social actors in their own right and active in the process of 'being parented'. There is mention of the need to balance empowerment with protection in the final essay of Part Two, but the focus remains on overprotective parents rather than critiquing the construction of parenting as a unidirectional process done to children as passive recipients. This disregard of what is a key tenet of the childhood studies literature, rather ironically, seems to subscribe to the notion of parental determinism which the authors seek to critique. Where Part One focuses on culturally located understandings of parenthood, Part Two begins to unpick how these are experienced by parents in specific contexts. Collectively, the accounts in Part Two illuminate how the issue of parental determinism may be variously experienced by different social groups. This is particularly useful in illustrating the interplay between the cultural ideal of parenthood and the lived experience of parenting. A clear definition of the terms parenthood, parenting and parents (potentially contested concepts) may have clarified how Part Two complements and enriches the discussion of Part One. Overall, this text contributes a thorough discussion of parental determinism and how this intersects with public understandings and representations of parenthood to the existing literature. It provides a clear account of how parental determinism has emerged and been solidified over time and, further to this, there is provision of experiential insight into parental determinism and risk in specific individual and institutional contexts. Nonetheless, further reading may be necessary to gain a more holistic sociological understanding of parenting culture more generally. Notwithstanding the limitations of working and writing in an academic field of study in its infancy, this book is an important and compelling piece from those forging an emergent discipline. The authors aim to highlight parental determinism as a key issue of modern parenting culture which has provided a catalyst for transforming the everyday mundanities of parenting into issues of concern for the structures and institutions of western society. In these endeavours the authors, undoubtedly, succeed and, in doing so, provide an accessible yet scholarly read.


Badan Usaha Milik Desa thereafter called BUMDes is an alternative to improve the rural economy. Unfortunately, however, the position of BUMDes had not been governed completely in existing legislation. Another more complex problem is that in choosing an appropriate enterprise for establishing BUMDes. This study aims to describe the impact of BUMDES on the welfare of rural communities. BUMDES is one of the programs to strengthen the role of the region.This research was conducted using a qualitative approach and used in-depth interview and observation techniques. The results of the study have shown that BUMDES has had an impact on the village economy. BUMDES has an impact on community business development in Tutur Village. In addition, BUMDES encourages people to start a new business according to the potential of the community. The impact of other BUMDES is to improve the level of children's education and improve public health


It has been carried out of analysis of international intergovernmental organizations' main features, which distinguish them from other legal forms of interstate cooperation. The author 's definition of «international intergovernmental organization» is proposed.


Doctoral School: Doctoral School of Computer Science Institute: University of Szeged Supervisor: Árpád Beszédes Topic Description: Program dependence analysis has high importance in various software engineering fields, including program comprehension, software maintenance and debugging. There have been numerous approaches proposed in literature for static and dynamic program dependence analysis (program slicing), but most of these approaches suffer from two serious drawbacks. First, the algorithms try to be as precise as possible with the consequence of not being able to scale to large programs due to algorithmic complexity. Second, realistic software systems are large and have complex architectures, often employing various technologies in their components. The existing approaches are not sufficiently able to deal with the system level dependence analysis of such systems, but researchers at the Department of Software Engineering achieved promising results in the field.


The visual appeal of images gets deteriorated when captured under unfavorable weather conditions thus rendering them unsuitable for optimum performance on vision-based systems. Performance of Driver Assistance Systems (DAS) depends on the quality of the images fed to the computer vision algorithms. This paper attempts to leverage generative modelling capabilities of Generative Adversarial Networks by utilizing special architectures for generator and discriminator. The loss function utilized is the efficient pixel mean square loss. Discriminator used here is a standard binary cross-entropy classifier intended to classify whether the predicted de-rained image of the generator matches the real high-resolution image or not. The generator network is a Fully Convolutional U-Net architecture. Experiments indicate that the proposed architecture produces de-rained images indistinguishable from their clean images using only 30 epochs and performs better than various novel approaches.


The high population growth worldwide causes a high demand for food with an increase in the use of different agrochemicals, with pesticides and herbicides being the primary pollutants of anthropogenic origin in the environment. One of the critical aims of ecotoxicology is the evaluation of toxic effects of mixtures of chemical substances that can have additive, synergistics or antagonistics effects in different ecosystems. For this reason, the aims of this research were to: 1) estimate the individual subchronic toxicity of agrochemicals copper oxychloride [Cu2(OH)3Cl], copper sulfate (CuSO4), and glyphosate (Gly-BH) on the inhibition of population growth of the freshwater chlorophyte Scenedesmus intermedius, and 2) predict the antagonistic, synergistic, or additive behaviour of binary mixtures of Gly-BH with Cu2(OH)3Cl and CuSO4 through the Combination Index Equation (CIE). The individual toxicity order at 7 days of exposure in S. intermedius was CuSO4 (IC50 2.70 mg/l) > Gly-BH (IC50 4.03 mg/l) with no statistical differences between both agrochemicals and > Cu2(OH)3Cl (IC50 25.59 mg/l) with a major tolerance if it compared with the other chemicals. For the binary mixture of CuSO4/Gly-BH, an antagonistic effect was observed (combination index CI > 1), but with lower toxicity (IC50 7.40 mg/l) when compared with the individual responses of these compounds. However, in the mixture, Cu2(OH)3Cl/Gly-BH was more toxic with a synergistic response (IC50 0.85 mg/l) even between 5 and 30 times higher. These results highlight the importance of studying interactions of chemical substances in ecosystems to establish a better evaluation and regulation of their environmental impact.


Most web pages typically contain both images and text. However, most current search engines index documents based on text only. In order to facilitate effective search for images on the web, we need to complement text with the visual content of the images. We often look for images containing specific objects having some particular spatial and topological relations among them. In this paper, we describe a system which enables the user to effectively search for images using the image content information including color, component objects and their relations in addition to associated text.


A method of connecting the Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation, known from the theory of nonlinear waves, with the Schrodinger equation was discovered in 1967. (1) This method is applied in the present paper to a study of a periodic problem. We find exact analytical formulae for a class of solutions u(x,t) such that at any moment in time t the potential u(x,t) of the Schrodinger operator has only a finite number of forbidden bands in the Bloch spectrum. We find in this connection all potentials with a finite number of bands. This class of solutions contains as a degenerate limiting case the well known N-soliton solutions of the KdV equation, which decrease rapidly as |x| ! 1.


The Aim of this study was to describe and summarize the patient's experience in receiving information from nurses about self-care for venous leg ulcers.Articles were searched on Medline and Cinahl with the keywords leg ulcer, information, experience and self-care. The results included eleven articles, eight with a qualitative approach, two with a quantitative approach, and one with both qualitative and quantitative approach. Patients' experiences in receiving information varied. Some were positive about the information because of the confidence to the nurse. Relationships played a large role in their assessment of the information. Some patients experienced confusion of obtaining information because of conflicting information from different nurses. The experience was not affected by the health care system and the patients described as high satisfaction of the informationin home as the ward. With regard to search of knowledge the patients wanted to have more knowledge and they thought the current information was vague and unclear.It is suggested that patients' perceptions of information and in receiving information from nurses about self-care affected their self-care behavior. Therefore it is important that nurses know how to pass on information to patients and the importance of information in self-care.


The paper introduced the manufacturing process of Pt sol modified platinum microelectrode and the experiment on CO. The results indicate that the current apex changes with the concentration of CO (a linear relationship to some extent) in cyclic voltammetry. Mean while, the influence on the sensitivity performance of the electrochemical activation has been studied.The experiment data show that the electrochemical activation to modified platinum microelectrode can decrease over-voltage, increase current peak of reaction, weaken disturbing current peak , reduce and smooth out base current.


The fruit plants are propagated by two main methods, namely, sexual method and asexual method. Most of the fruit plants do not produce seedlings true-to-type. Using the asexual method of propagation the fruit plants produce true-to-type (clones) of the parent plant. Moreover, these plants also produce uniform yield, fruit size and quality. Although seedling plants produce heavy crop, the fruit size and quality is inferior and do not fetch good return in market. The seedling plants for several fruit crops have long juvenile period and have more vigorous growth habit, which creates difficulty in taking plant protection measures and harvesting of fruits. The fruits of seedling plants do not mature in one stroke and hence, affect the marketing. The asexual methods of plant propagation are of the four types, Cutting, Layering, Budding and Grafting. In this communication we present review on the Cutting, Layering, and Budding methods of plant propagation. The cutting method includes root, stem, scion and leaf cutting methods of vegetative propagation. The layering method category encompasses the Natural, Simple, Tip, Compound or Serpentine, Trench, Mound and Air layering methods. The budding method of the asexual propagation includes, T/Shield, Inverted T/Shield, Chip, I, Patch, Forkert, Flute and Ring/ Annular Budding methods.


Drought is probably the most important factor limiting crop yields worldwide, therefore it is not surprising that there has been continuing interest in the ways in which drought affects crop yield. Efforts have been concentrated in this area in the hope that it would prove possible to use a knowledge of drought physiology to provide a rational basis for the development of rapid methods of breeding drought tolerant cultivars, and also to help in the improvement of crop management for dry conditions. The last five years have seen some important reassessments of the underlying principles and concepts involved in plant response to drought and these will be outlined in this brief review. Some of these important shifts in emphasis have been highlighted by Kramer (1988), Passioura (1988), Schulze el al. (1988) and Boyer (1989), particularly in relation to the question of what measure of water stress is most relevant to plant function. As it is not possible to cover all aspects of drought physiology in a brief review of this nature, we highlight four topics where recent findings may have particular relevance to the improvement of drought tolerance in agricultural crops.


The hydrolysis of pnitrophenyl picolinate(PNPP)catalyzed by Zn(Ⅱ),Cu(Ⅱ)and Co(Ⅱ)complexes of imidazole groups were investigated kinetically in the pH range 60~80 at the presence of three kinds of surfactants at different pH values and 250±001°C,respectively.The results indicated that Zn(Ⅱ)complex exhibited a great catalytic function in micellar solution with higher pH value,but when reactions were performed in weak acid solutions,Cu(Ⅱ)complex catalyzed the hydrolysis of PNPP more efficiently than Zn(Ⅱ)and Co(Ⅱ)complexes did,which may be attributable to the different ionization states of corresponding complexes in micellar media with different pH values and the different nucleophilic ability of active species in different complexes.In addition,complexes were more reactive in zwitterionic(LSS)and nonionic(Brij35)micelles than that in cationic(CTAB)micelle,which can be explained by the electrostatic interaction between metal ions of complexes and the head groups of micelles.The relative kinetic and thermodynamic parameters were obtained by kinetic analysis employing ternary complex model for metallomicellar catalysis.


Traditionally automotive suspension designs have been a compromise between three conflicting criteria of road holding, load carrying and passenger comfort. The suspension system must support the vehicle, provide directional control during handling maneuvers and provide effective isolation of passenger payload from road disturbances. Good ride comfort requires a soft suspension whereas insensitivity to applied load requires stiff suspension. Good handling requires a suspension setting somewhere between the two. The objective of the project is to develop an active control law for the suspension system , for this only a quarter model of the vehicle suspension system with two degree of freedom is conceived and then effect of various types of input (Step, impulse) on the passive quarter model is evaluated followed by application of various control algorithms like PID control, Active force control using Crude approximation and Iterative learning method, Fuzzy logic is applied on the quarter model and the results are tabulated. The effect of inputs on different control laws is found and the results are compared which gives the relative significance of various control algorithms. The software utilized is MATLAB version 7.6.


Abstract Drawing on perspectives from sociocultural theory, this article investigates how Christian denominations are represented in Norwegian textbooks of religious education and by young believers. The main finding is that textbooks and young adherents present religion in substantially different ways. While textbooks relate religion to global and national space using rational and general descriptions, young informants relate religion to local and personal space through emotional and relational descriptions. Based on these findings, this article discusses how textbooks and religious education can present religion in a way that includes both etic and emic perspectives.


The sensorial development is the beginning of the cognitive-motor development of the child. In the perspective development of the child the studies show two positions: Piaget [9] and Gibson [5]. According to Piaget, the perception brings the child to the action and where as Gibson it's the action brings the child to the perception. The aim of the study is to analyze the behaviours that are produced in the psychomotor sessions from the sensations and perceptions which generate a material of different perceptual properties. We select 48 children between 20 and 36 months old from kindergarden in Barcelona province. We make balloons of different sizes, weights and textures. All the balloons are in the box and located in the psychomotricity space with the habitual material of the sessions. Children are free to play with materials. The duration of the session is one hour and is realized in groups of 12 children. Later, the children classify the balloons according to the category. The results show that the size category is the best classified then the weight and finally the texture category. There are significant differences (p=.000) in the weight category between the two groups: the younger group did not distinguish between differing weights while the older group did. There aren't significant differences (p=.312) in the size category because both classified correctly and in the texture category (p=.134) because neither classified correctly. We considerer that the child learn through movement. Therefore, the action brings the child to the perception so that knowledge of the environment is acquired. The perception exists basically as a guide for the action. The movement which is triggered in motor activity is a form of perception, a way of knowing the world and a way to act on it.


The most compelling reason to use unsupervised representation learning as a feature extraction method for effective animal activity recognition is the ability to learn from unlabeled data. Obtaining labeled data is tedious, labor-intensive, and costly, while it is much easier to obtain raw unlabeled data. In this paper, we compare three unsupervised representation learning techniques with three conventional feature extraction methods that are simple and have excellent performance. To investigate the effect of the size of both labeled and unlabeled parts of the dataset on the quality of the representations, we train the representations and classifier using various sample sizes. Furthermore, we evaluate the effect of depth in feature architectures on the performance of the representation learning techniques. All evaluations are performed on two animal datasets that are diverse in terms of species, subjects, sensor-orientations, and sensor-positions. We demonstrate that unsupervised representation learning techniques approach and, in some cases, outperform engineered features in animal activity recognition.


This paper proposes a probabilistic model to the load reduction (LR) as demand side management (DSM) method for the economic dispatch problem in smart grid network (SGED). The objective is to drive the mathematical model of the probabilistic model and the problem. Then solve the problem using Black Hole optimization algorithm for two Test systems: three generation units with valve point effect and six generation units with prohibited operation zone and ramp rate limits.


Introduction: Community-acquired pneumonia (NAC) is a frequent cause of admission to Emergency Rooms and Internal Medicine Clinics of all Hospitals. It has an elevated mortality rate of up to 10%. It is important to describe which patients with NAC have a higher risk of getting complications and die. Materials and methodology: The patients admitted to the Internal Medicine General Hospitals of Queretaro were studied in a retrospective manner during the period of May 2007 to May 2008. The criteria of Pneumonia Outcome Research Team (PORT) were applied. The patients presenting complications and or death were registered. Results: A total of 59 patients was included, 32 (54%) male and 27 (45.8%) female. The average age was 59 + 20.2 years. The average hospitalization stay was 10.1+ 9.7 days. The highest PORT score was obtained by patients who had al least one coexistent illness. Renal chronic insufficiency (IRC) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (EPOC) were found to be the most frequent. It was observed that the higher the PORT score, the older the patient and the longer hospital stay. Out of 9 patients with more than 20 hospital days, 6 had PORT IV and 2 had PORT V. The most frequently observed complications were pleural effusion, 6 cases (10.1%) and only 1 case (1.6%) reported with complicated pleural effusion, 2 cases (3.3%) with empyema, 1 case (1.6%) with pulmonary abscess and 1 case (1.6%) with acute respiratory distress syndrome (SDRA). 7 deaths (11.8%) were registered, 6 were classified inside the PORT V scale and 1 inside the PORT IV scale. Conclusions: Most of the complications were observed in patients with high PORT score. Age is correlated with PORT score. The PORT criteria predict not only mortality but also the risk for complications.


Hypothesis / aims of study Nocturnal polyuria (NoPo) is a common problem in older men, leading to bothersome lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS). A limited amount of data about its prevalence is available. However, the incidence in the community is unknown. Community-based data derived from frequency-volume (FV) charts are needed to determine the incidence. We determined age specific (prevalence and) incidence rates of NoPo in community-based older men.


The existence of invariant generators for locally finitely generated distributions satisfying a mild compatibility condition with the symmetry algebra is proved. This is applied to regular standard Dirac reduction.


The existence of catastrophic flooding, sea level rise, with the abrasion causes severe loss of farm land owned by the community. In fact, fishponds have been gotten a source of community life. If the pond area can no longer be processed, it will lead to socio-economic problems of society. Therefore, it required an effort of adaptation to adjust to changing environmental conditions due to the occurrence of the phenomenon of climate change. One of the adaptations made Kelurahan Mangunharjo's community is to make the transition livelihood. In the transition process undertaken by livelihood there is definitely a learning community that is used as a stock of knowledge to switch to a new job.Further, the goal of this study is to find on lesson learn that can be taken from the transition in the Kelurahan Mangunharjo's livelihoods that can be used for replication in other areas.The result of this study there are the distinguished based on the offender, which the offender learning process in the Kelurahan Mangunharjo can be divided into two parties, including individuals and groups. While, if it differentiated based on the learning process that is owned by Kelurahan Mangunharjo's community, then there are two types of processes used, among others, through learning by doing and learning by interaction. Obstacles that still occurs today lies in the process of transfer of knowledge possessed by the community.Most people move to jobs that do not reach the level of education and skill levels are high,because they have a low knowledge and skill.


The feeding experiment of the enriched rice on the personnels of the National Safety Force Medical School at Yokosuka, Kanagawa prefecture was conducted in June 1953. The enriched rice "Pre-mix" which was prepared at Tai Rice Co. and Fuzisawa Pharmaceutical Co. was used in our experiment. In each 1 lb of the pre-mix, 400mg of V. B1, 200mg of V. B2, 2400mg of niacin and 2400mg of iron were contained.In the experimental group, 30g of the pre-mix per day per Capita was added to the usual diet which was daily fed to the all personnels of the school. The pyruvic acid in blood was measured and changes in blood pyruvate levels were observed. Our results were following;(1) In the experimental group, 4 of 7 men revealed a slight tendency to decrease in blood pyruvate levels, and the average value some what decreased. But in the control group, this tendency was not observable.(2) The average blood pyruvate levels of 59 cases of the personnels of the N. S. A. Medical School was 1.02mg/dl, and the maximum and the minimum was 1.38mg/dl, 0.65mg/dl respectively.


1Iron Research Program, Lindsley Kimball Research Institute, New York Blood Center, New York, USA 2Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, USA. Copyright © 2020 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. on behalf of the European Hematology Association. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non-commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms. HemaSphere (2021) 5:1(e508). http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/ HS9.0000000000000508. Received: 29 September 2020 / Accepted 21 October 2020 When Alarmins Are "Therapeutic"


The quasi-one-dimensional discrete solitons supported by negative anisotropic dipole–dipole interactions (DDIs) in the domain of two-dimensional (2D) discrete deep optical lattices are investigated...


Objective: to study the induction of osteogenesis caused by introducing into the defect area broadly porous cryogenically structured 3D carriers, based on serum albumin and loaded with a bioregulator isolated from bovine serum on an experimental model of mandible defect in rabbits in vivo.Materials and methods. Cryogenically structured sponges in the form of cylindrical specimens, 5 mm in diameter and 5 mm in height, prepared from bovine serum albumin, were used as the bioregulator carrier. The experimental laboratory animals were male Chinchilla rabbits, weighing 2–2.5 kg. Bone tissue was skeletonized under anesthesia (intramuscular anesthetic Zoletil 100) with a 3-cm incision in the angle of the mandible and a 5-mm-diameter cutter was used to create a 2–3-mm deep defect to install an appropriate-size albumin sponge. A total of 24 animals participated in the experiment. X-ray control of the defect area was performed in vivo on day 14 using PanExam+ (Kavo) device (20 m X-ray). Histological examination of tissues was carried out at day 30 after the defect using a light microscope.Results. Experiments performed indicate an active restoration of bone tissue in the extensive defect area when using an albumin-based 3D carrier with the inclusion of a bioregulator as compared to the control experiments. There were osteointegrative and osteoinductive processes, almost complete decomposition (biodegradation) of albumin sponge with formation of islands of dense bone tissue with small foci of coarse fibrous tissue in the defect. This demonstrated good dynamics of recovery processes at this stage of healing.Conclusion. Under the action of a serum bioregulator contained in an albumin-based sponge, the repair process leads to restoration of normal bone tissue without formation of bone callus and altered bone tissue different from the native one.


The invention provides a coupled power generating system using a solar thermal collector assisted coal-fired unit. The system comprises a coal-fired boiler power generating system, a solar thermal collector field, a circulating pump and a hot oil heat exchanger, wherein the coal-fired boiler power generating system comprises a generator and a condenser, a condensate pump, multiple stages of low-pressure heaters, a deaerator, a feed pump, multiple stages of high-pressure heaters, a coal-fired boiler and a steam turbine, which are connected in series in sequence; the steam turbine drives the generator and the steam exhausted by the steam turbine enters the condenser; the solar thermal collector field, the circulating pump and an oil chamber of the heat exchanger are connected to form a circulation loop; and a part of feed water from the inlet end of the high-pressure heater at one stage is sent to the high-pressure heater at the next stage, the cold reheat steam inlet or the feed pump steam turbine inlet after being heated by the heat exchanger. The system has the following beneficial effects: as the solar thermal collector field and the traditional coal-fired boiler power generating system are organically bonded, the coal consumption of the power plants is greatly reduced and the environmental pollution of the power generating system is reduced while the power supply stability is ensured.


In this paper, we propose two relay cooperation schemes for a Multiple Access Relay Channel (MARC). The proposed schemes make use of a lattice-based approach to block Markov encoding. The first scheme applies Compute-And-Forward (CAF) at the relay and Successive Interference Cancellation (SIC) at the destination; whereas the second one applies SIC at both the relay and the destination. A detailed analysis of the rates achieved by these two schemes is also provided. The schemes are further studied under two specific channel settings.


An Exploration of Feelings in the Migration Process among Queer Partners : Recension av Sara Ahlstedt, The Feeling of Migration: Narratives of Queer Intimacies and Partner Migration (2016)


In this article I argue that there is a link between constructivism and globalisation, and it is a strong one. Constructivism evolved as part of a more general trend in international relations scholarship, a trend that has seen a shift from the study of the relationship between assumed fixed, given units, nation‐states, to the study of encounter between political entities. The study of the encounter, however, affects a subtle but significant change in the assumed spatial context in which international relationships are taking place. The underpinning image of the geographical space, the envelope in which international relationships take place, has shifted from an image of a divided space made of separate and isolated nation‐states to an image of a global space, an arena that give rise to problems of encounters between social units. Encounter theories, of which constructivism in all its variations is a good example, are predicated, in other words, on an assumed global world (however ambiguous and inchoate this notion of global might be), and in that sense they advance, unwittingly, a theory of globalisation.


Innovation and entrepreneurship have become increasingly important parts of economic development in almost every country, region, and community. In this research we investigate the reasons people become entrepreneurs in the textile and apparel industries and compare entrepreneurship in these industries with other industries looking also at the success factors for start up companies. During our research we found many disrupters, people entering the textile and apparel industries from outside often having no prior experience in textiles or apparel. We also investigate the impact of government intervention on entrepreneurship. In recognition of the large economic impact entrepreneurial companies have on economic development and job growth, almost all federal governments, regional governments, and community governments have created support for innovation and entrepreneurship.


Purpose – This paper identifies meta‐level considerations long ignored in Sri Lanka's peace negotiations.Design/methodology/approach – Variety absorption being at the heart of manoeuvres by the various parties of the negotiation, Ashby's Law of Requisite Variety informs the diagnosis. Also used are Beer's viable systems model, Maturana's structural coupling and Stokes sociological thinking on identity which encompasses the nature of identity, levels of identity, organisation of identity.Findings – Whilst in Sri Lanka's conflict resolution parlance, identity has been pivotally limited to race, in socio‐cybernetic terms it denotes much more. This leads to the recognition that relationships between structurally coupled entities change as negotiations progress thus calling upon them (and others) to dynamically adapt their identity in their endeavour to retain viability.Practical implications – The diagnosis shows the need to design negotiation processes capable of absorbing the variety needed to address the c...


Introduction: Pearly penile papules are common, benign lesions that may be a source of concern and embarrassment for many men. Therapeutic options such as electrodessication, shave excision, cryotherapy, and CO2 laser ablation have demonstrated variable degrees of efficacy, and may result in scarring and hypopigmentation. Holmium: YAG lasers are widely available to most urologists, and have operational characteristics that make them safe for treating cutaneous lesions. Aim: We herein describe three Caucasian males with extensive pearly penile papules, treated using the Holmum: YAG laser. Methods: Following treatment, patients were followed for 8, 13, and 16 months. Results: All patients were treated in the outpatient setting, had an uneventful recovery, did not require complex wound care, and did not develop scarring or hypopigmentation. All three patients were satisfied with their results, which proved to be aesthetically flawless. Conclusions: Holmium: YAG laser ablation appears to be a safe and effective option for treatment of pearly penile papules in Caucasian men. Further experience is warranted, particularly in men with different skin colors and tones.


As refugee and other forced migrations have increased in scale, so too has the complexities and diversity in both social demographic composition and geographic origins and destinations of migrants in recent decades. The number of 'persons of concern' to the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR) has increased from 32.9 million at the end of 2006 to an estimated 67.5 million at the end of 2016. Total refugees and persons in refugee-like situations increased from 9.9 to 22.5 million, and the number of internally displaced persons has risen from 4.2 to 40.3 million over the same 10-year period. In 2017, nearly half – 46.0 per cent of the total populations of concern were from Asia (Abbasi-Shavazi & Kraly, 2018; Kraly & Abbasi-Shavazi, forthcoming; UNHCR, 2007, 2017). These figures seem to reveal just the tip of an iceberg as the number of migrants who are actually displaced is underestimated, and there is no evidence that the scale and severity of forced migration is likely to decrease in the foreseeable future. Forced population movements have been under-researched. This is particularly the case within the regions of Asia – despite the persistence of forced migrations and largescale refugee movements and, critically, the entrenchment of protracted refugee situations in countries of asylum. At the level of population, analysis of temporal and spatial scale and patterns is challenged by the lack of a systematic body of demographic data. The lack of consistent and comparable definitions of forced migration and displacement frustrates the accumulation of more general knowledge concerning the drivers and dynamics of displacement underlying both current and emerging patterns of refugee and forced migration in Asia. There is also a critical place for qualitative research on the experiences of forced migrants during stages of flight and settlement, and the implications of forced migration for persons, families and households left behind and for communities of both origin and settlement. Indeed, research on forced migration requires a multidisciplinary approach which demands new paradigms, multiple methodologies and collaborative research teams. The lack of systematic refugee research has also been due to a narrow focus in which refugee movements are considered isolated, localised, sporadic, transitory and non-recurring and temporary events (Abbasi-Shavazi & Kraly, 2018). As a result, many studies on refugee movements and groups of refugees and displaced persons have not been comprehensive, dealing primarily with particular aspects of the migrant experience such as the provision of asylum and protection, assimilation and integration, or the effectiveness of government policies.


AbstractThe interface bonding condition between asphalt concrete layers is unquestioned as one of the significant factors influencing pavement performance. In order to research the interface charac...


at Cambridge while in grave danger of perinatal mortality throughout the 1970s; began to grow through the 1980s; and has now come of age. The acceleration of clinical developments has been matched by a correspondingly exponential rise in the number of transplant centres and operations. On average, 11 patients per year received a new liver in Europe between 1968 and 1980, whereas in 1992 alone more than 2,000 had transplants. In total, more than 10,000 liver transplants have been performed in Europe, 2,000 of them in the


In the presented review of the literature questions of epidemiology, pathomorphology, pathogenesis, clinic, diagnostics of uterine myomas are considered. Presented are data accentuating the use of the progesterone receptor antagonist drug mifepristone. The therapy of myoma of the uterus by mifepristone is not inferior in effectiveness or safety to analogs of gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonists, and does not have a negative effect on estrogen-dependent extragenital systems and organs (cardiovascular system, bone tissue, mammary glands, etc.), since the serum Estradiol remains at a level corresponding to the early follicular phase of the menstrual cycle.


Due to environmental and health concerns related to ammonium perchlorate, AP, alternative solid propellants based on the green oxidizers ammonium dinitramide, ADN, and ammonium nitrate, AN, are developed in the EU funded project GRAIL. By using non-energetic binders and by varying the ratio between ADN and AN, it seems possible to develop a green propellant with properties similar to state-of-the-art, AP based solid propellants.


This paper presents a novel method of measuring motorrotating speed by using phaselocked loop.This method differs from the conventional M/T method.The new method can yield the true velocity measurement that follows the velocity all the time with precision and simplicity.The result of measurement is 12 bit data.This method has been applied to the feedback channel of a digital AC servo system successfully.


The infection rate of soil-borne nematodes was 6.37% in Xiamen City, 2008, and among which the infection rates of hookworm, Ascaris lumbricoides, Trichuris trichiura and pinworm were 5.97%, 0.29%, 0.09% and 20.13%, respectively. The infection rate of soil-borne nematodes outside the island and that of pinworm in children were still high.


This study has estimated the impact of calorie and protein intake of rural farm families on the farm output. These (calorie and protein) were in turn fitted into a production model. Results indicate that both calorie and protein intake of rural farm families significantly improved their farm output. It was found out that the inclusion of calorie and protein intake variables into the production model resulted in more resource utilisation. These variables when they were included in the model showed positive relationship with farm output and they are significant at 1%. Farmers like any other worker need balanced diet to work effectively and efficiently on the farms. Integrated rural development effort should attempt to provide modern farm inputs with relatively higher calorie and protein content to farmers.


In this article we explore how CSR factors influence customer satisfaction and loyalty in the Korean context and whether the mediating effects of corporate image and reputation in the relationships between CSR and customer satisfaction and customer loyalty are or not. This study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the hypotheses. Questionnaires were distributed to 240 customers of the case companies ? Samsung electronics, LG electronics and Hyundai car considered CSR pioneers in Korea. The findings show that CSR positively affects customer satisfaction and loyalty mediated by corporate image, and reputation also customer satisfaction positively affects customer loyalty. The importance order of CSR factors is as follows: consumer protection, philanthropic responsibility, ethical responsibility, and environmental contribution. The moderating effects of authenticity in the relationship between CSR and corporate image and reputation are identified. Also significant moderating effects of switching cost in the relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty found. The conclusion draws implications for marketing practice and future research.


Quinacrine, also known as mepacrine, is a drug applied on anti-protozoal and anti-rheumatic therapy. Moreover, quinacrine functioned as an intrapleural sclerosing agent as well. Although the anticancer activity of quinacrine has been reported, the detailed mechanism and effect on human leukemia cells remained elusive. In this study, we aimed to investigate the mechanism responsible for quinacrine-induced cell death of human leukemia K562 cells. It was found that quinacrine induced apoptosis of K562 cells. Quinacrine-induced ROS generation led to p38 MAPK phosphorylation, ERK inactivation and Bcl-2/Bcl-xL down-regulation. ERK inactivation led to reduce Bcl-xL mRNA level and promoter luciferase activity, while p38 MAPK phosphorylation promoted Bcl-2 down-regulation. Bcl-2/Bcl-xL down-regulation caused the loss of ΔΨm as well as the release of cytochrome c in quinacrine-treated cells, subsequently eliciting the caspase -9/-3 activation. Suppression of p38 MAPK phosphorylation or transfection of constitutively active MEK1 abolished quinacrine- induced Bcl-2 or Bcl-xL down-regulation, respectively. Consistently, SB202190 (p38 inhibitor) and restoration of ERK activation attenuated quinacrine-induced ΔΨm loss. Collectively, our data suggest that quinacrine induces apoptosis of human leukemia K562 cells via Bcl-xL and Bcl-2 down-regulation.


The nonlinear nature of holographic data storage systems (HDSS) suggests that nonlinear equalization and detection techniques may be beneficial. The complexity involved in nonlinear methods does not often make them practical solutions. Support vector machines (SVMs) are recently being studied for pattern recognition applications. We investigated linear SVM detection and observed that the bit error rate (BER) using SVM for data detection on linear minimum mean squared error (LMMSE) equalized holographically recorded and retrieved 2D data pages is about 17% better than the simple threshold detection on unequalized pages.


The issue of road accidents is an increasing problem in developing countries. This could be due to increasing road traffic/vehicle occupancy. This has been increasing over years. Regulating traffic on roads is an important task. There by reducing accidents in accident prone zones. The accident was drastically increased over a decade from 4% to 31%. This is a alarming issue. The analysis and identification of such road accident prone zones is essential to reduce the accidents. A model was developed based on intersection parameters and no. of accidents by regression analysis.


Gilsonite is often used as an additive of asphalt pavements.It has been applied in projects of China and other countries.Performances of gilsonite asphalt binder are compared and analysed when different contents of gilsonite are blended into Korea SK asphalt and Taiwan CPC asphalt.Performances of gilsonite modified asphalt mixtures are compared and analysed when different contents of gilsonite are blended into AC-25 asphalt mixtures and Korea SK 70# used as basis asphalt.The appropriate contents of gilsonite are recommened.


In this study, we demonstrated a process for fabricating a dual damascene opening in a chemically amplified negative UV photoresist, such as SU-8. The process is based on a UV-assisted thermal-imprinting process, which involved UV pretreatment and thermal imprinting using a Ni mold. After establishing process parameters (e.g., adhesion enhancing, UV pre-treating, thermal imprinting, and etch back conditions) for the given geometry and dimensions of the mold pattern, we could successfully form 25-µm-deep trenches with a 10 µm line-and-space pattern and 45 µm-deep via holes in SU-8/Si samples by UV-assisted thermal imprinting, followed by O2/CHF3 reactive ion etching (RIE). Delamination defects could be avoided with the help of adhesion enhancement treatment. The process studied here showed great potential in reducing time and cost compared with the standard photolithographic dual damascene process.


Heliothis zea (Boddie) larvae reared on artificial diet were treated with permethrin using a topical or dip bioassay at 3, 5, and 7 days post-hatch. Forty-eight-hour survival and weight gain in sur...


Synchronous iterative algorithms are often less scalable than asynchronous iterative ones. Performing large scale experiments with different kind of network parameters is not easy because with supercomputers such parameters are fixed. So, one solution consists in using simulations first in order to analyze what parameters could influence or not the behavior of an algorithm. In this paper, we show that it is interesting to use SimGrid to simulate the behavior of asynchronous iterative algorithms. For that, we compare the behavior of a synchronous GMRES algorithm with an asynchronous multisplitting one with simulations which let us easily choose some parameters. Both codes are real MPI codes and simulations allow us to see when the asynchronous multisplitting algorithm can be more efficient than the GMRES one to solve a 3D Poisson problem.


Chapter 5 is a study of the fate of Israel and Humanity, Benamozegh's posthumous manuscript, and the controversies that surround the editorial changes made by Benamozegh's Christian disciple, Aimé Pallière, who was entrusted with its publication by the Livornese rabbi's family and turned the 1,900-page manuscript into the 735-page first edition published in 1914. Yet no previous scholarship had ever compared Benamozegh's original manuscript to the one published by Pallière in 1914. This book fills this lacuna and provides further insights into the inner world of Benamozegh and his influences.


Interview with journalist Becky Diaz describing how she became interested in media communications as well as her education and work experience in radio and television.


We give an error analysis of the finite element variable penalty method for Stokes equations. It is shown that the variable penalty method is of higher order than the standard penalty method.


Posey is a physical construction kit that is instrumented to capture assembly and configuration information and convey it to a host computer. We have used Posey to build applications that deploy a reconfigurable physical model as a tangible interface for various domains. We demonstrate these applications to support a case for computationally enhanced construction kits as a semi-general interaction modality.


In the last twenty years there has been a noticeable increase of services in the tertiary sector in the society with a parallel increase of informal education offer, which creates demand for such services. We are also noticing indirect promotion of certain services through other different forms of education (informative, promotions, TV and radio shows). Because services are considered knowledge intensive activities, we predict a correlation between the level of knowledge among people in the society and growth of services. In this article we examine the influence of knowledge on the development of services, limiting ourselves to services of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM services). The presence of these services in Slovenia has increased by over 100% during the last decade. Based on literary references, our theoretical model and findings obtained from data on growth of CAM services, as well as informal education from this field in Slovenia, we have established that there is a correlation between the increased offer of informal education and the development of CAM services. Newly obtained knowledge encourages individuals to create companies that provide CAM services and drives consumers to look for services offered by such companies. Informal education has an important role in this as well, as individuals with a higher degree of formal education generally tend to upgrade their knowledge.


Angela McRobbie's The Aftermath of Feminism is challenging, polemical, and incisive. It is the most recent of a flurry of works within feminist cultural studies offering theoretical reflections on how to conceptualize current configurations of feminism, femininity, and popular culture, but its heady mixture of theoretical richness, sharp cultural analysis, and disregard for disciplinary boundaries makes it stand out from the crowd. Very few—if any—contemporary discourses about the state of feminism emerge unscathed from McRobbie's critique. Whilst claiming that ours is an era of "resurgent" patriarchies, she provides a convincing refutation of the tendency to invoke discourses of "back-lash" when accounting for the current gender regime. The notion of "back-lash", McRobbie argues, overlooks the complex ways in which traces of feminist discourse continue to circulate within consumer culture and state discourses. By contrast, more positive accounts such as Baumgardner and Richards' "third wave" feminism and Rosi Braidotti's "affirmative feminism" are convincingly refuted: McRobbie's analysis is an almost unflinchingly pessimistic one, and will make for disturbing reading for anyone looking for signs of feminist success. More specifically, the book's main argument concerns how we might theorize young womanhood and its relationship to feminism. For McRobbie, young women are currently subject to historically unusual levels of attention, through complex technologies of detraditionalization and female individualization. Young women are encouraged to break from tradition, via participation in the traditionally maledominated arenas of employment and education, and through the affirmation of sexual independence. The young female subject is, McRobbie argues, called upon to be independent, responsible, and reflexive. However, these "incitements" to new forms of public participation invoke the spectre of feminism, with all its connotations of critique, disruption, and challenge to the patriarchal order. Consequently—and this is the crux of her argument—these new modalities of female individualization are themselves predicated on a vehement and repeated disavowal of feminism: the young woman is entitled to come forward, to enjoy certain forms of agency and freedom hitherto denied, but only on condition that any identification with feminism is radically disavowed. With young women increasingly constructed as "subjects of capacity", feminism maintains a certain presence, a "taken-into-accountness". However, whilst it may


A major goal of this research was to quantify the interactions between UVR, ozone and aerosols. One method of quantification was to calculate sensitivity coefficients. A novel aspect of this work was the use of Automatic Differentiation software to calculate the sensitivities. The authors demonstrated the use of ADIFOR for the first time in a dimensional framework. Automatic Differentiation was used to calculate such quantities as: sensitivities of UV-B fluxes to changes in ozone and aerosols in the stratosphere and the troposphere; changes in ozone production/destruction rates to changes in UV-B flux; aerosol properties including loading, scattering properties (including relative humidity effects), and composition (mineral dust, soot, and sulfate aerosol, etc.). The combined radiation/chemistry model offers an important test of the utility of Automatic Differentiation as a tool in atmospheric modeling.


The paper deals with that all-too-familiar situation where the lexicographer must make a decision whether to include a particular item in the dictionary or not, and if so then in what form. Some borderline cases are investigated where considerations of language use, system and norm are each important parameters in the attempt to reach a common understanding that can be used by the dictionary staffas a manageable guideline for making uniform decisions. Experience indicates that there is no obvious, unequivocal path that should be followed - indeed the outcome for one type of information may well be different from that of another as the subtle balancing ofthe aspects involved may vary and result in different solutions.


Abstract : There are several common approaches used to obtain the kinematic and dynamic equations which describe the motion of robot manipulators. However, a problem arises when these conventional body oriented robot arm kinematic equations are used to simulate the manipulator motion. In this case, the Jacobian matrix which relates the end effector motion to joint angle variations becomes singular when two successive arm links align. When the robot arm passes through these singular points, the jacobian matrix is not invertible, and as a result of this, the motion cannot be simulated. This thesis investigates how this situation can be avoided by using a Newton Euler approach to variable definition, and using the equations interpreted in a fixed references frame.


The authors use inexpensive personal computer graphics cards to perform the intensive image-processing computations done in a heat-seeking missile's tracking systems and thereby dramatically reduce the execution time of missile threat simulations used by military mission planners. Using an innovative processing algorithm, these calculations are accomplished up to 3.5 times faster in graphic cards versus using a conventional CPU. Through a combination of this and other software optimizations, simulation time was reduced by 33%.


A systematic development of 8-node trilinear 3D solid elements based on Simo's theoretical framework for the enhanced assumed strain formulation is presented for linear elasticity. The advantages and deficits of various enhanced strain formulations are extensively discussed using the regular brick. For arbitrarily distorted elements a simple modification of the element stiffness-matrix is proposed to achieve a more reliable and very efficient element.


Public opinion in the EU strongly supports more ambitious national climate targets, according to a poll conducted in 12 European countries. The online poll commissioned by T&E from leading institute YouGov reveals that 68% of respondents with an opinion want their country's climate target to be increased, while 84% want increased climate efforts in the transport and buildings sectors to be delivered through new standards and regulations.


Automatic program repair (APR), which aims to fix software bugs without human intervention, is getting in-creasing attention from academic and industrial communities. Although promising outcomes regarding correctly-fixed bugs have been achieved recently, existing APR tools still suffer from the low accuracy of generated patches. In fact, it is fundamentally difficult to avoid generating incorrect patches due to the weak available test suite. In this paper, to improve the accuracy of patches generated by APR tools, we propose a novel HUman-machine interactive patch filterinG apprOach (HUGO) to help developers identify correct patches by generating additional test cases. We also implement the approach as an Eclipse plugin and evaluate the effectiveness and usefulness of the implementation. The results on the Defects4J dataset show that the proposed method can filter out 82.61 % of the incorrect patches, and improve the accuracy of patches by 25%.


Rice is a staple food for Indonesia. For some time, a food availability approach was used for based of Indonesia's food security program. Monitoring and early warning systems is one of inherent components in the implementation of food security paradigm. Spatial information about paddy plated area and production is an important element for monitoring in agriculture. Further, the data spatially and time series, both historically and in real time, is required for consideration in the planning management and development of agricultural land. Purpose of his study is to assess spectral character of ALOS satellite imagery and combination of multi-sensors SAR and Optic to identify paddy planting area in paddy field. Research has conducted on Subang District area, West Java Province. Data used is PALSAR for analyzing of backscatter and soil moisture content and ALOS AVNIR-2 is for analyzing of NDVI and checking of land cover visually, with acquisition date on 10 May 2007. Research result shows that multi resolution data can produce a more detailed distribution map of paddy planting area of Subang. However, validation of the method used remains to be done. Multi-sensor data provides an opportunity to obtain better information and can contribute in agricultural land planning and influence to better agricultural development policies. The information can be used for policy maker for food security planning and management in Indonesia.


Six new dipeptides containing either 1-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid or 1-aminocyclohexanecarboxylic acid placed at either the N-or the C-terminal of L-phenylalanine or L-leucine have been synthesized. Two molecules of 1-aminocyclopentanecarboxylic acid were also linked with a peptide bond. These seven dipeptides were cyclized into the corresponding substituted 2,5-piperazinediones.


Time-dependent density-functional theory is used to calculate quantum-size effects in the energy loss of antiprotons interacting with a confined two-dimensional electron gas. The antiprotons follow a trajectory normal to jellium circular clusters of variable size, crossing every cluster at its geometrical center. Analysis of the characteristic time scales that define the process is made. For high-enough velocities, the interaction time between the projectile and the target electrons is shorter than the time needed for the density excitation to travel along the cluster. The finite-size object then behaves as an infinite system, and no quantum-size effects appear in the energy loss. For small velocities, the discretization of levels in the cluster plays a role and the energy loss does depend on the system size. A comparison to results obtained using linear theory of screening is made, and the relative contributions of electron-hole pair and plasmon excitations to the total energy loss are analyzed. This comparison also allows us to show the importance of a nonlinear treatment of the screening in the interaction process.


Professor Miranda Goeltom is senior deputy governor at Bank Indonesia, with a long and distinguished career as an academic and policy economist at Bappenas (the national planning agency), in the offi ce of the Coordinating Minister for Economic Affairs and (for the past decade) in Bank Indonesia. She writes, with the benefi t of inside experience, on a wide range of policy issues, mainly macroeconomic. For this reviewer, the most interesting chapters are those relating to the development of monetary policy. Over the past three decades the Indonesian fi nancial system has been transformed. Previously dominated by state-owned banks, the banking sector now includes well over 100 private banks (with signifi cant representation from major foreign banks), while the state banks account for less than half of all banks' assets. 'Financial repression' has gone, with non-bank alternative sources of funding now provided by capital markets, through bonds and equities. Credit is no longer rationed through a closely controlled allocation process favouring the state-owned enterprises and guided by the central bank into 'priority' areas; now, the full range of fi nance is available, with consumer loans for motor cycles and cars being the fastest growing and most profi table part of banking. Monetary policy has gone from direct controls, through a period where money base control was attempted, and fi nally to the current international-bestpractice model of infl ation targeting, using short-term interest rates as the instrument of policy. All this took great institutional change, not least in the central bank, with the need to develop the tools for a market-based monetary policy: a short-term money market and the instruments of open-market operations. During this transition there was the monumental disruption of the 1997–98 crisis, which saw the central bank's reputation greatly diminished. The crisis also halved one commonly used measure of fi nancial deepening: the ratio of bank credit to GDP. This story is told in a series of chapters covering the evolution from regulated fi nance towards infl ation targeting; a detailed exposition of the trans mission mechanism of monetary policy; the problems of time-consistency; how the central bank communicates with the public; and the shift from a closely managed exchange rate to a much freer regime. Other chapters cover the institutional developments in policy making; the strengthening of governance in the banking system; and the widening of the array of fi nancial institutions and instruments (including the development of the government bond market, one of the few 'side benefi ts' of the crisis). The relationship between monetary and fi scal policy, the 1997–98 crisis, and the role of the International Monetary Fund during the crisis


Venture capital investment across the world has surged in the past two decades but has been disproportionately directed towards a subset of innovations that can generate returns in a short period of time. More complex technologies that are expensive and time-consuming to de-risk have received relatively less capital in recent years, despite great societal need. This is particularly true for nascent technologies building on new science, but without a well-defined market—so-called "tough tech" ventures.


Lake sediments are a valuable archive to document past flood occurrence and magnitude, and their evolution over centuries to millennia. This information has the potential to greatly improve current flood design and risk assessment approaches, which are hampered by the shortness and scarcity of gauge records. For this reason, paleoflood hydrology from lake sediments received fast-growing attention over the last decade. This allowed an extensive development of experience and methodologies and, thereby, the reconstruction of paleoflood series with increasingly higher accuracy. In this review, we provide up-to-date knowledge on flood sedimentary processes and systems, as well as on state-of-the-art methods for reconstructing and interpreting paleoflood records. We also discuss possible perspectives in the field of paleoflood hydrology from lake sediments by highlighting the remaining challenges. This review intends to guide the research interest in documenting past floods from lake sediments. In particular, we offer here guidance supported by the literature in how: to choose the most appropriate lake in a given region, to find the best suited sedimentary environments to take the cores, to identify flood deposits in the sedimentary sequence, to distinguish them from other instantaneous deposits, and finally, to rigorously interpret the flood chronicle thus produced.


In this article, we will argue about the changes represented by the entrance of women in the factory work in a region of recent industrialization, aiming at verifying to which extent such insertion, in a context of employment crisis in a region marked by informal labor activities, has influenced the redefinition of the family roles and increased conflicts that cause domestic violence. A group of 14 women workers that denounced the domestic violence in Crato City, Ceara State, was observed. We intend to recoup the changes perceived by these workers in its life of work and its ordinary life. The women entrance in the public sphere tends to pressure for changes in the traditional roles of gender with distinct gradations, since adjustments in the domestic life until disruption of the family group.


The problem in this study was there were a lot of students at  SDN 2 Tijue who had low competence in reading skill. The fact indicated that there were still many students who spell, could not distinguish letters, adding the word and reducing word. This study aims to determine the effect of reading skills by using the index card match method for second grade students at SDN 2 Tijue, Pidie District. The population in this study were all students of second grade at SDN 2 Tijue. The number of the students were 50 while the samples in this study were class II as many as 50 students. The result of the study showed t count > t table. The result was 2,655 > 1,711 and  df 48. It showed that there was an effect of the index card match method on reading skills of at second grade students in Pidie District


A new generic pushbroom sensor model for high-resolution satellite images is presented. The sensor orbit and attitudes are modelled by splines. In order to determine the parameters of the orbit and attitude splines, direct observations for the satellite orbits and attitudes that are provided by the data vendors in metadata files are considered. As these direct observations are usually contaminated by systematic errors, the pushbroom sensor model also requires a correction model for these systematic errors. Unfortunately, the definitions of file formats and model parameters provided by the vendors are usually different and sometimes not compatible with a sensor model based on a perspective transformation. Our new sensor model is designed to be applicable to a large variety of sensors. Vendor-specific definitions are mapped to the definitions of our sensor model during data import. A rigorous model is employed for compensating systematic errors in the orbit and attitude data. In this paper, we present the sensor model and describe the way the vendor-specific definitions are mapped to the definitions of the new sensor model for Quickbird, SPOT 5 and ALOS/PRISM. First results for the correction of systematic errors will be given for Quickbird and SPOT 5 for test sites in Melbourne and Bhutan. * Corresponding author.


The aim of this study was to obtain findings that can be used in career development programs for top university athletes in Japan. For 24 top-level university wrestling athletes who graduated in March 2011 (mean age of 22.0±0.2 years at the time of first survey, with continuous years of athletic competition of 7.1±4.1 years), a survey was performed at 5 time times over a 4-year period. At each survey time the questionnaire consisted of items asking about actual career status and it used a scale for evaluating acquirement levels of life skills (LS). For all surveys, valid responses were received from 21 subjects (response rate 87.5%). Changes in career status were that, directly after graduation, nearly half of the respondents were in a state of being unable to obtain a position (regular employment 33.3%; non-regular employment 28.6%; part-time employment 38.1%), with a gradual increase in the number of persons who could obtain a position thereafter, and almost all persons were working 4 years after graduation (regular employment 80.1%; non-regular employment 14.2%); part-time employment 4.7%). LS levels achieved through sports competition during the university years were maintained over the four years after graduation. In addition, it was suggested that there is a positive relationship between LS levels and career status, determined by focusing on the top and bottom cases on the levels of the primary LS. This might show a positive relation to the competitive


Host diet influences the structure and function of the microbiota in species that regularly consume food. To measure the functional contribution of microbiotas, we developed a metabolome‐microbiome platform (MMP) and novel stable isotopic labeling to trace microbiotas' metabolism in breath, cecum, and host tissues. We combined cavity ringdown spectroscopy to measure real‐time breath biomarkers and NMR‐based metabolomics to analyze metabolome profiles in tissues. We applied MMP to hibernating ground squirrels to assess the role of bacterial metabolism contributing to seasonal changes in diet. Previously, we showed that the long‐term fast of hibernation decreases relative abundance of bacterial taxa that are adept at degrading abundant plant glycans in summer versus their reduction in winter. Here, we determined the functional significance of seasonally changing microbiotas by gavaging Spring and Summer squirrels and aroused hibernators in Winter with 13C‐labeled complex and simple carbohydrates, and comparing against their respective intraperitoneal and antibiotics applications. Measurement of 13CO2/12CO2(δ13C) in breath was used as an index of bacterial degradation of 13C‐substrates and linked to observed changes in 1H‐[13C]‐metabolome profiles. Compared with robust responses in Summer changes in δ13C after 13C‐inulin gavage in hibernators were nearly abolished, whereas squirrels in Early Winter and Spring showed variable responses consistent with their transitional microbiotas. Metabolome profiles mirrored seasonal changes in 13C‐labeled short‐chain fatty acids. These suggest that during hibernation, the gut microbiota gradually loses the capacity to degrade a plant‐derived glycan, and a shift away from taxa that prefer dietary substrates. The results suggest MMP is a powerful tool in analysis of host‐microbe relationships.


The RD52 calorimeter measures the electromagnetic fraction of hadron showers in every event through simultaneous detection of the Cerenkov and scintillation light. This makes it possible to eliminate the main factor that prohibits precision energy measurements for hadrons. In Nov. 2012, the RD52 (DREAM) collaboration tested the performance of the new fiber calorimeter for the first time with high energy particles at the CERN SPS. The results presented here concern the performance characteristics for electrons and pions, as well as the identification of electrons in this longitudinally unsegmented calorimeter.


Electrocardiogram (ECG) or (EKG) is the common mechanism of recording the electrical signals of the heart to detect heart impairment functionality. In this paper, we proposed a novel Extreme Learning Machine based model for heart arrhythmia detection in the ECG signal (ELM-D). Empirically, the proposed ELM-D model exceeds the state-of-the-art model in the detection accuracy over the ECG arrhythmia benchmarks. In addition, it is quite simple to implement using a small implementation budget. Moreover, it could be implemented on an FPGA or any small hardware device.


This Community Service Activities (PKM) in Madina Zone, Jampang English Village, Jampang Bogor aims to improve students' speaking ability in English in public. This PKM uses English speaking training methods using Drama training medium by involving 30 respondents from the elementary or junior high school students who are from several elementary to junior high school students scattered in the Madina JEV Zone area. From the results of this PKM activity it was found that the English language training method with a mentoring approach, technical training in role playing and the practice of drama entitled "Red Riding Hood" had a positive impact on students' confidence and comfort in speaking English in public.


In Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access Passive Optical Network(OFDMA-PON)upstream transmission,the Optical Beating Interference(OBI)will be produced if each ONU uses different lasers with the same wavelength.The colorless ONU is hard to achieve with the presence of OBI.The OFDMA-PON system structure was studied and the related formulas were derived to analyze the generation and avoidance of OBI.The OBI avoidance scheme that sending optical carrier used in upstream by downstream transmission combined with coherent detection in optical line terminal was simulated.Via simulation,the anti-dispersion scheme and the effects of dispersion accumulation and the length of training sequence on system performance were studied,and the parameter configuration was optimized to provide a theory reference for practical application.


Background: Determining the optimum shipment quantity in a traditional production system is a competitive business dimension, and developing a reliable shipment policy is decisive for long-term objectives. Currently, significant research in this domain has mainly focused on the optimum shipment lot sizing in a perfect production system without considering the imperfections in the production processes and logistics. It has been well established that the real production inventory system acts as an imperfection in the overall production management loop. Methods: This research deals with designing a new shipment policy considering the imperfections in the production processes and undertaking some influential factors, such as the transportation cost, the actual production inventory, defective items, and backorders. Results: In the developed mathematical framework, the lot-sizing problems, imperfections in the production processes, retailers, and distributors are considered with equal-sized shipment policy to attain pragmatic and real-time results. Conclusions: The developed framework considers an all-unit-discount transportation cost structure. The numerical computations, as well as sensitivity analysis, are performed to point out the specifications and validation of the proposed model.


Surface-mount packages offer Silicon Carbide (SiC) MOSFETs with many advantages, including highly reduced parasitic inductance, smaller size, and reduced manufacturing cost. However, in high power applications, the thermal performance of the discrete surface-mount device (SMD) is concerning compared to through-hole counterparts. This paper seeks to evaluate various surface mount cooling approaches. Topside heat sink, thermal via, metal core printed circuit board (MC PCB), and aluminum nitride (AlN) ceramic inlay approaches are considered and evaluated in detail based on introduced thermal resistance and heat dissipation capacity. Mathematical analysis, and experimental verifications are provided to support the conclusion.


There's good news for people whose New Year's resolution is to eat more bacon. This week, the British sausage maker Finnebrogue will introduce bacon rashers made without added nitrites, which have ...


Objective To understand syphilis infections among different population groups in Zhuhai by using serological testing,and provide evidence for prevention of syphilis infections.Methods Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) and toluidine red unheated serum test(TRUST) were used to detect syphilis infections among different population groups including drug users,sex workers,migrant workers and voluntary blood donors.Results The positive rates of syphilis antibody among drug users,sex workers,migrant workers and voluntary blood donors were 9.20%,0.98%,0.89% and 0.52%,respectively;and the infection rates among them were 4.29%,0.65%,0.66% and 0.24%,respectively.Syphilis infections in drug users were significantly higher than in other groups.Latent infection was the major pattern in the above groups.Conclusion Various specific interventions should be adopted for different population groups to prevent and control syphilis infections in Zhuhai.And health education should be strengthened to raise people's syphilis related knowledge and their awareness of self protection so as to prevent syphilis to be transmitted from drug users to sex workers or their clients,and then to family members.


The programming of distributed systems requires specific development and analysis tools. The difficulty arises because current programming languages require the programmer to specify a problem to be solved at a low level of abstraction in an imperative form. An alternative approach is to specify the problem to be solved at a highlevel in a functional language. Program transformation can then be used to derive a parallel algorithm. Such algorithms can be run on parallel computers which automatically exploit the implicit parallelism in a functional language program. We present a new methodology for systematically synthesizing algorithms for various parallel architectures (static and dynamic). Our technique would be applied to produce parallel algorithms for problems as diverse as dynamic programming, tessellation of the plane, fractal image generation and Fourier transformation. INTRODUCTION The widespread use of parallel computers has been hampered by the difficulty of load distribution amongst a cooperating group of processors. The difficulty arises because current programming languages require the programmer to specify a problem to be solved at a low level of abstraction in an imperative form. Thus the programmer must immediately encode an architecture-specific algorithm detailing every communication and computation. This process is prone to error and complicates the reuse of applications. An alternative approach is to specify the problem to be solved at a high-level in a functional language. Program transformation can then be used to derive a parallel algorithm. Such algorithms can be run on parallel computers which automatically exploit the implicit parallelism in a functional language program. We show this by producing functional language code that explicitly expresses the computations and communications to be performed by the processors. This simplifies compilation, yields faster programs and enables parallel applications to be developed for a wide variety of parallel computer architectures. We present a new methodology for systematically synthesizing algorithms for various parallel architectures (static and dynamic). Thus we overcome one of the main problems associated with program synthesis by unfold/fold transformation (Arpaci 2001, Deminet 1982, Diniz 1999), in which it simplifies the possible program transformation at any stage in the synthesis. With an architecture specification, the synthesis is much more focused on the need to remove redundant computations by introducing interprocessor communication. Our technique would be applied to produce parallel algorithms for problems as diverse as dynamic programming, tessellation of the plane, fractal image generation and Fourier transformation. In this paper, two new goal-seeking program transformation methodologies have been developed as the following: 1. Transformation to Static Architectures: Processors are modeled by functions and interprocessor communication is modeled by function decomposition. 2. Transformation to Dynamic Architectures: Processors are modeled by functions and message routing mechanism is modeled by set abstraction. The methodologies enable a high-level functional specification of the application and a high-level functional abstraction of the target computer architecture to be systematically manipulated to produce an efficient parallel algorithm tailored to the target architecture. We outline the technique and demonstrate its effectiveness by producing two parallel sorting algorithms for two different architectures (Pipeline and Message-Passing). The next section briefly describes the design approach in which machine-independent issues such as concurrency are considered early, and machine-dependent aspects of design are delayed until late in the design process. Section 3 describes models of computation for static and dynamic architectures. Section 4 provides a categorization of load distribution. Section 5 previews the two new transformation algorithms designed to solve the sorting problem in the two classes of parallel computers. Finally, in section 6 we list some concluding remarks. Design Approach Most programming problems have several parallel solutions (Gehani 1984, Roosta 2000, Lim 1994, Kwok 1999). The best solution may differ from that suggested by the existing sequential algorithm. The design methodology that we describe is intended to foster an exploratory approach to design in which machine-independent issues such as concurrency are considered early, and machine-dependent aspects of design are delayed until late in the design process. This methodology structures the design process as four distinct stages. In the first two stages, we focus on concurrency and scalability and seek to discover algorithms with these qualities. In the third and forth stages, attention shifts to locality and other performance-related issues. The four stages are illustrated in Figure 1 and can be summarized as follows: • Partitioning: The computation that is to be performed and the data operated on by this computation are decomposed into small tasks. Practical issues such as the number of processors in the target computer are ignored, and attention is focused on recognizing opportunities for parallel execution. • Communication: The communication required to coordinate task execution is determined, and appropriate communication structures and algorithms are defined. • Agglomeration: The task and communication structures defined in the first two stages of a design are evaluated with respect to performance requirements and implementation costs. If necessary, tasks are combined into larger tasks to improve performance or to reduce development costs. • Mapping: Each task is assigned to a processor in a manner that attempts to satisfy the competing goals of maximizing processor utilization and minimizing communication costs. Mapping can be specified statically (at compile time) or dynamically (at run time) by load-balancing algorithms.


The hydrolysis of 8-chloro-6-(2′-chlorophenyl)-1-methyl-4H[1,2,4]triazolo[4,3-a][1,4]benzodiazepine (Triazolam) at room temperature, involves a reversible mechanism. The intermediate is a protonated species and the final product is the ring-opened compound resulting from the reversible scission of the imine bond. The two compounds were determined simultaneously as a function of pH with pmr and cmr spectrometry. Spectral data of the benzophenone derivative II (ir, cmr, pmr) are reported.


In this paper we have proved some results of fixed point on p -quasi cone metric spaces. The p -quasi cone metric space is  a generalization cone metric space. Kiany and Amini-Harandi[1] have given a generalization of Ciric contraction[2]. In this paper we give a generalization of result [2] for p -quasi-cone metric space.


A model for a vehicle equipped with a multimode combustion engine is formulated and calibrated to experiments. A study is performed for the FTP-75 driving cycle about the influence of the mode switch strategy on the engine operation and fuel consumption, using simulation results and driving cycle measurements. It is found that the fuel penalty for mode transitions cancels a significant part of the theoretical benefits of advanced combustion modes. A smoothing strategy, where a mode switch is delayed, is introduced and it is shown that, by computing the optimal wait time, the negative influence of mode transitions on the overall efficiency can be reduced.


Today, companies are trying to improve the mental image of their clients, through identify their social responsibilities and their targets to implement these plans. The programs related to social responsibility has different effects on corporate performance. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the impact of social responsibility on the performance of cement companies in the province This study is applicative in term of the purpose and descriptive in term of the nature of the survey. The statistical society includes senior and middle managers of Cement companies in Fars. They were 91. Sample size was 74 using random sampling method and Morgan table. The questionnaire was used to gather data the reliability and validity were approved using Cronbach's Alpha test with regard to academic and industry experts. In the process of analyzing data, Excel and Spss software was used. Variables in the analysis of one sample t-test showed that the variables of social responsibility and performance of the cement companies are in good condition. Also, multiple regression was used to examine the impact of social responsibility (liability, economic, legal, ethical and responsible selfless) and concluded except the economic responsibility, other three dimensions of social responsibilities influence on the performance. Finally, using linear regression, the impact of social responsibility on the performance of cement companies were reviewed and discussed and this thesis was approved.


This paper presents a PLL-free transmitter based on an FBAR achieving a 5μs startup time to reduce the crystal oscillator power overhead which degrades the energy efficiency for heavily duty cycled systems. The TX upconverts a FSK-modulated FBAR DCO signal with the IF output of a Phase Switching Divider (PSD) injection locked to the DCO. The PSD has a division step of 0.2 to circumvent the limited FBAR tuning range that prevents addressing all the channels in the various bands between 2.36 and 2.5 GHz. Integrated in a 65nm technology, the TX outputs -1dBm and consumes 9.2mA at 1.2V. Further, the TX is capable of data rates up to 16 Mbps leading to a peak energy efficiency of 700pJ/b as well as a multi-fold reduction in the mean power dissipation at lower mean data rates.


From a cognitive perspective, this paper explores the polysemous natures of Mandarin Chinese qian and Southern Min khan. It is found that although Mandarin Chinese qian and Southern Min khan have shared senses, they have developed distinct meaning facets. Southern Min khan has engendered senses which Mandarin Chinese qian does not have, such as 'to endure', 'to promote', 'to stir (starch)', 'to quibble', and 'to be in a relationship with'. On the other hand, Mandarin Chinese qian has the sense 'to concern about' which Southern Min khan does not possess. We conclude that language is not a faculty independent of the other cognitive fields. Also, we verify that cognitive operations in perceiving the real world are encoded in language.


Most of the upcoming cosmological information will come from analyzing the clustering of the Large Scale Structures (LSS) of the universe through LSS or CMB observations. It is therefore essential to be able to understand their behavior with exquisite precision. The Effective Field Theory of Large Scale Structures (EFTofLSS) provides a consistent framework to make predictions for LSS observables in the mildly non-linear regime. In this paper we focus on biased tracers. We argue that in calculations at a given order in the dark matter perturbations, highly biased tracers will underperform because of their larger higher derivative biases. A natural prediction of the EFTofLSS is therefore that by simply adding higher derivative biases, highly massive tracers should perform comparably well. We implement this prediction for the halo-halo and the halo-matter power spectra at one loop, and the halo-halo-halo, halo-halo-matter, and halo-matter-matter bispectra at tree-level, and compare with simulations. We find good agreement with the prediction: at z=0, for all tracers, we are able to match the power spectra up to k≃0.28hMpc-1, as well as a small set of about 102 bispectra triangles up to k≃0.17hMpc-1. We also discuss the limitations of our study and some avenues to pursue to further establish these findings.


The final stage of the MUSC organization will consist of three main components: The central user facility with its information area, user operation rooms and the microgravity information system ARIADNE, thematerials science user support of MATLAB and the life science user support of BIOLAB. The latter two perform the discipline-oriented ground and scientific support programs. MATLAB and BIOLAB are embedded in the scientific environment of the DLR research institutes in Cologne, substantialized with their own spectrum of yg-experiments. For the D-2 Mission the Institut for Aerospace Medicine hosts the life science user support and the Institute for Space Simulatioin the material science support.


ABSTRACT In this paper, we empirically test the relationship between the delay of containerships and the scheduled operations in a terminal, based on a dataset containing information on 352 containership arrivals during a 9-month period at seven terminals of three North American ports. We find that a vessel is less likely to be delayed when there are more operations scheduled shortly (up to 3 days) after the vessel's berthing window in the terminal. Moreover, we also find that the more containers a vessel needs to unload in the terminal, the less likely that it would be delayed. Both findings support the hypothesis that liners strategically balance the trade-off between delay cost and schedule recovery cost.


Introduction Nitrous oxide (N2O) can be emitted as an intermediate or as an undesired side product during biological nitrogen removal in wastewater treatment [1]. As N2O has a global warming potential 298 times higher than that of carbon dioxide, persists in the atmosphere for approximately 114 years, and also causes ozone depletion, it has a highly negative long-term impact on the environment [2].


The second messenger inositol trisphosphate (IP3) evokes Ca2+ liberation through IP3 receptor/channels (IP3Rs) in the ER membrane to generate a hierarchy of cytosolic signals, including local Ca2+ puffs that arise from concerted openings of clustered IP3Rs, and global Ca2+ waves that propagate through the cell. Mammalian cells express three isoforms of IP3Rs that are encoded by different genes, have ~ 60–80% sequence homology and are reported to display differing functional characteristics. Imaging Ca2+ puffs with single‐channel resolution provides important information on the localization and properties of IP3Rs in intact cells. However, interpretation has been complicated because studies have been limited to native cell types that typically express varying proportions of two or three IP3R isoforms, with additional complexity arising from hetero‐multimerization within the tetrameric IP3R. Here, we applied high‐resolution TIRF microscopy to image Ca2+ puffs in HEK‐293 cell lines in which IP3R isoforms were knocked‐out in pairs by CRISPR/Cas9 technology to generate cells expressing exclusively IP3R types 1, 2 or 3. Puffs were evoked by photoreleased i‐IP3 in all three cell lines, indicating that IP3Rs of each isoform are able to assemble into the clusters that underlie these local Ca2+ signals. Moreover, Ca2+ puffs mediated by all three isoforms displayed largely similar mean amplitudes, temporal characteristics and spatial extents, except that type 3 IP3R‐mediated puffs showed appreciably faster kinetics. A quantal analysis of fluorescence signals revealed the single‐channel Ca2+ flux to be equivalent between isoforms, further suggesting that clusters of different IP3R isoforms contain similar numbers of active channels. Finally, mapping the distances between puff centroid localizations suggested that clusters of type 1 IP3Rs are more dispersed than clusters of type 2 or 3 IP3Rs. Overall, our results indicate that, although there is substantial functional redundancy among the IP3R isoforms, each exhibit distinct properties and spatial arrangements that likely shape the spatial‐temporal patterning of cellular Ca2+ signals observed in native cells.


Strategic planning, local development and policentrism: empirical evidence for Sicily The aim of this paper is the analysis of metropolitan strategic planning in Sicily. Urban areas are becoming important units for territorial cohesion policy and strategic planning represents more and more an important policy instrument. Evidence of a policentric pattern is tested across 30 strategic plans carried out by Sicilian cities in order to derive useful insights for policy implications. Methods and Results This study uses multidimensional scaling and rank-size regressions across Sicilian Functional Urban Areas (FUA) as well as descriptive information drawn from strategic plans in order to identify the main characteristics of these instruments and to provide evidence on their capacity to innovate traditional local development policies. Conclusions The empirical results show a strong evidence in favour of hierarchical patterns across urban areas which are adopting a strategic plan while polycentric forces appear to be very limited. JEL: R11, R12, R58 Keywords: strategic planning, local development, functional urban areas, rank-size Parole chiave: piani strategici, sviluppo locale, area urbana funzionale, regola, rango, dimensione


With the advent of the era of big data,profound changes will take place in colleges and universities.Big data defined,the paper presented the big data in university information system and discussed its application in higher education.Possible problems in the application are then analyzed as well.


To classify the cracks observed in used shield tunnels based on their occurrence factor, this paper proposes the estimation method of cracks caused by the contact between shield machine and segments during excavation. The distribution of stress on segment rings and the location of cracks are calculated based on 3-dimensional FEM (finite element model) by inputting the acting force calculated by 2-dimensional contact analysis. The 3-dimensional FEM is verified by means of simulation for an element test. The influence of stiffness at shield tail part, jack pattern and ground reaction coefficient and others is clarified based on parameter study assuming the real railway tunnels. 供用中のシールドトンネルに見られるひび割れの発生原因を選別することを目的として,施工時にシールドテールとセグメントの接触により発生したひび割れを特定する手法を検討した.これは,シールド機のテールとセグメントリングをモデル化した二次元接触解析で接触による作用荷重を算出し,これを複数のセグメントリングをモデル化した三次元FEMに入力することにより,セグメントに発生する応力の分布やひび割れの発生位置を把握するものである.要素実験のシミュレーションを通して三次元FEMの適用性を確認するとともに,実トンネルを想定したパラメトリックスタディを行い,裏込注入材の介在によるテールシールの剛性の違い,ジャッキパターン,地盤反力係数がひび割れ発生位置に及ぼす影響を把握した.


Objective: Present a case of concomitant dermatomyositis and Lambert-Eaton myasthenic syndrome. Background: Rare prior reports document patients presenting with both dermatomyositis and Lambert Eaton myasthenic syndrome (LEMS), including anti-body-negative LEMS. Design/Methods: A 29-year-old Caucasian woman presented initially with proximal muscle weakness and skin lesions consistent with dermatomyositis. Other facial and appendicular muscle weakness was also present. Treatment with intravenous corticosteroids and intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) resulted in improvement in her skin lesions, but weakness remained in appendicular and facial muscles, as did prominent autonomic symptoms of dry eyes, dry mouth, and constipation. A myasthenic syndrome was suspected, prompting further evaluation. Results: Routine electrodiagnostic studies were normal, though compound muscle action potentials demonstrated marked variation in amplitude. Bilateral repetitive nerve stimulation (ulnar to abductor digiti minimi) at 3 Hz revealed no significant decrement. Following brief (10 second) exercise, there was a dramatic (>100%) increment in amplitude. This finding was reproducible on subsequent trials. Motor unit potentials had diminished amplitudes, shortened duration, and recruited early. A trial of pyridostigmine improved the patient's remaining weakness and autonomic symptoms. Antibody tests, which were performed after initiation of immunosuppressive therapy, were negative for all major myasthenia gravis antibodies, and anti-P/Q voltage gated calcium channel antibodies (VGCC). Continued immunosuppressive therapies included intravenous and oral corticosteroids, methotrexate, and IVIG. She continued to report benefit from pyridostigmine. The patient's symptoms remained in remission for 6 months. During weaning of oral corticosteroids, she had a relapse of her skin findings and muscle weakness without return of significant autonomic symptoms. Further antibody testing for both P/Q and N-type VGCC was negative. Conclusions: This represents the seventh documented case of concurrent DM and LEMS. Combined pathology was suggested despite lack of positive anti-VGCC antibodies due to fatigable muscle weakness, autonomic dysfunction, response to pyridostigmine, and characteristic electrodiagnostic findings. Disclosure: Dr. Kean has nothing to disclose. Dr. O9Sullivan has nothing to disclose. Dr. Cook has nothing to disclose.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the results of studies that investigate the most important active labour market policy (ALMP) measures in Germany. A focus is also on programmes devoted to foster entrepreneurship which can make important contributions to a country's growth and social welfare.

Design/methodology/approach
The study relies on quantitative and qualitative assessments and a comparison of results of previous studies on ALMPs.

Findings
The available evidence suggests that most ALMP measures increase labour market prospects of the participants. In particular, evaluations of the entrepreneurship promotion activities show high success rates as well as high cost efficiency. The bulk share of participants of entrepreneurship measures is still self-employed after several years and nearly one-third of these businesses had at least one employee. The authors mention problems regarding the evaluation of previous programmes and highlight future challenges of German ALMP.

Originality/value
This is the first study on ALMP that has an extensive and explicit focus on entrepreneurship-promoting programs.


Abstract
This paper presents the basic features of two search techniques from MEGADATS-2 (MEdical Genetics Acquisition and DAta Transfer System), a system for collecting, storing, retrieving and plotting human family pedigrees. The individual search provides a quick method for locating an individual in the pedigree database. This search uses a modified soundex coding and an inverted file structure based on a composite key. The navigational search uses a set of pedigree traversal operations (individual, parent, mate, offspring, and sibling) and conventional Boolean logic to extract information from a pedigree database.


Abstract A new reorientation effect in nematic liquid crystals of discotic molecules has been observed and investigated for the first time, which occurs under the combined influence of DC-electrical and optical fields. It is shown that illumination with intensities as low as 10−3 W/cm2 is sufficient for a strong photo-induced reorientation process, indicating a rather large nonlinear optical coefficient. The dependence of photoexcitation upon the applied voltage as well as from intensity and wavelength of the light wave has been investigated. Furthermore, a first model will be discussed, which explains the experimental observations to result from photo-induced space charge fields which enhance the electrical field-induced reorientation of the discotic molecules.