A remote control system for solar heat collecting engineering is composed of three water tanks No.1, 2 and 3, temp and level sensors for said water tanks, digital indicator for showing their temps and levels, programmable controller PLC, in-situ monitor computer for receiving the information sent from PLC, simulating the running states of in-situ devices, selecting autoamtic or manual state, and controlling the valves of said water tanks, electric heater for water tank No.2, database, history database and central control computer connected to the system via network.


In this work, we explore the role of learning dynamics and social norms in human cooperation on networks. We study the model recently introduced in [Physical Review E, 97, 042321 (2018)] that integrates the well-studied Experience Weighted Attraction learning model with some features characterizing human norm psychology, namely the set of cognitive abilities humans have evolved to deal with social norms. We provide further evidence that this extended model—that we refer to as Experience Weighted Attraction with Norm Psychology—closely reproduces cooperative patterns of behavior observed in large-scale experiments with humans. In particular, we provide additional support for the finding that, when deciding to cooperate, humans balance between the choice that returns higher payoffs with the choice in agreement with social norms. In our experiment, agents play a prisoner's dilemma game on various network structures: (i) a static lattice where agents have a fixed position; (ii) a regular random network where agents have a fixed position; and (iii) a dynamic lattice where agents are randomly re-positioned at each game iteration. Our results show that the network structure does not affect the dynamics of cooperation, which corroborates results of prior laboratory experiments. However, the network structure does seem to affect how individuals balance between their self-interested and normative choices.


This paper describes a method for reducing the kink effect observed in the I-V output characteristics of partially depleted SOI MOSFET. Selective back oxide structure with various gap lengths were used. Results obtained through numerical simulations show that kink can be significantly reduced while preserving the advantage of lower drain-body capacitance offered by conventional SOI structure.


This paper evaluates the optical behavior of linear Polymethylmethacrylate Fresnel lenses in Concentrated Solar Power (thermal applications), and compares it to Parabolic Trough Collector technology. The optical performance of the lens was assessed using the ray-tracing program OptiCAD. Geometrical and surface reflectance losses were calculated to find the transmittance of the lens. The lens system was compared to a commercial Parabolic Trough Collector; the optical efficiency of the parabolic trough is taken from the manufacturer. Both systems are designed to have a single axis tracker. The study concludes that both systems have comparable optical performance. The obtained cost figures of Polymethylmethacrylate lenses were higher than the glass mirrors, although, plastic lens material can be cheaper and lenses can be manufactured at lower cost and higher volumes than metal mirrors. The comparison remains open for many aspects, and the development of such system depends not only on the performance efficiency, but also, strongly, on the economic feasibility, performance track record, and eventually, the bankability state of large scale power plants.


Tomato is an important commercial crop and hence there is a great interest in understanding the genetic basis of its flowering. Several genes are known that control inflorescence architecture in tomato but the emerging view is still fragmented because most functional analyses concern single mutations affecting either inflorescence or flower fate. Double mutants were constructed in order to clarify their interactions. Crosses combined mutations in meristematic genes: compound inflorescence (s) that increases branching of the inflorescence, falsiflora (fa) that increases branching and replaces flowers by leafy shoots, jointless (j) that causes inflorescence to revert to leaf production after initiation of few flowers and uniflora (uf) that produces solitary flowers. The single flower truss (sft) mutant was also used to assess the effect of systemic florigenic signal; SFT is indeed the tomato orthologue of the Arabidopsis FT gene and acts as a potent flowering promoter. The phenotype of the double mutants suggested a tight spatial regulatory model of inflorescence initiation. It was shown before that the branching of the tomato inflorescence depends on the gradual transition from inflorescence meristem (IM) to flower meristem (FM): the extension of this time window allows IM to branch as seen in s and fa mutants. This, however, was not observed when uf, j or sft mutations were added. In the j:sft double mutant, no IM is formed and all inflorescences are reduced to solitary flowers. Our results suggest that the making of an inflorescence in tomato requires the interaction of J and a target of SFT in the meristem, possibly for repressing FM fate in the IM.


We applied a domain-decomposition method that provides a suitable framework for parallelization of optical tomographic algorithm based on frequency-domain radiative transfer equation. This leads to substantial reduction in memory requirements and increased computation speed.


Sink your teeth into this guide about dentistry and dental hygiene, patient communication, treatment & planning, medical terminology and instruments. Resources also include professional associations and testing information.


The surface reflection method is a popular method for determining layer dielectrics in road pavements. However, this technique has not been applied to snow. An air-coupled 800 MHz Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) antenna was used to image alpine snow, and comparison was made with an ideal reflector, a metal plate. Application of the surface reflection technique allowed surface snow density to be estimated based on radar amplitude variations. The estimated density showed good agreement with gravimetrically measured density. This technique introduces a simple method by which surface snow density could be rapidly estimated over large areas.


A pair of spur gears with lead error which gives partial contact is analyzed by a three-dimensional finite element method, and the distributions of the tooth root stress are obtained. The dimensions of gears, such as module, addendum modification coefficient, number of teeth and face width are widely changed. The effects of these dimensions on the tooth root stress are studied. The correlation of the results is very good, compared with those given by the draft proposal of ISO.


This paper investigates the effect of input model, size of reservoir, and various input parameters on the probability of zero draft from a discrete reservoir fed by a serially correlated input. It appears that the form of the transition probability matrix describing the input (assumed to be a finite Markov chain) has relatively little effect on the probability of zero draft.


Objective Our purpose was to assess whether participation in needle exchange programs(NEPs) could prevent the spread of AIDS by influencing injection risk behaviors among injection drug users(IDUs) in Guangxi.Methods The survey was carried out in the needle exchange points of two cities with serious drug abuse.The demographic characteristics,the pariticipation of NEPs and its influencing factors,the injection risk behaviors among IDUs were investigated with a structured questionnaire by face interview.Blood was collected to detect HIV antibodies.The effects of NEPs on injection risk behaviors and HIV infection were evaluated by pearson χ2 test,simple and multivariate logistic regression.Results Totally,355 IDUs were surveyed,among whom 304 participated in the NEPs in the recent year and 51 did not.Multivariate logistic regression analysis revealed that NEPs participation could reduce the unsafe injection behaviors of repeated use of one needle(OR=0.15,95%CI=0.07~0.33) and sharing needles(OR=0.08,95%CI=0.07~0.33) among IDUs.Longer injection duration,injecting daily,and repeatedly using and sharing needles were risk factors to contract HIV infection for IDUs.Conclusions NEPs can effectively reduce risk behaviors of sharing needles among IDUs.They play important roles in the prevention of HIV spread.


Although hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) has been implicated in abnormal lipid metabolism in hepatitis B virus (HBV)–associated hepatic steatosis, its underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Liver X receptor (LXR) plays an important role in regulating the expression of genes involved in hepatic lipogenesis. Here we demonstrate that LXRα and LXRβ mediate HBV‐associated hepatic steatosis. We have found that HBx induces the expression of LXR and its lipogenic target genes, such as sterol regulatory element binding protein‐1c (SREBP‐1c), fatty acid synthase (FAS), and peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor, and this is accompanied by the accumulation of lipid droplets. RNA interference with LXR expression decreases the amount of lipid droplets as well as the expression of the lipogenic genes, and this indicates that HBx‐induced lipogenesis is LXR‐dependent. LXRα and HBx colocalize in the nucleus and are physically associated. HBx induces the transactivation function of LXRα by recruiting CREB binding protein to the promoter of the target gene. Furthermore, we have observed that expression of LXR is increased in the livers of HBx‐transgenic mice. Finally, there is a significant increase in the expression of LXRβ (P = 0.036), SREBP‐1c (P = 0.008), FAS, and stearoyl–coenyzme A desaturase‐1 (P = 0.001) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in comparison with adjacent nontumorous nodules in human HBV‐associated HCC specimens. Conclusion: Our results suggest a novel association between HBx and LXR that may represent an important mechanism explaining HBx‐induced hepatic lipogenesis during HBV‐associated hepatic carcinogenesis. (HEPATOLOGY 2009.)


A sound splitter using the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of acoustic vortices is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. We show that a helical waveguide with a periodic array of shunted tubes can be used to achieve different transmission spectra for the acoustic vortices with opposite OAM topological charges due to their different Bragg scattering type bandgaps. By symmetry, the transmission spectra will reverse if the handedness of the helical waveguides is changed. Therefore, two such composite waveguides with opposite handedness can be combined to separate the OAM-dependent flow of sound. Our study of the acoustic vortex splitter may provide a route for demultiplexing in acoustic OAM-based communication.A sound splitter using the orbital angular momentum (OAM) of acoustic vortices is proposed and experimentally demonstrated. We show that a helical waveguide with a periodic array of shunted tubes can be used to achieve different transmission spectra for the acoustic vortices with opposite OAM topological charges due to their different Bragg scattering type bandgaps. By symmetry, the transmission spectra will reverse if the handedness of the helical waveguides is changed. Therefore, two such composite waveguides with opposite handedness can be combined to separate the OAM-dependent flow of sound. Our study of the acoustic vortex splitter may provide a route for demultiplexing in acoustic OAM-based communication.


93.44 Powers of 0 as roots of cubics Any irrational number is the solution of at most one rational depressed cubic equation that is, an equation of the form x + mx = n for rational m, n (n * 0). For if x* solves both x + m\X = n\ and x + m 2x = n2 with rational mu m2, n\ and n2, then subtracting these equations gives (mi m2)x* = («i n2), implying x* is rational unless mi = m2 and n\ n2. Moreover, some algebraic irrational numbers are the solution of no rational depressed cubic equation: for example, if V2 satisfies x + mx = n for some m and n with n # 0, we have (2 + m)\/2 = n; hence m and n cannot both be rational.


Engineering properties of agricultural products are very important in the design and manufacturing of processing machines. The methods adopted in the study were standard laboratory procedures for the determination of the engineering properties selected. In this research, the dimensional, gravimetric and frictional properties of Moringa oleifera seeds were determined as design parameters for the development of post-harvest equipment. The selected properties were: length, width, thickness, arithmetic and geometric diameters, surface areas, sphericity, moisture content, bulk and true densities, porosity, one thousand and unit seed weights, angle of repose and coefficient of static friction. The moisture contents used in the study were 7.82% and 15.82% dry basis (db). The mean seed length of 9.217±1.407 mm, width of 8.012±1.349 mm and thickness of 5.443±1.382 mm was found at moisture contents of 7.82% (db) respectively. While the mean seed length of 11.460±1.106 mm, width of 10.079±1.065 mm and thickness of 7.377±1.079 mm were obtained at moisture content of 15.82% (db) respectively. The mean arithmetic diameter, geometric mean diameter, sphericity and surface area at moisture content of 7.82% (db) were 7.557±1.3407 mm, 7.366±1.374 mm, 0.7964±0.048 mm, 176.185±64.416 mm respectively. Also, the mean arithmetic diameter, geometric mean diameter, sphericity and surface area at moisture content of 15.82% (db) were 9.639±1.049 mm, 9.475±1.065 mm, 0.826±0.030 mm, 285.476±65.753 mm respectively. The mean true density, bulk density, average porosity, unit mass and thousand seed mass at 7.82% (db) moisture content were found to be 0.5100±0.025 gcm, 0.247±0.0580 gcm; 58.86%, 0.339±0.061 g, and 272.051±11.827 g respectively. Also, the average true density, bulk density, average porosity, unit mass and thousand seed mass at 15.82% (db) moisture content were 0.610±0.030 gcm, 0.253±0.005 gcm, 58.52%, 0.350±0.055 g, and 273.396±8.079 g respectively. The mean angle of repose, average static coefficient of friction on three different surfaces that include: glass, galvanized steel, and plywood at 7.82% (db) moisture content was found to be 17.834±0.350, 0.437±0.003, 0.481±0.002, and 0.569±0.003 respectively. Also, the mean angle of repose, average static coefficient of friction on three different surfaces that include: glass, galvanized steel, and plywood at 15.82% (db) moisture content were found to be 19.345±0.409, 0.471±0.002, 0.570±0.002, and 0.612±0.013 respectively. These parameters would serve as inputs for the efficient design of post-harvest equipment for M. oleifera seeds.


Wrist pulse signal is known to examine the health status of a person. Feature extraction methods are used to extract the time and frequency, linear and non linear features of wrist pulse signal. There is need for integration of the features for pulse diagnosis and classification because of heterogeneous nature of pulse signal which contains the complementary information. In Pulse Examination, palpation of adjoining three points of radial artery is sensed with the help of index, middle and ring finger giving the sensation of energies or doshas in terms of Vata, Pitta and Kapha which are collectively known as bio-elements or Tridosha. This study is intended to analyze the effect of age and gender on the wrist pulse. Data was collected gender wise and age wise with the help of optical pulse sensor interfaced with ATMEGA328 microcontroller. Three different groups of age was considered viz young subjects (18 to 30 years old), middle age subjects (more than 30 to 55 years old) and old age subjects (above 55 years old) for feature extraction. For gender wise analysis, the pulse rate and extracted features are found high for female subjects than male subjects. Dominance of Kapha for young subjects, Pitta for middle age subjects and Vata for old age subjects are observed in age wise analysis of wrist pulse. Wrist pulse signal is used to diagnose the disease. This research work can help the clinicians in better diagnoses considering the effect of gender and age on the wrist pulse signal.


Treatment of ever more lean and fine-grained ores has necessitated investigations of more efficient grinding methods in the 50 /«m range. This paper reports our findings from using a stirred ball mill design and small grinding media, with excellent results in comparision with conventional tumbling ball mills. DENVER SALA, S73325, Sala, Sweden SeanPlan, Box 1512, S-172 29, Sunbyberg, Sweden TÜRKİYE X M L M A D E N C İ L İ K K O N G R E S İ , 1 9 9 3


Summary 1. For rapid initiation of growth of L. gayoni, the culture medium required heating. 2. This heat activation reaction, involving glucose, salts A and glycine, appeared to proceed through an intermediate, N-D-glucosylglycine, and then into at least two heat stable growth factors. 3. One of these factors could also be derived by heating glucose under alkaline conditions.


Laser Doppler flowmetry was applied to human teeth to study whether blood How in the pulp can be recorded. In sensitive, intact incisors the level of the output signal Ironi the flowmeter was clearly distinguishable from that obtained in adjacent nonsensitive or pulpeetomized teeth. Heart beat synchronous oscillations, which were present in the recording signal from normal teeth, were absent in nonvital teeth. Local injection of lidocaine (20 mg/ml) with adrenaline (12.5 μg/ml) caused a pronounced and long-lasting reduction of the flowmetric values in healthy teeth. The oscillations were also reduced in amplitude. Repeated recordings showed good reproducibility. Thus, changes in blood (low may be assessed in a tooth by tin's non-invasive method. The instrument is a promising tool in the clinical evaluation of pulp vitality following traumatic injuries.


In South Korea, Cancers, cardiac disease, cerebrovascular diseases and rare incurable disease cause high medical expenses which are putting a heavy burden on the household economy. They are called '4 Major Severe Diseases'. The government has established the plan of Expanding Coverage for Four Major Severe Diseases. The Policy of Expanding Coverage for the 4 Major Severe Diseases is to apply the necessary medical services including coverage for uncovered services to national health insurance payments in stages. This study aims to evaluate the effects of the policy implemented from 2013 to 2015 by comparing the changes in the out-of-pocket payments before and after the policy. Using the data from the Korea Health Panel(2012, 2016), the policy effect was evaluated by the Difference-In-Difference analysis. A total of 4,686 patients (2,343 in 2012 and 2,343 in 2016) were included, who are enrolled in National Health Insurance, and have at least one chronic disease. People who are under 20 years old were excluded. In addition, severity of disease was adjusted by CCI(Charson's comorbidity index). Compared to before the policy was implemented, the Out-of-pocket payments significantly decreased. In addition, there were significant differences in gender, types of health care system, disabled, economic activity, income level, and CCI. According to previous studies, the policy of Expanding health insurance coverage since 2005 has been criticized for its low effectiveness. However, It is revealed that the Policy of Expanding Coverage for 4 Major Severe Diseases has an effect in this study. Given that the policy needs time to work, this study showed the effect of the policy more comprehensively compared to previous studies evaluating the effectiveness for just one year.

 Due to the Policy of Expanding Coverage for 4 Major Severe Diseases, the out-of-pocket health expenditure were reduced in the policy group. Given that the policy needs time to work, this study has shown more comprehensive results than previous studies that evaluated the effect of policy carried out over a short period.


Background: Drug abuse became an alarming problem in the last years in Egypt and many other countries. Some studies had examined the prevalence of substance abuse among school and university students, but few have assessed workers in workplaces which can pose major risks to the health and productivity of workers. The aim of this work is to estimate the prevalence of substance abuse among a sample of workers, to explore various behavioral and psychological manifestations. Methods: This is a cross - sectional study performed in one of the brick industries in Giza governorate in Egypt. It included 481 workers from different sections in the industry. Data were coded and entered using the statistical package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. The mean age of the participants was 34.85 ± 13.50 with a minimum of 6 years and maximum 87 years old. Results: Results showed high prevalence of various psychosocial problems among workers which were highest between 21 and 40 years old. Symptoms included poor concentration, depression, stress, suicidal and guilty thoughts, mood swings, aggressive behavior, anxiety and disturbed social relationships. Concerning abuse pattern, 47.3 % of employees were abusing cannabinoids, 19.2 % were abusing tramadol and 8.3 % were abusing both. Workers performing physical work recorded the highest rate of abuse. In addition, 50.5 % of workers are smokers which was the highest independent variable related to substance abuse. Conclusions: It is important to develop substance abuse policy, raise awareness regarding their health effects and serious impacts on individual's physical, psychosocial and behavioral integrity. Drug testing in workplace is a must to ensure community safety.


Carotenoids (including but not limited to including fucoxanthin) microalgae extract composition and microalgal dry biomass composition comprising a fatty acid is provided. .BACKGROUND


The paper explores protective equipment for work in extreme environments manifested in a proposal for a haptic feedback system for astronauts. It follows the thesis that the safety of astronauts wearing Extra-Vehicular Activity (EVA) suits, whether in space or on planetary surfaces, is connected to their ability to interact with their environments, their equipment and suits, and their coworkers. The project emphasises the use of new technologies to enhance the quality of said interactions. Focusing on manned exploration and construction activity in space, qualitative research methods are employed to gain an overview of the factors that dictate work in space, endeavours in design and architecture for space, and research into the ways humans interact with their surroundings. Lastly, a conceptual prototype was made to explore the possibilities of exploring a language of haptic feedback to complement other systems and to mediate the sensory filters imposed by the modern space suit.


mountable task. Anglin and co-workers have developed surface-engineered microarray platforms, so called 'cell-sorting' microarrays, for determining potential positive and negative selection factors for isolating rare cells from a heterogeneous cell population in a tissue isolate. Probing new selection materials for differential cell attachment using cell microarrays has enormous advantages over conventional plating methods. The investigators used a cell microarray composed of various antibodies, ECM proteins, synthetic polymers, dendrimers, and growth factors for determining positive and negative selection factors for the capture of rare testicular cells from a testis tissue isolate./sv


We provide some conditions for the graph of a Holder-continuous function on , where is a closed disk in ℂ, to be polynomially convex. Almost all sufficient conditions known to date — provided the function (say F) is smooth — arise from versions of the Weierstrass Approximation Theorem on . These conditions often fail to yield any conclusion if rankℝDF is not maximal on a sufficiently large subset of . We bypass this difficulty by introducing a technique that relies on the interplay of certain plurisubharmonic functions. This technique also allows us to make some observations on the polynomial hull of a graph in ℂ2 at an isolated complex tangency.


Autotransformers are used in the Romanian National Power Grid, being more efficient than the power transformers. According to the information received from the monitoring systems, a diagnosis is made based on the health index to ensure the most accurate prediction of the condition of the autotransformers of 220/110kV and 400/220 kV. The use of health index (HI) leads to decisions based on the condition of the transformation unit at a given time. There is also a link between related diagnostics and fault modes by applying Failure Mode, Effects Analysis (FMEA). Also, a method of calculating the heating time according to the load of the transformation unit is proposed in order to avoid overheating. A 400/220/20 kV, 400 MVA autotransformer will be used as a case study. The purpose of this article is to make a strategic plan and operational decisions regarding the operation of the autotransformer.


There is provided a remote commander including an input section which accepts input of operation information from a user, a communication section which communicates with a control target device via a radio signal, a service information-acquisition section which acquires, from the control target device via the communication section, service identification information for identifying each of one or a plurality of services which the control target device is capable of providing the remote commander with, and a notification section which selects any of one or a plurality of pieces of the service identification information acquired by the service information-acquisition section based on the operation information, the input of which is accepted by the input section, and which notifies the control target device of the selected service identification information via the communication section.


ABSTRACT Technology-based firms need to survive via technological changes. Technological entrepreneurship is concentrated on identifying and exploiting the tech-opportunities for creating product innovation. This paper introduces a fuzzy-based tool to promote innovation throughout firms in order to enhance technological entrepreneurship capabilities (TEC). The effort involves identifying components of TEC to develop the inference system, specifying the fuzzy relationship among these components, assessing the TEC in firms, and designing a TEC roadmap after a fuzzy-based gap analysis. Designed roadmaps introduce technological change priorities as a growth path to firms to move up along the ladder of competitiveness. Based on the results, a method for categorizing firms into four distinct levels that involve passive, reactive, proactive and innovative is introduced. Hence, firms have an action plan to enhance TEC from passive to innovative level in a time-based transition pathway.


The invented system includes multiple interface cards containing CAN interface and multiple can nodes. Multiple CAN interfaces are connected to CAN bus type optical fiber network. Each CAN node is connected to multiple CAN bus type optical fiber network. Each CAN node consists of micro controller system and signal transmitting/receiving circuit of optical fiber interface in multiple CAN bus. The micro controller system is composed of micro controller, connected data storage device, program storage device, code setter, digit display, power source, A/D converter, D/A converter, input and outputof digital quantity as well as standard serial interface. The transmitting/receiving circuit is connected to one route of optical fiber network. The invention can be applicable to layered distributedmonitoring system of chain type STATCOM with equal FACTS devices.


The present invention is capable of reducing the bitterness alone of a product to be taken in such as a food, drink, drug or quasi drug, said product containing an ingredient having bitter taste, without affecting the taste of the product.
According to the present invention, one or more kinds of sweeteners (A) selected from aspartyl dipeptide ester derivatives represented by formula (1) and salts thereof are added to a product to be taken in, said product containing an ingredient having bitter taste, in such a manner that the product to be taken in contains, at the point of intake, the sweetener(s) (A) at a concentration not higher than the threshold for sweetness perception thereof.
In formula (1), R 1 to R 7 have each the same meaning as defined in the description.


This work attempts to present a detailed picture of the sunflower cultivation in Greece in comparison with its most competitive crops, in terms of costs, benefits, income, employment and expertise. Thus, the economic effectiveness, of sunflower cultivation at farmers' level, is thoroughly examined, the indirect benefits (crop rotation, social, environmental, foreign exchange, energy dependence) of sunflower chain assessed and finally both direct and indirect benefits generated for the region are estimated.


AIM:To evaluate the antibacterial activities of mezlocillin/tazobactam (MLN/TAZ) in vivo and in vitro. METHODS:The antibacterial activity of MLN/TAZ (1 : 0,2 : 1,4: 1) were tested by the method of minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC),minimal bactericidal concentration (MBC) and time-kill curve in vitro. The influence of pH and inoculation quantity on MIC was also observed in vivo ,the optimum proportion of MLN/ TAZ was evaluated by the acute infection models that were established in mice with E. Coli 1200 producing ES-BLs. RESULTS:When proportion of MLN/TAZ at 2 : 1 and 4 : 1,the antibacterial activities were significantly increased (P 0.01) compared with MLN. The antibacterial activities of MLN/TAZ decreased to the lowest point under pH 7.0 and MIC was increased when the inoculation quantity increased. Median effective doses of MLN/ TAZ (2 : 1,4 : l)were 29.1 % and 27.3 % of mezlocillin respectively in infection model. CONCLUSION: MLN/TAZ at the proportion of 4 : 1 has the optimum antibacterial activity.


ABSTRACTThis study aims to describe form function the use of jargon in the student's mountaineering community of Swapala Kalijaga SMA N 1 Demak. The use of jargon in a community in addition to interacting has the aim of creating a language that is only understand by the community that is formed. The research used a qualitative research approach with a sociolinguistic theoretical approach. The data was collected using a method watch free to talk, conservation, recording, notes, and interviews to find the function of using jargon. The text were analyzed using carried out by outlining the forms of jargon that have their respective use functions found in the community of Swapala Kalijaga SMA N 1 Demak. From the research, it concluded that jargon is used to interact among fellow members as well of a community. The results show that jargon from community of Swapala Kalijaga SMA N 1 Demak was 37 jargons. Jargon community of Swapala Kalijaga SMA N 1 Demak is divided into four forms (1)words forms, (2)phrase forms, (3)abbreviated forms, and (4)acronym forms. Each jargon used has its own function of use (1)information, (2)invitations, (3)identity, (4)rule, (5)enthusiasm, and (6)facilitate communication. Keywords: jargon, community, student's mountaineering


Anodized aluminium nanostructures are employed as templates for performing nanoimprint lithography on an optical fibre platform. The cleaved endfaces of optical fibres serve as host to the replicated polymer nanostructures, which are metalized to create fibre-optic surface-enhanced Raman scattering probes.


The invention is directed to a method for Her-position a Schleifmittelzusammenset-wetting ceria, umfas-send (a) suspending a Anorga-African cerium salt or a cerium content calculated from cerium hydroxide as cero-oxide, in the range of 50% - 100%, based on total rare earth oxide ( "Total Rare Earth oxide", TREO) in an aqueous medium, whereby an aqueous suspension is obtained, (b) treating said aqueous suspension with an acid or a salt of a acid selected from the group of HF, H3PO4 undH2SO4, whereby a suspended in the aqueous medium solid is obtained, (c) separating the solid from this aqueous medium, and (d) calcining the separated solid at a tem-perature of between 750 ° C and 1,200 ° C and grinding the calcined solid to grain sizes in the range of 0.5 microns to 5.0 microns.


Based on the test researching results,it finds the key factors causing the furnace exit flue gas temperature large deviation at the No.8 boiler of Taiyuan No.2 thermal power plant,and it provides the running mode to reduce the large deviation at the boiler's present state.


In this work we describe how to obtain the structure of an infin ite-dimensional Lie group on the group of compactly carried bundle automorphisms Autc(P) for a locally convex prinicpal bundle P over a finite-dimensional smoothσ-compact base M. For this we first consider the Lie group structure on the group of compactly carried vertical bundle morphisms Gauc(P) (in both cases "compactly carried" refers to being compactly carried on the base in a certain sense). We then introduce the Lie group structure on Autc(P) as an extension of a certain open Lie subgroup of the compactly carried diffeomorphisms Diffc(M) by the gauge group Gauc(P). We find an explicit condition onP ensuring that Gauc(P) can be equipped with a Lie group structure enabling the extension just mentioned and show that this condition is satisfied by selected classes of bundles.


All of us were raised this way, even those of us who don't believe in God; we have religion because we have the Law. For us all books are religious. Study is religious. Each page and each letter on the page has its own special character, even the white spaces between the letters are holy. A little boy is honored when he carries his papa's prayer book to synagogue on the Sabbath. In the family, when Papa opened his book, all the house becomes quiet. "Sha, Papa reads," the mama says to the children, and all the house respect it when there is study inside. When a book is left open, we put a cover over it, for respect. When it is worn out we give it a burial. It's like a living thing. All writing has something of holiness. Even when it's only a newspaper, it shouldn't be used for anything but study. So it is in the marketplace also. Because we are Jews, we don't wrap herring in a printed page. —Jacob Koved in Barbara Myerhoff's "We Don't Wrap Herring in a Printed Page"1


Prompted by escalating competition and increased pressure from institutional investors and boards of directors, more and more companies have begun to focus on shareholder value and the philosophy of value‐based management (VBM). VBM is based on the notion that the central objective for all publicly traded companies is to maximize shareholder value. Because it offers companies a logical and systematic way to pursue improvements in shareholder value, it has received considerable attention in the business press. In particular, stories have highlighted the strong results achieved by VBM users such as Coca Cola, AT&T, and Briggs and Stratton.


The Locally Linear Embedding (LLE) is one of the efficient nonlinear dimensionality reduction techniques, which can be used to fault feature extraction. But it is not taking the class information of the data into account. In this paper, we propose a novel approach of feature extraction based on supervised LLE algorithm. Via utilizing class information to guide the procedure of nonlinear mapping, the Supervised LLE enhances local within-class relations and help to classification. The approach uses the Supervised LLE to extract feature for class labels data, and utilizes RBF network to map the unlabeled data to the feature space, which easily implement fault pattern classification. The experiments on benchmark dataset and engineering instance demonstrate that, the proposed approach excels compared to PCA and LLE, and it is an accurate technique for classification.


Thought processes of seven artist-level jazz musicians, each of whom recorded an improvised solo, were investigated. Immediately after completing their improvisations, participants listened to recordings of their playing and looked at the notation of their solos as they described in a directed interview the thinking processes that led to the realization of their improvisations. In all of the interviews, artists described making sketch plans, which outlined one or more musical features of upcoming passages. The artists also described monitoring and evaluating their own output as they performed, making judgments that often were incorporated into future planning. Four strategies used by the artists for generating the note content of the improvisations emerged from the analysis: recalling well-learned ideas from memory and inserting them into the ongoing improvisation, choosing notes based on a harmonic priority, choosing notes based on a melodic priority, and repeating material played in earlier sections of the improvisation.


SUBTITLE: AIRPORTS ARE STILL UNCLEAR ABOUT THE IMPACT THE MILLENNIUM BUG IS GOING TO HAVE ON OPERATIONS IN THE YEAR 2000.


See related article, pp 623–629

Vascular structure plays an important role in maintaining vessel integrity and tissue perfusion in the face of changes in arterial pressure, such as that associated with chronic hypertension. Vascular hypertrophy and vascular remodeling are often used interchangeably, yet erroneously, to describe the morphological changes that occur in blood vessels in response to vascular injury or disease. Vascular hypertrophy and vascular remodeling are 2 very distinct yet related processes.1

Vascular hypertrophy is defined as an increase in vessel wall thickness measured as an increase in medial cross-sectional area (CSA), often most reflective of increases in smooth muscle cell size. Hyperplasia (increases in cell number) can also result in increases in CSA of blood vessels; however, hyperplasia is more commonly associated with proliferative diseases, such as atherosclerosis and vascular injury. Hypertrophy and hyperplasia should also not be used interchangeably as these cellular processes are also distinct.

Vascular remodeling, however, is defined as a change in inner and external diameter of a maximally dilated blood vessel measured under physiological pressure. Vascular remodeling is reported as the ratio of medial wall thickness to luminal diameter. Remodeling of blood vessels can be further classified as either inward or outward depending on the encroachment or withdrawal of vascular tissue on or from the vascular lumen, respectively. For example, inward hypertrophic remodeling is observed in resistance vessels in hypertension.

It is important to note that remodeling of blood vessels does not always involve hypertrophy. For example, remodeling of blood vessels (ie, migration of vascular muscle and extensive restructuring of the extracellular matrix) can occur without changes in vascular content in what is referred to as inward eutrophic remodeling. This example highlights the importance of why the terms vascular …


Abstract The subject of this article is automated symbolization of area features using cartographic symbol fills. The work strives to improve upon the standard 'wallpaper' fill patterns available inmost GIS. Research focuses, specifically on automation of vegetation symbol placement for Ordnance Survey 1:50 000 scale maps. Algorithms are developed for optimising the diagonal grid and semi-random placement patterns, based on an analysis of the current mapping. The algorithms are tested on a large dataset containing woodland polygons. The initial results are evaluated by Ordnance Survey cartographers, the parameters are fine-tuned and the final output is demonstrated to be cartographically sound.


Taking into account the global status of polio, it seems evident that the continuing use of oral poliovaccine in all countries is the most obvious and prudent public health policy for the foreseeable future. Possible exceptions might include those countries which are not troubled by the added cost of the inactivated vaccine; whose health services are able to guarantee high levels of vaccine coverage; and which can expect to experience comparatively few importations of wild poliovirus.


This study is the first of its kind on the population of Lates niloticus from the Pendjari River (West Africa). It provides information on length frequency distributions, length-length, weight-length relationships and condition factor of the species. A total of 781 specimens were used for this study and were caught by artisanal fishing gears between Februay 2006 and January 2007. The length frequency distributions were unimodal. Individuals larger than 20.0 - 22.5 cm (modal class) were more abundant (71.06 %). Monthly, the coefficient b and the condition factor (K) ranged from 2.83 to 3.31 (mean = 3.14) and from 0.44 to 2.44 (1.14), respectively. The growth was in favour of the body weight (b>3, positive allometric growth) during the low water season and in favour of the length (b Keywords: Lates niloticus , length-weight relationships, condition factor, Pendjari River.


Part of this work was performed with the collaboration of Dr. Shaden Kamhawi, Dr. Moh'd Reda Tawfiq and Dr. Saleh Adwan. Three graduate students of Prof. E. Saliba also contributed to this work. They were N. Saleh, R. Janini and H. Al-Younes.


A small, inexpensive infrared thermometer is described. This instrument is easily used and is more accurate than thermocouples for leaf temperature measurements. Errors are estimated to be less than 0-2 °C when measuring leaf temperatures in a typical leaf chamber.


This editorial refers to 'Circulating CD31+/Annexin V+ microparticles correlate with cardiovascular outcomes'[†][1], by J.-M. Sinning et al. , on page 2034

Despite significant advances in medical and interventional management during the past decades, coronary artery disease (CAD) and its consequences, which include myocardial infarction, sudden cardiac death, and chronic cardiac failure, remain a major contributor to mortality in western countries. Lifestyle modifications and secondary prevention medications, such as statins or angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors, have improved outcome, but some patients still experience adverse cardiovascular events as a consequence of a particular atherosclerotic disease evolution. Identification of these high-risk, vulnerable patients remains a challenging issue.1 Atherosclerosis is a systemic disease characterized by endothelial dysfunction and by local and general inflammation. It is aggravated by platelet activation, and its ultimate evolution is plaque rupture and thrombosis.2 Identification of vulnerable plaques cannot be achieved by conventional angiography and requires sophisticated and invasive investigations such as intravascular ultrasound, optical coherence tomography, or magnetic resonance imaging.1 Moreover, there is no real consensus regarding a simple definition of vulnerable plaque. Risk stratification of patients based on measurement of circulating biomarkers [high sensitivity C-reactive protein, soluble lipoprotein phospholipase A2, B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP), etc.] or non-invasive evaluation of vascular structure or function (carotid intima-media thickness, flow-mediated dilation, etc.) appear to be more efficient tools in many respects.1 However, none of the above-cited parameters appears to be perfectly appropriate in view of the required criteria (sensitivity, specificity, …

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Project (M.B.A.)--American University of Beirut, Suliman S. Olayan School of Business, 2010.;"First Reader : Dr. Haitham Khoury, Assistant Professor , Suliman S. Olayan School of Business--Second Reader : Dr. Yusuf Sidani, Associate Professor, Suliman S.


1. Identify characteristics of emerging infectious diseases (EIDs). 2. Identify the most important variable driving EIDs. 3. Identify 11 major factors associated with EIDs. 4. Recognize the role of travel and trade in EIDs. 5. Match animals to the organism or disease transmitted by them. 6. Match the mortality rates for each EID. 7. Recognize the economic impact of infectious disease. 8. Identify the agent likely to cause the next pandemic and the suggested mechanism for its pathogenicity. The nature of emerging zoonotic diseases: ecology, prediction, and prevention


Introduction: The aim of the study was to analyse temporal orientation and its relationship with self-experience in drug dependent persons from Narcotics Anonymous (NA) community. The relationship between the dimensions of psychopathological self, temporal perspective and between sociodemographic variables and involvement in NA actions was examined. Material and methods: We investigated 30 persons (10 women, 20 men) from NA. The average age was 33.6, presence in NA – 66.1 months, duration of abstinence – 53.3 months. We applied the questionnaires: Time perception, "Carpe Diem", EgoPsychopathology and a sociodemographic questionnaire. Results: Higher levels of education favour a positive perception of the past. The involvement (or not) in NA activities differentiates the study group in the measured psychological variables Streszczenie


Visual interpretation of noisy images is not an easy problem. This is certainly apparent with ultrasound images. Due to the noise inherent in the images, it is often the case that discrepancies as to location of object boundaries and detection of di erent tissues arise even among highly trained physicians. The relatively low cost and short image acquisition time, however, make ultrasound an attractive imaging modality. Currently, diagnostic evaluation of ultrasound images is performed on twodimensional (2D) cross-sections of the object of interest. No depth information is available and there is no way of viewing the outer surface of the object. The only way for a physician to visualise the entire object is by mentally reconstructing the object based on a series of a 2D images as well as prior expectations of the morpholoogy of the object. In the case of abnormal or diseased growth, the physician's expectations often do not correspond to the actual morphology of the object. However, the use of three-dimensional (3D) data acquisition and visualisation may be used to overcome these problems. The present work addresses a number of di culties in processing 3D ultrasound data. This includes special treatment of the volumetric ultrasound data obtained from a 3D probe, determination of 3D features of the di erent tissue types present in the ultrasound data and identi cation and localisation of objects (segmentation) in the volumetric ultrasound data. Experimental results obtained from synthesised and real ultrasound data demonstrate that the present work contributes signi cantly to the use of ultrasound imaging as a diagnostic tool. As well, the present work can be applied to di erent imaging modalities or di erent applications areas and is thus bene cial to the area of biomedical image processing, in general. ii Acknowledgements I thank Dr. Herb Yang for the time and e ort he has devoted to me over the past several years. Herb has always been supportive academically, nancially and personally. His continued guidance allowed me to obtain a goal, which if asked years ago, I thought I could never obtain. I will always be grateful for Herb's friendship and advice. I thank Dr. Roger Pierson for his instruction and continued nancial support. I hope that in the future we can collaborate on another exciting project. I thank committee members Dr. Jean Paul Tremblay and Dr. Derek Eager of the Department of Computer Science, Dr. Gregg Adams of the Department of Veterinary Anatomy and the external advisor, Dr. Xiaobo Li of the Department of Computing Science at the University of Alberta, for their close review of my thesis. I thank the chair of the advisory committee, Dr. John Cooke of the Department of Computer Science, for keeping the defence to around three hours and the required corrections to a weekend worth of editing. Thanks to the examining committee chair, Dr. D.K.J. Gorecki from the College of Graduate Studies and Research, for being the rst to congratulate me with the good news. I also thank the sta and graduate students in the Department of Computer Science for keeping the machines and software running (ha, ha). Special thanks go out to Brian ven der Buhs for the many years of story telling, wine making and friendship. I thank my friends and family for their support. My parents, Ennio and Janet Muzzolini have always been generous with their love and time. They have always supported my endeavours; they taught me how to work hard and how to make good decisions and they o ered advice whenever it was asked for. I hope that my dad can learn to relax and that my mom nds the answers to her life long questions. I also thank my sister Tracey and my brother Blair. They, too, will someday earn the status of \Golden Child". Most importantly, I thank my own family for their love, trust and support. My son Gabriel may be too young to know what has been accomplished, but he can enjoy the rewards that the future will provide. My wife Leslie has been quite patient over the past decade or so. We have seen many changes but could always count on one constant: a student's life at the U of S. Now that this part of our lives is over I look forward to what the future holds. iii Table Of


The present invention relates to a multi-tube system for cooling the fuel nozzles. A system comprising a plurality - tube fuel nozzle includes a fuel nozzle header, which includes an outer wall surrounding the chamber. An outer wall including a wall configured to face the downstream portion of the combustion zone. Multi - fuel nozzle tubes extending through the chamber further comprises a plurality of tubes to the downstream wall portion. Each of the plurality of tubes comprises tubes of at least a portion of the fuel upstream of the inlet, and configured to receive air tubes and the air-fuel mixture upstream portion, downstream portion, and from the arrangement of the at least one fuel inlet. Multi - tube fuel nozzle includes a fuel conduit extending through the chamber at a plurality of intersecting tubes and surrounding the plurality of tubes. Fuel conduit comprises a plurality of impingement cooling apertures. Fuel flow path extending through the fuel conduit, through the impingement cooling apertures, through the chamber and into at least one fuel inlet tubes.


An analytical expression for the structure factor for globular proteins in aqueous solution is presented. This expression was obtained considering a potential given by the sum of a hard core, a van der Waals attractive, and a screened Coulomb contribution. Experimental data of small angle x-ray scattering for bovine serum albumin (BSA) in aqueous solutions containing sodium salts at different protein concentrations and pH values are also presented. The developed expression for the structure factor describes accurately these experimental data provided a dependence of the attractive parameter on protein concentration is established. An expression for the osmotic pressure was derived from the structure factor. With attractive parameters adjusted from x-ray scattering data, the osmotic pressure of BSA aqueous solutions could be predicted with very good agreement with experimental data. © 2015 American Institute of Chemical Engineers AIChE J, 61: 2871–2880, 2015


Pipeline tubes are part of vital mechanical systems largely used in petrochemical industries. They serve to transport natural gases or liquids. They are cylindrical tubes and are submitted to the risks of corrosion due to high PH concentrations of the transported liquids in addition to fatigue cracks. Due to the nature of their function, they are subject to the alternation of pressure-depression along the time, initiating therefore in the tubes' body micro-cracks that can propagate abruptly to lead to failure by fatigue. On to the diagnostic study for the issue the development of this prognostic process employing neural network for such systems bounds to the scope of quality maintenance. Keywords: Percept, Simulated results, Fluid Mechanics


A stack-unit map shows the distribution of earth materials vertically from the surface to a specified depth and horizontally over a specified area. It also shows the succession of geologic units in their order of occurrence within the specified depth. This information is now available for the entire state of Illinois with the publication of the statewide stack-unit map of geologic materials to a depth of 15 meters (49.3 ft). The statewide stack-unit map, which is made up of four separate, regional maps, provides basic geologic information for interpretive mapping for regional, resource-based land-use planning and decision making.


When cattle were sprayed with 0.5% Co-Ral® ( 0 -(3-chloro-4- Methylumbelliferonc) 0,0 -dicthyl phosphorothioate) at monthly intervals from May through September, there was no relationship between control and time of treatment. In other experiments with grown animals control ranged from 87.5% for ¾gallon of 0.4% to 90% for 1 gallon of 0.5%, applied at a pressure of 300 pounds per square inch, but control obtained by treating calves lightly (approximately 1 quart) was only 31%. In further tests with 0.5% no differences were noted between ½ to 1½ gallons appeared at 250 pounds and 1 gallon at 250 or 500 pounds per square inch. Except for the calves, cattle in all tests were in Summer coat and appeared to be wet to the skin by the minimum volume and pressure.


PURPOSE: To process natural musical sound signals full of expressions with controlled performance by simulating the physical characteristics of pitch adjustment and tone adjustment in a natural musical instrument like a tone hole in a wind instrument. CONSTITUTION: This system is provided with at least two waveguides(WGs) provided with a signal line for transmitting wave signals and a delay element inserted into the signal line and a multi-port function (52) provided with the at least three sets of input/output ports, both are connected through the two sets of the input/output ports to constitute a network. An optional processing means is connected to the at least one remaining set of the input/output ports, signals outputted from the input/output ports are processed, the process signals are inputted to the input/output ports and thus, the characteristics of the wave signals circulated in the network are controlled. By the processing means, the simulation of the tone hole and the other various musical sound processings are made possible.


This book should more appropriately be titled "When Latin America Matters," for that is its essential concern. Michael Desch examines four episodes in the U.S. relationship with Latin America in order to demonstrate the connection between that region and the pursuit of more vital security interests elsewhere. And, on the basis of this analysis, he posits a broader theory about the relationship between the third world and the "grand strategies" of the great powers. Whether one can infer such a general theory from a so narrowly-focused set of cases is just one of the troubling aspects of this book. Perhaps a more fundamental reservation stems from the author's prevailing assumption that security policy is rational and coherent and based on self-evident understandings of the balance of power. Desch argues that in its pursuit of a grand strategy, a great power acts to protect certain "intrinsic values," i.e., those vital to the nation's security. "Peripheral" areas, such as the third world, may, from time to time, take on "extrinsic value" when they "enhance or constrain the great powers' ability to defend themselves and maintain the balance of power" (p. x). He appears to accept without question that these values can be—and have been—determined objectively, unhindered by domestic and bureaucratic politics or by any number of other non-rational variables that impinge on the policy process. The first case concerns U.S. preoccupation with Mexico just prior to U.S. entry into World War I. Here, Desch makes extensive use of original documents and develops a somewhat unconventional argument. He contends that before Washington could intervene in Europe (an intrinsic value) it was necessary first to take care of the German threat to U.S. security emanating from Mexico (an extrinsic value). According to Desch, the German attempt to divert U.S. attention from Europe to Mexico was successful and converted Mexico from a peripheral interest to one linked to the balance of power in Europe. While this is a convincing argument, its contribution to the overall theory is weakened by the assumption that a country bordering the United States would ever be considered "peripheral." There is also likely to be disagreement over his portrayal of the seriousness of the German intrusion into Mexico. The U.S. responses to perceived German threats to Latin America during World War II form the basis for a second case study. Although Desch asserts that Washington "integrated" Latin America into its grand strategy for Europe, the evidence falls short of demonstrating how this linkage actually influenced important aspects of U.S. conduct of the war. In his consideration of the role of Cuba in the missile crisis, Desch provides persuasive support for a) the contention that the Soviets acted primarily to alter the strategic nuclear balance, and b) the suggestion that their backing away from a confrontation was due to superior U.S. conventional forces in the Caribbean. As interesting as this discussion is, however, the case only indirectly supports his general hypothesis about the role of the third world. Again, as in the case of Mexico, Cuba has traditionally held a special place in U.S. security concerns and it was not merely Soviet missiles that raised its status from peripheral to extrinsic value. Curiously, throughout this entire study there is no reference to the concept of spheres of influence or the literature on that subject. This is especially puzzling inasmuch as Desch draws considerably upon geopolitical concepts to rationalize the distinction between intrinsic, extrinsic, and peripheral values. The viability of Desch's thesis is stretched further by his contention that what mattered about Latin America during the Cold War was the protection of "sea lines of communication" (SLOCs). Although it is unclear if he is arguing that this was the case or if he is suggesting it ought to have been, he seems to assume that protecting SLOCs for their contribution to a potential war in Europe was the fundamental strategic interest guiding U.S. policy. He does not address how this shaped U.S. intervention in Nicaragua during the 1980s, for example, but he later recommends against third world interventions aimed at changing local governments. In addition to exaggerating the actual threat to SLOCs during the Cold War, Desch neglects the extensive body of literature relating to a century of U.S. preoccupation with a different set of SLOCs affecting access to the isthmus of Panama. Desch presents a reasonable case for disregarding the "credibility" argument as a justification for U.S. intervention in the third world. Acting in the third world to send a message to enemies and allies about U.S. reliability, he states, is ineffective and costly. The difficulty is determining whether the author thinks this has not actually been done, despite the rhetoric, or whether he is simply recommending against it because it distorts the search for rational strategic interdependence. To claim broad theoretical implications from these limited case studies is to ask too much, especially when all of the cases come from one region, Latin America, and when part of that area has had a traditional role as a U.S. sphere of influence—independent of its third world status. Desch's proposition would have been strengthened by consideration of other obvious third world cases such as the Vietnam war. Too often, the author overstates his conclusions; he claims more than the evidence supports and too often allows the compelling logic of grand strategy to take the place of a more modest and useful analysis. The documentary evidence, especially for World War I, provides the basis for a study of Latin America's link to broader U.S. interests, but care should be taken not to extrapolate too far.


Last night's clash between Newsnight's Jeremy Paxman and Dean Godson, the boss of think-tank Policy Exchange was a better contest than Ricky Hatton against Merryweather. But while the TV sparks that flew were bright, they also illuminated some darker corners of the media world we now inhabit.


Fusion of close range photogrammetry (CRP) and terrestrial laser scanning (TLS) technology has been a hot topic in the field of building reconstruction. There are many ways to realize the fusion of the two kind data. In this paper, we propose a method for 3D-2D data registration based on Scale Invariant Feature Transform (SIFT) algorithm and range intensity data. 3D terrestrial laser scanner and digital camera are different sensors, which will lead to large difference between intensity image (derived from range intensity data) and color image. The traditional image matching method can not apply to register these kind images. This paper focuses on studying the feasibility and practicability of SIFT algorithm on such different images matching. The result shows that the principal of SIFT method is suitable for the registration of the two kind images.


Objective: This research paper focuses on the simulated design and its analysis of 2 element microstrip patch antenna arrays with Quarter wave transformer feed and mitered bend feed network that is widely used in ISM frequency bands in the field of wireless communications. Methods: Various types of microstrip array antennas using Quarter wave transformer feed and with miter bend feeds are designed using HFSS 13.0 and fabricated by photolithography technique using FR-4 substrate, which is tested using VNA E5071C. Findings: The optimum performance of the feeding system is based on various antenna parameters. Here 1X2 array antennas are designed. Miter bends are used for better impedance matching. Usage of miter bends declines the reflection coefficient. There is improvement in gain by using miter bend feed network. Applications: Good impedance matching, optimum reflection coefficient and high gain are achieved by metered bends. The obtained results show that the designed antenna is an apt tool for communications.


The laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectra have been measured for cancer-infused and control mice mucosa tissues. It was established that there is quite a difference between their LIF spectral shapes. These spectral shapes are used to express the diagnostic of different states of tissues: from normal to cancer.


Objective: To explore the clinical and imaging features of ischiopubica osteochondritis(Van Neck disease). Methods: Clinical and imaging features of 23 cases with Van Neck disease were reviewed and X-ray films of 100 cases examined for other reasons were randomly chosen. Results: In the 23 cases of disease group, 16 cases were unilateral and 7 cases were bilateral. X-ray examination showed local prominence between ischium and pubis in all cases. Lamellar changes of the bone inhomogeneous in density with round translucence were found in 8 cases accompanied with intact cortex. Mild osseous hyperplasia was found in 8 cases without changes of periosteum and soft tissues. CT examination of 8 cases presented with local prominence between ischium and pubis, translucence, cataclasm, discontiguous osteal cortex with irregular ends, sclerotic medullary cavity of boney surroundings, but no sequestration and changes of periosteum and soft tissues. The above-mentioned X-ray features appeared in 14 cases among normal group, bilateral in 3 cases. Conclusion: Imaging features of Van Neck disease were typical, which can help correct diagnosis and differential diagnosis combined with the clinical manifestation.


An inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer was developed to continuously measure the heavy metal concentrations in flue gas to track the metal release process.Kinetic models were developed in transient conditions to study the kinetics of heavy metal vaporization,based on on-line emission measurement of heavy metals in flue gas.The models were applied to a mineral porous matrix to validate the method.Experimental data concerning Cd released from an alumina matrix in a fluidized bed are in good agreement with theoretical results.Results indicate that this approach permits to predict the extent of heavy metal vaporization from a mineral porous matrix when on-line emission of heavy metal in flue gas is known.The kinetic law of heavy metal vaporization during fluidized bed thermal treatment was derived and a first order law was fitted for the mineral matrix.


Short-term safety performance functions (SPFs) were proposed to achieve accurate and dynamic crash frequency predictions and bridge the gap between annual crash frequency prediction and real-time crash likelihood prediction. The proposed short-term SPFs consider the temporal variation in crashes and traffic characteristics. This study contributes to the literature by developing short-term SPFs at hourly aggregation levels for freeways that include high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) lanes using loop detector data from Arizona State, U.S. Variables that capture the short-term traffic turbulence were prepared and considered in the developed SPFs. Further, this study investigated the factors contributing to crash frequency using three different ways to represent the hourly traffic: annual average hourly traffic, annual average weekday hourly traffic (AAWDHT), and annual average weekday peak hour traffic (AAWDPT). The results indicated that the traffic volume variable was found to be significant in all the developed models. Further, the variables that represent the speed and occupancy differences between HOV lanes and general-purpose lanes were positively associated with crash frequency. This study proposed a series of variables that reflect the short-term traffic turbulence. The models comparison results showed an improvement in ρ 2 from 2.4% to 12.8% when including the proposed variables. Further, the results indicated that the Poisson-lognormal approach outperformed the basic negative binomial model in both AAWDHT, and AAWDPT models. Further, the AAWDPT model was found to have the best performance in relation to Akaike information criterion and ρ 2 .


The present invention provides a power supply system and a control apparatus. The control device of the power supply system comprising: a first converter connected to the power generation module configured to convert the direct current after power generation module for generating an alternating current output; and a second converter that is connected between the storage battery and the power generation module, It means for generating energy storage battery is converted to DC current required when starting and stopping the power generation modules, wherein the system comprises a power supply module for generating electrical energy, a fuel cell module comprising a cell module and vanadium; and an energy storage battery, with to provide the desired starting and stopping power to the power generation module. By the present invention, it is possible to broaden the range of applications of vanadium battery module.


The glass-transition temperature (Tg) is a fundamental property of all organic binders, It is illustrated with polyethylene glycol (PEG)-plasticized polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) binder systems that densification is enhanced when the binder Tg, is below the pressing temperature. This is a result of the increased deformability of the binder system and the decrease in the granule strength. Because of the reduction in the binder film strength with increasing PEG content, increasing the PEG content to lower the binder Tg, results in reductions in the compact green strength.


Female birds often copulate outside the pair‐bond to produce broods of mixed paternity, but despite much recent attention the adaptive significance of this behaviour remains elusive. Although several studies support the idea that extra‐pair copulations (EPCs) allow females to obtain 'good genes' for their offspring, many others have found no relationship between female mating fidelity and traits likely to reflect male quality. A corollary to the good genes hypothesis proposes that females do use EPCs to increase the quality of young, but it is the interaction between maternal and paternal genomes — and not male quality per se — that is the target of female choice. We tested this 'genetic compatibility' hypothesis in a free‐living population of Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) by determining whether females mated nonrandomly with respect to the major histocompatibility complex (Mhc). During both the 1994 and 1995 breeding seasons, female yearlings (but not older birds) avoided pairing with Mhc‐similar males (P < 0.005). The Mhc similarity between mates also predicted the occurrence of extra‐pair young in first broods (P < 0.007) and covaried with estimates of genome‐wide levels of similarity derived from multilocus DNA fingerprinting profiles (P = 0.007). The overall genetic similarity between adults tended to predict female mating fidelity, but with less precision than their Mhc similarity (P = 0.09). In contrast, females appeared insensitive to the size, weight or age of males, none of which explained variation in female mating fidelity. Taken together, these results are consistent with the hypothesis that females sought complementary genes for their offspring and suggest either that the benefits of heterozygosity (at the Mhc) drive female mating patterns or that the avoidance of inbreeding is an ultimate cause of social and genetic mate choice in Savannah sparrows.


This article analyses the end of the historical cycle of the debate inserted by neoliberalism in education during the latest decades, and makes a balance of how much of the epics and manifest of neoclassic and neo-institutionalist political economy effectively anchored in Latin American educational systems. By reviewing the concept of quasi-monopoly, this text provides theoretical categories that allow to think that Latin American education systems assume, more than pro-market reforms, a new statalization in the Foucaultian sense of government, and that they constitute a whole composed by a traditional state sector and a new output sector that, in a constant dynamic balance, contribute to the satisfaction of diverse needs of the many social sectors. How to reference this article: Narodowski, Mariano, "Cuasimonopolios escolares: lo que el viento nunca se llevo", Revista Educacion y Pedagogia, Medellin, Universidad de Antioquia, Facultad de Educacion, vol. 22, num. 58, septiembre-diciembre, 2010, pp. 29-36. Received: june 2010 Accepted: july 2010


Bond strength between the dentin and the restorative resins is deeply dependent on the nature of their interface. Resins impregnate dentin, which is rich in collagen fibers. This in vitro study aimed to evaluate the effect of collagen carbodiimide cross linker agent (EDC) on the mechanical properties of the adhesive interface in endodontically treated teeth. Twenty upper premolar teeth were selected and divided into two groups according to the dentin pretreatment procedures: no EDC application (group A) and EDC application (group B). Three typical zones, i.e. the dentin, the radicular hybrid layer and the resin, were analyzed using a Nanoindenter XP equipped with a diamond Berkovich indenter. The input curve was characterized by loading and unloading phases with a strain rate value of 0.1 s-1 and, an intermediate dumbbell phase of 30 s. The maximum indentation depth was set to be 200 nm. The load-displacement curves were analyzed by using the "Oliver and Pharr" method. The mean values of nanoindentation modulus were determined for the dentin, the radicular hybrid layer and the resin for both the samples with and without crosslinker. In general, the application of EDC was found to modify the mechanical properties of the radicular hybrid layer. The mechanical properties of the radicular hybrid layer could be related to the efficient infiltration of the adhesive systems and collagen crosslinker through dentin.


A multilayer capacitor array is provided to control equivalent series resistance and to suppress the change of power voltage. A multilayer capacitor array comprises a laminate and an outer conductor. The laminate is formed by laminating a plurality of dielectric layers. The outer conductor is formed on the laminate. A first and second surfaces(2,3) of the laminate face each other in the laminating direction of the dielectric layers. A first and second sides(4,5) are extended to be connected to the first and second surfaces. A third and fourth sides are extended to a short edge of the first and second surfaces to be connected to the first and second surfaces. A first inner electrode group includes a plurality of first inner electrodes and second inner electrodes. A second inner electrode group includes a third inner electrode and a fourth inner electrode. A first to fourth conductors(11~14) are arranged on either the first side or the second side. A first outer connection conductor is arranged on the side where at least one terminal conductor is arranged. The first inner electrode and the second inner electrode face each other.


In this paper,the author thinks that by investigating the earliest historical origin of nation,we can trace the formation process of nation,which evolves from the clan,tribe,and tribal alliance.State and nation are two parallel things generated by the tribes,and state takes the role of type-casting the nation.The existing historical data indicate that Tibetan nationality in the Tibetan plateau has experienced the process of such historical origins,namely,the formation of Tibetan nationality was concurrent with that of ancient Tibetan slavery dynasty state.


Noise reduction performance of road surfaces is of great concern as it has direct impact on the cost-effectiveness of this measure for noise abatement purpose. Over 70 low noise road surfaces, mainly polymer modified porous asphalts, were laid on low speed streets (speed limit < 50 km/h) in the urban areas of Hong Kong. A single-wheeled CPX trailer fitted with a local commonly fitted tyre, the yokohama tyre, was used to measure the tyre/road noise on eight sections of stone mastic asphalt surfaces for over one year and over twenty sections of polymer modified porous asphalt surfaces from one to three years. While the monitoring work is going on, initial results show that the tyre/road noise on stone mastic asphalt surfaces and that on polymer modified porous asphalt were different, and had different aging effect in noise terms.


The stray losses calculation method proposed by the IEC 61378-2 standard is analyzed in this study. The fundamental stray losses in different currents and the harmonic stray losses of the TEAM Problem 21 Family members are analyzed to verify the IEC method. It is shown that stray losses are approximately proportional to the square of the current, but do not follow the frequency to the power of 0.8. The IEC method typically produces large errors. A corrected calculation method is thus proposed in this study, in which the magnetic-field distribution is considered. The corrected method is verified in comparison with experimental results and the IEC method.


A visual montage of taxonimically unique Anguid lizards from Central and South America. Originally researched and illustrated as original representations for the landmark publication 'MacMillan Illustrated Animal Encyclopedia' (USA) 1983.


The 12th edition of the G20 monitor contains an overview from John Lipsky on the G20's role in global governance after the global financial crisis; a paper by Geoff Weir on the G20, Thomas Piketty, and inequality; thoughts from Hugh Jorgensen and Christian Downie on multilateral energy governance; and a piece by Charles Sampford on integrity and anti-corruption. Key findings Lipsky suggests the Brisbane Summit is a critical moment for the G20, if it does not restore a sense of political momentum to the process, the G20's relevance will wane Ever-growing inequality is inconsistent with the maintenance of an inclusive, democratic system of governance. The G20 should consider a combination of taxation, education and health reforms to reduce inequality. The world needs better multilateral energy governance. Whether the conditions exist for the G20 to remedy this problem is unclear, but members should pursue energy governance mechanisms that promote trust.


This article analyses the protests of the unemployed in northern France in 1934–35. This topic allows investigation of the most intense agitation of the jobless in France in the interwar years. The literature has principally focused on the PCF and the transition between Third Period and Popular Front policy phases to explain the evolution of movements of the unemployed in France in the 1930s. This article takes a multi-disciplinary approach combining archival research with the concepts of social movement theory to establish the dynamics of unemployed contention within northern France in these years. The findings of this article are that these dynamics can neither be understood principally through communist instrumentalisation nor as an archetypal social movement. Whilst sharing much with patterns of protest in general, the condition of the unemployed created an irreducible specificity to the dynamics of unemployed contention in northern France in 1934.


Pinpointing the origin of inefficiency can expedite the process of optimizing the efficiency of perovskite photovoltaics. However, it is challenging to discern and quantify the different loss pathways in a complete perovskite photovoltaic device under operational conditions. To address this challenge, we propose a modified diode model that can quantify bulk/interface defect‐assisted recombination and series/shunt resistive losses. By adopting drift‐diffusion simulation as the benchmark, we explore the physical meanings of the modified diode model parameters and evaluate the performance of the model for simulation parameters spanning many orders of magnitude. Our evaluation shows that, in most practical cases, the proposed model can accurately quantify all the aforementioned losses, and in some special cases, it is possible to identify the predominant loss pathway. Moreover, we apply the modified diode model to our lab‐produced devices (based on Cs0.05FA0.95PbI3 perovskites), demonstrating its effectiveness in quantifying entangled losses in practice. Finally, we provide a set of guidelines for applying the modified diode model and interpreting the results.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


The density functional theory (DFT) method with 6-311++G∗∗ basis set has been used to calculate the intramolecular hydrogen bond, molecular structure, vibrational frequencies, nuclear quadrupole resonance (NQR) parameters, 1HNMR, and resonance parameters of 2-Amino-2, 4, 6-cycloheptatrien-1-one (2-amino tropone) and its 18 derivatives in 5 positions. The natural bonding orbital (NBO) and quantum theory of atoms in molecules (QTAIM) analyses have been studied. The strongest and weakest hydrogen bonds exist for NO2 substituent in R3 position and OH in R7 position, respectively. In general, the substituted systems in position 3 indicate the stronger hydrogen bond in comparison with the parent molecule (R=H), while, it is comparatively weaker for position 5. The energy of the N-H…O interaction is found to be medium in strength (EHB∗=−25.106kJ mol−1 to −38.560kJ mol−1). The low ρ, positive ∇2ρ values and HC>0 show that the nature of O … H bonding is electrostatic. Also, our theoretical results show that the hydrogen bond strength in solution phase and the first singlet excited state is weaker in comparison with the gas phase ground state.


There is a potential for significant improvement on fuel efficiency of many mobile machines by using hybrid technology as the Diesel engines are often driven at very inefficient operating points in these applications. The load generated by the working hydraulics of a mobile machine is often rapidly changing and contains high peak powers compared to the mean power required. This paper studies three different hydraulic hybrids in a wheel loader application. The study is based on a measured sand-loading Y-cycle. In addition to the hybrid systems, a load sensing proportional valve based reference machine and a modified machine based on independent metering valves are analyzed. All five system alternatives are analyzed systematically to enable a comparison of their fuel efficiency. The study shows that the fuel consumption of the machine can be decreased up to 28 % in such load cycle by using a suitable hydraulic hybrid system.


Suggestions on international cooperation in climate policy beyond 2012 include substi- tuting or complementing international environmental agreements (IEA) with technology oriented agreements (TOA). We look at the impact of TOA on environmental cooperation in the framework of coalition stability. Using a numerical model, we analyze the differ- ences of several TOA and how they interact. We find that participation in and environmen- tal effectiveness of the IEA are raised less effectively when the TOA focuses on mitigation technology rather than augmenting productivity, which is due to the former having an effect on all actors via emissions, whereas effects of the latter are exclusive to research partners. For the same reason, we find that restricting the effects of R&D cooperation is credible only in case of productivity. Technology standards may fail to foster participation when they are restricting members and non-members alike, and may suffer from inefficiencies. However, when implemented as a complementary instrument, these disadvantages did not apply. Separately negotiated technology standards may hence facilitate participation in an IEA without adding to its complexity.


1. The Fortunes of John Lydgate 2. The French Context of the Fall of Princes 3. 'Lancastrian' Lydgate: Poet and Patron 4. Spiritual and Secular Authority in the Fall 5. 'When the Good Bleeds': Tragedy in the Fall of Princes 6. The Reception and Influence of the Fall


Abstract : The study involved three technical problems. Air transportable tactical communications subsystems that comply with pertinent security standards: Communications requirements were investigated and an overall communications plan presented which is compatible with existing and future tactical communications systems. This study shows that the alternate routed communications system plan is feasible and two communications vans at both the main field and the satellite field are desirable. Short range communications for air traffic control: ATC voice coordinated circuits will be required between multiple base complexes and neither line of sight VHF nor HF/SSB is suitable. Communications requirements were established. Investigation of LF-MF and UHF/ SHF troposcatter for short and intermediate ranges were accomplished. Results indicate that tropospheric scatter is most reliable for ranges of 15 to 200 miles and HF for ranges in excess of 200 miles. Specifications of a tactical HF directional antenna: Current log monopole antennas are bulky and require too much set up time. Results indicate three approaches can alleviate the bulk, weight, erection problems. Inductive loading techniques. Purchase of off-the- shelf hardware. Development of state-of-the-art designs.


Hartmann's work on magnetohydrodynamic channel flow is extended to include the case with a time‐dependent pressure gradient. Cases treated are: (a) suddenly applied pressure gradients which are periodic in time, and (b) pressure gradients which, with respect to time, are step and delta functions. The channel walls are assumed to be perfectly conductive. As a limiting case, the solution for hydrodynamic channel flow with a time‐dependent pressure gradient is also given. The nature of viscous and magnetic drag on the wall is discussed. By use of the convolution integral and super‐position principle, solutions can be obtained for any arbitrary time‐dependent pressure gradient. Figures show the physical consequence of the solutions.


In the past decade, sparsity-driven regularization has led to the advancement of image reconstruction algorithms. Traditionally, such regularizers rely on analytical models of sparsity [e.g., total variation (TV)]. However, more recent methods are increasingly centered around data-driven arguments inspired by deep learning. In this letter, we propose to generalize TV regularization by replacing the $\ell _1$ -penalty with an alternative prior that is trainable. Specifically, our method learns the prior via extending the recently proposed fast parallel proximal algorithm to incorporate data-adaptive proximal operators. The proposed framework does not require additional inner iterations for evaluating the proximal mappings of the corresponding learned prior. Moreover, our formalism ensures that the training and reconstruction processes share the same algorithmic structure, making the end-to-end implementation intuitive. As an example, we demonstrate our algorithm on the problem of deconvolution in a fluorescence microscope.


This chapter investigates two questions: 'What are everyday metaphysical explanations?' and 'What sorts of things in the world do there need to be, for there to be an everyday metaphysical explanation present?' It proposes that everyday metaphysical explanations are true propositions of the form ⌜x because y⌝. The chapter distinguishes the worldly structure aspect of the phenomenon—the R-relation—from the psychological aspect of the phenomenon—psychological role P—and proposes that propositions of this form are true when both aspects are satisfied. It also introduces the idea that on the accounts to be proposed, everyday metaphysical explanation is context-sensitive, and considers several semantic proposals for making sense of this context-sensitivity. The chapter outlines how propositions and facts are conceived of in this book.


Understanding the impact of concussion history on mental health - mood disorders and substance use - is an essential step in characterizing the psychological and behavioral consequences of concussion and in developing effective treatments. The objective of the study was to examine the association between history of concussion and substance abuse by investigating both its direct and indirect association via mood disorder. A secondary object was to determine whether gender moderates the association. A comprehensive survey was administered to 4849 college-aged adults that assessed history of concussion; depression, anxiety and panic disorders using the PHQ; and substance use using the AUDIT (alcohol) and CUDIT (cannabis). Regression models were used to examine the association between concussion history and substance use. Mood disorders were entered into the model as mediators and gender as a moderator variable. Those with a history of concussion had higher panic, AUDIT and CUDIT scores than those with no history of concussion and AUDIT and CUDIT scores showed an interaction between concussion history and gender. The regression models revealed significant direct and indirect (via depression and panic disorder) effects of concussion history on alcohol and cannabis use which was moderated by gender. Concussion can have long-term psychological consequences and appears to affect both mood and substance use. The results presented demonstrate that the relationship between concussion and substance use is complex with mood disorder mediating the effect.


Aims. We investigate the nature of two young intermediate mass stars namely IRAS20293+3952 (I20293) and IRAS05358+3843 (I05358), which display clearly defined H 2 emission rings. Methods. High resolution deconvolution of finely sampled 3.6-8.0 μm Spitzer-IRAC images are carried out. Continuum-subtracted 2.122 μm H 2 1-0 S(1) narrow-band images of both targets and HK band spectrum of two main stars in I20293 are presented. The spectral energy distibutions (SED) of the stars enclosed in the H 2 rings are constructed using photometry from the literature and combining with newly obtained Spitzer-MIPS 70 μm photometry. The SEDs are modelled using a grid of radiative transfer models to obtain estimates of the star, disk and envelope physical parameters. Results. The images reveal ring-like structures surrounding isolated young B-type stars. The modelling attributes a mass and age of ~7 M ⊙ and ~0.1 Myr, respectively, to both young stars, in agreement with other observational indicators. The HK band spectra of I20293 display the Brackett series of HI recombination lines, which appears to correspond exclusively to the young star inside this IRAS source. The ring around I20293 appears to be a single well-defined ellipse with inner parts shining brightly in the Spitzer broad band images and outer parts displaying strong H 2 emission. In the source I05358, at least two ring's are found, one circumscribing the other. The emission in the Spitzer bands and the H 2 emission are mostly coincident for the inner ring. The outer ring is visible partly in the Spitzer bands and partly in H 2 emission. The rings in both the sources, I20293 and I05358, have diameters of ~25 000-30 000 AU. The envelope sizes estimated by the SED modelling are consistent with the size of the rings estimated using the imaging data. The spectrum of the H 2 ring in I20293 is suggestive of fluorescent excitation. In the source I05358, the inner ring displays a combination of PAH and H 2 line emission with excess PAH emission closer to the star.


• Authentication and authorization • Pass-sentences, pass-phrases and mnemonic passwords • Randomly generated passwords • User Study: Human selection of text passwords 1.1 Authentication and authorization The management of multiple versions of user identities across multiple applications is difficult and one type of building blocks of identity management is 1 : • Password reset • Password synchronization • Single sign-on • Access management software Identification, Authentication and Authorization are three components of Identity management. There are many ways of defining these terms. One of the way is : • Authorization is a process by which an entity (such as a person or a computer system) determines whether another entity is who it claims


Recent architectures in academia and industry have explored placing multiple processors on a single chip, but a consensus has not emerged on the memory architecture. The recent availability of embedded DRAM (EDRAM) has further complicated the formula. In this investigation, we present a new and comprehensive comparison of four very different memory technologies in the same framework: SRAM cache, SRAM configured as pageable memory, EDRAM configured as cache, and EDRAM configured as pageable memory. In addition, these experiments investigate tradeoffs between two levels of on-chip memory, given constant silicon area: as the level one capacity increases, the level two capacity decreases. Having four processors on a single die, each with its own set of level one caches, helps exaggerate the effective memory tradeoffs.


We present a new approach to imitation learning of grasping skills in the context of a human instructor who demonstrates a grasping action/skill to a mobile service robot equipped with a 6-degrees-of-freedom arm, a dextrous hand, a multi-view active vision setup and multimodal sensors. The proposed approach can be divided into 4 steps. The first step uses object detection mechanisms to interpret the scene. Possible target objects are determined, as well as their position in 3D space. The second step performs data processing by observation of the skill demonstrated by the instructor's hand. Therefore the trajectory of the instructor's hand, its orientation as well as its position, is acquired and filtered in 3D space. The service robot realizes this by a multiview active vision setup using an adaptive contour tracker based on contour likelihoods. At the same time, to make the process more robust in complex situations, the instructor's gaze is tracked to detect the object that he wants to grasp. In a third step, the acquired data from scene interpretation together with data from hand and gaze tracking is then used to generate the trajectory of the robot's arm and to select a suitable hand configuration for grasping the object. The fourth step executes the grasping action which is fine-controlled by visual servoing and force control. It is embedded into a reinforcement learning approach which evaluates the grasping action for robustness and stability and represents the robot's knowledge of which grasps are suitable for an object. K eywords: Imitation learning, grasping, service robot, multimodal interaction


This study investigated the dynamics between tick size and market quality using an agent-based multiple-order-book stock-market model. Given the multiple-order-book setting, we integrated the model with small-, medium-, and large-cap stocks and conducted the analysis from both a tick-size-series and cross-sectional perspective. The simulation results showed that small-cap stocks were of the lowest quality. Furthermore, quality was generally weakened as tick-size value increased, with expanded bid-ask spreads, elevated market volatility, and reduced market efficiency.


BACKGOUND
Biological invasions are a global concern in agriculture, food production, and biodiversity. Among the invasive species, some hornets are known to have serious effects on honey bees, as found during the invasion of Vespa velutina in Europe. The recent findings of Vespa mandarinia individuals in Washington state in the west coast of the United States of America (USA) have raised alarm in the whole country. Here we estimate the potential spread of V. mandarinia in the USA, analyzing its potential impacts on honey bee colonies, economic losses of the honey bee industry and bee-pollinated croplands.

RESULTS
We found that V. mandarinia can potentially colonize Washington and Oregon states in the west coast and a significant proportion of the east coast. If this species spread across the country, it could threaten 95 216 ± 5551 honey bee colonies, threatening an estimated income of 11.9 and 101.8 million dollars for hive derived products and bee-pollinated crops production, while colonizing 60 837.8 km2 of bee-pollinated croplands.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest that V. mandarinia will have serious effects in the USA, raising the need for prompt monitoring actions and planning at different administrative levels to avoid its potential spread. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Due to huge deformation in the camera captured images, variety in nature of the business cards and the computational constraints of the mobile devices, design of an efficient Business Card Reader (BCR) is challenging to the researchers. Extraction of text regions and segmenting them into characters is one of such challenges. In this paper, we have presented an efficient character segmentation technique for business card images captured by a cell-phone camera, designed in our present work towards developing an efficient BCR. At first, text regions are extracted from the card images and then the skewed ones are corrected using a computationally efficient skew correction technique. At last, these skew corrected text regions are segmented into lines and characters based on horizontal and vertical histogram. Experiments show that the present technique is efficient and applicable for mobile devices, and the mean segmentation accuracy of 97.48% is achieved with 3 mega-pixel (500-600 dpi) images. It takes only 1.1 seconds for segmentation including all the preprocessing steps on a moderately powerful notebook (DualCore T2370, 1.73 GHz, 1GB RAM, 1MB L2 Cache).


Education is a human right that allow people to develop their skills, improve their productivity and their living conditions. Education has long been recognized as an important foundation for sustained economic growth. Using data from the OECD Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), we empirically investigate the economic effects of education in Spain. Our data source allow us to perform international comparisons and we estimate wage equations for three other European countries: France, the Netherlands and Norway. Another advantage of the PIAAC dataset is the availability of cognitive skills indices. We use these indices as proxy variables for the unobserved ability of workers. Based on these data, our estimates show a strong positive relationship between education and wages.


Universal hepatitis C screening for younger adults may be the next essential step in eradicating the infection suggests pediatric ID specialist Claudia Espinosa, MD, MSc.