Readout integrated circuits (ROIC) is one of the core components of uncooled infrared focal plane arrays (Uncooled IRFPA). SPICE simulation on the circuit is an important method that verifies ROIC. According to the features of Uncooled microbolometer(VOx) IRFPA which has developed very rapidly in recent years, the design scheme of corresponding CMOS ROIC is presented. ROIC with an array of 4×4 has been designed and the accurate simulation results are given on PSpice 9.2 and show it is a good choice for CMOS ROIC of Uncooled microbolometer IRFPA and applied to CMOS ROIC with a larger array such as 160×120 and 320×240.


Myungimon LEE , Shiro KASHIHARA , Hidemasa YOSHIMURA , Takashi  YOKOTA and Koichi SAK 4 TA The ai 皿 of t与is paper is to improve a method for predicting the kind and number f eommunity facilities . arollnd railway stations for their apPropriate location planning . It is clarified しhat the distribution patterns of facilities depend much on four factQrs; the size of population , the land use zonings , the distance from the railway station and the existence of main street . [t 正s also found that the model formulated by employing the theory of quantification l is apPlicable to predict the generation of commurIity facilities around new railway station .


Communication scholars frequently use cross-tabulation and chi-square analysis in conducting research. Advanced categorical statistics such as log-linear modeling and logistic regression analysis are less often employed. This article addresses the use of advanced analyses, focusing on their application and why they are important tools. Because variables are examined simultaneously, for instance, log-linear and logistic regression procedures allow scholars to fit both theoretically driven and mathematically parsimonious models to the data under study and to avoid making statistical errors common to bivariate comparisons


One means to anticipate or prevent disease in infants is needed Posyandu role. IHC is an important tool in the community that supports realizing reduction in child mortality and improving maternal welfare. Kader Posyandu is a person who because of his skill or ability to be appointed, elected or appointed to take part in activities and coaching Posyandu, and has received training ealth. Posyandu very important role with regard to the ompleteness of the recording of immunization. With the completeness of immunization records, expected development of infants can terkontrol.Penelitian aims to determine what factors are associated with a complete recording of immunization by health cadres in the village Makamhaji, Kartasura village, the village of the District Pucangan Kartasura. This research is an analytic observational study with cross sectional design and approach point time approach. The study populations were all volunteers who work to fill SIP posyandu Makamhaji Village, Village Kartasura Pucangan village, while the samples are 32 cadres Posyandu with total sampling technique. Collecting data using a questionnaire and a check list were analyzed using chi square test. Conclusion of the study are (1) there is relationship between knowledge of cadres in the ompleteness of the recording of immunization IHC (p-value 0.000), (2) there is a relationship between the motivation of cadres in the completeness of the recording of immunization IHC p-value 0.025), and (3) there is a relationship between supervision in the completeness of the recording of immunization IHC (p-value 0.009).


The introduction of artificial intelligence technology into judicial adjudication is of great significance. By using the intelligent case handling system to assist judges in handling cases, on the one hand, it can effectively alleviate the problem of many cases but few judges in Chinese courts, thereby improving judicial efficiency; on the other hand, judges can retrieve information about similar cases on the judgment document management platform. This can promote the unification of the law and protect the judges to exercise their discretion. However, the scope of use of artificial intelligence technology should be controlled in judicial judgments. Under the conditions of following the provisions of judicial judgments, based on China's national conditions and judicial practice experience, set up legal and reasonable regulations and procedures. Promote the combination of artificial intelligence "technology" and "people" in judicial trials to ensure the legal operation of the judicial intelligence process.


Abstract Results of several long‐term follow‐up studies suggest that mortality due to cardiovascular diseases is high in males with panic disorder (PD). Based on these data, various studies have been undertaken to determine the relationship between PD and total cholesterol (TC) levels; however the results obtained so far have not been consistent. We compared TC levels in 46 PD patients to those in 46 sex, age, smoking and alcohol consumption matched patients with major depression and 46 matched patients with schizophrenia. The relationship between TC and the severity of PD was investigated, and before‐ and after‐treatment TC change was compared. TC levels were significantly higher in the PD group than in the other groups, regardless of sex. The severity of PD was not correlated with TC levels. TC levels did not decrease in remitted PD patients. These findings suggest that relatively high TC levels in PD patients are attributable to endogenous disease‐specific factors. Clinicians should pay close attention to the correlation between high mortality due to cardiovascular diseases and relatively high TC levels in male PD patients.


On the 24th Chapter of the Mulamadhyamaka-karika, the Prajnapradipa of Bha (va) viveka quotes a sutra with regard to the Four Noble Truths.The sutra states, "Manjusri, whoever sees that all things (dharmas) do not arise knows thoroughly Affliction. Whoever sees that all things do not stop abandons the Origin (of Affliction). Whoever sees that all things are Nirvana in the end realizes the Appeasement. Manjusri, whoever sees that all things have no effecting effects the Way."In regard of this sutra, the Prajnapradipatika of Avalokitavrata comments that the sutra is quoted in order to give the authority which is well known in Mahayana, and such a view is expounded in the 'Phags pa ye shes gsang ba bsgoms du bcug pa'i mdo.That sutra text nearly coincides with the Arya-manjusri-pariprccha quoted in the Prasannapada. But those texts are also found in some sutras of the same class, such as the Bodhipaksanirdesa (T. 472) and Visesacintibrahmapariprccha (T. 587).The views on the Four Noble Truths of these sutras correspond to the Samketika-paramartha-satya.


High-pressure Water Jet Increment Sheet Metal Forming adopt the idea of layered manufacturing to scatter a complex three-dimension shape to many 2-dimension layers along z axis, and then the water jet machine partially on these layers. We did a research on that the distance from square processing trajectory to center and the water pressure affect the limits of forming height by finite element simulation of high-pressure water jet box-shape piece incremental forming with the thought of layered manufacturing. Based on this, puts forward a new method of different 2-dimension layers is loaded on different water pressure to improve water jet incremental forming accuracy. This method was proved feasibility by finite element simulation.


In this study, in order to optimize the quality criteria of the machined surface based on the Archimedean spiral, the relieving grinding process (RGP) was performed to machine the material of HSS P18 in a 1Б811 machine with four input parameters including graininess of grinding wheel (G), grinding wheel hardness (Hd), velocity of grinding wheel (V), and feed rate (s) and with three quality criteria including surface roughness (Ra), hardening of surface layer (∆HRC), and hardened layer thickness (∆L). Taguchi-AHP-Topsis method was successfully applied to solve the Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) problem in this case. The optimized results of the output parameters are surface roughness of 0.21 µm, surface hardening of 1.45 HRC, and hardened layer thickness of 34.18 µm. These results were determined at the set of the input parameters includes G, V, s with their values of 120, 24 m/s, 2.08 m/min, respectively, and Hd at level 1. The optimal results were verified through the comparison between the calculated and the experimental results using this set of optimal parameters. The differences between the calculated results and the experimental results were quite small (maximum different value was 4.8 %) Thus, the results of this study can be applied to solve the multi-objective optimization problems in RGP of the GMT surface based on the Archimedean spiral


On AC railway system, the neutral sections are installed in front of substations and sectioning posts in order to avoid a crash between different phases. In case railway vehicles pass through these neutral section, it is necessary for them to switch off be derived by notch-off. This may reduce speed of the vehicles, resulting lowered train operation efficiency. For this reason, the system using thyristor devices is under development. In this paper, the test waveform using a monitoring device for the development of automatic changeover system in the neutral section has measured.


In today's globalization competition, manufacturing firms are using an order fulfillment system to give available-to-promise (ATP) capacity efficiently. An ordinary order fulfillment system will plan capacity based on forecasts and assign ATP quotas to incoming orders. Its basic idea is to enhance capacity utilization and avoid poor customer service. However, in the semiconductor industry, demand is highly volatile, and a make-to-order (MTO) manufacturer often runs the risk of cancelled committed demands. In this research, we propose an integrated order fulfillment model for a MTO semiconductor foundry fab to maximize corporate profit. Specifically, we suggest a periodic allocation review mechanism to reallocate unused ATP quotas. We examine the model performance based on different data sets. Results showed that capacity utilization and profitability are improved substantially with the periodic review mechanism, especially when demand forecast is not reliable.


Automatic feature detection from seismic data is a demanding task in today's interpretation workstations. Channels are among important stratigraphic features in seismic data both due to their reservoir capability or drilling hazard potential. Shearlet transform as a multi‐scale and multi‐directional transformation is capable of detecting anisotropic singularities in two and higher dimensional data. Channels occur as edges in seismic data, which can be detected based on maximizing the shearlet coefficients through all sub‐volumes at the finest scale of decomposition. The detected edges may require further refinement through the application of a thinning methodology. In this study, a three‐dimensional, pyramid‐adapted, compactly supported shearlet transform was applied to synthetic and real channelised, three‐dimensional post‐stack seismic data in order to decompose the data into different scales and directions for the purpose of channel boundary detection. In order to be able to compare the edge detection results based on three‐dimensional shearlet transform with some famous gradient‐based edge detectors, such as Sobel and Canny, a thresholding scheme is necessary. In both synthetic and real data examples, the three‐dimensional shearlet edge detection algorithm outperformed Sobel and Canny operators even in the presence of Gaussian random noise.


New generation Polymer-filled and jacketed wireline cased hole cables eliminate all inherent bottlenecks of traditional wireline logging cables, enabling unprecedented operational efficiency with substantial reduction of well control risk and costly maintenance. This Technology enables a Mexico operator to deliver all their Operator Field wells ahead of time, without any HSE or well control incident while gaining 9 days of early production.
 Recently developed Polymer encapsulation and bonding technology completely seal Wireline cables electrical core and armors. The result is elimination of armor birdcaging (see glossary) and stranding, grease injection and associated equipment, cable gassing-up and well fluid related armor corrosion. Total armor torque balance and polymer outer jacket substantially reduce Chrome or glass coated completions damage, cable friction and maintenance requirements. The result is unprecedented well control safety, grease related environmental and reservoir damage elimination, higher operational efficiency with faster rig-up/down and tripping speeds, reduced tractor conveyance needs with improved well access in complex completions and proven early production gains.
 Contrary to conventional Wireline cables, the new generation polymer encapsulated cables come with a gas blocked core and a pressure balanced sealed cable termination. Potential well fluid migration through the cable cross section is thus completely prevented. Along with the polymer jacketing, well control risk is all but eliminated. During 2018, and for the first time in Mexico, 45 cased hole interventions, 130 descents and more than 1,000,000 feet in the well polymer cable deployments were carried in a North Mexico gas field. All Perforations, Production logging and other cased hole descents were completed totally free from HSE, operational or well control issues. Logistically challenging cable maintenance trips were all but eliminated, saving substantial time and cost to all parties involved. Compared to conventional wireline operations, time saved using polymer encapsulated Wireline cables represented a 50% reduction in rig-up and rig-down time, as well as 40% operational efficiency gain. With wells delivered early to production all contractual targets were exceeded, adding 9 days of additional production of gas and condensate.
 New generation Polymer encapsulated wireline cased hole cables have enabled the Mexico Operator plan and carry out efficient, safe, cost effective, and environmentally friendly Wireline Cased Hole operations, delivering producing wells ahead of time and exceeding contractual requirements.


This study proposes an external force estimation method based on the error probability model and a sliding window variational adaptive Kalman filter (SWVAKF) for the problem of industrial robot external force estimation. A probability model with a normal distribution was provided, in which the covariance was linearly related to the joint velocity to address the uncertainty in the estimation error of the friction model. A normal distribution probability model was presented to address the time-varying characteristics of the contact external force when the robot interacts with the environment, in which the covariance of the derivative term of the external force was linearly related to the estimated external force. The robot interaction process was dynamically modeled using generalized momentum and external force as state variables, friction estimation deviation and external force derivative term as random interference, and generalized momentum with normally distributed noise as the measurement output. The parameters of the probability model of random interference items were determined by analyzing the experimental data of system identification, and the covariance related to joint velocity and external force was obtained. A set of adaptive scale factors related to the joint velocity and estimated force change rate when the robot interacts with the environment is proposed, and then the error covariance estimated based on the error probability model and the SWVAKF algorithm is fused by the adaptive scale factor, and a covariance of friction deviation and external force derivative term in the robot interaction process and an external force estimation method were provided. Experimental results reveal that the proposed method reduces the root-mean-square (RMS) error by 17.07% compared to the standard Kalman external force estimation method and has a better external force estimation effect.


FIELD: agriculture. SUBSTANCE: agricultural machine for application of a material in soil consisting of seeds, fertilisers or seeds and fertilisers comprises a central frame and multiple extended mounting arms attached to the central frame. Each of the mounting arms is movable from a raised transport position to a lowered working position of the soil tillage facility mounted on each of the mounting arms adapted for tillage of soil, when the mounting arms are in the working position. Facilities for release of the material at each of the mounting arms are located near the soil tillage facility for application of the material into the soil. Facilities for release of the material are connected to dispensing facilities adapted for distribution and dispensing of the material into the facilities of material release on each of the mounting arms. Additionally the device comprises a mapping unit of the satellite navigation systems GPS and GLONASS, and the facility for closing the flow of material from the selected material of the dispenser during operation of the machine in response to an input signal received by means of the satellite navigation mapping system GPS or GLONASS. When the mapping unit of the satellite navigation system determines that the specified plant or a part of the specified plant extends over an area of soil, to which the specified plant has already applied the material, the facility for closing the flow of material cuts the material flow from the selected dispenser of the material through the automatic device of lifting of the specified mounting arms, to which the material supply from the selected facility of material release was blocked, into the raised position, as the specified mapping unit of GPS and GLONASS identifies areas, where this agricultural unit has already passed, and where the specified materials have already been applied. EFFECT: invention will prevent duplication of planting and destruction of already planted beds. 17 cl, 20 dwg


Abstract Background Systemic antifungals (AF) and surgery are the cornerstone of therapy for burn-related fungal infections. Multiple AFs were introduced in the last decade with broader spectrum and improved safety profiles, but use in burn patients has yet to be thoroughly described. Here we evaluate 15 years of AF prescribing patterns in a burn intensive care unit (BICU). Methods We included all US Army Institute of Surgical Research BICU patients who received > 1 dose of AF from 2004-18. First we sought to describe overall AF prescribing. Clinical features, mortality and AF use (including in combination) from 2004-8 (T1), 2009-2013 (T2), 2014-18 (T3) were compared. Results Between 2004-18, 361 patients with a median total body surface area (TBSA) of 45% (IQR: 25-60) received AF. Median duration of hospital stay prior to and duration of initial AF (AF1) were 13.5 (IQR: 7-22) and 4 days (IQR: 2-9), respectively. Patients prescribed AF had a median of 2 (IQR 1-3) different AFs. AF1 was most commonly fluconazole [FLC; n=141 (39%)], amphotericin [AMB; n=62 (17%)] and voriconazole [VRC; n=55 (15%)]. Of those who survived, (N=233) AF1 was AMB, 40 (17.2%); FLC, 102 (43.8%); itraconazole, 1 (0.4%); VRC, 35 (15%); posaconazole (POS), 6 (2.6%); isavuconazole (ISA), 4 (1.7%); caspofungin (CAS), 7 (3%); micafungin (MFG), 28 (12%), VRC/AMB, 8 (3.4%); FLC/AMB, 0; FLC/CSP, 1 (0.4%); and VCR/MFG 1 (0.4%). AF1 use differed across T1, T2, and T3 (Table). Notably, there was shift towards use of POS, ISA, and MFG. The use of AF1 combination therapy differed across T1, T2, and T3 (p = 0.002). 200 patients had a second AF (AF2) prescribed at a median of 4.15 days (IQR 1.1-12.5) after AF1 for a median duration of 5.3 days (IQR 2-9.7). AF2 were most commonly VRC (n=54, 27%), AMB (n =46, 23%) and FLC (n=44, 22%). There were no differences in AF2 over time. Table. Clinical characteristics and antifungal use by five year increments Conclusion AF use evolved to include echinocandins and broader spectrum triazoles and decreased use of AMB as part of AF1. However, AF2 remained most commonly VRC, AMB, and FLC. Disclosures All Authors: No reported disclosures


We propose a generic communication primitive designed for sensor networks. Our primitive hides details of network communication while retainin g sufficient programmer control over the communication behavior of an application; it is designed to ease the burden of writing application-specific comm unication protocols for efficient, long-lived, fault-tolerant, and scalable a pplications. While classical network communication methods expect high-reliability links, our primitive works well in highly unreliable environments without needing to detect and prune unreliable links. Our primitive resembles the chemical m arkers used by many biological systems to solve distributed problems (pherom ones). We develop and analyze the performance of an implementation of this prim itive called Virtual Pheromone (VP). We demonstrate that VP can attain perfor mance comparable to classical methods for applications such as sleep schedu ling, routing, flooding, and cluster formation. This is a minor revision of the paper included in the Proceedings of the Se cond International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Sytems that in cludes an additional reference to related work in Section 2.3.


PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine factors affecting the extent of consumers' use of electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM), specifically online product reviews (OPRs), during their decision-making process. It also examines their motives for using OPRs.Design/methodology/approachThe study uses an exploratory qualitative research methodology involving observation and free-flowing face-to-face interviews with consumers who have previously made a purchase online and who read OPRs during the decision-making process. An adaptation of the grounded theory method is used for collection, coding and data analysis.FindingsFindings confirm previously uncovered motives for consumers' use of OPRs. In addition, the findings suggest that two previously unidentified factors influence the extent of consumers' use of OPRs: "decision-making drive" and "decision-making drag". Decision-making drive is a mental momentum created when one or more factors that enhance decision-making readiness are present. This momentum tends to accelerate the decision-making process and shorten the information search process, leading to a reduction in the extent of OPR use. In contrast, decision-making drag is a mental resistance created when one or more factors that impede decision-making readiness are present. This resistance tends to decelerate the decision-making process and lengthen the information search process, leading to an increase in the extent of OPR use.Originality/valueFocused on the pre-consumption phase of eWOM, between the stages of product need recognition and information search, this study is the first to identify decision-making drive and decision-making drag as additional psychological mechanisms affecting the extent of OPR use by consumers. For marketers, understanding these mechanisms has strategic marketing implications that can provide guidance to brands, websites and online review systems.


Objective: To assess the quality of life (QOL) and related factors in psoriatic patients.

Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted of 145 out-patients with psoriasis in Rajavithi Hospital. SF-36 mean scores were recorded for eight dimensions, physical function (PF), role limitations due to physical problems (RP), role limitations due to emotional problems (RE), vitality (VT); bodily pain (BP), general health (GH), social function (SF), and mental health (MH). The relationships between factors and QOL were explored using Pearson's correlation coefficient.

Results: The mean age was 46.27±16.25 years, and 55.2% were male. Average BMI was 25.40±5.45 kg/m², and the mean duration of psoriasis was 48 months. The median PASI score was 10, and 62% had a PASI score of 10 or less. The main areas of involvement were skin (77.2%), scalp (59.3%), and nails (44.8%). The QOL scores ranged from 35.67 to 72.00 with the highest score for bodily pain (72.00±21.86), followed by physical role (71.90±36.67), and emotional role (67.82±37.56). Female, smoking, underlying diseases, and area of involvement were associated with QOL.

Conclusion: Demographic, behavioral, and psoriasis-specific factors are associated with QOL.

Keywords: Psoriasis; Quality of life; SF-36


Abstract The development of micro-air vehicles poses a considerable challenge to the materials scientist. Vehicles that may occupy less than 10cm in any direction require many structural components with dimensions well below 1mm when conventional engineering and assembly techniques are employed. As with conventional unmanned air vehicles (UAVs), and full-scale aircraft, materials that display a huge breadth of characteristics are required to build the airframe and to engineer sub-components, while meeting stringent mass and volume budgets. In particular, high modulus, high toughness, easy formability and jointing are desirable qualities. For larger structures, conventional foamed materials can meet some of these properties. However, the pore sizes in these conventional materials are too large to allow manufacture of micro-scale components, airframe sections and skins. This paper describes the manufacture and properties of some micro-foamed polymers, and polymer composites, metals and oxide ceramics that are being developed at DERA specifically for micro-vehicle applications.


Particularly pushed by the Edmund Burke Foundation and its president Yoram Hazony, the political movement of National Conservativism is largely based on specific concepts of nation, faith and family. Driven by the mission to overcome the violence of liberalism, identified with imperialism, national conservatives shape potent international and interreligious alliances for a religiously based system of independent national states. The article gives an outline of the main programmatic pillars of National Conservativism at the example of Yoram Hazony's The Virtue of Nationalism, one of the current ideological key works of the movement. It will show how its political framework is based on a binary frame of liberalism (identified with imperialism) versus nationalism, the latter supported as the way forward towards protecting freedom, faith and family. The analytic part will focus on the use of religious motifs and the construction of a specific kind of Judaeo-Christianism as a means of exclusivist theo-political nationalism. It will be shown that Hazony's nationalism is no way to overcome violence, but a political theory close to theo-political authoritarianism, based on abridged readings of Scripture, history and philosophy. It severely endangers the foundations of democracies, especially with regard to minority and women's rights, and delegitimizes liberal democracy and religious traditions positively contributing to it.


The problem of bacterial contamination of dialysis fluid is well recognized since the beginning of routine haemodialysis therapy. The wide use of reverse osmosis greatly improved the bacteriological quality of water in dialysis units. However, there is still detectable bacterial growth in water, the bicarbonate concentrate, and the dialysate fluid used in haemodialysis centres today. The American Association of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) proposed standards of bacteriological quality which are widely accepted. According to these standards the bacterial growth should not exceed 200CFU/ml in water and 2000 CFU/ml in dialysate. There are no recommendations concerning the frequency of bacteriological tests on water and dialysate samples. In many centres, bacterial growth is measured in water, but not dialysate, every 2-3 months. However, bacterial counts in dialysate fluid are very variable and hard to predict, not only in different dialysis centres but also within the same centre. In addition, there are several reports about clusters of pyrogenic reactions due to contaminated dialysate in centres which had before documented good bacteriological quality of water and dialysate [1]. Reasons for the difficulty of predicting clusters of bacterial growth in dialysate and the associated risk of pyrogenic reactions in ESRD patients may reside in the low frequency of dialysate sampling as well as in the use of inadequate bacteriological methods to detect bacterial growth in dialysate.'Studies by Klein et al. demonstrated that Gram-negative bacteria— predominantly Pseudomonas species—are found routinely in water and dialysate [2]. These dialysate-born microorganisms grow better or even exclusively on salt-containing, nutrition-poor agars [3] at room temperature. In contrast, standard bacteriological methods employing nutrition-rich culture media such as Columbia agars or tryptic soy agars, which are used to detect enterobacteria such as E scherichia coli, failed to adequately determine the growth of microorganisms contaminating dialysate. Using optimized test condi-


Instrumented aircraft can provide in situ measurements of winds and turbulence useful for studying transport and dispersion in clouds. Using inert artificial gases as tracers, and fast response analyzers on aircraft, time-resolved observations of transport and dispersion have been obtained. Examples are shown of these types of observations in and around cumulus and cumulonimbus clouds. 23 refs., 6 figs.


The investigation of a large class of ensembles in the statistical theory of energy‐level spectra is initiated. Each member of this class is characterized by a joint probability density for N consecutive eigenvalues of the form PNβ(λ1,…λN)=ΩNβ−1{ ∏ i=1N f(λi)}  ∏ k<l |λk−λl|β, where a ≤ λi ≤ b, and β may be 1, 2, or 4. Formal calculations of the nearest‐neighbor spacing distribution and the level density are made for β = 2. Results are in terms of asymptotic properties of orthogonal polynomials. It is conjectured that spacing distributions are relatively insensitive to the function f(λ) and the interval [a, b]. When f(λ) = 1 and b = −a = 1, the resulting (Legendre) ensemble has the same spacing distribution as the Gaussian and Dyson ensembles. The level density is concave upward and rapidly increasing for λ ≥ 0, qualitatively resembling actual nuclear and atomic densities. This feature is not present in previously investigated ensembles. Certain invariant matrix ensembles introduced by Dyson, which are of...


The aim of fl ood control planning in Japan since 1945 has been to confi ne river water to within riverbanks and to ensure that levees protect river basins from fl ooding. In many rivers, dams were constructed in upstream areas and long levees were built along the riverbanks. The main aim of fl ood-control planning is to prevent the fl ooding of river basins by the overfl ow of river water across riverbanks; however, as rainfall prediction has recently become diffi cult because of the abnormal weather, the main emphasis of fl ood-control planning has shifted from prevention to providing areas of refuge. The River Law of Japan was revised once more, and artifi cial measures of fl ood control, irrigation, and environmental management, etc. were introduced in 1997. Flood hazards must be dealt with by 'hard measures' such as levees and reservoirs and 'soft measures' such as the provision of hydrological information, regulation of land use, and evacuation advice. In 2001, the Japanese Government made it mandatory for all regional bodies to compile and distribute fl ood-hazard maps to inform inhabitants of the danger of fl ooding and the locations of sites of refuge for all inhabitants. Some measures taken to mitigate fl ood hazards and present a number of case studies were described in this chapter. Consequently, it is important to know what is to do before, during, and after a fl ood according to the past fl ood hazards.


This article defines TCP/IP and its function in internet. It also expounds the working principles and instruction of several TCP/IP diagnostic tools, such as PING, NSLOOKUP, ARP, TRACEROUTE. The commonly used reminding messages and meanings of the diagnostic tools in internet system, the corresponding measures according to the systematic reminders are illustrated at the same time. It is of great significance to grasp and use the diagnostic tools skillfully in internet management.


Abstract Mammalian genomes contain thousands of genes for long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) that affect the expression of other genes through diverse mechanisms. The lncRNA transcripts are longer than 200 nucleotides and are often capped, spliced and polyadenylated, but they are not translated into proteins. Nuclear lncRNAs modify chromatin structure and transcription in trans or cis by interacting with the DNA, forming R-loops, and recruiting regulatory proteins. Not much is known about the role of lncRNA in pituitary gland differentiation and function, but there are several examples that provide a strong premise for investigating this class of transcripts more deeply. For example, the lncRNA MEG3 is a tumor suppressor that is silenced in non-functioning pituitary adenomas; and lncRNAs have been implicated in regulating the function of key transcription factors such as POU1F1, PITX1, and PITX2. To develop a research resource for the study of lncRNA, we used cell-type specific cre transgenes to tag individual adult pituitary cell types with fluorescent markers and enriched for thyrotropes, gonadotropes and somatotropes using fluorescence activated cell sorting. We determined the transcriptome of each cell population using RNA sequencing and mined the data for lncRNA. We detected hundreds of lncRNA in adult pituitary cells, and some were cell-type specific, and located in immediate proximity of genes that encode pituitary hormones or lineage-specific transcription factors. We discovered that the lncRNA Nr5a1os is enriched in gonadotropes, while Foxl2os is enriched in gonadotropes and thyrotropes. The lncRNA Platr9 is located on the opposite strand near Cga, which encodes the alpha subunit of thyrotropin and gonadotropin. We also mined transcriptome data from pituitary glands collected at embryonic days 12.5 and 14.5 and identified 351 unique lncRNAs, many of which are exclusively expressed during development. Among these is Six3os1, which is located upstream of Six3, a gene associated with holoprosencephaly and hypopituitarism. The location of many of these lncRNAs suggests that they may have a cis-acting regulatory role in pituitary development or physiological function. This research resource sets the foundation for examining the actions of lncRNAs on expression of nearby genes during development and in response to physiological demand. Future research will elucidate their mechanisms of action, determining whether they recruit regulatory proteins to the chromatin and/or form R-loops in these regions, and how this affects expression of the target gene(s). We expect these studies to further our understanding of pituitary biology. Presentation: Sunday, June 12, 2022 12:54 p.m. - 12:59 p.m., Monday, June 13, 2022 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m.


* Abbreviations:
 LOS — : length of stay

Hospital readmission rate has been a long-considered quality of care indicator in adult medicine, albeit with mixed reviews.1,2 As we begin to grapple with the quality significance and preventability of readmissions in pediatrics, however, we are outpaced by movement in the insurance industry. Section 3025 of the Affordable Care Act requires the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to reduce payments to hospitals with excess readmissions, effective for discharges beginning on October 1, 2012.3 Although the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services started with targeting only 3 adult diagnoses, they are currently considering expansion of the number of diagnoses for which reimbursement will be decreased for hospitals with high readmission rates, and that consideration includes pediatric diagnoses such as "pneumonia due to respiratory syncytial virus" (International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, code 480.1).4

In this edition of Pediatrics , Dr. Berdach and colleagues studied a large database of pediatric admissions in California that calls into question readmission as a quality measure. They cite a lack of variability in rates of readmissions among hospitals …

Address correspondence to Brian K. Alverson, MD, Warren Alpert School of Medicine at Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, 593 Eddy St, Multiphasic Building, Room 223, Providence, RI 02903. E-mail: balverson{at}lifespan.org


We describe and evaluate different approaches to the conversion of gold standard corpus data from Stanford Typed Dependencies (SD) and Penn-style constituent trees to the latest English Universal Dependencies representation (UD 2.2). Our results indicate that pure SD to UD conversion is highly accurate across multiple genres, resulting in around 1.5% errors, but can be improved further to fewer than 0.5% errors given access to annotations beyond the pure syntax tree, such as entity types and coreference resolution, which are necessary for correct generation of several UD relations. We show that constituent-based conversion using CoreNLP (with automatic NER) performs substantially worse in all genres, including when using gold constituent trees, primarily due to underspecification of phrasal grammatical functions.


This study investigated a compact regenerative evaporative cooler (REC). To achieve practical applications of an REC, it is very important to consider the compactness as well as the cooling performance. Therefore, a prototype of the REC was designed and fabricated to improve the compactness by reducing the length through the insertion of fins in both the dry and wet channels. The REC prototype was tested in terms of performance evaluation under various operating conditions. An analytical model was also developed to analyze the effects of the axial conduction through the solid body of the REC, the wetness of the surface in the wet channel, and the thermal capacity of the evaporation water flow. The model was validated by comparing the results of a simulation with experimental data. The numerical simulation was based on the model to analyze the performance of the REC and to suggest methods to improve the cooling performance of the REC. Finally, the performance of the present REC was compared to that obtained in previous experimental studies. The results showed that the REC prototype in the present study is the most compact and achieves the highest cooling performance.


[Objective] The purpose was to study the inheritance trend of nectarine fruit's main characters.[Method] Some fruit characters of the F1 generation population of Hongfurong× Zhongyoutao No.5,such as fruit size,fruit development period,flesh color and flesh flavor,were analyzed.[Result] The fruit flesh color was controlled by a pair of alleles,with white dominant to yellow,showing the parents were both hybrid.The fruit development period of fruit was a quantitative character,generation appeared wildly separated,and 5%of the plants in the F1 generation ripened earlier than the parents.The single fruit weight of the F1 generation population was smaller than those of parents,while that of 10.5%individuals were larger than parents.The soluble solid content of the F1 generation population was lower than that of the parents,while those of some individuals were up to 16.1%.Flesh flavor of the F1 generation population had a tendency of sweet.[Conclusion] Some F1 generation population of Hongfurong× Zhongyoutao No.5 are better than the parents in fruit type,soluble solid content and comprehensive trait,so the parents Hongfurong and Zhongyoutao No.5 may used as elite germplasm to improve nectarine.


Abstract Synaptic zinc is coreleased with glutamate to modulate neurotransmission in many excitatory synapses. In the auditory cortex, synaptic zinc modulates sound frequency tuning and enhances frequency discrimination acuity. In auditory, visual, and somatosensory circuits, sensory experience causes long-term changes in synaptic zinc levels and/or signaling, termed here synaptic zinc plasticity. However, the mechanisms underlying synaptic zinc plasticity and the effects of this plasticity on long-term glutamatergic plasticity remain unknown. To study these mechanisms, we used male and female mice and employed in vitro and in vivo models in zinc-rich, glutamatergic dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN) parallel fiber (PF) synapses. High-frequency stimulation of DCN PF synapses induced long-term depression of synaptic zinc signaling (Z-LTD), as evidenced by reduced zinc-mediated inhibition of AMPA receptor (AMPAR) excitatory postsynaptic currents (EPSCs). Low-frequency stimulation induced long-term potentiation of synaptic zinc signaling (Z-LTP), as evidenced by enhanced zinc-mediated inhibition of AMPAR EPSCs. Thus, Z-LTD is a new mechanism of LTP and Z-LTD is a new mechanism of LTP. Pharmacological inhibition of Group 1 metabotropic glutamate receptors (G1 mGluRs) eliminated Z-LTD and Z-LTP. Pharmacological activation of G1 mGluRs induced Z-LTD and Z-LTP, associated with bidirectional changes in presynaptic zinc levels. Finally, exposure of mice to loud sound caused G1 mGluR-dependent Z-LTD in DCN PF synapses, consistent with our in vitro results. Together, we show that G1 mGluR activation is necessary and sufficient for inducing bidirectional long-term synaptic zinc plasticity. Key points summary Synaptic zinc is coreleased with glutamate to modulate neurotransmission and auditory processing. Sensory experience causes long-term changes in synaptic zinc signaling, termed synaptic zinc plasticity. At zinc-containing glutamatergic synapses in the dorsal cochlear nucleus (DCN), we show that high-frequency stimulation reduces synaptic zinc signaling (Z-LTD), whereas low-frequency stimulation increases synaptic zinc signaling (Z-LTP). Group 1 metabotropic glutamate receptor (mGluR) activation is necessary and sufficient to induce Z-LTP and Z-LTD. Z-LTP and Z-LTD are associated with bidirectional changes in presynaptic zinc levels. Sound-induced Z-LTD at DCN synapses requires Group 1 mGluR activation. Bidirectional synaptic zinc plasticity is a previously unknown mechanism of LTP and LTD at zinc-containing glutamatergic synapses.


In this paper, generalised CR -submanifolds of an ) , (   -trans-Sasakian manifolds with semi-symmetric non-moetric connection are studied. Moreover, integrability conditions of the distributions on generalised CR -submanifolds of an ) , (   -trans-Sasakian manifolds with semi-symmetric non-moetric connection and geometry of leaves with semi-symmetric non-metric connection have been discussed. 2000 Mathematical Subject Classification :53C21, 53C25, 53C05.


A measurement method for the thermal expansion coefficient of elastic solids has been developed. The method exploits the thermoelastic effect, the dual effect of thermal expansion: it is based on elastic compression of a small cylindrical specimen by a simple accessory for a conventional material testing machine whose applications are extended to the measurement of thermophysical properties. Compression induces a temperature variation proportional to the ratio of thermal expansion coefficient to specific heat; the expansion coefficient is then derived by an independent measurement of specific heat. Temperature can be measured in both quasiadiabatic and nonadiabatic conditions, and also allows in situ characterization of the temperature sensor promptness. Precision and accuracy of the measured ratio have been assessed by Certified Reference Materials: they are comparable to those of other methods.


serum creatmie concentratons within groups of normal men and women has shown no relation with lean body mass.3 Through infancy and childhood serum creatinine values are reasonably well established,4 Unlike those for creane arance. In pregnncy there are more complete reference data for serum creatinine concentmtion than for creatinine clearance.5 I do not understand Dr Gabriel's statement that I implied that serum creatinine concentraton should be "adjusted" for renal failure. It seems an odd thing to do with a meas:ure that is used to detect and monitor the condition. Dr Gabriel resurrected the old argument that creatinine clearance is more useful than serum creatmine concentration because in early renal failure it shows a greater change, a consequence of the curvilinear relation between the two measures. However,creatinineclearanceismuchmoreimprecise because it incorporates the errors of two crea.tinne measurements, a urine volumemeasurement, and the timing of a urine collection. When renal function deteriorates serum creatinine concentration becomes abnormal first more often than creatinine clearance; fasting serum creatinine concentration, because it is less imprecise, is also more sensitive than creatinine clearance for detecting changing functiion in the individual.6 Dr Gabriel expressed surprise that I did not mention the inaccuracies of urine collection. In fact, I pointed out that even when patients in a nephrology clinic were carefully instructed-by a nurse how to collect urine the mean day to day coefficient of variation of creatinine clearance in those with normal or only mildly impaired renal function was as high as 27% (± 54%)'; I added that the auos agreed with de Wardener that an accurately timed urine collection is incredibly difficult to obtain.' What ofDr Gabriel's argument that an overnight urine collection should be used for clearance measurements because it is likely to be timed more accuratelythan a24 hour collection? Most people take their major meat containing meal during the evening, and dietary meat is a major determinant ofurine creatinine.9 The serum creatinine concentration of a sample taken in the morningfasting or after a light breakfast is unlikely to be affected by meat eaten in the evening. Perhaps the most telling argument against creatinine clearance is that, even when it is measured in fasting, recumbent, hydrated subjects under controlled experimental conditions using replicate short accuratelytimedurne collections, it is no better than fasting serum creatinine concentration alone in predicting inulin clearance (table).


While electrospinning provides an excellent preparation method for the manufacturing of polymer fibers with defined diameter, controlling the overall porosity of the resulting fiber assemblies has remained elusive, particularly at higher porosities. In this study, the use of a low-temperature fiber collection device in air with controlled humidity allowed the simultaneous deposition of polymer fibers and ice particles from condensing humidity. The ice particles were intimately embedded within the polymer fibers and served as a pore template thus defining the mesh porosity after drying of the collected fiber assemblies. The amount of water condensation therefore contributes to the control of the mean interfiber distance and the resulting porosity. This simple and well accessible use of ice crystals as void templates gives access to the preparation of biodegradable tissue engineering scaffolds with an up to four times higher porosity if compared to conventional fiber electrospinning. The successful application of low-temperature electrospinning using polyesters or polyurethanes suggests a broad, material independent applicability of the process for the preparation of highly porous polymer structures. POLYM. ENG. SCI., 47:2020–2026, 2007. © 2007 Society of Plastics Engineers


An intuitive method for providing decision support of production control activities is proposed in which qualitative management information is represented by way of Quality Function Deployment matrices, while quantitative information is collected in the form of a simulation model of the plant. The quantitative-to-qualitative transform is provided by way ofgoal programming and fuzzy decision rules-where the latter naturally complements the symbolic method of representing information.


THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE is two-fold, first to provide a general overview of two of the main cognitive neuroscientific techniques available, specifically functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS); and secondly to apply these techniques to elaborate a discussion of an aspect of higher level vision, namely implied motion, that is the perception of movement from a static image.


On August 5, 1812, the famous Indian leader Tecumseh, with a large body of warriors, ambushed an American force that was marching toward the Raisin River in the Michigan Territory. The river was the site of an old French settlement, and it was still sparsely populated by French-speakers. The Americans were traveling through the area with the aim of protecting a supply train with provisions for their garrison at Detroit. Tecumseh and his fellow warriors killed seventeen soldiers; and while that may seem like a small number, their action helped precipitate a dramatic American withdrawal from the upper Midwest. Shortly thereafter, the Americans decided to consolidate their supply lines in southern Michigan, and so they abandoned Fort Dearborn, the site of presentday Chicago. They wanted to hold Detroit, but quickly discovered they could not. A few days after the August 5th skirmish, the British seized the town. In January 1813, with the British still in possession of Detroit, American soldiers returned to the Raisin River in an effort to protect the French habitants and secure their continuing loyalty to the United States. They made themselves vulnerable by going there, and, on January 22, they were defeated by a force of over 1,000 Native American, British, and Canadian fighters. In the aftermath of the battle, eighty wounded American prisoners were taken to a habitant settlement called Frenchtown, where, in the night, Indians killed dozens of them. Some of the prisoners were scalped, and some were fed to pigs. These events inspired American calls for revenge. On several subsequent occasions during the War of 1812, American soldiers charged into battle crying "Remember the Raisin!" Indeed, they shouted those words at the engagement later that year when they killed Tecumseh.


The presence of voids in the ingot affects the mechanical properties of the final products of the forging process. It is essential to establish a void closure model to predict cavity closure in the forging process to optimize the forging process and improve forging quality. The main purpose of this study is to obtain an accurate prediction model of void closure for 316LN stainless steel. Using the FEM simulation method to study the closure of spherical voids during forging compression of 316LN materials, we can accurately characterize the state of void closure. The void closure ratio K under different deformations at 1,200°C was counted, and the relationship between K and the effective strain was established to obtain the void closure prediction model of 316LN stainless steel. The void closure prediction model is implanted into DEFORM software through the secondary development method to generate the void closure ratio K. In the postprocessing module of DEFORM software, the void closure status of each part during the forming process can be directly observed. Comparing the results of large-scale upsetting experiments and simulation results, the closure error of each part was only 3%, which indicates that the void closure model established in this paper has higher accuracy, which is helpful for the optimization of the forging process and the control of forging quality.


This review of "The Topography of Happiness: Ethnographic Maps of the Modern" evaluates the quality of the contributions that represent anthropological or sociological analysis of various "positive topics," mainly in the post-Soviet context with several comparative cases. The book is criticized for its inconsistent theoretical elaboration of the subject, which is only conceptualised in the editorial introduction, while other contributors mainly just mention happiness briefly to make a connection with their particular research topics. The review points out the differences between how the various texts tackle happiness, concluding that happiness is much more difficult to understand in the field of practise as opposed to the field of culture, where it is already medialised as a cultural product.


COVID-19 pandemic is a clear example of the work still ahead to understand political interventions in public health not as a matter specific to the scientific domain of public health, but as an interwoven space with social sciences. Further challenging other scientific domains to reflect differently is also part of the role of social scientists, and more than ever epistemology cannot be left outside of this challenge to improve public health interventions.


The present invention belongs to the field of the terminal, a method of unlocking finger print authorization, and a terminal device. Wherein, the method comprising: acquiring means Fingerprint module through the NFC authorization information from the second terminal to the first terminal, the authorization information includes a time stamp and authorization fingerprint information; means determines the time stamp of the Fingerprint whether it is a first-use; when the first time stamp is used, the fingerprint lock the authorization means pre-stored fingerprint information matches the fingerprint information; when the authorization information and the fingerprint information pre-stored fingerprint match is successful the fingerprint lock means is automatically unlocked. Thus it is seen that by using the method of the present invention provides a fingerprint identification, the terminal device and the authorized user can remote from the scene fingerprint lock means, the control means opening and closing Fingerprint.


To assess the incidence of extracardiac findings in patients undergoing clinical cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) of the heart, and to determine the influence of those findings on patient management.


Nanolayered molybdenum disulfide cobalt-promoted materials (Co–Mo–S) have been established as chemoselective catalysts for the hydrogenation of nitroarenes under relatively mild conditions. Co–Mo–S catalysts have been prepared by a one-pot hydrothermal synthesis that allows the formation of unsupported catalysts with a large number of active sites per unit volume. Via application of these catalysts, the hydrogenation of the nitro functionality has been performed selectively in the presence of double and triple bonds, aldehydes, ketones, and carboxylic acid derivative groups, thus affording the corresponding anilines in good to excellent yields. Interestingly, the partial hydrogenation of some dinitroarenes has also been successfully accomplished. In addition, its catalytic performance has been evaluated for the preparation of the bioactive compound paracetamol through a one-pot direct hydrogenative amidation reaction.


The older adult population is continuously growing worldwide and there is increasing use of medical recourse in older patients, especially for those requiring intensive care unit (ICU) care and mechanical ventilation (MV). The present study aimed to investigate the burden and predictors of post‐ICU respiratory failure in older ICU patients weaned from MV.


Objective: To quantify the strength of statistical evidence of randomised controlled trials (RCTs) for novel cancer drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the last two decades. Methods: We used data on overall survival (OS), progression-free survival (PFS), and tumour response (TR) for novel cancer drugs approved for the first time by the FDA between January 2000 and December 2020. We assessed strength of statistical evidence by calculating Bayes Factors (BFs) for all available endpoints, and we pooled evidence using Bayesian fixed-effect meta-analysis for indications approved based on two RCTs. Strength of statistical evidence was compared between endpoints, approval pathways, lines of treatment, and types of cancer. Results: We analysed the available data from 82 RCTs corresponding to 68 indications supported by a single RCT and seven indications supported by two RCTs. Median strength of statistical evidence was ambiguous for OS (BF = 1.9; IQR 0.5-14.5), and strong for PFS (BF = 24,767.8; IQR 109.0-7.3*106) and TR (BF = 113.9; IQR 3.0-547,100). Overall, 44 indications (58.7%) were approved without clear statistical evidence for OS improvements and seven indications (9.3%) were approved without statistical evidence for improvements on any endpoint. Strength of statistical evidence was lower for accelerated approval compared to non-accelerated approval across all three endpoints. No meaningful differences were observed for line of treatment and cancer type. Limitations: This analysis is limited to statistical evidence. We did not consider non-statistical factors (e.g., risk of bias, quality of the evidence). Discussion: BFs offer novel insights into the strength of statistical evidence underlying cancer drug approvals. Most novel cancer drugs lack strong statistical evidence that they improve OS, and a few lack statistical evidence for efficacy altogether. These cases require a transparent and clear explanation. When evidence is ambiguous, additional post-marketing trials could eliminate uncertainty.


Nonlinear finite element method was used to investigate the expansion mechanism and biomechanical performance for intracoronary stents.Without regard to the interaction with vascular and plaque,the key technologies such as meshing,material constitutive model,boundary conditions,loading definition and contact interaction,were discussed in detail while the stent undergoes the crimp induced contraction,free expansion and unloading.The three different stents biomechanical performance including the axial contraction ratio,the expansion homogeneity,radical recoil rates,radial force and flexibility are determined according to finite element numerical analysis.Compared with the experimental data,the result of numerical simulation was better agreement with them.The present simulation method can help optimize and assess some biomechanical performance for intracoronary stents.


System architecture selection is the main problem of software and hardware project.Based on the analysis of advantage and disadvantage of centralized control architecture and C/S architecture,the paper gives the distributed control architecture,and applies it to tank communication simulation training system,and discusses the advantages of this architecture at the end of this paper which offers a practical way for the architecture simulation of the equipment.


Abstract: In recent years, teachers have turned to online social spaces for peer‐to‐peer interaction in increasing numbers. This online engagement has been highlighted by both practitioners and academics as having important implications for teachers' professional learning and development. However, there is a need to move beyond instrumental discourses that simply discuss engagement and technology in terms of costs and benefits, and analyse the complex social contexts in which engagement takes place. Therefore, presenting data from a digital ethnography of three online social spaces used by teachers, this paper uses professional identity as an analytical framework in order to understand teachers' online engagement in holistic terms in a way that acknowledges the messy social realities in which teachers work. It then presents a new theoretical framework for conceptualising teachers' professional identity that develops the concept of embedded ideal identity and takes into account context, social complexity, structure and agency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]


The aim of this paper is to acquire maximum power from solar panel and also to display the voltage generating from panel continuously. The existing work is fixed solar panels which cannot be rotated or tilted. Because of these fixed panels less amount of energy is produced. Thus we require more umber of solar panels.


Effects of planting density on base breast,height and biomass were investigated under Quercus forest of different canopy openness using control experiment method in this paper.The results indicated canopy openness and planting density had no significant effects on the base breast of Ixeris denticulata(Houtt.)Steb,but strongly affected the height,biomass and yield of Ixeris denticulata(Houtt.)Steb.The biomass and height of Ixeris denticulata(Houtt.)Steb decreased with planting density and canopy openness increasing.The yield of Ixeris denticulata(Houtt.)Steb inceased with the planting density increment,but decreased with canopy openness increment.Based on the results,it is practical to plant Ixeris denticulata(Houtt.)Steb under low or middle openness Quercus forest in Baotianman area.


The fire retardant effects of natural mixtures of huntite and hydromagnesite have been investigated. As well as being entirely natural these mixtures of minerals can be considered "greener" and more environmentally friendly, in their production methods, than alternatives such as aluminium hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide. It has been shown that the release of water and carbon dioxide from hydromagnesite helps to increase the time to ignition and peak heat release in cone calorimeter testing. Huntite has been shown to decrease the average rate of heat release and increase the strength of the residue. Electron microscopy has shown that the huntite particles maintain their platy morphology during combustion in the cone calorimeter. The morphology of these particles helps to reduce the rate of heat release by slowing the release of flammable decomposition products to the flame. The platy shape of the huntite particles increases the strength of the residue containing higher proportions of this mineral. Huntite is shown to play an active part in improving fire retardancy when used in a mixture with hydromagnesite, giving performance for typical mixtures comparable to those of aluminium hydroxide. Introduction This paper forms the final part in a recent series of papers by the current authors highlighting the thermal decomposition and fire retardant behaviour of natural mixtures of huntite and hydromagnesite[1-4]. Mixtures of huntite and hydromagnesite form naturally and are commercially mined and processed as an alternative to the commonly used mineral filler fire retardants, aluminium hydroxide (ATH) and magnesium hydroxide (MDH). It has been argued that such mixtures are a 'greener', more environmentally friendly alternative to these more widely used fire retardants because of a cleaner, less energy intensive production process. ATH is produced from bauxite using the Bayer process[5] which involves dissolving bauxite ore in concentrated sodium hydroxide at temperatures up to 270°C. After separation of the remaining solids (red mud), the aluminium oxide is precipitated from the solution. The red mud is a highly alkaline, toxic product. The conventional way of disposing of the red mud is to collect it in artificial lakes held back by a dam where the mud naturally dries. Once the lake is full and dried it can be sealed and buried. However, if storage of the mud is not carefully managed the consequences can be dire, as illustrated by the 2010 accident in Hungary[6], resulting in contamination of land and waterways. L A Hollingbery, T R Hull, Polymer Degradation and Stability (2012), doi:10.1016/j.polymdegradstab.2012.01.024 2 Natural magnesium hydroxide exists in the form of brucite and is commercially exploited as a fire retardant. However, the most common form of magnesium hydroxide is precipitated from sea water or brine through reaction of magnesium chloride in the brine with lime or dolomitic lime[7]. Production methods for both ATH and magnesium hydroxide involve the use of a mined mineral (bauxite, lime) followed by a chemical process, and in the case of ATH, the storage and disposal problems of the red mud. Commercially exploited natural reserves of mixed huntite and hydromagnesite are very pure and do not need chemical processing or precipitation of the final product. This makes production of fine particle size mixtures of huntite and hydromagnesite much less energy intensive. The only by product is a small quantity of dolomite, MgCa(CO3)2, a mineral closely related to huntite, Mg3Ca(CO3)4. Dolomite is a very white mineral that occurs naturally in the mixture and is removed during the grinding process. It finds industrial application due to its high brightness in surface coatings. Previous authors have discussed the decomposition of huntite[1,3,4,8-11] and hydromagnesite[1,3,4,8,12-24]. Natural hydromagnesite particles have a blocky morphology[1,2] and once processed the majority of the particles are usually between 1 and 10 μm in diameter depending on the processing. It has the following chemical formula[25] and thermally decomposes[1,3], between about 220°C and 550°C in two stages, initially releasing water then carbon dioxide, leaving a solid residue of magnesium oxide. Mg5(CO3)4(OH)2·4H2O → 5MgO + 4CO2 + 5H2O Huntite particles have a platy morphology[1,2] and the particles are usually about 1 μm or less in diameter, much smaller than hydromagnesite particles. It has the following chemical formula[26] and thermally decomposes[1,3], between about 450°C and 750°C in two stages, releasing only carbon dioxide, leaving a solid residue of magnesium oxide and calcium oxide. Mg3Ca(CO3)4 → 3MgO + CaO + 4CO2 The thermal decomposition of mixtures of these minerals through endothermic release of carbon dioxide and water has led to several studies showing their potential applications, including fire retardant additives for polymer compounds[2,4,27-46], controlling burning rates in cigarettes[47,48], and as a potential material for fighting forest fires[49-53]. Due to its high decomposition temperature it has been suggested[40,41,43] that huntite has little more influence than an inert diluent filler in terms of fire retardancy. It has been argued by the current authors[2] that the evidence in the literature does not back up this assertion. Details of recent work, presented here, demonstrates that huntite contributes significantly to the fire retardant properties of polymer compounds, filled with mixtures of huntite and hydromagnesite, in ways that had perhaps not been considered previously.


According to many operating companies, a very large part of unscheduled downtime during drilling is related to pore pressure and fracture gradients. In that respect, the ultimate objective of pore pressure prediction is to control the risks and uncertainties related to drilling operations. Anomalous pressures in geological formations can originate from many physical phenomena – such as: sedimentation rates, fluid expansion mechanisms, etc. – which can be accurately modeled using advance 3D Basin Modeling Techniques, applied at local scale. Thanks to their ability to rigorously simulate the multiple phenomena occurring within a geological basin (especially compaction disequilibrium, hydrocarbon generation, fluid buoyancy), basin modeling tools can be applied for modeling the coupling effect of pressure, overburden, effective stress, fracturation gradient, porosity, fluid density, temperature, permeability. On the other hand, pore and confining pressure generally have opposite effects on acoustic elastic properties of the rock (compressional velocity in particular): velocity generally increases with confining pressure and decreases with pore pressure. Consequently the joint analysis of interval velocity variations and compaction trends gives allows assessing pore pressure. Geophysics has therefore been widely used over the past decades for predicting over-pressured zones. Such zones are detected with seismic (interval velocity) and sonic transit time. In most cases the strong increase in transit time in the over-pressured interval indicates the degree of overpressure. This change in the transit time is generally detected in the seismic interval velocity also. In practice, pore pressure predictions are performed using one of these two independent approaches without any attempt to combine them, while their combined used would gives a better confidence in the predicted pore pressure values, despite the high uncertainty due to lack of data. The objective of the study presented in this paper is to reconcile these two complementary approaches. It shows one way of integrating the two techniques throughout the prediction process.


The invention is applicable to the technical field of digital televisions and provides a network failure detection method and system for a digital television. The network failure detection method for the digital television comprises the steps of monitoring network failure state information upcast by the bottom layer and broadcasting the network failure state information; receiving the network failure state information, and matching the network failure state information with registered network failure states to obtain error prompting codes and error prompting information, which are corresponding to the network failure state information; displaying the error prompting codes and error prompting information, which are corresponding to the network failure state information, for users to select; processing network failures according to user selection. According to the network failure detection method and system, network failures of Android digital televisions can be detected, so that the usage efficiency of the Android digital televisions is improved, and user time is effectively saved.


for |z| < 1. Fα is a Banach space with respect to the norm defined by ‖f‖Fα = inf ‖μ‖ where μ varies over all measures in M for which (1) or (2) holds and where ‖μ‖ is the total variation norm of μ. The spaces Fα have been studied in a number of recent papers and earlier work was extensively done corresponding to the case α = 1. This paper gives a survey of some recent results about Fα which focus on questions about radial limits. We will summarize work contained in [3], [4] and [5]. This material was presented in a talk by the author at the Complex Analysis Semester held at the Banach Center in Warsaw during the fall, 1992. The author wishes to thank the organizers for their invitation to participate in that conference and for their hospitality, especially to Professor Jan Krzyz.


During the course of the meeting several of you have been kind enough to refer to some of my early work on stellar rotation. But the references have been selective; my early work was not on stellar rotation alone but on rotation and magnetic fields; my PhD thesis was entitled The Theory of Rotating Magnetic Stars and my early papers were on the generation of magnetic fields and circulation in rotating magnetic stars. I want to stress that


The paper presents the terminology and taxonomy of critical infrastructures at the Baltic Sea Region including definitions of general terms and definitions of more detailed notions concerned with selected industrial installations at the Baltic Sea Region. In the paper there are distinguished and listed eight main critical infrastructure networks operating in the Baltic Sea Region. Presented terminology refers to these critical infrastructure networks also in the context of climate change and resilience and vulnerability of the critical infrastructures to climate change. Considering the strategy of critical infrastructures resilience strengthening there are distinguished and defined concepts of robustness, resource fullness, redundancy, response and recovery.


The two facets of raptus , rape and abduction, are again inextricably linked in romance. Rape frequently overlaps with abduction, and even in clear-cut instances of rape or abduction, the more general notion of ravishment colours interpretation; in romance as in secular and canon law, the issue of enforced marriage is of primary importance, and the theme of social disorder is prominent. The structures of chivalry to an extent depend on the concept of raptus : the woman is an object to be fought over and won, and the pursuits of love and prowess are interwoven in the knightly shaping of identity. Yet it is striking that, in chivalric romance as in the saints' lives, rape is repeatedly deferred: abductions occur, rape and enforced marriage are threatened, but the woman's honour is almost invariably upheld. Actual rape is found only on the margins of romance – in classical legend, in medieval chronicles, in Arthurian pseudo-history and in French non-romance – pastourelles , the fabliau -romance of Renart and the prose tale of the La Fille du Comte de Ponthieu , none of which have English counterparts. Romance responds to the shadow of rape rather than its reality: what has been identified by Antoinette Saly as the motif of the 'demoiselle "esforciee"' in fact, as Dietmar Rieger remarks, consists in repeated scenes of attempted rather than actual rape, 'Il s'agit evidemment en general … de tentatives de viol que l'on empeche juste a temps'.


Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to find out which contemporary management ideas have been implemented in Estonian business organizations and what are the differences between domestic and foreign companies in the field of management innovation.Design/methodology/approach – Experts selected among management development approaches that were most frequently reflected in Harvard Business Review, Fortune Magazine and in the ProQuest database 8 direction that are most relevant for the survey in the transition economy context. The survey format is a qualitative questionnaire submitted to top managers in 141 Estonian enterprises.Findings – The most frequently followed management development directions are balanced scorecard/management by objectives, supply chain management, learning organization, and total quality management. General differences between contemporary management directions in the domestic‐ and foreign‐owned companies researched are not significant. The initial hypothesis that contemporary man...


Using P-MRS to Explore the Effects of Iron Deficiency on Murine Skeletal Muscle Function and Metabolism During Exercise M. Kate Curtis, Lowri E. Cochlin, Mark A. Cole, David P. O'Neill, Michael S. Dodd, Damian J. Tyler, Kieran Clarke, and Peter A. Robbins Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom, Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics, PulseTeq Ltd, Oxford, United Kingdom, Department of Life Sciences, University of Nottingham Medical School, Nottingham, United Kingdom, Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom


[Objective] To assess the effects of alpha-lipoic acid on oxidative stress induced pancreatic islet cell apoptosis in type 2 diabetic rats. [Methods] High-calorie diet combined with intraperitoneal injection of low-dose streptozotocin was used to establish a type 2 diabetic rat model. Then the model rats were treated by alpha-lipoic acid(15, 30, 60, and 120 mg/kg body weight) for 12 weeks before detecting pancreatic oxidative stress, apoptosis of pancreatic cells, and changes in the expression levels of pancreatic apoptosis-related proteins. [Results] The pancreatic malondialdehyde levels were significantly decreased in all alpha-lipoic acid intervented groups(P 0.01), while the total superoxide disumutase and the glutathione peroxidase activities were significantly increased(P 0.01), compared with the model control rats. The apoptotic indices were significantly decreased(P 0.01) in all intervention groups except the 15 mg/kg body weight group, compared with the model control rats, and the highest intervention effect was found in the 60 mg/kg body weight group. The protein levels of Bax, Fas, activated Caspase-9 and Caspase-3 decreased, and the Bcl-2 protein level increased significantly in all intervention groups. [Conclusion] Apoptosis rates of pancreatic cells are down-regulated by alpha-lipoic acid via ameliorating pancreatic oxidative stress and related protein levels.


Purpose

The Saint Mary's College of California (SMC) library plays an integral role in supporting one of the goals in the College's Strategic Plan: "Raise the Academic Profile and Distinction". This case study aims to assess the effectiveness of PlumX as a tool to showcase the academic profile and distinction of SMC. The library recognizes the importance of capturing impact of non-traditional creativity and engagement in addition to just traditional impact metrics of research.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper describes the collaborative effort of the College and the College's library to identify faculty scholarship, creativity and engagement and collect data demonstrating the impact of the works. Traditional metrics, like citation counts, do not do SMC faculty justice because faculty scholarship comes beyond just books and articles. To more fully document the real intellectual corpus the College, the library is working with a new system, PlumX, to collect web-based information about both traditionally and non-traditionally published work.

Findings

The collection of metrics across five categories (citations, usage, social media, mentions and captures), and the flexibility of displaying on screen or downloading for use in other analytic reports made possible through PlumX proved to be a start toward demonstrating the academic distinction of College's unique faculty. SMC will continue to partner with PlumX to assess and improve its usability and effectiveness.

Originality/value

This paper outlines how altmetrics can be used to measure and share impact of faculty research at a liberal arts, teaching-focused college in ways reflective of the unique intellectual contributions.


Computer simulations of melting, crystallization, glass transition, and annealing for a model system of 864 Lennard-Jones (LJ) atoms under a periodic boundary condition are carried out using constant-pressure molec ular dynamics techniques with temperature control. When an fcc crystal of LJ atoms is heated, melting occurs; however, an LJ liquid, when quenched slowly, crystallizes into layers with stacking faults. Each layer forms a two-dimensional, close-packed structure with occasional point defects but without dislocations. When the quench rate is high enough, an LJ liquid transforms into a disordered structure without a discontinuous change in volume. The dependence of the glass transi tion on the quench rate is determined by examining macroscopically observable physical features. Several microscopic structure parameters are introduced to ana lyze, at the atomic level, the structures of glasses pro duced by different quench rates. When annealed, a glass made with a low enough quench rate is stable against crystallization. Identifying the number of atoms in the system having local icosahedral symmetry is a prom ising method of characterizing the glass's stability. The microscopic structural changes in the annealing pro cesses are presented in the companion video to this paper.


The upper-tail area probabilities have been compared for Catanova and chi-square tests in one-way multinomial model, numerically, for some practical examples. The computed results reveal that the Catanova test under estimates the upper tail area probabilities in comparison to chi-square method under equal or moderately unequal group sizes. However, when group sizes are greatly unequal, these probabilities are overestimated. The use of Catanova should, however, be preferred over chi-square method because the null distribution of Catanova statistic is better approximated by a chi-square distribution than is the null distribution of chi square statistic in small samples.


Quantum tunneling under the influence of an environment with nearly degenerate spectrum is considered. We first give a general derivation of the zero point motion formula in the sudden tunneling limit. The effects of a finite excitation energy of the environment are then considered by a perturbation method. Examples of linear oscillator coupling and rotational coupling show that the finite excitation energy can be represented by a dissipation factor and reduces the tunneling probability estimated in the limit of sudden tunneling. These examples clearly show that the applicability of the sudden tunneling approximation is governed by the details of the coupling as well as the relative time scales of the tunneling and the environmental degrees of freedom. We discuss some applications to heavy-ion fusion reactions.


Phenol (carbolic acid) is a hydroxybenzene, C6H50H, first prepared by Runge in 1834 from coal tar, and by Church in pure form in 1871. Today phenol is obtained from coal tar or synthesized from benzene or a pure analine oil. It occurs as colorless needle-shaped crystals, with a characteristic odor and acrid, burning taste, and has a melting point of 40°C. Aqueous solutions contain 5 per cent or 90 per cent phenol; however it is soluble in glycerin, alcohol, fixed and volatile oils, ether and chloroform, and when first dissolved in glycerin or alcohol, phenol is freely miscible in aqueous solutions in any concentration. Since the antiseptic power of phenol depends on the entire molecule, its action as an antiseptic is not reduced when it is mixed with alcohol or glycerin. Although slightly acid to litmus, phenol is more closely related to the alcohols than acids. One of the more commonly used qualitative tests for the presence of phenol is the bromine water test. This test is accurate to approximately 1 part of phenol in 50,000 parts water. A saturated aqueous solution of bromine converts phenol into crystals of symmetrical tribromophenol. Certain compounds other than phenol, amines for example, also form precipitates with bromine water. The opinions of different persons regarding the method of application, the mode of action and the effect, as well as indications for and against the use of phenol in cavity sterilization (and desensitization) vary greatly. The method of using phenol most often depends upon previous teaching or clinical results, with its use on an empirical basis.


Restorative justice refers to an emphasis on dealing with offenders by focusing on repairing harm, and involving victims and communities, as well as offenders. Especially, restorative justice elevates the role of the victim and the community to a special position in the justice process and seeks to responsibility in the offender. A restorative justice approach would appear to have great potential to effect change in an offender's behaviour and attitudes. Community corrections is important to acknowledge the proliferation of community based programs such as crime prevention, diversion from corrections. Community corrections emphasis on deinstitutionalization and decarceration. The usual means of deinstitutionalization include thing such as: probation, recognizance bond, deferred sentence, community attendance center orders and community service order. The usual means of decarceration include thing such as: parole, day-leave schemes, day in prison, camp, conditional-release orders, electronic monitoring. The term community corrections implies consensus, general approval by society, positive outcomes. The relationship between the criminal justice system and community based organization warrants a close examination for outcomes of restorative justice.


Head lice are small insects that live on the scalp and lay eggs (nits) on the hair. Lice and nits cause an itchy scalp and are spread between people who are in close contact. Medicated treatments to kill lice and nits are available.


I argue in this article that Robert Putnam's primary strategy for reviving civil society in Bowling Alone is an example of "the doctrine of self-interest properly understood," a doctrine that Alexis de Tocqueville found prevalent among "American moralists." By considering him to be a modern version of the American moralist discussed by Tocqueville, new light can be shed on both the merits and the limitations of Putnam's achievement. In addition to using Tocqueville's writings to critically interpret Putnam, I also use Bowling Alone as an occasion to explore—and better understand—Tocqueville's own deep ambivalence toward the "doctrine of self-interest properly understood." I contrast Putnam's Bowling Alone with Robert Bellah and others' Habits of the Heart. Understanding the important differences between these two self-proclaimed neo-Tocquevillians can help illuminate the promise and the peril of contemporary arguments for reviving civil society that employ the language of self-interest properly understood.


Composition for a film or thermoplastic layer and their uses. # The present invention relates to a composition-filter photosensitive to ultraviolet light (UV) as an essential component in a film or thermoplastic layer to act as a tunable filter stabilization exposure of the light. Said film or thermoplastic layer with this composition-filter can gradually block UV light and is nearly transparent to visible light. The composition-filter photosensitive to UV light comprising effective amounts of nanoparticles selected from titanium oxide, cerium oxide, zinc oxide and metal oxide. Said nanoparticles are treated with inorganic and organic coatings and, dispersed within a substrate at a given concentration, can act as an adjustable filter UV light, particularly for agricultural greenhouse films or packaging films where it is desired to protect the UV light everything below the substrate.


FIELD: medicine.SUBSTANCE: invention relates to medical technology, namely to apparatus for artificial circulation and systems for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Device for controlling blood flow in the cardiopulmonary bypass device comprises a controlled blood recirculation channel with the possibility of parallel connection to the rotary pump on one side to the inlet part of the pump main line, and on the other side – to the outlet part of the pump main line. Controlled blood recirculation channel comprises a valve coupled to the valve control unit providing pulsation at a predetermined frequency and porosity of the blood flow entering through the oxygenator into the arterial line of the cardiopulmonary bypass system by partially or completely overlapping and opening the lumen of controlled recirculation channel.EFFECT: technical result is providing a physiological pulsating flow at a constant speed of rotation of the pump impeller to minimize blood trauma and cavitation when using pumps of different designs.4 cl, 3 dwg


Key Points. The combination of albendazole and high-dose ivermectin in this randomized clinical trial demonstrated significant superiority and good tolerability for the treatment of Trichuris trichiura infections compared to albendazole monotherapy, the current standard of practice in mass drug administration campaigns.


The paper describes various design considerations of an ultra high speed long-haul WDM link. Power budget, optical signal to noise ratio (OSNR) budget and dispersion budget equations, based on loss and dispersion management, are derived. Different types of degrading effects related to polarization mode dispersion, non-linear effects and chromatic dispersion are discussed and resulting power penalties are given. A numerical problem is also presented in this paper.


The basic skill for supervision and inspection of fire is can find problems and the potential of fire,a rational thinking,seize the principal contradiction,coordinate various relationships,do ideological and political work,be tracking service guidance.


The questions of the nature, distribution, and possible functions of plasmodesnmatal1 in higher plants have received considerable attention from numerous investigators in the past, but during the present century very little has been added to our knowledge concerning them. Those desiring a review of the important literature on this subject are referred to Meyer (I920) or Lundegardh (I922). This field of investigation offers many opportunities for interesting researches in the fields of plant physiology, morphology, and pathology which may have an important bearing on the interpretation of the life processes of the plant. The present researches were undertaken in an attempt to determine the extent and distribution of plasmodesmata in the tobacco plant, preliminary to an attempt to ascertain their possible r6le as a path for the transfer of the virus principle causing the mosaic disease of tobacco.


The present invention provides a detector 64 for detecting ionizing radiation, the method for detecting this pyeongmyeonbim detector device and, ionizing radiation for use in radiographic picture made of a method like. The detector, the first and second electrode arrangement (2, 1, 18 provided in the chamber with a space between the first electrode arrangement and second electrode arrangement comprising a chamber and a converted volume (13) filled with ionizable medium , 19), the electron avalanche amplification means 17 and, a lead for the detection value e avalanche disposed in the chamber is configured to include at least one out of the array of elements (15). The radiation is provided to the incident radiation is converted into the volume between the first electrode array and second electrode array. In order to achieve a well-defined value avalanche, electron avalanche amplification means comprises a plurality of avalanche region.


A design procedure for stiffened mats on expansive clays has evolved over the past seven years and it has now been applied successfully on two continents in areas where expansive clay damage had previously been severe. The core of the design approach recognizes that soil support offered by differentially expanding and shrinking clay is influenced mainly by the changing moisture regime beneath a mat and then natural gilgai form of expansive clay deposits. Empirical coefficients developed from a series of beam- and stiffened plate-on-mound computer analyses relate the predicted soil behavior to mat design quantities. The design procedure was applied to the design of school building foundations in Australia and field performance has been observed for over two years. The predicted soil movements were matched accurately by those observed and despite their magnitude, the mats have performed satisfactorily.


In a company there are different types of employees who have the character ,
behavior and educational backgrounds. therefore the manager job is to combine
the diversity of several Human Resources. situational leadership become the main
focus in this study, and job satisfaction and job performance as a dependent
variables.

The study titled " Effects of Situational Leadership Styles on Employee
Performance With Job Satisfaction as an intervening variable ( Study On The
Food And Beverage Employee Hotel Sahid Surabaya). This Study analyzed the
factor of situational leadership on job satisfaction and job performance. The data
was analyzed uses a quantitative approach with 48 respondents. Hypothesis
Testing was done by using path analysis using IBM SPSS V 21 where the
Situational Leadership as an independent variable ( X ) , Job Performance as the
dependent variable , and Job Satisfaction as an intervening variable ( Z ) . By
using questionnaire data collection procedures , the results of path analysis models
in this study are as follows: Situational Leadership - Job Performance : 0.358
Situational Leadership - Job Satisfaction : 0.708 Job Satisfaction - Job
Performance : 0.412

The conclusion of this study are situational leadership and job satisfaction
determined by direct indicators can improve job performance directly. Meanwhile
Situational Leadership does not have a significant influence on the performance of
the employee, if job satisfaction as the mediator variable


This article shows the existence of a similar irregular alternation in pronominal the morphology of Chang Naga and Southern Qiang, two distantly related Sino-Tibetan languages. This pattern is argued to be the trace from an older case marking system. On the basis of this hypothesis, a new analysis of pronominal systems in various languages of the family is presented.


Human Visual System is important for watermarking technique, which can help embed water mark with maximum energy while keeping imperceptibility. In this paper, we will make a survey about main Human Visual System models.


Nanostructured metal selenides based on conversion reaction are promising anode materials for sodium-ion batteries (SIBs). However, the repeat structural degradation accompanies by the detrimental intermediate of sodium selenides (NaxSe) leads...


Relationships for computing total respiratory resistance, compliance, and inertance from the frequency dependence of forced oscillatory impedance are presented. These equations result by minimizing the sum squared difference between the experimental impedance data and the response of the model.


For a monocular camera-based mobile robot system, an adaptive visual regulation controller is proposed in this paper to asymptotically stabilize the robot to its desired position/orientation, in which range sensor is not required and unknown camera extrinsic parameters are considered as well. First, based on the relationship between the robot frame and the camera frame, kinematic model of the monocular mobile robot system is established with respect to the camera coordinate system. Then, based on the model, observable error signals are extracted from image by decomposing the homography matrix and introducing a proper coordinate transformation, which are subsequently employed to construct the proposed adaptive stabilization controller based on Lyapunov techniques. The performance of the controller is demonstrated by both theoretical stability analysis and simulation results, which illustrate that the proposed adaptive controller can achieve the regulation task asymptotically in presence of unknown camera extrinsic parameters.


Author(s) Klimentyev, Ivan Type of publication Bachelor's thesis Published Autumn 2018 Number of pages 38 Title of publication PROS AND CONS OF MINIBONDS FOR INTERNATIONAL INVESTORS AND SMES IN THE ITALIAN MARKET: A SYSTEMATIC LITERATURE REVIEW Name of Degree Bachelor of Business Administration The core objective of this thesis was to help international investors understand the advantages and disadvantages of investing in Italian minibonds. The Minibond program was initiated by the Italian government in 2012 as an alternative debt finance for Italian SMEs. This is a new debt product and many international investors around the world are not familiar with it. In the same way, many Italian SMEs are not familiar with the benefits and limitations of raising debt finance through the minibond issuance. This study provides potential investors with an overview of such instruments as well as assesses the main features of minibonds. The study also helps the Italian SMEs to understand the pros and cons of raising debt finance through the minibond issuance. In recent years, the amount of publications in regard to the Italian mini-bonds has surged. However, the information available on this topic is very fragmented. Only separate studies have been done with the focus on particular aspects of the Italian mini-bonds. There is a need to summarize the information available in a clear way. In order to answer the research question, a systematic literature review was conducted. The secondary data was collected in a structured way and analyzed according to the guidelines for a systematic literature review. The findings of this thesis showed that under certain conditions, it is cheaper for Italian SMEs to raise debt finance through the minibond issuance. Minibonds provided a more desirable length of debt financing for Italian SMEs. However, for small companies, legal costs associated with the minibond issuance are too high. For the international investors, the biggest advantage of investing in minibonds is the high return on the investment and in some cases the exception from the withholding tax on the interest earned. However, minibond investors bear high credit risks. In addition, the minibond market in Italy greatly lacks liquidity.


Deformation of Ising Hamiltonian by means of replacing a site spin $s_i$ by $s_i^q$ and statistics generalization with help of the substituting deformed probability $p_i^q$ instead of $p_i$ are studied jointly within mean--field scheme. Such deformed model is shown to be related to the phase transition of the second order with unusual set of critical indices depending essentially on the deformation parameter $q$. Scaling relations turn out to be invariant with respect to the deformation.


Using full general relativistic calculations, we investigate the possibility of generation of mass outflow from spherical accretion onto non-rotating black holes. Introducing a relativistic hadronic-pressure-supported steady, standing, spherically-symmetric shock surface around a Schwarzschild black hole as the effective physical barrier that may be responsible for the generation of spherical wind, we calculate the mass outflow rate R \dot m in terms of three accretion parameters and one outflow parameter by simultaneously solving the set of general relativistic hydrodynamic equations describing spherically symmetric, transonic, polytropic accretion and wind around a Schwarzschild black hole. Not only do we provide a sufficiently plausible estimation of R \dot m , we also successfully study the dependence and variation of this rate on various physical parameters governing the flow. Our calculation indicates that independent of initial boundary conditions, the baryonic matter content of this shock-generated wind always correlates with post-shock flow temperature.


The usefulness of various kinds of coatings to the die casting program has been studied. This work includes heat transfer and fluid flow calculations, as well as experimental work, to examine the feasibility and characteristics of various types of coatings. Calculations include the effect of surface roughness on fluid flow, conductance as a function of coating thickness, conductivity as a function of coating porosity, and solidification and possible remelting of microspheres of metal. In each case, the model is described and the results are presented. Experimental work involved evaluating the relative insulating value of various coatings and an analysis of commercial flame-sprayed coatings, low-density coatings, and release coatings. In each case, description of the experimental arrangement is given and the results are described. 5 refs., 28 figs., 6 tabs.