In this paper, a complete small signal model of two networked microgrids (NMGs) is provided, which can be used in the stability analysis, stability margin derivation and controller design. This model is validated by comparing it with the simulated NMGs using the Prony analysis. In this method, the modes, calculated by eigenvalue analysis and contributing to a particular state variable, are identified using the participation matrix and compared with the natural frequencies of its waveform. The state variable waveform is locally measured from the simulated NMGs in the SimPowerSystems environment of MATLAB and its natural frequencies are calculated using Prony analysis. It is concluded that Prony analysis estimates the natural frequencies well and there is a good similarity between them and the calculated modes, which shows the modeling validation.


The general plan that combines administration of the country by law and administration of the country by morality by Comrade Jiang zemin is the wisdom from the rethinking and summary of the practice of China's socialistic construction. The former is the protection to the later while the later is the foundation and supplement to the former. They can supplement each other, which is the urgent need from the socialistic construction with Chinese characteristics. [


The problems in the concrete mode of research construction in Tianjin City and the investment and distribution affecting research construction are analyzed in this paper.In order to maintain the sustainable development of the mechanism,the principle to construct a benefit allocation mechanism that can share risk and interests is proposed.


EDUCATIONAL NEWS 1'I'JDIb "I HucaUoll&1 --. .. .. 1DIIerted uD4er til.. ......q are "lIclted trom aclaool _~.rtu_ .. • ...ery atat. In. tile UDioD. Te H ....aUable. theae aontrUluU.u lI1lould h .ahort and coIDProll.nat..... CQ7 ",uld be recel...od ~y til. .llItor n.t lat.r tllan I'rlda:r procolllq uto .t -' for t3le meeting of the Maine Teachers' Ass-ociation here October 30 and state superintendent of publicinstruction for Pennsylvania; Calvin N. Kendall, commissioner of education for New Jersey; Principal W. D. Lewis of the William Penn school in Philadelphia; Superintendent F. C. Spaulding of Newton, Mass., and MEETINGS TO BE HELD President Meiklejohn of Amherst; OCTOBER. . Professors Thorndike and Strayer of 10:. Franklin County Teachers' AssoColumbia University and A. E. Winelation. Greenfield: Mrs. C. A. shjn of Boston. Stearns, Wendell Depot, aec'y. ... 17-18: Eastern Illinois Teachers' AsAmong the speakers at ·the several soelatlon, Charleaton: Mary E. Mcsessions will be Professor Arthur ). Coy, aec·y. '. J f h U' . f M . 17-18: Northwolatern Wfaconain Teachones 00 t e ruversjty 0 ame; ers' Association. Eau Claire; W. A. State 'Superimendent Payson Smith, Clark, Eau Claire, pres. F. U. Landman of the Maine Central 19-25: Sennth Annual Con....ntlOn, Institute; Professor Kenneth C. M. National Society for the Promotton Sins 'Of Bowdoin College', Superinof Induatrial Education, Grand Raplds,-:"Uchigan: C. A. Proner, 106 tendent Charles E. Ball of Bingham; Ea!'t 2200 Street. New York City, Princi-ial Roland H. Verbeck of Par22~~rY~nnnolsota Educational Assoclasonfield Seminary; Editor Albert E. tlon. Fifty-llrat annual me.tlng, Winship of BOMon; Miss Mary MeMlnneapolla: Dean L A. W.igle. Skimmorr of Brookline, ·Mass.; MiS'S ~:~~~ton College, NorthllelcL pr."Lucy Wheelock of Boston; Profes23-25: Vermont State T.aacbers' As-. SOl' James L. MoConaughy of Bowaoctatton, Montpeller: Principal doin College; Professor Roland P. Am}' B. Dra~, St. Johnabury, ..,c'y. Gray of the University of· Maine; 24: Connecticut State Teachers' AsaoPresident Arthur J. Roberts of Colby dation. Hartford 'and N.aw Haven; S. P. WllI ard, Colcheater, aec'y. College; ProfessorG. R. Elliott of 24: Hamnden County (Mass.) T.aachBowdoin; Professor Irvah L. Winter ers' Association, Springfteld: LSna of Harvard University; Professor M. Greenlaw, Springll.ld, sec'y. 29-30: Washington State Association, 31 j·t is plain that the remarkably spokane. high standard set at the meetings 'Of 80-31 and November 1: Rhod. Island the last two years will be well mainInstitute of Inatructlon, Provi. dence; John F. Deering, Arctic. tamed this year. see'v, Prominent among the speakers will 30-31: Mltlne State Teachera' Asecctabe Governor Haines, Jacob Riis oi ~~~i .. Bang'or ; H. A. Allen, Augusta, New York..Nathan .C, Schaeffer, October 3J-November 1: Southern Orren C. Hormell of Bowdoin; ProEducation Association, Nubvllle; fessor Frank D. Tubbs of Bates Colw. F. Feagin, Montgomery, Ala., lege; Professor Manton Copeland of 30~3r~November 1: MfchJgaD State Bowdoin; Professor W. S. C. RusTeachers' Association, AnnArbor; sell of Springfield, Mass.; Librarian s, O. Hartwolll, Kalama(.oo, pres. Ralph K. JoOnes of the Uni~rsioty of


A detailed analysis of anomalous U(1)'s and their effective couplings is performed both in field theory and string theory. It is motivated by the possible relevance of such couplings in particle physics, as well as a potential signal distinguishing string theory from other UV options. The most general anomaly related effective action is analyzed and parameterized. It contains Stuckelberg, axionic and Chern-Simons-like couplings. It is shown that such couplings are generically non-trivial in orientifold string vacua and are not in general fixed by anomalies. A similar analysis in quantum field theories provides similar couplings. The trilinear gauge boson couplings are also calculated and their phenomenological relevance is advocated. We do not find qualitative differences between string and field theory in this sector.


Abstract Tests have been carried out for copper and iron to determine the capacity of Chelex-100 resin in its "sea form", using a constant quantity of resin and variable volumes of sea water. For copper an asymptotic capacity curve is found analogous to the cadmium curve reported earlier, while for iron a maximum is observed. As Chelex-100 in its "sea form" appears useful for the determination of cadmium, but not for that of copper and iron, a preconcentration procedure utilising the Chelex-100 in its H− form is proposed. Using batch equilibration and a practical sea water/exchanger ratio, good recoveries and low blank values were obtained. The method was tested for sea water reference material.


Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is a significant health concern today that has assumed epidemic proportions worldwide and in India. Objective: The pathobiology of CAD or ischemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries disease (INOCA) in most cases involves coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) that often requires personalized pheno-approach based on the risk stratification and diagnostic yield, especially in patients with recurrent angina episodes. Chronic therapy with anti-anginal is often fraught with challenges of unipolar action, tolerance, and oxidative stress that precludes consistent benefits in clinical cases of CMD represented by microvascular angina (MVA). To further elucidate the clinical role and relevance of long-term vasodilator therapy, including nicorandil, a Knowledge, Attitude, and Perception (KAP) survey was planned to be conducted. Methods: Based on responses to the KAP survey questionnaire, Delphi-mediated graded recommendations were developed by a specialist panel as per Agency of Health Care and Quality Systems (AHRQ) criteria. Results: Management of INOCA with MVA requires a multidisciplinary approach involving non- or invasive procedures that may be relevant for persistent or refractory angina before instituting symptomatic and long-term use of nicorandil for beta-blocker intolerant and associated clinical phenotypes. Conclusion: The analyses provide a real-life approach to the management of INOCA and angina non-obstructive coronary artery disease (ANOCA) with underlying CMD that may be relevant in outpatient settings in India.


Lipoma is one of the most common benign soft tissue tumors. However, giant lipomas compressing and deforming the neurovascular structure rarely occur in the lateral neck. A 70-year-old man visited our outpatient clinic for treatment of a visible painless neck mass that had been identified 2 years prior. Neck magnetic resonance imaging revealed that a 10 × 9 × 4 cm fatty mass located between the sternocleidomastoid and sternohyoid muscles invaded the carotid sheath. Under general anesthesia, the mass was excised without damage to the adjacent neurovascular structures. Upon histopathological examination, the mass was identified as a lipoma. During the surgery, enlargement of the internal jugular vein was observed under the resected mass. However, on ultrasound examination, the function of the internal jugular vein was evaluated as good. No recurrence or neurological and vascular complications were reported during a 6-month follow-up after the surgery. As a giant lipoma located in the deep layer of the lateral neck can deform important cervical structures, its impact on the surrounding structures should be carefully assessed preoperatively to minimize the rate of possible complications.


This chapter is concerned with electrochemistry at, and of, highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), a material that has been studied intermittently for several decades, but which is of enduring interest particularly as a comparison to other types of carbon electrodes. It presents an overview of the field, with a particular focus on recent work that allows key models of the HOPG electrochemistry to be assessed. Recent developments in scanning probe microscopy have provided new opportunities to determine the electrical and electrochemical characteristics of graphite with unprecedented detail and spatial resolution. These developments receive major attention in the chapter. An overview of the structure and electronic properties of graphite is provided. The chapter also assesses early electrochemical measurements at HOPG, which tended to rely on macroscopic measurements and correlations between different macroscopic quantities. It highlights that the new understanding of HOPG electrodes has implications for wider electrochemistry.


The invention discloses an opening container mold comprising a punch, an opening mold, an initial mold and a choke plug, wherein the punch is positioned below the opening mold which is positioned below the initial mold; the initial mold is positioned below the choke plug; and the head part of the punch is provided with a plurality of cavity bodies. An opening container produced by utilizing the opening container mold is attractive and can be used for placing a plurality of different substances.


An anatomical study of a new stereotaxic approach to the gyrus hippocampi was done because of the disadvantages of the usual approach, which limited the extent of the Iesion and the destruction technique in its structures. The approach from the occipital burr-hole allows one to introduce the electrode an average of 23° to the basic CA-CP line and 30° to the midline into the longitudinal axis of the gyrus hippocampi. Through the destruction, which starts from the main target point 5 mm behind the tip of the temporal horn and 22–24 mm lateral and which continues 40 mm back, the whole temporal segment of the archicortical structures is removed. It is possible to name the new approach longitudinal stereotaxic hippocampectomy.


Economic activities require a transparent regulatory and policy environment that is accessible to all levels of society. This study aims to explain the impact of ease of doing business on economic growth in both ASEAN and the European Union since doing business indicators applied globally. Gross Domestic Product is used as a proxy variable for economic growth as Gross Domestic Product is an indicator to measure economic growth. This study uses a descriptive quantitative research model and uses multiple regressions to determine the effect of ease of doing business on economic growth in ASEAN and the European Union by comparing the result of each ASEAN and European Union. In this study it was found that in ASEAN, there are four indicators of doing business have significant impact to economic growth, while in the European Union five indicators have significant impact to economic growth.


This report documents the evaluation of the performance and safety effectiveness of passing relief lanes within the State of Michigan. The study began with the identification of passing relief lanes within Michigan. This was followed by collecting historical volume data, implementation dates and crash history for each of the 10 study sites as well as for the 100 reference sites and 231 passing lanes in the State. The analysis of the passing relief lanes within Michigan included a literature review, a best practices review and summary, an evaluation of the crash data via a naive Empirical Bayes (EB) analysis and site visits to a select group of 10 passing relief lane study sites as determined by the study team. The site visits included speed data collection at a total of 50 locations; 5 locations for each passing relief lane study site. The analysis also found that the equivalent uniform annual benefit (EUAB) was less than 1.0; a cost analysis could not be conducted as no construction costs were available for the passing relief lanes. Based upon the results of the EB analysis, Crash Modification Factors (CMFs) were established to reflect the passing lanes in Michigan.


The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has a long history of innovation in its relationships with industry. The form and function of its Industrial Liaison Program were reported in an earlier issue of Industry and Higher Education. This article explores why companies build relationships with universities, and how they value these programmes and activities. The author also describes two important programmes underway at MIT to craft new partnerships with US industry.


SEMAT Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow provides an historical overview of where SEMAT started, achievements of the past, today's priorities and plans for the future. The paper is aimed primarily at readers from Industry. The focus is on explaining how SEMAT achievements can help the software industry today and in the future. SEMAT in the Beginning In 2009 Ivar Jacobson, Bertrand Meyer and Richard Soley started a new initiative called SEMAT (Software Engineering Method and Theory) with the aim of re-founding software engineering as a rigorous discipline. SEMAT started with a Call for Action in September 2009 [1]. The Call for Action pinpointed the paramount concerns and issues that challenge the field of software engineering including:  Abundance of methods that are hard to compare  Dearth of experimental evaluation and validation  Gap between academic research and industry practice. The Call for Action then proposed to re-found software engineering based on a solid theory, proven principles, and best practices that:  Include a kernel of widely-agreed elements, extensible for specific uses.  Address both technology and people issues.  Are supported by industry, academia, researchers and users.  Support extension in the face of changing requirements and technology. 2 The SEMAT initiative was very soon supported by thousands of individuals around the world, a dozen well-known companies such as IBM, Ericsson, ABB, and about equally many academic institutions such as Florida Atlantic University, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Peking University. SEMAT thus established a need to restart on a solid basis, taking advantage of all that has been learned in software engineering theory and practice over the past decades. In January 2010 a solution was envisioned in a Vision Statement [2]. The Vision Statement proposed a more precise framework than the Call for Action, similar to a "requirement statement" and "roadmap" for furthering the quest to re-found software engineering. It laid out the vision, scope, goals, principles and milestones for the first year. The vision included creation of a kernel to allow for description of current and future practices and methods in the context of a common platform that enables practice and method comparison, evaluation, composition, simulation, usage, measurement, teaching and research. The scope of the kernel included essential kernel elements and the kernel language. The kernel would provide a platform for definition of practices and definition of methods as compositions of practices. In January 2011 the work on the kernel was moved to the OMG according to their regular process for adoption of a standard. This ensured the openness and fairness of the selection process so that results could benefit the entire software engineering community. In June 2011 the RFP was issued [3]. The next section provides a brief historical overview and what was planned to be done.


We compute nonperturbatively the average up-down and strange quark masses from the large momentum (short-distance) behavior of the quark propagator in the Landau gauge. This method, which has never been applied so far, does not require the explicit calculation of the quark mass renormalization constant. Calculations were performed in the quenched approximation, by using $\mathcal{O}(a)$ improved Wilson fermions. The main results of this study are ${m}_{l}^{\mathrm{RI}}(2\mathrm{GeV})=5.8(6)\mathrm{MeV}$ and ${m}_{s}^{\mathrm{RI}}(2\mathrm{GeV})=136(11)\mathrm{MeV}.$ Using the relations between different schemes, obtained from the available four-loop anomalous dimensions, we also find ${m}_{l}^{\mathrm{RGI}}=7.6(8)\mathrm{MeV}$ and ${m}_{s}^{\mathrm{RGI}}=177(14) \mathrm{MeV},$ and the modified minimal subtraction scheme $(\overline{\mathrm{MS}})$ masses ${m}_{l}^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(2 \mathrm{GeV})=4.8(5) \mathrm{MeV}$ and ${m}_{s}^{\overline{\mathrm{MS}}}(2 \mathrm{GeV})=111(9)\mathrm{MeV}.$


ABSTRACT Computer-based communication (CBC) has become an inevitable aspect of our communication infrastructure and a lasting alternative to face-to-face conversations. Yet, CBC (e.g. video conferencing) is not common practice for victim-offender mediation (VOM). Based on eighteen semi-structured interviews with adult victims, offenders and mediators, we provide a heuristic assessment of CBC applicability in VOM. Interviewees associated CBC with higher environmental safety compared to face-to-face mediation, and with richer emotional information compared to indirect VOM (e.g., letter exchange). Risks comprised technical and privacy concerns. Our findings provide insight into stakeholder perceptions of the usability of CBC-VOM and thus directions for effective employment.


The objective of this paper is to explain the equity implications of adopting a public finance policy, such as imposing a tax. It draws on examples from the broad literature on tax incidence and from the literature on transportation finance. This paper explores both direct and indirect incidence; that is, it investigates who pays directly and how these burdens may be shifted in both the short and long term through other markets. It focuses on incidence of the costs of public finance schemes, leaving to other experts discussion of the many potential benefits of such schemes. Incorporating such benefits into equity analyses would reduce burdens for all income groups and might have important distributional effects if the benefits are unevenly distributed across those groups. Section II examines the critical importance of relative price responsiveness on incidence measures, comparing incidence measures calculated under the most stringently restrictive of simplifying assumptions, and exploring the effect of adding layers of complexity on equity implications. Once one has calculated the absolute costs of a public finance scheme for members of different groups, one must choose the measure of income or total consumption with which to make a comparison of the costs of the scheme relative to people's overall well-being. Section III examines the important effect of this choice on incidence estimates. Rebating tax revenue or using it to reduce other taxes can have dramatic effects on incidence estimates. So can dynamic considerations, how evasion is punished, the salience of a tax, and the degree to which market participants factor price changes into their decisions. Section IV discusses these complications, and Section V sums up the main points analysts and policymakers should keep in mind when considering incidence.


We consider the Nernst effect in the underdoped regime of the cuprate high temperature superconductors within the d-density wave DDW model of the pseudogap phase. By a combination of analytical and numerical arguments, we show that there is a robust low-temperature positive peak i.e., maximum in the temperature dependence of the Nernst coefficient when the DDW state is ambipolar, i.e., when the broken symmetry supports the coexistence of both electron- and holelike quasiparticles in the excitation spectrum, and the electron pocket dominates at the low temperatures. In contrast, the Nernst coefficient is negative and there is no such positive peak if the underlying state is nonambipolar, i.e., when it supports only one type of quasiparticles. More generally, in the ambipolar state, the sign of the Nernst coefficient can be positive or negative depending on the dominance of the electron or hole pockets, respectively, in the low temperature thermoelectric transport. By modeling the pseudogap phase by a doping-dependent DDW order parameter with a Fermi surface topology that supports both hole and electron pockets, and assuming energy-independent transport scattering times, we analyze the evolution of the Nernst effect with doping concentration at low temperatures in the cuprate phase diagram. Even though the chosen ambipolar DDW state with a specific Fermi surface topology is not the only possible explanation of either the recent quantum oscillation experiments or the recent observation of a negative Hall coefficient at low temperatures in the underdoped cuprates, it is at least one possible state qualitatively consistent with both of these experiments. As such, the calculations in this paper present at least one possible scenario for the observed enhanced Nernst signals in the underdoped cuprates.


In this study, three-dimensional thermoelastic behavior of a functionally graded (FG) truncated conical shell with piezoelectric layers perfectly bonded to its inner and outer surfaces under electro–thermo–mechanical loads is investigated. The material properties of the FG truncated conical shell are assumed to be graded along the thickness according to a power-law function while the Poisson's ratio is considered constant. The differential quadrature method (DQM) is utilized to obtain numerical results. The findings of this method are compared with the results published in the literature and excellent agreement with significantly fast convergence is shown. Parametric studies are performed to demonstrate the effects of the FG grading index, edge boundary conditions, semi-vertex angle of the shell, and thickness of the piezoelectric layers on the distribution of stress components, displacements, and electric potential.


Stroke is currently the fifth highest cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of long-term disability.1 While physicians, patients, and their families crave answers regarding potential prognosis immediately after infarct, few tools currently exist for such predication, especially in the acute setting. For many years, the recovery literature focused on improvement in motor function. More recently, attention has shifted toward cognition, which can be substantially impaired after even minor stroke.2,3 This dysfunction can be progressive4 and may therefore affect long-term prognosis and reduce quality of life.2,3,5 Cognitive dysfunction, however, not only may be an important component of a poor long-term outcome but also may serve as a predictor for those at highest risk of functional decline after stroke.


Objective:To investigate the effective of Qidantongmai tablet on Bone marrow Mesenchymal stem cells migrating to ischemic myocardium.Methods: SD rats were divided into four groups randomly,the transplantation only group,yiqi group,huoxue group,and Qidantongmai tablet group.SD rats of each group were administered with traditional Chinese medicine once everyday,respectively.It was lasted for 14 days.The model of myocardial infarction was built by ligation of the left anterior descending artery.The DIO-labeling MSCs were injected to animals through tail vein.After three days,ischemic myocardium were collected,Flow Cytometry was used to analyze the numbers of DIO-labeling cells in ischemic myocardium of every unit among each group;To observe DIO-labeling cells in myocardium frozen sections through fluorescence microscope.After 4 weeks,myocardial function of SD rats in every group were recorded by multichannel physiologic recorder,including mean arterial pressure(MAP),left ventricular peak systolic pressure(LVPSP),+LVdp/dtmax,-LVdp/dtmax.Results: The numbers of MSCs were significantly greater in Qidantongmai tablet group than that in other groups.Significant improvements of myocardial function,including MAP,LVPSP,+LVdp/dtmax,-LVdp/dtmax,in Qidantongmai tablet group prior to that in other groups.Conclusions: Qidantongmai tablet promotes Bone marrow Mesenchymal stem cells to migrate to ischemic myocardium.


Purpose
Universities and their actions affect the environment directly and significantly. Therefore, the carbon footprint (CF) needs to be implemented in these institutions for mitigating climate change and its potential risks. Based on this understanding, the university consortium quality and environment (QualEnv) stands out by its main objective – to increase the university's contribution to sustainable development (SD) through the deployment of systematic environmental practices and quality processes. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to present the CF of the Latin American universities of the QualEnv consortium.

Design/methodology/approach
The study was based on the actions for adopting CF and its implementation at the universities that take part in the QualEnv consortium. The measurement process and report presentation were done properly by the universities and published as institutional documents. Therefore, data were collected and analyzed through a document search, systematic literature review and participant observation.

Findings
The results show knowledge deepening and systematization on CF in higher education. In addition, it presents the effort of a group of universities that, through a research network, seek to adopt practices towards a carbon-neutral university, which requires an incremental and systematic change to break out of the traditional system.

Originality/value
This paper discusses the practical implications for universities and the need to implement initiatives for measuring and reducing their CF since it shows how the institutions belonging to QualEnv consortium have created their own strategies to mitigate climate change and contribute to SD.


Three problems are found while analyzing the actuality in system building of Jiangxi's public finance including finance offside and absence,the low legal level of public finance construction and the existence of various obstacles.Four solutions to quickening the system building of Jiangxi's public finance are put forward,namely,expediting the changing of government's function,building a service public finance,perfecting the government's income and expenses system,and building the public finance equally and reciprocally.


This article describes the historic conditions governing newspaper and media ownership in the Pacific. It argues that historically there have been three kinds of media in the Pacific: Mission or church-owned or directed, governmen- owned or directed and commercial. The missions and churches were responsible for the first newspapers aimed exclusively at indigenous populations and in Papua New Guinea have continued to play a key role in the media. The commercial press could only exist when there was a sufficient population to support it and so it tended to appear in those countries with the largest expatriate populations first. The continued dominance of the commercial media by Western companies in the largest islands has been largely due to the cost of producing these commodities. Locally-owned commercial media have been on a much smaller scale, but they have nonetheless had an impact. The national or government-owned or directed media were generally inherited from the departing metropolitan powers and represent a much diluted version of the public service model. While the article argues that the dominance of the commercial press in such markets as PNG, Fiji and New Caledonia by Murdoch and DassaultHersant is probably commercially inevitable, it also argues that the media scene in the Pacific is actually remarkably diverse. Articles


What is the role of civic recreation – recreation-based volunteering – in the human–nature relationship? Through a mixed-method research design, this article investigates what motivates outdoor recreationists, what predicts higher levels of volunteer engagement, and the outcomes volunteers report. Importantly, civic recreation volunteers are motivated by similar reasons to other volunteers. Findings reveal six dimensions of volunteer motivation: civic engagement, environmental values, identity/enduring involvement, social/career networking, personal learning, and obligation. Individuals were most motivated by civic engagement and environmental values. Results from a multiple regression analysis indicated individuals who were motivated by identity/enduring involvement were more likely to have a higher level of volunteer engagement, whereas individuals motivated out of obligation had the lowest volunteer engagement. Finally, individuals report developing a stronger connection to nature, enhanced self-efficacy, self-enhancement, social connections, improved management, and increased civic engagement. These results suggest civic recreation has the potential to create advocates for the environment.


There are a number of individual and contextual variables that influence public opinion of the police but we know little about the public opinion regarding state law enforcement agencies. Prior studies involving municipal police and other criminal justice agencies indicate that the perceptions of procedural justice, or fair treatment, are important predictors of citizen satisfaction with police services. The purpose of this paper is to examine whether individuals who perceive procedurally just treatment during their contact with a state patrol officer improve the levels of satisfaction with the state patrol.,This paper presents the results of a public opinion study (n=846) regarding the Colorado State Patrol conducted in 2009. A subsample of 393 individuals who had contact with the state patrol and were further surveyed about their contact with the officer. Logistic regression models were used to examine individual- and contextual-level variables influence satisfaction with the state patrol and whether this relationship was mediated by the perceptions of procedural justice.,The authors found that individuals who perceive higher levels of procedural justice expressed higher satisfaction with the state patrol. Females, older respondents, and non-white respondents expressed greater satisfaction, as well as those who had voluntary contact or were not arrested. More importantly, procedural justice mediated the effect of involuntary contact and arrest on levels of satisfaction, and while non-white respondents were less likely to experience procedural justice, when levels of procedural justice are controlled for, they have higher levels of satisfaction.,The findings emphasize the significance of citizen perceptions of procedural justice during contacts with members of the state patrol. The current study contributes to our knowledge of procedural justice and citizen satisfaction with police encounters given previous research on citizen satisfaction with police focuses almost exclusively on local-level agencies, and research on procedural justice asks the respondents almost exclusively about the police in general.


This supplement and the meeting on which it was based were sponsored by Novartis Pharmaceuticals (113745). Novartis did not contribute to the content and all authors retained final control of the content and editorial decisions. Novartis have checked that the content was compliant with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical Industry Code of Practice. This supplement presents clinical cases selected as finalists in the Novartis Ophthalmology Case Awards 2019. The Awards were open to all ophthalmologists in training, and the case reports submitted for the Awards were judged by an independent panel of distinguished consultant ophthalmologists who selected those best case reports according to the following:


Well known are the facts about the philosophy developed in the United States against the institution of slavery, the ideological impact of this anti-slavery argument throughout the northern states, and its attendant counter argument in the states where slavery abounded.1 Equally well known is the anti-slavery decision to take direct political action to expedite abolition when it became obvious that persuasion alone could not penetrate the conscience of the slave holders to effect emancipation.2 Less well known is the manner in which anti-slavery doctrine was used in the courts of the land to protect the interest of the Negro when political methods were ineffective. One area of judicial action where the anti-slavery doctrine had a specific influence concerned the cases of slaves who were allowed by their masters to enter voluntarily into the territory of a free state. These cases were uniquely significant because of their peculiar constitutional status. To trace the story it is necessary to go back to the beginning of the nation's search for a modus vivendi to breach the discrepancies existing in the laws between political units under two customs basically different, some slave, the others free. Through the process of judicial trial and error, aided by the pristine sagacity of practical frontier justice, there emerged an accommodation which was satisfactory to a ruling majority of both sides. This accommodation was a gradual issue drawn from the decisions of numerous cases which were argued and decided after 1771. An amazingly large number of these cases found their way before federal appellate courts and before the supreme tribunals of the various states. In the records of these courts can be traced a conflict of legal concepts and of ethical beliefs which casts an interesting light upon the great political and judicial battles of the eighteen


There is increasing concern about the health effects of particulate pollutants such as the SARS virus, influenza and diesel emission particles; moreover, restrictions on them are becoming stringent. In this study, particle motions and flows around a human with periodic breathing are numerically solved to predict the gas-particulate two-phase flows. Since the targeted particles are bacteria and viruses, the particle sizes are selected as 1 μm and 100 nm in diameter with a density of 10 kg/m3, respectively. Three-dimensional numerical simulation was employed using the Lagrange approach for particle motion and the standard k-e model for flows. In the human breathing cycle, inhalation flow exists in the vicinity of the human face within a small area. Exhalation flows exists below the inhalation flow and is spread across a larger area. Downward streams coming from the upper region to the region near the nose are observed not only at the maximum inhalation time but also at the maximum exhalation time. With these downward streams, particles always move downward when inhalation occurs. Motions of particles away from the human body with right-left unsymmetrical vortexes are observed. Particles reach the human nose when the source distance is less than 30 cm. A maximum of 9.9 % of the nanoparticles are captured. When the source distance L is 10 cm, smaller particles of d = 100 nm tend to have high captured efficiency. On the other hand, more 1 μm particles are captured when the source distance is 20 cm or greater.


Generally, History of the International Relations as a discipline in the higher education reflects a scientific content dominated by events that explain certain political attitudes and actions among states in different periods of time. The historical context should be properly understood from the perspective of the relationship between different states. This perspective is developed today with aspects related by diplomatic codes and standing national or geopolitical or strategic interests. Our paper starts from the premise that this discipline of the academic curricula can develop the social competences of students. In this regard we have analyzed the curriculum and we made several systematic observations at the seminar activities. Based on the results obtained we proposed several contents that help development of the social and civic competences of the students. We proposed also some practical examples of teaching. In this way, we hope that our paper contribute to increasing the importance of disciplines that presented the relationships between states in different historical time. © 2017 Published by Future Academy www.FutureAcademy.org.uk


Summary The chemical modification of poly(2,6-dimethy l- 1,4-phenylene oxide) (PPO) has been carried out by incorporating amide groups on PPO backbone by electrophilic substitution reaction with isocy~nates. The modified polymers obtained have been characterized by IR and ~-I-NMR spectroscopy, nitrogen analysis, solubility tests and X-ray diffraction studies.


The conventional nitrification/denitrification process can be significantly improved through the introduction of new microbial treatment technologies—completely autotrophic nitrogen removal processes. They're mostly based on partial nitrification combined with anaerobic ammonium oxidation, which involves in SHARON+ANAMMOX, CANON, OLAND and NOx processes. The mechanism, characteristics and differences among these processes were reviewed, and the future development was discussed.


A new kind of FACTS equipment,the multi-functional Flexible Power Conditioner(FPC),is proposed in this paper.The proposed equipment makes use of an advanced synchronous condenser with a flywheel,which is controlled by a vector technology based AC excitation system.Incorporating the functions of the synchronous condenser and flywheel energy storage,the proposed FPC can perform multi-functions including energy storage,dynamic active and reactive power conditioning when used in power system stability enhancement.This enables the proposed equipment to considerably enhance power system dynamic angular and voltage stabilities.The basic principles of the FPC,the steady state power exchanging characteristics between the FPC and the connected power network under different operating conditions,the SPWM based double voltage source converter used as a variable frequency power source for excitation,the vector control of the three phase VSC and the simulation results of contribution of the FPC in power system stability enhancement are all given.


Volumul II, 1, Ianuarie-Iunie 2008, pp. 69-84 CE SEMNIFICAŢIE AU EXPRESIILE CARE SE REFERĂ LA EXPERIENŢELE SUBIECTIVE? LUDWIG WITTGENSTEIN, DESPRE IDEEA UNUI LIMBAJ PRIVATEduard MORAR Universitatea din Bucureşti The present paper represents an attempt to illustrate a unique style of thought to be found in the later writings of Ludwig Wittgenstein. The discussion focuses on the remarks made in Philosophical Investigations on the idea of a private language, and is restricted to those passages in which the Austrian thinker shows the overrated role of introspection in determining the meaning of psychological concepts. By examining Wittgenstein's philosophical practice, I will try to point out that a private language is shown to be an illusion not on the basis of some argument or thesis, but only in virtue of a series of grammatical remarks meant to describe the way in which certain expressions are used in different language games and, at the same time, to throw light on some of the sources of philosophical confusions and misunderstandings in general.


Vehicle recognition and classification is useful to many traffic management activities and is one of the important technologies in Intelligent Transportation System (ITS). Automatic toll collection, vehicle access control, traffic forecast and volume, congestion management and speed monitoring are some of the systems that have a need to classify the vehicle types. This project highlights the potential use of vehicle dimensions and shape information for the vehicle type classification. The system profiles the frontal view of the vehicles and extracts the basic outline shapes and geometrical parameters and compares against the stored specification for each class. The design utilizes Hough line detection algorithm to identify the location of vehicle properties that needs to be extracted. Input to the system is a static image of vehicle frontal view. The image is processed through various image processing methods namely; median filtering, morphological reconstruction, edge detection and Hough transform. Finally, the designed system is able to determine and classify various vehicle types into three major classes; car, bus and truck. This design is a useful support system to existing Plate Number Recognition System (PNRS) which will help to increase the accuracy of the results obtained.


The physical and chemical fixation methods of nanometer-sized TiO_2 were introduced.Influences of different supporters,such as glass substrates,silica gels and metals on the photocatalystic activity of TiO_2 were reviewed.Effective fixation methods by direct coating,SnO_2-TiO_2 composite sol-gel coating and composite electrodeposition coating with nanometer-sized TiO_2 modified were introduced.Moreover,their development propects and two hopeful methods of sol-gel and composite electrodeposition were presented.


Molecular study of Trypanosoma cruzi (T. cruzi) anciant DNA (aDNA) in the soft (nonskeletal) tissues of 283 naturally (spontaneously) mummified bodies from coastal sites located in southern Peru and northern Chile demonstrated a Chagas disease prevalence rate of about 41% over the past 9,000 years. This rate is similar to that of several endemic areas within this region prior to initiation of public health control programs. This report focuses on the presence of T. cruzi aDNA in the coprolites of some of these mummies. Review of the possible mechanisms that may explain the presence of this parasite in the coprolites indicates numerous antemortem and postmortem circumstances that conceivably could have been responsible. In given conditions, all of these may need to be considered. These considerations indicate that the presence of T. cruzi aDNA in mummy coprolites cannot categorically be considered as evidence of ingestion of the parasite


During March-May 2011, multiple Taylor impact tests were conducted at LANL, examining the behavior of PBXN-9 and PBX-9501 under rapid loading. Subsequently, a computational hydrodynamics code (CTH) model was developed to mimic the deformation behavior observed in these impact tests with PBX-9501 would likely initiate upon impact. Also examined was whether an inert slud behind the explosive would lead to initiation at lower, more easily attainable velocities. The simplified model used here showed a minimum velocity for ignition of 530 m/s which was unchanged by the addition of a plastic slud behind the sample. The use of a lead slug did lower the minimum velocity to 460 m/s. These values are likely more qualitative at this point because multiple simplifications are currently used in the materials properties and test geometry. The results do show that this approach is capable of determining ignition due to Taylor impact.


We analyze and discuss the importance of intrarenal color duplex ultrasonography (CDUS) in the diagnosis and differential diagnosis of vascular complications in renal transplants.


Apparatus for attaching discrete segments together to form a continuous web include a first segment transfer device adapted to receive a first continuous web at a first pick-up location and to release a first discrete segment cut from the first web at an application location. The first segment transfer device has a first speed profile. A second segment transfer device is adapted to receive a second continuous web at a second pick-up location and to release a second discrete segment cut from the second web at the application location such that the second discrete segment is attached to the first discrete segment. The second segment transfer device has a second speed profile that is different than the first speed profile.


Variations in crystal growth techniques are continuing with the goal of: (1) improving single crystal quality; and (2) producing variations in crystal properties by doping and post-growth variations of stoichiometry. DLTS measurements using Mg/Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ Schottky diodes gave information on three deep levels between 0.55 and 0.66 eV above the valence band in sublimation grown crystals with densities in the 10/sup 15/ to 10/sup 16/ cm/sup -3/ range, and a shallower level at 0.12 eV with a density of 10/sup 15/ cm/sup -3/ in an iodine-transport grown crystal. Investigation of surface properties of Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ indicate that a Br-MeOH etch leaves a Zn-rich surface for both sublimation-grown and iodine-transport grown crystals. Detailed measurements were made on thick Mg/Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ junctions on sublimation-grown and iodine-transport grown crystals of log J-V characteristics as a function of temperature, for crystal substrates as etched, and after heat treatment in hydrogen at several temperatures. A systematic change in the junction transport mechanism from tunneling at heat-treatment temperatures less than 300/sup 0/C to recombination/generation for heat-treatment temperatures between 300 and 500/sup 0/C was found for Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ crystals grown by both growth techniques. A simple model involving a depletion of free carriermore » density near the surface as a result of heat treatment in hydrogen is proposed. Thin film Mg/Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ cells showed log J-V characteristics that are strongly light dependent, indicating an increase in tunneling with illumination. Evidence that the barrier height of the Mg/Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ junction is actually of the order of 0.9 to 1.0 eV was obtained. Attempts to prepare ITO/Zn/sub 3/P/sub 2/ junctions by electron-beam evaporation of ITO on single crystal substrates yielded poor diodes and negligible photovoltaic behavior.« less


ABSTRACT Urban-adapting carnivorous predators such as the Cooper's hawk appear to be adjusting their diet in urban areas to mostly include larger-bodied adult birds rather than nest contents, compared to Cooper's hawks in natural areas. If adult prey in urban areas are relatively more threatened by predation relative to their offspring and non-urban adults, then life-history theory predicts contrasting shifts in urban vs. non-urban reproductive behavior and effort. We tested whether urban and non-urban Eastern bluebirds exhibited contrasting reproductive effort consistent with shifts in the relative risk perception of adult vs. nest predation. At urban sites, Eastern bluebirds using nest boxes exposed to broadcasts of Cooper's hawk vocalizations exhibited enhanced reproductive parameters compared to controls, whereas the opposite trend occurred in box-nesting bluebirds at non-urban sites. As predicted by theory, given prey life-stage switching by a dominant predator, increased perception of predation risk from hawks led to opposing reproductive strategies in urban vs. non-urban habitats. Results align with increasing evidence that urban predation pressures, prey risk perception, and reproductive investment patterns are distinct from those of natural habitats.


Technological imaginaries have been increasingly shaping the future perceptions of cities. From artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology to three-dimensional printing, high-tech artifacts are very often the premises of such imaginaries. However, technology does not only refer to artifacts. Technology also encompasses the processes around the artifacts: how the artifacts are designed, manufactured, used, maintained, and disposed. From this perspective, high-tech visions often disregard problems that pertain to resource extraction, labor exploitation, energy use, and material flows. On the contrary, low-tech and localized alternatives incite lower impact and higher resilience visions. However, they fail to offer solutions of the desired scale and intensity. To address this tension, we provide an alternative vision for mid-tech: a balance between the opposite extreme qualities of low-tech and high-tech. Through a case of open-source prosthetics, we illustrate how to synergistically combine the efficiency and versatility of high-tech solutions with the potential for autonomy and resilience that low-tech offers. Then we discuss a mid-tech approach for distributed ledger technology from a city as a license lens. We provide connections with existing or conceptual applications to show how distributed ledger technology could support more socially and ecologically responsible data practices for city governance.


We reported a 28 year old female who has been diagnosed as a case of Behcet's syndrome who started to develop persistent non resolving eosinophilia. Clinical and laboratory findings showed myeloproliferation features. Cytogenetic studies ruled out chronic myeloid leukemia. FISH study revealed the finding of PDGFRA gene rearrangement. Myeloid neoplasm with PDGFRA gene rearrangement is a rare condition though genetically targeted therapy change over the prognosis from aggressive disease to a well responding one using tyrosine kinase inhibitors.


We document a novel bidding pattern observed in procurement auctions from Japan: winning bids tend to be isolated, and there is a missing mass of close losing bids. This pattern is suspicious in the following sense: its extreme forms are inconsistent with competitive behavior under arbitrary information structures. Building on this observation, we develop systematic tests of competitive behavior in procurement auctions that allow for general information structures as well as nonstationary unobserved heterogeneity. We provide an empirical exploration of our tests, and show they can help identify other suspicious patterns in the data.


The application of geotextile and alloy steel cage in consolidating Changjiang River dyke is introduced. Additionally, the crafts and economical effect are probed.


The purpose of this study was to document, through a mailed questionnaire survey, the methods of parasite control currently used in captive wild ruminants. There was a 69% overall response to the survey. The majority of respondents indicated that they used parasite surveillance and identification techniques similar to those used for domestic ruminants. Of the four major anthelmintic drug classes, the benzimidazoles and ivermectin were used most commonly. Many of the parasite control programs had high treatment frequencies which were similar to dosing frequencies reported to result in anthelmintic resistance in domestic animals. Lack of effectiveness by benzimidazoles was perceived to be a problem by many respondents.


In this article senior counsel with many years of practical experience in the criminal courts, in collaboration with a seasoned psychologist as well as a well-known forensic criminologist, discusses the role of the courts in cases involving child abuse and rape. In a contribution of this nature, it is inevitable that only the surface of this monumental problem can be touched. Much is also needed from both the legislature and the executive to alleviate the plight not only of victims of child abuse and rape, but of victims of crime generally.


Using the scales of Hyacinthus orientalis′purple emotions′as experimental materials,this paper carried out the selection of the explants,the induction medium,the subculture medium,the large bulbs medium and the rooting medium.The results showed that the suitable′purple emotions′ to tissue culture and rapid propagation of explants was inner scales,the induction medium was MS+NAA 0.5 mg/L+6-BA 5.0 mg/L,the subculture medium was MS+NAA 0.5 mg/L+6-BA 1.0 mg/L,the large bulb medium was MS+6-BA 0.1 mg/L+KH2PO4 0.4 mg/L,the rooting medium was MS+IBA 2 mg/L.


Baroque period,influenced by the humanism and emotional aesthetics,gave birth to the prominent development of the Italian violin music and formed a splendid Italian Baroque violin music of the times.


Abstract Foreign backpackers have since 1988 flocked to Lijiang, southwest China, to hear amateur urban musicians of the Naxi minority play traditional Dongjing music. Often dismayed by professional troupes' "adulteration" of Chinese music with Western‐style functional harmony, equal temperament and glitzy staging, such tourists delight in the authenticity of the Naxi musicians' conservative heterophonic style, local tuning, sober gowns, and dignified demeanor. Yet Lijiang's deliberately traditionalist tourist concerts constitute a new forum for Dongjing music, selectively borrowing from disparate historical contexts to create a staged timelessness. Ironically, truly "authentic" traditional musical gatherings flourish in nearby Naxi villages seldom visited by tourists.


Dead fuel moisture content (DFMC) was usually involved and being an important part in predicting ignition potential, fireline intensity, flame length, and rate of spread. Previous studies focused on model development and paid little attention to large-scale DFMC forecasting using these models, especially process-based models. In this study, we forecast spatial 1-h (fuel with a diameter less than 0.635 cm) and 10-h (fuel with a diameter between 0.635 cm and 2.54 cm) DFMC in 16 days with meteorological variables interpolated from Global Forecast System (GFS). First, we interpolated meteorological variables including air temperature (Tair), relative humidity (RH), wind speed (Ws) and precipitation (P) to 2 km from GFS data (0.25°) for each site with DFMC measurement in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture. Then, we forecasted DFMC hourly for 96 sites with three process-based models (Simard, Nelson and fuel stick moisture model (FSMM)). Our results show that the FSMM forecasted more accurate DFMC values (1-h: R2=0.54, RMSE=6.58%, MAE=5.63%; 10-h: R2=0.73, RMSE=3.7%, MAE=2.7%) compared to the Nelson and Simard model. Our results suggest that accurate DFMC forecasts from GFS data based on our methods can be used for fire risk assessment and fire behavior prediction.


The aim of this study was to describe the morphology, anatomy and function of underground structures associated with colonies of Solanum centrale J.M.Black (Australian bush tomato), a perennial sub-shrub found in arid areas of Australia and an important traditional staple food for Aboriginal people. It is known that this species forms clonal communities, but there is little understanding of the mechanisms of formation in either natural or cultivated situations. The underground connections within seven clonal communities from Central and South Australia were documented and samples of secondary roots, thick lateral roots and stems were examined under both laboratory and glasshouse conditions. Clonal communities were observed at all sites with individual ramets arising from lateral roots (root-suckers) that ranged from 2–10 mm in diameter growing in a network 5–15 cm below the soil surface. Lateral roots have dicotyledonous root anatomy and rapidly resprout to form new clonal ramets. They also have the capacity to accumulate starch in parenchyma cells. The morphology and root-suckering ability resemble those of weedy Solanum spp. from other parts of the world, as well as species from a variety of genera adapted to arid climates. Methods to capitalise on the ability of lateral roots to form clonal ramets in cultivated situations, particularly given the difficulties in establishing crops from seed, are discussed.


International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, allowing to download articles and share them with others as long as they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially. Decreasing number of valve-related infective endocarditis cases. An urgent call to action for improved diagnostic pathways: A retrospective tertiary center perspective (2015– 2022)


Abstract Most placebo‐controlled studies testing the hypo‐cholesterolaemic action of oat bran have compared high fibre against low fibre diets. To determine whether oat bran had greater cholesterol‐lowering action than another source of fibre (wheat bran) we compared the effect of breads of similar total fibre content containing either oat bran or additional wheat bran. Twelve hyperlipidaemic subjects (38–66 years) were stabilised on lipid‐lowering diets for at least three months prior to the study. Subjects were given each type of bread for four‐week periods in a single‐blind, cross‐over design.


A survey as a short review of author's research results in area of dynamics of hybrid systems and analytical dynamics of discrete material particle system containing creep elements described by fractional order derivatives, is presented. Free vibrations of a multi-pendulum system intercoupled by standard light elements and different properties are considered. The corresponding system of an ordinary fractional order as well as integro-differential equations, described dynamics of the multi-pendulum system, are derived and analytically solved. For the case of one pendulum and two pendulum systems containing standard light creep elements with the stress-strain constitutive relation expressed by a fractional order derivative, ordinary differential equations are analytically solved. From the analytical solutions, for the case of the homogeneous two-pendulum system, it is visible that free vibrations under arbitrary initial conditions contain three modes, one pure periodic and two aperiodic expressed by time series expansions. The obtained analytical solution modes are numerically analysed and characteristic vibration modes for different kinetic parameters are graphically presented.


Metallic pressure vessels are of common use in the industrial field. They can contain either gases or liquefied gases. If a sudden pressure rise happens inside one of these vessels for any reason (human mistake, uncontrolled chemical reaction, BLEVE, rise in mass, explosion...), it can result in the bursting of the vessel. Though a pressure rise is relatively frequent, the response of the vessel to that sort of load cannot be easily forecasted, since the phenomenon is dynamic. Moreover, except from statistical studies, few experimental data are available on the topic. Therefore, an experimental study can help to understand the behavior of a pressurized enclosure in relation to such a solicitation. This paper analyzes the results of a set of experiments, that have been achieved in order to identify the mechanisms of a vessel rupture. The experimental device consists in a two-parts shock tube between which the sample, viz. a metallic plate, is set. This shock tube is fitted out with pressure gages. The plates are equipped out with strain and crack propagation gages. These sensors, in addition to a high velocity camera make possible the study of dynamic crack formation and fracture propagation on samples submitted to an explosion. Various classes of material with different ductilities have been tested. Moreover, the plate thickness influence has also been investigated. Flaws have been machined as external axial surface notches to produce and control cracking. Various solicitations have also been browsed: the loads were different kinds of explosions produced by the deflagration or the detonation of a stoichiometric hydrogen-oxygen mixture. Preliminary tests have shown a good reproducibility of the experiments. The loading amplitude (the pressure curves) and the shape of the plates after the operation, and especially the crack opening, are almost identical. These experiments have allowed to have a first overview of the role of the different input parameters on the plate behavior under load, and the way cracking occurs. The input parameters that have been monitored are the material ductility, the thickness of the samples and the kind of loading that is applied to them (i.e. different velocities deflagrations, detonations and so on). Output parameters are the strain rate of the plates and their cracking. Cracking is characterized by the size and the shape of the crack, its fracture facies and propagation velocity. In this paper, fracture behavior has been discussed with regard to the above mentioned parameters.Copyright © 2005 by ASME


Jiangsu oil field is characterized by reservoirs with several complex minor fault blocks.The arrangement of well patterns for development them is controlled by their configurations in plane distribution,which decide reserves quality in a certain extent.However,they have not been considered completely in current researches of reserves classification.The paper presents a comprehensive reservoir classification method that considers such development and geologic factors as reservoir physical property,distribution,fluid property and reservoir shape,using complexity scientific study and weight assessment.Among them the reservoir plane distribution as an important factor is considered into such a reservoir classification and evaluation in the first place.The results indicate that this factor is of an active effect on the reservoir classification and taken as a guidance for in-depth development of the complex minor fault block reservoirs.


This work aims to describe the empirical experience in pedagogical and observation internship, lasting 80 hours of activities in the classroom and in the field. This pedagogical training activity takes place in a unit of the Federal Institute of Amazonas, Science and Technology of Amazonas, Campus Parintins, located in the Rural Area of the Municipality of Parintins / AM, which has the particularity of being an island in the Amazon River. Providing an important exchange of knowledge and reflection on teaching activity in another academic reality. To build this study, a qualitative approach was chosen. And, to give theoretical support to this work, bibliographic studies were approached from the following authors GOMES (2009), LÜDKE and ANDRÉ (1986), MINAYO (2001), PIMENTA (1997, 2005, 2010) and SILVA (2009); and, documentary, through government websites, such as the Parintins City Hall, the Federal Institute of Education, Science and Technology of Amazonas, the Parintins campus and the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics and the collection of information through participant observation, in internship / researcher. Aiming to understand how the context of professional education, school life, pedagogical practice, organization of management and the relationship between school and community work. In this teacher training, provided by the PPGEA Master's Program, it revealed a very diversified educational reality in which it was possible to experience, analyze and, finally, describe a little of the work routine of teachers in the technical area. Therefore, we can affirm that knowing new realities contributes to the expansion of our teaching practice in two integrated areas of teaching: the national bases of Secondary Education and the professional technical area.


The global oil price changes dramatically and the economy gets into downturn.China has accumulated 1.9 trillion USD as foreign exchange reserve after thirty-year's reform.It is a key point to face the crisis to have a stable energy strategy.China will be in an advantageous position in the world and will become an important player in the global economy.In the future thirty years,China will enter into industrialization age and welfare society,which necessitates a stable,economical,clean,reliable and safe energy strategy.The sustainable development,however,requires a less dependence on the energy.


Overview. The demise of the age of one-shot web query optimisation is nigh. For Information Retrieval researchers and search engine engineers, this is a time to rejoice, as new opportunities to revisit old techniques are once again upon us. For years, search systems have tried to infer the intentions of a user using only a few (sometimes) carefully selected search terms. However, the classic search interface (the web browser) on a computer will soon be obsolete. Instead users will find information through mobile devices, and conversational search systems such as Alexa, Cortana, or Siri. These interfaces provide direct access to relevance feedback mechanisms from searchers, and allow new opportunities to model state instead of depending on only a single query. In this abstract, we argue that now is the time for IR researchers to once again return to building relevance models for information needs, and stop thinking in terms of one-off queries. We show that simple combinations of classic techniques along with multiple representations of a single information need can easily outperform state-of-the-art models which perform optimisations on a query-by-query basis. This is a simple first step in the right direction.


In order to meet the requirement of ultrahigh-speed, low latency, and wide bandwidth (BW) in the next 5G mobile network and internet of things (IoT) applications, the parasitic capacitance specification of electrostatic discharge (ESD) protection devices should become much stricter. Reducing the capacitance always degrades the ESD performance in terms of shrinking the size of the ESD protection device. The distributed ESD protection network is one of the solutions which mitigates the capacitance issue and provides a broadband design. However, while the ESD devices are put under the I/O pad in the distributed ESD protection network, back-end-of-line (BEOL) capacitance starts to play an important role in the advanced 28-nm CMOS process. Therefore, a tapered metal structure is proposed to significantly reduce 30% BEOL capacitance of the ESD device, which can gain a 2.8-GHz increase in the operational BW in the distributed network. Meanwhile, it can enhance the human-body-model (HBM) level up to 16% higher than the original layout style under the same front-end-of-line (FEOL) layout size.


Traditional, linear conceptions of account rendering bear little relevance in the realm of cyberspace governance, where accountability structures are often decentred. Building on existing accountability scholarship, this paper identifies key accountability challenges confronting cyberspace governance, including the problem of many hands, the profusion of issue areas, as well as the hybridity and malleability of institutional arrangements, and presents a set of policy recommendations geared towards addressing the latter. This paper holds that in order to address and mitigate the challenges identified, accountability relationships need to be consciously reframed and discursively constructed.


Introduction: Carpet-weaving is one of the hard and harmful jobs, which affect the health of the workforce. Based on the previously conducted research, musculoskeletal disorders in the neck, shoulder, and lower back regions are common among carpet weavers. This study conducted to investigate the muscle activity of the shoulder and lower back regions in carpet weavers during work on traditional and ergonomic workstations by surface electromyography. Material and Methods: 18 experienced male weavers with a mean age of 38 and mean weaving experience of 11.1 years participated in this study. Each weaver took part in two trails of 120 min. Surface EMG signal recordings were done during weaving for four muscles (bilaterally in trapezius and erector spine). The RMS and MPF values were extracted from the raw EMG signal to estimate muscle activity and fatigue. Results: The results obtained from the 5-time intervals indicated the lowered MPF in the ergonomic workstation compared to the traditional one. The result of the mean RMS in most of the recorded times was lower in the ergonomic workstation than that in the traditional one. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, the modified workstation was well-suited for trapezius muscles, and the traditional one had an advantage for the erector spine muscles.


The rapid evolution of cellular technologies has resulted in a drastic increase in mobile data traffic. Particularly, in 5G cellular networks, the design of accurate time-series models become essential to predict and improve the mobile data traffic and quality of services (QoS). The mobile data traffic prediction models allow the operators to adapt to the traffic demands of the network with improved resource usage and user experience. In addition, the prediction of mobile data traffic is a tedious process due to the nature of high heterogeneity amongst distinct base stations with varying traffic loads. Therefore, several artificial intelligences (AI) based machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models have been developed for mobile data traffic prediction. This paper provides a comprehensive review of existing ML models to predict mobile data traffic in 5G networks. Moreover, the existing techniques are reviewed based on different aspects such as major objectives, underlying methodology, advantages, inferences, and performance measures. An extensive comparati ve study of the surveyed approaches also takes place to identify the unique characteristics of every technique. Finally, a summary of challenging issues and future directions are discussed in detail.


The changing of amount of soil microorganism and enzyme activity in three type soils of different farming years were studied proposally.The results indicated that the trends of changing were different because of different soil type.The amount of soil microorganism and enzyme activity in Jiangxi red soils were raised with the increasing of farming year,but in Jilin black soils,they were declined.The trends were raising slightly in Xinjiang grey desert soils,especailly the amount of Actinomycetes were increasing evidently.


New industry and its new types, leading by the new round technological revolution, promote the reform and innovation of higher engineering education. The basic features of new industry types and the evolution of discipline are introduced to understand the emerging engineering education, the connotation of emerging engineering education and the key competencies of new engineering talents are clarified. Considering the industry characteristics of western regions, the local and comprehensive universities like Qinghai University are provided to a developing path, which means that the universities should create the unique feather according to the local competitive industries. The combined dynamic and static thinking is presented to optimize the disciplinary layout and construct the corresponding course system, which are affected by the new industry types and requirements of local industries. Finally, the suggestions are put forward to developing the emerging engineering education for the western comprehensive


This paper presents a new hybrid system for speaker independent continuous speech recognition in a large vocabulary task. The hybrid system is a combination of context dependent discrete Hidden Markov Models and artificial neural networks that are trained by an information theory based algorithm. This algorithm aximizes the Mutual Information (MMI) between the network output and the phone descriptions by applying a self-organizing learning approach instead of forcing constrained network outputs. Recognition results have shown that the new hybrid system outperforms a classical k-means-VQ-based HMM-system. For the speaker independent DARPA Resource Management (RM) task (perplexity 60) we report a decrease in word recognition error rate up to 35% (close to the best continuous pdf systems).


Why do students decide to leave their universities? For financial reasons? Because of bad advising? Or do they just need some "time out"? This study, conducted at Florida State University, attempts to identify the reasons for students' leaving behavior and has come up with some interesting results, leading to the identification of three distinct models of leaving behavior. The article concludes with a brief section that discusses how the findings in the study have implications for advising.


At present, sustainable tourism has become a global issue. Three main aspects that need to be considered by the tourism industry
at present and the future are environmental, social and economic aspects. Since 2016, Indonesia's achievements in sustainable
tourism have begun to stand out. Food souvenirs become one of the links in tourism which is mostly produced by local MSME.
These MSME products require a creative packaging design that is good and has the value of sustainability from an economic,
cultural, social and ecological perspective. This can be realized if MSME's entrepreneurs have directed motivation when they
want to market their products. Observations that have been made by the research team on the food souvenir packaging design of
West Java's MSME revealed that in selling their products, MSME's entrepreneurs are driven only by economic motivation, seen
in one of the marketing tools that use non-concept packaging designs and look "me too." Using a simulation of four packaging
designs sample from traditional ranges to cyber Augmented Reality (AR) technology, the study will focus on motivations that
influence the design of sustainable packaging designs. This study uses the Triangulation method, with more dominant qualitative
data obtained from the Focus Group Discussion and supplemented by quantitative data collected from online questionnaires to 82
respondents. There are two findings in this study. The first finding revealed that in Indonesia, packaging designs that use
natural/traditional materials still excel in economic, cultural, social, ecological motivation to support sustainability. The second
finding revealed that the innovation of cyber technology in the form of Augmented Reality that can be applied to non-natural
material packaging designs could be an alternative to sustainability in the economic, cultural, social and even ecological aspects.
Through this technology, various information content, as well as promotions, can be included. Packaging design will have
additional functions to communicate local culture especially to future generations in a way that is appropriate in this digital era.
This will add value to the packaging design and experience that is new to its customers, thus supporting sustainable tourism in
Indonesia.


Start-ups have got a vital role to play in the future of India by creating innovative solutions to country's challenging issues and also by generating large-scale job opportunities for upcoming workforce. The government has recognised the importance of start-ups in the economic development of the country, and therefore they have come with various revolutionary measures to create a conducive ecosystem for start-ups. Along with union government, various state governments also have made their state-level policies to support the start-ups in their respective states. Apart from the government, there are many other institutions and ecosystem enablers in a start-up ecosystem who support start-up units, namely incubators, accelerators, educational institutions, research institutions, investors, mentors, NGOs etc. The purpose of this study is to explore how technology business incubation centres in Kerala are performing their role as a facilitator among start-ups in the state and also to evaluate their impact on functioning of start-ups units.


One of the largest inland earthquakes in Taiwan happened on 21 September 1999, the Mw 7.6 Chi-Chi event. It struck the Taipei Basin, in the Central western part of the island, killing more than 2400 people and damaging 100 000 structures. The rupture was complex with several dislocations along the 100-km long Chelungpu thrust fault. An improved study of this earthquake will allow better understanding of regional fault properties. Six ERS images from the descending track 232 and covering the period from 21 January 1999 to 25 May 2000 were processed to investigate the co-seismic deformation. The Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) technique was used and via the ESA open-source software SNAP. With InSAR, only the footwall can be analysed because the hanging-wall, which likely experiences the main deformation, is densely vegetated resulting in very low coherence in the interferograms. Co-seismic interferograms show about 10-11 fringes which is equivalent to a displacement variation of approximately 30 cm. We used PSOKINV (Particle Swarm Optimization and Okada Inversion package), a geodetic inversion package, to determine the fault geometry and the slip distribution. First, the non-linear problem is to use the Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for geodetic modelling with the assumption of a uniform slip on a rectangular fault. Second, a joint inversion of InSAR and geodetic data (GNSS and levelling) is realised. The GNSS enables us to get information about the hanging-wall of the fault and to improve the modelling. The slip distribution is determined as a linear problem, optimally-smoothed parameters are obtained.


In this article,the synthetic methods of phosphonyl specialist heterocyclic are shown,and a lot of examples are given to illustrate the synthetic routes of four kinds of phosphonyl specialist heterocyclic and their application


In this paper, we propose an integrated method SPTSLN (SIFT and Preserving Topology Structures of Local Neighborhood) for feature point matching in MR images of nonlinear and nonuniform deformation of nonrigid tissues. First, from the template and deformed images, the DoG detector and SIFT descriptor are used to extract and describe the feature points. Then the matching probability matrix of relaxation labeling is initialized according to the SIFT matching results of the feature points between the template and deformed images. Subsequently, the relaxation labeling is adopted to update the probability matrix and refine the matching based on preserving topology structures of local neighborhood of the feature points. Finally, the mismatching elimination method based on affine transformation and distance measurement is used to eliminate the residual mismatched points. The experimental results showed that the proposed SPTSLN method outperformed the single SURF and SIFT methods.


The article examines the regional aspects of cultural policy in Russia and analyzes the foreign know-how. The author considers various models of cultural policy realization and the specifics of regional cultural policy realization in the context of globalization. She also studies the role of modern information technology in the development of regional cultural policy, in particular, its use in museum work.


e17536 Background: 68Ga-RM2 is a synthetic bombesin receptor antagonist targeting gastrin-releasing peptide receptors (GRPr) that are overexpressed in several human tumors, including prostate cancer (PC). Methods: We enrolled 114 men with BCR PC, 45-83-year-old (mean±SD: 68.2±7.0). Imaging started at 40-89 minutes (mean±SD: 51.3±9.2 after injection of 113.8-152.6 MBq (mean±SD: 140.7±6.4) of 68Ga-RM2 using a time-of-flight (TOF)-enabled simultaneous positron emission tomography (PET) / magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner. Twenty-four and 23 patients also underwent 68Ga-PSMA11 and 18F-DCFPyL PET/CT, respectively. Results: All patients had rising PSA and negative conventional imaging prior to enrollment. 68Ga-RM2 PET identified recurrent PC in 78 of the 114 participants, while the simultaneous MRI was positive for PC in 45 of the 103 patients. Positivity rate of 68Ga-RM2 PET was: 31.8% for PSA < 0.5 ng/dl ( n= 22), 60% for PSA 0.5 – 1.0 ng/dl ( n= 15), 64.7% for PSA 1.0 – 2.0 ng/dl ( n= 17), 81.8% for PSA 2.0 – 5.0 ng/dl ( n= 22) and 87.2% for PSA > 5.0 ng/dl ( n= 38). PSA velocity values were 1.9±2.7 ng/ml/year (range: 0-9.1) in patients with negative PET scans and 5.8±9 ng/ml/year (range: 0.2-45.4) in patients with positive PET scans ( P: 0.01). Twenty-eight and 34 lesions were detected by 68Ga-RM2 PET and 68Ga-PSMA11 PET, respectively, while 25 lesions in 13 patients were identified by both radio-pharmaceuticals. The mean SUVmax ranged 1.6-51.2 (mean±SD:14.7±12.5) for PSMA and ranged 2.5-52.5 (mean±SD: 10.7±11.6) for RM2 ( P= 0.096). Three lesions in 2 patients were RM2-avid only (all lymph nodes) and 9 lesions in 7 patients were PSMA avid only (7 lymph nodes, 1 skeletal and 1 lung nodule). 32 and 48 lesions were detected by 68Ga-RM2 PET and 18F-DCFPyL PET, respectively. 28 lesions in 12 patients were identified by both radio-pharmaceuticals. The mean SUVmax ranged 1.7-79.3 (mean±SD: 22.2±23) for DCFPyL and ranged 1.7-46.8 (mean±SD: 7±9.2) for RM2 (P < 0.01). Four lesions in 2 patients were RM2 avid only (1 adrenal and 3 skeletal); 17 lesions in 6 patients were DCFPyL avid only (7 lymph nodes, 9 skeletal and 1 prostate). Conclusions: 68Ga-RM2 may identify higher risk patients given the highly statistically significant difference PSA velocity values between patients with negative and positive scans and may be a complementary radiopharmaceutical to the PSMA-targeting tracers to ultimately allow for personalized medicine. Clinical trial information: NCT02624518 .


Abstract Recombinant rat α(2→3)‐sialyltransferase (ST3Gal III, EC 22.214.171.124) was expressed from baculovirus infected Sf 9 insect cells in preparative amounts. In order to elucidate substrate tolerances of ST3Gal III, the natural type I and type II substrates 21 and 22 as well as several non‐natural sugars were investigated. The non‐natural Gal‐β(1→3)‐Gal(N) (type III) disaccharides 11, 13, and 16 turned out to be surprisingly good substrates for ST3Gal III. All sialylations were run in preparative scale and kinetic parameters (V max and K m) were determined.


T lymphocytes play a central role in many human immunologic disorders including both autoimmune and alloimmune diseases. In hematopoietic stem cell transplant (HSCT), acute graft-versus-host-disease (GVHD) is caused by an attack on the recipient9s tissues from donor allogeneic T cells. Ex vivo application of phototherapy to selectively deplete GVHD-causing cells prior to transplant may prevent GVHD. However, none of the photosensitive agents in use today have demonstrated selectivity without significant toxicity occurring in resting cells. We have designed the first-in-class, novel photosensitizer 2-Se-Cl with the ability to accumulate in pathogenic T cells in proportion to degree of oxidative phosphorylation (OXPHOS). Unique to 2-Se-Cl is the ability to potently stimulate P-glycoprotein (P-pg). Enhanced P-gp activity promotes the efficient removal of photosensitizer not sequestered in mitochondria, and protects resting lymphocytes essential for antipathogen and antitumor responses. To confirm that 2-Se-Cl selectively depletes antigen-specific immune responses, human lymphocytes were cultured with staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) for 72 hours. Cells were then pulsed with 2-Se-Cl and exposed to 5 J/cm2 of light, which resulted in the impedance of OXPHOS and induction of apoptosis in stimulated T cells. After photodepletion (PD), resting cells remained intact with the ability to respond to stimulation by Toxic Shock Syndrome Toxin-1 (TSST-1) but not SEB. To evaluate the selective depletion of alloimmune responses, a well-established complete mHC antigen-mismatched murine model of HSCT was employed. To prepare the PD - treated primed splenocytes, donor C57BL/6 splenocytes were cocultured for 5 days with irradiated Balb/c splenocytes, and then photodepleted. In vitro analysis of PD - treated primed splenocytes demonstrated selective depletion of antihost immune responses by CFSE dilution, with complete retention of third-party responses (C3H/HeJ mice). On the day of HSCT, recipient Balb/c mice were irradiated with 900 cGy, and received 5x10 6 T cell-depleted bone marrow cells accompanied by 5x10 6 PD - treated (treatment group) or untreated (control group) primed splenocytes, and then monitored for signs of GVHD according to an established mouse GVHD grading system. Five animals underwent HSCT in each group in 3 independent experiments. All mice died of acute GVHD after the addition of 5x10 6 untreated primed C57BL/6 cells at a median of 25 days after HSCT. In contrast, > 90% of mice that received the same number of PD - treated cells survived > 60 days without evidence of GVHD (see figure). Additionally, third-party C3H/Hej mice that received the same number of PD-treated cells died of GVHD, confirming the selective depletion of the alloimmune response for BalB/c by 2-Se-Cl . The high selectivity of this novel photosensitizer may have broad applications, including targeting the bioenergetics in alloimmune, autoimmune, and malignant T cells to provide alternative treatment options and improve clinical outcomes for patients with diseases such as GVHD, systemic lupus erythematosus, or peripheral T cell lymphoma. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


Biogas is one of the green energy resources. To enhance usage of biogas (64.0 mol % CH4/CO2) and reduce the greenhouse effect, CH4 purification by the hydrate-based gas separation (HBGS) technology...


In this paper, the effects of magnetic field and heat transfer on oscillatory flow of Jeffrey fluid through a porous medium in a circular tube is investigated. The expressions for the velocity field and temperature field are obtained analytically. The effects of various pertinent parameters on the velocity field and temperature field studied in detail with the help of graphs.


POLICY • Vol. 24 No. 1 • Autum 2008 63 the purists. But although the informal framework has drawbacks, it also has benefi ts, most notably its provision for informal hypotheses about where the new fashion for transparency might benefi cially be taken. Unfortunately, the authors don't venture very far, if at all, beyond the precedents set by the case studies. I've argued for a more systematic approach to transparency policy, and proposed policies that might help facilitate the emergence of better information about the quality of service offered by—for instance—hospitals, schools, invest ment advisors, and even real estate agents. As the Los Angeles restaurant hygiene regulation illustrates, a healthier information fl ow can often set market forces loose, greatly improving on the results of 'command and control' regulation. Why don't we require that firms' premiums for workers' compensation be provided to prospective employees to enable them to judge those fi rms' occu pational health and safety records? We could go even further by trying to set up a standard against which fi rms could report the results of the job satisfaction surveys most conduct in their workplaces. The main reason the book does not consider these kinds of proposals is that they've not been implemented. Well, not yet, anyway, and not in America. But since we're at the beginning of this process, I would have liked to see at least a few chapters where the authors spread their wings to explore ways that 'targeted transparency' could improve our policy armoury, not least by lessening the need for the more prescriptive and intrusive regulation we have now. Even if the market doesn't fully inform its customers, in principle the best performers should have an interest in accurately reporting their own performance. At this point we run into something well known from the literature on the 'economics of information,' even if it appeared more compellingly as Gresham's Law centuries before Hayek or even Adam Smith got going. Bad money drives out good, or, as Akerlof has put it, the presence of hard-to-detect 'lemons' can ruin what would other wise be perfectly good markets. To provide useful compar i sons , information must be standard ised. Standards are a public good. But firms that per form relatively poorly have an interest in actively frustrating standardisation. If they report at all, they need not lie—though some might—they need only cherrypick the information they disclose, omitting what is unfl attering. While the emergence of a standard requires collective action, it need not necessarily be the result of government regulation. Governments and other social leaders might agitate for the best firms to develop an auditable standard against which to voluntarily report. That would often place pressure on other fi rms to report similarly, helping nurture the adoption of the standard and driving the kind of product improvements that occurred in Los Angeles' restaurants. Like much writing on such matters, this book focuses on 'targeted transparency' as the sovereign act of some regulating authority—typically a government. It would be wiser to see such action as a subset of the many ways markets can become better informed. Suasion and collective action by market leaders might have received more attention here, alongside government regu lation. Such action might enable us to learn more lessons like those in this book, but with more experimentation and reference to market needs and possibilities along the way, and with less risk of government failure.


Binding modes of a series of catechol derivatives such as protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibitors were identified by molecular modeling techniques. Docking, molecular dynamics simulations and free energy calculations were employed to determine the modes of these new inhibitors. Binding free energies were calculated by involving different energy components using the Molecular Mechanics-Poisson-Boltzmann Surface Area and Generalized Born Surface Area methods. Relatively larger binding energies were obtained for the catechol derivatives compared to one of the PTP1B inhibitors already in use. The Molecular Mechanics/ Generalized Born Surface Area (MM/GBSA) free energy decomposition analysis indicated that the hydroxyl functional groups and biphenyl ring system had favorable interactions with Met258, Tyr46, Gln262 and Phe182 residues of PTP1B. The results of hydrogen bound analysis indicated that catechol derivatives, in addition to hydrogen bonding interactions, Val49, Ile219, Gln266, Asp181 and amino acid residues of PTP1B are responsible for governing the inhibitor potency of the compounds. The information generated from the present study should be useful for the design of more potent PTP1B inhibitors as anti-diabetic agents.


Whether supraclavicular lymph node (SCLN) metastasis in patients with oesophageal cancer belongs to regional disease is controversial, leading to heterogeneity in clinical treatment decisions. This study aimed to determine the optimal treatment for lower thoracic oesophageal cancer (LTOC) with SCLN metastasis.


Brisbane is a thriving subtropical metropolis of 1.7 million people on Australia's east coast. It features a diverse yet fragmented transportation system currently undergoing both significant stress and rapid upgrading. High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes have been implemented over the past two decades on selected arterials but the stage is being set for a major expansion of the region's HOV program. The wide range of HOV projects and the planning context in which they are emerging will be of interest to international HOV practitioners. Specific aspects of the Brisbane experience addressed include: Arterial HOV and bus lanes: operational experience and lessons learned; South East Transit Project: state-of-the-art busway plus freeway HOV lane project; Freeway HOV lanes: 2+ vs 3+ vs 4+ issues; Brisbane HOV Network Study: an arterial network that makes sense; Integrated Regional Transport Plan: the pro-transit big picture; HOV Enforcement - the quest for success; HOV Problems - from the familiar to the unique; and International HOV Experience - what's applicable, what's not. The author is able to provide a comprehensive overview of the Brisbane situation with regard to the interests of international practitioners. He has been active in the North American bus/HOV sector for many years, and is currently working in Brisbane on several of the region's major HOV initiatives.


We have theoretically studied nitrogen doping of carbon nanotubes in a periodic supercell using density functional theory. We find that the most stable isomer is different for different chiralities of the tube. In the (10,0) tube, N atoms tend to be uniformly distributed, while they prefer to be adjacent to each other in (5,5) tube. As more nitrogen atoms are introduced in (5,5) tube, they are aligned parallel to the tube axis in two rows, breaking the $\mathrm{N}\mathrm{N}$ single bonds and forming aromatic $(4n+2)\ensuremath{\pi}$ systems. This leads us to conjecture that the armchair tubes are more easily subject to the opening of the tubular sheets than the zigzag tubes under the existence of a nitrogen source. The hole formation recently proposed by Czerw et al. [Nano Lett. 1, 457 (2001)] is also shown to be energetically favorable. Calculation of the electronic density of states shows that the doping-induced electronic states near the Fermi energy are sensitive to the chirality.


The importance of the appearance of consumer products is widely understood. This paper considers an evaluation of the appearance of a technology-oriented product, the residential solar panel, from the perspective of individuals. This study uses a quantitative approach, visual conjoint analysis, to determine preferences for product appearance of solar panels, and further explores how presenting a solar panel in its context of use can influence the consistency of consumer preferences. Approximately 200 survey respondents were shown two kinds of images of solar panels, one of a standalone panel and the other of a panel installed on a roof. Results show a significant shift of preferences when first showing the non-contextualized image and then showing the contextualized image. Such preference inconsistency provides insights with which to inform the process of user-needs revealing.Copyright © 2014 by ASME


An air conditioner central control system (s) and a method for controlling the system. The centralized control of the plurality of central air-conditioning system can be connected to the same communication network. In this system, the protocol converter is connected to the central controller will be another communication standard signal into a communication standard between the central controller and the air conditioner, the connection state information acquired by the scanning of each air connection state information and transmitting the acquired information to the central controller, the central controller managers to use, can correctly monitor the state of air conditioning, to achieve a reliable result of the control system.


Most approaches for monitoring plant growth and development have serious drawbacks which limit their use in agricultural research programs. First of all, traditional methods for measuring above-ground green leaf area index (LAI) and biomass are very labor intensive, tedious and time consuming to execute. The size, number and frequency of samples required to characterize the plant canopy and detect statistically significant differences between treatments are usually large and often not practicable because of constraints on labor and space for cold storage and oven drying. Destructive sampling techniques are usually not appropriate in small research plots because the removal of some individuals from the population alters the response of remaining plants. Furthermore, the time required for physically separating leaves from stems and measuring them with a leaf area meter or waiting for tissues to dry in an oven precludes the use of these data in real-time decision making processes. Thus, important information that has immediate utility for assessing the efficacy of different treatments, identifying incipient problems, or guiding future sampling efforts is typically not available until several days or weeks after the samples have been collected. Non-invasive, remote sensing techniques which use plant canopy reflectance to monitor changes in canopy conditionmore » avoid these problems while providing scientists with an efficient tool for research and management of their projects. 19 refs., 9 figs., 10 tabs.« less


The environmental impact of the world shipping fleet has been under the spotlight for some time with estimated CO2 emissions accounting for around 3 percent of global emissions 1 . According to an International Maritime Organisation (IMO) study, these emissions could grow by 150 to 250 percent by 2050 if left unregulated. To address this issue the IMO's Marine Environmental Protection Committee (at MEPC 62) have agreed a series of mandatory (Energy Efficiency Design Index (EEDI)) and voluntary (Ship Energy Efficiency Management Plan (SEEMP), Energy Efficiency Operational Index (EEOI)) energy efficiency measures to cut greenhouse gas emissions from ships.


The problem of vehicle redeployment in multi-period systems is studied in this paper. It is a sequential decision making problem that involves optimizing an objective over some planning horizon composed of multiple periods. In this work, the problem is handled with a hybrid local search and Q-learning algorithm. It integrates local search into the Dyna-Q algorithm and combines the system's tactical and operational decision levels to find a multi-period policy for sharing vehicles between stations while optimizing the objective. Tests were carried out on synthetic and real instances, and the obtained results show how local search integration can improve the basic Dyna-Q algorithm.