The central and challenging project planning respon ibility of deriving realistic duration estimates founders particularly in cases where tasks lack nat urally occurring output metrics. In this paper we show how AHP/ANP can be used to help measure task 'magni tude', especially in difficult to quantify areas such as research, design, analysis and writing. We generalise an approach used in Agile software development planning methods, where a number of 'st ry' points are attached to an identified base task , usually one of lowest apparent complexity, with poi nt values then being assigned to other tasks in proportion to how their respective apparent complex ities compare with that of the base. The approach begins with the observation that tasks can frequently and usefully be described as a grou p of sub-tasks which do not warrant their own explici t representation in the WBS and whose individual influences on the task's duration are frequently ne glected. By means of the AHP/ANP, we can prioritis e the sub-tasks against a rich set of appropriate cri ria such as magnitude, quality and complexity, in terpret the priorities as relative contributions to aggrega t t sk output, assign an arbitrary number of outpu t units to a selected sub-task and finally, scale all the p riorities up accordingly to obtain a quantitative d escription of the task magnitude. Duration estimation is the n r stored to the familiar process of identifying a nd applying resource productivity, corresponding effor t and likely attendance levels to the computed task magnitude, adding appropriate time-driven factors s uch as interruptions and contingencies as needed. The problem of the lack of output measures extends to the project implementation phase where resort is frequently made to inputs as the basis for progress as essment at higher levels of the WBS. For examp le the widely used Earned Value Methods methodology eq uates progress with the planned cost to produce, in alignment with the 'implicit' theory of value. The paper will therefore also demonstrate the power of prioritisation in helping to define value in alignment with the 'subjective' theory, in this cas e as perceived by the end-user or client. This req ui s the development of an AHP/ANP model across the enti ti s of the highest level of the WBS hierarchy, characterised by a variety of criteria such as re-u sability, functionality, maintainability, sustainab ility, constructability and their sub-criteria. This will produce a set of priorities that describe the norma lised contributions each entity makes to the production o f the project deliverable. This can then be repeat ed for the sub-hierarchies down to an appropriate depth. Progress, both local and global, can then be define d as a proportion of genuine output value delivered. Fi nally, since these measures are tied to scheduled W BS entities, their accumulation across project time ca n be projected with a smoothness dependent upon the degree of decomposition. During implementation, we can, at any WBS level, define progress, attendanc e and productivity ratios Actual Progress /Scheduled Progress, Actual Effort /Scheduled Effort and the their quotient respectively, thereby providing a rationa l, output-oriented and value-based assessment of pr oject health.


Technology plays a vital role in our lives to meet basic hygiene necessities. Currently, the whole world is facing an epidemic situation and the practice of using sanitizers is common nowadays. Sanitizers are used by people to sanitize their hands and bodies. It is also used for sanitizing objects that come into contact with the machine. While sanitizing a small area, people manage to sanitize via pumps, but it becomes difficult to sanitize the same area every day. One of the most severe sanitation concerns is a simple, economic and efficient method to adequately clean the indoor and outdoor environments. In particular, effective sanitization is required for people working in a clinical environment. Recently, some commonly used sanitizer techniques include electric sanitizer spray guns, electric sanitizer disinfectants, etc. However, these sanitizers are not automated, which means a person is required to roam personally with the device to every place to spray the disinfectant or sanitize an area. Therefore, a novel, cost-effective automatic sanitizing machine (ASM) named ASMBoT is designed that can dispense the sanitizer effectively by solving the aforementioned problems.


In this paper the model of Cross-locating in the Radar netting under the condition of jam is discussed,and the distributing of the error in Cross-locating is analyzed.Aiming at the problem of the instability in Confusion error,a fusion model is founded to proofread the error based on the theory of data fusion.The model can be used to eliminate the problem of instability in Cross-locating error effectively.The result of simulation shows that this model can expand the detect range and enhance the precision of the Net-radar.


Abstract A unilateral congenitally missing maxillary lateral incisor is often associated with a small or peg-shaped contralateral tooth. This form of hypodontia is also frequently combined with a generally undersized maxillary dentition, which could therefore be considered a paradigm for esthetic situations where problems of tooth position, size and form need to be connected and resolved. The space opening versus the space closure option should derive from a hierarchy of decisions. When we treat young patients, the restorative solutions should be obtained by a minimally invasive approach, which facilitates both the reversibility and ease of reintervention in the long term.


Taking Qingdao Bay bridge as the engineering background,the performance of the steel deck of cable-stayed bridge with steel box girder was studied.To study the performance of the orthotropic steel deck,it was partitioned into three basis systems: the first structural system is that cover board is considered as a part of the main girder to support the vehicle load;the second structural system is floor system of bridge which includes the longitudinal rids,the transverse rids and the cover board,supporting the vehicle wheel load;the third structural system is that the cover board is supported by the longitudinal rids and the transverse rids,resisting the local wheel load directly.The spatial beam finite element model and spatial shell finite element model were created and the performance of every system was analyzed.Through adding the three systems' stress,the maximal compressive stress is 87.7 MPa,which could meet the standard requirement.The method of superimposed stresses is an approximate calculation method.The result,which was obtained by superimposed stresses method,is conservative.But the calculation precision can satisfy the design requirement.1 tab,10 figs,10 refs.


Abstract : The purpose of the study is to assess the potential applicability of various types of total energy systems to military installations. The types of energy systems considered include diesel, gas turbine, steam turbine, geothermal, solar, nuclear, and solid wastes. Fuel savings are given for each type of system, and their costs are compared with the costs of conventional systems. The two most promising systems are (1) solar energy applied to heating and cooling, and (2) nuclear power.


Green nail syndrome (GNS) is a nail disorder caused by bacteria characterized by greenish pigmentation.1 The main causative is Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which produces the pyocyanin and pyoverdine causing green discoloration. Nail dermoscopy (onychoscopy) is a useful ancillary diagnostic tool for various nail disorder.2-6 However, few studies in the literature have reported dermoscopic findings of GNS.7, 8.


It is one of the known methods to obtain the optimal solution using the Ant Colony Optimization Algorithm for the Traveling Salesman Problem (TSP), which is a combination optimization problem. In this paper, we solve the TSP problem by proposing an improved new ant colony optimization algorithm that combines genetic algorithm mutations in existing ant colony optimization algorithms to solve TSP problems in many cities. The new ant colony optimization algorithm provides the opportunity to move easily fall on the issue of developing local optimum values of the existing ant colony optimization algorithm to global optimum value through a new path through mutation. The new path will update the pheromone through an ant colony optimization algorithm. The renewed new pheromone serves to derive the global optimal value from what could have fallen to the local optimal value. Experimental results show that the existing algorithms and the new algorithms are superior to those of existing algorithms in the search for optimum values of newly improved algorithms.


The BPA (block priority assignment) system combines the principle of speech interpolation with waveform coding methods for the active speech signal. Coding with variable wordlength permits adapting the demand of the N speech sources to the capacity of the channel. The system emphasized in this paper not only varies the bits per source according to the number of active talkers, but also assigns the number of bits to the source that needs it most based on estimates of the SNR over the block. When ADPCM and DSI are combined to give a 4:1 compression ratio over standard PCM (data rate 16 kbits/s) no distortions are audible. The influence of transmission errors and the use of various waveform coders is considered.


Abstract Physical inactivity is a global public health challenge, leading to an increase in chronic diseases. Effective large-scale physical activity interventions are needed. We examined the effectiveness of a nationwide mHealth intervention in Singapore, National Steps Challenge Season 3 (NSC3). NSC3 included gain-framed financial incentives for reaching pre-defined daily step targets, nudging via reminders and real-time feedback on physical activity levels. Our study includes 411,528 participants, with 53,371 (13.0%) participants aged 59 and above. Regression discontinuity design examined changes to daily step counts prior to and during NSC3. NSC3 was associated with an overall mean increase of 1437 steps per day (95% CI: 1408 to 1467). Participants in older age groups were associated with larger mean step increases. Females aged between 59 to 68 and 69 and above were associated with average increases of 1640 steps per day (95% CI: 1510 to 1770) and 2300 steps per day (95% CI: 2050 to 2550), respectively. Males in the same age groups were associated with average increases of 1360 steps per day (95% CI: 1200 to 1520) and 1640 steps per day (95% CI: 1370 to 1900), respectively. We provide real-world evidence that suggests NSC3 improved participants' step counts, with a larger increase among older adults. As older adults have a higher risk of chronic diseases, lower physical inactivity has potential health benefits such as reducing the incidence of hypertension and improving cardiovascular health biomarkers. While results are promising, further investigations are necessary to ensure sustained engagement among older adults.


This paper focuses on the design of non-linear parametric controllers, around a nominal input/output trajectory of a discrete-time non-linear system. The main result provided herein is a relationship between the tracking performance of the closed-loop control system in the neighbourhood of a nominal trajectory, and some local features (the first-order linear approximations about the nominal trajectory) of the non-linear mappings which characterize the plant and the feedback controller. Such a result can be used to predict the dynamic behaviour of the control system, and to reduce the computational complexity of the optimization task associated with the tuning of the parametric feedback controller.


Biodiversity conservation efforts in Europe have traditionally focused on farmland and open nature areas such as grasslands, heathlands and meadows, while little attention has been devoted to conservation actions in forest. Using detailed information on the geographical distribution of about 900 terrestrial species in Denmark we apply systematic conservation planning techniques to identify how to protect


Lower Palaeozoic palaeoscolecid worms have usually been referred to the phylum Annelida, albeit often with a question-mark, The find of palaeoscolecids with armed proboscis in the Lower Cambrian Chengjiang fauna from Yunnan, southwest China, provides evidence that these worms were aschelminths. They are similar to the Nematoda, Priapulida, and Nematomorpha and presumably closest to the latter, although not parasitic. The palaeoscolecids appear to be just one of several 'armoured-worm' radiations among the earliest representatives of modem phyla, as suggested by the plentitude of 'small shelly fossils' in the Lower Cambrian. ***Aschelminthes, Cambrian, Chengjiang fauna, Nematomorpha, Palaeoscolecida.


Large-scale development projects often result in massive displacement of population. Based on an ethnographic study of the people displaced by the Tehri dam in India, the present paper examines the impact of displacement on women and demonstrates that their experiences of displacement and resettlement are qualitatively different from those of men. Displacement not only results in physical dislocation, but also in women's disempowerment. Resettlement policies and programmes, in the Indian context, have largely remained gender biased and fail to take into account the differential experiences of women, making resettlement a difficult process for them. I argue for a better understanding of women's experiences of development-induced dislocation and a subsequent refocusing of policy.


This paper deals with the Ku-band time-delayed diversity/satellite diversity (TDD/Sat. D) system, which is combination of a TDD system and a Sat. D system to overcome heavy rain attenuation in the Ku-band Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) systems. To optimize the construction of the TDD/Sat. D system, the Lune-Q antenna is introduced due to its optimum multi-satellite reception characteristics. To verify the characteristics of the TDD/Sat. D system, propagation experiments are carried out between Yokohama and Sapporo earth-stations. The rain attenuation data measured between April and November 2007 are processed for assess the TDD/Sat. D system characteristic. From the calculated results, it can be clarified that by using the TDD/Sat. D system, the satellite link unavailability time percentage can be improved by approximately 1/10 with a delay time tau = 10~20 minutes.


1MPERIAL Russia's attempt to join mi the European scramble for Africa culminated in 1889 in a melodramatic fiasco on the coast of the Red Sea in Ethiopia. In January and February 1889 a Russian contingent of about one hundred and fifty Cossacks, including women and children, occupied the village of Sagallo, a miserable collection of hovels that baked on the inhospitable northern shore of the gulf of Tadjura. Their leader, Nikolai Ivanovich Ashinov, a Terek Cossack, pretentiously claimed the title "Hetman of the Free Cossacks." The expedition had two objectives: to found an African colony-"New Moscow"-and to establish formal relations between the Holy Synod and the Ethiopian Coptic Church.


In the context of an ageing population and very fragmented health and social care systems, the French ministry of Health is testing a national program ("PAERPA : Personnes Agées en Risque de Perte d'Autonomie") since 2013. The program experiments an optimal geriatric care management to prevent elders loss of independence. The first phase of the program including 9 pilot territories is subject to a contrafactual evaluation over a period of time (2015-2017) that allows exploring its effects. Objectives: The PAERPA is carried out by regional agencies of France which intend to improve the coordination of inpatient, outpatient and social care at a territorial level. Its objectives are based on the organizational and technological innovations around three items: avoid breaks elderly care pathways,improving the quality of life of elderly people and their caregivers, adapt the professional practices to the healthcare pathway of elderly people (to avoid silos). The program targets the elderly people from 75 years old and above and fragile populations (about 10% of the population of France), integrating providers of health and social care. Highlights: Innovation:The PAERPA sets out the establishment of governance structures, the development of new services & care pathways (e.i. The night nurse, Temporary housing service) and new ways of working (e.i. new roles including case management), the development of a multidisciplinary teamwork by creating of a local clinical coordination. All this has helped to transform the coordination devices. Impacts&outcomes: results Conclusion : The evaluation informs the implementation of integrated care for older persons, and supports establishment of a new level of coordination and cooperation as the country seeks to re-design health service delivery. Lessons: This program identifies key lessons for an international audience interested in understanding of the challenges implementing complex service delivery change. Limitations: A flexible approach allows for an appropriate response to each territory, but limits the generalization of results. It is necessary to develop mixed qualitative and quantitative approaches to evaluate the factors of success and failure in pilot projects.


In recent year, the role of the pharmacist has evolved from product-focused to patient focused activities. New professional pharmacy services were simultaneously developed and implemented. Implementation, essential to ensure programme delivery and therefore its effectiveness, was seen as a passive process for which diffusion and dissemination were sufficient to translate research into practice. However, the transition from theory to practice is often difficult as different factors hinder or facilitate the implementation of such services. This thesis aimed to understand the gap between theory and practice in identifying factors and key steps for optimal implementation. Three projects were conducted in Belgium and Switzerland; to understand the implementation of an existing programme in Belgium; the isotretinoin pregnancy prevention programme, and to study the implementation of two new developed pharmaceutical services, which include an interview between the pharmacist and the patient and require interprofessional collaboration; the medication adherence program in Switzerland and the medication review in Belgium.


Pseudarthrosis is a feared complication following spinal fusions. In 220 patients treated with minimally invasive antepsoas-lumbar fusions, arthrodesis was evaluated using follow-up computed tomography scans. Successful fusion was noted in 96.4% of operated patients and 98.3% of the fused levels. Nonetheless, smoking history, multilevel fusions, and surgery at L5-S1 remain considerable risk factors. Study Design. Retrospective case–control study. Objective. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of pseudarthrosis following antepsoas (ATP) lumbar and lumbosacral fusions. Summary of Background Data. Pseudarthrosis is a feared complication following spinal fusions and may affect their clinical outcomes. To date there are no sufficient data on the fusion rate following ATP lumbar and lumbosacral arthrodesis. Methods. This is a retrospective review of 220 patients who underwent lumbar minimally invasive antepsoas (MIS-ATP) fusions between January 2008 and February 2019 who have at least 1-year postoperative computed tomography (CT) follow-up scans. Fusion was graded using CT scans imaging and adopting a 1–4 grading scale (1, definitely fused; 2, likely fused; 3, likely not fused; 4, definitely not fused/nonunion). Grades 3 or 4 indicate pseudarthrosis. Results. A total of 220 patients (average age: 66 years, 82 males (37.2%), and 127 (57.7%) smokers) were included. Eight patients (3.6%) developed pseudarthrosis. A total of 693 discs were addressed using the ATP approach. Of those, 681 (98.3%) were considered fused (641 levels [92.5%] were "definitely fused" and 40 levels [5.8%] were "Likely fused") and 12 discs (1.7%) developed pseudarthrosis (seven levels [1.0%] were "likely not fused" and five levels (0.7%) were "definitely not fused"). The highest rate of pseudarthrosis was found at L5-S1 (4.8%) compared to the L1-L5 discs (0–2%). Of 127 smokers, six developed pseudarthrosis (odds ratio = 2.3, P = 0.3). The fusion rates were 95.3% and 97.8% for smokers and nonsmokers, respectively. Of the eight patients who developed pseudarthrosis, only four (50%) were symptomatic, of whom two (25%) required revision surgery. Both of these patients were smokers. The overall revision rate due to pseudarthrosis was 0.9% (two of 220 patients). Conclusion. The MIS-ATP technique results in a high fusion rate (96.4% of patients; 98.3% of levels). Pseudarthrosis was noted mostly at the L5-S1 discs and in smokers. Level of Evidence: 4


We report on the first detection of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe (ISW) effect in wavelet space, at scales in the sky around 0 7° with a significance 3.3σ, by cross-correlating the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) first-year data and the National Radio Astronomy Observatories (NRAO) Very Large Array (VLA) Sky Survey (NVSS). In addition, we present a detailed comparison of the capabilities of three different techniques for two different objectives: to detect the ISW effect and to put constraints on the nature of the dark energy. The three studied techniques are the cross-angular power spectrum (CAPS; harmonic space), the correlation function (CCF; real space) and the covariance of the spherical Mexican hat wavelet (SMHW) coefficients (CSMHW; wavelet space). We prove that the CSMHW is expected to provide a higher detection (in terms of the signal-to-noise ratio) of the ISW effect for a certain scale. However, the detection achieved by the CAPS is the lowest, being the signal-to-noise ratio dispersed among a wide multipole range. The CCF provides an intermediate detection level. This prediction has been corroborated by the analysis of the data. The SMHW analysis shows that the cross-correlation signal is caused neither by systematic effects nor foreground contamination. However, by taking into account the information encoded in all the multipoles/scales/angles, the CAPS provides slightly better constraints than the SMHW in the cosmological parameters that define the nature of the dark energy. The limits provided by the CCF are wider than for the other two methods, although the three of them give similar confidence levels (CLs). Two different cases have been studied: (i) a flat A cold dark matter universe; (ii) a flat universe with an equation of state parameter that, although it does not change with time, could take values different from - 1. In the first case, the CAPS provides (for a bias value of b = 1.6) Ω Λ = 0.73 +0.11 -0.14 (at la CL). Moreover, the CAPS rejects the range Ω Λ < 0.1 at 3.5σ, which is the highest detection of dark energy reported to date. In the second case, the CAPS gives Ω DE = 0.70 +0.12 -0.20 and w = -0.75 +0.32 -0.41 (at la CL). This is the first estimation of the equation of state of dark energy made through the cross-correlation of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and the nearby galaxy density distribution. It also provides an independent estimation from that made by the WMAP team using the CMB and large-scale structure.


ABSTRACT Taken together, the Coherence Principle of Multimedia Learning Theory and the Integrated Systems Hypothesis propose that co-occurring and semantically congruent verbal and visual information should be integrated into one mental representation that enhances memory. The purpose of this paper was to examine how learning pseudowords with matching versus mismatching gestures affects subsequent identification and integration of these newly learned pseudowords into read sentential contexts. Additionally, the pseudowords were manipulated to occur in either semantically congruent or semantically incongruent read sentential contexts, based on the pseudowords' learned definition. To investigate the research question, two experiments utilizing self-paced reading paradigms were employed. Results of Experiment 1 indicated partial support for the Integrated Systems Hypothesis. In Experiment 2, results indicated that pseudowords learned with matching gestures were identified more quickly and accurately after being read in semantically congruent sentences compared to semantically incongruent sentences, as was expected based on the Integrated Systems Hypothesis as well as the Coherence Principle of Multimedia Learning Theory. Additional results and implications are reported.


The canard airfoil from the Voyager aircraft was tested in Ohio State University's subsonic wind tunnel. This highly optimized laminar flow section had good clean airfoil performance, but suffered severe lift and drag penalties with early boundary-layer transition. These performance penalties resulted from a midchord boundary-layer separation. An experimental program was conducted to document this problem and then to design and test vortex generators in order to improve the tripped airfoil performance while having the least effect on the clean airfoil. A set of properly designed vortex generators were found to increase the lift and reduce the drag of the contaminated airfoil. A brief study documented a significant drag rise due to a rough surface in the turbulent boundary-layer region.


Fan culture has become a significant arena for communication studies, but art educators and researchers haven't paid enough attention to it. Such research is important because anim?/ manga fandom, as a subculture, has an enor mous influence on youngsters. This study is an exploration of youth anim?/manga fan culture from the viewpoints of six adolescents who are anim?/manga fan artists. The focus is on the participants' experiences, opinions, and val ues in making manga doujinshi (self-published comic fanzines), cosplaying (costume play), and participating in fan activities. This study has the potential for understanding youth anim?/manga fans, their fan art and subculture, and ultimately, for providing insights to allow art educators to bridge the gap between mainstream school cul tures and adolescent subcultures. Introduction: Re-viewing Fan Culture Fan culture, the body of people who are fans of pop culture, has been an active and widespread feature in postmodern society, but the diversity of its genres and dynam ics of its forms make it difficult to paint an accurate picture of fan culture as a whole (Bacon-Smith, 1992). Fandom, in fact, is a multicultural territory, where each fan community subscribes to its own unique media substances, values, and contexts. Young people have their own fan cultures, as a part of youth subculture in general, and many of them are little known or com pletely unknown to most of us. Although numerous youth fan activities have be come increasingly public, they are still per ceived as "a psychological symptom of a presumed social dysfunction" and one who becomes involved in them is perceived as "an image of the pathological fan" (Jenson, 1992, p.2). For instance, the hip-hop sub culture or the anim?/manga1 fan culture is associated with violence, drugs, and exotic obscenity, and so causes a great deal of social anxiety and moral panic in society (Kinsella, 2000; Njubi, 2001). According to Jenkins (1992a), fans may not be the "cultural dupes, social misfits, and mindless consumers" that they have been labeled (p. 23). Rather, fans are able to digest the media texts that they con sume so as to produce their own artworks and be creative on their own terms (Jen kins, 1992a, 1992b). This phenomenon can apparently be seen at anim? conven tions, at which anim?/manga fan arts like manga doujinshi2 and cosplay3 are cel ebrated and circulated. These two forms of anim?/manga art are mostly the products of anim?/manga fans' responses to their favorite manga or anim? texts. Originating in Japan, anim?/manga fandom has grown into an important so cial and cultural phenomenon there and throughout Asia, especially in Taiwan, Ko rea, Hong Kong, and mainland China. Even the United States has been caught up in this cultural wave (Wilson & Toku, 2004). Some art educators and researchers have been fascinated by anim?/manga's unique fan culture, featuring millions of visual im ages, fictional characters, and broad spec trum of signs and signification invented by and circulated among young people (Chen, 2003a; 2003b; Wilson, 2003; Toku, 2004; Wilson & Toku, 2004). Anim?/manga is so powerful that its influence can even seen in children at early ages. Through a series of research studies (1998; 2001; 2006), Toku explored the strong influence of manga over Japanese children's graph 14 VISUAL ARTS RESEARCH ? 2007 by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois This content downloaded from 184.108.40.206 on Thu, 20 Oct 2016 04:16:20 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms ic narratives. Wilson and Toku (2004) put it into perspective: "Art educators need to understand what's happening in Asia, how it's spreading to the West, and its implica tions for art and visual cultural pedagogy" (p. 94). This paper attempts to understand why anim?/manga fans are so passionate about this mass-mediated artwork. It also looks for meanings that dedicated young fans may have found participating in this subculture. The Research Site: Anim?/Manga Fan Culture in Taiwan In the last decade, Taiwan's anim?/manga fan culture has rapidly grown and changed from an unacceptable small undercurrent of society to a popular social state (Chen, 2003a). Such a dramatic development did not happen at once but was accelerated gradually, yet speedily, by the fast-growing industry of Japanese anim? and manga. For years, about 95% of anim?/comics sales in Taiwan have been translations of Japanese anim?/manga, and this Japa nese dominance continues today and will probably remain in the near future. Put dif ferently, Taiwan's anim?/manga fan culture has to do mainly with Japanese anim? and manga, and even fans' sociocultural activi ties conform with those of Japanese culture. Such Japanese influence became appar ent when the anim?/manga conventions, Comiket and Comic Market were introduced in Taiwan in 1997. In Taiwan, these anim?/ manga conventions are called ComicWorld or Doujinshi Sales Convention. ComicWorld has paved a new avenue for doujinshi hob byists to display, exchange, and sell their self-published fanzines and manga-related products (Chen, 2003b). Like Japanese Comiket or American an im? conventions, the convention in Taiwan consists of a doujinshi sale and a cosplay in two different sections. For many fans, cosplay is the soul of an anim?/manga convention and a most important opportu nity to transform their fantasies into reality by playing and dressing up in costumes of their favorite anim?/manga characters. Be yond imitating characters with costumes, most fans insist that a cosplayer should speak in the character's words, act in the character's ways, think the character's thoughts, and assume the anim?/manga character's soul. In other words, they are expected to attempt to bring their favorite anim?/manga characters into life. Cosplay is an opportunity for anim?/ manga fans to dress up for playing their favorite characters from such sources as animation, mangas, video games, science fiction stories, and fantasy. According to Santoso (1998), "In the U.S. and in Europe, cosplay is solely restricted to costuming of Japanese characters from anim?, manga and gaming" (p. 1). However, in Taiwan, cosplay includes playing characters from three sources: (a) Japanese anim?, man ga, and video games, (b) Japanese visual rock bands,4 and (c) Taiwanese traditional puppetry. The sophistication of the costum ing is amazing. It is if these simulated ani m?/manga characters have actually come to life. Such performance is not simply the result of many hours of hard work on cos tuming but also the result of anim? fans' in fatuation with their favorite characters, an infatuation that drives them to play these fantasy characters so well (Chen, 2003b).


Abstract Machining is one of the important processing operations which new materials such as Metal Matrix Composites (MMC's) need to undergo to make these materials suitable for an industrial application. Looking at the projected widespread use of these materials, short life of stationary carbide tools and difficulties in the intermittent machining of these materials with PCD/CBN tools, the concept of rotary tool envisioned. Two force components viz. cutting and thrust were measured during the machining of Al/SiCp composites. Experiments were designed using Taguchi methods. Various factors and their interactions influencing the magnitude of forces were analyzed. Statistical models were proposed to estimate the magnitude of forces using the process, tool and work material dependent parameters. Magnitude offerees was found to be significantly influenced not only by the process and tool dependent parameters but also by the material dependent parameter.


The invention discloses a continuous high-precision detecting instrument for blood glucose concentration of a human body based on trace blood sampling. The detecting instrument comprises a continuous blood sampling pipeline, a sample inlet pipeline, a detecting pipeline, a first cleaning pipeline and a second cleaning pipeline, wherein the continuous blood sampling pipeline is used for implementing trace blood sampling; the sample inlet pipeline is connected with the output end of the continuous blood sampling pipeline and used for mixing blood and anticoagulant and delivering the mixed liquid to the detecting pipeline to realize continuous measurement of the blood glucose concentration; the detecting pipeline is connected with the output end of the sample inlet pipeline and used for detecting the blood; the first cleaning pipeline is respectively connected with the sample inlet pipeline and the detecting pipeline and used for cleaning the sample inlet pipeline and the detecting pipeline; and the second cleaning pipeline is connected with the continuous blood sampling pipeline and used for cleaning the continuous blood sampling pipeline. The detecting instrument does not cause fluctuation of the blood glucose concentration due to trace continuous blood sampling. The detecting instrument realizes integrated operation of uninterrupted and non-interference blood sampling in the glucose detecting process, uninterrupted and non-interference blood sampling in the cleaning process of the sample inlet and detecting pipelines, buffer solution reference measurement, blood glucose concentration measurement, cleaning of the sample inlet and detecting pipelines and the like.


20 oligonucleotide nonamers with different sequences of A and C
but identical A:C ratio were studied by HPLC and the obtained
retention times were evaluated by means of artificial neural
network.


SUMMARY It has been estimated that 3 to 10 million children are exposed to domestic violence between their parents each year. Research has clearly shown that children who live in homes where domestic violence exists are at risk for a wide variety of problems. The objectives of this pilot program were: (1) to provide treatment to children who have been exposed to domestic violence; (2) to provide treatment to their parents; (3) to measure the effectiveness of that treatment; and (4) to develop interagency treatment protocols that other agencies could replicate. This study supports the importance of treatment for children who experience family violence and their parent(s). Following treatment, children exposed to domestic violence demonstrated a decrease in behavior problems, an increase in their abilities to recognize and discuss abuse, and an ability to utilize a safety plan. Parents reported less stress following treatment.


HE REPAIR OF TYPE-A aortic dissection often requires alternative sites for arterial cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). The risks of cannulation of the femoral artery for the institution of CPB are well known and include retrograde perfusion of the false lumen with potential worsening of the dissection with compromise of organ perfusion, and retrograde embolization. Some techniques, including axillary artery, 1 transapical aortic, 2 and central aorta cannulation, have been described to minimize this complication.3 Some of these techniques require more time and may not be appropriate for all patients. Monitoring the adequacy of cerebral perfusion is of vital importance in all aortic surgical cases and even more whenever the femoral artery is used for CPB. Different methods have been described, including bilateral radial arterial monitoring in addition to transesophageal echocardiographic (TEE) imaging of the descending aorta, 4 right radial artery with left femoral artery monitoring, 5 cerebral oximetric monitoring using nearinfrared spectroscopy, 6,7 transcranial Doppler ultrasonography, 8 ophthalmic artery Doppler ultrasonography, 9 and color-flow Doppler transcutaneous carotid artery ultrasound imaging.10 The authors describe a case of chronic type-A dissection requiring surgical repair in which axillary artery cannulation for the institution of CPB was impossible, requiring femoral artery cannulation. They illustrate a method to quantify carotid artery flow velocity and monitor for intraoperative cerebral malperfusion using transcutaneous Doppler ultrasound of the carotid arteries.


While video streaming has dominated the Internet traffic, video service providers (VSPs) compete on how to assure the best quality of experience (QoE) to their customers. HTTP Adaptive Streaming (HAS) has become the de facto way that helps VSPs work-around potential network bottlenecks that inevitably cause stallings. However, HAS-alone cannot guarantee a seamless viewing experience, since this highly relies on the mobile network operators' (MNOs) infrastructure and evolving network conditions. Software-defined networking (SDN) has brought new perspectives to this traditional paradigm where VSPs and MNOs are isolated, allowing the latter to open their network for more flexible, service-oriented programmability. This paper takes advantage of recent standardization trends in SDN and proposes a programmable QoE-SDN App, enabling network exposure feedback from MNOs to VSPs towards network-aware video segment selection and caching, in the context of HAS. The video selection problem is formulated using Knapsack optimization and relaxed to partial sub-problems that provide segment encodings that can mitigate stallings. Furthermore, a mobility prediction mechanism based on the Self-similar Least-Action Walk model is introduced, toward proactive segment caching. A number of use cases, enabled by the QoE-SDN App, are designed to evaluate the proposed scheme, revealing QoE benefits for VSPs and bandwidth savings for MNOs.


ABSTRACT The 4-component vaccine 4CMenB, developed against invasive disease caused by meningococcal serogroup B, is approved for use in infants in several countries worldwide. 4CMenB is mostly used as 3 + 1 schedule, except for the UK, where a 2 + 1 schedule is used, and where the vaccine showed an effectiveness of 82.9%. Here we compared the coverage of two 4CMenB vaccination schedules (3 + 1 [2.5, 3.5, 5, 11 months] versus 2 + 1 [3.5, 5, 11 months of age]) against 40 serogroup B strains, representative of epidemiologically-relevant isolates circulating in England and Wales in 2007–2008, using sera from a previous phase 3b clinical trial. The strains were tested using hSBA on pooled sera of infants, collected at one month post-primary and booster vaccination. 4CMenB coverage was defined as the percentage of strains with positive killing (hSBA titres ≥ 4 after immunisation and negative baseline hSBA titres < 2). Coverage of 4CMenB was 40.0% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 24.9–56.7) and 87.5% (95%CI: 73.2–95.8) at one month post-primary and booster vaccination, respectively, regardless of immunisation schedule. Using a more conservative threshold (post-immunisation hSBA titres ≥ 8; baseline ≤ 2), at one month post-booster dose, strain coverages were 80% (3 + 1) and 70% (2 + 1). We used a linear regression model to assess correlation between post-immunisation hSBA data for each strain in the two groups; Pearson's correlation coefficients were 0.93 and 0.99 at one month post-primary and booster vaccination. Overall, there is no evidence for a difference in strain coverage when 4CMenB is administered according to a 3 + 1 or 2 + 1 infant vaccination schedule.


: Metal free regio-selective carboboration of arylnitriles with L 2 PhB: 1 (L = oxazol-2-ylidene) catalyzed by Et 3 B afforded the unprecedented acyclic 2-aza-4-borabutadienes 2 , demonstrating a new strategy to construct a B,C,N-mixed π-system involving B–C and C–N double bonds. Thermal isomerisation of 2 gave C-borylimines 3 whereas diverse reactivity of 2a towards several substrates such as H + , F + , O 2 , S, Se, and isonitriles, allowed for construction of boron-containing heterocycles with various ring sizes, illustrating the utility of 2 as synthetic building blocks. Metal free regio-selective carboboration of arylnitriles with L 2 PhB: 1 (L = oxazol-2-ylidene) afforded the acyclic 2-aza-4-borabutadienes 2a-c . Thermal isomerisation of 2a-c gave C-borylimines 3a-c while reactions of 2a towards several substrates allowed for construction of B,N-containing heterocycles with various ring sizes (3-6 membered ring), demonstrating the synthetic utility of 2 as building blocks.


The objective of this study was to determine the effect of intermediate diaphragms on the stiffness of precast prestressed AASHTO type bridge girders, combined with the actual bearing stiffness and thermal changes. Some of the parameters studied include the presence of intermediate diaphragms, bridge skewness, temperature change, and an increase in bearing stiffness due to cold temperature or aging. A finite element model of a bridge superstructure containing Florida Bulb Tee 78 girders was created. This model was subjected to an HL93 truck load as suggested by the AASHTO LRFD. Results indicate that intermediate diaphragms have a modest positive effect of reducing the maximum deflections for the chosen girder, with the effect varying with skewness and thermal change.


In the previous paper, the authors developed the general form of the stiffness matrix of elastic-plastic members of one-dimension based on the plastic flow theory and presented the new method of analysis on framed structures using the matrix method.The method was developed on the assumptions that loadings on structures are to be applied proportionally and there is no yielded section where unloading occurs under proportional loading.In actual cases, however, it is very important to investigate the behaviors of structures under general loadings. Furthermore, the proportional loading does not always assure no unloading at yielded sections of elastic-plastic behavior of structures. This implies that unloading at yielded sections should be examined at each step of loadings. To this end, a judging method for unloading is required to be established.In the previous paper, a quantity, A which indicates the magnitude of plastic deformation at a yielded section is assumed positive for the following step of the analysis. This quantity is however, not always positive and when it is negative, the deformation is considered to be elastic. Accordingly, unloading at a yielded section is inspected by the conditionλ<0and loading is continued at a yielded section, whenλ≥0In this report, furthermore, the effect of large deformation is taken into consideration and the method is expanded for the analysis on elastic-plastic behaviour of structures with large deformation and instability. In this case, unloading at a yielded section is also examined by the same condition as mentioned above.


A Study on traditional forest management practices was conducted in three selected woredas of Jimma zone from January 2005 to June 2005. The objective of the study was to identify traditional practices that had contributed to the conservation of forests and to devise means of utilizing these practices presently for the conservation effort of the remaining forest resources of the zone. The methods employed in the study were interview and focus group discussion with local community elders and leaders, Woreda level agricultural experts and kebele administrators. From the study, it was found that the local communities conserve forest tree species traditionally either for religious practices as in the case of Ficus vasta, Podocarpus falcatus, Ekebergia capensis and Ficus sychomore, or for the benefits they drive from the forest as in the case of coffee shade trees (Albiza gummifera, Milletia ferrugnea and Acacia abyssinica), and for the apiculture. There are traditional administrative setups in the community for enforcing these practices but their ultimate authority is presently eroded by modern administrative setups. If these traditional practices are integrated with modern conservation efforts, it will greatly support the conservation of rapidly diminishing forests of the region. Ethiopian Journal of Education and Science Vol. 2 (2) 2007: pp. 1-10


The use of nature-inspired optimization strategies based computational intelligence, like Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs), has had a revolutionary impact in various frameworks of electromagnetics since has enabled the design of complex structures (e.g., antenna arrays) with improved performance. The main issues that still remain are related to the high computational costs and the non-efficient sampling of the solution space which limit convergence rate and the possibility to retrieve optimal solutions. To address these drawbacks, several research efforts are currently dedicated to the development of hybrid optimization procedures where sub-optimal solutions, easily defined by means of either analytic or deterministic techniques, are used as starting guess or the search spaces are suitably re-defined to enable the use of state-of-the-art EAs. Two representative examples are revised and discussed in this paper aimed to the design of antenna arrays generating compromise sum-difference patterns on the same antenna aperture and of large thinned arrays.


Surviving the Economic Transitions in Yucatan, Mexico, 1985-2002 Within the free market economic policy of contemporary Mexico, rural inhabitants are particularly prone to under-employment, a decline of purchasing power, low incomes, government withdrawal from social programs and a disorganized agricultural sector. Given these conditions, there should be a shift by extended rural families in the Yucatan state of southeastern Mexico, to return to a domestic (or food-) based income - to generate activities as a means of easing their growing economic vulnerability. We propose to examine the role of the domestic factor in the need to return to traditional survival strategies by rural Yucatecan families. Despite destabilizing economical and structural variables, mayadescendant mestizo populations have implemented effective combinations of income sources within a system of resource pooling on a domestic scale. One of the survival strategies they have implemented includes assigning a new role to the domestic unit, as one of production. The link between domestic production and the informal sector of the economy provides rural families a needed economic boost in the new rural economy.


ter an uncritical regard for one's own assumptions and the assumptions of one's audience. Second, while a traditionalist rhetoric permeates C.'s book, it is never exactly clear what "faithful persuasion" is faithful to. C. would say that theology's rhetorical proclamation is faithful to God's rhetorical activity in revelation, the word faithful to the Word. And yet, C.'s proposal that Scripture, tradition, and experience be regarded as the ad-hoc vocabulary of, rather than as sources for, theology threatens their authority as revelational modes for encountering God's Word. It is helpful to consider theological authority in terms of persuasion, but treating authority exclusively in such terms raises questions about the object of and context for Christian faithfulness. These criticisms, however, intend to identify points in need of clarification and should not detract from a book that ventures and offers much.


We thank the reviewer for their useful comments. In particular at the time of submission we were not aware of the recent publication by Swann et al. that they have pointed out. The original review comments are copied below, and our response is in bold. The methods, results, and overall conclusions are unchanged, but we have undertaken substantive revisions to parts of the manuscript to improve the presentation and address common points raised by all the reviewers. Therefore the responses below will make reference to the appropriate sections in the revised manuscript


Purpose: The purpose of the study was to explore and describe hospice palliative nurses' experience of caring for terminal cancer patients. Methods: Eleven hospice palliative nurses participated in the study. Data were collected through individual in-depth unstructured interviews with participants from November, 2012 to October, 2013. Theoretical sampling was used to the point of theoretical saturation. Data were analyzed using Corbin and Strauss' 'Grounded Theory Method.' Results: From open coding, 25 sub-categories and 12 categories were identified. Analysis revealed that the core category was 'becoming stepping-stones between life and death enduring burdens', consisting of three phases: the phase of withdrawal, the phase of exertion, and the phase of maturity. Through this process, participants utilized various action/interactional strategies such as 'maintaining a distance', 'sharing intimate daily life', 'being a mediator for a peaceful death', 'grieving and remembering'. The consequences of these strategies were a transcendental perspective towards life and ambivalent feelings toward hospice nursing. Conclusion: In-depth understanding of the hospice palliative nurses' experience of caring for terminal cancer patients will guide nurse managers and policy makers to promote effective nursing strategies to better support hospice palliative nurses.


With increasing numbers of corporate and organizations deploying wireless network and allowing the company personnel to access the internet or the wired backbone through wireless access points are increasingly getting exposed to hacking attacks. Due to easy hacking tools and less concerns about the security threats of the deployed, various crucial data of the private network is hacked. One of the important forms of a security loophole in the wireless network is accidental association. In this paper we propose a novel technique to secure the wireless signal to prevent accidental association. Layer 2 of each device is assigned with a unique time bound key and non time bound primary key. As soon as a new device is detected in the proximity by any node, it requests for the time independent primary key from the device. If the device fails to respond with the key then the network connection is withdrawn with immediate effect after the node propagates an alert message encrypted with time bound session key through which it is communicating securely with other wireless peers. A periodic search for checking new devices which may get associated with the existing network accidently is avoided with utmost efficiency. The protocol is tested with Omnet++ simulator and results shows that the proposed technique performs much better than basic protection against such an attack offered by WEP.


1Department of Oceanography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3146, USA Email: firstname.lastname@example.com (corresponding author) 2Department of Geography, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-3147, USA 3Biogeography Branch, Center for Coastal Monitoring and Assessment, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1305 East West Highway, Silver Spring, MD 20910, USA 4Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, University of the Virgin Islands, 2 John Brewer's Bay, St. Thomas, VI 00802, USA 5The Marine Institute, Marine Building, Plymouth University, Drake Circus, Plymouth, PL4 8AA, United Kingdom


This paper presents an approach for unsupervised image categorization which can be used in non-label image library. We extract the basic feature from image, and by using bag of words model and spatial pyramid matching we manage to improve image descriptor performance. To get better clustering performance we propose an improved spectral clustering approach and use it to achieve our image categorization object. We test our approach on two widely used image datasets. Furthermore we compare our approach to several methods and experimental results show that our approach is effective.


In the last quarter of the 19th century ideological debates concerning the liturgical chant style reached a crisis point in the Russian chant art. The polemic on this problem was mainly connected with works of composers of «the new tendency».


The article proposes a brief promenade through the writers professionalization history in Argentina, by examining three autobiographical writings produced between the end of 1880 and 1930: a causerie by Lucio V. Mansilla, the notes of a travel to Paris by Horacio Quiroga and the memoirs by Hugo Wast. Such choice aims to reading a transformation process with its own inflections, juxtapositions, emergences and residues, in order to asses the relationship between literature and money through diverse work modalities such as journalism, free-lance collaboration or best-sellers writing, all of them considered as a whole and encompassed by the conceptual value of hunger and its intimate relation with the initiation scenario of a literary career.


Atherosclerotic lesions of the extracranial carotid arteries are one of the most common cases of stroke. Rarely, a stroke may result from isolated non-stenotic carotid disease in the absence of systemic manifestations of cardiovascular disease or significant cardiovascular risk factors. We present an unusual case of multiple strokes resulting from a solitary finger-like projection within the posterior wall of the carotid artery in an otherwise healthy patient. This small finger-like projection has a propensity to act as a nidus for thrombus formation and a potential source of cerebral embolism.


The caryophyllaeid cestode Lytocestoides fossilis infects the freshwater catfish Heteropneustes fossilis. The study was conducted for two consecutive years (2004-06) to record the bio-statistical data of the parasite. The incidence, intensity, density and index of infection of the parasite have been recorded. The infection was more during June to September, moderate during February to May and low during October to January. The parasite brought about severe histopathological changes in the stomach of infected fish. The changes observed in the stomach of fish included structural damage of the villi, inflammation, and fibrosis associated with hyperplasia and metaplasia. The hypertrophy of mucous layer led to vacuolation and necrosis. Histochemical changes were noticed with enhanced carbohydrate, protein and lipid contents. The enhanced substrate content in the infected organ might be due to the disfunctioning of the digestive tract, which results in the accumulation of various metabolites. Mucus secretion was triggered as a protective interaction against parasitic invasion. The parasitic infection affects the general metabolic state of the host and as the result, the fish becomes sluggish and moribund.


The article explores new global external challenges to the development of national economies around the world. The impact of COVID-19 on a country's economy and society through the prism of rapid implementation of digital technologies in all spheres of public life.
The scientific-theoretical and regulatory framework for the development of the digital economy in Ukraine is defined. The total digitalization of Ukrainian society is seen as one of the positive consequences of the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, has stimulated an unprecedented growth of digital transformation of all sectors of the economy and public administration.
Separate legal acts establishing the fundamental basis for the development of the digital economy and society in Ukraine are analyzed. Specified ways of development of electronic economy through the use of information systems, networks, resources and modern information and communication technologies of new forms of social and economic relations.
An analysis of the conceptual and categorical apparatus in the area under study is presented. The legal definitions of "digital economy", "electronic economy" and "electronic commerce" are commented.
The modern trends of economic activity paradigm changes in the development of digital economy, result economy, sustainable socio-economic and environmental development are highlighted.
Risks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic can be minimized by developing an effective state anti-pandemic policy aimed, first and foremost, at protecting national interests of Ukraine and ensuring social and economic security of digital and economic development.
The conclusions about the ways and strategic tasks of formation of effective state antipandemic policy of the country are made. It is stated that the current stage of global socio-economic development is characterized by the significant impact of digitalization. The current research revealed that digitalization of all spheres of society is a global trend; the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced and continues to influence the economic situation in all countries of the world.


Overview to electronic media programming programming as marketing analysis of programme content conducting research audience research services applying research assessing the radio environment radio formats radio programming concepts radio programme suppliers assessing the television environment television programming strategies the television syndication marketplace independent television station programming affiliate television programming broadcast network television programming television news programming public television programming assessing the cable television environment local cable system programming basic cable network programming premium cable network programming.


This article recommends how to link and visit the Database of Web, and compares two prevailing methods: one is provide middleware to link Web server and Database server at the side of Web server (using gateway interface CGI and application program interface API), another is download the application program to the customer side and visit the Database directly.


Aquaponics is combined growing fish and plants in a recalculating system. Therefore it is very important to achieve optimal conditions for their cultivation. The purpose of this study was to trace the influence of the water used by the cultivated fish on the biomass of the lettuce in the aquaponic system. In this connection, two types of hydroponic sections were built and integrated into an existing recirculation aquaculture system. The hydrochemical parameters were measured during the trial. At the end of the trial the fresh weight of the lettuce plants was measured. The productivity of lettuce plants is highly dependent on the type of plant growing medium and the fish biomass. A better removal capacity in ammonium, nitrate and ortho-phospahte were observed in the LECA section compared with the cleaning capacity in the raft section as a part of experimental aquaponics system. A better removal capacity in ammonium, nitrate and ortho-phospahte were observed in the LECA section compared with the cleaning capacity in the raft section as a part of experimental aquaponics system.


A 43-year-old African-American man presents to the ER with right upper quadrant abdominal pain and pruritus of 2-week duration. He also had dark stools and increasing constipation. On exam, notable findings included icteric sclera, right upper quadrant and epigastric tenderness. Laboratory studies revealed a total bilrubin of 6.3mg/dl, AST/ALT of 52/143 units/L, and ALP of 408 units/L. CT abdomen showed a large soft tissue mass at the 2


A lower power and area efficient VP9 and multi-standard video decoder chip is first-reported for Android 4K TV. It supports prevalent MPEG-x, VP-x, RMx, WMV-x and H.26x series video standards in a single chip. Three high-throughput techniques, look-ahead re-mapping, early stage pipeline and dynamic-scheduled bus translation, are proposed. They cuts the processing times by 51.2% compared to the state-of-the-art design [4]. Moreover, two area-efficient techniques, hybrid backward probability update and tile-to-raster scan ordering, are designed to reduce the internal memory size by 10%. A mass-production chip is fabricated in a 28nm CMOS technology with an energy efficiency of 0.19nJ/pixel and an area of 2.6mm2. Compared to the dual-core decoder design [4], this work achieves the identical performance (4K@60fps) with single core which cut one-half of chip area.


Currently, with the development of induction heating (IH) and artificial intelligence (AI), the domestic induction cooker (DIC) has become smarter and more reliable. DIC should be able to recognize the material and size of cookware, as well as be susceptible to users' misbehavior. This article utilizes AI techniques to recognize the cookware items and protect the users and systems from hazards. First, a laboratory prototype of DIC is used to collect the output voltage and current for different cookware items under different switching frequencies and temperatures. After that, the Gray Wolf Optimizer (GWO) algorithm is applied to estimate the equivalent resistance and inductance of all coil–cookware loads. Then, the fuzzy c-means (FCM) clustering algorithm and the least mean square (LMS) algorithm are combined and applied for clustering the unlabeled data. This article suggested four clusters, including non-ferromagnetic (NF) cookware, small-sized ferromagnetic (SF) cookware, medium-sized ferromagnetic (MF) cookware, and no cookware (NC) cluster. Finally, the proposed AI method is applied to the load recognition of a commercial DIC. By comparing the centers of the clusters with the estimated equivalent resistance and inductance of the coil–cookware load, the size and material of the cookware can be found.


This study aimed to develop the training curriculum on health promotion knowledge management skills for the elders. The study divided into 3 phases; (1) construction of the curriculum (2) implementation of the curriculum, and (3) evaluation of the curriculum. Phase 1: Construction of the curriculum by assessing the participants' needs and the needs of the community. Thirty-eight healthy elders in Chonburi Province which were identified as social wellbeing and acceptable, participated in the program: The curriculum was designed for 45 hrs., theory, practice, and field study, based on the concepts of lifelong learning, and community of practice (Co.P) Achievement test was used as evaluation of students outcomes. Phase 2: Implementation of the curriculum. There were 2 activities; (1) construction of 3 instruments used for collecting the data; test for the knowledge on health promotion, test for the knowledge on knowledge management, and the participants self evaluation on leadership skills. These instruments were tested for content validity and the reliability analyzed by KR-20 was equal to 0.89, 0.70, and 0.79 respectively. (2) on total 45 hours of teaching and learning, case study and lesson learned from real-life situation were used on 12 hrs lecturing and seminar, 9 hrs. demonstration and return demonstration, and 24 hrs. พบว่าเมื่อท าการเพาะเลี้ยงรีคอมบิแนนท์ยีสต์ P. field study. Phase 3: Evaluation of the curriculum. CIPP model was applied for the evaluation, before, during and after curriculum implementation. For the context evaluation, the objectives were concise, feasible, and appropriated to the participants' needs. Regarding input evaluation, the adequacy of resources and budget to support were demonstrated. However, some obstacles were shown in process evaluation. Those of them were solved by the participants and their วารสารวิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี ปีที่ 22 ฉบับที ่5 (ฉบับพิเศษ) 2557 718 relatives. For product evaluation, the study revealed that the learners had knowledge and skills higher than before participation in the program with statistical significance at the level of .001 (t = 3.70, 10.78, 7.25). The participants also expressed their joyful and happiness in attending the program.


Here are two excellent new books on Hegel's philosophy of religion, from North America. The opening essay in the collection edited by David Kolb is, appropriately enough, by Walter Jaeschke: the collection as a whole being bonded together by a prevailing concentration on Jaeschke's new edition of the Berlin lectures. And it is also this essay which, in fact, gives rise to the most direct apparent clash of opinions within the collection: with reference to two particular formulas which Jaeschke proposes, as encapsulating Hegel's approach to religion in the lectures. The lectures, he suggests, represent a "transition from theological interpretation to philosophical interpretation", thereby enacting an "end of religion", analogous to "the end of art". Martin De Nys, on the other hand, explicitly rejects both these claims (and Stephen Rocker likewise argues that for Hegel philosophy relates to the Christian religion, and its theology, in Christ-like fashion as a master "that comes not to be served, but to serve"). It seems to me, though, that the real issue here is not so much about Hegel as about the meaning of the word "theology". Thus, Jaeschke takes it to mean the interpretation of religion strictly on the basis of a prior confessional commitment (credo ut intelligam); what has come to an "end", in Hegel's religion-less Christianity, is just the restriction of Christian Godtalk within such confines. Yet suppose that, instead, one takes "theology" to mean the biblically-oriented other to philosophy, as an originally Greek phenomenon: then might one not, on the contrary, just as well say that Hegel is precisely the most theological in spirit, of all philosophers? For, in Hegel's thought, the immutable and impassible God of Christian Platonism, or Aristotelianism, has at long last "died"; giving way entirely not only at the level of piety, but at the level of philosophy as well, which was that God's stronghold to the New Testament vision of a God on the cross. Robert Williams' essay actually develops this point in terms of a Hegel struggling on two opposing fronts, defined, in post-Hegelian phraseology, as "onto-theology" and "anthropo-ontology": the former corresponding to "the first attitude of thought to objectivity" in the Encyclopaedia Logic, that is, classical metaphysics, in which Being is construed as substance; the latter corresponding to the second and third "attitudes of thought to objectivity", in which Being is construed as subject (Williams, for his purposes, conflates these latter two, on the one hand Hume and Kant, on the other hand Jacobi, into a single "second attitude" also exemplified by Feuerbach; so as to have Hegel representing the "third" way). What onto-theology and anthropo-ontology have in common is their character as "foundational". The point however, he argues, is not so much to find firm foundations on


Cross-field transport of electrons has been studied at the magnetic throat of the annular Chi-Kung reactor. This annular configuration allows the creation of a low pressure argon plasma with two distinct electron heating locations by independently operating a radio-frequency antenna surrounding the outer source tube, or an antenna housed inside the inner source tube. The two antenna cases show opposite variation trends in radial profiles of electron energy probability function, electron density, plasma potential and electron temperature. The momentum and energy transport coefficients are obtained from the electron energy probability functions, and the related electron fluxes follow the path of electron cooling across the magnetic throat.


This paper purposes a new method of designing a preview controller for speed control of the DC motor system based on evolutionary algorithm. The preview controller, which includes the desired or disturbance signals, is used to improve the transient response of the system. A novel error system is proposed and introduced into the control law to increase the robustness of the system. The state equation is analyzed and the augmented error system is constructed with the derivative of the tracking error signal, the state equation, and an identical equation of the derivative of the control input. Therefore, the performance index also contains the derivative of the control input which helps in reducing static errors. Based on the theory of optimal control, the regulator problem of the augmented error system is solved. The optimal preview control system is implemented, and its applicability is demonstrated by simulation results. Also, the aim of this work is to design optimal preview controller for the DC motor system with parametric uncertainties and delay. Results are shown for tracking in the presence of uncertainty and delay in the process. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is supported by a comparison with standard approaches like Proportional Integral Derivative control and Linear Quadratic Regulator control.


Metal nanoparticles exhibit a number of interesting characteristics, including unique physical, chemical, optical, magnetic, and electric properties. Numerous investigations have exploited their properties in a readily usable form by incorporating them into polymers. The current focus of interest is the behavior of such polymer nanocomposites near the percolation loading levels of the metal nanoparticles. This material is particularly suitable for the new integral passive technology. Discrete capacitors are used in many applications, such as noise suppression, filtering, tuning, decoupling, bypassing, termination, and frequency determination, and they occupy a substantial amount of surface area on a substrate. Thus there are limitations in the number of capacitors that can be placed around the chip. Integral passive components are gradually replacing discrete components because of the inherent advantages of improved electrical performance, increased real estate on the printed wiring board, miniaturization of interconnect distance, reduced processing costs, and efficient electronics packaging. For integral capacitors, polymer composite material has emerged as a potential candidate because it meets the requirements of low processing temperature and reasonably high dielectric constant. Yang and Wong, whose patent was filed in 2001, demonstrated novel integral passive component materials with extraordinarily high dielectric constants (K > 1000) and high reliability performance. These materials are characterized by high dielectric constant based on the mechanism of interfacial polarization, although they need precision filler concentration control. The current study overcomes this drawback and produces the composite through an in situ reduction in an epoxy matrix. Material characterization was done through TEM, SEM, X-ray analysis, and energy-dispersive analysis for X rays. © 2004 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 93: 1531–1538, 2004


This paper examines in a non-mathematical way a number of automatic tracking algorithms and their application to air traffic control and collision avoidance. We briefly review the problems of automatic track initiation, plot-track correlation and track smoothing. The requirements of a radar system needed to achieve certain specified automatic tracking accuracies are discussed. We also examine the problem of heading and velocity estimation and point out some important features often missing in modern α-β and Kalman based smoothers. Finally we briefly consider some new computer architectures which are optimized for plot-to-track association in high density multisite tracking situations.


Two fundamental requirements for the deployment of machine learning models in safety-critical systems are to be able to detect out-of-distribution (OOD) data correctly and to be able to explain the prediction of the model. Although significant effort has gone into both OOD detection and explainable AI, there has been little work on explaining why a model predicts a certain data point is OOD. In this paper, we address this question by introducing the concept of an OOD counterfactual, which is a perturbed data point that iteratively moves between different OOD categories. We propose a method for generating such counterfactuals, investigate its application on synthetic and benchmark data, and compare it to several benchmark methods using a range of metrics.


A method for producing an azo metal complex dye wherein an azo dye having a partial structure represented by general formula (A) and a metal ion are reacted in the presence of a compound represented by general formula (1), thereby obtaining a complex of the azo dye and the metal ion.  In general formula (A), Q 1 represents an atomic group forming a nitrogen-containing heterocyclic ring together with an adjacent nitrogen atom and carbon atom; Y 1 represents a hydrogen atom which may be dissociated during formation of the azo metal complex dye; and * represents the bonding position with an -N=N- group.  In general formula (1), R 11 -R 14 independently represent a hydrogen atom or a substituent.


Molecular classification of urothelial carcinoma of the bladder has revealed high mutation rates and a heterogenous variety of mutations. FGFR3 mutations are commonly detected in the Luminal-papillary subtype. Molecular targeted therapy for urothelial carcinoma is now the standard of care after disease progression on platinum/immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy. Enfortumab vedotin is preferred as there is level 1 evidence available to support its use. Erdafitinib is the first approved gene-targeted therapy for patients with FGFR3/2 alterations. Sacituzumab govitecan shows promise in early phase trials. Further results from phase 3 trials are eagerly anticipated.


This review covers research published in the past 15 years on the use of technology to teach or support literacy among students with mild disabilities. First, the review addresses research on computer-assisted instruction and on synthesized speech feedback to improve phonemic awareness and decoding skills. Second, it reviews work on the use of electronic texts to enhance comprehension by compensating for reading difficulties. Finally, it considers research on a variety of tools to support writing. The discussion addresses both substantive and methodological issues.


Abstract There is little evidence to inform discussion of the challenges of meeting housing needs of first-time homebuyers in conditions of rapid urbanisation in Malaysia. The purpose of this paper is to discuss the challenges of promoting home ownership for first-time Malaysian homebuyers. This paper also offers suggestions regarding sustainable housing provision for them to own their home. In order to achieve sustainability in the housing delivery system, affordable housing schemes must be economically viable, socially acceptable and technically feasible. Government should be transparent about logistics, location, pricing and implementation to ensure that there is action behind the words.


We present our work on a hybrid silicon quantum dot-based comb laser using wafer bonding. The device has a 3, 6, and 10 dB comb width of 12 nm, 18 nm, and 25 nm respectively.


The prevalence of maternal MUAC in Indonesia in 2013 is equal to 24.2%. In Riau province that is equal to 26%. This shows that there is still a high-risk pregnant women KEK. The purpose of this study to determine risk factors associated with Chronic Energy Deficiency (CED) In pregnant women at Puskesmas Payung Sekaki Pekanbaru Year 2014 Sectional Study Analytical study type (Analytic Cross Sectional) with a sample of 211 people. Measuring instrument using a questionnaire, risk is measured by the KEK measurement method, while the 2 x 24-hour recall was measured using NutrySurvey program to determine the level of intake of protein, carbohydrates and Energy pregnant women. Data analysis was performed using univariate, bivariate chi-square test and multivariate logistic regression Ganda. The results showed no causal link between protein intake POR 1080.202 (95% CI: 14.094-82788.218), carbohydrate intake POR 548 714 (95% CI: 12.265-24548.600), energy intake POR 164 082 (95% CI: 13.061-2061.373), and family income POR 10,288 (95% CI: 2296-46100) with KEK risk in pregnant women. For that the health workers are expected to perform routine counseling weekly, monthly, and yearly on nutrition for pregnant women in any urban villages in Puskesmas Payung Sekaki and doing it for free supplementary feeding to pregnant women who are malnourished so good maternal nutritional status, and for family income should be entered into collaboration and multi-sector partnerships in small business development community to improve the community's economy.


School dictionary is one of the tools for language teaching to foreigners. It provides the foreign learner with linguistic vocabulary along with its etymological, social and figurative meanings. It develops his communication skills, especially if the dictionary is designed for foreigners, written according to the standards and principles of language teaching to non-native speakers; it contains words that correspond to the age and age group, and to the objectives of Arabic language teaching. These words feature social and cultural meanings, general information, local and Arabic civilizational expressions. The dictionary has structures, expressions and words that meet the linguistic, cultural and scientific needs of learners suitable for their age, cultural and scientific level.


Logging of incoming/outgoing vehicles serves as a piece of critical information for root-cause analysis to combat security breach incidents in various sensitive organizations. RFID tagging hampers the scalability of vehicle tracking solutions on both logistics as well as technical fronts. For instance, requiring each incoming vehicle(departmental or private) to be RFID tagged is a severe constraint and coupling video analytics with RFID to detect abnormal vehicle movement is non-trivial. We leverage publicly available implementations of computer vision algorithms to develop an interpretable vehicle tracking algorithm using finite-state machine formalism. The state-machine consumes input from the cascaded object detection and optical character recognition(OCR) models for state transitions. We evaluated the proposed method on 75 video clips of 285 vehicles from our system deployment site. We observed that the detection rate is most affected by the speed and the type of vehicle. The highest detection rate is achieved when the vehicle movement is restricted to follow a movement restrictions(SOP) at the checkpoint similar to RFID tagging. We further analyzed 700 vehicle tracking predictions on live-data and identified that the majority of vehicle number prediction errors are due to illegible-text, image-blur, text occlusion and out-of-vocab letters in vehicle numbers. Towards system deployment and performance enhancement, we expect our ongoing system monitoring to provide evidences to establish a higher vehicle-throughput SOP at the security checkpoint as well as to drive the fine-tuning of the deployed computer-vision models and the state-machine to establish the proposed approach as a promising alternative to RFID-tagging.


The Bologna Process (BP) intends to create an European Higher Education area through the compatibility of degrees in the signatory countries. As a consequence, Universities have adapted its studies programmes at all academic levels. Few research has been made on the transversal training programmes required during the completion of a doctoral dissertation at a global level. This paper tries to cover the existing gap, and presents a comparison of the necessary requisites set in two Universities of two European countries: Spain and Germany. In addition, it analyses the duration and types of these doctorate programmes. The results show that differences between the analysed Universities are related to the contents of the programmes, control of activities and types of doctorate attending to the research approach, and the supervision system. The similarities are related to the duration of the doctoral programmes.


In this study, ambient particulate matter (PM and PM ) levels were measured and their chemical and physical properties were characterized. Two sites in Gwangju were sampled once a month from December 2008 to November 2009. The annual mean concentrations of PM and PM were 26.9 µg/m and 46.3 µg/m , respectively, in Nongseongdong and 26.1 µg/m and 44.8 µg/m , respectively, in Duam-dong. PM levels were 1.8 times higher than the USA Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) national ambient air quality standard for PM (15 µg/m ). The average PM / PM ratio of 0.58 suggested that PM is a significant component of the ambient particle pollution. The order of concentration of metallic elements in PM and PM was Si > Al > Fe > Zn > Pb > Cu > Mn. Cd was not detected. The earth crustal enrichment factors for Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn in PM were higher than those in PM . When the earth crustal enrichment factors for Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn were higher than 10, this suggested influence from anthropogenic sources. The soil contribution ratios for PM and PM were 11.3% and 16.4%, respectively, and were higher in the fall and winter. Anions (SO , NO , and Cl ) comprise 28.7% of PM and 21.4% of PM . The correlation coefficient of Zn-Fe, Mn-Cu, Fe-Cu and Fe-Mn in PM was high in the sampling sites, and metallic elements were primarily from anthropogenic sources such as fuel combustion and vehicle emissions.


Fractional Order Proportional-Integral (FOPI) controllers are attractive due to their robustness, disturbance rejection properties, and at the same time the low control effort imposed. This work investigates the use of FOPI controllers on a prototype electric vehicle (EV) traction system consisting of an Indirect Field Oriented Control (IFOC) based induction motor (IM) system. The overall setup is driven by an inverter, powered by an SOOV Li-ion battery bank. The main focus of this paper is comparison of the battery bank temperature and overall speed regulation performance when speed regulation is done via FOPI or integer order Proportional Integral (PI) control. Two major classes of tests are considered, first the performance of a Ziegler Nichols (ZN)-PI controller is compared against an FOPI controller tuned via existing rules in the literature. Then, the FOPI controller is made to use the same gains as the ZN-PI controller, but only the order of the integral is varied to non-integer values lesser than unity. Comparison based on simulation results show that simply using the ZN-PI gains but changing the order of the integral to values lower than unity, has definite effects on battery temperature, and SOC, and without sacrificing speed regulation performance compared to a tuned FOPI controller or a using a tuned PI controller. This has the potential to help in comparison of controller behavior from the point of view of protecting and extending the life of an EV battery bank. Because small temperature increases if sustained over a long time, may significantly harm an EV's battery bank.


Computer models of nerve membranes and axonal conduction were used to investigate the possibility of an electrical nerve block in both myelinated and unmyelinated nerves. The results suggest that a rapid and reversible electrical nerve block may be possible without activation of the nerve. This paper presents preliminary results from computer models used and their implementation. Introduction Present neural prostheses can impose only limited control over the peripheral nervous system. Neuralprosthetic control could be greatly enhanced if, in addition to being able to electrically excite axons, these devices could dynamically and selectively block axons. Applications for such neural prostheses could include suppression of reflex activity in bladder and bowel, or mobility enhancement by suppressing spasticity in hemiplegia or cerebral palsy. For a blocking technique to be used in these situations, ideally it must be quick to turn on and off and safe. The latter suggest biphasic waveforms and low frequencies of activation[1]. Tanner [2] noted that a 20 Kc alternating current, of an unspecified shape, appeared to suppress components of the compound action potential in dissected sciatic frog nerve. Woo and Campbell [3] confirmed Tanner's results. They also noted that the 20 Kc blocking could produce a tetanic muscular response without a characteristic compound action potential due to an asynchronous stimulation of large fibers. Solomonow [4] described a block using rectangular monophasic pulses at frequencies below 20 kHz. This block was attributed to endplate depletion. Bowman [5] explored rectangular pulse blocking. He noted a rectangular pulse train could prevent nerve transmission in humans and cats and produce muscular responses that could not be attributed solely to endplate depletion. However, his results varied from trial to trial. Mortimer et. al. [6] demonstrated collision blocking in larger diameter axons through the generation of unidirectional pulse propagation using a cuff electrode and an intense quadratrapeziodal pulse. In the authors opinion the intensity of the quadratrapeziodal pulse could generate bidirectional action potentials in the smaller diameter axons. If this were so, this technique would be mainly suitable for pure motor nerves. Rattay [7], using a standard Hodgkin-Huxley model, demonstrated a local conduction block using in a 10µm axon using a monopolar electrode with a 2KHz waveform. In this paper we extend these computer simulations to include myelinated human nerves for the complete range of nerve diameters.


In this work, significant suppression of the interfacial recombination by facile alkali chloride interface modification of the NiOx hole transport layer in inverted planar perovskite solar cells is achieved. Experimental and theoretical results reveal that the alkali chloride interface modification results in improved ordering of the perovskite films, which in turn reduces defect/trap density, causing reduced interfacial recombination. This leads to a significant improvement in the open‐circuit voltage from 1.07 eV for pristine NiOx to 1.15 eV for KCl‐treated NiOx, resulting in a power conversion efficiency approaching 21%. Furthermore, the suppression of the ion diffusion in the devices is observed, as evidenced by stable photoluminescence (PL) under illumination and high PL quantum efficiency with alkali chloride treatment, as opposed to the luminescence enhancement and low PL quantum efficiency observed for perovskite on pristine NiOx. The suppressed ion diffusion is also consistent with improved stability of the devices with KCl‐treated NiOx. Thus, it is demonstrated that a simple interfacial modification is an effective method to not only suppress interfacial recombination but also to suppress ion migration in the layers deposited on the modified interface due to improved interface ordering and reduced defect density.


THE NUMBER OF PAVEMENTS AFFECTED BY PUMPING ACTION HAS INCREASED FROM ALMOST NONE IN 1940 TO 12% IN 1947. THE NUMBER OF TRUCK AXLE LOAD AND GROSS LOAD LAW VIOLATIONS HAS ALSO INCREASED GREATLY DURING THIS TIME, INDICATING THAT MUCH OF THE PAVEMENT PUMPING HAS BEEN CAUSED BY OVERLOADS. IT IS CONCLUDED THAT STRICT ENFORCEMENT OF PRESENT LAWS WOULD DO MUCH TO REDUCE THE NUMBER OF RIGID PAVEMENT FAILURES, AND THAT RESEARCH SHOULD BE INITIATED IMMEDIATELY TO DETERMINE THE DESTRUCTIVE CHARACTERISTICS OF REPETITIVE 10,000 LB. AXLE LOADS AS WELL AS DIFFERENT SPACING OF AXLES CARRYING 18,000 LB. LOADS AND PAVEMENT DESIGNS TO WITHSTAND HEAVIER LOADS. /AUTHOR/


Although Li-rich layered materials are some of the best potential cathode materials owing to their high capacity (>250 mA h g−1), low cost and reduced pollution, they still faces some problems, including low initial coulombic efficiency, poor cycling performance, and bad rate capability. In this work, Li-rich spinel Li4Mn5O12 and MgF2 are constructed on the surface of a Li-rich layered material by simple liquid-phase erosion and liquid-phase deposition methods, respectively. The Li-rich spinel Li4Mn5O12 layer provides 3D Li-ion channels and it restrains the growth of SEI film and oxygen release. The outermost amorphous MgF2 layer of coating also favors Li-ion migration and further protects Li4Mn5O12 from HF corrosion. It is found that the double surface modifications induce a phase transformation from a layered structure to an Li4Mn5O12-type spinel during cycling, which is different from the traditional structural transformation from a layered structure to a LiMn2O4 spinel-like structure, and it exhibits a slower structural transformation. Benefiting from these collaborative contributions from Li4Mn5O12 and MgF2, the material shows superior electrochemical properties, including a high initial coulombic efficiency of 96.4%, excellent capacity retention of 80% after 300 cycles, a small voltage decay rate of 1.5 mV per cycle, and a remarkable rate capability.


Abstract : A He-Ne laser which produces a highly coherent beam of red light at the 6328 A neon line is used as a source for both bright field and phase contrast microscopes. In addition, a new microholography technique utilizing this laser was developed which produces a three-dimensional record of a microscope specimen on a single photographic negative. This technique is extended to both bright field and polarizing microscopy.


The freezing process of the CN dumbbells in the orientational glass Na(CN)xCl1-x was studied by 23Na and 35Cl NMR for several concentrations x. The systems with x\gtrsim0.7 undergo structural phase transitions, whereas systems with x\lesssim0.7 stay cubic on the average down to lowest temperatures. For concentrations x≈0.65, the temperature dependences of the NMR line widths give evidence that the transition into the glass state essentially consists in a deformation of the local potentials leading to a formation of preferential directions for the orientations of the CN ions. The temperature dependence of the spin lattice relaxation time T1 shows that the motions of the CN ions in their deformed potentials remain fast. With decreasing concentration x, the influence of the collective interactions between the CN ions becomes less pronounced and a gradual transition to systems with decoupled CN ions can be observed.


Background and Objectives : The purpose of the study was to evaluate the clinical effect of Nicorandil during per cutaneous coronary intervention ( PCI ) in patients with unstable angina ( UA ) . Subjects and Methods : Two hun dred patients ( 61 ± 10 years, male 143 ) with UA were randomly assigned to two groups : intravenous Isosorbide dinitrate ( Group I, n = 100 ) and intravenous Nicorandil ( Group II, n = 100 ) . PCI was performed 12 - 48 hours after infusion of the agents. The post - procedural cardiac enzymes, 6 - month MACE ( major adverse cardiac event ) and left ventricular ejection fraction ( LVEF ) were compared between the two groups. Results : Successful PCI was performed in 96 patients ( Group I = 54, Group II = 42 ) . Patients requiring either emergent coronary angiogra -phy, temporary pacemaker or platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor blocker were excluded. No significant differences were observed between the two groups in terms of the clinical and coronary angiographic characteristics. The level of creatine kinase - MB was elevated in 9 ( 17% ) and 6 patients ( 14% ) , troponin T in 16 ( 30% ) and 6 ( 14% ) and troponin I in 25 ( 46% ) and 9 ( 21% ) patients of Groups I and II, respectively, after the PCI. The elevation of all troponins was lower in Group II ( 28 vs. 10 patients, p = 0.01 ) . MACE developed in 9 ( 17% ) and 5 ( 12% ) pa tients of Groups I and II ( p = NS ) , respectively, during the 6 - month clinical follow - up. The LVEF was higher in Group II than in Group I on follow - up echocardiography ( 65.4 ± 7.2% vs. 71.0 ± 6.7%, p = 0.003 ) . Conclusion : Nicorandil may have a myocardial protective effect during PCI in patients with UA. (Korean Circulation J 2005 ; 35 : 322 - 327)


This paper presents the assessment of an enhanced line parameter estimation technique for modern distribution networks. The estimation method takes advantage of the use of Phasor Measurement Units or, more in general of synchronized phasor measurements. A comprehensive modeling of the uncertainty of synchronized data permits performing an accurate estimation. The validity of the estimation technique has been tested on a portion of the digital twin of the Forschungszentrum Jülich (FZJ) campus, a self-managed distribution network with more than 100 nodes. Realistic measurement assumptions have been considered by taking into account the accuracy of a measurement chain (instrument transformer and measurement device) for distribution networks. Furthermore, the presence of distributed generation has been also taken into account. The results will show that the parameter estimation in these challenging conditions is successful, and the technique can be applied for the analysis of real distribution networks.


The Martian ionosphere plays a crucial role in driving the interactions of the planet with solar photons and solar wind particles. The variations of the dayside Martian ionosphere with several controlling factors, including the solar extreme ultraviolet radiation, the background atmosphere, and the underlying thermal structure, have been the topic of extensive research in terms of electron distribution. In contrast, how the ionospheric composition varies has not been systematically investigated, a topic that is attempted in this study based on photochemical equilibrium computations performed at 100–200 km altitude, including a large number of reactions. Our calculations reveal the following compositional variations as natural outcomes of the ionospheric chemistry on Mars. (1) With increasing solar irradiance, the proportions of the majority of nonterminal ions are enhanced at the expense of reduced proportions of terminal ions, including O2+ , HCO+, NO+, and H3O+. (2) At high electron temperatures, the proportion of NO+ is modestly reduced, whereas the proportions of the other species are nearly unaffected. (3) The response of the ionospheric composition to the upper atmospheric composition is complicated, showing the strong negative response of many trace ions to ambient CO2, O, and CO, as well as the strong positive response of protonated ions to H2, nitrogen-bearing ions to N and N2, water-group ions to H2O, and HO2+ to O2. As an application of the model results, the recent ion measurements made on board the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution are used to provide hints about the realistic composition of the Martian upper atmosphere.


Protein components and qualities of ensiled alfalfa(Medicago sativa) and Italian ryegrass(Lolium multiflorum) were studied.The harvested alfalfa and ryegrass were mixed according to the ratio of 10:0(A_(10)B_0),8:2(A_8B_2),6:4(A_6B_4),4:6(A_4B_6),2:8(A_2B_8),0:10(A_0B_(I0)).The result showed that the mixed silages of alfalfa and Italian ryegrass gained the lower levels of pH and NH_3-N,especially A_4 B_6 and A_2 B_8 treatments.The mixed ensiling A_8 B_2,A_6 B_4 and A_4 B_6 treatments had the higher levels of CP and SOLP than the single ensiling A_(10)B_0 and A_0B_(10) treatments.The NPN contents of all treatments maintained the high levels during tested period,while A_4B_6 and A_2B_8 treatments could better preserve ADIP than others.The A_2B_8 treatment had the best protein structure resulted from the least PA + PB1 and the most PB2 + PB3.However,the content of crude protein in A_4B_6 treatment was significantly higher than in A_2B_8 treatment.It was suggested that the best ratio of mixed silage of alfalfa and Italian ryegrass was4:6.


This article details the development of a two-dimensional model for tracking microparticles subjected to dielectrophoresis in a continuous flow microdevice. The electric field is generated by interdigitated transducer electrodes placed on the bottom of the microchannel. The motion of the microparticles and the electric potential inside the microchannel are described using Newton's 2nd law and Laplace equation, respectively. The governing equations are solved using finite difference method. The model accounts for forces such as inertia, drag and dielectrophoresis. The model is used for parametric study in this article; the parameters considered include microparticle radii, actuation voltage, microchannel height and volumetric flow rate. From the parametric study it is observed that the trajectory of microparticles depends on all these parameters though only the actuation voltage, among these parameters, influences the steady state levitation height.Copyright © 2015 by ASME


ABSTRACT A series of triblock nonionic surfactants with different Propylene oxide and ethylene oxide chain lengths were synthesized. The triblock nonionic surfactants and poly(ethylene glycols) with different molecular weight were used, to find the effects of polymer chain length and size of the micelles on the cloud point of the surfactants. Two possible models are considered on the basis of cloud point changes of the solutions, to describe the polymer- surfactant interactions. One model suggests that flocculation depletion for the polymer chains exist between two regular micelles. This provides the driving force for the neighboring micelles to approach each other and destabilize the colloidal system. The flocculation effect is more important for polymers with a shorter chain block the approach of the micelles, since there is no typical polymer-surfactant association formed but just simple small molecule associations in which the steric and solvation effects of the polymer chains make the inter-micelles ...