Abstract Introduction Societal restrictions due to COVID-19 have had a profound effect on our ability to connect with one another and limited our personal mobility. There is evidence that loneliness, social isolation, and psychological distress increased during restrictions for people with diabetes. Fluctuating restrictions provide a unique opportunity to utilise continuous GPS data from personal smartphones (digital phenotypes) to explore the relationship between time-at-home and psychosocial health for people with diabetes. This study aims to (1) describe the digital phenotypes of time-at-home during varying societal COVID-19 restrictions for people with and without type 2 diabetes and (2) to explore associations between these digital phenotypes and loneliness, social support, and other psychosocial factors and compare for people with and without type 2 diabetes. Methods Data come from a longitudinal observational study in the Republic of Ireland that ran between March and August 2021. Participants are seventy-four adults (64.8% female; median age-group = 50-54) with (N = 40) and without (N = 34) diabetes. Continuous GPS data were recorded for 2 months through the Beiwe smartphone application. Loneliness (UCLA-3), social support (MSPSS), diabetes stigma (DSAS-2; diabetes cohort only) as well as other demographic, psychosocial, and lifestyle questionnaires were assessed at baseline, 1 month, and 2 months follow-up. Analysis GPS data are being processed. The GPS-derived features of time-at-home, overall movement, and location variance will be computed. Associations between these digital phenotypes and psychosocial factors will be explored and changes over time examined using multilevel modeling. Conclusions We expect this study to be the first to describe and compare the digital phenotypes of people with and without diabetes during varying societal COVID-19 restrictions, providing new insights into the effects of such policies on the psychosocial health of people with diabetes.


We propose a better algorithm for approximate greatest common divisor (approximate GCD) of univariate polynomials in terms of robustness and distance, based on the NewtonSLRA algorithm that is a solver for the structured low rank approximation (SLRA) problem. Our algorithm mainly enlarges the tangent space in the NewtonSLRA algorithm and adapts it to a certain weighted Frobenius norm. Moreover, we propose some improvement in computing time.


The production、 assembling and adjust precision,the precision of its detector,the environment conditions and the operating lever of operatives are the main factors affecting the measuring precision of the measuring machine.Affections in measuring precision and its control are introduced in this article.


This diploma thesis deals with the flow analysis around the landing gear nacelle of L 410 and with its following aerodynamical optimalization. In the first part the calibration is performed on the known geometry which was tested in wind tunnel. The following parts contain own design of the optimal geometry, design of the computional mesh with its numerical solution and results evaluation.


The complete solvent structure of a polyalanine fragment in the β‐pleated sheet conformation with a repeat unit of two alanine molecules has been determined. In this Monte Carlo simulation, 97 water molecules have been included, their interaction energies and the number of water molecules in the different regions of alanine have been calculated. A water cluster as hydration shell of polyalanine in the β‐pleated sheet conformation has been chosen. Then for polyalanine, ab initio crystal orbital calculations have been performed to investigate the effect of the hydration shell on its band structure. The presence of the water molecules caused some band shifts. The width of the conduction band increased by 0.63 eV that is it became more than twice as wide as without the hydration shell. The forbidden bandwidth decreased by nearly 0.8 eV.


Eight varieties (Bashful, Double Quick Orange, Pro Cut Bicolor, Pro Cut Lemon, Sundance Kid, Sunrich Lemon, Teddy Bear and Zebulon) of sunflower, Helianthus annuus L. (Asterales: Asteraceae), were evaluated for attractiveness to predators, mostly the minute pirate bug, Orius insidiosus (Say) (Hemiptera: Anthocoridae). In general, sunflower varieties bearing pollen were more attractive to both pests and predators. No other plant parameter (i.e., flower diameter, center diameter and plant height) measured affected insect densities. The variety Double Quick Orange was found to harbor the highest densities of Orius , but also the highest densities of thrips (Thysanoptera: Thripidae), mostly Frankliniella tritici (Fitch). Insect populations were monitored in bell pepper, Capsicum annuum L. (Solanales: Solanaceae) (var. Camelot) intercropped with Double Quick Orange, sunflower border and bell pepper monoculture. Densities of Orius and thrips were highest on the sunflower border, followed by the pepper monoculture and the bell pepper intercropped with sunflower. Over both seasons (2005 and 2006), the population of adult Orius sampled was comprised of 75.3% female and 24.8% male. About 55% of Orius sampled were nymphs. The thrips population was comprised of F. tritici (98.2%), with the remainder being F. occidentalis Pergande at 1.4%, and F. bispinosa (Morgan) at 0.4%. Most thrips sampled (58%) were in the immature stages. The sunflower variety most attractive to Orius was also most attractive to thrips. When intercropped with bell peppers, Orius remained in the sunflower which acted as a sink for both pests and predators. Sunflower may be more useful as a trap crop, rather than a source of predators, when used in multiple cropping systems. This article presents the results of research only. The use of trade, firm, or corporation names in this publication is for the information and convenience of the reader. Such use does not constitute an official endorsement or approval by the United States Department of Agriculture or the Agricultural Research Service of any product or service to the exclusion of others that may be suitable.


An improvement of the traditional methods of array antenna diagnosis based on Fourier transformation and its application to the reduction of the effect of the reflections on the antenna measurement systems is proposed. The method uses far field information which it is possible to reconstruct the excitations of the elements and the field over the aperture of the array antennas, providing the module and the phase. The diagnosis method is based on the holographic techniques [1]. However, some improvements are performed on that method in order to get more exact results on the amplitude and phase, due to an increase of the visible region of the Plane Wave Spectrum (PWS). A traditional application of this kind of methods is the error detection, for example, errors in the alignment of the phase, connections or general structure of the array antennas. So, without a similar technique for antenna diagnosis, it would be necessary to check that elements, connections or structure. Therefore, when there are a lot of elements it would be a waste of time. In addition, as it has said, there is a new application for the diagnosis technique, the reduction of the reflections when an antenna is measured.


There are more than a dozen real-time operating systems, but Linux highlights itself being free and having networking, graphics and user interface features. In this paper the authors present the implementation of real-time open source drivers on EVL, PREEMPT_RT and Xenomai realtime Linux extensions for the Texas Instruments OMAP4 multi-channel SPI peripheral. Also, an FPGA based interrupt and SPI latency evaluation system is provided, system which tests the real-time behavior of the implemented drivers. In the tests were made one million test samples for each SPI real-time driver, which validate the real-time implementations.


The Gas-liquid jet sulfonation reactor was used to sulfonate/sulfate fatty acid methyl ester (ME), linear alkyl benzene (LAB), heavy alkyl benzene (HAB), fatty alcohol (FA),fatty alcohol ethoxylate (AEO_3) and olefin (AO) with gaseous SO_3, the effect of its main parameters of reactor on sulfonated products was studied, and contrastive experiments were carried out in film reactor . The results showed that LAB sulfuric acid and ME sulfuric acid produced in jet reactor was comparable with that made in film reactor in quality, especially the HABS produced in jet reactor was stable in quality, and its performance of decreasing interface tension between crude oil and water was better than that produced in film reactor . When AO, AEO and FA were sulfonated / sulfated, however, the conversion was below 90%,and the product quality was inferior to that produced in film reactor . The results above were discussed on mass and heat transfer mechanism and efficiency of two reactors, SO_3 sulfonation mechanism and reaction rate of different organic materials. The gas-liquid jet sulfonation reactor was fit for sulfonating ME, LAB and HAB, but not suitable for sulfonating AO, FA and AEO, which needed further adjusting structure parameters to improve mass transfer efficiency.


Previous authors have disagreed about the interpretation of molecular data concerning the phylogenetic affiliation of Mammuthus with respect to Elephas and Loxodonta. We compare sequence data of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene, the gene studied by most authors. Hagelberg et al. (1994) as well as Hauf et al. (1995) found a closer affinity of Mammuthus to Loxodonta, whereas Yang et al. (1996) and Ozawa et al. (1997) found a common branch of Mammuthus with Elephas. This was rejected by Noro et al. (1998) whose data supported again a LoxodontaMammuthus association, whereas Hauf et al.(1999) gave additional support to an ElephasMammuthus clade. However Derenko et al. (1997) as well as Hauf et al. (1999/2000) could not find any evidence for either of these alternatives, while analyses by Barriel et al. (1999) and Thomas et al. (2000) support an association of Mammuthus with Loxodonta, but not with a satisfying certainty. In this contribution, we present new partial cytochrome b sequences for seven Wrangel island mammoths, but do not claim to present the definite solution. When all data now available for cytochrome b are taken together, the possibly synapomorphic bases counted for Elephas + Mammuthus are only slightly more in number than those countable for Loxodonta + Mammuthus, whereas less support is found for an Elephas-Loxodonta clade. A remarkable observation is that different portions of the same gene may indicate different phyletic affinities. We discuss the possible reasons for differing results and point out a way to solve the dilemma. Shortcomings of previous papers include: (1) Only one or two mammoth individuals were used, which sometimes even differed in their base sequence, yet intraspecific variability was largely disregarded; (2) The outgroup chosen was too distant (Mastodon or Dugong should be taken); (3) Sequences were too short (even 1000 bases do not provide sufficient phylogenetic signal); (4) Tree reconstructions were based on single-base transitions, which are probably switching easily back and forth between apomorphic and plesiomorphic states, hiding phylogenetic signal; (5) Computer methods were used uncritically. More data are needed to clarify the phylogenetic affiliation of Mammuthus.


The aim of this work was the wettability improvement of clay‐coated paper by ambient air plasma exposure. Industrial corona with a volume dielectric barrier discharge in cylindrical configuration was used as a plasma source; the exposure times varied from 0.25 up to 5 s. Water contact angle (WCA) measurement and surface free energy (SFE) evaluation were carried out for the estimation of wettability changes. Plasma treatment in the duration of 0.25 s was sufficient to decrease the WCA almost to the half of the original value, which was 76°. SFE of paper has increased by 40%–50% after plasma treatment. Long‐term ageing effect study of treated samples was carried out up to 3 months after the treatment. WCA did not reach the original value even after 3 months, and it was still 20%–30% lower. O/C ratio increased from 0.7 to 1.8 in case of 5‐s plasma treatment, and the new chemical bonds (C=O, O–C=O) were created on the surface.


With regard to the exiting problems in the level classification of river channels and the management authority at different levels,a general method is proposed for the river management at different levels under the river management requirements of the Central Committee of the Communist of China and the State Council.The current status problems are analyzed.In order to effectively coordinate the relationship between the"block " management style and the " route "management style in the current administrative system,the management of river channels are classified into 7types: direct management of basin authority,indirect management of basin authority,direct management of provincial government,indirect management of provincial government,direct management of municipal government,indirect management of municipal government,and direct management of county government.The rights and responsibilities of river management authorities at four levels,basin authority,provincial department of water resources,municipal bureau of water resources and county units of water resources,are defined in the 7 management types according to the demand of the standardized river management.The proposed method may provide important reference for the management of river channels at different levels.


Purpose:  Animal models with spontaneous epileptic seizures may be useful in the discovery of new antiepileptic drugs (AEDs). The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the efficacy of carisbamate on spontaneous motor seizures in rats with kainate‐induced epilepsy.


The effect of hyperthermia (HT), (42.5 degrees C, 120 min), cytostatic agents and the simultaneous application of HT and cytostatics on embryonal tumors and sarcomas in children was studied using an autoradiographic in vitro method. The 3H-thymidine and 3H-uridine incorporation inhibition was measured. HT inhibits DNA and RNA synthesis in a range of 42.0%-51.0% and 45.6%-58.3%. HT enhances the effect of the cytostatic agents ADM, CPM, cis-PL, BLM and BCNU highly significantly. In each case and without exception the simultaneous application of HT and cytostatics overcomes primary resistance to HT or the cytostatic concerned.


Hyperthermia negatively impacts human and animal health and may cause morbidity and mortality if recovery is not properly managed. The study objective was to evaluate the effects of two cooling methods on body temperature and the inflammatory response after acute heat stress (HS) exposure in a pig model for human hyperthermia. Male pigs (88.7 ± 1.6 kg BW) were exposed to thermoneutral conditions (TN; n = 12; 19.5 ± 0.1°C) for 6 hrs, or HS (36.4 ± 0.1°C) for 3 hrs, followed by a 3 hr recovery period of either rapid cooling (HSRC; n = 12; immediate TN exposure and ice water dousing) or gradual cooling (HSGC; n = 12; gradual decrease to TN temperature). Rectal (TR) and gastrointestinal temperatures (TGI) were obtained every 15 min. Blood samples were collected from 6 pigs per treatment at 60, 180, 210 and 240 min to determine TNFα and IL‐1ß concentrations. TR was increased (p < 0.01) in HSRC and HSGC pigs compared to TN controls during HS (1.2°C) and recovery (0.6°C), and was reduced (p < 0.01; 0.4°C) in HSRC versus HSGC pigs during the recovery period. TGI was increased (p < 0.01) in HSRC and HSGC compared to TN pigs during HS (1.6°C and 1.5°C, respectively) and recovery (1.2°C and 1.3°C, respectively), but was similar (40.8°C) in HSRC and HSGC pigs during both periods. During HS, HSRC and HSGC pigs had increased TNFα concentrations (p < 0.04; 27.5%), but IL‐1ß concentrations were similar (p > 0.60; 10.2 pg/mL) to TN controls. In the recovery period, HSRC pigs tended to have increased TNFα concentrations (p < 0.07; 41.2%) compared to HSGC pigs. In summary, although rapid cooling was more effective than gradual cooling in reducing TR during HS recovery it had no effect on TGI and this differential may be linked to the increased inflammatory response observed in HSRC pigs.


4.1 Linear order in early generative grammar It is interesting to note that linear order was not seen as an issue as such in mainstream generative grammar until the publication of Kayne (1994) and subsequent developments in the minimalist program, including Chomsky (1994, 1995: ch 4), which were in part a reaction on Kayne (1994). In the early phase of generative grammar when phrase structure rules were a component of the grammar, linear order was stipulated by the rules themselves: the rules generated strings. In a later phase, when phrase structure was generalised in the X-bar schema, word order was stipulated by word order parameter settings applied to universal Xbar structures. The way this was, and to some extent still is, conventionally represented is that the phrase structure tree, or the equivalent labelled bracket representation, encodes order as well as hierarchy. The tree (1) is trivially mapped onto the linear order to the right of the arrow, and the tree (2), which in hierarchical terms is equivalent to (1), onto the linear order to the right of its arrow.


In order to investigate the effects of online laser perforation parameters on cigarette ventilation rate and the deliveries of tar,nicotine and carbon monoxide in mainstream cigarette smoke,the cigarette samples with different hole numbers and perforated with different laser pulse durations were prepared,the relationships of the said parameters with cigarette ventilation rate,the consistence of ventilation rate and the deliveries of routine smoke constituents were analyzed. Meanwhile,a single factor experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of row number and position of perforation on the physical and chemical indexes of cigarette. The results showed that: 1)Within the test range,laser pulse duration affected cigarette ventilation rate and routine smoke constituent deliveries more significantly than did hole number;laser pulse duration and hole number did not affect the ratio of signal to noise of cigarette ventilation rate obviously,but affected the mean value of ventilation rate significantly,which increased with the increase of hole number and laser pulse duration;the correlation between hole number and the deliveries of routine smoke constituents was not significant;however laser pulse duration significantly negatively correlated to the deliveries of tar,nicotine and carbon monoxide in cigarette smoke with the correlation coefficients of-0.874,-0.936 and-0.804,respectively. 2) With the fixed total number and central position of holes,ventilation rate decreased,while the deliveries of routine smoke constituents increased with the increase of row number;with the fixed hole number and row number,ventilation rate decreased,while the deliveries of routine smoke constituents increased with the increase of distance between hole position and mouth end.


Opportunities of the developed combined method of the standard and final elements possessing raised{increased} accuracy of the decision at a small degree of digitization of the settlement environment, presence in her of points with features of the decision, thin inclusions, осцилляции decisions in кусочно-homogeneous two and three-dimensional environments are illustrated. Results of applied calculation of a temperature field of an anchor of the traction electric motor are resulted during his{its} heat treatment. Settlement values are compared with experimental.


Circular cone beam CT (CBCT) acquisitions with less than 180° plus fan angle are desired for practical reasons in the interventional setup. Strong shading artefacts are present with standard FDK reconstruction even for voxels with 180° coverage. The use of modified Parker weights has been proposed to correctly handle redundant data and correct for shading in the limited angle areas. However, this results in discontinuous weighting functions leading to streak artefacts in the FDK reconstruction. We propose to combine the modified Parker weights with a filtered back-projection (FBP) algorithm capable of handling redundancy weights after filtering. Improved image quality is shown for this approach in terms of visual appearance and quantitative measures.


This study of leaders' exchanges in Prime Minister's Questions considers the potential for foreign policy debate to be associated with uncharacteristic personal respect between political opponents. Using an existing dataset coded for a specific form of verbal aggression—personal attacks—questions to the Prime Minister spanning a 37-year period were further analysed for policy topic. Compared to questions and responses focused on domestic policies, foreign policy exchanges were significantly lower in personal attacks. Discussion includes the possibility of this being a British example of the old US adage politics stops at the water's edge. Credible theoretical explanations include intergroup theories, and one linked to another US political science phenomenon (the rally 'round the flag effect), specifically, patriotism.


A newly developed nonlinear distortion compensation circuit is presented for high-frequency power amplifiers (PAs), the self-adjusting feedforward (SAFF). A self-adjusting function utilizing a microprocessor and pilot signals provides both precise and stable distortion compensation performance. One of the most important SAFF applications is to construct a multicarrier transmitting amplifier for mobile communications. A computer analysis is performed to predict the required minimum output power backoff for an ideal multicarrier transmitter and the distortion improvement necessary for SAFF to attain the minimum output power backoff operation. Moreover, experimental results of multicarrier amplification using a 100-W 1.5-GHz-band GaAs-FET SAFF-PA show that the required distortion improvement of over 30 dB can be stably obtained.<<ETX>>


In this study vertical push-over analysis was conducted to investigate the resistance of steel moment frames for progressive collapse. The analysis was carried out by increasing the vertical displacement in the location of the removed column and the vertical load in all spans corresponding to the increase of vertical displacement. Various steel moment resisting frame buildings were designed by changing the number of stories and the length of spans. The analysis results showed that the load resisting capacity increased as the number of story increased, but the opposite was true for the limit of the vertical displacement. As the length of span increased the load resisting capacity decreased but the limit of a vertical displacement increased. Based on the analysis results it was concluded that a push-down analysis could be a valuable tool to investigate the progressive collapse potential of buildings, but that for more accurate prediction of progressive collapse the results from the static method need to be compared and refined by the results from another analysis procedures.


A strategy for performing type checking on programs built out of separately compiled parts is presented. This strategy is used in a programming environment that allows small components of a software system to be reconfigured in different ways. The strategy works by inferring type schemas for all of the undeclared functions used by a component and then unifying each schema with a program library when a configuration is built.


Genotype by environment interaction (GEI) reduces the association between phenotype and genotype which result in relative ranking and stability differences of genotypes across environment. The objectives of this research were (i) to select sugarcane genotypes of high yield and stable (ii) to study the interrelationships among various parametric and no parametric stability statistics. Seventeen experimental genotypes and three check cultivars of sugarcane were evaluated at seven environment using randomized completely block design. Methodologies based on analysis parametric (Regression-bi-S 2 d i , Shukla variance, Ecovalence-W, Coefficient of variation-CV, index of Lin and Binns-PI and AMMI value) and non-parametric statistics (Nassar and Huehn- Si (1) , Si (2) , Si (3) , Si (6) , Kang-RS, Fox-TOP, and Thennarasu- NPi (1) , NPi (2) , NPi (3) , NPi (4) ) were used for Ton of Pol per hectare (TPH). Genotypes and environment showed high significant difference ( P <0.01) while GEI was significant ( P <0.05). The parametric stability analysis identified the genotypes V99-236 and V00-50 as the most stable and high TPH. With non-parametric statistics were identified the genotypes V00-50, V99-236 and V98-120 as most stable. The analysis distinguished two groups of statistics using biplot: the first group (G1) formed by PI, CV, ASV, TOP, Si (3) , Si (6) , NPi (2) , NPi (3) and NPi (4) statistics were located under the concept of dynamic stability since they are associated with TPH. The other group (G2), formed by Shukla, W, S 2 d i , bi, RS, Si (2) , Si (1) , NPi (1) statistics, fell within the static concept. Finally, genotypes V99-236 and V00-50 can be recommended as the most stable genotype in terms of both, stability and TPH.


The current issue of the Africa Bibliography–listing works published in 1990–is the last to be edited by Dr Hector Blackhurst, of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester. It is the seventh volume in the series, a series whose format and production he created. I should like to thank him here on behalf of subscribers, members of the Institute and users of the bibliography who like myself have found it each year an invaluable, reliable work of reference. I wish to thank too the John Rylands University Library and the university authorities at Manchester for their help in the making of Dr Blackhurst's bibliography.


OBJECTIVEdNew-onset diabetes mellitus (DM) in elderly patients is associated with increased risk of diabetes complications and mortality. It is unknown whether glycemic control in this population influences the mortality risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODSdThe current study was conducted using the computerized database of the Sharon-Shomron District of Clalit Health Services in Israel. Included in the study were subjects 65 years of age and above with new-onset DM. The primary outcome measures were all-cause mortality and coronary revascularization procedures with either percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting. RESULTSdParticipants (n = 2,994) were stratified into four groups according to their mean HbA1clevels during the follow-up period (,6.5% [48 mmol/mol], 6.5–6.99% [48–52 mmol/mol], 7–7.49%[53–57mmol/mol],and$7.5%[58mmol/mol]).Duringameanfollow-upof5.5462.1 years,1,173(39.17%)participantsdiedand285(9.51%)underwentcoronaryrevascularization. An HbA1c level .7.5% (58 mmol/mol) was associated with a significantly increased all-cause mortality rate (hazard ratio [HR] 1.74 [95% CI 1.2–1.8], P , 0.0001). This difference remained statistically significant after a multivariate model adjusted for the conventional cardiovascular risk factors and for the use of hypoglycemic agents and statins. Kaplan-Meier survival plots revealed lower survival rates in this group of patients. Coronary revascularization rates were highest among subjects with HbA1c 6.5–6.99% (48–52 mmol/mol) (HR 1.6 [1.01–2.4], P , 0.05) and lowest in patients with HbA1c $7.5% (58 mmol/mol). CONCLUSIONSdAn HbA1c level .7.5% (58 mmol/mol) is associated with increased risk for all-cause mortality and with a lower revascularization rate in elderly patients with new-onset DM. Diabetes Care 36:3425–3429, 2013


Crowd-sourced traffic data offer great promise in environmental modeling. However, archives of such traffic data are typically not made available for research;instead, the data must be acquired in real time. The objective of this paper is to present methods we developed for acquiring and analyzing time series of real-time crowd-sourced traffic data. We present scripts, which can be run in Unix/Linux like computational environments, to automatically download tiles of crowd-sourced Google traffic congestion maps for a user-specifiable region of interest. Broad and international applicability of our method is demonstrated for Manhattan in New York City and Mexico City. We also demonstrate that Google traffic data can be used to quantify decreases in traffic congestion due to social distancing policies implemented to curb the COVID-19 pandemic in the South Bronx in New York City.


Parity violation in interactions between the spacetime metric and other fields would be a sure sign of new physics. We examine the possibility of parity violation in the cosmological redshift. If right- and left-circularly polarized photons experience the redshift differently, the radiation from distant sources would tend to be depolarized, since the polarization states would accumulate different phases during propagation. The resulting birefringence has an unusual signature - depending on z{sup 2} - quite unlike what is seen in other theories, including those with violation of local boost invariance. The observed broad-spectrum polarization of {gamma}-ray bursts constrains the fractional difference between the right- and left-handed redshifts at the 6x10{sup -37} level.


This article argues that the perceived deficiencies of Communication Research are not due to derivative research, but result from the inappropriate application of paradigmatic thinking to the field. Instead, I advance the view that paradigmatic incommensurability should not be thought of as disciplinary ships passing in the night, but rather a bustling port where disparate ideas and theories meet and propagate. Beginning with a brief discussion of Kuhn and paradigms, I use the sub-field of Framing as a synecdoche for Communication Research to exemplify the utility that stems from theoretical cross-pollination. In conclusion, embracing perspectives from competing communicative traditions is an invaluable basis for solving real world problems, and a legitimate praxis through which Communication Research can return something of value to society.


Increasingly severe electromagnetic (EM) pollution and demand of military stealth technology give rise to opportunity of developing microwave absorbing materials. The properties of microwave absorbing materials depend mainly on the absorbent filled into the materials. Magnetic fibers arouse the interest and research of scholars at home and overseas because of their excellent adjustment of electromagnetic properties, high permeability and magnetic loss. This paper reviews the research status of ferrite fibers, magnetic metal fibers, magnetic amorphous fibers and nano fibers. The characteristics and development of magnetic fibers have been discussed. The multifunctional, amorphous and nano magnetic fibers will be the development direction of the microwave absorbent.


The argon, Nd: YAG and CO2 lasers have been mostly used in clinical medi cine. Their histological changes are wavelength dependent and manifest their characteristics according to their irradiation time. Although their early skin changes appear clinically similar, there are no exact hard data to correlate their irradiation time. This study was designed to compare the irradiation time of these 3 lasers, using positive Evans blue exudation test (EBE) from the irradiated vas cular walls as an indicator. The dorsum skin of the ddY mouse, 12 in total for each laser group, was irradiated at 3 watts of output with a spot size of 2.0mm in diameter. The EBE appeared at 0.4 seconds for the argon laser, 19 seconds for the Nd: YAG laser and 0.04 seconds for the CO2 laser, respectively. The significant difference for each laser system was demonstrated as follows: argon laser between 0.3 and 0.4 seconds (p<0.01), Nd: YAG laser between 18 and 19 seconds (p<0.01) and CO2 laser between 0.03 and 0.04 seconds (p<0.01). Histologically, all 3 lasers showed a similar homogeneous eosinophilic change of the upper dermal collagen fibers, despite the different exposure time. In con clusion, the comparison of the irradiation time for each laser with argon stand ardized at 1 was 47.5 for the Nd: YAG and 0.1 of the CO2. It is suggested that these correlation might be clinically useful in the medical application of these 3 lasers.


In this paper we design and simulate a novel 3D MEMS fabrication/ micro cutting facility using Chevron electro-thermal actuators. The design takes into consideration of the coupled Electrical-thermal-structural mechanism for the actuator. The cutting stroke length and cutting force generated by the application of input voltage to the actuator has been studied. For input voltages ranging from 0.4 V to 1.2 V, the deflection of 0.18 to 0.45 μm with the cutting force of 70 to 180 μN has been achieved. For the chip area of 0.9×0.9 μm2 and convection coefficient of 20 W/(m2K), 20 ms actuation time has been obtained.


Hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation is a cost effective technology for the design and evaluation of the aerial bombpsilas guidance and control system. In this paper, a feasible formula for aerial bombpsilas guidance and control system ground testing is presented. The structure and working process of the HIL simulation system are discussed in detail. The trajectory design method of the aerial guided bomb is proposed. The relative guidance and control law are also presented in this paper.


This document represents an attempt to map the social consequences of alcohol consumption. It is the distillate of a research project by an international group of researchers. A more extensive report on this work has been published on behalf of the World Health Organization, Regional Office for Europe (KLINGEMANN, H. & GMEL, G., ED. Mapping the social consequences of alcohol consumption. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2001). The project was commissioned by the Regional Office to obtain more insight into the social consequences of alcohol consumption, as background for the WHO European Ministerial Conference on Young People and Alcohol (Stockholm, 19–21 February 2001). The document reviews in particular the existing evidence concerning the influence of alcohol consumption on primary social relations, such as the family. Its impact in a wider social context is also reviewed, with attention focused on the relationship between alcohol consumption and violence. Finally, a summary is given of the research carried out to estimate the impact of alcohol on the economy.


Purpose: Papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC) is the most common thyroid malignancy. Most PTC patients have a good prognosis. However, about 10% cases showed aggressive behavior. Its association with BRAF V600E mutation is still controversy. The purpose of this study is to prove the association between BRAF V600E expression and PTC


Abstract This study investigated the occurrence of honeybee diseases in Incheon area, at the point of great wide-spread of sacbrood disease in the country. Sixteen resident beekeeping apiaries; 3 native honeybee and 13 European honeybee apiaries were selected for this research. Over 20 adult bees were evenly collected from the most colonies of each apiary three times (March, June, November) within a year. In this work, 13 honeybee diseases including 7 viral diseases, 2 bacterial diseases, 2 fungal diseases, and 2 parasitic diseases were detected by preliminary inspections and PCR. As a result, viral infections were confirmed at 34 among 48 apiaries (70.8%) over the entire examination period. Parasitic diseases showed the high-est detection rate of 45.8%, which are detected in 44 among 96 cases. In the seasonal prevalence, 30 cases (15.6%) of 7 pathogens were detected from 14 apiaries in March, 50 cases (24.0%) of 9 pathogens and 56 cases (26.9%) of 9 pathogens were detected from all apiaries in June and November, respectively. Nosema was shown to be the most prevalent pathogen from March to November, followed by sacbrood virus (SBV) and stonebrood. The spread of SBV infection in Incheon would be under-estimated by the increasing of detection rate over the time. Especially, Chinese sacbrood virus was de-tected from 4 European honybee apiaries, but clinical symptoms were not found. No chalkbrood, acute bee paralysis virus, and chronic bee paralysis virus were detected in this study. The effective therapy and preventive measures should be prepared for beekeeping industry.


The authors study the effect of burstiness of packet arrivals on the performance of a buffered finite-user random-access system. Primarily, they formulate and analyze a protocol that exploits the burstiness of arrivals and the presence of buffers. In addition, it is shown that the boundary of the region in which infinite user models best approximate a finite-user system is dependent on the burstiness of the arrival process. They also show that an accurate comparison between time-division multiaccess (TDMA) and random-access schemes depends crucially on the number of users in the system. >


Electronic documents, particularly those on the World Wide Web, have an inherent structure which can be utilized. However; the tools to do so have typically been oriented towards professional programmers. We present scripting language features that can be incorporated into tools that manipulate structured network documents. This set of language features allows us to build visual tools to specify transformation on such documents. Subsequently transformation scripting, is opened up to a broad class of users. This allows the tools to be easily extended by end users. World Wide Web browsers serve as a class of tools that can take advantage of this technique. We discuss our experimental browser, Grendel, which has an embedded scripting language, CrossJam, based upon transformation scripting. Grendel has a number of novel applications and a simple visual tool, Spar, to assist in scripting the browser's behavior.


We compute the inclusive and differential cross sections for the associated production of a top quark along with a charged Higgs boson at hadron colliders to next-to-leading order (NLO) in perturbative quantum chromodynamics (QCD) and in supersymmetric QCD. For small Higgs boson masses we include top-quark pair production diagrams with subsequent top-quark decay into a bottom quark and a charged Higgs boson. We compare the NLO differential cross sections obtained in the bottom parton picture with those for the gluon-initiated production process and find good agreement. The effects of supersymmetric loop contributions are explored. Only the corrections to the Yukawa coupling are sizable in the potential discovery region at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). All expressions and numerical results are fully differential, permitting selections on the momenta of both the top quark and the charged Higgs boson.


"This book, as does the exhibition HF|RG conceived by Chantal Pontbriand, explores four of the recurring concepts to be found in their work: the Archive, the Non Verbal, the Machine and Montage" -- p. [4] of cover.


Under the Gaussian noise environment,the Extended Kalman Filter(EKF) is of low precision and can result in filtering divergence in target tracking.In this study,the Unscented Kalman Filter(UKF) is applied in target tracking of nonlinear system.Simulation results show that,compared with EKF,UKF is superior in convergence velocity and is of stronger adaptive ability in noisy environment.The Algorithm Implementation proves to be simpler.


. Although it is recognized that the business model contains relevant information for obtaining system requirements, we still lack a systematic approach for discovering requirements from an existing organization's business model. This paper proposes a method which starts from a business model, guides the software development team toward understanding business needs and identifying system requirements addressing those needs. Three case studies were conducted where the method applicability could be verified.


We systemically investigate the influence of channel spacing, fiber length, incident pulse peak power and width on interchannel ultrashort pulse four-wave mixing (FWM) in high-speed DWDM systems with nonzero dispersion-shifted fiber (NZDSF).


Lattice-bound folding models are often used by computer scientists as a simplified instance of the chain folding problem (featuring, at the other end of the complexity spectrum, conformational sampling of biologically important molecules). Lattice-bound folding is relatively fast, thus well suited for benchmarking of nature-inspired optimization heuristics. Yet, it is not clear whether the benchmark-winning heuristics are necessarily the best suited for the more complex problems of atom-level resolution conformational sampling. This paper reports the design of — as far as possible — equivalent evolutionary operators and algorithms, for both chains and molecules, to explicitly check whether chain folding may serve as "training ground" for real sampling protocols.


In the design process of building integration photovoltaic (BIPV), the architectural design, power system design and structure design are very important. Moreover, some kinds of suitable connection are required which should meet the requirements of bearing capacity and deformation. In this paper, the connections between photovoltaic system and buildings were discussed. Then based on the 1MW HIMOER photovoltaic support in Lianyungang technical college, we selected the suitable connection, and designed the space photovoltaic support .This results are useful for the development of the BIPV.


Review(s) of: Fundamentals of Information Studies: Understanding Information and Its Environment, 2nd ed., by June Lester and Wallace C. Koehler, Jr. New York: Neal-Schuman Publishers, 2007, 444 Pp, US$65.00 Soft Cover ISBN 13: 9781555705947.


t‐Buthyoxycarbonyl‐L‐alanyl‐α‐aminiosobutyryl‐L‐alanyl‐α‐aminoisobutyryl‐α‐aminoisobutyric acid methyl ester (t‐Boc‐L‐Ala‐Aib‐L‐Ala‐Aib‐Aib‐OMe), C24H43N5O8, an end‐protected pentapeptide with a sequence corresponding to the 6th through the 10th residues in suzukacillin, crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group P212121 with a = 11.671, b = 14.534, c = 17.906 Å and z = 4. The molecule exists as a right‐handed 310‐helix with a pitch of 6.026 Å. The helix is stabilized by three 4 → 1 hydrogen bonds with the NH groups of Ala(3), Aib(4), and Aib(5) hydrogen bonding to the carbonyl oxygens of t‐Boc, Ala(1), and Aib(2), respectively. The helical molecules arrange themselves in a head‐to‐tail fashion along the a direction in such a way that the NH groups of Ala(1) and Aib(2) hydrogen bond to the carbonyl oxygens of Aib(4) and Aib(5), respectively, of a translationally related molecule. The helical columns thus formed close‐pack nearly hexagonally to form the crystal.


This paper focuses on the implementation of collaborative and integrated product development. It contains four sections.We first present three-domain based system of integrated product development (IPD) along with the four key elements of the system.In the second section,we show the six basic principles of IPD.After that,we survey the critical techniques of IPD in details,and finally,we propose the five approaches to implementing coordinative and integrated product development.


Abstract : The Aerodynamic and Transonic Experimental Facilities at the US Army Research Laboratory (ARL) maintain free-flight spark ranges to evaluate the aerodynamic and flight dynamic performances of gun-launched projectiles. Currently, firing a projectile and capturing its shadowgraph image on film is a manual process which is tedious and limiting when conducting multiple tests. This project addressed the automation of the free-flight spark ranges by enhancing ARL s software for remotely controlling the operation of the ranges and integrating digital cameras. Initially, modifications were made to the existing FilmScanner program to make it compatible with Vidar scanners that do not utilize the drivers developed using the TWAIN communications protocol. Then, a prototype system consisting of a range interface box, Weather Station, and digital camera connected via Ethernet to a computer was built to serve as a development platform. The existing RangeController program was enhanced to control the prototype system. The enhancements include adding functionality to remotely take weather measurements from the Weather Station, control the camera settings, operate the camera using an external trigger, and record the camera images after the shot. These enhancements will help significantly reduce human intervention, which will decrease the required range time for testing.


Let tc(G) and tg(G) be the conditional diagnosability and g-good-neighbor diagnosability, respectively, of a graph G. The notion of the g-good-neighbor conditional diagnosability is less restrictive as compared with that of the conditional diagnosability in general. Particularly, the conditional faulty set notion requires that, any vertex, faulty or not, have at least one non-faulty neighbor; while the 1-good-neighbor faulty only requires that a non-faulty vertex have at least one non-faulty neighbor. Compared with conditional diagnosability, g-good-neighbor diagnosability is interesting since it characterizes a stronger tolerance capability. In this paper, we investigate the equal relation between t1(BHn) and tc(BHn) for the balanced hypercubes BHn. That is t1(BHn) = tc(BHn) = 4n - 3 for n ≥ 2 under the PMC model and t1(BHn) = tc(BHn) = 4n - 4 for n ≥ 2 under the MM model; Furthermore, the 2-good-neighbor diagnosability t2(BHn) = 4n − 1 for n ≥ 2 under the PMC model and the MM model is obtained.


Abstract: Currently very rarely books that explain the local potential of an area. This resulted in the teacher having difficulty giving examples related to local problems in the learning process. The purpose of this study was to develop Pocket Book based on local area wealth to improve pro-environmental behavior of students. Research and development is carried out on April 2017 SD February 2018 with the analysis unit of the tenth grade students of Natural Sciences in the City of Bogor Senior High School. The research procedure is through six stages, namely making the research framework, literature study and feasibility, data collection, model design, model validation, and model implementation. The results of this study are the Bogor Natural Wealth Pocket Book using the ADDIE model can be categorized as valid, practical and effective. Pocket book Bogor's natural wealth is able to improve proenvironmental behavior for students.


The paper analyses Geoffrey Leech's polite principle.Through the analysis of address forms in The Story of the Stone,it expounds the importance of polite principle in the verbal communication,points out that address forms between Yuanchun and Jia Zheng may not be reflected in the polite principle,finds that the usuage of address forms is dynamic and is determined by pragmatic distance.


A study of the Variations in the rate of growth of economically valuable
fishes forms an important aspect of their biology. In the Indian oil sardine,
Sardinella longiceps, this has not received due attention so far, although brief
references to growth-variations have been made by some of the previous workers.
Homell and Nayudu (1924) stated that growth is tremendous in the first
year and negligible subsequently. Devanesan (1943), from a study of the growth
rings on the scales, gave the sizes of the different year-classes. Chidambaram
(1950) has given the maximum sizes and size-progression of the age-groups in
successive years. Nair (1953) has noted that age-groups in the fishery "showed
variations in their rate of growth" and subsequently stated (Nair, 1959) that
length-frequency data "show differential rate of growth during the first year
(Nair, 1953)". Apart frpm these nothing substantial is published hitherto on
variations in the growth of this fish. Hence the present paper dealing with
differences in its growth rate in successive years of its life in the fishery, those
within each season and in between seasons, as well as different phases of its
life-history may be of interest. The investigations were made during 1961-1964
at Cannanore, one of the important oil sardine fishing centres in the Malabar
zone of the south-west coast of India.


Context: Software performance is crucial for ensuring the quality of software products. As one of the non‐functional requirements, the few efforts devoted to software performance have often been neglected until a later phase in the software development life cycle (SDLC). The lack of clarity of what software performance research literature is available prevents researchers from understanding what software performance research fields are available. It also creates difficulty for practitioners to adopt state‐of‐the‐art software performance techniques. Software performance research is not as organized as other established research topics such as software testing. Thus, it is essential to conduct a systematic mapping study as a first step to provide an overview of the latest research literature available in software performance. Objective: The objective of this systematic mapping study is to survey and map software performance research literature into suitable categories and to synthesize the literature data for future access and reference. Method: This systematic mapping study conducts a manual examination by querying research literature in noble journals and proceedings in software engineering in the past decade. We examine each paper manually and identify primary studies for further analysis and synthesis according to the pre‐defined inclusion criteria. Lastly, we map the primary studies based on their corresponding classification category. Results: This systematic mapping study provides a state‐of‐the‐art literature mapping in software performance research. We have carefully examined 222 primary studies out of 2000+ research literature. We have identified six software performance research categories and 15 subcategories. We generate the primary study mapping and report five research findings. Conclusions: Unlike established research fields, it is unclear what types of software performance research categories are available to the community. This work takes the systematic mapping study approach to survey and map the latest software performance research literature. The study results provide an overview of the paper distribution and a reference for researchers to navigate research literature on software performance.


Plants have successfully colonized almost all of the Earth ecosystems and are among the most diverse eukaryote phyla (Mora et al., 2011; Pimm and Joppa, 2015). They also play a key role in the Earth system as a major actor in atmospheric, water and nutrient cycles that make possible life as we know it (Lucas, 2001; Payne et al., 2020). Numerous studies focused on plant diversity and evolution have been published and a large body of knowledge on plant diversity, evolutionary history, traits, physiology, and distribution has been generated. Such accumulation of knowledge combined with methodological and computational advances, and the ever-expanding biological databases (e.g., GenBank, TRY, GBIF) have allowed the study of plant diversity at large geographical and temporal scales as exemplified on Figure 1 (Zanne et al., 2014; Smith and Brown, 2018; Igea and Tanentzap, 2020; Neves et al., 2021). However, despite numerous advances, plant diversity and diversification patterns remain contentions. For example, there is still no consensus about the crown age of angiosperms (flowering plants, the most diverse plant lineage) (e.g., Barba-Montoya et al., 2018; Sauquet et al., 2021). Many species remain undescribed and a large fraction of the described species have never been included in phylogenetic datasets (Stevens, 2017). Likewise, large gaps remain in distributional and trait databases (Cornwell et al., 2019). The aim of this Research Topic is to bring together research that furthers our understanding of large-scale plant diversity and diversification patterns. It includes nine papers that tackle these issues from different evolutionary and ecological perspectives using diverse methods and study systems.


The actin cytoskeleton is a dynamic structure which is capable of rapid assembly and disassembly, and has roles in the structural stability and migration of the cell. Cofilin 1 (Cof1) is an intracellular protein which depolymerises F-actin whilst inhibiting the polymerisation of G-actin, and as such dissembling the actin cytoskeleton, in a pH dependant way. Cofilin 1 has also been linked to the function and regulation of mitochondria in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mutations in the COF1 gene have been connected to drug resistance to numerous antifungals in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. One such mutant is the cof1-6 strain whose mutations are present outside of the charge - dependant PtdIns(4,5)P2 binding site of Cofilin 1, and has been linked to the up-regulation of several ABC transporters that have roles in drug resistance. We investigate the role of genes involved in lipid biosynthesis and the role of the mitochondrial outer membrane protein Porin 1 in cof1-6 linked drug resistance. We show that the Cof1-6 mediated drug resistance is PKC-regulated MAPK pathway independent. We further observe an increase in the expression of the sphingoid long chain base efflux pump Rsb1 in the cof1-6 strain. This up-regulation of Rsb1 is pH-independent but Porin dependent. Previous literature has demonstrated a link between peroxisomal and mitochondrial function. Our work suggests that peroxisome function does not regulate drug resistance whereas mitochondrial function is a key mediator in the resistance phenotype of the cof1-6 strain. Furthermore, we demonstrate that cof1-6 linked drug resistance is very complex with the ABC transporter Pdr5 involved in resistance to antifungals which operate through different modes of action. We hope that this work will further understanding into drug resistance against common antifungal drugs.


The research aimed to measure the level of inclusiveness of religious education teachers in Indonesia in 2018. The research method was a survey, conducted thorough capital cities in 34 provinces. The respondents were religious education teachers from Moslem, Christian, Catholic, Hinduism, and Buddhism at the secondary school level. The total sample was 3675 from 7976 population in the whole province capitals. They were selected based on Proportional Random Sampling technique and used Yamane formula at the level of confidence at 95 percent. The instrument research was the questionnaire of religious understanding which was constructed from three dimensions of variables, namely religious understanding toward the relation of religion and state, the relation among different religions and the relationship within the same religion. The research data technique analysis used structural equation modeling. The result showed that the inclusiveness level of religious education teachers iwas at 76,55, which was higher than the cut off value which was at 75,0. It means that the religious understanding of religious education teachers was good or generally at an inclusivism level.


During surgical procedures using a laser or electrosurgical unit, the thermal destruction of tissue creates a smoke byproduct. Research studies have confirmed that this smoke plume can contain toxic gases and vapors such as benzene, hydrogen cyanide, and formaldehyde, bioaerosols, dead and live cellular material (including blood fragments), and viruses. At high concentrations the smoke causes ocular and upper respiratory tract irritation in health care personnel, and creates visual problems for the surgeon. The smoke has unpleasant odors and has been shown to have mutagenic potential.


This paper tests the impact of four dimensions credibility, benevolence, top management support and internal relationship on the supply chain management, using structural equation modeling and a sample of 103 companies that have operations in Brazil. Although measurement models for the constructs defined as antecedents proved to be appropriate, results did not support the literature, as the relationships were not statistically significant. A possible explanation for this is the Brazilian environment, where the relationship between chain members are still based on market negotiations and bargaining power, with a volatile and unstable demand.


An optimum design for the amorphous silicon high-voltage photovoltaic cells composed of horizontally multi-layered p-i-n cells has been studied. A series of technical data on the design parameters and the device physics for the multi-layered cell are presented. Newly designed cell shows the open circuit voltage Voc nearly proportional to the number of unit p-i-n junction with almost constant conversion efficiencies of around 4%. Attempts have been made up to ten p-i-n layered cells with a Voc of 4.5 volts. Another new performance as an arbitrary spectral photosensor having a structure of double p-i-n junctions is proposed.


In this paper, we focus on a 6-DOF parallel mechanism which is for human hip joint power assist. Different from the conventional power assist system, the proposed human hip joint assisting mechanism is formed as parallel mechanism. Considering the anatomical mechanism of human hip joint, the 6-DOF assisting system consists of three serial chains, and each chain is a UPS model, so the parallel mechanism is a 3-UPS model. Based on the analysis the direct kinematic Jacobian of the parallel mechanism and human thigh, such a parallel mechanism design could be effectively used to hip joint power assist. This parallel assisting mechanism could be used for human thigh movement assisting, rehabilitation and movement information acquiring.


The thermal conductivity of carbon fiber reinforced polymers is crucial for new technologies and is used in cutting-edge technologies such as sensors, heated rollers and anti-icing of airplane wings. Researchers so far focused on coating conventional prepregs with thermally conductive materials to enhance the transversal conductivity. Another strategy is followed in this study: Thermally conductive matrices filled with graphite platelets were processed by a laboratory prepreg line. Laminates produced from this type of prepregs show an enhancement in thermal conductivity by 3.3 times with a 20 vol% filler content relative to the matrix, and a 55 vol% fiber volume content in the laminate. The research shows that the incorporation of conductive particles in the matrix is more effective for increasing the conductivity than previous methods.


The aquatic biome is an integral part of Earth's survival. Humans, with an attitude to lead a comfortable life, have invaded the ecosystem to a larger extent owing to many direct and indirect catastrophes in the longer run. Our aim was to establish the link between the genes and compounds that turn toxic to the organisms over due course of time. With the selected compound as diclofenac, Comparative Toxicogenomics database was used to identify the diseases related to the compounds, the top expressing genes, and the common genes of the compounds. By incorporating the coalescence of spirulina bioremediation under histopathological studies, the effect of the algae was observed. From these two studies, we were able to conclude that there was a significant link between the effects of the compound on the organisms.


The present investigation deals with the synthesis, characterization and evaluation of antibacterial activity of some γ-benzopyrones. The derivatives were synthesized in a moderate to good yields. The structural confirmation was based on the IR, NMR and Mass spectral studies. The anti bacterial activity of the compounds was evaluated against Staphylococcus aureus, Pseudomonus aeruginosa, Bacillus subtilis and Escherichia coli. The zone of inhibitions was measured as the parameter of activity. Out of all derivatives 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d and 3e were appreciably effective against the bacterial strains used for the study. Other compounds were either slightly effective or ineffective. These analogues can be further modified for better efficiency.


The utility model provides an online monitor of cable temperature, which consists of a core U and a plurality of signal pick devices. The utility model is characterized in that each signal collecting device consists of a bus communication module and a plurality of temperature transducers connecting with thereof; a CAN communication module is added to the main machine; a corresponding CAN communication module and a signal pick extension are added to every signal collecting device; wherein, an I/O hole of each signal collecting device correspondingly is connected with the bus communication module, whose P hole is connected with the CAN bus which is connected with the P hole of the main machine; and the CAN communication module connecting with the main machine is connected with the CAN communication modules which connects with the signal collecting device through the CAN bus. In the model, the temperature transducer is arranged in the cable tie-ins or the parts needing to be detected. The collected data is output into the signal collecting extension through the bus communication module and is connected with the main machine through the CAN bus. And then according to the results of the data processing by the core, the utility model is able to warn early or give an alarm.


With this work, it is aimed to put forward the present situation about "production, capacity usage, machine park and technology" and to define the problems of the actuations of the forest products industry which is included in the scope of small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) in Duzce; an important place in terms of actuating the forest products industry in Turkey. For this aim, face-to-face questionnaires were administered to 43 SMEs in the forest products industry in Duzce. Data obtained revealed the problems of the SMEs and it was found that the basis of their problems was insufficient finance.

 Key words:  Small and medium sized enterprises, SME, forest industry, Turkey.


If old editions of medical books and CDs are taking up space, consider donating them to the Iraq BookProject.

Health care clinicians in Iraq are seeking recent medical literature (can be in English), including books that are not more than one edition out, journals less than five years old, CDs and


In this study, we replaced the natural start codons of different enzymes in the central carbon metabolism of Corynebacterium glutamicum to influence their activity toward improved production of the feed amino acid lysine. It was found that the translational start codon directly affects the intracellular activity of the encoded enzyme, whereby the common ATG generally led to higher values as compared with the rare variant GTG. This could be exploited to specifically amplify or attenuate enzyme activities in order to redirect carbon flux from undesired, competing pathways toward reactions supporting lysine formation. Replacement of the natural ATG codon by GTG reduced the specific enzyme activity of pyruvate dehydrogenase (PDH) and phosphoglucoisomerase by 60 and 40%, respectively. Vice versa, the activity of glucose 6‐phosphate dehydrogenase was increased by 40% by the substitution GTG‐>ATG. Implementation of the attenuated pyruvate dehydrogenase in the background of lysine producing C. glutamicum increased product yield by 17%. This was related to a redirection of the metabolic flux toward the supply of the lysine precursor oxaloacetate. The amplified expression of glucose 6‐phosphate dehydrogenase by the start codon exchange increased lysine yield by 10%, linked to an increased flux toward NADPH supply in the pentose phosphate pathway.


The presence of TiC or TiN paritcles in an Al2O3 matrix affects the thermal stability of the composites in oxidizing environments. In isothermic oxidation tests at 700°, 800°, 900°, 1000°, and 1100°C for up to 20 h, two different oxidation regimes have been observed at T < 900°C and at 900°C ≤T≤ 1100°C. At low temperatures (T < 900°C), the oxidation follows a phase-boundary reaction; the reaction product initially consists of aggregates of submicrometer needlelike TiO2 rutile crystals that subsequently grow and coalesce. When a continuous TiO2 rutile layer is formed (T≥ 900°C), the oxidation kinetics change to parabolic, and the diffusion of O2 through a thick TiO2 layer is proposed as the governing step.


The proximity wire-to-wire in cables creates an electromagnetic interference problem due to electromagnetic interactions between the wires in the cable known as crosstalk. The survey of literature shows that the reduction of the number of wires is not a new task; the authors generally use the theory of equivalent cable bundle method (ECBM) with arbitrary loads. However, the ECBM is applied for single wire architecture, it's never shown before if this method is efficient and gives good results with twisted-wire pairs networks.


In this paper,the influence of different elastomers on properties of ABS/PVC alloys was investigated.It was found that,when the elastomer was mixed in ABS/PVC alloys,it would cause a great change in properties of ABS/PVC blends.


Teaching Gender: Feminist Pedagogy and Responsibility in Times of Political Crisis gives readers the opportunity to disclose the complexity of the contemporary economic crisis and its far-reaching and devastating consequences in society, particularly the hindering of the advancement of women's rights and gender equality. No panic. Aside exposing how the neoliberal crisis has negatively affected and often collapsed the rise of social change and women's rights, feminist researchers in this book consider and study different alternatives to resist and respond to neoliberal policies. Throughout eleven chapters, contributors to this book find in education a major tool to free individuals of the normalisation of precariousness and austerity and the consequent individualisation of society. According to these authors, rethinking the situation and the search for new strategies and methods to combat neoliberal policies is what Donna Haraway (2008) calls our "response-ability". Inspired by Donna Haraway's (1988) work Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective, feminist researchers in this book commit to this response-ability and suggest diverse methods, from pedagogy, human values and solidarity to the inclusion of new themes and identities, to engage individuals in re-thinking the current status of society. Following Haraway, they attempt to go beyond the myths and discourses surrounding traditional objectivity, and to challenge what Haraway calls the "god trick" of the scientific vision (p.582). Based on these premises, readers are encouraged to deconstruct not only the outside world but their own deep inner selves. In consequence, the reader finds her or himself torn into little pieces of identity, like in a puzzle, each of them containing a portion of our old/current-selves. Complexity is turned into a 'complex' partiality. As Haraway's points out:


The objective is to describe a methodology, suitable for IST Programs, that obtains sufficient data to assess and trend the overall condition of AC and DC MOVs. Using existing diagnostic test equipment, recording the time from Hard Seat Contact to the Torque Switch Trip point (TST), {open_quote}Seating Time (msec){close_quotes}, can provide a means to quickly detect for signs of lubricant degradation in the interface between the stem and stem-nut for MOVs. Obtaining and trending the {open_quote}Seating Time{close_quote} parameter can be easily accomplished using the sensors which provide motor current, torque or thrust. From the initial baseline test to subsequent tests, it is the change in time between Hard Seat Contact to Torque Switch Trip point that is utilized to monitor changes in the coefficient of friction between the stem and stem-nut. While many Licensees have begun their MOV Periodic Verification Programs, obtaining the {open_quotes}Seating Time{close_quotes} during Refueling Outages and comparing the results from subsequent outages can be an input to the justification for changing the MOV baseline test frequency.


PCM Kotagede has the duty to prosper the symbols of Islam and Muhammadiyah through activities in various mosques in the neighborhood. The existing mosque is not yet well managed in terms of administration of infrastructure, finance, worshipers and activities. As a result, takmir has difficulty making various types of reports and publications for activities, while PCM is difficult to obtain information related to mosque profiles easily and accurately. The aim of community service is to provide solutions to mosque administration and management problems in the form of implementing a computer-based mosque management system in the mosques of Kotagede PCM. The benefits of this activity help Takmir mosque easily and quickly in making various reports about the development of infrastructure, worshipers, financial and various activities in the mosque. Besides that, PCM will obtain profile information of mosques in its area quickly and easily. So that the data helps in coordinating and developing the prosperity of the mosque.


A dedicated stroboscopic device was used to obtain optical spectra of the Crab pulsar main pulse and interpulse as well as the spectrum of the underlying nebula when the pulsar is turned off. Since the nebular emission is very inhomogeneous, our ability to effectively subtract the nebular background signal is crucial. No spectral lines intrinsic to the pulsar are detected. The main pulse and the interpulse behave as power laws, both with the same dereddened index α = +0.2 ± 0.1. This value was obtained by subtracting the nebular spectrum at the exact position of the pulsar. The underlying nebula is redder, α = -0.4 ± 0.1. Its emission lines are split into approaching (~-1200 km s-1) and receding (~+600 km s-1) components. The strength of the emission line components and the flux in the nebular continuum vary on an arcsecond scale. The nebular line and continuum intensities along the north-south slit are given.


Precipitation in the Soudano-Sahelian zone of West Africa is rare during the boreal winter half year, but can have substantial impacts on the local hydrology and human activities reaching from greening pastures to flooding and rotting harvests (Knippertz and Martin 2005; Knippertz and Fink 2008). A recent case study by Knippertz and Fink (2008) of unusual dry-season rainfalls in West Africa in January 2004 unveiled a close link to the synoptic evolution in the extratropics, as detailed in the schematic depiction shown in Fig. 1. Upperlevel troughs that penetrate from the extratropics into low latitudes support pressure fall over West Africa in two ways: (I) diabatically through the anomalous radiative warming under a diagonal cloud band on the eastern flank of a first upperlevel trough, often referred to as a tropical plume (Fig. 1a), and (II) dynamically through subsidence and warm advection associated with a second upper-level trough, the latter being situated over Algeria in the case displayed in Fig. 1b. As a consequence of the surface pressure fall moist low-level monsoon air from the Gulf of Guinea penetrates inland and allows the formation of deep moist convection and heavy precipitation in the Guineo-Soudanian zone (Fig. 1b). In the case depicted in Fig. 1 extreme precipitation also occurred in the subtropics to the east of the second upper-trough. Based on this case study Knippertz and Fink (2008) hypothesized that the strong extratropical influences may imply a comparably good predictability of such events that would allow a timely warning of the population and therefore a mitigation of detrimental impacts as well as an exploitation of beneficial effects To test this hypothesize we present here a statistical evaluation of boreal winter precipitation forecasts made by the European Centre for Medium-Range


"What a miserable world. What colossal idiocy, this war. Out of sheer rage I've begun my book about Thomas Hardy. It will be about anything but Thomas Hardy I'm afraid – queer stuff – but not bad" (L ii 212). To write the book in question, which would first be published as "Six Novels of Thomas Hardy and the Real Tragedy" (STH xxxvi), Lawrence re-read Thomas Hardy's complete works between July and August 1914, and is believed to have started writing what is now known as Chapter III of Study o...


Oregano is an aromatic plant used both as a condiment and for medicinal purposes, with a great  number  of  antioxidant  compounds  (43).  The  study  analyzes  the  main  groups  of  antioxidant compounds – flavonoids, polyphenolcarboxilic acids and polyphenols and the antiradical capacity of this plant. The determinations are done spectrophotometrically, based on the reactions with AlCl 3 – for the flavonoids, with Arnow reagent – for the polyphenolcarboxilic acids and Folin – Ciocâlteau reagent for total polyphenols. Because it is very important to know the  way the observed antioxidant compounds can be extracted from  plants  eight  extractions  from  two  samples  of  dried oregano  –  condiment  and  medicinal  plant were performed: with water, with methanol solution 50% and ethanol, hot and cold, and two mixtures: of methanol – water – acetic acid and methanol – acetone – water – formic acid, cold. Water  and  methanolic  solution  had the  capacity  to  extract  the  compounds  both  from  the  condiment and  the  medicinal  plant,  the temperature  influencing  in  a  positive  way  the  extractability of  the antioxidant compounds. A valuable extract was obtained at low temperature, too, with the mixture of solvents methanol – acetone - water – formic acid (S 5 ). Its scavenger activity against the free radicals, determined by the  capacity of elimination of the radical 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH), was very good in the majority of the extracts. At the opposite end, there was the extract with ethanol, at low temperature.


We examine how a parametrization of neutrino mixing matrix reflecting quark-lepton complementarity can be probed by considering phase-averaged oscillation probabilities, flavor composition of neutrino fluxes coming from atmospheric and astrophysical neutrinos and lepton flavor violating radiative decays. We discuss some distinct features of the parametrization by comparing the triminimal parametrization of perturbations to the tribimaximal neutrino mixing matrix.


In this paper, a new approach for the development of telephone answering machine using personal computer is discussed. This machine has an advantage of being able to interact with the calling party and transmit specific urgent message to the calling party after proper identification. Moreover, the constraints of time limit for the conversation are greatly reduced due to facility to store the voice messages the hard disk on-line (Present hard disks have capacity to store data in gigabytes). The machine was successfully developed and tested. This paper also explores the applications where this machine can be optimally utilised.


The invention provides a glasses lens treatment method. The method comprises the following steps: after plating a film on a glasses lens in a film plating machine, immersing the glasses lens in a specially-prepared medicine liquid; and carrying out heat treatment on the glasses lens in a drying oven. According to the glasses lens treated by adopting the glasses lens treatment method provided by the invention, the antifouling and waterproof performances can be greatly improved; and after the glasses lens is polluted by fingerprint oil stain, the glasses lens only needs to be slightly wiped and almost no oil stain is remained.


The proliferation of internet technologies and smart phones has led to an increasing number of people using social networking and micro blogging platforms. Consumers are constantly expressing opinions about various kinds of products and services in multiple formats in huge numbers. This has led to the development of a new discipline called opinion mining that focuses on automatically classifying the sentiments of users without manual intervention. Opinion mining has acquired immense research and commercial interest due to its potential applications for users and businesses alike. While many methods are available for automatically classifying sentiments of web based articles and reviews, machine learning techniques like naive bayes, support vector machines, maximum entropy, decision trees etc are being widely used in opinion mining tasks. This paper attempts to understand the problem of opinion mining and how machine learning algorithms are being implemented to analyze the sentiments of user opinions


Objective
To investigate the expression of the kallistatin gene in the corpus cavernosum and search for some new molecular targets for the regulation of penile erectile function and treatment of ED.

METHODS
Using reverse transcriptase-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR), Western blot and immunofluorescence staining, we detected the expression of kallistatin in the rat corpus cavernosum and compared it with that in the aorta.

RESULTS
The results of RT-qPCR and Western blot revealed both mRNA and protein expressions of kallistatin in the rat corpus cavernosal tissue, with no statistically significant difference from those in the aorta (P > 0.05). Immunofluorescence staining showed that kallistatin was expressed in both endothelial and smooth muscle cells in the corpus cavernosum and localized in the cytoplasm, with no statistically significant difference from its expression in the aorta (P > 0.05) either.

CONCLUSIONS
The kallistatin gene is highly expressed in the corpus cavernosum and localized in cavernosal endothelial and smooth muscle cells, suggestive of its involvement in the cellular function of cavernosal endothelial and smooth muscle cells and its participation in the regulation of penile erectile function.


Press-molded body forming a tensile strength of 390MPa or more high-tensile steel plate having a substantially channel-shaped cross-section and comprises a continuous flange outwardly (16) (10), inhibiting wrinkles ridge line portion (12a, 12b) of , continuous outward flange (16) of the crack. A method of manufacturing a substantially channel-shaped cross-section and having an end portion having at least one side of a continuous method outward flange (16), the pressed shaped bodies (10) or more made of 390MPa high-tensile steel, wherein the method includes a first after at least a portion of the step 1, the first step, the first plate (34-1) constrains the molding material (33) for forming a groove bottom (11) portion, the second pad ( 34-2) is bound to at least a portion shaped ridge line portion (12a, 12b) of the end portion, and thereafter press-molded.


The present paper further develops some previous results associated with the variation in mass of a system starting from first sub microscopic principles and the constitution of real space. The wave function ψ determined in a phase space is treated as an image of the original field of inertia determined in the real space, which is generated by the moving particle. Carriers of this field, inertons, are responsible for the exchange of mass between the substance's entities (atoms or molecules that move or vibrate in the substance). The overlapping of inerton clouds results in the emission and re-absorption of inertons by vibrating entities. Thus the mass of atoms in a substance is not a stationary parameter, but dynamic. Methods of submicroscopic mechanics allow a detailed study of a mass dynamics in the substance in question. Moreover, the inerton field can be excited in a substance and can affect other substances inducing new effects, such as 'freezing' and clusterization of entities, which can give rise to new chemicals. Besides, those are inertons that synchronize the coherent motion of ultracool atoms bringing them to the cluster state, which is identified with the phenomenon of Bose-Einstein condensation.


It is well recognized in the computer algebra theory and systems communities that the Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) can be used for multiplying polynomials. Theory predicts that it is fast for "large enough" polynomials. Even so, it appears that no major general-purpose computer algebra system uses the FFT as a general default technique for this purpose. Some provide (optional) access to FFT techniques, so it is possible that a rational decision was made against using FFT. By contrast, the implementors of some more restricted systems, typically specializing in univariate, dense polynomials over finite or infinite fields, seem to think the FFT is good, in practice, even for smallish problems, and so they have made the decision the other way. We provide some benchmarks for polynomial multiplication that the FFT should be good at, and also suggest an alternative version of FFT polynomial multiplication using floating-point numbers that has some nicer properties than the typical finite-field "Number Theoretic Transform" approach. In particular, in spite of the fact that a floating-point FFT gives approximate answers, we can nevertheless use it to produce EXACT answers to a class of polynomial multiplication problems for arbitrary-precision coefficient polynomials, simply by noting that a sufficiently-accurate coefficient, namely error is less than 0.5, we have the exact integer answer. We also have some more data on what "large enough" to warrant the use of FFT, might be.


this work deals with the environmental effects that could influence the active thermographic inspection of the inner structures of wind turbine rotor blades. The transmission of the atmosphere and the impact of wind currents are the main subjects in this study and will be examined through several experiments. The results of these experiments will be processed and their consequences on the method will be presented.


In the era of "Internet +," the deep integration of party building in colleges and universities and information technology is the objective need for the modernization of the party's government in colleges and universities and the realization of science. Starting from the concept of the smart party-building platform in colleges and universities, this study analyzes the current situation of the informatization and intelligence of party-building work in colleges and universities. Combined with the current development needs of the party-building work in colleges and universities, starting from the significance of the construction of the smart party-building platform in colleges and universities, the ideas and main research studies on the construction of the smart party-building platform in colleges and universities are expounded. Contents describe the construction path and implementation method of the university wisdom party-building platform in order to construct a reasonable and efficient university wisdom party-building platform construction plan.


In the article number and distribution of birds of lake system Saltaim-Tenis of northern forest-steppe Priirtyshie is analyzed. The basic complexes of birds' ecosystem wetland habitats forest-steppes Omsk oblast are revealed.


The CODAS (Control and Data Acquisition System) and IT department of UKAEA Culham has developed a communication protocol for centralised simultaneous data acquisition, control and monitoring of a large number of processors. It is developed around the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP)[1] standard. The protocol has now been in use for about 5 years. It is intended to allow parallel, collaborative developments to take place, by defining communication interfaces between systems, while allowing the internal details of each implementation to remain opaque. For this reason, it is referred to as the 'black box' protocol. The paper outlines the main factors that led to this protocol choice, and the benefits and experience gained. The paper briefly describes the functionality of the protocol, and explains how it is being used on a variety of platforms, including Windows, Linux; on PC, VME, and PLC hardware.


We present results on foaming of a thermoplastic elastomer (TPE) using water as the physical blowing agent. The TPE is a blend of polypropylene and fully crosslinked EPDM rubber made by a dynamic vulcanization process. The influence of the blowing agent content, and the processing conditions on foam density, cell nucleation, and foam structure are discussed. A brief discussion about the similarities and the differences between foaming in homopolymers and in TPEs is also included.


The contractors' survival in the construction industry depends on number of projects they operate. If the contractors fail to secure and win the project, the company will not be able to survive in a long time. But to remain survived, the contractors have to compete to other registered contractors. The competitions among them are stiff. Therefore, this study is carried out to identify factors to improve tendering and estimating efficiency also to propose a sustainable method to win bid in tendering. The study involved the G7 contractors registered with CIDB that have been involved in project related to Public Work Department (PWD) tender in area of Kuala Lumpur. The total of 120 questionnaires was distributed and only 103 were returned answered which give a value of 86%. From the study, the factors to improve the tendering and estimating efficiency are skill and experience of estimator, and skill and experience of the purchasers and evaluate previous bidding performance, evaluation on previous bidding performance, monitoring on submitting tender and size of the project. For the factors to propose a sustainable method to win bid in tendering are contractors own plants or subsidiary companies, maintain a lower and effective opening cost, and minimize overhead cost by maintain on the required numbers, quality of staff needed.


Objective:To study the pollution monitoring status of foodborne pathogens in food of Yuecheng district of Shaoxing city,discuss the cause of pathogenic bacteria pollution and predict the potential food poisoning,so as to provide basic data and scientific basis for foodborne disease control.Methods:According to the monitoring task of Zhejiang province,a total of 400 local samples in 10 kinds with timeliness and typical representative,were collected to carry out the detection of salmonella bacteria,listeria monocytogenes,enterohemorrhagic E.coli O157:H7,vibrio parahemolyticus,coliform groups and so on according to GB4789.Results:29 samples were found the above pathogenic bacteria among 400 samples.The total pathogenic bacteria detection rate was 7.25%.Conclusion:The pollution of foodborne pathogens is a potential risk factor for foodborne diseases,and it's better to analyse the reason and take targeted measures to improve the food security.


The testing of Ajax (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) web applications poses novel challenges for testers because Ajax constructs dynamic web applications by using Asynchronous communication and run time Document Object Model (DOM) manipulation. Ajax involves extreme dynamism, which induces novel kind of issues like state explosion, triggering state changes and unreachable states etc. that require more demanding web-testing methods. Model based testing is amongst the effective approaches to detect faults in web applications. However, the state model generated for an Ajax application can be enormous and may be hit by state explosion problem for large number of user action based changes and for immense dynamism. Recent research has not addressed this issue comprehensively because existing techniques either apply partial reduction or compromise the effectiveness of testing. This research uses soft computing based Fuzzy C Means (FCM) clustering algorithm to generate state machine model of an Ajax web application. The focus is on devising a framework to avoid the state explosion problem. The framework prioritizes the requirements and use cases based on requirements weightage, stakeholder weightage and user session based use case frequency. FCM uses this data to reduce the state space by identifying the most pivotal usage areas. The resultant DOM mutations for only these usage areas are considered to induce the finite state machine thus avoiding the state explosion. Experimental results show that the framework controls the size of generated state machine without compromising the effectiveness of testing.


In this paper, we analyse the importance of adopting a holistic and multilevel approach to estimating the drivers of firm-level innovation. Such an approach includes drivers at individual, firm and national level. It is important to note that failing to consider such multiple levels of determinants may result in omitted variable bias. Our novel research contributes to the innovation literature in a number of ways. Firstly, it estimat es multilevel determinants on four types of innovation. This provides a comprehensive and much under-researched analysis of a holistic approach to drivers of innovation. Secondly, we analyse for small, medium and large sized firms, Thirdly, our results, based on a new merged dataset with information from firms across 21 European countries, provide a 'big picture' view of a holistic approach to what drives innovation. The findings reveal that different firm sizes and innovation types warrant different holistic drivers; s mall firms' innovation activity is determined, for the most part, by what facilities/resources are available inside the firm, while innovation in large and medium sized firms are driven by firm and national level factors.


OBJECTIVE To study different risk factors of acute myocardial infarction in rural residents and urban residents.METHODS Use retrospective analysis methods,comparative study clinical characteristics and onset ages,past medical history,and smoking,high blood pressure,diabetes,high blood fat and other dangerous factors in rural residents and urban residents.RESULTS No obvious difference age of in rural residents and urban residents acute myocardial infarction.City patients risk factors is high blood pressure,low density lipoprotein rise,high blood pressure and cerebral infarction,high blood fat,diabetes,high density fat bravery white reduced.Rural patients risk factorts is high blood pressure,high blood pressure and cerebral infarction,cholesterol rise,high density fat bravery white reduced.City patients is riser early went rural patients.CONCLUSION Acute myocardial infarction patients ages and clinical characteristics is same,but risk factors is slightly different in rural residents and urban residents


To prevent pterygium progression, no certain medical or surgical methods are known however sun glasses with an ultraviolet filter and hats are recommended. In our case, pterygium which developed 7 years after laser in situ keratomileusis (LASIK) did not progress for a follow-up period of 2.5 years as the flap edge acted as a barrier against progression. The course of pterygia after LASIK are not reported in the literature. Our case is important in two aspects that it both documents the course of pterygia after LASIK and the possible preventive effect of a corneal cut on the progression of early pterygia.


The teeth extrusion mould consists of quide column, guide sleeve, reset spring, upper form, limiting block, upper slide block, upper die holder, lower die holder, reset rubber, bed piece of lower die holder, lower slide block, lower form and regulating screw and is formed up by mutually connecting. The method for extruding the end of tooth is as follows: when the hinge enters the work face of the lower slide block, the press is started, the slide block of the press moves down ward to push forward said die assembly, the wedge shaped upper slide block drives the lower slide block to do instantaneous movement, each work face of the lower slideblock beats each tooth end to implement no filings working and achieve the demanded quality. When the press moves upward, the die assembly will reset, and the hinge with draws from the work face. Said invention features quick speed, high efficiency, low cost and high quality.


From John Radcliffe Hospital (D.Y.) and the University of Oxford (D.Y., S.E.L.), Oxford; the Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol (S.S.); Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham (I.M., W.T.); Warwick Clinical Trials Unit, University of Warwick, Warwick (R.L.); and Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre, London (K.R.) — all in the United Kingdom; and the Department of Critical Care Medicine, Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre and the Department of Anesthesia, University of Toronto, Toronto (B.H.C.). Address reprint requests to Dr. Young at the Adult Intensive Care Unit, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU, United Kingdom, or at duncan.young@ nda.ox.ac.uk.


A model of elastic-coupled strings subjected to external control is considered, and the spectral properties of its operator model are presented. The problem of reachable states description is explored and solved in the form of convergence of series connected with final states.


College students elaborate end-of-course project proposals which have the structure of a research paper. In order to improve the quality of the project and guide them through the development of this type of work, a Tutor System was implemented to help the students. In this paper we present a web-based Intelligent Tutor System to provide advice to students in the drafting of research project proposals. We propose a student model based on a network to track the progress of each student in the development of the project and provide a personalized feedback on each assessment. The tutor includes a module for assessing the lexical richness, which is done in terms of lexical density, lexical variety and sophistication. We present the results of a pilot study with students which used the system, and the analysis of a questionnaire used to perform an empirical evaluation, that showed that students found that this tool was useful to improve their writings.


Riparian management originated largely to protect fish habitat and water quality, but now considers other environmental values, including riparian and wildlife. More than three decades of study of clearcutting to the streamside have tracked biological, chemical, and physical effects (e.g., temperature alterations, increased turbidity, loss of pool habitat, reduction of organic matter inputs, increased algal biomass). Nevertheless, management practices around streams of the Pacific Northwest and elsewhere vary greatly, and can depend on land ownership. Few studies have looked at any particular configurations of riparian reserves, including around small, or headwater, streams (Gomi et al. 2002; Moore and Richardson 2003). Studies on larger streams with riparian reserves are even rarer.


ThA article describes the way in which the International Quality Review Process (IQRP) contributes to the review of the international activities of a large, complex university and the formulation of a policy proposal for such activities. The National University of Mexico (UNAM) is one of the largest and most complex universities in the world and the most importanthigher education institution in the country. The article begins with a general description of UNAM in the context of the Mexican higher education system, the background to its international activities and the reasons behind the university s interest in the International Quality Review Process (IQRP). It describes the steps involved in the process, as well as the difficulties faced and the results obtained, in both the quality review process and in its incorporation into University life. The document ends with a description of the actions deemed necessary to consolidate an institutional policy of international activities in the near future. The article is a pre-publication of a chapter in the OECD-book Quality and Internationalisation in Higher Education', 1999 (Jane Knight and Hans de Wit, editors)


The issue of maintaining linguistic diversity in the world today and ensuring its sustainability in the future has become a near obsession for many professional linguists and organisations. Why is this necessary? And what efforts are being made in this direction? This paper discusses trends in linguistic diversity in the world today in relation to the fear Krauss (1992) and others express about the current trends of language use in the world today? The paper argues that the current efforts by such bodies as the UNESCO in addressing the situation are paradoxical. The essay does this by discussing the practicalities (factors that may be promoting or threatening) of linguistic diversity in Ghana today and in the future. The paper provides some facts on linguistic diversity in Ghana, and discusses some external and internal factors that affect linguistic diversity in Ghana. The paper then links these facts and trends to the facts and patterns of linguistic diversity in the world today, and submits that the patterns of linguistic diversity in Ghana today, reflect the patterns of linguistic diversity in many parts of the world today and argues that the current efforts being made fall short of achieving the ultimate aim due to their inherent paradoxical nature.


Peptide agents are regarded as potential candidates for overcoming the life-threatening resistance of pathogenic microorganisms to classic antibiotics. This research has identified an antimicrobial peptide,namely VT-1 from the venom gland of the wasp Vespa tropica,by using the combined methods of peptidomics and genomics.VT-1 has exerted a broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity against standard and clinically isolated strains of bacteria. In addition,VT-1 shows a weak hemolytic activity toward human erythrocytes.