The use of water of inadequate quality is pointed out as one of the causes of failure in seedling production. Absence of indication of salinity tolerance for West Indian Cherry (Malpighia emaginata D.C), an experiment was carried out in randomized block design, with the objective of studying the effects of 6 level of eletrical conductivity of irrigation water (ECw) varying from 0.5 to 5.5 dS m -1 on the formation of seedlings of West Indian Cherry utilizing clone BV1 as rootstock and clone BV7 as graft. The irrigation water of desired ECw was prepared maintaning equivalente proportion of 7:2:1, among Na:Ca:Mg, respectively. The water growth of rootstock was evaluated at 50 days after application of treatments and of grafted seedlings at 15 and 50 days after grafting. The water with ECw of 5.5 dS m -1 does not affect the adequability of rootstock for grafting neither the


The invention concerns a method of producing a MOS transistor with a heavily doped drain (HDD) profile and a lightly-doped drain (LDD) profile. According to this method, in order to produce steep doping substance profiles in the region of the LDD profile, the HDD profile is formed first and then the LDD profile is formed. The LDD profile is preferably produced by etching and selective epitaxy which is doped in situ.


A new technique is described which exploits capacitively coupled non-electrolyte electrodes to allow two electrodes measurement of tissue section impedance. By inductively cancelling the electrode capacitance the exciting voltage is applied directly across this section. The series impedance thus measured is then only of the tissue.


The banking system's efficient and stable performance is the foundation of any economy's long-term growth. Several economic reforms have recently been initiated in India in order to facilitate growth and to withstand the dynamics of the global economy. In this context, the current study compares the performance of selected Indian and foreign banks in India over a time horizon to detect any changes in performance over time. First, the selected banks' performance is evaluated in terms of management efficiency using a Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) technique for determining criteria weight. The study also employs a fuzzy logic model to ensure the consistency of performance-based ranking on technological innovation-related parameters. The main goal of this study is to develop an Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to perform the best in the digital marketplace and this helps customers in the selection of proper banks so that the main goal of all banks is to retain their customers and improve their performance in terms of capital appreciation. To achieve the study's goal, criteria and their sub-criteria are determined through an extensive literature review, and a structured questionnaire is prepared to collect data from experts via a personal interview on a scale of 1 to 5. Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP), a multi-criteria decision making mathematical tool, was used to analyse the importance of each criteria and develop a hierarchy of importance criteria. According to the weight estimated using fuzzy logic of geometric mean, the most important criterion is 'customised services,' followed by 'competitiveness,' 'cost effectiveness,' 'efficiency,' and 'reduction in client influx.' Banks should prioritise these critical criteria in order to improve the quality of their e-services, consumer satisfaction and retention, and online reputation. Customers are increasingly interacting with web-based applications as the internet and web applications proliferate. They are shifting from offline to online, creating a difficult environment for service providers, particularly those in the banking sector, to meet their specific needs. It is thus necessary not only to identify the critical factors influencing bank performance, but also to prioritise them.


The retention behaviour of some selected synthetic dyes have been investigated on RP-18F254S, RP-18W/ UV254 and CNF254S plates using methanol–water mixture in different volume proportions as mobile phases. The RM values of the compounds decreased linearly with increasing concentration of methanol in the mobile phase in all cases. On the basis of the linear relationship between retention (RM) values and volume fraction of methanol, values of RM0 corresponding to 100% water were obtained by extrapolation using five isocratic RM values. The regression determination coefficients obtained for all stationary phases were excellent (higher than 0.99 in all cases). The good regularities of profiles of retention indices (RM and PC1/RM) indicated that the same mechanism (lipophilic interactions) is dominant in all cases and all types of stationary phases (RP-18, RP-18W and CN) appear to be suitable for estimating the lipophilicity of selected synthetic dyes. The chromatographic lipophilicity values (expressed by RM0) estimated on three different stationary phases were not highly correlated between them and also with computed log P values. The best correlations were founded with lipophilicity parameters calculated by Dragon 5.4 software. By using PC1/RM or φ0 values as estimators for lipophilic character of synthetic dyes, the correlation between these values obtained on that three stationary phases were significantly improved, correlation coefficient being higher than 0.92 in some cases.


The error-producing mechanism involving secondary reflections in a dual-frequency, distance measuring reflectometer is examined analytically. Equations defining the phase, and hence distance, error are derived. The error-reducing potential of frequency-sweeping is demonstrated. It is shown that a single spurious return can be completely nullified by optimizing the sweep width.


The present invention provides a waist bag is rotated improved backpack and waist bag mobile system through the lower compartment of the backpack to rotate the waste bag to the holder of the torso front side is the holder of the rucksack to allow access to the contents of the waste bag receiver . One or more doors are fixed to the waist bag receiver to the lower compartment of the backpack, but covered by the door in one aspect is provided in order to allow the exit of the receiver through the opening, an opening by a tension system when the free end of the door release It can be stretched from far away. Receiver because of the friction with the walls that define the tapered segment is fitted to fit easily in the lower compartment is present in the compartment.


The author's introduction to this abridged English translation of the first volume of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy's 1956 Soziologie begins with this statement: "The fundamental principle of this book is that sociology is explicitly enjoined to rest content with partial knowledge of men. For sociology is permitted to speak its truths only under the proviso of a full admission of (first) having no knowledge of all men and (second) not having complete knowledge of any one man. Only this kind of science does not do damage" (xlix). Has any other scientific treatise ever asserted such absolute limits as its premise? Has not science always promised a gradual increase of knowledge towards a theory of everything that should someday lead us to know, in Stephen Hawking's words, "the mind of God"? The ordered worlds of science and religion have something in common with the military: "once in uniform, we are subjected to violence: the violence of order" (xl). However, Rosenstock-Huessy insisted, "Society is ununiformed" (xl). The question that tormented the nineteenth century, he argues, concerned the diversity of society: "How should we live: each of us differently from the others, or all of us the same?" (xli). For Rosenstock-Huessy, "Man as such does not exist" (li), and "many ways are open, and always remain open, to real human beings" (l). The task of sociology is to emancipate us "from the many links in the chain of our social enslavement" (liii), for "Our freedom consists of being able to perpetually partition new times and new spaces" (ibid.). The creation or partition of new times and new spaces as the means of liberating ourselves from the oppressive force of the past: here at the beginning of his book we are introduced to the radical otherness of Rosenstock-Huessy's orientation towards sociology and the social worlds that concern it, for the partitioning of time and space is understood as an activity accomplished through language. For Rosenstock-Huessy, language is "created under the pressure from graves in back of us and cradles ahead of us, from foes in front of us and dissension within our own ranks." Everyone and every group "has to defend a present under the simultaneous stress from past and future. To live means to look backward as well as forward, and to decide, in every moment, between continuity and change." We "sustain the time and space axes of our civilization by speaking. . . . It is we who decide what belongs to the past and what shall be part of


News media coverage on education plays a "uniquely important role in shaping public opinion", can influence educational policy, and can affect and concern teachers. Yet, research examining how teachers have been represented in the news is scarce. What is particularly scarce are investigations with a historical dimension. The study reported in this paper is offered as a contribution towards rectifying the deficit and pointing the way towards one of a number of avenues of research that other scholars in the field could take for various contexts (including different countries) and time periods. It is part of a much larger study whose aim was to provide a historical analysis of The West Australian newspaper's representation of teachers in its reporting of five major educational developments in the State of Western Australia that were the subject of sustained coverage at various times between 1987 and 2007. The specific topic which is the focus of the analysis presented in this paper is "standardized testing".


I would like to describe the use of a 'T' Connector Set (Product No. 4612. Abbott Laboratories Ltd) between syringe and exploring needle as an aid in performing nerve blocks. This technique is similiar to that described by Professor Winnie' and later by Dr Hillman (Anaesthesia 1979; 34: 8 3 4 ) with some additional refinements. The 'T' Connector Set (Fig. 1) has a female adapter, a 13 cm plastic tubing -nominal internal volume 0.25 ml-and an attached T-type male adapter with an intermittent reseal injection site. It is flexible and transparent while the metal on-line slide clamp obviates the need for a stopcock2. Its minimal weight reduces the risk of displacement from the fascia1 sheath or plane. A millipore filter (0.22 p) is inserted between the syringe and female adapter to reduce particulate matter.3 Dr Steeuens ' Hospital, Steewns' Lane, Dublin 8, Ireland Correspondence 1 1 17


The term observations is used advisedly in the title, for a tour lasting but one month and covering mainly the capital cities of seven countries does not enable one to acquire anything approaching complete information on the programs of special education of our sister continent. The writer was on a tour of South America, August 15-September 15, 1957, sponsored by the Comparatiue Education Society which was primarily concerned with general education and higher education, thus the few interested in special education 1 were left to their own resources in arranging interviews and visitations to facilities for atypical children. It would appear that special education facilities are limited to the larger cities, are residential institutions, or in a few instances segregated day schools. Special classes in schools for typical children or so-called integrated programs were not found. This is comparable to the situation in North America during the period 1850 to perhaps 1915, although special classes were initiated in local school systems in the United States as early as the last decade of the 19th century. The disparity in the development of special education and for that mailer education as between the Latin countries and the United States and Canada deserves some explanation, an explanation that involves a brief historical review of political, economic, and social development in South America.


The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of hippocampal‐sparing whole‐brain radiotherapy (HS WBRT) using the Elekta Infinity linear accelerator and Monaco treatment planning system (TPS). Ten treatment plans were created for HS‐WBRT to a dose of 30 Gy (10 fractions). RTOG 0933 recommendations were applied for treatment planning. Intensity‐modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) plans for the Elekta Infinity linear accelerator were created using Monaco 3.1 TPS‐based on a nine‐field arrangement and step‐and‐shoot delivery method. Plan evaluation was performed using D2% and D98% for the whole‐brain PTV (defined as whole brain excluding hippocampus avoidance region), D100% and maximum dose to the hippocampus, and maximum dose to optic nerves and chiasm. Homogeneity index (HI) defined as (D2%−D98%)/Dmedian was used to quantify dose homogeneity in the PTV. The whole‐brain PTV D2% mean value was 37.28 Gy (range 36.95–37.49 Gy), and D98% mean value was 25.37 Gy (range 25.40–25.89 Gy). The hippocampus D100% mean value was 8.37 Gy (range 7.48–8.97 Gy) and the hippocampus maximum dose mean value was 14.35 Gy (range 13.48–15.40 Gy). The maximum dose to optic nerves and optic chiasm for all patients did not exceed 37.50 Gy. HI mean value was 0.36 (range 0.34–0.37). Mean number of segments was 105 (range 88–122) and mean number of monitor units was 1724 (range 1622–1914). Gamma evaluation showed that all plans passed 3%, 3 mm criteria with more than 99% of the measured points. These results indicate that Elekta equipment (Elekta Infinity linac and Monaco TPS) can be used for HS WBRT planning according to compliance criteria defined by the RTOG 0933 protocol. PACS numbers: 87.55D, 87.55 –v, 87.55 de


Instruction-Level Redundancy (ILR) is a well-known approach to tolerate transient CPU faults. It replicates instructions in a program and inserts periodic checks to detect and correct CPU faults using majority voting, which essentially requires three copies of each instruction and leads to high performance overheads. As SIMD technology can operate simultaneously on several copies of the data, it appears to be a good candidate for decreasing these overheads. To verify this hypothesis, we propose Elzar, a compiler framework that transforms unmodified multithreaded applications to support triple modular redundancy using Intel AVX extensions for vectorization. Our experience with several benchmark suites and real-world case-studies yields mixed results: while SIMD may be beneficial for some workloads, e.g., CPU-intensive ones with many floating-point operations, it exhibits higher overhead than ILR in many applications we tested. We study the sources of overheads and discuss possible improvements to Intel AVX that would lead to better performance.


Based on the combination of Arps decline curve and economics fundamentals,the method to calculate the lower limit of single infill well controlled recoverable reserves is studied.With the consideration of the production time at the year putting into production and production decline rules during the evaluation period,and with the application of investment NPV method,the expression for the lower limit of incremental recoverable reserves of single well under various economic conditions is deduced.The relation for recoverable reserves increase for single well under different economic conditions is analyzed,and the quantitative relationship between the lower limit of recoverable reserves increase for single well and single well investment,oil price,cost,production time and decline rate has been established.The research can make the feasibility analysis about the individual infilling for single well more reliable.


Market comparison approach is one of the commonest appraise approach. In this paper, we studied real estate decision support system of market comparison approach based on GIS. Firstly, we design the system logic structure in this paper, secondly, we establish the database and model database for appraise, and then, we design the system function, finally, we take the Ganzhou as an example, develop and realize the system. By applying the system, the result showed that the system can control each process of market comparison approach, reduce the influence of subjective factor, thus make real estate appraise more scientific and let the appraised result more credible.


Introduction Definitions of health in different branches of medicine are one of the key paradigms in medical sciences. Nowadays, there are two distinct definitions of sexual health and mental health. The definition of sexual health, as well as sexual rights, was proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO, 2006), and the definition of mental health was published in World Psychiatry (Galderisi et al, 2015). Objectives The analysis and comparison of these two definitions: mental health and sexual health are two main objectives of this study. Methods The analysis was carried out in three areas: logic, philosophical aspects (values) and the impact of other disciplines. Results The definition of sexual health reveals a eudaimonistic approach, whereas the definition of mental health is based on a holistic paradigm. Regarding the main principles in the definition of sexual heath, one can identify the following values: well-being, pleasure, safety, sexual rights – compared to harmony, empathy, coping skills, universal values in the definition of mental health. Sexual rights are a constitutive part of sexual health. There is no comparative element in the definition of mental health (e.g. the rights of mentally disabled persons). Conclusions These two definitions can have different effects on the prophylaxis and therapy of patients. It all depends on the specific context of care (sexology or psychiatry). Sometimes universal values matter and sometimes not. This is contradictory. Consistency is needed between definitions and practices.


Basic biology tells us that each child has no more than two biological parents, one who supplies the egg and one who supplies the sperm. Adoption law in this country has generally followed biology, insisting only two parents be legally recognized for each child. Thus, every adoption begins with loss. Before a child can be adopted, that child must first be cut off from their family of birth, rendering the equation of adoption one of subtraction, not addition. This article examines the biological model of adoption that insists on mimicking the nuclear family—erasing one set of parents and replacing them with another set of parents; and explores the history of adoption "matching"—requiring the new adoptive family to look identical to a biological family. But changes in family formation, to include same-sex adoption and transracial adoption, make conceivable other departures from biologically-justified parenting, including legal recognition of more than two parents. This article argues that an additive, rather than subtractive, model of adoption should prevail. In light of what we know from psychological literature about the importance of family connections in adoption and based on different adoption structures in France and other parts of the world, the article also explores some of the trepidation about more than two parents, including the potential for conflict among multiple parents, and suggests solutions to ameliorate some of those concerns. Families that were once inconceivable are now flourishing; legal recognition of more than two parents should follow.


A new class of predictor–corrector integration methods intended for molecular dynamics simulation is presented. The methods are derived from the original Gear methods by analysing the numerical solution of the harmonic oscillator. The corrector coefficients are chosen to improve the time-reversibility while keeping maximum stability. Tests performed on systems with forces not dependent on velocities (classical two-body problem and three simple atomistic systems) show good energy conservation and reduced deviations of measured quantities in comparison with the Verlet method. As regards the systems with velocity-dependent right-hand sides, a moderate improvement is found for the Nosé–Hoover thermostat but no improvement for fixed bonds constrained by the general constraint dynamics based on Lagrange multipliers. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


The Middle Route of Chinese South to North Water Transfer Project is a great diversion work of our country which is building in the first of 21st century,which will solve the short water of agriculture and industry,city and town.Danjiangkou Reservoir is the water resource area of the Middle Router Project.The water supply will be 145×108m3 per year and the dam will be heightened by 14.6 meters.All this will greatly affect the environment of this area.Using qualitative and quantitative methods and taking a careful analysis of the data concerned,this paper makes environment assessment and prediction in the short term on water environment,climate and the loss of water and soil.This paper draws the following conclusions:(1) In the short term,the tendency will be that the water environment of the area will be locally improved but deteriorated as a whole;(2) The climate will gradually transform to be warm in winter and cold in summer(;3) The degree of the loss of water and soil will be aggravated in Hanjiang River.


Francisella tularensis was first identified exactly a century ago in California as part of a plague surveillance program and the resulting disease, tularemia, is still referred to as "rabbit plague" in many languages. In nature, rodents and rabbits appear to be the species most frequently affected by tularemia but F. tularensis is a highly versatile pathogen and the disease has been identified in some 190 mammalian species. Moreover, the disease is commonly vector-borne and the bacterium has the capability to survive within arthropods and, in fact, one of its natural reservoirs appears to be protozoa. Thus, it is an extremely adaptive pathogen with an astounding wide range of potential vectors and target species. There has been a resurgent research interest in the pathogen during the last decade. This has resulted in numerous intriguing discoveries and this special topic summarizes our current knowledge about the bacterium and tularemia. Reviews written by experts in various aspects of tularemia research have provided comprehensive up-to-date summaries of the rapid progress recently achieved as well as providing perspectives on important conceptual questions that need to be addressed in the next years.


A clinical version of a positron emission mammography ("PEM") scanner has been developed, with an eye towards commercialization and which is biopsy-ready. The system utilizes electronic form-factors based on the compact PCI standard ("cPCI"), which provides for compliance with electromagnetic emission regulations and interchangeability with a growing list of cPCI-compatible parts. Biopsy capability is implemented through software and hardware adapters to stereotactic mammography units, with interlocks implemented to safeguard against patient exposure to moving detector parts. The system features detector banks sliding horizontally in order to attain full-breast field of view, with user options included to "cone down" with directed examination Detector banks consist of arrays in which individual 2-mm crystals are easily resolvable. Maximum-likelihood limited-angle reconstruction is implemented, with a three-fold gain in contrast as compared to existing backprojection methods.


Predictability of seasonal climate variability associated with the El Nino Southern Oscillation (ENSO) suggests
a potential to reduce farm risk by selecting crop insurance products with the purpose of increasing farm income stability. A
hypothetical 50% peanut, 50% cotton, non-irrigated, 40 ha (100 ac) north Florida farm was used to study the interactions
of different crop insurance products with ENSO-based climate information and levels of risk aversion under uncertain
conditions of climate and prices. Crop yields simulated by the DSSAT suite of crop models using multiyear weather data
combined with historical series of prices were used to generate long series of stochastic income distributions in a whole-farm
model portfolio. The farm model optimized planting dates and simulated uncertain incomes for 50 alternative crop insurance
combinations for different levels of risk aversion under different planning horizons. Results suggested that incomes are
greatest and most stable for low risk-averse farmers when catastrophic (CAT) insurance for cotton and 70% or 75% actual
production history (APH) for peanut are selected in all ENSO phases. For high risk-averse farmers, the best strategy depends
on the ENSO phase: (1) 70% crop revenue coverage (CRC) or CAT for cotton and 65% APH for peanut during EL Nino years;
(2) CAT for cotton and 65%, 70%, or 75% APH for peanut during neutral years; and (3) 65% to 70% APH, or CAT for cotton
and 70% APH for peanut during La Nina years. Optimal planting dates varied for all ENSO phases, risk aversion levels, and
selected crop insurance products.


The present study has the purpose ofdetermining the levels ofacoustic pollution produced by traffic in the study area, if these levels are below or above the levels established in national regulations and those determined in the world organization of Health, propose the possible control measures to be taken to mitigate noise pollution, the use of acoustic barriers as the main altemative depending on the type and characteristics. So also give us an urban vision establishing differentiated zones; Such as commercial, residential industrial. 0n a road the study is carried out taking into account the level of acoustic energy produced by the vehicles (EUROPEAN METHOD) or taking into consideration the number of vehicles passing through the area under study (FRENCH METHOD), allowing the latter to project a situation to future. In conclusion, it is possible to determine that in the area under study it exceeds the pararneters in Db established by the Peruvian norms in force, therefore, systems have been proposed that allow to dissipate and absorb this energy to appropriate levels. The models proposed to be taken into account by the responsible entities, will allow to improve the quality of life population affected by noise pollution throughout the country.


The in-situ compatibilization of PP/PA6 blend was studied in a twin screw extruder. The maleic anhydride (MA) content, peroxide concentration, shear rate and feeding order were among the variables investigated. Degree of grafting of samples collected prior to feeding of PA6 into the extruder was measured using titration combined with FTiR technique. From the SEM results it was found that the increasing of initial MA concentration led to larger PA particle size which could be related to secondary reactions between excess MA and PA. The melt linear viscoelastic measurements performed on the blend samples and the obtained relaxation time spectra showed shorter form relaxation time and interfacial relaxation time for one-step compatibilized sample compared to the sample prepared by the two-step method with the same degree of grafting. This was attributed to the stronger interfacial interaction of the one-step compatibilized blend samples which could be resulted from greater efficiency of grafting and/or compatibilization. These results were supported by SEM results which showed smaller particle size for the one-step compatibilized samples. It was demonstrated that melt linear viscoelastic measurement could provide a great insight into understanding the compatibilization process in twin screw extruder.


Abstract : Contracting in expeditionary operations is not a new phenomenon. What is new is the scope and magnitude that contracting and contractors play in today's military operations. Even if global operating tempos decline, many experts believe that reliance on contractor personnel will remain at current levels, or even grow, in relation to the number of uniformed personnel. Lack of planning and sound contract integration at the strategic level leads to loss of efficiencies, lack of effectiveness, and, in many cases, outright fraud of the executing participants. The authors propose adopting Integrated Planner and Executor (IPE) positions and embrace mandates for Operational Contract Support, including generating a thoroughly vetted Annex W into OPLANs. The authors contend that the best means to accomplish integration into existing war planning systems is by congressionally mandating, authorizing, and funding (via appropriation) the IPE positions at the flag and senior executive service (SES) levels within Service structures, such as at the Joint Contingency Acquisition Support Office (JCASO). The authors recommend that JCASO have more authority within GCC and Service staffs, particularly to establish, monitor, and manage Annex W for GCC and the Services within the APEX framework. These recommendations will allow for greater efficiency and effectiveness in providing contracted support to all military operations.


Small particles of rubber cling to the metal object used to slash a tire. These particles are removed by a glass capillary tube and forced out of the capillary with water onto the top of a zinc chloride density gradient column. Automobile tire sidewall rubber varies in density from about 1.06 to 1.17, small truck tires vary from 1.13 to 1.17, and the value for large truck tires is about 1.2. Other rubbers and other objects all have densities different from sidewall rubber with the exception of a few synthetic fibers that can visually be distinguished from rubber.


Thirty-three bereaved husbands and wives whose child had died completed the Grief Experience Inventory at three different times over a one-year period. A repeated-measures MANOVA found significant differences between grief levels of spouses' responses and/or differences over time in ten of the twelve variables studied: denial, despair, guilt, loss of control, rumination, depersonalization, somatization, death anxiety, vigor, and physical strength. A Pearson product-moment correlation indicated that spouses' negative feelings about their marriages were significantly correlated, in a positive direction, with higher levels of grief following the child's death. At the end of the year-long study, however, there were few significant relationships between levels of grief and negative feelings about their marriages for wives and none for husbands.


A path in an(a) edge(vertex)-colored graph is called \emph{a conflict-free path} if there exists a color used on only one of its edges(vertices). An(A) edge(vertex)-colored graph is called \emph{conflict-free (vertex-)connected} if there is a conflict-free path between each pair of distinct vertices. We call the graph $G$ \emph{strongly conflict-free connected }if there exists a conflict-free path of length $d_G(u,v)$ for every two vertices $u,v\in V(G)$. And the \emph{strong conflict-free connection number} of a connected graph $G$, denoted by $scfc(G)$, is defined as the smallest number of colors that are required to make $G$ strongly conflict-free connected. In this paper, we first investigate the question: Given a connected graph $G$ and a coloring $c: E(or\ V)\rightarrow \{1,2,\cdots,k\} \ (k\geq 1)$ of the graph, determine whether or not $G$ is, respectively, conflict-free connected, vertex-conflict-free connected, strongly conflict-free connected under coloring $c$. We solve this question by providing polynomial-time algorithms. We then show that it is NP-complete to decide whether there is a k-edge-coloring $(k\geq 2)$ of $G$ such that all pairs $(u,v)\in P \ (P\subset V\times V)$ are strongly conflict-free connected. Finally, we prove that the problem of deciding whether $scfc(G)\leq k$ $(k\geq 2)$ for a given graph $G$ is NP-complete.


The effects of varying the elastic modulus, coefficient of restitution, and coefficient of friction of adhesive particles on fluidized bed dynamics have been investigated via numerical simulations. It is found that lower values of the elastic modulus and coefficient of restitution lead to a greater degree of particle clustering, and the formation of smaller bubbles. Coordination numbers are found to initially increase, and then fall, with increasing coefficient of friction, while bubble velocities follow the opposite trend. It is concluded that artificially reducing the elastic modulus of adhesive particles has a significant impact on the fluidization behavior. The change in dynamics of the fluidized bed due to varying the coefficient of friction is more complex: particle clustering increases up to a point, beyond which clusters become increasingly rigid. © 2016 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 62: 1467–1477, 2016


Cell suspension cultures of soya were incubated with cis-[1-14C]octadecenoic acids and trans- [1-14C]octadecenoic acids, each of known composition with regard to positional isomers. Each of the positional isomers ranging from ⊿8- to ⊿15-as-octadecenoic acids and ⊿7- to ⊿16-frans-octadecenoic acids was readily incorporated into the acyl lipids of the cells, yet, the ⊿9 cis- and the ⊿9-trans-isomers were the preferred substrates, cis-trans Isomerization did not occur during the incorporation of the fatty acids into the acyl lipids.


Three new species of oribatid mites of the superfamily Galumnoidea, Pilizetes anufrievi sp. nov., Taeniogalumna behanae sp. nov., Galumnella baleensis sp. nov., are described from Bale Mountains National Park (African region, Ethiopia). Keys to closely related species of these genera are presented.


The lack of adoption data posed difficulties for social media researchers and resulted in scant social media studies focusing on forecasting models. To broach the subject, this study put efforts in studying the benchmark transnational enterprises and collecting the first-hand adoption time data through the APIs of three dominating social media platforms: Youtube, Facebook, and Twitter. Grey system theory facilitates prediction problems of insufficient information, small samples, and uncertainty. Therefore, we compared the performance of two grey forecasting models, GM (1, 1) and grey Verhulst model, to gain insight into social media adoption trends. Our preliminary results indicated that GM (1, 1) performs better as a potential forecasting model to keep track of trends in adoptions of social media platforms in the market. Keywords-grey system theory; grey forecasting; GM (1,1);


Background Fractures of the neck of the fifth metacarpal are common and mainly occur in young men. The injury often occurs through aggression, such as a fist fight or punching a hard object. The aim of this study was to assess clinical and radiological outcomes of fifth metacarpal neck fractures using minimally invasive antegrade single intramedullary fixation prepending elastic nails in the selected patients and to explore the ideal puncture point to avoid iatrogenic ulnar nerve injury. Patients and methods A single elastic nail with suitable diameter was used in 24 cases of fifth metacarpal neck fractures with dorsal angulation over 45°. An initial entry point was perforated at the ulnar-dorsal base of the metacarpal. The nail was inserted in an antegrade approach. The nail was usually removed at about 8 weeks postoperatively. Results This study reported the results of 24 patients who were affected by closed fractures of the neck of the fifth metacarpal bone (boxer's fracture) and were treated with percutaneous single elastic intramedullary nailing to verify the effectiveness of this surgical treatment. The average follow-up period was 20.75 months. The parameters evaluated included angulation, rotational alignment, postoperative metacarpophalangeal range of motion, and time to union. At the final follow-up, no patient reported residual pain, and all fractures proceeded to bony union. Conclusion The authors recommend that this percutaneous single elastic intramedullary nailing was a minimally invasive and reliable fixation technique for fifth metacarpal neck fractures with good functional results and low morbidity.


It is an important overlapping field between literary and artistic sociology and literary and artistic culturology to study the interactions of social fashions and literary and artistic creation. The proposition has been discussed by many people including thinkers, historians on arts and cultural scholars in the west and China. The natural environment exerts a tremendous influence on literature and arts permanently and steadily, and time fashions temporarily and changeably. On the other hand, the development of literature and arts is not in pace with the variety of social fashions, and literature and arts also could lead the masses to some new fashions. At this rate, we could find the reaction of literature and arts on the social fashions which happens under the intermediacy of aesthetic cultural psychology.


With the rapid development of human resources management theory, human beings have gradually entered the era of knowledge economy. Among the corporate production factors, human capital is the most active factor after monetary capital and physical capital. Therefore, enterprises have become the core elements that are constantly promoting the economic development of developed countries and regions. There are more and more problems and challenges in the management of enterprises. Therefore, how to deal with these problems and challenges is an urgent problem for enterprises. This paper analyzes the existing problems in corporate human resources management and summarizes the ideas to construct and measures to optimize the corporate human resources management system.


This paper presents the methods used for the development of a project that intends to contribute for the implementation of a logistic system of identification, management and flow control of materials (raw materials, products in assembly stage, tools and support machinery) for application in industrial environments. This work was the final project to obtain a degree in Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering. It was developed by its authors in collaboration with the "Programa Aveiro-Norte" and the "Grupo de Sistemas de Banda Larga" of the Electronics and Telecommunications Department of the University of Aveiro. The intent of this work was to enhance the identification, usage management and flow control of moulds for plastics in Simoldes Plasticos, an industrial unit of Simoldes, an industrial group responsible for injection of plastic products, especially for the automotive industry.


The paper expatiates the principle and meaning of building adumbral,introduces the way of building outside adumbral,analyzes economy energy effect of building outside adumbral,combines with concrete engineering to explain,points out adumbral component is combinative of construct function and art and technical,to expand the new world of the design for architect.


Real-world applications typically have multiple sparse reconstruction tasks to be optimized. In order to exploit the similar sparsity pattern between different tasks, this paper establishes an evolutionary multitasking framework to simultaneously optimize multiple sparse reconstruction tasks using a single population. In the proposed method, the evolutionary algorithm aims to search the locations of nonzero components or rows instead of searching sparse vector or matrix directly. Then the within-task and between-task genetic transfer operators are employed to reinforce the exchange of genetic material belonging to the same or different tasks. The proposed method can solve multiple measurement vector problems efficiently because the length of decision vector is independent of the number of measurement vectors. Finally, a case study on hyperspectral image unmixing is investigated in an evolutionary multitasking setting. It is natural to consider a sparse unmixing problem in a homogeneous region as a task. Experiments on signal reconstruction and hyperspectral image unmixing demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed multitasking framework for sparse reconstruction.


The objective of this study was to quantify the antioxidant capacity of four wild strawberry cultivars (Ottoman) harvested in Elazig, Alkaya, Kargucak and Pences as different species of Fragaria vesca and two Ottoman strawberry jams by various spectrophotometric methods (TPC, CUPRAC, TFC, DPPH, ABTS, FRAP) and to evaluate their phenolic profile by HPLC-DAD. The highest antioxidant capacity was determined in the extracts of Pences cultivar with the concentrations of 60.14, 153.20, 45.08 mg TROLOX/g of dry weight in FRAP, CUPRAC and DPPH assays respectively. Quercetin, (+) catechin, and gallic acid were detected by HPLC in all strawberry samples in substantial amounts.


This paper presents a cost analysis of Lithium-Ion batteries of electric vehicles (EV) for driving and for vehicle-to-grid (V2G) utilisation respectively. Based on the simulated mobility pattern, the charging possibility of each EV battery could be determined according to the assumed charging scenario. With regard to the available charging cycles depending on depth of discharge (DoD), the battery wear of each individual usage and its corresponding cost have been evaluated. Furthermore, it was verified if and to what extent the additional wear cost caused by using EV battery for providing controlling power could be covered by the market remuneration.


The term "Enterocolitis ulcerosa necroticans" was used for the first time in 1952 in a publication by KO Schmid and K Quaiser, a pathologist and a pediatrician from the Medical Faculty of the University of Graz/Austria (1). Since that time a multitude of studies have been performed, but the pathophysiology of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) remains unclear. A variety of factors have been identified which are important for the pathological process of NEC; however, they may be involved to different extents in preterm and term neonates (2). In preterm infants the disease usually begins at a later age, e.g. 10 to 15 days after birth. The immature mucosal barrier of the gut has been discussed as a leading requirement among the pathogenetic events (3). Thus, large increments of volume and/or osmolarity of feeding may exert damaging effects on the immature mucosa and facilitate the development of the disease in preterm babies (4). In contrast, NEC becomes manifest in term neonates usually 2 to 5 days after birth. Ischemic events of the intestinal tract have been discussed as major contributing factors, either due to episodes of perinatal shock during delivery, or to cardiac malformations (2). Consistent with this hypothesis are ultrasound findings showing that an absent or reversed diastolic flow of the mesenteric artery in the fetus and neonates is followed by an increased incidence of NEC (5, 6) . In both preterm and term neonates, a protective effect of an antibiotic prophylaxis has been shown in some studies, indicating that bacterial overgrowth may exert an additional deleterious effect (7-9). Although the first description of an acute neonatal intestinal disease similar to NEC was published as early as 1891 (lo), it needed the progress of intensive care medicine in the 1970s for it to be recognized as a major problem. Today, NEC is the most common acute gastrointestinal disease in neonates. The 5th Southeast European Symposium of Pediatric Surgery, held from the 8th to the 11th July 1993 in Graz/Austria, was organized as a forum that allowed an extensive discussion of the basic pathophysiologic mechanisms of NEC as well as the major clinical problems, such as early diagnosis, appropriate conservative or operative treatment, the incidence of complications, and late results. Most of the presentations of the Symposium are compiled in this issue of Actu Puediutricu, providing an overview of today's insights and opinions related to NEC. This work would not have been possible without the substantial support of the Milupa GesmbH Austria, Medical Scientific Department. We are grateful to the publisher of Actu Puediutricu for offering the possibility to publish, and we appreciate the efforts of all the authors for providing us with the manuscripts of their presentations. Last, but not least, I thank our secretary Gudrun Gsell for her never-ending patience in writing, rewriting and correcting manuscripts.


A3-week-old Caucasian male neonate was hospitalized after a 3-day history of hematemesis. He was born at term by normal spontaneous vaginal deliver y, and was discharged home 48 hours after delivery. He was the second child of a healthy 20-year-old mother and 21-year-old father without significant medical histories. The mother exclusively breastfed the infant until 2 weeks, and then supplemented the breastfeeding with cow's milk formula. About a week later, the stool color changed from yellowish brown to black. The day before admission, he was reported to have had 8–10 black tarry stools consistent with melena. The infant had 1 episode of hematemesis. The following day he had 3 bouts of hematemesis and was seen in the emergency department and subsequently hospitalized for evaluation. The family history was negative for bleeding dyscrasia, epistaxis, telangiectasia, skin disorders, peptic ulcers, anemia, allergic disorders, or early strokes. Physical examination revealed a well-appearing afebrile neonate with normal vital signs and capillary refill time. The weight was 4,290 grams and the length was 54 cm, both measurements being 75th percentile; the head circumference was 38 cm (90th percentile). The skin was without pallor, telangiectasia, purpura, or icterus. Also, there was no scleral icterus and no conjunctival pallor. The abdomen was soft, scaphoid, and with normal bowel sounds. There was no tenderness, no hepatosplenomegaly, and no other mass was palpated. Digital rectal examination revealed soft stool in the vault that tested positive for occult blood. On admission, his hemoglobin was 13.2 g/dL, hematocrit was 39.2%, white blood cell (WBC) count was 13,700/mm3, and platelet count was 350,000/mm3. The prothrombin time was 11.1 seconds (10.6–12.6 control), and the partial thromboplastin time was 33.9 seconds (27–39.7 control). There was no further hematemesis or melena after admission, but repeat blood count on the third day of hospitalization showed a decrease of the hemoglobin to 11.3 g/dL, and of the hematocrit to 33.2%. The WBC and platelet counts remained normal. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy revealed marked erythema of the distal esophagus without erosion or bleeding. Prominent bleeding vascular ectasias were present in the stomach along the greater curvature, at the prepyloric antrum, and at the antrum. There was also blood at the prepyloric antrum (Figure 1). The duodenal bulb showed patchy erythema without ulceration. The second part of the duodenum was grossly normal. Histology of gastric tissue showed prominent ectatic capillaries with slightly thickened walls (Figure 2). The walls were lined by flattened endothelial cells. There was also histologic evidence of acute and chronic gastritis. No Helicobacter pylori organism was seen. Histol-


In the studies on the academic history of the Qing Dynasty,there are many views that scholars in QIAN Long and JIA Jing Periods concentrated on the archaeological context and cared about nothing else.But these views are biased.Through the full in-depth study on DAI Zhen's works,we can see that the concept of practicality is reflected in his ideas on Confucian Classic and practical use,the use of real learning,and educating future generations as well as his deep concern over the social and political life and the people's life.


PURPOSE: To provide an improved X-ray intensified screen by forming a directly light emitting phosphor layer without using a binder. CONSTITUTION: A phosphor layer of an x-ray intensified screen actually comprises a directly light emitting phosphor and the directly light emitting phosphor emits light corresponding to the dose of high energy radiation in radiation of high energy light beam (x-ray beam). From the view point of actual use, it is preferable that the directly light emitting phosphor emits light rays with visible and infrared wavelength in the case of x-rays radiation, and more preferably, light rays with 300-600nm wavelength. As the directly light emitting phosphor, rare earth metal silicates are especially useful. Consequently, the relative density and dose of the light emission by x-ray radiation to the layer containing the directly light emitting phosphor are improved attributed to no existence of a binder as compared with a phosphor layer with the same thickness formed by a conventional coating method. COPYRIGHT: (C)1995,JPO


Recurrent movement along Precambrian-age shear zones throughout the Pennsylvanian and Mississippian has been a signficant factor controlling deposition patterns during these periods. The displacement, although subtle and superposed on the epeirogenic movement, appears to have affected locally the bathymetry or paleotopography in the vicinity of the Las Animas arch. As a result, lithofacies distribution of either clastic or carbonate rock is related to proximity to the shear zones. Surface lineations derived from Landsat analysis, coupled with lithofacies mapping based on subsurface data, identify the location of several shear zones in the region. Lithofacies mapping on a regional scale indicates the fault zones may have controlled the orientation and location of middle Morrowan sandstones. Similarly, the fault zones are thought to control Mississippian facies and subsequent dolomitization. In addition, differential movement of fault blocks bounded by the shear zones is thought to have influenced formation of the Sierra Grande and Apishapa uplifts as well as the Lasa Animas arch. Isopach and lithofacies mapping show that precursors to the present Las Animas arch were present intermittently during the Mississippian and Pennsylvanian. The significance of the shear zones in controlling stratigraphy and structural development of the arch has been a factor largely overlookedmore » during past petroleum exploration in the region. Further study of these shear zones is expected to lead to significant future petroleum discoveries.« less


Recognizing the quirk ways to acquire this ebook fault detection and fault tolerant control using sliding modes advances in industrial control is additionally useful. You have remained in right site to start getting this info. acquire the fault detection and fault tolerant control using sliding modes advances in industrial control connect that we come up with the money for here and check out the link.


The Development of a specific and sensitive radioimmunoassay method for the determination of human growth hormone has made it possible to measure changes of plasma levels of endogenous growth hormone in response to a number of physiologic stimuli. Plasma levels of growth hormone have been shown to rise during or following spontaneous and experimentally induced hypoglycemia (1–3), prolonged fasting (1), vigorous muscular exercise (1, 2), surgical stress (4), inhibition of glucose utilization by 2-desoxy-glucose (1), and a rapid and significant fall in blood glucose levels (5). Administration of glucose to normal individuals promptly suppresses such elevated plasma levels of growth hormone (1, 5). It has been suggested that oral feeding of protein will also reduce levels of growth hormone (2).


David Topitz, Elisabeth Schwaiger, Florian Frommlet, Johannes Werzowa and Manfred Hecking Division of Nephrology and Dialysis, Department of Medicine III, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria, Department of Internal Medicine II, Kepler University Hospital, Med Campus III, Linz, Austria, Center for Medical Statistics, Informatics and Intelligent Systems, Medical University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria and Ludwig, Boltzmann Institute of Osteology at the Hanusch Hospital of WGKK and AUVA Trauma Centre Meidling, Vienna, Austria


.. XVI CHAPTER ONE 1.0 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND ... 1.1 OVERVIEW OF PHYSICAL ACTIVITY IN GHANA ... ,.., -' 1.2 THE PROBLEM ... 6 1.3 JUSTIFICA nON FOR THE STUDY ... 7 1.4 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK ... 9 1.5 RESEARCH QUESTIONS ... ]0 l.6 GENERAL OBJECTIVES ...... 10 x University of Ghana http://ugspace.ug.edu.gh 17 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES .. 10 1.8 PROFILE OF STUDY AREA. 11


The purposes of this study were to evaluate mean, systolic, and diastolic pulmonary arterial pressures; pulmonary arterial pulse pressures; and systemic oxygen extraction fraction as risk factors for the survival of suckling calves on one ranch located at an altitude of  2,730 m in Colorado, USA. A prospective cohort study of 58 calves was performed. Pulmonary arterial pressures and systemic oxygen extraction were measured when calves were approximately 3 mo (86 ± 7 d) and 7 mo (197 ± 6 d) of age. Seven of the 58 calves (12%), 4 steers and 3 heifers, were unaccounted for and presumed dead between 3 and 7 mo of age. Calves presumed to have died between 3 and 7 mo of age had significantly greater mean (P = 0.005) and systolic (P = 0.001) pulmonary arterial pressures and greater pulse pressures (P = 0.03) at 3 mo of age than calves that survived to 7 mo. Calves presumed to have died tended to have greater systemic oxygen extraction fractions at 3 mo of age than calves that survived (P = 0.13). Diastolic pressure was not associated with survival (P = 0.27). Mean pulmonary arterial pressure is predominantly determined by static resistance attributable to distal pulmonary arterial remodeling. Pulse pressure and systolic pulmonary arterial pressure represents the dynamic or oscillatory resistance and is determined by the characteristics of ventricular ejection and proximal arterial stiffness. These findings indicate that it may be beneficial to include pressure measurements indicative of both static and dynamic pulmonary arterial resistance in the selection of breeding stock at high altitude. © 2016 American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. J. Anim. Sci. 2016.94 doi:10.2527/jas2016-0652 1Funding for the study was provided by producer donations to the Integrated Livestock. Management program of the College of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, Colorado State University; the Department of Animal Science's John E. Rouse Endowment, Colorado State University; and, the National Institutes of Health (HL-014985, to KRS). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors. The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare. 2Corresponding author: email@example.com Received May 20, 2016. Accepted July 15, 2016. Published September 29, 2016


The cystal structure of the title compound, [Mn(C10H8N2)(H2O)4]n[Mn(C9H6O5)2(H2O)2]n·2nH2O, is an unusual example of a compound displaying separated chain motifs for both the cationic and anionic portions. The cations are bridged into chains by the N-heterocycle, while the anions are bridged by pairs of dicarboxylate groups. In the cationic chain, the Mn atom and the N-heterocycle lie on centers of inversion. The cationic and anionic chains interact via a three-dimensional network of O—H⋯O hydrogen bonds, which involve the uncoordinated water molecules.


Technical aspects, methods and results of experimental studies of reversing rolling stands details horizontal accelerations of thick sheet rolling mills 3000 and 3600 are shown. Sequence of horizontal movements of bottom work roll with chocks in windows of housings during normal metal-in, steady rolling and metal-out is given. Usage of obtained experimental data and calculation of horizontal forces of work rolls chocks impacts against housings provided execution of stress calculations of technical solutions for increase of rolling stands durability.


In this paper we analyse the role of coastal stewardship as educational praxis for sustainability, using the 'Adopt a Beach' programme as an example. Marine and coastal stewardship has become a popular practice among coast-dwelling Australians, for many of whom the beach is a defining feature in their identity. The coast forms a legal and biophysical commons so it offers a portal into an ethical framework for caring for our shared environmental heritage and legacy. We suggest that stewardship is an ethical framework which models environmental citizenship in terms of responsibility for place and accountability to future generations for our current actions. The scope, scale and aims of 'Adopt a Beach' programmes in their various forms are examined and we present two detailed case studies which show their potential for developing capacity for environmental stewardship.


O. In many languages, there are clause structures which sometimes and perhaps typically function as complements of verbs, but which can also function as independent sentences. One strategy for analyzing such clauses, which may permit a simple description of their distribution and facilitate an explanation of their meanings, is to hypothesize that at some underlying level they occur only as complements of verbs. ln some circumstances, a verb which has such a clause as its complement may be deleted, and the clause appears in the surface structure as an independent sentence. The deleted verbs have sometimes been called «abstract verbs» (1). An analysis employing this strategy for Latin subjunctives has been given by R. Lakoff (1968) (2), who notices that they may occur either as complements of certain verbs or as independent sentences. Further, she notices that venias, for example, is ambiguous as an independent sentence: it may express a wish, a possibility, or an imperative. It may be negated with either ne or non, depending on the · meaning, When it functions as the complement of a verb


This paper analyzes the optimal density and power allocation for D2D (Device-to-Device) communication in heterogeneous networks on multi-bands with target of maximizing D2D transmission capacity. The heterogeneous networks contain one or several cellular systems, and D2D communication shares uplink resources with them. By utilizing stochastic geometry, it is formed as a sum capacity optimization problem for D2D network with constraints that guarantee outage probabilities of both cellular and D2D transmissions.Since the original problem is non-convex, we divide the proof into two steps: first we prove the power allocation problem is convex when the D2D density is fixed, which can be solved by lagrangian method; then we prove that the optimal D2D density exists in a semi- closed interval.We propose a linear searching algorithm based on the former conclusions:with discretizing the interval of D2D density, a series of solutions can be obtained by solving the optimization problem of each D2D density; hence the global optimal capacity can be selected from them.The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed algorithm and it also shows that optimal parameters of D2D transmission is affected by outage constraints as well as the interference from cellular systems.


Ta205/Si02, Zr02/SiO2 and TiO2/SiO2 multilayer optical interference filters were deposited in a Balzers2BAP 800 coatiftg plant by reactive low-voltage ion plating. The spectral filter characteristics were investigated with respect to time and temperature. The observed stability is correlated to the water and hydrogen contents. The temperature derivatives of the refractive index of TiO2, ZrO2 and Ta205 were estimated.


Study on the development of the synthesis of zeolite with solid template containing carbon material such as carbon nanotube,carbon aerogel,mesoporous carbon and carbon black,and biomass and other materials like polystyrene particles and CaCO3.The advantages and effect by these material template were introduced,at last,some problems were put forward for the synthesis of zeolite by solid template.


After Patrick Knowles was stopped by Iowa police for speeding, a complete search of his car produced a bag of marijuana and a pot pipe under the driver's seat. Knowles was then arrested and charged with a violation of the state's controlled-substances law. Under Iowa law (s 321.485 (1)(a)) the police officer, after having probable cause to believe the accused violated a traffic or equipment law, had authority to do a full-blown search, even though the officer had elected not to take the individual into custody and decided merely to issue a citation. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the search was an illegal violation of the Fourth Amendment and that the marijuana evidence should be suppressed. The case points out the importance of continuing officer education in this ever-changing area of law.


Commercial-scale solar photovoltaic (PV) arrays were designed, constructed, and are now operational on the Gaithersburg, Maryland campus of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). A design–bid–build process was followed where the contractors used photovoltaic system modeling tools both during the initial design phase and during the postbid, prebuild phase. To help investigate the specific aspects of the contractors' evolving designs, the authors conducted their own independent photovoltaic system modeling. This independent modeling helped identify design elements that could be improved and so aided efforts to maximize the annual renewable energy generation. An estimated 2.5% gain in annual energy generation is being realized as a result of this independent modeling effort. To provide context for the modeling work and the lessons learned, key events impacting the design–bid–build process are described. The installed systems are summarized and also contrasted with the proposed designs. The power generation at three sites are compared over two different 12-month intervals. [DOI: 10.1115/1.4036055]


This report considers the behaviour of packed-bed immobilized enzyme reactors operating in the presence of substrate and/or product sequestrators. In some cases, enzyme inhibition by the reaction product and presence of chemical modulators are also considered. For each case, an appropriate analytical model is developed. Using numerical simulations, it is shown that reactor performance is impaired by substrate sequestration. This effect can be partially reversed when competitive sequestration by product or modulator is operational.In addition, a comparison is made between some of the predicted characteristics of the reactor and experimental data. It reveals the capabilities and limitations of the models employed.


In this paper, we work on the problem of separation of speech sources from their underdetermined convolutive mixtures using sparse recovery method. Unlike the previously reported methods, our proposed algorithm can work under noisy environment. In our method, the convolutive channel is estimated firstly. The second step is to recover the speech signal based on a compressed sensing (CS) concept to use the sparse structure of the speech signals with a calibration to the estimated channel. The proposed method operates in a statistical manner in time-frequency (TF) domain to achieve desirable separation results without regularization parameters selection. Numerical experiments including the comparison with other separation approaches for convolutive speech mixtures are provided to show that our algorithm achieves performance improvement.


Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a common condition encountered in both dogs and cats. In many cases it can be managed well, but there are cases that are problematic initially, or which become unstable. T...


The effect of cooling rates on the mechanical properties of two grades of steel subjected to heating to 940°C and 760°C is discussed. In ferrite/pearlite steels increased rate of cooling raised the ultimate strength of the material. An increase in the ultimate strength from 6.9 KN to 12.42 KN was obtained for 0.21% Carbon steel and 15 to 19.8 KN for 0.28% Carbon steel. A similar trend in ductility has also been observed. An increase in the cooling rate from 25°C/min to 50°C/min resulted in grain size refinement by 1 mm^-1/2 for both grades of steel.


Abstract A reverse phase high performance liquid chromatographic method for the purification of milligram amounts of commercially prepared bovine trypsin is described. Increased specific enzymatic activity is observed in the purified material. The advantages of using purified trypsin in protein digestions as well as the potential application of reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography for enzyme characterization are described.


The branching fraction of relative to all hadronic decays of the Z has been measured using event shape variables to preferentially select events. The method chosen applies a combination of shape discriminators and the selection of high transverse momentum leptons to event hemispheres. From a sample of 440 000 hadronic Z decays collected with the ALEPH detector at LEP, the ration is measured.


The effect of flow rate on the mechanical properties of resin transfer molded disks is experimentally investigated. An experimental molding setup is constructed to fabricate fiber-reinforced, center-gated, disk-shaped composite parts. Disks are molded at different flow rates in order to observe the effect of this parameter on the mechanical properties of the final parts. Specimens are cut from different sections of the molded disks, and tested for strength and stiffness. Strength and stiffness are found to vary exponentially based on the maximum local fluid velocity during filling. Increased local velocity is found to reduce both the strength and stiffness of the molded parts due to increased voids induced by the faster moving fluid front.


Three kinds of free base meso‐carboxyphenylporphyrins were compared about their photocatalytic activity to elucidate the role of −COOH group playing in H2 evolution from water splitting. Meso‐tetra(3,5‐dicarboxyphenyl)porphyrin (H2TDCPP) gives a much larger H2 evolution rate than other two porphyrins, attributable to more −COOH groups involved that may interact with H2O. This interaction, as revealed by DFT calculation, initiates H2 evolution from the splitting of associated H2O under ultraviolet light irradiation resulted by effective transfer of photogenerated electron from central porphine ring to meso‐substituents and then further to the interacted water. Improving the accessibility of −COOH groups to water molecule by optimizing H2TDCPP dosage induces an H2 evolution rate around 31.21 mmol ⋅ h−1 ⋅ g−1 (pH=7, full‐spectrum light), which is unprecedented for free based porphyrin photocatalysts without metal‐cocatalysts. This work clarifies the active site role of −COOH groups and paves a new way to design high‐performed organic photocatalysis by introducing polar groups‐based active sites.


The interaction between humans and insects is briefly presented by viewing the cultural practices related to the keeping of singing Orthopterans and fighting crickets, which take place in some parts of the world, especially in Asian countries.


We report a simple technique for the construction of thin‐film Josephson tunnel junctions in which both electrodes are of sputtered Nb. A thin (8–20 A) layer of Cu evaporated over the first oxidized Nb film prevents the formation of supershorts between the Nb films. The junctions are extremely rugged, and do not require protection against condensation of water vapor. A number of junctions have been stored at room temperature for six months and cycled to liquid‐helium temperatures 50 times without significant deterioration. Critical currents in the range 1 μA<Ic<10 mA may be achieved with an accuracy of ±20%. The dependence of junction characteristics on temperature, oxidation time, and Cu thickness is described. The junctions are particularly suited to the fabrication of practical devices such as SQUID's.


We present a method to determine approximations to a system's normal mode eigenfrequency and eigenfunctions from time-dependent numerical simulations. The method proceeds iteratively and each step consists of (i) a time-dependent numerical simulation followed by (ii) the Complex Empirical Orthogonal Function (CEOF) analysis of the simulation results. The CEOF analysis provides an approximation to the normal mode eigenfunctions that can be used to set up the initial conditions for the numerical simulation of the following iteration, in which an improved normal mode approximation is obtained. The iterative process is stopped once the global difference between successive approximate eigenfunctions is below a prescribed threshold. In this paper we test the method with a problem for which the normal modes can be computed analytically, namely the transverse oscillations of a magnetic slab, a configuration that has been extensively used in the analysis of transverse coronal loop oscillations. Our equilibrium contains material discontinuities that result in one eigenfunction with a jump across these discontinuities and two eigenfunctions whose normal derivatives are discontinuous there. After 4 iterations, the approximation to the frequency and eigenfunctions are accurate to . 0.7% except for the eigenfunction with discontinuities, which displays a much larger error at these positions. Subject headings: Methods: numerical — methods: data analysis — Sun: oscillations — techniques: miscellaneous


As a teacher of medical students, I have taken a keen interest in the history of the teaching and practice of medicine. The definitive treatment of medical history by Porter [1] left me in no doubt that it is only for approximately the last century that science has imposed a balance of benefit on Western medical practice. My subsequent reading of Druin Burch's Taking the Medicine [2] inclines me to believe that it is only the last 30 years that can be regarded as the era of evidence-based medicine. Dr. Benjamin Spock thought there was no evidence that spanking created more disciplined children who would become responsible adults. With equally little evidence, but with faith in his experience as a Freudian pediatric psychiatrist, he advocated benign tolerance of temper tantrums and allowing children's self-indulgent behavior. Spock's Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care [3] became the best-selling nonfiction book of all time and had a dramatic effect on child rearing practice in the 1950s and beyond. The changes may have done more harm than good, but in one particular we can be completely sure that Spock was in error. Spock advocated that infants should not be placed on their back when sleeping, to avoid choking. This advice became standard practice through to the 1990s when scientific studies revealed significantly increased risk of sudden infant death syndrome associated with putting babies stomach-down. It has been estimated that as many as 50,000 infant deaths in Europe, Australia, and the US could have been prevented had this advice been altered when the evidence became available [4]. Burch [2] provided a similar picture of medical ineptitude when cardiologists failed to adopt useful aspirin and streptokinase treatments, and they embraced harmful arrhythmia treatments sponsored by big-pharmacology. Intuitive medical theories that give a basis to practice, such as Freudian psychology, have systematically been falling apart in the face of objective data. I have been a problem based learning (PBL) tutor for a decade and because of the intense effort required, we like to believe it is a better way of teaching. Kaufman and coworkers [5] performed one of the rare objective tests on the efficacy of Problem Based Learning at the University of New Mexico starting in 1982. By good fortune, it was a time that the US government was making grants to perform expensive trials in educational methodology. It was possible to do a 50% split on the medical intake at New Mexico and put one-half through the established lecture course and the other half through an innovative problem-based learning course. The hope was that the problem-based cohort would out-achieve by striving to understand the rationale for diagnoses and treatments while the other half ''were trying to memorize the names of all the holes in the skull'' [5]. It turned out that the optimism and prejudices of the PBL sponsors were entirely repudiated when the data were analyzed. Problem-based learning was not demonstrably any better than conventional medical teaching and conventional teaching was superior in achieving comprehensive coverage. This was not the end of PBL as a method, because it remained one of the few credible alternatives that innovative course designers could incorporate. After contracting an accountant to find out why our medical teaching expenditure at the University of Melbourne was exceeding income, the answer was almost entirely the hidden cost of running PBL. The cost of paying tutors was relatively minor, but there were enormous costs for full-time support staff and servicing of the tutorial rooms. This additionally illustrates the human fallibility of believing that something that is expensive must be good, a common error in medical practice. Objectively the ''feel good'' aspect of PBL cannot stand against the ruinous expense. For expensive medical treatments the cost benefit analysis now needs to have a statistically sound affirmation of benefit, but this lesson has not flowed to education. We live in an Orwellian age, where our politicians strive much harder to get the right spin on their actions than they strive to formulate good policy. Publicity (preferably positive) drives many activities in contemporary society. We do not encounter a headline such as Sound Teaching practices proven at local University, but we can read of hopeful approaches for using new technology. An article in my local newspaper [6] described how the world's ‡ To whom correspondence should be addressed. Tel.: 61-383445925; Fax: 61-3-93477730. E-mail: gparslow@unimelb. edu.au.


A prevalent issue that affects many manufacturing industries and causes significant monetary loss as well as customer loss is the distribution of items to users that have defects or anomalies. These problems are typical in industries that produce components made of fabric, metal, wood, glass, plastic, and paper. These defects are numerous surface defects that vary in size, shape, and color. The best strategies for this task now are deep learning techniques. To locate faults on an object's surface, a vision-based model can be created and trained using standardized defects. It would improve production efficiency and eventually result in added costs for the manufacturing company by making it easier to identify defective items and separate them before selling to the consumer. Deep learning has recently received a lot of attention as a potential tool for automating defect detection.


[Objective] The aim was to study the agronomic characters,including fruit shape,skin color,flesh color,taste and grain color,fruit yield character namely single fruit weight and fruit quality characters,including skin thickness and sugar degree of five watermelon varieties.[Method] Observation,tasting and factual measurement method were adopted.[Result] Single fruit yield of watermelon variety 396 was the highest,skin was thick and cracking,sugar gradient at edge and in the middle was big,fiber was crude,taste was good,and watermelon variety 396 was more potential varieties.[Conclusion] Watermelon variety 396 was worth further study and demonstration in Changji Region.


Global longitudinal strain (GLS) is a sensitive measure of LV dysfunction and is better than EF at predicting CVD events and deaths. Recently 3D/4D/4D X strain speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is used to analyse complex LV mechanics. Interestingly, HFpEF is related to both GLS and increased Aortic stiffness. TDI of ascending Aorta is an effective technique to assess Aortic stiffness. The aim of the present study is to establish normal values of TDI of AA by 2DE and 4D X-strain volumetric and strain parameters of LV of healthy adults. 102 subjects were enrolled, 72 assessed by 2DE-GROUP-A, and 30 were analysed by 4D X-strain echocardiography-GROUP-B. Important TDI parameters of Aortic stiffness were 3.90 ±3.79& 5.23 ± 10.55, (p = NS), in males & females respectively and Aortic strain were 10.55 ± 7.67% and 9.49 ± 5.56%, (p = NS), in males & females respectively. Volumetric data of EF were 64 ± 7.0 % & 65 ± 6.0 %, (p = NS), in males & females respectively and CO were 5.6 ± 1.5 l/min & 4.91±1.53l/min, (p = NS), in males & females respectively. Moreover, 4D X-strain STE indices of GLS being -17.29 ± 2.71 & -19.00 ± 3.51, (p = NS), in males & females, respectively GCS being -15.46 ± 7.1 & -14.12 ± 6.15, (p =NS), in males & females respectively and GRS being -24.53 ± 9.8 & -21.93 ± -8.81, (p= NS), in males & females respectively. No previous data is available, making the research a singular experience.


This paper presents a brief analysis of object-oriented database technology,the inevitability,focusing on an object-oriented database technology-object-relational databases on its content and features;and research and development(R D) projects based on a comprehensive exposition of Fracturing measures management system unified modeling to object-oriented database and its data sharing to provide basic support for a unified data structure.


In the September issue of CALIFORNIA MEDICINE (71:250, 1949), the suggested treatment of parathion poisoning includes use of magnesium sulfate, 10 to 20 cc. of 10 per cent solution intravenously, to counteract muscular excitability due to overstimulation of the receptive substance (or myoneural junction) resulting from the parathion. I should like to warn against the free and general use as antidote of magnesium sulfate intravenously by inexperienced physicians, because if the atropine, which is directed to be used conjointly, does not arrest the muscular excitability, the magnesium would probably have to be used in doses which might cause respiratory or cardiac failure or both. Pharmacologically it is well known that magnesium depression of the respiration is accompanied by cardiac depression or failure; in fact, use of this ion intravenously is a favorite painless method of dispatching experimental animals. It is also well known that unless calcium chloride is injected intravenously to combat depression, death occurs promptly. At death, evidences of curarization of the skeletal and diaphragmatic muscles are usually lacking, thus indicating the unreliability of magnesium for depressionof the receptive substance in mammals. There is also chemical evidence to indicate that magnesium is useless or unreliable, or even dangerous, for systemic use in man. Apparently, elimination keeps pace with absorption of small or medium doses which would make it practically useless. The blood concentration of magnesium for a desired grade of depression is seemingly not easy to maintain unless the dosage is relatively high. This was indicated by the experimental results of Neuwirth and Wallace 20 years ago (J. Pharm. Exp. Therap., 35:171, 1929). These authors showed that the normal serum concentration of 1.0 to 2.0 mg. per cent could be increased to 3.0 mg. per cent without depression after giving rather large doses intramuscularly (0.25 gm. per kg., equivalent to 7.5 gm. for a 70 kg. adult), but it was necessary to raise it to 5.0 mg. per cent to give evidences of depression, which became severe to grave at 20.0 to 23.0 mg. per cent. However, commonly used analgesic doses in human individuals produced less than 4.0 mg. per cent. These blood levels and the various effects mentioned indicate that the margin of safety for magnesium systemically is too narrow to warrant its use in man, whether its salts are used intravenously or intramuscularly. I may add that whenever the systemic use of magnesium is contemplated, calcium chloride solution (500 cc. or so of 0.02 per cent) should be ready at hand for intravenous injection, as this is a specific antidote against both respiratory and cardiac depression of the magnesium ion. If the twitchings or convulsions of parathion are serious enough to require checking, probably better and safer than magnesium intravenously would be the use of d-tubocurarine chloride (N.N.R.) intramuscularly, or intravenously for rapid effect. The initial dose of this drug may be 0.15 mg. per kg. body, or somewhat less (total about 6.0 to 9.0 mg. as against a calculated total of 10.5 mg. for a 70 kg. adult), and an additional total of about 3.0 mg. may be given in about five minutes and repeated if necessary. Of course, ready at hand must be means for giving artificial respiration or oxygen inhalation and injecting physostigmine or neostigmine methyl sulfate to combat sudden respiratory reduction or arrest. Fortunately, d-tubocurarine usually paralyzes the receptive substance of the peripheral skeletal muscles first and of the diaphragm last, but it does not depress the respiratory center or heart directly. Thus, prompt combating of any anoxia usually maintains the functional integrity of these two organs. The patient should be hospitalized for this treatment, as he probably would be anyway when poisoned severely. Minor excitation could probably be better checked with soluble pentobarbital or phenobarbital injected intramuscularly.


Demonstrates the application of a hybrid reinforcement-modular neural network architecture to nonlinear control problems. Specifically, the method of action-critic reinforcement learning, modular neural networks, and winner-takes-all updating are combined. This provides an architecture able to both support temporal difference learning, and probabilistic partitioning of the input space. Furthermore, the number of partitions required a priori of the input space is far lower than that previously in the norm. Application of this methodology to the pole-balancing problem demonstrates superior partitioning of the input space, bettering that of equivalent BP networks; whilst avoiding the learning to learn nothing effect, as is often the case with temporally dependent problems.


This paper used a hybrid simulation-genetic algorithm method to accomplish off-line dynamic OD matrix estimation. The aim of simulation was to accomplish dynamic OD matrix thus OD-to-link flow proportion would be calculated while genetic algorithm was used to solve optimization function by crossover,mutation operator etc. The continuity of dynamic traffic flow and strong global convergence inherent in GA can be verified by the simulation cases.


There is currently a major thrust in the United States toward rehabilitation of the highway infrastructure, with large amounts of funding being planned for research on strategic problems, or problems where it is expected that investment will provide the largest benefit for the dollars spent. Further, since the early 1970s there has been a strong interest by transportation authorities in pavement management systems (PMS) that are intended to determine the most productive way of using declining revenues to maintain or repair existing highway pavements. In many cases, fiscal decisions are based on an economic analysis that identifies the most beneficial alternative. All such analyses require an estimate of the life of each rehabilitation alternative. These estimates can be sufficiently unreliable to invalidate the decision process. This study shows that existing pavement analysis techniques provide consistent and reasonable estimates of the useful life of a rehabilitation alternative using mechanistic procedures and material performance characteristics. Application of such procedures in a PMS for instance, would provide more realistic economic evaluations and hence, a more efficient utilization of limited resources.


Each time preventive maintenance is performed on an item a cost is incurred. However, if the item fails before preventive maintenance is performed, the cost associated with the failure is higher than the cost of the preventive maintenance necessary to p..


This supplement summarises the proceedings of the Independence Forum hosted by Therapeutic Guidelines Limited in Melbourne on 29 October 2012.


Implementing computational boundary conditions, such as perfectly matched layers PML does have advantages for forwarding modeling of the earth's crust. The mathematical modeling of many physical problems encountered in industrial applications often leads to a system of linear partial differential equations-PDEs. It considerably improves the visualization of seismic events relevant to oil and gas exploration. In this work, we present an efficient numerical scheme for hyperbolic partial differential equations where a computational technique takes care of reflections at the borders domain using a linear 2-D elastic-wave system of decoupled equations with PML-type boundary conditions. The key idea is to introduce a layer that absorbs the reflections from the borders improving images visualization. Anisotropy has been reported to occur in the Earth's three main layers. The crust, the mantle, and the core; but this implementation refers to the case of a vertical transversal anisotropic medium VTI in the crust-layer. Images and screen-shots of the longitudinal P impulse-response and the SV transverse impulse-response are obtained at different times. This computational method enables us to achieve images for the P and SV response-impulses, and to obtain high quality synthetic seismograms for the PP and PS reflection events in a 2-D VTI two-layer model.


Aerodynamic characteristics of generic models (blunted cone models) under hypersonic high-enthalpy flow condition were measured in the high enthalpy shock tunnel HIEST. Two test models with a different nose radius (R20mm model and R50mm model) were tested. Aerodynamic force was measured with so called semi free-flight technique. The technique measured the acceleration of the test models, which were suspended with thin wires. To validate the force measurement technique, an axis-symmetric Navier-Stokes numerical code with chemical non-equilibrium was used, which code was evaluated with Schlieren images and pressure distributions around the models. The numerical simulation results showed that the axial force coefficients were 9% and 8% higher than those of the measurements with R20mm and R50mm models, respectively. Aerodynamic characteristics of generic models (blunted cone models) under hypersonic high-enthalpy flow condition were measured in the high enthalpy shock tunnel HIEST. Two test models with a different nose radius (R20mm model and R50mm model) were tested. Aerodynamic force was measured with so called semi free-flight technique. The technique measured the acceleration of the test models, which were suspended with thin wires. To validate the force measurement technique, an axis-symmetric Navier-Stokes numerical code with chemical non-equilibrium was used, which code was evaluated with Schlieren images and pressure distributions around the models. The numerical simulation results showed that the axial force coefficients were 9% and 8% higher than those of the measurements with R20mm and R50mm models, respectively.


In this paper, we consider a resource allocation game with heterogenous players competing for limited resources. We model this as a singleton congestion game, where the share of each player is a decreasing function of the number of players selecting the same resource. In particular, we consider player-specific payoffs that depend not only on the shares of resource, but also on different preference constants. We study the price of anarchy (PoA) for four families of this congestion game: identical, player-specific symmetric, resource-specific symmetric, and asymmetric games. We characterize the exact worst-case PoA in terms of the number of players and resources. By comparing the values of PoA for different games, we show that performance loss increases with the heterogeneity of games (i.e., the identical game has a better PoA in general). From a system design point of view, we identify the worst-case Nash equilibrium, where all players are competing for a single resource in asymmetric games. We present an application of this class of congestion games to spectrum sharing in cognitive radio network with two medium access control schemes.


All of the solutions of controllability, observability, stability and stabilization of linear time-varying periodic(LTVPD) system depend on its state transition matrix. However, it is very difficult to obtain the state transition matrix of an ordinary LTVPD system. By using the thought of solving robust control of the linear time invariant systems, the periodic problem is converted into a kind of norm bounded problems. The calculation of the state transition matrix of LTVPD systems is avoided. By introducing the definition of Riccati stability of LTVPD systems, the LMIs based memoryless state controllers of stabilization and robust stabilization of LTVPD systems are designed. Two numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the application of the proposed methods.


In a status selection planning system, which is a kind of knowledge based planning system, quality of the solution depends on the status selection rules. However, it is usually difficult to acquire useful knowledge from human experts. We propose an iterative learning method of a status selection rule using inductive learning. The planning process is divided into stages. Then, a phase is a bundle of stages. Status selection rules for phases are acquired from the training set which has been gathered from each phase from the last, phase. The rules are used to gather training sets of the next iteration. The proposed method is applied to a job shop problem.


Neuromorphic hardware based on artificial synaptic devices has great potential to break the bottleneck of von Neumann architecture, which makes it possible to emulate the working mode of the human brain with low power consumption and high operation efficiency. However, current synaptic devices can barely detect photons and are bio‐incompatible for future all‐in‐one visual perception technology. Here, synaptic photoconductors based on an organic–inorganic hybrid structure, and composed of photosensitive bacteriorhodopsin protein layer and zinc oxide film are reported. The synaptic photoconductors demonstrate tunable synaptic plasticity with the modulation of the light illumination time and power intensity. The working mechanism of the photogating effect induced by the proton pump process of bR protein molecules is further investigated in detail. Assisting with these properties, the imaging memorization and preprocessing function are successfully emulated by the synaptic photoconductors. The prototype photosynaptic devices provide a unique opportunity to realize artificial synapses, enabling neuromorphic hardware.


Brain Imaging Data Structure (BIDS) allows the user to organise brain imaging data into a clear and easy standard directory structure. BIDS is widely supported by the scientific community and is considered a powerful standard for management. The original BIDS is limited to images or data related to the brain. Medical Imaging Data Structure (MIDS) was therefore conceived with the objective of extending this methodology to other anatomical regions and other types of imaging systems in these areas.


In the Beginning Emotional, Musical, and Grammatical Speech The Nose Knows: The Language of Smell Touch Me - Feel Me - Feed Me - Kiss Me! Dances with Bees: The Languages of the Body in Motion Knowing Chimpsky: The Phylogeny and Ontogeny of Gesture and the Language of Signs The Knowing Hand: The Evolution of Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic Language and Reality: Universal Grammars and Limbic Language Self-Deception and the Origin of Language and Thought Sexual, Social, Emotional, and Unconscious Speech The Universal Language: Music, Limbic, and Right-Hemisphere Speech Remembrance of Things Past: The Limbic System and Long-Lost Childhood Memories Unconscious Origins: The Evolution of Mind and Brain Notes Index


Excerpt Observations of circulating factors that destroy the third component of complement (C3) and of circulating split products of C3 suggest the depressions of serum C3 found in membranoprolifer...


NUMEROUS varieties of edible mushrooms are highly beneficial to health. Mushrooms enhance the mental and physical development of children and are highly beneficial to recovering cancer patients. People have developed an affinity for the taste of mushrooms and have in turn developed numerous recipes for cooking same. Pine mushrooms are commonly found in northeast China. with locals, especially women and children, heading to forests to collect same following periods of rain.


It is proved that a Banach space X is a subspace of a weakly compactly generated Banach space if and only if, for every ɛ>0, X can be covered by a countable collection of bounded closed convex symmetric sets where the weak* closure in X** of each of them lies within the distance ɛ from X. A new short functional‐analytic proof of the known result that a continuous image of an Eberlein compact is Eberlein is given as a corollary.


Using 128 capital projects and a longitudinal design, this study finds a correlation between performance variables in the project-initiating and planning phases and project outcomes in the closing phase. Specifically, this study's structural model suggests that team and risk performance prior to project execution have a direct positive effect on project outcomes in the closing phase. Subsequent analyses show that team and communication performance prior to project execution possess the largest and second-largest effects on project outcomes, respectively. Our findings extend the current state of knowledge concerning not only the relationships among performance variables prior to project execution, but how these performance variables affect project outcomes in the closing phase.


This study investigates the impact of foreign aid on economic growth in Sierra Leone using cointegration and error correction methodology by Johansen and Juselius (1990). Utilizing secondary data for the period 1970 to 2018, the empirical estimation revealed that foreign aid in Sierra Lone is positively and significantly related to economic growth both in the short run and long run, confirming the importance of the study. The policy implication of the study is that the Sierra Leone government should seek more foreign aid to accelerate economic growth and development.


In this paper, a recursive algorithm based on the use of Gauss-Seidel iterations and instrumental variables together is introduced for unbiased estimation of transfer function parameters of linear time invariant discrete-time systems. Furthermore, a stochastic convergence analysis of the proposed algorithm is performed and it is shown that the proposed algorithm is an unbiased parameter estimator that gives optimum solution of normal equations even if the measurement noise is colored. The proposed algorithm is used for estimation of transfer function parameters of a sample second order system and compared with similar algorithms by a simulation study. According to the results obtained, it is shown that the proposed algorithm is a good alternative to the others by viewpoints of computational complexity and convergence rate.


We investigate logics that are derived from topological spaces; such logics were first described by Westmoreland and Schumacher in 1993. Here , we explore the relationship between the logic systems and the topolog ies used to construct them. Special attention is given to Boolean topological logics. We s how a characterization of these


Sperm chemotaxis toward an egg is observed in many animals, and the control of sperm‐attracting activity is thought to play an important role in ensuring fertilization. However, the mechanism underlying the release of a sperm attractant from an egg is still obscure. In this study, we examined the systems involved in the release of sperm‐activating and sperm‐attracting factor (SAAF), which is the sperm attractant of the ascidian Ciona intestinalis. Here, we show that the egg acquires sperm‐attracting activity after germinal vesicle breakdown. Further, since the cytoplasmic extracts of immature oocytes exhibit no sperm‐attracting activity, the SAAF in oocytes may be activated after germinal vesicle breakdown. We found 13 SAAF‐binding proteins in an egg plasma membrane extract and identified five proteins by proteomic analysis: valosin‐containing protein (VCP)/p97, proteasome alpha 2 subunit, MGC97756 protein, proteasome subunit Y, and beta‐tubulin. In particular, the interaction between VCP/p97 and SAAF was confirmed by a pull‐down assay. VCP/p97 is initially localized in the germinal vesicle, and during oocyte maturation, it shifts to the endoplasmic reticulum in the cortical regions. Thus, VCP/p97 is a potential modulator of SAAF release from the egg.


Abstract : The U.S. Army Research Laboratory (ARL) is investigating the electrothermal-chemical (ETC) gun concept. As part of this program, ARL has recently begun a comprehensive study on the interaction of the plasma efflux from an ETC igniter with solid propellant grains. The goal of this work is to elucidate the relevant physical, mechanical, and chemical mechanisms that underlie the observed ballistic effects in ETC guns that can lead to useful performance gains once an understanding of these mechanisms is achieved. This report describes the first phase of the modeling effort in support of this plasma-propellant interaction project. A time-accurate computational fluid dynamics code was used that included high-temperature thermodynamics, variable specific heats and transport properties (viscosity and thermal conductivity), and finite-rate (nonequilibrium) chemical kinetics. Validation of this code used a series of experiments with an ETC igniter fired into open air, generating an unsteady flowfield in which a measurement probe is placed. Computer simulations revealed important gas dynamic and chemical details of the plasma jet as it interacted with the probe and represented the first such detailed modeling of ETC plasma efflux.


In this paper,the impacts of appropriate random phasing method,phase-adder method,and rounding phase feeding method on the gain and beam pointing accuracy of a uniform linear array using 2and 3-bit digital phase shifter are studied.It is shown that the appropriate random phasing method and phase-adder method can achieve a much better beam pointing accuracy than the rounding phase feeding method,while there will be a little loss of the gain when using less bit phase shifter.This result can be used in the design of phased array antennas.