Objective:To evaluate the MR virtual endoscopy(MRVE) in the diagnosis of the obstructive diseases of common bile duct(CBD).Methods:61 patients with obstruction in CBD underwent MR imaging using the sequence of 3D TSE MRCP,and the raw data were sent to Philips' Easyvision workstation and postprocessed with virtual endoscopy (MRVE).Results:All MRVE images were good,and showed clearly calculi in CBD(n=32),ampullar cancer with concomitant stone(n=7),ampullar cancer(n=11),duodenal papillitis(n=6),pancreatic head carcinoma(n=6),pancreatitis(n=4),and sand like stone(n=12) not demonstrated on MIP images.However,one case with papillary carcinoma was diagnosed by the combined use of MRVE and plain MR images.Lower spatial resolution,not real colors and incapability of demonstration of the fine changes of the mucous membrane in CBD were the limitations of MRVE.Conclusion:MRVE may demonstrate directly the surface and lesions of CBD,and improve the diagnostic accuracy of obstructive diseases of CBD in combination with MRCP.


The invention relates to a hydrocracking catalyst containing at least one matrix, a zeolite chosen from the group formed by NU-85 zeolites NU-86 and NU87, at least one metal selected from the group consisting METALS GROUP VIB and Group VIII OF QUALIFICATION regularly, at least one element selected from boron and silicon, optionally FOSFORO, optionally at least one element of Group VIIA and optionally at least one element of group VIIB. The invention also relates to the use of this catalyst in hydrocracking LOADS HYDROCARBON.


Bergman-type integral operators are classical operators in complex analysis and operator theory. Recently, the first author and his collaborator \cite{DiW} completely characterized the $L^p$-$L^q$ boundedness of Bergman-type integral operators $K_\alpha,K_\alpha^+$ and the $L^p$-$L^q$ compactness of $K_\alpha$ on the unit ball. In this paper, we will use a substantially new method to completely characterize the $L^p$-$L^q$ compactness of $K_\alpha^+,$ but also prove that the $L^p$-$L^q$ compactness of operators $K_\alpha,K_\alpha^+$ is in fact equivalent. Moreover, we completely characterize Schatten class and Macaev class Bergman-type integral operator $K_\alpha$ on $L^2$ space and Bergman space via inequalities related to the dimension of the unit ball, and we also give an intrinsic characterization by introducing the concept of Hausdorff dimension of compact operators. The Dixmier trace of $K_\alpha$ are also calculated in this paper.


A simple double-sideband IMDD RoF system is successfully employed to directly transport a 21 Gbps OFDM signal at 60 GHz over 500 m of standard single-mode fiber and 10 m wireless distance.


Enhancement of the researching and developing capability of High-tech industry is the key to master core technology and independent intellectual property rights, and is Guangdong province's main emphasis in the transformation of economic growth pattern and the enhancement of industrial competitiveness. However, the High-tech industry contains high-commitments, highs takes and the time-lag of gains, which breed the lack of motive to most microeconomic main bodies of market economy. This asks for macro-public finance and tax-policy support from government. On account of the policy implementation process of Smith model, this article analyzed the current situation, existing problems together with causes of Guangdong province's fiscal and taxation policies to accelerate the researching and developing capability of High-tech industry, from the angles of idealized policy, performing organization, policy environment and target groups. On this basis, a train of thought of how to perfect the fiscal and taxation policies is thus put forward.


Currently, the retail segment of the banking business is one of the most important areas of commercial banks functioning. It is characterized by high yield, rather rapid growth of retail portfolios, active introduction of innovative products and services, focus on meeting the needs of customers and enhancing their service quality, improving the culture of financial product consumption of the public, active use of marketing campaigns, partnerships, loyalty and discount programs, and representation of banks on the Internet and in social media. Each bank individually determines its behavior and development strategy in the retail banking market, the customers it will serve, and the range of products and services it will implement and promote. The article deals with the definition of the "retail banking business" term in terms of the process approach. The authors emphasize that there may not be a single approach to the definition of the "retail banking" concept in the banking sector. The definition of retail banking is unique for each bank and depends only on bank's specifics purposes of its mission in the market. However, customer service would always be the basis of the phenomenon. At present, the retail banking market is ready to offer a diverse range of products and services. There are many different classifications of retail banking services in training materials on banking, and each classification depends on its purpose and approach to its implementation. The article presents the most detailed classification of products and services of the retail banking business.


Review by Keri Davies (Independent Scholar) of Jennifer Jesse, William Blake's Religious Vision: There's a Methodism in His Madness . Lanham MD: Lexington Books, 2013. Pp. 312. Hb. £52.95. ISBN 9780739177907. Pb. £29.95. ISBN 9781498511780.


Watershed water cycles undergo profound changes under changing environments. Analyses of runoff evolution characteristics are fundamental to our understanding of the evolution of water cycles under changing environments. In this study, linear regression, moving average, Mann–Kendall, Pettitt, accumulative anomaly, STARS, wavelet analysis, and CEEMDAN methods were used to analyze the trends, mutations, and periodic and intrinsic dynamic patterns of runoff evolution using long-term historical data. The intra-annual distribution of runoff in the Dawen River Basin was uneven, with an overall decreasing trend and mutations in 1975–1976. The main periods of runoff were 1.9 and 2.2 years, and the strongest oscillations in the study period occurred in 1978–1983. The runoff decomposition high-frequency term (intra-annual fluctuation term) had a stronger fluctuation frequency, with a period of 0.51–0.55 years, while the low-frequency term (interannual fluctuation term) had a period of 1.55–2.26 years. The trend term for the runoff decomposition tended to decrease throughout the monitoring period and gradually stabilized at the end of the monitoring period, while the period gradually decreased from upstream to downstream. In summary, we used multiple methods to analyze the evolutionary characteristics of runoff, which are of great relevance to the adaptive management of water resources under changing environments.


The present invention relates to a kind of method of aerodynamic efficiency of the vertical tail for improving aircraft.According to the present invention, the thickness (EP1) of the trailing edge (4) of yaw rudder (9), as the function of the span (E) of vertical tail (2), mates with maximum permissible value to make the local value of the side direction lift coefficient being applied to vertical tail (2).


Rock mechanics tests are performed to determine in situ stress conditions and material properties of an underground rock mass. To design stable underground facilities for the permanent storage of high-level nuclear waste, determination of these properties and conditions is a necessary first step. However, before a test and its associated equipment can be designed, the engineer needs to know the range of expected values to be measured by the instruments. Sensitivity studies by means of finite element simulations are employed in this preliminary design phase to evaluate the pertinent parameters and their effects on the proposed measurements. The simulations, of two typical rock mechanics tests, the plate bearing test and the flat-jack test, by means of the finite element analysis, are described. The plate bearing test is used to determine the rock mass deformation modulus. The flat-jack test is used to determine the in situ stress conditions of the host rock. For the plate bearing test, two finite element models are used to simulate the classic problem of a load on an elastic half space and the actual problem of a plate bearing test in an underground tunnel of circular cross section. For the flat-jack simulation, a single finite elementmore » model is used to simulate both horizontal and vertical slots. Results will be compared to closed-form solutions available in the literature.« less


The work presented here lies at the intersection between quantum field theory, string theory, and number theory. The latter is the fil rouge connecting extremal conformal field theories, supersymmetric black hole entropy, and 3-manifold invariants. After a general introduction, Chapter 2 reviews relevant number-theoretical objects such as Siegel and Jacobi modular forms, mock modular forms, and Rademacher sums. Chapter 3 analyzes the properties of extremal conformal field theories at small central charges (c ≤ 24). The twining functions of these theories – partition functions with the insertion of an element of the symmetry group – are examined through Rademacher sums. Chapter 4, in turn, is dedicated to the construction of a "mixed" Rademacher sum, which encodes the microscopic degeneracy of single centered 1/4-BPS black holes in Type IIB string theory compactified on K3 × Τ2. This black hole system provides a rare opportunity to compare the sub-leading terms in the entropy of the brane system with the macroscopic entropy provided by the supergravity theory. Chapter 5 investigates the half-indices (homological invariants of 3-manifolds) of certain 3d Ν = 2 theories. These supersymmetric theories are 3d-2d coupled systems which can be viewed as three-dimensional Chern-Simons theories on Seifert manifolds via the 3d-3d correspondence. Here an important role is played by false theta functions, mock theta functions, and quantum modular forms.


SUMMARY (1) The colonization of a range of artificial monometric sediments by meiobenthic Harpacticoida (Crustacea: Copepoda) was studied both in an intertidal estuarine beach and in microcosm culture. The spherical, soda-glass ballotine beads covered the entire range of sediments inhabited by meiobenthic copepods, ranging in diameter from 0. 147 mm to 0.485 mm. (2) No quantitative differences could be established between the copepod communities of different sediment types, with respect to the numbers of species and individuals in either experiment, although differences in the logarithmic series index of diversity were detectable in the microcosm experiment. (3) More important were the qualitative differences of the communities: different species were found in sediment matrices of different particle diameter. Endopsammic species were recorded in greatest population densities from the coarsest sediments, mesopsammic species from the intermediate, and epipsammic species from the finest. (4) In the absence of any other abiotic differences of the microcosm sediments, the non-random distribution of species is attributed directly to changes in the diameter of the interstitial pore. (5) Somatically similar, numerically abundant mesopsammic species tended to be found in sediments of differing particle diameter, indicating the segregation of potential competitor species across the resources. However, considerable overlap did occur, so that it is inferred that interspecific interactions appear likely to be important determinants of the community structure.


The internet is playing great roles in the dissemination of information by companies. This study was conducted to analyse all the firms listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange in terms of its ability to communicate both financial and non financial information using the internet as the medium. The results show that twenty seven (77.14%) had web sites and eight (22.86%) did not have web sites or the web sites were not accessible. The results of the multiple regression analysis show that profitability and leverage are important determinants of internet financial reporting. Thus the hypotheses; H1. There is a positive association between internet financial reporting index and firm's profitability and H4. There is a positive association between internet reporting index and leverage, were upheld. Firm size, Liquidity and Auditor size are not significant explanatory variables for the internet reporting index.


The durability of cement-containing building materials, like the cement stone itself, depends on their moisture resistance, frost resistance, and corrosion resistance. All these properties are determined not only by the composition of the initial clinker, but also by the structural organization at the micro-and nanoscale of hydrated Portland cement. In this work, the structural parameters of hydrated Portland cement compositions at the nanoscale level were determined by the method of small-angle neutron scattering: the size distribution of nanoparticles of calcium silicate hydrate, the average radius of nanoparticles, and fractal dimension. It is shown that the introduction of modifying nanoadditives into Portland cement affects the structural parameters of the cement stone. The following nanoadditives were used: of artificial (alpha aluminium oxide, gamma aluminum oxide) and of technogenic (carbonate and alumo-alkaline sludges) origin, as well as complex nanoadditives containing surfactants. Changes in structural parameters of Portland cement with nanoadditives in the process of hydration are traced. It is shown that the use of nanoadditives makes it possible to control the process of formation of the structure of hydrated Portland cement on the nanoscale level, to directly influence the values of structural parameters and, ultimately, to the properties of cement stone.


In order to understand the nature of chain-driven superconductivity in Pr 2 Ba 4 Cu 7 O 15-δ (Pr247), we have studied the electronic structure of as-sintered non-superconducting Pr247 and annealed superconducting Pr247 samples using photoemission spectroscopy. The O 1 s , Ba 3 d , Pr 4 d , and Cu 2 p core-level energy shifts by annealing indicate that electrons doped by the annealing mainly fill the localized Fehrenbacher–Rice (FR) state. The photoemission spectra ρ(ω) near the Fermi level ( E F ) are derived from the metallic Cu–O double chain and can be fitted to the power-law function plus step function A ω α + B θ(ω). ρ(ω) near E F is indistinguishable between the as-sintered and annealed Pr247 and the exponent α is ∼1.5. These results indicate that the Cu–O double chain provides the spectral weight near E F and that the annealing affects the localized FR state instead of the near- E F state.


The circulation of human metapneumovirus is related to seasonal patterns of respiratory syncytial virus. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of hMPV infection diagnosed by indirect immunofluorescence in children attending emergency department and general wards of Hospital Infantil Albert Sabin in Fortaleza, Ceara, northeastern Brazil, during the respiratory syncytial virus season in 2006. The analysis included 389 samples. Antigens of hPMV were detected in 39 samples. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17525/vrr.v13i1-2.17


Lateralized behaviour has been documented in non-human species, although many observers believe that it occurs at the individual rather than the population level. Its occurrence in humpback whales,Megaptera novaeangliae, in Massachusetts Bay was investigated by examining active behaviour types in which preference could be given to one direction or side. These included head breaching (direction of spin), flippering (right or left) and tail breaching (direction of movement). In addition, persistent abrasions on the right or left jaw resulting from turns to one side during bottom feeding were noted. Of 75 individuals with jaw abrasions, 60 (80%) showed abrasions on only the right jaw, while 15 (20%) had abrasions on only the left. No whales had abrasions on both jaws. Location of abrasions was consistent in all resighted individuals for up to 12 years. Two of the three active behaviour types were not strongly lateralized: directional bias was seen in only five of 21 bouts (23·8%) of breaching, and in three of 11 bouts (27·3%) of tail breaching. However, 22 of 34 bouts (64·7%) of flippering showed a bias towards one direction (generally the right). Furthermore, direction of bias in all behaviour types was individually consistent between bouts and was strongly correlated with abrasions on the corresponding jaw (P=0·0032). The sex ratio of individuals with jaw abrasions, and of those showing directional bias in active behaviour, did not differ significantly from that of the overall population. Overall, these data suggest that humpback whales exhibit some behavioural asymmetries, at least one of which is at the population level. This result suggests assymmetry of function in motor or somatosensory representations, although too little is known about the brain of this species to permit definitive conclusions.


Unstable combustion phenomena such as flame flashback, flame liftoff, extinction and blowout frequently take place during the operation of the bluff-body stabilized burner. Therefore, flame state monitoring is necessary for the safe operation of the bluff-body stabilized burner. In the present study, an electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) system was deployed to detect the permittivity distribution in the premixing channel and further characterize the flame states of stabilization, flashback, liftoff, extinction and blowout. A calderon-based reconstruction method was modified to reconstruct the permittivity distribution in the annular premixing channel. The detection results indicate that the permittivity in the premixing channel increases steeply when the flame flashback takes place and decreases obviously when the flame lifts off from the combustor rim. Based on the varied permittivity distribution at different flame states, a flame state index was proposed to characterize the flame state in quantification. The flame state index is 0, positive, in the range of −0.64–0, and lower than −0.64 when the flame is at the state of stable, flashback, liftoff and blowout, respectively. The flame state index at the flame state of extinction is the same as that at the flame state of liftoff. The extinction state and the blowout state can be distinguished by judging whether the flame flashback takes place before the flame is extinguished. These results reveal that the ECT system is capable of monitoring the flame state, and that the proposed flame state index can be used to characterize the flame state.


In this paper two main topics are covered: a new model for melodic fragments or indexes and its embedding in MX, the new XML-based format currently undergoing the IEEE standardization process, in order to take advantage of its structural layer in a MIR-oriented perspective. Our goal is to show how music information retrieval methods can be improved by the use of particular melodic invariants coming from graph theoretic tools applied to melodies in order to catch more musical transformations than other methods as, for example, permutations of subfragments. This approach to the melodic similarity problem leads to associate a musical graph to each melodic segment in order to extract MIR-useful invariant quantities.


Viscosities of the isomers of pentanol (1-pentanol, 2-pentanol and 3-pentanol) and their binary solutions with toluene in the whole range of composition have been measured at different temperatures between 303.15 and 323.15 K. Viscosities of pure components have been plotted against temperature and for binary mixtures, against the mole fraction of pentanols at different temperatures. At lower concentrations of pentanols, viscosities increase slowly, but at an increasing rate on the continued addition of pentanols in toluene. The excess viscosities and excess free energies of activation for viscous flow are in the order, 3-pentanol + > 2-pentanol + > 1-pentanol + toluene. Excess entropies are found to be negative for the systems 2-pentanol + toluene and 3-pentanol + toluene in the whole range of composition, but for 1-pentanol + toluene the values are small and they are either positive or negative at different compositions. The disruption of H-bonds in pentanols either by thermal effect or by the force of dispersion is in the order: 3-pentanol > 2-pentanol > 1-pentanol. This effect is considered to be quite significant in explaining the temperature dependence of viscosity of pure pentanols, negative excess values of viscosity, free energy and entropy for viscous flow as well as their orders for all the systems.


Senile plaques were first described in 1892 by Blocq and Marinesco, 1 who called them sclerotic plaques of neuroglia, a name which was later changed by Redlich 2 to miliary sclerosis. The term senile plaque was first applied to the lesion by Simchowicz. 3 Since the first description of Blocq and Marinesco, numerous authors have tried to establish the significance as well as the pathogenesis of such a lesion. The fact that these plaques are found in the brains of normal senile persons has increased interest in their microscopic study. Furthermore, the fact that they are found in the presenium in that particular pathologic condition which was first described by Alzheimer in 1906, and since then has been known as Alzheimer's disease, has made the significance of these plaques more puzzling. In regard to the histologic nature of the lesion, Blocq and Marinesco, in 1892, spoke of sclerotic plaques of


Methods of computer simulation of ship structural response in waves are described, with emphasis given to the slowly varying bending moments due to waves and to slamming responses. Analog, digital, and hybrid computer systems are analyzed, and results obtained by use of the most efficient computational procedures for each type of structural response. The vertical and lateral bending moments due to waves are determined by use of a digital computer, and sample computations illustrated for determin- ing frequency domain outputs. Time history outputs of vertical bending moments due to nonlinear slamming are obtained using a modal model of the ship structural dynamic representation, together with time histories of the wave-induced vertical bending moment due to the same wave system. The capabilities of various computer systems to obtain the required responses, the form of the mathematical model appropriate for computational means, and the time requirements for carrying out the operations are also presented. The rapid assessment of spectral responses and their related statistical properties by means of digital computation, together with time history responses at rates faster than real time, provides a useful tool for determin- ing many aspects of ship structural response characteris- tics by means of computer simulation.


COVID-19 pandemic has affected thousands of people worldwide;with significant economic changes in the past and to the changes to be made for future. Many organisations especially;The Intergovernmental economic organisation (OECD - The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) warned the companies and industries on the global economic cut, the corona virus will be boarding. The global economy and international markets pitched down with the spread of corona virus spreading from China which is the world's second largest economy to other countries including Asia;Europe;Australia;Europe;America and the Middle East. Many economies came up with many policies to prevent the further spread of this virus;including restrictions on travel and quarantines;which has disrupted international supply chains affecting a lot of business operations and dwindle revenues. About 75 percent of business including Wholesale;Manufacturing;Retail and Services in China and about 51,000 companies have this impact at a global level according to data from Dun and Bradstreet. The success or failure of every Business depends on how well they manage their supply chain management activities. The impact of corona virus on supply chain activities is twofold. One is;Upstream Supply chain management where companies should monitor the backward integrated activities in procuring the inventory;which has accommodated a loss in the production because of closure of factories and a slowdown in the economy. Second is;Downstream Supply chain management where the intermediaries and middlemen face a lot of problems because of scarcity in inventory and many quarantine measures taken by many economies. Many disruptions in both Upstream and Downstream Supply chains lead to severe scarcity of inventory which was experienced globally by all the economies. This situation has made many economies to think of the inter connectivity and inter dependency among global nations in terms of supply chain. This article is aimed to highlight the effects and changes COVID-19 pandemic has brought in the supply chain industry from both Upstream and Downstream perspective. © 2022 Author(s).


Alasdair MacIntyre's claim, in After Virtue, that ethics as a reflective activity depends for its origin and ultimate survival on a conception of virtue now disastrously eroded by modernity that is embedded in distinctive forms of community, practice and narrative invites appraisal by the sociologist as much as the philosopher and theologian. Some of the contributors take up this challenge in various ways (McMylor, Herbert, Collins and Barot), although only Collins does so via fresh empirical research. Others are more interested in how virtue ethics might provide a theoretical standpoint from which to critique and renew the discipline of sociology (Tester, Flanagan, Archer). The subtitle, by contrast, indicates a looser sort of collection, held together by a concern for how the defining contours of (postlmodernity intersect with changing forms of religious belief. This fits rather more comfortably the six out of thirteen articles that at most engage tangentially with the distinctive agenda of the main title. Of these, the last five in the book review connections between religious and ethical motifs across a variety of (postlmodern cultural contexts, from New Age religion and Quakerism to popular cinema and the crematorium. The essay by Davies and Neal does not quite seem to fit in anywhere, but its argument that modern society has an implicit and dangerously irrational 'hierarchy' of persons that shapes its moral decision-making should not be missed. The book remains something of a mixture, and while Flanagan works hard to show that all the pieces somehow cohere, perhaps one should simply accept that the virtues of this particular work do not include consistency.


2-Alkenyltrifylanilides react with allenes upon treatment with catalytic amounts of Pd(OAc)2 and Cu(II) to give highly valuable 1H-benzo[b]azepines, in good yields, and with very high regioand diastereoselectivities. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations suggest that the C-H activation of the alkenylanilide involves a classical concerted metallation-deprotonation (CMD) mechanism. The assembly of heterocycles from simple precursors is a topic of major interest. In this context, the use of metal-catalyzed annulations is especially attractive owing to their intrinsic complexity-increasing potential. However, many of these reactions require the preparation of precursors containing specific functional groups. In recent years, there has been a growing number of reports on metal-promoted annulations that involve the formal activation of C-H bonds and therefore do not require elaborated substrates. Along these lines, our group has developed metal-promoted cycloadditions of 2-alkenylphenols with alkynes or allenes to give a variety of oxacyclic products. Remarkably, while allenes react with 2-alkenylphenols in presence of Rh(III) catalysts to give chromene type of products, under Pd(II) catalysis the reaction provides interesting benzoxepine skeletons (Scheme 1A). Scheme 1. Palladium-promoted annulations with allenes The reaction was hypothesized to involve the initial formation of an oxapalladacycle like II by formal activation of the terminal C-H bond of the alkene, followed by migratory insertion of the allene and reductive elimination. Experimental studies suggested that the C-H activation does not proceed through a classical concerted metallation-deprotonation (CMD), but rather it might involve an intramolecular attack of the conjugated alkene to the palladium center to give an intermediate like I, followed by a base-induced re-aromatization to form the sixmembered palladacycle II (Scheme 1A). As a natural extension of these studies, we wondered whether ortho-alkenylanilides might also engage in similar annulations, which would provide a straightforward and atom economical access to highly relevant benzazepine skeletons (Figure 1). At the outset, the success was not guaranteed since orthoalkenylanilines could provide indole products when treated with a Pd(II) catalyst, 7 and also because there were no precedents on the reactivity of allenes with related anilides. Figure 1. Drugs with the benzoazepine skeletons. Herein, we report a palladium(II)-catalyzed (5+2) formal oxidative cycloaddition between 2-alkenyltriflylanilides and allenes (Scheme 1B). The reaction provides a straightforward and regioselective access to a variety of interesting benzazepine skeletons in good yields. Importantly, DFT calculations suggest that while the C-H activation step in the annulations of alkenylphenols is better explained in terms of a non-concerted electrophilic addition to Pd(II) followed by rearomatization, in the case of the anilides the C-H activation is more consistent with a concerted metalation deprotonation mechanism (CMD). Table 1. Screening of amine R groups entry R group base 3 (%) 4/5 (%)


The procedure for identification of a random phase mask in a nonlinear joint transform correlator containing a photosensitive recording material or a spatial light modulator in a frequency domain is studied. The new approach for estimation the intensities of correlation peaks in such type of a nonlinear correlator is proposed. This approach is based on the use of an experimental dependence of the recording medium's diffraction efficiency versus its exposure. The comparative analysis of correlation peaks produced by phase masks and primary test images in nonlinear joint transform correlators containing different photosensitive recording medium in frequency domains is represented. The results of analysis have shown, that the peak intensities produced by phase masks and by primary images are the same in a linear joint transform correlator, but the peak intensity produced by a phase mask in the nonlinear joint transform correlator is much larger than the peak intensity produced by a primary image.


The corroding process of six glasses of the Na2O-K2O-CaO-ZrO2-SiO2 system with ZrO2content 0–2.13 mass % by water was observed during static tests at 121°C and pressure of 0.25 MPa in steam sterilizer. Significant increase of Na+ and K+ content in leachates was observed after the addition of ZrO2 into glass. Further increase of the content of ZrO2 in glasses slowed down the rate of Na+ and K+ leaching. The leaching process of SiO2 as well as Na+, K+, and Ca2+ ions was evaluated on the basis of comparison with model leaching processes. Variation of the concentrations of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and SiO2 in leachates with time was described by empirical equation. Observed changes in the initial leaching rates of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and SiO2 can be ascribed to the content of ZrO2 in glasses. The presence of ZrO2 in glasses reduced the overall rate of glass dissolution.


The research was aimed to make standaritation semen quality of merino rams. Semen was collected twice a week using artificial vagina from two mature merino rams. The research was descriptive and presented in the form of pictures and tables. Parameter observed were macroscopic test (volume, smell, colour, consistency, pH) and microscopic test (motility, concentration, life percentage spermatozoa and percentage abnormality spermatozoa). Result of the research has shown that semen quality of merino rams in Teaching Farm vaculty of veterinary UNAIR were good and deserve to be frozen semen for insemination


The technique of multispectral filter array (MSFA) is a multispectral extension of the widely deployed color filter array (CFA), which uses single chip sensors and subsequent interpolation strategies to produce full color images. However, multispectral demosaicking presents unique challenges to traditional CFA demosaicking algorithms which cannot be directly extended to deal with various filter arrays with different numbers of spectral bands or different spatial patterns within each band. In addition, the more spectral bands involved, the more sparse each band samples the image plane, and the less information we can utilize when performing the interpolation. In this paper, we study a generic MSFA demosaicking method, which follows a binary tree structure to determine the order according to which different spectral bands and different pixel locations within each band are progressively interpolated, making the edge information utilized more effectively. The proposed method is demonstrated to outperform three traditional interpolation techniques as well as three advanced CFA demosaicking methods using two performance measures, the root mean square error (RMSE) for reconstruction fidelity and the classification accuracy for target recognition performance.


Brands use their own brand story to differentiate from others and attract consumers into the world of their brand, so called storytelling. The purpose of this study was to find out which specific characteristics of a brand story should or should not be included. These characteristics were examined using the concepts of consumer attitude towards the content, consumer attitude towards the brand, purchase intention and consumer based reputation.

The theoretical framework discussed story content which resulted in a set of story characteristics that are used for storytelling. A preliminary research in the form of a content analysis of 20 fashion brand stories indicated two possibly interesting characteristics: mentioning the history and founders of a brand and the level of vividness of the story. These two characteristics were examined in the main experiment in the form of a 2 (history vs no history) x 2 (vivid vs not-vivid) design which resulted in four different fictive brand stories. Respondents were asked to fill in a questionnaire after reading one of the four stories. The results of 141 respondents showed that mentioning the history and founders in a brand story has a negative effect on the attitude towards the brand, the purchase intention and the consumer based reputation. No significant effect was found on the attitude towards the content of the story. Regarding vividness, no main effect was found on any of the four dependent variables.

It can be concluded that mentioning the history and founders of the brand is not the information that consumers want to know more about when reading the 'about' page of a brand.


Objectives: Antimicrobial consumption in India is continuously increasing, and so are the chances of the emergence of antimicrobial resistance. This present study intends to identify and assess the appropriateness of antimicrobials prescribed by rural private practitioners and the average cost of antimicrobials per prescription.
Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted by the Department of Pharmacology, Government Medical College, Jaulan (Orai). The study included all the prescriptions coming to the chemist shops in the rural town area, having one or more antimicrobials written by private practitioners and assessed for prescription pattern, appropriateness, and cost.
Results: Most antimicrobials were prescribed for gastrointestinal infection (33.50%), followed by fever (27.70%). Only in 12.60% of prescriptions, the utilization of antimicrobials in treatment was established (Category I), and in 56.20% of prescriptions rationale for the utilization of antimicrobials was not established (Category IV and V).
Conclusions: In the study, we found that the maximum antimicrobials prescribed in private settings were by doctors having only MBBS degrees, and more than half of the prescriptions were Inappropriate. More efforts are required to train our medical graduates in antimicrobial stewardship and Antibiotic Stewardship, Prevention of Infection and Control programs and nursing staff to make these programs successful at the ground level.


A survey of wildflower farms in the south west of Western Australia, was conducted during spring of 1997 and autumn 1998 to determine the prevalence of Phytophthora infestations. Thirty-seven randomly selected farms ranging in size from 0.5 to =30 ha were visited. The main crop plants grown included species of Banksia, Boronia, Chamelaucium, Conospermum, Eucalyptus, Protea, and Leucadendron. Eighteen sites were found to have infestations of Phytophthora. Of these, 14 sites had P. cinnamomi, and 2 sites had P. cryptogea. P. cactorum, P. citricola and P. nicotianae were each found at only single locations. One site was found to have both P. cinnamomi and P. cryptogea. Species of Phytophthora were identified morphologically, isozymically, and using species-specific PCR primers. Not every species could be identified by all 3 methods. There was no apparent association between geographical location and the occurrence of Phytophthora spp.


At the core of public health research is its ambition to provide evidence for health systems policy, with the capacity to respond to the wide range of patient and public health needs. Through reserach, we support knowledge translation into clinical practice and beyond. Implementation research specifically takes into account the context and real-life conditions and engages concerned population groups, leading to more successful translation and scale-up of public health interventions. More information on projects can be found at http://cordis.europa.eu


To directly measure the DT neutrons from inertial confinement fusion with a high time resolution, a new type of neutron conversion composed of a CH2 conversion layer, a metal moderation layer, and a CsI secondary electron emission layer is proposed. The conversion screen is based on the principle that recoil protons produced by elastic scattering of the neutrons in CH2 interact with CsI to generate secondary electrons. The moderation layer can filter the energy spectrum of protons to prevent low-energy protons from reaching CsI, which shortens the duration of the secondary electron pulse and improves the temporal resolution of the conversion screen. Based on the Monte Carlo method, both the neutron impulse and background γ-rays response of this conversion screen were calculated. The simulation indicates that the temporal resolution of the conversion screen can reach up to 4.9 ps when the thickness of the gold layer is 100 µm. The detection efficiency of secondary electrons/neutrons can reach 7.4 × 10−3. The detection efficiency of the neutron conversion screen for secondary electrons/γ-rays is an order of magnitude lower than the neutron impulse response, and the response time of γ-rays is 20 ps earlier than the neutron pulses. This means that using this conversion screen is beneficial to distinguish between neutrons and γ-rays and has a good signal-to-noise ratio.


Background. The role of childhood maltreatment (CM) is believed to be crucial in the aberrant function of reward circuit in adolescent-onset major depressive disorder (AO-MDD). Nevertheless, the impact of abnormalities in the GP-based reward circuit on the association between CM and the severity of AO-MDD remains largely unknown. Methods. The GP-based resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) was analyzed in a sample of 75 patients with AO-MDD and 80 healthy controls in order to identify potential abnormalities in the GP-based reward circuit in AO-MDD patients. Furthermore, we investigated the possible associations between aberrant GP-based reward circuit functioning, CM and its subtypes (namely, childhood abuse and childhood neglect), and the severity of AO-MDD. Results. Compared to the healthy control group, patients with AO-MDD demonstrated a reduction in RSFC between the left posterior GP and the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC). Our moderation analysis revealed that the abnormal RSFC between the posterior GP and DMPFC had a moderating effect on the relationship between CM and the severity of AO-MDD. Furthermore, upon further interaction decomposition, we observed a positive correlation between CM and AO-MDD severity exclusively in patients with AO-MDD who exhibited lower RSFC between the posterior GP and DMPFC. For AO-MDD patients with higher RSFC between posterior GP and DMPFC, the relationship between CM and AO-MDD severity was not discernible. Conclusions. Our findings underscore the crucial role of anomalies in the reward circuit in AO-MDD and furnish novel leads for probing the relationship among CM, malfunctioning of the reward circuit, and AO-MDD.


Objectives: The purpose of this research was to identify common problems encountered during hospital evacuations and how those problems are or should be addressed when creating a hospital evacuation plan. Methods: Articles relating to hospital evacuations were retrieved from PubMed and CINAHL in addition to government websites and the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. The articles collected were limited to within the last 20 years, from 1990 to 2010. Hospital plans were collected from search engines including Google and Yahoo. Moreover, a plan was obtained from a Dayton area hospital. Results: Numerous instances of hospital evacuations that were attributed earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and fires have been documented. Frequently cited problems in these evacuations were related to communication, transportation and staffing problems. The hospital evacuation plans that were reviewed included the San Joaquin County Hospital Evacuation Plan, New York Center for Terrorism Planning and Preparedness, Washington Hospital Center Emergency Evacuation Plan and a Dayton, Ohio Hospital Emergency Evacuation Plan. Discussion: Plans need to be able to incorporate communication needs including emergency radios and cellular telephones with backup power sources. Updated call-lists are also crucial components to the successful execution of a hospital evacuation by helping to alleviate potential staffing shortages during en event. Transportation needs, including mutual aid agreements, need to be frequently reviewed and innovative measures must be taken to ensure success. Conclusion: Hospitals today are not prepared to adequately handle an evacuation. Comprehensive plans that incorporate the lessons learned from previous evacuations are crucial components for community resiliency. Hospital Evacuations: Historical Precedence and Modern Preparedness Squillace 6 | P a g e Introduction In the 21 century, the potential hazards that hospitals face are ever-increasing. Hospitals must be prepared to respond to a growing number of threats in order to ensure patient safety and community resiliency. Potential problems facing health care facilities are natural disasters such as tornadoes, floods, hurricanes and earthquakes; man-made disasters such as bombings and chemical spills; and internal disasters such as severe power failures and fires (Sternberg, Lee and Huard, 2004). Hospitals need to have plans in place that address all potential hazards not only to ensure continued operations and patient safety, but to meet the accreditation requirements set by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Furthermore, the staff of the hospital, in addition to the local emergency personnel, should be well-versed with these plans in order to ensure, should they need to be executed, that they can be performed without confusion or inappropriate improvisation. Methods Articles related to evacuations were retrieved from the journal database, PubMed and CINAHL. Additionally, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' and the federal government's National Incident Management System/Federal Emergency Management Agency websites were searched for reports related to hospital evacuation. The clinical sciences librarian at Wright State University assisted with the search through the databases. Articles relating to clinical practice were among the articles relating to evacuations and accordingly, these articles were excluded from the project. The keywords used in the searches included combinations of the following: hospital evacuation; ICU evacuation; evacuation, hurricane, tornado, fire, wildfire, flood, bomb, terrorist, chemical, Katrina, Loma Prieta, Northridge, Hospital Evacuations: Historical Precedence and Modern Preparedness Squillace 7 | P a g e earthquake, ice, power failure, power outage; evacuation drill; evacuation exercise; horizontal evacuation; vertical evacuation. Incidents were limited to those that have taken place in North America. This was due to the fact that other areas of the world may have different infrastructures in terms of the hospital's operation, government obligations and geography and therefore, incidents that have occurred outside of North America were excluded to add strength to the reviews and suggestions. Furthermore, evacuation recommendations were retrieved from the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. Google searches were done in order to retrieve documents relating to hospital protocols and procedures using the keywords: hospital emergency management, hospital evacuation plan, hospital emergency plan and hospital evacuation procedures. Additionally, through contacts in a Dayton, Ohio area hospital, a hospital evacuation plan was analyzed and compared against the actual evacuations and the evacuation plans that were available online. Articles used in the review process were limited to events that had taken place no longer than 20 years ago, 1990 to 2010. This limitation on the time period was set due to the evolving standards that regulate hospitals in addition to the workforce structure that has changed. Events that date beyond 20 years will have faced substantially different challenges that may not be relevant to events that occur today.


This paper conducted a long-term time series econometric analysis of Korea's GHG emissions by FMOLS and VECM. GDP, heating and cooling degree days were considered as the main factors that increase the GHG emissions, and the proportion of non-fossil fuels and import price of crude oil as the factors that decrease the GHG emissions. The analysis focused on two aspects: gross GHG emissions and per capita GHG emissions. As regards total GHG emissions, GDP has the largest effect on gross GHG emissions. It is followed by heating and cooling days. Heating degree days affect GHG emissions in Korea more than cooling degree days do. The share of non-fossil fuels and the import price of crude oil have reducing effects on gross GHG emissions. As regards per capita GHG emissions, the analysis results have similar patterns. The largest effects on per capita GHG emissions are from GDP, followed by heating and cooling days.


National surveys that produce the kind of representative data that allow statistical evaluation have become available only recently anywhere in the world; in the United States, they have been available only since 1955. These surveys consist primarily of national fertility or natality surveys and of marketing surveys conducted by manufacturers of artificial baby milk. Some surveys are now (2007) asking not only about any breastfeeding but also about the age of the infant when foods other than breastmilk were introduced and the nature of those foods. A brief description of national surveys conducted in the United States follows (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/nhis.htm). During the latter part of the 1900s and earliest years of this century, reliable information about breastfeeding rates in the United States and elsewhere was difficult to obtain. It is a marker of the late interest of public health officials and the medical profession in general in promoting breastfeeding that the earliest and longest continued survey of breastfeeding initiation rates in the United States THE NEWS IS ENCOURAGING: Throughout the world today, an infant is apt to receive more breastmilk than during the nadir of breastfeeding in the 1960s and early 1970s. Until the 1940s, the prevalence of breastfeeding was high in nearly all societies. Although the feeding of manufactured milk products (for general use or specifically for infants) had begun before the turn of the century in parts of Europe and North America, the practice spread slowly during the next several decades. It was still generally limited to segments of population elites, and it involved only a small percentage of the world's people. During the post–World War II era, however, the way in which most mothers in industrialized regions fed their infants began to change, and the export of these new practices to developing regions gained speed (for one of many examples, see Schaefer, 1956).


This is the protocol for a review and there is no abstract. The objectives are as follows:

In this review we set out to evaluate the effects of dietary interventions for prevention of dementia in people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI).


Three dialkyldibenzenedisulfonate gemini surfactants with different structures 10-4-10,12-4-12 and 10-6-10(10,12 and 4,6 are referred to as the carbon numbers of the hydrophobic chain and those of the spacer respectively) were synthesized through five-step process,including Friedel-Crafts acylation,Grignard reaction,Pd-catalyzed hydrogenation,sulfonation and neutralization.Their structures were identified by 1HNMR and ESI-MS.The interfacial tension between anionic sulfonate gemini surfactant solution and heptane was measured by spinning drop method.It was found that CMC's of gemini surfactants were two orders of magnitude lower than those of the corresponding monomeric surfactants,and the CMC increased with the increase of carbon numbers of the hydrophobic chains or the spacer.A(min)(the minimum area per surfactant molecule) of 10-4-10,12-4-12 and 10-6-10 are 0.23,0.35 and 0.97 nm2 respectively,their Γ(max)(the maximum surface excess concentration) are 7.37×10(-10),4.65×10(-10) and 1.72×10(-10) mol/cm2 respectively,and their γ(CMC)(the interfacial tension at CMC) are 3.60,3.06 and 1.89 mN/m respectively.


In the effort to implement special autonomy, various provinces in Indonesia are competing in the effort to increase the retribution of their respective regions. This has encouraged the provinces to make regulations (regulations) that can bring added value to their provinces. These regulations sometimes experience disharmony and out of sync with higher regulations, both in terms of the material and the technical aspects of their manufacture. This has resulted in an increasing number of local regulations being canceled or needing to be revised again after being tested by the Ministry of Home Affairs. To date, the Ministry of Home Affairs has evaluated at least 7500 local regulations from 2002 to June 2009, originating from all districts/cities and provinces in Indonesia. Of this number, almost half of the regional regulations were annulled because they contradicted the principles of the formation of local regulations. It is assumed that this number will continue to increase in line with the increasing legislative process in the regions.


The resonance‐enchanced multiphoton ionization (REMPI) technique was employed for detection of gas phase atomic hydrogen in the filament‐asisted diamond growth environment. The H atom REMPI signal varied significantly with the reactant CH4/H2 fraction as well as with the filament temperature. We interpret these observations as evidence for the surface role of atomic hydrogen in the diamond growth mechanism. The spatial resolution of the REMPI technique allowed us to confirm that hydrogen atom transport in the deposition region occurs by diffusion.


State immunity — Enforcement and execution — Property of foreign State — Immunity from attachment — Mareva injunction restraining State from dealing with property pending decision of the court — Waiver of immunity — Whether sufficient to waive immunity from injunctive relief — State Immunity Act 1978, Section 13 Diplomatic relations — Immunity — Embassy property — Immunity from execution — Mareva injunction — Whether court may grant Mareva injunction in respect of property needed for functioning of diplomatic mission — Waiver — Whether waiver must be made in court — Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, 1961, Articles 22 and 30 — Diplomatic Privileges Act 1964 — The law of England


ABSTRACT This essay examines the engagement of the European Far Right during the Cold War with the legacy of classical geopolitics, above all the work of Mackinder, Spykman, Haushofer and Schmitt. The concerns of geopolitics with immanent spatial "realities" gave it an instrumental utility for the EFR as the latter sought to move beyond the obsessive preoccupation of interwar fascism (in its dominant German version) with factors of genetics and race. Beyond this, classical geopolitics provided conceptual and theoretical support for the EFR as it elaborated new ideological principles and political projects. On the one hand this involved a novel vision of pan-European unity that rested on the principle of continentalist autarky. On the other, with key concepts such as Heartland and Rimland, classical geopolitics offered a sophisticated but strategically flexible meta-geography of Eurasian space that was of immense value, for it could accommodate the EFR's ambivalence regarding the geographical limits of its envisioned pan-Europe and the nature of its relationship to its Eurasian neighbour, the USSR. The essay argues that while the conceptual continuities with the interwar period were vital, the deployment of classical geopolitical theory by the EFR after 1945 was driven by a logic of its own, one that was directly connected to the historical context and political realities of the Cold War. EFR ideologues used classical geopolitics essentially in order to negotiate the particular challenges of their day and to sustain and develop their own political agendas.


In the context of growing economic, social and political polarisation between and within countries both North and South, this study addresses the question as to whether new
forms of participatory governance, in the form of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Programme (PRSP) process in Malawi, and Social Partnership in Ireland, have the
potential to engage multiple development discourses, and if so, under what conditions.
Developing a theoretical framework to uncover the structures and dynamics underpinning both processes over time, the study highlights the interaction of domestic
and global political cultures within both processes. It is argued that state actors, focused on 'spinning' participation to attract foreign investment, while simultaneously contracting civil society 'partners' in managing the fallout of the state's economic globalisation project, are not seeking to engage multiple development discourses. The potential for such transformative participation within both processes therefore rests with
civil society actors responding to the mandates of their constituents.
The study identifies a key enabler in this regard as being 'communication without' or public awareness raising, with this enhancing visibility and public debate on both the
developmental outcomes of the respective processes and the agency and actions of actors therein. While both processes are characterised by many similarities, a key difference in the area of communication is identified. While in Ireland, where domestic legacies of a hierarchical, authoritarian political culture facilitate state and civil society actors in disciplining participants within the Irish process and stifling public debate, in Malawi, these national disciplining legacies have been challenged. The study
demonstrates how, in Malawi, global influences, in particular as mediated through global informational networks, have played a significant part in stimulating critical public debate, thereby transforming cultural legacies. These influences have resulted in the dominant organisation within the Malawian process tapping into the diversity of Malawian civic life, thereby raising challenges to its own form of leadership, and potentially transforming participation within its national development process.


The goal of this activity is that learners will be better able to use real-time CGM (rtCGM) in appropriate patients with type 2 diabetes.


The article simply introduced the danger of static electriaty to PACS computer toom.Several reasons and phenomena were analyzed.Concrete methods and feasible measues were given in the process of building computer room.


Vermiculite is an expansive material that can be used for crop production. However, information about the use of vermiculite in vegetable production is scarce. Thus, this study's objective was to evaluate the effects of vermiculite levels incorporated into the soil (Red Latosol Dystrophic) for beet (Beta vulgaris L.) crop production. The experiment was performed during spring using the beet cultivar 'Early Wonder Tall Top' and 0, 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 t∙ha of vermiculite incorporated into the soil before seedling planting. The increase of the vermiculite doses caused a linear decrease of the fresh root and leaf weight. The yield reductions were due to the great water holding capacity of the vermiculite and the consequent high incidence of cercosporiosis (Cercospora beticola Saac).


A new measuring method of the SELFOO lens optical index on sxis n0 and quadratic gradient constant g by the equal object-image size imaging method (EOSIM) is proposed in this paper. The resulte obtained has shown that this method is significant in practical application, and it can also simplify the surveying instruments.


International roughness index is globally accepted among road operators. However, the roughness value tends to be lower evaluated on road surface containing impulsive and spotted distress types. In this study, by distributing longitudinal road profiles into nine octave bands and focusing on maximum profile height of each band, an appropriate assessment length detectable to such sporadic uncomfortable spots was clarified. A subjective rating study using a driving simulator specially designed for road-surface impulse was then conducted. As a result, a new repair criterion indicating discomforts for road users was proposed as 8 mm/m in terms of 10-meter-based IRI. Finally the proposed criterion was validated as appropriate after examining the relation between users' opinions regarding surface defects and the newly defined IRI values obtained on Japanese nationwide expressways. 世界標準の平坦性指標である国際ラフネス指数(IRI)は,局部的な路面の変状に対して,過小評価されるという課題がある.本研究では,局部変状区間の縦断プロファイルを9オクターブバンドに分割し,分割したバンドごとの最大振幅を算出する手法により,局部変状評価に適したIRIの算出延長を明らかにした.また,道路利用者が不快と感じる路面の補修推奨値を,路面評価型ドライビングシュミレータを用いた被験者評価試験により検討した.その結果,局部変状路面の補修推奨値として,10m評価基準長のIRIを8mm/mとすることを提案した.また,高速道路によせられた道路利用者の意見と,その区間のIRIを照査したところ,提案した補修推奨値の妥当性が確認できた.


The utility model discloses an intelligent fume cupboard comprising an upconversion integrator, a display, a contactor, a protector, an air switch, a wiring terminal module and a connected fan, wherein the protector is connected with the contactor through a line; the contactor is connected with the air switch through a line; and a plurality of wiring terminals arranged in the wiring terminal module are respectively and correspondingly connected to the upconversion integrator, the display, the contactor, the protector, the air switch and the fan through lines. The intelligent fume cupboard is characterized in that the display is integrated with an infrared sensor, a wind speed sensor and a temperature sensor; and the infrared sensor is used for detecting whether people are around an operative surface, and then a corresponding working mode is selected. The intelligent fume cupboard is simple to operate, is capable of automatically regulating air quantity to meet the demand of working and is economical and energy-saving.


Abstract: In this paper, the level set method, suitable for free boundary problems, is applied to snow avalanches. To this aim, the system constituted by air and avalanche is considered as a domain composed by two fluids having different densities and viscosities. In particular a shear thinning fluid-like constitutive behavior is assumed for snow as well as a Newtonian one. Simulations show, for instance, the transport of avalanche mass towards the head and that the head of the avalanche is faster than its tail, as confirmed by experimental observations. An important aspect is that this model allows to describe the shape variation, the velocity and the pressure, outputs of fundamental importance to describe correctly the interaction between the avalanches and the structures located along the avalanche path. In conclusion, although these results are still qualitative, they confirm that the proposed method can be adequately refined to describe the real behaviour of avalanches. Keywords:


Public housing increasingly commands public attention. Scarcely a day goes by without reports in the media about the physical, managerial, and social problems that plague some publicly-owned housing developments. Accounts of appalling apartment conditions,1 corrupt administrators,' and innocent bystanders killed by gang warfare s are commonplace. Negative images of public housing have even found their way into popular culture.


We propose a multimodal quantitative imaging technique by integrating off-axis interferometric phase microscopy (IPM) and fluorescence microscopy, for measuring morphological changes of cells induced by hyper-osmotic pressure.
Based on the collected data, we calculated the temporal dependence of various physiological parameters during osmotic pressure induced by the cell surrounding-medium change. This technique is expected to be a useful for observing the dynamics of live cells, while obtaining both quantitative imaging capabilities and molecular specificity of specific cellular organelles.


Certain strains of Streptomyces were found to convert l-methionine into 3-methylthio-propylamine (MTPA), but not d-methionine. Now, optical resolution of DL-methionine was attempted using this phenomenon. Streptomyces sp. K37 was cultured in a medium containing DL-methionine (10 mg/ml). The culture filtrate was applied to a column of Diaion SA-21A (OH form). MTPA was recovered from the effluent by ether exraction. The Diaion SA-21A was eluted with 1N HCl and the eluate was applied to a column of Diaion SK-1 (H form). d-Methionine was eluted from the column with 1N NH4OH and recovered after concentration, decolorization with active carbon, and precipitation with ethanol. The yields of MTPA and d-methionine from the broth were 69.5% and 89.5%, respectively.


Although the Australian federation came into being in 1901 under the authority of the British Imperial Parliament in London, the decision to federate, and the terms and conditions upon which it occurred, were all negotiated and agreed to by elected representatives of the several constituent states. The constituent states of the federation had secured independent powers of local self-government and constitutional self-determination in the 1850s, and when considering the possibility of forming a federation, they were not willing to give up those powers to a consolidated central government. In this respect, they looked to the examples of other historic federations, such as Switzerland and the United States, as models of government in which the constituent states agreed to form a federal level of government for certain 'national' purposes, while retaining a fundamental capacity to govern themselves independently in all other respects. The design of the Australian Constitution reflected this fundamental principle, particularly in the specifically limited competences conferred upon the federal institutions of government, the reservation of all other powers to the states, the representation of the states as equals within one of the houses of the federal parliament, and the requirement that any additional changes to the federal compact would have to be agreed to by a majority of people in a majority of states. Since the formation of the Australian federation, the High Court of Australia has not consistently interpreted the Constitution in a manner that gives effect to the intentions of its framers. Although the Constitution was designed to maintain a kind of balance between the federal and state levels of government, the general trend in Australia has been to towards increasing centralisation. There are several strategies that might be adopted to attempt to reverse this trend. One of the most radical would involve the state governments initiating a process whereby the state constitutions would be submitted to their respective peoples for ratification and approval by referendum. Such an initiative has the potential to reinvigorate the role and constitutional standing of the states within the federation. This is because, at present, only the federal constitution has been popularly ratified, and the democratic foundations of the federation have been one of the underlying reasons why the High Court has given interpretive priority to the powers of the federation in preference to those of the states. While the practical implications of such a change cannot be predicted with absolute certainty, if the state constitutions were ratified by their respective peoples, it would give the Court reason to consider the states as locations of constitutional, democratic self-governance at least as fundamental to the federation as the government of the federation as a whole, just as the framers had originally intended, and to interpret the federal Constitution in that light.


This paper examines the influence that the Austrian writer and political activist Hermann Broch had on Hannah Arendt's ideas on human rights. By examining the correspondence between Broch and Arendt and comparing the two authors' writings on human rights, the paper argues that Broch gave general impulses that provoked Arendt's thinking on human rights and that Arendt is indebted to Broch in regard to some points of detail. It concludes, however, that Arendt did not derive her main theoretical innovations directly from Broch.


Logical pluralism is the view according to which there is more than one relation of logical consequence, even within a given language. A recent articulation of this view has been developed in terms of quantification over different cases: classical logic emerges from consistent and complete cases; constructive logic from consistent and incomplete cases, and paraconsistent logic from inconsistent and complete cases. We argue that this formulation causes pluralism to collapse into either logical nihilism or logical universalism. In its place, we propose a modalist account of logical pluralism that is independently well motivated and that avoids these collapses.


This syllabus is an attempt to introduce a post-9/11 perspective into the study of religion and Mexican American literature.  It considers how Mexican American literary texts represent religion and spirituality, and what those representations say about post-9/11 domestic and global cross-racial relations.


EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY FORERUNNERS OF VATICAN II: EARLY MODERN CATHOLIC REFORM AND THE SYNOD OF PISTOIA Shaun L. Blanchard Marquette University, 2018 This dissertation sheds further light on the nature of church reform and the roots of the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) through a study of eighteenth-century Catholic reformers who anticipated Vatican II. The most striking of these examples is the Synod of Pistoia (1786), the high-water mark of "late Jansenism." Most of the reforms of the Synod were harshly condemned by Pope Pius VI in the Bull Auctorem fidei (1794), and late Jansenism was totally discredited in the increasingly ultramontane nineteenth-century Catholic Church. Nevertheless, many of the reforms implicit or explicit in the Pistoian agenda – such as an exaltation of the role of bishops, an emphasis on infallibility as a gift to the entire church, religious liberty, a simpler and more comprehensible liturgy that incorporates the vernacular, and the encouragement of lay Bible reading and Christocentric devotions – were officially promulgated at Vatican II. The first chapter describes the nature of Vatican II reform as ressourcement, aggiornamento, and the development of doctrine. The "hermeneutic of reform," proposed by Pope Benedict XVI and approved of by John O'Malley, is put forward as a way past the dead-end of "continuity" and "discontinuity" debates. Chapter two pushes back the story of the roots of Vatican II to the eighteenth century, in which a variety of reform movements, including the Catholic Enlightenment, attempted ressourcement and aggiornamento. The next two chapters investigate the context and reforms enacted by Bishop Scipione de'Ricci (1741–1810) and the Synod of Pistoia, paying special attention to their parallels with Vatican II, and arguing that some of these connections are deeper than mere surface-level affinity. Chapter five considers the reception of Pistoia, shows why these reforms failed, and uses the criteria of Yves Congar to judge them as "true" or "false" reform. The final chapter proves that the Synod was a "ghost" present at the Council. The council fathers struggled with, and ultimately enacted, many of the same ideas. This study complexifies the story of the roots of the Council, the nature of Catholic reform, and the manner in which the contemporary church is continuous and discontinuous with the past.


Background COVID-19, caused by SARS-CoV-2, has devastated incarcerated people throughout the United States. Objective The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility and acceptability of a COVID-19 Health Review for Correctional Facilities. Methods The COVID-19 Health Review survey for the Department of Corrections was developed in Qualtrics to assess the following: (1) COVID-19 testing, (2) providing personal protective equipment, (3) vaccination procedures, (4) quarantine procedures, (5) COVID-19 mortality rates for inmates, (6) COVID-19 mortality rates for correctional officers and prison staff, (7) COVID-19 infection rates for inmates, (8) COVID-19 infection rates for correctional officers and prison staff, and (9) uptake of COVID-19 vaccines. The estimated time to review the Alabama State Department of Corrections COVID-19 responses on their website and complete the survey items was 45 minutes to 1 hour. Results Of the 21 participants who completed the COVID-19 Health Review for Correctional Facilities survey, 48% (n=10) identified as female, 43% (n=9) identified as male, and 10% (n=2) identified as transgender. For race, 29% (n=6) self-identified as Black or African American, 24% (n=5) Asian, 24% (n=5) White, 5% (n=1) Pacific Islander or Native Hawaiian, and 19% (n=4) Other. In addition, 5 respondents self-identified as returning citizens. For COVID-19 review questions, the majority concluded that information on personal protective equipment was "poor" and "very poor," information on COVID-19 testing was "fair" and above, information on COVID-19 death/infection rates between inmates and staff was "good" and "very good," and information on vaccinations was "good" and "very good." There was a significant difference observed (P=.03) between nonreturning citizens and returning citizens regarding the health grade review with respect to available information on COVID-19 infection rates. Conclusions COVID-19 health reviews may provide an opportunity for the public to review the COVID-19 responses in correctional settings.


In July 2004 the Department of Anatomy at University College Cork, Ireland, hosted the summer meeting of the Anatomical Society of Great Britain and Ireland in conjunction with a meeting of the Irish National Neuroscience Network. The meeting and symposium, entitled 'Neural stem and progenitor cells: biology and clinical potential', were organized by Professor Arthur Butt and Dr Kieran McDermott. Papers arising from the first part of the symposium were published as a special issue of the Journal of Anatomy in September 2005. Here we present six articles arising from the presentations given in the second part of the symposium. These articles address the issue of the definition of NG2-expressing stem cells in the adult central nervous system (CNS) and their roles in regeneration and remyelination. The discovery of the NG2 chondroitin sulphate proteoglycan (CSPG) by Stallcup and colleagues over 20 years ago led to the identification of a significant population of NG2-expressing cells in the mature mammalian CNS. We are fortunate to have contributions in this special edition from Joel Levine and Akiko Nishiyama, two of the original investigators of NG2 research. Since their discovery, NG2-expressing cells have been variously described as a subtype of astrocyte (e.g. β -astrocytes, astrons), adult O-2A progenitor cells, oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), novel glia (NG2-glia, synantocytes, polydendrocytes) and neural stem cells. In the symposium, Geoffrey Pilkington also showed that NG2 is expressed by a variety of human brain tumours, suggesting a common descent from NG2-expressing stem cells. Nonetheless, expression of NG2 in the normal adult brain defines what appears to be a single class of glia. The general consensus is that NG2-glia are more than simple stem cells, but the confusion continues, not least because they have multiple functions in the adult CNS. Nishiyama et al. examine the relationship between NG2-glia and astrocytes, and address the question of whether they represent overlapping or distinct glial cell populations. It is concluded that NG2-glia and astrocytes are functionally segregated populations. This theme is continued in the paper by Butt et al. , who describe the relationships between NG2-glia and neural and glial elements in the adult CNS. Evidence is provided that NG2-glia are responsive to neuronal and glial signals, and it is suggested that NG2-glia are a novel kind of mature glial cell, called 'synantocytes' (from the Greek synanto , contact). The physiological significance of these interactions is unresolved, but it is known that NG2-glia are highly responsive to demyelinating insults and to injury. Polito & Reynolds present the evidence that NG2-glia can regenerate oligodendrocytes throughout life and following demyelination, and therefore serve the function of adult OPCs. Levine et al. review the function of NG2-glia in contributing to the axon growth inhibitory glial scar after CNS injury. In their paper, Sellers & Horner describe how instructive niches may regulate the divergent fate of NG2-expressing cells. The importance of the NG2 CSPG in cell–cell interactions is discussed further in the paper by Trotter et al. These articles demonstrate the diverse properties of NG2-glia and the NG2 CSPG. Both are possible targets of therapies aimed at brain tumours, regeneration of neurons, remyelination and axon regeneration. An important question is what signals control the fate of NG2-expressing glia.


The dielectric constant ε and electron spin resonance spectra of Mn ions have been studied in the range of the ferroelectric phase transition in Li2Ge7O15 single crystals. Analysis of the experimental data permits one to estimate the critical exponents of dielectric susceptibility γ ∼= 1.25, order parameter β ∼= 0.32 and correlation length ν ∼= 0.63. The values of the critical exponents determined in a fairly broad temperature interval around Tc, are consistent with the theoretical predictions of the Ising model with a one-component non-polar ordering coordinate.


Taking Datong City as an example,this paper analyzed the development pattern and expounded the geo-economic relations between Datong and the surrounding cities,then the authors thought the direction and strategy of the city's development from the regional perspective.Firstly,through the method of PCA,this paper studied the spatial pattern of the economic development of Datong and its surrounding areas.Secondly,by the method of Euclidean distance in multivariate statistical analysis,the authors determined the economic relationship of Datong and its surrounding areas,and proposed that the city of Datong should be deeply into the capital economic circle,the two cities of Datong and Shuozhou should be considered as a whole and the city of Datong should be developed into a certain influential regional modern city.Finally,this paper put forward some concrete suggestions about the city of Datong blend in the capital economic circle.


In recent years there has been no lack of discussion of questions of literary translation. From time to time such discussions arise, spontaneously or deliberately, brief or extended, like sieges of towns in the Middle Ages. Sometimes the participants in this on-going discussion even forget what they were talking about and bring in extraneous subjects. But this doesn't lessen interest in the problem on the part of translators. Louis Aragon was probably right when he said that "the future belongs to translators."


Accurate information on the concentration of heavy metals in the soil is essential to manage soil contamination. The objective of this study was to investigate the contamination of soil and wheat plants with Ni, Cd, and Pb in the alluvial plain of Tigris River in southern Baghdad. A total of hundred surface soil samples (0-30 cm) and aerial parts of the wheat plant were taken in an area of ~100 km2 at an interval distance of 1000 meters. Heavy metals in air-dried soil samples and plant were extracted by the aqua regia solution and wet digestion method, respectively. The mean concentration of Cd in soil and wheat plant was 0.4 and 1.1 mg kg-1, respectively. The amount of plant-Cd was higher than the allowable standards of FAO and WHO. Mean Pb concentration in the soil of the study area was 14.5 mg kg-1. The concentration of Pb in the plant was less than the detection limit of the device. The mean concentration of Ni in the soil and plant was 214 and 17 mg kg-1, respectively, which was more than the allowable standards of FAO and WHO. The source of Ni is fine sediments transferred from eroded ultramafic rocks in the upper part of the river. A positive correlation between Pb and Cd in the soil indicates a similar origin. They were added to the soil by agricultural activities and vehicles. The results showed that the studied soils are at the beginning of the contamination with Cd and Pb, which needs to be considered to prevent more contamination.


An outer member, which is tubular and receives the one or more conductive channels and protects is provided with a non-recessed form, and with a plurality of projections projecting on an inner surface of the outer tube element. The plurality of projections each have substantially arc-like shapes which extend in a direction of a tube inner circumference, and the plurality of projections are arranged alternately in a zigzag fashion along an axial direction of the pipe.


Objective To summarize the experiences about 120 cases undergone renal transplantation. Methods Recipient included 79 men and 41 women. 112 patients suffered chronic glomerulonephritis and 2 polycystic kidney. Anesthesia induction: fentannvl,droperidol,propofol,vecuronium and perdipine were injected in vein and endotracheal intubation or laryngeal mask. Use breathing apparatus for mechanical ventilation. Nitrous oxygen,propofol,fentanvl and vecuronium were used to maintenance of anesthesia. Nitroglycerin and perdipine were used to control high blood pressure. Colloid and blood were used for fluid replacement. Step up the speed of transfusion,offering dopamine and redressing acid base disequilibrium before the opening vascular anastomosis. Results The operative time was 1.8~6.5h. All patients were wakefulness and endotracheal extubation in 30min, there was no anesthetic death and complications. Conclusion Sufficient preoperation,reasonable usage of anesthetic and maintenance of perioperative circulation,breathe, water electrolyte and acid base balance were the key for successful general anesthesia of renal transplantion.


A method of stress analysis of pavements under a wheel load of non-circular contact pattern and non-uniform pressure distribution is explained, and applied to the calculation of stress distribution of concrete pavement slab under several kinds of load contact patterns. In comparison of the calculated results, the load contact patterns do not affect so greatly the state of stress in concrete pavements from a practical viewpoint, and such a contact pattern as that of dual wheels can be approximated in engineering design by a circular pattern of uniformly distributed load. These results were theoretically investigated and examined by a photoelastic experiment.(a) (this paper was also published in technology reports, tohoku univ (1977) 42 (1), 215-27.) for the covering record of the workshop, see IRRD no 811610.


This review examines the evidence that the level of physical activity (PA) or total energy expenditure during adolescence affects body adiposity in the obese and nonobese adolescent population. Several cross-sectional studies suggested that obese children were less physically active than their nonobese peers, but there was no consistent difference in the total energy expenditure. The likelihood that infants of obese mothers become obese at age 1 year is greater if their total energy expenditure (using the doubly labeled water technique) is lower at age 3 months. Many interventional studies in the general adolescent population show a small (1-3% body fat) reduction in adiposity as a result of physical training. It appears, though, that programs longer than one year are more efficacious than shorter programs. Lifestyle activities (e.g., walking to and from school) appear to have a more lasting effect than regimented activities (e.g., calisthenics or jogging).


This paper proposes a set of evaluation indicators for mobility in the context of low carbon green city. Instead of focusing on the observable movements of people and vehicles, we conceptualize mobility as a potential function of the spatial configuration of street network that may facilitate or obstruct the movements. Among those indicators are total street length, mean travelling distance, the number of intersections, the number of cycles, and the skewness of distance distribution. We first establish a method of extracting a standard format of digital map from the OpenstreetMap platform and then proceed to analyze the relationship of the mobility indicators for the case of 28 worldwide city samples. Final discussions are made with regard to how we could employ the results for the benefit of the realization of sustainable urban form.


The constant subject,which the painter Yang Bing pursues,is to restore local national culture.He makes good use of unique painting language to show national happiness and beauty in front of us.This expresses a kind of standing he has towards national culture,and in some way also changes observers' attitudes towards life in existence.


The Electre method aims as objective the choosing of the best variant in the conditions of existence of some decision criteria. A subjective factor in the method consists in choosing the coefficients of importance. This paper proposes an objective method of determining the coefficients of importance using the standard deviation of the utilities for each criterion.


Cognitive behavior therapy (CBT) is a psychotherapy approach for the treatment of depression in older adult populations. This article discusses an extension of CBT to include mindfulness and acceptance skills for the treatment of depression in older adults with comorbid medical illness. Findings support that a brief intervention of 12 weeks was effective in producing a clinically significant change in depression and quality of life at the completion of therapy and at follow-up. This suggests that mindfulness and acceptance skills in addition to CBT skills may be an effective intervention for the treatment of depression of older adults with chronic medical illnesses.


Biomass feedstocks contain roughly 10-30% lignin, a substance that can not be converted to fermentable sugars. Hence, most schemes for producing biofuels (ethanol) assume that the lignin coproduct will be utilized as boiler fuel to provide heat and power to the process. However, the chemical structure of lignin suggests that it will make an excellent high value fuel additive, if it can be broken down into smaller molecular units. From fiscal year 1997 through fiscal year 2001, Sandia National Laboratories was a participant in a cooperative effort with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the University of Utah to develop and scale a base catalyzed depolymerization (BCD) process for lignin conversion. SNL's primary role in the effort was to utilize rapidly heated batch microreactors to perform kinetic studies, examine the reaction chemistry, and to develop alternate catalyst systems for the BCD process. This report summarizes the work performed at Sandia during FY97 and FY98 with alcohol based systems. More recent work with aqueous based systems will be summarized in a second report.


The leaves of Hancornia speciosa Gomes (Apocynaceae), a medicinal species found in the Brazilian cerrado biome, are traditionally used to treat wounds and inflammatory disorders. The goal of the present study was to investigate the in vitro wound healing properties of ethanolic extract of H. speciosa leaves and its isolated compounds, using the scratch assay, and to evaluate their effects on the release of the pro‐inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor (TNF‐α) by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)‐stimulated human acute monocytic (THP‐1) cells. H. speciosa ethanolic extract significantly increased (42.8% ± 5.4 at 25 µg/mL) cell migration and proliferation of fibroblasts compared with control cells, as well as the isolated compounds bornesitol (80.8% ± 5.1) and quinic acid (69.1% ± 6.2), both assayed at 50 μM. TNF‐α release by LPS‐stimulated THP‐1 cells was significantly reduced by the ethanolic extract (62.9% ± 8.2, i.e. 1791.1 ± 394.7 pg/mL) at 10 µg/mL, bornesitol (48.9% ± 0.9, i.e. 2461.6 ± 43.1 pg/mL) at 50 μM, and quinic acid (90.2% ± 3.4, i.e. 473.5 ± 164.4 pg/mL) and rutin (82.4% ± 5.6, i.e. 847.0 ± 271.8 pg/mL) at 10 μM. These results provided evidences to support the traditional use of H. speciosa leaves to treat wounds and inflammatory disorders. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Surveys made at wavelengths shorter than 100 microns are criticized in that they are biased against finding the coldest, most deeply obscured, and possibly youngest protostars. Large scale mapping of star forming regions in the submillimeter continuum and in lines such as CS H2CO and NH3, that are excited at high density, is identified as crucial in order to find clouds in the earliest stages of collapse into stars. The use of photometry from 1 to 1000 microns in characterizing the disks around embedded stars and T Tauri stars is outlined.


Spectrum trading is an important aspect of television white space (TVWS) and it is driven by the failure of spectrum sensing techniques. In spectrum trading, the primary users lease their unoccupied spectrum to the secondary users for a market fee. Although spectrum trading is considered as a reliable approach, it is confronted with a spectrum transaction completion time problem, which negatively impacts on end-users Quality of Service and Quality of Experience metrics. Spectrum transaction completion time is the duration to successfully conduct TVWS spectrum trading. To address this issue, this paper proposes simple mechanism auction reward truthful (SMART), a fast and iterative machine learning-assisted spectrum trading model to address this issue. Simulated results indicate that SMART out-performs referenced VERUM algorithm in three key performance indicators: bit-error rate, instantaneous throughput, and probability of dropped packets by 10%, 5%, and 15%, respectively.


Deformation behavior of a supercooled liquid region in melt-spun Zr60Al15Ni25 and Zr65Al7:5Cu27:5 metallic glass was investigated. The viscous flow behavior is very sensitive to the strain rate and the size of crystalline precipitates, which can be classified into 4 types based on shape of the stress–strain curve: stress overshoot mode, stable viscous flow mode with constant flow stress, strain hardening mode and strain softening mode. The strain hardening and strain softening are due to the crystalline phase distribution in supercooled liquid. The strain hardening mode was observed in Zr60Al15Ni25, while Zr65Al7:5Cu27:5 deformed with strain softening mode rather than strain hardening mode. Tensile deformation enhanced thermal crystallization in a supercooled liquid region was observed in Zu60Al15Ni25.


Abstract Forecast ensembles typically show a spread–skill relationship, but they are also often underdispersive, and therefore uncalibrated. Bayesian model averaging (BMA) is a statistical postprocessing method for forecast ensembles that generates calibrated probabilistic forecast products for weather quantities at individual sites. This paper introduces the spatial BMA technique, which combines BMA and the geostatistical output perturbation (GOP) method, and extends BMA to generate calibrated probabilistic forecasts of whole weather fields simultaneously, rather than just weather events at individual locations. At any site individually, spatial BMA reduces to the original BMA technique. The spatial BMA method provides statistical ensembles of weather field forecasts that take the spatial structure of observed fields into account and honor the flow-dependent information contained in the dynamical ensemble. The members of the spatial BMA ensemble are obtained by dressing the weather field forecasts from t...


High speed machining is the core technology that influences the performance of machine tools, and the high speed motor spindle is widely used for the high speed machine tools recently. The important problem in this spindle is to reduce and minimize the thermal effect by motor and bearing. This paper presents the thermal characteristic analysis of cooling existence of rear part. An analysis on the thermal characteristics of spindle is performed according to the cooling oil flow and rpm by using finite element method and experiment. This result can be applied to the design and manufacture of a high speed motor spindle.


This paper mainly expounds the application of the embedded PLC and touch screen in control system of road construction machinery. Through the analysis of the control demand,the control system is designed including hardware configuration and software design of embedded PLC and touch screen. The practice has proved that the system is reliable in operation.


n our contemporary cultural pecking order, a television show aimed specifically at teenagers probably ranks low in the established scheme of literary value. Epithets range from the dismissive ("no better than a soap opera") to the outright derogatory ("utter trash"). Yet teenage television is engaging a social group that explores new literacies and crosses media boundaries more readily than most. If Frank Zingrone is right and "[a] one-medium user is the new illiterate" (23 7), then it may be that the knowledge, skills, and attitudes developed by viewers of teenage television series represent new ground in the complex area of how we interact with texts in a fast-changing world. I explore this proposition using the example of the Warner Brothers Television cult series Felicity, created by J. J. Abrams and Matt Reeves. This program aired, sometimes erratically, over a period of four years until its cancellation in 2002, surviving for as long as it did at least partly because of pressure from fans. Its viewing figures were not enormous but its viewers were extremely loyal. In this essay, I investigate questions of what the New London Group calls "multiliteracies" through


Since the GPR measurements are a major component of the study I would like to have some radargrams included showing the reflection of the ice table from the characteristic sections (see e.g. Fig. 6). Also the related frost probe measurements may be indicated therein. The authors may also have a look at the paper of Moorman et al. (2003), PPP 14: 319–329, who discuss the identification of massive ground ice bodies using GPR. Such a discussion of the radargrams may substantiate the ground ice theory for SAC basin.


Bi-2201 system oxide superconducting crystals with or without doped La are grown by Verneuil method and travelling melt zone method by CO2-laser heating. Single crystals though tiny reveal microstep line structures on their surfaces produced by lateral crystal growth mechanism. The fundamental step height is measured as 12A which is equal to the half unit cell dimension. Bi, Cu and O, respectively, distribute nearly uniformly in the crystal, while Sr and La do not display uniform distribution. As an interesting characterics the concentration of Sr and La is complementary between the two. This suggests the a replacement of Sr in the crystal lattice by La is taking place. Occasionally magnetic susceptibility and electrical resistivity proved the occurrence of superconductivity but the reproducibility is rather inferior.


The status accorded to adult education among universities-based educators and researchers appears to be very low. This may be due to scanty knowledge about the discipline and wrong perception held by the bureaucrats, policy makers and administrators within and outside the university system. The Hamburg Declaration in 1997 underscores the importance of adult education when it describes it as a key to the twenty-first century. Realising the fact that adult education is needed in this 21st century, it follows that provision of higher degree programme should be well staffed and properly managed in order to produce learners that will contribute meaningfully to the development of the society. Therefore, this study entitled: "staffing and managing human resources of higher degree programme of adult education in universities in Nigeria" is embarked upon. The aim of the study is to improve human and institutional capacity for required manpower in adult education for national development. The objectives of the study include: to identify and discuss framework for staffing higher degree programme in adult education in Nigerian universities; to find out how human resources for production of higher degrees students are sourced and managed; to assess framework for ensuring inclusiveness in managing higher degree adult education programme in universities; to explore strategies that can be employed to make adult education popular and acceptable among educators and researchers in universities; to explore motivational factors for students' enrollment in adult education higher degree programme; and to examine learning delivery techniques of lecturers/faculty in higher degree programme of adult education. The work employed research design of the survey type. Seven federal and state universities offering adult education at higher degree level were sampled. Statistical instruments were employed to analyse the data collected. All the results were decided at point 05 level of confidence with appropriate degree of freedom. The study revealed that 86.3% of the respondents opined that lack of understanding of the concept of adult education prevented people from enrolling into the course in the university, while 13.7% felt otherwise. Majority of the respondents (89.8%) held that Universities in Nigeria do not discriminate against any sex (male or female) when admitting students for any education programme including adult education, while 10.2% did not. There is significant difference in the perception of staff and students on the framework that can be used for staffing higher degree programme in adult education in Nigerian universities (X2=2.882, df=3, p > .05). There was no significant difference in the perception of staff and students on how human resources are sourced and managed for production of higher degree students in adult education programme (X2=3.741, df=3, p > .05). There was a significant difference in the perception of staff and students on learning delivery techniques of lecturers/faculty in higher degree programme of adult education (X2=9.336, df=3, p < .05). It is recommended that efforts should be made by the stakeholders to popularise the discipline of adult education with a view to making people to understand its meaning and usefulness to the growth of the society. Adequate budgetary allocation should be made by the owner universities to adult education so as to attract qualified staff, regular payment of salaries and comprehensive welfare programme.


Cluster analysis has been playing an important role in solving many problems in pattern recognition and image processing. The fuzzy clustering has been widely used in pattern recognition to search for substructures in a multidimensional data space. Unsupervised clustering algorithms have a variable number of clusters as opposed to supervised clustering algorithms. Unsupervised clustering algorithms utilize various criteria to decide if and how to introduce a new cluster center. Three new methods for selection of a new cluster center in the K-means fuzzy clustering algorithm are presented in this paper. The comparison of new techniques is done with respect to cluster validity and speed of convergence. The technique is applied to the problem of segmentation of human head images obtained by Computed Tomography (CT). Experiments have been performed to compare the proposed techniques with respect to convergence speed and cluster validity measures.