Because poly-L-lysine (PLL) can exist in the α -helix or β -sheet conformation depending on solution preparation and solution conditions, PLL is a suitable candidate to probe the dependence of protein interactions on secondary structure. The osmotic second virial coefficient and weight-average molecular weight are reported from low-angle laser-light scattering measurements for PLL as a function of NaCl concentration, pH, and α -helix or β -sheet content. Interactions between PLL molecules become more attractive as salt concentration increases due to screening of PLL charge by salt ions and at low salt concentration become more attractive as pH increases due to decreased net charge on PLL. The experimental results show that interactions are stronger for the β -sheet conformation than for the α -helix conformation. A spherically-symmetric model for the potential of mean force is used to account for specific interactions not described by DLVO theory and to show how differences in secondary structure affect PLL interactions.


Anecdotal and empirical evidence from a broad range of sources suggests that individuals often respond to the death of a peer by re-evaluating their approach to, and priorities in, their life and their career. In this study, we synthesize work addressing this general human tendency with management research in the domain of strategic leadership. Building on relational identification theory, we argue that CEOs who experience the death of a director at the same firm will subsequently change their personal and organizational priorities. We hypothesize, and find evidence for our claim, that firms led by CEOs experiencing peer deaths will show an increase in short- term inefficiency, a reduction in long-term investment, and an increase in corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. We provide further support for our theory by showing that the impact of experiencing the death of a peer is amplified by several factors that are likely to increase a CEO's level of relational identification with the deceased –...


Noni fruit (Morinda citrifolia, L.) has been used as an herbal that serves as an analgesic, antiinflammatory and antibacterial. This research indicate that the noni fruit contain active compounds flavonoid, phenolic and terpenoid. The aimed of this study was to determine the total phenolic content of ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts of noni (Morinda citrifolia, L) and the antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli. The analysis result obtained the total phenolic extract of ethanol 171,91 mg/L and extract of ethyl acetate 23,27 mg/L. Ethanol and ethyl acetate extracts can inhibit the activity of Escherichia coli bacteria. Ethanol extract has a minimum inhibitory concentration (KHM) of 6.5% but not with ethyl acetate extract, so it is concluded that ethanol extract potentially inhibit the activity of Escherichia coli bacteria better than ethyl acetate extract.


The present disclosure includes an electrosurgical device for treating tissue at a target site. The device has a shaft with a proximal end and a distal part, the distal part comprising a neutral electrode and an electrode carrier. There is also at least one active electrode on the distal part of the shaft, which has a proximal part and a distal part and a plurality of suction openings arranged therebetween. These openings are fluidly connected to a suction cavity located within the electrode carrier and the cavity is connected to a fluid suction element positioned along the shaft. The plurality of openings vary in size and are generally arranged such that the larger openings are arranged towards the proximal part of the electrode and the smaller openings are generally arranged towards the distal part of the electrode.


Rural employment is not up to satisfactory level and most of the villagers are facing the severe problems of different types of unemployment due to that a large number of the youths are turning to unethical activities. Many literate, skilled and willing people are looking for the employment but their all efforts are like the tracing of needle in the dark. Though there are many types of unemployment prevailing in our society. The most widespread type of unemployment is disguised unemployment. It is a situation in which more people are engaged in an activity than the required ones. The people who are actually engaged in such as activity appear to be employed but in real sense they are not fully employed. This problem is particularly acute in rural areas. It is also known as underemployment. The absence of alternative employment opportunities in rural areas leads to this situation. Government should take strong action to overcome such problems because the target set in the present years to achieve the growth rate of 9 to 10% can be attained through the overall development of all the sectors of the economy and the fruits of economic development are shared by every citizen of our country. Hard decisions should be taken to compete in the race of economic development in the world, otherwise the gap between the urban and the rural prosperity will become biggest obstacle in our peace and prosperity.


A mask and a method for manufacturing the same are provided to form a dummy bar pattern and to prevent peeling phenomenon by fabricating a dummy pattern on a dummy region that is a boundary between regions having different mask types. A mask includes a quartz substrate(1) and a dummy pattern. The quartz substrate has a first region(10) of a first mask type, a second region(20) formed with a second mask type different from the first mask type, and a third region(30) defined between the first region and the second region. The dummy pattern is formed on the third region and corresponds to a dummy bar pattern to be formed on a wafer. The dummy pattern includes a recess section and a protrusion section. The recess section is formed by recessing a part of the quartz substrate. The protrusion section is defined on an upper surface of the quartz which is not recessed. The dummy pattern is a line and space pattern, or a dot pattern.


When politicians, pundits, and journalists in the United States express interest in stopping illegal immigration, in building a wall that works, and in tripling border security, what problematic as...


ABSTRACT This article discusses the relationship between South Africa (SA) and the United Kingdom (UK) in the post-Brexit era. An overview of the history of the SA-UK relationship until the negotiation of the SACU + M-UK agreement in 2019 is provided. At least two scenarios in a post-Brexit UK-European Union trade relationship are analysed and their implications for SA-UK relations are discussed. The article explores the question: will the post-Brexit period be characterised by an increasingly aggressive Britain striving to re-assert its power in the world, or shall the world see a new idealist Britain seeking to increase cooperation in its own region and globally? The article argues that South Africa should expect the first scenario but also prepare to influence the UK towards the second scenario.


There are metaphors that are reflected in our everyday language through a group of expressions that refers, in one way or another, to that metaphor. The aim of this paper is to analyze the representations that the inhabitants from two villas miseria located in Jose Hernandez, Argentina, have of their neighborhood and of the city. Considering not the physical but the social distance implied in their everyday journey to the city center.


Rare earth luminescent nanomaterials are hot topic due to their unique fluorescence properties. Effective spectral regulation could be achieved by adjusting the coating thickness to affect the energy transfer process in core–shell structure.


For the request of real-time situation plotting in both two-dimensional and three-dimensional environment,it presents the single arrow plotting and double arrow plotting which includes a central axis constraint plotting model that can display the performance of two-dimensional and three-dimensional linkage and an curve fit method based on the midpoint algorithm in control of the progress of the curve trend.The real-time plotting of arrow mark in two-or three-dimensional environment can be effectively realized by the model and algorithm.It can be used as a reference for the popularization and application of the situation plotting.


Black band disease (BBD) is an infectious bacterial disease caused by the migration of a black mat of microorganisms across the surface of coral colonies, consuming healthy coral tissue and leaving dead skeleton behind. Although a complex community of bacteria composes the infectious bacterial mat, the most abundant organism present in the mat is a large filamentous, non-heterocyst cyanobacterium, identified as Phormidium corallyticum. In spite of our knowledge on the composition of the BBD mat, the mechanisms by which this disease destroys coral tissue remains unclear. The results presented in this paper show that an extract from the BBD mat has toxic effects on the growth and viability of the symbiotic dinoflagellate Symbiodinium sp. Nonetheless, neither the pellet recovered from the extraction nor extracts from other bacteria have such an effect, suggesting that neither LPS nor membrane proteins are involved in BBD toxicity. Moreover, this compound has a molecular weight lower than 10,000 Da and is heat stable. All these results indicate that there is a toxic compound possibly involved in the mechanism of pathogenesis of BBD in corals. Further studies will involve the isolation and characterization of such compound. K e y w o r d s coral, black band disease, toxin,


We describe both coherent combining and wavelength stabilization of 10 tapered lasers in an external Talbot cavity with a volume Bragg grating. 1.7W at 976 nm in a narrow bandwidth, high coherent beam are obtained.


Reactions at the interface between an implant and the environment of the body are of fundamental importance in determining the degree of success of the implant. In the case of orthopedic implants, one of the potentially important aspects of this interfacial reaction concerns metallic corrosion. The apparent clinical significance of corrosion is not altogether clear and many believe that corrosion is not a problem since it rarely affects the patient and, even if it does, the offending implant may easily be removed. However, since corrosion may eventually influence the functional properties of the implant, and in view of the increasing use of 'permanent' prostheses where even minor reactions could produce undesirable effects, this phenomenon must be considered. If corrosion does occur frequently and if simple and inexpensive methods of corrosion prevention are available, then they should be adopted.


This paper describes the major damage to Edgecumbe and Kawerau substations in the Bay of Plenty earthquake on 2 March 1987. Questions such as why the equipment failed and what actions should be taken to strengthen the equipment are addressed.


The mechanical behaviors and failure mechanism of lead-free Sn-3.0Ag-0.5Cu micro-scale solder joints with a constant diameter of 400 μm and a height range of 125~325 μm during quasi-static tensile and shear state were investigated at 100 ℃ and 25 ℃ with accurate dynamic mechanical analyzer DMA Q800.The experimental results show that the tensile and shear strength of all micro-scale solder joints decreased with the increasing of the joint height.However,under the same loading rate of 1N/min at 100 ℃,the shear strength of solder joints was lower than the tensile strength,and the shear fracture strain was also lower than the tensile one,revealing that the shear loading was severer for micro-interconnection solder joints in electronic packaging.Nevertheless,under the same loading rate,the tensile strength and strain of micro-scale solder joints with the same size decreased with the increasing of service temperature.


Taking Pinus massoniana plantations with and without controlled-burning as the research object, using sun-shading nets in broadcast burning and covering after 60days,150days and 300days,soil samples in three different layers were collected to study the soil total nitrogen and soil mineral nitrogen dynamic process and pattern of dynamic.The results showed that controlled burning reduced the total nitrogen content of soil,but it could significantly increase soil ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen content in the burning after 60days and 150days,sun-shading net covering could significantly increase soil ammonium nitrogen and nitrate nitrogen content in the burning condition.There was obvious fertilizer retention effect in controlled burning and covering 60days and 150days.With respect to the shading rate of 100%sun-shading net,shading rate of 85%sun-shading net promoted more effectively to increase soil mineral nitrogen.At the same time,controlled burning and sun-shading net covering significantly increased the percentage of soil mineral nitrogen and soil total nitrogen.


This chapter contains sections titled: The Workplace-Your Home Away from Home Turf ?>Copy Lines, ?> also Known as ?>CCs ?> Your Workplace ?>The Tyranny of the In-Box ?> Interruptions Appropriate Dress for Work Work Hours ?>Lunch, Anyone? ?> The ?>Culture ?> of the Organization Suggested Reading ]]>


The paper tries to explain the nature of superhero films with the context of Gerard Genette's Transtextuality. With the specific example of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the paper argues that the two traditionally separate superheroes were brought together by signing into the previous films of these independent superheroes. This makes the film a bricolage of various incidents. More specifically, the paper explores Architextuality, Paratextuality, Hypotextuality, and Metatextuality, through the example of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.


Abstract The technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) framework considers the role of technology in teaching. Although TPACK is grounded in context, one limitation is the lack of understanding about the interactions between particular contexts, knowledge development, and instruction. This qualitative multiple-case study was designed to explore the contextual factors that contribute to teachers' development of technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge and practice. Researchers focused on the Catholic educational environment to develop a more refined understanding of specific, and unique, contextual factors within the TPACK framework. Individual case analysis of interview and observation data pointed toward microlevel, or teacher-centric, factors, including background, attitudes, and personal conceptualization of contemporary education, to be primary influences of the development and use of technological knowledge. Recommendations are made for educators to think about how changes in context influence the distinct overlapping components of the TPACK framework, and accordingly their individual TPACK. (Keywords: TPACK, educational technology, teacher practice, teacher context)


This study examines the Dominion of Canada's first accounting system from the perspective of institutional theory. We find that Canada's first accounting system was a continuation of an institution-building process begun earlier in the former Province of Canada. We argue that the political upheaval associated with the dissolution of one political jurisdiction and the creation of a new country created conditions conducive to institutional persistence rather than change, and that persistence was supported by continuity of the legislation and important agents that bridged the organizational discontinuity created by the confederation event.


A method for accurately synchronizing reception and emission of logging acoustic signals, which is applied for digital acoustic logging, and is characterized in that a receiver short segment waits for the response signal from a transmitter short segment while transmitting a command to the transmitter short segment based on the response mechanism of CAN bus communication; the transmitter short segment can transmit a 'dominant' bit representing response to the receiver short segment when accurately receiving an effective CAN message; and the receiver short segment receives and collects acoustic signals when receiving the response returned from the transmitter short segment, and the transmitter short segment transmits in the same time. The method has the advantages that accurate synchronization of reception and emission of acoustic logging signals can be achieved by using the response mechanism of CAN bus communication, thus achieving simpler simultaneous connection circuits for accurate synchronization, reducing connection lines and lowering signal interference.


Introduction:
 Management of voluminous data from implantable cardiac devices is resource intensive. False positive events can be especially problematic with implantable loop recorders (ILRs). We sought to describe our early experience with a novel ILR.

 Hypothesis:
 Sensitivity adjustment to <=0.10 mV may reduce false positive ILR detection of bradycardia/pauses.

 Methods:
 A single center retrospective study was performed in patients with the Abbott Confirm RX ILR. Tachycardia, atrial fibrillation (AF), bradycardia, and pause events were reviewed to determine whether they were true or false positives.

 Results:
 The study included 13 patients (age 67 ±15.8 years, 62% men). The reasons for implant included: AF (n=7, 54%), syncope(n=3, 23%), palpitations (n=2, 15%), and stroke (n=1, 8%). The median follow-up duration was 3.1 months (IQR 1.3-4.4 months). There was no change in serial R waves during mean follow-up of 0.58 months (pre 0.62±0.22 mV, post 0.63±0.22 mV, p=0.52). Tachycardia detection occurred in 6 patients (46%), with only 1 patient having a false positive episode. AF detection occurred in 8 patients (62%), with only 2 patients having true AF episodes. Pause/bradycardia episodes were detected in 5 patients (39%), with false positive episodes in 4 patients. There was no difference in R waves at implant among patients with and without false positive bradycardia/pauses episodes (0.66 ±0.27 vs. 0.44 ± 0.28 mV, p=0.21). The max sensitivity was higher among patients with than without false positive bradycardia/pause episodes (0.14 ±0.01, 0.07 ±0.02 mV, p<0.0001). No patients programmed to sensitivity <=0.10 mV had false positive bradycardia/pause episodes. The sensitivity was adjusted to <=0.10 mV in 3 of 4 patients with false positive bradycardia/pause episodes which eliminated future false positive episodes and did not result in false positive tachycardia/AF episodes. The overall mean monthly rate of false positive bradycardia/pause events was reduced from 387 events/month to zero in these patients.

 Conclusion:
 Programming the novel ILR to a sensitivity of <=0.10 mV resulted in a marked reduction in false positive bradycardia/pause episodes without an increase in false positive tachycardia/AF episodes.


The use of 24 and 30 FL for classrooms (9×8 m) and libraries (10×8 m), respectively, at SMP Negeri 25 Pontianak has not satisfied the lumen standard according to SNI 03-6575-2001. Replacing FL with LED requires calculation of budgets and lumen, including optimization of lamp distance configuration. Thus, replacing FL with LED through an adapted lumen of SNI 03-6575-2001 standard will need 15 and 20 lamps for classrooms and library, respectively. Later, the position of the LED placement has been optimized with the help of a genetic algorithm (GA) and drawing the lamp configuration using Dialux. Before optimization, the calculation result of luminaires for the classroom is 262 lux with a distance of x1 = 1.8 m and x2 = 2.67 m. After optimization, it is obtained that Eav = 283.513 lux and the distance between lamps x1 = 1.586 m and x2 = 2.67 m. The luminaire of library room before optimization is 322 lux, with a distance of x1 = 2 m and x2 = 2 m. After optimization the Eav is 384.9569 lux with x1 = 1.9119 m and x2 = 1.9 m. The lumen standard of replacing FL with LED has complied with SNI with cheaper procurement costs, i.e., for FL Rp.45,152,860.80 and for LED Rp.41,778,528.00 (saving Rp. 3,374,332.80).


Recently wireless mesh network (WMN) has become popular especially for its low cost deployment in the areas of poor network infrastructure and terrain of difficult deployment. Although paths in WMN backbone network are stable, the access link contention can severely constrain the end-to-end throughput. We proposed an integrated routing system for WMN that exploits both paths through the backbone network and through the ad-hoc access network of mobile nodes. The ad-hoc path is considered as an alternative path and is used only when the primary backbone path is severely constrained due to access links contention. We have shown through simulation that alternative path is effective in delivering high throughput in that situation. We also proposed a scheme for initiating the route discovery of the ad-hoc path. We investigated the use of OSPF in the backbone network and proposed solutions of dealing with multi-area OSPF configuration in the backbone and auto-configuration of OSPF wireless links


Recent research on the use of robotic technologies specifically aimed at human subjects has been focused on developing accurate, quantitative assessment of sensorimotor functions. This work presents the framework and the results of a robot-aided assessment protocol of mechanical and sensorimotor components of the human wrist joint, tested on subjects. Proper knowledge of human wrist properties and functionality can be applied in different fields, from clinical evaluations to industrial ergonomics. Keywords—robotic assessment, human wrist, proprioception, joint


Beginning in 2015, scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/NESDIS/STAR and UMass Amherst collaborated with the European Space Agency (ESA) to collect ocean surface normalized radar cross-section (NRCS) measurements at co- and cross-polarizations in extreme wind conditions from the NOAA Hurricane Hunter aircraft using a prototype antenna for the next-generation European spaceborne scatterometer. Since then, more research has been done to understand the effects of ocean-surface wind vectors on NRCS from both satellite and aircraft. Here we show the data from several seasons of flight experiments to understand the airborne measurements of NRCS in context.


Education is an important factor affecting the great number of outcomes in an individual's life. With the intention of making learning more attractive activity, numerous scientists studied the difference between successful and unsuccessful students. Many studies show that individuals who effectively self-regulate their own learning have multiple benefits, such as higher self-esteem, more successful organization of work, more efficient acquisition of knowledge (even when they have finished their formal education), more adaptive emotion regulation strategies and higher psychological well-being. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between goal orientations, emotion regulation strategies and several positive orientation constructs that are defined by psychological well-being, the balance of positive and negative experiences, satisfaction with life and student satisfaction. The study included 230 students of the University of Zadar. The results confirmed that those students who show higher mastery-approach, mastery-avoidance, and performance-approach goal orientations show higher student satisfaction, while the students with higher effort-avoidance orientation reported lower student satisfaction. Students with higher mastery-approach and mastery-avoidance goal orientation are more likely to use cognitive reappraisal as emotion regulation strategy, while participants with performance-avoidance and effort-avoidance goal orientation are prone to expressive suppression. Furthermore, it was found that the psychological well-being is positively associated with mastery-approach goal orientation and negatively with effort-avoidance orientation. The obtained results should be taken with caution due to the use of relatively small and unrepresentative sample. Furthermore, there are certain difficulties arising from the characteristics of the measuring instrument because it is not possible to understand the relative proportions of different goal orientations within the same participant, nor is it possible to establish a single, dominant goal orientation for one participant.


Background Immunological factors in the pathogenesis of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) were suggested previously on the basis of the demonstration of mononuclear cell infiltrates and autoantibodies against the myocardium. The present study investigated whether tissue leukocyte subpopulations isolated from hearts with IDC (n=6) differ in phenotype from those of tissues without IDC (n=7). Methods and Results Leukocytes were quantified as reactive cells per square millimeter in perivascular, interstitial, and parenchymal tissue sections. Freshly isolated heart-tissue T cells and peripheral-blood T cells from the same patients were analyzed by triple staining and flow cytometry to identify T-cell subpopulations as well as their states of differentiation (expression of CD45RA and Leu-8 versus CD45RO) and activation (IL-2R, IL-7R, very late antigen–1, HLA-DR). All types of infiltrating cells (T cells, B cells, macrophages, granulocytes) are increased in hearts with IDC compared with normal hearts, but ...


Increasingly, competition and an expanded private sector are seen as having an important role to play in reducing costs and improving efficiency in health care markets. Competition and economic efficiency are two separate concepts for the purposes of the Trade Practices Act 1974 (Cth). This article draws attention to a number of market failures and imperfections in health care markets which are likely to have a bearing on conventional competition analysis. The existence of these market failures such as imperfect information, agency relationships and the role played by government intervention in occupational licensing for health care professionals and the regulation of pricing through the Medicare rebate schedule, may impede competition on the merits. In some cases these market imperfections give rise to inefficiencies that can only be cured by professional intervention to protect consumers. They are, however, a matter of degree. Each case calls for an analysis of the extent to which the particular health care market departs from the neoclassical economist's ideal. This article considers the way in which the courts, the Tribunal and the ACCC have applied conventional competition analysis in recent health care cases and examines the categories of market defects that may justify professional intervention to give effect to improvements that qualify for authorisation.


Abstract.
 Little has been documented on large (>250 g), water-associated birds in the north-eastern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, that nest colonially and rely on suitable sites for breeding. The purpose of this study was to highlight these species and the importance of nesting sites for their effective conservation management. From 1920–2010, there were 622 records of 27 of these species breeding at more than 48 sites. Five sites accounted for 65% of these breeding events, four at Lake St Lucia, highlighting its importance for bird conservation. Several sites were abandoned. However, two new sites have established more recently (Nsumo Pan, Mkhuze Game Reserve; Nyamithi Pan, Ndumo Game Reserve) that are important in terms of number of individuals as well as variety of species. Some species (Pink-backed Pelican Pelecanus rufescens, Grey-headed Gull Larus cirrocephalus, Caspian Tern Sterna caspia, Great-white Pelican P. onocrotalus and African Spoonbill Platalea alba) have bred regularly but have used only a few sites, mainly at Lake St Lucia. Two species (Glossy Ibis Plegadis falcinellus and Black Heron Egretta ardesiaca) have bred once only on Lane Island (1961) and in trees at the mouth of the Hluhluwe River (before 1964) respectively. Two colonial sites hosted 10-12 species while others (n = 8) only two. Twenty-one sites were used by only one species. Two species (Pink-backed Pelican and Yellow-billed Stork Mycteria ibis) nest nowhere else in South Africa on a regular basis. Recommendations for the ongoing monitoring and conservation of these colonially-nesting birds in the region, particularly in terms of securing these sites, are made.


DOI: 10.4328/ACAM.20293 Received: 2020-07-27 Accepted: 2020-08-25 Published Online: 2020-09-10 Printed: 2021-04-01 Ann Clin Anal Med 2021;12(4):384-387 Corresponding Author: Ahmet Mert, Değirmiçem Mahallesi, Maraşal Fevzi Çakmak Blv. No:38, 27090 Şehitkamil, Gaziantep, Turkey. E-mail: email@example.com P: +90 5079914462 Corresponding Author ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5111-2051 Abstract Aim: The aim of our study was to examine the clinical outcomes and radiological results of acetabular fractures that were followed up and treated in our clinic. Materials and Methods: The age, gender, accompanying injuries, fracture mechanisms, Judet-Letournel fracture classification, surgical incision and complications of patients admitted to our clinic with acetabular fracture were recorded. Patients with open fractures of the acetabulum, those who were not operated with an ilioinguinal approach, and those who were followed up conservatively were excluded from the study. All patients were evaluated according to the Matta scoring system and Modified Merle d'Aubigné Criteria. Results: The study included 83 patients who were followed up and treated for acetabular fracture and who were operated with ilioinguinal incision, posterior approach (Kocher-Langenbeck) and combined surgical approaches. The reduction was anatomical in 67 (80.7%) patients, fair in 12 (14.4%) and poor in 4 (4.8%) patients according to the Matta Reduction Criteria. According to the Modified Merle d'Aubigné Criteria, 46 (55.4%) patients had an excellent clinical outcome, 26 (31.3%) patients had a good clinical outcome, 7 (8.4%) patients had a fair clinical outcome, and 4 (4.8%) patients had a poor clinical outcome. There was a significant correlation between the obtained radiological results and clinical outcomes (p<0.001). In the analysis performed by age, it was found that the clinical outcomes of the patients over 45 years of age were statistically worse than those of the patients under 45 years of age (p=0.05). It was found that there was a significant correlation between reduction quality assessment performed on the postoperative radiographs of the patients and the clinical outcome (p<0.001). Discussion: Acetabular fractures are difficult to treat; ensuring anatomical reduction should be the primary goal, and this may be reflected in clinical outcomes and radiological results of patients.


The present invention is preferably conveyed from the hot rolling mill, for example, a bar, a rod, or receiving a metallic elongated product, such as a similar object (P) to, transportation, and drum for discharging ( in 10, 12), a drum (10, 12) is provided with at least one circumferential channel pair extends parallel to the drum axis (X) (C1-C2), at least one channel pair (C1-C2) are two and are arranged to receive long products (P1, P2) simultaneously, each channel of the channel pair (C1, C2) is to receive an elongated product It is configured so as, on the drum. Further, the present invention relates to a method and system for processing an elongated products that are rolled conveyed from different strands of the rolling mill.


Poly(butylene terephthalate)–clay nanocomposites with three different organically modified clays were prepared via melt blending in a twin-screw extruder. Decyl triphenylphosphonium bromide, hexadecyl triphenylphosphonium bromide, and cetyl pyridinium chloride were used to modify the naturally occurring montmorillonite clay. The organically modified clays were characterized with X-ray diffraction for the d001-spacing and with thermogravimetric analysis to determine the thermal stability. The prepared nanocomposites were injection-molded and examined for the dispersion quality of the clay, the mechanical properties, and the rheological behavior. The tensile strength of the nanocomposites increased with a 1% addition of clay; however, more clay decreased the tensile strength. Nanocomposites with finely dispersed clay platelets and nanocomposites with poorly dispersed clay platelets showed very different rheological behaviors. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci, 2011


The Ancestral bestiary of Gull is a scientific bestiary, that is composed by draws and illustrations which describe some mythological fiction creatures; contains a map that shows their enviroment. it also includes five illustrations of mythical creatures with extraordinary features, and their respective dissections show them as scientific illustrations. Since my childhood i have been interested by monstrous and dark images, and i have been always asked to me why the human kind has been tried to answer questions without answers through the mythology?. These are some of the topics that influenced me in the creative process of this work and they are reflected in the stories and representation of the creatures whom live in Gull.


Hysteresis has been observed in the light-current characteristics of inhomogeneously pumped GaAs/AlGaAs laser diodes with both MQW and bulk GaAs active layers. Bistable action was observed in both types of device, at switching speeds suggesting that electronic mechanisms were responsible for saturation of the absorption in the passive region of each structure. In the MQW case, the wavelength of operation of the device suggested saturation of the excitonic absorption.


In this paper I shall argue that the Harry Potter cinematographic adaptations of J. K. Rowling's novels gradually enacts a transgeneric crossing of the Gothic into the genre of the fantastic. Specifically, by utilizing Robert Mighall's argument that the "Gothic is a process, not an essence; a rhetoric rather than a store of universal symbols", I shall argue that such a transposition is progressively achieved by means of the representation of an imagery clearly recalling Gothic settings, figures and atmospheres, and through the use of a series of thematic preoccupations that are usually present in Gothic texts. According to the critic Robert Mighall, "The Gothic is a process, not an essence; a rhetoric rather than a store of universal symbols; an attitude to the past and the present, not a free floating fantasy world. Epochs, institutions, places, and people are Gothicized, have the Gothic thrust upon them" (xxvi). This paper shall consider the Gothic as a discursive site which absorbs and infiltrates other genres, and shall specifically suggest that the story of Harry Potter becomes Gothicized because of its representation of many settings, characters and themes as evidently Gothic. J. K. Rowling's narrative certainly belongs to the literary genre of the fantastic, a genre which shares some of its thematic concerns and structural characteristics with the Gothic. Indeed, both genres imply the existence of uncanny or supernatural events that transgress the bounds of reality and possibility and that cannot be categorized and explained with real scientific laws (Todorov 25). Specifically, as Rosemary Jackson has argued, "Fantastic literature points to or suggests the basis upon which the cultural order rests, for it opens up, for a brief moment, on to disorder, on to illegality, on to that which [. . .] is outside dominant value systems" (26-27). Similarly, as several critics have noted, Gothic fiction is an evasive and subversive genre which metaphorically addresses human fears and anxieties through its depiction of supernatural events and nonexistent monsters (Veeder 61, Davenport-Hines 7, Hendershot 1). However, the Gothic


This research suggests that valuate similarities by using the matches of patterns which is appeared on different two documents. Statistical ways such as fingerprint method are mainly used for evaluate similarities of existing documents. However, this method has a problem of accuracy for the high similarity which is occurred when many similar words are appeared from two irrelevant documents. These issues are caused by simple comparing of statistical parameters of two documents. But the method using patterns suggested on this research solved those problems because it judges similarity by searching same patterns. This method has a defect, however, that takes long time to search patterns, but this research introduce the algorithms complement this defect.


The power conversion of salinity gradient energy (SGE) between concentrated brine from seawater desalination and seawater by reverse electrodialysis (RED) benefits energy conservation and also dilutes the discharge concentration to relieve the damage to coastal ecosystems. However, two key performance indexes of the maximum net power density and energy conversion efficiency for a RED stack harvesting the energy usually cannot reach the optimal simultaneously. Here, an optimization study on the two indexes was implemented to improve the performance of RED in harvesting the energy. A RED model for capturing the SGE between concentrated brine and seawater was constructed, and the correlation coefficients in the model were experimentally determined. Based on the model, the effects of a single variable (concentration, flow rate, temperature, thickness of the compartment, length of the electrode) on the performance of a RED stack are analyzed. The multi-objective optimization method based on the genetic algorithm was further introduced to obtain the optimal solution set, which could achieve the larger net power density and energy conversion efficiency with coordination. The ranges of optimal feed parameters and stack size were also obtained. The optimal flow velocity of the dilute solution and the concentration of the dilute solution are approximately 7.3 mm/s and 0.4 mol/kg, respectively.


Familial affiliation is a very important strategy for China in the past to solve inter-ethnicity conflicts and to improve relations between different ethnicities. This paper cites examples from ancient Chinese history to explicate the significance of "familial affiliation "in the past and its contribution to the marketing and trading between China and other ethnicities.


Objective To explore the clinical effect of Jiawei Maxingshigan decoction(JMD)combined with western medicine in treatment for heat type pediatric asthma.Methods 150cases of pediatric acute asthma were randomly divided into group 1(G1),group(G2),and group 3(G3),receiving JMD treatment,routine western medicine treatment and combined treatment,respectively.Clinical efficacy of the three groups were analyzed.Results The total effective rate of G3was 96%,significantly higher than the 86%and 84% of G1and G2respectively(P0.05).Conclusion JMD treatment for pediatric asthma might be with remarkable effect,and combined therapy of JMD and western medicine could significantly enhance therapeutic effect.


Chromagar Candida is a new differential culture medium that allows the selective isolation of yeasts, and simultaneously identifies colonies of C. albicans, C. tropicalis, C. krusei and and C. glabrata. However the use in food microbiology is limited for special situations.


This paper attempts to clarify ambiguities and assess the offense-specific nature of Sutherland's differential association theory. We employ two-stage least squares to estimate causal effects in structural equation models specific to six different crimes and two non-criminal deviant acts using data from a large-scale survey of adults. The findings indicate: (1) As Sutherland claimed, excess association with definitions favorable to crime and/or deviance tends to increase crime/deviance (measured here by self-predictions), but this effect is mainly indirect, through increasing motivation to engage in deviant acts; (2) The same differential association process holds for a range of crimes and also for the two non-criminal deviant acts, suggesting that Sutherland's theory is more widely applicable than he himself claimed. Our analysis also suggests one conclusion that is more speculative: Definitions (social messages) favorable to different forms of crime/deviance may form several independent domains rather than a single general domain referring to all crime/deviance.


Fluoride ion present in ground water of some areas in Theni District has been analysed using aluminium methyl orange complex by spectrophotometric determination. In this method the absorbance of methyl orange complex was measured and related to the concentration of fluoride ion in water. Present analysis of fluoride ion was compared with the values given by District Water Board. The method provides a reliable determination of fluoride in the range of 0.25–2 mg/L present in ground water. From the determination it was found that water samples contain permissible amount of fluoride ion as directed by World Health Organisation(WHO).


BACKGROUND
The presence and the pathogenetic role of circulating IgA reacting with neutrophil cytoplasmic antigens (IgA-ANCA) in patients with Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP) is still debated. This study was aimed to investigate some characteristics of serum IgA and macromolecular IgA in HSP patients, focusing on IgA-ANCA.

METHODS
Eighty-seven HSP patients with biopsy proved renal involvement (51 adults and 36 children) enrolled in a multicentre study of the Italian Group of Immunopathology were investigated.

RESULTS
Significantly high levels of IgA immune complexes were found in both adults (P < 0.05) and children (P < 0.01), while the binding of IgA to jacalin, was significantly low in children with HSP (P < 0.01) only. Two series of ELISA were done for IgA-ANCA, in two different laboratories. Increased binding to PMN crude extracts (P < 0.01) without any modification in IgA binding to proteinase 3 was found by either specific ELISA. Conversely, the binding of IgA to myeloperoxidase (MPO) was found to be significantly (P < 0.05) increased with positive values in 25% of patients by one assay only. Three of four sera with positive IgA-MPO ANCA exhibited binding in Western-blot studies with the MPO preparation used in ELISA to a 28-kDa species. D-galactose and N-acetyl-glucosamine decreased the binding of serum IgA to MPO more in HSP than in controls (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONS
The conflicting reports on IgA-ANCA may reflect some atypical characteristics of the reaction which can be detected only by some ELISAs. We suggest that not an antigen-antibody reaction but a lectinic interaction due to abnormal composition of IgA carbohydrate side chains may account for the IgA-ANCA reaction in patients with HSP nephritis.


Subcutaneous trigeminal nerve field stimulation (sTNFS) is a neuromodulatory treatment for neuropathic trigeminal pain with the ability to reduce the intensity and frequency of pain attacks. However, hardware issues including lead migration, skin erosion, infection, so‐called pocket pain at the site of the implanted neurostimulator are reported. Implantable wireless neurostimulation technology promises not only an even less invasive sTNFS treatment and thinner and more flexible electrodes better suited for facial implants, but also provides further advantages such as lack of an implantable neurostimulator and 3T magnetic resonance imaging compatibility.


Two novel platinum(II) complexes containing a diamino sugar have been prepared and characterized, including the crystal structure of [PtCl2(methyl 2,3-diamino-2,3-dideoxy-α-D-mannopyranoside)]·H2O (1), and the anti-tumour activity of the complexes has been demonstrated.


The author terms this work his opus magnum, and that it surely is. Drawing upon one of the largest and most complete temporal bone collections in the world, it is by far the most comprehensive volume on diseases of the ear yet published. The stress is on pathologic morphology of the temporal bone, but throughout, pathophysiology is carefully considered, utilizing an extensive review of the present state of our knowledge. In extensive but crisp discussions, disease mechanisms are correlated with pathologic anatomy and bountifully illustrated with photomicrographs of high quality. Drawings and diagrams are used widely.


Summary Seismic attributes are any measure that helps to better visualize or quantify features of interest in seismic data. Refraction attributes can be readily computed from multifold seismic data using the standard algorithms of the generalized reciprocal method (GRM), a common offset refraction (COR) modification of the GRM, and the refraction convolution section (RCS). The COR GRM algorithms are applied prior to the parameterization of the traveltime data into individual layers. The COR GRM presentations facilitate the efficient quality control and interpretation of large sets of multi-fold data. Furthermore, the COR GRM algorithms can be readily applied to single ended refraction data, which are routinely recorded with marine and land streamers. The time model attribute obtained with the COR GRM algorithm is of comparable accuracy to that computed with the standard multi-fold GRM. However, the COR GRM seismic velocity model is a smoothed version of the fully optimized standard GRM model. The refraction attributes computed from the head wave amplitudes include the multi-fold head coefficient, and a COR equivalent with the amplitude product. Although the COR amplitude product for each offset is of comparable accuracy to the multi-fold head coefficient, it also includes a residual geometric spreading component. Another refraction attribute computed from the head wave amplitudes is the geometric spreading coefficient, which is generally assumed to be two in the far field for plane homogeneous refractors. This parameter is consistent over a wide range of offsets, but varies considerably from less than one to up to four along the seismic traverse The attribute derived from the RCS is bandwidth in octaves. It is proposed that refraction attributes can be employed to derive more useful models of the regolith using multivariate geostatistics. It is concluded that, refraction attributes offer the opportunity of extending the refraction method to new applications.


This dissertation focuses on two aspects of high energy physics—quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and the effective field theory. On the QCD side, the double parton scattering has become an important background in new physics searches. Correlations in double parton distribution function including flavor, spin, momentum fractions, and transverse separation were studied under the framework of proton bag model. Pile-up contamination also affects new physics searches. One way to suppress this effect is to use observables that depend only on charged particles. A non-perturbative object, the track function, was defined to deal with calculations that only involved charged particles. The track function formalism was applied to calculate the thrust with charged particles only. Then, the focus shifts to the effective field theory. Soft-collinear effective theory was used to resum the large logarithms in the thrust calculation. The one-loop anomalous dimension matrix for the dimension-six baryon number violating operators is computed. Lastly, the Standard Model effective theory was used to study the semileptonic hyperon decays.


This paper proposes a new testing method used for medical endoscope lighting optical cable. It compares the experiment result from gray scale measurement and the one from the traditional luminous flux measurement. It proposes the idea that we can apply the gray scale measurement to other feature testing of the endoscope as well.


Background:  Previous papers have reported that clusterin (CLU, also called apolipoprotein J) maintains amyloid β‐peptide (Aβ) solubility and protects against Aβ neurotoxicity. Recently, two large genome‐wide association studies (GWAS) identified that a specific single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) on the gene has been reported to modify the risk for Alzheimer's disease (AD). The present study aimed to investigate whether common single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) of the CLU gene are associated with AD.


Recent studies of historical archives, including the inquisition records of Jacques Fournier (Bishop of Pamiers, France, 1318-1325) have focused on the story-telling abilities of local peasants and heretics called before the court to defend their beliefs. This paper takes another look at these documents and finds that the relentless disputatio, or questioning, of the accusation constitutes the overarching structure of these records. Four confessions in particular - those of a woman accused of asserting that 'there is no world but this one'; a woman who refuses to swear any oath because Jesus so refused; a woman suspected of witchcraft, who also scoffs at the Eucharist; and a 'reJudaized' Jew, who was forcibly baptized during mob riots in Toulouse - are analyzed to reveal just how the 'truth' about each heresy is established. In each case, the accused's knowledge of books is the fundamental shaping force behind the confession.


BACKGROUND
In precision integrated pest management, management tactics are implemented only where and when needed, by identifying the sites where the pest population has reached economic thresholds. Tomato, Solanum lycopersicum (Linn.), is a vegetable cultivated worldwide, but its production is reduced by insect pests such as the whitefly, Bemisia tabaci (Genn.). To improve management, there is a need to understand B. tabaci spatial dynamics in tomato fields, which will elucidate colonization patterns and may improve management of this pest. Thus, this study was conducted to assess the spatial autocorrelation, distribution, and colonization patterns of B. tabaci in 19 commercial tomato fields through the growing season.

RESULTS
A total of 69 isotropic variograms were fit for B. tabaci. The insect distribution was aggregated with a strong level of spatial dependence. Ranges of spatial dependence varied from 0.53 to 19.05 m and 0.5 to 20 m for adults and nymphs, respectively. Overall, densities of adults and nymphs were higher and reached the economic threshold mainly at the field edges.

CONCLUSION
Our results suggest a colonization pattern for B. tabaci starting at the edges and spreading inwards the tomato fields. This study can improve B. tabaci management in tomato fields, especially scouting and decision-making to treat fields. Scouting for this pest should be directed to the field edges, with sample points at least 20 m apart from each other for independent insect counts. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


While in NHS employment I had 6 per cent of my salary deducted for the superannuation scheme, and was under the impression that the NHS added another 4 per cent to the amount. Repeated forecasts from the Pensions Agency show a gross figure on which it has based my future pension. However, the figure it quotes, without any satisfactory explanation, only accounts for the money that was deducted directly from my salary - that is, the 6 per cent.


Iridium(IV) gives a deep red complex with 3-nitroso-4-hydroxy-5,6-benzo-coumarin when heated on a boiling water-bath for about 10 minutes. The complex is soluble in 50% aqueous acetone medium and exhibits maximum absorption at 520nm. Beer's law is obeyed up to 10.5 ppm of iridium at 520 nm. Molar absorptivity is 1.28×104 litre mole-1 cm-t and the sensitivity of the colour reaction is 0.015 μg Ir(IV)/cm2. The composition of the complex is 1:3 as determined by Job's and logarithmic methods. Common anions and cations do not interfere in the determination.


The densities and speeds of sound of mixtures of 1,2 dichloroethane, 1,1,2 trichloroethane, 1,1,2,2 tetrachloroethane, trichloroethene and tetrachloroethene with N-methylacetamide, over the entire range of composition, have been measured at a temperature of 308.15 K. The deviations in speed Δu, isentropic compressibility AKs, intermolecular free-length ΔL F and relative association R A have been computed using speed and density values. The Au values are negative whereas ΔK S and ΔL F values are positive for all the systems, which indicate the non-specific interactions between unlike molecules. The results are discussed in the light of intermolecular interactions occurring in the solutions. The computed results of AKs, have been fitted to a Redlich-Kister type polynomial equation.


Given the importance of encouraging the production and dissemination of researches in the specialty of Family and Community Medicine, an event, which aimed at creating opportunities to show research papers carried out by medical residents of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, in 2008, was reported. At the end, the authors and the abstracts of their papers are listed.


In order to increase the ion diode voltage and to improve the focusing properties of the ion beam, KALIF will be extended with a high energy linear induction accelerator (HELIA) voltage adder. For a stationary case, the conservation of the Lagrange invariant L=B/sub /spl phi///rn/sub e/ and the cathode side potential V, along the electron trajectories makes it possible to connect the parameters of the electron layer in the neighboring sections. This results in a possibility of the matching of the successive adder sections by making use of the minimum property of the internal energy for the magnetic insulation equilibrium. The theory developed can be extended to a large number of the electron layers N, thus giving the simplified resulting equations for the description of the electron multi-layer structure.


Meat and vegetable has been a daily source of food for human beings consisting of essential vitamins, minerals, macro and micronutrients embedded in them. But at the same time it has been found that they are linked to many disease conditions including cardiovascular diseases, cancer and other chronic disorders. The proximate analysis (%) of these two nutrient sources was carried out and it revealed that both meat and vegetable based meals contain moisture (meat 73.7,vegetable 99.64 ),protein (meat 32.4,vegetable 32.9 ), Carbohydrate (meat 34.1, vegetable 50.4),Total fat (meat 18.3,vegetable 4.62),Saturated fat (meat 5.22,vegetable 1.02 ), Fiber (meat 4.12,vegetable 11.6), Cholesterol (meat 130, vegetable 0),Ash (meat 0.41,vegetable 0.62). From these results it was found that green leafy vegetables are rich sources of protein, fiber and many antioxidants with negligible cholesterol which associates it with a lower risk of cancer, diabetes and heart diseases, while on the other side, meat has the opposite effects of vegetables with many diseases associated with people who consume it frequently. Taken together, it can be concluded that vegetable based meals should be encouraged while excessive meat based meal consumption should be avoided.


Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the possible impact of follicular flushing on the number of oocytes retrieved and oocytes in metaphase II in patients with poor ovarian response (POR) compared to direct aspiration. Methods: This prospective, comparative, randomized single center study included 208 punctures of patients with POR, submitted to assisted reproduction technology (ART) treatments. Two groups were compared; one in which double lumen needles were used (Wallace DNS1733) for follicular flushing (n=105), and one in which single lumen needles were used (Wallace ONS1733) for direct aspiration (n=103), upon the observation of ≤ 5 follicles between 15-17 mm, ≤ 4 follicles with sizes greater than 18 mm on hCG day, and ≤ 7 recovered oocytes. Results: There were no differences in age (39.07±3.88 vs. 38.11±3.43); weight (61.73±17.53 vs. 65.96±15.44); AMH (0.63±0.59 vs. 0.94±0.97); stimulation days (9.57±1.87 vs. 10.29±2.82); estradiol levels (788.94±670.82 vs. 940.16±694.69); progesterone (617.29±319.76 vs. 561.18±486.78); or number of follicles with sizes ≥18 mm (1.84±0.95 vs. 2.07±1.09). Although gonadotropin totals (1678.28±798.52 vs. 2080.45±852.36; p=0.0008), number of aspirated oocytes (3.00±2.11 vs. 3.69±2.20; p=0.02), and number of metaphase II oocytes (2.20±1.64 vs. 2.99±1.88; p=0.02) were significantly different, oocyte / follicle ratio ≥15 mm (0.93 vs. 0.98) and metaphase II oocytes / follicles ≥15 mm (0.68 vs. 0.79) were similar in both groups. The failure to capture was 16% vs. 9.8%. Conclusions: Considering that there was no difference in the oocyte per follicle ratio, follicular flushing did not increase the number of oocytes recovered from poor responders.


Overview This book outlines a unified theory of prudence and morality that merges a wide variety of findings in behavioral neuroscience with philosophically sophisticated normative theorizing. Chapter 1 lays out the emerging behavioral neuroscience of prudence and morality. Chapter 2 then outlines a new theory of prudence as fairness to oneself across time. Chapter 3 then derives a revised version of my 2016 moral theory—Rightness as Fairness— from this theory of prudence, showing how the theory of prudence defends Rightness as Fairness against various critiques and unifies prudence, morality, and justice. Chapter 4 then argues that this theory explains a variety of normative philosophical and empirical neuroscientific phenomena better than alternatives. Finally, Chapter 5 responds to potential objections and explores future research avenues.


Despite significant growth to the STS National Database, perfusionists can continue to abstract clinical data accurately and efficiently without sacrificing optimal performance in their clinical duties. Understanding the significance of the various roles involved with generating accurate outcome reports empowers perfusionists to choose the best way to contribute their unique skills to data quality initiatives within their programs. The online training module on STS.org is a vital tool for data abstractors to learn or review the intricacies of STS National Database participation from start to finish. By using the resources provided by the STS, perfusionists will continue to have a profound impact on the integrity of outcome reports well into the future.


This paper continues our study of non-linear multiparameter eigenvalue problems. In recent work [3], [4], [5] we have discussed bifurcation from eigenvalues in both abstract and concrete multiparameter problems. In this note we present further simple conditions which will ensure bifurcation from eigenvalues of a multiparameter Sturm-Liouville problem. We consider the regular case and the asymptotic case of bifurcation from infinity.


This paper discusses the security for a simple and efficient three"party password"based authenticated key exchange protocol proposed by Huang most recently. Our analysis shows her protocol is still vulnerable to three kinds of attacks: 1). undetectable on"line dictionary attacks, 2). ke y"compromise impersonation attack. Thereafter we pr opose an enhanced protocol that can defeat the attacks described and yet is reasonably efficient.


...................................................................................................... i APPROVEMENT ............................................................................................. ii LEGALIZATION ............................................................................................. iii DECLARATION ............................................................................................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ................................................................................ v TABLE OF CONTENTS .................................................................................. viii CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................... 1 A. Background of the Study ................................................. 1 B. Focus of the Study ........................................................... 5 C. Research of the Study...................................................... 5 D. Significance of the Research ........................................... 5 E. Research Methodology.................................................... 5 1. The Objective Research ........................................... 5 2. The method of Research ........................................... 6 3. Technique of Data Analysis ..................................... 6 4. The Unit Analysis .................................................... 6 5. Place and Time .......................................................... 6 CHAPTER II: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK .................................... 7 A. Character and Characterization ...................................... 8 1. Characterization through appearances .............................. 9 2. Characterization through dialogues ................................. 10 3. Characterization through external action ......................... 10


Selection of tourist hotel location is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem and has a strategic importance for the hotel management. In tourism sector, location selection decisions are critical as they are costly and difficult to reverse, and entail a long term commitment. For this reason, in this study AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) method is proposed to help the hotel management to select the most proper location for their new tourist hotel investment. In the application part, selection of tourist hotel location in Denizli, Turkey is conducted to demonstrate the computational process and effectiveness of AHP method.


Countries are developing ambitious strategies to produce a globally competitive workforce. International expectations, standards, local, and national needs contribute towards the desire to improve on the quality of education provided to the nation. With the realisation that diamonds are not forever, Botswana is striving 'towards a knowledge society'. Quality tertiary education has been identified as a catalyst that can propel Botswana towards an educated and informed nation as per one of the vision 2016 pillars. In this light, programme accreditation as one of the quality assurance tools used in the tertiary education sector needs to be up to date. The accreditation status can be regarded as a mark of quality. The aim of this study was to contribute towards improvement of the programme accreditation system by developing characteristics of an effective programme accreditation system for tertiary education institutions in Botswana. Educational design research was found suitable for this study because it is a methodology that is aimed to improve educational practices. The research subjects were people in the tertiary education sector who participated in the programme accreditation process of tertiary education institutions in Botswana. Data was collected through interviews, questionnaires, and document analysis. Formative evaluation was done throughout to approach product quality. The findings indicated that Botswana's programme accreditation system is in line with international procedure of self-evaluation, a site visit resulting in a programme accreditation report, followed by a programme accreditation decision. Accreditation agencies studied subscribe to such a model. The model allows institutions to do a critical analysis of their programme environment and find ways of providing 'an exemplary programme' by designing improvement strategies, thereby allowing them to be innovative. The quality of the self-evaluation report is partly determined by the intensity of the research into the programme provision, which should contain the programme content, resources and delivery. The institution is expected to give an authentic view of the situation as it exists, stating both strengths and weaknesses and the opportunities for improvement being guided by programme accreditation standards, requirements, and criteria. Assessment for conferment of the accreditation status is carried out by a team from academia and industry, the programme review team. Every accreditation report is expected to contain recommendations for programme improvement. © University of Pretoria An effective programme accreditation system should be relevant to the environment in which it is carried out, transparent so that all stakeholders are clear about the requirements, inclusive and adaptable to accommodate different situations and responsive to contemporary issues. A prototype of a relevant, practical, and valid programme accreditation system that is appropriate for use in the tertiary education institutions in Botswana as well as characteristics of an effective programme accreditation system were realised. The long-term goal of the output of this research is that the designed characteristics should be applicable not only to tertiary education level but also to the whole education system, and should be internationally applicable so that other programme accreditation systems, both emerging and maturing, could benefit.


BACKGROUND
Microalbuminuria is often the first sign of renal dysfunction in diabetes. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of microalbuminuria in Albanian type 2 diabetes patients and its association with other cardiovascular risk factors.

METHODS
Three hundred and twenty-one patients with type 2 diabetes attending, diabetes centers in Albania were enrolled in this cross-sectional, multicenter study. The subjects, aged 40-70 years, had no known proteinuria or other kidney disease. Pregnant women and patients with acute infections were excluded. Data including waist circumference, duration of diabetes and history of hypertension were obtained by questionnaire. Blood samples were drawn after 12 h overnight fasting to measure glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), serum cholesterol, triglyceride and creatinine. Microalbuminuria was assessed using dipstick kits in early morning urine samples.

RESULTS
The prevalence of normoalbuminuria was 56.3%, microalbuminuria 40.8% and macroalbuminuria 2.8%. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure (p<0.01), HbA1c (p<0.01) and fasting plasma glucose (p<0.001) were significantly higher in microalbuminuric than in normoalbuminuric subjects. Independent risk factors for microalbuminuria were duration of diabetes (OR: 2.785, 95% CI: 1.156-3.759), systolic blood pressure (OR: 2.88, 95% CI: 1.85-6.85) and waist circumference (OR: 2.15, 95% CI: 1.01-5.45) in males and poor glycemic control (OR: 4.51, 95% CI: 1.45-13.98), duration of diabetes (OR: 2.568, 95% CI: 1.702-3.778) and waist circumference (OR: 4.87, 95% CI: 1.80-13.11) in females.

CONCLUSIONS
The high proportion of type 2 diabetes patients with microalbuminuria raises implications for health policy in Albania. Screening programs and optimized control of modifiable risk factors are needed to reduce the risk of diabetic nephropathy.


It is a new international trend for banking legislations to protect bank supervisors more strongly,namely,to immunize conditionally and partially them from legal liabilities,including liabilities for damages to the supervised parties and the stakeholders.To develop these regimes,though the aims should been set to reduce the burden of liabilities of bank supervisors,it is necessary to retain liability risk with them to certain extent to stimulate their motives for prudential behaviors and satisfy the interests of the victims.The authors believe that bank supervisors should be accountable to not only supervisory actions done in bad faith,but also ones done in good faith and with gross negligence.Otherwise,the principle of rationality should been observed in judging whether the bank supervisor is liable.


Environmental taxation is one of the means to solve the environmental crisis by the market mechanism.Environmental taxation should reflect equity.Environmental taxation can do good to increase fiscal revenue, encourage consumers and producers to change their live style and produce a style for the purpose of protecting environment.During the course of constructing Chinese environmental taxation system,it's important to choose the suitable legal form and scheme,improve the related tax measures and harmonize the relation between the taxation and the charge.


Perfusion of the skeletal muscle microvasculature in response to nutrition is central for muscle maintenance (protein anabolism) and whole‐body glucose homeostasis (glucose disposal), both of which can be compromised in older age. We explored links between muscle microvascular blood volume [flow] (MBV) and protein synthesis (MPS) under postabsorptive and postprandial (IV Glamin and 20% dextrose; blood glucose ~7.5 mmol·l−1) conditions in 10 young (~23 y) and 10 older (~71 y) men. In a second group of 10 older men (~73 y) we studied these responses after 20 wk resistance‐exercise training (RET). We measured leg [femoral artery] blood flow (LBF) by Doppler ultrasound, muscle MBV by contrast‐enhanced ultrasound (CEUS), MPS using [1, 2‐13C2] leucine tracer and plasma insulin by ELISA. Increases in LBF (0.51±0.02 vs. 0.57±0.04 l·min−1, P<0.05), MBV (+25±10%, P<0.05) and MPS (0.04±0.004 vs. 0.08±0.001%·h−1, P<0.05) were evident in untrained young but not older men after nutrition. In contrast, older men exhibited rejuvenated LBF (0.38±0.03 vs. 0.42±0.04 l·min−1, P<0.05), MBV (+44±11%, P<0.05) and MPS (0.04±0.004 vs. 0.07±0.006 %·h−1, P<0.05) responses to nutrition after RET, despite plasma insulin and glucose clearance responses remaining blunted (vs. young). We conclude that RET revitalizes age‐related declines in LBF, MBV and MPS responses to nutrition, independent of modified insulin or glucose kinetics.


PURPOSE: To form a hollow space of a hollow body and to fit each required characteristics in relation to balance, vibrational behavior, wt. distribution and stability tendency without changing remarkably a mold by injecting a matrix contg. a reinforcing fiber material and an inert gas under pressure, in particular nitrogen into the mold. CONSTITUTION: A mold for manufacturing walls with various thicknesses is partly heated or cooled and in this instance, to obtain a wall with a relatively large thickness, the region of this mold corresponding to this is kept at lower temp. that of the region for obtaining a wall with a small thickness. In this instance, a matrix system contg. a reinforcing fiber material and an inert gas under pressure, in particular nitrogen are injected into the mold. A proper hollow space is formed thereby in a hollow body of each of a head and a shaft of ball game racket frames.


It had been already found that the ascorbic acid could be reduced by iodine saluted with alcohol to release free iodine ion,which could be responded by iodide-selective electrode. A mixed solution of 0.1mol/L KNO 3 with pH 2.0~6.0 was used as the electrolyte, The change of Vc concentration logarithm with potential was linear in the range of 5.0×10 -6 ~1.0×10 -1 mol/L, and detection limits was 5×10 -6 mol/L. Inthe range,the calibrated equation was Y=57.4x-24.4,the linear correlation coefficient r=0.9998. This method had been used for the determination of trace ascorbic acid in medicaments, fruitand drinks etc.and recovery ranged in 92 %~103 %. And the RST was less then 2.9 %.


Microcystis aeruginosa causes harmful algal blooms in the Nakdong River of Korea. We studied the effect of different concentrations and ratios of ammonium (NH4), nitrate (NO3), and phosphate (PO4) on growth of this species in BG-11 medium: each nutrient alone, NO3 : NH4 ratio, the N : P ratio with fixed total N (TN), and the N : P ratio with fixed total P (TP). The single nutrient experiments indicated that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rate at NH4 and NO3 concentrations of 500 μM, and at a PO4 concentration of 5 μM. The NO3 : NH4 ratio experiments showed that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rate at a ratio of 1 : 1 when TN was 100 μM and 250 μM, and the lowest growth rate at a ratio of 1 : 1 when the TN was 500 μM. The N : P ratio with fixed TN experiments indicated that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rates at 50 : 1, 20 : 1, and 100 : 1 ratios when the TN was 100, 250, and 500 μM, respectively. In contrast, the N : P ratio with fixed TP experiments showed that M. aeruginosa had the highest growth rates at 200 : 1 ratio at all tested TP concentrations. In conclusion, our results imply that the NO3 : NH4 ratio and the PO4 concentration affect the early stage of growth of M. aeruginosa. In particular, our results suggest that the maximum growth of M. aeruginosa is not simply affected by the NO3 : NH4 ratio and the N : P ratio, but is determined by the TN concentration if a certain minimum PO4 concentration is present.


The principles for improving stability of motion of multi-wheeled vehicles (MWV) are first developed. Along with the improved performance, such as mobility, cross-country capability, and maneuverability, new technical capabilities of vehicles issue new problems and challenges for designers. Thus, the increase in average cruising speed (not only on roads with rigid pavement, but also on rough ground) imposes high requirements not only to suspension systems, but also to the stability of course and trajectory motion, rollover stability, and handling. In this paper, the stability and handling of MWVs are studied and the principles for controlling the motion of vehicles that provide the enhanced course and trajectory stability are established. The techniques for stabilizing MWVs are verified and the developed control laws are checked for stability. The mathematical simulation methods used prove the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed control laws of active safety systems. The results of research will be useful for designing and manufacturing various classes of MWVs in the automotive industry. They can also be used by designers developing control systems for wheeled vehicles.


A VLSI implementation of an analogue weighted median filter based on Cellular Neural Network (CNN) paradigm for standard video signal processing is described in this paper. This filter consists of feedforward nonlinear template B operating within the window of 3 by 3 pixels around the central pixel being filtered. The feedforward nonlinear coefficients are realized using a programmable nonlinear coupler circuits. Basic weighted median filter blocks and chip layout are presented. Technology applied for this implementation is CMOS AMS 0.8/spl mu/m CYE.


This study evaluates the pathogenicity in striped beakperch, Oplegnathus fasciatus infected with red sea bream iridovirus (RSIV) at different water temperature (17°C, 20°C, 25°C and 27°C). When the fish group was infected with RSIV at 17°C and 20°C, cumulative mortality did not show any significant difference with control group. In contrast, the case at 25°C and 27°C, cumulative mortality reached more than 80%. However, RSIV was detected from all of the fish in each temperature. To confirm a relationship between temperature change and heat shock protein (HSP), partial HSP70 cDNA was isolated from striped beakperch.


What comprises a safe restraint policy? The authors explain the key issues in depth, and advise on how to tailor the response to individual service users.


In the title compound, C18H17BrO4, the dihedral angle between the benzene rings is 9.60 (16)°. The crystal structure is stabilized by intermolecular C—H⋯O interactions and Br⋯O short contacts.


Background & Objective: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic relapsing inflammatory multisystem disease with synovial proliferation and destruction of articular cartilage. It is the most common inflammatory arthritis, affecting approximately 0.5-1% of the general population worldwide. RA has served as a useful model for the study of many inflammatory and immune-mediated diseases. The exact explanation for RA isn't yet known. Recently, several studies have shown the possible role of reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the pathogenesis of RA. The destructive reactions by ROS can be improved by antioxidants. Antioxidants have beneficial effect for inhibition of inflammation related to neutrophil functions, Vitamin E as a potent antioxidant has an ability to modulate host immune functions, so it may be have positive effect on patients who suffer from RA. Conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) are naturally occurring isomers of linoleic acid found in meat and milk of grazing animals. Their anti-inflammatory effects that have been shown can protect bones from damage. The biological activities of CLAs, much attention has been due to their anticancer, antiatherogenic and antidiabetic effects, as well as their effect on increasing the bone mass. The role of CLAs in oxidative stress as an antioxidant has been investigated to elucidate its beneficial physiological effects. In previous articles we reported the effects of CLAs on RA by a randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. Pain and morning stiffness were significantly lower in the group taking CLA or CLA plus Vitamin E, compared to placebo the group after 12 weeks of supplementation. We have concluded that CLAs may improve clinical outcomes; lower lipid peroxidation without negative effects on lipid profile and fasting blood sugar in patients with RA. Materials & Methods: The present study may be a randomized double-blind clinical test. Subjects included 46 patients with active atrophic arthritis who were divided into two groups. Group I established normal behaviour plus 2 daily 1.25 gram capsules (containing about 2 grams of 9-cis 11-tans isomer and 10-cis 12-tans isomer in ratio of 50-50 CLAs in glycerinated form), Group II received standard treatment plus 2 placebo 1.25 gram capsules containing sunflower-seed oil with high monounsaturated fatty acid . PGE2 was done by competitive enzymatic immunoassay method, IGF-1 was analyzed by IRMA method supported the sandwich method and ALK-P of bone. Before and after intervention the questionnaires about general information and medical record were filled. Nutrition calculation with 24-hour greatest questionnaire about three day's diet was done. The results were analyzed using SPSS version 18 software. Biochemical analysis Blood sample collection: A sample of 15 ml blood was obtained from each patient before the trial and at the top of it. The patients were fast for 12–14 h. Ethylene diamine tetra ethanoic acid as anticoagulant was used for plasma isolation. Plasma α-tocopherol was measured by high-performance liquid chromatography (Cuesta–Sanz method) with a C15 column and ultraviolet–visible detector. Measurement of plasma inflammatory and immunity reactants: Plasma cytokines were done by ELISA method and by human high sensitivity ELISA kits from eBioscience Company [USA] (sensitivities for interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-4, IL1, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were 0.4, 0.1, 0.05, 0.13 pg/ml, respectively). Matrix metalloproteinase 3 (MMP-3) was measured by human ELISA Platinum kits from Ebioscience Company; sensitivity was 0.008 ng/ml. Citrullinated antibody (CPP-A) was measured by ELISA method for IgG Antibody


This article reports on a study of the impact of a Deming quality management approach on perceptions of interdepartmental cooperation. The study was based on intergroup relations theory and provides new insight into some of the "people" issues related to quality management. A two-part survey was given to a sample of respondents from two interacting departments in each of two companies. In the first part of the survey, respondents were asked their perceptions of the extent to which features of Deming quality management had been implemented. In the second part of the survey, respondents indicated their perceptions of the degree of interdepartmental cooperation. Results indicate that respondents perceived positive improvements in interdepartmental cooperation after implementation of the Deming approach.


Background: The family has an important role in shaping the children's behaviors. Today, along with social change, the family, as a major social institution, is also undergoing some significant changes. Social behaviors are learned in the family, and the behaviors of family members are considered as examples by children. Objectives: This study aimed to determine the relationship between children's social skills and developmental function of the family in Iran. Methods: A descriptive-analytical correlation study was conducted in Iran in 2018. The subjects included 309 primary school students in four districts of the city (north, south, east, and west). The data collection tools were a demographic questionnaire, the Developmental Family Functioning Assessment Scale (DFFAQ), and the Matson Evaluation of Social Skills with Youngsters (MESSY), which were completed by the researcher and children's mothers. SPSS 16 was used for statistical analysis. The chi-square test and Pearson's correlation coefficient were applied for data analysis. The P values of less than 0.05 were considered significant. Results: The results showed that the developmental function of the family was at an intermediate level in 72.2% and a good level in 27.8% of the research units. The social skills of the children were at an intermediate level in 39.5% and a good level in 60.5% of the subjects. There was a significant positive correlation between children's social skills and developmental family function (r = 0.2, P = 0.03). The result of multiple regression analysis showed that care and regulation were better predictors of social skills in children (β = 0.25, P = 0.001), and 30% of the variance in social skills could be predicted by the function of the family. Conclusions: It is suggested that parents, nurses, psychologists, and other health providers design appropriate interventions to promote the developmental functions of the family to improve the social skills of children.


This paper reviewed general botanical description of black pepper (Piper nigrum L.) cultivar by previous botanist, based on uniqueness of Malaysian black pepper cultivars characteristics. Ten important cultivars have been verified i.e. cv. 'Semongok Aman', cv. 'Kuching', cv. 'Semongok Emas', cv. 'Semongok Perak', cv. 'Semongok 1', cv. 'Nyerigai', cv. 'India', cv. 'Lampung Daun Lebar', cv. 'Sarikei', and cv. 'Yong Petai'. The qualitative and quantitative traits distinctness for each cultivar has been highlighted to assist cultivar identification. Vouchers (dried specimens) for the ten cultivars have also been prepared and deposited at herbarium that located at University Malaysia Sarawak and the duplicates at Malaysian Pepper Board, Kuching. Besides, distribution of each cultivar has also been documented based on information sourced from Malaysian Pepper Board.


The excretion of HCH (hexachlorocyclohexane) residues in the milk of Indian buffalo, the main milch cattle of India, after oral or dermal exposure to technical HCH was studied. Following the intake of 10, 25,50 and 100 mg of technical HCH by different groups of buffaloes, HCH residues in milk showed an initial rapid rise but soon attained a dose-dependent equilibrium. The transfer coefficient of HCH residues in milk fat at 'plateau' showed an average value of about 15%. Half-life values for the rate of decline of HCH residues during the post-dosing period were computed according to a two open-compartment model. Dermal application of technical HCH to buffaloes also resulted in significant residues in milk. The proportions of alpha-, beta-, gamma- and delta-isomers of HCH in milk of buffaloes following oral and dermal routes of exposures were different. The significance of these results in the regulation of HCH residues in milk is discussed.


FPGA use in space-based applications is becoming more common. Radiation-hardened (rad-hard) memories are typically used to store configuration data for programming the FPGA and performing bitstream scrubbing to remove errors in the system that occur from single event upsets (SEUs). Since device densities for the latest FPGAs are growing at a faster rate than rad-hard memories, it is becoming more difficult to reliably store the FPGA configuration data without using a large number of memories. We present a method for cutting the use of rad-hard memories necessary to support the use of the latest FPGA technologies in space-based applications. This paper describes a solution to this memory problem which utilizes FPGA partial reconfiguration, with device self-scrubbing, and bitstream compression to create a minimally sized bootstrap design that has a memory footprint that is a fraction of the size of the original design. This bootstrap design is stored locally, and the remaining design elements can be reconfigured as necessary from a remote location. The resulting prototype design yields a compressed bitstream that at less than 2% the size of the bitstream for largest FPGA currently on the market.


Electric vocational education must help students get correct value,strengthen their confidence,set up curriculum according market,prompt their capacity,strengthen teacher staff and broaden running school method.


The regiochemistry and stoichiometry of the hydroboration of simple 1-silylacetylenes with 9-borabicyclo(3.3.1)nonane (9-BBN) was examined in detail. (Trimethylsilyl)acetylene (1c) results in only {beta}-mono- and dihydroboration products, behavior common to nonsilylated terminal acetylenes. It is less reactive than its alkyl counterparts toward 9-BBN. it was also demonstrated that (1-trimethylsilyl)alkynes form ({alpha}-borylvinyl)silanes, similar to 1-alkynes, but they are much less reactive. Clean monohydroboration of these silylacetylenes is achieved only with a bulk (e.g. t-Bu) group at the C-2 position. However, compared to 1-alkynes, their dihydrobration products differ markedly, with the former giving 1,2-diboryl compounds, while the latter results in 1,1-diboryl adducts. (Triethyl- and tert-butyldimethylsilyl)propynes exhibit similar reactivity to that of the analogous trimethylsilyl derivative. The triisopropylsilyl group was found to not only completely suppress dihydroboration but also gave exclusively (Z)-({beta}-borylvinyl)silane adducts (9{beta}). Oxidation of 9{beta} produces the corresponding {beta}-keto silanes (12) in excellent yields (i.e. 83-90%). The bulky (triethyl- and tert-butyldimethylsilyl)propyne hydroboration products were found to be thermally unstable with the initially formed ({alpha}-borylvinyl)silanes isomerizing to {alpha}/{beta} mixtures through their 1,2-diboryl diadducts (10). Heating 10 produces (3,3-diborylpropyl)silanes (14). Oxidation of the triethylsilyl compound 14b affords the corresponding {gamma}-silylpropanol (15b). The complete characterization of the intermediate organoboranes by 75-MHz {sup 13}C NMR wasmore » achieved. A detailed discussion of the phenomena involved is presented. The observed results are attributed primarily to the additional steric effects imposed on an unsaturated system by a trialkylsilyl group when compared to a hydrogen atom at that position.« less


Acknowlegement I am grateful to my supervisor, Dr. Ken Sevcik. Without his support and guidance, this thesis could not have been nished. I would like to thank Dr. Songnian Zhou for being my second reader. His valuable suggestions have helped to improve this thesis to a great extend. I would also like to thank Tim Brecht for helping me implement the scheduler. His experience with Hector and scheduling research has assisted me in completing this thesis. My appreciation to everyone who makes the Hector/Hurricane project possible. Many thanks to Ronnie and Wai Kau for proofreading this thesis, and Kathy for keeping me on my toes. Cong Cong, thank you for your love and understanding, for being my lucky star. Special thanks to the Mahjoub family, for their continuous encouragement. You always make me feel at home. I dedicate this thesis to my loving parents, my caring sister and brother. Thank you all for believing in me. Abstract In a multiprogrammed multiprocessor, the scheduler is not only responsible for deciding when to activate an application and when to suspend it, but is also responsible for determining how many processors to allocate to each application. In a scalable NUMA multiprocessor, it must further resolve the problem of which processors to allocate to which application since the memory reference times are not the same for all processor-memory pairs. In this thesis, we study the problem of how to characterize parallel applications and how to apply this knowledge in scheduling for NUMA systems. We also study the performance of several scheduling algorithms in a NUMA environment. These algorithms diier in their frequency of reallocations. We propose two policies, the Static policy and the Immediate Start Static policy, that utilize application characteristics when making scheduling decisions. The performance of these two policies is compared with that of the Dynamic policy, on a NUMA multiprocessor, Hector.


Abstract Pure tin rod of 8.5 mm diameter has been cast using the horizontal Ohno continuous casting (OCC) system. Thermal profile measurements have been made during casting in order to obtain an understanding of the phenomena which occur within the OCC mould. The influence of interactive casting variables on the temperature gradient in the liquid ahead of the solid-liquid interface, the superheat within the mould, and the solid-liquid interface position have been investigated. It was found that the superheat of the melt within the mould increased linearly with decreasing casting speed and decreasing mould-eooler distance. It was also found that the temperature gradient is sensitive to the mould exit temperature whereas it remains independent of the casting speed within the range investigated. Heat transfer coefficients have been evaluated and conditions established for the production of single crystals. Resume Une tige d'etain pure de 8.5 mm de diametre a ete coulee au moyen du systeme de Coulee Continue ...


Understanding Actual meaning of a natural written language document is easy for a human but to enable a machine to do the same task require an accurate document representation as a machine do not have the same common sense as human have. For the task of document classification, it is required that text must be converted to numerical vector and recently, word embedding approaches are giving acceptable results in terms of word representation at global context level. In this study author has experimented with news dataset of multiple domain and compared the classification performance obtained from traditional bag of word model to word2vec model and found that word2vec is giving promising results in case of large vocabulary with low dimensionality which will help to classify the data dynamically as demonstrated in section experimental result.


One should ignore the generality of the title of the book under review. This is a local study, and no less interesting for that. Pretensions to the addressing of truths about all Chinese peasants lie in some statements about Chinese tradition and some generalizations about peasant mentality in China. They are presented on the basis of one in-depth study showing that previous generalizations do not hold, and putting forward others which might. These refer only to some of the anthropological studies of Hong Kong and Taiwan completed by the end of the seventies. There is only one passing comparison with the Chan and Unger, and none with the Helen Siu, or the Graham Johnston village studies in the same province, let alone with any from other parts of China, or with Majorie Wolfs work or any Chinese sample surveys. Possibly this is because the Potters' was the first local study to be started when sociology was tolerated and it became possible to stay for extended field-work after the post-Mao ' open door' policy was announced. But publication in 1990 should have allowed time to read the articles which have resulted from others. The Potters' book is based on a residential visit in 1979-80 and shorter re-visits in the following years up to 1985. From local interviews, the pre-1949 village is reconstructed, and thence its history until 1979. This makes up the first eight chapters, or half the book. As a history of the village it is thorough and a valuable addition to other local studies. As a commentary on continuity and change, however, it is rather shallow. Most of the statements about the continuities between what the authors call Chinese tradition, or Confucianism, and Communist leadership and life, lack the depth and finesse of well-documented historical research such as that which Helen Siu conducted for her local study, Agents and victims in South China. The second half of the book comprises nine chapters, each on a distinct topic and readable on its own as an article based on a detailed village study. They are particularly good as straightforward and concrete descriptions of the institutional organization of life in a Chinese brigade. Two chapters, one historical and one of the present, link this study with Jack Potter's previous engagements with the classical anthropological topic for south-eastern China: lineage organization. Here the interest is in the collective organization of teams as compared and likened to the corporate structure of local lineages, and the resurgence of a structure based on ancestral foci in the reformed organization of households, again thrown back upon their own resources and networks. There are equally informative and practical chapters on the local Party organization, on the family structure and marriage, and on birth planning. Then there are chapters on the class system as it appears in this locality and on the way the local economy has become a mixture of three modes, capitalist, command, and small commodity production, in the hinterland of Hong Kong. Other chapters seek to establish new or to refute previous generalizations about Chinese rural life or about peasantry in general. This has at least the merit of entering a Chinese case into general anthropological issues. For instance, the Potters conclude that their study contradicts James C. Scott's contention that peasant villages are characterized by a sense of moral economy. Chinese peasants have, according to the Potters, shown themselves to be governed by two motives: maximization of wealth to gain superiority, and this with particular assiduity since decollectivization in 1983, and red-eyed, envious egalitarianism, the other side of the same coin. I do not think Chinese peasants reading this would so easily discount the possibility of supporting the poor and each other for j more generous reasons. But even within the j context of the book itself, the conclusion is j curiously uninformed by a previous chapter in ] which Sulamith Potter seeks to demonstrate a j contrast in the economy of emotions of Chinese : peasants with Western industrial society. : Whereas we are expected to confirm our work ' and other statuses with an emotional investment and an identification, in Chinese rural life the emotions have, she argues, a free run, unconnected with work tasks and positions. Work is itself the expression and symbol of good social relations, not emotional conviction. This argument is an interesting, pioneering theory, even though it seems not to take account of the Chinese literary genre of suppressed emotion, or pain linked with shame and its expression in suicide, or the righteous expression of anger in defence of friends or other loyalties. It seems to say that the Chinese work ethic is not the same as the Protestant one, but it is surely an ethic. And where does that figure in the conclusion relating to negative egalitarianism? Too often the Potters' contentions are not fleshed out with the necessary qualifications. But as a local study of contemporary Chinese rural life, their book is a welcome addition to a growing corpus.


Purpose: Visit Beautiful West Sumatra (VBWS) is an activation program for post-pandemic tourist visits which has become the starting point for the revival of tourism in West Sumatra. One of the important points in this activation program is the identity design in the form of a logo. This study aimed to analyze the Visit Beautiful West Sumatra 2023 logo work through a visual semiotics approach.
Research methods: This study is qualitative using descriptive methods.
Findings: The results showed that the logo has layers of expression/senses (signifier) ??and layers of meaning/perception (signified) with the spirit of synergy, collaboration, and innovation.
Implications: The logo, as part of the identity, has been implemented for West Sumatra tourism stakeholders.


The authors present an application of the joint use of signal processing techniques and neural networks to identify transient natural underwater sounds. The work focused on sounds of very short duration (typically 5 to 50 ms). Each context-free click is described by a reduced set of 31 input parameters, by the use of the autoregressive modeling and the Daubechies wavelets transform. The performances obtained by the Adaline-like-network (ALN) and the multilayered perceptron (MLP), and those obtained by classical techniques of classification (factorial discriminant analysis, and a clustering algorithm) are compared. A dichotomic approach and a multiclass approach were used.<<ETX>>