The concentration of barium in beach sediments between Marsa Alam and Shuqeir, along the Egyptian Red Sea coast was investigated. There is a southward increasing trend in the concentrations of carbonate, barium and strontium. The grain size of the studied sediments follows a converse trend where sediments tend to be finer from north to south. On the other hand, trend analysis showed that barium of unnatural source increases from south to north. The data analysed reveal that the main sources of barium are: 1) The carbonate source, which is clearly confirmed by the close relation of carbonate, barium and strontium and 2) Abnormal increase in the oil exploration industry, which may be responsible for the higher barium concentrations in the northern part of the studied area. 149 that is inclined towards the sea with gradients ranging from 1:80 to 1:200 (Sestini, 1965 and Akkad & Dardir, 1966). The width of this plain ranges from, less than one km to over 20 km (Said, 1969). The coastal plain at the northern part (Shuqeir area) is wide decreasing southward (Marsa Alam). The main sources of sediments to the Egyptian Red Sea beaches are the terrestrial deposits transported from the abutting basement crystalline rocks and Cretaceous-Tertiary sediments during the occasional runoffs through the numerous wadis. During previous work on metals in the Egyptian Red Sea beach sediments (Rifaat and El-Mamoney, this volume) we found that barium is abnormally enriched in these sediments over the natural concentrations recorded by many authors (e.g., Martin and Meybeck, 1979 and Ure & Berrow, 1982). Barium is known to occur in marine organisms and seawater. It is precipitated, biogenically by marine organisms during the M.H. El-Mamoney and A.E. Rifaat 150 formation of their carbonate shells and skeletons, and chemically with iron-manganese oxides. Also, barium is precipitated in vicinity of active hydrothermal regions. The highest recorded natural concentration of barium in sediments is found in deepsea clays (2300 ppm) (Turekian and Wedepohl, 1961). The present paper deals with analyses of sediments collected from the beach area from Marsa Alam to Shuqeir (Fig. 1). Discrimination between naturaland unnatural-barium in sediments may help defining the source, which contribute high barium flux to the beach environment. This discrimination was confirmed by determining the strontium in sediments of the study area since barium and strontium are closely related to each other and co-precipitated together during carbonate formation (Lippmann, 1973). Materials and Methods Representative sediment samples were collected from the beach face along the entire studied area, which extended from Marsa Alam city south (Latitude 25o4'29''N) to Shuqeir north (Latitude 28o3'39''N) along the Egyptian Red Sea (Fig. 1 & Table 1). The beach face zone represents the region in which sediments transported by sea currents are deposited. The samples were analysed granulometrically following Folk (1974) to determine the grain size parameters. Chemical analysis included the determination of total carbonate, barium and strontium contents. The total carbonate content was determined according to Molnia (1974), whereas the barium and strontium contents were determined by Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometery using FIG. 1. Area of study and sampling locations. 151 Discrimination of Sources... TABLE 1. Locations of samples along the area of study. Sample no. Area Latitude N (Deg.) Longitude E (Deg.) 1 Marsa Alam City 25.0747 34.8978 2 3 km North Marsa Alam 25.1142 34.8736 3 9 km North Marsa Alam (Wadi Aslai) 25.1572 34.8517 4 14 km North Marsa Alam 25.1950 34.8222 5 19 km North Marsa Alam 25.2344 34.7972 6 24 km North Marsa Alam 25.2772 34.7778 7 28 km North Marsa Alam 25.3142 34.7503 8 35 km North Marsa Alam 25.3581 34.7358 9 40 km North Marsa Alam 25.3956 34.7036 10 45 km North Marsa Alam 25.4358 34.6911 11 82 km South Quseir 25.4792 34.6767 12 Gebel El'Gezira El'Hamra 25.5619 34.6389 13 Umm Qirayfat (67 km South Quseir) 25.6086 34.6047 14 60 km South Quseir 25.6453 34.5831 15 55 km South Quseir 25.6875 34.5639 16 51 km South Quseir 25.7331 34.5436 17 45 km South Quseir 25.7678 34.5147 18 42 km South Quseir 25.8094 34.4794 19 36 km South Quseir 25.8456 34.4325 20 25 km South Quseir 25.9397 34.3950 21 14 km South Quseir 25.9711 34.3669 22 11 km South Quseir 26.0058 34.3342 23 8 km South Quseir 26.0486 34.3156 24 Quseir City 26.0900 34.2922 25 Quseir City 26.1269 34.2717 26 10 km North Quseir 26.1653 34.2436 27 14 km North Quseir 26.2069 34.2197 28 20 km North Quseir 26.2528 34.2019 29 25 km North Quseir 26.2925 34.1864 30 30 km North Quseir 26.3419 34.1689 31 35 km North Quseir 26.3808 34.1328 32 40 km North Quseir 26.4283 34.1025 33 25 km South Safaja 26.5258 34.0642 34 20 km South Safaja 26.5664 34.0350 35 15 km South Safaja 26.6119 34.0181 36 10 km South Safaja 26.6425 33.9758 M.H. El-Mamoney and A.E. Rifaat 152 37 5 km South Safaja 26.6775 33.9342 38 Safaja City 26.7217 33.9372 39 7 km North Safaja 26.7861 33.9375 40 Abu Suma Bay 26.8364 33.9494 41 Ras Abu Suma 26.8475 33.9881 42 Sharm El'Naga 26.8992 33.9633 43 Sharm El'Arab 26.9667 33.9214 44 Marsa Abu Makhadij 27.0069 33.9075 45 20 km South Hurghada 27.0483 33.8908 46 15 km South Hurghada 27.0853 33.8608 47 10 km South Hurghada 27.1206 33.8289 48 12 km North Hurghada 27.2539 33.8119 49 15 km North Hurghada 27.2928 33.7619 50 20 km North Hurghada 27.3606 33.6853 51 27 km North Hurghada 27.4433 33.6539 52 35 km North Hurghada 27.5261 33.5622 53 40 km North Hurghada 27.5681 33.5658 54 50 km North Hurghada 27.6181 33.5364 55 Ras Jemsha 27.6836 33.5561 56 Ras El'Bahr 27.7336 33.5483 57 Gebel El'Zeit 27.7500 33.5272 58 Gebel El'Zeit 27.7986 33.4894 59 Gebel El'Zeit 27.8308 33.5808 60 South Ras El'Esh 27.8686 33.5622 61 Ras El'Esh 27.9192 33.5353 62 South Shuqeir 27.9692 33.4978 63 South Shuqeir 28.0133 33.4397 64 South Shuqeir 28.0314 33.3831 65 Shuqeir 28.0608 33.3358 TABLE 1. Contd. Sample no. Area Latitude N (Deg.) Longitude E (Deg.) the extraction procedure of Tessier et al. (1979). The results of grain size and chemical analyses are shown in Table 2. Results and Discussion The beach sediments in the study area are predominantly sands. The grain size of the sediments increases from south (Marsa Alam) to north (Shuqeir) (Fig. 2). This result was also noticed by Moussa et al. (1986). At Marsa Alam the beach sediments are moderately well sorted fine (mean size = 2.25 phi) to medium sands (mean size = 1.24 phi), while those at Shuqeir are moderately well to very well sorted medium (mean size = 1.63 phi) to very coarse sands (mean size = – 0.09 phi) (Table 2). The content of terrestrial deposits is the major control in determining the mean grain size of sedi153 Discrimination of Sources... FIG. 2. Trend curves of mean grain size and sorting in beach sediments from Marsa Alam to Shuqeir. M.H. El-Mamoney and A.E. Rifaat 154 TABLE 2. Textural and chemical parameters of sediments of the studied area. Sample no. Mean size (phi) Sediment type σI * Sorting CO3% Ba ppm Ba/CO3 × 100 Sr ppm 1 1.24 Medium sand 0.59 Moderately well sorted 22.8 2087 0.9 1153 2 2.25 Fine sand 0.67 Moderately well sorted 33.


One of the sources offering the highest efficiency in the production of power among alternative sources is als o geothermal. With the usage of the geothermal energy in heating and power production, important steps will have been taken to tackle the energy issue. In this study, geothermal sources at low, medium and high temperatures that may be suitable for power generation in Turkey were investigated. Optimum plants in terms of maximum net power, thermal and exergetic efficiency were selected according to properties of these sources. These plants are double flash, combined and Kalina cycle plants. Selected plants were optimized according to turbine inlet pressure maximizing net power, energy and exergy efficiencies. Especially in double flash and combined plants flashing pressures and turbine inlet pressures were separately optimized


A single-stage flotation process was developed in which coal was floated out and pyrite was depressed. Up to 90% of the pyritic sulfur content of bituminous coal could be removed at 75% coal recovery. The process was applied to three Canadian and two United States coals. Higher coal recoveries were obtained for low sulfur coals; up to 94.4% coal recovery was possible with 18.2% pyritic sulfur removal. Sulfate sulfur, trace elements, and ash were also removed. The effects of particle size, temperature, slurry density, and flotation time were studied. From a simplified rate equation a nonintegral order was obtained for the flotation process.


A new technique to measure the pressure in a real contact is proposed. One of contacting surfaces is covered, prior to contact establishment, by a special gel. The contact closing removes the excess gel and, during a certain time interval, the contact pressure transforms the entrapped substance in an amorphous solid. In each point, the refractive index of this solid depends on the pressure acting during transformation. After contact opening, the reflectivity of this coating depends on the former contact pressure and it is mapped by aid of a laser profilometer and becomes an indicator of contact pressure. Theoretical considerations show that the gel must possess certain optical parameters for the method to work. Several experimental reported results offer a clear image upon pressure distribution in Hertz point contacts, end effects in finite length line contacts, pressure distribution between rough surfaces and indicate the onset of plastic deformation.Copyright © 2003 by ASME


The secure location of node is significant in the WSN (Wireless Sensor Networks) of the troop frontier defence system. The wormhole attack is a big threat in the secure location. The credibility of the beacon node was used to determine the malicious nodes produced by wormhole attack in the WSN. The estimated method of multibeacon nodes was adopted to improve DV-HOP algorithm after excluding the malicious nodes. In this paper, we compared the basic DV-HOP algorithm and the improved DV-HOP algorithm in the coverage percentage and the error of network localization by simulating. The simulation results indicate that the improved DV-HOP algorithm makes the localization coverage percentage can reach 90% on a certain scale of the network, and it makes the error percentage lower when the number of beacons is different.


The main purposes of this paper are two contributions: (1) it presents a new method, which is the first passage time (FPT method) generalized for all passage times (GPT method), in order to estimate the parameters of stochastic Jump-Diffusion process. (2) it compares in a time series model, share price of gold, the empirical results of the estimation and forecasts obtained with the GPT method and those obtained by the moments method and the FPT method applied to the Merton Jump-Diffusion (MJD) model.


Objective 1H NMR spectroscopy and principal component analysis(PCA)were used to investigate the mouse serum metabonomics and toxic mechanism after oral administration of Fructus Toosendan. Methods In this study,mice were orally administered with the ethyl acetate extract of Fructus Toosendan before collecting serum samples. Then1 H NMR was utilized to identify the metabolites with the PCA. After the experimental model of toxicity was established and the data were collected,NMR spectral regions and the metabolites were identified and ranked according to their weight aline with the loading plot. Results The scores plot for classification within groups was clear and showed a great difference from the control group. Combining the body weight and biochemical results,the elevated levels of glucose,lactate,taurine,arginine,glycine and decreased levels of betaine,creatine,amino and neurotransmitters were observed. Conclusion Our current study indicated that the ethyl acetate extract of Fructus Toosendan has liver and kidney toxicity.


The theoretical approaches to the main problems of digital transformation of the higher education system in the Russian Federation. In aspect of this point questions connected with a features of the technological support of the educational process, digital literacy and digital divide of participants in online education, methods of educational and scientific work, as well as features of psychological adaptation in the digital reality. The ways of using the accumulated educational experience in the post-pandemic world are proposed.


The invention relates to a complex tiny crystal synthetic test research device under the condition of magnetic field intervention, and belongs to the filed of single-crystal growth. A magnetic field intervention mechanism is introduced in the synthetic test of the complex tiny crystal, and the influence and the rule are properly evaluated and mastered, which is scientifically meaningful in finding a crystal material with potential value. The invention provides a test device used to achieve the aim. The device comprises a structure that: a skeleton consists of a plate and support legs connected with the plate; the upper side plate surface of the plate is provided with a plurality of shallow calices, the structural position where the lower side plate surface of the plate is connected with each shallow calix is correspondingly provided with a flat box, and permanent magnets are arranged inside the flat boxes. The device is applied to the observation and the evaluation on related reactionand effect in the process of preparing the complex tiny crystal under the condition of magnetic field intervention.


The construction of urban water supply pipe network is to solve the complexity of basic data management, the difficulties of information retrieval, the adaptability of emergencies, etc. This system, which is based on GIS, is one of the major applications in urban planning, and it has good application prospects. This article will take the management information system of Lianyungang city water supply network as an example, using Mapinfo as the system platform and VB+MapX as the second development language. Introduce the process of designing.


So-called somersaulting toys are small articles sold in toy stores that can do one or more back somersaults from a standing-position. There are two different versions of them that I am familiar with. The Somersaulting Frog (figure 1) has inside a spring that is pressed down and fixed to the ground by a suction cup. After a short while, the suction cup comes loose, and the energy stored in the spring is sufficient for a complete backflip. The second version (a kangaroo, gorilla, or mouse from the Japanese company TOMY) has a springwinding tension that, in turn, tensions a second spring that is then suddenly slackened (figure 2). This toy can make up to seven backflips, one after the other. I will analyze the second kind of toy using the kangaroo as my example and then comparing it with a back somersault performed by a human. All my observations are primarily estimates and approximate calculations since more exact analysis would demand much more time and effort and not bring much additional knowledge or insight.


In modern machine learning applications, frequent encounters of covariate shift and label scarcity have posed challenges to robust model training and evaluation. Numerous transfer learning methods have been developed to robustly adapt the model itself to some unlabeled target populations using existing labeled data in a source population. However, there is a paucity of literature on transferring performance metrics of a trained model. In this paper, we aim to evaluate the performance of a trained binary classifier on unlabeled target population based on receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis. We proposed $\bf S$emi-supervised $\bf T$ransfer l$\bf E$arning of $\bf A$ccuracy $\bf M$easures (STEAM), an efficient three-step estimation procedure that employs 1) double-index modeling to construct calibrated density ratio weights and 2) robust imputation to leverage the large amount of unlabeled data to improve estimation efficiency. We establish the consistency and asymptotic normality of the proposed estimators under correct specification of either the density ratio model or the outcome model. We also correct for potential overfitting bias in the estimators in finite samples with cross-validation. We compare our proposed estimators to existing methods and show reductions in bias and gains in efficiency through simulations. We illustrate the practical utility of the proposed method on evaluating prediction performance of a phenotyping model for Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) on a temporally evolving EHR cohort.


The public nature of private higher education decides that the government shoulders unshirkable public responsibilities in the development of private higher education.At present,the role orientation of government should be based on its statutory duties and the current problems in the management of private higher education.First,it should truly establish the concept of that private education is an important growth point of education development,and abandon the institutional discrimination towards private education by improving the institutional environment.Second,the government should have a scientific planning concerning the development of private higher education,and distribute the market distribution of public and private higher education reasonably.Third,the government should improve the public financial support system to reduce the financial pressure of private universities.Fourth,the government should strengthen the macro-control towards private universities and innovate the supervision system and fulfill its responsibility of a supervisor;fifth,the government should strengthen its service,lower school-running cost and shoulder the responsibility of a service provider.


This paper investigates the need of coordinated operation of conservation voltage reduction (CVR) in the presence of electric vehicle (EV) penetration in the active distribution network. In order to analyze the impact of both the technologies (CVR and EV), a time horizon-based model predictive Volt/VAR optimization (VVO) methodology has been introduced in smart grid framework. The proposed VVO methodology operates in centralized as well as local controls under different time scale of operation, including cloud transient effects on solar photovoltaic (PV) power output. Moreover, the control algorithms also consider the uncertainties in load demand and PV power generation. The VVO methodology has been validated with and without presence of EV loads in the distribution network. The VVO includes the impact of different EV charging loads having the ability of participation in reactive power support at selected charging points. This is also referred to as vehicle-to-grid operation in terms of reactive power dispatch only. Besides, the voltage and VAR regulation through smart inverters of PVs and EV charging station has been fruitfully utilized in global as well as local domain. A real-time Volt/VAR droop based controller has been introduced to control the smart inverters reactive power dispatch. To validate the developed methodology, a real-time cosimulation framework, using real-time digital simulator and Python interface, has been built. The proposed model predictive VVO algorithm has been tested and validated on a modified IEEE 34 bus test system. The simulated results reveal that significant CVR energy savings and losses reduction has been achieved without violating the system constraints. The voltage control algorithm works well in both slow and fast time scales.


In developing Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, the motorcycle is a popular means of transportation because it is cheap and provides flexible door-to-door mobility. However, motorcyclists are also highly involved in road accidents. Separating motorcycles from other vehicles in traffic by providing motorcycle lanes is a good engineering measure to improve the safety of motorcyclists. In designing motorcycle lanes, considerations of geometrical elements such as horizontal and vertical curve lengths, stopping distances, and passing sight distances are essential. This study attempts to quantify the eye levels and head levels of motorcycle riders and motorcycle headlight and taillight height characteristics that influenced these geometrical elements. Characteristics of the motorcycles observed along the existing exclusive motorcycle lanes in Selangor state of Malaysia were transcribed from a camcorder, using reference dimension. Findings recommend a design motorcycle eye height of 1,350 mm (5th percentile), headlight height of 800 mm (5th percentile), and taillight height of 625 mm (5th percentile). A motorcyclist height of 1,525 mm (10th percentile) is recommended for the design of sight distance. Recommended heights reduce the cost of motorcycle lane construction with demonstrated safety compared with the current criteria.


User mobility, combined with the rapidly growing number of multimedia applications, form a challenging and yet unresolved problem for the development of call admission control schemes over next generation wireless cellular networks. In this work we propose a new efficient CAC scheme for MPEG-4 videoconference traffic over cellular networks, which uses precomputed traffic scenarios for its decision-making. Our scheme is shown, via an extensive simulation study, to clearly excel in comparison with well-known existing approaches, in terms of quality of service (QoS) provisioning to users receiving videoconference traffic.


One of the most important diseases in Mexico and in all over the world where maize is grown is ear rot. In addition to reduce the grain yield of the crop, this disease also affects physical, physiological and phytosanitary characteristics of the seeds. It has been reported that the agents responsible of ear rot corresponds to fungi from the Fusarium genre (which are transmitted by means of the seed). On easy way of dealing with these pathogens includes the use of fungicides, which are applied to the seeds. Never the less, in Mexico there is no information about the efficiency of these fungicides when applied to Fusarium species. The goals of this study were: a) Determine the diversity of Fusarium species associated to ear rot of maize in highlands in Mexico, b) Evaluate the in vitro monitoring of Fusarium species which are associated to ear rot of maize in highlands in Mexico with fungicides specially developed for seed care. The molecular identification was done by amplifying the ITS sequences from rDNA, using the initiators ITS5 and NL4. The results from the phylogenetic analysis revealed that the species Fusarium verticillioides, F. proliferatum, F. subglutinans and F. poae are associated with ear rot. These species were used for a mycelial growth in vitro test with four fungicides. Difenoconazol and pyraclostrobin presented the lowest CE50 values, which range from 0.019 to 0.155 and from 0.027 to 1.940 μg mL -1 , respectively. On the other hand no significant differences for sensitivity were detected for the four Fusarium species.


»Ansichten der Hakoah. Bilder eines zionistischen Sportvereins im Wien der Zwischenkriegszeit«. The SC Hakoah was not only Vienna's most prominent "Jewish" (Zionist) sports club of the Interwar years, but also part of the Viennese popular sports culture. The media constantly covered the club and its members. A closer look at the sports reporting reveals that different genres of the media (texts, photographs, and caricatures) produced different meanings. In this way the depiction of the Hakoah Sports Club was part of a complex culture producing "Jewish difference" between the poles of Antisemitism and "Jewish Vienna." The analysis clearly demonstrates that the different "genres," i.e. texts, pictures, and caricatures, produced diverse messages to Viennese Jews: Their inclusion should be based on "assimilation," although it had to be clear that they always remained identifiable.


Introduction The use of fermented liquid feeds (FLF) IS gaming popularity 1n Europe as a means of 1mprovmg the gut health of p1gs and improvmg the stability and safety of liqu1d feed in ad libitum feeding systems With modern liquid feeding systems it is often advantageous to ferment the cereal component of the diet and use this as a base to which other components are added to formulate a range of d1ets for the whole un1t The exception to this may be diets for newly weaned p1gs where 1t IS normal (in the UK) for processed cereals to be used.


Butler Community College hosted its annual Student Life Awards on April 26. The ceremony honored students, faculty and staff who exemplify outstanding leadership.


Many commercially Important gastropods are landed as
by-catch of shrimp trawlers at Sakthlkulangara-Neendakara
area along with prawns, fishes, crustaceans and cephalopods. Recent observations on the landings of moUuscan shells indicate that 29 species of gastropods and a few bivalves are landed as by-catch of shrimp trawlers and there is an increasing trend in the quantity landed Taking into consideration the importance of these groups, a check-list of gastropods landed, their abundance and common names are given


The 60 kHz timing station in Fort Collins, Colorado known as WWVB and a 21.4 kHz Navy VLF transmit antenna at Lualualei, Hawaii were modeled using the method of moments wire modeling code, Expert MININEC Broadcast Professional. An accurate computational antenna model was needed in order to evaluate proposed antenna modifications. The evaluation criteria for defining an "accurate" computational antenna model were accurate prediction of measured values for feed impedance, effective height, and self-resonant frequency.


This study has analyzed the trend of the quantitative research by analyzing domestic dissertations on information literacy that were published since 2000. The procedures, regulations, and descriptive elements of the quantitative study were compared and analyzed for this study. In addition, the study used 5 variables and criterions to measure these items. Based on the calculations, the study has examined the general characteristics of the thesis, research method, sampling method and sampling population of the dissertations. The study has also analyzed the trend of the measurement variables by categorizing the characteristics by published year and majors. Furthermore, the study has also presented the trend of the usage of statistic analysis method on research purpose by classifying the method into each purpose.


The expansion of space requirements creates opportunities and priorities for power production, thus driving the development of innovative technologies. Key requirements for improving photovoltaics are outlined including cell efficiency, specific power, packaging, reliability, and affordability issues. The competition faced by photovoltaic cells is discussed with specific reference to solar dynamics and nuclear radioisotope thermal generator (RTG) systems.<<ETX>>


4 different social types were found in 21 pomacentrid fish of the Red Sea. Eco- and ethological factors are linked with each social type. Species of one type are ecologically similarly specialized. A hypothetical flow diagram describes the influence of independant environmental factors on several behavioural aspects and the social type. The social types are independant of taxonomic relationships. Several species are able to live in different social types due to differences in local environmental settings.


A MSPD HPLC method for simultaneous detection of four benzimidazole residues in beef muscles was established. By combining the MSPD with acid alkli extraction, the method efficiently clean up the large interfering components. The four benzimidazoles were detected by HPLC at 290 nm with the mobile phase 0.017 mol/L H 3PO 4 acetonitrile (7+3). The average recovery of four benzimidazoles was (69.2±12.4)% with the detection limit of 0.01 0.05 mg/kg.


An active coplanar circulator for Q-band operation based on lattice matched InAlAs/InGaAs/InP HFETs has been designed and fabricated. The active devices have a gate-width of W/sub G/=6/spl times/20 /spl mu/m and T-gates with a gate-length of L/sub G/=0.25 /spl mu/m. The circuit is fully passivated, contains all matching and biasing networks on chip and operates under zero volt gate bias. Over the entire frequency range the input reflection of the circulator is better than -15 dB and the isolation between the transmit and the receive path is better than -30 dB which is attributed to the extremely low feedback capacitance of the InP-based HFETs.


In this paper, a sensorless current balancing and MPPT control for photovoltaic AC module type interleaved flyback inverter is proposed. A conventional interleaved flyback inverter for photovoltaic(PV) AC module systems performs the current balancing control through comparison of phase currents each, and a maximum power point tracking(MPPT) using numerical values calculated through a input current and voltage. As was stated above, the conventional current balancing and MPPT control method are in need of one voltage sensor, three current sensor and peripheral circuits for each sensor. Because the sensors and peripheral circuits increase the size, volume and cost of PV AC module systems, the conventional control method is not suited for the PV AC module systems of small output power such as 300W. To overcome this problem, a proposed method performs the current balancing and MPPT control through only each phase current sensor. In order to verify these, theoretical analysis, simulation and experiment are performed.


Summary The optimal gas transport system in human respiratory network should maximize hydraulic permeability for a given investment in transport tissue. The computer simulation of hydraulic permeability of a branched transport system is proposed in order to investigate how this optimum can be achieved in the human respiratory system. Based on the parallel and series principles and Darcy's law, the equivalent permeability of human respiratory system is developed by using fractal networks. The fractal network model of human respiratory system is presented to model gas transport properties. The influence of fractal parameters on permeability is investigated numerically. The investigation show that the equivalent permeability of respiratory network will increase with the scaling factor β and the number of bifurcating branches M. The finite element model of human respiratory system is presented and the pressure and velocity distribution in the human respiratory system are computed and analyzed.


Nick Clegg announced that the House of Lords will not be reformed before the 2015 election in a statement on Monday.


Carded webs with a basis weight of 30 g/m2 are prepared from Hercules T-196 and Hercules T-101 polypropylene fibers, then thermally point bonded with "Novonette" rolls at various temperatures and pressures. A subset of samples is studied in relative detail using various methods. In particular, the distribution of bridging fiber strengths after bonding is measured directly. Bonding at higher temperatures reduces single fiber strength and increases its variability while increasing the effectiveness (strength) of the bonds. These competing effects appear to explain the maximum fabric-strength-versus-bonding temperature relationship. Bonding performance differences between these two fibers appear to depend on the fact that nonfailing bonds can be produced at lower temperatures in the T-196, where fiber strength degradation is less, and possibly to a lesser extent on the higher elongation and concave-down curvature of the stress-strain relationship.


There is currently a global effort to accelerate the introduction of new vaccines against rotavirus, one of the most severe diarrhoeal diseases. These attempts, which are supported by major health organisations including WHO and GAVI, are explained by the fact that infants and young children worldwide are heavily affected by rotavirus disease; unlike other diarrhoeas, the common hygienic measures appear to be ineffective in preventing this infection and no specific treatment is available for rotavirus disease. Thus, vaccination is the cornerstone strategy to control rotavirus infection. Recent estimates suggest that diarrhoea accounts for 13% to 21% of all under-five deaths. Globally, it is estimated that 20-70% of all hospitalisations due to diarrhea in young children and 20% of diarrheal deaths are caused by rotavirus. Although high-income as well as low-income countries are affected by rotavirus disease, the death-toll is substantially higher in developing countries, and in SubSaharan Africa alone, approximately 110,000 to 210,000 children die each year from rotavirus infection.


The article presents some aspects of such a phenomenon of the Russian religious life as female sanctity. The author explores women's status and experience in the medieval society and Church. She focuses on changing social contexts of female sanctity in the Russian culture in the llth-17th centuries. The conclusion is drawn that the image of «Holy women» changed depending women's position in the society


Aim The purpose of the present study is to investigate spatial surface electromyography (SEMG) 36 potential distribution pattern in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients. Methods Nine T2DM 37 patients and nine age-matched healthy men (CON) performed a sustained isometric knee extension 38 at 10% of maximal voluntary contraction for 120 s. Multi-channel SEMG was recorded from the 39 vastus lateralis muscle by means of 64 electrodes. To characterize spatial SEMG potential 40 distribution pattern, modified entropy and correlation coefficients between same electrode locations 41 were calculated at 15, 60 and 120s for the root mean square values. Results At 60 and 120s, 42 modified entropy in T2DM was significantly lower than those in CON ( p < 0.05). Correlation 43 coefficients for T2DM were significantly higher than those for CON at 60 and 120s ( p < 0.05). 44 Conclusion From these results, we suggested that T2DM patients continue to recruit limited and 45 same motor units during the sustained contraction at low force level.


Mitochondrial 16S rRNA gene fragments of wild Macrobrachium nipponense were amplified with PCR,then the PCR products were purified and sequenced,and 495 bp nucleotide sequences were obtained.The A,T,G and C contents in this fragment were 28.6%,36.1%,22.7% and 12.5%,respectively; the AT content was higher than the GC content.Little sequence variation was observed in 16S rRNA gene fragments within species,and transition in only 5 loci was revealed in three populations.Furthermore,454 bp fragment of the sequence was used to discuss the phylogenetic relationship among M.nipponense,M.rosenbergii,M.hainanense,M.malcolmsonii, M.lar,M.latimanus,M.carcinus and M.equidens using Fenneropenaeus chinensis as the out-group.The molecular phylogenetic tree was constructed by NJ method using software MEGA 3.1,and three populations of M.nipponense were clustered first and then clustered with M.hainanense; M.rosenbergii and M.malcolmsonii,as well as M.lar and M.latimanus had a closer genetic relationship and were clustered first,then they were clustered with M.carcinus and M.equidens,and finally with Fenneropenaeus chinensis.


Workplace health-promotion programs have the potential to reduce health care expenditures, especially among people with disabilities. Utilizing nationally representative survey data, the authors provide estimates for health care expenditures related to secondary conditions, obesity, and health behaviors among working-age people with disabilities. Furthermore, by computing the expenditures attributable to secondary conditions, obesity, and health behaviors, the authors emphasize the importance of disability-inclusive workplace health-promotion programs for employees with disabilities. Overall, the authors observed that the annual average health care expenditure among employed people with disabilities was US$4,524 (95% confidence interval [CI] = US$4,248–US$4,800) compared with US$1,325 (95% CI = US$1,299–US$1,351) for employed people without disabilities. Furthermore, obesity accounted for 27% to 41% of excess expenditures for people with various disability classifications compared with their nonobese peers with disabilities. Secondary conditions accounted for about 20% to 25% of higher health care expenditures among working people with various disability classifications, compared with their peers with disabilities who do not have secondary conditions. In addition, lack of exercise and alcohol consumption accounted for one fourth to over one third of excess health care expenditures among employed people with disabilities. The authors discuss implications of these findings for rehabilitation counselors and public health practitioners.


BOSTON- At the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dan Nocera talks about Sun Catalytix, the next generation of solar energy, and ARPA-E funding through the Recovery Act. To learn about more ARPA-E projects through the Recovery Act: http://arpa-e.energy.gov/FundedProjects.aspx


In recent years, the convolution neural network (CNN) has been successfully applied in numerous fields as a machine learning model. However, such neural models are still considered to be "black box" for most tasks. The fundamental issue underlying this problem is that the information and knowledge learned by a neural network during the training process are unknown and unpredictable. In this study, we attempted to design a partially understandable neural network through semantic embedding. Firstly, we selected several understandable feature extraction operators as expected information. Secondly, we embedded these operators into the hierarchical layers of a neural network at the beginning of its training process. Finally, these embedded operators were only involved in forward calculation and remained unchanged in the error back-propagation of the training process. We applied our method to the ResNet and DenseNet models in image classification tasks. In the experiments, our new models achieved almost the same performance as the original ones, but decreased performance was exhibited when shutting the embedded parts, and the features in the embedded parts were understandable. The experiments verified that the embedded parts not only contributed to the classification tasks, but also caused the neural network model to be partially understandable.


The error estimates in weighted L2 norm,weighted H1 norm,L2 norm and L∞ norm of the finite element solution for semi-discrete problems of a nonlinear parabolic problem are obtained.


Knowledge about students' conceptions is one of the requisite components of pedagogical content knowledge. A keen awareness of students' alternative conceptions provides teachers with information about prospective difficulties students may in cur as they make attempts to learn more accurate scientific representations of criti cal concepts. In this study, we investigated elementary school teachers' understanding of their students' alternative conceptions about change of states and dissolution. The subjects were 152 elementary school teachers and 529 sixth graders in Korea. A conceptions test and the test of the understanding about students' conceptions were administered in order to examine students' alternative conceptions and the teachers' awareness of their students' alternative conceptions, respectively. The effects of teachers' characteristics such as teaching experience, highest academic degree, science teaching efficacy, and views about teaching and learning (i.e., constructivist and traditional) in relation to their awareness of students' alternative conceptions were also investigated. The results indicated that the teachers tended to overestimate the number of students with scientifically accepted conceptions. The teachers also did not possess adequate knowledge about the existence and the distribution of their students' alternative conceptions. It was found that teaching experience, highest academic degree, science teaching efficacy, and the level of teachers' adop tion of a constructivist view about teaching and learning were not significantly re lated to the their awareness of students' alternative conceptions. It was found, how-ever, that there is a significant relationship between the level of teachers' traditional view about teaching and learning and their awareness of students' alternative conceptions. Educational implications are discussed.


An expression is derived for the bit error probability of minimum shift keying (MSK) and offset quaternary phase shift keying (OQPSK) signals which have been transmitted through nonlinear satellite channels after bandlimiting. The transponder nonlinearity considered in the paper is of the bandpass type, which exhibits AM/AM and AM/PM conversion effects. The effects of up-link and down-link thermal noise are also taken into consideration in the analysis. The resulting expression for the bit error probability is an infinite series containing double integrals. In order to illustrate the usefulness of the method, the error rates of MSK and OQPSK signals are computed for a Butterworth bandlimiting filter hard limiting transponder channel model. The error rates of MSK and OQPSK signals are compared with the error rate of binary PSK signals for this communication system model.


Based on two-sector non-balanced economic growth model,the paper analyzes the input structural change and growth effect of 1952-2009 in Chinese and 1988-2006 in other ten major economic nations.The result makes clear that capital and labor has transferred to secondary industry in industrialization and transferred to tertiary industry in post-industrialization.The input structural change has strong growth effect in industrialization which leads to high economics growth rate in Chinese,and has weak growth effect on major economic nations which result in structural change traps in post-industrialization.


of a dissertation at the University of Miami. Dissertation supervised by Professor Soyeon Ahn. No. of pages in text. (91) Since 2000, the number of students transferring from United States community colleges to four-year institutions has steadily increased. As a result, growing attention has been paid to community college students' academic performance following their transfer. Research conducted in the United States has reported mixed results regarding transfer students' academic performance in four-year institutions. Similar to the United States, many college students in Ecuador transfer to different types of postsecondary institutions. However, no research has been published on this experience in Ecuador that can inform educators and support transfer students' academic performance after transferring. To fill this gap, this study investigated the characteristics and academic success of community college students who transferred to a four-year institution in Ecuador. In particular, this study used secondary data to compare characteristics and academic performance (i.e., GPA) between transfer and non-transfer students attending a small private four-year university in Ecuador between Fall 2008 and Fall 2013. Results from mixed-effects models showed that transfer students had a higher average GPA after one semester (intercept) than non-transfer students; however, no difference in the average change in GPA over the years (slope) was found between transfer and non-transfer students. Further analysis examining gender differences in the


(57) Abstract: a method of repairing a combustion chamber assembly of an axial flow gas turbine engine (20) (32) is disclosed. Various detailed point has been improved, with the speed of the repair process is improved, the structural integrity of the repaired combustion chamber assembly is improved. In an embodiment, the repair device is constituted with a support assembly (82) adapted to the respective locating pins (98) are bonded to each lug mountings (48) the combustion chamber assembly (32).


2-Substituted-5-methoxy indoles were acetylated to yield 2-substituted-3- acetyl-5-methoxyindoles (1-2). Compounds (1-2) were treated with various aromatic aldehydes to give the corresponding chalcones (3-10). Chalcones were further cyclised with substituted hydrazides to afford the pyrazolines (11-18). The structural assignment of this compounds (1-18) has been made on this basis of elemental analysis,UV,IR, 1HNMR and mass spectral data. All the synthesized compounds (1-18) were screened for their antiinflammatory and analgesic activities at a dose of 50 mg/kg,p.o. The synthesized compound (1-18) were screened for their in vitro anti-inflammatory activity against carrageenan induced rat pawoedema. The compounds were also tested for their analgesic activity against phenylquinone against induced pain syndrome in mice .Compounds 14 and 18 were found to be most active compounds of the series ,which shows 52.8% and 54.6% inflammation inhibitory and 35%and 43.20%analgesic activities respectively.


Optics and Fine Mechanics — In this paper we report an experiment on the observation of the recoil-induced resonances (RIR) and electromagnetically induced absorption (EIA) of cold 87 Rb atoms in diffuse light in an integrating sphere. The atoms are first cooled in diffuse light and a probe beam is inserted to observe nonlinear spectra of cold atoms. The pump light of RIR and EIA comes from the diffuse light, which also serves the cooling light. The probe light beam is a weak laser split from the cooling laser in order to keep the cooling and probe lasers coherent. We measured the nonlinear spectra varying with detuning of the diffuse laser light, and studied the mechanism of RIR and EIA in the configuration with diffuse-light pumping and laser probing. The differences of nonlinear spectra of cold atoms between diffuse-light cooling and a magneto-optical trap (MOT) are also discussed. We present the theoretical models of the RIR and EIA of cold atoms in diffuse laser light. The theoretical results are in good agreement with the experimental ones when the light intensity distribution in the integrating sphere is considered.


This article argues that differences in the rules of evidence between international courts should, to the extent possible, be minimised in order to avoid discrepancies in their assessment of


The interest in modeling non-maturing deposits has skyrocketed ever since thefinancial crisis 2008. Not only from a regulatory and legislative perspective,but also from an investment and funding pe ...


This paper presents the findings of a full scale pilot study to assess the feasibility of using the Micronex system to produce a Class A Biosolids. The Micronex system consists of a rotating mechanism inside a vertical cylinder through which dewatered biosolids are passed. Temperatures inside the cylinder are high enough to produce a Class A Biosolids. The Micronex process is not presently recognized as a Class A process under the British Columbia, B.C. Organic Matter Recycling Regulation. As part of the acceptance protocol, the Ministry of Environment requires that testing occur by spiking samples entering the Micronex unit with ascaris eggs and with the polio virus. Analyses of spiked data were carried out by Kari Fitzmorris, Sc.D., MSPH, Assistant Professor at Georgia Southern University and Janice Liotta, B.S. from the Parasitology Laboratory at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, under the direction of Bob Reimers, Ph.D., QEP, Professor from Tulane University in New Orleans. Ron Thring, Ph.D., P.Eng. from the University of Northern British Columbia carried out an independent review of the pilot test work. Tests indicate that the Micronex system can consistently produce a Class A Biosolids. The economical feasibility of the system is currently being assessed.


Four hundred and twenty cattle belonging to different breed and age groups were investigated for infestation
by ticks during the period from October 2018 to September 2019 in Basrah governorate, Iraq . Investigated
cattle were found to be infested by four species of hard ticks namely (Hyalomma anatolicum anatolicum,
Hyalomma marginatum turanicum Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) annulatus, Rhipicephalu sturanicus) .No
significant difference in infestation rate was observed according to the method of cattle raising (X²=0.455,
p=0.500),however, seasonal variation in infestation with significant difference was found , higher infestation
rate reported in June ( 63.3%) and the lowest was in January (20%) (X² =76.740 ,p = 0.05). In the meantime
blood smears samples from the same cattle were also examined by microscopy for hemoprotozoan pathogens
.The examination revealed that those cattle are infected by Babesia spp. (27.14%) and Theileria spp.(19.52%).
No, significant difference in infection rate was found between male and females, but a significant variation
was seen among age groups, however, age group 1-3 years revealed a high rate of infection .Seasonal
variation in the infection rates were observed in infected cattle. Higher infection rates of Babesiosis and
Theileriosis reported in June (50%) and (36.7%) respectively.


The popularity that entrepreneurship gained in the world today is largely due to the positive effects it has on many countries as a catalyst that creates wealth and generates other opportunities. This no doubt has resulted in the calls by the stakeholders in the education sector to instill an entrepreneurial mindset in Nigerian University Students. However, researchers have a divergent opinion regarding the factors responsible for creating an entrepreneurial mindset among Nigerian Students. While some believed that self-development help in creating an entrepreneurial mindset in students, others argued in favour of perception. This study, therefore, set to fill this gap by examining the factors responsible for creating an entrepreneurial mindset in Nigerian University Students. The population was the 720 registered students of Ebonyi State University's Entrepreneurship Centre, Abakaliki. Yamane's formula (1967) was used to determine a sample size of 257. A questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. T-test was the statistical tool used to analyze the collected data. It was discovered that entrepreneurial perception is more significant in creating an entrepreneurial mindset in Nigerian students than self-development. The study concludes that perception is essential for building an entrepreneurial mindset among Nigerian University Students and recommended among others that more entrepreneurship education curriculum should be developed and taught in Nigerian Universities as an accurate understanding of and good perception about entrepreneurial skills is a key success factor.


for an Invited Paper for the MAR06 Meeting of The American Physical Society Combined neutron scattering and first principles study of novel hydrogen TANER YILDIRIM, National Institute of Standards and Technology This abstract was not received electronically.


Swelling rock(soil) is a kind of geological body which possesses multi-crack,swell-shrinkage property and strong hydrophilic characteristics,and results in the swelling rock(soil) body's repeated deform and fracture development.So the serious damage will occur in the channel project.Therefore,a reasonable monitoring system,monitoring equipment selection and built-in techniques,will directly affect the swelling rock(soil) authenticity and validity of monitoring results in the channel slope.On the basis of the monitoring results obtained from Nanyang and Xinxiang swelling rock(soil) field test section of the first phase of the Middle Route of South-to-North Water Transfer Project,this article studied and concluded the following three aspects: the composition of the monitoring system,the monitoring items,equipment layout position;monitoring instrument models,the basic principle,accuracy requirements;equipment requirements and laying technology research.


While significant efforts have been devoted to the development of sophisticated search engines for a wide variety of data sources, how to record and share knowledge derived from data retrieved by search engines is still a major challenge. In this article, we discuss the problem of the lack of visual representations of data and concepts in current search engines. We then present a conceptual relationship diagramming system we have created to deal this problem. Compare to existing diagramming/drawing tools, our solution enables the sharing and modification of conceptual diagrams by researchers in different geographic locations. We believe such a system will expedite extraction and sharing of knowledge and ideas from various data


The synthesis, XRD single crystal structure, powder XRD and solid-state fluorescence of two new DPA-DPS-EWG derivatives (DPA = diphenylamino, DPS = 2,5-diphenyl-stilbene, EWG = carbaldehyde or dicyanovinylene) is described. Absorption and fluorescence maxima in solvents of various polarity show bathochromic shift with respect to parent DPA-stilbene-EWGs. Electronic coupling in dimers and potential twist elasticity of monomers were studied by density functional theory. Both polymorphs of CHO derivative emit green fluorescence (527 and 550 nm) of moderate intensity (10 % and 5 %) in polycrystalline powder form. Moderate (5 %) red (672 nm) monomer-like emission was also observed for the first polymorph of DCV derivative, while more intense (32 %) infrared (733 nm) emission of the second polymorph was ascribed to the excimer fluorescence.


The influence of the L 2 phase of the CTAB/1-hexanol/water (reverse micelles) on the basic hydrolysis of crystal violet has been studied. The effect of this phase on the reaction rate in mainly related to the amount of water in the system and the decrease in the effective dielectric constant in the water pool. Reverse micelles in other alkanols, such as 1-butanol and 1-octanol, behave similarly with regard to these reaction media, when the system has the lowest content of water


Objective To evaluate the distribution and expression of peroxisome proliferator activated(receptor)-γ(PPAR-γ) in human invasive pituitary adenomas.Methods Thirty consecutive surgically resected(pituitary) adenomas were divided into invasive group and non-invasive group according to the Knosp grade or(exhibitions) in operations.Immunohistochemistry was used to confirm the distribution of PPAR-γ and the staining positive rates were compared between the two groups.The expression of PPAR-γ was evaluated by Western Blot.Results PPAR-γ immunoreactivity was located in nucleoli of pituitary adenoma cells.The staining positive rate in invasive group was markedly higher than that in non-invasive group(P0.05).The expression in invasive group was significantly higher than that in non-invasive group(P0.05).In non-functional and prolactin-(secreting) pituitary adenomas,the expression of PPAR-γ in the invasive group was more abundant than that in the non-invasive group.There was no significant difference of PPAR-γ expression between growth hormone-secreting invasive and non-invasive adenomas(P0.1).Conclusion PPAR-γ may play an important role in the invasion of human pituitary adenomas and may be a novel therapeutic target of invasive pituitary adenomas.


Many applications like geo-replication need to deliver multiple copies of data from a single datacenter to multiple datacenters, which has benefits of improving fault tolerance, increasing availability and achieving high service quality. These applications usually require completing multicast transfers before certain deadlines. Some of the existing works only consider unicast transfers, which is not appropriate for the multicast transmission type. An alternative approach proposed by existing works was to find a minimum weight Steiner tree for each transfer. Instead of using only one tree for each transfer, we propose to use one or multiple trees, which increases the flexibility of routing, improves the utilization of available bandwidth, and increases the throughput for each transfer. In this paper, we focus on the multicast transmission type, propose an efficient and effective solution that maximizes throughput for all transfer requests while meeting deadlines. We also show that our solution can reduce packet reordering by selecting very few Steiner trees for each transfer. We have implemented our solution on a software-defined overlay network at the application layer, and our real-world experiments on the Google Cloud Platform have shown that our system effectively improves the network throughput performance and has a lower traffic rejection rate compared to existing related works.


Tuberculosis, caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) infection, remains a grave global public health burden which claims the lives around two to three million annually. PE and PPE proteins, featured by the Pro-Glu (PE) or Pro-Pro-Glu (PPE) motifs at the conserved N-terminal domain, are abundant in the MTB genome. PPE32 can increase intracellular survival of mycobacteria through abnormally increase in cytokines production. PPE32 might subvert the macrophage immune response and thwart its bactericidal effect. THP-1 macrophages treated with PPE32 or infected with Mycobacterium smegmatis (MS) expression PPE32 showed increase of cytokines production and multiple hallmarks of apoptosis. We found that PPE32 significantly increases the expression of IL-12p40 and IL-32 through ERK1/2 signaling pathway. In addition, the cell viability of macrophage was inhibited after PPE32 stimulation. We noted that PPE32 induces cleavage of caspase-3 and caspase-9, while inhibition of caspase activity significantly abrogates the PPE32-induced cell apoptosis. Moreover, PPE32 treatment promotes endoplasmic reticulum stress related gene expression, suggesting ER stress might be responsible for PPE32-induced cell apoptosis.


This article investigates the relationships between the Fashion system, culture and technology. The relevance of the research is given by noting that there are still no analyzes with this specific theme in the country. The methodology used in the research is the qualitative one, being used the descriptive method for its accomplishment. For the analysis, theoretical reflections on the functioning of the cultural industry, the consumer society and the influence of culture on technology were discussed. Later it was analyzed how the fashion system works as a social, cultural, consumer phenomenon and the positive and negative relation of technology in its research, production and commercialization processes. After the descriptive analysis, it was identified that it is possible the interaction and harmony between these complex and paradoxical fields of culture and technology before the Fashion system.


EMC-09-KB-001-RRP SUMMARY: The worst-case Total Radiated Power (TRP) of a number of multimedia products without intentional radiators has been measured in a reverberation chamber (RvC) in the radiated frequency range from 80 MHz up to 6 GHz. The RvC-measurement method is a straightforward method for quick assessment of the EMF properties of products in the radiated frequency range. From the measurement results, it can be concluded that typical multimedia products (unintentional radiators) radiate much less (in the mentioned frequency range) than the lowpower exclusion limit of 20 mW that can be applied to demonstrate compliance of multimedia products against the electromagnetic field exposure requirements.


"When the womb remains in the upper abdomen, the suffocation is similar to that caused by the purgative hellebore, with stiff breathing and sharp pains in the heart. Some women spit up acid saliva, and their mouths are full of fluid, and their legs become cold. In such cases, if the womb does not leave the upper abdomen directly, the women lose their voices, and their head and tongue are overcome by drowsiness. If you find such women unable to speak and with their teeth chattering, insert a pessary of wool, twisting it round the shaft of a feather in order to get it in as far as possible-dip it either in white Egyptian perfume or myrtle or bacchar or marjoram. Use a spatula to apply black medicine (the kind you use for the head) to her nostrils. If this is not available, wipe the inside of her nostrils with silphium, or insert a feather that you have dipped in vinegar, or induce sneezing. If her mouth is closed tight and she is unable to speak, make her drink castoreum in wine. Dip your finger in seal oil and wipe inside her nostrils. Insert a wool pessary, until the womb returns, and remove it when the symptoms disappear. But if, when you take the pessary out, the womb returns to the upper abdomen, insert the pessary as you did before, and apply beneath her nostrils fumigations of ground-up goat or deer horn, to which you have added hot ashes, so that they make as much smoke as possible, and have her inhale the vapour up through her nose as long as she can stand it. It is best to use a fumigation of seal oil: put the coals in a pot and wrap the woman upexcept for her head. So that as much vapour as possible is emitted, drip a little fat on it, and have her inhale the vapour. She should keep her mouth shut. This is the procedure if the womb has fallen upward out of place ..."


Peter Ion, Technical Author, Canada, reports on several new emissions initiatives that will have implications for the North American cement sector.


The relationships between residual magnetization of end surface and coercive force with different stresses of 45~# cold roll steel items were measured and it indicated that when the stress was smaller than the bend point of materials,residual magnetization of end surface and coercive force of materials were produced by the fatigues and the residual stresses for different stresses almost remained constant.However,when the stress was greater than the bend point of the materials,residual magnetization of end surface and coercive force increased sharply.It shows that the magnetic properties can be used to detect stress concentration and load condition,thus providing a new research idea for magnetic non-destructive testing method.


Many digital texts and environments employ a range of linguistic, visual, aural, spatial, and haptic (tactile) modes of representation and communication. Increasingly, in order to understand how people communicate and interact in digital environments researchers need to look beyond language, and towards the idea of communication as multimodal. Multimodal research builds on concepts from Social Semiotics, Linguistics more generally, Art History, and Sociology to analyse how people make meaning.


Based on methods previously published for determining the loci of voltages and currents in a star-star circuit, the loci of voltages and currents in a general unbalanced delta-delta circuit are developed. A numerical example is given.


Membrane filtration (microfiltration) as a solid-phase extraction technique with features of rapidity, simplicity of operation, low cost, and high enrichment efficiency has received considerable attention and has been widely used for separating and enriching analytes from fluids. On the basis of our previous study, a very simple but effective mode of multilayer membrane filtration-enrichment process was introduced into the case of quantitative detecting of two or more analytes in mixture samples to achieve the target of separating and concentrating analytes simultaneously. A case study was carried out to assess this method utilizing the carcinogenic dyes rhodamine B (RhB) and acid orange 7 as model analytes. Under the optimal conditions, linearity of the calibration curve based on the Kubelka–Munk function was achieved in the concentration range of 3–30 μg L−1 with the correlation coefficients (R2) of 0.9982 and 0.9952 for RhB and acid orange 7, respectively. Good repeatability was achieved utilizing 30, 10 and 5 μg L−1 solutions with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 3.1–6.4% for RhB and 2.4–5.8% for acid orange 7. The presented method was successfully employed to simultaneously quantify RhB and acid orange 7 in soft drink and candy samples.


Modifications in teaching methods and the learning environment in the laboratory component of a medical parasitology course resulted in significant changes in student performance as measured by practical examination. Mean scores from 745 students improved from 75.8% at the inception of the course to 92% at the end of the 25-year period studied. A retention study, conducted over a six-year period, revealed an average retention rate of 57% one year after the course was completed. Although this retention rate was not significantly different from the rate found in other studies in which retention of factual material was measured, it suggests that the students retain enough knowledge to complete the clinical parasitology course.


Recent advances in immune checkpoint regulators, such as nivolumab, have revolutionised the treatment of melanomas [1,2]. Here, we describe the first case of an effective reduction of a nivolumab-treated nasal melanoma, which was intractable to both chemotherapy and radiotherapy.A 73-year-old female had bleeding in her right nasal cavity which started about one and a half years ago. Computed tomography (CT) revealed that a tumour occupied her nasal cavity, and the diagnosis of nasal melanoma was [...]


IS professionals can only dream of the days when technical brilliance alone was enough to ensure a successful career. Now business acumen and a strong understanding of customer expectations are vital to long-term career survival. Based on their study of 75 experienced IS professionals, the authors present guidelines for fostering the development of customer-oriented IS professionals.


The works of P. Picasso in ceramics in the collection of the State Art Museum of Uzbekistan are among the masterpieces of the museum and are kept as priceless works. These works are one of the periods when the artist P. Picasso worked on clay.The Spanish artist, sculptor, graphic artist, ceramist and designer Pablo Picasso made a worthy contribution to the development of world art. He laid the foundations for Cubism by dividing objects into handicrafts and creating works of art from pieces, carved and three-dimensional on a flat surface. From the second half of the 1930s, the social status of Picasso came to the fore. The article is significant in that it provides comments on his rare works.


The invention relates to a hand machine tool clamping device with at least one clamping unit (12a; 12b; 12c) is provided for a tool (14a; 14b; 14c) on a spindle (16a; 16b; 16c) to clamp, and with at least one discharge control unit (18a; 18b; 18c) to avoid run-off of the clamping unit (12a; 12b; 12c) and / or of the tool (14a; 14b; 14c) of the spindle (16a; 16b; 16c). It is proposed that the safety valve unit (18a; 18b; 18c) at least a movement changing unit (20a; 20c; 20b) which is provided for in a braking operation at least partly a first relative movement between at least two clamping elements (22a, 24a; 22b, 24b; 22c, 24c) of the clamping unit (12a; 12c to transfer) to a second relative movement; 12b.


A chiral tetrathiafulvalene (1) bearing a binaphtholdimethylene moiety on one side, an ethylenedithio substituent on the other side, is prepared from atropoisomeric (R)-, (S)- and racemic (R,S)-binaphthol. Its oxidation potential (0.49 V vs.SCE) allows for its oxidation with TCNQF4. Crystal structures of the neutral racemic (R,S)-1 and enantiopure (R)-1 were determined together with those of the enantiopure charge-transfer salts formulated as [(R)-1][TCNQF4]·CH2Cl2 and [(S)-1][TCNQF4]·CH2Cl2, the first enantiomeric salts of chiral TTFs with axial chirality. Despite the peculiar geometry adopted by the binaphthyl moieties in the constrained ten-membered ring in 1, stacking of the donor molecules is observed, both in the neutral state and in the TCNQF4 charge transfer salts where the (1)+˙ and (TCNQF4)−˙ radical species are associated, respectively, into [(1)2]2+ and [(TCNQF4)2]2− homodyads, both in their singlet state.


Research Summary: Though research has focused on the ascent and acceptance of female CEOs, the post‐promotion circumstances female CEOs face remain unclear. In this study, we focus on a critical post‐promotion circumstance: the board chair–CEO relationship. Drawing on the gender stereotype literature, agency theory, and stewardship theory, we posit that firms appointing a female CEO are more likely to adopt a collaboration board chair orientation and less likely to adopt a control orientation. We further predict this effect is attenuated by female board representation. Using a sample of new S&P 1500 CEOs, we find support for our predictions regarding the collaboration orientation but not the control orientation. This research provides some evidence of benevolent sexism in the boardroom, with female directors acting as a countervailing influence. Managerial Summary: Whereas the notion that females encounter a glass ceiling on their path toward CEO is well documented, the conditions female CEOs encounter after promotion are less understood. The relationship between the board chair and the CEO is one important post‐promotion condition. Board chairs can focus on monitoring and/or working together with the CEO. We suggest board chairs are more likely to work in close collaboration with female CEOs than with male CEOs. We attribute this to benevolent sexism, which explains that board chairs are more likely to collaborate with female CEOs because they view females as more conducive to, and in need of, this type of relationship. We also suggest this benevolent sexism is less prevalent when there are more females on the board.


Background and Objectives: Several studies have been shown the beneficial effect of exercise on markers of health. This study was designed to evaluate the effect of two aerobic and anaerobic exercise protocols on triglyceride, cholesterol, anthropometric indices, chemerin, and adiponectin levels in non-athletic men. Methods: A total of 39 non-athletic men were recruited to the present study. According to protocol, participants in three categories including; aerobic, anaerobic, and control groups, which had endurance, speedy exercise, and without activity, respectively. The duration of interventional program was two months. Body weight, height, and waist circumference (WC) were determined. Body fat percent, waist-to-hip ratio (WHpR) and body mass index (BMI) were calculated. Dietary intake was recorded by 48-hours recall method. Briefly, Total cholesterol and triglyceride levels were determined by an automated analyzer. Serum levels chemerin and adiponectin were measured by enzyme-linked immune-sorbent assay (ELISA) by commercial kits. Data was analyzed using the SPSS statistical software version 16. P < 0.05 was considered as the level of significant. Results: No significant difference among groups was observed according to BMI, WC, and WHR. Significant difference was observed based on percent of body fat in the aerobic group. There was no significant difference in the cholesterol and triglyceride levels and daily calorie intake between groups. There was a significant difference in adiponectin level in three steps between two groups (P < 0.001). There was a significant difference on chemerin level between baseline training and detraining steps in aerobic groups as compared to control (P = 0.01). There was an increase in chemerin level between baseline, training, and detraining steps in anerobic groups (P = 0.01). A significant increase in adiponectin level was observed after training. Whilst, after detraining, it was decreased significantly (P < 0.001). Conclusions: Aerobic exercise caused chemerin levels to decrease significantly after training and detraining. Whereas it increased in anaerobic groups. Besides, adiponectin level significantly increased in aerobic and anaerobic groups. It seems that the difference in the type of activity between the two groups led to the changes in the above indicators that require more extensive studies.


Phosphoric acid cation exchangers with improved thermal and radiation stability in comparison with commercial products were obtained on the basis of a copolymer of styrene grafted to a petroleum asphaltite. Petroleum residues are treated with gamma radiation and then grafted with unsaturated monomers.


We extend earlier work on the Orientation Field Transform as an effective method for enhancing curve like features in images. Whereas the original Orientation Field Transform was formulated for straight lines, we generalize the formalism to general curves, resulting in improved accuracy for detecting circular objects. The method only requires one parameter, the curve width, to be selected by the user and does not require any preor post processing, even for noisy data sets with low contrast. We demonstrate the method for several electron microscopy tomograms.


The anti-shock property of a BE rubber vibration isolator is studied.The ultimate shock load of the BE rubber vibration isolator is measured experimentally.Using ABAQUS code for finite element analysis and the Marlow rubber model,the anti-shock property of the BE rubber isolator is simulated.Good agreement between the numerical results and experimental results is found.It shows that this numerical method is efficient,and can be employed to study the ultimate load and anti-shock performance of rubber isolators.


Objective:To construct the recombinant expressing ERCC1 small nuclear RNA(shRNA) with Pgenesil-1-Mediated Plasmid.Methods:Three pairs of oligonucleotide sequences with hairpin conformation were designed,and then inserted into Pgenesil-1-Mediated Plasmid.After screened from transformed DH5аstrains,Pgenesil-1-Mediated Plasmid Expressing ERCC1 shRNA,the siRNA eukaryotic expression vectors,were successfully identified by sequencing.Results:Three recombinant vectors were constructed successfully.Conclusion:Construction of plasmids of Pgenesil-1/ERCC11 and Pgenesil-1/ERCC12 expressing ERCC1 shRNA will be helpful for further elucidation of mechanism in ovary cancer cell line resisting platinum.


| The aim of this study was to correlate the difference of vital capacity (VC) and forced vital capacity (FVC) (VC-FVC) with physical activity in daily life (PADL) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD); and investigate the differences in PADL in individuals with VC smaller or greater than FVC. Twenty-eight patients with COPD (18 men, 67±8 years; FEV1: 40±13% predicted) had their lung function assessed by spirometry and were divided into two groups: VC>FVC (n=17) and VC≤CVF (n=11). Furthermore, they had their PADL evaluated by a validated activity monitor which measures, among other variables, time spent/ day walking, standing, sitting and lying. There were no correlations between VC-FVC and the variables of PADL in the general group. In the group VC>FVC there was statistically significant correlation between VC-FVC and the time spent/day standing (r=−0.56) and sitting (r=0.75). In the group VC≤CVF , VC-FVC was significantly correlated with time spent/day standing (r=0.57) and lying (r=−0.62). When comparing the groups, there was no statistically significant difference for any variable of PADL (p>0.05 for all). In conclusion, in patients with VC greater than FVC there was high correlation with time spent/day sitting, but not with time spent/day walking. Therefore, individuals with greater airflow obstruction according to the VC-FVC difference tend to spend more time in activities of lower energy expenditure, which do not involve walking.


Aim at the status quo of criterion for evaluation and quantitative criterions with weak foundation,lagging concepts,lack of unification in traditional staffs performance evaluation methods of commercial banks,alienated from reality and non-intimateness with operating benefit,the Paper probes to establishing the multiplayer,omni-directional performance evaluation methods and system that adapts to the rapid development of domestic commercial banks.


This paper presents information on self-assessed health status and use of modern and traditional medical services by a small sample of Malay, Chinese, and Indian residents of urban central Selangor. There is increasing literature on the variety of medical resources in Malaysia including comprehensive overviews,1,2 and specific reports and studies on modern scientific.i' traditional Malay, 47 Chinese.f and Indian9 medical practices. Differential use of medical services by urban populations has received some attention," 0 but most data have been obtained from rural settings.


: The purpose of this article is to study in the business environment of the Russian regions, identify problems of entrepreneurship and search for ways to solve them. The article reveals the essence of entrepreneurship. The general problems of domestic entrepreneurship are revealed. It analyzes the development of medium, small and micro enterprises in the region by types of their activities and quantitative indicators. A large number of employees involved in small forms of enterprises. In many regions, entrepreneurial activity mainly relies on the development of agricultural production. A large share of employment is observed at wholesale and retail enterprises. In addition, manufacturing and construction are popular industries. In the Russian regions, tourism is gaining popularity. According to the results of research, certain conclusions were made and proposals were made for the development of entrepreneurship in the region.


The development of flexible and stretchable materials has led to advances in implantable bio-integrated electronic devices that can sense physiological signals or deliver electrical stimulation to various organs in the human body. Such devices are particularly useful for neural interfacing systems that monitor neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease or epilepsy in real time. However, coupling current brain-interfacing devices with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) remains a practical challenge due to resonance frequency variations from inorganic metal-based devices. Thus, organic conductive materials, such as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)-poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), have recently been considered as promising candidates. Nonetheless, their conformability on curvilinear tissues remains questionable. In this study, we developed an injectable conductive hydrogel (ICH) composed of tyramine-conjugated hyaluronic acid (HATYR) and PEDOT:PSS for MRI-compatible brain-interfacing electrodes. Our ICH produced low impedance around 5 kΩ even under 10 Hz, demonstrating high confidence volumetric capacitance. Due to HATYR's biocompatibility, histological and cytotoxicity assays showed almost no inflammation and toxicity, respectively; in addition, ICH was able to degrade into 40% of its original volume within four weeks in vivo. An electrocorticogram (ECoG) array was also patternable by syringe injections of ICH on a stretchable and flexible elastomeric substrate layer that conformed to curvy brain tissues and successfully recorded ECoG signals under light stimulation. Furthermore, MRI imaging of implanted devices did not show any artifacts, indicating the potential of the MRI-compatible hydrogel electrodes for advanced ECoG arrays. This study provides a promising solution for MRI-compatible neural electrodes, enabling the advancement of chronic neural interfacing systems for monitoring neurodegenerative diseases.


Thank you very much for reading linking the geometry of argument structure. Maybe you have knowledge that, people have look numerous times for their favorite books like this linking the geometry of argument structure, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than reading a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they juggled with some malicious bugs inside their desktop computer. linking the geometry of argument structure is available in our book collection an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our book servers hosts in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Merely said, the linking the geometry of argument structure is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Abstract. We show that dielectric waveguides formed by materials with strong optical anisotropy support electromagnetic waves that combine the properties of propagating and evanescent fields. These "ghost waves" are created in tangent bifurcations that "annihilate" pairs of positive- and negative-index modes and represent the optical analogue of the "ghost orbits" in the quantum theory of nonintegrable dynamical systems. Ghost waves can be resonantly coupled to the incident evanescent field, which then grows exponentially through the anisotropic media—as in the case of negative index materials. As ghost waves are supported by transparent dielectric media, the proposed approach to electromagnetic field enhancement is free from the "curse" of material loss that is inherent to conventional negative index composites.


Many species and habitats in the world have become rare or have entirely disappeared. The main causes are anthropogenic habitat destruction and fragmentation, deterioration of soil, water and air quality, hunting, and exploitation of species. To reverse these trends, the Convention on Biological Diversity opened for signature at the 1992 Rio Earth Summit. Legislation provides the necessary instruments for administrative-legal protection of nature. Ecology is an important science for providing the required knowledge and information on effects of human activities on species and their habitats. Because of the increased influence of legal instruments for nature conservation on decision-making concerning nature and landscape, the need for input of ecological knowledge and information increases. Insight into the relation between approaches and procedures of legislation on the one hand, and ecology on the other, is very important for optimal functioning of nature conservation programs.


: This trial activity aims to empower the children of the Aisyiyah Padang Panjang Orphanage through batik training. To achieve the above objectives, the method used is Participatory Action Research (PAR). There are 3 main activities carried out, namely preparation, implementation, and evaluation. Preparation deals with coordination and FGD with the boards and caretakers of the orphanage related to the activity plan and schedule for its implementation. Implementation of activities concerns with the main empowerment activities, which include: a) initial introduction to batik materials, b) pattern making, c) painting, d) stamping, e) coloring and f) sag. This activity takes place at the Padang Panjang Aisyiyah Orphanage every Saturday and/or Sunday from March 14, 2021 to April 9, 2021 with a total of 20 participants. Evaluation aims at investigating participant satisfaction with the implementation of this service activity. The results of the evaluation showed that 63.5% of the participants were very satisfied , 33% were satisfied and 3.5% were quite satisfied and 0% were not satisfied .


A technique is presented for obtaining the elastic-plastic stress-strain distribution in axisymmetric and plane stress continuum composed of temperature dependent linear strain-hardening isotropic material. The method employs an incremental finite element computer program using the Prandtl-Reuss flow equations to derive a plastic stress-strain matrix in a manner similar to the tangent modulus method. The addition of pseudo stresses is used to develop load terms that account for changes in the material properties which occur during the increment, thus keeping the solution on the temperature dependent material stress-strain curve. The pseudo stresses also correct for any elastic over-shoot that occurs when an element changes from an elastic to a plastic state. With this technique it becomes economically feasible to perform elastic-plastic stress analyses on two-dimensional continuum subjected to transient thermal and mechanical loadings with material properties varying during multiple loading-unloading cycles.


Since 1920s,the Northern Ocean Government not only had no power to control the local pre-eminent soldiers, stop the internal conflict, but also lose its ruling way. The age called unification. The Northern Expedition War of Citizen's Government undertook the historical task. By working with Feng Yuxiang's department in the north, Li Dazhao made the southern and northern revolutionary powers united, and formed the situation that the two powers supported each other, what accelerated the victory of the Northern Ezpedition.


This case report describes the radiographic and ultrasonographic findings of three surgically confirmed cases of mesenteric volvulus or intestinal torsion in dogs. In all three cases, ultrasonographic findings included segmental ileus and absent or markedly reduced peristalsis of the affected small intestine, and partial loss of wall layering with increased overall echogenicity of the intestinal wall, but with normal to mildly increased wall thickening. No blood flow was detected in the affected small intestinal wall when assessed with colour Doppler. A moderate amount of peritoneal effusion was also detected with hyperechoic omental and mesenteric fat tissue throughout the peritoneal cavity. Few reports describe ultrasonographic findings of small intestinal ischemia in small animals. In all three cases presented here, ultrasound was helpful in demonstrating typical intestinal wall changes and helped to obtain the correct diagnosis of ischemic disease of the small intestine.


This paper proposes the effective design procedure for a broadband, double-ridged horn antenna for evaluating the performance of the RF energy harvesting system with a multi-band rectenna. Using multi-mode network analysis, the higher-mode scattering parameters of the transition and horn were acquired and applied to the antenna design, respectively. As a result, the computing time could be reduced and the calculated VSWR(voltage standing wave ratio) of the antenna was very similar to the analyzed result using fully electromagnetic simulation. And there was also good agreement between the simulated and measured results. The designed broadband antenna has a bandwidth of 660~6360 MHz and 6~13.7 dBi peak radiation gain.


During an individualized education plan (IEP) reevaluation meeting, a student was found to no longer be eligible for adapted physical education. The students' parents disagreed. This case provides several poignant applications for physical educators in both the development and implementation of an IEP and adapted PE services.


The autobiographic novel Stone Butch Blues (author Leslie Feinberg) tells the story of Jess Goldberg, a transgendered "butch" growing up in Buffalo, New York. Jess first learns to admit and negotiate her attraction to women and her butch identity. Immediately, she is faced with violence. The police raid the lesbian bars, arrest any woman wearing fewer than three articles of women's clothing and routinely beat, strip, or rape them. Jess and her friends also face the violence of bashers who attack without cause on dark or well ?lighted streets. The novel charges the violence of stereotyped model on the gender.


This report provides an introduction to the HOME Investment Partnerships Program, including a brief history, an overview of allowable uses of HOME funds, and a description of certain program requirements. It also provides information on funding for the program and how that funding has been used.


We extend the jigsaw percolation model to analyze graphs where both underlying
 people and puzzle graphs are Erd\H{o}s-R #x27;enyi random graphs. Let $p_{\text{ppl}}$ and
 $p_{\text{puz}}$ denote the probability that an edge exists in the respective people and
 puzzle graphs and define $p_{\text{eff}}= p_{\text{ppl}}p_{\text{puz}}$, the effective
 probability. We show for constants $c_1>1$ and $c_2> \pi^2/6$ and $c_3 c_1 \log n /n$ the critical effective probability
 $p^c_{\text{eff}}$, satisfies $c_3 < p^c_{\text{eff}}n\log n < c_2.$


Liquid crystal display (LCD) overdrive is used to remove motion blur. To effectively realize overdrive, it is necessary to efficiently compress and store previous frames. In this paper, we propose an adaptive mode selection algorithm via discrete wavelet transform (DWT) for efficient image compression while maintaining high visual quality. Moreover, we propose a mode reduction algorithm to adjust the target rate and to easily implement the H/W architecture. We simulated the performance of the proposed method at a fixed target rate and found that its performance was much better than that of conventional schemes.


• Prevalence is 50% by age 50 years and is highest among African and LatinoAmericans• Its incidence in the developed world has decreased markedly with improvedsanitary conditions, with new infection rates now at less than 0.5% per year.Therefore, most current infections reflect exposure during childhood• The consensus is that


Chapter 1, "'Whiteness Visible': Critical Whiteness Studies and O'Connor's Fiction," summarizes the treatment of race in O'Connor criticism from the 1970s to the present, outlines some key concepts of racial formation theory and whiteness studies, and considers their potential relevance and application to O'Connor's work. The chapter includes a brief history of the idea of race, an examination of the so-called "color line" and the racial code observed by whites and blacks in the South, and an exploration of O'Connor's attitudes toward that code as evident in some of her letters and in her representations of black characters in her stories. The chapter includes analysis of her first and last stories, "The Geranium" and "Judgement Day."


A new experimental system for investigating platyfish‐swordtail hybrid melanomas was developed using ornamental platyfish (Xiphophorus maculatus) and swordtails (Xiphophorus helleri). The incidence of melanomas in the hybrids was studied in relation to individual age factors. Based on the age of the onset of the melanomas, two types of the melanomas were discerned and were designated as the fry and the adult melanomas, respectively. The fry melanomas were characterized by early onset, wide‐ranged lesions, an invasive nature owing to densely pigmented cells, and a tendency toward regression. The adult melanomas were characterized by occurrence in the later stage of life, a small number of primary sites, and rapid, expanding, and invasive growth due to sparsely pigmented cells.


This paper features a one-period model that intends to put together two strands of literature: on one hand, the one relating wealth distribution and economic performance (especially by means of political economy mechanisms); on the other hand, the one that analyses the interplay of pressure groups which are formed in order to obtain the benefit of government decisions. Its purpose is to verify to which extent are the results of both strands affected by this junction, as well as to extend the first one by considering the political process as an interaction between pressure groups, and the composition of government spending as the relevant redistributive variable. The model derives some caveats to the usual efficiency result of the literature on pressure groups by making explicit the link between productive activity and lobbying -, and obtains many relations between initial wealth distribution and economic efficiency. Although having some similarities to the traditional literature, these relations put in sharp evidence the importance of the political system as presented here, in contrast with the way it is usually modeled.


Designed an experiment to invest random error's distribution of Multiple Measurements' by using Matlab,let the countdown clock work,when zero appears,computer record this time t_0,at the same time,click the given button by mouse,computer record this time t_1,the random error is t_1-t_0.And random error's distribution can be gotten when the experimental times is large enough,the result show the random error's distribution meat the Gaussian distribution.


The forced vertical oscillations of a single dust particle trapped in a standing striation are investigated. The particle oscillations associated with the displacement of the striation are induced by square wave modulation of discharge current. Amplitude frequency characteristics depending on the shapes of modulating signal are measured at pressure p = 0.16 torr. The resonance frequency, the eigenfrequency, the damping constant, and the amplitude of the resonance peak are determined. The quantitative description of the resonance behaviour of the dust particle is based on the theory of the forced harmonic oscillator. The Q‐factor of a dusty plasma system is measured for the first time. The Q‐factor takes the value of the order of several units, which indicates the large energy dissipation in the dusty plasma systems.


This study carried out comprehensive analysis on sedimentology, magnetic susceptibility (χlf) and color data of the continental sediments of the Liupanshan Group in Central China so as to obtain climatic change information during the 129.14–122.98 Ma interval. Based on the results of the χlf and of the redness (a*), the section can be divided into two segments: (1) 129.14–126.3 Ma, with the lowest χlf values and strongly variable relatively high values of redness and (2) 126.3–122.98 Ma, with high χlf values and relatively low redness. Analysis of the lithology and facies as well as the magnetic minerals and their contents points to a detrital origin of the magnetic minerals and this allow us to interpret the relationship between magnetic susceptibility variations and climate changes. Our study shows that the climate was significantly dry and hot during the whole studied interval although the interval between 126.3 Ma and 122.98 was a little bit cooler with increased humidity.


Project selection is a process fraught with uncertainties. Technological uncertainty is one of the major contributors to the total risk and its reduction has been a subject of many attempts to provide the decision maker with better decision material.

In the following paper, we summarise three cases representing different technological contents of technology transfer projects. The possible technological changes and the sensitivity of project profitability to them is presented and analysed.

A methodological approach involving convolution of the technological risk into a conventional economical project analysis has been developed and is evaluated in this paper. In particular, the aspect of trimming the analysis procedure into an efficient routine is discussed.


One of the tools to increase the efficiency and competitiveness of the educational institution of higher professional education is inter-organizational marketing. The main categories of participants in the implementation of intra-marketing educational organizations are directly involved in the provision of educational services, performing the function of increasing the value of the service, and indirect participants, performing the function of support. The intra-marketing to the faculty requires tasks that can be performed using techniques borrowed from the external marketing, but applied to the participants of the domestic market. Content of the intra-marketing are the following components: communication, relationships, human resources, staff, jobs and positions. Marketing communications is the foundation on which to build long-term marketing effectiveness of the organization. Relationship marketing is increasing the importance of personality, personal contacts in the system of effective communication. The basis of marketing human resources is human capital. Marketing staff is aimed at ensuring the long-term organization of the staff. Effective means of influencing the behavior of the employee is to increase the attractiveness of the workplace. Position is a powerful tool for influencing the behavior of the worker.


Article history: Received: 31 July, 2020 Accepted: 27 September, 2020 Online: 20 October, 2020 Ethereum smart contract system has seen a steady adoption as it continues to support tens of thousands of contracts. This feature has evolved to give a practical shape to the ideas leading up to fractional ownership transfer, using advanced smart contracts such as ERC981. However, alongside its numerous benefits, various risks arise with the actual implementation of the ERC-981. This paper documents high-level processes and risk factors involved in the transfer-system, building a theoretical risk model based on Electre Tri-framework belonging to MCDA classification/sorting models. This model deals with detecting problems that are pre-defined on a central reference. The approach is illustrated through several stages: following comparison between the methods of risk analysis towards a risk assessment model, proposing recommendations and solutions. The framework was able to detect 18 major risks and bugs assigned to 6 categories.


The installation of a biomass-fired Organic Rankine Cycle (ORC) unit coupled to a heat storage system (HSS) in an existing district heating (DH) system is proposed and analyzed from both energetic and economic point of view. A real DH system is considered as case study, and the optimal layout configuration is investigated varying the size of the components. The analysis is carried out tuning the heat demand dataset obtained from real data of a different existing DH systemwith a 6-min time step and ten years of operation. The heat demand is used to match the production from different generation units. The overall efficiency of the system, the primary energy savings related to CHP production, as well as the pay back time of the investment are evaluated. Calculations show that for the considered case study the maximum size of the HSS that gives noticeable advantages is 150 m/MWth. The optimal configuration is different when considering energetic or economic criteria. Moreover, the current Italian incentive tariff on electricity production from renewable sources appears to promote the choice of low efficiency layouts for the case study under consideration. 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.