A Bayesian Model of the Effect of Object Context on Visual Attention Ben Allison (email@example.com) Frank Keller (email@example.com) Moreno I. Coco (firstname.lastname@example.com) Institute for Language, Cognition and Computation School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh EH8 9AB, UK Abstract Research in visual cognition has demonstrated that scene un- derstanding is influenced by the contextual properties of ob- jects, and a number of computational models have been pro- posed that capture specific context effects. However, a general model that predicts the fit of an arbitrary object with the con- text established by the rest of the scene is until now lacking. In this paper, we explain the contextual fit of objects in visual scenes using Bayesian topic models, which we induce from a database of annotated images. We evaluate our models firstly on synthetic object intrusion data, and then on eye-tracking data from a spot-the-difference task and from an object naming experiment. For the synthetic data, we find that our models are able to detect object intrusions accurately. For the eye-tracking data, we show that context scores derived from our models are associated with fixation latencies on target objects. Keywords: visual attention; object context; Bayesian model- ing; eye-tracking data. Introduction Real-world objects are often related to each other and typ- ically form a coherent scene. For example, a toothbrush is likely to occur with a tube of toothpaste, a mirror, a sink; it is unlikely to occur with a sauce pan, a salt shaker, a cooker. For a given object, it is therefore possible to deter- mine whether it is in context in a scene (toothbrush in bath- room), or out of context (toothbrush in kitchen). Experimen- tal evidence shows that context information facilitates human object recognition (Bar, 2004). In visual search tasks, eye fix- ations are targeted towards contextually appropriate regions (Torralba et al., 2006), and out-of-context objects attract fixa- tions earlier than in-context objects (Underwood et al., 2008). In computer vision, being able to detect out of context ob- jects is useful for object labeling. The local detectors stan- dardly used for this task only consider the visual features of the pixels within the bounding box of the object of inter- est (Felzenszwalb et al., 2010). Local detectors are therefore prone to confusing objects that are visually similar (e.g., fork and toothbrush). This problem can be addressed by comb- ing a local detectors with a model of object context, i.e., a model that determines which objects occur together. While this approach has been shown to increase object labeling performance (Choi et al., 2010; Galleguillos et al., 2008), the context models used are simple, typically relying on co- occurrence statistics over object labels. Furthermore, the con- text models used in computer vision are not designed to cap- ture human performance (e.g., in visual search). Therefore, these models have not been evaluated on tasks such as detect- ing out-of-context objects. In this paper, we present a new model of object context based on a more complex notion of object label co-occurrence that makes use of latent (i.e., unlabeled and unobserved) scene types: the Latent Scene Type model. This model al- lows us to exploit the common structure of scenes in order to estimate reliable parameters even for infrequently occurring objects. We investigate two model variants: the first is La- tent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA, Blei et al. 2003), a standard model of word-topic co-occurrence, which we use to capture object-scene type co-occurrence. The second model variant is formulated as a Bayesian mixture of multinomials, which assumes one latent scene type per scene (rather than one per object, as in LDA). We test both model variants on the task of producing con- text judgments for objects in scenes. We first use a synthetic data set for evaluation (in this data, context objects have been artificially inserted). In the second evaluation study, we use our model to mimic the data from an eye tracking experi- ment in which human participants had to spot out-of-context objects. Finally, we demonstrate that our model can predict fixation latencies in an object naming experiment which in- cluded out-of-context objects. Related Work To our knowledge, ours is the first model to attempt to quan- tify the degree of fit between arbitrary objects in a scene, and to correlate the predictions of such a model with human be- havior in scene viewing tasks. However, a number of mod- els have been proposed to capture context effects on visual attention; a prominent example is the Contextual Guidance Model (CGM, Torralba et al. 2006), which combines bottom- up saliency with global scene information (scene gist, Oliva & Torralba 2006). The model is trained on a set of images in which the target objects are labeled; from this data a prob- ability distribution of typical positions of objects is learned. This distribution is conditioned on the scene gist, essentially a coarse-grained representation of global image features. Gist is a latent variable in the model, comparable to scene type in our approach. The CGM has been evaluated on eye-tracking data from visual search experiments, and can successfully predict the scene-type-specific search behavior that partici- pants exhibit. However, the model is not specifically designed to detect out-of-context objects, and has not been evaluated on tasks that require an estimate of the contextual fit of an object.


The aim of this study was designed to explore the possibility of transferring bovine embryo blastomeres into buffalo nucleated oocytes.The fusion rate of buffalo oocytes and bovine embryo blastomeres(54 2%) was significantly lower ( P 0 05) than that of bovine oocytes and bovine embryo blastomeres(75 0%),but the cleaveage rate of reconstructed embryos derived from the couples of buffalo oocytes and bovine embryo blastomeres(65 4%) was not different from the couples of bovine oocytes and bovine embryo blastomeres(71 2%, P 0 05).However,very few of reconstructed embryos from interspecies developed to blastocysts (5 9%) and none of them hatched.


Allelopathic effect of 3 on germination and seedling growth of 4 and Brassica nigra stimulated the germination and seedling growth of some crops ( concentration caused inhibition. germination and seedling growth growth concentrations of aqueous extracts, while lower concentration of leaf and bark extracts/mulch ( stimulated the growth of laboratory and field trials followed the order: agriculture field crops preference is:


Synergistic leukemia cell death via simultaneous inhibition of lysine demethylase 4A (KDM4A) and poly ADP ribose polymerase (PARP) targeting dysregulation of DNA damage response (DDR) pathways was previously confirmed in our lab. It is hypothesized that co-targeting Tip60, a family member of histone acetyltransferase (HAT) that mediates DDR signals, with PARP inhibitors (PARPi), may introduce synergistic leukemic cell death in AML


Fostering the legal awareness is a current social change demand as part of government attention and promotion in various development efforts. Therefore, the establishment of a new legal product will become a reality if supported by the society members legal awareness. Legal awareness is the basis of the implementation of the law and it related to legal culture closely. Building the society legal culture should be oriented for the efforts to instill, promote and institutionalize the values underlying the law that require legal communication. The current legal counseling are required not just to do with the formal legal approach, but it can be done through a social marketing approach that more responsive in dynamics of change and the need for legal information in each segment of society.


The present study is part of a larger research on the impact of ESP acquisition among graduate students in Tourism at Babeș-Bolyai University. It reports the findings of a quantitative analysis carried out during the academic year 2018-2019 whereby the author seeks to identify a correlation between the field-specific language preparation (English for Tourism) of the graduate students in question and the rate of their employability in the travel trade or related (sub)fields. Additionally, the study provides information on both the professional and personal impact that the use of English for work and everyday life have had on the respondents.


ABSTRACT This article explores the initiation process of China's Growth Enterprise Board in the security market and focuses on the policy transfer activities developed by the Chinese based on the financial markets of the United States and United Kingdom. It presents a case study of China's Growth Enterprise Board, which has served as a new system for financing high-tech and innovative enterprises and upgrading the performance of the security market in China. The study expands the policy transfer framework as a 'short-cut' approach and suggests that policy transfer is a rational tool for creating policy instruments in a developing country. Additionally, the article indicates that policy agencies, such as China's security market, NASDAQ, and AIM, have become key sources for internationalizing China's security market. Therefore, this article contributes to the literature on policy transfer, which has previously paid little attention to China's security market in the past.


The Non-hydrostatic ICosahedral Atmospheric Model (NICAM), a global model with an icosahedral grid system, has been under development for nearly two decades. Here, we present its recent updates for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 6, High Resolution Model Intercomparison Project (HighResMIP) and their impact on the simulated mean states using 56-14km mesh model. Major updates include updates of the cloud microphysics scheme and land surface model, introduction of natural and anthropogenic aerosols and a subgrid-scale orographic gravity wave drag scheme, and improvement of the coupling between the cloud microphysics and the radiation schemes. A short-term sensitivity experiments demonstrate improvements in the ice water content, high cloud amount, surface air temperature over the Arctic region, location and strength of zonal mean subtropical jet, and shortwave radiation over Africa and South Asia. The decadal climate simulations further reveal an improvement in the genesis and structure of the tropical cyclones compared with those with the previous model. Finally, we will address outlook toward the cloud-resolving climate simulation based on a fresh benchmark result on supercomputer Fugaku, a flagship supercomputer in Japan.


Jan Culik interviews Marie Heřmanova from the organisation Pomahame lidem na utěku (We Help People on the Run) about what they are doing to help refugees and about the inactivity of European governments in this matter. The interview was broadcast on the Czech cable TV station Regionalnitelevize.cz from Friday 4th November, 2016.


Radial velocities for 72 M dwarfs have been obtained having internal errors of about 0.1 km/s and external errors of about 0.4 km/s. Multiple velocity measurements of ten dMe stars have yielded a set of six which have no stellar companions, providing confirmation that the dMe phenomenon can occur in single stars. These single dMe stars have low space motions indicative of relative youth. Four stars from the entire survey were found to have double-line spectra and two were found to be single-line spectroscopic binaries of low amplitude. The zero point of the velocity scale is found to agree well with that of O. C. Wilson (1967) and differences are noted among other radial-velocity studies. Most of the stars in this study have velocities sufficiently well determined to constitute potential radial-velocity standards.


GNAL mutations have been shown to cause adult‐onset isolated dystonia, a disabling movement disorder characterized by involuntary muscle contractions causing twisting and repetitive movements or abnormal postures.


TO THE EDITOR: The recent report by Coleman et al. (Ann Pharmacother 2002;36:1162-7) documenting gatifloxacin-induced fulminant hepatic failure is an important contribution to the literature on the safety of third-generation quinolone antibiotics. However, after reading the details of the case report, it became clear to me that this adverse event was entirely preventable. The use of this broad-spectrum antibiotic for impetigo, a common skin condition caused solely by Staphylococcus aureus and penicillin-susceptible Streptococcus spp. illustrates an all too common problem with the prescribing of quinolone antibiotics in the community and in nursing homes. This patient, according to the case report, had no drug allergies and, therefore, should have received treatment with a narrower-spectrum and possibly safer antibiotic such as a firstgeneration cephalosporin. Indeed, impetigo can be treated with topical mupirocin if the lesions are limited to one area, eliminating the need for systemic antibiotics. Aside from needlessly exposing patients to broadspectrum antibiotics, overuse of quinolones can adversely affect a community's antibiogram. In fact, overuse of quinolone antibiotics in my community has contributed to decreased susceptibilities for both Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa to the quinolone class at my hospital. Given the climate of health care today that includes direct-toconsumer advertising, pharmaceutical industry–sponsored continuing education, and decreased reimbursement that limits the time a physician can spend with the patient, it is imperative that all pharmacists, no matter their place of practice, promote rational drug therapy. Although gatifloxacin is indicated for the treatment of infections caused by Staphylococcus spp. and Streptococcus spp.,1 the use of it in this case was undoubtedly irrational. Had a pharmacist intervened in this case, the medical literature would have missed out, but perhaps this patient would not have.


The study of the relationship between forests and human life is an important part of environmental education. In this study, with the aim of clarifying the value of the riparian forest in environmental education, the history of the utilization of the riparian forest of the Kane River in Yamanashi Pref. and its landscape, was investigated.Historically, the forest along the Kane River has been utilized as a flood control forest, and was also utilized as a source of firewood and of fallen leaves for fertilizer. However, with the progress of technology, the value of the forest as a source of firewood and fertilizer has decreased over the past three decades, and several parts of the forest have been lost to development or have become unmanaged dumping grounds. In addition to the problem of dumping, in recent years there has been a growing demand for recreational areas, and a higher estimation of the historical value of the forest; and in 1996 the riparian forest became a forest park.In this forest park, the different landscapes show the history of the relationship between the river, the forest, and humans. For example, abandoned channels and sediment in the forest show the flood type on fan and the flood prevention function of the forest. Landscapes of open banks, flood control forest and groins are indicative of activities by residents to protect life and property from flood. Forest of oak and Japanese oak used appropriately as a source of firewood and fertilizer shows that the forest has been preserved. The recreational forest shows the value of the forest in offering spiritual well-being.In conclusion, the landscapes and the history of the riparian forest are suitable aids for the study of the relationship between the river, the forest, and humans, and for the study of the meaning of forest preservation. The riparian forest provides valuable teaching material in environmental education.


This report is the written summary of papers presented in Parallel Session B8 at the XIXth International Conference on High Energy Physics, August 24 to 30, 1978, Tokyo, Japan. The work of the minirapporteur was divided three ways: Q anti Q interaction and charmonium (Jackson), implications of the upsilon states (Rosner), and weak decays of heavy quarks (Quigg). 162 references.


There is a growing interest in charged particle therapy of cancer with increasing numbers of hospitals offering this advanced technology. Although many articles have been published in this area, "Proton and Charged Particle Radiotherapy" is the first fully comprehensive textbook containing detailed expert summaries of the entire process. The editors, Thomas Delaney (radiation oncologist) and Hanne Kooy (medical physicist), have invited chapters from a wide range of reputable international authors with strong representation from the Massachusetts General Hospital.

Much of the book concentrates on treatment methods and clinical outcomes of proton therapy, for which there is greater clinical experience compared with heavy ions. Topics covered in the first half include historyof charged particle therapy, radiobiology, particle accelerators, beam delivery, treatment planning and patient positioning. The second half concerns clinical aspects of treatment with two chapters devoted to overviews of the proton and heavy ion therapy and the remaining 12 chapters based on tumour-specific sites. There is also a chapter on facility design, which should be of interest to hospitals wishing to obtain their own particle therapy centres.

The book is beautifully illustrated with excellent colour figures depicting detailed dose distributions, dose volume histograms, beam delivery equipment and clinical images. The views expressed throughout are well balanced, with comprehensive lists of references for each chapter. Technical issues involved in proton treatment, such as passive scattering and active scanning techniques, are described in appropriate detail in a manner that is easy to understand. Many of the clinical chapters compare particle therapy treatment outcomes with other approaches such as surgery and chemotherapy.

There are chapters which may require the reader to undertake some extra study, for example accelerator systems may be challenging for some clinicians and some parts of clinical chapters may be equally taxing for physicists. There are some mild criticisms, such as the overuse of acronyms in some chapters; also, more could have been written about relative biological effect and dose per fraction, since different approaches are used in several countries.

Overall, for a book written by so many different authors and covering such an extensive range of topics, it is extremely well organised and highly readable, with remarkable consistency of style. This book will inspire physicists, clinical oncologists and radiographers to achieve the best possible dose distributions. It might even entice them to visit particle therapy centres abroad in order to learn even more about this promising branch of radio-therapeutics.

All oncologists need to develop a viewpoint of particle therapy within their own clinical practice. Site-specific clinical chapters in this book will allow specialist oncologists to appreciate the possible advantages of particle therapy in many practical situations. Such reading will enable more informed discussions with patients and their families concerning the merits of particle therapy and the possibility of obtaining treatment abroad before the UK possesses such facilities.

This book should become essential reading for examinations such as the Fellowship of the Royal College of Radiologists (on the assumption that examiners might also read this textbook and ask occasional questions on this theme). The training syllabus for health physics should ideally include this text. Surgeons and diagnostic radiologists with an interest in cancer, as well as medical oncologists, would benefit from reading many chapters. It is a very practical and useful book that should become a standard reference in the libraries of all UK cancer centres and medical schools.


Some aspects of W3C's RDF Model and Syntax Specification require careful reading and interpretation to produce a conformant implementation. Issues have arisen around anonymous resources, reification and RDF Graphs. These and other issues are identified, discussed and an interpretation of each is proposed. Jena, an RDF API in Java based on this interpretation, is described.


Aristolochia L. (Aristolochiaceae) is widely used throughout South-East Asia for the treatment of several diseases. Different species of this genus are known by similar local names in Assam. This review aims to provide up-to-date information on Aristolochia species distributed in Assam, including its traditional uses, phytochemical and pharmacological properties, in exploring future therapeutic and scientific potentials. The information on ethnobotany, phytochemistry and pharmacological aspects were collected by performing literature searches. Assam hosts a total of six species of Aristolochia. The taxonomy and distribution are presented. Traditionally the tubers are used by the local people to treat stomach pain, malaria, dysentery, high blood pressure, body pain, urinary tract infections, headache, impotency etc. It has considerable pharmacological properties including antimicrobial, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, anti-fertility, anti-venom, anti-diarrhoeal, anti-pruritic, anti-feedant and toxicological activities. Approximately a total of 200 compounds have been isolated from these species. So far, pharmacological investigations are only done on three Aristolochia species, whereas the other three are simultaneously used for the same purposes. Most of the medicinal properties attributed to these Aristolochia, have not yet been investigated and proven under a scientific study. This highlights the importance of Aristolochia as a valuable candidate for future studies.


Current laboratory diagnosis for glycogen storage disease type 1a (GSD 1a) is established by functional enzyme assay to demonstrate the deficiency of glucose‐6‐phosphate phosphatase (G6Pase). This procedure requires liver biopsy and is impractical for routine prenatal diagnosis owing to the high morbidity of fetal liver biopsy. The accuracy of test results is dependent on the stability of the enzyme during specimen collection, shipment, and storage. Recently the gene for G6Pase has been cloned and the prevalent mutations in different ethnic groups have been identified. We have developed an allele‐specific oligonucleotide (ASO) method to detect mutations in a large number of GSD1a patients. In this paper we report the prenatal detection of mutations in the G6Pase gene using this simple, dependable, rapid, and non‐invasive procedure. The turnaround time of this test can be as short as 48 h. A fetus was found to be a carrier using the ASO method and this was confirmed after birth. To our knowledge, this is the first GSD 1a prenatal case diagnosed by a DNA molecular method.


Two of the principal features of Leonardo Sciascia's works are the treatment of historical events and the adoption of the techniques of the detective novel. It is the latter characteristic which is the object of this study, for which I shall examine in particular the five novels, Il giorno della civetta, 1961 (The Day Of The Owl), A ciascuno il suo, 1966 (To Each His Own), Il contesto, 1971 (Equal Danger), Todo modo, 1974 (One Way Or Another), and Il cavaliere e la morte, 1988 (The Knight and Death), and the short story, Sciascia's final 'giallo' (detective story), Una storia semplice, 1989 (A Straightforward Tale).


The effects of water pollution on the rate of evaporation from the surface of water were examined. The evaporation from the surface of several kinds of polluted water, such as polluted river water, sea water, pulp-mill waste water and diesel oil-polluted water, from vessels were compared with the evaporation from distilled water. Reduction of evaporaton following to the decrease of vapor pressure with increased solutes in the water was rather small. The colored water and suspended matters increased the absorption of the solar radiation which raised the temperature of the surface of water leading to the increase of evaporation. Evaporation from the surface was disturbed significantly by the coverage with oil film. The stability of the oil film depended on the wind speed over the surface. Though the direct measurement of the amount of evaporation from the natural water bodies is difficult, some possibilities of the change of the rate of evaporation by water pollution is estimated from these experiments. Further, it is expected that the future expansion of oil pollution on the surface of the ocean may cause some climatic changes on the earth.


The dry matter (DM) losses in the upper layer showed high values in the control silage. However, the silage covered with polyethylene film achieved more losses than the OB film silages. The moulds counts were higher in polyethylene control silage than in the OB film control silage. We understanding that more moulds create a higher amount of DM losses in polyethylene control silages. In this way, the temperature of silage above the environmental pattern showed high values in polyethylene control silage and this fact contributed to increased competition across fungi strains and to a higher aflatoxin production. The use of additives showed less DM losses in polyethylene film, but in the silage covered with OB film the benefits of additives were not observed due to a better control of losses.


The identification of vortices in a fluid flow is a dynamically interesting problem that has practical applications in oceanography due to the outsized role eddies play in water mass, heat, and tracer transport. Here a new Eulerian scheme is developed to detect both vortices and strongly strained fronts, which are both ubiquitous in the world ocean. The new scheme is conceptually linked to the well-known Okubo-Weiss parameter, but is extended to quasigeostrophic flows by recognizing the strong role played by vertical shear in ocean dynamics. Adapted from the λ2-criterion for vortex identification (Jeong and Hussain 1995), the scheme considers the curvature of the pressure field as the differentiator between vortical and strained flow structures, and it is shown that its underlying geometry also exhibits characteristics of quasigeostrophic flow. The uses and skill of the scheme are demonstrated using a high-resolution regional ocean simulation, and prospects for its use with observational products are discussed.


Background: Let-7f has been confirmed to express in different malignant human tumors, it usually participates in tumor progression and development by different target factors. However, the studies about the association between let-7f and glioma are limited. The aim of this study was to evaluate the potential value of let-7f as a biomarker in the prognosis of glioma. Methods: Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of let-7f in 136 glioma tissues and 25 normal specimens. Peristin expression was evaluated by western blotting. The relationship between let-7f expression and clinical factors was analyzed by chi-square test. And Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression analysis was used to estimate the prognostic value of let-7f. Results: The let-7f expression was remarkably down-regulated in glioma tissues compared with normal brain tissues (P<0.001), and let-7f expression in patients with low WHO grade was significantly higher than that with high grade. The expression of periostin was decreased in patients with glioma compared to normal controls. And the expression of let-7f was significantly related to tumor size and WHO grade. Kaplan-Meier analysis suggested that patients with low let-7f expression had a worse overall survival than those with high let-7f expression (P<0.001). Multivariate analysis indicated let-7f could act as an independent prognostic biomarker for patients with glioma. Conclusions: Let-7f acted as a tumor suppressor and participated in the development and progression of glioma. Besides, it could be a valuable prognostic bio-marker in patients with glioma.


In the city of Palembang there are many coffee shops from the Nangroe Aceh Darussalam area known as kedai kopi Aceh  or Kopi Gayo. With its uniqueness, namely the quality of coffee beans, how to brew coffee, taste and friendliness of barista communication, Aceh coffee shops dare to compete with local Palembang coffee shops even with national and international branded coffee shops. The purpose of this study was to measure the performance of kedai kopi Aceh in the city of Palembang based on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is measured based on service quality using physical evidence, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy variables. The data collection technique used is a survey. The sampling technique used purposive sampling with the number of respondents as many as 97 people. Multiple regression analysis was used to examine the effect of five service quality variables on customer satisfaction. The results showed that all variables of the service quality (Includes: physical evidence, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy) of kedai kopi Aceh coffee shops had a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction. Although the customers of kedai kopi Aceh in Palembang are satisfied with the quality of service provided by kedai kopi Aceh, it is very necessary to improve the quality of the existing physical facilities as well as interior and exterior decorations, considering that competition between coffee providers (Coffee shop) in Palembang does not only rely on the taste of the coffee but also on the facilities,  in-store atmosphere and entertainment to satisfy customers.


Six measurements of K‐meson decay processes are discussed which are of particular interest at this time in as much as the results bear on the character of General Unified Theories. Three measurements concern CP‐invariance violation; three concern searches for new processes. The CP‐invariance measurements under consideration have been completed and the results are ''real'' and pass—though we consider the accessible range of improvements. In particular, we discuss briefly: (A) charge asymmetry in τ+ and τ− decays; (B) the polarization normal to the plane of decay of muons produced in Kμ3 decays, and; (C) recently completed measurements of e′/e (or the difference in the two‐pion charge ratios from KL and Ks decays). The search measurements are under preparation and the results are ''virtual'' and in the future. We discuss proposed searches for: (D) the decays K0L → μ+e; (E) K+ → π++μ++e−; and (F) K+ → π++, where ''nothing'' signifies non‐interacting neutrals such as neutrinos.


The Center of Excellence (COE) for Airport Pavement Research experienced a very active first 22 years of activity. Numerous technical reports and papers were presented and published by the COE research faculty and staff. Several students have graduated from the COE program and have taken jobs with consultants conducting aviation work. While the first two years of COE activity were fully funded, a considerable decrease in FAA funding has occurred during this third year of operation. Although the COE activity momentum is still carrying activities forward, a decrease in activity will be inevitable during the last quarter of FY >98. It is planned to complete final reports and papers on many of the COE research projects and close out several of the projects during the last quarter of FY >98. It is proposed to issue a new 3 year work plan and budget of COE activities for FY 1999, 2000, and 2001 to the FAA. This work plan will describe new areas of research in the COE as well as existing programs that will be continued. As part of the work plan, a comprehensive Industrial Affiliates Laboratory Program will be activated which will assist in funding research and technology outreach during this 3 year period. Funds from the Affiliated Laboratory Program will replace some of the FAA funding as described in the original COE proposal. Although there is disappointment with the level of COE funding in FY >98, there is a desire to continue the strong partnership with the FAA and provide innovative technology for future airport pavement systems. The work reported here involves experimental results of a non-destructive evaluation (NDE) technique, vibration resonance frequency measurement, applied to monitor damage imparted to end-mounted hollow concrete cylinders subjected to cyclic torsional loads. The theoretical background and experimental detail of the technique have been presented in earlier reports. The frequency values of the various vibrational modes can be consistently excited and measured throughout a controlled cyclic loading procedure to failure. These measured frequency values are sensitive to damage imparted by cyclic loading; increasing damage is associated with a decrease in frequency value of the resonant peaks. The behavior of the various vibrational modes suggest a distinct damage mechanism between that caused by cyclic and monotonically increasing loads. The vibrational resonance technique appears to be suitable for monitoring imparted cyclic damage in the concrete specimen. INTRODUCTION Existing constitutive models and failure criteria for …


Fractures are an important cause of disability in elderly women, especially among those with osteopenia. Decreased bone mass increases the risk for most types of fractures [1-4]. In particular, we recently reported [5] that most fractures in elderly women are associated with low bone mass at appendicular sites (the radius and calcaneus). The risk for these fractures, including some fractures not previously linked to osteopenia, such as of the leg and hand, increased 40% to 80% for each standard deviation reduction in appendicular bone mass [5]. We also found that appendicular bone mass predicts the risk for all nonspine fractures as well as for bone mass measured at the hip and spine [6]. Despite the strong relation between appendicular bone mass and risk for fracture, little consensus exists about the many proposed risk factors for decreased bone mass [7, 8], perhaps because most studies have examined a limited number of risk factors in relatively small selected cohorts. To determine what factors might contribute to osteopenia in older women, we examined a wide variety of potential correlates of appendicular bone mass in the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures, a large multicenter, community-based study of elderly women. Methods Patients From September 1986 to October 1988, women who were at least 65 years old were recruited in four areas of the United States: Portland, Oregon; Minneapolis, Minnesota; Baltimore, Maryland; and the Monongahela Valley near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Age-eligible women were identified from membership lists from several sources, as previously reported [1]. We excluded black women because of the reduced incidence of hip fractures in this group [9], and we excluded women who were unable to walk without the assistance of another person or who had bilateral hip replacements. Measurement of Bone Mass Bone mass (in g/cm2) was measured using OsteoAnalyzers (Siemens-Osteon, Wahiawa, Hawaii). We scanned three sites: the distal radius, the midradius, and the calcaneus. The protocol for the bone mass measurements has been described elsewhere [1]. To describe the reproducibility of these measurements, a participant in the study was measured five times on 5 consecutive days at each of the four clinical centers. The average coefficients of variation in these older women (standard deviation/mean for each subject) were 1.5% for the distal radius, 2.0% for the midradius, and 1.3% for the calcaneus. To assess variations between scanners at the four centers, two investigators were measured by all four machines; the mean of their coefficients of variation in these younger subjects was 0.4% for the distal radius, 0.5% for the midradius, and 1.2% for the calcaneus [10]. The correlation coefficients between the measurement sites were distal and midradius, 0.75; calcaneus and distal radius, 0.66; and calcaneus and midradius, 0.63. Predictor Variables Participants completed a self-administered questionnaire and were interviewed and examined at the clinical center. A selected medical history was obtained, including a history of a physician diagnosis of osteoporosis, spine fracture, arthritis, gastric surgery, hyperthyroidism, and stroke. Reproductive history, including age of last menstrual period, genitourinary surgery (hysterectomy, oophorectomy), number of pregnancies, and breast-feeding, was recorded. Previous fractures in subjects and their parents or sisters were noted. We collected detailed records about specific health habits including lifetime smoking history, alcohol use, and caffeine intake. Women who had smoked less than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime were considered nonsmokers. We assumed that a cup of coffee contained 95 mg of caffeine and that tea and cola drinks contained 55 mg and 45 mg, respectively. Participants were asked to bring all prescription and nonprescription medications with them to the interview for verification. The dose and duration of use of sex hormones, diuretics, corticosteroids, thyroid supplements, aluminum-containing antacids, vitamin D, sedative hypnotics, and antiepileptic medications were obtained. The frequency and duration of use of calcium supplements were recorded; use of TUMS (which can be taken as an antacid or calcium supplement) was recorded separately. Responses to the questionnaire were checked by a trained interviewer and were verified against the labels of medications that the subject brought to the interview. Recent dietary history (past 12 months), particularly calcium, phosphorus, and protein intake, was assessed by a checklist-interview method developed from the HANES-II survey [11]. Food models were used to estimate portion sizes, and foods that account for 80% of calcium intake in most adults were included. This instrument has a correlation of 0.76 with calcium intake assessed by a 7-day diet diary, but it tends to underestimate calcium intake by approximately 150 mg/day [12]. The frequency of milk consumption as a child and young adult was also assessed by questionnaire. Physical activity was examined with a modified Paffenbarger survey that has been validated in postmenopausal women [13-16]. The type and duration of weight-bearing recreational activities from the previous 12 months were recorded, and these were converted into weekly caloric expenditure. Other current activities, such as stair climbing, walking, and heavy household chores, were included. Intensity-weighted measures were calculated by designating activities as low (for example, walking or gardening), medium (dancing or tennis), or high intensity (jogging or skiing) and multiplying the reported frequency of the activity by 2.5, 5, and 7.5, respectively. Weight (in light indoor clothes with shoes removed) was recorded with a balance beam scale, and height was measured using a standard held-expiration technique with a wall-mounted Harpenden stadiometer [17]. Maximal right knee extension, triceps (arm extension), and hip abduction torque strength were measured with a hand-held isometric dynamometer (Sparks Instruments and Academics, Coralville, Iowa). Grip strength of the right and left hand was assessed as the average of two attempts with the dynamometer. Waist, hip, and abdominal circumferences were measured using standard methods [18]. Statistical Methods The cohort was randomly divided into equal-sized (n = 4852) training and validation groups. In the training group, we analyzed potential associations with bone mass in univariate analyses, adjusted for age. We then adjusted associations (P < 0.05) for other plausible confounding effects. For example, associations between the use of thiazide diuretics and bone mass were also adjusted for body weight, because those who were taking diuretics tended to be heavier. Potentially nonlinear associations between bone mass and continuous variables, such as calcium intake, were examined by plotting bone mass against the median of each decile of the predictor variable. Associations were tested for statistical significance with simple linear regression, Student t-test, or analysis of variance. Variables that were associated with bone mass in univariate analyses (P < 0.05) were examined by multivariate analyses using PROC GLM (SAS Institute, Inc., Cary, North Carolina). Some categories of predictor variables, such as calcium intake and muscle strength, contained several variables associated with bone mass in univariate analyses. After examining these variables for multicollinearity, separate models for strength, family history of fractures, dietary calcium, and physical activity were analyzed to determine the individual variables that explained most of the variance of bone mass within each category. For example, grip strength explained most of the variance for bone mass related to strength; thus, we selected this variable as the measure of strength for subsequent multivariate analyses. Both current dietary calcium and calcium from milk (ingested between ages 18 to 50 years) contributed to bone mass variance; therefore, both were included in the final multivariate models. A history of any maternal fracture after age 50 accounted for most of the bone mass variance from family history, and intensity-weighted lifetime physical activity accounted for most of the variance from physical activity. Selected variables (see Table 2) were then entered into a single multivariate model. We found that results from multivariate models were very similar in both training and validation groups; thus results are reported for the entire (combined) cohort. Results were generally similar for the three bone mass sites, and for those analyses that were concordant at all three sites, only the results for the distal radius are presented. We presented results at the other two sites only when they differed from the distal radius. Results The average age at enrollment was 71.1 years, and the age distributions were similar in the training and validation groups (Table 1). Thirteen percent of patients reported a previous wrist or hip fracture. Table 1. Baseline Characteristics of Patients Demographic and Anthropometric Data Bone mass was strongly and inversely associated with age, decreasing by approximately 5% with every additional 5 years of age after 65 years (Table 2). Northern European ancestry, hair color, and educational level were not associated with bone mass (Table 3). Table 2. Univariate and Multivariate Correlates of Distal Radius Bone Mass Table 3. Variables Not Associated with Distal Radius Bone Mass, Age-Adjusted Univariate Analyses* Several anthropometric measurements were strongly associated with bone mass (see Table 2). Both weight [in kilograms] and obesity (as Quetelet index, in kilograms per square meter) were associated with increased bone mass: after adjusting for age, bone mass increased 5.0% for every 10-kg increase in weight (Figure 1). Although weight and Quetelet were highly correlated (r = 0.91), weight was more strongly associated with bone mass than


The objective of this investigation is to propose a model using dynamic systems about determinants of the construction sector in Colombia assuming that such behavior is cyclical. The indicators used to track the cyclical behavior includes: interest rate for housing loans, number of building permits requested, number of houses built and number of credits approved by the banking system, among others. From these data and statistical analysis, the housing deficit and the growth in the share of construction activity in the gross domestic product (gdp) of Colombia is quantified.


The onchocerciasis vector Simulium damnosum s. lat. was colonized for almost 6 generations using an inexpensive, enclosed, gravity-trough rearing system designed to flood itself during power failure. Egg-to-adult survival for F1–F5 was 74.3, 85.5, 25.8, 17.6, and 0%, respectively. Maximum egg-to-adult survival and developmental synchrony were obtained with F2's reared at 25–26 °C. Insemination of females was estimated at 0.4, 6, 7, 6, and 2% for the parental–F4 generations, respectively. Behavioral observations suggested female refractoriness prevented higher insemination rates. The male: female ratio was 1:1, 1.1:1, 0.7:1, 0.5:1, and 0.07:1 for the parental–F4 generations, respectively. The altered sex ratios and decreased larval survival of later generations are unexplained but may indicate inbreeding depression. Sixty-six percent of emerged females (total females emerged = 4768) survived to day 2 and an average of 92.5% of these blood-fed on humans. Egg development required 72 h at 27–28 °C. An average of 65.2% of engorged females survived to day 4 and 94.6% of surviving females oviposited on cork substrates under simulated twilight conditions. Fecundity of F2 and F4 females was 450.50 ± 145 ( n = 40, range = 200–811) and 502.79 ± 180.02 ( n = 30, range = 80–836), respectively. The difference in fecundity between F2 and F4 females was not significant. Eleven percent of fertile eggs stored 18–20 days at 0.5–1 °C hatched.


avDroved: J. Ronald V. Zaneveld Characterizing the optical properties of the ocean has traditionally involved measuring daylight submarine light-field quantities, most commonly plane irradiance and upwelling radiance, from which certain apparent optical properties (AOP's) can be derived. As useful as these measurements are, fundamental progress in optical oceanography also requires the determination of inherent optical properties (lOP's). Comparison of lOP's has also been problematic because, unlike radiometric measurements, there are no agreed-upon methods or standards for the characterization and calibration of TOP instruments. New instruments and methods, which include theoretical advances in raditiave transfer theory, have been developed for accurately measuring lOP's, specifically the absorption, beam attenuation, and backward scattering coefficients, and the volume scattering function (VSF) at and near 18O. The fixed-angle backscattering-measurement approach is investigated for the application of measuring b,. Several backscattering sensors were Redacted for privacy developed with different optical geometries, which are shown to be accurately calibrated using a rigorous method that is partially traceable to an NIST reflectance standard. A unique instrument was developed, called Beta P1, that measures the VSF at and near 180 degrees and was modified to include a novel variable pathlength transmissometer that is shown to make the instrument completely self calibrating, yielding highly accurate lOP measurements. Measurements in the Gulf of Mexico revealed that the VSF increases by more than 50% from 179° to 180°. A sharp enhancement, possibly due to coherent backscattering, was also observed at 180° with an angular width of about 0.03°. Submerged source techniques were developed and conducted as experiments for testing aspects of radiative transfer theory, and are shown to be a useful and accurate means for characterizing the optical properties of ocean water and ice. The irradiance attenuation due to an isotropic light source was used to calculate the absorption coefficient from an exact equation that is essentially Gershun's famous equation transformed to spherical coordinates. A novel method for measuring the complete beam spread function (BSF) of sea ice was developed, and measurements were made of firstand multi-year ice off the shore of Barrow, Alaska. All of the measured sea ice BSF's were drastically different than the BSF of ocean water, and they strongly indicated that sea ice is a highly scattering medium, with a single scattering albedo generally greater than 0.97. At pathlengths greater than 30 cm, the BSF was found to be nearly identical to the computed asymptotic radiance distribution. Optical Backscattering and Submerged Source Techniques for Characterizing the Optical Properties of the Ocean


A 46-year-old woman with a history of exertional dysponea and palpitations was referred to our hospital with a severely dilated aortic root and unrestricted bicuspid aortic valve with mild regurgitation and normal left ventricular size and function. History was significant for polysplenia with follow-up computed tomographic (CT) studies following splenic vessel coiling noting an interrupted inferior vena cava with azygous continuation. Baseline electrocardiogram in this case showed an inferior, ectopic atrial rhythm (positive P wave in V1 and negative P waves inferiorly) and intermittent slow narrow complex junctional bradycardia with retrograde atrial activation seen (Panel A). Repeated CT angiogram of the chest, abdomen, and pelvis revealed features consistent with heterotaxy syndrome with left isomerism: bilateral left atrial appendages (Panel B), interrupted inferior vena cava (IVC) with azygous continuation (Panel C), bilateral, bi-lobed lungs with hyp-arterial long mainstem bronchi (Panels D and G) and polysplenia and right-sided pancreas and duodeno-jejunal flexure (Panel E). A large serpinginous major aorto-pulmonary collateral artery (MAPCA) was present on the proximal descending aorta communicating with both lungs (Panel F). Aortic valve was bicuspid with severely dilated aortic root (measured 55 mm). Heterotaxy syndrome encompasses a spectrum of malformations involving abnormal leftright axis determination. If alteration occurs during the early stage of embryogenesis, typically complete inversion of left-right axis results (situs inversus) whereas if affected in the later phases of embryogenesis, random positioning of left-right axis (heterotaxy) or mirror image duplication of organs (isomerism) occurs. Beyond the anatomical abnormalities of atrial isomerism are the associated conduction changes. With duplicate left atria, left isomerism patients lack a normal atrial pacemaker (Panel H), usually resulting in varying degrees of atrioventricular block associated with escape rhythms or need for pacemaker implantation. Although our patient currently has no AV block, progression to more advanced conduction disease is possible. Block in left isomerism typically manifests in childhood, although cases are described where pacing is not necessary due to robust escape rhythms.


Oil based mud formulated with diesel is commonly used to drill unforgiving formations, such as shale, high pressure high temperature (HPHT), deep water and ultra-deep water, and to improve wellbore stability. However, the major shortcoming of this mud lies in its adverse environmental impact. They are nonbiodegradable and highly toxic, thus leading to high cost of wastes treatment. A benign and biodegradable OBM was formulated from sweet almond seed oil (SASO) using Soxhlet Extraction Method. The SASO base oil was converted to SASO methyl ester through the process of transesterification. The possibility of applying this biodiesel–based drilling mud (BBDM) for drilling especially under HPHT and shale formations were examined. The results indicated that the rheology, filtration characteristics, electrical stability, thermal stability and shale swelling inhibition of the BBDM are comparable with those of the diesel OBM. The biodiesel has a flash point of 169 °C and is significantly higher than that of the diesel of 78 °C; indicating its ability to provide better fire safety than the diesel. The results also confirm that the biodiesel is non-toxic because it has significantly higher lethal concentration 50% (LC50) and effective concentration 50% (EC50) than those of the diesel. After 28 days' period of biodegradation tests, the BBDM displayed 83% aerobic biodegradation with Penicillium sp., while the diesel OBM exhibited 25.2%. The low branching D ow naded rom http://otro.org/SPEN IC /procengs-pdf/19N IC /2-19N IC /D 02S008R 002/118/spe-198717-m sdf/1 by U niersiti Teologi M aysia user on 03 M arch 2021


A comparative analysis of errors of two methods for the determination of phase matrices of high-level clouds with a ground-based lidar is performed.


Role of Irrigation in the Development of India's Agriculture. Seminar Series - XIII, The Indian Society of Agricultural Economics - Bombay and the Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bangalore, pp. 10-15


Real-time detection of moving target is a key part of surveillance, robot navigation, and tracking system. Based on the detail analysis of optical flow field, an integrated method for target velocity and location estimation, which incorporates the differences of images, Gaussian filter to the computation of gradient optical flow, is proposed in this paper. Firstly, in order to get the low computation demand needed for the optical flow calculating and especially to reduce the noise, the differences of the images are obtained. Secondly, the Gaussian filter is used to eliminate some noise. These two above steps are very important. Thirdly, gradient optical flow based on the two constraints of apparent brightness remaining constant and the velocity smoothness is adopted. Finally, the experimental results show the effectiveness and robustness of this method.


This paper deals with an assembly job shop scheduling problem considering two phases of control: order review/release (ORR) and dispatching rules. Dispatching rules have been intensively used in earlier job shop research. Such rules determine the processing sequence of jobs waiting in the queues of corresponding machines. In recent years, ORR emerges as another option for job shop control and has received increasing attention. Such control determines when to release jobs to the shop floor. Different ORR mechanisms have been devised and are reported to bring several advantages such as reduced inventory cost of early finished orders, controlled and balanced shop load levels and shorter order flow time. Previous studies on ORR often assume a simplified job shop without assembly operations, while this research applies ORR to an assembly job shop. The aim of this research is to evaluate the ability of different combinations of ORR-dispatching rules in optimising due date and flow time related performance measures. Full factorial experiment has been designed for a simulated assembly job shop. Results show that both ORR and dispatching rules are highly relevant with respect to the due date and flow time related performance measures. Particularly, the incorporation of ORR control into the existing control of dispatching rules is highly important for better performance of assembly job shop control.


Adaptation theory,which was proposed by Verscheren in his book Understanding Pragmatics,can contribute a lot to translation studies.This article analyzed three Chinese versions of Walden from the perspective of Verschueren's contextual adaptation theory,and concluded that it is necessary to pursue reasonable adaptation when translating so that versions of high qualities are possible.


The European Commission has subsidized project NACIR for concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) from January 2009 to December 2012. The main goal is to bring together the owners of the most advanced European CPV technology in order to research new applications for CPV systems. This research has unveiled possible sources of failure in new environments outside Europe, in order to assure component reliability.


In this paper, a numerical method is suggested to solve a class of boundary value problems (BVPs) for a weakly coupled system of singularly perturbed second-order ordinary differential equations of convection–diffusion type. First, in this method, an asymptotic expansion approximation of the solution of the BVP is constructed by using the basic ideas of a well known perturbation method namely Wentzal, Kramers and Brillouin (WKB). Then, some initial value problems (IVPs) are constructed such that their solutions are the terms of this asymptotic expansion. These problems happen to be singularly perturbed problems and, therefore, exponentially fitted finite difference schemes are used to solve these problems. As the BVP is converted into a set of IVPs and an asymptotic expansion approximation is used, the present method is termed as asymptotic initial-value method. The necessary error estimates are derived and examples provided to illustrate the method.


The recombination device (1, 1 ') for the catalytic recombination of hydrogen and / or carbon monoxide with oxygen in a gas mixture comprising at least one catalyst arrangement (2) which is arranged in a through-flow in the case of operation for the gas mixture in free convection housing (4). Here, the catalyst arrangement (2) according to the invention in the direction of flow of the gas mixture seen, a plurality of subregions (T1, T2), wherein a first subregion (T1) comprises a catalyst body (6) with a surrounding throttling layer (8) to inhibit the diffusion of the in flow direction - and / or flowing the reaction gases, and wherein one of the first subregion (T1) subsequent second subregion (T2) comprises at least one catalyst body directly accessible to the reaction gases (6).


: We extend the Standard Model gauge group by U (1) L e − L µ and introduce two scalars, a doublet and a singlet, that are charged under this new group and have lepton flavour violating couplings. Since in this model µ → e processes can only be mediated by µ → τ × τ → e interactions, bounds from µ → e transitions can be avoided while allowing for accessible new physics. We consider a Z (cid:48) boson with a mass of M Z (cid:48) (cid:39) 10 GeV and a gauge coupling g (cid:48) (cid:39) 10 − 4 , which is in reach of Belle-II. Neutrino masses and mixing angles can also be accounted for if sterile neutrinos are added to the spectrum.


In the context of the development of low-carbon economy,the development model of tourism economy is increasingly challenged by the reality. Based on the field survey data of tourism and quantitative analysis,this paper calculates the tourist carbon footprint of the tour,hotel and transport in Beijing. It analyzed that the tourist carbon footprint in Beijing is mainly concentrated in the tourist traffic,accommodation and excursions on dining and entertainment. Among three carbon footprints,tourist traffic causes maximum carbon emissions,while the second is the hotel's carbon emissions. The tourism activity causes the relatively smallest carbon emissions. Based on the above calculated conclusion,this paper proposes low-carbon tourism development strategy,provides decisionmaking for the development of low-carbon tourism in Beijing and is important for achieving low-carbon tourism in Beijing.


Simple Summary The main prognostic factors of localized/locally advanced anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) are insufficient to predict 10–20% of metastatic relapses. Fusobacterium nucleatum is among the most studied bacteria in digestive tract cancers and has been described as a poor prognostic factor in several digestive cancers. We retrospectively analyzed surgical samples from a homogeneous multicenter cohort of 166 patients with ASCC who underwent abdominoperineal resection. This study showed that F. nucleatum was an independent predictor of favorable overall survival and disease-free survival. This allowed the identification of a patient subgroup with a good prognosis (upper tercile). Our current work strengthens the new insight into the prognostic role of intratumoral F. nucleatum in cancer patients. Validation of these findings would allow to guide therapeutic strategies in dedicated trials by proposing intensification or de-escalation of systemic treatments and follow-up according to F. nucleatum loads. Abstract Main prognostic factors of anal squamous cell carcinoma (ASCC) are tumor size, differentiation, lymph node involvement, and male gender. However, they are insufficient to predict relapses after exclusive radiotherapy (RT) or chemoradiotherapy (CRT). Fusobacterium nucleatum has been associated with poor prognosis in several digestive cancers. In this study, we assessed the association between intratumoral F. nucleatum load and clinico-pathological features, relapse, and survival in patients with ASCC who underwent abdominoperineal resection (APR) after RT/CRT. We retrospectively analyzed surgical samples from a cohort of 166 patients with ASCC who underwent APR. F. nucleatum 16S rRNA gene sequences were quantified using real-time quantitative PCR. We associated F. nucleatum load with classical clinicopathological features, overall survival (OS), disease-free survival (DFS), and metastasis-free survival (MFS) using Cox regression univariate and multivariate analyses. Tumors harboring high loads of F. nucleatum (highest tercile) showed longer OS and DFS (median: not reached vs. 50.1 months, p = 0.01, and median: not reached vs. 18.3 months, p = 0.007, respectively). High F. nucleatum load was a predictor of longer OS (HR = 0.55, p = 0.04) and DFS (HR = 0.50, p = 0.02) in multivariate analysis. High F. nucleatum load is an independent favorable prognostic factor in patients with ASCC who underwent APR.


Mobile computing is powered by mobile applications (in short as mobile apps). With the prosperity of mobile apps, especially their roles in people's daily life during pandemic (e.g., food ordering, grocery delivery, and social networking), quality assurance of mobile apps becomes crucially important. Automated mobile User Interface (UI) testing had arisen as a key technique for app quality assurance. However, despite years of efforts, existing mobile UI testing techniques still cannot achieve high code coverage, especially for industrial-quality apps. A recent study reveals that the code coverage achieved by mobile UI testing tools is about only 30%. To substantially improve the efficacy of mobile UI testing, we investigate state-of-the-art techniques and find a fundamental limitation— each testing technique attempts to apply one predefined strategy to explore the UI space of all mobile apps. However, we observe that different UI design characteristics require customized UI exploration strategies in practice. With this finding in mind, in this paper, we propose a new direction for mobile UI testing—automatic customization of UI exploration strategies for each app under test. As a first step in this direction, we target ineffective exploration behavior, which refers to cases where UI testing tools fail to make progress effectively. Ineffective exploration behaviors can provide insights to (1) limitation in a tool's UI exploration strategies, (2) defects in a tool's implementation, or (3) an app's usability issues. We present Vet as a general framework for applying the idea of trace analysis on UI testing history to identify ineffective exploration behavior for a given UI testing tool on a given app. Vet embraces specialized algorithms for speculating subsequences in the trace that manifest ineffective exploration behavior of UI space exploration. Vet then enables enhancing the testing tool by guiding the exploration to avoid ineffective exploration. We evaluate Vet by applying it to three state-of-the-art Android UI testing tools. Vet locates ineffective exploration behaviors that reveal various tool-app applicability issues hindering testing efficacy. Vet automatically fixes the applicability issues and achieves up to 46.8% code coverage relative improvements on 11 of 15 industrial-quality apps under evaluation.


Contour map at a scale of 1:500, with the selected range of geophysical surveys. Technical paper, sheet of 76x94 cm


As computer attacks become more sophisticated and the rise of advanced persistent threats, moving target defense (MTD) is a new strategy being developed to reduce attacker success and provide for system resiliency. This work has been focused on standard IT infrastructures. In this paper we put forward how current MTD techniques may be applicable to the SCADA environment.


This text emphasizes an artistic intervention occurred inside a project which allies sculpture and comics' languages. Some of its poetic references (Gustavo Nakle, Honore Daumier and Angelo Agostini) and questions about its processes of creation and reception are also explicated, on a dialog with humor and with the concepts of communicational noise and anti-monument.


: Experimental infections of Dirofilaria immitis were by feeding newly-emerged infected dog with of fiies which were fed and maintained at during the period of a during the first 2 days 27 of 28 flies examined harboured large numbers in the stomach. larvae


Data locality is one of most important principles in MapReduce and lots of efforts have been devoted to it. However, there often exist some tasks in MapReduce, named non-local tasks, which need access remote data. The existing scheduler in MapReduce provides a simple strategy to schedule the non-local tasks, it not only takes no optimization into account but also may result in more non-local tasks. To address these problems, we design a new non-local task scheduling approach for MapReduce, named MARS. A task selection algorithm is proposed to choose a proper non-local tasks from multiple candidate tasks before scheduling and an overlapped schedule algorithm is proposed to optimize the time for a task to access remote data. Based on the above work, a new scheduling mechanism for non-local tasks is designed and implemented in MapReduce. Comprehensive experiments have been performed to verify the effectiveness of MARS. The results show that MARS can reduce Map phase runtime by 25% and achieve a better data locality than native Hadoop.


Abstract : This paper describes a test and evaluation program on the F-14 arresting gear hook shank. The objective was to develop criteria based on analysis and test results, whereby the proof load/inspection interval and overall service life of the hook shank could be safely extended. Fracture mechanics techniques provided a method of assessing the significance of proof tests and correlating proof loads with remaining life under operating loads. The results of this program showed that a two-phase proof load (axial followed by bending) could extend the proof-test interval from 100 to 125 arrested landing cycles. In addition, the total service life could be extended from 1000 to an indeterminate number of arrestments. (Author)


Since the start of Run II in March 2001 the Tevatron collider has delivered pp collisions corresponding to about 3 fb−1 to the CDF and DO/ experiments. This report presents a brief summary of recent results based on this dataset from the searches for Higgs bosons and Supersymmetry.


The mineral resource sustainable development is a basic national policy. How to maintain it is a question as everybody concerns. Drawing up a policy that is advantageous to stability of mineral resource and equilateral development, and strengthening mineral resource exploration can maintain the sustainable development.


Weakly supervised localization has attracted increasing attention since only image-wise labels are needed. One mainstream approach, CAM based top-down localization method, suffers from poor resolution and localizing only the most discriminative regions. Another kind, model agnostic perturbation based method, suffers from multiple iterations for each sample. In this paper, we introduce PECA-Net: Preserve and Erase Based Class Attention Networks, which adopts preserve and erase perturbed U-net as the basis, with class activation mechanism as attention to enhance localization capability. Class attention module strengthens informative features and achieves a basic localization. Preserve and erase perturbed U-net replaces the random and iterative extrinsic perturbation with meaningful erasing. In addition, this structure refines the preliminary localization. Since the target object is hit twice, therefore, entitled as double shot. Experiments validate that localization error of both CUB-200 and ILSVRC ImageNet dataset is the new state-of-the-art.


In this study, a comparative analysis between conventional solvent extraction and innovative green extraction methods, using microwaves and ultrasounds, has been conducted for the recovery of bioactive compounds and especially astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis microalga. The isolation of the desired natural compounds as well as the environmental impact of each method has been the criteria for the different processes evaluation. A comparative life cycle analysis was carried out, using proper databases and software, in order to evaluate the selected extraction processes' sustainability. Among the extraction procedures applied, ultrasound assisted extraction was found the most sustainable method so far for astaxanthin extraction, regarding its high yielding, low cost, short time and medium environmental impact. Moreover, microwave assisted extraction showed great potential as a rapid and overall eco-friendly technique suffering though from low yielding due to thermal degradation of carotenoids in long processing times.


The Internet of things (IoT) is a technological phenomenon which is evolving from the innovative developments in Information and Communication Technology. Using Internet Protocol connectivity it is now possible to connect any devices to the internet and allowing them to be controlled and managed from any place and at any time. With the increase in the use of Wi-Fi technology to access internet, IoT is further evolving into Internet of Wi-Fi enabled things. Wi-Fi provides advantages such as IP-based communications, Security and integrity, flexibility. This paper discusses the scenario of Internet of Wi-Fi enabled things and the related technologies.


The results of recent studies by Rusalem and associates (1, 2) suggest that selective changes occur in vocationally motivated older disabled persons in the course of participation in a vocational rehabilitation program. These changes are manifested in the clients' self-reports of feelings of enhanced self-worth, elevated scores on the Havighurst Life Satisfaction Index A, and counselor observations of improved vocational and interpersonal functioning. Staff ratings tend to reflect the belief that older disabled persons become more alert and more interactive with the environment as they cope successfully with the challenges presented to them in vocational rehabilitation. This paper tests the hypothesis that participation in such a program will be accompanied by positive changes in scores on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (W AIS) during the first six to eight months after admission, and that these changes in performance will also be apparent in observations on behavior. Federation Employment and Guidance Service (FEGS), a non-profit, nonsectarian community guidance and placement service affiliated with the Federation of Jewish Philanthropies in New York City, is conducting in the Coney Island area of Brooklyn a special vocational rehabilitation program for disabled persons aged 55 and over, who for medical reasons cannot regularly leave their neighborhoods through the use of public transportation in order to participate in employment activities. Assisted by a grant from the Vocational Rehabilitation Administration of the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare, FEGS maintains a facility in the Coney Island neighborhood through which vocationally motivated older disabled persons receive medical, vocational, and psychologic evaluation; workshop evaluation; training in work habits and skills; vocational counseling; long-term employment in the FEGS Neighborhood Sheltered Workshop; placement in industry (whenever appropriate); and follow-up guidance. All services are provided in cooperation with the New York State Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.


Aimed at the problem of excessive vibration noise of urban substation reactor chamber,the comprehensive reform of the project was carried out by using vibration and noise reduction technology. Reasonable isolation device based on the principle of reactor vibration model was designed,as well as typical position of vibration isolation scheme in real time was detected with using the online vibration transfer function and vibration spectrum. The transmission route of noise could be controlled by using the noise reduction measures of sound absorption, sound insulation, noise elimination, etc.Meanwhile,the noise data of indoor and outdoor reactor chamber was acquired and analyzed before and after transformation.The results show that the effect of vibration isolation scheme using the damping pad and the six vibration absorbers at the bottom is good,in which the isolation rate of body is more than 93%. Through using comprehensive measures,such as the reasonable selection of porous fiber acoustic materials,the transformation of air inlet and soundproof door,the applications of low noise fan and muffler,etc.,the noise inside the reactor chamber can be reduced to about 8 dB,and the outdoor noise is equal to environmental noise, which shows that the noise control achieves the desired effect. The successful implementation of this research can provide technical support for the future project transformation.


A case of the rare condition of combined simultaneous intra-uterine and extra-uterine pregnancy resulting in two live children is recorded. The incidence of this condition is variously reported as between 0.001 percent and 0.005 percent in all pregnancies. Rarer still is the delivery of two live children, especially a live extra-uterine foetus which, other than being premature by weight, was normal, while the intra-uterine foetus exhibited congenital malformations.


We report the results of a comprehensive study of the mechanical properties and chemical structure of carbon nitride thin films deposited by magnetron sputtering. Nanoindentation measurements show that the films are very elastic. Using a modified Oliver–Pharr method, to account for the elasticity of the films, the reduced elastic modulus was calculated to fall in the range of 35–55 GPa for all films measured. No quantifiable plastic deformation was measured in the tested films, therefore the hardness calculated (6 GPa) can only be assumed to be a lower bound. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy of the carbon nitride films indicates the presence of large amounts of single and double bonds, and very small amounts of triple bonding, between carbon and nitrogen. Near edge x-ray absorption fine structure data suggests that there are three predominant types of bonds between carbon and nitrogen. This is consistent with the x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy data which shows N(1s) and C(1s) core spectra with mu...


Ecker, Pillemer, Wertheimer and Gradis 1 showed that a correlation exists between the concentration of ascorbic acid in the blood serum of guinea pigs and the complementary activity of the serum. These authors further demonstrated that, in vivo, the relationship holds true until a definite level of ascorbic acid is reached at about 1 mg. per hundred cubic centimeters of serum. It was also found that serums treated in vitro with optimal quantities of ascorbic acid improved in their complementary powers and showed greater stability. From these observations the suggestion was finally made that the complementing activity of the serums of scorbutic guinea pigs and of men may be used as a biologic index of vitamin C deficiency. Since these studies have appeared, Chu and Chow 2 independently also noted that a qualitative relationship exists between vitamin C intake and complement titer in human plasma. The authors stated that an


The integrated library management (ILM) means an optimal management that includes the integration of library information resources, techniques, services, organizations, staffs, funds and properties. Three theoretical principles and operational rules for LJM are proposed.


The paper mainly researches the problem of solving the Joint Operation distributed simulation based on FLAMES and HLA. At first, the paper introduces advantages of using FLAMES to make Joint Operation simulation. Then paper studies the mechanism of the interaction between entities of the Joint Operation simulation based on FLAMES HLA. At last, with a simple simulation example, which surface-to-air missile base fired missiles to counterwork a battleplane, the paper discusses the process of being realized based on FLAMES HLA. The result shows the practicability of the Joint Operation distributed simulation based on FLAMES HLA. With this simulation platform to make Joint Operation simulation, not only greatly reduce the workload of simulation realization, and improve the speed of developing Joint Operation simulation system, but also fully show the character of the multi-entity's interaction in Joint Operation.


Polypropylene hollow fibers were fabricated and used as biofilm carriers in membrane aerated biofilm reactor(MABR).A novel experimental setup was made in the study.A quick start of MABR system was achieved by circulating culture mixed liquor through the hollow fiber bundle for the formation of biofilm on the hollow fiber surface.In response to the experimental study of domestic sewage treatment,MABR showed excellent capacities of removing COD and reducing SS.The effluent COD maintained at 40 mg/L below and SS at 15 mg/L below during the experiments.It was found that the COD concentration of sewage dropped to 50 mg/L below after 10 hours of MABR treatment at different oxygen pressures ranging from 0.06~0.1 MPa.


Purpose of the study Annually, more than a million joint replacements are performed worldwide. The most feared complication is infection. The purpose of this study is to establish the spectrum of organisms and their respective sensitivities, cultured during primary and secondary debridements of staged revision surgery. These findings were then utilised to suggest alternative empiric antimicrobial therapy. Description of methods


The purpose of the paper is to discuss how to regulate the access to and use of biochemical and human genetic material currently considered as part of the market framework. Looking beyond the protection of traditional public goods (such as land or water), the paper emphasizes the debate around the progressive commodification of human genetic resources facilitated by an improper use of intellectual property rights. The discourse around commons is used to evaluate alternative tools and strategies to the issue of private appropriation of human genetic resources and natural compounds


In Part I of the paper the mean cost for a unit of time arising from a non-terminating diffusion process, denoted by $\Theta $, is defined. One part of the cost originates from the motion inside the interval between two boundaries, the other part originates in the jumps from these boundaries. $\Theta $ is characterised by Theorem I. In Part II it is supposed that the diffusion coefficient and the coefficient of the local shift of the process depend on a control variable. The optimum $\hat\Theta $ of realizable mean costs may be determined by means of Theorem 2.


This is a collection of selected, peer reviewed papers from the ModTech International Conference on Modern Technologies in Industrial Engineering (ModTech 2013), June 27-29, 2013, Sinaia, Romania. The 135 papers are grouped as follows: Chapter 1: Engineering of Manufacturing Processes; Chapter 2: Advanced in Composite Materials and Technologies; Chapter 3: Characterization, Modeling and Simulation of Mechanical Processes; Chapter 4: Robotics and Computer Integrated Manufacturing; Chapter 5: Technology Transfer; Chapter 6: Micro and Nano Technologies; and, Chapter 7: Maritime Engineering and Navigation.


Palladized bacterial cellulose was used in the present investigations for the reductive decolorization of drimarene red dye in a rotating catalyst contact reactor (RCCR). Approximately 90% of 100 mg/L of dye was decolorized at pH 2 after 25 minutes of reaction in RCCR using hydrogen as the reducing agent. Scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X‐ray spectroscopic analyses suggested irreversible impregnation of nano‐sized zero‐valent‐form palladium (Pd0) deposits within the bacterial cellulose fibrils. The kinetics of decolorization remained unaffected by varying initial concentrations of dye and rotational speed of discs in the reactor. The rate of decolorization of dye increased with increasing palladium concentration per unit area of bacterial cellulose and decreasing pH of the reaction phase. UV‐Visible absorption spectroscopy and liquid chromatography‐mass spectroscopy suggested the accumulation of low‐molecular‐weight products, as a result of the cleavage of azo bonds in the dye molecules. Reusability of immobilized palladium is expected to reduce the treatment cost.


Benthic foraminifera from the Cretaceo us/Tert i ary (K/T) transition at La Ceiba (M exico) have been studied. In base of their similarity with recent benthic foraminifera and the relationship between morphological features and microhabitat preferences, as well as with the feeding habits, we inferred the paleoecology of the assemblages from sea-bottom floor. Three stages have been distinguished: mesotrophic conditions prevailed during stage I , followed by anincrease in the organic flux during stage 2, and then a sudden breakdown of the food supply in the stage 3. The pattern of paleoecological evolution, as well as a drastic fall in the primary productivity between stages 2 and 3, are consistent with the hypothesis of a bolide impact in the Yucatan at the K/T boundary


This paper focus on the cultural elements present in the markets of Delhi and London. The study is done to find the importance of cultural element on consumer behavior in the markets of Delhi and London. As the companies are expanding their business in the foreign countries for increasing business profitability, it is focused that the companies should not forget to consider the cultural elements while marketing the products and also while preparing the strategies.Cultural considerations are shown as an important factor that influences the markets of Delhi and London. The cultural importance is stated by means of examples where found necessary. The research is based on primary data that is authors' opinion, teachers lecture and local people's opinion and secondary data that is collected from journals, magazines and internet.The type of relationship was found between both the markets of Delhi and London with respect to the cultural elements present in these markets. The correlation method for finding the relationship among the markets.


A method is presented for the computation of the longitudinal coupling impedance of an azimuthally symmetric obstacle of general shape in a long beam pipe. The method involves a numerical calculation of the fields at mesh points in the cavity alone, from which the additive contribution of the cavity to the coupling impedance of the beam pipe can be obtained as a surface integral confined to the cavity wall. Numerical work for obstacles of various geometries is in progress.


Grindr is a male location-aware homosexual mobile social network for Smartphones. Drawing on a qualitative study, this article considers how the uses of the mobile application foster meeting opportunities and define new modes of interaction in gay hookup culture (cruising). We specifically investigate how technological tools re-arrange the times and spaces of casual hookup within the model of anonymous sexuality in public and semi-public spaces. Transposing the traditional codes of hooking up, we analyse how the uses of the mobile application are transforming such practices in the sense of a privatization which gives a central role to the home.


A biological trial was conducted on 192, three days old commercial broiler chicks, distributed randomly into four treatment groups of 4 replicates of 12 birds each, reared for a period of 35 days. The first treatment group (T1) was taken as control group and offered basal diet without any additive. The other three treatment groups (T2, T3 and T4) were fed diets supplemented with 1, 1.5 and 2 % bovine colostrum/kg feed, respectively. The treatment groups offered diets supplemented with bovine colostrum showed significantly higher body weight with the highest body weight recorded in T4. The final body weights recorded at the end of the trial period were 1503.04±25.16, 1577.99±35.99, 1675.86±77.21 and 1897.02±37.51 in groups T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. There was a significant reduction in mortality percentage across the treatment groups. An overall mortality of 11.43% was recorded during the trial. The highest overall mortality being recorded in T1 (19.23%) and lowest in T4 (2.5%). T2 and T3 showed a mortality percentage of 16.92 and 3.77 respectively. There was a positive impact on the economics of production, thus increasing the profit margins. Economic analysis revealed that the cost of feed/kg body weight gain was Rs 78.20, 73.50, 69.58 and 66.60 in T1, T2, T3 and T4 respectively. T2, T3 and T4 had a relative advantage of Rs 4.70, 8.62 and 11.60 respectively as compared to control T1. Thus, it was concluded that bovine colostrum could be incorporated in broiler diets @ 2% for better body weight at market age, reduced mortality percentage and improved the overall economics of production.


Objective To study the effect of secoisolariciresinoldiglucoside(SDG) on immune modulation of mice.Methods ICR mice,half male and female occupied,were divided into a control group and three experimental groups.After mice were orally administered high or middle or low dose of SDG for 30 days,effect of different doses of SDG on weight,index of immune organs,proliferation ability of lymphocytes,natural killer(NK) cell activity,lymphocyte transformation,phagocytic function of macrophages,hemolytic plaque forming and level of IL-2 were observed.Results All the 3 doses of SDG increased activity of IL-2 in mice and phagocytic index of macmplage greatly.High and middle doses of SDG also significantly enhanced the number of plaque forming cell(PFC),the lymphocyte transformation and NK cell activity.Conclusion SDG has an effect on promoting immune function of mice.


The aim of the study is articulated in the title. The author is reconstructing Kantian philosophy and pedagogic, the thesis of postmodernism and post-modern pedagogic and indicates the relationships and differences of those two systems. Both Kant and the Baden-based neo-Kantians enabled the emancipation of the humanities. The Kantian model of pedagogy was the basis for pedagogic directions, belonging to the meta-theory of humanistic education and critical pedagogy, especially the postmodern one. There are clear links with Kantian ideas of pedagogy, the way to capture the role of dignity, knowledge and freedom in the morality of a human being. There are also significant differences: Kant did not include to his pedagogy social, political and pluralistic questions, which are so important in postmodern pedagogy.


Relevance of the study is caused by the absence of experimental data, establishing a relation between submicroscopic (the third-order properties) and macroscopic properties of the first-order. Such interrelatedness, being a factor affecting the microstructure-strength ratio, can considerably facilitate a further success in solving the issues of life extension. The aim of the study is to establish the effect of cyclic thermal loads on the root-mean-square displacements of atoms as a sign of interatomic bond strength and microdamage of metal of superheater tubes. Object of study are specimens of heat-resistant pearlitic 12Cr1MoV steel from the weld-affected zone. Methods includephysical simulation of operation conditions by thermal cycling of specimens in the MIMP-10UE furnace, X-ray dosimetry of specimens, evaluation of internal structural stresses using X-ray diffractometer DRON, and surface morphology by means of PENSCKOPE microscope. Results of the study established that thermal cyclic loads have effect on the root-mean-square displacements of atoms. It was shown that thermal effect results in increase of the strength of interatomic bonds. The paper demonstrates the correlation between submicro- and macroscopic characteristics of strength is, as well as the fact that the amplitude of atomic thermal vibrations, being a characteristic of interatomic bonds strength, can be a diagnostic indicator of accumulation and development of metal damaging. Decrease of root-mean-square displacements amplitude during thermal cycling is explained by the hypothesis about occurrence of substitution solid solutions as a result of surface nitriding by molecular nitrogen of the atmospheric air. Under this hypothesis it was proved that one of oscillation mechanisms for internal stresses of the first-kind can be the process of surface nitriding during thermal cycling, which results in complex bonds between metal and nonmetal in the multicomponent alloyed steels, aimed at maintaining the stability of solid solution system.


SUMMARY In the diaspine scale, Pseudaulacaspis pentagona, the males are haploid, with eight chromosomes, and the females are diploid, with 16. Meiosis is normal in the female and replaced by a simple mitosis in the male. Mating is required for the production of any offspring, either male or female. Egg production affords an example of combined sexual dimorphism and dichronism; the mothers first produce a series of eggs containing coral-colored female embryos and then, without interruption, lay a series containing pinkish-white male embryos. Cytological study of early embryogeny shows that a chromosome set is eliminated to produce the haploid condition of the male embryos. Chromosomes broken by X-rays were used as genetic markers to demonstrate that the eliminated set is of paternal origin. Symbionts, yeast-like in appearance, are present at the distal end of both male and female embryos. The polyploid sector of the embryo stems from the fusion of a cleavage nucleus with both polar bodies and is pentaploid with 40 chromosomes. As would be expected on a simple genetic basis, irradiation of fathers preferentially reduces the number of daughters.


The attenuation coefficient of the guided mode supported by a metal-clad planar dielectric waveguide is deduced by a perturbation technique that is commonly used for metallic waveguides for both the transverse electric and the transverse magnetic modes.


The VTIR team participated in the Lifelog Semantic Access Task of the NTCIR-12 2016. We proposed an approach to pre-process the visual concepts of the photos and reconstruct queries from two aspects. Due to limited time, our efforts were constrained. Our main contribution was to learn and incorporate location of each photo to improve search accuracy. The evaluation demonstrated that our approach achieved pretty decent results with querying simple scenarios, while a more sophisticated model is needed for search complicated scenario, including range search. This report describes our approach to improve retrieval accuracy and discusses the results obtained, and proposes some possible improvements that can be made in the future.


An investigation of performance factors of developed hand preference was undertaken. Measurements taken from both the preferred and nonpreferred hands of 50 males and 50 females yielded scores on 61 dependent variables from 32 tests. Factor analyses of the scores produced 9 interpretable factors of hand performance. Each factor was common to male and female and to preferred—nonpreferred performance. However, preferred hand performance was superior on almost all tasks. Results indicate that questionnaires of stated hand preference cannot adequately represent the range of handedness or degree of differential manual proficiency. It was suggested that preferred hand performance is characterized by "Automatization" of the skills involved in hand performance.


ABSTRACT Flexible, stretchable and wearable sensors are needed for the human motion detection. Here, a highly stretchable and sensitive strain sensor is fabricated based on the coating of nano-graphene platelets on natural rubber by simple dry coating process. The gauge factors are adjustable in the ranges of 0.78–52.53 depended on the preparation conditions and strain state. The sensors showed a high stretchability up to 750% and high durability of 1500 stretching–releasing cycles. The stretchable strain sensors are capable of detecting a bending fingers and the pulse of radial artery on the wrist. In addition, a smart glove made form five independent strain sensors was created. The data of the glove finger motions are used to control an avatar robotic hand.


To understand the relationship between deforestation in the north of Mato Grosso and settlements, the objective of this paper was to present a literature systematic review on rural settlements and its possible relationship with the dynamics of deforestation in Amazonia, punctually seeking to answer these questions: 1). Which authors have most influenced the studies in the area (until the present day)?  2) Which journals have highlighted the subject ? and 3) What is the current state of the art on the subject.. For this, the SCOPUS database was chosen for consultation, through the combination of different key words related to the subject. The results pointed out that the authors who focus on the theme are between Europe, USA and Brazil and that the subject is proliferated through four main journals that prioritize interdisciplinarity and therefore integrate economics, ecology, forest management, besides studying sustainable policies in socio-economic systems. The review points to three distinct phases of the land use and occupation process in the region. However, these phases can not be placed in a linear and decontextualized sequence of the market dynamics, political actions and national and international environmental organizations pressures.


The leading implementations of graph reduction all target conventional processors designed for low-level imperative execution. In this paper, we present a processor specially designed to perform gr...


The purpose of this paper is to explore formal information representation for tactical reconnaissance system (TRS) organization model, i.e. to describe its framework and analyze its description logic to form organization information in establishing a logical simulation model for the real organization system. This paper establishes system caste diagram, analyzes task, role and entity for TRS organization, and uses Object-Z specification language to design relevant formal models of organization, roles and entities in TRS. It further presents a method in transforming Object-Z class tree to TRS task tree organization, and checks these formal models by implementing simulation. This work proposes a novel approach of formal information representation for a complex warfare system organization model through transforming subsystem-level representation to Object-Z representation, till task tree that reflects system organization information. The application in tactical reconnaissance task decomposition modelling and simulation demonstration system proves that this approach is feasible and effective.


Among several roles and responsibilities of the multidimensional United Nations Peacekeeping missions of the twenty-first century, its utmost role since its inception is to serve as an effective tool for the prevention of wider internationalization of regional conflicts and conflict escalation. Moreover, the formation of a UN peace mission in response to the outbreak of conflict is the legitimate response of the United Nations Security Council to threats to global peace and security. Therefore, under the current political scenario of the ongoing Ukraine War in Europe, a peace mission to the region seems to be the most reasonable alternative and solution. More specifically, authorization of a Ukraine peace mission would result in an immediate end of hostilities, limiting the loss of life and property while opening pathways for reconciliation and peace-making, and therefore should be given serious thought and opportunity. However, the formation of such a mission faces significant challenges, particularly undermining the principles of UN peacekeeping. This essay explores the possibility and challenges of a UN peacekeeping mission to Ukraine. It briefly explores the lessons learned from peacekeeping during the US-Soviet rivalry of the cold war years, situating the current US-Russia rivalry amidst 'détente peacekeeping'. In furtherance, it follows the bottlenecks, solutions, and importance of a Ukraine Peace mission.


This study was intended to academically redefine the art of seal engraving of the Joseon Dynasty through seal analysis related to Kim Jeong-hui and to widely promote its excellence. Previous studies on seals were examined, and comparative studies were conducted focusing on the seals engraved by Kim Jeong-hui and the related seals. The importance of the real seal study, not the stamp, was confirmed. If there was a byeongwan on the side of the seal, it was possible to understand that Kim Jeong-hui directly carved the seal. Also, it was possible to confirm the stone quality of the seal, the method of writing, the method of layout, and the method of holding graver. The imitation seal engraved with a tool rather than hand made it easy to grasp the uncertain production intent. All were analyzed by actual tensile, so it was a possible study result. The results of this study will serve as an indicator to judge the authenticity of the seal when evaluating an ancient painting in the future.


Lithium-ammonia reduction of the hydroguaiazulene derivative 6, followed by oxidation of the resulting diol 13, gave, in a highly stereoselective manner, the keto alcohol 14. The latter was converted into 5-epi-a-bulnesene (2). In a similar sequence of reactions, 4-epi-a-bulnesene (3) was obtained from compound 9. Photochemical rearrangement of the previously obtained dienone 25 gave the hydroguaiazulene derivative 27. Successive subjection of the latter to acetylation, hydrogenation, and sodium borohydride reduction gave a mixture of the epimeric diols 31 and 32. When this mixture was treated withp-toluenesulfonic acid in pyridine, and the resulting olefinic diester 35 was sequentially subjected to hydrogenation [tris(triphenylphosphine)chlororhodium] and lithium aluminum hydride reduction, the crystalline diol 37 was obtained. The latter was converted into a-bulnesene (1) by standard reactions.