In order to solve the movement balance problems about the two-wheeled self-balance robot, an autonomic learning method is presented. This method is based on the fuzzy adaptive algorithm, and it could identify online the fuzzy model of the robot, and detect the parameter variation of the robot and track its characteristics about the parameter variation over time. This paper uses the model of the robot and the expected performance index to design a fuzzy controller, so that the autonomic learning method was formed, and the stability of this algorithm is proved theoretically. The simulation results show that the autonomic learning method could realize the standing balance and speed tracking of the robot, in the case of deviating from a larger angle to the vertical position. It embodies the higher dynamic response and steady accuracy.


Josiah Royce's graduate seminar in comparative methodology exerted one of the great teaching and intellectual influences of its time. Edited from photostatic copies of the original notebooks by Grover Smith, the text offers a condensed account of a great course in an era when great ideas were being formulated.


Reducing weight while maintaining structural integrity is one of the key challenges Formula SAE teams face as they try and design the suspension of the formula car. The purpose of this paper is to present experimental data on designing and optimizing a carbon fiber suspension system for formula cars. The reason carbon fiber suspensions are favored over the current steel suspensions is because of they can reduce the weight of the suspension by 50%. Pull tests on an Instron machine were performed on over 15 specimens composed of a carbon fiber tube with an aluminum insert bonded to each end. Loctite E‐120HP epoxy was used and the surface preparation, bond gap, and bond length were varied to find the optimal bond strength. An average bond strength of 2,382.6 pounds per square inch was determined for specimens with surface preparation. Furthermore a bond gap of 0.0065 to 0.008 inches was found to give the strongest bond.


A parametric investigation was conducted to determine the significance of selected structural and ground motion parameters on dynamic inelastic response of coupled wall structures. Structural parameters include: fundamental period, wall strength, beam-to-wall stiffness and strength ratios, coupling arm, clear beam span, gravity loads, and structure mass. Ground motion parameters include: earthquake frequency characteristics, duration, and intensity. A computer program and a moment-rotation hysteretic model, including the effects of axial force-flexure interaction, was used to conduct nonlinear dynamic analyses. Significance of each parameter on maximum force and ductility response is shown. The most significant parameters are identified as design variables. Relationships between design variables and response quantities are established.


Through the Caribbean Coral Reef Ecosystems program in Belize and the Smithsonian Marine Station in Florida we are involved in systematic studies of marine organisms. STRI coral reef studies have revealed that marine tropical environments contain 4-5 times more species on average than has been generally realized and that the diversity of Caribbean reefs is an order of magnitude greater than previously assumed. SERC scientists are investigating the biocomplexity of mangroves, systems that are integrally linked to coral reefs. Perhaps the most dramatic revelation of long-term major reef changes was the 95% demise of the long-spined sea urchin (Diadema) population throughout the western Atlantic. The sea urchin saga demonstrates how even extraordinarily abundant organisms are potentially vulnerable to rapid elimination by diseases that combine the lethality of Ebola with the contagion of the common cold. Mass spawning events, in which hundreds of organisms release eggs and sperm simultaneously, have been documented in Panamanian corals. Many green seaweeds also spawn in synchrony just before sunrise. The Smithsonian seeks to guide the conservation and management of coral reef resources by making research results available through the scientific literature, by sharing information gained from documentation of its millions of collections, and by active collaborative work with conservation organizations and other government agencies.


Address Delivered by Professor Kwasi Kwafo Adarkwa, Vice-Chancellor of KNUST at the Commissioning of Turnkey Project – Refurbishment of Science Laboratories on Tuesday, 17th November, 2009 at 10.00am at the Forecourt of Physics Department, KNUST


Current anti-doping policy seeks to protect honest athletes from biochemically overeducated colleagues. However, there is a question of whether the present policy has gone too far. This article illustrates the ambiguity of the anti-doping policy in the context of a particular plant-based substance (i.e., higenamine) by providing certain case studies. In such cases, the process of proof requires the continuous checking of suppositions since an athlete must establish how the prohibited substance could have entered his or her body. This obligation implies that an athlete and the defending team must have legal, medical, dietary, and biochemical knowledge. However, even with all precautions, it is still possible to fail an anti-doping test and be severely punished because it is almost impossible to trace all the sources that caused the prohibited substance to enter the athlete's body.


This paper is focused on WLAN security mechanism including WEP protocol and 802.1x protocol.Security properties of WEP and 802.1x are discussed.Some vulnerabilities are put forward in the paper.Based on the research of a practical WLAN,the weaknesses and vulnerabilities are found in it.As a new security protocol,WPA protocol was introduced in brief.


We review the design, fabrication and characterization of 1.55micrometers , lattice-matched vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers with AlAsSb/AlGaAsSb mirrors. The Sb-based mirrors provide both high reflectivity and an InP-lattice-matched structure. They lead to electrically pumped, pulsed operation of the lasers, but poor thermal conductivities of these ternary and quaternary materials and large voltage drop across them prevent the lasers from operating continuous-wave. A double-intracavity contacted structure along with thick, n-type InP cladding layers circumvents these drawbacks and finally leads to an excellent performance. For one embodiment, the threshold current is 800 (mu) A, the differential quantum efficiency is 23%, and the maximum output power is more than 1 mW at 20 degree(s)C and 110 (mu) W at 80 degree(s)C.


Physiological traits contributing to high yield in groundnut might reveal the underlying mechanism from which improved strategies could  be developed to enhance the effectiveness and progress in breeding for yield component of groundnut. The study aim to  determine some physiological characters such as chlorophyll content, canopy temperature, leaf area index (LAI) and photosynthetic  active radiation (PAR) related to groundnut yield. Twenty-five (25) groundnut accessions were evaluated in randomized block design  (RBD) with two replications at ICRISAT research farm, Wasai, Minibir, Kano State, Nigeria. The study was carried out during the 2014 rainy  season to evaluate physiological relationship to yield variations in groundnut accessions from different parts of Nigeria and Mali. The observations on Chlorophyll Content, Canopy Temperature, leaf area Index (LAI), Photosynthetic Active Radiation, Pod length, Pod width,  pod yield, shelling percentage, hundred seed weight and fodder yield characters were recorded. The physiological and yield data were  subjected to analysis of variance General Linear Model (GLM) using SAS verse 9.3 means were separated using Least Significant  Difference (LSD) at P>0.05 The accessions were significantly different (1.207) for all the physiological traits and yield traits except for pod  length, pod width and hundred seed weight where no significant difference was recorded. The highest dry pod and fodder yield was  recorded from the accessions 25, 23 and 22 due to significant favorable yield contributing characters like: chlorophyll content, canopy  temperature, Leaf Area Index (LAI), Photosynthetic Active Radiation, pod length, pod width, pod yield, shelling percentage, hundred seed  weight (g), and fodder weight (g). With regard to physiological traits and yield and yield related traits, accessions 25, 23, and 22 were  considered as promising genotypes for future breeding programme for pod and fodder yield improvement.


The magnetization states of 20-nm-thick rectangular Co thin-film elements are studied with micromagnetic modeling and x-ray magnetic circular dichroism photoemission electron microscopy. The energies of ten domain configurations obtained in the modeling are compared with the frequency of occurrence of the corresponding virgin domain structures as a function of aspect ratio from 1:1 to 1:3 and of width from 200to600nm. The results show that the abundance of the virgin states is largely determined by the magnetic energy densities of the elements.


PurposeThe purpose of this study is to develop the self-initiated work adjustment for learning (SIWAL) scale that measures the adjustments that employees make in their work to enhance learning, based on theories and research on workplace learning, work adjustment and work design.Design/methodology/approachThe SIWAL scale was validated in two independent studies. Study 1 (n = 208) focused on the internal consistency and factor structure of the SIWAL scale. Study 2 (n = 178) re-examined the factorial structure using confirmatory factor analysis and investigated scale validity.FindingsIn both studies, the SIWAL scale showed good psychometric characteristics, i.e. a clear two-factorial structure and internal reliable sub-scales. The findings also indicated convergent, divergent and concurrent validity.Research limitations/implicationsUsing the SIWAL scale, future research could focus on the individual, social and organizational predictors and outcomes of SIWAL, collect supervisor and peer ratings to further validate this self-report scale and investigate lower-educated workers.Practical implicationsOrganizations might try to enhance their employees' SIWAL through organizational policies, such as supportive leadership, and a learning climate.Originality/valueThis study provides a first step toward a better understanding of what workers do to enhance their workplace learning. The study findings indicate that employees address two adaptive behaviors: adjusting job responsibilities and adjusting social interactions.


Laser radiation of tissues presents new and challenging problems of radiative transport. The most intense laser-tissue interactions occur when laser radiation first enters a tissue where classical light diffusion theory is inadequate. Monte Carlo simulations provide solutions in this region. Moreover, tissue optical properties can change during laser irradiation. Absorption centers can be saturated (e.g., during short intense laser pulses) or irreversibly degraded (e.g., during photodynamic therapy with photosensitive dyes). Browning and charring of tissue during high power continuous or long-pulses laser irradiation can increase absorption. Thermal coagulation of some tissue structures (e.g., globular proteins) will cause increased scattering, and coagulation of other tissue structures (e.g., collagen) will cause decreased scattering. Examples of altered light scattering in tissues due to coagulation are the heart myocardium, prostate, liver, and skin. Laser dosimetry becomes a nonlinear dynamic problem when optical properties change during the irradiation.


Computer vision applications are increasingly used on mobile Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices such as drones. They provide real-time support in disaster/incident response or crowd protest management scenarios by e.g., counting human/vehicles, or recognizing faces/objects. However, deployment of such applications for real-time video analytics at geo-distributed areas presents new challenges in processing intensive media-rich data to meet users' Quality of Experience (QoE) expectations, due to limited computing power on the devices. In this paper, we present a novel policy-based decision computation offloading scheme that not only facilitates trade-offs in performance vs. cost, but also aids in offloading decision to either an Edge, Cloud or Function-Centric Computing resource architecture for real-time video analytics. To evaluate our offloading scheme, we decompose an existing computer vision pipeline for object/motion detection and object classification into a chain of container-based micro-service functions that communicate via a RESTful API. We evaluate the performance of our scheme on a realistic geo-distributed edge/core cloud testbed using different policies and computing architectures. Results show how our scheme utilizes state-of-the-art computation offloading techniques to Pareto-optimally trade-off performance (i.e., frames-per-second) vs. cost factors (using Amazon Web Services Lambda pricing) during real-time drone video analytics, and thus fosters effective environmental situational awareness.


In August, during the heatwave, we went to our first open air opera. We had no idea what to expect. We had heard about Aida at Verona but this was La Boheme in Yorkshire. Would we be convinced that Mimi's tiny hand was frozen?

Fountains Abbey is a long way from a Parisian garret, but the opera's underlying theme, tuberculosis, was closer to home. In Haworth, a few miles away, Patrick Bronte had lost three of his children to consumption in a single year. Anne, Bramwell, and Emily were 29, 30, and 31 respectively. It must have been unbearable.

That was in 1849, the year that Henri Murger's novel, Scenes de la Vie de Boheme, was published. When Puccini adapted it for his opera nearly 50 years later, Mycobacterium tuberculosis had been identified, but effective drugs did not appear until my lifetime.

I was two years old when George Orwell died and as a child I remember people lowering their voices when mentioning "TB."

"In case of wet weather the event will go ahead," said the tickets, and sure enough there were canopies over the little stage and grand piano. And no microphones.

One audience member arrived in black tie, which he hastily removed, but most of us dressed for the dales. This, I realised, was Glastonbury for grown ups.

Everyone turned up early with a picnic. Most brought folding chairs and some had tables and tablecloths. Those of us with rugs were ushered to a groundsheet at the front.

Trying to look cool, I realised that I am no longer capable of lying down, drinking cava, looking up at the stage, and keeping control of my Scotch egg all at the same time. So it's chairs for us in future.

As the sun set, the walls of the famous ruin were picked out by floodlights and the grassy amphitheatre was dotted with the audience's lanterns. In the distance a baritone was warming up. An owl screeched in the nearby woods.

A page turner appeared and then a pianist in full evening dress. The small company, Opera Brava, was indeed totally convincing. Mimi sang her heart out and as she died in Rodolfo's arms, tears were running down my cheeks. Were they for her, the Brontes, Orwell, or victims everywhere? Hey, man, no. It was the music.


This optional unit assesses the health and social care worker's knowledge, understanding and skills in promoting positive behaviour and in responding appropriately to incidences of challenging behaviour


ABSTRACT The last decade has seen the meteoric rise of data campaigning as a central concern of political campaigns. This article offers insight into how journalists and political professionals construct practices of data campaigning as all-powerful despite the limited empirical findings to that effect. Specifically, this research delves into how journalistic coverage of campaigns' use of data and analytics has often relied on inflated accounts of the objectivity of analytics, the belief that more data necessarily means more and better knowledge, and narratives of objective outsiders – notably geeks, hackers, nerds, and scientists – that situate analytics staffers as strange and different, and as uniquely qualified to access the truth. To do this, I engage in critical discourse analysis of popular coverage of data campaigning in the US in the years 2008–2016. Ultimately, denaturalizing these narratives helps reveal how they contribute to defining this "new" campaign strategy as fundamentally concerned with finding objective answers to solvable problems and are key to political professionals' maintenance of organizational power.


The atmosphere is a critical factor in remote sensing. Radiance from a target must pass through the air column to reach the sensor. The atmosphere alters the radiance reaching the sensor by attenuating the radiance from the target via scattering and absorption and by introducing an upwelling radiance. In the thermal infrared, these effects will introduce errors in the derived apparent temperature of the target if not properly accounted for. The temperature error is defined as the difference between the target leaving apparent temperature and observed apparent temperature. The effects of the atmosphere must be understood in order to develop methods to compensate for this error. Different atmospheric components will affect the radiation passing through it in different ways. Certain components may be more important than others depending on the remote sensing application. The authors are interested in determining the actual temperature of the superstructure that composes a mechanical draft cooling tower (MDCT), hence water vapor is the primary constituent of concern. The tower generates a localized water vapor plume located between the target and sensor. The MODTRAN radiative transfer code is used to model the effects of a localized exhaust plume from a MDCT in the longwave infrared. The air temperature and dew point depression of the plume and the thickness of the plume are varied to observe the effect on the apparent temperature error. In addition, the general atmospheric conditions are varied between two standard MODTRAN atmospheres to study any effect that ambient conditions have on the apparent temperature error. The Digital Imaging and Remote Sensing Image Generation (DIRSIG) modeling tool is used to simulate the radiance reaching a thermal sensor from a target after passing through the water vapor plume. The DIRSIG results are validated against the MODTRAN results. This study shows that temperature errors of as much as one Kelvin can be attributed to the presence of a localized water vapor plume.


About the Book "These are the stories that came to me to be told after the close of a magical marriage to an extraordinary man that ended in a less-than-magical divorce. I found myself unmoored, unmated, ungrounded in a way that challenged everything I'd ever thought about human relationships. Situated squarely in that terrifying paradise called freedom, precipitously out on so many emotional limbs, it was as if I had been born; and in fact I was being reborn as the woman I was to become."


We give a new proof of the result of Edgar Ramos which claims that two finite, continuous Borel measures $\mu_1$ and $\mu_2$ defined on $\mathbb{R}^5$ admit an equipartition by a collection of three hyperplanes. As a consequence we obtain a new proof of the result $\Delta(1,4)\leq 5$ (also due to Ramos) which states that each continuous measure in $\mathbb{R}^5$ admits an equipartition by $4$ hyperplanes. We also take this opportunity to preliminary address some of the `issues' raised in the paper "Topology of the Gr\"{u}nbaum-Hadwiger-Ramos hyperplane mass partition problem", arXiv:1502.02975 [math.AT].


the purpose of this study was to determine the kind and degree of differences that existed in the socioeconomic status and access to financial resources of elderly members of the church of jesus christ of latterday saints day and to determine if differences existed between church service and private pay elderly hospital patients in economic status type of housing housing costs marital status sex number and degree of access to children savings and other assets certain elderly members of the LDS church were found to be significantly deficient economically because of inadequate income low lifetime earnings and high medical expenses findings suggest the present system of medical welfare is somewhat inadequate especially where hospitals provide direct service church service individuals should be helped to more adequately plan their retirement finances c COMMITTEE APPROVAL A t don D shaw chairman yc 1 i v brnt hafen coaimftteealember iaze jcd& ters department chairman ren C iqttde me


This thesis investigates the relationship between human capital and technology, by one side and the ancestral genetic diversity of populations, by the other. Then, it seeks to understand the determinants of several inventions that occurred during the process of industrial revolutions. Finally, it presents evidence on the determinants of inequality, a clear overlooked issue in the empirical literature. The first chapter, Introduction, provides a critical revision of the literature and stresses the contributions of the thesis. The second chapter highlights theoretically a new channel through which genetic diversity can affect development: human capital. It also shows strong empirical evidence of a hump-shaped relationship between genetic diversity and human capital. This means that some of the human capital achievements today may stem from the genetic diversity mostly determined many centuries ago. Results are robust to the introduc- tion of several controls and to IV estimation. The third chapter investigates the relationship between technology in 1500 and the ancestral genetic diversity of populations. It highlights a strong hump-shaped relationship between genetic diversity and technological developments in 1500. This means that some of the technological achievements may stem from the genetic diversity mostly determined more than a millennium ago. Results are robust to the introduction of several controls, and to IV estimation. The fourth chapter contributes to answer to the ques- tion "why inventions that shaped industrial revolutions have been discovered in some countries and not in others?". We access the determinants of more than a hundred inventions around the world, explaining why they occurred in a given country and why some occurred earlier than others. We confirm the importance of scale and dismiss the importance of education as triggers of inventions. Geographic and genetic distance from the UK and the USA have proven to be sig- nificant. Both distance from the UK and proximity to the USA seem to have significant effect on the rise of the probability to invent. A fruitful recent theoretical literature has related human capital and technological development with income (and wages) inequality. However, empirical assessments on the relationship are still scarce. In the fifth chapter, we relate human capital, total factor productivity (TFP), and openness with inequality and discover that, when countries are assumed as heterogeneous and dependent cross-sections, human capital is the most robust determinant of inequality, contributing to increase inequality, as predicted by theory. TFP and Openness revealed to be non-significantly related to inequality. These new empirical results open prospects for theoretical research on the country-specific features conditioning the causal relationship from human capital, technology and trade to inequality. In the last chapter of the thesis, we relate technological adoption (of different technologies) with income inequality. We discovered that some technologies such as aviation, cell phones, electric production, internet, telephone, and TV are skill-complementary in raising inequality. We constructed standardized indexes of skill-complementary technological adoption for modern Information and Communi- cation Technologies (ICT), older ICT, production and transport technologies. We found strong evidence that older ICT and transport technologies (and less frequently modern ICT) tend to increase inequality. Additionally, we discovered that results are much stronger in rich countries than in poor ones. Our results are quite robust to a series of changes in specifications, estima- tors, samples, and measurement of technology adoption. These results may bring insights to the design of incentive-schemes for technology adoption.


The Chating deposit, located in the Xuancheng ore district, is a newly discovered and large Cu-Au deposit in southeastern Anhui in recent years. It is also a major breakthrough in prospecting in the Middle-Lower Yangtze River. The existing exploration work revealed that the deposit has geological characteristics of a porphyry deposit. It also confirms the effectiveness of geophysics in searching for concealed ore deposits in covered areas. The discovery of the deposit greatly broadens the prospecting potential in the MiddleLower Yangtze River and adjacent areas.


Putnam (1993) provides impressive evidence that the enduring geographic patterns of social capital in Italy influence regional government performance. His work has motivated other scholars to search for a link between social capital and performance among nations and other large subnational entities. The purpose of this study is to extend this line of research to the community level. To accomplish this a unique data set consisting of the opinions of approximately 100 people in each of 114 Iowa communities was collected. The data made it possible to examine the extent to which towns characterized as high in social capital by their residents tend to be towns where citizens see their local governments as more responsive and effective. The analyses show a clear relationship: local governments are viewed as more responsive and effective in towns described as high in social capital by their citizens. Additional analyses reveal that social capital is also related to the upkeep of public streets and parks in the communities. Both of these relationships remain significant even after controlling for a variety of socioeconomic factors.


The Silicon Vertex Tracker (SVT) of the BABAR experiment at the PEP-II asymmetric B factory is a five layers double sided, AC coupled silicon microstrip detector. It represents a crucial element to measure with precision the decay position of B mesons, satisfying the severe constraints imposed by the accelerator design, in terms of geometry of the interaction region and conditions of operation. In the following paper the SVT performances are described. Radiation issues are discussed and the results of different tests aimed to study the SVT degeneration in performance due to the radiation damage are presented. The alignment procedure is described and a few BaBar physics results are presented as examples of the SVT capabilities to reconstruct decay vertices with good resolution and efficiency.


Ask About Medicines Week is 5–9 November 2007 and a campaign called 'asking about medicines as we grow up' is being aimed at children and young people. The school nurse has an important role to play in aiding young people to take responsibility for their own medicines.


The primary purpose of this study was to examine the effects of virus infection in Phalaenopsis cultivated across the country. RT-PCR analysis was used to detect two major viruses in orchid: CymMV and ORSV. The virus infection rate of in vitro plantlets from 45 cultivars was 83.6%, and the rate of potted plants from 21 cultivars was 92.5%. For CymMV, single infection in in vitro plantlets was 34.3%, and for ORSV, it was 11.4%. In the case of potted plants, single infection with CymMV was 57.0%, and ORSV alone was not detected. For double infection with both viruses, in vitro plants accounted for 37.9% and potted plants for 35.5%. No infection with both viruses was found in in vitro plantlets with 'V3' imported from Taiwan. Plants infected with CymMV showed chlorotic and necrotic spots on leaves and color break in petals and sepals of flowers, and those infected with both CymMV and ORSV featured yellow striped or mosaic symptoms. Additional key words: CymMV, DN method, in vitro plantlets, ORSV, potted plants, RT-PCR


The coordinated development of urban and rural,is the first co-ordinated form of expression and the expected results of "urban and rural development,balancing development among regions,economic and social development,balancing the harmonious development of man and nature,and domestic development and opening up".Facing many contradictions and problems,a correct and fully understanding is needed,in the process of urbanization and the new rural construction,to select the right urbanization mode.We can promote the urbanization and the new rural construction effectively and healthy in this way,so as to achieve the coordinated development of urban and rural areas.


Due to the activities related to the abundant agricultural use in the rural areas of the municipality of Brasil Novo, in the State of Pará, the soils of the region are degraded and later compacted, due to the lack of adequate management. In this case study, the objective was to evaluate the physical and chemical attributes of a voçoroca located in a rural property in the municipality of Brasil Novo. Deformed and undisturbed samples were collected to determine the chemical and physical properties of the soil, comprising the upper area (A), the middle area (B), the lower area (C) and the area with natural regeneration (D). For the statistical analysis of the chemical attributes the Wilcoxon test was applied. In the evaluation of the physical attributes it was verified the high density of the soil (Ds). The inadequate use of the area together with the erosive processes highly influenced by the topography of the land, promoted low soil fertility, presenting low levels of macronutrients (P, K+, Ca2+ and Mg2+), high saturation by aluminum, high acidity and low sum of bases and cation exchange capacity in soils of the evaluated areas. In the statistical analysis, it was observed that a significant difference occurred only in the comparison between areas A and C in the depth of 0 to 20 cm, as a function of nutrient transposition by the leaching process. The results indicated the need to use adequate practices for the control of erosion and the restoration of soil structure.


This paper deals with the passive detection of noiselike signals in the presence of both external (environmental) noise and self‐generated (receiver) noise, using an array of transducers. Starting with the Bayesian formulation of the general detection problem, a set of matrix integral equations is derived whose solution yields the optimum detector function. By regarding the resultant time‐varying filters as operators and the defining matrix integral equations as a set of operational equations, it is possible to examine the underlying structure of the optimum detector most easily. It is shown, thereby, that factorization of the space‐time operations (i.e., separation of the required filter into two successive operations—the first depending only on the geometry of the array, the second depending only on the statistics of the noise processes) is not, in general, possible in optimum systems. Only in the strong‐signal case has it been possible to show that factorization analogous to conventional beam forming c...


A complex relationship exists between the soybean plant and symbiotic Rhizobium. The multiplication of the Rhizobium is dependent on the nitrogen fertility of the soil. On the other hand, the soybean plant can apparently use either nitrogen from the soil or that fixed by bacteria. However, a temporary shortage of nitrogen causing chlorosis did not affect yields in this study. When nitrogen became available later in the season the soybean plant was able to attain the same yield potential.


Abstract The use of point-of-care testing (POCT) technology has increased every year worldwide. In Spain, there are no data about how these tests are used and where they are performed, and there is no clear vision of what is the role of laboratory regarding these tests. The POCT Committee, in the Spanish Society of Clinical Biochemistry, carried out a survey in order to find out what the situation is with POCT in the country from a laboratory POCT manager's point of view. The survey had 19 questions: 3 for segmentation, 1 for opinion, 13 to obtain specific information about POCT in their hospitals, and 2 about personal information. To enable a response, a survey link was shared in the Spanish Society of Clinical Biochemistry Web page. Responses were obtained via Google Docs Web page, where coworkers were requested to fill in the survey. The survey was answered by 140 laboratories, but only 126 of the responses were considered valid. The survey results generally showed that the situation in Spain is similar to that in other countries as documented by similar national surveys on POCT. The survey also demonstrated room for improvement in POCT practices and a need for governmental regulation to improve POCT processes.


The invention discloses a gun holster, which can realize ammunition loading when a gun is arranged in the gun sleeve. The gun holster comprises a gun holster body on the lower part of the gun, and the gun holster body can slide downwards relative to a sliding rod component used for fixing a breaking block body of the gun, and thus live ammunition can be loaded into the chamber of the gun only with one hand so that the gun is ready for shooting. The gun holster also comprises one or a plurality of locking components so as to prevent the gun from being accidentally pulled out of the gun holster.


This paper examines the relationship between Government fiscal policy measures and stock prices in Nigeria during the period 1985 – 2012. Employing OLS, co-integration, error correction mechanism (ECM), Granger Causality and impulse response and variance decomposition techniques on fiscal policy – stock prices model patterned after a multivariate regression, the study found a significant and negative impact of Public expenditure on stock prices, while Government Domestic Debt Outstanding exerts a significant and positive influence on stock prices. The study also reports a significant and positive relationship between Non-Oil Revenue and stock prices while the two-period and three-period lagged values of broad money supply have significant relationship with stock prices. The Granger causality tests reveal that Stock prices lead changes in Public Expenditure, Domestic Debt and Money Supply respectively while Non-Oil Revenue leads changes in stock prices. The results of both the IRF and VDC analysis reveal that own shocks represent the dominant source of variation in the forecast errors of the variables. The paper therefore recommends that appropriate fiscal policies should be designed and implemented on account of the significant and profound impact of fiscal policies on stock market prices.


The very high temperature gas-cooled reactor (VHTR) is a uranium-fueled, graphite-moderated, and helium-cooled reactor envisioned as one of the promising future nuclear reactor concepts due to its high efficiency, safety, and variety of applications. In this reactor concept, core bypass flow and cross flow are currently considered as key issues because of their inherent uncertainties and complication of prediction. Recently, the computational fluid dynamics (CFD) method has received a great deal of attention as a method for understanding the flow behavior in the VHTR core, including the bypass and the cross flow. However, validation of this method has not been sufficiently conducted yet based on real experimental data. For this reason, prediction capability of the CFD method was validated in this study by comparing the predictions with the existing multi-hole experimental data obtained by Groehn as a part of the core thermal-hydraulics design study for the NHDD PMR-200. A two-stacked fuel block with wedge-shaped cross gap was simulated for computational domain as the experimental setup. The flow loss coefficients and the velocity distributions of the cross flow from the experiment were compared to the CFD predictions extensively. As a result, good agreements between the CFD predictions and the experimental results were observed, confirming prediction capability of the CFD method for the complicated cross flow in the VHTR core. Furthermore, the velocity distributions and pressure distribution in the cross gap were investigated to identify the characteristics of the cross flow.


In this work, the impact of the pressure on the electronic and optical characteristics of bulk Black Phosphorus (BP) is investigated using first principles calculations. In this context, the density functional theory (DFT), including Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof Generalized Gradient Approximation (PBE-GGA) and the screened hybrid (YS-PBE0) functionals with van der Waals correction is used to study the material properties under pressure effects. The band structures of bulk BP with and without pressure effects are extracted. It is revealed from DFT results that the band gap decreases with pressure increasing, where low a band gap value of 0.09 eV is achieved by introducing the critical pressure of 1.5 GPa. Further increasing the pressure leads to semi-metallic properties in bulk BP. In addition, the optical properties of the material under pressure are investigated by extracting the dielectric function and the optical constants under pressure effects. It is revealed that the strained bulk BP can enable enhanced optical performances over the middle infrared (Mid-IR) spectral band, making it highly suitable for the design of high performance photosensors appropriate for optical communication applications.


Objective: To investigate effect of hemorheology,TNF-α and VEGF of endometriosis SD rats model treating by YiweiⅠPrescription.Methods: Firstly,60 female SD rats were divided into no-treatment control group(8 SD rats) and experimental group(52 SD rats,by the method of endometrium autologous transplantation).Secondly,the changes of hemorheology,TNF-α and VEGF before and after were determined by using YiweiⅠPrescription.Results: Before treating by YiweiⅠPrescription,whole blood viscosity,whole blood reduced viscosity,red cell assembling index,TNF-α and VEGF of experimental group were higher than those of control group(P 0.05 or P 0.01).After treating for four weeks,whole blood viscosity,whole blood reduced viscosity,TNF-α and VEGF were reduced(P 0.05).Conclusion: YiweiⅠPrescription can effectively adjust the pathology condition of EMs SD rat model by reducing the higher hemorheology,TNF-α and VEGF.


Heat fading is the key factor that influences the stability of the brake. Relative braking tests are done to study its mechanism through integrative test bed of motorcycle brake. The friction surfaces of brakes have been analyzed by scanning electron microscopy(SEM), after two types of friction materials are frictionated with their counterparts. In comparison with the experimental results of the two types of friction materials, we find that the intensity of heat fading is greatly related to the component of brake lining. To powder metal materials,the fading is not obvious,while the fading of resin friction materials is rather obvious because some organic are contained.Some schemes of modifying friction materials have been put forward to upgrade the performance of heat fading resistance.


Continuous-wave injection seeding of a subnanosecond backward terahertz-wave parametric oscillator based on slant-strip-type periodically poled lithium niobate is demonstrated. Enhancement of pump-to-idler conversion efficiency up to 39% is achieved by seeding for forward-propagating idler wave.


In this paper it is reported an experience about the design and implementation of eportfolio functionality into an existing LMS, in the framework of the SPA Project, sponsored by the IFSP (International Federation of Sports Physiotherapy).


In this article, we will look at some ways to connect to the Internet, one of which is a VPN. You will learn the history of its creation, how it functions and how safe its use is. Also, the article discusses some laws concerning the use of this service and what consequences its use in everyday life may have.


By the time the U.S.loan crisis triggered by the financial crisis and economic crisis,as a result of economic globalization transmission,making the world because of the global financial crisis triggered a recession.This article on the U.S.financial crisis and its causes impact on the global economy and how China's economic policies,balance of payments,monetary policy,the processing trade,fiscal policy,tax policy and industrial restructuring to deal with in order to maintain sustained economic harmony development.For government departments,institutions,a modern enterprise and financial industry leaders and people of insight about the reference.


The utility model discloses a metal valve upper sealing structure, which consists of an upper sealing seat, a seal ring and a valve stem. The seal ring is an annular structure with a circular section and is disposed between the upper sealing seat and the valve stem, the upper sealing seat includes a mounting section and a sealing section, the sealing section is an inner conical face which together with the seal ring forms a first seal pair, and the end of the valve stem is provided with an outer-conical-faced shaft shoulder which together with the seal ring forms a second seal pair. The first seal pair and the second seal pair are both contact faces between a conical face and a spherical face, and thereby when the valve stem deviates from a center under force, the seal ring overcomes frictional resistance to freely travel and rotate so as to constantly keep tight contact with the inner conical face of the upper sealing seat to form sealing.


Fourier transform spectroscopic transmissivity data in the far-infrared (10 - 350 cm-1) were used to derive a model for the complex refractive index (n - ik) of polycrystalline diamond films grown by microwave plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. Due to their polycrystalline nature, the diamond films exhibited a surface roughness with crystallite sizes ranging from 0.1 - 8 μm. Scattering of the far-infrared radiation introduced by the diamond's rough surface is shown to have a significant effect on the FTIR spectrum and is accounted for in the determination of the material's optical properties. Free carrier type absorption (k proportional to λ2) is observed at longer wavelengths (l/λ < 100 cm-1).


In the article the author examines the evolution of the relations of Byelorussia with the European Union, analyzes the problems in the process of interaction between the parties and suggests possible variants for improving the different contacts between the two actors in the international arena.


This paper employs production function analysis to examine a number of pivotal issues concerning the Soviet agricultural sector. Estimates of three input translog production functions for five agricultural commodities grown in the Soviet Union from 1960–76 are reported. These results are used to draw inferences on such matters as the rationality of Soviet agricultural factor pricing, the nature of agricultural returns to scale in the USSR, and the scope of factor substitution in that country. The empirical evidence suggests that Soviet decisions in the sphere of agricultural production, contrary to the conventional wisdom, are well-founded technologically.


The author puts forwards a technical method to judge the gas distribution through up - rise pipe on furnace top and the introduces the application of tabu clonal algorithm in such judgment in No.5 blast furnace of WISCO,the utilization result shows that this method plays an important role in analyzing the gas flow distribution and adjusting the burden distribution.


A CO2-switchable microemulsion was fabricated by introducing low-cost commercial N,N-dimethyl-N-dodecyl amine into a sodium dodecyl sulphate–butanol–heptane solution. Upon alternate bubbling of CO2 and N2, the system reversibly switched between a monophasic microemulsion and nearly complete phase separation, reflecting the disruption and re-formation of a thermodynamically stable microemulsion.


Statistical issues concerning multiple response criteria, multiple treatment groups, and multiple subgroups in clinical trials require careful attention in order to avoid an inappropriately high prevalence of chance findings, as well as to avoid unsatisfactorily low power to detect real treatment differences. An underlying goal is using a 0.050 significance level as often as possible for separate assessments while maintaining a 0.050 level for all assessments taken together, so statistical power is not compromised. For multiple response criteria, a useful assessment strategy is composite ranking as a single criterion first and then its individual components. Multiple treatment comparisons can often be effectively addressed with closed testing procedures with hierarchical evaluation. This hierarchy must be well specified since significance at its first stage is required before testing is allowed at the next stage. In most clinical trials, subgroups are of supportive interest after statistical significance for all patients is shown. A subgroup hierarchy, however, permits primary evaluation in conjunction with all patients through significance level spending function methods as in interim analyses, for example, the O'Brien-Fleming method. The rationale is the analogy between a subgroup hierarchy and the patient hierarchy at successive interim analyses. With this method, the significance level for all patients' evaluation typically ranges between 0.040 and 0.045 and that for subgroups ranges from 0.005-0.020. The methods outlined here for multiple response criteria, multiple treatment groups, and subgroups, or related counterparts, should be prespecified in the protocol for a clinical trial. If not in the protocol, they should be incorporated in the analysis plan prior to study unmasking.


In this paper, a new Schwarz algorithm was developed to solve a class of large scale and nonlinear degenerated parabolic systems. The systems discussed in this paper included the nonlinear Schrodinger equations as the special case. The detailed computation procedures and the proofs for the discrete solutions converging to the exact solution are also presented in this paper. A numerical example is employed to illustrate the obtained theoretical results.


Background- Industrial agriculture is increasingly important to the economies of developing countries, accounting for a large percentage of exported goods for use in the United States and other ind...


Changes in cerebral blood flow in response to orthostatic stress in obstructive sleep apnea patients were measured using diffuse correlation spectroscopy. Clinical indices derived from arterial oxygen saturation alter the cerebrovascular response.


Objective To study histological characters of the overground parts of Chuanhaizhi.Methods By using routine methods of pharmacognosy such as freehand section and surface slice,to observe the microscopic characters of the leaves and stems of Chuan- baizhi.Microscopic pictures were drawn under microscope.While,some microscopic pictures for some parts were took.Results The main identification characteristics of the leaves and sterns of Chuanbaizhi were found out.Conclusion The study provide bases for further research and explaitation of the overground parts of Chuanbaizhi.


Just before lunch on Tuesday 13 October 1942 the British War Cabinet assembled for a hasty meeting in the Prime Minister's room in the House of Commons. Sandwiched on the agenda between discussion of the impending visit of the South African premier and the arrangements for celebrating Armistice Day was a unique item, one on which no less than six different Cabinet ministers had submitted papers. The subject was the treatment of the black soldiers who were in Britain as members of the US Army's expeditionary force. The American policy was to segregate them as much as possible from white troops. The Cabinet had now to make up its mind about a War Office proposal that British troops should be encouraged to adopt a similar attitude to the black GIs. The issue, bluntly stated, was whether the British Government should approve a discreet colour bar.


GdBCO films have been synthesized on single crystal substrates of SiTrO3(100)by using a fluorite-free MOD method. We have recently developed a fluorine-free MOD synthesis with several important advantages including precursor solution stability, improved film density, and elimination of HF during processing. The phase composition, microstructures and the critical temperature of superconductivity (Tc) and the critical current density (Jc) of GdBCO films have been investigated by x-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and four-probe method. The Jc value of the YBCO film in self-field at 77 K was determined by the application of the Bean critical state model formula using the M~H curve. The critical temperature of superconductivity (Tc) of GdBCO films was 90 K and the critical current density (Jc) reached 0.6 MA/cm2 at 77K in the self-field.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:BNC and VUAS secondary to radical prostatectomy (RP) and/or radiation represent significant challenges to patient care. Definitive management would likely require complex...


Russian Literature Readings Selection is considered to be more difficult course to study,because the difficult points to understand in literature writing not only relate to the meaning of words,but the concrete contents of the words in the writing.Students should know the nowledge of Russian history,culture and national conditions.To explore contexts while reading literature articles is an effective meathod for understanding.


Abstract : The aims of the research were to determine the effect of learning models on mathematics achievement viewed from anxiety mathematics learning. The learning models compared were direct, PBL with scientific approach, and DL with scientific approach. This was quasi-experimental research with 3x3 factorial design. The population were all students of Junior High School in Banyumas. The samples are the students of SMPN 1 Patikraja, SMPN 2 Patikraja, and SMPN 2 Kalibagor, taken by using stratified cluster random sampling technique. The instruments used were mathematics achievement test and anxiety mathematics learning. The data analysis technique used unbalanced two ways anova. Based on the data analysis, it can be concluded as follows. (1) The students receiving PBL with scientific approach to DL with scientific approach achievement than those receiving direct learning model. The students receiving PBL with scientific approach and DL with scientific approach had the same learning outcome. (2) Students with lower levels of mathematics anxiety learning had better learning outcome than students with medium and high anxiety level. Students' learning anxiety level on math was better in their learning outcome than students with high levels of learning anxiety mathematics. (3) In each group, the anxiety level of students learning mathematics, learning model PBL with scientific approach and learning model DL with scientific approach provides better performance than direct learning model, learning model PBL with scientific approach produces the same learning outcome with learning model DL with scientific approach. (4) In each of the learning model, students with lower levels of anxiety level of mathematics learning outcome had better math outcome than students with medium and high math anxiety level learning, students learn math anxiety levels were to have better learning outcome than students with high levels of anxiety learn mathematics. Keywords : Direct learning model, PBL learning model with scientific approach, DL learning model with scientific approach, Math Anxiety Learning


Tourist has now become economy increase point gradually.Facing the good international tour situation,Hebei province has regarded the tour as pillar industry.The resource superiority of Hebei province isanalyses,and puts forward that its unique geology and configuration have been brought up rich and varied naturally and humanity tour resources system of Hebei province.Sums up the good possession of resources,and it proposes the market characteristic and transformation rule of tourist.


Objective:To study the characteristics of healthrisky behaviors among 4~6 Grade pupils in Chongqing,China.Methods:1 523 students were sampled from 9 elementary schools(4~6 grade)in Chongqing municipal main urban districts by cluster stratified random sampling method.Both self-designed general questionnaires and health-risky behaviors questionnaires were applied to test these students.1 501 valid questionnaires were analyzed.Results:The incidences of frequent hurt behaviors-teasing animals,fighting each other and violating street-crossing rules were 8.06%,2.86%,and 2.47% respectively.The incidences of frequent suicidal ideas,suicidal plans and suicidal attempts were 4.20%,1.40%,and 0.67% respectively.The incidences of frequent addictive behaviors-drinking alcohol,using computer ≥5 hours a day not for school tasks were 0.80% and 0.67%.The incidences of occasional and frequent behaviors—fighting each other,violating street-crossing rules,getting to high place and playing,intimidation,verbal abuse or assault by peer,carrying a weapon,smoking and drinking alcohol were higher among males than females(P0.05).Lack of exercises and lack of preparations before exercises were higher among females than males(P0.05).But there was no gender difference in relevant behaviors of committing suicide.Conclusion:There are significant gender differences in these health-risky behaviors except relevant suicide behaviors.The incidence of health-risky behaviors is low overall among the 4~6 Grade pupils in Chongqing,China.But some behaviors such as lack of exercises,lack of preparations before exercises,unhealthy weight control,and frequent suicidal ideas among some pupils should be concerned seriously.


Social information, such as a speaker's race, can affect the perception of speech. In some cases, these social primes facilitate perception, while in others they can lead to reduced speech intelligibility. For example, a picture of an East Asian face may facilitate perception of Mandarin Chinese-accented English but interfere with perception of American-accented English. Using a large sample recruited online, we aimed to test whether there is a link between implicit racial associations and the effects of social primes on the perception of American-accented English. We examined priming for a White versus an East Asian prime and for a White versus a Latina prime. In both cases, the difference between priming conditions was non-significant. Subjects also completed two implicit association tests, examining associations of these races/ethnicities with the constructs American versus Foreign and Good versus Bad. Individual differences in implicit associations did not predict social priming for either cohort. However, in some cases they did predict overall performance on the speech perception task. We discuss how these findings diverge from prior work on multiple accounts, and how consideration of the racial and linguistic diversity of listeners' interpersonal networks may improve our understanding of individual differences in social priming susceptibility.


Multi-section sampled signals is a kind of common signal,and information fusion among them can increase precision of signal process obviously,especially under the condition of low SNR and short duration of measured frequency.To increase precision of frequency estimation for multi-section signals and extend applicable range of existing methods,a fusion method of multi-section signals with the same length and known frequency-ratio is proposed.In the method,for unequal measured frequencies of different sections,generate the parameter matrix for frequency-domain analysis to carry out frequency normalization treatment.For phase discontinuity among different sections even after frequency normalization,design phase-difference compensating factor matrix to obtain frequency spectrum as well as phase-continuous signal.For unknown parameters in the phase-difference compensating factor matrix,generate search frequency array for actual computation and obtain frequency spectrum amplitude matrix with certain form.To prove validity of the algorithm,mathematical justification is provided.Simulated experiments with different application environment parameters are carried out.They show that the algorithm is true of any type of multi-section signals with the same length and known frequency-ratio.It has good noise immunity and its precision of frequency estimation is much higher than that of existing methods.


Student perceptions of different homework methods traditional pencil-andpaper instructor-graded homework, modifi ed traditional instructor-graded homework, and online homework (automatically computer-graded) in an introduction to operations management course are analyzed. Students perceive value in homework as a learning tool regardless of the specifi c methodology used for homework. Contrasting with more optimistic perception studies, only slightly more than half (51.22%) prefer online homework to the more traditional homework methods. With the continued proliferation of technology such as online homework into the classroom, educators and administrators need to work with students to improve student's perceptions and capabilities in the online environment.


Abstract : The objectives of this research have been (1) to develop methods for the investigation in the laboratory of factors which control the rise and fall of populations of particular aquatic and marine microorganisms (2) to study effects of specific nutritive and environmental factors on the microbial flora in open systems which simulate the stream or ocean and, (3) to study the interrelationships between the organisms which develop in these steady-state enrichment cultures. Earlier it was found that when sea water was passed continuously over a bed of decomposing algae and fed into a culture chamber, prolific growth of large colorless sulfur bacteria ensued. All attempts to grow these bacteria on conventional liquid and solid media were unsuccessful. In this steady-state enrichment culture hydrogen sulfide, generated by reduction of sulfate from sea water, is continuously provided at low concentrations, thereby providing an energy source for colorless sulfur bacteria. Sphaerotilus was cultured in a set of six stainless steel vessels and the effects of certain variables noted. Good growth is obtained in a medium consisting of glucose and mineral salts, with ammonia as the nitrogen source and tap water as the diluent. (Author)


Regional visit satisfaction of visitors can be increased by raising the regional attractiveness of recognized local stories. The purpose of current study is to explore the internal suitability of a confidence level for analyzing impacts to recognized local stories' regional attractiveness empirically and the Cronbach's alpha for the questions related to recognized local stories elements of a regional attractiveness showed good internal suitability with 0.905 and 0.874. As a result of proceeding with a regression analysis for verifying a study model, the power (the factors which are uniqueness, portrayal, understandability, and sensibility) of the recognized stories suggested from the study model and the regional attractiveness (the factors which are education, significance, and experientiality) are selected as they affect significant impacts. Local brand creations and expansions can be important cultural values for vitalizing a local economy via the study of the relationships (differences) between recognized local stories and regional attractiveness. In this study, the validity of each measure's variable used for the study's basic static analysis and each scale construction, and the credibility whether the measures variables are consisting of latent variables consistently were verified. And it is experimented if the recognized story's regional attractiveness relationships (differences) can be applied to this study by suggesting the hypothesis adoption status via regression analysis verifying causal impacts between variables. These were very meaningful in this study. Because if we study that regional story content elements are very effective in regional activation by increasing regional attractiveness for visitors then it might be able to be systemized theoretically and be used for practical businesses.


Gregory of Nyssa is famous for defending both the doctrine of epektasis, the continual ascent of the blessed toward God, and, in places, the doctrine of apokatastasis, the eventual restoration to God of all creation, including the Devil. This is a curious conjunction, for while Gregory connects them more than adventitiously, the tradition of the Eastern Church has largely received the former and rejected the latter.1 The point of this essay is to follow that intuition, not to say inspiration, of the tradition: briefly to challenge Gregory's conjunction and to develop from that challenge and with certain currents in philosophy of religion a conception of hell that is consistent with epektasis, avoids the implications of apokatastasis, and is itself attractive—which is to say, appropriately repulsive. This will not be an attempt to reconcile epektasis with Western eschatology. The best such effort may be present, incipiently, in Maximus the Confessor's impossible "moving rest,"2 itself a synthesis of the dynamic suggestions of Gregory with the static and sabbatical emphasis of the late Platonists, the early Origenists, and the Latins. This will also by its nature be closer to what philosophers call a "theodicy" than to what they call a "defense": more a plausible attempt at filling out the truth—here not the why but the what of hell—than a demonstration of certain doctrines'


Each antenna of a final instar Tenebrio molitor larva has two blunt-tipped pegs and two papillate sensilla. The former are short pegs with fluted cuticle and a terminal moulting pore and are set in deep sockets. Two large microtubule-filled dendrites fill a dense dendritic sheath within the peg; below the base of the peg they are joined by a lamellate dendrite and a dendrite resembling a scolopidial cilium. There are four accessory cells, the innermost resembling a scolopale cell. This sensillum may be thermo- and hygro-receptive.Superficially the papillate sensillum is radially symmetrical with a central zone of small cuticular papillae surrounded by one or two rings of smooth cuticle. Three or four dendrites (of five) end under a turret of longer papillae at the center of the papillate cuticle. Fine pores from the dendritic canal extend to the surface between the papillae. One or two dendrites, one of which may be lamellate, end well below the end organ. There are five accessory cells. The sensillar and...


Objective By patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease because of acute hospitalization,improve the cause of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease awareness and reduce the onset of acute exacerbation.Methods Analysis of 250 cases of hospitalized patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease hospitalized with acute exacerbation factor.Results The 250 patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease,including 98 cases of Ⅰ grade.89 cases of Ⅱ grade.51 cases of Ⅲgrade and 12 cases of Ⅳ grade,The etiology of acute exacerbation of respiratory tract infections admitted to hospital 182 cases, 28 cases of heart failure, pneumothorax in 16 cases, the other 24 cases.Conclusion Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease with acute exacerbation of respiratory infection was the main cause of hospitalization,in order to improve chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Respiratory infection prevention,to reduce the number of acute hospital is very important.


Summer pack ice biotic community of the Canada Basin was characterized during the Second Chinese National Arctic Research Expedition (CHINARE-2003, 20 August-5 September 2003). Bacteria, ice algae (diatoms and autotrophic flagellates) and protozoa (mainly heterotrophic flagellates) were observed throughout the whole ice column. The vertical distribution of biotic taxa varied among sites. The integrated biomass ranged from 48.4 and 58.1 mg/m2, with an average of 55.2 mg/m2. Bacteria were the dominant of the assemblage in pack ice, accounted for 84.1% of the integrated, and ice algae, which usually dominate the ice biotic community, constituted only 3.5% of the total. Considering the quick environmental changes of the Arctic Ocean in recent years, we suggested that quick melting of pack ice in summer was suggested, which caused such change of pack ice biotic community. The low salinity throughout the whole ice column and the continuous melting of the pack ice cumbered the formation of ice algae bloom in summer, finally resulting in the dominance of microbial food web with bacteria and heterotrophic flagellates as the most obvious characteristics. Considering the high ratio of pack ice primary production to the total found in previous studies, the quick change of pack ice community structure in summer would deeply influence the marine ecosystem of the high Arctic Ocean.


Conversion of a military environmental control unit from R-407C to hydrocarbon refrigerant was investigated. The key objective was reduction of size/weight while maintaining capacity and power input. Initial analysis indicated that propylene would be the most promising hydrocarbon refrigerant. Testing was done with a prototype unit charged with R-407C and subsequently with propylene. Capacity was 12% higher and COP was 10% higher when operating with propylene. Analysis showed that the condenser could have 8.5% less face area, and that initial 32 inch (813 mm) unit height could be reduced 2 inches (51 mm). Tracer gas testing was done to determine refrigerant concentrations generated due to leakage rates of 1 lb/hr (0.5 kg/hr) and 20 lb/hr (9 kg/hr). The testing showed that some locations could build up concentration levels above the LFL. However, locations with likely ignition sources (i.e. the interior of electric boxes) did not experience levels close to the LFL.


Background and Purpose: Existing literature demonstrates the beneficial impact of rehabilitation interventions on functional status in patients necessitating prolonged mechanical ventilation (PMV).1‐3 However, there appears to be a void in the literature addressing the effects of specific physical therapy (PT) and occupational therapy (OT) interventions on functional status of persons with PMV in the context of the acute care oncology setting. This case report describes the PT and OT management of a patient with PMV in the acute care oncology setting. Case Description: The patient in this case report is a 41‐year‐old woman with metastatic breast cancer and malignant pleural effusions who required PMV following an acute episode of respiratory failure. Examination and Intervention: The patient presented with deconditioning, decreased strength, and decreased functional status upon PT and OT initial evaluation. Targeted and intense PT and OT interventions including deep breathing exercises, limb strengthening, reconditioning, functional training, and early mobilization were implemented. Outcomes: Primary outcomes of interest were level of function qualified by need for assistance as defined on the FIM and ambulation distance. Following PT and OT, the patient showed substantial gains in functional status. She was weaned from the ventilator and was discharged home to resume her role as mother. Discussion and Conclusion: Consistency between the outcomes of previous studies examining the effects of rehabilitation on functional status among persons with PMV and KB's experience lends support to the use of this management approach for patients with PMV the acute care oncology setting.1‐3


Incremental PID has its shortcomings: great integral truncation effect, static error and spillover affect. In the control system, the controller system is required having a quick response speed, and also a certain anti-interference ability. When adopting the improved differential PID control algorithm, only the output differential is made, instead of the given values. So, when a given value changes, the output will not change, and the controlled quantity change is usually mild, in which case the control accuracy is improved, and the system dynamic characteristics is greatly improved.


The tomato plant (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.) is a horticultural plant that is popular with the public because it has good nutritional content, including vitamin A, vitamin B and vitamin C, which have quite high levels which are good for the body to consume. One of the pests that affects tomato plant production, both quality and quantity, is the attack by root knot nematodes (NPA), namely Meloidogyne spp. This research aims to determine the ability of kipahit leaf powder in several doses to suppress attacks by root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) on tomato plants (Lycopersicum esculentum Mill.). This research was designed using a one-factor Completely Randomized Design (CRD). The factors tested were the administration of kipahit leaf powder at doses of 25 grams, 50 grams, 75 grams and 100 grams with the control treatment not being given kipahit leaf powder as a comparison. This study had 5 treatments and 4 replications. The research results showed that giving 50 grams of kipahit leaf powder was able to reduce the intensity of root knot attacks and could reduce the nematode population around the roots of tomato plants. and had a significant effect on plant height at 46 and 60 days after transplanting.


Sweep Frequency Response Analysis (SFRA) is an effective low-voltage, off-line diagnostic tool used to find out any possible winding displacement or mechanical deterioration inside the Transformer, due to large electromechanical forces occurring from the fault currents or due to Transformer transportation and relocation. SFRA curves are considered as finger prints of a transformer. In this method, the frequency response of a transformer is taken both at manufacturing industry and concern site. Then both the response is compared to predict the fault taken place in active part. Cross Correlation Co-efficient is the most popular parameter for this comparison. But Normalization Covariance Factor can also be an effective indicator to interpret SFRA curves. In this paper, with a small discussion on SFRA technique and Normalization Covariance Factor, the effectiveness of Normalization Covariance Factor for fault detection has been represented through several case studies.


Two structures of human Siah1 at 1.95 and 1.58 Å resolution provide more complete models for this protein and identify conformational variability in the subdomain organization.


In recent years a coercive criminal justice policy has been promoted as the appropriate response to control and deter perpetrators of domestic violence. In varying degrees, across western democracies, pro-arrest and mandatory arrest policies, mandatory prosecution, and tougher penalties have been proposed and implemented. However, recent literature and research on domestic violence has questioned the underlying assumption that the criminal justice system is always the most effective and appropriate response to domestic violence. This research raises two serious challenges, not only for the criminal justice system, but also for women's advocates, policy makers and researchers. First, how can the criminal justice system acknowledge and respond to the heterogeneous nature of domestic violence perpetrators? Second, whose goals should be paramount in police response to domestic violence, the system's or the victim's? This paper examines each of these two challenges and considers their implications for the policing of domestic violence.


The development and the innovation of brine refining process by membrane method were analyzed and summarized. And the brine refining by process membrane method was compared between the new process and the old process. It considered that the new process had several advantages, such as sta-bility of brine quality, easy operation, saving energy, filtration capacity improvement by crystal seeds pro-tection. It was worth to be popularized.


Traumatic brain injury is the most common cause of death and disability in childhood. Our findings suggest that children with TBI exhibit more problematic pre-injury social and emotional behaviors, mainly in self-regulation and autonomy. These difficulties in selfregulation and autonomy were also present post-inju ry and new problems in interaction with other people had emerged. We also found that there ar significant gender differences in both preand post-injury social and emotional problems. While boys have more difficulties with self-regulation, compliance and interaction with ot er people, girls are more prone to have problems in adaptive functions. After TBI the inter play of poorer self-regulation, autonomy and interaction with peers and other people in boys and lower adaptive skills in girls may have serious effect on these boys' and girls' futur e life. Early gender specific detection and intervention of emerging social-and emotional probl ems is crucial.


The definition of abortion is the "termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus as the spontaneous expulsion of a human fetus during the first 12 weeks of gestation" (Webster Online). In Malawi abortion is restricted to mothers whose life would be in danger if allowed to carry on with the pregnancy up to the time of delivery. Except under such circumstances abortion is generally punishable by law. Section 149 of the country's penal code penalizes anyone who performs an abortion to 14 years imprisonment, while any woman who solicits one can be put in jail for up to seven years. It is from this view that some scholars have observed that the abortion laws which Malawi is currently using were imposed by the colonialists in 1930 while the British have themselves reviewed them twice. Some recent research studies has shown that unsafe abortion is the second leading cause of death among pregnant mothers.

The question which should be asked is why is the nation still clinging to the legislation which was imposed while the owners abandoned it? I sought some views from a number of people and this is what they had to say:

Alfred Phiri

Court Clerk

Whether one likes it or not, abortion is rampant in the country due to unplanned/unwanted pregnancies. Since it is criminalized, many women resort to unsafe abortions which lead to complications and many disadvantaged women are dying because of these complications. Therefore, it is high time Malawi reviewed chapter 15, sections 149 to 151 and 243 of the penal code which criminalize abortion. The legislation was imposed on us by the colonial masters in the 1930's and it has never revisited up to this day. Hypocritically, the colonial masters have actually legalized abortion in their own country. Taking into the current account issues of reproductive health rights which empower women to make decisions about their reproduction, there is a great need and urgency to review this archaic legislation. Legalizing abortion will afford women safe abortion services and ensure that there are no complications associated with unsafe abortions which are killing many women, accounting for 30% of maternal deaths in the country. Let's save our dear sisters and mothers by legalizing abortion in this country as our neighbours have done!

Innocent Kalumikiza

Cleaner

I would argue for both answers. Firstly I think if the laws give an opportunity for abortion to a woman in order to save a life then I see no point of changing them because this could result in just aborting carelessly which is also a health hazard more especially to women and I truly think that any unborn child has a right to life.

Frank Sitima

Garden Attendant

Whether we abide to laws of whichever country or what, we are all held accountable to the law of God which condemns abortion as murder, biologically life begins in the womb thats God's creation no one has the right to pronounce the beggining of life saying like the fetus is chinthu not munthu, thats foolishness. Abortion is a sin against God.

Stella Kaphaizi

Secretary

Terminating dangerous pregnancies can be condoned but just terminating for the sake of running away from responsibility is cruelty and unhuman. So I think that the laws should still be there to deny people who would want to take away innocent lives of unborn children just to satisfy themselves because I think any unborn child has rights just like any other individual.

George Zingeni

Driver

No amount of justification will ever take away the fact that abortion destroys a life and the question remains who has given you the right to take away life? Abortion is evil which ever way you look at it and its even worse when you think of killing a defenceless soul which God has entrusted in your custody. Let us not be selfish!

Andrew Maoni

Student (Zingwangwa Secondary)

Why should people who are alive support abortion? Why always push for reform in laws which will just confuse the already confused Malawi? Are we not selfish to say abortion is good whilst knowing that we are not victims of it? Think of the unborn if it was you or relatives or even better still your Loved ones? Are we not burning the bridge because we have crossed it? Its a pity. Only the aborted babies can support abortion because they are the only ones who know the beauty of abortion.


A fossil burrow system containing a food cache was discovered in coastal facies in the Lower Rhine Embayment near Cologne, Germany, in the lignite sequences of the Garzweiler open‐pit mine. Because these sediments are of Burdigalian age (late Early Miocene), this cache appears to be the geologically oldest food cache to date. The burrow occurs in the Morken Sand beds (horizon 5D), and it is hypothesized here that it was excavated by a Miocene burrowing animal from the surface of a palaeosol into the underlying dune sand in an interdune area. Based on the morphology of the burrow system and the size of the galleries, the burrow was made by a rodent, most likely a large hamster (e.g. Lartetomys or Karydomys) or, conceivably, a large ground squirrel. The chambers, and sometimes the galleries, of the burrow were filled with a monospecific cache of considerable size, estimated here as a minimum of 1800 nuts, although it was probably much larger. This food cache, a larder hoard, consisted of the three‐dimensionally preserved nuts of Castanopsis pyramidata (Fagaceae). Because many extant rodents are long‐term larder hoarders in regions experiencing seasonal food shortages (e.g. those with cold winter conditions or a dry season), the occurrence of this type of food cache in the Early Miocene implies an acute or chronic scarcity of food resources which, in turn, may be linked to either seasonal cycles in food availability in the backbeach environment or, plausibly, may possibly foretell the onset of climatic seasonality in the entire region.


Objective To improve the surgical treatment to zygomatic bone and mandibular angle hypertrophy, to remode facial contour and to produce beauty. Methods The reduction malarplasty is done by scalp coronal incision and orthosis mandibular angle hypertrophy through inoral incision, 11 patients of zygomatic bone and mandibular angle hypertrophy were treated, including 3 cases of rhytidectomy. Results All facial shapes have been improved, the results were satisfactory in every cases during the follow-up period of three months, X-rays showed bone lines were round, blunt and healing well. Conclusion The operation is safe reliable and scarless. It provides a good technique for those who love beauty.


A Taste for Transit? Analyzing Public Transit Use Trends among Youth Anne E. Brown, Evelyn Blumenberg, and Brian D. Taylor UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Kelcie Ralph Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy, Rutgers University Carole Turley Voulgaris UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs Abstract In the past decade, there has been much talk about a decline in driving among youth. This study examined whether this decline is associated with an increased reliance on public transit. To address this issue, 2001 and 2009 National Household Travel Survey (NHTS) data were used to analyze the relationship between age and transit use. Findings indicate that although young adults are more likely to ride transit than older adults, transit use among youth can be explained largely by (1) life cycle factors common among young people but unlikely to persist as they age, (2) higher levels of transit use among non-whites, who are disproportionately young, and (3) locational factors such as living in densely-developed neighborhoods that may or may not continue as young people age. Therefore, whereas transit habits established early in life may persist as young adults age, the data examined here suggest that such an outcome is far from assured. Keywords: Millennials, transit use, travel behavior Introduction Over the past decade, there has been much talk about a decline in auto travel among youth. Per-capita driving in the U.S. has dipped, with higher than average declines among teens and young adults (or Millennials, those born between 1980 and 2004), prompting some observers to conclude that youth are "ditching" cars for a more multimodal lifestyle that includes a greater reliance on public transit among other non-auto modes (Ball 2014; Blumenberg et al. 2012; Davis, Dutzik, and Baxandall 2012; Malcolm 2014; McDonald 2015). For example, a recent report published by the TransitCenter (2014) concludes, "The Millennial generation seems to be defying its sheltered, suburban upbringing by delaying the acquisition of a driver's license and choosing transit. Meanwhile, Baby Boomers, who grew up using transit and Journal of Public Transportation, Vol. 19, No. 1, 2016 49


The invention relates to a method for precipitating a solute of a Dense Fluid Solvent in which a solution of solute in a Dense Fluid Solvent expands under conditions such that the Dense Fluid Solvent passes from the region of the Dense Fluid Solvent his diagram phase to a two-phase region of its phase diagram so that precipitation of the solute from the solution occurs. The invention also relates to apparatus for performing this process.


This is a rotary rod weeder attachment for farm planters which is particularly designed to prepare the seed bed immediately ahead of the disc openers on the planting drill. This rod weeder is vertically adjustable and releases in a vertical direction upon impact with imbedded obstructions in the field.


Rendering multi-channel audio system comprises an audio renderer (113) that generates an audio signal into a plurality of audio channels. A plurality of interchangeable speaker units (101-109) comprises a battery (205) and audio transducer (207), for rendering the audio signal. The charging unit (115) and associated with a particular audio channel speaker unit and includes a battery (101-109) can be attached to a charging source. Link circuit (305) capable of being attached to it in the charging unit (115) to the speaker unit (101-109) linked to the first audio channel. The system can permanently particular channel and a charging unit (not charged or powered speakers substrate) is associated, and the speaker unit (101-109) can be interchangeable according to adapt its attachment. This scheme may allow (possibly wireless) charging the speaker unit (101-109) only by the speaker unit (101-109) and is attached to the charging unit (115) to achieve exchange of the speaker unit.


The article deals with different types of pasta products for soups in traditional Udmurt and Beserman cuisine, their local names, composition, cooking technologies, and area of distribution. Soups with pieces of yeast dough or fresh dough are included in the menu of national cuisine and have an important symbolic place in food identity. Such soups were prepared as an everyday dish, or as a ritual dish with sacrificial animal (poultry) meat; some types of dishes are preserved in the wedding ritual of the Southern Udmurts. Soups with slices of dough are more common in presentations and master classes of Beserman and Udmurt food traditions. In traditional cuisine flour of spelt , buckwheat, peas, oats, rye, wheat and mixtures of different kinds of flour were used. In modern cuisine, they are mainly made of wheat flour. Today traditional pasta products are often replaced by industrial ones like macaroni, noodles and spaghetti, but some traditional pasta products are still popular. The research is based on written sources, dictionaries, folklore texts, description of local cuisine and the author's field materials.


This research is cross-sectional exploratory research. The objective of this research is to study health conditions and related factors with heath quotient of officers in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya hospital by study from questionnaire and heath quotient form of Ungsinun Intarakamheang and Pattrawut Intarakamheang which improved and developed to suitable for Thai people and test form of Hoeger and Hoeger used by implement in this health quotient form. The samples of 934 officers all work in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya Hospital. Data were collected by the samples completed questionnaire themselves. The statistics are percentage, mean, one way ANOVA and independent sample T-Test. Results revealed that officers in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya hospital were having chronically disease 34.15 percent. It was found that major disease were hypertension, allergy and musculoskeletal disorder. While 40.26 percent of officers in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya hospital were having risk of diseases, hypertension, diabetes mellitus and cardio vascular. In BMI found that 30.70 percent of officers in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya hospital were in higher than standard level and 12.20 percent were having obesity. In health quotient 70.90 percent of officers in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya hospital were in excellent level while 29.10 percent were in risk level and need to improve. In related factors with heath quotient have significantly to statistic is sex. Found that female were in better average health quotient level than male. Marital status, found that people in marriage status were in better health quotient level than people in single or divorce status and people graduated in bachelor's degree or higher were in better health quotient level than people in lower education level. And officers who work relating to patients by directly service were in better health quotient level than officers who work in support agency. At last officers who smoke were in lower health quotient level than officers who not smoke.


Distance education is an important way to construct the lifelong learning system in the knowledge-based economy age, and it is of great education and economy value in rural areas all over the world. In combination with the actual situation in distance education development in China, In this paper, it illustrated the function of distance education in China's new rural construction, problems in rural distance education are comprehensively analyzed. And its corresponding countermeasures were proposed. And more, the development trend of rural distance education is prospected.


To illustrate the clinical features, treatment strategy, and pregnancy outcome of patients with obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome (OAPS), non‐criteria obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome (NC‐OAPS)


We characterize convex isoperimetric sets in the Heisenberg group. We first prove Sobolev regularity for a certain class of R 2 -valued vector fields of bounded variation in the plane related to the curvature equations. Then we show that the boundary of convex isoperimetric sets is foliated by geodesics of the Carnot-Carath´ eodory distance.


Nannochloris oculata Droop and Monallantus salina Bourrelly produce similar chloroplast pigments and show alike ultrastructural features separating them from the Chlorophyceae and Xanthophyceae, respectively, and linking them to the Eustigmatophyceae. It is proposed that N. oculata should be removed from the chlorophyceaen genus Nannochloris and transferred to a new taxon of coccoid eustigmatophytes containing the closely related M. salina: nomenclatural revisions are required for both strains.


Today the hidroenergy potential of Romania is used only in proportion of 60 %. There are in work several project concerning the arrangement of several water flows (Jiu, Strei, Bistrita, Mures). This will increase the overall percent up to 70 % in 2020. However it remains an important percent of usable potential which can be integrated by technology upgrade or building of new power plants. The asynchronous generator is a more efficient solution for small installed power and especially where the electric consumers are single phase and the electrical grid is isolated from the main grid.


Correspondence, printed questionnaires, photographs, etc. providing biographical information about politicians from Maine for inclusion in Lanman's Dictionary of the United States Congress. His Dictionary was published in various editions between 1859 and 1869. Preferred Citation Charles Lanman Papers, SpC MS 1425 sc, [Folder No.], Raymond H. Fogler Library Special Collections Department, University of Maine, Orono, Maine ^ Return to Table of


The paper firstly elaborated the concept of web publishing,and analyzed the obvious advantages of web publishing.The author pointed out that traditional publishing should take full advantage of this new form of publishing to achieve the complement in the content of this publication,publication format and marketing mechanisms,and then opened up the new publishing industry space together.


Concentration of gaseous pollutant and particulate matter are the major cause of respiratory disease and deaths. The dust pollution is serious matter almost in all cities of Maharashtra. This paper deals with the results of ambient monitoring of Aurangabad city for particulate matter, sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. The sulphur dioxide concentration is measured by Modified West and Geake Method whereas nitrogen dioxide is measured by Modified Jacob and Hochheiser method. The results shows a very high concentration of particulate matter, however sulphur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide were within the permissible limits.


The Western Development is the greatest project in this century and the Financing Scheme provides the impetus.It is very important to chose proper financing scheme between financing in the capital market and project financing,direct financing and indirect financing,BOT and TOT and other schemes,which is significant to the development of enterprises in the western areas and infrastructure construction.


Protecting healthcare workers (HCWs) is essential to safely maintaining healthcare systems during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic [1]. A Dutch study of various hospitals during the early outbreak, found a 0–10% attack rate for reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) diagnosed COVID-19 among HCWs with mild viral symptoms [2]. In several Asian countries, HCWs constituted >20% of presumptive occupational COVID-19 cases during the early outbreak [3]. At the Cambridge Health Alliance (CHA), the cumulative attack rate for RT-PCR-confirmed COVID19 in the workforce is consistent with the Dutch report (>2.5%), with rates increasing from the early phase to the 'surge' phase (operation at high capacity with predominantly SARS-CoV-2-positive patients). A consistent picture of clinical COVID-19 among HCWs is emerging. The three most common symptoms are cough, fever and myalgia [4–6]. However, cough is non-specific, whereas systemic symptoms/ signs (fever, body temperature ≥ 37.5°C, myalgia and headache) and anosmia/ageusia are much more frequent in HCWs with RT-PCR-confirmed COVID19 compared to those testing negatively [6]. On the other hand, HCWs at both CHA and Pamplona with no symptoms or isolated sore throat/nasal congestion symptoms typically have negative SARS-CoV-2 RT-PCRs. During a pandemic, HCWs can be infected through travel, at home, in their communities or at work due to unprotected exposure to contagious patients, from infected co-workers and contaminated clinical environments. However, there are reassuring signs that personal protective equipment (PPE) (masks/respirators, gloves, eye protection and gowns), hand hygiene and distancing are effective measures in preventing COVID-19 among HCWs. In Pamplona, preliminary serology results for SARS-CoV-2 antibodies among HCWs on the 'frontline' (emergency room, inpatient and ICU wards) demonstrated similar seroprevalence results as compared to non-frontline personnel from the rest of the healthcare system. Further evidence of PPE effectiveness against SARS-CoV-2 comes from swab sampling from HCW PPE after caring for COVID-19 patients. No evidence of SARS-CoV-2 contamination was found on the surface of these gowns, face visor masks, N95 masks or goggles [7,8]. However, at CHA and Pamplona, occupational transmission has been documented in two situations: from infected HCWs to other HCWs; or to HCWs from patients admitted for non-COVID-19 indications, where precautions were not taken, and COVID-19 symptoms manifested later. There is also evidence of community-driven infection with multiple positives seen in HCWs residing in towns with high SARS-CoV-2 attack rates. These persons are more likely to be diagnosed at work because of testing priorities (as of 15 April 2020, CHA HCWs were 6.7 times more likely to be receive an RT-PCR than an average Massachusetts resident). Regardless of workplace infection control strategies, a critical challenge has been the ideal return to work strategy for HCWs who have contracted COVID-19. Strategies based on RT-PCR are safe, but often delay return to work, because positive assays may persist for weeks due to their high sensitivity. Research on viral shedding suggests that quantitative RT-PCR SARS-CoV-2 testing using a viral culture viability threshold may be useful [9,10], as can convalescent antibody testing, but all strategies remain empirical at this point [11].


In this paper, a novel H/sup /spl infin// control design is proposed on the basis of T-S fuzzy model. The controller is divided into two parts, one is designed based on the idea of parallel distributed compensation (PDC), to guarantee the stability, and the other is an H/sup /spl infin// control to attenuate the external disturbance. The influence on the regulating error can be attenuated to a prescribed level. A simulation on the inverted pendulum is given to illustrate the effectiveness of this algorithm.


The structure of old monumental churches differs a lot from contemporary buildings. The structural materials were wood, brick and stone. In order to construct high buildings with huge spans, thick ...


The purpose of this study was to explore the practice of Farmer-Field Schools (FFS) theoretically framed from the perspective of transformative learning theory and non-formal education (NFE). Farmer-Field Schools are community-led NFE programs that provide a platform where farmers meet regularly to study the 'how and why' of farming and engage in an instrumental and experiential learning process imbued with local knowledge expressed through song, dance and theatre. Through a qualitative design using multiple interviews and observations of the Luhya ethnic group in Western Kenya, involving participants of several FFS programs, the study revealed an intricate picture of fostering transformative learning within the context of NFE, where findings call into question some long-held assumptions about both.


An analytical model of nonlinear shock response of shipboard equipment using shock isolator with displacement restrictor is established in this paper, and t he nonlinear shock response is calculated for the first time by the pseudo-for ce approach. In order to examine the foregoing analytical model and calculation results, an experimental model of shipboard equipment using isolator with displa cement restrictor is made. The comparison of the calculated result with the expe rimental result of model shows that the method proposed by authors is feasible a nd effective. The main parameters of the displacement restrictor are the working clearance and its stiffness. The influence of the parameters of the displacemen t restrictor on the shock response is discussed in detail, which includes the s upported equipments maximum acceleration and maximum displacement under certain shock load.


AbstractA Kalman filter (KF)-based Climate Prediction Center (CPC) morphing technique (CMORPH) algorithm is developed to integrate the passive microwave (PMW) precipitation estimates from low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellites and infrared (IR) observations from geostationary (GEO) platforms. With the new algorithm, the precipitation analysis at a grid box of 8 × 8 km2 is defined in three steps. First, PMW estimates of instantaneous rain rates closest to the target analysis time in both the forward and backward directions are propagated from their observation times to the analysis time using the cloud system advection vectors (CSAVs) computed from the GEO–IR images. The "prediction" of the precipitation analysis is then defined by averaging the forward- and backward-propagated PMW estimates with weights inversely proportional to their error variance. The IR-based precipitation estimates are incorporated if the gap between the two PMW observations is longer than 90 min. Validation tests showed substantial improv...