Abstract
Two techniques for automated decision making are combined: a knowledge-based system and a neural network model. This combination allows information to be derived both from experts and from accumulated data. The application can be changed by replacement of the rule-base in the knowledge-based component, and replacement of the training database for the neural network model. The system is illustrated here in two cardiology applications.


A domain map finite element method was applied to the three dimensional (3-D) numerical mode-matching (NMM) method to solve the 3-D electric logging problem. This method divides the infinite field domain of every layer into inner and outer field domains, in inner domain the matrices are formed by standard FEM and in outer domain, the Kelvin transformation is applied and the matrices are formed by a new infinite element format. Matrices of two different parts are coupled in the domains' common interface to form the final matrices of the original problem. This method generates smaller size of generalized matrices than original 3-D NMM method. In addition, this method changes the distribution of eigenvalues which needs less eigenvalues under the same error. Results show that the new method spends only 1/7 CPU time and uses only 1/3 memory of the original method.


Based on indoor simulation test on present domestic and foreign anti reflective cracks,this paper discussed the actual situation of anti materials to delay the overlay reflection cracks,and put forward using the overlay bottom early cracking and surface final cracking wheel load times as evaluation index to analysis and compare the anti-reflective cracking ability of anti materials,provided related basis and reference for other engineering selection of anti materials.


To help meet competitive realities operations managers need to know more about the strategic aspects of manufacturing flexibility. This paper takes steps toward meeting that need by critically reviewing the literature and establishing a research agenda for the area. A conceptual model, which places flexibility within a broad context, helps to identify certain assumptions of theoretical studies which need to be challenged. The model also provides a basis for identifying specific flexibility dimensions. The manner in which these dimensions may limit the effectiveness of a manufacturing process, and the problems in operationalizing them are discussed. Focusing next on the neglected area of applied work, concepts are presented for analyzing whether desired amounts of flexibility are being achieved and whether the potential for flexibility built into a manufacturing process is being tapped. Once more, a procedure is outlined for altering a plant's types and amounts of flexibility over time. The research agenda, which grows out of the appraisal of theoretical and applied work, indicates the value in studying generic flexibility strategies, the flexibility dimensions, methods of delivery, ways of evaluating and changing a process's flexibility, and above all measurement problems. The conclusions indicate principles for strategic research, some of which have relevance for the development of mathematical models.


In this study we present a supervisory control system and implement it on a pneumatic system controlled by a PLC. We introduce a step-by-step implementation procedure including a realization methodology of finite state machines by PLCs. A hierarchical control structure is proposed and implemented. The pneumatic system control problem presented in this study is a typical logical Discrete Event System (DES) control problem, therefore it is easy to generalise the methodology for most of the DES control problems.


Color infrared photography and thermal infrared imagery were used for mapping saline seeps in southwestern North Dakota. Two flights, 9 September 1975 and 19 May 1976, both at 2742 and 914 meters AGL, gathered the imagery used in the study. Saline seeps were observed during ground investigation to occur in three stages of development: (1) emergent or incipient, new wetness; (2) intermediate, wet and saline indicated by salt tolerant vegetation; too much space and (3) mature, wet saline with bare salt crust. Stages two and three were best identified using color infrared photography, with little or no identification improvement when thermal data were added. Seep location accuracies were in the 75 to 90 percent range on a numerical basis and 70 to 90 percent on an areal basis. Although insufficient ground data were obtained on stage one seeps, thermal data did record areas (seep and non-seep) with cooler apparent temperatures than the surrounding dry areas. Class one seeps could not be detected on color infrared imagery.


Autoencoder (AEC) networks have recently emerged as a promising approach to perform unsupervised hyperspectral unmixing (HU) by associating the latent representations with the abundances, the decoder with the mixing model, and the encoder with its inverse. AECs are especially appealing for nonlinear HU since they lead to unsupervised and model-free algorithms. However, existing approaches fail to explore the fact that the encoder should invert the mixing process, which might reduce their robustness. In this letter, we propose a model-based AEC for nonlinear HU by considering the mixing model a nonlinear fluctuation over a linear mixture. Different from previous works, we show that this restriction naturally imposes a particular structure to both the encoder and decoder networks. This introduces prior information in the AEC without reducing the flexibility of the mixing model. Simulations with synthetic and real data indicate that the proposed strategy improves nonlinear HU.


Introduction During the period of Pleistocene glaciation, Giant Pandas (Ailuropoda melanoleuca David) ranged over much of eastern China. Subsequently, however, climatic change and land clearance by people — especially during the last two centuries — reduced the extent of the Pandas' bamboo forest habitat (Schaller et al., 1985). Giant Pandas now inhabit six tracts of land totalling approximately 30,000 km along the eastern rim of the Tibetan Plateau in parts of Sichuan, Gansu, and Shaanxi, provinces in southwestern China (Fig. 1).


Abstract : This grant has supported work in several areas. 1) A study of graph eigenvectors shows connections to graph structure in ways that are reminiscent of eigenfunctions of the laplacian operator in two or three dimensions. Methods developed in this study have also led to estimates of the maximum possible value for the kth eigenvalue of a graph as function of the number of edges or vertices. 2) The convex hull of the rows of an eigenmatrix of a graph is the polytope of an eigenvalue. We investigated relations between such polytopes and the graph. The graph of such a polytope may be isomorphic to the original graph this is the case for most regular polytopes. For distance-regular graphs and several kinds of less symmetric graphs, we can show that the polytope of some eigenvalue has the same group of automorphisms as the graph, that proximity of points is equivalent to adjacency of vertices, and that other properties of the polytope carry over the graph. Possible directions for future work include the following. Determine the reducibility of the group of automorphisms of a polytope and the significance in the graph of faces and facets of the polytopes. Investigate the intrinsic eigenvectors of a graph (the list of inner products of vertices of a polytope with the normal to a supporting hyperplane is an intrinsic eigenvector). Seek physical models for the interpretation of graph eigenvalues and eigenvectors, e.g., transient temperature distributions in a graph-like collection of heat-conducting rods.


Indonesian Government Regulation No. 71/2014 requires all parties to maintain the groundwater level less than 40 cm below the ground level to prevent land fires in peatlands. This regulation is quite burdensome as it will be tough to do during the dry season. The research results on peat, which has a hemic maturity level, show that the soil water content is still in the range of 200% at a distance of 50 cm above the groundwater level. The purpose of this study was to study whether the same thing would happen to peatlands with different humification levels and water table depth. Research has carried out using survey and monitoring methods on the peatlands of PT. Mendahara Agrojaya Industri, located in Lagan Tengah village, Geragai sub-district, Tanjung Jabung Timur Regency, for six months to achieve this objective. Data collected includes peat depth determined by drilling using a peat drill. Peat maturity is determined using the van Post method; groundwater depth carried out using steel tape. The soil water content determines the gravimetric method. The C-organic content was determined using the loss on ignition method. The results showed that 1) there was a difference in soil water content between the water level depth (40 cm, 50 cm, and 60 cm) below the peat surface and the different humification levels of peat (sapric and hemic), 2) the farther from the groundwater level, the faster the peat burns, and 3) peat fires begin to occur at a groundwater level of 50 cm


A commercial AA2519 alloy with a chemical composition of Al-5.64Cu-0.33Mn-0.23Mg-0.15Zr (in wt. %) was subjected to two-step thermomechanical processing (TMP) providing the formation of fully recrystallized structure with an average grain size of ~7 mm in 3 mm thin sheets. Superplastic tensile tests were performed in the temperature interval 450-535°C and initial strain rates ranging from ~2.8 x 10-4 to ~6.0 x 10-1 s-1. The highest elongation-to-failure of ~750% appears at a temperature of ~525°C and an initial strain rate of ~1.4 × 10-4 s-1 with the corresponding strain rate sensitivity coefficient of ~0.46.


The applicability of clinoptilolite zeolites in controlling the emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as CO2, the most significant GHG, is investigated herein. In this research, Mexican natural zeolites (ATN) originating from an Atzinco deposit in the state of Puebla were used. Samples of modified clinoptilolite (ATH4, ATH3, ATH2 and ATH1) were obtained from the starting material by acid treatment of various intensities. Inverse gas chromatography was used to evaluate CO2 adsorption in clinoptilolite, natural and chemically modified. Adsorption of CO2 was investigated in the temperature range of 433–573 K, using a TCD detector, and He as a carrier gas. The experimental CO2 adsorption data were processed by Freundlich and Langmuir equations. The degree of interaction between CO2 and the dealuminated clinoptilolite samples was examined through the evaluation of the isosteric enthalpy of adsorption. This calculation was made by using the Clausius–Clapeyron equation, which established the following sequence: ATH1 > ATH2 > ATH4 > ATN > ATH3. The nanoporosity of these clinoptolite zeolites from new deposit in sedimentary rocks was studied through HRADS adsorption of N2. Simultaneously, these zeolites were, respectively, characterized by XRD, EDS, and SEM. Micropores are described by the Dubinin–Asthakov distribution. Various adsorption mechanisms that occur in these nanoporous materials at different relative pressures can be visualized. The quantitative determination of starting mineral is described as: Ca-Clinoptilolite (88.76%) >> Montmorillonite (11.11%) >> quartz (0.13%). The Si/Al molar ratio after acid treatment is: ATH4 > ATH2 > ATN > ATH3 > ATH1. The Langmuir specific surface area (ASL) varies as follows: ATN > ATH2 > ATH4 > ATH3 > ATH1. At the same time, the VΣ values are as follows: ATN > ATH4 > ATH3 > ATH1 > ATH2.


In section 3.2 on page 767, in numerical calculations there is density (ρ) in equations of debye temperature, longitudinal and transverse elastic wave velocities. Actually we used density as follows: here M molecular mass, N A  Avogodro's number, V is volume (V= a 3 , a lattice parameter),  Z= 1.  But  in calculations we used Z=4 by mistake.  By using  Z=1 we obtained correct numerical values  for Table 3 as given following.


The success of Open Innovation mainly depends on the right choice of external partners and the right way to integrate them into the company's innovation process. Situative Open Innovation supports companies by analyzing their specific situation, suitable external actors and deriving efficient Open Innovation methods. Due to various inter-dependencies between the key-criteria for determining the situation, actors and methods an appropriate notation is necessary to depict the inherent logical connections. This paper presents a matrix-based approach using Boolean operators to model these inter-dependencies. The approach combines a numerical encoding of Boolean operator types and a path domain for depicting distinct dependencies.


The present contribution describes the evolution of two major extremum principles in mechanics proposed in the 18th and the first half of the 19th century, namely the Principle of Least Action associated with the name Maupertuis and Gauss's Principle of Least Constraint. We will briefly mention the d'Alembert Principle strongly related to the Principle of Gauss (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


According to an analysis conducted by the Swedish Chemicals Inspectorate in 2006, the approximate numbers of fire injuries per year in Sweden are 100 deaths, 700 major and 700 minor injuries.1 Obse ...


Article presents selected problems of modeling transportation network on example of Silesian Urban Agglomeration. The meaning of The Blue Book – a handbook for beneficiaries applying for financing transportation investments from EU founds is emphasized. The Blue Book points that models and forecasts of traffic are the essential elements of CBA(Cost-Benefit Analysis). The conception of supporting modeling areas in order of automation and lowering costs and time of realization is proposed. Further efforts will tend to build information tools supporting constructing model of transportation network.


The coupling mechanisms between lattice modes of 2D array composed of Al nanoparticles and localized modes of separate Al nanoparticles are studied in details. The results are obtained using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method and the generalized Mie theory. It is shown that interactions of single particles with two-dimensional lattice modes significantly change the corresponding extinction spectra and depends on particles radus and lattice period. The Rayleigh anomalies of higher orders take part in the formation of hybrid modes resulting in elevation of the extinction efficiency in short wavelength range of the spectrum. The patterns of spatial distribution of the fields at the frequencies of hybrid modes are obtained. The mode coupling mechanisms of considered periodic system give a principal way for optimal design of different types of modern photonic devices with controllable optical properties such as, for example, sensors, light absorbers, optical limiters, modulators.


This paper expounds the involution and essence,and deeply dissects the generating origin from land finance with its merits and demerits,and finally gives a detailed statement of specific measures for land finance regime reform.


This paper measures the total amount of the carbon sink of mariculture from 2005 to 2012 in China using quality assessment methods,and the results find that the carbon sink capacity of mariculture is huge. The average capacity of the carbon sink of mariculture can reach 1 million tons per year,and the capacity of the carbon sink presents an increasing trend in recent years. On this basis,the reasons of the differences in carbon sink quantities are studied by using the modified Laspeyres index decomposition method,and the results find that the production factor plays a more important role on carbon sink amount increase than the structure factor. Finally,this paper puts forward the suggestions for the improvement of China's mariculture carbon sink capacity.


The article discusses the unique role of philosophy and philosophers in the changing world in the era where the basic values of technogenic civilization are falling apart creating new challenges for humanity. Reflecting on classic and non-classic approaches to philosophy and their often opposing interpretations of its goals, the author proposes to understand philosophy as a reflection on the worldview universals of culture and as a means to construct its new meanings.


Abstract With the aim to study the plasma Se content during transition period, 2 groups of 12 dairy cows were monitored the month before and after calving. In stall 1 (S1) cows were tied and individually fed, in stall2 (S2) cows were free and fed TMR. In both stalls cows were supplied with Se as Na-selenite. In S1 3 mg/d of Se were fed mixed with corn silage while, in S2, Se was offered with TMR, in dry period 2 mg/d were added with a mineral-vitamin supplement, in lactation 2.6 mg/d (when DMI was 22.2 kg/d) with the concentrate. Forages, the same for both stalls, and concentrates were sampled for chemical composition and Se determination. Cows were checked for milk yield and its content of somatic cells (SCC), health problems, and bled for Se determination in plasma. Average Se intake was higher in S1, in both dry (4.08 vs 2.76 mg/d) and lactating (5.80 vs 2.11 mg/d) period. Besides the supplementation, differences depended on high Se intake in S1 with the concentrate (increased after calving to 11.5 kg/DM on d 30 and containing 0.24 mg/kg DM of Se). According to the intake, plasma Se content resulted higher in S1 in dry (1.20 vs 0.74 µmol/L) and lactating (1.47 vs 0.62 µmol/L) cows. In close-up plasma Se decreased in both groups, in first days of lactation increased in S1, while decreased in S2 to level indicating a deficient intake (0.50 µmol/L). These results confirm the link between Se intake and its plasma level. Finally, Se plasma content did not seem related to cow health status during transition period.


Introduction and objectives Up to 30% of early breast cancer (BC) patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy will have systemic relapse during the follow-up. The integration of clinical, analytical and molecular parameters associated to tumor biology or host immune response could help to better stratify the prognosis of these patients. The aim of this study was to analyze the prognostic ability of immune-related and proliferation markers in combination with clinical parameters in patients with early BC treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Methods and materials Retrospective and single-center cohort of BC patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy between 2001 and 2010. We analyzed the following pre-treatment biological markers: neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in peripheral blood and CD3+-tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes (TIL), interferon-gamma and interleukin-10 in tumor samples by using a tissue microarray. Gene expression of AURKA, MYBL2, MKI67 and CTNNB1 in RNA from tumor samples was also evaluated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR). Survival analysis was performed using Cox regression. The predictive capacity of the regression models was evaluated using AIC (Akaike Information Criterion) index, ROC curves and Harrell's C statistics. Results A total of 121 patients were included. Median age: 56 years. Cancer stage at diagnosis: 16% IIA, 28% IIB, 33% IIIA, 7% IIIB and 16% IIIC. Molecular subtype: 64% hormone receptor-positive (12% HER2-positive), 11% HER2-positive and 22% triple-negative. Pathological complete response (pCR): 16.5%. Median follow-up: 12 years. In the univariate analysis, NLR (HR 1.23, 95% CI 1.11-1.36; p<0.001), TIL (HR 0.89, CI95% 0.81-0.98; p=0, 02), AURKA (HR 1.02, 95% CI 1.01-1.04; p<0.001) and MYBL2 (HR 1.10, 95% CI 1.03-1.19; p=0.007) showed prognostic value for overall survival (OS). In the multivariate analysis, including staging after neoadjuvant therapy (HR 6.54, 95% CI 1.36-31.49; p=0.02), NLR (HR 1.33, 95% CI 1.08-1.64; p=0.008), TIL (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.73-0.97; p=0.21), AURKA (HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.99-1.10; p=0.055) and MYBL2 (HR 1.14, 95% CI 1.00-1.31; p=0.04) remained as independent predictive variables in a regression analysis. Consecutive addition of these biomarkers to a regression model based on staging after neoadjuvant treatment progressively increased the discrimination accuracy of the models. These differences were more marked for the predictive model that included the four biological parameters identified in the multivariate analysis: NLR, TIL, AURKA and MYBL2 (Table 1). Conclusion In our cohort, the creation of a prognostic model integrated by clinical factors together with proliferation and both tissue and circulating immune biomarkers demonstrated high predictive capacity for OS. The validation of these findings in independent cohorts could impact in patient's management.
 Table 1.Analysis of prognostic capacity with the consecutive addition of biomarkersAICAUC ROC (95% CI)pHarrell's C-index (95% CI)pModel 1: ypTN2740,76 (0,58-0,94)Ref*0,74 (0,57-0,91)Ref*Model 2: ypTN + NLR1870,78 (0,61-0,95)0,830,80 (0,67-0,93)0,53Model 3: ypTN + NLR + TIL850,85 (0,73-0,98)0,300,83 (0,73-0,94)0,30Model 4: ypTN + NLR + TIL + + AURKA + MYBL2570,91 (0,80-1)0,110,89 (0,81-0,97)0,13*Ref: model 1 was the reference category that was used for comparison of AUC and C-index.AIC: Akaike Information Criterion. AUC ROC: Area Under the ROC Curve. ROC: Receiver Operating Characteristic.
 Citation Format: Esmeralda Garcia-Torralba, Beatriz Álvarez-Abril, Carlos Bravo-Pérez, Esther Navarro Manzano, Pilar de la Morena Barrio, Alejandra Ivars Rubio, Elisa García-Garre, Gema Marín Zafra, Francisco Ayala de la Peña, Elena García-Martínez. Development of prognostic models based on clinical, immune-related and proliferation factors in early breast cancer patients treated with neoadjuvant chemotherapy [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 2021 San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium; 2021 Dec 7-10; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2022;82(4 Suppl):Abstract nr P4-07-03.


—Block Vandermonde matrices, considered in this paper, are constructed from a full set of solvents of a corresponding matrix polynomial. These block Vandermonde matrices are encountered especially in control engineering. Some properties of these matrices, and iterative algorithms to compute the determinant and the inverse of a block Vandermonde matrix are given. A parallelization of these algorithms is also presented. The proposed algorithms are validated by a comparison using algorithmic complexity.


Operating and design parameters which give the significant effect on the performance of the two-stage swirl-flow fluidized bed combustor were discussed. The combustion experiments of anthracite coal with a wide size distribution were carried out to investigate the influence of the various parameters on the performance in the laboratory scale combustor. The parameters considered were swirler nozzle diameter, number of swirler nozzles, combustor diameter of the upper stage and swirler nozzle velocity. The trapping rate of fines in the upper stage increased with reducing the swirler nozzle diameter and with increasing the number of swirler nozzles and the combustor diameter of the upper stage. At constant superficial gas velocity for the upper bed, the trapping rate of fines in the upper stage showed a maximum at the swirler nozzle velocity between 18 m/s and 24 m/s. The combustion efficiency improved as the result of the increase in the trapping rate and of the decrease in the carryover rate.


This thesis analyses four European writers, whose common denominator is that they have moved to Sweden from other European countries and chosen to write in Swedish: Caterina Pascual Soderbaum, Theo ...


The disclosed down synchronization method for a communication system comprises: obtaining sequence to shift and obtain difference sequence; taking the position with largest correlative peak as the down synchronization signal position. This invention makes UE fast and accurate complete the down synchronization.


Developing the competencies for organizing experiential activities for student teachers at Vietnamese universities is considered an urgent requirement to meet the mission of implementing the General Education Curriculum 2018. This article presents a theoretical study to identify some basic issues about the competencies for organizing experiential activities for student teachers. The concept of competencies for organizing experiential activities for students has been analyzed from the perspective of education. In addition, the framework of competencies for organizing experiential activities for students includes the following groups: competencies for planning, competencies for implementing plans, and competencies for testing and evaluating experiential activities. The skills development process is influenced by many different factors, including biological and environmental elements as well as educational and personal activities. In universities of education, the development of students' competencies for organizing experiential activities can be done through the following forms: pedagogical subjects, skills training programs, pedagogical internships (practicum), collective activities, and self-development. The results of this study can be a reference for Vietnamese universities of education in revising their training programs in the current period.


In this paper, we propose a micro payment service based on Open API (Payment & Account Management API). To support a business model that enables operators to offer integrated billing, a payment and an account management API is crucial. This service is based on the architecture of Parlay X web services[1, 2]. We described the network architecture and the logic procedure for a micro payment service.


Read more and get great! That's what the book enPDFd creating the customer driven library building on the bookstore model will give for every reader to read this book. This is an on-line book provided in this website. Even this book becomes a choice of someone to read, many in the world also loves it so much. As what we talk, when you read more every page of this creating the customer driven library building on the bookstore model, what you will obtain is something great.


Site-selective functionalization of arenes that is complementary to classical aromatic substitution reactions remains a long-standing quest in organic synthesis. Exploiting the generation of halenium ion through oxidative process and the protonation of the nitrogen containing function in HF/SbF 5 , the chlorination and iodination of classically inert C sp2 -H bonds of aromatic amines occurs. Furthermore, the superacid promoted (poly)protonation of the molecules acts as a protection, favoring the late-stage selective halogenation of natural alkaloids and active pharmaceutical ingredients.


Although MEMS device designers currently make use of process simulation, 3D visualization and finite element/boundary element analysis tools, MEMS systems designers lack the design and verification tools enjoyed by electronic circuit and systems designers. System level and circuit level simulation tools for MEMS are beginning to become available, but an important issue is the availability of macromodels. This paper discusses an integrated CAD tool suite based on extensions to VLSI electronic circuit and systems tools to handle signals in multiple energy domains. These tools maintain synchronized physical, structural and behavioral design views and work in conjunction with a library of MEMS schematic symbols, layout generators, and behavioral models. Integration of electronic circuit and systems tools and MEMS systems tools allow designers to address the important problems of ensuring system performance goals are met, system partitioning and determining the degree of integration of sensing/actuating devices and interface/calibration electronics. These new physical design and simulation tools are applied to fabricated design examples and the results are critiqued. Discussions of the merits and limitations of our tools and other design tools is also included. Links between system level tools and MEMS device design tools are also described.


Author(s): Hamdan, Ali Nehme | Advisor(s): Agnew, John A | Abstract: In geography, "Landscape and Memory" studies focus on the politicized relationship between place and history, referring to this as the "politics of memory." These studies frequently over-privilege two specific foci: nationalism and formal institutions, a focus which excludes the ways that history is contested through place in cases where formal institutions like the state are comparatively "weak." Drawing on Practice Theory, this project attempts show how actors attempt to structure history and the social world in the absence or shadow of institutions like the state through acts of narrative place-making. Focusing on the "Hariri Mosque" in Beirut, Lebanon, I argue that political elites from the Hariri family and Future Movement have used this mosque to tell a story about Lebanon that reproduces sectarianism as the primary category of division by which social life is understood in Lebanon.


We present a scheme to produce an entangled four-photon W-state by using linear optical elements. The symmetrical setup of linear optical elements consists of four beam splitters, four polarisation beam splitters and four mirrors. A photon EPR-pair and two single-photon sources are required as the input modes. The projection on the W-state can be made by a four-photon coincidence measurement. Further on we show, that by means of a horizontally oriented polarizer in front of one detector the Wstate of three photons can be generated. PACS number:03.65.Ta,03.67.-a, 42.50.Ar The generation of entangled states plays a central role in quantum optics. An experimental realization in this context can be achieved with trapped ions [1], cavity-QED [2] and Bose-Einstein condenses [3]. Many schemes were proposed for the generation of entangled states of atoms [4]. The GHZ-state was experimentally demonstrated with a system of four trapped ions and with a system of three atoms and a cavity [5] [2]. Experiments with entangled photons open a broad field of research. Entangled photon states can be used to test Bell's inequality [6] or to implement quantum information protocols for quantum teleportation [7], quantum dense coding [8] and quantum cryptography [9]. An experimental realization of GHZ-states by means of three or four photons was experimentally demonstrated [10]. Efficient quantum computation with linear optics was put forward [13]. More recently, a feasible linear optical scheme [14] was proposed to produce entangled N -photon states of the form 1 √ 2 (|0, N〉 + |N, 0〉) via linear optical elements. The incentive to produce entangled states of spin-s objects (S > 1/2) increased significantly in the context of quantum communication and quantum information processing [15, 16]. A scheme was proposed [17] to generate an entangled four-photon state 1 √ 3 (|2, 0, 2, 0〉− |1, 1, 1, 1〉+ |0, 2, 0, 2〉), which is equivalent to two maximally entangled spin-1 particles. Drummond [18] demonstrated the violation of the Bell inequality by this kind of multi-photon states. It was shown that there exist two inequivalent classes of three-qubits entangled states, namely the GHZ-state |GHZ〉 = 1 √ 2 (|111〉 + |000〉) and the W-state |W 〉 = 1 √ 3 (|100〉 + |010〉 + |001〉), which are assisted under local operation by classical communication [19]. Recently a different set of Bell inequality is considered with the purpose of illustrating some difference between the violation of local realism exhibited by the GHZ and W state[20]. A W-state generation scheme of systems of three or four qubits was proposed [21]. In that paper the Heisenberg model was used to generate the W-state of three or four atoms. We propose a scheme to generate a W-state |W 〉 = 1 2 (|HHHV 〉 + |HHV H〉 + |HV HH〉 + |V HHH〉) (1) of four photons by means of linear optical elements. An EPR-source ΨEPR is used to generate two entangled branches of the symmetric experimental setup. These two branches are denoted by the mode 1 and the mode 2. Two single-photon sources are injected in order to generate an entangled four-photon state. A four-photon coincidence detection projects this state on the W-state. In the following we present a detailed analysis of the proposed scheme. The experimental setup is shown in Figure 1. The EPR-source generates the input state ΨEPR = (|H〉1|V 〉2 + |V 〉1|H〉2)/ √ 2. In order to inject two further photons in this arrangement of linear optical devices we use two single-photon sources: Ψe = |H〉e and Ψf = |H〉f . The single-photon input modes e and f are horizontally polarized. The two-photon injector consists of four polarization beam splitters PBSi, two beam splitter BSj and four mirrors. Since polarization beam splitter transmit the horizontal polarization and reflect vertical polarization, the two polarization beam splitters PBS1 and PBS2 transform the EPR-state ΨEPR into 1 √ 2 (|H〉b|V 〉c + |V 〉a|H〉d) . (2) Notice, that the modes b and d pass through the beam splitters BS1 and BS2, and that these beam splitters are connected with the single-photon input modes e and f . The result of the two-photon injection at the beam splitters BS1 and BS2 is (|2H〉b|V 〉c|H〉d + |V 〉a|H〉b|2H〉d) cos θ sin θ + (|H〉b|V 〉c|H〉e|H〉f + |V 〉a|H〉d|H〉e|H〉f) cos 2θ cos θ/ √ 2 + (|H〉b|V 〉c|H〉d|H〉e + |V 〉a|H〉b|H〉d|H〉f) cos 2θ sin θ/ √ 2 + (|V 〉c|2H〉e|H〉f + |V 〉a|H〉e|2H〉f −|2H〉b|V 〉c|H〉f − |V 〉a|2H〉d|H〉e) cos θ sin θ − (|V 〉c|H〉d|2H〉e + |V 〉a|H〉b|2H〉f) cos θ sin θ . (3) The reflectance sin θ and the transmittance cos θ of these beam splitters are the same, since the same angle θ is chosen. This coefficient will be determined later. This fourphoton state interacts with the two polarization beam splitters PBS3 and PBS4, which transmit the horizontal polarization and reflect the vertical polarization state. This method of a two-photon injection on the EPR-modes 1 and 2 results in the four-photon state (|2H〉1|V 〉2|H〉2 + |V 〉1|H〉1|2H〉2) cos θ sin θ + (|H〉1|V 〉2|H〉e|H〉f + |V 〉1|H〉2|H〉e|H〉f) cos 2θ cos θ/ √ 2 + (|H〉1|V 〉2|H〉2|H〉e + |V 〉1|H〉1|H〉2|H〉f) cos 2θ sin θ/ √ 2 + (|V 〉2|2H〉e|H〉f + |V 〉1|H〉e|2H〉f) cos θ sin θ − (|2H〉1|V 〉2|H〉f + |V 〉1|2H〉2|H〉e) cos θ sin θ − (|V 〉2|H〉2|2H〉e + |V 〉1|H〉1|2H〉f) cos θ sin θ) . (4) This expression shows the generated four-photon state explicitly in terms of the input modes (1, 2, e, f). In order to perform a projection on the W-state a four-photon coincidence detection is needed. This can be done by splitting the branches 1 and 2 separately by the beam splitters BS3 and BS4. Since we consider only those terms, which correspond to a 4-photon coincidence detection (one photon in each of the four beams), the state of the system is projected with probability cos θ sin θ/2 into the W-state (|H〉1|H〉3|H〉2|V 〉4 + |H〉1|H〉3|V 〉2|H〉4) /2 + (|V 〉1|H〉3|H〉2|H〉4 + |H〉1|V 〉3|H〉2|H〉4) /2 . (5) The probability attains it's maximal value 2/27, if the transmittance of the beam splitter is cos θ = 1/ √ 3. If a polarizer with horizontal orientation is used in front of detector 1 the four-photon coincidence detection projects into the three-photon state (|H〉3|H〉2|V 〉4 + |H〉3|V 〉2|H〉4 + |V 〉3|H〉2|H〉4)/ √ 3 . (6) In conclusion, a scheme is presented to produce entangled W-states of four photons based on linear optical devices and a four-photons coincidence detection. Further on we proposed a modification of this symmetric scheme by adding one horizontal oriented polarizer in front of detector D1. This brakes the symmetry of the scheme and makes the generation of a W-state of three photons possible. Such multi-photon states may play a crucial role in fundamental tests of quantum mechanics versus local realism and in many quantum information and quantum computation schemes. This scheme requires two single-photon sources and one two-photon EPR-state source. If ideal detectors are assumed, the efficiency of this W-state generation scheme is 2/27, but the problem of input signal generation (four photons) has to be taken into account. The two single-photon sources can for example consist of two modes generated by a nonlinear crystal, which have a low production probability [22]. Other triggered single photon sources of very good performance operate by means of fluorescence from a single molecule [23] or a single quantum dot [24] [25]. However, the synchronized arrival of the required number of photons on the input ports of our scheme is experimentally challenging.


Abstract Interwar French Maisons du peuple were architectural and programmatic composites—integrating social, political, cultural, recreational and educational activities and agendas. These buildings exemplified how architects and technicians negotiated complex relations between social vision, formal expression, technique, identity and power. Focused on the Atelier Jean Prouvé's contribution to the design and construction of the Maison du peuple of Clichy, this study of how craft-based methods were deployed in the service of innovative design seeks to expand and nuance "machinist" understandings of interwar Modernisms.


The principal of Self Compacting Concrete (SCC), although being a new terminology, is not necessarily a new concept. Applications such as underwater placement and 'tremmie' concrete placement are applications where vibration is not possible, so a degree of self compaction is a necessity. The understanding of the principles in producing a workable SSC, and more importantly an understanding and acceptance of the test relevance and insitu performance of this type of product is the focus of this paper. The Australian construction materials industry , and indeed the specifying fraternity , has very little knowledge of this product and although this paper may highlight some of the uncertainties, it by no means offers a clear direction forward. The APMCA has commissioned a joint working group, which is in the very early stages of reviewing local and international papers, test methods, and other literature, with the intent of providing a guide to the Australian industry for specifying, production, testing (design & quality control) and placement of SSC. (a) For the covering entry of this conference, please see ITRD abstract no. E208315.


Because of their own advantages,the gravity platforms have a good application prospect in Chinese sea area.Ice load is one of the unavoidable environmental disaster.The effects of ice must be considered in the design and application of the gravity platform.The failure of the gravity platform under ice load mainly include crushing failure and instant failure.Considering the specificity of the platform,the gravity platform by the finite element analysis software ansys is modeled.Then we do the static and dynamic analysis about the model under ice load after modeling.Comparing the two examples,the result of static crushing failure is greater than the result of dynamic instant failure.The static crushing failure must be fully considered in the design and application of the gravity platform.The conclusion has some guiding significance for the construction and application of the gravity platform.


An automatic vision-based sewer inspection plays a key role of sewage system in a modern city. Recent advances focus on utilizing deep learning model to realize the sewer inspection system, benefiting from the capability of data-driven feature representation. However, the inherent uncertainty of sewer defects is ignored, resulting in the missed detection of serious unknown sewer defect categories. In this paper, we propose a trustworthy multi-label sewer defect classification (TMSDC) method, which can quantify the uncertainty of sewer defect prediction via evidential deep learning. Meanwhile, a novel expert base rate assignment (EBRA) is proposed to introduce the expert knowledge for describing reliable evidences in practical situations. Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of TMSDC and the superior capability of uncertainty estimation is achieved on the latest public benchmark.


Abstract : Oxidation resistant coatings of iridium on rhenium substrates have been produced by chemical vapor deposition from an iridium acetyl acetonate starting compound. The process results in rapid buildup of iridium. Heat treatment to near the melting point of iridium causes the iridium to wet and diffuse into the rhenium surface eliminating porosity and assuring good bonding. These coatings have provided oxidation resistance at temperatures of 1850 C in air. After twenty minutes there was no evidence of deterioration. (Author)


A novel dual motor synchronous control system supplied by four-switch mono-inverter is proposed, where one phase of both motors is connected to the mid-point of dc bus capacitors, and other phases are connected to inverter leg. Since only four power switches are required, the installation space, weight, and cost can be further reduced than conventional mono-inverter. However, it presents control challenges due to the limited control freedom degree. An advanced vector control method is proposed for this problem. Based on predictive model, two motors' reference voltage vectors are calculated independently, and a self-adapting composite vector is selected as the output vector of inverter. The duty cycles of switching signals are obtained based on space vector modulation of the selected vector. The use of unified-model or master–slave strategies in conventional mono-inverter control methods is avoided. The control is simplified and computation is reduced, while a good performance is ensured. Experiment results verify the effectiveness of proposed method.


We present experiments on the intersubband resonance (ISR) in InAs=AlSb quantum wells with the aim of understanding the linewidth. We nd that uctuations in the well width dominate the scattering right up to temperatures well beyond room temperature. ISR with two occupied subbands is used to gain insight into these phenomena. We nd clear evidence for Landau damping and we argue generally that Landau damping represents the crucial scattering mechanism for all ISRs. The argument is strengthened by considering the intrasubband plasmon, where we also nd evidence for Landau damping, in this case in a magnetic eld. ? 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


Very high gravity (VHG) fermentation is a technology that required a fermentation of higher concentrations of
substrate and, therefore, increased final ethanol concentration in the medium. The fermentation was using
Hydrolysed Sago Starch (HSS) as a glucose sources and Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a microorganism to produce the ethanol. The effects of high concentration of glucose on ethanol concentration were investigated in this study. The sago starch of 100 g/l, 200 g/l and 300 g/l were used as substrate in this study, with the same concentration of glucose commercial were used as control. Fermentation was conducted at 30 C, pH 5.5 – 6.5 and agitation rate 0f 100 rpm which were control constantly throughout fermentation. The increase of glucose concentration had enhanced microbial growth in medium.The glucose consumption in all fermentation was not different significantly whereas the highest ethanol production, 145.06 g/l was achieved by using 300 g/l of HSS.
This show that the ethanol production increase accordance with the utilization of higher HSS concentration.Therefore, the optimum HSS concentration for the highest ethanol production was 300 g/l in consideration of the highest ethanol production while consuming the same amount of electricity, time and labour as in fermentation by using 100 g/l and 200 g/l of HSS.


A transdisciplinary literature review enabled us to identify a new construct in the marketing research field, i.e., customer-company identification. It is defined as the process whereby customer's beliefs about a company become self-defining and whereby he defines himself by the same attributes he believes define the other customers of this company. This research aims at developing a measurement scale of the construct and showing its relational consequences, such as knowledge about the company, empathy, relationship investment and attachment.


The interaction energies between the receptor-binding domain of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins and neutralizing antibody CC12.1 Fab were calculated using the fragment molecular orbital method. South Afr...


Either climate is dry and precipitation is little or evaporation is intense, the ecological environment is quite fragile. The natural disasters, such as, drought in spring, flooding in summer, salinization and blowing sand, are ubiquitously in existence in the Tarim Basin. Water resource utilization and ecological environment issues have been given rise to widely attention in the Tarim Basin. According to the study on groundwater and soil moisture as well as the relations between vegetation growth and ecological environment quality, rational ecological water level is delimitated. Based on vegetation water consumption and quota estimation, the ecological water demand amount in four sources including Tarim River Basin, Yekat River Basin, Hetian River Basin and Kaidu-Kongque River Basin are 16.18×10 8 m 3,14.796×10 8 m 3,7.985 3×10 8 m 3 and 10.499 8×10 8 m 3,respectively. The ecological water demand amount in the main stream in 2005,2010 and 2030 are 31.859×10 8 m 3,36.272 3×10 8 m 3 and 41.035 5×10 8 m 3, respectively. Under proceeding of China accelerating development in western regions, to approach the theory and pattern for ecological sustainable development in the Tarim Basin, it has great significance in social economic development at present and future.


Methods This policy was developed by the Council on Clinical Affairs and adopted in 2003. This is a revision of the last version, revised in 2008 and reaffirmed in 2013. It was based on a review of the accreditation standards for advanced specialty training programs in pediatric dentistry and the AAPD position paper on the role of pediatric dentists as primary and specialty care providers.1,2 An electronic search was conducted using the terms pediatric dentist, pediatric specialist, primary care provider, dual care provider, and specialty care provider.


Objective To study the extracting technology condition of Tangshang Heji.MethodsPolydatin as index,HPLC and orthogonal test mehod was used to study the effect of three extracting factors(the amount of water,the extracting time,the number of times)on extracting rate of Tangshang Heji.ResultsThe optimum extracting condition were:twelve times of water,extracting one and a half hours and three times.ConclusionThe process is reasonable and favorable for industrial production.


#### Constipation

##### Definition

##### Associated symptoms

##### Symptoms of complications

Constipation can be defined as the passage of small hard faeces infrequently and with difficulty. Constipation is more common in patients with advanced cancer than in those with other terminal diseases, and many of the associated symptoms may mimic features of the underlying disease. About half of patients admitted to specialist palliative care units report constipation, but about 80% of patients will require laxatives.

### History

Assessment of constipation must include establishing in what way the present pattern of bowel movements is different from the normal pattern and a physical examination, including general observation, abdominal palpation, and rectal or stomal examination

An accurate history is essential for effective management. Inquiry should be made about the frequency and consistency of stools, nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, distention and discomfort, mobility, diet, and any other symptoms. In patients with a history of diarrhoea, care should be taken to distinguish true diarrhoea from overflow due to faecal impaction.

Careful questioning about access to a toilet or commode is important. Limited mobility may mean that using the toilet or commode is avoided. Other issues, such as lack of privacy or the need for nurses or carers to help with toileting, can exacerbate constipation.

### Examination

A constipated patient may have malodorous breath, or the smell of faecal leakage may be obvious. Bacterial degradation of hard stools can result in leakage, of which the patient has no warning. General observation may reveal that a patient is in pain, confused or disorientated, or unable to reach the toilet. Abdominal distension, visible peristalsis, and borborygmi can suggest obstruction.

Radiograph of constipated patient showing stool masses and trapped gas

Palpation may reveal an easily palpable colon with indentable and mobile (and rarely tender) …


Hormonal regulation of glycogen synthase, an enzyme that can be phosphorylated on multiple sites, is often associated with changes in its phosphorylation state. Enzyme activation is conventionally monitored by determining the synthase activity ratio ((activity in the absence of glucose 6-P)/(activity in the presence of glucose 6-P)). Insulin causes an activation of glycogen synthase with a concomitant decrease in its phosphate content. In a previous report, the authors showed that epidermal growth factor (EGF) increases the glycogen synthase activity ratio in Swiss 3T3 cells. The time and dose-dependency of this response was similar to that of insulin. Their recent results indicate that PDGF also stimulates glycogen synthase activity. Enzyme activation was maximal after 30 min. of incubation with PDGF; the time course observed was very similar to that with insulin and EGF. At 1 ng/ml (0.03nM), PDGF caused a maximal stimulation of 4-fold in synthase activity ratio. Half-maximal stimulation was observed at 0.2 ng/ml (6 pM). The time course of changes in enzyme activity ratio closely followed that of /sup 125/I-PDGF binding. The authors data suggest that PDGF, as well as EFG and insulin, may be important in regulating glycogen synthesis through phosphorylation/dephosphorylation mechanisms.


Objectives: Aboriginal people continue to experience a disproportionately heavy burden of oral disease. A range of oral health services may be available to Aboriginal communities, including those provided by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs). This study explored the oral health care experiences and activities of ACCHSs to inform policy and program decision making.


People often communicate with a mixture of virtual and actual elements. On the telephone, my sister and I and what we say are actual, even though our voices are virtual. In the London Underground, the warning expressed in the recording "Stand clear of the doors" is actual, even though the person making it is virtual. In the theater, Shakespeare, the actors, and I are actual, even though Romeo and Juliet and what they say are virtual. Mixtures like these cannot be accounted for in standard models of communication-for a variety of reasons. In this talk I introduce the notion of displaced actions (as on the telephone, in the London Underground, and in the theater) and characterize how they are used and interpreted in communication with a range of modern-day technologies.


The invention relates to a method and system for acquiring enterprise propaganda information. The method comprises the steps that a background server receives the propaganda information uploaded by an enterprise user and generates a two-dimensional code according to the propaganda information; the background server receives a paper business card image uploaded by a mobile terminal of an individual user, extracts individual user information from the paper business card image, generates an electronic business card for the individual user information and sends the electronic business card to the mobile terminal; the mobile terminal scans the two-dimensional code so that the background server can associate the electronic business card stored in the mobile terminal with a login account number of the enterprise user and send the propaganda information to an e-mail address of the electronic business card. The propaganda information is acquired by scanning the two-dimensional code, the electronic business card is automatically sent to the enterprise, and the propaganda information is automatically sent by recognizing the e-mail address of the electronic business card, so that the sorting efficiency of the electronic business card is effectively improved, printing resources are saved, and the printing cost is lowered.


Abstract. Multisensor image fusion can be used as an advanced technique for image enhancement. We propose a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) and visible image fusion method under the framework of a variational multiscale image decomposition (VMID) model. In the proposed method, two fusion rules are respectively designed to fuse the structure and texture components obtained with a VMID model of source images. A fusion rule based on the curvelet transform is employed for fusing the structure component and the local energy criterion is adopted to construct the texture component. Moreover, considering the influence of speckle noise present in an SAR image, its first two texture components are skipped. The final fused result is composed by the obtained structure and texture components. The experimental results on several pairs of SAR and visible images demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Compared with the conventional image fusion methods, our fused results have a finer structure and are more robust against speckle noise.


This paper describes work being done on the modeling and encoding of a legacy resource, the traditional descriptive wordlist, in ways that make its data accessible to NLP applications. We describe an abstract model for traditional wordlist entries and then provide an instantiation of the model in RDF/XML which makes clear the relationship between our wordlist database and interlingua approaches aimed towards machine translation, and which also allows for straightforward interoperation with data from full lexicons.


The Deep Impact project completed its mission on July 4, 2005 with a spectacularly successful encounter with the comet Tempel 1, culminating a four-year development effort and a six-month cruise period. The project's primary purpose was to conduct what can be considered a simple experiment that occurs in space on a very frequent basis: to impact a cometary nucleus with a man made meteor and excavate a crater to reveal the interior of a nucleus.


The plantation of 16-year-old Chinese fir(Cunninghamia lanceolata) and its mixed forest with Castanopsis fissa were chosen as research object in Fanqiao National Forest Farm in Jianyang of Fujian Province,and the nutrient accumulation of different forest stands in different slope position were determined and analyzed.The results showed that:in uphill stand conditions,N,P,K nutrient accumulations of pure Chinese fir tree layer were more than the accumulations of Chinese fir with C.fissa mixed forests.Tree layers,which lied on mid slope and downhill,nutrient accumulation of mixed forests was more than pure Chinese fir forests.The nutrient accumulations of tree layers took up more than 90% of the total amount of nutrient accumulation in different forest stands,and the law showed NKP,downhillmid slopeuphill.N,P accumulations of shrub and herbaceous on uphill pure Chinese fir forests were more than those in mixed forests,the laws of N,P,K accumulations of shrubs in downhill stand showed that the fixed forests were more than the pure Chinese fir forests.The N and P accumulation quantity of litter were considerably more than the herb and the shrub layer in different forest stands.


The sections in this article are:

1
Insulin Activity in Blood Fractions and an Adipose Tissue Factor

2
Adipose Tissue Extract (ATE)

3
Effect of ATE on Serum

4
Discussion

5
Possible Relationship of ATE to Diabetes Mellitus


We use a climate model to simulate two intervals of Permian climate: the Sakmarian (ca. 280 Ma), at the end of the major Permo‐Carboniferous glaciation, and the Wordian (ca. 265 Ma). We explore the climate sensitivity to various levels of atmospheric CO2 concentration and to changes in geography and topography between the two periods. The model simulates large seasonality and high aridity in the continental interiors of both hemispheres for both periods. The northern summer monsoon weakens and the southern monsoon strengthens between the Sakmarian and the Wordian, owing to changes in geography and topography. The northern middle and high latitudes cool in winter, between the Sakmarian and Wordian, associated with northward shift of the continents. This high‐latitude cooling strengthens the winter westerlies and shifts the maximum storm‐track precipitation south. In the Southern Hemisphere, the winter westerlies weaken from the Sakmarian to the Wordian. Starting the simulations with no permanent ice fields (i.e., by assuming that the late Sakmarian postdates deglaciation) and imposing increased levels of atmospheric CO2 four times the present level, we find no tendency for reinitiation of major glaciation. Some permanent snow fields do develop in high southern latitudes, but these are primarily at high elevation. However, the combination of low CO2 levels (such as present‐day levels) and a cold summer orbital configuration produces expanded areas of permanent snow. The results are based on statistics derived from the final 5 yr of 20‐yr simulations. Paleoenvironmental indicators such as coal, evaporite, phosphate, and eolian sand deposits agree qualitatively with the simulated climate. The extreme cold simulated in high latitudes is inconsistent with estimates of high‐latitude conditions. Either the interpretation of observations is incorrect, the model is incorrect, or both; a possible model deficiency that leads to cold conditions in high latitudes is the relatively weak ocean‐heat transport simulated by the heat diffusion parameterization of the upper ocean model.


In this work two basic switching devices of power electronic are discussed and employed to demonstrate the simulation performance of Pspice software. It analyses the operational effectiveness of the devices when used in electric circuit to drive a load. The individual assessment of the devices divides the work into two sections. Thyristor on its part is functionally examined under a range of some specified values of gate pulses for driving a resistive load of 250 ohms. Graphs are generated which characteristically explain the relationship that exists between the specified gate pulses and the supply voltage at the anode of the thyristor. On the other part, bipolar junction transistor (BJT) is included as the major active component that drives a pulse width modulation (PWM) inverter. The inverter incorporates a dc pulse generator that produces a control signal with which the output is moderated. The half bridge inverter was drawn in Pspice environment using a schematic editor. It powers a 10W load at output frequency of 1kHZ and inductance of 2.5mH. The inverter runs at output voltage waveform of a period of 1 millisecond. The voltage waveform as plotted against time is shown graphically.


This paper proposes a fast and robust real-time object tracking technique in a ball and beam system following the concept of rotating frame (to be called as rotating ball and beam system). The technique uses a standard contact free video camera which is placed at a static position and allows the sensor to capture the entire dynamic motion of the system. Since the captured image is in the world coordinates, instead of the rotating beam coordinates, the position of the object is easily extracted using either of the two projective transform methods such as Hue, Saturation and Value (HSV) or Hue, Saturation (HS). Experimental results on a prototype ball and beam system demonstrate that performance of HS based object localization, which ignores the light intensity, is better compared with HSV based method.


Ion irradiation with energetic He+ (2.5 MeV), O4+ (13.5 MeV), Si4+ (24.4 MeV) and Cu7+ (32.6 MeV) species at several fluences (from 5 × 1012 to 1.65 × 1015 ion/cm2) were performed in three types of SiO2 glasses with different OH content (KU1, KS-4V and Infrasil 301). After ion implantation the Raman spectra were measured and compared with the spectra of unirradiated samples. Irradiated samples of the three fused silica grades exhibit changes in the broad and asymmetric R-band (ω1 around 445 cm−1), in D1 (490 cm−1) and D2 (605 cm−1) bands associated to small-membered rings. The D2 band shows an increase with increasing fluences for different ions, indicating structural changes. Raman spectra of ion-irradiated samples were compared with the spectra of neutron irradiated samples at fluences 1017 n/cm2 and 1018 n/cm2. Macroscopic surface cracking was detected, mainly at fluences corresponding to deposited energies between 1023 eV/cm3 and 1024 eV/cm3 (after ion beam shutdown).


Theophylline and its derivatives have been used in the treatment of obstructive airways disease for many years. Perhaps the best known derivative is theophylline ethylenediamine (aminophylline) which, intravenously, exerts a bronchodilator effect similar to subcutaneous adrenaline and inhaled isoprenaline (Crompton 1968). However, the solution is highly alkaline (pH 10) and causes severe pain after intramuscular injection and local irritation when administered orally or per rectum (Isaksson & Lindholm 1962; Phear 1957). These disadvantages have led to the introduction of several neutral theophylline compounds for oral, rectal and intramuscular uses. The purpose of the present study was to assess a neutral rheophylline compound, proxyphylline (i beta-hydroxypropyl.theophylline), administered by oral and rectal routes in paticnts with chronic obstructive airways disease.


Based on the bidimensional cellular automata,a new secret image sharing scheme is proposed in this paper.The secret image is considered as one of the initial configurations of the bidimensional cellular automata,The n shadow images of the secret image are made by the bidimensional reversible cellular automata with memory of ordern.The backward iteration of the bidimensional reversible cellular automata with memory of order n is used to recover the shared secret image.Analysis show the proposed scheme can be implemented easily,and is a computationally secure and perfect(n,n) scheme.


Compulsory online pre-laboratory exercises were required of non-major, first-year university chemistry students in response to poor student preparation for laboratory sessions. The online pre-laboratory exercises were designed to be straightforward, endeavoring to help students maximize the benefits of the introductory laboratory class. Diagrams and pictures were included in the exercises to improve descriptions. Students were allowed multiple attempts with immediate feedback provided to help them learn from their mistakes. The study is a descriptive account of students' perceptions of the impact of online pre-laboratory exercises on their learning. Students recognized the value of the exercises in improving their organization, their preparedness for the laboratory class, and their understanding of the chemistry concepts of the weekly experiments. The increased flexibility of doing pre-laboratory exercises online and the increased feedback to students were two important aspects of this project that nearly all students recognized as being beneficial to their learning.


Introduction. Psychological assessment is usually not provided as routine within care for substance use disorders (SUD) in Sweden. A number of studies has shown that about 70-80 percent of compulso ...


New Delhi Metallo Beta Lactamase 1 (NDM-1) is an enzyme with zinc ions at its active site that cleaves the amide bond of β -lactam ring and provides resistance against major classes of β lactam antibiotics. The molecular detection of NDM-1 producing bacterial isolates from tertiary Hospitals in Kano was investigated. A total of 500 bacterial isolates of Enterobacteriaceae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa from samples of blood, urine, catheter tip were screened for NDM-1 over a period of 12 months. The isolates were screened preliminarily for carbapenemases using meropenem (10 µg) and imipenem (10 µg) by disc diffusion technique. Isolates of 23 mm and 21 mm for meropenem and imipenem respectively were confirmed by modified Hodge test then EDTA Disc Synergy Test using two meropenem discs, one with MEM (10 µg), and other containing 10 µl of 0.1 M anhydrous EDTA (292 µg) for Metallo Beta Lactamase (MBLs) and finally seventeen MBLs isolates were screened with NDM-1 specific primers by PCR then four PCR positive products were sequenced for bla NDM-1 gene. Of the 500 clinical bacterial isolates screened, 162(32.4%), 43(8.6%) and 4(0.8%) were found to produce carbapenemase, MBLs and NDM-1 respectively. The highest frequency of NDM-1 producers was found among Escherichia coli 3(1.6%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae 1(0.5%) . Based on clinical samples, blood (25.0%) was found to have highest prevalence of MBLs followed by catheter tips (21.0%), wound swabs (11.1%) and urine (6.3%). Conclusively, NDM-1 was first detected in Kano, Nigeria.


Neolamarckia cadamba is now a commercially important plantation species, and is seen
slowly but surely replacing other exotic species. Therefore, it is crucial that we have
the tools to determine the genetic variation of N. cadamba that occurs in Sarawak, both
for natural and planted populations. The objective of this study is to assess the
genetic variation of N. cadamba from different areas in Sarawak by random amplified
polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. To date, leaf samples from a total of 162
individual trees have been collected from five populations, namely: Matang, Sabal
and Simunjan, Bintulu, Miri and Sibu. Total genomic DNA is isolated from the silicagel‐
preserved leaf samples, and subsequently the isolated DNA is analysed using
RAPD technique. The RAPD marker detects DNA variations that result in the loss or
gain of DNA fragments at a particular location in the Kelampayan genome. These
variations will help us determine genetic relatedness and diversity between different
Kelampayan populations. The results of this study will provide a foundation in the
selection of plus trees, establishment of forest seed production areas, and
subsequently production of high quality seedlings for plantations with all the
desirable characteristics in term of growth rate, bole form, wood density and disease
resistance.


International and local research has shown the importance of the presence of childbirth companions in terms of the progress of labour the mothers psychological well being and her relationship with her child. Currently in South African hospitals women are often denied a childbirth companion and due to the staff shortages in these busy hospitals they spend much of their time in childbirth alone and uncomforted. The Effective Care Research Unit (ECRU) of the University of Witwatersrand is currently completing a large research project on evidence-based maternity care. Part of it is a randomised controlled trial to determine whether by introducing the concept of childbirth companions using an interactive educational audio visual package we can successfully encourage maternity services to implement childbirth companion projects. (excerpt)


While the development of Spanish progressive constructions estar + GER and andar + GER has enjoyed some attention among variationists (Torres Cacoullos 2000, 2001), the development of the continuative constructions seguir 'follow' + GER and continuar 'continue'+ GER, in variation with temporal adverbials such as todavía 'still' and aún 'still' with an unmarked Present, has yet to be addressed at length,quantitatively or otherwise.


We prove the existence of weak solutions u : QT → Rn of the equations of unsteady motion of an incompressible fluid with shear-dependent viscosity in a cylinder QT = × (0, T ), where ⊂ Rn denotes a bounded domain. Under the assumption that the extra stress tensor S possesses a q-structure with q > 2n n+2 , we are able to construct a weak solution u ∈ Lq (0, T ; W 1,q 0 ( )) ∩ Cw([0, T ]; L2( )) with div u = 0. Our approach is based on the Lipschitz truncation method, which is new in this context. Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 76D03(primary);35D05,46,34A34 (secondary).


The process of Aluminum-Induced Crystallization (AIC) has given an advantage of transforming the a-Si to pc-Si, which is very attractive due to the significant improvement of film characteristics, relatively easy to process, allow a verity of substrates like plastic and glass due to the low process temperature. The characterization of the film we have deposited using Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Deposition (PECVD), have shown the film has already some poly-crystalline percentage/grains, that will help study the AIC in new way not only within this work, but also in the future plans.


This paper examines gender employment impact of expanding the early childhood care and preschool education (ECCPE) sector in Turkey. Underinvestment in social care thus takes its toll on the country's long-term economic potential through weakened labour force attachment, and diminished childhood development. This neglect of care economy projects reflects a gender bias in economic thinking as women are more represented in caring work. Investing in the care industries would generate increases in employment and add to growth, with a higher proportion going to women, as they would now be free to take up many of such jobs. It would also narrow the gender employment and earnings gaps. In addition, the government at various levels could start by eliminating gender bias in the laws; take necessary measures to establish, operate, and allocate funds for childcare facilities; come up with initiatives like reinstating and reviewing the laws mandating private sector employers to set up nurseries for both male and female staff and provide childcare services in the workplace.


Qualitative and quantitative determination of chemical and nutritive composition of Cymbopogon citratus (DC) Stapf (lemongrass) a medicinal plant in Nigeria was carried out using standard methods namely: proximate analysis, atomic absorption spectrophotometry (AAS) and complexometric titration. The leaves were found to be rich in crude protein (15.86%). Other findings were ash value (9.40%), crude lipid content (6.90%) crude fibre content (1.00%) carbohydrate content (66.54%) and moisture content (72.95%). Biomineral analysis revealed that the grass is a good source of biominerals and this order of concentration was observed: Calcium > Potassium > Magnesium > Phosphorus > Sodium > Iron > Copper. Phytochemical analysis showed the presence of saponins, tannins, alkaloids, flavonoids and cardiac glycosides while anthraquinones and cyanogenic glycosides were below detectable levels. These results support the medicinal and pharmacological activities shown by the plant and unveil the possibility of its use as a source of nutrients for man and livestock.


In the context of deterministic multicriteria maximization, a Pareto optimal, nondominated, or efficient solution is a feasible solution for which an increase in value of any one criterion can only be achieved at the expense of a decrease in value of at least one other criterion. Without restrictions of convexity or continuity, it is shown that a solution is efficient if and only if it solves an optimization problem that bounds the various criteria values from below and maximizes a strictly increasing function of these several criteria values. Also included are discussions of previous work concerned with generating or characterizing the set of efficient solutions, and of the interactive approach for resolving multicriteria optimization problems. The final section argues that the paper's main result should not actually be used to generate the set of efficient solutions, relates this result to Simon's theory of satisficing, and then indicates why and how it can be used as the basis for interactive procedures with desirable characteristics.


Abstract The inhibition of α-glucosidase is used as a key clinical approach to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus and thus, we assessed the inhibitory effect of α-ketoglutaric acid (AKG) on α-glucosidase with both an enzyme kinetic assay and computational simulations. AKG bound to the active site and interacted with several key residues, including ASP68, PHE157, PHE177, PHE311, ARG312, TYR313, ASN412, ILE434 and ARG439, as detected by protein–ligand docking and molecular dynamics simulations. Subsequently, we confirmed the action of AKG on α-glucosidase as mixed-type inhibition with reversible and rapid binding. The relevant kinetic parameter IC50 was measured (IC50 = 1.738 ± 0.041 mM), and the dissociation constant was determined (Ki Slope = 0.46 ± 0.04 mM). Regarding the relationship between structure and activity, a high AKG concentration induced the slight modulation of the shape of the active site, as monitored by hydrophobic exposure. This tertiary conformational change was linked to AKG inhibition and mostly involved regional changes in the active site. Our study provides insight into the functional role of AKG due to its structural property of a hydroxyphenyl ring that interacts with the active site. We suggest that similar hydroxyphenyl ring-containing compounds targeting key residues in the active site might be potential α-glucosidase inhibitors. AbbreviationsAKG alpha-ketoglutaric acidpNPG 4-nitrophenyl-α-d-glucopyranosideANS 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulfonateMD molecular dynamics. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma


Genes that are clustered on multiplegenomes and are likely to functionallyinteract tend to be gained or lost togetherduring genome evolution.Here,wedemonstrate that exceptions to this patternindicate relatively distant functionalinteractions between the encoded proteins.Hence,this can be used to divide predictedclusters of functionally interacting proteinsinto sub-clusters,and as such,to refine the prediction of their function andfunctional interactions.


In coordination with training officers, student programming agents, and students, a system was designed that would allow a comparative analysis of nonacademic courses offered by U.S. institutions and international providers of children and youth services, permit students to earn internationally recognized continuing education units, and establish a computerized record system that would include pertinent training course and credit information. Materials were prepared in the practicum for nonacademic training programs that would hold training providers more accountable for offering what they advertise, and a system was designed to ensure that nonacademic study by international providers of child and youth services was recognized through granting internationally recognized credit. Besides the organization of a student nonacademic advisory council, meetings with stakeholders ascertained what was most needed to develop a system for tracking courses taken by international nonacademic students under federal sponsorship. Analysis of the data revealed that the more information given about a course when it was announced, the greater the likelihood of the student and funding agency choosing the best continuing education course to meet the defined student needs. Students were more likely to want to remain lifelong learners when they knew that their nonacademic courses would be recognized internationally. (CK) *********':%******.*****:.****::**AAAA:.****** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. '1.5 DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION °Noce of Educational Research and improvement EOU 'TiONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) TSn document has been reproduced as received from the person or otgaruzation originating it 0 Minor changes have been made to imProve reproduction quality Points ()Inlets or opinions staled en this dOcu ment do not necessardy represent official OE RI posmon or palmy Comparing Course Content and Awarding Credit for Nonacademic Training Programs for International Providers of Child and Youth Services Under Federal Sponsorship


Envelope glycoprotein gpl20 of human im- munodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) is known to inhibit T-cell function, but little is known about the mechanisms of this immunosuppression. Pretreatment of a CD4+ tetanus toxoid- specific T-cell clone with soluble gpl20 was found to exert a dose-dependent inhibition of soluble antigen-driven or anti- CD3 monoclonal antibody-driven proliferative response, inter- leukin 2 (IL-2) production, and surface IL-2 receptor (IL-2R) a-chain expression, all of which were reversed by the addition of exogenous IL-2. mRNA for the gene encoding IL-2 was suppressed by treatment with gpl20, but IL-2R gene transcrip- tion was not inhibited. Bypass activation of the T-cell clone with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate plus ionomycin was unaffected by gpl20 pretreatment. Thus, gpl2O-CD4 interaction inter- feres with an essential role of the CD4 molecule in signal transduction through the CD3-antigen receptor (Ti) complex. Such a mechanism of gpl20-induced immunosuppression, if operative in vivo, could contribute to the depressed specific immune responses associated with HIV infection.


Financial burden on enterprises is determined by negative cash flows, which brings down the value their assets and owner's equity. The aim of this paper is to analyze the financial burden on Czech business in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the past six years and point out the factors that influenced their capital structure and performance. According to Du Pont equations the financial burden is given as reduction of interest and taxes from earnings before interests and taxes. The value of financial burden of enterprises is dependent on macroeconomic environment, in which the enterprises exist. It was detected asynchronously dependence between real payments and changes of rates of interests and tax rates in the analysis. Reducing both rates had a positive effect on the performance of Czech enterprises, their capital base has increased, it has become more attractive to foreign investors and improved return on invested capital. In following up the results of analysis is performed an estimate of the development of financial results of companies in 2016 - 2018.


Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress Markers Are Associated With Obesity In NonDiabetic Subjects † Neeraj K. Sharma *, Swapan K. Das *, Ashis K. Mondal, Oksana G. Hackney, Winston S. Chu, Philip A. Kern, Neda Rasouli, Horace J. Spencer, Aiwei Yao-Borengasser, and Steven C. Elbein ¶ *These authors contributed equally to this work Endocrine Section, Medicine and Research Services, Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System, Little Rock, Arkansas Division of Endocrinology and Metabolism, Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas Department of Biostatistics, College of Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR


A station that generates data packets to be transmitted, so the data packets prior to transmission over a minimum period of time remaining in a buffer. The method includes receiving a specification for a linked discontinuous reception (C-DRX) cycle, the specification indicates when a plurality of OnDurations of the C-DRX cycle occurs, the OnDurations have an intermediate predetermined interval; and receiving data at a known time relative to the C-DRX cycle; determining a modification of a conversion process, which converts the data into data packets so that the data packets are stored in a buffer at a subframe immediately before one of the known time following OnDurations; the execution of the conversion process based on the modification and storing of the data packets in the immediately preceding the one of the OnDurations subframe. In one embodiment, the data is audio raw data, and the data packets are audio packets.


Objective: Enamel pearls are anomalies that may act as a physical barrier in plaque accumulation and dental calculus and these may be at higher risk for periodontal involvement and inflamation. The aim of this study was to do a radiographic evaluation of the prevalence of enamel pearls in patients from the teaching hospital of the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC).
Study design: One thousand panoramic X- rays taken from the USmile software were analyzed. The following information was recorded: number of patient's medical records, age, gender, the presence of enamel pearls specifying the location in the maxila or mandible as well as the number of teeth. Absolute and relative frequency measurements were registered.
Results: Enamel pearls were detected in 11.40% of the population. This dental anomaly affected more the maxilla (54.30%) than the mandible (40.40%). A higher prevalence of enamel pearls was found in the maxillary second molars (33.33%). The prevalence of enamel pearls was greater in women (62.28%) as well as in the age range from 15 to 25 years (72.81%). Enamel pearls are not uncommon anomalies among the patients of the Peruvian population: therefore, its early detection is particulary important to prevent future periodontal problems.
Conclusion: Enamel pearls are not uncommon anomalies among the patients from the teaching hospital of the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas (UPC).: therefore, its early detection is pf utmost importance to prevent future periodontal problems.


Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR)-T cell therapy is a revolutionary treatment method which applies the technology of modifying patients' immune T cells to eliminate cancer cells. The immune system recognizes invading cells by noticing antigens on the foreign cells. The receptors of T cells bind to the antigens which notifies the rest of the immune system to eradicate the foreign invaders. CAR-T cell therapy has gained achievement in the treatment of hematologic malignancies such as B-ALL. CAR-T cell engineering process contains four steps including leukapheresis and the expression of the CAR on the T cells. Among the process, the Sleeping Beauty transposon system shortens the time between genetic modification and infusion so that patients can receive the modified T cells on site. GMP (Good Manufacture Practice) also ensures quality and safety of the CAR-T cells before infusing into the patients. CAR-T cells damage tumor cells by three major pathways. T cells utilize perforin and granzyme to lyse open antigen-positive tumor cells and use Fas and Fas ligand to target antigen-negative tumor cells. The derivation of cytokines from CAR-T cells sensitizes the tumor stroma and enhances tumor killing ability. The development in CAR-T cell designs has made a huge contribution to the success of the treatment where five generations of CAR-T cells have already been investigated. However, there are still some challenges associated with the treatment such as antigen escape relapse and on-target off-tumor toxicities observed in solid tumors. The technology can be further innovated by overcoming antigen escape loss, enhancing safety of CAR-T cells, and improving the persistence of CAR-T cells using the combination of oncolytic viruses with CAR-T cells. This review mainly focuses on the CAR-T cell engineering process and killing mechanisms as well as some obstacles and potential improvement for the technology.


Overnight home charging is expected to be the most common and cost-effective way of refueling plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs). Workplace charging is also expected to play a prominent role and provide various benefits, such as extending the number of electric miles driven and enabling PEV adoption by drivers in difficult residential charging environments. This paper assesses workplace charging from two perspectives: (a) employers investing in workplace charging facilities and pricing their use and (b) employee drivers. The finding is that pricing levels likely to provide drivers with financial motivation to fuel at work relative to gasoline refueling may provide limited opportunity to recover station costs. For example, a $0.20/kW-h markup on top of average commercial electricity costs–-a level some drivers may even find uncompetitive–-might only cover $1,500 in all-in facility investment costs per PEV served. Similarly, drivers may balk at workplace charging prices at or exceeding $1.25/h or $35/month, which provide comparable cost-recovery potential. In addition, the differential, "discriminatory" impact of various pricing structures is discussed. Across pricing structures, increasing the utilization of a facility (i.e., increasing the economies of scale in use) is key to improving financial viability. This might prove difficult, given the associated costs described. Solutions that increase utilization while minimizing per vehicle costs (e.g., "multiplexed," perhaps lower-power facilities) might help address these constraints. Monte Carlo simulation is presented to highlight the key uncertainties of station profitability and of refueling costs. It indicates that employers' choice of pricing structure will differentially affect their ability to remain financially viable in the face of uncertainty.


The distinctive paper presents the calculation of a thick-walled cylindrical shell with hinged and free ends on the temperature effect. The shell consists of three layers: two layers of heat-resistant concrete and steel outer layer. The calculation takes into account the piecewise linear inhomogeneity of the shell due to its three-layer construction and the continuous inhomogeneity caused by the action of a stationary temperature field. To take into account the nonlinear nature of concrete deformation, the problem was solved using the method of successive approximations described in [1]. A comparative analysis of the results of the calculation of the shell with and without taking into account the continuous inhomogeneity and the nonlinear nature of the deformation of concrete is given. Comparison of the results showed a significant decrease in circumferential stresses in the most loaded concrete layers when calculating the shell with regard to physical nonlinearity and heterogeneity of materials.


Signal integrity and power integrity are treated as separate issues in conventional package electrical designs. There is no intended coupling between power and signal nets. High speed IO trace routing and vias are shielded with ground planes and ground vias as return current paths. Power nets are typically routed on separated planes shielded with ground planes to provide low impedance path for power distribution from die to PCB system. However, as package cost driven down with silicon process advanced to 20nm node and beyond, package designs require new IO-PDN (power distribution networks) configurations, in which high speed IO are implemented to reference to both power and ground as return path. As a result, IO and PDN are directly coupled to each other. It is crucial for design engineers to understand the impacts of the co-referenced IO-PDN system and associated performance trade-off in system noise and timing requirements. Previous publications studied the effects in rather simple transmission line structure [ref 1]. Other work has been focus on single ended DDR memory interface for date rate less than 3Gbps [ref 2]. This paper presents analysis on high speed 10-28Gbps package that deployed co-referenced power network as return path to transmission lines, in contrast to conventional ground return. The study covers physical mechanism investigation to non-ideal return path to signal and power supply performance impact. We expect to rectify the use of power reference in product development for 10's Gbps serdes applications. The study is carried out by analytical, model, simulation and hardware validations. It is the first study to our best knowledge in the package design field that takes on the power-ground co-referencing for transceiver at date rate of 28Gbps. The study of co-referenced IO-PDN system will be carried out to address three main areas of concerns as listed below. Furthermore, We will introduce the enabling methodology for combined modeling and simulation of power and signal capturing the power to signal, signal to single and vertical return current. - Signal transmission impact in insertion/return loss, crosstalk and associated channel jitter - PDN impedance impact and its effect on power supply induced jitter - PDN and signal mutual coupling and induced jitter We have strategized two design scenarios to compare to ideal ground only reference, firstly co-referencing in ball/PCB breakout region only, and secondly to add co-referencing in power/ground planes inside package. The cost saving comes from replacing ground balls with power balls to guard transceiver channels for adequate performance. This will lead to more balls (originally allocated for transceiver powers) available for more serdes and DDR IOs in the same package. In addition to spare balls, the second scenario saves layer count, which is one of the dominant cost factors in today's high end packages. Throughout the study, the author will provide mitigation guidelines for such design practice to be applied in the real world devices. Furthermore, the authors have made sure the abovementioned recommendations validated in a 28nm test device specifically built for this purpose.


This paper presents the results of the study of one of the alternative decision support systems in determining the priority of irrigation maintenance. One of the obstacles in maintaining irrigation assets is the limited budget, hence the need for priority maintenance of irrigation. Batu City as an agricultural area, has not applied objective assessment criteria in determining the priority scale of irrigation asset maintenance to support the success of agriculture. Especially the irrigation area of Kali Brantas Sub Watershed which is the downstream area of Batu City, there are still many damaged irrigation assets infrastructure. This study aims to determine the priority of irrigation maintenance of Kali Brantas Sub Watershed Batu City. Analysis using Simple Additive Weighting method with the following stages: The assessment of each criterion directly in the field (Physical Condition, Functioning, Service Area and maintenance cost) according to Regulation of Minister of Public Works No. 13 / PRT / M / 2012, , determine the rating of each alternative match, normalization of alternative value of each criterion and ranking of normalization product with weight of importance. The result of the analysis shows that irrigation infrastructure which become the first priority in irrigation maintenance activity of Kali Brantas Sub Watershed Batu City is Genengan Dam. For second priority up to five consecutive are; Bend Beji I, Beji II, Ngukir Mranak II and Ngukir Mranak I Dam..


Climate change is the most significant challenge to achieving sustainable development and it is one of the most discussed topics today due to the frequent changes triggered around the globe because of both manmade and natural causes. Water resources and river flow are the main hydrologic parameters often affected by climate change. In the present study, the predicted climate change variations are derived from literature and HEC-HMS rainfall-runoff model is used to investigate impending impacts on using two dry zone basins. For Kirindi Oya and Maduru Oya basins, the model was calibrated using a data period from 2001/2-2008 and validated from 2009–2015. The MRAE (Mean Ratio Absolute Error), NSE (Nash-Sutcliffe Efficiency), R2 (Coefficient of Determination) and PBIAS (Percentage of BIAS) were used as objective functions. Even though the main study area is the dry zone of Sri Lanka, the analysis included the other climatic zones, mainly the wet zone as well, as they have a direct or indirect impact on the river flows in the dry zone. Synthetic climate change scenarios based on predicted climate variations were considered for future streamflow generation and results indicate that HEC-HMS in combination with SPI analysis is a useful tool in low flow analysis.


Different approaches to understanding the essence of electronic, distance and blended learning lead to identification of different principles for classification of models within each type of training and to discrepancies in their design activities. The proposed constructor unifies design models of electronic and blended learning, taking into account the relationships between the components of the didactic system of modern educational paradigm.


Wireless communication and networking courses are becoming increasingly popular in universities, polytechnical institutions, postsecondary colleges, and private training institutions around the globe. This popularity is partly because of rapid developments in wireless communication and networking technologies and the high demand for wireless networking skills in the industry worldwide. Unfortunately, motivating students to learn wireless local area network (WLAN) design is often difficult because students find the subject rather technical, and dry when presented. To overcome this problem, we have developed a Web-based software tool (named WLAN-Designer) that gives students an interactive learning experience in WLAN design concepts. The WLAN-Designer is suitable for classroom use in introductory wireless networking courses (undergraduate IT and CIS curricula). The effectiveness of WLAN-Designer has been evaluated by both students and teaching teams. The implementation of WLAN-Designer was judged to be successful because of the positive student feedback and also students scored better in the final examination. This chapter describes WLAN-Designer and its effectiveness as an aid to teaching and learning WLAN design concepts. The impact of WLAN-Designer on student learning and comprehension is also discussed.


Both Chinese vocabulary and Chinese historical knowledge play an important role in the acquisition of Chinese as a second language. This paper combines the two by collecting historical stories of the Han Dynasty for foreign Chinese learners as a corpus, and then, based on Modern Chinese Dictionary, we calculate the similarity of words in the corpus, in order to generate a lexical semantic network. Based on the generated semantic network, we push content for Chinese learners that is similar to the words and articles they already know.


This article discusses the concept and implementation of the hardware and software for automatic measuring the geometry of aluminum billets.


The author studied the volcanic strata exposed in the central-southern Songliao Basin,including the lithological,lithofacies and assemblage characteristics of volcanic rocks,and analyzed the spatial distribution and eruption,combined with drilling data.The results showed that in the central-sourthern Songliao Basin mainly developed acid volcanic rocks with a few basic basalt,andesitic basalt and basaltic andesite.Eruption patterns were mainly in burst facies,effusive facies and extrusion facies.The types of reservoir space developed in volcanic rocks were primary pores,secondary pores and fractures.The upper and middle subfacies of effusive facies,hot detritus flow subfacies of burst facies and volcanic conduic facies were better for finding the petroleum reservoirs.


Traditionally, immigrant entrepreneurial research conducted in Canada has focused on major
cities such as Montreal, Toronto, and Vancouver (MTV). However, recent research on migrant
economies highlights the need to examine immigrant entrepreneurship across all city types,
including small to medium sized cities (SMCs). This thesis answers the call among the literature
for qualitative studies to investigate immigrant entrepreneurship, by examining the experiences
of immigrant entrepreneurs in the SMC of St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador (NL).
Combining the rescaling approach with the mixed embeddedness theory, the opportunities and
barriers that immigrant entrepreneurs face in this Canadian SMC are identified. More
specifically, this project explores what entrepreneurial supports are considered to be the most
comprehensive for newcomers operating a business. My findings underscore that immigrant
entrepreneurs in the low-skill sector face a much different, less holistic support system than those
in the high-skill sector. Moreover, while this Atlantic province has long struggled with the
retention of newcomers, Memorial University of NL is playing a key role in the integration,
retention, and facilitation of immigrant entrepreneurship.


There are numerous approaches for integrating data from heterogeneous data sources. A common background assumption is that the data sources remain quite stable and are known in advance. Hence an integration system can be built to manipulate them. In practice there is, however, often a demand for supporting ad hoc information needs concerning unexpected autonomous data sources containing volatile data. A different approach is therefore needed. We propose that semantically similar data are harmonized when extracting data from XML-based data sources. We introduce a constructor algebra, which is a powerful tool in the harmonization of XML data. This algebra is able to form for any XML data source a unique relational representation, called an XML relation. We demonstrate that the XML relation representation supports grouping and aggregation of data needed, for example, in OLAP (online analytical processing) -style applications.