Through autoverification, a customized expert system within the Laboratory Information System (LIS), a computer performs the initial review and verification of test results based on a predetermined set of boundaries or rules, as established by the laboratory (1). A carefully designed system can be an important tool in addressing such crucial issues as medical errors, test turnaround time (TAT), shortages in personnel and funding, and operational efficiency. As part of an ongoing modular laboratory automation plan at John H. Stroger, Jr. Hospital of Cook County (JHSHCC, formerly Cook County Hospital, Chicago), autoverification was implemented in our clinical chemistry and urinalysis laboratories.

JHSHCC is a large, urban, tertiary acute-care public hospital and trauma center that serves as the centerpiece of a countywide integrated healthcare delivery system. As part of the hospital's clinical pathology service, the clinical chemistry laboratory provides more than 150 different test procedures in general chemistry, toxicology, drug screening, endocrinology, urinalysis, and blood gas analysis. The laboratory has modern, automated instrumentation, including preanalytical specimen processors (TECAN FE500), all of which are bidirectionally interfaced to the LIS (Soft Computer Consultants). In 2003, the clinical chemistry laboratory processed 1.3 million specimens (more than 6 million reportable results). The result-review/reporting process for the above workload required 14 full-time equivalents (FTE) of technical personnel. Autoverification was expected to reduce the FTEs necessary for this process.

Autoverification setup and implementation required 2 FTEs in personnel over a period of 6 weeks. Automated chemistry assays were chosen for the initial autoverification attempt for several reasons, including high test volume, clearly defined reference ranges and delta checks, ability to define intermediate ranges for abnormal results, and the flagging capabilities of various automated analyzers. Urinalysis was included for the autoverification setup based on the availability of interfaced automated analyzers (IRIS 939 Udx) with which decision rules could …


6/6 (3). All had changes in both eyes, but we did not see any venous congestion or thrombosis. Apart from peripheral oedema and neovascularization, which seem to be always the earliest of changes, I could not convince myself that there is a gradual transition from one feature of the retinopathy to another, e.g. that glial changes precede haemorrhages, and so on. The most important conclusion from our studies is that the S-A type of heterozygote, while free from general symptoms, can nevertheless produce a fully-fledged retinopathy. Sickling tests in a number of our cases were at times negative


Cloud computing has been flourishing in past years because of its ability to provide users with on-demand, flexible, reliable, and low-cost services. With more and more cloud applications being available, data security protection becomes an important issue to the cloud. In order to ensure data security in cloud data storage, a novel triple encryption scheme is proposed in this paper, which combines HDFS files encryption using DEA and the data key encryption with RSA, and then encrypts the user's RSA private key using IDEA. We implement the triple encryption scheme in Hadoop-based cloud data storage and experiment studies were conducted to verify its effectiveness.


A sequential solution approach based on an adaptive wavelet collocation method is proposed for solving optimal control problems. By expanding the state and control variables with wavelet multi-resolution decomposition, an original optimal control problem can be transcribed into a nonlinear programming problem that can be solved by general methods. In the proposed framework, an iterative algorithm starts from an initial coarse grid with few collocations. Subsequent solutions can thus be obtained on a dynamically refined grid by an adaptive wavelet collocation method, while the previous coarser level solution can be taken as the initial guess for the next iteration. Consequently, the computational grid for direct numerical optimization method is able to automatically adapt to any irregularities or discontinuities in the solution. The efficiency and accuracy of the proposed algorithm are verified by two typical examples.


This study reports 30 resistant cases of acne vulgaris that were treated by carbon dioxide laser. The patients range in age from 13 to 26 years old. The lesions treated were all types of acne, which included cysts, nodules, papules, pustules, black heads, and white heads. The results were gratifying, with a quick initial clearance of the lesion; no scar or changing of skin texture was observed in most of the cases. These results could suggest another, not previously reported, application of the carbon dioxide laser in the field of medicine.


Since the classic paper of Wenz [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 34, 1936 (1962)], ambient noise has been an extensively studied phenomena. Morris [SIO Ref. 75‐34, MPL/Scripps (1975)] emphasized the importance of ships as their signals are enhanced when they cross over seamounts or proceed over the continential slopes. Wagstaff [J. Acoust. Soc. Am. 69, 1009 (1981)] showed by the comparison of measurements and calculations that coastal shipping (ships over the continental slope and on the shelf near the slope) must be considered in order that the horizontal directionality be correctly described. He showed that these coastal sources would also affect the vertical directionality. This paper reinforces these findings with new results from down‐slope transmission loss (TL), coherence, and noise directionality experiments. High‐resolution noise measurements show long‐term persistent directional characteristics associated with distant shipping lanes and density patterns. Short‐term averages show a temporally dynamic field c...


The objective was to investigate the impact of sleep-wake disturbances (SWD) on cognition and quality of life in the post-acute phase of stroke.

 Adult stroke (n=92) patients were assessed for SWD via overnight polysomnography. The mean age was 52 ± 1 years and mean latency from injury was 117 ± 10 days. Sleep measures included total sleep time (TST), sleep and REM latency, percent time in sleep stages, apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), wake after sleep onset (WASO), and arousal index. The primary cognitive/outcome measures were: Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT-II), Neuro-QoL and Mayo Portland Adaptability Inventory (MPAI).

 Women had lower AHI (F(1,88)=9.360, p<.01), fewer arousals (F(1,90)=4.53, p<.05), and spent significantly more time in SWS (F(1,90)=11.525, p<.001) than men; however, SWS was reduced in both sexes. SWS made up < 3% of TST in 60% of patients and was not correlated with higher AHI. SWDs negatively impacted subjective quality of life (NeuroQOL). Longer latencies to sleep were associated with increased depression (p<.05) and decreased positive affect (p<.01). Increased sleep efficiency led to improved positive affect (p<.05) and decreases in emotional/behavioral dyscontrol (p<.05). Increased time in REM sleep decreased emotional/behavioral dyscontrol (p<.05), while increasing satisfaction with social roles and activities(p<.01). SWDs also negatively impacted cognitive/outcome scores. Increased TST and sleep efficiency led to higher scores on CVLT-II list B and long delay free recall (p<.05), while higher AHI led to poorer performance on long delay and forced choice recognition trials (p<.01). Additionally, non-REM AHI negatively impacted MPAI adjustment scores (F(1,69)=4.036, p<.05).

 Male stroke patients displayed significantly more arousals and spent less time in SWS than females. For both sexes, better sleep indicated improved quality of life. Sleep measures were correlated with cognitive/outcome measures. Non-REM AHI significantly predicted outcome at discharge from rehabilitation facility.


The conversion processes of macroalgae for biofuels can be divided into thermochemical (dry) and microbiological (wet) processes. The chemical composition of macroalgae together with the pre‐treatment method, conversion conditions, and the characteristics of the microbes involved (wet processes) determine the yield and the properties of the biofuel produced. Macroalgae are often rich in carbohydrates, and therefore well suited for biogas, biobutanol and bioethanol productions. The content of triacylglycerols (TAGs) is the best indicator for the suitability of the alga for biodiesel production. TAGs have a high conversion rate to biodiesel, high percentage of fatty acids, and they lack phosphorus, sulfur and nitrogen. Macroalgae can have high metal concentrations, which can have an impact on conversion processes: metals may inhibit or catalyse the processes. High sulfur (especially in green algae) and nitrogen contents are also characteristic to macroalgae, and may be problematic in the production of biogas (NH3‐toxicity) and the use of the oil and biodiesel (high concentrations of H2S and NOx‐compounds). Macroalgae have proven to be suitable material for conversion processes, but further optimization of the processes is needed. At present, macroalgae are not economically, or in many cases not even environmentally, sustainable material when the whole production chain is considered. In this review we summarize information on the chemical composition of macroalgae in a prospect of biofuel production, and the current situation in the field of macroalgal‐based biofuel production.


The degreasing process for polycarbonate is improved. The factors, which affect electroless nickel plating on polycarbonate, such as pretreatment, temperature and pH value, are also discussed. The results show that it is easier to initiate plating on intensively treated polycarbonate; if the temperature is 55℃, pH value 9.5, and loading capacity 1.0 dm~2/L, the plating speed can reach 9.8 μm/h, and the resulted coating is bright, crack-free, and the bath is stable.


A 70-year-old male patient presented to our hospital for investigation of chest pain. He had a history of muscle injury at the right leg during farm work 10 days earlier. Two dimensional (2D) and three (3D) transthoracic echocardiographic examination visualised enlargement of right heart chambers, with a huge wormlike free-floating thrombus, approximately 7 cm in length, in them (figure 1A,B). Due to the increased risk of an acute massive pulmonary embolism a full dose …


Recent studies on maize in Nigeria showed that the new 'FARZ series' of maize, which were specially bred for high yield, respond to high density treatments (Lucas, 1981; Remison & Lucas, 1982). The optimum maize grain yields were obtained by these workers at density treatments 6·6 and 5·3 plants/m2. Prior to the release of these varieties, optimum grain yields were obtained between 3·7 and 4·3 plants/m2 (Fayemi, 1963; Chinwuba, 1967).


Solid waste generation is directly proportional to the population; it is also increasing with the global population. Pakistan generates 0.283 to 0.612 kg/capita/day solid waste and per year growth rate is 2.4%. In developing countries the issue of poor solid waste management is prevalent. In Pakistan, 55000 tons solid waste is being generated per day in the urban areas. Only 60% waste is collected and disposed. The remainder is left uncollected which ultimately causes problems of urban flooding, blockage in sewerage system, and outbreak of numerous diseases. The city generates 210 tons solid waste daily, out of which only 165 tons is being collected and disposed. Similarly, the sewerage system covers 60% of the residential area with the pipeline ranging from 9 to 51 inches in diameter. There are two drains which carry waste and rain water out of the city. Current research was conducted to find the relation between poor solid waste management (SWM) and problem of Urban Flooding in Gujrat. The data was collected by measuring level of flood water in major chowks of Gujrat for 10 consecutive rainfalls from 09-04-2018 to 23-09-2018. The flood level data was correlated with the other waste dumping sites in Gujrat and the width of drainage system. While other urban flood prone sites were identified by using GIS (interpolation).The results showed that the areas which have a waste dumping facility face more hurdles after rainfall. Approximately 15-20 inches water accumulates in Jail chowk, Jinnah Road, Circular road, Fawara chowk and Ramtlai chowk even after mild rainfalls, and this level increases during heavy rainfalls. Solid waste generation is continuously on a rise. Along with the rise in economic status of general public, their buying capacity is increasing which is putting pressure on the SWM system. Similarly, as Gujrat's population growth is 2.2% according to the 2017 census, the number of existing sanitary staff is not enough. There is one sanitary cleaner for 900 people, and as the drainage network of Gujrat is poorly constructed, this number in not justifiable.  Keywords: Dumping sites, Gujrat, sewerage system, solid waste, urban flood


We demonstrate directed end-to-end assembly of Au/Pt/Au multisegment nanowires using the biotin/avidin linkage. The formation of a self-assembled monolayer on the central platinum segments is essential to avoid nonspecific binding of the linker group and hence to minimize lateral assembly.


The series in which this volume appears (Reclaiming the Christian Intellectual Tradition) is a welcome contribution to intra-mural reflection on the task and challenges of creating a distinctive approach to liberal education in a Christian context, and the series has already produced some substantial reflections by scholars whose commitment to evangelical perspectives on that tradition and its contemporary practice is evident. The series has produced four volumes prior to this one, and each of them is worthy, each of value not only to students in Christian liberal arts colleges, but also to parents of those students and those who are supporters of such colleges and their mission. This particular volume, by a member of the faculty at Union University, attempts a wide ranging and integrative survey of the way in which the principal traditional disciplines in any such a program of Christian higher education may function synthetically. How can practitioners of these disciplines conceive of their work as a joint enterprise, contributing to a rich and general appreciation of Christian tradition and contemporary practice in relation to achieving the goals of such education? Fant's survey contains many useful insights and provocative nodes for future reflection and development in the Christian educational enterprise. Some of these, he suggests, invite a consideration of the ironies which attend upon the history which we inherit from our non-Christian predecessors. One of these is surely that fact that in the classical world, where education for those of the upper classes who were in distinctive ways free to pursue an education for leadership in the city-state, was relegated to teachers who were themselves slaves. This irony may have been in the mind of that great teacher of the Church, St. Paul, when he presented himself in his letters as, in effect, a slave of Christ. But this point raises perdurable questions for the way


To obtain the best performance and the optimum geometries for a wide range of conical diffusers, experiments have been performed using air flow on many conical diffusers having a uniform inlet flow except for the thin inlet boundary layer and tailpipe discharge. When the cone angle, 2α, is between 4° and 30°, the performance may be expressed with a fair degree of accuracy by the functions of cone angles and area ratios with and without appreciable stall, respectively. Pressure recovery coefficients and effectiveness are shown on one chart, together with the optimum geometry lines of diffusers when the tailpipe length is longer than its pressure recovery length. The pressure recovery length of the tailpipe is examined experimentally. If the tailpipe length is longer than three times the diameter of the tailpipe, the decrease in performance is less than two percent, even in the case of such a large cone angle as thirty degrees.


According to recent studies on the performance of learning cycles with age promotion in Brazil, the present research carried out a case study in a school of Sao Paulo municipal public system during the 2006 academic year. This research aimed to reveal the teacher's posture through the observation of their practices and by the dialogue with teachers about their work on learning cycles. The field work included participant observation, documental analysis and performance of semistructured interviews with seven teachers of ensino fundamental I (elementary level). It was verified that, in spite of refusing official proposal, teachers have reconstructed practices as a way to adapt old teaching concepts to the new created structure. These changes intended to provide teacher with tools for dealing with students on difficulty which have being included in school by the implementation of learning cycles. The analysis reveals that the teachers' working conditions do not satisfy important demands as teachers' education, school community participation, articulation of collective work and the creation of supportive tools for the students in the elementary level.


In New Zealand, the use of aircraft to apply agricultural limestone, hence forward called lime, to farmland is widespread. However, lime has long been and continues to be implicated as a factor in a number of aircraft accidents and incidents as a consequence of hang-up in the aircraft hopper. Part of a project to investigate the causes, and find solutions to this problem, is the determination of the flow functions for lime from quarries throughout New Zealand. The limes have been characterised by mineralogy and composition and impurities identified through x-ray diffraction and thermal analysis. An annular shear cell was used to measure the shear strength of 11 commercial agricultural limes from locations throughout New Zealand. Each sample was tested as received and with 5% moisture added by weight and allowed to equilibrate over four weeks. Four pre-consolidation stresses were used to provide four shear loci and a four point powder flow function. The Argillaceous and Algal (Hydraulic) limes were found to be the most sensitive to moisture, becoming much more cohesive with increases in moisture content. They tended to behave like lime mortars and formed concretions when exposed directly to aerosol water.


The leadership of authors and artists has long been a significant issue, concerning the existence and nature of art and literature. Also, it has always been discussed that literature and art are concerning issues, inventing new things, and having perspectives that ordinary people are not capable to feel, know or do them. Thus, there has always been a sort of differentiation or specialty among artists. In the modern era, this has been known as being avant-garde. The present study is entitled 'Rebellion as an Avant-Garde Spirit in Handren's Poetry'. It is an attempt to explain and explore the avant-garde character of the poet. The study attempts to manifest avant-gardism in the rebellious character of the poet. To do so, the study analyzes the sociopolitical background of the poet's life. This has been done by using the analytical descriptive method. Through collecting and analyzing the data, the research found and can argue that the author is criticizing society and the views on Kurdish political tradition. He, therefore, can be assumed as an embodiment of an avant-garde spirit.


1 Institute of Zoology, Zoological Society of London, London, United Kingdom 2 Environment and Sustainability Institute, University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom 3 Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter, Penryn, United Kingdom 4 Department of Biology, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada 5 Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada 6 WildTeam Conservation, Surfside, St Merryn, Padstow PL28 8NU, United Kingdom


We give a necessary and sufficient condition for strict convexity of the rate function of a random vector in $R^d$. These conditions are always satisfied when the random vector has finite Laplace transform. We also completely describe the effective domain of the rate function under weaker conditions.


The evolution of a solitary wave with very weak nonlinearity which was originally investigated by Miles [4] is revisited. The solution for a one-dimensional gravity wave in a water of uniform depth is considered. This leads to finding the solution to a Korteweg-de Vries (KdV) equation in which the nonlinear term is small. Also considered is the asymptotic solution of the linearized KdV equation both analytically and numerically. As in Miles [4], the asymptotic solution of the KdV equation for both linear and weakly nonlinear case is found using the method of inversescattering theory. Additionally investigated is the analytical solution of viscous-KdV equation which reveals the formation of the Peregrine soliton that decays to the initial sech^2(\xi) soliton and eventually growing back to a narrower and higher amplitude bifurcated Peregrine-type soliton.


Using small, pre-computed tables is a well-known technique for improving the performance of expensive computations with small operands. However, as the performance gap between CPU and memory continues to increase, table lookup in main memory may no longer be beneficial. Instead of doing table lookups in memory, this paper proposes table lookup instruction support to accelerate Rabin fingerprinting and Reed-Solomon erasure coding over Galois fields. Both are core computations in emerging main-stream systems such as bandwidth optimized protocol engines, capacity optimized storage systems, and content-distribution networks. We show that the proposed instructions are both beneficial and easy to implement. A simple table lookup instruction that addresses four 256-entry tables in parallel can speed up Rabin fingerprinting and anchoring by a factor of 2.6 and Reed-Solomon coding by a factor of 1.5.


As China's main power supply of power industry,thermal power faces a huge interest adjustment because of energy-saving dispatching.In this paper,study is launched for Sichuan which is one of the experiment provinces of the energy-saving generation dispatching,according to the hydro thermal exchange characteristics of Sichuan,firstly,energy-saving dispatching mode and the economic compensation mechanism of Sichuan are described,and then energy-saving dispatching impact of thermal power enterprise from the grid electricity and price policy change two aspects is analyzed,and finally,energy-saving dispatching coping strategies of thermal power enterprise of Sichuan from the increased income of electricity sales and economic compensation two aspects are proposed.


PREFACE. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. 1 INTRODUCTION: COMPREHENSIVE WATERSHED ASSESSMENT AND MANAGEMENT. 1.0 Introduction. 1.1 Sustainability. 1.2 Watershed Assessment and Management. 1.3 Comprehensive Watershed Management Concepts. 1.4 Political versus Natural Resource Management. 1.5 Summary. PART A: WATERSHED PROCESSES. 2 PHYSIOGRAPHY. 2.0 Introduction. 2.1 Physiography and Physiographic Provinces. 2.2 Geology. 2.3 Soils. 2.4 Topography. 2.5 Summary. 3 CLIMATE, PRECIPITATION, HYDROLOGIC CYCLE. 3.0 Introduction. 3.1 Climate Classification. 3.2 Precipitation. 3.3 Hydrologic Cycle, Water Balance, and Water Budget. 3.4 Anthropogenic (Man-made) Changes to the Water Balance . 3.5 Low Flow. 3.6 Summary. 4 HYDROGEOLOGY. 4.0 Introduction. 4.1 Groundwater. 4.2 Flow through Porous Media. 4.3 Fluid Movement in Unsaturated Media. 4.4 Fluid Movement in Saturated Media. 4.5 Flow Through Secondary Openings in Dense Materials. 4.6 Nitrogen Pollution. 4.7 Summary. 5 HYDROGEOMORPHOLOGY (WATERSHED AND STREAM MORPHOLOGY). 5.0 Introduction. 5.1 Hydrogeomorphology. 5.2 Watershed Classifications. 5.3 Stream Classifications. 5.4 Watershed Hydrology. 5.5 Summary. 6 LAKES, RESERVOIRS, STREAMS, AND WETLANDS. 6.0 Introduction. 6.1 Lentic Water (Ponds, Lakes, Reservoirs). 6.2 The Great Dam Debate. 6.3 Lotic Water (Streams and Rivers). 6.4 Physical Properties of Receiving Waters. 6.5 Wetlands. 6.6 Summary. 7 ECOLOGY/HABITAT. 7.0 Introduction. 7.1 Ecosystems. 7.2 Biodiversity. 7.3 Stressors. 7.4 Bioindicators. 7.5 Fisheries. 7.6 Threatened and Endangered Species. 7.7 Summary. 8 WATER QUALITY: NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION. 8.0 Introduction. 8.1 Water Quality. 8.2 Chemical Properties of Precipitation. 8.3 Chemical Properties of Receiving Waters. 8.4 Point versus Nonpoint Source Pollution. 8.5 Nonpoint Source (NPS) Pollutants. 8.6 Buildup and Washoff in Urban Areas. 8.7 Runoff Pollutant Sources . 8.8 Summary. PART B: WATERSHED ASSESSMENT. 9 WATERSHED ASSESSMENT: DATA COLLECTION. 9.0 Introduction. 9.1 Project Initiation. 9.2 Establish the Watershed Assessment Team. 9.3 Involve Citizenry. 9.4 Select a Consultant. 9.5 Implement Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC). 9.6 Identify General Problems in the Watershed. 9.7 Develop Goals and Objectives. 9.8 Obtain Grant(s). 9.9 Hold Public Meetings and Conduct Surveys. 9.10 Collect Data. 9.11 Check Local Ordinances. 9.12 Assimilate Data. 9.13 Proceed with Analysis: Assessment and Modeling. 9.14 Write the Plan Report. 9.15 Summary. 10 GEOGRAPHIC INFORMATION SYSTEMS. 10.0 Introduction. 10.1 Use of GIS for Watershed Assessment. 10.2 Units, Scale, and Accuracy. 10.3 Coordinate Systems, Datums, and Projections. 10.4 GIS Data Types. 10.5 Metadata. 10.6 GIS Layers and Data Sources Useful for Watershed Assessment and Analysis. 10.7 Summary. 11 PRECIPITATION AND STREAM FLOW DATA. 11.0 Introduction. 11.1 Precipitation Measurements. 11.2 Stream Flow Measurements. 11.3 Base Flow Separation. 11.4 Summary. 12 WATERSHED HYDROLOGY AND MODELING. 12.0 Introduction. 12.1 Drainage Area. 12.2 Time-of-Concentration and Watershed Lag. 12.3 Runoff. 12.4 Routing. 12.5 Modeling Process. 12.6 Sensitivity Analysis. 12.7 GIS. 12.8 Model Calibration Process. 12.9 Verification. 12.10 Calibrated Model Runs. 12.11 Summary. 13 STREAM AND RIVER MORPHOLOGIC ASSESSMENT. 13.0 Introduction. 13.1 Age Classifications. 13.2 Stream Form (Pattern). 13.3 Stream Factors. 13.4 Stream Classifications. 13.5 Performing a Fluvial Geomorphological Assessment. 13.6 Summary. 14 ECOLOGY: HABITAT CLASSIFICATION AND ASSESSMENT. 14.0 Introduction. 14.1 Longitudinal Changes in Stream Ecosystems. 14.2 Ecosystem Classifications. 14.3 Ecoregions and Watershed Management. 14.4 Rapid Bioassessment Protocol (RBP). 14.5 Species Diversity Inventory. 14.6 Aquatic Habitat. 14.7 Conducting an Aquatic Survey. 14.8 Aquatic Organism Assessment. 14.9 Summary. 15 NONPOINT SOURCE POLLUTION LOAD ASSESSMENT. 15.0 Introduction. 15.1 Existing Pollutant Loading Data (NURP). 15.2 Field Data Collection and Monitoring. 15.3 Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL). 15.4 Pollutant Loading Equations and Methods. 15.5 Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation (RUSLE). 15.6 Computer Simulation Models. 15.7 Summary. PART C: WATERSHED MANAGEMENT. 16 AGENCY ROLES, PROGRAMS, REGULATIONS, AND POLICIES. 16.0 Introduction. 16.1 Water Quality Criteria and Standards. 16.2 Regulations. 16.3 State, Regional, and Local Regulations. 16.4 Federal Programs. 16.5 Greenways and Rivers Conservation Plans. 16.6 Land Trusts. 16.7 Summary. 17 SYSTEMATIC APPROACH TO WATERSHED ASSESSMENT: THE DIGITAL WATERSHED, WATERSHED ANALYSIS, GIS, AND MODELING. 17.0 Introduction. 17.1 GIS Applications. 17.2 Compiling the Digital Watershed. 17.3 Data Analysis. 17.4 The GIS Overlaying Procedure. 17.5 GIS in Hydrologic and Hydraulic Analyses. 17.6 GIS and Floodplain Management. 17.7 GIS and Groundwater Management. 17.8 GIS and Water Quality. 17.9 Management District Determination. 17.10 Displaying the Results. 17.11 Summary. 18 STORMWATER MANAGEMENT ON A WATERSHED BASIS: REGIONAL STORMWATER MANAGEMENT. 18.0 Introduction. 18.1 Urbanization/Land Development. 18.2 Stormwater Management and Land Development. 18.3 Watershed-Level Stormwater Runoff Control Management Philosophy. 18.4 Conventional On-Site Runoff Control versus Watershed Level Runoff Control. 18.5 Release Rate Percentage Concept. 18.6 Minimum Reasonable Release Rate Determination. 18.7 Variable Stormwater Management Districts. 18.8 Summary. 19 ON-SITE STORMWATER MANAGEMENT AND CONSERVATION DESIGN. 19.0 Introduction. 19.1 Traditional Procedure for Site Design Stormwater Management. 19.2 Best Management Practices. 19.3 Five-Phase Approach to Stormwater Management. 19.4 Nonstructural BMPs and Stormwater Management. 19.5 The Role of Soils in Low Impact Development. 19.6 Recommended Procedure for Site Design Stormwater Management: The Low Impact Development Design Planning Process. 19.7 Advantages and Benefits of LID Design. 19.8 Future Implementation. 19.9 Structural BMPs. 19.10 Summary. 20 FLOODPLAIN MANAGEMENT AND RIPARIAN BUFFERS. 20.0 Introduction. 20.1 Federal Emergency Management Agency's Flood Insurance Program. 20.2 Land Development Process in the Floodplain. 20.3 Room for Improvement. 20.4 Floodplain and Riparian Buffer Management. 20.5 Riparian Buffers and Stream Orders. 20.6 Riparian Buffer Assessment. 20.7 Riparian Buffer Management. 20.8 Summary. 21 STREAM AND LAKE MANAGEMENT. 21.0 Introduction. 21.1 Streambank Management Using FGM Techniques. 21.2 Lake Management. 21.3 Summary. 22 GROUNDWATER AND INTEGRATED WATER RESOURCES MANAGEMENT. 22.0 Introduction. 22.1 Water Supply Plan. 22.2 Wellhead Protection Study. 22.3 Integrated Water Resources Management. 22.4 Summary. 23 SUMMARY. APPENDIX A SELECTED LIST OF GIS DATA AND RELATED SITES. APPENDIX B ACRONYMS. GLOSSARY. INDEX.


Not so long ago, the crucial factor on the road to success was believed to be found within the perfect understanding and application of organizational strategies. This turned out to be incomplete when the influence of the organizational culture came to daylight. Today this force constitutes the core of the present organization. It determines the unwritten rules and values, which allow stakeholders to better comprehend the way the company works, what it stands and aims for. Understanding and accepting the above enables creating a member-company' relationship, bringing benefit in form of involved employees, and a company which provides confidence and security.


The article develops ways to optimize the financial practices of logistics enterprises through effective management of working capital. Approaches aimed at developing and expanding the logistics industry in the national economy have also been developed. The approaches and proposals of the authors are presented in the study.


Shandong Province is abundant in tourist resources in the
seashore area, such as the mild climate and sunshine, clean beaches and seawater, beautiful
islands, fancy coastal landforms, local animal and plants, and cultural and historical resource.
Based on the resource potential, the tourist projects should be focused on the development of
seaside resorts, islands' sightseeing, ecotourism, cruising, outdoor activity and entertainment
facilities. In order to gain sustainable development of tourism, the planner and the developer
must pay attention to the environmental and ecological conservation of the coastal area.


The project approach to development assistance has been attached for its inability to make results self-sustaining. This has been attributed to a short time horizon, an inability to pick up recurrent costs (such as repair and maintenance of a newly built road), and a tendency to either by-pass or fragment local institutions and therefore to neglect the need for local capacity building. Donor-supported projects foster dependence on outside sources by establishing independent management units to administer projects, rather than utilizing local capacities which are needed in the long run for project implementation and sustainability. At the same time, claims have been made that projects are politically advantageous due to quick high visibility results and they are useful instruments for experimentation, social learning and capacity building. Nevertheless, the practice of project development is in need of drastic overhaul, particularly in the area of design which sets the stage for problems and successes encountered during implementation. Design teams are commonly outsiders completing a product--a design document. This very fact supports poor projects by separating design from implementation and by ignoring the process of project development. To better equip projects in their encounters with local institutional environments, a new approach is needed where the project design process itself becomes a longer term effort to build local coalitions and mobilize local resources. Conclusions point to the need for altering rather than abandoning the project as an instrument for development.


Abstract We have shown that 17-β-Estradiol (E2) promotes brain metastasis (BM) of estrogen receptor negative (ER¯) BC cells by inducing neuroinflammatory ER+ astrocytes in the brain niche to secrete pro-metastatic factors critical for early brain colonization. E2-depletion prevented brain colonization of human xenografts (MDA231BR/NSG) and syngeneic (E0711/C57Bl6, 4T1/Balb-c) ER¯ models. Yet, whether E2-depletion can be used to decrease progression of established BM and how E2-dependent modulation of brain immune response contributes to the pro-metastatic effects of E2 remains unclear. To assess whether E2-depletion could decrease BM progression in a model that mimics standard of care for BM, E0771-GFP-luc cells were injected intracardially in syngeneic ovariectomized (OVX)-female C57Bl6 mice supplemented with E2. Seven days after injection (when micrometastases are established), mice received a single 15Gy dose brain irradiation and were randomized to continue receiving E2, E2 withdrawal (E2WD) or E2WD plus the aromatase-inhibitor letrozole (EWD+LET). Endpoint BM (but not systemic metastases) were significantly decreased in E2WD+Letrozole treated mice as compared to E2-treated mice. This effect was abolished when E0711 cells were injected in severely immunocompromised NSG mice or in the absence of brain irradiation, suggesting EWD+LET decreases BM progression through boosting radiation-induced anti-tumor immunity. Accordingly, there were no differences in BM progression in E2, EWD or E2WD+let treated mice in a xenograft model (F2-7 TNBC cells) in NSG mice, even in the presence of brain irradiation. Brain immune-profiling of brain irradiated E2, EWD and EWD+Let C57BL6 mice carrying E0771 BMs shows that brains of EWD+LET-treated mice had a significantly lower fraction of CD4 T cells and an increase in CD8 T cells, suggesting that EWD+letrozole decrease brain metastatic burden in part through modulation of T cells. These results suggest E2-depletion therapies could be used in combination with brain irradiation to decrease progression of BMs and promote an anti-tumoral immune response.


The existing literature has been rather critical of the way the EU has reacted to the conflict in Libya. It has even argued that it represented yet another example of EU incoherence and inconsistency. This article qualifies substantially those criticisms by providing evidence to the contrary: first, by using the "time factor", it argues that first impressions are often misleading, and that most criticisms based on earlier studies had been published even before the fall of Gaddafi; moreover, only focusing on a few years before the 2011 conflict, they were taking a "selective memory" approach, conveniently forgetting about the role of Libya as a "pariah state" in the international community. Second, the article substantiates with evidence how the EU reaction was much more coherent and consistent than suggested. It also points out that at the end of the day, even Italy (special relationship with Gaddafi) participated in the bombing and eventually Germany (abstention at the UN) closed ranks. It also adds further data by presenting the impact of one of the most long-standing anti-Gaddafi institutions: that of the European Parliament which spurred the Union into promoting a practical implementation of the concept of Responsibility to Protect. Thirdly, the article also criticizes the rather unrealistic views taken by many an observer, in particular those who presume of the existence of European and International Governance systems that simply do not reflect reality. Thus, the conclusion is that initial harsh criticisms should be somehow qualified, especially if one takes into account the learning curve that EU foreign policy appears to show, when its reaction to Libya is compared to those of the Balkans in the 1990s or to the Iraq war in 2003.


The issue of transsexual inclusion in athletics has received increased attention in the literature and in popular culture. In this paper, we undertake an exploratory examination of public perceptions of this issue. Using a large sample of college students, we explore attitudinal differences between men and women with respect to transsexual inclusion in athletics. Despite having a greater stake in women's athletics, women are more likely to support transsexual inclusion than are men. We also find that both men and women are more likely to support inclusion when transsexual athletes do not have significant athletic experience prior to sex reassignment. Additionally, we find substantial support for transsexual inclusion in recreational athletics.


The concern of this paper was telling a story of a woman and her addiction problem. The aim of the paper was to describe her developing addiction and to create an understanding for her predicament. This was based on her own description of her life. To achieve this goal we made use of the following questions: O What period in her life was significant in the development of her drug abuse? O What temptations led her into this drug abuse? O What force kept her in the power of this addiction? O What temptations led her into using injections? By exemplifying various circumstances in her life we have attempted to clarify the development leading to her identity of "drug addict". To reach this goal we have used a judgement based on two interviews. We used Brill's (1972) terminology push and pull to steer our paper in the desired direction. We also chose to use the symbolic interaction theory in order to increase our understanding of her description of her life.


We study some causality characterizations in a space-time by considering chronological common future (or past) sets and indecomposable sets that are important roles in studying causal boundary structure of the space-time.


Previous studies demonstrated Takotsubo syndrome (TS) was easy provoked by earthquake disaster. However, a previous other regional report demonstrated TS was not increased after 2011 east Japan earthquake disaster. The purpose of this study was to clarify incidence of TS after the earthquake disaster in Iwate prefecture during long term period.

 Consecutive hospitalized TS patients were registered during 8 years between 2009 and 2016 in our medical university and five Iwate prefecture hospitals. Moreover, patients were divided into two groups, i.e., those with the inland and those with tsunami-stricken area groups. Prevalence of TS were calculated by standard incidence ratio (SIR) before and after the earthquake disaster. Moreover, long-term prognosis in the both groups was compared using Kaplan-Meier analysis.

 A total of 112 TS (male 25 and female 87) were registered from acute coronary syndrome registry in each hospital (n=4,163). Averaged age was 75.3 year-old. A total number of TS just after the two months of the earthquake (March and April 2011) was nine and significance monthly variation was observed comparing with the other months (p=0.029). SIR before and after the disaster is as following Figure. There were no significant differences for long-term prognosis between the two groups (p=0.20).

 Incidence of TS was increased in acute phase after east Japan earthquake disaster. However, significance increases were maintained during long-term period, although number of TS was decreased after acute phase. TS is increased not only acute but also chronic phase after the serious earthquake disaster.
 Standard incidence ratio

 Type of funding source: None


Introduction: Awareness about risk factors of lifestyle diseases such as obesity and lack of physical activity is present among adolescents but to some extent only. Furthermore, younger ones tend to maintain the unhealthy habits as they age. Thus, intervention should start at an early age. Aim: This study was conducted to assess the health literacy of school-going adolescents regarding obesity and lack of physical activity as risk factors for lifestyle diseases and assess the improvement in their knowledge after different information, education and communication (IEC) activities in two schools. Settings and Design: It was a school-based interventional study conducted in two schools. Material and Methods: Pretested questionnaire for baseline and post-IEC activity assessment of health literacy of risk factors like obesity and physical inactivity in lifestyle diseases was administered among students of Class 6, 7, and 8. Postintervention data were collected at 2 weeks after the first intervention and 3 months after the last intervention. Responses were scored and categorized as satisfactory and unsatisfactory. Statistical Analysis: Chi square test was applied to compare the proportion of scores (satisfactory and unsatisfactory) at baseline, 2 weeks and 3 months. Results: About 64% students in school 1 and 69% students in school 2 knew what obesity was. Moreover, about 79% of students in school 1 and 69% students in school 2 knew the minimum duration of physical activity required to prevent lifestyle diseases. There were a higher proportion of students with a satisfactory level of knowledge in both the schools after 2 weeks and 3 months of IEC activity, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion: The proportion of students having satisfactory knowledge satisfactory knowledge of obesity and physical activity increased after educational interventions among school-going adolescents of both the schools.


This paper revisits the central ontological claim in the production of nature thesis, Neil Smith's proposition that labour is at the heart of the mutual co-production of nature and society. Surveying Smith's work and others, we argue that there is a danger of losing the embodied, historically and geographically specific practices that are so central to the making of natures. Turning to the work of Antonio Gramsci, we find crucial resources that enable a historicized and geographically contextualized understanding of the making of natures.


The present invention discloses a double-layered structure separation apparatus sediment and water, including water tub liner, the liner along the center of the bottom bucket is provided with an electric stirring up, equipped with an electric stirring rod guiding lower water reservoir the draft tube, stirring rod motor and a plurality of guide tubes distributed communication drainage port in the outer liner and the liner is provided with a tub bottom surface concentric outer tub gall bucket, the bucket sidewall liner a plurality of through-holes having a gap of sediment, the liner and the outer tub is formed gall bucket sand reservoir chamber provided at the bottom of the reservoir hole sand sand chamber; bucket wall of the outer tub bladder surrounded by several baffles together, with the lower portion of each baffle interior bottom surface of the sand reservoir mutually articulated. Compared with the prior art, two-layer separation structure according to the present invention apparatus sediment and water, sand can be effectively injected water separation, can work to achieve a large one-time yield.


HIV has blazed throughout sub-Saharan Africa, particularly Southern Africa, leaving almost no community unaffected by its devastating effects. Despite successful interventions in some countries and communities to combat the virus, it has continued to wreak its havoc at an alarming rate. This paper aimed at investigating the role played by NGOs in preventing the pandemic as well as supporting the infected people with HIV/AIDS. The study findings reveled that, NGOs in Tanzania play a big role in preventing the spread of the disease. However, In order for these organizations to be effective and efficiency more efforts from the government are needed to support these Non government organizations.


Foetal circulation, being different from neonatal and adult circulation, is an intricate system. Current knowledge of its haemodynamics is limited1, while the role of haematocrit at different gestational ages has not yet been examined extensively. This work aims to investigate the effect of haematocrit variations using a multicompartment lumped parameter model (LPM) of the foetal circulation. The LPM model is developed in Simulink® and includes 19 elastic arterial segments and 12 peripheral vascular beds, represented, respectively, by electrical circuits and a 3-element Windkessel model2,3. Previous data1,2 and allometric laws4 were used to calculate the inflow and boundary conditions for a 33-week gestational age and foetus weight. Two validation studies were completed, one comparing results with adult flow waveforms and another examining the foetal Isthmic Flow Index. Different values of haematocrit (Hct), ranging from 10% to 80% Hct, were investigated, representing a range of anaemic, healthy, and polycythaemic conditions. Results from the validation studies were in good agreement with literature. The foetal LPM enabled calculations of blood flow waveforms at various arterial positions. Computations with 10%, 45%, and 80% Hct were further performed to demonstrate the effect of haematocrit on the foetal arterial flow. A clear difference between the 45% and 80% Hct models at the position of the ascending aorta was evident, whereas no apparent difference was detected between the models for 10% and 45% Hct. Similarly, this effect was manifested at the positions of the aortic isthmus, the thoracic aorta, and the umbilical artery. However, at the position of the ductus arteriosus there was no difference between the three models. Finally, the calculations revealed an almost exponential relationship between mean resistance and Hematocrit. Investigating haematocrit variations revealed an important effect on the foetal circulation, resulting in significant changes in vascular resistances and the pulsatility indices of the flow rate waveforms. Further investigation is required aiming at the improvement of the accuracy of the inflow and boundary conditions.


We have studied photovoltaic characteristics of single-junction GaAs solar cells with/without an MgF₂/ZnS anti-reflective coating (ARC) illuminated by low-density concentration (<10 suns). By the ARC deposition, the short-circuit current density (J SC ) and the fill factor (FF)are increased by 5 mA/cm² and 5% at a standard illumination (1 sun), respectively, and the resulted conversion efficiency is enhanced by 45%. In contrast with the cell with no ARC showing a rapid degradation with increasing concentration power, the efficiency of ARC-deposited cell remains almost constant as (17.7±0.3)% regardless of the concentration. It informs that ARC treatment is very effective in GaAs concentrator solar cells.


Risk is one of inherent problems in all software systems. It becomes more significant if the software system is operated in a critical system (e.g., air traffic control, nuclear plant). It is because in this domain the software system is expected to be always dependable all the time of its operation. The system is dependable when all its risks are suppressed until acceptable level. Therefore, in such setting analysts must carefully analyze the socio-technical system (i.e., organizational-setting and software systems) and understand how uncertain events may affect the systems. By means of the Tropos Goal-Risk, we model the socio-technical system including its risks. Essentially, the framework consists of goal, event, and treatment modeling. The goal layer represents what the stakeholders' interests are and how to achieve them. The event layer depicts how uncertain events occur and impact the goals of stakeholders. The treatment layer represents what the possible measures that are available to treat the events. By quantifying the evidence value of the model, analysts can reason about the level of risk and choose the most appropriate alternative to achieve the stakeholders' interests and the necessary treatment that should be employed to mitigate the risks. We use a case study on Air Traffic Management to illustrate the proposal.


Based on the theoretical approach of the psychology of sustainability and sustainable development and on the theoretical Job Demands-Resources model, this contribution aims to explore the mediating effect of seeking challenges on the relationship between workload and contextual performance and the moderating effects of individual adaptability and organizational career growth in this process. The study involved a convenience sample from different occupational sectors. Data from 178 employees were collected with a self-report questionnaire administered at times T1 and T2 (six months later) and then analyzed through conditional process analysis. Challenging job demands (T1) fully mediated the relationship between workload (T1) and contextual performance (T2); furthermore, individual adaptability (T1) moderated the relationship between workload (T1) and challenging job demands (T1), and organizational career growth (T2) moderated the relationship between challenging job demands (T1) and contextual performance (T2). The results imply that seeking challenges can represent an effective approach to promote sustainable development through improvement of performance at work, maintaining its sustainability over time. The present study is innovative because in the new framework of the psychology of sustainability and sustainable development is able to link workload, seeking challenges, career growth and performance in a two-wave study that not only has theoretical implications for organizations but also operative and practical spillovers.


Preparing new ternary compounds via traditional high temperature synthesis techniques is essentially limited to ternary compounds that are thermodynamically more stable than any mixture of binary c...


Introduction Perovskite-type oxides that were doped with aliovalent trivalent cations have been found to exhibit appreciable proton conduction in hydrogen-containing atmosphere at high temperature. Among these the chemical stability of SrZrO3-based oxide is much better, and Yb-doped SrZrO3 oxide shows the highest proton conductivity. The proton conductivity depends on the amount of dopant Yb ions and shows the maximum value when substituted for Yb ions by 10mol%. In the Yb-doped SrZrO3, the mass loss and gain of oxygen was observed in heating and cooling process, respectively [1]. In SrZrO3, the PnmaPmmc-P4/mcm-Pm3m phase transitions occur reversibly at 700, 850 and 1120 K, respectively. Detailed knowledge of local structure and thermal properties for each atom in perovskite-type compounds is of great importance for understanding the mechanisms of favorable physical properties.


Aim. To undertake an analysis of the actual status of small innovative enterprises (SIE) in the field of environmental protection created by universities within the framework of programs to develop innovation activity infrastructure and to identify their key operational challenges and the main directions to improve their efficiency. Materials and Methods . In the course of the research, data on registered SIE were used which were contained in the database of notifications of their establishment (website: https://mip.extech.ru), as well as survey data obtained during the monitoring of the activities of SIE created by state institutions of education and science for the practical application of results of intellectual activity. Methods of analysis and synthesis as well as systematic, statistical and research survey methods were used. Results. A study was made of the information provided by institutions of higher education through surveys of conditions of SIE activities in the field of environmental protection. The main indicators of the SIEs in the field of environmental protection active in 2017 were identified and analyzed - revenue, profit, type of activity and number of recorded results of innovation activity. In the process of analyzing the survey data a number of problems were revealed which hamper effective SIE operations, the solution of which would involve changes in current legislation. The study of proposals of institutions of higher education to improve SIE activities has made it possible to identify key areas for the development of innovative entrepreneurship.


e17599Background: Amongst male United States Veterans, prostate cancer accounts for one third of cancer diagnoses and is the second leading cause of cancer death. Prostate cancers in the Veteran po...


Objectives— We examined the association between regional brain uptake uptake of a novel amyloid PET tracer florbetapir F 18 ([ 18 F]-AV-45) and cognitive performance in a pilot study. Design— Cross-sectional comparison of florbetapir F 18 ([ 18 F]-AV-45) in AD patients vs. controls. Setting— 3 specialty memory clinics Participants— 11 participants with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD) by NINDS/ADRDA criteria and 15 healthy comparison participants (HC). Measurements— Participants underwent PET imaging following a 370 MBq (10 mCi) i.v. administration of florbetapir F 18. Regional/cerebellar standardized uptake value ratios (SUVRs) were calculated. Cognition was assessed using Mini-Mental State Exam, Alzheimer's Disease Assessment Scale-Cognitive subscale (ADAS-Cog), Wechsler Logical Memory IA (immediate recall) test (LMIA), and verbal category fluency. Results— Greater florbetapir F 18 SUVR was associated with poorer performance on all cognitive tests. In the HC group, occipital, parietal, precuneus, temporal, and cortical average SUVR was associated with lower LMIA. Two HCs had flobetapir F 18 cortical/cerebellar SUVR > 1.5, one of whom had deficits in episodic recall and on followup met criteria for amnestic MCI. Conclusions— Florbetapir F 18 SUVR in several brain regions was associated with worse global cognitive performance particularly in HC, suggesting its potential as a marker of preclinical AD.


International arbitration has become the preferred method for resolving disputes between parties of different nationalities, because it theoretically offers them a neutral forum to quickly and economically settle their differences. Unfortunately, the methods currently being used to determine challenges to the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals often frustrate these objectives because these methods do not use the most efficient procedure to resolve such challenges. This article offers a new approach for handling jurisdictional challenges that would provide arbitrators with uniform guidelines for resolving these claims and decrease the amount of time and the cost to resolve the dispute.


This service record is an account of military actions during the American Civil War by veteran Armstrong William Louis, 1845-1924, dated from 1906.


The paper considers a physical base of new approach to testing capacitors in-circuit as well as the appropriate instruments. The method is based on injecting the probing current through an envelope of the capacitors due to polarization processes of associated conducted surface of the circuitry. This is a first one-probe In-Circuit Method. Special instruments, realizing the Method are also considered.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: Radical Nephrectomy (RN) has been the standard of care for complex and locally advanced renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Partial Nephrectomy (PN) utilization has increased in recent years. Efficacy of PN in the setting of pT3a pathologic upstaged disease is controversial. We compared oncologic and functional outcomes of RN and PN in patients with upstaged pT3a RCC. METHODS: We performed a multicenter retrospective analysis of patients with cT1-2N0M0 RCC undergoing RN or PN upstaged to pT3a postoperatively. Primary outcome was Overall Survival (OS), with secondary outcomes being Recurrence Free Survival (RFS) and eGFR<60 at last follow-up. Multivariable analysis (MVA) was performed to identify predictive factors for oncologic outcomes. Kaplan Meier analyses (KMA) were obtained to elucidate survival outcomes. RESULTS: 8,185 patients were analyzed (mean follow up 48 months). 945 (11.5%) were upstaged to pT3a [686 (72.6%) RN, 243 (25.7%) PN]. Patients undergoing PN were older (p=0.016) and had higher median RENAL score (10 vs. 9, p<0.001), though smaller tumor size (7.3 vs. 7.7 cm, p<0.001). PN was associated with decreased incidence of eGFR<60 at last follow up (39.6% vs. 59.5% for RN, p=0.008). MVA showed that increasing age was the only independent predictor of all-cause mortality (OR 1.14, 95% CI 1.014 – 1.293, p=0.029). KMA revealed 5-year OS for PN cT1→pT3a, RN cT1→pT3a, PN cT2→pT3a, RN cT2→pT3a of 64%, 65.2%, 56.4% and 55.2% respectively (p=0.059). KMA revealed 5-year RFS for PN cT1→pT3a, RN cT1→pT3a, PN cT2→pT3a, RN cT2→pT3a of 79%, 74%, 70% and 51% respectively (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: PN did not adversely affect oncologic outcomes in select patients who are upstaged to pT3a RCC from cT1 or cT2 disease, and may provide renal functional benefit. The decision to proceed with RN vs. PN in patients at risk for T3a upstaging should be individualized and driven by tumor as well as functional risks. Improvements with respect to RFS for PN are most likely driven by selection bias. Table. No title available. Source of Funding: none


The subject of this evaluation is the Africa Biogas Partnership Programme (ABPP) that was launched in 2009 in six African countries (Ethiopia, Uganda, Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania, Burkina Faso). The ABPP programme aims at developing a sustainable domestic biogas sector. A sustainable biogas sector is characterised by a sustainable demand and supply side supported by an enabling environment and balanced interactions between consumers, providers/suppliers and policy makers.


The present invention relates to an apparatus for sealing the sensor and to the sensor element. In the following, without limiting the use of common sensor, only air mass sensor is considered. Good mechanical tolerances, long service life, and an apparatus for sealing a sensor having an inexpensive cost compared to the known device, as well as to obtain a sensor element corresponding to this, according to the present invention, and sealing region comprising at least one sealing device is provided outside of the notch, in this case, the sealing device surrounds the cutout (4) with the passage (5) and the sensor (3).


In this study, the dynamical behaviors of a prey–predator model with multiple strong Allee effect are investigated. The fixed points of the model are examined for existence and topological classification. By selecting as the bifurcation parameter $\beta$, it is demonstrated that the model can experience a Neimark-Sacker bifurcation at the unique positive fixed point. Bifurcation theory is used to present the Neimark-Sacker bifurcation conditions of existence and the direction of the bifurcation. Additionally, some numerical simulations are provided to back up the analytical result. Following that, the model's bifurcation diagram and the triangle-shaped stability zone are provided.


Wood supplies approximately 3 percent of the U.S. energy consumption. Bark represents about 10-15% of the weight of the trunk cut in the forest. Wood combustion phenomena has been extensively reviewed. Recent technological development is reflected in an article by Barsin et al., and a report published by the Electric Power Research Institute. Fundamental understanding of wood pyrolysis has also grown substantially in the last two decades. Shafizadeh reviewed the wood pyrolysis and combustion kinetics based on weight loss profiles. About the same time, Hajaligol et al. reported the kinetics of the individual product species for rapid pyrolysis of cellulose, Boroson et al. observed that heterogeneous cracking ofwood pyrolysis tars takes place over flesh wood char surface. Pyrolysis kinetics of different lignocellulosic materials have been investigated by Bilbao et al. Heat and mass transfer limitations are inevitable during burning of large particles, and have been the target of a number of modeling efforts. Due to its lower physical strength and less uniform structure than interior wood, bark is usually burned along with wood waste as a fuel, particularly by sawmills and pulp mills. Bark has the heating value of 9,000 to 10,000 Btu/lb, which is higher than that of wood.more » The objective of this paper is to experimentally acquire information about the bark kinetics during pyrolysis and combustion conditions. A kinetic model is also developed for the comparison.« less


tion of a persuasive conservative attack on New Deal liberalism—an essential and consequential, if not conclusive, leg in the journey from FDR to Reagan. The only limitations of the study are of the author's own choosing—Mason conspicuously leaves open the big questions; he leaves to the reader the task of figuring out how transportable or generalizable the lessons learned from the Nixon case could be. For example, what does the Nixon case tell us about the problems of building a new political majority in America in general? Can it be done from the White House? Do Nixon's efforts constitute a unique case? Mason seems to suggest that there may be an inherent conflict between building a president's reelection constituency and building a new American consensus, between that which is personal and that which is collective, but it is not clear where the line is drawn between the two. Moreover, how "shapable" are American voters, after all? Was there a latent constituency waiting to be picked up and given a reason to vote 'R' instead of 'D' during the late '60s and early '70s, or did Nixon create it by articulating it? To what extent can strong leadership transcend and reshape established political patterns and allegiances? How extraordinary were Nixon's efforts, and how do they stand up against others who have tried similar feats? In this book, Mason offers a solid down payment on these and related inquiries, and this new single-volume Nixon history is worthy of serious attention.


In recent years, sensors are becoming ubiquitous in several fields such as automotive industry, consumer electronics and medical equipment. The function of the sensor is to convert energy from other energy domain like (magnetic, chemical, thermal, mechanical or optical) into the electrical domain. One of the important sensors is the capacitive sensor. The aim of this project is to show the advantages of this circuit while it is applied in the RF MEMS switches, which have wireless applications such as antennas, filters, and phase shifters, and so on. In this project, the circuits are designed using 0.18μm Silterra CMOS technology and simulated in Mentor Graphic DA‒IC. The proposed capacitive sensor includes two major building blocks. One of them is a wide‒swing current mirror with enhanced output impedance. The second part of the circuit is an operational transconductance amplifier (OTA). The proposed OTA in this project is a two‒stage telescopic OTA that compared to the other types of OTA, it has higher gain, highest output swing and lower noise which are suitable for our target. It has been concluded that, our proposed project will be compared with some other capacitive MEMS sensor interface circuits which are presented in other papers. The recent works use different solutions to measure the capacitance sensor. Some works covers large enough capacitance range but inaccurate results and some other works give a precise result but in a limited range. A similar work used a 0.8-um CMOS technology with a 5-volt power supply. Also it uses a simple inaccurate current source. In this project, a more accurate current source configuration was selected and designed. Also, an 78dB-gain 6mW OTA was designed and optimized. The interface circuit is a combination of current source feeding the MEMS measure capacitor and CMOS reference capacitor, and an OTA which boost the measure signal to a suitable level for reading. Also, this project covers a capacitive range of 1000 fF which is more extensive than similar works.The design benefits a 0.18-um CMOS technology, which leads to a smaller chip size than similar works.


The government of Kenya in Parents Teachers Association partnership with religious sponsors, Parents Teachers Association, politicians, Board of Management and principals provide financial, human and physical resources to enhance education of girls and boy these measures in place, girls in Siaya County schools performance in Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations was generally low compared to national where few girls have featured in 100 best students. For the la scores of 6.21, 6.90, 6.05 and 6.80 for the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 compared to the boys schools mean scores of 7.73, 7.73, 7.56 and 8.27 for the same period. The objectiv to establish contribution of education stakeholders to school quality leadership in the provision of quality education to girls in public secondary schools in Siaya County. A conceptual framework showing the relationship between indepen variables (quality leadership was used to guide the study). The study used descriptive survey design. The study population was 155 consisting of principals, Deputy Principals, Directors of Studies of Management chairpersons, Parents Teachers Association rents Teachers Association chairpersons, Sub County Quality Assurance and Standards Officers and Church Education Secretaries. Quantitative data was analyzed using percentages, means and t ended questions was transcribed, analyzed and reported in emergent themes and sub themes according to objectives of the study. The study established that the principals and Board of Managements contributed hi The areas of contribution included conflict resolution, team teaching and guidance and counseling services. The study recommended that all stakeholders should improve enhance the girls' academic achievement.


Pharmacy education in Japan has been reorganized into a six-year curriculum to provide the clinical education required by pharmacists to actively participate in patient care as drug therapy specialists. Problem-based learning (PBL) is a highly suitable method to educate students regarding diverse clinical issues and in Japan, it has already been recognized as a universal education method in the fields of medicine and nursing. However, the extent to which PBL had been adopted in pharmacy education had not been clear. In order to clarify the present situation and gain information on how to achieve the optimal use of PBL in pharmacy education in the future, we conducted a questionnaire survey.The questionnaire was sent to deans of pharmacy faculties or presidents of universities of pharmacy (62 institutions) in June 2005 and the recovery rate was 72.6% (45 institutions). It was found that 34% (15 institutions) of them had already adopted PBL in their education programs. It was being used for a wide range of students and encompassed case histories and various other themes and subjects ranging from basic subjects to social medicine, and various tutors and facilitators were involved. As for institutions that had not adopted PBL, 28% (7 institutions) intended to do so soon. Further, 66% (29institutions) of all institutions indicated a desire to adopt PBL in the six-year education curriculum. This tendency was especially remarkable for private institutions.The results of our survey suggested that PBL is likely to become increasingly widespread in healthcare-oriented pharmacy education as well as in medical education in Japan.


Bias dependence of the dielectric permittivity in a ferroelectric liquid crystal material KCFLC 10S is studied in the frequency range of 20 Hz to 10 MHz. The complex dielectric constant was found to increase with increasing bias contrary to normal Ferroelectric Liquid Crystals. The theory is presented for the results obtained by considering the presence of new relaxation mode.


The resectability of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been assessed based on the liver functional test, the liver volume of the future liver remnant (FLR), and, more recently, the functional liver volume of FLR. Liver volume is estimated via multi-detector computed tomography and three-dimensional image visualization technologies, and functional liver volume is investigated via Tc-galactosyl human serum albumin scintigraphy, Tc-mebrofenin hepatobiliary scintigraphy, and gadoxetic acid-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging. Several special techniques have been developed to promote FLR hypertrophy, thus allowing for safe hepatectomy. As an interventional technique, portal vein embolization (PVE) is essential, and, along with transarterial chemoembolization or hepatic vein embolization, this is beneficial in promoting a much larger FLR. Dual embolization is recommended for patients with very small FLR or with PVE failure. Radioembolization by Yttrium-90 microspheres (i.e., radiation lobectomy) can help in achieving FLR hypertrophy and has an anticancer effect on HCC. Transarterial chemoembolization on PVE has a similar anticancer effect. Surgical procedures, such as two-stage hepatectomy as well as associated liver partition and portal vein ligation for staged hepatectomy, are somewhat invasive. Therefore, they should be applied as a salvage procedure for patients with HCC who had inadequate response to the interventional approach. However, the best approach should be selected mainly based on the functional volume of FLR and the patients' condition; in addition, the resources of each facility should be considered. Page 2 of Beppu et al. Hepatoma Res 2021;7:64 https://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-5079.2021.49 12


In this study, particle swarm optimization algorithm is developed under the inspiration of behavior laws of bird flocks, fish schools and human communities and it is high convergence speed. Moreover, aim at the disadvantages of traditional genetic algorithm, we proposes a new algorithm based on particle swarm optimization algorithm, the new algorithm keeps not only the fast convergence speed characteristic of PSO, but effectively improves the capability of global searching as well. The experiment results showed this new algorithm is effective for relay optimization design.


. The transverse mass spectra of K 0S , Λ, Ξ and Ω particles produced in Pb– Pb collisions at 40 A GeV/ c have been studied for a sample of events corresponding to the most central 53% of the inelastic Pb–Pb cross-section. We analyze the distributions in the framework of a parameterized model inspired by hydrodynamics. The dependence of the freeze-out parameters on particle species and event centrality is discussed and comparisons with results at higher energy are shown.


c mize mass transport and minimize energy consumption. These organisms can provide important inspiration for identifying rules to follow and emulate. Su's group recently revisited Murray's Law [ 10 ] by considering mass variation and constant surface substance exchange during mass transportation (Fig. 1 a I–III) and used it as a material design principle to achieve the first bio-inspired materials with full interconnectivity of pores. In these highly ordered, bio-inspired hierarchical porous materials, the pore sizes decreased across multiple scales and finally terminated in a size-invariant unit resembling the hierarchical structure of leaf veins, vascular and respiratory systems. These biomimics effectively accelerated mass transfer and enhanced catalytic, sensing and electrochemical performance in liquid-solid, gas-solid and electrochemical reactions. This is the first example of realizing 'material properties by design.' The complex physical structure of hierarchically porous materials can now be expressed by a mathematical law [ 9 ]. This groundbreaking work has also inspired the quantitative design and targeted synthesis of high-performance hierarchical porous zeolites (Fig. 1 a and b). In their recent work, Su's Law was extended to establish the relationship between the structural hierarchy, diffusion property, and catalytic performance in zeolite catalysis [ 11 ]. The resulting zeolite catalyst had a fully interconnected and highly ordered macro-meso-microporous structure with a pore-size ratio at each length scale designed rationally (Fig. 1 c). This catalyst exhibited accelerated mass transfer with a relative diffusion rate of bulky 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene nine times higher and improved catalytic performance with 1,3,5-triisopropylbenzene cracking TOF ten times higher than their microporous counterparts (Fig. 1 d). This work reports the first targeted synthesis of hierarchical porous zeolites following design rules that have evolved in natural hierarchical systems. The pioneering studies conducted by Su's team demonstrate that bio-inspired hierarchically porous materials, exhibit exceptional performance [ 12 ]. It is envisaged that such material design principles are versatile and can be applied to a wide range of porous materials, enabling the rational design and synthesis of bio-inspired hierarchical porous materials with targeted structures to optimize their properties.


Electromobility is associated with the ever faster development and introduction of new electric vehicles to the market. They use an electric motor to drive the wheels of the vehicle and the necessary electricity is stored in traction batteries. Electric vehicles have a different construction than traditional vehicles i.e. powered by internal combustion engines. For this reason, the manner of use, maintenance and service are different. Familiarization with selected operational issues of electric vehicles positively affects the reliability of their usage as well as safety and comfort of driving. An important component of electric vehicles is the traction battery. Its proper operation influences the long-term preservation of the initial energy capacity and, thus, the range of the vehicle. The article presents the tests of the state of traction batteries of a small electrically powered city vehicle. The vehicle, the batteries and the diagnostic devices used to assess the condition of the battery are described in detail. Based on the literature analysis and the observation of market trends, a fast and effective method of assessment of the technical condition of batteries in electric vehicles was proposed. The method has been tested on the selected vehicle. The technical condition of the battery in the vehicle was assessed after 4.5 years of operation and 30,000 km mileage.


Research on EFL readers' reported use of cognitive and metacognitive strategies in reading can shed light onto classroom teaching approaches. In this study, perceived use of strategies reported by Thai undergraduate students at Thammasat University—both higher and lower-reading-ability groups— while they were engaged in an academic reading task was investigated. The participants were asked to complete a reading strategy self-report form immediately after they had completed their academic reading task. The results show that the two groups of learners had a significantly different awareness of cognitive but not of metacognitive strategy use; that is the high-proficiency group deployed substantially more cognitive strategies—particularly higher-level processing ones— than their low-proficiency peers. All the findings obtained from this present study have implications for strategy training and could lead to useful practical applications in the EFL reading context. Key words: Cognitive and metacognitive reading strategies, EFL reading instruction


Abstract : Radio transmission and reception experiments in tropical jungle forest covered terrains are described and the performance of conventional whip antennas is compared with the performance of Hybrid Electromagnetic Antenna Couplers (HEMAC) in conjunction with jungle trees as antennas.


The activity of a phenol compounds serves as an anti-aging compound functions as an electron transfer inhibitor. In this study will be discussed about the optimization of the acquisition of antioxidants from "Musa sappientum" (Msp) peel with the Rhizopus oryzae fermentation technique using a solid state fermentation (SSF). The basis of solvent used is ethanol and methanol where methanol produces the highest antioxidant yield, which is 6.939 mg/g of banana peel at 50 o C. The addition of Rhizopus oryzae mushrooms with a mass content of 0.02 grams, 0.1 grams, and 0.5 grams (Samples A, B, and C) aims to increase the content of phenol compounds in banana peels. Phenolic compounds from fermentation were analyzed qualitatively and quantitatively by using sodium carbonate (Na 2 CO 3 ) and Folin-Ciocateu (FC) reagent. The results of the analysis show that there are deposits and color changes from yellow-orange to light blue. Measurement of absorbance values with UV-Vis spectrophotometry with standard gallic acid solution showed that the concentrations in samples A, B and C were 118.8 mg, 242.6 mg, and 123.4 mg, respectively. From these results it can be concluded that there is an effect of adding Rhizopus oryzae mushroom to phenol recovery. The outcome of this study is that the fermentation of phenol can be commercialized and widely used in the health and pharmaceutical industries.


Understanding of human evolution in South Asia primarily rests on a solitary calvarium (partial skullcap) from Hathnora in the central Narmada valley, but its disputed taxonomic status has blurred the picture. Early explorations (1983-1992) led to the discovery of 2-clavicles and a 9th rib from Hathnora, but those were so tiny to fit with the calvarium, and fueled the debate whether the calvarium is of a dwarf or a pygmy. Further explorations conducted (2005-2010) brought out 6-femora, 3-humeri and 2-sacra. They were derived from different localities and bio-stratigraphic and archaeological contexts, and posed a challenge of association with the calvarium or with other unknown hominins. The present study is undertaken to address this problem, and the postcranial bones are sorted into possible morphotypes based on criteria of robustness, estimated sex and stature/body size under the control of their contexts. The study distinguished two major morphotypes which reflect the process of humanization in the central Narmada valley and a possible evolutionary scenario for South Asia. The earliest morphotype is a "robust tall hominin", recognized as a unique hybrid cf. H. heidelbergensis, represented by the calvarium and two femora. It appeared around 300 - 150 ka in association with megaterrestrial fauna and late Acheulian tools-kit. The second morphotype is a "short and stocky" hominin, named Homo narmadensis Sp. Nov. This is hitherto unrecognized hominin represented by eight fossil bones in association with the "Upper Group fauna" and Middle to Upper Palaeolithic industry. It appeared about 150 - 100 ka and continued to ca. 40 ka, and was the likely precursor to the "short-bodied" ancient populations of India, including the Andaman pygmy.


An optimal control strategy for the random vibration reduction of nonlinear structures using piezoelectric stack inertial actuator is proposed. First, the dynamic model of the nonlinear structure considering the dynamics of a piezoelectric stack inertial actuator is established, and the motion equation of the coupled system is described by a quasi-non-integrable-Hamiltonian system. Then, using the stochastic averaging method, this quasi-non-integrable-Hamiltonian system is reduced to a one-dimensional averaged system for total energy. The optimal control law is determined by establishing and solving the dynamic programming equation. The proposed control law is analytical and can be fully executed by a piezoelectric stack inertial actuator. The responses of optimally controlled and uncontrolled systems are obtained by solving the Fokker–Planck–Kolmogorov (FPK) equation to evaluate the control effectiveness of the proposed strategy. Numerical results show that our proposed control strategy is effective for random vibration reduction of the nonlinear structures using piezoelectric stack inertial actuator, and the theoretical method is verified by comparing with the simulation results.


A sink device transmits capabilities information associated with the sink device to the source device. The source device, responsive to receiving the capabilities information of the sink device generates a multimedia stream, and transmits the generated multimedia stream to the sink device to be output to the user. The sink device identifies a portion of the capabilities information that has changed and transmits to the source device a notification notifying the source device that a portion of the capabilities information has changed. The source device transmits a request for the portion of the capabilities information that has changed to the sink device. The sink device responsive to receiving the request transmits the portion of the capabilities information that has changed to the source device. The source device then modifies the multimedia stream output to the sink device based on the portion of the capabilities information that has changed.


This study was the investigation of the influence of environmental factors on state decisions to enact enabling legislation for collective bargaining in community colleges. Stepwise discriminant analysis was used to determine the linear combination of environmental variables that provided the best explanation of the differences between states with bargaining laws and those without such laws. The chi‐square test of association was used to analyze the relationship between states' political cultures (Elazar, 1984) and the enactment of bargaining laws. Factors positively related to enactment of legislation were: (a) de facto bargaining prior to legislation; (b) value of agricultural products sold; (c) employment in manufacturing, (d) employment in farming; (e) employment in state and local government; and (f) the percentage of the popular vote for Democratic candidates in presidential elections. Existence of right‐to‐work laws was inversely related to the enactment of legislation. States most likely to enact ...


Ordinary families are currently being hit with a raft of painful economic cuts, including the loss of one of the most successful savings schemes this country has ever known.


At the new neutron source FRM--II in Garching, Germany, the TACO control system, originally developed at the ESRF in Grenoble, France is used for instrument control purposes. TACO provides an object oriented, distributed control system including a clearly defined API. In order to equip TACO with a general user front end, a network based instrument control system named NICOS has been developed at the FRM-II. NICOS is divided into three parts: the NICOS Client, the NICOS Server and the NICOSMethods.


The partially premixed flame was modelled using an open-source software based on finite volume method (FVM) of computational fluid dynamics (CFD), called OpenFOAM. The assessment of the tabulation dynamics adaptive chemistry (TDAC) algorithms for facilitating the computation was of interest. A total of seven models were performed, consisting of six models of the TDAC framework application and a direct computation model without TDAC. Simulation results were validated by comparing against the thermal flame height (HT) of Irandoost et al. [28]. The heat released rate was established from simulation results to identify the flame front and HT. This is a novel technique to illustrate the flame front, which agreed well with the experiment. Subsequently, it was found that all but one of the reduced mechanism methods agreed well in predicting the HT. The exception was DRGEP. Particularly, the CFD results were optimal. It was discovered that the TDAC based on the mechanism reduction called element flux analysis (EFA) was the second-fastest but optimal choice to solve the partially premixed flame model.


The development of a current-comparator-based high-voltage reference inductor at the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) for calibrating loss measurement systems of large high voltage shunt reactors is presented. The high voltage reference inductor features an adjustable loss angle equivalent to a power factor from zero to 0.01. It has an uncertainty of less than 10×10-6 in both magnitude and phase.


The paper presents an analysis of the ineffectiveness of the information and computer technologies (ICT) used by Russian enterprises. A capability based approach is proposed to improve this situation. The approach is focused on establishing a close and direct link from enterprise capabilities and values to ICT systems. The approach comprises: A set of 9 universal capabilities, which are mandatory for ICT system. Practical algorithm to transform/ concretize these capabilities into functional requirements for ICT-systems. Such requirements to be realized make ICT-systems valuable for enterprises and their stakeholders. The approach is illustrated by exemplar projects from the practice of the IBS Company where the author works.


The Oil palm (Elaeis guineensis Jacq.) is the highest producing oil seed crop on a per hectare basis in the world. Current estimates are that within the next decade, palm oil will become the largest single oil traded globally. In this study, the stearyl–ACP desaturase gene (SAD) was cloned and thoroughly characterized in oil palm. Mesocarp tissue of oil palm fruit at different developmental stages including 0, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 days after pollination (DAP) was used for expression pattern analysis. The results showed that SAD gene was highly expressed at 90 DAP. SAD gene is 1,179 base pairs in length, comprised of 3 exons and 2 introns, and translated into 393 amino acids. The phylogenetic analysis was constructed using nucleotide sequences, showing that it is closely related to SAD gene from Elaeis oleifera.


For some decades there has been two-way traffic between the avant-garde film worlds of Australia and the UK. Australian artists arrive from a local scene that continues to resonate with the influences of an avant-garde historically centred in and driven from Western Europe and the United States. The experimental film and video practices that are discussed here encompass a range of critical concerns around form, structure, reflexivity, specificity, material and so on, which have their roots, if not their current philosophical concerns, in the modernist avant-garde. Addressing these practices as 'post-colonial phenomena' relates them to a broader constellation of historical cultural concerns.


We propose in this paper a new hardware architecture for implementing the hyperchaotic Lorenz generator using FPGA technology. The goal is to design a new complex chaotic system which can be used as an unidentifiable key generator in embedded cryptosystems. The proposed architecture provides good performances in terms of throughput and resources cost required for highly secure communications between embedded systems.


Cases of vaccine-associated paralytic poliomyelitis (VAPP) continued increasingly from 2010-2019 in the world. Oral polio vaccine (OPV) is the live attenuated virus-based vaccine that could genetically revert to neurovirulent during the vaccine production process or when the virus replicates in the human body. The poliovirus neurovirulence is determined by the UTR-5' region and VP1 coding region. UTR-5' played a role in protein translation and VP1 was responsible for the immunogenicity of the virus. Some reported mutations in UTR-5' and VP1 could affect the neurovirulence of poliovirus. In this study, we analyzed the genetic stability of the UTR-5' and VP1 in the bulk of OPV types -1 and -3 produced in 2010 2019. The results of the analysis of UTR-5' sequences in Sabin strain types-1 and -3 and VP1 sequences on Sabin virus type 1 did not show any mutations. Meanwhile, the VP1 sequences in Sabin strain type 3 showed nucleotide mutation C2493U that caused the substitution amino acid Thr6Ile amino acid in all samples of the type 3 bulk polio test. Based on the results of in silico analysis, this mutation in VP1 did not contribute significantly to the neurovirulence of the virus.


March 21, 2006 Abstract— The Diffie-Hellman key agreement protocol is a well known method in which two parties agree on a secret key by mean of public communication. From the computational point of view, the protocol requires, from both paries, to execute two exponentiations in some group, where the secret exponent is chosen, independently, by each user. In environments with limited resources, such as smartcards, these computations are considered heavy. In this paper we propose a method for decreasing the computational work involved with this exponentiation. If the required entropy of the secret exponent isK, the straightforward approach is to select this key as a string ofK random bits. Instead, we choose here longer keys with imposed limitations on their Hamming weight, in a way that the entropy remains K. We show how this can reduce the exponentiation time by∼ 4% to ∼ 9%, depending on the group. The relative performance gain is shown to be independent ofK. Finally, we show how our method can be combined with more sophisticated exponentiation algorithms, yielding smaller, but sometimes still significant extragain in performance.


FIELD: information technology. SUBSTANCE: rate of change of the initial data time series is calculated to obtain derivative values. These derivative values undergo Empirical Mode Decomposition, which is a well-known technique. Modes extracted via said Empirical Mode Decomposition, as well as some delayed values of the time series are used as inputs for neural networks, while the output of these networks are future values of the time series, which must be predicted. These networks are trained and used to predict future values of the time series. The invention provides good prediction results by using derivative values as inputs, while past values are also considered as inputs. The invention can be used to predict values of any time series and, particularly, for predicting the behaviour of engineering systems, for example, vibrations arising in an engineering system. EFFECT: broader functional capabilities of neural networks by further enabling processing of data time series, having value trends, particularly vibration diagnosis data. 11 cl, 12 dwg


Carrying out learning in the laboratory in the form of a practicum is one of the science learning techniques that can establish the circumstances for accomplishing the results of science scientific concepts and components of science science processes. The objectives of this study are to:  ascertain the state of the science laboratory in high school. The others objectives area to ascertain the implementation of science practicum activities in the and to ascertain the challenges encountered and solutions for resolving these challenges in high school. This study came to a few conclusions: the management of science laboratories in high schools is not good because there are still many activities in the planning program that have not been carried out in accordance with the plan.  Planning, which includes the preparation of a work program, is planned one month before the start of the school year and made at the start of the school year, Organization, which includes organizational structure and administration, has not been implemented properly, such as there being no updates to the laboratory organizational structure, which means that students also do not know who is managing the laboratory, Implementation of practicum activities is rarely carried out in the laboratory due to limited tools and materials, Supervision and evaluation, namely by supervising internal schools and having supervisors come from the government, Factors that contribute to the management of this laboratory are laboratory assistants, students, time, and limited equipment and materials.


The steady state characteristics and starting behavior of some widely used self-oscillating magnetically coupled square wave inverters were studied and the development of LC-tuned square wave inverters is reported. An analysis on high amplitude voltage spikes which occur in dc-to-square-wave parallel converters shows the importance of various circuit parameters for inverter design and for the suppression of spikes. A computerized simulation of an inductor energy storage dc-to-dc converter with closed loop regulators and of a preregulating current step-up converter are detailed. Work continued on the computer aided design of two-winding energy storage dc-to-dc converters.


The article analysis similarities and differences between GB/T 50353-2005 and civil engineering GJDGZ-101-95. It has the instruction significance of architectural engineering floor space computation and the economic indicator analysis if you grasp the similarities and differences.


During the 1950s,under the policy of 'Leaning to One Side','Soviet Experiences' were once the absolute model for the development of landscape architecture in China.They influenced the orientation of the profession,the scope of the profession,and planning and design methods for some specific landscape types,the effect of which was significant for the modernisation of Chinese landscape architecture.However,due to different political,social and economic conditions between the two countries,'Soviet Experiences' were shortly subjected to critical review and careful application.This was necessary to develop new gardens and landscapes that adapted to the Chinese land and people.


The experiments were carried out using Te-TiO2/Ti as working electrodes, prepared by the simple anodization technique and dip coating method, on Ti substrates (TiO2/Ti). The measurements were performed in an electrochemical cell using a three-electrode system, with Te-TiO2/Ti as the working electrode, Ag/AgCl as the reference electrode and pt as the auxiliary electrode. A flow system for determining the profile and photocurrent response of reactive orange 84 was developed using Linear Sweep Voltammetry (LSV) and Multi-Pulse Amperometry (MPA). The physicochemical properties of Te-TiO2/Ti electrodes have been studied using UV–vis DRS analysis techniques and compared with un-doped TiO2/Ti electrodes. The UV–vis DRS showed that the TiO2/Ti doped Te functionally decreases bandgap to 3.0 eV. The results showed that the photocurrent of reactive orange 84 was observed in the concentration range (1-5 μM), with a linear response between concentration and charge.


Abstract : The possibility that the rate controlling process in shock-induced bond breaking in energetic materials is a transfer of lattice phonons to internal vibrations of the molecules of the explosive solid is examined. The rate at which three lattice phonons can excite an internal vibrational mode of the molecules of the lattice is estimated. This is then used to calculate the mean time for a molecule to be excited to a state having energy equal to the dissociation energy of the molecular bond, assuming no transfer of energy to other vibrational modes of the molecule and assuming a truncated harmonic oscillator form for the potential. It is noted that bonds that can not break at atmospheric pressure may be susceptible to unimolecular breaking at higher pressures, indicating that the reactions of slow thermal decomposition may not necessarily be the important reactions of shock induced bond breaking.


For the interface of the weak structural plane and the rock mass,the shear strength is an important parameter to affect the fissured rocks stability.The two-material mechanical model and direct shear test are employed to study the fissured rocks? mechanical properties of the interface.According to the famous Barton's rough description method(JRC value),five different JRC curves are chosen to make a series of two-material mechanical model specimens.Each specimen is casted with the mortar and concrete on the both sides of the interface.Besides,the interface is rough along one direction(shear direction),but un-rough along another.The rough degree of interface is also described with the modified fractal index Rd and shape factor λ.The Rd-λ description system can not only describe the roughness of the interface,but also explain the experimental phenomenon that the same rough surface shows different mechanical behaviors if the shear stress direction on the surface is changed.Through the direct shear tests,the failure patterns of the interface in fissured rock mass and their shear stress-shear displacement curves are obtained.The main influence factors,such as the material strength ratio k,the surface appearance,the normal stress σ and the cohesional strength C,are determined and analyzed.Based on the analysis,a shear strength formula,in which the main influence factors are included and the rough interface appearance is expressed with Rd-system is proposed.Finally,the formula calculating result is compared with test results provided by other researcher and its validity is testified.


To evaluate the effect of a community‐based lifestyle behavioral intervention on intakes of fat, fruits, vegetables, fast foods, and beverages in low‐income young mothers with overweight or obesity.


Cultural heritage is in a bad position in some countries, especially in Iran. Thus there is not any restoration and reservation program for repair of Cultural heritage in some developing countries as Iran. In this paper, I apply contingent valuation (CV) to estimate Kakh sadabad visitor's willingness to pay and factors which effect on it. At least I use from results of a questionnaire for calculate the average willingness to pay of Kakh sadabad visitors.


In order to control the electric bus air conditioning automatically,based on RS485 bus,we developed an electric bus air conditioning control system by using STC series single chip.By real-time detection of temperature,we implement compressor,evaporator fan and condenser fan inverter control,at the same time,LCD liquid crystal display technology and key functions.The experiment and application show that the system has a good man-machine interface and achieve the purpose of energy conservation and environmental protection.