This paper analyses how the issues of the politics of controversy, vigilantism and academic censorship are dealt in GithaHariharan's 'In Times of Siege'. In the novel, Hariharan puts the narrative of Basava in centre and implicitly refer to the fissures found in historiography and mythical narratives of India. Covering the two month of troubled times in the life of Prof. Shivmurthy, she speaks of the academic freedom in India that has often been subjected to ordeal due to certain controversial calls for censorship by diverse political, social, religious and ethnic fundamentalist organizations and communities. Given the opportunism and aggressiveness on the part of fundamentalist forces in such a situation, the creative and academic space becomes a kind of battlefield where history, art and culture are to be contested in an over-zealous fashion. 'In Times of Siege' exposes how politics of ideology has always been a potent way mobilizing un-official historical and mythical discourse and narratives prevalent in the modern day India. Political overtones of the book become evident when we find a conscientious professor pitted against the ruthless forces of bigotry, communalism, fanaticism and narrow-mindedness embodied by the group IthihasSurakshaManch. Their demand of the subtraction of Prof. Shiv's lesson on Basava shows how the forces of such kind aim at creating uproar by endorsing the fabricated hurt to their religious and cultural assumptions. They desire hegemony for having the remote control of the historical imagination of academic institutions to sanction a culturally-controlled version of history and myths in national curriculum.


AbstractDespite frequent reports of work delays in renovation projects due to inherent characteristics, such as difficulties in diagnosing the status of existing buildings, studies addressing this ...


Stecci (sing. stecak) are hand carved medieval Bosnian gravestones considered as valuable cultural heritage objects. One of the best ways for their preservation is digitization. In this paper we compare digitization results and procedures for one of the most famous stecci – The Stecak from Donja Zgosca. The object was first digitized using a Minolta 910 laser scanner. Later we created the 3D model from photos using photogrammetry and improved it in 3ds max. We present advantages and drawbacks of these two procedures and characteristics of the obtained models. Results of this comparison will be used in future digitization projects.


Original Research Article Four hundred and forty-eight (448) species have been recorded in Irobo forest (Ivory Coast) during field investigations, distributed among 301 genera and 92 families. Among those species, 387 (86.38%), 20 (4.46%) and 18 (4.02%) are phanerophytes, geophytes and hemicryptophytes, respectively. Most species bear small, fleshy fruits that are dispersed by animals, either by endozoochory (262 species = 62.68%) or by epizoochory (29 species = 6.94%). A significant amount of species (111 = 26.56%) exhibits fruits with appendices facilitating their wind-dispersion. Phytochory analysis shows relevant proportion of endemic Guineo-Congolian species (265 species = 59.15%) compared to widespread species. 32 species (7.14%) are Guineo-Congolian species that are endemic from West Africa, among which only two are endemics from Ivory Coast. Those proportions indicate that the forest under study is included in rainforest sensu Guillaumet & Adjanohoun, and match with the endemism Guineo-Congolian zone defined by White. Unfortunately, this forest is gradual degradation due to peasants' infiltrations.


This paper puts forward the view that the life-cycle model of system development has been allowed to make the transition from a useful intellectual tool for discussing specific aspects of the process to a definitive statement of what the process actually "is". We argue that this hinders the discussion of Requirements Engineering in fundamental ways, and that challenges to the supremacy of this model are needed to open up effective debate. This is illustrated by the introduction of a model based on the construction of theories, which shifts the emphasis from a technocentric view of the process, where requirements are encoded in initial forms of a system, to one focused on the human understanding of situated systems. Thus requirements become the forces and constraints which influence the designer. We conclude by presenting samples of areas that can be discussed more effectively from this viewpoint.


Environment-friendly insulating fluids have good fire resistance as well as biodegradation properties. They can also extend the insulation life of transformers and improve their load capacity, so they are increasingly used in transformers. In order to investigate the differences in dissolved gas in oil under electrical faults for different types of environment-friendly insulating fluids, this paper first determined the Ostwald coefficients of five environment-friendly insulating fluids. In addition, the discharge fault simulation platform was established to simulate three types of faults: partial discharge, breakdown discharge and surface discharge, and the dissolved gases under electrical faults were analysed using chromatography to obtain the corresponding gas components and percentages. The experiments show that there is a difference in the solubility of gases in mineral oils and environment-friendly insulating fluids. Under partial discharge, H2 is the main characteristic gas of environment-friendly insulating fluids, with CH4 and C2H6 as the second characteristic gases; under breakdown discharge, C2H2 and C2H6 are the main characteristic gases.


The chromosome numbers and karyotypes of two species Saussurea DC.are reported by planish method from the eastern Qinghai-Tibetan plateau.The results show that the chromosome numbers and karyotypes of the genus of respectively are 2n=2x=32=18m+14sm,2n=2x=28=24m+2sm+2st.The karyotypes of both species are 2A according to the Stebbins's classification.No satellites are found in these two species.


Gastric adenocarcinoma is of major importance worldwide as a cause of death from malignant disease. It is the commonest malignant tumor in T.U. Teaching Hospital. Helicobacter pylori infection is an important risk factor for the development of gastric cancer. This prospective study was carried out to correlate H. pylori infection with gastric adenocarcinoma. This study was done from January 1999 to January 2000; included 38 cases of gastric adenocarcinomas of which 28 (73.69%) cases were tubular type; 6 (15.79%) cases were signet-ring cell type; 2 (5.26%) cases were papillary type and 2 (5.26%) cases were mucinous type. Gastric adenocarcinomas were more common in male (73.68%) and after the age of 50 years. Giemsa staining revealed H. pylori in 30 cases (78.95%) of adenocarcinomas; whereas H. pylori seropositivity (IgG) was found in 29 (76.31%) cases. H. pylori were histologically detected in 88.3% cases of resected specimens and in 71.4% cases of endoscopic gastric biopsies. Both histological method and serological test showed positivity for H. pylori in 65.78% cases. Thus, H. pylori infection is associated with gastric carcinognesis Key Words: Gastric adenocarcinoma, Helicobacter pylori, Giemsa stain.


A knowledge of the total amount of truce metals is not enough to assess the environmental impact of polluted soils. For this reason, the determination of metal species in solution is important to evaluate their behavior in the environment and their mobilization capacity. Soils contaminated by Cu, Pb, Cd, and Zn found at Donana National Park (Spain) were examined for total content. Sequential extraction schemes were used to determine the degree of pollution and to partition the trace elements in soils. The three areas studied (marshes, stabilized sand, and mine) have different contamination levels. The northern-most marshes of Donana National Park have the highest total levels of the four metals due to the influence of a mine located 40 km away


Coalbed methane wells in the mining process must be experiencing the stage of the gas-liquid two-phase flow,gas-liquid two-phase flow will inevitably lead to dynamic changes of coalbed methane reservoir pressure.The paper describes the bubble phenomenon in production wellbore,analyzes its causes and how to identify bubbles segment of casing pressure,flow,yield and other parameters;appropriate control casing pressure bore flow state,and has shown signs of gas bubble segment;different sets of pressure on the wellbore flow state and the bubble segment;preferred reasonable pressure for different stages of production wells according to the state.Summed up the production process of the coalbed methane wells,gas-liquid two-phase wellbore flow rule,the quantitative study of gas-liquid two-phase parameters between the impact and changes,and these changes on state stability of the wellbore flow within the wellbore.


A 24-year-old woman had Takayasu arteritis. Radionuclide imaging showed complete obstruction of the right pulmonary artery and compromised perfusion in the left upper and lower lobe. Ventilation was normal. Involvement of the aortic arch and its branches was found as well. Pneumectomy of the unperfused right lung had to be performed eventually for fungal pneumonia. The clinical course of this patient has stabilized without signs of active disease.


The ability to design and optimize a wireless network is critical to equipment and networking service providers such as Lucent Technologies. To compete successfully, network designers must understand the tradeoffs between network coverage, capacity, and cost and be able to efficiently find a competitive design that prioritizes these different elements according to customer needs. In this paper, we develop and compare novel cell site selection algorithms that maximize network performance while minimizing cell count and associated costs. We discuss how these tradeoffs can be explored by tailoring algorithms to seek solutions that emphasize either capacity or coverage and balance these objectives with cost. We consider the algorithms' utility by applying the algorithms to a realistic example of a technology upgrade and network overlay, and we find that they enable an efficient exploration of the design tradeoffs.


A critical knowledge sourcebeing developed aspartofthe mm's urnsProject Is a biomedical thesaurus, called the metathesaurus. Central tothemetathesaus willbeInter-term relationahips, acros vevral biomedical nomenclatsand classifiction stems.whicharederivable fromlexical mappin techiques. Previous uwLsresearch onIntervocabulary mapp elaborated thesetechniques. DuingtheFall of1988,theywere extended andusdtobuild uwAo,a2,000-concept dotrationMetathesauru. MTA-owascompoedprmarily ofthemost frequently occurring um indextermsfromno.,andm_will bethemainsourceofconcepts foruTAm., theInitial public version ofthe auru. Reviewof Tr4suggested several refinements tothemothodoloV forbuilding TA-m-. These includelabeling mes EntryTermsas lexical variants or synonyms beforelinkinthemtoothersource.Laterwork refined algorithmic methodswhichdetectlexical variants In mesHL TheMTA-i1 lexical mapping methodology derives fromthis research.


Investigations of the ground-water resources of the Santa Ynez River basin prior to 1945 revealed that water levels had fluctuated only a little. Estimates of perennial yield therefore were based on the assumption that the base rate of ground-water inflow apparently was at least equal to withdrawals. Commencing in 1945, however, ground-water levels throughout the valley began to decline in response to increasing rates of withdrawal and extended drought, providing an excellent opportunity to check changes in ground-water storage in relation to withdrawals and replenishment. Reappraisal of the ground-water resources of the Santa Ynez basin for the drought years 1945-51 shows that, for a period in which replenishment from rainfall and seepage loss was far below normal, storage changes were inconsistent with withdrawals. Additional replenishment, besides that estimated by previous investigators, was made possible through a lowering of the water table and the consequent steepening of gradients out of older deposits adjacent to the basin. Accurate estimates of perennial yield must await the collection of additional basic data because little is known regarding the rechargeable storage capacity and permeability of all the deposits, the rate of replenishment of the older deposits, amount of return irrigation water, and deep penetration of rain. However, most of the elements of recharge, discharge, and storage change were estimated for the T-year period 1945-52, and for the Lompoc subarea these data were extrapolated to estimate the order of magnitude of the quantity of water that could be pumped perennially. PURPOSE AND SCOPE OF THE REPORT This report is the third in a series of interpretive reports on the ground-water investigations of the Santa Ynez River basin by the U. S. Geological Survey, in cooperation with Santa Barbara County. The first investigation, begun in January 1941, included as its main objectives the estimation of the ground-water yield of the basin, the possible effects of regulating and diverting streamflow on the basin and an evaluation of the possibility of salt-water contamination of the ground-water body. These objectives were accomplished and reported on, insofar as available data would permit, in a comprehensive report by Upson and Thomasson (1951). Similar reports covering the Cuyama Valley, the Santa Maria Valley area, and the south-coast basins also have been released. Additional information concerning stream runoff is contained in a report by Troxell (1952).


An abstract in English of this paper has been published in Science Record 4 (1960), 99-101, where it is put together with the abstract of another paper: Normal Forms of Recursive Functions.


Power, accountability, and responsibility for facial recognition technology require us to think carefully and methodically about the ethically significant interests of stakeholders. We suggest two simple models to help guide appropriate analysis when concerns arise.


The neutrino produced in the pion decay reveals a new diffraction phenomenon due to many-body interactions in an intermediate time region when wave functions of the parent and daughters overlap. Because of diffraction, the probability to detect the neutrino involves a large finite-size correction that depends on the neutrino mass, $m_{\nu}$ and energy, $E_{\nu}$, the speed of light, $c$, and the distance $L$ between the positions of the initial pion and final neutrino, ${m_{\nu}^2c^4 L}/{(2E_{\nu}\hbar)}$.
The correction vanishes for the charged leptons and is finite for the neutrino at a macroscopic distance, $L$, of near-detector regions in ground experiments. A new method for determining the absolute neutrino mass is proposed.


A large amount of data acquisition and annotation work is required to train a supervised machine learning model for open scenes. However, traditional manual approaches are inefficient. Here, a method is proposed for on-site image acquisition and semiautomatic annotation based on eye-tracking. This method uses the recognition capabilities and computational advantages of humans and machines to improve annotation efficiency, overcoming the bottleneck of AI-based approaches to the natural scenery understanding of field robots. The proposed method contains three advancements. First, we designed a head-mounted display with a built-in pose measurement module to achieve first-person teleoperation data acquisition, where a pseudoframe interpolation algorithm is designed to overcome the latency problem in immersive remote data transmission and to achieve efficient field data acquisition. Second, we propose an adaptive superpixel segmentation algorithm to reduce human–machine interactions based on eye-tracking. Third, since traditionally, the annotation process cannot provide feedback to the acquisition process and results in a low conversion rate. We proposed a new conversion rate index denoting the rate of transforming collected data into valid data to quantify the acquisition quality in real time. While achieving an annotation quality of 0.964 per the Dice index, which is approximately equal to that of the manual method, the proposed method improves the annotation efficiency by more than 3 times. Finally, the agricultural field experiments containing a real-life scene of robotic tomato-picking verified that the proposed method based on human–computer interaction can make full use of human perception and recognition intelligence.


This paper presents a robust CMOS Miller operational amplifier (OpAmp) that has high immunity to electro-magnetic interference (EMI). The proposed robust CMOS Miller operational amplifier uses the modified replica Miller OpAmp concept with the source-buffered Miller OpAmp with source degeneration resistance in order to achieve high EMI immunity across a wide range of frequencies (10 MHz to 1 GHz). Simulation results show that the maximum EMI-induced input offset voltage for the proposed robust CMOS Miller OpAmp is less than 5 mV over a wide range of frequencies (10 MHz to 1 GHz) when a 1 Vpp EMI signal is injected into the non-inverting input. In contrast, the classic Miller OpAmp generates a maximum output offset voltage of 216 mV at 1 GHz under the same operating conditions.


A new joint review from ASCO and CAP found insufficient evidence of clinical validity and utility for the use of most ctDNA assays in advanced cancer.


This study investigates the perspective of course coordinators regarding the implementation of ICT in instruction at the Open University of Israel, following ten years of experience. A survey of attitudes, beliefs and performance was sent electronically to all 285 course coordinators employed during the second semester of 2007. The results are based on a sample of 128 course coordinators who responded to the survey (45% response rate). The results show that the "belief index" in the potential of technology in teaching is higher than the "skepticism index". The enhancing internal and external factors for integrating technology in teaching outweigh the inhibiting aspects. The main changes in the teaching and learning environment are in communication and learning materials. In general – the scope of reported usage shows that the course website is an integral part of the teaching and learning environment. Usage of highly advanced technologies (e.g., VC, WIKI) is significantly lower than the usage of more familiar tools. Minimal changes were reported in core areas of teaching and learning process.


This article describes the innovative baggage handling system scheduled for operation at Fairbanks International Airport in Alaska. The project features an explosive detection system (EDS) that is part of a ticketing, screening, and bag sorting procedure. The end result will be a two-step check-in process that will almost eliminate the need for conventional check-in counters. Passengers will be able to check-in using the Internet or self-service machines and then drop off their baggage at established points.


*The Partnership to Strengthen Innovation and Practice in Secondary Education (PSIPSE), a donor collaborative, has included the Central Square Foundation; Douglas B. Marshall, Jr. Family Foundation; Dubai Cares; Echidna Giving; Elma Foundation; Human Dignity Foundation; Intel Foundation, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation; Mastercard Foundation; and an anonymous donor. Youth in Africa, South-East Asia, and low-income countries are least likely to finish upper secondary school


In vascular smooth muscle, stimulation of heterotrimeric G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) by various contractile agonists activates intracellular signaling molecules to result in an increase in cytosolic Ca and the subsequent phosphorylation of myosin light chain (MLC) by Ca /calmodulin-dependent MLC kinase. In addition, a portion of agonist-induced contraction is partially mediated by the Ca -independent activation of the small G protein RhoA and a downstream target, Rhokinase. The activation of RhoA is controlled by several regulatory proteins, including guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs). GEFs activate RhoA by promoting the release of GDP and then facilitating the binding of GTP. There are three Rhospecific GEFs (RhoGEFs) in vascular smooth muscle that contain a binding domain [regulator of G protein signaling (RGS) domain] capable of linking GPCRs to RhoA activation: PDZ-RhoGEF, leukemia-associated RhoGEF (LARG), and p115RhoGEF. We hypothesized that RGS domain-containing RhoGEFs, especially LARG, participate in linking GPCR to RhoA activation in vascular smooth muscle. We observed that angiotensin II up-regulates LARG via the AT1 receptor, and this up-regulation is signaled via the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway. Furthermore, angiotensin II treatment caused a small, but significant, increase in the component of contractile responses sensitive to Rho-kinase antagonism. These observations support the hypothesis that RhoGEFs, particularly LARG, participate in linking GPCR to RhoA activation in vascular smooth muscle. Angiotensin II, one of the most powerful vasoconstrictor substances, plays a key role in blood pressure regulation (Kim and Iwao, 2000; Touyz and Schiffrin, 2000; Touyz, 2003). In addition to its short-term vasoconstrictor action, angiotensin II has long-term actions on the structure and function of blood vessels by regulating the expression of particular genes. The octapeptide also stimulates the secretion of aldosterone from adrenal glomerulosa cells, and it has trophic effects on the heart. In vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs), there is growing evidence indicating that some of the cellular effects of angiotensin II are mediated through the RhoA/Rho-kinase signaling pathway (Touyz and Schiffrin, 2000). In vitro studies have demonstrated the vasoconstrictor effects of RhoA/Rhokinase to be the result of Rho-kinase-mediated inhibition of myosin light chain (MLC) phosphatase through phosphorylation of the myosin binding subunit (Somlyo and Somlyo, 2003). MLC phosphatase inhibition results in the maintenance of phosphorylated MLC promoting the binding of actin and myosin for force generation. Activation of this Ca This study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants HL74167 and HL71138 and by American Heart Association grant 0130364N. A preliminary report of this investigation was presented at Experimental Biology, April 17–21, 2004, Washington DC. Article, publication date, and citation information can be found at http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org. doi:10.1124/mol.105.017830. ABBREVIATIONS: VSMC, vascular smooth muscle cell; MLC, myosin light chain; LARG, leukemia-associated Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factor; RGS, regulators of G protein signaling; RhoGEF, Rho-specific guanine nucleotide exchange factor; PI3-kinase, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase; GPCR, G protein-coupled receptor; PD98059, 2 -amino-3 -methoxyflavone; SB203580, 4-(4-fluorophenyl)-2-(4-methylsulfinylphenyl)5-(4-pyridyl)1H-imidazole; AG-490, -cyano-(3,4-dihydroxy)-N-benzylcinnamide; LY294002, 2-(4-morpholinyl)-8-phenyl-4H-1-benzopyran-4-one; PD123319, S-( )-1-([4-(dimethylamino)-3-methylphenyl]methyl)-5-(diphenylacetyl)-4,5,6,7-tetrahydro-1H-imidazo(4,5-c)pyridine-6-carboxylic acid; DMEM, Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; GAPDH, glyceraldehye-3-phosphate dehydrogenase; RT-PCR, real-time-polymerase chain reaction; RACE, rapid amplification of cDNA ends; PE, phenylephrine; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; NFB, nuclear factorB; PDTC, pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate; kb, kilobase(s); SP600125, 1,9-pyrazoloanthrone anthra(1,9-cd)pyrazol6(2H)-one; Y-27632, N-(4-pyridyl)-4-(1-aminoethyl)cyclohexanecarboxamide dihydrochloride 0026-895X/06/6903-932–940$20.00 MOLECULAR PHARMACOLOGY Vol. 69, No. 3 Copyright © 2006 The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics 17830/3090185 Mol Pharmacol 69:932–940, 2006 Printed in U.S.A. 932 at A PE T Jornals on O cber 9, 2017 m oharm .aspeurnals.org D ow nladed from sensitizing pathway is regulated by the binding state of RhoA. Similar to other small GTPases from the Rho family, RhoA is activated upon binding of GTP. In the inactive state, RhoA is primarily a cytosolic component and is bound to GDP and a guanine nucleotide dissociation inhibitor. Post-translational modification (geranylgeranylation) enables the necessary membrane binding and subsequent activation of RhoA. Activation also requires a guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF), which promotes the exchange of GTP for GDP. Leukemia-associated RhoGEF (LARG) and its homologs PDZ-RhoGEF and p115RhoGEF make up a subgroup of RhoGEFs, known as regulators of G protein signaling (RGS) domain-containing RhoGEFs. The RGS domain of these proteins mediates their binding to and activation by G12/13 in response to extracellular stimuli (Hart et al., 1998; Tanabe et al., 2004). LARG has also been shown to interact with Gq, providing a mechanism to directly link Gq with RhoA activation (Booden et al., 2002). We previously demonstrated that the expression of these RhoGEFs was significantly increased in arteries from stroke-prone spontaneous hypertensive rats (Ying et al., 2004). Therefore, we hypothesized that RGS domain-containing RhoGEFs, especially LARG, may play a role in angiotensin II-induced Ca sensitization. In addition to its vasoconstrictor action, angiotensin II plays a key role in the remodeling of the vasculature in several disease states, such as hypertension and atherosclerosis (Kim and Iwao, 2000; Touyz and Schiffrin, 2000; Touyz, 2003). Recent studies have demonstrated that this mitogenic activity of angiotensin II is dependent on the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3-kinase) signaling pathway in VSMCs (Dugourd et al., 2003; Yamakawa et al., 2003). Because the proliferative responses to angiotensin II in VSMCs involves the AT1 receptor, we hypothesized that inhibition of PI3kinase signaling would block the ability of angiotensin II to up-regulate the RhoGEFs, particularly, LARG. In the present study, we observed that angiotensin II upregulates LARG via the AT1 receptor, and this up-regulation is signaled via the PI3-kinase pathway. Furthermore, angiotensin II treatment caused a small, but significant, increase in the component of contractile responses sensitive to Rhokinase antagonism. These observations support the hypothesis that RhoGEFs, particularly LARG, participate in linking G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) to RhoA activation in vascular smooth muscle. Materials and Methods Materials. Collagenase, elastase, Y-27632, PD98059, phenylephrine, ammonium pyrrolidinecarbodithioate, SB203580, wortmannin, AG490, SP600125, LY294002, and PD123319 were purchased from Sigma-Aldrich (St. Louis, MO). Losartan was a gift from Dr. Michael W. Brands (Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, GA). Preparation and Culture of Rat VSMCs. Primary cultures of rat VSMCs were prepared as described previously (Jing et al., 1999). In brief, the thoracic aortas of Sprague-Dawley rats (Harlan, Indianapolis, IN) were isolated aseptically, and the adventitia and outer media were stripped off and discarded. Then, the vessels were minced, placed in collagenase solution at 37°C for 30 min, and washed. The remaining media were incubated in collagenase and elastase with gentle agitation until the cells were dispersed. The resulting cell suspension was centrifuged, and the cells were seeded onto a plastic dish after resuspension. The cells were maintained in DMEM supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA), 100 g/ml streptomycin, and 100 U/ml penicillin at 37°C under a 95% air, 5% CO2 atmosphere. Preparation of cDNA. Total RNA was extracted from tissues or cultured cells with TRIzol reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. Four micrograms of RNA was subjected to digestion by DNase I (Invitrogen) and then used for reverse transcription reaction. The first strand cDNA was synthesized with Moloney murine leukemia virus reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer's instructions. After dilution by adding 40 l of water, cDNA was used for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or stored at 20°C. Polymerase Chain Reaction. As described previously (Ying et al., 2004), primers were designed using the Primer3 program based on the known mRNA sequences of each gene. To prevent possible contamination with genomic DNA, care was taken to ensure that primer binding sites for each gene were located in different exons. PDZ-RhoGEF primers were forward, 5 -gggaccct cttcgagaacgccaaa-3 and reverse, 5 -gggcagccacttgtccttgtcagg-3 . LARG primers were forward, 5 -agccatgcgcgctggagtacaaac-3 and reverse, 5 -gctccaggggaatgaggggatgtc-3 . p115RhoGEF primers were forward, 5 tccggaccaagagtggggacaaga-3 and reverse, 5 -tacccaggcttcccttccggtc tg-3 . Glyceraldehye-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) primers were forward, 5 -tgcatcctgcaccaccaactgctt-3 and reverse, 5 -acagccttgg cagcaccagtggat-3 . One microliter of cDNA was first used to amplify the house-keeping gene, GAPDH. Amplification products from this reaction were compared by scanning densitometry, and the calculated ratios of products were used to dilute the original cDNA samples so as to obtain equivalent GAPDH cDNA levels between samples. RhoGEF transcripts were subsequently amplified from the adjusted cDNA preparations. PCR was performed in a mixture of 25 l containing 12.5 l of TaqPCR master mix (QIAGEN,


This special report discusses the present and future market situation for airframe and engine manufacturers and highlights several issues confronting the industry. The first article discusses the importance of economic and environmental considerations when designing airframes and engines for the future. The second article looks at the problems facing Boeing Company as it attempts to reconcile two different carrier requirements. The third article discusses McDonnell Douglas's programe as it prepares itself to meet the future of the 1980's and 90's. The fourth article looks at Lockheed as it examines the possibility of launching a new or derivative airplane program, only on a smaller scale. The fifth article examines the efforts of Pratt and Whitney to come up with an engine design capable of being tailored to produce anywhere from 25,000 lb. to 35,000 lb. of thrust. The sixth article examines the efforts of General Electric to break out of its current role of just selling engines for the larger wide-bodies and focuses instead on supplying engines for smaller transport. The final article assesses the European aerospace industry with respect to whether their products will sell in the vitual U.S. market.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the most recent IMTS show in Chicago with emphasis on the new manufacturing automation innovations and applications on display.Design/methodology/approach – The paper presents in‐depth interviews with exhibitors of automation equipment and system integrators of automation technology at the show.Findings – Automation technology continues to address an ever increasing number of manufacturing tasks to improve quality and productivity at every step in the manufacturing and inspection process.Practical implications – Customers may be surprised at the automation innovations and new applications which are appearing in the manufacturing environment.Originality/value – The paper offers a review of some of the latest automation innovations and applications that one might have seen if they had been on the exhibition floor at the most recent Chicago IMTS show.


(54 SINTERED COMPOSITE FRICTION 4,593,802 7/1986 Danko, Jr. ..................... 192/107 M MATERAL COMPRISING 4,656,203 4/1987 Parker ................................. 523/55 FLUOROCARBON RESIN 4,762,216 8/1988 Pusatcioglu et al. .......... 192/107 M 5,004,497 4/1991 Shibata et al. ........................ 75/229 75) Inventor: H. Lee McCord, Longview, Tex. Primary Examiner-Paul J. Thibodeau 73) Assignee: Coltec Industries Inc., New York, Assistant Examiner-Hoa T. Le N.Y. Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Richard W. Watson (21) Appl. No.: 717,221 57) ABSTRACT 22 Filed: Jun. 17, 1991 A sintered fluorocarbon resin based composite friction 51) int. Cl................................................. B32B5/06 material having a high coefficient of friction, greater 52 U.S. Cl. ............................... 428/297; 188/251 A hardness, good machineability and improved wear re 192/107 M; 428/329; 428/367; 428/368; sistance. The composite material comprises a homoge 428/395; 428/421; 428/422; 523/153; 523/156; neous blend of fluorocarbon resin, aramid and carbon 523/157 fibers, aluminum oxide and polyester compound. Also 58) Field of Search ............... 428/297, 329, 367, 368, provided are process steps required to produce such 428/395,421, 422; 192/107 M, 188/251 A; materials with the desired characteristics of homogene 523/153, 156, 157 ity, hardness and wear resistance. These steps include a 56 References Cited premix together of the fiber components and final sin tering at a pressure of about 1600 psi. U.S. PATENT DOCUMENTS


Persons with co-occurring mental and substance use disorders are known to have high needs. However, no study has simultaneously calculated the 'fit' between need and use of services for this population using a standardized methodology across a comprehensive community mental health system. The aim of this study was to compare persons with and without co-occurring disorders in terms of their current and recommended levels of care and their need for, and use of, specific mental health, psychosocial and rehabilitative supports within a provincial community mental health system.Trained clinical staff across 407 programs completed 5051assessments representing 41,051 individuals. Assessments consisted of the Colorado Client Assessment Record and a Support and Service Profile from which co-occurring disorder status and global indices of current and recommended levels of care were derived. Using these data, the mismatch between current and recommended levels of care, and for each of 19 categories of support, were ...


Control system design is not a narrowly specialized mathematical exercise, but is a widely applied technology with close connections to, and important impacts on, overall system design. The ability to design and implement analog and digital control systems, with their associated analog and digital sensors, actuators, and electronics, is an essential skill of every engineer, as everything today needs controls! Control design is not just for specialists anymore! The intelligent design and use of control systems requires that one have:  Knowledge of the basic modes of control that have been devised and the characteristic performance features of each. This allows one to generate one or more design concepts that have potential for success.  Familiarity with available hardware so that commercially-available components to implement the design concepts can be selected.  Competence in modeling of physical systems with suitable equations, using judicious assumptions.  Facility in the use of analytical, simulation, and experimental techniques for determination of system response and suggesting design changes. An engineer must strive to develop insight into the problems of control and intuition about methods to solve them, emphasizing design in parallel with analysis techniques, showing the unity among several individual design techniques, and synthesizing them into a toolbox of problem-solving methods. The challenges to the engineer are many:  Design as well as analysis techniques need to be mastered.  Control is an active field of research and hence there is a steady influx of new concepts, ideas, and techniques that an engineer needs to evaluate for potential applications.  Control is an interdisciplinary field that requires an interdisciplinary background. All engineers must meet these challenges head on, as all engineers should be able to design and implement a control system as part of an overall design. This document provides a brief introduction to this very important area. Control systems play an important role in almost every area of engineering design and control concepts have a widespread and significant impact on many aspects of engineering. All types of engineered products and services depend more and more on associated control systems for their optimum functioning. These control systems are increasingly considered to be an integral part of the overall system rather than afterthought add-ons. The list of the many applications of control


Purpose: To evaluate radiation sensitivity of dendritic cells in comparison with lymphocytes. Materials and methods: T lymphocytes captured from peripheral blood were irradiated by 0 Gy, 10 Gy, 30 Gy. Apoptosis was measured by flowcytometry for staining of Annexin V 4 hours after irradiation. Immature and mature dendritic cells processed from blood hematopoietic stem cell were irradiated by 0 Gy, 10 Gy, 30 Gy, 100 Gy respectively and apoptosis was measured by flowcytometry with time difference as 4h, 24h and 48h after irradiation. Morphometric analysis by percent nucleus was measured in three cell groups, also. Results: Lymphocytes showed radiation sensitivity by increasing apoptotic fraction according to radiation dose. However, both mature and immature dendritic cells showed consistent fraction of apoptosis in spite of increasing radiation dose. Percent nucleus ratio is significantly higher in lymphocytes than that of mature or immature dendritic cells. Stimulation of T-cell by dendritic cells was not changed after irradiation. Conclusion: Dendritic cells showed radioresistance which was associated with small size of nucleus in comparison with lymphocytes and this result would be used as a basal data of radio-labelling for the cellular trafficking studios in nuclear medicine fields.


Au and Pd/PdO bimetallic nanoparticles supported on mesoporous molecular sieve SBA-15 were prepared by the modification of the silica surface with amino moieties, bonding of the metal precursors on these groups and calcination of the final material. The composition of the samples was analyzed by ICP-AES and their structures and morphologies were characterized by XRD, UV-Vis spectroscopy and electronic microscopy. It was observed that Au was always found alloyed with Pd, whereas excess Pd was found in the form of PdO nanoparticles. Oxide nanoparticles were frequently located near the alloy nanoparticles, suggesting that Pd exudates from the alloy in the form of PdO during the calcination process. It is possible to reduce Pd(II) to Pd(0) using a simple reduction process. These catalysts can be very useful in redox processes such as alcohol oxidations.


The use of impact linear polarization of chromospheric lines as a diagnostic of 100 keV protons is proposed. Observations of hard X-ray emission are examined, noting the possibility that 100 keV proton beams bombarding the atmosphere could create a hot thermal plasma at the origin of X-ray emission. The application of impact linear line polarization as a diagnostic of the existence of energetic particles with anisotropic velocity distribution functions is described. The mechanisms leading to an anisotropic proton distribution in the solar chromosphere are discussed and the required initial energy and energy flux for accelerated protons in the corona are derived. It is suggested that it is possible to infer the original proton anisotropy in the corona and the effect of this anisotropy on the proton energy and proton energy flux required to reach the H-alpha-forming layers. 28 refs.


BACKGROUND: Microwave-enhanced advanced oxidation processes with and without the addition of ferrous sulfate (MW/H2O2/Fe2+-AOP and MW/H2O2-AOP respectively) were studied for reduction of solids and solubilisation of nutrients from secondary sewage sludge.

RESULTS: For the MW/H2O2/Fe2+-AOP the yields of solubilisation of orthophosphate and ammonia decreased with increasing temperature. The best results (88.1 mg L−1 for orthophosphate and 22.7 mg L−1 for ammonia) were obtained at a treatment temperature of 40 °C. In contrast, the MW/H2O2-AOP had an advantage when it was operated at higher temperatures of 60 and 80 °C. The highest yields of solubilisation were obtained at 60 °C for orthophosphate (81.1 mg L−1) and at 80 °C for both ammonia (35.0 mg L−1) and soluble chemical oxygen demand (1954 mg L−1). Over the temperature range used in this study, the MW/H2O2-AOP gave a better performance than the MW/H2O2/Fe2+-AOP.

CONCLUSION: For sewage sludge treatment the MW/H2O2-AOP is more effective than the MW/H2O2/Fe2+-AOP in terms of solid reduction and nutrient solubilisation. It will also be more cost-effective, as it does not require iron addition in the process. Copyright © 2008 Society of Chemical Industry


The objective of the research was to analyze the effect of sugar and kemangi (Ocimum basilicum var. citriodorum) extract addition on the characteristics of physical, chemical and sensory of hard candy. The research was conducted at Chemical of Agricultural Product Laboratory and Sensory Laboratory, Agricultural Technology Department, Agricultural Faculty, Sriwijaya University, from August 2017 until Januari 2018. The research used a Randomized Factorial Design with one factor and each treatment was repeated three times. The factor was sugar (60 g and 70 g) and kemangi extract (10 mL, 15 mL and 20 mL) addition. The parameters were physical characteristic (color), chemical characteristics (moisture contents, ash contents, total dissolved solids, total fenolic and antioxidant activity) and hedonic tests (odour, color, taste and texture).
The results showed that the addition of sugar and kemangi extract had
significant effect on physical characteristic (lightness, yellowness and redness),chemical characteristics (moisture contents, ash contents, total dissolved solids, total fenolic and antioxidant activity) and hedonic tests (odour, color and texture).Hard candy with the addition of sugar 60 g and kemangi extract 20 mL (A3) was the best treatment based on chemical characteristics (total fenolic and antioxidant activity). The best treatment was A3 (addition of sugar 60 g and kemangi extract
20 mL) with the physical characteristic (lightness 39.53, redness 9.63 dan
yellowness 4.57), chemical characteristics (moisture contents 3.21%, ash contents 0.34%, total dissolved solids 51.72%, total fenol 19.71 mg/L and antioxidant activity (IC50) 542.73) and sensory characteristics using hedonic test with the following average scores: odour 2.80, color 3.12, taste 2.44 and texture 2.64.


A 72-year-old man who had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting 18 years previously (including left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft to the left anterior descending artery) presented with an acute coronary syndrome. He underwent angiography to assess coronary artery bypass graft patency. Attempts to locate the origin of the LIMA in the left subclavian artery were unsuccessful (figure 1A). An …


The single pion production (SPP) in the charged-current neutrino (antineutrino) scattering off the polarized nucleon is discussed. The spin asymmetry is predicted within two approaches. The spin polarizations of the target nucleon that are longitudinal and perpendicular to the neutrino momentum are considered. It is shown, in several examples, that information about the SPP dynamics coming from the spin asymmetry is complementary to information obtained from measurements of spin averaged cross section. Indeed, the spin asymmetry is sensitive to the nonresonance background description of the SPP model. For the normal polarization of the target, the spin asymmetry is given by the interference between the resonance and the nonresonance contributions.


The aim was to investigate the in vitro antifungal activity of crude ethanolic, methanolic and water extracts of the leaf of one of the popular Nigerian medicinal plants, Guiera senegalensis to reveal the possible presence of highly active phytochemicals. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) observed of the ethanol and methanol extracts were between 5.0 and 7.5mgml-1 while that of water extract ranged from 7.5 to10 mgml-1. It was shown that all the extracts exhibited observed activity against all the fungal species investigated. The zones of inhibition exhibited by the extracts against the test fungal species ranged between 15 and 18, 15 and 20 and 5 and 10 mm for ethanol, methanol and water extracts respectively. Indicating the high activity in methanolic extract and the least recorded in water extract. The effect of the extract on fungal isolates was highest Candida rugosa with (19 ± 0.5mm), (16 ± 0.5mm) and (10 ± 0mm) followed by Microsporum audouinii with (18 ± 1.2mm), (15 ± 0.5mm) and (5 ± 0mm) and the least was Trichophyton rubrum with (14 ± 2.0mm), (13 ± 0.1mm) and (8 ± 0mm) for methanol, ethanol and water extracts. Fusarium oxysporum showed no activity in water extracts (0 ± 0mm) and all was compared with amphothericin B and ketoconazole at a concentration of 1 mg/ml. Phytochemicals screening of the leaves conducted revealed the presence of higher concentrations of alkaloids and flavonoids, moderate concentration of steroids, Terpenoids, proteins, and carbohydrates and low concentration of saponins and tannins in the extracts. The ability of the crude leaf extracts of G. senegalensis to inhibit the growth of keratinophilic dermatophytes, yeasts and saprophytic fungi, is an indication of its broad spectrum antimicrobial potential which may be employed in the management of fungal infections. This could also serve as alternative potential source of antifungal agents for treatment and control measures.


This letter presents a swing and phase-noise enhanced dynamic-threshold voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) using a capacitive division technique. This technique prevents forward biasing of the pn-junction between the body and source when the output swing increases, which results in low phase noise. The proposed VCO shows phase noise of -122.0 dBc/Hz at a 1 MHz offset frequency at 2.31 GHz and a figure of merit of -192.7 dBc/Hz while consuming 0.46 mW from a 0.38-V supply voltage. It is implemented using a 0.11 μm CMOS process with a chip area of 0.96 mm2.


In the long run, biodegradation is the principal removal mechanism for spilled oil that cannot be collected or burnt. Stimulating biodegradation is thus an important option for maximising the removal of oil from the environment, and minimising the environmental impact of a spill. While oil is still floating on the sea, dispersants maximise the surface area available for microbial attack, and stimulate biodegradation. If oil reaches a shoreline where physical removal is difficult, beach cleaners can aid washing technologies, and minimise the residual oil remaining for biodegradation to remove. Since oils lack nitrogen and phosphorus, the careful application of fertilisers stimulates the biodegradation of residual beached oil in environments where nitrogen and phosphorus are limiting. Taken together, these approaches epitomise modern environmental technologies; working with natural processes to minimise undesirable environmental impacts.


With the deepening of China's energy transformation process, the promotion of renewable energy quota system has gradually received the attention of the government and scholars. National energy house has issued corresponding supporting policies for renewable energy quota system transactions for many times. Renewable energy quota is very important for the evaluation of economic benefits and energy conservation and emission reduction benefits. Based on Data Envelopment analysis, this paper establishes a model for evaluating the effectiveness of renewable energy quota system. The model takes the quota constraints of each province as input variables, the total installed capacity of each province and the CO2emission of each province as input variables, and takes the total GDP of each province as output variable, calculates the technical efficiency values of each province under the conditions of taking into account and excluding the quota constraints respectively. Comparing the difference of technical efficiency between the two times, the optimal input-output benefit interval of the system is judged, and the inefficient DMU is pointed out, which direction and degree of improvement are put forward.


OBJECTIVE
This study compared three methods of surgical wound dressing in patients undergoing primary total hip arthroplasty to determine their effect on wound leakage.

METHOD
Total hip arthroplasties were randomised to 3 groups: 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (Dermabond-Ethicon Inc, G) with Opsite (Smith & Nephew; O) [G+O], 2-octyl cyanoacrylate with Tegaderm (3M; T) [G+T], and Opsite without 2-octyl cyanoacrylate [O]. Postoperative wound leakage was assessed and graded daily until discharge, the frequency of the dressing changes was also recorded. Patients were clinically reviewed at three months to assess cosmesis of their surgical scar and wound complications.

RESULTS
In all 211 total hip arthoplasties were included. A greater proportion of patients' dressings remained dry on day 1 postoperatively in the two groups using 2-octyl cyanoacrylate (G+O and G+T) compared to the no glue group (O; p=0.0001). The G+T group had a significantly lower proportion of patients with increased leakage of wounds on days 2 and 3 postoperatively compared with both G+O and O groups (p=0.0043). The overall rate of dressing change for G+O was 8%, G+T 5%, and O 13%. Overall wound cosmesis was similar in all groups (p=0.690).

CONCLUSION
The reduction in frequency of dressing changes coupled with low levels of wound leakage observed using the combination of the glue and nonabsorbent dressings (O+T), makes this combination of wound closing products ideal for facilitating enhanced recovery and early discharge programmes in elective hip arthroplasty.


We have developed a strategy to preferentially label the N‐terminal α‐amino groups of intact proteins allowing the internal ϵ‐amino groups to remain free to react with chemical crosslinking reagents. The convergence of these methodologies allows biotinylated ligands to bind to their receptors within the cell membrane followed by removal of the crosslinked complex from cell lysate. This technique allows for the isolation of protein complexes in an MS‐compatible system, thus providing a tool for furthering our understanding of signal transduction.


During the past two decades, the "Washington Consensus" has been the dominant recipe for unleashing economic growth in developing countries. In view of the strong criticism mounted against it, it seems to have lost prominence recently. The success of the East Asian newly industrialized economies and recently of China is often seen as an alternative way towards economic development. However, most instruments stipulated in the Washington Consensus can be reconciled with successful measures employed by industrialized or fastly industrializing Asian economies. Most likely, the stability and market orientation of the Washington Consensus as a recommendation for developing countries is not wrong in itself but rather incomplete. In order to give developing countries a perspective for durable and preferably inclusive growth, it must be complemented by a modern and market-oriented industrial policy aimed at upgrading the economy's competitiveness. Such a "newer" industrial policy offers a host of instruments that can enhance economic growth in a generally favorable macroeconomic framework that can be achieved through the Washington Consensus. This article undertakes to integrate industrial policy in a comprehensive toolbox for economic growth and takes Jordan and Egypt as examples for how industrial policy measures are employed in practice.


This article is based on the existing national standard and discussed the standard test method and standard process. It was proposed that EMU traction return current could generate differential-mode radiation between the vehicle body and the rails, and an equivalent model was established. Based on the test, the EMU radiation emission was discussed in the static low-frequency (9KHz-11MHz) magnetic field with different earthing resistances. Tests show that the 50 milliohms earthing resistance between the EMU vehicle body and the rails can improve the EMU static radiation emission characteristic in low-frequency magnetic fields. An improving plan for the EMC design of high-speed EMU on suppressing the EMU electromagnetic radiation was provided.


3-Vinyl-2-quinolone, its 6,7-dimethoxy, 7,8-dimethoxy and 6,7-methylenedioxy derivatives are converted into the corresponding 3-acetoxy-2,3-dihydrofuro(2,3-b)quinolines by way of iodoacetoxylation using iodine and excess silver acetate in acetic acid. Dehydroacetoxylation of the acetoxy compounds, accomplished by heating with 88-93% o-phosphoric acid, furnished the corresponding furo(2,3-b)quinolines.


This is the second to last issue of Advances in School Mental Health Promotion (ASMHP) for 2013, and as of 2014, lead Editor, Mark Weist will be stepping down (but will remain on the editorial board), and Deputy Editor, Sharon Stephan, will take over editorship of the journal. With Michael Murray continuing as Consulting Editor, we expect that the journal, under Sharon's leadership, and with the support of the Taylor & Francis Publishing Group, will continue to flourish. With this transition, we thought we would take a moment to review some relevant history on the development of the journal, with particular emphasis on the critical role of the Clifford Beers Foundation, while also looking ahead for the broader mental health promotion field. The Clifford Beers Foundation was established in 1996 as the original UK charity devoted to the promotion of mental health. The Foundation initially began when a group of mental health professionals focused on resettling unnecessarily institutionalized patients back into the community. Through these efforts, several hundred patients were resettled into more appropriate community accommodation whilst still being cared for by trained psychiatric nurses. Although these endeavours were critical to improving services, the work was still operating within a hospital environment that retained a focus on institutionalizing individuals with mental health problems. Consequently, further efforts were made to explore avenues to prevent people from coming back to the hospital via a 'revolving door syndrome' and further initiatives were set up to promote community developments in mental health promotion and prevention. With this in mind, a mental health promotion unit was commissioned and it was, interestingly, funded from within the psychiatric hospital. The Foundation has since developed a range of mental health initiatives and collaborative ventures with colleagues throughout the world and this on-going programme has encouraged others to follow and join in projects of mutual interest. With these initiatives, the Foundation collaborated with colleagues and like-minded organizations throughout the world and this led to the provision of consultancy advice and training links in Africa, the Americas, Oceania and Asia as well as in a range of European countries. The Foundation continues to establish further international links and in doing so is following in the footsteps of Clifford Whittingham Beers, the American humanitarian, who contributed much to the study and advancement of the mental hygiene movement worldwide. Beers, who was institutionalized due to mental health problems subsequently wrote an instrumental autobiography (i.e. Beers, 1908), which heightened public awareness about poor levels of treatment and care of individuals with mental illness and acted as a catalyst for the foundation of the first organizations committed to the mental hygiene movement. With much still to be done, the Foundation continues to build on the strong foundations of Clifford Beers' work and is dedicated to mental health promotion and prevention worldwide. More specifically, the Clifford Beers Foundation aims to establish a global network of universities and research centres, evaluate and disseminate mental health


The combination of economy and ethics push forward the development of market economy, with possible dialectical integration of economic and ethical rationalism. The healthy function of socialist market economy urgently requires economic ethics as regulations. The problem of economic ethics has been one of the central subjects of ethics in our age.


In the past few decades, supply chain management operations have increased manifold and much attention has been devoted to the evolution of supply chain management in the scientific literature. This has led to accommodating newer strategies and developments in technology. Channel partners are exploring newer methods that deliver accurate information in real time to have efficient flow within the supply chain. Existing processes and operations handled by channel partners in cement industry are constrained by time, location and lack of any technology for accessing and coordinating any information. The focus of this paper is the outbound supply chain in cement industry where complexity and cost of inventory management, compliance requirements, and managing warehouse are the biggest challenge. The success of the supply chain depends on coordination, communication, and collaboration among the channel partners. Visibility in supply chain will certainly enhance tracking, timely delivery, improved decision making leading to improved customer satisfaction. Literature explores the digital trends in supply chain management affect the overall business model. From sensors to big data, a number of technologies drive the business trend across globe. The research paper looks at how the channel partners can use the technology and smart devices closely within their day to day activities associated with their processes which could connect all channel partners continuously, and have improved visibility in the supply chain. The research has done an extensive literature review as well as primary research to explore the role of existing technology in the outbound supply chain of cement industry. The study further explores that how technology can act as an enabler and can be benefited in many ways for channel partners.


Women are powerless, disadvantaged and their access to resources and ownership of properties are minimal in most of the developing countries. In order to empower women in those developing societies, many empowerment programmes like microfinance, political mobilization, and providing education opportunities are in place. Even the notion of women's empowerment is also included in the Millennium Development Goals. The paper tries to examine the different empowerment programmes along with their successes and limitations towards empowering women. It is evident from the study that the result of empowerment programmes is mixed. The empowerment programmes significantly contribute to women's empowerment but do not empower all women in all situations and equally. Empowerment is also related to the determination of the women themselves. If we look at the total population of the world, we see women constitute almost half of the world's population. However, considering the number of poor people in the world, women are major than men with a number of 70 percent of the total poor (Verma, 2009). Women are powerless, disadvantaged and socially and educationally backward and their access to resources and ownership of properties are minimal in most of the developing countries. Over the decades, there had been attempts from different spheres to ensure the power of women particularly in developing world. Even the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) also want to achieve the empowerment of women across the globe. In order to enhance the empowerment of women, different programmes are undertaken by the national governments along with local NGOs and INGOs supported by international donors. According to the indicators of MDG goal 3, the numbers of women representatives in national parliament should be increased. The need for women's representation in the local governments has also been underscored by the UN Millennium Project Task Force report on Education and Gender equality (UNMP/TFEGE, 2005). Apart from this political mobilization, many other programmes like microcredit schemes for women, education opportunity for girls, introducing ICT programmes and income generating programmes are in place in order to promote empowerment of women in many developing countries. But there are growing debates, whether these programmes are really empowering women or not? The increase of women's representation in political system is of course a strategic change in the empowerment of women but does not necessarily directly correlate with the empowerment of mass poor women (Subrahmanian, 2004). Microcredit has been widely used as a panacea in empowering women and it has also mixed results. Microcredit has enabled poor women to come out from the houses to public spheres as the first step of women's empowerment but it has also suppressed their empowerment in creating problems like increased domestic violence, losing control over credits in some situations. In relation to success of microcredit


Title of dissertation: QUALIFICATION OF METALLIZED OPTICAL FIBER CONNECTIONS FOR CHIP-LEVEL MEMS PACKAGING Michael Andrew Deeds, Doctor of Philosophy, 2004 Dissertation directed by: Associate Professor Peter Sandborn Department of Mechanical Engineering A MEMS-based Safety and Arming (S&A) device is being developed for the next generation of Navy torpedoes. The MEMS-based S&A consists of a high aspect ratio MEMS chip fabricated by deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) of silicon on insulator substrates (SOI). The micro-machined structures, which include environmental sensors, actuators, and optical components, are susceptible to stiction related failures. A robust package is essential to transform the fragile MEMS S&A device into a rugged package capable of reliably functioning throughout the military stockpile to target sequence. To adequately protect the MEMS device from deleterious effects of the external environment, the package must be housed in a hermetic, organic-free package. This dissertation presents the design of, analyzes, and qualifies a die-level fluxless packaging concept. The die-level package consists of a metallized seal ring patterned around the perimeter of the chip, including the fiber groove, sidewalls, and base. The fiber grooves provide a fiber optic interconnect between the microstructure area and the macro-environment. A cap chip, with a matching seal ring, completes the clamshell package. Solder is deposited onto the seal ring and in the grooves at the wafer-level on the device and cap chips. A fluxless, and hence organic-free, soldering process joins and seals the fiber-chip assembly on the chip-level. The conditions that govern fluxless soldering are addressed and tailored for success in the developed design. Surface energy models are used to understand the fluxless soldering conditions and to study the geometric stability of fluid solder joints at the fiber to chip interface. Several techniques for fabrication of the chips and assembly of the packages are investigated. The effects of leak rate of the package seal on the internal package environment are discussed in detail to establish an acceptable leak rate of small volume MEMS packages. The calculations are then furthered to determine the acceptable leak path dimensions to ensure moisture does reach unacceptable levels during the package life. The presented work represents the first reported organic-free (fluxless) die-level package seal with optical fibers that cross the seal boundary. Qualification of Metallized Optical Fiber Connections for Chip-Level MEMS Packaging By Michael Andrew Deeds Dissertation submitted to the faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Maryland, College Park in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctorate of Philosophy 2004 Advisory Committee: Associate Professor Peter Sandborn, Chair Professor Don Barker Professor Chris Davis Associate Professor Don DeVoe Associate Professor Pat McCluskey


Abstract If R 1 and R 2 are root systems and there is a linear map which maps R 1 ∪{0} onto R 2∪{0} we write R 1 —> R 2. We determine all pairs (R 1, R 2) of irreducible root systems such that R 1 —> R 2.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the effect of work characteristics on members' self‐efficacy and collective efficacy, and the subsequent effect on police officers' performance.Design/methodology/approach – A multilevel model is adopted to analyze quantitative data obtained by using 812 police officers and 54 chiefs of police stations in Taiwan as the research objects.Findings – The authors found that work characteristics affected members' self‐efficacy and collective efficacy, which further affected the individual‐ and group‐level performance and the contextual effect of social work characteristics (SWCs) and collective efficacy on self‐efficacy and individual performance. The authors also confirmed the cross‐level moderation of social characteristics on the relationship between motivational work characteristics (MWCs) and self‐efficacy, and between self‐efficacy and individual performance.Research limitations/implications – A limitation was the characteristics of the sample, which consi...


The invention provides a boxing glove and a movement data processing method and device. The boxing glove comprises a boxing glove body, and a movement data collector, a communication module and a battery are arranged on the boxing glove body, wherein the movement data collector is used for collecting movement data of a boxer; the communication module is connected with the movement data collector and the external movement data processing device and used for transmitting the movement data collected by the movement data collector to the movement data processing device; the battery is electrically connected with the movement data collector and the communication module and used for supplying power to the movement data collector and the communication module. The movement data processing method and device are used for the boxing glove. By the adoption of the technical scheme, the movement data of the boxer can be collected and displayed on the movement data processing device side, so that the functions of the boxing glove are enriched.


: The present study deals with the diversity of fish fauna found in Nageshwar pond ofchapra district saran. The diversity of fish fauna has never been studied in the Nageshwar pond of chapra district saran. In this study, the diversity of freshwater fishes of Nageshwar pond of Chapra district Saran was studied and assessed from January, 2008 to December, 2009.The aim of the paper was to assess the variety and abundance of the important fish fauna inhabiting in this region. We documented and described 17 freshwater fish species of Nageshwar pond of chapra district saran that were belonging to the 3 orders and 6 families and 9 genera. Among them, Nine species were belonging to the family Cyprinidae, three species were belonging to channidae, two species were belonging to Bagrridae, while the remaining other families i.e., Clariidae, E, Heteropneustidae, and Osphronemidae were represented by only single species. To save fish diversity and to develop asustainable fisher practices, proper documentation, leading to diversity information system is an urgent need. The paper also describes the species composition with their relative contributions and a few important findings that may help to better understand the current scenario of ichthyofaunal diversity. Hence, the results of our present study would deliver useful information about the diversity of fish fauna of Nageshwar pond that could be useful later treasured in the systematic, fisheries management and conservation.


Brushless dc (BLDC) motors controlled by Hall-effect sensors are becoming widely available and used in a wide variety of applications. Such motors have been extensively researched in the literature under a common assumption that the Hall sensors are ideally placed 120 electrical degrees apart. However, sensor positioning may be quite inaccurate in low- to medium-precision motors leading to unsymmetrical operation of the inverter and motor phases, which increases the torque ripple and degrades the drive performance. To mitigate this phenomenon, an approach of filtering the Hall-sensor signals has been proposed. This paper extends the previous work and presents a very efficient digital implementation of several averaging and extrapolating filters that can be easily included into various BLDC motor-drive systems. The implemented prototype and experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach by completely restoring the motor operation in steady state and transients.


The titanium nitride (TiN) gate electrode with a tunable work function has successfully been deposited on the sidewalls of upstanding Si-fin channels of FinFETs by using a conventional reactive sputtering. It was found that the work function of the TiN (phiTiN) slightly decreases with increasing nitrogen (N2) gas flow ratio, RN=N2/(Ar+N2) in the sputtering, from 17% to 100%. The experimental threshold voltage (Vth) dependence on the RN shows that the more RN offers the lower Vth for the TiN gate n-channel FinFETs. The composition analysis of the TiN films with different RN showed that the more amount of nitrogen is introduced into the TiN films with increasing RN, which suggests that the lowering of phi TiN with increasing RN should be related to the increase in nitrogen concentration in the TiN film. The desirable Vth shift from -0.22 to 0.22 V was experimentally confirmed by fabricating n+ poly-Si and TiN gate n-channel multi-FinFETs without a channel doping. The developed simple technique for the conformal TiN deposition on the sidewalls of Si-fin channels is very attractive to the TiN gate FinFET fabrication


This paper proposes the method of using equilateral polygon to subdivide the surrounded spherical surface,so as to obtain the projection point and get the two-dimensional projections of 3D models.This method can gain even projection point,and carry on the encryption process to the specific region according to the 3D model's characteristic,so as to gain more two-dimensional projections information.The method proposed in this paper has already applied in the 3D model recognition and 3D motion recognition work,and obtained good result.


In resource-based towns that have historically been dominated by young workers and their families, seniors' housing issues have received little attention by community leaders and senior policymakers. However, since the 1980s there has been a growing trend of older women living alone in Canadian rural and small town places. Although research on rural poverty focuses on small towns in decline, booming resource economies can also produce challenges for low-income senior women living alone due to higher housing costs and the retrenchment of health care and service supports. Because housing costs can consume a significant proportion of household income, low-income senior women living alone may not have the financial resources to cover expenses in a competitive housing market. Using a household survey, we explored this different dimension of the Canadian rural landscape by looking at housing costs for low-income senior women living alone in the booming oil and gas town of Fort St. John, British Columbia, Canada. The authors findings indicate that low-income senior women living alone are incurring higher housing costs compared with other senior groups.


Energy loss characteristics of heat transfer and fluid flow due to forced convection of steady laminar flow of incompressible fluid in a helical coil is analysed. This paper analyses energy loss and pumping power in the fully developed laminar convection in a helical coil with constant wall heat flux. The important design parameters, including Reynolds number (Re), coil to tube radius (δ) and dimensional coil pitch (λ) are varied to investigate their influences on the energy loss and pumping power values. Amount of heat transfer is the primary concern in a heat exchanger design. The amount of energy loss during the heat exchange process has been investigated by introducing a new dimensionless number This dimensionless number has been defined as the energy loss to total heat transfer rate ratio. The energy loss dimensionless number behavior have been compared with entropy generation dimensionless number behavior for this problem.Copyright © 2007 by ASME


The aim was to present the difficulties caused by the COVID-19 pandemic related to breast cancer screening. This is a crosssectional descriptive, qualitative and exploratory study. For data collection, an interview script with open and closed questions was used, which was applied to professional nurses from basic health units in a municipality in Alto Vale do Itajaí. Data analysis took place using the discourse analysis technique. Five nurses were interviewed and data collection ended due to exhaustion of subjects. Data were treated according to three categories of analysis, namely: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and barriers to access breast cancer screening; adaptive strategies and measures to meet the demands of women's health and the perception of nurses regarding women's adherence to breast cancer prevention programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study is expected to contribute to the construction of scientific knowledge to support decision-making by authorities in situations of public calamity, being able to analyze the impacts caused in this pandemic, in order to prevent long-term damage to the population in similar situations.


(57) Abstract: The present invention uses the TGF-beta in the medium, to a method of stimulating the proliferation and moderate cell maturation of various cells and tissues of the three-dimensional culture with in vitro. According to the present invention, chondrocyte, cartilage precursor cells, fibroblasts, fibroblast-like cells, including umbilical cells or cord blood-derived bone marrow cells were inoculated with stromal cells including but not limited to in the three-dimensional framework , it is grown in the presence of TGF-β. Other cell stromal cells present in loose connective tissue, for example endothelial cells, macrophages / monocytes, adipocytes, pericytes, may contain such reticular cells present in the bone marrow stroma. Stromal cells and secreted from the stroma cells naturally connective tissue proteins, composed of non-living material biocompatible formed into a three dimensional structure having a bridged the gap by stromal cells said attached to the framework and made it substantially cover as. Stromal tissue living thus formed provides support, growth factors and regulatory factors necessary to maintain the long-term activity proliferation of cultured cells and / or implantation and cultures. When grown in this three-dimensional system, proliferating cells are moderately mature separated to form the components of the corresponding tissue similar mature tissue in vivo.


improve application of passive microwave imaging for object detection. In this study, we propose the FIPOCS (Fractal interpolation with Improved Projection onto Convex Sets) technique to enhance resolution. The experimental result shows that the resolution of passive microwave image is improved when utilizing the fractal interpolation to the LR image before applying the IPOCS technique.


Compound (V) of an electrical, a plurality of aluminum wires (2) or strands formed and insulated aluminum cable (1) having a group consisting of copper, a copper alloy and / or brass connecting part (4) for the electrical system of a motor vehicle, wherein the insulation (3) of the aluminum cable (1) in front of the contact point ends or the connecting part is removed and a support sleeve (13) is provided, which encloses at least the of the end face (12) of the stripped part of the aluminum cable (1) adjacent the area and with the is pressed the end of the aluminum cable (1) and / or shrunk on it, so that the wires (2) of the aluminum cable (1) are at least compressed in the region of the end side (12), characterized in that the connection part (4) with that of the individual wires (2) formed front side (12) of the end of the aluminum cable (1) are welded.


Additive and dominance genetic variances were estimated by NCD II (normal and mutagen-treated populations) and NCD III (normal population) biparental mating designs for protein and tryptophan contents in wheat. The NCD III seemed relatively more efficient than NCD II. Both additive and dominance genetic variances were important for controlling the traits. However, the magnitude of additive component was much higher than that of dominance component. The estimates of the additive genetic variances increased in the mutagen-treated populations, whereas the dominance genetic variance decreased for both the traits. The means of the NCD II and NCD III progenies (BIPs) were higher than those of the F2 and F3 selfs. The mean performance of both traits increased in the second cycle of biparental matings over the first cycle. Thus, to exploit both additive and nonadditive genetic variances, to break undesirable linkages, and to release latent genetic variability and ultimately to improve the population, recurrent biparental matings in the early generations have been suggested.


This paper discuss about environment and rising prices of energy, more renewable energy sources are incorporated into the power grid in the form Distributed Generation (DG) Instead of using fossil fuels, energy storage like battery or ultra-capacitors coupled with the power electronic converter systems offer fast response for frequency regulation and load changes. Recent development in Lithium-ion battery technology offers advantages like high power, longer overall life, high charge and discharge efficiency. In addition to small size, and low weight Li-ion batteries can offer high energy density and storage efficiency, which make them suited for portable devices. Battery energy storage system (BESS) is the significant factor to realize flexible control and optimal operation of active distribution networks, due to its fast power adjustment capability as well as the characteristic of supply and storage competency. So the placement sizing of BESS will directly affect the active management ability with DERs and the economic benefits of active distribution network operation.


Through exploration for teaching,and analysis for requirements,and planning three segments of teaching and learning and doing,and attaching great importance to modern technology in education,it can build operable integration of the environment of the"teaching and learning by doing".


Objectives: To determine the variation in the methods used to assess and interpret the reversibility of airflow limitation in lung‐function laboratories throughout Australia and New Zealand.


The experiment of Winnick and Cho on centrifuged water under inhomogeneous positive and negative pressure is re‐examined. Several deficiencies in the data and analysis method are identified and corrected. A new, more complete theory of the experiment is derived and used to analyze corrected 20°C centrifuge data. From analysis of ordinary positive‐pressure PV water data, it is established that best 20°C values of K0, the bulk modulus at the vapor pressure of water, and K0′, the bulk modulus pressure derivative, are about 21 800 bar and 5.2, respectively. Least squares analysis of the Winnick‐Cho data, on the other hand, shows that no meaningful estimate of K0′ can be obtained and that the K0 values derived are from about 11% to about 18% higher than the above expected value, depending on the detailed analysis approach. These unexpectedly large values of K0 appear to be highly statistically significant. It is concluded that they most probably arise from remaining systematic errors in the data, rather than...


PHENIX results for J/{psi} production in p + p, d + Au, and Cu + Cu collisions at {radical}(s{sub NN}) = 200 GeV are presented.


Solution of equation with graphic representation is helpful.Yet there exists some misunderstanding about that in solution of equations.So there happens some errors.In solutions of equations with graphic representation,such misunderstanding should be avoided.


ABSTRACT Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has historically been consideredcontraindicated for individuals with cardiac implantable electronicdevices (CIEDs) such as pacemakers and implantable defibrillators.Magnetic resonance scanners produce magnetic fields that caninteract negatively with the metallic components of CIEDs. However, asCIED technology has advanced, newer MRI conditional devices have RESUM E L'imagerie par resonance magnetique (IRM) a traditionnellement etecontre-indiquee chez les individus porteurs d'un dispositif cardiaqueelectronique implantable (DCEI) comme les stimulateurs cardiaques etles defibrillateurs implantables. Les appareils d'imagerie par resonancemagnetique produisent des champs magnetiques pouvant interagir defacon negative avecles composants metalliques desDCEI. Cependant,a Traditionally, it has been considered a contraindication toimage patients who have cardiac implantable electronicdevices (CIEDs) such as pacemakers and implantabledefibrillators with magnetic resonance (MR) imaging. MRscanners produce magnetic fields that can interact negativelywith the metallic components of CIEDs. Risks can includemigration and dislodgement of device components; generationof energy currents that might damage the device and themyocardium; oversensing or undersensing caused by magneticartifact leading to device malfunction; and rarely, generationof life-threatening arrhythmias.


Objective: We evaluated 2 simple balance tasks for sensitivity to detect cerebellar lesions relative to the cerebellar functional system (FS) of the EDSS. Background: People with early multiple sclerosis (MS) may have subclinical imbalance not reflected by changes in the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS). Lesion topography has been shown to impact disability accumulation. Design/Methods: 105 early MS patients (18 CIS, 87 RRMS, diagnosis Results: 42/105 patients had cerebellar lesions. Abnormal cerebellar FS score was not reliably related to presence (p=0.09, sensitivity=19%, specificity=92.1%) or volume (p=0.281) of lesions. Lesions were more common among patients who failed the NIH balance task (p=0.002, sensitivity=28.6%, specificity=93.7%). Worsened postural sway was associated with greater lesion volume (p=0.004). Patients with imperfect beam scores were more likely to have lesions (p=0.001); sensitivity=50%, specificity =82.5%). Both NIH balance and balance beam task scores were more closely related to patient reported deficits compared to the cerebellar FS score. Conclusions: We identify simple balance tasks that are more sensitive for detecting topography of cerebellar lesions, and more closely reflect patient reported cerebellar deficits, than the EDSS. These tasks may identify subtle patient reported deficits during relapses or longitudinal changes occurring during progression. Disclosure: Dr. Ayeni has nothing to disclose. Dr. Krieger has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with acorda, bayer, biogen, emd serono, genentech, genzyme, mallinckrodt, medday, novartis, teva, and tg therapeutics . Dr. Brandstadter has nothing to disclose. Dr. Harel has nothing to disclose. Dr. Petracca has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lewis has nothing to disclose. Dr. Lublin has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Consulting and advisory boards: Bayer HealthCare Pharmaceuticals; Biogen Idec; EMD Serono; Novartis; Teva; Actelion; Sanofi/Genzyme; Acorda; F. Hoffmann-La Roche/Genentech; MedImmune; Receptos/Celgene; Forward Pharma; Akros; TG Therapeutics; Abbvie; Rege. Dr. Lublin has received personal compensation in an editorial capacity for Co-Chief Editor of Multiple Sclerosis and Related Disorders. Dr. Lublin has received research support from Research funding from: Biogen Idec; Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp; Teva Neuroscience, Inc.; Genzyme; Sanofi; Celgene; Transparency Life Sciences; NIH; NMSS. Dr. Miller has received personal compensation for consulting, serving on a scientific advisory board, speaking, or other activities with Accordant Health Services (Caremark), Adama, BiogenIdec, Celgene, Genzyme/Sanofi, Mallinckrodt, Mapi-Pharma, Novartis, Roche/Genentech. Dr. Pelle has nothing to disclose. Dr. Pepe has nothing to disclose. Dr. Inglese has nothing to disclose. Dr. Sumowski has nothing to disclose.


Dynamic load lines of InGaP/GaAs Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBTs) were experimentally measured with a load circuit tuned to maximum collector efficiency (/spl eta//sub c/) and maximum gain. The phase relationship between the collector voltage and the collector current depended on the load circuit. The trajectory of the dynamic load line has a non-oval shape for the output power where gain compression heavily occurs.


This study aims to determine the effect of food quality and physical environment on interest in revisiting directly or through consumer satisfaction as a media variable. This research is quantitative research with an explanatory approach (cause and effect). The sample in this study was 100 consumers of Café Gendhis 1928 Semboro which were taken using a probability sampling technique, namely simple random sampling. This study uses multiple linear regression and path analysis with the help of IBM SPSS 26 software. This study has seven hypotheses, six of which are accepted and one is rejected. The results of hypothesis testing indicate that four paths have a significant effect, namely food quality on interest in revisiting by 0.396 with a significance of 0.000, the quality of food on consumer satisfaction is 0.532 with a significance of 0.000, the physical environment to consumer satisfaction is 0.270 with a significance of 0.003 and consumer satisfaction to the interest of revisiting is 0.531 with a significance of 0.000. The results of hypothesis testing indicate that two indirect pathways show a positive influence, namely food quality on interest in revisiting through consumer satisfaction of 0.282 and physical environment on interest in revisiting through consumer satisfaction of 0.143.


Information flow through neural circuits is continuously modified by context-dependent learning. In the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans, pairing specific odors with food deprivation results in aversion to the odor. Here we identify cell-specific mechanisms of insulin/IGF receptor signaling that integrate sensory information with food context during aversive olfactory learning. Using FLP::FRT recombination of an endogenously targeted locus, we show that aversive learning to butanone, an odor sensed only by the AWCON olfactory neuron, requires the insulin/IGF receptor DAF-2 in AWCON. Learning requires an axonally-localized DAF-2c isoform and the insulin receptor substrate (IRS) protein IST-1, and is partly independent of the FoxO transcription factor DAF-16. Food deprivation, the unconditioned stimulus for learning, increases DAF-2 expression post-transcriptionally through an insulin- and ist-1-dependent process. Aversive learning suppresses odor-regulated glutamate release from the AWCON axon in wild-type animals but not in ist-1 mutants, suggesting that insulin signaling drives presynaptic depression to generate an aversive memory.


Thermal instability in a horizontal layer of Walter's (Model B') visco-elastic nanofluid is investigated for more realistic boundary conditions. The flux of volume fraction of nanoparticles is taken to be zero on the isothermal boundaries. The model used for nanofluid incorporates the effect of Brownian diffusion and thermophoresis. Perturbation method, normal mode technique and Galerkin method are used in the solution of the eigenvalue problem. Oscillatory convection has been ruled out for the problem under consideration. The influences of the Lewis number, modified diffusivity ratio and nanoparticle Rayleigh number on the stationary convection are shown both analytically and graphically.


Sub-band Peak Energy Detection (SPED) is a passive sonar detection method that can effectively distinguish two azimuths when the targets' bearings are close. It can improve the bearing resolution of the bearing time recorder (BTR). However, its performance is affected by the beam width and side lobe level of beams. The performance of SPED will be greatly decreased so that it is difficult to detect weak target, especially when the energy of two targets is obvious. In order to solve the problem of detection and estimation of weak targets under the strong interference, an extended band with sub-band peak accumulate detection (E-SPAD) method is proposed based on SPED. Through signal processing of acoustic data from real lake trial, verified that the method can improve the detection ability and the accuracy of the azimuth estimation of weak targets, and further improve the display effect of BTR.


Objective:To construct an insertional mutant of two-component signal transduction system(TCSTS) gene0906-0907 which is located on candidate pathogenicity island 89K of Streptococcus suis serotype 2(SS2) and evaluate its biological activity in order to provide an experimental basis for studying the role of SS2′ putative virulence factors in pathogenesis. Methods: Using genomic DNA of S.suis serotype 2 05ZYH33 as template, 440 bp fragment of response regulators gene0907 of TCSTS gene0906-0907 was amplified as the homologous arm and then cloned into suicide vector pSET4s to construct inactivation plasmid termed pSET4S-P0907. The plasmid pSET4S-P0907 was transformed into wild strain 05ZYH33 and the insertional mutant strain 05ZY0907 in which gene0907 was integrated by the plasmid pSET4S-P0907 was screened. PCR was performed to verify the mutant. Biological characteristics and virulence of mutant strain 05ZY0907 in mice were compared with wild-type strain 05ZTH33. Results and Conclusion: The insertional mutant 05ZY0907 of 89K TCSTS gene0906-0907 was constructed successfully. There are no significant differences in biological characteristics and virulence in mice between mutant strain 05ZY0907 and wild-type strain 05ZTH33.


This article classifies and comments key legal positions of the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation on the issues relating to the general part of the tax law which have been formulated during the first 20 years of the Court's activity (1991-2011).


SCHOLARS WHO STUDY development problems in the less-developed economies generally encounter the complex relationship between manpower development and the educational system. As Everett Hagen has pointed out, a country cannot devise policies for industrial development without long-range education plans for the training of skilled labor.' In most LDC's the situation is often one of over-production of liberal arts and law graduates, and a shortage of engineering and science students. The problem of synchronizing educational policies and manpower needs becomes even more acute during periods of economic recession, such as the world has experienced over the past two to three years. Though unemployment rises due to production cutbacks, universities and secondary schools continue to turn out graduates whose knowledge and skills are not adaptable to those occupations still in demand. In such a situation, a country may be experiencing severe unemployment in a few major industries while confronting serious labor shortages in several others, particularly in public works and infrastructure construction. The educational system will not have been able to adjust its "production" of graduates quickly enough to accommodate the changed demand pattern of the labor market. One country where high unemployment has been masking more serious problems of manpower allocation is the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan. In 1974 and 1975 industrial lay-offs, due in large part to lessened world demand for the island's exports, were exacerbated by a widespread lack of employment opportunities for a large number of high school, vocational school, and university graduates in their chosen fields. Facing an uncertain diplomatic future, and the need to provide youth with a stable cultural, political, and social identity, the government is aware that a lack of employment opportunities for graduates could trigger other social problems.


This paper summarizes the results of a California study to investigate the technical, environmental, and economic viability of using coal-derived fuels for transportation. Since nearly all of California's major urban areas have pollution problems, emphasis is placed on those options which are capable of achieving low exhaust emissions. A broad range of fuels are considered, including solids, gases, and liquids. Methanol, used in heavy-duty engines designed for this fuel, meets California's environmental, economic, and technical requirements for clean coal fuels. The combination has lower exhaust emissions than conventional Diesels -- smoke is eliminated and NO/SUB x/ and CO emissions are reduced. Further, thermal efficiencies comparable or exceeding conventional Diesels are possible. A demonstration of this new technology is now underway. Transit buses will be purchased with the objective of demonstrating alternative methanol engine designs. Economic viability in transit operations will be established.


In semi-arid to arid South-west Morocco, the once ubiquitous endemic argan tree (Argania spinosa) forms the basis of a traditional silvo-pastoral agroforestry system with complex usage rights involving pasturing and tree-browsing by goats, sheep and camels, smallholder agriculture and oil production. Widespread clearing of the open-canopy argan forests has been undertaken in the 12th–17th century for sugarcane production, and again in the 20th century for fuelwood extraction and conversion to commercial agriculture. The remaining argan woodlands have continued to decline due to firewood extraction, charcoal-making, overgrazing and overbrowsing. Soil and vegetation are increasingly being degraded; natural rejuvenation is hindered, and soil-erosion rates rise due to reduced infiltration and increased runoff. Numerous studies indicate that tree density and canopy cover have been generally decreasing for the last 200 years. However, there is little quantitative and spatially explicit information about these forest-cover dynamics.

In our study, the tree-cover change between 1967 and 2019 was analysed for 30 test sites of 1 ha each in argan woodlands of different degradation stages in the provinces of Taroudant, Agadir Ida-Outanane and Chtouka-Aït Baha. We used historical black-and-white satellite photography from the American reconnaissance programme CORONA, recent high-resolution multispectral imagery from the commercial WorldView satellites and ultrahigh resolution small-format aerial photography taken with an unmanned aerial system (UAS) to map the presence, absence and comparative crown-size class of 2610 trees in 1967 and 2019. We supplemented the remotely-sensed data with field observations on tree structure and architecture.

Results show that plant densities reach up to 300 argan trees and shrubs per hectare, and the mean tree density has increased from 58 trees/ha in 1967 to 86 trees/ha in 2019. While 7% of the 1967 trees have vanished today, more than one third of today’s trees could not be observed in 1967. This positive change has a high uncertainty, however, as most of the increase concerns small trees (< 3 m diameter) which might have been missed on the lower-resolution CORONA images.

When combined with our field data on tree architecture, tree count – albeit a parameter easily attained by remote sensing – is revealed as too simple an indicator for argan-forest dynamics, and the first impression of a positive development needs to be revised: The new small trees as well as trees with decreased crown sizes clearly show much stronger degradation characteristics than others, indicating increased pressures on the argan ecosystem during recent decades. Structural traits of the smaller trees also suggest that the apparent increase of tree count is not a result of natural rejuvenation, but mostly of stump re-sprouting, often into multi-stemmed trees, after felling of a tree. The density of the argan forest in the 1960s, prior to the general availability of cooking gas in the region and before the stronger enforcement of the argan logging ban following the declaration of the UNESCO biosphere reserve, may have marked a historic low in our study area, making the baseline of our change analysis far removed from the potential natural state of the argan ecosystem.


In this paper, we investigate a relatively neglected but important aspect of team research, namely team goal commitment or the team member's attachment to the team goal. Specifically, we examine whether the performance effect of team goal commitment is contingent on the level of innovativeness of the team task. Furthermore, we also examine five controllable team-level antecedent factors to team goal commitment. Results provide support for the hypothesis that team goal commitment is related to performance only in teams with highly innovative tasks. Moreover, we find three factors (i.e., constructive task feedback, participative decision-making and small team size) related to team goal commitment. Surprisingly, outcome interdependence and team-external obligations are not related to team goal commitment. Implications for practice and research are discussed.


Before anything else, I would like to thank Raki c, Marshall, and Powell for taking the time to read my article thoroughly, and for engaging with it in a thoughtful way. I would like to respond to each of these thinkers in turn, to the challenges they have raised, and to further clarify my position with respect to what they have proposed. I think all of my comments to follow can be better understood if I make the following propositions explicit: