Surveillance system for tensile and compression in a string (1) driving energy with a large number of links (2) chain interconnected articulately for protected conducting cables, hoses or the like, comprising at least one receiver (10; 90) force for measuring a tensile force or transmitted compression between an element (4) for driving and (3) movable end of the chain driving power, and a control unit (12) evaluation for evaluation of the measurement signals recorded by the force receiver, the receiver (10; 90) being configured with attachment elements for attachment (3) movable end of the chain (1) driving energy to the element (4) for driving and at least one arm (32, 34; 92), which extends essentially transversely to the direction of the tensile force / compression, characterized in that the arm is subjected to a tensile force or compression, acting in the longitudinal direction of the chain driving power to bending and has at least one zone (321, 322; 341, 342) elastically deformable with a sensor (621, 622; 641, 642) assigned to it for the measurement of the deformation caused by the bending and that the receiver (10; 90) of force comprises a first flange (22) formed in one piece with at least one arm (32, 34; 92) having means (23) for fixing the receiver (10; 90) of the force element (4) for driving.


e14623 Background: The use of adjuvant therapy for resectable gastric adenocarcinoma has become standard, after the publication of the Intergroup (INT)-0116 data. The aims of this study are to report the clinical outcomes of adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy after curative resection in 450 patients with gastric cancer.

METHODS
This retrospective analysis included 450 patients from 6 Medical Centers between 2003 and 2009. The patients with resactable gastric cancer and stage IB-IV (M0) and who had completed the adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy were evaluated retrospectively. The patients were treated with 5FU-leucovorin and radiotherapy according to Schema for INT-0116. The survival was calculated with the Kaplan-Meier and life table method. Total overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), 1, 2, 3 and 5-year survivals were determined.

RESULTS
Of 450 patients were 67.8% (n=305) men and 32.2% (145) women, and median age 57 years (range 26-85). According to Lauren classification, intestinal, diffuse and unknown types were 28%, 26.4%, and 45.6%, respectively. According to TNM staging system, T1 and T2 were 29%; T3 and T4 were 70.9 %. N0, 1, 2 and 3 were 14.2%, 42.6%, 35.4% and 7.9%, respectively. Relapse rate was %49.3. Loco regional recurrences rate, distant metastasis and unknown relapse were 13.4%, %24.2 and 62.4 % of the relapsing patients, respectively. In intestinal and diffuse types, DFS medians were 48 and 21 months (p: 0.002) and OS medians were 53 and 22 (p: 0.001), respectively. In T1, T2, T3 and T4 stages, DFS medians were 96, 57, 23, and 19, and OS medians were 96, 73, 26 and 22,respectively (p: 0.001). In N0, 1, 2 and 3 stages, DFS medians were 78, 36, 26, and 9, and OS medians were 72, 37, 28 and 15, respectively (p: 0.001). For all patients, the medians of OS and DFS were 34.4 and 33.1 months, and OS rates were 82%, 62%, 48%, 35%, and DFS rates was 74%- 57%-43%-32% in 1, 2, 3 and 5-year, respectively.

CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that OS and DFS results were similar to the results of INT-0116 and adjuvant chemo-radiotherapy is still standard treatment in patients with operable gastric cancer.


This paper presents a source code transformation technique based on value profiling for energy-efficient system design. This technique reduces the computational effort of the program by specializing it for highly expected situations. Thus, the processor running the optimized program can be shutdown or slowed down for energy saving without performance degradation. The value profiler observes parameters passed to the procedures during profiling and detects semi-static parameters which are highly probable to have the same values whenever they are passed to the procedures. According to this information, procedures are specialized for the observed values using a partial evaluator. The corresponding procedure call in the original source code is replaced by a conditional statement which selects either the original procedure call or the specialized procedure call according to the values of the observed parameters. Experimental results show that the proposed technique improves the energy efficiency of the source code up to more than 2 times over the original code.


Abstract Temperate headwater streams with closed canopies rely on inputs of terrestrially derived organic matter to provide the major energy basis for their food webs. Microbial colonization, or conditioning, makes leaf litter more nutritional and palatable to stream detritivores, but few studies have investigated the relative importance of litter source to macroshredders in tropical streams. We determined the source (terrestrial, aquatic, or aerial), quantity, and species composition of allochthonous inputs into the Quebrada Prieta, a tropical headwater stream in Puerto Rico, as a first step toward understanding the importance of conditioning history to rates of tropical leaf-litter processing by decapod consumers. Fresh leaves of 4 common species of leaves were treated by exposing them to different conditions for 2 wk. These exposure treatments (conditioning histories) represented routes by which leaves might enter streams and included submersion (aquatic input), incubation on the streambank soil (terrestrial input), and suspension above the ground (aerial input). Conditioned leaves were placed in small experimental microcosms with or without shrimp (Xiphocariselongata) for 20 d. Shrimp significantly increased the rate of decomposition of all leaf species independent of conditioning history. Conditioning history had little effect on breakdown rates independent of the presence of shrimp. One species (Roureasurinamensis) had faster mass loss when the leaves were conditioned as aquatic inputs rather than as terrestrial or aerial inputs. Our results indicate that conditioning history has little effect on the ability of some macroconsumers to alter detrital foodweb dynamics in tropical streams. Tropical stream ecosystems may function differently from temperate ecosystems because of the dominance of large detritivores such as shrimps.


The study involved 10 children aged 8 to 12 years with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Combinations of physical exercises were used, for the main muscle groups, and effects on the tactile, proprioceptive and vestibular sensory systems. The exercises are performed using the shells of the sensory-dynamic hall, which includes a number of various suspended modular elements. The data obtained showed the effectiveness of using sensory-motor correction to improve motor functions, normalize motor and vestibular sensitivity, form muscle feeling and differentiate muscle efforts, form and correct visual-motor coordination and attention.
Key words: autism spectrum disorders, sensory integration, sensory-motor correction, sensory-dynamic hall.


The research aims to determine the effect of knowledge of taxation on taxpayer compliance with taxpayer awareness as a mediating variable. The analysis technique used is path analysis using SPSS software. The research population was individual taxpayers registered at North Badung KPP Pratama totaling 101,577 taxpayers and 100 people as a sample. The sampling method is using the nonprobability sampling method. Data collection method by distributing questionnaires to 100 individual taxpayers. The results of the study stated that knowledge of taxation had an effect on taxpayer awareness, taxpayer awareness had an effect on taxpayer compliance, and knowledge of taxation had had an effect on taxpayer compliance, while taxpayer awareness could not mediate the influence of tax knowledge on taxpayer compliance.
Keywords: Tax Knowledge; Taxpayer Compliance; Taxpayer Awareness.


The fundamental intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) deployment problem is studied for IRS-aided downlink multi-user communication system, where IRSs are arranged to be deployed in a specific area for enhancing the desired signal and suppressing interference. Specifically, we aim to maximize the minimum achievable rate over all locations in a specific area by jointly optimizing the transmit beamforming at the access point (AP) as well as the placement and reflective beamforming at the IRS. The formulated problem is non-convex and thus difficult to be solved directly. To draw essential insights, we first consider the single-user case and the optimal solution is derived in closed-form. The result shows that the optimal locations are in the connecting line between the AP and user, and the IRSs can be optimally deployed along the connecting line. Besides, a hybrid offline and online design scheme is developed for the multi-user case, where an area discretization strategy and deep neural network (DNN)-based curve fitting technique are proposed for optimizing the IRS locations in the offline manner. Then, an online iterative algorithm is presented to solve the transmit and received beamformig vectors, respectively. Numerical results show that the performance gain is increased by optimizing the IRS locations.


MATERIALS & METHODS
Fifty-one novel 12N-substituted matrinic acid derivatives were synthesized and evaluated for their anti-coxsackievirus B3 activities.

RESULTS
Structure-activity relationship studies revealed that the 11-side chain could be determinant for the selectivity index by adjusting overall lipophilicity, and 11-butane was the best one for both potency and druggability. The optimized 35d showed the broad-spectrum anti-coxsackieviruse effects, an excellent pharmacokinetics and a good safety profile. More importantly, it displayed a potential effect for the pleconaril-resistant coxsackievirus B3 as well. Its mode of action is targeting on the viral transcription and translation stage, a different mechanism from that of pleconaril.

CONCLUSION
Thus, we considered that 35d is a promising anti-enteroviral candidate for the treatment of various diseases infected with coxsackieviruses.


Experimental data on the creation of ionization unstable gas discharge plasma with large-scaled and small-scaled ionisation strata are presented. The redistribution of kinetic and internal energy between a stratified energy source and the area behind a shock wave is numerically studied on the base of the system of Navier-Stokes equations. Generation of the Richtmyer-Meshkov instabilities at many points is obtained which bend the shock wave front and, in some cases, completely destroy it (in density fields). The influence of heat conductivity on the obtained flow structures has been studied. For viscous heat conducting medium it was established the possibility to obtain local high energy zones behind the shock wave with values of energies several times higher than those for a non-stratified energy source with the same total energy. The values of energies in these zones were shown to be possibly controlled via the rarefaction parameter/temperature of a gas in the layers of a stratified energy source or by its geometry.


The intelligent vehicle highway systems (IVHS) movement has attracted investments from a vast number of organizations, including federal government, automotive companies, aerospace companies, and a spectrum of high-tech companies. Today, IVHS is reaching a state of maturity where commercial products are becoming available, and research is continuing across a vast spectrum of technologies. In this paper, the market for IVHS products is assessed from a research perspective. Ultimately, this market depends on the benefits that accrue to individuals, businesses and government. With the huge number of companies already developing products, only a small percentage are destined to prosper. Those that do succeed will possess a thorough understanding of the costs and benefits associated with launching products into the competitive IVHS marketplace. Research can provide this understanding.


This paper researches on the World Horticultural Exposition's influences on Xi'an economic development mode transformation in three steps including comprehensive analysis, metric analysis and comparison analysis, and from three aspects including demand structure, industrial structure, and the efficiency of factor input. The result proves that the World Horticultural Exposition has greatly promoted the transformation of Xi'an economic development mode; moreover it has increasing positive influences year by year. Study also shows that it has remarkable influence on indexes of Xi'an economic development mode transformation except for the capital to labor ratio. To learn from Xi'an, other cities can hold national and international events, and take the opportunities to promote its own economic development mode transformation. Xi'an can take the World Horticultural Exposition as a good chance to apply for the State Comprehensive Reform and Experimental Area.


From the Publisher:
The need to support multimedia in ODP environments in a major challenge when setting up such networks. This book has been written specifically to address the problems of supporting multimedia applications, such as desktop conferencing, multimedia email, video on-demand systems and virtual reality environments, in ODP standards and platforms.
This book provides
an introduction to the field of ODP, with detailed descriptions of ISO's, RM-ODP, OMG's, CORBA and Open Group's DCE a description of the requirements of distributed multimedia applications (in terms of support for continuous media, quality of service, real-time synchronization and mutliparty communications) an evaluation of these ODP platforms with respect to their support for multimedia a detailed description of an architecture for ODP standards and platforms supporting multimedia a description of two proof-of-concept demonstrators focusing on the programming model and on engineering support

This book is based on the research generated by teh SUMO project, a collaboration between Centre Nationale d'Etudes Telecommunications (CNET) France and Telecom at Issy les Molineaux, France, and Lancaster University in the UK.

0201177943B04062001


In frames of the study given to the Agricultural Market Agency (ARR), Agency for Restructuring and Modernisation of Agriculture (ARiMR) and The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development was described a degree of integration of Polish farmers, In the form of producer's groups, under the account of individual provinces and direction of conducted activity. They proved that a goods-ness of households, market conditioning and available forms of the support were a substantial condition for the development of cooperation – for example action ,,Forming groups of farming producer's as part of the Rural Development Programme (PROW).


The diploma thesis deals with job satisfaction in employees at Reginal Social Security Administration in Zlin. The diploma thesis is divided into a theoretical and a practical part. The first chapter deals with the psychology of work. The main, second chapter focuses on job satisfaction. This chapter provides an overview of basic theory and a description of the various factors of job satisfaction. This chapter also describes the results of job dissatisfaction and measurement of job satisfaction. Final part provides a description of the Czech Social Security Administration. The practical part presents a survey of a level of job satisfaction in employees at Reginal Social Security Administration in Zlin.


Microwave devices based on tunable materials are of vigorous current interest. Typical applications include phase shifters, antenna beam steering, filters, voltage controlled oscillators, matching networks, and tunable power splitters. The objective of this review is to assist in the material selection process for various applications in the microwave regime considering response time, required level of tunability, operating temperature, and loss tangent. The performance of a variety of material types are compared, including ferroelectric ceramics, polymers, and liquid crystals. Particular attention is given to ferroelectric materials as they are the most promising candidates when response time, dielectric loss, and tunability are important. However, polymers and liquid crystals are emerging as potential candidates for a number of new applications, offering mechanical flexibility, lower weight, and lower tuning voltages.


A die seat device used for wire-drawing. The die seat device comprises a die seat body (33) having a die seat hole (46). A drawing die (41) is mounted in the die seat hole (46). A lubricating material storage slot (31) is disposed on the die seat body (33) at the entrance end of the drawing die (41). A die seat cooling cavity is disposed on the die seat body (33). A cooling liquid outlet (38) and a cooling liquid inlet (39) are in communication with the die seat cooling cavity. In the device, a cooling liquid channel, the drawing die, and the lubricating material storage slot (31) are isolated from one another, and no leakage occurs. The device improves the cooling and lubricating effects. Products produced by using the device have high quality.


Th e method of processing of the hernial sac at indirect inguinal hernia is off ered. It can be used at the expressed cicatricial process and strong fi xing of a hernial sac in tissues of spermatic cord. At this method a hernial sac do not delete. In this article the technics of operation is in detail stated. By the off ered technique 31 operations are executed. In all cases of postoperating complications it is noted. Remote results were investigated within the period of 2,5 years.


This article describes an ongoing interdisciplinary research study1 with community-dwelling people living with dementia. The article focuses on one person living with dementia, her family and support group. Seven people were interviewed and their stories woven into one narrative. Our interest is in her self-identity, which we explore through a participatory story-telling approach. In gathering stories with all people who are significant in her life we have observed that what is driving the stories is an ethical imperative that is shared across her social network. We have described this as an imperative to `curate' her self-identity. `Curation' combines telling `about', `for' and potentially `with' the person living with dementia in interactions which reproduce and reconfirm her self-identity. We propose that the notion of curation offers a way in which people, research participants, significant others and health care professionals, can think differently about living with dementia. In particular, we argue that curation enables the person to be acknowledged in interaction as an individual with a coherent, evolving identity which spans past, present and future.


The diagnosis method of the invention implements a membrane pump to set an overpressure in the fuel vapor recovery system. According to the invention, after measuring a first time (TM1) for a membrane of the leak detection pump to pass from a high position (H) to a predetermined position (S), a predetermined pressure (P1) is maintained in the system while waiting for the drain valve to open. Then, a second time (TM2, TM'2) is measured for the membrane to pass from the high position (H) to the predetermined position (S) during the opening of the drain valve. The first and second times are compared and if the second time (TM2) is substantially lower than the first time (TM1), it can be ascertained that the drain valve is operating properly. The present invention relates more particularly to the motor vehicle industry.


This paper examines the determinants of convention site selection with experimental data. The meetings and conventions industry is becoming more...


The CEEC share of Irish exports has grown fivefold since transition began, with export sales expanding in all sectors. Even at current income levels there remains scope for a further doubling of exports, and trade will grow even more substantially if accession facilitates the CEEC in converging more rapidly on EU living standards. Copyright Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2004.


Current general aviation light aircraft are powered by engines that were originally designed in the 1940's. This paper gives a brief history of light aircraft engine development, explaining why the air-cooled, horizontally opposed piston engine became the dominant engine for this class of aircraft. Current engines are fairly efficient, and their designs have been updated through the years, but their basic design and operational characteristics are archaic in comparison to modem engine designs, such as those used in the automotive industry. There have been some innovative engine developments, but in general they have not been commercially successful. This paper gives some insight into the reasons for this lack of success. There is now renewed interest in developing modem propulsion systems for light aircraft, in the fore-front of which is NASA's General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program. This paper gives an overview of the engines being developed in the GAP program, what they will mean to the general aviation community, and why NASA and its industry partners believe that these new engine developments will bring about a new era in general aviation light aircraft.


Pozzolanes are mineral additives that have been widely used in concrete production recently. The main purposes of pozzolana additives used in concrete are to provide economy and improve various properties of concrete. In this study, obsidian mineral which located in Pasinler District of Erzurum Province and has high amount of reserves in the world with high silica content, and zinc slag which occurring during the production of zinc metal, in the metal industry mainly in Turkey and high production capacity in the world, pozzolanic properties has been investigated. For the pozzolanic activity test, mortar samples were produced by using 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25% obsidian; 2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10% zinc slag instead of cement. Samples produced for the determination of pozzolanic activity index were kept at 7 and 28 - days standard cure. At the end of the curing period, pozzolanic activity indexes were determined on the basis of compressive strength. As a result of the pozzolanic activity test, the highest pozzolanic activity value was obtained at the rate of 15% for obsidian and 5% for zinc slag. When the results are examined, it is determined that both materials can be used as pozzolan instead of cement.


In this paper, we described the use of Building Information Modeling methods for urban analysis. This purpose has been usually established by Geographic Information Systems however the development of Computer-Aided Design software made it possible to analyse large areas or parts of cities with the help of BIM models. This study focuses on the assessment of prefabricated large-panel buildings in the garden city of Pécs, in Hungary. The goal was to determine a building selection method according to the integrity of the area. We took into consideration infrastructural facilities, spatial position of shops, bus stations, and educational institutions compared to the locations of selected buildings. This approach supported the determination of potential inherent in renovations. The research consisted of three main stages: BIM model production methods and procedures, use of algorithm-based workflows during data import and spatial analysis, and quantification and eval uation of generated information. Due to the high complexity of Architectural, Engineering, and Construction projects and new digitalized methods, the use of algorithms and BIM models has been the fastest growing part of the industry in the past few years. This combination can support logical examinations and calculations between 3D and 2D information. The generated final results derived from locations made it possible to evaluate prospective renovations. The presented methodologies can be used in the case of other types of buildings and can support the decisions during the delivery of assets.


Background Obesity is a common risk factor for several diseases. Obesity related hormone and increased insulin resistance (IR) may contribute to the effects of obstructive sleep apnoea on cardiovascular consequences. We investigated ghrelin and IR in non‐diabetic apnoeic patients with stable coronary heart disease and assessed the effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Methods Plasma ghrelin, glucose and insulin were measured in 22 patients with CPAP and 22 matched controls without CPAP at baseline and three months. Indexes including homeostasis model assessment IR (HOMA IR), HOMA S and HOMA &bgr; were calculated for the assessment of IR, insulin sensitivity and pancreatic &bgr; cell function. Results At three months follow‐up, plasma ghrelin levels and HOMA IR in CPAP group were significantly decreased (P=0.002 and 0.046, respectively) while those in control group increased significantly (P=0.012 and 0.009, respectively). Significant moderate correlations were found between ghrelin vs. HOMA IR and ghrelin vs. HOMA S after CPAP, however, for those without CPAP, no significant associations were observed. Conclusions Short‐term effective continuous positive airway pressure had a significant effect on lowering plasma ghrelin levels and IR, but not body fat. Further large scale and longer term studies are warranted to corroborate these findings.


Abstract Williamsidinium banksianum, a new fossil peridinioid dinoflagellate cyst is described from the Maastrichtian of Banks Island, N.W.T., Canada. The genus is distinguished by a combination archeopyle type 3 IP@ which has not been previously described. A new symbol "@"; is designated for use in the archeopyle formula to show attachment of plates involved in archeopyle formation.


Ab initio calculation starting from the bare nuclear interactions is one of recent major theoretical subjects in nuclear physics. One hopes to understand the property of nuclei based on the nuclear forces against the background of the progress of the fundamental understanding of bare nuclear interactions and the study of unstable nuclei far from the beta stable line, which are expected to have structures different from stable nuclei. Nowadays, one can obtain the three-, four-, or few-bodywave functions starting from the bare Hamiltonian by applying many kinds of few-body exact methods (Kamada et al., 2001). It is difficult to apply such methods directly to heavier nuclei in viewpoint of computational costs at this stage, therefore, in many of ab initio approaches, the effective interaction is constructed based on the bare interaction by applying, for example, the unitary correlated operator method (UCOM) (Neff & Feldmeier, 2004) and so on. As one of remarkable achievements in ab initio approaches, the quantum Monte Carlo method (Wiringa et al., 2000) has presented the appearance of the two-alpha (4He) cluster structure in 8Be starting from the bare interactions. That suggests that one has the ability to discuss cluster structures based on the bare nuclear forces.


Social networks tend to shape our views about the world. Our study conducts an empirical analysis of social network dynamics using Twitter data. We ask whether social networks influence voting decisions, and determine whether or not people vote 'correctly' based on their tweets or what they believe. We collect Twitter data on a daily basis, with dynamic social network measurements before, during, and after the 2012 Presidential election. We identify how people 'should' vote based on their ideological profiles. We use lexicographical analysis to check if ideological key words are present in a user's tweets, and if the overall sentiment on this issue is positive or negative. We utilize this data to determine how people should have voted, an outcome which may conflict with an individual's verbal declaration of political ideology. We are able to determine what percentage of the population voted 'correctly' in the last election. Additionally, we examine the social network structure in Twitter and how it affects voting. We show that an individual's political ideology is influenced by others in their network.


Digitization will continue to occur so that the digital economy will later become the main pillar of the economy in Indonesia. The rapid growth of e-marketplaces in Indonesia is expected to spur entrepreneurs to be more innovative. This certainly opens up opportunities for micro and macro economic actors to start businesses more easily. The e-marketplace that has proven its rapid development is Shopee, where Shopee ranks first in the e-marketplace with the most visits. This study aims to test the implementation of the influence of celebrity endorsers, service features, and promotions on shopee e-marketplace buying interest. . This study uses a quantitative approach, with the SPSS 20 research method. In this study, the population is the 2018 Muhammadiyah University of Gresik management study program using 137 samples obtained from students who are interested in buying at the e-marketplace shopee. The test was carried out using multiple linear regression. The regression results show that celebrity endorsers affect buying interest, service features affect buying interest, and promotions affect buying interest. This study has limitations when distributing questionnaires to several respondents.


Consistency regularization-based methods are prevalent in semi-supervised learning (SSL) algorithms due to their exceptional performance. However, they mainly depend on domain-specific data augmentations, which are not usable in domains where data augmentations are less practicable. On the other hand, Pseudo-labeling (PL) is a general and domain-agnostic SSL approach that, unlike consistency regularization-based methods, does not rely on the domain. PL underperforms due to the erroneous high-confidence predictions from poorly calibrated models. This paper proposes an uncertainty-aware pseudo-label selection framework that employs uncertainty sets yielded by the conformal regularization algorithm to fix the poor calibration neural networks, reducing noisy training data. The codes of this work are available at: https://github.com/matinmoezzi/ups conformal classification


Compared with the normal bituminous concrete,the rubber bituminous concrete has better high-temperature stability and anti-rutting ability.Through studying a design of road re-building using rubber asphalt concrete at Suining city of Sichuan province,the article briefly discussed the design principles,the damage treatment of the old road,the demand of raw material and the gradation of rubber asphalt concrete;lastly,the article also discussed the points for attention in construction.


The overall objective of this study was to assess the factors influencing the extent of integration of social determinants of health (SDH) into clinical practice in hospitals in Uganda. This was cross-sectional. Data was collected from 1042 health workers using a self-administered questionnaire. The factors influencing integration were elucidated using multiple regression modeling. The final model of the influencing factors contained the factor domains health worker confidence, hospital environment, health worker attitude, adoption level for strategies of integration, disease characteristics, and accreditation to the Nurses and Midwives Council. The study successfully elucidated the model for factors influencing the integration of social determinants into clinical practice. The findings have educational, practice, administrative, and policy implications. The multi-method approach was used to limit social desirability bias among health workers; however, the study did not adjust for carry-over effects arising from health workers who were also practicing in private clinics and medical centres. Keywords: Clinical practice; Factors, Integration; Social determinants.


ABSTRACT Russia's aggression against Ukraine has forced the greatest a re-appraisal of European security since the end of the Cold War. In the Nordic region, this has led to preparations for great power armed conflict in the region after a long period of strategic neglect. All three of the Nordic states examined here, Finland, Sweden and Norway, have adopted so called total defence policies. Total defence combines the armed forces and civil society in a comprehensive whole of society approach to security intended to deter an attack by making a target state a very challenging prospect for an aggressor. Finland retained a total defence policy after the Cold War, but has had to re-examine its utility for the contemporary threat environment. For Norway and Sweden, total defence means significant challenges reviving Cold War era planning in a very different security and societal context. This study examines current Nordic security concepts through the critical, elements of total defence policies: national resilience and territorial defence. It also addresses the role that alliances and partnerships play in contemporary Nordic total defence planning. An important question is the extent to which these total defence concepts effectively address the perceived political and military threat from Russia.


Indonesia one of the country with the fastest e-commerce growth in 78% of the world, demanding an unavoidable tight e-commerce business competition, thus encouraging some e-commerce to increase promotion and assessment from customers to be more attractive. The convenience offered by e-commerce attracts consumers to move from offline shopping to online shopping. Many factors influence consumers to switch from offline to online shopping, one of it is online customer reviews and sales promotions. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of online customer reviews and sales promotions on purchasing decisions at the Bukalapak marketplace. The sample of this study was 99 respondents who were measured using Partial Least Square (PLS) analysis. The results of this study indicate that online customer reviews and sales promotions have a positive and significant effect on buying decisions.


Amorphous calcium phosphate (ACP) is a metastable precursor phase for bone formation, and it can transform into the thermodynamic stable mineral phase, hydroxyapatite (HAP, the main inorganic phase in bone), under physiological conditions. In a biological system, it has been documented that Mg2+ can effectively stabilize ACP to ensure a regulation of biomineralization kinetics. In this study, we investigate the effect of another alkaline earth metal ion, Sr2+, on ACP stabilization. Although Sr2+ plays an important role in bone formation, its mechanism is poorly understood. We find that Sr2+ itself has less stabilization effect on ACP in comparison with Mg2+. However, the presence of Sr2+ can significantly enhance the stabilization of Mg2+ on ACP due to a synergic effect. The chemical analysis reveals more Mg2+ should be excluded from ACP to initiate the crystallization of HAP when Sr2+ ions coexist in the amorphous phase. This change results in additional energy barriers for the solid phase transformation...


This paper describes Luxembourg's strategy "Digital (4) Education" by the Ministry of Education, Children and Youth to leverage learning to the 21st century. It is divided into three areas: media literacy, educational technologies, and promotion of STEM. The strategy is embedded into the overarching national strategy "Digital Luxembourg" which is the governmental programme to transform the country into an IT nation.


The intensive pollution of vast areas after the Chernobyl accident, especially in the territories of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, has not only become a serious environmental issue, but also presents wide methodological opportunities for studying the functioning of natural systems. The proposed work is a generalization of the results of studies on the migration of 137Cs in the runoff of river sediments, which were carried out in the basin of the Upa River for over 30 years after the accident. This basin is one of the most radioactively contaminated and studied in Central Russia. Over the past three decades, under the conditions of the decreasing snowmelt runoff in the spring and reduced share of cultivated land over the post-Soviet period, the intensity of the 137Cs transfer has decreased. The 137Cs deposit losses associated with erosion activities do not exceed a few percent. Most of the mobilized sediments and sediment-associated radionuclides accumulate in dry valleys or artificial reservoirs. With a general reduction in the durations of floods, rivers have become the predominant channels for the transfer of sediment yield and particulate pollutants. The exploration of the vertical distribution of the 137Cs in the accumulative strata makes it possible to identify the changes in the sediment budgets of the rivers and their radioecological consequences.


This thesis project was carried out by two students on behalf of SMA Mineral AB, which owns the lime plant in Rattvik, where there was need to establish a sampling method for the local quick lime p ...


In this paper, we study the beam equation with weak damping in n-dimensional space. In the case of time-dependent periodic external force imposed, we prove the existence and uniqueness of time periodic solutions that have the same period as the time-dependent periodic external force in some suitable function space for all space dimensions n ≥ 1. The proof is based on the spectral analysis for the solution operators and the contraction mapping theorem. Moreover, we show the time asymptotic stability of time periodic solutions by continuous argument.In this paper, we study the beam equation with weak damping in n-dimensional space. In the case of time-dependent periodic external force imposed, we prove the existence and uniqueness of time periodic solutions that have the same period as the time-dependent periodic external force in some suitable function space for all space dimensions n ≥ 1. The proof is based on the spectral analysis for the solution operators and the contraction mapping theorem. Moreover, we show the time asymptotic stability of time periodic solutions by continuous argument.


E-mentoring offers an alternative way to connect individuals with mentors. In my work here, management students were paired with working professionals for a semester to ask questions about the rele...


1'. An increasingly technical agriculture and an increasingly complex society suggest that in agronomic training increased emphasis should be placed upon (1) the physical and biological sciences (2) social sciences and humanities and (3) economics and business. 11. Additional time required for this could be obtained by the elimination of duplication and some applied courses. 111. IV. Motivation of the student to acquire this sound education and to develop personal competence and pride in the profession is the joint responsibility of staff and student and is more easily accomplished when there are good relations between the two. Thus it seemed appropriate to devote our Golden Anniversary Program to discussing areas which should be emphasized in our educational programs to more adequately prepare our graduates for the future. Four papers are presented on this subject-two by students in Agronomy and two by those professionally employed in the field. They present a number of interesting and important aspects and ideas which deserve serious consideration for the improvement of Agronomic Education for the future agronomist.


This text is based on the analysis of the basic policies, methods and experiences that some advanced countries have in developing their optoelectronic industry,such as Japan,U.S.and Europe.Thinking of the developing conditions of China's optoelectronic industry, we bring forward that we might push the speedy development of our optoelectronic industry by industrialization,man orientation, internationalization, integration and breeding of agency organization.


The Agency Effectiveness Study explores a wide range of the daily concerns faced by competition agency heads and their staff, with an emphasis on the formal and informal ways in which they are addressed. Managing and operating a competition agency is very much a process of learning-by-doing. The aim of the study is, therefore, to capture and make available the know-how that competition agency officials accumulate during their service. In particular, it aims to provide a candid account of the practical challenges encountered and solved by heads of agencies and their staff as they navigate through changing legal, social, political, and organizational landscapes.As part of the study, current and former agency heads and competition law officials, of both young and more established agencies, were interviewed and asked for their views on a wide range of topics linked to agency effectiveness. A qualitative method was adopted to capture the knowledge and first-hand experience of competition officials. The data were collected through both face-to-face interviews and questionnaires with the aim of exploring practical, managerial, and structural challenges, which may influence an agency's effectiveness. (Less)


Selected recent research progress of KSTAR is discussed on accessing to long-pulse, steady-state discharges. A brief summary of strategies on the magnetic control required for the establishment of various stable discharges. Based on a discovery of pulse scenarios with highly non-inductive current drives, demonstrations of more than 1-minute long pulses are done repeatedly. Physics of fast ion transport explained a cause of hotspot generations on the outboard poloidal limiters, as well as practical methods of avoiding the excessive heat-load.


It is no secret that India is in the midst of a real public health emergency, as far as Tuberculosis is concerned. We are world number one in Incidence of TB cases (28 lakhs/ annum, 27% of global), TB related deaths (4.8 lakhs/ annum, 37% of global), Drug-resistant TB (5.6 lakhs/ annum, 25% of global) and gap in identification of new cases (10 lakhs/ annum, 26% of global and 36% of estimated cases within India. We also come a close second in terms of HIV associated TB and to top it all, the high levels of malnutrition, diabetes, smoking, alcohol use, and high latent TB infection (23%) increases our life-time risk of TB to 15%.1


The ability to track who one tells information to (target monitoring) is evaluated in the present study. Participants shared personal information with target persons across four sessions spaced one day apart, and were instructed not to duplicate information to the same person over successive conversations. Target monitoring success was evaluated both on-line, during the information sharing sessions, and retrospectively, following the final session. On-line monitoring, or avoiding telling someone what you told them before, was very good with only one prior shared fact (Sessions 2 and 3), but declined with two prior shared facts (Session 4). Retrospective monitoring, or remembering prior fact-to-person assignments, was most accurate for Session 1, but dropped off sharply for Session 2 and remained constant through Session 4. Temporal errors in retrospective fact-to-person assignment tend to shift forward in days (telescoping). Further research is needed on the complex interrelationship of source and target information exchanges. Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Significant effort has been made in recent years to improve the Doped Fiber amplifier gain and noise figure. Extend the optical bandwidth of doped fiber amplifiers beyond the traditional 1550nm band, making the excellent EDFA characteristics available in a wider spectral region also was the main effort in optical amplifier fields. Several techniques have been developed to improve gain and shift the gain to the shorter wavelength region. In this chapter, the effects of external perturbation such as macro-bending and fiber length and internal perturbation such as transversal distribution profile and doped concentration on doped fiber performance have been demonstrated (S.D.Emami et al., 2010). A macro-bending approach is demonstrated to increase a gain and noise figure at a shorter wavelength region of EDFA. The conventional double-pass configuration is used for the EDFA to obtain a higher gain with a shorter length and lower pump power. The macrobending suppresses the ASE at longer wavelength to achieve a higher population inversion at shorter wavelengths. Without the bending, the peak ASE at 1530nm, which is a few times higher than the ASE at the shorter wavelength, would deplete the population inversion and suppresses the gain in this region. Macro-bending is introduced as a new method to increase gain flatness and bandwidth of EDFA in C-band region. Varying the bending radius and doped fiber length leads to the optimized condition with flatter and broader gain profile. Under the optimized condition, gain at shorter wavelengths is increased due to increment of population inversion which results in gain reduction in the longer wavelength regions. The balance of these two effects in the optimized condition has a significant result in achieving a flattened and broadened gain profile. This technique is also capable to compensate the fluctuation in operating temperatures due to proportional temperature sensitivity of absorption cross section and bending loss of the aluminosilicate EDF . This new approach can be used to design a temperature insensitive EDFA for application in a real optical communication system which operates at different environments but still maintaining the gain characteristic regardless of temperature variations. The effect of macro-bending on high concentration EDFA using optimized


A new class of core-collapse supernovae (SNe) has been discovered in recent years by optical/infrared surveys; these SNe suggest the presence of one or more extremely dense (~10^5-10^11 cm^-3) shells of circumstellar material (CSM) on 10^2-10^4 AU scales. We consider the collisions of the SN ejecta with these massive CSM shells as potential cosmic-ray (CR) accelerators. If ~10% of the SN energy goes into CRs, multi-TeV neutrinos and/or GeV-TeV gamma rays almost simultaneous with the optical/infrared light curves are detectable for SNe at <20-30 Mpc. A new type of coordinated multi-messenger search for such transients of duration ~1 - 10 months is required; these may give important clues to the physical origin of such SNe and to CR acceleration mechanisms.


This is the most enjoyable, glamorous and gripping of all 19th-century autobiographies - a tumultuous account of France hit by wave after wave of revolutions. Memoirs from Beyond the Tomb is the greatest and most influential of all French autobiographies - an extraordinary, highly entertaining account of a uniquely adventurous and frenzied life. Chateaubriand gives a superb narrative of the major events of his life - which spanned the French Revolution, the Napoleonic Era and the uneasy period that led up to the Revolution of 1830.


The article considers the organization of urban and rural space in terms of their friendliness towards children and adolescents. The spatial characteristics of places, their assessment is studied in line with a new interdisciplinary direction - the geography of childhood, formed at the intersection of humanitarian geography and social studies of childhood. To collect empirical data, an essay method was chosen that provides children with the opportunity to describe their favorite place in the city. In total, 140 compositions were collected by schoolchildren aged 9–17 from the cities of Komsomolsk-on-Amur, Astrakhan, Kaliningrad, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Cheremkhovo and the village of Dolgorukovo. The presented locations differ in their size, remoteness from the European part of Russia and the socio-economic opportunities for organizing space for children. Through geographical essays of children, which described their favorite places, the problems of studying the territory of residence in terms of spatial, socio-economic and subjective characteristics were solved.


Development of oil industry as one of the modern strategies to deal with poverty and unemployment along with activities such as agriculture and manufacturing industries in villages can be an important strategy for the development of village and prevention of rural migration to cities. The aim of this research was investigation of the effects of oil exploration on rural resident welfare (Lavan Island). The research was conducted in the form of a survey study. The population of the study included two sectors: the managers and rural residents in Lavan Island. The necessary data for this research were collected from by 135 (with the use of Cochran formula) rural residents in Lavan Island, they were sampled by using a random sampling method. The reliability of questionnaire was calculated by Cronbach Alpha coefficient for different sections after conducting a pilot study for each structure separately calculated: economic factor 0.96, social - 0.944, and culture - 0.928, respectively. The results of this research showed that the oil industry could improve the rural development process in rural areas: improve the employment, education, family relationship, and better access to water and electricity. The factor analysis results showed that the positive effects of oil industry development could be: economic, social, cultural, and physical factors. These four factors have explained 62% of total variance.


The International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Modern Technologies 2020 (MEMT 2020) 26-30 October 2020 Tomsk, Russia The International Conference on Mechanical Engineering and Modern Technologies 2020 (MEMT 2020) was held at Tomsk Polytechnic University, Tomsk. Russia on October 26–30, 2020. MEMT 2020 is a scientific forum where researchers, students and industry professionals exchange ideas, share experience and discuss technical issues in the field of mechanical engineering, material sciences, modelling The conference was organized partially by personal attendance of participants as well as virtually using Internet communication technologies (Zoom). The conference attendance was organized in compliance with all sanitary standards and safety requirements. The majority of participants attended the Conference personally. It is worth noting that the option of virtual participation allowed expanding significantly the geography and increasing the number of participants. The conference program included as well Online Tutorial Workshop "Advanced Production Technologies", Round Table "Implementation of Technical Disciplines Using Remote Educational Resources" and the workshop for young scientists "Modern Technologies and Equipment". The representatives of such companies as Ariel Corporation, The sessions covered the following topics: • Machine and mechanisms reliability; • Electrical engineering and mechatronics; • New manufacturing technology; • Materials science and nanotechnology in mechanic engineering; • Automation and modeling of engineering processes; • Industrial safety; • Design in mechanic engineering. We appreciate contributions from all participants of MEMT 2020. We also want to thank sponsors for the financial support and Program Committee members for their efforts in organization and holding of the MEMT 2020 Conference. List of ORGANIZING COMMITTEE, PROGRAMME COMMITTEE are available in this pdf.


Introduction Resilience has been defined as the manifestation of positive outcomes in the face of some form of adversity (Luthar et al., 2000; Masten, 2001), poverty being one such adversity. Poverty, "the state or condition of having little or no money, goods, or means of support," has meaning in both relative and absolute terms. Those who are defined as poor in an affluent country like the USA may not seem impoverished, on a more absolute basis, compared with those living in extreme poverty in regions such as sub-Saharan Africa. Nonetheless, individuals who are poor in a more relative sense may still experience significant distress through the comparative wealth they see around them. Poverty in developed countries indexes a range of social ills that extend beyond the absolute or relative lack of money and goods. Crowded living conditions, community and family violence, drug trafficking, high crime rates, a weaker civil infrastructure, and higher prevalence rates of mental and substance use disorders are issues that are more commonly found in poor communities. These social conditions are better able to fester in impoverished settings and can feed on themselves, creating a downward spiral or "vicious circle," wherein one problem provokes the emergence or worsening of another. For example, a high crime rate in a neighborhood may lead to businesses deciding to avoid it as a place of investment, leading to higher unemployment and further crime in that area.


JASCO Applied Sciences has developed a novel passive acoustic monitoring system, the OceanObserverTM, that has been fielded in undersea and surface AUVs as well as on buoys and sub-sea observatories. The hardware is based on the Zynq system-on-a-chip (SoC), which features a large field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and two ARM processing cores. The FPGA is used to implement real-time filtering for the analog-to-digital converters and a real-time detector for odontocete clicks. JASCO's PAMlab JAVA software has been adapted to run in the ARM processors. This allows for the detector algorithms to be tested and proven using recorded data sets, and the deployment of algorithms in the real-time hardware using the same proven software baseline. The advantages of this approach for rapidly adapting generic hardware to diverse monitoring projects will be highlighted.JASCO Applied Sciences has developed a novel passive acoustic monitoring system, the OceanObserverTM, that has been fielded in undersea and surface AUVs as well as on buoys and sub-sea observatories. The hardware is based on the Zynq system-on-a-chip (SoC), which features a large field-programmable gate array (FPGA) and two ARM processing cores. The FPGA is used to implement real-time filtering for the analog-to-digital converters and a real-time detector for odontocete clicks. JASCO's PAMlab JAVA software has been adapted to run in the ARM processors. This allows for the detector algorithms to be tested and proven using recorded data sets, and the deployment of algorithms in the real-time hardware using the same proven software baseline. The advantages of this approach for rapidly adapting generic hardware to diverse monitoring projects will be highlighted.


In this paper, we propose a novel interface design for "human-robot" communication by focusing on visual and tactual transformation of the muscles. Since recent humanoids may appear as humanoid figures using human-like body gestures and behavior, it is hard to say that they have enough elements to cover the complex composition that is a human. The muscles that constitute the human body work by not only turning joints and generating limb and body movements, but also control skin surface shape and firmness, allowing the various levels of touch response. Therefore, we attempt to approach the creation of sensitive and subtle expression by a humanoid robot using organic constructs. In this project, we produce "SHIRI", which represents emotions with organic movements of the Gluteus Maximus Actuator (GMA). In addition, we also implement user interaction for SHIRI and consider how perceptions the user can obtain by communicating with SHIRI.


Objective: Although antihypertensive generics and their brand-name counterparts are bioequivalent, their equivalence in lowering blood pressure and controlling hypertension is still debated. We thus, sought to compare the effect of generic and brand-name drugs in hypertensive patients. Design and method: We conducted an open crossover randomized controlled trial (NCT02853045) in which patients were allocated to take their usual antihypertensive treatment either exclusively with brand-name drugs for 6 weeks and then to switch for generics for another 6 weeks or following the opposite order. 24 h ambulatory blood pressure (ABP) was monitored twice, at the end of each 6-weeks period. We tested the hypothesis that generics were not worse than branded antihypertensive drugs for controlling hypertension with a non-inferiority margin of 7 mmHg. Results: Forty Three patients (mean age of 61 +/- 12 years, 73% male, 35% of kidney transplant patients) were included. 60% of them were under triple antihypertensive treatment (angiotensin renin blockers and channel calcium blockers being taken by 88% and 72% of the patients, respectively). Mean 24 h ABP was 129/77 mmHg and 128/77 mmHg for patients under generics and branded drugs, respectively. 58% (n = 25) of patients presented optimal BP with generics vs 69% (n = 30) with brand-name drugs. 18% (n = 8) of patients presented resistant hypertension with generics vs 11% (n = 5) with branded drugs. The differences of proportion were not statistically significant. Non-inferiority was confirmed in all subgroup analyses independently of age, gender, number of medications, severity/resistance of hypertension and dipper status. Reported adverse events were not different in nature and in frequency between generic and branded drugs. Conclusions: Our findings support the notion that generics are not inferior than brand-name antihypertensive agents and can be safely used at least for the control of blood pressure.


Background: Induced labor is а progressively common obstetric procedure, Whether the specifically designed double-balloon catheter is better than the single-balloon device in terms of efficacy, efficiency and safety yet remains controversial. Methods: In our study We have performed a Retrospective study in which 220 patients with immature cervix were admitted for induction of labor either through single cervix balloon catheter (love-baby) (SBC) or double cervix balloon catheter (DBC). The comparison showed that the cervical bishop score was slightly higher for the SBC after removal or expulsion of the balloon. Results:This was a proof that SBC demonstrates slightly better efficacy for cervical ripening with a shorter time from balloon placement to spontaneous vaginal delivery than DBC. No significant differences in the comparison between SBC and DBC following other parameters like spontaneous vaginal delivery, the initiate uterine contractions rate, the number of patients that needed oxytocin, the balloon spontaneous expulsion rate and others have been detected. Interestingly, SCB showed a higher incidence in adverse reactions leading to taking out the balloon halfway. The multi-factor analysis showed that the spontaneous labor was a risk factor for the cesarean section in SBC patients.Conclusion: These results prove that the new Chinese single balloon, also called love baby, can effectively induce labor as it may be highly recommendable for cervical ripening than DBC, though it could be with a higher incidence of adverse reactions causing the balloon to be pulled out halfway.


I Am Plastic, Too showcases the next generation of designer toys from around the world. Created by fashion designers, comic book artists, underground illustrators, graffiti artists and fine artists, these toys, which cost anywhere from five dollars to thousands of dollars, are coveted by collectors everywhere. With kids, parents, celebrities, and design aficionados hooked, the designer toy phenomenon just keeps getting bigger. This book is packed with toys from 130 artists and companies and includes extensive interviews with thirteen of the hottest designers working today. Many of the favourite creators from the first book are back along with new designers such as Amanda Visell, Brandt Peters, eBoy, Jon Burgerman, Kathie Olivas and Tara McPherson.


217Background: To improve variability in diagnosing and treating cancer resection cases, six Canadian provinces implemented standardized pathology checklists to transition from narrative to synoptic reporting. In clinical practice, pathologists are electronically capturing data on the resected cancer specimens synoptically for breast, colorectal, lung, prostate, and endometrial cases. Though data were collected in a standardized format, consensus based indicators were unavailable to coordinate action across Canada. Objectives: We aimed to develop indicators to measure consistency of high quality cancer diagnosis, staging, prognosis and treatment, and coordinate action. Methods: A literature review was conducted with the input of clinical experts to inform the development of indicators. 50 clinicians from x jurisdictions reviewed, selected and ranked 33 indicators, initially drafted. Clinicians also provided input on the clinical validity of the indicators and set targets based on evidence. Clinicians revi...


Applications of multitemporal SAR data in many cases require accurate estimates of the backscattering coefficient at each time. Here we describe how multitemporal and spatial filtering can be combined in a processing chain to greatly improve the radiometric accuracy of the data and how the general methods can be simplified in the case of ERS data. The results will be illustrated using ERS-2 images in the context of exploiting change detection for forest applications.


An illustration of a plotting aid having two bearing-scales was included in my note on 'Radar and the Compass Bearing' in Volume VII, No. 2, page 201. This instrument was a prototype from which that now illustrated as Fig. 1 has emerged.


This study aims to analyze: (1) Effect of Regional Tax and Local Retribution on Capital Expenditure in Jambi City. (2), Effect of Regional Tax on Capital Expenditure in Jambi City. (3) Effect of Regional Retribution on Capital Expenditure in Jambi City.The object of research was conducted in Jambi City, with observation during the period 2003 - 2017. Data analysis used multiple linear regression, with data processing tool through SPSS 20 software. The result of the research shows that: (1) Regional Tax and Regional Retribution have significant effect to Capital Expenditure, it means that the increasing of Regional Tax and Regional Retribution will increase the allocation of capital expenditure. (2) Regional Tax has significant effect to capital expenditure, meaning that with increasing of local tax revenue, it will increase capital expenditure (3) Levy does not have significant effect to capital expenditure, it means that the increase of local retribution revenue has not been able to increase the allocation of capital expenditure.


This study has attempted to examine the impact of consciousness-raising and picture–word inductive model teaching methods on educational progress of English grammar of high school girl students studying in the second year of high school. Consciousness - raising teaching method was used for the first experimental group and the picture –word inductive model teaching method was used for the second experimental group. The design of this research was of quasi-experimental type. Furthermore, two-level factorial design was used in this study. Regarding the population of this study (350 subjects), 40 subjects were selected using available sampling method. Educational progress of students were assessed through tests (pretest and posttest) examined by a specialist. Data obtained from this study were analyzed using dependent T and covariance analysis. The results indicated that these two teaching methods had influenced the educational progress of English grammar. However, there was no statistically significant difference between these two methods.


Poster: "2015 ASM / R-0113 / Accuracy of Preliminary Registrar CTPA Reports: An Audit of the Differences between Preliminary Registrar and Finalised Consultant Reports" by: "A. Van, H. Asadi, P. Robertson; Melbourne/AU"


The paper seeks to clarify the importance of integrating ICT in the learning and teaching processes. This includes the use of smart phones in schools where learners can research and send each other educational messages. Also importance of using computers in schools is highlighted and this promotes competence among school learners and with the outside world. The paper also looks at teacher competence in terms of using ICT. Advantages and limitations of using ICT in schools are discussed at the end of the paper before conclusion.


A novel method based on covariance vector sparse Bayesian learning (CV-SBL) is proposed in this letter to reconstruct the vertical structure of forests using a small number of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. This method regards the inversion of forests reflectivity profiles in the wavelet domain as a sparse signal reconstruction (SSR). Based on the covariance matrix matching criterion, the backscatter power of forests signal and noise will be jointly solved adaptively. Through a few iterations, the exact positions of the closely spaced phase centers can be obtained to simplify the characterization of the vertical structure of the forests. Unlike the traditional compressive sensing (CS) method based on <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _{1} $ </tex-math></inline-formula> norm convex optimization, the novel method can obtain a real sparse solution without setting hyper-parameters and has a more reliable and accurate reconstruction performance. Besides, the computational efficiency of the new method is much higher than that of the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _{1} $ </tex-math></inline-formula> minimization CS method, and it is more suitable for large-scale forests mapping applications. The proposed method is validated using P-band TropiSAR 2009 data set over a test site in Paracou, French Guiana. Furthermore, the reconstruction performance of the proposed method is compared with the spectral analysis methods (Beamforming and Capon) and the <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\ell _{1} $ </tex-math></inline-formula> minimization super-resolution CS.


Introduction . We present some protocols aiming at partially characterizing banana fruit quality through measurement of some key biochemical parameters. The principle, key advantages, starting plant material, time required and expected results are presented. Materials and methods . This part describes the required laboratory materials and the steps necessary for achieving four protocols making it possible to measure sugar, organic acids and free ACC contents, and in vitro ACC oxidase activity. Results . Standard results obtained by using the protocols described are presented in the figures.


ABSTRACT Rapid start of antiretroviral therapy (ART) is quickly becoming best practice around the world. In the US, programs exist to facilitate rapid ART start, but little is known about the experiences of newly diagnosed individuals receiving these recommendations and services. Twenty participants (19 men who have sex with men and 1 transgender woman) from an early ART start program were interviewed to better understand these experiences. Interviews were analyzed for main themes in three general areas: reasons to start, reasons to delay, and factors influencing early ART adherence. Participants reported starting anywhere from right away (same visit as diagnosis) to within a few weeks (median 10.5 days). Reasons to start right away included fear of what could happen if not treated, personal health, influence of people/resources at the clinic, and study participation. Most had small delays in ART start because of structural (insurance, costs) and intentional delays (getting additional medical consultations). Adherence facilitators included desires to improve CD4/viral load and positive beliefs in benefits of suppression. Participants were largely supportive of rapid ART start and appeared to rely on CD4/viral load as "proof" of need for ART, which may be particularly helpful for asymptomatic, newly diagnosed individuals starting ART.


Abstrcat The poverty of China's educational theories has both outer restrictions and inner shortages; both historical origins and actual straits. Passionate "ending", emotional criticism can do no good to the solution of the problems. Perhaps may worsen the situation. While taking originality as the value measure, practical educational research should regard it a matter of top priority to form educational theories with distinctive characteristics. In order to form educational theories with distinctive characteristics, we must handle well the relationships between recommendation for reference and digestion and absorption, between inheriting and carrying forward, between theories and practices, and we must also make breakthroughs in way of thinking and methodology.


The formation of subsurface waters is a result of a complex combination of successively changing processes of sedimentary and infiltration cycles as a consequence of which there is a definite distribution in artesian basins of waters of different genesis and composition: from fresh infiltrating to highly saline sodium-calcium chloride brines. The distribution of the various chemical types of waters is related to the conditions of their formation. Therefore, it is necessary to study in detail the distribution of the salts of subsurface waters in the entire sedimentary section both on individual local structures and in the regional plan depending on the depth of occurrence of the water-bearing sediments. Waters of the calcium chloride type are present within the prospected structures of the Lower Volga area along the entire section of the Paleozoic. The salinity of the waters ranges in broad limits from 3–5 to 250–255 g/1. On a basis of analysis of the variation in salinity of the subsurface waters within local structures, a substantial correction can be made with respect to the earlier idea of a strictly systematic increase in the salinity of waters with increasing stratigraphic or hypsometric depth. The hydrochemical section of the sedimentary water-bearing unit is complex, and the character of the change in the salinity of the waters is different within the limits of local structures. Taking as a whole the structures with a similar character of change along the section of salinity of the formation waters of the Paleozoic sediments, we distinguish several types of vertical hydrochemical sections. First Type. the first type the the of of water-bearing


In 2012 Journal of Guizhou University(social sciences) published a column of new academic features—"study on the Qingshuijiang River Scrolls",which was a big change over the past 50 years and contributed to Guizhou's academic culture and even Chinese culture.In the past two years,28 papers have been published in this respect,whose authors come from various places of China.It is obvious that the academic discipline of"study on the Qingshuijiang River Scrolls"has come into being,an academic forum for Guizhou's history and culture publicized to all China and even the world.


This paper considers students' experience of product design education, and explores their expectations of working in the design industry. It provides a contextualisation of recent initiatives that call for increased emphasis upon the commercial awareness of design within the curriculum. Evidence of the 'disconnect' between students' perceptions of design practice and the increasing demands from the industry are detailed.


Introduction: Bilateral renal agenesis was historically labeled "lethal" as pulmonary hypoplasia from chronic anhydramnios results in life-limiting respiratory failure at birth. Recently, the first case of long-term survival for an infant with bilateral renal agenesis to kidney transplant following serial prenatal amnioinfusion was reported. Subsequently, clinical trials have proposed prenatal amnioinfusions to allow for fetal pulmonary maturation, thus increasing the likelihood of survival at birth allowing for peritoneal dialysis as a bridge to kidney transplant. We report the role of palliative care across the continuum of multidisciplinary, complex care …


In this paper,the fuzzy linear differential systems which are linearly formed by symmetrical fuzzy structured element are studied.The fuzzy linear differential systems can be translated into two crisp linear differential systems by utilizing the fuzzy structured element method.The approximate analytical solutions of crisp linear differential systems are given by utilizing the variational iteration method and the fuzzy approximate analytical solutions of fuzzy linear differential systems are obtained.One illustrated example is also provided.


In this study, the effect of styrene-b-(ethylene-co-butylene)-b-styrene (SEBS) as compatibilizer on polystyrene/poly(styrene-co-acrylonitrile) copolymer (PS/SAN) blends was investigated. For this purpose, blends of various compositions with different content of compatibilizer were prepared by melt blending using a co-rotating twin-screw extruder, and their physical properties, namely the mechanical properties including tensile and impact tests, thermal properties by differential scanning calorimetric (DSC) and thermal stability by thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), studied. Morphological observations using scanning electron microscope (SEM) and viscoelastic properties using dynamic mechanical thermal analysis (DMTA) were also carried out. The results revealed that the mechanical properties were highly improved due to the addition of SEBS which allowed the increase of the blend ductility by enhancing the elongation at break and impact strength. SEM micrographs revealed that the droplet-matrix microstructure was notably refined and the droplets size decreased from 6.7 μm to 2.37 μm in the presence of the compatibilizer. DSC results showed a single glass transition temperature (Tg) for the composition PS/SAN (30/70) compatibilized with 5 and 10% wt of SEBS which confirms the compatibilization of the blend for these compositions.


This study aimed to determine the effectiveness of modular instruction intervention such as online and home visitation to the mathematics achievement of second grade students in Turbina Elementary School in Calamba Laguna, Philippines during the third quarter of the school year 2020-2021. This was in response to the learning gaps in modular distance learning amidst pandemic. The students were grouped into two experimental groups such as online and home visitation groups. The groupings were based on the learner enrollment and survey form administered by the researcher. Quasi-experimental research design using the pretest and posttest percentage score was employed to achieve the objectives of the study. The results of the pretest revealed that both groups, online and home visitation, were low performing students while the students who studied under modular instruction interventions performed high in the posttest. This finding implies that there is a significant difference between the pretest and posttest performances of two experimental groups who studied under modular instruction interventions. Furthermore, the findings revealed that there is no significant difference between posttest performances of the students who undergo online instruction intervention and home visitation instruction intervention. Thus, it can be concluded that modular instruction interventions are an effective strategy in teaching mathematics and may improve the achievements of the second-grade students. Hence, it is recommended that the teacher utilize this as an alternative strategy in teaching students during modular distance learning.


VIRAL hepatitis is a complex and constantly changing communicable disease. New victims, new contacts, new methods of transmission, and even new control procedures are being reported with increased frequency (1). The situation is further complicated by difficulty in demonstrating or growing the virus and in establishing the presence of antigen or antibody (2). Current thinking divides the disease into an A form with short incubation period and transmission mostly by the fecal-oral route (formerly infectious hepatitis) and a B form with a long incubation period and transmission mostly by the percutaneous route (formerly serum hepatitis). Each form of the disease can be spread person to person or from a common source. The two forms of hepatitis cannot be distinguished clinically. Recent studies have intensified the difficulties of diagnosis and of determination of routes of transmission by demonstrating that at least on certain occasions hepatitis B may be spread by the fecal-oral route. Krugman and coworkers have produced hepatitis B in children at Willowbrook School by a serum-oral route


In the above paper [1], a simple and efficient heuristic algorithm to find a near-optimal solution of a resource-allocation problem was proposed. In the illustrative examples (in Section VI-C, p. 542), however, a few minor errors are found in performing Step 2: in deriving Qk(x) with the given example values and in computing candidate direction to improve the real-number solution best ever found. These are corrected. Also, the left-hand side of (4) (on p. 540) should not have the weighting factor. The correct version is


The electronic properties of amorphous indium-zinc-oxide (IZO) thin film transistors (TFTs) with back-channel-etch (BCE) structure was investigated. In the cyclic-transfer characteristics test, the initial transfer curve of BCE-type transistors exhibited a significant hysteresis phenomenon under a high-gate bias (VGS). However, in the following cycles of the transfer curves, the hysteresis was significantly reduced, and the curves nearly overlapped the reverse sweeping of the initial transfer characteristics. Additionally, the threshold voltage (Vth) shift in the initial hysteresis loops increased with the increase of the VGS. Those phenomena may be attributed to the molybdenum oxide (MoO3) residue generated during the patterning of the source/drain electrodes using hydrogen peroxide (H2O2)-based etchants. It is believed that etching residue acts as the acceptor-like states trapping electrons into the back interface between the channel and the residual layer. To eliminate the Vth shift in BCE-TFTs, SF6 plasma is applied to the back surface of the IZO channel layer. The modified devices show a more stable Vth.


Metamaterials are compound materials exhibiting electromagnetic properties not readily found in nature. Novel antennas, couplers, imaging systems and methods for the reduction of the radar cross-section based on these properties have been proposed in literature.
In this thesis a systematic synthesis technique for metamaterials is presented. The foundation of this approach is that metamaterials consist of unit cells that are small compared to the wavelength. The topology of the unit cell's network representation can be derived from first-order space-discretising schemes in 1D, 2D, and 3D.
Using this technique two novel isotropic 3D metamaterials are synthesised. Maximally-symmetric and planar physical realisations are proposed and verified by full-wave simulation and experiment, respectively.


It is advantageous to produce cotton of the highest quality while minimizing the effect and presence of trash within the cotton lint. In addition, cotton trash comingled with the lint adversely affects the quality and profit margin associated with producing, harvesting, and processing cotton. The popularity of High Volume Instrumentation (HVI TM ) has spread because it provides instrument-based cotton quality measurements (e.g. length, strength, length uniformity, micronaire, color, and trash content). However, this instrument does not specifically determine the types of trash present within the lint. Software was utilized to determine the specific identity of various pure samples of botanical and field trash types using Near-Infrared (NIR) spectroscopy. Results of this study reveal that NIR spectroscopy identified 100% homogeneous individual samples of botanical trash yielding an overall accuracy of 98% for the combination of botanical and field trash.


A AB BS ST TR RA AC CT T B Ba ac ck kg gr ro ou un nd d: : Ovarian vein syndrome is a rare cause of ureteral obstruction. In this report, we describe an unusual presentation of the syndrome successfully treated with laparoscopic techniques. M Me et th ho od ds s: : The patient presented with a 12-month history of right flank pain and a right abdominal mass. The preoperative evaluation revealed renal malrotation, hydronephrosis, decreased renal function, and presumed ureteropelvic junction obstruction. R Re es su ul lt ts s: : By using a transperitoneal laparoscopic approach, an enlarged ovarian vein was identified as the cause of the ureteral obstruction. The ovarian vein was divided with a laparoscopic stapler. The patient's post-operative course was unremarkable, and she was discharged from the hospital on the second postoperative day. At 3-months follow-up, the patient was completely asymptomatic without evidence of obstruction. D Di is sc cu us ss si io on n: : Ovarian vein syndrome remains a rare diagnosis of exclusion. A careful preoperative evaluation is required to exclude other causes of ureteral obstruction. By using a laparoscopic approach, the ureter and obstructing vessel were readily identified to effectively treat the patient. With the minimally invasive approach, postoperative recovery and patient quality of life were improved. Ovarian vein syndrome (OVS) is an uncommon but recognized cause of ureteral obstruction and flank pain. Most cases are related to changes of pregnancy, but the syndrome can also present in a chronic form following pregnancy. Typically, OVS occurs in thin females with a right-sided predilection. 1-8 This case highlights a unique presentation, the preoperative evaluation, and laparo-scopic management of ovarian vein syndrome. A 43-year-old female presented with a 12-month history of right flank pain and a palpable right abdominal mass. In addition, she previously had a benign cyst surgically removed from her right ovary. Her obstetric and gyne-cologic history was otherwise unremarkable. She denied having a history of gross hematuria, stones, or urinary tract infection. On examination, the patient was very thin and had a palpably visible mass in the right mid-abdomen that was mildly tender to palpation. A urine analysis was normal and serum creatinine was 0.8 mg/dL. An intravenous urogram revealed excretion of contrast bilaterally. The right kidney was hydronephrotic and malrotated. Contrast was not visualized distal to the ureteropelvic junction ((F Fi ig gu ur re …


The direct vesicle-to-vesicle communication can be made by an amphiphilic polypeptide composed of two amphiphilic helices jointed with a hydrophilic spacer between them prepared by "Monolayer reaction method".


The analysis of geomagnetic Pc1 pulsations recorded in 2006-2010 at the Scandinavian network of the induction magnetometers has been performed. It was found that the spectral structure of Pc1 pulsations was different under the quiet and disturbed magnetic conditions. Analysis of these data showed that in magnetically quiet conditions (Kp ~0–1), in more than 90% of cases, Pc1 pulsations were observed in a narrow frequency band of around 0.2–0.4 Hz with the central oscillation frequency in the series (wave packets) of ~ 0.5–0.7 Hz. Under the disturbed conditions (Kp ~ 2–3), the central frequency of Pc1 waves became almost twice greater (~ 1.0–1.2 Hz) and the spectral width increased up to ~ 0.5–0.7 Hz. The relation of the frequency spectrum width of Pc1 pulsations with magnetospheric parameters was theoretically studied. An analytical expression was obtained and the numerical calculations have been performed. The performed theoretical calculations showed that the evolution of the frequency width of the dynamic spectrum of the Pc1 wave packets depends on the magnetosphere plasma parameters. It was found that the Pc1 spectral width increases with decreasing of the proton thermal anisotropy. We suppose that under quiet conditions, the Pc1 generation can take place inside the plasmasphere but near the plasmapause located at higher L there were small VA values. During the disturbed periods, the Pc1 generation can take place outside the plasmasphere at lower L there were high VA values. © 2016 BBSCS RN SWS. All rights reserved


The natural fiber reinforced composites are highly utilized in the applications of building and construction industry, storage containers, transportation industry and in other industrial applications. The natural fibers are preferred for its distinct properties than synthetic fibers. Natural fibers are economically cheaper, recyclable and ecologically biodegradable. Many studies were proposed by the researchers to improve the machinability and mechanical behaviour of natural fiber reinforced composites. The addition of filler material is a kind of approach to improve the property of natural fiber reinforced composites. In this study the composite laminates are created by reinforcing bi-directional bast type jute and unidirectional leaf made sisal fibers into an epoxy LY556 resin matrix material. The silicon carbide (SiC) is used as filler material. Two types of composite laminates are manufactured. The first sample is considered in the ratio of 70% epoxy resin to 30% Jute + Sisal fiber composition without any filler material. The second composition includes the ratio of 70% epoxy resin to 30% Jute + Sisal fiber along with 10% SiC as filler material. The hardner HY951 of 10% is used in both compositions. The machining operation was performed by using HSS twist drill for three different machining parameters (Drill bit type, Spindle speed and Feed rate). The circularity and surface roughness are considered as output parameters. The machining is performed in the range of 20 different combinations as directed by the RSM software. The conformation tests are carried out to validate the RSM results. The optimization results shows that the sample with SiC filler exhibits better machinability behaviour than sample without filler material.


A four month feasibility study of a hypersonic real-gas free flight test facility for NASA Langley Research Center (LARC) was performed. The feasibility of using a high-energy electromagnetic launcher (EML) to accelerate complex models (lifting and nonlifting) in the hypersonic, real-gas facility was examined. Issues addressed include: design and performance of the accelerator; design and performance of the power supply; design and operation of the sabot and payload during acceleration and separation; effects of high current, magnetic fields, temperature, and stress on the sabot and payload; and survivability of payload instrumentation during acceleration, flight, and soft catch.


PMMA/β-TCP composites were evaluated to be suitable for laser sintering earlier, but the possible after effects are not known yet. Effects of sintering on the biological nature and the influences of critical compositions and process parameters have not been investigated so far. The current research attempts this, first identifying experimentally the most suitable laser process conditions for the specific grades of PMMA and β-TCP and then subjecting single layer sintered samples to FTIR analysis and in vitro studies involving MTT and ALP assays, alizarin red S tests, and real-time PCR analyses. While the laser interactions are not detrimental, the biological responses are generally positive proving the selective laser sintering of PMMA/β-TCP composites to be a potential approach for specific medical applications.


Productivity of different ripeness groups of sunflower varieties and hybrids depending on sowing dates and plant population. Cherkashin S.I. "Scientific Bulletin", VNIIMK, 2005, v. 1 (132). Investigation of responses of three sunflower varieties (Foton, Beresanskiy, Krepysh). and three hybrids (Donskoy 22, Temp, Garant). on sowing dates and plant population was studied in conditions of south-east part of Krasnodar region in area of unstable moistening on typical chernozem in field trials in 2003, It is shown that maximal productivity of sunflower varieties and hybrids of three ripeness groups was received in conditions of vegetative period of that year when sowing on April 10 with plant population 50 th/ha.


Understanding Android applications' behavior is essential to many security applications, e.g., malware analysis. Although many systems have been proposed to perform such dynamic analysis, they are limited by their applicable analysis environment (on device vs. emulator), transparency to subject apps, applicable runtime (Dalvik vs. ART), applicable system stack, or granularity. In this paper, we propose FA3 (Fine-Grained Android Application Analysis), a novel on-device, non-invasive, and fine-grained analysis platform by leveraging existing profiling mechanisms in the Android Runtime (ART) and kernel to inspect method invocations and control-flow transfers for both Java methods and third-party native libraries. FA3 embeds its tracing capability in multiple layers of the Android system stack to not only capture fine-grained application behaviors but ensure even non-conventional or malicious tricks of loading and executing OAT/ELF binaries cannot escape our monitoring. We carefully evaluated FA3 using real-world malware. Experimental results showed that FA3 successfully analyzes sophisticated malware samples and provides a comprehensive view of their behavior.


The use of newer methods of disease assessment that focus on minimal residual disease may facilitate the long-term evaluation of IgD and IgE myeloma patients, even if the rare Ig subtype is not identified at diagnosis.


Introduction by Michael R. Lissack and Hugh P. Gunz Overview Complexity: The Science, Its Vocabulary, and Its Relation to Organizations by Michael R. Lissack Complexity: More than a Fad? by Tom Petzinger Complexity, Computational Ability, and the Corporation of the Future by Arnold J. Wytenburg Strategy Strategy as Design: A Fitness Landscape Framework by Steve Maguire Markets in Phase Transition by Ken Baskin The Future of Strategy: The Role of the New Sciences by Robin Wood Creativity and Communication Images or Reality? Metaphors, Memes, and Management by If Price Chaos, Communication, and Cultural Change: Beyond the Management of Organization by Pekka Aula The Architecture of Strategic Thought: A Neuronal Network Approach by Harold E. Klein Strategic Management System Enhancement and the Concept of Strong Influence Strings by Adam J. Koch Applications Chaos Theory and Project Management: A Perspective on Managing the Complex Project by Janet Bardyn and Donna Fitzgerald Complexity, It, and the Interprise by Mark W. McElroy Adaptive Corporations by Mark White Complexity in the Dynamics of Organizational Founding and Failure by Joel A. C. Baum and Brian S. Silverman Evaluating Performance in a Complex Adaptive System by Glenda H. Eoyang and Thomas H. Berkas Complexity Metaphors and the Process of Small Business Foresighting by Ted Fuller Gorbachev as CEO Roadkill Lessons for the Modern Corporation from the Soviet Foreign Policy Establishment's Failure to Manage Complexity by Robert M. Cutler The Emergence of Technological Fields by Raghu Garud, Peter Karnoe, and E. Andres Garcia Concluding Remarks by Michael R. Lissack and Hugh P. Gunz


Whilst readers of this blog will predominantly be social scientists, many will have heard the rumblings from their colleagues in the humanities over allegations in The Observer at the weekend. Professor Peter Mandler of the University of Cambridge was quoted as claiming that the government had the Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) "over a barrel", and was demanding that they prioritise work on the 'Big Society', otherwise it would withdraw £100m of funding.


A total of 270 Lingnanhuang broiler breeders (40-weeks-old) were allocated into three treatments with five replicates each. Breeders were fed with basal diets (Control) or diets prepared from basal diets supplemented SS or SM at a level of 0.15 mg Se/kg diet. This study showed that feeding diet supplemented with Se to the broiler breeder significantly (P<0.05) decreased the mortality of chick embryo. During the late period of incubation (17 21 day), the mortality of the chick embryo in SM treatment was remarkably lower (P<0.05) than that in SS treatment. Increased glutathione peroxidase activities in the embryonic liver were observed in SS and SM treatments between days 9 and 21 of development (P<0.05), while no differences were noted between SS and SM treatments. Also, feeding broiler breeder with Se led to a decrease (P<0.05) in the contents of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and malondialdehyde (MDA) in the embryonic liver. Moreover, SM is more effective than SS in decreasing the content of H2O2 and MDA during the late period of incubation (P<0.05). It was concluded that supplemented with both forms of Se in the maternal diet can improve the mortality of the embryo and its antioxidative status and organic SM shows a higher value than inorganic SS during the late period of incubation. © 2014 Friends Science


Abstract Highly purified cellulose was separated from wheat straw by sequential treatments of dewaxed straw with 0.5‐M aqueous KOH at 35°C for 2.5 h under ultrasonic irradiation time of 0 to 35 min, 2% H2O2–0.2% TAED at pH 11.8 for 12 h at 48°C, and with 80% acetic acid–70% nitric acid (10/1, v/v) at 120°C for 15 min. The yield of crude cellulose preparations obtained by first two‐stage treatments ranged between 45.3% and 46.9% of the dry weight straw which contained 7.3 to 7.9% residual hemicelluloses and 3.3 to 3.7% residual lignin, and had molecular weights ranging from 269,960 and 258,280 g mol−1 determined by their viscosity, while the purified cellulose samples separated by a further treatment of the corresponding crude cellulose with 80% acetic acid–70% nitric acid, are relatively free of bound lignin (0.1 to 0.2%) and contained minor amounts of associated hemicelluloses (∼3%), but gave much lower molecular weights ranging between 42,300 and 44,650 g mol−1 estimated by GPC in DMAc/LiCl system indicating that the final step treatment with 80% acetic acid–70% nitric acid resulted in a noticeable degradation of the cellulose except for removal of residual hemicelluloses and lignin. However, there was no evidence of increased acid or aldehyde by oxidation in all the purified cellulosic preparations. Both crude and purified cellulose samples were characterized by FT‐IR and CP/MAS 13C‐NMR spectroscopy. The thermal stability of the purified cellulosic preparation was higher than that of the crude cellulosic sample.


All Antarctic fish studied so far show two adaptive strategies to life at sub-zero water temperatures; antifreeze glycoproteins, which act non-colligatively to inhibit ice propagation (DeVries, 1983), and elevated plasma electrolyte levels (150—200mosmoll~ higher than that of temperate marine teleosts: Holmes & Donaldson, 1969; Dobbs & DeVries, 1975; O'Grady, Ellory & DeVries, 1983), equivalent to a freezing point reduction of O4°C. However, Prosser, Mackay & Kato (1970) have argued that the elevated plasma Na concentration is an energy-saving device, resulting in a smaller concentration gradient between fish plasma and salt water, which allows the composition of the former to be maintained at a lower metabolic cost. Osmoregulation in marine teleosts involves replenishment of branchial water loss by intestinal absorption of salt and water with subsequent Na excretion by the gills (reviewed by Ellory & Gibson, 1983). It is, therefore, of interest to determine the rate of salt transport in the anterior intestine (as a major site of osmoregulation) of an Antarctic fish species, Notothenia rossii, at 4°C and compare it with that of temperate marine species at their ambient temperature. Transport across fish intestine follows the classical Prechtian pattern of temperature adaptation (Precht, 1958; Smith, 1976; Gibson, Ellory & Cossins, 1985), making this comparison with temperate species a test of the energy-saving theory. It is also pertinent to ask if Antarctic fish intestine is a Cl~-transporting epithelium in the Na,K,Cl~-coupled pattern present in other marine teleosts such as plaice and flounder (Field et al. 1978; Ramos & Ellory, 1981; Gibson, 1985). Early work by House & Green (1965) on Cottus, a Northern hemisphere species which could be regarded as closer to Antarctic fish than the flat fishes, indicated possible differences in the mechanism of epithelial transport with small positive values for transepithelial potential difference (PD).


CANTOR SET APPROXIMATIONS AND DIMENSION COMPUTATIONS IN HYPERSPACES lVlatthew G. Zapf June 24, 2011 Givell (1 metric space (K, d), the hyperspace of K is defined by lHl(K) = {F s;;;: K: F is compact, F f 0}, lHl( K) is itself a metric space under the Hausdorff nwtric du , Hyperspaces have been extensively studied by topologists since the 1970's, but the measuretheoretical study of hyperspaces has lagged, Boardman and Goodey concurrelltly provided a characterization of a one-parameter family of Hausdorff gauge functions that determine the dimension of lHl([O, 1]), and this result was extended by l\IcClure to IPl(X) where X is a self-similar fractal satisfying the Open Set Condition. This dissertation further generalizes these results to include graph-selfsimilar and self-conformal fractals satisfying the Open Set Condition in ]Rd, In Chapter 2 it is shown that the dimensions of the underlying fractals may be approximated by the dimensions of sets invariant under particularly com;tructed subiterated function systems that satisfy the Strong Separation Condition. In Chapter :3, a one-parameter family of gauge funci ions is constructed which computes the dimensions of the h,yperspaces of graph-self-similar sets that satisfy the Strong