Laurie Ruth Johnson. Forgotten Dreams: Revisiting Romanticism in the Cinema of Werner Herzog. Rochester, NY: Camden House, 2016. 298 pp."I don't belong there," Werner Herzog says in an interview, in reference to his relationship to German Romanticism. Yet as Brad Prager pointed out almost fifteen years ago, critics have repeatedly made the connection between Herzog's films and the literary-philosophical movement that flourished in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As her new book's subtitle makes clear, Laurie Ruth Johnson is "revisiting" this debate. Rather than posit a completely new answer to the question "Is Herzog a Romantic?," she argues cogently and in more detail than has been done elsewhere that his films are indeed indebted to, and readable through, certain features of German Romanticism, especially the early Romanticism of what Johnson refers to as the "constellation romantics" (141). This emphasis on the first years of German Romanticism allows Johnson to analyze how incomplete and nonlinear structures inform and inhabit multiple Herzog films.After an introduction wherein she describes the "alternate discourse of romanticism" that is so important for her analysis (6), Johnson proceeds to demonstrate how critical the Romantic idea of apperception is for Herzog, especially in the films Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Wild Blue Yonder, Fitzcarraldo, and Invincible. Johnson's interpretation of these films is insightful, especially regarding the ways that the self-awareness of perception facilitates the difference between viewer and viewed. Her conception of "aesthetic others" in Fitzcarraldo is a particularly trenchant way to describe the gulf between the European colonizers and the indigenous population. Her discussion of the role of clairvoyance in Invincible ties together disparate manifestations of early nineteenth-century occultism as predecessors of the Jewish strongman's prescience of the upcoming Holocaust (the film is set in 1932).Chapter 2 uses the figure of the arabesque to elucidate how nonchronological narratives function in films such as Encounters at the End of the World, The White Diamond, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, and Wings of Hope. Each of these films features characters who have experienced trauma. Through strategic reenactments and partially staged interviews, Herzog attempts to elucidate these traumas but also always stops before the protagonists can reveal everything. As Johnson puts it, the big question is how "to approximate metaphysical truth in a post-metaphysical age" (114). Relying on Romantic concepts of the arabesque, Johnson develops readings that show how Herzog comes close to the truth but never "diagnoses" anyone, a situation that raises the question of the amount of psychology or psychoanalysis that Herzog's work contains.Johnson takes up the question in several chapters. It plays a part in her analyses of The Dark Glow of the Mountains and Grizzly Man. Both films feature characters interviewed (or, in the case of Grizzly Man, self-interviewed) in the confined spaces of tents and also shown among sublime (in the Romantics' sense of the term) landscapes. Johnson adeptly discusses how these claustrophobic spaces interact with the unspoken truths of the main characters (Reinhold Messner's inability to talk directly about his brother's death on Nanga Parbat in the former film, and Timothy Treadwell's erasure of women in his own narratives in the latter). …


A Ferree and Stang (1988) found that 'Earliglow' strawberry plants covered with 60% shadecloth during the active runnering period had higher yield (12% to 17%) the following spring than did exposed plants. The primary objective of our study was to apply Ferree and Stang's shade-during-runnering treatment to 'Earliglow' and two other cultivars and analyze the growth and fruiting responses for possible genotype × shading interactions. A secondary objective of our study was to examine the influence of evaporative cooling (misting) during July and August on strawberry growth and fruiting as a possible means of alleviating heat stress on strawberry plants (Nonnecke, 1989). Dormant plants of 'Allstar', 'Earliglow', and 'Tristar' were planted at the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, Wooster, in a Wooster silt loam (fine loam, mixed, mesic, typic Fragiudalf) on 25 Apr. 1985. Plants were set 15 cm apart in single rows on flat beds. The design was a split plot consisting of eight replications of each cultivar (whole plots). No shade (exposed), shade, and misting were assigned


Ring closure of ylidenemalononitrile adducts has been extended to the syntheses of isomeric sulfur heterocycles. The malononitrile derivatives of thiochromanone, thiochromone and iso-thiochromanone have been synthesized, and results of the acidic ring closure experiments on these compounds are reported. The thiochromanone adducts gave an interesting disproportionation reaction, and experiments designed to support the proposed route are presented.


Experiments in Gaussian-mixture-model speaker recognition from mel-cepstra, derived from mel-filter bank energies (MFBs) of the G.729 codec all-pole spectral envelope, showed significant performance loss relative to the standard mel-cepstral coefficients of G.729 synthesized (coded) speech (Quatieri et al. 1999). In this paper, we investigate two approaches to recover speaker recognition performance from G.729 parameters. The first is a parametric approach that makes explicit use of G.729 parameters, rather than deriving cepstra from MFBs of an all-pole spectrum. Specifically, the G.729 LSFs are converted to "direct" cepstral coefficients for which there exists a one-to-one correspondence with the LSFs. The G.729 residual is also considered; in particular, appending G.729 pitch as a single parameter to the direct cepstral coefficients gives further performance gain. The second nonparametric approach uses the original MFB paradigm, but adds harmonic striations to the G.729 all-pole spectral envelope. Although obtaining considerable performance gains with these methods, we have yet to match the performance of G.729 synthesized speech, motivating the need for representing additional fine structure of the G.729 residual.


From the geological condition of Japan Island, many serious disasters such as earthquake, tsunami and typhoon occurred in history. A huge numbers of people, buildings and communication infrastructure are completely damaged. More resilient oriented network infrastructure that does not stop under challenged communication environment is strongly required. In this paper, we propose a mobile cloud computing system which can flexibly deal with failures of the network communication capability and information servers and respond to rapid change of information network condition. We construct the disaster information system based on the cloud computing technology. In addition, we develop a dynamic allocation of disaster server resources in accordance with the load change on the system in the disaster areas. Also, by introducing a mobile clouding with DTN protocol, our system can realize rapidly sharing disaster information even though the communication breakdown area occurred.


As population growth and urbanization continue to accelerate, city dwellers are increasingly conscious of the demand for urban green space (UGS) and the ecosystem services (ESs) it provides. Great efforts are made for the supply of certain ESs in UGS. However, less is known about the residents' preferences and the supply–demand matching of UGS types, as well as the various ESs it provides at different spatial scales. Given this, our research establishes a research framework to reveal the heterogeneity of USG types and the supply–demand matching degree (SDM) of ESs from municipal, provincial, and national spatial scales, and examines the correlation between the influencing factors and demands of residents for UGS. This study mainly used the Gini coefficient, the Lorenz curve, Z-scores, the Jenks natural breaks classification method, Pearson correlation analysis, and spatial analysis. The main findings are that (1) the Gini coefficients are 0.433 and 0.137 at the municipal and provincial scales, respectively, indicating that the supply of UGS is more unequal at the municipal scale than provincial scale; (2) the multi-scale demand for ESs between residents has no significant difference. At the provincial scale, the area with low demand is larger than that of high demand, while at the municipal scale, the contrary is the case; (3) the SDM was in a deficit at both the provincial and municipal scales. And as the scaling-up occurred, the spatial heterogeneity of the SDM decreased; (4) the number of influencing factors that significantly affected the UGS type and ESs grew as the scale increased. Among them, the impact of age and COVID-19 on three scales deserves attention. These results identify regions with deficits and surpluses in ESs provided by UGS in China at different scales. This research also advises that attention should be paid to the distribution of UGS between cities within provinces, and future UGS planning should focus on building regional green spaces to promote the well-being of an aging society. The findings in this study would offer insights for managers to improve UGS construction and urban forestry planning in the future.


Guidance and control are two key technologies of automatic landing for large UAVs.Decimeter wave instrument landing system(DWILS) is a method may be used in guidance for UAV during landing.How to testify the DWILS based landing guidance and control technologies in laboratory is studied in this paper.Firstly the architecture of a hardware-in-loop simulation system is given to testify the feasibility of DWILS for UAV landing guidance.Secondly,the simulator of guidance signal and calculation of guidance signal is described in detail.At the same time,the landing controller is designed.Then a model of landing simulation system guided by DWILS is established.Finally,simulation of UAV landing using DWILS is implemented.Simulation results show that DWILS can be used in landing guidance for UAV,and the landing controller has good performance.


The aim of this quasi-experimental study is to investigate the effect of 6 weeks of progressive endurance training and Silymarin supplementation intake on hematological parameters in sedentary men.
To this end, twenty-one students from Shahrood University of Technology who were willing to participate in the study were chosen for the study. The subjects were then randomly divided into supplemental groups (n=11) and placebo groups (n=10). Both groups received progressive endurance training. The control group received placebo while the experimental or supplemental group received Silymarin. Blood samples were collected before and after 6 weeks of exercise training and supplementation intake. Hematological parameters were measured. Data were then analyzed using repeated measure (2×2).
Hematological parameters such as RBC, MON, RBC, HCT, PLT were measured. Data were analyzed using repeated measure. The results of this study showed that Silymarin supplementation and progressive endurance training not only increases hemoglobin factor but also reduces monocytes, erythrocytes, and hematocrit factors significantly (P≤0.05


Biogas is made from many kinds of agricultural and forestry residues by a gasifier. It is used as the main fuel of a biogas diesel dual-fuel engine ignited by diesel fuel. The dual-fuel engine is rebuilt from a single cylinder, four stroke, water cooled, and direct injection diesel engine. The biogas is induced to the cylinder through intake tube of the engine during intake process. The influence of heat release rate of the engine was analyzed based on the measured cylinder pressure. With the load increasing, the ignition time advances, the maximum heat release rate and maximum combustion temperature both increase, and the after combustion becomes longer. With the engine speeding up, the ignition time delays. With the fuel supply advance angle increasing, the maximum heat release rate decreases, its corresponding phase advances, and the after combustion is shorter.


There is a growing body of literature that looks into the role of individual decision-makers' cognition and interpretations of corporate sustainability issues for understanding corporate responses to sustainability. At the same time, the sustainability strategy of many firms is dominated by a business case approach that marginalizes alternatives views and interpretations of organizational members on sustainability issues. More adequate responses to sustainability challenges might require that firms allow for a greater plurality of views among organizational members to trickle up and inform corporate decision making on sustainability. We argue that such a cognitive plurality on sustainability in organizations can be generative for sustainability strategies but depends on a range of organizational level factors such empowerment, team participation, corporate climate, and decentralization. Cognitive plurality will also emphasize emergent strategy formation and the acceptance of tensions and conflict around different sustainability views. We encourage future research on corporate sustainability to further investigate the role and importance of cognitive plurality.


The largest domestic non-tuel une of wood fiber is the packaging and palletization of consumer and industrial products, Products that bocanse of their form cannot be shipped or stored in bulk are consolidated orunitized for storage and transport. Most consumer and industral products are formed into unit loads lor this purpose Aunit load is a singleitem, a number of items. or a bulk material that is arranged and restrained so that the load can be stored. picked up, and moved between two locations as a single mass A typical unit load. as shown in Figure 1, consists of corrugated containers stacked on a panet and stabilized with stretch wrap or other matertals. It is estimated that more than 2 billion unit loads are in continual daily use in the United States (Ward 1993).


Through Cerenkov emission, the interaction of an electron beam with a plasma leads to the excitation of whistler waves. Particle‐in‐cell simulations show that, when the beam is injected at an angle with respect to the magnetic field, the whistler wave emission of a modulated beam is increased compared to the same beam without modulation. This increased emission is related to the transfer of energy which occurs between the electrostatic mode directly excited by the density modulation and the electromagnetic whistler. This transfer of energy requires that the electrostatic field has a component perpendicular to the magnetic field.


We study a three-orbital Hubbard model with negative Hund coupling in infinite dimensions, combining dynamical mean-field theory with continuous time quantum Monte Carlo simulations. This model, which is relevant for the description of alkali-doped fullerides, has previously been shown to exhibit a spontaneous orbital selective Mott phase in the vicinity of the superconducting phase. Calculating the pair potential and double occupancy in each orbital, we study the competition between different homogeneous ordered states and determine the corresponding finite temperature phase diagram of the model. We identify two distinct types of spontaneous orbital-selective Mott states and show that an orbital-selective $s$-wave superconducting state with one superconducting and two metallic orbitals is spontaneously realized between the conventional $s$-wave superconducting phase and these two kinds of spontaneously orbital-selective Mott states.


Mosaic 3-D cascade of parallelepiped-shaped silt blocks, which sandwich sand- lled cracks, has been discovered in the eld and tested in lab experiments. Controlled wetting-drying of these blocks, collected from a dam reservoir, mimics field ponding-desiccation conditions of the topsoil layer subject to caustic solar radiation, high temperature and wind, typical in the Batinah region of Oman. In 1-D analytical modelling of a transient Richards' equation for vertical evaporation, the method of small perturbations is applied, assuming that the relative permeability is Avery-anov's 3.5-power function of the moisture content and capillary pressure is a given (measured) function. A linearized advective dispersion equation is solved with respect to the second term in the series expansion of the moisture content as a function of spatial coordinates and time. For a single block of a nite thickness we solve a boundary value problem with a no- ow condition at the bottom and a constant moisture content at the surface. Preliminary comparisons with theta-, TDR- probes measuring the moisture content and temperature at several in-block points are made. Results corroborate that a 3-D heterogeneity of soil physical properties, in particular, horizontal and vertical capillary barriers emerging on the interfaces between silt and sand generate eco-niches with stored soil water compartments favourable for lush vegetation in desert conditions. Desiccation significantly increases the temperature in the blocks and re-wetting of the blocks reduces the daily average and peak temperatures, the latter by almost 15°C. This is important for planning irrigation in smartly designed soil substrates and sustainability of wild plants in the region where the top soil peak temperature in the study area exceeds 70°C in Summer but smartly structured soils maintain lash vegetation. Thee layer of dry top-blocks acts as a thermal insulator for the subjacent layers of wet blocks that may host the root zone of woody species.


930 the Mimics InPrint software (Materialise, Leu‐ ven, Belgium) (FIGURE 1B). The stereolithography files derived from the examined patient were finally 3D printed with clear resin, both in the original version (FIGURE 1C) and in the 5‐fold mag‐ nification (FIGURE 1D) (Form2TM 3D printer, Form‐ labs, Somerville, Massachusetts, United States). In each model, 3D reconstruction (stereolithog‐ raphy file) took 3 hours, and post processing (preparation of the model to be printed) lasted an hour. Three ‐dimensional printing (including both models) eventually took about 9 hours (the process is fully autonomous and usually per‐ formed overnight). As the Form2TM 3D print‐ er is available in our facility, the cost of each 3D printed heart (just considering the cost of the resin and 3D printer maintenance) ranges between approximately EUR 50 and EUR 75 (in the case of a 5‐fold magnification). To the best of our knowledge,4,5 this is the first 3D printed heart model of the fetus with cAVSD. Our 3D model proved to be very helpful in showing the basic anatomical fea‐ tures of fetal complex congenital heart diseas‐ es (CHDs). It represents another interesting di‐ agnostic tool in the current standard imaging armamentarium, which improves the accura‐ cy of prenatal diagnostic workup and poten‐ tially increases the CHD detection rate. In ad‐ dition, the possibility of printing 3D models of complex CHD can also improve the quality of prenatal parental counseling, particularly in the case of cAVSD (showing the common atrio‐ ventricular valve, the inlet ventricular septal defect, and the complete absence, in this case, of the atrial septum). Three ‐dimensional (3D) printed heart models are innovative and interesting tools for impro‐ ving the diagnosis of patients with cardiova‐ scular diseases,1 and their use has already been validated in planning the surgical treatment of complex congenital heart defects. However, in almost all cases, reconstruction and 3D printing were performed based on the anatomy of the al‐ ready born children.2 Thus, we sought to explo‐ re the possibility of reconstructing and printing a 3D model of the fetal heart affected by com‐ plete atrioventricular septal defect (cAVSD), ba‐ sed on prenatal ultrasound images. The diagnosis of cAVSD was established in our Maternal ‐Fetal Medicine Unit at 24 weeks of ges‐ tational age, in the fetus of a 35‐year ‐old Cauca‐ sian woman (FIGURE 1A). Due to the high risk of ge‐ netic and chromosomal abnormalities, amnio‐ centesis was proposed, but the mother refused to undergo the examination. The 4D volume of the fetal heart was obtained from the apical 4‐chamber view, using spatiotemporal image cor‐ relation technology3 and a curved array trans‐ ducer (4–8 MHz). Transverse sweeps through the fetal chest at 27 weeks of gestational age were performed using the Voluson E8 echogra‐ pher (General Electrics Healthcare, Chicago, Il‐ linois, United States). Spatiotemporal image cor‐ relation provides a temporal resolution roughly equal to the B ‐mode frame rate (approximately 80 frames per second). However, due to the small size of the fetal heart, the B ‐mode frame rate during the acquisition of the volume scan was increased to 150 frames per second.2 A virtual 3D object was then generated and a stereolithography file was created using Correspondence to: Vladimiro L. Vida, MD, PhD, Paediatric and Congenital Cardiac Surgery Unit, Department of Cardiac, Thoracic, Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padua, Via Giustiniani 2, 35128 Padova, Italy, phone: +39 049 8212427, email: email@example.com Received: April 10, 2020. Revision accepted: June 3, 2020. Published online: June 10, 2020. Kardiol Pol. 2020; 78 (9): 930-931 doi:10.33963/KP.15429 Copyright by the Author(s), 2020 C L I N I C A L V I G N E T T E


The article deals with several new types of integro - differential equation through such devices as derivation, iteration method and provides the correspornding current integral formula.


A new technique is developed to couple the advantages of both the microstrip patch antenna and rectangular waveguide. An equilateral triangle is used as a radiating patch. This patch is fabricated on one face of a single-layer dielectric substrate with double-sided copper clad coated with tin, and on the other face an iris is fabricated and coupled to the waveguide. Antenna parameters such as return loss and bandwidth are studied for a circular patch. The results obtained are discussed in detail and explained. Matlab PDE toolbox is used to generate two-dimensional meshes. These meshes are converted into a three-dimensional form using subdomain numbers. RWG basis functions are used for MoM to calculate impedances. Reflection coefficient and 2D current are obtained using the complex impedances.


Objective To study the LPS virulence of the Legionella standard strains (ATCC33152)and 2 strains Legionella were cultured from the sputum of chronic bronchopneumonia patients.Methods The biological activities of LPS extracted by phenol-water method were examined. Results The Legionella LPS possessed a certain endotoxic activity,but the activity was weaker than that of E.coli.Conclusion The Legionella LPS possesses a certain endotoxic activities,and may be an important pathogenic factor,although its virulence is lower than that of E.coli.


This thesis considers the impact on growing up among young people diagnosed in their teens with cancer and told that fertility impairment may result. The exploratory study informed by grounded theory recruited seventeen males and twenty-one females (overall take-up 35 per cent). Single in-depth interviews were conducted in two age groups - 13 to 21; 21 and over. Five were parents. Findings were considered theoretically within lifespan approaches and resilience theory. Protective or risk factors were Identified within the approach of participants or those around them - including professionals and services, family members, friends and romantic partners. Reactions ranged from being little troubled to deep distress. Strength of desire to parent and the stigma of infertility heightened concerns as did feelings of having little control over fertility outcome. Concerns were eased - but not removed - with the provision of regular, unambiguous information, access to help with strategy building, presence of stored gametes, hope of retention of reproductive function, availability of confidantes including friends and romantic partners, positive experience of disclosure and achievement of parenthood. Across all spheres, fertility matters wereA'· raised less frequently than were other cancer matters by participants or those around them. This was only helpfUl when it reflected protective communication or low concern. The personal and social meaning of fertility matters, including fertile identity implications, appeared more influential than age and life stage and was .dynamic across time and context. Gender too carried social as well as biological challenges, including around fertility analysis. Where return to 'normality' wasprioritised, fertility concerns were marginalised but presented periodic threats. Although many reported gaining strength through having had cancer none did so in relation to fertility matters. For some, fertility concerns overtook those associated with cancer. Preferred professional attributes and suggestions for service developments across disciplines and agencies were identified. 2


Evidence-based medicine (EBM) is the rational and judicious use of current best evidence from clinical research to care for individual patients. The practice of evidence-based medicine is based on the integration of individual clinical expertise with methodologically sound, clinically relevant published research. The skills relevant to practicing evidence-based medicine include precisely defining a patient problem or clinical question, proficiently searching and critically appraising relevant medical literature to decide whether, and how, to apply this information to the resolution of the clinical question and to future clinical practice. The University of Hawaii John A. Burns School of Medicine has taken a proactive approach in preparing students to practice evidence-based medicine with a curriculum that spans the entire medical education experience. In their first year of medical school, students are introduced to basic, clinically-relevant statistical concepts. Health care problems in their problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials offer opportunities to learn about issues such as sensitivity, specificity, and character istics of effective screening tests. The PBL process itself is consis tent with the practice of evidence-based medicine, as it relies on identifying focused patient-relevant questions, searching appropri ate resources for the answer, and applying this new information to the case in study. This concept is reinforced continuously in the evidence-based medicine curriculum. In their second year of training, all students participate in evi dence-based medicine seminars. Students are required to search independently for medical literature relevant to a clinical problem of their choosing. They appraise the validity of their references based on rules of evidence that are taught in the seminars. Students are also introduced to more sophisticated, clinically-relevantevidence-based medicine concepts such as the principles of epidemiology and biostatistics illustrated by two-by-two tables, likelihood ratios, and number-needed-to-treat. The third-year of medical education puts additional emphasis on patient care experiences and developing clinical synthesis skills. Students learn to apply directly the concepts of evidence-based medicine to the care of their patients. All students participate in the Evidence-Based Medicine Seminar Series, a weekly seven-session experience developed and implemented by the Department ofMedi cine. Students review critical appraisal skills, apply these skills to real-life clinical questions on the patients they care for, and learn to present critically-appraised information to others in the concise and timely manner required by busy ward and clinic services. Several seminar sessions are dedicated to practical, hands-on laboratories which review the evidence related to history and physical examina tion findings for selected clinical problems. Students completing the seminar series have reported that they were more likely to use medical literature to support their clinical decision-making, to critically-appraise the articles they read, and to search the primary literature available on their patients problems. They also felt that evidence-based medicine was a natural extension of the PBL pro cess into the clinical years of training, and that their use of evidencebased medicine increased their sense of involvement in the clinical decisions made on their patients. Throughout their clerkship, stu dents also have the powerful modeling experience of seeing medical residents and faculty applying evidence-based medicine principles on the hospital wards, in the clinics and in educational conferences. The fourth-year medical school curriculum accommodates the career-differentiation needs of individual students. As an example, students interested in careers in internal medicine may enroll in a year-long seminar series offered by the Department of Medicine in which evidence-based medicine principles are reinforced and ap plied over a wide range of topics and educational activities. Prior to graduation, all senior students participate in a workshop entitled "Evidence-Based Medicine Survival Skills for Internship." Impor tant concepts are reviewed and small group, discipline-specific, evidence-based discussions of significant medical literature are


It is more than thirty years since the reform and openness,though it is still one of the social hot issues whether the design of reform and openness can ensure people's fair benefit.From the perspective of the history and the reality of the founding of Chinese Communist Party over 90years,this paper discusses ways to guarantee people's fair benefit and expounds the times connotation of fair benefit as well as the fundamental position of the Communist Party members.


Considered one of the approaches to the discovery of statistical regularities in solving two-class classification. The algorithm of searchpatterns is given.


The present invention relates to noise reduction of an image, particularly to remove linear and non-linear combination of noise wavelet transform-based method and apparatus. Noise reduction method of the present invention, (a) step of the noise included in the received image primarily removed in the spatial domain; And (b) a step of performing a wavelet transform on the image in which the noise is removed dividing the image, and removes the secondary noise by varying the threshold whether or not applying to the partition level. The noise reduction method of the present invention, there is an effect that, while maintaining the video signal of the low-frequency domain to remove the noise, and also well keep the border of the picture.


Background People with higher socioeconomic status generally enjoy better cardiovascular health across the life course than those with lower status. However, recent studies of upward mobility, where a child goes on to achieve higher socioeconomic status than his or her parents, suggest that it entails a tradeoff between better psychological well‐being and worse cardiometabolic health. In this study, we consider further evidence of this tradeoff in 2 multidecade studies, asking how upward income mobility relates to subsequent perceived stress, depressive symptoms, and metabolic syndrome. We ask parallel questions about downward mobility. Finally, given shifting patterns of mobility in recent generations, we also consider whether mobility's association with health outcomes differs for individuals born in the middle and later parts of the 20th century. Methods and Results We analyzed prospective data from Add Health (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health; N=7542) and MIDUS (Midlife in the United States Study; N=1877). In both studies, evidence of the tradeoff was observed. Upward mobility presaged lower perceived stress and fewer depressive symptoms, in combination with higher metabolic syndrome rates. In contrast, downward mobility presaged worse outcomes on all health indicators. The magnitude of the mobility–health associations was similar across cohorts. Conclusions These findings provide evidence that upward income mobility is associated with a tradeoff between well‐being and cardiometabolic health. The similarity of the findings across cohorts suggests that this tradeoff is a generalized consequence of ascending the socioeconomic hierarchy, at least for Americans born in the middle and later parts of the 20th century.


An actuating device for a motor vehicle door lock comprises an actuating lever (1), an output element (4) moving the lever (1) and an input element (5) moved by a lock cylinder or the like, wherein the elements (4, 5) have the form of drivingly coupled cogwheels with gear rims (6, 7). A freewheel is provided, in that one of the cogwheels has a gap (8), so that the input element (5) can continue to rotate in idle motion on reaching this gap (8) without the output element (4) continuing to move. Advantageously, a transfer element (9), which also has the form of a cogwheel and which meshes with the input and output elements (4, 5), is provided with the gap (8) in its gear rim (10).


Methods for making disposable absorbent core comprises the step of placing the absorbent particulate polymer material from the plurality of reservoirs being arranged on the substrate on the grid of the support in the printing roll, the support the grid, so as to form a groove extending between the plurality of cross bars, including a plurality of cross bars spaced with substantially extend parallel to each other. A plurality of reservoirs in the first peripheral surface is arranged in an array comprising rows spaced with substantially extend parallel to each other. Support and printing roll are arranged such that a plurality of cross bars are substantially parallel to the columns of the plurality of reservoirs, the absorbent particulate polymer material, the first cross absorbent particulate polymer material is more as gather column on the first substrate formed between the bar, it is placed in a pattern on the substrate. Thermoplastic adhesive material may be placed on the absorbent particulate polymer material and the substrate, covering the absorbent particulate polymer material on the substrate to form an absorbent layer. Apparatus for making an absorbent article is also disclosed.


Nowadays, reservation of an accommodation such as hotels and resorts can be made via online booking system. It enables user to search and book any room from any nearby accommodation instantly via browser. However, users cannot visualize accommodation surroundings as the searching result is currently presented in a list view that consists of text and picture. Although some online booking systems offer virtual tour using panoramic view with hotspots of the hotels or resorts, still the hotspots are static and not meant for availability search. This is due to the difficulties in the process of creating and managing a Virtual Panoramic Environment (VPE) where in turn; the systems shortcomings have prevented the users from immersing themselves into the environment. This research proposed a model of Online Public Accommodation Booking System using Virtual Panoramic Environment (OPABS-VPE) that support virtual tour environment for online accommodations reservation. The model is aimed for accommodations' owner to easily upload updated accommodation details and automatically viewed in accommodation availability searching result through a dynamic virtual tour environment.


A large number of explicit estimators are proposed in this paper for loss rate estimation in a network of the tree topology. All of the estimators are proved to be unbiased and consistent instead of asymptotic unbiased as that obtained in [1] for a specific estimator. In addition, a set of formulae are derived for the variances of various maximum likelihood estimators that unveil the connection between the path of interest and the subtrees connecting the path to observers. Using the formulae, we are able to not only rank the estimators proposed so far, including those proposed in this paper, but also identify the errors made in previous works. More importantly, using the formulae we can easily identify the most efficient explicit estimator from a pool that makes model selection feasible in loss tomography


In our quest to develop new and improved kinetic hydrate inhibitors (KHIs) for practical use in the oil and gas industry, we have carried out a number of projects that, in our hands, proved ultimately unsuccessful. However, as with most laboratory research projects, useful data has been obtained and some important lessons have been learned. These lessons can be helpful in several ways. First, to understand the scope and limitations of chemicals that could be used as KHIs. Second, to highlight mechanistic aspects of KHI theory. Finally, the work may help inspire others to develop related but more successful research projects. In this article we present the results of eight partially successful KHI research projects and explain why each of these projects was undertaken and the results obtained. Seven of the projects concern new classes of polymers, and the other project describes what we hoped was a new class of nonpolymeric synergists for KHI polymers, but instead gave the opposite effect. All new KHI prod...


Bodies affected by Agent Orange trouble judicial and psychic notions of ''reparation'' as they become the sight/site of repair on behalf of national body politics. The simultaneous public display and quarantined seclusion of bodies affected by the herbicide point toward the ambivalent role of disabled bodies in Vietnam. In my discussion, I analyze how the surgical separation of conjoined twins Việt, Ðú'c Nguyễn came to represent an act of reparation that meant to rhetorically unite Japan and Vietnam against the United States. Through analyses of a book titled Cheer Up Viet and Duc and a music video collaboration between Vietnamese and Japanese pop musicians, I discuss how attempts to ''heal'' disability conflate nonnormative bodies with wartime trauma, thereby reproducing a eugenic narrative that seeks to eradicate disability as a demonstration of neo-liberal modern progress. Against these dominant narratives of repair, I suggest that the transnational circulation of Agent Orange creates networks that are dependent upon recognizing a shared, and differentially distributed, vulnerability to contamination.


The World Health Organization Western Pacific Region (WPR) has maintained the polio-free status for more than two decades. At the global level, there were only 6 confirmed polio cases due to wild type 1 poliovirus in Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Malawi in 2021, therefore, the risk of the importation of wild poliovirus from the endemic countries to the WPR is considerably lower than ever before. On the other hand, the risk of polio outbreaks associated with circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPVs) still cannot be ignored even in the WPR. Since late 2010s, cVDPV outbreaks in the WPR have appeared to be more extensive in frequency and magnitude. Moreover, the emergence of concomitant polio outbreaks of type 1 and type 2 cVDPVs in the Philippines and Malaysia during 2019-2020 has highlighted the remaining risk of cVDPV outbreaks in high-risk areas and/or communities in the WPR. The previous cVDPV outbreaks in the WPR have been rapidly and effectively controlled, however, the future risk of polio outbreaks associated with cVDPVs needs to be reconsidered and polio immunization and surveillance strategies should be updated accordingly.


COUPLING INTO WAVEGUIDE EVANESCENT MODES WITH APPLICATIONS IN ELECTRON PARAMAGNETIC RESONANCE Jason W. Sidabras, B.S. Marquette University, 2010 The use of analytical and numerical techniques in solving the coupling of evanescent modes in a microwave waveguide through slots can be optimized to create a uniform magnetic field excitation on axis within a waveguide. This work has direct applications in Electron Paramagnetic Resonance (EPR) where a 100 kHz time-varying magnetic field is incident on a sample contained in a microwave cavity. Typical cavity designs do not take into consideration the uniformity of the 100 kHz field modulation and assume it to be uniform enough over the sample region from quasi-static principles. This work shows otherwise and uses Ansoft (Pittsburgh, PA) High Frequency Structure Simulator (HFSS; version 12.0) and analytical dyadic Green's functions to understand the coupling mechanisms. The techniques described in this work have shown that electromagnetic modes form in a rectangular and cylindrical waveguide domain even at frequencies a number of orders of magnitude below the waveguide cut-off frequencies. With slot thicknesses very small compared to a wavelength, Born's first approximation must be modified to account for a near field secondary wave. Additionally, mutual coupling between multiple slots has been shown to influence the overall magnetic field profile down the axis of the waveguide and in certain circumstances becomes more complex from interactions outside of the domain of the dyadic Green's functions. A cylindrical TE01U cavity resonant at W-band (94 GHz) is proposed where both the microwave magnetic field and, from this work, the 100 kHz time-varying magnetic field incident on the sample are uniform. This type of resonator is highly desirable in EPR experiments where inhomogeneity of magnetic fields affect signal purity. With the technology outlined in this work, experiments where a uniform field modulation amplitude is swept over the entire spectra to obtain pure absorption is feasible. This work advances the cutting edge of resonator design and enables new experiments to be performed at high field EPR. i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work as supported by grants EB001417 and EB001980 from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health. I would like to thank Dr. James S. Hyde for the opportunity as an engineer at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the support for furthering my education at Marquette University. I would also like to thank Dr. James E. Richie for the numerous hours of discussion, guidance, and support throughout this work and Dr. Richard R. Mett for continuing to push me towards bettering myself. Finally, I would like to thank my family and especially my girlfriend Emily for the support and needed push to finish this work. I couldn't have done it without all of you. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS


A universal modular plus parallel (MPP) method is proposed to construct enhanced chaotic maps, including one-dimensional MPP chaotic map (1D-MPPCM) and high-dimensional MPPCM (HD-MPPCM). It is theoretically proved that 1D-MPPCM model can significantly increase the Lyapunov exponent (LE) and parameter range of seed chaotic maps. To further increase the system dimension, the HD-MPPCM model is established through the close-loop parallel coupling mechanism. Based on several typical seed chaotic maps, some new parallel chaotic maps are obtained by self-parallel and hybrid-parallel, and their dynamics are analyzed by phase diagram, LEs, permutation entropy (PE) complexity and statistic $\chi ^{2}$ . The simulation results show that the proposed maps have large maximum Lyapunov exponent (MLE), PE complexity, and uniform distribution. In particular, HD-MPPCMs have some interesting characteristics, such as full positive LEs, hyperchaotic behavior, global chaos, and full attractor distribution, which are the potential model for engineering applications. To further verify the practicability, the proposed maps are implemented on DSP platform, and applied to pseudo-random number generator (PRNG).


The extended principle of superposition has been a touchstone of spin glass dynamics for almost thirty years. The Uppsala group has demonstrated its validity for the metallic spin glass, CuMn, for magnetic fields $H$ up to 10 Oe at the reduced temperature $T_\mathrm{r}=T/T_\mathrm{g} = 0.95$, where $T_\mathrm{g}$ is the spin glass condensation temperature. For $H>10$ Oe, they observe a departure from linear response which they ascribe to the development of non-linear dynamics. The thrust of this paper is to develop a microscopic origin for this behavior by focusing on the time development of the spin glass correlation length, $\xi(t,t_\mathrm{w};H)$. Here, $t$ is the time after $H$ changes, and $t_\mathrm{w}$ is the time from the quench for $T>T_\mathrm{g}$ to the working temperature $T$ until $H$ changes. We connect the growth of $\xi(t,t_\mathrm{w};H)$ to the barrier heights $\Delta(t_\mathrm{w})$ that set the dynamics. The effect of $H$ on the magnitude of $\Delta(t_\mathrm{w})$ is responsible for affecting differently the two dynamical protocols associated with turning $H$ off (TRM, or thermoremanent magnetization) or on (ZFC, or zero field-cooled magnetization). In this paper, we display the difference between the zero-field cooled $\xi_{\text {ZFC}}(t,t_\mathrm{w};H)$ and the thermoremanent magnetization $\xi_{\text {TRM}}(t,t_\mathrm{w};H)$ correlation lengths as $H$ increases, both experimentally and through numerical simulations, corresponding to the violation of the extended principle of superposition in line with the finding of the Uppsala Group.


A feedback‐controlled particle suspension system has been developed for laser target plasma production in the LITE experiment. Suspension voltages derived from position and velocity (position derivative) feedback signals serve to capture an injected particle in high vacuum, damp the particle motion, and stably position the particle at the system null. In typical operations, LiH particles of ∼100‐μm diameter, projected by a spring plunger into the suspension region, are captured and positioned at the system center in ⩽0.25 sec with a jitter of ⩽20 μm, less than 1/5 the particle diameter. With this system the precise particle positioning required for spherically symmetric plasma generation is obtained even with large particle sizes, and the feedback particle suspension system is incorporated as an integral part of the LITE experimental facility for studies of neutral injection buildup on a dense, mirror‐confined, laser‐produced target plasma.


Ridge loaded ring plane travelling wave tube is one kind of high power microwave tube,which can operate in relative broader frequency range.The ridge loaded ring plane slow wave sturcture and its modification are studied in this paper.The exprimental results are in good agreement with the theoretical results.The bandwidth of the modification of ridge loaded ring plane slow wave structure is broader than that of its prototype.The two dimensional large signal equation group with PPM focus is given,and the nonlinear phenomena of circuit beam interaction are also discussed,some useful conclusions are drawn.The results obtained in this paper can provide the basis for the design of this kind of travelling wave tube.


Objective To express the recombinant Mycobacterium tuberculosis(Mtb) DnaA protein in E.coli and obtain the specific immune serum against it by purifying and identifying of the expressed product.Methods The DnaA gene of Mtb was amplified by PCR from the Mtb genome and cloned into the expression vector pET-22a(+) to generate the pET-DnaA.The recombinant protein was induced by IPTG and purified via Ni-NTA affinity chromatography.Rabbit was immunized with preliminary purified protein.The immune serum was collected and identified with Western blot.Results The pET-DnaA recombinant for Mtb was successfully constructed and the recombinant DnaA protein was expressed in E.coli at a relatively high level.The antiserum against DnaA was obtained and its titer was more than 1∶3000,which was confirmed by Western blot.Conclusion The successful preparation of the purified Mtb DnaA protein and the specific antiserum against it will be very helpful for further study on the replication mechanism of DNA of Mtb.


An $\mathrm{SU}(3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}(3)$ effective Lagrangian, generated by a massive vector field, has been formulated with the aid of the group-geometrical method employed in our earlier papers. This formalism is manifestly invariant under nonlinear transformations, and permits an exact and compact treatment of the non-linearities. Our $\mathrm{SU}(3)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}(3)$ treatment incorporates only those minimal departures from $\mathrm{SU}(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}(2)$ that are required to secure a reasonable model, and the new Lagrangian contains no free parameters not already present in the $\mathrm{SU}(2)\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathrm{SU}(2)$ model. These parameters are determined by fitting the linearized theory to the pion-nucleon system. Results for other members of the octets, such as the Callan-Treiman formula, are then in satisfactory agreement with experiment or with the current algebra. It is hoped that the formalism will permit the treatment of the nonlinearities to be extended beyond the discussion of the tree diagrams.


We report about the search for short-term variability in the high-energy gamma-ray energy band of three flat-spectrum radio quasars (3C 454.3, 3C 273, PKS B1222+216), whose flux at E > 100 MeV exceeded the value of 10^-5 ph cm^-2 s^-1 for at least one day. Although, the statistics was not yet sufficient to effectively measure the characteristic time scale, it allowed us to set tight upper limits on the observed doubling time scale (< 2-3 hours) -- the smallest measured to date at MeV energies --, which can constrain the size of the gamma-ray emitting region. The results obtained in the present work favor the hypothesis that gamma rays are generated inside the broad-line region.


Asymmetric aldol additions using chlorotitanium eno- lates of N-acyl oxazolidinones, oxazolidinethiones and thiazoli- dinethiones proceed with high diastereoselectivity for the 'Evans syn' product using one equivalent of titanium tetrachloride, one equivalent of diisopropylethylamine and one equivalent of N-meth- yl-2-pyrrolidinone. Typical selectivities of 94:6 to >98:2 were ob- tained using N-propionyl oxazolidinones, oxazolidinethiones and thiazolidinethiones at 0 °C with stoichiometric amounts of alde- hyde. Glycolate imides also gave high selectivities and high yields using this procedure.


Basophils are present in healthy adults as only a small percentage of circulating white blood cells (mean value 0 3-0-6%), although both the number and percentage of circulating basophils is higher in patients suffering from allergic disorders [1]. The basophil is a cell with intense inflammatory potential, synthesizing and storing mediators of inflammation for release on activation by a variety of stimuli. The releasability, i.e. the capacity to respond to releasing stimuli, is often abnormal in allergic disorders. Basophils from atopic individuals, for example, show increased releasability and their responsiveness to histamine releasing factor is linked to disease state [2]. Clinical studies show that basophils accumulate in bronchial tissue during the acute phase of an asthmatic attack accounting for their appearance in the sputum of patients with bronchial asthma [3], in skin lesions of patients with contact dermatitis [4] and in nasal mucosa of patients suffering with allergic rhinitis [5]. The presence of basophils in the tissues correlates with the severity of the disease, and inversely correlates with peripheral blood basophil counts, suggesting active migration and redistribution of these cells into sites of allergic inflammation. These conclusions are supported by recent studies of the allergic inflammatory process using experimental in vivo human models in the skin and upper airways [2] and in the lung [6].


The methods and approaches of da'wah of Islam in Indonesia is extremely varied and always interesting to review, because in addition to an implementation ofda'wah Muslims in spreading the messages of God on his servant is also approuch or concept that is often developed following the developments of his time. However, the research was more interested in the propagation of traditional approaches and conventional resources were hereditary (inheritance) of the founder to his successors, such as NTT (East Nusa Tenggara) province especially in Amarasi, Kupang with the term "Da'wah Nu Ham Tua'. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to explore the culture of da'wah "Nu Ham Tua" at Amarasi through an Ethnographic Approach to Communications. As the sense of brevity thatEthnography is a Communication theory at the same time methods to explore all  reat and describe the values, culture, custom, of a specific community through the behavior of communication (verbal and noverba) through the principle of Speaking. The selected resource is the characters, members of the cultural community and the "Nu Ham Tua" by observations of participants and interviews, and triangulation as the validity of the data. The research results described the culture of "Nu Hams Tua" is very distinctive and highly viscous blend of cultures of Timor (the natives) and Arabic (as settlers), visible in the instrument (the original language tend to be verbal Amarasi and more on matching with the Arabic language and nonverbal that looked like Arabic cultural (mutually embraced, kissing fellow muhrim when the met), and etiquette of mutual deliberation as well as the culture of the native people of Indonesia. So, the genre "Nu Ham Tua of Da'wah " could be called da'wah based local wisdom.


Propagating infectious diseases is a behavior which may damage others' health at first. Without civil liability norm to regulate this behavior, not only can not give relief to victim's damage, but also unfavorable to fufill the legislative purpose of law on the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases. The civil liability born by infectious diseases spreader is mainly a kind of liability for tort which infringes natural person's health rights. Its doctrine of liability fixation and constitutive requirements should be fixed following the basic principle of tort law, the particularity of this tort should be concerned too.


Linear low-density polyethylene (LLDPE), based on butene-1 or hexene-1, was irradiated with γ-rays under vacuum or in the presence of air. The study focused on the influence of the dose rate and the γ-dose on the thermal properties of LLDPE. Differential scanning calorimetry, thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), and TGA/FTIR techniques were used to address the thermal behavior as a result of γ-irradiation. During this irradiation, competition between crosslinking and scission reactions, subsequent to oxidation reactions, occurred in the polymeric material, which strongly depends on the experimental conditions. A decrease of the crystallinity for γ-irradiated samples was observed in particular for samples irradiated under vacuum. This observation may be explained by increased hindrance of segment mobility due to crosslinking reactions that prevent crystal growth. TGA investigations revealed an enhancement of the thermal stability for samples irradiated under vacuum but not for those irradiated in air. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 100: 2790–2795, 2006


A simple and efficient synthesis of propargylcarbamates was developed through a copper(II) triflate-catalyzed coupling of aldehydes, alkynes and carbamates. No co-catalyst or ligand is required.


Effects of pipe dimensions and outer surface-buttering weld conditions on residual stress distributions were evaluated using the finite element method. Residual stresses were analyzed for 508–mm-diameter (500A) pipe 38.1 mm thick, 508–mm-diameter (500A) pipe 15.1 mm thick, and 267–mm-diameter (250A) pipe 15.1 mm thick. After the residual stresses at pipe butt joints were analyzed, residual stresses at these joints subjected to the outer surface-buttering welds were analyzed. Residual stresses were determined for various weld widths, thicknesses, and heat inputs. These analyses indicate that tensile axial stress occurred at inner surface of the pipe butt joint and that it decreased with increasing the outer surface buttering-weld width or heat input. They also indicate that compressive hoop stress occurred at inner surface of the joint and that outer surface-buttering weld increased it. The outer surface-buttering weld conditions that generate compressive residual stress at the inner surface of the pipe butt joints were determined.Copyright © 2008 by ASME


A speciication of a way to coordinate task oriented agents in a distributed environment thanks to a formalisation of the cooperation mode in a case document


Titles in the Complete series combine extracts from a wide range of primary materials with clear explanatory text to provide readers with a complete introductory resource. Complete Public Law combines clear explanatory text and practical learning features with extracts from a wide range of primary and secondary materials. The book has been structured with the needs of undergraduate courses in mind. Opening with consideration of basic constitutional principles (in which no previous knowledge is assumed), the chapters move on to cover all other essential areas, before closing with consideration of the principles and procedures of judicial review. This edition includes substantial updates to address the UK's withdrawal from the European Union and the constitutional implications these new arrangements have, including in the context of devolution.


For improving the evolvability of software architecture,this paper proposed a software architecture refactoring strategy based on clustering of component dependency relation,which consisted of logical relation and evolution relation among components. Moreover,showed an example for explaining its usability.


Nowadays, more than 2 billion people around the world have access to the Internet regularly, and the Internet is the most important platform for information, work and entertainment with more than 150 million active websites. However, these websites are accessible only through devices equipped with a screen and a Graphical User Interface (GUI). Furthermore, these devices need a network connection to access the internet. With the development of a Vocal User Interface (VUI), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and VoIP communication, we present in this article a system which allows browsing the Internet by using a standard phone only. The system works like an intelligent call routing mechanism that accepts vocal commands as input from the user, translates those commands into HTTP requests, sends them to the web server which processes it and finally returns the HTTP response translated back to the user in a vocally manner. To reach this goal the system implements Content Extraction (CE) algorithms over web content in order to analyze, classify and return relevant parts of web pages to the user. We conducted a series of experiments to evaluate the performance of the system. Our results show that the system offers a reliable and efficient web browsing experience in more than 80% of the websites tested. Its applications are numerous: for example helping the blind access the internet through speech and hearing, helping disabled people or young children unable to use a keyboard to "speak" their commands into the web, or, simply enabling any person to interface the web contents via oral commands, instead of a keyboard.


The Polar Ionospheric X-ray Imaging Experiment (PIXIE) and the ultraviolet imager (UVI) onboard the Polar satellite have provided the first simultaneous global-scale views of the patterns of electron precipitation through imaging of the atmospheric X-ray bremsstrahlung and the auroral ultraviolet (UV) emissions. While the UV images respond to the total electron energy flux, which is usually dominated by electron energies below 10 keV, the PIXIE, 9.9–19.7 keV X-ray images used in this study respond only to electrons of energy above 10 keV. Previous studies by ground-based, balloon, and space observations have indicated that the patterns of energetic electron precipitation differ significantly from those found in the visible and the UV auroral oval. Because of the lack of global imaging of the energetic electron precipitation, one has not been able to establish a complete picture. In this study the development of the electron precipitation during the different phases of magnetospheric substorms is examined. Comparisons are made between the precipitation patterns of the high-energy (PIXIE) and low-energy (UVI) electron populations, correlated with ground-based observations and geosynchronous satellite data. We focus on one specific common feature in the energetic precipitation seen in almost every isolated substorm observed by PIXIE during 1996 and which differs significantly from what is seen in the UV images. Delayed relative to substorm onsets, we observe a localized maximum of X-ray emission at 5–9 magnetic local time. By identifying the location of the injection region and determining the substorm onset time it is found that this maximum most probably is caused by electrons injected in the midnight sector drifting (i.e., gradient and curvature drift) into a region in the dawnside magnetosphere where some mechanism effectively scatters the electrons into the loss cone.


The new rice variety'Tongxi 930'was selected by cross breeding using'Tong35'as female parent and'Tong88-7'as male parent.It possessed characteristics of high yield,excellent quality,disease resistant,stress-resistant and wide suitability.The average yield of this variety was 8 893.3 kg/hm2,increased 7.1% comparing with the control variety'Tong35'at the regional experiment of Jilin Province.Its yield was 8 812.9 kg/hm2 at the production test,increased 7.0% comparing with control.It is of great value in rice production and should be widespread.


PURPOSE: A water tank using a polymer resin system panel, a construction method thereof, and a repairing method thereof are provided to rapidly construct and install the water tank without using a separate coupling member. CONSTITUTION: A water tank(1) using a polymer resin system panel includes a fitting protrusion, a fitting groove, and a concave-convex unit. The fitting protrusion is installed on the inside of the polymer resin system panel(20), and is formed with engineering plastic. The fitting groove is installed on a concrete wall body(10) for inserting the fitting protrusion. The concave-convex unit is produced by the lattice type protrusion formed on the surface of a mold.


A trial was carried out to compare the effectiveness of Thymus capitatus essential oil and thiabendazole (TBZ) on postharvest disease control of cv. "Avana" mandarin fruit. Fruits were sprayed with a 10 6 conidia/ml suspension of Penicillium digitatum and exposed to subatmospheric pressure (0.8 bar) in 250 litre containers. After 24 hours, atmospheric pressure was re-estabilished and fruits were stored at 8°C, 90 % R.H. While TBZ was used as a 1000 ppm water suspension before applying subatmospheric pressure, T. capitatus essential oil was fumigated as an ethanolic solution (20 ppm) immediately after. Fruits sprayed and treated with T. capitatus vapour compared to those sprayed, not treated, at subatmospheric pressure showed a 30.1 % reduction in green mold, while TBZ application gave a 39.1 % reduction. Thymus capitatus essential oil caused no injury in flavedo of ripe fruits. In vitro assays showed the minimum inhibiting concentration (MIC) and fungicide rate were 100 and 200 ppm respectively, for PDA cultures and wounded peels, both inoculated with 10 μl of a 10 6 conidia/ml suspension of P. digitatum .


Abstract:This paper discusses an overlooked aspect of Pliny's Natural History (HN): the embodiment through the senses of the Stoics' universal deity. At several junctures in the work, readers are prompted to make contact with the immanent numen naturae by hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching its perishable manifestations. Pliny's emphasis on the "lesser" senses as vehicles for a human-divine relation is worth examining as an innovative gesture in connection with the prominence of sight in imperial Stoicism. Moreover, identifying the function of Pliny's sensorium brings the HN in dialogue with the field of the senses in antiquity, and especially with the role of the senses in religion.


Abstract We consider the electrical resistivity due to the two-level systems which have been detected recently by ultrasonic saturation experiments. Using model parameters consistent with these experiments, we calculate a temperature-dependent resistivity. It is found that the scattering mechanism is too weak by at least three orders of magnitude to account for experimental observations.


wise could have given Moore additional information on the history ofthe Muslim migration to the United States, although she makes up fully for this omission by using more recent publications. The 'heart' of Moore's book is chapter 4, which covers a seriesofcases brought to court by imprisoned African-American Muslims many converted in jails mainly in the 1950s and 1960s. The civil rights movement, the rise ofblack nationalism, and the vision oflslam as an antiracist faith that promoted brotherhood helped convert to Islam many native-born black Americans. The book provides a succinct history of the spread of Islam among African Americans, including E. Muhammad, MaIcolm X, and others. These Muslim citizensthen petitioned the court for recognition of their religious rights within the framework of the First Amendment. After some initial setbacks, the petitioners eventually gained recognition as a bona fide religious group whose views, according to court decisions, although appearing as heresy to the followers of other faiths, provided them with theories oflife and death and ofthe life thereafter. This was a judicial viewof Islam that corresponded to the concept of"religion" as defined by the Supreme Court in the 1950s. Moore analyzesin concrete detail how Muslims in prisons usedthe court system and, after considerable time and severaltrials, secured the same special treatment in marters of food diet accorded to Jews and Catholics, as well as freedom for praying and special grooming needs. The court's involvement in defining the constitutional rights ofthe Muslim inmates put an end to the old practice of considering the rights and freedoms ofinmates to be under the exclusivejurisdiction of the prison authorities. Meanwhile, from 1950 to 1995, the Muslim population of the United States grew to about 5 million mostly immigrants from South and West Asia, who built some 950 mosques and prayer houses and offered some instruction about the faith. Although many mosques periodically became subject to hate mail and arson (the oldest American mosque in New England, in Quincy, Massachusetts, was set on fire the first Friday of Ramadan in 1990), most of them survived and are now protected by federal antihate legislation. The building of mosques is an indication that the Muslims intend to stay permanently in the country; in fact, many of the Muslims who built and now attend them are second generation Americans. Professor Moore touches vety lightly on the key question facing American Muslims today; namely how to assimilate into the mainsttearn American community and at the same time maintain their identity as Muslims. The '~ericanization" of the Muslim actually is a multifaceted cultural, political and behavioral problem that is becoming a real conflict between the die-hard, pristine-thinking Orthodox Muslims and the pluralist cultural relativists. This lucid book is a mine of historical and conceptual information on a small but increasingly important segment of the American population, and it isa significant, original contribution to the literature on the subject. I recommend it vety highly both as research resource and for course reading lists.


The past 100 years of empirical research in ecology has generated tremendous knowledge about the component interactions that structure ecological communities. Yet, we still lack the ability to reassemble these puzzle pieces to predict community responses to perturbations - a challenge that grows increasingly urgent given rapid global change. We summarize key advances in community ecology that have set the stage for modeling ecological systems and briefly review the evolution of ecological modeling efforts in order to identify critical hurdles to progress. We find that while Robert May demonstrated that quantitative models could theoretically predict community interactions nearly 50 years ago, in practice, we still lack the ability to predict ecological outcomes with reasonable accuracy for three reasons: 1) quantitative models require precise data for parameterization (often unavailable) and have restrictive assumptions that are rarely met; 2) estimating interaction strengths for all network components is extremely challenging; and 3) determining which species are essential to include in models is difficult (model structure uncertainty). We propose that fuzzy interaction webs (FIW), borrowed from the social sciences, hold potential to overcome these modeling shortfalls by integrating quantitative and qualitative data (e.g., categorical data, natural history information, expert opinion) for generating reasonably accurate qualitative predictions sufficient for addressing many ecological questions. We outline recent advances developed for addressing model structure uncertainty, and we present a case study to illustrate how FIWs can be applied for estimating community interaction strengths and predicting complex ecological outcomes in a multi-trophic (plants, herbivores, predators), multi-interaction type (competition, predation, facilitation, omnivory) grassland ecosystem. We argue that incorporating FIWs into ecological modeling could greatly advance empirical and theoretical ecology. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


Abstract Background Motheŕs own milk (MOM) is the best nutrition for preterm infants because of its preventive effects. Nevertheless, current research shows that mothers have problems getting into continuous lactation, especially after preterm birth. Breastfeeding-related pressure after prematurity has not been measured yet. It's relevance for the lactation is thus unclear, as well as the role of the NICU staff's attitudes. The aim of this study is to gain more knowledge about breastfeeding-related pressure in order to enable mothers to have a positive breastfeeding experience and to sensitise NICU staff about this topic. Methods The written survey included mothers of preterm infants with a birth weight under 1500g and an age from 6 to 24 months at the time of the survey. Descriptive and bivariate testing was used for analyses. Results Data of 506 mothers was included (32% response rate). One third totally agreed to perceive pressure regarding breastfeeding their child with MOM (36%). A milk volume over 500ml/day 14 days post-partum was reported in 60%. That the nutrition with MOM was promoted by the physicians in the NICU was totally agreed by 44% of the mothers. To the promotion by nurses, 50% totally agreed. Pearson Chi2-Test showed a significant correlation between milk volume and breastfeeding-related pressure (p = 0.005). Spearman's correlation test showed a significant correlation between a high promotion of MOM by physicians (Spearman's rho: -0.1150, p = 0.0109) and nurses (Spearman's rho: -0.0949, p = 0.0362) and lower breastfeeding-related pressure. Conclusions Our findings indicate that breastfeeding-related pressure seems to affect most of the mothers of preterm infants and correlates with lactation, even if no direction of effect can be stated. A more breastfeeding promoting NICU staff is related to lower breastfeeding-related pressure. Therefore, NICU staff should be sensitised to breastfeeding-related pressure with regard to communication with mothers. Key messages • Noticing breastfeeding-related pressure as an important factor for mothers within their lactation process may have the potential to enhance mothers to achieve their breastfeeding goals. • NICU staff should be aware of breastfeeding-related pressure to enable more mothers to have a positive breastfeeding experience.


Highly crystalline natural-occurring and synthetic two-dimensional materials (2DMs) present intriguing features for emerging organic/inorganic hybrid architectures.
In this thesis, we demonstrate the fabrication and characterization of complex 2DM-based device elements. Specifically, we combine molecular assemblies with graphene or molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) 2DMs to afford complex photoresponsive nanosystems. We initially self-assemble a bicomponent supramolecular network on a transparent graphene-decorated diamond platform. Subsequently, a larger conjugated molecule, a terrylene-based dye, is employed in a molecular network configuration and the photoresponse of the supramolecular assembly is readily recorded by means of a modified scanning tunneling microscope (STM). Finally, we employ a photoswitchable self-assembled monolayer anchored on a gold substrate to electronically switch the transport properties of molybdenum disulfide (MoS2). Because molecular architectures on 2D platforms provide a route to precisely organize different functional units at well-defined interfaces, our achievements contribute to the emerging field of molecularly precise optoelectronic technology and devices.


We examine oscillations in a number of sums of arithmetic functions involving $\Omega(n)$, the total number of prime factors of $n$, and $\omega(n)$, the number of distinct prime factors of $n$. In particular, we examine oscillations in $S_\alpha(x) = \sum_{n\leq x} (-1)^{n - \Omega(n)}/n^\alpha$ and in $H_\alpha(x) = \sum_{n\leq x} (-1)^{\omega(n)}/n^{\alpha}$ for $\alpha\in[0,1]$, and in $W(x)=\sum_{n\leq x} (-2)^{\Omega(n)}$. We show for example that each of the inequalities $S_0(x) 3.3\sqrt{x}$, $S_1(x)>0$, and $S_1(x)\sqrt{x}<-3.3$ is true infinitely often, disproving some hypotheses of Sun.


Abstract The authors report the findings of a recent survey into the use of management science and marketing research techniques in the Irish tourism industry. Given the well documented benefits of these techniques for management decision making, the research was undertaken to explore the extent to which managers in the Irish tourism industry are aware of and use these techniques. The usefulness of these techniques has spawned a considerable expansion of the coverage of such topics throughout business studies programmes in the higher education sector internationally. The study examines whether what is being taught is being used in practice and if not why not. Overall, the results indicate that management science and marketing research practice in the Irish tourism industry do not seem to reflect their potential.


Border Leicester x Merino ewes mated to Dorset Horn rams grazed subterranean clover and annual ryegrass pasture in a 2 x 2 x 4 factorial arrangement having two stocking rates (8.1 and 12.3 eweslha); two lambing times—winter (May, June, July), and spring (August, September); and four management systems, viz. set stocking (SS), autumn saving and spring hay cut (AS), replacement of half the pasture by oats or lucerne (ISP), and replacement of half the pasture by both oats and lucerne, a quarter each (2SP). The percentage of lambs born to ewes mated was lowest from May lambing and progressively increased up to August–September lambing. However, although July lambing produced marginally fewer lambs with slower growth rates than August–September lambing, the difference was not significant and the extra time available with July lambing for lambs to reach a marketable liveweight before pasture senescence meant that the earlier lambing treatment actually produced more prime lambs. The set stocking and autumn saving systems resulted in greater annual wool and lamb production than the substitute pasture systems. Any extra fodder available from oats or lucerne in those treatments failed to make up for losses in animal production associated with a reduction in available fodder during the crop preparation phase. Deterioration of annual pasture caused by plant losses associated with intermittent grazing may have reduced production further in substitute pasture treatments. The results suggest that in southern Australia on annual subterranean clover pasture the optimum level of stocking and the pasture management strategy for prime lamb production can be assessed by a careful observation of the botanical succession taking place, especially if the pasture is continuously grazed. The results also suggest that optimum fertility should be foregone in favour of an earlier lambing, in order to provide sufficient time before pasture senescence for lambs to reach a marketable liveweight. The optimum time for lambing for prime lamb production for a particular region will depend on the time of year when the pasture in the region normally matures.


P P2 2P P c ca an n b be e u us se ed d f fo or r m mo or re e t th ha an n f fr re ee e p ph ho on ne e c ca al ll ls s a an nd d i il ll le eg ga al l f fi il le e s sh ha ar ri in ng g.. P eer-to-peer (P2P) telephony and communications applications are generating tremendous interest and concern in the telecommunications community. EBay's acquisition of Skype underscores the growing attention vendors are paying this technology, while BitTorrent and other file sharing programs threaten to taint the whole idea of P2P with connotations of lawbreaking and copyright infringement. Vendors want to learn how P2P might help or hinder their IP-telephony products. Network operators wonder how they can keep P2P from overrunning other flows and disrupting their traffic management expectations. Meanwhile, industry researchers are exploring ways that P2P can be put to work in various network scenarios. This article aims to explain what P2P is all about, and put some recent implementations and possible uses for P2P into perspective. Although the authors are actively engaged in P2P and SIP research, we have tried to address the industry at a general level and from a non-biased position. What Is P2P? Defining P2P technology isn't really difficult, although many current definitions have more to do with marketing than with technology. At the most fundamental level, P2P simply implies that multiple pieces of software work together directly as " peers, " rather than as " clients " that need a centralized server to help process information. From an architectural standpoint, P2P is just about the opposite of client/server, although P2P applications can be indistinguishable from more traditional applications. It is more accurate to view P2P as a philosophy of reducing or eliminating the need for central servers, rather than as a particular, clearly defined architectural approach. These days, the term P2P is most often used in reference to end-user applications that communicate with one another or collaborate among themselves with little or no involvement from centralized servers. Music and movie file sharing is probably the most infamous example of these applications, although some of these systems make use of central servers. For example, hybrid P2P systems such as Skype, Napster and even traditional SIP use a central server …


Composite material, also called composite, a solid material that results when two or more different substances, each with its own characteristics, are combined to create a new substance whose properties are superior to those of the original components in a specific application (Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011). Because the objective in manufacturing component is to produce a stiff and a strong material with a low density, these materials have found place in many application fields such as land transportation, marine, construction, aerospace and medical. There are two constituents in a composite material which are the reinforcement and matrix phases. From the matrix point of view, composites can be divided into three main categories; polymer, metal and ceramic matrix composites (Zhang, 2003). Based on the reinforcement mechanism, composites can be separated as particle reinforced (large particle, dispersion strengthened), fibre reinforced (continuous (aligned), and short fibres (aligned or random)) and structural composites (laminates, sandwich). Fibre reinforced composites have been first introduced in exterior parts of Corvette in 1953. Today, fibre reinforced composites are used in many application fields.


Acculturation refers to the changes that individuals undergo following intercultural contact. Adaptation is the long‐term outcome of the process of acculturation, and lone‐ liness represents one indicator of negative psychological adaptation. This study, using acculturation strategies, looks to answer to four questions: (1) what is the relationship between intercultural strategies and loneliness? (2) What influence does cultural identity have on the loneliness of migrants? (3) What influence does perceived discrimination have on the loneliness of migrants? and (4) what influences do self‐worth and percep ‐ tions of others have on the loneliness? Answering these questions is important for reduc‐ ing migrants' loneliness. This study, carried out in 2012, is constituted by 258 Brazilian migrants in Portugal (53% females and 47% males) with a mean age of 36 years. The mean length of residence in Portugal was 14 years. In order to measure loneliness, we used the ULS‐6 scale. Other scales were used to measure intercultural strategies, cul‐ tural identity, perceived discrimination, self‐esteem and attitudes towards ethnocultural groups. As predicted, in what concerns intercultural strategies, loneliness was negatively associated with the strategy of integration, and positively associated with assimilation, separation and marginalization. Ethnic identity was negatively associated with loneli‐ ness, but, contrary to expectations, national identity was positively associated with lone‐ liness. Perceived discrimination predicted positively loneliness. Finally, as expected, self‐esteem and perceptions of the in‐group predicted negatively loneliness. Implications of the study are discussed.


The study assesses the impact of firm characteristics on the propensity to propose dividends and pay a dividend as proposed. This study uses a dataset of 4011 listed Indian non-financial firms over 15 years, spanning 2004–2005 to 2018–2019. Firm characteristics are observed to be important determinants of firms' propensity to propose dividends and pay as proposed. With respect to a propensity to propose dividends, firms' size, profitability, market-to-book ratio (MBR), capital expenditure, cash holding, ownership concentration, and group affiliation are found to have positive coefficients, whereas earning volatility, leverage, free cash flow (FCF) and illiquidity are found to have negative coefficients. On the contrary, with respect to a propensity to pay dividends as proposed, the study observes that size, profitability, MBR, and ownership concentration have negative coefficients, and leverage, FCF, illiquidity, and group affiliation have positive coefficients. The results are consistent for both group and stand-alone firms. These findings have practical significance for the investors since investors are likely to be more concerned about the payment of dividends as proposed rather than the mere promise to pay dividends.


BACKGROUND: Craniosynostosis is the premature fusion of one or more of the calvarial sutures, resulting in an abnormal head shape and increased intracranial pressure. Its incidence is estimated to be 1 in 2,000 births. Most of the cases are sporadic, with only 8% being syndromic or familial. OBJECTIVE: The aim of the study was to evaluate the use of N-Butyl Cyanoacrylate in combination with sutures for fixation and maintenance of bone remodeling in patients who underwent surgery for anterior plagiocephaly. METHODS: This retrospective study was conducted in two departments; Neurosurgery Department, and Maxillofacial & Plastic Surgery Department, Alexandria University, Egypt, including 19 patients who underwent surgery for correction of pla - giocephaly between January 2015 and January 2020. N-Butyl Cyanoacrylate was used in combination with 2-0 polydioxanone suture as a method for maintenance of bone remodeling in the operated subjects. Surgical outcome was assessed by the expanded Whitaker classification and the degree of parental satisfaction. RESULTS: The mean age at surgery was 6.47 months and the mean follow-up period was 24 months with a minimum of 18 months follow-up. None of our patients had major complications. One patient had infection postoperatively that resolved in two weeks. According to the Whitaker grading, 13 patients had excellent results and classified as "Whitaker grade I", 4 patients had slight supraorbital elevation and 2 patients had an ipsilateral temporal constriction "Whitaker grade IIA", but no further intervention was done. None of our patients required reoperation for correction of a surgical relapse. CONCLUSION: Fronto-orbital advancement with slight overcorrection, together with the use of N-Butyl Cyanoacrylate for maintenance of bone shape after remodeling and bone fixation are safe and provide satisfactory and stable aesthetic results.


We design and fabricate metasurface on the facet of few-mode fiber (FMF). Ultra-broadband orbital angular momentum modes (OAM+1 and OAM-1) are excited in the fiber and the phase purity from 1480–1640 nm is measured through one interferogram image.


Ecosystem-atmosphere fluxes of CO2 and CO2 are needed to better understand the impacts of climate and land use change on ecosystem respiration (FR), net ecosystem CO2 exchange (FN), and canopy-scale photosynthetic discrimination (D). We combined micrometeorological and stable isotope techniques to quantify isotopic fluxes of CO2 and CO2 over a corn– soybean rotation ecosystem in the Upper Midwest United States. Results are reported for a 192-day period during the corn (C4) phase of the 2003 growing season. The isotopomer flux ratio, dCO2/d CO2, was measured continuously using a tunable diode laser (TDL) and gradient technique to quantify the isotope ratios of FR (dR) and FN (dN). Prior to leaf emergence dR was approximately 26%. It increased rapidly following leaf emergence and reached an average value of 12.5% at full canopy. dR decreased to pre-emergence values following senescence. dN also showed strong seasonal variation and during the main growing period averaged 11.6%. dR and dN values were used in a modified flux partitioning approach to estimate canopy-scale D and the isotope ratio of photosynthetically assimilated CO2 (dP) independent of calculating canopy conductance or assuming leafscale discrimination factors. The results showed substantial day-to-day variation in D with an average value of 4.0%. This fluxbased estimate of D was approximately 6% lower than the Keeling mixing model estimate and in better agreement with leaflevel observations. These data were used to help constrain and partition FR into its autotrophic (FRa) and heterotrophic (FRh) components based on the numerical optimization of a mass balance model. On average FRa accounted for 44% of growing season FR and reached a maximum of 59% during peak growth. The isotope ratio of FRh (dRh), was 26% prior to leaf emergence, and became increasingly C enriched as the canopy developed indicating that recent photosynthate became the dominant substrate for microbial activity. Sensitivity analyses substantiated that FRh had a major influence on the seasonal pattern of dR, dN and the isotopic disequilibrium of the ecosystem. These data and parameter estimates are critical for validating and constraining the parameterization of land surface schemes and inverse models that aim to estimate regional carbon sinks and sources and interpreting changes in the atmospheric signal of dCO2. # 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.


Objective:To study the frequencies of allele and genotype distribution of interleukin-18(IL-18)gene promoter region single nucleotide polymorphism(SNP)in the west of guangxi zhuang populations in china,and to analyze the distributions of IL-18polymorphism among different races.Method:The IL-18gene promoter region rs360722G/A polymorphism was examined by the polymerase chain reaction-single base extension(PCR-SBE)technique and DNA sequencing methods in 150the west of guangxi zhuang populations,frequencies of allele and genotype of IL-18gene rs360722G/A polymorphism were analyzed for the west of guangxi zhuang populations compared with other the four populations(HapMap-HCB,HapMap-YRI,HapMap-CEU and HapMap-JPT)from human genome project group(Hapmap)data.Results:IL-18genotype frequencies of GG,GA and AA were 39.3%,48.7%and 12.0%,and allele frequencies of G and A were 63.7%and 36.3%in the west of guangxi zhuang populations respectively.The frequencies of genotype of IL-18gene rs360722G/A polymorphism were not significant difference between male and female group(P0.05).The frequencies of allele and genotype distribution of IL-18gene rs360722G/A polymorphism were significant difference compared with HapMap-CEU,HapMap-YRI and HapMap-HCB populations(P0.05).Conclusion:There are IL-18gene polymorphism in the west of guangxi zhuang populations,the frequencies of polymorphism distribution of IL-18are significantly difference compared with others ethnic populations.It might be one of the reasons why the clinical spectrunm of some IL-18related diseases is different among different races.


This thesis explores representations of wild nature in two Arthurian texts – one British and one American – produced in an age characterised by rapid social transformation: Alfred, Lord Tennyson's  ...


In the present work a particle swarm optimization (PSO) based off-line system identification algorithm has been proposed for modeling of RF on-chip inductors. The proposed scheme has a distinctive feature that the determination of the system structure and the identification of parameters can be simultaneously obtained. The system identification algorithm used here is based upon a black-box modeling approach. Unlike the conventional equivalent circuit models, in the proposed modeling a priori information of the physical structure of an inductor is not required. Consequently this generic algorithm is capable of modeling any arbitrary shaped inductor more accurately than the conventional equivalent circuit models


ABSTRACT In this study, shipyard oily wastewater treatment was investigated by electrocoagulation (EC) using aluminum electrodes in a batch reactor by evaluating different operation conditions. The maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency of 88.83% was obtained at current density of 3 mA/cm2. The removal efficiency was gradually improved with increasing current density and decreased with increasing COD concentration. However, initial pH value was not determinant factor for this process. Total energy and electrode cost were calculated as $0.88 per m3 treated wastewater. The result of this research shows that EC process seems to be an efficient method for the oily wastewater treatment.


The author used the bibliographic method,the method of statisical comparison about the video to analyse the trend characteristics of structure arranging about A-score actions in nowadays Women's Floor Exercise.Discoveries: At beginning,the gymnast uses above-E-group "single flip" or "a succession of flip" with 0.2 connection score.In the middle,the gymnast can use one or two "single flips" with superior difficulty and two successions of two-flip-connection with above 0.1 score and three or four single-dances.In the end,they can use above-D-group "single flip"or "a succession of flip".These are the main trend and characteristics of the structure arranging about unitized A-score actions in nowadays Women's Floor Exercise.Increase the difficulty coefficient of the action at the beginning,increase the connection value of the flip action in the middle and use the stable D-group flips or the other connections to end the action,these are the main characteristics about the structure arranging of the top gymnast's A-score action.


Aiming at the problems of low SLAM precision, poor localization effect and obvious cumulative error of mobile robot based on the Extended Kalman filtering algorithm. This article proposes a mobile robot SLAM algorithm which fusion EKF and particle filter. In this method, the particle filter algorithm is used to calculate the positioning problem of mobile robot and uses EKF algorithm to estimate the location of environment, which reduce the computational complexity and has better robustness. The type of noise that is not limited to the environment, the desired result can be obtained in the mobile robot SLAM. The error range decreased from 0.5m to 0.2m, and the positioning effect was significantly improved. The experimental results show that the SLAM algorithm of mobile robot fused EKF and particle filter is more accurate than the Extended Kalman filter.


After World War II, many destroyed operas in Europe required reconstruction. Since the period of the royal operas was past, architects tried to develop new shapes based upon the new social philosophy. For the acoustical planning, this has led to the following goals: (1) equal acoustical quality in all areas of the auditoria, (2) high speech intelligibility, and (3) uniform sound transmission from the pit and the stage to the audience. The deducted measures were the following: (1) application of an arenalike seating arrangement of the public to expose everybody to a strong direct sound, (2) low reverberation, and (3) reflection of sound energy to compensate the increasing distance of the listeners from the sound sources. These principles have led to the realization of slightly fan‐shaped rooms with a relatively small volume or additional sound‐absorbing claddings. Surprisingly, these opera halls have been quoted worse than the old ones, by the musicians and the audience. The reason for the lower reputation...


Iterative algorithm proposed by Hoerl and Kennard is an important method for choosing ridge parameter k value in ridge regression estimation, but there are some problems in application and weakness in theory, for this reason. We give the convergence theorem and it's proof, as well as the formula of convergence limit about the iterative algorithm in this paper.


The author draws from theatrical and educational theories about dramatic interventions of educational purpose. She presents findings from a study of 25 'embryonic' theatre-in-education productions and critically discusses the views of artists and directors of children's theatre through interviews that took place both in England and Greece.


The electrocardiogram (ECG) empowered clinician scientists to measure the electrical activity of the heart noninvasively to identify arrhythmias and heart disease. Shortly after the standardization of the 12-lead ECG for the diagnosis of heart disease, several families with autosomal recessive (Jervell and Lange-Nielsen Syndrome) and dominant (Romano–Ward Syndrome) forms of long QT syndrome (LQTS) were identified. An abnormally long heart rate-corrected QT-interval was established as a biomarker for the risk of sudden cardiac death. Since then, the International LQTS Registry was established; a phenotypic scoring system to identify LQTS patients was developed; the major genes that associate with typical forms of LQTS were identified; and guidelines for the successful management of patients advanced. In this review, we discuss the molecular and cellular mechanisms for LQTS associated with missense variants in KCNQ1 (LQT1) and KCNH2 (LQT2). We move beyond the "benign" to a "pathogenic" binary classification scheme for different KCNQ1 and KCNH2 missense variants and discuss gene- and mutation-specific differences in K+ channel dysfunction, which can predispose people to distinct clinical phenotypes (e.g., concealed, pleiotropic, severe, etc.). We conclude by discussing the emerging computational structural modeling strategies that will distinguish between dysfunctional subtypes of KCNQ1 and KCNH2 variants, with the goal of realizing a layered precision medicine approach focused on individuals.


The intuitive collaboration of humans and intelligent robots (embodied AI) in the real-world is an essential objective for many desirable applications of robotics. Whilst there is much research regarding explicit communication, we focus on how humans and robots interact implicitly, on motor adaptation level. We present a real-world setup of a human-robot collaborative maze game, designed to be non-trivial and only solvable through collaboration, by limiting the actions to rotations of two orthogonal axes, and assigning each axes to one player. This results in neither the human nor the agent being able to solve the game on their own. We use deep reinforcement learning for the control of the robotic agent, and achieve results within 30 minutes of real-world play, without any type of pre-training. We then use this setup to perform systematic experiments on human/agent behaviour and adaptation when co-learning a policy for the collaborative game. We present results on how co-policy learning occurs over time between the human and the robotic agent resulting in each participant's agent serving as a representation of how they would play the game. This allows us to relate a person's success when playing with different agents than their own, by comparing the policy of the agent with that of their own agent.


The changing landscape of healthcare payment models is providing new opportunities for pharmacists. Traditional models were focused on paying for a product or a service. Evolving models are focused on paying for positive healthcare outcomes. One of the emerging payment models, the performance-based