terested, the subsidy should be paid by the state. If it is deemed advisable, distribution may be made later. There is, of course, the other side to the cost problem, the question of raising sufficient revenue to pay the minimum cost of operation may be transferred from the transportation system to the state, and municipalities. The large amount of taxes paid by the traction companies, and their contributions towards building and maintaining streets, highways, and bridges, and the numerous other contributions direct and indirect when no longer available, will leave a considerable shortage in the public revenue, and this, of course, must be made good and the additional fun s for subsidies, if required, must be obtained. I shall not, at this time at any ratey attempt to answer these q estions; it certai ly pr sents another serious problem for the taxing authorities, a d emphasizes the neces ity, caused by constantly increasing demands for new revenue, of a just and equitable distribution f the tax burden, the imperative need of good laws, sound theory and excellent practice in the assessment and collection of taxes, if the situation is to be properly dealt with.


The researchers across the world are actively engaged in strategic development of new porous aerogel materials for possible application of these extraordinary materials in the biomedical field. Due to their excellent porosity and established biocompatibility, aerogels are now emerging as viable solutions for drug delivery and other biomedical applications. This chapter aims to cover the diverse aerogel materials used across the globe for different biomedical applications including drug delivery, implantable devices, regenerative medicine encompassing tissue engineering and bone regeneration, and biosensing.


We have conducted measurements at five different thermal neutron wavelengths to determine the transmission characteristics of a tapered monolithic focusing lens with a focal length of 100 mm, suitable for time-of-flight diffraction. Both the width of the focused beam and the intensity gain of the optic increase as a function of wavelength. We have performed similar measurements on a polychromatic beam on a pulsed neutron source, where the results are subject to background from short wavelength neutrons. The use of a beryllium filter shows the increased effective gain for the longer wavelengths at the expense of an increased focused beam width by a factor of 2.


Abstract Ideological and political education in colleges and universities is faced with opportunities and challenges due to the social environment of new media technology's rapid development. The carrier, mode, content, and means of education have all changed and gradually become innovative; against the backdrop of mixed network information and various forms of education, it is novel to conduct ideological and political education on the basis of network normality. The author examines the issues with the current ideological and political education in colleges and universities. According to the author, the ideological and political education in colleges and universities based on the ADDIE model has the significance of developing new approaches, breaking down barriers of time and space, and fostering knowledge construction.


Recent authors reported a cerebellar contribution to cognitive functions such as executive function, personality, spatial cognition, language and memory. Middleton and Strick showed the neuroanatomical projection from the dentate nucleus to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Patients with cerebellar diseases were reported to have cognitive impairment in their neuropsychological assessments. The present patient with cerebellar hemorrhage showed disorder of executive function and memory disorder in his neuropsy-chological assessments. In his daily living, we found him to exhibit a distractible affection and disinhibition, which often disrupted the rehabilitation processes. A brain MRI showed no lesions in the bilateral frontal areas but SPECT showed a lower blood flow there. To approach these cases, we should recognize the existence of impaired higher brain function, and not only be mindful of motor deficits.


Fish avoidance of vessels can bias fisheries-independent surveys. To understand these biases, recordings of underwater radiated vessel noise from a noise-reduced and a conventional research vessel were played back at the same sound pressure levels (SPL) as experienced in situ to Atlantic herring (Clupea harengus) in a net pen at two different densities. The noise-reduced vessel recording was also scaled to the same SPL as the conventional vessel to test if characteristics other than SPL affected the reactions. Overall, only weak reactions were observed, but reactions were stronger in the low-density school, in the middle of the pen, and for the scaled silent vessel compared with the conventional vessel. These observations may be attributable to the lack of low frequencies (<50 Hz) in the playbacks, differential motivation for reaction driven by fish density, higher low-frequency noise in the middle of the pen (but lower overall SPL), and characteristics other than SPL. These results call into question the...


Circulation has become the city's comprehensive competitiveness of the important factors.Circulation of the city's economic development is becoming increasingly important.The city's comprehensive competitiveness is productivity,circulation and cultural competitiveness of the multiplier,productivity of a city is not negotiable,circulation or not strong impact not only realize the value of the commodity,Cities will lose the basis of competitive conditions.Vigorously promoting the development of stores of urban economic development is the future industrial development policy.


OBJECTIVES: Primary (first and subsequent cycles) prophylaxis with colony stimulating factors is recommended in the 2006 ASCO and EORTC clinical guidelines when the risk of febrile neutropenia (FN) is ≥20%. In clinical practice filgrastim has often been used for fewer than the recommended 11 days, which has been shown to compromise clinical outcomes. This study has evaluated, from an Italian perspective the cost-effectiveness of pegfilgrastim vs. filgrastim (11or 6-days) primary prophylaxis in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy with ≥20% FN risk. METHODS: We constructed a decision-analytic model from a payer's perspective. Direct costs were taken from official price lists or literature data; they included: drugs, drug administration, FN-related hospitalizations and subsequent medical charges. FN risk (varied by days of filgrastim), FN case-fatality, relative dose intensity (RDI) of chemotherapy, its impact on survival, and utility scores were based on a comprehensive literature review and expert panel validation. Breast cancer mortality and all-cause deaths were obtained from official statistics. Model robustness was tested using multi-way sensitivity analyses. RESULTS: Pegfilgrastim appeared to be more effective and less expensive than 11and 6-day filgrastim. The average cost, risk of FN (%), life expectancy and quality-adjusted life year (QALY) per person for pegfilgrastim, 11-day filgrastim, and 6-day filgrastim were €3316, 7%, 16.47 years, and 15.32 QALY; €5240, 12.5%, 16.41 years, and 15.27 QALY and €3630, 17.5%, 16.35 years, and 15.22 QALY, respectively. The results were sensitive to the relative costs of drugs and FN risk. Age and cancer stage had minimal impact. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary data confirm that primary prophylaxis with pegfilgrastim may improve health outcomes and suggest that, in Italy, it could be cost-saving when compared with filgrastim (also for less than 11 days). A larger application of the sensitivity analyses will be necessary to further validate the model.


The invention discloses a wastewater treatment process of a flat membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis comprehensive membrane integrated system, which comprises the following steps of: carrying out aerobic biochemical treatment or anoxic and aerobic combined biochemical treatment on pretreated textile wastewater; then charging the wastewater into a membrane bioreactor adopting a flat type polyvinylidene fluoride membrane module for treating; and carrying out reverse osmosis treatment on the produced water of the membrane bioreactor by a brackish water reverse osmosis membrane. The treated water obtained after treating the textile wastewater by the invention has the total hardness of lower than 0.2ppmas CaCO3 and the conductivity of 10-200uS/cm. The produced water meets the recycling requirement on factory water and can be used as industrial water. The process solves the problems of special substance, higher-dissolubility solid concentration, organic matter concentration, large chemical component fluctuation, and the like in textile wastewater, the treated water quality is stable and reliable, and the operations of membrane cleaning, and the like are simple and easy.


In recent years, the pollution of ecological waters, especially the litter floating on the ocean surface, has emerged as a pressing economic, political, and environmental concern of the international society. The development of a widely applicable, safe, reliable and cost-saving marine surface litter collection device has drawn considerable attention. In this paper, an innovative shallow-sea floating surface litter collection device (later referred to as SFSLCD) is proposed first, including its concept design, dimensions and key parameters, working scheme, and mooring system. Second, the hydrostatic and hydrodynamic characteristics of SFSLCD are derived through numerical modeling. Last, the safety of SFSLCD in normal and rough sea states is validated in terms of its good seakeeping performance using the coastal condition of Dapeng Bay, Shenzhen, China. It is proven that this litter collection device equipped with photovoltaic panels to supply power can operate in waters of depth between 5 and 15 m in seas, rivers and lakes.


In this paper we consider a two- echelon inventory system consisting of one supplier and a number of retailers with independent Poisson demand. Unsatisfied demands in retailers are lost and it is assumed that there is a constraint on total lost sales for the system. Each retailer applies a new ordering policy called one-for-one-period ordering policy for its inventory control. In this ordering policy the order size is equal to one and the time interval between any two consecutive orders is fixed. Thus, the supplier faces a uniform and deterministic demand originated from each retailer and applies one for one ordering policy in response to orders received from all retailers. For this system we derive the total cost function per unit time and show that it is convex. Then, we obtain the optimal time intervals between any two consecutive orders for all retailers which minimizes this total cost function.


A systematic study on wet air oxidation (WAO) of highly concentrated emulsification wastewater was performed in a 2 L high-pressure batch autoclave,with emphasis on the removal effect of COD_(Cr),TOC and influence factors.The experimental results indicated that the temperature was the key factor and the best feasible temperature was 220 ℃,and that 86.4% of COD_(Cr) and 79.5% of TOC (initial COD_(Cr) 48 000 mg/L) in the wastewater were removed in 2 h.Oxidation was restricted without enough oxygen,it was fitting when the supply of oxygen was (1.0~1.25) p(O_2)~*.WAO had a good performance in the treatment of emulsified wastewater in a wider range.The pH of input water had little influence on the oxidaton efficiency.


A method for predicting the trajectory of an unmanned vehicle using graphs and a network of long short-term memory (LSTM) is developed. The learning model of LSTM network uses an encoder and decoder structure. Based on the graph and the attention mechanism, the encoder encodes information about the received trajectory to form a feature vector, which is puted to the decoder to predict future trajectories. To cope with multimodality in predicting vehicle maneuvers, module of convolutional network (CNN) is used. These two networks: LSTM and CNN are integrated for multimodal trajectory prediction.

Keywords
unmanned vehicle, trajectory prediction, maneuver, graph, LSTM, CNN, attention mechanism


Climate change is a global issue posing challenges to sustainable agriculture, biodiversity and development. The impacts of climate change are pronounced in Eastern and Southern African countries more than any other regions of the continent. Climate change poses a serious risk to agriculture, natural resources, biodiversity and subsequently poverty reduction efforts in the region. The problems associated with climate change: food-insecurity, malnutrition, poverty and biodiversity loss are interwoven and remain as primary development challenge to Eastern and Sothern African countries. Agriculture, the pillar of the economies of the region has been practiced for millennia largely without modern science and technology. The agricultural productivity of the region is lower than in other African regions. Addressing these challenges requires sustained investment in human capital to generate new technologies and innovations. Yet the current human and institutional capacity of the region generally falls short of meeting these challenges. There is also a growing recognition that new approaches and technologies are needed, with new alliances and partnerships and a renewed vision for building regional strengths to combat these challenges more effectively. The African Center of Excellence for Climate Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation (ClimateSABC) at Haramaya University in Ethiopia was proposed in response to the World Bank's African Centres of Excellence (ACE II) initiative. The objective of ClimateSABC is to produce skilled human capital through research-based quality post-graduate programs and shortterm, skill-based training courses. We plan to upgrade our teaching and research facilities, support development and implementation of appropriate curricula and research programs through an integrated and holistic approach with our partners from other universities in the Eastern and Southern African region and other parts of the world. At the Centre, Master's and PhD level training will be provided and applied research will be conducted focusing on generating climate smart agricultural technologies, intensifying agriculture, promoting and enhancing practices of climate smart agriculture, and exploring sustainable conservation and utilization of biodiversity. A doctoral ( PhD) program to be offered under the auspices of the Climate Smart Agriculture and Biodiversity Conservation will have four sub-specializations (Crop Sciences, Livestock Sciences, Soil and Water Science, and Policy, Institution and Innovation Studies). Five MSc programs will be offered, with two new ones (Climate Smart 62 Nigussie Dechassa et al. Agriculture, and Biodiversity and Ecosystem Management) and three existing regional ones (Agrometeorology and Natural Risk Management, Agricultural Information and Communication Management, and Collaborative Master's Program in Agricultural and Applied Economics). In addition, short term training programs will be conducted targeting various stakeholders and partners, including technical staff, students, and faculties from regional, international, and national partners aimed at enhancing their knowledge and skills in climate smart agriculture and biodiversity conservation. Regional, international, and national research partnerships will also be established and joint research conducted and publications produced in priority areas in the region. In summary, the project is aimed at producing skilled human capital to tackle challenges posed by climate change through quality post-graduate education and research at Haramaya University in partnership with universities across the Eastern and Southern African Region as well as with other institutions of higher education in the World.


In this paper, the authors introduce a new class of generalized b star - closed map in topological spaces (briefly gbs-closed map) and study some of their properties as well as inter relationship with other closed maps


This paper explores the applicability of Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) and Relevance Vector Machine (RVM) to predict the mechanical properties of fiber reinforced Self-Compacting Concrete (SCC) made up of quartz sand, micro silica and ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS). Mechanical properties were evaluated for three grades of SCC mixes (M40, M50, and M60 with varying percentage of fibers (0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5%) in each mix. Influencing variables were identified from the results of experimental investigations on various SCC mixes with and without fibers. Based on the output and input parameters, MARS establishes appropriate relations by using the concept of divide and conquers strategy. RVM is based on probabilistic classification utilizing the Bayesian formulation. About 70% of the mixed data of various SCC mixes was used for training after normalization of the data. The developed MARS and RVM models were verified with the rest of the data. It was found that MARS and RVM models could predict the mechanical properties of several SCC mixes very efficiently. The maximum variation between the predicted mechanical properties and the experimental observation is about ±12% for MARS model and ±15% for RVM model. Further, the efficacy of models has been tested through several statistical parameters. The developed models are useful to design the optimum experiments and for preliminary analysis of structures and components made up of similar SCC mixes.


The Very-High-Cycle-Fatigue (VHCF) regime of in-service turbine rotor blades of the superalloy GS6K was considered based on tests data for specimens of superalloy EP741 NP in the case of environment temperature 650C. Crack origination in aircraft engine blades has occurring subsurface because of in-service their resonance with frequency approximately 4 kHz during flight under the biaxial cyclic loads of bending-torsion with tension. The material pressing and torsion during crack origination in one of the grains is main mechanism of material subsurface cracking. Crack propagation in-flight takes place with two types of meso-beach-marks formation. The discovered crack path features have been considered, selected and crack growth period in the range of 120 and 160 flights was demonstrated for in-service blades. The stress equivalent for the crack origination in VCHF regime was calculated based on of the wellknown Murakami's area model. It was shown that better stress level estimations ought to be considered with factor 1.0 for the discussed blades failures under biaxial cyclic loading.


This paper briefly presents the results of a quantitative analysis of data collected through the sixth wave of the World Values Survey (WVS) in 2012 in Australia. Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) – a rather sophisticated statistical method to explore interrelated variables/factors and to rule out spurious correlations – is used to explore the social determinants of one of the most routine notions of well-being in the Australian context. The findings, though being based on a rather reductionist measure of Quality of Life, clearly confirm the growing concerns around the inherent paradoxes of 'being well' in a society dominated by the social forces of corporate capital.


Achromatopsia or monochromatopsia is a rare anomaly. Franpis, Verricst and De Rozick (1955) found 215 cases of complete achromatopsia associated with amblyopia in the American and European literature, and Hohki (1938) traced 89 cases in the Japanese literature. Achromatopsia is a hereditary disease which is transmitted as an autosomal recessive character. Ncel et al. (1949) estimated the frequency of the recessive gene as 0.0025-0.0055 in Europe and as 0.0041-0.0069 in Japan. However, the disease is much more common in certain isolated communities with great consanguinity, as, for example, on the island of Fur in Denmark, where the incidence is more than 1 O/o. Parental consanguinity is seen in about 30 "/o of the achromates (Franpis 1958, Waardenberg 1963), but some authors have found much higher percentages. Thus, Hohki (1938) stated that consanguinity was present in 80.5% of the cases. In Japan, consanguineous marriages are far more frequent than in Europe ( N e d et al. 1949). A patient suffering from total colour blindness has almost normal scotopic vision. whereas photopic vision is severely affected. The colours of the spectrum are perceived by their difference in luminosity. The red colour appears very dark to the achromate and is often confused with black. The spectrum is found to be shortened at the red end, and the maximum luminosity is in the green part of the spectrum, not in the yellow section as in normal individuals. The luminosity curve thus corresponds to the scotopic curve for a normal person and is independent of the state of adaptation. No Purkinje phenomenon is observed. The dark-adaptation curve has often only a slight break, or none at all. Electroretinography reveals scotopic, but no photopic, features.


AbstractThis paper presents a process management framework for multisensory data fusion for the purpose of tracking the progress of construction activity. The developed framework facilitates the required type of data fusion at any given point in the construction progress, reliably and efficiently. Data are acquired from high-frequency automated technologies such as three-dimensional (3D) imaging and ultrawideband (UWB) positioning, in addition to foreman reports, schedule information, and other information sources. The results of validation through a detailed field implementation project show that the developed framework for fusing volumetric, positioning, and project control data can successfully address the challenges associated with fusing multisensory data by tracking activities rather than objects, a feature that offers superior capability, efficiency, and accuracy over the length of the project. Other contributions of this research include the development of fusion processes that are performed at hi...


In this paper an improved version of quasiinvariance property of the quasi- hyperbolic metric under Mobius transformation of the unit ball is given, and in a local sense a sharp quasiinvariance property of the quasihyperbolic metric under quasiconfor- mal mappings is proved. Finally we prove several inequalities between the quasihyper- bolic metric and other commonly used metrics such as the hyperbolic metric of the unit ball and chordal metric.


What is the problem all about? Clinical trials are sometimes described as being rather 'blunt' instruments, and that often may be true: we use them to find answers to very broad questions such as 'does this drug work better than a control drug?' But they are also very important and delicate instruments: we use them to find answers to questions such as 'how much does this drug work?' 'what is the safety profile of this drug?' and so on. And in the nature of research, we do not know what the right answer is and we have to rely on the clinical trial to give us the right answer. If anything is broken in the trial, it might give us the wrong answer – but we might have no way of know whether answer is right or wrong (unless we can see a break, or maybe just a dent, in the trial). Bias is one of the big concerns in any trial and it is why we typically use the key building blocks of blinding and randomization. It is also why we typically do not look at the data every week or two and see how one treatment is doing compared with another. We set up an experiment, we allow it to run unhindered, and then we look at the results. The problem (of course) is what should we do if something in the trial is going in a very different direction to where we thought it was? This might be that the new treatment is far better than the control treatment – even to the extent that it is far better than we initially expected. Patients are potentially being disadvantaged by being randomized to the control arm; something needs to be done. Or it might be that our new treatment, while backed by some of the greatest investors and optimists the world has produced, actually is not working. We are wasting a lot of time, resource, patients' goodwill and, not to forget ... quite a lot of money. Something surely needs to be done! So we are in the dilemma of wanting to run a trial, without external interference, maintaining blinding and randomization, but we also want to know what the results look like. Enter the independent data monitoring committee (DMC).


The advantages of Multiple Specular Reflection (MSR) over single reflection grazing incidence infrared spectroscopy are discussed in this paper. A calculation which incorporates the experimental constraints for a multiple reflection setup is performed. The results concerning the angular dependence are confirmed by experiment. The main advantages are a wide angular acceptance and a release of the grazing angle of incidence geometry. Approximately the same sensitivity can be obtained as is theoretically possible with a single reflection at grazing incidence. However, in practice a somewhat higher sensitivity can be obtained with multiple specular reflectance spectroscopy. The sensitivity is illustrated by the measurement of submonolayers of p-bromobenzoic acid chemi-sorbed on an oxidized aluminium flat surface. Comparison with neutron activation analysis data shows that the reflection-absorption intensities are proportional to the surface coverage. A dependence of spectral features on surface coverage can be observed.


Recently, the literature on loss and grieving has begun to acknowledge the need to consider both individual and family processes involved in grieving, as well as the social and cultural context within which grieving occurs. The present article provides a discussion of the multiple dimensions of the grieving process. Using an example of an Italian American family, it also shows how to assist bereaved families as they cope with loss in the context of individual, familial, and social/cultural influences.


We need a coherent conception of a European Social Union. A Social Union would support national welfare states on a systemic level in some of their key functions and guide the substantive development of national welfare states - via general social standards and objectives, leaving ways and means of social policy to Member States - on the basis of an operational definition of 'the European social model'. A Social Union, so conceived, is not only desirable but necessary. To make that analysis is not to say that an operational concept of ESU is already on the table. We are in unchartered territory: important issues have to clarified. First of all, we must be clear about the rationale and motivation for a ESU; that is the subject of the first part of the paper. I discuss arguments applying specifically to the Eurozone (focusing on the need for a 'visible hand', pursuing a symmetric coordination of wage policies), and arguments applying to the EU as a whole (focusing on the 'balancing act' that is needed between international openness, and the pan-European solidarity that this implies, and domestic social cohesion). I briefly sketch the notion of solidarity underpinning a Social Union, and I argue that the idea of ESU marks a return to the inspiration of the founding fathers of the European project. The second part of the paper links the idea of a Social Union to current debates on social policy. 'Social investment' is a useful unifying policy concept for ESU; if we take it seriously, public investment in education should be higher on the European agenda. I argue that clarification is needed with regard to policy methodologies and tools, and I discuss minimum wages and minimum income protection. Finally, to illustrate that we are in unchartered territory, with important questions on our agenda, a box with '10 tough nuts to crack' is added.


Road capacity utilization is causally connected with an appropriate level of efficiency and an optimal level of traffic safety. Therefore, in this paper, it is considered the issue of maximum utilization of road capacity through the maximization of the input parameter AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic), and the minimization of output parameters related to the categories of traffic accidents. It was defined six main road sections, which were evaluated based on seven techno-operational criteria using an integrated Multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model. The data refer to buses as a vehicle category. The Improved Fuzzy Step-Wise Weight Assessment Ratio Analysis (IMF SWARA) method was chosen to determine the weights of criteria, while the road sections were ranked using the Evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS). In addition, in one of the stages of applying the model when it comes to AADT, the Bonferroni operator (BFO) is used. The results show that the highest level of safety refers to a main road section with the following characteristics: average AADT, minimal deviation from the speed limit, an ascent of 7% and the lowest number of traffic accidents by all categories. In the paper, it was performed a multi-phase sensitivity analysis in order to identify possible differences in results when determining new circumstances.


The creation, transfer and retention of knowledge in an organization has always been the focus of knowledge management researchers; however, one aspect of the dynamics of knowledge, i.e., forgetting, has received comparatively limited attention. To fill this research gap, we extend the basic simulation model proposed by March by incorporating forgetting and three knowledge management strategies, i.e., personalization, codification, and mixed, to explore the impacts of different knowledge management strategies and forgetting on the organizational knowledge level. The simulation results not only clarify the specific measures used to manage individual forgetting in each knowledge management strategy but also identify the boundary conditions under which knowledge management strategies should be adopted under different conditions.


A two-stage homogenizer comprising a first homogenizer stage and a second homogenizer stage. The first homogenizer stage includes a pair of microlens arrays and associated focusing optics. The second homogenizer stage includes a second pair of microlens arrays and associated focusing optics. The second homogenizer stage is positioned to receive radiation which is output from the first homogenizer stage.


To determine the interlayer exchange field H ' E in quasi-two-dimensional magnets (C n H 2 n +1 NH 3 ) 2 CuCl 4 with n =1-6 and (C 6 H 5 C m H 2 m NH 3 ) 2 CuCl 4 with m =1, 2, the lowest Brillouin-zone-boundary magnons are parametrically excited by parallel pumping technique in the temperature range from 1.2 to 4.2 K and at a pumping frequency of 8.9 GHz. The values of H ' E extrapolated to T =0 K are as follows: 45±5 Oe( n =1), -850±20 Oe( n =2), -17±3 Oe( n =3), -17±3 Oe( n =4), -16±3 Oe( n =5), -11±3 Oe( n =6), 9±3 Oe( m =1) and 6±3 Oe( m =2), where positive and negative values correspond to the ferromagnetic and antiferromagnetic fields, respectively. The ratio of the interlayer exchange field to the intralayer exchange field for the m =2 compond is 1.1×10 -5 , which is the smallest value among these componds. The orthorhombic anisotropy fields for these compounds are determined by means of ferromagnetic resonance. The relation between the transition temperature and H ' E is discussed.


Aspergillus flavus isolates (36) obtained from chicken lungs and air sacs and chicken feed, were screened for aflatoxin production on coconut-agar medium (CAM) aod apricot-soeds-agar medium (ASA) using thin-layer chromatography (11.C) fOT confirmation. Of the positive isolates, 30.5% and 36.1 % were detected on CAM and ASA media respectively. Aflamxin 13, either alone or more frequently with B 2 was produced by the toxigenic isolates. The number of positive isolate and amount of toxin were greater on ASA medium. There was no relationship between aflatoxin production and the type of pigments released by the isolates on the tested media.


Abstract : Thermogravimetric analysis was utilized to investigate the decomposition kinetics of alane (AlH3) in argon atmosphere and to shed light on the mechanism of alane decomposition. Two kinetic models have been successfully developed and used to propose a mechanism for the complete decomposition of alane and to predict its shelf-life during storage. Under non-isothermal heating, alane decomposes in two steps; the slowest is solely controlled by solid state nucleation of aluminum crystals; the fastest is due to growth of the crystals. Thus, during decomposition, hydrogen gas is liberated and the initial polyhedra AlH3 crystals yield final amorphous aluminum particles. Nucleation of aluminum atoms is the rate determining step. After establishing the kinetic model, prediction calculations indicated that alane can be stored in inert atmosphere at temperatures below 10 degrees C for long periods of time (e.g. 15 years) without significant decomposition. After 15 years storage, the kinetic model predicts ^ 0.1% decomposition. Storage at higher temperatures (e.g. 30 degrees C) is not recommended.


The present experiment was performed throughout two successive seasons of 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 at the nursery of Horticulture Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center, Giza, Egypt to investigate the effects of different concentrations of some fertilizer treatments alone or with some combinations between them on the vegetative growth, corms production and some chemical constituents of gladioli cormels. The used plant was Gladiolus grandiflorus cv."Rose Supreme" for its popularity in Cairo and Alexandria flower trade. The cormels of the used cultivar were planted in 25 cm. plastic pots filled with an equal mixture of sand and agricultural soil. After one month from planting the fertilizer treatments were started as a soil drench at 333.3 ml/plant and repeated five times at 15 days' interval. The fertilizer treatments were kristalon at 2 g/l, actosol at 2.5 ml/l or 5 ml/l and yeast extract at 5 or 10 g/l alone or with some combinations between them (13 treatments) . The experiment layout was designed to provide complete randomized blocks containing three replicates, each replicate had 13 different treatments and four cormels were used for each treatment in each replicate(plot).


Abstract : A depth-damage function is a mathematical relationship between the depth of flood water above or below the first floor of a building and the amount of damage that can be attributed to that water. The depth-damage relationship is the most important tool in the cost-benefit analysis of flood damage reduction projects. This reports presents a comprehensive catalog of residential depth-damage functions used by Corps of Engineers district offices. These damage functions include those computed from National data of flood damage records as well as those originally computed on a project-specific basis and now in general use. This catalog should help analysts who perform flood damage estimates to carefully consider existing local damage functions, and has the functions compare with depth-damage functions used by other Corps of Engineers districts.


In this experimental work, an approach has been m ade to determine the feasibility of recycled aggreg at in the concrete. For that purpose two water cement ratios are chosen for making concrete mix of same c haracteristic strength. Again, to determine the effect of recycle d aggregate on the strength, the percentage of the recycled is adjusted with 10%, 20%, 30%, 50% and 100%. It was f ound that with addition of recycled aggregate the c oncrete strength and workability decrease, to improve the s r ngth and the workability, the flyash is added at the rate of 10% and 20% as replacement of PPC. The splitting tensil strength of concrete is determined, after curing periods of 7, 28 and 90 days. To establish an empirical relations hip between the strength of concrete and four varia ble parameters (i.e. percentage of RCA, percentage of flyash, curi ng age and water-cement ratio), two modeling method s were used namely to develop the mathematical model by Multi-l inear Regression Method and to develop the Neural N etwork model by Artificial Neural Networking Method.It is found that ANN modeling method proposes more like v alues for predicted strength than the MLR method.


In this paper the total bit-error probability using square-law detection of an on-off keyed carrier received through a fading medium is calculated. It is shown that the use of diversity will recover much of the performance loss caused by the fading, provided that an optimum decision threshold is used. Consideration is given to the performance obtained with a fixed optimum threshold (depending only on the mean-square signal strength) and to that obtained with two forms of variable threshold, assumed to follow the instantaneous fading signal strength. Compared to the fixed optimum threshold, the best variable threshold results in a 5- or 2.5-dB reduction in the required rms SNR for a 10-4error rate with two- or four-branch diversity, respectively; as compared to the no fading case, use of the fixed threshold requires 3 dB more SNR for a 10-4error rate with four-branch diversity, and requires 32 dB more SNR if only a single branch is used. A calculation of the average fade duration of the diversity-combiner output-signal component shows that diversity reduces the average time that the signal component spends below the threshold according to N-1/2for N branches. This is true for both the fixed or the best variable threshold, but the average duration with the fixed threshold is larger by about [log (1+σ ρ 2)]1/2, where σ ρ 2is the mean-square SNR per branch.


Objective:To realize the status of mycoplasma pneumoniae infection and its complication .Methods:MP-IgM was determined by dotimmunogold kit from 105 serum samples of respiratory tract infection patients.Results: MP-IgM positive rate is 36.19% in 105 patients,in which the positive rate is the highest among patients of 3~5 years old and during December, 51.85% and 55.36% respectively. The attack rate of complication is 57.89% .Conclusions: The age of mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is younger than ever. The complication besides lungs is common. Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection is of prevalence in this area from December 2002 to February 2003.


It is still a challenge to investigate and manage acute abdominal pain in the emergency department (ED), especially in children, because physical examination is not as easy as in adults. Acute ovarian torsion in children is an uncommon cause of acute abdominal pain and it is difficult to diagnose in a timely fashion in the ED.1 However, since the diagnostic and surgical urgency after initial examination does appear to have an impact on ovarian salvage2, the emergency physician should remain alert to this clinical entity to avoid irreversible ovarian necrosis. Herein, we report a case of acute ovarian torsion in a 6-year-old girl who presented in our ED with acute abdominal pain, which had initially been diagnosed as constipation at another hospital. Constipation is often confused with this condition in the ED and when making this diagnosis, especially in young girls, a careful re-evaluation and judicious utilization of radiological tools are necessary to rule out possible organ- or life-threatening causes.


This paper describes the ancillary services compensation mechanism in China Southern Power Grid(CSG), explains the relevant measurement algorithm and compensation standard, analyzes the operation status and existing problems based on the actual data, and discusses some recommendations.


The process of translation restores the materiality of time and space to a play. Performance, of course, takes place only within the here and now of an audience, but a play that comes from a different time or different place prompts an encounter with the conceptual and perceptual real from sometime or somewhere else. If we are to consider translation as an ethical practice, one concerned not only to present the dislocated other to the located self, but also to protect the displaced other from wholesale appropriation by the self, then the translated play must in some ways prove resistant to such assimilation. But of course the retention of foreignness — or what Steiner called restitution— is problematic, not least because of the attendant danger of merely exoticising. The theatre of Garcia Lorca in English presents an interesting case study in this regard.


In the course of chronic diseases or
 cancer a catabolic condition can arise, which correlates with worsening of
 the prognosis and declining quality of life. Opportunities to influence these
 catabolic states therapeutically are investigated. Thus, the objectification
 of anabolic and catabolic conditions could be of interest for diagnostic and
 therapeutic options and for disease prognosis. Until today, no objective
 biomarkers for early detection of catabolic condition exist.
 Therefore, the aim of this study was to
 examine the potential of insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1), an anabolic
 hormone, and 26S proteasome (26SP), a multiprotein complex which is part of
 the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway, by which the majority of endogen proteins
 including muscle proteins are degraded, as indicators of anabolic and
 catabolic states in dogs. Therefore, the IGF-1 and 26SP serum concentrations
 of 21 healthy dogs, 20 dogs with chronic diseases and 43 dogs with malignant
 tumours were measured by using canine ELISAs. The concentrations of IGF-1 and
 26SP and their quotients (IGF-1/26SP) were set in relationship to the BCS of
 the dogs. Additionally, the parameters tumour size, tumour entity and
 survival time were evaluated within the malignant tumour group. The results
 of the analyses are documented in two manuscripts which are submitted for
 publication.
 IGF-1 correlated positively with the BCS
 in the healthy group, but the IGF-1 serum concentrations were not significantly
 decreased in the chronic diseases or malignant tumour group compared to the
 healthy group and also no correlation between the IGF-1 levels and the BCS
 was observed in the chronic disease and malignant tumour groups.
 Consequently, IGF-1 serum concentrations are not suitable for objective
 detection of catabolic states, but might be useful for description of
 anabolic conditions.
 For the 26S proteasome, significantly
 increased serum concentrations could be detected in the chronic disease group
 compared to the healthy group, especially in the subgroup of dogs with
 reported weight loss. Furthermore, the 26SP serum levels correlated
 negatively with the BCS by consideration of the chronic disease group alone
 as well as by consideration of the healthy and chronic diseases group
 together. Because of these results, it could be concluded that the 26SP serum
 concentrations are increased in catabolic conditions caused by chronic
 diseases and, thus, are useful for detection of catabolic states. However,
 this could not be confirmed within the malignant tumour group. In this group,
 neither a correlation between the 26SP serum concentrations and the BCS nor
 significantly increased 26SP levels compared with the healthy group were
 found.
 The same applies for the quotient
 IGF-1/26SP. The results of the study on chronic diseases indicated usability
 of IGF-1/26SP for detection of catabolic conditions initiated by chronic
 diseases as well as for detection of anabolic conditions. The   IGF-1/26SP
 values were significantly lower in the chronic disease group than in the
 healthy group and positively correlated with the BCS by joint examination of
 the healthy and chronic disease group. However, in the malignant tumour group
 the median of IGF-1/26SP was even lower than in the healthy group, but the
 difference between the groups was not significant, and the values of
 IGF-1/26SP were also not correlated with the BCS. Therefore, within the
 malignant tumour group there were no indications for usability of IGF-1/26SP
 for detection of catabolic conditions due to malignant tumours and, thus, the
 observations from the chronic disease group could not be confirmed within the
 group of dogs with malignant tumours.
 Overall, the usability of IGF-1 as a
 marker for detection of catabolic states could be excluded by the results of
 this study, whereas the usability of 26SP serum concentrations and IGF-1/26SP
 values as markers for detection of catabolic conditions have not yet been
 fully clarified. Even though the results of the study on the chronic disease
 group suggested this, there were also some overlaps between the different
 groups. However, within the malignant tumour group there were no indications
 which confirmed this hypothesis.
 The additional investigations in the
 malignant tumour group – dependence of IGF-1 and 26SP serum concentrations on
 tumour size, tumour entity and survival time – yielded the following results:
 - Dogs with malignant tumours > 5 cm
 showed significantly higher IGF-1 serum concentrations than dogs with tumours
 < 5 cm.
 - Extremely high IGF-1 serum
 concentrations could be a negative prognostic factor in malignant tumour
 patients, because they were only detected in dogs which died or were euthanized
 within a few days after sampling.
 - By consideration of the different
 tumour entities, significantly increased 26SP serum levels compared with the
 healthy group could only be detected for the group of mammary carcinoma.
 - Dogs with malignant tumours < 5 cm
 showed significantly higher 26SP serum concentrations than the healthy dogs
 and the dogs with malignant tumours > 5 cm.
 - There was no correlation between 26SP
 serum concentrations and survival time, thus, the results of this study did
 not show a prognostic usability of 26SP levels in dogs in the context of
 malignant tumours.


We consider concurrent programs interacting with causally consistent shared memory. After describing the semantics of such programs, we outline several verification problems and survey some existing solutions.


Advances in the 3G and LTE technologies made video on-demand a very popular entertainment for people on the go. However, uniform coverage of mobile networks is almost impossible and, in addition, we often experience drops in bandwidth due to handovers between cellular stations, interference and admission control. In this paper, we analyse the state-of-the-art approaches to streaming on-demand videos, describe the lesson learnt and develop a solution based on our earlier proposal (Col Stream) to improve the user experience. The new Col Stream solution includes an incentive mechanism that mimics a share market in which users can trade their virtual tokens for bandwidth and vice versa. We also describe the prototype developed for the Android phones.


Objective To investigate the effect of integration of functional magnetic resonance imaging(FMRI)and neuronavigation combined with electrocorticogram(ECoG)in refractory epilepsy surgery of functional area.Methods 11 cases suffered refractory epilepsy were selected to carry out FMRI in movement,feeling,language and visual function,and following the information input into navigation database to locate the epilepsy focus before operation.The epilepsy foci were resected by microsurgery and functional area was protected as possible based on FMRI-guided neuronavigation combined with ECoG.Results Of all 11 cases,one case seizured at the first day after operation.One case seizured one time after one month and three months respectively,the other 10 cases did not seizure.Postoperative pathologic result showed cerebral cortical dysplasia in 5 cases,cavernous hemangioma in 2 cases,gray matter heterotopia in 2 cases,calcification foci in 1 case,and oligodendrocyte astrocytoma in 1 case.Within 4 to 7 months follow-up,no severe dysfunction was found.Conclusion The application of FMRI and neuronavigation combined with ECoG can achieve a good effect to assist the refractory epilepsy surgery of functional area.


We show that synchrotron x‐ray microtomography (μCT) followed by digital data extraction can be used to examine the size distribution and particle morphologies of the polydisperse (750 to 2450 μm diameter) particle size standard NIST 1019b. Our size distribution results are within errors of certified values with data collected at 19.5 μm/voxel. One of the advantages of using μCT to investigate the particles examined here is that the morphology of the glass beads can be directly examined. We use the shape metrics aspect ratio and sphericity to examine of individual standard beads morphologies as a function of spherical equivalent diameters. We find that the majority of standard beads possess near‐spherical aspect ratios and sphericities, but deviations are present at the lower end of the size range. The majority (> 98 %) of particles also possess an equant form when examined using a common measure of equidimensionality. Although the NIST 1019b standard consists of loose particles, we point out that an advantage of μCT is that coherent materials comprised of particles can be examined without disaggregation.


Context: One of the common procedures in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) is the insertion of a venous catheter, and one of the most important and serious complications is extravasation, which is a leading cause of death in hospitalized infants. Based on the researcher's experience in the NICU and the necessity of extravasation injury management in infants, this review study focused on extravasation injury management in infants. Methods: The literature was searched in ProQuest, Scopus, and PubMed databases using the terms "extravasation" OR "vascular leakage" OR "Peripheral Infiltration" AND "Neonatal" OR "Newborn" OR "Infants" OR "NICU." The search procedure was performed in the title, abstract, and full text of articles published in English from 2000 to 2022. Results: In the initial search, 3414 articles were extracted. After removing the duplicates and searching the titles and abstracts of the articles, 132 related articles were found, and their full texts were studied. Finally, 20 articles entered the final analysis stage. Nine case report studies, five case series studies, three clinical trials, and three retrospective review studies were found. The results showed that various treatment methods are available, including elevating limbs, pain relief, hot and cold compresses, flush-out technique with saline, dressings (hydrocolloid, hydrogel, and hydrocellular foam), medications (2% nitroglycerin ointment and subcutaneous administration of hyaluronidase and phentolamine), and new methods such as amniotic membranes, omega-3-rich fish skin (Kerecis), active leptospermum honey (ALH), PRP, and surgical removal. Conclusions: Despite many medical advances, there is still no specific approach to managing extravasation in infants. The ideal approach to extravasation injuries is still to prevent them initially. The best next step is to minimize the damage using antidotes or hyaluronidase. Using saline to remove the solution and physically minimize damage can be useful. Thus, more studies are needed to address extravasation management in infants.


This quasi-experimental study examined teacher-related differences in the effects of a widely used intervention designed to impact seventh graders' mindset. Student surveys from seven science classrooms across two teachers were analyzed to assess teacher-related differences in the degree to which the intervention affected student outcomes. Classroom observational data and teacher reports were examined to understand how multiple features of the teachers' classrooms might have differentially shaped student outcomes. Survey results revealed significant teacher effects in that students' beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, their learning goals, and their grades improved and/or were sustained more in one teachers' classes than in the other. Data gathered from observations and teacher reports were generally consistent with the teacher effects found in student surveys. Specifically, the teacher whose students reported greater improvement in outcomes placed more emphasis on mastery, learning, growth, and conceptual development, and modeled and encouraged more strategy use in her daily interactions with students, relative to the other teacher. The results suggest that teachers play a critically important role in supporting classroom interventions, and that program developers may want to design and study ways to impact teachers' practices in order to maximize program impact. TEACHER EFFECTS IN MINDSET INTERVENTION OUTCOMES 2 Exploring Teacher Effects for Mindset Intervention Outcomes in Seventh Grade Science Classes The purpose of this study was to examine teacher-related variation in the effects of a classroom intervention designed to impact seventh graders' beliefs about the nature of ability in science as fixed or malleable. Our goal was to promote the belief that ability is malleable in an attempt to ultimately enhance young adolescents' motivation for science. Using quantitative data we tested for teacher-related differences in the degree to which the intervention was effective as measured by several student outcomes. We then examined classroom observational data and teacher reports to understand how multiple features of teachers' classrooms may have shaped any differences in outcomes by teacher. Beliefs about the Malleability of Intelligence Dweck and others have found that significant numbers of school-age children believe that ability is fixed, particularly in STEM areas, and that these beliefs predict achievement (Dweck, 2006; Hill, Corbett, & St. Rose, 2010). Incremental theories of intelligence (growth mindsets) have been found to predict greater achievement and effort in school than entity theories (fixed mindsets) from early childhood through college (Blackwell, Trzesniewski, & Dweck, 2007; Dweck, 2008). Much of the prior research has been conducted in the context of mathematics; we extended those findings to the context of science during middle school. Importantly, in multiple lab studies, researchers have shown that mindset can be changed (see Dweck, 1999). Those lab studies led to attempts to promote growth mindsets among students in schools. A mindset intervention with seventh graders, which was similar to the one used in this study, was successful at influencing students' beliefs about the malleability of intelligence, increasing their mastery learning goal orientation, and improving their mathematics TEACHER EFFECTS IN MINDSET INTERVENTION OUTCOMES 3 grades. Mastery goal orientation refers to the degree to which students take on academic tasks with the goal of learning something new, developing skills and improving understanding. Mastery goal orientation is often contrasted with performance goal orientation, which refers to a focus on demonstrating one's ability or competence, and a concern with how one's ability will be judged compared to others (Ames, 1992; Dweck & Leggett, 1988; Elliott & Dweck, 1988; Nichols 1984). Students with a growth mindset tend to adopt a mastery orientation when approaching academic tasks (Dweck, 1999). Consistent with prior findings, participants in our mindset intervention conducted in two middle schools developed more of a growth mindset (pre to post) than did students in the control group (Author, 2013). For example, participants developed significantly stronger beliefs about the malleability of intelligence in science over the course of the intervention, while students in the control group did not. There was also a significant change in mastery goal orientation as a result of the intervention; students who participated in the intervention reported an increase in mastery goal orientation over the course of the intervention whereas nonparticipants in the control group reported a decrease in mastery goal orientation. The two teachers in whose classrooms (n=7) the intervention was conducted are the focus of this study. Outcomes of Interventions by Teacher The present study investigated whether the students who participated in the intervention differed in outcomes by teacher. Studies have not yet fully considered the role that the teacher plays in implementing mindset interventions in classrooms, particularly in domains such as science. There are several reasons to expect that student outcomes will vary by teacher. First, teacher characteristics such as educational background, experience, and beliefs might add to or detract from the impact of the intervention. Second, the instructional and classroom management TEACHER EFFECTS IN MINDSET INTERVENTION OUTCOMES 4 practices that teachers use in their classrooms have been shown to contribute to student achievement and motivation in ways that might amplify or lessen the effects gained from participation (Muijs, 2008; Patrick, Mantzicopoulos, & Sears, 2012). Variation in the extent to which the teachers reinforce, elaborate on, and send messages about mindset and other concepts related to the intervention during daily instruction also is expected to boost or curtail outcomes of the intervention (Cimpian, Arce, Markman, & Dweck, 2007; Kamins & Dweck, 1999; Mueller & Dweck, 1998). Teacher characteristics. Without a doubt, the classroom teacher is a critical component of students' learning context in a given classroom. There has been a tremendous amount of research conducted on whether teacher characteristics like years of experience, amount and quality of education, and certification impact students (Harris & Sass, 2011; Nye, Konstantopoulos, & Hedges, 2004). We asked teachers to provide such background information about themselves because those qualities continue to be considered important teacher characteristics despite the fact that studies of the impact of such characteristics on student motivation and achievement have yielded weak, mixed, and sometimes contradictory results (Kennedy, 2010). Teacher beliefs, another type of teacher characteristic, have also been studied extensively (see Bryan, 2012 for a review of science teachers' beliefs). In this study, we measured the teachers' ability beliefs. Teachers' mindset beliefs are likely to influence their students' mindset beliefs through the teaching practices they employ as well as through their interactions with students. Teachers' fostering of learning strategies for example is an important teaching practice especially in middle school because middle school students' learning strategies has been found to mediate the relationship between their motivational orientations and academic achievement TEACHER EFFECTS IN MINDSET INTERVENTION OUTCOMES 5 (McClintic-Gilbert, Henderlong Corpus, Wormington, & Haimovitz, 2013). Good, Rattan, and Dweck (2007, cited in Dweck, 2008) conducted a laboratory experiment and found that teachers who had been influenced to believe in a growth mindset in mathematics encouraged students who had failed to work harder and furthermore recommended specific learning strategies that would help them improve. On the other hand, teachers who had been influenced to believe in a fixed mindset tended to comfort students who had failed by telling them that some students are good in mathematics and others are not, thus reinforcing a fixed mindset. Possible teacher differences within the group of teachers who had been influenced to believe in a growth mindset were not analyzed in that study. We also queried teachers' beliefs about how to best motivate students to learn, because such beliefs likely impact their instructional practice. Specifically, we asked for teachers' beliefs about the effectiveness of various approaches that are most aligned with mastery and performance goal orientations. A recent study (Shim, Cho, & Cassady, 2013) found that teachers' mastery and performance approach goal orientations for teaching predicted which type of goal orientation they established in their classrooms. Thus, we gathered indicators of teachers' beliefs before we turned to investigating their actual teaching practices. Instructional practices and interactions. Teachers exert influence on student motivation and achievement through the instructional practices they use, the feedback they give students, and other day-to-day interactions with students (Stipek, 1996). It has been found that middle school students whose teachers co-construct learning experiences with them in a supportive classroom environment demonstrate improvements in their cooperation with peers and teachers, engagement with academic tasks, and sense of progress (Strahan, Faircloth, Cope, & Hundley, 2007). It stands to reason that the classroom climate and the learning context that teachers and TEACHER EFFECTS IN MINDSET INTERVENTION OUTCOMES 6 their students co-create will impact the effectiveness of any intervention that is introduced with the intent of improving student outcomes. Teachers who facilitate a positive emotional climate, organize and manage the classroom effectively, and express enthusiasm have been shown to provide a context in which student learning and motivation flourishes and in whic


It is a commonplace to refer to Bob Dylan as an extraordinarily gifted artist who transformed the medium of popular song, radically expanding and redefining its possibilities. It is also common to note the uneven quality of his artistic output—as songwriter, recording artist, and performer—during the fifty years of his still-continuing career. As the historian Sean Wilentz puts it in his 2010 study, Bob Dylan in America: "Dylan's career has been an unsteady pilgrimage, passing through deep troughs as well as high points ..." Since the period of his early successes and innovations in the world of American popular music in the 1960s, there have been stretches—some shorter, some longer—when he has produced poor, even embarrassing, work, and his artistic reputation rests heavily on the achievements of those early years. Still, he has remained a prolific and recurrently powerful artist, creating significant and highly


In this study, both adaptive and robust one is proposed, considering that the properties of a classic unscented Kalman filter (UKF) can be degraded severely by the outliers measured in the contamination distribution and the effects of time-varying noise. An adaptive and robust UKF approach on Gaussian process regression- assisted Variational Bayesian is proposed. The Variable Bayesian (VB) method is used to statistically approximate the time-varying noise due to the strong nonlinearity and inaccuracy of the system model. At the same time, Gaussian Process Regression (GPR) has the advantage of machine learning. The observation information trained by the GPR model performs real-time prediction of the sliding window. Based on the above two points, the output source of the measurement information is estimated to realize the robustness of the filter measurement update. When the noise is uncertain and there are outliers in the measurement information, simulation and SINS/GPS integrated navigation of actual tests were performed, respectively. The test outcomes indicate that the algorithm has better nonlinear estimation performance than the traditional method, the effectiveness of the filtering algorithm proposed is verified.


This study examines the causal relationships within supply chain (SC) resilience, including SC flexibility, SC visibility, SC velocity and SC collaboration, as well as the relationships between these four components of SC resilience and SC performance with disruption considerations. A survey was conducted and data were analyzed from 120 Taiwan manufacturing firms. The results show that SC collaboration significantly affects SC visibility, SC velocity, and SC flexibility. It is also found that SC visibility significantly affects SC velocity and that SC velocity significantly affects SC flexibility. Moreover, only SC flexibility significantly affects SC performance with disruption considerations. Theoretical contributions and practical implications are discussed.


Abstract This study explored the relationship between perceived stress and perceived need for social support among doctoral psychology students attending a distance education university. Although small sample size conceivably prevented identification of a direct correlation between these two factors, female doctoral students perceiving greater levels of stress demonstrated less affiliative and more aggressive needs. Perceived stress did not correlate with counseling readiness among the student sample. These findings suggest that female doctoral students engaged in online study may resemble their traditional campus peers.


Recursions generally present a bottleneck for the mapping of algorithms onto massively parallel architectures. A great deal of work has been done showing how to break this bottleneck using look-ahead computation. By applying results of P. Kogge and H. Stone (IEEE Trans. Comput., vol. C-22, pp. 786-793, 1973) it was shown that few basic algebraic axioms are sufficient for speeding up recursions by look-ahead techniques. This allows one to generalize architectures derived for special cases. Furthermore, it was shown that the look-ahead computation technique, known to date only for recursions with up to two operations, can be generalized to recursions with n operations. This allows the design of massively parallel architectures for more complex recursions. General algebraic examinations of expressions as described here can be applied to feedforward expressions, as well. >


In 1997 the Task Force on Drug Use and HIV Vulnerability commenced its operation in Bangkok. It immediately identified the lack of information concerning HIV/AIDS among drug users in the Asia region across three broad thematic areas: insufficient epidemiological data; limited knowledge within the region on policies related to drug use and HIV/AIDS; and inadequate documentation and dissemination of good interventions. Subsequent to these observations UN organisations and their partners have undertaken much work in order to fill this vacuum. The Asian Harm Reduction Network along with other partners has published two editions of the "Hidden Epidemic" that provides details on the status of the HIV/AIDS epidemics among drug users in the countries of the region. In October 2000 the Task Force itself published the report "Drug Use and HIV Vulnerability: Policy Research Study in Asia". These two publications have concisely addressed the issues of epidemiology and policy. This current publication "Preventing HIV/AIDS Among Drug Users: Case Studies from Asia" addresses the third important area the dissemination of good practices on HIV/AIDS prevention and care interventions among drug users. Emphasis is laid on addressing the practical aspects of how to do it. Each of the studies has been arranged in a format to promote the reader's further consideration of the issues such that they might be replicated and adapted to their own particular context and needs. The case studies describe a variety of interventions focusing on HIV/AIDS vulnerability and demand reduction outreach interventions (including the provision of clean needles and syringes) condoms and counseling institutional treatment care and support substitution therapy and advocacy. They also reflect a recurrent strategic theme that single isolated interventions are unlikely to be effective unless they are integrated within a comprehensive approach. While we are familiar with all the elements of a comprehensive approach and as the case studies indicate there is indeed practical experience on how to best proceed the challenge remains as to how to scale up such interventions to a level commensurate with the scale of HIV/AIDS epidemics among drug users. (excerpt)


The further morphological investigation of nanocrystalline TiO2 films, which sensitized by suitable transition metal complexes forming a new type of molecular photovoltaic systems, the studies of new films and a new Co complexes are presented herein. Scanning electron microscopy, X-ray single crystal and powder diffraction as well as X-ray diffraction at low glancing angles using synchrotron radiation have been used. The morphology of electro- and thermodeposited Pt-layers on TCO (a), polymorphic composition of films (b), possible geometry of location of complex dye molecules on the exposed most faces of TiO2 microcrystals (c) and the crystal structure of a Co(II) complex solvated by electrolyte 4- methyl-1,3-dioxolan-2-on as a precursor of the corresponding redox-system (d) are discussed.


The overall structure,construction goal and basic functions of WAMS based on PI database in Chongqing Power Grid were introduced.This system adopted the PI database platform with unique data compressed technology,which reduced greatly the capacity for stocking,raised data inquiry speed,and solved the technical problems of data stocking for WAMS system.The monitoring algorithm of low frequency oscillation adopted in the system has the characteristics of calculating fast and accurately.Now,this system has put into trial operation.


To assess the relationship between the International Society of Urological Pathology (ISUP) 2014 grading system, biochemical recurrence (BCR) and clinical recurrence (CLR) after radical prostatectomy (RP), to determine whether the 2014 ISUP grading system is a better predictor of survival compared with the previous Gleason scoring systems, and to investigate whether incorporation of the tertiary pattern/grade into the ISUP scoring system significantly improves its efficacy.


Data from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Bethesda, showed calculated incidence rates (between 1969 and 2012) of Nocardia infections in 268 patients with confirmed diagnoses of CGD at 0.81/100 patient-years.[3] Fungal infection accounted for 21 deaths (21/38 [55%]), when determined by both incidence and mortality, and was worse in the gp91phox cohort. Overall Aspergillus‐specific mortality was 9%, whereas there was only 1 death due to Nocardia infection in an X-linked patient. Staphylococcus infections were higher overall in those patients who died and were independent of genotype. Even then, fungal infections had a higher risk of mortality than bacterial infections (P = 0.03), and mortality rates were higher among those who had fungal infections than in those who did not (relative risk 1.8 [95% confidence interval, 1.06–3.06]). Previous data from NIH (2002 publication) reported the frequency of disseminated nocardiosis in CGD at 25% (28 episodes of Nocardia infection all of which were pulmonary infection, n = 23) with double the frequency of nocardiosis (56%) in patients receiving neither interferon-gamma (IFNγ) nor sulfonamide prophylaxis.[4]


This is the first of a series of two papers reporting on a study of reflooding of a hot vertical tube. A mechanistic model of reflood is developed using a multifield modeling approach to analyze experimental data reported previously [1]. In Part 1 of this paper, the mathematical model for the thermohydraulic processes during reflood is derived from the general two-field conservation equations, and its structure is examined. Linear stability of the equation system is analyzed incorporating consideration of phase pressure differences. For inverted annular flow, the system is stable to short-wavelength perturbations and captures long-wavelength interfacial instabilities. The length of the most unstable waves is also derived in the analysis and agrees well with the available data. For dispersed flow, the system is predicted to become unstable if the Weber number exceeds a critical value of 8. In Part 2 [2], constitutive relations for reflood are fomulated and model is numerically solved for comparison with experimental data.


ABSTRACT The pattern and size of the Earth's atmospheric circulation cells determine regional climates and challenge theorists. Here the authors present a theoretical framework that relates the size of meridional cells to the kinetic energy generation within them. Circulation cells are considered as heat engines (or heat pumps) driven by surface gradients of pressure and temperature. This approach allows an analytical assessment of kinetic energy generation in the meridional cells from the known values of surface pressure and temperature differences across the cell, and . Two major patterns emerge. First, the authors find that kinetic energy generation in the upper and lower atmosphere respond in contrasting ways to surface temperature: with growing , kinetic energy generation increases in the upper atmosphere but declines in the lower. A requirement that kinetic energy generation must be positive in the lower atmosphere can limit the poleward cell extension of the Hadley cells via a relationship between and . The limited extent of the Hadley cells necessitates the appearance of heat pumps (Ferrel cells) – circulation cells with negative work output. These cells consume the positive work output of the Hadley cells (heat engines) and can in theory drive the global efficiency of an axisymmetric atmospheric circulation down to zero. Second, the authors show that, within a cell, kinetic energy generation is largely determined by in the upper atmosphere, and by in the lower. By absolute magnitude, the temperature contribution is about 10 times larger. However, since the heat pumps act as sinks of kinetic energy in the upper atmosphere, the net kinetic energy generation in the upper atmosphere, as well as the net impact of surface temperature, is reduced. The authors use NCAR/NCEP and MERRA data to verify the obtained theoretical relationships. These observations confirm considerable cancellation between the temperature-related sources and sinks of kinetic energy in the upper atmosphere. Both the theoretical approach and observations highlight a major contribution from surface pressure gradients, rather than temperature, in the kinetic energy budget of meridional circulation. The findings urge increased attention to surface pressure gradients as determinants of the meridional circulation patterns.


Abstract If we accept the proposal that the fundamental effect produced by the machines diagrammed in Fig. 1 is that of dragging a series of saw-toothed paddles across the surface of rubber specimens, we must accept as fact the theorem that the results recorded by these types of machines is a summarization of values rather than a fundamental value. If we accept the evidence that relations cannot be varied on any type of present abrasion testers to duplicate the conditions existing in all situations where rubber is exposed to frictional contacts with other materials, we must accept the fact that some fundamental factor is absent, or is over- or under-emphasized as these relations are varied. Whether these missing reactions can be supplied by evaluating other characteristics which will properly modify the results obtained on any given abrasion tester is an open question. It can be safely stated, however, that results obtained from any type of tester discussed can only be considered as evaluating rubber comp...


Abstract : The direction of technological advance which will lead to the development of a deployable fiber-optic magnetic sensor has been brought into closer focus as a result of studies conducted under this contract. It is useful to categorize our work as comprised of the following constituent efforts: (a) Componentry and configuration of optical sensors in general; (b) Transductive componentry whereby a magnetic field effects a measurable change in a sensor system. This includes characterization and optimization of magnetostrictive materials; (c) Configuration of a magneto-sensitive material for specialized applications (tailoring of orientational characteristics, for example) for measurement of total field, vector field, field gradient, etc.; (d) Data acquisition techniques suited to the chosen transduction mechanism and the optical configuration and sensitivity/spectral-response requirements of the application.


Matrix metalloproteases (MMPs) are a family of highly conserved endopeptidases that are capable of degrading the ECM. Over 25 well-characterized members of this proteinase family have been identified. They play a key role not only in the normal processes of ECM degradation, but also in pathological processes, including tissue remodeling of inflammatory disease, cancer invasion, and metastasis. Substantial evidence has shown an overexpression of MMPs to correlate with a more aggressive phenotype of tumor cells and a poor prognosis in cancer patients. MMP-2, -9 which are secreted by invasive cancer cells, have been suggested to be important in cancer cell invasion and metastasis because tumor cells must cross type IV collagen-rich basement membrane of vessel walls to spread to sites distant from the primary tumor. There is much evidence that MMPs are actively involved in the metastatic process and a positive correlation between tumor progression and the expression of multiple MMP family members (MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-7, MMP-9, MMP-11 and MT1-MMP) in tumor tissues has been demonstrated in numerous studies. Hence this present review outlines the role of MMPs in cell invasion and angiogenesis in a brief manner.


Now, many studies of industrial field are focusing on the whole optimization of SCM. But, the reason for making simultaneity of the whole system of SCM difficult is reduced scale of studies on ordering area in SCM reducing the complexity. It's an important issue how to allocate orders in the environment of many suppliers under special situation. Through this thesis, this research intends to expect systematic and arranged supply of distribution area which can make a decision while allocating product orders and quantity and maintaining service standard suggested by minimizing total purchase costs.


Abstract : This study concerns the chemical and structural changes that occur during thermal treatment of mesophase pitch-based carbon fibers. This task was part of a larger project sponsored by the Manufacturing Technology Program of the Department of the Navy aimed at producing high thermal conductivity carbon fibers from a thermally polymerized petroleum residue. The pitch was melt spun into circular- and ribbon cross section fibers, having radial (point) and line-origin textures, respectively. Then, the stabilization and carbonization processes were studied using a combination of dynamic and post-treatment techniques.


This paper summarises the development of a state-of-art impact testing machine for simulating impacts such as vehicular crashes or debris impacts onto structures. The machine has a 200 kg pneumatically powered projectile which can travel horizontally within the barrel of the machine with a maximum velocity of 50 m/s to impact the target structure. The maximum kinetic energy that can be generated by the projectile is 125 kJ by using different combinations of mass and velocity. The diameter of the projectile is 214 mm, and its impacting face can be changed to different shapes, such as flat circle, flat square or an elliptical nose to suit different impact scenarios. An innovative braking mechanism incorporating a crush tube is attached within the barrel to ensure safety when the projectile fails to be restrained by the impact. The crush tube can absorb the maximum imparted by the moving projectile. An advanced data acquisition system is installed to collect quantitative and qualitative test data during a period of 50 ms to 1 s. Two high-speed digital image correlation (DIC) cameras are attached and synchronised with the operation of the impact testing machine to record the images at the rate of 50,000 frames per second. Outputs in terms of strains, deformations, accelerations of the target structure with a record of damage history can be analysed using this 3D DIC technique. The paper also briefly presents the first application of this machine for impact testing masonry wall structures.


Increasing scale leaves a challenging problem for visualizing large attributed networks. Hierarchical aggregation is a promising solution. Existing methods mainly focus on the topological structure but ignore vertex properties; moreover, the inherent hierarchy restricts network navigation process. This paper proposes an user-specified visualization method with a content-based clustering algorithm to explore large attributed networks. The content-based algorithm is able to locate major structures and cluster network based on structural and attribute similarities. Then a novel visualization system is introduced that allows navigation of large networks at any level-of-detail. The user-specified interaction strategy enables user to manipulate cluster metrics and built hierarchy based on interest. Case study demonstrates that the proposed method is effective to extract global knowledge about the network as well as locate critical nodes and major structures.


Abstract : Session Objective: Provide an overview of the Air Force s EMS Streamline initiative. Provide an overview of the AF/A7C playbook process. Provide status of EMS and Air Force environmental compliance inspection (ESOHCAMP) playbooks.


OBJECTIVE To analyze the characteristics of distribution and drug resistance of sputum culture pathogens causing multiple pulmonary infections in respiratory medicine department so as to guide the reasonable clinical use of antibiotics.METHODS By means of the retrospective survey,the sputum culture pathogens,which were isolated from 122 patients who were hospitalized the respiratory medicine department from Jan 2009 to Dec 2011,were analyzed.RESULTS Of totally 122 patients investigated,the multiple pulmonary infections occurred in26 cases with the incidence rate of 21.3%.A total of 53 strains of pathogens were isolated from the cases of multiple pulmonary infections,including 38 strains of gram-negative bacteria,5 strains of gram-positive bacteria,and 10 strains of fungi;Acinetobacter baumannii,Klebsiella pneumoniae,Candida albicans,and Pseudomonas aeruginosa ranked the top 4 species of pathogens.Among the 53 strains of pathogens,there were 40(75.5%)strains of multidrug-resistant A.baumannii and 5(9.4%)strains of pandrug-resistant A.baumannii.The multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria were highly resistant toβ-lactams antibiotics;the Staphylococcus aureus strains were susceptible to vancomycin,the drug resistance rate to penicillin was 100.0%;the drug susceptibility rates of the Candida albicans strains to flucytosine,amphotericin B,fluconazole,and itraconazole were 100.0%.CONCLUSIONThe advanced lung cancer and the advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases are dominant among the patients with multiple pulmonary infections,the major population of the patients are more than 70 years of age;the multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria are the main pathogens causing multiple pulmonary infections and are highly resistant to theβ-lactams antibiotics.


Large-eddy simulation (LES) is an often used technique in the geosciences to simulate turbulent oceanic and atmospheric flows. In LES, the effects of the unresolved turbulence scales on the resolved scales (via the Reynolds stress tensor) have to be parameterized with subgrid models. These subgrid models usually require strong assumptions about the relationship between the resolved flow fields and the Reynolds stress tensor, which are often violated in reality and potentially hamper their accuracy.

In this study, using the finite-difference computational fluid dynamics code MicroHH (v2.0) and turbulent channel flow as a test case (friction Reynolds number Reτ 590), we incorporated and tested a newly emerging subgrid modelling approach that does not require those assumptions. Instead, it relies on neural networks that are highly non-linear and flexible. Similar to currently used subgrid models, we designed our neural networks such that they can be applied locally in the grid domain: at each grid point the neural networks receive as an input the locally resolved flow fields (u,v,w), rather than the full flow fields. As an output, the neural networks give the Reynolds stress tensor at the considered grid point. This local application integrates well with our simulation code, and is necessary to run our code in parallel within distributed memory systems.

To allow our neural networks to learn the relationship between the specified input and output, we created a training dataset that contains ~10.000.000 samples of corresponding inputs and outputs. We derived those samples directly from high-resolution 3D direct numerical simulation (DNS) snapshots of turbulent flow fields. Since the DNS explicitly resolves all the relevant turbulence scales, by downsampling the DNS we were able to derive both the Reynolds stress tensor and the corresponding lower-resolution flow fields typical for LES. In this calculation, we took into account both the discretization and interpolation errors introduced by the finite staggered LES grid. Subsequently, using these samples we optimized the parameters of the neural networks to minimize the difference between the predicted and the ‘true’ output derived from DNS.

After that, we tested the performance of our neural networks in two different ways:

A priori or offline testing, where we used a withheld part of the training dataset (10%) to test the capability of the neural networks to correctly predict the Reynolds stress tensor for data not used to optimize its parameters. We found that the neural networks were, in general, well able to predict the correct values.

A posteriori or online testing, where we incorporated our neural networks directly into our LES. To keep the total involved computational effort feasible, we strongly enhanced the prediction speed of the neural network by relying on highly optimized matrix-vector libraries. The full successful integration of the neural networks within LES remains challenging though, mainly because the neural networks tend to introduce numerical instability into the LES. We are currently investigating ways to minimize this instability, while maintaining the high accuracy in the a priori test and the high prediction speed.


Objective—Pericytes/pericyte precursors produce milk fat globule-associated protein with epidermal growth factor and factor VIII-like domains (MFG-E8) in vivo, and this &agr;v integrin ligand enhances angiogenesis in tumors and in oxygen-induced retinopathy in mice. Inhibition of MFG-E8 production or function attenuates platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB)-induced migration of pericyte/pericyte precursor-like 10T1/2 cells in vitro. Herein, we describe mechanisms by which MFG-E8 modulates PDGF-BB:PDGF receptor &bgr; (PDGFR&bgr;) signaling in 10T1/2 cells. Methods and Results—Small interfering RNA depletion of MFG-E8 from 10T1/2 cells or antibody inhibition of MFG-E8 action enhanced PDGF-BB-dependent degradation of PDGFR&bgr; and attenuated signaling. Coimmunoprecipitation revealed transient association of MFG-E8 with PDGFR&bgr; in PDGF-BB-treated 10T1/2 cells and reduced PDGFR&bgr;-focal adhesion kinase association in MFG-E8-depleted cells. Confocal microscopy demonstrated that MFG-E8 binding to 10T1/2 cells was RGD motif and &agr;v dependent but PDGF-BB treatment independent, whereas colocalization of MFG-E8 with PDGFR&bgr; was enhanced by PDGF-BB. Ubiquitination of PDGFR&bgr; was also increased in MFG-E8 small interfering RNA-transfected cells. Conclusion—Integrin &agr;v-bound MFG-E8 associates with PDGFR&bgr; and focal adhesion kinase after PDGF-BB treatment, results in cell surface retention of PDGFR&bgr;, delays receptor degradation, potentiates downstream signaling, and enhances migration of 10T1/2 cells. MFG-E8 may promote angiogenesis, in part, via cell autonomous actions on pericytes or pericyte precursors that result in enhanced PDGF-BB:PDGFR&bgr; signaling mediated via integrin-growth factor receptor cross-talk.


A simple model for combustion consisting of two parabolic equations is considered. It is shown that plane wave solutions exist. Certain invariant integrals are obtained, from which a nonexistence criterion is derived. The effect of the wave speed on the shape of the wave is deduced.


The book Last Train to Auschwitz: The French National Railways and the Journey to Accountability, written by Sarah Federman traces the SNCF's journey toward accountability in France and the United States. Told from the Holocaust survivors' perspective the volume illustrates the long-term effects of the railroad's complicity with the Nazis on individuals, and transitional justice that leads to corporate accountability. In a time when corporations are increasingly granted the same rights as people, Federman's detailed account demonstrates the obligations businesses to atone for aiding and abetting governments in committing atrocities.


Sound event localization and detection (SELD) can identify the category and location of a sound event along with providing valuable information for many applications. Existing methods primarily use convolutional recurrent neural networks as a network model and Log-Mel spectrograms to classify sound events. However, there are no dominant spatial features to identify the direction of sound events. The fusion of various spatial features can lead to a better performance in the SELD task. In this study, we propose an optimal feature fusion by systematically analyzing various combinations of spatial features. We used the TAU-NIGENS spatial sound events 2021 dataset to evaluate the SELD task performance of various combinations of spatial features. We found that the combination of interaural phase difference (IPD) and sinIPD had a better performance than the other features and combinations. Finally, we confirmed that the proposed features had a better performance than the state-of-the-art methods.


Objective We aimed to evaluate the association of the severity of left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction with long-term outcomes in patients with normal ejection fraction. Design Retrospective study. Setting A single centre in Japan. Participants We included 3576 patients who underwent both scheduled transthoracic echocardiography and ECG between 1 January and 31 December 2013, in a hospital-based population after excluding valvular diseases or low ejection fraction (<50%) or atrial fibrillation and categorised them into three groups: septal tissue Doppler early diastolic mitral annular velocity (e′)≥7 (without relaxation disorder, n=1593), e′<7 and early mitral inflow velocity (E)/e′≤14 (with relaxation disorder and normal LV end-diastolic pressure, n=1337) and e′<7 and E/e′>14 (with relaxation disorder and high LV end-diastolic pressure, n=646). Primary and secondary outcome measures The primary outcome measure was a composite of all-cause death and major adverse cardiac events (MACE). The secondary outcome measure were all-cause death and MACE, separately. Results The cumulative 3-year incidences of the primary outcome measures were significantly higher in the e′<7 and E/e′≤14 (19.0%) and e′<7 and E/e′>14 group (23.4%) than those for the e′≥7 group (13.0%; p<0.001). After adjusting for confounders, the excess 3-year risk of primary outcome for the groups with e′<7 and E/e′≤14 related to e′≥7 (HR: 1.24; 95% CI 1.02 to 1.52) and e′<7 and E/e′>14 related to e′<7 (HR: 1.57; 95% CI 1.28 to 1.94) were significant. The severity of diastolic dysfunction was associated with incrementally higher risk for primary outcomes (p<0.001). Conclusion The severity of LV diastolic dysfunction using e′<7 and E/e′>14 was associated with the long-term prognosis in patients with normal ejection fraction in an incremental fashion.


PURPOSE: To make it possible to generate the index of a full text from information included in an image by displaying a raster image based upon an investigation character string and emphasizing the investigation character string in the displayed raster image. CONSTITUTION: Many different documents executed by a computer 5 are scanned by a scanner 6 to generate raster images. The raster images are stored in a storage device 18 and converted into ASCII character files 14. Each ASCII character file 14 has information showing in which page of the document a word is present. Full-text indexes 16 are generated by storing the information showing in which page of the document the word appears. Full-text investigation 20 is performed as to the information on the full-text indexes 16 to retrieve the document containing the request information. Consequently, terms are emphasized according to the information obtained by retrieving the raster images individually with the full-text indexes. COPYRIGHT: (C)1994,JPO


The number of the cutsets of a graph is a very important index in the analysis and synthesis of reliable networks. In this paper,we compute the number of the edge cutsets of some specific graphs. Then by using the number of edge cutsets of graphs,we compare the reliability of two networks.


Disclosed is a touch window. The touch window includes a substrate in which an active area and an unactive area are defined; and a sensing electrode on the active area to sense a position, wherein the active area includes a first active area; and a second active area adjacent to the first active area and driven in a driving scheme different from a driving scheme for the first active area.


Traditionally, the perineal dissection during an Anbdomeno-perineal resection of the rectum (APER) is conducted in conjunction with the trans-abdominal pelvic dissection with the patient in Lloyd-Davis and then the Lithotomy positions. There is a higher local recurrence rate in APER as compared to restorative anterior resection. The current practices in APER often result in a 'surgical waist' in the resection specimen, which might threaten the resection margin. There are many advantages to performing the perineal dissection with the patient in a prone Jack-Knife position. The oncological benefit is that it facilitates the achievement of a more cylindrical resection specimen, giving a wider resection margin and hence lowering the risk of local recurrence. This video utilises annotated diagrams and a high definition digital recording of the perineal dissection in a 52 year old male patient with a low rectal cancer undergoing APER, following neo-adjuvant long course chemo-radiotherapy. We demonstrate how the use of the prone jack-knife position gives excellent exposure and improved surgical access, facilitating a better oncological resection.


Diane Allen explores personal construct psychology and examines how the approach can be used to demonstrate the views held by some perpetrators of child sexual abuse and their victims.


ABSTRACT Investigation of the diversity of nirK and nirS in denitrifying bacteria revealed that salinity decreased the diversity in a nitrate-containing saline wastewater treatment system. The predominant nirS clone was related to nirS derived from marine bacteria, and the predominant nirK clone was related to nirK of the genus Alcaligenes.


Energy efficiency is the most critical aspect for a successful solar powered automobile and much can be gained from the reduction of aerodynamic drag on such a vehicle. Yet, for a solar car to be practical to the everyday driver, it has to be ergonomically feasible, financially sensible, and aesthetically pleasing. This research compares aerodynamic drag calculations produced by both computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and classical wind tunnel tests for a solar – bio-diesel hybrid concept car. CFD was used to develop a 2dimensional shape with minimal drag characteristics yet still contained the qualities required to be practical. Many sections, such as the underside of the rear end of the car, were targeted as potential areas of flow separation, and much work was done to minimize this source of drag. From these findings a 3-dimensional model was created for testing in a sub-sonic wind tunnel to estimate a more accurate drag coefficient for use in power consumption and range calculations. These tests prove that the designed vehicle is aerodynamically sound with drag coefficients 12.8% less than that of the most aerodynamic hybrid vehicle currently in use. They are also a testament to the power of CFD as a tool for vehicle development and design. The solar-bio-diesel hybrid vehicle modeled from this research is currently under construction and will participate in the North American Solar Car challenge in July of 2008.


Discloses a multi-processor having an outer sheet of bandwidth allocated cache prefetching. Overall distribution of available bandwidth between the prefetch processor cores in a multi-processor computing system techniques are described. May be determined off-chip memory prefetch bandwidth associated with the interface of the multiprocessor, and partitioned between division multiple processor cores.


The article is devoted to the problem of language tests in the broad context of psychological measurement. The author analyses the social role of different approaches to educational assessment and describes the shift of paradigm following crucial changes in the views on learning and teaching in modern society.


This paper presents results of earlier laboratory scale (200 lb/hr) dry magnetic separation tests of an Adaville series bituminous/sub-bituminous rank coal from southwestern Wyoming. A two stage ParaMag™ dry magnetic separator was employed. The first stage is a belt magnetic separator suitable for separation of strongly magnetic minerals which contribute predominantly to the ash in coal. The second stage is an open gradient, free flow ParaTrap™ separator capable of separating very weakly magnetic minerals, such as iron pyrites, which contribute to the sulfur and trace metals such as mercury and arsenic in some coals. The raw coal is diamagnetic. It has feebly paramagnetic mineral inclusions. The first stage belt separator was ineffective in mineral separation for this coal. The results presented here were achieved in two passes through the second stage ParaTrap™ separator. Reductions of ash of 28%, pyritic sulfur of 78%, arsenic of 31%, and mercury of 72% on a pounds per million Btu basis were achieved with Btu recoveries of 95% for this coal. The clean coal product had a sulfur content of 1.17 LbSO2/MBtu. A practical method of achieving these levels of performance in which the separators are retrofitted to treat the internal circulation of a pulverizer at the coal-fired power plant (the MagMill™) will be described. Very effective separations can be achieved because of the synergism between the pulverizer and the dry magnetic separator.