Background: The term 'rhinosinusitis' refers to a heterogenous group of disorders characterized by inflammation of mucosa of the nose and paranasal sinuses. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) have recently mentioned that 136 million people of India suffer from chronic rhino sinusitis.

Methods: A total 50 patients with symptoms of rhinosinusitis were investigated with both diagnostic nasal endoscopy and CT scan paranasal sinuses and their findings were scored with particular scoring system and compared with each other.

Results: Out of 50 patients, 90% patients were diagnosed on CT scan and 84% patients were diagnosed on nasal endoscopy. By considering CT scan as accurate procedure and correlating nasal endoscopy with CT scan, sensitivity was 88.88%, specificity was 60%, positive predictive value was 95.23%, negative predictive value was 37.5%, and p value was 0.004671, which was significant at p<0.05, indicates that CT paranasal sinuses is more accurate than diagnostic nasal endoscopy in diagnosing chronic rhinosinusitis.

Conclusions: Both diagnostic nasal endoscopy and CT paranasal sinuses are important pre-operative evaluation tools in detecting pathology and both are complementary to each other. But CT paranasal sinuses are more convenient than endoscopy according to this study.


The parabolic antenna has the potential to assist for SAR instrument calibration and SAR image performance assessment, understanding the high-resolution SAR image of the parabolic antenna is helpful for the detection and classification of this type of target. In this paper, high-resolution SAR image simulation technique based on shooting and bouncing rays (SBR) is carried out to simulate multiview SAR image of a typical parabolic antenna with the resolution of 0.1 m*0.1 m, azimuth angles range from 1° to 360°, and three fixed elevation angles of 45°, 60° and 70°. The image features including the contour, shadow and multiple-bounce effects, are described with sufficient simulations.


Objective.—To review the efficacy of naratriptan as preventive treatment in 27 patients with chronic migraine refractory to other commonly used preventive therapies.


CAOS (Catania Astrophysical Observatory Spectrograph) is a high-resolution (R~60,000), fiber fed, bench-mounted, prism cross-dispersed, white-pupil R-4 echelle spectrograph with polarimetric capabilities, for the 0.91m telescope on Mt. Etna. Wavelengths from 390 to 710 nm are covered in one-shot with a 2Kx2K 13.5 micron CCD. Inherent high efficiency of the spectrograph and optimum matching between fibers and spectrograph will allow high throughput for the overall system. This instrument will replace the existing spectrograph, with a net gain in spectral resolution (about a factor 2) and in efficiency (about a factor 10), extending current studies undertaken by Catania Astrophysical Observatory in stellar physics.


Estimation of individual ancestry has great relevance when studying population composition in regions like South America, where intensive admixture processes have occurred, being also important in biomedical sciences. For that reason, it is important to assess the factors that may affect the reliability of results. In this work, we investigate the minimum number of ancestry informative markers (AIMs) for obtaining acceptable estimations of ancestry. As an example, we take individuals from a population sample of different Argentinean regions. Considering a three component model (Native American, Eurasian and Sub-Saharan), we calculated ancestry of 441 individuals using 10, 20, 30 and 50 AIMs. The results indicate that the number of markers affects ancestry estimation and its accuracy increases with AIMs number. When compared to previous estimations obtained from 99 AIMs, the result shows that at least 30 markers are needed to achieve good correlation values for the minority component (Sub-Saharan in this case). For individual ancestry studies, we suggest to take into account not only the number of markers, but also its informativeness and the background of the studied population.


Transformer is a crucial equipment of power system,it undertakes transform,energy distribution,and transmission,and the normal operation of transformer is an important guarantee of safe,economic,and reliable operation of power system.The paper makes analysis,diagnosis and treatment of 1# main transformer monohydrogen excess standard in 110kV Yurun substation,and combining with electric test,chromatogram analysis,makes accurate estimation of fault position,as well as proposes preventing measures.


Subject
 Talks on a Japan-US trade agreement.

 Significance
 US President Donald Trump's administration is pressing Tokyo to conclude a bilateral trade agreement, threatening new tariffs if negotiations do not bring the results it wants.

 Impacts
 Trump will apply unprecedentedly strong pressure and intimidation, with the threat of punitive import tariffs a major tool.
 Japan will orchestrate calls for free trade by other governments under US tariff pressure, the WTO and other international organisations.
 Tokyo will deepen cooperation with more pro-free trade partners, especially within the trade agreements it has concluded or will soon.


The invention discloses a nodular cast iron planet carrier production method. The nodular cast iron planet carrier production method comprises a smelting iron fluid working procedure, a nodulizing working procedure, an inoculation working procedure and a casting working procedure; after the casting working procedure is finished, when the planet carrier in put into the casting mould, the temperature of T1 is maintained within 790 to 810 DEG C, the planet carrier casting product is taken from the casting mould and the temperature is rapidly reduced; when the temperature T1 of the planet carrier casting product is reduced to the temperature of T2, that is within 490 to 510 DEG C, the planet carrier casting product is hanged into a heat retaining vessel, and then after casting sand is covered on the planet carrier casting product, the thermal retardation is continued; when the temperature T2 of the planet carrier casting product is maintained to the temperature T3, that is within 190 to 210 DEG C, the planet carrier casting product is taken out from the heat retaining vessel and the cleaning work is performed; and finally, the stress removing and annealing working procedure is performed to the planet carrier casting product. The nodular cast iron planet carrier production method has the advantages that the operation is simple, the energy consumption is less, the cost is low, the production cycle is short, the costing product distortion is not easy, and the planet carrier casting product contains pearlyte of more than 80 percent to reach the mechanical property requirements.


Four‐point probe measurements have been made on (100) n‐type Czochralski silicon wafers of initial resistivities 0.016, 0.96, and 3.35 Ω cm. The probe tips straddled linear single scratches formed by a Vickers pyramid diamond. The diamond was dead‐loaded with 0.25 N, and the scratches were made in a laboratory air environment with a relative humidity of 50%, as the silicon wafer was held at various elevated temperatures. The measurements show that the relative change in resistivity increases with temperature up to an optimum temperature, after which the resistivity decreases. The temperature at which the maximum occurs and at which the relative change in resistivity occurs depends on the initial resistivity of the wafers; the temperature at which the maximum change in relative resistivity occurs is 200 °C for the 0.016‐ and 0.96‐Ω cm wafers and 250 °C for the 3.35‐Ω cm wafer. The relative change between the undamaged wafer resistivity and the resistivity including the scratches for these same samples was ...


A gain-switched photonic band crystal laser that delivers the most powerful picosecond pulses to date is showing promise for direct material processing applications.


One of the most studied deleterious phases in stainless steels is the sigma phase, due to its high potential to decrease the toughness and corrosion resistance of these steels. Eight samples of as-received cold rolled UNS S32205 duplex stainless steel were submitted to isothermal heat treatments at 850 oC during 10, 15, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240, and 300 minutes in order to study the precipitation kinetics of the sigma and chi deleterious phases. Several complementary microstructural analysis techniques were used to determine the volume fraction of the intermetallic phases, including optical microscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with energy dispersive spectroscopy (EDS). Evaluation was made of the kinetics of isothermal formation of sigma and chi phases in commercial duplex stainless steels (UNS S32205). The results indicated two different mechanisms for sigma phase precipitation: sigma phase formed from the chi phase for shorter isothermal heat treatment times, and sigma phase precipitated at the ferrite-austenite interface for longer isothermal heat treatment times, using a temperature of 850 oC. The phase transformation kinetics determined using the JMA equation indicated that chi phase precipitation caused faster sigma phase formation.


This paper focuses on under-expanded gas flow at a straight mini-tube exit. Pitot total pressure of gas flow (jet) in downstream region from a straight mini-tube exit was measured to give data for validation of numerical results. A mini-tube of 495μm in diameter & 56.3 mm in length and a pitot tube of 100 μm in outer diameter were used. The pitot total pressure was measured every 0.1 mm interval in the flow and radial directions. The measurement was done for the mass flow rates of 9.71×10−5 kg/s and 1.46×10−4 kg/s. The data were accumulated for validation of the numerical result to reveal the characteristics of the under-expanded gas flow at the exit of a mini-tube. Comparisons were conducted for sample computations and a slight discrepancy can be seen between numerical and experimentally measured pitot total pressures.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


In this paper a periodic review probabilistic inventory model for a single item with two storage facilities is developed; one warehouse is owned by the system under consideration (which is referred to as OW) and the other is a rented warehouse (RW). The capacity of OW is W units. Any quantity larger than W is to be kept in RW and are gradually withdraw in batches of K units. The model determines optimum values of lot-size q and k. An example is given to illustrate the results obtained.


The Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-2019) has emerged as a new public health crisis with the WHO officially
declaring it as a pandemic on 30 January 2020. In December 2019, the virus originated in bats and was transmitted to humans through an unknown intermediary animal in Wuhan, Hubei province, China. As of 18 May 2020, there are 4,730,968
reported cases of Covid-19, with 315,488 deaths. Direct contact among individuals is the most common transmission method, primarily through droplets released during coughing or sneezing. The incubation period of the virus oscillates between 2
to 14 days. The commonly reported symptoms include fatigue, sore throat, cough, and fever. Most of the people are asymptomatic or show mild symptoms. The elderly individuals and people with comorbidities show severe symptoms. The disease
is diagnosed by using the real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing method. A blood test
is also used to detect the antibodies to the virus, which are usually released after infection. The typical laboratory findings
indicate elevated C-reactive proteins (CRP) with normal or low white blood cell counts; the chest CT scan demonstrates
ground-glass opacities (GGO) and bilateral pneumonia in most patients. Supportive treatment is available, and research on
the right treatment using existing drugs is ongoing. Several pharmaceutical companies and research institutions are focusing
on the development of a vaccine. The review summarizes and provides an update on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment strategies in the management of Covid-19.


Many people still believe that good teachers are born and not made. Others believe that good teachers figure out how to teach in their own classrooms. We believe that good teachers can be born again in the digital world. The digital world gives teachers powerful, new ideas, strong content, plentiful pedagogy, and connection to virtual schools in real-time. Furthermore the new kind of e-learning environment gives the teacher a new mission. The new kind of e-learning contributes to producing students who are strong thinkers and novel problem solvers. This paper introduces new learning tools based on cloud computing technologies. Furthermore we present innovative learning tools based on interactive e-learning environment.


How to properly model the inter-frame relation within the video sequence is an important but unsolved challenge for video restoration (VR). In this work, we propose an unsupervised flow-aligned sequence-to-sequence model (S2SVR) to address this problem. On the one hand, the sequence-to-sequence model, which has proven capable of sequence modeling in the field of natural language processing, is explored for the first time in VR. Optimized serialization modeling shows potential in capturing long-range dependencies among frames. On the other hand, we equip the sequence-to-sequence model with an unsupervised optical flow estimator to maximize its potential. The flow estimator is trained with our proposed unsupervised distillation loss, which can alleviate the data discrepancy and inaccurate degraded optical flow issues of previous flow-based methods. With reliable optical flow, we can establish accurate correspondence among multiple frames, narrowing the domain difference between 1D language and 2D misaligned frames and improving the potential of the sequence-to-sequence model. S2SVR shows superior performance in multiple VR tasks, including video deblurring, video super-resolution, and compressed video quality enhancement. Code and models are publicly available at https://github.com/linjing7/VR-Baseline


An electrical connection structure between the front and rear of a chip, and manufacturing method therefor, with the electrical connection structure between the front and rear of the chip comprising a chip (10) and a single-sided flexible circuit board (20) with connecting pads provided upon one of the chip surfaces, multiple paddles (110) and at least one active zone (111) being provided on the front (11) of the chip (10); said single-sided flexible circuit board (20) has a first surface (21) and a second surface (22), while provided solely on said first surface (21) are a plurality of first connecting pads (210) corresponding to said chip paddles (110), and a plurality of second connecting pads (211) correspondingly connected to the respective first connecting pads (210), with said second connecting pads (211) being used to correspondingly connect to the various circuit contact points provided upon a printed circuit board (50); during manufacture, the single-sided flexible circuit board (20) is used to correspondingly electrically connect the first connecting pads (210) provided upon the first surface (21) to the paddles (110) on the front of the chip, said single-sided flexible circuit board (20) bending around the edge (13) of one side of said chip so that it extends to the rear side (12) of the chip, bending back once so that it is positioned on the rear side (12) of said chip.


In the title complex, [UO 2 (NO 3 ) 2 (C 11 H 22 N 2 O) 2 ], the central UO 2 2+ cation is centrosymmetrically coordinated by six further O atoms, of which two are from the carbonyl groups of the 1,3-dibutylimidazolidin-2-one ligands and four from the two nitrate anions, forming a distorted hexagonal bipyramid. The average carbonyl U-O bond length is 2.345 (3) A, which is the shortest value among similar dinitratodioxouranium complexes.


The article deals with the dissemination of primary education among the peasants of the Tula province at the second half of the 19th century. It presents the dynamics of the number of the pupils of primary schools, the distribution of pupils among the types of schools according to their sex and age. The article describes the factors preventing from teaching the peasant children: the peasant mentality, the low material level of the rural population, the far distance between the schools and the pupils' homes, the age of pupils.


Aldous Huxley sent his brother a copy of "Leda" in response to Julian's letter announcing his engagement to Juliette Baillot. Technically the story of an adultery, it made an odd engagement present. As a poem about recurring disillusionment, however, it can be construed as indirect advice to an elder brother and a prospective sister-in-law not to expect too much. The newly engaged pair missed the poem's central point completely. Julian later surmised that their "euphoric state" caused this obtuseness, "for when Juliette wrote a note of glowing praise to Aldous, he replied [on 22 January 1919] with the following snub":


The National Audit Office(NAO) announced that performance audit should be increased to 50% by the end of 2007.According to this planning,performance audit is becoming the first audit process in China.Because of the importance of the funding of universities,community will pay more attention to Performance Audit in Education Funding(PAEF) to make sure that the money is efficient and effective.Unfortunately,NAO doesn't set up a system about PAEF now,even if the standards.Author researches all of the problems and try to explain how to establish definite standards of PAEF.


The effect of dipicolinic acid (2,6-pyridine dicarboxylic acid) on the mealworm neuromuscular junction was studied using conventional microelectrode recording techniques. Dipicolinic acid (10−5-10−3 M) added to the bathing solution reversibly blocked neuromuscular transmission. The depolarization in response to iontophoretically applied L-glutamate (glutamate potential) was not affected by dipicolinic acid even when the neurally evoked excitatory postsynaptic potential (EPSP) was totally abolished. Focal extracellular recordings from single synaptic sites revealed that in the presence of 1 x 10−4 M dipicolinic acid the presynaptic spike was unchanged, but the quantal content for evoked transmitter release was reduced. The calcium-dependent action potential elicited by direct stimulation of the muscle fiber was not impaired by dipicolinic acid. These results suggest that dipicolinic acid interferes with the transmitter-releasing mechanism from the presynaptic terminal.


Under the influence of the christian culture,a lot of modern writes expressed intense consciousness of repenting in their novels.The consciousness of repenting in Yu Dafu's novels is not purely religious repentance.It doesn't come from original sin but directs towards specific individual life.The repentance in Yu Dafu's novels,which is famous for its sentimental colour,embodies the characteristic lyric style of sincereness and the writer's purpose of creation.The frequent confession in Yu Dafu's novels,which is connected with a turbulent period of history full of contradiction,is due to slim emotion,fragile characteristic and sincere temperament of the writer,and is also influenced by the christian culture in the west.


The present research work whose theme is: "CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TEACHING-LEARNING PROCESS OF THE COMPUTER COURSE IN THE SECOND YEAR OF BACHELOR OF THE NATIONAL MIXED NATIONAL SCHOOL KLEBER FRANCO CRUZ, DEL CANTON MACHALA, PROVINCE OF EL ORO, LECTURE PERIOD 2009-2010 "Is aimed at making teachers aware of the task that is being undertaken each day towards the attainment of the objectives of education, valuing the educational activity to carry out an effective exercise of the teaching-learning process.


This paper discusses the close personal relationship of two famous Physicist, Hermann von Helmholtz and his gifted student Heinrich Hertz, and Helmholtz's Influences on Hertz's research, scholastic idea and scholastic style.


In order to understand the effect of soil fumigant chloropicrin(CP) on environmental organism,the acute toxicity of CP was determined using 5 species of environmental organism according to 'the examinational rule of security evaluation of chemical pesticide' made by National Environmental Protection Agency of the People's Republic of China.And its environmental risk has also been assessed by Directive 91/414/EEC.The results showed that CP was middle toxicity to Scenedesmus obliquus(0.497 mg/L,96 h-EC50) and Rana limnocharis(2.18 mg /L,48 h-LC50),high toxicity to Brachydanio rerio(0.222 mg/L,96 h-LC50),low toxicity to Apis mellifera L.(65.7 μg/honeybee,48 h-LD50),and Eisenia foetida(76.1 mg/kg,14 d-LC50).The data of environmental risk assessment showed the acute risk of CP to Apis mellifera L.by injection method with polyethylene film was acceptable.But based on the predicted environmental concentration(PEC) in water and in soil,the potential acute risk of CP to Scenedesmus obliquus,Rana limnocharis,Brachydanio rerio and Eisenia foetida was high.The results indicated that when CP was applied in fields,it should be taken measures to reduce the acute risk and avoid to endanger to Scenedesmus obliquus,Rana limnocharis,Brachydanio rerio and Eisenia foetida by CP.


This leaflet provides a practical overview for producers and others involved in tomato production and packaging, of what can be done at these steps to improve quality and safety of organically pro-duced tomatoes, in addition to certification and general food safety requirements. Other leaflets cover production of other commodities and separate leaflets aim at consumers and retailers.


This study examined the level of reaction towards damage related to health foods and the factors affecting this reaction among the elderly. Data were collected from 269 elderly individuals living in Seoul, Daejeon, Daegu, Gwangju and Busan. Frequencies, chi-square tests, and a multinomial logistic regression analysis were performed using the SPSS v. 14.0 program. When asked about their reaction towards damage related to health foods, approximately 48% of the respondents answered 'no response', 34% answered 'private response', and 18% answered 'public response'. Multinomial logistic regression analysis revealed that education level and awareness of health food price were significant factors influencing 'private response', and concerns about health foods and awareness of damage redemption were significant factors for 'public response'. These results imply that consumer education for elderly to prevent damage derived from the purchase and consumption of health foods is required.


This study aimed to identifying the major problems that are associated with the growth and success of MSEs specially focuses on trade, services, manufacturing, construction and urban agriculture sectors in Gurage zone three selected Woreda such as Cheha, Abeshge and Enmore ena Eaner. In the study, both qualitative and quantitative research methods were used in order to achieve the objective of the study. Primary data was obtained using questionnaires, unstructured interviews and personal observations. The information gathered through questionnaire from a sample of 140 operators and face-to-face interviews were conducted with the owner of selected MSEs operators and government bodies who are responsible for the case. Secondary data was also collected from books, journals and official document. The respondents of MSEs operators were selected by using of proportional Stratified random sampling techniques. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics with the aid of Statistical Packages for Social (SPSS version 20) for measure of central tendency and dispersion,Pearson's Product moment correlation Coefficient and multiple regression analysis. The interview questions were analyzed using descriptive narrations and summation of different respondents' point of views. On the basis of the findings, unfulfilment of infrastructural facilities, shortage of working premises and shortage of finances for start-up and expansion purposes are the top most factors that affect the growth of MSEs activities at the study area..The results of the findings further indicate that there exists positive strong significant relationship between independent variables and dependent variable. Finally, the selected independent variables may significantly test the variations from the dependent variable at 1% level of significance.


High voltage shunt reactor is an important equipment of power transmission systems. The accurate assessment of their operating status and the timely and correct diagnosis of faults and defects concern the operation safety of the entire grid. Health assessment of high voltage shunt reactors based on vibration signal, which can be used to characterize the hidden troubles of it, is a topic widely studied in deep learning and fault diagnosis. A large number of samples are needed to train the deep learning model, but it is not easy to acquire enough fault samples in the actual scene. In this paper, we utilize a Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks (DCGAN) to generate synthetic fault samples and enlarge the fault dataset to train the Convolution Neural Network (CNN) fault detection model. Results reveal that the performance through the CNN model can be improved by 3% with the synthetic samples generated by DCGAN, which is better than that of traditional Synthetic Minority Oversampling Technique (SMOTE) algorithm.


Abstract : The product of an acoustic area assessment is a calibrated environmental and acoustic modeling capability relevant to a specific system in a specific geographic area. Within prescribed resource constraints, the capability combines the state-of-the-art in 'modeling' the required acoustic parameters with the relevant environmental inputs required by the acoustic models. A 'model' is taken in its most general sense to represent an interpolation and extrapolation from known results. Predictions based upon the models are accompanied by estimates of their accuracy to ensure that the true significance of inferred system performance can be estimated by the systems engineer. Acoustic area assessment is described in the context of the LRAPP measurement program, in which case the results are documented in two types of reports: an area-wide summary report which assesses the acoustic implications of the measurements and modeling effort across a broad class of systems; and individual-system assessment reports which filter the data relevant to specific systems, and develop and evaluate the system-oriented acoustic and environmental models.


The purpose of this article is twofold. First, we study the existence and asymptotic behavior of ground states of a fractional Schrodinger system with quadratic interaction. Second, we give some conditions, in terms of the mass and energy of the ground states, under which the solutions of the associated initial value problem have the uniform bound or may blow up in finite time. As a corollary, we show the strong instability of the ground states.


An object of the present invention is to provide a video display apparatus and a video display method capable special mode transition to the user-customized by a simple operation. An image display apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is a video display apparatus capable of setting an operation mode for each user, the operation mode set for each user, a face image of the captured face of the user DOO storage means stored in association has an imaging unit for imaging the face of the user, determining means for determining that the face image corresponding to the captured face image by the image pickup means is stored in the storage means, If the face image corresponding to the captured face image by the imaging means is determined to be stored in the storage means, display control means for displaying the image to confirm the change of the operation mode, the operation mode of the image display device and and a setting means for setting the operating mode associated with the corresponding the determined face image determination unit. .FIELD 1


Call admission control can significantly affect the performance of a cellular system by adding additional bandwidth to a wireless network. In this paper, we show how call admission control can be used to optimize the performance of a hierarchical cellular system. The hierarchical system we study is based on a novel frequency planning scheme, whereby both the micro and macro layers can share the same spectrum and a hard partition of the frequency spectrum is not needed. The original analysis of the hierarchical system showed that a significant capacity gain can be achieved by the scheme. However, this capacity is gained at the expense of the carrier-to-interference ratio (C/I) performance of the macrocells. In this paper, we show that call admission control can be used in hierarchical cellular systems to achieve a capacity gain without sacrificing the C/I performance of the macrocells.


Simple Summary World communities are concerned about the impacts of a hotter and drier climate on future agriculture. By examining Australian regional livestock data on sheep, beef cattle, dairy cattle, and pigs, the authors find that livestock production will expand under such conditions. Livestock revenue per farm is expected to increase by more than 47% by 2060 under the UKMO, the GISS, and a high degree of warming CSIRO scenario. The existence of a threshold temperature for these species is not evident. Abstract This paper examines the vulnerabilities of major livestock species raised in Australia to climate change using the regional livestock profile of Australia of around 1,400 regions. The number of each species owned, the number of each species sold, and the aggregate livestock revenue across all species are examined. The four major species analyzed are sheep, beef cattle, dairy cattle, and pigs. The analysis also includes livestock products such as wool and milk. These livestock production statistics are regressed against climate, geophysical, market and household characteristics. In contrast to crop studies, the analysis finds that livestock species are resilient to a hotter and more arid climate. Under the CSIRO climate scenario in which temperature increases by 3.4 °C, livestock revenue per farm increases significantly while the number of each species owned increases by large percentages except for dairy cattle. The precipitation reduction by about 8% in 2060 also increases the numbers of livestock species per farm household. Under both UKMO and GISS scenarios, livestock revenue is expected to increase by around 47% while the livestock population increases by large percentage. Livestock management may play a key role in adapting to a hot and arid climate in Australia. However, critical values of the climatic variables for the species analyzed in this paper are not obvious from the regional data.


During the existence of the Polish People's Republic (1944–1989), the dominant ideology was that of Marxism-Leninism. It wielded strong influence on the official world-view. The ideology aspired to explain, in reality, all phenomena and processes. However, within a short period of time it became apparent that Marxism-Leninism had its weaknesses, for example, developing the sciences was conditional upon their non-interference with the objects of Marxism-Leninism. One such science that fell in this arena was the cybernetics of law. Hence, the purpose of this article is to give a short presentation of general assumptions and relation between the cybernetics of law and Marxism-Leninism during the period of "real socialism" in the Polish People's Republic.


Risk analysis is a process that involves mitigation of errors during various processes of software development. Early identification of risks should shorten the software development completion time. It will also provide efficient solutions. A complete risk analysis along with identification, monitoring and management plan is sure to ensure high quality software products. In this paper reviewed different perception of reusability and the techniques followed to mitigate the risk arose while reusing components.


A 3-year-old atopic boy developed widespread itching eczematous dermatitis involving his trunk and limbs. The child's mother stated that she had applied insect repellent wipes (VAPE derm herbal wipes®) on the days before the onset of dermatitis. Treatment with oral antihistamines and topical potent corticosteroids achieved resolution of the lesions within 10 days. The child was patch tested with the Italian (SIDAPA) baseline series, and an insect repellent series comprising hydroxycitronellal 5% pet., citronellol 2% pet., eucalyptus oil 2% pet., pyrethrum 2% pet., and diethyl toluamide (DEET) (CAS no. 134-62-3/26545-51-7) 1% pet. Patch tests were applied on the patient's back for 2 days, and read on day (D) 2 and D3 according to ICDRG criteria. Positive reactions to methylchloroisothiazolinone (MCI)/methylisothiazolinone (MI) (D2, +; D3, +) and to hydroxycitronellal 5% (D2, −; D3, +) were observed. The patch test performed with the patient's own wipes (see above) tested 'as is' showed a positive (+) reaction at D3. The wipes, as declared on the packaging, contained DEET as the active principle, citriodiol, ethanol, and 'perfume'.


We experimentally demonstrate that in photonic crystal sensors with side-coupled cavity-waveguide, group velocity of propagating mode in the coupled waveguide at the resonant mode frequency enhances sensitivity in addition to microcavity mode engineering.


In this article we present an analysis of the statistical and temporal properties of seeing and isoplanatic angle measurements obtained with combined Differential Image Motion Monitor (DIMM) and Multi-Aperture Scintillation Sensor (MASS) units at the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) candidate sites. For each of the five candidate sites we obtained multiyear, high-cadence, high-quality seeing measurements. These data allow for a broad and detailed analysis, giving us a good understanding of the characteristics of each of the sites. The overall seeing statistics for the five candidate sites are presented, broken into total seeing (measured by the DIMM), free-atmosphere seeing and isoplanatic angle (measured by the MASS), and ground-layer seeing (difference between the total and free-atmosphere seeing). We examine the statistical distributions of seeing measurements and investigate annual and nightly behavior. The properties of the seeing measurements are discussed in terms of the geography and meteorological conditions at each site. The temporal variability of the seeing measurements over timescales of minutes to hours is derived for each site. We find that each of the TMT candidate sites has its own strengths and weaknesses when compared against the other candidate sites. The results presented in this article form part of the full set of results that are used for the TMT site-selection process. This is the fifth article in a series discussing the TMT site-testing project.


The aim of the research is to find out new anti ulcer drugs from indigenous plant which are potent and nontoxic or minimal toxic and to investigate the anti ulcer activity of Oldenlandia Corymbosa (L). The powder of Oldenlandia Corymbosa (L) was successively Extracted with Ethyl alcohol and Aqueous .The preliminary phytochemical test were done and the LD50 values for both alcohol and aqueous extract determined. The anti ulcer activity of the alcoholic (200 mg / kg. p.o.) and aqueous Extract (400 mg / kg. p.o.) were assessed in Aspirin induced gastric ulcer.


Abstract Environmental responsibility is becoming part of the social profile of modern society on an international scale. The analysis of ecosystems in the Baltic Sea presents an example of the use and functioning of ecological systems under increased anthropogenic pressure globally. Wintering and feeding swans, i.e. birds wintering in large urban agglomerations, are particularly useful bioindicators of the degrees of environmental pollution. The aim of the study was to assess the element concentrations in the soil of the birds' habitat and compare these results with metal contents in birds' feathers and oxidative stress data [diene conjugates (DC) and middle-mass molecules (MM), the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione reductase (GR), and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and the total antioxidant status (TAS)] in a wintering population of the mute swan (Cygnus olor) living in northern Poland (southern Baltic Sea). Soil samples collected from bird habitats in Słupsk, Gdynia, and Sopot. These areas differ in the levels of anthropogenic pressure (urban agglomerations, recreational activity, and tourism). The analysis showed significant differences in the Al, Si, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Zr, Rh, and Ru levels between the soil from Słupsk and both Gdynia and Sopot areas and in the Rh and Ru content between all studied areas. Our results indicated high dependence on the localization, age, and sex of the birds, which were assessed by the level of DC in the blood. The study showed a connection between the lipid peroxidation and antioxidant system functioning, high MM values, and a decreased level of the TAS in adult males from Słupsk, compared to juvenile males from the same area. The functioning of the antioxidant system reflected in the activity of antioxidative enzymes and TAS values was as follows: GR > SOD > CAT > GPx and TAS.


Let's read! We will often find out this sentence everywhere. When still being a kid, mom used to order us to always read, so did the teacher. Some books are fully read in a week and we need the obligation to support reading. What about now? Do you still love reading? Is reading only for you who have obligation? Absolutely not! We here offer you a new book enPDFd corrupting the youth a history of philosophy in australia to read.


Innovation from atoms to bits and from hardware to software, today an increasing and a large percentage of payment are made electronically. Information Technology has accelerated the activities of new business model innovation. Development of virtual and physical identities, models, and reality are likely to deviate the character of the firm. Increased are of mobile devices, sensors, and cloud computing generate a rich digital foot print that allow the replication of a fast growing number of consumer activities, ranging from physical change to transactions and communication. Integrating data from more sources and growing models can predict their future character with increasing precision, large data approaches are able to evaluate how customers react to a prospective offer without actually making that offer. People spend a large percentage of their customized information products and services can be developed by software. Established companies are also taking advantage of new business models to expand their offerings: Rolls, Royce and Philips, for instance, are using their products as platforms for selling services, rather than just equipment, to global customers. Study aims to in business the business model serves as the onions core with the business plan describes the details of its layers.


In a token program the use of back-up reinforcers which are natural to the classroom environment is increasing. Several studies have reported the successful use of such natural (intrinsic) back-up reinforcers to control a wide variety of behaviors (McLaughlin, 1975 ) . However, a recent study by Evans, Horvath, Sanders, and Dolan (1974) found that having a teacher's assistant was more effective than a token reinforcement program for increasing academic achievement and attention in a special education classroom. The purpose of the present study was ro examine the effectiveness of token reinforcement on the rate of correct tracing of the letter g on dittoed sheets in a daily 4-min. session. The ages of the nine special education students, enrolled in a classroom for the emotionally and neurologically handicapped, ranged from 9 yr., 4 mo. to 10 yr., 9 mo. The classroom was managed by a token program which utilized natural school activities such as recess as back-up reinforcers. The effects of awarding tokens (points) were examined in a multiple-baseline design across subjects and introduced at random for each pupil. A Rn test (Revusky, 1967) was employed to determine the significance of the intervention. The over-all results indicated that, when token reinforcement was introduced, the frequency of correct letters traced increased. This effect was significant (R. = 16, p = .02). The findings were in conflict with those reported by Evans, et al. (1974), but this may be related to the choice of dependent variable, or back-up reinforcers. Additional research may have to determine which types of intrinsic reinforcers are the most effecrive with children in special education.


In papermaking, a fiber suspension, often containing fines (fiber fragments) and fillers (colloidal additives), is subjected to a complex hydrodynamic flow field on a paper machine. The interactions among fibers lead to a dynamic equilibrium between fiber floc formation and break-up. The interactions between fibers and fillers lead to a dynamic equilibrium between particle deposition on fibers and particle detachment. These interactions can be modeled theoretically only in model flows, such as e.g. a simple shear flow. Despite the fact that the actual flow on a paper machine is far more complex, observations follow trends predicted by these models.


Termina l deoxynucleot idyl transferase (TdT) 1 is an in t race l lu la r enzyme tha t can cata lyze the po lymer iza t ion of any 3 ' O H t e r m i n a t e d segment of D N A wi thout t empla te di rect ion (1). In rat and mouse, T d T is present in the ma jo r i ty of cort ical thymocytes and in a minor i ty of nuc lea ted cells from bone mar row a n d p repube r t a l spleen, liver, and b lood (2-6) (R. Sasaki, F . J . Bol lum, and I. Goldschneider . Trans ien t popula t ions of t e rmina l deoxynucleo t idy l t ransferase-posi t ive cells in rats and mice. Manuscr ip t in prepara t ion . ) . It is also present in most cases of acute lymphob las t i c leukemia (ALL) in m a n and mouse, and in some cases o f chronic myelogenous leukemia in blast crisis (7, 8). Because of its restr icted d i s t r ibu t ion and unusua l b iochemical propert ies , it has been pos tu la ted tha t T d T m a y funct ion as a somat ic mutagen dur ing the ear ly stages of lymphocy te di f ferent ia t ion (9, 10). There is s t rong evidence tha t m a n y T d T + hemopoie t ic cells are thymocy te progenitors (11). A p p r o x i m a t e l y 50% of T d T ÷ cells in no rma l mouse bone mar row can be induced to express Thy-1 ant igen by incuba t ion in vitro wi th thymopo ie t in (12); and >75% of T d T ÷ cells in bone mar row and spleen from normal and congeni ta l ly a thymic (nu/nu) mice can be induced to express Ly-1,2,3 ant igens by incuba t ion with thymosin. 2 T d T also has been detected in most cases of h u m a n pre-B cell l eukemia (i.e., cy toplasmic Ig ÷, surface Ig-) (13, 14) and in a small percentage of pre-B cells in normal h u m a n (15) and mouse (16) bone marrow. This suggests tha t some T d T ÷ cells may be B cell progeni tors or l ympho id stem cells.


Hot isostatically pressed (HIPed) glass-ceramics for the immobilization of uranium-rich intermediate-level wastes and Hanford K-basin sludges were designed. These were based on pyrochlore-structured Ca (1-x) U (1+y) Ti 2 O 7 in glass, together with minor crystalline phases. Detailed microstructural, diffraction and spectroscopic characterization of selected glass-ceramic samples has been performed, and chemical durability is adequate, as measured by both MCC-1 and PCT-B leach tests.


The issue that material must high-perfomance in strengthness, stiffness,
toughness, lighter and cheaper. The properties of polymeric thermoset of
unsaturated polyester were brittle and crack sensitive can be repaired by added
fiber glass and clay in number of amount.The aim of this study was to determine
the effect of the addition of clay on the tensile strength, bending strength, bending
modulus of elasticity, impact strength and fracture toughness of the composite
unsaturated polyester / glass fiber.
Handy lay-up method was used for the preparation of the unsaturated
polyester/clay/glass fiber hybrid composite. The materials used in this study was
unsaturated polyester resin, clay, glass fiber and methyl ethyl ketone peroxide
catalist into unsaturated polyester then clay using variations of 0, 2, 4 and 6 %wt
were mixed stirred mechanically 800 rpm for 120 minutes at 60
o
C. The mixture
were cooled for 10 minutes, then added of 1 %wt catalist, stirred for 2 minutes
and put in a vacuum oven for 2 minutes. Hybrid composite composed of
unsaturated polyester / clay and 4 layers glass fiber by size 190 x 220 mm
2
. Firstly
matrix of unsaturated polyester / clay was poured into a metal mold, then first ply
of glass fibers layed on the matrix and compressed using rollers. The matrix was
poured over the first ply of glass fiber and then placed a second ply of glass fiber.
This process was repeated up to 4 plies glass fiber. After settling for 24 hours at
room temperature, unsaturated polyester hybrid composite clay / glass fiber ware
heated at a temperature of 80 °C for 3 hours. Furthermore, the spesimen was made
by a �scroll saw� machine.
Results showed that the highest value tensile strength, bending strength and
bending modulus of elasticity were obtained in the hybrid composite unsaturated
polyester / clay / glass fiber using 2 %wt of clay content. The pencentage increase
by 12.83% tensile strength, 21.12% for bending strength, and 11.15% for bending
modulus of elasticity. But impact strength and fracture toughness of the hybrid
composite unsaturated polyester / clay / glass fiber was achieved on clay 4 %wt for
the impact strength increas by 26,19% and by 14.43% fracture toughness.


Agarwood tea is a prospective herbal tea product in the Indonesian marketplace. This product was made from agarwood trees, especially Aquilaria and Gyrinops genera. Agarwood leaves were the primary raw material of agarwood tea products. The leaves processing method into herbal tea products has adopted the conventional tea production method. This method has an essential contribution to maintaining the quality of agarwood tea products. This mini-review emphasizes the importance of systematic procedure and its effect on agarwood tea production technology. Agarwood tea production started with the standardization of raw material preparation. Raw material selection and sterilization were the essential procedure at this stage. Agarwood tea production after raw material preparation involves three steps: drying, chopping, and oxidizing. Dried leaves could produce agarwood tea with more robust characteristics than fresh leaves. Chopping the leaves is essential for agarwood tea product packaging. Oxidizing the leaves could produce agarwood tea with a better tannin concentration. It could be concluded that leaf preparation, drying, chopping, and oxidizing the leaves is an essential processing technology for agarwood leaves to produce a good quality tea.


The genre of elegy realizes the need to express feelings, emotions by 18th century poets in Russian literature of the. It becomes reflective and is different in non-canonical form and in communicative approach. The Modus of artistry in elegy allows us to analyze the genesis and formation of its genre. It is possible to determine the main genre characteristics of elegy based on theoretical sources of this period. We can get rid of the void in scientific theory regarding the subordination of elegy to rhetorical instructions. The appearance of elegy in Russian literature falls on the reflex-traditionalist (classical) era, which at the turn of the XVIII–XIX centuries is replaced by a new non-rhetorical era. It creates an idea of the genre as a modus of artistry. The elegiac genre differs in thematic and tonal diversity, demonstrates the flexibility of form. Elegiac modus is characterized by tragic content, unsustainable pattern and emotional focus of the persona on their own worries. The main features of elegy are realized through elegiac motifs, personas, plot, chronotope, communicative strategy and worldview. The sad tone of the elegiac modus implies a rather diverse structural and thematic classification, and ancient history reproduces the independence of the genre form of Elegy from the canons. Specific features of the elegiac modus are the Alexandrian verse, the elegiac Topos, the situation when a person finds himself in the face of time and death, the elegiac contradiction of a person with fleeting time. The most significant works for the formation and development of the genre of Russian elegy should be considered the works on rhetoric and poetics by Feofan Prokopovich, V. Trediakovsky, A. Sumarokov and M. Lomonosov. Feofan Prokopovich emphasizes the absence of an elegiac composition and the presence of a wide range of moods. The scientist suggests transmitting the joyful, angry, mournful, loving moods in elegies. V. Trediakovsky distinguishes between erotic and funeral types of elegies. He believes that the main genre feature of the elegiac mode is the content, emphasizes the rational nature of creativity and the presence of certain rhetorical laws. A. Sumarokov defends the sincerity of feelings with which the poet fills the content of the love elegy. M. Lomonosov calls the Elegy a middle genre in relation to stylistic theory, which is supported by almost all scientists. The study of the elegiac genre allows us to research the Russian elegy of the reflexive era in the aspect of artistic mode as a discursive practice. It will expand our horizons by analyzing the elegiac works of other authors in 18th century.


The process of preparing alkyl diphenyl ether includes the steps of: mixing diphenyl ether, olefin and chloroaluminic acid type ionic liquid in the molar ratio to the olefin of 0.002-0.1; reacting at 120-220 deg.c; and separating and collecting the target product alkyl diphenyl ether. The process has high yield of alkyl diphenyl ether and low catalyst consumption.


A complete radiometer simulation framework with special emphasis on high frequencies and switched system performance is proposed. The simulation procedures have been tested on a system configuration used in a branch of the 30-GHz Planck Radiometer, which detects radiation from the cosmic microwave background in a window with 20% relative bandwidth centered at 30 GHz. The goal of the article is not to obtain detailed conclusions about this radiometer in particular but to test the viability of proposed techniques in a realistic context. Basic RF performance of an ideal and a more realistic version of the radiometer is compared. Furthermore, the whole system simulation is implemented in the frequency domain and the time domain, on the same platform that is used to design separate microwave components, introducing realistic parameters for the high-frequency components, such us measured S parameters of the amplifiers and measured current-voltage characteristics of the detectors.


The study aims to identify the role of Islamic education in developing moral values among students of the Department of Arabic Language Education at the Indonesian Islamic University of Malang. To achieve this study, the researcher designed a tool to measure the role of Islamic education in promoting moral values for university students who must have the qualities of honesty, constancy, self-confidence, and honesty. and mastering their religious knowledge to enhance their moral values. The reality of Islamic education at the Indonesian Islamic University of Malang may significantly affect the formation of moral behavior among students, especially in the Arabic language teaching department, and in terms of objectives, it has certain characteristics, which is to train students to understand Islamic religious sciences on the approach of the Sunnis and the renaissance group, and to train them with characteristics Tolerance, balance, justice, and these qualities are a mission of the Nahdlatul Ulama Society, which is the largest Islamic society in Indonesia. The study recommended the development of a strategic plan that enables the Ministry, educational institutions and designated associations to develop the Islamic education curriculum in such a way that it adopts their Islamic religious knowledge and avoids students from the characteristics of religious extremism, inculcates moral values and strengthens them using organized religious educational methods and educates them in good behavior during their studies at the university. And addressing wrong behaviors according to their importance. Key words: The role of Islamic education, development of moral values, Students of the Department of Arabic Language Teaching.


Six species are recognised from Malesia, and the possibility of relationship with groups from Sulawesi, Australia and Madagascar mentioned. Elaeocarpus clementis Merr. var. kostermansii Coode is described as new. Elaeocarpus clemensiae R. Knuth is reduced to a variety of E. clementis and E. polystachyus var. borneensis Ridl. transferred to the same species. The five other species are briefly discussed.


Provides insights into the distribution system of consumer goods in Saudi Arabia. The investigation derives information from both secondary and primary sources and centres on three distribution dimensions, namely structure, operation and behaviour. Finds that structural characteristics are inextricably linked to the idiosyncratic demographic, economic and sociocultural environment of the Kingdom, and that operating elements are greatly affected by environmental forces, as well as by rising competitive pressures and demanding customers. Behavioural aspects reveal the powerful role of distributors/agents and wholesalers in the distribution scene, as well as signs of channel conflict and competition. Overall, the study demonstrates that the Saudi distribution system is unique, complex and transient, and one where traditional and modern elements coexist. A thorough understanding of this system, therefore, is critical in gaining a foothold in such a lucrative but difficult market.


Polymeric materials are promising for use in various optical devices. However, the lifetime of chromophore-doped polymeric optical devices is limited by the photodegradation of the active chromophore that provides the material system its useful optical properties. The term photodegradation covers the chemical transformation that occurs in the dyes while in the excited state or during relaxation, following photon absorption. Such transformation leads to the creation of new species, generally optically inactive, and decreases the concentration of the active chromophore, lowering the material and device efficiencies. One can model the rate of the transformation by introducing the quantum efficiency of the degradation reaction, B/sup -1/. Thus B is the average number of excitation cycles a given chromophore, in given conditions, can undergo before becoming inactive. In order to determine new classes of chromophore doped polymer materials fulfilling these requirements, it is necessary to quantify the impact that different parameters, such as different chromophores, polymer matrix structures, and external physical conditions, have on this B value. We are accomplishing this goal by systematically characterizing the photostability of different electro-optic dye-doped polymer materials.


It has been known for the superconductors in a Bi-Sr-Ca-Cu-O systeml) that there are two phases, which cause the critical temperature T, at about 80 and 110 K. The ibrmation of' the low-T, phase preceeds that of the high-Tc one. The former phase remains amongthe latter even after heating at the temperature near the melting point and the latter includes frequent intergrowth.2,3) Thechemical composition of these superconducting phases is described as Bi2(Sr, Ca)3Cu20yand Bi2(Sr, Ca)4Cu30y+2,respectively. Anyofthese are not identical to the nominal composition. This meansthat extra phases are necessarily formed in the process of the synthesis. In fact, the formation of Cu0,1,3,4, Ca2Cu03,4) Sr2Ca2Cu70.5)and (Sr, Ca)3Cu50x3,6) has been reported. Onepossible mechanismfor the variation from the low-Te Phase to the high-Tc one6) is that the former decornposes to the latter with Bi2(Sr, Ca)2CuOy_2. Another mechanism,6) which really seemsmore important, is the solid state reaction betweenthe low-Tc phase and the extra phases like (Sr, Ca)3Cu50x' In the present paper the sequential stage for the crystal growth of the high-T. phase is observed. Extra phases appearing in each stage are identificd and the mechanismof the structural variation Is discussed. 810'C for 12 h in air. The products were crushed and mixed again. Theywere then pressed in a pellet with disc shape (16mmipx3mm)and heated at 870'C for 12 h. Someof them were further crushed, mixed, pressed and heated at the temperature of 875, 878 and 880'C, respectively. The pellet heated at 880'C has been observed to melt. Theheating process of the specimens used in the measurementbelow is summarizedin Table l. Small blocks (3x3xl5 mm)were cut out from the discs and the electrical resistivity wasmeasuredin the temperature range higher than 77 Kwith a conventiona] 4-probe method. A fragment of each pellet was crushed and the powders obtained were measuredby an X-ray diffractometer (XRD, Rigaku D-9C) to identify the phases. Another set of each pellet was mechanically fractured and the cross section waspolished. Abaff was used at the final stage of polishing. Thepolished section was observed first by an optical microscope and then by secondary electron images of a scanning electron microscope (SEM,Akashi DSl30) to see the distribution of each phase. SEMobservation wasdone also for the as-fractured cross section. The polished


1\. Introduction 1.1. Geospatial applications in forestry 1.2. Motivation 1.3.
Statement of the question 1.4. Structure of the research 2\. Terms and basics
2.1. Single tree in forest mensuration 2.1.1. Tree height measurement 2.1.2.
Single tree parameters in forestry 2.2. Remote sensing in forestry 2.3.
Optical imagery 2.3.1. Illumination condition in spectral images 2.3.2. Tree
measurement in aerial images 2.4. Airborne laser scanning 2.4.1. Ranging
systems 2.4.2. Noise 2.5. LIDAR-based and image-based elevation data 3\. Image
Processing 3.1. Pixel-based vs. object-oriented image analysis 3.2. Scale-
space 3.3. Segmentation 3.3.1. Edge-based and region-based segmentation 3.3.2.
Watershed transformation 3.3.3. Object-oriented segmentation of single trees
4\. Feature Extraction 4.1. Features in single tree extraction 4.2. Template-
matching 4.3. Local maxima 4.4. Top hat slices 4.5. Surface analysis 5\.
Methodology 5.1. Eye-finger concept 5.2. Data preparation 5.2.1. Noise and
filters in processing the LIDAR data 5.2.2. Selective or Non-smoothing filter
5.3. Boundary delineation 5.4. Morphological Analysis 5.5. Marble-Rolling
segmentation 5.6. Region growing 5.6.1. Region growing of non-tree areas
5.6.2. Segmentation refinement of the stand boundary 5.6.3. Region growing of
single trees 5.7. Feature-based classification 5.8. Segment geometry 5.9.
Segment roughness 5.10. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation 6\.
Experimental Results 6.1. Study area Accuracy assessment of the DSM datasets
6.2. Stand-wise roughness analysis Single tree roughness analysis 6.3.
Reference data for single tree detection 6.3.1. Traditional methods in
forestry 6.3.2. Terrestrial laser scanning and photogrammetry of single trees
6.4. Stand-wise qualitative evaluation of the CHM 6.4.1. Analysis of height
variations 6.4.2. Form analysis 6.5. Quantitative evaluation of single tree
delineation 7\. Conclusion and outlooks 7.1. Height-based forest mensuration
7.2. From stand-wise analysis to single tree extraction 7.3. Outlook 8\.
References 9\. Appendices 10\. Abbreviations 11\. CV


Microphone arrays can capture a sound scene and can be combined with signal processing to spatially filter or beamform the scene to extract the source of interest by suppressing unwanted sounds.

Microphone array beamforming has been widely used for speech enhancement, giving rise to a vast number of beamforming methods to optimally suppress interfering sounds. However, the opportunities of these systems in broadcast and consumer audio recording have not been investigated, where wideband capture is a requirement. In this case, the microphone array design plays a significant role, yet despite the various designs from the literature, it is not clear which geometry provides the best performance under a range of criteria relevant for these applications. Moreover, the interactions between the array geometry, the beamformer and other design parameters and their impact on both physical and perceptual quality of extracted audio sources have not been established.

The main contribution of this thesis is to determine the uniform microphone array design that maximises the quality of extracted audio sources (or objects) from horizontal sound scenes, since most sound scenes have much larger variation in azimuth than elevation. Both physical and perceptual performance evaluations are conducted with a range of microphone geometries and beamforming methods showing that baffled circular arrays outperform alternative geometries both objectively (in terms of frequency range, spatial resolution, directivity and robustness) and perceptually (based on interference suppression and quality of target and overall sounds). New insights of the interactions between array geometries and beamformers are provided. Moreover, a subjective evaluation of beamforming methods is undertaken showing the benefits of the on-axis distortionless response in combination with very high directivity from the superdirective beamformer, particularly for wideband signals.

In addition to the array geometry, the effects of directivity order and regularisation are further investigated to synthesise frequency-invariant directional responses with the least-squares beamformer. The results exhibit the trade-offs between directivity and robustness with regularisation and between directivity and frequency range with directivity order. Baffled circular arrays perform best consistently for different orders and regularisation parameters. Furthermore, an optimal regularisation parameter is derived that minimises the error between the target and synthesised responses in presence of manifold errors, outperforming constant robustness constraints particularly for gain and positioning errors whose optimal regularised responses are frequency dependent.

The combination of simulation and perceptual results presented in this thesis represents a significant addition to the beamforming literature, potentially influencing the design of future compact microphone arrays.


To preserve genome integrity, all living organisms have developed strategies to respond to chromosomal damage. One such response is the repair of DNA double-strand breaks (DSBs), one of the most toxic forms of DNA lesions. In E. coli, DSBs are repaired via the homologous recombination pathway, initiated by the RecBCD enzyme. RecBCD is essential for accurate chromosome maintenance but its over-expression can lead to reduced DNA repair ability. This apparent paradox suggests that RecBCD copy number may need to be tightly controlled within an optimal range. Using single-molecule fluo-rescence microscopy, we have established that RecB is present in very low abundance at mRNA and protein levels. RecB transcription shows high levels of fluctuations yet cell-to-cell protein variability remains remarkably low. We show that the post-transcriptional regulator Hfq binds to recBCD mRNAs and down-regulates RecB protein expression in vivo. Furthermore, when Hfq-mediated regulation is perturbed, we observe less effective noise reduction and reduced DNA repair capacity. Taken together, our results suggest a post-transcriptional regulatory mechanism where Hfq fine-tunes RecB expression by inhibiting RecB translation. This fine-tuning of RecB expression contributes to reducing noise in RecB protein expression and protects cells against the toxic consequences of too high RecBCD numbers.


A biosensor is commonly defined as a device incorporating a bioreceptor connected to a transducer, which converts an observed response into a measurable signal proportional to analyte concentration which then is conveyed to a detector (Eggins, 1996). As demonstrated in Fig. 1, a biosensor consists of a bio-element and a sensor-element. A specific bio-element, including enzyme, antibody, microorganism, cell, and DNA, recognizes a specific analyte, and a sensor element transduces the change in the biomolecules into an electrical signal. Biosensors can be classified either by their bioreceptor or their transducer. Biosensors are known as enzymatic biosensors (enzymes), genosensors (DNAs), immunosensors (antibodies), etc. depending on the bioreceptors used. Biosensors can also be divided into several categories based on the transduction process, such as electrochemical, optical, piezoelectric, and thermal/calorimetric. Among these, electrochemical biosensors are the most widespread, numerous and successfully commercialized devices of biomolecular electronics (Dzyadevych et al., 2008). Much literature on carbon nanotube (CNT)-based biosensors has been published over the past several years because CNTs have the following advantages: (1) small size with large surface area, (2) high sensitivity, (3) fast response time, (4) enhanced electron transfer and (5) easy protein immobilization on CNT-modified electrodes, coupled with the fact that several methods have been developed (J. Wang & Musameh, 2003a; J. Wang et al., 2003b; Y. Saito et al., 1993). These properties make CNTs ideal for use in electrochemical biosensors and nanoscale electronic devices. Such potential applications would greatly benefit from CNTs in promoting the electron-transfer reaction of biomolecules, including catecholamine neurotransmitters (J. Wang et al., 2002a), cytochrome c (J. Wang et al., 2002b), ascorbic acid (Z. H. Wang et al., 2002), NADH (Musameh et al., 2002), and hydrazine compounds (Zhao et al., 2002). The insolubility of CNTs in most solvents is a major barrier for developing such CNT-based biosensing devices. Therefore, surface modification is necessary for CNT materials to be biocompatible and to improve solubility in common solvents and selective binding capability to biotargets. There are two main approaches for surface modification of CNTs: a non-covalent wrapping or adsorption and covalent chemical tethering. The non-covalent approach includes surfactant modification, polymer wrapping, and polymer absorption via various adsorption forces, such as van der Waals and π-stacking interactions. The advantage of non-covalent modification is that the structures and mechanical properties of CNTs remain intact.


Status of Ethics in Public Administration Philosophy and Ontology as the Foundation of Ethics Epistemology and Psychology as the Roots of Ethics The Focus of Ethics Is Human Actions The Morality of Human Actions Laws, Rules, Regulations, and Conscience as Sources of Ethical Guidance Human Rights and Duties--Duties Toward Ourselves Duties Toward Other Human Beings Man's Rights to Private Property Social Ethics--The Rights and Duties of Man as a Member of Society Conclusion


The hand is the most refined anatomical terminal device known and the leading edge of the sensorium. Further, the hand is second only to the face in terms of visibility and is a vitally important aspect aesthetic and body image. Hand amputation represents a devastating loss of function and independence. Restoring function after limb loss is a challenge and traditionally includes autologous methods and prosthetics. In the last 15 years, hand transplantation has become a viable option for select patients. Clin. Anat. 26:578–583, 2013. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.


Aims: Acute endophthalmitis is a potentially sight- threatening complication of cataract surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the incidence, microbiology and clinical outcomes of patients with post-cataract surgery endophthalmitis in a public hospital in Hong Kong. Methods: This was a retrospective case series that reviewed patients who underwent cataract surgery and were diagnosed to have acute postoperative endophthalmitis between 1 April 2003 and 31 March 2013 at the Hong Kong Eye Hospital. Main outcome measures were incidence, culture results and visual acuity at the final visit. Results: A total of 31 patients were diagnosed with acute postoperative endophthalmitis out of 46,564 cataract surgeries performed over 10 years. The mean annual incidence rate was 0.067%. A positive culture was found in 72.4% of the intraocular samples. The yield of anterior chamber and vitreous tapping was 39.3% and 57.1%, respectively. Over 95% of isolates were Gram- positive organisms and the most common pathogen was coagulase-negative staphylococcus. At the last follow-up (mean, 28.4 months; range, 2.1-86.3 months), over two- thirds of the patients achieved a visual acuity of 0.3 or more. Presenting visual acuity was positively associated with final visual outcome (p < 0.05). Conclusions: The results of this 10-year review may serve as a reference for local data on acute endophthalmitis after cataract surgery for other centres and future studies.


for scholars, beginners in English hiMory may consult it with advantage, as a ' chart,' lioth before and after they have read the leading original and secondary authorities. If they use it us a substitute for wider reading, they will gain a very inadequate idea of English history in the periods from 1066 to 1688. Tn fact, the word 'Essays ' in the title of the book is apt to mislead : a more accurate designation of the contents would be ' Lecture Notes.' The fact that these note* have been written by a scholar who has mastered his subject is what gives the book a value to students. It should be observed, moreover, that nearly one-half the pages in the book are left blank for the student's own note*. The author's notes occupy about one hundred and twenty pages. II. D. II.


OF THE DISCLOSURE Carbon dioxide is completely removed from crude ammonia synthesis gas by compressing the crude gas and contacting the compressed crude synthesis gas with am monia and water at elevated pressure, so as to dissolve most of the carbon dioxide into the liquid phase as am monium carbonate. The residual liquid phase of depleted carbon dioxide content is cooled and re?uxed at elevated pressure with water and then with liquid ammonia, so as to completely remove all of the carbon dioxide from the gas phase and produce a puri?ed synthesis gas suitable for direct passage to the ammonia synthesis loop. The resultant liquid phase consisting of high pressure am monium carbonate solution is reacted at elevated pres_ sure with a compound containing a soluble anion such as an acid, to produce an ammonium salt in solution. The high pressure solution is expanded to reduced pres sure to evolve water vapor and produce a solid ammoni um salt product. This invention relates to the combined production of ammonia and ammonium slats from synthesis gas and an anion-donating compound such as an acid. A process is provided in which carbon dioxide is completely re moved from crude synthesis gas as aqueous ammonium carbonate solution by reaction of the synthesis gas With synthesized liquid ammonia at elevated pressure and in the presence of water. The aqueous ammonium carbonate solution is then preferably reacted at elevated pressure with an anion donating compound such as a mineral acid, to yield the ammonium salt of the acid, in equeous solution. A solid ammonium salt is ultimately produced by pressure reduction, which results in concomitant evolu tion of water vapor and carbon dioxide. The residual synthesis gas phase, now free of carbon 'dioxide, is sep arated from the aqueous ammonium carbonate solution and directly passed to ammonia synthesis. A combined processing sequence is thus provided, which eliminates major processing steps and costs of the prior art. Ammonia is synthetically produced by the catalytic combination of hydrogen and nitrogen at elevated pres sure and temperature. The hydrogen is generally pro duced from hydrocarbons, by such well-known pro' cedures as catalytic steam reforming or partial oxidation. A typical steam reforming process for the production of ammonia synthesis gas is described in U.S. Patent No. 2,829,113, and a partial oxidation procedure is described in U.S. Patent No. 3,022,148. In these procedures, a crude synthesis gas is produced which principally con tains hydrogen, nitrogen, carbon monoxide and steam. The carbon monoxide is catalytically converted to car bon dioxide by reaction with steam, with concomitant production of further hydrogen, as described in U.S. Patents 2,829,113 and 3,010,807. Thus a synthesis gas is produced which contains hydrogen and nitrogen in the required proportions for ammonia synthesis, together with carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide has generally been removed from the synthesis gas by scrubbing the gas stream with an ab sorbent containing an alkaline reagent, such as potassium 10


In recent years, laser welding has attracted much attention as a high quality, highly accurate, high speed and highly productive joining process for various aluminium alloy structures and products. Laser welding of aluminium alloys has thus been extensively attempted." Consequently, it is known that weld metals with deep penetration are highly susceptible to the development of porosity. However, there seem to be few detailed investigations into the effect of weld defects, such as pores, upon the mechanical properties of laser welded joints. Accordingly, for this report, test specimens containing weld defects, such as porosity and undercuts, and AIN products were manufactured using A5182 alloy laser welds obtained as described in the previous report, and tensile strength characteristics were examined. In particular, deformation behaviour of test specimens and weld defects as well as initiation and propagation behaviour of cracks were observed. The tensile tests were carried out by means of an in-situ, X-ray inspection system and the effects of the weld defects and AIN upon the tensile strength characteristics and deformation/fracture behaviour of the specimens were examined and evaluated.


This article discusses social etiquette issues. It is no coincidence that special attention is paid to the education of young people, because young people are sensitive to the external influences of others, so educating them in the national spirit is the main goal. The spiritual upbringing of young people is emphasized as an aspect that should be the focus in society.


Right-wing extremism has become a virulent phenomenon in Central and Eastern Europe in the last years. Political parties like Hungary's Jobbik and Ataka in Bulgaria won seats in national parliaments and succeeded in dominating parts of the political discourses. In these weeks the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung publishes a set of studies presenting the situation in most of the countries of the region by identifying the actors of right-wing extremism, their influence on the respective political landscape and state-driven or civil society-based counterstrategies.
In Serbia, former right-wing leader Vojislav Šešelj's Serbian Radical Party (SRS) split in 2008. The majority of the party and its supporters turned to the new Serbian Progressive Party (SNP) as a moderately conservative political party. Following the general elections of 2012 the SNP formed a coalition government together with the post-Miloševi? SPS and its leader Tomislav Nikoli? won last years' presidential election. However, there are strong movements at the far right of the political spectrum that despise parliamentarianism and political parties. Working-class youths, usually unemployed and generally not well-educated, serve as their recruiting base. This situation is aggravated by mass unemployment, which currently stands at more than one fourth of the overall population of working age and about 50 percent of people under 30 years of age.


In this paper, a circular sector antenna pair with harmonic rejection property for wireless power transmission (WPT) by near-field coupling is proposed. This antenna pair is adopted the coupled resonant method which can mutually compensate the impedance mismatching in the near field. When the transmitting antenna removes from the receiving antenna, the receiving antenna can also resonant independently and function as an antenna for Wi-Fi or energy harvesting. To improve the conversion efficiency, the circular sector antenna pair which can suppress re-radiation of the higher order harmonics to free space and reduce power loss due to the reradiation is adopted as the transmitting-receiving antenna. The conversion efficiency of the circular sector antenna pair is 80% when the input RF power is 19 dBm.


Employing newly release evidence including hospital records, intercepted Cuban letters, battle diaries from both sides, and Spanish administrative records Tone offers new answers to old questions concerning the war. He examines the origin of Spain's genocidal policy of "reconcentration"; the causes of Spain's military difficulties; the condition, effectiveness, and popularity of the Cuban insurgency; the necessity of American intervention; and Spain's supposed foreknowledge of defeat.


Background: Chronic wounds (CWs), such as diabetic foot ulcers, venous ulcers, and pressure ulcers, constitute a widespread, serious clinical problem with high morbidity and mortality. They are characterized by a distinct subpopulation of cells with different capacity to heal and physiological impairments manifested by delays in healing. The Problem: Lack of understanding of molecular mechanisms and pathogenesis of impaired healing contributes to unnecessary debridements, biologic therapy failure, infection, amputations, and death. A major obstacle to healing of CWs is the inability to assess surgical preparation of the wound site. Objective biological=molecular markers to guide the extent of debridement and develop effective growth factor and biologic therapies are not well defined. Basic/Clinical Science Advances: Recent advances in molecular biology of CWs include morphology pattern, pathogenic molecular markers, growth factors, and gene expression profiles used to identify genes contributing to nonhealing. Clinical Care Relevance: Understanding the biology of CWs at the molecular and cellular level allows for better treatment and healing of all wounds. In the future, molecular markers may be used to distinguish impaired from nonimpaired tissue, thereby making treatment developments more accurate and efficacious. Conclusion: Many of the limitations in treatment of CWs are based on the lack of knowledge of the molecular mechanism(s) of healing. Further, diagnostic tools in wound healing are still primarily macroscopic, visual, and histologic. Thus, by understanding mechanisms of wound healing at a molecular level, new treatments can be designed, prevention programs developed, and a better understanding of current treatments provided.


Based on computer hard disk,taking into account dual-stage actuator serve system,model reference control for improving the output of VCM servo loop is proposed and VCM position is returned to MA servo loop as reference input. Taking advantage of MA's merits such as high bandwidth and fast response etc.,We regulate the VCM output and PES(position error signal),and obtain ideally compound output. The experiment simulator results prove the validity of control law presented in this paper.


We examine the physics of traveling-wave photon-phonon coupling within nanoscale silicon waveguides and explore a host of new Brillouin-based signal processing technologies enabled by tailorable stimulated Brillouin processes in silicon photonics. Theoretical analysis of Brillouin coupling at sub-wavelength scales is presented, revealing that strong light-boundary interactions produce large radiation pressures mediated Brillouin nonlinearities. Experimental results demonstrating stimulated Brillouin scattering in silicon waveguides for the first time are also presented, revealing 1000 times larger forward stimulated Brillouin gain coeffcients than any prior system.


What this article adds: In northeast Nigeria, homeless boys are at risk of radicalisation and homeless girls are at risk of increased birth rate and associated infant mortality. In December 2015, the American University of Nigeria (AUN) began a Feed and Read programme for marginalised, homeless children excluded from formal education and dependent on religious schooling and begging to survive (a common feature in cities across northeast Nigeria). Two hours of basic literacy and numeracy education and a hot meal are provided every weekday. Initially targeting boys, the programme expanded to include girls. It has had strong community support, with good child academic progress and continues to expand. Nutritional review in 2017 reflected good energy and protein intake per meal but shortfalls in micronutrients; improved dietary diversity is planned. Plans are underway to assess the nutritional impact of the programme; baseline anthropometric, food consumption, health, hygiene and illness data has been collected (April 2017) for follow-up at endline. Future considerations will include use of fortified foods and strategies involving post-harvest processing, storage and school gardens.


The invention discloses a DNS cache detection-based system and method for estimating the scale of hosts infected by appointed malicious codes. The system comprises three main modules which are a specific region DNS resolver search module, a DNS detection module and a malicious code infecting host scale estimation module. DNS resolvers in a specific region are detected, cache information of malicious domain names in each DNS resolver is collected, a mixing index estimation model is built on the basis of the information, and the scale of the hosts, infected by the malicious codes, in a corresponding network domain is estimated. The system effectively resolves problems in privacy protection, network authorization and other traditional monitoring methods.


This reflection article seeks to define and establish the basic professionalism components required for the best practice of anesthesia. Some examples of unprofessional behavior will be identified, while exposing available tools that can be used for its correction. In consequence, professionalism is proposed as a key component for the development of anesthesiology as a medical specialty and the potential beneficial impact of its inclusion in curricular programs is assessed.


Abstract : After September ii, the emergence of global terrorism and the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and dramatic changes in the security environment led once again to debate about the future of NATO. The U.S.-led Iraq War deepened the debate and created one of the gravest crises in the history of the Alliance. Although the Alliance experienced a difficult period, it managed to carry out its ongoing transformation efforts to meet the new challenges. At the Istanbul Summit of 2004, the first NATO meeting since the onset of the Iraq crisis, leaders of the Alliance acknowledged their commitment to meeting these new challenges. This thesis argues that the Iraq crisis was mainly a product of leadership failures and that a strategic divorce for the Alliance in the near future seems very unlikely. Within this context, the thesis also analyzes the nature of the Iraq crisis and the ties that bind NATO members on both sides of the Atlantic. Given the steps taken by NATO in its transformation, the changing security environment, and the United States and Europe's unique strategic culture, the thesis concludes that, while maintaining its original collective defense commitment, NATO will now also perform a collective security function throughout a broader region, especially in the Middle East and Northern Africa.


The temperature of an electric vehicle battery system influences its performance and usage life. In order to prolong the lifecycle of power batteries and improve the safety of electric vehicles, this paper designs a liquid cooling and heating device for the battery package. On the device designed, we carry out liquid cooling experiments and preheating experiments. Then, a three-dimensional numerical model for the battery package is built, and its effectiveness is validated by comparing the simulation results with the experimental outcomes in terms of battery surface temperature and temperature difference. Furthermore, we investigate the influences of the liquid flow rate and the inlet temperature on the maximum temperature and temperature difference of batteries by the cooling models and preheating models. Results show that: at the cooling stage, it is able to keep each battery working at an optimal temperature under different discharge conditions by changing the flow and the inlet temperature of liquid; at the heating stage, large flow rates and high inlet temperatures are able to speed up the preheating process, thereby saving time of the drivers.


This technical note is concerned with the connectivity preservation of a group of unicycles using a novel distributed control scheme. The proposed local controllers are bounded, and are capable of maintaining the connectivity of those pairs of agents which are initially within the connectivity range. This means that if the network of agents is initially connected, it will remain connected at all times under this control law. Each local controller is designed in such a way that when an agent is about to lose connectivity with a neighbor, the lowest-order derivative of the agent's position that is neither zero nor perpendicular to the edge connecting the agent to the corresponding neighbor, makes an acute angle with this edge, which is shown to result in shrinking the edge. The proposed methodology is then used to develop bounded connectivity preserving control strategies for the consensus problem as one of the unprecedented contributions of this work. The theoretical results are validated by simulation.


This study aims to model social dynamics of an idealized closed musical society to investigate whether a musical agreement in terms of shared musical expectations can be attained without external intervention or centralized control. Our model implements a multi-agent simulation, where identical agents, which have their own private two dimensional transition matrix that defines their expectations on all possible bi-gram note transitions, are involved in round-based pairwise interactions. Throughout an interaction two agents are randomly chosen from the population, one as the performer and the other as the listener. Performers compose a fixed length melodic line by successively appending their most expected note sequences recursively by using sounds from a finite inventory. Listeners assess this melody to determine the success of the interaction by evaluating how familiar they are to the bi-gram transitions that they hear. According to success the interacting parties perform updates on their transition matrices. All agents start with a flat transition matrix, and the simulation ends when they converge on a state of agreement. We have found that 30 out of 144 possible bi-grams, 74 out of 1728 possible tri-grams, and 7 out of 20736 four-grams emerged as agreements, although only bi-grams are communicated. The findings signify that melodic building blocks for the modeled society are self-organizing, given the limited bi-gram expectations of individuals, and that convergence trends are dependent on simulation parameters.


Th e Greek language has been the source of linguistic terms for centuries up to the present. Greek word-forming patterns, words and word elements were adopted and adapted into Latin (Neo-Latin) 1,500 years ago, and passed through Latin into many European and other languages, being used in the main for scholarly and technical purposes. Th e analytical study of language began in the second half of the fi rst millennium BC in both Greece and India. Th e present day study of grammar descends from the Greek tradition and thus many Greek technical terms were converted into English (via Latin) and into Bulgarian (under more direct Greek infl uence — for historical and geographical reasons). Th e corpus of linguistic terms dealt with in this paper contains 696 English words and 248 Bulgarian words. Th ey have been classifi ed according to three criteria: the time they entered the language, the extent of their adaptation and the branches of linguistics they belong to.


Objective To observe the characteristics of multiple myeloma(MM) on whole-body bone scan, and to evaluate its clinical diagnostic value. Methods A total of 90 patients with multiple myeloma who underwent SPECT bone imaging were retrospectively studied. The features of bone scan in mutiple myeloma patients were analyzed and compared with radiograph, CT and MRI. Results The images of whole-body bone scan were abnormal among 82 patients, with the positive rate of 91.1%. The single lesions were detected in 6.1% patients, and multiple lesions in 93.9% patients. The positive rate of-of X-ray,CT and MRI were 64.10%,94.90%,97.40%.The difference was significantly(P0.05).The difference between the positive rateof X-ray,CT and MRI were significantly(P0.05). The difference between the positive rate of whole-body bone scan,CT and MRI were no significantly(P0.05). The positive rate of combinationwhole-body bone scan,CT and MRI was 100%.Conclusion The sensitivity of whole-bodybone scan for multiple myeloma is high,combination whole-body bone scan,CT and MRI could be taken on higherpositive rate in multiple myeloma diagnosis.


World Health Organization (WHO) describes hospital acquired infections to be one of the major infectious diseases having a huge economic impact worldwide. These infections affect about 2 million people annually resulting in 5% to 15% of them requiring hospitalization. Nosocomial infection constitutes a major public health problem worldwide today. SSI are the second most common nosocomial infections. These remain a complication of surgical procedure resulting in increased morbidity, mortality and cost. One of the major problems faced by patients in now a day is to deal with the post-surgical infections, as most of these are being caused by multiple drug resistant bacteria. ABSTRACT


Owing to the close phylogenetic relationship of Platyrrhini (New World monkeys) and Catarrhini (Old World monkeys) to man, nonhuman primates are often used as models for the study of male reproductive physiology and endocrinology. This review aims at providing new data and insights into comparative primate spermato‐genesis, dealing specifically with quantitative aspects of germinal epithelial organisation and germ cell production, and with the roles of gonadotrophic hormones in this process.


TVA is conducting large-scale field experiments to better define movement and dispersion of contaminants in groundwater. This will support groundwater protection by making possible more effective design of waste storage facilities, improving monitoring systems, and designing better mitigation programs. Field experiments were initiated at the Columbus Groundwater Research Test Site in 1983. After extensive site characterization, tracers were introduced into the groundwater to simulate a contaminant. Groundwater samples were collected at one- to four-month intervals from a network of about 300 wells, each designed to collect samples from up to 30 discrete depths. Tracer concentrations from this three-dimensional grid were analyzed to provide quantitative data defining how a contaminant plume migrates under heterogeneous conditions. A second major tracer injection was initiated in the summer of 1990. This study is designed to investigate contamination of major constituents of jet fuel and gasoline as well as utility waste. A conservative tracer, tritium, was injected as well as four hydrocarbons -- benzene, naphthalene, para-xylene, and ortho-dichlorobenzene.


Summary form only given. IC packaging technology has been evolving fast and diversely in the past decade, from high-end to low-end application, such as 3D IC integration with TSV, 2.5D with TSV-Si interposer, Package-on-Package (PoP), Fan-Out Wafer-Level-Package (FO-WLP), and so on. Among the various technologies, FO-WLP get significant attention with its high-degree heterogeneous integration capability, small form factor, and total reduced system cost. FO-WLPs cover wide range of applications, e.g., FPGA, GPU, networking, smartphone / tablet Application Processor (AP), Base Band (BB) module, RF / WiFi module, Power Amplifier (PA) module, etc. There are two categories of FO-WLP, one is characterized with molding encapsulant plus wafer-like process; the other one is characterized with PCB-like (or substrate-like) process. In order to distinguish the two categories, the later one is called Panel FO-WLP, while the former one is still called FO-WLP. According to the nature of wafer-like processed FO-WLP, it possesses fine-line-fine-space, typically 1um ~ 5um, and small via capability, which implies the package could accommodate more I/Os, better electrical performance, and thus high-end to mid-range application. Nevertheless Panel FO-WLP uses substrate-like process, it cannot provide too fine-line trace, typically the line width is wider than 10um, but with lower cost. Thus, its application is limited to mid-range to low-end devices. For FO-WLP, several companies have its own intellectual proprietary (IP), such as Infineon's eWLB (embedded Wafer Level Ball Grid Array), Freescale's RCP (Redistributed Chip Package), and TSMC's InFO WLP (Integrated Fan-Out WLP). For Panel FO-WLP, the same, each company has its own IP: such as Imbera's 1MB (Integrated Module Board), AT&S's ECP (Embedded Components Packaging), ASE's a-EASI (advanced - Embedded Assembly Solution Integration), and J-Devices' WFOP (Wide Strip Panel Fan-out Package). This paper will review and compare the major players' package construction, their process uniqueness, and discuss the potential extension and application of the FO-WLPs.


Balanced and realistic evaluation of rehabilitation services, which operate in community and `real world' settings, can be exceptionally challenging (Jaffer, 1993; Stilwell, Stilwell, Hawley, & Davies, 1998). As a result of their context and client group, these programs are often complex and multidimensional (Peat, 1997). Their focus may extend beyond reducing impairment in individuals, to wide scale social change (Miles, 1996). The nature of the issues with which they deal are often hard to measure (Hope, 1997). It is rarely possible to establish a causal link between community rehabilitation interventions and subsequent outcomes (Hope, 1997) due to the array of factors impacting on clients and service delivery (Johnston, 1991; Stilwell et al., 1998). The nature of community interventions is such that outcomes may only be evident years after an intervention (Lipsey & Cordray, 2000). Often the success of community rehabilitation programs depends not only on the clinical interventions or therapy, but also on the nature of the relationship and the level of trust established with people with disabilities, their families, and their communities (Hope, 1997). Further, because community rehabilitation programs often seek to be responsive to the local community, their focus and activities may change over time. There are often multiple stakeholders, and as a result, differing opinions on who should conduct evaluations and what methodologies should be employed. Traditional means of inferring effectiveness, such as comparisons between programs and comparisons of variations in outcomes, are problematic for community programs. Different organizational contexts, vastly different service infrastructures, dissimilar social contexts, diverse perspectives of people with disability and other stakeholders, cultural and other values, all impact on the nature of a program and the potential scope for evaluation. The present article describes an attempt to respond to that complexity in which a variety of key stakeholders and service providers participated in a workshop and subsequent rounds of consultation to develop an evaluation Template. It is proposed that this Template can form the basis for evaluating a community rehabilitation service through an inclusive, participatory approach. By involving a number of stakeholders including consumers, in an evaluation planning meeting based on the Template, a mutually agreed framework can be developed which will guide the qualitative and quantitative evaluation of key variables common to community based service delivery. Method The Workshop Participants--Service Providers Representatives from four specialist rehabilitation services based in South-East Queensland met together on a number of occasions in 1999 to discuss areas of commonality that might inform a broad evaluation structure. These organizations were: * an outreach service assisting adults with acquired brain injury in the community; * a service assisting adults with spinal cord injury (SCI) in the initial transition from inpatient (hospital) rehabilitation to the community; * a consultation and outreach service assisting adults with SCI in the community; and * a specialist children's inpatient, outpatient and community rehabilitation and outreach service. Each of these services was described as a community rehabilitation service and provided services in a community setting. Each service was staffed by qualified rehabilitation professionals, maintained referral links with inpatient services and worked within a formal, government service delivery model. The Workshop Participants--Other Stakeholders These meetings culminated in a workshop with subsequent rounds of negotiation and refinement. In addition to the service representatives, key people from associated organizations also participated in the workshop and subsequent consultations. …