Critics of American education have been around for a long time, but so have political coalitions in support of education. The former appear to be growing stronger, the latter weaker. That is the melancholy burden of argument of this essay. How new coalitions of support might be formed is examined in the concluding pages, but this examination leads only to what is possible, not to what is inevitable. Twenty years have passed since the publication of The Transformation of the School, Lawrence A. Cremin's prizewinning history of the rise and fall of progressivism in American education. It deserves rereading. Not only does this elegant study serve to remind us of where we have been, but it reminds us also of how much of our current rhetoric about the alleged failures of schooling is simply the most recent incantation of a tired and sullen litany. Note, for example, Cremin's summary of the indictment of American high schools by the Commission on the Relation of School and College a half century ago? "They had failed to convey a sincere appreciation of the American heritage; they did not prepare adequately for citizenship; they seldom challenged gifted students to the limit of their abilities; they neither guided nor motivated their pupils effectively; and their curricula were a hodgepodge of lifeless materials unrelated to the real concerns of young people."1 Or read Cremin's quotation from Walter Lippmann written forty years ago?"There is no common faith, no common body of principle, no common body of knowledge, no common moral and intellectual discipline. Yet the graduates of these modern schools are expected to form a civilized community."2 Or note his paraphrase of Bernard Iddings Bell's sweeping indictment of American education of thirty years ago? "The elementary schools had failed to transmit the elemental wisdom of the race; the high schools seemed far more interested in coddling young minds than in strengthening them; and the college, by surrendering to a vague utilitarian mediocrity, had deprived the nation of humanely educated leadership."3 By the early 1950s, according to Cremin, the attack on the alleged softnesses and superficialities of progressive education?particularly in its post-World War II guise as education for "life adjustment"?had turned into a rout. Who were these critics of the schools? Cremin reports that some were judged by school defenders to be "sincere," but many were identified as chronic tax conservatives, congenital reactionaries, witch hunters, superpatriots, dogma peddlers, race haters, and last but not least, academic conservatives.


1. Models, Paradigms and the New Geography 6. Demographic Models and Geography 7. Sociological Models in Geography 8. Models of Economic Development 9. Models of Urban Geography and Settlement Location 10. Models of Industry Location 11. Models of Agricultural Activity Index


Introduction : The university extension works with communication knowledge. In this sphere is the question of how to learn, undertake and connect the knowledge produced face of new or traditional interactions that unite teaching, information technologies and university research. Research problem : What are the extension actions that the pandemic causes at the university? Objective : To identify and analyze actions and projects to fight the pandemic, exercising an extension activity to the development of University Social Responsibility in a public university at Espirito Santo State, Brazil. Method : This study, whose bibliographic documental collection performs the necessary authority for the work exhibition, and has an exploratory, descriptive, cross-sectional nature and is supported by a qualitative research approach. The Universidade Federal do Espirito Santo extension presents a content analysis that situates actions and services directed to the society - this categorization acts to outline actions and projects that have the central axis of Sars-Cov-2. Result : It shows the structuring of extension programs and projects to prepare social action. Conclusion : It suggests advancing the theme of coping with the outbreak of the disease, caused by the new coronavirus, bringing the development of university social responsibility closer to possible and viable actions in the information science area.


The project of which this paper was derived, sought to build an array of operational risks in companies with mining projects located in the Colombian Andes. Following a mixed methodological approach that combined documentary research, in situ observations and semi quantitative analysis they were established and probable negative consequences on business accounting, environmental health and heritage operational events. For operational risk, Basel II as defined from the losses generated by external events and failures in processes, personnel and internal systems, attributed the increased uncertainty about the objectives set by the mining companies. Yet risk analysis in large companies in this sector, far from the events estimate loss of life and biodiversity, treatment focuses on factors that prevent 24/7/365 operate under the scheme, relegating to level factors associated with the health and safety of people and ecosystems involved in its projects. In addition to the dangers that miners are exposed by working in confined spaces, ceilings and floors fragile, dark environments, high temperatures and impure air; physical and chemical pollutants generated during the exploration and extraction, impair the health of miners hearing damage, damage to the nervous system, allergies, respiratory diseases, silicosis and lung cancer. As if that were not enough, the accumulation of hazardous waste in tailings dams and reservoirs, adversely impacting water bodies, air and soil, water generated poverty and biodiversity loss. Is it fair to transfer such risks to the communities living in mining areas?.


A wavelet packet based on 4-band building blocks was used to implement an auditory model for 44.1kHz and 16kHz sampling frequency. The underlying paraunitary filter bank is implemented using a quaternionic lattice structurally insensitive to the quantization of its coefficients. Both the linear phase and orthogonality are possible for 4-band wavelets, so a better perceptual quality can be expected and an increased compression ratio for the coders based on the proposed solution in comparison to standard 2-band wavelet packets or a warped DFT transform. These features and a low computational complexity predestinate this approach to be a tempting alternative to widely known solutions.


This study investigates how random component yields can influence pricing and production decisions under pull and push contracts. We consider a decentralised assembly system where a manufacturer procures complementary components from two suppliers with random yields. We first characterise the centralised equilibrium decision as a benchmark and then analyse the equilibrium solutions in a decentralised assembly system under each contract. We find that neither contract is always superior to the other in terms of system profit. Under a push contract, suppliers always achieve the first mover advantage with higher payoff. However, the first mover advantage does not hold for the manufacturer under a pull contract. We further conduct sensitivity analysis to study the impact of random component yields and retail price on equilibrium solutions under each contract. Interestingly, the wholesale prices charged by suppliers always increase with supply yield uncertainty under a pull contract, but decrease under a push contract. In contrast with the centralised solution, the equilibrium quantities in the decentralised solution decrease with supply yield uncertainty under both pull and push contracts. We then extend our model to a general case with multiple suppliers. The system payoff decreases with the number of suppliers, and the main results derived in two suppliers setting still hold in the system with multiple suppliers.


We thank R1 for this detailed review, especially for going through the equations, which has enabled us to significantly improve the description of the new process implementation in our article. We apologize for the erroneous formulations of several equations and have corrected them in the revised manuscript. We double-checked in the code that the lines of code correspond exactly to the revised formulation of equations. Enclosed please find a detailed explanation of the revisions we made based on R1's comments (as a pdf file).


Based on an analysis of Barack Obama's victory speech,this paper attempts to explore the rhetorical effects of the logos,the pathos,and the ethos in English speeches in the light of the theory of rhetoric analysis on discourse level.


The modern telecommunication equipments consist of boards connected by thick backplanes where differential traces on different layers transmit high speed digital signals. These signals switch from different layers by means of plated through holes that, when not used, are stubs introducing dips on the insertion losses of the used traces. The paper presents an algorithm for modeling differential vias connected to differential traces, so to evaluate the resonance frequency due to the stubs connected to the vias.


The widespread use of computing and communications technologies has enabled the popularity of social networks oriented to learn. In this work, we study the nature and strength of associations between students using an online social network embedded in a learning management system. With datasets from three offerings of the same course, we mined the sequences of questions and answers posted by the students to identify structural properties of the social graph, patterns of collaboration among students and factors influencing the final academic achievements. The results show some hints to understand how users react to incentives in online social learning systems, useful for instance to measure the effectiveness of the learning tasks based on the patterns of students' participation in the platform and adapt their design, or as early predictors of academic performance.


The role of a CEO is important. He or she has to decide, orchestrate and oversee the execution of a vast number of important issues. That constantly requires the fullest of attention: designing and aligning the strategy; dealing with stakeholders, such as shareholders, supervisors or important customers; promoting the mission statement of the organisation; protecting the bottom line; hiring key personnel; acting as arbitrator in conflicts; and sensing whether a major change in direction is needed, to mention but a few items on the list. The reputation of an organisation can supposedly be attributed for 45% – almost half in total – to its CEO. Of 1,700 senior managers in 19 countries worldwide, who were interviewed by PR Agency Weber Shandwick in 2015, 81% considered the involvement and visibility of the CEO to be of crucial importance for the reputation of an organisation. They also believed that the reputation of the CEO was relevant for the results of the organisation (to an extent of 44% of the market value). This normally means, both in small and large organisations, that much attention of a successful CEO will go to building a strong presence within the branch of industry, so a lot of focus will be on creating a connection between the organisation and the outer world. Equally important is the connection of the CEO with the inner world of the organisation. There has to be a balanced equilibrium between image and identity of the organisation. This avoids that customers, shareholders or potential employees who were attracted by the image of an organisation become disappointed once they decide to form a relationship with that organisation or opt for its products or services. Any discrepancy nowadays may soon be met with negative exposure that can travel around the globe in an instant. In April 2017, United Continental Holdings, the parent company of United Airlines, announced that the airline CEO, Oscar Munoz, will not take broader control of the company as previously planned, following an incident that damaged the company's reputation. It had taken him three turns to publically say 'sorry' for an incident whereby Dr. David Dao, a booked passenger who had paid for his ticket, was with force removed from one of United's airplanes. Dao had refused to give up his seat for commuting crew members. Amateur images of the incident made the news worldwide. The company's first response, attributed to Munoz, did not go over well. He issued a statement that apologized only for 'having to reaccommodate ... customers'. A second statement called Dao 'disruptive and belligerent'. Finally, in a third statement, Munoz reversed course, decrying the situation and calling it a 'truly horrific event', and offered a direct apology to Dao. Munoz was scheduled to take on the role of Chairman at the company's 2018 annual stockholders' meeting. However, after the incident United said to believe 'that separating the roles of Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board is the most appropriate structure at this time. Having an independent Chairman of the Board is a means to ensure that Mr. Munoz is able to more exclusively focus on his role as Chief Executive Officer.' United also announced a new 2017 compensation program for Munoz, along with that of other executives, that will be more closely tied to improved customer satisfaction.


The linear expansion coefficient and stiffness of roof made by reinforced concrete are different from wall.The displacement and the internalforce between the roof and the wall are produced when temperature changes.Consequently the crack on the wall is begot.The crack is concerned with horizontal resistance coefficient,temperature,size of wall section,elastic modulus.In this paper,six measures of preventive crack were brought forward.


Limitations in the thinking of children and young people often keep them from grasping the full import of socially useful work. They tend to regard work merely as a process without tangible results. Yet to work without a goal is, particularly for the young, the dullest of all activities. Work without a conscious attitude is as mechanical as the work of a machine.


The adaptation of digestive proteases, amylase and lipase was studied in tambaqui fed with 350, 253, 301 and 205 g kg−1 of crude protein, and 49, 81, 113 and 145 g kg−1 of lipid, in isocaloric diets. Digestive protease increased when dietary protein increased in stomach, where the highest specific activity was observed. Unspecific protease activity in intestine was very low. Lipase was observed throughout the gastrointestinal tract, and higher activities were observed in the stomach. However, pyloric caecum and the anterior and posterior intestines were the responsive sections to the dietary lipid. Amylase was detected throughout the gastrointestinal tract, but pyloric caecum was the most relevant amylase producer. Positive correlations were observed between anterior intestine lipase versus dietary lipid and pyloric caecum amylase versus dietary protein. Tambaqui is responsive to the food composition adapting the main digestive enzymes to the best profile.


The rumen is an important digestive organ in which fermentation processes take place. Improving the rumen development of growing cattle is one of the major tasks. The need for ruminants in amino acids is as great as in mono-gastric animals. The rumen microorganisms cannot synthesize microbial protein in sufficient quantity to cover the need of developmental growth.
The experiments were conducted on calves from four to five months of age at the «Za myr» farm in Sumy district, Sumy region. The calves were divided into three experimental groups of 10 animals each. The first experimental group was fed powder not protected methionine at a dose of 10 grams per animal, the second group was fed granulated methionine at a dose of 10 grams per animal for a month.
The results suggest that bacterial count increased by 84,3%; Paramecium caudatum by 29,4 %; Entodiniomorpha by 26,6 % in the first experimental group to the 30th day. In the second group the indicators also changed after a month of research. The bacterial count was 93,2 % higher; Paramecium caudatum by 42,5 %; Entodiniomorpha by 25,9 % compared to control.
According to the results of the experiment, we can assumed that powder methionine as well as granular had a positive effect on the qualitative and quantitative composition of the rumen microflora. In the first experimental group content of total nitrogen was higher by 12,2 % and protein content by 19,6 % compared to controls. In the second experimental group, where calves were fed a granulated methionine, content of total nitrogen was higher by 15,6 % and protein content by 22,4 % compared to controls. The residual nitrogen concentration significantly decreased by 32,2 % in the first group of calves and by 29,9 % in the second.
It was experimentally proved that the enriched of granulated and non-granulated methionine food additives helped to increase the number of microorganisms in the rumen and increase the concentration of nitrogen in the rumen.


bstract: Children and adolescents in the U.S. and worldwide are commonly exposed to traumatic events, yet practitioners treating these young people to reduce subsequent psychological harm may not be aware of—or use—interventions based on the best available evidence. This systematic review evaluated interventions commonly used to reduce psychological harm among children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events. Guide to Community Preventive Services (Community Guide) criteria were used to assess study design and execution. Meta-analyses were conducted, stratifying by traumatic exposures.


PLUME-FEATHER is a non-profit project created to Promote economicaL, Useful and Maintained softwarE For the Higher Education And THE Research communities. The site references software, mainly Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) from French universities and national research organisations, (CNRS, INRA…), laboratories or departments as well as other FLOSS software used and evaluated by users within these institutions. Each software is represented by a reference card, which describes origin, aim, installation, cost (if applicable) and user experience from the point of view of an academic user for academic users. Presently over 1000 programs are referenced on PLUME. Although the server is maintained by a french institution, it is completely open to international contributions in the academic domainb. All contained and validated contents are visible to anonymous public, whereas registered users can contribute, starting with comments on single software reference cards up to help with the organisation and presentation of the referenced software products. This first presentation is call for (further) contributions from the HEP community.


The AIDS epidemic is doubling, or tripling the mortality of men, and women in their prime childbearing, and earning years in much of Sub-Saharan Africa, with the tragic result that an estimated one in ten African children under 15, has lost one, or both parents. High adult mortality threatens to reverse hard-won gains in raising school enrollments, and, the loss of a parent could reduce a child's chances of starting, continuing, or completing school, affecting his or her long-term productivity, earning capacity, health, and well-being. There is imperative need in understanding these impacts, which children are most affected, and which policy instruments will have the greatest impact on encouraging orphans to enter school, particularly important in countries like Tanzania, where overall enrollment rates are low, and resources are scarce. This study measures the impact of adult death, and parent's survival on primary school enrollment of children in northwestern Tanzania, where the HIV infection rates among adults as of the 90s, ranged from less than one percent, to more than twenty percent. Based on descriptive, and multivariate analyses of a longitudinal survey, the study finds that households are coping with adult deaths, by delaying enrollment in primary school, though maintaining older children's enrollment, especially so among children in poor households.


In response to the unprecedented decline in global natural resource endowments, the so‐called nexus framework is gaining increasing influence on resource management practices. In this research, we approach the resource nexus through the concept of nexus pathways. Nexus pathways are configurations that resource flows follow along supply chains leading to the combined use of two or more resources. Three general types of pathways are identified: direct (on‐site use), dependent (one‐way supply chains), and interdependent (supply‐chain feedbacks). We quantify and compare each pathway by means of multiregional input‐output analysis and structural path analysis, and apply this approach to a comparative case study on the water‐energy nexus (WEN) in the United States and China. Interdependencies or feedbacks are generally thought to be relevant for the WEN, especially between water and energy sectors. Our economy‐wide analysis for both countries indicates, however, that feedbacks neither play an important role in the WEN nor substantially take place between water and energy sectors. The most important feedbacks contribute to less than 1% of total resource use, and these take place mostly between manufacturing sectors. Overall, the studied WEN is mostly driven by dependent pathways and, to a lesser degree, direct resource use. Comparative differences between the two countries are largely explained by differences in economic structure, technology, and resource endowments. Our findings call into question current research and policy focus and suggest greater attention to less complex, but more determining, pathways leading to absolute resource use.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical and radiological results of volar Henry (VH) and extended flexor carpi radialis (EFCR) approaches used for open reduction of distal radius fractures.
Methods: We reviewed 85 patients with distal radius fractures treated with volar locking plates between 2014 and 2017. The EFCR approach was used in 30 (35.3%) patients, and the VH approach was used in 55 (64.7%) patients for open reduction. Clinical results were reviewed by the Quick Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand; Patient-Related Wrist Evaluation; and Boston Carpal Tunnel Syndrome questionnaires. Bilateral wrist range of motion, grip, and pinch strengths were measured, and sensory evaluations were done with the Semmes-Weinstein monofilament test and static two-point discrimination tests. Radiological evaluations were done with final follow-up radiographs.
Results: The mean age was 50.7, and the average follow-up time was 31.8 months. No differences were found between the two groups related to clinical and radiological outcome evaluations. In the VH group, six post-operative complex regional pain syndromes, one tendon rupture, three delayed carpal tunnel syndromes, and one osteomyelitis were observed. In the EFCR approach group, complex regional pain syndrome was observed in four patients.
Conclusion: Similar clinical and radiological results were found with the EFCR approach and VH approach in the treatment of distal radius fractures. As the EFCR approach seems to be safe for routine open reduction of distal radius fractures, it should especially be kept in mind in cases with median nerve entrapment.


The book was part of a series of works oublished by The Ulster Review which looked at the key negotiating questions posed by the peace process for Unionists. In this work Dr Birnie argued that there was little to be gained by closer economic cooperation between North and South because of the different economic histories and industrial structures of both parts of the island.


The temperature dependence on the hysteresis of a-Si:H TFT has been investigated. We have also proposed and fabricated a new a-Si:H TFT pixel driving scheme, which can eliminate OLED current error caused by the hysteresis of a-Si:H TFT. At an elevated temperature from 25C to 60C, the VTH variation of aSi:H TFT caused by hysteresis was decreased from 0.41V to 0.17V due to an increase of s-slope, which was caused by an increase of initial trapped charge. Although OLED current variation caused by hystereis was decreased (~14%) as a temperature was increased, the OLED current error needed to be improved for driving pixel circuit of AMOLED. In the proposed circuit, the reset voltage (-10V) was applied before a data voltage for a present frame was written, so that the sweep direction of data voltage was fixed, resulting in the elimination of hysteresis effect on OLED current. The variation of OLED current was successfully suppressed in the proposed pixel circuit regardless of an operating temperature.


The northern Jiangsu radial sand ridges are typical geomorphic deposit units distributed off the Jiangsu coast. A coastal tidal flat typically develops and provides a good habitat for many migratory birds and benthic organisms. However, topographic surveys of tidal flats have always been difficult in marine surveys because of the dense tidal creek, poor accessibility, and difficulty in setting up control points. In this study, we quickly obtained the point cloud data of the tidal flat near Yangkou Port in the southern part of the radial sand ridges based on an airborne LiDAR system, an integrated 3D laser scanner and a positioning and attitude determination system. We analyzed the adaptabilities of multiple filtering algorithms to tidal flats. In addition, a digital elevation model (DEM) of the tidal flat was constructed and the accuracy was verified with synchronized beach GPS-RTK topographic elevation measurements. The results show that the following: (1) Airborne LiDAR can quickly obtain high precision, high resolution, and a large area of ground point cloud information for tidal flats, overcoming the shortcomings of traditional measurement methods. (2) The triangulated irregular network (TIN) filtering effect is better than that of mathematical morphology and the filtering effect of point cloud normal vector clustering is mediocre. (3) The DEM of the LiDAR point cloud is in good agreement with RTK and the average error of the measurement results is 0.108 m. The error accuracy of the DEM satisfies the surveying specification of a 1:500 topographic map in a flat area, which proves that the airborne LiDAR system can be suitable for tidal flat elevation measurement. Nevertheless, it is possible to provide high precision terrain detection and DEM construction of a tidal flat with the development of airborne infrared and blue-green laser detection radar.


A number of projects funded by the Roads and Traffic Authority (RTA) Technology Program since 2005 have developed new and innovative cement and concrete technologies that have direct benefit for, and relevance to, pavement construction. The following paper reviews research and development and business development projects that have (or soon will) have a measurable impact on day-to-day RTA pavement construction practice. These projects include improvements in flexural fatigue capacity by varying mix charging sequence, improved cement sampling at concrete batch and mixing plants, the benefit of mix registration for paving projects, improvements in concrete uniformity testing, and new developments in cement technology and mix design for lower CO2 emissions.


Objective To explore the educational issues concerning the medical students' attitude of values in new situation. Methods The author enumerated the factors that influenced medical students' attitude of value and brought forward the effective methods on the build-up of their values. Results There are two sides of influence: positive and negative. The former are focused on the impact on some old-fashioned, out-of-date and mistaken values. The latter mainly leads to the disorder of some students' value orientation. The main education approaches are: To renew educational concepts; set up scientific sense of value; deepen the reform of educational system; advance the education of sense of value actively; strengthen the construction of teaching staffs; ameliorate environment of values construction. Values construction should be performed from multi-hierarchy practically and realistically. Conclusions The formation of medical students' values is deeply influenced by society and both outside and inside self-environment. It is obligatory duty for medical colleges to fully strengthen students' value construction and ameliorate their values system.


Abstract: Adenosine transport in cultured chromaffin cells was inhibited by purinergic P2y‐receptor agonists without significant changes in the affinity constant, the values being between 1 ± 0.4 and 1.6 ± 0.6 μM. The Vmax parameter was modified significantly, being 40 ± 1.0, 26 ± 5.0, 32 ± 3.0, and 22 ± 4.7 pmol/106 cells/min for control, adenosine‐5′‐O‐(2‐thiodiphosphate), 5′‐adenylylimidodiphosphate, and P1,P4‐di(adenosine‐5′‐) tetraphosphate (Ap4A) (100 μM for every effector), respectively. Ap4A, a physiological ligand for P2y receptors in chromaffin cells, showed the highest inhibitory effect (45%). This transport inhibition is explained by an increase in the cytosolic Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) and the activation of protein kinase C (PKC). Experiments of [Ca2+]i measurement with the fura‐2 technique showed that P2y agonists, as well as bradykinin, were able to increase [Ca2+]i, this effect being independent of the presence of extracellular Ca2+. The peptide bradykinin, determined to be coupled to phosphatidylinositol hydrolysis and internal Ca2+ mobilization in chromaffin cells, exhibited a behavior similar to that of P2y agonists in adenosine transport inhibition (39%). P2y agonists and bradykinin increased PKC activity associated with the membrane fraction (about 50% increase in particulate PKC activity with respect to controls). The present studies suggest that adenosine transport is regulated by P2y‐purinergic receptors mediated via Ca2+ mobilization and PKC activation.


This article presents local shielding techniques applied to a half-bridge inverter leg with the aim to reduce the common-mode (CM) current noise at converter's dc input. The research study is conducted for 650-V enhancement mode Gallium Nitride power transistor switches. Main contributors of parasitic capacitances referred to the inverter-leg middle point node are identified. Then, shielding solutions are proposed to reduce the CM current emission by these capacitances. Respecting the precautions concerning the isolation of CM currents of the half-bridge inverter leg, the electromagnetic compatibility measurement setup is developed. Experimental step-by-step addition of local shielding copper layers to different contributors of middle point capacitance shows progressive attenuation of CM noise spectra.


Microbial fuel cells are one of the systems of renewable and clean energy generating. One of the most important things in microbial fuel cells is bacterial growth. Composts rich in organic substances are commonly used in microbial fuel cells because they positively affect bacterial growth. In addition, in recent years, studies on the use of non-inert (metal etc.) electrodes have increased; while inert (usually carbon based etc.) electrodes are generally used in microbial fuel cells. The objective of this study is to evaluate zinc anode performance by using microbial fuel cells mixed with compost. Experiments were carried out in microbial fuel cell equipped with zinc anode electrode and graphite cathode electrode. According to experiments, zinc is a suitable anode electrode of that utilizes electrochemical and biochemical reactions and therefore the microbial fuel cell produces high power density (5.33 W/m 2 ). Zinc, which has a good electrochemical and biochemical performance, undergoes corrosion. But, according to measurements and calculations made on the basis of literature the anode zinc electrode used in this study is located in the category of corrosion-resistant material. The zinc anode for microbial fuel cells is the promising electrode technology. The experiments; the microbial fuel cell in this study, electrolyte, electrode, biofuel source, biocatalyst, etc. shows that the parameters work in harmony.


The invention provides an SAR echo signal de-noising preprocessing method based on two-dimensional mixed transformation. The method is the preprocessing of an original echo signal before SAR imaging processing, aiming at de-noising the echo signal before noise mixes into an SAR imaging system to heighten the signal to noise ratio of the SAR imaging system and improve the imaging quality of the SAR image. The method comprises the following steps: (1) obtaining the SAR original echo signal, and obtaining a two-dimensional base band array echo signal for preprocessing by sampling and demodulating; (2) two-dimensional mixed transforming (DFT-DWT) the echo signal; (3) removing an out-band coefficient part and a high-frequency coefficient part of the echo signal, wherein the out-band coefficient part and the high-frequency coefficient part are two-dimensionally mixed transformed; (4) inversely two-dimensionally mixed transforming the signal after coefficient operation; and (5) taking the preprocessed echo signal as an input signal of the SAR imaging processing system, and generating the SAR image. The method is suitable for a preprocessing stage in the SAR imaging processing system, andhas better effect in restraining strong interference, detecting weak objects, improving the SAR inmaging quality, etc.


The invention discloses a traditional Chinese medicine formula for sleep apnea syndrome. The traditional Chinese medicine formula is characterized by comprising the following components: 20g of dried tangerine or orange peel, 15g of red orange, 15g of unprocessed rhizoma pinelliae, 15g of poria cocos, 10g of Ligusticum wallichii, 10g of poria cocos, 10g of rhizoma anemarrhenae, 6g of almond, 6g of semen brassicae, 5g of rhizoma acori graminei, 5g of radix curcumae and 5g of spina date seeds. The method comprises the following steps: mixing, soaking the mixture in cold water for 60 minutes, wherein decocting in water, wherein the medicine is taken one dose per day and one dose is taken in three times, and a course of treatment refers to one month. The phenomena that the conventional traditional Chinese medicine formula for sleep apnea syndrome is not obvious in effect and large in side effects and other complications are easily caused due to inappropriate medication are avoided, and the traditional Chinese medicine formula is suitable for treating the sleep apnea syndrome.


A report which is highly critical of Sheffield employers who claim to be "equal opportunity employers" has recently been published by Sheffield City Council's Department of Employment and Economic Development.


Post‐harvest biomass can be used as feedstock for energy production and alter N2O emissions from the soil, which is among the main issues determining bioethanol sustainability. To assess the effects of sugarcane straw return on gas emissions, we established a field experiment in which 0, 50, 75 or 100% (0, 5.65, 8.47 and 11.30 Mg/ha dry biomass, respectively) of the crop residues (straw) was left in the field during the first two ratoon crops. As fertilizer is applied in bands to sugarcane, we also investigated the contribution of different positions to the N2O emissions within the field. There was an interactive effect between straw and inorganic fertilizer, leading to a nonlinear effect of crop residues on the fertilizer emission factor (EF). However, straw consistently reduced N2O emissions from the field, acting mainly in the unfertilized areas in the field (P < 0.05). We observed that considering the typical EF used in the literature, the N2O‐N emissions attributed to fertilizer ranged from 0.19 to 0.79 kg/ha, while the total emissions ranged from 3.3 to 5.2 kg/ha, from the highest amount of straw to the lowest. We conclude that overall, the fertilizer EF is not as relevant as the total emissions, based on this and other studies. Consequently, management practices might be more effective in improving the GHG balance than changing inorganic fertilizer use. We conclude that keeping up to 11 Mg/ha of straw with a large C:N ratio (>100:1) on site might increase sugarcane production sustainability by reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from the field.


In this paper, a numerical method for forward kinematics of general Stewart manipulator using natural coordinates is presented. The kinematic equations are in quadratic forms and the corresponding Jacobian matrix is a linear function of coordinates because of using natural coordinates. According to the characteristics of the kinematic equations, the Newton-Raphson algorithm is simplified to decrease the renewal time of iterations between equations and Jacobian matrix, and used to solve the kinematic equations. The singularity and convergence problems of the algorithm are discussed. Furthermore, the method using natural coordinates is compared with the traditional method using rotation matrix through numerical examples. Comparison results show that the method using natural coordinates is very accurate, more efficient, and has a greater convergence domain.


Giant-cell arteritis (GCA) is a disease that may affect more than 1% of the elderly white population. Extracranial GCA, usually involving the aorta and its major branches, has been reported to be clinically detectable in 10% to 15% of patients with GCA. 1 When large vessels are involved, GCA may be life threatening because of aortic dissection, ruptured aortic aneurysm, and, more rarely, myocardial infarction. Despite these complications, the survival rate is not usually considered to be reduced when compared with the general population of the same age. 2 Report of a Case. —An 82-year-old white woman was referred to the neuro-ophthalmology service complaining of visual loss in the left eye of 2 days' duration. She had not felt well for the previous several months, noting headaches, difficulty chewing food, and arthralgias. An examination revealed visual acuity of 20/20 OD and 20/25 OS, with superior altitudinal visual field loss and


.- A composition comprising: a component A comprising one or more flavonol glycosides, a component B comprising one or more of tetrahydrofolic acid, 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid, 5-formyltetrahydrofolic acid, 10-formiltetra dihydrofolic acid or 5-, 10-methylenetetrahydrofolic, or 5-, 10-methenyltetrahydrofolic, or a physiologically acceptable salt thereof, a component C comprising one or more of elemental calcium or a calcium compound, selected from the following group: calcium oxide, calcium carbonate, calcium citrate, calcium lactate, calcium gluconate, calcium glycinate and lysinate calcium, a component D comprising one or more of elemental magnesium or a compound selected magnesium from the following group: magnesium oxide, magnesium glycerophosphate, chloride magnesium, magnesium citrate, magnesium lactate, magnesium gluconate, magnesium glycinate and magnesium taurinate


The frequency of patient's plasma sodium values in this laboratory during September 1967, is shown in the histogram in Fig. 1. This shows a striking excess of values of 130 and 140 m-equiv.jl., a less striking excess of even values and, possibly, also of the value 135 m-equiv.jl. evidence of preference for even values but no obvious preference for the values 130 and 140 m-equiv.rl. Similar examples of preference for certain values have been observed in the results of other tests, especially those derived from recorder charts from which it may be concluded that terminal digit pre-


S FROM FOREIGN JOURNALS.1 1 Under the general direction of J. Preston Hoskins, Princeton, N. J. Observations in Regard to the Application of Carbolic Acid. Prof. J. Rosenbach (Gottingen), in the medical periodical Die Praxis, reports a number of cases in which burning (mortifi cation) set in a few hours after the application o'f a weak carbolic solution (the carbolic water sold by apothecaries, containing about 3 per cent.) to bandages. In most cases it occurred upon the fingers, which were lost in this way; weakly individuals, i.e., women and children, are most liable to this danger. For this reason it has been proposed to forbid the dispensing of carbolic solutions without a physician's prescription. Rosen bach considers that such measures would be still more effective if, besides physicians, the members of the various sanitary boards were informed of the danger of carbolic gangrene.—Thierarzt. Centralblatt, Jan. I, 1806.


First instar larvae of Cassida nobilis and Cassida vittata from Palaearctic Region are described and illustrated. Comparative diagnosis of Cassida nobilis, Cassida vittata, Cassida nebulosa, Cassida stigmatica and Cassida rubiginosa is given. Results suggested that morphology of first instars within a single genus is correlated with defensive behaviour and that first instars of closely related species have diagnostic characters.


This note describes the current implementation of downstream tracking algorithm for the LHCb detector after upgrade. The implementation of the current algorithm, performance including track reconstruction efficiency and misreconstruction rate, and optimization for the upgrade conditions is described. Finally, improvements on the algorithm are presented.


This work presents the design and construction of a laryngoscope model with camera vision that has a vibrating device to alert the medical specialist when the force exerted causes possible damage to the patient's airway during the intubation process. Design and fabrication considerations are described using Cast Material Position (FFD). The design is validated with the use of a high-fidelity simulator, the performance is compared with commercial models and the criteria of specialists are taken into account to improve all the necessary aspects. The model presented a great functional advantage, providing greater patient safety, reducing the risk of exposure of the internal tissue to high forces in the intubation process, facilitating clinical processes for health personnel.


It is need scientific ways of establishing the safety prevention model for colleges and universities,such as the statistical data and building model. The safety prevention model for college and universities are including safety prevention model of inside campus and safety prevention model of outside campus.


SUMMARY In pre-operative biopsy of nonpalpable breast lesions, image-guided localization is a commun procedure with several techniques having been described, usually using mammographic guidance. The breast lesions whose exact position cannot be determined by standard mammographic views or ultrasonography, can be located by computed tomography with thin section thickness and use of contrast media enhancement. Lesions are better detected in fatty breasts, even without intravenous contrast material. We present the case of a patient with suspicious breast lesion, difficult to palpate. Since she was lying prostrated in bed, the standard mammographic positions could not be accomplished. As the nodular lesion was not seen by ultrasound, computed tomography-guided preoperative needle biopsy of this lesion was performed. Histopathology revealed infiltrating ductal carcinoma. Palabras clave: Biopsia. Mama. Tomografia computarizada (TC). Neoplasias mamarias.


In this article Tsvetaeva's rhythm and rhyme are described. Investigation of the rhythm and rhyme of the poems gives an ability to understand distinctiveness of Tsvetaeva's poems language.


This investigation was undertaken in order to determine the conditions of atmosphere under which the air capacitor may be regarded as having zero loss. A special guarded and shielded test capacitor was constructed having quartz insulation between the high-voltage and guard plates and low-loss molded Bakelite insulators between the measuring and guard plates. This capacitor was enclosed in a metal box and subjected to various conditions of temperature and humidity. Readings were made of continuous conduction current and a-c. phase defect angle. The measuring instruments used were the most sensitive available. A D'Arsonval galvanometer having a sensitivity of 1.5 × 10−12 amperes was used in the continuous current work and a Wien bridge sensitive to three seconds in the a-c. measurements. A gradient of approximately 4000 volts per cm. was used in all tests. Measurements were made of the effect of humidity at temperatures from 60 deg. fahr. to 100 deg. fahr. and in each run the humidity was varied from approximately 40 to 95 per cent. Readings were made of continuous conduction current and the phase angle of the test capacitor was compared with that of a standard air capacitor in which the humidity was maintained at a low value. It was found that the conduction was zero and the phase defect angle of an air capacitor was less than three seconds for values of humidity below 90 per cent. Observations were made also of the effect of the introduction of ions and dust particles into the condenser chamber.


The dopamine D4 receptor (D4R) is predominantly expressed in the prefrontal cortex, a brain area that integrates motor, rewarding, and cognitive information. Because participation of D4Rs in executive learning is largely unknown, we challenged D4R knockout mice (Drd4−/−) and their wild‐type (WT) littermates, neonatally treated with 6‐hydroxydopamine (6‐OHDA; icv) or vehicle in two operant learning paradigms. A continuous reinforcement task, in which one food‐pellet was delivered after every lever press, showed that 6‐OHDA‐treated mice (hypodopaminergic) WT mice pressed the reinforcing lever at much lower rates than normodopaminergic WT mice. In contrast, Drd4−/− mice displayed increased lever pressing rates, regardless of their dopamine content. In another study, mice were trained to solve an operant two‐choice task in which a first showing lever was coupled to the delivery of one food pellet only after a second lever emerged. Interval between presentation of both levers was initially 12 s and progressively shortened to 6, 2, and finally 0.5 s. Normodopaminergic WT mice obtained a pellet reward in more than 75% of the trials at 12, 6, and 2 s, whereas hypodopaminergic WT mice were severely impaired to select the reward‐paired lever. Absence of D4Rs was not detrimental in this task. Moreover, hypodopaminergic Drd4−/− mice were as efficient as their normodopaminergic Drd4−/− siblings in selecting the reward‐paired lever. In summary, hypodopaminergic mice exhibit severe impairments to retrieve rewards in two operant positive reinforcement tasks, but these deleterious effects are totally prevented in the absence of functional D4Rs. Synapse 63:991–997, 2009. © 2009 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency(``Model Law``) and the EU Insolvency Regulations in 2000(``EU Regulation``) enable the local insolvency courts to recognize foreign insolvency proceedings where the foreign proceedings are in a jurisdiction which is the debtor`s center of main interests(``COMI``). Because the term of COMI is the standard to distinguish ``foreign main proceeding`` and ``foreign non-main proceeding``, it is important for the bankruptcy court to deal with the cross-border insolvency cases, especially problems raised in the conflict of multiple foreign insolvency proceedings. However, unlike the Act on Recognition and Assistance of Foreign insolvency Treatment Proceedings in Japan, the Act on Rehabilitation and Bankruptcy of Debtor (so-called the Consolidated Insolvency Act) neither defines and distinguishes them in the context of recognition. It is not sufficient for this Act to regulate the jurisdiction. Thus, I will review the case law as to the notion of COMI under the Japanese Law, Model Law and EU Regulation.


A new finding of a marine mammal is documented from the middle Miocene of El Camp basin in Tarragona (NE Spain). The incomplete and disarticulated bone remains belong to the skeleton of a juvenile cetacean. These remains appear deposited above a transgression surface and included within a glauconitic calcisiltite layer. This unit constitutes the beginning of a shallowingupwards sequence and was deposited under lowenergy conditions and low sedimentation rates in a middle-outer platform setting. This context was responsible for the long exposure of the remains and, consequently, an extension of the biostratinomic stage. These conditions favored the natural decomposition and disarticulation of the carcass, allowing the action of different types of scavenging organisms. The interpretation of the paleoenvironmental setting is based in the combination of different datasets: taphonomic data of the bone remains, paleoecologic and taphonomic information provided by the fauna associated to the bones, and ichnologic and sedimentologic interpretation of the sediments where the fossils are included. Combination of such different proxies enables a very good characterization of the paleoenvironmental context of the studied fossils. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016699510001105 BELAÚSTEGUI, Z., GIBERT, J.M. DE, DOMÈNECH, R., MUÑIZ, F. & MARTINELL, J. 2012a. Clavate borings in a Miocene cetacean skeleton from Tarragona (NE Spain) and the fossil record of marine bone bioerosion. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 323–325, 68–74.


Objective:To observe the effects of drug-induced abortion or artificial abortion for primiparous women on their subsequent pregnancies for clinical evidence to determine a safe and adequate means for termination of pregnancy.Methods:Retrospective comparative study was performed in 135 primiparae undergone artificial abortion,126 with drug-induced abortion history and 130 primiparity without abortion to examine outcomes of subsequent pregnancy and complications associated with gestation and delivery.Results:Higher incidence of threatened abortion during the gestation period was found in women undergone artificial abortion as compared with those with drug-induced abortion or without abortion history.The difference was significant(χ2 = 14.993,P0.05),yet the additional complications had statistical difference in the three groups(P0.05).Similarly,Mothers with a history of artificial abortion had significantly higher incidence of postpartum hemorrhage,placental adherence and residual placenta in labor than those experienced drug-induced abortion or no abortion(χ2 = 22.146,χ2 =12.211,χ2 =9.387,respectively,P0.05).No statistical difference was observed in the three groups regarding incidence of fetal distress(P0.05).Conclusion:Drug-induced abortion for primigravidas seem to produce less effects on their subsequent pregnancies than artificial intervention,and may be recommended as first option for terminating early gestation.


AbstractImpervious cover (IC) has been shown to increase runoff volumes, peak discharges, and pollutant loads to streams, which can lead to degraded water quality and biological integrity. Stormwater control measures (SCMs) have been developed to mitigate the hydrologic and water quality impacts of urban areas and IC. This paired watershed study evaluated the impacts of multiple SCM retrofits on water quality at a catchment scale in a 0.53 ha urban residential drainage area. In February 2012, an in-street bioretention cell (BRC) retrofit, four permeable pavement parking stalls, and a tree filter device were installed to treat residential street runoff in Wilmington, North Carolina. In the retrofitted catchment, 94% of the directly connected impervious area (DCIA) and 91% of the total drainage area were retrofitted for water quality treatment. Underlying soils in the study area were sand. After the SCM retrofits were constructed, concentrations of total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN), total phosphorous (TP), tota...


Detailed optical measurements for the flow inside rotating passages of a five-bladed centrifugal impeller were performed by particle image velocimetry (PIV). The flow in mid-plane perpendicular to the pump axis was measured at 1400 r/min rotation speed. Seven flow rates, namely, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, 0.2, and 0 Qd, were surveyed. The averaged PIV velocity maps and streamline were analyzed. Results show that when flow rate decreases to 0.8 Qd, the flow separation forms initially at the blade suction side in passage 1. With decreasing of flow rate, the flow separation appears in much more passage, the separation region enlarges, and the flow at the pressure side begins to form flow separation. All passages are gradually occupied by the vortices generated by flow separation, until the passages are finally blocked. The scale of vortex along the stream-wise direction at the suction side is larger than that at the pressure side, whereas the scale of vortex along the span-wise direction is smaller than that at the pressure side. With the decrease in flow rate, the scales of vortices at the suction and pressure sides increase, and the vortices at both sides move toward the inlet and outlet, respectively. Moreover, the effect of vortices on the tangential and radial components of the absolute velocity was analyzed.Detailed optical measurements for the flow inside rotating passages of a five-bladed centrifugal impeller were performed by particle image velocimetry (PIV). The flow in mid-plane perpendicular to the pump axis was measured at 1400 r/min rotation speed. Seven flow rates, namely, 1.2, 1.0, 0.8, 0.6, 0.4, 0.2, and 0 Qd, were surveyed. The averaged PIV velocity maps and streamline were analyzed. Results show that when flow rate decreases to 0.8 Qd, the flow separation forms initially at the blade suction side in passage 1. With decreasing of flow rate, the flow separation appears in much more passage, the separation region enlarges, and the flow at the pressure side begins to form flow separation. All passages are gradually occupied by the vortices generated by flow separation, until the passages are finally blocked. The scale of vortex along the stream-wise direction at the suction side is larger than that at the pressure side, whereas the scale of vortex along the span-wise direction is smaller than that a...


The present study explored Muntingia calabura leaf extract as a reducing and capping agent for synthesis of CuO as well as Ag doped CuO nanoparticles. The role of terpenoids and polyols of the plant extract in reduction and stabilisation of both doped and undoped nanoparticles was confirmed on an infrared spectrum. Subsequently, the crystal structure transformed from monoclinic to cubic system and increased in size. While CuO nanoparticles exhibited maximum absorption in the UV range, doping with Ag resulted in enhanced absorbance in the visible range as well as a reduction in band gap energy. Zeta potential values approached the threshold of delicate dispersion and increased with Ag doping. Broader size distribution and relatively reduced agglomeration among doped nanoparticles could be observed. Differential antimicrobial effects of doped and undoped nanoparticles against selected strains of bacteria and fungi were confirmed.


The paper analyzes the requirements and methods for loadshedding in distribution systems and discusses frequency and voltage based functions in protection relays. Centralized and distributed load-shedding schemes are described. The impact of IEC 61850 on load-shedding is considered as well. Testing of advanced load-shedding functions is discussed at the end of the paper.


This book tells the reader a little about a lot of people. It even includes an index of the Roman Popes. I could have used it when I had my first course in church history. Seriously, this is a helpful reference book for students and pastors (or any nonspecialists in Theology). It contains a lot of helpful information in brief, easily accessible form. The brief entries include brief biographies and a sentence or two about the major works of the theologian. This kind of work will not satisfy everyone and scholars will question why some are included, e.g. Anne Hutchinson and Theophylact and certain omissions such as Husserl's influence on Heidegger (under Heidegger but not Husserl). Overall it is an excellent reference.


Hydropower is under attack everywhere you look. It started back in the sixties during the battle over Arizona's Glen Canyon Dam. That case purportedly ended in a compromise with the Sierra Club to save the Grand Canyon from hydro development. But once built, the dam played havoc with Colorado River levels, disrupting rafting trips for Grand Canyon tourists. Even Barry Goldwater was later heard to rue the Glen Canyon project. Marc Reisner's 1986 book, Cadillac Desert, galvanized the antihydro faction. A few years later, calls arose for the City of San Francisco to dismantle its O'Shaughnessy Dam across the Hetch Hetchy Valley in the Sierra Nevada, just 15 miles north of famed Yosemite. That move failed. (Maybe San Francisco's oddball reputation had something to do with the result). But now we hear of plans underway to tear down dams on the Elwah River in Washington State's Olympic National Park, to reclaim lost salmon spawning grounds and return the parks to its natural state. This time the dam busters may win. These events are not unconnected. Strung together, they reveal a change in the popular opinion of how rivers, streams, and coastlines contribute to our economic well-being, and how the federalmore » government should manage those economic resources. Federal hydropower control was born to govern our navigable waterways. It grew up as a tool to speed electrification and develop mining and logging. But forces today are seeking to make federal hydropower law more sympathetic to wildlife preservation. They argue that wildlife represents a national economic resource - no less so than timber, minerals, and shipping. This view is winning support from those in high positions, including the Chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Elizabeth Moler.« less


As an advanced philosophies and managerial principles, Concurrent Engineering searches globally optimal solution through concurrence and systemic integration of process, and holds the advantages of reducing total cost, shortening manufacturing cycle time and increasing effective production. Based on application of Concurrent Engineering, the paper employs parallel processing and integration of process, establishing integrated data platform and cross-functional and multidisciplinary team to improve discrete manufacturing process. And finally it presents improvement methods and noticeable issues.


Three-dimensional models of ligand-receptor complexes based on site-directed mutagenesis experiments of the monoamine G protein-coupled receptors reveal the existence of three distinct drug binding sites inside the receptors. Here, we develop this "three-site" hypothesis and outline its implications for the modular design of ligands for monoamine GPCRs. Molecular models of receptor-ligand complexes are built for the 5-HT1A receptor where mutagenesis studies map three spatially distinct binding regions which correspond to the binding sites of the "small, one site-filling" ligands 5-HT, propranolol and 8-OH-DPAT, respectively. The models of the 5-HT1A ligand-receptor complexes provide a frame for the discussion of other ligand-receptor interactions, including α1 and β2 adrenoceptors, D1 and D2 dopamine, and 5-HT1D and 5-HT2A receptors, where mutagenesis and modelling studies also showed occupation of the corresponding three binding locations. All three binding sites are located within the highly conserved seven helix transmembrane domain of the receptor and overlap partially at the prominent Asp residue in TM3 which constitutes the benchmark anchor site for monoamine ligands. The analysis of the sequence similarity, for each binding site, among the monoamine GPCR superfamily shows that the three loci display different degrees of evolutionary conservation. This result suggests different roles for each of the binding sites in intrinsic receptor functions and provides additional insights for the design of ligand functionality and selectivity. The existence of three distinct binding sites is also reflected by the architecture of known high affinity ligands which crosslink two or three "one site-filling" fragments around a basic amino group. Typical ligands reported in the Cipsline/MDDR portfolio illustrate this point despite the occasional difficulty of attributing the individual ligand fragments to a specific receptor site. The database exploration illustrates the binding site promiscuity of some fragments which is particularly evident for symmetrical ligands and which has implications for 3D QSAR methods dependent on alignments. We propose to generate by deconvolution of known ligands three distinct databases of site-specific bioisosters which should provide keystones for the design of novel recomposed monoamine GPCR ligands. The systematic exploration of the "three site" hypothesis should open novel perspectives for the understanding of ligand recognition for this class of therapeutically important receptors.


This paper aims at analysing the representation and participation of women in Spanish films and TV movies according to the following parameters: how do audiences validate inherited gender roles through box office results, how do films relate women's experiences during democracy with social imaginaries constructed upon long shared narratives, how does the industry articulate women's contribution.


Free-radical polymerization of acrylamide in water at room temperature involves catalysis by horse radish peroxidase to produce radical species from hydrogen peroxide and 2,4-pentanedione through an oxidoreductive pathway. In the presence of the vinylic monomer, initiation takes place, leading to polyacrylamide formation after a long and unreproducible inhibition period. Conversion-time plots are presented, and some kinetic features are compared with results of previous studies of classical acrylamide polymerization.


In anticipation of processing irradiated EBR-II depleted uranium blanket subassemblies in the Fuel Conditioning Facility (FCF) at ANL-West, it has been possible to obtain a limited set of destructive chemical analyses of samples from a single EBR-II blanket subassembly. Comparison of calculated values with these measurements is being used to validate a depletion methodology based on a limited number of generic models of EBR-II to simulate the irradiation history of these subassemblies. Initial comparisons indicate these methods are adequate to meet the operations and material control and accountancy (MC and A) requirements for the FCF, but also indicate several shortcomings which may be corrected or improved.


Microwaves often exhibit enhanced reaction rate and product selectivity in heterogeneous reactions [1]. Microwaves directly heats solid catalysts and generate local thermal non-equilibrium at the vicinity of the catalyst particle [2]. To understand the effects of local thermal non-equilibrium on gas-solid reaction, we fabricated microwave reaction system equipped with semiconductor microwave generator and ellipsoidal applicator to obtain focused microwave irradiation at the catalyst bed (Fig. 1A). Dehydration of 2-propanol was conducted as a model reaction to evaluate the effects of microwaves. Fe3O4 catalysts were used since they exhibit good microwave absorption. Microwaves gave higher acetone yield than conventional heating using electrical furnace at 250 °C (Fig. 1B). The activation energy was calculated as 90 kJ/mol and 118 kJ/mol for microwave and conventional heating, respectively. The results indicated that the microwave irradiation enhances dehydration reaction over Fe3O4 catalyst. To understand the mechanism of effects of microwave irradiation, the distribution of microwave electric field in the catalyst bed was simulated by the finite element (FEM) method. The focused microwave electric field was particularly observed at the contact point of catalyst particles. As a result, the temperature of the contacting point became higher than the other points (Fig. 3B). The enhanced reaction under microwaves can be, therefore, attributed to the generation of local thermal non-equilibrium at the contact points of catalysts. We also explored microwave susceptible metal oxide catalysts to use them for practical microwave reactions. We found that LaCoO3 exhibit high microwave absorption and attained 800 °C even at low microwave power below 50 W (Fig. 1D). By measuring the dielectric property of LaCoO3, the microwave absorption of LaCoO3 was strongly dependent on the electrical conductivity of the catalyst. LaCoO3 is, therefore, expected to exhibit enhanced catalysis under microwaves due to its strong microwave absorption.


The creation and development of internet has made it more and more important in the realm of economy,society and politics.Internet is a significant variable when it concerned the study of Chinese civil society and NGO.And internet became the tool of communication of volunteers during Wenchuan earthquake showed that Chinese civil society development were taking advantage of the internet.Also,internet's development and its role in civil society development are raising the concerns about the future of Chinese civil society development.


Monitoring of active landslides is fundamental for the design of stabilization measures, but is also important to check the behaviour of stable slopes which may suddenly become unstable, as a consequence of any change in boundary conditions, experiencing a catastrophic failure. The paper illustrates some monitoring techniques which are being tested at the Geotechnical Laboratory of C.I.R.I.AM. to predict in real time the occurrence of rapid rainfall-induced flowslides in unsaturated granular soils of pyroclastic origin.


Authors made a retrospective, observational and descriptive study using different quantitative and qualitative techniques (questionnaire and focal groups) to describe the more frequent affectations suffered by neighbors of Miramar Popular Council of Playa municipality, victims of sea penetration caused by Vilma hurricane in this coastal locality, and to identify the strengths and weakness exhibiting this community to confront the awful consequences derived from events like this. There was a predominance of affectation of material order, followed by damages to mental health which include nervous crises or of anxiety, dejected mood state, and sleep disorders. Strengths identified were the State and Government politic will of the locality, who guaranteed an efficient organization structure to confront of these situations, existence of a risk map in municipality in which be emphasized the more sensible zones, effectiveness of massive media of communication in the dissemination of meteriological reports followed by all our people, the poor conditions of drains and of the houses, as well as the poor risk perception from people, and the insufficient preparation of neighbors and informal community leaders.


The general situation of regulatory management of grid enterprises abroad is introduced,and the importance and necessity of the regulatory management optimization are analyzed.Based on the status quo of regulatory management,the strategies for optimizing the regulatory management of grid enterprises are put forward.


IN WITH MOTOR VEHICLE BEFORE END OF GUIDANCE DEVICE ADJUSTABLE AIR MADE IN THE FORM OF A SKIRT BEFORE PREPARED UNDER THE BUMPER AND MAY ROTATE DOWN AROUND A CROSS SHAFT ACCORDING TO SPEED WALKING, SKIRT 1 PRESENTS A LEADING EDGE ROUND 2 GOOD AND IS PROVIDED IN ITS REGION TERMINAL WHICH FOLLOWS, BUILDING MOLDING AND SLOTS 3 4 OUT OF COOLING AIR. IN POSITION LOWERED, THE WALKING SPEED BIG, SKIRT 1 FORM WITH THE FLOOR, NECK VENTURI 10 FORMING THE ORIGIN OF DEPRESSION AREA WHICH RESULTS IN A REDUCTION OF AERODYNAMIC RESISTANCE. IN POSITION RAISED, THE LOW SPEED MARKET, THE SKIRT 1 DONE WITH THE FLOOR ANGLE ANGLE CORRESPONDING ORDINARY AND MASK OF A BODY PART OF THE HEATER 22 TO AVOID EXCESSIVE AIR SUPPLY THEREOF.


We consider fragments of the description logic SHOIF extended with regular expressions on roles. Our main result is that satisfiability and finite satisfiability are decidable in two fragments SHOIFreg and SHOIFreg, NEXPTIMEcomplete for the former and in 2NEXPTIME for the more expressive latter fragment. Both fragments impose restrictions on regular role expressions of the form α∗. SHOIFreg encompasses the extension of SHOIF with transitive closure of roles (when functional roles have no subroles) and the modal logic of linear orders and successor, with converse. Consequently, these logics are also decidable and NEXP-


Lung cancer is one of the most threatening malignant cancers with a high metastatic rate and poor diagnosis. Tissue transglutaminase 2 (TG2) is a multidomain protein, which is up regulated in lung carcinoma and has been implicated in cancer progression and relapses. This study focuses on screening phytochemical drug for prediction of their good inhibitory activity aganist TG2 target. Total thirty drug target molecules were selected from class of phytochemicals; among the list of drug studies, six compounds showed suitable drug likeliness property. Binding efficiency of six compound was performed by PATCH dock server. Nobiletin and curcumin showed good activity compared to other. Interaction pattern analysis revealed that, Glu, Lys and Arg residues were involved in the hydrogen bond formation with drug. Keywords— Lung cancer, TG2, phytochemical, patchdock.


The Savannah River Plant has been operating a full nuclear fuel cycle since the early 1950's. Uranium is recycled and fission products and contaminated chemical wastes are sent to waste storage. During the thirty years of operation, about 270 million liters of high level radioactive waste have been generated. The Defense Waste Processing Facility (DWPF) presently under construction at Savannah River will process this waste into a borosilicate glass form suitable for long-term geologic disposal. The purpose of this paper is not to present a detailed description of the DWPF, but rather to highlight certain unique features of the DWPF process. The waste is presently stored in alkaline form in 5-million-liter carbon steel tanks. The stored waste exists in three forms: sludge, salt cake, and saturated salt solution. Most of the radioactive components are in the sludge; the principal exception is TXCs which is in both salt cake and supernate. Although the choice of borosilicate glass for high level waste disposal has been accepted in many countries, a number of factors including specific waste chemistry, existing facilities, operating philosophy, etc., have led to a number of design features that are unique to the DWPF and that represent novel approaches eithermore » for Savannah River or for the nuclear industry as a whole. 3 refs., 6 figs.« less


Heat transfer and fluid flow in a two-dimensional enclosure filled with nanofluids is investigated using multi-phase LBM, where the influences of external and internal forces, for example, the Bromnian force, gravitational force, drag force, buoyancy force and the interactions among particles on the molecular levels, are considered. The velocity field and the temperature field are obtained at different nanoparticles volume fractions, different buoyancy parameters. The simulation results show that nanofluids could enhance the heat transfer compared to pure liquid.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


The Seventh Letter is a platonic text of the last epoch of its author, where the principal metaphysical postulates of his previous work are concentrated. Passage 341a - 344d reflects his effort to synthesize, which relates his ontology and epistemology completely. The following investigation exhaustively explains the five levels of reality, and how the philosopher through a sudden enlightenment, reaches the direct and immediate intuition of the Form.


The paper presents an effective coordination scheme for a distributed optimization based on dual decomposition. The targeted class of optimization problems are strictly convex quadratic functions with linear constraints, where the dual function with coupling equality constraints in Lagrangian is continuous piecewise quadratic. The coordination is based on multi-parametric programming - the subproblem solvers return their solution on a polyhedron around a given Lagrange multiplier value. Centralized coordinator constructs the gradient and Hessian of a dual function and reaches exact consensus in a finite number of iterations, while only some subproblems are queried for a new solution in each iteration. The algorithm is applied to the distributed model predictive control. The efficiency, in terms of optimization time and the number of iterations, is demonstrated on the distributed model predictive control of the Barcelona water distribution network.


A novel electromagnetically induced transparency (EIT)-like metamaterial of terahertz domain is proposed. The metamaterial is composed of a single metal wire and a couple metal wires above it. Numerical simulations demonstrate that by rotating the single metal wire around its center, EIT phenomenon is created. The amplitude of the transparent peak increases as the rotation angle increases. When the rotation angle is 60°, the amplitude of the transparent peak reaches its maximum. However, as the rotation angle keeps increasing, the amplitude of the transparent peak gets lower and the peak finally vanishes as the rotation angle equals 90°. We also analyze the sensing performance of the metamaterial with the rotation angle of 60°. The proposed structure is simple and adjustable, with high Q-factor value and good sensing performance.


The meaning of "identity" in its contemporary sense of "who—or what—I am" is of relatively recent vintage. It became current as a concept of individual and group psychology only through Erik Erikson's work in the 1950s and its extension to collectivities in the social and political upheavals of the 1960s. But an important strand of European literature began calling the possibility of fixed self-definition into question in the 1920s, occasionally even deploying the word "identity" explicitly. In the work of Hermann Hesse, Virginia Woolf, Luigi Pirandello, Robert Musil, Hermann Broch and Franz Kafka, the dualistic representation of selfhood prevalent in much of prewar modernism gave way to the image of an infinitely fragmented and ontologically unfounded self not exhausted by any, or even the sum, of its many possible designations. For these authors, the events and aftermath of World War One desacralized a whole range of abstract collective identities—national or imperial citizen, cultured European, gebildete bourgeois, manly male, the spiritual "eternal feminine"—which had furnished the most deeply rooted and honored individual identities of prewar Europe. As a consequence, identity itself was undermined. The paradox of the birth of identity is that it was discovered in the negation of its very possibility.


The teaching of survey sampling in universities has long been criticised as tuo mathematically oriented and short of practical guidance. Singh (1982) says that it is because the teachers lack experience in the practical application of the subject In fact, even if teachers have sufficient practical experience, the subject still cannot be satisfactorily taught through lectures. The lecture theatre environment will reinforce the over-emphasis on the mathematical side and the ignorance of the practical side. Students then realise that there are a lot of theories involved in sampling methods and a lot of mathematics involved in the calculation of sampling errors. The daunting task of data collection, the fieldwork stage of a survey, however, can hardly be conveyed to the students. The results obtained &om surveys are therefore very often taken too lightly, without realising that the data were obtained through a labour-intensive, time-consuming and expensive exercise, that they have shortcomings due to various non-sampling issues, and that, because social surveys are dealing with human populations, a lot of things are not under the control of the experimenter. Techniques are required to handle the problems and to overcome these difliculties. Although some of the practical techniques can be mentioned to the students, the actual difficulties involved in conducting a survey and hence the value of survey findings, are very rarely fully appreciated if students have not taken part in a real survey themselves. To conduct a real sample survey properly is, of course, a very tedious and costly exercise which, with the present system of universities in Hong Kong, could not be implemented as part of the coursework of survey sampling. As an alternative it is hoped that students can take part in some research projects outside of their curriculum study in order to get exposure to the applied side of survey sampling. This paper tries to investigate the feasibility of such a supplementary programme including (1) the feelings and opinions of the students who have participated in such projects, (2) whether there


There are two important issues, though closely related, which follow from technology transfers. One of these refers to the appropriateness of imported technolQgiesto the recipient countries and the other one refers to the development of indigenous technological capability. The first issue has already attracted close attention from a number of people including the present author.' So far as the issue of indigenous technological capability in less developed countries (LDCs) is concerned, a major discussion centering round the topic took place at a conference held at the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh, in May-June 1982.2 Although a number of important areas were debated in the above conference, no attempt was made to make any measurement of ITC achievement in LDCs, the theme of the present paper. In an earlier article, the author had an opportunity to make observations on the use of indigenous and imported technol~gies in East and West Africa.~ The present article while making general observations on ITC achievement in developing countries will, however, make specific references to three countries of the Indian sub-continentIndia,Pakistanand Bangladesh. At the outset, it should be mentioned that in the discussion that follows there is a heavy emphasis on the development of the capital goods sector and, in particular, machinery and equipment. Such an emphasis may be criticized on the ground that we are ignoring first, the importance of the skills possessed by the labour force and


A generalization of the Lax-Wendroff method is presented. This generalization bears the same relationship to the two-step Richtmyer method as the KreissOliger scheme does to the leapfrog method. Variants based on the MacCormack method are considered as well as extensions to parabolic problems. Extensions to two dimensions are analyzed, and a proof is presented for the stability of a Thommentype algorithm. Numerical results show that the phase error is considerably reduced from that of second-order methods and is similar to that of the Kreiss-Oliger method. Furthermore, the (2, 4) dissipative scheme can handle shocks without the necessity for an artificial viscosity.


ABSTRACT This cross-national survey among Austrian, Belgian, Spanish, and South Korean boys and girls (N = 1,983; M age = 14.41, SD = 1.08) investigated the association between mass media use, self-objectification, and positive body image. In doing so, we (a) extended existing research on the link between media use and positive body image by including different media genres that are known to be part of adolescents' media diets, (b) introduced self-objectification as a potential mediator, (c) differentiated between boys and girls, and (d) tested these assumptions across diverse cultural settings. Overall, our findings suggest that the use of different types of media that emphasize physical beauty and (sexual) appearance relate both negatively as well as positively to adolescents' appreciation of their own body. Self-objectification (i.e., valuing one's appearance characteristics over competence/functionality characteristics) is negatively related to adolescents' positive body image, indicating a mediating mechanism. Our results highlight the need for further research on the content of mass media and a positive body image.


The first step in CNS development is columnarization (elongation) of ectoderm cells to form the neural plate. This plate develops into the neural tube via different mechanisms, depending on the species. In mammals, the edges of the neural plate thicken and the center bends, forming neural folds on either side of a neural groove. Ultimately, the folds join on the dorsal side of the groove, forming a neural tube. The edges of the neural plate also thicken in teleost fishes, but, rather than forming neural folds and grooves, the plate forms a solid rod of cells, the neural keel, which sinks into the underlying mesoderm. A lumen forms subsequently in the neural keel to form the neural tube. Despite these differences, many of the same molecules guide neural tube formation across species. These include the transmembrane receptor Neogenin 1 (Neo1) and one of its ligands, the repulsive guidance molecule RGM1. Brown, Jayachandran, et al. investigated the roles of Neo1 and RGM1 in zebrafish neurulation. As expected, depletion of either molecule disrupted nervous system development. The defects were attributed to impaired elongation of neuroepithelial cells during the early stages of neurulation, which resulted in impaired infolding of the neural plate to form the neural keel. The impaired elongation, in turn, likely resulted from improper alignment of microtubules. As in other mutants in which infolding is disrupted, neuroepithelial cell division occurred ectopically in Neo1and RGM1-deficient embryos, resulting in duplication of the midline. Unlike in a previous report (Kee et al., 2008, J Neurosci 28:12643), however, there was no evidence that Neo1 or RGM1 depletion affected the establishment of apico-basal polarity in neuroepithelial cells. Additional experiments revealed that binding of RGM1 to Neo1 in embryos increased Neo1 cleavage by and -secretases. This led to release of the Neo1 intracellular domain, which was targeted to the nucleus. Introducing this intracellular domain in embryos depleted of fulllength Neo1 partially rescued neural tube defects. Altogether, the results suggest that RGM1 contributes to neurulation by promoting Neo1 cleavage, generating an intracellular fragment that likely regulates gene transcription. Future work should identify the genes regulated by Neo1, which might include regulators of microtubule stability and organization.


The extended dimensions of a flame zone which result from reducing the ambient pressure below 10 mm. Hg provide possibility for detailed investigation of flame chemistry and thermodynamics. The present investigation constitutes the first part of a detailed survey of the temperature distribution in an oxy—acetylene flame and describes the instrumentation and development of the modified Schmidt Technique for measuring flame temperature and the measurement of the maximum temperature in the flame.

The results indicate the maximum flame temperature to be within plus or minus 30°C. of the equilibrium flame temperature at 4.3 mm. Hg. The technique developed, while laborious, may be used to determine flame temperature with a good degree of accuracy.

The work was carried on with the financial support of the U. S. Army Ordnance Corps and the U. S. Air Force Air Materiel Command as part of a study of low pressure combustion under way at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.


In this paper we suggest a new way to write the gravitational constant that makes all of the Planck constants; Planck length, Planck time, Planck mass, and Planck energy much more intuitive and simpler to understand. Most importantly this opens up the way for several new and simpler interpretations in physics. By writing the gravitational constant in a Planck functional form, we can rewrite all of the Planck constants (without changing their values) to a form that surprisingly is fully consistent with mathematical atomism. This strongly indicates that particles have a spatial dimension and that atomism is the correct interpretation of fundamental physics, including the physics of the quantum realm. Unfortunately very few physicists have studied mathematical atomism and we are afraid we may be speaking to deaf ears.


Abstract : A series of commercially available polymer compositions was evaluated to obtain information on the material properties required for efficient damping coatings to extend the life of aircraft structure subject to sonic fatigue. Results of tests devised to determine dynamic properties and vibration damping behavior of these materials are discussed. Reduced test data in the form of ratios indicating stress reduction due to damping and also due to adhesion between structural elements are presented. From these ratios, combined efficiencies were determined and are used as the basis for classifying the test materials into efficiency categories for the test temperature of minus 65 degrees F. to 180 degrees F., and frequencies of 150 and 300 cycles per second. Several promising new compounds were developed, based on test results which indicated that a viscoelastic layer between two rigid surfaces produced a highly effective damping system. (Author, modified-PL).


Digital health applications include a wide range of wearable, implantable, injectable and ingestible digital medical devices. Many of these devices use machine learning algorithms to assist medical prognosis and decision-making. One of the most compelling digital medical device developments is brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) which entails the connecting of a person's brain to a computer, or to another device outside the human body. BCIs allow bidirectional communication and control between the human brain and the outside world by exporting brain data or altering brain activity. Although being marveled at for its clinical promises, this technological advancement also raises novel ethical, legal, social and technical implications (ELSTI). Debates in this regard centers around patient autonomy, equity, trustworthiness in healthcare, data protection and security, risks of dehumanization, the limitations of machine learning-based decision-making, and the influence that BCIs have on what it means to be human and human rights. Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) after World War II, the landscape that give rise to these human rights has evolved enormously. Human life and humans' role in society are being transformed and threatened by technologies that were never imagined at the time the UDHR was adopted. BCIs, in particular, harbor the greatest possibility of social and individual disruption through its capability to record, interpret, manipulate, or alter brain activity that may potentially alter what it means to be human and how we control humans in future. Cutting edge technological innovations that increasingly blur the lines between human and computer beg the rethinking and extension of existing human rights to remain relevant in a digitized world. In this paper sui generis human rights such as mental privacy, the right to identity or self, agency or free will and fair access to cognitive augmentation will be discussed and how a regulatory framework must be adapted to act as technology enablers, whilst ensuring fairness, accountability, and transparency in sociotechnical systems.


In 1933 Orlicz proved various results concerning unconditional convergence in Banach spaces (4), which were noted by Banach ((l), p. 240) who remarked that absolute and unconditional convergence are equivalent in finite dimensional Banach spaces, but that whether or not the two are non-equivalent in all infinite dimensional spaces was still an open question. MacPhail (3) gave a criterion for the equivalence of the two notions of convergence in a general Banach space and used it to prove non-equivalence in the spaces l1 and L1. In 1950 Dvoretzky and Rogers demonstrated the non-equivalence of the two types of convergence in any infinite dimensional normed linear space, using an elegant and instructive geometrical approach (2). The result has also been proved by a different method by Grothendieck (5).


Handles and handle designs have been the subject of numerous studies over many years. There are a number of studies concerned with parameters such as the size, shape and length of handles as they affect human performance and work efficiency. This study is concerned with D-handles on snow shovels. A simulated snow shoveling experiment with 13 subjects was conducted to determine the optimal position of D-handles on snow shovels. The shovels used were identical with respect to the length and size of their handles as well as blade shape. However, they differed in the angular position of the D-handle with respect to the shovel blade. Subjective rates of perceived exertion and body parts discomfort were collected. Analysis of the data showed significant subject differences but insignificant shovel type differences. The graphical examination of the data reveals that D-handles positioned in the 0 to 30 degree range scored the lowest rates of overall exertion and body parts discomfort.


The paper "Retrieval of Aerosol Combined with Assimilated Forecast" is an interesting paper that uses model forecast to improve the aerosol satellite retrieval especially over aerosol absorption and size parameters. However, there are couple major problems need to be clarified. First of all, what is the relations between Angstrom exponent and particle mixing ratio? If this ratio is similar to fine mode fraction, which defined as fine mode AOD over total AOD, then the Angstrom Exponent is not only depending on this parameter. Similarly, the single scattering albedo is not only dependent on imaginary part of the refractive index, it is also function of size distribution. Also in the paper, it claims that imaginary part of the refractive index is between 0-1, but realistically, this value is between 0.00001 to 0.01 at 550nm. Look at the value the author cited in line 36 these values are around e-8. So I am not sure how is this value in case study can


Repetitive operations have been extensively used in the inverter compressor refrigeration industry. The approximately periodic disturbance caused by repetitive operations must be compensated to realize stable and high-efficiency operation. In this paper, a periodic disturbance observer (PDOB) is proposed to tackle the speed fluctuation of an inverter compressor in the low-frequency range. Periodic disturbance, consisting of a fundamental wave and corresponding harmonics, can thus be estimated and compensated; in addition, sensitivity and complementary sensitivity can reach a compromise through the use of a certain parameter. Aiming at a different operation environment, an adaptive notch filter based on the Steiglitz–McBride method is employed to estimate the fundamental frequency of periodic disturbance. Finally, the feasibility of our approach is verified by MATLAB simulation, and experiments are implemented to illustrate that speed fluctuation can be more effectively attenuated by the proposed method in comparison with general DOB.


where μ = ∑M m=1 1mμm, ε G ∼ N (0, ∑M m=1(1mΣm)), and 1m ∈ {0, 1} is a binary indicator for the m component such that ∑M m=1 1m = 1, and Prob(1m = 1) = πm. We remark that Eq. 1 directly formulates ĥk as a function of h0 instead of ĥk−1, because this clearly expresses the aim of our GMM-based forward diffusion design, i.e., such that the generated ĥ1, ..., ĥK can converge to the fitted GMM model φGMM . Yet, we note that the step-wise formulation of ĥk in terms of ĥk−1 can still be defined, if necessary. First, we sample according to probabilities {πm}m=1, and select a Gaussian component m̂, i.e., 1m̂ = 1. Next, we first calculate h̃0, a "centered" version of h0, using h̃0 = h0 − μ, where μ = ∑M m=1(1mμm) = μm̂. Then, we follow the step-wise formulation as follows:


The goal of this paper is to investigate the efficiency of domestic Rain Water Harvesting (RWH) tank to reduce the inflow discharge to stormwater sewer systems, which intends to be an option to increase urban resilience to climate change impacts. A dimensionless methodology developed based on a water balance model at daily temporal scale was applied to determine both the obtainable water saving due to the use of rain water for toilet flushing (i.e. reduce the use of portable water) and meanwhile reduce stormwater volumes discharging to sewer systems by the tank storage. The methodology and a RWH tank system was evaluated applying the daily rainfall data obtained in two met-stations of Blindern in Oslo and Rygge in Fredrikstad, South Norway. Results show, for all the considered scenarios in the two case studies that the use of the rainwater storage tank can provide significant reduction of water volume discharges to the storm water sewer, accordingly the resulting damages during the extreme events will be reduced.


The literature before 1930 on active immunization against scarlet fever has been summarized by Thomson and Thomson (1). Rector (2), also, has recently studied statistical data covering about 60,000 individuals inoculated with Dick toxin in which there was an attack rate of 0.5 per cent for the immunized individuals as against 14 per cent for the known susceptibles. Anderson's (3) statement, therefore, appears to be true that "Immunization with Dick toxin in adequate doses confers on a person previously susceptible a level of resistance against clinically recognizable scarlet fever comparable to that shown by a negative test."
 Granted then that most investigators agree on this point, considerable disagreement nevertheless exists as to whether active immunization against scarlet fever protects against the erythrogenic toxin only, or whether it also increases resistance to the invasiveness of the streptococcus and to other manifestations of the infection.


Eight non-lactating, pregnant Holstein-Friesian cows were allocated to two treatments and individually offered diets differing in dietary cation-anion difference. Decreasing the dietary cation-anion difference reduced the urine pH within hours of anionic salt supplementation. Plasma calcium concentration was unaffected by dietary cation-anion difference but urine calcium concentration was significantly increased within 10 days of including anionic salts in the diet. Faecal calcium concentration was significantly reduced, indicating increased calcium absorption. Dietary calcium concentration or dietary cationanion difference did not significantly affect urinary hydroxyproline.


The invention uses natural Chinese traditional herbs and modern scientific method to extract the effective components and adds them into the toothpaste, thus making the toothpaste have following 16 different functions: invigorating Yang, Hair-blackening, hair-strengthening, hair-growing, blood pressure lowering, sight-improving, eye-brightening, intelligence-improving, pain-stopping, sleep-draughting, tooth-strengthening, tooth-whitening, prevention of caries, anti-heatstroke, anti-rhinitis and anti-cold to overcome the shortcoming of single usage of ordinary toothpaste.


The use of concrete foundations on a natural subgrade of brick buildings with a spatial cross-wall structural system can lead to its ultimate limit and elastoplastic states along the perimeter and, as a consequence, unallowable soil deformation and movement. The paper proposes to eliminate ultimate limit and elastoplastic states along the perimeter of concrete piles through the replacement of the foundation slab by the combined piled-raft foundation. The finite element modeling of the stress-strain state of the concrete foundation and the building superstructure of the base-foundation-building system is performed in the MicroFe software package allowing to appropriately estimate this state in real geotechnical conditions. According to calculations, 46 % of the vertical load of the building is taken by concrete piles along the perimeter, and 54 % of this load is taken by the concrete foundation. The use of the combined piled-raft foundation allows eliminating unallowable soil deformation of the foundation and provides meeting the standard requirements.


The temporary help service industry has been a growing industry in France for thirty years. Due to its precarious character, this form of work raises very specific problems in terms of individual and collective rights for agency workers. Temporary agency work also raises specific legal problems because of the tripartite character of the employment relationship, based on a fixed-term term contract of employment between the temporary work firm and the worker on the one side and a contract between the temporary work firm and the user on the other. French law strictly regulates temporary agency work and especially restricts the duration and the grounds of recourse to this form of employment. The aim of the regulation is to restrict the use of fixed-term employment to exceptional circumstances in order to maintain the open-ended employment contract as the normal way of hiring people. Another objective pursued by French law is to improve the situation of temporary agency workers in terms of individual and collective rights. In particular, temporary agency workers have been granted equal treatment with the employees of the user during the assignment. Specific rules have also been enacted in order to give temporary agency work the possibility to have access to holiday pay or to vote in elections within the temporary work firm. The article examines most of the specific rules established in order to give basic employment rights to temporary agency workers despite the precarious character of their employment relationship.