Highlights The impact of parboiling process parameters on the feasibility of one-pass microwave drying of high-moisture parboiled rough rice was investigated. Rough rice was parboiled by 3 hours of soaking in water at 71°C, 73°C, or 76°C and then steamed for 5, 10, or 15 min prior to microwave drying at 915 MHz. Moisture content following parboiling at the studied conditions ranged from 42.59% to 48.21% dry basis. Microwave specific energies ranging from 0.04 to 0.29 kWh per kg of parboiled rough rice dry matter (kWh kg-DM-1) were used to dry the parboiled rough rice. Soaking at 73°C and steaming for 10 min followed by one-pass microwave drying at 0.29 kWh kg-DM-1 gave the best results in terms of parboiled rough rice final moisture content and post-drying milling and physiochemical properties. Microwave treatment can provide one-pass drying of parboiled rough rice. Abstract. The volumetric heating phenomenon of microwaves (MW) offers a means to quickly dry high moisture content (MC) parboiled rough rice in one pass. However, to successfully dry parboiled rough rice in one pass using MW while preserving the milled rice yield and quality characteristics, it is vital to investigate the impacts of the pre-drying parboiling conditions on the drying process and the resulting product characteristics. The objectives of this study were to explore the feasibility of using MW at 915 MHz to dry high-MC parboiled rough rice and to determine the implications of the pre-drying soaking and steaming conditions on the parboiled rough rice final moisture content (FMC), milled rice yield (MRY), head rice yield (HRY), and the milled rice physiochemical properties. Freshly harvested, long-grain rough rice of the cultivar Mermentau at MC of 31.58% dry basis (d.b.) was used in this study. The parboiling process involved soaking the rough rice in water at temperatures of 71°C, 73°C, or 76°C and steaming for 5, 10, or 15 min. After parboiling, samples of rough rice for the controlled experiment were gently dried with natural air at 25°C and 65% relative humidity, while samples for MW treatment were dried using a 915 MHz MW dryer, which was set to deliver energy ranging from 0.04 to 0.29 kWh per kg of rough rice dry matter content (kWh kg-DM-1). The MW power applied during treatment ranged from 1 to 8 kW with heating durations of up to 6 min. The rough rice MC immediately increased after the soaking and steaming processes and ranged from 42.59% to 48.21% d.b. Increased soaking temperature led to increased uptake of water after parboiling, decreases in MRY, HRY, protein content, and milled rice surface lipid content (SLC), and increases in total color difference (TCD). Increased steaming duration led to decreased moisture uptake during steaming, decreased MRY, protein content, SLC, and TCD, and increased HRY. Increased MW specific energy led to decreased FMC, HRY, protein content, and SLC and increased TCD. It is recommended that long-grain rough rice should be soaked at 73°C, steamed for 10 min, and then treated at MW specific energy of 0.29 kWh kg-DM-1 in one pass to achieve parboiled rough rice FMC of 18.79% d.b., HRY of 69.33%, and desirable parboiled milled rice physicochemical and sensory properties. At the same parboiling conditions, the control samples had MRY of 74.98% and HRY of 74.07%. MW specific energy greater than 0.29 kWh kg-DM-1 was necessary to dry the parboiled rough rice to MC safe for long-term storage (14.29% to 15.61% d.b.). However, the application of specific energy beyond 0.29 kWh kg-DM-1 caused a reduction of HRY below that of the control samples. Therefore, to preserve HRY, rice processors should use MW specific energy of 0.29 kWh kg-DM-1 to partially dry parboiled rice and then complete the drying to a safe storage MC by using natural or slightly heated air. This study demonstrates the feasibility of using 915 MHz MW heating of high-MC parboiled rough rice to achieve one-pass drying.


biodegradable thermoplastic granulate consisting of at least one caseinate and / or at least one casein, and at least one plasticizer.


We report a rare case of an aberrant internal carotid artery running in the tympanic cavity. The patient was a 5-year-old girl with otitis media exudativa. During a myringotomy of the left ear, a profuse aural hemorrhage occurred. The bleeding was stopped by packing tightly with tampons. A CTscan revealed an aberrant internal carotid artery in the tympanic cavity. To avoid a faulty myringotomy, recognition of this entity is essential, and careful observation preoperatively under a microscope is required.


In Daredevil (2015–18) fan works, fans confront the character of Daredevil, who is portrayed in the Netflix TV series of the same name as explicitly religious, namely Catholic. This means that fan works seeking to explore sexuality, especially same-sex sexuality, must confront Catholicism's prohibition on extramarital sex, including same-sex sexual relations. I examine how fan works use Daredevil as a site from which to examine and debate Catholicism and queerness.


The utility model discloses a steel wire rope winding device. The steel wire rope winding device comprises a power part, a fixed frame, a spline shaft, a steel wire winding drum, a nut plate, a rotating frame, a rope guide wheel and a rope pressing wheel; the spline shaft is arranged on the fixed frame and connected with the power part; the steel wire winding drum is flexibly sleeves the spline shaft. According to the steel wire rope winding device, the winding drum is meshed with the nut plate and accordingly the winding drum can move along the spline shaft and accordingly inclination cannot be produced when a steel wire rope winds in or winds out of a pulley and the winding drum, namely that the inclined angle of the steel wire rope is 0 degree, and accordingly scratches of the lateral side of a rope groove or groove jumping of the steel wire rope due to the fact that the inclined angle of the steel wire rope is too large cannot be produced even under the condition that the steel wire rope winding device is limited by the structural size and namely that the center distance between the winding drum and the pulley is small, and the like.


Abstract India is a growing ICT country in the world. In the most recent research findings ICT provides us several ways of learning and it also affects teachers by providing alternative teaching styles. With the use of the latest technology, teachers can grasp the significance of technology. To use it efficiently and creatively, the teacher should have right and positive attitude. By keeping this thing in view, the concerned study describing the attitude of Indian teachers towards ICT in education in relation to their affiliation with the University is conducted. More than three hundred teachers from different faculties of six universities located in two states of India have participated in the academic year 2015. The statistical test like Z-test and T-test at 5% confidence level proves that University affiliation did not affect the teachers' attitude towards ICT in higher education.


__. .________ . _ _______________ 35 Introduction. _ __________ _ _ ._ ._ _______ 35 Working principle of stereometer-type instruments__ ____.___-_ 36 Formulas used to convert change in parallax to change in elevation._____ 39 Tilt._____-.._ __-.-._..__ ._... .. _.._...__. . 46 Measurement of strike and dip_________-___________________________ 49 Effect of surface expression of the strata___.__ ___-_-___-,__ _ 49 Effect of photograph scale.___ _ ___-..----.__--. 50 Effect of relief displacement_____________________________ 50 Correction for relief displacement..__ ... ________ ____ 52 Limitation of relief displacement correction ___________________ 53 Measurement of stratigraphic intervals __ _ ______ 53 Summary __ _____________________________________________________ 55 Literature cited.____________ ____ ___ -____-____._-.______ 56


Blenderized tube feeding has been steadily gaining in popularity among parents and caregivers of tube-fed children. Numerous websites and social media accounts are devoted to the topic, and the parent may be the one to initially broach the subject of implementing this type of feeding plan. This article discusses several different approaches to planning a blenderized tube feeding. As practitioners build their knowledge of and familiarity with blenderized tube feeding, they may feel more comfortable recommending this method to a wider variety of patients.


The stability analysis method of underground energy storage cluster is developed using the principle of minimum plastic complementary energy and unbalanced force,based on the strict definition of structure failure and its logical description with set concept presented in deformation reinforcement theory.In the framework of non-equilibrium elastoplastic mechanics,the classic finite element method is extended to the analysis for post-failure state of structure,where the plastic complementary energy norm serves as the criterion of global stability while the unbalanced force and its development indicates the pattern and path of destruction.The cluster stability and chain destruction of double-cavern cluster under different distances are emphatically studied.Results of stability analysis and chain destruction simulation for Jintan oil and gas storage cluster in rock salt deposit is presented.The result shows that the unbalanced force and plastic complementary energy are suitable for quantitatively evaluating the stability of underground storage cluster.Deformation reinforcement theory provides quantitative and practical analysis method for the study of global stability,cavern interaction and space-time evolution of destruction of underground energy storage cluster;and it which can be used for the research of disaster mechanism and protection measures.


In September 2002 South Dakota State University's Electrical Engineering Department opened the doors to its new state-of-the-art energy conversion and electronic drives laboratory. The automated features, computer instrumentation and monitoring components of the laboratory provide students with a working demonstration of electrical engineering in the areas of energy conversion and electronic drives. However, the most extraordinary aspect of the new lab is that it was designed, constructed and tested by thirteen undergraduate students, one graduate student, and a professor over a period of five years. This paper provides an overview of the laboratory, describes the educational benefits students gained throughout design and construction of the facility, and recounts the challenges and lessons the students learned throughout this process. The student perspective will provide considerable insight to those interested in employing students in the design of a new laboratory. New Laboratory Overview The concept of the new energy conversion and electric drives laboratory was birthed in the fall of 1997 with an original estimate of $275,000 to replace essentially all existing equipment. The proposed layout for this laboratory is shown in Fig. 1. Three components were identified for design and fabrication through senior design and student design projects: 1) automated load banks (ALB), 2) power processing station, (PPS) and 3) power workstation benches (PWB). The new student laboratory was designed around the PWB, which obtains access to power and load resources located in the utility room via a PC with a National Instruments Data Acquisition Card and LabView control interface. These resources include 208 and 240 Vac 3-phase utility power, 0-250 Vdc power, battery banks, solar panels, and the DC/AC (single or 3-phase) 10 kW ALB. The PPS enables interconnection between the PWB and these resources. The first PWB was constructed in the summer of 2000 and the second in the summer of 2001 (Fig. 2). The first PPS prototype design [1] was fabricated in the summer of 2001 (Fig. 3), while three separate design teams [2-4] worked on the design and implementation of the ALB (Fig. 4).


a haven from America's social problems. This belief has been popularised by the selective treatment of these migrants in the mass media of both Australia and America. Magazines and newspapers still depict these people as escapees from America seeking refuge in the Lucky Country.~ Explanations of why Americans settle in Australia almost invariably refer to their success in escaping oppressive social conditions, and to their satisfaction with highly romanticised features of Australian life (the people are friendlier, the air cleaner, the children happier, the atmosphere better for family life, and so on). What passes as standard journalism is certainly poor sociology. Such explanations of American migration are superficial, sensationalist, erroneous, and misleading. They


Extraneural metastasis from glioblastoma multiforme are rareand is usually seen in previously operated patients. Here, we present a case of a 22 yr-old-male of glioblastoma multiforme with metastasis in cervical lymph node that was diagnosed by fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC).


The invention relates to a device for measuring the filling level of a liquefied gas container, wherein a particular by the filling height level of a mounted inside the container float 12 causes a corresponding thereto position of which is arranged in the vicinity of the container wall magnets 4 and the position of the magnet 4 by means of a in the active region arranged on the container outside of the display device 1, 2 is detectable. To improve the measurement accuracy, the invention proposes that the display device comprises at least one magnetoresistive resistor.


Identification for region generated by parameterized curve set in plane is the base of pattern filling.At present,several algorithms for area-filling in raster graphics field are proposed,but there are difficulties of detection for region generated by parameterized curve set.Based on the spatial theory,some issues about the region identification are studied.The main researches concentrate on representation and relations of regions.Based on the concepts and property of directional closed loop,this paper proposes an algorithm for region identification and plane parameterized curve set.Experiments show this algorithm has wide adaptability and is easy to implement,and has been applied in Dimine software.


Piezoelectric ceramics are commonly used in various sensing applications. In this paper, the effect of poling and repoling conditions on thick-film piezoelectric ceramics were investigated. The piezoelectric charge coefficient of the piezoelectric ceramics were measured with varying poling conditions, where the effect of changing poling temperature and electrical field on the d33 were analyzed. This was followed by investigating on the effect high applied electrical fields results in repolarization the alignment of the piezoelectric domain in the opposite direction. The temperature and electrical field dependence polarization of the thick-film piezoelectric ceramics were varied near to its Curie temperature between 50°C to 250°C and at a range of electrical field from 20 V (400 kV/mm) up to 200 V (4 MV/mm). It was found that the piezoelectric properties increases with increasing the poling electric field and poling temperature significantly. The maximum values of piezoelectric coefficient were obtained fo...


ABSTRACT How might nuclear deterrence be affected by the proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) and autonomous systems? How might the introduction of intelligent machines affect human-to-human (and human-to-machine) deterrence? Are existing theories of deterrence still applicable in the age of AI and autonomy? The article builds on the rich body of work on nuclear deterrence theory and practice and highlights some of the variegated and contradictory – especially human cognitive psychological – effects of AI and autonomy for nuclear deterrence. It argues that existing theories of deterrence are not applicable in the age of AI and autonomy and introducing intelligent machines into the nuclear enterprise will affect nuclear deterrence in unexpected ways with fundamentally destabilising outcomes. The article speaks to a growing consensus calling for conceptual innovation and novel approaches to nuclear deterrence, building on nascent post-classical deterrence theorising that considers the implications of introducing non-human agents into human strategic interactions.


A framework for school improvement which recognises the important role that schools, local authorities, regional consortia and the Welsh Government play in supporting education.


The invention discloses a heat-resistant aluminum alloy expanded-diameter conductor and a manufacturing method thereof. The method comprises the following steps: preparing standard aluminum ingot consisting of, by weight, not more than 0.13% of ferrum, not more than 0.06% of silicon, not more than 0.01% of copper, not more than 0.02% of gallium, not more than 0.01% of magnesium, not more than 0.01% of zinc and not more than 0.2% of impurities (with each impurity being not more than 0.01%), putting the standard aluminum ingot in a smelting furnace and smelting the standard aluminum ingot into aluminum liquid, and then placing the aluminum liquid in a holding furnace for heat preservation processing; b, respectively adding zirconium alloy ingot, rare earth alloy ingot and boron alloy ingot in the aluminum liquid in step a and carrying out refining processing; c, continuously casting, rolling and drawing the processed aluminum liquid in step b into heat-resistant aluminum alloy single wires; and d, stranding a galvanized hose, galvanized steel wires and the heat-resistant aluminum alloy single wires into a finished heat-resistant aluminum alloy expanded-diameter conductor. Through selection of and control on the added elements and by the adoption of a reasonable preparation process, the heat-resistant aluminum alloy expanded-diameter conductor has excellent comprehensive performance.


Precipitation in a commercial duplex stainless steel, Zeron-100, has been investigated using conventional and high-resolution electron microscopy. Acicular fcc precipitates of Ni-rich nphase formed in the Cr-rich fmatrix by suitable heat treatment. The orientation relationships between a large number of particles and the matrix were studied and found to be distributed in a range between the Kurdjumov-Sachs and the Pitsch relationships. All particles were observed to be bounded by two types of longitudinal facets, designated I and C, representing 'incoherent' and 'coherent'. High-resolution microscopy showed that the I facet was based on the (112) alpha /(101) nincommensurate interface between Pitsch-related crystals. The C facet exhibited a coherent terrace structure with coherency strain parallel to accommodated by a disconnection array, causing the adjacent crystals to be slightly misoriented from the Kurdjumov-Sachs relationship. The orientational incompatibility between the I and C reference structures, 5.76° about , was found to be accommodated by networks of n-crystal dislocations superimposed on the facets. These acted as tilt walls of dislocations, but, although their combined angular tilt was always observed to equal about 5.7°, this was not partitioned between the I and C facets in a unique manner. Such differential partitioning of the incompatibility offers a natural explanation for the observed variation in particle orientation. Some issues, such as the growth mechanism, were not resolved and need further work.


OE 6-85-086 A STUDY IN COMMUNICATION BETWEEN HIGH SCHOOL TEACHERS OF VOCATIONAL AGRICULTURE AND SOCIO -ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED YOUTH BY THE USt OF THE SEMANTIC DIFFERENTIAL Martin B. McM11.1ion University of Illinois Urbana, Illinois December 1, 1965-August 31, 1966 Purpose The purposes of the study were to (1) determine whether. or not socio-economically disadvantaged pupils and two other socio-economic groups of pupils in each of the four secondary school grades placed a significantly different connotative meaning on selected words and phrases which are of importance to vocational education in agriculture, (2) determine whether or not the connotative meaning the agriculture teachers of these pupils placed on the words and phrases was more like that of the higher socio-economic classifications of pupils than the socio economically disadvantaged classification of pupils, and (3) determine the extent to which teachers recognize any difference in connotative meaning for selected words and phrases which may exist among the various elassifications of pupils. Procedure Pupils stu4ing vocational agriculture in twenty-one Illinois high schools were classified into three socio economic groups in each of the four high school grades by use of the Sims SCI Occupational Rating Scale. A stratified random sample of 240 pupils composed of twenty pupils from each of the twelve stratifications of pupils and twenty-one teachers of agriculture completed a semantic differential instrument under the 2 supervision of the researcher. Respondents indicated the connotative meaning they placed on the words anl phrases by judging them against Likert-type scales consisting of a good-bad continuum, an importantunimportant continuum, and other siAlar continuum scales boune by adjectives which were oppoeite -Lult.ivura.tme unaipsIs cox variance was the major statistical procedure emnloyed in the study. The hypotheses were .:ested at the .05 level of significance. Findings The findings concerning connotative meaning were as follows: 1. The socio-economic level of pupils was related to the connotative meaning vc.cational agriculture pupils placed on the words "leadership" and "cooperation." The rord "leadership" was valued more highly by the aocio-economically disadvantaged group of pupils than by the upper socio-economic group of pupils. The word "cooperation" was valued more highly by the middle socio-econodic group of pupils than by the highest socio-economic group of pupils. 2. The grade level of secondary school pupils studying vocational agriculture was not related to the connotative meaning placed on any of the eleven words or phrases studied. 3. Teachers of agriculture predictad the meaning which their pupils placed on the eleven words and phrases studied equally well for the twelve subgroups of pupils consisting of three socio-economic levels of pupils in each of the four secondary school grades. 4. Teachers of agriculture were more in agreement with the connotative meaning which junior and senior vocational agriculture pupils placed on the words and phases studied than they ware 3 with the meaning freshmen and sophomore pupils placed on the same words and phrases. 5. Teachers eonsistently unde..astimated the value which all eocational agriculture pupils as a group placed upon the words and Fame:wow= cruimAJGu. Recommendations Any oneralizati-ns from the findings of this study must be limited to the type of population used for the study. Where such conditions prevail, the following recommendations seem feasible. 1. Low status pupils, the socio-economically disadvantaged, value leadership more highly than do high status pupils and should be afforded an opportunity to assume positions of leadership. Teachers of vocational agriculture should attempt to influence the present leaders of the FFA organization to permit and encourage pupils having low socio-economic status to assume positions of leadership as regular officers or as chairmen of important committees in the FFA. Suggested committees are the entertainment committee and the banquet committee where opportunities for social improvement and recognition exist. The teacher should encourage the use of nominating committees for the selection of new officers in the FFA organization, and he should encourage the nominating committee to select candidates from the low socio-economic groups as wen. as from the upper socio-economic groups. Attempts should be made to prevent every office in the FFA from being filled by a clique of pupils from the higher status families. The importance of willingness of pupils and the ability of pupils to perform duties required in a position of leadership should be explained by teachers to the ixesent leaders of the FFA organization. If possible, social barriers 4 or lack of popularity on the part of disadvantaged pupils should not be permitted to be insurmountable obstacles to attaining positions of Jeadership. 2. Teachers of agriculture should realize that the literature pet talning to the attitudes and values of low status pupils in the cities and elsewhere do not necessarily apply to pupils in rural areas. If disadvantaged youth were all hostile and rebellious, one would expect the low statue group of pupils to place little value on "cooperation." The lowest socioeconomic group and the middle socio-economic group both placed a higher value upon the word "cooperation" than did the highest socio-economic group. One reason for the relatively low value placed on the word "cooperation" by the highest socio-economic group could be the sense of self-sufficiency of those having the higher socio-economic status. The findings seem to imply that the highest socio-economic group of pupils should be taught to value cooperation more than they value it now. PREFACE This study, using the semantic differential technique to assess attitudes and values, pioneers its use as a research tool in esmmesisstion research in the study of disadvantaged youth in vocational and technical education. The findings of this study indicated that it is a useful research tool in vocational and technical education. Research workers investigating vocational and technical education problems are advised to consider the possibility of using the semantic differential technique as a possible tool in their research. The findings of this study indicated that there were differences in meaning placed on words by pupils in the various socio-economic strata. Educators should be aware of these differences and further research is needed to indicate the implications of these differences and to indicate program and teaching procedure changes that will compensate for these differences in meaning of words used in vocational education and technical education by the pupils from the various socio-economic strata of our society. The findings further clearly indicated that the communication between teachers and pupils improved as the pupils obtained more contact hours or instruction in vocational and technical education. Teachers of vocational and technical education courses need to understand that they are less effective in communicating with beginning and younger pupils than they are with older and more advanced pupils. Both researchers and teachers need to devise ways and means of improving the communication process with young and inexperienced pupils in vocational and technical education. Lloyd J. Phipps Project Director


The presentation of the Idalion Bronze in ICS 217, which is generally used by archaeologists and historians, has to be modified in some points. The most important one : the text does not offer a choice to the family of doctors, because the sequences e-tu-wa-no-i-nu and e-to-ko-i-nu in the decisive passages must be aorists followed by particles (eduwan oi(n)nu and ed ok' oi(n)nu) and not present optatives. Further is argumented that ka-te-wo-ro-ko-ne/ kateworgon/, "they besieged", might be an imperfect instead of an aorist ; the adjectives pa-no-ni-o-ne/ panonion/ and pa-no-ni-o-se/ panoniosl concern most probably the right to "use" and not the right to "sell" ; the verbal form e-xe I o-ru-xe/ exoruxe/ must belong to όρυσσω, "to dig", and not to όρίζω, "to divide" ; there might be a scribal error i- / i /, "and", instead of it it, "or" ; the expression pe-re-ta-li-o-ne/ per' Edalion/, "around Idalion", might present a trace of an archaic formula better attested in Vedic Indian.


T axpayers filed 143.0 million returns for Tax Year 2007. This number does not include returns filed by individuals only to receive the economic stimulus payment and who had no other reason to file. Of these 143.0 million returns, 96.3 million (or 67.3 percent) were classified as taxable returns. A taxable return is a return that has total income tax greater than $0. This represents an increase of 3.8 percent in the number of taxable returns from 2006. Adjusted gross income (AGI) on these taxable returns rose 8.5 percent to $8,072 billion for 2007, while total income tax rose 9.0 percent to $1,116 billion. The average tax rate for taxable returns was unchanged, at 13.8 percent. The top 1 percent of taxpayers, those with an AGI of at least $410,096, accounted for 22.8 percent of AGI for 2007. This represents an increase in income share of 0.8 percentage points from the previous year, when the cutoff for this group was for this group was $388,806. These taxpayers accounted for 40.4 percent of the total income tax reported, an increase from 39.9 percent in 2006. The top 5 percent of taxpayers accounted for 37.4 percent of AGI and 60.6 percent of total income tax. To be included in the top 5 percent, a taxpayer must have reported an AGI of at least $160,041, whereas, in 2006, the cutoff for this group was $153,542. This article discusses the individual income tax rates and tax shares and the computation of "total income tax" for 2007. To put this discussion into perspective, the article provides explanations of selected terms used in the article and describes the income tax structure, certain tax law changes, income and tax concepts (the 1979 Income Concept, modified taxable income, and marginal tax rates), the computation of alternative minimum taxable income, and data sources and limitations.


The exponential model is a commonly used epidemic model for the analysis of initial outbreak data due to an infectious disease. But there have been questions about its validity in practice. This article examines this issue through statistical analysis on 22 countries' initial COVID-19 outbreak data provided by the World Health Organization. For each of 22 countries, a general regression analysis is conducted for the cumulative confirmed cases. Our regression function is a 3-5 piecewise fitted functions which are obtained via regression analysis


Conventional sodium bicarbonate dry powder(denoted as BC powder) showed poor re-iginition resistance to cooking oil fires.In this article,three kinds of chemicals of ammonia polyphosphate(APP),potassium bromine(KBr) and potassium oxalate monohydrate(K2C2O4·H2O) were selected as the additives to BC powders to improve their re-ignition resistance.Performance of the composite particles was evaluated through full-scale cooking oil fire suppression tests.Experimental results show that the composite of BC powders and K2C2O4·H2O exhibits the best fire extinguishing efficiency and re-iginition resistance.Finally,fire fighting performance differences between the composite powders were analyzed in detail based on their physicochemical properties and phenomena in the fire suppression process.


The equation of motion of a massive scalar field obtained by W. T. Kim et al. [Phys. Rev. D 66, 044017 (2002)] in the black hole limit is rederived. Some relevant aspects of this equation are then discussed.


The main goal of this paper is to know and evaluate how to avail various cloud computing services provided to get the best performance cost-effectively and can be used in load balancing. Load balance plays a crucial role in the information acquiring system's performance which helps to get maximum results in minimum response time in the education field and in any business environment. Mainly in the situation of cloud storage, the load balance is well done, which brings to the full consumption of computing resources and reduces the response time of distributed operations. Load balancing can be done only when all the storage nodes are in data sync. This paper mainly focuses on cloud Storage types available in Azure VM and their performances to achieve data replication and load balancing.


The eletrodeposited copper alloy coating without silver element on the copper substrate will be one of the emphases on the exploitation of copper based electrical contact materials.By analyzing the potential-pH diagram of Cu,Co and Mo aqueous solution system at normal temperature,the feasibility of CuMo-Co alloy coating on copper substrate is thermodynamically determined.The results showed that Cu-Co alloys could be depsoited in the aqueous solution of Cu2 + and Co2 +.In the aqueous solution of Cu2 + and MoO42-,Cu-Mo alloys can not be electrodeposited.But Cu-Mo alloys can be inductively electrodeposited in the aqueous solution of Co2 + and MoO42-.So it is feasible that Cu-Mo-Co alloys could be electrodeposited in aqueous solution.


We present a new model to explain the difference between the transport and spectroscopy gaps in samarium hexaboride (SmB$_6$), which has been a mystery for some time. We propose that SmB$_6$ can be modeled as an intrinsic semiconductor with a depletion length that diverges at cryogenic temperatures. In this model, we find a self-consistent solution to Poisson's equation in the bulk, with boundary conditions based on Fermi energy pinning due to surface charges. The solution yields band bending in the bulk; this explains the difference between the two gaps because spectroscopic methods measure the gap near the surface, while transport measures the average over the bulk. We also connect the model to transport parameters, including the Hall coefficient and thermopower, using semiclassical transport theory. The divergence of the depletion length additionally explains the 10-12 K feature in data for these parameters, demonstrating a crossover from bulk dominated transport above this temperature to surface-dominated transport below this temperature. We find good agreement between our model and a collection of transport data from 4-40 K. This model can also be generalized to materials with similar band structure.


Figure 1: Left: three dimensional scheme of the phantom used for MRI experiments. Center tube is filled with PHIP substance (orange), outer tube contains water (blue). Right: the FIDs originating from the whole phantom. The blue signal stems from thermally polarized water and thermally polarized PHIP substanc. The red signal is generated by thermally polarized water and hyperpolarized PHIP substance exhibiting an antiphase NMR signal.


Recently, intercell interference coordination in het-erogenous networks attracts great attention. This paper presents an analytical framework to evaluate time mute scheme in closed access femto and macro co-existent networks. We use stochastic geometry to model the downlink scenario and derive the coverage probability of indoor macro users and femto users. Considering the selfishness of the owners of femtos, we formulate the two-tier interference coordination as pricing game, and obtain the closed-form of Nash equilibrium (NE). Simulation results demonstrate the influences of different parameters on the coverage probability of macro users achieved at the NE of the pricing game.


Introduction: Recent studies have shown that insulin resistance and deficiency, a marker of Diabetes mellitus type 2 (DM), interact with beta amyloid and tau protein phosphorylation, which are the basic neuropathological hallmarks of Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Based on these results, it was recently proposed that AD might be considered as 'Diabetes type 3'. Aim of the current study is to assess the cognitive function of DM patients and Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients with neurophysiological and neuropsychological measures and seek possible correlations. Original Research Article Papaliagkas et al.; JAMMR, 33(12): 10-15, 2021; Article no.JAMMR.68816 11 Methods: The study participants were divided into two groups: group 1 and group 2. Group 1 consisted of 24 DM patients (7 men, 17 women; age 70.6±6.5 (mean ± SD) years; age range 5586 years. Group 2 consisted of 16 MCI patients age 72.61±7.42 (mean ± SD)years; age range 5889 years) age-matched (t-value=1.06, p=0.30) and gender matched (χ 2 =0.084, p=0.772) with group 1 patients. All patients were assessed with auditory event-related potentials (AERPs) and neuropsychological tests, which include MMSE, MOCA, IADL, and HAMILTON depression scale. Latencies and amplitudes of the major AERP waves (N200, P300 and Slow Wave) were determined, Results: No statistically significant difference was observed in the AERP characteristics and the performance of the patients in the neuropsychological tests between the two groups (p>0.05). Conclusions: From the results of the current study, it appears that the higher cognitive functions of DM patients as assessed with ERPs and neuropsychological tests are affected in a similar way with that of MCI patients; a finding which supports the existence of common pathophysiological mechanisms between the two diseases.


Contents: Introduction: on museum media The transmedia museum Museum communications in social networks User-created content Democratising narratives: or, the accumulation of the digital memory archive 'Interactives' in the social museum Museum online games as empathetic encounters Mashup the museum Bibliography Index.


Subtitle: Last year was a grim period financially for ocean carriers, compared with the previous 12 months, and the first half of this year was little better. Matthew Beddow and Latifat Ajala clarify which were the best and worst performers, and the prospects ahead.


NEARLY ALL MISSIONS this century will be complex, and the kind of thinking we have called "operational art" is often now required at battalion level. Fundamentally, operational art requires balancing design and planning while remaining open to learning and adapting quickly to change. Design is not a new idea. Command has always entailed responsibility for designing operations while penetrating complexity and framing problems that planners have to solve. Individual ability to learn effectively, adapt rapidly and appropriately, and to solve problems has always been self-evidently valuable to commanders. Yet, collectively, a command's overall quality of design, learning, and adaptation is what determines results. Military leaders may value individual creativity, critical thinking, continuous learning, and adaptability in their staffs and subordinate commanders, but individual traits do not necessarily add up to collective.abilities needed for the best outcomes. Traditional approaches to imparting a collective quality to campaign design introduced in the 1 980s, and more recent infusions from Joint doctrine, are no longer sufficient for achieving the best outcomes. Because operational environments evince increasingly dynamic complexity, commanders are looking for, and are in need of, help. Operational Art in Modern Complex Conflicts Operational artists at all levels need new conceptual tools commensurate to today's demands. Conceptual aids derived from old, industrial-age analogies are not up to the mental gymnastics demanded by 21st-century missions. Parallel to the development of so-called (and now discredited) "rapid decisive operations" (RDO), and as a way to facilitate RDO planning, Joint doctrine writers at Joint Forces Command (JFCOM) introduced effects-based planning (EBP), operational net assessment (ONA), and system-of-systems analysis (SOSA). Intended to be tools of operational art and planning, these concepts have been nearly impotent for making any sense of the Iraq and Afghanistan missions. The inherent logic of effects-based planning assumes a mechanistic understanding of causal chains. We can readily understand the logic of cause and effect in physical structures once we map them. Difficulty ensues when mapping social and political relationships: when we think we have a map, relationships shift. Moreover, such maps become unreliable because people need not act the way one expects they should. Critically, SOSA attempts to map five categories of interconnected, organic structures that people create - political, economic, military, social, and infrastructure informational constructs. SOSA undermines critical and creative thinking about these structures by assigning them a Newtonian causal logic that promotes conceptual rigidity. Human constructs are inherently fluid. Assigning mechanistic predictability to them in doctrine amounts to erecting false assumptions as dogma. As doctrine, SOSA is antithetical to a coherent operational design. Evolving Doctrinal Norms and Systemic Operational Design The last four years have seen the Army promote studies to reinvigorate creativity, critical thinking, and adaptability as intellectual norms in a collective organizational framework. This inquiry, just like the Army's reforms of the early 1980s, has led it to examine what other disciplines and other militaries have learned about dealing with the difficulties of novel and complex challenges. In many fields, novelty limits the extent to which reasoning models derived from experience can apply to present problem settings. New systemic complexity defies the usual approaches to sensemaking. Complicated versus complex systems. Merely complicated systems are composed of numerous parts and structures, all logically separable from their environment. An example would be the system for deploying units on a time table for an operation like D-day. Such a schedule could be accurately analyzed in the abstract. …


Purpose: To evaluate the accuracy of intraocular pressure (IOP) measurements obtained by a rebound and non-contact tonometer in eyes with a therapeutic contact lens (CL) after vitrectomy.Methods: In 60 eyes of 60 patients who underwent vitrectomy for vitreoretinal disease, IOP was measured using a rebound tonometer (iCare ic200®; IOPRT) and non-contact computerized air puff tonometer (CT-80, IOPNCT), before and after wearing a CL (Purevision2®, +0.0 diopter). The mean IOP of three consecutive measurements were analyzed, and a comparative analysis with IOP measured by a Goldman applanation tonometer (IOPGAT) was performed.Results: The mean IOPRT without and with the CL was 12.55 ± 5.43 and 13.12 ± 5.13 mmHg, respectively, showing a statistically significant difference (p = 0.02) and strong positive correlation (r = 0.90, p < 0.001). The mean IOPNCT with and without the CL was 12.18 ± 3.24 and 12.17 ± 3.14 mmHg, showing no statistically significant difference (p = 0.17). The consistency with IOPGAT (12.57 ± 5.22 mmHg) was highest in IOPRT without the CL, followed by IOPRT with the CL, IOPNCT without the CL, and IOPNCT with the CL (intraclass correlation coefficients = 0.955, 0.945, 0.856, and 0.850, respectively). In addition, the rebound tonometer successfully measured IOP, regardless of whether the CL was worn; however, the non-contact tonometer failed to measure IOP in seven eyes without the CL and nine with the CL. No difference was observed according to intraocular tamponade type.Conclusions: A rebound tonometer can be used as an alternative IOL measuring method in eyes for which it is difficult to use a Goldman applanation tonometer due to the postoperative presence of a therapeutic CL.


Abstract Alpha particles exhibit three important characteristics: scattering, ionisation and activation. This article briefly discusses those properties and outlines their major applications. Among others, α-particles are used in elemental analysis, investigation and improvement of materials properties, nuclear reaction studies and medical radionuclide production. The latter two topics, dealing with activation of target materials, are treated in some detail in this paper. Measurements of excitation functions of α-particle induced reactions shed some light on their reaction mechanisms, and studies of isomeric cross sections reveal the probability of population of high-spin nuclear levels. Regarding medical radionuclides, an overview is presented of the isotopes commonly produced using α-particle beams. Consideration is also given to some routes which could be potentially useful for production of a few other radionuclides. The significance of α-particle induced reactions to produce a few high-spin isomeric states, decaying by emission of low-energy conversion or Auger electrons, which are of interest in localized internal radiotherapy, is outlined. The α-particle beam, thus broadens the scope of nuclear chemistry research related to development of non-standard positron emitters and therapeutic radionuclides.


Surface acoustic waves travelling along the tip of an elastic wedge, are investigated by laser ultrasonic techniques. The laser-generated antisymmetrical flexural (ASF) modes have been detected by laser interferometer on the duralumin wedges of different apex angles. Important dispersion behavior of the waveforms, not predicted by theoretical models, was observed both in the fundamental and superior ASF modes. Dispersion curves of phase velocity were deduced with a phase analysis method. The influence of the apex truncation on the wave dispersion is studied. A comparison is made between ASF modes and the flexural Lamb wave (A0) propagating along the edge of a plate


In this article, a novel design approach for a general configuration of extracted-pole filters is presented. The proposed solution is based on the synthesis of a prototype network, followed by the evaluation of universal coefficients. The prototype is then denormalized into a form suitable for the implementation that is characterized by parameters recoverable from the physical structure that implements the filter. The main advantage of the proposed approach is that the design of the overall filter structure is broken into the design of elementary blocks, whose equivalent parameters are available after the synthesis (their value can be controlled exploiting the degrees of freedom offered by the use of the universal coefficients). Several design examples in different technologies are presented to illustrate the generality and the effectiveness of the proposed approach.


Since the composite ground design method is easy to apply for calculation or numerical analysis, it is applied to the design of cement mixing methods. However, the comparison studies between analysis and actual results such as a trial test and construction for the cement mixing method are few because the composite ground design method was developed for the compaction pile (SCP, GCP) methods. In this study, the results of various analysis methods, such as the composite ground analysis method (1 case) and the individual pile method (3 cases), were compared with actual measurements through a two-dimensional finite element numerical analysis. In case of the surface settlements, the results of study show that the individual plate method was larger than the actual measurements, while other methods are similar. The settlements at the under ground of the improved area is overestimated in all analysis methods. When comparing numerical analysis results for the horizontal displacement, and ground reaction forces, the individual pile method in equivalent wall concept was found to be the most similar to the measurements. The composite ground method was not able to predict the behavior of stress transfer (Arching effect) and it turned out that the prediction of horizontal displacement was too large.


Objective:To improve the teaching effect by instructional supervision in and outside class.Method:To choose the teacher and peer supervisors to supervise and speed up the students' daily study from different majors, to choose the students to supervise the daily teaching.Result:the great improvement of the students' academic results and a firm grasp of the knowledge.Conclusion:the supervision in and outside class between the teachers and the students can improve the learning efficiency, and can promote the teaching level as well.


A comprehensive study of geomagnetic field variations has been carried out at the dip equatorial latitudes of West Africa. The data obtained during the 1993 French participation in the International Equatorial Electrojet Year experiment in Africa was used for the analysis. Only the quiet condition was examined. Variation in the three geomagnetic field elements (H, D, and Z) showed more variability in D element than in the other two elements. Night time variations was observed in all the three elements which suggests the existence of night time current in the dip equatorial latitudes of West Africa.

 Key words: West Africa, Fourier analysis, solar quiet, dip equator, variation


Since the early 1990s, instability and political tensions among local regional states became the main characteristics of the Gulf sub-region. The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) states, in their search for security and regional stability, have been forced to initiate foreign policies that, on the one hand, make up for their inherited weaknesses and, on the other, search for an ally in the global system. 1 On the regional level, the GCC countries are lagging behind other regional neighbors in almost all aspects of power. For this reason, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Gulf states have transcended their conflicting national interests in favor of a co-operation and co-ordination that culminated in the formation of the GCC. Political stability in the Gulf sub-region is invariably tied to economic prosperity. This requires the states of the Gulf to move from a status of conflict to that of economic co-operation and integration. Equally important is the role played by the international actors in the Gulf sub-region that could contribute positively or negatively to regional stability. The increasing US role in the area since the Kuwaiti "predicament" is challenged in this paper as being a destabilizing rather than stabilizing factor. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impacts of the increasing US involvement since the early 1990s on Gulf security and stability and to investigate the impacts of sub-regional interactions on regional stability. It highlights regional interactions, contentious


A non-aqueous pigment dispersoid comprises a naphthol AS pigment or a mixed crystal thereof, and naphthol AS colorant of formula (I), wherein R , R , R , R and R are each independently selected from hydrogen, methyl, ethyl, halogen, methoxy, ethoxy, -CONH-phenyl and -NO2, wherein the group Q is a group substituted by a sulfonic group, two carboxyl groups or salts thereof. The invention also discloses a non-aqueous jet ink, and an application of non-aqueous pigment dispersoid in making colored layers.


Stage II of the 2,000 MW HPP Parbati in Himachal Pradesh, a northern district of India at the lesser Himalayan zone, will generate a total power of 800 MW. A Joint Venture of Jäger Bau GmbH (Austria) and Seli SpA (Italy) completed together with Gammon India Ltd. in December 2006 the first inclined shafts in India driven by a double shield tunnel boring machine. The two parallel 30° inclined underground pressure shafts of 1,500 m in length each have been lined by precast concrete segments simultaneously to the TBM heading. Especially the second shaft could be completed in a record of 109 working days respectively with an average daily production of almost 14 m/d! A steel lining with an inner diameter of 3.5 m is underway to be installed in the two shafts. That project might have set a milestone for the execution of inclined shafts – for sure in India but may be even in other countries as well. The paper describes the mechanical excavation of these two shafts under severe conditions in a remote area.


In the 1920s Germany was in a meeting of architects, theologians and liturgists who produced a renewal of sacred architecture based on functionality, simplicity and adaptability to new liturgical approaches. Authors such as Dominikus Bohm, Rudolf Schwarz and Martin Weber created a model of church that was subsequently released by Pius XII (1939-1958), the German episcopate and for various journals. In the postwar years, there was aconstructive emergence in Germany and other countries laid the foundation of new ideas for building and decoration of churches, proposed by the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965).


From the understanding of the emergence of the modern state can establish clear bench‑ marks for constitutionalism, a movement that sprang originally just as a way of setting limits to state power in the face of the individual, and as a consequence, allow the republican form of government, legitimized by democracy could be established. In this sense, using the hypothetical‑deductive me‑ thod, the work goes through the successive stages reached by the modern state, from its shape to


Aspects of Mediaeval and Renaissance Music: A Birthday Offering to Gustave Reese, ed. Jan La Rue. New York: W. W. Norton, 1966. xvii+891 pp. $35The importance of Gustave Reese in American and, indeed, in international musicology is attested to by the present volume which is unusually large in size and whose fifty-seven contributors represent an international who's who in the field. Reese began his teaching career at New York University in 1927; the number of students who attended his classes in the history of music and now hold teaching posts in universities all over the country is considerable. From 1933 to 1945 he edited (first as associate editor, later as editor) the leading journal of musicological studies in America, the Musical Quarterly, for a long time the sole repository of scholarly articles. (Notes of the Music Library Association, second series, and the Journal of the American Musicological Society were not founded until the forties.) In 193 5 Reese became the co-founder of the American Musicological Society, which he later served as president. Among his long and important articles one may mention one on Petrucci and early music printing in the Musical Quarterly for 1934 (pp. 39-76), one on Maldeghem's Trisor Musical in Notes for 1948 (pp. 75-117). Yet, this resume of his activities, impressive as it is, fails to mention his major claim to fame, namely, the authorship of two reference works which are used all over the world, Music in the Middle Ages (1940) and Music in the Renaissance (1954, revised 1959). These two volumes, by virtue of their completeness, accuracy, and sound judgment, have been the standby of American graduate students in musicology and a much-used tool of their teachers. Beyond that, these books have been widely used abroad and have contributed in no small measure to the international reputation of American scholarship.


The significance of fluid transport in the ocean due to migrating aggregations of zooplankton remains poorly understood due to practical challenges associated with predicting, identifying, and quantifying instances of enhanced biogenic mixing. We present a new approach to overcome these limitations by quantifying the biogenic transport via its distinct magnetic signatures. This present approach can be accomplished potentially without a priori knowledge of the precise location of the aggregation and without triggering animal avoidance caused by the introduction of instruments into the migration.


Memory consolidation stabilizes newly acquired information. Understanding how individual memories are reactivated during sleep is essential in theorizing memory consolidation. Via unobtrusively re-playing auditory memory cues to sleeping human participants, we identified the reactivation of individual memories during slow-wave sleep (SWS). Using representational similarity analysis (RSA) on cue-elicited electroencephalogram (EEG), we found functionally segregated item-specific representations: the early post-cue EEG activity (0-2 seconds) contained comparable representations for memory cues and for non-memory control cues, thus reflecting sensory processing. Critically, the later EEG activity (2.5-3 s) showed greater item-specific representations for post-sleep remembered items than for forgotten and control cues, demonstrating the reactivation and consolidation of individual memories. Moreover, spindles preferentially supported item-specific memory reactivation for items that were not tested before sleep. These findings delineated how cue-triggered item-specific memory reactivation, subserved by spindles during SWS, contributed to memory consolidation. These results will benefit future research aiming to perturb specific memory episodes during sleep.


We have developed a direct-detection scanning Doppler lidar system for wind field measurements in the troposphere. The lidar employs an injection seeded tripled Nd:YAG laser at eye-safe ultraviolet 355nm wavelength, a 25cm aperture telescope and a laser beam scanner. Two high-spectral resolution etalons are used to detect Doppler shift of the aerosol Mie backscattering and the molecular Rayleigh backscattering. Wind measurement accuracy of O.33m/s was obtained at 3km range with 4OmJ laser energy and 5s integration time.


This week, four people were arrested by Ugandan police for allegedly engaging in same sex activity.1 This oppressive environment follows the introduction of the Anti-Homosexuality Act, known as one of the world's most draconian anti-LGBTQ+ laws.2 As a result,manymembers of the LGBTQ+ community are forced to conceal their identities because of the fear of identification, arbitrary arrest, and prosecution based on their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.


The high intensity of chemical application has become a serious cause of concern in recent years. Although the use of pesticides is comparatively small in India, the damage caused by them to the environment and health is already event. Plant products have been successfully exploited as insecticides, insect"s repellents and insect"s antecedents. Lantana camara and Ipomoea fistulosa have insecticidal, anti-ovipositor and growth- regulating effects against field and storage insect pests. In present investigation we found the highest average pest mortality with 100% conc. of leaf extract of Ipomoea fistulosa and Lantana camara after 48hrs duration it was 74.48 and 72.48 respectively in case of Helicoverpa armigerea (Heliothis).


The influence of small mutual displacements and turns of diffraction gratings that make up a compound grating on their summary reflected wave intensity in the Littrow mount was theoretically studied. It was shown that these displacements cause phase shifts between diffraction waves reflected by different gratings, that can considerable decrease their summary wave intensity. The admissible limits of displacements and turns, that enable to obtain maximum summary wave intensity were determined. The phases of diffracted waves were calculated on the base of coupled integral equation method.


In the building construction industry, the healthcare sector is considered to have the highest opportunity to implement prefabrication. Some of the benefits attributed to its implementation are cost savings, schedule acceleration, improved quality and safer work environments, among others. The decision to use prefabrication tends to be based on anecdotal evidence rather than rigorous data, given that no formal methods are available to determine the impact of prefabrication on project performance outcomes. A value-based cost-benefit analysis was conducted on an on-going 831,000 square feet hospital consisting of 360 patient beds, with the input from the major parties involved in the prefabrication process. Four specific prefabricated components were studied: prefabricated bathroom pods, exterior wall panels, overhead MEP utility racks, and patient headwalls. To determine the impact of prefabrication on the project, prefabricated versus traditional site-built performance outcomes were compared in terms cost, schedule, safety, and quality. Each prefabricated component was analyzed individually, as well as the combined impact from all four components. A cost premium of 6% over the traditional site-built cost, as well as a schedule reduction of 10% and over 150,000 work-hours diverted from the jobsite were among the findings from this study. A value-based benefit-to-cost ratio of 1.14 was estimated to be accomplished in this project. This case study shows that direct costs savings is not considered to be the primary benefit of prefabrication, but rather the indirect benefits achieved, such as schedule savings and reduced on-site labor, which can be quite significant when quantified.


The automatic screen-printing machine is the key equipment for manufacturing chip components,which is also suitable for printing resistor,capacitor and thick film circuit.The two working position of the printer can operate the whole process automatically and continuously and both of the left and the right working position may also print 2 differential kinds of chip components and ink material on each side at the same time.The printing speed is up to 1 380 chip per hour,the productivity is high and reliability is good.The reliability is realized depending on using the cam.Mainly describe the design and application of the cam of feeding and fixing of the automatic screen printer.


Hay (1908) described among the soft shell turtles of the genus Aspideretes from the Bridger Eocene a form, A. grangeri Hay, the carapace of which exhibits an unusually shaped first and second pair of costal plates. The first pair is proximally wide, distally narrow, the second pair shows opposite proportions. Hay (loc. cit.) describes this feature, pays little attention to it, however, assuming that it is a mere variation. In 1940 the writter collected an almost complete shell, carapace and plastron, of a form which resembles A. grangeri Hay in the similarity of proportions of the first two pairs of costal plates. The differences between the two shells are, however, numerous and the proposal of a new species seems well justified. The species is dedicated to my wife, Ann, who discovered the fossil. The specimen was embedded in a gray clay, dorsal side up. The shell was disarticulated to some extent and strewn over an area of about two square yards. Some limb bones and fragments of vertebrae were associated with the shell plates, but there was no indication of the presence of the skull. Some of the plates lay piled up on one another, others w'ere found some distance away from the main mass of bones. The state of preservation of the fossil in the formation recalls similar deposition of skeletons in the marine Triassic (Scisti bituminosi) of Mt. San Giorgio, Tessin, Switzerland, where entire skeletons often are totally disarticulated; Peyer 1935 (Paraplacodus broilii Peyer; type and specimen "B"); 1936: Hescheleria ruibeli Peyer, type. There can be no doubt that the general conditions of burial-in the case of the marine Triassic fossils on one hand and the present turtle from the Bridger Eocene of Wyoming on the otherwere very different. A comparison of the similarities and dissimilarities of preservation and deposition in the two cases, however, may aid in the reconstruction of the probable burial circumstances of the present fossil. In both cases the skeletons are completely disarticulated, yet the bones are not irregularly mixed together, but retain in general their original position in regard to the regions of the skeletons to which they belong. Furthermore the dislocation of bones took place in one direction only, in Hescheleria riibeli Peyer from side to side, in A. annae parallel to the longitudinal axis of the body. The fact that almost entire skeletons, totally disarticulated, remained preserved in a restricted area, strongly sugQests that they w' re partially or completely embedded in mud before the final decomposition of the ligaments took place. In the case of the Triassic skeletons from Mt. San Giorgio it is frequently observed that the side of the skeleton which faces down in the formation (and which was facing the sediment at the time of burial) is better,


INTRODUCTION High-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU) is an emerging therapeutic modality for cancers and solid tumors, such as pancreatic, liver, kidney, prostate, breast and bone cancers and uterine fibroins [1]. In Asia and Europe, more than 100,000 patients were involved in the HIFU clinical treatment with promising results. Application, investigation and development of such a technology by physician, patients, researchers, and medical device manufacturers are becoming more and more attractive since its first clinical trial in 1990s. The mechanism of HIFU is the temperature elevation over 65 C due to the absorption of acoustic energy, to denature the protein for necrosis production because of the absorption of acoustic energy by the tissue. However, the bubble cavitation is also of importance in the HIFU field. Bubbles may form from boiling of fluid in blood or tissue or by the growth of tiny cavitation nuclei within the body due to the negative pressure of the acoustic wave. Bubbles are strong scatters of acoustic wave and, thus, significantly influence HIFU therapy. Bubbles scatter acoustic waves shielding tissue behind a bubble cluster from HIFU energy, causing more energy to be absorbed in the prefocal region before a bubble cluster than that occurring without bubbles, resulting in lesion distortion from a symmetric cigar shape to an asymmetric tadpole shape [2]. Recent investigation illustrated that interaction of acoustic cavitation bubbles and HIFU burst (20 s duration 1 kHz pulse repetition rate, 18 MPa rarefactional pressure) would lead to mechanical fractionation of tissue structure, called histotripsy [3-4]. The transducer used has similar geometry and acoustic specification as the HIFU type. At a fluid-tissue interface, histotripsy results in localized tissue removal with sharp boundaries, which has vast clinical applications where tissue ablation and removal (i.e., perforationo f the atrial septum in the treatment of congenital heart disease) are needed. In bulk tissue, histotripsy produces mechanical fragmentation of tissue resulting in a liquefied core with very sharply demarcated boundaries. Histology demonstrates treated tissue within the lesion is fragmented to a subcellular level surrounded by an almost imperceptibly narrow margin of cellular injury. Compared to non-invasive thermal therapy, histotripsy has some important advantages: (1) microbubbles produced at the US focus, shown as bright spots on US imaging; (2) energetic microbubble activities can be seen on imaging and provide realtime feedback; (3) the lesions appear darker on US imaging post-treatment; and (4) the lesions can be produced in a very controlled and precise manner. Furthermore, nonlinear propagation and production of shocked focal waveforms in tissue by HIFU bursts induced boiling in milliseconds. Initiation of boiling could also cause tissue erosion, but in a larger size (a few mm) [5-6]. Both inertial cavitation and boiling were observed during HIFU exposures, but emulsification occurred only when shocks and boiling were present. Emulsified lesions without thermal denaturation were produced with shock amplitudes sufficient to induce boiling in less than 20 ms, duty factors of less than 0.02, and pulse lengths shorter than 30 ms. Higher duty factors or longer pulses produced varying degrees of thermal denaturation combined with mechanical emulsification. Meanwhile, this effective and reliable way to emulsify tissue could be monitored using B-mode ultrasound images. Altogether, bubble cavitation plays an important role in the HIFU ablation of soft tissue, either thermally or mechanically in histotripsy. Although bubble cavitation or liquid boiling could be detected as fluctuation in the HIFU drive voltage and changes in the passive cavitation detection (PCD) signals, little study was carried out on the bubble dynamics with the progress of the histotripsy. In this study, the bubble cavitation was measured throughout the HIFU exposure using the methods of PCD, light transmission, and active cavitation detection (ACD, ultrasound B-mode imaging) in the gel phantom and ex vivo porcine kidney. Lesions formed in the gel phantom were captured by camera, simultaneously. It is found that the characteristics of bubble cavitation vary with the progress of histotripsy and depend on the ultrasound operation parameters (i.e., frequency and pulse duration). It is suggested that monitoring bubble cavitation activities would provide a


Inverse-kinematics is an emphasis and difficulty in the design and application of the humanoid robot hand with coupled joints because of nonlinearity induced by trigonometric transcendental function. In this paper, a power series based inverse-kinematics algorithm is presented, by which the transcendental equation including trigonometric function can be converted into an algebraic equation. An approximate solution is derived first by means of power series expansions; with 1D linear interpolation for errors compensating, the final solution with small error can then be achieved. For robot with linearly coupled joints, the algorithms based on power series expanded to quadratic and quartic terms are used to calculate the accurate joint angles. For robot with nonlinearly coupled joints, the specific procedures are proposed to select appropriate transmission ratio. Simulation and experimental results demonstrate effectiveness of the proposed inverse kinematics method.


At a relief well and drainage system rehabilitation workshop held in April 1985, it was determined that maintenance methods varied between Districts and that no attempt had been made to document results versus the method used. The Huntington District was planning the rehabilitation of 12 wells at Leesville Dam, Ohio, and agreed to use a composite of the various common Corps of Engineer (CE) cleaning methods along with the extra verification procedures needed to document the results. Therefore, the objectives of the study were to document a commonly used CE well rehabilitation procedure, to provide the needed pre- and post-verification data, and to evaluate the results. For the study, encrustant, bacterial, and water analyses were conducted for use in planning the rehabilitation procedure. Recommended procedures and the final selected procedures for rehabilitation are presented. Planning criteria required that the chemicals be industry accepted and commonly used with economics being the final governing factor. The procedure used at this site incorporated a long linear phosphate and sodium hypochlorite as chemicals with mechanical agitation using a surge block. Several factors were considered during the evaluation: (a) the lake level was lowered between some of the pre- and post-pump tests; (b) there was more » no bacterial growth in two wells; and (c) there were hydrogeologic boundary conditions that altered groundwater quality, flow, and available bacterial nutrients from well to well. Although there were immediate benefits, post-bacterial analysis showed regrowth had started within 4 months of the rehabilitation. There was no as installed specific capacity on record to evaluate overall results. « less


The effect of hydrostatic pressure up to 2 GPa on the phase transitions has been studied in the superprotonic conductor Rb3H(SeO4)2. Among the important results of these investigations are the large decrease in the superprotonic phase transition temperature Tsi with pressure (dTsi/dP = -47 ± 7 GPa/K) and the inducing of new phase IV by the hydrostatic pressure P ≥ 1.22 GPa. The thermo-dynamical relationship between phases III, III', II, IV as well as the possibility of the existing of tetracritical point at P = 1.22 ± 0.02 GPa and T = 390 ± 2 K are discussed.


A conceptual framework for an infectious disease control model for livestock is developed and empirically applied to evaluate the economic and epidemiological consequences of various controls for Johne's disease in dairy herds. The empirical results show that control of the disease will significantly improve dairy producers' profitability in infected herds.


This study determined the effect of Cognitive Behaviour Therapy (CBT) on examination misconduct of male and female students in secondary schools in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. Two research questions were raised and two hypotheses formulated for the study. The study employed quasiexperimental design of non-randomized control group, pre-test and post-test design. The population of the study comprised all Senior Secondary 2 (SS11) students in 80 secondary schools in Makurdi Local Government Area of Benue State. The sample of the study was 393 students in 12 secondary schools. Multi stage sampling technique of was used in the study-purposive proportionate stratified simple random sampling was adopted for the study, Two sets of instrument namely; Examination Misconduct Observatory Scale (EMOS) developed by the researchers and School Examinations by various schools were used for the study. Cronbach Alpha reliability method was applied to determine the internal consistency of the instrument. A reliability coefficient of 0.83 was obtained. A Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) was used to observe the examination misconduct of the students. Descriptive statistics was used to answer the research questions and ANCOVA was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study found that: The use of cognitive behaviour therapy reduced examination misconduct in secondary schools. This was found to be statistically significant. The use of cognitive behaviour therapy reduces examination misconduct of female more than male students in secondary schools. Some of the recommendations of the study are: Guidance counsellors should be encouraged to adopt the use of CBT in tackling examination misconduct of students in secondary schools. Professional bodies such as Counselling Association of Nigeria and Nigerian Society for Educational Psychologists should popularize the use CBT during counselling and the use of CCTV during examinations in their workshops and seminars Keywords-Examination, examination misconduct, cognitive behaviour therapy, low self-esteem, hi-tech malpractice, ghost voice method, INTRODUCTION Nigeria, like many other nations of the world, has a strong faith in education as the key to economic progress, political stability, social transformation, as well as scientific and technological development (Olayinka & Akande, 2006). Education, according to Emaikwu (2012), is expected to train the mind of its recipients for effective performances. It equips the individual with the information necessary for high level of human functioning. The school is seen as the most formal agency for cultivating necessary skills, knowledge and values as enunciated by the Federal Government of Nigeria (2004) in the NPE. The school achieves this through constant evaluation and assessment carried out during examinations. According to Ojiah, 2003, cited in Olayinka and Akande (2006), examination is a common feature of any educational system. It is seen as a measure of students' intelligence, competency, achievement or ability International Journal of Innovative Education Research 4 (2):51-59, April-June, 2016 © SEAHI PUBLICATIONS, 2016 www.seahipaj.org ISSN: 2354-2942


* Facultad de Contaduría y Ciencias Administrativas Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo firstname.lastname@example.com, Orcid: 0000-0001-9281-974X ** EGADE Business School, Tecnológico de Monterrey. email@example.com, ORCID: 0000-0001-5162-1403 ** Facultad de Contaduría y Administración Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México firstname.lastname@example.com, Orcid: 0000-0003-2626-9246 AbstRAct Towards the end of the 20th century, as part of the encompassing structural reforms that modernized the Mexican economy after decades of an obsolete imports-substitution model, overregulated economic sectors, and state-controlled productive sectors, the creation of an individual savings account pension system to replace the "pay-as-yougo" anachronic pension system prevalent since 1943, was necessary given the country's demographic trends. The analysis presented in this paper uses a Markov-switching model to obtain the Sharpe ratio of different SIEFOREs portfolios for different subperiods and volatility regimes (normal and crisis). The results confirm that not all SIEFOREs are good (or bad) URL: estocastica.azc.uam.mx


Additionally, MS/MS fragmentation used in combination with computational methods for predicting fragmentation patterns offers a robust alternative for the identification of molecules. Finally, the use of NMR via the hyphenated techniques HPLC-NMR or HPLCSPE-NMR offers a much more powerful tool for dereplication and is essential in some cases to undoubtedly establish the structure of a given compound. Integrated with UV and HRMS, data provides in most cases the definite answer for the dereplication of a given molecule, even if only a proton NMR spectrum has been acquired. The development of low volume NMR probes and cryoprobes over the last decade allows the acquisition of spectra with just micrograms of sample obtained by analytical or semi-preparative HPLC. The use of NMR diffusion ordered spectroscopy (DOSY) even allows the dereplication of molecules present in low complexity mixtures, eliminating the need to perform one or several time-consuming step(s) of chromatographic separation.


Nonlinear behavior of sandwich panels with a transversely flexible core is presented. The study is based on a highorder nonlinear formulation that includes the influence of the transverse flexibility and shear resistance of the core on the panel behavior, thus allowing for interaction between the facings through the core thickness. The solutions obtained are general and are not based on decoupling of the local and global responses as commonly used in the literature. The governing equations along with the appropriate boundary and continuity conditions are presented, and the solution approach is outlined. The path-following algorithm devised is based on the natural parameter and the arc-length continuation techniques. The example problems discussed include a concentrated line load exerted at midspan of the panel, couples applied at the panel edges, and compression of an asymmetric sandwich panel. Mode interaction observed in the panel behavior is shown to be a result of the flexibility of the "soft" core. Variations in the boundary conditions of the sandwich panel as well as in the layout of the compressive longitudinal loads are also shown to shift its response from an imperfection-sensitive to an imperfection-nonsensitive one and vice versa.


Let's say you're borrowing a colleague's laptop, and you notice that you're making an awful lot of typos. The letters y and z are transposed, and you realize that you had borrowed a German-Austrian keyboard. You naively assumed that everyone used the same keyboard you did. Biases about people work the same way. You see someone who is similar to someone else in one way, and you jump to the conclusion that they are similar in other ways as well. If it's true, great. But often it's not true, and if you treat the new person according to your preconceived notions, you may be guilty of unconscious bias. Unconscious biases are based on stereotypes, and they can be subtle. So how do you stop yourself from doing things that you don't even realize you are doing? Gather information. Start by breaking your unconscious assumptions, and acknowledge that differences exist. Just


This paper describes the R&D activities being developed in Brazil, mainly by IPEN and the Physics Institute of São Paulo University(IFUSP), that in short are (1) Reactor Physics Calculation Methods and Code Development ,(2) Conceptual Design of a Fast Energy ADS, and (3) the utilization of small accelerators to drive a zero power ADS, as milestones of a road map under discussion for a program on utilization of accelerators in basic and applied physics, products and services and an ADS neutron source.


Previous research on selection of source and medium has failed to consider the dynamic, temporal aspects of information acquisition. In this paper a model that integrates the decision-making and communication literatures is developed. Media selection is viewed beyond an immediate incident to the range of media and sources used throughout the entire decision-making process. Propositions are derived from the model and future empirical research and implications are discussed.


2-Substituted [1,2,4]triazolo[5,1-b][1,3]thiazin-7-ones 3 were synthesized via regioselective cyclization of 4H-[1,2,4]triazol-3-ylsulfanyl-acrylic acids 2 in the presence of catalytic amounts of heteropolyacids at room temperature in very good yields and rates.


The article aims to show both the still very strong position of the USD in the global financial system and assess its likely future position. It illustrates that although the U.S. is no longer the dominant global economic power that it was when the dollar became the global reserve currency, the dollar so far is not in immediate danger of losing its privileged position. Despite the challenges facing the USD as the global reserve currency, it continues its dominant role since no other currency has shown itself strong and credible enough to replace it. Considerations on replacing dollar with other currency are no more than a speculation.


This paper investigated the current situation in regard to BA and MA English language courses taught at the Faculty of Physical Education and Sports (PES) at the University of Prishtina "Hasan Prishtina." The empirical research aimed to collect qualitative data by interviewing ten MA students of the same faculty. The findings revealed that it was their BA syllabus that contributed to their poor grasp of sports vocabulary in the context of the English language given that they were subjected to General English (GE) only. Unfortunately, their first contact with English for sports was in their first year of MA studies. Although the ESP course was only one semester, it had a positive impact on students' advancement. Moreover, students deemed ESP as a great way of building up their personality as sportsmen, given that it facilitated their way of approaching sports science with greater enthusiasm and effort.


The 1DV two-layer model of oscillatory sheet flow of Malarkey et al. (2003) which was developed for a single grain size has been modified to include grain fractions. The model includes a suspension layer above a sheet-flow layer consisting of prescribed profiles of concentration and velocity. Since this model keeps track of the total sediment in the water column through the wave cycle it is ideally suited for representing graded sediments. The modified model has been compared with the graded sediment data of Hassan et al. (1999). The results show that the model can reproduce the statistical characteristics of the sediment in suspension and produces fractional transport rates that are consistent with the experiments. However, it also demonstrates that a sediment weighting function limited by the amount of sediment in suspension is not sufficient to give rise to the apparent effects of hiding and exposure seen in the data.


To evaluate the effect of feed supplementation based on a mixture of from medicinal plants powder (40 % Psidium guajava L.; 20 % Morinda citrifolia L.) on production and quality of eggs from laying hens, 160 White Leghorn hybrid hens (L-33), 27 weeks old, were grouped in one control without additives, and three feed supplements for 70 days, following a completely randomized design. The three supplements included a powder mixture (0.5; 1.0; and 1.5 %). The birds showed no morbi-lethality after consuming the complementary diets. Supplementation of 1.0 % of the mixture increased the laying intensity (83.93 %). However, egg weight, live weight, feed consumption, rejected eggs, yolk color, and sensorial quality of the yolk and albumin, had significant differences (P > 0.05) among the treatments. Supplementation with 1.0 % of the powder increased (P < 0.05) the shell thickness (0.27 mm); whereas yolk height and white thickness remained without significant differences (P > 0.05). The inclusion of 1.0 % of the mixed powder is recommended in the diet of laying hens to increase egg production and shell thickness.


Summary 1. In mature virgin rats, daily subcutaneous injections of 20 μg reserpine or .5 mg serotonin creatinine sulfate base/kg BW for 5 days, following daily injections of 10 μg estradiol for 10 days, initiated milk secretion in 14 out of 15 rats and induced growth of mammary lobuloalveolar tissue. When either drug was injected with estradiol for 10 days, mammary growth was greater than with estradiol alone, but there was little evidence of milk secretion. Injections of reserpine or serotonin alone for 21 days failed to elicit mammary growth or secretion. 2. In rats following litter removal on 4th day after parturition, milk secretion ceased and mammary glands showed pronounced involution 10 days later. Injections of 10 or 20 μg reserpine or .5 mg serotonin creatinine sulfate base for 10 days following litter removal, retarded mammary involution and maintained secretory function. 3. It is concluded that in estrogen-primed virgin rats or in post-partum rats after litter removal, reserpine and serotonin stimulate secretion of prolactin and perhaps other factors by the pituitary favorable to mammary growth and lactation.


Objective: To observe the clinical effect and safety of patient-controlled intravenous analgesia in over-aged fracture patients.Method: Sodium chloride 9g/L + Buprenorphine 0.6mg + Bupivacaine 5ml were diluted to total amount 60ml and were used to 60 over-aged fracture patients as patient-controlled intravenous analgesia,to recorded the analgesia effect and the patient's hemodynamic change.Result: 60 patients had the steady vital sign and satisfactory analgesia effect after patient-controlled intravenlous analgesia with low dose Buprenorphine except 2 cases with organic heart disease whose SpO_2 reduced significantly.Conclusion: The dilution of Buprenorphine 0.6mg + Bupivacaine 5ml has the higher safety and controllability,it has little effect in the circulation blood pressure.


Behavior recognition and behavior understanding has been a popular topic in computer sc ience. It attracted increasing interest in computer vision research community. Vision-based behavior Analysis has been applied broadly in many fields such as intelligent surveillance, perceptual user in terface, and virtual reality. This article analyses the up-to-date development of motion representatio n, the processing procedure of behavior analysis, and the commonly used methods of this field.


FIELD: antenna equipment. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to a method and system for using unique identifiers to retrieve configuration data for tag devices with a reduced energy balance. Method may involve obtaining a unique identifier associated with a tag device. Tagging device may include an antenna and a sensor configured to obtain sensor readings that can be wirelessly transmitted to a reader device via the antenna. Method may also involve determining configuration parameters associated with the tag device based on the unique identifier. Method may further involve storing, in at least one memory, at least a portion of the configuration parameters in association with the unique identifier. EFFECT: technical result is to enable the functioning of the tag. 25 cl, 6 dwg


coupling unit or decoupling the power train of a motor vehicle group, comprising an inlet (20N) which is adapted to be connected to a motor (18) of the engine unit and an output (20S) which is adapted to be connected to an input axis (16) of a gear ring (12) of the motor propulsion unit and, between said inlet and said outlet, a clutch module (85) and flywheel (90) of mechanical hybridization, this wheel being able to be coupled to the output for providing the inertia energy to the output via the clutch which is also capable of coupling the input to the output. Transmission system for motor vehicles, comprising a gear ring (12) and such a unit coupling or decoupling.


This paper proposes a new radar tracking filter named Noise-estimate Particle PHD Filter (NP-PHDF). Kalman filter and particle filter are popular filtering techniques for target tracking. However, the tracking performance of the Kalman filter severely depends on the setting of several parameters such as system noise and observation noise. It is an open problem how to choose proper parameters for various scenarios, and they are often regulated in trial-and-error manner. To tackle this problem, Noise-estimate Particle Filter (NPF) has been proposed so far. The NPF estimates proper noise parameters of a Kalman filter on-line based on a scheme of particle filter. In this paper, we extend the NPF so that it enables to track multiple targets simultaneously by combining with Probability Hypothesis Density (PHD) filter, and propose a new Noise-estimate Particle PHD Filter (NP-PHDF). Simulation results show that the proposed filter has higher tracking performance in various scenarios than conventional Kalman filter, particle filter, and PHD filter for multiple-targets tracking.


The influence is analyzed of the angular orientation of images on the signal and noise distribution in the correlation fields of holographic recognition systems invariable with change of scale and aspect of the objects. Models of the signal and noise are built, and the signal-to- noise ratio is estimated as a function of image orientation and diffraction efficiency of the different holograms.


Comment is made on some results reported by Hageseth on the thermoluminescence of KBr crystals. Our measurements give much narrower glow peaks and higher activation energies for the 152 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C peak. In addition we show that not only the 152 \ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}C peak but the total complex of peaks in the glow curve above room temperature is associated with the $F$ center.


Introduction: Sonophoresis has been assessed as a novel approach to create skin permeability and drug delivery using low frequencies of ultrasound waves in the range of 20 kHz to 3 MHz. In this study, a system including seven 40 kHz piezoelectric transducers and an insulin chamber designed by the Medical Physics Research Center has been evaluated on hyperglycemic rabbits. Materials and Methods: Thirty five rabbits became hyperglycemic through Alloxan monohydrate injection and were divided into five groups. The rabbits were treated in two main groups (with insulin and ultrasound radiation in two radiation periods), one main control group and two further control groups (one group with ultrasound radiation with longer radiation period in absence of insulin and presence of normal saline; and the other group without ultrasound radiation in presence of insulin). By filling the system chamber with insulin and placing it on the skin of the abdomen and activating the piezoelectric transducers, blood samples were drawn from the animals before ultrasound irradiation and after it in specified intervals. The glucose level was measured using a glucometer and the serum insulin level was determined using a radioimmunoassay method. Results: Maximum decrease in glucose level was recorded for a 20 minute irradiation in a 180 minute period, and the highest increase in insulin level was recorded for the10 minute radiation group in a 60 minute period. Discussion and Conclusion: Because rapid uptake and reaching a peak in a short time and its swift decrease make a good scheme for controlling glucose level after meals, the 10 minute radiation seems to be more suitable. Also, it is predicted that irradiation time in the interval between food consumption and use of the instrument is critical.


Charging Stations for charging electric vehicles (EV) are limited and it takes time for the charging process which is the main reason for increasing the efficiency of EVs and utilizing additional energy. The Additional energy that is commonly used is the Photovoltaic System. In this study, the researcher using of a photovoltaic system as alternative energy for the charging system for electric cars. The model used in this system is a dc-to-dc step-down asynchronous model with a 72V charging system output. The Solar Charging Controller (SCC) design for the use of photovoltaic systems can be monitored based on IoT. Experiments were carried out on the UNJ Electric Car, for 8 hours of charging data collection. Good results are obtained when electricity generated from solar panels has a power yield of 72V battery voltage and a maximum current of 4A with a charging efficiency of up to 96%.


Assume that D is a digraph without cyclic triangles and its vertices are partitioned into classes A1, …, At of independent vertices. A set is called a dominating set of size |S| if for any vertex there is a w∈U such that (w, v)∈E(D). Let β(D) be the cardinality of the largest independent set of D whose vertices are from different partite classes of D. Our main result says that there exists a h = h(β(D)) such that D has a dominating set of size at most h. This result is applied to settle a problem related to generalized Gallai colorings, edge colorings of graphs without 3‐colored triangles. © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Graph Theory


INTRODUCTION In 1985, the Ashtabula River was designated an Area of Concern by the International Joint Commission (IJC). Contaminated sediments migrating into the lower Ashtabula River had contributed to a ban on navigational dredging, a local fish consumption advisory and other water quality problems. The IJC called for the development of a Remedial Action Plan (RAP) to clean up the Lake Erie tributary.


Indonesia has an important role in the world's palm oil industry. One way of efficiency in business processes of the company is to make the implementation of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), which aims to increase the productivity and effectiveness. Palm oil plantation companies implementing ERP hope that it will provide great benefits in operational performance, but the performance has not been measure yet that ERP has been performed. Organizational Trust and Transformational Leadership are needed to get the ERP performed in the organization. The Mobility Strategy surely can be the leap that can moderating the effect of ERP performance to the Operational Performance.


Summary
Genetic transformation of two dinoflagellates (Amphidinium sp., Symbiodinium microadriaticum) was achieved using plasmid constructs containing the neomycin phosphotransferase gene (nptII) fused to the Agrobacterium nos promoter, or the hygromycin B phosphotransferase gene (hpt) fused to the bidirectional Agrobacterium p1′2′ promoter. Gene transfer into intact (walled) dinoflagellate cells was achieved by agitation in the presence of silicon carbide (SiCa) whiskers. Transformation rates of 5–24 transformants per 107 cells were obtained. Southern hybridization of transformants revealed stable integration of multiple copies of the constructs. Activity of integrated copies of the β-glucoronidase (GUS) reporter gene coupled to the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter or the p1′2′ promoter was confirmed both histochemically and fluorometrically. This is the first report of successful application of heterologous and widely used promoter and reporter genes in microalgae, and is the first demonstration of transformation of a dinoflagellate. There appear to be no substantial barriers to transformation of Amphidinium and Symbiodinium, which must now be considered as the first of the dinoflagellate genera accessible to genetic manipulation.


The increasing of competition press makes many companies to outsource logistics business for reducing cost and improving logistics performance. But currently, most logistics services (called logistics product in this paper) do not break traditional physical distribute business model and do not explore more potential logistics value, so they can't meet the demand of manufacturers in raising service satisfaction, supporting the business strategy and increasing their flexibility of manufacture. Logistics providers are facing the great challenge in logistics service innovation. This paper brings forward methods of logistics service innovation based on value propositions of customers. The methods can help logistics providers to find the value innovation points to match the value propositions of manufacturers and to conduct effective logistics innovation. This paper also shows logistics business outsourcing decision tools to help manufacturers to choose the suitable outsourcing mode and the excellent logistics provider.


The article examines the issue of business models of family businesses. The family businesses are specific entities that combine family relationships with the logic of conducting business. The subject of the business models of the family businesses is rarely undertaken in scientific research. Based on a review of literature and her own research, the author concludes that the business models used to describe methods of conducting non-family businesses, have a limited ability to explain business behaviour of the family businesses. The business model that would be able to characterize the business behaviour of family businesses should consider the specific characteristics of those entities arising from the interaction of family system and the enterprise system. The author proposes her own concept of the business model that can be used to describe the method of doing business by family businesses.


Virtual teams are becoming an important aspect of organisational life in many industries. In software development, virtual teams can be particularly useful as team members with the right skill set can generate code for a project no matter where they are in the world. However, this virtual setting often has limitations in terms of communication abilities, conflict, trust and performance. To improve the process of virtual software development, advanced knowledge and process collaboration technologies can be used. This proposal outlines an experiment to test the impact of using an advanced collaboration technology named MILOS in a virtual software development environment. It is hypothesised that by using MILOS as opposed to a less advanced collaboration technology, the measures of team trust, interaction quality and performance will be improved, with team conflict reduced. Virtual Teams: The Impact of Advanced Knowledge and Process Collaboration Technologies on Software Development Team Processes and Performance Alistair McKinnon