"How you gonna keep 'em there at the firm, after staff want to go free" could be a new managing partner refrain according to the numbers in the yearly AICPA staffing survey. To cross-check those findings (see "Here for the Duration?" at left), I asked 439 CPAs what their intentions were with respect to their employers. Results showed that employees of large national firms were more dissatisfied with their jobs than those who worked for local firms. Indeed, small firms lose about a tenth of their workforce every year while large-firm turnover statistically can result in the equivalent of an entirely new staff every four years. So what can a firm do to stanch high attrition? In this article I describe some common reasons why employees leave and list sensible tips CPA firms of all sizes can use to keep their human resources from walking out the door. WHY EMPLOYEES BAIL Very few employees leave a job without a good reason--which can be external (personal) or work related (internal). Personal reasons include a spouse's new job in another city or a wish to have more time for family and friends, for example. Such reasons are beyond an employer's control, but a firm can do something about internal issues, which provide the main impetus for staff to move on. The CPAs surveyed most often gave these reasons for leaving: * An inadequate career path. They felt there wasn't enough advancement opportunity. * Lack of accomplishment. Respondents often said their jobs underused their talents and, because there wasn't enough variety, were unsatisfying. An employee who thinks he or she isn't being given a chance to grow on the job also is likely to conclude he or she isn't being realistically trained for future promotion. * Management style. Another complaint concerned how the firm supervised its staff. A management's relationship with employees significantly influences how long they stay on the job. A brusque, impersonal, quota-driven style can drive people away, sources say. * Lack of fulfillment. They also said they were frustrated in their wish to be of service to others. Accountant trainees and CPAs are idealistic people who want to make a meaningful contribution and will go where they can do so. FIRMS CAN TAKE ACTION It stands to reason a firm that offers a good career path, provides variety and finds ways to use the talents of its people will keep them longer--and get more and better work from them. Nevertheless, when a firm is too small to provide enough growth opportunities or work variety to please everybody--or it is located in a market where it can't--the better it treats its people the longer they will stay, sources say. One study of CPA turnover at six international firms found employers who developed strong relationships with staff kept them as much as 14 months longer than impersonal firms that focused only on output. Salary also was important but not as much as how staff members were treated on the job. Teamwork and respect for people counted highest with staff. The message: A corporate culture that emphasizes teamwork and civility over rigid quotas and systems will hang on to its employees (and its training investment) longer, minimize the upheaval of high turnover and benefit a firm's bottom line. Good employers do this not only because they believe it's a "nice" way to conduct business but because it serves their financial interests as well. THE A TO Z OF GOOD EMPLOYEE RELATIONSHIPS Of all the factors a firm can control to retain staff longer, the easiest thing to change is how it supervises employees. Here's a primer--from A to Z--on what partners and managers can do to improve the workplace culture. Acknowledgment. Greet each employee you see. Get to know all of them. As time permits--but at least twice a week--try to chat with them about family, sports or something besides work. Be as gracious to them as you would be to your best client. …


The SPHERE (Spectro-Polarimetric High-contrast Exoplanet Research) planet finder instrument for ESO's VLT telescope, scheduled for first light in 2011, aims to detect giant extra-solar planets in the vicinity of bright stars by the aid of an extreme-AO turbulence compensation system and coronagraphic diffraction suppression. Objects found will be characterized through spectroscopic and polarimetric observations. I consider here the effects of micro-obstructions of the beam due to dust and cosmetic defects on the SPHERE image quality.


To evaluate arterial baroreceptor reflex control of total systemic vascular resistance, we studied the relation between mean arterial blood pressure (P) and mean aortic flow (Q) before and after the reflex was abrogated. In 12 dogs with a perfusion pump interposed at the vena-caval-right atrial junction, Q was kept at 60, 80, 100, 120, and 140 ml/min kg-1 for up to 20 minutes. There was little time-dependent change in P at any of these flows. When the reflex was intact, the mean P-Q curve was only slightly convex to the pressure axis; its linearized slope was 0.55 mm Hg-min-kg/ml and its pressure axis intercept was 44 mm Hg. After section of the sinovagal nerves, administration of hexamethonium (30 mg/kg, iv) and norepinephrine (3-5 mug/kg min-1, iv), or both, the slope became 0.96 mm Hg-min-kg/ml and the pressure axis intercept was about 3 mm Hg. Similar findings were obtained in 3 closed-chest dogs in which P was servocontrolled and Q was measured. Therefore, we think that the conventional practice of c...


The Aim of study is to evaluate the predominant Siddha parameters observed in Paandu noi and compare with Modern parameters.
• DIET:- Paandu noi is prominently found occur in 33 cases in mixed diet – By author observed that diet maybe the major cause to the Paandu noi.
• NILAM:-
Panndu noi is prominently afected 24 cases in Mullai nilam. In living peoples are mostly affected in Piththa noi. By author observed this nilam is maybe the largest occurance of piththa type of paandu noi.
5 cases are affected in Neithal nilam. In neithal nilam mostly vatha types of paandu noi observed.
3 cases is affected in Kurinchi nilam. In Kurinchi nilam mostly kapha types of paandu noi observed.
• SIGN AND SYMPTOMS:- By author observed in 32 cases are sign and symptoms are correlated in the piththa paandu noi, 5 cases are sign and symptoms are correlated in the Vathapaandu noi, 3 cases are sign and symptoms are correlated in the Kaphapaandu noi.
• ENVAGAI THERVUGAL :- By author observed in
1. Naa – Niram in 32 cases are veluppu niram is correlate the Kaphapaandu, 04 cases are manjal niram is correlate the Piththa paandu, 04 cases are Karuppu niram is correlate the Vatha paandu.
Naa – Suvai in 32 cases Kaippu suvai is present. It is correlated with Piththa Paandu, 5 cases Pulippu suvai is present. It is correlated with Vaatha Paandu, 3 cases Uppu suvai is present. It is correlated with Kapha Paandu.
2. NIRAM:- By author observed in, 33 cases are present with veluppu niram. It is correlated with Kapha paandu, 4 cases are present with manjal niram. It is correlated with Piththa paandu, 3 cases are present with Karuppu niram. It is correlated with Vatha paandu.
3. MOZHI:- By author observed in, 24 cases are having in Uraththa oli. It is correlated with Piththa paandu noi, 09 cases are having in Sama oli. It is correlated with Vaatha paandu noi, 07 cases are having in Thaalntha oli. It is correlated with Kapha paandu noi.
4. VIZHI:- By author observed in, 33 cases are present in Veluppu niram. It is correlated with Kapha paandu noi, 06 cases are present in Manjal niram. It is correlated with Piththa paandu noi,
01 case is present in Sivappu niram. It is correlated with Vaatha paandu noi.
5. ISPARISAM:- By author observed in, 24 cases are having in Mithaveppam. It is correlate with Piththa paandu noi, 16 cases are having in Veppam. It is correlate with Vaatha paandu noi.
6. MALAM: - By author observed in, 40 cases are present in Manjal nira malam. It is correlate with Piththa paandu noi.
7. MOOTHTHIRAM:-
NEERKKURI - By author observed in, 39 cases are present in Manjal niram. It is correlated with the Piththa paandu noi, 01 case is present in Sivappu niram. It is correlated with the Piththa paandu noi.
NEIKKURI: - By author observed in, 17 cases are found in Mothiraththil Muththu, 11 cases are present in Mothiraththil Aravam and 04 cases are present in Mothiram. There are correlated with the Piththa paandu noi, 03 cases are present in Aravam and 01 cases are present in Aravil Mothiram. There are correlated with the Vaatha paandu noi, 02 cases are present in Muththu and 02 cases are present in Muththil Aravam. There are correlated with the Kapha paandu noi.
8. NAADI: - By author observed in, 23 cases are present in Azhal Vali and 12 cases are present in Vali azhal. There are correlated with the Piththa/ Vaath paandu noi, 4 cases are present in Azhal iyam. It is correlated with the Piththa /Kapha Paandu noi, 01 case is present in Iya vali. It is correlated with the Kapha/ Vaatha paandu noi.
UDAL THATHUKKAL - By author observed in, 40 cases are affected in Saaram and Senneer. There are the causes of Paandu noi.
MANIKKADAI NOOL: - By author observed in, 10 cases are present in 7¼ viratkadai- By author correlated these cases in Paandu noi.
PERIPHERAL SMEAR- By author observed in, 19 cases are correlated in Hypochromic microcytic anaemia. There are present in Piththa paandu noi -15, Vaatha paandu noi – 03, Kapha paandunio -01), 17 cases are correlated in Iron deficiency anaemia. There are correlate in the Piththa paandu noi- 14, Vaatha paandu noi- 02, Kapha paandu noi- 01, 04 cases are correlated in Iron and B12 deficiency anaemia. There are correlated in Piththa paandu noi – 03,Kapha paandu noi-01.
BLOOD GROUPING:- By author observed in, 18 cases are present in B positive. It is including Piththa paandu noi-16 and Vaatha paandu noi – 02. By author observed paandu noi is mostly affected in B positive blood group person. 39 cases are present in Rh possitive. By author observed paandu noi is mostly affected in Rh positive person.
• BY AUTHOR OBSERVED IN THIS OVERALL STUDY:
The following results are observed in Food habbit, Nilam, Sign and symptoms, Envagaitheervugal, Udal thathukkal, Manikkadainool, Peripheral smear, Blood grouping and other significant datas are help in taking the final conclusion in this clinical study. 32 Cases observed in Piththa Paandu Noi, 05 Cases are observed in Vaatha Paandu Noi, 03 Cases are observed in Kapha Paandu Noi.


They lay, several forlorn ethnic groups, over a vast land, while others migrated from unknown regions into the British-crafted Nigeria. But Helen, with a budding pregnancy and a son, suddenly found herself in a grim world when Ferdinand, her husband, was conscripted to fight a fierce civil war when things went awry between the amalgamated groups. Expectedly, Biafra came under heavy crush by the overwhelmingly larger and stronger federal might, bringing life to a nightmare for everybody in the secessionist region. But in one astounding feat, several federal soldiers perished when their troupe ran into a Biafran ambush. To finish the job, vengeful villagers went after the dizzily fleeing survivors and massacred them in cold blood. But when Helen found a wounded federal soldier hidden and imploring for help in the farm where she was eking out a living, then the pain of all that had been meted to Biafra, her unaccounted-for husband, the sub-human condition she had been subjected to which had cost her her pregnancy; she threw a quick glance at the machete in her hand. She didn't know which to obey … her head or heart?


Endoscopes are nowadays playing a very important role in the medical and industrial fields, and will further increase their importance and applications if they are provided with more flexibility or freedom of flexure at probing into, for instance, human internal organs. The purpose of this study was to realize more pliable endoscopes which can be actively operated by using a shape memory alloy (SMA). First, the characteristics of an SMA as an actuator are clarified in this paper. For this purpose, four variables of temperature, stress, strain, and electrical resistance are measured simultaneously on SMA coil spring samples. Subsequently, a new method is introduced to express the measured characteristics, and temperature-stress diagrams are drawn so that conditions of optimal use and heat-processing can be determined for using SMA as actuators from the viewpoint of phase transition. Based on analytical techniques, the resistance feedback characteristic is enhanced and the fatigue problem resulting from the...


Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is the most common form of acquired myocardial disease in dogs. Congestive heart failure (CHF) is characterised by clinical signs of increased tissue water retention and/or decreased tissue perfusion caused by heart disease such as DCM. When clinical findings are severe sudden death is common. This patient presented in the overt clinical phase of DCM and displayed signs of CHF. The nursing care involves understanding the action of drug therapy and the pathophysiology of heart disease/failure. In conjunction with this, it is important for veterinary nurses (VNs) to consider the nutritional needs of a patient with CHF. Poor body condition score and distinct loss of fat and overall muscle mass are characteristics of cachexia, which is related to the poor prognosis in CHF patients. Good communication with the owner regarding the patient's normal eating habits, could allow the VN to re-create normal routines thus improving the response to food. The ability of the VN to communicate ...


This thesis deals with the documentation of the restoration of wall paintings. It deals with the restoration documentation in the legislation of the Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and mentions about it in international charters and documents. It handles with the reasons for the implementation of quality documentation and with the state of restoration documentation in the Czech Republic in past and present times. It tries to determine the basic structure of the restoration report and briefly describe each item,
including the restoration survey, proposal of the restoration treatment, restoration treatment itself, photo documentation, mapping and other special annexis of restoration documentation.


Shoeprint is an important trace evidence in forensic science. It can provide information about age, height and sex of suspects. In order to solve the problem of individual differences in the identification of planar-shoeprint experts doing, a planar shoeprint image segmentation algorithm based on Multiplicative Intrinsic Component Optimization is proposed in this context. After segmentation, pseudo-color can be selectively used to process the segmentation image. So the pattern and wear area of sole were automatically sketched. Experimental analysis shows that this method can effectively segment the shoeprint. This provides an objective and universal shoeprint identification method for criminal investigators to narrow the scope of investigation.


In experiments on rats, the technique of application of mesenchymal cells into the region of the receptive or conductor paths of cranial nerves (I and V pair) was perfected for the natural movement of these cells to the central nucleus of the nerve, and then into the damaged areas of the brain. It is found that after the modeling of a local injury of the precentral gyrus, the mesenchymal cells implanted into the submucosa of the nasal cavity have been visualized in the olfactory bulb and in the damage area in 1 hour. After the pre-damaged areas of the cerebellar cortex, the mesenchymal cells introduced into the Meckel area are found in 1 hour in the central nuclei of the trigeminal nerve in the damage area.


The introduction of service level differentiation in IP networks requires adequate support for defining and administrating network resource usage with regard to QoS, routing and accounting. This paper proposes the abstract switch toolkit (AST), a component-based flexible and scalable framework for defining and administrating IP network control and management. AST is designed for wire-speed switching routers supporting flow detection. With its open and flexible character, AST simplifies the introduction of customized QoS and policy-based routing. A particular advantage of AST is its support for interoperability between public switched and IP-based networks.


The formation rules of languages include people's habits of language use as well as the established grammatical and rhetoric rules.The language habits are a kind of special formation rule,which is stored in people's subconscious.This rule,being a kind of stable connection among language elements,is a pragmatic phenomenon.This thesis analyzes the reasons for the existence of these habits,showing their types,with the aim to further expand the range of language study and to deepen the research of language use.


Background: The link between economic forces and family dynamics has received renewed attention in the present era of heightened uncertainty. Economic uncertainty has usually been linked to unfavorable labor market circumstances, such as unemployment and short-term contracts. Nonetheless, union formation may also be affected by subjective appraisals of employment conditions, including employment security and – acknowledging the prospective nature of uncertainty itself –expectations of future employment. Objective: This study seeks to empirically disentangle the effects of the objective and subjective sides of individual employment uncertainty on the entry into union. Methods: We apply event history techniques to longitudinal data taken from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to examine whether and how objective measures of employment uncertainty (labor market status and contract type) and subjective measures (employment security and employment expectations) are associated with entry into a first union. Results: Our results show that objective markers of employment uncertainty – unemployment or temporary (casual) jobs – inhibit entry into a union for both men and women. Furthermore, different appraisals of employment uncertainty affect union formation across employment conditions. When individuals face objective employment uncertainty while still expecting their employment situation to improve, either by exiting unemployment (in particular among men) or retaining their jobs (among both sexes), union formation is not necessarily postponed. Contribution: We stress the importance of considering how different future expectations influence family formation across different levels of objective uncertainty. The sole use of objective markers of employment uncertainty provides only a partial, and possibly inaccurate, perspective on union formation: the specter of the future also matters.


Taking as a point of departure the recurring nightmares of a Yanesha boy, the author examines the dream theories and practices of Yanesha people of Peruvian Amazonia. Particular emphasis is placed on the conscious manipulation of actions taking place in nightmares. This practice, common to many indigenous peoples throughout the world, has become known in Western tradition as "lucid dreaming." The author explores how New Age thinkers and entrepreneurs have adopted this and other connected indigenous dream practices by means of "simulation," a mode of appropriating the magic of "Others" that, in the context of globalized neocolonial encounters, appears as the counterpart of "mimesis." In this process of "cultural cannibalism" and commoditization, native practices are simplified, secularized, and sanitized in ways that contribute—even if unintentionally—to the perpetuation of the long-lasting opposition between the "civilized" West and the "savage" Others. Tomando como punto de partida las pesadillas recurrentes de un joven Yanesha, el autor examina las teorias y practicas del sueno de la gente Yanesha de la Amazonia Peruana. Particular enfasis es puesto en la manipulation conciente de las acciones que tienen lugar en las pesadillas. Esta practica, comun a muchos pueblos indigenas del mundo, es conocida en el mundo occidental como "suenos lucidos." El autor explora como los pensadores y empresarios de la Nueva Era (New Age) han adoptado esta y otras practicas indigenas relacionadas mediante el proceso de "simulation," un modo de apropiacion de la magia de los "otros" que en situaciones de encuentros neocoloniales globalizados aparece como la contraparte de la "mimesis." A lo largo de este proceso de "canibalismo cultural" y mercantilizacion, las practicas nativas son simplihcadas, secularizadas y pasteurizadas en maneras que contribuyen—aun si de manera no intencional—a perpetuar la antigua oposicion entre el Occidente "civilizado" y los Otros "salvajes." * Acknowledgments. This paper would not have been written without the inspiration and support of my father, Fernando Santos-Veiga, a medical doctor and psychoanalyst who has always been a life-long supporter of psychosomatic medicine. His insightful comments helped me find my way through the maze of Yanesha dream theories and beliefs. This article is dedicated to him. Insightful comments, by the three reviewers, helped me sharpen aspects of the argument, and for that I am grateful. Thanks are also due to my colleague Olga F. Linares, who has helped me as always to polish my English. Santos-Granero: Pedro Casanto's Nightmares: Lucid Dreaming in Amazonia and the Ne 7%%W(2003) 1(2):179-210 © 2003&4f,&f 179 ISSN 1545-4703 Printed in USA Pedro Casanto's Nightmares: Lucid Dreaming in Amazonia and the New Age Movement FERNANDO SANTOS-GRANERO Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute email@example.com In the past twenty years dreams have experienced a renaissance, both as a subject of anthropological inquiry, and in the imagination of postindustrial societies. In anthropology, the renewed interest in dreams and dreaming came as a result of a change of focus on the subject. Whereas, in the past, followers of the culture and personality school of thought were mostly interested in the cross-cultural analysis of the manifest content of dreams, from 1975 onwards the focus shifted to the study of dreamsharing and interpretation as complex communicative processes. Barbara Tedlock's edited volume, Dreaming: Anthropological and Psychological Interpretations (1987), the collection of papers published by Michel Perrin in Spanish under the title Antropologia y Experiencias del Sueno (1990), and, more recently, Kelly Bulkeley's interdisciplinary edited volume Dreams: A Reader on Religious, Cultural, and Psychological Dimensions ofDreaming (2001), are good examples of this new analytical perspective. Seen as modes of communication, both between this and other worlds and between human beings, the articles gathered in these volumes are devoted either to the analysis of the creative aspects of the language and public enactment of dreaming, or to the study of the social and cultural uses of dreams. This includes the analysis of the interactive aspects of dream sharing and interpretation, the relationship between dreams and mythic language and imagery, and the prophetic and diagnostic qualities of dreams. It also includes the study of native theories of dreaming, how these are related to particular conceptions of the self and the cosmos, and how dreams and dreaming are intimately connected to the production of indigenous cultural identity and social memory (e.g., Guss 1980; Kracke 1979; Gregor 1981a; Tedlock 1992, 1994; Goulet 1993; Graham 1995; Shepard 2002). With a few exceptions, most anthropological and popular literature on the subject deals with dreams as sources of information, knowledge, mystical power, political resistance, or aesthetic inspiration. In other words, they deal with dreams in their positive dimension. Much less attention has been paid to the negative dimension of the dreaming experience, that is, to bad dreams, nightmares and night terrors. This relative lack of interest contrasts with the importance attributed to this subject by native peoples, Produced by The Berkeley Electronic Press, 2003 Tipiti: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America, Vol. 1 [2003], Iss. 2, Art. 2 180 Fernando Santos-Granero among whom the interpretation of nightmares occupies a large portion of the time devoted to dream sharing and discussion. It also contrasts with the increasing attention that nightmares are commanding among cybernetic New Agers. This paper has a double purpose. On the one hand, I examine, through the analysis of the recurrent nightmares of Pedro Casanto, a Yanesha boy, how Yanesha people of Peruvian Amazonia conceive of nightmares and attempt to control them. I argue that, like other indigenous and ancient societies, Yanesha people do this by altering the course of events in nightmares from the conscious sphere of waking life, a technique that in Western societies has been dubbed "lucid dreaming." This, however, in no way means that Yanesha techniques of dream control and manipulation are prototypical of indigenous theories of dream interpretation. I then analyze the Yanesha theory of dreaming that makes this specific technique possible. I suggest that this is closely associated with particular ontological and cosmological conceptions that oppose the "virtual reality" of the material world and the physical body to the "real reality" of the multiplicity of intangible worlds and spiritual body essences. On the other hand, I analyze how similar Native American and Southeast Asian techniques of nightmare control have been appropriated, reformulated and marketed by New Age entrepreneurs as a means of personal empowerment. I contend that the alienation and commoditization of native beliefs about nightmares constitute outstanding examples of the type of "cultural cannibalism" that Deborah Root (1996) sees as characteristic of late-capitalist, consumerist neocolonial societies. I further suggest that in this postmodern information age, encounters between members of postindustrial and nonindustrial societies produce two similar, although antithetical, operations by which members of each society attempt to magically seize the power of the Other. In nonindustrial societies, the principal mode is mimesis, the act by which members of these societies replicate powerful objects pertaining to the realm of postindustrial societies in the hope of acquiring its essential power (Taussig 1993). In postindustrial societies, the most important mode is simulation, which in an adaptation of Jean Baudrillard's (1994) notion, I understand to be the act by which members of these societies imitate powerful beliefs, objects, notions and techniques of nonindustrial societies in the hope of appropriating the spiritual wisdom and harmonious lifeways that these primitive "Others" are supposed to possess. This double movement is characteristic of what Michael Taussig (1993:63) has called the "colonial mirror of production." Through mimesis, members of nonindustrial societies appropriate the infrareal (to name it somehow), that is, the real behind the real, the essence behind the appearance, or the magic that allegedly imbues the powerful material and nonmaterial products created by http://digitalcommons.trinity.edU/tipiti/voll/iss2/2 Santos-Granero: Pedro Casanto's Nightmares: Lucid Dreaming in Amazonia and the Ne Pedro Casanto s Nightmares 181 postindustrial societies. By replicating cellular phones, trucks, and medical machinery, members of nonindustrial societies hope to seize a share of the wealth, resources, and magical creative powers that postindustrial societies are thought to possess. In contrast, through simulation, members of postindustrial societies appropriate the hyperreal, that is, the signs of the real: decontextualized copies of beliefs, notions, objects and techniques belonging to nonindustrial societies, which have come to stand for the real, that is, the native forms of spirituality that gave origin to them (Baudrillard 1994:2). I conclude that indigenous techniques of nightmare control similar to those of Yanesha people, appropriated by New Age entrepreneurs and marketed in the New Age press and cyberspace as "lucid dreaming," have the quality of the hyperreal, insofar as they have been cut off from the belief systems that granted them meaning, and reshaped in ways that would render them unrecognizable for those who originally practiced them (see Brown 1997:161—167 on similar processes of simulation among channelers in the United States). In discussing these two seemingly disparate issues, I want to call attention to a phenomenon that has only recently been explored, namely the myriad ways in which Native Amazonian and postindustrial societies are connecte


The article discusses the canon of the Marxist critique of capitalism, its methods and means for analyzing economic institutions and the information technologies that affect them. The authors postulate that the Anglo-American academics who remain faithful to this canon are quite leftist in a way that derives from concerns about corporate culture and leads to oversimplifications and distortions of the phenomena in question. For example, economics has turned into an empty concept of capitalism studied through secondary texts and their interpretations in a presentation mode. As the latest failure to link Marxist and managerial discourses in the digital era, the authors cite Platform Capitalism by Nick Srnicek, one of the founders of the accelerationist movement and author of essays on the future of capitalism. The most controversial ideas in Srnicek's book include the rhizomaticity of the platform model of economics, which he did not himself elaborate but proposed as the typology and genealogy of platforms in recent economic cycles (from the 1970s until the mortgage crisis of 2007 in the USA) when the foundations of the infrastructure and business strategy of the modern digital economy were shaped. The article focuses in particular on the enduring topics of leftist discourse under the new conditions of the digital economy: falling profit margins, deficit, crises of overproduction, exploitation, control, profit-seeking and market competition as explicit motives that supposedly guide the capitalists and managers in addressing new technologies together with the specter of an inevitable apocalypse. The authors question the most popular leftist approaches to critique of digital technologies and of the business models of platform companies and propose a more constructive appreciation of their role in modern society and economic liberalization by taking into account their public benefit and their cultural significance for users.


The present dissertation consists of two independent essays related to Game Theory. The first essay investigates the strategic information transmission between two biased experts and the decision maker. Experts possess complete information about the state of the nature and the decision maker is only partially informed. At the same time, decision maker's own beliefs about the true state of the nature is her private information. The first essay compares two standard communication protocols: simultaneous—when experts provide their reports to the decision maker at the same time and based solely on their private information, and sequential—when the second expert observes the report of the first expert, as well as the reaction of the decision maker to the first report before making a decision. I show that under certain conditions the decision maker benefits from consulting experts sequentially. The second essay, which is based on a joint work with Volodymyr Baranovksyi, explores the implications of the seller, of a single indivisible good through a winner-pay auction, being able to verify the true winner's value after the sale and to punish him for underbidding. A first-price auction is an optimal auction format among all winner-pay auctions, the optimal reserve price is lower and each bidder submits higher bid than in standard auctions. We also found that revenue equivalence principle does not hold in this environment and that even small punishment leads to a significant increase in the revenue. The later makes us to believe that the seller should be extremely tempted to develop the way of punishing for underbidding, even if there was no one in the first place. For our leading example of a government privatizing a firm through an auction, this may include making a small non-favorable by a winner changes in regulations or being more strict on current regulations.


To have certainty about identities is crucial for secure communication in digital environments. The number of digital identities that people and organiza- tions need to manage is rapidly increasing, and proper management of these identities is essential for maintain- ing security in online markets and communities. Tradi- tional Identity Management Systems are designed to facilitate the management of identities from the per- spective of the service provider, but provide little sup- port on the user side. The difficulty of managing identi- ties on the user side causes vulnerabilities that open up for serious attacks such as identity theft and Phishing. Petname Systems have been proposed to provide more user friendly and secure identity management on the user side. This paper provides an analysis of the Pet- name Model by describing its history and background, properties, application domains and usability issues. By covering a broad set of aspects, this paper is intended to provide a comprehensive reference for the Petname System.


For the last few decades romance has been the popular genre par excellence in the English-speaking world. With sales figures that average around $ 1.36 billion a year, a readership of nearly 75 million people in the U.S. alone and a 13.4 % share of the American consumer book market in 2011, the popular romance novel is by far the best-selling genre in America ("About the Romance Genre"). In 2010 a staggering 8,240 new romance titles were released in the U.S., and 469 of these novels became na...


The design of a low noise Ka-band receiver front-end used in satcom is presented.Through appropriate choice of components and circuits form and optimiziation of input port matching circuits,a low noise Ka-band receiver front-end is realized.The frequency is at 30 GHz.In 0.8 GHz frequency bandwidth,the NF(Noise Figure) is less than 2.2 dB,the gain is more than 60 dB and gain fluctuation is less than 1dB.The test result of 3 sets of samples demonstrate the validity of design.


We present the largest detectors for time-domain diffuse optics, showing superior performances in depth penetration and light-harvesting capability. In-vivo measurements demonstrate their potentialities for futuristic disruptive applications such as optical radiography.


The subject of this research are the instruments of financial analysis and their role in the company creditworthiness, i.e. the role of financial analysis in the estimation of a company's liquidity and credit standing. Financial analysis and its instruments are not used enough in Serbia, due to the lack of qualified personnel. The quintessential problem that is discussed in the paper is the testing of importance of financial analysis and its instruments in business decision-making of top management and investors. The aim of the research is in raising awareness on the growing significance of financial analysis and its instruments, because there are signs indicating that it is not applied enough in companies in Serbia. The paper consists of liquidity indicators, activity indicators, cash flow analysis, and funds flow analysis. The research methodology is based on studying and analysing references and resources on financial analysis, describing, analysing and interpreting primary resources used to obtain data, which, in substance, refer to the "Metalac" Holding company. The first part of the paper deals with a short historical overview of "Metalac" Holding company.The second part of the paper analyses in detail and shows the results of the research. The results suggest that financial analysis and its instruments crucially influence business decisions of both the top managers of "Metalac" Holding company and investors. All this matters for top managers, financial analysts, other researchers, students and pupils.


TITLE: Experience of Health Information Seeking Of Middle-Aged Chinese Immigrants AUTHOR: Chih-Ju Chen The purpose of this study was to explore the experience of health information seeking among middle-aged Chinese immigrants and to identify factors which influenced health information seeking and utilization behaviors and perceptions. An exploratory qualitative description design was used (Sandelowski, 2000) with convenience sampling procedures. Four focus group interviews, guided by a semi-structured funnel-based interview questions, were conducted with twenty-one Chinese-speaking middle-aged immigrants. Three individual interviews were also conducted to offer additional insights and depth on the research questions. Findings demonstrated that health information seeking in this group was strongly related to their interactions with the health care system and health care providers. Eight major themes were found: (a) symptom driven knowledge needs, (b) grabbing the rice straw, (c) doing what they think is right, (d) language and cultural barriers, (e) lack ofknowledge, (f) mistrust of westerners, (g) poor system support, and (h) powerlessness and "outsider" statusbeing a foreigner forever. Findings suggested that health care providers need to carefully examine whether they have gained the trust from this group and have provided culturally and linguistically sound health information to their Chinese patients.


Fraxinellone, a well-known and significant naturally occurring compound isolated from Meliaceae and Rutaceae spp. has been widely used as a drug for the treatment of tumors. On the other hand, fraxinellone exhibited a variety of insecticidal activities including feeding-deterrent activity, inhibition of growth, and larvicidal activity. The present study focused on the antifeedant and larvicidal activities of fraxinellone against the larvae of Lepidoptera, including Mythimna separata, Agrotis ypsilon, Plutella xylostella, and one kind of sanitary pest, Culux pipiens pallens. Meanwhile, the ovicidal activities and the effects of fraxinellone on the larval development of M. separata were also observed. The LC50 values of fraxinellone against 3rd instar larvae of M. separata, 2nd instar larvae of P. xylostella and 4th instar larvae of C. pipiens pallens were 15.95/6.43/3.60 × 10−2 mg mL−1, and its AFC50 values against 5th instar larvae of M. separata, 2nd instar larvae of P. xylostella and 2nd instar larvae of A. ypsilon were 10.73/7.93/12.58 mg mL−1, respectively. Compared with the control group, fraxinellone obviously inhibited the pupation rate and the growth of M. separata. Once M. separata was treated with fraxinellone at concentrations of 5.0, 10.0, and 20.0 mg mL−1, respectively, the stages from the larvae to adulthood and the egg hatching duration were prolonged to 1/2/3, and 4/3/4 days, respectively. Additionally, fraxinellone strongly inhibited the development rate and the egg hatch proportion of M. separata.


iv CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESES 13 Literature review 13 Olfaction 13 Emotions 26 Research framework 31 Hypotheses 33 CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODS 40 Overview of studies 40 Experiment 1: Odor-elicited emotions 41 Experiment 2: Emotions-elicited in odor-associated images and olfactory mental imagery .. 45 Experiment 3: The "contagion effects" of odors on judgment and decision making 48 Experiment 4: Are emotions enhanced by smell cues in ads? 54 Data analyses 57 CHAPTER 4: RESULTS 59 Experiment 1: Odor-elicited emotions 60 Experiment 2: Emotions-elicited in odor-associated images and olfactory mental imagery .. 65 Experiment 3: The "contagion effects" of odors on judgment and decision making 68 Experiment 4: Are emotions enhanced by smell cues in ads? 84 CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 99


Time‐harmonic electromagnetic fields in multisphere models were calculated by the method of two scalar potentials proposed by Gumerov. The analyzed models were an eccentric two‐sphere model and a ten‐sphere model including the brain core and a pair of eyeballs. The applied fields were a plane wave and a dipole magnetic field, and the frequency was 1.8 or 2.0 GHz. The truncation degree p of the multipole and local expansion had values of up to 170 to 200. The peak power density on the x–y plane and the absorbed power in each tissue almost monotonically converged as p increased. These results demonstrate the usefulness of Gumerov's method. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Electr Eng Jpn, 178(2): 1–10, 2012; Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). DOI 10.1002–eej.21224


While the primary purpose of a STATCOM is to support busbar voltage by injecting appropriate reactive power, it can also improve the dynamic behaviour of a power system. The paper proposes a control strategy of a STATCOM to improve the stability of a power system which is derived from the stability criterion of Lyapunov's second or direct method. The proposed control strategy of the STATCOM was then tested on a single-machine infinite- busbar system and the IEEE 20-machine test system. It was found that the proposed control strategy of a STATCOM could significantly enlarge the stability region and, hence, stability of a power system. The effect of STATCOM rating on system stability is also investigated.


Provided is a tire transport method for a tire inspection system (1) in which a tire (T) transported from the upstream side is fastened by an upper rim (65) and a lower rim (66), and a measurement is performed, wherein the method includes transport stem in which a transport mechanism (16) having a pair of transport bodies (22) split in the width direction transports the tire (T) to a fastening location for fastening, and a parting step in which the pair of transport bodies (22) are parted in the width direction, such that it is possible for the lower rim (66) to pass between the pair of transport bodies (22).


We develop a self-consistent scaling model relating magnitude Mw to surface rupture length (LE), surface displacement DE, and rupture width WE, for strike-slip faults. Knowledge of the long-term fault-slip rate SF improves magnitude estimates. Data are collected for 55 ground-rupturing strike-slip earthquakes that have geological estimates of LE, DE, and SF, and geophysical estimates of WE. We begin with the model of Anderson et al. (2017), which uses a closed form equation for the seismic moment of a surface-rupturing strike-slip fault of arbitrary aspect ratio and given stress drop, ΔτC. Using WE estimates does not improve Mw estimates. However, measurements of DE plus the relationship between ΔτC and surface slip provide an alternate approach to study WE. A grid of plausible stress drop and width pairs were used to predict displacement and earthquake magnitude. A likelihood function was computed from within the uncertainty ranges of the corresponding observed Mw and DE values. After maximizing likelihoods over earthquakes in length bins, we found the most likely values of WE for constant stress drop; these depend on the rupture length. The best-fitting model has the surprising form WE∝logLE—a gentle increase in width with rupture length. Residuals from this model are convincingly correlated to the fault-slip rate and also show a weak correlation with the crustal thickness. The resulting model thus supports a constant stress drop for ruptures of all lengths, consistent with teleseismic observation. The approach can be extended to test other observable factors that might improve the predictability of magnitude from a mapped fault for seismic hazard analyses.


1 Institute of Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany 2 Department of Structural Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway 3 Institute of Vehicle System Technology, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany 4 Chair for Continuum Mechanics, Institute of Engineering Mechanics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), Karlsruhe, Germany ¶ Corresponding author DOI: 10.21105/joss.04389


ABSTRACT This article analyses intelligence assessment as performed by Hezbollah and Hamas and similar Violent Non-State Actors ("VNSA"). VNSA's seek to inflict the highest level of harm on adversary states without provoking full-scale wars, which they avoid due to military asymmetry. Improved intelligence regarding a state's cost/benefit analysis of unleashing full-scale war thus enables VNSA's to "safely" calibrate operations to maximize harm. Such efforts might prove error-prone for three reasons: the authoritarian structure characterizing VNSAs; psychological bias regarding both self and enemy; and a "transparency fallacy" concerning target states. Assessments of Hezbollah (2006) and Hamas (2014) serve as case studies.


The invention provides a new method for simultaneously extracting tea polyphenol, tea polysaccharide and caffeine from tea leaves. The method comprises the following steps: extracting by enzymolysis, ultrafiltering, adsorbing the tea polyphenol and the caffeine with resin, obtaining the caffeine and the tea polyphenol by elution, and obtaining the tea polysaccharide by reverse osmosis. The method organically combines a new concept of enzymolysis extraction, membrane separation and resin adsorption, does not use any organic solvent (including ethanol), only uses water for precipitation and elution, and has the advantages of pollution-free, safe and reliable production, low cost, high product purity and high yield.


Bis(tetrabutylammonium)bis(2‐thioxo‐1,3‐dithiole‐4,5‐dithiolato)mercurate(II) was prepared and characterized by elemental analyses, electronic absorption, infrared and X‐ray powder diffraction spectroscopy. The specific heat of the crystal was measured to be 1878.2 J.mol–1K–1 at 300 K. The thermal decomposition process was investigated by means of thermogravimetric analysis and differential thermal analysis measurements in air together with infrared and X‐ray powder diffraction spectra. The third‐order nonlinear optical properties at 800 nm were measured by femtosecond optical Kerr gate technique by using CS2 as reference. The third‐order optical susceptibility of its acetone solution at the concentration of 9.27 × 10–4 M was obtained to be 2.53 × 10–14 esu. The second‐order hyperpolarizability was estimated to be 1.7 × 10–32 esu and the response time was about 226 fs. The third order nonlinear optical properties at 532 nm were investigated by using the Z‐scan technique with 20 ps. It exhibited self‐focusing effect and saturable absorption. The second molecular hyperpolarizability was estimated to be 8.4 × 10–32 esu. (© 2009 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


Typical modeling systems for spatial analysis employ data that represent the visual part of a landscape (e.g. relief and morphology), combined with other data about specific attributes (depending on the aims of an application). Thus, in a modeling environment, each place is described by a variety of properties that are not always visible. More of those "hidden" properties require special sensors and/or instruments to be captured and sometimes make their presence evident through human senses, such is sound.


The once widespread and abundant Middle Eastern tree, Ziziphus spina-christi (Rhamnaceae—common name = Christ's thorn), has a new threat to its survival, the invasion and heavy parasitism (ca. 80% of trees) by the hemiparasitic mistletoe Plicosepalus acaciae. This mistletoe, which largely parasitizes Acacia tree species, has spread rapidly from its original range in the southern desert region of Israel into the rest of the country since the 1960s. The reason for the rapid invasion of this mistletoe (and increase in abundance in its native range) is purported to be the rapid increases in the populations of the main disperser of the mistletoe's fruit, the yellow-vented bulbul Pycnonotus xanthopygos. This bird breeds in human settlements, which have become substantially larger and more widespread in recent years. Because mistletoes are known to be profligate users of water, we hypothesized that the reason for the widespread senescence and mortality of Ziziphus spina-christi was the higher water stress placed...


Gilbert and Sullivan's eighth Savoy opera Princess Ida (1884) is best understood against the backdrop of women's higher education and emancipation in nineteenth-century Britain. Careful work has been done in tracing correspondences between the opera and its source texts, but Ida is not only a descendant of literary figures. She is the peer of the pioneering women of Girton College, Cambridge whose biographies attest to the challenges faced by women in pursuit of an education at the end of the nineteenth century. This association allows Ida and her students to be positioned as precursors of that fin-de-siècle phenomenon, the New Woman. Often dismissed as an uncomfortable relic of Victorian male chauvinism, the political and ideological complexity behind Princess Ida is recognised here as the opera is identified as one moment in continuous literary, cultural and social history.


This paper is for the on-line monitoring and controlling system in which remote central processor execute commands based on data transmitted via radio or cable captured from the industrial or marine environments. By executing the appropriate system commands, many mechanical parts in industrial environments and natural factors such as temperature and humidity are to be under control in the way of normal system condition. In this research, we control the temperature of a hydrochloric acid tank to be within the predetermined range by executing temperature controlling commands issued by remote central computer which decides the appropriate action for the total system based on the received sensor data transmitted via radio and cable media. This type of monitoring and controlling system has the various applications such as the disaster prevention system, ubiquitous embedded system, alarm system, and the USN systems.


The Social Origins of Nationalist Movements and Explanations of Nationalism - John Coakley A Review Nationalist Movements and Social Factors - Liesbet Hooghe A Theoretical Perspective Nation versus Class - John Schwarzmantel Nationalism and Socialism in Theory and Practice Do the Workers Really Have No Country? Nationalism and Socialism in the United Kingdom, France, Italy and Spain - Michael Keating The Absence of Nationalist Movements - Jorgen Elklit and Ole Tonsgaard The Case of the Nordic Area Interpreting National Conflict in Switzerland - Bernard Voutat The Jura Question National and Regional Movements in Italy - Daniele Petrosino The Case of Sardinia The Social Bases of Regionalism in France - Herv[ac]e Guillorel The Breton Case The Social Origins of Nationalism in Great Britain - James G Kellas The Case of Scotland The Social Origins of Nationalism in a Contested Region - Joseph Ruane and Jennifer Todd The Case of Northern Ireland Conclusion - John Coakley Nationalist Movements and Society in Contemporary Western Europe


Digital filters effectively reduce the unwanted higher or lower order frequency components in a speech signal. In this paper the speech enhancement is performed using different digital filters .In this real noisy environment is taken into consideration in the form of Gaussian noise. The Time domain as well as frequency domain representation of the signal spectra is performed using Fast Fourier transformation technique. MATLAB in built functions are used to carry out the simulation. Gaussian type noise is added using in-built function randn () and keyboard noise is added as a second speech file to the original speech signal. The filters remove the lower frequency components of noise and recover the original speech signal. It is also observed that keyboard noise is typical to remove as compared to Gaussian type but these filters performed well to get sharper spectra of original speech signal.


The City of Birmingham Environmental Department analysed the paint and concluded that the solvent consisted of mixed isomers of amyl acetate, and did notcontain any trace of benzene, toluene, xylene, or other substances known to be toxic. Its composition was similar to commercially available and widely used car paints. Although amyl acetate is not considered particularly toxic, its use is advised only in well-ventilated areas. We can find no similar cases either in medical joumals or after discussion with the medical officer at a local motorcar factory where such paint is in use. In the absence of any evidence to the contrary we are led to think that the paint caused this man's illness, and that the lack of any ventilation was important.


Palynological, organic geochemical and thermal maturation analyses have been carried out on 232 core and 256 ditch cutting samples collected from exploratory and productive wells drilled in the Madbi-Shabwa Basin, Central Yemen, to evaluate the hydrocarbon potential of the Madbi Formation sediments. The Madbi Formation contains fair to good (0.5 min., 6.7 max., and 1.4 avg.) total organic carbon content (TOC %), which indicates a fair to good potential source rock with an average fair petroleum potential (PP) of 6.7 mg HC/g dry rock.  Mapping of the organic carbon richness and petroleum potential of the Madbi Formation sediments shows higher TOC and PP values centralized in the basin centre, which gradually decrease in a NE-SW direction.  Most of the Madbi analysed samples are mainly oil-prone material of kerogen type II, as indicated from the hydrogen index (HI) value of ~ 255 mg HC/g TOC and from the palynofacies analysis.  Thermal maturation analyses (T max 420-460 °C, R v 7 (~ 0.9) 1.3 %, TAI 2+ to 3+) indicate mature-oil generation window for the Madbi Formation source rock.  Quality of the crude oil extracted from the studied productive wells is excellent, because it is free from S, Ni and Va and shows API gravity value of ~ 44°.  The present investigation confirmed the Madbi Formation as a good productive oil source rock at the centre of the Madbi-Shabwa Basin, and suggests further studying the formation at the southern part of the basin and in other adjacent basins.


Introduction: Prevalence rates of trauma-related mental disorders such as posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depression (MD) are high in asylum seekers. The PROTECT Questionnaire (PQ) was designed to detect indications of those disorders in asylum seekers. Empirical data are needed to evaluate the PQ psychometrically. The objective of this study is to investigate the reliability, validity, sensitivity, and specificity of the PQ.
Method: The PQ and validated questionnaires for PTSD (Posttraumatic Diagnostic Scale, PDS) and depression (Patient Health Questionnaire-9, PHQ- 9) were filled in by a sample of recently arrived asylum seekers in Germany (n=141). A sub-sample of 91 asylum seekers took part in a structured clinical interview to diagnose PTSD or MD (SCID-I).
Results: The PQ showed a one-factor structure and good reliability (Cronbach's ⍺= .82). It correlated highly with the PDS and the PHQ-9 (rs=.53-.77; ps≤.001). Diagnostic accuracy with regard to PTSD (AUC=.74; SE=.06; p<.001; 95%-CI=.63-.84) and MD (AUC=.72; SE=.06; p<.001; 95%-CI=.61- .83) was adequate, suggesting an optimal cut-off of 8 or 9. By categorizing participants into a low- and high-risk category, the PQ differentiated well between asylum seekers who fulfilled a PTSD or MD diagnosis and those who did not.
Discussion: The results support the use of the PQ as a reliable and valid instrument for the purpose of detecting signs and symptoms of the two most common mental disorders in asylum seekers. Persons found to be at risk of mental disorders should be referred to a clinical diagnostic procedure.


OBJECTIVE
To assess longitudinal maintenance of improvements in depression, anxiety, global functioning, and physical health perception in 11 adolescents at 6 and 12 months following completion of manual-based cognitive-behavioral therapy.

METHOD
Standardized instruments assessed follow-up changes in depression, anxiety, physical health, and global psychological functioning.

RESULTS
At both assessments, 10 adolescents did not meet criteria for mood disorders. Improvements in depression, anxiety, global functioning, and physical health perceptions at completion of the cognitive-behavioral therapy were maintained during the 12-month period. Additional cognitive-behavioral therapy sessions (mean = 4.36; SD = 4.37) and psychopharmacology (n = 5) were required during the follow-up period.

CONCLUSIONS
CBT with maintenance sessions and medication offers promise to adolescents facing comorbid depressive and physical disorders.


Introduction 1. Tribal Membership Governance and the Cultural Production of Indigeneity: Reflecting Inter-indigenous Recognition in Public Policy 2. Tribalism Constitutionalized: The Tribal Practice of Membership Governance in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States 3. Genealogy as Continuity : Explaining The Growing Tribal Preference for Descent Rules In Membership Governance in the United States 4. Reparations and Tribal Constitutionalism: The Impact of Claims-Settlement on Tribal Membership Governance in Australia and New Zealand Conclusion Appendix: Table of Tribal Constitutions


The pollutant characteristic,origin,hazardous nature as well as comprehensive program of indoor air pollutants were eleaborated.The modern people living and working in indoor environment achieved the entire day 80%~90%,so indoor environmental quality direct impacted on people's physical health.On comprehensive control of indoor air quality testing,it was especially prominent and necessary,and it had a very major significance on improving the quality of people's living standard.


Numerical Simulation Studies of Gas Production Scenarios From Hydrate Accumulations at the Mallik Site, Mackenzie Delta, Canada George J. Moridis (1) *, Timothy S. Collett (2) , Scott R. Dallimore (3) Tohru Satoh (4) , Stephen Hancock (5) and Brian Weatherill (5) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA; United States Geological Survey, Denver, Colorado 80225-0046, USA; Geological Survey of Canada, Sidney, British Columbia V8L 4B2, Canada; Japan National Oil Corporation, Chiba 261-0025, Japan; Adams Pearson Associates Inc., Calgary, Alberta T2P 3T6, Canada The Mallik site represents an onshore permafrost-associated gas hydrate accumulation in the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada. An 1150 m deep gas hydrate research well was drilled at the site in 1998. The objective of this study is the analysis of various gas production scenarios from several gas-hydrate-bearing zones at the Mallik site. The TOUGH2 general-purpose simulator with the EOSHYDR2 module were used for the analysis. EOSHYDR2 is designed to model the non-isothermal CH 4 (methane) release, phase behavior and flow under conditions typical of methane-hydrate deposits by solving the coupled equations of mass and heat balance, and can describe any combination of gas hydrate dissociation mechanisms. Numerical simulations indicated that significant gas hydrate production at the Mallik site was possible by drawing down the pressure on a thin free-gas zone at the base of the hydrate stability field. Gas hydrate zones with underlying aquifers yielded significant gas production entirely from dissociated gas hydrate, but large amounts of produced water. Lithologically isolated gas-hydrate-bearing reservoirs with no underlying free gas or water zones, and gas-hydrate saturations of at least 50% were also studied. In these cases, it was assumed that thermal stimulation by circulating hot water in the well was the method used to induce dissociation. Sensitivity studies indicated that the methane release from the hydrate accumulations increases with gas-hydrate saturation, the initial formation temperature, the temperature of the circulating water in the well, and the formation thermal conductivity. Methane production appears to be less sensitive to the rock and hydrate specific heat and permeability of the formation. 1 Introduction 1.1 Background. The Mallik site represents an onshore permafrost-associated methane hydrate accumulation in the Mackenzie Delta, Northwest Territories, Canada. An 1150 m deep gas hydrate research well was drilled at the site in 1998, and led to the first significant body of field data from an Arctic natural gas hydrate deposit (Dallimore et al., 1999). In this paper we analyze various gas production scenarios for several gas-hydrate-bearing stratigraphic zones at the Mallik site. 1.2 The Numerical Code. The analysis of the production scenarios in this paper were conducted using the TOUGH2 general-purpose simulator (Pruess et al., 1999) for multi-component, multiphase fluid and heat flow and transport in the subsurface with the EOSHYDR2 module (Moridis et al., 1998; 2002). EOSHYDR2 can model the non-isothermal methane release, phase behavior and flow under conditions typical of methane-hydrate deposits (i.e., in the permafrost and in deep ocean sediments) by solving the coupled equations of mass and heat balance. EOSHYDR2 includes both equilibrium and a kinetic model of gas hydrate formation and dissociation. The model accounts for up to nine components (hydrate, water, native methane and methane from hydrate * Corresponding author. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com dissociation, a second native and dissociated hydrocarbon, salt, water-soluble inhibitors and a heat pseudo-component). The mass components are distributed among four phases, i.e., a gas phase, a liquid phase, and two solid immobile phases: an ice phase and the hydrate phase. The thermophysical properties of the various mass components can be described at temperatures as low as –110 o C. Dissociation, phase changes and the corresponding thermal effects are fully described, as are the effects of salt and hydrate inhibitors. The model can describe gas hydrate dissociation involving any combination of the possible dissociation mechanisms (i.e., depressurization, thermal stimulation, and salting-out effects). 2 Simulation Zones A total of five zones were investigated. In all the zones the porosity ( φ = 0.28), the intrinsic permeability (k = 20 mD), the thermal conductivity (k θ = 1.5 W/m o C), the rock specific heat (C R = 800 J/kg o C), and the hydrate specific heat (C H = 1600 J/kg o C) were assumed to be the same. The regional plunge along the crest of the Mallik structure was not considered in the simulations because of the very shallow dip angle (2 degrees to the northwest) and the limited extent of the affected hydrate accumulations during the dissociation process. In all simulations, (a) a gas hydrate equilibrium process was


In this paper, a Markov transfer matrix is used to characterize exogenous sudden shocks, and a closed economic DSGE model including a financial accelerator is constructed to simulate the impact of sudden shocks on China's macroeconomic performance. The study found that: (1) Sudden impacts reduce output, investment, consumption, capital, technology, and enterprise value, but improve labor, inflation, and risk premium, thus weakening macroeconomic risk resilience. (2) The impact of sudden shocks on macroeconomic variables, from large to small, is net worth, technical level, labor, inflation, investment, capital, output, and external premium. (3) It is appropriate for the government to adopt the principle of combining broad finance measures and tight currency controls in order to improve the risk resistance ability of macroeconomic operations.


Over the past few years there has been increased interest in data science (the exploration, analysis, and use of big data). There are many different tools and products that can be used. This hands-on tutorial will demonstrate how Python and various open-source libraries can be used for data science.


Dietary fibre is a major energy source for the human gut microbiota, but it is unclear to what extent the fibre source and complexity affect microbial growth and metabolite production. Cell wall material and pectin were extracted from five different dicotyledon plant sources, apples, beet leaves, beetroots, carrots and kale, and compositional analysis revealed differences in the monosaccharide composition. Human faecal batch incubations were conducted with 14 different substrates, including the plant extracts, wheat bran and commercially available carbohydrates. Microbial activity was determined for up to 72 hours by measuring gas and fermentation acid production, total bacteria (by qPCR) and microbial community composition by 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing. The more complex substrates gave rise to more microbiota variation compared to the pectins. The comparison of different plant organs showed that the leaves (beet leaf and kale) and roots (carrot and beetroot) did not give rise to similar bacterial communities. Rather, the compositional features of the plants, such as high arabinan levels in beet and high galactan levels in carrot, appear to be major predictors of bacterial enrichment on the substrates. Thus, in-depth knowledge on dietary fibre composition should aid the design of diets focused on optimising the microbiota. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


This research discusses the effects of penetration rate on the penetration resistance in clayey soils for five different speeds of penetrations. In order to install the pile through hydraulic system, it is crucial to understand the required penetration force needed to do the job. Generally, the penetration force and speed will be different for different soil conditions. Proper understanding of this scenario may facilitate the engineer to mobilize the suitable pile installer to the construction site. Therefore, this study are to determine the influence of pile installation force in clay by conducting field cone penetration test (CPT) over a range of rates 0.5 cm/s, 1cm/s, 2cm/s, 2.5cm/s and 5cm/s. A total of fifteen point cone penetration test were conducted to determine the behaviour of the clayey soils under the different penetration loading rates. Results show that the speed for 0.5 cm/s and 1 cm/s is more accurate and more consistent compared to 2 cm/s, 2.5 cm/s and 5 cm/s. This is because with lower speed, the test becomes easier to control unlike higher speed. Besides that, maximum strength was achieved when test reach to standard speed of penetration and reducing when the rate exceeds the 2.5 cm/s speed. These findings may serve a wide range of industrial applications whereby require the solution of time domain problems and an associated understanding of rate effects in clay soils. Then, a relationship between speeds of penetration with shear strength was determined.
Keyword: Speed of penetrations, cone penetration test, rate effect, shear strength


Purpose To investigate the value of combined color Doppler flow imaging (CDFI) with ultrasound elastography (UE) in diagnosing BI-RADS 4 breast lesions. Materials and Methods The corrected classification based on the semi-quantitative grading and elasticity score of diseased blood flow Adler, ROC analysis, comparison of BI-RADS classification and corrected BI-RADS classification were applied in 132 patients with BI-RADS 4 breast lesions. Results There were 75 benign lesions and 57 malignant lesions. The sensitivity, specificity and the accuracy rate of CDFI were 87.72%, 48.00% and 65.15%, respectively; and which of UE were 87.72%, 61.33% and 72.73%, respectively in the diagnosis of breast cancer. The area under ROC curve of correction BI- RADS classification in the diagnosis of breast lesions was 0.845, and it was significantly higher than that of the BI-RADS classification (Z=2.963, P0.01). Conclusion Combined CDFI with UE can significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of the BI-RADS 4 breast lesions, and effectively reduce unnecessary preoperative biopsy.


Governments at all levels are experimenting with new means of financing public agencies. Revolving funds, dedicated funds, public enterprises, and various public/private partnership arrangements have become increasingly prominent as political officials explore options apart from traditional reliance on general fund financing (Axelrod 1989). The revenue shortfalls that have afflicted many government budgets since the financial crisis of 2008 have accelerated this trend. Advocates of these flexible arrangements cite the revenue stability they afford agencies, the increased flexibility they provide public managers, and the elimination of perverse incentives to spend balances at the end of the year (Barzelay 1992; Osborne and Gaebler 1993, Franklin and Douglas 2003). Yet these practices have faced criticism. Some observers have argued that the loss of transparency and budget capacity that accompanies these changes may cause a reduction in the accountability of public agencies (Tyer 1989; Rubin 1988; Walsh 1978; Moe 2001). Traditional democratic theory holds popular control of policy administration to be a central component of democratic governance (Aberbach and Rockman 1988; West 1995). Control of agency budgets by elected political officials is commonly viewed as an important means of ensuring agency responsiveness to democratic mandates. Increased reliance on funding mechanisms outside political officials' direct control may therefore result in a significant diminution of the capacity of political institutions to influence agency actions. The relationship between the dependence of administrative agencies on particular funding sources and their degree of responsiveness to external actors, however, is somewhat murky. Little systematic attention has been given to the subject. This study seeks to inform our understanding of this relationship through an empirical examination of state environmental regulation. Drawing on data from a unique survey of clean air administrators, the analyses assess whether reliance on the state general fund makes these agencies more responsive to elected officials, whether reliance on federal grants makes them more responsive to the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and whether reliance on revenue gained through agency enforcement actions increases agency autonomy. Multivariate analyses suggest that agency reliance on different sources of funding is uniformly associated with differences in perceived influence over environmental regulatory enforcement, raising provocative questions about the implications of moving away from the regular appropriations process for the democratic accountability of bureaucratic agencies. LITERATURE At least two distinct theoretical traditions suggest that agencies are responsive to external actors who control the resources necessary for the agency's survival. Resource dependence theory, rooted in organizational sociology, argues that agencies enact exchanges with their external environments in order to secure the political support necessary for survival and growth. These exchanges are crucial, for "one of the relatively distinctive features of public organizations is the greater degree to which external actors are directly involved in setting goals, allocating resources, and granting or withholding legitimacy" (Wamsley and Zald 1973, p. 21). These relationships open the organization to influence by external actors (Emerson 1962; Blau 1964). It follows naturally that agencies who receive the bulk of their funding from the regular appropriations process should be more open to influence from elected political officials than those who receive large segments of their funding from sources less subject to direct political control (Pfeffer and Salancik 2003; Provan, Beyer, and Kruytbosch 1980). While this core theoretical insight has been around for about 35 years, subsequent literature employing the resource dependence framework has made little attempt to subject it to a direct empirical test. …


The relative apical sparing pattern (RASP) of left ventricular (LV) longitudinal strain (LS) is frequently associated with cardiac amyloidosis (CA). However, the visual assessment of RASP is inconsistent, and the quantitative assessment of RASP is time‐consuming. This study aimed to compare assessments of RASP for the identification of CA with conventional assessments and investigate their reproducibility and relevance on the assessments.


The physico-chemical characteristics of the deep desilication process(DDSP) was experimentally studied by using the XRD.The result of this experiment indicated that surface tension,viscosity and density of the desilication process decrease with increasing time and temperature.The concrete course of the deep desilication was confirmed.A theoretical foundation for the deep desilication by adding CaO is provided.


We outline a new approach to X‐ray projection microscopy in a scanning electron microscope (SEM), which exploits phase contrast to boost the quality and information content of images. These developments have been made possible by the combination of a high‐brightness field‐emission gun (FEG)‐based SEM, direct detection CCD technology and new phase retrieval algorithms. Using this approach we have been able to obtain spatial resolution of < 0.2 µm and have demonstrated novel features such as: (i) phase‐contrast enhanced visibility of high spatial frequency image features (e.g. edges and boundaries) over a wide energy range; (ii) energy‐resolved imaging to simultaneously produce multiple quasi‐monochromatic images using broad‐band polychromatic illumination; (iii) easy implementation of microtomography; (iv) rapid and robust phase/amplitude‐retrieval algorithms to enable new real‐time and quantitative modes of microscopic imaging. These algorithms can also be applied successfully to recover object–plane information from intermediate‐field images, unlocking the potentially greater contrast and resolution of the intermediate‐field regime. Widespread applications are envisaged for fields such as materials science, biological and biomedical research and microelectronics device inspection. Some illustrative examples are presented. The quantitative methods described here are also very relevant to projection microscopy using other sources of radiation, such as visible light and electrons.


Fluoride glasses based on HfF4 have been synthesized in the HfF4-SrF2-BaF2 system. In order to decrease the crystallization rate, various fluorides (PbF2, ZnF2, AlF3 and YF3) have been introduced in the 66HfF(4)-22SrF(2)-12BaF(2) composition as substituent of alkali earth cations. Glass transition temperature is close to 320 degrees C, and coefficient of thermal expansion is 155 10(-7) K-1. Microhardness and elastic moduli have been measured. Values of refractive index are given for wavelengths ranging from 633 nm to 1551 nm. By comparison to fluorozirconates, fluorohafnate glasses exhibit larger density, lower refractive index, lower phonon energy and extended transmission in the mid-infrared spectrum. Potential applications relate to active optical fibres and supercontinuum generation


Over the years, and the increase in technology and the growth of telecommunications, the way journalism, as technological tools are in constant change. Traditional media formats have been changed progressively. The internet has changed drastically, the possibilities of generating and receiving information. Forcing the media to find a way to accommodate the interests and needs of your new audience; A young audience, used to consume visually appealing products in virtual platforms, resulting in websites that are increasingly common. The research aims to specify where the Ecuador stands, regarding the use and application of these technologies. It has the purpose to compare knowledge and propose new possible uses in journalism.
Journalism is entering an impeccably rigorous era where change is inevitable and journalists must adapt to the constant evolution of generators and consumers of content.


When it comes to creating website information structures, open card sorting is the main approach used. However, scientific research for the method's validity is lacking. This paper explores the validity of open card sorting for website structural design. To this end, participants first performed an open card sort for the redesign of a website with usability issues in its information structure. Next, a within-subjects user testing study was performed to compare two functional prototypes that differed only in their structure: one replicated the existing website structure, whereas the other implemented the structure produced by card sort data analysis. Results showed that participants using the redesigned structure had significantly better usability metrics (first click success rate, task time, SEQ score and SUS score) compared to when interacting with the existing structure. These findings provide support for the validity of the open card sorting method for the design of website information structures.


3062 Background: SNS-595 is a novel naphthyridine analog with broad and potent activity in preclinical models.

METHODS
SNS-595 was administered to patients (pts) with advanced solid cancers as an IV infusion over 10 minutes on 2 schedules: (A) qwk x3/1 week off, and (B) q3wks. Pt eligibility included refractory solid tumors and adequate organ function.

RESULTS
In study A, 20 patients (pts) were treated in 6 cohorts (dose range 3-24 mg/m2/wk). In study B, 41 pts were treated in 9 cohorts (dose range 3-75 mg/m2/wk). After the MTD in heavily pretreated (HP) pts was found, dose escalation in minimally pretreated (MP) pts was evaluated. The median ages were 60.5 yrs (A) and 59.5 yrs (B), sex 12F/8M (A), 16F/25M (B). All pts had a ECOG PS 0-2. Neutropenia was the dose limiting toxicity (DLT) for both studies. The MTD for A was 15 mg/m2 for HP and MP pts; the MTD for B was 48 mg/m2 for HP and 60 mg/m2 for MP pts. For both studies 2 pts had grade 4 thrombocytopenia; non-hematological toxicities were all grade 1/2. In A, pharmacokinetics (PK) were assessed on Days 1 and 15 (after the 1st and 3rd doses); exposure increased linearly over an 8-fold dose range (1.6-15 mcghr/mL), CL, Vss and T1/2 averaged 2 L/hr/m2, 49 L/m2, 18 hr, respectively, and did not change from Day 1 to 15. In B, PK were assessed on Day 1 after the 1st dose; exposure increased linearly over the 24-fold dose range (1.1-46 mcghr/mL), CL, Vss, and T1/2 averaged 2 L/hr/m2, 53 L/m2, and 21 hrs, respectively. For A, best responses were 4 SD (range 13-22 wks); for B, best responses were 1 PR and 12 SD (range 14-56 wks).

CONCLUSION
SNS-595 was well tolerated and showed clinical activity with both qwk and q3wk dosing. The DLT was non-cumulative neutropenia. SNS-595 demonstrated remarkably predictable PK, with low inter-and intra-patient variability. Based on these data, phase 2 studies of SNS-595 as monotherapy are ongoing, and are planned in combination therapy. [Table: see text].


Fractals are formed by iterative repetition of the construction algorithm at different scale levels. The use of such an algorithm, which increases the strength properties during the construction of the structure, will strengthen these properties with each iteration. The Koch curve principle is applied in the article. Replacing the compressible plate with four new ones connected at angles increases the stability of the structure.
This article theoretically confirms the increase in the stability of the Koch plate both at the level of individual plates and at the level of fractal segments and the structure as a whole (general stability). Regularities of stability changes at different scale levels with an increase in the number of iterations are established. A comparison of variants of Koch plates with different similarity coefficients is also carried out.
The theoretical results were confirmed using simulations in the CAE system Solid-Works - a finite element analysis of the stability of computer models of the Koch plates was carried out. The graphs constructed from the obtained data correspond to the theoretical predictions of the dependence of stability on the geometric parameters of the Koch plate.
As an illustration of the applicability of this kind of fractal structures in the design of aircraft parts, a fractal modification of a typical part, the slat rail, has been developed. The proposed modification of the rail was also investigated using computer simulations. A comparison of the strength properties of a standard-shaped part and its analogue with a fractal structure included showed the advantage of the latter: with certain values of mass and loading scheme, the fractal modification showed twice as much stability. This reduces the weight of the standard slat rail by 5% without loss of strength properties.


Selection of a suitable extraction technique is very important for the extraction of phytochemicals in maximum recovery and removal of undesirable constituents. Hence, the present study was undertaken to investigate the efficacy of extraction techniques viz. microwave assisted extraction, soxhlet extraction, homogenization and column chromatography towards the extraction of phytochemicals as well as on the antioxidant potential of extracts produced from different plant parts (viz. whole plant and seeds) of Chicory. Extracts prepared by using soxhlet technique had the highest extract yield, total phenolics content, flavonoids content as well as exhibited highest DPPH free radical scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity followed by column chromatography, microwave assisted and homogenization techniques. Among plant parts of Chicory; total phenolics, flavonoids, DPPH free radical scavenging activity and total antioxidant capacity were higher of whole plant extracts in comparison to seeds extracts. Significant correlation was observed between phytochemicals (total phenolics, flavonoids) and antioxidant activity (DPPH free radical scavenging activity & total antioxidant capacity).


Land use change and forest management strategies for carbon (C) uptake are investigated for the boreal forest of Northeastern British Columbia. Deterministic cost-of-mitigation analysis indicates that afforestation does offer some potential for low cost C uptake. However, alternatives within the existing forest base are shown to be high cost and very limited in scope. These strategies include increasing the rotation length, changing the species, age and quality of harvests and more intensive planting. The uncertainty which plagues the climate change problem cannot be ignored. Strategies to meet C uptake and other objectives using traditional multiple scenarios are compared to one that applies fuzzy measures to uncertainties in timber yield, C targets and policy targets. The case study shows that the arbitrary choice of uncertain parameters, often done when employing multiple scenarios, is not appropriate and thus these uncertainties must be modelled explicitly.


Grid technology has become the computer and network technologys research hotspot and frontier, Grid technology development and the consummation will promote the development of educational information. The intelligent has shortcoming which are resource isolated, update difficulty etc, Based on the grid technology research and application, using OGSA (Open Grid Services Architecture) grid system structure, Taking GLOBUS as the grid middleware to build grid platform. This paper discuss the educational grid minimum implementation unit - - teaching system of campus grid and put forward the network teaching system model based on the grid technology. Then establish a distributed, heterogeneous sharing information resources of the library, it provides an efficient, fully shared virtual teaching space for network tutoring system. Finally, intelligent network teaching system and the grid binding laid certain foundation.


An ultraviolet visible (UV–Vis) spectroscopy method was developed that can quantitatively characterize a technical copper surface to determine oxide layers and organic impurities. The oxide layers were produced by a heating step at 175 ℃ for four different times (range = 1–10 min). Partial least squares (PLS) regression was used to establish a relation between the UV–Vis spectra and film thickness measurements using Auger electron spectroscopy depth profiles. The validation accuracy of the regression is in the range of approximately 2.3 nm. The prediction model allowed obtaining an estimation of the oxide layer thickness with an absolute error of 2.9 nm. Alternatively, already known methods cannot be used because of the high roughness of the technical copper surfaces. An integrating sphere is used to measure the diffuse reflectance of these surfaces, providing an average over all angles of illumination and observation.


Dalit (ex-Untouchable) movements across Tamilnadu are struggling to achieve equality, justice and an end to caste based discrimination. Over the past decades they have succeeded in entering parliamentary politics in the state. Many of the movements that have contributed to the current profile of Dalit politics organized on the basis of a 'Dalit' identity. Increasingly, however, Dalit activists in Tamilnadu have come to stress more parochial and 'primordial' identities and adopt ever more specific objectives. The premise of identity politics is that social categories can and should represent themselves and assert their own priorities and agendas, but who defines the category and how representative are they? This paper teases out the contradictory aspects of such mobilization and interrogates the strategies of Tamil Dalit movements before considering whether the discourse of human rights can help transcend the impasse of identity politics.


This paper examines the rhetorical strategies employed in Gandhi's autobiography, The Story of My Experiments with Truth (1927). Specifically, the paper focuses on how Gandhi constructs his narrative of identity by purporting to represent the interests of subaltern Indians in British India and South Africa. Its central argument is that in the process of framing the narrative of self, Gandhi's autobiography objectifies the Indian masses by employing negative tropes to describe their attitudes towards cleanliness and sanitation. The paper demonstrates that by projecting them as dirty and unamenable to change, Gandhi indirectly creates a binary opposition between himself and the subalterns. It concludes that, in spite of his claims of solidarity with the oppressed, Gandhi ends up objectifying them as "others."


E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com March 6, 2008Key Words : Thulium-Nickel heterobimetallic complex, One dimensional array, Bridging cyanideThe heterobimetallic complexes containing electropositiveand labile lanthanide and transition metals have been desir-able for heterogeneous and homogeneous catalytic studies.


ABSTRACT The introduction traces the history of Taiwan cinema before the New Cinema of the 1980s. By sketching the much under-studied periods of Taiwan under Japanese occupation and after restoration in 1945, I provide the context within which this special issue on Taiwan's missing years may be understood. While the featured articles focus mostly on the Mandarin-language Healthy Realism of the 1960s and 1970s, I describe in some detail its Taiwanese-dialect counterpart to highlight the questions of nation at the core of Taiwan's pursuit of modernization. My goals are to bring to light the absent history of Taiwan cinema during the missing years, to the study of which this special issue collectively contributes.


This article addresses issues and data collected from members ofthe Karuk
Tribe of northern California. Once pari of a thriving network ofindigenous
groups located in the remote regions of Klamath River country, the Karuk
Tribe today numbers approximately 2,300, among whom it is estimated
that only ten to 12 speak the native language. This study explores the
history of Karuk contact with European-Americans and the resulting
impacts that contributed to the near extinction of native language use
among Karuk families. The study also traces the development ofpast and
contemporary approaches taken by the Karuk people t o address language
revitalization.


The invention relates to the field of radar signal processing and especially relates to a radar anti-interference method by utilizing polarization cancellation. In the method, through determining a cancellation main channel and an accessory channel, and then, by utilizing the main channel and the accessory channel as well as channel weight coefficients thereof, no-interference signals are obtained after cancellation. The method is especially suitable for escort self-defense noise interference and general clutter interference; signal-to-clutter-noise ratio of the system can be greatly improved, detection of follow-up radar signal processing is convenient, and detection capability of the radar can be effectively improved under the complex electromagnetic environment.


Fault diagnosis of a class of linear multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) systems is developed here. An emulator-based scheme is proposed to detect and isolate faults in a system formed by interconnected subsystems. Emulators, which are hardware or software devices, are connected to the input and measurement outputs in cascade with the subsystems whose faults are to be diagnosed. The role of an emulator is to induce variations in cascade combination of the nominal fault-free subsystem so as to mimic the actual perturbations that may occur in the subsystem during the offline identification phase. The emulator-generated data are employed in the reliable identification of the nominal system, the associated Kalman filter, and a map that relates the emulator parameters to the feature vector. In the operational stage, the Kalman filter residual is used to detect a fault in the system; the emulator parameter that has varied is estimated, and using the emulator-feature vector map, the faulty subsystem is isolated. The main contributions of this work are accurate and reliable identification of the system, the fault diagnosis of multivariable systems using feature vector-emulator map fault diagnosis of multivariable systems, and the establishment of the key properties of the Kalman filter for fault detection. The proposed scheme was successfully evaluated on a number of simulated as well as physical systems.


We study the transition from the geometrically thin disk to the hot coronal flow for accretion onto black holes. The eciency of evaporation determines the truncation of the geometrically thin disk as a function of the black hole mass and the mass flow rate in the outer disk. The physics of the evaporation was already described in detail in earlier work (Meyer et al. 2000b). We show now that the value of the viscosity parameter for the coronal gas has a strong influence on the evaporation eciency. For smaller values of the viscosity evaporation is less ecient. For a given mass flow rate from outside the geometrically thin disk then extends farther inward. Spectral transitions between soft and hard states are then expected for dierent mass flow rates in the outer disk. The physics is the same for the cases of stellar and supermassive black holes systems.


Relative transmission of radiation P in the minimum of the 2724-cm1 HDO band has been analyzed in two cases: a) for solar radiation and different air masses m (slant paths); b) globar as the artificial source of radiation in the ground air layer (horizontal paths with a length of 1.4 km). A technique for estimation of precipitated water wz (cm) in the vertical atmospheric column with accuracy of about 10 percent has been suggested. Calibration curve P (sz x m) calculated from the dependence of P on wo - precipitated water of the ground air layer - is used.


Unfortunately, herbicide resistance developed shortly after the introduction of the herbi‐ cides 2,4‐D in 1957. According the herbicide resistance mechanisms, all processes can be grouped as follows: target‐site resistance, non‐target‐site resistance, cross‐resistance and multiple‐resistance. Target‐site resistance is generally due to a single or several mutations in the gene encoding the herbicide‐target enzyme, which, in turn, decreases the affinity for herbicide binding to that enzyme. Non‐target‐site resistance is caused by mechanisms that reduce the amount of herbicidal active compound before it can attack the plant through the reduced absorption or altered translocation, increased herbicide sequestration or enhanced herbicide metabolism. Cross‐resistance means that a single‐resistance mecha‐ nism causes resistance to several herbicides with some mode of action. Multiple‐resistance is a situation where two or more resistance mechanisms are present within the same plant, often due to sequential selection by herbicides with different modes of action. Currently, herbicide resistance has been reported in 478 weed biotypes (252 weed species) in 67 coun‐ tries. Many of those biotypes are resistant to acetolactate synthase (ALS) inhibitors, PS II inhibitors, ACC‐ase inhibitors and EPSPS inhibitors. Strategy for herbicide‐resistance weed management must involve all the available preventive, cultural, mechanical and chemical measures for effective, safe and cost‐effective weed control.


Vat polymerization, the earliest and most established 3D printing technology, offers abundant advantages of high-precision fabrication and rapid printing speed, among others. This technology is often applied to fabricated objects with complex and delicate structures, which are of specific interest in numerous fields. However, it suffers from poor mechanical properties of the resultant printed parts due to layer-by-layer manufacturing patterns and the absence of functionality, restricting the broader application of printed objects. Integrating nanomaterials with vat polymerization-based 3D printing endows the creation of products with enhanced properties and unprecedented functional adjunction with flexible designs. Giving a brief description of 3D printing technology, this review illustrates the principles and characteristics of vat polymerization technology. In this mini-review, we emphasize recent advances in nanocomposite fabricated using vat polymerization, predominantly focusing on creating nanocomposites with enhanced mechanical, thermal properties, and electrical conductivity. Finally, we summarize the article with the challenges being faced and future perspectives of nanocomposites fabricated from vat polymerization.


High crystal quality, in particular, provides a method of producing a spiral dislocation density is extremely low SiC single crystal and a SiC single crystal ingot obtained by this method. In particular, the sublimation as a substrate was cut out from the bulk of the silicon carbide single crystal grown by the recrystallization method, a spiral dislocation density is small in the peripheral portion than in the center, provides a partially spiral dislocation is reduced silicon carbide single crystal substrate. By the manufacturing method of SiC single crystals by the sublimation recrystallization method using a seed crystal, a SiC single crystal ingot obtained by this. In particular, the diameter of the substrate to R and when to around the center point O of the substrate hayeoteul defines a peripheral region of the remaining donut-shape and the central circular area with a diameter of 0.5 × R, except for the central circle region of the substrate, wherein the average value of the screw dislocation density observed in the peripheral area of the donut-type silicon carbide single crystal substrate, characterized in that not more than 80% of the average value of the screw dislocation density observed in the central circular area.


Background and purpose: Sample size and its determination is one of the most important problems in health researches. Calculating sample size for prevalence studies is one of the common questions of sample size topics. Minimum sample size with least complexity is desirable in order to achieve the basic goal of these studies. This study aims to compare two formulas of sample size calculation for prevalence researches and finally, to use the simplest formula to get the most appropriate sample size. Materials and Methods: Sample size for proportions: 0.9, 0.95, 0.99, 0.999 candidates of p close to 1 proportions; 10 -5 , 10 -4 , 10 -3 , 10 -2 , 0.05, 0.1 candidates of p close to 0, and proportions 0.3, 0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7 candidates of p close to 0.5 were calculated. For comparing n1, n2; �� =�� 1 �� 2


Upcoming wireless communication standards such as 802.11 n, WiMax etc require support for multiple modulation schemes. These standards all have multiple transmit and receive antennas(MIMO). Hence, the MIMO detector hardware should be able to accommodate different modulation schemes preferably on a single reconfigurable architecture. This paper presents an high performance FPGA implementation of a novel MIMO detector architecture that is able to reconfigure on the fly and provides quasi-optimal Bit Error Rate(BER). The design is implemented in Xilinx Virtex-4, and achieves a sustained throughput of 1.72 Gbps for QPSK, 860 Mbps for 16-QAM, and 430 Mbps for 64-QAM. The total area is approximately 140.26 KGates equivalent.


A stable, carotenoid-containing composition is provided which contains a carotenoid and a thickener. More preferably, a carotenoid-containing composition is provided which contains a carotenoid, a thickening polysaccharide such as hyaluronic acid, and ascorbic acid or a derivative thereof, and further, a propolis extract and/or peanut seed coat extract. By adding the thickener and also the propolis extract and/or peanut seed coat extract, it is possible to reduce the amount of the ascorbic acid or derivative thereof, making it possible to provide a carotenoid-containing composition with low skin irritation that is suitable for cosmetics.


The cultural transformation marking the New South was structured by a central dialectic: the dynamic relation between modernization and modernism. Various plans to rejuvenate the South after World War I urged the adoption of modernized modes of production, including tenancy and credit reform for farmers; crop diversification; increased commodity consumption; technological improvements, such as electrification and mechanization; cooperatives for equipment and supply purchasing; improved housing; reforestation and erosion work; and the development of small, local industry.1 Despite significant differences in the panoply of New South programs (for example, differences over the degrees of commitment to northern capital and management techniques, or over the extent to which black fortunes