The TonB protein plays a key role in the energy‐coupled transport of iron siderophores, of vitamin B12, and of colicins of the B‐group across the outer membrane of Escherichia coli. In order to obtain more data about which of its particular amino acid sequences are necessary for TonB function, we have cloned and sequenced the tonB gene of Serratia marcescens. The nucleotide sequence predicts an amino acid sequence of 247 residues (Mr 27389), which is unusually proline‐rich and contains the tandem sequences (Glu‐Pro)5 and (Lys‐Pro)5. In contrast to the TonB proteins of E. coli and Salmonella typhimurium, translation of the S. marcescens TonB protein starts at the first methionine residue of the open reading frame, which is the only amino acid removed during TonB maturation and export. Only the N‐terminal sequence is hydrophobic, suggesting its involvement in anchoring the TonB protein to the cytoplasmic membrane. The S. marcescens tonB gene complemented an E. coli tonB mutant with regard to uptake of iron siderophores, and sensitivity to phages T1 and φ 80, and to colicins B and M. However, an E. coli tonB mutant transformed with the S. marcescens tonB gene remained resistant to colicins la and Ib, to colicin B derivatives carrying the amino acid replacements Val/Ala and Val/Gly at position 20 in the TonB box, and they exhibited a tenfold lower activity with colicin D. In addition, the S. marcescens TonB protein did not restore T1 sensitivity of an E. coli exbB tolQ double mutant, as has been found for the overexpressed E. coli TonB protein, indicating a lower activity of the S. marcescens TonB protein. Although the S. marcescens TonB protein was less prone to proteolytic degradation, it was stabilized in E. coli by the ExbBD proteins. In E. coli, TonB activity of S. marcescens depended either on the ExbBD or the TolQR activities.


Radiative and Auger decay data have been calculated for modeling the K lines of the aluminum isonuclear sequence, from Al 0 up to Al 11+ . Level energies, transition wavelengths, radiative transition probabilities, and radiative and Auger widths were determined using Cowan's Hartree-Fock with relativistic corrections (HFR) method. Results are compared with data sets computed with the AUTOSTRUCTURE and GRASP atomic structure codes and with available experimental and theoretical values, mainly in highly ionized ions and in the solid state.


Background: En coup de sabre (ECDS) is one of the clinical variations of morphea. ECDS refers to a variant of linear morphea that usually involves the forehead and frontal scalp that may be associated with alopecia. This study aimed to describe a case of en coup de sabre with its diagnosis and management.
Case presentation: A girl, aged 16 years, came to the dermatology polyclinic with the main complaint of a sunken brown spot on the left forehead and corner of the left eye, which has been expanding since 2 months ago. This complaint does not feel itchy or painful, but because it is getting more widespread, patients feel embarrassed and often cover it up. On dermatological examination, depressed hyperpigmented macules, plaque size, firm boundaries, and location on the left medial superior lid and left medial glabella were found. On dermoscopy examination, a reticular pigment network obliterating the follicular opening was found. The results of the histopathological examination showed the impression of a linear morphea type with en coup de sabre. This patient was diagnosed with linear morphea type with en coup de sabre
Conclusion: En coup de sabre is a rare autoimmune disorder and is a subtype of morphea. Early detection and appropriate intervention will reduce disease progression.


With the rapid development of Chinese ports, the automation of port crane is improving all the time, which makes higher request on safety performance of port crane. Practice has proved that security evaluation based on testing with related theory analysis is practical and effective. This article takes portal crane as an example to introduce the testing for metal structure of port crane, including static and dynamic load stress testing for main parts, NDT for important welding locations and so on. And this article also introduces security evaluation theory for port crane. This kind of security evaluation is very appropriate for port crane and widely used in most port enterprises.


Development and preliminary characterization on the performance of a micro-bubble generator using carbon nanotubes (CNTs) as heating elements are presented. Dielectrophoretic force was used to align CNTs between fabricated micro-electrodes. The contacts between the CNTs and electrodes were fixed by patterned SiO2 thin film. Localized high temperature due to Joule-heating generated by an AC current of a few hundred muA (in general les100 Hz) in the carbon nanotubes vaporized surrounding water and generated micron sized bubbles (with diameter of 5 mum detectable under normal optical microscope). These experimental evidence indicate that exposed CNTs may function as a single nucleation site for bubble generation. The power required to generate these bubbles can be as small as 337 muW, which is with 1-2 order of magnitude smaller than that of typical metal or polysilicon based MEMS heaters. Precisely controlled micro bubble generation may find promising applications in ink-jet printing, micro-fluidic visualization, or micro-fluidic based bio-manipulation


Sustainable development of rice production in Russia requires serious scientific argumentation from the economical point of view. The analysis of journal articles of domestic specialists devoted to rice production economy reveals their relatively high number (44 works during 5 years) and diversity (11 themes attributed to 3 thematic clusters). The geographical distribution of these articles is highly uneven, and the majority of them are linked by focus and authors' affiliation to the Krasnodar Region. Meantime, several regions developing rice production (also very successfully) lack the relevant articles. Many articles bear limited citations of sources, and the use of fresh international information is minimal. The results indicate on the interest of Russian specialists to the economical aspects of rice production, although the current state of the related scientific argumentation is a kind of challenge to sustainability of this direction of crop production, and this requires implementation of special research initiatives.


The article presents assessments of industry competitive position using the example of the food industry. For these purposes, the concept of "branch" has been disclosed, which is given as a group of companies in the study area. An attempt was made to consider the industrial enterprises from the position of the object and the subject of market relations. Its competitiveness is determined not only by the presence of resource competitive advantages (when considered as an object), but also their level of use (when considering the company as the subject of market relations). According to this, industry's competitive position are grouped into two subgroups basic and managed, highlighting in basic industry competitive positions of the two parts. The first part reflects the general characteristics achieved by the market in which the enterprise is working, and the second part reflects the general characteristics of the industry itself. Evaluation of the competitive position of the industry it is more expedient to carry out on the selection criteria (parameters), and complete the analysis and evaluation of the five driving forces in the industry (according to M. Porter). Porters model of five forces are not only the most widely used, but also quite easy to use. The article proposes an algorithm which includes four successive steps, and the results of expert assessments to test the Porters model, to analyze the competitiveness of the Kemerovo meat-packing plant and the development of recommendations for its improvement. All the results of the expert survey are presented in Tables templates.


The present work addresses the surface integrity and chip morphology in finish hard turning of AISI D3 steel under nanofluid assisted minimum quantity lubrication (NFMQL) condition. The surface integrity aspects include microhardness, residual stress, white layer formation, machined surface morphology, and surface roughness. This experimental investigation aims to explore the feasibility of low-cost multilayer (TiCN/Al2O3/TiN) coated carbide tool in hard machining applications and to assess the propitious role of minimum quantity lubrication using graphene nanoparticles enriched eco-friendly radiator coolant based nano-cutting fluid for machinability improvement of hardened steel. Combined approach of central composite design (CCD) - analysis of variance (ANOVA), desirability function analysis, and response surface methodology (RSM) have been subsequently employed for experimental investigation, predictive modelling and optimization of surface roughness. With a motivational philosophy of "Go Green-Think Green-Act Green", the work also deals with economic analysis, and sustainability assessment under environmental-friendly NFMQL condition. Results showed that machining with nanofluid-MQL provided an effective cooling-lubrication strategy, safer and cleaner production, environmental friendliness and assisted to improve sustainability.


A computer program (program LEE) has been developed to calculate the fully coupled solution of the radiating viscous stagnation streamline flow with strong blowing. The report describes the digital computer program, including FORTRAN IV listing, flow charts, instructions for the user, and a test case with input and output. Program LEE is available through COSMIC.


6021 Background: Liquid biopsies have the utility for detecting minimal residual disease in several cancers, but its clinical utility for real-time treatment adaptation remains limited. We adopted Epstein-barr virus (EBV)-associated nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) as a model to investigate its potential. We characterize longitudinal response of circulating EBV DNA to induction chemotherapy (IC) and concurrent chemoradiotherapy (CCRT) in locally advanced NPC (LA-NPC), and investigate the association of complete biological response (cBR, undetectable cfEBV DNA) during treatment to prognoses. Methods: The medical records of 673 LA-NPC cases with serial EBV DNA measurements (pre-treatment, after each IC cycle, post-CCRT) were extracted. Cox regression and landmark analysis were used for survival analyses. Results: Four distinct phenotypes were identified based on their longitudinal cfEBV DNA response: 1) Early responders (200/673[29.7%]) achieved cBR post-IC1; 2) Intermediate responders (332/673[49.3%]) included patients with cBR post-IC2-4, and cBR post-CCRT after two IC cycles or following a temporary bounce (detectable reading following initial cBR); 3) Late responders (75/673[11.2%]) achieved cBR only post-CCRT after 3-4 IC cycles; 4) Treatment-resistant (66/673[9.8%]) patients demonstrated non-cBR post-IC+CCRT. These phenotypes were significantly correlated with prognoses, adjusted for pre-treatment EBV DNA load, N-category and chemotherapy intensity (AHRDFS = 3.46[2.01–6.25], intermediate; 7.50[4.24–14.77], late; 17.33[10.06–33.38], treatment-resistant vs. early responders, Pall < 0.01). Interestingly, intermediate and late responders without cBR post-IC2 had inferior survival despite more IC (HRDFS = 1.83[1.17–2.84], > 2 vs. >2 IC cycles, P < 0.01). For treatment-resistant patients, adjuvant chemotherapy following IC+CCRT reduced risk of distant metastasis (HRDMFS = 0.42[0.24–0.74], P < 0.01). Conclusions: We propose investigate risk-adapted chemotherapy de-intensification and intensification strategies based on the four novel phenotypes, which could shape the individualized treatment of LA-NPC. Our study highlights the feasibility of liquid biopsy for real-time therapeutic adaptation.


This article explores the relationship between agricultural development and population growth in Iran in the nineteenth century. Had there been any national census data, the issue under consideration could have been examined in detail, but no such data is in existence. The article therefore offers historical evidence in support of the view that in Iran, population could not grow without sufficient investment in the provision of water, being essential for settled agriculture. Following from this, as this investment was not forthcoming, it is most likely that Iran experienced a downward demographic trend for most of the nineteenth century. The northern provinces, free from this constraint, seemed to have had a different experience. However, evidence is offered in the text indicating that even in these provinces the growth of population was unlikely to have been substantial.


To develop the best management practice for agricultural land of sand dune area for
sustainable crop production and conservation of surrounding environment, ground water quality
is to be evaluated. The objective of the present study was to investigate the spatial and
temporal variation of ground water quality in sand dune area of Tsugaru city in Aomori
Prefecture, Japan. Three observation wells were installed with three plastic tubes to collect
ground water of 2.0 m, 2.5 m and 3.0 m depth. Ground water samples were analysed for
electrical conductivity (EC), pH, concentration of Fe, K, NO3-N, and PO4-P. Soil environment
from 0.1 m through 3.0 m was also evaluated. The results showed that EC, pH, and K
concentration in ground water were decreased with increasing depth throughout the
investigation period whereas Fe concentration was increased. The ground water of the study
area was found not suitable for sprinkler irrigation since concentration of Fe was more than 1.5
mg L-1. Average concentrations of NO3-N and PO4-P in ground water of the study area were
0.029 mg L-1 and 0.062 mg L-1, respectively. Soil environment at the depth of 0.1 m and 0.5 m
always showed oxidized condition (oxidation-reduction potential >300 mv). On the other hand
soil environment at the depth of 2.5 m and 3.0 m showed reduced condition (oxidation-reduction
potential <300 mv) during the study period. Soil environment at 1.5 m depth was found oxidized
in the month of April, July, September and October, and reduced in the month of May, June,
August and November. This might be due to fluctuation of ground water level. Because of
presence of very low concentration of NO3-N and PO4-P in ground water, there may not be any
threat to human health and environment.


The article discusses the use of the methodology of reengineering in the investment-construction. The goals, tasks, various options for their solution, application areas of reengineering in construction are identified, as well as its basic principles and development directions are formulated in the article. In this regard, it is assumed, that practical use of reengineering methodology will contribute to the creating of the comfortable and safe living environment, as well as competitive advantages of the building construction organizations, aimed at the reduction of cost and terms of works realization, increase of productivity and production quality. Works of foreign and domestic scientists are used as initial materials on the research issues, and functional and structural analysis are taken as cognition methods. In this regard, a retrospective of reengineering is investigated, a definition of this concept and its qualifications ("capital construction facility reengineering", "business process reengineering", "technological process reengineering") are given, and directions for use in the investment-construction activities are established. At the corporate level, there are three types of reengineering: business processes, technological processes and capital construction facility. The article presents the distribution of these types of reengineering on the timeline of the investment-construction, as well as the distribution of participants by types of reengineering, the volumetric nature of reengineering is noted. It is shown, that a specific type of reengineering is the reengineering of territories and buildings and possible directions of its impulse are presented. Considering the sectoral level as the highest level in the hierarchy, the possible options for initiating reengineering "top-down" and "bottom-up" are established, and factors influencing this process are identified.


Through merging the work of Byung-Gook Lee and Guodong Chen,a concise way of realizing multi-degree reduction of Bezier curve based on Legendre polynomial is proposed.The control points of the degree reduced curve can be obtained as a product of the degree reduction transformation matrix and the original control vertices.The deduction and calculation of the multi-degree reduction matrix are given.


Typical multivariate analysis assumes independence among the individual observations as well as elliptical symmetry of distributions. In many situations these assumptions may be too restrictive. This paper studies a class of flexible matrix variate distribution models that can represent both skewed and symmetric distributions which can also account for dependence among individual observations. We derive the moment generating function and study linear and quadratic forms of interest that help understand the properties of these models.


Cloud manufacturing yields insights of manufacturing services over cyberspace based on the integration of advanced manufacturing with cloud computing. However, the different communication standards between the different system levels are the main challenge for the integration without conflicting communication. Ethernet appears to be the best solution to support all levels for industrial manufacturing systems. Since the synchronous integration is fulfilled, the prerequisite for deciding the overall performance of systems is adaptable real‐time communication. This motivates us to study the problem of designing a new real‐time communication based on Ethernet standards to enable real‐time processing for factory networks, termed real‐time Ethernet (RTEthernet). In this paper, we introduce new architectures for master and controller stations. The objective is to have the maximum number of machines transmitting data in a data transmission window (coordinated cycle). The problem is called the maximum number of real‐time data transmission (MNRDT) problem. The MNRDT is shown to be NP‐hard. An approximation and three relevant solutions are proposed for addressing the reduction of MNRDT and the MNRDT problem. Simulation results are provided to show the performance of proposed solutions.


Two triterpenoid compounds, 2,3-dihydroxy-12-oleanen-28-oate ( 1) , 2-hydroxy-12-oleanen-28-oate ( 2) , were successfully isolated from stem bark and root wood of Paliasa ( Kleinhovia hospita L.), a family of Sterculiaceae. The molecule structures of these compounds were determined based on physical data and spectroscopies of IR, 1 H and 13 C NMR. Compound 1 is quite active against P-388 leukemia cell with IC 50 of 15.0 µg/mL, while compound 2 is non toxic against A. salina with LC 50 value of 55206 µg/mL. Keywords: K. hospita L., Sterculiaceae, 2,3-dihydroxy-12-oleanen-28-oat, 2-hydroxy-12-oleanen-28-oat, P-388 leukemia cell, A. salina


Managing the post-weaning period in children-farm in North Kivu is a problem that requires the use of local products of agriculture. A composite flour made from corn, sweet potato, pumpkin and soy has been proposed to substitute breast milk. Three treatments were then developed with each clean overalls him. The physico-chemical analyzes and the organoleptic characteristics tests were then performed on the three treatments at the end of which the following results were obtained:- Treatment III, containing 30% corn, 40% of sweet potato, squash 10% and 20% soy, was found to be the combination that offers many advantages over other light of its wealth protein, minerals and vitamins;- The composite flour obtained has remarkable physicochemical properties. Low humidity for proper preservation, a protein capable of covering in small quantities the protein needs of children under one year, an acceptable percentage of fat needed to provide essential lipids in the body without so ask digestion or diarrhea problems. The only drawback it has is that it contains few minerals and vitamins.- When compared to breast milk and formulations already developed in the North, the composite flour obtained is illustrated with a high protein content (16%), low humidity and a share of acceptable fat. It also has weaknesses as regards mineral salts and vitamins.- The organoleptic characteristics of this flour have been very interesting with an average rating of "very good" from every point of view whether the aroma, the taste and color.


An RFID_B2B system that brings together the RFID and B2B advantages and which could be a powerful enabler of business transformation in the context of the globalization process is presented. The presented system helps small, medium and enterprise organizations to improve productivity and provide better service to their customers by providing a flexible solution for all of a company's B2B needs. Ill. 1, bibl. 21 (in English; summaries in English, Russian and Lithuanian).


Scanning and light microscopy investigations of the anterior alimentary canal of the pear psylla, Psylla pyricola Foerster (Homoptera: Psyllidae), revealed the morphology of the labium and stylets, as well as the presence of sensory structures and a valve in the precibarium. The labium consists of three telescoping segments with an internal labial groove, which surrounds and supports the stylet bundle. Also a part of the labial groove is the internal labial clamp. The stylet bundle is comprised of paired styliform mandibles and maxillae, which interlock to form the food and salivary canals. The stylet bundle proximal to the labium forms a large loop within a membranous crumena. When fully retracted the coiled stylets are under tension. Stylet extension generates increasing tension so that when retracted the stylets readily recoil within the crumena. Penetration of leaf tissues by the stylet bundle is dependent on the interaction between stylet muscles, opening and closing of the labial clamp, the barbed stylet tips, and the ventral position of the labium.


The dichromatic number $\dic(D)$ of a digraph $D$ is the least integer $k$ such that $D$ can be partitioned into $k$ directed acyclic digraphs. A digraph is $k$-dicritical if $\dic(D) = k$ and each proper subgraph $D'$ of $D$ satisfies $\dic(D') \leq k-1$. An oriented graph is a digraph with no directed cycle of length $2$. For integers $k$ and $n$, we denote by $o_k(n)$ the minimum number of edges of a $k$-critical oriented graph on $n$ vertices (with the convention $o_k(n)=+\infty$ if there is no $k$-dicritical oriented graph of order $n$). The main result of this paper is a proof that $o_3(n) \geq \frac{7n+2}{3}$ together with a construction witnessing that $o_3(n) \leq \left \lceil \frac{5n}{2} \right \rceil$ for all $n \geq 12$. We also give a construction showing that for all sufficiently large $n$ and all $k\geq 3$, $o_k(n)<(2k-3)n$, disproving a conjecture of Hoshino and Kawarabayashi. Finally, we prove that, for all $k\geq 2$, $o_k(n) \geq \pth{ k - \frac{3}{4}-\frac{1}{4k-6}} n + \frac{3}{4(2k-3)}$, improving the previous best known lower bound of Bang-Jensen, Bellitto, Schweser and Stiebitz.


The years passes by and, since virtualization.info started to track virtualization market in 2003 and cloudcomputing.info, its sister publication, the cloud computing market in 2010, ...


Most attempts to model farmer's adoption of "conservation" practices are notable for their very poor predictive validity, relative to the quite respectable results reported for the adoption of "commercial" innovations. Work in progress is developing a model of farmer behaviour, based on an elaboration of the Fishbein theory of reasoned action, which appears to offer theoretical and practical advantages over previous models. The model proposes that human behaviour is a function of subjective beliefs, plus attitudinal, risk, normative and control variables, when all are measured at an equivalent level of specificity, and when the cognitive and attitudinal variables are specified in a manner consistent with farmers' value structures. The model is expected to be equally applicable to "conservation" and "commercial" innovations. Results from Northam, Western Australia, in 1989 gave an adjusted R2 value for the crude model of .55 and provided a useful analysis of farmer belief structures relative to their attitudes and actual use of minimum tillage. The revised model is being tested in the central wheatbelt of Western Australia in 1990-91, and incorporates a modified technique for the elicitation of farmer's subjective probabilities regarding the expected outcomes of minimum tillage and conventional cultivation. Preliminary results are presented in terms of their implications for extension practice and evaluation.


BY BERT W. REIN AND JOHN B. WYSS S eventy-five years ago in a seemingly inconsequential case interpreting the Filled Milk Act, Justice Harlan Fiske Stone dropped a footnote in the majority opinion with profound consequences for future constitutional adjudication. The famed Carolene Products footnote called for ''more searching judicial inquiry'' of legislative enactments directed at particular religious, national or racial minorities. 304 U.S. 144, 152 n. 4. Recognizing that ''political processes ordinarily to be relied upon to protect minorities'' may be curtailed by ''prejudice against discrete and insular minorities,'' Justice Stone's footnote started the Court on a journey toward the aggressive use of ''strict scrutiny'' analysis to protect minority rights against legislative incursion. In his recent majority opinion in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend (No. 11-864), Justice Antonin Scalia dropped a footnote which, while virtually ignored in the immediate aftermath of the case, may have a comparably profound effect on cases turning on a ''battle of the experts.'' Justice Scalia, in fact, may have pointed the way to resolving the conundrum, trenchantly observed by Judge Learned Hand, that the rubric for admitting expert testimony—that the expert is qualified in matters exceeding the competence of a lay juror—is inconsistent with the usual practice of permitting lay jurors to resolve expert conflicts. Justice Scalia's conclusion that ''while the data contained within an econometric model may well be 'questions of fact' in the relevant sense, what those data prove is no more a question of fact than what our opinions hold,'' could rationally shift responsibility for resolving expert conflicts from juries to courts, and trigger important complementary process adjustments in cases where expert testimony may be case dispositive. We first examine the context of Justice Scalia's pregnant footnote and then turn more specifically to its meaning and potential consequences.


Mind has been a creation of the brain, subtle form of matter, with which the brain is composed of, though considered an independent functional entity representing a living being, at spiritual and functional levels, supporting the generation of thoughts and feelings, giving rise to mental and spiritual activities at cognitive and emotional levels. This Brain-Mind relationship has created many Material-Scientific principles and based on which most of our relationships are dependent on. It's this duo that creates an understanding about the relationships and related expectations and tries to fulfill all the expectations personal, social and professional. These expectations when does not get proper attention it leads to agony and the self-blaming or the person starts finding faults in others. This paper discusses the Brain-Mind relationship and its relation with the relationship battles that we face in day to day life is being discussed and focused. This duo leads to extraordinary and positive emotional experience, and associated behaviour, which take human behaviour to glorious and noble levels of existence. On the other hand, negative emotions and their effects on behaviour have opposite values, as they may be alarming, mind blowing, and painful; and human beings often deploy such negative emotions.


The multiple claims for the benefits of vitamin D supplementation are unfounded, say two extensive meta-analyses published in the BMJ this week.1 2

Researchers argued that "universal conclusions about its [vitamin D's] benefits cannot be drawn" and said that further studies and better designed trials were needed.

In an editorial commentators said that doctors should stop ordering expensive tests for 25-hydroxyvitamin D for asymptomatic patients, apart from those with bone related conditions.3

In the first study researchers from the United Kingdom, Europe, and the United States carried out an umbrella review of 268 literature reviews and meta-analyses of observational studies and clinical trials that had looked at the health outcomes associated with naturally circulating vitamin D and those from taking vitamin D supplements.1

Altogether they found that 137 different health outcomes were reportedly linked to vitamin D but found no convincing …


To obtain solid scaffolds exhibiting brilliant solid state fluorescence and serving as an arena for chromo communication via host–guest energy transfer, a series of diketopyrrolopyrrole moieties with different modified bulky groups were coupled into the porous polymeric networks via Sonogashira coupling reaction. Variation of the bulky substitution groups rendered the tunability of porosity. With the improved porosity, it triggered the spatial isolation of the fluorophores and further enhanced the solid-state fluorescence of these polymers. More importantly, the brilliant nanopores can also serve to confine guest molecules to form a donor–acceptor system via energy transfer. After loading coumarin, outstanding energy transfer efficiency, was observed based on the calculation upon fluorescence decay measurements, spectral overlap function and the estimation of Foster radius. This study provided important insights of designing novel fluorescent POPs with efficient energy transfer flows.


Knowledge is considered the main engine to achieve all the objectives of education that aim at making a qualitative shift in the skills of graduates required by the labour market: this requires universities to prepare to look at traditional teaching methods and move to new teaching methods that take into account the modernity and technology necessary to develop skills and sustainability. The current paper aims to examine the importance of the knowledge economy, the reality of university education in Iraq and the possibility of benefitting from modern technologies in education and its ability to respond to the requirements of the labour market, through raising the efficiency of education which can be attained by the use of techniques and modern educational and training tools. Accordingly, the study hypothesises that the knowledge economy contributes a significant role in improving the outputs of higher education and raising the productivity of the labour force in a way that matches the needs of the labour market. Such steps lead to reducing unemployment on the one hand and raising the potential and skill of workers on the other hand. In order to clarify the concepts of the research, the researchers use two basic approaches, namely; the inductive approach and the deductive one. The paper ends up with several conclusions and recommendations. The most common error results in the weak contribution of the knowledge economy in universities which still depend heavily on the traditional method. Thus, there is an urgent need for changing this method and the adaptation to a new teaching style that adopts modern technology in all stages of study.


INTRODUCTION The Italian law 1999/351, implementing the EU Directive 96/62/CE, assigns to the Regions the task of Air Quality Assessment, aimed to the subdivision of the Regional land in different areas, according to their air pollution conditions. The law suggests the integrated application of different tools: monitoring, emission inventory and dispersion modelling. To fulfil this request, an integrated air quality assessment has been executed for the Valle d'Aosta Region.


Covering about 47 % of world's mangrove area, containing 85 % of world's mangrove species, and occurring in a variety of habitats, the mangrove ecosystem plays a vital role in coastal biodiversity of 30 countries bordering the Indian Ocean. This ecosystem supports a rich species diversity of flora and fauna, but it is facing heavy human pressures and natural stresses, leading to a loss in biodiversity. This calls for urgent measures of conservation and management.


The highest infestation by phoronts (resting stages) of Apostoma ciliates forms 1, 2, is restricted to the 3-th and 4-th pairs of E. superba thoracic limbs. They occur mostly on meropodites of endopodite and plumose setae of exopodite. The trophonts (trophic stage) of those Apostoma are present in large numbers in krill's tissue. The life cycle of those histophagous Apostoma include also free-living stage — tomit. Swarm formed by krill seems to be a reason for the common and extensive infestation by protozoans. K e y w o r d s : Antarctic, krill, parasites.


Diagnosis using a flexible endoscope in gastro-intestinal tract becomes very important. In addition, the endoscope is a basic tool of diagnosis and treatment for digestive organ. However, the operation of endoscope is very labor intensive work and gives patients some pains. Therefore, the video capsule endoscope is developed for the diagnosis of digestive organs. For its conveniences for diagnosis, the video capsule endoscope comes into the spotlight. Besides the video function, various functions of capsule endoscope were proposed such as locomotion, wireless power transfer, biopsy and drug delivery, biological signal sensing and so on. Among the proposed functions, we focused on locomotive ability and pressure signal sensing in the gastro-intestinal tract. This paper describes our recent research activities which are aimed to enable locomotion and pressure signal sensing in gastro-intestinal tract by the fusion of biomedical, microsystem and robotic technologies


This study it includes commenting on the Qur'an of Ismail Hakki Bursevi who is commentator on the Qur'an as a sufi/mystic and his methods of interpretation. On the other hand when we take into consideration the stages of a method that considered someone's own prefers it is obviously importance of process that related to method pre-comprehending form. In the same way in the connection solution of a method interpretation it is naturally to ascribe a beginnig point to the pre-understanding and the pre-comprehending. Consequently it is possibility that his own determining of interpretation method and questions related to pre-understanding which based on that considered dealing with determining scholarly and personal educated background of Bursevi.


The preparation is described of the trifluoromethoxides of the heavier alkali metals, i.e. MOCF3 where M = K, Rb, or Cs. These are stable, crystalline, ionic solids made by the reversible reaction ...


In the three-dimensional space,a new method for the current statistical kalman filtering algorithm using the radial velocity is presented for radar awareness system,which can detect target radial velocity and target angular velocity.A simulation about the pseudo Kalman filtering put forward by this thesis and the traditional Kalman filtering is given,which aim at the maneuvering target in three-demension.Simulation results indicate that the convergent velocity is accelerated and the convergent precision is increased when the radial velocity and angular velocity is adopted.The new pseudo Kalman filtering has some significance for project practice.


A Popov criterion is derived for systems with slowly timevarying parameters. The parameters and their time derivatives are assumed to take values in convex polytopes.


ABSTRACT The photovoltaic power system is highly dependent on the quantity of solar irradiance incident on it and its temperature. These parameters are dynamically changing with time due to climatic changes, shadows formed by clouds, trees, buildings, and so on, resulting in multiple maximum power points (MPP). Out of which one is global MPP (GMPP) and the rest are local MPP (LMPP). The GMPP varies dynamically along with the weather conditions and connected load. Many GMPP tracking (GMPPT) algorithms were developed which are inefficient and ineffective under dynamic irradiance conditions. This paper proposes a new enhanced arithmetic optimization algorithm based on the levy flight (AOA-LF) as a GMPPT method, which improves the tracking efficiency and tracking speed because of its good exploration and exploitation due to the long jump with a variable step size. The suggested AOA-LF GMPPT method is implemented in MATLAB/SIMULINK and tested with eight different dynamic irradiance patterns whose tracking curves are compared with the existing GMPPT algorithms like JAYA-LF, DFO, AOA, PSO, and P&O, which reveals that it is excellent in the tracking of GMPP with increment in efficiency as high as 19% when compared with P&O method and the least time to reach the GMPP with percentage decrement as high as 69% as compared to the PSO method. Also, the proposed AOA-LF GMPPT method is validated with the help of OPAL-RT OP4510 Real-Time Digital Simulator. Hence, the proposed algorithm shows superior performance with zero steady-state oscillations and also enhanced exploration and exploitation.


In this paper I would like to discuss the problematic state of architecture at this new century. The issues I am going to address are the usual suspects underpinning critical discourse today: the intensification of the impact of technology on architecture, and the infusion of electronic technologies in every cultural production activity. These developments not only have changed the content and form of architecture, it has also given the chance to some architects to reiterate the myth of progress through technological inventions. Thus, the necessity to address the formalistic content of neo-avant-garde architecture by different theoretical means. Do not the expressionistic forms permeating recent architecture speak for the entry of architecture into the aesthetic world of commodity fetishism? Equally important is the state of theory/history at a time when interdisciplinary tendencies subdue the tectonic and reduce architecture to a textual discourse. I intend to make two points by discussing these issues. First, the importance of a semiautonomous understanding of architecture for a critical practice. Second, the gauging of history/theory/criticism not as absolute entities, but for their effectiveness in perpetuating the dialectics between theory and practice at both educational and professional levels.1 We belong to the future. We must put ourselves into it, each one at his situation. We must not plant ourselves against the new and attempt to retain a beautiful world, one that must perish. Nor must we try to build, with creative fantasy, a new one that claims to be immune to the ravages of becoming. We have to formulate the recent. But that we can only do if we say yes to it; yet with incompatible heart we have to retain our awareness of all that is destructive and inhuman in it. Our time is given to us as a soil on which we stand, as a task that we have to master. Romano Guardini


Adherence to healthy lifestyle and pharmacological therapies represent two major approaches to chronic disease prevention. It remains unknown whether individuals who regularly use preventive medications still benefit from adherence to healthy lifestyle as those not using the medications. We aimed to examine the associations of healthy lifestyle with all-cause and cause-specific mortality among regular users and nonusers of major preventive medications.

 We prospectively assessed lifestyles and regular use of aspirin, antihypertensives, and lipid-lowering medications through biennial questionnaires among 79,043 women in the Nurses' Health Study (1988–2014) and 39,544 men in the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (1986–2014). A healthy lifestyle score (ranging 0–5) was defined based on body mass index of ≥18.5 and < 27.5 kg/m2, never smoking, moderate-to-vigorous intensity activity for ≥30 minutes/day, alternate healthy eating index in the upper 40%, and light-to-moderate alcohol intake. We calculated multivariable hazard ratios (HRs) and population-attributable risks (PARs) of death from any cause, cardiovascular disease (CVD), cancer, and other causes in relation to healthy lifestyle according to medication use.

 During a median of 26 years of follow-up, we documented 35,195 deaths. A similar association of healthy lifestyle score with lower all-cause mortality was observed among medication users (HR, 0.82 per one-unit increment; 95% CI, 0.81–0.82) and nonusers (HR, 0.81 per one-unit increment; 95% CI, 0.79–0.83) (P-interaction = 0.54). The fraction of premature deaths that may potentially be prevented by adherence to all the 5 healthy lifestyle factors among medication users and nonusers was 38% (95% CI, 32–42%) and 40% (95% CI, 29–50%) for all-cause mortality, 37% (95% CI, 27–46%) and 45% (95% CI, 18–66%) for CVD mortality, 38% (95% CI, 28–46%) and 33% (95% CI, 14–49%) for cancer mortality, 33% (95% CI, 25–41%) and 38% (95% CI, 20–54%) for other mortality, respectively.

 Adherence to healthy lifestyle confers substantial benefit for prevention of premature death among both regular users and nonusers of preventive medications. Adherence to healthy lifestyle remains important even among individuals regularly using preventive medications.

 American Cancer Society and NIH.


[Objective] The research aimed to establish the graphite furnace-atomic absorption spectrophotometry of nickel in the surface water. [Method] Sample acidity,matrix modifier and spectral wide band were determined; main temperature rise program was optimized; linear range of work curve,detection limit of the method,precision and recovery rate of the added sample were measured. [Result] Under the conditions of 0. 2% nitric acid as constant-volume medium,0. 2 nm of instrument slit width,1 100 ℃ of ashing temperature maintaining for 5 s,and 2 300 ℃ of atomic temperature maintaining for 5 s,linear range of standard curve was 0-50 μg / L; detection limit of the method was0. 95 μg / L; precision was 2. 05%-2. 57%; recovery rate of the added sample was 88. 5%-103. 0%. [Conclusion] The method has low detection limit and good precision and accuracy,which is suitable for measuring nickel in clean surface water,and is worth promoting and applying.


The effect of auxin and cytokinin on shoot tip explant exudation, and the effect of such exudation on the growth of tobacco callus, were studied. Shoot tips of Rubus sp. 'Dirkson Thornless' (blackberry), Juglans nigra L., Euphorbia Lathyris L., and Hibiscus Rosa-sinensis L. were cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium. Rhododendron 'P.J.M. Hybrids' shoot tips were cultured on Anderson medium. Media contained a factorial combination of IBA and BA (2iP for rhododendron), each at 0, 1, and 10 µM. IBA reduced stem necrosis of hibiscus and rhododendron shoot tips, whereas BA increased length of browning of hibiscus shoot tips on average of 1.1 mm. The shoot tips were removed after 1 week and replaced with tobacco callus (Nicotiana tabacum L. 'McNair 944'). After 3 weeks, callus growth was reduced on media that previously had black walnut and Euphorbia shoot tips (2939 and 532 mm3 of visible stain). Blackberry, hibiscus, and rhododendron shoot tips had no influence on tobacco callus growth (576, 0, and 1046 mm3 of visible staining). Chemical names used: 1H-indole-3-butyric acid (IBA); N-(phenylmethyl)-1H-purin-6-amine (BA); N-(3-methyl-2-butenyl)-1H-purin-6-amine (2iP); and 1H-indole-3-acetic acid (IAA).


The possibilities of quantum-optical spectrocopy are explored theoretically on the basis of an analytically solvable Jaynes-Cummings model. Like for semiconductors, thermal- and coherent-state excitations produce drastically different mater excitation that can be characterized through the re-radiation of light. The calculations show that matter dynamics can be sensitively monitored through distinct changes in the marginal quadrature distributions (© 2009 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)


The effects changes in stratospheric ozone concentrations have on photochemical models of the atmosphere are evaluated. The study was spurred by the appearance of excessive stratosphere heating above 40 km in radiative transfer computations. A 20 percent reduction in ozone in the 40-55 m altitude interval would offset the anomalous heating values. Comparisons were made between calculated heating rates and in-situ data that included ozone concentrations. Heating rates decreased 0.4 C/day when clouds were present at the 300 mb level, and increased by 0.3 C/day with clouds at the 80 mb level.


Soil structure is known as an important factor that effects soil mechanical properties. It is reasonable to be considered in soil mechanics. Many researchers look for a quantitative soil structural parameter, that is yet to be found. A constitutive law considering soil structural properties is first proposed in this paper. Constitutive laws expressed in both stresses and strains are derived. Through a discussion of the laws, a conclusion was obtained that it is feasible. The results from the laws are agreed with the triaxial test. It should prove to be a major contribution to the cause of advancing the soil mechanics.


According to the wide application of time- frequency distributions in Biomedical signal analyses, especially in ECG signals, and due to existence of high energy and low frequency components and sharp templates in ECG signals, the components which have very low amplitude do not appear clearly in time-frequency displays. In this research, a suitable method for preprocessing the biological signals by wavelet factors based on noise reduction has been presented. This method improves the features of time-frequency signal by reducing the effects resulting from the ignorance of low amplitude components. The results gained through the application of this method on ECG as well as the simulated data prove the positive effect of this method.


The reaction Hg(6 3P)+O2 was investigated by modulation kinetic spectroscopy, in excess inert gas and in the presence of small partial pressures of glyoxal, biacetyl, and napthalene. These energy acceptors were excited efficiently to their lowest triplet states by electronic energy transfer from a long‐lived (τ?5 μsec) excited intermediate formed in the Hg*+O2 reaction. Phase shift measurements showed the rate of energy transfer to be quite fast, as indicated by the rate constants (at 1 atm and 313 °K, in 1011 liters/mole sec) 0.96±0.19, 0.63±0.13, and 2.1±0.5 for glyoxal, biacetyl, and naphthalene, respectively. Overall efficiencies for transfer from Hg* via the intermediate to the acceptors were 0.4, 0.2, and 0.2 in the same order. Rate constants for quenching of the acceptor triplet states by O2 were also determined. The intermediate appears to react with O2 by a process whose rate varies with the square of the O2 pressure. It is not identical with vibrationally excited ground state O2 whose absorption...


The paper presents the EPC theory (Enterprise Process Control) as a description of a new ontological model of integrated management and direct control systems. It was shown that this model, based on the information-decision model of business processes, may be regarded as a result of modification and extension of the well-known enterprise ontology based on the PSI theory (Performance in Social Interaction), which underlies the DEMO (Design and Engineering Methodology for Organizations).


China high-speed train control system is a safety-critical system which consists of computer, communication and control. Efficient high-speed train control system modeling, verification and testing remains the current challenge for both academia and industry. This paper presents a visual modeling method based on GIS and the multilayered interactive cellular automata. GIS is responsible for displaying the operational scenarios of train control system; The multilayered interactive cellular automata is responsible for layered modeling train control system; The two parts interact with each other to realize the dynamic autonomy and visualization of the model. Compared with the existing methods, this modeling method is simpler, more intuitive, and has better expansibility, autonomy, visibility, inheritance and reusability. The constructed model can better reflect the characteristics of train control system and realize the dynamic description.


In recent years, it is possible to see an exponential increase in internet shopping. This increase brought about changes not only in the way consumers purchase products, but also in the way they get information about what to buy. This research has explored the characteristics of a textual genre that emerges in the context of digital technology, specifically e-commerce, due to the consolidation of supply and purchase of products in virtual stores. Although virtual labels play a similar role to the physical labels, it was observed that the supply of products in the e-commerce still needs regulatory and supervisory mechanisms that support translation, which made this a very important study. Through the observation of virtual labels of products manufactured and sold in Brazil, the main physical and linguistic elements of virtual labels from authentic texts of the target community were described. As a consequence, subsidies were provided to the translation of virtual labels of children's care products manufactured overseas and sold in Brazil on the Internet, in order to help translators and other professionals involved in import, labeling and distribution of industrial products in e-commerce.


The Nice ratification saga in Ireland led to an overall policy of restraint by the Irish political elite on the European front, and to ambivalence in relation to the Convention on the Future of Europe. The Irish approach came to be not only at odds with an ever evolving EU but also with a Convention which, after a slow start, developed a strong political dynamic and empowered itself to perform the role of an IGC. The Convention experience revealed the limitations of over-reliance on the ensuing IGC, and of reactive strategies, in the more complex institutional dynamics of treaty revision process introduced after Nice.


Abstract. Twenty-three hyperlipidemic subjects, characterized by their lipoprotein electrophoresis patterns, were given a biguanide, metformin, 1.5 g daily for a minimum of four months. On metformin the mean glucose fractional removal rate apparently increased in all types of hyperlipoproteinemia. Only in type IV hyperlipoprotein-emia, however, was plasma insulin reduced. In patients with type IV hyperlipoproteinemia, serum triglycerides were reduced on an average by 55 mg/100 ml, corresponding to a 26% reduction. In type IV hyperlipoproteinemia the size of the simultaneous serum cholesterol reduction indicates a preferential decrease in VLD lipoproteins (pre-β-lipoprotein), which was also confirmed by the disappearance of pre-β-lipoproteins on lipoprotein electrophoresis. A moderate and not significant reduction in weight (1.8 and 1.3 kg in types II B and IV respectively) does not appear to be a prerequisite for the reduction in serum triglycerides and pre-β-lipoproteins.


Using the research methods of literature,logical analysis and so on,it did research on the relation between the transformation of Totem culture and the value feature of the national traditional sport.The results indicate that quite a few national traditional sports activities which are considered with an independent cultural form turn out to be only a kind of rite of religious activities offering sacrifices to a god and to be an external expressing form of Totem culture,Totem culture has an inherited and coherent function to the development of the national traditional sport and promotes the diversification of the national traditional sport,and the transformation of Totem culture will construct a value feature of opening,pluralness,with self-organized ability,common-customarization and reasonablization.


Freehand sketching is a fundamental skill in mechanical engineering and many other engineering disciplines. It not only serves as a communication tool among engineers, but plays a critical role in engineering design and problem solving. However, as computer-aided drafting has replaced traditional drawing classes nowadays, the training of students' freehand sketching skills has been almost completely eliminated in modern engineering curricula. This paper describes the attributes of freehand sketching and its roles in several essential aspects of engineering; in particular, in its roles in problem solving, of which current literature has ignored. Representative examples are provided to show students' freehand sketching skills in problem solving in a foundational undergraduate mechanical engineering course. Pedagogical suggestions are made on how to teach freehand sketching to engineering students.


Jolly, Margaretta. Encyclopedia of Life Writing. 2 Vols. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn, 2001. Print. Kadar, Marlene. "Coming to Terms: Life Writing From Genre to Critical Practice." Essays on Life Writing: From Genre to Critical Practice. Ed. Kadar. 1989. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1992. 3–20. Print. —. "The Devouring: Traces of Roma in the Holocaust: No Tattoo, Sterilized Body, Gypsy Girl." Tracing the Autobiographical. Ed. Kadar et al. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2005. 223–46. Print. —. "The Discourse of Ordinariness and 'Multicultural History.'" Essays on Canadian Writing 60 (1996): 119–38. Academic Search Complete. Web. 13 May 2018. —. "Whose Life Is It Anyway? Out of the Bathtub and Into the Narrative." Essays on Life Writing: From Genre to Critical Practice. Ed. Kadar. 1989. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 1992. 152–61. Print. Lejeune, Philippe. "The Autobiography of Those Who Do Not Write." On Autobiography. Ed. Paul John Eakin. Trans. Katherine Leary. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1989. 185–215. Print. —. "Le Pacte autobiographique (bis)." Poetique: Revue de Theorie et d'Analyse Litteraires 14 (1983): 416–34. Print. Neuman, Shirley. "Introduction: Reading Canadian Autobiography." Essays on Canadian Writing 60 (1996): 1–13. Print. Olney, James, ed. Autobiography: Essays Theoretical and Critical. Princeton: Princeton UP, 1980. Print. —. "'I Was Born': Slave Narratives, Their Status as Autobiography and as Literature." Callaloo 20 (1984): 46–73. Print. —. Studies in Autobiography. Oxford: Oxford UP, 1988. Print. Smith, Sidonie. A Poetics of Women's Autobiography: Marginality and the Fictions of Self-Representation. Bloomington: Indiana UP, 1987. Print. —. Where I'm Bound: Patterns of Slavery and Freedom in Black American Autobiography. Santa Barbara: Praeger, 1974. Print. Smith, Sidonie, and Julia Watson. Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives. 2nd ed. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 2010. Print. Stich, K. P., ed. Reflections: Autobiography and Canadian Literature. Ottawa: U of Ottawa P, 1988. Print.


The geographic information system has been widely applied in power industry.In the traditional system con-struction mode,the geographic information system was constructed respectively by the specialized departments accord-ing to their own requirements.However,these personalized systems had defects in the aspects of standardization,ex-pansibility and reusability.The framework of the public geographic information service platform for the power gird en-terprise was proposed.The core technology of the platform construction was deeply analyzed.The construction prac-tice and the application status of the enterprise-level public geographic information service platform for the East China Grid Company were also presented.


SWEET (sugars will eventually be exported transporter) is one of the important sugar transport protein groups in plants. In this study, 21 genes encoding the SWEET protein in the cocoa genome were identified and analyzed. The genomic full-length of these genes ranged from 1379 to 2700 nucleotides, most of which have five introns. The predicted proteins had 232 to 306 amino acids and contained the conserved transmembrane helix regions of known SWEETs. Most of these proteins were alkaline. Phylogeny analysis showed that the TcSWEETs were divided into four groups, group I (4 genes), group II (4 genes), group III (6 genes), and group IV (7 genes). These genes are not equally distributed in the cocoa genome. Thirteen of the 21 SWEET genes presented in two chromosomes, 3 and 5. Some of the gene duplication events that occurred in these two chromosomes were related to the expansion of SWEET genes of group III and group IV. Twelve of the 21 SWEET genes had EST which were detected in several different types of cocoa tissue, under different conditions. Most of them had ESTs obtained from reproductive tissues or tissues affected by abiotic and biotic stress. The expression of these genes suggested their important role in the development and stress resistance of the cocoa tree.


One of the controlling factors in the design of rei nforced concrete flat plates is the punching shear criteria. Engineers, in many cases, will be reluctant to incr ease the plate thickness, use column crown or order to satisfy the punching shear criteria. This study introduces an effective use of space swimmer bars as punching shear reinforcement in flat plates. Swimme r bars are short inclined steel reinforcement bars welded to both top and bo ttom flexural reinforcement. In this study pyramid shape will be investigated since the punching shear takes the form of a truncated pyramid or a truncate d cone. A counteract truncated pyramid or a truncat ed cone of reinforcement forming space three dimens inclined planes crossing the four inclined planes o f the cracks. The number of truncated pyramid may be increased for large applied punching shear f orces. The experimental improvement in punching shear strength of reinforce d concrete flat slabs that can be used effectively to eliminate the need for column crown or drop flat plate.


Objective GIT1 is identified as a novel tumor oncogene in breast cancer. In this article, we aimed to explore the role of GIT1 in the progression of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). Methods GIT1 expression in HNSCC was detected by RT-qPCR, immunohistochemistry assay, and Western blot. HNSCC cell proliferation, migration, and invasion were examined by CCK-8 assay, Wound healing assay, and Transwell assay, respectively. Cell apoptosis was detected by flow cytometric analysis. Results In our study, GIT1 was notably upregulated in HNSCC tissues and cells. Moreover, GIT1 expression level had positive corelation with pathological grade and nodal status of HNSCC. Functional experiments showed that knockdown of GIT1 restrained HNSCC proliferation, invasion, migration, and EMT and facilitated cell apoptosis. Furthermore, GIT1 knockdown was found to restrain HNSCC tumor growth and lung metastasis. Additionally, PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal pathway inhibitors suppressed the effect of GIT1 on HNSCC cell progression. Conclusion GIT1 was upregulated in HNSCC and facilitated HNSCC cell progression by inducing PI3K/AKT/mTOR signal pathway. Therefore, we suggested that GIT1 might be a potential target for HNSCC treatment.


I know I have hurt you. But I want to make (it) up to you, repair the rupture, bridge the rift between us, heal the pain that I have caused. I want us to imagine a place where the possibility of our hurting each other does not exist. Where we can each be our different selves without shame, without fear, without alienation. True partners in peace. A world of brothers and sisters. A world of recognition and enhancement. This is the right thing to do: to heal, to move on, to found and enter a New Society.


ABSTRACT The 'Sawtooth Effect' is where cohort performance on high-stakes assessments drops after assessment reform, and then improves over time as test familiarity increases. Despite its importance, limited research has been conducted to date. In this study, we took a novel approach of using changes in grade boundaries (cut scores) over time as a proxy measure for performance change across a large number of secondary school assessments. Findings were generally consistent with the Sawtooth Effect, suggesting that it took students/teachers around 3 years on average to become familiar with the new tests. Estimates of the magnitude of these changes were also produced. Findings support the need for caution when interpreting changes in performance for new assessments, as any gains that occur may be due to test familiarity, rather than meaningful gains to subject mastery. Abbreviation: GCSE: General Certificate of Secondary Education; GCE A level: General Certificate of Education Advanced Level


Tamtalu Subdistrict, Bannangsta District in Yala Province, southern Thailand was the site of an abandoned tin mine, and was contaminated by lead and arsenic from the mine tailings. As children are a high risk group from these highly toxic contaminants, this study aimed to identify approaches to reduce children's exposure in the area. The study was conducted through participatory action research (PAR) to empower the community strengthen sustainable risk management. The participants were local public health officials, public health volunteers, parents of local children and local community leaders. The participants were engaged in activities relating to risk communication, training on exposure prevention, planning of risk management and implementation of the plan. The children's risks were communicated to the villagers during community meetings. Trainings on how to prevent As and Pb exposure were provided, and preventive strategies planned and implemented. After a six-month period of the intervention, levels of As and Pb in the hair of local children's decreased significantly (p< 0.01 and p< 0.05, respectively). The parents' knowledge of how to prevent children from As and Pb exposure increased significantly (p<0.01). The results indicated that PAR can be used to mitigate problems of chronic environmental exposure and poisoning. In addition, the Ottawa Chatter concept can be applied for long-term management. Economic status and effective risk reduction programmes are key determinants for successful implementation of local community-based risk management plans.


ROENTGENOLOGIC consideration of it the spine has established the presence of a large group of congenital anomalies and defects. Added to these normal differences there is the influence of disease, including the various hypertrophic changes resulting from age, posture, and occupation. Structural changes may also give rise to a confusing picture, which may be difficult to differentiate from fracture. These anatomic variations are often complicated in the same spine by traumatic and non-traumatic lesions, or accompanied by the presence of pathologic conditions which may be attributed to trauma or other causes. Experience has shown that this complexity of conditions gives rise to a vertebra that is not entirely constant in appearance. Congenital anomalies are rare in the cervical and dorsal regions but extremely common in the lumbar and lumbosacral segments. In 1931, the writer reviewed 1,122 consecutive genito-urinary examinations and found 38.7 per cent of anatomic variations in the lumbar and lumbo-sacral ...


In this paper,the characteristics and advantages of MSTP technology are briefly introduced firstly based on the requirements of electric power communication.The existing problems on operation and maintenance situation of SDH optical fiber transmission network of electric power in Yangjiang area are assessed.The necessity of network optimization is also analyzed.According to the present status of local network and the 12th Five-Year Plan,the corresponding optimized principle and implementing schemes are proposed in three aspects: network structure,service access and protective method.This scheme is reasonable in design,and has a certain reference value to the existing SDH network optimization.


In the design of larger and larger CO/sub 2/ laser amplifiers, the problem of attaining the ideal uniform discharge in these large discharge volumes becomes increasingly difficult and expensive to solve. The practical solution is a compromise between uniformity and other design considerations. In order to judge the adequacy of each compromise, a method of predicting the distribution of current density and electric field throughout the discharge volume is needed. When these electrical distributions are known, population inversions can be calculated and the amplifier performance evaluated. This report describes a method of calculating the three-dimensional distributions of electric field and current density for externally sustained discharges. Two-dimensional calculations have been reported previously.


In this paper, the effectiveness of a newly proposed optimized cascade control technique, utilizing fuzzy control applied to a furnace temperature model is presented. PID controllers are widely used in the process industry due to its simplicity and robustness. To improve the control scheme, cascade control is the apparent choice due to its wide application in critical applications of the industry, such as heater temperature control, compressor capacity control, heat exchanger temperature control and fractionation columns controls. From the work done, it is observed that with changes to process transfer function, the proposed design has a better adaptation and performs better than the conventional cascade PID control. The proposed design utilizes Fuzzy Logic to continuously tune each term of the PID controller. The performance of the proposed design is evaluated with respect to the conventional cascade PID controller. To evaluate the performance of each controller, the system's stability and performance parameters such as rise time, overshoot, undershoot and settling time were determined. The entire system design is modelled using MATLAB/ SIMULINK, with the simulation results showing that the proposed fuzzy logic cascade controller has better robustness and dynamic performance than the conventional controller.


One of the most well-known laws of software evolution suggests that code quality deteriorates over time. Following this law, recent empirical studies have brought evidence that Technical Debt (TD) Principal tends to increase (in absolute value) as the system grows, since more technical debt issues are added than resolved over time. To shed light into how technical debt accumulation occurs in practice, in this paper we explore specific maintenance activities (i.e., feature addition, bug fixing, and refactoring) and explore the balance between the technical debt that they introduce or resolve. To achieve this goal, we rely on studying Pull Requests (PR), which are the most established way to contribute code to an open-source project. A Pull Request is usually comprised by more than one commits, corresponding to a specific development / maintenance activity. In our study, we categorized Pull Requests, based on their labels, to find the effect that the different maintenance activities have on the accumulation of technical debt across evolution. In particular, we have analysed more than 13.5K pull requests (mined from 10 OSS projects), by calculating the TD Principal (calculated through SonarQube) before and after the Pull Requests. The results of the study suggested that several labels are used for tagging Pull Requests, out of which the most prevalent ones are new features, bug fixing, and refactoring. The effect of these activities on TD Principal accumulation is statistically different, and: (a) the addition of features tends to increase TD Principal; (b) refactoring is having an almost consistent positive effect (reducing TD Principal); and (c) bug fixing activity has undecisive impact on TD Principal. These results are compared to existing studies, interpreted, and various useful implications for researchers and practitioners have been drawn.


This article reports a study addressing how teachers influence pupils' standardized mark for French classes in a primary and secondary school in Switzerland. The sample consists of grades 7 and 8 with pupils from 10 to 12 years old. Seven classrooms with a total of 132 pupils have been randomly selected. Each classroom has its own teacher. A multilevel analysis shows that 17% of the response variance is explained by teacher effect. In other words, about 17 points out of 100 are due to teacher effect in these French classes.


Interculturality refers to the depth of the root which is theculture, this is how it must have a more critical and openapproach to not only present it as practices of traditionalhistorical entities, if not revive it as a relationship betweenpeople with live cultures, which may contribute to thedevelopment of contemporary society. This academic work contributes with a proposal of teachingstrategies on interculturalism, being the tool help to deepenthis knowledge, allowing you to contribute to the integralformation of adolescent offenders of the city of Ibarra.


Since the beginning of the 20th century, fruits and vegetables have historically been promoted as an important part of the human diet. The plethora of epidemiological and intervention studies has shown, since then, positive associations between fruit and vegetable intake and improved health outcomes and/or prevention of certain chronic diseases. In this regard, dietary fiber has traditionally been viewed as having beneficial effects due to inherent physical properties of solution viscosity and insoluble particles coupled with fermentation by colonic bacteria. However, it is now clear that they exert an important function as a carrier for phytonutrients, which is particularly important for fruits and vegetables, which often have high contents of bioactive phytonutrients such as polyphenols. Remarkably, production and processing of fruit and vegetables for human consumption results in a large amount of food waste due to their high-water contents, fast respiration rate, high sensitivity to environmental factors, and/or presence of inedible parts. Although the utilization of fruit and vegetable waste as animal feed is limited due to their low content of digestible energy, their rich palette of dietary fibers and polyphenols could make it a rich source of health-promoting dietary compounds. As an example, interest in the ability of dietary fibers and (poly)phenolic compounds to influence carbohydrate metabolism and colonic health could make problematical fruit and vegetable biomass a game-changer source of dietary supplements. This presentation will cover recent progress on the nature of interactions between polyphenols and the plant cell wall, how this affects polyphenol bioaccessibility and bioavailability during digestion, and how processing can result in dietary supplements with tailored structure and solubility of their dietary fibers and chemical stability and bioaccesibility of their (poly)phenolic compounds.


Aiming at error of fitted value causing by the identification parameter and initial value of Verhulst model, first, Total Least Squares (TLS) is used to improve the identification parameters which cause the error of fitted value. Secondly, improved Verhulst model is built up via identification parameters by TLS and boundary value correction by GA under minimizing the sum of the squared error. Numerical example results in ex post testing stage: relative percentage errors (RE) of Verhulst model are 10.76%, 9.43%, and 6.31%, respectively. And, relative percentage errors (RE) of improved Verhulst model are 1.41%, -0.27%,and -3.99%, respectively. The results of example show that the fitting accuracy and forecasting accuracy of improved Verhulst model are better than the traditional Verhulst model.


In Malaysia, the growth of economic is connected to the fossil energy resources which are continued to effect by the growing of energy demand. Hydrogen is an alternative for energy and electricity generation, especially for transportation application and can significantly reduce the carbon monoxide (CO) emission and air pollution. The research on renewable energy especially from biomass such as oil palm empty fruit bunch (OPEFB) can contributes to reduce the concern over the energy insecurity and will help Malaysia in creating a sustainable energy supply. Research on the hydrogen production process by using OPEFB was reported in several papers. However, the review criteria and the best technology for hydrogen production process application are still missing. This paper attempts to develop hydrogen technology database from various types of hydrogen production process of OPEFB. It can be used to determine the most feasible and promising route to be applied. This study is also significant in helping the industry to see the differences of various design alternatives and make process design decisions on them.


Aston University Library and Information Services has followed an "access" strategy since 1985‐86, adopting the model of a specialized industrial information service. Its style of provision is characterized by services tailored to customer needs, innovation through IT and devolved financial management. Information resource provision has moved significantly from print to electronic sources, featuring distributed self‐service access via a campuswide network and promotion of information management skills among the whole community. Service level agreements for "standard" and "tailored" services are being developed with academic departments in the context of a trading company model. The role of information specialists has shifted from intermediary to adviser and facilitator, and now involves acting as local operations manager for a range of electronic products and services. Critical success factors include strategic and operational plans and priorities, staff of the right calibre, a supportive organization cul...


A thesis defended by many supporters of mental imagery, as we have touched on in, is that imagery is an activity closely related to visual perception. There are functional and structural similarities between perception and imagery suggesting that the two faculties share resources and cognitive processes. This would explain why the experience elaborating something in visual imagery is similar to seeing something which is outside on mind. We have to consider experiments showing a close similarity between imagery and perception are controversial, since the same finding can sometimes be explained by two opposing viewpoints. It is a controversial question whether, despite the surface resemblances, imagery is a sui generis phenomenon, conceptually quite distinct from true perceptual experience, or whether imagery and perception differ only in level rather than in kind. Some scholars, such as Hume (1740), hold that percepts (impressions in his terminology) and images (ideas) do not differ in kind, but only in their causal history and their degree of " vivacity " or vividness. This view has frequently been criticized, Thomas, 1997), is that imagery lies at one end of a spectrum starting from veridical, highly stimulus-driven and stimulus-constrained perception, to " pure " imagery (where the content of the experience is generated entirely by the subject and is quite independent of any current stimulus input). Several varieties of imaginative perceptual experiences may be taken to fill in the continuum between these extremes:


The algorithm of control signal modulation (transmission frame) and demodulation algorithm are elaborated in the article. The structure of receiving device is given. The article provides the results of mathematical and simulation modeling, which showed the advantages of the method elaborated over the well-known methods as the decreasing for several orders of the probability of wrong receiving.


A method for bounding limit loads by an iterative elastic continuum finite element analysis procedure, referred to as the elastic compensation method, is proposed. A number of sample problems are considered, based on both exact solutions and finite element analysis, and it is concluded that the method may be used to obtain limit-load bounds for pressure vessel design by analysis applications with useful accuracy.


We introduce Sky, an extension to the VMM that gathers insights and information by intercepting system calls made by guest applications. We show how Sky gains three specific insights -- guest file-size information, metadata-data distinction, and file-content hints -- and uses said information to enhance virtualized-storage performance. By caching small files and metadata with higher priority, Sky reduces the runtime by 2.3 to 8.8 times for certain workloads. Sky also achieves 4.5 to 18.7 times reduction in the runtime of an open-source block-layer deduplication system by exploiting hints about file contents. Sky works underneath both Linux and FreeBSD guests, as well as under a range of file systems, thus enabling portable and general VMM-level optimization underneath a wide range of storage stacks.


The article talks about the problems of increasing the efficiency of teaching students the technique of volleyball in the process of physical education. The severity of this problem is even more intensified if we take into account that volleyball is distinguished by a wide variety of techniques, and the time allocated for its study in the process of physical education at a university is limited.


"' Bound Sugar " of the blood and protein-carbohydrate complexes. Contributions of the French and Italian Schools. Dis a fhantages of the method of acid hydrolysis. Isolation of a carbohydrate complex from purified serum proteins. The colorimetric determination of protein sugar. Carbohydrate content of serum protein subfractions. Physiological and immunological importance of the " bound sugar '' of the blood.


Background:Surgical scalpels are traditionally used to make skin incisions. Diathermy incisions on contrary are less popular among the surgeons. The aim of this meta-analysis was to compare the effectiveness of both techniques and address the common fallacies about diathermy incisions. Methods:A literature search of MEDLINE and Cochrane databases was done, using the keywords diathermy, cold scalpel, and incisions. Eleven clinical trials comparing both methods of making skin incisions were selected for meta-analysis. The end points compared included postoperative wound infection, pain in first 24 hours after surgery, time taken to complete the incisions, and incision-related blood loss. Results:Postoperative wound infection rate was comparable in both techniques (P = 0.147, odds ratio = 1.257 and 95% CI = 0.923–1.711). Postoperative pain was significantly less with diathermy incisions in first 24 hours (P = 0.031, weighted mean difference = 0.852 and 95% CI = 0.076–1.628). Similarly, the time taken to complete the incision and incision-related blood loss was significantly less with diathermy incisions (95% CI = 0.245–0.502 and 0.548–1.020, respectively). Conclusion:Diathermy incisions are equally prone to get wound infection, as do the incisions made with scalpel. Furthermore, lower incidence of early postoperative pain, swiftness of the technique, and a reduced blood loss are the encouraging facts supporting routine use of diathermy for abdominal skin incisions after taking careful precautions.


Although the tail vessels are frequently used for serial blood sampling in rat, the definition of its vasculature remains in dispute. Herein, we investigated the number of blood vessels in Sprague-Dawley rat tail using angiographic and histological methods. Our results showed rat tail has one dorsal vein, two lateral veins, one ventral artery and one ventral vein. In the conclusion, when deciding which site is best for collecting blood, it is critical to consider the structure and features of the blood vessels to be used. This study will also be helpful for investigators to understand the structure of blood vessels in rat tail.


This text gives a overview of the paths of "capitalist normality" in the  Brazilian experience and taking as its object the formal settings of the relation between filmmaker and popular life and the fictional dimension implicit in film documentaires,  comes to "Estou me guardando pra quando o Carnaval chegar" (Marcelo Gomes, 2019).


Anyone coming across the fourteenth-century church of St Cornelius in Lyndewode, now Linwood, a short distance from the Lincolnshire town of Market Rasen, is struck by its stark isolation—it virtually stands alone in fields. Anyone entering the church will most likely be struck by two interesting objects which have some bearing on this lecture. The first, at the west end of the north aisle, are two fine excellently preserved brasses, both of wool men. They had clearly prospered in the economic development of Lincolnshire in the later middle ages. One of these brasses is of John Lyndwood, who died in 1419, with his wife, four sons and three daughters under smaller canopies. The other represents another John Lyndwood, the son of the former, who died in 1421.


A chelating resin (YPA4) was used for the adsorption of metal ions, and their adsorption properties were studied. The effects of acid media, acidity, and equilibrium time on adsorption behavior of the analytes were examined. It was found that the YPA 4 resin showed different adsorption properties in HNO 3 vs. HCl media. In 3.5 mol L - 1 HNO 3 , the noble metal ions (Ag(I), Au(III), Ru(III), Rh(III), Pd(II), Pt(IV), and Bi(III) could be quantitatively adsorbed by YPA4 with the adsorption capacities ranging from 23.7 mg g - 1 Bi(III) to 95.2 mg g - 1 Au(III). In 3.2 mol L - 1 HCl, Au(III), Ru(III), Rh(III), Pd(II), Pt(IV), Cu(II), Sn(II), and Bi(III) retained on theYPA4 resin, and their adsorption capacities were in the range of 1.25 mg g - 1 Cu(II) to 96.5 mg g - 1 Au(III). The proposed method was successfully applied to the ICP-OES determination of Pt, Pd, Ru, Rh, and Au in geological standard reference materials.


Conclusion I have asked questions to which I have no answers. The factors influencing them are rarely clinical but depend much more on the attitude of society to the care of disabled people and to social, legal, emotional, political, cultural, religious, and economic forces. Irrespective of whether it is legal to withhold food from patients in the persistent vegetative state, these problems will continue to face physicians responsible for the long term care of such severely disabled people. Patients and their families may now have to be reassured that the withholding of food will not be automatic. Before such actions are considered it is essential that a full rehabilitation programme should be offered to patients in the early stages of the persistent vegetative state to give them the optimal chance of recovery. And we should be absolutely certain that our diagnosis is correct.


The mathematical models of the dynamic features automatic electrohydraulic drive with threedimensional volume adjustment of the machine-building equipment are offered. The structured schemes of the mathematical models for equipment with hydraulic drive rotary action as object of the autocontrol are presented.


The maize serine/threonine receptor-like kinase CRINKLY4 (CR4) functions in a variety of developmental processes in plant and endosperm. To study cellular events regulated by the CR4 signal transduction pathway, genes that are differentially expressed between wild type and cr4 mutant were isolated and analyzed. Suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) was used to identify differentially expressed genes between wild type and cr4 mutant. 48 clones were isolated from SSH screening as candidate differentially expressed genes. In northern blot analysis, 11 clones showed differential expression with 2 corresponding to CR4 upregulated genes and 9 corresponding to CR4 down-regulated genes. Homology search of these clones was performed and results discussed. cDNA microarrays were also used to identify differentially expressed genes between wild type and cr4 mutant, wild type and crinkly dwarf (crc~ mutant, and wild type and defective kernel 1 (dekl) mutant. Based on the similar phenotypes shared by these 3 mutants, we hypothesized they might regulate similar sets of genes. 48, 33 and 313 genes were found differentially expressed between wild type and cr4 mutant, wild type and crd mutant, and wild type and dekl mutant, respectively. 6 genes overlapped among lists of differentially expressed genes based on gene ID search. Functions of these differentially expressed genes were compared and discussed. To study how the differentially expressed genes function in CR4 signal transduction pathway, a glucocorticoid mediated inducible system was used to control CR4 expression in vivo. The glucocorticoid analog dexamethasone (DEX) was used as the chemical inducer. Transgenic maize plants were generated in a previous study. Southern blot analysis showed that herbicide resistance was genetically linked to the inducible CR4 transgene in one line. Northern blot analysis verified transgene silencing in one line and inducible CR4 expression in another line. However after treating 30 μM DEX to mature leaves, immature leaves and shoot apical meristems of cr4 mutant plants, rescue of mutant phenotype was not observed. Therefore we could not verify that the induced CR4 expression was functioning as expected, and this was not pursued further.


The author designs a multi-effect distillation system heated directly by solar energy in this paper. This system combines direct solar heating system and multi-effect distillation system together to desalinate brackish water. The author has made some analogy calculations on the water production rate and the heat analysis of evaporators about this system. The result indicates that the water production rate per day can reach 40 kg, while the effl uent temperature of the direct solar heating system reaches 60℃. When the number of multieffect is 4, the cost of fresh water is 5-7RMB. So it is feasible to use the multi-effect distillation system heated directly by solar energy in areas where the solar energy is abundant but the fresh water is lacking.


This revised Cambridge Ph.D. thesis, written under the supervision of Michael Reeve, is primarily a study of manuscripts O (Leiden, Voss. Lat. F. 30) and Q (Leiden, Voss. Lat. Q 94), on which our knowledge of the text of Lucretius depends. It is precise, meticulous and will form the basis of any future editorial work on the text, including the Oxford Classical Text of Lucretius which B. is preparing. From B.'s study there emerges a concrete list of recommendations on how a critical apparatus should be constructed, notably which corrections in the manuscripts it ought to report. B. provides definitive refutations of a number of troubling minority views regarding aspects of the transmission and provides clarification and articulation for numerous majority views (cf. the earlier summary account of the transmission by L.D. Reynolds in Texts and Transmission. A Survey of the Latin Classics (1983), pp. 218–22). As a demonstration of how the close study of a couple of manuscripts can enable scholars to reach back deeply into centuries of the history of a text, this book is a model of its kind. It does in no way diminish B.'s achievement that his findings are consistent with M. Deufert's observation that improvement of the text of Lucretius will come from careful examinatio (M. Deufert, 'Zu den gegenwärtigen Aufgaben der Lukrezkritik', Hermes 138 [2010], 48–69, at 49). The first chapter gives an overview of the extant manuscripts. B. proposes (p. 10) to use the siglum 'S' for the so-called Schedae Gottorpienses, Schedae Vindobonenses priores, and Schedae Vindobonenses posteriores, since it is sufficiently likely that these are fragments of the same manuscript (which descends from the same hyparchetype ψ as Q). There follows an account of editorial progress since the nineteenth century and a scholarly doxography on the Italian tradition of Lucretius. Anticipating the findings of his Chapter 4, B. confirms that all the Italian manuscripts ultimately go back to O via a descendant of O which he dubs χ, but the picture is complicated by the fact that humanist readers occasionally, in a desire to improve the text, compared χ directly or O after it had been corrected further, i.e. after it served as the exemplar for χ. The second chapter deals with the indirect tradition of Lucretius, strictly with a view to assistance it might provide to the constitution of the text. No author before Seneca the Elder quotes Lucretius, although there are of course allusions to his poem in a number of earlier authors. Lactantius probably read a text which diverged from that of the extant manuscripts early (p. 59). Nonius Marcellus preserves the correct reading against the direct tradition in two places (p. 67), 1.306 and 6.1195. Macrobius had access to a less corrupt text than Nonius (p. 69), but is likely to have drawn on works of Virgilian scholarship, so that no general view on his text of Lucretius can be taken. Isidore's use of Lucretius had not received much attention, and he quotes lines of Lucretius which nobody else quotes. Further, there is no reason to think that he ever left Spain. So his evidence is likely to be original and tells us something about the circulation of Lucretius in Late Antiquity. Overall the indirect tradition can provide help or at least worthwhile material for the apparatus in only a few places (p. 101). The section concludes with a discussion of the so-called fragments of Lucretius, lines ascribed to him in various sources but absent from the direct tradition. Only three of the sixteen fragments are judged by B. to be conceivably genuine, and none confidently so (p. 135); finding possible locations for them in the transmitted text is difficult. THE CLASSICAL REVIEW 112


This paper aims to reveal the power of emotional intelligence in buffering employees' negative reactions to perceived organisational injustice manifested in counterproductive work behaviours. To test the proposed relationships, a sample of 345 employees working in hospitality private sector in Cairo-Egypt was approached. Tests of between-subjects Effects and Z-score were used to test the moderating effect of emotional intelligence. The results supported the moderating effect of emotional intelligence for counterproductive work behaviours in general and to counterproductive work behaviours directed to people specifically. As expected, high emotional intelligence people are less involved in to counterproductive work behaviours even with perceived injustice. Interestingly, individuals with moderate level of emotional intelligence were found to be more involved in CWB than people with low EI when they perceive injustice. These results could have several empirical and theoretical implications.


Power grid environment of distributed grid-connected photovoltaic power generation system is complicated,so it is difficult to guarantee the stable operation of grid-connected inverter under all kinds of power grid environment when the control parameters of proportional integral(PI) controller are fixed.This paper proposes an adaptive control strategy that modulation voltage is utility voltage feed-forward plus a linear combination of current given and current feedback on the basis of the traditional control strategy,its coefficients of current given and current feedback can be adjusted according to the changing grid environment.Use of Lyapunov stability theory proves that the stability of the new control strategy,with Matlab simulation and practical experiment further prove that the ideal effect of control strategy.


It was found that the decoloration reaction of PAN with hydrogen peroxide was inhibited by hexavalent chromium in an acetate buffer medium of pH 4.5. Nonionic surfactant OP was added as solubilizing agent to render the solution in a homogeneous state. The extent of the inhibitory effect was proportional to the concentration of chromium(Ⅵ) ion, and linearity was kept in the range of 0.015~0.08mg of Cr(Ⅵ) per liter of solution. Based on these phenomenon an inhibitory kinetic photometric method for the determination of trace amounts of chromium(Ⅵ) was established. The photometric measurements were made at 520nm, which happened to be the absorption maxima of PAN in the buffer medium. The detection limit was found to be 5.24×10 -9g·ml -1. The proposed method has been applied to water analysis.


This paper introduces a progcess of a virtual digital oscilloscope which is based on G language of LabVIEW and sound card instead of professional data acquisition card.This article focuses on the disome function modules of the oscilloscope,such as data acquisition,trigger control,time base and amplitude control,the measurement of the phase,frequency and peak to peak,measurement waveform save and playback function modules.


This study was aimed to explore the relationship among kindergarten teachers' teaching beliefs, achievement motivation, and teaching effectiveness. The current situations of kindergarten teachers' teaching beliefs, achievement motivation, and teaching effectiveness were first investigated. Later, differences among teachers with different background variables were analyzed. Finally, the predicting power of teachers' teaching beliefs and achievement motivation for their teaching effectiveness was also measured. In addition to a review of theories and literature associated with teachers' teaching beliefs, achievement motivation, and teaching effectiveness, a questionnaire survey and interviews were conducted to collect research data from teachers of registered public or private kindergartens in Taichung City, Taichung County, Changhua County, and Nantou County. The self-developed "Survey on kindergarten teachers' teaching beliefs, achievement motivation, and teaching effectiveness" was used. Based on cluster sampling, a total of 634 questionnaires were distributed, and 418 valid copies were obtained (valid response rate=64.5%). The collected data were statistically analyzed using mean, standard deviation, factor analysis, test of reliability, one-way ANOVA, and multiple regression. In the aspect of interview, 10 kindergarten teachers were selected and interviewed on the phone. Seven conclusions were derived from the research findings: 1. Kindergarten teachers hold slightly different beliefs for different perspectives. 2. Most kindergarten teachers have active achievement motivations. 3. Kindergarten teachers are actively engaged in teaching. 4. Kindergarten teachers' teaching beliefs are influenced by teaching environment and teacher's personal traits. 5. Kindergarten teachers' teaching effectiveness is influenced by teaching environment and teacher's personal traits. 6. Teaching beliefs can be used to predict 20-30% of teaching effectiveness, especially in the aspect of performance. 7. Achievement motivation can be used to predict more than 30% of teaching effectiveness, especially in the aspect of proficiency. Finally, based on the research results, suggestions were proposed for the authorities concerned, kindergarten directors, kindergarten teachers, and future researchers, respectively, in hope of making some contribution to the future development of young children's education.


This paper describes a new class of attacks specific to cognitive radio networks. Wireless devices that can learn from their environment can also be taught things by malicious elements of their environment. By putting artificial intelligence in charge of wireless network devices, we are allowing unanticipated, emergent behavior, fitting a perhaps distorted or manipulated level of optimality. The state space for a cognitive radio is made up of a variety of learned beliefs and current sensor inputs. By manipulating radio sensor inputs, an adversary can affect the beliefs of a radio, and consequently its behavior. In this paper we focus primarily on PHY-layer issues, describing several classes of attacks and giving specific examples for dynamic spectrum access and adaptive radio scenarios. These attacks demonstrate the capabilities of an attacker who can manipulate the spectral environment when a radio is learning. The most powerful of which is a self-propagating AI virus that could interactively teach radios to become malicious. We then describe some approaches for mitigating the effectiveness of these attacks by instilling some level of "common sense" into radio systems, and requiring learned beliefs to expire and be relearned. Lastly we provide a road-map for extending these ideas to higher layers in the network stack.


In a recent paper, the Australian historian, Martyn Lyons (2013), reviews his attempts to study 'history from below', using what can be called grassroots writing by French and Italian soldiers of the Great War. Lyons remarks that the 'First World War produced a flood of letter-writing by peasants whose literary capacity has often been underestimated' (Lyons 2013: 5). In France, no less than 10,000 million postal items were dispatched during the war, huge numbers of those being letters and cards written by soldiers from the frontlines to their loved ones.


For the purpose of proper utilization of aero geophysical survey method in the Tibetan Plateau,which is characterized by high altitude,large scale and low flying height,the authors selected a suitable type of helicopter,and carried out some tentative ground and air researches on the selected helicopter's magnetic interferences form,frequency,amplitude,attenuation regularity and,on such a basis,designed a long firm anti-vibration survey system suitable for AS350-B3 helicopter.The experimental results indicate that magnetic interference in a geophysical aircraft environment comes from several sources,which include 700 nT /96 s pulse and 300 nT/s square wave magnetic interference as well as 20 nT/s from rate of change of movement of conductive surfaces with rotary wing.Through low flying height and high quality data survey in central and south Qilian of Qinghai Province,the authors prove that AS350-B3 helicopter and a long firm anti-vibration survey system can be used for a large scale,low flying height aero geophysical survey in the Tibetan Plateau.