and administrative guidelines for the senior design projects are outlined. Advising, industry participation, and community evaluation procedures are also discussed. Finally, some sample power projects are presented.


Section 1 Studying Life Narratives 1. Introduction: studying life stories and life histories 2. The growth of individual life stories in contemporary life 3. Contemporary patterns in life stories 4. Studying Storylines: life history and personal representations 5. Developing narrative portrayals Section 2 On Forms of Narrativity 6. Studying Storylines 7. Scripted describers 8. Armchair elaborators 9. Multiple describers 10. Focussed elaborators 11. Re-selfing, reflexivity and hybridity 12. Narrativity, learning and reflexibility


Recently, artists in drama, dance, and contemporary art have visually evoked bhakti through their engagement with the historically remote Tamil bhakti poet-saint Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār. For centuries, bhakti in regional languages has been deeply intertwined with the arts, with its emphasis on personal engagement, emotionally inflected expressiveness and declarative performance. The bhakti poet-saints' own words and deeds promoted a visuality of connection that enabled new and diverse participation in religio-social authority. Drawing on a resonant yet transformed mode of this visuality of connection, the arts today assert that Kāraikkāl Ammaiyār is a socially relevant figure—teacher, feminist, global spiritual icon—grounded in her own time and as speaking to ours. The contemporary arts' mediation of classical ideas and contemporary concerns through visualities of connection that engage audiences today suggests a challenge to contemporary museum culture, which shares with the arts immersive display, yet grapples with envisioning a visuality of connection that provides a global audience today with an experience of classical art of India as both accessible and relevant.


The clivus is the surface of a portion of the occipital and sphenoid bones in the base of the skull. (1)It is surrounded by the neurovascular structures of the brainstem, as well as internal carotid arteries. Tumors of the clivus can be benign (chordoma)or malignant (chondrosarcoma).(2) Chordomas are rare, aggressive, slow-growing, invasive, and locally destructive tumors that arise from the notochord, a structure that appears in embryonic stages and guides the growth of the bony skull and spine. Normally, notochordal remnants form part of the intervertebral discs. A chordoma occurs when additional notochordal cells are enclosed by the developing bones. Although these  tumors are benign and slow-growing, they may invade nearby structures and destroy surrounding tissue and spread to other parts of the body.(2) Most arachnoid cysts are probably present at birth, or develop soon after. Once they are formed, they are thought to remain stable, apparently in some kind of equilibrium with the rest of the intracranial space(3). We report a rare case of clivus chordoma associated with an arachnoid cyst.


The compatibility of metakaolin and cement and concrete admixture were studied when metakaolin used as concrete admixtures.Test results show that,when the additive MK of cement quality 15% as admixtures,the compressive strength value of concrete of different ages is the largest,and the durability of concrete of corrosion resistance and the freezing-thawing resistance can increased obviously.When added MK 15% and mixed a certain number of fly ash to the concrete,the compatibility of metakaolin and P·II 52.5 cement is changed with the fly ash content.The compatibility of metakaolin and P·II 52.5 cement is better than the compatibility of it and P·C 32.5 cement.In these two kinds of cement,the compatibility of MK and JM-PCA(I) type water-reducing agent is superior to the compatibility of it and calcium lignosulfonate or and SL type agent.


The recent article by Mr. William H. Allen, in the School Review, has shown the need for more adequate information respecting the results of educational policy. Mr. Allen finds explanation of the tardy development of educational statistics in the fact that national reports have not reduced school data to comparable bases, that the advocates of comparative statistics fail to relate their demands to personal and local needs, and that teachers have not connected adequate statistics with the proper discharge of their own duties. In considering any subject pertaining to education, one turns naturally to the work of the National Educational Association, which for forty-seven years has watched and commented upon the trend of educational process in this country. The annual reports of this association form a history of our enlarged school system. Here we find discussion of all important steps in the development of American schools, and hither we have turned for information as to the importance ascribed to school facts by educators. After reading all articles bearing on statistics from 1858 to 1905, the following digest has been prepared: In the index volume published in 1897 we find mention of statistical articles in the following years:' 1859, 1860, 1872, 1874, 1877, 1881, 1885, 1886, 1887, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1892, and 1895. Articles have since appeared in 1897, 1899, and 1900. At the second meeting (1859) a committee of three was appointed to confer with the secretary of the interior "to ascertain what additional statistics in relation to the subject of education are desirable and feasible to obtain by means of the approaching national census." In the report submitted a year later this committee suggested the desirability of statistical information as to modes of constructing schoolhouses and methods of organizing schools. A list of important items for school reports included: (i) cost of buildings and the num-


For centuries, the family focused on the legal ties derived from marriage, but in the face
of current social changes, the prevalence of legal ties and biological ties has been
discussed, for which reason, in countries such as Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia,
they have issued sentences that privilege biological truth; while in other cases, in these
same countries the demand has been rejected because the family status, emotional
stability, legal and affective security of the child or the socio-affective relationship were
privileged. Situation that seems to be more defined in our country, where in spite of having
very restrictive legal norms for the questioning of paternity; However, our judges have
opted for the unrestricted defense of the right to biological truth, a position that we do not
share in the present investigation, where we consider that we should start from the tuition
function recognized in the Third Civil Casatory Plenary to give it the human focus that
requires the judicial process of questioning paternity, on the other hand, we point out that
there is no conflict between biological truth with social, affective or parenting affiliation,
since both are part of the same fundamental right that is the right to identity. In this sense,
the problem can not be solved with the weighting of any of the rights, but the solution must
be sought based on the best interests of the child and adolescent, which forces us to listen
/ take into consideration the opinion of the children. children and adolescents to ensure
that they are treated as subjects of rights, in addition to analyzing the possibility that the
search for biological truth does not entail the application of all rights inherent to parental
authority and that the maintenance obligation may be prolonged until the minor finds his
biological father.


PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to study large deviations for the solution processes of a stochastic equation incorporated with the effects of nonlocal condition.Design/methodology/approachA weak convergence approach is adopted to establish the Laplace principle, which is same as the large deviation principle in a Polish space. The sufficient condition for any family of solutions to satisfy the Laplace principle formulated by Budhiraja and Dupuis is used in this work.FindingsFreidlin–Wentzell type large deviation principle holds good for the solution processes of the stochastic functional integral equation with nonlocal condition.Originality/valueThe asymptotic exponential decay rate of the solution processes of the considered equation towards its deterministic counterpart can be estimated using the established results.


Ethnic groups may have conflicts with each other.This is true of every country in the world.It is assumed that the conflicts can only be settled with reference to national situations for the sake of national sovereignty,harmony and stability.


By using the methods of literature review,observation,expert interview,comparison and so on,the essay discovers Liu Haili's disadvantages and gives the suggestion of improving movement result by analyzing and comparing her competition results with the first eighth score in Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.The aim is to solid her foundation so that she will obtain excellent result in the 30th Olympic Games.Meanwhile,this can give a certain model significance to our country heptathlon's raising,selection,training and guiding idea,and promote the overall level.


This study reports the optoelectronic characterization of few‐layer ReSe2field effect transistors at different pressures. The output curves reveal dominant n‐type behavior and a low Schottky barrier at the metal contacts. The transfer curves show a significant hysteresis that can be exploited in memory devices with an order ofmagnitude memory window and good cycling. The devices are dramatically affected by air pressure; their conductance and mobility increase with the lowering pressure that desorbs electronegative air molecules from the surface of the material. The photoresponse under white super‐continuum laser illumination reveals that the device exhibits positive photoconductivity (PPC) at ambient and low (≈1 mbar) pressure and negative photoconductivity (NPC) in a higher vacuum (≈10−4 mbar). The transition from PPC to NPC can be explained by considering that the photoresponse is affected by molecule desorption, which yields PPC at higher pressure, and defect trapping of photogenerated carriers, which can dominate at lower pressures. The transient behavior of the device exposed to laser pulses shows a faster response and a higher photodetection efficiency at ambient pressure, with the highest signal‐to‐noise ratio at the valley of the transfer curve between p‐ and n‐type conduction.


This paper concerns the joint application of the B-Spline method and the Kirchhoff transformation to solve the nonlinear problem of thermal conduction with radiation type boundary conditions. The proposed method requires few iterations, sometimes none, for solids subjected to prescribed temperature boundary conditions. This method can be deployed by other numerical approaches (boundary element method, Finite element method, finite-element method, etc.) for the resolution of the heat conduction equation (linear or nonlinear), in terms of the Kirchhoff transformation ?. For numerical implementation, the steady-state finite element method is considered. The numerical validation was performed for a hollow aluminum cylinder whose outer surface is subjected to radiation. Three types of thermal conductivities are considered: i) constant, ii) linear and iii) nonlinear. As an application, we studied the thermal response of an aluminum reactor, in the form of an annular disc with cooling tubes, exposed to thermal radiation


A simple demonstration system for fine tracking is put forward,and the component is presented in detail.The centroid algorithm is the traditional method for beacon,and it has a systematic error and a random one.So it is obligatory to adopt the pixel subtraction.With the PID-like neural network algorithm,the weights of neural network and the parameters could be adjusted to reduce beacon vibration by the function of self-learning and adaptability in real time.The experimental results show the pixel subtraction improves the precision of centroid algorithm,and the PID-like neural network algorithm is robust.The fine tracking system can track 50 Hz beacon vibration with CCD of 400 Hz,and the range of beacon vibration reduces 25.7%,which is beneficial for the system to apply.


Recent data concerning the activity of protein kinase A (cyclic adenosine 3\5 ' monophosphatedependent protein kinase) in processes associated with gene expression and regulation, as well as general information concerning protein kinase A structure, synthesis and activity are presented in this article. Protein kinase A is a tetrameric protein comprising two regulatory and two catalytic subunits. The enzyme is activated by binding cAMP to the regulatory subunit, dissociation of the holoenzyme, and liberation of free catalytic subunits. Cyclic AMP is synthesized after adenylyl cyclase is activated by extracellular stimuli. Two types of protein kinase A are known, protein kinase A I and protein kinase A I I . They differ in their regulatory subunits, R I and R I I . Each regulatory subunit may occur in two isoforms, R I a, R I (3, R I I a and R I I (3. Three variants of catalytic subunits exist, C a, C (3 and C y ; the C (3 subunit may occur in three subisoforms, C (31, C p2 and C P3. The R I a, R I I a, and C a subunits are expressed ubiquitously, while the R I p, R I I p, C p and C y subunits are expressed in endocrine, neuroendocrine, neural and leukemic tissues. The activity of protein kinase A depends on cellular localization, which determines the access of the enzyme to cAMP and substrate, and on the proportions of the regulatory and catalytic subunits. Protein kinase A I I is associated with cellular structures through the regulatory subunit R I I , which is bound to protein kinase A anchor proteins (AKAP) or to microtubule-associated protein (MAP-2). Protein kinase A I is soluble in cellular cytosol. The protein kinase A subunits, R I a, R I p, R I I a, R I I p C a, C p, and C y are encoded by separate genes whose promoters are activated by cAMP and bind Sp 1; they lack TATA and CAAT sequences and have several transcription start sites. Protein kinase A is involved in the expression of various proteins through the regulation of the activity and synthesis of transcription factors, cycline A, cycline-dependent protein kinase inhibitors, and phosphorylation of microtubule-associated proteins. Protein kinase A is involved in hormone synthesis and secretion. Basal cellular metabolism is affected by protein kinase A through phosphorylation and regulation of the activity of protein kinases, phosphorylases, phosphatases, protease inhibitors, and through 214 STRUCTURE AND ACTIVITY OF PROTEIN KINASE A influencing their synthesis. The cellular compartmentalization of diverse isoforms of protein kinase A, differing in activity and substrate specificity, brings about a variety of cAMP-mediated cellular responses to different hormonal stimuli.


Loop quantum gravity corrections, in the presence of inhomogeneities, can lead to a deformed constraint algebra. Such a deformation implies that the effective theory is no longer generally covariant. As a consequence, the geometrical concepts used in the classical theory lose their meaning. In the present paper we propose a method, based on canonical transformation on the phase space of the spherically symmetric effective theory, to systematically recover the classical constraint algebra in the presence of the inverse triad corrections as well as in the presence of the holonomy corrections. We show, by way of explicit example, that this also leads to the recovery of general covariance of the theory in the presence of inverse triad corrections, implying that one can once again use the geometrical concepts to analyze the solutions in the presence of these quantum gravity corrections. Communicated by P Singh


The thesis combines rough set theory with analytic hierarchy process and fuzzy clustering method,simplifies the traditional Chinese medicine indicators appropriately,judges the clinical efficacy by judging the changes of values of indictors,and builds interval judgment matrices by consulting the experts to get an objective,practical and quantitative assessment.The sample analysis indicates that the clinical efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine treatment for hepatitis and liver cirrhosis is quite satisfying.


Imitation has been regarded as one of the key technologies indispensable for communication since the mirror neuron made a sensation not only in physiology but also in other disciplines such as cognitive science, and even robotics. This paper is aimed at building a human-robot communication system and proposes an observation-to-motion mapping system as the first step towards the final goal of learning natural communication. This system enables a humanoid platform to imitate the observed human motion, that is, a mapping from observed human motion data to its own motor commands. To validate the effectiveness of the proposed system, we examine whether the robot can acquire the interaction rule in an environment in which a human motion occurs under an artificial interaction rule


Combining touch screen technology with mid-air gestures into a unified input modality has potential to improve interaction with touch interfaces in cars. Moreover, target objects on a touch screen can be adapted to the proximity of a users' finger in mid-air. In this paper, we present an exploration of this design space based on two studies and various prototypical systems. First, results of a driving simulator study are reported, indicating that a driver's performance in acquiring a target object on a touch screen in a central console position increases with expanding targets, while altering the position of a target object on the screen leads to a decrease of performance. In a follow-up workshop with automotive experts, prototypes with multiple expanding targets were utilized to foster in-depth discussions on potential challenges and benefits with expanding targets in cars. Results of both studies indicate a high potential of expanding targets for in-car interaction scenarios.


Balanced development is the best working condition of the capital market,whereas the state-owned shares in the listed companies in our country are too large in percentage and incapable of circulating,which affect the balanced development of the capitla market.The marketability of the State-owned shares is a complex systematic project that is related to the interests of the state ,companies,and investors ,affects the equilibrium of demand-supply of money and stock,affect the fluctuation of stock price,and eventually affects the balanced development of the capital market.Foreigners attach importance to the balance of any market relationship in the capital market in the marketing of the state-owned shares.We should pay more attention to the balanced development of the capital market in stock pricing,procedure designing in the marketing of the state-owned shares.


An innovative method for self-compensating capacitive sensor for multi threshold liquid level measurement is presented in this work. Presently it is a trend to design and develop non -contact type sensors for the measurement and control of liquid level, since chemicals in industry can corrode the sensors in contact used for the monitoring purpose. In practice the sensors are to be provided with compensation techniques to avoid the influence of environmental factors proving it more disadvantageous. This work comprises the design of non-contact type capacitive sensors, which employs self-compensation technique. The multi threshold level control concept involves control of liquid to different levels by increasing the number of electrodes. This paper also deals with a novel technique incorporated to design a precise and reliable signal conditioning circuit as per the demand of self -compensated capacitive sensors owing to their very low sensitivity. For practical experiments, a container with aluminium electrodes is fabricated and proficient SCC is developed. The values of the capacitances offered by the multi electrodes are measured and the corresponding voltage provided by SCC is interfaced to the microcontroller to control the liquid level for the given set point. Experimental results are depicted.


Background:  The effects of fish consumption and n‐3 poly‐unsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) levels on atopic disorders are inconsistent in previous reports, but few studies have investigated the effects of both fish and n‐3 PUFA. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether erythrocyte fatty acids and the consumption of fish are associated with atopic diseases in pre‐ and early adolescents.


  Abstract —Terms of address are an essential component of speech etiquette. They can reflect the social and cultural values. Therefore, in the era of globalization, familiarizing oneself with the communication norms of a certain culture has become an inevitable part of daily lives and a prerequisite to succeed in one's business. This paper looks at the typological models of verb forms of address in Georgian language where they are analyzed from an ethnolinguistic point of view. Verb forms of address represent one group of terms of endearment in Georgian. By focusing on historical events, cultural tendencies and the structure of the society, we discuss the cultural specifics and norms of communication in Georgian. The findings indicate that the verb forms of endearment in Georgian are complex intracultural signs reflecting stereotypical views of a


VARIABLES ASSOCIATED WITH A SENSE OF CLASSROOM COMMUNITY AND ACADEMIC PERSISTENCE IN AN URBAN COMMUNITY COLLEGE ONLINE SETTING Cynthia P. Cadieux Old Dominion University. 2002 Director: Dr. Robert A. Lucking A self-report survey was used to investigate the sense o f classroom community in an online community college classroom. Sense of classroom community scores were obtained as well as scores on the four subscales o f spirit, trust, interaction, and learning within the Sense o f Classroom Community Index (SCCI). Differences between these five dependent variables and type o f classroom setting (face-to-face or online) were ascertained by utilizing MANCOVA and ANOVA. Relationships between sense of community and age and course grade were determined through Pearson product-moment and Spearman rho correlations. MANCOVA results indicated a statistically significant difference between type o f classroom setting relative to spirit, trust, and interaction. ANOVA results showed no significant differences between dropouts and non-dropouts and their sense o f community. There was no significant relationship between sense of community and age of the student or course grade. A slight positive correlation was found between course grade and the sub-scale of interaction. It was concluded that sense of community was affected by classroom setting (face-to-face or online). The slight correlation between course grade and the sub-scale o f interaction supports the literature suggesting that learning may be enhanced by increased interactions within the classroom. R e p ro d u c e d with p e rm iss ion of th e copyright owner. F u r th e r reproduction prohibited without perm iss ion . A C K N O W L E D G E M E N T S There are many people who have contributed to the successful completion o f this dissertation. Sincere thanks are extended to my committee members. Dr. Robert Lucking, Dr. Dean Cristol, and Dr. Christine Medlin for their supporting, encouraging, mentoring, and giving o f supreme assistance and hours o f time on guiding my research and editing this manuscript. A special thanks is extended to Dr. Stephen Tonelson for his kind leadership. Permission to conduct this research was given by Dr. Deborah M. DiCroce. Dr. John Dever, and Dr. E.T. "Joe" Buchanan. Data would not have been collected were it not for Judy Williams who was always gracious and willing to learn about sense of community. Greg Frank supported my request for institutional support, which allowed me to share the idea of the research. To all o f these kind people. I express my sincere thanks. R e p ro d u c e d with perm iss ion of th e copyright ow ner. F u r th e r reproduction prohibited without perm iss ion . Dedicated to the Supermen in my life, Davy, Matthew, Benjamin, and Zachary. Thanks for all you've done and withstood. I love you! Without whom my success would not have been possible, mom and dad, thanks for being a constant support and voice o f compassion throughout. My love always! To all o f my friends, old and new. thanks for the interest and understanding you showed towards this pursuit (and for the endless hours of babysitting). R e p ro d u c e d with perm iss ion of th e copyright ow ner. F u r th e r reproduction prohibited without perm iss ion . T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S


This paper anasyses the refrigerant pollution reasons of lithiumbromide absorption refrigerating machine,It introduces the removal of faults of refrigerant pollution.


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The AAP Private Payer Advocacy Advisory Committee (PPAAC) is here to address issues pediatricians encounter with the private health insurance industry, but it needs input from members to succeed.

AAP private payer advocacy is three-pronged, tackling issues at the national,


: In this research paper a hybridization of two computational intelligence fields, which are evolutionary computation techniques and complex networks, is presented. During the optimization run of the Success-History based Adaptive Differential Evolution (SHADE) a complex network is built and its feature, node degree centrality, is extracted for each node. Nodes represent here the individual solutions from the SHADE population. Edges in the network mirror the knowledge transfer between individuals in SHADE's population, and therefore, the node degree centrality can be used to measure knowledge transfer capabilities of each individual. The correlation between individual's quality and its knowledge transfer capability is recorded and analyzed on the CEC2015 benchmark set in three different dimensionality settings – 10D, 30D, and 50D. Results of the analysis are discussed, and possible directions for future research are suggested.


The ponderomotive force in a magnetized plasma is derived by carrying out the renormalization of wave–particle interactions based on the Vlasov equation. A significant feature of the resuit is non-singular behaviour at resonance even in the case of perpendicular propagation. This is shown to be related to the onset of the diffusive motion of particles due to the orbit instability near resonance, where the ponderomotive force is eventually small.


Purpose: To analyze the incidence and clinical course of epithelial ingrowth after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) using a femtosecond laser. Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the results of 1158 eyes of 581 patients who received LASIK with the flap created by a femtosecond laser from February 2006 to March 2009 at our institute. We investigated the incidence and clinical course of LASIK in which the flap was created by a femtosecond laser. Results: Epithelial ingrowth was first detected one week after surgery in 12 (57%) of 21 eyes and within one month in 19 eyes (90%). Epithelial ingrowth was localized most commonly near the temporal and nasal flap edge in 12 eyes (57%). In two eyes (9.5%), an isolated ingrowth mass was located in the pupillary area. The development of more than 2.0 mm of epithelial ingrowth was observed in three eyes (0.25%). Among 28 eyes with loose epithelium or epithelial detachment during surgery, epithelial ingrowth was observed in six eyes (21.4%) compared with 15 (1.32%) of 1130 eyes without loose epithelium or epithelial detachment. Therefore, epithelial detachment during surgery was significantly associated with epithelial ingrowth ( p = 0.00). Conclusions: In LASIK in which the flap is created by a femtosecond laser, damage to the epithelial layer increases the chances of epithelial ingrowth. Therefore, avoiding epithelial defects with a gentle maneuver is needed to reduce the chance of epithelial ingrowth during surgery.


Most of the work in the field of topology optimization is concentrated on using sensitivity analysis and optimality criteria methods that need explicit formulation. The design systems are often hard-coded for a specific problem with specialized optimization and FEM routines. This paper presents a work that uses a system approach to solid free form design. It attempts to develop a general topology optimization system that has a wide range of applicability by making use of sophisticated optimization and FEM packages available. A computer design system is implemented with an integration of commercial codes CFSQP and NASTRAN. A pre-processor and a post-processor are developed to assist the optimal design process. The system is tested with benchmark cases for minimum mean compliance and minimum weight designs. The results for the cases are presented, demonstrating the ability of the system to handle complex cases with practical.


Chameleons (Chamaeleo spp.) use vision in prey capture and in predator avoidance. They scan the environment with large amplitude, "independent", eye movements and once a target has been sighted the eyes converge to a binocular fixation. To precisely determine target distance, chameleons uniquely employ accommodation effort of their negatively powered lenses. Our research aimed at determining the visual acuity of the common chameleon, Chamaeleo chameleon. Behavioral visual acuity, as determined by optomotor (OMR) and optokinetic (OKR) responses, was ca. 9 cycles pre-degree (CPD) in mature and ca. 5 CPD in newly hatched individuals. Acuity was positively correlated with eye size. Responses to stimulus motion in the temporonasal (TN) direction were more pronounced compared with stimulus motion in the naso-temporal direction (NT). Overall the results from OKR were more reliable compared with OMR.


Since the 1970s, key Inter-Governmental Organisations (IGOs), notably the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), have subscribed to neo-liberal orthodoxy. This was evident, for example, in the labour market and macroeconomic policy prescriptions of the OECD Jobs Study (1994) and the IMF's imposition of structural adjustment policies during the Asian Financial Crisis (Feldstein, 1998).


OBJECTIVE
To investigate the influence of acetylcholine (Ach) on gap junctional intercellular communication in rat hippocampus.

METHODS
Ach was applied to primary co-cultured hippocampus neurons and glial cells. Laser scanning confocal microscopy was used to monitor the change of Ca(2+) in the cytoplasma. The effect of Ach on gap junctional intercellular communication(GJIC) was measured by scrape loading method.

RESULTS
Ach(0.05-0.10 mmol/L) induced all changes in cytoplasmic Ca(2+) concentration and calcium waves and calcium oscilation in cytoplasma. The Ca(2+) change could be blocked by scopolamine. Using scrape-loading method, we found GJIC notably enhanced 60 h after applying Ach to these cultured cells.

CONCLUSION
Ach can enhance GJIC in hippocampus cells.


Dr. W. Mayer-Gross': When a psychiatrist speaks about the symptomatology and differential diagnosis of presenile dementias, he ought perhaps to trace out a number of clinical types in which the underlying pathological process may be inferred from the diagnosis. I do not think this would be impossible, but the difficulties are certainly much greater than in many other fields of psychiatry. It seemed, therefore, more appropriate to discuss this evening these difficulties in diagnosis, in order to find out what we really know on the clinical side and where the gaps in our knowledge are. I propose to discuss these difficulties under four headings: (1) Personality and constitution. (2) Temporal factors. (3) Spatial factors (localization). (4) Special groups and nature of the disease. To start with a few definitions: The word " presenile " is used here as a purely temporal notion, to indicate a disease occurring between the ages of 40 and 60; it does not imply that the presenile diseases are really senile ones coming on at an earlier age than usual. Dementia means failure of intellectual and mnestic functions. For the interpretation of the symptoms it is important to consider the contrast between, on the one hand, personality-that is, the whole of the emotional and volitional functions of the patient-and his memory and intelligence on the other. It has been said that intelligence and memory are tools handled by the personality; but it is really more a matter of interaction; each influences the other and their interdependence becomes especially evident if one of them is disturbed by disease.


Sixty-two North American populations of seven previously described species belonging to Batrachospermum sect. Batrachospermum were examined and compared with appropriate type specimens using morphometrics and image analysis. All populations were similar to the respective type specimens in qualitative and quantitative characteristics, but the range of some morphological features has been extended. B. boryanum was the most abundant and widespread species, being collected in 34 stream sites from Newfoundland and British Columbia in the north to Georgia in the south. The other six species — B. anatinum, B. arcuatum, B. confusum, B. heterocorticum, B. pulchrum and B. skujae — were more localized and occurred in six or fewer streams. B. anatinum was restricted to Missouri, Arkansas and Virginia and B. arcuatum was collected in western North America from Alaska to Mexico. The distribution of B. confusum was disjunct, with populations occurring in Alberta, Quebec, Newfoundland, Maine and Missouri. B. heterocortic...


Narrate case and argument are the basic skills of both case in point in ancient times and modern legal document. Narrate case or fact narrate (in writing) mainly includes material selection, language change, specific narration,evidence expression; argument or reason explainadon consists of case summary, language rhythm, legal recognition as well as its application. All are the basic requirements of reasonable and concise narration.


The utility model discloses an elliptical sleeve type steel wire rope tension detection device, which comprises two annular tension sensing plates symmetrically buckled and pressed on the two sides of a steel wire rope. One surface of each annular sensing plate contacts the steel wire rope, and a plurality of resistance strain gauges are arranged at intervals on the surface. A hollow cylindrical clamping cover with side wings is arranged outside each annular tension sensing plate, and the upper and lower parts of the hollow cylindrical clamping cover are buckled with the steel wire rope. A rubber gasket is arranged at each buckling position of the hollow cylindrical clamping covers and the steel wire rope. The side wings of the hollow cylindrical clamping covers are fixedly connected through outer fastening bolts. A signal processor is arranged at the inner bottom of each hollow cylindrical clamping cover. The signal processors detect changes in the output voltage of the resistance strain gauges by utilizing changes in the radial shrinkage and expansion of the annular tension sensing plates, calculate changes in the tension of the steel wire rope, and transmit the tension data of the steel wire rope to an industrial personal computer to realize the detection of the tension of the steel wire rope. The device is simple in structure, convenient to operate and high in detection efficiency and speed.


We aggregated data from 28 studies (total N=13,386) to assess the relationship between individual differences in character strengths, as described by the VIA model of character, and economically-relevant behaviors and cognition. Factor analyzing the character strength inventory responses revealed four factors – Caring, Leadership, Inquisitiveness, and Self-control – each of which correlated with a variety of measures. Caring was associated with the willingness to pay costs to benefit others, as well as reliance on intuitive decision-making; Leadership was associated with inefficient, anti-social behaviors, risk taking, and trusting one's intuitions while also liking to reason; Inquisitiveness was associated with efficient behaviors in both the social and risk domains, and reliance on deliberative decision-making; and Self-control was associated with delaying gratification, risk aversion, and a reliance on reason. These results help shed light on the relationship between character – and personality more generally – and economic behaviors. In doing so, we give some indication of which types of people will be most successful in which decision-making contexts.


This paper will discuss the cases of several manufacturers in various critical demand industries who have installed custom power solutions. The electrical conditions and financial losses suffered before the installation of custom power will be detailed and then the chosen solution and post-installation results will be summarized. The protected loads discussed vary in size from 500 kW to 20,000 kW.


Objective To access the feasibility of endoscopic thyroglossal cystectomy by breast approach..Methods In the passed three years,5 patients with thyroglossal cyst were admitted with age of 9~36 years.There were 1 male and 4 females.All cases underwent endoscopic thyroglossal cystectomy with a follow-up period of 1 to 3 years.Results All cases were cured and none recurred after the resection.Conclusion Endoscopic thyroglossal cystectomy by breast approach is a feasible and safe procedure,no scars on the neck and the reducted scar in the breast is even more inconspicuous,which results in satisfactory cosmetic results.


—In recent years, reversible logic has become a promising technology in the areas of low power VLSI design, nanotechnology, quantum computing and optical computing. The performance and reliability of digital systems which are now implemented using conventional logic gates can be enhanced by the usage of reversible logic gates, which pave for low power consumption and lesser quantum delays, thus increasing the speed of computation. Adder/subtractor circuits form the fundamental block in the arithmetic and logic unit of processors and other digital logic programmable devices. The performance of a digital system, its speed and throughput depend critically on the way these circuits are designed. Adder circuits are used in the Graphics Processing Unit(GPU) of computers for graphics applications to reduce complexity. Any way to enhance the performance and computational speed of these circuits will pave way for a better ALU. Incorporating the concepts of reversible computing in the design of adder/subtractor circuits can significantly enhance the performance and speed of operation of digital systems. In this paper, two existing adder/subtractor designs and a novel design are compared, analyzed for different bit lengths (1,8,16,32,64). Detailed analysis of reversible logic design parameters, power consumption parameters, and FPGA utilization parameters is carried out. These designs are analyzed and simulated using the Xilinx Vivado tool and implemented on Zedboard Zynq 7000 Evaluation and Development kit(xc7z020clg484-1). The proposed design outperforms the existing designs.


All public companies in the European Union, including Ireland's major banks, were required to adopt IAS 39 for their annual accounting periods beginning on or after January 1, 2005. Under the "incurred loss" model of IAS 39, banks could set aside reserves for loan losses only when objective evidence existed that a loan was impaired, not in anticipation of future losses. As a result, Irish banks saw their aggregate reserve for bad loans drop from 1.2% of loan balances at the end of 2000 to only 0.4% by 2006-2007, just before the collapse of the banking industry caused loan losses to soar. In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, financial regulators and accounting bodies recognized the weakness of the pro-cyclical incurred loss model. As a result, they have proposed alternative "expected loss" models that allow reserves for expected losses to be built up over the life of a loan in a counter-cyclical fashion.


This research is to design a music composition game, connected to an interactive device, based on rhythm, melody, and harmony learning. This game constructs a game environment for players to experience improvisation and learn from doing. The major contributions of this game are: rhythmic patterns input, melodic line and chord progression imposed on rhythmic pattern, ensemble playing and techniques training on interactive device. The challenges include tempo restriction, grading system, and playing techniques on interactive device. The players can experience music writing and learning the theory and techniques through playing. At the same time, the repetitions of playing will improve players' knowledge, techniques, and instrumental playing of music learning.


Enigmazole A (1), a novel phosphate-containing macrolide, was isolated from a Papua New Guinea collection of the marine sponge Cinachyrella enigmatica. The structure of 1, including the absolute stereochemistry at all eight chiral centers, was determined by a combination of spectroscopic analyses and a series of microscale chemical derivatization studies. Compound 1 is comprised of an 18-membered phosphomacrolide that contains an embedded exomethylene-substituted tetrahydropyran ring and an acyclic portion that spans an embedded oxazole moiety. Two additional analogues, 15-O-methylenigmazole A and 13-hydroxy-15-O-methylenigmazole A, were also isolated and assigned. The enigmazoles are the first phosphomacrolides from a marine source and 1 exhibited significant cytotoxicity in the NCI 60-cell line antitumor screen, with a mean GI(50) of 1.7 microM.


NAD+-dependent formate dehydrogenase (FDH, EC 220.127.116.11) is of use in the regeneration of NAD(P)H coenzymes, and therefore has strong potential for practical application in chemical and medical industries. A low-cost production of recombinant Escherichia coli (E. coli) containing FDH from Candida methylica (cmFDH) was optimized in molasses-based medium by using response surface methodology (RSM) based on central composite design (CCD). The beet molasses as a sole carbon source, (NH4)2HPO4 as a nitrogen and phosphorus source, KH2PO4 as a buffer agent, and Mg2SO4 · 7H2O as a magnesium and sulfur source were used as variables in the medium. The optimum medium composition was found to be 34.694 g L−1 of reducing sugar (equivalent to molasses solution), 8.536 g L−1 of (NH4)2HPO4, 3.073 g L−1 of KH2PO4, and 1.707 g L−1 of Mg2SO4 · 7H2O. Molasses-based culture medium increased the yield of cmFDH about three times compared to LB medium. The currently developed media has the potential to be used in industrial bioprocesses with low-cost production.


Multi-hop wireless network MAC protocols typically sacrifice packet latency to achieve energy efficiency. Such delays may well increase due to routing protocol operation. For this reason it is imperative that we attempt to quantify the end-to-end delay and energy consumption when jointly using MAC and routing protocols. In order to coordinate the subproblems, cross-layer feedback mechanism is established to ensure different layer interactions. The simulations are conducted to validate the efficiency of the proposed policy.


Speculative bubbles seen in financial markets, show similarities in the way they evolve and grow. This particular oscillating movement can be captured by an equation called Log-Periodic Power Law. The ending crash of a speculative bubble is the climax of this Log-Periodic oscillation. The most probable time of a crash is given by a parameter in the equation. By fitting the Log-Periodic Power Law equation to a financial time series, it is possible to predict the event of a crash. With a hybrid Genetic Algorithm it is possible to estimate the parameters in the equation. Until now, the methodology of performing these predictions has been vague. The ambition is to investigate if the financial crisis of 2008, which rapidly spread through the world, could have been predicted by the Log-Periodic Power Law. Analysis of the SP500 and the DJIA showed the signs of the Log-Periodic Power Law prior to the financial crisis of 2008. Even though the analyzed indices started to decline slowly at first and the severe drops came much further, the equation could predict a turning point of the downtrend. The opposite of a speculative bubble is called an anti-bubble, moving as a speculative bubble, but with a negative slope. This log-periodic oscillation has been detected in most of the speculative bubbles that ended in a crash during the Twentieth century and also for some antibubbles, that have been discovered. Is it possible to predict the course of the downtrend during the financial crisis of 2008, by applying this equation? The equation has been applied to the Swedish OMXS30 index, during the current financial crisis of 2008, with the result of a predicted course of the index. ∗Postal address: Mathematical Statistics, Stockholm University, SE-106 91, Sweden. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com. Supervisor: Ola Hammarlid. Foreword and Acknowledgments This paper constitutes a thesis worth 30 ECTS in mathematical statistics at the Mathematical Institution of Stockholm University. Above all, I would like to thank my supervisor Ola Hammarlid for giving me the opportunity to perform this project at Swedbank. I would like to express my sincere gratitude for investing his trust in me and providing me with valuable support and guidance. Also, I would like to thank all the individuals of the department of Quantitative Analysis at Swedbank Markets, who has contributed to this project. Finally, I am grateful to my family for the endless encouragement and love.


【Objective : The present study investigates patterns of consumption of alcohol, cigarettes, and over the counter drugs (OTC) in Korean patients with PTSD and psychiatric patient controls and healthy controls from multicenter hospital samples. Method : Data were collected from 18 hospitals nationwide. Patients with PTSD were compared with nonpsychotic psychiatric disorders control and healthy control subjects on psychometric measures of consumption of alcohol, cigarettes, and OTC drugs. Result : Ninety-three patients with PTSD, 73 patients with psychiatric disorders control, and 88 healthy control subjects were enrolled. There were significant differences in the frequency of alcohol drinking among the three groups ( $X^2$ =12.9 12.93, df=6, p=0.044). Only 3.2% of healthy control subjects drank alcohol more than 4 times a week, but 43.9% of PTSD group and 46.5% of mental disorder controls drank alcohol more than 4 times a week, respectively. Regarding cigarette smoking, there were no differences among the three groups. There were significant differences in uses of OTC drugs among the three groups; 16.7 % in the PTSD group, 14.9% in the psychiatric control group and 1.3% in the heath control group, respectively ( $X^2$ =11.3 11.31, df=2, p=0.004). Conclusion : In this study, patients with PTSD showed significant differences in the frequency of consumption of alcohol and OTC drugs, as compared with healthy controls. However, there were no differences between the PTSD and psychiatric patient control groups. Since all subjects were enrolled from hospital based sample, results may differ in the community samples. Further studies will be needed for the evaluation of substance uses in these groups.】


Integrated command, control and copmunication systems are based on the use of computers for digital data processing. The weapon system platforms like missile launchers are given input command for accurate and quick positioning in azimuth and elevation. The technologies of sensors, signal conditioning and associated solid state electronics have moved from analog to digital. Therefore, a position controller has to be designed around a microprocessor in embedded form for usage in such servo control systems. This paper highlights the basic approach for such design and problems which need to be tackled during actual implementation.


Kernel least squares support vector was used to identify genes in the small sample and nonlinear gene recognition problems. The B. subtilis whole genome sequence and related three reference data files were downloaded from GeneBank to produce a sample set including 1400 positive and 1419 negative samples. 200 positive and 200 negative samples were selected as training set and others as test set. Five features including three Z curve features, open reading frames GC ratio and length were extracted and kernel least squares support vector machine classifier was designed and optimized on training set. The results on test set showed that the recognition rate of nonlinear least squares support vector machines is up to 99.86%, which is 9.9% and 5.68% higher than linear support vector machine and fisher classifier respectively.


I investigated the use of edge by soil arthropods by testing whether mesoarthropod predators were closer to edge than expected and whether large predators were closer to edge than small predators. The experimental design consisted of 120 boxes, each covering 200 cm2 of soil, that were randomly distributed within a 0.13-km2 aspen stand located in the Canadian prairie region. Each 2-kg box depressed the leaf litter, creating a microhabitat island for soil arthropods consisting of 61 cm of edge. During 20 weekly surveys from May to September in 1997 and 1998, numbers and distribution of arthropods located immediately beneath the boxes were recorded. Mesoarthropod predators were found closer to edge than expected. Centipedes, beetle larvae, and predatory mites (Acari) were found at intermediate distances to edge, whereas beetles, ants, adult flies, bugs, and spiders were distributed adjacent to edge. Generally, larger mesoarthropod predators were found closer to edge than smaller individuals, within each taxo...


The impetus for writing this article came from the notion of Muhammad Hamidullah, a renowned twentieth-century Islamic scholar. He has described the Madinah Charter as the world's first written constitution. As the modern constitutions contain certain fundamental features embedded within them, such as the separation of powers, the rule of law, which includes the fundamental rights and liberties of the people, supremacy of the constitution, and custom of the country, this article examines the objectives and fundamental features of the Madinah Charter. The research methodology adopted in this article is a doctrinal analysis by referring to the Madinah Charter as discussed in the book by Hamidullah, The Prophet's Establishing A State And His Succession. From the objectives and fundamental features of the Madinah Charter, the article extracts some similarities between the objectives and fundamental features embedded in a modern constitution. This brings out the argument of whether the Madinah Charter can be recognised as the world's first written constitution despite not being categorised as a modern constitution.


Screening for cervical cancer with the Papanicolaou (Pap) test has been remarkably successful at reducing the morbidity and mortality rates associated with this disease. The discovery that human papillomavirus (HPV) has an essential role in cervical carcinogenesis led to the development of molecular tests to measure the presence of HPV types associated with cancer. In 2012, screening guidelines were updated to incorporate HPV testing.1,2 According to these guidelines, women 21 to 29 years old should undergo screening with a Pap test every 3 years; HPV testing is not recommended owing to the high prevalence of HPV infection in this age group. Women older than 65 years who have had adequate prior screening and are at low risk for cervical cancer should no longer undergo screening. There are 2 options for screening in women 30 to 65 years old. The US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) recommends that women in this age group undergo screening with a Pap test every 3 years or Pap-plus-HPV testing (cotesting) every 5 years.1 The American Cancer Society, the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, and the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ACS/ ASCCP/ASCP) recommend the same options, except they classify Pap-plus-HPV testing every 5 years as "preferred" and screening with Pap testing alone every 3 years as "acceptable."2 The updated guidelines leave physicians and other clinicians with a question: is cotesting with Pap-plusHPV testing truly preferred over Pap testing alone (the ACS/ASCCP/ASCP recommendation), or are the options equivalent (the USPSTF recommendation)? The current state of knowledge suggests that clinicians should not automatically adopt cotesting as the preferred screening strategy for cervical cancer and should consider the individual patient's values and perspectives when choosing a screening method. A well-established benefit of cotesting with Papplus-HPV testing is the negative predictive value of this method: if both results are negative, the risk of precancer or cancer is low enough that the interval between screenings can be safely extended to 5 years.1,2 However, HPV infection is common in sexually active women, and most HPV infections clear spontaneously and are not associated with precancerous changes.3 Thus, HPV testing inherently has low specificity, results in increased rates of colposcopy,4 and can lead to anxiety and overtreatment in women who test positive.1 A recent study found that HPV testing helps further reduce a woman's risk of invasive cervical cancer compared with Pap testing alone.5 Cervical cancer, however, is rare in wellscreened populations. Testing for HPV requires additional resources, and the economic and societal effects of seeking to further reduce the incidence of cervical cancer have not been rigorously studied. Although screening with the Pap test has led to uncertainty regarding the clinical management of mild cervical abnormalities (eg, atypia and low-grade abnormalities), cotesting has led to a new type of ambiguity: a normal Pap test result with a positive HPV test result. This outcome occurs in 3% to 8% of women screened with cotesting2 and is as high as 11% in US women 30 to 34 years old.6 The ACS/ASCCP/ASCP guidelines acknowledge that optimal management of women with normal Pap test and positive HPV test results requires further research.2 One proposed strategy is to repeat cotesting in 1 year, allowing time for HPV infections to clear,2 but this may cause anxiety and uncertainty during the year of waiting. Another strategy is to test for the 2 HPV types that confer the highest risk of cancer (HPV-16 and HPV-18) and to perform colposcopy if either of these types is detected.2 However, the optimal management of women who persistently test positive for HPV-16 or HPV-18 but have negative colposcopic results is unknown. Some may undergo unnecessary colposcopic examinations, biopsies, and treatments. Women who choose screening with cotesting should therefore be aware that this method can lead to increased surveillance for cervical abnormalities and related anxiety, uncertainty, and costs. Given the complex considerations with cotesting, why did the ACS/ASCCP/ASCP recommend this method as the preferred screening strategy compared with Pap testing alone? Online material (CAAC_21139_sm_SuppInfo .pdf) provided with the guidelines indicates that this was a weak recommendation,2 meaning that "there is substantial uncertainty surrounding the balance of benefits and harms, and further research is needed to increase confidence in the results, or that benefits and harms are closely balanced, with decisions based largely on individual preferences and values."2(p153) It is therefore puzzling that the guidelines did not state that the recommendation for cotesting as preferred was weak.2 For clinicians unaware of these caveats, the "preferred" designation could lead those offering Pap testing alone to be concerned that they are providing their patients with less-than-optimal care. Conflicts of interest on guideline committees are also important to consider. In the case of the ACS/ASCCP/ ASCP, approximately 25% of committee members reported financial associations with companies that make HPV tests, including the provision of research supplies and research funding, advisory and/or consulting roles, and speakers' honoraria. To reduce the potential effect VIEWPOINT


ABSTRACT Motivated by the development of deep convolution neural networks (DCNNs), the aircraft detection from remote sensing images has gained tremendous progress. However, due to complex background and multi-scale characteristics, it remains a challenge in remote sensing detection. In this paper, we propose a two-stage aircraft detection method based on deep neural networks, which integrates Deconvolution operation with Position Attention mechanism (DPANet). Specifically, considering that remote sensing images are taken from the top-down perspective, which leads to significant external structural characteristic, we introduce a deconvolution module to capture the external structural feature representation of aircraft during the feature map generation process. Moreover, aiming at reducing the error detections caused by complex background in remote sensing, we propose a position attention module in the second stage. By calculating the feature similarity between any two pixels of the target feature map, DPANet can extract the complicated internal structure feature representation of aircraft, which improve the ability to distinguish background and aircraft. By integrating the deconvolution and position attention modules, DPANet can provide better representation ability for the structural characteristic of aircraft in remote sensing images. Experimental results show that the proposed method can effectively reduce the error detections and improve the accuracy of the aircraft detection.


It is my great pleasure to welcome you to a new open access journal, Robotics, which is dedicated to both the foundations of artificial intelligence, bio-mechanics, mechatronics and control theories, and the real-world applications of robotic perception, cognition and actions. This includes the innovative scientific trends, and discovery resulting from solving new challenges in the field of robotics. Its open access and rapid dissemination are the unique features separating this journal from all existing journals dedicated to robotics. [...]


In the late 1960's, only types A and B hepatitis were believed to exist, distinguished by circumstances of exposure and incubation periods. In the early 1970's, studies of transfusion recipients were begun with the belief that hepatitis B would be responsible should transfusion‐associated hepatitis develop. After discovery of the viruses of hepatitis A and B, neither agent was found responsible, hence non‐A, non‐B (NANB) hepatitis. Initial follow‐up of these cases showed that ∼ 50% developed chronic hepatitis based on persistence of serum enzymes for at least 6 months. Approximately 15 years later, after the hepatitis C virus had been identified as the cause for NANB hepatitis, chronic hepatitis was found to develop more frequently as indicated by persistent viral infection in over 80% of infected adults but in only about 50% of infected children or young women. Follow‐up over 2 to 4 decades indicated that many infected persons developed progressive hepatic fibrosis, sometimes culminating in cirrhosis and/or liver cancer. Long‐term natural history studies have proved to be challenging because disease onset is often silent and progression extremely slow. Differing strategies have been used to determine the natural history, the descriptions and results of which are presented in this review.


We report the detection of the doubly deuterated form of formaldehyde towards IRAS 16293-2422, an extremely young protobinary system. This is the only detection of D 2CO in any astronomical source other than Orion (Turner 1990). The line searched was that corresponding to the 42,2−32,1 transition at ν0 = 236.102 GHz, and was detected at three positions, one centered on the source itself, and the other two 10 ′′ West and 10′′ East respectively. A survey of the literature revealed that two additional lines of D2CO at 245.532 and 342.522 GHz were detected towards IRAS 16293-2422, but classified as "unidentified".We failed to detect any signal towards the outflow (at offsets (−20′′;0′′) and (−30′′;+10′′)) where low-J CO emission lines are quite strong. The line profiles at the three positions show a dip at the zero rest velocity. We rule out the possibility that this dip may be due to a pure kinematic effect and show that it is actually due toself absorption. The gas responsible for the D2CO emission is located at less than about 10 ′′ (∼ 2 ·1016 cm) from the central source. We used multi-transition H 2CO observations of van Dishoeck et al. (1995) to estimate the density (n H2 ∼ 107 cm−3) and temperature (T∼ 100 K) of the emitting gas. From those values, we can derive a lower limit to the column density required for the D2CO line we observed to be self-absorbed: N(D2CO) ∼ 1014 cm−2. Combining the previous and present observations of H2CO, HDCO and D2CO we obtain the following upper limits to the abundance ratios of the three species: [HDCO] / [H2CO] ≤ 0.25 and [D2CO]/[HDCO] ≤ 0.5. If the abundance of H2CO in IRAS16293-2422 is comparable to that observed towards the Hot Cores in Orion ( ∼ 10−8; Blake et al. 1987) and if the D2CO 42,2 − 32,1 line is only moderately thick, D2CO is only 1/10 less abundant than H 2CO. We finally speculate that such a large amount of warm D 2CO can only be produced by evaporation of this molecule from the grain mantles, where it was presumably copiously formed during the long pre-collapse period. Send offprint requests to : email@example.com


The paper discusses some aspects of the implementation of the Content Management Systems (CMS) in the creation of e-learning materials and the integration of imitative modeling in electronic textbooks. As an example, are considered CMS Moodle to create the essence of electronic textbook Database systems and the General Purpose Simulation System GPSS World environment for creating educational demonstration models. The third component of the development is the involvement and active participation of students in the implementation of E-Learning Materials.


The healthcare sector usually ensures the availability of cost-effective medicines. Patients self-manage their conditions assisting physicians to take an appropriate decision-making process. The healthcare system attempt physicians to be freed up for other activities. Today Medical Mobile Applications(MMA) captures and stores clinical images in health records enabling clinicians to monitor the progress of the disease. This paper discusses various surveys related to software engineering practices in the health sector and reviews related to MMAs.


The most recent report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) summarized the tremendous increase in the atmospheric concentrations o f the greenhouse gases (GHG) C02, CH4, and N20 over the last centuries. While the variation in concentrations was in pre-industria! times very low, the increase since 1750 far exceeded natural conditions. The high increase rates for all3 mentioned GHGs resulted from anthropogenic activities. In addition to anthropogenic sources of CH4, such as biomass burning, sewage, landfills, breeding of ruminants, rice cultivation or exploration of fossil fuels, natural sources are recognized as wetlands, termites, and oceans. Although, recent papers describe the meaning offreshwater lake CH4 emissions (BASTVIKEN et al. 2004, CASPER et al. 2005), lakes are not thought to be an important source. The conservative assumption by EHHALT ( 197 4) that only 1-1 O % o f a lake area can emi t methane combined with the working limited data-set has led to the often cited range ofCH4-emission rate of 1-25 T g CH4/yr. In earlier studies we showed that CH4 emissions from lake surfaces are variable but could be observed from lake surfaces encompassing all water depths (CASPER et al. 2000), and that CH4 release by ebullition and storage flux increases with eutrophication of the lakes (CASPER et al. 2005). This was also the case with CH4 and C02 gas diffusion across the sediment-water interface (ADAMS 2005). The aim of this study was to analyse the emission rates of CH4 and C02 by diffusive fluxes across the water-air interface over an entire year, based on biweekly sampling. In a forthcoming paper we will summarize the total and storage fluxes based on further results o f this survey.


Fifty patients with active atopic eczema (age 2-40 years) have taken part in a single-blind, controlled cross-over study on the effect of diet on their disease. Before admission to the trial, potential candidates, drawn from regular attenders to the dermatology clinic with troublesome atopic eczema, were given house-dust-mite avoidance advice and natamycin spray where appropriate. The dietary study lasted 16 weeks with a normal diet continued in the first 4 weeks and then the patients were randomly allocated to an empirical hypoallergenic diet or a healthy-eating diet. After a further 4 weeks a normal diet was resumed, and then in the final 4 weeks the other therapeutic diet was taken. Response was assessed in terms of extent of eczema, itch and sleeplessness and measurement of IgE levels. Changes in essential fatty acid levels on each diet were also measured. Though one-third of patients appeared to be helped by diet, only in a quarter was it possible to determine specific food intolerances, with dairy products, colouring and preservatives being the most frequent offenders. Fifteen non-responders to diet who still had troublesome eczema then volunteered for a placebo-controlled trial of high-dose gamma-linolenic acid (Epogram), the same measurements being used to assess their progress. The small response to each of these widely advocated treatments for atopic eczema, housedust-mite avoidance, hypoallergenic diet and evening primrose-oil therapy, means that for the remaining hard-core of badly affected atopies an answer is still waiting to be found.


Background: To determine readiness for self-directed learning (SDL) among medical students enrolled at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, as well as identify demographic characteristics that might affect or control such readiness. Methods: Medical students at all levels of training were asked to participate in a study in the form of a self-response questionnaire via emailed link (Gugliemino's Self-Directed Learner Readiness Scale [SDLRS]). This instrument was designed to measure the complex attitudes, skills and characteristics that comprise an individual's current level of readiness to manage his or her own learning. Data were analysed using SPSS, and mean, median and total scores were calculated and compared. Results: Of more than 1900 medical students at the KAU Faculty of Medicine, 192 students responded to the self-response questionnaire (see appendix). Results suggested that readiness for SDL is below average for more than 99% of medical students Conclusions: Our study showed that further evaluation of our students' readiness for SDL is required, as well as exploration and implementation of tools for improving skill and knowledge development, to enable students to develop a lifelong learning attitude.


This report discusses two methods which have been considered to reduce the rear face activity. The first involves the use of a solids purge to scour out the activity, and the second employs the use of a chromic acid purge to put the activity into solution. Solids purging is found to be ineffective in reducing rear face activity levels. A chromic acid purge conducted at 60 C for 1/2 hour can be expected to reduce the Zn{sup 65} activity level about five fold without injuring the reactor or causing any harmful aftereffects.


Interannual variability of tropospheric moisture and temperature are key aspects of Earth's climate. In this study, monthly mean specific humidity (q) and temperature (T) variability is analyzed using 12 years of COSMIC-1 (C1) radio occultation retrievals between 60°N-60°S, with a focus on the tropics. C1 retrievals are relatively independent of the a priori for q and T within the lower/middle troposphere and upper troposphere/lower stratosphere, respectively. Tropical interannual variability is dominated by El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO). Systematic increases and decreases in zonal mean q and T are observed during the 2009-10 and 2015-16 El Niño events and 2007-08 and 2010-11 La Niña events, respectively. ENSO patterns in q and T are isolated using linear regression, and anomaly magnitudes increase with altitude, reaching a maximum in the upper troposphere. Upper troposphere q anomalies expand from the tropics into the midlatitude lower stratosphere, and the T vertical structure is consistent with a moist adiabatic response. C1 results are compared with NCAR's Whole Atmosphere Community Climate Model (WACCM), forced by observed sea surface temperatures, to evaluate model behavior in an idealized setting. WACCM ENSO variations in q and T generally show consistent behavior to C1 with somewhat smaller magnitudes. Case studies are conducted for major ENSO events during the study period. q spatial variability is closely aligned with outgoing longwave radiation (OLR) anomalies. For example, mid-tropospheric q increases over 100% and OLR decreases over 50 W m−2 over the central Pacific during the 2015-16 El Niño, and substantial regional q and T anomalies are observed throughout the tropics and midlatitudes for each event.


The integration of dual damascene Cu metallization for features at and beyond ~30nm critical dimension (CD) is very challenging, and its success will likely depend on optimization to near perfection in every area, from uniform patterning profiles, highly controlled metal barrier and seed deposition processes, to robust Cu electroplating methods and wet cleans in order to enable void-free, reliable BEOL interconnects [1]. Metal barrier technology for Cu metallization typically consists of Ta or a bilayer TaN/Ta stack deposited by physical vapor deposition (PVD), and tool and process improvements are continually being made to extend the applicability of these technologies to future interconnect dimensions. Several alternative process technologies are being pursued by the semiconductor industry, and one key process option to replace PVD TaN, or augment deficiencies in PVD TaN, is atomic layer deposition (ALD) of TaN. ALD provides a fundamental benefit in terms of deposition rate control and conformality. One concern, however, with ALD of TaN vs PVD is the attainable TaN resistivity. It remains questionable whether any form of ALD, thermally activated or otherwise, can reduce the available Ta-based precursor chemistries to metallic TaN with a resistivity comparable to Ta-rich PVD TaN [2]. Ion bombardment-induced densification may provide a path towards such low resistivity ALD TaN [3]. In this study PEALD TaN films were deposited using direct hydrogen (H2) plasma reduction of pentakis(dimethylamino)tantalum (PDMAT) at a substrate temperature of 250°C. One PEALD TaN cycle consisted of a PDMAT exposure followed by a H2 plasma exposure at 100W. To study the impact of ion bombardment on TaN film properties, a novel PEALD TaN process was developed for comparison, containing a high-power direct plasma step after each PEALD cycle, consisting of an Ar/H2 plasma exposure at 800W. For the deposition of thermal ALD TaN films, ammonia (NH3) was used as reactant. The effects of this intercycle ion bombardment on key TaN film properties including mass density and resistivity were investigated. After a total of 100 PEALD cycles, a TaNx film thickness of ~7.8nm was obtained on dense oxide (Figure 1). When an ion bombardment step is included after each PEALD cycle, the TaNx film thickness amounts to only ~6.0nm. PEALD TaN exhibited a mass density of 11.6 g/cm as measured by x-ray reflectivity (XRR), while for PEALD TaN with intercycle ion bombardment the mass density increased to 13.9 g/cm. The densification of PEALD TaN by intercycle ion bombardment has a significant impact on TaNx resistivity. With densification, PEALD TaN resistivity values on the order of 415 μΩcm could be achieved, comparable to resistivity values for PVD TaN at moderate N2 flow rates (Figure 2). It is suggested that the densification of PEALD TaN probably results in the transformation to a low-resistivity TaN phase [4]. While ion bombardment can achieve densification of PEALD TaN at the trench bottom of patterned structures, sidewall surfaces appear to show a less significant reduction in film thickness (Figure 3). This effect likely originates from the directionality of ions in the applied high power Ar/H2 plasma, leading to less energetic bombardment of sidewalls.


The nitrate radical (NOs) plays an important role in the oxidising capacity of the troposphere at night (Wayne et #/., 1991). Heterogeneous reactions in and on dry and moist aerosol particles can also contribute to its removal in the troposphere and consequently modify the abundance of trace species. So, heterogeneous reactions of NOs radicals on NaX (X = Cl and Br) sea-salts are assumed to be a source of halogen atoms in gas phase : which may influence tropospheric night-time chemistry. The purpose of this laboratory study is to measure the uptake coefficients of NO] on solid surfaces of NaCl and NaBr at different temperatures. All using a discharge flow tube technique coupled to an EPR a The flow tube is a consisting a internal wall coated with the sea-salt of interest and a central movable injector to introduce the nitrate radicals into the reactor. NaX aqueous NaX titration


The modulation system, in order to provide a switched-mode power amplifier (switching mode power amplifier) modulation is a two-level signal (two-level signal) made necessary by appropriate amplifying said modulation system includes a first control signal (control signal) a first constant envelope modulator modulating a signal according to the (constant envelope modulator), a second constant envelope modulator, and the output signal and the second constant envelope modulators of the first constant envelope modulator modulating a signal according to the control signal the output signal of a single, two-level pulse-width-coupled to combine a modulation signal (single, 2-level pulse-width-modulated signal) may include a. The single, two-level pulse-width-modulation of the information represented by the modulated signal is coded in said first control signal and the second control signal. Similarly, the present invention relates to a method for generating a modulation signal corresponding to the modulation system.


Carbon nanotube s are made up of carbon atoms arranged in a series of condensed benzene rings and wrapped into a tubular form. They represent a new allotrope of carbon invented from fullerene family, which can be described as rolled up graphite sheets held together by van der Waals bonds. These materials due to some qualities such as high specific surface area, unique electrical and electronical properties are used in many applications as catalyst base, polymers mechanical strengthening, composites, electronical devices production and drug delivery. Especially, they are able to cross through cell wall and inter to cell nucleus. This work speculates on methods of design, synthesis, and quercetin delivery as an antioxidant agent that its anticancer function has been reported, by single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) into cancer cells and their detection method. In fact, we introduce the concept of "functionalization partitioning" of SWCNTs, i.e., imparting various chemical species, such as poly (ethylene glycol) (PEG), quercetin with different functionalities into the surface of the SWCNTs. And we will discuss how binding of molecules to SWCNTs and their release can be controlled by varying the pH.


Title: The Effects of Thunderstorm Static and Quasi-Static Electric Fields on the Lower Ionosphere Author: Mohammad Ahmad Salem Major Advisors: Hamid K. Rassoul, Ph.D. and Ningyu Liu, Ph.D. Thunderstorms and their lightning discharges are of great interest to many areas of geophysics and atmospheric electricity. A thunderstorm is an electric generator; it can produce both electrostatic and quasi-electrostatic fields in the overhead atmospheric D region. The D region is the lower part of the ionosphere that extends from about 40-90 km altitude where the electrons and ions are sufficient enough to affect the propagation of radio waves. In contrast to the electrostatic field, the quasi-electrostatic fields can be much stronger in magnitude, but shorter in duration, and can trigger halos. A halo is one type of the transient luminous events (TLEs) and typically appears within 1-2 ms after an intense cloud to ground lightning discharge. It looks like a relatively homogeneous glow in the shape of a pancake that is centered around 75-80 km altitude with a horizontal extent of tens of kilometers and vertical thickness of several kilometers. The goals of this dissertation research are to investigate the electrical effects of thunderstorm electrostatic and quasi-electrostatic fields on the nighttime lower ionosphere, and their covert relation to the formation of atmospheric halos. This work entails numerical and theoretical modeling analyses, and comparison of current theory and simulation results with the actual observations. iii For the first part of this study we have demonstrated that, under steady state conditions, electrostatic fields of <0.4Ek values (not strong enough to produce TLEs) can be established in the lower ionosphere due to underlying thunderstorms. We utilized the simplified nighttime ion chemistry model described in the work of Liu [2012] to investigate how these fields affect the lower ionosphere ion density profile. The three-body electron attachment, through which electrons can be converted to negative ions, is the only process whose rate constant depends on the field values within the above-mentioned limit. As a result of the variation of the rate constant with the electric field, the nighttime steady state electron density profile can be reduced by ∼40% or enhanced by a factor of ∼6. We have improved our model in order to self-consistently calculate the steady state conductivity of the lower ionosphere above a thunderstorm. The new model takes into account the heating effects of thunderstorm electrostatic fields on the free electrons. The modeling results indicate that under steady state condition, although the electron density is generally increased, the nighttime lower ionospheric conductivity can be reduced by up to 1-2 orders of magnitude because electron mobility is significantly reduced due to the electron heating effect. Because of this reduction, it is found that for a typical ionospheric density profile, the resulting changes in the reflection heights of ELF and VLF waves are 5 and 2 km, respectively. In the second part of this dissertation, a one-dimensional plasma discharge fluid model is developed to study the response of the nighttime lower ionosphere to the quasi-electrostatic field produced by cloud-to-ground lightning flashes. When the quasi-electrostatic field reaches and exceeds about Ek, a halo can be triggered in the lower ionosphere. The modeling results indicate that the ionospheric perturbation is determined by the ambient ionospheric density profile, the charge


Nursing education programs have a significant role in assisting students toward success. A formal peer mentoring program was designed to help the mentee receive advice and support by peer mentors. This pilot program evaluated the comfort and socialization of the student into the discipline of nursing. Results suggest that students in this program who perceived it as successful also felt more supported and had an increased comfort level in the nursing program, and therefore would be more likely to accomplish their goals as a nursing student.


In attempting to determine the mechanism responsible for the clinical benefits obtained by constrictive hyperemia, 1 Lewis and Grant 2 found that during the period of venous congestion produced by the application of a tourniquet there occurred an increase in arterial amplitude in their plethysmographic tracings. More important, however, was their observation that when the constricting band was released there resulted an increase in arterial flow much out of proportion to the original resting period. This they called reactive hyperemia. Circulatory arrest created for a period of fifteen minutes would effect an increase in flow of as much as 600 per cent after release. Barsoum and Smirk 3 believe that when tissues are subjected to circulatory arrest they liberate a histaminelike substance which they have been able to demonstrate to be present in increased concentration in venous blood after the release of circulatory arrest. It is thought that this substance


The Programme for International Student Assessment, PISA, is a worldwide study to assess knowledge and skills of 15year-old students. Results of the latest PISA survey conducted in 2012 were published in December 2013. According to the results, Finland is one of the few countries where girls performed better in mathematics than boys. The purpose of this work is to refine the analysis of this observation by using education data mining techniques. More precisely, as part of standard PISA preprocessing phase certain scale indices are constructed based on information gathered from the background questionnaire of each participating student. The indices describe, e.g., students' engagement, drive and self-beliefs, especially related to mathematics, the main assessment area in PISA 2012. However, around 30% of the scale indices are missing so that a nonstructured sparsity pattern must be dealt with. We handle this using a special, robust clustering technique, which is then applied to Finnish subset of PISA data. Already direct interpretation of the created clusters reveals interesting patterns. Clusterwise analysis through relationship mining refines the confidence on our final conclusion that attitudes towards mathematics which are often gender-specific are the most important factors to explain the performance in mathematics.


Murder initiated by one intimate partner and executed by hirelings is a manifestation of violent crime that has received little attention from criminologists. The sensational details of hired killings have stirred media and public interest whilst its regular occurrence has brought it to the attention of the writer as a topic for research. As a research topic two major research problems have been identified:
Limited scientific literature on specifically hired killings exist (spousal killings on a one-to-one basis are adequately researched and findings in this regard have been published) which necessitate the gathering of knowledge from various sources.
Hired killings lack a biographical profile as they occur within any age, race, gender and socio-economic group, compelling a more situational approach to the studying of this phenomenon.
From an exploratory point of view this article focuses on the nature or offence characteristics of hired killings. After studying relevant documentation such as law reports, pre-sentence reports, case histories as well as newspaper reports, an outline of a pattern of hired killings has emerged. This article underlines the act as premeditated and rational, involving careful planning and preparation (grooming) of the criminal event. As a crime of deliberation, various aggravating factors are identified such as approaching third parties to "remove" the intimate partner who has become an obstacle and subsequently offering a reward, which may include money and sexual favours. Motives for killing are instrumental (involving the achievement of a financial or romantic goal) as well as expressive (reflecting a balance of power discourse). The latter is pertinently addressed in Charles Tittle's theory of control balance in which he explains contract or hired killings as an act of exploitation. By means of careful planning and the assistance of third parties, the hirers as primary offenders succeed in distancing themselves from the murderous act and strongly believe that they will get away with it. Victims often suffer a cruel death. Primary offenders show no remorse for their actions whilst hirelings do not always receive the rewards initially promised to them and receive heavy sentences if apprehended. The seriousness of the crime is evident from this article, but poses a problem for the criminal justice system, particularly in the case of female offenders. Personal circumstances of the primary offender, such as abusive relationships need to be weighed against the deliberate intent to kill.