In this paper we explore the prevalence and patterns of recorded domestic violence offending among outlaw motorcycle gang (OMCG) members in New South Wales. We then compare domestic violence offending among a sample of OMCG members and other male offenders who committed their first recorded offence in the same year. Forty percent of OMCG members had been proceeded against for a domestic violence offence in the last 10 years. OMCG members were twice as likely to have been proceeded against for domestic violence offences as the wider male offending population. Domestic violence offending by OMCG members was more harmful and charges were less likely to result in a guilty outcome. OMCG members have a greater propensity for violence and this includes domestic violence. This research has implications for law enforcement and domestic violence support services.


A few of qualities of medicine tube-type bottle must be inspected before they are bottled.Based on large scale FPGA and DSP,a real-time image multi-channel cellection,processing and display system was developed,which is of miniaturization and low-power.In the paper,the main factors influencing system capability werediscussed.


In this article I attempt to answer the question, 'How can I influence teachers to be able to contribute to changing social/cultural norms and practices that hamper effective HIV & AIDS education and prevention?' There is a growing realization that HIV & AIDS education and prevention initiatives need to move away from trying to change the sexual behaviour of individuals towards addressing societal and cultural factors which promote rapid transmission of the virus. However, societal and cultural change has to start with helping individuals to imagine alternative ways of thinking and being. Teachers occupy a powerful position when it comes to changing mindsets and challenging norms, but they themselves have been shaped and influenced by their culture and may not, therefore, 'see' the need to question prevailing norms, and/or may be so constrained by these social and cultural forces that they are unable to do so. Following a values-based action research approach, I describe how I adopted emancipatory pedagogies in an attempt to influence teachers to develop their own theories of practice with regard to HIV & AIDS prevention and education in their specific cultures. As validation of my claims to having contributed to the development of educational theories about HIV & AIDS prevention and education, I invite the reader to evaluate my narrative against specific criteria. I also present my educational value of respect as a living standard of judgement.


Abstract: The aim of this paper is to introduce the notion of weakly b-open functions in bitopological spaces. Some properties of this functions are established and the relationships with some other types of spaces are also investigated.


Arthur Phillips was a critic of Henry Lawson, the writer. His essay on the 'Craftsmanship of Lawson' which appeared in Meanjin emphasised the importance of Lawson, and led to the discovery of a national identity and a distinctively Australian literature that was taking place at that time. A.A. Phillips' criticism brought together his pride in the Australian social tradition and he was one of the 'moderns' amongst Australian literary critics. Review(s) of: Henry Lawson, by A. A. Phillips (Twayne's World Author Series No. 133, New York, 1970), pp. 159. Includes footnotes.


Traces the activities of the Press from the period preceding the revolution up to 1799. A concluding chapter discusses the economics of the Press in the revolutionary period.


Cement-bentonite is one of the main materials used in the seepage barriers to protect earth dams and levees from water erosion. However, the current understanding of the erodibility of the cementitious materials and the interactions between cracked seepage barriers and the water flow is inadequate. Based on the laboratory pinhole erosion test, we first investigated the impacts of cement-bentonite treatments by using the ground granulated blast-furnace slag (GGBS) as replacement on the erosion characteristics, compared with the original mixtures; the inclusion of GGBS highlighted a potential advantage against water erosion. In addition, we proposed to calculate the erosion percentage and establish the mathematical relationships between the erosion percentage and different regimes, that is, different curing period, erosion time, and sizes of initial holes. Results showed that enough curing period was critical to avoid the increases of hydraulic conductivity in the macrofabric of the barrier; meanwhile, the materials were eroded quickly at the beginning and slowed down with the erosion time, where the enlargement of the initial creaks would be stabilised at some point in time. Moreover, the sizes of initial holes may affect the erosion situation varying from the sample curing periods.


The increasing number of information systems modeling formalisms raises several problems such as data integration or data exchange. To address these problems, several meta-modeling systems have been proposed. However, few of them use a database as a back-end repository in order to offer a persistent solution for addressing over sized models. Yet, with the growing size of data manipulated in information systems, there is a need to exploit databases properties like scalability and querying capabilities. In this paper, we present persistent meta-modeling systems with their meta-modeling capabilities. We show that these systems support the definition of structural and descriptive semantics of models, but they can not express the behavioral semantics of models. Therefore, the aim of our work is to combine benefits of classic modeling systems, typically their capability to express behavioral semantics of models elements, together with advantages of databases i.e. their scalability and querying capabilities. Our approach focuses on the capability to dynamically introduce new operators that could be exploited by model-based databases exploitation languages. In particular, such operators could be implemented with an external program stored outside the database, or with a web service. As a consequence of this extension, we will be able to perform model transformations in database, trigger web services from relational databases, information exchange and data integration could be also supported in a persistent context.


A presentation of Pictish and other northern British illustrations from stones, documents and metalwork of the seventh to ninth centuries AD.


Genotypes of a queen and the first brood of workers of 20 colonies of Polistes chinensis antennalis were electrophoretically analyzed. We found allelic polymorphisms in two loci which encodes two enzyme, i.e., creatine kinase (CK) and isocitrate dehydrogenase (IDH). The genotype array of the first brood of workers in five colonies could not be explained by monoandry of the queen. Two to four suggested multiple mating of the queen, and one to three suggested replacement of the queen. Although multiple matings of some queens is apparent, the mean estimate of relatedness of the first brood of workers from the genotype frequency data, 0.648, is ambiguous, because it is not significantly different from 0.75 (one singly-mated queen) nor 0.545 (one doubly-mated queen).


The uniaxial bend strength and fracture initiation energy of glass matrix composites containing nonspherical Al$sub 2$O$sub 3$ and spherical W particles were measured. Results show that, although the strength is increased by incorporation of 47.4 vol percent W, the fracture initiation energy was nearly the same as that for glass. (JRD)


Ezra Taft Benson brazenly asserted that Martin Luther King was a communist agent. Thus, Benson rejected the civil rights movement, claiming that it was an invitation to promote communist aims and organizations. In specific, Benson feared that the unrest unleashed by the "civil rights agitators," as he called them, would lead to a revolution that would ultimately produce a worldwide depression and a catastrophic failure of money markets in the United States. For Benson, then, the civil rights movement was not about black rights but about communists using them as a pawn to undermine American institutions. This essay traces Benson's views on civil rights, specifically Birch Society founder Robert Welch and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's influence on Benson's racialist thinking.


Wagner's law is one of an important content in the financial theory.It is generally considered as the growth rate of the financial expenditure faster than that of GNP.In fact,Wagner's law exists three levels of meaning,including Wagner's law Ⅰ reveals the real terms of financial expenditure in the resources allocation,and the responding variable is per capita spending rather than GNP or GDP;Wagner's law Ⅱ is a transition indicator,reflecting the relationship between the financial income and per capita income;Wagner's law Ⅲ is embodied after fiscal balance,and it is also reflected in the reality.It is suggested to use indicators of expenditure categories instead of China's fiscal revenue /GDP and the central financial income /total fiscal revenue.


The Dry Hollow Member of the Upper Cretaceous (Turonian) Frontier Formation in the Wyoming-Idaho-Utah thrust belt is comprised predominantly of fluvial deposits. In northeastern Utah, these strata include massive cobble conglomerates, horizontally-stratified very coarse sandstones, planar cross-stratified pebbly sandstones, and rare siltstones. Farther eastward in southwestern Wyoming, the Dry Hollow Member contains sandstone lenses which possess basal conglomeratic (pebble) lenses and fine upward to medium-grained, trough cross stratified sandstones interbedded shales, coals, and thin, fine-grained, ripple-drift cross-laminated sandstones account for much of the Dry Hollow Member. Regional variations in stratification styles, grain size, and geometry of the sandstone units are interpreted as a consequence of downslope variations in channel pattern. These variations represent a change from near-source braided streams in northeastern Utah to distal meandering streams in southwestern Wyoming.


This report describes the use of lymphscintigraphy in a patient with traumatic chylous ascites. Radioactivity "leakage" near the origin of the thoracic duct and accumulation into the peritoneal cavity were delineated.


Abstract Intracranial aneurysms commonly rupture into the subarachnoid space, resulting in severe impairments in cognitive and behavioural functioning. We present a case involving a subarachnoid haemorrhage, secondary to the rupture of a right middle cerebral artery aneurysm, which resulted in an unusual neurobehavioural syndrome. The patient developed severe behavioural dys-control, characterised by repetitive involuntary oral exhalations, involuntary vocalisations and oral-facial dyskinesia. Despite the persistent manifestation of these behaviours at 3 months post-onset, combined with other cognitive and motor disorders typical of right hemisphere lesions, the patient was able to learn to inhibit these involuntary behaviours through training in the implementation of a behaviour that was incompatible with the emission of such behaviours.


Twenty years after the passage of the 1987 Nursing Home Reform Act declaring residents living in nursing homes need a home where they can live for the rest of their lives as individuals, many of the nations' 16 500 nursing homes still function using the 3 R's—rules, routines, and requirements. The landscape, however, is slowly beginning to change where the focus of care is on the person, not the task. Culture change is about rethinking values and practices within the nursing home from top to bottom. Not as powerful a statement but it will work! The outcome of culture change is person-centered care. Within nursing facilities there are several ways to drive culture change but few are as influential as enhancing dining services. The ability to make healthy food choices, socialize with friends, interact with attentive staff members, and enjoy a tasty meal provides a dignity unmatched by most services. Culture change is a commitment to value adaptations where the focus of care is not the task but the relationship. It reformulates what it means to grow old.


Abstract Conventional methods of multivariate normal analysis do not apply when the variables of interest are not observed directly but must be inferred from fallible or incomplete data. A method of estimating such effects by marginal maximum likelihood, implemented by means of an EM algorithm, is proposed. Asymptotic standard errors and likelihood ratio tests of fit are provided. The procedures are illustrated with data from the administration of the Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery to a probability sample of American youth.


Indoor localization and tracking of persons and assets with centimeter-level accuracy for inventory, security, medical monitoring, and training, as well as gesture interfaces for domotics, is highly desirable in the framework of the emerging IoT paradigm. Low cost, tiny, battery, or batteryless operated position sensors are required. 3-D localization can be computed by combining three or more distance measurements between sensor and reference points. Our aim is to give the capability of measuring the distance from a reference point to radio frequency identification (RFID) tags. The main challenge is in the estimation of the distances with millimeter accuracy in presence of both size and power supply strict constraints, and thus with very limited computational power. An accurate ranging technique using cross-correlation and small RFID-based sensors is proposed. Its originality resides in moving the main computational efforts from the sensor to an external processing unit with sufficient computational and supply power, thus overcoming the sensor limits. The system is composed of a beacon that emits ultrasound chirps and RF sync signals, a RFID-based distance sensor, a commercial RFID reader, and a processing unit. Main advantages are the high miniaturization and low power consumption of the remote sensor, and its compatibility with existing RFID standards.


Thispaperexamines theuseofnanocomposites or materials intheareaofprinting technology. A variety of printable nanomaterials foradvanced organic packaging have beendeveloped. Thisincludes nanocapacitors andresistors as embeddedpassives, nano magneticmaterials, multifunctional materials, etc. Nanocomposites canprovide highcapacitance densities, ranging from5nf/inch2 to25 nF/inch2, depending oncomposition, particle sizeandfilm thickness. Theelectrical properties ofcapacitors fabricated fromBaTiO3-epoxy nanocomposites showeda stable capacitance andlowloss overatemperature range from25°C to100°C.A variety ofprintable discrete resistors with different sheet resistances, ranging from1ohmto120Mohm, processed onlarge panels (19.5 inches x24inches) havebeen fabricated. Low resistivity nanocomposites, withvolume resistivity intherangeof10-4 ohm-cmto10-6ohm-cm depending oncomposition, particle size, andloading canbe usedasconductive joints forhighfrequency andhighdensity interconnect applications. Thermosetting polymers modified withceramics canproduce lowkdielectrics withkvalue in therange between 5.41and3.59. Similarly, lowloss dielectric materials canbeproduced formmixing epoxywithsilica or other lowloss fillers. Reliability ofthenanocomposites was ascertained byIR-reflow, thermal cycling, pressure cooker test (PCT), andsolder shock. Change incapacitance after 3X IR-reflow andafter 1000cycles ofdeepthermal cycling (DTC)between -55°C and125°C waswithin 5%.Mostofthe nanocomposites inthetestvehicle werestable after IRreflow, PCT,andsolder shock.


Some of life's greatest challenges involve denying oneself short-term rewards in the pursuit of long-term goals. Deciding to enroll in a PhD program in lieu of taking a high-paying job out of college, with the hopes of a more rewarding career in the future, is one such decision. On a day-to-day


We consider timing and frequency synchronization for the massive multiuser (MU) multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) downlink where 1-bit digital-to-analog converters (DACs) are used at the base station (BS). We focus on the practically relevant scenario in which orthogonal-frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) is used to communicate over frequency-selective channels. Our contributions are twofold. First, we use Bussgang's theorem to analyze the impact on performance caused by timing and frequency offsets in the presence of 1-bit DACs at the BS. Second, we demonstrate the efficacy of the widely used Schmidl-Cox synchronization algorithm. Our results demonstrate that the 1-bit massive MU-MIMO-OFDM downlink is resilient against timing and frequency offsets.


Objective To discuss the influence of preventive calcium supplementation on the recovery of parathyroid glands function after total thyroidectomy.Methods 232 patients meeting the selected criteria were randomly assigned to group A and B,and then divided into group A1 (87 cases,PTH >8 pg/ml)and A2 (30 cases,PTH <8 pg/ml),group B1(83 cases,PTH>8 pg/ml)and B2(32 cases,PTH <8 pg/ml) based on the lowest parathyroid hormone( PTH )value within 3 days after surgery.All patients in group A were immediately supplemented 10% calcium gluconate intravenously 6 g/d after operation.For group B,post operative calcium supplementation was not given,however,anyone whose PTH < 8 pg/ml was supplemented 10% calcium gluconate intravenously 6 g/d no matter hypocalcemia occurred or not.The level of serum calcium and PTH of all patients were assayed before operation and at the 1st,2nd,3rd day,1st week and 1st month after operation.In additon,patients with hypocalcemia received serum calcium and PTH detection at the 2nd and 3rd week.Whether hypocalcemia and hypoparathyroidism occurred or not was recorded.Results ( 1 )The serum PTH was obviously higher in group A1 than in group B1 at the 1st week after operation( P <0.05 ).The serum calcium was obviously higher in group A1 than in group B1 at the 1st,2nd,3rd day and 1st week after operation(P >0.05).The hypocalcaemia and symptomatic hypocalcaemia incidence were obviously lower in group A1 than in group B1 (P < 0.05 ).(2)① Group A2 had obviously higher level of serum PTH than group B2 at the 1 st,2nd,and 3rd week after operation ( P <0.05 ) and returned to normal level of serum PTH earlier than group B2.② Group A2had obviously higher level of serum calcium than group B2 from the 1 st day to the 3rd week after operation ( P < 0.05 ) and returned to normal level of serum calcium earlier than group B2.③ The hypocalcaemia and symptomaic hypocalcaemia incidence ware obviously lower in group A2 than in group B2 (P < 0.05 ).Conclusion The preventive calcium supplementation is beneficial for the recovery of the function of parathyroid glands after total thyroidectomy.

Key words:
Hypoparathyroidism; Symptomatic hypocalcaemia; Preventive calcium supplementation; Total thyroidectomy


We review current understanding of the parent adult-child relationship, describe the development of an instrument to measure this relationship and propose key themes which define the relationship. A 97-item self-report questionnaire was administered to two convenience samples (N = 302, N = 100) comprising primary care patients and community residents. The most interpretable solutions to Principal Components Analyses of a reduced pool of items were, for the mother, an orthogonal two-factor solution (regard and responsibility , comprising 13 items) and, for the father, a three-factor solution (regard, responsibility and control, comprising 13 items).The Parent Adult-Child Questionnaire (PACQ) was found to be valid and reliable as a self-report measure of the filial relationship.We suggest that PACQ has both clinical and research utility.


ABSTRACT This study aimed to investigate the leaf anatomy of Jacquinia armillaris plants in two different Venezuelan xeric shrublands to evaluate possible variations caused by the environments, which differ in rainfall and soil salinity. Leaf samples were collected in two sites: La Tortuga Island, a dryer and salty environment than the other collecting site, Turpialito, a coastal location in the mainland. The epidermis and the mesophylls were observed with a light microscope and measured with an ocular micrometer inserted in one of the eyepieces. The results show that J. armillaris has many characteristic anatomical traits of xerophytes, among them: thick cuticles and thick epidermis in both leaf surfaces, stomata only in the abaxial side and epidermal depressions lodging a glandular trichome. Leaves are bifacial and present multistratified palisade parenchyma facing the adaxial epidermis and abaxial spongy parenchyma with abundant intercellular spaces. Furthermore, the hypodermis is composed of one or two cell layers below the upper epidermis. Leaf lamina dimension, petiole, cuticles, epidermis and hypodermis cells, as well as the stomatal occlusive cells and number of trichomes, had differences in size and number when the plants of both sites were compared, being higher in plants from La Tortuga. On the other hand, palisade parenchyma and stomatal density were higher in Turpialito plants. Plants collected in La Tortuga Island showed characteristics that suggest adaptation to the island's saline and more arid conditions in comparison to plants from Turpialito, which presented more leaf traits related to adaptations to water deficit. These results demonstrate the phenotypic plasticity of J. armillaris plants that grow in two different xeric shrublands.


In order to make a reasonable choice of three completions of clothing for better carding effect,introduction is made to the evolvement of carding clothing systematically.Details description is made of tech-development as well as the specification optimization of the cylinder,the doff and the tops for better carding performance as a prerequisite.Based on the material and the varieties of the carding machines in conjunction with the production practice,pervading analysis is done to the tech-progress of cylinder clothing,doff clothing and revolving flat.Conclusion is made that the main stream of clothing development is "short,shallow,pointed,dense and small".Lastly,illustration is made to the three completions of clothing.


This paper aims to demonstrate and evaluate perceptions of internal auditors towards the Institute of Internal Auditors' (IIA) standards, and to indicate the relationship between perceived standards that influence the quality of internal audit in Albania's banking industry. In order to achieve these objectives, a questionnaire was prepared and distributed to internal auditors actively working in the banking industry. The statements of questionnaire were based on the IIA's standards. The use of these standards is essential for industry because they are recommended by the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision for providing a strong internal audit function within the banking organizations. It is concluded that the internal auditors comply with the principles defined in the standards, considering these principles necessary for the quality of the internal audit. This research presents very positive internal auditors' perceptions on the attribute standards and performance standards respectively (4.42) and (4.41), besides, there are moderate positive relations between perceptions of performance and attribute standards and internal audit quality. Lastly, to explore whether there are any significant differences or not between the demographic components; gender, experience and perceptions of the attribute and performance standards, Independent t-test and ANOVA have been applied. According to results of the t-tests (used for gender) and ANOVA (used for work experience) there are not any perception differences on the attribute and performance standards by gender and work experience of the respondents. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2015.v6n1p147


Robotic manipulation has been generally applied to particular settings and a limited number of known objects. In order to manipulate novel objects, robots need to be capable of discovering the physical properties of objects, such as the center of mass, and reorienting objects to the desired pose required for subsequent actions. In this work, we proposed a computationally efficient 2-stage framework for planar pushing, allowing a robot to push novel objects to a specified pose with a small amount of pushing steps. We developed three modules: Coarse Action Predictor (CAP), Forward Dynamic Estimator (FDE), and Physical Property Estimator (PPE). The CAP module predicts a mixture of Gaussian distribution of actions. FDE learns the causality between action and successive object state. PPE based on Recurrent Neural Network predicts the physical center of mass (PCOM) from the robot-object interaction. Our preliminary experiments show promising results to meet the practical application requirements of manipulating novel objects.


Introduction: The narrow surge in the intensity of sunlight scattered from the Moon near zero phase has been known since its discovery by Gehrels et al [1] in 1962. It has been studied extensively from the Earth and spacecraft (see Shkuratov et al [2] for a detailed review). We have analyzed data obtained in the vicinity of the zero phase point by the wide angle camera (WAC) on the LRO spacecraft to study the opposition effect (OE) at 7 wavelengths between 320 and 690 nm. Both the shadow hiding OE (SHOE) and coherent backscatter OE (CBOE) appear to have contributed to the OE. No dependence on wavelength was seen, contrary to theoretical predictions. Observations: Three different types of observations were analyzed. (1) The light scattered from various points within a discrete region in a single image around the zero phase point located at 10.4°E, 3.0°S on 3 Oct. 2009 was measured as a function of the angles of incidence i, viewing e and phase g. (2) Light scattered from various points within a region 3° wide centered at 271.5°E, 0°N north of M. Orientale was measured in a large number of images taken at various times and phase angles. (3) Light scattered from a single pole-to-pole scan through the zero phase point located at 272.5°E, 3.0°S on 30 Sept. 2010 was measured. The angles were corrected for local slopes using a Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter shape model. Analysis: The LRO WAC has been described in Robinson et al [3]. Observational data sets 2 and 3 were analyzed using a simplified version for the bidirectional reflectance r(i,e,g) in Hapke [4]


We consider finite difference approximations of solutions of inverse Sturm‐Liouville problems in bounded intervals. Using three‐point finite difference schemes, we discretize the equations on so‐called optimal grids constructed as follows: For a staggered grid with 2 k points, we ask that the finite difference operator (a k × k Jacobi matrix) and the Sturm‐Liouville differential operator share the k lowest eigenvalues and the values of the orthonormal eigenfunctions at one end of the interval. This requirement determines uniquely the entries in the Jacobi matrix, which are grid cell averages of the coefficients in the continuum problem. If these coefficients are known, we can find the grid, which we call optimal because it gives, by design, a finite difference operator with a prescribed spectral measure. We focus attention on the inverse problem, where neither the coefficients nor the grid are known.


The invention provides a supporting body for materials treated by microwaves. The supporting body comprises a material treatment chamber and an energy reutilization chamber, wherein the material treatment chamber comprises a first cylindrical cavity and a second cylindrical cavity, the first cylindrical cavity and the second cylindrical cavity are of diametrical connection, and a through groove is formed between the first cylindrical cavity and the second cylindrical cavity so as to communicate the first cylindrical cavity and the second cylindrical cavity; at least one partition plate is arranged inside the energy reutilization chamber, and the interior of the energy reutilization chamber is separated into a plurality of chambers by the partition plates; and the material treatment chamber is located above the energy reutilization chamber, and the shape of the top face of the energy reutilization chamber is fit with that of the bottom face of the material treatment chamber. According to the supporting body for the materials treated by the microwaves, continuity and industrialization for microwave garbage treatment equipment can be realized.


Over the years several members of the U.S. Coast Guard have lost their lives during capsizing incidents. The most critical capsizings involve boats that are not self-righting. Although motor life boats and surf rescue boats are designed with watertight compartments and will reright themselves after a roll-over, catastrophic hull failure could trap personnel in an inverted hull. The ability to escape is dependent upon knowledge of the problems posed by both boat and water under these circumstances and upon skills in overcoming these difficulties. The critical factor is preparation. Appropriate guidelines are offered on this and on actions for achieving egress in the event of an actual capsizing.


More Pathways Out of Poverty explores new practices in microfinance, some of them revolutionary, and draws on the success of the industry to illustrate the challenges involved in lifting clients out of poverty. Taken together, the contributions from leading microfinance leaders and institutions serve as a map for ensuring that microcredit contributes powerfully to cutting absolute poverty in half by 2015. The chapters in this book show: how newly developed tools to cost-effectively measure US $1 a day poverty could also measure movement across the US $1 a day threshold; what the key components are to exponential growth so that MFI leaders, boards, funders, investors, and governments will be better able to fuel the end of poverty; how commercialization can push institutions away from working with the very poor and what can be done to avoid such situations; and how policy makers can work to ensure the expansion of services that work for the poor.


Subcooled boiling leads water circulation faults. The occurring conditions of subcooled boiling are analysed. The influence factors such as the operation parameters, the operation state, water quality and coal quality on subcooled boiling are discussed, and the suggestion of prevention and the improvement are put forward.


The exciton model is modified such that it automatically reduces to the usual evaporation formula after equilibrium has been reached. The result is further modified to conserve angular momentum in a form compatible with the Hauser-Feshbach formula. This approach allows a consistent description of intermediate excitations from which tertiary reaction cross sections can be calculated for transitions to discrete residual levels with known spins and parities. Level densities used for the compound component of reaction cross sections are derived from direct summation of the particle-hole state densities used for the precompound component.


A study has been made to determine a major metallurgical factor controlling low plane-strain fracture toughness (KIC) observed for desulfurized AISI 4340 ultrahigh strength steel and then to suggest a potential approach for improving the KIC of the steel. For the desulfurized steel containing a low sulfur content of 0.002wt%, intergranular failure occurred at the crack tip in the fracture toughness test though the mechanical isotropy was improved. So there was little difference between the KIC value in the longitudinal orientation for the desulfurized steel and that for the steel with a sulfur content of commercial level (0.016wt%). Metallographic observations and fractography revealed that the intergranular failure occurs by the mechanism that during slow cooling from hot-rolling temperature, manganese and sulfur resolved in the high-temperature range segregate to the grain boundaries and appear there as fine MnS after reaustenitizing followed by quenching. Calcium addition of 0.0059wt% (Ca/S≅3) in desulfurized melts just after vacuum-degassing modified the morphology of non-metallic inclusions from fine MnS to spherical CaS, which leads to improved KIC of the desulfurized steel independent of testing orientation. The beneficial effect of calcium treatment on KIC is briefly discussed in terms of crack extension model in fibrous mode.


Lens epithelium disorganization, glutathione (GSH) depletion, and epithelial cell death have been incriminated in the cytopathogenic mechanisms that lead to cataract formation following UVB and x‐ray exposures. The objective of this study was to determine the in vitro capacity of the aminothiol WR‐1065, the active metabolite of amifostine, and anetholedithiolethione (ADT or Sulfarlem®) to protect bovine lens epithelial cells against x‐ray irradiation. WR‐1065 and ADT were used at a concentration of 20 μM. A single dose of 10 Gy was delivered at a rate of 2 Gy/min. Fluorimetric assays were then performed using a neutral red probe to evaluate cell viability, a Hoechst 33342 probe (HO) to evaluate nuclear condensation and apoptosis, and a monobromobimane probe to estimate the intracellular GSH pool. Twenty‐four hours after x‐ray exposure, cells pretreated with WR‐1065 showed increased GSH levels, improved cell viability, and decreased HO fluorescence in addition to a lesser proportion of cells with apoptotic nuclear modifications. Between 72 and 120 hr postirradiation, ADT‐pretreated cells also showed increased intracellular GSH levels and cell viability and decreased HO fluorescence and apoptotic cell morphology. This in vitro study demonstrates that WR‐1065 and ADT protects lens epithelial cells from x‐ray injury; thus, ADT and amifostine are appropriate candidates for clinical trials in humans. They are currently used in preventing radiation‐induced xerostomia and should be further tested in the prevention of late radiation‐induced ocular complications such as sicca syndrome and cataract. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Ideological morality education is not only the need of new country construction,but also the import way of new country construction.During the construction of new country,ideological morality education takes an import part in education and guide,encouragement and cohesion,guide and communication,which builds good ethics and moral social environment for social new country construction.


The invention relates to an image three-dimensional matching method and a device thereof. The invention is characterized in that the invention comprises the following steps: a graphic identifier is adopted to extract feature points of a detection image one and a candidate matching image two; a multi-dimensional vector identifier makes a multi-parameter description to the feature points of the feature list to acquire the multi-dimensional vectors described by the parameters of the feature points; a data optimizer reduces the multi-dimensional vector described by the parameters of each feature point of the remarkable feature point list of the image one, calculates the similarity of each feature point of the feature point list of the reduced image one and the feature point of the feature point list of the image two to acquire the candidate matching point set of the image one; a classifier is used to classify the comparison result to judge the matching result of the image one and the image two. The invention has higher matching accuracy and efficiency to the three-dimensional image matching.


abstract A small, single cylinder diesel engine was set up to investigate the impact of engine operating conditions on emissions of hydrocarbons and NOX The engine was operated on a synthetic digester gas (CO2/CH4. mixture) that was typical of the gas produced at waste water treatment plants. The test engine was instrumented to measure torque, rpm, temperatures and pressures, flow rates of gases and exhaust gas composition. The impact of digester gas and exhaust gas recirculation on NOx emissions was measured with a chemiluminescent analyzer. For some runs the non-methane organic gases (NMOG), CO2, 02 and methane concentrations were also measured with a gas chromatograph to provide a more complete emissions picture. Higher engine loads generally resulted in higher NOx emissions, caused by increased combustion temperatures. An increased concentration of digester gas lowered the NOx emissions up to a certain point due to a decreased thermal NO-formation rate. Increasing the rate of digester gas beyond this ...


Abstract In this article we consider the problem of estimating the parameters of the Fréchet distribution from both frequentist and Bayesian points of view. First we briefly describe different frequentist approaches, namely, maximum likelihood, method of moments, percentile estimators, L-moments, ordinary and weighted least squares, maximum product of spacings, maximum goodness-of-fit estimators and compare them using extensive numerical simulations. Next, we consider the Bayesian infer- ence approach using reference priors. Five real data sets related to the minimum flow of water on Piracicaba river in Brazil are used to illustrate the applicability of the discussed procedures.


This paper analyzes the isotropy properties of curvelet transform. By the way of USFFT algorithm of curvelet transform,the authors have applied it to the gesture-edge features application.As the result of experiments,the curvelet transform is prior to the wavelet transform when applied to the gesture-edge features which can give more edge information of gesture and create more conditions for future pattern analysis in high-dimension space.


Abstract Archaeology's participation in the digital renaissance of the twenty-first century requires adequate operationalization of technological methods, such as three-dimensional scanning. Here, we describe and demonstrate a geographic information systems-based lithic morphometric research (GLiMR) software approach. GLiMR accurately and rapidly handles a sequence of ArcGIS procedures to extract geometric morphometric data from 2D and 3D scan files that are impractical to record by hand, opening new doors to the analysis of lithic artifacts. GLiMR generates three main types of geometric properties: shape data, topographic data, and domain aggregate data. These data can be extracted in ways that support other analyses of artifact form, including generalized Procrustes analysis, principal components analysis, and cluster analyses. We illustrate the use of GLiMR by presenting a basic case study that compares the geometric morphometry of Western Stemmed Tradition projectile points found in two cache features at Idaho's Cooper's Ferry site and from other sites in the Columbia River Plateau region of the Pacific Northwest. Cluster analyses of the generalized Procrustes analysis of 3D landmarks from Cooper's Ferry cache points fail to separate the two caches from one another on the basis of their geometric morphometric attributes. We interpret these results to suggest that these stemmed projectile points were probably created by persons who shared a specific set of technological production guidelines for the manufacture of Western Stemmed Tradition projectile points. Cluster analyses indicate that Cooper's Ferry Western Stemmed Tradition projectile points can be morphometrically separated from stemmed points found at other regional sites; however, significant overlaps were seen among stemmed projectile points from the Pilcher Creek site, which may suggest the existence of contemporaneous information sharing networks or macroband territorial movements.


This thesis examined passengers' intuitive navigation in airports. It aims to ensure that passengers can navigate fast and efficiently through these complex environments. Field research was conducted at two Australian international airports. Participants wore eye-tracking glasses while finding their way through the terminal. Insight was gained into the intuitive use of navigation elements in the airport environment.

With a detailed understanding of how passengers' navigate, the findings from this research can be used to improve airport design and planning. This will assist passengers who don't regularly fly as well as those who are frequent flyers.


Sweeteners currently in people's daily lives more and more applied, the development of science and technology not only greatly increase the variety of sweeteners, but also make it safety and nutrition.This article explain the sweetenerters market, introduce the function and application of it, combine with current market conditions,and analysis the trends of sweeteners.


The STOL and Maneuver Technology Demonstretor (S/MTD) program was defined to develop technologies that would enable a supersonic fighter to land in 1500 ft and also echance up-and-away mneuverability. Key to meeting the requirements is the development of an Integrated Flight/Propulsion Control (IFPC) system. Design requirements for the IFPC system emphasized Level 1 fiying qualities across the full envelope from subsonic end supersonic maneuvering through precision approach and touchdown to ground handling. The wording of the contract, however, specified the "intent of MIL-F-8785C" with an additional requirement to substantiate and document deviations from specifications. The objective of this paper is to present the deviations from MIL-F-8785C plus any special interpretations that had to be made in the S/MTD development. Also included are some new features introduced by MIL-F-8785C that are considered to have been validated by the S/MTD development. That specification is now being replaced by MIL-STD-1797, and early S/WD lesscns learned were incorporated. As much as possible therefore, discussion in this paper will be suggested revisions to MIL-STD-1797.


A model coordinate acquisition was suggested by the Zagreb City Library as a temporary solution toward a fully centralised acquisition. A motive for the centralised acquisition is the saving of the funds and the rationalization of the library operation. A necessary respect will be given to special materials needed by individual libraries within the centralised acquisition scheme and to the different structures of their users. In order to realise this principle it has been decided that one third of the available funds will be used strictly for individual needs of the libraries (acquisition of new titles, antiquarian books etc.). The main targets of the centralised acquisition: money savings and rationalisation of operation are considered not to be jeopardised in this way.


Training is regarded as an indicator for organizations' performance. To analyze appropriate learning methods for technology-related training across the phases of technology use we develop a semi-structured, explorative survey methodology. The methodology is tested with a sample of 53 healthcare professionals from China, France and the USA. Based on that, lessons learnt are concluded that confirm the usefulness of the methodology for research and practice. In addition, further improvements and enlargements of the methodology are illustrated in this paper as basis for further research.


Currently,independent travelling has become one of the global main ways to travel.By using the social network analysis and method of cartographic representation,this study was designed to identify the geographical distribution and network structure characteristics of inbound independent foreign tourist flows in China.Both surveys and interviews were conducted to collect data at 9 popular tourism destinations in China,including Beijing,Shanghai,Xi'an and so on.The results are as follows.Firstly,there are significant differences between independent tourist flows and group package tourist flows.In the independent tourist flow network,Beijing,Guangzhou and Shanghai are all core ports,while only Beijing and Shanghai are core ports in the group package tourist flow network.For foreign independent tourists,the Internet is the most important information source,while for the group package foreign tourists,both the Internet and travel agencies are important information sources.Communication,distance and transportation are the three main barriers for foreign independent tourists and group package tourists travelling around China.Compared with the group package tourists,it's much harder for the independent tourists to gather information about China.Most independent tourists are young people while most group package tourists are aged people.Secondly,most of the independent tourists visited one or a few destinations,and the average number of destinations they visited is 3.27,while the average number of destinations that the group package tourists visited is 4.64.Beijing and Guangzhou are extremely popular to the foreign independent tourists who visited only one destination.Thirdly,the foreign independent tourist flows distribute in the southeast of Hu Line,much more than that of the foreign group package tourist flows.Destinations are more visited by the foreign independent tourist flows than group package tourist flows in each province of China.Three regional concentrated distribution areas of foreign independent tourist flows are formed:Yangtze River delta,Pearl River delta and Sichuan-Yunnan region.Meanwhile,Taipei appears in the destinations of China Tour.On the national scale,a majority of tourist flows are travelled between Beijing and Xi'an,Beijing and Shanghai,while in Yangtze River delta,between Shanghai and Suzhou,Shanghai and Hangzhou,and in Pearl River delta,between Guangzhou and Hong Kong.Fourthly,the network of inbound foreign independent tourist flows is proved to be a small-world network,with short average path length of 2.434,and high clustering coefficient of 0.607.The nodes in the network of inbound foreign independent tourist flows were divided into four types:comprehensive nodes,hub nodes,important nodes,and common nodes.Beijing,Shanghai,Guangzhou and Hong Kong are comprehensive nodes,Xi'an,Guilin,Chengdu and Hangzhou are hub nodes;Kunming,Shenzhen,Yangshuo,Dalian,Chongqing,Nanjing,Xiamen,Lijiang,Suzhou,Wuhan,Macao,Qindao,Ningbo,Dali,Urumchi and Zhangjiajie are important nodes and the remainders are fringe nodes.


Documents released to The Times under freedom of information laws show that park rangers logged 219 cases of antisocial behaviour in January to the end of June. These included 155 cases involving alcohol, 27 involving drugs, eight crimes, six cases of homeless people sleeping in the grounds and three cases of people having sex in the park...

[May require free registration to read full article on The Times website]


In ferroelectric films of vinylidenefluoride with 6 mol. % tetrafluoroethylene copolymers values remnant P/sub r/ and maximum P/sub s/ polarization depends on temperature of uniaxial drawing T/sub d/. Films with lower T/sub d/ have high magnitudes of P/sub r/ and P/sub s/. Data of IR spectroscopy, small-angle X-ray diffraction SAXS and ultrasonic relaxation show that the drawing realized at lower temperatures leads to higher concentrations of conformations of planar zigzag and increases their degree of orientation. Approaching to "ideal monocrystall" texture is a necessary condition to obtain high ferroelectric and piezoelectric characteristics in such systems.


A sufficient condition for stability of a class of sampled-data feedback systems containing a memory-less, nonlinear gain element is obtained. The new stability theorem for the class of systems discussed requires that the following relationship be satisfied on the unit circle: \Re G^{\ast}(z)[1 + q(z - 1)] + \frac{1}{K} - \frac{K'|q|}{2} | (z - 1)G^{\ast}(z)|^{2} \leq 0 . In this papers the stability criterion embodied in this theorem can be readily obtained from the frequency response of the linear plant. This method is essentially similar to Popov's method applied to the study of nonlinear continuous systems. Furthermore, Tsypkin's resuits for the discrete case are obtained as a special case when q=0 . Several examples are discussed, and the results are compared with Lyapunov's quadratic and quadratic plus integral forms as well as with other methods. For these examples, the results obtained from the new theorem yield less conservative values of gain than Lyapunov's method. Furthermore, for certain linear plants the new theorem also yields the necessary and sufficient conditions.


N‐terminal pro‐B‐type natriuretic peptide (NT‐proBNP), a commonly used clinical marker of cardiac function, is associated with the presence of stroke symptoms and is a strong risk factor for future atrial fibrillation, stroke, and all‐cause mortality. Few data are available on the association between NT‐proBNP levels and stroke recurrence.


Abstract. Covering of eggs is important antipredator behaviour which is known for several bird species. Generally this behaviour is considered consistent throughout the whole nesting cycle but there can be exceptions in some species. We found two switches in egg covering during nesting in grey partridge: the first between two early laying phases, the second between later laying and incubation. The clutch containing only the first egg remained uncovered, larger clutches were covered with dry vegetation in the laying period, but the eggs remained uncovered during incubation breaks. There was a strong consistency of this behaviour among females. From four tested factors, only nesting period significantly affected egg covering. We assume that the first uncovered egg may serve as a bait for predators to test nest-site safety whereas the motion in the course of egg covering during short incubation breaks may increase predator attraction.


The subject of the study is a set of criteria, measures and indicators for assessing the financial security of banks and methodological approaches to its evaluation. The purpose of this article is to systematize theoretical and methodological provisions and substantiate practical recommendations for assessing the level of financial security of banks. The main objectives of the study are: study and analysis of the existing methodological approaches to assessing the level of financial security of banks, identification of advantages and disadvantages of each, on this basis modification of the authors' own methodological approach, including criteria, measures, indicators, weights. In the course of the research, the following methods were used: abstract-logical analysis  for theoretical generalization and justification of directions and results of the study, systematic and statistical analysis  for analysis and systematization of methodological approaches to assessing the level of financial security of banks, method of expert analysis for establishing the coefficients of significance of parameters in proposed models, graphical method  for visualization and schematic representation of theoretical and practical results of the study. Bank security zones have been proposed for each level of bank financial security and strategies for value-oriented management have been developed. Results. The existing methods and models for assessing the level of financial security of commercial banks were studied; the advantages and disadvantages of each are identified; an original methodological approach to assessment (criteria, indicators, indicators, weights and algorithm) under the conditions of macroeconomic instability was summarized and proposed. Conclusions. Based on a comprehensive analysis of the works of domestic and foreign scholars and practitioners on the problem of assessing and ensuring the financial security of commercial banks, it has been established that no single comprehensive model for assessing the financial security of banks has been developed yet. All existing models have a high affinity and no systemicity. A system of financial security valuation indicators is proposed, based on a valueoriented approach, and including indicators that integrate into five functional components: capital and resource, credit and investment, income and expense security, currency and value-monetary security of the bank. This approach makes it possible to quantify the impact of each set of indicators on the financial security level of a banking institution, determine its integral level and conduct its operational, tactical and strategic assessment. According to established zones of financial security of banks, value-oriented strategies for managing banks under the conditions of macroeconomic uncertainty are proposed.


Improved survival rates for some cancer survivor groups has created an opportunity to examine the potential role of lifestyle factors in further reducing the risk of recurrence and extending survival. Th e purpose of this paper is to review the literature on physical activity and clinical endpoints in cancer survivors and discuss translational research needs. Th ere are several recent large prospective observational studies that have reported an inverse association between postdiagnosis physical activity and disease recurrence, cancer-specifi c mortality, and all-cause mortality in breast and colorectal cancer survivors. Moreover, supportive evidence from small randomized trials on the eff ects of physical activity on the purported biological mechanisms for these clinical endpoints is consistent with these fi ndings. To date, however, there are no randomized controlled trials demonstrating that adopting a physical activity program after a cancer diagnosis can alter the course of the disease or extend overall survival. Challenges to conducting such trials include the costs and the diffi culty of sustaining behavior change over the long term. If such trials were to demonstrate the eff ectiveness of physical activity for disease control, however, issues of how best to translate these fi ndings into clinical and community practice would become paramount.


based on the new discovery of moving photon do
create force and a formula of describe this new discovery: Applying this
discovery from the micro world to the macro world, show that from atomic world
to the galaxy world, the nature has been working obeys this law, and their actions can
all be described by this formula. The Coulomb law and Newton law of university
gravitation are only calculation formula in the specific condition status.


The invention discloses a method for improving the tensile strength and the sensory quality of paper-making reconstructed tobaccos. The method has the advantages that chitosan is added into extract liquor at a concentration stage, the chitosan and reducing carbohydrates, which are contained in the tobaccos, in the extract liquor are subjected to Maillard reaction, and aroma components which are harmonious with the tobaccos are generated, so that the sensory quality of the reconstructed tobaccos is improved; the chitosan is added into coating liquor, small-molecule aroma substances are generated via high-temperature pyrolysis during burning and smoking, aroma of the reconstructed tobaccos is enriched, the quality of the aroma is improved, and accordingly the integral sensory smoking taste of the reconstructed tobaccos is improved; the tensile strength of finished reconstructed tobacco products is further improved while the sensory smoking taste of the reconstructed tobaccos is improved, crushing of the reconstructed tobaccos when the reconstructed tobaccos are blended into cigarettes is reduced, and a novel way is provided for utilizing the chitosan in reconstructed tobacco manufacturing procedures.


While declining click-through rates and banner blindness are raising concerns among internet advertisers, a new advertisement format is gaining momentum slowly, exposure to advertisements on printouts. This is evident from the attempts of various websites to put advertisements on printer-friendly versions or stealth insertions for print function. A before-after study group-control group experiment was conducted on 451 internet users in order to compare advertising effectiveness of cross media advertising of these innovative approaches. The purpose of the study was to test hypothesis regarding the effect of viewing advertisements on internet sites versus prints originating from them. We conducted a behavioral experiment to measure recall of advertisements and advertisement messages, brand attitude and purchase intention as a result of exposure to internet and printout advertisements. Reinforcement of internet advertisements with printouts appeared to increase brand recall significantly. While brand attitudes were unaffected by viewing internet advertisements, consumers perceived brands appearing on their print-outs more favorably. Finally, while internet advertisements were lost in clutter, the advertisements appearing on print-outs were not only noticed, but remembered as well. The findings indicate towards an opportunity of extending ecommerce by reaching the consumers through an innovative route – their print-outs. External Posting Date: July 6, 2008 [Fulltext] Approved for External Publication Internal Posting Date: July 6, 2008 [Fulltext] Submitted to ACM SIG EC08, ACM Special Interest Group on Electronic Commerce (SIGECOM) © Copyright 2008 Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P. Advertisement avoidance on internet: Can internet printing help? Nidhi Mathur HP Labs, Bangalore, India firstname.lastname@example.com Abstract: While declining click-through rates and banner blindness are raising concerns among internet advertisers, a new advertisement format is gaining momentum slowly, exposure to advertisements on printouts. This is evident from the attempts of various websites to put advertisements on printer-friendly versions or stealth insertions for print function. While declining click-through rates and banner blindness are raising concerns among internet advertisers, a new advertisement format is gaining momentum slowly, exposure to advertisements on printouts. This is evident from the attempts of various websites to put advertisements on printer-friendly versions or stealth insertions for print function. A before-after study group-control group experiment was conducted on 451 internet users in order to compare advertising effectiveness of cross media advertising of these innovative approaches. The purpose of the study was to test hypothesis regarding the effect of viewing advertisements on internet sites versus prints originating from them. We conducted a behavioral experiment to measure recall of advertisements and advertisement messages, brand attitude and purchase intention as a result of exposure to internet and printout advertisements. Reinforcement of internet advertisements with printouts appeared to increase brand recall significantly. While brand attitudes were unaffected by viewing internet advertisements, consumers perceived brands appearing on their print-outs more favorably. Finally, while internet advertisements were lost in clutter, the advertisements appearing on print-outs were not only noticed, but remembered as well. The findings indicate towards an opportunity of extending e-commerce by reaching the consumers through an innovative route – their print-outs.


This overview of the situation of Jews prior to and during the war discusses the increasing social stratification of the Jewish community during the interwar period, their willingness to unite and overcome ideological differences in order to help France prepare for war, the appeals for solidarity from the Muslim progressives, the impact of the fall of France on Jewish consciousness, the politics surrounding the implementation of the anti-Semitic Vichy legislation that targeted Jews and deprived many of their livelihood, and finally the impact of the American landings on all Moroccans, with special emphasis on the relationship between American officials and the Jewish community. The arrival of the American forces upset pro-Vichy colonial officials while Jewish Moroccans rejoiced, deepening the gulf between them. In fact, wartime conditions created an entirely new volatile mix, heightening tensions among the various actors on the scene: Pétainists, pro-Nazis, the residency, Jewish activists, Muslim notables, nationalists, and now, the Americans. The realignment of players and the diminution of Vichy authority after November 1942 gave hope to both Moroccan Jews and Moroccan Muslims that post-war conditions would improve their situations and lead to new forms of political freedom.


The input torque inputted for an ankle of a walking robot is compensated for the target torque for a valve related to the actuating torque from the ground surface measured by a sensor, and a value related to the actual torque applied by the ankle of the robot is obtained by providing feedback so that the walking safety of the robot is obtained.


Abstract : In the current environment, neither the United States, nor any other government, can effectively set a ceiling on aviation technology flowing to South America and its Southern Cone. Limits will come on the demand side because current supply is simply too great. Instead of trying to artificially limit supply of military aircraft, interested governments should put their political and diplomatic energies into initiatives to build political and economic stability in the region. In the military sphere, they can do so by promoting multilaterial service to service contracts and concrete political initiatives, such as a resolution of the last border dispute between Chile and Argentina, that will lessen the importance of military power in assisting regional security.


Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an important pathogen that causes huge economic losses to the swine industry worldwide. Here, a novel variant of PRRSV strain named TJnh2021 was isolated from nursery piglets with morbidity rate (75%) and mortality rate (40%) in Tianjin Province of China in 2021. Phylogenetic and molecular evolutionary analyses revealed that TJnh2021 was highly similar to NADC34-like (lineage1.5, isolated in North America in 2014) in the ORF1ab-ORF2 and ORF6-ORF7 coding regions, as well as to QYYZ-like (lineage3, isolated in China in 2010) in the ORF3-ORF5, suggestive of a natural recombination event. Recombination analyses revealed that recombination events occurred in two inter-lineage recombination events between lineages 1.5 and 3, and two breakpoints in ORF2 (nt12196) and ORF5(nt13628) (with reference to the VR-2332 strain). Animal experiments demonstrated that TJnh2021 caused mortality rates of 40% and exhibited higher pathogenicity in piglets compared to other lineage 1.5 strains reported in China. Taken altogether, NADC34-like PRRSV has undergone genetic exchange with Chinese local PRRSV strains and recombination might be responsible for the variations in pathogenicity and highlight the importance of surveillance of this lineage in China. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Design-for-test, logic built-in self-test, memory technology mapping, and clocking concerns require team-months of verification time as they traditionally happen at gate-level. We present a novel concern-oriented methodology that enables automatic insertion of these concerns at the register-transfer-level where verification is easier. The methodology involves three main phases: 1) flipflop inference and instantiation algorithms that handle parametric register transfer level (RTL) modules; 2) transformations that take entry RTL and produce RTL modules where memory elements are separated from functionality; and 3) a concern weaving tool that automatically inserts memory related design concerns implemented in recipe files into the RTL modules. The transformation is sound as proven and validated by equivalence checking using formal verification. We implemented the methodology in a tool that is currently used in an industrial setting wherein it reduced design verification time by more than 40%. The methodology is also effective with open source embedded system frameworks.


The author in his article solves the problems of ev aluation explosive strenght abbilities of Slovakia national team in basketball at cathegory U 14. He used reccommend ed orms for athletics jumping disciplines. He foun d out very low level at this motor abbilities and reccomm end some examples for practise.


This paper presents a heading drift correction method and experimental results for position tracking of human movement based on the use of foot-mounted inertial/magnetic sensor modules. A position tracking algorithm was previously developed, which incorporated a zero velocity update technique for correcting accelerometer drift. Previous experiments indicated the presence of a persistent heading drift in the estimated position. In this paper, a simple method for correcting this drift is presented. The method requires the user to walk over a closed loop path with the foot-mounted sensor module. Assuming a constant sensor bias for this initial walk, the resulting position error is then used to accomplish an in situ correction for position estimates during future walks. Experimental results validate the effectiveness of the drift correction method and show a significant improvement in position tracking accuracy. Accuracy is determined based on the final position estimates following walks of 100 and 400 meters. Estimated distance traveled averages within 0.2% of actual distance traveled and distance from the actual position averages within 0.28% of actual distance traveled.


This paper analyzes the labor dispute empirical cases because the agreement of people mediation is not mandatory,which is also the practical problem of people's mediation agreement.The paper discusses the reasons and nature of the people's mediation agreements,the demand that modern civil pursue the certainty principle,and the reflection on the existing judicial confirmation system of people mediation agreement.The paper puts forward the suggestions on people's mediation agreement force to perfect it.


The project matrix learned by classic Latent Semantic Analysis is always dense,which leads to high storage cost and unclear semantic for each topic.To tackle this problem,a novel sparse topic model was proposed in this paper.By enforcing the sparsity of project matrix,the new model only selects a small number of relevant words for each topic and hence leads to a clear semantic interpretation.Moreover,by enforcing the low rankness of encoding matrix,data projected in the topic subspace shows a better clustering features.Experimental result show that topic subspace learned by our new topic model is in favor of classification,and significantly reduces the storage cost of project matrix.


Bathymetry within the eastern parts of Port Stephens is dominated by an extensive flood tide delta, stretching from the ocean entrance, westward to Corlette and Corrie Island. The delta is changing and the slow but incessant variation in the form of the Port presents a series of ongoing and fluid challenges relating to managing the foreshore both to the north and south of the waterway. This paper presents a comparison between two historical bathymetric surveys, from 1969 and 2007. Change over the entire flood tide delta has been estimated along with comparisons within more localised, but important locations. The methods used have required consideration of the likely accuracy and resolution of the available data. Our comparison reveals a number of both broad scale and more localised trends of evolution that have relevance to managing locations around the foreshore. The paper discusses the evolutionary mechanisms with particular reference to the findings of previous research. Recent management actions, the mechanisms leading to the management challenges and a discussion of potential medium term future issues arising from the ongoing evolution are discussed within the paper.


When plasma engineers need to perform kinetic simulations of collisionless plasmas, they naturally turn to the particle-in-cell (PIC) method. This popular method is based on a straightforward and robust algorithm, and it is implemented in many widely available and user-friendly code packages. However, it cannot be wise to think of collisionless plasma simulation as a closed topic, awaiting only refinements of the PIC algorithms and faster machines. There are other techniques for plasma kinetic simulation that are worthy of development; this paper describes some initial results with one such alternate.


AbstractThe orographic effects of landfall location, approach angle, and their combination on track deflection during the passage of a cyclone vortex over a mesoscale mountain range are investigated using idealized model simulations. For an elongated mesoscale mountain range, the local vorticity generation, driving the cyclone vortex track deflection, is more dominated by vorticity advection upstream of the mountain range, by vorticity stretching over the lee side and its immediate downstream area, and by vorticity advection again far downstream of the mountain as it steers the vortex back to its original direction of movement. The vorticity advection upstream of the mountain range is caused by the flow splitting associated with orographic blocking. It is found that the ideally simulated cyclone vortex tracks compare reasonably well with observed tracks of typhoons over Taiwan's Central Mountain Range (CMR).In analyzing the relative vorticity budget, the authors found that jumps in the vortex path are lar...


Long-term heart rate variability (HRV) analysis is useful as a noninvasive technique for autonomic nervous system activity assessment. It provides a method for assessing many physiological and pathological factors that modulate the normal heartbeat. The performance of HRV analysis systems heavily depends on a reliable and accurate detection of the R peak of the QRS complex. Ectopic beats caused by misdetection or arrhythmic events can introduce bias into HRV results, resulting in significant problems in their interpretation. This study presents a novel method for long-term detection of normal R peaks (which represent the normal heartbeat in electrocardiographic signals), intended specifically for HRV analysis. The very low computational complexity of the proposed method, which combines and exploits the advantages of syntactical and statistical approaches, enables real-time applications. The approach was validated using the Massachusetts Institute of Technology–Beth Israel Hospital Normal Sinus Rhythm and the Fantasia database, and has a sensitivity, positive predictivity, detection error rate, and accuracy of 99.998, 99.999, 0.003, and 99.996%, respectively.


Binary extremal self-dual codes of type II and their automorphisms Wolfgang Willems Otto-von-Guericke-Universität Magdeburg Extremal type II codes are for several reasons of particular interest. However only for small lengths such codes have been contructed. In order to find larger examples 'symmetries' or in other words 'non-trivial automorphisms' may be helpful. In this spirit the talk deals with automorphisms of putative extremal codes of type II. The known examples and what we can prove naturally lead to interesting conjectures. Finally, we classify all extremal extended quadratic residue codes of type II. The results are joint work with Stefka Bouyuklieva (Veliko Tarnovo) and Anton Malevich (Magdeburg).


Four new species of Homalomena (Araceae : Homalomeneae) are described from Sarawak. The current supraspecific taxonomy of the genus is reviewed and reasons for not recognizing at this time formal supraspecific units are justified although the need for species groupings is restated. In line with other large, taxonomically intractable groups, informal groups are proposed and circumscribed. All new species are illustrated.


This work tries to show the professional development of Psychology in schools, seeing School Psychology not as an special branch sensu stricto but a professional concretion of Psychology in the service of School and Education. From this professional view, the articles is addressed in its first par to historical development of School Psychology and in the second part, to its development in our country with special reference to educational system and laws about psychoeducational duties. As a consequence, we conclude there are little perspectiva of professional development of Psychology in the schools if not integrating psychological tasks into other professional roles as a consultant, psychopedagogist, etc.


Forbidden Crystals In crystalline materials, a unit cell is replicated in space through a series of rotations, inversions, and reflections. In order to fully fill space, only certain rotational symmetries are allowed. Quasicrystals contain aperiodic tilings of two or more basic shapes that allow these forbidden rotation symmetries. A number of quasicrystalline materials have been synthesized in the lab, including a number of aluminum alloys. Bindi et al. (p. 1306) examined samples of the mineral khatyrkite, with a nominal composition of (Cu,Zn)Al2. A number of quasicrystalline grains with composition similar to synthetically formed materials were observed. Thus, quasicrystals can form in nature under geological conditions. A sample of the mineral khatyrkite contains quasicrystals, which are ordered but lack the translational symmetry of crystals. Quasicrystals are solids whose atomic arrangements have symmetries that are forbidden for periodic crystals, including configurations with fivefold symmetry. All examples identified to date have been synthesized in the laboratory under controlled conditions. Here we present evidence of a naturally occurring icosahedral quasicrystal that includes six distinct fivefold symmetry axes. The mineral, an alloy of aluminum, copper, and iron, occurs as micrometer-sized grains associated with crystalline khatyrkite and cupalite in samples reported to have come from the Koryak Mountains in Russia. The results suggest that quasicrystals can form and remain stable under geologic conditions, although there remain open questions as to how this mineral formed naturally.


The versatate-fluorocarbon emulsion with core-shell structure was synthesized by seeded emulsion polymerization using versatate-acrylate copolymer as core and organicfluorine-acrylate copolymer as shell.The influence of the amount of emulsifier and initiator,reaction temperature,reaction time on the properties of emulsion were discussed.The composite emulsion were characterized with contact angle analyzer and transmission electron microscopy.The results showed that the emulsion had good properties while w(emulsifier)=3.5%,w(initiator)=0.3%,reaction temperature is 85℃ and reaction continuous time is 2 h.


Three questions are discussed in this paper: (1) concept of mining area; (2) a starting point of researching sustainable development of mining area; (3) some fundamental problems in the study of sustainable development of mining area, and conclusions interrelated are acquired.


Objective: Ultrasonic diagnosis was utilized for the study of the relation of the varicocele and male sterility, in order to search the simple methods for diagnosis and screening of male sterility. Methods: Seventy-four patients of male sterility and 57 normal adults were investigated by ultrasonography with 7.5MHz probe of high resolution. The diameter of spermatic vein, the test of regurgitation of blood flow were measured and spermatic fluid was examined. Results: The varicocele was higher in the male sterility than normal adults(P0.01). The number and activity of sperm between normal adults and varicocele had significant difference(P0.01). Conclusions: The incidence of varicocele was higher in male sterility than normal adults, it was one important cause of male sterility. Therefore, the common examination of varicocele was necessary to the patients of male sterility by Doppler sonography.


Information gotten from water quality monitoring is useful in the management of water resources. The water quality of the Okhuaihe River, Edo State, Nigeria was investigated from October 2016 to June 2017 to determine its fitness for drinking and usage for domestic purposes. Water samples collected from four stations were tested for thirty-two physicochemical parameters using standard analytical procedures. Most of the parameters determined were within the acceptable limits permitted by the World Health Organization and Federal Ministry of Environment for potable drinking water and domestic usage, except for Colour, Biological Oxygen Demand, Iron, Cadmium and Lead, which exceeded the accepted limits of the set standards. High significant difference (P 0.05) across the stations studied. Temporal analysis showed variations in the wet and dry seasons period, for all parameters studied. WQI obtained from the four stations are 17.01 (Station 1), 13.29 (Station 2), 14.54 (Station 3) and 13.24 (Station 4). The values fell within the permissible limits ( 1 accounted for 83.802% of the total variance. Although the quality of the water from the Okhuaihe River is suitable for drinking and domestic usage, regular monitoring of human activities along the waterfront and control of effluents discharged into the river by regulating authorities is recommended to sustain and improve water quality. Keywords: human activities, physicochemical parameters, water quality index, principal component analysis


We review our earlier results on the role of chiral symmetry in pion condensation and show how they are completely consistent with Sawyer's observations in the preceding comment.


A unit assembled transfer cart frame comprises two slide-rail sets 10 with identical structure, the slide-rail set 10 comprises two posts 101, five slide-rails 102 between the two posts 101; connectors 201 at two ends of two connecting rods 20 respectively moveably connect with the posts 101 of the slide-rail sets 10; a bearing component 40 for bearing articles is moveably inserted in the slide-rail 102, the bearing component 40 is moveably positioned relative to the slide-rail sets through locking mechanisms. The invention is versatile, widely applicable, shock-proof and absorbing, dustproof and anti-static, easy to collect, and covers little space. The invention is suitable for end-to-end online use in factory, and use during transportation and in storehouse.


Cardio-hemodynamics and systemic hemocirculation of a person before and after cold test influence in contrast year seasons was investigated to study the influence of environmental temperature on various parts of the cardiovascular system. Heart rate, speed and time of transaortic blood flow in the aortic root were measured by echocardiography. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure was measured by tonometer on the stages of cardio-hemodynamics study. It was established that the person in clinostatic body position and in a state of relative rest had lower diastolic blood pressure, speed transaortic blood flow and performance of the heart in December than in June. The study showed that the body's response to cold test influence in the summer was characterized by decreased systolic blood pressure, increased heart rate and short-term reduction of cardio-hemodynamics. In winter, the period of low air temperature local freezing caused at first increase of systolic blood pressure, and in succeeding period decrease of systolic blood pressure relative to baseline values. Wherein, change in cardio-hemodynamics and chronotropic function of the heart was not found. The results showed reduced peripheral vascular tone, less venous return to the heart with a decrease of cardio-hemodynamics and myocardial performance of a person in the cold season. The reaction of the cardiovascular system to the local freeznig was more obvious in the summer and was accompanied by a positive chronotropic effect, decreased intracardiac and systemic hemodynamics during the period of circulatory homeostasis of the body after the test.


The Internet of Things The term Internet of Things appears to have been coined by a member of the RFID development community circa 2000, who referred to the possibility of discovering information about a tagged object by browsing an Internet address or database entry that corresponds to a particular RFID. Since that time, visionaries have seized on the phrase " Internet of Things " to refer to the general idea of things, especially everyday objects, that are readable, recognizable, locatable, addressable, and/or controllable via the Internet—whether via RFID, wireless LAN, wide-area network, or other means. Everyday objects includes not only the electronic devices we encounter everyday, and not only the products of higher technological development such as vehicles and equipment, but things that we do not ordinarily think of as electronic at all—such as food, clothing, 1 The Technology Roadmap highlights the timing, features, and applications of significant technology milestones that would be necessary for developers of this technology to achieve if successful (equivalent to commercial) application—and possible disruption—is to occur by 2025. Demand for expedited logistics Cost reduction leading to diffusion into 2nd wave of applications Ability of devices located indoors to receive geolocation signals Physical-World Web Software agents and advanced sensor fusion Teleoperation and telepresence: Ability to monitor and control distant objects Miniaturization, power-efficient electronics, and available spectrum


Any open Riemann surface $R_0$ of finite genus $g$ can be conformally embedded into a closed Riemann surface of the same genus, that is, $R_0$ is realized as a subdomain of a closed Riemann surface of genus $g$. We are concerned with the set $M(R_0)$ of such closed Riemann surfaces. We formulate the problem in the Teichmuller space setting to investigate geometric properties of $M(R_{0})$. We show, among other things, that $M(R_{0})$ is a closed Lipschitz domain homeomorphic to a closed ball provided that $R_0$ is nonanalytically finite.


There is an increasing need to deploy speech recognition systems supporting multiple languages/dialects on portable devices worldwide. A common approach uses a collection of individual monolingual speech recognition systems as a solution. However, such an approach is not practical for handheld devices such as cell phones due to stringent restrictions on memory and computational resources. In this paper, we present a simple and effective method to develop multilingual acoustic models that achieve comparable performance relative to monolingual acoustic models but with only a fraction of the storage space of the combined monolingual acoustic model set.


This paper presents initial results of an ongoing research project that is concerned with the development of strong right angle composite joints for civil engineering applications. Experimental, analytical and numerical results for four different types of monocoque right angle joints loaded in pure bending will be presented. It will be shown that a significant increase in load carrying capacity can be obtained through small changes to the inside corner of the joints. The test results also demonstrate that there is reasonable correlation between the failure mode of the joints and the location and severity of the stress concentrations predicted by the FE method.


Abstract This paper reviews the Heterostigmata (Acari: Prostigmata) in Turkey, with an updated checklist of 41 species belonging to 7 families and 16 genera. Heterostigmatic mites Kerdabania variabilis Khaustov (Neopygmephoridae), Tarsonemus talpae Schaarschmidt (Tarsonemidae); T. bilobatus Suski and T. aequalis Livshits, Mitrofanov & Sharonov were identified as new records for mite fauna of Turkey. Tarsonemus smithi Ewing and T. waitei Banks have also been found during this study. The samples were collected during the vegetation periods from garlic growing areas and fruit orchards in Kastamonu and Ankara, Turkey, during the period 2012–2015. The plant samples were extracted by using Berlese funnel and the specimens were mounted in micro slides in Hoyer's medium. Collection data and geographical distribution of these species are provided. Besides, Heterostigmata species which were previously reported from Turkey are also presented here.


The current financial crisis is the worst we have ever seen since the one in 1929 – 1933. Although Keynesianism has become, over the last few years, more and more of an undesirable economic doctrine, due to state interventionism within the economy, current events have created a stir concerning the return to traditional Keynesianism, as the only way to efficiently counter the effects of an economic crunch the lights of which we have never seen before. But there have also been countries which have adopted concrete Keynesian policies in order to diminish the negative impact of the current crisis, and, while some countries have adopted such measures, Romania still lingers in a state of political uncertainty which further deepens the economic crisis. Adopting serious, complete and concrete measures laid out by the famous British economist may be the only way out for a country already in disarray.


Remifentanil is a new short-acting artificialμ-opioid agonist,easily hydrolyzed by cholinesterase in body because it has an ester structure,which is barely influenced by age,gender or weight,and even does not depend on hepatic and renal capacity.With very short halbwertzeit,no accumulation from continuous infusion and little side effects,it is an ideal fast and effective short-acting narcotic analgesic.Here is to review the application in the patients with organ dysfunction.


Abstract The purpose of this research was to investigate differences in the perception of speakers as a function of their language and sex. Forty-two Italo-Australian and 56 Greek-Australian young people listened to male and female speakers in each of their two languages, using Lambert et al's. (1960) guise method. Results indicated few differences in Italo-Australian subjects' ratings of speakers as a function of language, while Greek-Australian subjects, in general, rated Greek guises more positively than English guises. In addition, Italo-Australian subjects rated female subjects more positively than male speakers irrespective of language, but Greek-Australian subjects reversed this pattern.


The Hilbert–Huang transform (HHT) extracts the intrinsic oscillation modes of input data, and estimates instantaneous amplitude (IA) and frequency (IF) for each mode. The HHT is applied to detection of some anomaly structures of signals as well as to analysis of signals. However, only qualitative discussions have been conducted on the applications to the detections. To make more statistically-based arguments on the application of the HHT, we investigated the probability distribution of the means of IA and IF for white Gaussian noise and found that it fits the Pearson distribution rather than the normal distribution. We defined a feature value for an anomaly detection by using the probability density function estimated on the basis of the Pearson distribution. Our method does not require different models for different lengths of the segment over which the mean is calculated, and therefore it is useful especially for the case that the length cannot be fixed.


This paper puts forward rationalizing construction about how to solve the issues such as waterlogging etc. according to present situation of flood control works of Fusong county town.


Halina Najder, neé Paschalska (primo voto Carroll) was born in 1926 in Warsaw. She was home-schooled at Konstancin and she passed the exams in Emilia Plater's lycée in Warsaw.1 After the outbreak of World War II in 1943, aged 17, she joined the "Gray Ranks" (Szare Szeregi), the underground paramilitary Polish Scouting Association (Związek Harcerstwa Polskiego) which became part of the Home Army (Armia Krajowa). She served as a nurse and liaison and used the pseudonyms "Dan owska" and "Hala". Her battalion led a successful attack on the Mostowski Palace.2 On 1 September 1944 Paschalska together with other soldiers moved out of Warsaw's Old City through the underground sanitary sewers. After the war she recalled with horror the atrocities of that passage when she tripped over the dead bodies in complete darkness: "We got lost; then we had to stand still because we heard the German cries over our heads. There was a manhole somewhere above but we didn't know where because it was dark and we couldn't have any light. It was horrible".3 After the war she began her studies of Polish philology on the University of Warsaw. Due to Stalin's repressions against former Home Army soldiers she emigrated to Great Britain. She returned to Poland in 1969 with her second husband Zdzisław Najder. When martial law was introduced in Poland in 1981 she remained abroad to return only in 1989 after the fall of Communism. She bequeathed her private collection of books to the National Library of Poland; additionally, along with her husband Zdzisław Najder, she presented the "Karta" Center with valuable archives of the conspiracy and opposition in Poland after 1945. For many years Halina Carroll-Najder worked as a translator of English literature. The most well-known are her translations of Joseph Conrad's prose "Typhoon," "Secret Sharer," "Prince Roman," as well as The Selected Letters. Thanks to her translational eff ort and skills the English readers gained access to Polish documents related to Conrad's life because she rendered Tadeusz Bobrowski's correspondence


Impulsive Stimulated Thermal Scattering (ISTS) is an in-situ non-destructive characterization technique based on laser excitation and detection of surface acoustic waves (SAWs) for mechanical properties of thin metal films in the microelectronic industry. In this work, the effect of elastic anisotropy from silicon wafers on ISTS measurements has been studied. It has been shown that for films of submicron thickness, the anisotropic effects on acoustic velocities are substantial. Moreover, at a particular orientation of propagating SAWs, two surface acoustic modes are observed rather than only one acoustic mode as in an isotropic model. With regard to dispersive behavior, a previously unknown result has been established that the pseudo-surface wave branch of an uncoated substrate is a qd->O limit for the second-order acoustic waveguide mode of a film-substrate system. Theoretical analysis for calculating acoustic modes of a supported film for arbitrary orientation, along with an experimental technique featuring optically heterodyned signal detection, provide an adequate basis for accurate characterization of thickness and elastic properties of thin films on anisotropic substrates. Furthermore, in the preliminary study of the waveguide effect on Damascene Structure, it has been considered that the widths of the bar structures as well as the spaces between the bar structures should be included in the scaling parameters for dispersion curves.


Students who have been exposed prenatally to alcohol or other drugs are susceptible to a range of developmental problems— from mild to severe. In this article, the authors review critical learning and behavioral problems of children exposed prenatally to alcohol and other drugs, with a specific focus on executive function deficits. They discuss various risk factors associated with prenatal drug exposure so that educators may better understand the nature of the problem and choose more effective classroom interventions that address the executive function deficits of these students. Many of the suggested interventions are also appropriate for developing executive functioning in students with attention-deficit disorders, traumatic brain injury, autism, and other disorders associated with deficits in executive functions.


An ultra-black surface with a reflectivity less than 0.5% was obtained by blackening the electroless Ni-P coating on ABS resin.The effects of blackening time and the mass fraction of phosphorus of the coating on the morphology of a porous coating was investigated.Coating morphologies before and after blackening were taken by SEM photos,and reflectivity by Datacolor.The comparisons show that an ultra-black coating surface can be obtained by dipping the ABS resin with electroless Ni-P coating of mass fraction of 5.2%~7.1% phosphorus in nitric acid(1∶1)at 40 ℃ for 20~50 s.


INTRODUCTION In the seven months since the discovery of the 3 particles we have been systematically studying their properties and decays at SPEAR. We have learned a great deal and most, but not all, of the pieces seem to be falling into place. I will review today the determination of the widths and quantum.numhers of these particles and the ongoing study of their decay modes. I will also +report on the total cross section for hadron production in e e annihilations and on searches for new particles.


An electrode rod for detecting water-level, a method of detecting water-level, a method of controlling water-level in boiler, a method of controlling water-level in a stream separator are provided to exactly detect a water-level in a container even though errors occur in the water-level. An electrode rod for detecting a water-level includes an external power source coupling terminal(2) and a water-level detection electrode(3). The external power source coupling terminal is protruded to an outside of a metallic container(5) through an insulator(4). The water-level detection electrode is attached to the container to be protruded to an inside of the container. An insulation coating(6) is formed on a surface of the water-level detection electrode. The insulation coating is formed of engineering plastic with excellent thermal endurance, high pressure resistance, and chemical resistance. The engineering plastic is polyether ether ketone or fluorine-resin.


The invention relates to a plant fiber filter rod and a preparation method thereof. The plant fiber filter rod is characterized in that: the filter rod is prepared from the following raw materials in part by weight: straw fiber, wheat straw fiber, tobacco straw fiber and soybean straw fiber. The ratio of the straw fiber to the wheat straw fiber to the soybean straw fiber to the tobacco straw fiber is 5:2:1:2. The filter rod takes plant straws as the raw materials, on the one hand, the filter rod makes full use of the plant straws, and on the other hand, the filter rod reduces cigarette cost and reduces environmental pollution caused by used filter tips and tow production process.


Due to a recent rise in use of a wireless keyboard and mouse, attacks which take user's input information or control user's computer remotely exploiting the physical vulnerability in the wireless communication have been reported. Especially, MouseJack, announced by Bastille Network, attacks 2.4 GHz wireless keyboards and mice through exploiting vulnerability of each manufacturer's receiver. Unlike other attacks that have been revealed, this allows to attack AES wireless keyboards. Nonetheless, there is only a brief overview of the attack but no detailed information on this attacking method. Therefore, in this paper we will analyze the Microsoft 2.4 GHz wireless mouse packet and propose a way to set the packet configuration for HID packet injection simulating a wireless mouse. We also develop a system with 2.4 GHz AES wireless keyboard HID packet injection using the proposed packet and demonstrate via experiment that HID packet injection is possible through the system we built.


One of the significant hadith and Islamic law scholars of the second century hijra, Sufyan al-Thawri (d. 161/778) compiled one of the first examples of re-ceived commentary (riwaya tafsir) with the tafsir book attributed to him. Exist-ing studies on the aforementioned tafsir are generally descriptive and far from presenting the place of the author in the field of tafsir. In order to follow the traces of Thawri's world of thought, this article aims to examine the back-ground of his interpretations in the tafsir, analyse the narrations he compiled and focus on the reasons why these narrations concentrated around certain issues. Like all tafsir scholars, al-Thawri was the scholar of his period and he did not stay away from socio-political debates of the period. Hence, determina-tion of effects of some historical and political developments on his work is also within the limits of this article. Thus, this study aims to make a modest contri-bution to better understanding of Sufyan al-Thawri's commentary.


Objective An association between diverticulosis and colorectal neoplasms may have implications for colonoscopic prevention of colorectal cancer. We aimed to examine the association between diverticulosis and colorectal polyps with special attention to the age at diagnosis, the anatomical location, and the histological subtype of colorectal polyps. Methods We included all consecutive patients referred for routine colonoscopy between February 2008 and February 2009. We recorded the presence of diverticulosis (defined as at least two diverticula) and colorectal polyps (adenomas and serrated polyps). Results We included 2310 patients (46.1% men, mean age 58.4 years), of which 37.0% had diverticulosis and 34.2% had one or more colorectal polyps. Multiple logistic regression analysis, including age, sex, and interaction terms with diverticulosis, showed that the association between diverticulosis and colorectal polyps was significantly influenced by age (P=0.009). In patients aged below 60 years, prevalence of colorectal polyps was significantly higher in those with diverticulosis compared with those without diverticulosis: 39.1% (79 of 202 patients) versus 19.6% (176 of 898 patients), adjusted odds ratio (OR) 1.87, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.26–2.78, and P=0.002. This association was found for both proximal and distal polyps and for all histological subtypes, namely adenomas (adjusted OR 1.60, 95%CI 1.02–2.49, P=0.04), serrated polyps (adjusted OR 1.73, 95% CI 1.03–2.91, and P=0.04), and advanced neoplasms (adjusted OR 2.32, 95%CI 1.31–4.12, P=0.004). Conclusion Presence of diverticulosis in patients aged below 60 years may be considered a 'red flag' for synchronous adenomas, serrated polyps, and advanced neoplasms. Diverticulosis may represent an indication for earlier initiation of colorectal cancer prevention programs.