This paper proposes a new integer motion estimation algorithm which is designed for hardware execution by modifying the conventional TZ search to allow parallel motion estimation of all PU partitions. The algorithm consists of three phases, the first, raster, and refinement searches. At beginning of each phase, the algorithm obtains the search points required by the original TZ search for all PU partitions in a CU. Then, all the search points are used for the estimation of the motion costs for all PUs and the best search points are selected for all PUs. Compare to the conventional TZ search algorithm, the proposed algorithm decreases BD-BR by 1.06%.


In the municipality of Arriaga, Chiapas, the death of physic nut ( Jatropha curcas L.) 1 and 2-year old plantations has been observed since 2009, with symptoms of wilting and basal stem rot. The registered incidence has been up to 85%; the virulence of the pathogen is very high because it causes the death of the plant in a period of 20 to 30 days. The objective of this study was to determine the causal agent of the physic nut death. Laboratory isolates were conducted from field samples of diseased plant material of stem and root tissue, in Petri dishes with B King (BK) and triphenyl tetrazolium chloride (TTC) medium, incubated at 28 °C for 48 h. The isolates obtained were purified and subjected to biochemical and hypersensitivity tests on tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum ) cv. Xanthi. The identification was positive for three isolates of Ralstonia solanacearum . However, it was not possible to complete Koch's postulates; therefore, R. solanacearum is only consigned at association level.


Abstract A child with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and a history of aberrant behaviors participated in this study with his mother. The primary purpose of the current study was to determine the effectiveness and efficiency of FCT on decreasing problem behaviors, increasing communication mands, and increasing spontaneous communication with a child with ASD in his home environment. Further, the number and diversity of spontaneous verbalizations were anecdotally recorded. The results of the multiple baseline study across mands demonstrated a dramatic decrease in aberrant behavior while increasing the number of mands and the latency to respond. In addition, the participant's number and diversity of words dramatically increased. ********** Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is a developmental disability affecting the lives of thousands of children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 34 in 10,000 children ages 3 to 10 years of age have ASD (CDC, 2004). The Autism Society of America (ASA) reports that 1 in 166 babies born today will develop ASD (Autism Society of America, 2006). The ASA also notes that 1.5 million Americans including children and adults have ASD, while another 15 million Americans (e.g., family, educators, and health care workers) are affected by ASD. The essential features of ASD include significant impairments in social interaction and communication skills and a highly restricted area of activities and interests (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Concurrent with these features, children with ASD often exhibit high levels of aberrant behaviors such as screaming, hitting, and biting (Sigafoos, 2000); thus, creating substantial obstacles for individuals charged with their education and well being (Durand & Merges, 2001). For example, many parents experience stress when their children engage in tantrums. Unlike parents of non-disabled children, parents of children with ASD usually cannot determine the reason for the tantrum because of their child's deficits in communication. Such issues with communication deficits and aberrant behaviors combined with the increase in the prevalence of ASD demands for the field to respond and provide effective practices to meet these children's needs in applied settings, such as the home and educational environments. Researchers have responded by examining the relationship between aberrant behavior and communication skills (e.g., Bott, Farmer, & Rhode, 1997; Chung, Jenner, Chamberlain, & Corbett, 1995; Schroeder, Schroeder, Smith, & Dalldorf, 1978; Sigafoos, 2000). Chung et al. (1995) found an inverse relation between communication skills and the display of aberrant behaviors, such as self-injury and aggression. Similarly, Bott et al. (1997) determined that individuals with more developed speech skills displayed a lower frequency of aberrant behaviors than those with impaired speech. Further, Sigafoos (2000) hypothesized in a more recent study that impaired communication development may actually cause aberrant behaviors. Given the relationship between communication and aberrant behavior, there is a need for evidence-based practices that directly address the communicative impairments of children with ASD (Simpson, 2005). Unfortunately, to date, a dearth of research exists that examines evidence-based practices that address aberrant behaviors and communication skills and have utility in applied settings. Functional communication training (FCT) represents an evidence-based practice with the potential to positively impact the communication skills and aberrant behavior of children with ASD (Carr & Durand, 1985; Durand & Merges, 2001; Wacker et al., 1990). Developed in the mid-1980s, FCT involves assessing the function of an aberrant behavior (e.g., attention, escape, tangible, or sensory) through a functional analysis (FA) process and then replacing the aberrant behavior with a communicative response that serves the same function. …


The invention discloses a large-energy high-power SBS beam-combining method and a beam-combining laser, and relates to the technology of serial beam combination of laser. The invention solves a problem that the anti-interference capability of Stokes light obtained through main oscillation power amplification in a serial beam-combining laser with superlarge energy output is poor. The method comprises the steps: dividing single longitudinal-mode sub light into two beams, wherein one beam is used for generating first-order Stokes light and the other beam serves as a pumping light seed; respectively dividing the first-order Stokes light and pumping light into m groups which are injected into m amplification modules; amplifying the pumping light through the amplification modules, and employing the amplified pumping light to amplify the first-order Stokes light; employing the amplified first-order Stokes light to generate second-order Stokes light, enabling the residual first-order Stokes light to serve as pumping light for amplifying the second-order Stokes light, and obtaining beam-combining laser. The method is high in interference resistance, and is suitable for large-energy high-power solid beam-combining lasers.


Epidural and spinal opioid use has developed into a well established mode of perioperative anesthetic and analgesic management. A large number of studies have examined factors important in determining the efficacy and the extent of side effects of such therapy. This article reviews some of the most


One concept central to theories of multijoint control concerns the selection of muscles for the appropriate joint motion. For multijoint movements, a given muscle torque at an individual joint can lead to flexion, extension, or very little motion, since mechanical effects coming from other segments interact with muscle torque. This study quantified the contribution of muscle torque to initial joint motion for horizontal arm movements throughout the workspace. Previous studies of arm mechanics have been limited to a few movements or have focused on one joint In contrast, this study reports data for both the shoulder and elbow joints. Moreover, a large number of movements were used for which direction, excursion, and distance were manipulated. Using high speed video recordings and techniques of inverse dynamics, a ratio of muscle torque to total torque was computed for each movement as a measure of contribution of muscle torque to joint acceleration. One consistent finding was that the muscle torque contribution consistendy differed between the shoulder and elbow for most of the workspace. At one joint, muscle torque directly contributed to acceleration with negligible interaction torque ('simple' muscle torque contribution), thus the joint appeared to act as the launcher of the arm. At the other joint, both muscle and interaction torques contributed to joint acceleration ('complex' contribution), thus the joint appeared to be responding to mechanical effects from motion at other joints. This contrast between joints may provide a simplifying feature for multijoint arm control. Specifically, only one of the two joints has complex


We consider a hybrid model for stocks and interest rates as it is proposed by GDV (Gesamtverband der Deutschen Versicherungswirtschaft) to assign market consistent values to the technical provisions of german life insurance companies. In this model, stock prices are modeled with a Black Scholes model with time-varying parameters, and interest rates are modeled with a Hull White short rate model.We find that local and terminal volatility of equity differ in this model and that the terminal volatility of equity is considerable higher than the local volatility. This raises the question, which of both volatilities is the right reference to calibrate the model. We argue that calibration should be done with respect to local volatility rather than terminal volatility, at least for the application we have in mind.


This Report was prepared to assist the NTC address the privacy and related regulatory and legal frameworks for information involved in C-ITS and AV systems, and develop a policy analysis of issues that may need attention. It surveys the information involved in various aspects of these systems, how the law characterises that information, and a range of regulatory approaches on particular issues. There are examples in Appendices from the text of key laws, and the body of the report summarises their effect. Some of the observations below are extracted from conclusions and observations in the report. They note where an issue is straightforward or consistent, and also draw out some observations about gaps, inconsistencies or ambiguities, particularly in the coverage or treatment of current and anticipated C-ITS & AV system data under existing law.


Degradation process has been successfully applied in modeling the deterioration failure modes like wearout and corrosion for reliability assessment. However, deterioration failure modes are different from each other due to different physical mechanisms with different products operated under different environments, and specific attentions should be paid for non-standard circumstances. As it is well known, the failure with fatigue crack is composed of two sequential stages: the crack initiation and the crack propagation. The lifetime distribution models have been applied for the crack initiation, and the degradation process is well modeled by degradation process. Intuitively, a lifetime delayed degradation process (LDDP) would provide a general framework for such typical mixture failure mode composed of hard and soft ones sequentially. In this study, a general reliability inference approach has been proposed for the LDDP based on the maximum likelihood method, with numerical simulations and practical application with real testing data. Furthermore, the inspection planning issue is also studied for LDDP, with the first inspection time addressed which can increase the efficiency of inspection.


The method developed in Thoul, Similon, and Sudan [Phys. Plasmas 1, 579 (1994)] is used to calculate the transport due to drift‐Alfven‐wave turbulence, in which electromagnetic effects such as the fluttering of the magnetic field lines are important. Explicit expressions are obtained for all coefficients of the anomalous transport matrix relating particle and heat fluxes to density and temperature gradients in the plasma. Although the magnetic terms leave the transport by trapped electrons unaffected, they are important for the transport by circulating electrons.


For a complex mechanical system driven by hydraulic cylinders, the dynamic response characteristics of the mechanical system are significantly affected by the stiffness characteristics of hydraulic cylinders. This paper comprehensively studies the impacts of various factors on the stiffness characteristics of the hydraulic cylinders, including the oil bulk modulus, the air content in the hydraulic oil, the axial deformation of the piston rod, the volume expansion of the cylinder barrel, the volume expansion of the metal pipes and the flexible hoses, and the deformation of the hydraulic cylinder sealing. By combining the theoretical analysis and the experimental results, the level of each impacting factor was quantified, and the stiffness model of the hydraulic cylinder was established. Finally, comparative analysis of the stiffness was conducted by taking the experimental hydraulic cylinder as an example; it was verified that the calculated results of the proposed hydraulic cylinder stiffness model approximated the experimental results. Compared with stiffness models presented in current literature, the average accuracy was improved by more than 15 %.


Absorption spectra of RbI:Tl, RbBr:Tl, RbI:Pb, and RbBr:Pb having the CsCl-type lattice structure under high pressures have been observed. At the phase transition from the NaCl-type to the CsCl-type structure, in RbI:Tl, the A band shows a discontinuous red shift and a new absorption band appears on the short wavelength side of the A band. This new absorption band does not show a character of the forbidden line such as the B band. In RbBr:Tl where the electron affinity of halogen ions is large than that in RbI:Tl, however, the A band shows a discontinuous blue shift and there does not appear any new absorption band. In the case of Pb ++ activator ions, at the phase transition, the A band shows a discontinuous red shift and a new absorption band appears in RbI and besides, in RbBr. These results are discussed on the basis of the possibility of the configuration interaction between the excited states of the activator ions and electron transfer states.


High (six nymphs per plant) and moderate (three nymphs per plant) infestations of three cornered alfalfa hopper, Spissistilus festinus (Say), nymphs were placed on greenhouse-grown 'Florida 77' alfalfa, Medicago sativa L., plants for three harvest periods. Higher populations of nymphs caused a corresponding increase in girdle numbers on the test plants. Nymphal populations significantly increased plant chlorosis and accelerated plant maturity. Although dry-weight yield was not affected, forage quality was reduced because of a decrease in protein concentration and an increase in neutral detergent fiber. Root carbohydrate levels and stem regrowth were both significantly lower under high population levels.


Implementation pervades strategic performance. It is a critical link between the formulation of marketing strategies and the achievement of superior organizational performance. Research conducted in this area generally has suffered from a lack of conceptual and empirical grounding. Furthermore, implementation research often ignores the mid-level managers, who are intricately involved in most implementation activities. The authors integrate a broad literature review and a grounded theory-building process to develop a model of important factors that influence the implementation of marketing strategies from a managerial perspective. They test this model in a study of mid-level marketing managers in two different organizations. The results provide insights into the nature of implementation in marketing and suggest future research opportunities.


MAXIMAL QUOTIENT RINGS AND ESSENTIAL RIGHT IDEALS IN GROUP RINGS OF LOCALLY FINITE GROUPS Theorem . zero . FERRAN CEDÓ * AND BRIAN HARTLEY Dedicated to the memory of Pere Menal Let k be a commutative field . Let G be a locally finite group without elements of order p in case char k = p > 0 . In this paper it is proved that the type I. part of the maximal right quotient ring of the group algebgra kG is zero .


Initial results indicate that the procedure we developed should greatly improve the reliability of electronic devices and other data processing equipment that are operated in hostile environments. Coated cards have survived laboratory testing at concentrated polluted gas levels of hydrogen sulfide, chlorine and sulfur dioxide, and high humidity with no degradation of the coating or no corrosion of the protected metal surfaces.


IntroductionInformation professionals have always been critical servants of the Enlightenment project. The unpredictable situations they encounter in their every day dealings with information seekers make them acutely aware of the historically limited scope of some of the principles under which they operate. They are critical to the extent that they play an instrumental role in helping to implement their tenets in their daily tasks, and they are also critical in the etymological sense to the extent that their work involves carrying out reflective and deliberative actions. Information professionals contribute to the dissemination of knowledge and the implementation of the principles and guidelines that ensure the sharing of human intellectual goods. At the same time, their daily contact with information seekers such as library patrons brings them face to face with new, unheard of, and unpredictable situations.With no precedents to guide them, and caught between their willingness to serve the greatest number of information seekers and their acute sense of justice, information professionals sometimes feel at a loss and can only make humble but firm suggestions to the appropriate institutions as to how rules and principles should be modified, or new ones created to accommodate those situations. This leads to the third role of information professionals: that of initiators of guiding principles.The ultimate purpose of this paper is to underscore the extent to which the controversy surrounding one work, Pernkopf 's Atlas of Topographical and Applied Human Anatomy, made an important contribution to this unfinished and unfinishable project that subtends the goals of the information profession as outlined above. In the first part we describe the atlas and the circumstances that made it one of the most controversial works in science. In the second part, we present the main positions developed within the field of information science on the fundamental question of what to do with the tainted work. Through a comparative analysis of the protagonists' arguments, we profile the ethical concerns that have always been at the core of the Enlightenment project. In so doing we hope to show just how pivotal, albeit Sisyphean in appearance, is the role of the information professional.What Is Pernkopf's Atlas?The Atlas is an anatomy book created during World War II by Edward Pernkopf, an Austrian physician and Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Vienna, under the title Atlas der topogaphischen und angewandten Anatomie des Menschen. The English translation in two volumes was first published in 1963-64 by W. B. Sanders. The second revised edition was published in 1 998 by Urban & Schwarzenberg. The first volume is dedicated to the anatomy of the head and the neck, and the second volume to the anatomy of the thorax, the abdomen, and the extremities. Both volumes are richly illustrated. They contain more than 800 detailed paintings of dissections (Israel and Seidelman, 1996). The atlas was considered a classic of human anatomy and a much sought-after textbook until the circumstances of its production were publicized by American scholars in the eighties. Prior to that revelation the atlas was hailed as a work of art. Even today the most vehement critics of Pernkopf 's ideas acknowledge the quality of the content as well as the form of the work. Daniela Angetter (2002) considers the atlas "a work that is still consulted worldwide today." The unprecedented and unparalleled quality of the anatomical paintings the book contains also makes it an outstanding work of art of which D.S. Cutler notes, "the illustrations of human dissections painted under Pernkopf 's direction are most likely the greatest collection of anatomic paintings that will ever be produced" (1997, 1122). Commenting on the originality of the color paintings, David J. Williams (1998) states that Pernkopf 's atlas represents "the pinnacle of color anatomic representations" and he concludes that the atlas constitutes "the standard by which all other works are measured" (1). …


Air compression/ pressure refrigeration system is a thermally determined innovation which uses cheap level thermal power for the operation. Air compression refrigeration system when liquid is associated to a target utilizing of an air pressurized spray gun. The air gun has a nozzle, liquid bowl and air compressor. When the trigger is pressed the liquid blends with the compressed air stream and discharged in a fine spray. In this study we reviewed status of work carried out an air compression refrigeration system for rural applicat ion with different refrigerants and same air as a working fluid. The system works on waste air provided by the waste exhausted air from the industry and the used of this system are water chilling and conditioning air system where as the temperature of cooling isn't low.


We show that binding of an antisense oligonucleotide can lead to considerable changes in the target mRNA structure. The approaches described here are not only useful in the study of intra-molecular interactions in RNAs but can also be used to design oligonucleotides that facilitate binding of other antisense reagents. Such "cooperatively acting" antisense reagents have the potential to overcome several problems faced in their use, for example, low efficacy and non-specificity. To provide proof-of-principle, radiolabelled cyclin B5 transcript, a model mRNA, was hybridised with an antisense oligonucleotide array. An oligonucleotide sequence was selected from the array hybridisation data and was used in an RNase H/oligonucleotide library (dN12) assay to assess its ability to enhance cleavage of target RNA. This oligonucleotide ("facilitator") greatly enhanced cleavage of B5 RNA at a neighbouring site. The precise position and sequence of this "new" site was determined by further hybridisation of RNA-facilitator mixture to the B5 antisense array. Antisense oligonucleotides designed from the new region were used in combination with the facilitator in a cell-free system. The presence of the facilitator considerably enhanced cleavage of B5 RNA with these oligonucleotides. These approaches may be useful in designing antisense reagents against sequences of specific interest, such as, gene fusion sites, splice variants, mutant alleles and tightly structured RNA sites.


This paper, part of a larger project on urban design and planning dimensions of creative clustering, analyses the micro-spatial morphology of public/private interfaces in the inner city of three Australian cities. What difference does an interface make—shop windows, front gardens, blank walls, car parks, garage doors—and what is the relation of such micro-spatial assemblages to the sociality and economics of the inner city? We begin with a simple typology of such interfaces with eight primary types classified according to permeability, setback, transparency and car versus pedestrian access. We then explore some of the complexities of such interface conditions as the setback from public space extends to become the quasi-public space of the mall, arcade and housing project. These interface types are explored within a framework of assemblage theory— each socio-spatial assemblage comprises a pattern of connectivity that enables the creation, production and reproduction of ideas, goods, services and identities. The paper explores the way in which some morphologies enable adaptations and transformations from one interface type to another (as mediated by planning law). Interface types intersect with each other in complex ways and mapping the mix of different types is a key to understanding emergent urban effects. The paper raises questions about the importance of micro-spatial analysis in urban research generally and the relations of socio-spatial flows and connections to urban creativity and productivity.


In this paper, a new class of distribution has been characterized through the condi- tional expectations, conditioned on a non-adjacent upper record value. Also an equivalence between the unconditional and conditional expectation is used to characterize the new class of distribution.


This paper presents the impact of pollutants on the impurity of substation insulator around the sugar factory. We have conducted experiment and calculated the equivalent salt deposit density (ESDD) to determine pollutant's level, which measure the conductivity of pollutants in insulators. Then synchronized with the weight of NaCl, so the conductivity is the same as the conductivity of pollutants. The results of experimental data from pollutants attached to the polymer isolator are in the medium category, with a value of 0.37 mg/cm2.


Objective:To explore the parental identification status on disabilities of disabled children aged 0~6 years in Beijing and try to analyze the factors which impact on the identification.Methods:326 children were divided into case and control groups according to the identification status,and to compare the differences of some factors between the two groups through univariate and multivariate statistics analyses.Results:The identification status is the worst of the parents whose children are suffered from mental retardation;The risk factors to parental identificalion on children's disabilities included:living in rural areas,boys,the younger,with mother of low education level,single disability,low severity.Conclusion:The parents with disabled children in Beijlng are not good at identifying the disabilities of their children.lt is recommended strongly that the sectors of child health care and rehabilitation should strengthen the health education on the prevention and identification of disabilities,and at the same time,.the trainings to the primary workers of child health care should be emphasized in order to increase their knowledge of prevention and identification of disabilities and enhance their ability to offer services of consultation and instruction.


The influence of various types of extrasystole on the change in arterial hemodynamics and the morphology of changes in the wall of the mainstream arterial vessels is not well understood. The purpose of the study was to determine the effects of water hammer on the hemodynamics of the main arteries in various types of extrasystoly. The study was conducted on 228 patients (122 men and 106 women) aged 43 to 76 years, the average age was 62 ± 4.3 years. For the analysis, the data apex-cardiography, daily monitoring by Holter, echocardiography, electrocardiography, sphygmography, color Doppler mapping of the vessels of the head and neck and extremities were compared. Water hammer of extrasystoles leads to mechanical damage to the endothelium of the arterial wall and serves as a trigger for inflammation and activation of the process of neolipogenesis, the formation of the atheroma. Additional hydraulic waves contribute to trauma to the vascular wall, growth and increase in area of atheromas. The described morphological changes in the vascular wall, the authors describe as «water hammer syndrome» and analyze its role and pathophysiological mechanisms of the development of vascular complications at extrasystoles and reconstructive operations on arterial vessels.


Electrical doping is an important method in organic electronics to enhance device efficiency by controlling the Fermi level, increasing the conductivity, and reducing the injection barrier from the electrode. To understand the charge generation process of the dopant in doped organic semiconductors, it is important to analyze the charge transfer complex (CTC) formation and dissociation into a free charge carrier. In this paper, we correlate the charge generation efficiency with the CTC formation and dissociation efficiency of an n-dopant in organic semiconductors. The CTC formation efficiency of Rb2CO3 linearly decreases from 82.8% to 47.0% as the doping concentration increases from 2.5 to 20 mol %. The CTC formation efficiency and its linear decrease with the doping concentration are analytically correlated with the concentration-dependent size and number of dopant agglomerates by introducing the degree of reduced CTC formation. Lastly, the behavior of the dissociation efficiency is discussed on the basis...


A positive school climate and excellent leadership are essential to promote holistic school administration and high-quality education. Researchers wanted to find out how school leaders' leadership styles affect the perception of students in a high-quality educational environment using a mixed-method research design. A total of 1018 people participated in this survey, including 907 students and 111 school officials from 24 different schools. The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was used to determine the most common leadership style among school heads. The SCAI Secondary General Version was used to assess students' perceptions of the school climate level. Also, four school principals participated in one-on-one interviews on how their leadership styles changed during the pandemic. All aspects of school climate, including community relations, student interactions, learning and assessment, physical appearance, discipline environment, attitude, and culture, had high levels of perceived school climate. Results show that transformational leadership, contingent reward, management by exception, and inspirational motivation are the most prevalent styles of leadership, while laissez-faire, idealized influence, and intellectual stimulation are the least prevalent. Only two out of forty-two (42) correlations between school atmosphere and leadership style were significant. Student interactions and idealized influence are also included in this category. School administrators and teachers need to understand the level of transformational leadership and the school climate to create the best school environment, which will improve the quality of teaching and learning and, in the end, school performance.


In this paper, we propose a series of correlation-based feature selection methods for dealing with high dimensionality in feature-rich environments for modelbased Reinforcement Learning (RL). Real world RL tasks usually involve highdimensional feature spaces where standard RL methods often perform badly. Our proposed approach adopts correlation among state features as a selection criterion. The effectiveness of the proposed methods are compared against previous methods referred as 10PreviousFS [2] using the data from an intelligent logic tutor called Deep Thought (DT) [1]. We evaluated the effectiveness of different feature selection methods by expected cumulative reward (ECR) [3], considering two types of reward: immediate and delayed. Our results show that our proposed methods significantly outperform previous feature selection methods with both types of rewards. Moreover, the "best" policy induced using immediate reward differs significantly from that induced from delayed reward.


The term "reactive arthritis" was first introducedby Aho et al. in 1973 for conditions following infection in other organs in which no microbial antigens could be isolated from the joint. Rheumatic fever, Reiter's syndrome and postenteric reactive arthritis constitute the major clinical forms of the disease. A number of unrelated organisms have been implicated in association with the disease. These include bacteria viruses, protozoa, fungi and helminths 5. The protozoa constitute a rare cause of reactive arthritis. Those reported in association with the disease to produce arthritis and/or arthmlgia include Giardia lamblia, trypanosomes, plasmodia, trichomonas, Babesia microti, Blastocystis hominis and cry ptosporidium. We believe that amoebiasis has never been reported in association with reactive arthritis. Here we report a case of reactive arthritis following an amebic liver abscess.


Electric discharge machining (EDM) is one of the maximum commonly used nontraditional processes for making accurate intricate shapes on hard materials like die steels and is most preferred process to be followed for die and mold making. In this research work, Experiment plan has been designed using Taguchi technique to study the effect of different parameters and their levels by conducting least number of experiments. Based on this L18 orthogonal array is been used. As the most popularly used material in die and mold casting industries are the die steels hence for this work AISI H11 die steel are used as the workpiece material for slot cutting. Effort has been made to find out the optimum machining conditions by varying process parameters like current, powder to be suspended in dielectric, its concentration, tool material and pulse-on duration at three levels with and without using external magnetic field. The results are analyzed using analysis of variance (ANOVA) both analytically and graphically. Significant factors affecting the output parameters have been found using F-test and percentage contribution. From the experimental investigation copper tool followed by C18000 tool has been found to give the best MRR results and high tool wear, whereas tungsten tool has been found to give the least MRR accompanied by least tool wear. The dimensional accuracy of the tools in terms of corner wear, side wear and overcut has also been studied.


The purpose of this paper is to research entrepreneurship and innovation education in Colleges and Universities Under the background of national innovation driven development strategy. Using the method of document study and investigation obtained necessary data in order to deeply, correctly understand entrepreneurship and innovation education problem. Scientific orientation and innovative development of entrepreneurship education in China's colleges and universities has become more and more important problem. Entrepreneurship education in China's colleges and universities is faced with the challenges of specialization, integration and scientific development. Effective measures and suggestion to improve education in University of science and engineering should be put forward based on the scientific positioning of entrepreneurship education in Colleges and universities, and we should focus on building innovative talent quality structure to improve Entrepreneurship Education in Colleges and


In the present article we study the production of grape molasses. Data drawn from a specified biolaboratory, are properly analyzed in order to detect factors that affect significantly the Brix value and the volatile acidity of the final product. The ground that is used for planting and a variety of grapes have been taken into account. Off-line statistical quality control techniques have been employed and the outcomes are displayed and discussed in detail.


Peristaltic transport of a conducting Bingham fluid in a channel under long wavelength and low Reynolds number assumptions is studied. This model is probably suitable for the blood flow in the sense that erythrocytes region and the plasma regions may be described as plug flow and non-plug flow regions. Further the blood is experimentally proved to be a conducting fluid in several physiological applications. Motivated by this fact, it is proposed to study the peristaltic transport of a Bingham fluid. It is observed that for a Bingham fluid the pressure difference and the mechanical efficiency of pumping depend on the yield stress and the magnetic field.


Present contradictions in the intercultural communication field – the pre-eminence of western communication models and the minimization and denial of particular international and racial cultural voices – delimit the possibilities for nuanced theory building, scholarship, and teaching that may address the greatest challenge facing the world community – fostering understanding and advancing peace and security. This article introduces the notion of avant-garde epistemic confluence as one possibility for engendering greater levels of inclusion of marginalized and silenced voices at the epistemic core of the field to effectively address the evolving intergroup, multi-ethnic, and inter-religious conflicts on the world's stage. Mobilizing principles grounded in mindfulness and intercultural alliance building at the individual and disciplinary levels via research, theorizing, and teaching is a driving force. Advancing a pragmatic vision of the intercultural communication field in this twenty-first-century moment with the potential to address complex cross-cultural and intergroup social and political tensions is the central mission.


ABSTRACT Translocations of North American prairie-grouse (genus Tympanuchus) present a conservation paradox wherein they are performed to augment, restore, or reintroduce populations, but translocated individuals exhibit a diminished ability to contribute to population restoration. For reintroduced populations without immigration, persistence can only be achieved through reproductive contributions by translocated individuals and their progeny. Due to the disruptive nature of translocation (e.g., physiological chronic stress), progeny produced at restoration sites may outperform founder populations in terms of demographics, but this hypothesis has yet to be tested. We reintroduced Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse (T. phasianellus columbianus; CSTG) to north central Nevada from 2013 to 2017 and used integrated population models (IPMs) to evaluate the process of population establishment and estimate latent contributions of progeny hatched at the restoration site to population rate of change (). Specifically, we used annual lek (i.e. communal breeding arenas) counts and demographic data from translocated individuals to build two separate IPMs to estimate . While keeping demographic contributions by translocated individuals identical between models, one IPM assumed local progeny performance was demographically similar to translocated individuals (i.e. the baseline-IPM), and the second assumed that local progeny performed demographically similar to non-translocated CSTG (i.e. the informative-IPM). The baseline-IPM predicted strong population declines following the conclusion of translocations and extirpation by 2020, and it failed to predict observed lek counts. Conversely, the informative-IPM predicted population growth rates ( = 1.17, 95% credible interval [CI]: 0.74–1.50) that were more similar to field observations. Offspring of translocated individuals likely perform at similar levels to non-translocated populations, and by not accounting for demographic differences between translocated individuals and non-translocated progeny hatched at the restoration site, managers could underestimate population performance and persistence. Thus, translocation practices that maximize the number of offspring immediately recruited into restoration sites are likely to be the most successful. LAY SUMMARY Translocations of species of North American prairie-grouse (genus Tympanuchus) and sage-grouse (genus Centrocercus) often fail because translocated individuals experience high mortality and depressed reproduction. We translocated 215 Columbian Sharp-tailed Grouse (Tympanuchus phasianellus columbianus) as a species reintroduction project to Nevada, 2013–2017. Integrated population models (IPMs) derived solely from estimated demographic vital rates of translocated individuals fail to predict population growth and can erroneously predict population failure. Accurate predictions of population growth were achieved by modeling the non-monitored offspring cohort (of translocated individuals), hatched and reared at the restoration site using source population demographic rates. While translocated individuals exhibit diminished demographic vital rates, their offspring appear to mirror source populations. Offspring of translocated individuals constituted the core of the restored population. By maximizing the cohort of native offspring, managers can improve sage- and prairie-grouse translocation projects. We provide evidence for the process by which population restoration occurs in successful reintroduction projects.


Hybrid rice(Oryza sativa L.indica)B You 827 seedlings were exposed to different degrees of water stress simulated with PEG to investigate their variations in superoxide dismutase(SOD)and peroxidase(POD)isozymes.PAGE was performed to investigate the effects of 4-day PEG treatments.New bands of SOD and POD were found to appear in the 7.5% PEG treatments.The number of POD bands increased or decreased at 15% PEG and 20% PEG.A comparison of the PAGE results of the 7.5% and 20% PEG treatments for 0-4 day showed that new bands of SOD and POD began to occur on the 2nd in the 7.5% PEG treatment,new bands of SOD began to occur on the 4th day and new bands of POD began to appear on the 1st day in the 20% PEG treatment.The number of isozyme bands varied with the extension of treatment time.


STRIKING advances in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of hepatic coma have been made in recent years. Adams and Foley1 precisely described impending hepatic coma allowing early recognition of the clinical syndrome with the characteristic triad of flapping tremor, mental confusion and electroencephalographic changes. The importance of orally administered nitrogenous substances in the genesis of hepatic coma was emphasized by Phillips et al.2 and Gabuzda, Phillips and Davidson3 in 1952, reviving a concept that had remained dormant since the early 1930's.4 5 6 During the next several years, many investigators confirmed the role of nitrogenous substances in hepatic coma, and further elucidated . . .


This work describes the development and presents a study of a finite element method (FEM) specifically designed for vector electromagnetic wave problems. Three aspects make this formulation different from the conventional FEM , namely, the se lection of the unknowns, the choice of shape functions, and the approach to field matching between the elements. First, the unknowns are closely related to the tan gential field components on the boundary of a finite element, an edge of a triangle in two dimensions (2D) or a face of a tetrahedron in three-dimensions (3D). This reflects the uniqueness theorem for electromagnetic fields. Second, the unknown total fields are expanded in terms of vector eigenfunctions of the wave equation within a semi-infinite domain bounded by the exact element geometry in 2D or an approxi mation thereof in 3D. This leads to a low phase error across an element and allows for electrically large elements. Finally, the sole numerical part of the m ethod consist of the enforcement of the tangential field continuity over inter-element boundaries. This reflects the natural electromagnetic field boundary conditions which allows for the discontinuity of the normal field components. The 2D formulation presented herein can be thought of as an extension to higher orders of the conventional edge elements, which are based on the low order shape functions, while a t the same time preserving their advantages, such as the absence of spurious modes and the ability to handle sharp edges as well as m aterial interfaces.


The objects of intellectual property is a multilayer system including not only the object of disposal,but also object of controlling and object of act.for copyright,the focus of function of rights as object of act is a ambiguous historical concept and difficult to delaminate.The object of controlling directs not the exclusive work,but prohibit several use by others.The object of controlling exists in the focus of function of rights throughout the whole process of copyrights.In the reflection of object of copyrights and define the act of use,it is necessary to avoid close interpretation of traditional values like reasonable use and three-step examination.The commercial and public use of use are supplementary.


Porous membranes of polyacry lonitrile were prepared directly on carbon paper with the phase inversion method,and then cross-linked under γ-ray radiation.Carbon foam materials were obtained from these cross-linked composite porous membranes after oxidation at 220℃ in air,carbonization at 850℃ in nitrogen and activation at 850℃ in CO-2.Morphologies of the carbon foam materials were observed with scanning electron microscopy,and the specific surface area was measured with the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller(BET) technique.It was found that the network structure of the carbon foam materials was affected by γ-ray radiation,and that the BET value could reach a high value of 500 m+2/g after treatment with CO-2 at 850℃.These carbon foam materials can be used directly as electrodes of electrochemical capacitors in suitable shapes and size.Cyclic voltammetry,AC impedance spectrum and galvanic cycles of the carbon foam electrode were tested both in aqueous and organic media for evaluating its electrochemical performance.The results show that the specific capacitance of such a carbon foam electrode in 1 mol/L aqueous solution of sulfuric acid is 174 F/g,which is at the high level of carbon electrodes.


The typical characteristics of shale gas and the enrichment differences show that some shale gases are insufficiently explained by the existing continuous enrichment mode. These shale gases include the Wufeng–Longmaxi shale gas in the Jiaoshiba and Youyang Blocks, the Lewis shale gas in the San Juan Basin. Further analysis reveals three static subsystems (hydrocarbon source rock, gas reservoirs and seal formations) and four dynamic subsystems (tectonic evolution, sedimentary sequence, diagenetic evolution and hydrocarbon‐generation history) in shale‐ gas enrichment systems. Tectonic evolution drives the dynamic operation of the whole shale‐gas enrichment system. The shale‐gas enrichment modes controlled by tectonic evolution are classifiable into three groups and six subgroups. Group I modes are characterized by tectonically controlled hydrocarbon source rock, and include continuous in‐situ biogenic shale gas (I1) and continuous in‐situ thermogenic shale gas (I2). Group II modes are characterized by tectonically controlled gas reservoirs, and include anticline‐controlled reservoir enrichment (II1) and fracture‐controlled reservoir enrichment (II2). Group III modes possess tectonically controlled seal formations, and include faulted leakage enrichment (III1) and eroded residual enrichment (III2). In terms of quantity and exploitation potential, I1 and I2 are the best shale‐gas enrichment modes, followed by II1 and II2. The least effective modes are III1 and III2. The categorization provides a different perspective for deep shale‐gas exploration.


The optical and mechanical properties of paper sheets were compared following treatment with biopolymers using two different methods, i.e., internal functionalization and surface modification. Industrial chemi-mechanical pulp was provided, and two groups of paper handsheets were made. The first group of paper sheet samples were prepared with incorporated chitosan in a mixed-in-pulp slurry (at three treatment levels, i.e., 0%, 1%, and 2%), and in the second group, untreated handsheets were spray-coated with either 2% chitosan, 2% nanocellulose, 0.5% DTPA, or a mixed solution (0.5% DTPA + 2% chitosan + 2% nanocellulose). Then, the optical and mechanical properties of the prepared paper sheets were analyzed. The brightness, opacity, and greenness/redness of the samples were measured spectrophotometrically using the CIELab system. Additional properties of the paper, i.e., the water absorption, air permeability, and tear, tensile, and burst resistance, of the treated samples were also measured. The results indicated that the treatments had a considerable effect on the relative mechanical and optical parameters, which resulted in an increase in the mechanical properties, especially when the nano-particles were applied to the mixed-in-slurry process. Inversely, results from the spray-coating method indicated better results for the optical specifications.


Interrupted aortic arch is a rare congenital heart disease, whereas right-sided interrupted aortic arch is an extremely rare disorder with few reported cases in the literature. We report our institutional experience with two such patients and review the recent literature.


An analysis of the activities of the Kwara Waste Management Company (KWMC) was carried out with particular emphasis on the storage and treatment of wastes for sustainable environment in Ilorin. The types of data collected for the study include types and sources of waste generated in Ilorin, methods of storing waste, types and sizes of containers used in storing waste, ways and types of treatment embarked upon, types of insecticides or disinfectants, and legislations on storage and treatment of solid waste in Ilorin. The land use system was adopted for the purpose of gathering relevant data and information. The most recent prevalent land use system was used while houses, shops, offices, hospitals, and schools were selected at random for interviews and administration of questionnaires. 250 questionnaires were randomly distributed to the land use areas considering the population strength and activities in each of them. The findings of the study rated Ilorin at 55% and recommendations are presented.


In this paper we introduce the basic concepts behind data analysis and data modelling and relate these to terminological data, illustrating the implications of these concepts for both the terminology builder and user. We will also describe our experience of using these concepts and techniques in projects including Translators Workbench, MULTILEX and TRANSTERM. The aim of this paper is, in effect, to elaborate the database terms " entities " , " relationships " , " attributes " , " normal form " , " data integrity " , " data redundancy " , " referential integrity " amongst others. We will describe how the most common techniques, such as entity-relationship modelling, can be applied to the very complex data structures that the terminology of today requires, and how this may be extended for future needs, such as object-oriented and knowledge-based term banks. Introduction Terminology management has progressed hand-in-hand with the establishment of terminology as a discipline being used in daily practice by translators and others. From what were essentially lists of words written on paper, terminology practitioners moved on to more complex manual filing systems of terminology records: most often cards, very much like library index cards. With the accessibility of computer systems, these cards soon moved into the digital domain, still in a card-like, flat form, but now as files of text. This use of computer systems to store and retrieve terminology has become widely accepted by users of terminology. The growth in size of terminology data being created and used meant that the size and number of computer files became large: fortunately, computer science already had a cure for this ailment, the database management system. Dutifully, the digital terminology cards have been moved into this medium, and this is where we find the current state of terminology technology, as embodied in systems like EURODICAUTOM. The problem inherent in this approach to storing terminology is that it is treated by the computer systems as no more than bits of text, meaningful only to the humans that placed them there. Text that should be viewed as identification of a term and text giving notes to the human reader on how to use these bits of text. However, the current and future needs of terminology users asks the computer to do more for them. Quality of terminology is a key issue today, as illustrated by the goals of projects like INTERVAL …


This chapter presents a review and discussion of various approaches to the internationalisation of education at tertiary level; problematised through a critical pedagogic lens. It focuses on two issues foregrounded within this process and the literature: firstly, the move from deficit and assimilationist thinking towards a "pedagogy of recognition" (Caruana and Spurling 2007, 67); secondly, views on recognition and their function towards positively repositioning international students and their learning. We argue that whilst new perceptions are emerging which acknowledge international students as "resourceful peers" in their own right (Jin and Cortazzi 2013; Ryan 2011; Trahar and Hyland 2011; Welikala 2013; Urban and Bierlein Palmer 2014), the practical implications for learning and teaching in culturally diverse settings represented by this ideology require further explication (Jin and Cortazzi 2013; Lillyman and Bennett 2014; Welikala 2013). We propose that the time for recognising intercultural learning has therefore come, and grapple with the question of how this might be realised in internationalised educational contexts.


The development of a medical journal has multiple potential benefits. The demand for journal space continues to increase, and many journals state that they can only publish 20% of the submitted manuscripts. Medical journals in United States attract an international audience of readers and authors. The residency review committee for internal medicine expects key faculty to have scholarly activity. This promotes an academic environment in both residencies and fellowships, and ideally most faculty members should try to submit one scholarly activity for publication per year. Consequently, we think there is a need for additional journals.


The 5-(4-Dimethylamino) benzylidene) Rhodanine was examined as ionophore for the preparation of polymeric membrane electrodes. The electrode revealed a Nernstian behaviour over very wide Ag + ion concentration ranges and detection limit (9,77 · 10 -7 mol/dm 3 ). The electrodes manifest fast response, good selectivity relative to a wide variety of ions. The ESI proposed can be used for over 2 months. The electrodes were applied to the determination of Ag + ion in samples.


We report a 69-year-old female with erythroblastopenia and thymoma who developed lesions of Kaposi's sarcoma (KS) after thymectomy, 2 months after the initiation of therapy with methylprednisolone. Control of mucocutaneous KS lesions was obtained with radiotherapy, interferon alfa-2b and withdrawal of systemic immunosuppressive therapy. Erosive oral lichen planus appeared later, and after therapy with topical corticosteroids a new lesion of KS developed that regressed after withdrawal of topical corticosteroids. The detection of HHV-8 only in lesional skin supports the hypothesis that this virus can trigger the development of KS lesions.


Certain behaviors of academic teachers towards students as well as university staff, both academic teachers and persons performing other functions, can be assessed as inappropriate, reprehensible. Some of those may be prohibited acts – crimes or offenses. Other may be disciplinary offenses or acts of mobbing. Sometimes the perpetrator's act may fall into more than one category of behavior. Particularly noteworthy situations arise at the "confluence" of two or three regimes of responsibility.


The invention discloses a preparation method of resistor contacts and aims to achieve the preparation of steel and Cu-W alloy structured resistor contacts. The preparation method includes the steps of mixing Cu-W alloy and steel according to a drawing; using pure copper or chromium-copper as seam connection material; placing the Cu-W alloy, the steel and fusion welding connection material into a crucible in order during vacuum sintering; placing the crucible in a sintering furnace and performing sintering according to a temperature rise and drop curve; machining sintered parts so as to obtain a high-voltage circuit breaker steel and Cu-W alloy structure meeting the technical requirements. The preparation method has the advantages that the steel and the Cu-W alloy are metallurgically connected by means of processes of the third material, such as fusion and diffusion and solid solution, the method is highly controllable, and quality of parts is stable.


24th November, 1925. My Lord, On behalf of the members of the British Medical Association throughout the Empire I respectfully beg leave to express to His Most Gracious Majesty the Kinlg, our Patron, Her Majesty the Queen, and the members of the Royal Family, the Association's heartfelt sympathy anid profournd sorrow at the death of Queeni Alexandra, whose gracious thoughtfulness and unfailing devotion to the relief of sufferinig have. endeared her to the profession. The Association joins with the whole Empire in mourning one


Tiny amounts of carbohydrates (ca. 1 zmol) can be detected quantitatively by a real-time method based on the conjugation of carbohydrates with DNA markers (see picture). The proposed method (glyco-qPCR) provides uniform, ultrasensitive detection of carbohydrates, which can be applied to glycobiology, as well as carbohydrate-based drug discovery.


Of late, several international agencies are constructing composite indicators for assessing progress of a country as well as inter country comparisons. Gross National Happiness Index, subjective wellbeing measure of World Happiness Report and Social Progress Index are currently popular well-being indicators. This note provides a sketchy overview of the well-being indictors, discusses the subjectivity involved in these measures and provides ranking of selected countries for illustrative purpose. This note also ranks the Indian states on well-being.


Introduction: recurrent implantation failure (RIF) is the most common cause of pregnancy failure after in vitro fertilization (IVF). Among the different causes of RIF, the role of maternal genetics factors is as one of most important factors. P53 codon 72 polymorphism is one of the notable polymorphisms in this field. According to evidences about the association between P53 polymorphism and increased risk of RIF in different population, if this relationship be justified in Iranian population, this polymorphism can be used to predict IVF success rate. This study was performed with aim to evaluate the association between this polymorphism and incidence of RIF. Methods: This case-control study was performed on 80 infertile couples in Mashhad Montaserieh Infertility Treatment Center in 2010. The infertile couples were divided into three groups of control, RIF-1, and RIF-2. The control group included 40 women who were successfully pregnant after IVF. The patient group 1 were 20 women who no type of pregnancy was observed after two IVF, and patient group 2 were 20 women who failed to be pregnant after at least three IVF. P53 gene polymorphism genotype (Arg72pro allele) was determined using PCR- ARMS technique. Statistical analysis was performed by SPSS software (version 16) and Pearson Chi-Square test. PResults: The frequency of Arg/Pro genotype in control group, patient group 1, patient group 2 and total patients was 92.5, 75, 80 and 77.5. The frequency of Arg/Arg genotype in these groups was 7.5, 25, 20 and 22.5, respectively. Pro/Pro genotype was observed in none of the groups. According to Pearson Chi-square test results, distribution of genotypes was not significantly different between patient group 1 and patient group 2 and also total patients in comparison with control group. Conclusion: According to the results of present study in the studied population, there is no association between P53 codon 72 polymorphism and occurrence of RIF. So this polymorphism cannot be used to predict the risk of RIF.


is a double-edged sword: while it's needed at re-entry, it needs to be minimised during the boost phase. SpaceShipTwo solves this confl ict by using a feathered system – it changes its shape during diff erent stages of the fl ight. During the boost stage the feather remains un-deployed and drag is minimised, but during re-entry the pilot and co-pilot deploy the feather, which rotates through 60° and dramatically increases the drag on the vehicle (Figure 2). The deployed feather also automatically keeps the vehicle's underside facing downwards, thus simultaneously solving the orientation issue1. After re-entry comes the landing. As SpaceShipTwo is unpowered (with the exception of its rocket) it now behaves like a glider, with the pilots having one chance to land it safely – there is no power to abort and come back around for another pass. Controlling the vehicle in this phase is incredibly diffi cult, which is why only the very best aviators are accepted, many of whom are either ex-NASA or aviation test pilots. Hiring the best people appears to being borne upwards due to the loss of weight and quickly getting out of the way. In a typical fl ight, SpaceShipTwo fi res its rocket and accelerates, turning almost vertically upwards. It accelerates past the transonic range (0.9–1.1 Mach) and becomes supersonic, pressing its two pilots and six passengers into their seats. Soon after the rocket shuts off and SpaceShipTwo's momentum carries it upwards following an arc, crossing the peak or apogee, before beginning its downward trajectory. As the vehicle traverses this arc it pitches over for passengers to have a view of the earth below, and they unbuckle for four minutes of weightlessness. Then, before gravity reasserts itself, they strap in, and the vehicle begins to gain speed as it descends. The really clever part is how SpaceShipTwo re-enters the earth's atmosphere. Unlike the NASA space shuttle or Apollo Command Module, heat generation during re-entry is not a serious problem because SpaceShipTwo doesn't actually go into orbit. It does, however, have to slow down its decent (by generating drag) and it needs to ensure it remains facing the 'right way 30 TheStructuralEngineer September 2015 Professional guidance ›


Wieman, C. (2015). A better way to evaluate undergraduate teaching. Change: The magazine of higher learning, 47(1), 6-15. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1080/00091383.2015.996077


The embodiment of the invention provides an antenna device for electronic equipment, and a method for forming the antenna. The antenna device includes a main antenna unit and a parasitic antenna unit, wherein the main antenna unit includes a feed branch with a feed terminal; the parasitic antenna unit is capacitively coupled with the main antenna unit, and includes a first parasitic branch located on a first side of the feed branch and a second parasitic branch located on a second side of the feed branch; the first parasitic branch and the second parasitic branch are both grounded; the second side is different from the first side. In the embodiment of the invention adopting the technical scheme, the two parasitic branches are arranged on the two sides of the feed branch of the main antenna unit, so that the frequency bandwidth of an antenna can be enlarged under the condition that additional devices and a designed space for the antenna are barely increased.


OBJECTIVE:To provide reference for drug management in clinical trial process in hospital. METHODS:To summarize the common problems of current drug control in clinical trial process and analyze their harmfulness. Some countermeasures were put forward to resolve those problems. RESULTS CONCLUSIONS:At present uniform management mode hasn't been established for drug control in clinical trial institutions. Realizations on the importance of drug control are different from one another. There are several factors which affect clinical trials even result in undesirable consequence. The institution should formulate scientific,effective and practical management standards and operation process to improve the quality of drug control and ensure safety, scientificity and reliability of clinical trials.


The 30 s Wingate cycling (cWG) test is a popular test of anaerobic capacity. The test is highly correlated with short, high-intensity performance but may have limitations when assessing intermittent-type activities. A reliable field-based test, the running Repeated Sprint Ability (rRSA) test, is deemed more sport-specific than cWG in determining anaerobic performance of multi-sprint sports athletes. This study examines the relationship of the performance indices of cWG and rRSA (8×40 m with 30 s rest in-between) tests in well-trained multi-sprint sports athletes. Twenty-six National-level male field hockey and soccer players took the cWG and rRSA tests on separate occasions in random order. There were only modest correlations between the cWGs mean power (relative) and rRSAs total sprinting time (r = -.46, p < .05) and between the two tests fatigue indicators (r = .46, p < .05). The findings of the low-shared variance among the performance variables between the two tests provided limited support for the use of the cWG for assessing the anaerobic performance capability of well-trained multi-sprint sport athletes.


In this study, an organocatalytic ring-opening polymerization (ROP) of ε-caprolactone (ε-CL) has been developed by employing PADIs as a novel and efficient acid/base bifunctional organocatalyst, which could afford metal-free poly(ε-caprolactone) with predictable molecular weight and narrow dispersity at a low catalyst loading under mild conditions. NMR and kinetic studies indicate that the ring-opening polymerizations of lactones catalyzed by PADIs proceed in a living and well controlled manner. Moreover, this organic Brønsted acid catalytic system could allow the synthesis of PCL with molecular weight above 60 kg/mol, as well as well-defined star polymers.


People with impaired mobility, frequently experience difficulty in gaining access to buildings and vehicles, due to physical barriers. Steps and curbs are generally the most common access barrier to the elderly and to physically disabled people. Portable ramps provide a temporary and transportable method of allowing these people to overcome access difficulties. It would appear that most people with long-term physical impairments ensure that the home is adapted to cope with the problems imposed by the disability, thus making the home permanently accessible. As a result, portable ramps are generally used outside the home, for example to facilitate access to civic buildings and to vehicles. The aim of this paper is to report the results of a two-part evaluation of commercially available, portable ramps in the United Kingdom.


This paper presents speed control of a DC Motor using Fractional order Proportional Derivative control. Fractional order Proportional Derivative control and Fractional Order Proportional Integral Derivative control has wide range of applications. Many analysis and design methods has been proposed for fractional order controllers. Here, a new tuning method for fractional order proportional and derivative ( FO-PD) controller is used for speed control of a Permanent Magnet DC motor. Tuning is performed in such a manner that the given gain crossover frequency and phase margin is fulfilled and the phase derivative with respect to the frequency is zero making the closed loop system robust to gain variations. Tuned Fractional order Proportional Derivative Controller is compared with conventional controller PID controller. Real-time results show that the FOPD controller exhibits better response compared to a PID controller. .


In this paper, we introduce and study a class of generalized multivalued quasivariational inclusions for fuzzy mappings, and establish its equivalence with a class of fuzzy fixed-point problems by using the resolvent operator technique. We suggest a new iterative algorithm for the generalized multivalued quasivariational inclusions. Further, we establish a few existence results of solutions for the generalized multivalued quasivariational inclusions involving -relaxed Lipschitz and -strongly monotone mappings, and discuss the convergence criteria for the algorithm.


This paper explores the pedagogical and technical issues, challenges and outcomes of creating an online information literacy course. Currently under development, this course will be offered as a parallel study option to Advanced Information Retrieval Skills (AIRS:IFN001 ) for QUT postgraduate students, a compulsory face-to-face course for all QUT research students. The aim of this project is to optimise students' access to AIRS:IFN001 and meet the University's objectives regarding flexible delivery and online teaching. Still in its developmental stages, AIRS::Online extends beyond the current notion of static online information literacy tutorials by providing a facilitated, student focussed learning environment comprising content and learning experiences enhanced by appropriate multimedia technology and resources which engage students in planned facilitated and/or self-paced learning events. Course assessment is formative and summative, and is comprised of a research log and reflective journal to provide a means for reviewing the content and key process of advanced information searching and retrieval.


In the last few years Machine Learning (ML) has seen explosive growth in a wide range of research fields and industries. With the advancements in Software Defined Radio (SDR), which allows more intelligent, adaptive radio systems to be built, the wireless communications field has a number of opportunities to apply ML techniques. In this paper, a novel approach to demodulation using a Sequence to Sequence (Seq2Seq) model is proposed. This type of model is shown to work effectively with PSK data and also has a number of useful properties that are not present in other machine learning algorithms. A basic Seq2Seq implementation for BPSK and QPSK demodulation is presented in this paper, and learned properties such as Automatic Modulation Classification (AMC), and ability to adapt to different length input sequences, are demonstrated. This is an exciting new avenue of research that provides considerable potential for application in next generation 5G networks.


A new filled function for the unconstrained global optimization,which is based on a new definition given by Zhang,is introduced in this paper.And an algorithm from the new filled function is given.Numerical results suggest that the method is feasible.


We present a novel method to improve word alignment quality and eventually the translation performance by producing and combining complementary word alignments for low-resource languages. Instead of focusing on the improvement of a single set of word alignments, we generate multiple sets of diversified alignments based on different motivations, such as linguistic knowledge, morphology and heuristics. We demonstrate this approach on an English-to-Pashto translation task by combining the alignments obtained from syntactic reordering, stemming, and partial words. The combined alignment outperforms the baseline alignment, with significantly higher F-scores and better translation performance.


Abstract : Viewing the frequency history of the high-quality quartz crystal oscillator onboard Milstar FLT-1 as a "space experiment," we examined the response of the crystal to various solar flares occurring over the past 4 years. One of the questions we address concerns the influence of enhanced space radiation on a crystal oscillator's random frequency fluctuations, which, in addition to radiation-induced deterministic effects, could affect the oscillator's timekeeping ability. Examining the response of the Milstar FLT-1 crystal oscillator to the large solar flares of 14 July and 9 November 2000, we find clear evidence of a flare-induced deterministic change in oscillator frequency. However, examining the random fluctuations of the oscillator's frequency about this deterministic variation, we find no evidence of a concomitant change in the nature of the oscillator's stochastic behavior. Additionally, we examined the magnitude of the radiation-induced frequency excursion for a number of solar flares, obtaining a scaling relation between maximum frequency excursion and solar proton fluence as measured by GOES satellites. The results show that even for the largest flares, timekeeping onboard a geosynchronous communications satellite need not be unduly perturbed by the enhanced space radiation environment of a solar flare, so long as a ground station can take mitigating action within a few hours of the flare's onset. Though limited to a unique satellite experiment, the results reported here bode well for satcom timekeeping during periods of solar maximum.


KES-16KA/350V rectification system is the matching engineering of Danjiang Aluminum Company 60KA electrolytic series,built in May 1995 and operated in June 1996,which has been introduced,absorbed the advanced techniques home and abroad and then researched and developed by Danjiang Aluminum Company,Guiyang Aluminum Magnesium Design Institute,Jiujiang Rectifier Factory,and Liuzhou Transformer Factory and the equipments erection and debugging were jointly finished by Danjiang Aluminum Company and Jiujiang Rectifier Factory.The operation shows that the first single unit 24-phase 64ka high power SCR rectification system of Danjiang Aluminum Company is the most advanced and of high economic results,with safe,stable,economic,continual power supply,so as to meet the requirements of electrolytic aluminum production of Danjiang Aluminum Company.


Nowadays,society lies in transitional period.Being at a loss,university and college students are short of innovative spirit,which is an obvious fact.In the view of sociology,this article attempts to reveal the connotation of the university and college students' thoughts.This article offers another new angle to probe into new law,new method and new route of the ideological and political work for the university and college under the new situation,to promote reform and development of the university and college.


In the present work impedance boundary conditions for electromagnetic fields on massive bodies with anisotropic complex dielectric permeability have been obtained. For isotropic bodies, if the electrical conductivity of a surface material is sufficient, the boundary conditions can be transformed into Leontowich`s conditions. Different forms of impedance boundary conditions as well as an example of circulation are shown.


A new printed quadrifilar helix antenna with integrated feed network was designed for satellite mobile communication systems. The input impedance of this antenna in each port is about 50Ω without a matching circuit. It makes the feed network simplified and miniaturized. Parameter tradeoffs have a direct bearing on antenna performance in antenna design. A trial and error approach to this problem is both costly and unreliable. The purpose of this work is to use computer electromagnetic simulation to predict antenna properties for optimum performance. The proposed antenna displays small size, light weight, low cost, large bandwidth, hemispherical radiation pattern and excellent circular polarization.


Objective: To observe the effect of coxsackie virus B 3 on airway tract and lung morphology, and to study the relation between CVB infection and asthma. Methods: We established CVB 3 infective model: 5 d neonatal rats inhaled CVB 3 by ultrasonic brume. CVB 3 IgM was examined 10 d after inoculating of CVB 3, and LW/BW, airway tract and lung pathological change 10 d and 30 d after inoculation of CVB 3 were observed. Results: Rats from the virus group had higher D of CVB 3 IgM than control's ( +2s ) and had higher LW/BW 10 d after inoculation of CVB 3 than control ( P 0.01). Neonatal rats had acute inflammatory changes 10 d after inoculation of CVB 3 and persistent changes in morphology and cytology. Conclusion: Neonatal rats virus model is established. Respiratory infection by CVB 3 in neonatal rats has persistent changes in airway tract inflammatory and morphology.


A new environmentally benign and highly efficient catalytic system [π-C5H5NC16H33]3[PO4(WO3)4]/H2O2/CH3COOC2H5 for the epoxidation of soybean oil displayed excellent activity and high recovery. The change of the catalyst during the reaction was investigated by elemental analysis, FTIR and 31P NMR.


Objective: Comparative evaluation of anti-proliferative activities of aqueous (SNA) and methanolic extract (SNM) of Solanum nigrum was studied on HeLa, SiHa (HPV-infected) and C33A (non-HPV) cell lines. Methods: Cellular and nuclear morphology of treated cells were studied by phase contrast and fluorescence microscopy respectively. Cell cycle analysis was carried out by flow cytometry. DNA fragmentation assay and Annexin-V assay were conducted to study apoptosis induction. Expression of apoptotic proteins – Caspase and Bax were studied at translational level. Results: SNM treated cells showed chromatin condensation, nuclear distortion and fragmentation as well as DNA laddering, whereas extensive cytoplasmic vacuolation was observed on treatment with SNA. In case of treatment with SNM, higher percentage of cells in sub G0 phase was observed in HeLa (40.83%) and C33A (44.72%) as compared to SiHa (11.95%). Flowcytometric assays showed higher percentage of late and early apoptotic cells in HeLa (58.5%) as compared to SiHa (31.3%) and C33A (41.5%) cell lines. Down regulation of Caspase and Bax was observed in all three cell lines treated with SNM and SNA. Cleaved Caspase was absent in case of all the three cell lines. Conclusion: Absence of cleaved Caspase suggests that cell death by SNM might be taking place by Caspase –independent apoptotic pathway, while occurrence of cytoplasmic vacuoles in SNA treated cells suggest that cell death might be taking place by autophagic pathway.


UNLABELLED
The non-small lung cancer is a leader for currency and mortality among the oncological diseases. In this moment the surgical resection is a standard in the treatment of patients in initial disease stages. The aim of present announcement is to share of our distant results in the operative treatment of patients in first clinical stages. We examine the most important prognostic factors.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
We investigate 49 patients in our study in first clinical stages with a non-small cell lung cancer. All of them are surgically treated.

RESULTS
The five year survival is 71% in the patients in 1A stage and 58% in these in 1B stage.

CONCLUSION
Operative treatment in the cases with non-small cell lung cancer in first clinical stage leads to good results. The tumor size and surgical intervention volume are significant for a distant survival.


The COVID-19 pandemic had a direct impact on the extent of guaranteed healthcare services. Many gynecologists', obstetricians', and midwives' offices were closed, laboratories suspended their activities, the collection of necessary tests was delayed, and women had to wait much longer for test results than they had to previously. General women's healthcare prophylactic programs were suspended or delayed. In 2020, screening financed by public funds covered less than one-seventh of the female population in Poland. As medical teams, professionals, clinicians, and scientists, we have been facing a challenge to help, protect, and care for one of the most vulnerable population groups, pregnant women. A significant part of that challenge has been in preventing the spread of severe COVID-19, along with other preventable diseases, among women who are pregnant, who are in labor, or who have recently given birth.


Assessment of historical buildings presents specific engineering task, considering the ways they were built and the materials, which were used. Many of them belong to cultural heritage and merit special care and protection. This concerns also the historical buildings in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The country is situated in seismic active region of South-East Europe and the majority of the historical buildings were made of stone-masonry. In the case of stronger earthquake motion such buildings could suffer heavy damages. The damages are sometimes cumulated through many years and many causes. Substantial damages were caused by recent war disaster, as well. The aim is to preserve and reveal their aesthetic and historical values and to use original materials and original way of construction, if possible. In most cases seismic assessment procedures result in the requirements for the strengthening or retrofit of the old masonry building structures. Design and construction procedures of repair and strengthening of two medieval stone masonry buildings are presented. Equilibrium between aesthetical and structural demands is discussed.


The paper describes the main features of the large diesel driven fully submerged hydrofoil catamaran RAINBOW. See also abstract nos 94102292, 94112507, 94112523 and 94112643.


【Task】 An anti-counterfeit metal foil, the surface is structured with at least one predetermined partial area. The partial region has a different refractive index in comparison with other surface areas.


A cerebral astrocytoma which had remained quiescent possibly for 12 years, presented with blackouts, vasculitis and a lupus-like (L-E like) syndrome. The association between tumours and "L-E like" syndromes is reviewed briefly.


We investigate the global well-posedness and the global attractors of the solutions for the Higher-order Kirchhoff-type wave equation with nonlinear strongly damping: . For strong nonlinear
damping σ and ?, we make assumptions (H1)
- (H4). Under of the proper assume, the main results are existence and uniqueness of the solution in proved by Galerkin method, and deal with the global attractors.


Being a part of a larger project on subject positions of the child in policy documents and teaching materials, this article focuses on the role of undecidables in the fabrication of the so-called g ...


Excitons are of fundamental interest and of importance foropto-electronic applications of bulk and nano-structured semiconductors.This paper discusses the utilization of ultrafast terahertz (THz) pulsesfor the study of characteristic low-energy excitations of photoexcitedquasi 2D electron-hole (e-h) gases. Optical-pump THz-probe spectroscopyat 250-kHz repetition rate is employed to detect characteristic THzsignatures of excitons and unbound e-h pairs in GaAs quantum wells.Exciton and free-carrier densities are extracted from the data using atwo-component model. We report the detailed THz response and pairdensities for different photoexcitation energies resonant to heavy-holeexcitons, light-hole excitons, or the continuum of unbound pairs. Suchexperiments can provide quantitative insights into wavelength, time, andtemperature dependence of the low-energy response and composition ofoptically excited e-h gases in low-dimensionalsemiconductors.


The existing knowledge base on supply chain collaboration (SCC) is primarily based on studies in electronics, automotive and fast moving consumer goods industries. The aim of this study is to explore the applicability of existing theoretical SCC concepts in the chemical process industry. A system dynamics model was developed and applied to analyse the impact of collaboration initiatives in the supply chain of the Special Products business unit of Royal DSM N.V., a leading company in the European chemicals industry. Our research findings do suggest that there are industry-specific factors that make collaboration different in the process industry. In bulk chemicals production processes, the focus is on capacity co-ordination and less on material co-ordination, which is where most collaboration initiatives in other industries focus on. This overriding importance of capacity co-ordination does limit the degrees of freedom for collaboration in the process industries somewhat. However, substantial benefits can still be reaped from material coordination efforts, such as information sharing and inventory buffer sharing, in process industry supply chains. A complicating factor in all collaboration efforts is that benefits are not distributed equally amongst supply chain partners. This is one more reason why especially intra-firm buyer-supplier relationships are promising candidates for supply chain collaboration as here the distribution of supply chain benefits amongst parties can be resolved at corporate level.


The issue of human rights has been one of the most sensitive elements in the EU-China relationship. It has been difficult to deal with in the official relationship between the EU and the Chinese government and has also been controversial in public opinion and in the media. The question of human rights often appears to be the aspect of their relationship where the differences between Europe and China are the greatest and the most destabilizing. In recent times we have seen this with regard to specific issues. On the Tibet issue, China was critical of EU President Sarkozy's meeting with the Dalai Lama in 2008. A generalized criticism in Europe of China's human rights policies affected events surrounding the Beijing Olympics; notably during the Olympic torch procession and when a boycott of the event by European leaders was widely advocated.


We present BakerSFIeld, a Software Fault Isolation (SFI) framework for the x64 instruction set architecture. BakerSFIeld is derived from PittSFIeld, and retains the assembly language rewriting style of sandboxing, but has been substantially re-architected for greater clarity, separating the concerns of rewriting the program for memory safety, and re-aligning the code for control-flow safety. BakerSFIeld also corrects several significant security flaws we found in PittSFIeld. We measure the performance of BakerSFIeld on a modern 64-bit desktop machine and determine that it has significantly lower overhead than its 32-bit cousin.


Thudiyangal Mithun,1 R. Carretero-González,2 E.G. Charalampidis,3 D.S. Hall,4 and P.G. Kevrekidis1 Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Massachusetts, Amherst MA 01003-4515, USA Nonlinear Dynamical Systems Group∗, Computational Sciences Research Center†, and Department of Mathematics and Statistics, San Diego State University, San Diego, CA 92182-7720, USA Mathematics Department, California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407-0403, USA Department of Physics and Astronomy, Amherst College, Amherst, MA 01002-5000, USA


What leads the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) to intervene in one conflict, but remain inactive in another? This paper analyzes all 221 documented conflicts since 1945, trying to unveil the characteristics associated with UN intervention. Including geographical aspects, we find that proximity to two the five permanent members of the UNSC has a significant and meaningful effect on the probability of intervention. For every 1,000 kilometers of distance from France or the United Kingdom the probability of intervention decreases by up to 73 percent. In general, UN interventions are significantly more likely in smaller, poorer, less democratic, and less open economies. JEL Classification: D74, F52, F53, R12


As XML database sizes grow, the amount of space used for storing the data and auxiliary supporting data structures becomes a major factor in query and update performance. This paper presents a new secondary storage scheme for XML data that supports all navigational operations and answers ancestor queries in near constant time. In addition to supporting fast queries, the space requirement is within a constant factor of the information theoretic minimum, while insertions and deletions can be performed in near constant time as well. As a result, the proposed structure features a small memory footprint that increases cache locality, whilst still supporting standard APIs such as DOM efficiently. As an example of the scheme's power, we further demonstrate that the structure can support efficient structural and twig joins. Both formal analysis and experimental evidence demonstrate that the proposed structure is space and time efficient.


A double-lap, adhesive bonded joint, has been optimized with a fixed thickness of the core, in order to maximize the breaking force, and to obtain reproducible results. The shear profile, longitudinal, corresponds in the central region of the overlapping to classical theory, but is represented empirically, near the extremities, by the transversal shear in outer adherends. This furnishes an abscissa of the shear maximum in the joint, that compares with the location expected in a previous study and indicates also the critical level of shear, at the threshold of microcrack initiation, that compares with the breaking strength of the solid adhesive, in a similar manner for three different adhesives for which we observed a certain length of sheared joint with a cohesive fracture.


Background In situations of conflict, individuals with disabilities are often the least visible and sustain disproportionately higher rates of morbidity and mortality than do those who are not disabled. The long-term conflict in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt) is a major factor affecting the health and quality of life of Palestinians, especially those who are disabled. A developmental approach was used to create a rehabilitation programme in the oPt. Traditionally, people with disabilities were largely neglected and discriminated against in the oPt, particularly with respect to long-term development programmes, even if a few interventions were available, most implemented by charities. A systematic approach to disability began in the early 1990s, in response to the effects on disability of the harsh conditions in the oPt and the first intifada that resulted in a substantial increase in the number of individuals with disabilities. Most were young people, who were celebrated as national heroes. This increase caused concern in many countries, leading to support for tertiary-care interventions. However, these interventions did not provide the holistic approach that was needed. The challenges encountered in the development of a rehabilitation programme in the oPt have been the diminished visibility of individuals with disabilities during long-term conflict; increased poverty in the oPt; restricted movement and access of the population, more so for people with disabilities; increasing mental health problems in people with disabilities; restricted opportunities for continuation of the education of rehabilitation staff; and increasing numbers of people with disabilities because of Israeli military incursions. The development of a rehabilitation programme in the oPt is presented here. Methods To meet the needs of people with disabilities, a community-based rehabilitation (CBR) programme was established and supported with financial and technical assistance from Diakonia/Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency (Sida), Stockholm, Sweden, and the Norwegian Association of Disabled/Norwegian Agency for Development and Cooperation (NORAD), Oslo, Norway, because the Palestinian Government had shown little interest in individuals with disability. Consortiums of local non-governmental organisations implement and own the programme, creating a close coordination between a few national referral centres, two intermediate-level resources, and a cadre of local CBR workers. The approach is a shift from institutional, long-term care to the dissemination of knowledge and skills to the support network—eg, families and teachers—for people with disabilities so that the training can be done at home and in the community by non-professionals who are trained by professionals, and is functional because it makes use of activities of daily living. Inclusive education is also an important goal of the programme. CBR workers network with community resources, support training, advocate and raise awareness about the rights of disabled people, lobby, and arrange for activities about issues relating to gender, disability prevention, and community empowerment. Quality development of the professionals in the programme has been supported by visiting international rehabilitation teams. Findings The rehabilitation programme covers 60% of the Palestinian population in the oPt (in 320 communities), is mainly implemented in poor rural areas, and has reached more than 33 000 people with disabilities (60% children, 53% male) and their families since its inception. Commonly noted disabilities result from cerebral palsy; congenital disorders; cognitive dysfunction, sight disorders, and hearing disorders; accidents; trauma; and sequelae of infectious diseases. The diverse activities implemented for the targeted population with disabilities include client identification and assessment, training, referrals for technical aids, and support of inclusive education and integrated summer camps. The summer camps have been very successful and a means of integration of children with disabilities into community recreational activities. The CBR programme was started two decades ago, to target mainly the poor rural areas of the oPt where about two-thirds of the population lived. Despite the challenges, the conclusions drawn from several studies are that the CBR programme has had a major effect in the oPt. The programme has greatly improved the previously inadequate health care of people with disabilities through increased access to health services and improvement in the quality of interventions for rehabilitation at all levels. The model that has developed is described as decentralised, dynamic, and well organised, with high participation by the community. In an assessment done in 2005 from the perspective of people with disabilities, the programme "has empowered individuals and parents, improved basic daily living skills and coping mechanisms, reduced stigma and isolation and increased social inclusion."


- The Present Paper Presents An Analysis Of The Key Elements Of Forensic Investigation In The Case Of Cyber Events. It Investigates The Key Elements Of Investigations And Further Insures An Appropriate Course Of Action Is Defined And Executed.


With the help of heat balance equation and high temperature thermodynamic function,the calibration relation of jet temperature with discharge power、gas flow rate was obtained for nitrogen thermal plasma.It was shown that the results were agreed with the principle of similarity.The jet temperature was a function of Peff/f,instead of a general two variables function of Peff and f,which were effective discharge power and working gas flow rate,respectively.A related discussion has been given;it will be referable to thermal plasma applications.


We prove the conjecture of Gould and Jacobson that a connected S(K1,3)-free graph has a vertex pancyclic square. Since S(K1,3)2 is not vertex pan-cyclic, this result is best possible.


Abstract : Although industrial and systems engineers possess broad skill mixes and play diverse roles working in industry, it is hypothesized that industrial and systems engineers have unique fundamental core competencies and associated knowledge that distinguish themselves from other related disciplines. This study was intended to discover from an industry viewpoint what these core competencies and associated knowledge are and how or whether they change according to different key sample subgroups. The researcher suspects that industry's perception of what constitutes key competencies to produce ideal industrial and systems engineers may not be identical to what key competencies industry is actually utilizing. Therefore, this study was designed to discover if any differences exist along these two different dimensions by analyzing incumbents' responses. To accomplish this, the researcher developed a knowledge based survey instrument to identify what specific industrial and systems engineering (ISE) knowledge items (KI's) are being applied in industry jobs. In addition, this instrument also asked incumbents to rate these 350 KI's to determine how much educational emphasis should be placed on each of them for undergraduate education curriculum development.


We investigated dissolved oxygen,some nutrients and other associated parameters in the Xiaoqing River estuary,a highly polluted estuary during the spring of 2008.The large area of the estuary was anoxic,with unconventionally high level of carbon,nitrogen and phosphorus concentrations.Additionally,the values of chemical oxygen demand,ammonia and phosphate were high above that of the Ⅳ seawater quality,according to the national standards of seawater quality.High nitrite value was detected in the estuary,mainly resulted from nitrification.Since the nitrification that ammonia oxidated to nitrite was controlled by dissolved oxygen and ammonia concentration,the increasing rate of nitrite was surveyed while dissovled oxygen between 30%~70% and ammonia concentration upon 3.33 mg/L.


The description of the validation procedure was indeed slightly ambiguous. The title of the subsections should be changed to "Calibration procedure" and "Parameterisation" since no real validation was performed in the study, because of a lack of data. We only had one inundation event on the Loing catchment which allowed us to parameterise the model but not to validate it on a second event. The data used for the calibration were the observed discharges that led to the simulated inundation map which was then compared to the observed inundation extent from the activation EMSN028 of the Copernicus Emergency Management Service.


We discuss advanced direct-detection receiver structures for a variety of optical amplitude- and phase-coded modulation formats, and point at format-specific design trade-offs.


Many skilled information technology (IT) professionals working in South Africa understand that they work in a fast-changing environment. The emergent nature of IT, coupled with growing demands for new sets of IT skills in South Africa, has fostered a miscellany of employment issues in the IT profession at a higher percentage relative to other professions. Arguably, the antecedents that shape these issues in the profession are critical for managers in the industry. This chapter presents findings that are based on an investigation carried out in South Africa regarding the miscellany of organizational, technological, and individual issues that IT professionals face. Having a reliable and efficient IT infrastructure was by far the most highly ranked organizational issue. The most important technology issue as perceived by respondents was networking and telecommunications. Insights to these findings are discussed in this chapter.