Mediation is a way of resolving disputes through a negotiation process to obtain an agreement between the parties assisted by a mediator as a facilitator, the provisions of which are regulated in Supreme Court Regulation Number 1 of 2016 concerning Mediation Procedures in District Courts. Mediation in court is the institutionalization and empowerment of peace (court-connected mediation) with the philosophical basis of Pancasila which is the basis of the Indonesian State, especially the fourth precept "Populist led by Wisdom of Wisdom in Deliberation/Representation". The fourth precept of the Pancasila, among other things, requires that efforts to resolve disputes, conflicts or cases be carried out through deliberations to reach a consensus that is filled with a spirit of kinship. Mediation in court is the result of the development and empowerment of peace institutions as stipulated in the provisions of Article 130 Herziene Inlandsch Reglemen (HIR) / 154 Rechtsreglemen voor de Buitengewesten (RBg) which requires a judge who hears a case to earnestly seek peace between the litigants. Efforts to resolve through Mediation apart from benefiting the parties are also beneficial for the Court because Mediation is expected to overcome the problem of accumulation of cases. however, the results of research at the Sengkang District Court Class IB and the Maros District Court Class IB show that the implementation of mediation is in accordance with Perma No. 1 of 2016 concerning Mediation Procedures at the District Court. However, there are several obstacles encountered in resolving civil lawsuit disputes in the District Court, namely egotism, external factors, educational factors, absence of the parties, passing the time limit, aspects of advocates and aspects of mediator judges.


We introduce a self-organized surface growth model in 2+1 dimensions with anisotropic avalanche process, which is expected to be in the universality class of the anisotropic quenched Kardar-Parisi-Zhang equation with alternative signs of the nonlinear KPZ terms. It turns out that the surface height correlation functions in each direction scales distinctively. The anisotropic behavior is attributed to the asymmetric behavior of the quenched KPZ equation in 1+1 dimensions with respect to the sign of the nonlinear KPZ term.


We present a new technique for the automatic segmentation of multiband imagery. Our approach is based on the computation of a minimum spanning tree over a graph derived from the image. We use a fast graph-search algorithm and a custom tree-splitting algorithm to provide a high level of performance. This approach captures some of the gestalt characteristics of human perceptual grouping and is easily adaptable to a variety of spectral and spatial criteria. We demonstrate our technique on multispectral and hyperspectral imagery of the earth's surface.


This volume presents papers from the Seventh British National Conference on Databases (BNCOD-7), which represents both commercial and research viewpoints.


This paper describes the design phases of the VoiceTRAN Communicator, which integrates speech recognition, machine translation, and text-to-speech synthesis using the Galaxy architecture. The aim of the work was to build a robust multimodal speech-to-speech translation system able to translate simple domain-specific sentences in the language pair Slovenian-English.

The work represents a joint collaboration between several Slovenian research organizations that are active in human language technologies.


Assessment f the possibility of correction with ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate of functional and structural pancreatic disorders, induced by the obstructive cholestasis. Materials. The cholestasis was modeled on 20 anesthetized dogs by applying a loop of the choledochus. On the third day of cholestasis, bile duct was decompressed. It was studied the effectiveness of ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate therapy in correction of functional and structural pancreatic disorders. There were mesured a total bilirubin (B), aminotransferase (ALAT, ASAT), alpha-amylase, lipase, malonic dialdehyde (MDA) and pancreatic histology was studied. Results. On the 3-rd day of cholestasis, bilirubin level increased by 35 times, ALT - 24,5 times, ASAT - 10,4 times, MDA - 16 times, amylase - 2,3 times and lipase - 2,5 times. Structural changes in the pancreas were characterized with interstitial oedema, capillary sludge. After infusions of mexidol, B level was increased by 1,2 times, ALT - by 2,2 times, AST - by 1,2 times, MDA - by 1,6 times, alpha-amylase - by 1,3 times, lipase - by 1,2 times in a comparison with the control measures. The oedema and destruction of the acinocytes were decreased significantly. The conclusion. The using of ethylmethylhydroxypyridine succinate in therapy of acute obstructive cholestasis has a high efficiency in the correction of free radical oxidation, prevents the development of significant functional and structural disorders in the pancreas.


Objective: To study the etiology of insomnia and its therapy. Methods: Insomnia was diagnosed with ICD - 10 standard. The questionnaires was distributed to the patients to investigate whether they understand the insomnia essence and quantitative analysis was done.Results: Trouble falling asleep (97.5 percent) was the main symptom. And difficult resleeping (87 percent) . Waking up early easily (80 percent) and much dreaming were also common symptoms. In patients the anxiety, fear and higher hopes on steepness were the most common psychological stress. (100 percent). Two different treatment showed obviously different results ( P 0.01) . Conclusions:Clinical manifestations of insomnia are various. But their essence is wrong sleeping mentality and attitude of the patients and the bad recycle they lead to. In treatment psychological dredge and psychotherapy should be mainly adopted and medicine treatment should be supplementary. On the contrary, to use singly a lot of tranquillizer and hypnotic often leads to the bad results.


In order to reduce the run-up distance for deflagration-to-detonation transition process, and increase the operating frequency of a pulse detonation rocket engine, a specific experimental system was designed. A tube closed at one end and open at the other end was employed as the detonation tube. The detonable mixtures were injected into the detonation tube periodically in the middle of the tube through a rotary valve and ignited near the open end. Detonation waves can be obtained when the deflagration waves propagate to the closed end. Varieties of experiments were carried out in the pulse detonation rocket engine system utilizing ethylene as fuel and oxygen-enriched air as oxidizer. Fully developed detonation waves were obtained, and a steady operating frequency of 200 Hz was successfully achieved. Higher operating frequency can be expected when the supplying flow rate is improved or smaller tube is utilized.


ABSTRACT Using the approach of first- and second-order tangent sets as approximations of feasible sets and employing the concepts of approximations as generalized derivatives, we establish first- and second-order necessary and sufficient optimality conditions for solutions of nonsmooth vector problems in normed spaces and extend several well known results.


Transmission properties of a novel optical waveguide structure based on Nafion polymer are investigated by the technique of the m-line spectroscopy at a wavelength of 632.8nm. The refractive index profiles for Nafion film for both TE and TM modes are found to be of quadratic nature with surface refractive indices values of 1.3408 and 1.3446 respectively. The attenuation loss of this polymeric waveguide is found to be 1.53 dBcm-1


INTRODUCTIONThe new shopping mall is rapidly growth in developing countries where people's life is dynamic and occur phenomenon of emerging world-class shopping malls. The successful mall should offer the extraordinary experience, provide professional decoration and design, invest on high innovative services, and select high brand reputations. The outcomes of a good corporate image were found when the mall create uniqueness characteristics or appearance (Kunkel and Berry, 1968; Marks, 1976). Besides, the previous studies have indicated factors that influence corporate image are brand attributes, perceived congruence, website image, advertising, emotional attachment, and consumer-company identification (Preez and Vyver, 2010; and Kremer and Viot, 2012).LITERATURE REVIEWBrand attributes: Offline brand attributes are the analysis of brand appearances (Davies et al., 2004). The analysis of brand attributes are easy to understand when describes the brand into the generic individual characteristics (Lakoff and Johnson, 1980). There are four sub-variables of offline brand attributes, which are physical aspects, product-related attributes, personal interaction and reliability.Physical aspects: Physical aspects refer to tangibles measurements, which have appearance, facilities and convenience for customers, as defined by Guiry et al. (1992). Also, Dabholkar et al. (1996) defined that physical aspects are presented in store appearance and the convenience of retail that serves to customers.Product-related attributes: Westbrook (1981) defined merchandise is the principle of mall to be careful when offering to customers. In addition, Srinivasan et al. (2002) supported that the available product is importance for customers to find their preferences in one place.Personal interaction: Silva and Alwi (2008) stated that personal interaction is performance of employees and how they interact directly with customers. Besides, Guiry et al. (1992) supported that the personal interaction comprised of employees' confidence and performed the appropriate manner and helpfulness to customers.Reliability: Dabholkar et al. (1996) suggested reliability was included in the service quality (SERVQUAL) was consisted of two sub-dimensions that are "keeping promises" and "doing it right". Also, Westbrook (1981) suggested the reliability is affected the trustworthiness of the mall itself.Perceived congruence: Goodman (1980) defined congruence occur when customers compare the current situation and past experience or compare two things or two situations or two kinds of products. Besides, Lwin et al, (2007) supported these comparisons would perform when customers used their mentally descriptive and analytical measurement.Website image: Lim and Dubinsky (2004) indicated website image of the retail sector is another kind of store channel that communicate and express in overall retail images and represents the information of store merchandises, activities, price, discounts, and other services. Also, Childers et al. (2001) stated that website image is able to reflect the store atmosphere.Advertising: Advertising is the strategy and activity that are able to communicate a direct message to customer and promote the company's products and services through several distribution channels in television, newspapers, websites, social media, and print ads etc. Duncan and Hollander (1977) stated the advertising is the main responsibility of retailers that should create a good image in the customer's mind.Emotional attachment: Schouten and McAlexander (1995) defined that emotional attachment refers to personal insight feeling when customer has met with the specific situation or experience about brand's environment, product and service that was unexpected.Consumer-company identification: Consumer-company identification is a deep feeling when they commit to the company or try to be a good representative for that company (Balmer and Greyser, 2006; Bhattacharya and Sen, 2003). …


Calculations of the electronic and magnetic properties of the nonmagnetic metallic compound ${\mathrm{YFe}}_{2}{\mathrm{Si}}_{2}$ are reported. These predict at the density functional level a magnetic state involving ordering along the $c$ axis. This predicted ground state contrasts with experiment, which does not show magnetic order. The electronic structure is three dimensional, and is similar to that of the unconventional superconductor ${\mathrm{YFe}}_{2}{\mathrm{Ge}}_{2}$ as well as that of the high-pressure collapsed tetragonal phase of ${\mathrm{KFe}}_{2}{\mathrm{As}}_{2}$, which is also a superconductor. Based on the results in relation to experiment, we infer that properties of ${\mathrm{YFe}}_{2}{\mathrm{Si}}_{2}$ are strongly influenced by a nearby antiferromagnetic quantum critical point.


Photovoltaic panels are widely used to harvest solar energy. In thegeneral application the panels are connected to an inverter that allowsthe power to be feed to the grid. The possibility to emulate a photovoltaicpanel in a laboratory environment simplifies the developmentof inverters. Existing solutions are either expensive or not performinggood enough. This thesis presents a real-time model that has fastenough transient response to be used with the future's solar panel inverters.The solution is based on an interleaved synchronous buck converterwith an analogue current control loop. A micro-controller is utilizinga look up table to steer the power stage to mimic the output of a realpanel. The content of the look up table can be exchanged to emulatean arbitrary photovoltaic panel in different environmental conditions.The emulator output is stable in the load case with a typical inverterconnected to it. It is oscillating with a limited amplitude under opencircuit. A hardware implementation of the system confirms the functionality.The current controller can correct a load step in 20 μs. Theoutput switching ripple is below 1 mA.


In this work, novel compounds of hydrazones derived from (2,4-dinitrophenyl) hydrazine were synthesized. Benzamides derivatives and sulfonamides derivatives were prepared from p-amino benzaldehyde. Then these compounds were condensed with (2,4-dinitrophenyl) hydrazine through Imine bond formation to give hydrazones compounds. The compounds were characterized using FT-IR (IR Affinity-1) spectrometer, and 1HNMR analyses. The majority of the compounds have a moderate antimicrobial activity against "Gram-positive bacteria staphylococcus Aureus, and staphylococcus epidermidis, Gram-negative bacteria Escherichia coli, and Klebsiella pneumoniae, and fungi species Candida albicans" using concentrations of 250 µg\ml.


This chapter examines the connection between the press and the Internet sectors. It discusses how and why the major Internet companies providing news service and social media in China became a thorn in the side of the Chinese state, despite the state's efforts to control them. Existing studies of rising public opinion in China tend to focus on how technological properties of the Internet can empower citizens to bring about social change and how the Chinese state has attempted to forestall such change. Such work tends to pay less attention to the ways in which particular contexts mediate and moderate the technological effects of the Internet. The chapter traces the restructuring of the media field in China, especially the development of the online news market, following the state's decision to connect the country to the Internet. As the chapter demonstrates, preexisting conditions in the newspaper market played a key—but often neglected—role in shaping China's online news market and discursive arena.


The solid-fluid coupling mathematical model for coal mining above confined aquifer was established after theoretical analysis.Based on this,the finite element program was developed.The working face stress distribution and the water inrush mechanism were researched systematically using numerical simulation method.Relation between different conditions of fault dip angle,fault thickness,fault throw and water-inrush was obtained.The fitted formulas between critical width of fault waterproof pillar and major factors in normal fault and reverse fault were established by using ternary linear regression method,and the water inrush criterion was given.


The sense of touch plays an important role in reinforcing presence of distant physical targets for telepresence applications. Among various data representations for defining haptic cues, a point cloud is considered to be suitable for dynamically changing environments in virtue of its simplicity. However, ambiguous and noisy data caused by the lack of geometrical structure and the characteristics of sensors often lead to unreliable haptic feedback during interaction. To address this issue, we propose a robust point-cloud-based haptic rendering method for palpable exploration of remote environments without reconstruction of surface meshes. Surface information, which is a key element of haptic rendering, is directly estimated from the raw point cloud data by principal component analysis. This method is then applied to a prototype server-client system on real network for proof of concept and evaluation of performance. The experimental results confirm the accuracy and stability of the proposed method in estimating surface information as well as in handling contact situations.


In this paper, we present a simple methodology to design nonlinear robust output-feedback model predictive control (MPC) schemes. The design procedure is applicable to a large class of nonlinear systems and guarantees constraint satisfaction despite noise and disturbances. We utilize an existing observer with guaranteed exponential stability properties in combination with an initial bound on the estimation error in order to predict valid bounds on the possible future estimation error. The predicted estimation error is then used online to appropriately tighten the state and input constraints, using recently developed nonlinear robust MPC methods based on incremental stabilizability properties. The resulting nonlinear robust output-feedback MPC scheme is simple to implement, only marginally increases the computational demand (compared to a nominal MPC scheme), and ensures robust constraint satisfaction and input-to-state stability w.r.t. disturbances/noise. We demonstrate the simplicity and applicability of the proposed approach with a numerical example.


The detoxification of numerous harmful and toxic contaminants as well as water treatment is done
successfully by photocatalytic oxidation. The potential uses of metal oxide, which are defined as
charge carriers in electronic structure, enhance its light-absorbing qualities when exposed to a particular
type of radiation and enable its use as a photocatalyst. Metal oxide nanoparticles, as photocatalyst, are
used in waste-water treatment in removing pollutants and the degradation of dyes, thus can render
water reusable. In the current investigation, XRD and SEM studies were utilized to analyze the rare
earth Gd2O3 nanoparticles that were synthesized using the chemical precipitation approach. Additionally,
degradation of Rhodamine B and methylene blue in aqueous solution under UV light was used to
assess the photocatalytic activity. The results indicated that the synthesized Gd2O3 material exhibits
good photocatalytic activity.


INTRODUCTION Rabies is a fatal disease caused by a virus of the family Rhabdoviridae, genus Lyssavirus. The severe nature of the estimated 55 000 human deaths a year caused by the disease, mainly in Africa and Asia, underline its impact. Lyssavirus currently includes 11 genotypes recognised by the International Committee on Virus Taxonomy, 4 of which have been isolated in South Africa to date (Rabies virus, Mokola virus, Lagos bat virus and Duvenhage virus). For the Rabies virus genotype, the domestic dog is the major reservoir and vector and is responsible for most human cases worldwide. However, different Rabies virus biotypes within particular species and geographical areas can exist. For example, in southern Africa 2 biotypes (canine and mongoose) are recognised. Mongoose rabies is adapted to and circulates within herpestid species, particularly the yellow mongoose (Cynictis penicillata). The cosmopolitan canid biotype, on the other hand, circulates within members of the family Canidae: dogs (Canis familiaris), black backed jackals (C. mesomelas) and bat-eared foxes (Otocyon megalotis). While mongoose rabies is considered to be indigenous to the area, canine rabies appears to have been introduced during modern times. The 1st confirmed diagnosis of rabies in South Africa was in 1893 following an outbreak of the disease in the Eastern Cape from an imported dog. This outbreak was brought under control, however, and the spatial spread of rabies was then closely associated with wildlife species particularly the yellow mongoose. By 1940, canine rabies had begun to spread south of the Zambezi River so that by 1950 it appeared in South Africa in the northern Limpopo Province, where it is still present. Subsequent to the 1950 Limpopo outbreak, canine rabies spread to Mozambique from where it entered KwaZulu-Natal in 1961. Although the KwaZulu-Natal outbreak was brought under control, the disease reappeared in 1976 following an influx of refugees from Mozambique. This outbreak could not be brought under control and marked the start of the incessant southward spread of canine rabies. In 1986, the disease reached the Eastern Cape, when it was confirmed in the northern areas of Transkei (Maluti and Umzimvubu local municipalities of the Eastern Cape Province). Over the next 4 years, canine rabies continued to spread throughout Transkei and by the early 1990s had reached East London. Currently, rabies is a re-emerging public health problem in the Eastern Cape, evident by the fact that from 2008 to 2009 more human cases were reported than from any other province. Although rabies has been confirmed in wild and domestic animal species in the Eastern Cape, canine rabies was the main driver of the observed temporal trends over the period 1986–2009 (Fig. 1). The mongoose biotype in the Eastern Cape is maintained especially in the Karoo and adjoining areas (Cacadu, Western Chris Hani and Ukhahlamba District municipalities), but is absent in the former Transkei area. Among domestic animals in the Eastern Cape, rabies has been diagnosed predominantly in dogs (52 %) followed by cattle (34 %), goats (6 %), sheep (4 %), domestic cats (2 %) and other domestic animals (2 %) over the period 1986–2009 (Eastern Cape Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, unpubl. data). The high incidence of rabies in cattle and other dead-end hosts compared to the rest of South Africa seems to indicate that surveillance coverage is still insufficient, and that the burden of rabies in the province may be underestimated. Control of rabies through targeted vaccination of at least 70 % of the dog population is the standard method of controlling rabies and has been used successfully in developed countries, although a reciprocal increase (whether real or relative) of the disease in wildlife species may occur. Vaccination of dogs and cats has been implemented in the Eastern Cape Province on an annual basis since 1986, but has neither curbed the spread nor prevented the rise in the number of canine rabies cases and dead-end host species, probably because less than 70 % of the population was reached. The problem is compounded by the lack of information


A signal processor (43,44) responsive to an input signal VIDEO (Y1) and provides a first output signal VIDEO (Y4) linearly related to the input signal and a second signal OUT VIDEO (Y5 ) UNRELATED linearly with VIDEO INPUT SIGNAL. A first circuit combiner (45) combines the first and second signals VIDEO OUT BY DEFAULT proportions to provide a third VIDEO output signal (Y6) components linear and non-linear. A second element combiner (46) combines the second and third signals VIDEO OUT BY proportions determined by a control signal representative of the level of the image signal (VC) to provide an output signal VIDEO PROCESSED WITH INCREASED CONTRAST TO ALL MEAN VALUES OF SIGNAL IMAGE IMAGES REPRESENTED.


Abstract Recently, several authors have suggested the use of first order methods, such as fast dual ascent and the alternating direction method of multipliers, for embedded model predictive control. The main reason is that they can be implemented using simple arithmetic operations only. In this paper, we present results that enable for significant improvements when using fast dual ascent for embedded model predictive control. These improvements rely on a new characterization of the set of matrices that can be used to describe a quadratic upper bound to the negative dual function. For many interesting formulations, it is shown that the provided bound cannot be improved and that it is tighter than bounds previously presented in the literature. The improved quadratic upper bound is used in fast dual gradient methods as an approximation of the dual function. Since it better approximates the dual function than previous upper bounds, the convergence is improved. The performance enhancement is most significant for ill-conditioned problems. This is illustrated by a numerical evaluation on a AFTI-16 aircraft model where the algorithm outperforms previous proposals of first order methods for embedded control with one to three orders of magnitude.


This article reveals the current state and problems of the Russian oil production sector. Physicochemical enhanced oil recovery methods are proposed as a solution. The investigation of surfactant treatment efficiency and their integrated effect on oil and reservoir rock is conducted as well as its applicability analysis for low permeable poly-mineral reservoir. The results of dynamic modeling of oil displacement by the developed surfactant composition in a low permeable reservoir are presented.


Indoor cultivation by use of climate-cells provides a higher consistency, quality and more reliable method of producing fruits and vegetables in comparison to greenhouse cultivation. These aspects become increasingly important as we face the challenges brought by higher populations and climate change. However, currently the costs of indoor food production are far too high to compete on a commercial scale. In this report the costs and opportunities of indoor farming are analysed and used as basis for designing more costs effective implementations of climate-cells. Cost effective climate-cells can be achieved by producing more within the same system without compromising accessibility to the crops or making use of expensive automation and transportation solutions. This design project led to the development of such a system. The final concept enables a highly efficient method of producing crops on several layers while minimizing cost and complexity of transport and improving the longevity of expensive parts. Necessary further steps for the completion of this concept into an operational indoor climate-cell are left to the company Certhon whom supported this project.


The spatial distribution of the Gauss-Laguerre beams with circular polarization is investigated subject to the beam position relative to the element, the axicon numerical aperture and order of the vortex phase in the 3D model. Modeling of diffraction is numerically investigated by the finite difference time domain (FDTD) method using high-performance computing. It is shown that using the diffraction axicon, polarization transformations can be carried out in the near zone, which, in particular, is expressed that the number of dark bands corresponds to the m (vortex laser beam number).


This paper aims to place Weber's "sociology of knowledge" in the context of the formation of the modem scientific methodology taking as a starting point the author's concept's function and role formulation and its position in the combat against the abstract eschatology.


OBJECTIVE
Thresholds of 2-20 hounsfield units (HU) in unenhanced computed tomography (CT) are suggested to discriminate benign adrenal tumors (BATs) from malignant adrenal tumors. However, these studies included only low numbers of adrenocortical carcinomas (ACCs). This study defines a HU threshold by inclusion of a large cohort of ACCs.

DESIGN
Retrospective, blinded, comparative analysis of CT scans from 51 patients with ACCs (30 females, median age 49 years) and 25 patients with BATs (12 females, median age 64 years) diagnosed during the period of 2005-2010 was performed.

METHODS
Tumor density was evaluated in unenhanced CT by two blinded investigators.

RESULTS
Median tumor size was 9 cm (range 2.0-20) for ACCs vs 4 cm (2.0-7.5) for BATs (P<0.0001). In ACCs, the median unenhanced HU value was 34 (range 14-74) in comparison with 5 (-13 to 40) in BATs (P<0.0001). ROC analysis revealed a HU of 21 as threshold with the best diagnostic accuracy (sensitivity 96%, specificity 80%, and AUC 0.89). However, two ACCs that were 5 and 6 cm in size would have been missed. Setting the threshold to 13.9 allowed for 100% sensitivity, but a lower specificity of 68%.

CONCLUSIONS
This first large study on ACCs confirmed that the vast majority of ACCs have unenhanced HU >21. However, to avoid misdiagnosing an ACC as benign, a threshold of 13 should be used.


Along with the rapid development of science and technology, the safety of electromechanical products caught our more and more attention. Combining the factors of human and object in the design, this paper puts forward the safety design methods of electromechanical products, including designing the reliable products system, preventing incorrect operation design, creating the safety and pleasant interaction mode and the color and so on. It provides general safety design principle and method for electromechanical products, in order to prevent and reduce the accidents, to create the safe working conditions for users, and to ensure that the modern production runs smoothly.


We report the production of electrons and ions in the collisions of In(62S1/2) atoms resonantly excited by laser radiation. The cross section for the ions production is reported.


This paper considers a low-level unit-load warehouse employing single-deep storage lanes and a single-command manual storage and retrieval policy. Analytical travel distance models are developed for class-based and full turnover storage policies under across-aisle, within-aisle and a newly proposed hybrid product placement schemes. Our computational studies show that the analytical models developed in this paper are very accurate as compared to simulation results and a comparative study with a real-world warehouse case. Hybrid storage policies proposed in this paper outperform all other traditional storage policies. The paper also presents insights and simple design rules to warehouse practitioners.


We show that in one period perfect exchange markets populated by unbiased risk averse rational agents there will be a bias in favor of low probability events. The lack of an efficient outcome follows from the aggregation of the effects of risk aversion and heterogenous unbiased probability estimates. Persistent biases are found in extensions of the model that allow for biased behavioral agents, a mix of rational and behavioral agents, and market-maker controlled markets. The theory and empirical example show that the degree and nature of biases in these markets are determined by the mix of agents, learning, and market structure. The implications of these results for the theoretical microfoundations of the Efficient Markets Hypothesis are examined.


This project seeks to recycle neodymium and dysprosium from used neodymium-iron-boron, NdFeB, permanent magnets. Our alternative recycling strategy is based on a method developed by Dr. Eric Schelter of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry and his research group. This process involves the use of a novel tripodal nitroxide ligand, H3TriNOX. The proposed process design converts used NdFeB magnets to neodymium and dysprosium. The goal production of neodymium oxide is 126,000 kg/year and of dysprosium oxide is 14,000 kg/year, which would cost $12,500,000 with the current price rate of neodymium and dysprosium. Based on the results of the economic analysis, this project would be unprofitable in the near future. Disciplines Biochemical and Biomolecular Engineering | Chemical Engineering | Engineering This working paper is available at ScholarlyCommons: http://repository.upenn.edu/cbe_sdr/81 1 Professor Leonard Fabiano Dr. John M. Vohs Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering School of Engineering and Applied Science University of Pennsylvania 220 S. 33rd Street Philadelphia, PA 19104 April 12, 2016 Dear Professor Fabiano and Dr. Vohs, Enclosed is our completed proposal for the design project "Recycling of Neodymium and Dysprosium from Permanent Magnets," as initially proposed by Alan Dai and Connor Lippincott. The proposed design applies the new technology developed by Dr. Eric Schelter of the University of Pennsylvania Department of Chemistry and his research group. This new technology uses a novel tripodal nitroxide ligand, H3TriNOX, instead of traditional liquid-liquid extraction, to separate neodymium and dysprosium from each other. The market for rare earth metals, neodymium and dysprosium, is very promising due to the limited and unstable supply by China that produces 95% of all rare earth metals in the world. Also, recycling neodymium and dysprosium with the newly developed technology is much more environmental friendly compare to the mining of rare earth metals and the traditional method of separating neodymium and dysprosium. The proposed process design converts used NdFeB magnets to neodymium and dysprosium. The goal production of neodymium is 126,000 kg/year and of dysprosium is 14,000 kg/year, which would cost $12,500,000 with the current price rate of neodymium and dysprosium. Based on the result of profitability analysis, this project would be unprofitable in the near future. We recommend that this project should only be executed if market prices for neodymium and dysprosium significantly increase due to the uncertainty existing in neodymium and dysprosium supply.


Although audio and visual evidence (video, photographs and laserscans) may have been treated by the same experts in many organizations in the past, it is now clear that there are a number of totally different fields of expertise that deal with these types of evidence. In this review, we distinguish six fields of expertise: Audio analysis, Speaker identification, Forensic linguistics, Video analysis, Photogrammetry and 3D modeling, and Facial identification. However, experts on investigations of authenticity and integrity of audio and video still share a number of methods and can benefit from each others knowledge and expertise. Since most of this evidence is now generated as digital data, more expertise on digital evidence is needed. Experts on facial identification, speaker identification and forensic linguistics share a common interest in the use of statistics, and methods for dealing with subjective information. Audio analysis: The new methods for investigation of authentication and integrity, based on the electric network frequency and the use of opto-magnetic crystals, that have been introduced in the period of the review 2001-2004, are well known now, and more reports are being published on the use and effectiveness of these methods. Speaker identification: In the period of this review a lot of research has been done on the use of statistics of frequency measurements in acoustic analysis. Forensic speaker identification is now preferably based on a combination of results from auditory analysis and acoustic analysis as well, using a Bayesian framework for assessing the evidential value. Forensic linguistics: this expertise is now often requested for in the analysis of letters claiming responsibility for politically motivated offenses, and the language samples from refugees in order to confirm their alleged origin. The use of text databases for statistical analysis is being debated. Video analysis: the widespread introduction of large scale digital video surveillance systems in public and private domains resulted in large scale research and development programs and the development of a new field of expertise closely linked to the development of special organizations for dealing with digital evidence. Photogrammetry and 3D modeling: laser scanning of crime scenes has become well known technology. The widespread use is still hampered by the high costs of equipment and training of personnel. A large number of papers have been published now on body length estimation from CCTV images. Measurement errors have been studied and quantified. The evidential value is strongly limited by the number of uncertainties in a case. Facial identification: error rates between 5 and 10 % for facial image recognition and identification have been reported for biometric systems and human observers. The latest studies show that human observers who are assisted by biometric systems perform significantly better. For facial reconstruction from the remains of skulls, computer modeling software is available that can work with statistical data on soft tissue thickness measurements. In this review paper a full overview is given on all relevant developments in these fields of discipline, based on an extensive search in literature databases and the exchange of information in a large number of conferences. Review on Forensic audio and Visual Evidence 2004-2007 15th INTERPOL Forensic Science Symposium, Lyon, France, October 2007 Introduction In the review on audio and visual evidence 2001-2004 Two separate papers were presented. The first paper presented a very detailed description of the fields of expertise in (1) audio analysis, (2) speaker identification and (3) linguistic authorship. The second paper presented a general overview of the many different types of forensic investigations on visual evidence and a way to catagorize them into three general fields of expertise: (4) imaging and video technology (5) crime scene photography, laserscanning, photogrammetry and 3d-modeling, and (6) biometric identification. Two other discplines, medical imaging and pattern recognition in forensic database were treated as miscellenious topics in a separate chapter. In this review, all topics in audio and visual evidence are covered in one paper, and two of the previously mentioned fields of expertise will be named differently. The most important developments will be presented for six general fields of expertise: (1)audio analysis, (2) speaker identification, (3) linguistic authorship, (4) imaging and video technology, (5) photogrammetry, crime scene recording and 3dmodeling, (6) facial image identification and earprints. In a separate chapter, we focus briefly on a number of forensic activities that do no fit well in the previous chapters. The last chapter deals with relevant organizations and their work in forensic image and audio analysis. Each chapter starts with a list of keywords to help the reader finding topics of interest. Literature references are given at the end of each chapter. This review is based on information from an extensive search in literature databases (Inspec, Compendex, Scopus, patent databases and several others), participation in meetings organized by the AAFS, ENFSI and SPIE, and contacts with the working groups SWGIT, LEVA, EESAG, ENFSIDIWG and ENFSIAS. This review is certainly not complete for two reasons: most of the information used is obtained from American and European sources and the scope of the review is limited to the fields of expertise that the authors have been working in or with. Due to the amount of publications in certain fields, the authors have not read the complete articles for making this overview. However, for a large number of articles, abstracts provided by the literature database could be used. Audio analysis (Michael Jessen) authentication, speech enhancement, transcription of linguistic content / disputed utterance examination, non-speech events, magneto-optical methods, ENF, Electric Network Frequency The primary domains of forensic audio analysis are authentication, speech enhancement, transcription of linguistic content / disputed utterance examination, and the analysis of non-speech events. For the authentication of analog recordings on audio tape, the use of magneto-optical investigations based on the Faraday or Kerr effect has been recognized by now as the most efficient, accurate and non-destructive method (Boss et al. 2003; Bouten et al. 2007). This method makes use of crystals that contain ferrimagnetic garnet film. When such a crystal is brought into contact with the audio tape it captures the magnetization patterns on the tape very accurately. Viewed under polarized light, these patterns can be examined and photographed. Various types of crystal are available as well as different setups of how the tape is placed and how the crystals are examined. A recent development is MOSeS (magneto-optical sensor system). This system is more practical than previous ones by offering better tape transport (hence easier processing of larger amounts of tape) and more flexible processing of a wider variety of tapes beyond regular compact audio cassettes, including microcassettes and video tapes (Boss 2005). Magneto-optical-based authentication can detect various types of information, including erase head marks, which can indicate if a passage has been deleted, and unusual track widths and positions due to misaligned audio heads etc., which can help to individualize the recorder that was used. Although the general principles of the magneto-optical method are known, many of the specifics of the observable patterns have been interpreted on the basis of experience rather than on a deep theoretical understanding of the physical explanations behind these patterns. An important improvement upon this state of the art has been provided recently by Bouten et al. (2007), who presents a detailed theory of magneto-optical authentications and tested its validity with experiments where the Review on Forensic audio and Visual Evidence 2004-2007 15th INTERPOL Forensic Science Symposium, Lyon, France, October 2007 audio data and recording devices are known. At the 2005 meeting of the ENFSI (European Network of Forensic Science Institutes) Working Group for Forensic Speech and Audio Analysis (FSAAWG) in Wiesbaden the results of a collaborative exercise on analog audio authentication were presented, showing, among other things, that the use of magneto-optical methods is time-consuming but that is offers advantages not achievable by other methods. Whereas methods for the authentication of analog recordings on tape are well established, still extremely little has been published on authentication of digital audio (see the overview of Cooper 2006). Although tampering might leave no traces if performed by somebody with profound knowledge in areas such as signal analysis, acoustics and phonetics, and if the original material is of sufficient quality, tampering is more than a simple cut and paste operation (Cooper 2005). For example, since the recordings are rarely in studio quality they will probably contain background noise, and cutting or copying sections of speech might lead to noticeable discontinuities. With authentication of digital speech data there is a stronger burden on linguistic and phonetic methods than before. The general idea of these methods is that additions or deletions might have taken place where the sequence of linguistic and phonetic events in a recording does not correspond to the known rules of linguistic and phonetic sequencing. For example, the sequences of words might not correspond to syntactic rules, or the sequences of sounds and sound elements might not be compatible with the rules of phonotactics or coarticulation. Application of this method requires good knowledge of the features of spontaneous fluent speech, since the phonological and phonetic sequencing rules in this speech style can differ, for examp


The article discusses the concept of sociocultural environment of the city and its content. The authors describe in general the main structural elements of the sociocultural environment of the city of Irkutsk in the modern period (culture, education, recreation). It is emphasized that the sociocultural environment is important for the development of the city and for improvement of the quality of life of urban population.


While ensuring front luminance, high diffusivity which can eliminate the non-uniformity of brightness distribution caused by the light source to provide a light-diffusing sheet is exhibited. Light-diffusing sheet of the present invention includes a diffusion layer. Diffusion layer, or conditions 1 and 2, the condition 3 and 4, has a surface shape that satisfies at least one. Condition 1, skewness of the roughness curve in the two-dimensional surface shape measurement (JIS B0601: 2001) when the Rsk of a condition in which Rsk is negative. Condition 2, the average height of the roughness curve element in a two-dimensional surface shape measurement (JIS B0601: 2001) When was the Rc, the condition is Rc is greater than or equal to 6.0 .mu.m. Condition 3, the peak count in a two-dimensional surface shape measurement (JIS B0601: 2001) When was the Pc, the condition is Pc is 150 or more. Condition 4, the ten-point average roughness in the two-dimensional surface shape measurement (JIS B0601: 2001) when the Rzjis and the condition is Rzjis is more 12.0 .mu.m.


Aeronautical communications is a discipline covering the highly specialized and mission critical communications such as aircraft-to-ground, aircraft-to-aircraft, and aircraft-to-satellite. Recent changes in this field include: advanced satellite communications installations in aircraft, and very high frequency digital radio, and data link applications reporting aircraft position in transoceanic operations, as well as airline, air traffic, and passenger services. Because of such rapid changes in this field, it is critical to aviation safety that we have an expertise in satellite and data link communications, data link and aircraft surveillance applications, aeronautical communications network, HF and VHF data link, circuit mode and packet mode communications.


Drilling and blasting operations (DB besides, the use of environmentally friendly emulsion explosives and self-propelled emulsion explosive chargers was recommended.


In this paper, the equation of the ones that provide the Mannheim curve feature in slant helices have been obtained and the intrinsic equation of Mannheim curves have been given for the first time.


Reaction of stereoisomerically pure sulphinyl-4,5-dihydroisoxazoles having one or two stereocentres at C-4 and C-5 of the heterocycle with aliphatic or aromatic aldehydes resulted in highly stereoselective formal double aldol condensation; the adducts, depending on desulphurization conditions, could be converted either into optically active ββ′-dihydroxy ketones (by Raney nickel catalyzed hydrogenation in the presence of boric acid) or hydroxyisoxazolines (by Na-Hg in buffered conditions); the latter have the heterocyclic ring available for further synthetic elaboration such as highly stereoselective lithium aluminium hydride reduction to amino diols.


The partial observability probit model is a statistical model for discrete outcomes caused by a complex combination of multiple latent factors. It is useful for political science research because political scientists often study interactions of unobservable decision making by several actors or survey responses resulted from a mixture of psychological factors, and because outcomes are recorded as a discrete variable in many cases of political science. I introduce this model as well as its underlying models, and its application and extension in political science literature. In addition, I developed an applied model with partial observability for the study of the survey responses on ideological self-identification. Ideological self-identification is measured by where a respondent place oneself on a discrete ideological scale, and can be decomposed into three latent factors: recognition, extremity, and direction. The new model can be estimated by Markov chain Monte Carlo methods. I applied my model to Japanese opinion poll data. An information criteria judged my model was superior to the previous ones, and I found some results that could not be led by the previous models.


In the process of research on Huimin high-phosphorus iron smelted by smelting reduction,the mass action concentrations of structural units or ion couples of CaO-MgO-FeO-Al2O3-SiO2-P2O5 slags were calculated by using of VB 6.0in combination with select the main element relaxation iterative method based on the ion andmolecule coexistence theory,and the desulfurization model of this slags is developed,sulfur distribution ratio calculated from this model had better agreement with that tested in process,which indicates the desulfurization model can be applied in high efficient dephosphorization slags.


Objective:To develop an HPLC method for the determination and analysis of the nucleosides content within Ningxinbao capsules.Method:The analysis was performed on an HPLC apparatus equipped with C_(18)column (Lichrospher,250 mm×4.6 mm,5μm)at 25℃.The UV detection was carried out at 260 nm,the mobile phase was a mixture of methanol-0.05 mol·L~(-1)potassium dihydrogen phosphate(8:92),the flow rate was 1.0 mL· min~(-1).Results:This method had desirable accuracy and reproducibility as well as simplicity.The extraction method and the conditions for HPLC were quite simple to perform.It was effective in distinguishing and determining five kinds of nucleosides in Ningxinbao capsules.68 samples of Ningxinbao capsules from different manufacturers were collected.The contents of uracil,uridine,adenine,guanosine and adenosine were all determined by RP-HPLC. They were 0.01-0.03,0.95-2.15,0.01-0.05,0.61-1.57 and 0.63-1.57 mg per capsule,respectively. Conclusion:This method has desirable accuracy and reproducibility as well as simplicity.The extraction method and the conditions for HPLC are quite simple to perform.It is effective in distinguishing and determining five kinds of nucleosides in Ningxinbao capsules.


Homogenization is a necessary process in the production of drinking milk and most dairy products. Specific energy consumption of the most common valve homogenizers reaches 8 kW·h/t. A promising way to reduce them is the introduction of more effective counter-jet homogenizers. The purpose of these studies is to increase the efficiency of machines of this type through a fuller use of the kinetic energy of the jets. To achieve this, the design of a ring reflector was developed and experimental studies of its influence on the efficiency of milk fat dispersion in a counter-jet homogenizer were carried out. Calculations were made to determine the design parameters of the reflector. An installation for experimental research has been developed, in which the required milk pressure is created with the help of compressed carbon dioxide. The dispersive indices of the milk emulsion were determined by computer analysis of micrographs of milk samples obtained with an optical microscope and a digital camera using Microsoft Office Excel and Microsoft Visual Studio C # software using the OpenCV Sharp library. As a result of research the formula for definition of the angle of the reflector top has been analytically received. Experimental studies proved its validity and allowed to determine the optimal value of its diameter. Comparison of the dependence of the degree of homogenization on the excess pressure in a counter-jet homogenization proves an increase in the degree of dispersion by 15-20% when using a reflector. At the same time, specific energy consumption does not increase. Comparison of the distribution curves of milk fat globules by size after counter-jet homogenization and homogenization with a reflector suggests that the average diameter of fat globules of the experimental method decreases from 0.99 to 0.83 μm. This indicates the high quality of the dispersed characteristics of the milk emulsion after processing in a counter-jet homogenizer with a reflector.


Objective: To study the relationship of local immunity in the female genital tract with the clinical course of Nongonococcal Urethritis (NGU). Methods: We collected cervical secretions from patients and examined levels of SIgA and IFN- γ. Results: Levels of SIgA and IFN- Y in the infected group were lower than those in the uninfected group, P1 0.05 and P20.05. The level of SIgA and IFN- Y in C.t, UU and C.t+UU infected groups were not significantly different Comparing the negative-changed group with the non-negative-changed group, the level of SIgA and IFN-Y was 39.22±20.04mg/L and 103.19?9.94pg/ml, 26. 00±10.56mg/I and 88.21±15.10pg/ml, P10.05 and P20. 05. Conclusion: SIgA and IFN- Y secreted by genital tract mucosa may help prevent and resist local NGU infection. However, the effect is limited, and is insufficient to eliminate infection completely and prevent reinfection.


INTRODUCTIONSuicide is a leading cause of mortality (World Health Organization [WHO], 2008), recorded Worldwide approximately 815000 cases per year (Krug, Dahlberg, Mercy, Zwi and Lazano, 2002). In college student, suicide is reported as the second leading cause of death in many studies (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention [AFSP], 2010), accounting for approximately 1,100 suicides each year (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2009). Drum, Brownson, Denmerk and Smith (2009) found that approximately 18% of undergraduates reported seriously considering suicide attempt in their lifetime, while 47% of serious ideators endorse persistent ideation. Suicide in India is slightly above world rate. In India, every year more than one lakh people take their own lives and the problem is assuming alarming proportions. In the last two decades, suicide rate has been increased from 7.9 to 10.3 per 100,000, with a very high rates in some southern regions (Vijaykumar, 2007, Polgreen, 2010). A large proportion of adult suicide deaths were found to occur between the ages of 15 - 29 years (Patel et al., 2012). Suicide refers to an act whereby the person kills himself of his own free will, mostly to escape a situation that he considers to be unbearable (Moore, 2000). Suicidal ideation constitutes one aspect of suicidal behavior and is defined as the domain of thoughts and ideas about death, suicide and serious self-injurious behaviors (Pienaar, Rothmann and Vijver et al., 2007).Self-efficacy is a multidimensional construct that varies according to the domain of demands (Zimmerman, 2000). The concept of self-efficacy, which was developed by Bandura (1982), is described as the judgments of individuals regarding their skills in carrying out the required behavior and performing particular types of actions. Some researchers have also conceptualized a general sense of self-efficacy (Schwarzer, 1993). Generalized self-efficacy is described as a general, stable cognition (trait) that individuals hold and carry with them which reflects the expectation that they possess the ability to perform tasks successfully in a variety of situations (Eden and Zuk, 1995). According to theory and research (Bandura, 1982), self-efficacy impacts how people think, feel and act. Self-efficacy facilitates cognitive processes and performance in a variety of settings, including quality of decision-making and academic achievement and low selfefficacy is associated with depression, anxiety, helplessness and suicidal thoughts. In terms of acting, people with a high self-efficacy choose to perform more challenging tasks and higher goals for themselves. Hence, it seems that low self-efficacy could be related to suicide ideation.Reasons for living is a set of life sustaining beliefs and experiences which may be prominent in non-suicidal individual and act as cognitive barriers in committing suicide or may potentially influence the intensity of suicidal ideation in suicidal individuals. Victor Frankle (1984) suggested in his theory that if a person has to maintain reasons for living in an intolerable situation, it is very important to have hope for a brighter day or to have a belief that some higher purpose could be served by one's survival or endurance of suffering. Suicidal ideation is the loss of existential meaning or existential neurosis, lack of proper reasons for living and excessive stress perception (Dogra and Basu, 2008). Steger, Frazier, Kaler and Oishi (2006) proposed 2 constructs: (i) presence of meaning and (ii) search for meaning. Presence of meaning refers to subjective sense that one's life is meaningful whereas search for meaning refers to the drive and orientation towards finding meaning in one's life (Dogra, Basu and Das, 2011). Chatterjee and Basu (2010) studied perceived causes of suicide, reasons for living and suicidal ideation among students. In several studies reasons for living was found negatively and significantly related to suicidal ideation. …


The clinical usefulness of BRCA1 and BRCA2 mRNA levels in tumor tissues in the prediction of response to docetaxel (DOC) treatment has been studied in breast‐cancer patients. Twenty‐five patients with locally advanced breast tumors (n = 13) or locally recurrent tumors (n = 12) underwent tumor biopsy and were treated with DOC (60 mg/m2 every 3 weeks). BRCA1 and BRCA2 mRNA levels in the tumors were determined by real‐time PCR, and the expression of 6 biological markers (P‐glycoprotein, p53, erbB2, BCL2, MIB1, estrogen receptor‐α) in the tumors was determined by immunohistochemistry. BRCA2 mRNA levels (0.547 ± 0.200, mean ± SE) of responders to DOC treatment were significantly (p < 0.05) lower than those of non‐responders (1.538 ± 0.358), but there was no significant difference in BRCA1 mRNA levels between responders (0.389 ± 0.081) and non‐responders (0.779 ± 0.172). Tumors were dichotomized into groups with high or low BRCA2 mRNA levels according to the cut‐off value of 0.13. The response rate (25%) of tumors with high BRCA2 mRNA levels was significantly (p < 0.01) lower than that (100%) of tumors with low BRCA2 mRNA levels. Positive predictive value, negative predictive value and diagnostic accuracy of the BRCA2 mRNA assay in the prediction of response to DOC were 100%, 75% and 80%, respectively. No significant difference was found between responders and non‐responders in the expression status of any of the other 6 biological markers. These results suggest that BRCA2 mRNA levels in tumor tissues might be clinically useful in the prediction of response to DOC treatment in breast‐cancer patients. © 2001 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


Wireless sensor network is a multi-hop ad hoc network formed by a large number of low-cost micro-sensor nodes which communicate through radio channels. It is widely used in many areas in modern society and attracts a lot of attention from researchers. Thi


Using a plurality of different gas species of the processing gas to achieve high productivity while maintaining a good film forming properties on the substrate. A step of loading a plurality of substrates into the processing chamber, the first process gas, and supply to the upstream side of the processing region outside of the gas stream in which a plurality of substrates carried into the chamber is arranged, of the second the process gas, and supply to the upstream side of the processing region outside of the gas stream in which a plurality of substrates carried into the chamber is arranged, the first process gas, the plurality of substrates that are loaded into the processing chamber arrangement and supply to the middle portion of the gas flow in the region to be a thin film on the main surface of the plurality of substrates to form a first process gas and an amorphous body by reacting a second process gas in the processing chamber and a step of forming, a step of unloading the substrate after forming a thin film from the processing chamber, the.


The isomorphism of 0-homology groups of a categorical at zero semigroup and homology groups of its 0-reflector is proved. Some applications of 0-homology to Eilenberg-MacLane homology of semigroups are given.


The effects of variation in average nanofibers diameter and surface density of nanofibers web on thermal conductivity of poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) nanofibers web are investigated in this paper. With an increase in the concentration of PMMA in the solution from 18 to 26 w/v%, the mean diameter of nanofibers increased from 73 ± 16 to 968 ± 97 nm. The results demonstrate that the use of thinner PMMA nanofibers results in a lower limit of thermal conductivity and better thermal insulation performance that means lower radiative conductivity. It can be related to a higher specific surface of thinner PMMA nanofibers that means more surface area for radiative scatter and absorption lead to lower conductivity. With increasing surface density of PMMA nanofibers web, the thermal conductivity was reduced and water vapor transmission rate and thermal insulation ability were improved. Higher porosity percentage and smaller pore sizes in the web with higher surface density could result in lower thermal conductivity.


We found a bug in the procedure which had drawn figure 2. We display the correct figure. Partial densities of states projected to the components of dxy, dxz, d3z2−r2, dyz, dx2−y2 in an Fe atom for the Fe-full-layer (top), Fe-chain (middle) and Fe-quarter-layer (bottom) on the Pt(111) surface.}


We report a systematic study of the chemical properties of porous silicon as a moderate reducing agent and a nano-structure template for the reductive formation of nano-metal cluster aggregates. This study investigates the consequences of the interaction of silver ions in aqueous solution with porous silicon. The nature of the redox reaction, especially the role of surface hydrogen and silicon atoms, is established through the study of the morphology, structure, and electronic and optical properties of Ag on porous silicon. The specimens were characterized with SEM and X-ray absorption fine structure (XAFS) spectroscopy using synchrotron radiation


A classic problem in atomic structure theory is described in all the textbooks. One uses many-electron wavefunctions made up of single-electron functions calculated in some simple central potential and, after doing some algebra, obtains expressions for atomic energy levels in terms of known algebraic coefficients multiplied by electrostatic integrals.


Objective: This study was to determine the prevalence of malnutrition and compare 2 assessment toolsthe NRI and SGA, and non-nutritional factors in hospitalized patients. Methods: This prospective study was done in the Queen Sirikit Heart Center (QHSC) of the Northeast, Thailand. 150 consecutive patients hospitalized were studied. On admission, SGA, NRI, age, BMI, anthropometric measurements, and laboratory data were assessed. Results: On admission, 38% of patients were malnourished according to the SGA and 42% according to the NRI. Malnutrition scores correlated significantly with age, % of weight loss, and LOS. BW, anthropometric data, albumin, LC, and TC correlated inversely with both techniques. Concordance was observed in 139 of the 150 (92.67%) patients with both assessments. Good level of agreement was achieved (κ = 0.426, P = 0.000). Conclusions: Both tests correlated with each other with respect to age, LOS, and anthropometric and laboratory data in hospitalized patients. Therefore, these two techniques can be used for nutritional assessment in QHSC patients.


Background: Type III tympanoplasty involves complete disease clearance from middle ear cleft and retaining or improving the serviceable hearing by ossiculoplasty. Various auto and allografts have been used with variable outcomes. The objective of the study was to evaluate hearing improvement in patients who underwent type III tympanoplasty using autologous incus and tragal cartilage as ossiculoplasty material.
Method: A retrospective chart review of 30 patients who underwent type III tympanoplasty at medical college Srinagar Pauri Garhwal from January 2019 to December 2019 was done. In 10 patients autologous incus and in 20 tragal cartilage was used for ossiculoplasty.
 Those patients who required wall down were excluded from the study and only patient with limited atticotomy and complete mastoidectomy requiring type III tympanoplasty were included in the study. Pure tone audiograms done after 3 months were compared with the pre operative audiogram.
 Result: 10 patients who underwent type three tympanoplsty with use of autologous incus for ossiculoplasty had a mean hearing gain of 17.08dB and 20 pateint underwent type three tympanoplasty with use of tragal cartilage for ossiculoplasty had mean hearing gain of 18.26 dB at 3 months after surgery. Hearing gain was similar in both groups irrespective of the material used.
The tragal cartilage was used as strut extending from stapes head to the anteroinferior part of annulus supporting the graft throughout and additionally helping in maintaining the middle ear space.
Conclusion: The post-operative hearing gain with autologous incus and tragal cartilage as middle ear prosthesis are similar but the additional role of cartilage supporting the graft and maintaining the middle ear space overrule the use of tragal cartilage for ossiculoplasty in type three tympanoplasty. So by this study we recommend the use of tragal cartilage as ossiculoplasty material for type III tympanoplasty over other material.


BACKGROUND
Malnutrition has been linked with higher risk of poor outcomes post-allogeneic stem cell transplantation (alloSCT), however few studies have used a validated nutrition assessment tool such as the Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) to measure nutritional status and investigate associations with long-term clinical outcomes. This study aimed to assess the incidence of malnutrition prior to alloSCT and determine if there was an association between nutritional status pre-transplant and post-transplant clinical outcomes including acute kidney injury, graft-versus-host disease, intensive care admission (ICU), need for haemodialysis and survival.

METHODOLOGY
A retrospective analysis of 362 patients (213 m:149 f, mean age±SD 47.8±14.1y) who underwent alloSCT from 2008 to 2013 was conducted. Data on clinical outcomes was obtained for five years post-transplant.

RESULTS
Fifteen percent (n=56) of patients were identified as malnourished pre-admission. Malnutrition was associated with longer hospital stay (p=0.007), increased requirement for haemodialysis (p=0.016), and increased admissions to ICU (p=0.003). There was no association between malnutrition and acute kidney injury, graft-versus-host disease or survival. Following multivariate analyses, malnutrition remained significantly associated with increased admission rates to ICU (OR 3.8, 95%CI 1.3 - 10.5, p=0.011) and increased LOS>30 days (OR 3.6. 95%CI 1.8-7.4, p=<0.001).

CONCLUSION
These findings add importance to the need for nutrition screening and assessment to be routinely undertaken for patients prior to alloSCT and throughout hospitalisation in order to provide early nutrition intervention for the prevention of malnutrition, poor clinical outcomes, and increased healthcare costs. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.


This paper proposes a novel printed annular ring monopole antenna for UWB application. The proposed antenna effectively covers the 3.1 to 10.6 GHz UWB frequency band, which has been approved by the Federal Communications Commission as a commercial UWB band. Prototype of the proposed antenna is designed, fabricated and tested using feed through straight SMA connector. The proposed antenna has a VSWR < 2 over the UWB frequency band. The measured VSWR and radiation patterns indicate the suitability of this antenna for UWB applications.


According to the characteristics of underwater production facilities manufacturing workshop, controlling the production information platform data stream based on bar code management. Firstly, the business model of workshop is analyzed and the data stream of production process is extracted. Secondly, the product information structure tree is designed to control data flow of production information platform. In this way, the data of production information platform can be guaranteed constraints, integrity and uniqueness. Finally, according to the information related products information structure tree, the bar code rules are makes, ensure the data acquisition of process to be more efficiently and accurately. The production process can be monitored and managed in real-time, the production efficiency is improved.


We study the behaviour of ℵ-compactness, extent and Lindelöf number in lexicographic products of linearly ordered spaces. It is seen, in particular, that for the case that all spaces are bounded all these properties behave very well when taking lexicographic products. We also give characterizations of these notions for generalized ordered spaces.


For ensuring the computation time of a set of tasks is the shortest, or other scheduling goals, heuristic or other scheduling algorithms had been proposed to schedule the cloud task. But those scheduling algorithms all only resolve one aspect scheduling goal and introduce some other drawbacks such as the scheduling time is too long. For resolving two or more aspects goals and reduce the scheduling time for cloud computing scheduling at the same time, a new task scheduling algorithm based on single ant colony algorithm and Min-Min algorithm(SCMM) for scheduling cloud task. This algorithm cluster the cloud task at first based on the single ant colony algorithm, then schedule the task cluster to the computation nodes based on Min-Min algorithm. Experiment shows that this algorithm(SCMM) can ensure the shortest executing time and higher load balance capability for cloud computing system and will not increase the scheduling time significantly.


A wire harness wiring structure is provided and the shielding cover for the wiring structure, even when the harness routing structure for electromagnetically shielded by measures to reduce the influence due to the still and the heat generated by the wobble. In this wiring structure, a conductive path of the wire harness and a wire harness member covering the wire harness conductive shield cover directly or indirectly come into contact state and a holding portion of the at least one state of the state.


Interviewer: Andy Ness Transcriber: Jaqui Carter Editors: Tilli Tansey, Hugh Thomas Date of publication: 02-Feb-2017 Date of interview: 14-Apr-2000; 28-Feb-2001 Publisher: Queen Mary University of London Collection: History of Modern Biomedicine Interviews (Digital Collection) Reference: e2017045 Number of pages: 29 DOI: 10.17636/01019122 Acknowledgments: The History of Modern Biomedicine Research Group is funded by the Wellcome Trust, which is a registered charity (no. 210183). The interview was funded by a Wellcome Trust grant (059533; 19992001; awarded to Professor George Davey-Smith, Dr A R Ness and Dr E M Tansey), and its publication by a Wellcome Trust Strategic Award entitled "Makers of modern biomedicine: testimonies and legacy" (2012-2017; awarded to Professor Tilli Tansey).


Food and Agriculture Risk Management for the 21st Century Act of 2007 or FARM 21 Act of 2007 - Prohibits, after 2007, any direct, counter-cyclical or transition payment to an individual or entity whose adjusted gross income exceeds $200,000. Directs the Secretary of Agriculture to offer to enter into a risk management account with a qualifying farm or ranch operator. Extends direct payments and reduces payment amounts. Requires specified payment percentages, and 100% for FY2012, to be deposited into a risk management account. Links such payments to environmental stewardship. Extends counter-cyclical payments. Repeals: (1) the milk price support program; (2) specified commodity support programs; and (3) the sugar tariff quota. Directs the Secretary to establish a recourse loan program for all commodities, including sugar, for which marketing loans were available. Reduces the crop insurance administrative and operating reimbursement rate. Extends: (1) the environmental quality incentives program; (2) the conservation innovation grants program; (3) the wetlands reserve program; (4) the grasslands reserve program; (5) the wildlife habitat incentives program; (6) the farm and ranchland protection program; and (7) the healthy forests reserve program. Extends: (1) the fruit and vegetables in school program; (2) the farm to school program; and (3) the farmers market promotion program. Directs the Secretary to assist eligible trade organizations increase the consumption of fruits and vegetables in the United States to meet federal health guidelines. Extends the McGovern-Dole international food for education and child nutrition program. Extends: (1) the biorefinery grant and loan program; (2) the renewable energy systems and energy efficiency improvements program; and (3) the biomass research and development program. Sets forth specified rural development project eligibility criteria. Extends: (1) the value-added producer gra


Based on introducing the developing situation of the logistics industry,this paper analyzes the establishment of the logistics system under the condition of E-commerce,and points out the third part logistics is the only way for the development of the logistics industry in E-commerce times,and probes into the paths for the integration and upgrade of our country's logistics industry.


Economic growth is the important factor for improving competitiveness and to ensure the availability of financial resources at all stages of business development. The authors explore European Union activities to promote the development of small and medium enterprises, the Latvian business environment, the regulatory framework, the accounting regulatory framework for small and medium enterprises. The research study included an assessment of the business environment in the international context for the years 2010 – 2016, national support programmes providing financial resources, their availability and tax policy guidelines for small and medium enterprises. The research study results are summarized in a number of conclusions, and recommendations have been developed. Research methodology is based on the analysis of laws and regulations, statistical data and economic and scientific literature studies .


The current gadget is a device that has reached almost the majority of the community, including farmers. By implementing an expert system, it is hoped that farmers will have no difficulty in determining pests and diseases on their oil palm plants. An expert system is a program that will model the ability to solve problems like an expert so that efficiency and effectiveness are obtained in getting a solution to existing problems. The increase in oil palm yields certainly cannot be separated from good productivity, the increase will decrease if many oil palm plants are attacked by disease. In this study the certainty factor method was applied to accommodate the level of expert confidence so that it could be applied to create an Expert System for Diagnosing Pests and Diseases of Oil Palm Plants using the certainty factor method and obtained the percentage of confidence values for pests or diseases and their control solutions.


Wireless home networks are widely deployed due to their low cost, ease of installation, and plug-and-play capabilities with consumer electronic devices. Management of data across wireless devices is an important challenge in a wireless home environment. This is specially true for continuous media (audio and video clips) which are large in size and delay sensitive. Caching of clips across wireless devices may improve user experience, measurable by different Quality of Service (QoS) metrics such as throughput and startup latency. Moreover, Caching at the edge of the network reduces the demand for the infrastructure outside the home. In this dissertation, we present Domical, a novel cooperative caching technique designed for streaming media in wireless home networks consisting of a handful of devices. Domical is novel because it considers both asymmetry of the available wireless link bandwidth and heterogeneity of the cache space contributed by the participating devices. We present a comprehensive description of Domical, presenting its key knobs and the behavior of the algorithm in different network topologies and granularity of data caching (block versus clip). These results highlight the importance of Domical as a cooperative caching technique for wireless home networks.


Abstract Efforts by the Reagan administration to discontinue production and to reduce the existing stock of public housing raise the question whether the nation needs a program that subsidizes the public ownership of rental housing. In this article I examine the advantages of the public housing program and its problems, then describe and analyze Reagan administration efforts to reduce the public housing stock. I also discuss the prospects for development of new public housing and suggest that community development organizations be viewed as desirable sponsors of public housing.


In this paper, the interaction of reaction and separation in an optimal design of an ideal, hypothetical, exothermic, quaternary (A + B↔C + D) reactive distillation (RD) system is explored. The relative volatilities of the components are αC:αA:αB:αD = 8:4:2:1. The closed loop dynamics of the column are evaluated for five different decentralized control structures. The prevention of the accumulation of light reactant A is crucial for successful control. A drastic improvement in the controllability is observed for a modified design of the RD system having more number of reactive trays as the accumulation of A is effectively prevented. The controllability improvement is observed to be control structure specific. A comprehensive understanding of the interaction of reaction and separation is very helpful for the design of RD columns of improved controllability. Application of the plantwide control principles in the control of RD columns is highlighted. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved


Compressed sensing (CS) has been successfully applied to accelerate conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with Fourier encoding. However in Fourier encoding, the low spatial frequency always has to be fully sampled such that the high frequency is insufficiently sampled at high accelerations, leading to serious loss of resolution. Non-Fourier encoding has been studied in the context of compressed sensing for 2-D imaging, but with limited improvement. In this paper, we propose a novel 3-D acquisition method using hybrid encoding. The method exploits random encoding with a circulant structure along the "phase encoding" direction, while keeping conventional Fourier encoding along the readout and slice encoding directions. A 2-D random undersampling pattern is used for accelerating the scans. Both simulation and experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method preserves much better resolution than the conventional 3-D Fourier encoding when the same acceleration factors are used.


Applied and plasma-induced magnetic field distribution are measured in an electrodeless plasma thruster using a three-directional B-dot probe. Timeand spaceresolved distributions of the azimuthal induced current are obtained using a Gaussian fitting analysis. Its distributions are in a good agreement with those of the azimuthal electric field, ensuring the inductive current drive. The ion dynamics are also investigated by the time-of-flight technique using the ion saturation current of a Langmuir probe. Without the external dc magnetic field, the ion flow velocity is estimated as comparable to the ion sound speed. In the external dc magnetic field, generation of supersonic ion flow is indicated.


In 1999 Sweden and Denmark were physically, linked for the first time by, a bridge bringing the countries even closer. The bridge connects the capital area of Denmark and the south part of Sweden in an area called the Oresund region. At a national level there is a mutual political interest to create an integrated market in the Oresund region and in a wider perspective the bridge is a physical contribution to the common market within the European Union. The objectives of this study, are to describe the characteristics of competition in Sweden and Denmark as a means to identify, barriers for companies in one country to entry, the construction market In the other country. The paper is principally based on two separate meso-economic analyses of the Swedish and Danish construction sectors presenting some basic characteristics in figures and facts. (Less)


It is investigated whether perturbative quantum chromodynamics can have some implications on Regge behavior of deep-inelastic structure functions. The possible indirect but important role of unitarity, in constraining the theory, is pointed out.


: Nano technology an exciting area of scientific development offers ways to create smaller, cheaper, lighter devices that can help to do better. The current literature has recognized and reported many possibility and applications of nano technology. The medical applications of nano technology are tremendous and could give medicine including the treatment of diabetes a new therapeutic approach. The frequency of diabetes is growing rapidly all over the globe at an alarming rate. Hence, the application of nano technology plays a very vital role in diabetes. Nano technology is useful in detection of even very minute amounts of insulin and blood sugar levels in the body. The treatment of diabetes includes proper delivery of insulin into blood stream which can be attained by nano technology by developing oral insulin which can make patient comfortable and patient compliance. Development of artificial pancreas can also be accomplished by using nano technology. Silicon boxes can also be implanted under the skin of diabetic patient that could temporarily restore the bodies' glucose feedback loop. Without the need of powerful immunosuppressant's that is acquired by nano technology. Another important approach of nano technology is a nano pump which injects insulin to the patient's body at a constant rate balancing the amount of sugar in blood. And also can administer the small drug doses over a prolong period of time. Therefore, nano technology a new mode of treatment may help in making the everyday lives of millions of diabetics patients more tolerable.


It is well documented that firms that are neglected by analysts and large institutions provide superior investment performance. This paper studies whether that effect is caused by an upward bias in analyst earnings forecasts. The idea is that the more popular firms are the ones with the greatest earnings estimation bias. It was found that after controlling for earnings estimation bias the neglect effect was considerably weakened. However, it was also found that there was no relation between analyst following and earnings estimation bias.


In 1911 over 60,000 Indians thronged to the Calcutta Maidan to witness an Indian team beat a British regimental eleven to win the IFA Shield. During the 1930s Muslims travelled across the country to watch Mohammedan Sporting during the period in which they won the Calcutta League five times in a row. The British presence on the FIFA committee deliberately obstructed the invitation of the Indian national football team to the World Cup of 1950. By the 1990s a brewery owned all of the top Calcutta clubs and a TV company had bought its own team in the National Football League. Football and the historical changes that have shaped modern south Asia have been closely related for over a century. Football and society in parts of the region are also intimately linked. While the major clubs were founded by the Englishspeaking elite, an observer could declare by 1959 that 'soccer in India is a poor man's game' and that, as such,


This study aimed to investigate the impact of inquiry-based indoor and outdoor mathematics activities on pre-school children's geometric and spatial thinking skills. Thirty-two children between 48 and 66 months old participated in the study. The study employed as a quasi-experimental research model and employed Non-equivalent Control Group Design. The design included one control group and two experimental groups. The control group continued regular curriculum activities while Experimental Group 1 was exposed to inquiry-based mathematics activities in the classroom, and Experimental Group 2 engaged in the same activities but outdoors, along with the regular curriculum activities. The Geometric and Spatial Thinking Skills Test was used as a data collection tool. According to the results of the study, inquiry-based mathematics activities contribute to preschoolers' geometric and spatial thinking skills. The impact of inquiry-based mathematics activities on experimental groups were similar to each other. Some recommendations for further studies and implementations were made following the results of this study.


Objective To analyse the levels of Retinol-binding protein 4 (RBP4) in patients with non-alcoholic fattyliver disease (NAFLD),We investigated the relationship between NAFLD and serum RBP4.Methods BMI、blood pressure、biochemical indicator were determined in 85 NAFLD patients and 94 contol people.The correlation between retinol binding protein and BMI、SP、DP、ALT、GGT、FBG、TG were analyzed with pearson's correlation analysis.Results Serum RBP4 levels in the NAFLD group were significantly higher than those in the normal group [(64.6 ± 15.1)mg/lv(s53.7 ± 13.4)mg/L],P0.001).Serum RBP4 levels were positively correlated with serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT),HOMA,especially with γ-glutamyltranspeptidase(GGT) levels(r=0.486,P0.001).Multiple logistic regression analysisrevealed that the RBP4 level was an independent factor associatedwith NAFLD(P=0.004;OR(95%CI):1.055(1.020-1.103)).Conclusion Serum RBP4 levels are significantly associated withNAFLD and liver enzymes.


The vertical profile of some meteorological variables and the estimate of their concentrations are important to correct the atmospheric effects in the satellite images. These profiles are used in Radiative Transfer Codes to provide atmospheric parameters for the atmospheric correction. The aim of this study is to evaluate the reliability of the WRF model in reproducing radiosonde data in situations where there are no observed local meteorological variables. It was used the WRF model and NCEP reanalysis data to generate a vertical atmospheric profile in a region characterized by humid atmosphere and nearly of the ocean. The profiles generated were compared with the airport radiosonde data of the Wyoming database, launched at 80 km of the study area. The results showed that the relative humidity is the variable that presents the higher differences in the entire vertical profile.


Abstract In this study, the effect of coir fiber reinforcement on the mechanical properties of vulcanized natural rubber composite has been studied. An attempt has been made to predict the effect on tensile strength, maximum load, and elongation at break (%) of coir fiber-reinforced vulcanized natural rubber composites under cold, heat, and water aging tests. The natural rubber was vulcanized at 150°C. The fibers were soaked in a 5% solution of NaOH for 48 h at room temperature. At different temperatures, cold, heat, and water aging resistance tests were conducted to understand the behavior of the composite under different environment. The properties recorded after aging tests were compared with initial properties to investigate the effect of fiber reinforcement. The results revealed that the samples containing coir fiber showed better performance after each aging test. The specimens showed the highest properties in case of water aging resistance.


The problem considered here is concerned with electrolytic tanks and thus has technological importance in problems dealing with microwave tubes like klystron, travelling wave tubes, cathode ray tubes etc.


Objective To investigate the biology character of ovarian met astasis in gastric cancer. Method 19 cases of gastric cancer with ovarian me tastasis were detected for estrogen receptor and CD44V6 by immnohistochemistry methods. and 10 cases of gastric cancer with hepatic metastasis as control. R esults In 19 gastric cancer with hepatic metastasis tissue, the postive rate of estrogen receptor in the gastric and ovarian tissues were 47.4 % and 73.8%, In the control group, the postive rate of estrogen receptor in the gastric and hepatic tissues were 10% and 20%,the two groups has obvious difference(P0.01); In the experimental group, the postive rate of CD44V6 in the gastric and ovaria n tissues were 63.2% and 42.1%, In the control group, the postive rate of CD44V6 in the gastric and hepatic tissues were 70% and 60%, the two groups has no obv ious difference(P0.05). Conclusion There are the positive correlation betwe en ovarian metastasis in gastric cancer and estrogen receptor; Ovarian metastas es in gastric cancer occur by E2-ER combination. The gasric cell metastasizs to the ovarian tissue by E2-ER combination.


Zfra is a naturally occurring 31‐amino‐acid protein. Synthetic peptides Zfra1–31 and Zfra4–10 are known to effectively block the growth of many types of cancer cells.


TiO2 and HfO2 with different electrical conductivity were used as buffer layer for phase change memory (PCRAM) cell, where Si-Sb-Te alloy was used as storage medium in the PCRAM cell. The electrical properties of the cells with and without buffer layer were compared through resistance-voltage measurements. It is found that the PCRAM cell with both TiO2 and HfO2 buffer layer has relative low operation voltage. Furthermore, the inserting TiO2 buffer layer can also improve the device stability. It is considered that buffer layer with suitable electrical conductivity is needed for the PCRAM cell, especially in future high density storage. (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


In this paper a particular loss network consisting of two links with C 1 and C 2 circuits, respectively, and two fixed routes, is investigated. A call on route 1 uses a circuit from both links, and a call on route 2 uses a circuit from only the second link. Calls requesting routes 1 and 2 arrive as independent Poisson streams. A call requesting route 1 is blocked and lost if there are no free circuits on either link, and a call requesting route 2 is blocked and lost if there is no free circuit on the second link. Otherwise the call is connected and holds a circuit from each link on its route for the holding period of the call. The case in which the capacities C 1, and C 2, and the traffic intensities v 1, and v 2, all become large of O(N) where N » 1, but with their ratios fixed, is considered. The loss probabilities L 1 and L 2 for calls requesting routes 1 and 2, respectively, are investigated. The asymptotic behavior of L 1 and L 2 as N→ ∞ is determined with the help of double contour integral representations and saddlepoint approximations. The results differ in various regions of the parameter space (C 1, C 2, v 1, v 2). In some of these results the loss probabilities are given in terms of the Erlang loss function, with appropriate arguments, to within an exponentially small relative error. The results provide new information when the loss probabilities are exponentially small in N. This situation is of practical interest, e.g. in cellular systems, and in asynchronous transfer mode networks, where very small loss probabilities are desired. The accuracy of the Erlang fixed-point approximations to the loss probabilities is also investigated. In particular, it is shown that the fixed-point approximation E 2 to L 2 is inaccurate in a certain region of the parameter space, since L 2 « E 2 there. On the other hand, in some regions of the parameter space the fixed-point approximations to both L 1 and L 2 are accurate to within an exponentially small relative error.


The ordering and Mbius method has been applied to a variety of inverse problems in physics, such as the inverse blackbody, heat capacity and Fermi system problems. Recent progress in the application of this methodology to the inverse cohesion problem for inter-atomic potentials in bulk materials and to the inverse adhesion problem for inter-atomic potentials across interfaces is reviewed. The key step in this methodology is to explore the semi-group structure in the system under consideration.


The highly specialized Testbed 4.0 laboratory is located on the premises of the Technical University in Košice at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, specifically in the building of the Department of Industrial and Digital Engineering. The idea of creating the Testbed concept arose as a response to the needs arising from the currently ongoing digital transformation of companies and at the same time as a support tool for companies in the competitive struggle, whether on the market of Slovak companies or on a European scale. The article will describe its individual focuses as well as its other forms abroad. It is necessary to point out that the Testbed located in Košice is the first and only specialized laboratory of its kind in Slovakia.


A conductive paste comprising 88-94% by mass of Ag pow der having an average particle size of 3 um or less and 0.1-3% by mass of Pd powder, the total amount of the Ag powder and the Pd powder being 88.1-95% by mass. A multilayer ceramic Substrate obtained by laminating and sintering pluralities of ceramic green sheets, and having conductor patterns and via conductors inside, the via-conductors being formed in via holes having diameters of 150 um or less after sintering, containing Ag crystal particles having a particle size of 25um or more, and having a porosity of 10% or less.


Regular reflective practice within a large group setting has been shown to reduce levels of burnout in healthcare professionals. We describe how regular reflective rounds were designed and implemented within an existing educational program at a UK children's hospital and report on the feedback received from participants.


The manifest purpose of the field research on which my book Up from Puerto Rico was based, was to provide sociocultural background information for a medical study of life stress, and for the operation of a family practice clinic model at a small first floor apartment in an old tenement building in a distressingly poor area of New York City. This was a multiracial/multicultural area where many Puerto Ricans who had recently arrived in the City lived.


perfect philosophy of life. And when she succeeds in this attempt, then will she have attained that ideal of national greatness and glory about which the present generation of her people are but dreaming, for the realization of which they will be all willing to die. The good angel of destiny seems to be standing with a smile upon her face and pointing to the road the New Japan is to take. TOKIWO YOKOI. TOKYO, JAPAN.


Transportation is a complex large system. The theories and methods of System Engineering should be applied in researching and developing the transportation system. Our government suggests that comprehensive transport system development is our target to develop transportation. It has been a long time that transportation system did not reach the objective of comprehensive and harmonious development because of management system and other reasons. The author has been carried out the research of transport system engineering for a long time, especially the research of intelligent transport system in recent years. He took part in the research of comprehensive transport hub plan, harmonizing, and intelligent development in Shanghai, which is provided by the Ministry of State Science and Technology and suggests that comprehensive transport system can be formed with the research and development of transport intelligent engineering, further more the functions, structure, and inner organization and product of comprehensive transport hub. Based on these, he suggests comprehensive transport information engineering be set up. All the transport methods can be informalized and connected. The build and development of our comprehensive transport system can be improved and strengthened with the information share during the period of intelligent engineering.


In the field of digital image processing, two applications of great importance are noise filtering and image enhancement. Image and video signals are often corrupted by Impulse noise in the process of signal acquisition and transmission. To avoid the damage on noise-free pixels, the switching median filters are used which consists of impulse detection and noise filtering .In this paper an efficient denoising technique for removal of impulse noise is presented. This design uses a 3x3 mask on each pixel in the image in order to determine whether it is corrupted by random-valued impulse noise or not. We employ a decisiontree-based impulse noise detector to detect the noise pixels. After noise detection, the algorithm reconstructs the noisy pixel by considering the possible edges existing in the mask. Here we have implemented the design using MATLAB. The experimental results demonstrate that this method achieves excellent performance in terms of image quality.


Abstract : The Centaur liquid-hydrogen tank at station 402 was instrumented with four strain gage installations on the Atlas-Centaur AC-3 flight vehicle. These gages were subjected to an extremely severe environment both during vehicle assembly at Cape Kennedy and during flight when the temperature at the gage was -423 degrees F. This report covers the installation of the gages, the signal-conditioning equipment and system calibration, and analysis and evaluation of data obtained from the flight. In spite of the severe environment both before and during the flight, useful data were obtained to evaluate structural performance. Incremental loads from launch to booster engine cutoff obtained from the strain gages were compared with the values computed from known mass distribution and gravity environment. Of the values at the four gage locations, two agreed almost exactly with the calculated values. Of the other two, one differed by 12 percent and the other by 15 percent. Although bonded gages have been in use in the laboratory at liquid-hydrogen temperatures, this technique on flight vehicles presented many problems. The results indicate, however, though the bonding process is a painstaking one, such gages can be a valuable tool for evaluating flight structural performance.