Spectral characterization of noise environments that lead to the decoherence of qubits is critical to developing robust quantum technologies. While dynamical decoupling offers one of the most successful approaches to characterize noise spectra, it necessitates applying large sequences of $\pi$ pulses that increase the complexity and cost of the method. Here, we introduce a noise spectroscopy method that utilizes only the Fourier transform of free induction decay measurements, thus removing the need for the application any $\pi$ pulses. We show that our method faithfully recovers the correct noise spectra and outperforms previous dynamical decoupling schemes while significantly reducing its experimental overhead. We also discuss the experimental feasibility of our proposal and demonstrate its robustness in the presence of statistical measurement noise. Our method is applicable to a wide range of quantum platforms and provides a simpler path toward a more accurate spectral characterization of quantum devices, thus offering possibilities for tailored decoherence mitigation.


Young children are curious and like to put things in their mouths. Parents, therefore, must keep medicines, cleaning products, pesticides, antifreeze, cosmetics and other dangerous substances out of youngsters' reach.

The American Academy of Pediatrics and other safety experts recommend that


This article stems from the need for restoring some relevant but skipped aspect of Lombroso's figure, especially his huge interest in hypnosis, an essential step for a more objective historical reenactment of his thought. Lombroso's wide range of interests, including psychiatry, anthropology and sociology, made him a great physician-philosopher embodying the positivist stance of his time. Hypnosis, he studied and practiced for over 20 years, was a relevant aspect of his profile. His view of hypnosis was sound and modern, overcoming the Charcot's (wrong) pathological interpretation of hypnosis as a form of experimental hysteria. He also moved beyond his initial theory of atavism, including psychological and cultural factor in criminality and holding a progressive system.


We studied the energy barrier for proton conduction with volume variation in BaZrO₃ using a first principles study to investigate an optimum volume for the proton conduction. The volume increase of BaZrO₃ was expected to decrease the energy barrier for proton rotation and to increase that for proton transfer, and these trends could be extrapolated when the volume was decreased. However, the energy barriers for the proton transfer with the volume decrease were increased, while all the other energy barriers varied as expected. We could explain this unexpected behavior by the bent Zr?O?Zr structure, when the volume was decreased.


approaches as they increase in sophistication and scope. especially as the range of differentiated cells which can be maintained in culture is widened. He also considers that improvements in the accurate prediction and assessment of cancer risk will free toxicologists from their crippling preoccupation with cancer hazards. but they will have had to turn their attention toward relationships between toxic exposure and degenerative diseases in the ageing populations of the developed countries. This book will be more useful for some of its individual chapters than for its supposed overall theme (variation in regulations for the evaluation of chemicals in various parts of the world). which seemed to get lost as a much wider variety of topics were considered.


Twenty eight diverse landraces collected from various parts of North Eastern Region of India along with two checks were evaluated to study the diversity pattern among the genotypes on 17 morphological traits. High magnitude of genotypic coefficients of variation (GCV) and heritability coupled with high genetic gain were observed for average fruit weight, fruit yield per plant, number of fruits per plant, fruit length, number of branches per plant, number of seeds per fruit and 100 seed weight. However, these parameters were moderate for early fruit harvest and total soluble solids (TSS). Thirty genotypes were grouped into 6 clusters which showed intercluster D2 values ranging between 115.81 and 670.08. Grouping of genotypes of same location in different clusters indicated that the geographical diversity may not necessarily be related to genetic diversity. The cumulative contribution (82.28%) of fruit weight, 100-seed weight, number of branches per plant and fruit yield per plant to the total divergence indicate the importance of these traits in choice of parents for hybridization programme in cucumber.


Objective To study the therapeutic effect and safety of 585nm pulsed dye laser combined with topical silicone gel in the treatment of early hypertropic scar.Methods Sixty patients with hyertropic scars within six months were randomly assigned to the treatment group and control group.Each group has thirty patients.The treatment group was treated with 585nm pulsed dye laser combined with topical silicone gel;the control group was given topical silicone gel alone.Observe the therapeautic effect after six months of treatment.Results The total effective rate of treatment group was 93.3%,20(66.7%) cases in the group were basically cured,8(26.6%)cases were significantly improved,2(6.7%)cases were uneffective.The effective rate of control group was 93.3%,5(16.67%) cases in the group were basically cured,7(23.33%)cases were significantly improved,18(60%)cases were uneffective.The effective rates show significant difference between two groups.No apparent adverse reaction was observed.Conclusion The pulsed dye laser combined with topical silicone gel can treat early hypertropic scar effectvely and safely,and the therapy merits clinical application and promotion.


Queensland whale meat meal and whale meat and bone meal were compared with South African fish meal as a protein supplement to a sorghum meal diet for pigs. Results were assessed & the growth of Large White pigs over a four month period. Whale meat meal was as efficient in promoting growth at a slightly lower cost than the fish meal. Whale meat and bone meal produced lower gains at a higher cost.


The chiral monoalkyldichloroboranes are prepared from optically pure boronic esters. Since chiral boronic esters of either the (+)- or (-)-α-pin-enes are readily available in essentially optically pure form, either from asymmetric hydroboration or the Matteson asymmetric synthesis, 32 we can now synthesize a wide variety of both (+) and (-) optically active secondary amines in high enantiomeric purity


With the objective to assess effect of level of linseed inclusion in feeds on nutritive value, an in vitro OM digestibility (IVOMD), total short chain fatty acids (SCFA:mMol l -1 ), microbial crude protein (MCP:g kg -1 DM), metabolizable energy (MEruminants:MJ kg -1 DM) and relative feed values (RFV) of household wastes=HW (Areke-Atela=AA, carrot peels=CaP, cabbage leaf=Cle, cabbage leftover=Clef, onion leaf=OL, onion peels=OP, potato peels=PP, Tela-Atela=TA) supplemented with linseed (LS) containing concentrates=LSC1…LSC5 (39.32, 37.32, 35.32, 33.32, 31.32% noug cake + 58.99% wheat bran + 1.69% salt + 0, 2, 4, 6, 8% LS, as fed basis) were estimated via an in vitro gas trial. HWs were mixed with LSC (LSC-HW) at 3:1 ratio. Samples were incubated in-vitro with rumen fluid in duplicate and readings recorded at 0, 3, 6, 12, 24, 48, 72 and 96 h of incubation. LSC-HW mixtures had higher CP, IVDMD, IVOMD, ME and SCFA, MCP and RFV than those of HWs alone. IVDMD and IVOMD of the LSC-HW improved with increasing LS levels, mostly at 2 and 4%LSC; but at higher concentrations they declined.  AA, TA had high IVOMD. However, IVDMD of AA (with the lowest IVDMD) was much more influenced than TA (with highest IVDMD) by LS levels. Clef had lowest and AA and TA highest ME. SCFA increased over incubation periods and with increasing levels of LS, in Clef improvement (from 0.25 to 0.61 mMol l -1 ) was significant but in AA (from 0.69 to 0.72 mMol l -1 ) moderate. Mixing HWs with LSC gave best results at 2%LSC.


Food-borne parasitic diseases include meat-borne, fish-borne, plant-borne, water-borne, mollusk-borne and freshwater crustacean-borne parasitic diseases. The review summarizes the current status and control of 6 major food-borne parasitic diseases in China, including clonorchiasus, paragonimiasis, Taenia solium taeniasis, toxoplasmosis, trichinellosis and angiostrongyliasis, aiming to increase the understanding of food-borne parasitic diseases and provide insights into the development of the control strategy for food-borne parasitic diseases. The transmission of food-borne parasitic diseases are predominantly associated with diet, and neither eating raw nor semi-cooked food is the most effective measure to prevent the development of food-borne parasitic diseases.


Assessing the Linkage of Service Innovation and Sustainability for Integrated Rapid Transit (IRT) Systems in Public Transit : Case of Beijing Public Tansit


Balanced binary search tree structures such as AVL, red-black, and splay trees store exactly one element per node. We propose supernode versions of these structures in which each node may have a large number of elements. Some properties of supernode binary search tree structures are established. Experiments oonducted by us show that the supernode structures proposed by us use less space than do the corresponding one-element-per-node versions and also take less time for the standard dictionary operations: search, insert and delete.


This paper introduces pharmacological activities of tea polyphenols and caffeine in tea leaves,effective ingredients of tea composition,and structures of several main catechines compounds,and discusses the cause and significance for extraction and separation of the waste tea.The research progress of relevant extraction and separation techniques of tea polyphenols was reviewed,including solvent extraction,ion precipitation,ultrasonic extraction,supercritical fluid extraction,microwave-assisted extraction,column chromatography,macroporous adsorption resin,and high speed counter current chromatography.The application and features of different techniques were summarized through diverse experiment process,so as to look to the development prospect and development direction of this research in the field.


The deep excavation always causes the problems of deformation and stability of the foundation pit and bracing structure.The unequal time interval Grey Model GM(1,1) for deformation prediction of the foundation pit is established based on the gray system theory.The deformation prediction of the foundation pit is made with the monitoring data of the various stages of a project.Through comparison and analysis on the predicted and actual values,the application of the grey model in the deformation prediction of the foundation pit is evaluated.


Five collisions were staged in order to evaluate PC-Crash, a simulation program used for investigating motor vehicle collisions. Both vehicles were moving in all of the staged collisions at 1:1 or 2:1 speed ratios. Pre-impact speeds ranged from 19 to 56 km/h. Two separate methods were used to test the validity of the simulation program. Firstly, collision parameters were calculated from measured data, and used as input to the PC-Crash collision model. Secondly, the post-impact vehicle paths and rest positions were used to determine the pre-impact speeds. There was agreement between measured and simulated collision dynamics. Using the PC-Crash "Optimizer" to reconstruct the five collisions, the error in calculated pre-impact speeds of the ten vehicles ranged from -3.3 to +4.1 km/h. Vehicle speeds were determined based on post-impact rotation and paths, without detailed information on the braking from each wheel or the actual collision coefficient of restitution. (A) For the covering abstract see ITRD E106540.


Although important kinetic data were obtained by our previous studies on acid-base catalyzed reactions of the simplest monosaccharides [1,2] and their products [3, 4], they have been insufficient to elucidate completely the reaction mechanisms. For these reasons the involved processes have been reinvestigated on selected model substances using deuterized acids and bases in deuterium oxide. The present study was undertaken to distinguish between the incorporation of deuterium into intermediates and final products of acid-base catalyzed reactions of monosaccharides. Glyoxal, methylglyoxal, and diacetyl can, under certain con ditions, be the final products of these reactions. Since these substances are often isolated by means of quinoxaline derivatives [5] the information about the incorporation of deuterium into this class of substances is of great importance. It was also expected that the isotope-exchange study would provide data important to understand more fully the effect of the carbonyl and azomethine groups upon the tautomeric equilibria of the studied substances. The known i.r. spectra of quinoxalines [6, 7], mechanisms of the mass spectral fragmentation [8, 9], Polarographie properties [10, 11], and their separation by gas chromatography [12] were used as analytical tools. From the point of view of comparison of the results of i.r. spectroscopy 2,3-dihydroxyquinoxaline has also been studied.


Hypoxia-stimulated erythropoiesis, such as that observed when red blood cell volume (RCV) increases in response to high-altitude exposure, is well understood while the physiological importance is not. Maximal exercise tests are often performed in hypoxic conditions following some form of RCV manipulation in an attempt to elucidate oxygen transport limitations at moderate to high altitudes. Such attempts, however, have not made clear the extent to which RCV is of benefit to exercise at such elevations. Changes in RCV at sea level clearly have a direct influence on maximal exercise capacity. Nonetheless, at elevations above 3000 m, the evidence is not that clear. Certain studies demonstrate either a direct benefit or decrement to exercise capacity in response to an increase or decrease, respectively, in RCV whereas other studies report negligible effects of RCV manipulation on exercise capacity. Adding to the uncertainty regarding the importance of RCV at high altitude is the observation that Andean and Tibetan high-altitude natives exhibit similar exercise capacities at high altitude (3900 m) even though Andean natives often present with a higher percent haematocrit (Hct) when compared with both lowland natives and Tibetans. The current review summarizes past literature that has examined the effect of RCV changes on maximal exercise capacity at moderate to high altitudes, and discusses the explanation elucidating these seemingly paradoxical observations. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/11632440-000000000-00000 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-69166 Accepted Version Originally published at: Jacobs, Robert A; Lundby, Carsten; Robach, Paul; Gassmann, Max (2012). Red blood cell volume and the capacity for exercise at moderate to high altitude. Sports Medicine, 42(8):643-663. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2165/11632440-000000000-00000 Red blood cell volume and the capacity for exercise at moderate to high altitude 1 2 Robert A. Jacobs, Carsten Lundby, Paul Robach, and Max Gassmann 3 4 Institute of Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty, University of Zurich, Switzerland; Zurich Center 5 for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP); Institute of Physiology, University of Zurich, Switzerland; 6 Ecole Nationale de Ski et d'Alpinisme, site de l'Ecole Nationale des Sports de Montagne, Chamonix, 7 France; Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH), Lima, Peru 8 9 Short Title: Red blood cell augmentation and exercise in hypoxia 10 Word Count: 6,804 11 Tables included: 5 12 Figures included: 2 13 14 Corresponding author 15 Robert A. Jacobs 16 Institute of Veterinary Physiology, Vetsuisse Faculty and 17 Zurich Center for Integrative Human Physiology (ZIHP) 18 Winterthurerstrasse 260 19 CH-8057 Zurich 20 Switzerland 21 Tel. +41 44 635 88 17 22 Fax +41 44 635 89 32 23 e-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com 24


Background: Health problems, especially personal hygiene problems, are very complex problems. Application of personal hygiene to food and beverage handlers to prevent contamination. The impact that often arises in personal hygiene is the physical impact. A person suffers from many health problems due to not maintaining good personal hygiene. Objectives: to determine the relationship between worker characteristics and the personal hygiene of food handlers, catering services, class B, Hajj Dormitory, Palembang City. Method: this study used a cross-sectional method, namely research to find relationships between variables. Results: research using the chi-square test found that gender with personal hygiene of food handlers was obtained (p=0.031), Age (p=0.011), Education Level (p=0.376). Conclusion: there is a relationship between gender and age and there is no relationship between education level and personal hygiene of food handlers, class B, class B Hajj Dormitory, Palembang City.


The kinetics of main physical processes controlling the growth of nanowires (NW) via evolution pass " vapor-liquid-solid" is considered. The roles of the thermodynamics and kinetics of cluster nucleation in the initial stage of NW formation are studied. Approximate expressions for NW length are obtained in one-dimensional approximation. The influence of transfer processes in the gas phase on the growth NW is evaluated. The effect of release of the latent heat of phase transition and heat conduction along NW is considered. For carbon NW, grown on Ni catalytic particles, numerical results are obtained. PACS: 64.70Dv, 68.70+w.


186 children. And some distinctive characteristics in childhood lichen aureus are accompanied: its frequency, more self-limiting than in adults and involvement of uncommon sites such as trunk and arm. Here we report a case of fourteen-year-old girl presenting with erythematous to brownish macules and papules on her chest and leg. Histological examination of the lesion revealed band like lymphocytic infiltration in the upper dermis with erythrocyte extravasation and mild exocytosis of lymphocytes into the epidermis. Dermoscopic finding shows round to oval red dots and globules over brownish patch on diffuse copper-red colored background. We treated with topical 0.1% tacrolimus ointment for 2 months, and then the lesion has faded with decreased number of red dots and globules on the dermoscopy. 키워드 : Lichen aureus, Childhood, Topical tacrolimus


1. Using an optical method for measuring membrane potential, we have been able to monitor action-potential activity simultaneously in 14 neurons of the supraesophageal ganglion of the barnacle. 2. Under favorable conditions, 4-mV synaptic potentials could also be detected optically.


The following experiments were undertaken at the suggestion of Professor Callendar, with a view to the redetermination of the boiling-point of sulphur (S. B. P.) on the scale of the constant-pressure air thermometer. The experiments unfortunately have not led to a result that can be regarded as final, owing to the uncertainty in the expansion of the glass, but it has been thought desirable to publish the results. The air thermometer was made of Jena glass, 16 III, and is in construction substantially the same as that described by Callendar. Fig. 1 will make clear the form of the apparatus, and is drawn roughly to scale.


This special section contains papers on the project KombiFiD. KombiFiD is an acronym that stands for Kombinierte Firmendaten fur Deutschland (or Combined Firm Data for Germany). The project is financially supported by the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF). It is a joint project of the Institute of Economics of Leuphana University Lueneburg, the research data centres of the German Federal Statistical Office and the statistical offices of the German federal states, the Institute of Employment Research of the Federal Employment Agency and the research department of the German Central Bank.


As an activity of transferring a message from a source text to a target text, translation certainly involves several processes. Different processes require certain amount of time allocation depending on the translator's cognitive load. Studying translation process is essential to reveal what actually happened while a translator was doing his/her tasks, contributing to a better translation product. This study aimed at finding out the time management and the translation method in translating a scientific article by a professional translator. The scientific article is composed of more than five thousand words; thus, the researcher reduced the limit of the words to one thousand words to avoid the technical problems. This qualitative study used a case study as the research method. The participant of this research was a professional translator from the Association of Indonesian Translator (HPI). The data were collected using a keyboard logging program (Translog-II) and a screen recording tool (OBS Studio). Based on the data analysis it was found that the professional translator (i) distributed more time in the drafting stage; and (ii) applied the linear and inline methods during the translation process. It was found that the professional translator focused translating on word by word, phrase by phrase, and paragraph by paragraph. It is concluded that the activities in each stage of translation process contributes to the result of translation.


We present a description, including relevant formulas and numerical estimates, of a set of polarization transfer experiments which appear to offer a feasible way to separate the deuteron charge and quadrupole form factors and measure the neutron and proton electric form factors. The experiments require a 2 to 4 GeV high-intensity, high-duty factor, longitudinally polarized electron beam and require that the polarization of the recoiling hadron be measured in a second, analyzing, scattering. The relevant asymmetries are fairly large, and our calculations show that they are sensitive to different models obtained from existing data. Attention is called to the fact that the proposed deuteron measurements will require new 10% measurements of vector and tensor analyzing powers of deuterons with kinetic energy from 150 to 450 MeV.


A review article on the book Van Renaissance tot wereldoorlog (From Renaissance to World War) by P. J. Bouman (Amsterdam, the Netherlands: 1938 and 1955). The book's thesis is that European history since the Renaissance is responsible for 'the chaos of today' and that only the Christian religion provides a way out of this chaos. Bouman contrasts the 'static' Middle Ages with 'dynamic' modern history but fails to prove that the former were more harmonious or less chaotic. He contrasts a 'rationalist' Western Europe with an 'irrational' Central Europe, but fails to make the distinction work in Germany. He blames 'materialism' for humanity's recent disasters; but his numerous quotations from O. Spengler, J. Huizinga, J. Ortega y Gasset, K. Mannheim and A. Toynbee show that he grew up, like them, before WWI and believed in 'progress.' Like them, he was disillusioned and reversed his belief. I. Langnas.


The breakup, penetration, and atomization of a plain jet of kerosene Jet A-1 fuel in a non-swirling crossflow of air were investigated experimentally at test conditions relevant to LPP (Lean Premixed Prevaporized) combustion for gas turbines. Measurement techniques employed include time-resolved shadowgraphs, Mie-scattering laser light sheets, and Phase-Doppler-Anemometry (PDA). The nozzle diameter was 0.45 mm and its L/D ratio was 1.56. Air velocities lay between 50 m/s and 100 m/s, the air pressure range extended from 1.5 bar to 15 bar and the air temperature was around 290 K. Fuel flowrates were chosen so that the fuel-to-air momentum flux ratio q assumed mainly values between 2 and 18. Two different mechanisms of jet breakup could be discerned and correlations for the jet penetration and lateral dispersion close to the nozzle were derived. Furthermore, the penetration of the spray plume and its representative droplet diameters were determined. Finally, a simple, approximate model to predict liquid fuel penetration is presented.


A series of hypercrosslinked polymers (P1 to P8) was synthesized from pyridine and conjugated monomers to support palladium for photocatalytic Suzuki–Miyaura coupling reactions. The results of SEM, TEM and XRD analyses reveal that the supports possess a loose porous amorphous lamellar structure, and the TGA test shows that they are thermally stable. Among the prepared photocatalysts, the one using P6 as a support performed the best, displaying excellent photocatalytic and recycling performance under the irradiation of blue light at 30 °C.


1 The work was supported in part by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project No. 05-08-33664-а ). Abstract – Experiments have been performed on the use of high-current arc plasma generator for a dense long-pulsed electron beam production. In the starting experiments the electron beam was obtained in a single-aperture two-electrode optical system with accelerating voltage up to 30 keV, beam current density up to 70 A/cm and a pulse duration (defined by the power supply unit) of 0.25 ms.


A model to investigate a fuel based optimality approach for strategic investments in the power sector is presented. The innovative concept of switching between the available operating fuel sources of the power plant over its lifetime is examined. More specifically, the case study examined, concerns an existing lignite power plant that may switch its fuel to natural gas, and from that point on it may either switch back to lignite or retain natural gas or routinely switch between the alternative fuels. This research concentrates on the electricity market of Greece, for the period of 2010-2030. Probabilistic models to forecast future prices are used in conjunction with a real options model to cope with alternative strategies. Depending on the economical and environmental standings of each period, the power plant can alter its input fuel to maximize profits or reduce emissions. Therefore, more options for the operating fuel emerge, thus reducing business risks and exploiting the most profitable operational option in response to markets instabilities (i.e. fuel price differences over time, emissions cost fluctuation, etc.). Strategic flexibility, security of supply, stability, and increased profits are the potential advantages of the presented model dealing with energy investments.


W e appreciate the great interest and comments provided on our paper, ''Sleep, Obesity, and Injury Among US Male Career Firefighters.'' We address Gao's et al perceptions on the health and safety of US male firefighters, the study limitations they expressed concern about, and provide clarification on other issues raised. Point No. 1: Use of self-report of physical activity (SRPA) based VO2max estimation in a ''Highly Fit Population.'' Gao's et al primary criticism about using the non-exercise VO2max model, involving the SRPA rating, for male firefighters is based upon their argument that firefighters are a ''highly fit population.'' Objectively, a highly fit occupational group would have a low prevalence of individuals who are overweight or obese. However, as we clearly reported in our paper, firefighters are not ''highly fit.'' The prevalence of overweight or obesity was more than 81% among one of the largest samples of US male career firefighters examined to date. Our finding that overweight and obesity is a major problem in the fire service is in line with more than two decades of research documenting poor body composition in the US fire service. Importantly, firefighters get less fit over time with some studies showing they gain between 1.2 and 3.4 pounds per year throughout their career. Gao et al also argues the inadequacy of the SRPA for VO2max estimation based on the misconception that firefighters, as a group, are ''aerobically well-trained.''


This article analyses the EC provisions on state aid and their application to the area of direct taxation. In particular, after an explanation of the general concept of state aid and a categorization of the different aid measures, it focuses on the specific rules contained in the EC Treaty and related case law.


A technique is presented for identifying the impulse response of a nonminimum phase channel based solely on observations of the channel output. The technique uses a two-step estimation procedure whereby the channel input is first estimated and then used in conjunction with the observed channel output to determine a least-squares model of the actual channel. Estimation of the channel input is accomplished through equalisation, demodulation, and remodulation of the channel output. The constant-modulus adaptive algorithm (CMA) is used in the equalization process. The technique is applicable to channels carrying quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM), frequency modulation (FM), and frequency-shift keyed (FSK) modulation. In addition to identifying the channel response, the technique also generates an estimate of the additive cochannel interference.<<ETX>>


The "power-based ideas" deeply-rooted in China,which is the important causes of civil society,culture of private law underdevelopment.To nurture the civil society and culture of private law,it is necessary to update the concept,transform government functions,push forward the building of democracy and legal system strongly.In addition we must learn from the advanced culture in the West,at the same time play the role of intellectuals in order to innovate national culture.


Compared with conventional E-glass fibers,high strength glass fibers are characterized by superior tensile strength,elastic modulus,impact resistance,chemical stability,heat resistance and fatigue endurance. This article presents the developments of high strength glass fibers at home and abroad,the main technical properties of high strength glass fibers and their products,and their extensive uses as high performance reinforcements in aerospace,defence,sports and leisure and industrial applications.


Computed Tomography (CT) is one of the most used imaging techniques in medical field which enables us to generate two-dimensional as well as three-dimensional image of the inside the body. Fundamentally, any imaging system contains two main stages the data collection and the image reconstruction. For CT, The data collection stage depends on the resolution of image collected and field of view. The image reconstruction of an object depends on projections by passing a series of rays through an object. The problem in general is that CT is computationally very intensive, due to the large number of projections. The large computational requirements have led to large times for CT image reconstruction, and extra X-ray dose to get high quality images. To accelerate the reconstruction process and decrease the effect of x-ray on patients, we need to decrease the number of projections. In this paper we introduce a compressed sensing (CS) technique for CT to reconstruct images from reduced projection data and compare it with other algorithms, A CS iterative algorithm reconstructed an image of digital Shepp-Logan phantom using small number of projections with high quality resolution compared to traditional iterative technique, we studied the effect of algorithm controlling parameters on the reconstructed image. Finally using the proposed technique will decrease the high risk associated with the high dose x-ray needed in the traditional CT scans.


The digital signal processing has contributed in solving problems such as constructive interference, electrical echo, environmental noise, atmospheric noise, etc.Adaptive filters can be used to solve such problems. Nowadays FPGA systems are replacing dedicated programmable digital signal processor (PDSP) system due to their flexibility and large bandwidth, resulting from their parallel architecture. This paper presents implementation of adaptive noise canceller for cancelling noise signals present in speech signal. Least mean square algorithm is used for adaption of filter coefficients. The adaptive noise cancellation system is implemented in VHDL and tested for cancelling noise in speech signals. The simulation results of VHDL designed digital adaptive filter is performed and analyzed on basis of signal to noise ratio (SNR), Mean square error (MSE) convergence speed and tracking ability.


Received: 8/4/2020 Accepted: 3/5/2020 ABSTRACT: The present study was carried-out at Antoniadis Research Branch, Horticultural Research Institute, Agriculture Research Center (ARC), Alexandria, Egypt during two successive seasons of 2018 and 2019. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of irrigation water polluted with nickel on the growth of Lantana camara plants and the possibility of using citric acid spray treatments to overcome the effects of nickel pollution. Transplants of Lantana camara were planted individually in plastic pots (20 cm diameter) filled with 5 kg of sandy soil. The nickel polluted irrigation water treatments were 0, 100, 200 and 300 mg/l. The plants were monthly sprayed with citric acid at concentrations of 0, 250 and 500 mg/l. The results showed that for vegetative growth parameters there were non significant differences in the interaction between nickel concentrations and foliar spray with citric acid, while significant reduction was observed in all parameters after irrigation with nickel polluted water and significant increase in vegetative growth parameters were observed after 500 mg/l citric acid application. For total chlorophyll and carbohydrate content, the highest significant values were obtained in plants irrigated with tap water and sprayed with 250 mg/l citric acid while the highest significant level of nickel content in the leaves, stem and roots was obtained due treatment by 300 mg/l nickel without application of citric acid.


Pepper (Piper nigrum L.) is an important cash crop for smallholders in the state of Sarawak, Malaysia. At present, there are more than eight pepper cultivars being planted in the state since the 1950s. In this study, the unique spectral signatures of three high yielding pepper cultivars in Malaysia were examined using a ground-based spectral sensor to detect varietal differences. Concurrent foliar spectral signatures, chlorophyll concentration, and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of cultivar Kuching, Semongok Aman and Semongok Emas were recorded under normal field conditions. Foliar chlorophyll concentration and NDVI results showed that all the matured pepper vines under this assessment were in healthy condition. From a rough observation, except for a slight increase in the visible (VIS) region of the spectrum (500 to 699 nm) for cultivar Semongok Aman and Semongok Emas, spectral reflectance of all three pepper cultivars were similar in the near-infrared region (700 to 1000 nm). The results for First Derivative Curves analysis indicated that the 684.5 to 756.5 nm region showed the highest separation followed by region with the second lowest separation (504.5 to 540.5 nm). The highest value was obtained in the Red Edge Position (REP) for cultivar Kuching, Semongok Aman and Semongok Emas which were 709, 706 and 710, respectively. The highest value obtained in the VIS region for cultivar Kuching, Semongok Aman and Semongok Emas were 523, 524 and 527, respectively. These fundamental findings suggested that it is possible to discriminate pepper cultivars through field spectroscopy and first derivative analysis. In addition, this information may be used for further studies related to precision agriculture particularly in integrated nutrient and disease management.


The non-perturbative vacuum polarization effects are explored for a planar supercritical Dirac-Coulomb system with strong coupling (similar to graphene and graphene-based heterostructures) and an extended external Coulomb source. Both the induced charge density $\rho_{VP}(\vec{r})$ and the Casimir (vacuum) energy $\mathcal{E}_{VP}$ are considered. The main result is that in the overcritical region $\mathcal{E}_{VP}$ turns out to be negative and behaves like $- \eta_{eff}\, Z^3/R_0\, $ with $\eta_{eff}>0$ and $Z\, , R_0$ being the charge and size of the external source. First we consider the evaluation and behavior of the induced density $\rho_{VP}$, which further is used for calculation of the Casimir energy, with emphasis on the renormalization, convergence of the partial expansion for $\rho_{VP}^{ren}$ and $\mathcal{E}_{VP}^{ren}$ and behavior of the renormalized integral induced charge $Q_{VP}^{ren}$ and $\mathcal{E}_{VP}^{ren}$ in the overcritical region. The dependence of the induced density and vacuum energy on the screening of the Coulomb asymptotics of the external field at some $R_1>R_0$ is also explored in detail.


Objective To study the difference between Akida ligation and Super 7 ligation in the treatment of esophageal varices.Methods Sixty-nine patients with cirrhosis who had ever bled for esophageal varices were randomized to undergo either Akida ligation(n=39)or Super 7 ligation(n=30).Treatments were held at 2-week intervals until the eradication of the varices.The characteristics of the treatment and complications between two techniques were compared.Results The rates in success and eradicating varices in both groups were similar(P0.05).The once or all cost of Akida ligation was significantly lower than that of Super 7 ligation(P0.001).However,the time of a single treatment was longer in the group of the Akida ligation(P0.05).Conclusion The Akida ligation is superior to the Super 7 ligation in sides of safety and treatment of complication.Doctor can choose to use any numbers of rings freely in the Akida ligation according to patients′ levels of varices,and the cost was lower.Although super 7 ligation is more convenient,patients have to pay more money for the treatment.


Welcome to our Special Issue on Positive Criminology and Positive Psychology. It is our hope that this issue will help generate critical reflection about American criminal justice policy and the possibility of moving the system towards a happier and more prosocial perspective. To begin, this editorial introduction briefly frames positive criminology and positive psychology for the readers, and then reviews the content of the special issue.


This paper focuses on the morphology of continuous mode printed lines of a generic polymer suspension. The suspension consists of carboxylate nanoparticles. The printing is performed by forming a stable capillary-bridge of the suspension between the print-nozzle and glass substrate. The printed deposits are examined microscopically. The printing technique used here is easy to implement and allows a wider property window for the fluids that can be printed compared to drop on demand mode printing. The morphology of these printed lines is found to be dependent on the number of layers of the nanoparticles present. To further understand the fundamental mechanism of printed nanoparticle deposit morphology development, droplet deposits of the suspension are also prepared and analyzed.


To suppress the time of parallel operation of transformers, and in order reverse the order device the necessary minimum, and provides an uninterruptible power supply by a decrease in reliability at a minimum. Net conversion device 2 converts the output from the AC power source 1 into direct current. Inverse conversion unit 3 converts the direct current into alternating current. Order inverse transform unit 4, the order of the inverse transform operation. AC power from the output of the net conversion device (2) and the order of inverse transform unit 4 is supplied to the load 6 through the turning point (5). Moving in accordance with the detection signal of the battery 7, a current detector 10 for detecting a charging current of the controlled opening and closing of the switches (S1, S2). When there are many remaining capacity of the control device 8, the battery 7, the parallel operation of the net conversion device 2 and the order of inverse transform unit 4, and, when the remaining capacity of the battery 7 is low, the net conversion device (2) to charge the storage battery in either one of or a net inversion device 4. By making such a charge current in the parallel operation, parallel operation, which suppresses the time required to a minimum.


What significance should be attributed to the fact that the former secretary general of the Bolivian peasant confederation and the national union federation, J6naro Flores, also the founder, chairman, and presidential candidate of the Movimiento Revolucionario Tupac Katari (Tupac Katari Revolutionary Movement-MRTK), during the 1980-1982 dictatorship assumed the office of jilakata, the rural community's highest traditional position? In other words, how is one to explain the fact that a person of distinction involved in so-called modern democratic forms of political participation and national politics participates in the traditionally rooted' Andean political-religious cargo system? Some observers have attempted to interpret this move as a way of masking his political defeat in the internecine struggles within the peasant confederation in the mid-1980s. If this is the case, then his becoming


This interview with the recipient of the 2010 James Bryant Conant Award for High School Chemistry teaching, Jeffrey Hepburn, conducted by JCE Precollege Associate Editor, Erica K. Jacobsen, highlights the teaching philosophies and practices of a remarkable chemistry teacher and magician.


In this study, we developed a framework of an integrated assessment system for analyzing nutrient emission and export from watersheds of China. This system integrates modules of different methods and levels of scale. It consists of three major sub-modules: Emission model of agricultural diffuse source of nutrients (EMADS); Emission model of non-agricultural sources of nutrients (EMNAS); Estimation model of nutrient export from watersheds of China (EMNEW). EMADS is a complex adaptive model. It links changes in agricultural policies, the rural socio-economic development, and agricultural diffuse sources of nutrient emissions. EMNAS is a system dynamics model, which is a platform for integrating different levels of models and used to estimate industrial and domestic point sources of nutrients, natural diffuse source of nutrients and kinds of sinks. EMNEW is an indigenous version of NEWS model. This integrated system aims to analyze mechanism of nutrient export from Chinese watersheds driven by both natural and socio-economic factors, to explore the possible future trends in nutrient export, and to develop management strategies for integrated watershed management on nutrients and coastal eutrophication prevention and control.


The therapeutic efficacy of clopidogrel as an antiplatelet drug varies among individuals, being the mainstream hypothesis that its bioavailability depends on the individual genetic background and/or interactions with other drugs. A total of 477 patients receiving double antiaggregation therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel, after suffering a first event, were followed for 1 year to record relapse, as a surrogate end point to measure their therapeutic response, as defined by presenting with an acute coronary event (unstable angina, ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction, or non–ST‐segment–elevation myocardial infarction), stent thrombosis/restenosis, or cardiac mortality. Anthropometric, clinical, and pharmacological variables along with CYP2C19 genotypes were analyzed for their association with the disease relapse phenotype. Only 75 patients (15%) suffered a relapse, which occurred during the first 6 months of therapy, with a peak at 4.5 months. An initial univariate analysis identified that patients in the relapse group were significantly older (67.4 ± 11.0 vs 61.6 ± 12.3 years old) and presented with diffuse coronary disease, insulin‐dependent type 2 diabetes mellitus dyslipidemia, and arterial hypertension. A poor clinical response to the platelet antiaggregation regime also occurred more frequently among patients taking acenocoumarol and calcium channel blockers, along with aspirin and clopidogrel, while no association was found according to CYP2C19 genotypes. A retrospective multivariate analysis indicated that patients belonging to the nonresponder phenotype to treatment with aspirin and clopidogrel were older, presented with diffuse coronary disease, a group largely overlapping with type 2 insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus, and were taking dihidropyrimidinic calcium channel blockers.


The rising use of renewable generation, battery storage and energy efficiency presents challenges and opportunities for traditional electricity network planning practices. New South Wales (NSW) transmission network operator TransGrid is tackling these through a series of innovation projects, such as its iDemand system.


As for the 110 kV single source and short distance transmission line,there are both advantages and the disadvantages when the microcomputerbased distance protection equipment is adopted and the power frequency variation(PFV)principle is applied. In this paper,the operating characteristic of the distance relay which is based on the PFV principle is analyzed when the relay is utilized in the single source and short distance transmission line. A simple direction formula is added to the original operating formula as a subsidiary condition. Considering the characteristic of the fourlateral distance relay, a feasible protection scheme is brought forward, which makes the distance protection more quickly and reliable.


Use of an effective amount of a compound of the following formula: ** (See formula) ** wherein R1 represents H, CH3, CH2CH3 or R 2 and R 3 independently represent H, OH, a 1-6 carbon , hydroxyalkyl, alkoxy, or a simple sugar; and R4 and R5 independently represent H or OH; or ** (See formula) ** wherein for calystegine A 3: R 1 = H, R 2 = OH, R 3 = H, R 4 = H; for calystegine B2: R1 = H, R2 = OH, R3 = H, R4 = OH; for calystegine B 3: R 1 = H, R 2 = H, R 3 = OH, R 4 = OH; and N-methyl-calystegine: R1 = CH3, R2 = OH, R3 = H, R4 = OH; in the manufacture of a medicament for treating a disease glycosphingolipid lysosomal storage, wherein the compound is an inhibitor of an enzyme that is deficient in the disease glycosphingolipid lysosomal storage.


Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess the effects of distal jet for the first molar distalization on the eruption of maxillary second molar. Materials and Methods: The dental casts and cephalograms of 33 patients with class II malocclusion were analyzed. The group of distal jet appliance consisted of 18 patients with the second molars absent or partly erupted. And 15 patients with conventional orthodontics treatment (non-extraction) were adopted as the control. Nine linear and proportional, angular measurements were made. Statistical evaluation was conducted by Student's t-test for paired data. Results: There were significant changes in nine linear and proportional angular measurements of two groups (p<0.01). The mean mesiobuccal rotations of the second molars were 4.2°. The changes of m2-SN (before treatment 54.3°, after treatment 48.0°) and m2-Ptv (before treatment 12.8 mm, after treatment 9.7 mm) in the second molar region proved that both expansion and tipping occurred in the second molars. Conclusion: The study proved that both mesiobuccal rotation and vestibular drift happened in the second molars when distal jet was used for first molar distalization. (Int Chin J Dent 2006; 6: 111-114.)


This paper explores the extent to which New Zealand's central government organizations are effectively reporting on, and arguably therefore focusing on, the management of their organizations, as well as their operations. There is widespread concern that new public management reforms have resulted in an over-emphasis on the former at the expense of the latter. A solution to this problem requires a clear and consistent framework for how organizational management should be reported.


Since the characteristics of soil compressibility are not constant with depth, the main purpose of the thesis was the calculation of the settlements and their development during the consolidation process with strain-dependent material parameters (nonlinear parameters in short). To simplify the task only wide spread load was used for calculations. We focused mainly on comparison of the consolidation times, calculated with constant and with nonlinear parameters. To verify the AJDA code which was developed for the purpose of this thesis, several comparisons of the calculated compression curves were made to the existed code CONDES0 (Yao, Znidarcic, 1997). Because of the different material model used in both codes the overconsolidation pressure and swelling constant were suitably modified to obtain the agreement of the calculated compression lines. According to expectations the compression lines obtained with the above mentioned codes did not fully fit the oedometer measurements in the first load step, while in next load steps a satisfying agreement was obtained. A comparison of the calculated and measured response was performed for the test embankment on Ljubljana marshland and comparable settlements were obtained. On the basis of the presented calculations and comparisons to other computer codes and the performed measurements we can conclude that the AJDA code is suitable for the calculation of the consolidation settlements and their development during time for constant as well as for the nonlinear parameters. The main difference between these two calculations is the required time period of the consolidation process. In average the calculated time with the nonlinear parameters is approximately half of time calculated with the constant parameters.


We irradiated silicon with a train of femtosecond pulses in the presence of SF6, H2S, H2, SiH4, and a mixture of Ar and SF6 in order to analyze the role of the background gas in determining the morphology and the optical properties of the resultant surfaces. We discuss factors that affect the surface morphology created during irradiation and show that the presence of sulfur in these gases is important in creating sharp microstructures. We also show that the presence of sulfur is necessary to create the near-unity absorptance for both above-band and below-band gap radiation (0.25−2.5 μm) by silicon; only samples with sulfur concentrations higher than 0.6% absorb 95% for above-band gap radiation and have a flat, featureless absorptance of 90% for below-band gap radiation.


The economy of India is the seventh-largest-economy in the world measured by nominal Gross Domestic Product & the third largest by purchasing power parity (PPP) and the outlook for short term growth is also good as according to the International Monetary Fund, the Indian economy is the "bright spot" in the global landscape. India additionally bested the World Bank development standpoint for 2015-2016 out of the blue with the economy development 7.6%. "Monetary strategy is that piece of government approach which is worried about Raising Revenue through Taxation". It is specifically influences the money related assets and buying influence in the hands of the general population. In financial matters and political science, monetary strategy is the utilization of government income gathering (principally imposes) and consumption (spending) to impact the economy.


3-D surface reconstruction based on contour maps is a current research focus. However, to read contour maps requires some professional knowledge and to reconstruct 3-D surface with contour maps needs professional tools such as OpenGL and high programming capabilities. This paper presents an algorithm of 3-D surface reconstruction based on scattered points. First, the algorithm triangulates with these scattered points in plane and segments each triangle to get some interior points, then calculates the coordinate of each point as well as its elevation. Last, the altorithm triangulates with all the points and generates triangular patches in 3-D space. The experiment result and complexity analysis of the algorithm show that the algorithm is simple and easy to achieve expected results.


Chapter 3 describes the development of an inventory to assess primary school support for inquiry. First, there is a discussion of the role played by the school environment in primary students' learning, and its importance in SDL in particular. Next, there is a description of a framework of a primary school inquiry environment on which is based the assessment instrument, the Primary School Characteristics Inventory (PSCI). This assessment is based on the external (other) influences shown in the model of effective learning in primary students (Chapter 2 Figure 1). The process of pre-testing and trialing the inventory is outlined before the revised version of the inventory was sent to 100 schools across the state of South Australia. Following this, there is an outline of the Primary School Characteristics Inventory used in an intervention study on self-directed learning.


Preparation of high-temperature encapsulated phase change materials (PCMs) is very challengeable due to the high chemical corrosion of liquid metal and the high thermal stress caused by volume expansion. We herein report a novel strategy for preparing high-temperature Al@Al2O3 PCM. In this method, nano Ni species are loaded on the surface of Al spheres, which could accelerate the oxidation of the surface Al layer during calcination in air. By monitoring the oxygen consumption and the exothermic changes during the oxidation process, it is found that the oxidation of Al follows a stepwise process which results in the formation of a layered Al2O3 shell. The high oxygen consumption and relatively low activation energy (149–156 kJ/mol) suggests that the surface nickel species significantly accelerate the low-temperature (<650 °C) oxidation of aluminum. The Al@Al2O3 composites show a well-formed core–shell structure with 60–68 wt % of core fraction, high latent heat (289–312 J/g), and mitigated supercooling per...


A 67-year-old man presented to medical attention with a two month history of progressively worsening shortness of breath. Subsequent investigations established a diagnosis of extranodal marginal zone B cell mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) lymphoma. He was started on combination chemotherapy (Rituximab + cyclophosphamide, vincristine, prednisolone (CVP)) with an excellent clinical and radiographic response. After the completion of eight cycles, staging imaging was performed that included a contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) of the head and neck up to the level of the orbits. On the uppermost axial slices, incidental note was made of abnormal vascular channels in the region of the anterior interhemispheric fissure. A brain CT angiogram was recommended for better evaluation (Figure). Interestingly, these abnormal vascular channels were shown to represent bilateral anterior falcine sinuses that drained the paramedian cortical veins of the frontal lobes into a prominent inferior sagittal sinus en route to the vein of Galen and straight sinus. Associated agenesis of the anterior one third of the superior sagittal sinus (SSS) was also demonstrated. Taken together, these imaging findings depict an alternative configuration of cerebral venous drainage, i.e., anterior falcine sinuses, in a neurologically intact adult patient.


A 75-year-old male presents with gradual onset central chest pain radiating to his back. Past medical history is signi fi cant for hypertension. Does he need a computed tomography (CT) scan to rule out acute aortic dissection?


A historical study was made on the population before the Meiji era based on the data in sect census registers and obituaries in temples. The results obtained were as follows: 1) There had been little change in the population before the Meiji era; this may be due to the policy to keep the female population below a certain limit. 2) The average age of the first marriage was young, but the age difference between the couple was fairly large; many babies were born and died, because of the poor pediatric care; many mothers died, too, because of the poor maternal care. 3) The obituaries valid as data for historical studies of census were less than 13


A new class of liquid crystals with strongly negative dielectric anisotropy has been prepared by the exploitation of the somewhat "ambivalent" characteristics of the 1,3-dioxane structure with respect to its polarity and by the axial fluorination of this structure, which gives these compounds attractive mesogenic and electrooptic properties. The increased chemical stability of these materials compared with their carbocyclic analogues has been analyzed and explained by molecular modelling. (© Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, 69451 Weinheim, Germany, 2006)


Impaired tissue healing has become a major challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. Although research advances in the field have led to solutions that have been effective in improving patient care, the economic burden and an aging population call for allocation of a higher level of attention and resources. Using stem cells in cell-based therapies could provide an alternative treatment option. Mesenchymal stem cells such as adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASC) can enhance tissue healing by their paracrine potential and ability to modulate inflammatory responses. Traditionally, ASC were delivered to injured tissues via injection or scaffold-based constructs. This thesis explored a relatively new method for ASC application to injured tissues: adipose tissue-derived stem cells (ASC) cultured in a cell sheet (ASC sheet). The rationale of this method is that applying the ASCs as a sheet improves their retention and engraftment after transplantation. In addition, it might avoid a foreign body response. However, detailed information on ASC sheet therapeutic potential in the healing of various tissues is limited. This body of work attempts to provide insight in the mechanisms by which ASC sheet can contribute to tissue repair. In addition, this thesis describes the methodology and effects of transplantation of ASC sheet in an in vivo intestinal disease model for the first time.


(57) through radial substantial portion of Abstract ingot, absence of any essential point defects are agglomerated, the single crystal silicon ingot, a crystal puller for growing by the Czochralski method, the crystal puller is includes a housing defining an interior and a lower growth chamber and an upper pulling chamber. Pulling chamber has a smaller transverse dimension than the growth chamber. The crucible is placed in the growth chamber of the housing containing a silicon melt. Pulling mechanism, the silicon melt, through the growth chamber and pulling chamber, it is provided for pulling the ingot growing upwards. Electrical resistance heater in the upper pulling chamber of the housing is sized and shaped to at least partially disposed, are arranged at intervals in the outer surface in the radial direction of the growing ingot, the silicon melted a heating element for emitting heat to the ingot when pulled upward Te in pulling chamber. The heating element has an upper end portion and a lower portion. The lower end of the heating element, when the heating element is disposed in the housing, the upper end portion is substantially located near the silicon melt.


In this paper we study the optical properties of GRIN lens arrays used in the writing heads of LED-based digital colour presses for 600 dpi printing. The goal of our study was to determine the most critical parameters for achieving a good image quality and to optimise the parameters of these arrays to improve the image quality. The writing head of a colour press consists of a row of LEDs and the light of these LEDs is focused by the GRIN lens array onto a photosensitive drum. The GRIN lens array is used as an imaging system with unit magnification. We started with optical raytracing simulations to determine the optimal working distance of commercial GRIN lens arrays and to evaluate their image quality. Furthermore, we carried out a tolerancing analysis of possible misalignments in the writing head and compared the results from our simulations with the results of an experimental tolerancing study. Finally we explored the possibilities for using the same GRIN lens arrays for 1200 dpi printing.


In this paper the use of a new out-of-core sparse matrix package for the numerical solution of partial differential equations involving complex geometries arising from aerospace applications is discussed. The sparse matrix solver accepts contributions to the matrix elements in random order and assembles the matrix using fast sort/merge routines. Fill-in is reduced through the use of a physically based nested dissection ordering. For very large problems a drop tolerance is used during the matrix decomposition phase. The resulting incomplete factorization is an effective preconditioner for Krylov subspace methods, such as GMRES. Problems involving 200,000 unknowns routinely are solved on the Cray X-MP using 64MW of solid-state storage device (SSD).


Durban, a city situated on the South-Eastern end of Africa, cannot be stamped with any one particular identity. While the colonial city was planned, the Warwick Junction Precinct evolved around the needs and aspirations of people in time. This however, was never planned, nor ever meant to be as it was the sheer resilience of marginalised people that built this "parallel definition" which makes Durban so unique. In order to understand how this came about it is necessary to trace the historical evolution of Durban. Three major periods define its evolution: the British Union Period, the Boer Republic and the Post-apartheid period. While planning principles and legislation defined the development and character of the historically "white" CBD, resilience and adaptation over time defines the character of the Warwick Junction Precinct as a complex and unique place in Durban.


SOM Cognitive Modeling of Autistic and Schizophrenic Traits Using an Oscillating Topological Neighborhood Width Function Spyridon Revithis (email@example.com) William H. Wilson (firstname.lastname@example.com) Nadine Marcus (email@example.com) School of Computer Science and Engineering, University of New South Wales UNSW-Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia Abstract characteristics and a range of powerful properties, particularly relevant to understanding and modeling of cortical brain maps, including approximation of the input space, topological ordering, density matching, and feature selection (Haykin, 1999). This study investigates cognitive modeling aspects of modeling neuro-developmental disorders using SOM neural networks. The first section presents the SOM modeling framework used in this work, and introduces a novel modification in the SOM formation algorithm with significant cognitive modeling implications. In the subsequent two sections, core biological and behavioral characteristics of two mental disorders, autism and schizophrenia, respectively, are modeled using a prototype SOM model. The last section provides a discussion of the computational and theoretical parameters of the SOM modeling employed in the paper. The artificial neural network class of self-organizing maps (SOMs) is a powerful and promising cognitive modeling tool in the study of the brain and its disorders. Under this premise, this paper proposes a novel modification of the standard SOM algorithm in the form of an oscillating Topological Neighborhood (TN) width function. Existing research in neuroscience indicates that SOMs with oscillating TN width could exhibit higher biological plausibility than standard TN width SOMs. In this paper, two neuro-developmental disorders, autism and schizophrenia, are modeled, based on existing neurocomputational theories, using both SOM approaches. The simulation results demonstrate that there is significant equivalence between standard and oscillating TN width SOM modeling in terms of map formation behavior, output and structure. The theoretical and computational arguments presented validate the proposed SOM modification within a cognitive modeling framework. Keywords: Self-Organizing Maps, Cognitive Modeling, Cortical Maps, Autism, Delusions, Schizophrenia. The SOM Modeling Framework Computational modeling offers a powerful way to study cognition and behavior. It has been applied to numerous areas of psychology and provides a more promising framework than those based on verbal models in terms of methodological diversity and applicability potential (Sun, Coward & Zenzen, 2005). An ever-increasing number of computational modeling studies are dedicated to the modeling of cognitive and developmental phenomena using artificial neural networks (Thomas & Karmiloff-Smith, 2003; Polk & Seifert, 2002; Parks, Levine & Long, 1998). Shultz (2003) provides a comparative evaluation of the different computational neural network systems used to model cognitive developmental phenomena. An important class of such modeling networks is the self-organizing feature map; it is based on a Hebbian-type (Hebb, 1949) unsupervised neural learning mechanism and uniquely resembles topographic cortical maps in the brain to which has directly comparable structure and output characteristics (Spitzer, 1995b; Livingstone & Hubel, 1988; Blasdel & Salama, 1986; Merzenich & Kaas, 1980). Willshaw and von der Malsburg (1976) originally proposed the self-organizing neural network to account for the retinotopic mapping problem. Kohonen's version (2001) -commonly abbreviated to 'SOM'-, however, possesses significant computational Aspects of SOM Neural Networks A SOM is a non-linear unsupervised-learning computational neural network consisting of two layers. It has the capacity to map an input 'environmental' layer, consisting of patterns of fixed but arbitrary dimension, onto a (usually) one or two dimensional lattice 'representational' layer. The representation of environmental input in the output layer (called the map) is performed in a topologically ordered fashion, maintaining the non-linear input data distribution, and involves dimensionality reduction. Figure 1 shows an abstract depiction of a two-dimensional SOM; each input layer pattern vector connects fully with the map neurons. Map Introduction Input pattern Figure 1: A two-dimensional SOM.


The rhetorical question is a commonly used rhetorical technique in modern Chinese. It can be divided into explicit rhetorical questions and implicit rhetorical questions according to whether it contains rhetorical cues. The implicit rhetorical questions express more emotion and are more complex in form, which has caught the attention of researchers. Most previous works relied too much on manually designed features or massive labeled data, failing to address the integration of multi-level information in sentences. In this paper, we propose a novel implicit rhetorical questions recognition framework named Hierarchical Information Fusion Graph Neural Networks (HIFGN). In particular, in order to improve the robustness of the encoder, we design a contrastive adversarial representation learning approach to map samples into the representation space. Moreover, different subgraphs of the heterogeneous graph are constructed to help the model extract profound sentence information from diverse perspectives. The experimental results on the Chinese rhetorical questions corpus show that the proposed HIFGN model achieves state-of-the-art performance on the task of implicit rhetorical questions recognition.


The utility model discloses a circlip for shaft mounting tool, belonging to the field of mounting tool machinery. The tool comprises a mounting handle and a thin-wall sleeve; the mounting handle is a hollow cylinder with an open lower end; an outward flange is arranged at the lower end of the mounting handle; a small end is arranged at the front end of the thin-wall sleeve; and the small end is in a pillar shape. In the utility model, the existing circlip for shaft mounting pliers are replaced by a structure in which a mounting handle and a thin-wall sleeve cooperate with each other in a way that the thin-wall sleeve is sleeved on a part shaft, then a circlip is placed at the small end of the thin-wall sleeve and the mounting handle presses the circlip into a groove of the shaft along the thin-wall sleeve, and the surface of the shaft can be effectively protected; and the circlip for shaft mounting tool disclosed by the utility model has a simple structure, is convenient and practical, greatly improves the batch mounting efficiency and reduces the mounting strength. The circlip for shaft mounting tool also can cooperate with a manipulator on a full-automatic work line.


Medicinal plants are the most exclusive source of life saving drugs for the majority world's population. The rhizomes of the Zingiberaceae family are a vegetable widely used in many Asian countries, and their medicinal functions have been broadly discussed and accepted in many traditional recipes. Alpinia purpurata commonly called as red ginger is native to tropical and subtropical Asia. Though it is mostly cultivated as an ornamental plant, due to the beauty of its inflorescence its potential in therapeutics also has been studied. In vitro studies of the plant Alpinia purpurata (leaves, roots and rhizomes) for its antibacterial activity, were conducted using the solvent extracts (hexane, ethanol, chloroform and 2,4D-dichloro methane) against bacteria using disc diffusion assay. E. coli and Lactobacillus were used for measuring the antibacterial activity of the plant. Ethanol extracts of plant (leaves, roots) showed highest inhibition zone of 3.5 cm was recorded against E. coli and Lactobacillus . Hexane, chloroform, 2,4 D-dichloro methane extracts did not show any significant results. The antimicrobial activity of extracts of A. purpurata is well studied and confirmed. viz Hexane, Ethanol, Chloroform and 2,4D-dichloromethane, to these solvents 50 ml, 0 ml, 20 ml, 50 ml water was added respectively. Each mixture was stirred using a sterile glass rod at room temperature. At the end each extract was passed through whatman No. 1 filter paper and filtrates were concentrated in vacuum rotary evaporator. The time subjected for rotary evaporator varied from solvent to solvent. The time taken to concentrate the extracts of Hexane, Ethanol, Chloroform, 2,4D-dichloromethane are 30mins, 20mins, 40mins, 1h respectively. The extracts were stored in labeled screw bottles and kept in at o C. the zone of growth and inhibition of the organisms by test commonly called as ginger and exists in about 50 genera and 1,300 species across the world. Zingiberaceous plants are also used as food additive in powder form in many Asian countries. Medicinal properties and functions of these plants for treating diseases like diarrhea, coryza, dermatosis disorders and rheumatism are mentioned in traditional remidies [4]. Alpinia is the largest genus in ginger family in which Alpinia purpurata (Vieill.) K. Schum. is a very popular garden plant in India [5]. Rhizome has sharp odour, improves appetite, taste and voice. Phytochemical studies on A. purpurata revealed that it possess flavonoids, rutin, kaempferol-3-rutionoside and kaempferol-3-oliucronide. One of the major biological properties of flavonoids is their antimicrobial activity and their main role in plants is to act as protective compounds against disease caused by microorganism such as fungi, bacteria and viruses [6]. To ascertain the potentiality of a medicinal plant it is tested against various pathogenic bacteria [7]. Even though exhaustive research had been done with almost all Alpinia species including antimicrobial work, less work has been done on A. purpurata in terms of antimicrobial activity. The main objective of this study is to assess the antimicrobial activities of extracts obtained from leaves, roots and rhizomes of A. purpurata using four different solvents hexane, ethanol, chloroform and 2,4D-dichloromethane.


The Bologna process and the 3+2-degree structure presents students with several decision points in higher education, both which bachelor's programme to choose, and whether to continue beyond bachelor. Based on a small-scale survey containing both closed and open-ended questions, this paper studies reasons the students give for entering a master's programme. We compare students in Norway and Denmark who have entered a master's programme in educational studies. In both countries, students mention multiple reasons for choosing to enter the master's level, and reasons related to career and access to interesting jobs were most frequently mentioned. Additionally, academic motives and identity motives were mentioned. There are also differences between Norwegian and Danish students, but these differences are mainly linked to aspects of the transition. In Denmark, students who change institution when entering the master's level state different reasons, while in Norway, differences are related to whether students enter a master's programme directly or delayed. Further, differences in labour market structure also affects these transitions. These differences point to historical understandings of national status differences between degrees and institutions still being important, even if the implementation of the Bologna structure in the educational system should have led to a harmonisation.


To investigate if coadministration of enalapril alters the metabolic effect of glibenclamide by employing an euglycemic glucose‐clamp technique in healthy volunteers.


The vibration responding of a medium speed marine diesel engine under different speed was studiedwith experiment. On the basis of experiments, and for this type of multi speed operating condition machine, usingthe Acoustic Transfer Vector method (ATV) to contact the vibration and sound field. The noise field distributionof the engine room under the excitation of a single noise source is calculated. Calculation results show that, thedistribution of the vibration response is consistent with the sound field distribution of the engine room, and the ac-curacy of the method is verified, also the sound field distribution can provide theoretical guidance for the noise re-duction of the engine room.


The Information Technologies-User Services department at the University of Delaware is experimenting with replacing standard "fat" Windows PCs with Sun Ray thin clients connecting to a Windows 2003 server running Terminal Services. This allows the Sun Rays to connect to a Sun Ray server configured with Control Access Mode (CAM) to run a remote desktop session on the Windows 2003 server. Our objective is to establish a cost effective, reliable solution with minimal impact on staff resources. Our goal is to maintain the Windows desktop on the Windows 2003 server instead of on many individual fat PCs. This should reduce staff support time, minimize security vulnerabilities, require user authentication and reduce hardware costs due to scalability. Our initial phase is to replace 16 express stations with Sun Ray thin clients in the fall of 2006. Express stations are Windows PCs dedicated to providing a limited number of computing services to the user with an automatic generic login. These include browsing the web, reading e-mail and printing using specific application viewers that don't allow editing. Based on the results of our initial testing, we hope to be able to replace an entire un-staffed Windows PC computing lab with Sun Ray thin clients as our next phase.


Efficient and unsplit-field implementations of the higher-order PML based on the digital signal processing (DSP) techniques and the complex frequency shifted perfectly matched layer (CFS-PML) formulations are proposed to truncate the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computational domains. The CFS-PML implementation is introduced based on the stretched coordinate PML (SC-PML) and the uniaxial anisotropic PML (UPML), respectively. These formulations are completely independent of the material properties of the FDTD computational domain and hence can be applied to truncate arbitrary media without any modification. Moreover, the higher-order PML has the advantages of both the conventional PML and the CFS-PML in terms of absorbing performances. Three numerical simulations have been carried out in three dimensional (3-D) FDTD computational domains to validate these formulations. It is shown in the numerical simulations that the proposed PML formulations with the higher-order scheme are effective in terms of attenuating both the low-frequency propagating waves and evanescent waves and reducing late-time reflections, and also hold comparatively good absorbing performances as compared with the conventional SC-PML and the convolution PML (CPML) with the CFS scheme.


Antibodies are becoming increasingly useful in biotechnology as tools for the analysis and, more recently, the purification of proteins. High affinity antibodies are commonly used for analytical purposes (ELISA, RIA, blots, etc.) and may also be employed for protein purification as long as the protein is stable under the harsh chemical conditions necessary to cleave stable proteinantibody complexes. While both monoclonal and polyclonal antibodies may be used, monoclonal antibodies are advantageous in several respects: Production is standardizable and reproducible, the immunogen need not be pure, and a wide variety of antibodies can be selected so as to be able to determine optimal adsorption and desorption properties, this being especially important for sensitive proteins (Ehle and Horn, 1990).


Design methodology of high-speed digital system differs from that of traditional digital system,signal integrity problems as a result of high speed signal interconnection should be considered.Summarizes the design flow of high-speed digital system,introduces the design methodology based on SI simulation.Last a design instance of high-speed digital system based on ADSP-TS101 is presented.


The necessary and sufficient condition for the ordinary least squares estimators (OLSE) to be the best linear unbiased estimators (BLUE) of the expected mean in the general univariate linear regression model was given by Kruskal (1968) using a coordinate-free approach. The purpose of this article is to present in the same manner some alternative forms of this condition and to prove two of the Haberman's equivalent conditions in a different and simpler way. The results obtained in the general univariate linear regression model are applied to a family of multivariate growth curve models for which the problem of the equality between OLSE and BLUE is treated in a coordinate-free approach.


A growing understanding of waste management as a vital part of corporate resource management is prompting a rethink about good waste handling throughout the supply chain.


The determination of the air loads acting on rotor blades in forward flight presents an interesting and challenging problem in applied aerodynamics. Of particular importance for design purposes are the oscillatory components of this loading occurring at harmonics of the rotor speed. Unlike a wing, the trailing and shed vortex system of the blade generates a spiral wake that returns close to the blade. Because of its close proximity to the blade, the wake cannot be considered as rigid. Also, since the resulting loads are highly time-dependent, unsteady aerodynamic effects become important. An analytical treatment for the limiting case of hovering flight results in a simple closed-form solution that demonstrates that the oscillatory lift under normal operating conditions can be less than 50% of its quasi-static value. It is shown that the air loads in forward flight depend primarily on the equivalent lift deficiency and the down wash generated by the steady-state blade vortex system. It is also shown that, at low speeds, the rotor wake can be drawn up into the rotor leading edge and that this is probably the primary cause of transition roughness and noise encountered under certain flight conditions.


The Agreement between the United States and Venezuela was designed to further energy research and development in six areas. This report focuses on Annex V - Drilling, Coring, and Telemetry as supporting technology for enhanced oil recovery projects in the United States and Venezuela. Annex V consists of 18 tasks to perform these three projects. This report completes the work for Annex V. Energy research and development in the area of Enhanced Oil Recovery has as its goal the more efficient and complete production of the third crop of oil. Methods and techniques must be developed to assist in the implementation of EOR projects. Technology development that reduces costs and provides better reservoir information often has a direct impact on the economic viability of EOR projects and Annex V addresses these areas. Each of the three areas covered by Annex V are separate entities and are presented in this report as different sections. Each has its own Abstract. The drilling and coring tests were highly successful but only a limited amount of work was necessary in the Telemetry area because a field test was not feasible.


Named Data Networking (NDN) is a promising Internet architecture that exchanges data packets based on the contents' names regardless of the location of the data. Traffic routing and forwarding have scalability issues because of the gigantic number of Name-based prefixes. To address these issues, this paper proposes a new scheme for global routing optimization. This optimization is achieved by: 1) implementing a Peer Name Provider (PNP), 2) globally advertising PNP names and peer's names (PNAME) instead of content names, and 3) utilizing the NDN's Interest ForwardingHint to hold the producer's PNAME. The proposed scheme is implemented and tested in N-BGP, an interdomain routing protocol for routing NDN names and IP prefixes, using the Mininet emulator. The results show that the proposed scheme enhances the N-BGP scalability performance in terms of exchanged messages, and memory utilization.


Supply chain disruptions have reverberated in higher prices and shortages among even the most basic commodities, from poultry to consumer electronics to generic drugs and renewable energy. A halt in production along with an immense worker layoff stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in ships stranded at sea, a shortage of truck drivers, and ultimately a sharp rise in inflation rates. The impact of the supply chain disruption is global. 15 of the 34 countries classified as advanced economies by the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook had 12-month inflation rates above 5% through December 2021, a jump which had not been seen for 20 years. With the crisis expected to last for many more months, it is necessary to analyze and assess the impacts that have already transpired as well as what could be in store for the near future. This research paper examines the economic causes and implications of the ongoing supply chain crisis, as well as provides prospective short and long-term solutions.


The paper presents the tribological properties of composite aluminium oxide-graphite surface layers. The layers were obtained by the electrolytic method, in electrolytes with a different graphite concentration. The produced layers were coupled with a PEEK/BG material in reciprocating motion, under lubricant-free friction conditions. The results of research regarding the coef fi cient of a friction couple wear and mass wear of the material are presented. In order to determine the microgeometry of the aluminium oxide layers' surface and of aluminium oxide-graphite layers, investi-gation was conducted of the geometrical structure of the surface using a contact pro fi lographometer before and after a tribological test. Images are also presented in the paper showing the structure and surface morphology of aluminium oxide-graphite layers and the PEEK/BG material, taken using scanning electron microscopy.


Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) that occupies the bottom tier in the cloud pyramid is a recently developed technology in cloud computing. Organizations can move their applications to a cloud data center without remodelling it. Cloud providers and consumers need to take into account the performance factors such as resource utilization of computing resources, availability of resources caused by scheduling algorithms. Thus, an effective scheduling algorithm must strive to maximize these performance factors. Designing a cloud data center that schedules computing resources and monitoring their performances plays a leading challenge among the cloud researches. In this paper, we propose a data center design using delay tolerant based priority queuing model for resource provisioning, by paying attention to individual customer attributes. Priority selection process defines how to select the next customer to be served. The system has a priority based task classifier and allocator that accept the customer's request. Based on the rules defined in the rule engine, task classifier classifies each request to a workload Priority classifier is modeled as M/M/S priority queue. The resource monitoring agent provides the resource utilization scenario of cloud infrastructure in the form of dashboard to the task classifier for further resource optimization.


The rolling strategy is the base for presetting the process control parameters of cold tandem mill. GA(Genetic Algorithm)-based automatic rolling strategy optimizing system is introduced. Test results show that the system can improve the performance and specification of rolling strategy optimization and is worth ex-tending to practical production.


This paper discusses an interview with Sudhamek AWS, a well-known Buddhist businessman in Indonesia. Through this interview, the author of this article confidently examines how Sudhamek negotiated the practices of Buddhism and business. The author has conducted a structured interview with Sudhamek directly. Having conducting an interview, the author argues that as a businessman, Sudhamek is not just a businessperson but he is a Buddhist who tries to put his understanding of religion into practice especially related to his way of life. This interview has a salient contribution for opening portray of business values in Indonesian businessman world today. Keywords: business, spiritual economics, Buddhism ethics


A new species of endogonaceous fungus mycorrhizal with barley in Alberta is described. Glomus dimorphicum sp. nov. has two types of spores formed singly and in loose, often radiately arranged clusters. This new species produces very few vesicles, and arbuscule formation has so far not been observed.


Robotic balloons (aerobots) may significantly change the future of in situ planetary exploration. On Mars, the aerobots can fill the gap in resolution/coverage between the orbiters and rovers. Powered aerobots (airships) can make controlled global flights for high-resolution radar, visible, infrared, thermal, magnetic, and neutron mapping; they can be used for deployment of network of surface stations. Tethered balloons could provide ultra high-resolution imaging of local areas for navigation of rovers and data relay to the main lander station. Solar-heated balloons could be used as low atmospheric decelerators for low-speed landing. In the more distant future the airships could be used for human transportation. On Venus, aerobots may serve as the scientific platforms for the in situ atmospheric measurement and for study of atmospheric circulation. They can be used to drop imaging and deep sounding probes at sites of interest and to acquire and relay high-rate imaging data. Balloons technology is enabling for any Venus surface sample return mission. On Titan, powered aerobots can perform long duration low-altitude global flight for surface mapping, in situ atmospheric measurements, deployment of landers and rovers for in situ surface studies. Aerobots can also be used for long-duration atmospheric studies of the outer planets. Aerobot technologies have become more mature in recent years due to progress in development of envelope materials, and envelope design driven primarily by stratospheric applications. Technologies for deployment and inflation, navigation, control, communication and power are also developing rapidly in response to planetary applications.


Current trends in software system, such as cloud and big data platform, are leading to rapid and continuing changes. At the same time, these systems will have to react to these changes at runtime to satisfy the potential Quality of Service (QoS). Self-adaptation is recognized as a practical way for a software system to meet QoS requirements. The Development of self-adaptive software is generally more challenging and more difficult due to their high complexity. To address these challenges, this paper reviews the related research of self-adaptive software system and reports a case study that investigates a selfadaptive concurrency controller for database system. Through the case we illustrate how to develop a self-adaptive software system. Compared with other traditional method, the experimental results demonstrate that our self-adaptive controller can effectively improve the database performance by adjusting the MPL value based on workload changes and QoS requirements. Finally some future trends in this area are prospected and discussed.


The ischemical reperfusion injury is very common and inevitable among clinical practice,which always result in high disability of diseases.The ideal method is to reduce ischemical reperfusion injury aiming at the different links of its pathogenesis.Intracellular free calcium is believed to play a major role in the cascade that leads to cell death after ischemia and reperfusion.Research on the intracellular calcium and ryanodine receptor antagonist dantrolene has advanced rapidly in recent years.The pharmacological mechanism of dantrolene is associated with the inhibition of the release of Ca2+ from the endoplasmic reticulum and sarcoplasmic reticulum.This article briefly reviews the research progress in ischemical reperfusion injury and intracellular calcium channels such as Ryanodine receptors and so on.


Bottom sediments are extracted from the bottom of river, lakes, canals, reservoirs, and ponds in order the enhance their capacity and to improve the retention values. Excavated spoils, that does not contain harmful substances may be used. The direction of the management of bottom sediments depends on their chemical and physical properties. At work are examples of the use of bottom sediments in agriculture, forestry and construction. Discusses the criteria for sediment management technology. Proposed their own scheme to use dredging sediments in compliance with the Polish legislation. Based on the above diagram shows the potential ways to use bottom sediment from river San. Physico-chemical characteristics of the sediments indicates on their moderate pollution of organic substances and heavy metals, be used to fertilize the land included in the Regulation of Minister of the Environment of 9 September 2002 on the quality of soil and earth quality standards (2002 No 165 pos. 1359).


Ballistic Electron Emission Spectroscopy (BEEM) is a promising new variant of STM spectroscopy that allows the determination of Schottky barrier heights with high lateral resolution for relatively thick (≃100 Å) metal overlayers.1,2 The technique encompasses the injection of electrons or holes with an STM, which then reach the interface without scattering (ballistically). At the interface they will be reflected unless sufficient bias is applied between the tunneling tip and the metal overlayer to overcome the Schottky barrier height (see Fig. 1). Once the electrons reach the conduction band of the semiconductor they will be detected as a collector current Ic. Representative Ic vs VT, where VT, is the tip-to-metal bias, are shown in Fig. 2 for Ag and Au films on GaP(110). The Schottky barrier height is associated with the voltage threshold Vo beyond which a current can be detected. Because of the "soft" turn on of Ic, Vo is poorly defined unless the appropriate shape of the I-V curve is known from theoretical considerations. The imaging of the variations in Ic as a function of latcral position is referred to as a BEEM image, and has been associated with variations in Schottky barrier heights across the interface.1'3 We will show here that another and perhaps more dominant source of contrast in BEEM images is the surface topography, as surface gradients may result in current injections that reach the interface at angles substantially off-normal, a condition which drastically reduces the collector current intensities. The current variations in Fig. 2 are attributed to such variations in the injection angles. In order to quantify this notion we have also developed a model for the interface transport that includes non-classical transmission across the metal-semiconductor interface, as well as off-normal angles of incidence. An outline of these concepts will be presented here, as well as a quantitative comparison of the the model with topographic and BEEM data for several metals on GaP(110).


As materials scientists and engineers, we have the responsibility and ability to make sustainability a reality by creating and implementing sustainable materials and processes. It is, after all, the materialization of our needs and wants that have led to the current situation. However, we need to have the will to do it, know what to do, and how to do it. We must learn what sustainable options are possible, learn to choose among the options based on societal, environmental, and economic concerns, and learn how to work with others to make decisions that change the status quo. This leads to the questions: what community is prepared to act with us and how can we educate people to make a difference? As discussed in this article, the answer is the microelectronics industry. There is a growing recognition that microelectronics both cause and prevent societal and environmental problems. It is there, in the context of these problems and the growing importance and proliferation of microelectronics in our everyday lives, that we can forge partnerships to simultaneously solve sustainability issues and teach materials science and engineering students to become leaders in sustainable electronics. Graphical Abstract


INTRODUCTION To obtain maximum benefit from the increasingly widespread use of the Internet in today's information-oriented society, powerful tools are required for gathering and preparation of information. Intelligent agents, which have emerged in recent years, provide a successful technological approach to information handling. Intelligent agents are becoming increasingly important because of their flexibility and power for cooperative working in solving complex tasks. Usually such an approach requires agents which have the capability for extensive cooperation and communication among themselves. This raises the question of security. But, up to now, little work has been done which addresses the security issues associated with intelligent agents. For a new technology, such as that offered by intelligent agents, to be successful and widely accepted, it is necessary for systems, based on that technology, to be capable of maintaining security and consistency of operation when integrated into the existing infrastructure of an organisation. This paper explores some of the security issues relating to application of intelligent agents and the integration of such systems into existing organisations. First, existing information security issues for enterprises are considered. Then, a short introduction to the new technology of agents and agent systems is given. Following this, the special security problems of the new technology of software agents and the emerging risks for software and enterprises are discussed. Finally, a new security architecture for multiagent systems is proposed, together with an explanation of how this multilevel architecture


A new monitoring strategy, referred to as temporal profile analysis (TPA), has been developed. TPA uses fixed-site, ambient air monitoring of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to determine the number, VOC composition, and approximate trajectories of nearby source-related emissions. The strategy involves the interpretation of sequential ambient air gas chromatograms generated with sufficient frequency (hourly) to reveal the pronounced temporal variability of individual compounds. VOCs were monitored at a fixed site in the Richmond-Hopewell area of the Commonwealth of Virginia in September 1987 as a demonstration of TPA. The emissions from each of 12 nearby sources or source types were identified by comparing the prominent features in concentration time profiles. Two compound groups contain compounds usually associated with automotive emissions and as such constitute a VOC background that is generally prevalent in urban areas. All other groups, including one composed of Freon 12 and ethylene oxide, and a second composed of Freon 11, acetone, carbon tetrachloride, and sometimes chloroform are site specific. This monitoring strategy appears to be a direct and practical means to identify site-specific local sources and to improve mortality risk assessment.


This paper presents a new method for monocular position-pose measurement, which is based on the circular and linear features. The method improves the single circle based monocular position-pose measurement by recognizing the detectable circular structure and linear edge of target. First, according to the projection of the circle on the image, two sets of position-pose solutions are calculated, which do not contain the roll angle. Then, the roll angle is solved by utilizing the linear feature. The upper endpoint of the linear edge is selected as a reference point to eliminate the ambiguity. Finally, the simulation model and physical experimental platform are established to verify the validity and accuracy of the proposed method. Experimental results indicate that the proposed method can obtain the roll angle accurately and eliminate the ambiguity effectively. In case of noise and detection error, the results still remain accurate, which indicates that the proposed method is robust and has great application value in monocular position-pose measurement.