We report results of the evaluation of the plasma potential, the electron temperature and the electron density during the current shots in the COMPASS tokamak, (IPP.CR, Prague, Czech Republic). The comparisons with results from model calculations based on an extended formula for the electron probe current show a satisfactory agreement. The results presented demonstrate that the procedure proposed allows one to acquire additional plasma parameters using the electron part of the current-voltage Langmuire probe (LP) characteristics in tokamak edge plasma probe measurements.


Th is article explores how the theoretical framework of "counter-narrative" can be a resource for the analysis of spoofi ng videos. Using spoofs deployed by activist organizations to critique Western aid appeals and "voluntourism," we 1) investigate the intertextual mechanisms of spoof videos as counter-narrative and how spoofers borrow generic conventions and use them to create alternative narratives, and 2) discuss the consequences of their cultural depictions, for example for the discourse of volunteering, which we examine here, particularly in light of tendencies toward self-refl ecting campaigns identifi ed by Chouliaraki (2013). Th rough these understandings, we draw lessons about the counter-narrative potential of spoofs used as critique and edifi cation and their ambivalent status as counter-narratives. As critiques, they may hold a mirror to viewers' self-perceptions and motivations. Yet, this self-refl exive strategy carries the risk of self-congratulatory complicity with the genres they seek to critique and the discourses and power relations upon which they depend. the emergence of a self-oriented morality, where doing good to others is about "how I feel" and must, therefore, be rewarded by minor gratifi cations to the self—the new emotionality of the quiz, the confessions of our favorite celebrity, the thrill of the rock concert and Twitter journalism being only some of its manifestations (pp. 3-4).


The present study was carried out to assess the growth rate in agricultural exports and imports of Asia Pacific region. Data for a period of 27 years i.e., from 1992 to 2018 is considered for analysis. The agricultural exports from Asia Pacific region and the world showed positive and significant annual growth rate of 7.90 per cent and 7.09 per cent, respectively. And also, there is increasing trend in import of agricultural commodities to Asia Pacific region (7.29%) and world (6.94%). In case of Asia Pacific agricultural exports as well as imports, the share of Animal and Fibre products decreased whereas share of Vegetable and Food products increased gradually over the study period. The growth rate of Vegetable products is 9.33 and 9.29% in case of exports and imports, respectively. The growth rate of both agricultural exports and imports is increasing for entire Asia Pacific region due to increasing share of Vegetable products. To maintain the increasing trend there is a need to focus on liberalizing logistics, facilitating adoption of modern information and communication technologies promoting competition among service providers and improving access to credit and trade finance.


When Namibia became independent in 1990, it was regarded as a role model of hope for Africa's development, democratisation, and the free market economy. Despite considerable achievements over the past 18 years, however, the country faces major political, economic and social challenges. The predominance of the ruling SWAPO Party, insuffi ciently developed democratic values, and the marginalisation of ethnic minorities and women – particularly in rural areas – confront the country with political problems.


Improvements in design and technology can influence heavy-vehicle safety in two ways. First, the performance of the vehicle itself can be improved, to make it better at avoiding or surviving crashes, and second, vehicle-based technologies may be employed to help the driver perform better by being more aware of his or her surroundings, physical and mental state and driving performance. Crash statistics show that 85% of fatalities and 78% of injuries in crashes involving large trucks are people outside the truck. In fatal two-vehicle crashes involving a passenger car and a large truck, 98% of the fatalities are occupants of the passenger vehicle. Primarily for this reason, most research on heavy-truck safety design and technology concentrates on ways to help trucks avoid crashes. Despite a wealth of research and product development, many new technologies are not purchased in significant numbers by heavy-truck buyers. Effective deployment of advanced safety technologies and hence the realization of their potential safety benefits depend on business, legal, economic, and regulatory factors. This section of circular E-C117 looks at the following aspects of vehicle design and technology: vehicle braking, handling, and stability; seeing and being seen; improving driver awareness; modifying driver behavior; onboard condition and performance monitoring; longer-term technologies; truck sizes and weights; surviving the collision; protecting others; and technology deployment.


High Impact Polystyrene (HIPS) was synthesized by free radical polymerization through the bulk-bulk technique. Polybutadiene (PB) and/or poly(butadiene-b-styrene) copolymer (S:B = 30:70) (at 8 wt-%) were used as impact modifiers in the presence of 0, 5 and 7.5 wt-% of polystyrene (PS) and styrene monomer. The interval of phase inversion (PI) was determined through the evolution of melt flow index (MFI) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM), the conversion (X) and grafting degree (GD) were gravimetrically determined and impact strength (IS) tests were performed. When PS was added from the beginning of the reaction in the presence of SB rubber, the PI shifted to lower values of polymerization time (from 270 min in the reference HIPS to 190 min when 5 and 7.5 wt-% of PS was added, respectively). The morphology of the reference HIPS was of the core shell type and in the case of adding PS the morphology at the PI changed to a quasi-salami type, due to a poor stability of the system as a consequence of the low GD. The final size of the disperse phase increased 292 and 51% in the presence of PS and the volume fraction increased 100% yielding HIPS with an IS from 20 (reference HIPS) to 30J/m for 7.5 wt-% of added PS.

In the system with PB as the precursor rubber the salami structure in the reference HIPS, increased its size from 0.5 µm to 2.1 and 2.6 µm for 5 and 7.5 wt-% of added PS, but instead of that, the IS remained without significant changes.


The Weibull, lognormal and gamma distributions are popular models for lifetime data. but in applications such as strength of materials, the Weibull distribution generally provides t,he most plausible physical model for failure data. However, the conventional Weibull plot may display a curve at the lower end, and is often handled by fitting a third (threshold) parameter or by using another model such as the lognormal distribution. These approaches may yield significant variations when the models are used for prediction purposes. The data collected can lack a representative number of observations in the lower tail because experimental strength data may sometimes be incomplete due to some weak experimental units not surviving to be tested. In this paper a 'selection probability function' is proposed which represents the probability that a unit of given strength survives to be tested. Simulations show that this function when combined with an underlying Weibull strength distribution, yields a distribution simi...


This study was initiated with the aim is to examine the impact of a human trait – innovativeness along with the constructs of Technology Acceptance Model on the embracement of web as a shopping medium in Pakistan. A sample size of 252 Pakistani consumers who never shopped online before has been collected using purposive sampling method. Structural equation modeling technique has been utilized to approve the measurement model and test assumptions. Outcomes revealed that TAM constructs perceived ease of use and Attitude have a significant positive effect on Future internet shopping intention whereas Perceived usefulness have no significant impact on Future internet shopping intention. Innovativeness has also been found to have a significant positive effect on future internet shopping intention as well as on Perceived ease of use that affects Attitude of a person, which consequently influences future internet shopping intention in a positive manner. These results have vital strategic policy implications for online retailers to get non-online buyers involve in online shopping.


The invention discloses an online monitoring method of overhead line equivalent icing thickness. The method comprises the steps of (1) extracting guide/ground wire historical tension force data, dip angles and meteorological data which are monitored on line, obtaining guide/ground wire historical tension force data and dip angle data in the ice-free period, (2) according to the guide/ground wire historical tension force data and dip angle data in the ice-free period, obtaining guide/ground wire historical tension force vertical load data to obtain average vertical load and the maximum vertical load, (3) according to the average vertical load, the maximum vertical load and tower foundation information, obtaining average equivalent guide/ground wire lengths and the maximum equivalent guide/ground wire lengths, (4) extracting guide/ground wire real-time tension force data and dip angle data which are monitored on line, calculating the guide/ground wire equivalent icing thickness and the guide/ground wire conservative equivalent icing thickness, and (5) according to the real-time meteorological data, selecting reference equivalent icing thickness or the conservative equivalent icing thickness to judge the icing amount of an overhead line. The online monitoring method has the advantages of being simple in calculation, and high in accuracy and reliability.


Rotating machines are one of the most important and widely used machineries in the modern engineering world. They are also the required to run at high rotating speed. The plain journal bearing is mostly replaced by some other bearing, as it does not suit the stability requirement of high-speed machines and precision machine tools. In order to improve the stability of a circular bearing, many researchers tried to change its geometrical configuration. In view of this, an attempt has been made in the present work to study the performance characteristics of four different bearing configurations using non-Newtonian lubricant and comparison of the results has been made with plain journal bearing. To calculate the steady-state performance characteristics, nondimensional form of the Reynolds equation using non-Newtonian lubricant has been written and solved for the steady-state nondimensional pressure distribution in a finite grid using finite difference method with successive over-relaxation technique satisfying appropriate boundary condition. From the study, it can be concluded that three-lobe bearing have maximum load-carrying capacity and minimum friction variable, whereas two-lobe bearing have maximum flow coefficient.


The fractional-N frequency synthesis technique provides agile switching in narrow channel spacing systems and alleviates phase-locked loop (PLL) design constraints for phase noise and reference spur. A sigma-delta fractional-N frequency synthesizer (FS) achieves the phase noise performance using a spur supression method. A sigma-delta modulator is represented in this work which reduces spur in output frequency spectrum of the fractional-N frequency synthesizers. This technique also improves the performance of the frequency synthesizer. A fractional-N frequency synthesizer is designed by employing a third-order MASH modulator. A fourth order type II PLL with two out of band poles are used to suppress quantization noise of the modulator. The in-band phase noise of−95 dBc/Hz at 10-kHz offset with a spur of less than −96 dBc is achieved with a reference frequency of 8 MHz and a loop bandwidth of 40 kHz.


The association between early term delivery (ETD) and neonatal hypoglycemia in women with diabetes in pregnancy (DP) is analyzed. 258 females (30.8 ± 6.4 years) with term delivery and diabetes in pregnancy participated in current study. Neonatal hypoglycemia was ≤ 45mg/dl in the first 24 hours of life. Gestational age at birth was established by ultrasonography. Sample was divided into (i) ETD females (n = 163) and (ii) females with non-early term delivery (n = 95). The Chi-Squared and Fisher's Exact tests and logistic regression were performed for association analysis at 5% significance level. Early term delivery and higher occurrence of neonatal hypoglycemia were associated (OR = 2.88; IC 95%: 1.19 – 6.96). Neonates born of females with diabetes during pregnancy and early term delivery had a higher incidence of hypoglycemia than their peers born in non-early term deliveries, which suggests a risk factor for early term delivery in females with pregnancy complicated by hyperglycemia.


Modified silica gel was prepared via hydrolysis of tetraethyl orthosilicate precursor and alkoxyl silicon KH-570 containing C=C bond.Resultant modified silica gel was prepared into silica films on glass slides by using pulling method.The effects of reaction temperature and time as well as thickener LZ-09 on the thickness and properties of the silica films were investigated.It was found that the thickness of the silica films increased with elevating reaction temperature.The films obtained at 40 ℃ were free of cracks and pileups after drying.At the same time,the thickness of the silica films increased with extending time,and the films obtained at a reaction period of 2 h possessed the best properties.Besides,the introduction of the thickener contributed to greatly increased thickness of the silica films,and the films prepared by single pulling from the silical gel containing 2%thickener was up to (10±5) μm thick.


We study properties of domain walls in the symmetron model, in which the scalar gravitational degree of freedom decouples from matter in regions of high density and exhibits a spontaneously broken Z 2 symmetry at low densities. The nonminimal coupling of the scalar to matter leads to a host of interesting properties of the domain walls that are not present in minimally coupled theories. We estimate the cosmological energy fraction in domain walls and find that this leads to an upper bound on the redshift of the symmetry breaking. We also show that a spherical symmetron wall can remain stable if it is "pinned" on matter halos and derive a criterion for the stability. In addition, we present results of numerical simulations of representative interactions between domain walls and matter overdensities.


Microstructure, electrical conductivity and micromechanical properties of industrial Cu and Cu0.7wt%Cr alloy after equal channel angular pressing, hard cyclic viscoplastic deformation and followed ageing treatment were studied. The tensile strength of 430 MPa and hardness of 195HV0.05 were arrived. The Young modulus was increased to 125 GPa and the maximal electrical conductivity for Cu was achieved 103% IACS after hard cyclic viscoplastic deformation and 94.5% IACS for Cu0.7wt% Cr alloy after ageing at 450 °C for 1 h. The Cu-0.7% Cr alloy have high electrical conductivity at operation temperatures from 260 °C to 550 °C while the pure ultrafine grained Cu lost hardness, wear resistance and conductivity at 170 °C, respectively.


In PNAS, Fayet et al. (1) report on two cases of tool use in a seabird. In two distant populations they recorded Arctic puffins ( Fratercula arctica ) using sticks to scratch themselves (Fig. 1). The documentation of tool use in this species expands the ever-growing list of tool-using birds through rare observations under natural conditions. Although it is neither the first observation of tool use in wild seabirds, nor the first of stick-tool use outside of a foraging context in wild birds, these findings contribute to the debate on the evolutionary and cognitive origins of tool use.

Fig. 1.
A puffin holding a stick in its beak before using it as a tool to scratch itself. Image courtesy of M. T. Ridoff (artist).

Discoveries of tool use in animals attract considerable attention, because tool use remains rare in nature and people intuitively associate it with intelligence. Not long ago, the wielding of tools was considered a purely human affair. In the 1950s, when Jane Goodall observed wild chimpanzees fishing for termites, we realized that tool use does not exclusively define us. Since then, tool use has been observed in an increasing number of species, spanning from invertebrates to apes, but is still only found in fewer than 1% of known genera so far (2). From this perspective, every discovery of a tool-using species adds an important puzzle piece to understanding this fascinating, rare, and multifarious phenomenon (2⇓–4).

In the traditional view, tool use reveals intelligence. Therefore, animal tool use has been regarded as one of few windows for studying the evolution of intelligence and our own evolutionary past. However, the picture today is more complex, and while tool use oftentimes does relate to advanced cognition, it is not always the case. The debate typically centers on what cognitive abilities …

[↵][1]1To whom correspondence may be addressed. Email: avbayern{at}orn.mpg.de.

 [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1


The use of temporally and spectrally shaped ultrafast laser pulses to initiate, as well as detect, high explosives is being explored at Los Alamos. High level ab initio calculations, presented here, are employed to help guide and interpret the experiments. The ground and first excited electronic states of 3, 3'‐diamino‐4, 4'‐azoxyfurazan (DAAF) are investigated using complete active space self‐consistent field (CASSCF) and time‐dependent density functional theory (TD‐DFT). The geometrical and energetic character of the excited state minima, conical intersections and reaction pathways of DAAF are described. Two radiative and two non‐radiative excited state population quenching mechanisms are outlined, and possible pathways for photochemical and spectroscopic control are discussed.


Recent advances in the chemistry of triazoleporphyrazines, structural analogues of porphyrazine containing one 1,2,4-triazole ring instead of one of pyrrole subunits, are reviewed. Experimental data of stepwise protonation equilibrium are discussed and basicity centers of macroheterocyclic compounds are revealed. Spacial configurations and electronic structure peculiarities of the tautomers of triazoleporphyrazine and its protonated forms are calculated using DFT method. Aromaticity of various conjugation contours is evaluated using HOMA and NICS criteria.


Physisorbed nitrogen and methane surfaces on grafoil with large specific surface area were studied by positron annihilation. The positron lifetime and Doppler broadening S‐parameter were measured as a function of coverage and as a function of temperature at a fixed fraction of coverage. The activation energy for surface defect created by adsorption was estimated and detailed surface phase transitions were observed.


Most ontologies are poorly documented, thus not being optimally accessible to potential users and ontology reuse services. A first step towards ontology documentation is the development of an explicit schema for the systematic and comprehensive description of ontologies. To provide an informed background for such a schema, we performed a survey of the most recent ontology engineering technology, and the types of information for describing ontologies. We introduce an ontology metadata schema, which as part of the OMV standard, was evaluated through professional reviews. A second step is the provision of automatic techniques to acquire such documentation. For this purpose we have developed the OMEGA (Ontology MEtadata GenerAtion) algorithm, which automatically generates metadata about arbitrary ontologies on the Web and is available as Web application and REST Web service. It was evaluated with very promising results, providing thus a core building block for the realization of fully-fledged ontology location services.


Needle-punched process is substituted by spunlaced process to develop composite PPS fiber high-temp-resistant filter material.Raw material and production flow process for new product development is explained.Final product performance is analysed through testing,and product application prospect is pointed out.


Copyright: © 2020. Published by Organum: Jurnal Saintifik Manajemen dan Akuntansi. Faculty of Economics and Business. Winaya Mukti University. Abstract. The growth of smartphone users every year continues to grow and is a necessity for its users. Every smartphone company competes for generous consumers and competes to provide the technology and features needed by its users. This research was conducted to see a SWOT analysis of sales strategies on Xiaomi smartphones and Vivo smartphones in terms of differentiation strategy, focus strategy, cost leadership strategy. This study uses a digital use database to find articles relevant to the SWOT analysis of sales strategies on Xiaomi smartphones and Vivo smartphones. This type of research used in this research is descriptive analysis with a qualitative approach. The analysis method used is the SWOT analysis and Porter's Generic Strategy. The results showed that in total, this smartphone company had implemented the generic porter strategy well. However, the Vivo company's focus strategy is only applied so that the Vivo company can focus on marketing efforts on one or two market segments and create a marketing mix that is specific to that market so that the company can find better market needs.


The Dynasafe Static Detonation Chamber, SDC, is equipment for destroying all types of explosives and munition. It is an reinforced and heated detonation chamber which operates at approximately 500-550 °C and where all types of explosive materials – open or encapsulated in munition – are 100% destroyed. Chemical or biological material connected to the explosives is also safely destroyed. The feeding system is designed – depending on its application – to operate without any personnel involvement close to the plant. The operator controls the plant from a control room a safe distance away. The Dynasafe SDC can be delivered with off-gas systems optimised for each feeding material and local regulations. Off-gas systems can also be designed in a modular way that future improvements are applicable in a simple and cost effective way. Besides high capacity, the Dynasafe SDC can be produced as a fixed installation, semimobile and mobile. These possibilities make the system superior to most of the competing technologies. Dynasafe SDC has been delivered to many countries world wide such as Sweden, Japan, Germany, USA, Portugal, Spain, Taiwan etc.


For the new proposal of using digital video broadcasting for handheld terminals (DVB-H) as a broadcast platform for wireless billboard channels (WBCs), this paper proposes to use classical Rayleigh fading channel modeling techniques to analyze the performance of such a broadcast platform for this usage. Effectively the performance figure of merit employed is the DVB-H transport stream packet error rate (TSPER). Some early performance results are found assuming a Rayleigh fading channel with a central chi-square distribution and utilizing a corresponding finite state Markov model (FSMM).


Rutin is widespread in a variety of natural plants such as Sophora japonica,F.tataricum,and F.tataricum.It has been widely used in recent years in pharmaceutical,cosmetic,food and other fields,and has become a research hotspot.Rutin has a variety of physiological functions,such as removing free radicals,stimulating osteoblast growth,lowering blood sugar,preventing colon and prostate cancer.The review introduces the resoureces,physiological effect and formulations of rutin.


This paper explicitly considers strategic interaction between governments to study currency competition and its effects on the circulation of currencies and welfare in a two-country, two-currency search theoretic model. Each government uses seigniorage to provide public goods. Agents consume private goods, and the public goods of their own country. We have several findings. The negative impact of a country's inflationary policy on the realm of circulation of its currency imposes an inflation discipline: the more open a country is, the stronger is the discipline. The worldwide circulation of a currency increases seigniorage and welfare and decreases the inflation rate of the issuing country compared to autarky. The other country, since the tax base is reduced due to the use of foreign currency, raises its inflation rate. However, there is a limit on the rate beyond which it cannot maintain the circulation of national money. Under strategic interaction between governments in selecting equilibrium, the larger country would try to lower the inflation rate to make its currency circulate abroad, while the other country may also lower the inflation rate to sustain its national currency as the sole medium of exchange.


Surgical departments treat twogroups ofinpatients - thesimple andthecomplex consequently asingle averagefails todescribe theusebeingmadeoftheoccupied beds. Usingdecision support techniques, we showwhyindicators suchastheaveragelength, theaverageoccupancy andtheaverageadmissions mislead. Furthermore, byanalysing thefluctuating pattern ofweeklyadmissions we showhowweekends andtheChristmas holiday periods impact on bedusage.Next, we demonstrate that flowprocessmodels can beusedtodescribe howthein-patient workload concernstwogroupsofpatients. On an averageday, 71.4%ofthebedscontained patients whowillhavean average(exponential) stayof4.8days, andtheother beds, 28.6%, contain patients whowillhavean average (exponential) stayof22.8days. Thearticle concludes bydemonstrating theshortand long-term impact on daily admissions ofa10%change infourdifferent parameters ofthe model.Thedatausedcome froma surgical department inAdelaide, as UK datasets report finished consultant episodes rather thancompleted in-patient spells.


In this study, the regular expressions forming abstract states in Brzozowski's algorithm are not remapped to sequential state transition table addresses as would be the case in the classical approach, but are hashed to integers. Two regular expressions that are hashed to the same hash code are assigned the same integer address in the state transition table, reducing the number of states in the automaton. This reduction does not necessarily lead to the construction of a minimal automaton: no restrictions are placed on the hash function hashing two regular expressions to the same code. Depending on the quality of the hash function, a super-automaton, previously referred to as an approximate automaton, or an exact automaton can be constructed. When two regular expressions are hashed to the same state, and they do not represent the same regular language, a super-automaton is constructed. A super-automaton accepts the regular language of the input regular expression, in addition to some extra strings. If the hash function is bad, many regular expressions that do not represent the same regular language will be hashed together, resulting in a smaller automaton that accepts extra strings. In the ideal case, two regular expressions will only be hashed together when they represent the same regular language. In this case, an exact minimal automaton will be constructed. It is shown that, using the hashing approach, an exact or super-automaton is always constructed. Another outcome of the hashing approach is that a non-deterministic automaton may be constructed. A new version of the hashing version of Brzozowski's algorithm is put forward which constructs a deterministic automaton. A method is also put forward for measuring the difference between an exact and a super-automaton: this takes the form of the k-equivalence measure: the kequivalence measure measures the number of characters up to which the strings of two regular expressions are equal. The better the hash function, the higher the value of k, up to the point where the hash function results in regular expressions being hashed together if and only if they have the same regular language. Using the k-equivalence measure, eight generated hash functions and one hand coded hash function are evaluated for a large number of short regular expressions, which are generated using Gödel numbers. The k-equivalence concept is extended to the average k-equivalence value in order to evaluate the hash functions for longer regular expressions. The hand coded hash function is found to produce good results.


Structural, elastic, electronic and Fermi surface studies of AuTe2 have been carried out by means of first principles calculations based on density functional theory. The calculated ground state properties agree well with the experiment. Fermi surface and elastic constants are predicted for the first time and from the calculated elastic constants we find the compound to be mechanically stable satisfying the stability criteria of monoclinic structure. In addition, we also find the c-axis to be more compressible than the other two which is also speculated from the present work. The metallic behaviour of this compound is confirmed from the electronic band structure calculation as we find the bands to cross the Fermi level (EF). In addition, we also observe a FS topology change under pressure which is also explained in the present work.


The landscape of doctoral study is evolving, with this level of qualification appealing to an increasingly diverse range of candidates. With a particular focus on Professional Doctorates (PD), this article aims to raise awareness of these developments in doctoral education and the types of individuals who undertake them, and considers some of the challenges and opportunities of undertaking a PD. A case illustration of the experience of completing a PD programme from the perspective of both the candidate and supervisor is provided. The article concludes with recommendations for the role that groups such as PsyPAG could play in promoting the PD, supporting the candidates who undertake them, and facilitating knowledge sharing between participants in different doctoral programmes for the benefit of all.


This comparative study was performed to determine the value of two endosonography devices, i.e, the radial and the longitudinal transducer, for staging upper GI tract cancer. The accuracy of both methods was comparable in esophageal cancer, whereas radial scanning was superior in gastric cancer. Generally radial scanning provided better spatial orientation and was easier to assess. An advantage of the longitudinal curved array scanner is the feasibility of EUS-guided biopsy.


Atolls are ring-shaped reefs surrounding or partly surrounding a lagoon and usually having one or more small, low-lying coral islands. There are over 400 atolls throughout the oceans of the world, with 294 located in the Pacific Ocean. Despite their extreme distance from other land masses, many atolls are inhabited. The water resources of these islands, and the local island communities that depend upon them, however, are under continual threat due to El Nino-induced drought events, potential sea-level rise, and geographic isolation from other population centers. Fresh groundwater, residing in a thin freshwater body floating atop the underlying seawater in the subsurface sediments and termed the "freshwater lens", requires particular attention since small land surface area and highly porous soils preclude the development of natural surface water bodies. Island residents typically complement the use of groundwater with man-made rain catchment systems, although during drought events they have only groundwater to fulfill all domestic water needs. In this report we provide a summary of work conducted during the last few years regarding the availability and threat of groundwater resources on atoll islands in the Federated States of Micronesia, an insular nation spread across more than 2 million km 2 of the western Pacific Ocean and containing some 32 atolls. Research activities include groundwater observations, groundwater modeling, the development of a groundwater prediction tool using modeling results, and a commitment to train local water resources managers on atoll island hydrology and the use of the groundwater prediction tool.


Abstract Arco demonstrated time-lapse 3D seismic, or "4D," in the 1980s. The technology is focused on drilling better wells and improving reservoir management, thus increasing the poor 30–35% average reservoir recovery factor. It is used to extend the peak-flow plateau of the reservoir, deliver low-cost reserves additions, and make better use of topsides facilities. 4D is one of the few technologies that can show what is happening between wells. Its take-up was accelerated by the tendency of reservoir flow rates to come off-peak quickly and unexpectedly, requiring urgent improvements in the understanding of the reservoir. 4D technology led to improved well success rates and produced net-present-value (NPV) figures that were easily eight to 10 times the cost of the 4D seismic itself. It became commonplace to re-record 4D surveys at intervals of between two and five years. The technology has improved markedly since its early use, with nonrepeatability metrics falling from 40% or more down to single figures....


Underwater acoustic (UWA) communication is an essential technology to network underwater drones and sensors for more efficient underwater exploration. In UWA communication, omnidirectional transducers are typically used to cover large areas where the exact location of the transmitter and receiver is unknown. However, the use of omnidirectional transducers requires massive transmission power and complicated signal processing. On the other hand, the use of directional transducers is attracting considerable attention recently, since it has the potential to achieve low-power and simple communication. In this paper, we evaluate the possibility of UWA communication using the parabolic reflector as a directional transducer. Specifically, we design a directional transceiver using a parabolic reflector. Different from existing directional transducers (e.g., single transducer with a large aperture and array of multiple transducers), parabolic reflector with a small number of transducers has a potential to achieve directional signal transmission and reception without the need for large transducers or complicated signal processing. We have found that the use of the reflector can improve communication quality by simulation. However, performance evaluation by experiment has not been performed yet. Hence, in this paper, we perform preliminary experiments in air to evaluate the performance of UWA communication using directional transducer.


Stress exposure is an integral part of life and an appropriate response to stressful situations is essential for adaptation and survival. At the same time, stress-associated disorders are among the leading burdens of disease worldwide. It is, therefore, crucial to investigate the adaptive as well as maladaptive consequences of stress exposure at all levels of cellular regulation, ranging from molecular (genetic and epigenetic) alterations to neuronal network function and behavior. We have therefore started a conference series, which brings together the leading scientists in the field of stress research, to discuss the latest advances and findings related to the question: How does stress exposure at various developmental stages and intensities affect the body in health as well as in disease? The current special issue features a number of reviews and research articles inspired by the first meeting of this series, the 1st Munich Winter Conference on Stress, which took place in March 2017. The conference was structured around several sessions, covering the following aspects: (1) Regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, (2) Central regulation of the stress response, (3) Stress, anxiety, and fear, (4) Epigenetic programming of the stress response, and (5) Stress and disease. Importantly, a big focus was put on young investigators, who were given ample time to present their findings in a "Hot Topics" session. Consequently, this special issue is framed by an excellent "Early career investigators perspective" by Anand Gururajan, Aron Kos and Juan Pablo Lopez (Gururajan et al., 2018). This issue further addresses the important role of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) and the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) balance. Karen Mifsud and Hans Reul challenge some of the existing assumptions about classical MR and GR function and review new insights in how these receptors regulate neuronal physiology and activity (Mifsud & Reul, 2018). Similarly, Julia Gjerstad, Stafford Lightman, and Francensca Spiga, highlight the intriguing role of glucocorticoid feedback in shaping ultradian HPA axis pulsatility (Gjerstad et al., 2018). They discuss novel data extending our understanding of how GR and MR cochaperones, such as FKBP51, mediate effects of glucocorticoid feedback on HPA axis pulsatility and contribute to stressrelated disease risk. Marianela Masis-Calvo, Inga Neumann, and colleagues review three different rodent models of social stress, which is not only one of the more severe stressors in rodents, but also arguably the main source of stressrelated psychiatric disorders in humans. They highlight the insights gained from these highly useful and clinically relevant animal models of psychosocial stress, which will be a very useful resource for other scientists planning to implement one of these models in their own research (MasisCalvo et al., 2018). The special issue is rounded off by four research articles presenting highly relevant new data and perspectives. First, Sophie Walker and Carmen Sandi present findings highlighting the importance of how stress during relevant developmental time windows – in this case, adolescence and puberty – shape adult aggression and social behavior in concert with genetic predispositions for high or low HPA axis reactivity (Walker & Sandi, 2018). Along the same line, Brittany Smith, Jim Herman, and colleagues report that adolescent environmental enrichment prevents behavioral and physiological consequences of adolescent chronic stress exposure specifically in female rats, highlighting the importance of gender and studying sex-specific differences in stress (patho)physiology (Smith et al., 2017). Further, Oliver Sturman, Pierre-Luc Germain, and Johannes Bohacek emphasize the importance of including all possible measures from the behavioral repertoire of test animals in the analysis, as they often carry important information about the animal and the impact of stress exposure. In this specific case, exploratory rearing in an open field arena is often a neglected parameter in many studies employing open field testing but is shown to be highly sensitive to stress, indicative of anxiety and relatively stable across multiple test sessions (Sturman et al., 2018). Finally, another important methodological aspect is underlined in the paper by Sonia Cavigelli, Joshua Smyth, and colleagues, related to the often-used chronic mild stress paradigm in male rats (Cavigelli et al., 2018). Here, the authors show how the timing of the stress exposure – either clustered or dispersed – significantly and differentially affects the outcome of the chronic mild stress paradigm on depression-like behavior and glucocorticoid negative feedback. Overall, this special issue gives an overview of the diverse topics presented at the 1st Munich Winter Conference on Stress. Due to the success of the meeting, it was decided to establish this meeting series as a pendant to the North-American Neurobiology of Stress Workshops and hold it in an alternating fashion, every other year. The 2nd Munich Winter Conference on Stress will, therefore, be held from 17th to 19th March 2019 and will again present state-of-theart research at the cutting edge of this important field. More information can be found on the conference web page: http://www.psych.mpg.de/2150097/winterconfstress.


This paper discusses the fixed polarity Reed-Muller (namely FPRM) form of Boolean function, and the Boolean equivalence can be checked through the FPRM form. A novel method is mentioned in this paper Using this method, the exact polarities of both the Boolean function and the FPRM from can be got which largely reduce the workload of Boolean.


The intensity of an x-ray continuum had been generated theoretically for incident electron energies between 10 and 45 keV, radiated photon energies between 2 and 40 keV and over the whole range of atomic numbers (from Z = 1 to 100). For these cases a relatively simple expression was found which shows the dependence of continuous radiation on the atomic number, incident electron energy and radiated energy. In order to compare observed intensities with this expression, we have made corrections for self-absorption in the target, for loss of ionization due to backscatter and for absorption by the exit window of an x-ray tube. Our expression provides a better description of experimental observations than dose Kramers' equation.


In this paper,non-ionic fluorocarbon surfactants FPEG400 and FPEG600 were prepared,then acted with methanol as composite systems,in which,they exhibited excellent synergism.The indoors experiment results showed that,during the process of water flooding,when adding the composite surfactants to water,the damage to penetration rate of the core greatly reduced,and the relatively oil permeability increased,hence the recovery improved.


Summary 2,500 women whose first marriage was continuing and who were living with their husbands at the time of hospital admission were sterilized in Aberdeen between 1963 and 1971. The social and demographic characteristics of these women are analysed, and a preliminary analysis by marriage cohort is presented. Those marriage cohorts in which sterilization was being performed for the first time mainly on young women with small families are identified. The family size of sterilized women was found to be substantially higher than that of women from the same marriage cohort who had not undergone the procedure. The contribution to total fertility made by the various forms of foetal wastage is assessed. Women whose sterilization was performed in association with a termination of pregnancy were found to have patterns of foetal loss which differed markedly from those of women who were not pregnant at the time of the operation.


Random noise polarimetry is a new radar technique for high-resolution probing of subsurface objects and interfaces. Detection of buried targets is accomplished by cross-correlating the reflected signal by a time-delayed replica of the transmitted waveform. A unique signal processing scheme is used to inject coherent in the system to permit extraction of the wideband polarimetric scattering response of the buried object. This facilitates computation of the Stokes matrices of the target response which enhances the detection and identification process. Random noise polarimetry also possesses additional desirable features for subsurface probing such as immunity from detection and jamming. The paper discusses the theoretical foundations of random noise polarimetry and presents data acquired from various targets using a 1 - 2 GHz radar system fabricated by the University of Nebraska under contract to the U.S. Army Waterways Experiment Station. In addition, various signal processing algorithms used to analyze the polarimetric data are presented.


Global health policy is in a state of profound transition. As this transition takes place, North Carolina will be faced with challenges and opportunities as governmental, nongovernmental, academic, and private sector actors shape — and are shaped by — this changing landscape. This article addresses the role of the United States in global health policy and analyzes the paths through which this role impacts North Carolina.


Here, we report strain-induced high coercivity in La0.7Sr0.3CoO3 (LSCO) films, which suffer in-plane tensile strains due to the positive lattice mismatch between the substrate and the LSCO bulk. The films on (011)-0.7Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3-0.3PbTiO3 exhibit large uniaxial anisotropy, large coercivity, and high saturation magnetization at low temperature in contrast to the well soft magnetic behaviors in LSCO bulk. It is found that the coercivity of the 40 nm (001)-LSCO/SrTiO3 film can be as high as 1.45 T at 10 K and the observed coercivity decreases rapidly as the thickness increases, though the Curie temperature is below room temperature. The large coercivity and anisotropy should be closely related to the strain-induced structural changes and the different orbital ordering of Co3+ and Co4+ ions. Meanwhile, the enhanced domain wall pinning by the tensile strain may also contribute to the observed high coercivity.


ABSTRACT THE equivalent static pressure of Proctor compaction blows were determined using three different soil textures with varying organic matter and moisture contents. The results indicate that the equivalent static pressure of 5, 15, and 25 Proctor compaction blows are 175 kPa, 404 kPa and 618 kPa respectively. Also that, a linear relationship exists between the Proctor compaction blows and their equivalent static pressures.


Using 4,4′-(hexafluoroisopropylidene)bis(benzoic acid) (H2hfipbb) and different pyridyl-containing additional ligands, six novel zinc coordination polymers have been obtained under hydrothermal conditions, and structurally characterized. The frame topology of the obtained compounds is discussed.


A novel experiment has been performed which gives direct evidence for the existence of long lived negative group velocity (R-) rotons in superfluid liquid helium at T = 0.1 K. Such excitations produced by the condensation of an atomic helium beam are found to propagate ballistically in the liquid, reflect specularly from a crystal surface and are able to evaporate atoms in a quantum evaporation process. The component of momentum parallel to the surface is conserved which shows that the momentum of the R- rotons is oppositely directed to the group velocity.


In visually demanding environments like working positions in air traffic control, there is a risk of missing important information. Attention support might help to reduce this, but there is a risk that it introduces new issues in the form of distractions or increased visual load. The work presented in this paper explores the concept of Soft Visual Cues, with the aim to make the operator aware of missing information, but doing it discreetly enough only to be noticed when the operator is scanning the area where the information is present, thereby complementing the concepts of attention guidance, alarms, and subtle gaze direction. The qualitative evaluation performed aimed primarily at catching the operators' (air traffic controllers) first impressions. Focus was on air traffic control, but was complemented with vessel traffic service and train control environments and operators. The results from air traffic control showed a preference for symbol property changes related to geometry rather than for colour or opacity changes as soft visual cues. The comparison to the other domains highlighted the contextual dependence, visual context and process context, of the concept.


ESR based technique permitting the detection and identification of paramagnetic species, appearing in electrochemical reactions, is presented. This new method is more convenient than SEESR because it allows one to record simultaneously both the electrochemical curves and the first-order derivative curves of the ESR intensity signal depending on the applied potential, as well as to record the ESR spectra of paramagnetic radicals formed during the CV. To demonstrate the power of this method the reduction of i ndolinone-substituted methanofullerene (HBMI) has been studied. ESR spectra of paramagnetic radicals and intermediates formed during the reduction are recorded. Obtained results are used to get the complete reaction mechanism of the HBMI at the electrodes.


We introduce the notion of regularized Bayesian best response (RBBR) learning dynamic in heterogeneous population games. We obtain such a dynamic via perturbation by an arbitrary lower semicontinuous, strongly convex regularizer in Bayesian population games with finitely many strategies. We provide a sufficient condition for the existence of rest points of the RBBR learning dynamic, and hence the existence of regularized Bayesian equilibrium in Bayesian population games. These equilibria are shown to approximate the original Bayesian equilibria for vanishingly small perturbations. We also explore the fundamental properties of the RBBR learning dynamic, which includes the existence of unique continuous solutions from arbitrary initial conditions, as well as the continuity of the solution trajectories thus obtained with respect to the initial conditions. Finally, as application the the theory we introduce the notions of Bayesian potential and Bayesian negative semidefinite games and provide convergence results for such games.


It determine the sequense of eruption of permanent mandibular teeth, cusp, first bicusp and second bicusp, using a cross-sectional in a random sample of 67 child patients, 33 males and 34 females between 8 and 12 years old that where attended at Dentistry clinic of the Dentistry Faculty of the San Marcos Mayor National University between 2006 and 2011. For this study where used odontologic casts, pictures and panoramic radiographs of the patients. Relevant results where that for males and females, the sequence of eruption that predomine was 3, 4, 5


Previous published prognostic models for COVID-19 patients have been suggested to be prone to bias due to unrepresentativeness of patient population, lack of external validation, inappropriate statistical analyses, or poor reporting. A high-quality and easy-to-use prognostic model to predict in-hospital mortality for COVID-19 patients could support physicians to make better clinical decisions. Fine-Gray models were used to derive a prognostic model to predict in-hospital mortality (treating discharged alive from hospital as the competing event) in COVID-19 patients using two retrospective cohorts (n=1008) in Wuhan, China from January 1 to February 10, 2020. The proposed model was internally evaluated by bootstrap approach and externally evaluated in an external cohort (n=1031). validation showed little overfitting. External validation using an independent cohort (47.8% female, median age 63) demonstrated excellent predictive performance (C-index: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.85 to 0.89; calibration slope: 1.02, 95% CI: 0.92 to 1.12). The averaged predicted cumulative incidence curves were close to the observed cumulative incidence curves in patients with different risk profiles. The PLANS model based on five routinely collected predictors would assist clinicians in better triaging patients and allocating healthcare resources to reduce COVID-19 fatality.


Author Bio: Kate McDowell has taught graduate-level storytelling seminars to aspiring professionals for the last ten years, and has served as the storytelling consultant for fundraising at the University of Illinois for three years. Her storytelling courses explore topics from folklore to digital storytelling, and her workshops teach storytelling thinking for many purposes, including fundraising, career preparation, business, and public service. ¶ ❡ ❡


Nowadays, the mechanical action of laser light is a tool used ubiquitously in cold atom physics, leading to the control of atomic motion with extreme precision. In a recent work, we provided a standardized and exact analytical formalism for computing in the semiclassical regime the radiation force experienced by a two-level atom interacting with an arbitrary number of plane waves with arbitrary intensities, frequencies, phases, and directions [J. Opt. Soc. Am. B 35, 127-132 (2018)]. Here, we extend this treatment to the multi-level atom case, where degeneracy of the atomic levels is considered and polarization of light enters into play.


In this article, two industry leaders discuss how improved safety equipment and highway design can help provide road safety solutions. One answer to reducing the number of injuries and fatalities caused by traffic accidents is to use technology to turn roads into "forgiving highways" that help protect motorists when they make mistakes while driving. Forgiving highways can incorporate such devices as crash cushions (also known as impact attenuators), advanced warning systems, road weather information systems, and uninterruptible power supplies to keep traffic signals operating in the event of power outages. Enhanced driver guidance in the form of new signs and better pavement markings and illumination has also proven to be effective in reducing highway accident fatalities.


In July 1973, UNESCO held a Solar Summit in Paris, at which 600 experts mapped a solar future for our planet. An accompanying book, Le Grand Livre du Soleil [1], ended with the prediction that a new era for the sun had already begun. Also at that time, the worldwide oil crisis redefined the Solar Age in a very realistic and dramatic manner. People from industry, politics and science began searching for energy alternatives. This process gave birth to better systems in sustainable energy from sun, water and wind, and biomass, thermal and geothermal sources. Solar technologies advanced but, given the increase in the worldwide consumption of energy, the use of sustainable energy sources was insufficient. The actual quest for a Solar Age is defined by a changing ecological consciousness and the strong demand of the underprivileged three-quarters of the world for a higher quality of life. This quest cannot be based on traditional, nonrenewable energies. And the 10-billion-person population expected 20 years from now will not be able to live human lives based on our present Western standards of energy consumption. This is far more than a technical problem. If the shift towards a Solar Age is to stabilize our civilizations, the shift must be a cultural one. Ecological stability, which must be our aim at the beginning of the new millennium, must rely on cultural change securely anchored within the different societies of our planet. Art is part of a continuous critical and creative reflection on our life within the biosphere. Solar symbols and icons appeared in the very beginning of human history. Solar mythology is a common link between cultures from all parts of the world. Today, solar art—artwork directly exposed to and relying on the sun—includes a variety of technical and technological means, instruments and materials. Among other elements, solar art may include photovoltaics, wind and water power as renewable sources of energy. It can include outdoor holograms, mirrors, glass prisms and other reflecting materials. In 1995 and 1996, Leonardo published texts on a broad spectrum of solar art, design and architecture in a special section called the SolArt Global Network, which I edited [2]. Since that time, the scale of solar art has been expanded and new works have been added. Sally Weber created her colorful solar installation, Matrix, for the entrance of the public library in Ventura, California. The installation appears similar to stained glass but was fabricated using advanced technology to laminate digital color film within glass panels. With the Solar Icosahedron in Geislingen, Germany, I added one more large solar sculpture to my own body of work. The piece has 20 triangular faces; the five upper faces are made out of photovoltaic cells laminated onto glass. The cells produce the energy needed to rotate and illuminate the glass body of the sculpture. All solar media cause us to experience the fundamental cycle of the sun. James Turrell's magnificent Roden Crater is one if not the highlight of the recent artistic celebration of cosmic energies. The spaces inside the crater are reminiscent of ancient astronomical observatories. At the same time, they are three-dimensional screens made to receive light from the sun or the moon. Some solar artists include arguments for an environmental strategy in the context of their work. California-based artist Peter Erskine combines large-scale solar installations with social, political and ecological arguments. People visiting his shows participate in an artistic "metaphor for the cultural interaction with Solar radiation and the resulting damage to the Biosphere. . . . The sun can fry us, but it also sends to Earth 35,000 times the energy we burn in fossil fuels each day. Solar energy is clean, universal and plentiful for the next 4 billion years. It's a big part of the solution that's been ignored" [3]. In the course of the long


Based on the studied documentary sources of the Central State Archives and the Archives of the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan (Almaty), regional archives of the East Kazakhstan (Ust-Kamenogorsk, Semey, Ayaguz), where is a whole layer of documents on the topic under consideration, an objective picture of everyday life peoples deported to the territory of the East Kazakhstan: Germans, Chechens, Ingush, etc. are recreated. In the late 1930s, the deported peoples were sent to remote areas for special settlements (hence the name «special settlers», «special settlers»). Kazakhstan was also included among such territories. Whole peoples forcibly evicted from their homes formally retained the status of full-fledged Soviet citizens but were deprived of the right of movement and free choice of residence.The documents contained in the archives make it possible to reveal various aspects of the topic under consideration, showing the daily life of the special settlers: the difficulties and problems they encountered during resettlement and placement in a new place. The systematization of the identified sources made it possible to determine the number and resettlement of the special settlers, their household and labor structure. Analysis of the documents showed that the placement of the special settlers in the new place was difficult, which led to negative social and demographic consequences. The situation of the deported peoples, despite the measures taken for the household and labor arrangement, was difficult. The deportation of peoples led to irreparable damage to the material and spiritual culture of ethnic groups, doomed people to a low social status and standard of living. However, thanks to the support of the local population, people were able not only to survive, but also by adapting to new conditions, to contribute to the economic development of the region at this difficult time. The article provides a thorough and detailed analysis of the sources of the regional archive, which made it possible to solve the tasks, set in the work and draw appropriate conclusions based on the analysis.


A dormitory in Wenzhou took place unequal settlement to some degree which caused the building cracking.However the owner still wanted to add two floors to the building.On the base of analyzing the causes of the bad situation of building,a plan of composite foundation with rigid-flexible piles composed of anchored static pile and cement mixing pile was put forward for reinforcing the foundation,by which an anticipated effect was achieved.


Abstract : The report presents a detailed description of the JOVIAL Structured Design Diagrammer program implementation for purposes of maintaining or modifying the system. (Author)


In this article, an optimized tracking control scheme is studied for the quadrotor unmanned aerial vehicle (QUAV) system by combining both reinforcement learning (RL) and the backstepping technique. The RL aims to overcome the difficulty coming from solving the Hamilton–Jacobi–Bellman (HJB) equation, and it is performed via iterating both critic and actor each other, where the critic is for improving the control performance and the actor is for executing the control behavior. In mathematics, a QUAV system is composed of two connected subsystems that are, respectively, modeled by the translational and rotational dynamic equations, which are coupled via a rotation matrix; hence, the optimized tracking scheme is composed of two interconnected individual controls corresponding to the position and attitude, respectively. To achieve the two optimized position and attitude controls, the RL is constructed on the basis of the neural network (NN) approximation of the HJB equation's solution by utilizing NN's outstanding function approximation ability. Particularly, the position control is accomplished by introducing an intermediate control because the translational dynamic is an underactuated system. Since the proposed RL algorithm is significantly simple in comparison with the published methods, the optimized QUAV control can be easily executed in practical applications. Finally, the results are demonstrated by a Lyapunov stability analysis and a numerical simulation.


A network of wireless sensors (WSN) is an outstanding technology that can aid in the various applications. Batteries run the sensor nodes those are used in WSN. The battery is impossible to charge or repair, so the most valuable resource for wireless sensor networks is power. Over the years, several strategies have been invented and used to preserve this precious WSN resource. One of the most successful approach for this purpose has turned out to be clustering. The aim of this paper is to suggest an effective technique for choosing cluster heads in WSNs to increase the lifetime of the network. To accomplish this task, Grey Wolf Optimizer (GWO) technique has been used. The general GWO was updated in this paper to meet the particular purpose of cluster head selection in WSNs. In this article, we have considered eleven attributes in the fitness function for the proposed algorithm. The simulation is carried out under different conditions. The results obtained show that the proposed protocol is superior in terms of energy consumption and network lifetime by evaluating the proposed protocol (i.e. CH-GWO protocol) with some well-existing cluster protocols. The suggested protocol forms energy-efficient and scalable clusters.


We present the measured Charge Transfer Efficiency (CTE) losses for the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) UVIS channel throughout the on-orbit lifetime. Using observations of 47 Tuc (NGC 104) and NGC 6791 we analyze the flux loss of stars due to CTE by comparing relative aperture photometry of a given source at varying distances from the readout amplifiers in a variety of observing conditions. A photometric correction model that depends on source flux, observation date, and the source distance from the readout amplifiers was fit to the data. The resulting coefficients are provided separately for short and long exposures, low and moderate background levels, as well as whether or not the data was processed with the pixel-based CTE correction algorithm. We show that in the worst conditions (short exposure time, with a ∼0.1-0.5 e− background, furthest from the readout), sources in the faintest flux bin (250-500 e− in a 3-pixel radius aperture) suffer ∼75% flux loss in July 2020, while the sources in the brightest flux bin (20000-32000 e−) show losses of ∼15% in July 2020. In contrast, the same two flux bins in long exposure data with a 12 e−/pixel background now have CTE losses of ∼24% and ∼5%. As of June 2020, the recommended background level for CTE mitigation is now 20 e−/pixel. When the pixel-based CTE correction in calwf3 version 3.5.0 is applied to the data we find that the sources are over-corrected by ∼1-10% depending on the signal level in long exposure data with a 12 e−/pixel post-flash in July 2020. Copyright c © 2021 The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Instrument Science Report WFC3 2021-03


Plasma discharge display apparatus is disclosed, comprising an airtight envelope for receiving discharge electrode pairs formed on a common base plate and a dielectric layer formed overlaying the discharge electrode pairs. The discharge characteristics between the discharge electrodes of the respective pairs are made uniform irrespective of the curvature of the base plate and the shape of the airtight envelope.


This paper explores the question of whether an agent can freely and willfully act against her all-things-considered best judgment. I construct the case of an agent acting against the demands of impartial morality that give her decisive reason to act, without compromising her full agential power and strong will. I call this her demonstration of free irrationality and distinguish it from the accounts of weakness of will and volitional necessity. The questions are whether there is a kind of non-rational motivational force strong enough to cause us to act irrationally, and whether an action motivated by such force is compatible with our exercise of full agential power. I offer one possible explanation: the strongest and deepest commitments central to our lives and personal characters may motivate us to act contrary to our rational judgments. Then the questions are whether it is possible for such strongest commitment not to give us decisive reason to act, and whether we can still act on that commitment, knowing that it does not give us decisive reason to act. I conclude that if such a case were possible, then it would show that our exercise of agency does not always solely depend on our rationality and that the former can be dissociated from the latter, at least on some rare and extreme occasions.


Statistical properties of mean magnetic fields and magnetic fluxes of normal stars are investigated based on data from the catalogue of magnetic fields by Bychkov et al. (2009) and recent measurements from the literature. As a measure of the mean field, we use the rms longitudinal magnetic field B. We estimated the magnetic fluxes F of massive stars and found that they have a log– normal distribution with the logarithm of mean flux log(F)=27.7. A similar shape of the magnetic flux distribution holds for the entire neutron star population, but with a much smaller mean value of log(F) = 24.5 in contradiction with the hypothesis by Ferrario and Wickramasinghe (2006) that magnetic fields of neutron stars have a fossil origin, and that magnetic fluxes are conserved over the stellar evolution up to the neutron star formation. On the other hand, the magnetic flux distribution for magnetars is similar to that for OB stars, but more narrow. A special case is the millisecond pulsars with relatively small magnetic fluxes and a mean log(F) = 19.8. We discuss various possibilities to explain such a large difference between the magnetic fluxes of normal and neutron stars and compare the model distributions of magnetic fluxes with that, obtained from the measured stellar magnetic fields.


Solar radio phenomena designated as post-burst decreases, absorptions, and negative-burst events are extremely rare and seem to be the only evidence of temporary decreases in the sun's radio emission. The presence of optically identified material in the flare/burst region is merely an association and not the cause of the observed radio decreases as has been suggested by earlier investigators. A theoretical model for the decreases is presented which invokes plasma turbulence effects of an electron beam in the radio-emissive region with absorption effects taking place in accordance with Kirchoff's law. (GRA)


For the first time this paper studies the sedimentary environment and sequence stratigraphy of Jiyang depression by means of observation and statistics of ostracods occurrence in thin sections. According to the characteristics of ostracods distribution on the level,the distribution patterns of fossil are classified into uniform distribution,dispersed distribution and banded distribution. Based on the ostracods preservation condition,the fossil is classified into double valve,single valve,fracture and flattening deformation. The fossil abundance is sorted into rich( 100 flap /4cm2),medium( 30 ~ 100 flap /4cm2) and rare( 30 flap /4cm2). Ostracods occurrence is closely related to the palaeosalinity,lithofacies,sequence stratigraphy and carbonate content of shale. Research shows that: 1The watery environment of Es4cx—Es3xJiyang depression has undergone an evolution of water body from salty to fresh,where the salinity change is agreement with fossil abundance change. 2 The carbonate content in the range of 50% ~ 60% is most conducive to the preservation of ostracods fossil. 3 The fossil abundance of laminated tuffaceous shale facies and laminated argillaceous limestone facies are very high,however,the slow deposition rate during the period of laminated structure formation and firm deposition basement are not favorable to the burial and preservation of ostracods fossil,thus the majority of fossil presence is in form of fracture.4 The vicissitude of ostracods abundance has a close relationship with stratigraphic sequence. The ostracods abundance sequentially presents three stages: appearance — prosperity—recession,corresponding to the low stand system tract,lake expansion system tract and high stand system tract respectively. This method solving the problem that the primary preservation and the distribution patterns of fossil are difficult to observe using the routine analysis,is able to be used to maximize the fossil information acquisition.


The medical management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in patients with advanced liver disease or after liver transplantation (LT) can be challenging due to the increased risk of bacterial and opportunistic infections. Although anti–tumor necrosis factor (TNF) agents are widely used in the treatment of moderateto-severe IBD in the general population, they are associated with an increased risk for systemic fungal infections, reactivation of hepatitis B virus and latent tuberculosis, and other opportunistic infections to which LT recipients are particularly susceptible. LT recipients treated with anti-TNF agents have been reported to have several infections, posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder, and drug-induced lupus. Vedolizumab (VDZ) is a US Food and Drug Administration–approved humanized monoclonal antibody antagonist of the alpha4-beta7 integrin, used for the treatment of IBD. Alpha4-beta7 integrin blockade specifically prevents leukocyte trafficking into gastrointestinal tissue. A very low (nearly nil) incidence of bacterial, mycobacterial, occult viral, and other opportunistic infections were reported in VDZ clinical trials and meta-analyses. Mounting safety evidence paired with a mechanism specifically targeting the intestine suggests VDZ may offer an attractive option for moderate-to-severe IBD in solid organ transplant recipients. We report our institution's experience using VDZ in LT recipients with moderate-to-severe IBD.


In order to avoid accidents and improve the level of laboratory safety management in universities, a laboratory safety assessment method based on entropy weight method, analytic hierarchy process and unascertained measure theory is put forward. The laboratory safety assessment index system is established by selecting eight assessment indexes such as hazardous chemicals management, instrument and equipment management and personal protective equipment management; The comprehensive weight of the assessment index is determined by combining the combination weighting method of analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and entropy weight method (EW). According to the principle of maximum membership degree, the safety grade of university laboratory is determined, and compared with the actual results. This work indicated that this innovated method can reasonably evaluate the current situation of laboratory safety, and it can provide a reference for strengthening laboratory safety management.


The completeness and consistency are essential properties for formal specifications. They may have different definitions for different kinds of formal models. This paper first expresses a multimedia stream by two instantaneous events according to the CSP(Communicating Sequential Process) theory. Then the concept of time duration vector is defined and some computations on it are considered. Based on these preparing work, the completeness and consistency of the temporal specifications for a distributed multimedia system are formally defined. Compared with related work, because the temporal specification language is not complex but enough to the multimedia field, the definitions are intuitive and the deciding algorithm based on the definitions is efficient.


Grushko and Balanetskyy conclude from an elaborate differential thermal analysis (DTA) study of Al–Mn alloys, that under equilibrium conditions k-MnAl4 forms in an all solid state reaction and does not coexist with the liquid phase at any temperature [1]. This is the same result as found in the two previous DTA studies of this system by Murray et al. [2] and Du et al. [3]. However, annealing + quenching of alloys in the relevant composition and temperature range yielded k-MnAl4 to be formed from liquid (+ l-MnAl4). This contradiction was resolved by the finding that the decomposition of MnAl6 into L + k-MnAl4 is too slow to be detectable by DTA [3]. As a consequence the DTA data do not yield the true equilibrium diagram. Ignoring these results Grushko and Balanetskyy argue that the formation of k-MnAl4 in the equilibrated + quenched alloys did not occur at the heat treating temperature, but rather metastably during cooling. Perhaps it was stated in a too concise manner, but the facts do not support this hypothesis [3]: Assuming the DTA data derived phase diagram to be correct, the alloys prepared in [3] containing between 10 and 13 at.% Mn could only be quenched from the L + l-MnAl4 phase field or the L + MnAl6 phase field. In the first case k-MnAl4 could be thought to be formed during cooling due to a possible nucleation delay of MnAl6. Then, the alloys must still contain l-MnAl4 after cooling in addition to k-MnAl4 formed. This is not the case with our alloys as reported in [3]. Assuming the second case, i. e. that the chosen annealing conditions would have been within the L + MnAl6 phase field, no k-MnAl4 could have formed at all. Our DTA traces obtained and referred to in [3] and the data published by [1] are almost identical: All alloys investigated (containing between 5 and 17.5 at.% Mn, equilibrated at 620 8C) showed, at a heating rate of 5 K min , an endothermic peak with an onset temperature between 730 and 720 8C. The temperatures decreased with increasing Mn content. Up to the composition of MnAl6 these onset temperatures were unusually strongly heating rate dependent. At Mn-contents above the composition of MnAl6 this behavior was not different from the heating rate dependency of the eutectic temperature. Reducing the heating rate and extrapolating these onset temperatures to a heating rate of zero yielded a temperature of 721 ± 2 8C (Fig. 1). The relative peak sizes (area) of these signals increased with the Mn-content up to MnAl6 and decreased at higher Mn-contents. Alloys consisting after equilibration of MnAl6 + k-MnAl4 exhibited an additional small endothermic peak at 704 ± 2 8C (Fig. 1). The onset temperatures of this peak were not unusualy heating rate sensitive and the peak size at 17.5 at.% Mn was larger than at 15 at.% Mn, apparently increasing with the amount of k-MnAl4 present in the alloy. To associate the temperatures of the DTA data with the corresponding phase reactions we made the following experiments: Alloy Al-13 at.% Mn was equilibrated at 690 8C and quenched. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS) analysis proved it to consist of MnAl6 + (solidified) liquid (Fig. 2a; MnAl6 peaks are indexed based on the crystal structure given by Kontio and Koppens [4]). In a next step this alloy was equilibrated at 715 8C and quenched again. This yielded k-MnAl4 + liquid (solidified to Al) but no l-MnAl4 (Fig. 2b; k-MnAl4 peaks are indexed based on the crystal structure reported by Kreiner and Franzen [5]). After reannealing at 690 8C MnAl6 + (solidified) liquid were again present (Fig. 2c). Thus the reF. Weitzer et al.: On the formation of k-MnAl4


An access network information obtainment method provided by the present invention includes that: after receiving an access network request message from a terminal, an access network discovery and selection function unit (ANDSF) obtains the attribute information of access networks provided for the terminal from an Authentication Authorization Accounting (AAA) server; the ANDSF transmits the information of access networks to the terminal, so that the terminal selects, according to the information of access networks, an access network for accessing from the access networks corresponding to the information of access networks, wherein, the information of access network carries the attribute information of access networks. An access network discovery and selection function unit and terminal are also provided by the present invention. The present invention improves the switching efficiency of a terminal, and ensures the continuity of services.


Designs a general testing system based on the Xiamen construction machine's hydraulic system.According to the hydraulic testing platformp's character such as the amounts of acquisition and the control objects,the system is separated to two parts,that is the host-lower structure.The lower system uses the PLC,the host computer realizes the hydraulic system 40 channel's acquisition and control based on the general acquisition board and synchronization acquisition board.The testing system was debugged and run stabilization and credibility,it can carry out many different experiments in vary environment.


There have been frequent calls in the literature for a more comprehensive understanding of marketing impact on long-term firm performance (Dawes, Meyer-Waarden, & Driesener, 2015; Hanssens & Pauwels, 2016; Lodish & Mela, 2007; Webster & Lusch, 2013). Retail scanner data has been the principal source of empirical evidence in this strategic domain, but it cannot explain the behavioural shifts that underpin sales dynamics. Now that far larger extended household panels are available, there is, for the first time, a valuable behavioural lens with which to observe long-term brand and category buying. In this paper we outline theoretical and methodological challenges to this new type of panel research. The first concerns an approach to extending established marketing theory to long-run repeat buying; the second relates to the inherent constraints of long-term panels. We present a new research agenda to progress explanatory theories of long-run brand building and category growth in this new but largely untapped resource.


The present work was performed in two parts, divided into a desk research and a field research. In the desk research, a study was conducted regarding didactic theories with emphasis on the constructivist approach. Then, a survey was carried out related to the development of design methodologies from the twentieth century to the present day, with emphasis in design thinking and systemic thinking development. In sequence, this study discussed the design education around the world. To this end, a number of cases presenting a differential in design education were analyzed. In the desk research, the contextualization of the problem was addressed, a study of Brazil in relation to its general characteristics and its characteristics related to design and design education, with focus on the Design School from UEMG. In the field research, a case study was realized at the Design School of UEMG (Brazil), aiming to verify the feasibility of application of new approaches and techniques researched and to raise features that should be adapted to the local context. At the end, a set of tools and approaches were presented considering that they can be employed in the university to induce students and professors to a new posture, leading to a new teaching model, more open, fluid and dynamic, prioritizing humanistic values in favor of the man, the community and the environment. In this way, it is hoped that the new professionals are able to have a contextualized and systemic performance, enhancing local identity, preserving resources, culture and still unveiling new possibilities of action for new designers.


The paper summarises the literature and our clinical experience with the bystander role in school bullying and other violence. The shift from bully focus to school climate focus is central, as well as seeing the plight of the bully and victim as not signs of individual psychopathology, but signs of markedly dysfunctional school leadership systems and very dysfunctional dynamics within a school with serious bullying. We suggest based on 20 years of research, that the focus should be on an integrated bottom up approach that allows each school to find its own path. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


We have made substantial progress in improving outcomes for patients with ischemic heart disease, but what about for patients with heart failure?


The exposures of the World Trade Center (WTC) dust of the September 11, 2001 tragedy are linked to increased respiratory problems and emergence of World Trade Center Cough. Zinc (Zn) and Lead (Pb) are among the many heavy metals found in WTC dust. Synergistic effects among several chemicals might be contributing to respiratory illness. The individual toxicity, and combination treatments of Pb and Zn at a particular ratio of concentration (1:10) typical to Market Streets were carried out on MRC-5 human lung cells. Cells were treated as both physiologically stressed (2.5% Fetal bovine serum, {FBS}) and unstressed (10% FBS) condition in vitro. Triplex assays indicated that Pb and Zn do show antagonistic effects with each other. The combination treatments of both Pb and Zn reduced high individual toxicity of either alone, in both stressed and unstressed cells. In summary, Pb, which is known to be highly damaging to human lung cells is modified by the presence of Zn. It can be possible that Zn is a reward in disguise to WTC victims. Without unusual levels of Zn, Pb might be much more damaging to those exposed to WTC dust.


In this paper, new inorganic–organic hybrid nanoflowers consisting of a Weakley-type polyoxometalate Na9[EuW10O36]·32H2O (denoted as EuW10) and biomolecule dopamine (DA) were fabricated through a simple ionic self-assembly (ISA) method. The hybrid nanoflowers were fully characterized by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy, Raman spectra, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and fluorescence spectra. We found that the electrostatic interaction and hydrogen-bonding interaction between EuW10 and DA favored the formation of the hierarchical flowerlike structure with hundreds of nanopetals and their morphologies could be controlled simply by tuning the ratio and respective concentrations of the components. Once forming EuW10/DA vesicles or nanoflowers, the fluorescence of EuW10 was quenched due to the hydrogen bonding between the ammonium group of DA and the oxygen atom of EuW10 that blocked the hopping of the d1 elec...


India is the largest producer of pulses. Black gram (urd) is one of the most important pulse crops as it has the potential to contribute on a large scale to the pulse production in India. Regardless of higher and sustainable crop productivity, manure and fertilizer maintenance in black gram crop production is also extremely desirable. The aim of present investigation was to study the "Effect of Integrated plant nutrient supply on NPK content and uptake by seed and straw in black gram" conducted in Kharif season at the research farm of Amar Singh Post Graduate College, Lakhaoti, Bulandshahar, U.P. Study concluded that Treatment T8 (Azoto + Rhizobium + PSB + FYM + Chem.) resulted in significant increase in N, P, and K content as well as their uptake by urd crop. This was closely followed by treatments T3 and T7 in both the years. Therefore, for maximum productivity of urd and inherent fertility of soil for future period, the importance of integrated plant nutrient system (IPNS) in urd has raised.


This article derives from a project which has developed a major reconceptualization and revision of how borders may be seen and measured through the use of GIS. This reconceptualization permits an investigation of the specific qualities of borders in terms of opportunity and willingness: ease of interaction and salience, respectively. Data generated by the GIS reconceptualization ‐ both maps and numerical measures ‐ are used to look at the nature of the contiguous borders that link enduring rivalry dyads, with a specific focus on Israeli borders. Even as a first‐cut, the GIS‐based reconceptualization is demonstrated to be of use by highlighting areas of opportunity and/or salience and informing policy choices.


We give explicit formulas for the Bhattacharya function of 𝔪-primary complete monomial ideals in two variables in terms of the vertices of the Newton polyhedra or in terms of the decompositions of the ideals as products of simple ideals.


The eddy current testing is used for a testing of the steam generator tubes in pressurized water reactor nuclear power plants because of its high accuracy and high speed. It is important to judge shape of cracks from measured signals. We have developed a rotating type probe using an excitation coil that generates uniform eddy current distribution. Because the shape of excitation current source has no influence on detecting cracks, numerical analyses for this probe are handled simply by devising boundary condition. Aid of numerical analyses has enhanced the evaluation of complicated cracks.


management and utilization of soybean germplasm. Knowing the range and distributionof the genetic diverThe soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] was domesticated in China. sity of a species can affect acquisition priorities for a Information about the amount and distribution of genetic diversity germplasm collection and sampling strategies for germinChinaiscriticaltoeffectivesoybeangermplasmmanagement.Inforplasm screening research or for establishing a core colmation is currently available from only a few provinces in China. The objectives of this research are to estimate the genetic variation within lection. It also allows breeders to better understand the and among four geographically diverse provinces (Zhejiang, Sichuan, evolutionary relationships among accessions and to deGansu,andHebei)inChinaandtodeterminetherelationshipbetween velop strategies to integrate useful diversity into their geographical origin and genetic diversity. Ten primitive cultivars from breeding programs (Bretting and Widrlechner, 1995). each province were characterized by random amplified polymorphic Several diversity studies in soybean have been conDNA(RAPD)fragmentsproducedfrom31selecteddecamerprimers. ducted using morphological characters, pedigree inforCNS, an important U.S. ancestral line, was also included as a control. mation, and biochemical variation (Nelson et al., 1987, Genetic variation was estimated by AMOVA analysis with 125 poly- 1988; Gizlice et al., 1994; Sneller, 1994; Bernard et al., morphic RAPD fragments. Genetic distances were calculated by means 1998). Although morphological and agronomic characof Jaccard's coefficient and expressed as dissimilarity coefficients. Un- ters are useful in evaluating genetic diversity, collecting weighted paired group method using arithmetic averages (UPGMA), such data can be laborious and the phenotypic values Ward's minimum-variance method, VARCLUS, and multidimensional are often strongly influenced by the environment. Bioscaling (MDS) were applied to define the genetic relationships. AMOVA chemical variants such as isozymes and electrophoresis identified significant genetic differences between all pairs of provinces patterns of storage proteins are less affected by the enexceptbetweenZhejiangandSichuan.Thegreatestdifferencewasobvironment but have limitedvariation. DNA markers are served between Hebei and Zhejiang. There was disagreement among an attractive alternative. They are nearly unlimited in the clustering methods, but each procedure identified clusters of acnumbers,presumablyselectivelyneutral,andcanbeorgacessions that originated from the same province. Based on data from all clustering procedures, six major clusters containing a total of 32 nized into linkage maps (Thormann and Osborn, 1992). accessions were defined with each cluster dominated by accessions There are several reports of using molecular markers from a single province. These data provide additional evidence that for evaluation of primitive soybean germplasm. RAPD primitive cultivars of China were generally genetically isolated in rel- markers have been shown to be a simple and effective atively small geographical areas.


The isotopic halogen exchange between POCl/sub 3/ and BCl/sub 3/ was investigated with the use of Cl/sup 36/ labeled reactants. While a rapid (complete within one minute) exchange is noted at O deg when POCl/sub 3/ is present in excess, as well as in an equimolar mixture of the two components, no halogen exchange is observed in an excess of BCl/sub 3/. These data are interpreted on the. basis of a structure previously proposed for the addition compound in which the bonding is through the phosphoryl oxygen. A mechanism for the rapid halogen exchange in POCl/sub 3/ rich systems is suggested, which does not necessitate the formation of a free tetrachloroborate anion as proposed in earlier studies of halogen exchanges in BCl/sub 3/.


Objective To investigate the clinical effect of semem litchi in the treatment of breast hyperplasia.Methods Patients were divided into treatment gourp and control group with double blind method.The breast related symptoms,breast pain,lump size were compared.Results The symptom improvement rate of the treatment group was higher than that in the control group.Conclusions Not only semen litchi can treat breast hyperplasia,but also can reduce the side effect events of tamoxifen without obvious adverse reactions in clinic.


The steady state condition of heat flow is important to design engineers to establish norms for insulation systems in respect to operating voltage and consequent temperature rise to prevent thermal instability, causing run-away conditions. The temperature distribution equation has been solved and the results have been applied to three practical situations, e. g. (1) ideally cooled system of electrodes where both iron and copper are at the same temperature, (2) water cooled machines, and (3) air cooled machines. This analysis gives the voltage at which thermal run away occurs. Suggestions to improve the maximum voltage by decreasing the dependence of loss factor on temperature, improving thermal conductivity, and reducing electrical conductivity, have been given in the paper.


The aim of this study was to predict the cryoinjury that was caused by thermal stresses during cryopreservation of living arteries. A thermal stress analysis model was developed for freezing process taking place inside a axial symmetry cylinder blood vessel. The model allows us to predict the varying of thermal stress with time passing and the influence of detemperature rate and size of artery. We get that the radial stresses are less than circumferential stresses and axial stresses. We also get that the quicker the detemperature rate, the large the thermal stresses and the thicker the artery wall, the larger the thermal stresses. The analytic results are consistent with the experimental observations of fractures.


The invention relates to a method and means to increase the driving comfort, as well as to shorten the switching time when changing gears of a stepped gearbox in a motor vehicle, especially in a commercial vehicle with a trailer, wherein the time of a load-withdrawal in the course of initiating a gear change, the attenuation between the vehicle frame and the front axle is controlled such that the position of the vehicle frame is substantially maintained, whereby the driving comfort is increased and the switching time is shortened when changing gears.


Compari sons of Draw-A-Child Test Among Preschool Children by Margaret Prather Ezell, Master of Science Utah State University, 1975 Ma jor Professor: Dr • Carroll Lambert Department: ramily and Child Development vi McCarthy's Draw-AChild test was administered to 20 lower class and 20 middle class four-year-old children matched for age and sex. The purpose of the test was to find if socio-economic class and sex differences effected the child's ability to draw a same sex figure. Analysis of results supported the theory that girls do better than boys. Analysis of socio-economi c differences suggests that lower-class children do not have the ability to draw as well as middle class children but the difference is not significant at the .OS level. It was concluded that the McCarthy Draw-A-Child test measures the general drawing abilities which are influenced by life experiences. (124 pages)


The response of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis in critically ill patients is poorly understood. Such patients might be at risk for relative adrenal insufficiency, and early studies suggested a mortality benefit from stress doses of steroids in patients with septic shock who had low responses to adrenocorticotropin hormone (ACTH) …


People's Democratic Republic of Algeria
Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
Kasdi Merbah University- Ouargla
Faculty of Letters and Languages


In individuals with homozygous sickle cell (SS) disease, haemolysis creates a demand for increased red cell production. In children with hypersplenism haemolysis may be further increased and in such cases the excessive red cell production may be reduced by splenectomy (1). Whole body protein turnover is increased in SS disease and a large part of this increase is the consequence of increased turnover of red blood cells (2). Whole body protein turnover has therefore been measured in children with SS disease before and after splenectomy to find out if the reduction of the haemolytic rate following splenectomy was associated with a decrease in protein turnover.


The potential derivatives of sorbic acid (2,4-hexadienoic acid) from our previous study were subjected to preservative efficacy testing. Aluminium Hydroxide Gel – USP was used as a pharmaceutical product and Staphylococcus aureus MTCC 2901, Bacillus subtilis MTCC 2063, Escherichia coli MTCC 1652, Candida albicans MTCC 227 and Aspergillus niger MTCC 8189 were used as representative challenging microorganisms for antimicrobial effectiveness testing as per USP 2004. The hexadienoic acid derivative, m-nitrosorbanilide has better preservative efficacy than sorbic acid as well as the standard preservatives, methyl paraben and propyl paraben.


According to the requirement of pyroelectric ceramics used for commercial IR detector without FET gate resistor PbZrO/sub 3/-PbMnSbO/sub 3/-PbTiO/sub 3/ pyroelectric ceramics with high figure of merit and low resistivity were studied. The resistivity /spl rho/ of above system can be adjusted in the range of 0.8-5/spl times/10/sup 11/ /spl Omega/cm by further Mn doping. The signal to noise ratio of the detector without gate resistor made by this ceramics can reach the same level of the detector with FET gate resistor. The large size ceramic blocks with good mechanical processing property can be manufactured by pressureless sintering.


This paper presents a study about the use of visualizations in corporate presentations. We interviewed nine executive managers of a leading technology company about how they create business presentations for different meetings and different audiences. Thereby, we focused on which visualization types they normally use and whether they would accept new forms of visualizations such as information graphics, which are currently very popular. Due to the explorative character of the study, we used the grounded theory approach. Results show that design principles or effective visualizations are not known to the most interviewees. The interviewees rated corporate design, use of master layout, and templates higher than individually designed slides. The most popular visualization types managers use in presentations are bar and pie charts. The term "information graphic" was not known. Our conclusion leads to the following hypothesis: If a company wants to change or improve its communication, it will have to become aware of the power of visual storytelling and start an "iconic turn".


Abstract: Opioid addiction and substance use disorders are a major problem in the United States. These conditions are present in many of the patients admitted to hospitals. This article discusses nursing assessment, management, and evaluation of acute pain in the presence of substance use disorder and what to do when a patient with addiction is already being treated with medications such as buprenorphine or methadone.


1,3,4-Oxadiazoles as anticytotoxic agents Abstract In this manuscript we have designed and synthesized 1,4-Naphthoquinone analogs substituted with 1,3,4 Oxadiazolenucleus.The synthesized compound (M1M14) were characterized using the different analytical technique1H NMR, 13C NMR, FTIR, Mass spectroscopy, melting point, elemental analysis and further subjected for the evaluation of their anticancer activity using MCF-7, Hela and HepG2 cancer cell lines. The compound M-5 was found to exhibit most potent cytotoxicity against cancer cell lines i.e. HeLa (IC50 =10.76 ± 0.11 μM), MCF7 (IC50 = 9.30 ± 0.14 μM) and HepG2 (IC50 = 11.93 ± 0.38μM). Compound M-5 has also shown potent tyrosine kinase inhibitory activity with IC50 = 1.53 ± 0.05 μM. Moreover, molecular docking has exposed that compound M-5 has strong binding affinity to the active site of tyrosine kinase. These results give promising beginning stages to assist in the improvement of novel and powerful anticancer agents.