The competition for customers in today's society is growing rapidly. Companies invest a great amount of time and recourses to establish and preserve a strong brand. Repositioning is a process that today is necessary for virtually all brands at some point during its lifetime and is about to change a customer's perception of a brand name, by changing its associations. The goal is to create a new, stronger position for the existing brand. Hemtex is one of the Nordic regions most famous brands in the home textile industry, but in recent years they have lost market shares to competitors and their sales performance have been declining. One of the reasons for this was considered to be due to Hemtex's marketing strategy; repeated sales and offers. A repositioning of the brand was considered inevitable. For the last 6 months, Hemtex have been working actively with the resumption of credibility among consumers when it comes to their product quality and they're also trying to increase the understanding of their pricing. We want to be associated with quality and a reasonable price with a vision as follows: "Our vision is to bring inspiration and innovation to all homes, not exclude anyone!" Consumers do not fully understand all changes that Hemtex have been implementing. However, we do know through both theories and studies, that the repositioning process of an established brand is something that is time consuming and is something one must not speed up or slow down too much. Enormous patience and a willingness to live up to the promises that comes with the repositioning, is a must for a successful repositioning.


We extract the conservative and dissipative interactions of the ionic liquid [Emim]+[NTf2]− on mica and HOPG. Charge-mediated layering on mica locks the counterions strongly in place, resulting in several liquid layers forming as the wall effect is integrated out, as well as much greater damping between the layers as compared to the bulk. Template-mediated layering on HOPG is much weaker than its Coulombic counterpart. In terms of local flow properties, layers on HOPG can glide easier over each other as compared to the bulk. This clearly demonstrates the importance of substrate for controlling near-wall dynamic response.


As the conducted studies show, deviations and asymmetry of the outside have the greatest impact on the electric drives of production machines and mechanisms.Voltage asymmetry leads to losses that have an electromagnetic and technological component.Studies on the effect of voltage asymmetry on the technological characteristics of working machines and mechanisms have shown that their productivity decreases with voltage asymmetry. However, there are no studies on the influence of spring asymmetry on the energy characteristics of working machines.The purpose of the study is to establish the effect of voltage asymmetry on the energy characteristics of belt conveyors.With voltage asymmetry, constant and variable losses in an asynchronous electric motor change.It is proposed to carry out an energy evaluation of the electric drive of the belt conveyor according to the specific consumption of electricity.The influence of voltage asymmetry on the energy characteristics of belt conveyors was studied. The dependence of the specific power consumption on the change in stiffness of the mechanical characteristics of the electric motor, which is caused by voltage asymmetry, is obtained. It was established that slippage and power losses increase with voltage asymmetry. As a result, specific losses of electricity in the electric drive of belt conveyors increase.


This dissertation is a diagnostic study on factors affecting mutual funds and portfolio analysis. The purpose is to diagnose and compare the various events which cause affects on NAVs of Mutual Funds. Mutual Funds are one of the dominant industries in Indian economy, but due to uncertainty in the market, they are no longer safe. This dissertation focuses on diagnosing the events when NAVs of Mutual Funds fluctuates, finding the reasons of these fluctuation, analyzing and comparing these reasons, and commenting on the steps taken to overcome them.


We show that using an adequate coordinate transformation the charged regular black hole solution given by Ayon-Beato and Garcia can be put in the Kerr-Schild form. Then we use this metric in Kerr-Schild Cartesian coordinates with a result given by Virbhadra and obtain the energy distribution associated with this.


Distributed Generation (DG) serves a customer on-site and it provides support to a distribution network. DG is connected at distribution level voltage. The resources used for DG are preferably renewable resources. DG may be used as a standby unit. It helps to improve the reliability of the distribution network. The reliability improvement will be maximum if DG unit is located optimally in the distribution network. Reliability improvements due to DG connection with the distribution network also depends on method of installation of disconnects at sections forming a junction in the distribution network. After penetration of DG, the passive distribution system becomes an active system. Therefore, it is essential for the planners to study the impact of DG on distribution system reliability. The aim of the paper is to study the effect of DG on reliability of distribution system.


Freely falling deuterium pellets containing 1...2*1018 deuterium atoms were irradiated with a high power Nd laser and ionized. For complete ionization of the pellet it is necessary to apply the laser energy in two consecutive pulses separated by a few hundred nanoseconds. The first laser pulse with only little energy disintegrates the pellet, whereas the main following ionizes the material. The influence of the following parameters on plasma production were investigated: laser energy of prepulse and main pulse, pulse separation, laser beam diameter at the pellet sites and irradiation from one and two directions. Under optimum conditions for all these parameters-which are not independent of each other-almost 100 per cent ionization of the pellet was achieved. Approximately 30 per cent of the laser energy is measured as ion kinetic energy of the plasma. The number of electrons was determined by holographic interferometry, the number and energy of ions were measured with 12 Faraday cups. The laser energy balance was achieved with various diodes, calorimeters and an integrating sphere around the pellet site.


In the Western World, potentially fatal megaloblastic anaemia in children is usually caused by lack of Cbl known as Juvenile Cobalamin Deficiency (JCD), which leads to hematological and neurological disturbances. The classic cause of JCD is malabsorption, the inability of the small intestine to absorb the essential molecule from dietary sources. Consensus is lacking on which laboratory tests are the best for explaining the etiology of JCD due to the myriad of potential causes (Carmel et al, 2003). Underlying mechanisms vary in different parts of the world and in different socioeconomic groups (Grasbeck 2006). However, patients may go improperly diagnosed for long periods because the serial exclusion testing for various causes can take months. Consequently, developmental delay is potentially common but easily overlooked in young children. Two main forms of inherited JCD exist: Imerslund-Grasbeck syndrome (IGS; OMIM261100; Imerslund 1960; Grasbeck et al, 1960) and Intrinsic factor Deficiency (IFD; OMIM261000; Katz et al, 1972). In IGS, deleterious mutations in either CUBN (Aminoff et al, 1999) or AMN (Tanner et al, 2003) cause malabsorption of Cbl. In IFD, mutations in the GIF gene itself are causative (Yassin et al, 2004; Tanner et al, 2005). All three genes can be sequenced in search of mutations in genomic DNA (Tanner et al, 2004, 2005). However, the screening task is daunting given that CUBN has 67 exons and AMN is very GC-rich, complicating the PCR-based analysis. To our knowledge commercial screening is not offered and research based testing is not widely available. Especially for under-served socioeconomic groups, affordable genetic testing may be years away. During our ongoing genetic studies of JCD, we have encountered four patients of West-African ancestry. Three were from the USA and one was referred to us from the UK. Sequencing of GIF revealed that all alleles with African roots carried the same c.183_186delGAAT frameshift mutation (M61fs), suggesting either a founder event or mutational recurrence. We undertook the present study to clarify this question.

Genomic DNA samples were isolated from peripheral blood after informed consent by standard phenol-chloroform-ethanol-precipitation. Families 8 (Tanner et al, 2005) and 55 (Yassin et al, 2004) were described previously and are of West African decent. Family 33 is Jamaican with African ancestry living in the UK and family 39 is from the US East Coast, with the father reporting African-Native American and the mother reporting European ancestry. All four patients were given Cbl replacement therapy by parenteral Cbl injection and no longer show any clinical symptoms. Control DNA samples from 93 African-American and 93 Caucasian with no evidence of JCD were collected from the metropolitan Columbus area under a separate IRB approved protocol. For mutation analysis, we amplified GIF exon 2 from genomic DNA by PCR and analyzed it as previously described (Tanner et al, 2005). Genotyping was performed with the three microsatellite markers GIF M1 (~28 kb proximal of GIF), GIF M3b (intron 7), and GIF M4 (~2kb distal), and analyzed using fluorescent-labeled primers as described (Tanner et al, 2004). PCR conditions and primer sequences are available upon request.

To elucidate if the haplotype carrying the c.183_186delGAAT mutation is an ancestral founder event, we genotyped the three flanking markers GIF M1, GIF M3b, and GIF M4 in the four families. Based on a parsimonious analysis requiring the least number of recombinations and implying linkage disequilibrium across this 40 kb region, we inferred the disease haplotype as 180-M61fs-235-168. This ancestral haplotype was found unaltered in three out of seven parents and can be explained in the remaining four by one recombination each (Fig 1). Naturally, this assumption is not taking into account the true haplotype frequencies in Africans. Thus, we studied DNA samples from 93 African-American (AA) and 93 European-American (EA) controls. After excluding the presence of the mutation in all controls, we constructed definitive haplotypes based on homozygosity and then possible haplotypes based on the observed definitive haplotypes, again using the parsimony principle. Through the resulting haplotype frequencies (Supplemental Table I), we found that none of the 93 EA control samples had the ancestral haplotype 180-235-168 on which the mutation probably arose, while only two of the 93 AA control samples carried 180-235-168 (~1%). Allele 180 of marker GIF M1 was found among 14/186 (7.5%) alleles in the AA controls, and was not detected in the EA controls (Supplemental Table I). Likewise, allele 168 of marker GIF M4 was seen in 10/186 AA alleles (5.4%) with no occurrence in EA. This allele was found in strong linkage disequilibrium with M61fs in the JCD parents with six out of seven carrying it (Fig 1). Because the ancestral haplotype 180–235-168 existed only in AA and is quite rare amongst them (~1%), we concluded that the c.183_186delGAAT mutation very likely represents a founder event for JCD patients of the Sub-Saharan West-African lineage. This mutation was never detected in ~120 cases of JCD other than these 4 cases of African ancestry. Moreover, we have not encountered any AA patient so far that had any other JCD mutation, although the numbers are still small (n=4).

Fig 1

Pedigrees of four patients affected by intrinsic factor deficiency (IFD, filled symbols) due to the c.183_186delGAAT frameshift mutation (M61fs) in the intrinsic factor gene, GIF. Haplotyping with markers GIF M1, GIF M3b, and GIF M4 flanking mutation ...

In summary, we identified a specific GIF mutation to be responsible for all JCD cases of West-African origin so far. The strong association of a particular mutation with a medically under-served minority could be used to their immediate benefit. It allows for quick and easy genetic testing in a disease that is notoriously difficult to diagnose but easy to treat, once the correct diagnosis is made. We believe that one simple PCR-based test in suspected cases of JCD in patients of West-African origin should be considered early during diagnosis.


Most of Merapi area is an area which is used as sand mining The sand
mining process is massively done so that caused environmental damage. The
environmental change will influence the role and the existence of biota and
biological diversity, which is soil mesofauna and soil macrofauna. The purpose of
the research is to know the diversity of soil mesofauna and soil macrofauna in the
sand mining area in the Merapi area.
The research is done by taking five samples in five research stations based
on the different period of sand mining area with 3 sample point randomly taken in
each station. The sample was taken using three methods, which is hand sorting
and pit fall trap method which are used to get soil makrofauna and Barlese-tulgreen method whoch is used to get soil mesofauna. The data found was used to
count the mesofauna diversity index and soil macrofauna. In this research, the
researcher also measures the environment factor.
The result of the research shows that there are some different index
mesofauna diversity and soil macrofauna in the sand mining area. The highest
index of mesofauna diversity in the sand mining area for ± 2 years is 0,89. The
highest diversity of macrofauna in the surface and in the deep of the ground is 0
year in the sand mining area with diversity index is 0,87 and 1,08.
Keywords: soil mesofauna and macrofauna, diversity index, sand mining area.


In the present study we have tried to evaluate the importance of Ca 2+ -parvalbumin interaction versus acidification for the slowing of relaxation developing with fatigue. Musculars fibres were dissected from lumbrical muscles of Xenopus laevis.


The resources of the butterflies of Tiantangchai Mountain in Anhui Province were surveyed.Ypthima medusa has been authenticated as new record in Anhui Province.


A novel PLL frequency synthesizer architecture is presented. The proposed architecture offers improved phase noise characteristics by removing frequency division from the PLL feedback path. This minimizes the impact of the phase detector residual noise floor. Moreover, phase noise can be further improved by inserting a frequency multiplier into the feedback path. A 5 MHz to 26.5 GHz synthesizer module based on the proposed architecture has been developed. Phase noise at 26.5 GHz output and 10 kHz offset is measured at −110 dBc/Hz. The measured spurs do not exceed −60 dB level. The switching time is less than 100 microseconds for any frequency step within the entire operating range.


Objective This prospective and self-controlled study was designed to evaluate whether change from low-flux hemodialysis to high-flux hemodialysis could improve patients'nutrition status. Methods We recruited 136 patients on maintenance low-flux hemodialysis. We then changed the low-flux dialyzer to high-flux F60 or FX60 dialyzer for hemodialysis without changing any other dialysis prescriptions. Plasma albumin,appetite score and subjective global assessment (SGA) were assessed before the change and after the change for 6 months. Results Plasma albumin remained unchanged in all patients after the change. In patients whose albumin increased lower than 25 percentile,plasma albumin was 36.4±3.1g/L,and 39.9±3.9g/L (P0.001) before the change and after the change for 3 and 6 months,respectively. Appetite score increased (P=0.0049) after the change for 6 months. SAG score also increased (P0.05) after the change for 3 and 6 months. Conclusions The results show that the shift from low-flux to high-flux hemodialysis improves the nutrition status in maintenance hemodialysis patients.


ABSTRACT:In this article, the author describes the use of Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics in literacy courses with preservice teachers. The article includes information about how the book has been central to conversations about comics work, as well as examples of how the author has used the text to link to particular comics titles.


To the Editor —I wish to make an emphatic protest against many of the statements found in the editorial entitled "Suggestion in Hyperthyroidism" inThe Journal, Dec. 14, 1912, p. 2154, for it contains many statements given with the authority ofThe Journalwhich, if allowed to go unchallenged, afford many possibilities for harm. Apparently hyperthyroidism is no longer a field for legitimate medicine and surgery, but the door is open for the Christian Scientist, the chiropractic, the osteopath and the practitioners of all the other cults, who need only to persuade the patient that a particular "mode of treatment is likely to be beneficial," for under these conditions "there is prompt relief of most, and sometimes, it would almost seem, of all their symptoms shortly after the institution of the treatment in question." How perfectly lovely! There is no qualification to the conditions; merely persuade the patient that the


The operation of a Peltier cooler can be temporarily enhanced by utilizing the transient response of a current pulse. The performance of such a device, using (Bi,Sb)2Te3 –based thermoelectric elements, was examined from –70°C to 55°C. We establish both theoretically and experimentally the essential parameters that describe the pulse cooling effect, such as minimum temperature achieved, maximum temperature overshoot, time to reach minimum temperature, time while cooled, and time between pulses. Using simple theoretical and semi-empirical relationships the dependence of these parameters on current pulse amplitude, temperature, thermoelectric element length, thermoelectric figure of merit and thermal diffusivity is established. At large pulse amplitudes the amount of pulse supercooling is proportional to the maximum steady state temperature difference. This proportionality factor is about half that expected theoretically. This suggests that the thermoelectric figure of merit, is the key materials parameter for pulse cooling. For this cooler, the practical optimum pulse amplitude was found to be about 3 times the optimum steady state current. A pulse cooler was integrated into a small commercial thermoelectric 3-stage cooler and provided several degrees of additional cooling for a period long enough to operate a laser sensor. The improvement due to pulse cooling is about the equivalent of two additional stages in a multi-stage thermoelectric cooler.


(Dated: December 5, 2013)The weak field limit of scalar tensor theories of gravity is discussed in view of conformal trans-formations. Specifically, we consider how physical quantities, like gravitational potentials derivedin the Newtonian approximation for the same scalar-tensor theory, behave in the Jordan and in theEinstein frame. The approach allows to discriminate features that are invariant under conformaltransformations and gives contributions in the debate of selecting the true physical frame. As aparticular example, the case of f(R) gravity is considered.


Abstract The International Consortium for Harmonization of Clinical Laboratory Results (ICHCLR) was established to fulfill recommendations identified by an international conference convened to review the available infrastructure and challenges in achieving harmonization of results among different measurement procedures. The specific objectives of the ICHCLR are to: prioritize measurands by medical importance, coordinate the work of different organizations, and stimulate development of technical and regulatory processes to achieve harmonization. Central to these objectives is the website "www.harmonization.net" developed by the ICHCLR as an information portal designed to provide a resource center for global activities to harmonize and standardize results from clinical laboratory measurement procedures. Priorities based on medical impact are provided for measurands for which harmonization is needed or work to implement harmonization is incomplete or inactive. By making information available regarding harmonization activities in progress or planned, coordination of work to harmonize laboratory measurement procedures will minimize duplication of effort and optimize the use of limited resources. A toolbox of technical procedures developed by ICHCLR to be considered when developing a process to achieve harmonization for a measurand is presented. The ICHCLR initiated a proposal to ISO Technical Committee 212 for a harmonization protocol as the basis for calibration traceability when there are no other higher order reference system components available. The ICHCLR offers a unique service to prioritize measurands in need of harmonization and to provide a centralized approach to organize global efforts to achieve harmonization of clinical laboratory test results.


This paper studies the interplay between match quality, learning and information quality in the context of school choice. Families value good schools, but also prefer closer schools. On the other hand, schools prefer higher-ability students. Schools are ranked based on the (exam) performance of their student intake. Performance depends both on the school's quality and on the student intake's ability. Families use the most recent ranking to determine which school to apply to. In this dynamic environment, feedbacks exist between families' inferences about school quality and the matches between students and schools. Comparative statics analyses are performed on the steady state of this dynamic process. Lower transport costs improve the informativeness of rankings. However, allowing schools to select students based on ability has ambiguous effects on the informativeness of rankings. Higher informativeness makes families' demand more sensitive to quality indicators but lowers welfare for uniformly distributed transport costs if school quality is fixed.


Before the 19th century, however, Statistics was literally 'State-istics', that is, a description of the State (i.e. the nation), and this description focused heavily on qualitative (i.e. nonnumerical) analysis. Questions about a country's productivity, wealth and well-being were answered by analyses based on observed characteristics (without necessarily including any measurements), such as its progress in agriculture and industry and its accomplishments in the arts and architecture. An interesting historical essay by F. De Bruyn ('From Georgic poetry to statistics and graphs', The Yale Journal of Criticism, 17, 2004, pp. 107–139) illustrates how this worked in practice.


The paper deals with the use of frequency sensors for monitoring road bridges, their characteristics, how to use and shows the frequency of the bridge watching in Karaganda (Kazakhstan).


This study compared a sample of hearing college students with a sample of deaf college students, all having deaf parents, on each of the nine dimensions of self-concept assessed through the revised form of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS). It addressed the question: Do the measured self-concepts of hearing children, reared by deaf parents, differ significantly from those of deaf children of deaf parents? Significant differences were foimd between TSCS mean scores for the deaf and hearing college students on the Behavior and Moral-Ethical Self scales. No differences resulted on the other six subscales or on the Total score of the revised form of the TSCS. The author condudes that when both parents are deaf, hearing and deaf children develop comparable self-esteem. Since the 1960s, researchers have been stud3dng the effects of family variables on the development of children. The family is significantly affected by the characteristics of the parents within the family (Thurman, 1985), and research on factors such as family and marital integration, child-rearing practices, birth order, and sex role identification suggest that eventual developmental outcomes in children result from the ongoing interactions between children and their parents (Sameroff & Chandler, 1975). In regard to self-esteem, in particular, it has been suggested that feelings in children often resulted from those of their own parents or from individuals responsible for childbearing activities in their culture (Satir, 1983). Although much research on this topic has been conducted, the impact of parental disability on childbearing has received little attention in the literature. The purpose of the present study was to compare a sample of hearing college students with a sample of deaf college students, all having deaf parents, on each of the nine dimensions of self-concept assessed through the revised form of the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale (TSCS). The Self and Self-Concept The relationship of self and self-concept has occupied a central place in the field of psychology since the nineteenth century. William James (1890), in his Principles of Psychology, initially formalized interest and description of the self. Hall and Lindzey (1957, p. 467) have described James' initial theory of self,".. .in its most general sense as the sum total of all that a man can call his—his body, traits, and abilities; his material possessions, his family, friends and enemies; his vocation and avocations and much else." As early as 1902, sociologist Cooley developed a theory that one's own ideas of self are significantly affected by the imagined perception of others. Cooley defined a "looking-glass" self as one that reflected such Vol. 27 No. 1 Summer 1993 25 1 Searls: Self-Concept Among Deaf and Hearing Children of Deaf Parents Published by WestCollections: digitalcommons@wcsu, 1993 SELF^CONCEPT AMONG DEAF AND HEARING CHILDREN OF DEAF PARENTS imagined appraisals. Fitts (Wylie/ 1967) has conducted a self-concept research program according to the theoretical framework that there is a constant interaction between self-concept and behavior, with each influencing the other. Gergen (1971), as did Mead (1934), argued that, while we largely think of self-concept as a single or global entity, it is much more fruitful to speak of multiple concepts of self. Deaf Children of Deaf Parents In comparing the self-concepts of deaf children of hearing parents with those of deaf children of deaf parents, various studies have indicated that deaf children of deaf parents tend to be more complacent (Becker, 1980), better socialized, better adjusted, more flexible and adaptable to new situations (Schlesinger & Meadow, 1972), pass through life stages with more positive attitudes, are less impulsive and more mature (Harris, 1978), acquire American Sign Language more easily (Hoffmeister, 1976, 1978, 1982; Kantor, 1981; Supulla, 1982) and learn English more readily (Moores, 1982). Other studies have shown that deaf children of deaf parents achieve better academically (Mindel & Vemon, 1971; Moores, 1982; Vemon & Koh, 1970) and are psychologically and sociologically equivalent to the hearing population (Becker, 1980; Higgins, 1980). Deaf children raised by deaf parents often have more effective early communication and opportunities for incidental learning than do children of hearing parents (Rainer, Altshuler & Kallman, 1969; Freedman, Cannady & Robinson, 1971). Schlesinger & Meadow (1972) noted that two variables may account for the overall superior functioning of deaf children with deaf parents: (1) the greater acceptance of deafness with its concomitant greater ease of child-rearing, and (2) the early parental input of manual communication with the earlier onset of receptive and expressive communication for the child. Meadow, Greenberg, Erting & Carmichael (1981) concluded that deaf children of deaf parents are "more advanced socially, linguistically, and educationally" compared to groups of deaf children of hearing parents. The deaf child in the deaf family perceives daily events as an integrated whole. Communication at home is not a problem in which only bits and pieces may be perceived. Deaf children can easily participate in deaf community activities; a community which provides the opportunity for deaf parents to be viewed as leaders, active participants, and respected members in the eyes of their deaf children (Hoffmeister, 1985). Hearing Children of Deaf Parents Although there are more studies concerning deaf parents and their deaf chOdren, limited research has been conducted with hearing children of deaf parents. Most of the literature published in this area is anecdotal in nature; subjective accoimts of hearing children of deaf parents (Day, 1975; Fant & Schuchman, 1974; Lauritsen, 1973; Royster, 1981); clinical observation by professionals in the field (Vemon, 1974); or iiulividual case studies of hearing children of deaf parents, who were in therapy due to psychodynamic conflicts (Arlow, 1976; Bene, 1977; Frank, 1979; Frankenburg, Sloman Perry, 1985; Robinson & Weathers, 1974). The greatest interest to investigators has been the studies of language acquisition and speech development of hearing children with deaf parents. In regard to self-esteem, Marshall (1978) found that the overall level of self-esteem, and its component positive scores, as measured by the Tennessee Self-Concept Scale, did not differ significantly between hearing children of deaf parents and hearing children of hearing parents. In the most extensive study found on attitudes and perceptions of hearing children toward deaf parents, Bunde (1979) reported on the attitudes of hearing children toward their parents (73% positive, 18% positive qualified with various 26 Vol. 27 No. 1 Summer 1993 2 JADARA, Vol. 27, No. 1 [1993], Art. 7 https://repository.wcsu.edu/jadara/vol27/iss1/7 SELF-CONCEPT AMONG DEAF AND HEARING CHILDREN OF DEAF PARENTS negative feelings^ and 9% no comment)/ interpreting (61.1% of the children interpreted regularly or frequently for their parents)/ decision making (49% indicated that their parents depended on them to make decisions)/ and discipline in the home (the majority indicated that both parents maintained discipline without difhculty). Frank (1979) suggested that parent-child role reversal in general causes a great deal of guilt in any child whose dependency needs have been frustrated and who feels inadequate to assume the parental role. Adlerian concepts of inferiority have been offered as one of the tenets of adjustment to physical disability in the past (English/1981). One of these tenets is that the child/ surrounded by more physically dominant and competent adultS/ develops early feelings of inferiority. On the other hand/ children who quidcly leam that they are physically superior to the most significant adult in their lives are postulated to have a somewhat different outlook (Greer/ 1985). In another study with Israeli families consisting of deaf parents and hearing children/ Goldenberg/ Rabinowitz & Kravetz (1979) believed that the level of communication affected the emotional relationships/ while the parents' self-concept did not appear to affect the child's feelings towards his parents. The present study addresses the question: Do the measured self-concepts of hearing children/ reared by deaf parents/ differ significantly from those of deaf diildren of deaf parents?


Objective: To investigate the general properties of the complexes of VEGF si RNA-loaded RGD-conjugated gold nanoparticles(GNPs)(GNPs-Tyr RGD-VEGFsi RNA) and their impact on necrotic effect of radiofrequency ablation(RFA) in the liver.Methods: GNPs-Tyr RGD-VEGFsi RNA complexes were synthetized by chemical and electrostatic adsorption methods and the discreteness of the complexes was examined by electron microscope. The stability of the VEGF si RNA in the complexes was tested by gel electrophoresis, the cytotoxicity of complexes to normal hepatic cellswas determined by CCK-8 assay, the binding capacities of the complexes to normal hepatic cells and liver cancer cells after co-incubation were analyzed by using electron microscopy, and the impact of the complexes on the necrotic ef ect of RFA were observed in the in-vitro pig liver.Results: The complexes showed a higher discreteness than the naked GNPs and the content of VEGF si RNA in the complexes was approximately equal to the initially loaded content. Both the complexes and naked GNPs exhibited almost no cytotoxicity to the normal hepatic cells at a concentration below 30% and the binding ability of the complexes to the liver cancer cells was significantly greater than that to the normal hepatic cells(P0.05), but the naked GNPs showed no difference between binding ability to the two types of cells(P0.05). The lesion diameter induced by RFA with the complexes injected through radiofrequency needle was significantly larger than that in control group with saline injection [(2.19±0.24) cm vs.(1.71±0.14) cm, P0.05].Conclusion: GNPs-Try RGD-VEGFsi RNA complexes can integrate targeted concentration and targeted therapy as a whole, and may also be helpful for enhancing the effcacy of liver cancer RFA treatment.


It is noted that there now exists a compendium of experimentally measured transition probability ratios for ionized transitions of oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, which can be used for calibration in the VUV spectral region. The emissions proposed for use in this context span the 485-1124 A wavelength interval, and can be easily excited using low pressure discharge lamps of conventional design and dispersed using a monochromator of moderate resolution.


A review is presented on the effects of irradiation on pressure-vessel steels, on the results of a survey of 19 reactor vessels with respect to their anticipated neutron doses, and on the research programs in this field. (D.L.C.)


Data from the Illinois Farm Business Farm Management (FBFM) Association was used to calculate the percent of land owned, share rented, and cash rented by Illinois grain farms. Table 1 reports results for farms that received the majority of their farming income from grain operations and operated at least 260 acres. Livestock and smaller grain farms likely would own a higher percentage of farmland than shown in Table 1.


This article calculates the energy gain of a single relativistic electron interacting with a single gaussian beam that is terminated by a metallic reflector at normal incidence by two different methods: the electric field integral along the path of the electron, and the overlap integral of the transition radiation pattern from the conductive foil with the laser beam. It is shown that for this instance the two calculation methods yield the same expression for the expected energy change of the electron.


Mobile Internet can enable the reader to obtain a digital library resources from anywhere, but because of the huge amount of data in large data quickly retrieve the required information, the problem faced by mobile cloud library, aiming at this problem, we propose a big data mobile cloud Books and memory retrieval system with associated services, according to this system, it is possible to quickly search and develop reading programs for the reader's query and search time.


Measurements were carried out in the temperature range 293–453 K over the frequency range 100 Hz–100 kHz on the ac electrical properties of vacuum deposited Sb x S 1− x thin films of different thicknesses prepared with different deposition rates. The obtained experimental data have been analyzed with reference to various theoretical models. The ac conductivity increases with frequency according to the relation σ ac ( ω ) α ω s . The analysis shows that the correlated barrier-hopping (CBH) model is the most appropriate mechanism for the ac conduction in these films. The value of the dielectric constant slightly changed for higher frequencies irrespective of temperature change, whereas its value increases at higher temperature with the decrease in frequency. The dielectric loss has been found to increase with increase in temperature and decrease in frequency. The deposition rate and film thickness have a remarkable effect on ac conductivity and dielectric properties. The maximum barrier height w m is calculated from dielectric measurements according to Guintini et al. equation based on Elliott (CBH) model; which suggested the hopping of charge carriers over a potential barrier between charged defect states. The density of states was also calculated using Elliott model.


Introduction Given Ireland's age-old reputation for religiosity, scholars have paid surprisingly little attention to the religion of Irish Travelling People. One fairly recent book on Traveller society (McCann et al. 1994), for instance, included only two index entries on religion in a list of over 400, and even these were minor. Other work, including some fine ethnography, remains unclear about whether the ritual data apply equally to Irish Travellers as they do to Romanies (Okely 1983), and some is of somewhat narrow scope-(Mends 1997). This essay is the first in a series of two (1) and is based on the experience of two years I spent with Travellers as site warden of an official Traveller caravan site in London, during the 1980s. It focuses entirely on Irish Travellers, even though a minority of families were British Romanies. This first paper is organised in two parts. The first section, Part one, distinguishes individual from collective religious behaviour and looks at the existing literature on Traveller religion to argue that in England religion is important as a marker of identity in ways that it is not in Ireland. Section 2 unravels the nexus between social organisation and communication and classification, and, in doing so, draws heavily on Douglas (1978) and Simmel (1964). Because section 2 of this essay acts as an arch-stone for the rest, we should begin by anticipating its central thrust; namely, that a tension in Traveller social organisation occurs at two levels. One is between individual families--and the individual members of separate families--operating as strangers (Simmel 1964); that is to say, individuals and individual families physically `near', but socially `remote' from one another: `potential wanderers' and essentially `traders'. The second occurs between Travellers as a self-`imagined community' and the non-Travellers whom they perceive as the Other, and vice versa. Section 2 also examines how Traveller social organisation supports a world-view and set of categories and symbols which serve to fashion identity. It argues that when Travellers speak about the body and its `inside' they are talking metaphorically of the wider social body. I have already mentioned Douglas's work (1984) on purity and danger, but the present paper also draws on her book on natural symbols (1978) which some commentators consider to be `eccentric' and `untidy' (Farndon 1999). For this reason alone I would therefore emphasise that I have applied this aspect of Douglas's work only years after the data were collected, and that the evidence of bodily concerns which I found was not something I deliberately set out looking for. Indeed, during my first nine months as warden, I consciously avoided reading anything about Travellers and Gypsies so as not to cloud my mind with other people's ideas, including Okely's (1983). Moreover, it was long after my busy years as warden that I reread Douglas and found it relevant. Ironically, in this essay about outsiders, it is not only the academic `outsider' Douglas (Fry 2000) I rely on. I also draw on Simmel, another sociological `outsider', to show that the emic categories `inside'/`outside' and their numerous parallels, in addition to the behaviours that accompany them, echo Simmel's concept of the Stranger as one who is physically near but socially remote. Thus such perceptible patterns of language and action can just as easily be examined etically and `objectively', a la Simmel, as they can be emically and `subjectively', in terms of the native categories inside/outside. Put otherwise, individuals and individual families within the site will be seen `objectively' to act like Strangers in `near-remote' terms (the hyphen here serving diacritically to signal the important coexistence of properties). At the same time, between themselves on the site, Travellers express a marked inside/outside normative differentiation; in other words, a clear sense of social boundary or non-coexistence (indicated here by my use of the uncompromising oblique mark:/). …


We investigate the applicability of the microcontact printing technique for the patterning of polymeric etch-resistant layers with thicknesses in the order of micrometers. In contrast to small molecular materials such as thiols and silane coupling agents typically used in microcontact printing, the patterning of thick layers requires tuning of the rheological properties of an ink film to prevent pattern deformation and attain high-quality transfer. By evaluating the swelling rate of a microcontact stamp material (i.e. poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS)) and the evaporation rate of solvents, we find an optimal ink formulation to attain the desired semi-dried state for the printing of polymer layers. In polymer films with solid content below the optimal limit, split- or wrinkle-type deformations were found depending on the adhesion force and deformability of ink films, while overly-dried polymer films failed to be transferred. These phenomena are in qualitative agreement with deformation curves obtained from colloidal probe microscopy measurements that successfully revealed the deformability and adhesion of semi-dried polymer films. Further investigation of the effects of stamp stiffness on pattern formation reveals that a pattern region in which the thickness profile has a small curvature radius failed to be transferred when a stiffer PDMS stamp was used. This type of defect is thought to be caused by incomplete contact between the film and substrate due to a semi-circular cap structure of the polymer film and insufficient deformation of the stamp. Herein, a detailed contacting mechanism for high-quality patterning is discussed on the basis of the Hertz contact model. Using the developed etch-resistant ink and optimized printing process conditions, a finely defined etched structure for a silicon substrate is obtained.


Neodiplostomum intermedium n.sp. from the small intestine of the allied rat, Rattus assimilis, is described. It can be separated from other species of Neodiplostomum by the following combination of characters: genital cone absent; vitellaria form two ventro-lateral bands in hindbody without terminal masses; anterior testis nearly symmetric, as wide as posterior testis. It is proposed that Fibricola be made a subgenus of Neodiplostomum containing the species in Fibricola and the species, N. intermedium described herein, because N. intermedium is intermediate between Neodiplostomum(Neodiplostomum) and Fibricola. Further evidence is given in favour of the invalidation of the subfamily Alariinae.


s Editor: Mary Katsikitis Australian Psychological Society Ltd. We are pleased to present the abstracts from the Joint Conference of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and the New Zealand Psychological Society (NZPsS). The Conference theme is Psychology Bridging the Tasman – Science, Culture and Practice. In combination with the Special Issue of Australian Psychologist (Volume 41 No. 2, 2006), the Conference programme, in all its variety, richly illustrates the Conference theme. This year's abstracts provide information about individual presentations, symposia and rapid communication posters. All submissions were subject to blind peer review by at least two reviewers. The abstracts are listed in alphabetical order of the first author's family name. We are extremely fortunate to have attracted four diverse, exciting, and challenging keynote speakers, all eminent leaders and scientists from Australia and New Zealand – the recipient of the NZPsS Hunter Award, the APS President's Award winner, and two prominent indigenous speakers from Australia and New Zealand. Further, the APS Early Career Research Award winners, the APS Excellence in Teaching Award winner and the Pearson Education and APS Early Career Teaching Award winner from 2005, are invited speakers at the Conference. In addition to helping you choose which sessions to attend during the conference, we are confident that this set of abstracts will be a valuable reference source in the future, providing a snapshot of current research and practice in psychology on both sides of the Tasman and in the wider world. Trang Thomas and Neville Blampied Conference Chairs CONFERENCE SCIENTIFIC COMMITTEE Trang Thomas Neville Blampied Lyn Littlefield Terence Edwards Gerard Fogarty Henry Jackson Marie Joyce Christina Lee Ray Nairn Devon Polaschek Mary Katsikitis Elaine Grant Zena Roslan


The appearance of modern mammal orders at the beginning of the Eocene has been enigmatic for more than a century, but a number of recent discoveries and theories have attributed an important role to the poorly known Asian late Paleocene and early Eocene mammal faunas.
The previously unstudied Subeng site in Inner Mongolia was explored between 1995 and 2004, and a total of 1750kg of sediment from the Bayan Ulan Beds of the Nomogen Formation was screenwashed. This yielded 15 species, from 13 different families and 8 orders. Of these, the multituberculate Mesodmops tenuis, the nyctitheriids Asionyctia guoi and Bumbanius ningi, and the carpolestid Subengius mengi are described as new taxa and their phylogenetic position is determined. Also the phylogeny of the enigmatic Hyracolestes ermineus and of the arctostylopid Palaeostylops iturus is revised based on new fossil material.
An integrated palaeoenvironmental analysis of sedimentology, fossil mammals and other biotic groups characterises the Subeng site as an isolated, relatively humid woodland in a more open, semi-arid savannah region. The mammal fauna of Subeng reflects the dry regional environment by its low diversity, but also the woody local environment by the presence of taxa related to arboreal forms from the middle Paleocene of North America and the early Eocene of eastern China.
Based on the results from the Subeng fauna and other recent studies, the Paleocene and early Eocene Asian mammal biochronology is revised. The early and middle Paleocene Shanghuan and Nongshanian faunas are considered here to be completely endemic. Contrastingly, the start of the late Paleocene Gashatan is marked by a significant exchange with North America and a strong reduction of the endemism of the Asian faunas. The Asian Gashatan mammal faunas are enriched by the immigration of multituberculates, nyctitheriids and carpolestids from North America. Conversely, the Asian arctostylopids and dinoceratans invade North America at the start of Tiffanian-5a, and rodents, tillodonts, and coryphodontids at the start of the Clarkforkian. Hence, the start of the Asian Gashatan is at least as old as Tiffanian-5a in North America. Migration is suggested to have occurred in two waves, at the start of Tiffanian-5a and of the Clarkforkian. Migration was probably not possible throughout the Gashatan, but only at the start of the Gashatan.
Especially the Gashatan Subeng fauna is characterised by a relatively high number of North American immigrants. It is suggested that the particular local environment of the Subeng site may have been more hospitable for North American immigrants than other Gashatan sites, and could therefore have acted as a stepping stone for the immigration of North American Tiffanian taxa.


Editor's Note In 1889, the monarch Dom Pedro II was overthrown by the military in a bloodless coup, thus ending the Brazilian Empire and replacing it with the First Brazilian Republic, a military oligarchy led by President Deodoro da Fonseca. Following political unrest, Fonseca was succeeded by Vice President Floriano Peixoto. Elements of the navy revolted, accusing Peixoto of violating the constitution's provision requiring new elections. The uprising was finally suppressed in 1894. "The Lonely Sailor" is the story of a young naval insurgent, Silvino Honório de Macedo, whose actions during the chaos made him a hero.


Abstract We propose an electrically tunable metasurface, which can achieve relatively large phase modulation in both reflection and transmission modes (dual-mode operation). By integration of an ultrathin layer of indium tin oxide (ITO) as an electro-optically tunable material into a semiconductor-insulator-semiconductor (SIS) unit cell, we report an approach for active tuning of all-dielectric metasurfaces. The proposed controllable dual-mode metasurface includes an array of silicon (Si) nanodisks connected together via Si nanobars. These are placed on top of alumina and ITO layers, followed by a Si slab and a silica substrate. The required optical resonances are separately excited by Si nanobars in reflection and Si nanodisks in transmission, enabling highly confined electromagnetic fields at the ITO-alumina interface. Modulation of charge carrier concentration and refractive index in the ITO accumulation layer by varying the applied bias voltage leads to 240° of phase agility at an operating wavelength of 1696 nm for the reflected transverse electric (TE)-polarized beam and 270° of phase shift at 1563 nm for the transmitted transverse magnetic (TM)-polarized light. Independent and isolated control of the reflection and transmission modes enables distinctly different functions to be achieved for each operation mode. A rigorous coupled electrical and optical model is employed to characterize the carrier distributions in ITO and Si under applied bias and to accurately assess the voltage-dependent effects of inhomogeneous carrier profiles on the optical behavior of a unit cell.


Europe during the Tertiary period was invaded by successive races of animals driven from their head quarters by press of numbers or by famine, or allured by some modification of circumstances that was specially adapted for their well-being, in precisely the same way as it was subsequently invaded by successive races of men. Eocene Mammals were followed by Miocene, and those again by Pliocene, Pliocene by the Pre-glacial division of the Pleistocene, and, finally, the latter by the Post-glacial or Quaternary, in obedience to the same natural laws which compelled the Stone- to vanish away before the Bronze-folk, and the Kelt to yield to the Teuton. The parallel between the conquest of Europe by the ancient mammalia and that by man is most exact. In both cases the conquering race absorbed a greater or less proportion of the conquered. Thus the Hippopotamus major and Rhinoceros hemitæchus of the Pliocenes of Italy lingered on in France and Germany in association with, or, as it were, in a kind of helotage to, the Post-glacial fauna, just as the Kelt still survives in the midst of his Teutonic conquerors in Britain. In both there is the same uncertainty as to the ancient head-quarters of each race, except the last one, from which the present inhabitants of Western Europe are descended.


A nurse practitioner believes it is her job as a clinical leader to put forward the perspectives of her colleagues in the workforce, even if these views are challenging.


This paper presents ground-based data obtained from deep optical and infrared observations of the HST Hubble Deep Field South (HDF-S) field carried out at the ESO 3.5 New Technology Telescope (NTT). These data were taken as part of the ESO Imaging Survey (EIS) program, a public survey coordinated by ESO and member states, in preparation for the first year of operation of the VLT. Deep CCD images are available for five optical passbands, reaching 2 sigma limiting magnitudes of U_AB~27.0, B_AB~26.5, V_AB~26, R_AB~26, I_AB~25, covering a region of ~25 square arcmin, which includes the HST WPFC2 field. The infrared observations cover a total area of ~42 square arcmin and include both the HST WFPC2 and STIS fields. The observations of the WFPC2 region were conducted in JHKs passbands, reaching J_AB~25, and H_AB and K_AB~24.0. Due to time constraints, the adjacent field, covering the STIS field, has been observed only in R, I and JHKs, while no observations were conducted covering the NIC3 field. This paper describes the observations and data reduction. It also presents images of the surveyed region and lists the optical and infrared photometric parameters of the objects detected on the co-added images of each passband, as well as multicolor optical and infrared catalogs. These catalogs together with the astrometrically and photometrically calibrated co-added images are being made public world-wide and can be retrieved from the world-wide web (this http URL).


In the title molecule, C16H12BrN3OS, the thiazole ring makes an angle of 44.5 (2)° with the phenyl ring and an angle of 7.2 (2)° with the 5-bromosalicyaldehyde ring. The molecular structure is influenced by O—H⋯N and O—H⋯S intramolecular hydrogen bonds. In the crystal, the molecules pack as centrosymmetric dimers via intermolecular N—H⋯N hydrogen-bonds.


The paper discusses the work of construction of water control project in promoting philosophical development in Han dynasty. The work can be analysed in two aspects. One is offering a lot of material, another is offering research subject for naive materialism and naive dialectics at that time.


VoIP (voice over IP) networks are becoming more and more popular in modern society. One of the most important features of a VoIP network is privacy (for VoIP users). Unfortunately, most peer-to-peer VoIP networks neither provide personalization nor guarantee a quantifiable privacy level. In this thesis, we propose a SDN-based approach to prevent flow analysis attack trying to trace user's identity. Flow analysis attack will trace the flow which specific caller transmits, and try to find possible receiver, threat user's privacy. We present the latency and number of packets in our method, while meeting customizable privacy guarantees.


This paper deals with stabilizing spatial motion of a maneuverable aircraft with three controls and nine state parameters. It is required to provide specified dynamic properties of the controlled plant at minimal control actions.To solve the assigned task the modification of the Bass – Gura formula is suggested, which allows analytically synthesizing stabilizing modal control for multi-input objects and simplifies parameterization of this control.For numeric matrices describing one of flight modes of the typical maneuverable aircraft and for required dynamic properties of the closed-loop control system a parameterized analytic solution of the considering problem is obtained in the form of controller matrix. A control law providing small values of state vector components and of controls shifts is synthesized by choosing the parameters minimizing the sum of controller coefficients absolute values. The simulation results are shown.


We will finish the discussion on Markov chain by introducing a technique to lower bound mixing. First, we prove a lower bound on mixing using the conductance. Note that when the chain is reversible, the inverse of the Poincaré constant also gives a lower bound on mixing time. The importance of the following lemma is that it is significantly easier to study. To lower bound the mixing time of the chain, all we need to do is to find a cut with small conductance. Lemma 11.1. For a (not necessarily reversible) kernel K let Q(x, y) = π(x)K(x, y). Then, for any set S ⊆ Ω where π(S) ≤ 1/2, τmix ≥ 1 4φ(S) .


The combination of body gesture recognition and virtual reality opens a broad field of possibilities for practical and activity-oriented learning scenarios based on virtual simulations. Many educational projects address this potential by using specific gesture sensors to interact with virtual artefacts in 3D learning environments. Unfortunately, most of these projects are stand-alone developments for dedicated use cases. A systematic approach for sensor integration is currently missing. This paper presents the development and use of a framework for a systematic integration and even fusion of different gesture sensors for innovative, mixed-reality learning scenarios. Thus, developers of learning applications will be enabled to create interactive virtual environments without the time-consuming familiarization with each sensor hardware and SDK. This leads to a reduced time-to-market as well as a higher transferability.


"It's like humor: You have to take the authority back; you realign where the power is." (Morrison 1994, 245) Jazz is the subject of numerous scholarly articles which explore a wide variety of topics, including how Morrison uses jazz music and its rhythms to shape her text,1 what the sex of her unnamed narrator might be,2 and how the novel depicts the daily realities of city living for those African Americans who migrated northward to Harlem during the 1920s.3 Published in 1992, Jazz is the second novel of a recently completed trilogy4 that describes the history of African Americans from slavery onward, a legacy of dispossession which has had a dramatic effect on subsequent generations. In Jazz, this search for identity is examined through the stories of Violet and Joe Trace, a couple that moves to Harlem to improve their standard of living. Abandoned by his mother at birth, Joe tries to fill this void in New York with the affections of a younger woman, Dorcas, whom he eventually murders. Using a first-per...


Summary 1. Thiourea diminished phos-pholipide and nucieoprotein synthesis in the liver of rats. 2. The fat mobilization fraction of the pituitary gave a 51 % increase in total lipides in the liver of rats in 6 hours. How ever, there was no change in the synthesis of phospholipides, but a statistical increase in the synthesis of nucleoproteins. 3. The Growth Hormone increased both phospholipide and nucieoprotein synthesis in the liver of rats.


We propose an injection-locked fiber laser (ILFL) for switchable C-band generation based on an arrayed waveguide grating (AWG) and gain-saturated reflective semiconductor optical amplifiers (GS RSOAs). The laser generates a narrow 3-dB bandwidth (<; 0.06 nm), high and uniform peak power (Pmax >; 0.22 dB, ΔP <; 0.26 dB), high and uniform side mode suppression ratio (SMSR >; 66 dB, ΔSMSR <; 1 dB), and over 40 C-band wavelengths with 100-GHz channel spacing.


Weight management is a dynamic process, with a pre‐treatment phase, a treatment (including process) phase and post‐treatment maintenance, and where relapse is possible during both the treatment and maintenance.


That various agents, especially microorganisms, are transmitted by the mother to the embryo is generally known. It is possible to prove the presence of microorganisms in the fetus and in the newborn and often to recognize the results of microorganismal activity in the form of a granuloma. Some of these organisms pass easily through the placenta, for example, Treponema pallidum; others, such as the tubercle bacillus, are transmitted only seldom. The circumstances which make such passage possible in one case and which prevent it in -another case are not easy to understand. The placenta constitutes an essential, but also very complex, filter. In studying such transmission, the well known infections in the newborn must be disregarded, even though post-mortem examinations of the newborn have revealed reactions. Inflammatory changes in the cardiac valves and in the myocardium are found, and from such reactions it is easy to receive the impression that infection must have taken place in the fetus during pregnancy. But this cannot be proved. In general, women are not easily infected during a normal pregnancy. In some cases there are indications of pneumonia or angina, but the anamnesis is not conclusively specific. Such reactions are usually limited and seldom serious. It must be stressed, however, that systematic examination of all organs of a stillborn child or of a child who died shortly after birth often reveals reactions in the lungs, myocardium, liver, and other organs, and these do point to inflammation in utero. These inflammatory changes have been described by Sorba (1949). It is even more difficult to understand the reactions of the fetus in cases in which the mother is infected by German measles during preg-


Twitch.tv is a flagship platform for live game streaming between players and viewers. It allows players to broadcast their gameplay to a public audience where viewers chat with each other and discuss gameplay. Current tools for analyzing live game streaming and chat rooms are limited. In this paper, we describe the design of TwitchViz: a new visualization tool with the goal of helping both players and game designers to better understand the relationship between gameplay and Twitch viewers' chatting behaviors. An initial feasibility study showed that TwitchViz supports novel ways to get an insight of gameplay issues from the patterns of chatting behaviors of viewers and highlighted design issues to address in subsequent versions of the tool.


Cite this Record Perttula, Timothy K. (2016) "Ancestral Caddo Ceramic Artifacts in the Jesse Martin Glasco Collection from Upshur County, Texas, at the National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution," Index of Texas Archaeology: Open Access Gray Literature from the Lone Star State: Vol. 2016, Article 21. https://doi.org/10.21112/.ita.2016.1.21 ISSN: 2475-9333 Available at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/ita/vol2016/iss1/21


Abstract Determination of technology is a major change that occurs in communities both in rural and urban areas. This is caused by the development of communication technology that moves very fast and dynamic. The changes that occur lead people to continuously adapt to changing patterns of daily life. This change causes a shift in values, how to interact, how to communicate, manners, manners, and other everyday cultures. This study aims to determine the determination of rural and urban communication technology in the district and city of Mojokerto. The results showed that the rural / urban communication system that occurred in the region. There are many kinds of communication that occur in each Kelurahan, the differences are very prominent in each region. These differences do not become a barrier for loyal people in communicating. Even though it is located in the city, the local population still upholds the culture and noble values of the local culture, such as gamelan, rice grass, death fees, community gatherings, patrols, recitation, and socialization about the dangers of dengue fever mosquitoes. The information media in this kelurahan comes from newspapers, magazines and bulletins, however the residents in this kelurahan seem to have less interest in buying the printed media, therefore the subscribers are approximately 72 residents, maybe this is due to the increasingly modern era and the population. who are very knowledgeable about technology. Keywords: determinism of communication, rural and urban communication systems.


The experimental used the skim rate and protein loss rate as primary indexes,through the single factor experiment,to determine the level of scope in different degreasing condition,such as concentration of lye,marinating proportion,degreasing time,vacuum etc.The appropriate conditions were determined by using the response surface methodology to compare the degreasing effect of different conditions(concentration of lye,marinating proportion,degreasing time).The results showed as follows: there was positive correlation between degreasing factors such as concentration of lye,marinating proportion,degreasing time and skim rate as well as protein loss rate.Response surface methodology were used to establish the mathematical model between conditions for degreasing and degreasing effect.The model set up by response surface method showed Y1= 47.27+0.25X1+1.14X2+5.56X3+0.07X12-0.06X1X2+0.02X1X3+0.16X22-0.17X2X3+1.33X32.


As V2X technology develops, acute problems related to reliable and secure information exchange between network objects in real time appear. The article aims to solve the scientific problem of building a network architecture for reliable delivery of correct and uncompromised data within the V2X concept to improve the safety of road users, using blockchain technology and mobile edge computing (MEC). The authors present a formalized mathematical model of the system, taking into account the interconnection of objects and V2X information channels, and an energy-efficient algorithm of traffic offloading to the MEC server. The paper presents the results of application of blockchain technologies and mobile edge computing in the developed system, their description, evaluation of advantages and disadvantages of the implementation.


Former Chief Justice William Rehnquist's book "All the Laws But One" is an account of the history of civil liberties during times of war and examines cases where presidents have suspended the law in the name of national security. Since the Constitution's Suspension Clause only applies "when in cases of rebellion or invasion," Rehnquist's work discusses wartime powers, focusing on cases involving the Civil War, World War I, and World War II. On the other hand, events of the last century, including threats of severe economic collapse, natural disasters such as earthquakes, destructive hurricanes, and tsunamis, outbreaks of infectious diseases or other public health emergencies, suggest that governments may need to exert wartime-style powers to manage these potential disasters. Thus, state and federal governments may be confronted with the need to curtail civil liberties through confiscation of property, arbitrary detentions, mandatory evacuations, mandatory vaccinations, or other forced measures. This paper seeks to examine the constitutionality of such measures in the absence of direct rebellion or invasion. Through a review of relevant history, including Supreme Court and other judicial opinions, executive actions, and policy decisions, this paper ultimately concludes that weighty precedents already exist for abuse of civil liberties outside of wartime. Furthermore, the state and federal governments would not likely hesitate to use — and abuse — these precedents in an attempt to exert control in the midst of such emergency situations. Ultimately, these abuses have made a mockery of the rule of law. We should not be surprised when it happens again.


Both relational database theory (RDB) and rough set theory (RS) are formal theories derived from the study of tables. However, they were based on different philosophies and went on to different directions. RDB assumes semantics of data is known and focuses on organizing data through its semantics. RS, in this table format, assumes data semantics is defined by the given data and focuses on discovering patterns, rules and data semantics through those available data a data mining theory. In this paper, fundamental notions of two theories are compared and summarized. Further, RS can also take abstract format. In this format it can be used to analyze imprecise, uncertain or incomplete information in data. It is a new set theory complimentary to fuzzy set theory. In this paper, this aspect is only lightly touched.


Each learning process is based on two main types of external actions. The first one is the set of preplanned activities of the teaching staff. These actions build the traditional curriculum. The second set of activities is connected with interactions between the students and the university environment. A hidden component can be detected in both of these types of actions. It is not directly associated with the content of lectures and practical exercises. However, this component is very important. The hidden component also creates a number of important knowledge and practical techniques. The list of the main hidden skills and abilities was developed. Simultaneously, students get team work skills and several other important personal behaviours. Some new skills necessary for information work were discussed. The actions which create these behaviours are also hidden. Therefore, these activities are never included in the standard instructional programs and schedules. However, these processes can be controlled. Some ideas devoted to planning hidden processes and their optimisation both directly in curriculum and in environmental interactions are discussed.


Department of Biology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA Neuroscience Undergraduate Program, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA Department of Psychology, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, 723 W. Michigan St., Indianapolis, IN 46202, USA Molecular Physiology and Biophysics, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine University, 724 Robinson Research Building, 23rd Ave South at Pierce, Nashville, TN 37232, USA Department of Biochemistry and the Mass Spectrometry Research Center, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine University, 465 21st Ave S. Room 9160, MRB III, Nashville, TN 37232, USA Stark Neurosciences Research Institute, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indiana, IN, USA


Education has long been recognized as an essential element in life course. Especially the decision to participate in tertiary education has an important influence on the subsequent career path (OECD, 2016). Taking this into account, successful completion (and the avoidance of dropout) appears desirable. Unfortunately, the percentage of students who drop out remains at a relatively high level of about 30% in recent years not only in general across OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries (OECD, 2016, 2018), but also in specific in Germany (Heublein et al., 2017; OECD, 2014). This is considered to be unacceptably high (Heublein et al., 2017). Although there are institutional attempts to intervene, these are usually not based on scientific models of dropout. This might be due to the fact that existing models have either a very narrow theoretical focus or are not yet empirically validated, especially not for the German student population (D. Klein & Stocke, 2016).The discrepancy between scientific insights gained in the field of higher education research on the one hand and counseling practices in higher education in Germany on the other hand calls for action. I therefore reviewed selected models of student dropout and compared them empirically in their fit todata collected from freshmen in Germany. Subsequently, I developed a new, integrative model (EOSModel) of student dropout which has been subject to a comprehensive set of validation studies. Below, I would like to outline the stepwise approach I used in my PhD project:1. I examined and compared four established models (Spady, 1971; Tinto, 1975; Neuville et al., 2007; Lent & Brown, 2013) theoretically (chapter 2) and empirically to determine their utility for the German freshmen population: I conducted three longitudinal studies (each over nine months) to track three cohorts of freshmen. Using data from the first cohort, I compared model fit of the established models.2. I then developed a new process model – the EOS-Model – with an integrative broad theoretical perspective, based on existing models and including recent meta-analytic findings (Robbins et al., 2004; Richardson, Abraham & Bond, 2012) on single predictors of academic achievement and dropout (chapter 6).3. Independent data from the second and third cohort served to validate it (chapters 7 and 8).4. Additionally, a (partial) validation study (chapter 10) was performed using cross-sectional DZHW data (Middendorff et al., 2017).The new model not only revealed a good model fit and proved its utility but also outperformed the other tested models. Furthermore, I could show its measurement invariance across the three cohorts. This allows to conclude that it could serve as a framework for future research on dropout (intentions) in tertiary education. In addition, it could serve as a framework for higher education counseling as it points out the most important aspects which are highly predictive for dropout intentions. Hence, tailoring interventions to the identified key elements may help concentrating limited counseling resources to the most promising aspects in order to maximize the impact of the interventions.Last but not least, the new model can serve as a guideline for evaluation studies for (institutional) interventions. To give an example for this application of the model, I conducted a first pilot study in cooperation with the Student Coaching at the Justus-Liebig-Universitat Giesen.Besides the development of the new model, an additional focus within my PhD project was the operationalization of the constructs under consideration. I would like to emphasize in particular the development of a new scale for the assessment of self-efficacy specifically tailored to the context of study entrance in the German higher education system (chapter 3).


The groups LP* of obstructions to reconstructions from a pair of manifolds X C V have been introduced geometrically by Wall (see [1]). Then an algebraic definition of the groups LP, has been given by Ranicki as for the groups LS, of obstructions to decomposition (see [2]). The groups LS n and LP n can be denned functorially by the universally repelling square F of the oriented fundamental groups and by η mod 4. A pair (Y, X) is a Browder-Livesay pair if X is a one-sided submanifold of codimension 1 and the maps πι(θϋ) —> πι(Υ \ Χ), π\(Χ) —> π\(Υ) are isomorphisms, where U is a tube neighbourhood of X in Y. Then we have the isomorphisms where ν : L n {iti{X) —> L n (iri(dU)) is a transfer. If in this case the condition of isomorphism is weakened to epimorphism, then F is called a geometric diagram (see [3]). Then according to the above there is a close connection between the groups LS*(F) and the L-groups of the groups appearing in the diagram (see [4], [3]). In this case similar connections exist for the groups LP* , as well. homotopic exact sequences of the of the universal squares provide three Levin braids connecting the groups LP*(F) the L-groups.


English speaking ability is one of the most direct ways and standards to judge whether one's English is good or not.How to improve English speaking ability is always a heated topic among English learners.Many educators have examined that reading English aloud has been attested to be an effective method of learning English,especially improving English speaking ability.This paper,through a questionnaire survey,is to analyze the relationship between students'oral English outcome and their reading aloud,followed by the reasons why reading aloud affects English speaking ability,attempting to find out effective strategies to help English learners to improve their English speaking ability.


As the cellular mobile communication capacity is increasing every year people are demanding more robust, high speed and secure communication with low power consumption. To fulfill the requirement of the users, technology has been developing in an exponential manner and the data transmission rate and system capacity has been increased manifolds from past years. It is assumed that the population of cellular users will be increased by two fold till 2025. To improve throughput and capacity of cellular network a technology has been introduced in LTE-A which is Device to Device (D2D) communication. D2D is a 4.5G technology which was launched in 3GPP Release 12. The key challenges of D2D communication are controlling of transmission power, discovery of proximity devices, efficient allocation of available resource, and management of interference. Here in this paper we have provided an algorithm for the mode selection and resource allocation (MSRA) using an uplink channel reuse to control the cross-tier interference. The problems have been formulated in mathematical form, which is an NP-complete type problem. To solve such type of problem and reduce computational complexity we have proposed an algorithm. The results have been compared with [8] and a comparative study has been discussed.


This paper attempts to explore the potential capacity of right turn movement when there are conflicts between right turn vehicles, pedestrians, and bicycles at signalized intersections. In order to take this impact into account in the capacity estimation, it is necessary to assume that all pedestrians and bicycles observe the traffic regulation, which means pedestrians cross intersections only when the pedestrian's signal indication is on. The objective of this study is to quantitatively analyze pedestrians' and bicycles' impacts on the capacity of right-turn vehicle at signalized intersections. New concepts of "pedestrian group" and "equivalent factor of bicycle versus pedestrian (PBF)"were introduced in this paper. The PBF was computed and its value is 1.7. With these concepts, a pedestrian-grouping based model was developed to estimate the potential capacity of right turn movement under green indication. The model was calibrated using the collected data from eight signalized intersections of Beijing and proved robust after hypothetic test.


Spectral observations of the integrated light of four of the globular clusters in the Fornax dwarf elliptical galaxy are discussed. A velocity dispersion of 4.7 km s-1^ is found from data which have a mean differential velocity error of 1.7 km s-1^. This dispersion leads to an estimate of M/Lv_ = 2.3 for the galaxy. The systemic heliocentric velocity is found to be +45 ± 13 km s-1^. The spectral show absorption line strengths which are consistent with estimates by Buonanno et al. (1985) of the cluster metallicities and reinforce the conclusions of Fusi-Pecci (1987) concerning the variation of HB morphologies among the metal-weak, nonnuclear, clusters in the galaxy.


Introduction : Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL) is characterized by the clonal expansion of mature CD19+/CD5+ lymphocytes in the peripheral blood and secondary lymphoid organs. The accumulation of B-CLL cells yields profound immune defects in the CLL tumor microenvironment (TME), promoting evasion of immune surveillance that contributes to tumor persistence and thus relapsed/refractory disease. The bromodomain and extra-terminal domain (BET) family of proteins are epigenetic readers that bind acetylated histone residues to regulate transcription of numerous genes involved in critical CLL protumor pathways. Of the BET family proteins, BRD4 is overexpressed in CLL and highly enriched at super-enhancers of genes that regulate CLL-TME interactions such as B cell receptor pathway components, chemokine/cytokine receptors, and immune checkpoint molecules. Pan BET inhibitors (BET-i), such as PLX51107 (Plexxikon Inc.) significantly improve survival in aggressive CLL murine models. Here we demonstrate that blocking BRD4 function with PLX51107 (PLX5) can alleviate the inherent immune defects observed in CLL, hence reducing B-CLL induced T cell dysfunction and allowing for robust B-CLL cell elimination. This therapeutic strategy may be vital in overcoming frequent drug resistance and/or bolstering the anti-tumor effect of current CLL therapies.
 Methods : Primary leukemic B cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of CLL patients and co-cultured with healthy donor T cells to evaluate the effect of PLX5 (0.1-0.5μM) on CLL-induced T cell immunosuppression ex vivo via an array of flow cytometry assays. T cell proliferation was assessed using CFSE after 96 h co-culture with α-CD3/α-CD28 stimulation. Effector cytokine production was evaluated after 48 h co-culture in the presence of PMA/ionomycin (final 6 h) and brefeldin A (final 5 h). Immune inhibitory molecule surface expression was measured following 48 h co-culture with α-CD3/α-CD28 stimulation. To further validate our ex vivo findings, the E μ-TCL1 adoptive transfer model was used. Once disease onset was confirmed in recipient WT B6 mice (>10% CD45+/CD19+/CD5+ peripheral blood lymphocytes), mice were randomized to receive either PLX5 (20 mg/kg) or vehicle (VEH) equivalent daily by oral gavage for 4 weeks. Following treatment, mouse spleens were processed to evaluate exhaustion marker expression, T cell proliferation (CellTrace™ Violet, 72 h a-CD3/α-CD28 stimulation ex-vivo), and T-cell effector function (ex-vivo mitogenic stimulation, 6 h).
 Results : T cell proliferation indices were reduced following ex vivo co-culture with primary B-CLL cells (mean ± SEM for T cells vs. co-culture, 2.0 ± 0.13 vs. 1.57 ± 0.05; P<0.01). This suppression was significantly alleviated in 0.5μM PLX5-treated co-cultures (1.84 ± 0.08; P<0.01). In a similar fashion, the percentage of polyfunctional TNF-α+/IFN-γ+ CD4+ T cells markedly increased in PLX5-treated co-cultures (VEH vs. 0.5μM PLX5, 10.0% ± 0.76% vs. 15.2% ± 0.92%; P<0.01). Notably, BET inhibition with PLX5 also bolstered T cell inflammatory function (%TNF-α+/IFN-γ+) in the absence of B-CLL cells (VEH vs. PLX5, 12.9% ± 1.0% vs. 15.3% ± 0.69%; P<0.05). Remarkably, the expression of numerous immune inhibitory molecules (e.g., PDL1, PD1, CTLA4, LAG3) was consistently reduced between 1.8- and 3-fold in PLX5-treated co-cultures (0.1μM). In the adoptive transfer E μ-TCL1 model, mice receiving PLX5 displayed reduced expansion of B-CLL cells and increased T cell infiltration in the spleen (Fig. 1A). Splenic CD4+ T cells from PLX5-treated mice had significantly greater proliferative capacity (Fig. 1B) and pro-inflammatory functionality (Fig. 1C). Finally, PLX5 treatment markedly reduced the surface expression of immune inhibitory molecules (e.g., PDL1, LAG3, VISTA) on CD4+ and CD8+ T cells in the spleen (Fig. 1D). Studies to evaluate the effects of PLX5 on malignant B-CLL and T cells within the bone marrow niche and soluble factors in the plasma are ongoing. Collectively, our data indicate that the novel BET-i, PLX5, exerts beneficial immunomodulatory effects on T cells within the CLL TME.
 Conclusion : Epigenetic-targeted therapies such as BET-i have the potential to alleviate CLL-induced T cell dysfunction while eliminating B-CLL cells and preventing tumor expansion. Future profiling studies are pending to further illuminate how BET proteins regulate immune function in CLL.
 Figure 1 Figure 1.

 Lunning: AstraZeneca: Consultancy; Legend: Consultancy; Acrotech: Consultancy; ADC Therapeutics: Consultancy; Kyowa Kirin: Consultancy; Myeloid Therapeutics: Consultancy; Beigene: Consultancy; Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb Co.: Consultancy; Verastem: Consultancy; Janssen: Consultancy; Daiichi-Sankyo: Consultancy; Morphosys: Consultancy; TG Therapeutics: Consultancy; Novartis: Consultancy; Karyopharm: Consultancy; AbbVie: Consultancy; Spectrum: Consultancy; Kite, a Gilead Company: Consultancy. Vose: Kite, a Gilead Company: Honoraria, Research Funding. Powell: Plexxikon Inc.: Current Employment.


A description of the equipment used in maintaining a culture of mosquitoes ( Culex pipiens Linn.) throughout the year, together with some ecological and life history observations.


In situ IR spectra were recorded during the selective reduction of NO by C 3 H 6 on Al 2 O 3 at 573 K, and strong bands due to the adsorbed acetate were observed, accompanying weak bands due to formate and nitrate. The acetate was also formed in C 3 H 6 +O 2 , while nitrate was formed in NO +O 2 . The reactivity of acetate with NO species was examined by exposing it to He, NO, O 2 or NO+O 2 while monitoring its rate of disappearance, and the results showed that the acetate reacts preferentially in NO+O 2 A complementary set of experiments by GC showed that N 2 , CO and CO 2 are produced by the reaction of acetate with NO+O 2 . The results demonstrate that acetate and nitrate significantly contribute to the formation of N 2 during the present reaction, A possible reaction mechanism is proposed, which explains the role of O 2 in facilitating the reduction of NO by C 3 H 6 .


It is currently recognized that the residential building sector is one of the largest energy consumers in the world. The energy crisis of the 1970s was important for drawing attention to the subject of energy consumption and the necessity to save energy. The airtightness of buildings is an important factor affecting a building's energy consumption and also energy-saving potential. On the other hand, the ventilation rate has also a significant effect on indoor air quality and is assumed to be an essential criterion of a building's performance. However, most of the existing research in this area has been developed in cold climates and there is a research gap with regard to countries in warmer climates such as those close to the Mediterranean Sea. Therefore, this research aimed to study the airtightness and ventilation rate of existing buildings by employing in-situ measurements. In-situ measurements were achieved using the fan pressurization test (Blower Door Test) method. According to the selected case studies, the results of the measurements indicate a correlation between building typology, airtightness, and ventilation rate.


Investigation competing against confrontation,which is a zero- sum and one- off game,has diverse,complex and changeable tactics,and the participants who are not restricted by rules will act according to what the opponents do. Investigation competing against confrontation can be classified into various groups by different standards. To beat the opponents,the investigators must have superiority in information,make information asymmetric,ensure the accurate and advanced thinking,exert wise strategies and act decisively to gain the upper hand. To transfer confrontation into cooperation,the investigators must establish scientific and advanced concepts as well as the support of policies and laws,take actions to reach a compromise between the two sides within the permitted bounds of laws and policies on the basis of the case nature,different conditions and demands.


High-frequency SPICE models were developed to simulate the hysteresis and saturation effects of toroidal-ferrite-core inductors and transformers. The models include the nonlinear, multivalued B-H characteristic of the core material, leakage flux, stray capacitances, and core losses. The saturation effects were modeled using two-diode clamping arrangements in conjunction with nonlinear sources. Two possible controlling schemes were developed for the saturation switch. One of the arrangements used the current flowing through a series RC branch to control the switch, and the other used a NAND gate. The NAND-gate implementation of the switch proved to be simpler, and the parameters associated with it were easier to determine from the measurements and the B-H characteristics of the material. Lumped parameters were used to simulate the parasitic effects. Techniques for measuring these parasitics are described. The models were verified using manganese-zinc-ferrite-type toroidal cores, and they have general applicability to all circuit analysis codes provided that they contain nonlinear sources or equivalent function blocks such as multipliers, adders, and logic components.<<ETX>>


An electronic servo was developed for injection time control of an electron synchrotron. It consists of a delay time command, an error detector, an integrator, an adder, a variable time delay unit, and a time‐to‐pulse‐height converter. The servo works with electric potential analog and contains no mechanical movable parts except the delay time command Helipot. Timing errors of the controlled system (the thyratron pulsing the synchrotron injector, together with its trigger circuit) are converted into error voltage pulses and applied to the time delay unit for self‐correction. The time‐height converter is sensitive to better than 1 part in 5000. This and the double‐forward‐path control introduced make the regulated output extend from 3.5 to 8.5 μsec, with 0 nsec error for steady timing errors in the controlled system and 10 nsec error for random fluctuations. The servo was built with transistors and was temperature compensated. The temperature stability is better than 5 nsec/°C.


Extracellular ice formation as a dehydrating agent is generally acknowledged as an important element of freezing avoidance in frost hardy plants, preventing the development of lethal ice crystals within living cells. While many reports on extracellular ice formation do exist for vascular plants, not much is known on ice formation for liverworts. In this study, ice formation was studied for two liverwort species occurring in climate zones with winter freezing, Conocephalum salebrosum and Marchanthia polymorpha L. subsp. ruderalis, together with taxon-specific ice nucleating temperature and seasonal concentration of ice nucleating agents. Samples were collected in late autumn from various sites in south west Germany. Afterwards the collected liverwort specimen were cultivated and acclimated in pots in the inner courtyard of the State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Germany. Ice formation was observed in the environmental scanning electron microscope (ESEM) within the air chambers of both species, with ice crystals growing out of the air chamber pores, as well as random ice crystal formation on various sites on the ventral side for both taxa. The growing ice sheets led to dehydration particularly of the parenchymatous cells. For both taxa, the observations support the relevance of extracellular ice formation for surviving freezing conditions but the experiments also indicate a better adaptation of C. salebrosum to frost.


Cancer cells acquire particular characteristics that benefit their proliferation. We previously reported that human colon cancers examined had increased choline kinase activity and phospho‐choline levels. The elevated phosphocholine levels were in part due to both activation of choline kinase and increased choline kinase α protein levels. In this report, we analyzed choline kinase, which catalyzes the phosphorylation of choline to produce phosphocholine, in rat 1,2‐dimethylhy‐drazine (DMH)‐induced colon cancer. This study is the first to demonstrate increased choline kinase α enzymatic activity, protein levels, and mRNA levels in DMH‐induced colon cancer as well as human colon cancer, although phosphocholine was not increased in DMH‐induced rat cancer. The increase in the mRNA level was partly due to an increase in the transcription of the choline kinase α gene. The increased choline kinase activity may be a specific characteristic acquired by cancer cells that benefits their proliferation.


Stewart and Spencer examine the implementation of the six-sigma process improvement methodology for the construction of concrete longitudinal beams on the St. Pancras raised railway station in London, UK. Their study concluded that the six-sigma approach used on the project improved the productivity of beam construction, enhanced interaction between project teams, and reduced project delays. Practitioners can utilize the explanations and learning experiences detailed in this case study to enhance productivity, reduce delays and maximise profitability on their projects. Few studies have been carried out to optimize the semi-structured nature of construction finance optimization decisions. Tang, Wong, Leung and Lam provide a blue-print in solving construction loan decisions in Hong Kong. They make successful use of artificial intelligence methods; fuzzy logic and an adaptive genetic algorithm (AGA) are presented for choosing funding schemes through a modified loan acquisition model. Fuzzy logic theory was adopted in handling the qualitative factors and an AGA was then applied to search for the optimal loan decision. A compromise monthly borrowing schedule was finally achieved and a more accurate, objective and reliable borrowing decision can be provided for the decision-maker to analyse the financial options. In many areas, natural disasters recur; but nobody knows exactly when. Thus, a challenge has to be faced: making sensible decisions up front or waiting to make them in a situation of chaos. There is then a particular need to assist the disenfranchised, the most vulnerable members of society. Johnson, Lizarralde and Davidson have carried out four case studies, two from Turkey and two from Colombia. They show that a systems approach enables continuity from emergency relief to temporary shelter, to temporary housing and then permanent housing. Temporary housing raises specific problems in the allocation of usually scarce resources, but careful organizational design enables robust programs to be established with minimum waste of time and effort. Build-Operate-Transfer (BOT) infrastructure projects often provide private investors with the option to abandon (OA) and/or minimum revenue guarantees (MRG). The former allows for flexible investment decision-making to deal with uncertainties, particularly in the pre-construction stage. The latter greatly reduces revenue risks and thus increases the attractiveness of infrastructure investment. While the valuation of the former is straightforward, the valuation of the latter is still an open issue. Huang and Chou use a real-option approach to combine MRG with OA in a coherent valuation framework. It is found that an increase of the level of guarantee will decrease the value of the option to abandon, and, at a certain MRG level, the option will be rendered worthless. This finding has important practical implications in the way that BOT concessions are designed. Cheung and Skitmore revisit the most sophisticated single-rate forecasting method: James' Storey Enclosure Method (JSEM). Variables in JSEM are modelled with statistical techniques to enhance the objectivity of the method. The modified JSEM is better because it is the most consistent model among all single rate models identified for comparison. The adopted approach has considerable intuitive appeal as it produces forecasts in a similar way to forecasters; i.e. simultaneously building and evaluating a range of potential models through the simulation of their likely performance on projects outside the sample base. With the use of powerful computers, both experienced and inexperienced forecasters should easily be able to use the modified JSEM as well as follow the methodology to develop and validate their own cost models without the need for specialist statistical advice. Most conventional methods for project risk assessment do not adequately capture the intricacies of all risk factors. Difficulties arise in privatized infrastructure projects due to long project life cycles as well as risks that are specific to the country and the sector. The assessment of complex risks is a particularly difficult task when past data on similar risks are not available. Thomas, Kalidindi and Ganesh propose a risk probability and impact assessment framework based on fuzzy-fault tree and the Delphi method for risk assessment of BOT infrastructure projects. The framework has a subjective approach with objectivity built in Construction Management and Economics (April 2006) 24, 335–337


3076Background: Checkpoint blockade has emerged as an effective strategy for enhancing the endogenous T cell response against tumor-associated antigens. Its clinical benefit is maximized when combi...


Land is a highly important component of the ecosystem determining the existence and variation of other natural resources. Most commonly land is used for urbanization and agricultural development. Either of the said human activity is identified as an anthropogenic impact on natural environment. In order to reduce the negative human impact on the environment, but to promote economic and social development, international political agreements are signed in pursuance of the creation of sustainable development conceptions. The real estate market is an important integral part of the state economy and this market reflects the visible impact of anthropogenic factors and the need of sustainable development. The scientific article aims at examining the agricultural land market in administrative territories of Lithuanian cities and at assessing the legal regulation of the land market in practice. The study revealed that in the areas of Lithuanian cities there is a significant amount of agricultural land, therefore the appropriate transfer of such land can stimulate the economic growth. The investigation showed that it is reasonable to distinguish different regulation measures of agricultural land market for urban areas and for rural areas.


Hydro-thermo-mechanical effects in fractured rocks are important in many oilfield processes. Modeling these effects is made difficult by the fact that the governing equations are nonlinear and coupled, and the problems to be solved are three dimensional. In this paper the authors describe a numerical code developed for this purpose. The code is finite element based to allow for complicated geometries, and the time differencing is implicit, allowing for large time steps. The use of state-of-the-art equation solvers has resulted in a practical code. An example is presented to demonstrate the effects of matrix expansion, due to pore pressure and heating, on fracture opening due to fluid injection, and induced stress changes at a distant well bore. 19 refs., 9 figs., 3 tabs.


The article discusses a method of reflective practice ('bringing memory forward') developed through a study conducted in a Canadian school during the 2002–03 school year with 18 kindergarten to Grade 12 practicing teachers. The study investigated how teachers could voluntarily recognize their constructions of 'difference' against their own 'landscapes of learning.' The study combined monthly teacher literature circles, interviews and the writing of a literacy autobiography to link narrative with memory within a framework focused on reflective practice. The presence of these three elements created mutually supportive critical contexts in which teachers reflected on their learning against the background of their teacher practice and literary and lived experience. In the article, the author uses one teacher's learning to show a process through which memory, narrative and constructions of 'difference' became intertextually linked, and how that linking became a place from which critical teacher reflection began.