1Department of Bioinformatics and Medical Engineering, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan; 2Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Asia University Hospital, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan; 3Fire Bureau of Taichung City Government, Taichung, Taiwan; 4Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan; 5Department of Medical Research, China Medical University Hospital, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan; 6Department of Digital Media Design, Asia University, Taichung, Taiwan; 7Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, China Medical University Hospital, Taichung, Taiwan; 8Department of Physical Therapy and Graduate Institute of Rehabilitation Science, China Medical University, Taichung, Taiwan Introduction: Taiwan's firefighters use a shift rotation system with 2 days of work and 1 day of rest. Numerous papers have already explored the risks of shift work to the body. However, little data concern the impact of shift work on health as reflected in medical visits. This study used individuals' medical visit record in Taiwan's health insurance system. The locally called "health bank" contains individuals' medical visit record, health insurance payment points and the medicine used. Methods: Consent was obtained from 150 firefighters who were serving under the shift rotation system to obtain their 2015 individual "My Health Bank" medical data. Comparisons were made between national health insurance data norm. Results: Firefighters make significantly more visits for Western medicine than the annual average (firefighters 6.27 vs norm 5.24, P = 0.04142), more total number of medical visits (9.57 vs 7.75, P = 0.0102), more annual average payment points for Western medicine (4079 vs 2741, P = 0.003151), and a greater average number of total annual medical visit points (7003 vs 4940, p = 0.0003157). Firefighters had significantly higher incidents of respiratory diseases, urogenital diseases, skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases, musculoskeletal system and connective tissue diseases, injuries, and illness from poisoning than did the norm (P<0.05). Conclusion: A persuasive health-survey-based method for workers in high occupational hazard industries was proposed in this study, and the result was highly correlated with risk factors of fireworkers. The proposed study method is potential to investigate risk factors of other working.


T Student Osteopathic Medical Association (SOMA) has made a commitment to promoting student involvement in research at all the colleges of osteopathic medicine. In November 2004, SOMA hosted its 8th Annual Research Symposium at the 109th Annual AOA Convention and Scientific Seminar in San Francisco. SOMA combined efforts with the AOA to bring together 46 osteopathic medical students from around the United States, allowing them to proudly present their research findings. Thanks to a generous $1000 gift from Nazzareno E. Liegghio, DO; a matching donation from Pfizer Inc; and money from the AOA Council on Research, cash awards were given to five osteopathic medical students, two of whom had their abstracts previously published. Two of the previously unpublished award-winning poster presentations appear here.


It is largely known that Franz Kafka's work was almost completely translated into Romanian. What remains to be translated are some short prose writings that were overlooked by his most devoted translators: The stories "The Student", "An Ancient Sword", "A Chinese Puzzle", and "Proclamation". In the volume "Opere complete: Proza scurtă postumă" (second volume) by Mircea Ivănescu there is an evident oblivion of these stories. These writings have a very pronounced infusion of sarcasm and a distant sobriety. In the story "An Ancient Sword" the narrator goes picknicking on Sunday with two friends but he slept and past the hour when they were to meet. His friends who knew how punctual he ordinarily was were surprised and knocked on his door. He was very startled, jumped out of bed and thought of getting ready as soon as possible. When he emerged fully dressed from his room his friends were in manifest alarm. They were interested in what was that behind his head. Since his awakening he felt something preventing him from bending back his head and then he groped for it with his hand. He discovered behind his head the hilt of a sword. His friends came closer, examined him led him back to the mirror in his room and stripped him to the waist. The sword with a cross-shaped handle was buried to the hilt in his back but the blade had been driven with such incredible precision between his skin and flesh that it had caused no injury. There was an opening large enough to admit the blade, but dry and showing no trace of blood. When his friends stood on chairs and slowly inch by inch, drew out the sword, he did not bleed and "the opening on my neck closed until no mark was left save a scarcely discernible slit."(1) The sword was a splendid one and it seemed that crusaders might have used The Current Debatable Status of four untranslated Short Prose Writings


Current developments towards globalization, European integration and devolution have opened up a space for the transformation of national identity in Britain. Our interest is in the question of how this space is being filled by members of the post-war generation elite. Given that the relationship between generations and national consciousness has received little attention, this article explores how a particular generation is responding to these developments. Moreover, because the literature on both generations and nationalism has tended to marginalize women, this article focuses on post-war women. Based on an inductive approach, we have constructed a model of an emergent national identity that we have called 'cosmo-politan nationalism'. We found that members of the post-war elite generation of women were offering narratives about national identity that were open in their tol-eration for local national identities such as Welsh and Scots; cosmopolitan in their identification with Europe and empathy for multiculturalism; ironic in their aware-ness of the constructed nature and inventiveness of national identities; feminine in their antipathy towards aggressive nationalism and militarism; and creative in their objective to rebuild a more open identity. We suggest that the sense of national iden-tity being promoted by these women could be both a function of their gender and generational location, reflecting as it does the values formed in the 1960s and by the women's movement.


The study of dissociation and variation is necessary to improve our systems of classification of the pathogenic fungi. If we diagnose a species on the basis of one morphological aspect, and if it happens that one species has several morphological forms, we establish many species, according to the form presented, where there is in truth only one species. This situation frequently arises in medical mycology, making its study extremely difficult. Ramsbottom' at the Second International Congress for Microbiology has drawn attention to this in the following words: "On the other hand, the taxonomy of the fungi of medical mycosis is in a bewildering chaos. Many forms have been named in a haphazard manner, with the result that a subject intrinsically difficult has been made repellent to the majority of medical pathologists." The study of morphological and biological variations informs us of the different characteristics which a species can present. Accordingly, it indicates certain criteria to assist us in formulat-


In this paper, age exploration of oo anti-ship missiles deployed on RoKN ship were analyzed using RCM process for TLCSM. Additionally, Life distribution and failure pattern of oo anti-ship missile were analyzed by using field operation data such as collected inspection, fail, maintenance records for 6 years. Storage failure and MTBF of missile and components were analyzed using reliability analysis s/w weibull ++7. The results were compared with maintenance policy including periodic inspection and MTBF analyzed during development phase. Finally, the suggested methodology using RCM for TLCSM of anti-ship missile will be applied for saving missile TOC(Total Ownership Cost) effectively.


OBJECTIVE To compare the pharmacokinetics of total glucosides of paeony(TGP) in rats with acute liver injury and normal rats,thus to provide evidence for determining dosage regimen in clinic.METHODS Acute liver injury rat model was established by single CCl4 intraperitoneal injection.Three dosages of TGP were orally administered to normal and model rats.The concentrations of Pae and Alb in plasma at different time after dosing were determined with HPLC method.The pharmacokinetic parameters were calculated based on mean plasma concentration-time curves of Pae and Alb.RESULTS In model rat group,the t1/2of Pae and Alb at high,medium,and low dosage(0.047,0.141,0.282 g·mL-1)were 5.02,4.52,4.91 h and 5.22,5.04,5.05 h,respectively.The ρmaxof Pae and Alb of TGP at different dosages were 22.54,14.52,5.49 μg·mL-1,and 9.02,5.04,2.34 μg·mL-1,respectively.The AUC0-tof Pae and Alb of TGP at different dosages were(146.55±7.52),(84.14±7.84),(31.62±2.97) μg·h·mL-1,and(56.56±8.70),(32.18±3.49),(13.48±1.66) μg ·h·mL-1,respectively.The tmax of paeoniflorin(Pae) and albiflorin(Alb) of TGP at different dosages were both 2 h.In rats of normal group,the t1/2of Pae and Alb of TGP at different dosages respectively were 3.95,3.69,3.95 h,and 3.74,3.98,3.79 h,respectively.The ρmaxwere 19.16,11.60,4.46 μg·mL-1,and 7.16,4.00,1.93 μg·mL-1,respectively.The AUC0-t were(116.26.6±19.99),(67.74±12.79),(25.01±2.62) μg·h·mL-1,and(45.03±5.84),(27.26±3.57),(10.59±1.86) μg·h· mL-1,respectively.The tmaxwere both 2.5 h.CONCLUSION Compared with normal group,the ρmaxandAUC0-t of TGP in model group significantly increased,tmax decreased,and t1/2 prolonged;tmax and t1/2 had no difference among three dosages,and ρmax.and AUC0-t had correlation with dosage.


The finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) method is useful in solving three-dimensional (3D) electromagnetic problems. However, it contains a numerical instability because it is a complete explicit method, and huge amounts of memory are required in the case of 3D analysis. The implicit FDTD method called the Alternating Implicit Block Overlapped (AIBO)-FDTD method was proposed for two-dimensional (2D) electromagnetic analysis. In our study, the 3D AIBO-FDTD method is developed by the modification of the 2D method. This method is suitable for parallel processing since the computational domain can be effectively partitioned. This property is especially compatible with implementations using distributed-memory multiprocessor systems such as PC clusters, which provide a huge memory space that accommodates a large problem. Although this method seems numerically stable since the implicit scheme is included, our result shows that the numerical instability occurs when the time step exceeds Courant's stability condition. This condition is still more relaxed than the conventional FDTD method. Furthermore, we demonstrated that parallel processing is an effective technique for improving the performance of the 3D AIBO-FDTD method, while this method is slower than FDTD when it is run on one processor.


Perhaps the best place to start in any discussionof how to analyze incomplete longitudinal datais to acknowledge that no universally acceptedbest method exists. Analysis, therefore, shouldbe tailored to each individual situation. Andthough this article is not without opinion onthe merits of specific analytic approaches,the primary purpose is not to persuade youto use any one particular analysis, but ratherto suggest a useful decision-making frame-work. To focus this discussion, let us beginby imagining the following story on the frontpages of newspapers across the United States andabroad.


It has been reported that loss of sirtuin 6 (Sirt6) in skin wounds exhibit impaired healing. Given the heterogeneity of macrophage phenotypes during wound repair and the regulation of macrophage phenotypes by sirtuins, we here hypothesized that Sirt6 deletion in myeloid cells would affect macrophages phenotypes in skin wounds and delay wound closure. To address this question, floxed Sirt6 mice were bred with lysozyme M-Cre mice to generate myeloid Sirt6 knockout mice with reduced Sirt6 expression. A full-thickness excisional lesion was made on the dorsal skin of the mice. Compared with wild type mice, wound closure was delayed in KO mice with less collagen deposition, attenuated vWF expression and reduced expression of wound healing related genes. Using immunohistochemistry and RNA expression analyses on macrophage subpopulations from wound tissues, we identified an increased infiltration of M1 type macrophages in KO mice compared with wild type mice. Consistent with the in vivo defects in wound closure, the in vitro study demonstrated that keratinocytes and fibroblasts treated with KO macrophage conditioned medium migrated slower than those of wild type. These results suggest that an imbalance of macrophage phenotypes by Sirt6 deletion contributes to impaired wound healing in mice.


The CO2 transmission function was calculated and compared with the experimental data in the spectral range of 450- 7600 cm-1. The spectral ranges suitable for a determination of temperature and concentration of CO2 were determined. The influence of polynomial degrees on errors of approximating the transmission function and the influence of a number of spectral regions on errors of determining the temperature and partial pressure were analyzed.


Studies show that heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) can promote the tumor neovascularization via interacting with angiogenic factors,such as vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) and stromal cell-derived factor-1.On the other hand,HO-1 may suppress angiogenesis in tumors via inhibiting the transcription of NF-кB.In a word,HO-1 may participate in the pathophysiological process of tumor angiogenesis,and may be a new target for cancer treatment.

Key words:
Neovascularization, pathologic;  Neoplasms;  Heme oxygenase-1


This paper describes how incentives are considered to be efficient instruments to motivate operators for actions in adherence with social objectives, without having a public authority regulating this in detail. Nevertheless, incentive structures may be distorted, either by unforeseen mitigating clauses within the contractual arrangements themselves, or by changes or lack of changes in the environment in which the incentives are set to work. This paper suggests that incentives work best when they are introduced in a competitive context, for instance when a contract is tendered. This allows the authorities to use the incentives in their selection of operator as well as giving the operator great deal of discretion and competitive pressure to create an efficient network.


The invention provides a probe consistency calibration method of an acoustic variable density logging instrument according to the attenuation rate related calibration principle. A calibration device is designed; through the probe consistency calibration device of the acoustic variable density logging instrument, all acoustic variable density logging instruments can be calibrated in a workshop to obtain the calibration coefficient of each acoustic variable density instrument; and the acoustic amplitude responses are unified to the same scale, thus the problem of acoustic amplitude scale caused in the logging site without a free casing is solved, the influence on the casing size, well fluid and pipe column is eliminated, the site operation is greatly facilitated, and the well cementation assessment quality is improved.


Background. Weaning patients from mechanical ventilation is an important problem in intensive care units. Weaning is usually conducted in an empirical manner, and a standardized approach has not been developed. Methods. We carried out a prospective, randomized, multicenter study involving 546 patients who had received mechanical ventilation for a mean ( SD) of 7.5 6.1 days and who were considered by their physicians to be ready for weaning. One hundred thirty patients had respiratory distress during a two-hour trial of spontaneous breathing. These patients were randomly assigned to undergo one of four weaning techniques: intermittent mandatory ventilation, in which the ventilator rate was initially set at a mean ( SD) of 10.0 2.2 breaths per minute and then decreased, if possible, at least twice a day, usually by 2 to 4 breaths per minute (29 patients); pressure-support ventilation, in which pressure support was initially set at 18.0 6.1 cm of water and then reduced, if possible, by 2 to 4 cm of water at least twice a day (37 patients); intermittent trials of spontaneous breathing, conducted two or more times a day if possible (33 patients); or a once-daily trial of spontaneous breathing (31 patients). Standardized protocols were followed for each technique. Results. The median duration of weaning was 5 days for intermittent mandatory ventilation (first quartile, 3 days; third quartile, 11 days), 4 days for pressure-support ventilation (2 and 12 days, respectively), 3 days for intermittent (multiple) trials of spontaneous breathing (2 and 6 days, respectively), and 3 days for a once-daily trial of spontaneous breathing (1 and 6 days, respectively). After adjustment for other covariates, the rate of successful weaning was higher with a once-daily trial of spontaneous breathing than with intermittent mandatory ventilation (rate ratio, 2.83; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.36 to 5.89; P 0.006) or pressure-support ventilation (rate ratio, 2.05; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.04 to 4.04; P 0.04). There was no significant difference in the rate of success between once-daily trials and multiple trials of spontaneous breathing. Conclusions. A once-daily trial of spontaneous breathing led to extubation about three times more quickly than intermittent mandatory ventilation and about twice as quickly as pressure-support ventilation. Multiple daily trials of spontaneous breathing were equally successful. (N Engl J Med 1995;332:345-50.) From the Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Madrid (A.E., F.F., I.A., M.A.C.); Loyola University, Chicago, and Hines Veterans Affairs Hospital, Hines, Ill. (M.J.T.); Hospital del Mar (J.F.S.) and Hospital Santa Creu i Sant Pau (I.V., S.B.), Barcelona, Spain; Hospital Parc Tauli, Sabadell, Spain (R.F.); Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol, Badalona, Spain (R.T.); Complejo Hospitalario de León, León, Spain (D.C.); Hospital General de Segovia, Segovia, Spain (S.M.); and Hospital del Río Ortega, Valladolid, Spain (J.B.). Address reprint requests to Dr. Esteban at the Servicio de Cuidados Intensivos, Hospital Universitario de Getafe, Ctra. de Toledo km 12'500, 28905 Getafe, Madrid, Spain. Supported in part by a grant from the Veterans Affairs Research Service. *The other members of the Spanish Lung Failure Collaborative Group are listed in the Appendix. A LTHOUGH often lifesaving, mechanical ventilation causes numerous life-threatening complications, 1 making it important to discontinue ventilator support at the earliest possible time. More than 40 percent of the time that a patient receives mechanical ventilation is spent trying to wean the patient from the ventilator. 2 Considering the proportion of staff time devoted to weaning, it is surprising that the process continues to be managed empirically and that a standardized approach has not been developed. Weaning techniques differ considerably from one another. 3 Traditionally, intermittent trials of spontaneous breathing, conducted one or more times a day, have been used. Intermittent mandatory ventilation was introduced amid claims that it was superior to the traditional weaning approach. It allows the patient to breathe spontaneously between ventilator-delivered breaths 4 ; thus, weaning can be considered to begin with the institution of mechanical ventilation. In the 1980s, pressure-support ventilation became available 5 ; it provides a titratable pressure boost to every inspiratory effort, and weaning is accomplished by gradually decreasing the level of the pressure boost. Efficacy studies of weaning techniques can be faulted for having a retrospective design, inappropriate study The New England Journal of Medicine Downloaded from nejm.org at LOYOLA UNIVERSITY on August 8, 2012. For personal use only. No other uses without permission. Copyright © 1995 Massachusetts Medical Society. All rights reserved. 346 THE NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF MEDICINE Feb. 9, 1995 populations, and poorly standardized protocols; in addition, most were conducted before the use of pressuresupport ventilation became widespread. 6-8 Accordingly, we performed a prospective, randomized study involving patients who were deemed ready to discontinue mechanical ventilation. In a subgroup of patients who were difficult to wean we compared the length of time required for weaning with the use of four techniques: intermittent mandatory ventilation, pressure-support ventilation, intermittent trials of spontaneous breathing conducted several times a day, and a once-daily trial of spontaneous breathing.


Considering the large quantities of wastewater generated from iron and steel enterprises in China, this paper is aimed to research the common methods applied for evaluating the integrated wastewater treatment effect of iron and steel enterprises. Based on survey results on environmental protection performance, technological economy, resource & energy consumption, services and management, an indicator system for evaluating the operation effect of integrated wastewater treatment facilities is set up. By discussing the standards and industrial policies in and out of China, 27 key secondary indicators are further defined on the basis of investigation on main equipment and key processes for wastewater treatment, so as to determine the method for setting key quantitative and qualitative indicators for evaluation indicator system. It is also expected to satisfy the basic requirements of reasonable resource allocation, environmental protection and sustainable economic development, further improve the integrated wastewater treatment effect of iron and steel enterprises, and reduce the emission of hazardous substances and environmental impact.


The mobile robot sends radio to a destination of power supply device when it detects that the voltage of power is insufficient. The device sends infrared to guide the robot in moving towards it as soon as it receives the radio. The robot successively collects the signals of the infrared,and the two motors that drive the bicycle of the robot are real-time controlled,which is realized by the software that simulates pulse width modulation。In doing this,the function of the robot to track infrared is achieved. Without image processing and precise environment model,the robot avoids collision and plans routes with many kinds of sensing technologies including ultrasonic,infrared,photoelectric,and with an embedded experienced expert system when it detects no or weak signals of the infrared,and then,it quickly leaves the local place and trails the infrared in the shortest distance,and is accurately located in the power supply device lastly.


Objective
To investigate the expression and clinical significance of peripheral plasma miRNA-133a, miRNA-208a and miRNA-499a in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD).

Methods
The 290 CHD patients and 110 controls subjects were enrolled in this study.Peripheral blood of all subjects and their clinical data were collected.Plasma miRNA-133a, miRNA-208a and miRNA-499a levels were determined by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) analysis and their expressions were furtherly analyzed.

Results
(1)Compared with control group, the expression of plasma miRNA-133a [0.62(0.32-0.92) vs.0.39(0.21-0.72), Z=8.80], miRNA-208a [5.85(2.31-9.78) vs.5.06(2.17-9.13), Z=2.32] and miRNA-499a [5.07(2.08-9.54) vs.3.12(1.96-5.03), Z=10.08] were significantly increased in CHD group (all P<0.01). (2)CHD patients were further divided into four groups according to Gensini score.The expression levels of plasma miRNA-133a [0.36(0.21-0.66) vs.0.48(0.36-0.85) vs.0.60(0.42-0.87) vs.0.70(0.56-0.92), H=64.84], miRNA-208a [4.99(2.17-6.73) vs.5.16(3.56-8.04) vs.5.85(4.31-8.63) vs.6.18(4.84-9.78), H=21.54], and miRNA-499a [2.94(1.96-4.93) vs.3.55(2.02-6.63) vs.4.51(2.38-7.54) vs.6.24(4.08-9.54), H=89.70] were significantly difference among those groups (all P<0.01), and positively correlated with severity of coronary artery stenosis (miRNA-133a: r=0.343, miRNA-208a: r=0.395, miRNA-499a: r=0.410, all P<0.01).

Conclusions
There is significant difference between CHD and control groups in the expressions of peripheral plasma miRNA-133a, miRNA-208a and miRNA-499a.In addition, the expression levels and Gensini Score-severity of coronary artery stenosis is positively correlated.

Key words:
MicroRNAs (miRNAs); Coronary artery disease; Reverse transcription; Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; Gensini score


After the reform, the amendment of 1945 Constitution of Republic Indonesia, in fact, keeps taking place. The material of 1945 Constitution of Republic Indonesia was amended not only through the formal mechanism of People's Consultative Assembly conventions, but also through informal mechanism or the mechanism outside the formal context, in this case, through the interpretation of the judges of Constitutional Court. This research studied the problems about: first, did the Act of Constitutonal Court Number 92/PUU-X/2012 amend 1945 Constitution of Republic Indonesia? Second, what were the juridical implications of the Acts of Constitution Assembly? The research method used was normative juridical using case study. The result of the research concluded that first, there was an amendment of 1945 Constitution of Republic Indonesia through the Act of Constitutional Court of Republic Indonesia Case Number 92/PUU-X/2012 regarding the process of the formulation and discussion of draft law on Regional Representative Council (DPD) authority. Second, the Act of Constitutional Court had an implication on the position of DPD which is now equal to House of Representatives and President in suggesting draft law and in formulating Prolegnas, DPD must be involved.


The COVID-19 outbreak emphasizes the need for alternative methods for data gathering and collaboration among researchers in a virtual research environment One experimental design that is well suited in a social distancing research context is the single-case experimental design (SCD) SCDs can handle disruptions as (a) they do not require large groups gathering for data collection or intervention administration, (b) interventions are administered individually and in some cases remotely, (c) no comparison group is needed, and (d) they are adaptive and flexible designs The purpose of this article is to introduce the mobile application, SCD-MVA (2019), developed to assists in the design of an SCD, data gathering, data analysis, and remote collaboration The application allows data management and data sharing among researchers, provides an in real time visualization of the gathered data, stimulates interaction between researchers in terms of designing the SCD, gathering the data, and analyzing the gathered data, and does all these things with no need for in-person meetings of the research team © 2020 Wiley Periodicals LLC


This report describes a real-time system for tracking pedestrians in sequences of grayscale images acquired by a stationary camera. The system outputs the spatio-temporal coordinates of each pedestrian during the period when the pedestrian is visible. Implemented on a Datacube Max Video 20 equipped with a Datacube Max 860, the system achieved a peak performance of over 30 frames per second. Experimental results based on indoor and outdoor scenes have shown that the system is robust under many difficult traffic situations. The system uses the "figure/ground" framework to accomplish the goal of pedestrian detection. The detection phase outputs the tracked blobs (regions), which in turn pass to the final level, the pedestrian level. The pedestrian level deals with pedestrian models and depends on the tracked blobs as the only source of input. By doing this, researchers avoid trying to infer information about pedestrians directly from raw images, a process that is highly sensitive to noise. The pedestrian level makes use of Kalman filtering to predict and estimate pedestrian attributes. The filtered attributes constitute the output of this level, which is the output of the system. This system was designed to be robust to high levels of noise and particularly to deal with difficult situations, such as partial or full occlusions of pedestrians. The report compared vision sensors with other types of possible sensors for the pedestrian control task and evaluates the use of active deformable models as an effective pedestrian tracking module.


matrix of unobservable random variables. The elements of X may be observable or alternatively unobservable (that is, latent); they may be nonstochastic or stochastic. The model includes regression, linear functional and structural relations, multivariate analysis of variance, factor analysis, and some simultaneous equations models. This paper considers the relationships between various models and presents methods of estimating the parameters under various conditions. Testing hypotheses about the rank of XB! (the dimensionality of the latent variables when X is not observed) are also treated. 1. A Linear Model. In this paper we consider a general linear model in multivariate analysis that includes regression models, multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) models, and factor analysis models. Some of these models go by names of linear functional relationships, linear structural relationships, and canonical correlations. An attempt will be made to use a unified approach to these models. Suppose we observe the ? x 1 vectors y\, ? ? ? , y^. A linear model is given


With the continuous penetration and development of renewable energy power generation, the distributed grid and the microgrid are becoming increasingly important in modern power systems. In distribution networks and the microgrid, the grid impedance is comparatively large and cannot be ignored. Usually, the parallel compensation is used to improve the grid quality. In the grid with parallel compensation, the large phase angle difference between the impedance of the grid-connected inverter and the impedance of the grid at amplitude intersection will result in high frequency resonance (HFR). Because the inverter shows filter characteristics due to limited bandwidth of the controller, the parallel compensation grid, respectively, performs as the capacitance characteristic and inductance characteristic in different high frequency range. Compared with the three-phase, three-wire system, an additional zero-sequence path exists in the three-phase four-wire split capacitor inverter (TFSCI) system, so that the existing high frequency resonance suppression methods will be not effective. Since the zero-sequence component is neglected, HFR will also occur, in addition to the positive-sequence component and the negative-sequence component. Therefore, in order to suppress the high frequency resonance caused by positive-sequence, negative-sequence and zero-sequence components, an impedance reshaping strategy based on current feedback is proposed in this paper. This proposed method can reshape the amplitude and phase of the inverter impedance in a high frequency range without affecting the performance of the fundamental frequency control and ensure that the inverter contains a sufficient phase margin. Additionally, the proposed method can reshape the impedance of TFSCI within a wide frequency range, which makes it able to cope with the challenge of the parallel compensation degree change. Theoretical analysis and experiments verify the availability of the proposed control strategy.


In this paper we describe the synthesis, electrochemistry and photophysical behavior of a fullerene-based donor–acceptor dyad (2) in which the donor unit is an azothiophene dye. Dyad 2, prepared in one step starting from C60, commercially available N-methylglycine and thienylazobenzeneamine 1, can be selectively excited in the visible region where the dye has an absorption maximum at 567 nm. Implementation of electrochemical and photophysical data reveals that both intramolecular energy- and electron-transfer are thermodynamically feasible processes. Steady-state luminescence of dyad 2 in CH2Cl2 shows a quenching of the dye singlet excited state (1dye*) and evidence of the fullerene singlet excited state (1C60*) emission. Flash-photolytic experiments, on the other hand, exhibit characteristic differential absorption changes attributed to the C60·––dye·+ charge-separated state. Interestingly, it has been estimated that the energy difference between 1C60* and the charge separated state is very small, leading to the hypothesis that a rapid exchange between the two states occurs. Sensitization of TiO2 with dyad 2 and model compound 3 is also reported and discussed.


Accommodations influence the measurement of student proficiency. However, with discrepant research findings, it is difficult to evaluate the effects of these practices on the measurement of performance of students with special needs. In this article, we present results from an experimental study investigating the effects of item characteristics on lower and higher readers' differential benefit for two reading-based accommodations on a third-grade mathematics test. Students with lower reading skills differentially benefited from the read-aloud accommodation on items with high mathematics difficulty and high linguistic complexity but did not benefit from a simplified-language accommodation. This study illustrates the need to consider the interaction between item features and student characteristics in accommodations research. Implications for accommodations research as well as practice are discussed.


The cycloaddition reactions of azaoxyallyl cations as 1,2or 1,3-dipole formed in situ from α-halo hydroxamates under alkaline action, which has recently become a hot topic in the field of chemical synthesis due to their mildness, low cost and simple operation. This paper reviews the recent advances of the cycloaddition reaction of azaoxyallyl cations.


Music recommendation systems based on Collaborative Filtering methods have been extensively developed over the last years. Typically, they work by analyzing the past user-song relationships, and provide informed guesses based on the overall information collected from other users. Although the music listening behavior is a repetitive and time-dependent process, these methods have not taken this into account and only consider user-song interaction for recommendation. In this work, we explore the usage of temporal context and session diversity in Session-based Collaborative Filtering techniques for music recommendation. We compared two techniques to capture the users' listening patterns over time: one explicitly extracts temporal properties and session diversity, to group and compare the similarity of sessions, the other uses a generative topic modeling algorithm, which is able to implicitly model temporal patterns. We evaluated the developed algorithms by measuring the Hit Ratio, and the Mean Reciprocal Rank. Results reveal that the inclusion of temporal information, either explicitly or implicitly, increases significantly the accuracy of the recommendation, while compared to the traditional session-based CF.


In 1946, after the success of L'Economie francaise dans le monde, Jean Fourastie (1907-1990) joined the so-called 'optimist's club' founded by Jean Monnet from the Commissariat au Plan (State Planning Commission). Fourastie was a non-conformist economist and a professor at the Conservatoire national des arts et metiers. As an archetypal modernizer, he was convinced that an increase in the standard of living brings about mass consumption and causes the 'average man', of whom he had a somewhat elitist vision, to transform his lifestyle. He popularized, for both the elites and the general public, a subtle argument based on existing relations between growing production, increased consumption and professional productivity and migrations, among both the elites and ordinary people. However, at the end of the 1950s, this 'optimistic humanism' gave way to certain reservations. Fourastie discovered what Keynes already knew: that man is not a rational economic actor since mass consumption was giving birth to a 'consumer civilization' of which man is the 'illusory king'. The disappointed prophet then announced the end of the 'good times' even if he did not refute his previous well-known economic theories. More importantly his criticisms cannot be said to reflect any kind of anti-Americanism.


The Indonesian National Standard SNI 03-6389-2000 adapted the 1983 Singapore's Handbook on Energy Conservation and limited the Overall Thermal Transfer Value (OTTV) of the building envelope to 45 Watt/m 2 . In 2008, the Singapore's Building and Construction Authority (BCA) shifted to Envelope Thermal Transfer Value (ETTV) value of 50 Watt/m 2 , while SNI 03-6389-2011 continues to use OTTV. This paper reviewed the new SNI 03-6389-2011 and compared it with BCA by calculating OTTV and ETTV of prismatic buildings with eight different shapes and building orientations, 11 Window to Wall Ratio, and 27 building envelope materials. This study also tested those variables to find the best building shape and orientation for an energy saver building. The result shows that ETTV (BCA) is stricter than OTTV (SNI 03-6389-2011) except the OTTV with black building envelope, while parallelogram shape building with North-South orientation is the best combination of energy saver building.


A class of polyphase signature sequences for direct-sequence code-division multiple-access (DS/CDMA) systems is proposed. The proposed class has zero periodic (=even) cross-correlation (CC) function and approximate maximum magnitude N//spl pi/ of odd cross-correlation (OCC), where N is the length of sequences. Although the maximum magnitude is relatively large, it is observed that the maximum magnitude has little effect on the performance of the DS/CDMA system, since its frequency is very low. The performance of the proposed sequence in DS/CDMA systems is investigated and shown to be better than that of other sequences for an asynchronous additive white Gaussian noise channel environment with and without Rayleigh multipath fading.


The field of bioarchaeology is becoming increasingly aware of the important insights that can come from focusing on the individual (Knudson and Stojanowski, 2008; Mayes and Barber, 2008). Individual-based case studies using a bioarchaeological approach are no longer a simple osteobiography: ' ... the skeleton is more than a series of biological facts; it is the remains of an individual who interacted within a social as well as physical environment in a dynamic way' (Gowland and Knusel, 2006: x). This approach allows specific insights into how a person lived and what challenges they may have faced. If appropriately contextualized, the life of an individual based on their skeletal remains, grave goods and other information, such as the location of their grave within the site or cemetery, can tease out the minutiae of life in earlier societies that may be lost within population-based statistical studies. An osteobiography can provide the opportunity to fully integrate the biological and archaeological evidence from a single grave to provide a multidimensional character description or social personality (Binford, 1971) for an individual that can help build a more realistic picture of biological and social variability in a community. They also may allow a reflection on the individual experience within larger social phenomena and remind us of how the living individual contributed to society (Mayes and Barber, 2008: 13; Hegmon, 2003). Chang (2002) has identified the range of characteristics of an interment that carry information on social identity in general mortuary contexts. In this chapter, we attempt to draw on as much of this variety of evidence as possible for a single individual, while noting that some is lost forever, for example, aspects of the mortuary ritual that may have been carried out away from the grave site or have perished.


Today speech processing is one of the demanding applications among all others. This article highlights two important aspects of speech processing, namely which feature representation must be employed and what is their selection criteria. Depending on different application areas, speech processing needs different set of features and techniques to extract them. At the same time it is necessary to choose optimal set of features or optimal size of feature vector in order to reduce timing complexity. In this context we address various features suitable for different speech processing and how these features should be selected are discussed at the length. There is a need to reduce the size of feature vector, thus various techniques for selecting optimal set of features are also discussed in this article. This paper helps a reader to get a quick insight in the area of speech processing.


Hardness was lower with 2/3 capacity than 1/2 (P = 0.02) and 1/3 (P = 0.06). Gumminess favored 2/3 capacity over 1/2 (P = 0.02). Springiness favored 1/2 capacity over 1/3 capacity (P < 0.01) and 2/3 capacity (P=0.04). Purge, absorption rate during tumbling, absorption rate after rest, cooking loss and yield had no effect between treatments.


The medical device ColdZyme is a mouth spray that forms a barrier in the throat against common cold viruses. The barrier solution of the device is composed of glycerol and Atlantic cod trypsin. The aim of this study was to evaluate the virus deactivating ability of ColdZyme against four major common cold viruses. A virucidal efficacy suspension test was conducted using ColdZyme against each of the challenge viruses in suspension. ColdZyme deactivated rhinovirus type 1A by 91.7% (1.08 log10), rhinovirus type 42 by 92.8% (1.14 log10), human influenza A virus H3N2 by 96.9% (1.51 log10), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) by 99.9% (2.94 log10) and adenovirus type 2 by 64.5% (0.45 log10). Based on the results, ColdZyme showed an effective broad-spectrum impact against common cold viruses. Thus, ColdZyme might represent a device with clinical benefits in prevention and treatment of respiratory viral infections by deactivating viruses within the respiratory tract. Correspondence to: Bjarki Stefansson, Zymetech, Fiskislod 39, 101 Reykjavik, Iceland, Tel. +354-551-5400; E-mail: email@example.com


A bean‐rich diet improves satiety, facilitates nutrient intake and has been associated with a significant reduction in risk of obesity. Using the latest data from the National Nutrition and Health Examination Survey (1999–2002), the present study examined the association of bean consumption with nutrient intake and certain health parameters. Comparisons of physiological parameters and food/nutrient intake among bean consumers and non‐consumers were made after adjustment for several covariates including age, gender, ethnicity, and calorie intake. In adults 20+ years (N=8,374) bean consumption was associated with greater (p<0.01) intake of dietary fiber (22.8 ± 0.5 vs. 15.2 ± 0.2 g/d), potassium (3139 ± 57 vs. 2724 ± 23 mg/d) and magnesium (335 ± 4 vs. 280 ± 3 mg/d) and with a decreased intake of discretionary fat (60 ± 1 vs. 63.2 ± 0.4 g/d), and added sugars (19.4 ± 0.9 vs. 22.2 ± 0.5 tsp/d). Bean consumption was also associated with lower (p<0.05) body weight (77.5 ± 1.1 vs. 80.5 ± 0.3 kg) and a reduced waist circumference (94.2 ± 1.0 vs. 96.1 ± 0.3 cm) relative to non‐bean consumption. Bean consumers had a reduced risk of increased waist size (OR=0.77; 95% CI: 0.62, 0.95) and a reduced risk of being obese (OR=0.78; 95% CI: 0.64, 0.97) relative to non‐users of beans. Overall, bean consumption is associated with a more nutrient dense diet and with a more desirable body weight.


Although the relationship between ballot position and electoral success has been well established in other studies, a controlled experimental study was conducted to assess the impact of name identification, the length of the ballot, and the number of candidates. These intervening variables were found to be of some significance. Although the study demonstrates that candidates listed first enjoy a favorable advantage, it also demonstrates that the advantage is even greater for contests at the end of the ballot. Although the number of candidates in any particular contest seems to have no effect on the relationship, a high differential score in name identification offsets any advantage a candidate might enjoy as a consequence of ballot position. Finally, the study demonstrates that citizens are less likely to vote when the contenders are less well known.


Corn stunt spiroplasma (CSS) multiplied in all leafhoppers Euscelidius variegatus injected with a culture of CSS, reaching titres of over 1x106 colony forming units (cfu) per insect and 2x104 cfu per salivary gland of each insect. CSS could be isolated from the haemolymph and the salivary glands at any time after injection. The growth of CSS in culture was inhibited by insect extract at concentrations greater than the equivalent of 0.1 insect/ml.

Transmission of CSS to sterile feeding solution and to broad beans were compared using 24 h feeding periods. A porportion of 1.7 % of injected leafhoppers began to transmit to sterile feeding solution through membranes by the 4th day after injection, and reached a maximum of 30 % by day 14. Similar insects started transmitting to broad bean plants on day 12 (2 %), reaching a maximum of 7.5 % by day 14. The number of spiroplasmas transmitted by each insect to sterile feeding solution increased from 3, cfu on day 4 to a maximum of 80 cfu by day 14.

Helices were seen in the haemolymph at any time after injection. However, partially deformed cells were not present until the 1st week and clumps of 3–4 cells and small aggregates until the 3rd week after injection. The salivary glands of injected insects contained membrane-bound "pockets" or "colonies" packed with pleomorphic, filamentous (helical and non-helical) cells and aggregates. Intracellular colonies were always at the periphery of the acini and were easily detectable by fluorescence microscopy after staining with a DNA-binding fluorescent stain. Pleomorphic and filamentous cells were also seen intercellularly in the salivary glands.


Purpose: Ectopic adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH)-secreting syndrome (EAS) is a relatively rare disease. EAS could not be inhibited by endogenous or exogenous glucocorticoid, which may be its most important characteristic. We aimed to explore the expression of glucocorticoid receptor (GR) in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with or without EAS. Materials and Methods: In this study, we first reported one patient with EAS caused by SCLC, and we examined the expression of ACTH and GR on pulmonary tissue in normal people and SCLC patients with or without EAS. Results: Immunochemistry analysis showed that there was no obvious difference in the expression of GR in SCLC without EAS compared with normal people. While in the EAS patient, GR expression was absent in the tissue. Conclusions: Therefore, our study found that lower expression of GR in small cell lung cancer (SCLC) with EAS, which may contribute to the no inhibition by endogenous or exogenous glucocorticoid.


Purpose: The aims of this study were to evaluate the clinical characteristics of patients with altered sensation and/or pain, and to determine outcome predictors affecting persistent neuropathy. Methods: Patients who complained an altered sensation or pain following trigeminal nerve trauma were involved in this study. To determine outcome predictors affecting persistent neuropathy, the patients were divided into two groups; transient vs. persistent, and the clinical phenotypes are compared between groups. Data were analyzed with t-tests, chi-square, and multiple regression analyses with 95% confidence interval and p<0.05 significance level. Results: A total of 111 patients were included: 23 with transient and 88 persistent groups. The panoramic result and pin-prick test score were statistically different between the groups. Radiating symptoms after blunt and pinprick stimuli were also significantly different between groups. The results revealed that the presence of a neurologic lesion in the panoramic view result, reduced sensation in the pinprick test, and radiation in the pinprick test could affect the persistent group. Conclusions: The presence of a neurologic lesion in panoramic view result and reduced sensation and radiating symptoms in the pin prick test would be defining features of one of the main clinical features of persistent neuropathy. These features could serve as outcome predictors diagnosing the permanent nerve injury in trigeminal nerve.


Micropatterning provides a powerful means for engineering surface properties, such as friction, adhesion, and biocompatibility, with promise for medical device applications. While soft lithography allows for micropatterning on curved surfaces, there are limitations to the level of curvature and object complexity achievable. A cost effective and simple method is realized for micropatterning complex 3D objects and is demonstrated for a variety of micropatterns, materials, and devices. The technique integrates the simple principles of soft lithography for fabrication of flexible templates, and vacuum bagging, for transfer of the patterns on arbitrary shaped nonplanar objects. The technique is demonstrated with silicones, polyurethanes, and nitinol materials ubiquitous in medical devices, due to their mechanics, biocompatibility, and hemocompatibility. Micropatterns inspired by shark skin riblets and tree frogs are demonstrated. The flexibility of this method is demonstrated by transferring patterns to various objects/devices, including 3D printed objects, soft robotic grippers, guidewires, and balloon catheters.


Image matching has been one of the most fundamental issues computer vision over the decades. In this paper we propose a novel method based on making use of feature lines in order to achieve more robust image matching. The feature lines have the properties of rotation and scaling invariance, coined RIFLT(Rotation invariant feature line transform). Experimental results demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed method. Compare with the famous powerful algorithm 'Scale Invariant Feature Transform(SIFT)', the proposed method is more insensitive to noise. And for certain sequence of images, which contain clear lines, the proposed method is more efficiency. Using the feature lines obtained by our method, it is possible to matching two scene images with different rotation angles, scale and light distort.


Abstract The injection molding of an optical grating was studied using two different polycarbonates. The grating had period 10 μm and peak-to-valley distance ∼1 μm. Parts were molded using different holding pressures and mold temperatures. After production, the parts were annealed at 100°C. The replication was investigated using white light interferometry (WLI) before and after annealing. WLI was performed using high definition vertical-scanning interferometry (HDVSI) to resolve the details of the molded gratings with a noise level below 2 nm. It was observed that increasing the holding pressure could have either a positive or a negative effect on the replication. When the microfeatures were not fully filled, an increased holding pressure improved the definition of the features. However, for both polymers, it was observed that the replication as a function of holding pressure started to drop when the holding pressure was increased above an optimal value. This could be due to an elastic recoil occurring after releasing the holding pressure. The peak-to-valley distance of the grating was reduced after annealing. This effect was larger for parts molded using a low mold temperature. This is probably due to a higher cooling rate giving higher internal stresses, which will relax during annealing.


Based on statistical data of the ship accidents in China and worldwide in recent years,the features of oil spilling from ship in Chinese coastal ports are analyzed from the type of the vessel,the sea area,the cause and so on.The emergency countermeasures to unexpected oil spill accident of ships in Chinese coastal ports are put forward according to present situation of domestic coastal ports.


A new output-based method for the prediction of subjective speech quality is proposed and its performance evaluated. The method is based on measuring perceptually motivated objective auditory distances between the voiced parts of the speech signal whose quality is to be evaluated to appropriately matching reference vectors extracted from a preformulated codebook. The codebook is formed by optimally clustering a large number of perceptually-based parametric vectors extracted from a database of clean speech signals. The auditory distance measures are then mapped into equivalent subjective scores, represented by the mean opinion scores (MOS), using regression. The required clustering and matching processes are achieved by using an efficient neural network based data mining technique known as the self-organising map. Perceptual speaker-independent parametric representation of the speech is achieved by using a linear prediction (PLP) model and bark spectrum analysis. The reported evaluation results show that the proposed system is robust against speaker, utterance and distortion variations.


Human cardiac troponin I has been expressed at high level in Escherichia coli as a fusion protein by using the expression vector Ptac114. The expressed protein forms primarily intracellular inclusion bodies that are solubilized in the presence of 8 M urea. The purified troponin I is recognized by anti‐(human cardiac troponin I) monoclonal antibodies. Equilibrium denaturation of recombinant human troponin I and bovine troponin I is compared by monitoring changes in the protein's fluorescence and CD characteristics. At pH 7·5 the equilibrium denaturation of both proteins by urea occurs in two distinct steps involving at least three major conformational states: native, intermediate and fully denatured. The biphasic profile in the presence of urea is observed by both fluorescence and CD spectroscopy. In the intermediate state the native tertiary structure is largely disrupted and 40% of the secondary structure is conserved, as suggested by near‐UV and far‐UV CD respectively. Thermal denaturation of troponin I, as followed by fluorescence, shows a loss in the signal that is not reversible after heating to 90 °C. In the presence of a constant amount of urea (not greater than 0·5 M) the thermal denaturation becomes biphasic, suggesting the accumulation of an intermediate species that is stabilized by urea. The fluorescence of 1‐anilino‐8‐ naphthalenesulphonate produced on binding troponin I decreases in the presence of increasing concentrations of urea up to 3 M; at higher urea concentrations no further change in the remaining signal is observed. Kinetic studies show at least two phases of renaturation for troponin I previously denatured with 8 M urea, whereas only a single phase is detected for the renaturation process in the presence of 3 M urea. The results suggest the occurrence of a stable folding intermediate, the formation of which might be related to the two‐domain architecture of troponin I.


The growing social activity of Poland's inhabitants, manifested among others by the increased membership in different associations, stems from the conviction that they have real opportunities to improve the standard and quality of life in their places of residence. The research to date suggests that the level of this activity varies spatially, depending on the size of settlement units and the socio-economic polarisation of the country (Frykowski, Jażdżewska 2009; Józefowicz, Michniewicz-Ankiersztajn 2020). It also appears that demographic characteristics and social structure may play a role with regard to the level of involvement in local community activities. The aim of this study is to determine the factors that condition social participation of small town residents. The analysis was made at the level of urban and urban-rural communes (where the population of towns does not exceed 20,000). The principal component analysis was used to achieve the desired goal. A set of demographic and socio-economic characteristics available from the Local Data Bank and data on associations registered in the National Court Register were used.


The government may adjust its 18 week target for treatment by the NHS in England so that it does not apply to all patients, a health minister said last week.

The target of guaranteeing patients treatment within 18 weeks of being referred by their GP, first announced in 2004, is due to be met throughout England by December 2008.

The health minister Ben Bradshaw, however, has now said in a radio interview that a "clarification" of the target was needed, to mean 90% of patients.

Some patients may be "clinically justified" in waiting longer than 18 weeks for …


The research for an active-passive multimode radar seeker is an important trend to end guided system of air-to-air missile.This paper analyzes some critical techniques in the course of developing and the ways of their realization.These critical design techniques are broadband dome,active-passive composite antenna,higher sensitive receiver and information fusion processing.Finally,the paper points out that the digital compensation when developing broadband domes and composite antennas,and the active-passive measuring information fusion when the antijamming performance design should be paid more attention to.


A field experiment to evaluate effect of organic matter and trichoderma doses on growth and yield of tomatoes  was carried out at Experimental Farm, Agricultural Faculty, Jambi University,  from Mei  through to Novembert 2011.  The experiment  was arranged in a Randomized Block Design with four replications.  The treatmen consisted of three kinds of organic matter i.e. : manure; alang-alang; rice straw; and three doses of trichoderma i.e.: 5 g per plant; 10 g per plant and 15 g per plant.  The result showed that  manure and 15 g per plant of trichoderma given the highest growth and yield of tomatoes. Key words: tomatoes, organic matter, trichoderma, doses


The present high capacity, speedy and spectral efficient optical access networks face immense challenges to deal with ever-increasing bandwidth demand which arises from common use of high bandwidth-hungry applications, such as video-on-demand, online gaming, and other multimedia applications. Present research trends encourage the use of higher order modulation formats for further improvement in the spectral efficiency and overall capacity of the network. In this paper, we investigated the comparison of a single-channel coherent-optical-system (CO-OS) with dual polarization (i) Quadrature phase shift keying Modulation (DP-QPSK) and (ii) Quadrature amplitude modulation (DP-QAM) methods with the use of single mode fiber by considering digital-signal-processing (DSP) at the data rate of 112 Gb/s. The evaluation metrics include fiber nonlinearities, the power of the continuous wave (CW) laser and the range of the distance. We displayed the relation between error-vector-magnitude in percentage (% EVM), transmitted power and transmission distance to indicate the efficiency and robustness of the modulation schemes. Results analyzed from the comparison of higher order modulation techniques conclude that modulation schemes are more vulnerable to nonlinearities, channel dispersion and thus are less spectral efficient. The results help in selecting appropriate dual polarization higher modulation technique keeping in mind the fiber nonlinearities of optical networks.


Transponder comprising a multi-channel front-end circuit in the multi-channel front-end circuit of each channel comprises: a resonance circuit and associated antenna for generating an input voltage; shaping circuit, the input voltage is configured to be generated by shaping the input voltage; and a comparator configured to compare the input voltage by the reference voltage shaping. The front end circuit further comprising: a variable load may be connected to each resonance circuit; and a controller, configured to adjust the variable load in use, and each detector output of the comparator. The present invention also provides a method of operating a transponder to determine one or more channels the strongest coupling.


The invention discloses a method for controlling the film thickness of an adhesive coating layer on a high-voltage diode chip, and relates to the field of electronic component production. After the sintered high-voltage diode chip is chemically cleaned and dried, the surface of a diode core is coated with a polyamide adhesive (adhesive coating) according to the technological requirement, then the high-voltage diode chip is placed in a ladder-type program control drying oven to be dried (polyamide adhesive passivation), one component is extracted from the dried production batch and placed on a testing table of a metallographic microscope, a coarse tuning rotary knob and a fine tuning rotary knob of the microscope are adjusted, the surface of a passivation layer and the surface of the chip are respectively positioned, and the film thickness of the passivation layer can be measured. The method for controlling the film thickness of the adhesive coating layer on the high-voltage diode chip has the advantages of being high in measuring accuracy and improving the yield of finished products.


A novel autonomous on board orbit maintenance law for LEO sun synchronous, Earth ground trace repeating, electric propelled satellites is developed in this paper. The law uses cascade control scheme. The internal controller changes the orbit by controlling the semimajor axis, eccentricity and inclination. The external controller changes the desired orbit for the inner control loop in a manner that keeps the ground trace (GT) and the local time of descending node (LTDN) within a specified tolerance. Two different approaches are developed for the outer controller, a tight control for use when a small tolerance is allowed and an "open loop" model based control for use otherwise.


Health and Usage Monitoring Systems (HUMS) has received considerable attention from the helicopter community in recent years with the declared aim to increase flight safety, increase mission reliability, extend duration of life limited components and of course reduce the maintenance costs. The latter is about 25 per cent of the direct operating cost of the helicopter, thus playing an important role especially in the case of the ageing aircrafts. In particular, with respect to helicopter fuselages, only some attempts were carried out to monitor directly on-line the damage accumulation and propagation during life. In this field, and in particular in the military applications, an integrated and reliable system for monitoring the damage in the fuselage and for evaluating the time inspections and remaining life (prognosis) is missing. However, because of the presence of many vibratory loads, the diagnosis of helicopter structures is very critical. From one hand, a very large number of sensors would be needed for a robust appreciation of the structural health, from the other hand the industrialization of the product brings the need for a low impact over the existing structures, or toward a reduction in the allowed amount of sensors. As a result, comes the importance for an optimization of the sensor network, with the aim to find out the regions inside the structure which are the most sensible to a damage and at the same time robust to noise. The aim of the present work is to define a methodology for optimising the sensors position inside an helicopter fuselage panel in order to obtain the best compromise between the simplicity and the robustness of a sensor network. In particular, a Finite Element (FE) model will be used to create a database of various damages inside the structure, thus consequently optimising the network sensitivity to any damage. The evaluation of the network performances is provided when some realistic noise [1,2] is added to the FE calculation.


In this paper, we describe a procedure for prestack waveform inversion of multi-component seismic data. Assuming an isotropic elastic earth model, prestack vertical and in-line horizontal component data are jointly inverted for the P-wave velocity (Vp), density (ρ) and Poisson's ratio (σ). The procedure uses an exact wave equation approach in the frequency and ray-parameter domain that allows all primary, mode-converted, and inter-bed multiple reflections to be properly incorporated in the inversion. The methodology does not use any approximation to the reflection and transmission coefficients for the primary and converted wave modes. Consequently, all the interference and transmission effects present in the data are correctly and accurately modeled. Inversion of the data is performed through a class of non-linear Monte-Carlo type of optimization, known as genetic algorithm.


The discourse on writing and sexual difference in German Romanticism functions as a discourse of censorship. A philosophical justification for excluding women from the "author function" (Foucault) and for subjecting their writing to male control was elaborated by Fichte in The Science of Rights. Goethe and other men of letters developed aesthetic norms for women's writing that were based on a male perspective of appropriate gender roles for women. Women authors' self-representation and literary activity were shaped by gender censorship that they were able to subvert only superficially by such means as public disclaimers, accommodation to male-defined standards, and anonymous or pseudonymous publication. (JC)


The humble boxcar (or moving average) filter has many uses, perhaps the most well-known being the Dirichlet kernel inside a short-time discrete Fourier transform. A particularly useful feature of the boxcar filter is the ease of placement of (and tuning of) regular filter zeros, simply by defining (and varying) the time length of the boxcar window. This is of particular use within power system measurements to eliminate harmonics, inter-harmonics and image components from Fourier, Park and Clarke transforms, and other measurements related to power flow, power quality, protection, and converter control. However, implementation of the filter in real-time requires care, to minimise the execution time, provide the best frequency-domain response, know (exactly) the group delay, and avoid cumulative numerical precision errors over long periods. This paper reviews the basic properties of the boxcar filter, and explores different digital implementations, which have subtle differences in performance and computational intensity. It is shown that generally, an algorithm using trapezoidal integration and interpolation has the most desirable characteristics.


This paper describes a new method for rapid and sensitive determination of paraquat (PQ) and diquat (DQ) by solid phase extraction with N doped TiO2 nanotubes cartridge prior to capillary electrophoresis. Several factors that would affect the extraction efficiency were optimized and the optimal conditions were as followed: sample volume, 500 mL; sample pH, pH 9.0; eluant, 1 mol L−1 HCl/methanol: 70/30 (v/v); eluant volume, 3 mL; sample flow rate, 2.5 mL min−1. Under the optimal conditions, the linear ranges and detection limits were 2.5–100 μgL−1, 5–50 μg L−1 and 1.95 μg L−1, 2.59 μg L−1 for PQ and DQ, respectively. The proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of PQ and DQ in several environmental water samples, and the spiked recoveries were over the range of 84.15–95.38%. These results indicated that N doped TiO2 nanotubes had better enrichment ability for PQ and DQ as a novel SPE adsorbent material, and maybe have good application prospect for monitoring other pollutants in the environment.


A residential-scale wind turbine has the potential to provide annual savings in electricity cost for a homeowner. The estimated annual saving is calculated based upon the estimated annual energy output (AEO) of a turbine. The annual energy saving is a key input in determining the net present value (NPV) and simple payback period (SPP), which are major factors in the economic evaluation. Since the power output of a turbine, and thus the AEO, are dependent upon the cube of the velocity, an accurate estimate of wind speed is crucial for turbine's economic valuation. The first part of this study used wind speed data from meteorological towers and flow modeling software to predict the output of a residential-scale turbine and compare the predictions to the actual energy production. Then, it is demonstrated that the uncertainty in estimated wind speed leads to the uncertainty in economic valuation of a residential-scale wind turbine.


The paper introduces the concept and characteristics of sneak passage, describes the sneak passage analysis technology in detail, and presents its application in airborne store management system with an example.


Each year, approximately 60% of all US women over the age of 40 utilize mammography. Through the matrix of an imaging technology, this Population of Patients (POP) interacts with a population of approximately 20,000 physicians who interpret mammograms in the US. This latter Population of Diagnosticians (POD) operationally serves as the interface between an image-centric healthcare technology system and patient. Methods: using data collected from a large POD and POP based study, I evaluate the distribution of several ROC curve-related parameters in the POD and explore the health policy implications of a population ROC curve for mammography. Results and Conclusions: Principal Components Analysis suggests that two Binormal parameters are sufficient to explain variation in the POD and implies that the Binormal model is foundational to Health Policy Research in Mammography. A population ROC curve based on percentiles of the POD can be used to set targets to achieve national health policy goals. Medical Image Perception science provides the framework. Alternatively, a restrictive policy can be envisioned using performance criteria based on area. However, the data suggests this sort of policy would be too costly in terms of reduced healthcare service capacity in the US in the face of burgeoning demands.


The fatigue lives of plate-plate, pipe-plate, and tubular welded joints tested in seawater under free corrosion, optimum cathodic protection and cathodic overprotection measured in the Canadian offshore steel research program, and similar European and Japanese programs, are reviewed. Current beliefs, reflected in offshore fatigue design codes, that adequate cathodic protection restores the life in seawater to that measured in air, are not supported by experiments. Cathodic protection, as compared to free corrosion, provides improvement in the long fatigue lives of plate-plate joints. However, this trend is not observed in tests of tubular joints.


Statistical design of experiment method was used to develop a tailor-made taphole mass for use in a blast furnace. Simulative testing equipment assessed its viability in actual working conditions.


Let (M, T{sub 1,0} (M)) be a CR manifold (of hypersurface type) where (1) T{sub 1,0}(M) denotes its CR structure (of CR dimension N). Let {mu} be a pointwise C-anti-linear endomorphism of T{sub 1,0}(M). Let (T{sub 1}, ..., T{sub N}) be a (local) frame of T{sub 1,0}(M) and consider the first order PDE (with variable coefficients): T{sub J}{line_integral} = {mu}{sub j}{sup l}T{sub l}{line_integral} where {mu}T{sub j} = {mu}{sub j}{sup l}T{sub l}. This is the Beltrami equation, cf. the terminology of A. Koranyi & H.M. Reimann. Next, assume that P {improper_subset} K er {mu}, so that {mu} descends to an endomorphism of H. Finally, if we restrict ourselves to basic unknown functions {line_integral} {element_of} {Omega}{sub B}{sup 0} (F) i.e. {line_integral} is constant along each leaf of (F) then (1) may be written as (2) {zeta}{sub {alpha}}({line_integral}) = {mu}{sub {alpha}}{sup {beta}} {zeta}{sub {beta}} ({line_integral}). This makes sense for an arbitrary CR foliation (F), of a C{sup {infinity}} manifold M, endowed with a C-anti-linear endomorphism {mu} of its transverse CR structure, and is invariant under a change of admissible frame. We refer to (2) as the (transverse) Beltrami equation of (M, F). We use the theory of CR foliations to show that themore » components of an automorphism {phi} preserving the transverse contact structure of a given embedded strictly pseudoconvex CR foliation satisfy (2) where {mu} is the complex dilatation of {phi} and conversely. For transversally Heisenberg CR foliations we use the results in sections 2 and 3 to characterize K-quasiconformality of a foliation automorphism. 10 refs.« less


We devise a learning algorithm for deterministically recognizable tree series where the weights are taken from a commutative group. For this, we use an adaptation of the minimal adequate teacher model that was originally introduced by Angluin. The algorithm runs in polynomial time and constructs the unique minimal deterministic bottom-up finite state weighted tree automaton that recognizes the tree series in question.


This essay offers a first-hand account of the current crackdown on civil society in Hong Kong. Under the new national security regime, the securitisation of civil society has posed new structural challenges to the organisational sustainability of all types of civil society groups. Facing the risk of criminal liability, organisations had to adapt their strategies and behaviours to a precarious envi-ronment and continue to pursue their missions; many have chosen to disband or self-censor. Understanding this terrain is of the utmost impor-tance for navigating through uncharted territory. when the of violence are end up a aptly describes efforts to current civil


The potential of mobile phone technology (MPT) is huge and it has broken ground for enhancing knowledge sharing activities among academicians in Institutions of Higher Education (IHEs). However, it was found that there was lack of academic research on the use of MPT for knowledge sharing purposes in IHEs. In IHEs, MPTs such as cell phones, smart phones and PDAs that have interesting features like camera, video, memory, MP3 player, internet and finally, the possibility of being present using a device, makes it possible for people to study anywhere, anytime. This study aimed to understand academicians' general attitudes towards the use of MPT in IHEs. Кеу words – Mobile phone technology, knowledge sharing, institutions of higher education, academicians


Using Canadian data for the period 1957-2003, this paper provides evidence in support of the gamesmanship hypothesis. We document strong seasonality in (excess) returns of Canadian stock and government bond indices. However, the seasonality in the returns of the Canadian government bond index is opposite in direction from that of the Canadian stock indices. Seasonal strength is observed in equities, especially smaller stocks at the beginning of the year, with the rest of the year, especially the second half of the year, showing widespread weakness in relation to January. The opposite is true for government of Canada bonds, as the gamesmanship hypothesis would predict. In addition, this paper provides support of the popular expression "Sell in May and Go Away", as the average performance of risky securities is higher in the November to April period than the May to October period. The opposite is true for government of Canada bonds. There is also support for the motto "As January Goes, so Goes the Year" and the predictive power of the January returns. Support for these popular expressions is also consistent with the gamesmanship hypothesis. Moreover, not only does this study examine the seasonal behavior of security returns (i.e., an indirect test of gamesmanship hypothesis), but data are also provided that enable us to observe directly the trading behavior of institutional investors, thus complementing the indirect tests of the gamesmanship hypothesis. We find that the stock and government of Canada bond flow of funds data employed for the direct tests of the gamesmanship hypothesis exhibit seasonality which mirrors the seasonality in the returns of stocks and government bonds, thus substantiating and consolidating the support for the gamesmanship hypothesis. The paper's findings will be useful not only to institutional investors, but also to individual investors. Understanding the seasonal behavior of financial markets and the inefficiencies bestowed upon them by institutional factors will help investors secure higher returns and better retirement. Moreover, this paper's support of the gamesmanship hypothesis is in line with the argument in favor of agency related factors as the key drivers of the so called value premium, namely that value stocks beat growth stocks.


Abstract A technique for measurement of individual hydrometeor absorption cross sections is presented. Cross sections are inferred by inserting the hydrometeor into a high Q resonant cavity and measuring the Q perturbation. Tests were conducted in a 10.64 GHz, TM010 cavity. Absorption cross sections were measured at room temperature for 0.5 to 2.0 mm water drops, and were found to agree with the Rayleigh theory. Cross sections were also measured as a function of temperature, and from these the dielectric loss term Im(−K) was inferred for supercooled water down to −17°C.


This chapter gives a comprehensive overview of the recent advancement in the emerging field of radical polymer batteries, also named as organic radical batteries. The rationale behind the use of a polymer with stable radicals as an electrodeactive material of a secondary battery lies in the fact that this type of radical polymer has powerful capability of rapid oxidization to a cation and reverse reduction to an anion during the charge/discharge process. Radical polymer batteries promise as the replacement for lithium-ion battery, due to its intriguing features of extremely rapid charge/discharge rate, low toxicity, long lifecycle, cost-effectiveness, and high performance. Thus far, through molecular design, a couple of strategies have been applied to afford radical polymers with high discharge capacity. Because of their high flexibility and lightweight, the dream of paper-like transparent battery would become true if both cathode and anode employ radical polymers. This chapter focuses on elaborating on the strategies toward this new type of battery, its underlying mechanism, composite electrodes, cell device fabrication, and future opportunities and challenges.


We develop and test the hypothesis that …rms'opacity induces increased risk sharing by managers in compensation contracts. We test this by exploiting the empirical link between institutional trading, which is outside the …rm's control, and opacity. We …nd a positive relation between pay-performance sensitivity and …rm opacity, robust to various covariates and alternate speci…cations. Moreover, institutional trading results into a substitutive shift from costly incentive pay to cash compensation, and alleviation of agency problems. Overall, our results


Research has shown that component-based software engineering leads to software that exhibits higher quality, shorter time-to-market and therefore, lower development cost. However, the development of component-based systems has been widely plagued with problems surrounding the integration of third-party components. Currently, software developers are forced to rely on ambiguous definitions of a component's services. There is no easy to understand protocol for defining how third-party components and component compositions are described and integrated into systems. Most vendors specify their components' services in a proprietary or context dependant fashion. This makes it difficult to clearly understand a component's services, their use and their operational pre and post conditions. Software Engineering ontologies define common sharable software engineering knowledge. They explicitly define software engineering concepts, their relationships and their interactions. In this paper, we propose a Software Component Ontology that specifically defines a formal, explicit specification of a shared conceptualization in the domain of software component engineering. We propose the use of our software component ontology as the basis for the development of future component compositions and component based applications.


The biggest challenge for designers of Wireless Sensor Networks is the utilization of energy because the current generations of sensor nodes are battery powered and recharging of these is not possible and not cost effective either. There are many routing approaches available to improve the network's energy efficiency and to provide better load balancing. In this paper we have proposed a new routing scheme named Connected Dominating Set based Routing (CDSR) for extending the lifetime of the wireless sensor network. Our CDSR algorithm has three phases: Cluster Formation phase, Cluster-Head Selection phase and Steady State phase. In the cluster formation phase, we use RSCDS, a centralized algorithm[11] to form clusters. The proposed protocol measures the energy level of all nodes after completion of each round in the network based on a threshold energy level. A highest energy level node will get elected as cluster head node to the subsequence rounds. According to changed cluster head node alternate route will be dynamically adapted. Hence most of the cluster members within the cluster share the role of cluster head. This mechanism provides better load balancing and minimizes individual nodes energy consumption. The simulation results shows that our protocol out performs the existing routing protocols in terms of network lifetime, number of clusters formed, average delay, data delivery ratio, routing overhead and mean energy consumption.


Abstract In a modal system of arithmetic, a theory S has the modal disjunction property if whenever S ⊢ □φ ∨ □ψ, either S ⊢ □φ or S ⊢ □ψ. S has the modal numerical existence property if whenever S ⊢ ∃x □φ(x), there is some natural number n such that S ⊢ □φ(n). Under certain broadly applicable assumptions, these two properties are equivalent.


The ground motion prediction equation is commonly used to predict the seismic intensity distribution. However, it is not easy to apply this method to seismic distributions affected by underground plate structures, which are commonly known as abnormal seismic distributions. This study proposes a hybrid of regression and classification approaches using neural networks. The proposed model treats the distributions as 2-dimensional data like an image. Our method can accurately predict seismic intensity distributions, even abnormal distributions.


Abstract We study analytically the localization of random walks, electrons and vibrations in self-similar structures. We find that in all cases the relevant localization functions 〈ψ(r)〉 N (mean probability distribution of random walkers, mean amplitude of the electronic wave function and mean vibrational amplitude) at distance r from the localization centre depend crucially upon the number N of configurations considered in the averages: there exists a crossover distance, r × ∼ rc (N) u , where rc (N) decreases with dimension d and increases logarithmically with N. For fractons and electrons, u = 1, and the localization exponent changes from 1 below r × to d min above r ×. For random walks, u = 1–1/d w, and the exponent changes from dw /(dw −1) to d min d w/(d w-d min), where d w and d min are the fractal dimensions of the random walk and the shortest path on the fractal. We find that the 'typical' average 〈ln ψ〉 corresponds to the case N = 1. Our numerical results for random walks on percolation clusters...


This article aims to do the following: reflect upon the life, experiences, ideas and teaching of Kirchheimer from the perspective of the author, his first dissertation advisee at Columbia University and one of his last students; discuss some of his major political observations and arguments; and consider their relevance today.


Using the latest data which gathered from the meteorological gradient tower by the height 80m in the hinterland of Taklimakan Desert,we detailedly analyzed the evolution characteristics of wind velocity,temperature and humidity profiles in the surface layer during a sandstorm passing Taklimakan Desert hinterland on April 10,2006.The results indicated: the wind velocity profiles satisfied logarithmic rule that the wind speed value increased and the wind speed gradient decreased with increasing height;during the sandstorm erupted and passed,the temperature value of profiles changed from increasing to decreasing with height increasing,and simultaneously,a weak inflection point existed at the height of 2 m near the ground;when this sandstorm was passing,the phenomena of weak inverse humidity appeared in the atmospheric surface layer and there were many inflection points at different height,the fluctuation between the specific humidity and the wind speed assumed negative correlation along with the time.The weather of sandstorm is a process which temperature decreases and humidity increases.


Liquid electrolytes for rechargeable Li-air batteries were chosen from viewpoints of the electrochemical stability against O2 radical, O2−. Mulliken atomic charges of electrolyte solvents and their reversibility of O2/O2− redox couple were first examined. In the carbonate-based electrolytes, the localization of positive charge in the molecules was confirmed, resulting in low reversibility of O2 radical. The electrolytes must be decomposed by the nucleophilic O2 radical. On the other hand, the nitrile-based and piperidinium-based electrolytes provided high O2 radical reversibility because all of the atomic charges in molecules and cations were either negative or almost zero. It was found that the electronic distribution of electrolyte solvents affected their electrochemical stability against O2 radical. Considering the electrochemical and chemical stability against Li metal, the piperidiniumbased ionic liquid was adopted as an electrolyte solvent in this study. The cell with piperidinium-based electrolyte achieved considerably low charging voltage of around 3.2 V and low voltage gap of about 0.75 V in the discharge-charge profiles, compared to conventional cells with carbonate-based electrolyte. It was, thus, concluded that the charging performances strongly influenced on the O2 radical stability of electrolyte solvent.


Hysteresis is a common phenomenon found in many dynamical systems. It is typically described as a looping behaviour in the system's input-output graph. For a dynamical system to exhibit hysteresis, it must have multiple stable equilibria. This work examines the impact that different types of equilibria can have on the shape of hysteresis loops exhibited in input-output graphs of ordinary differential equations.


Background. Transbronchial needle aspiration (TBNA) is a minimally invasive bronchoscopic technique that is cost-effective and safe for diagnosing mediastinal and hilar adenopathy in lung cancer, other malignancies, sarcoidosis and infectious processes such as tuberculosis. Few studies have analysed the sensitivity, specificity and predictive values of TBNA for diagnosing lymphoma. Objective. To evaluate the diagnostic yield of TBNA for diagnosing mediastinal and hilar adenopathy in suspected lymphoma. Methods. We performed a retrospective analysis of collected data of patients with mediastinal and hilar adenopathy adjacent to the tracheobronchial tree detected by thoracic computed tomography, who underwent TBNA at Tygerberg Hospital between July 2010 and June 2013. We included 25 patients with suspected or proven lymphoma. Histology was used as the gold standard. Results. Adequate samples for cytological evaluation were obtained for 22 (88%) patients. Cytological diagnosis was possible for 8 (32%). For 17 (68%) who could not be diagnosed by TBNA alone, histology provided final diagnosis. Rapid on-site examination (ROSE) was performed in 23 (92%). In 17/23 (74%) cases, these had similar results to formal cytology. Only 4 (16%) had flow cytometry requested. Twelve (48%) had lymphoma confirmed on histology. TBNA cytology had 100% specificity and positive predictive value for suspicion of lymphoma. Sensitivity was 33% and negative predictive value 62%. Conclusion. TBNA is an appropriate first-line diagnostic procedure in evaluating mediastinal and hilar lymphadenopathy in suspected lymphoma. Biopsy should be the immediate second-line procedure when ROSE/cytology is suspicious of lymphoma or shows atypical cells. Patients with negative TBNA cytology, but high clinical or radiological suspicion of lymphoma, should be further investigated.


Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of using two different curing units and two different curing modes on the longevity of the tooth/restoration seal after being subjected to load cycling. Methods: Kerr adhesive (Opti Bond Solo Plus) and resin composite (HERCULITE) were used in this study. Wedge-shaped cavities were prepared at CEJ of buccal surfaces on 80 sound extracted human premolars. Cavities were randomly divided into four groups according to the curing units and modes (n=20), 1) cured with Elipar S10 unit (3M/ESPE) for 20seconds continuous curing (continuous mode), 2) cured with Bluephase G2 unit (Ivoclar Vivadent) for 20seconds continuous curing, 3) cured with Elipar S10 unit (3M/ESPE) for 5seconds then 10seconds rest followed by 20 seconds curing (pulse-delay mode)and 4) cured with Bluephase unit (Ivoclar Vivadent) for 5seconds then 10seconds rest followed by 20 seconds curing. Each group was further divided into 2 subgroups (n=10): subgroup A; No load cycling was applied, and subgroup B; was subjected to occlusal load cycling (90 N) for 10000 cycles. Specimens were tested for gap formation along both occlusal and gingival interfaces using Quanta Environmental SEM. Data were statistically analyzed using three-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Bonferroni's post-hoc test (P<.05). Results: Elipar S10 curing unit showed statistically significantly higher mean gap values than Bluephase G2 curing unit. Whereas, continuous mode showed statistically significantly higher mean gap values (10.1 ± 2.4) than pulse-delay mode (5.0 ± 1.9). However, these values significantly increased following load cycling. Conclusions: Under the conditions of this study, Bluephase G2provided better interfacial sealing. The pulse-delay mode of curing improved the adhesive sealing ability. Meanwhile, the load cycling deteriorated the interfacial sealing of the tested material. [Abo El Naga A. Effect of different curing units/modes and load cycling on the tooth/restoration interfacial seal. J Am Sci 2017;13(1):123-130]. ISSN 1545-1003 (print); ISSN 2375-7264 (online). http://www.jofamericanscience.org. 17. doi:10.7537/marsjas130117.17.


Nitrogen (N) plays a key role for optimal plant growth and, in particular, for profitable crop production. Optimal N management using optical sensors can provide a rapid assessment of a crop N status. Therefore, this study aimed at comparing the efficiency of two chlorophyll meters in assessing the N status in corn plants when using an economical optimum dose of nitrogen under variable rate application. To do so, a field experiment using a randomized block design with 5 treatments and 5 replicates was carried out in Januária Brazil (15o 28' 55'' S, 44o 22' 41'' W; 474 m) in 2018. Treatments consisted of comparing the pre-fixed N fertilization system with three strategies of variable rate N application using different thresholds of the nitrogen sufficiency index (NSI) in the V4, V8, V10, and V14 vegetative stages. As a result, both chlorophyll meters were capable of detecting the need for N application and differentiating between the plants that received or did not receive N application. In addition, readings from both sensors were highly correlated (> 0.92) from the V6 to the V18 stage. Lastly, both chlorophyll meters were able to identify the crop development variability and could be a suitable tool to monitor the nutritional status and for guiding N fertilization in corn crops.


Background: Proinflammatory leukotrienes, which are not completely inhibited by inhaled corticosteroids, may contribute to asthmatic problems. A 16 week multicentre, randomised, double blind, controlled study was undertaken to study the efficacy of adding oral montelukast, a leukotriene receptor antagonist, to a constant dose of inhaled budesonide. Methods: A total of 639 patients aged 18–70 years with forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1) ≥55% predicted and a minimum predefined level of asthma symptoms during a 2 week placebo run in period were randomised to receive montelukast 10 mg (n=326) or placebo (n=313) once daily for 16 weeks. All patients received a constant dose of budesonide (400–1600 μg/day) by Turbuhaler throughout the study. Results: Mean FEV1 at baseline was 81% predicted. The median percentage of asthma exacerbation days was 35% lower (3.1% v 4.8%; p=0.03) and the median percentage of asthma free days was 56% higher (66.1% v 42.3%; p=0.001) in the montelukast group than in the placebo group. Patients receiving concomitant treatment with montelukast had significantly (p<0.05) fewer nocturnal awakenings and significantly (p<0.05) greater improvements in β agonist use and morning peak expiratory flow rate (PEFR). Conclusions: For patients with mild airway obstruction and persistent asthma symptoms despite budesonide treatment, concomitant treatment with montelukast significantly improves asthma control.


Fostering student's to take an exercise is the demand of "three aims" in putting educational work into effect.It is the importance of sports educational reform.There are certain significance in developing the constitution,improving the physique and making a student have the method taking the body exercise,forming the habit of taking the lifelong body exercise.


We consider recent experimental results [W. Pan {\it et al}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 90}, 016801 (2003)] for occurrence of the fractional quantum Hall effect-FQHE under the perspective of our formulation in terms of {\it fractons}. These objects carry rational or irrational values of spin and satisfy a {\it fractal distribution function} associated with a {\it fractal von Neumann entropy}. According to our approach the {\it FQHE occurs in pairs of dual topological quantum numbers fillings factors} and this geometrical character comes from the {\it connection betwenn the fractal parameter or Hausdorff dimension $h$ and the spin $s$ of the particles}. We suggest to the experimentalists consider our ideas and verify in fact that this phenomenon of FQHE satisfy a {\it symmetry principle} discovered by us, i.e, {\it the duality symmetry betwenn universal classes of fractons}.


The specificity of the artistic imagery in the lyrics of the Buryat poet of XX century N. Nimbuev ais investigated in the context of intercultural interaction, the specific national traditions and ways of its inclusion in the context of the culture in terms of modernization, the peculiarity of the author's model of artistic synthesis are revealed.


To compare the effectiveness of family‐based behavioural social facilitation treatment (FBSFT) versus treatment as usual (TAU) in children with severe obesity. Parallel‐design, nonblinded, randomized controlled trial conducted at a Norwegian obesity outpatient clinic. Children aged 6–18 years referred to the clinic between 2014 and 2018 were invited to participate. Participants were randomly allocated using sequentially numbered, opaqued, sealed envelopes. FBSFT (n = 59) entailed 17 sessions of structured cognitive behavioural treatment, TAU (n = 55) entailed standard lifestyle counselling sessions every third month for 1 year. Primary outcomes included changes in body mass index standard deviation score (BMI SDS) and percentage above the International Obesity Task Force cut‐off for overweight (%IOTF‐25). Secondary outcomes included changes in sleep, physical activity, and eating behaviour. From pre‐ to posttreatment there was a statistically significant difference in change in both BMI SDS (0.19 units, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.10–0.28, p < .001) and %IOTF‐25 (5.48%, 95%CI: 2.74–8.22, p < .001) between FBSFT and TAU groups. FBSFT participants achieved significant reductions in mean BMI SDS (0.16 units, (95%CI: −0.22 to −0.10, p < .001) and %IOTF‐25 (6.53%, 95% CI: −8.45 to −4.60, p < .001), whereas in TAU nonsignificant changes were observed in BMI SDS (0.03 units, 95% CI: −0.03 to 0.09, p = .30) and %IOTF‐25 (−1.04%, 95% CI: −2.99 to −0.90, p = .29). More FBSFT participants (31.5%) had clinically meaningful BMI SDS reductions of ≥0.25 from pre‐ to posttreatment than in TAU (13.0%, p = .021). Regarding secondary outcomes, only changes in sleep timing differed significantly between groups. FBSFT improved weight‐related outcomes compared to TAU.


We address the challenge of managing perishable inventory. One study was conducted to analyze the effects of recapturing unsatisfied demand, and another to estimate improvements in operational metrics through delaying order placements. Our results indicate that significant profit improvements can be achieved under these scenarios, as evidenced by a greater than 30% median increase in profit margin.


Experiments with light- and moderate-displacement sailing yacht models have been carried out in the Delft Ship Hydromechanics Laboratory to investigate heave, pitch, and added resistance in regular waves. The experiments included conditions with and without heel and leeway angles. The results are analyzed and compared with calculations based on a strip theory method. Numerical methods are used to predict and to compare the performance of sailing yachts in realistic irregular-wave conditions.