On a climate change scenario, a discrete choice experiment was applied to elicit the trade-off values for three environmental impacts of current viticultural management practices in vineyards of Mendoza, Argentina. Water availability for other uses was found to be the most concerning topic for the population, followed by use of chemical fertilizers and then by use and conservation of biodiversity. An increase of one percentage point in water availability was estimated to add each citizen on average 13.05 Argentinean pesos – 0.74 US dollars – per year in terms of increased welfare, a figure equivalent to the welfare drop a citizen would experience after an increase of 1.45 percentage points in the use of chemical fertilizers annually per hectare, or a decrease of 2.69 percentage points in the use and conservation of biodiversity. These trade-off values may help policy makers, planners, regional managers, and ecologists to take social preferences into account in setting resource allocation priorities intended to support viticulture. This study approach provides a framework that could guide similar assessments in other regions.


ABSTRACT. The synthesis of Schiff base compound derived from 2-hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde and o-phenylenediamine via solvent-assisted mechanochemical synthesis in the presence of a small amount of dimethylformamide as liquid-assisted solvent was reported. The Co(II), Ni(II), Cu(II) and Zn(II) Schiff base complexes were synthesized and characterized by powder x-ray diffraction, infra-red spectroscopy, differential scanning colorimetry, thermogrametric analysis, energy dispersive X-ray analysis and CHNS/O macro-analysis. According to infrared spectral analysis, a strong band in the spectra of Schiff base at 1617 cm-1 was assigned to the azomethine v(C=N) stretching vibration. In the complexes, it shifted to lower frequency regions, indicating the formation of desired compounds. The DSC thermogram of Schiff base showed a single sharp peak at 158 oC, which is attributed to the melting or the phase transition. As revealed by TGA, the complexes were obtained as solid compounds containing some amounts of water molecules. The powder-XRD analysis showed that the patterns of the synthesized compounds were different from the starting materials, indicating that the starting constituents were changed into product. The antimicrobial activity results for selected bacteria and fungi revealed that complexes have higher activity than the Schiff base. Furthermore, the synthesized compounds were found to be more effective against fungal isolates than those of bacteria.

KEY WORDS: Schiff base, Solvent-assisted mechanochemistry, Azomethine, Complexes
Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2022, 36(4), 801-813.
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v36i4.7


First coined by Nobel prize winning financial economist Eugene Fama in 1965, the EMH remains a fundamental theory in financial economics. This study researches the international dissemination of the Efficient Market Hypothesis (EMH) using a combination of exploratory and explanatory methods. A temporal and geographical analysis of citations in academic publications of the seminal articles (1965; 1970; 1991) regarding the EMH, following Wojcik, Kreston and McGill (2013), reveals that there is widespread internationalization, but this only took off after the year 2000. It is found that the United States still appears to be a dominant force in the field. Furthermore, supporting the propositions of Fourcade (2009) and institutional theory, institutional context seems to be a structuring factor for economists. Using panel GLS regression analysis, it is found that the institutional context of a country, characterized by the Liberal Market Economy (LME) – Coordinated Market Economy (LME) distinction of Hall and Gingerich (2009) is a significant factor in the international diffusion of the EMH. The EMH, interwoven with the Chicago School's laissez-faire principles, is more likely to spread to countries characterized by an institutional context that resembles a LME. A convincing longitudinal effect of changes in institutional context on the citation pattern is not found. Further research should evaluate whether this relationship is structurally altered since the development of the internet as the exploratory results seem to suggest.


MoS2/bio-template carbon composite materials with outstanding photocatalytic degradation performance were constructed and synthesized by an impregnation–hydrothermal–calcination (IHC) method. Composites of the same type were synthesized by a direct-impregnation–calcination (DIC) method for comparison. The results showed that calcination process was obtained from biotemplate carbon with preserved structure. IHC method obtained petal-like MoS2, while DIC method obtained needle-like MoS2. The composite material exhibits adsorption–catalytic degradation performance. Driven by visible light, the photocatalytic degradation efficiency of the composites synthesized by IHC method for humic acid reached 98.73% after 150 min of illumination.


The fatigue behavior of a specific inner casing of a 1000 MW supercritical steam turbine was investigated during a complete startup phase. The Ramberg–Osgood model and Manson–Coffin strain-life law were used to describe the stress–strain behavior and calculate the damage. The temperature variation during the startup phase revealed that the startup phase could be divided into a warming-up phase, transition phase, and elevated temperature phase. The thermal stress that dominated in the inner casing could also be divided into the same three phases. The damage caused by the alternating stress during the warming-up phase was around 70% of the total damage. The remaining 30% of the damage was contributed by the transition and elevated temperature phases. The fatigue life was improved by shortening the warming-up phase and extending the elevated temperature phase. The damage was reduced by approximately 20%.


Some of the main characteristics of the flora of Cuba are exposed and discussed, as the dominance of endemics, disjunction, vicariancy, inversion, microphyllia, micranthia, relict character and vulnerability. The origin, > evolution and presumable migrations of the flora are also discussed, based on the results of the geological up-todate investigations on the plate tectonics. In the process of the flora evolution three main phases are distinguished, the early plate phase, the middle-tertiary land-bridge phase and the late archipelago phase. As the last important period of the flora immigrations the middle tertiary land-bridge phase is discussed with its different floras, as the broad-leaved Honduras-flora, and the sclerophyllous Madro-Tethyan flora . In the lat e archipelago phase the broad-leaved Guyana-flora, the semideciduous Yucatanflora and the extratropical North-American flora influenced the evolution of the flora and vegetation of Cuba. At last the evolution centres of the ecologically and/or phytosociologically adapted species groups and their migratory routes are designed and explained.


Background Achieving maternal and newborn related Sustainable Development Goals targets is challenging for Nepal, mainly due to poor quality of maternity services. In this context, we aim to assess the Basic Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care (BEmONC) service availability and readiness in health facilities in Nepal by analyzing data from Nepal Health Facility Survey (NHFS), 2015. Methods We utilized cross-sectional data from the nationally representative NHFS, 2015. Service availability was measured by seven signal functions of BEmONC, and service readiness by the availability and functioning of supportive items categorized into three domains: staff and guidelines, diagnostic equipment, and basic medicine and commodities. We used the World Health Organization's service availability and readiness indicators to estimate the readiness scores. We performed a multiple linear regression to identify important factors in the readiness of the health facilities to provide BEmONC services. Results The BEmONC service readiness score was significantly higher in public hospitals compared with private hospitals and peripheral public health facilities. Significant factors associated with service readiness score were the facility type (14.69 points higher in public hospitals, P<0.001), number of service delivery staff (2.49 points increase per each additional delivery staff, P<0.001), the service hours (4.89 points higher in facilities offering 24-hour services, P = 0.01) and status of periodic review of maternal and newborn deaths (4.88 points higher in facilities that conducted periodic review, P = 0.043). Conclusions These findings suggest that BEmONC services in Nepal could be improved by increasing the number of service delivery staff, expanding service hours to 24-hours a day, and conducting periodic review of maternal and newborn deaths at health facilities, mainly in the peripheral public health facilities. The private hospitals need to be encouraged for BEmONC service readiness.


The Working Papers should not be reported as representing the views of the Banco Central do Brasil. The views expressed in the papers are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Banco Central do Brasil. The objective of this paper is to verify if exploiting the large data set available to the Central Bank of Brazil, makes it possible to obtain forecast models that are serious competitors to models typically used by the monetary authorities for forecasting inflation. Some empirical issues such as the optimal number of variables to extract the factors are also addressed. I find that the best performance of the data rich models is usually for 6-stepahead forecasts. Furthermore, the factor model with targeted predictors presents the best results among other data-rich approaches, whereas PLS forecasts show a relative poor performance.


A method for synthesizing carbon nanotubes is provided to transfer efficiently substrates for synthesizing the carbon nanotubes, an apparatus for synthesizing the carbon nanotubes by the method is provided, and a system for synthesizing carbon nanotubes comprising the apparatus is provided. A system(1000) for synthesizing carbon nanotubes comprises: a reaction chamber(210) which provides a space for synthesizing the carbon nanotubes, and into which reaction gas(Rg) is injected from the outside; a boat(220) having substrates(10) loaded thereon, the substrates being coated with a catalyst reacted with the reaction gas to synthesize the carbon nanotubes; a substrate transfer part(240) which is installed outside the reaction chamber, and which loads the substrates on the boat positioned outside the reaction chamber; a boat transfer part(230) which transfers the boat from the outside of the reaction chamber to the inside of the reaction chamber, or transfers the boat from the inside of the reaction chamber to the outside of the reaction chamber; a coating part(400) for coating a catalyst on the substrates; and a recovery part(300) for separating and recovering from the substrates the carbon nanotubes synthesized on the substrates. The system further comprises: a system chamber(100) in which the reaction chamber, substrate transfer part, boat transfer part, coating part, and recovery part are installed to isolate the same components from the outside; and a storage part(600) installed in the system chamber to store the substrates temporarily.


Feedback error learning has an architecture of two-degree-of-freedom control in which the feedforward controller is tuned to be the inverse model of the plant. Recently, Miyamura and Kimura have established a control theoretical validity of the FEL method in the framework of adaptive control and proved its stability based on the strictly positive realness. In this paper, we propose a design method for the two-degree-of-freedom control system, which does not require any positive real conditions. The plant is described by a transfer function which does not have proper inverse.


A metric tree (M, d), also known as R-trees or T-theory, is a metric space such that between any two points there is an unique arc and that arc is isometric to an interval in R. In this paper after presenting some fundamental properties of metric trees and metric segments, we will give a characterization of compact metric trees in terms of metric segments. Two common measures of noncompactness are the ball and set measures, respectively defined as β(S) = inf{ǫ | S has a finite ǫ-net in M } and α(S) = inf{ǫ | S has a finite cover of sets of diameter ≤ ǫ}. We will prove that α = 2β for all metric trees. We give two independent proofs of this result, first of which depends on the fact that given a metric tree M and a subset E with its diameter 2r, for all ǫ > 0 there exists m ∈ M such that E ⊂ B(m; r + ǫ). The second proof depends on the calculation of underlying geometric constant, Lifschitz characteristic of a metric tree. It is well known that the classes of condensing or contractive operators defined relative to distinct measures of noncompactness are not equal in general, however in case of metric trees, we show that a map T between two metric trees is k-set contractive if and only if it is k-ball contractive for k ≥ 0.


Recruitment of pro-inflammatory cells is a critical process for the development and progression of a variety of autoimmune/inflammatory diseases. The directed movement of leukocytes toward a site of inflammation is predominately mediated by chemoattractants, also called chemokines that bind to G-protein coupled receptors that in turn activate a complex network of intracellular signaling cascades. Extravasation of neutrophils from blood vessels requires adhesion to vascular endothelial cells and subsequent migration into the tissue. These events are mediated by a diverse array of molecules including members of the CC and CXC chemokine families. CXC chemokines containing the glutamic acid-leucine-arginine motif, such as IL8, induce neutrophil chemotaxis and activation, whereas CC chemokines (i.e. RANTES, etc.) are able to activate monocytes and eosinophils. However, mouse neutrophils express preferentially CCR1, which is activated by CC chemokines like RANTES. Consequently, CCR1 receptors may play a more important role in mouse than in human neutrophils to compensate the apparent absence of CXCR1 receptors on mouse neutrophils [1]. Recently, it has been shown that RANTES injected in mouse peritoneum is able to induce recruitment of a variety of inflammatory cells [2]. To investigate which leukocyte sub-population could be more affected by RANTES stimulation, we developed an in vivo model of peritoneal cavity chemotaxis using r-human RANTES as stimulus. Briefly, 8-12 week old, female Balb/C mice were injected intraperitoneally with saline or 0.05-1.5 mg/kg of r-hRANTES. Four hours after r-hRANTES injection, mice were sacrificed and peritoneal cavity was washed three times with ice-cold PBS. The recruited cells were then automatically counted with a Beckman Coulter® A c ·T 5diff™. At least 6 mice per experimental group were used in all experiments. The intraperitoneal administration of r-hRANTES resulted in a dose-dependent increase of total leukocyte cells recruited into the peritoneum, measured 4 hours after injection. The mainly affected leukocyte subpopulation was neutrophils. Chemoattractant receptors transmit their signal to heterotrimeric G protein complexes. Upon stimulation, the G protein complex dissociates and subsequently recruits various signaling components such as nucleotide exchange factors, phospholipid lipases and lipid kinase phosphoinositide-3'OH-kinase isoforms, like PI3K. Recent advances using genetic approaches and


. What for a long time had been thought incompatible - management of public finance and expertise of ordinary citizens - has become possible with the development of participatory budget, particularly in cities, where public investments are more tangibile. Can this recent bond be strengthened if participation is advanced to an earlier stage of the complicated bureaucratic process that turns citizens' tax payments into a distant municipal budget? In a mechanism dubbed "advanced participatory budget" we propose t o add elements in advance of the standard participatory budget stages. Inviting citizens to participate when they fill in their tax declaration or receive their social benefit pay slip, can increase the salience of the impact of their taxes on the distribution of public expenditures. The mechanism proposed here is based on a number of hypotheses requiring empirical proof and it is not a policy recommendation, but a promising direction for future research that could potentially inform policymakers, citizens, and the civil society actors.


In this article we consider how research using spoken and written corpora, including learner corpora, can assist in addressing the problem of what to include in an advanced syllabus. When we come to truly advanced level of teaching, we have to remember that at this point our students are already independent users. So this, obviously, has implications for methodology at the advanced level. It is important to remember that the advanced level is not just a higher version of the upper-intermediate level. The advanced level requires a qualitative, as well as quantitative, change in teaching and learning.Mike McCarthy, a Professor of Applied Linguistics at the University of Nottingham, states that the teaching of the advanced grammar can be structured, useful and directed towards academic and professional needs, if it is based on the evidence of spoken and written corpora, using both native-user and learner corpora, as well as specialized corpora such as spoken and written academic corpora. Thus, advanced-level grammar teaching should include: rare and difficult items, which are less frequent in the corpus, but which learners will be exposed to in academic/professional texts; grammar that is common but which is not often taught, or which students don't use in their writing; grammar already known but with new meanings, new functions; meanings and functions already familiar to students but with new or different structures; key differences between spoken and written grammar; grammar that enhances style and promotes academic success.


In electronic warfare, beamforming using multiple antennas is applied for effective transmission of electronic attack signals. In order to perform an electronic attack against multiple threats using the same frequency resource, it is necessary to apply a multi-beam transmission algorithm that has been studied in wireless communication systems. For electronic attacks against multiple threats, this paper presents an MMSE(Minimum Mean-Squared Error) beam-forming technique based on the prior location information of threats and an optimization method for power allocation. In addition, the performance of the proposed method is evaluated and received signals of multiple threats are compared and analyzed.


According to demands of BEPCII construction and future operation, we are going to supply an open electronic logbook platform for people to record their message in developing and running BEPCII, and browse the logbook on website. That gives people an open and transparent logbook, rather than traditional paper notebook. With the template of DESY's Elogbook, the BEPCII electronic logbook was developed, using the popular JSP technology to develop dynamic Web applications. This paper will introduce the development of BEPCII electronic logbook system.


Zhang Liping from one kind of HDPE substrate elevating resistance drift-tank system and a control method, which relates to the field of marine cages facilities. It is constructed by a spherical HDPE pipe cage of the main frame (1), high tensile strength fishing ground with the rope (2), the center of gravity from the plummet balancing device (3), netting (. 4), the discharge pipe HDPE inflation port (5), a high intensity discharge inflation hose (6), HDPE into the drain opening (7) composition; rational design principles, concise and easy structure, low cost, easy to operate, the cage structure of the system stream resistance performance, underwater large breeding platform, can be multi-dimensional culture, save space, improve efficiency, can sink to the bottom or stay in different water layers, flexible, able to avoid red tide and typhoon attacks, different kinds of fish can be farmed wide range of applications.


Pro‐inflammatory phenomena drive preterm delivery (PTD). Hydrogen sulfide is a gasotransmitter with anti‐inflammatory properties produced through the activity of the enzyme cystathionine‐γ‐lyase (CSE), and its impact was studied in models of normal delivery and PTD in mice.


The course will cover several advanced topics in algebraic and combinatorial coding theory. One of the most exciting breakthroughs in algebraic coding theory in the past decade is a new paradigm for decoding Reed-Solomon codes using bivariate (or multivariate) polynomial interpolation. The first half of the course will be devoted to an in-depth study of this subject. The second half of the course will cover several topics of recent research in coding theory, namely: asymptotic improvements of the Gilbert-Varshamov bound; graph-cover analysis of iterative decoding, pseudo-codewords, and stopping redundancy; introduction to network coding and network code design.


Discretionary accruals reflect the management's accounting choices made within the flexibility of accounting standards. Discretionary accruals can be used by the management to better reflect the economic value of the firm and to signal their private information about a firm's future prospects to the market, but they can also be used opportunistically by managers. However, the prior literature documents mixed evidence related to the information content in discretionary accruals. Thus, we examine the association between discretionary accruals and analysts' forecast dispersion to provide further evidence on the information content in discretionary accruals. Moreover, as greater external monitoring and rigorous ESG management allow less room for manager's manipulation of discretionary accruals, we investigate whether greater external monitoring by institutional owners and higher ESG scores moderate the relationship between discretionary accruals and analysts' disagreements on long-term EPS growth forecasts. We find a positive association between discretionary accruals and analysts' forecast dispersion, which suggests there is low information content in discretionary accruals. Furthermore, we find that a greater concentration in institutional ownership, greater blockholders' institutional ownership, and a positive ESG score mitigate the positive relationship between discretionary accruals and analysts' forecast dispersion. Thus, better external monitoring and higher quality ESG enhance the information credibility of a firm's disclosure.


In this paper, as an altitude simulator, a second-throat exhaust diffuser with no induced secondary flow has been studied. To design a startable diffuser, we first summarize a simple theoretical method based on the normal shock theory. Using the diffusers designed from the present design method, we obtain the diffuser characteristic curves from the small-scale cold-gas tests using cold nitrogen gas as a working fluid. All the experimental test cases are numerically reproduced by using a Reynolds-averaged Navier–Stokes solver, and the numerical method is properly validated with the measured pressure distributions along the diffuser wall andthe pressure in the vacuum chamber. We investigate the effects of the essential geometric factors of a second-throat exhaust diffuser, such as subsonic diffuser, second throat area ratio, nozzle expansion ratio, and nozzle contour, on the starting and evacuation performance. Finally, to get a full picture of a second-throat exhaust diffuser operation, evolving diffuser flows during the starting transient and plume blowback at diffuser breakdown are also studied. Nomenclature A � = cross-sectional area of nozzle throat Ad = cross-sectional area of diffuser inlet Ae = cross-sectional area of nozzle exit As = cross-sectional area of the second throat duct Ax = cross-sectional area of diffuser exit D = diameter of diffuser


Among the various ways of introducing drugs into the patient's body, the easiest and most convenient is their ingestion. However, this method is acceptable only when the molecules of the administered substances are not degraded by digestive enzymes. This is especially true for drugs of protein nature, which are degraded by various proteolytic enzymes. It is therefore not surprising to see numerous attempts to shield ingested substances from biodegradation in the digestive tract. The easiest way to solve this issue would be to use some kind of carrier. The search led researchers to liposomes - phospholipid vesicles capable of containing other substances.


Smile Magazine 20 The loss of teeth is still traditionally seen as an inevitable part of the ageing process. In this context oral rehabilitation has the capacity to satisfactorily restore function by the replacement of all lost teeth according to anatomical norms. However, recent clinical studies have found that oral and systemic health and indeed quality of life or patient's satisfaction do not specifically depend on the presence of a full complement of teeth (Elias & Sheiham, 1998). It has been observed that a large proportion of middle-aged and elderly patients are satisfied with their oral function even after molar loss and that the retention of solely the anterior and premolar teeth may be sufficient to satisfy the aesthetic and functional requirements of the majority of elderly patients. Clearly the loss of a large number of teeth or ill fitting or inadequate dentures can have some degree of impact on quality of life, but limitation in chewing may not always be as readily apparent to the patient (Agerberg, 1988). The 'shortened dental arch' (SDA) represents a frontier between what is healthy/ comfortable and pathological/uncomfortable for most middle-aged anda elderly people (Figure 1).


The aim of this paper is to propose a methodology for the
tariff formation in railway freight transport, taking into
account the specific technical and technological requirements
for transport and costs. The proposed methodology represents
the scientific procedures for the efficient design of tariffs
for rail freight. The scientific methods used in the
methodology are focused on demand analysis, identification of
the vehicle fleet, determination of employees, technology of
individual shipments, cost calculation and calculation of
rates, establishment of price-lists and setting the price of
transportation.


When recent graduates Ilianna Bakali and Auxi Garcia wanted to embark on further study, they looked at ways of funding additional qualifications.


The sources of money raised in congressional elections have been central to the continuing debate over campaign finance reform. As concerns have been raised over candidate reliance on money from interest groups, many have looked for ways to bolster the role of individual citizens in funding campaigns. In particular, some have sought a greater role for residents of candidates' home states or districts, viewing out-of-state money as either inherently linked to special interests, or as weakening the ties between elected officials and constituents. Our ability to accurately assess the extent of out-ofstate money in campaigns is limited by federal disclosure requirements and the inherent problems in ascribing the origin of donations from political action committees (PACs). In examining out-of-state money, we are thus confined to data on donations of over $200 from individuals. Available data from the last three congressional elections show that such out-of-state contributions constituted 17% of 1996 Senate receipts, up from 14% in 1992. House out-of-state receipts rose from 6% to 7% in the same period. This report provides relevant data, explains what they tell us and cannot tell us, and places the figures in the larger context of overall receipts patterns.


This paper examines how straightforward application of two relatively simple statistical concepts, the measurement of relative variation or disparity in per-pupil expenditures by school districts and interpretation of the term 'percentile' as referring to school districts rather than students, triggered multimillion dollar litigation. As explained in Section 2, different interpretations regarding how to calculate relative disparities based on such percentages resulted in opposite conclusions as to whether funding equalization had been met and, in turn, as to which entity should receive federal funding-the Zuni school district or New Mexico state education officials. Section 3 covers Professor Gastwirth's two papers previously published in this journal, which effectively juxtaposed the lack of statistical expertise in the legislative and administrative processes related to the Federal Impact Aid Act, on one hand, and his own repeated surveys within the academic statistical community regarding the statistical meaning of this statute, on the other hand. Sections 4 and 5 discuss the Supreme Court's 2007 decision affirming the Department of Education's funding formula, how this case reflects the ongoing tension between various Justices concerning the appropriate level of deference that courts should accord to federal agency regulations, the role of expertise (here statistical science) in the public policy arena that includes judicial review of disputes between aid recipients and disbursing agencies and the explicit mechanism through which external expertise on these issues becomes incorporated into the judicial process. Section 6 concludes that Zuni could have been decided differently if the consensus of statistical opinion concerning the term 'percentile' was part of the case record and taken into account by the Justices.


The prevailing post-war paradigm on education and social class is based on a direct association between these two concepts, such that they are inseparable in the minds of many. That is, education leads to class mobility as a direct result of the education system. In extending this argument, the idea that minority children underperform in education due to their ethnic and class characteristics should hold sway, but research has also claimed that stronger schools can raise the average performance levels of pupils from weaker backgrounds, while weaker schools tend to reduce the average performance of pupils from lower-class backgrounds. Many see educational underperformance among young Muslims as an intractable problem; however, in reality, the poor educational performance of young British Muslims is often due to policy decisions made at a local or national level. The education of British Muslims has evolved in the context of the policies of post-war immigration, integration and diversity policy. In reality, in situating these groups, popular systems of multiculturalism endorse notions of tolerance and secularity through the popularization of a multiculture that racializes the civilized, modern or backward in the construction of national identities.


Mass customization aims at satisfying individual customers, who are given an opportunity to select among several design features and order a unique product. In this experiment four web sites were created where users could specify the design features of a mobile phone. Two web sites were designed to build a mobile phone from scratch: One used a rating agent of design features, and the other had no rating agent. The two other web sites used an existing phone as a basis for design - one used a rating agent and the other had no rating agent. Forty test persons participated in an experiment to evaluate the web sites. Half of them were male and half of them female. The use of the rating agent produced more consistent and better design. The model for mass customization — whether building from scratch or modifying an existing phone — had no impact on the results. There were no differences in results between males and females.


Andrew Woolford, Jeff Benvenuto, and Alexander Laban Hinton eds., Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America. Durham: Duke University Press, 2014. 360 pages. ISBN 978-0-8223-5779-7. $26.95 USD paperback.In recent years, the field of genocide studies has experienced a great deal of attention with various scholars exploring different approaches, limitations, and perspectives. One focus concerns Raphael Lemkin's intentions when he developed the concept of "genocide" which became the cornerstone of the United Nations Genocide Convention in 1948. Some prefer a more stringent approach and view genocide in largely legal terms with a heavy focus on special intent, while others have argued that Lemkin had a broader vision in mind: one that encompasses colonialism and the experiences of indigenous populations. Colonial Genocide in Indigenous North America is a book that situates itself firmly within this latter stance. The expansion of genocide studies into alternative arenas such as the impact of colonial practices on Indigenous populations fundamentally challenges the traditional perception of genocide with its heavy reliance on intent, deterrence and prosecution.In this volume, the editors Andrew Woolford, Jeff Benvenuto, and Alexander Laban Hinton have compiled a selection of essays drawn from the proceedings of a recent conference on colonial genocide that make a compelling case for understanding the topic as less of an event and more of a process, especially where colonialism is concerned. Taking a critical genocide studies approach and written by a variety of distinguished scholars, this book attempts to tackle many debates and perspectives. It reformulates genocide as a series of processes and structural arrangements that are inherently destructive, and from this perspective, genocidal. Essentially, those who apply genocide to colonial relationships make the argument that genocide is less an intentional episodic form of violent and destructive action, and more of a type of relationship characterized by an asymmetry of power in the political, economic, and social spheres. As such it is inherently destructive to native cultures and peoples.In its approach to these various viewpoints, this edited volume is organized into four sections, "Intersections and Trajectories," "Erasure and Legibility," "Transformations," and "(Re)Imaginings." In the first section, the contributing authors provide insights on different levels of genocidal penetration and connections within society, while the second section discerns the policies that enabled the development of genocide against Indigenous populations in North America. Such "policies" include the honoring of murderous acts of settlers by the US government (Madley), prejudices, beliefs, and truths as perpetrated by society (Whaley, Logan), as well as policies that led to the creation of an extensive boarding school system (Patzer). The third section of the book is concerned with the institutionalization and power distribution within North American settler society. The chapters by Jacobs, Benvenuto, Ladner, and Samson provide a glimpse at the workings of governmental power on Indigenous relations. In the fourth and final section, Gone addresses the debates concerning historical trauma as an indicator of genocide, a contention that is widely disputed, even within this book. …


1 Cyclo‐oxygenase (COX) and nitric oxide synthase (NOS) are two enzymes which have distinct cytokine‐inducible isoforms (COX‐2 and iNOS). Many cytokine receptors have an intracellular tyrosine kinase domain. Here we have used the tyrosine kinase inhibitors, erbstatin and genistein, to investigate the potential role of tyrosine kinase activation in the induction on COX‐2 and iNOS caused by endotoxin (lipopolysaccharide; LPS) in bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) and J774.2 macrophages. 2 The main COX metabolites, 6‐oxo‐prostaglandin F1α (6‐oxo‐PGF1α) (for BAEC) and PGF2α (for 774.2 macrophages) were measured by radioimmunossay: (i) accumulation of COX metabolites from endogenous arachidonic acid was measured at 24 h after addition of LPS (1 μg ml−1); (ii) in experiments designed to measure 'COX activity', COX metabolites generated by BAEC or J774.2 macrophages activated with LPS were assayed (at 12 h after LPS administration) after incubation of the washed cells with exogenous arachidonic acid (30 μg for 15min). Western blot analysis with a specific antibody to COX‐2 was used to determine the expression of COX‐2 protein caused by LPS in cell extracts. Accumulation of nitrite (measured by the Griess reaction) was used as an indicator of NO formation and, hence, iNOS activity. 3 Erbstatin (0.05 to 5 μg ml−1) or genistein (0.5 to 50 μg ml−1) caused a dose‐dependent inhibition of the accumulation of COX metabolites in the supernatant of BAEC or J774.2 macrophages activated with LPS. Erbstatin or genistein also caused a dose‐dependent inhibition of 'COX activity' in both cell types. Western blot analysis showed that erbstatin (5 μg ml−1) or genistein (50μg ml−1) inhibited the expression of COX‐2 protein in BAEC and J774.2 macrophages activated with LPS (1 μg ml−1 for 24 h). 4 Erbstatin or genistein also caused a dose‐dependent inhibition of nitrite accumulation in J774.2 macrophages activated with LPS (1 μg ml−1 for 24 h). In contrast to J774.2 macrophages, BAEC stimulated with LPS (1 μg ml−1 for 24 h) did not produce detectable amounts (> 1μm) of nitrite. 5 These results suggest that tyrosine phosphorylation is part of the signal transduction mechanism that mediates (i) the induction of COX‐2 and iNOS elicited by LPS in J774.2 macrophages, and (ii) the induction of COX‐2 by LPS in BAEC.


Summary Study aim: Was to investigate the relationship of anthropometrics with handgrip strength (HGS) among Nigerian school children. Material and methods: A total of 200 school children participated in this study. An electronic handgrip dynamometer was used to measure handgrip strength (HGS) in kg. Body height and body weight were measured with a wall-mounted stadiometer in meters and a bathroom weighing scale in kg, respectively. Body mass index (BMI) was then calculated using the formula weight (kg)/height (m2). Also, hand span of both hands was measured from the tip of the thumb to the tip of the small finger with the hand opened as wide as possible. The distance from the distal wrist crease up to the base of the middle finger was taken for palm length and the distal wrist crease to the tip of the middle finger was considered for the measurement of hand length. However, the relationship between HGS and anthropometric parameters was analyzed using Pearson's product moment coefficient of correlation. Results: The outcome of this study showed that hand and palm length correlated disproportionately and insignificantly (p > 0.05) with both dominant and non-dominant HGS. Also, hand span was found to be a disproportionate correlate of HGS, though such a correlation was only significant (p < 0.05) with dominant HGS. However, BMI and handedness were observed to associate proportionately and significantly (p < 0.05) with HGS. Conclusion: This study therefore concluded that the most important determinants of HGS among Nigerian school children are BMI, handedness and hand span, and thus could be considered as markers of nutritional and health status, as well as physical fitness of these individuals.


In the south Adriatic sea region mariculture, is currently limited to traditional cultivation of oysters and mussels, as well as some cage-culture of seabass and sea bream, in the Bay of Mali Ston. The spatial zoning commission of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, in fact, has identified about thirty suitable rearing sites, with an estimated combined capacity of over 10.000 MT/yr of fish. One strategy for revitalizing Croatian and Dubrovnik-Neretva County mariculture is introduction of new species for cultivation sach as : greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili), dusky grouper (Epinephelus marginatus), golden grouper (Epinephelus costae), red scorpionfisch (Scorpaena scrofa), salema (Sarpa salpa), pink dentex (Dentex gibbosus), maegre (Argyrosomus regius). One important way in which the long-term profitability of the south Adriatic region mariculture sector can be insured is through an aggressive program to evaluate rationally, and to commercialize rapidly, new species for cultivation.


We illustrate how an axial asymmetry in impact parameter dependent parton distributions can give rise to an axial asymmetry for the transverse momentum of the leading quark in the photoproduction of hadrons. The effect is related to the asymmetry originating from the Wilson-line phase factor in gauge invariant Sivers distributions. The single spin asymmetry arising from the asymmetry of the impact parameter dependent parton distributions is shown to exhibit a pure sin φ dependence.


Equipment capable of amplifying the light of visible images has been available for many years. The new CBS Color Light Amplifier (CLA), however, is the first device to do so without destroying color information. It was made to couple to a 16mm Arriflex motion-picture camera, but in principle it can also be used with color television cameras. Consisting essentially of a high-quality, electrostatic-type image intensifier between two specially designed color wheels, the unit provides a light gain of about 100. CBS News has used the unit at scene light levels as low as 0.05 fc (0.54 lm/m 2 ). The CLA weighs 8 lb (3.6 kg) and lengthens the Arriflex camera by 11.3 in (287 mm). An improved, smaller version is currently under development.


I wish briefly to present the description of a new technic for use in radical operations for carcinoma of the breast. I devised this method of operation about eight months ago, and since then I have used it exclusively in all cases of this character with which I have had to deal. From this experience, though limited to eight cases, I believe that the method has certain elements of advantage, as well as originality, that justify me in presenting it to the medical profession. The skin incision in this operation is begun at a point about one and one-half inches below the middle of the clavicle, in the sulcus, marking the interval between the deltoid and the pectoralis major muscles. From this point the incision is carried in a straight line along the sulcus, parallel to the inner border of the deltoid muscle, until it reaches the lower border of


1. A medicament comprising an effective amount of reversible P2Ys receptor antagonist activity, useful in the treatment or prevention of pulmonary hypertension in subekta.2. A medicament comprising an effective amount P2Ys receptor antagonist reversible action suitable for reducing mortality in a subject with pulmonary gipertenziey.3. A medicament comprising an effective amount of reversible P2Ys receptor antagonist activity, useful for inhibiting ADP-mediated vasoconstriction of pulmonary arteries in subekta.4. A medicament according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the receptor antagonist P2Ys reversible action is an antagonist with rapid deystviem.5. A medicament according to any one of claims 1-3, characterized in that the receptor antagonist is a reversible action P2Ys represents kangrelor.6. A medicament according to claim 5, characterized in that the medicament comprises 0.1-100 mg / ml kangrelora.7. A medicament according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier or rastvoritel.8. A medicament according to any one of claims 1-3, further comprising an active agent selected from the group consisting of pulmonary vasodilators, digoxin, diuretics, anticoagulants, diuretics, beta-blockers and APF.9 inhibitors. A medicament according to claim 8, characterized in that the pulmonary vasodilators are selected from the group consisting of prostaglandins, endothelin receptor antagonists, phosphodiesterase type 5 inhibitors and activators of soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC) .10. The drug of the


The early stages of corporate environmental reporting - in the late 1980's and early 1990's - have been focused on free-standing environmental reports, produced on print media and usually prepared as "one size fits all" universal documents. Using the internet provides an array of benefits and offers a number of capabilities of how to progress in the field, particularly along three dimensions: integration of financial and social issues, provision of reports on various media and fine tuning reports to users' needs and preferences. These trends are pushing the field towards sustainability reporting, based on the internet as a backbone for companies' underlying ICT-infrastructure.


Pieria was a region of ancient Macedonia that included Mount Olympus and was the home and site of worship of the Muses, the inspirers of art and science. Drinking from the Pierian spring was thought to be a source of divine knowledge and inspiration. English words that include -peia, -poeia, and -poiesis, for example, are allusions to this source of creative and productive potential. Pope was alluding to the idea that a little learning can make you feel as though you understand a great deal. However, deeper drinking of the fountain of knowledge brings an understanding of greater complexities that were initially unperceived. Aging is characterized by two kinds of change: adventitious, observable or measurable change that does not limit life span or imply an emerging decline in function, and incipient or initiatory, observable or measurable change that does imply an emerging decline in function. The fi rst category of change is real but is incidental to the underlying aging process. The second category heralds meaningful pathophysiological change that augurs later health problems and possibly shortened survival. The graying of hair and wrinkling of skin is in the former category. Increasing vascular stiffness and decreasing bone mineral density are in the latter category. Some changes are harbingers of later functional decline and others are perhaps unwanted or inconvenient (eg, erectile dysfunction, decreased bladder control) but do not have an impact on longevity or predict later disease. In which category is telomere length shortening? In this issue of the journal, a report by Mollica and colleagues (1) suggests that telomere shortening is not a critical step in the development of hematological dysfunction with age. In a large cohort of women between 38 and 100 years of age, a wide range of telomere length measurements were observed, but no correlation was found between telomere length and any cellular component of the blood. Thus, changes in telomere length did not yield a clear functional consequence. A vocal and infl uential school of thought promotes the notion that telomere length shortening is the biologic basis of aging and the functional decline associated with it. A burgeoning number of associations have been claimed: telomere shortening is linked to heart disease (2), osteoarthritis (3), osteoporosis (4), obesity (5), cognition (6), vascular dementia (7), Alzheimer ' s disease (8), and life span (9). And the list keeps growing. Naturally occurring mutations in genes that encode proteins involved in telomere maintenance have been associated with idiopathic pulmonary fi brosis, abnormal skin pigmentation, aplastic anemia (but interestingly, not agranulocytosis), cirrhosis, dystrophic nails, leukoplakia, and a predisposition to cancer (10). Are these typical manifestations of a condition whose cause is impaired cell proliferation? The problem with telomere length shortening is said (based on in vitro experiments, mainly) to result in the inability of a cell to proliferate. There have been no experiments published to date linking telomere shortening with dysfunction in a terminally differentiated cell. What would the failure of cells to proliferate that need to proliferate look like clinically? The most highly proliferative cells of the body in adult life are the gastrointestinal tract (particularly the small intestine) mucosa and the bone marrow. The gastrointestinal tract produces nearly 2 billion (ie, 2 × 10 9 ) cells daily. Mature granulocytes live on average 6 – 12 hours and are produced at a rate to maintain circulating numbers of at least 2 billion per liter throughout adult life. Are the clinical signs of aging linked to inadequate numbers of cells in the gastrointestinal tract lining or in the peripheral blood? No. Instead, the major manifestations of aging are in postmitotic organs: muscles, brain, blood vessels, and kidneys. In fact, the proliferative capacity of the bone marrow is so much greater than the longevity of its host that it can be transferred from an older to a younger recipient and the younger recipient does not run out of blood cells (11). It is diffi cult to link our current understanding of the role of telomeres with the manifestations of diseases that are purported to be defects in telomere maintenance. It is certainly possible that telomeres have important activities in postmitotic and terminally differentiated cells that have not yet been elucidated. However, it is pretty clear from the disparity between the predicted clinical effects of loss of Guest Editorial


Male breast cancer (MBC) is a rare condition which, while sharing some similarities with breast cancer in women, has a unique disease profile of its own. Aim: To understand the characteristics of MBC and its management in Uruguay. Patients & methods: Retrospective observational study that included patients diagnosed with MBC. Results: 22 cases of MBC were found. The median age at diagnosis was 62.5 years. Symptoms included self-detected lump in 17 patients (77.3%) and nipple retraction in seven (22.7%). Ductal carcinomas of histological grade 2–3 were found in 20 patients (90.9%) and stage I–II disease was most commonly encountered (15 patients, 68.1%). Neoadjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant radiotherapy and tamoxifen were offered to 16 (73%), 12 (54.5%), 17 (65.4%) and 20 (90.9%) patients, respectively. Conclusion: MBC behaves and is treated in many aspects like postmenopausal breast cancer. Further multi-institutional, prospective studies are needed for better understanding and management of male breast cancers.


Solvothermal growth of thin (1–2 μm thick), uniform films of carbon phosphonitride on fused quartz substrates has been achieved by self-reaction of 1 m P(CN)3 in diphenyl ether at 185 °C for 7 days in a sealed Teflon-lined digestion bomb. The films are chemically similar to C3N3P powders thermoset from neat (solid) P(CN)3 based on XPS and IR spectra. A difference in bulk elemental composition relative to C3N3P—reduced nitrogen and increased oxygen content—is attributable to through-film (as opposed to surface-confined) hydrolysis of unreacted nitriles (P–CN) to hydroxyl species (P–OH). Nanoindentation analyses were performed to assess the mechanical properties of these CPN films. Minimal dependence of mechanical properties on thermal treatment was observed with annealing temperatures in the 100–400 °C range, resulting in an average reduced modulus of Er = 26.5 ± 1.5 GPa and hardness of H = 1.5 ± 0.1 GPa, which is on par with high performance polymers. Heating to 550 °C results in higher modulus and hardne...


Low-rate Distributed Denial of Service (LDDoS) attacks are complex and common security issues, which disrupt the essential services of the varied and emerging networks. However, the traditional detection models are normally in a dilemma condition since LDDoS attacks have the characteristics of concealment and persistence in space and time dimensions. In this paper, we propose a novel, practical and fast ensemble model (FastCBLA-EM) to detect the LDDoS attacks. In the FastCBLA-EM, a dilated padding-based dual sliding method is worked out for producing fixed-length chronological order samples from flows per well-tuned packet step. Next, a competitive network composed of 1-D Convolutional Neural Network (1-D CNN) and a bidirectional Long Short Term Memory (bi-LSTM) network is employed to learn both spatial and temporal representations of samples, parallelly. Finally, an arbitration mechanism based on the enhanced attention method is used to assemble and weigh these representations for detecting LDDoS attacks. We compare the performances of the FastCBLA-EM with other models by obtaining a group of well-tuned hyperparameters in the revised ISCX-2016-SlowDos flow-based dataset. Experimental results demonstrate that the detection accuracy of the FastCBLA-EM can be up to 99.7% and the time complexity is $O(n)$.


The endogenous cardiac activity rhythm of the Norway lobster Nephrops norvegicus was studied under constant conditions of darkness by means of a computer-aided monitoring system (CAPMON). Time series recordings of the heart rate (beats min−1) were obtained from 47 adult males freshly collected from the continental slope (400–430 m) in the western Mediterranean. Periodogram analysis revealed the occurrence of circadian periodicity (of around 24 h) in most cases. A large percentage of animals showed significant ultradian periods (of around 12 and 18 h). The analysis of the circadian time series revealed the occurrence of peaks of heart rate activity during the expected night phase of the cycle. These results are discussed in relation to the emergence and locomotor activity rhythms of the species.


It is well known that the automatic generation control AGC system is employed to compensate the power system load disturbances which cause power system frequency and tie-line power deviations. The conventional AGC depends essentially of mechanical speed governor system. The speed governor system is slow and it needs maintenance and change. With advent of power electronic switches, Flexible AC Transmission System FACTS devices or controllers are applied to compensate quickly the load disturbances whereupon the frequency and tie-line power deviation can be deleted. The FACTS devices used in this paper is Static Synchronous Series Compensator SSSC. The structure of SSSC involves Voltage Source Inverter VSI and coupling transformer that are connected in series with tie-line between power system areas to inject source voltage of variable magnitude and phase angle. The control system of SSSC device is to modulate and update the exchange power between SSSC circuit and power system to compensate the load disturbance in power system areas. The application of SSSC stabilizer for power system frequency and tie-line power stabilization due to load excursion occurred in power system. The studied power system is simulated using Matlab Simulink Package. The two-area power system performances with SSSC device in terms of area frequency deviations and tie-line power responses are obtained. A comparison between the system performances with SSSC stabilizer in sense of undershoot and settling time.


A report from Informate Mobile Intelligence in 2015 indicated that people in the US checked their social media which accounted a whopping 17 times a day. But in this context, Americans are not alone. Smartphone users in Malaysia, Thailand, Argentina, Mexico, South Africa and Qatar checked these networking applications at least 40 times a day. Davis (2015) reported that people spent an average of 8 hours 41 minutes on media devices. We term the act of these netizens being incessantly glued to the smartphones as a gooey behaviour. In Malaysia, this gooey behaviour among the millennial learners has resulted in two significant impacts, especially on the roles of the classroom instructor. On the positive side, it helped to authenticate the data of instructors while the negative side it was to be distracted to other non-related activities. Both behaviours have posed challenges to the 'traditional' pedagogical mode. This paper presents a sample of 42 students of age 20-25 who were undergraduates and were studying in a Malaysian HEI. A mixed-research methodology was employed in which included a questionnaire survey and face-to-face interviews. The millennial learners indicated their views on "an interesting lecture" to be a lecture that should be fun, useful and meaningful, able to makes students' curious and attract their attention. The results of this paper call for a disruptive innovation of teaching and learning, and transformation of pedagogy. It also provides insights to instructors who are designers of their lessons on how to orchestrate a lesson so as to engage these gooey netizens.


GaAs MESFETs often demonstrate a negative breakdown slope characteristic. This slope can be critical in determining the RF performance of MESFET amplifiers. It is demonstrated that as the breakdown slope decreases, RF power performance is degraded. Tuning is also important because this adjusts the load line to allow maximum voltage and current swings on the drain. Reverse breakdown followed by forward gate conduction are confirmed to be the main saturation mechanisms for GaAs MESFETs.<<ETX>>


Sunrise' and 'Tainung 2' papaya seedlings were subjected to 3 weeks of ambient winds in Guam during five experiments, and growth responses of roots, leaves, and stems were quantified to compare speed and extent of the plasticity among the organs. The cultivars responded similarly with 1 week eliciting stem growth responses and 2 weeks eliciting root responses. The timeframe of these studies was sufficient to enable adaptive responses in all three organs. Wind reduced stem and leaf expansion rate but not root extension rate, providing one example of how the form of response differed among the organs. A dose-effect was evident among the experiments with magnitude of response increasing with mean ambient wind speed. Asymmetric stem diameter and root tip density were examples of adaptive responses to directional wind load. These data on young papaya plants may be used to inform field experiments aiming to determine how chronic winds influence long-term growth and fitness.


Rice paddy cultivation is one of the major sources in methane (CH4) emission of which accurate assessment would be a prerequisite for agricultural greenhouse gas management. Biomass treatment in paddy fields is an important factor that affects CH4 emissions and thus needs to be taken into account. The objectives of this study were to apply drone images to investigate organic matter practices and to incorporate into the estimation of CH4 emissions from paddy fields. Three study areas were selected by one from each of the three different regions of Yeongnam, Honam and Jungbu, which are the most active region in paddy cultivation. The eBee drone was used to take images of the study sites twice a year; Jul mid-season for identifying rice cultivation area; Jan for investigating rice straw management and winter crop cultivation. Based on biomass management practices, different emissions factors were assigned on an individual paddy field and CH4 emmisions were estimated by multiplying respective areas. The ratios of rice straw application and winter crop cultivation were 1.4% and 37.2% in Hapcheon, 1.3% and 19.8% in Gimje, and 0.0% and 0.5% in Dangjin, respectively. The CH4 emissions estimates for respective sites were 0.40 ton CH4/year/ha, 0.34 ton CH4/year/ha, and 0.29 ton CH4/year/ha. On average, estimated CH4 emissions of this study were 28.5% less than the current Tier 2 CH4 emission estimation method.


Thesis In the Western democracies of the United States of America, the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth of Australia there is a waning of trust in leadership. (1) While many factors are contributing to this waning of trust, one factor that must not be overlooked is the character of leadership discourse. This paper seeks to begin identifying some of the major points of tension within the contemporary postmodern mindset of these western democracies that affect leadership discourse. In this paper I shall examine these points of tension in relation to the leadership discourse that was associated with the invasion of Iraq in 2003 and the continuing conflict in Iraq. (2) In looking at this relationship I will seek to understand how these tension points impacted three genera: elections; the Australian general election of 2004, the British general election of 2005 and the US Congressional elections of 2006. Background There is an interesting point to ponder here. If there was in fact a loss of trust in government by mid 2004 in particular over the Iraq war, then one would expect that the lack of trust would have some impact on the results of the elections in 2004, 2005 and 2006. There was an impact but not the type of impact that one would have expected. By 2004 polls and pundits agreed that there was a rapidly growing distrust in these three communities against their governments regarding the war in Iraq, and that distrust was undermining trust in these three governments. In Australia the polls showed that Prime Minister John Howard (a center right PM who supported President Bush) was unpopular and likely to lose the election. Instead, in the Genera: Election of October 9, 2004 the Howard government was re-elected with an increased majority and gained 45.1% of the vote. (3) In the United Kingdom in May of 2005 British Prime Minister Tony Blair (a "New" Laboi politician with pragmatic economic policies and socially liberal views, and a supporter of Bust in Iraq) appeared to be in serious electoral danger. While the election results clearly showed Blair's government was affected by the Iraq war situation, the Blair government was re-elected on May 5, 2005 but with a decreased majority from 167 in 2001 to 66 in 2005. (4) In the United States in 2006 President George Bush (a social conservative and free enterprise/big business proponent who was committed to the war in Iraq) was confronted with his Republican Party majority in both Houses of the Congress being at stake in the November 7, 2006 Congressional Elections. Bush's polling data set his popularity at all time lows! Unlike the Australian and British situation, the incumbent Republican majorities in both the House of Representatives and the Senate were swept away (and for the first time in electoral history the Republicans gained no new seat in either House). (5) In addition to this interesting point to ponder there is an interesting challenge here--the challenge is to give an overview of the elements of the contemporary postmodern mindset or world view when this mindset is open and by its nature continually developing. The characteristics of this contemporary postmodern mindset are themselves malleable, elastic, and, most significantly, they vary according to the social, cultural, academic or other contexts in which they operate. Glenn Ward suggests that one must distinguish between "postmodernism" in general use and the use of the word postmodern in its application to a specific area of human experience. Ward gives, for example, the phrases "the postmodern world view" and the "postmodern mind" (6) and concludes that "postmodernism is most usefully thought of as an elastic critical category with a range of applications and potential understandings" (7) Richard Tarnas observes that "Like Nietzsche. The postmodern intellectual situation is profoundly complex and ambiguous" and then suggests that "a few widely held working principles have emerge. …


The invention belongs to the technical field of intelligent traffic management, and particularly relates to a method for detecting motor vehicle green light follow-up traffic violation based on video. The method comprises the following steps that when a green light is on and the road ahead is jammed seriously, warning information is displayed on a no passing warning board to prompt vehicles which go straight not to enter an intersection; vehicles which still go straight continuously when the warning board is lighted are ranked as the vehicles suspected in violation of regulation, and are traced; the vehicles suspected in violation of regulation are traced continuously, and a complete track of the vehicles driving at the intersection is obtained; and when a red light is on, if the vehicles suspected in violation of regulation are still at a central no parking area, the vehicles are in violation of regulation, and violation evidence photos and video are analyzed and obtained. The method is high in precision, plays a role of warning, and supplies a powerful solution to solve urban traffic jam problem, especially green light follow-up traffic violations.


National Vocal Music and Bel Canto Are Based on Different Language Systems, Cultural Backgrounds and Historical Development, So There Are Certain Differences in Vocal Music Language, Emotional Expression, Singing Skills, Etc. Bel Canto is a Foreign Vocal Singing Method, Originated from Italian Operas, and Was Originally Developed from Music in Ancient Greek Culture and Christianity. When Performing Vocal Music Works in Our Country with Bel Canto, There Are Often Phenomena Such as Inadequate Performance and Unclear Articulation. If We Want to Promote the Integration of Bel Canto and Vocal Music Art in China, We Must Deeply Explore the Characteristics of Bel Canto and Its Agreement with Vocal Music Art in China. This Paper Analyzes the Influence of the Spread of Bel Canto on Our National Vocal Music, and Constructs a Brand-New Form of Expression and Singing Method of National Vocal Music by Organically Integrating Bel Canto with National Vocal Music.


Abstract : West Africa is under attack from international criminal networks that are using the subregion as a key global hub for the distribution, wholesale, and increased production of illicit drugs. Most drug trade in West Africa involves cocaine sold in Europe, although heroin is also trafficked to the United States, and the subregion is becoming an export base for amphetamines and their precursors, mainly for East Asian markets and, increasingly, the United States. The most important of these criminal networks are drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) from Latin America primarily from Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico partnering with West African criminals. These criminals, particularly Nigerians and Ghanaians, have been involved in the global drug trade for several decades, first with cannabis and later with heroin. The problem has worsened to the point that these networks represent an existential threat to the viability of already fragile states in West Africa as independent, rule of law based entities. As part of this new Latin America- West Africa criminal nexus, Guinea-Bissau is generally recognized as a narco-state where state-capture by traffickers has already occurred. There is also increasingly strong evidence linking terrorist organizations or state sponsors of terrorism to the West Africa drug trade, including Colombia s Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Hezbollah (allied with elements in the Lebanese diaspora), Venezuela, and Iran. These criminal and terrorist groups are also a threat to U.S. national security, because the illicit profits earned by Latin American drug cartels operating in West Africa strengthen the same criminal elements that traffic drugs to North America, and the same North African and Middle Eastern terrorist groups and nations that target the United States.


MMP13 expression is concomitant with onset of chondrocyte hypertrophy in the growth plate and can activate TGFβ produced by chondrocytes. Our previous binding studies indicated significant binding of a 19 amino acid MMP13‐derived peptide with the large latent TGFβ complex. Bioinformatics data indicate the site of interaction within close proximity of a non‐catalytic region in MMP13. We hypothesized that MMP13‐derived peptide could competitively inhibit MMP13 binding leading to reduced TGFβ activation. Serum‐free, primary hypertrophic chondrocyte cultures were treated with 10, 100 and 250nM of the peptide and endogenously activated TGFβ measured via ELISA and immunoblot. At 24 hours, the 250nM dose of peptide significantly induced a 5‐fold decrease in activated TGFβ without any change in the total TGFβ produced and this effect was reduced by 48 hours. These data suggest that the MMP13‐19 peptide can interfere with TGFβ activation without effects on total TGFβ produced. In osteoarthritis, aberrant activation of TGFβ?leads to cartilage degradation and inhibitors of the MMP catalytic domain have been used to stop this degradation, but with detrimental side‐effects. This study describes a method of reversible targeted disruption of MMP13 interaction with the TGFβ large latent complex independent of the catalytic site promising novel therapeutic approaches in the treatment of osteoarthritis. Supported by CCDA


Let A be a real square matrix and VTAV = G be an upper Hessenberg matrix with positive subdiagonal entries, where V is an orthogonal matrix. Then the implicit Q-theorem states that once the first column of V is given then V and G are uniquely determined. In this paper, three results are established. First, it holds a reverse order implicit Q-theorem: once the last column of V is given, then V and G are uniquely determined too. Second, it is proved that for a Krylov subspace two formulations of the Arnoldi process are equivalent and in one to one correspondence. Finally, by the equivalence relation and the reverse order implicit Q-theorem, it is proved that for the Krylov subspace, if the last vector of vector sequence generated by the Arnoldi process is given, then the vector sequence and resulting Hessenberg matrix are uniquely determined.


The clinical fact that blindness may follow blows on the head is by no means new, but until Berlin, in 1879, cleared up the pathology of these cases, their etiology was clouded in vague conjecture. Beer attributed the amaurosis following head injuries to the reflex influence of the supraorbital nerve. The result of anatomic studies, however, by Berlin, Leber, and Von Hőlder, proved that direct damage to the optic nerve or its sheath in the foramen opticum by fracture of the orbital wall frequently occurred. Von Holder, in his cases studied postmortem, found fracture of the orbital vault in 90 per cent., while the optic canal was implicated in about 60 per cent. There were hemorrhages into the nerve sheath in about 48 per cent. of the 88 cases. The line of fracture in some instances passed through both foramina. In Treves' "System of Surgery," illustrations show the line of


It is well known that the problem of generating tests for logic circuits is a very difficult one to solve in a cost-effective way. In the work described in this paper it is shown that the combination of a good test generation algorithm and a suitable set of heuristics may be a way to obtain a test generator of larger capacity and higher speed than is possible with the algorithmic program alone.


:Design studios, one of the most important components of architectural education had to move to digital environments urgently and independent of space with the Covid-19 pandemic. This study aims to evaluate whether design studios can be digitized according to the views of students and instructors in two different architecture schools (Firat and Balikesir University) by taking this compulsory experience into account. The views of 71 students and 5 academicians were taken with a purposeful sampling method. Content and descriptive analyses were performed on the views collected from the participants. As a result, the biggest problem in moving design studios to a digital environment is the disappearance of physical environments in which collaboration, idea sharing, and discussions will occur. In addition to this, the advantages brought by online education continued their attraction for some students in the digitization of design studios. In terms of instructors, games, simulations, modelling, and virtual reality can be used for successful digital studio applications and the infrastructures of these applications can be improved with support from mobile devices.


This paper presents a new approach, based upon existing standards, to construct multimedia processing chains. Using service-oriented architecture this approach eases chains construction and enables automatic validation and generation of processes.


Aim:To study the therapeutic effect of dexmedetomidine-induced sleep balance treatment (DISBT) on the chronic refractory primary insomnia.Methods:42 patients with the chronic refractory primary insomnia were randomly divided into two groups.Patients in DISBT group were given DISBT for 3 days,while patients in the control group were given conventional treatment.Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI),the Hyper Arousal Scale(HAS) and Hamilton Anxiety Scale(HAMA) were evaluated and compared between the pre-treatment and post-treatment(l week).Sleep architecture and electroencephalogram spectrum were also detected and compared between the pre-treatment and post-treatment.Results:The scores of PSQI and HAMA in both groups after the treatment were lower than those before the treatment(P0.05). Reduced degree of DISBT group was higher than that of the control(P0.05).Sleep architecture of stage 2 sleep proportion,electroencephalogram spectrum beta and gamma relative power value in DISBT group were lower than those before the treatment(P0.05).Stage 3 sleep proportion and delta relative power value were higher than those before the treatment(P0.05).Sleep architecture of stage 2 sleep proportion,beta and gamma relative power value in control group were higher than those before the treatment(P0.05).Rapid eye movement sleep,stage 3 sleep proportion and delta relative power value were lower than those before the treatment(P0.05). The total scores of HAS in both groups after the treatment were lower than those before the treatment(P0.05). Reduced degree of DISBT group was higher than that of the control(P0.05).The extreme score, introspectiveness score,react score of HAS in the control group after the treatment had no statistical significance compared with those before the treatment(P0.05).The extreme score,introspectiveness score,react score of HAS in DISBT group after the treatment were lower than those before the treatment(P0.05).Conclusion: DISBT can effectively reduce the insomnia patient cortex hyperarousal level,correct disorder of sleep-awakening pathways,and ease insomnia symptom,it is an effective method for chronic refractory primary insomnia.


The present invention relates to a surgical robotic system for performing minimally invasive medical procedures, including a robotic manipulator 18 for a laparoscopic instrument 18. The manipulator includes a manipulator arm 26, a manipulator wrist 28 supported by the manipulator arm 26, and an operation unit 30 supported by the manipulator wrist 28. The manipulator arm provides three degrees of freedom for positioning the wrist. The operating unit 30 includes a laparoscopic instrument actuator 120; 1120, and a sixth revolute with an associated actuator 141 for robotically setting the roll angle of the laparoscopic instrument actuator. The joint J6 provides one degree of freedom. The laparoscopic instrument actuator is a seat 130 for mounting instrument stem adapter 300; 1300 to the actuating unit, and an actuation mechanism that cooperates with the instrument stem adapter to operate the laparoscopic instrument connected to the instrument stem adapter. (400; 1400). The operating unit includes a six degrees of freedom force / torque sensor and a six degrees of freedom accelerometer.


We employed density functional theory (DFT) calculations to explore the manipulation of the electrical and magnetic properties of one-dimensional (1D) bimetallic sandwich molecular wire, (FeCpVCp)∞, under uniaxial strain. It is predicted that (FeCpVCp)∞ undergoes ferromagnetic-semiconducting, metallic, and antiferromagnetic-semiconducting transitions under compressive strain, but remains a semiconductor under tensile strain. Detailed analysis revealed that such phenomena are caused by electron transfer and redistribution between metal atoms. Meanwhile, we calculate magneto-crystalline anisotropy values and predicted that the magnetization direction will change along the external strains applied on the wire.


As the use of biomedical signals is incredibly increasing in both clinical and nonclinical applications. They have a great deal in the development of devices that can be controlled by information inferred from thoughts. One of the current hot topics for research is the Brain Computer Interface (BCI) on basis of EEG signals. BCI is a technology that makes humans to control computer or other devices on basis of information inferred from thoughts. BCIs have given new hopes to people who suffer from locked-in syndrome and motor disabilities by providing alternative means of communication channels. The existing BCIs are Multi-channel, thus very expensive in terms of cost and processing speed, which make them difficult for domestic use. The aim of this research paper is to introduce a very cheap, simple and a robust single channel BCI that could prevail in the market. We propose a very low-cost EEG-based BCI that is designed to help severely disabled people communicate with others by means of text and SMS. To make it simple and affordable, the number of channels is limited to one and signal is acquired through homemade silver electrodes and then fed to the computer through the soundcard for further processing and features extractions. The experimental results show that the proposed system is capable enough to provide a very low cost, yet reliable, communication means and a suitable BCI for domestic use. Its average accuracy is 87%. The potential uses for the technology are almost limitless. Instead of communication system, disabled users could have robotic wheelchair, allowing them to move and directly interact with the environments thus it can be used for clinical and nonclinical purposes.


The aim of this analysis is to examine the impact on economic growth in Bahrain from 1986 to 2018 from FDs and trade openness. To investigate the data, the Vector Autoregressive Model (VAR) and the causality of Granger have been used. The results show that all vector lives are co-integrated at 5 percent meaningful levels in the long term. In the near term, economic growth will only be influenced by financial progress. The Granger Causality (CC) Test reveals the unidirectionality of global and financial developments. In this way, policymakers should advance FD and promote more free markets, in the end the aim is to increase economic growth.


The present invention relates to compounds of the general formula (I) The present invention also relates to pharmaceutical containing the imidazole, and acute and / or chronic neurological disorders, for the treatment and prevention of disorders mGluR5 receptors such as especially anxiety mediated, or chronic and acute treatment of pain for their use for the manufacture of a medicament.


The micro-grid can operate either in grid-connected or islanded mode. An islanded mode operation needs a controller to ensure voltage and frequency stability and proper power-sharing amongst distributed generation (DG) units. Droop controller has recently gained popularity among the other techniques because it does not require a communication path and is relatively inexpensive. Therefore, this paper aims to offer a comparative study of three droop control techniques, namely, the traditional droop control (TDC), arctan droop control (ADC), and robust droop control (RDC). This is accomplished by assessing each technique's capabilities in providing accurate load power-sharing amongst DG units while also providing better voltage and frequency regulation. Utilizing MATLAB/SIMULINK software, a simple micro-grid made of two parallel-connected inverters with resistive-inductive load is used to compare the performance of these three methods. Results showed that the ADC technique provides the best frequency regulation relative to the RDC and TDC techniques. In contrast, the RDC technique gives the best voltage regulation compared to the ADC and TDC techniques. Furthermore, the RDC strategy presented lower errors compare to the ADC and TDC strategies when DG units supply the loads regarding the real and reactive power-sharing errors.


Aeromycoflora simply refers to the airborne fungal contributors of the environment. It is defined as a discipline in which aerial transport of biological materials is studied. Overall fungal spores have a great response in everywhere for being ubiquitous and the concentration of aeromycoflora in different environment varies depending on the geographical regions, sampling height, seasonal variations and atmospheric conditions. Sampling height plays an important role for the dispersion of fungal spores in the atmosphere. . The objective of the present study was to isolate the aeroflora from different floors of the college campus and their identification and its relationship with the increasing sampling height. The sample were collected from basement, ground floor, 1st , 2nd and 3rd floor by using gravity Petri plate method exposed at the height of 5 feet from ground level from each floor. A total of 129 fungal colonies isolated and were identified which comprised the species of Aspergillus, Alternaria, Cladosporium, Candida, Rhizopus, etc . Percentage contribution of aeromycoflora at basement was 24.03%, followed by 19.379% of Ground floor, 1st and 2nd floor, followed by 17.829% of 3rd floor indicating that as the sampling height increases the percentage contribution of fungal spores decreases.


The article considers the narration structure of Bulgakov's prose in the light of the staginess. The interaction of narrative forms, the style non-uniformity, addressing to the reader, brightly expressed speach aspect of the character are the features which allow to speak about the stagintss of Bulgakov's prose.


Breslow thickness (BT) is a major prognostic factor of cutaneous melanoma (CM), the most fatal skin cancer. The genetic component of BT has only been explored by candidate gene studies with inconsistent results. Our objective was to uncover the genetic factors underlying BT using an hypothesis‐free genome‐wide approach. Our analysis strategy integrated a genome‐wide association study (GWAS) of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) for BT followed by pathway analysis of GWAS outcomes using the gene‐set enrichment analysis (GSEA) method and epistasis analysis within BT‐associated pathways. This strategy was applied to two large CM datasets with Hapmap3‐imputed SNP data: the French MELARISK study for discovery (966 cases) and the MD Anderson Cancer Center study (1,546 cases) for replication. While no marginal effect of individual SNPs was revealed through GWAS, three pathways, defined by gene ontology (GO) categories were significantly enriched in genes associated with BT (false discovery rate ≤5% in both studies): hormone activity, cytokine activity and myeloid cell differentiation. Epistasis analysis, within each significant GO, identified a statistically significant interaction between CDC42 and SCIN SNPs (pmeta‐int =2.2 × 10−6, which met the overall multiple‐testing corrected threshold of 2.5 × 10−6). These two SNPs (and proxies) are strongly associated with CDC42 and SCIN gene expression levels and map to regulatory elements in skin cells. This interaction has important biological relevance since CDC42 and SCIN proteins have opposite effects in actin cytoskeleton organization and dynamics, a key mechanism underlying melanoma cell migration and invasion.


A test for mental arithmetic was constructed, consisting of items written in Dutch (the subjects' native language), Spanish, and Roman numerals. A group of 286 subjects received some information on Spanish numerals. The group was randomly split into a Spanish Group and a Roman Group. The Spanish Group received further instruction on Spanish numerals, while the Roman Group got instruction on Roman numerals. Checks on the experimental manipulations showed that the Spanish Group had better knowledge of Spanish numerals than the Roman Group, whereas the Roman Group had better knowledge of Roman numerals. From the total test two subtests were constructed: a 30-item Dutch/Spanish subtest (15 items in Dutch and 15 in Spanish), and a 25-item Dutch/Roman subtest (15 items in Dutch and 10 in Roman). The Dutch items were unbiased between the Spanish and Roman groups, whereas the Spanish items of the Dutch/Spanish subtest were biased against the Roman Group, and the Roman items of the Dutch/Roman subtest were biased against the Spanish Group. The iterative logit method was applied to the two subtests. The method showed very good results in detecting biased items.


Thomas Khun's famous thought is about the paradigm, in which Khun states that all knowledge possessed by a person must be based on a paradigm that is believed. If there is a new thing that cannot be solved by this paradigm, then it happens that Thomas Khun is called the scientific revolution. Thomas Khun's thoughts on the Ilmiyah Revolution have concepts and characteristics of thinking and new philosophical models that lead to new knowledge. It is in this phase that Thomas Kuhn calls it the historical phase of the birth of new knowledge, which starts with normal science, then anomalies and crises occur, after which a scientific revolution emerges as a form of birth of new knowledge. If examined more deeply, then Thomas Kuhn's thought has relevance to Islamic science, especially in the application of sources of Islamic laws, namely the application of ijma ', which is the paradigm that is possessed by Muslims in carrying out amaliyah and ubudiyah certainly based on the Qur'an and hadith , this is what Kuhn called normal science. However, when there are problems in daily life in matters of ubudiyah and amaliyah for Muslims who do not have texts or texts in the Koran and hadiths then from here anomaly and crisis will occur which will result in much debate among the scholars before obtaining a solution from the problems faced by Muslims, and then they do ijma 'which after the ijma results' have been obtained then there is the so-called scientific revolution, which reflects the shift of the paradigm of the Muslims from the old to the new paradigm, in the sense of where the Muslims in run amaliyah ubudiyah if there is no text or text in the alqu'an they will look for it in ijma 'ulama that has been done.


One of the important elements used as an approach in studying Islamic law is the science of fiqh uṣul. Uṣul fiqh is a science that studies the rules that are used as guidelines in establishing the laws of shari'ah that are 'amaliyah obtained through detailed arguments. Through the rules of uṣul fiqh can be known naṣ-naṣ syara 'and the laws it shows. Among the most important laws of the fiqh are the legal terms of the linguistic terms using the lafẓiyyah method, of which dalalah 'ibārah al-naṣ,' isyārah al-naṣ, al-ām, al-khās, al-muṭlaq and al- muqayyad.


In this paper we reexamine the problem of the separation of spin and charge degrees of freedom in two-dimensional strongly correlated systems. We establish a set of sufficient conditions for the occurrence of spin and charge separation. Specifically, we discuss this issue in the context of the Heisenberg model for spin-1/2 on a square lattice with nearest ([ital J][sub 1]) and next-nearest ([ital J][sub 2]) neighbor antiferromagnetic couplings. Our formulation makes explicit the existence of a local SU(2) gauge symmetry once the spin-1/2 operators are replaced by bound states of spinons. The mean-field theory for the spinons is solved numerically as a function of the ratio [ital J][sub 2]/[ital J][sub 1] for the so-called [ital s][minus]RVB ansatz ([ital s]-RVB stands for short range resonating valence bond). A second-order phase transition exists in a flux state for [ital J][sub 2]/[ital J][sub 1] larger than the critical value ([ital J][sub 2/][ital J1])[sub cr] identify the range 0[lt][ital J][sub 2]/[ital J][sub 1][lt]([ital J][sub 2]/[ital J][sub 1])[sub cr] as the [ital s]-RVB phase. It is characterized by the existence of a finite gap to the elementary excitations (spinons) and the breakdown of all the continuous gauge symmetries. An effective continuum theory for the spinonsmore » and the gauge degrees of freedom is constructed just below the onset of the flux phase. We argue that this effective theory is consistent with the deconfinement of the spinons carrying the fundamental charge of the gauge group. We contrast this result with the study of the one-dimensional quantum antiferromagnet within the same approach. We show that in the one-dimensional model, the spinons of the gauge picture are always confined and thus cannot be identified with the gapless spin-1/2 excitations of the quantum antiferromagnet Heisenberg model.« less


Applied with the methodologies of investigation, contrast and analysis this paper becomes more scientific, realistic and effective. Based on the careful study of the energy industry in Henan region the paper proposes some innovative and developmental suggestions. The study of the topic has testified that the local economic development nowadays much relies on energy than anytime before. Because of the oneness and finites of energy resources in Henan region there are very serious existing issues in Henan energy industry. If the increasing speed of energy supply lags behind the increasing speed of energy consumption Henan regional economy would be received a strong impact. The degree how the energy demand is met and the degree how safe the energy supply is, are even much important than manpower, capital and technology in determining the stabilization and growth of future economy. Pushcing on the technicval upgrading and suatainable innovation of energy industry should be the key tasks to remain the local economic growth in the future.


1. Effect of (‐)‐epigallocatechin‐3‐O‐gallate (EGCG), a condensed tannin isolated from green tea leaves, on the life span and hypertensive lesions in the stroke‐prone spontaneously hypertensive rat (SHRSP) was compared with that of persimmon tannin.


I agree with Professor Emig, and her work as well as that of Mina Shaughnessy has led me to ponder the relationship of writing and the processes of analysis and synthesis to the teaching of basic writers. In general, my study of basic writers-their strategies, processes, and products2-leads me to believe that they have not attained that level of cognitive development which would allow them to form abstractions or conceptions. That is, they are most often unable to practice analysis and synthesis and to apply successfully the principles thus derived to college tasks. In short, our students might well perform a given task in a specific situation, but they have great difficulty abstracting from it or replicating it in another context. Let me offer one concrete example to illustrate this point. Asked to read ten consecutive issues of a comic strip, choose one of the major characters, and infer the basic values of that character from the information provided in the ten issues, typical basic writing students find it almost impossible to articulate anything about the values of characters unlike themselves. In short, they have problems drawing inferences or forming concepts based on what they have read. Instead, they tend either to describe the characters or, more typically, to drop the comic strip character after a few sentences and shift to what they see as their own values. When I first began teaching basic writers, their response to this type of assignment gave me the first hint of how their difficulties were related to cognitive development. In Thought and Language, the Russian psychologist Lev Vygotsky identifies three basic phases in the ascent to concept formation: the intital syncretic stage, in which "word meaning denotes nothing more to the child than a vague syncretic conglomeration of individual objects that have . . . coalesced into an image"; the "thinking in


It is often argued that the same expenditures on military procurement would produce a more effective defense if larger numbers of less sophisticated (and thus cheaper) weapons were purchased. This paper shows that such a result can occur even if the military derives no private consumption value from technically sophisticated weapons. Rather, the organization of the decision-making process itself can produce this result. This suggests some possible solutions through organizing decision-making in a different fashion. Copyright 1990 by American Economic Association.


Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time of flight mass spectrometry(MALDI-TOF-MS)works as a method for proteomics analysis with characteristics of high throughput, high sensitivity, simple operation, quick results and the self-built database. This technology has been applied in infectious disease pathogen identification and detection of drug resistance, and is of great significance to timely diagnosis and treatment. By introducing the research status of the technology in its quick identification and drug resistance detection of pathogenic microorganisms of such specimens as strains and sterile, this paper discusses its challenges and application prospects.


The structural change of the (100-x) (0.6Li 2 S.0.4SiS 2 ).xLi 3 PO 4 oxysulfide glasses during crystallization was analyzed by means of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The unique tetrahedral units of SiO n S 4-n (n=1, 2, 3) and PO n S 4-n (n=1, 2, 3) present in the glass samples vanished and the SiS 4 , SiO 4 , PS 4 and PO 4 units increased with proceeding of the crystallization process. Nonbridging sulfur and oxygen atoms decreased while bridging oxygens and S 2- increased with proceeding of the crystallization process. Large structural difference between the glass and the corresponding crystallized sample explained the high stability against crystallization found in the oxysulfide glass with the composition of x=5.


The purpose of this study was to find the effects of job characteristics on career commitment and employee' attitude. The findings of the study were as follows : First employees who exhibited a balance between personal ability and job requirements or those who were in charge of more challenging jobs have shown a higher career commitment. Second, the higher career commitment, the less career withdrawal intention and turnover rate. Third, regarding the mediating effect of career commitment on the job characteristics and career commitment, career commitment has shown a partial mediating effect. Especially, person-job fitness have generated a lower turnover rate. Fourth, regarding the moderating effect of the employment type on the relation between the job characteristics and career commitment, the employment type has moderated the relation partially, with higher career commitment for irregular employees than regular employees.


Introduction O of Cretan lamps multiplied during the Bronze Age, especially from the Middle Minoan period (for the chronology, see fig.1). Their frequent discovery in residential context suggests that these items were used in daily life. Yet, most of the studies that were conducted about them followed a descriptive approach that does not allow to show the way they were used in buildings. Fig.1: Chrono-cultural context. Map of Eastern Mediterranea (http://www.histgeo.ac-aix-marseille. fr/webphp/pays.php?num_pay=236&lang=fr). Map of Crete (http://reflectim.fr/tag/carte-de-cretegrece/)


Public health is central to health visitors' work, and a key element of effective health promotion is joint working with other professionals. Paediatrician Professor Mitch Blair discusses the health visitor's crucial role in primary prevention, and shares examples from his own practice of working with health visitors in child public health.


This paper demonstrates the necessity for developing for-profit hospitals according to property right theories;It analyzed the inherent unity of social benefits and economic benefits in such hospitals,and clarified their business objectives.It put forward a process to build a performance evaluation indexing system in for-profit hospitals in view of the characteristics of such hospitals.Calling into play the performance management method of the balance scorecard,it identified the business objectives of such hospitals as measured by such performance indexes as finance,patients,process,and learning,and the logic relationship existing among the indexes as well.In addition,it vertically extends such a system to the departments and employees of the hospital to make a complete performance evaluation indexing system.

Key words:
For-profit hospitals ;  Balance scorecard ;  Performance evaluation,Indexing system ;


The marine ecosystem is necessary to be monitored as it is exposed to externalities and pollutants that affect biodiversity and the state of the underwater structures. There is a demand for a better, more dynamic, and safe monitoring approach to underwater research and inspection. The unmanned underwater vehicles are becoming a reachable and intuitive tool for underwater inspection, such as for the inspection of the marine hull of vessels, bridges, foundations, piers, pylons, and other support structures in ports. The main advantage of the use of the remotely operated underwater drone is cost and time-efficiency, as they allow to obtain information in a fast and safe way in real-time. In this paper we investigate the possibility of the use of a remotely operated underwater drone Power Ray for seabed observation and underwater structures inspection. It describes the re-sults of the field research collected from the use of low-cost underwater drone Power Ray. The data collected with an underwater drone presents footages of different underwater structures and areas in order to document the seabed state and underwater structures. Additionally, this article provides an overview of the problems in underwater inspection and monitoring, and possibilities offered by remotely operated vehicle Power Ray in solv-ing them. The results of the paper are not unique to working with a low-cost drone, but are illustrative of the challenges and problems that new users are likely to encounter when using this technology.