Cenchrus setigerus is commonly known as black kolukkattai grass and is a herbaceous perennial pasture land grass. TNCS 265 is a selection from Kangayam local developed at Department of Forage Crops, Centre for Plant Breeding and Genetics, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore. TNCS 265 had registered high biomass yield in Station Trials (38.9 t/ha), Multi Location Trials (50.5 t/ha) and in On Farm Trials (46.8 t/ha) which is 12.75, 21.3 and 19.7 per cent yield increase over the check CO 1, respectively. The culture TNCS 265 was promoted to All India Coordinated Research Projects on Forage Crops & Utilization trials during the year 2016 to 2018 and it was evaluated at nine locations in the South zone. Among the cultures evaluated, TNCS 265 registered a mean green fodder yield of 69.0 t/ ha than the national check CAZRI-76 (54.87 t/ha) and the qualifying variety IGFRI-96-706 (57.98 t/ha) which showed an improvement of 25.76 and 19.01 per cent yield increase over the check, respectively. It ranked first in green fodder yield in all three years of evaluation, under AICRP trials in south zone. It has the crude protein content of 8.18 per cent. The fibre fractions such as Acid Detergent Fibre (%) and Neutral Detergent Fiber (%) were comparatively lesser (42.5 & 64.17 %) than the national check CAZRI-76 (45.43 & 70.4 %) indicating higher digestibility and intake of green fodder of proposed entry. It was also evident from its higher value of in vitro Dry Matter Digestibility (55.47 %) than the national check CAZRI-76 (51.93 %). Hence, considering the stable performance of TNCS 265 (Cenchrus setigerus), it was proposed and released as black kolukkattai grass CO 2 for pasture land cultivation in the south zone of India during 2019 and notified as per Gazette Notification No. S.O. 99(E). dt. 06.01.2020 for general cultivation.


Carbon fiber reinforced SiC (C/SiC) and SiC fiber reinforced SiC (SiC/SiC) composites were fabricated by a chemical vapor infiltration (CVI) method to obtain the composites with minimized impurity contamination. The neutron activation analysis showed that 30 elements were detected as impurities. However total impurity concentrations in the C/SiC and SiC/SiC were lower than 14.5 wt ppm and 9.80 wt ppm, respectively. The evaluation of induced activity under the simulation of fusion neutron irradiation of 10 MW.y/m 2 was made based on the impurity concentration. The dose rates of both composites were assumed to decrease by about 6 orders of magnitude in one day cooling and by 9 orders of magnitude in several ten years. The results indicate that the present composites behave excellent in terms of low activation and the CVI is a potential process to obtain high-purity composites


In this paper we investigate the impact of the presence of an interfering radar on the target direction of arrival (DOA) estimation performed by the reference radar. The DOA estimator is a modified version of the pseudo-monopulse technique that, using adaptive waveform diversity in transmission, can mitigate the dependence of the estimation accuracy on the interfering signal. The importance of using proper coding in multi-user radar system is highlighted with reference to a simple scenario of two radars and the root-mean square error (RMSE) of the estimator is numerically evaluated in different operational conditions.


ABSTRACT The purpose of this research effort is to examine the factors influencing young Indian consumer decision making. Present research considers consumer decision making as a conscious and deliberate process, influenced the most by exposure, information processing, and advertising effectiveness. There is a greater need to study these factors in a country like India, which has the world's largest youth population and also is an emerging economy. This study identifies a positive relationship between exposure and information processing with consumer decision making. The research effort depicts that advertising effectiveness to a great extent influences consumer decision making and has a positive relationship with information processing.


In this paper, based on the teaching-learning-based optimization (TLBO) algorithm, a new TCTLBO algorithm is formed by introducing twice chaotic searches, and then the TCTLBO algorithm is used to optimize the weighted random forest (WRF) algorithm, and the TCTLBO-WRF sorting model is established to improve the accuracy of radar signal sorting under low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) conditions. In order to verify the validity of the algorithm, it is compared with commonly used sorting algorithms. Simulation experiments show that the proposed model can effectively improve the radar signal sorting accuracy under low SNR conditions.


Service quality assurance in general, and in mountain tourism, in particular, is based on having a well trained, sufficient workforce that also has the relevant experience in providing a specific service. This article highlights the past and present of the mountain guide profession in Romania, from the point of view of the evolution of the formation system of such specialists. The study reflects the fact that, although the legislation offers well defined standards to professional formation providers, the courses available on the market are heterogeneous, and the formation process is often insufficient compared to the requirements of practicing such a job. On the other hand, the structure and format of the mountain guides' courses offered in the Alpine countries are very rigorous, and should be taken as an example by Romanian mountain guides schools as well.


The formation of a third phase in the extraction of large amounts of uranium(VI) and plutonium(IV) by bis(2-ethylhexyl)sulfoxide (BESO) into various hydrocarbon diluents was investigated over a wide range of experimental conditions. Solubility of both the extracted solvates U02(N03)2 • 2BESO and Pu(N03)4 • 2BESO was maximum in polarizable benzene and the tendency to form third phase increased in the order: benzene < n-hexane < SST < dodecane. Usefulness of some commonly employed polar modifiers like tributylphosphate (TBP), 2-ethylhexanol and isodecanol on improving the metal solvate solubility was also assessed.


Image quality assessment is widely used in many image processing tasks, which can help researchers adjust image processing algorithms, design imaging systems, and evaluate image processing systems. Generally, CT image quality assessment can be categorized into task-specific and general image quality evaluation. Task-specific image quality assessment evaluates the performance of the imaging system or the detectability of the tumor. These IQA index, for example, are modulation transfer function (MTF), Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), observer model, etc. General image quality assessment measures the general reconstruction image quality under different reconstruction algorithms. SSIM (Structural Similarity), Mean Squared Error (MSE), etc. are the traditional general image quality assessment indexes widely used in nowadays CT image quality assessment. The drawback of these indexes is the demand for reference images, which is not practical in the real CT system. In this paper, we design a CT image dataset, and by using this dataset, and we propose a blind image quality assessment (BIQA) model based on CT image statistics, which can be employed to measure the algorithms under no reference image situation. Different from other image datasets, we recruited no-converged images of the reconstruction process in designing datasets, which enables our BIQA model to evaluate non-converged images during the iterations. Hence, the BIQA model can be embedded in the reconstruction process to monitor reconstructed image quality during iterations.


The tongue twisting word "Chikungunya," derived from the Kimakonde language, means 'to be bent over' as exhibited by the patients of this disease. This presentation is due to rigorous joint pain (athralgia). Chickungunya virus (CHIKV) was first documented in Tanzania in the year 1952. however, due to its relatively recent outbreaks in Asia, Africa, Europe, Indian and Pacific oceans, in addition to the occurrences documented for the first time in America and Caribbean islands after 2013 consequently led to the world's attention towards it. In the last decade, the spotlight on the disease's distinct set of symptoms has garnered the medical community's attention. However, comparatively, its symptoms are still less severe than that of Dengue and Zika viruses, two of the other chief mosquito borne diseases at present. BACKGROUND AND IDENTIFICATION


The proposed paper presents a hand gesture recognition-based elevator control system using a convolutional neural network model which provides an efficient and convenient way to control elevators by recognizing hand gestures and issuing commands to the elevator control unit. The system captures an image of the user's hand motions via a camera, which are subsequently processed by the CNN model. To correctly identify the various hand gestures, the model is trained on a dataset of hand gesture images using Python and TensorFlow. Once the gesture is recognized, the system sends a command to the elevator control unit to move the elevator to the desired floor. The proposed system has several advantages over traditional elevator controls, such as improved accessibility, reduced physical contact, and improved user experience. The system is especially useful for people with disabilities who may have difficulty using conventional elevator controls. The paper discusses the design and implementation of the CNN model and its integration with the elevator control system. By placing the system to the test on a collection of hand gesture images and comparing the results with traditional elevator control methods, the system's performance is assessed. The studies showed that the suggested approach is more efficient than conventional elevator control systems and has a high detection performance. Overall, the paper demonstrates the feasibility of using hand gesture recognition as an alternative to traditional elevator controls. The proposed system has the potential to revolutionize the way elevators are controlled, making them more efficient and user-friendly. The paper concludes by discussing future directions for research in this area, including the development of more sophisticated CNN models and the integration of the system with other smart building technologies.


The construction industry is a special industry, its operating pesonnel are maily migrant workers. The great fluidity, the instability of construction teams and the uneven level of technical, labour rights can not be guaranteed, deductions, non-payment of wages and other phenomenons are more serious. The labour disputes are frequent, social insurance, accident insurance are so difficult to implement. Active guidance, supporting the formation of labor subcontracting companies, changing the loose situation to the organized situation, will enhance the country's construction industry managment level, with its great realistic sig-nificance and far-reaching historical significance.


A new sterile mutant designated pollen sterile (PS) found in pickling cucumber ( Cucumis sativus L.) is characterized by normal corolla in staminate and pistillate flowers, normal fertility in the female, and absence of pollen in otherwise normal-appearing staminate flowers. All F 1 plants from PS x male fertile (MF) sib-matings were MF, and F 2 progeny segregated 3 MF : 1 PS. Sib-matings of PS segregates with sister MF segregates produced either 1 MF : 1 PS ratios or all normal plants. Thus, PS is controlled by a single recessive gene. The PS gene is not allelic to apetalous ( ap), but was shown to be allelic to male sterile-2 ( ms-2) and is designated ms-2 PS . It was not possible to determine possible allelic relationships between ms-2 PS and ms-1 because of strong male and female sterility of the available ms-1 material. F 1 generations from gynoecious-PS and monoecious-PS crossed with monoecious, gynoecious (silver-ion treated), and hermaphroditic parents produced no PS plants and sex types did not influence PS levels in F 2 progenies, indicating it is not possible to maintain the PS mutants through crosses with different cucumber sex types. It was not possible to change the expression of PS by applying cytokinin, IAA, or GA 3 , and there were no changes in response to temperature and fertilizer treatment. Unlike gynoecy, which is responsive to some external factors, PS is unresponsive. The results suggest that the use of PS in cucumber F 1 hybrid seed production is not practical. Chemical names used: indole acetic acid (IAA), gibberellin (GA 3 ).


Highly accurate time synchronization plays a crucial role to guarantee the normal operation of protective relay in smart substation.The application of transparent clock in IEEE 1588 v2 may further enhance the precision of time synchronization system in smart substation.The basic principle of transparent clock based on IEEE 1588 v2 is analyzed.Peer-to-peer(P2P) transparent clock and end-to-end(E2E) transparent clock are compared and tested in three aspects of master clock load,adaptive response to network topology changing and time synchronization precision.The test result shows that both transparent clocks can meet the precision requirement of time synchronization in smart substation.In conclusion,P2P transparent clock is recommended in smart substation since its overall performance is better than that of E2E transparent clock.


This article treats the sociolinguistic factors, which play a role in determining agreement variation in Omani Arabic. Though the prescriptive rules of Standard Arabic are found to have an influence, this is by no means the only factor at play, and the type of variation observed in the data is (also) motivated by language-internal dynamics. The influence of more prestigious spoken varieties is also found to have a role in determining agreement. In the concluding paragraph, some insight are offered on how these facts could help reconstructing the historical development of agreement patterns in Arabic.


Patchouli propagates only through vegetative because patchouli has no flowers, so generative propagation is not possible. Traditionally patchouli plants are propagated by using stem cuttings. Alternative methods for vegetative propagation of superior, healthy, and relatively short seedlings can be done through tissue culture techniques, which can reproduce clones with identical genetic in a short time. The success of propagation in vitro is determined by many factors, including growth regulators used. Growth regulators which are often used in tissue culture to initiate callus and increase the production of secondary metabolites (organogenesis) are auxins and cytokinins. The purpose of this study was to determine the best concentration of 2,4-D and BAP in the formation of patchouli callus in vitro. Research methods arranged in a completely randomized design and ex-plants derived from local patchouli plants namely Situak. The results showed that in many concentrations of 2,4 D and BAP to callus induction. Callus formed from giving concentrations in combination without 2,4 D and 1,0 mg/l BAP, concentrations of 1,0 mg/l 2,4-D and 1,0 mg/l BAP, concentrations of 1,5 mg/l 2,4-D and 1,0 mg/l BAP, and concentrations of 2,0 mg/l 2,4-D and 1,0 mg/l BAP.


Headache is a disabling condition causing individual impaired quality of life in adults and in children. Positive correlation between obesity and primary pediatric headaches is mostly true for migraine. Also eating habits, influence headaches. There is paucity of information on cardiovascular risk factors for headache in children, although a relationship between migraine and cardiovascular diseases has been reported in adulthood. 238 children (127 females) aged 6 to 10 years from primary schools were included in the study. A questionnaire on life habits, Body Mass Index (BMI), PedMIDAS score, pain scale intensity score and cardiovascular investigation were performed in all. The two-step cluster analysis identified three groups of children based on PedMIDAS scores: first group "absent pain", the second  "sporadic, low-impact, mild pain", the third as "non sporadic, moderate-impact, severe pain". Only sex, BMI, gestational  hypertension, and fish eating could discriminate among the three headache clusters. Our study suggest that adopting a healthy lifestyle before 10 years of age could be a good way to prevent a highly probable headache worsening at later ages.


Our research has focused on the development of mathematical programming tools to support infrastructure decision-making for reverse production systems. In this paper we present a robust framework for strategic decision-making in recycling systems when uncertainty greatly affects the outcomes of the decisions. Parametric uncertainty is described by ranges on costs, prices and volumes. The maximum regret is defined as the deviation of the profit of the chosen design from the optimal profit of the best design under a particular realization of the parameters. The robust metric used is to minimize the maximum regret. This problem structure extends our earlier work on robust reverse production system design where a finite set of scenarios was proposed to capture the uncertainty. We develop a solution methodology using an upper and lower-bounding scheme on the robust objective function. The application of the approach is illustrated using a case study from the electronics industry.


: The Canadian Department of National Defence has developed an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) capable of performing long-range missions in ice-covered waters. Autonomous operations in such an extreme environment, where a priori knowledge of the bathymetry is frequently limited, requires a navigation system that is precise, reliable, and repeatable. A hybrid navigation system has been developed that provides precise navigation by combining data from two different types of sensors—inertial and acoustic. This navigation system has been integrated into a large AUV, and for mission lengths of up to 200 km has demonstrated horizontal navigational accuracies of better than 0.05 percent of distance traveled. This paper describes the AUV and its mission, the specific navigation sensors selected, and how the overall navigation solution is mechanized. It also describes the behavior of the navigation system during field experiments and during a successful long-range under-ice mission in the High Arctic.


Experts suggest that an expert system helps trainees and new employees to address problems in extrusion lines more reliably. This leads to a significant saving in time and materials, despite their lack of experience and expertise. Knowledge of experts can be made available to these employees at any time by using such an expert system. These systems can also help inexperienced trainees and employees to become experts in the area of polymer processing. The challenge of error analysis can be addressed without the services of qualified professionals due to the availability of the expert system. Analysis of pipe-extrusion has become easier by the fact that it is possible to establish a link with the touch panel through the company network or modem-based remote diagnostics through the expert system.


The first step in video processing is temporal segmentation, i.e. shot boundary detection. Camera shot transitions can be either abrupt (e.g. cut) or gradual (e.g. fades, dissolves, wipes).Video segmentation is essential for video structure analysis and content based video management. One of the most challenging domains for shot boundary detection is sports video. Here we present a classification of shot boundary detection algorithms, including those that deal with gradual shot transitions. A current research topic on video includes video abstraction or summarization, video classification, video annotation and content based video retrieval.


In flow photochemical addition of propellane to diacetyl allowed construction of the bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane (BCP) core in a 1 kg scale within 1 day. Haloform reaction of the formed diketone in batch afforded bicyclo[1.1.1]pentane-1,3-dicarboxylic acid in a multigram amount. Representative gram scale transformations of the diacid were also performed to obtain various BCP-containing building blocks—alcohols, acids, amines, trifluoroborates, amino acids, etc.—for medicinal chemistry.


We investigated the stability of the bottom boundary layer (BBL) beneath periodic internal solitary waves (ISWs) of depression over a flat bottom through two-dimensional direct numerical simulations. We explored the effects of variation in wave Reynolds number $Re_{ISW}$ and wave period on the nature of the instability, and energy production in the separated BBL. The instability characteristics and rate of vortex shedding of the BBL were strongly dependent on $Re_{ISW}$. The BBL was laminar and convectively unstable at $Re_{ISW}$ 90 and 300, respectively. At $Re_{ISW}=300$, the convective wave packet was periodically amplified by each successive ISW, until vortex-shedding occurred. This implies noise-amplification behavior and suggests that the discrepancies in the critical $Re_{ISW}$, for vortex shedding between lab and different numerical simulations, are due to differences in background seed noise. Instability energy decreased under the front shoulder of the ISW, analogous to flow relaminarization under a favourable pressure gradient. At larger $Re_{ISW}=900$, the BBL was initially convectively unstable, and then the instability tracked with the ISW, characteristic of global instability, regardless of the ISW periodicity. The simulated initial convective instability at both $Re_{ISW}$ 300 and 900 is in agreement with local linear stability analysis which predicts that the instability group speed is always lower than the ISW celerity. Increased free-stream perturbations and larger $Re_{ISW}$ shift the location of vortex shedding (and enhanced bed shear stress) closer to the ISW trough, thereby potentially changing the location of maximum sediment resuspension from the ISW, in agreement with field observations at higher $Re_{ISW}$.


This paper aims to provide technical details of humanoid robot developments from the 1970s to the present day and to consider their potential applications and prospects.,Following an introduction, this first identifies the motivations for developing humanoid robots. It then provides a technical review of developments conducted between the 1970s and the late 2010s. The most recent developments and their applications are then discussed and the paper concludes with a brief consideration of future prospects.,Since the first efforts to develop humanoid robots in Japan, the 1970s, the technology has attracted global interest and progress has been dramatic. Enabled by developments in computing, imaging, sensing, power sources, actuators and other technologies, today's humanoid robots are agile, stable and capable of all manner of human-like capabilities such as running, climbing stairs and carrying heavy loads. Real-world uses in fields such as construction, assembly, disaster response and home assistance are expected to emerge in the near future as a result of application-specific developments.,This illustrates the technological evolution of humanoid robots from their inception in the 1970s to the present day.


The board's role in quality oversight is growing more important every day, not only because it's the right thing to do, but also because pay for performance and increasing demands for transparency are requiring more accountability.


injected method for starter free starting a multi-cylinder direct-injection internal combustion engine (1), particularly of a motor vehicle, wherein the position of a piston (2) in a cylinder (3) of the internal combustion engine (1) is determined and fuel into a combustion chamber (4) of that cylinder (3) and that in the further course of the start operation still in the same working cycle of the internal combustion engine (1) is ignited immediately, the piston of which is in a working phase, whereby the start operation is initiated, characterized in that located immediately after the ignition of the in the working phase cylinder (3) of fuel injected fuel into a combustion chamber (4) of another cylinder (3) is injected, the piston (2) is in an intake phase, the or each inlet valve (5) is further disposed in the suction cylinder (3) is closed before the ignition of the fuel and the injected fuel ebe nIf is still ignited in the same working cycle.


Violence and aggression in inpatient units constitute a major workplace hazard for mental health nurses, who must take account of many considerations when dealing with potentially aggressive or violent patients. This paper discusses some of the problems that arise in connection with violence and aggression in mental health facilities, including incidence and prevalence, risk management processes, under-reporting, causes of aggression, the link between aggression and mental illness, difficulties in defining and categorising aggressive incidents, and the effect of such behaviour on the therapeutic relationship. Research into the effectiveness of aggression minimisation programs is in its infancy and it is difficult to draw conclusions about the effectiveness of relevant training systems. After a review of various national and international training courses, a description is given of methods of aggression minimisation conducted in The Hunter New England Health Service, NSW, Australia. The aims of this paper are to explore aspects of violence and aggression in mental health inpatient units and to evaluate programs designed to prevent and manage violence and aggression in these settings.


(f) titis is a very common problem in dogs, seen less frequently in cats. It is most familiar in certain breeds, which are well recognised as being predisposed to ear disease (e.g. spaniels, Labradors, retrievers, German shepherds, etc.). Clinical signs include aural itching, pain, head shaking and the presence of a visible discharge. The animal's hearing may also be impaired if there is damage of the tympanic membrane and ossicles. In the majority of cases, visible discharge is due to a bacterial or yeast infection. Bacterial infections tend to cause a yellow or green purulent discharge, whereas yeast infections produce a greasy, brownish, waxy discharge. As is common with other types of skin infection, ear infections usually occur as a result of an underlying cause. The most important ones include allergy, parasites, fungal infection, endocrine disease, immunological disease and foreign bodies. These conditions can, in some cases, affect the animal's whole body or just the ears. When investigating otitis, an otoscopic examination must be performed to check the condition of the vertical and horizontal ear canals and look at the appearance and integrity of the tympanic membrane. If the condition is unilateral, examination should take place in the "healthy" ear first (to prevent spread of infection from one ear to the other). In some cases, the ear canal may be too swollen and painful to allow for a complete aural examination. If this is the case, the other


Urgent management of transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke within 24 hours of symptom onset can reduce the 3-month risk of stroke by ≤80%.1,2 This risk had been previously estimated at 10% to 12% or more based on data from the 1990s and early 2000s,3,4 but more recent data suggest that this risk may now be <3%.1,2,5 Guidelines recommend urgent assessment and treatment, including risk factor control, carotid endarterectomy or stenting, and immediate oral anticoagulation for documented atrial fibrillation or aspirin therapy for most other cases.6–9 Because the risk of recurrent stroke is highest in the first few days,3,4 urgent TIA clinics, such as those reported in the SOS-TIA (SOS-Transient Ischemic Attack) or EXPRESS studies (Early Use of Existing Preventive Strategies for Stroke),1,2 have used dual antiplatelet therapy in the acute setting based on meta-analyses of previous trials. In SOS-TIA,1 the referring physician was instructed by telephone to immediately initiate a 300 mg loading dose of aspirin even before the initial evaluation or hospital admission and before any brain imaging. Whether this immediate empirical antiplatelet regimen partly explains the low recurrence rates observed in the SOS-TIA and EXPRESS studies is not clear because no randomized trial has yet validated this approach for TIA and minor ischemic stroke.

In a recent issue of The Lancet , Rothwell et al10 report the results of a new meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials of aspirin versus control for TIA or minor stroke that was focused on the time course of benefit from aspirin therapy. While the overall benefits of aspirin for secondary stroke prevention are well-established, …


Relevance. Cucumber is very popular and in demand in households of the population (personal subsidiary farms), as evidenced by the data on the acreage occupied under this crop in the territory of the Russian Federation (37.4 thousand hectares).Methodology. This article presents the results of evaluating the combinational ability of eight parthenocarpic inbreeding lines and testing thirteen new hybrid combinations obtained on the basis of the studied lines under the conditions of spring-summer turnover in a polycarbonate unheated greenhouse in the Moscow region in comparison with the hybrids F1 SV 4097 CV (Seminis, the Netherlands) and F1 Piligrim (Agrofirma Poisk LLC, Russia).The purpose of the scientific work is to develop productive and high-yielding heterotic cucumber hybrids with a complex of economically useful traits for cultivation in unheated greenhouses. Testing and introduction of competitive and technologically advanced hybrids into commercial vegetable production is one of the important stages of scientific research in the field of breeding. The research was carried out in ARRIVG – a branch of FSBSI "Federal Scientific Vegeculture Center" in the conditions of polycarbonate unheated ground greenhouses during 2020-2021 (Moscow region, Ramensky district).Results. As a result of evaluation of the combinational ability of parthenocarpic inbreeding lines, it was found that inbreeding lines L.21 (2.4 kg/m2 ), L.415 (0.8 kg/m2 ), L.993 (0.4 kg/m2 ), L.1010 (0.1 kg/m2 ) should be used during hybridization as a paternal component for obtaining early-ripening parthenocarpic cucumber hybrids. To develop more productive and high-yielding parthenocarpic cucumber hybrids, inbreeding lines L.21, L.415, L.1008 should be used. As a result of the research work, four hybrid combinations (L.993×L.415, L.1010×L.21, L.993×L.21, L.993×L.1008) were identified for high yield and productivity in protected soil conditions, which exceeded the standards of SV 4097 CV F1 and Piligrim F1.


The traditional way of encoding knowledge for an expert system is to use the Horn clause. This allows easy implementation of goal-oriented search procedures, but requires that the data base must be complete and consistent. An alternative scheme is to use cause based systems, where an identified cause can lead to one or more effects. With a knowledge base encoded in this way, it is possible to use a learning procedure to determine which effects are related to which cause. In this way rules can be continually inferred from the input data stream. The method has been sucessfully tried on two systems with dynamic properties. These are a lift scheduler and a system for discovering patterns of digits which are randomly embedded in noise.


The purpose of this study was to determine whether analyses based on tours rather than trips could be used to characterise household travel patterns successfully for use in synthetic travel data simulation. This study used the 2001 US National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) Day Trip file to analyse household travel and to determine whether tours could be derived intelligently from the available data. The 2001 NHTS data is the most recent national travel survey dataset from the U.S. and is a very large data set (containing 642,292 trips). The size of the data set provides a unique challenge and opportunity to examine and refine trip-to-tour conversion procedures on a large scale. This paper outlines the operational and procedural steps involved in cleaning the data set and formulating strategies for categorising the trips into tours. Some basic statistical analyses of the tour data are presented, and a summary of important considerations when dealing with tour-based data are suggested. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E214666.


The first commercial demonstration of six-phase transmission, the Goudey-Oakdale three-phase/six-phase project, used two delta wye-grounded three-phase transformers to realize the required phase/voltage conversion. This paper proposes the usage of autotransformers for phase/voltage conversion for the actual three-phase/six-phase systems to be built in the future. The design considerations of the three-phase/six-phase conversion autotransformers are described. Topology-based, nonlinear, core-type conversion autotransformer EMTP models are developed. The behavior of the conversion autotransformers in a practical three-phase/six-phase system is simulated. These include transformer energization, short circuits, voltage regulation, open conductor, and ferroresonance. The simulation results show that the autotransformer is a viable choice for the conversion transformer. Since the cost ratio of the proposed conversion autotransformers with respect to the three-winding conversion transformers is approximately 64%, the new design is superior economically to other transformer designs, and will help push the HPO technology.


On the Moon, Mars, or any location beyond Earth, where even the oxygen you breathe is made in a manufacturing process controlled by someone else, can you be free? Interplanetary Liberty: Building Free Societies in the Cosmos explores the conditions for freedom beyond Earth, proposing that space is especially prone to tyrannous coercive government. Rather than just accept this outcome, the book explores how political and economic arrangements, as well as facets of the legal system, science, engineering, art, and education in extraterrestrial settlements can be developed to encourage the emergence and persistence of free government in the cosmos. These efforts will maximise the chances of liberty taking hold beyond Earth, but they may be essential in the longer-term survival and development of human freedom anywhere in the cosmos, including Earth.


Resistance Random Access Memory (ReRAM) is often made in the sandwiched structure where a transition metal oxide (TMO) film with polycrystalline structure is placed between the upper and the lower electrodes. Although whether resistance switching effect occurs in grains or in the grain boundary is key issue which decides the downsizing limit of memory cells, it has not been clarified yet. We prepared NiO/Pt structure using the DC sputtering method, and investigated the property of resistance change effect in the local area using conducting atomic force microscope. As a result, it was clarified that the resistance change occurred not in the NiO grain but in the NiO grain boundary. Therefore, it was suggested that the limitation of downsizing is decided according to the grain diameter.


"Biblical faith does not rest on the success or failure of the world on human terms, which is to say, Christians are called at once to affirm the the world with every fiber of their being, while being aware that there is another world which is perfect. I am even prepared to argue, if I must, that such a paradoxical posture is essential to a truly secular style of life. Anyone who knows the secular world will not be bemused by its romantic frontiers. Such frontiers may exist; then again they may not. Much churchly frustration today derives from the romantic notion that the grass is greener on the other side. … The church must neither reject nor idolize secular society … her fundamental task is to recover her own integrity."


A Background: a brief history of retirement Since ancient times, there has always been a signifi cant percentage of the population that lived into their 50s, 60s and 70s. In the Roman Empire, for example, some 6 or 8 per cent of the population was over the age of 60 (Dilley 2004). Of course, in ancient times, most people worked as long as they could. There was no organized system of retirement. Instead, property ownership typically stayed with your parents until they died, and most ancient societies placed a high value on honoring and supporting one's parents. Just as the ancients looked to their families for support in old age, today Americans look to institutions: employer-sponsored pension plans and government-sponsored Social Security. With the advent of the industrial revolution and urbanization, production shifted from the household level to larger and more effi cient enterprises (Munnell and Sass 2006). At the same time, life expectancies increased dramatically.1 An increasing number of workers lived into old age but were no longer valuable as industrial workers. In response, large employers and national governments created retirement programs, which defer income from working years to retirement years. The earliest programs were set up by large governments, followed by railroads and public utilities, large manufacturers, and eventually the service sector. In the United States, for example, early pensions included military and civil service systems, and the American Express Company established the fi rst formal private pension plan in 1875 (Greenough and King 1976). By 1920, many major railroads, utilities, banks, mining and manufacturing companies had established pensions, and in 1935 the United States established its Social Security program.2


Abstract— In rings of rat aorta precontracted with phenylephrine (10 μm) or noradrenaline (10 μm), addition of carbachol (10 μm) produced an endothelium‐dependent relaxation. However, regardless of the concentration of agonist tested, both the intensity and duration of the relaxation were significantly less when noradrenaline, rather than phenylephrine, was used as the precontracting agent. The different responses observed do not appear to be related to destruction of endothelium‐derived relaxing factor by autoxidation of noradrenaline since neither EDTA (30 μm) nor superoxide dismutase (30 units mL−1) improved the relaxation to carbachol. In addition, in endothelium‐free rings, the noradrenaline (1 μm)‐induced contraction was less sensitive than the phenylephrine (1 μm)‐induced contraction to sodium nitroprusside (0·1 μm) or to 8‐Br‐cGMP (300 μm). With phenylephrine‐, but not noradrenaline‐, induced contraction, the relaxation triggered by carbachol was significantly reduced by pretreatment of the aortic rings with chloroethylclonidine (50 μm), which inactivates a subpopulation of α1‐adrenoceptors. Thus, the results confirm that both alkylation sensitive and resistant α1‐adrenoceptors exist in rat aorta and indicate that EDRF may discriminate between these two α1‐adrenoceptor subtypes which are differently affected by phenylephrine and noradrenaline.


The invention discloses a data storage method and device. The data storage method relates to index data and data to be queried, the data to be queried correspond to the index data which are image data, and the index data, the data to be queried and the corresponding relation between the index data and the data to be queried are stored. The invention further discloses a data query method and device. The data query method includes the steps that query data are acquired; the content displayed by the query data and the content displayed by the index data are compared, if the content displayed by the query data is matched with the content displayed by the index data after being compared, the data to be queried which correspond to the index data are read, and the index data and the query data are image data. By the adoption of the technical scheme, the image data are used as the basis of the index, and therefore users can conveniently and quickly query the data and accurately query the correlated data according to the image data.


BACKGROUND
Periodontitis is suggested to be associated with a risk of cardiovascular events. Using periodontal treatment recorded in Swedish national registries as a surrogate marker, we aimed to investigate whether periodontitis was associated with a first myocardial infarction.

METHODS
This nationwide case-control study, with data from national registries, involved 51,880 individuals with a first myocardial infarction in 2011-2013 (index date) and 246,978 controls matched 5:1 for age, gender, and geographic area. Periodontal treatment in the 3 years preceding the index date was classified as (i) no dental treatment, (ii) no periodontal treatment, (iii) one or more supragingival curettages, or (iv) one or more treatments with scaling/root planing and/or periodontal surgery. Annual frequencies of treatment with scaling/root planing and/or periodontal surgery were also calculated. In all analyses, conditional logistic regression analyses estimated ORs for myocardial infarction with 95% CIs, adjusted for matched variables, income, education, and diabetes.

RESULTS
Although fewer cases than controls received treatment with scaling/root planing and/or periodontal surgery (19.2% vs. 19.8%, P < 0.001), annual frequencies for cases were higher. We found no association of scaling/root planing and/or periodontal surgery with a first myocardial infarction (OR = 1.02; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.05). We did observe a non-significant trend, however, between risk of a first myocardial infarction and a high frequency of scaling/root planing and/or periodontal surgery (OR 1.14; 95% CI: 1.00, 1.29).

CONCLUSION
In the contemporary Swedish nationwide setting, no association between a first myocardial infarction and periodontitis, assessed as periodontal treatment, was found. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The key to re-establish classroom teaching is to transform teaching ideas,so the transition of teaching ideas is believed to be a necessary step in efficient cooperative learning.Discussed in the paper are:the idea of teaching objectives,the idea of teaching content,the idea of teaching procedure,the idea of teaching form and the idea of teaching evaluation.


In this paper, the method for the application of reliability analysis approach to the soil-nailed slope stability calculation has been discussed. Based on limit equilibrium method, an equation for the structure in limit state is deduced and an analysis of the related parameters on soil-nailed slope is made. Then the authors point out that the Fiessler method is a effective and rational method to calculate the reliability index. In the end of paper, some influences caused by the variation of the parameters on soil-nailed slope are discussed.


[Purpose]The purpose of this study is to analyze whether higher customer satisfaction and loyalty have an effect on insurance company performance. And the purpose of this study is to examine the moderating effect of FC, which is not a direct relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty and corporate performance, to better regulate these two relationships. [Methodology]In this study, a survey was conducted on general citizens who had insurance purchase experience. As for the research method, reliability analysis and validity analysis were performed as a research methodology, and correlation and regression analysis were performed. [Findings]The results of this study are as follows. First, it was verified that the higher the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty, which are the basic hypotheses, the higher the performance of the insurance company. Second, it was verified that the characteristics of customer orientation, communication, and service orientation had a moderating effect on the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty and insurance company performance in the analysis that divided the moderating role of FC, a major moderating variable, into three categories. [Implications]Through this study, there is an academic contribution in that it was able to empirically confirm that an FC plays an important role in regulating customers and companies. In addition, the practical implication of this study is that by recognizing the importance of the role of an FC and actively utilizing it, policyholders obtain more insurance information from the FC when purchasing insurance, and FC provide better service to customers when selling insurance is that it can create an opportunity to execute.


II PREFACE HI COLLABORATION IN MULTI-AGENCY TEAMS: A CASE STUDY IN CHILD PROTECTION 1 1. ORIENTATION AND STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM 1 2. THEORETICAL STATEMENT 2 3. METHODS OF INVESTIGATION 3 3.1 DESIGN 3 3.2 PARTICIPANTS 3 3.3 DATA COLLECTION 3 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 3 4. ETHICAL ASPECTS 3 5. CASE DESCRIPTION 3 6. FINDINGS 9 6.1 CHALLENGES FACING TEAM MEMBERS IN MULTI-AGENCY WORKING 9 6.1.1 Clarity on roles and responsibilities 9 6.1.2 Poor Communication 10 6.1.3 How to manage confidentiality 12 6.1.4 How to deal with disagreements 13 6.2 THE MAIN IMPACT THESE CHALLENGES HAVE ON THE PROFESSIONALS AND SERVICES 14 6.3 POSITIVES IN MULTI-AGENCY TEAMWORK 14 6.4 IMPROVING MULTI-AGENCY COLLABORATION AND TEAMWORK 15 6.4.1 Training and role clarification 15 6.4.2 Joint assessments of clients needs 15 6.4.3 Accessibility of team members 16 7. DISCUSSION 16 8. CONCLUSION 19 9. RECOMMENDATIONS 19 REFERENCES 20 ADDENDUM 1: NOTES FOR CONTRD3UTORS TO THE SOCIAL WORK PRACTITIONERRESEARCHER 23 ADDENDUM 2: INTERVIEW SCHEDULE 27


conception that characterize various regions and schools. He consults Indian literature in English versions made by translators who had no especial interest in language about lite. For these reasons, the treatment of lite in this book, despite its size, is one-dimensional and thin, as if the author had only a limited interest in the subject. Kinsley explains, as a matter of fact, that he entered into his work not for its own sake but as a participant in a recent Western religious controversy who was moved by distaste for the lugubrious puritanism in Western religion that condemns erotic feeling and represses spontaneity in behavior. He turned to other traditions, and to the Krsna cult in particular, for models of liberated action for the cure of the stifling restrictive traditions of the West. We can understand, then, how the author can be content with studies that are theologically superficial: having shown that Hindus can in good faith idealize divine and human behavior of surprising moral and emotional impulsiveness, he has accomplished his end. More serious than this deficiency of treatment, a second fault of actual distortion follows from the author's preoccupation with an external question. He is lured into finding more support for the naturalism of the hippie age than the Krsna cult actually provides. In its concept of lite, only the marginal half-tantric Sahajiya cult of Bengal, as far as I know, sanctifies the carnal life theologically. Kinsley reads that Sahajiya divinization of the natural into the whole of Bengal Vaisnavism, and uses that misconceived Bengal lite doctrine as a key, in turn, to the thinking of all Krsna-worshippers. The major Krsnaite sects have had their periods of corruption in practice, but their theologians have never faltered in their insistence that their erotic myths must be applied only as metaphor to human morality and that they demand the worshipper's subordination and grant no license for autonomous quests for pleasure. The Krsnaite pleasure in the stories of Krsna's revels does not demonstrate the believers' emancipation from moral inhibitions. To the extent that the contemplations are erotic, they are probably best understood as the sublimating fantasies of a straight-laced people. The shortcomings just mentioned are characteristic of comparative studies in religion that are attempted too soon. The use of Asian materials to investigate alternative possibilities in religion is desirable, but such comparisons go astray when not preceded by intense studies conducted by the standards of objective Oriental scholarship.


We consider the speed control of a spark ignition engine with an open torque converter during vehicle deceleration. In these conditions, the torque transmitted from the engine to the wheels through the torque converter, and the corresponding torque load on the engine, is related to the torque converter speed ratio, the ratio between the turbine speed and the engine/impeller speed. The engine speed controller needs to effectively coordinate airflow and spark timing and to enforce constraints including engine stall avoidance, misfire avoidance, and desired actuator operating ranges. We formulate a model of the relevant powertrain dynamics, and propose a parametrization that removes a multiplicative nonlinearity, hence enabling the application of linear quadratic model predictive control (MPC). The MPC controller is synthesized as a piecewise affine state feedback and evaluated in simulations and in an experimental vehicle showing good performance in reference tracking and settling time, which translates in smooth and more consistent deceleration profiles and potential for fuel economy improvements.


INTRODUCTION: Vitiligo is an acquired autoimmune skin disease clinically manifested by foci of depigmentation due to the death of epidermal melanocytes. Although vitiligo most often runs in isolation, being limited to a pathological process in skin, this disease can lead to the development of a number of comorbid disorders. Alopecia areata also being an autoimmune disorder of skin appendages, is one of the most common comorbid disorders in vitiligo, manifesting along with the main disease, against the background main disease, or as the main disease itself. In the article, a clinical case of association of vitiligo and alopecia areata is presented, similarities and differences in their pathogenesis are discussed, and other comorbid disorders are described. CONCLUSION: Determination and identification of comorbid disorders with the underlying chronic dermatosis is an important task aiming to prevent the development of probable autoimmune and autoinflammatory disorders. Despite the fact that vitiligo usually runs without systemic manifestations, identification and prevention of a comorbid pathology of the dermatosis should not be ignored by clinicians of different profiles.


As the Latino community in the United States grows and matures, the inevitable question continues to be asked: who is the leader of this community of 50 million? "Leadership" in the Latino community has been hotly debated for many years. Many decry the absence of the "great Brown hope," a single leader who can unite the community of 50 million Latinos--however impossible such a task may be. Many compare this imagined person and his or her ability to lead to the likes of such individuals as the late Cesar Chavez and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The 2010 U.S. Census data, of which the first results were released in December 2010 with subsequent, more detailed data trickling out in early 2011, indicates that Latinos are undeniably important to the future of the United States. 2011 is a truly pivotal year for the U.S. Latino community. Replete with the diversity of national origin, generation, ideology, and geography, Latinos are already the nation's second-largest population group. In addition to the plurality in New Mexico, the 2010 Census shows that Latinos have become the second-largest population group in California, Texas, New York, Florida, and Illinois. The story of the 2010 Census, however, will be the rise of the Latino South. While the 2000 Census confirmed the movement of Latinos from America's urban core to the suburbs, the 2010 Census is revealing dramatic Latino population increases in Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Arkansas. Latinos have become a key population group in every state, and the fastest and most significant population increase has been in America's Deep South. A question in a 2010 Pew Hispanic Center poll asked Latinos to identify a single Latino leader. When only single-digit percentages of Latinos could name even one person considered a national Latino leader, the debate was further fueled. U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor was most frequently named by poll respondents even though she is not an elected leader and has no formal responsibility to lead any group. That in itself is telling about Latinos' attitudes about leadership. Justice Sotomayor was singled out because of her achievement of becoming the first Latina appointed to the nation's highest court, not because she has led a movement, a constituency, or a membership organization. So according to the Pew Hispanic Center report, when asked, Latinos name no single national leader. So what? Leadership in the Latino community is not manifested by the anointment of a single individual as the spokesperson for the rapidly growing population of 50 million. It is unreasonable and impractical to expect that the profound diversity that exists among Latinos, which includes national origin differences, U.S. regional differences, and language, generational, and racial differences, would have a single spokesperson. Just as we embrace the diversity of the Latino community, so must we embrace the diversity of Latino leadership in all its manifestations. I have had the privilege of serving as the executive director of one of the nation's most important Latino leadership organizations for the past sixteen years. During this time, I have come to know hundreds of Latino leaders in communities large and small who are making heroic efforts to advance the interests of their constituents. Their names will rarely become familiar to households across the country because the individuals are not media personalities nor officials in prominent public office; in other words, they are not the kind who would be recorded by national surveys such as that of the Pew Hispanic Center. Rather, these leaders are known and supported by local constituents--both Latino immigrant and native-born--who are enduring unprecedented attacks, largely as backlash to such a growing presence. Among the most powerful new leaders are those whose voices are resonating from within our immigrant Latino communities, including from many of the children. …


Domain-specific systems on chip (DSSoCs) aim to narrow the gap between general-purpose processors and application-specific designs. CPU clusters enable programmability, whereas hardware accelerators tailored to the target domain minimize task execution times and power consumption. Traditional operating system (OS) schedulers can diminish the potential of DSSoCs, as their execution times can be orders of magnitude larger than the task execution time. To address this problem, we propose a dynamic adaptive scheduling (DAS) framework that combines the advantages of a fast, low-overhead scheduler and a sophisticated, high-performance scheduler with a larger overhead. We present a novel runtime classifier that chooses the better scheduler type as a function of the system workload, leading to improved system performance and energy-delay product (EDP). Experiments with five real-world streaming applications indicate that DAS consistently outperforms fast, low-overhead, and slow, sophisticated schedulers. DAS achieves a 1.29× speedup and a 45% lower EDP than the sophisticated scheduler under low data rates and a 1.28× speedup and a 37% lower EDP than the fast scheduler when the workload complexity increases. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the superior performance of the DAS framework also applies to hardware platforms, with up to a 48% and 52% reduction in the execution time and EDP, respectively.


Differential Evolution which is used in global optimization over continuous spaces. In general, the task is to optimize certain properties of a system by pertinently choosing the system parameters. Differential evolutions have been widely used to solve difficult constrained optimization problem. Differential evolution gives good results with unconstrained problem. In this project Differential evolution is used for constrained problem with constraints handling techniques. Penalty function is a most widely used constraints handling technique which is used in this project basically there are two kind of penalty function one is static penalty and other one is dynamic. Static penalty function is used here. Differential evolution with static penalty function is used here which gives great quality of solution. And in this project we compared the solution of Differential Evolution with Static penalty function and the evolutionary strategies with feasibility rules and stochastic ranking. Index terms Differential Evolution, Constraint Handling, Penalty Function, Static penalty function, Evolutionary Algorithm, Feasibility Rules, Stochastic Ranking ------------------------*-------------------------


Precious Metals Clay which is a mixture of a precious metal powder and organic binders was doveloped. Two types clays were made by the binders of the different compositions. One resembled a paper clay and others resembled a chewing gum. Sintering process was investigated to make a gold of 18 carat from the Precious Metals Clay contained a mixed powder of 75%Au-12.5%Ag-12.5%Cu. The results showed that the two steps sintering process involving oxidation and reduction was suitable to sinter it. The sintered precious metals had enough strength to use as an ornament or a jewelery, although the mechanical properties were lower than the cast materials. Hollow beads could be made from the Precious Metals Clay using the Core Clay which was made of cellulose.


PurposeThis study chooses to look at early-stage entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities from the perspective of university graduates. More specially, this study takes the stance of integrated role of structure and agency, examining how university graduate entrepreneurs recognize, review and activate their entrepreneurial opportunities, and what implications can be drawn in response to the integration of the in-building of the Greater Bay Area (GBA).Design/methodology/approachThis article is drawn upon 12 case studies of small-scaled (within five permanent personnel) graduate enterprises based in Shenzhen and Hong Kong. The fieldwork was conducted in 2019, including enterprise visits, analyzing the enterprises documents and interviewing the graduate entrepreneurs. Participants were accessed through snowball sampling, and personal privacy and ethnicity were guaranteed during data collection. All founders of the graduate enterprises are university graduates within five years, regardless of their last achieved academic degree.FindingsIn this study, the objectivity–opportunity is interpreted as external enablers that are recognized by graduate entrepreneurs. Due to lack of experience, graduate entrepreneurs are more dependent on existing external opportunities in the market, instead of creating new inspirations. However, lack of experience does not mean the subjectivity–agency is missing. Instead, the subjectivity–element of entrepreneurial opportunity identification is the continuous evaluation in activating the external enablers, which is interpreted as self-evaluated challenges during entrepreneurial opportunity identification. These challenges function as sources of hesitation, modification and termination during their decision-making, as well as reflections of the current graduate entrepreneurial environment.Originality/valueBy date, no sophisticated study in literature is found analyzing the entrepreneurial opportunity identification of university graduates. Additionally, regardless of the rising attention, no agreement is achieved in the literature on measurement of entrepreneurial opportunity, influential factors of entrepreneurial opportunity and sub-elements of the identification process. This implies that more research to be conducted in diverse contexts, sub-entrepreneurial groups and in-depth analysis of selected variables regarding entrepreneurial opportunity, as elaborated in this article.


Patients who are edentulous lacks the mechanoreception which is mainly provided by the periodontal ligament that attaches a tooth to the alveolar bone. Mechanoreceptors are primarily present witihin periodontal ligament which provides feedback of magnitude, direction and rate of occlusal load application for sensory perception. Tactile sensibility is seen to be developed in patients who are treated with osseointegrated dental implants. This phenomenon is named as osseoperception. The aim of this article is to evaluate the available literature to find osseoperception related to dental implants. © 2020 Published by Innovative Publication. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/)


The use of standards to guide assessment procedures is a significant tool for improving pre-service teachers' formation. Ingvarson's model of content standards, evidential standards, and performance standards is addressed and described. The use of portfolio to integrate these three sets of standards is proposed for young in-service teachers.


2 Abstract: Total quality management (TQM) has been widely and successfully implemented and is considered as a strategic and operational tool to gain competitive edge through increased performance and customer satisfaction. However, developing countries, especially Pakistan is still lagging behind to adopt TQM as a strategic tool to optimize its performance. Public health care in Pakistan is one of the most ignored sectors with regard to its service quality implementation and delivery. Pakistan, with its rapid growing population exceeding 179 million people today typically results in the highest levels of adverse effect on the overall system of the country. Given the fact that public hospital is one major source healthcare facilities provider to its citizens, however facilities provided by them are inadequate to meet the needs of its people. It affects the smooth functioning of public hospital. A questionnaire using fourteen TQM practices was designed to measure the impact of TQM practices on operational performance of public hospital in Pakistan. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach with AMOS 16.0 was employed to develop a TQM and performance model. A total of 239 questionnaire was included in the study and the results show that selected TQM practices has a significant positive impact on TQM implementation and also on operational performance in terms of increased flexibility, improved quality of services, reduction in service time and effective diagnostics.


I construct a continuous time model of strategic default and provide a numerical algorithm that solves it. I compare the results and computation times to standard discrete time models of sovereign debt. The method proposed here is faster than discrete time computation methods while obtaining similar quantitative results. The few differences between the models can all be attributed to a feature in continuous time that is absent in discrete time, costly deleveraging. I solve three variants of the model. The first includes short term maturity bonds only and a constant risk-free interest rate. The second allows for stochastic fluctuations in the risk-free rate. Finally, I extend the model to allow for long term maturity bonds.


The initial stage of GaN metalorganic chemical vapor deposition on high-temperature grown AlN (HT-AlN) was studied. A clear three-dimensional island growth was observed. At the first growth phase, the islands rapidly grew and coalesced forming a non-uniform defect distribution. For the second growth phase, deposition balanced with evaporation and a large-scale island/space structure was formed through the selective enlargement of the low defect parts. At the final growth phase, the spaces were filled by lateral growth and the surface was covered by alternately arranged defective and nearly defect-free domains, resulting in an average defect density of 2×108 cm-2. The selective processes at the second growth phase were found to play an important role in reducing the defects. The elevation of growth temperature utilizing high-stability HT-AlN is a promising technique for further reduction of the defects.


Reinforcement learning (RL) in the context of artificial agents is typically used to produce behavioral responses as a function of the reward obtained by interaction with the environment. When the problem consists of learning the shortest path to a goal, it is common to use reward functions yielding a fixed value after each decision, for example a positive value if the target location has been attained and a negative value at each intermediate step. However, this fixed strategy may be overly simplistic for agents to adapt to dynamic environments, in which resources may vary from time to time. By contrast, there is significant evidence that most living beings internally modulate reward value as a function of their context to expand their range of adaptivity. Inspired by the potential of this operation, we present a review of its underlying processes and we introduce a simplified formalization for artificial agents. The performance of this formalism is tested by monitoring the adaptation of an agent endowed with a model of motivated actor–critic, embedded with our formalization of value and constrained by physiological stability, to environments with different resource distribution. Our main result shows that the manner in which reward is internally processed as a function of the agent's motivational state, strongly influences adaptivity of the behavioral cycles generated and the agent's physiological stability.


The well-known algorithms of Kruskal, Prim, and Sollin for constructing a minimum spanning tree are surveyed in this paper. We discuss various data structures that can facilitate the search and update operations of these algorithms. In particular, certain novel data structures for carrying out the Kruskal and Prim algorithms are presented. Computational experience using four implementations of the Kruskal algorithm and two implementations of the Prim algorithm on a class of moderately large networks is also given. Overall, the best performance is attained by our new implementation of Prim's algorithm which incorporates an address calculation sort.


A preliminary report is given of a study in 10 normal subjects comparing the laterality of the P90 component of the PVEP as elicited by pattern reversal and pattern appearance stimuli delivered monocularly and binocularly in the central and peripheral portions of one-life field. P90 was shown often to appear maximally over the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulus field with pattern reversal stimuli in central targets viewed monocularly. Pattern appearance, peripheral targets and binocular stimulation provoked less consistently lateralized and sometimes differently configured responses. It is concluded that while all combinations provoked responses consistent with a dipole generator model similar to that proposed by Blumhardt et al. (1978), these different modes of stimulation cannot be considered to be equivalent.


Previous work in the Railway Technology Laboratory at Virginia Tech focused on better capturing the dynamics of the friction wedge, modeled as a 3D rigid body. The current study extends that work to a half-truck model treated as an application of multibody dynamics with unilateral contact to model the friction wedge interactions with the bolster and the sideframe. The half-truck model created in MATLAB is a 3D, dynamic, multibody dynamics model comprised of four rigid bodies: a bolster, two friction wedges, and a sideframe assembly. The model allows each wedge four degrees of freedom: vertical displacement, longitudinal


Piezoelectric Micro-Power Generator (PMPG) is a device used to convert mechanical vibration sources in the environment to an electric power via piezoelectric effects that could be used in specific applications. Experimental setup is conducted in this paper in order to test and study the PMPG capability of powering small device at low frequency applications with bridge rectification system. PMPG is tested with several acceleration magnitude of 0.2 g, 0.6 g, 0.9 g and 1.0 g .and the results shows inversely proportional relationship between the PMPG resonance frequency and its acceleration magnitude due to increasing the damping coefficients, Fabricated PMPG can deliver DC voltage to the final load of 2.21 V, DC current of 0.273µA and charge during one cycle equal to 8.27pC. Based on this results, the PMPG able to power large number of small electronic devices like cardiac pacemaker at low frequency and other medical implants. Keywords: Acceleration magnitude, resonance frequency, piezoelectric micro power generator, bridge full wave rectifier storage system.


Software reuse is a simple idez reduce the cost of software development by developing less new software. In practice, however, achieving software reuse on a large scale has been frustratingly difficult. Nevertheless, as the complexity and cost of software systems continues to rise, there has been growing interest in really trying to make large-scale reuse a reality. Interest in reuse has been particuhuly strong in both the Ada and object-oriented programming communities. This panel brings together key experts from these communities to discuss the issues, problems and potentials of reuse. This discussion will continue when the panel reconvenes at the Object-Oriented Programming Systems, Languages and Applications Conference (OOPSLA '93) in September.


Although alkylation of 4-t-butylcyclohexanone in tetrahydrofuran and diethyl ether using Me2Zn, Me2Cd, Me2Mg, MeMgX (where X = F, Cl, Br), and Me3Al produces predominantly the cis-alcohol (ca. 75% in tetrahydrofuran), alkylation using Me3Al in benzene at a Me3Al: ketone ratio of 2:1 or greater produces predominantly (ca. 90%) the trans-alcohol.


Female laboratory rats (Rattus norvegicus; Wistar, Alderley Park) were housed as singletons or groups of three in units of two cages. Units were divided by different types of barrier which allowed varying degrees of social contact across the barrier. Singletons were established either with another singleton on the other side of the barrier or with a group of three as neighbours. Single-housing among females had markedly less effect on time budgeting and pathophysiological measures than among males in a similar, earlier study. In particular, singletons showed a less marked increase in self-directed behaviours, particularly tail chasing, and a smaller reduction in undirected movement around the cage. The smaller reduction in mobility may reflect a greater tendency for singly housed females to attempt escape. Females generally showed much higher levels of escape-oriented behaviours than males and up to a threefold increase in such behaviours when housed singly. Differences in time budgeting and in the apparent significance of social separation between the sexes can be interpreted in terms of differences in socio-sexual strategy and potential mating opportunity, with singleton males responding to their cage as a territory, but singleton females seeking to re-establish social contact. Such an interpretation is consistent with the effects of barrier type on behaviour in singleton females, in which time spent in escape-oriented behaviours reflected the extent to which the barrier facilitated, or frustrated, contact with neighbours.


The invention provides a kind of whitening face cleaning cream, it is prepared from by the raw material including following mass percent:2wt%~7.5wt% setose abelmoschus seed oil;15wt%~45wt% aliphatic acid;5wt%~10wt% saponification caustic;0.5wt%~3wt% emulsifying agent;5wt%~30wt% O/W type surfactants;20wt%~25wt% polyalcohol;The water of surplus.The present invention oil and main active based on setose abelmoschus seed oil, natural safety have effects that good cleaning, moisturizing and tender white skin care.


Astronomy is one of the most ancient fields in the natural sciences, with the subfield of radio astronomy emerging relatively recently by comparison. Despite this, radio astronomy has quickly grown to rival the older subfields of astronomy through its reputation to unravel new and fantastic discoveries about the Universe that were otherwise hidden in amongst the other wavelength bands. As each subsequent discovery seems to unveil further questions, the scientific goals aimed at answering them drive increasingly more extreme technological requirements, resulting in very difficult engineering and manufacturing challenges. With large-scale radio telescope observatories such as the next generation Very Large Array on the horizon, a more advanced, efficient, and cost-effective method of fabricating the panels that compose the telescope reflector surface is needed. In this report, I will summarize the research I have been involved in with the Solar Lab at the Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory and the Large Optics Fabrication and Testing group at the James C. Wyant College of Optical Sciences, aimed at advancing radio and millimeter wave telescope panel fabrication. Specifically, I will discuss the development and testing of a novel adaptive freeform panel mold technology, and the investigation into a simple and effective panel surface treatment regime for solar scatter


The digitalisation of teaching is a reality to which we must adapt. In order to successfully design effective instructional design for learners, one must have competency in designing digital tools that are suitable for learners. This study reviewed papers published from 2005 to 2022 on interactive content particularly in teaching and learning context. A total of 32 research articles were reviewed to achieve the research purposes. The focus of this paper is on the type of interactive content applied in lessons, learners' and instructors' feedback on the use of interactive content, ways to design interactive content and its instructional design and finally the impacts of interactive content on higher education landscape. A discussion based on the results, followed by implications for future research directions and conclusions are also presented. This study is relevant as it provides in depth understanding on how interactive content can be better adapted in the


ABSTRACT A patient is described in whom adrenal insufficiency resulted from failure of adrenocorticotropin secretion. Thyroidal function was normal and gonadal function was only questionably impaired. At autopsy, the basophil cells of the anterior pituitary gland were markedly decreased in number. The hypothalamus was normal.


Chapter 10 describes the types of stress which occur in rock masses, the principles of stress measurement, "doorstopper" equipment, including the in situ technique for use with A "doorstopper", the triaxial strain cell, including expressions relating the measured strain relief to the tensor components and details of the in situ technique for use with a triaxial strain cell, and input data and checks, including checks on cores containing strain cells. Finally mention is made of practical difficulties which may occur in stress measurement, associated with the preparation of borehole and strain gauges, the glues, short circuits in the electrical wiring, overcoring, and accuracy of the equipment. /TRRL/


This volume brings together an international group of scholars to investigate the various manifestations of, and relationships between, curiosity and wonder from the 16th to the 18th century.


The motion of a spherical Brownian particle in an incompressible fluid bounded by an infinite plane wall is studied on the basis of the linearized Landau–Lifshitz equations for the fluctuating hydrodynamics. The asymptotic forms for large time t of the autocorrelation function Φdj(t) for the random force acting on the particle and the autocorrelation function Ψij(t) for its velocity are discussed for the case that the distance l between the wall and the particle is finite but much larger than the particle radius a. It is shown that Φii and Ψii fall off as t−3/2 for a2/ν≪t≪l2/ν, but for t≫l2/ν they fall as t−5/2 or t−7/2, accordingly, as the direction i is parallel or perpendicular to the wall, where ν is the kinematic shear viscosity of the fluid.


Abstract Background We aimed to summarize the available data regarding the levels of leptin and adiponectin and the key modulators of endometriosis compared to the controls. Methods The electronic databases such as MEDLINE, Embase, Scopus, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science were searched up to October 2020. The circulating and peritoneal levels of leptin and circulating levels of adiponectin were included. We used the Cochrane's Q test and the I 2 statistic in this study. These tests' weighted mean difference (WMD) and 95% CIs were considered as the summary effect size. They were then pooled using a random-effects model with the DerSimonian-Laird method. Results Twenty eligible articles (or 25 studies) with 2645 participants (1362 women with endometriosis and 1283 controls) were included. Pooled results showed that women with endometriosis had significantly higher leptin levels (WMD = 4.45 mg/ml, 95%CI = 2.42–6.49, p < .01) and leptin/BMI ratio (WMD = 0.32 mg/ml, 95%CI = 0.23–0.42, p < .001) than the controls, whereas adiponectin levels (WMD = −0.24 mg/ml, 95%CI = −4.27 to −0.01, p = .038) were significantly lower. The pooled results also indicated significantly lower leptin levels in women with advanced-stage endometriosis (WMD = −8.07 mg/ml, 95%CI = −14.22 to −1.92, p = .01) than in the early stage. It was found, however, that there were no significant differences in adiponectin levels of women with advanced-stage endometriosis (WMD = −0.16 mg/ml, 95%CI = −0.64 to 0.32, p = .512) and the early-stage ones. Conclusion We showed that leptin levels and leptin/BMI ratio were significantly higher in women with endometriosis than the controls. Nonetheless, patients with endometriosis had significantly lower levels of adiponectin than the controls.


Dynamic actin filament arrays localize to polygonal spaces between ER sheets and tubules and regulate lateral movement and transformations of sheets, that is, sheet persistence, and thereby the characteristic ER network architecture in cultured mammalian cells. Myosin 1c has a role in creating and/or maintaining ER-associated actin arrays.


Subhepatic appendicitis is a very rare presentation that has been rarely reported, accounting for 0.01% of acute appendicitis case. It is difficult to diagnose and prime to be aware of variants, manage such challenging case in emergency setting. We present a case of 29 years male patient with subhepatic perforated appendicitis and its sequelae-abscess and peritonitis who underwent an exploratory laparotomy and appendectomy. The initial diagnosis and surgical management of such patients is challenging due to very rare and atypical presentation in emergency setting. A high level of clinical suspicion, promote decision to operate and skillful surgical approach is discussed with briefly.


ABSTRACT This study investigated the phagocytic cell response in malnourished children after oral feeding of a fermented product containing clinically proven probiotic strains of Lactobacillus acidophilus, LBKV-3. The bacterial strain is used as a probiotic for humans to test its effect on immune cell activity in undernourished children below 8 years of age. To study the immune cell activity, implantation abilities of the culture in the GI tract of malnourished children, forty-five children of 6–7 and 7–8 years were randomly selected and distributed in three groups, each comprising 15 children in each of the age group. The test group of the children was receiving 100 g product volunteers/day of freshly prepared probiotic acidophilus milk containing 107 cfu/g of culture. The control group was receiving 100 g freshly prepared "dahi" containing 107 cfu/g of the LAB while the blank group of the volunteers was receiving thermal processed (85° C/30 min) buffalo milk containing 5% fat and 10% SNF at the rate of 100 ml/day/volunteer. Feeding trial was continued for 12 weeks. Blood samples were collected at W2, W4, W8, and W12. The blood serum samples were analyzed for monocytes, neutrophils, basophils, and lymphocytes by BC-3000 + Auto Hematology Analyzer. In conclusion, consumption of PAM increased the proportion of immune cells, including monocytes, neutrophils, basophils, and lymphocytes, as well as their phagocytic activity in all age groups but proportion was significant in the test group of 7–8 years. The effects were higher during W12 compared to W2, W4, and W8, which suggest regulation of the immune system.


Digital filter plays an important role in the digital signal processing, with a wide range of theoretical and practical application. The essential characteristic of the digital filter is that it can make the useful signal as much as possible all go through, while maximally suppress the useless signal. Due to the structure and function of digital filter, the classical filter design methods will suffer from some shortcomings: slow convergence and local minimums. To overcome the shortcomings in FIR filter design, a novel P systems-based method for optimal FIR filter design under the framework of P system is proposed by combining parallel property of P system, which is named as Tissue P Systems algorithm (TPS). In the proposed TPS model, instead of traditional design methods, a star tissue P system is designed as its computing framework, while the impulse response coefficients of the filter are regarded as the objects in the elementary membranes. Each object in cells expresses a group of filter coefficients to be optimized by using velocity-position model of PSO, and inherent communication mechanism is used to share the objects among different elementary membranes, so as to determine the optimal filter parameters. Low-pass filter (LP), high-pass filter (HP), band-pass filter (BP) and band-stop filter (BS) are employed to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. Five state-of-the-art design methods, which are Parks-McClellan (PM), real-coded GA (RGA), particle swarm optimization (PSO), differential evolution (DE) and opposition-based harmony search (OHS) are used to exhibit the advantages of the proposed framework. The comparison results demonstrate the proposed TPS model that obtains better performance regarding magnitude response, with minimum stopband ripple, and maximum stopband attenuation. Moreover, the simulation results also show that the proposed FIR filter can close the requirements of ideal filter to the maximum extent.


We study a problem raised by Abdenur et. al. [3] that asks,
for any chain transitive set $\Lambda$ of a generic diffeomorphism
$f$, whether the set $I(\Lambda)$ of indices of hyperbolic periodic
orbits that approach $\Lambda$ in the Hausdorff metric must be an
"interval", i.e., whether $\alpha\in I(\Lambda)$ and $\beta\in
I(\Lambda)$, $\alpha<\beta$, must imply $\gamma\in I(\Lambda)$ for
every $\alpha<\gamma<\beta$. We prove this is indeed the case if, in
addition, $f$ is $C^1$ away from homoclinic tangencies and if
$\Lambda$ is a minimally non-hyperbolic set.


The contents,accumulation and distribution of 5 nutrient elements (N,P,K,Ca,Mg) were studied in 3 plots of Chinese pine plantations in Qiaoshan forested region in Shaanxi Province.The results showed that the nutrient content in various orga ns was in the order of needlebranchrootbarkstem.In the 26 year plantati on ,the storage of N,P,K,Ca and Mg was 214.44,22.91,158.88,167.36 and 29.42kg·hm -2 .The total element accumulation was 498.98 kg·hm -2 in the tree laye r,3.32kg·hm -2 in the shrub layer,7.31kg·hm -2 in the herb layer and 8 3.40kg·hm -2 in dead soil covering layer.The enrichment ratios of N,P,K, Ca and Mg in Chinese pine plantation were 3.98,4.28,5 69,1.08 and 4.01.The net pr oduction of organic matter per ton needs a total five elements of 8.43~9.09kg· hm -2 ·yr -1 .The total nutrient elements accumulation in tree layer wa s 288.26~606.07kg·hm -2 ,of which stem accounted for 14.1~16.8%.


FIELD: physics. SUBSTANCE: claimed method comprises fitting of lens and two indicators on optical axis, one of said indicators making a transmission type. Image splitter filter composed of parallel-sided plate is fitted between said indicators. Light-diffusing marks are applied on second transmission indicator surface, on its second wavelength, at the lens front focal plane, to reflect the radiation from second wavelength to said splitter filter. The latter reflects radiation of second wavelength from second indicator and transmits radiation of first wavelength of first indicator towards objective lens. EFFECT: higher capacity and reliability of data output owing to combination of two channels of independent data Simplified design, decreased weight and overall dimensions. 3 dwg


Why is coproduction important? Coproduction is the "process of producing usable, or actionable science through collaboration between scientists and those who use science" (Meadow et al. 2016). Lack of coproduction with end users is arguably one of the reasons why much scientific information and resulting decision support systems are not very usable (Wall et al. 2016). Increasingly, public agencies and academic institutions are emphasizing the importance of coproduction of scientific knowledge and decision support systems in order to develop more engagement between the scientific community and key stakeholder groups. In particular, coproduction can be helpful in addressing complex social and ecological problems that have no simple answers and require engagement across multiple stakeholder groups to resolve. Coproduction has been embraced as a way for the scientific community to develop actionable scientific information that will assist end users in solving real-world problems. Coproduction is ultimately a negotiated and iterative engagement with stakeholders, which develops over time (Bartels et al. 2013, Dilling and Lemos 2011). This kind of engagement is increasingly necessary, particularly in the context of growing politicization of science and concerns about whose knowledge counts. Coproduction can be an effective way to build trust and coproduce knowledge systems that build on and integrate local and traditional knowledge. Employing coproduction strategies may enable the development of more relevant and useful information and decision support tools that address stakeholder challenges at relevant scales.


ABSTRACT This article deals with the reality and complexity of emergent translanguaging in foreign language classrooms. The influx of international learners of Chinese has resulted in linguistically diverse classrooms, posing huge challenges to the monolingual teaching approach that prevails in most Chinese language classrooms. This paper explores what students and teachers think and do about translanguaging practices in beginners' classes in China's universities. A questionnaire survey of 201 students showed that over half of the sample population was inclined to a multilingual form of instruction, where they could draw on their linguistic resources for meaning negotiation. Results from semi-structured interviews with teachers revealed ambivalent attitudes towards classroom language choice. While some teachers found it difficult to accommodate multilingualism, others embraced this idea and have developed a translanguaging pedagogy. Lastly, classroom observation demonstrated translanguaging as a co-constructed dialogic approach, initiated by both teachers and students to keep the class communicative within the Confucius learning culture. This paper ends by offering suggestions for foreign language teachers to renew their knowledge on language learning as well as develop transformative student–teacher relationships in order to facilitate more creative pedagogy in foreign language education.


The role of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase of procaryote to the genetic regulation of lipids synthesis was reported.A gene fragment(pepcA)containing the conservative sequence(Fa)of PEPC gene from filamentous cyanobacterium Anabaena sp.PCC 7120 was cloned and inserted between BamHI sites of the shuttle expression vector pRL-489 in forward or reversely orientation.The recombinants(pRL-Sen pepcA and pRL-Anti pepcA)were transferred into the host cells Escherichia coli DH5α.The results showed that the introduction of pepcA fragment hadn't obvious influence to the growth of transgenic E.coli.Compared to the wide cells,the enzyme activity of the transgenic E.coli of pRL-Anti pepcA reduced to 30.2%,the protein content of that was 23.6% lower than in wide cells,and the lipid content of that increased 46.9%.While the enzyme activity of the transgenic E.coli of pRL-Sen pepcA was 2.38 fold of wide cells,the protein content of that increased 14.5%,and the lipid content was lower 49.6% than in wide type cells;The content of C18 in transgenic E.coli increased obviously.The above results may offer a clue to produce biodiesel with procaryote.


Abstract Kochia [Bassia scoparia (L.) A. J. Scott] is one of the most troublesome weeds throughout the North American Great Plains. Herbicides such as glyphosate and dicamba have been used widely to control B. scoparia for decades. However, many B. scoparia populations have evolved resistance to these herbicides due to selection. Especially, dicamba-resistant B. scoparia populations are often also found to be glyphosate-resistant. The objective of this research was to determine whether these two herbicide resistances are linked in B. scoparia. Reciprocal crosses were performed between glyphosate- and dicamba-resistant (GDR) and glyphosate- and dicamba-susceptible (GDS) B. scoparia to produce F1 and F2 progeny. Two F1 and seven F2 progeny families were screened with various doses of dicamba or glyphosate. All the F1 progeny survived both dicamba and glyphosate treatments. Chi-square analyses of F2 progeny suggest (1) glyphosate and dicamba resistances in B. scoparia are inherited via single, dominant nuclear genes; and (2) glyphosate- and dicamba-resistant genes are not linked. Thus, the dicamba and glyphosate resistances appear to have evolved independently due to intense selection but do not seem to spread together.


BACKGROUND
The United States faces a national shortage of nurse educators who need more educational preparation to successfully transition into an academic setting. A professional learning community (PLC), using the National League for Nursing certified nurse educator (CNE) core competencies, offers an innovative way to meet the learning needs of nurse educators.

METHOD
A qualitative descriptive design was used to summarize the experiences of the faculty members who participated in the CNE PLC.

RESULTS
The following five themes were discovered: aspirations for involvement, significance of learning in a community, value of the CNE core competencies, challenges to participation, and value of engagement.

CONCLUSION
A PLC is an effective way to meet the professional needs of faculty in the academic and clinical settings by embracing the notion that learning occurs through interaction with others. This project expands beyond the conventional new faculty onboarding workshops, which tend to be unidirectional and focused on information delivery. [J Contin Educ Nurs. 2023;54(7):322-326.].


The Glenn T. Seaborg Institute for Transactinium Science (GTS-ITS) mission supports the long-term manpower and core competency needs of the defense-related and the environmental programs at LLNL. The importance of the GTS-ITS mission is intensified by the current and impending shortage of actinide experts. This sector continues to retire, leaving ever-widening gaps in the core capabilities of the programs and disciplines throughout the Laboratory and the nation. The GTS-ITS focus is to help the Laboratory fill these voids by educating and training the future generation of scientists with the knowledge and expertise required to meet the nation's changing needs in environmental protection and remediation, nuclear waste isolation, national security nuclear surveillance, nuclear energy and industrial applications of nuclear methods, and fundamental transactinium sciences.


The extraction of direct dyes and acid dyes from efflent of dyeing house is a promising technology.It improves the utilization of above dyes and reaches the win-win target of reducing pollution and saving resource.The concentration variation of trioctyl amine(TOA) in the solvent mixture is planed to be monitored during solvent circulation.One of the monitoring methods is titration by hyperchloride acid in ice acetic acid.However,one of the key chemicals in the method is acetic anhydride,which is in the list of "drug-producing chemicals".So HCl titration in ethanol is proposed.The study showed that the new proposed method is acurate enough and highly repeatable,with comparative error of within 3%.It also has other advantages to hyperchloride acid titration,such as low cost,easy operation and safe.


We report fabrication and characterization of photodetectors based on organic semiconductors. Single and multiple heterostructures between electron donor and acceptor materials are used. Moreover, by varying the substitutes of the acceptor molecule, five different donor/acceptor combinations are presented. Photocurrent depends on the choice of the acceptor material, showing importance of energy mismatch between lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (and highest occupied molecular orbital) levels of donor and acceptor molecules. Additionally, the photocurrent also depends on the number of donor/acceptor interfaces. The results can be explained in terms of an energy band diagram of the devices. From the impedance spectroscopy, we show that the change in dielectric constant of the active material due to illumination has a direct relevance to the external current of the photodetectors.


Problem statement: The analysis and control of delayed systems are be coming more and more research topics in progress. This is mainly du e to the fact that the delay is frequently encounte red in technological systems. This can affect their sig nificantly operations. Most control command laws are based on current digital computers and delays a re intrinsic to the process or in the control loop caused by the transmission time control sequences, or computing time. The delay may affect one or more states of the considered system. It may also a ffect the establishment of the command. Several studies have investigated the stability of delay sy stems under the assumption that the delay is a vari able phenomenon; such variation is considered to be bounded or limited to facilitate analysis of the system . In this study we propose a modelling of delayed sys tem by using the multimodels and switched system theory. The analysis of stability is based on the u se of second Lyapunov method. The issued stability conditions are expressed as Bilinear Matrix Inequal ities impossible to resolve. That's why we propose the same original relaxations to come over this dif ficulty, an example of induction machine is given t o illustrate over approach. Approach: We propose to use the control theory developed for switched systems to synthesis a control laws for the stabili sation of delays system. Results: We stabilize the induction machine around many operating points despite the non linearities. Conclusion: The developed method is less conservative and less pess imistic than the used classical methods.


Biscuits hold an important position in food industry due to variety of taste, nutrition, crispiness and digestibility. The nutritional value of biscuits can be enhanced by fortification with a wide variety of protein rich cereal such as barley. Colour is essential to the manufacture of biscuits of good quality. During baking, complex chemical reactions take place in the biscuits, such as the Maillard reaction and caramelization. The aim of this study was to evaluate the changes in colour of biscuits during baking. Biscuits were produced according to AACC 10-50D method. Wheat flour was replaced with barley flour at varying levels (30, 50, 70 and 100%) in biscuit formulations. Color measurement of biscuits was carried out using a colorimeter on the basis of CIE L*, a*, b* color system. Some of the biscuits were stored in room temperature and change of their color was determined after 6 and 12 months.


Flow pumps act as important devices in areas such as Bioengineering, Medicine, and Pharmacy, among other areas of Engineering, mainly for delivering liquids or gases at small-scale and precision flow rate quantities. Principles for pumping fluids based on piezoelectric actuators have been widely studied, since they allow the construction of pump systems for displacement of small fluid volumes with low power consumption. This work studies valveless piezoelectric diaphragm pumps for flow generation, which uses a piezoelectric ceramic (PZT) as actuator to move a membrane (diaphragm) up and down as a piston. The direction of the flow is guaranteed by valveless configuration based on a nozzle–diffuser system that privileges the flow in just one pumping direction. Most research efforts on development of valveless flow pump deal either with computational simulations based on simplified models or with simplified physical approaches based on analytical models. The main objective of this work is the study of a methodology to develop a low-cost valveless piezoelectric diaphragm flow pump using computational simulations, parametric study, prototype manufacturing, and experimental characterization. The parametric study has shown that the eccentricity of PZT layer and metal layer plays a key role in the performance of the pump.


Authors' reply to discussion by S. H. U. Bowie (see this Bibliography, Vol. 32, No. 7, 11 E68-08799; for reference to paper under discussion, see Vol. 32, No. 4, 11 E68-04487)