...................................................................................................................... II ACKNOWLEDGMENTS................................................................................................. IV LIST OF FIGURES..........................................................................................................VII LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. X HAND AND FINGER FORCE DATA COLLECTION AND PREDICTION.................. 1


Ill-structured code is difficult to understand and thereby is costly to maintain and reuse. Software restructuring techniques based on hierarchical agglomerative clustering (HAC) algorithms have been widely used to restructure large modules with low cohesion into smaller modules with high cohesion, without changing the overall behaviour of the software. These techniques generate clustering trees, of modules, that are sliced at different cut-points to obtain desired restructurings. Choosing appropriate cut-points has always been a difficult problem in clustering. Previous HAC techniques generate clustering trees that have large number of cut-points. Moreover, many of those cut-points return clusters of which only a few lead to a meaningful restructuring of the software. In this paper, we give a new hierarchical clustering technique, the (k, w)-Core Clustering ((k, w)-CC) technique, for restructuring software at the function level that generates clustering trees with lower number of cut-points, which yield a lower number of redundant clusters. (k, w)-CC gives good restructurings. To establish this, we provide an experimental comparison of (k, w)-CC with four previous HAC techniques: single linkage algorithm (SLINK), complete linkage algorithm (CLINK), weighted pair group method of arithmetic averages (WPGMA), and adaptive k-nearest neighbour algorithm (A-KNN). In the experiments, the techniques were implemented on Java functions extracted from real-life industrial programs.


This paper proposes the mine gas tracing inspection forewarning system,which against the gas prevention and management for dynamic monitoring,accurate analysis and intelligent forewarning in the production process of coal mines.This system uses GIS-based data visualization,map-based information technology to establish information databases,and Visual Basic 6.0 language as development software produced the mine tunnels layout plan,design and development of the system.This system realized the visualization detection of gas operation,the transmission of gas data,the data information processing,intelligent tracing inspection and forewarning,and statistical reporting,the use of dynamic holographic visualization technology to reduce unsafe acts of people,ultimately realization the "intrinsically safe" of coal mines.


New technologies can enable children diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and teachers to contour the disorder and make it possible to create a healthy environment to end the struggle that is to learn in the present educational methods. This paper presents a discussion about the disease itself, the learning methods and the emerging possibilities of devices that can cope with these children allowing them to learn in an interesting and productive way.


In the mistletoe therapy of cancer, the choice of the host tree has not been given a high priority until now. Some manufacturers only use one or very few types of trees. In the present article we try to differentiate the 13 host trees of Viscum album so far used by the manufacturers for the immune and cancer therapy, and we attempt to create a basic homeopathic type for the respective tree. Apart from this, it can be demonstrated, that the individual mistletoe trees are correlated to the Chinese meridian system. This can be tested very precisely with the Prognos device. There are also clear connections with the temperaments and the zodiac. The basic idea, which is presented here, is a basis for a discussion concerning the optimization of the mistletoe therapy, which can be used as a practical starting point for the physician using traditional Chinese medicine, the homeopathic physician, the anthroposophic physician, and the physician using naturopathy.


The article analyzes the nature and location of quality categories and living standard of the general system of social and economic ideas and concepts. The author examines the concept "life quality" as a socio-economic category, analyzes existing definition of "life quality" and its correlation with the concept "life quality", identifies the components and structure of the concept "life quality". Definition of the relationship between the components of the life quality improves the efficiency of socio-economic researches in assessment the living standard. Life quality may be determined by analyzing the set of objective indicators and subjective assessments of the human needs implementation.


The nutritional value and the effect of three levels of supplementation with Leucaena leucocephala on the weight gains and digestibility efficiency of total crude proteins (TCP) were assessed in West African Dwarf goats at the University of Dschang in West Cameroon. Twenty-four goats, about two years of age and with a mean weight of 9.9 ± 2.1 kg, were divided into four groups of six animals. The goats in the supplemented groups received 390 g (group 2), 780 g (group 3) and 1170 g (group 4) of fresh leaves of L. leucocephala corresponding to 7.1, 14.2 and 21.3 g TCP per animal per day, respectively, whereas those of the control group (group 1) did not receive any supplement. Animals were weighed every other week to assess weight gains. L. leucocephala , and Trypsacum laxum samples were fed to the animals in the metabolic cage and feces from the same animals were used to determine TCP digestibility efficiency. Results showed that L. leucocephala had high nutrient contents. The average weights of goats in groups 2 and 3 were statistically similar (P > 0.05) and significantly higher (P < 0.05) than those of goats in groups 1 and 4. The mean daily weight gains of goats in groups 1, 2, 3 and 4 were 18, 46.7, 48.6 and 10.5 g, respectively. The apparent digestibility coefficient of the dry matter was 68.8 ± 2.2, 70.7 ± 1.6 and 72.2 ± 1.1%, and that of TCP was 79.2 ± 1.3, 72.7 ± 2.4 and 72.1 ± 3.1% for the animals that received 390, 780 and 1170 g per day of fresh leaves of L. leucocephala , respectively. Finally, 390 g of fresh leaves (i.e. 157.6 g of dry matter) of L. leucocephala seemed to be the optimum quantity to include in the diet of West African Dwarf goats without the risk of side effects.


In a document, the topic distribution of a sentence depends on both the topics of its neighbored sentences and its own content, and it is usually affected by the topics of the neighbored sentences with different weights. The neighbored sentences of a sentence include the preceding sentences and the subsequent sentences. Meanwhile, it is natural that a document can be treated as a sequence of sentences. Most existing works for Bayesian document modeling do not take these points into consideration. To fill this gap, we propose a bi-Directional Recurrent Attentional Topic Model (bi-RATM) for document embedding. The bi-RATM not only takes advantage of the sequential orders among sentences but also uses the attention mechanism to model the relations among successive sentences. To support to the bi-RATM, we propose a bi-Directional Recurrent Attentional Bayesian Process (bi-RABP) to handle the sequences. Based on the bi-RABP, bi-RATM fully utilizes the bi-directional sequential information of the sentences in a document. Online bi-RATM is proposed to handle large-scale corpus. Experiments on two corpora show that the proposed model outperforms state-of-the-art methods on document modeling and classification.


This study develops a model to assess the consumer acceptance of Camera Mobile Phone CMP technology for social interaction. While there has been considerable research on technology adoption in the workplace, far fewer studies have been done to understand the motives of technology acceptance for social use. To fill in this gap, this study develops a model that is based on the following theories: the technology acceptance model, the theory of reasoned action, the attachment motivation theory, innovation diffusion theory, and the theory of flow. The first research method used was a qualitative field study that identified variables that most drive CMP acceptance and build the research model using a sample of 83 consumers. The second method was a quantitative field study. Data was collected from a sample of 240 consumers in Kuwait and used to test the proposed model. The results reveal two types of use: "social use" and "use before shopping", explaining 32.3% and 30% of the variance respectively. Most importantly, the study reveals that personal innovativeness, attachment motivation and social norms have an important effect on CMP acceptance. The implications of this study are highly important for both researchers and practitioners.


ABSTRACT
 International trade is crucial to the economic development of states and shipping is pivotal in this transaction. The efficiency of international trade requires secured sea lanes for vessels conveying cargo to traverse from one country to another. These activities are particularly significant to the economies of riparian states. However, piracy adversely implicates these activities. This paper uses a comparative methodology to analyse international trade and piracy in Korea, Indonesia and Nigeria, and argues that though these countries have criminalized piracy, Korea has effectively implemented its antipiracy legislation in the prosecution of pirates in Korean courts. Moreover, unlike Indonesia and Nigeria, Korea has, inter alia, regularly strengthened its piracy institutional regime and entrenched democracy in its governance. Thus, unlike Indonesia and Nigeria, piracy affects Korea through attacks on Korea vessels on international sea lanes, Korean seafarers in foreign-owned vessels and Korean-bound vessels. The paper, therefore, suggests that Indonesia and Nigeria should adopt Korea's counterpiracy initiatives to curb the spate of piratical attacks off the Indonesian and Nigerian waters.


Deep learning has yielded extraordinary results in vision and natural language processing, but this achievement comes at a cost. Most models require enormous resources during training, both in terms of computation and in human labeling effort. We show that we can identify informative and diverse subsets of data that lead to deep learning models with similar performance as the ones trained with the original dataset. Prior methods have exploited diversity and uncertainty in submodular objective functions for choosing subsets. In addition to these measures, we show that balancing constraints on predicted class labels and decision boundaries are beneficial. We propose a novel formulation of these constraints using matroids, an algebraic structure that generalizes linear independence in vector spaces, and present an efficient greedy algorithm with constant approximation guarantees. We outperform competing baselines on standard classification datasets such as CIFAR-10, CIFAR-100, ImageNet, as well as long-tailed datasets such as CIFAR-100-LT.


Its material is divided both along broad chronological lines and according to subject matter. The journalistic writings proper, which already form part of Goethe's early development, are treated first. Essays by the young Goethe come next and these are joined to somewhat later pieces related in tone or style, e.g. "Die Natur," "Über den Granit." The rest of the study is concerned with the bulk of the essays, a writing mass of the most varied subject matter and form, which is arranged under headings such as "Weimarer Kunstprogramm," "Deutsche Litetatur," "Gesellschaft" (e.g. "Das Römische Carneval," "St. Rochus-Fest zu Bingen"), "Literarhistorisch," "Kunsthistorisch," "Naturwissenschaftlich" (limited to essayistic pieces such as "Über die Spiraltendenz der Vegetation," "Versuch die Metamorphose der Pflanzen zu erklären") and "Methodologisches" (e.g. "Anschauende Urteilskraft," which is directed against Kant). Wohlleben introduces this greater part of his survey with a section titled "Typologie des Goetheschen Essays" (pp. 44-54). It is here that an attempt is made to go beyond content and to characterize the style of the essays. Their style is as varied as their subject matter and, there being no well-established norm for the essay (is there any longer for any literary genre?), the author finds himself forced to use terms like "latente Essayistik," "virtuelle Essays," to encompass the unique style and form of the shorter expository


According to the acoustical method introduce here, a pair of pure tones, of 2 kHz with a duration of 20 msec, was given repeatedly as acoustical stimuli. The interval of the two tones was changed stepwisely to determine the threshold, Tm, of acoustical fusion of the two tones. Simultaneously, the traditional optical flicker fusion technique was used to determine the corresopnding threshold, Fm. Then, Tm was examined whether it could be utilized to measure fatigue. The following three kind of experiments were carried out: 1) Tm showed a reasonable diurnal change, which was just in the counter phase of that of Fm. 2) A questionnaire survey about various factors ascribable to subjective fatigue in daily activities was conducted, and made measurement and analysis of these various factors of fatigue including Tm and Fm. (a) The weights of the factors contributing to Tm and Fm was assessed by Hayashi's Quantification Theory (I). The result showed that Fm was determined chiefly by the major activity of the day, the type of drinks taken just before the measurement, and the degree of waking level, while Tm tended to be determined by the day of the week, weather conditions, etc. also, it was found that both of Fm and Tm were determined similarly by the activity prior to measurement, the subjective fatigue level, and the time of measurement. (b) The weights of factors contributing to subjective fatigue was determined by Hayashi's Quantification Theory (II). The result showed that the subjective fatigue was mainly determined by the degree of waking level, Tm, the activity prior to the measurement, and Fm. 3) Fm and Tm were changed by VDT workload. Fm was changed in the negative direction, while Tm was changed in the positive. Thus, it may be concluded that Tm is acceptable as a indicator of work-indused fatigue.


Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's approach to science is a radical departure from the Cartesian-Newtonian scientific framework and offers contemporary science a pathway toward the cultivation of an alternative approach to the study of the natural world. This paper argues that the Cartesian-Newtonian pathway is pathological because it has as its premise humanity's alienation from the natural world, which sets up a host of consequences that terminate in nihilism. As an alternative approach to science, Goethe's "delicate empiricism" begins with the premise that humanity is fundamentally at home in the world: a notion which forms the basis for a Goethean science that gives primacy to perception, offers a more organic and holistic conception of the universe, and has as its goal the cultivation of aesthetic appreciation and morally responsive obligation to the observed. As an antidote to nihilism and as the basis for a more fulfilling and morally responsive science, Goethean science may serve as a kind of cultural therapeutics, a project which is necessarily interdisciplinary since it requires the integration of multiple ways of seeing from the natural sciences, the human sciences, and the humanities.


In this work, dry sawmill residues were gasified in a full-scale system, producing synthesis gas that was burned for saturated vapor production. The gasification system consists of wood shavings and blunts storage chamber; a mechanical transport system, a gasification chamber and the boiler, were the synthesis gas is burned for vapor production. The gasification chamber has a volume of approximately 8 m 3 . Gasification takes place due to a restrained oxygen supply in the gasification chamber, were oxygen reacts exothermally, converting the biomass into synthesis gas at 350°C. Biomass humidity is a restricting factor in gasification processes, as part of the heat is lost in water evaporation. In this case, shavings and blunts have 8% humidity. The gasification reactor can be used with different types of organic residues, such as sawdust, shavings, wood blunts, and wastes from the agro-industry.


Two players compete in a contest where the flrst player to win a specifled number of points wins the game, and the flrst player to win a specifled number of games wins the set. This paper proves two generalized inequalities, each independent of the probability of winning a point, concerning the better player's chances of winning. Counterexamples are given for two additional conjectured inequalities. A sequence of integers which plays a signiflcant role in this paper can be found in A033820 of the On-line Encyclopedia of Integer Sequences. A and B play a set of games. The winner of each game is the flrst player to win k points, andthewinnerofthesetistheflrstplayertowin ngames. Theprobabilitiesthat Aand B wineachpointare pand q,respectively,with p+ q=1. Let P(n; k; p)and Q(n; k; p)bethe probabilitiesthat Awinsandlosestheset,respectively. Let P(n; p)= P(n;1; p)= P(1; n; p) and Q(n; p)= Q(n;1; p)= Q(1; n; p) be the probabilities that A wins and loses an n point game, respectively. (Note that P(n; k; p) = P(n; P(k; p)) and Q(n; k; p) = Q(n; P(k; p)). This paperproves thefollowing two theorems: Theorem 1. If n'2; k '2; and :5 P(nk; p). Theorem 2. If 2• k P(k; n; p).


The carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is the most common peripheral neuropathy resulting from compression of the median nerve at the wrist, affecting mainly the female sex, between the third and sixth decade of life. Its clinical manifestations are pain, numbness and tingling in upper extremities, and an increasingly recognized cause of incapacity for work. Physical examination of patients with CTS has classic signs such as Tinel's , Phalen's and Durkan signs (median nerve compression). The diagnosis of CTS is based on clinical examination and electromyography (gold standard) or imaging (with limitations). Treatment options range from conservative and surgical treatment. We report a brief review of this syndrome and its forms of diagnosis and treatment.


In this paper, output feedback control is presented for a general class of uncertain nonaffine nonlinear systems, that does not rely on state estimation. Under the condition that only the system output is available for feedback, a dynamic linear filter is built to estimate unknown nonlinearities, and an output feedback controller is developed to stabilize the systems by utilizing the estimation to compensate for the unknown nonlinearities. One important feature of the proposed control is that the controller is developed under mild conditions with simple control algorithms, which is of great significance in engineering practice. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the control approach.


According to Floyd,life instinct and death instinct are two opposite instincts existing side by side.The contradictions and struggles between them constitute the inner mechanism and impetus for the development of life and civilization.The traditional morality based on consciousness psychology is in a difficult position because life instinct,entangled by death instinct,is not able to develop.That is to say,human civilization is in a difficult position,too.The new morality based on unconsciousness psychology will take globality as the basic orientation,life instinct and death instinct as the basic principles for life activities,and integrate both of them so as to create unified and integral human civilization.


Mast cells develop from progenitor cells that in turn arise from uncommitted hematopoietic stem cells in the bone marrow. These cells express the receptor for stem cell factor (SCF receptor or c-kit) that binds to SCF, the latter  being a major growth factor for mast cells.Researchers have described a CD34+, c-kit+, and CD13- precursor that develops into mast cells in the presence of specific growth factors. Mast cell progenitors also have been described in peripheral blood by others, which may suggest the presence of a distinct pool of cells separate from leukocytes or mononuclear cells The interactions between SCF and c-kit and the subsequent signaling that follows are crucial for the growth and development  of mast cells. In humans, studies have demonstrated that mutations of c-kit and elevated levels of the c-kit proto oncogene are associated with the development of the syndrome of mastocytosis, a condition characterized by mast cell infiltration of skin and other tissues. SCF has multiple biological effects on mast cells, including modulating differentiation and homing, prolonging viability, inducing mast cell hyperplasia, and enhancing mediator production.Mast cells may play crucial roles in various disease states, including vascular disease, fibrotic states, rheumatological disease, certain malignancies, and in host defense against infectious pathogens. KEY-WORDS: Mast cell, SCF, CD13, CD34+


Introduction Protolichesterinic acid (PA), an aliphatic α-methylene γ-lactone isolated from the lichen Iceland moss (Cetraria islandica) has an anti-proliferative effect against a variety human cancer cells. In multiple myeloma cells PA induces apoptosis. The anti-proliferative effect of PA is not mediated by the known inhibitory action of PA on 5- and 12-lipoxygenases and effects on growth factor signalling are secondary. PA inhibits DNA replication and earlier studies indicated direct effects of PA on HIV reverse transcriptase (RT) and DNA polymerase. RT inhibitors are known to affect mitochondria. Material and methods Molecular modelling software (Glide, Schrödinger, LLC) was used to test for the ability of PA to bind onto DNA polymerases α, β, γ and θ. The crystal structures of polymerases were acquired from Protein Data Bank (PDB ID: 4QCL, 5TB8, 4ZTZ and 5A9F, respectively) and PA was docked into each structure. The effects of PA on mitochondria were assessed morphologically by electron microscopy and metabolically by measuring extracellular glucose and lactate concentrations in cell medium after 6 and 24 hour (ABL90 FLEX blood gas analyzer) in the pancreatic cancer cell line Aspc-1, the breast cancer cell line T47D, normal skin fibroblast and MCF-10 non-tumorigenic breast epithelial cell line. Results and discussions PA docked to all four types of DNA polymerases, creating multiple hydrogen bonds directly with the enzymes/polymerases and with the metal ion (Mg2+) cofactor. Hydrogen bonds to the metal ions bridging the interaction to the enzyme appeared important and might be necessary/important for the activity of protolichesterinic acid and explain its mechanism of action. Morphological changes in mitochondria were observed following exposure to PA in both cancer cell lines, but these were difficult to interpret. Aspc-1 pancreatic cancer showed a significant increase in lactate production after 24 hour exposure to PA. This was not observed in the breast cell lines, T47D and MCF-10. Aspc-1 is less sensitive to the anti-proliferative effects of PA than the breast cell lines. Further metabolomics studies are in progress. Conclusion Docking study of crystal structures of DNA polymerases indicates that PA could affect activity of several types of DNA polymerase, but this remains to be tested experimentally. PA may affect mitochondrial structure but increased lactate production is associated with relative resistance to its anti-proliferative effects.


N i n e t y c h i l d r e n f r o m g r a d e s 2 , 4 and 6 r e s p o n d e d t o a m u l t i p l e c h o i c e M e n t a l H e a l t h C o n c e p t s Q u e s t i o n n a i r e and t o i n t e r v i e w q u e s t i o n s c o n c e r n i n g c h a r a c t e r s i n c a r t o o n s t r i p s who d i s p l a y e d m e n t a l l y r e t a r d e d , c r i p p l e d , n e u r o t i c , and a u t i s t i c b e h a v i o u r . A l l c h i l d r e n were a d m i n i s t e r e d t h e Peabody P i c t u r e V o c a b u l a r y T e s t ( P P V T ) . Q u e s t i o n n a i r e s p e c i a l r e s p o n s e s c a l e s and i n t e r v i e w c o m p r e h e n s i o n s c o r e s we re a n a l y s e d b y 3 l e v e l 1-way ANOVAs; c o m p r e h e n s i o n s c o r e s we re a l s o a n a l y s e d by 1-way r e p e a t e d measu res ANOVAs; Q u a l i t a t i v e i n t e r v i e w d a t a we re coded and t h e n a n a l y s e d b y ANOVAs o f p r o p o r t i o n s . F a v o r a b i l i t y d a t a f o r e a c h c h a r a c t e r w e r e a n a l y s e d b y a . 3 w a y b e t w e e n w i t h i n ANOVA. P e a r s o n c o r r e l a t i o n s r e v e a l e d s i g n i f i c a n t r e l a t i o n s h i p s among t o t a l q u e s t i o n n a i r e s c o r e s , c o m p r e h e n s i o n s c o r e s and PPVT s c o r e s a t a l l g rade l e v e l s . S i x q u e s t i o n n a i r e s p e c i a l r e s p o n s e s c a l e s s u g g e s t e d s e v e r a l p a t t e r n s . Grade 2 c h i l d r e n t e n d e d t o a s s o c i a t e m e n t a l h e a l t h c o n c e p t s w i t h m e d i c a l te rms and t o b e l i e v e c o n d i t i o n s c o u l d change w i t h e f f o r t more t h a n h i g h e r g r a d e s d i d . W i t h a g e , c h i l d r e n were l e s s l i k e l y t o p e r c e i v e b e h a v i o u r as a t t e n t i o n s e e k i n g and more l i k e l y t o a s s o c i a t e b e h a v i o u r w i t h f a m i l i a l f a c t o r s . Grade 4 c h i l d r e n a s s o c i a t e d r e t a r d a t i o n and m e n t a l i l l n e s s w i t h i n a b i l i t y t o change more t h a n c h i l d r e n i n t h e o t h e r g r a d e s d i d . I n c r e a s i n g l y w i t h a g e , c h i l d r e n a s s o c i a t e d t e rms w h i c h i n c l u d e t h e wo rd " m e n t a l " w i t h r e t a r d a t i o n . I n t e r v i e w s e l i c i t e d r e s p o n s e s t o q u e s t i o n s on e t i o l o g y , c o n t r o l and change f o r t he f o u r b e h a v i o u r s . C h i l d r e n s h i f t e d f r o m b e l i e v i n g t h a t b e h a v i o u r s we re s e l f i n d u c e d t o p e r c e i v i n g b e h a v i o u r s as r e f l e c t i o n s o f e n v i r o n m e n t a l i n f l u e n c e s . Grade 2 c h i l d r e n b e l i e v e d t h e c h a r a c t e r s w o u l d o u t g r o w t h e i r b e h a v i o u r s o r c o u l d change t h e i r b e h a v i o u r s t h r o u g h e f f o r t . Grade 4 i i i c h i l d r e n , more t h a n c h i l d r e n i n t h e o t h e r g r a d e s , t e n d e d t o c i t e t h e r o l o f e n v i r o n m e n t a l l y i n i t i a t e d h e l p i n f a c i l i t a t i n g c h a n g e . E f f o r t , s e l f r e f l e c t i o n and e n v i r o n m e n t a l r e i n f o r c e m e n t were m a j o r c h a n n e l s o f change s u g g e s t e d by g r a d e 6 c h i l d r e n . A u t i s t i c and n e u r o t i c c h a r a c t e r s we re r a t e d l e s s f a v o r a b l y t h a n t h e c r i p p l e d o r r e t a r d e d c h a r a c t e r s . R e s u l t s we re c o n s i d e r e d w i t h i n a s o c i a l c o g n i t i v e d e v e l o p m e n t a l f r wo rk . G rade d i f f e r e n c e s r e f l e c t e d t h e young c h i l d ' s c o g n i t i v e d e c e n t e r i n g and i n c r e a s i n g e x p o s u r e t o s o c i a l a t t i t u d e s . By g r a d e 6, many c h i l d r e n have a d o p t e d p r e v a l e n t a d u l t a t t i t u d e s t oward e m o t i o n a l l y d i s t u r b e d b e h a v i o u r . amei v TABLE OF CONTENTS


5 Non-destructive and non-invasive X-ray computed tomography (CT) is increasingly used in 6 environmental geotechnics research. As a result of recent advances in technology and image 7 processing techniques, CT with rapid scanning now has the potential to track changes in soil 8 structure or soil water conditions as they happen, rather than as previously on a specimen in 9 (temporary) stasis. Gathering meaningful data in a short scan time requires compromises to be made 10 on parameters such as exposure time, and / or the use of higher X-ray intensities and energies. Data 11 processing and imaging processing - including the removal of any artefacts, which can cause errors 12 in interpretation of soil structure or phase proportions - then become especially important. One such 13 artefact is the heel effect. It has been recognised in medical imaging, owing to its association with 14 high scan energies. However, it has not previously been identified in soil imaging, despite the trend 15 towards using higher energies. This paper presents an investigation into the potential for the heel 16 effect to affect the soil property determination. It is shown for the first time that a noticeable heel effect will be present in CT images of soils and derived phase proportion data, when certain types of 18 X-ray reflection targets are used. A correction method for the heel effect is presented, use of which 19 will prevent significant errors in derived soil parameters such as water content. Word Count Abstract: 231 words Notation:


Non-performing loans has been one of the biggest problems in the banking sector. One alternative to minimize credit risk is to improve the evaluation of the applicant's credibility. Credit scoring is an evaluation of the feasibility of credit requests. For financial institution, poor credit may lead to an increase in non-preforming loans that may reduce bank productivity even in the event of financial crises and financial institutions bankruptcy Previously, credit scoring is based on the conventional statistics such as logistic regression and discriminant analysis. those techniques produce a good accuracy, some of the assumptions aren't accomplished by the data. Along the development of information technology, more advance approach named data mining has been developed. Therefore, this study used the Data Mining approach to solve NPL percentage problems in Indonesian bank, specifically in its mortgage loan. The classifiers used are decision tree C4.5 and random forest. Classifier with the best accuracy is random forest with Adaboost with 72.95%, on the other hand the worst accuracy performed by C4.5 with 68,7%. The best sensitivity performed by random forest complemented by Ada-boost with 0,730. It is considered as the best model in terms of prevent the type II error which could impact to the increase of non-performing loan in a bank. By the end of the research, it can be concluded that all types of random forest model out-perform the C4.5 decision tree.


OBJECTIVE: To estimate the association between change or constant habit in coffee drinking and incident Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in a nondemented Italian older population. BACKGROUND: Coffee is regularly consumed by millions of people around the world and owing to its caffeine content, it is the best known psychoactive stimulant resulting in heightened alertness and arousal and improvement of cognitive performance. DESIGN/METHODS: Out of 5,632 individuals,1445 agreed to participate in the Italian Longitudinal Study on Aging, a multicenter population-based study with a 3.5-year median follow-up. One hundred and five MCI patients new events at followup were indentified using Petersen modified criteria1. Time to event was evaluated by Cox hazards models. RESULTS: Cognitively normal elderly individuals who changed by increasing in time their habits of coffee drinking (>1 cup of coffee/day) had higher rate of MCI compared to those with reduced habits ( 2 cup of coffee/day) and incident MCI in comparison with those who never or rarely consumed coffee. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitively normal elderly individuals who never or rarely consumed coffee/day and those who changed in excess their habits in coffee consumption have a higher risk to developing MCI. Supported by: 1. Solfrizzi V, et al. Vascular risk factors, incidence of MCI, and rates of progression to dementia. Neurology. 2004 Nov 23;63:1882-91. Disclosure: Dr. Solfrizzi has nothing to disclose. Dr. sabba has nothing to disclose. Dr. Panza has nothing to disclose. Dr. scafato has nothing to disclose. Dr. Logroscino has nothing to disclose.


Objective To study the sero-prevalence and correlates of HIV infection among men who have sex with men(MSM) in Suzhou.Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted among MSM in Suzhou.A face-to-face interview was administered to each MSM under informed consent.Socio-demographic factors and HIV-related behavior characteristics were evaluated by means of questionnaires,and venous blood samples were collected for HIV and syphilis antibody test.Results 717 MSM participated in the study.The median age was 26 years with 69.7% as unmarried MSM.The sero-prevalence of HIV was 8.1%(58/717),and the sero-positivity of syphilis was 14.6%(105/717).Multivariate Logistic regression analysis indicated that college or above educated MSM were less likely to be HIV infected than those less than college educated(OR=0.40,95% CI:0.19~0.87),MSM from other cities of Jiangsu Province were more likely to be HIV infected than Suzhou local MSM(OR=2.70,95% CI:1.19~6.12).MSM who had receptive anal sex in the recent 6 months were more likely to be HIV infected(OR=2.85,95% CI:1.27~6.38),those having had two or more homosexual partners(OR=3.48,95% CI:1.01~11.96),MSM rarely using condoms in anal sex(OR=9.57,95% CI:3.30~27.78) or never using condoms(OR=9.13,95% CI:2.18~38.28) in the recent 6 months sex were more likely to be HIV infected.Conclusions HIV infection was highly prevalent among MSM in Suzhou,especially in those who were less than college educated and migrated from other cities of Jiangsu Province.Receptive anal sex,multiple sexual partners and rarely using condoms were correlated to HIV infection.Behavioral interventions among MSM should be a high priority in local HIV prevention and control programs.


The presence of cuts in a thin planar sheet can dramatically alter its mechanical and geometrical response to loading, as the cuts allow the sheet to deform strongly in the third dimension. We use numerical experiments to characterize the geometric mechanics of kirigamized sheets as a function of the number, size and orientation of cuts. We show that the geometry of mechanically loaded sheets can be approximated as a composition of simple developable units: flats, cylinders, cones and compressed Elasticae. This geometric construction yields simple scaling laws for the mechanical response of the sheet in both the weak and strongly deformed limit. In the ultimately stretched limit, this further leads to a theorem on the nature and form of geodesics in an arbitrary kirigami pattern, consistent with observations and simulations. By varying the shape and size of the geodesic in a kirigamized sheet, we show that we can control the deployment trajectory of the sheet, and thence its functional properties as a robotic gripper or a soft light window. Overall our study of random kirigami sets the stage for controlling the shape and shielding the stresses in thin sheets using cuts.


The impact of wind energy is inevitable in modern day power system. With the increase in load demand the need of wind energy is increasing day by day. But grid connected wind farm suffers from a voltage sag after any line fault. This voltage sag can be eliminated with the help of FACTS devices. This paper describes the use of Static Synchronous Compensator (STATCOM) in a grid connected wind farm to maintain stable voltage after a fault. In this paper a STATCOM model and a Wind Farm has been designed using MATLAB SIMULINK software. The simulation results obtained from the model is used to observe the effect of transient disturbance caused due to the fault on the grid connected wind energy conversion system WECS.


In India, the Diamond Back Moth (DBM), Plutella xylostella (L), has consistently remained the most devastating pest of cruciferous vegetables assumes the pest status of national importance (Yadava. et. al., 1974; Lingappa. et. al., 2000; Shankar and Raju, 2002). The pest is a limiting factors in production of cruciferous vegetables particularly cabbage in the subtropics. The estimated annual crop losses due to the pest are US$ I 6 million in India (Mohan and Gujar 2003), US$ 40-70 million for cabbage and US$ 0.4 million for broccoli in Texas (Shelton 2004). DBM outbreaks could cause as much as 90 per cent crop loss in South East Asia (Verkerk and Wright 1996), 52% in India (Krishnamoorthy 2004), 80-90% damage on summer cabbage in China (Zhao et al., 1996) and 1248.7 t ha · in Ethiopia (Ayalew 2006). Efforts to control this pest solely through conventional insecticides led to development resistant to almost all insecticides available in India (Chawla and Joia, 199 l; Vastard et al., 2004). It has also developed resistance not only to synthetic insecticides but also to Bacillus thuringiensis based pesticides (Balasubramani et al., 2008). Currently, this insect has become resistant to almost all classes of insecticides used against it in South-East Asian countries (Dhaliwal et al., 2010). The injudicious use of pesticides for the control of DBM has generated a number of biological and environmental hazards. Under such situation, an effective new molecule is important which will be less hazardous to environment. The pesticide, pyridalyl belongs to a new class of insecticides with unique mode of action from other existing insecticides (Sakamoto et al., 2004). The present study was initiated for evaluation the bioefficacy of pyridalyl against DBM on cabbage and it's impact on some natural enemies viz. Apanteles plute//ae, Bracon brevicornis, Ch1ysoperla carnea and Trichogramma chi/onis. Field experiments were conducted at the University experimental farm and under laboratory condition at Kalyani, West Bengal, during two consecutive years 2003-04 and 2004-05. Drum head, variety was selected for the exiperiment with spacing of 60 x 45 cm. The experiment was design through RBD with four replication. The plot size was 50 m. The treatments evaluated were an untreated control, pyridalyl 10 EC, indoxacarb 14.5 EC and spinosad 45


When patients with Stokes-Adams disease are treated with artificial pacemakers the threshold for stimulation of the heart rises initially (Senning, 1959; Stephenson, 1960; Zoll et al., 1961; Kantrowitz et al., 1962) and threshold values of up to 200 volts have been reported (Dittmar, Friese, and Holder, 1962). The threshold may fall again after an initial rise (Chardack, Gage, and Greatbatch, 1960; Simpson et al., 1962) and usually reaches a plateau after a few weeks. This paper reports the results of measurements of acute and chronic thresholds in 50 patients.


Since the system about the suit of the third party revocation is established in the new civil procedure law,the system defects and the functional overlap issues have become more conspicuous in the rights relief system of the third party in China's civil litigation,which require the comprehensive optimization reconstruction of its internal elements and structure from the viewpoint of system theory. The options that secure the realization are to distinguish the proper plaintiff as the relief subject in the litigation participation of the third party,the suit of the outsider's objection to execution and the suit of the third party outsider's revocation with a simply practical and commonly operable criterion,cancel the outsider 's application for a retrial,and perfect the respective functions through the setting,changing and abolishing in the judicial interpretation,as well as realize the seamless match of the procedural security systems of the third party before and after the event.


The response of the magnetized plasma in an axisymmetric, plasma‐filled, solenoidal magnetic lens, to intense light ion beam injection is studied. The lens plasma fill is modeled as an inertialess, resistive, electron magnetohydrodynamic (EMHD) fluid since characteristic beam times τ satisfy 2π/ωpe,2π/Ωe≪τ≤2π/Ωi (ωpe is the electron plasma frequency and Ωe,i are the electron, ion gyrofrequencies). When the electron collisionality satisfies νe≪Ωe, the linear plasma response is determined by whistler wave dynamics. In this case, current neutralization of the beam is reduced on the time scale for whistler wave transit across the beam. The transit time is inversely proportional to the electron density and proportional to the angle of incidence of the beam with respect to the applied solenoidal field. In the collisional regime (νe>Ωe) the plasma return currents decay on the normal diffusive time scale determined by the conductivity. The analysis is supported by two‐and‐one‐half dimensional hybrid particle‐in‐c...


Literary work in the form of drama or prose is seen as a psychological phenomenon that displays aspects of psychology (structure of personality) through the characters of the story. This study aims to describe Willem's personality structure in the form of id, ego, and superego. This descriptive qualitative research used content analysis to study the novel Dasamuka. The approach used in this study is the literary psychology proposed by Sigmund Freud. The validity of the data in this study was obtained using triangulation methods. Data analysis technique employed in this study is interactive analysis technique. The findings of this study are that Willem's id is dominated by the instinct of death and avoidance of discomfort; Willem's ego is shown by strong efforts and decisions in realizing their desires and duties; and Willem's superego is seen in the understanding of the moral or rules in society, the emergence of humanity, and feelings of guilt or sin.


Objective To establish the models of Mycobacterium tuberculosis(MTB) infecting RAW264.7 macrophages,and study the correlation between Hsp16.3 of MTB and the apoptosis of infected macrophages.Methods RAW264.7 cells were infected by H37Rv and BCG strains,after being infected of 1 h,3 h,6 h,and 12 h,the infected RAW264.7 macrophages models were identified by confocal laster scanning microscope.Then flow cytometry was used to detect the macrophage apoptosis rate and analysis infected macrophages group apoptosis rate's change in different time phases.After PCR amplifying model purpose gene,western blot was used to compare and analysis the Hsp16.3 levels of phase changes.Results The infected RAW264.7 macrophages were identified by Confocal laster scanning microscope: MTB16KD green mark was detected.The mycobacterium tuberculosis infecting macrophages models were established.After being infected by H37Rv and BCG,the apoptosis rate of macrophages increased.The apoptosis rate in 1 、3 and 12 h increased obviously,and the difference was statistically significant(P0.05).With macrophages being infected by MTB,there was a specific band at 435 bp of PCR amplification products.The expression of MTBHsp16.3 increased after infection,which increased obviously in 1 h and 3 h.Conclusion The infection of MTB induced the macrophages' apoptosis;the apoptosis rate was related to the virulence of MTB;macrophages which were infected by the weak virulent MTB had a much more pronouned early apoptosis.Being infected by different virulence of MTB,the apoptosis rate of macrophages was related to the expression levels of MTB Hsp16.3 of which the expression of the power full virulent MTB was much more significant than that of the less virulent in the early phase of infection.


Aesthetic value outlook is the essential part of value outlook on life. It is significant for university students to set up right and lofty aesthetic value outlook. There is many similarities in aesthetic function, attitudes and cognition between the eastern and western university students. Meanwhile, there is also differences in the aspects of history, culture, geography, economy, and etc., which makes their aesthetic value outlook distinct from each other to some extent.


INTRODUCTION Organophosphorus insecticides are used all over the world and are household items in India. Because of their easy accessibility, their ingestion either accidentally or for a suicidal purpose is common in India. They are anticholinesterases and following their ingestion various symptoms like excessive salivation, nausea, abdominal cramps and muscular weakness may occur.' Acute pancreatitis occurring as a complication of an anticholinesterase insecticide intoxication was first reported by Dressel' et al (1979) and has since been reported by us from India • Malathion is an organophosphorus insecticide and is marketed in India as a 2 per cent solution in 50 ml bottles. A prospective study was done to find the incidence of pancreatic involvement in malathion poisoning.


Physicians may be an important source of blood donations as they are more likely to be familiar with the importance of donating and the donation process. The aim of this study is to report physicians' knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards voluntary and non‐voluntary blood donations.


The difference of the visible light and near infrared band reflectance among water,vegetation,urban and soil is the foundation of extracting water by means of the remote sensing data.The images of band 1,2 and the water bodies which are extracted using the NDVI from MODIS images have combined to form a new color image.This color image holds image resolution and makes us quickly recognize the water.


The Motion in Place Platform was an infrastructure experiment which sought to provide a 'deep' mapping of reconstructed human movement. It was a collaboration between Animazoo, a Brighton-based motion hardware company, researchers from the University of Sussex's Informatics lab, digital humanities researchers at King's College London, and the University of Bedfordshire. Both 3D reconstruction and Virtual Reality (VR) in archaeology have been used to a great extent in the presentation and interpretation of archaeological sites in the past twenty years. However, there remains a predominant focus on their use as a means of illustration which, while enhancing the visual perception of the site, facilitates only passive consumption by the audience. There is little critical discussion in the literature of how 3D digital environments might aid our interpretation of the occupation of space or the usage of artefacts, and of what the evidential constraints that bind such interpretation. This paper reports on two linked experiments which sought to use motion capture technology to test the validity of digital reconstruction in exploring such interpretations, using domestic round house buildings of the British Iron Age. No such buildings survive physically, so interpretation about their occupation and usage is solely dependent on reconstruction and experimentation. Contemporary human movement was captured in a studio-based representation of a round house, and compared with comparable movements captured in an experimental reconstruction of the same environment. The results indicate significant quantitative variation in physical human responses to the two environments, which should help inform the practice of using 3D reconstruction for archaeological sites in the future.


The Medical Journal of Australia ISSN: 0025-729X 2 September 2002 177 5 233234 ©The Medical Journal of Australia 2002 www.mja.com.au Conference Report HOLLYWOOD CELEBRITY Pamela Anderson's announcement that she has hepatitis C was a major talking point at this recent confere ce. Unlike similar announcements of HIV infection, Ms Anderson has not positioned herself as a celebrity campaigner — there is no princess or pop star championing the rights of people with hepatitis C or demanding extra funding for research or services. Hepatitis C has been characterised as an "epidemic of difference", affecting people from a wide variety of ethnic, cultural and class backgrounds, with implications for the ability of people with hepatitis C to organise and advocate for changes in policy to improve their lives. Until recently, a study by Crofts et al (1997) was the only example of academic research to focus on hepatitis Crelated discrimination and to highlight the part played by healthcare professionals.2 It is timely that many presentations from the recent Third Australasian Conference on Hepatitis C, held in Melbourne in March 2002, highlighted the discriminatory attitudes and practices of some healthcare workers when treating and working among people with hepatitis C. Presentations discussed both institutional and interpersonal discrimination against people with hepatitis C. The relatively low level of community and government concern regarding this epidemic was alluded to in several presentations, suggesting a form of systemic discrimination. There have been more than 160 000 notified cases of hepatitis C since antibody testing became available in 1990. Alex Wodak (Director, Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney) described the estimated incidence of 16 000 new infections in 2001 as one every 33 minutes. Given the high prevalence and estimated incidence of the hepatitis C epidemic, Nick Crofts (Head, Epidemiology and Social Research Unit, Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical Research and Public Health [Burnet Institute], Melbourne) questioned whether the government response might have been quicker and better funded if hepatitis C primarily affected people other than injecting drug users.5 Similarly, conference presentations from people with hepatitis C, community organisations and researchers challenged the positioning of hepatitis C (in their view) as a "second-class" disease. These presentations indicated that people with hepatitis C are tainted as past or current drug users and suffer attitudes of blame from healthcare professionals, often described as "userphobia". Grant McNally (Chair, United Kingdom Assembly on Hepatitis C) summarised the effects of these negative attitudes on people with hepatitis C: they take for granted and come to expect substandard levels of healthcare.6 Academic presentations documented the effects of discrimination on prevention, testing, living with hepatitis C, quality of life, treatment and prognosis. A paper by Michael Kerger (Manager, Centre for Harm Reduction, Burnet Institute), Campbell Aitken (Research Fellow, Centre for Harm Reduction, Burnet Institute) and Nick Crofts discussed piloting peer-delivered hepatitis C testing and counselling at a needle and syringe program.7 The authors highlighted current injecting drug users' fear of discrimination following disclosure of their injecting status to doctors. This fear meant that users often did not present for hepatitis C testing. Max Hopwood (Senior Research Officer, National Centre in HIV Social Research, University of New South Wales, Sydney) and Erica Southgate (Research Fellow, National Centre in HIV Social Research) reported that people with hepatitis C at times feel pressured by healthcare workers to reveal their hepatitis C status.8 They described how some people with hepatitis C were refused medical treatment and had their positive serostatus disclosed to other healthcare workers without permission. Similarly, in discussing women's experiences of living with hepatitis C while using drugs, Mary O'Brien (Researcher, Australian Centre for Research into Sex, Health and Society, La Trobe University, Melbourne) reported that participants in their study who were current injecting drug users were treated less favourably by healthcare professionals than women with hepatitis C who were not currently injecting drugs. Sandy Gifford (Professor, School of Health Sciences, Deakin University, Melbourne) presented a paper noting the harmful impact of hepatitis C-related discrimination on participants' qualityof-life measures, including physical and emotional health scores.10 The participation of people from the affected communities provided opportunity for elaboration and reflection on research from the perspective of those primarily affected by hepatitis C. People with hepatitis C spoke informally of feelings of guilt, shame, low self-esteem and self-worth that arose as a result of their interactions with some healthcare professionals. They claimed that internalising stigma led to missed opportunities for care and support from social networks and had implications for people's access to healthcare services. Deb Warneke (Metropolitan Educator, Hepatitis C Council of South Australia) and Richard Hanssens (Representative, Hepatitis C Resource Centre, Christchurch, New Hepatitis C-related discrimination in healthcare


'Monthly waterbird counts from February 1974 to June 1977 at six wetlands in the Richmond River valley in northern coastal New South Wales were analysed to investigate relationships between numbers of each species, and season and water variables. Black swan, Pacific black duck, purple swamphen, dusky moorhen, cattle egret, comb-crested jacana and sharp-tailed sandpiper were strongly influenced by season. Grey teal, straw-necked ibis, little black cormorant, Pacific heron and black-winged stilt numbers were related to Murray River discharge, an index of inland wetland availability in New South Wales, northern Victoria and parts of southern Queensland. Numbers of most waterbirds were highest on the coast from late summer to the end of winter. Their seasonal abundance patterns conform with the results of some previous studies but differ somewhat from others.


Background and aim : Paying attention to the social and psychological problems and consequences of epilepsy in patients and their families is of utmost importance that should be addressed in several studies. So this study aimed to investigate the relationship between self-management and social stigma with epilepsy referring to epilepsy Iranian association. Materials and Methods : This study is cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical. The population of study is consisted of all epileptic patients whose disease is confirmed by a doctor and they were members of Iranian epilepsy association in 2015 year.162 patients were selected using sampling method and responded a questionnaire on demographic factors, social stigma and self-management scale of epilepsy patients. To analyze the data, Pearson correlation and stepwise regression were used. Results: The results showed that there is a statistically significant negative relationship between self-management and medication management components, information management, security management, convulsion management and lifestyle management with social stigma. Also results of multiple regression analysis showed that drug management and safety management predicted and explained 38.5% of variations in social stigma. Conclusion : By increasing self-management and its components, social stigma is reduced and consequently effective steps are taken for the recovery process and controlling the disease in epilepsy patients.


We study structures of the $0^+$ states of $^{13}_\Lambda$C within the framework of $\alpha+\alpha+\alpha+\Lambda$ four-body orthogonality condition model with the Gaussian expansion method. We obtain five $0^+$ states of $^{13}_\Lambda$C and compare them with the low-lying four $0^+$ states of $^{12}$C. We find that the $0_1^+$, $0_2^+$ and $0_4^+$ states correspond to the $0_1^+$, $0_2^+$ and $0_4^+$ states of $^{12}$C, respectively. We also find that both the $0_3^+$ and $0_5^+$ states have analogous nature to the $0_3^+$ state of $^{12}$C, where the additional $\Lambda$ particle couples with $^8$Be cluster and one $\alpha$ cluster, in the $0_3^+$ state of $^{12}$C, respectively. The former is then shown to have an elongated $^9_\Lambda$Be$(0_1^+) + \alpha$ cluster structure with a higher nodal behaviour for their relative wave function, and the latter have a dilute three-body gas consisting of $2\alpha+^5_\Lambda$He clusters.


A movable-bed hydraulic model study was carried out of a new road bridge across the Umfolozi River in Zululand, Natal. The model was designed in accordance with the shear/settling velocity criterion, V\d〈\dr=W\dr, and crushed anthracite was used as bed material (170υ\N). The horizontal and vertical scales were 1 in 250 and 1 in 100 respectively. The velocity scale was based on Froude's law and, with the large tractive force in this steep river, it was found necessary to deviate from the criterion Re\d〈\dr=1. Tests were run to determine the best river crossing, the required bridge length and the optimum orientation of the bridge piers, particularly with regard to minimum river bed scour. When a major flood occurred during the early stages of bridge constuction, an opportunity arose to check on the predicted scour depths. Scour depths recorded in nature were reproduced to an accuracy of about 10 percent in the model and, because of the greater confidence which could be placed on the model results, considerable savings were effected in the bridge foundations.


. SUMMARY S.V.Yudin, P.F.Kiku, V.G.Moreva, A.S.Yudina ORGANIZATIONAL MODEL OF PREVENTING ONCOPATHOLOGY IN PRYMORYE We created a model of preventing oncological diseases including some clinical preventing meas-ures. We found out how social and hygienic fac-tors influence population health. We looked into the possibilities of relieving negative trends. Data obtained enabled us to create specific program aimed at improving population health of Pry-morye.


To clarify the role of plasminogen as a cofactor for prion propagation, we conducted functional assays using a cell‐free prion protein (PrP) conversion assay termed protein misfolding cyclic amplification (PMCA) and prion‐infected cell lines. Here, we report that plasminogen stimulates propagation of the protease‐resistant scrapie PrP (PrPSc). Compared to control PMCA conducted without plasminogen, addition of plasminogen in PMCA using wild‐type brain material significantly increased PrP conversion, with an EC50 = ~56 nM. PrP conversion in PMCA was substantially less efficient with plasminogen‐deficient brain material than with wild‐type material. The activity stimulating PrP conversion was specific for plasminogen and conserved in its kringle domains. Such activity was abrogated by modification of plasminogen structure and interference of PrP‐plasminogen interaction. Kinetic analysis of PrPSc generation demonstrated that the presence of plasminogen in PMCA enhanced the PrPSc production rate to −0.97 U/µl/h and reduced turnover time to ~1 h compared to those (~0.4 U/µl/h and ~2.5 h) obtained without supplementation. Furthermore, as observed in PMCA, plasminogen and kringles promoted PrPSc propagation in ScN2a and Elk 21+ cells. Our results demonstrate that plasmino‐gen functions in stimulating conversion processes and represents the first cellular protein cofactor that enhances the hypothetical mechanism of prion propagation.—Mays, C. E., Ryou, C. Plasminogen stimulates propagation of protease‐resistant prion protein in vitro. FASEB J. 24, 5102–5112 (2010). www.fasebj.org


Physical and electrical properties of films composed of polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) polymer with glycerol (Gly) used as a plasticizer are reported. These plasticized polymer blends are promising for flexible sensors. Different concentrations (wt%) of Gly (10, 20, 30, 40) are added to the PVA matrix prepared using a facile solution casting method. The films were characterized using FTIR, DSC and impedance spectroscopy.


The most accepted numerical method for the assessment of BA is Tanner-Whitehouse (TW2). However, its disadvantage is that it is laborious and requires trained staff. A method based on computer analysis of bone shape as indicator of maturity has been developed. The representative patterns of each maturity stage of the TW2 atlas have been digitized by means of a graphic board. The computer calculates the gravity center of the figures and representes the vectorial radius from the center of gravity to the point of the bone perimeter for each digitized point on a coordinate axis. The degrees of each vector (0-360°) correspond to axis X and the length of each vector to axis Y. The unified extremes of the vectors result in a representative curve of the bone shape. The comparison of a problem curve with the catalogue of standard curves of TW2 atlas has demonstrated that this method is easier than the classic method. The automatic comparison of the curves and imaging by video VICOM system is possible. The method is also being applied for the tarsal BA of newborns.


Research carried out in the US has found that the risk of infant mortality increases the less weight a woman gains in pregnancy


1. Brachial arteriography has been performed on 67 patients; 42 with rheumatoid arthritis, ten with primary Raynaud's phenomenon and a number with other disorders, including three with polyarteritis nodosa. 2. In the patients with rheumatoid arthritis two types of vascular lesion were demonstrated: occlusion and hyperaemia. 3. Occlusive lesions were often associated with clinical evidence of digital ischaemia, subcutaneous nodules, a positive D.A.T., peripheral neuropathy and evidence of visceral involvement. They are more common in digits affected by erosive bone disease and were relatively commoner in men. No relation could be found between occlusive lesions, the age of the patient, the duration of rheumatoid arthritis or previous steroid therapy. 4. Hyperaemic lesions appear to represent vascular synovium in joint and tendon sheath or granulation tissue in bone erosions or cysts. 5. Many of the patients with Raynaud's phenomenon showed occlusive lesions, especially when associated with some other disea...


With the development of code obfuscation and application repackaging technologies, an increasing number of structural information-based methods have been proposed for malware detection. Although, many offer improved detection accuracy via a similarity comparison of specific graphs, they still face limitations in terms of computation time and the need for manual operation. In this paper, we present a new malware detection method that automatically divides a function call graph into community structures. The features of these community structures can then be used to detect malware. Our method reduces the computation time by improving the Girvan–Newman algorithm and using machine learning classification instead of a similarity comparison of subgraphs. To evaluate our method, 5040 malware samples and 8750 benign samples were collected as an experimental data set. The evaluation results show that the detection accuracy of our method is higher than that of three well-known anti-virus software and two previous control flow graph-based methods for many malware families. The runtime performance of our method exhibits a clear improvement over the GN algorithm for community structure generation.


This paper presents model for evaluating hospital management performance to establish appropriate rules for efficiency performance. Feed-forward neural network was applied. The methodology adopted the Rapid Application Development (RAD), Prototype Design Specification (PDS) and UML as design tool. The architectural design consisted of nine inputs nodes, five hidden (processing) nodes and one output node, to achieve this; back-propagation feed-forward neural network was trained. The system was implemented Java programming language. An input interactive interface was generated for evaluation parameters Xi values ranging from (1-9), with a weighted value W ranging from 1-4.45. Comparison has been carried out on the outcome between public and private hospital performances. Results show in bar chart and graph, denoting poor, average, above average, Good and excellence percentage performances. The bar chart and graph as dynamically used to illustrate the behaviors of each evaluation output, poor performance 1- 48%, in some cases, 50-59%, indicates average and above average performances,60-69% shows Good and above good performance, excellent performances ranged 70-100%, the use of neural network had shown that private hospital has higher accuracy and commitment. In deduction, this study offers tools for assessing the performance of hospital activity which are useful for both hospital management and healthcare administration controlling hospital performances.


L November, a 42year-old man was standing outside a record store in Sweden, apparently waiting for someone. Suddenly fire appeared from his clothing and he burst into flames. He blazed from within and formed into a fireball as he fell to the ground. The man, who remains anonymous, narrowly escaped with his life. It was an astonishing and ghoulish episode — but it wasn't the first. There have been a number of reports of people catching fire, and most of them are almost completely destroyed in the conflagration. In the space of minutes, people have been consumed by fire, and all that remains is a heap of ash from which the legs protrude. It is a horrifying spectacle, which has been written about for centuries. No reasonable explanation has ever been found — until now. At last we have an answer. The subject has always defied all previous investigators. Spontaneous human combustion (SHC) has been well documented, and television has sought to demonstrate an answer. But in the scientific world, there are many who insist that SHC does not exist. As long ago as 1861, J.L. Casper wrote in his Handbook of the Practice of Forensic Medicine that spontaneous human combustion was "a myth." In Forensic Pathology: Principles and Practice published in 2005 by Academic Press, David Dolinak and his colleagues similarly state that "spontaneous human combustion does not exist," and the same words appear in the National Fire Association's presentation, "Fire Investigator." Dr. Floyd Clemens, the coroner who examined the death in 1885 of Mrs. Pat Rooney, did accept SHC as real, concluding that hers was a "classic case of spontaneous human combustion." But when Margaret Dewar reported on the burning of her sister Wilhelmina in 1908, the coroIn a matter of minutes, people have burst into flames and were completely destroyed. All that remained was a heap of ash from which the legs protruded.


On June 23, 2016 the electorate of the United Kingdom (UK) made the decision in a referendum vote to leave the European Union (EU). Of all the twists and turns and ups and downs in the history of European integration, this result is by far the most signifi cant. After all, it is the fi rst time that an EU member-state has made the decision to leave the EU. It will be many years before the implications of this decision are fully understood, not least because the formal requirements to leave the EU will require a complicated series of negotiations and will result in considerable debate and discussion as to the nature of the relationship that the UK will carve out with the EU. However, one of the most notable areas of concern in the EU referendum debate was the way in which experts, including political scientists, were often viewed with derision by the public as individuals who were part of an elite group that did not represent their interests or concerns. This is a signifi cant development as it raises an important question about the way in which academic experts are viewed by the public and brings to the fore issues such as outreach and public engagement. In refl ecting on these developments, and in particular the referendum, it is evident that at the very least the outcome showed democracy at work, even though the results tell us little about the underlying motives of the people which are often shaped by a myriad of factors. This in itself is not a new issue, with the fi ne line between real referenda outcomes and the actual meaning of the vote having been the subject of academic debate over the years (c.f. Franklin, van der Eijk, and Marsh 1995 ). Whether we are teaching Comparative Political Institutions or Electoral Institutions, the implications of the UK referendum will stand out as a true and natural experiment of putting electoral tools to work. Debates discussing the benefi ts and the costs of direct vs. indirect democracy, presidentialism vs. parliamentarism, proportional representation vs. fi rst-past-the-post can be easily stimulated. Ultimately, however, most diff erences in political structures come down to the question of representation vs. accountability—each concept has its virtues and judging one better than the other is not a straightforward task. The dualism in many political science concepts might be refl ected in the diff erent manners in which political science has developed as a fi eld in Europe and the United States. How do we do political science? What is political science? How do we teach it? How do we advance it? The articles included in the symposium address most of these questions by tackling specifi c issues relating to our doing and teaching of political science in Europe. In particular, they show evidence that the practice of political science in Europe and the United States or North America is distinct. On the one hand there are commonalities on both sides of the Atlantic, such as a strong emphasis on research rather than teaching, or an increase in the number of students enrolled in secondary and tertiary education. Yet on the other, the diff erences are much more pronounced. The diff erences stretch from recruitment (fi xed term contracts in many European countries versus tenure track lines in North America) to the relevance of the discipline (a greater focus on policy in Europe as compared to the US), to fi nancing (a tuition hike in the US versus still predominantly free education in Europe) to a more developed ethics regime in North America in contrast to many European countries. Off ering fi ve studies on the status of the discipline in European, compared to US political science, this symposium P R O F E S S I O N SY M P O S I U M


Enantioselective phthalide synthesis is achieved through internal redox allylation of o-phthalaldehydes. Oxidative esterification is balanced by reductive carbonyl addition to achieve an overall redox neutral process. Using this method, formal syntheses of ent-spirolaxine methyl ether and CJ-12,954 are achieved.


ABSTRACT We construct examples of affine representations for a family of Fibonacci groups. As an application, we prove that all Hantzsche–Wendt groups of the same dimension are epimorphic images of the same Fibonacci group.


Optic nerve (ON) aplasia is a rare developmental anomaly comprising of absence of the ON, ganglion cells and the central retinal vessels. It may be accompanied by a variety of central nervous system (CNS) malformations. We report an extremely rare case of bilateral true ON aplasia occurring as an isolated CNS anomaly. A four year old girl presented to us with the parents noticing the right eye to be smaller than the left one since birth. On examination, the right eye had no perception of light with microcornea and mild enophthalmos. The right pupil did not react to direct light stimulation (APD) and there was no consensual reaction. Fundus of the right eye showed absence of the optic disc and central retinal vessels. Spectral Domain Optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) of the right eye showed significant thinning of retinal nerve fibre layers. Ultrasound A-Scan showed decreased axial length of the right eye. Ultrasound B-Scan showed absence of optic nerve shadow. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed that there was no recognizable right optic nerve in the anterior aspect of the orbital course, however in the posterior part, the optic nerve was seen only as a thin cord. The left eye was normal. Flash visual evoked potential (VEP)was unrecordable in the right eye and normal in the left eye. The child did not have any other associated central nervous system (CNS) abnormalities. exist, there must be complete absence of the optic nerve (including the optic disc), retinal ganglion and nerve fibre layers and central retinal vessels. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in unilateral aplasia show microphthalmos, absence of optic nerve, chiasma and tracts on the side of aplasia. Histologically, there is absence of the optic nerve, retinal ganglion cells, nerve fiber layer, and optic nerve vessels. 1 We report an extremely rare case of right sided unilateral true optic nerve aplasia in a four year old girl occurring as an isolated Central Nervous System (CNS) anomaly. The chamber and a clear cornea with the horizontal and vertical diameters being 12 mm and 11 mm respectively. The left pupil reacted normally to direct light stimulation but there was no consensual light reflex. Intraocular pressures were 16 mm Hg in both eyes. Gonioscopic examination showed open angles in both eyes. Dilated fundus examination of the right eye showed absence of optic disc and central


The variant polymorphism in the gene MDM2, SNP309, leads to increased level of mdm2 protein and subsequent downregulation of p53 tumor suppressor pathway. Presence of this single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) has been associated with earlier tumorigenesis in patients with Li–Fraumeni syndrome, as well as decreased survival in patients with CLL. In addition, cells homozygous (G/G) for SNP 309 were found to have 10‐fold increase resistance to topoisomerase II inhibitors in vitro.


1. Ecotourism operations occasionally fail despite of becoming one of the fastest growing sectors of the tourism industry. The purpose of this study...


There is a lack of clinical research in the Chinese market concerning dissolving microarray (DMA) patches in cosmetic applications. In this study, the clinical efficacy and safety tests of DMA patch technology were performed on Chinese consumers.


Innate immunity in Drosophila is mediated via two major responses, humoral and cellular immunity. Induction of the former is characterised by the production of antimicrobial peptides (AMP) via the Toll and Imd pathway. The cellular response is mediated via the haemocytes (blood cells), which engage in phagocytosis and the melanisation cascade. In parallel to the mammalian system, the possibility of haemocytes bridging the gap between pathogen recognition in the haemolymph and AMP gene induction in fat body cells was explored. To analyse their role, the haemocytes were ablated and various parameters for AMP gene expression were defined. The reduction in haemocytes was found to reduce AMP gene expression quantitatively as well causing a spatial restriction in the spreading of AMP expression in the fat body. To determine whether cytokine signals such as Spaetzle (Spz) or unpaired3 (upd3) were involved in transducing the signal, they were knocked down in the haemocytes via RNA interference. The transcriptional reduction of Spz, the ligand for the Toll receptor, was shown to quantitatively reduce the expression of AMP while the reduction of upd3 , the cytokine ligand for the JAK/STAT pathway, resulted in the same spatial restriction as larvae with reduced haemocyte counts. The reduction of upd3 in the haemocytes also caused a reduction to signalling in the JNK pathway. The results here show that the haemocytes relay signal(s) to the fat body through the use of cytokines, a process surprisingly similar to the mammalian system.


A concept paper on 'legislatures and good governance' prepared for UNDP by Johnson and Nakamura articulated four fundamental goals of legislative development (build internal support for legislative strengthening, strengthen representation, strengthen law-making, and strengthen legislative organization and facilities), and distinguished between the roles of two types of external agencies (funding, and legislative/parliamentary associations). A subsequent practice note by UNDP on Parliamentary Development set out that organization 's concept of 'what parliamentary institutions do' and identified eight 'principal entry points' for its 'role and niche' in parliamentary development (United Nations Development Programme 2003). This article draws such development agency literature to identify the current issues facing Pacific Island parliaments and the efforts underway (or not) to address them. It includes a review the Pacific Islands context, consideration of recent parliamentary dynamics, and a review of parliamentary development activities.


The benefits of breastfeeding are very well known. However, the prevalence and duration of breastfeeding in Europe does not meet the recommendations of major health organizations. The role of health professionals in initiating and sustaining breastfeeding is critical. In order to be able to support and promote breastfeeding adequately, it is necessary to have appropriate and up-to-date knowledge. The present article sets out the main concepts and recommendations for effective breastfeeding.


The increase in focus on violence amongst current or former partners reveals a chronic problem characterised by a complex suite of individual indicators and social determinants. This paper examines the current thinking about risk factors for perpetrator escalation of intimate partner violence as well as looking at victim vulnerabilities which exacerbate the risk of lethal assault. As no individual factor can explain more than ten per cent of risk or vulnerability, we need to look at models which embrace complexity. I present a framework which identifies the combination of factors which present the likely catalysts for intimate partner homicide and discuss how this might be useful for screening and risk assessment.


Borate-based materials are of high interest to generate an UV laser light from a crystal. Fiber-shaped crystals combining the advantages of fiber lasers and crystalline lasers, we have investigated the growing conditions required to obtain usable fibers of Bi2ZnB2O7 (BZBO) and LaBGeO5 (LBGO). For BZBO, the major drawback was the pronounced color of the fibers and for LBGO, it was the high viscosity of its melt leading to use a flux. This paper presents our state of the art to obtain good quality BZBO and LBGO crystal fibers.


Background
The outcome of adrenalectomy carried out by laparoscopy or open surgery for solid tumor metastases was assessed.

Methods
A total of 317 patients with histologically confirmed adrenal metastatic disease collected from 30 centres in Europe underwent adrenalectomy by laparoscopy (n=146) or open laparotomy (n=171). Differences between laparoscopic and open adrenalectomy were assessed by a single Cox analysis for both procedures.

Results
The median overall survival was 24.0 [95% confidence interval (CI): 21.4-26.6] months for open adrenalectomy and 45.0 (95% CI: 22.6-67.4) for laparoscopic adrenalectomy (P=0.008). Survival rates were 68%, 49%, 35% and 29% at 1, 2, 3 and 5 years for open surgery vs. 88%, 62%, 52% and 46% for laparoscopy, respectively. In the subgroup of R0 resections, the difference in survival in favor of laparoscopy (median 46 vs. 27 months) was marginally significant (P=0.073). Renal cancer [hazard ratio (HR) 0.42; 95% CI: 0.23-0.76, P=0.005], surgery of the primary tumor (HR 0.33; 95% CI: 0.19-0.54), and use of chemotherapy (HR 0.62; 95% CI: 0.43-0.88) were associated with a better survival, whereas type of resection (R1/R2 vs. R0) was associated with a worse prognosis (HR 2.29; 95% CI: 1.52-3.44, P<0.001).

Conclusions
Laparoscopic adrenalectomy patients showed a longer survival than open adrenalectomy individuals, as minimally invasive approach was attempted more common in less advanced disease which led to higher number of R0 resections.


The effect of Total Mesorectal Excision (TME) on sexual function in the male is well documented. However, there is little literature in female patients.


In this paper, model predictive control (MPC) based on an adaptive neural-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS) is proposed to realize control of an omni-directional service robot in path tracking. The weight of the cost function in a traditional MPC needs to be manually adjusted, and it is difficult to adjust to a satisfactory value. In order to improve the performance and the control accuracy of MPC, a fuzzy system trained by ANFIS is used to adaptively adjust the weight of MPC's cost function to reduce the error in the process of path tracking. The different simulation experiments are conducted to verify the performance of the proposed algorithm. The experimental results show that the distance error of MPC based on ANFIS is reduced by more than 50% under different paths compared with a traditional MPC, and the angle error is reduced by more than 70%. Meanwhile, the stability is increased by around 60%. The results show the feasibility and superiority of MPC based on ANFIS.


Hand-painted is designer essential basic qualities, but painting teaching has been lagging behind the development of painting development, even off the hand-painted performance objective, this paper mainly on the phenomenon of drawing in the process of developing the teaching is analyzed, and emphatically expounds the present situation and the future direction of drawing teaching. The development of hand-painted performance and teaching Performance of painting generally refers to the painting scheme is the best way to designer to design expression. The initial origin about hand-painted performance at home and abroad are early. Abroad from the shadow of the building the picture shows that the hand-painted performance, especially some European Renaissance architects and designers, they in the architectural design and creation are hand-painted manner; Domestic is mainly reflected in the close connection with hand-painted jiehua through, tang and song dynasty is the heyday of China's social development, cultural art also abnormal developed during this period, especially the song period of the academies, and appeared the jiehua through subject teaching. But hand-painted is developed in modern times, real several western architect gaudi, Wright, Smith fiddro their design work mostly in the form of hand-painted. Gaudi's manuscript in our today's people seems incredible, some meticulous figure, some powerful and unconstrained style, will reflect incisively and vividly that the essence of art ideas and inspiration. These are to some extent influence the development of the hand-painted education. Have been as we know the Bauhaus, their teaching also reflected the recognition of drawing and design, school has a special design basis drawing lessons. In our country, although at the time of the republic of China, a lot of valuable hand-painted works of art, but hand-painted is real development after the reform and opening to the outside along with the revival and development of the design and education industry. Hand-painted teaching development present situation and existing problems Since reform and opening up, China's design industry rapid development, hand-painted education also subsequently rise, because the design field content is widespread, and many colleges have opened a hand-drawn courses, including the art colleges and universities, construction of colleges and universities and forestry colleges, etc., also includes social short-term training courses. Hand-painted teaching experience the process of long-term changes, mainly reflected on the teaching ideas and teaching methods: one, the change of teaching concept: hand-painted teaching by early realistic to pay attention to today's creative transformation. Take home, in the seventies and s time for a project's design, the creative idea of the early or late to deepen elaboration, hand-painted always play a leading role, because the effect of hand-painted performance figure than other creative means more intuitive three-dimensional, so realistic idea appears unusually prominent during this period, but as the change of teaching environment, personal computers popularized after ninety s, due to the realistic stronger compared with hand-painted computer has its own advantages, so the hand-painted the feature in the real competition gradually be offset, hand-painted by some sort of shock, so that hand-painted teaching for thinking and positioning; But what hand-painted performance has many computer does not have advantage, such as hand-painted performance process is convenient, quick, easy to design inspiration embodied thereby for the design, and 2nd International Conference on Education Technology, Management and Humanities Science (ETMHS 2016) © 2016. The authors Published by Atlantis Press 294 through the study of hand-painted, can make up for the inadequacy of painting language, can also improve their aesthetic cultivation and artistic cultivation, is to become a good designer's necessary quality, therefore with hand-painted design and creation are still among their first choices of investment with many excellent designers, is the mainstream of the field design methods. Therefore, hand-painted teaching also needs to be done on the basis, so as to cultivate high quality hand draw design talent. Second, the change of teaching method: by the early on the presentation type to the current teaching inspiration training. With the development of the society and the teaching equipment constantly updated, the early hand-painted teaching due to the limitation of teaching environment and teaching equipment in the teaching process is given priority to with expository, also auxiliary example presented, its advantage is that can make such teaching most students compare rule of training to the hand-painted, draw the hand drawing is also practical lifelike, but often cause monotony, make the students' creativity is difficult to reflect, after ten years after the turn of the last century, however, various industries, including design, influenced by western ideas of far-reaching, personalized design and unique style of hand-drawn won popularity, will therefore hand-painted focus on how to embody design ideas and concepts, realism is no longer the only content in the process of performance, but reflect on with illustrations and symbols of thinking inspiration, pay attention to the individuation of creative expression, in this period, hand-painted performance tools also happen very big change, from the early development of watercolor, gouache to now markers and transparent water, etc. Hand-painted education, teaching, development to the present, though still showing a strong vitality, but also the direction of fuzzy, positioning is not allowed. Hand-painted teaching is the core of hand-painted education, nowadays all over the country besides beautiful courtyard and related professional college courses in hand-painted, hand-painted training institutions around the very much, but the quality of teaching is full of beautiful things in eyes. Mainly displays in: first, flattering teaching, the teaching characteristic is don't respect even principles of art, truth and knowledge is to cater to the students' interest in teaching, mostly appear in hand-painted training course, belong to the short-term nature of teaching, in order to pursue the teaching effect and efficiency, to compress the teaching content, and militarized management, special training, can make the teaching environment is a vast foil, although make learners in a short period of time this kind of teaching hand-painted performance level has improved, but with a single hand forms and methods, such as: the core values of some teaching is real, real is the significance of its existence in hand-painted, but focus too much on the authenticity of the performance object, is often overlooked by hand-painted performance is to design the original nature, not conducive to the long-term development of students' design accomplishment and even murders the nature of the students as a designer, so that they cannot be independent thinking, independent of the scheme design and perfect. Second, the practical teaching, the characteristics of this kind of teaching is a teacher more than day, teacher's role in the whole teaching in a absolute position, all the students are all the same to follow the teacher style, of this kind of teaching also has its rationality, but go down for a long time in this paper, the author thinks that can lead to the water, the formation of painting style is a good thing, of course, but is not necessarily suitable for every people, China has a word called: people as the picture, that is what kind of character decided to the results of the painting is not the same, hand-painted performance as well. Third, the lag of teaching, this kind of teaching due to the limitations of teacher knowledge, too traditional teaching concept, the concept behind, even some even stay in the level of the last century, many students with excellent design characteristics and potential cannot be excavated. Fourthly, biased teaching, this kind of phenomenon appear in most colleges and universities teaching process, the design professional teacher to lack of awareness of hand-painted role in the design, do not take the hand-painted expression and training, can't see the expression of thinking in the process of design concept, the whole plan from design conception to refine is computer performance, hand-painted express very little, it is proved that the training intensity of hand-painted enough, for the improvement of the students design has also had a negative effect.


.......................................................................................................... iv DEDICATION .........................................................................................................v ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ...................................................................................... vi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................ ix LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. xi CHAPTER ONE .......................................................................................................1 1.0 INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................1 1.1 Statement of the problem .................................................................................3 1.2 Objectives .......................................................................................................4 1.2.1 Main objective ..........................................................................................4 1.2.2 Specific objectives ....................................................................................4 1.3 Research hypotheses ........................................................................................4 CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................5 2.0 LITERATURE REVIEW ....................................................................................5 2.1 Leaching of nitrates .........................................................................................5 2.2 The effect of nitrate deficiency on onion production ........................................6 2.3 Typical levels of soil Ammonium-N and Nitrate-N ..........................................6 2.4 Biomass transfer in Zambia .............................................................................8


Cannabis abuse, especially in its most common form, marijuana, has commonly been associated with poor oral hygiene for many years. Cannabis addicts tend to have higher levels of plaque, xerostomy and cavities. However, few publications link marijuana to periodontal disease, except for isolated clinical cases. This article reviews the literature on the subject and presents three clinical cases of habitual marijuana smoking patients with periodontitis.


In this study, the conservatism of the response displacement method (RDM) for the seismic response analysis of box-shaped power cable tunnels was evaluated. A total of 50 examples were used considering the cross-sections of 25 power cable tunnels and two soil conditions for each power cable tunnel. The following three methods were applied for the analysis by the RDM: (1) single cosine method, (2) double cosine method, and (3) dynamic free-field analysis method. A refined dynamic analysis method considering soil-structure interaction (SSI) was employed to compare the conservatism of the RDM. The double cosine method demonstrated the most conservative result, while the dynamic free-field analysis method yielded the least deviation. The soil stiffness reduction factor, C, for the double cosine method was recommended to be 0.9 and 0.7 for the operational performance and collapse prevention levels, respectively, to ensure a probability of at least 80% that the member force by the RDM is larger than that of dynamic SSI analysis.


Sir, the recent publication on Chinese guideline for influenza management is very interesting (1). Indeed, there are many recent publications on regional guideline for management of influenza such as recent publications for Eastern Mediterranean Region (2) and European (3).


This study determines the dynamic relationship between the size of government and inflation in Nigeria. Although there have been some studies on fiscal deficit and inflation in Nigeria, not much has been done on the effect of government size on inflation in Nigeria. This study employs the Error Correction Methodology using quarterly time series data to examine the longrun and short-run mechanism of interaction between inflation and the size of government.


Provincial decentralization of authority guarantees its autonomy by the Constitution. Based on the local self-government, efforts are made to strengthen that by making [Special Law on Provincial Decentralization of Authority and Provincial Administration System Reform]. There are some disagreements ...


A simple modification to Percival's two-graph method is described which allows circuits containing four-terminal infinite-gain voltage amplifiers to be analysed symbolically. The modified method is of more general application than the standard two-graph method which requires that the active devices be represented by voltage-controlled current sources.


Social sustainability remains a relatively underdeveloped and contested field. Recalling older notions of social mixing and 'balanced neighbourhoods' two concepts of 'sustainability of community' and 'social equity' have recently emerged as core social sustainability principles, but uncertainty remains over the spatial scale at which the principles should be applied. The aim of this paper is to broaden the existing literature by means of detailed case study research on neighbourhood development in the German city of Freiburg, where demographic concentration has led to ageing in place and the undermining of community infrastructure and services. Although new car-reduced neighbourhoods of Vauban and Rieselfeld look likely to replicate this pattern, the city has shifted policy towards smaller 'fresh cell' developments designed to inject younger residents into ageing neighbourhoods to create a more even social balance, viable services and community infrastructure.


In the present paper the process of optimization of soft magnetic properties have been studied by applying different experimental techniques (magnetic measurements, electric measurements, X-ray analysis, and high-resolution electron microscopy observations). It has been shown that an increase in magnetic permeability after optimization annealing can be mainly attributed to annealing out of microvoids.


Entrepreneurial learning, or the acquisition of entrepreneurial skills, in engineering at the college level has become an important topic. The labor market needs engineers who are prepared to adapt to changing market conditions and enhance innovations that offer new value to customers and society as a whole. An entrepreneurial mindset, knowledge, skills, and attitudes are closely related to innovation and creativity as enablers of entrepreneurial actions that are essential to prepare students for a successful professional life.


ABSTRACT The principal aim of this study is to develop a better understanding of the link between attachment orientation and confirming/disconfirming communication in romantic relationships. Based on attachment theory, we predicted that attachment anxiety and avoidance would associate negatively with confirming communication and positively with disconfirming communication in romantic relationships. Results indicated partner attachment anxiety positively associated with the partner's disconfirming communication and negatively with their confirming communication. We also found that partner avoidant attachment associated positively with one type of disconfirming communication and negatively with confirming communication. In addition, actor avoidance associated positively with one type of disconfirming communication. Finally, we reported that actor anxious and avoidant attachment moderated the effect of partner anxiety on confirming communication.


Long-range forces between ultra-fine particles imbedded in liquid crystal (LC) result in intriguing colloids. Embedded inorganic particles in LC contribute to the properties of the LC matrix. Large (>>mkm) colloidal particles form defects in LC matrices due to strong director deformations and ensembles of these particles and defects can form complex structures. Small particles at its high concentration (> 2-3% by weight) create almost a rigid LC suspension. We show that at low concentrations LC submicron colloids appear similar to a pure LC with no readily apparent evidence of dissolved particles, but possess unique properties. The diluted suspensions are stable, because the small concentration of submicron particles does not significantly perturb the director field in the LC, and interaction between the particles is weak. At the same time, the submicron particles share their intrinsic properties with the LC matrix due to the anchoring with the LC. We report on the development and unique properties of the diluted suspensions of ferroelectric submicron particles. Our results show that doping a nematic LC matrix with ferroelectric submicron particles results in a suspension, which possesses an enhanced dielectric anisotropy and reveals ferroelectric and paraelectric properties inherent to the submicron particles. In particular, we observed essential decrease of the driving voltage of the quadratic dielectric response and non-usual linear dipole response of the suspensions on the application of ac-field. We present a theoretical model of dielectric properties of ferroelectric suspensions.