Guayaquil, home to two million people, is Ecuador's main port city. El Guasmo is an urban settlement in the south of the city. In 1984, CEPAM, an Ecuadorian women's nongovernmental organization, began working in El Guasmo Norte, the oldest and most established area of El Guasmo. CEPAM employs an integrated approach to its work with poor urban women on health issues, legal advice, and group formation, based upon a gender analysis of life in the area. This article describes the group's work in El Guasmo Norte, explaining how women came to understand that their health and well-being were determined by their status as poor urban women, and that as a result, they decided to establish their own health center. Sections cover the determinants of urban women's health, reflection and action, the health center, the concept of integration, participating in health services, and lessons learned.


We examine how knowledge and experience affect both the mean and variance values of innovations from individuals and teams. We apply and extend theory on innovativeness and creativity to propose that holding multiple knowledge domains produces novel combinations that increase the variance of product performance; and that extensive experience produces outputs with high average performance. We analyzed innovations in the comic book industry, finding that innovations with extreme success and failure are affected by similar factors as high-performing innovations. Multi-member teams and teams with experience working together produced innovations with greater variation in value, but individuals were able to combine knowledge diversity more effectively than teams.


—The main purpose of this paper is to determine a non-trivial tractable class of the maximum (k,m)-subsets problem. More specifically, we show that we can solve this problem in polynomial time for m = 1 . Depending on the value of k with respect to n , we prove that in the best-case scenario our algorithm runs in O ( √ n ) time. On the other hand, an upper bound for solving it is given by O ( n 4 /k 3 ) . Furthermore, for the case where n = k 2 , we design and implement an algorithm in Python that yields a solution in O ( n 5 / 2 ) .


A quaternion extended Kalman filtering algorithm suitable for multiple motion sensor orientation detection system is proposed.The orientation system adapts to the research of human motion.The hardware is based on iNEMO sensors fusion suite,which integrated 3-axis gyroscope,triaxial accelerometer and magnetometer.In the procedure of extended Kalman filter,the values of angle will approach the true value gradually through modifying angle of gyroscope by the measuring noise of accelerometer and magnetometer,at the same time,the design of covariance matrix on measuring noise can help the orientation system distinguish the static and movement state.With the test of movement of flexion and extension of forearm,this algorithm was verified effective.With the merits of small size,multi-function and low loss,the motion sensors based on MEMS are proved to have a favorable future in the field of human motion measurement.


Based on the spore-pollen analysis of the core HZ-S,in Handan region,Hebei Province.The results show that the Handan region's climate since the Late Pleistocene evolution of the form of both the characteristics of the global synchronization,but also the characteristics of the region alone.The evolutional stages of palaeoclimate and palaeovegetation are recognized in the following:(1) During the Late Pleistocene,the climatic changes were from warm and humid(130 ~ 75 kaBP) → cool and dry(75 ~ 55 kaBP) →warm and humid(40 ~ 30 kaBP) →cool and dry(30 ~ 10 kaBP),the vegetation evolutions were sylvosteppe →grassland →sylvosteppe →grassland.(2) The evolution of Holocene climate has experienced slightly cold and moderately dry(10 ~ 8 kaBP) → warm and humid(8 ~ 3 kaBP) → slightly worm and moderately dry(3 ~ 0 kaBP) process,the vegetation evolutions were sparse sylvosteppe→ sylvosteppe→ sparse sylvosteppe.(3) Occurred in 25 kaBP around,16 kaBP around,and 11-10 kaBP cold events may be Heinrich events 3,1 and Younger Dryas event in eastern China monsoon region's response.


The invention relates to a method for predicting the burning a propellant powder grains containing the first propellant charge powder, the propellant grains of channels are traversed, and at least some of the openings of the channels is closed off completely or partially.


The development of international ties and the internationalization of all spheres of life have greatly increased people's desire to study foreign languages as well as a need for people who speak them. This is the second time this kind of interest has emerged in the postrevolutionary history of our country. The first time it happened was in the second half of the 1920s, when the people's commissariats of education of the RSFSR [Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic] and the Ukrainian SSR [Soviet Socialist Republic], the Academy of Sciences, and the Central Committee of the Komsomol all issued this nationwide appeal: "Learn Foreign Languages." In the decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolshevik) of 1929, "On Organizing the Study of Foreign Languages by the Party Activists," the study of foreign languages—by correspondence as well as other methods—was stated to be a party duty assignment (see Izvestiia VTsIK, Moscow, 1929, no. 1). In the early 1930s, foreign languages wer...


we study the s -Beurling densities of spectra of a class of self-similar spectral measures, where s is the Hausdor ff dimension of its support and obtain their exact upper bound of the densities. More precisely, let an iterated function system (IFS) on R be of the form f i ( x ) = xp + iq , i = 0 , 1 , . . ., q − 1, where p , q ≥ 2 are integers. , -Beurling densities are positive.


Entanglement boosts performance limits in sensing and communication, and surprisingly even more in presence of entanglement-breaking noise. However, to fulfill such advantages requires a practical receiver design, a challenging task as information is encoded in the feeble quantum correlation after entanglement's death. We propose a conversion module to capture and transform such correlation to coherent quadrature displacement, and therefore enables the optimal receiver design for a wide range of entanglement-enhanced protocols, including target detection (quantum illumina-tion), phase estimation, classical communication, target ranging and arbitrary thermal-loss channel pattern classification. The conversion module maps the quantum detection problem to the semi-classical detection of noisy coherent states via heterodyne and passive linear optics. Our module is completely off-the-shelf and provides a paradigm for processing noisy quantum correlations.


Online consumer reviews are increasingly being written on and posted from mobile devices such that some platforms have started to indicate when this is the case with cues such as "via mobile" (i.e., mobile cue). Reviews from mobile devices differ from those from non-mobile devices; for example, reviews from mobile devices are more likely to include typographical errors. For this study, a web-based experiment was conducted to investigate viewers' evaluation and adoption of online reviews in regard to a mobile cue and typographical errors. The results indicate an interaction effect between the presence of a mobile cue and typographical errors. When a review did not include typographical errors, the presence of a mobile cue negatively affected the evaluation and adoption of information (i.e., the viewer's attitude toward the reviewed restaurant). However, the effects of a mobile cue were not significant for a review with typographical errors. Further, the results suggest that the viewer's perception of the review writing effort and the review's information usefulness are sequential mediators explaining the information adoption mechanism. The findings provide interesting insights into consumers' perceptions of online reviews in the current media landscape in which the large-scale adoption of mobile devices is a well-recognized phenomenon.


One of the more conspicuous features in modern Old Testament scholarship is scholars' growing awareness of literary form and literary motifs in biblical texts. Since Ugaritic texts were found, numerous attempts have been made to trace connexions between these Canaanite documents and the Old Testament. In the beginning, many scholars were tempted to delineate solid historical links between the Ugaritic records, and biblical stories and history. This chapter concentrates on a single, specific literary motif which seems to be present both in the Ugaritic texts, the Old Testament and the New Testament; this is the motif termed "promoting mother". In the case of Ugaritic texts we find the motif in the stories about the God Athtar, who usurps the throne of Baal or of one of the other leading Gods. In the Old Testament we encounter this motif in both the patriarchal stories and in the Davidic narrative cycle. Keywords: biblical stories; Canaanite documents; God Athtar; literary motif; New Testament; Old Testament; promoting mother; Ugaritic Texts


Anti-tumor necrosis factor (anti-TNF) therapies, including infliximab, adalimumab, and certolizumab pegol, are effective for the induction and maintenance of clinical remission in patients with moderate to severe Crohn's disease (CD). Although anti-TNF-based therapies have markedly revolutionized the treatment of CD, these drugs are very expensive and are associated with increased risks of melanoma, opportunistic infections, and lymphoma. In this review, we discuss the clinical predictors of the anti-TNF treatment response in CD patients. Current data suggest that a shorter disease duration, an inflammatory disease phenotype, and an increased C-reactive peptide level are associated with a good response to an anti-TNF agent. Nevertheless, the identification of additional predictors of this response in CD patients might be beneficial for patient safety and cost reduction and allow for the individualized treatment of CD patients in the future.


In Spain, the degree in Business Administration authorizes professionals to assume tax roles in a quite high level. Tax system is complex and changing, and its logic is based on previously acquired knowledge and skills. The paper focuses in the subject in the general grade, aimed for providing students with general skills.Analyzes the options. Working more in depth on the "general part", whose rules regulate the system underpinning questions, or on the "special part", that focuses specific taxes. Concludes that working on general part is necessary, not only because this contents the logical and intellectual schemes, but because the majority of cases answers, even in particular taxes, are based on considerations about general rules and decisions.Case method is especially interesting in relation to the acquisition of knowledge and skills in tax law; in relation to the purpose on learn to learn, but several matters in relation to it must be considered as, among others, time requirements.


Mixing enthalpies and Gibbs energies of liquid propylene oxide oligomers with hydroxyl and methoxy end groups and of block and statistical cooligomers of ethylene oxide and propylene oxide in tetrachloromethane are obtained by microcalorimetry and vapour pressure measurements. The thermodynamic excess quantities ΔH, ΔGE and ΔSE of mixing are influenced by induced dipol interactions of the ether segments with CCl4 and by the hydrogen bond interactions of the OH end groups. An expanded theoretical treatment using the Huggins approach of quasichemical equilibrium between the contacting segment surfaces is successfully applied on the experimental results.


To establish relative protection against methacholine and histamine, 40 μg of ipratropium bromide, an anticholinergic compound, 1.3 mg of metaproterenol or placebo aerosols were administered by metered‐dose inhaler prior lo inhalation challenge with methacholine or histamine in nine asthmatic subjects. Double‐blind, randomized challenges were performed. Subjects required a mean methacholine dose of l.72 ± 0.73 and 2.46 ± 0.72 (Ln inhalation units), and mean histamine dose of 2.l6 ± 0.65 and 2.68 ± 0.49, to cause a drop of 20% and 35% respectively in the FEV1 following the placebo. In the methacholine challenges, both ipratropium bromide and metaproterenol had significant protection as compared to placebo (P<0.001). There was no statistical difference in the degree of protection against methacholine between ipratropium bromide and metaproterenol. In histamine challenges, metaproterenol had significant protection as compared to the placebo, while ipratropium bromide did not protect against histamine.


This article introduces graphical tools for visualizing multivariate functions, specializing to the case of visualizing multivariate density estimates. We visualize a density estimate by visualizing a series of its level sets. From each connected part of a level set a shape tree is formed. A shape tree is a tree whose nodes are associated with regions of the level set. With the help of a shape tree we define a transformation of a multivariate set to a univariate function. The shape trees are visualized with the shape plots and the location plot. By studying these plots one may identify the regions of the Euclidean space where the probability mass is concentrated. An application of shape trees to visualize the distribution of stock index returns is presented.


The use of ontologies to generate domain specific knowledge has proved to be a successful approach to provide appropriate tools for re-use and formalization. However, if ontologies are intensively used in the area of design sciences [1], [2] and process engineering such as [3], [4], there is a lack of application in industrial distributed systems. In this paper, we implement a domain ontology that serves as a basis for automatic generation of knowledge databases embedded in intelligent insruments. Constraints expressed by the axioms in the ontology are used in the design syntax of input files while data consistency is checked by the parser. The resulting tree-like database is loaded in each instrument and allows dynamic inference on data association. The structured knowledge representation scheme obtained both simplifies the design process and enhances instrument autonomy.


" Henry Flower" is Leopold Bloom's assumed pen name and literary persona in Ulysses. He adopts it in a clandestine correspondence and carries around a visiting card with the name on it. Hitherto, commentators on the novel believed that no piece of writing by this wonderfully gifted man of letters survived, but they are wrong. They have overlooked a whole episode in Joyce's novel— "Eumaeus." I contend that the episode is narrated by none other than this fabulous author. Henry Flower's contribution to early-twentieth-century journalism, essayism, and belletristic writing is the epitome of a characteristically outmoded, thoughtless, sloppy style of writing, which Joyce, the radical modernist, rightly resented and ridiculed—and occasionally reproduced with ironic relish. "Make it new," Ezra Pound's battle cry for a vigorous, precise, graphic literary style, is the programmatic antidote to Henry Flower's pseudo-elegant, inflated logorrhea.1 Unlike Ernest Hemingway, who did away with all unnecessary adjectives and qualifiers, Joyce takes an entirely different approach to exposing the outworn, pre-modernist literary stance in this episode of Ulysses—not by rejecting but by mimicking it. In many sections of Ulysses, the author delights in irreverently amalgamating bits and pieces of "high" and "low" literature and culture, as is proper for an encyclopedic representation of Dublin's everyday life. "Eumaeus" is the shattering parody of what half-educated characters such as Leopold Bloom might consider a dazzlingly clever literary diction. My hypothesis is that Henry Flower's florid rhetoric is behind the episode in question.


A water billing system is an automated system that makes the complex task of billing easy, fast and accurate. This paper presents the development of an Automated Water Billing System for the local government unit of Hinunangan in the province of Southern Leyte, Philippines. The system constitutes two applications - Desktop and Mobile Reader.  The System Development Life Cycle (SDLC) framework was adopted in the development process utilizing the Waterfall Model. Survey and interviews were also done as a supplementary technique of the fact-finding. The purposive sampling method was employed in the selection of respondents, and a researcher-made questionnaire was used in the systems evaluation. Weighted mean was used as a statistical treatment. Based on the results of the study, the developed system contributes a greater advantage in providing and delivering better operation, reporting, and services to the clientele.


This study shows that the increased incentive structures from and the more intense socialization process with the European Union (EU) since the launch of European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) have not translated into a higher level of democratic development in Eastern ENP countries. However, on the long run (1991–2010), the EU democracy promotion in the region under consideration appears to be largely consistent. In addition, a content analysis of Progress Reports released by the European Commission on the implementation process of European Neighbourhood Policy Action Plans (ENPAPs) reveals that some Eastern neighbours of the EU have attempted to consider in their reform agendas the democracy-related objectives of these documents and that some have also sought to adopt international democratic instruments as required by the ENPAPs. Though the record is far from satisfactory on norm internalization, content analysis of Commission's Reports suggests that one should acknowledge a modest democratization role for the EU.


In an earlier paper 1 the writer noted that traces of copper sulfate increased the blue color obtained by treating such proteins as pepsin or gelatin with Folin's phenol reagent. It has now been found that a number of organic substances reduce the Folin's phenol reagent only if a small amount of cupric ion is present. These same substances also show a positive biuret reaction. The copper-phenol values in Table I represent the amount of color per milligram of substance produced as a result of adding m/1300 copper sulfate to the solution under examination with the phenol reagent. One obtains this value from the difference in color values produced with and without copper ion. For many substances no color is produced in the absence of copper but most proteins contain tyrosine and tryptophane and must, therefore, be analyzed with and without cupric ion. No attempt has been made to determine whether each of the substances in Table I produces a blue color exactly in proportion to its concentration. With leucyl-glycyl-glycine the proportionality is quite good while with pure biuret it is not as good. The order of magnitude of the values in Table I is of more significance than the absolute values. The solutions have been read against a tyrosine standard and the values calculated as the number of milligrams of tyrosine that will give the same amount of color under identical conditions. No amino acids show any comparable effect of the presence of cupric ion when tested with the phenol reagent. With certain substances, particularly biuret, the presence of some non-chromogenic substances has fairly pronounced effect on the amount of blue color that develops in the presence of cupric ion. Thus the presence of glycine or glycyl-glycine increases the copper-phenol color of biuret. Urea gives a blue color with the phenol reagent in the presence of copper ion and will, therefore, interfere if present in a solution being analyzed. In view of the fact that the products of hydrolysis have little if any influence on the color of leucyl-glycyl-glycine, it seems likely that one could follow quantitatively the extent of enzymatic hydrolysis of this and similar peptides by means of this color test.


This special issue of Celebrity Studies emerges out of the second biennial conference of the journal, held at Royal Holloway, University of London in June 2014. That conference was attended by nearly 200 scholars from every corner of the globe and wewere extremely fortunate to have an amazing (and generous) line up of keynote speakers: our thanks to Richard Dyer, Diane Negra, MandyMerck, Nick Couldry and our very own Sean Redmond along with all the delegates who made the conference such a success. At the time of writing, we have just announced plans for the third conference, to be held at the University of Amsterdam in June 2016. These events not only allow us – as editors – to see the field in 'embodied' form (rather than the disembodied nature of the review process), but also demonstrate the growing vitality and maturity of the field. In 2014 we took the opportunity to test this with a themed call for papers on the question of 'approaching celebrity', asking scholars to consider the range of methodological tools that might constitute the field, better help interrogate the concept of celebrity and need greater attention in shaping the study of celebrity. This special issue represents the best of the many responses we received on that theme and, like celebrity studies itself, reveals a catholic approach to the question of method in the discipline. Thus, in the articles that follow the authors undertake analyses informed by everything from netnography to genre studies, from discourse analysis to social theory, and from social media metrics through to audience studies. The selection chosen here represents the diversity of approaches in the field, highlights areas that have been overlooked, highlights new methodologies and calls for the use of more care in the deployment of specific methodologies to provide new insights and rigour to Celebrity Studies. Although the subject of research methods can often seem dry and dusty, the scholars collected here attack the subject with verve and innovation, asking key questions of the field that undoubtedly make it richer and stronger. Read on, write on and research on!


ON JANUARY 14, 2012, INCUMBENT PRESIDENT MA YING-JEOU OF THE Kuomintang (KMT, or Nationalist Party) on Taiwan was re elected. As President Ma embarks on his second term, the question of whether he will negotiate and sign a military mutual confidencebuilding mechanism with mainland China has become an issue of concern for the public on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. The issue also has potential regional security implications. In recent years, the leaders of Taiwan and mainland China have often expressed goodwill and proposed a number of critical initiatives that would bring about a new dawn in cross-strait relations. These initiatives include the signing of peace agreements as well as negotiations on a military mutual confidence-building mechanism. Nonetheless, many difficulties must be overcome to achieve what the two sides envision.We examine these issues from the perspective of the leaders of the respective nations by presenting four variables that could potentially influence the progress of discussion. Leaders need to understand the potential outcomes in advance so as to formulate strategies to counter a negative turn of events that could derail the initiatives. If they can do so, the strategic objective of a win-win situation may be fully accomplished, ensuring the preservation of lasting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole.The Taiwan-China RelationshipTaiwan is an important democratic country in Asia, having twice undergone political party turnover. However, it has long been subjected to military threats from mainland China. The People's Republic of China (PRC) has currently deployed no fewer than 490 combat aircraftalong the perimeter of the Taiwan Strait as well as 1,200 short-range ballistic missiles aimed at Taiwan. These weapons pose a grave security threat to Taiwan. On May 20, 2008, President Ma took office and actively embarked on peace dialogues with the PRC. The governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, riding on the "1992 Consensus,"1 began cooperating and have agreed on a range of economic development measures.The past three years have been marked by common embrace of a philosophy of "peaceful development, coexistence, and mutual prosperity." Both sides have accelerated their development through economic cooperation, signing fifteen important agreements as well as completing the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). The number of tourists from China to Taiwan in 2010 exceeded 1.63 million, bringing the tourism industry an economic gain of more than 70 billion New Taiwan dollars. At the end of June 2011 the Taiwan government announced the deregulation of travel by mainland tourists, enabling them to visit Taiwan and witness its free, democratic, open, and diverse society. Moreover, the number of direct flights between Taiwan and China has reached 370 per week and is expected to gradually increase to 500 a week in the future. These facts are tangible proof of the benefits resulting from cross-strait economic cooperation and peaceful development.Despite these improvements in economic relations, military relations have not seen any improvement, and Taiwan's national defense mobilization cannot be complacent for even a single day (Ministry of National Defense 2011). Since the KMT defeated the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the 2008 presidential elections, it has been actively working to improve the tense political relationship with mainland China, increasing the hope of peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, neither Taiwan nor the PRC can move toward signing a peace agreement or installing a military mutual-trust mechanism so long as the People's Liberation Army still threatens Taiwan. Determining the means to dismantle the missiles aimed at Taiwan and implement cross-strait mechanisms to build mutual confidence remains a major challenge that national leaders of both sides need to confront.The Current Cross-Strait Consensus on Peaceful DevelopmentDuring the rule of the DPP from 2000 to 2008, mutual trust between the Beijing and Taiwanese governments was completely lacking, with no communication between the leaders. …


Simulation is a valid pedagogical tool used to teach students, observe student clinical skills, and to assess clinical competencies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a lack of medical speech-language pathology placements required graduate programs to re-examine clinical training. Simulation has proven useful in providing an alternative and safe learning modality. Standardized patients, which are one simulation modality, provide increased standardization and higher fidelity than medical manikins. This is particularly true in the context of both student learning and demonstration of clinical communication skills (CCS) within a simulated learning environment where the simulated patient can interact authentically with the student clinician. CCS are important because they can lead to better treatment outcomes and strengthen the therapeutic alliance. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the evidence for a CCS training in the context of a speaking valve trial with a standardized tracheostomy patient. Results showed that students are demonstrating emerging skills or have already developed CCS in this context. Student questionnaire ratings suggest that this simulation was helpful to their learning as it provided a safe environment for them to practice valuable clinical skills. Simulation appears to be a viable modality to use when training CSD students to improve their CCS.


Enterprise+, sponsored by the European Union and the founded education program Erasmus+, emphasizes the sensitizing of younger generations toward self-employment and small enterprises as an indispensable component of alternative employment channels. An analysis of young entrepreneurial prospects between 19 and 25 years will be carried out by using the multimodal tool assessment center. This concept is based on the German project losleger, which has been successfully tested in Germany and funded by Joachim Herz Stiftung. In cooperation with the highly experienced Ruhr-University Bochum, the tool has currently been transferred to the participating countries Spain, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Greece, all of which were already involved in numerous transnational projects in terms of entrepreneurship.


The rapid growth of population, extensive urbanization and considerable advances in technologies have brought about at the present time a host of human and environmental consequences on a global scale. There is an urgent need for reviewing the aims, methods and organization of these changes. One of the approaches suggested to achieve this is by instituting courses in human environmental studies of a truly multidisciplinary character. A scheme is put forward as a basis for discussion.


Solution processed tandem polymer solar cell has drawn a great deal of attention due its low cost, ease of production and capability of harvesting solar energy more efficiently. In solution processed tandem polymer solar cell, the most challenging part is the optimization of interfacial layer. In this work, we have investigated the robustness of PEDOT:PSS/AZO/PEIE interfacial layer to develop tandem polymer solar cell. While developing triple junction polymer solar cell, temperature of second interfacial layer has also a great impact on overall device performance. Here, the performance of tandem polymer solar cell was investigated on different temperature of interfacial layer.


In the design of chip carriers, appropriate analysis tools can shorten the overall production cycle and reduce costs. Among the functions to be performed by such computer‐aided engineering software tools are self and mutual capacitance calculations. Since the method of moments is slow when applied to large multi‐conductors systems, a fast approximate method, the average potential method (APM), can be employed for capacitance calculations. This paper describes the improved average potential method, which can further reduce the computational complexity and achieve more accuracy than the APM.


─ The accuracy with which MLFMM, PO and PO with SBR can calculate the RCS of a realistic electrically large model airframe is investigated. The target has a maximum electrical length of 106λ. An accurate 3D numerical model of the target was created using a laser scanner. The numerical results are validated against data measured in a compact range. Index Terms ─ Method of moments, other asymptotic methods, RCS measurements, scattering/RCS.


[Problems] Wavelength 200nm or less of a transition metal with respect to the exposure light, to improve the light resistance of the semi-transparent film comprising silicon and nitrogen a material mainly (phase shift film), a phase shift mask blank which can improve the mask life a method for manufacturing the same, and to provide a phase shift mask. [SOLUTION] A phase shift mask blank used for making a phase shift mask ArF excimer laser exposure light is applied, On a transparent substrate, comprising a semi-transmission film, The light semi-transmissive film is made of an incomplete nitride film to a transition metal, silicon and nitrogen as main components, A phase shift mask blank, wherein the content ratio of the transition metal in between the transition metal and silicon in the light semi-transmitting film is less than 9%. .BACKGROUND


Abstract The determination of aflatoxins in kimchi is essential as it contains red pepper powder which is susceptible to aflatoxin contamination. This study was designed to determine the concentrations of aflatoxin B1, aflatoxin B2, aflatoxin G1, and aflatoxin G2 in kimchi and red pepper samples from South Korea. The aflatoxins were isolated from the samples using ultrasonic extraction in 70% methanol and an immunoaffinity column. A method for the quantification of aflatoxins in subject samples was developed and validated using ultra high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection (u-HPLC-FLD). This method showed good inter-day accuracy (86.7–112.6% recovery) and precision (5.2–11.9% relative standard deviation). The aflatoxins were analyzed in 15 samples (n = 390), with a concentration range from 0.20 to 2.33 μg/kg. In general, the aflatoxin concentrations in dried red pepper and red pepper powders were very low compared with the Korean Food Code (10 μg/kg aflatoxin B1). The analytical method was successfully applied to kimchi products for the determination of aflatoxin levels. From the results, the commercial kimchi products were concluded to be safe for human consumption with respect to aflatoxin concentrations.


UNLABELLED
The brain distribution of 99mTc-ECD versus 123I-IMP was compared in patients with subacute stroke in order to compare diagnostic accuracy.

METHODS
A total of 25 patients with subacute stroke underwent early and delayed SPECT imaging with 99mTc-ECD and 123I-IMP. Washout of 99mTc-ECD was calculated and a differential percentage of activity (DPA) of ischemic versus normal zones was assessed. Images were analyzed twice by five independent observers.

RESULTS
Technetium-99m-ECD clearance was 12.5% from the whole brain during early imaging. Ischemic parietal zones had higher clearance than normal parietal zones. Technetium-99m-ECD images showed larger differences between abnormal and normal brain activity than 123I-IMP images. Detection accuracy was slightly, but not significantly, higher for 99mTc-ECD and 123I-IMP (sensitivity: 73.8% as 66.6%; specificity: 81.7% as 81.6%). Reproducibility among observers was similar for 99mTc-ECD and early 123I-IMP.

CONCLUSION
Technetium-99m-ECD demonstrates high diagnostic accuracy during subacute stroke, similar to 123I-IMP, but with more intense, better delineation of the perfusion defects.


This set of activities uses the Little Bear stories by Martin Waddell. Children will be investigating the similarities between Little Bear′s experiences and their own. There may well be circle-time opportunities to discuss the children′s fears and concerns in the context of these stories.


In developed countries, global-scale training centers are installed to reflect various regional factors, provide practical education and training, and present comprehensive homeland security management plans. Each local firefighting school, including the central firefighting school in Korea, has various training grounds where firefighters receive education and training. However, the recording and storing of information regarding the air respirator used by the crew during this training is not maintained, nor is information on the remaining air respiratory system at the command post checked. In this study, we developed a wireless communication system for respirators that provides user information and conducted an experiment to measure response time by distance according to spatial characteristics. As a result of the experiment, the response was approximately 5.09 s on average in open space, approximately 5.19 s in the location blocked by one sandwich panel, and approximately 5.79 s in the location blocked by two sandwich panels. Therefore, it was determined that the response speed was affected when the sandwich panel was 100 mm or more.


Short-term starvation and refeeding caused slight depletion in total proteins, total carbohydrates and total lipids. But the long-term starvation and refeeding recorded increase in the carbohydrate content, with marked depletion in the total protein and lipid contents, particularly the cholestrol, indicating overshot accllmlliiltioll of caIbohydrates in the tissue. The process of starvation and refeeding seems to decrease effectively the Ghole.1)~rol content in the muscle.


We consider an integrated multinational firm (MNF) who produces a product in a low-tax country and sells it in a high-tax country. The global firm faces the decision of whether to sell the product (and at what price) to an external rival in the retail market who has an alternative outside sourcing option. Using a Cournot competition model, we show that two salient elements of the global tax planning—namely the tax rate disparity and the regulatory restrictions on transfer pricing between the MNF's low-tax and high-tax divisions—have significant impacts on the MNF's decision of selling to the rival. We find that when the tax rate disparity is low, the MNF will sell, but only to a low-cost rival, a result that is in-line with the traditional understanding in a tax-free setting. However, when the tax rate disparity is high, the outcome of selling or not reverses: the MNF will sell only to a high-cost rival. We also find that under the requirement of minimum order quantity, the MNF may sell to the rival at a price even higher than the latter's alternative sourcing cost. Another interesting finding of our analysis is that the regulatory restriction on transfer pricing may bring benefit rather than burden to the global firm.


The result of the research on contrary sequence teaching method for forehand deep high service in badminton shows that the contrary sequence teaching method can improve the quality of deep high service effectively compared with the ordinary teaching method.It can reach the goal of enhancing the teaching effects in class and stimulating the students' learning interests.


The purpose of this paper is to introduce virtue epistemology as a complementary approach to how we learn and make wise decisions within organizations.,Drawing on a philosophic history of intellectual virtue and recent research into virtue epistemology, this article presents an applied theoretical approach for practitioners to use in developing a more robust learning environment.,With robust market and operational databases of information, organizations continue to face the difficult decision of what this data means and what they can do with it. This article suggests intellectual virtue as a tool to develop appropriate knowledge, informed practical actions and sustainable outcomes.,Volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity have led to increasing rates of change in organizations. Organizations rely increasingly on their ability to observe, analyze, interpret and ultimately make decisions and act in ways that ensure sustainable results. This article provides an alternative perspective to complement traditional problem solving and decision-making processes.,There is currently limited research into the applicability of intellectual virtue or virtue epistemology to the field of organizational development and learning.


Steganographic technology acts as the important role which defends information security in the network. The information could be hidden in multimedia object. Even if transmitted in an unsafe channel, the information is invisible by human visual system to maintain security. This paper presents a reversible palette image steganography based on de-clustering and predictive coding. The information is embedded into the image during compression encoding. It does not only solve problems encountered in interception and theft over Internet. The proposed method reforms the drawback of distortion of other schemes. When retrieving the information from stego-image, the original image also can be recovered. The proposed method is robust and useful for keeping transmission secure.


The background of railway second generation ID card carrier e-ticket's automatic checking business was analyzed,then the system structure and primary functions of automatic gate system were introduced.The design of interface with TRS,the alterations of automatic gate machine and the development of automatic gate system to achieve the e-ticket's auto checking were discussed,respectively.In particular,several critical technologies in the system were elabovated,including the software architecture of automatic gate system,the process of e-ticket's auto checking,the concurrent and synchronous of multi-threads for different ticket types and the design of checking rule.


The influence of tin on the hot ductility of a 0. 15wt%C steel is investigated using a continuous-casting thermal simulator with three cooling rates. Tin can apparently deteriorate the hot ductility of the steel. Non-equilibrium grain boundary segregation of tin occurs during cooling and plays an important role in reducing the hot ductility of the steel. There is a critical cooling rate for the Sn segregation being between 5 and 20K/s.


From Plato's concern in the Republic (1979) to design an education that would lay the foundations for the just state, to Dewey's assertion in The School and Society (1899/1974) that the public schools "will be the deepest and best guarantee of a larger society which is worthy, lovely and harmonious" (p. 29), civic education has remained a foundational preoccupation of educational theorists. Central to this preoccupation is the idea that the stability, continuity, reform, and even the transformation of the social and political order depend upon the practice of a citizenship that can be learned in schools (Butts, 1980; Butts et al., 1983). That is, the school's creation of the good citizen has been seen as a way of realizing the good state and good society. Seen positively, the public school's attempt to create citizens is also an attempt to democratize the opportunities of the young to become fully entitled participants within society (Broudy, 1981). Schooling assures social continuity and political harmony by producing a network of emotional responses and intellectual dispositions toward social and political relations. Power and identity are distributed, or at least promised, to individuals who can legitimately earn it by coming to understand, accept, and act in accord with standards of belief and behavior set by the curriculum. Seen negatively, public schooling, as Foucault (1977) contends, is a disciplinary institution akin to psychiatric and correctional institutions. The schools


Cortical neuron loss is a pathological hallmark of late‐onset Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, despite recent single‐cell transcriptomic analyses of human AD brain tissue, it remains unclear which neuronal subtypes are most vulnerable to degeneration. Here we applied cell‐type proportion estimation methods to multiple RNA sequencing (RNAseq) datasets derived from human postmortem brain to identify the neuronal subtypes most strongly associated with AD.


Oral presentation given at the 4th International Conference on Nanoscience, Nanotechnology and Nanobiotechnology , held in Paris (France) on December 10-14th, 2017.


In the major of physical education (PE), there are several problems with the training model of innovative talents: the model implementation is affected by numerous factors, the training strategies are unclear, and the measurement of the training effect is highly uncertain. To solve these problems, this paper explores deep into the training model of innovative talents in PE major, through both theoretical analysis and calculation modeling. Firstly, the es-sence of innovative talent training in PE major was summarized, and the training strategies were put forward. On this basis, a measurement model for the training effect was established, based on analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and extenics theory. The research results provide strong supports to the training of innovative talents in PE major.


The relationship between memory and body in physical education , according to the concept of Henri Bergson , enables think the way we live. Memory is psychological , collective and ontological . In physical education classes the relationship between memory and body puts the body in an understanding of education. This article presents part of a research conducted by the research group "Knowledge of Self", to the line of research "Education, Culture and Social Dynamics," from PPGE / Master of Education, FURB, with the objective of: Understanding the relationship between memory and body in the practices of PIBID / FURB physical education. The study of the memory and the body was carried from the philosophy of Bergson, involving the experiences of PIBID / FURB physical education. The method used was the cartographic method. Our results point to a game between the opening and closing possibility in the relationship memory and observation body for seven classes of physical education.


The survey was carried out during 2009-11 to collect the information of Non-Wood Forest Products (NWFPs) utilized by the Adi tribes of East Siang District of Arunachal Pradesh. It was observeds that Adi tribes used to collect different NWFPs such as wild fruits (Artocarpus heterophyllum Lam., Castanopsis indica (Roxb. ex Lindl.) A. DC., Canarium strictum Roxb. etc.), vegetables (Bauhinia variegata L., Clerodendrum colebrookianum Walp., Diplazium esculentum (Retz.) Sw., Moringa oleifera Lam. etc.), spices (Cinnamomum tamala Nees & Eber.,Cinnamomum zeylanicum Blume. and Piper longum L.), fibres (Calamus flagellum Griff. ex Mart., Dendrocalamus hemiltonii Nees et Arn. ex Munro, Pandanus nepaulensis H. St. John and Sterculia villosa Roxb.), floss (Bombax ceiba L.,), broom grass (Thysanolaena maxima (Roxb.) Ktze.), thatching material (Livistona jenkinsiana Griff.), various bamboo and cane species, and other miscellaneous products from the forests and community lands. NWFPs played a significant role in supporting the livelihood of Adi tribes as it has been observed that 32.50 %, 56.67 % and 10.83 % people were earning Rs. 6000, respectively from the sale of different NWFPs. Majority of respondents (80.83 %) were having the opinion that the availability of different NWFPs has declined considerably and maximum (85 %) respondents advocated that the availability of these products would further decrease in future also. Further, Adi tribal community is playing an important role in conservation of different NWFPs yielding species by domesticating them in their home gardens.


The paper presents an example of using new technology to solve the problem of promoting goods and services according to the 7P concept. The technology was called virtual promotion. The reason for its occurrence is a decrease in the effectiveness of the currently classical search engine optimization methodology on the Internet. The task of the latter is to bring the given corporate WEB resource to the first place in the search server's answers to the requests of potential buyers. Virtual promotion is based on two ideas. The first is based on marketing theory when to sell a product or service, you need to build a marketing channel. The second is that a search server is an intelligent machine. Then, to get the first position, we need to teach the virtual space, which consists of Internet nodes, to activate in such a way that the number of links to the WEB page with the desired product is maximum. To implement these ideas, two objects are synthesized as part of the virtual promotion: a semantic kernel and a promotion map. A semantic kernel is a description of a product or service or a training sequence of keywords. A map is a set of nodes on the Internet, where the semantic core should be placed to attract the maximum number of buyers of the product. The map is also a variant of marketing channels on the Internet. The paper considers an example of a situation where a semantic core and a minimal map have already been created using the classical approach (search optimization). In this case, the classic approach gave an increase in the number of visits to the WEB site, but there was not a single buyer of the product for six months. That is, the classical approach improved the key performance indicator, but it did not affect the sales performance in any way. The paper demonstrates how virtual promotion forms such a modification of the map that gives a given result in a given period. At the same time, it is not enough to synthesize a new map. It is necessary to apply a special mechanism for its implementation. For this purpose, the paper shows a real task of inter-functional coordination, which makes it possible to implement a promotion map. Real data for 2021, which was used to promote the product on the Ukrainian market, is given. The introduction of the new version of the map resulted in the first two orders within the first two weeks.


Nowadays using the GPS locating technologies it is possible to solve most of situations were location and tracking of people and objects are necessary in open spaces. Besides that, with wireless networks is possible to communicate location information to a central control point. However when it has to be done in an indoor environment, where GPS signal can not be used and multiple people and objects are moving in the area, there are not a good solutions to cover the locating, tracking and identity of each element without confusion. We will present a complete solution which combines RFID identification ability with a complex machine vision tracking using multiples IP cameras, to improve the strength of both technologies, allowing the identification, location and tracking of humans and vehicles in a wide area.


After programming test we usually use demerit point system. However, there is a possibility that the number of mistakes in the reply and for programming skills are not necessarily correspond and right assessment is not get. Then we developed trial product to evaluate students programming skill exactly. That product is named PEAS system. We analyzed examinee by PEAS system. As a result, we got not only the evaluation values but also student's good and weak points. Therefore, possibility that proposed PEAS system becomes new standards for innovative of technical evaluation programming skills was suggested.


Objectives: This article describes novel magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible focused ultrasound robotic systems and agar-based MRI-compatible ultrasonic phantoms mimicking bone. Materials and Methods: All the robotic systems and phantoms were developed using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology using plastic material. The tissue surrounding the bone in the phantoms was mimicked using agar-based solutions. Results: The article presents MRI-guided focused ultrasound robotic systems for brain, prostate, and gynecological targets. It also reports on MRI-compatible ultrasonic phantoms for brain, breast, bone, and motion. Conclusions: The popular 3D printing technology serves a major role in MRI-guided focused ultrasound surgery because MRI-guided focused ultrasound robotic systems can be developed. In addition, 3D printing can be used to develop MR-compatible phantoms that include bone structures for testing the safety and efficacy of focused ultrasound applications. All the developed structures have been evaluated in MRI environment using either mimicking materials or animals.


Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of glycogen storage disease type Ⅲ(GSD Ⅲ).Methods The clinical data of 50 children diagnosed as glycogen storage disease type Ⅲ from January 1990 to January 2010 were retrospectively analyzed.Results All 50 children,36 male and 14 female,aged(5.1±4.1)years,showed hypoglycemia,hepatomegaly,liver dysfunction,and no renomegaly,and epinephrine stimulation test consistent with GSD Ⅲ.Of 50 children,45(90.0%) showed splenomegaly,36(72.0%) for microsomia,19(38.0%) for bone age lag,25(50.0%) for myasthenia,16(32.0%) for cardiac hypertrophy,34(68.0%) for metabolic acidosis,30(60.0%) for hyperlipemia,35(70.0%) for raised creatin kinase.Liver puncture biopsy showed obvious glyogen storage in the liver of 42 chilren,but no fibrosis.Conclusion Glycogen storage disease type Ⅲ is one of the common pediatric metabolic diseases,and has obviously different clinical manifestation.Prompt diagnosis and treatment will improve the prognosis and the life quality.


An experiment was done on encapsulation using in vitro-derived nodal segments in MS medium containing sodium alginate and SA for cold preservation and conversion into plantlet in potato cv. Asterix. Encapsulated (having certain amount of SA) and non-encapsulated nodal segments were stored at low temperature (4°C) for different storage periods. At cold storage, encapsulated nodal segments showed a relatively higher viability of 90% and 80% after 15 and 30 days respectively. The regeneration percentage was clearly persuaded by storage time. After 60 days of storage, conversion percent of encapsulated nodal segments was about 60% and the viability was 36.67% even after 90 days. In addition the alginate matrix with three concentration of salicylic acid (25, 50 and 75 μM) showed a remarkable effect on the survival rate of encapsulated nodal segment. In case of regeneration with different concentration of salicylic acid, it was found that 50 μM SA to be effective on viability of encapsulated nodal segments at cold storage compared to control. Here, salicylic acid plays an important role in the resistance of potato tissues to cold storages conditions.


As the financial condition of corporate pension fund has worsened after the collapse of bubble economy, entrusting companies cannot help paying attention to the management of corporate pension fund. The financial condition of corporate pension fund in Japen has worsened remarkably due to the change in socioeconomic environment such as low birth and death rate,advent of era of low interest rate, and progress of an aging society. According to those situations, concern about employment of corporate pension fund is increasing and the reform of corporate pension fund system including abolition of restriction on fund employment, accountancy of Corporate pension fund, and tax system is reviewed. Since we introduced public pension system in 1988, individual annuity in 1994, and will introduce corporate pension system in 1998, it can be said that our social security system has been converted to three pillar old-age income security system like those of the advanced countries such as United States, Japen, etc. However, because the public pension system introduced in 1988 has many structural problems in terms of financial position, concern about the operation of corporate pension fund is increasing for the sake of the protection of policyholders. From this point of view, first I will classify the operational situation and characteristics of the system and the employment of the fund and compare and analyze each characteristics. Second, considering the recent trends of employment of corporate pension fund, I would like to explore efficient employment methods of corporate pension fund in korea.


OBJECTIVES
To analyse the relationship between Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrum of rat's spleen tissue and postmortem interval (PMI) for PMI estimation using FTIR spectroscopy combined with data mining method.

METHODS
Rats were sacrificed by cervical dislocation, and the cadavers were placed at 20 ℃. The FTIR spectrum data of rats' spleen tissues were taken and measured at different time points. After pretreatment, the data was analysed by data mining method.

RESULTS
The absorption peak intensity of rat's spleen tissue spectrum changed with the PMI, while the absorption peak position was unchanged. The results of principal component analysis (PCA) showed that the cumulative contribution rate of the first three principal components was 96%. There was an obvious clustering tendency for the spectrum sample at each time point. The methods of partial least squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) and support vector machine classification (SVMC) effectively divided the spectrum samples with different PMI into four categories (0-24 h, 48-72 h, 96-120 h and 144-168 h). The determination coefficient (R²) of the PMI estimation model established by PLS regression analysis was 0.96, and the root mean square error of calibration (RMSEC) and root mean square error of cross validation (RMSECV) were 9.90 h and 11.39 h respectively. In prediction set, the R² was 0.97, and the root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) was 10.49 h.

CONCLUSIONS
The FTIR spectrum of the rat's spleen tissue can be effectively analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by the combination of FTIR spectroscopy and data mining method, and the classification and PLS regression models can be established for PMI estimation.


The separated interchange bridge described in this paper has a large bevel angel and its superstructure is combined steel and concrete girder. The bridge shakes significantly when heavy-loaded vehicles travel on it. Moreover, the box girder has warped upwardly and the bearing has disengaged with the girder body. Therefore, a static load test on the bridge has been performed. By the test, corresponding results have obtained, damage conditions and bearing capacity have been analyzed and evaluated, and measures to prevent bridge defects have been proposed. Finally, a maintenance and reinforcement scheme has been formulated, which has a reference significance for overall inspection and evaluation of the similar old bridge.


This paper offers a detailed assessment of the Balassa-Samuelson (BS) effect in eight Central and Eastern European countries (CEEC8). Several features distinguish this study from others: First, we investigate a variety of specifications of extended models. Non-homogeneity of wages, deviations from PPP in tradables and demand side variables are found to importantly contribute to explain inflation differentials. Second, a variety of specifications is investigated. Third, we rely upon bootstrap inference for panel unit root and panel cointegration analysis. The bootstrap results are rather clear: No evidence for cointegration remains when resorting to bootstrap inference. To quantify the bias that may arise from incorrectly using cointegration techniques, we also quantify the BS effect from equations containing (nonstationary) "cointegration" terms. Fourth, we present inflation simulations based on well specified scenarios. The results are as follows: Evidence for the BS effect is found. The BS effect is, however, rather small (around half a percent per annum) and not sufficient to explain the observed inflation differentials between the CEEC8 and the EU11. Using, despite the lacking evidence, cointegration techniques results throughout in substantially larger estimated effects. This suggests that studies relying upon cointegration may have overestimated the BS effect. The additional explanatory variables in the extended BS models allow for a satisfactory modelling of the observed inflation rates. The mean inflation simulations for the CEEC8 countries, based on the extended models, range from 2.77% for the Slovak Republic to 6.75% for Poland. These are well above the 2% inflation objective for the European Monetary Union


A novel anodic oxidization equipment was designed to fabricate a large number of porous anodic alumina (PAA) templates in one time.This approach improved the efficiency of the preparation of the PAA templates remarkably in a normal lab and is expected to be used for the large-scale production in the future.


Recensione di: Nicoletta Mandolini, Representations of Lethal Gender-Based Violence in Italy between Journalism and Literature, Londra, Routledge, 2022, X + 123 p., ISBN: 9780367636975, £ 35,99.


ABSTRACT The image of backbone teachers has long informed the modern-era Chinese educational system. Backbone teachers play leadership and modeling roles in school-based groups of teachers focusing on research, lesson planning, and grade development. China's New Basic Education (NBE) reform, which differs from previous Chinese reforms, aims to systematically transform schools in order to respond to contemporary social and economic changes. NBE views the development of individual subjectivity as education's ultimate goal. Teachers' roles need to shift from transferring knowledge to students to constructing knowledge with students and from teacher-as-curriculum-implementer to teacher-as-curriculum-maker and knowledge constructor. Backbone teachers are foundational to the NBE reform. In this article, we introduce the NBE initiative, and elaborate how NBE nurtures backbone teachers so they can 'model as leaders; [and lead] other teachers as backbones' in the reform. To end, the national and international implications associated with our case are discussed, along with future research suggestions.


A new sorting algorithm, called here Circular Sort, is described. It is an improved version of the conventional Insertion Sort. It is of interest for the following reasons: it retains all the favourable features of Insertion Sort and at the same time removes the main unfavourable feature of Insertion Sort; it is an adaptive sorting algorithm; it is a comparison based general sorting algorithm; it does not put any restriction on the type of keys; it provides an example of an interesting application of a circular list. The Circular Sort algorithm is compared with well known algorithms such as Insertion Sort, Heap Sort; and also with some newer algorithms such as DeqSort, MinMaxSort and SublistMergeSort in terms of times required to sort various input lists. Input lists of various sizes and degrees of 'presortedness' were used in the comparison tests. It has been demonstrated that the performance of Circular Sort is better than Insertion Sort and comparable to Heap Sort, DeqSort, MinMaxSort, and SublistMergeSort.


A cargo tank of crude oil tanker and a method for treating voc using the same are provided not to emit VOC(Volatile Organic Compounds), which occurs from a crude oil tanker, to air or to maintain the pressure of the crude oil tanker in stable state and emit minimum VOC to air at the same time. When loading crude oil to a crude oil tanker, a crude oil tank is designed to have the intensity enduring the pressure increase amount by VOC. Or the tank is designed to endure the pressure of 0.25 or 2 bar(gage pressure). A safety valve is installed on the upper part of the crude oil tank.


This paper presents a method for steering velocity bounded mobile robots in environments with partially known stationary obstacles. The exact location of obstacles is unknown and only a probability distribution associated with the location of the obstacles is known. Kinematic model of a 2-wheeled differential drive robot is used as the model of mobile robot. The presented control strategy uses the Artificial Potential Field (APF) method for devising a desired direction of movement for the robot at each instant of time while the Constrained Directions Control (CDC) uses the generated direction to produce the control signals required for steering the robot. The location of each obstacle is considered to be the mean value of the 2D probability distribution and similarly, the magnitude of the electric charge in the APF is set as the trace of covariance matrix of the location probability distribution. The method not only captures the challenges of planning the path (i.e. probabilistic nature of the location of unknown obstacles), but it also addresses the output saturation which is considered to be an important issue from the control perspective. Moreover, velocity of the robot can be controlled during the steering. For example, the velocity of robot can be reduced in close vicinity of obstacles and target to ensure safety. Finally, the control strategy is simulated for different scenarios to show how the method can be put into practice. Keywords—Steering, obstacle avoidance, mobile robots, constrained directions control, artificial potential field.


Concentrating solar collectors such as small Parabolic Troughs and Linear Fresnel Collectors are well suited to generate industrial process heat in the medium temperature range between 150°C and 300°C. For detailed optical yield simulations and performance evaluation of process heat applications state of the art assumptions and model simplifications (e.g. models for incidence angle modifier and end losses) are analyzed and compared to exact ray tracing results. An approach towards an optical model and exemplary values for geometrical optical losses and materials are presented. Optical loss factors are quantified and a corrective function is proposed for end loss modeling. The main focus of the paper lies on the analysis of Linear Fresnel Collectors. © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and peer review by the scientific conference committee of SHC 2013 under responsibility of PSE AG.


Asmat Tribe women are faced with a subordinate position because of the social transformation that has occurred in Asmat Tribe due to the intervention of 'outsiders'. The existence of the Asmat tribe is an attraction for missionaries, countries and also other practitioners who attend with their own goals. This study describes the phase of social transformation that occurred in Asmat Tribe which has changed the social construction of the status, role and position of women in it. The research method used is a qualitative descriptive analysis method that focuses on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the cultural arena as a rationale. The results of the study show that the status, role and position of women experience a dynamic change from a dichotomous pattern to a subordinate one due to the interference of "outsiders". In the phase before the missionaries arrived, social roles within the Asmat tribe were not only determined by gender and kinship but also skills and knowledge, whereas during the missionary phase, women began to accept subordinate behavior because the teachings in the Bible seemed to legitimize the existence of male roles. -males are taller than females. Likewise, when the state came to the Asmat, women were increasingly entangled in domestic terms as the main space for women.
Asmat Tribe women are faced with a subordinate position because of the social transformation that has occurred in Asmat Tribe due to the intervention of 'outsiders'. The existence of the Asmat tribe is an attraction for missionaries, countries and also other practitioners who attend with their own goals. This study describes the phase of social transformation that occurred in Asmat Tribe which has changed the social construction of the status, role and position of women in it. The research method used is a qualitative descriptive analysis method that focuses on Pierre Bourdieu's theory of the cultural arena as a rationale. The results of the study show that the status, role and position of women experience a dynamic change from a dichotomous pattern to a subordinate one due to the interference of "outsiders". In the phase before the missionaries arrived, social roles within the Asmat tribe were not only determined by gender and kinship but also skills and knowledge, whereas during the missionary phase, women began to accept subordinate behavior because the teachings in the Bible seemed to legitimize the existence of male roles. -males are taller than females. Likewise, when the state came to the Asmat, women were increasingly entangled in domestic terms as the main space for women.


Classifier System are special production systems where conditions and actions are codified in order to learn new rules by means of Genetic Algorithms (GA). These systems combine the execution capabilities of symbolic systems and the learning capabilities of Genetic Algorithms. A Classifier System is able to learn symbolic rules that allow to react to new environmental situations. The capacity of CS to learn good rules have been proven in robotics navigation problem. In this work an anylisis of the generalization capabilities of CS as functions of the testing enviornment has been devoted. Results show the improvement of the CS behavior when the training environments change.


We derived habitat models for nesting bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) in river, lake, marine mainland, and marine island habitats. We measured 39 variables and used discriminant analysis to contrast 82 occupied nest sites and 88 random sites in Maine. Compared to random sites, bald eagle nests were located on river stretches with a larger basin area, less forest edge, and closer to the shore. The lake model indicated that bald eagle nests were positively associated with the number of superdominant trees and negatively associated with distance to water, area of land disturbed by humans, and area of land harvested for timber. The number of diadromous fish species and area of water <1.8 m deep at low tide were positively associated with bald eagle nests in marine mainland habitats; length of roads near nests was a negative variable. Nests were located on smaller marine islands than were random points (P < 0.005), resulting in nesting islands characterized by larger terrestrial and aquatic openings in the forest canopy, less forest edge, and a smaller area of combined shallow water and intertidal area. Correct classification rates for models varied from 75% for the marine island model to 100% for the river model. Similar classification rates, which never differed by more than 8%, occurred during cross validation. Validity of marine models was further suggested by the establishment of 4 bald eagle nests 51.9 km from random sites classified as nest sites; no nests have been established ?1.9 km from random sites classified as unused.


Hybrids between A genome diploid plants from the Chinese and Korean populations of the Scilla scilloides complex were found. Molecular cytogenetic examination and genome size measurement showed that the hybrids were composed of two distinguishable A genomes. Genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) using mixed probes of both parental genomic DNAs could distinguish the chromosomes of each A genome in the chromosome spreads of hybrid plants. This suggests that the A genome plants of the two populations differ at the genomic DNA level. The genome size of the Korean population was 1.2–1.3 times larger than that of the Gansu population according to the area of chromosome set and fluorescence intensity in flow cytometry (FCM). Despite these cytological differences, the hybrids showed normal chromosome pairing in meiosis of pollen mother cells (PMCs), suggesting that the genomes of these two populations still belong to the same genome in terms of classical cytogenetics. Despite these genomes belonging to the same A genome, molecular signs of genome differentiation in the A genome were also found in the 5S rDNA spacer region. Southern blot hybridization of this spacer region from several populations showed that the three A genome populations were distinct from one another. Additionally, in a sequence analysis of a part of matK gene and ITS1, the three A genome populations showed population-specific sequence variations. These results suggest that the A genome populations of S. scilloides is just in the process of genome differentiation.


46 adult of Macaca mulatta(male 13 and female 33) were collected and the length of each metapodial was measured by the method suggested by anthropometry.All the data were subjected to SPSS 13.0 for windows by the way of ANOVA.There was no significant difference between 3Mc and 4Mc of the lengths for metacarpal(P0.05),and there was also no significant difference between 2Mt and 5Mt,3Mt and 4Mt of the lengths for metatarsal(P0.05).For the metacarpals,the ordering from the longest to the shortest was 2Mt4Mt or 3Mt5Mt1Mt.For the metatarsals,the ordering was 3Mt or 4Mt2Mt or 5Mt1Mt.


on the history of Islamic Spain as a whole. However, one characteristic feature of her scholarship has until recently been rare among students of al-Andalus. This is her insistence that Islamic Spain does not stand alone; it cannot be looked at in isolation, lost somewhere on the western edges of the Islamic world. She has stressed Islamic Spain's political links with north Africa and drawn attention to that territory's active participation in a cultural continuum stretching far away to the east. The present volume gives solid expression to this attitude. It includes a study of the careers of two medieval literary critics working in north Africa, Sicily and al-Andalus; another on the view of Morocco offered by an Andalusian geographer of the twelfth century; a longer piece on the Andalusian Ibn Sa'id, writing in the thirteenth century and moving via north Africa to Egypt; a short piece on an Andalusi poet; and three chapters on Granada, all of which in different ways draw attention to links between Granada and the outside world, links both political and cultural. The chapters originally appeared as articles between 1986 and 1991; all have been updated for this edition. It is no accident that the volume opens with the study of two literary critics, at first sight a forbiddingly arid subject. A historian with an unusual sympathy for Arabic literature, Mme Arid' here relates the medieval study of Arabic poetry to broader cultural concerns in several medieval Islamic societies. Similarly, Ibn Sa'id, whose important poetic anthology the Mughrib is only one of his many surviving works, offers Mme Arie an opportunity to consider the life of the peripatetic man of letters in medieval Islam. She brings out well the intermingling of the literary and the official careers which we find again and again. Ibn Khaldun, travelling vizier and litterateur, was not such a rare bird as all that. In the chapters on Granada, Mme Arid displays a typically prudent attitude both to her subjects and to her sources: here she discusses, for example, the size of the population of the city and the kingdom of Granada at different periods. Considering both Muslim and Christian sources, she is careful to avoid too easy a reliance on large figures and prefers those less exciting ones founded in a more solid acquaintance with the realities of the urban sitution of late medieval Granada. This collection has all the hallmarks of Mme Arid's writing: careful and exact scholarship, elegant and understated presentation, and throughout a deep concern with the interaction of society, literature and culture in medieval Islam.


Improved deterministic truncation of the Monte Carlo (iDTMC) solution method has been applied to neutronic depletion analyses of a nuclear reactor in this work. The theoretical background on the iDTMC method and material depletion calculation is briefly discussed, and the concept of an intra-pin renormalization scheme is presented to determine the detailed power and flux profiles with the pin-wise homogenized iDTMC solutions. The iDTMC method is applied and evaluated in a 100 MWth 3-dimensional small modular reactor (SMR) problem. Burnup-dependent multiplication factors, pin power distributions, and material densities are estimated by the iDTMC method and compared with the reference and standard Monte Carlo solutions. Numerical performance is investigated in terms of real standard deviation, root-mean-square and relative errors, computing time, and figure-of-merit. The numerical results demonstrate that the iDTMC method is superior to the standard MC method in estimating the burnup-dependent reactor eigenvalue and 3D pin-wise power distribution.


This PhD aimed to identify the nature and extent of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in a young adult sample. It also aimed to identify some of the vulnerability and protective factors for CSE, as well as the potential long- term outcomes for victims.


It is very important to know whether the nutritive values calculated from the food composition table are actually ingested. Samples collected from various subjects were chemically analysed to determine the contents of some kinds of minerals regarding which there seemed to have been some discrepancies between the values calculated and analysed.Concerning calcium intake per day, analysed value tended to stand higher than the calculated value, and the difference was found significant about most subjects.Iron was also greater in the analysed value, and when staple foods and side-dishes were observed separately, the former were higher in analysed value and the latter had no significant difference.


Cancer growth, cell proliferation and cachexia index can be attenuated by the beneficial programming effect of moderate exercise training, especially if it begins in adolescence. Walker 256 tumour‐bearing rats who started exercise training during adolescence did not revert the basal low glycaemia and insulinaemia observed before tumour cell inoculation. The moderate exercise training improved glucose tolerance and peripheral insulin sensitivity only in rats exercised early in adolescence. The chronic effects of our exercise protocol are be beneficial to prevent cancer cachexia and hold clear potential as a nonpharmacological therapy of insulin sensitization.


At first, we use an [Formula: see text] analyzer to measure the optical properties (including refractive index [Formula: see text] and extinction coefficient [Formula: see text]) of MgF2 and Nb2O5 single-layer films, in a wavelength range of 200–1700 nm for MgF2 film and in a wavelength range of 350–1500 nm for Nb2O5 film. After the refractive indexes of MgF2 and Nb2O5 single-layer films are measured, we use the measured results to calculate the needed thicknesses of the quarter-wave (1/4 wavelength) MgF2 and Nb2O5 films for the designed green-light (500 nm) distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs). After that, an E-beam is used to deposit the MgF2-Nb2O5 bilayer films (called as one period) with different periods (two, four, and six periods are deposited in this study) on glass substrates to fabricate the DBRs with a central wavelength of 500 nm. Then we use the field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM) to observe the surface images of Nb2O5 films on the different periods of MgF2-Nb2O5 bilayer films. The important novelty is that we use a Focused Ion Beam (FIB) to prepare the samples for the observations of the cross-sections of MgF2-Nb2O5 bilayer films, and those results can be sued to confirm the thicknesses of the bilayer films with different periods. We also compare the reflective ratio of the fabricated DBRs at the designed central wavelength with those calculated values by using the equation investigated by Sheppard. We find that the measured reflective ratios of the fabricated DBRs meet the calculated results obtained from Sheppard's equation.


During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, schools in England were only kept open to children of 'key workers' and, from 1 June, to children in reception, year 1 and year 6. Our cross-sectional survey of parents found low rates of attendance (<50%) in both groups. Many parents whose children attended school reported low adherence to hygiene measures (eg, not maintaining distance from others during school drop-off) and doubted that their school was adhering to COVID-19 guidelines. This must be improved if parents are to feel confident about a more comprehensive return to school, as planned for September.


We evaluate a primary school scholarship program in Cambodia with two different targeting mechanisms, one based on poverty level and the other on baseline test scores ("merit"). Both approaches increased enrollment and attendance. Only the merit-based targeting induced positive effects on test scores. This asymmetry is unlikely to have been driven by differences in recipients' characteristics. We marshal evidence suggesting that the framing of the scholarships might have led to different impacts. In order to balance equity and efficiency, a two-step targeting approach might be preferable: first, identify low-income individuals, and then, among them, target based on merit.


Based on the results of preliminary observations made on learning the operating material count number, it was seen that the use of instructional media was less precise, so that students' activities and learning outcomes were not optimal, whereas, student learning activities and results that involved active roles of students could provide a more meaningful learning experience. Based on these problems, the purpose of this study was to improve students' mathematics learning outcomes in the addition of chopped numbers through the use of dienes teaching aids in class 2 SDN 226 Arcamanik Endah Kec. Arcamanik. The research model used by researchers is based on Kurt Lewin's model in each cycle there are four stages, namely planning, implementing (action), observation and reflection. The method used is descriptive method. This means that after getting the data needed, the author analyzes the data by describing the findings of the data, discusses and draws conclusions. From the analysis of this study it can be seen that the students' mathematics learning outcomes in the sum of the number without the use of teaching aids obtain an average value 67.30 increased in cycle 1 after using dienes block props to be 77, 57 and after undergoing improvement in cycle 2 it increased again to 78.65.


An increasing weight of evidence has indicated that under certain conditions chemicals above background levels in soils may not be easily released and thus may not have an adverse environmental effect. This has led to a broadening body of knowledge about the extent and rate of release (ROR) of hydrocarbons from contaminated soil. A groundwater fate and transport screening model was developed that incorporates chemical ROR kinetics for the express purpose of identifying where and when the incorporation of ROR information may affect model predictions, as well as site remediation and management decisions. The results from this evaluation indicated that at many sites the incorporation of chemical release kinetics in such models leads to important differences in predicted chemical concentrations that reach a receptor. This paper also discusses how ROR information may be used to improve model predictions at a site, how to evaluate the importance of ROR at a site, and how to identify the most influential input parameters.


Cancers of the oral cavity remain the sixth most diagnosed cancer worldwide, with high rates of recurrence and mortality. We determined the role of STAT1 during oral carcinogenesis using two orthotopic models in mice genetically deficient for Stat1. Metastatic (LY2) and nonmetastatic (B4B8) head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) cell lines were injected into the oral cavity of Stat1 deficient (Stat1−/−) and Stat1 competent (Stat1+/+) mice. Stat1−/− mice displayed increased tumor growth and metastasis compared to Stat1+/+ mice. Mechanistically, Stat1−/− mice displayed impaired CD4+ and CD8+ T‐cell expansion compared to Stat1+/+ mice. This was associated with enhanced T‐cell exhaustion, and severely attenuated T‐cell antitumor effector responses including reduced expression of IFN‐γ and perforin at the tumor site. Interestingly, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)‐α production by T cells in tumor‐bearing mice was suppressed by Stat1 deficiency. This deficiency in T‐cell expansion and functional responses in mice was linked to PD‐1 and CD69 overexpression in T cells of Stat1−/− mice. In contrast, we observed increased accumulation of CD11b+ Ly6G+ myeloid derived suppressor cells in tumors, draining lymph nodes, spleens and bone marrow of tumor‐bearing Stat1−/− mice, resulting in a protumorigenic microenvironment. Our data demonstrates that STAT1 is an essential mediator of the antitumor response through inhibition of myeloid derived suppressor cell accumulation and promotion of T‐cell mediated immune responses in murine head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Selective induction of STAT1 phosphorylation in HNSCC patients could potentially improve oral tumor outcomes and response to therapy.


Background: Diabetes mellitus is a chronic disease with a high mortality and morbidity. Knowledge regarding the disease is required for the management of drug adherence in diabetes, hence the present study was taken to assess the effectiveness of health education on knowledge regarding oral anti-diabetic drug adherence.Methods: The study was conducted at urban health training centre of a medical college, Bengaluru from October 2015 to July 2016. A total of 70 type 2 diabetes mellitus patients were involved in this descriptive and interventional study. The study subjects included only on oral anti-diabetic drugs and willing to give informed consent. A pre-tested semi-structured proforma was administered and information about socio-demographic profile, and impact of health education intervention on knowledge was obtained.Results: Most of the subjects were female (80%), in the age group of 35-45 years (34%), illiterate (40%), unemployed (67%) with class IV (78%) socio-economic status according to Modified Kuppuswamy classification 2014. The mean±SD age was 52.47±11.06 years. Significant improvement in knowledge regarding adherence to oral anti-diabetic medication was found in study subjects following health education intervention.Conclusions: The study revealed that health education regarding the importance of drug adherence is needed in study subjects and there was significant improvement in knowledge after health education.


Dissertates the significance of establishing politics thought work information system and applying the information technology, discusses how to use the network platform to realize the information system of politics thought work and exploit the new position of politics thought work.


A composite material was produced as an artificial bone substitute which is gradually degrAded and replaced by the regenerated natural bones after implantation. To detect the effect of the material on the cell's activity, the composite specimens were placed in MEMs and incubated at for one week. Human uterus cervical cancer origin HeLa 3 cells and mouse subcutaneous origin L929 cells were cul- tured in the specimen dissolved MEMs for 5 days to investigate cytotoxicity via cell growth rates. solution was added to the media, to label the HeLa 53 cells, and the released amount of was measured by a -counter. On the cell growth investigation, no significant cytotoxic phenomena were revealed in both HeLa S3 and L929 cell cultures. On the released 51CR from the incubated HeLa 53 cells, no significant cell degeneration was observed from the composite embedded MEMs.


Main tendencies of small business development in Ukraine and abroad have been considered. Major directions of
stimulating and supporting activity of small enterprises under present-day conditions have been grounded.


Explicitation in the consecutive interpretation indicates the explanatory nature of interpretation.The paper,based on the cultural differences in the Chinese and German contexts as well as the case study,discusses the three functions of explicitation that will help the listeners of the target language better understand the source texts,yet redundancy may arise.


Cognitive reappraisal is an emotion regulation strategy that has been shown effective in down-regulating negative emotions in both psychological and electrophysiological measures. Although there ar ...


[reaction: see text]. A radical [3+2] annulation reaction with an N-centered radical has been developed. The reaction of alkenes with N-allyl-N-chlorotosylamide yields the corresponding pyrrolidine derivatives in good yields in the presence of Et3B as a radical initiator.


Wheatgrass, a relative of wheat, is grown mostly for hay or is planted for sheep, cattle, or horses to graze. The leaves are harvested within seven to ten days after sprouting. Freshly sprouted leaves can be crushed to make wheatgrass juice or dried and made into tablets or capsules, often in combination with other herbs. Though wheatgrass used as a dietary supplement is generally considered safe for consumption, headaches (as you mentioned), nausea, hives, and even swelling of the throat are all recognized as possible side effects. And, as far as the health claims, there are many associated with this green grass (more on that in a bit). However, while a few studies show promise, the majority of the claims are not backed by scientific evidence.


Using double antibody sandwich ELISA and indirect ELISA,we detected the level of acid fibroblast growth factor(aFGF)and anticardiolipin antibodies(ACA)in sera of 132 patients with cardiovascular disease(hypertension,rheumatic heart disease and coronary heart disease).The results indicated that the positive rates of ACA in patients with rheumatic heart disease,hypertension and coronary heart desease were 26 3%、23 7% and 11 1% respectively,and they were significantly higher than that in control groups(P0 01 or P0 05).No significant difference was found among the positive rates of three classes Ig ACA. There existed a certain degree rise of aFGF in patients with various cardiovascular diseases. The positive for ACA was the highest among them(P0 01).It suggested that risen level of aFGF was associated with ACA,and ACA could be a important factor inducing the rise of aFGF.


The research was qualitative approaches. The research design for qualitative research was In-Dept Interview with Ethnographic research technique of 10 Thai women who live at Mekong River bank in Ubon Ratchani Province, the Northeastern region of Thailand. The content from qualitative research was analyzed to construct the questionnaire for quantitative research. Factor analysis was used for determination the component factors. The objectives of this research were 1) o study Thai woman role related to promote public health in Northeastern region of Thailand and 2) to analyze content of Thai woman role to construct items for factor analysis to identify the component of Thai woman role related to promote public health in Northeastern region of Thailand. There were 6 components were constructed from 60 items. The 6 components were Thai woman role in self-health care, Thai woman role in household health promotion Thai woman role in community health promotion, woman role in public health promotion for woman and child, woman role in public health promotion for elderly people, and woman role in public health prevention for risk behaviour. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n3p457


The invention discloses a method for detecting an action mechanism of ursolic acid in inhibiting AGEs (advanced glycation end products), which includes the steps: firstly, simulating a non-enzymatic glycation system of body proteins; secondly, detecting inhibition of the ursolic acid against generation of fructosamine; thirdly, detecting inhibition of the ursolic acid against generation of AGEs; fourthly, processing data, statistically comparing inhibition of the ursolic acid against generation of the fructosamine to inhibition of the ursolic acid against generation of AGEs, and obtaining the action mechanism of the ursolic acid in inhibiting AGEs. The method can be used for simply and effectively detecting the action mechanism of the ursolic acid in inhibiting AGEs.


© 2012 The Authors. doi: 10.2340/00015555-1253 Journal Compilation © 2012 Acta Dermato-Venereologica. ISSN 0001-5555 Leprosy, caused by the intracellular acid-fast bacillus Mycobacterium leprae, is a chronic granulomatous disease primarily affecting the skin and peripheral nerves. The infection is thought to be transmitted through droplets from the upper respiratory tract and is often indicated to have a mean incubation period of 5 years, although this is most likely much longer (1, 2). The clinical and pathological presentation of leprosy is determined by the cell-mediated immune reactivity of the host towards M. leprae antigenic determinants, resulting in either one of the polar stable forms of the disease; tuberculoid or lepromatous leprosy, but most frequently in one of the unstable borderline forms, called instable because the disease may upgrade or downgrade towards either pole during the natural course of the disease or during immunological reactions (type 1 leprosy reactions), which may be very harmful, resulting in permanent nerve damage (3). Another type of nerve damaging reaction that can also affect all other organs is erythema nodosum leprosum (type 2 leprosy reaction). Leprosy is often not recognized in non-endemic countries (4). We report here a case of leprosy in a Filipino woman working in Denmark, which was initially interpreted as sarcoidosis.


In the present study, global solar radiation capture efficiency by a canopy of Eucalyptus grandis , clone M3-254-33, was determined under different planting densities throughout seven and eight year cycles. By means of assessing the capture efficiency values, it was possible to propose a model to estimate the biomass production of boles in a forestry community. The obtained equations, which were tested experimentally, showed high coefficients of determination, promoting a high accuracy at the estimation of a given response variable. The model was elaborated with data collected in a trial carried out by Ripasa S/A at a forestry station in Ibiti, State of Parana, Brazil (24o09'S, 49o09'W Gr, 900m) throughout a period of annual average precipitation (1300mm.year-1) that did not inhibit the expression of crop potential productivity at the site under study, given the good distribution of rainfalls throughout the year. The proposed model has a general characteristic, being however valid its utilization at any site as long as its adjustment coefficients might be determined under specific conditions of genotype, climate, soil and fertility


It is a well known fact that ferritic stainless steels are more useful than austenitic stainless steels as the chemical plant materials used in sulphuric atmosphere. We have made high temperatuse creep rupture tests on the mother plates, deposited metals and their welded joints of type 446 (25 Cr stainless steel) and Sicromal-12 (25Cr+ 1.5Si+1.6 Al stainless steel) that is known so far as the highest class material for ferritic steels. The result can be summarised as follows : (1)High temperature creep rupture strengths on the mother plate and deposited metal of type 446 are more or less superior than Sicromal-12. (2)Creep rupture strengths of the welded joints show no difference in comparison with the respective mother plate. (3)We consider that a-phase-that is specific characteristic on these materials-is an important factor to have an effect on the creep rupture strength, especially as Sicromal-12 remarkably forms more a-phase than type 446.


Abstract Purpose We assess the awareness of Brazilian women about non-contraceptive benefits of contraceptives and compare non-health with health care providers. Material and methods We conducted a survey in Brazil using a questionnaire administered via Google Forms asking women to respond about the awareness of non-contraceptive benefits of combined oral contraceptives (COCs), depot-medroxyprogesterone acetate (DMPA), 52 mg levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS), etonogestrel (ENG)-implant, copper intrauterine device (Cu-IUD), and male condom. Results We received 2,068 completed questionnaires, 720 women (34.8%) aged ≤ 29 years and 236 (11.4%) were physicians or nurses. Only one third of the respondents were aware that COC use is associated with decreased risks of ovarian and endometrial cancers; 296 (16.1%) about that the use of DMPA is associated with a decreased risk of endometrial cancer, and 253 (13.8%) were aware about that the users of the Cu-IUD present lower risk of cervical cancer. We identified significant differences between non-health care providers when compared to physicians or nurses. Conclusions We found low awareness regarding the associated lower risk of ovarian, endometrial and cervical cancer associated with the use of some contraceptives, evidencing the need to provide more information about the non-contraceptive benefits during training for health care providers.


The European Space Agency's Space Operations Centre (ESOC), in Darmstadt, Germany, has been involved in the development of operational spacecraft simulators and mission control systems (MCS) for ESA projects over the past 35 years. Together, these form the mission data systems (MDS) for each project. This paper presents the mission data systems for the Herschel-Planck project, which is part of ESA's astronomical mission family. The Herschel and Planck spacecraft are planned to be launched together by Ariane 5 in 2007 and will both be in Lissajous orbits around the L2 point, approximately 1.5 million km from Earth in the anti-sun direction. Herschel and Planck are also the first ESA missions to adopt the promising concept of a "smooth transition", involving both space and ground segment development, which can be summarized as "Reuse and share rather then redevelop". This paper describes ESOC's contribution to the implementation of this concept, the benefits this brings to the project and to the mission data systems developments in particular. The Herschel-Planck project is a further step in the continuous improvement of the mission data systems (MDS) development process at ESOC. The paper describes a new development strategy that emphasises the importance of efficient and effective validation in a world of scarce resources and less and less time to develop systems that are more and more complex. The approach adopted by the Herschel-Planck team maximises the usage of MDS infrastructure test tools for mission control system and simulator validation and introduces system automated testing based on new tools. It also adopts solutions aimed at alleviating the dependence of the simulator development on external inputs during the different stages of its development


Abstract This paper proposes a new method for studying the stability of the aliasing probability in Signature Analysis Registers (SAR's) constructed with Linear Feedback Shift Registers (LFSR's). The main idea is to represent the transition probability between different cycles of the signature analyzer with a Markov chain, which provides a new approach to the problem of evaluating the aliasing probability. The most important outcome of our approach is the error probability independent evaluation from aliasing bounds. The study of these processes establishes some interesting results such as the probability of alternating or stationary aliasing, some of them are yet well-known. Results for the simulation of this new type of Markov process are presented for the main cases, and they allow us to confirm the predictions.