The knowledge of tree species distribution at a national scale provides benefits for forest management practices and decision making for site-adapted tree species selection. An accurate assignment of tree species in relation to their location allows conclusions about potential resilience or vulnerability to biotic and abiotic factors. Identifying areas at risk helps the long-term strategy of forest conversion towards a natural, diverse, and climate-resilient forest. In the framework of the national forest inventory (NFI) in Germany, data on forest tree species are collected in sample plots, but there is a lack of a full coverage map of the tree species distribution. The NFI data were used to train and test a machine-learning approach that classifies a dense Sentinel-2 time series with the result of a dominant tree species map of German forests with seven main tree species classes. The test of the model's accuracy for the forest type classification showed a weighted average F1-score for deciduous tree species (Beech, Oak, Larch, and Other Broadleaf) between 0.77 and 0.91 and for non-deciduous tree species (Spruce, Pine, and Douglas fir) between 0.85 and 0.94. Two additional plausibility checks with independent forest stand inventories and statistics from the NFI show conclusive agreement. The results are provided to the public via a web-based interactive map, in order to initiate a broad discussion about the potential and limitations of satellite-supported forest management.


This paper chronicles one instructor's experiences using a social networking site (Ning) to teach two graduate courses in education. It explores the decisions made in setting up the Ning and the affordances of teaching using a blended model of synchronous and asynchronous learning in UOIT's online graduate program. The focus is specifically on the benefits and challenges of using a Ning network and Ning's pedagogical potential for collaborative knowledge construction, the creation of a community of practice, which fosters social presence and multimodal communication.


Presently there is an emerging interest in ocean based gas-hydrates (mixture of gas and water in ice form stable at high pressure and low temperature conditions) primarily related to concerns for global climate change and for future shortages in conventional fossil fuels (Kvenvolden, 1993).


Analytical solutions for a direct space-to-time encoder are used to determine the output distortions and limitations that may appear, and the relevance of the design parameters in the quenching or avoidance of such distortions.


North Carolina has a new LLC act. If LLC members assert that the managers or controlling members have in some manner breached fiduciary or contractual duties owed to the complaining members or to the LLC, how will lawyers handle such claims? This Article first considers the circumstances in which North Carolina LLC managers and members may owe fiduciary duties to other members. Assuming that there is a duty that may have been breached, what are the limits on a member bringing a direct suit either on her own behalf or on behalf of the LLC? Since direct suits will now be prohibited in many cases, the plaintiff must likely resort to bringing a derivative claim. The problems with these suits under the new law are considered in some detail. Lastly, the Article provides drafting suggestions to protect LLC members, as well as alternative methods to resolve disputes among LLC members and managers. INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................... 227 I. DO LLC MANAGERS OWE FIDUCIARY DUTIES? ............................ 227 A. Fiduciary Duties Created by Status ........................................ 228 B. Fiduciary Duties Created in "Fact" ....................................... 230 II. MAY A MEMBER SUE ON BEHALF OF THE LLC FOR AN INJURY TO THE LLC? .................................................................................. 235 III. WHAT IF A MANAGER BREACHES A DUTY OWED DIRECTLY TO A MEMBER? .................................................................................... 238 * Associate Professor of Law, University of South Carolina School of Law. 1 Burkhard: Resolving LLC Member Disputes in North Carolina Published by Scholarly Repository @ Campbell University School of Law, 2015 226 CAMPBELL LAW REVIEW [Vol. 37:225 A. Barger Rule .............................................................................. 238 B. Second Restriction ................................................................... 240 C. New Law—Same Result? ......................................................... 242 IV. DERIVATIVE SUITS AS THE SOLUTION? .......................................... 243 A. When Is a Derivative Suit Permitted? ..................................... 243 B. Whose Law Controls? ............................................................. 244 C. What Are the New Required Procedures? .............................. 245 D. What Problems Are Created by the Requirement that Disputes Among LLC Members and Managers Must Be Resolved Through a Derivative Suit? ..................................... 249 1. The statute is procedurally confusing as to how a demand is rejected and how a motion to dismiss is to be filed and evaluated ............................................................ 249 2. Inadvertent failure to carefully follow the rules— particularly when the plaintiffs assume that they may proceed directly ................................................................. 252 3. Plaintiff is not a member at the time the action is filed or the LLC is no longer in existence .................................. 252 4. A plus for the plaintiffs, the new statute may make it much more difficult for the defendants to have the suit dismissed ........................................................................... 256 5. The plaintiff may have difficulty pleading "particularized facts" ....................................................... 261 6. It is likely unclear how a court will determine if a proper evaluation has been made by those seeking to dismiss ............................................................................... 262 7. The role of the court in ruling on a defendant's motion to dismiss may be confusing .............................................. 263 V. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR AVOIDING THE PITFALLS OF DERIVATIVE LITIGATION ................................................................ 265 A. Alternative: Include an Arbitration Clause or Pursue Mediation ................................................................................ 265 1. Arbitration ......................................................................... 265 2. Mediation ........................................................................... 266 B. Provide for Dispute Resolution in the LLC Buy–Sell Agreement ............................................................................... 267 C. Bring an Action for Oppression .............................................. 267 D. Bring a Direct Claim for Declaratory Judgment .................... 269 E. Provide for an Accounting Remedy ......................................... 269 F. Action for Breach of Contract? ............................................... 271 2 Campbell Law Review, Vol. 37, Iss. 2 [2015], Art. 1 http://scholarship.law.campbell.edu/clr/vol37/iss2/1 2015] RESOLVING LLC MEMBER DISPUTES IN NORTH CAROLINA 227 G. Best Solution: Permit Direct Suits if All Members Are Joined ...................................................................................... 272 CLOSING COMMENTS ................................................................................ 274


By using real observational data from four weather stations(Zhaoping,Fuchuang,Zhongshan and Hezhou) in last three decades,changes of the mean annual temperature and drought index are analyzed.The result indicates that: firstly,mean annual temperature of the four stations shows obvious and large inter-annual change.Under the global climatologic warming circumstance,mean annual temperature shows an upward trend in Hezhou.For decadal time scale,the 1990's was obviously hotter than the 1980's,as well as the average level over the thirty years.Thus,the region is becoming hotter: winter and spring temperature will increase a lot leading to warm winters;reversely summer temperature will decrease only a little to cool summer.Autumn temperature will have a small increase.Secondly,mean annual temperature in Hezhou had periodic oscillations with 11year and 4-year cycles.Thirdly,there were not extreme drought and humidity in the last 30 years in Hezhou,despite drought index showing obvious inter-annual changes.The drought index had a distinct inter-decadal change in early 1980's,changing from negative value to positive value,which indicates that the drought will become more serious.The drought index increase in the few years may be correlated with 11-13-year periodic oscillations positively.Last,all the four stations show approximately periodic oscillations with 11-13 years and 2-6 years.


Observations in X-ray and EUV of the solar corona reveal the existence of very complex and dynamic structures made of plasma magnetically confined in loops. These structures can be studied by means of one-dimensional hydrodynamical loop models. Here we use a Lagrangian-remap code to simulate the dynamics of solar coronal loops with the purpose of quantifying the effects of varying the initial distribution of energy along the loop, the amount of input heating ( h 0 ), the total loop length ($2L$) and including/excluding the solar gravity term. In particular, the model calculations with no gravity are compared with the results obtained from previous isobaric, time-dependent models. Using a heat function that depends on distance along the loop and temperatures at the base of the loop typical of the solar corona, we find that in the non-gravity cases the plasma is allowed to cool down to chromospheric temperatures only when the decay length of the heating is below a certain critical value ($s_{H}/L=0.043$). For the same initial parameters, the inclusion of gravity produces final equilibrium states which are considerably hotter than those obtained when gravity is neglected and lowers the critical value of the decay length of the heating for which a cool condensation forms. In all cases, the outcome of the evolution can be predicted by a diagnostic diagram which describes the location of possible solutions for thermal equilibrium models.


Historical studies have shown that bone marrow contains non-hematopoietic cells in addition to hematopoietic cells. The non-hematopoietic cells adhere to plastic dishes and can differentiate into mesenchymal tissues such as osteoblasts, chondrocytes, adipocytes, or myoblasts, and are hence referred to as mesenchymal stem cells. However, the unfractionated mesenchymal cells obtained from bone marrow or other tissues are characterized by extensive heterogeneity, and cell populations that can satisfy the criteria for being stem cells are very rare. Therefore, to clarify the gap between nomenclature and function, the International Society for Cell Therapy 2005 has adopted the term "mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs)" rather than mesenchymal stem cells. Notably, these plastic-adherent MSCs can be easily cultured in vitro and expanded to a clinical scale. In addition, the multilineage differentiation observed in MSCs has enabled therapeutic trials to repair various kinds of tissue damage using ex vivo-expanded MSCs. These trials included cell therapy for regeneration of myocardium in ischemic myocardial infarct, regeneration of blood vessels in Buerger's disease, repair of nerve tissues in traumatic injury or ischemic cerebral stroke, regeneration of bones in osteogenesis imperfecta or in large bone defects, as well as some immunological applications, such as amelioration of graft-versus-host disease (Table 1) [1]. While these trials using MSCs provided some encouraging results, the extent of functional improvement or the contributions of MSCs to the structure of the regenerated tissues have not been as satisfactory as initially anticipated. For example, while large numbers of experimental studies have demonstrated the differentiation of MSCs into "myocardium-like cells" expressing myocardium-specific markers, few studies have demonstrated their successful differentiation into mature myocardium, or their functional integration into the damaged myocardium. Similarly, MSCs have been shown to differentiate into various types of neuronal tissues but very rarely acquire synaptic connections into pre-existing neuronal tissues. Moreover, the structural contributions of MSCs as building blocks in the regenerated tissues have been limited because of their limited survival and the half-life of the transplanted cells. Thus, in most trials using MSCs, the major therapeutic benefit does not appear to result from their direct replacement of damaged cells.


In the present emerging global economy, as the focus is shifted from manufacturing to service sector, the efficiency of service operations is crucial for the county"s sustainable growth and development. As one of the fastest growing service sector industries in South Korea, the call center has become an inevitable part of customer service for most companies. Despite of the strategic importance of the call center, there has been no empirical study on the efficiency of call center service operations in the literature. The main purpose of this study is to evaluate the technical efficiency of call center services so as to not only identify the current status of call center service operations, but also suggest ways to improve service operations efficiency. For this purpose, we apply a non-parametric efficiency measurement method, DEA (Data Envelopment Analysis), to domestic call centers in order to compare their relative efficiency. Based on DEA evaluations, we provided specific directions for the inefficient call centers to possibly improve their operation efficiencies. It is expected that the measurement methods suggested in this study can be applied to various issues such as service KS certification, service operations management, and the productivity analysis of service personnel.


Abstract:  The rise of piracy in the Indian Ocean in the first decade of the 21st century prompted international action to protect civilian vessels. This article examines the case of Spain, a major European protagonist in the fight against piracy, leading maritime security governance with official as well as private security forces. It explains Spain's twin-fold approach to counter-piracy, participating through its armed forces in the European Union's Operation Atalanta and deploying armed private security personnel on civilian vessels, an approach with strong support in Spain, but controversial in other European countries. This analysis emphasizes sources of legitimacy, and shows that the two-fold strategy has a high output-legitimacy, supported by interested groups and the Spanish public. Use of both official and private security forces is perceived as the best way to protect lives and national economic interests. Other major European maritime countries – including France, Germany and Netherlands – struggled with these problems, gradually shifting to emulate the Spanish solution. These findings support theoretical assumptions about output-legitimacy; a policy gains legitimacy if involved actors consider it the best way to solve the problem.


The synthesis of the rare bioactive phenylpropanoid ester known as cimiracemate B (1) from black cohosh, Cimicifuga racemosa, is described. The procedure employs a coupling method using 1,1′-carbonyldiimidazole and methyltrifluoromethanesulfonate as coupling reagents in the presence of N-methylmorpholine.


The isotopically selective ir photodissociation of SeF6 is reported. The output from an NH3 laser (780.5 cm−1, 50 mJ, 200 nsec FWHM) is used to photodissociate SeF6, and the five abundant isotopes of Se are all enriched despite the rather small (∼1.6 cm−1/amu) isotope shift of the ν3 vibration. These results are predictable using a simple empirical technique which can be applied equally well to the ir photodissociation of other molecules.


This study aims to examine and analyze the influence of infrastructure, investment and economic growth on people's welfare through employment opportunities in North Sumatra Province. The type of data used in this study is the type of quantitative data while the source of data used in this study is secondary. This study uses data path analysis (path analysis), which uses the data time series for 31 years, ie from 1990 up to 2020. The data analysis method used in this research is multiple linear regression analysis (Multiple Regression Analysis) and path analysis (Path Analysis). The results of the research based on the path analysis method show that, the infrastructure variable has a positive and insignificant effect on employment opportunities, the investment variable has a negative and insignificant effect on employment opportunities, the economic growth variable is positive and significant on employment opportunities, the infrastructure variable has a positive and significant impact on people's welfare, the investment variable has a positive and significant effect on the welfare of the community, the variable of economic growth has a positive and insignificant effect on the welfare of the community, the employment opportunity variable has a positive and significant impact on the welfare of the community.

Keywords: Infrastructure, Investment, Economic Growth, Job Opportunities, Community Welfare.


Due to the ownership of technology and intellectual property of MDI,Yantai Wanhua Polyurethanes Co., Ltd. (Wanhua) breaks up the multinational enterprises' monopoly of the market and technology. Based on the international and domestic market investigations, Wanhua has been one of the leaders of the global MDI industry, which has experienced explosive growth over the past few years. This expansion is likely to continue,and the Chinese internal MDI market will become the largest individual country consumer in the world by 2015. According to international competitions in the next decade, the domestic producers should pay attention to promotion of the local technology.


Objective To study the influcence of hypoalbuminaemia on left ventricular construction and cardiac function in PD patients. Methods In this study , echocardiography and cardiac function were performed in 20 PD patients. According to Devereux's formula, LV mass index (LVMI) was caculated. We did the stepwise regression analysis between patient's age,time of PD,Kt/V,Hb,TG,Tch,SA.nPCR.CRP.PTH,filtration volume of PD and EF,LVMI,E/ A. We also did the linear regression analysis between systolic blood pressure and LVMI of these patients. The linear regression analysis between CRP, nPCR and SA were also performed. Results The incidence of LVH was 55% . EA 1 was 95% .Stepwise regression analysis showed that SA was significantly correlated with LVMI(γ2 = 0.3619, P = 0.005). The age of patients was inversely correlated with E/A (γ2 = 0.58, P = 0.0245). Linear regression analysis showed that systolic blood pressure was positively correlated with LVMI. CRP was negatively correlated with SA and n PCR was positively correlated with SA. The incidence of LVH was 73% in the patients whose serum albumin was less than 30 g/L. It was higher than that of patients whose serum albumin was more than 30g/L. The impairment of diastolic function of left ventricular in former group was more than that of latter group. Conclusion The incidence of LVH was high. Hypoalbuminaemia was one of the risk factors in PD patients.


Objective To study the general pattern and characteristics of the adverse drug reactions(ADRs) induced by Puerarin injections for references of rational drug use.Methods ADRs induced by Puerarin injections reported in do-mestic medical journals from 1994~2008 were retrieved and analyzed statistically.Results ADRs induced by Puerarin injection occurred mostly in male patients aged above 60 years at different time after drug administration.The ADRs might involve hemolytic reaction of multiple allergic response,less in the lesion of organ system.Conclusion Clinicians and pharmacists should familiarize the pattern and characteristics of ADRs induced by Puerarin injections and tighten monitoring on the use of Puerarin injections to reduce the incidences of ADRs.


- The importance of recrystallization kinetics in metal process cannot be over emphasized in providing information as to the control of microstructure of materials for purpose of improving or impacting desired mechanical properties in processed materials. In this study, 0.12wt% C steel cold drawn between 20% - 55% were graduallyheateduptoatemperatureof900°C followed bysoakingtreatment between 600 seconds and 3600 seconds in a Gallenkomp® mufflefurnace model SVL-1009 with voltage regulation of 220 V, 50 Hz of temperature range 300°C 1000°C. The influence of the annealing process on the strength and impact toughness properties of the annealed steel were evaluated from tensile and charpy-impact testsconductedontheannealedsteel.A phase field method is used to describe the recrystallization kinetics of the annealed cold drawn 0.12wt%C steel for the different degrees of cold drawn deformation.The experimental data obtained from the tensile and charpy-impact test were used as input data for the phase field simulation of the recrystallization process. The results show that the yield strength of the annealed cold drawn 0.12wt% C steel increases with increasing soaking time within the range of 600 sec.– 3600 sec. for the 20% cold drawn steel, between 600 sec.- 2400 sec. for the 25% and between 600 sec.-1800 sec. for the 40% and 55% cold drawn steel. The treatment increased the impact toughness of the steel for the 20%-40% cold drawn deformation but loses its toughness for the 55% cold drawn steel. The tensile strength however reduces for all the cold drawn steel irrespective of the degree of deformation.The simulation results show that reformation of grains in cold drawn 0.12wt%C steel depends on the degree of cold drawn deformation and the soaking time of annealing. The response of the mechanical properties of the annealed cold drawn 0.12wt% C steel therefore depends on the degree of cold deformation and soaking time of annealing.


With the method of bibliometrics papers published on Journal of Guangxi Normal University(Natural Science Edition) from 1992 to 2003 were statistically analyzed.The result shows that the authors producing rate of Journal of Guangxi Normal University(Natural Science Edition) obeys the law of Lotka distribution whose mathematical pattern is f(y_x)=0.747 4/x~(2.510 3).Meanwhile,the analysis of the result can provides some useful references to improve the Journal's quality.


We present quantitative investigation on the past activities of Sgr A* from the three dimensional position of multiple X-ray reflection nebulae.


This book surveys systematically all the aspects of the religion of the Nabataeans of ancient Petra, including such important themes as the divinisation of kings and comparisons with Judaism and Islam. It is the first monograph ever devoted to this subject.


The aim of the present study was to analyze the elements of young children's leadership which is influenced by socio-demographic variable elements, mother's parental attitude and the ability of children' self-regulation with subjects of 435 five-year-old children and their mothers. Results showed that there was a difference in children's total leadership according to the gender. Regarding differences of mother's rearing attitude, boys showed higher self-control and leadership than girls. In differences of self-regulation and leadership, girls had a higher ability of self-regulation and leadership than boys. For birth order, parents who had more than 2 children show higher Control enemy rearing attitude. Regarding mother's employment, a working mother had freer rearing attitudes. Regarding a mother's educational background, there were differences of groups among rearing attitudes. In differences of family monthly income, there were differences regarding AE static rearing attitudes, autonomous parenting attitudes and get-up-and-go of leadership. Secondly, as a result of the relationship among mother's rearing attitudes had a static correlation between autonomous parenting attitudes and control enemy rearing attitudes. Thirdly, the children's leadership is high when the family income is high, mother's rearing attitude is free and children's ability of self-control is high.


Education is the most important lever for social, economic and political transformation. A well-educated population, equipped with the relevant knowledge, attitudes and skills is essential for economic and social development in the twenty-first century. KGBVs are residential upper primary schools for girls from SC, ST, OBC and Muslim com- munities. KGBVs are set up in areas of scattered habitations where schools are at great distances and are a challenge to the security of girls. This often compels girls to discontinue their education. NPEGEL is implemented in educationally backward blocks (EBB) and addresses the needs of girls who are in as well as out of school. NPEGEL also reaches out to girls who are enrolled in school, but do not attend school regularly.


Over enclosed and semi‐enclosed bodies of water, the land‐breeze/sea‐breeze circulation is expected to be modified by the presence of opposing coastlines. These effects are studied using satellite scatterometer surface wind observations from the QuikSCAT and ADEOS‐2 tandem mission from April–October 2003. Winds are studied for six bodies of water: the Red Sea, the Gulf of California, the Mediterranean, the Adriatic Sea, the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. These bodies of water are large enough for the geographic orientation of the diurnal winds relative to the coastline to match the expected orientation for a straight coastline. Land breezes from opposite coastlines converge in the middle of these bodies of water, and in some cases the convergence line is shifted substantially away from the midpoint between opposite coastlines. Displacements in the convergence line appear likely to be explained by differences in the strength of the diurnal winds emanating from opposite coastlines associated with differential heating or island/peninsula effects, and by geographic displacements associated with large‐scale mean wind patterns.


pressure (BP) in both genders is well known. Some authors (see Sinalko 2004) even documented a constant, progressive increase of BL and BP, proportional to IRHOMA values. Method: 288 patients with IR-HOMA .2?5 (F 160, M 128), out of 683 overweight/obese ones, aged 9–14 years (average age 5 11?09 (SD 2?62) years) were divided into seven IR-HOMA and one unit stepped groups. Every group's BL and BP were confronted with the groups around and with the opposite gender's corresponding group. Statistical analysis: Student's t test and parametric/ non-parametric correlation tests. Results: In both genders TG decrease (P , 0?05) in IRHOMA groups 1–3, then increase (P , 0?05); F/M CHOL increases only in groups 6 and 7 (P , 0?05). Among F, LDL-CHOL (P , 0?05) and BP (P , 0?01) also increase in groups 6 and 7, while among M, LDL-CHOL is increased only in some IR-HOMA groups (1, 3, 6) and BP increases in group 5 (all P , 0?05). Pairing opposite gender groups, BL and BP differences are significant in single groups, not at large. Parametric/non-parametric correlations were non-significant. Conclusions: Notwithstanding our large data allow a quite accurate comparison of metabolic parameters, a progressive, much less constant, increase of any BL or BP, proportional to IR-HOMA increase, could not be demonstrated. Our contribution outlines once more that BL, BP and IR-HOMA are undoubtedly bound, but more factors that IR alone (like genetics, overweight degree and hyperhomocysteinemia) presumably influence this link.


Bart Beaty surveys the state of current comics scholarship, focusing on what is lost when the field focuses on teaching and studying "typical" comics at the expense of the larger comics world, and speculating about how scholars can overcome this bias by embracing online tools.


This study examined remediation of soil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and other persistent organic pollutants by using subcritical water. Our results showed that removal efficiency of PCBs from soil and treatment temperature were linearly proportional under subcritical conditions. The removal efficiency as increased as reacting period increased. PCBs contaminating fine particles in soil were less effectively removed than those in entire contaminated soil. Reaction of the zero-valent iron and PCBs under subcritical condition produced dechlorinated product, where most of the PCBs were oxidised while little remained as dechlorinated. Other organic pollutants, such as TPH, BTEX, TCE/PCE, and chlorpyrifos, were removed by more than 90% at 300°C. Considering removal efficiency and identification of by-products, we suggest that subcritical water treatment may be effectively applied to soils contaminated with various persistent organic pollutants.


Authentication of digital documents is an important concern as digital documents are replacing the traditional paper-based documents for offcial and legal purposes. This is especially true in the case of documents that are exchanged over the Internet, which could be accessed and modified by intruders. The most popular methods used for authentication of digital documents are public key encryption-based authentication and digital watermarking. Traditional watermarking techniques embed a pre-determined character string, such as the company logo, in a document. We propose a fragile watermarking system, which uses an on-line signature of the author as the watermark in a document. The embedding of a biometric characteristic such as signature in a document enables us to verify the identity of the author using a set of reference signatures, in addition to ascertaining the document integrity. The receiver of the document reconstructs the signature used to watermark the document, which is then used to verify the author's claimed identity. The paper presents a signature encoding scheme, which facilitates reconstruction by the receiver, while reducing the chances of collusion attacks.


Students struggle to conceptualize Engineering Mechanics fundamentals because they cannot successfully visualize or intuitively comprehend the effects of external loads on mechanisms. Traditionally, Engineering Mechanics courses have been primarily lecture-based with little experimentation. The authors contend that through the use of scalable, inquiry-based, mutimodal modules, lower-division engineering students can more effectively interpret Engineering Mechanics concepts. An emphasis should be placed on engendering properly conceived intuition and critical thinking, and contextualizing concepts and fundamentals before and in parallel to developing Calculus-based skills. The authors hypothesize that by utilizing simple, inquiry-based exercises, instructors can better diminish misconceptions and improve concept mastery. This paper presents plans for implementation and assessment of scalable, inquiry-based, multimodal modules for Statics and Dynamics.


This article deals with traffic flow simulation in a single road via fluid dynamics approach. The Lighthill-Whitham-Richards (LWR) model is used to describe traffic flow in the road which is represented by density and average speed of vehicles. Numerical approximation of the LWR model formulated as scalar conservation laws is obtained by implementing finite volume method. Several test cases are presented to simulate propagation of rarefaction and shock wave which arise in traffic flow phenomena. It has been shown that numerical results in term of density confirm the exact solutions. Numerical simulations of congestion triggered by the existence of traffic light are also discussed. The simulation results show that through adjusting the red and green light period, we can control traffic flow in traffic light location.


Melolontha emarginata Gyllenhal, 1817 is designated as the type species of Elaphocerida Reitter, 1902. The type specimens of the species of genus Elaphocera Gene, 1836, from the entomological collections of Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (Madrid, Spain), are studied. Lectotypes are designated for species Elaphocera (Elaphocerida) ampla Baguena, 1955, Elaphocerida segurensis Escalera, 1923, Elaphocerida pygmaea Escalera, 1923 and Elaphocera (Elaphocerida) torressalai Baguena, 1955. The type material of the following species is also revised: Elaphocera pardoi Escalera, 1931, Elaphocera (Elaphocerida) ibicensis Escalera, 1926, Elaphocerida abdelkrimi Escalera, 1934 and Elaphocera baguenae Mancini, 1926.


The invention discloses a flame-retardant wire and cable material. The flame-retardant wire and cable material comprises, by mass, 100 parts of low density polyethylene, 0.1-0.3 parts of a coupling agent, 0.01-0.03 parts of a vulcanizing agent, 30-40 parts of a flame retardant, 10-20 parts of an oxidant, 1-3 parts of an antioxidant, 60-80 parts of a cross-linking agent and 70-90 parts of oxygen index. The halogen-free flame-retardant wire and cable material has good safety and environmental protection performances because of the adoption of a novel flame retardant and the cooperation with an advanced formula design, and can be widely applied to the automobile field, the electronic and electrical field, the building engineering field and the like.


The study aimed at examining the planning, the implementation, and the evaluation of guiding and counseling services. This study was a qualitative research which conducted at SMAN 1 Mamuju in Mamuju district. The data sources of the study were determined with the consideration that the chosen informants had sufficient knowledge and able to explain the real condition which related to the study as well as they available time to be interviewed in the process of collecting the data. The informants were the coordinator of guiding and counseling, teachers of guiding and counseling, the principal, teachers of subject matter, and students. Data were collected through interview, documentation, and observation. Data were analyzed qualitatively and the data were verified using triangulation and member check. The results of the study were (1) the planning of guiding and counseling services at SMAN 1 Mamuju in Mamuju district showed that series of activities had been conduted, proved by the implementation of feasibility study/analysis of environment, the arrangement of guiding and counseling program, the implementation of consultation program among teachers of guiding and counseling, and partnership with subject matter teachers as wellas the implementation of task organization and the responsibility of guiding and counseling teachers; (2) the implementation of guiding and counseling at SMAN 1 Mamuju in Mamuju district showed that teachers of guiding and counseling had been conducted, proved by the implementation of basic services activities, responsive services activities, and individual plan activities; and (3) the evaliation of guiding and counseling services at SMAN 1 Mamuju in Mamuju district showed that the implementation of evaluation of guiding and counseling activities had not been conducted well and not systematic yet, proved by the implementation of evaluation activities which was conducted in a form of a report was not yet described the result aspect


Motivated by recent IceCube observations we re-examine the idea that microquasars are high energy neutrino emitters. By stretching to the maximum the parameters of the Fermi engine we show that the nearby high-mass X-ray binary LS 5039 could accelerate protons up to above about 20 PeV. These highly relativistic protons could subsequently interact with the plasma producing neutrinos up to the maximum observed energies. After that we adopt the spatial density distribution of high-mass X-ray binaries obtained from the deep INTEGRAL Galactic plane survey and we assume LS 5039 typifies the microquasar population to demonstrate that these powerful compact sources could provide a dominant contribution to the di use neutrino flux recently observed by IceCube.


Since the discovery of diamond in kimberlites, the interest of geologists in these specific rocks has not faded away. The term "kimberlite" was proposed at the up to 0.5-mm-long plagioclase laths, between which are xenomorphic segregations of pyroxene (near the dike center) or glass (near the contact). end of XIX century by H. Luis for diamondiferous rocks (volcanic peridotite with the porphyritic basaltic texture) from the Kimberley district in South Africa. The majority of researchers believe that kimberlite is a hypabyssal porphyritic rock. According to V.A. Milashev (1991), one of the leading specialists in diamond geology, ultramafic and alkaline-ultramafic igneous rocks of the kimberlite facies must include barophile minerals, i.e., diamond and (or) pyrope garnet. Therefore, finds of pyrope and other kimberlitic accessory minerals in ultramafic and lamproite-type mafic magmatites are very important for the discovery of new kimberlite fields.


Like archaeology, palaeoart studies has been based largely on uniformitarianism: the geological theory explaining phenomena as being the result of extant forces having operated uniformly in the past. This is argued to be inadequate as an epistemological model for the discipline. Taphonomic logic is explained as a superior model forming the logical core of metamorphology, a theoretical framework for testing the admissibility of hypotheses. This framework is argued to provide the discipline of palaeoart studies with the unified theory needed to facilitate its further development.


The learning of various skills and behaviors in animals and humans goes through phases known as critical periods, where plasticity is temporarily facilitated. The experiments presented here are designed to shed further light on this phenomenon, by investigating three mechanisms that have been suggested for controlling the timing of critical periods. By evolving neural networks controlled by these mechanisms, we gain an insight into their strengths and weaknesses. We find that the mechanisms based on the developmental stage of an individual can control plasticity under predictable conditions, whereas we need to control plasticity as a function of attention level to adapt successfully to new and uncertain environments.


Communication performance demands ask for higher frequency bands, which are affected by precipitation. Particular attention should be devoted to the size of the particles, which are called hydrometeors such as rain (water drops), hail and snow [I]. This paper analyses the electromagnetic scattering by rain drops because train is the most important precipitation in our climatic conditions Rain consists of rain drops of various diameters from 0.01 to 0.7 cm and of various frequency (drop size distribution-DSD). The next problem is due to fact that water drops are created by material, which can be considered as lossy dielectric (exact series for scattering have been published as well [2], [3] and [4]). Therefore, both the reflected and transmitted wave should be analysed. That means that two various mechanisms creating the energetic losses of propagating electromagnetic wave exist. A part of energy is absorbed by water drops and the other part is scattered by water drops at various (also unwanted) directions. That creates several problems.


Royal purple, or 6,6'-dibromoindigotin (DBI), was the most famous indigoid dye of antiquity. To date, the earliest chemically verified instance of royal purple comes from 13th-century BC archaeological contexts at the Lebanese site of Sarepta (Sarafand), midway between Tyre and Sidon along the Mediterranean coast. Purple deposits were noted on the interiors of storage jars of the Canaanite jar type, which were probably used in storing and/or transporting the dye, and on the interiors of unusual spouted jars, possibly used to process the molluscan extracts. The vessel sherds came from an industrial quarter of pottery kilns and workshops, and piles of utilized Murex trunculus shells, the mollusk from which the dyestuff is derived, were found nearby. Because of the small sample sizes of the Sarepta deposits, complementary, nondestructive physicochemical analyses were employed to identify DBI. A relatively large amount of bromine in the unknown deposit was established by proton-induced x-ray emission (PIXE) spectrometry; electron spectroscopic chemical analysis (ESCA) showed that the bromine in the purple deposit had the same binding energy to carbon as the bromine in synthetic DBI and the N-H band in the ancient specimen was identical to that of DBI, according to the diffuse-reflectance Fourier transform infrared spectroscopic (FR-IR) spectrum. As a final conclusive test, a destructive wet chemical test which is highly characteristic of the indigoid family of dyesmreduction to a leuco base and reoxidation back to the dyemwas carried out. As the leuco base, the purple material also undergoes photodebromination when exposed to light, being reoxidized to indigotin. The color change from purpose to blue confirmed that a conversion had occurred from DBI to indigotin. since indigotin and DBI were the only members of the indigoid dye family known in antiquity, the Sarepta purple deposit must be royal purple.


It was only toward the close of the last century that women emancipated themselves from their former small territory of usefulness in a strictly domestic life, and pushing forward, proved themselves often the business equal to men and sometimes their superior. If was long before this progression, when a women in business or professional ranks was almost a curiosity. When women first entered the profession, they faced many obstacles. Mentors or faculty in the dental organizations majority were male restraining women by all means. In the beginning, men were resentful because they feel women are inferior. It took a long time for women to become a consistent presence in dental schools. In the beginning, dental schools used to admit one or two women each year, later the number increased slowly. Olden day′s women used to relieve not even the tooth ache but also used to relieve others fret also. But histories of dentistry were not acknowledged the talent of women whatsoever. The efforts and achievements of women punch the clock in the future dentistry. The current scenario has totally changed now. Nearly, half of all dental students′ are women and 25% of them are practicing dentists. Only 3% women dentists were there before the 1970s. [1] Women struggled to obtain a degree, to establish practices, and are respected as professionals. Some women choose this rewarding occupation as career followed by their family members. The population tally of chosen work upbringing has changed over time. This paper reports in a delineative way of the amelioration, staggering presence, and intendment of dentistry practicing by worldwide women.


A new species of Utricularia (Lentibulariaceae) is recognised for the Northern Territory. A description of Utricularia gaagudju R.W.Jobson & Cherry is provided along with a new circumscription for the Western Australian species U. kimberleyensis to which it was previously assigned. Diagnostic features are illustrated, and distribution, habitat, and conservation status are discussed.


On the base of the deducing of the math formulation of the gear system inner dynamic excitation about dynamic stiffness excitation,gear error excitation and mesh impact excitation,used program language VB and the secondary development of ANSYS to compile the corresponding calculation program. Taking the gear pair of some vehicle for example,solved and analyzed the gear dynamic excitation.This can not only assure the precision but also save solution time and decrease the workload for gear transmission dynamics analysis.


Netflix is one of the most widely used applications for watching movies online. There are various movie titles that can be watched by users, so a recommendation system is needed to help users who feel confused in choosing movie titles. Twitter is a social media used to express ideas, thoughts, and feelings. Not a few Twitter users who conduct movie discussions, with the movie discussion can be converted into a rating that can be used in the recommendation system. Collaborative Filtering is one of the methods of the recommendation system, by recommending based on the similarity between users (user-based) and based on items that have similarities with user-selected items (item-based). In this research, the Collaborative Filtering method is combined with K-Nearest Neighbors classification which obtains an RMSE value for user-based 1.8244 and item-based 0.5449. K-Nearest Neighbors gets 91.22% precision and 91.07% recall for user-based, while item-based gets 89.44% precision and 91.22% recall with the optimal K as a parameter is 3.


Presently, the study of epic texts is undergoing one of the most significant stages of its development, i.e., a theoretical basis is being created and established. The theoretical category of epic studies is being thoroughly revisited from the point of view of its objectiveness, its ontological and specific nature, as well as its functionality and importance in the field of epic studies in general. Due to the growing interest in the humanities among scholars in the modern academic research society, the 21 st century is unfolding in an essentially new research environment, which needs to be revisited and analyzed. The necessity to study the existing status of the topic under discussion is first of all justified by the fact that it encompasses a process of qualitative changes in the epic text representations, epic texts being a subject of humanitarian, historical and cultural studies; this is one of the key aspects in the epic studies as a whole and in the study of Yakut heroic epic olonkho in particular. In the process of its establishment in the oral folklore tradition, the Yakut heroic epic olonkho underwent a process of transformation from a heroic epic to a philosophical and didactical one. The "multi-layer" content of the Yakut olonkho, which includes in itself the archaic and worldview components of the Yakut peoples' culture, is a unique source for the historic and typological renewal of the various examples of traditional art, which is obliquely depicted in the epic texts. Currently, a large scope of historical and graphical materials, literature on the study of the worldview depicted in the Yakut olonkho is easily accessible. The study of the world creation in the Yakut olonkho about the Middle World, and the native land in particular, where the bogatyr lives, is one of the main categories in theoretical epic studies. The present article describes distinctive features in the depiction of the main character's homeland in Yakut epic olonkho in the context of a comparative study. By distinguishing its unique features in the image depiction of the main character's homeland, the role that the latter plays in the Yakut olonkho, we provide ourselves with an opportunity to reconstruct a traditional world representation, which would allow to achieve a better understanding of the outlook that the Yakut people had about themselves and the world in the ancient times.


In this study thermal characteristics of heat-responsive element considering conduction, convection and rate of change of element using Response Time Index (RTI) applied to sensitivity test of sprinkler head at home and aborad are theoretically investigated. Analytic solution of temperature distributions with radial direction and time is obtained form energy transport equations, non-homogeneous 2th order partial differential equation, applying to constant wall temperature and symmetric condition in order to analyze thermal characteristics of heat-responsive element for circular cylindrical geometry. Base on the results, the analytic method of this study is fundamental data to practical use for sensitivity test of sprinkler head and design of heat-responsive element.


The banking system in India has played a critical role in the growth and development of the economy. It is relatively transparent in its operations and follows the internationally accepted best practices of disclosure, asset classification and provisioning norms. The banking sector is one of the leading users of information technology worldwide. The introduction of information technology has transformed the banking system almost beyond belief in the last decade and a half. It is information technology that enables banks in meeting such high expectations of the customers. The study depicts the effectiveness of Self Service Banking Technology (SSBT) services among the Youth in Kerala. A detailed study is highly imperative to identify how far technology has influenced the banking habits of the youths in Kerala. The study is mainly based on the primary data collected from 100 respondents from the Kottayam district in Kerala. The sample being a representation of the population selected from Kottayam town, Ettumanoor and Pala using convenient sampling method. Data was collected using a structured questionnaire from these respondents. The collected data was analyzed using simple average and percent analysis methods. The study reveals that users of e-banking delivery channels have a strong positive perception towards technology used in banking which is reflected in their adoption and usage of the same whereas non-users exhibited their disinterest and ignorance in using various technologies driven banking channels. The research findings suggest that the drive towards ease of banking and convenience is favored by the customer and therefore banks should find alternative strategic routes designed to improve service delivery either human-based or technology-based.


This paper explores how the roles or social categories 'architect' and 'client' are performed by participants as they meet to talk about the design of a crematorium. The analytic framework through which the interaction is studied is Membership Categorisation Analysis (MCA). By attending to the participants' talk through the perspectives of MCA, we can see how questions and answers, attributions of building ownership, and assessments of the building are enacted in ways that enable the participants to competently perform as 'architect' and 'client'. Thus, as well as the participants' interaction helping to shape the actual form of the building, it also helps to shape and perpetuate ideas concerning what it is to 'do' architecture.


Patients 100 patients >20 years of age (mean age 50 y, 56% men, 59% with a diagnosis of herniated disc) who were candidates for lumbar spine surgery and who had received non-surgical treatment for >4 weeks. Exclusion criteria were emergent indication for surgery, no indication of a surgically correctable lesion, previous low back surgery, pregnancy, cancer or infection causing back pain, severe hearing or visual impairment, unfamiliarity with English, inaccessibility because of a planned move, or lack of a home telephone. Follow up was 90%.


The classification of Electroencephalogram (EEG) signals is one of the important tasks in the EEG signal research. The classification of visual cognitive EEG signals has high research value, which can help the brain-computer interface to obtain visual cognitive abilities similar to humans. Most of the current EEG visual classification methods only focus on the static information, ignoring the dynamic characteristics of the EEG signals in time. It is difficult to establish a dependency on the long-term sequence of EEG signals due to distance limitations. Therefore, we propose a bi-directional long short-term memory (Bi-LSTM) method with global attention mechanism, which add a global attention mechanism and the Swish activation function to effectively improve the performance of the method. Compared with the baseline model and the state of the art methods, our model can achieve a classification accuracy of 94.15%, which proves that our method has superior performance of EEG visual classification.


The present invention, a vacuum pump suction device, related methods for making the vacuum glass manufacturing system and a vacuum glazing. Vacuum pump suction device is provided with a circular tubular pumped task unit; includes; a cylindrical pump suction hole sealing operation unit; and a control unit; and a drive unit. Pumped task unit and the pump suction hole sealing operation unit shares the same central axis, and the pump suction unit of work is outside and the pump suction hole sealing operation unit forms a cylinder on the inside, along the central axis can both units move relatively. Pump suction channel is formed in the tube wall of the pump suction working unit, the heating unit is disposed on top of the inside of the pump suction hole sealing operation unit. Through driving device, the control unit, the pump suction working unit and the pump suction hole sealing operation unit controlled successively in time to move relatively along the central axis, pre pumped / pre press operation or the vacuum pump the pump suction channel controlled to perform suction operation, and controls the heating unit to heat the sealing sheet in order to perform the pump suction hole sealing operation.


A power absorption in helicon plasma excited by double m=0 antenna is considered at high argon pressures, when the electron collision frequency exceeds the driving frequency. The influence of various factors is examined, including the plasma density and nonuniformity, magnetic field, gas pressure, and antenna spectrum. The wave dispersion curves and absorbed power spectra are comparatively examined to find out the scaling laws. The spatial distribution of the deposited power is characterized both qualitatively and quantitatively by considering the absorption profiles and fractions of the total power absorbed in the under antenna and edge regions of the plasma column. Dependencies of the plasma load resistance on various parameters and magnetic field profiles are examined and compared with experimental results. Computations are performed using two alternative models, either taking into account or neglecting the excitation of quasi-electrostatic Trivelpiece–Gould (TG) waves. Results on the plasma resistance are found to be close in both models provided collisional damping of helicons is not so low as to give rise to the cavity resonances. Inclusion of the TG waves yields magnetic field profiles which are substantially localized near the antenna, and absorption profiles strongly peaking in the peripheral plasma, underneath the antenna. With neglect of the TG waves, the magnetic fields and absorption profiles are found to be much more extended in both axial and radial directions from the antenna. Theory accounting for the TG waves gives a better fit over a broad range of parameters to the measured data, especially regarding the magnetic field profiles.


This thesis examines representations of Welsh masculinity in six South Wales anglophone novels: Gwyn Jones's 'Times Like These' (1936), Lewis Jones's 'Cwmardy' (1937), Menna Gallie's 'Strike for a Kingdom' (1959), Ron Berry's 'So Long, Hector Bebb' (1970), Roger Granelli's 'Dark Edge' (1997), and Kit Habianic's 'Until Our Blood is Dry' (2014). Understanding masculinity as a cultural construct, the following chapters analyse the interconnection between the patriarchal, industrialised social context from which such masculinities emerge, as well as the generic forms through which they are fictionally inscribed in these novels.

This thesis applies a broad range of literary and gender theories to close readings of Welsh industrial fiction. Specifically, it draws extensively on R. W. Connell's formulation of hegemonic masculinity, supplemented by the prominent work of Judith Butler, Michael Kimmel and others. Pierre Macherey and Raymond Williams inform much of the understanding of the interrelationship of culture and society. And the work of Stephen Knight, Katie Gramich and Dai Smith, among many others, has been vital to this study's understanding of the broad field of Welsh fiction in English.

Chapter One adapts Raymond Williams's tripartite schema of 'dominant', 'residual' and 'emergent' energies in social process to read masculinities in 'Times Like These' as studies inflected through a historicised perspective. Focusing on the construction of the individual rather the politicising of the community in 'Cwmardy', Chapter Two examines how the coercive paradigms of patriarchal masculinity in the novel fragment both the debilitatingly sensitive Len Roberts and his physically robust, though emotionally suppressed father, Jim. Chapter Three examines how Menna Gallie's whodunnit 'Strike for a Kingdom' manipulates a traditionally patriarchal sub-genre to feminise and infantilise Welsh miners, thereby challenging both the gendering and genre of earlier male-authored industrial novels. Chapter Four diverges from considering masculinity as a cultural construct to argue that in Ron Berry's paean to 'authentic' masculinity, 'So Long, Hector Bebb', Hector is an intertextualised amalgam of heroic, mythical characteristics whose lineage extends back to antiquity. The final chapter analyses how, in 'Dark Edge' and 'Until Our Blood is Dry', the 1984-85 miners' strike subjects Welsh masculinities to fundamental challenges of self identity when confronted by a radical government and a politically engaged feminism.

Although the critical field devoted to studying masculine representations in the Valleys is expanding, it remains relatively small. With the passing of the mining industry and its associated signifiers like boxing, a whole tranche of Welsh literary history is threatened with elision from public consciousness, or incorporation into a mythical retrospective of stabilised masculinity predicated on unassailable patriarchal hegemony. As becomes apparent in the following chapters, a gendered reading of the texts exposes 'masculinity' as an elusive concept, as capable of incarcerating men in a patriarchal code of practice as of liberating them.


We extend to arbitrary matrices four theorems of graph theory, one about projections onto the cycle and cocycle spaces, one about the intersection of these spaces, and two matrix-tree theorems. The squares of certain determinants, not apparent for graphs, appear in the extensions.


Electromagnetic (EM) responses such as magnetotelluric (MT) impedance and geomagnetic depth sounding (GDS) response in the period range between several minutes to one day are used to study the electrical conductivity in the upper mantle. Spatially uniform and quasi-random magnetic field variations due to geomagnetic disturbances are considered as the source field in regional EM induction studies using the EM responses. However, the magnetic field variations in the period range from 10 to 10 seconds contain those with different spatial structure such as the solar quiet (Sq) daily variations and those induced by the ocean tide. Because of this, the period band is referred to as mixed excitation band (ME band). Careful treatment of EM field data is necessary to estimate responses in the ME band that reflect actual conductivity structure. For example, Baba eta al. (2010) estimated the EM responses using a method based on Fourier transform after removing line spectra of EM field variations at periods of Sq field variation and constituents of ocean tides. However, it has been shown that the estimated observed responses in the ME band still contain signatures of non-uniform and westwardpropagating source field (Shimizu et al., 2011). Estimating EM responses free from these effects in the ME band is a challenge for the ocean bottom EM induction studies. In this study, we aim to have better estimates of EM responses in the ME band by selecting signals of the vertically propagating plane-wave source carefully. For this purpose, we employ the Sompi method (e.g., Kumazawa et al.,1990) that can identify existing wave elements (or namisos) in time series with a high frequency resolution. The Sompi method is applied for two horizontal magnetic field components at once (Asakawa eta al.,1988) to find complex frequency of namisos and then the amplitude and phase of three magnetic field and two horizontal electric field components are determined by assuming that they have common frequency of variation. Obtained line spectra for the EM fields are used to select suitable namisos for EM response estimation by a least square method. The criteria to select namisos are (1) selecting namisos in period ranges that are sufficiently away from those of Sq harmonics and ocean tides, (2) selecting namisos that do not show the westward propagating nature similar to the Sq field, and (3) selecting namisos with a quasi-linear polarization in the vertical plane. In this study, we applied criterion (1) at first. Then, the criteria (2) and (3) were applied to the namisos selected by criterion (1) separately. It was confirmed that responses estimated using (2) or (3) at periods shorter than 10 seconds are almost identical to those estimated by Baba et al., (2010) within the estimation error at periods shorter than 10 seconds. However, the abrupt change of EM responses at periods around 10 seconds in the previous work became smaller after applying criterion (2). On the other hand, the value of EM responses estimated using criterion (3) also reduced significantly at the shorter period of the ME band. Results of these two cases show that signatures of the Sq field variation in the EM responses are reduced at the shorter period part of the ME band up to 2x10 seconds. However, we could not obtain statistically significant responses at longer periods because sufficient number of namisos was not available after the namiso selections. Using Sq field variation itself as the source field at the longer period in the ME band is another way to utilize EM field information to constrain the electrical conductivity of the mantle. Asakawa, E., et al. (1988). J. Geomagn. Geoelec., 40: 447-463. Baba, K., et al. (2010). Phys. Earth planet. Inter., 183: 44-62. Kumazawa, M., et al. (1990). Geophys. J. Int., 101: 613-630. Shimizu, H., et al. (2011). Geophys. J. Int., 186: 193-206. SEM19-P10 JpGU-AGU Joint Meeting 2017


Transition systems the synchronous product of transition systems transition system logics verification of properties of transition systems fixpoints in transition systems software tools.


The digestion of the aged has received but little attention in the literature. There is, however, a common belief among the medical profession and the public that disturbances of digestion are associated with a faulty dietary, and restriction of diet and special diets have therefore been the vogue for the aged. Much of what is accepted seems to be based on fear and habit rather than on basic experimental observations. It is also known that gastrointestinal symptoms are common in the aged while organic diseases of the gastrointestinal tract are relatively uncommon. According to Rivers, 1 indigestion is a complaint of half of the patients between the ages of 30 and 60, and Barker 2 and his associates have studied the case histories of 300 patients past 60 years of age and noted that digestive symptoms were second highest in frequency; they found that despite the high incidence of digestive


We read with great interest the recent published study by Wang and colleagues entitled "Correlation of ulcerative colitis (UC) and colorectal cancer (CRC): a systematic review and meta-analysis" (1). They performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to explore the specific mechanism of UC influence on CRC and confirmed that the duration, location, and geographical location affect the occurrence of CRC and are important risk factors for occurrence of CRC in patients with UC. We appreciate Wang and colleagues for the valuable study, however, after a careful learning of the literature, we would like to pay attention to some important missing aspects in the study. First, concerning the effect size in the study, the risk ratio (RR) was used when the number of patients with UC which progressed to CRC was compared between experimental group and control group. However, in the statistical analysis section of the article, the odds ratio (OR) was introduced as effect size, which was not consistent with RR reported in the main text. Second, as the e leven s tudies inc luded in the heterogeneity evaluation revealed significant heterogeneity (Z=47.86, P<0.00001), the random-effects model should be selected (2), while the authors actually used a fixed-effects model showed in Figure 4. Because of the remarkable heterogeneity, meta-regression and subgroup analyses should be carried out to explore sources of heterogeneity. The covariates such as country, year of publication, and sample size might be considered. Finally, there were eleven studies included in this study, whereas, only ten studies were enrolled in this meta-analysis showed in Figure 4. We believe that this study should be further revised to validate the conclusions.


Spasticity is recognized by the increased restraint to passive movements, enhanced tendon jerks and clonus. These signs are all due to exaggerated activation of muscle stretch reflexes. They can be quantified by measuring the responses to passive movements of well defined range and speeds. In voluntary movements, some muscles are necessarily stretched by the movements. Thus, in concentric movements, antagonistic muscles are stretched, while in eccentric movements, the agonists are stretched. The question then arises how the exaggerated stretch reflexes in spastic patients will affect the voluntary movements. To study this, the maximal strength during voluntary knee extension and flexions was recorded together with rectified surface EMG from agonistic and antagonistic muscles. The movements were controlled by an isokinetic dynamometer (Kin-Com III) that allows tests of concentric as well as eccentric work at different constant speeds of angular rotation. Voluntary concentric and eccentric movements as well as passive movements were studied at velocities of 30, 60, 120, 180 and 240 degrees per second in patients with spasticity and in healthy subjects. In healthy subjects, the antagonistic muscles are usually activated to some extent during voluntary movements at high effort. The resultant muscle contraction gives stabilization to the joint. This normal antagonist activation is of equal magnitude in concentric, and eccentric movements, i.e., independent on whether the antagonist is stretched or not by the movement. Consequently, it can not be ascribed to stretch reflex activation. Most likely it is due to descending supraspinal commands. Also in spastic patients, there is an activation of antagonistic muscles during voluntary movements but the activation differes markedly in concentric and eccentric work. In concentric movement where antagonistic muscles are stretched, there is a clearly increased activation of the antagonists and the activation is usually larger than during passive stretch of equal range and speed, The faster the movement, the more are the antagonists activated as can be expected when the activation is due in part to excitation of the highly velocity sensitive muscle spindles. Thus, a stretch reflex activation is added to the normal antagonist activation caused by descending commands. In spasticity, the antagonist activation in eccentric movements is less than in concentric movements, and not different from that seen in healthy subjects. In eccentric movements the antagonists are not stretched and thus they can not be activated through stretch reflexes. In contrast, the agonists are stretched in eccentric work. Thus, the voluntary activation of the


Beauveria bassiana HFW-05 strain is highly virulent against Bamisia tabaci.To broaden its insecticidal range and determine the joint toxicity of the mixtures of conidia spores and chemical pesticides,the bioassay of HFW-05 strain to 2nd and 3rd instar larvae of diamondback moth,Plutella xylostella(L.) and the conidia germination and mycelia growth of HFW-05 were carried out.The results showed that HFW-05 strain was highly toxic to larvae of diamondback moth.The corrected motality of conidia spores of the concentration 5 107/mL to 2nd and 3rd instar larvae 6 d after infection were 86.7% and 76.7% separately,and the toxicity to the 2nd instar larvae was markerdly higher than to 3rd instar larvae at all tested concentration.The inhibitory action of chemical agents on spores was significantly reduced with decreasing concentration.There was no significant correlation between the impact of chemicals on spores and the toxicity of fungus mixed drug to P.xylostella.At conventional dosage,chlorfluazuron,cyhalothrin and phoxim strongly inhibited spores growth with 0,0 and 7.9% germination respectively.The virulence of 5-fold dilution of phoxim,methomyl and diflubenzuron Ⅲ mixed 1×106 /mL spores to the P.xylostella exhibited antergic with corrected mortality 23.4%,16.2% and 20.5% respectively.But the other agents showed additive effect for the toxicity to P.xylostella.Chlorfluazuron and fipronil showed significant synergistic activity with corrected mortality 93.3% and 98.0% separately.This result may be used to improve biocontrol of the pest.


A search algorithm is built for a maximum of functions in classes defined by a piecewise linear majorant. The estimations are determined which relate the algorithm to an optimal one-step algorithm. The computing experiment results are presented on the use of the algorithm.


The present invention relates to a current method for operating a gas discharge lamp (3), which gas discharge lamp having a temperature dependent - / voltage characteristic U (I). The method is characterized in that, in order to prevent unstable operation at a low outside temperature, the lamp current is prevented by increasing the lamp lighting voltage exceeds a predetermined maximum value, or a gradient value.


Passwords are the influential apparatus t ha tend to keep all data and information digitally safe. It is often notice that text password leftovers mos tly popular over the other formats of passwords, du e to the information that it is simple and convenient. Howev r, text passwords are not always strong enough and re very easily stolen and changed under different vuln erabilities. Others can acquire a text password whe n a person creates a weak password or a password that i s completely reused in many sites. In this conditio n if one password is stolen, it can be used for all the webs ites. This is called as the Domino Effect. Another risky environment is when a person enters his/her passwor d in a computer that is not trust-worthy; the passw ord is prone to stealing attacks such as phishing, malware nd key loggers etc. In this paper, a user authent ica ion protocol named Password is designed, that makes use of the customer's cellular phone and short message service to ensure protection against password steal ing attacks. Password requires a unique phone numbe r that will be possessed by each participating websit e. The registration and the recovery phases involve a telecommunication service provider. The main concep t of the project is reducing the password reuse att ack. We have implemented the one time password technolog y, and then reduce the password validity time. The performance had improved the security. Key Terms: Encryption; Hash Function; Network Sec urity; One-Time Password; Password Reuse Attack; Password Stealing Attack; User Authentication


Swirling airflow plays a key role in textile production processes. The structure and properties of a textile processed by utilizing swirling airflow depend to a large extent on the dynamics of the fibers in the flow. This work presents a numerical investigation of the dynamics of a flexible fiber in the tangentially injected swirling airflow in a nozzle containing cylindrical and divergent conical sections, which is frequently encountered during textile production. Simulation of the three-dimensional, transient, compressible and turbulent swirling airflow field in the nozzle is first conducted. A model for the particle-level simulation of a flexible fiber in a wall-bounded flow is consequently adopted for studying the fiber motion in the nozzle. This model assumes the fiber to be composed of several massless elastic rods connected by rigid ball–socket joints where various forces and torques are exerted. The stretching, bending and twisting deformations of the fiber as well as the fiber–wall collision can all be modeled. The motional characteristics of the flexible fiber can be obtained by solving the translational and rotational equations for all the ball–socket joints in the fiber model. Based on the model, the effects of two process and nozzle geometric parameters – the nozzle pressure and radial position of the injectors – on the fiber motion are studied. The results show that the model and methods presented in this work can provide effective and useful insights into the dynamics of flexible fiber in the swirling airflow field inside complex-structured nozzles employed in the textile production processes.


"Silence of the Sexes: Gender Inversion in Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs" focuses on the role gender plays in and between the characters of Clarice Starling, Buffalo Bill, and Dr. Hannibal Lecter in Jonathan Demme's film The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Specifically, the paper focuses on the struggle for Clarice to masculinize herself to be accepted in her career, and the struggle for Buffalo Bill to feminize himself in order to accept himself. The paper then discusses the inability for the one person to succeed while the other is still an obstacle in his or her path, which then brings in the role of the phallus for Clarice, who otherwise lacks the symbolic authority encoded in the phallus. Republication not permitted without written consent of the author. 1 Evans: Gender Inversion in Jonathan Demme's The Silence of the Lambs Published by STARS, 2009 THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL 24 www.URJ.ucf.edu ESSAY When Jonathan Demme's film The Silence of the Lambs entered theatres in 1991, many movie goers were highly entertained. However, for others, including many in the feminist and gay communities, irritation and, in some cases, outrage, surfaced. The film's portrayal of the homosexual serial killer Buffalo Bill (as played by Ted Levine) caused many scholars to criticize Demme's portrayal of homosexuality as negative and homophobic (Phillips 37). On the other hand, many feminist critics praised Jodie Foster's portrayal of Clarice Starling as a strong feminist making her way in a man's world while rejecting the male gaze (Phillips 42). However, one critic in particular, Martha Gever, rejected Clarice as a "feminist hero" as a "result of her subjugation by patriarchal superiors" (Phillips 40). In light of these conflicting viewpoints, it is apparent that Jonathan Demme provides in Buffalo Bill and Clarice a diverse mix of characteristics permitting them to defy and reinscribe gender stereotypes simultaneously. Specifically, Demme's film offers two principle characters, Clarice Starling and Buffalo Bill, who challenge traditional gender roles, but the film also suggests that to be feminine is fatal, as is seen in the deaths of Buffalo Bill's victims and his own death, and to be masculine is to survive and conquer in life-threatening situations, as is seen in Clarice's final battle with Buffalo Bill. Buffalo Bill and Clarice Starling, despite their disruptions to longstanding cultural assumptions regarding masculinity and femininity, do not provide diversity within the film. Instead, they act as mirror images of each other, not only in the present action of the film, but also in both of the characters' histories. While Buffalo Bill strives to become a woman by constructing a suit made from his female victims' skin, Clarice also attempts to become a man, or man-like, through appropriating the symbolic power of the phallus as represented by Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Anthony Hopkins), who, in Lacanian fashion, becomes the signifier through which Clarice overcomes the expectations that society places on the female. Furthermore, the gendered objectives that Buffalo Bill and Clarice Starling seek depend on defeating each other: to become a woman, Bill needs to kill the masculinized woman who threatens his goal of becoming a woman, and Clarice, to achieve her goal of being recognized and accepted as masculine in her job, must stop this feminized male serial killer. Thus, without the death of his/her nemesis, the other cannot achieve his/ her goal to become identified with the opposite gender. In The Silence of the Lambs, Buffalo Bill is a homosexual and a pseudo-transsexual who has been rejected for a sexual reassignment operation due to his psychoses; he therefore becomes a serial killer who skins size-fourteen women in order to assemble a woman-suit for himself, thus to obtain a feminine form. From the first, Bill's record for violence and the mutilation of his victims shocks and confounds in its brutality. Yet, when more is learned of Bill's psyche, his violent and malevolent behavior reveals his desire to become a delicate woman. As a woman, Bill can erase his homosexuality; his attraction to men would thus metamorphose into the social norm. Here, viewers see that Bill's goal of outwardly becoming a woman "expresses an illicit desire to be another sex [and] it reveals confusion about the function of the symbolic nature of 'skins' in the law of nature" (Wolfe and Elmer148). This "symbolic nature of skins" is the physiological division between male and female bodies. The roles these bodies play extend to the social definitions of what it means to be male or female, masculine or feminine, which determines the social rules other characters (not including Bill) live by. Thus, Bill's gender confusion is manifested in the symbolic wolf-insheep's camouflage with which he hopes to deceive people, while it also recognizes his need to change his outward identity so that it will conform to his internalized identity. Bill's mental processes and overall psychological state reflect key concepts explored in Jacques Lacan's theoretical paradigm of the Mirror Stage. According to Lacan, "the mirror stage [is] an identification, in the full sense that analysis gives to the term: namely, the transformation that takes place in the subject when he assumes an image" ("Mirror" 1124). Lacan points out that one of the symptoms of a negative response to the mirror stage is that the person will become inverted, isolated, and will feel a sense of displacement ("Mirror" 1126). For Bill, these aspects of his psychoses come to fruition in his behavior. Throughout the film, when Bill is shown communicating with another person, it is his victim whom he is ordering to prepare herself for the slaughter by rubbing lotion on her skin. Even Bill's home is in a small, isolated suburb, closed up with dusty, covered windows, and the defining feature of his residence is its basement that holds the only lives he cherishes: that of his poodle and the room of "deaths-head" moths. Therefore, with no person with whom to form a bond, Bill develops a narcissistic desire to admire his makeup and wigs in a mirror. In regard to the film's miseen-scene, the mirror stage takes on a tangible form in the physical mirror in front of which Bill transforms himself Bill's sexual orientation also plays a significant role in his mental processes. According to Guy Hocquenghem, "a 4: 23–30 2 The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal (URJ), Vol. 4 [2009], Iss. 1, Art. 3 https://stars.library.ucf.edu/urj/vol4/iss1/3 THE UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL FLORIDA UNDERGRADUATE RESEARCH JOURNAL 25 www.URJ.ucf.edu man who in intercourse with men feels himself to be a woman is inverted in respect to his own ego, [thus] he feels himself to be a woman, and this not only in genital intercourse, but in all relations of life" (Hocquenghem 1657). This definition fits Buffalo Bill in regard to his desire to become female. For him, it is not enough to feel like a woman, but he must be a woman. Yet, Bill's perception of himself does not end with an attainment of a female body. As Hocquenghem hypothesizes, the attitude associated with "subject-inversion" may also include "narcissism," which is used to repress the unwanted gendered identity, which in Bill's case, is male (Hocquenghem 1658). Specifically, Hocquenghem employs the term "narcissism" to identify behavior that involves excessive self-love, particularly physical selflove. Ironically, the physical self-love named for the Greek god, Narcissus, in this instance, is used to describe a character whose self-love involves viewing himself as a Greek goddess. In the scene in which Bill cross-dresses in his basement, this narcissism regarding typical female behavior is depicted in his gently applying makeup, wrapping himself in a delicate, colorful satin wrap, and tucking his genitalia between his legs. Here, the proof that Bill knows how to become feminine begins. However, it is when he poses in the form of a naked Greek goddess, in front of a camera, that the narcissism is most evident. And it is through this act that Bill also becomes more convinced that he must succeed at being a woman to feel comfortable in his own skin. Why is it, though, that Bill can only be comfortable in the skin of the opposite sex? In theorizing the mind-set of the subject-inverted homosexual, Hocquenghem discusses a perversion in the minds of such feminized males. He states that this "perversion [...] leads both to a passive homosexuality and to a moral masochism—the fear of man as the father image" (Hocquenghem 1660). For Bill, though, only the latter part applies. In one of Clarice's meetings with Dr. Lecter, Lecter explains that as a child Bill was sexually abused by a male figure (whether it is the father is not known), which explains why Bill covets the female form. It is the gender that has not harmed him, and therefore, one that he would rather embrace. This masochism, however, is the only part of this particular section of Hocquenghem's theory that fits Bill. Lecter also says in the same scene that Bill "hates his own identity ... and he thinks that makes him a transsexual. But his pathology is a thousand times more savage." Interestingly, this masochism and savagery do not make Bill a completely unfeeling and monstrous man, demonstrating the gendered complexity of Demme's characters. According to Hocquenghem, "inversion is entangled with masochism because perversion is inevitably entangled with neurosis," in which a cycle of "pleasure in guilt, the guilt of pleasure and ... the pleasure of guilt, reign supreme" (Hocquenghem 1660). When Bill imprisons his newest victim, Catherine Martin (Brooke Smith), in the well of his basement, and orders her to "rub the lotion on its skin," he begins to see Catherine as a human being rather than merely as skin for his suit. As she cries, "I want to see my mommy," Bill's lip begins to qu


Over thirty years ago P. G. M. Dickson coined the phrase "the financial revolution'' to describe the transformation of English government and society in the half century that followed 1688. "Its effects," he wrote, "on the country's life, social attitudes, and historical development resemble on a smaller scale those of the Industrial Revolution which followed it, and which it arguably helped to make possible." It is one of the ironies of recent scholarship that, while the status of the latter revolution is in doubt, Dickson's "financial revolution" has become central to the interpretation of early modern England. Where once, as J. G. A. Pocock reminds us, the half century following the revolution of 1688 was little studied, it has more recently become one of the hot topics in British history, in no small part due to Dickson's work. Pocock himself contributed to its visibility with his discussion of the impact of new forms of wealth on political and social thought in the eighteenth century. While


Based on the novel the kafka Great Wall built in metaphorical analysis,I will explain the relationship between the "building the Great Wall" and "organization Chinese empire";And through the correlation of the Great Wall and China's image,I try to explore how the Great Wall as a representative of China's image to provide self-verification imagination resources for western modernity.


We investigated the effects of adding heavy strength training to a high volume of endurance training on performance and related physiological determinants in junior female cross‐country skiers. Sixteen well‐trained athletes (17 ± 1 years, 60 ± 6 kg, 169 ± 6 cm, VO2max running: 60 ± 5 mL/kg/min) were assigned either to an intervention group (INT; n = 9) or a control group (CON; n = 7). INT completed two weekly sessions of upper body heavy strength training in a linear periodized fashion for 10 weeks. Both groups continued their normal aerobic endurance and muscular endurance training. One repetition maximum in seated pull‐down increased significantly more in INT than in CON, with a group difference of 15 ± 8% (P < 0.01). Performance, expressed as average power output on a double poling ergometer over 20 s and as 3 min with maximal effort in both rested (sprint‐test) and fatigued states (finishing‐test), showed similar changes in both groups. Submaximal O2‐cost and VO2peak in double poling showed similar changes or were unchanged in both groups. In conclusion, 10 weeks of heavy strength training increased upper body strength but had trivial effects on performance in a double poling ergometer in junior female cross‐country skiers.


Summary. Six individuals in four Indian families have 25–30% foetal haemoglobin in which the two types of γ chains (the Gγ chain with glycine in position 136 and the Aγ chain with alanine in that position) are present in a ratio of 70:30. It is suggested that these heterozygotes form a distinct subgroup of the HbGγ HbAγ class of the hereditary persistence of foetal haemoglobin. In three relatives this HPFH condition occurs together with β‐thalassaemia. It is concluded that the β‐thalassaemia is of the type in which the ratio of Gγ:Aγ chains is 3:1 as in the newborn.


We present a hybrid algorithm for rendering hard shadows accurately and efficiently. Our method combines the strengths of shadow maps and shadow volumes. We first use a shadow map to identify the pixels in the image that lie near shadow discontinuities. Then, we perform the shadow-volume computation only at these pixels to ensure accurate shadow edges. This approach simultaneously avoids the edge aliasing artifacts of standard shadow maps and avoids the high fillrate consumption of standard shadow volumes. The algorithm relies on a hardware mechanism for rapidly rejecting non-silhouette pixels during rasterization. Since current graphics hardware does not directly provide this mechanism, we simulate it using available features related to occlusion culling and show that dedicated hardware support requires minimal changes to existing technology.


Between 1867, when The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County and Other Sketches was published, and the appearance in 1906 of The $30,000 Bequest and Other Stories, seven major collections of short works appeared under the name Mark Twain. It has long been held that in most cases Twain had little to do with assembling these books, viewing them mainly as moneymaking ventures and leaving the work largely to others. In the first full and sustained study of the collections ever to appear, Peter Messent argues to the contrary. Exploring the publication history of the volumes as well as a wealth of primary documents, Messent demonstrates that Twain's part in the making of these books was, in fact, considerable. Reading the collections of short works as well as individual tales alongside his novels, Messent discusses Twain's development as an artist in terms of the changing emphases that mark his use of different forms and themes, and the changing modes of humor that he employed.


Dry Hot Windy Day(DHWD) is one of the main agrometeorological disasters happend in north China area which could cause the serious yield loss of winter wheat.Using daily weather data created by RPECIS,which is the one of most widely used regional climate models developed by Hadley Center,DHWD in the future SRES A2 and B2 climate change scenarios is analyzed.Results show that PRECIS predicts DHWD for A2 scenario is 6.5 days/year,and is lower in coastal,north,and south areas,but higher in the middle west area.DHWD is increase in most areas except the far southern area,the maximum increase rate is 0.145 day/year;for B2 scenario,DHWD is 6.0 day/year,with similar regional distribution trend of A2,i.e.,higher in the middle area and lower in the other areas.DHWD is slightly decrease in southwest area and a little increase in northeast area;however increase rate is much lower than that for A2.The trends and variations of DHWD in the future for both SRES A2 and B2 scenarios are analyzed.Results are able to serve as the argometeorological disaster prevention and reduction,and make the contribution to the relative policy making.


by ARTHUTR B. LAFFER and R. DAVID RANSON N a forthcoming article,' we have presented the results of some research on the postwar behavior of a number of key economic variables. The relationships found were referred to collectively as the "OMB Model." Since brevity has been the order of the day in preparing that article, it seems worthwhile to explore some of the questions that have been raised concerning our analysis.


This paper presents a proof-of-concept for a novel design of fairground ride, which has been developed as part of an ongoing exploration into the use of wearable bio-sensing to enhance the experience of amusement parks and fairgrounds. The ride is controlled by a human operator, whom is solely reliant upon information transmitted from a personal telemetry system worn by the rider, which collects and transmits auditory, visual and physiological information. The design and implementation of this ride experience is presented, and its first deployment at a major public exhibition is described. Initial reflections on this event draw on observations and interviews, with the aim of helping to shape the agenda for research in this area.


The existing problems of main shaft sealing of hydroturbine installed on heavy sed iment-carrying river are analysed,the structrue of an U type rubber sealing is expounded and is applied to the hydroturbine of Heqing Hydropower Station.


F reedom of religion, for both its significance at home and endorsement abroad, has been called America's single greatest soft power. A soft-power strategy—one that aims to convey American values, encourage mutual exchange, and support relevant, local social and cultural institutions—will be among many approaches for promoting global religious freedom. Advocates must also develop legal cases, monitor and condemn persecution, and campaign for the release of religious prisoners. But as Robert Seiple, the first US Ambassadorat-Large for International Religious Freedom, argues, religious freedom promotion has seen the greatest success "when this methodology is linked with vested self-interest." The tools of US public diplomacy are ideally suited to a soft-power approach to promoting religious freedom. In reaching beyond government elites, public diplomacy both raises awareness about government restrictions and encourages the social conditions necessary for religious freedom. By directly engaging communities in dialogue on sometimescontentious issues, public diplomacy programs are able to account for a variety of theologies and worldviews, and they have the ability to promote positive religious freedom developments when bilateral efforts are not viable. Past public diplomacy efforts have recognized the importance of religion but have at times fallen short in engaging religious factors. After September 11, 2001, public diplomacy played a resurgent role in US foreign policy, particularly in Muslimmajority countries. But efforts to persuade those populations of shared values—often driven by concerns about Islamic extremism—instead further alienated many Muslim audiences. Thus, the new principles of global engagement demand a sharper focus on religious factors, particularly on religious freedom. Religious freedom is central to many of the 21 century's most important strategic issues, including conflict mitigation, post-conflict stabilization operations, immigration and integration, women's rights, and engagement of multilateral institutions and international law. Any US official who engages in public diplomacy should therefore be able to communicate the role of religion in American public life; dispel


We have investigated the (1 − x)Pb(In1/2Nb1/2)O3 − xPbTiO3 (PIN-PT) solid solution by Raman scattering and temperature variation of dielectric measurement. The dielectric analysis indicates that the Burn's temperature (TB) raises upto x = 0.30 and then decreases due to the enhancement in the long range ferroelectric order. At x = 0.60, TB coincides with the temperature at which dielectric constant is maximum, Tm, (TB ∼ Tm). It suggests that the polar nanoregions (PNRs) are not present in 0.40PIN-0.60PT. The investigation confirms that PT addition in PIN transforms the PNRs into the macroscopic ferroelectric domains. The composition dependent Raman spectra are used to interpret the evolution of polar order. Qualitative Raman analysis reveals that the changes in the vibration bands are associated with the structural transition from R3m to P4mm at morphotrophic phase region. For the values of x > 0.41, the line-width of all the bands decreases as the concentration of PT increases. The observed two mode behav...


What is located on the bottom in the water outside of Birka? Remains of a water palisade or jetties and other constructions.
Birka a Viking Age town that existed between AD 750 and 975 was located ...


This application relates to a method of manufacturing an electronic device, comprising: placing a first chip on a carrier; Depositing an insulating layer over the first chip and the carrier; Applying a solution containing metal ions on the insulating layer for producing a first metal layer of a first thickness; and forming a second metal layer of a second thickness on the insulating layer, said second metal layer comprises at least a portion which is spaced from the first metal layer.


The annual outbreak of influenza in Scotland is monitored by sentinel general practices, which report influenza-like illness. We piloted real time virological surveillance to investigate whether polymerase chain reaction (PCR) 1 2 is useful for monitoring an outbreak while it is evolving; to compare PCR with two standard techniques—culture and serology; and to compare two media for submitting samples.

Six practices took part. Influenza-like illness was defined by using standard criteria. Combined nose and throat swabs were submitted in both lysis buffer3 and viral transport medium. Two serum samples were taken a minimum of three weeks apart. All samples were posted to the laboratory. Influenza A and B reverse transcription PCR was performed on both media.3 Primary rhesus monkey kidney cells (Biowhittaker, Wokingham) were used to isolate virus. Influenza A and B antibodies were …


This article proposes a voltage-to-frequency converter (VFC) design using unipolar metal-oxide thin film transistor (TFT) technology. The proposed VFC has an integrator and Schmitt trigger based structure. This structure has the advantages of constant power consumption, full-swing output, and low circuit complexity compared to the early designs. To verify the proposed design, SmartSpice simulation based on a Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) model whose parameters are turned to fix the measured characteristics of our indium tin oxide- (ITO-) stabilized ZnO TFTs is carried out. The ITO-stabilized ZnO TFT has a single-gate staggered structure. Its typical field-effect mobility, threshold voltage, on/off current ratio, and subthreshold-slope are 14.5 cm2/Vs, 0.5 V, $1.2{\mathrm {\times }} 10^{8}$ , and 77 mV/decade, respectively. Simulation results show that the proposed VFC has maximum linearity error less than 1.8%, tuning sensitivity about 1 kHz/V, and power consumption less than $130~{\mu }\text{W}$ even under device variations. These performances are competitive compared to the state-of-the-arts. When configured to an analog-to-digital converter (ADC), 6 bit resolution and 14 S/s sampling rate can be realized. These results indicate that the VFC can find potential applications in flexible large-area low-voltage sensor interfaces for quasi-static signals.