Results of the investigations on an RF pulsed excited CO2 laser plasma are given in the paper. A slab-waveguide configuration of the laser is used. An unstable positive branch resonator structure is applied to ensure a single-mode operation of the laser. The configuration of the laser system guaranties a spectral purity of the laser output radiation, and makes the investigations clear. As known, a pulse excitation introduces dramatic perturbations of the laser plasma pressure, and temperature. The density of the laser gas mixture, or in other words, the refractive index is changed during the input pulse developing, as a consequence. The laser radiation frequency is changed in time of the laser pulse duration. Sometimes it is a parasitic effect, when a single-frequency laser operation is required. The aim of the work is to give a clear picture of the laser plasma behavior caused by a pulse excitation of the laser medium. The results obtained gives a possibility to elaborate the method of a laser frequency control in a pulsed regime.


This paper presents a new approach of breath sound analysis by recording exhalation and inhalation sounds with microphone placed in a pipe. The aim of this study is to understand the differences in inspiration and expiration signals of male and female subjects, differences in breath signals of healthy non-smokers and smoker subjects, differences in the breath signals of healthy and well controlled asthma patients. These differences were studied by comparing different signal parameters like Peak Frequency, significant frequency range, Power and the frequency at which maximum power occurs, Power Spectral Density and the frequency at which Maximum Power Spectral Density occurs. Exhalation and Inhalation sounds generated from mouth in a pipe arrangement were evaluated for testing and recorded for 45 subjects. Online microphone sound recording with developed experimental set up and computer based data analysis has been carried out according to physical parameters, the body mass index i.e. height and weight, gender, diseases and smoking habits. Frequency analysis carried out using Fast Fourier Transformation helps in extracting peak frequency and significant frequency range of the recorded sound signal. Significant difference in maximum Power Spectral Density (PSD) has been found in healthy men and women. This study discusses the possibility of modern lung examination through breath sound analysis which involves the study of exhaled air sound signal available from mouth in a pipe arrangement.


The oscillations and tensions between public health and individual compassion animate Priscilla Wald's Contagious: Cultures, carriers, and the outbreak narrative, a problematic but insightful narrative history of the American public health movement and its discursive systems that, as she amply demonstrates, attempt to transmute the suffering and ill-health of others into a detective plot. While these detective stories 'derive their authority from their predictability and, in turn, establish the scientific validity of the approach they describe', the strategies of disease containment and management transform, mutating from a concern for sick individuals into a mania for the maintenance of healthy populations (p. 25). Wald's book provides a larger history for a contemporary manifestation of Foucault's notion of 'biopower' and the related obsession with controlling the health of the population that underlies some conceptions of the modern nation-state.


To identify the pathogenic bacteria of kiwifruit bacterial canker,the infected kiwifruit branches and barks from Anhui(Yuexi County) Province,Shaan'xi(Huxian County) Province and Chongqing(Qianjiang County) Municipality were collected as the experiment materials.Plate streaking,gradient dilution and beef extract peptone agar(BPA) media cultivation were used for bacteria isolation,and tobacco hypersensitive responses detection,kiwifruit pathogenicity detection and 16S-23S rDNA-ITS sequential analysis were carried out as follows for bacteria identification.From the bacterial canker infected kiwifruit tissues,10 pathogenic strains were isolated,and all isolated strains have pathogenicity and hypersensitivity to tested kiwifruit and tobacco leaves.However,different isolated strains have different pathogenicity for kiwifruit.10 purified pathogenic strains belonged to the same pathogen through 16S-23S rDNA-ITS and Blast sequential analysis.The amplified 280 bp sequences were the same as the previously reported 16S-23S rDNA-ITS of Pseudomonas syringae pv.actinidae.It is concluded that the isolates from the canker infected kiwifruit branches and barks were Pseudomonas syringae pv.actinidae.


The biomedical module of the paper consists of a Photoplethysmographic (PPG) signal and an ECG sensor. Due to the change of the amplitude of the optical sensor, the PPG sensor can sense the signal components with less power supply noise and electromagnetic interference. First of all, we observe the signal through the digital signal processor (DSP), then calculate the heart rate, blood oxygen saturation (SPO2) and blood pressure. The ESP8266 Wi-Fi module sends signal messages to the backend for classification. In this paper, we use Support Vector Machine(SVM) to classify these three feature vectors. The classification results will show the data into healthy, unhealthy, very unhealthy, and explore the accuracy of classification prediction by using SVM. Finally, the physiological parameters of the test object and classification result uploaded to the cloud storage and webpage display in order to provide the basis for big data analysis in future research.


Abstract In a model with measurement error, optimal state-dependent enforcement of pollution control was shown by Harford (J. Environ. Econom. Management21, 67-81 (1991)) to reduce steady state expected annual social cost below the level attainable by a static enforcement approach. It is shown here that the expected present value of social cost can be reduced below the level attainable in a purely stationary model by choosing a value for the initial proportions of firms in the two groups that is different from the long-run equilibrium values. How this changes the optimal values of the monitoring probabilities and pollution standards for the two groups is addressed by considering small deviations from the purely steady-state optimum.


Solar cookware sets solar collector filled with a first conductive material and the heat storage; And a cooking range includes a solar heat storage filled with a 2, and a conductive material. The solar cooking range comprises a heat-insulating container chambers and cooking tops. Solar cooking range comprises a first and a second heat storage and the conductive material and the cooking chamber that is in thermal contact set to cook the food. Cookware also includes a removable portion for covering the cooking chamber group separately.


1. Prasad B, Nyenhuis SM, Imayama I, Siddiqi A, Teodorescu M. Asthma and obstructive sleep apnea overlap: what has the evidence taught us? Am J Respir Crit Care Med [online ahead of print] 16 Dec 2019; DOI: 10.1164/rccm.201810-1838TR. 2. Alkhalil M, Schulman E, Getsy J. Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and asthma: what are the links? J Clin Sleep Med 2009;5:71–78. 3. Bohadana AB, Hannhart B, Teculescu DB. Nocturnal worsening of asthma and sleep-disordered breathing. J Asthma 2002;39: 85–100. 4. Kasasbeh A, Kasasbeh E, Krishnaswamy G. Potential mechanisms connecting asthma, esophageal reflux, and obesity/sleep apnea complex: a hypothetical review. Sleep Med Rev 2007;11:47–58. 5. Prasad B, Nyenhuis SM, Weaver TE. Obstructive sleep apnea and asthma: associations and treatment implications. Sleep Med Rev 2014;18:165–171. 6. Carter P, Lagan J, Fortune C, Bhatt DL, Vestbo J, Niven R, et al. Association of cardiovascular disease with respiratory disease. J Am Coll Cardiol 2019;73:2166–2177. 7. Sun D, Wang T, Heianza Y, Lv J, Han L, Rabito F, et al. A history of asthma from childhood and left ventricular mass in asymptomatic young adults: the Bogalusa heart study. JACC Heart Fail 2017;5: 497–504. 8. Tattersall MC, Barnet JH, Korcarz CE, Hagen EW, Peppard PE, Stein JH. Late-onset asthma predicts cardiovascular disease events: the Wisconsin sleep cohort. J Am Heart Assoc 2016;5:e003448.


Abstract: Following a successful armed resistance against a dictatorial state regime, a new government of former rebels took control of the national state in Ethiopia in 1991. Prompted partly by unfolding sea changes in global politics in the early 1990s, the new Ethiopian government pledged to undertake radical governance reform. More than twenty years after the new government took office, contested assessments of its record vis-à-vis its human and minority rights pledge, among other issues, have generated waves of debate, criticism, controversy, and global protests. Based on observations from southern Ethiopia, this article takes an ethnographic look at both the process and the outcome of Ethiopia's experiment with ethnic self-government, with a special focus on understanding the value of minority rights as an ideological construct. Conceptually, the paper attempts to explain a disjuncture between the globally prescribed ideal of human/minority group rights and the realities of governance on the ground.


This paper uses the data of the Estonian innovation survey from 1998− 2000 to address the question about the role of different innovation sources and the factors underlying firms' choices of these innovation sources in the Estonian wood sector. Separate logit models are constructed for ten different innovation sources. The results are commented in the light of the information obtained by interviewing industry leaders in 2003. The article confirms supplier-dominated innovation in wood industries and also the lower absorptive capacities for external R&D information in Estonian wood sector companies compared to the Finnish wood sector. There is an advantage identified for larger firms and firms with foreign ownership in using several external innovation sources. Lack of funds is found to be a discouraging factor and collaborative activities an encouraging factor in the use of several external innovation sources. 1 This chapter has been prepared with financial support received from Estonian Ministry of Education and Research (Target Financing MJRI0107) and from the Ministry of Education and Research (Grant 6493).


Providing sensors with adequate energy in large-scale wireless sensor networks (WSNs) over long periods is a major bottleneck in their implementation. In this regard, energy harvesting (EH), i.e., capturing energy from ambient renewable energy sources, is a promising solution for low-power and low data-rate WSNs. The randomness in the energy available forces the redesign of WSN protocols. Our specific interest here is to enable the delivery of sensed data to a fusion center (FC) in a large-scale EH-WSN. We propose a novel, energy-aware, opportunistic routing protocol in a large-scale EH-WSN requiring multi-hop communication. In choosing the best forwarding partner, our scheme considers the energy available at sensor nodes, their distances from the FC and also the amount of data to be transmitted. Our protocol requires no prior knowledge of the network topology. We provide a mathematical analysis of our routing protocol to confirm the achieved numerical results. As our results show, the proposed protocol significantly increases data delivery as compared to the state-of-the-art technologies. We also introduce an EH-aware manner for distributing sensors in the environment such that all nodes have approximately equal transmission load independent of their locations, which significantly increases the data delivery ratio.


The adsorption of 1/3 monolayer of the group-III elements B, Al, Ga, and In on a Si-terminated $\mathrm{SiC}(111)\sqrt{3}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\sqrt{3}\mathrm{R}30\ifmmode^\circ\else\textdegree\fi{}$ surface is investigated in dependence on the surface preparation conditions using the density functional theory (DFT). The energetics, the bonding behavior and the resulting surface electronic structure are studied and chemical trends are derived. For the metal atoms Al, Ga, and In the replacement of a Si atom in a ${T}_{4}$ position always gives the most stable configuration. The first-row element B shows a completely different behavior. Under Si-rich conditions boron replaces a second-layer C atom in a ${S}_{5}$ position, whereas under C-rich conditions a first-layer Si atom is replaced by boron. The different adsorbate configurations result in completely different surface electronic structures. Al, Ga, and In adsorption passivates the surface. The fundamental gap is virtually free from empty or occupied surface states. The B adsorption in the ${S}_{5}$ configuration follows this behavior. However, boron substituting a Si-atom gives rise to an empty midgap surface band.


Duration & Cost Optimization for Transportation Problem (DCOTP) is to simultaneously optimize the duration and cost of transportation, on condition that each route has limited transportation capacity, and origin's supply, destination's demand as well as total transportation amount have lower and upper bounds. In this paper, DCOTP is formulated using two bi-level programming models, one model for minimizing cost subject to minimizing duration, the other for minimizing duration subject to minimizing cost, and transformed into Minimum Cost Flow (MCF) problem for solution by constructing network with lower & upper arc capacities. Based on MCF algorithm, two algorithms named MDMC-A and MCMD-A are proposed to solve DCOTP. MDMC-A and MCMD-A not only can judge whether DCOTP has a feasible solution or not, and can find its optimal solution while feasible solution exists, but also have good performance in the sense of being implemented on computer, computational time and required memory for computation. Numerical experiments demonstrate that MDMC-A and MCMD-A are efficient and robust methods to solve DCOTP.


Q. For admission to our graduate programs, we require "a bachelor's degree or equivalent from an accredited college or university " Our policy does not specifically say "regionally accredited," but that is the usual interpretation. The Ministry of National Education and Religion in Greece does not recognize any private institutions in Greece as universities. Thus they all seem to be the equivalent of "non-accredited." However, one private college in Greece is accredited However one private college in Greece is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges in the United States. Another is not accredited by any regional accrediting association in the United States, but it is accredited by the Accrediting Commission on Independent Colleges and Schools (ACICS), which is recognized by the US. Department of Education as an official accrediting agency. How should we deal with these types of institutions? Rely upon the status given to them by educational authorities in their country? Or pay attention to their US. accreditation? A. Accreditation by one of six regional accrediting associations is the process whereby an educational institution in the United States obtains the official recognition as a degree-granting institution that merits reciprocal acceptance of its courses and degrees by other educational institutions. The other types of accrediting organizations in the United States confer a similar status, but one that is not universally accepted in the United States. Each university and college in the United States is autonomous. Each can set its own policies concerning the types of educational institutions from which it will accept courses and degrees. Each can waive its own policies whenever that action is deemed appropriate. When most universities and colleges in the United States say "accredited," they are referring to regional accreditation. However, admission and transfer of credit policies are not always stated clearly, and they are not always applied uniformly. Some institutions accept courses and degrees only from a regionally accredited institution. Some waive that policy in limited cases. Some accept courses and degrees from institutions with other types of accreditation. Some accept courses and degrees from institutions that have no accreditation, especially if the other institutions are sponsored by the same religious tradition. The situation becomes more complex when the teaching institution is located outside of the United States. Most educators in the United States consider the foreign equivalent of regional accreditation in the United States to be official degree-granting recognition granted by the officials who have jurisdiction over tertiary (university-level) education in the country in which an institution operates. Some institutions are not officially recognized as degree-granting institutions in the country in which they operate but have been accredited by one of the regional accrediting associations in the United States, or by one of the other types of accrediting organizations in the United States. If a university in the United States accepts courses and degrees from another educational institution in the United States only if it has regional accreditation, it would logically not accept courses and degrees from these types of institutions, because they do not have the equivalent of regional accreditation from the educational authorities of the country in which they operate. Most universities and colleges in the United States however, do accept courses and degrees from an educational institution in another country that has been accredited by one of the six regional accrediting associations in the United States, even if the institution has not received official degree-granting recognition in the country in which it operates. While this might make some sense within the context of the U.S. educational system, accreditation by a U. …


Due the development of Internet connectivity and institutional frameworks, Ecuador is in a position to strengthen the Electronic Government. The objective of the investigation is to know the fulfillment of the criteria of orientation to the citizen in the websites of the Autonomous Decentralized Municipal Governments of Ecuador. The research hypotheses estimate high compliance with the variables of provision of information, consultation and active participation of citizens. The methodology is quantitative and qualitative. Between June and July 2017, 30 variables were measured in 221 municipal websites, in addition to the application of 51 semi-structured interviews to actors linked to local public management. It is concluded that the municipal websites of Ecuador do not provide quality information, generate few spaces for discussion, there is no consistent presence of attention to the demands of citizens and that these are consumers of data, but do not generate opinions. Despite having infrastructure and institutions there is no appropriation of the possibilities of Electronic Government. Neither are conditions conducive to strengthening citizen participation. Ecuador has a way to go to have effective, responsible and inclusive institutions that bring the Millennium Development Goals closer through the efficient use of information and communication technologies.


The growing number of homeless and stateless persons challenges ethics because territorialized concepts of law, status or nationality no longer meet the needs of these people. This paper analyzes Foucault's concept of heterotopia as a tool for a better understanding of this situation, for a reasoned ethical answer and first steps into another spatiality. Heterotopia is also understood as alternative to frameworks like human rights or territorialized concepts and implies some philosophical and even theological problems. Exploring Paul Tillich's concept of time and space it can be shown that there are connections between theological topology and Foucault's topography. Therefore heterotopian heuristics are considered a complementary method for analysis of ethical problems.


Author(s): Mesbah Oskui, Shirin | Advisor(s): Grover, William H. | Abstract: We demonstrate a simple and inexpensive sensor capable of weighing microgram- scale objects in fluid. When objects flow through a glass tube that is vibrating at its resonance frequency, the frequency changes by an amount that is inversely proportional to the object's buoyant mass. By measuring this frequency change, microgram objects can be weighed in fluid with nanogram-scale resolution. These sensors are easily fabricated, require no labels or tags, and are versatile, making them a valuable instrument for both in situ and laboratory measurements. They are fully automated and can measure any appropriately sized object in a wide range of biological, physical, and chemical applications. Using resonating glass tubes, we demonstrate the mass change detected in zebrafish (D. rerio) embryos as they are exposed to various toxicants, the water uptake and germination of dry seeds as they are put in water, and degradation rates in biomaterials in different fluid media.Aside from the experimental data from two separate resonator geometries, we also present simulations on other geometries that can be explored for these sensors. We explore the advantages and disadvantages in each geometry and potential sources of measurement error associated with the resonators. The simulations allow us to predict the resolution and the quality factor of the resonator before a prototype is developed.We took advantage of various rapid prototyping techniques, including 3D printing for developing these sensors. In this process, we discovered that 3D printed parts produce a toxic effect in zebrafish embryos. This observation led to a separate project, in which we assessed the toxicity of printed parts from two main classes of commercial 3D printers, fused deposition modeling and stereolithography. We used zebrafish embryos, a widely used model organism in aquatic toxicology and monitored them for rates of survival, hatching, and developmental abnormalities. We found that parts from both types of printers were measurably toxic, with STL-printed parts significantly more toxic than FDM-printed parts. We also developed a simple post-printing treatment (exposure to ultraviolet light) that largely mitigates the toxicity of the STL-printed parts. Our results call attention to the need for strategies for the safe use and disposal of 3D-printed parts and printer waste materials.


In this paper we report data on four juvenile individuals of T. trachypterus and one adult of Z. cristatus, from the Strait of Messina and southern Tyrrhenian Sea, respectively (Mediterranean Sea). Information on morphometric and meristic characters are provided together with some biological data such as prey and age estimation. Only stomachs of T. trachypterus contained prey: copepods, amphypods and pelagic snails. The analisys of growth patterns in vertebrae of Z. cristatus allowed to estimate an age of 4 years for this individual. We also combined our data together with information from bibliographic sources and estimated the relationships between total length and standard length, as well as total length and body mass, for these two species.


STRATEGIES As the World Wide Web explodes, people tend to forget that E-mail is one of the most lively and effective forms of communication on the Internet. Rhi zome E-mail lists establish networks of trust over time as subscribers exchange ideas and information. Trust helps fos ter community, and community pro vides a meaningful context for content by connecting it to people. The Rhizome Contentbase (h t tp : / / www.rhizome.org) combines notions of a magazine with those of a search en gine to provide interactive access to an edited wellspring of ideas. Rather than navigating through tedious hierarchical


In this paper new advances in the application of 'Theory of Plastic Mechanism Control' (TPMC) are presented. TPMC is aimed at the design of structures assuring a collapse mechanism of global type. The theory has been developed in the nineties with reference to moment‐resisting frames (MRFs) and progressively extended to all the main structural typologies commonly adopted as seismic‐resistant structural systems. In particular, the outcome of the theory is the sum of the plastic moments of the columns required, at each storey, to prevent undesired failure modes, i.e. partial mechanisms and soft‐storey mechanisms. The theory is used to provide the design conditions to be satisfied, in the form of a set of inequalities where the unknowns are constituted by the column plastic moments. This set of inequalities was originally solved by means of an algorithm requiring an iterative procedure. The advances presented in this paper are constituted by the identification of a 'closed form solution' and by the use of TPMC in a more systematic design approach. This result is very important, because the practical application of TPMC can now be carried out even with very simple hand calculations. The practical application of TPMC is herein presented with reference to the design of a multi‐storey frame whose pattern of yielding is validated by means of both push‐over analysis and incremental dynamic analyses. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


ONE OF THE most obvious effects of the use of 2,4-D on plants is the formation of grotesque leaves. Little information is available concerning the exteriial or internal characters of leaves that have been injured in this manner. Beal (1944) illustrated the external effects on trifoliolate leaves that had developed on bean plants after treatment with different concentrations of growth substances applied in combination with lanolin or carbowax. More recently, Burton (1947) has demonstrated the formative effects of certain substituted chlorophenoxy compounds on bean leaves. It was believed, however, from observations made in preliminary trials that variation in leaf modification likoe those obtained by Barton and Beal might be caused by using the same amount of the same chemical on plants of slightly different size at the time of treatment. For this reason a study of leaves of the bean plant, Phaseolus vulgaris, var Red Kidney, was made. The development of unusual leaves on the bean became visible only after the first week following treatment, when the young leaves that were in the bud at time of treatment expanded. Partially or fully expanded leaves that were outside the bud at time of treatment were not visibly altered. PRELIMINARY EXPERIMENT.-Twenty-four plants were grown from seed for 10 days. Groups of three closely similar plants were selected, each with terminal bud lengths respectively 5-7 mm., 8-10 mm., and 10-12 mm. The measurements were made from the base of the stipules at the base of the bud to the tip. At the later stages, when the first trifoliolate leaf had expanded more fully, the measurement was made from the base of the stipule at the base of the first trifoliolate leaf to the tip of the central leaflet of this leaf. When there was curvature in this leaf, the measurement was made in the same manner ignoring the curvature. Bud size, therefore refers to the length of the oldest leaf of the "bud." On the day following the first selection when the buds had increased in length, another group of three was selected with a terminal-bud length of from 15-17 mm. One day later a fifth group was selected in which the terminal leaflet of the lowest leaf had expanded to 35 mm. in length. Plants from each group were treated on the day of selection by injection from a hypodermic needle into the midrib


A combined method for the determination of myocardial perfusion in experimental animals using microspheres and CMR. SURANYI, P., KISS, P., SIMOR, T., ELGAVISH, A. and ELGAVISH, G. A. Journal of Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance, 2007, 9, 549–556. A facile route to poly(divinylbenzene) hollow microspheres with pyridyl group on the interior surface. LI, G. L., YANG, X. L. and BAI, F. Polymer, 2007, 48, 3074–3081. A formulation study for enteric microspheres of tenoxicam using cellulose acetate phthalate Part-I: DTA/TG analysis. SAHIN, N. O. and ARSLAN, H. Asian Journal of Chemistry, 2007, 19, 4889–4894. A novel hydrogel with high mechanical strength: A macromolecular microsphere composite hydrogel. HUANG, T., XU, H. G., JIAO, K. X., ZHU, L. P., BROWN, H. R. and WANG, H. L. Advanced Materials, 2007, 19, 1622. A self-templated approach to TiO2 microcapsules. HU, Y. X., GE, J. P., SUN, Y. G., ZHANG, T. R. and YIN, Y. D. Nano Letters, 2007, 7, 1832–1836. Aggregation kinetics of latex microspheres in alcohol-water media. ODRIOZOLA, G., SCHMITT, A., CALLEJAS-FERNANDEZ, J. and HIDALGO-ALVAREZ, R. Journal of Colloid and Interface Science, 2007, 310, 471–480. Bio-nanocapsules for in vivo pinpoint drug delivery. JUNG, J., KASUYA, T., TANIZAWA, K. and KURODA, S. Yakugaku Zasshi—Journal of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan, 2007, 127, 797–805. Catalyst nanocomposites templates of carbon nanoribbons, nanospheres and nanotubes. CARRENO, N. L. V., GARCIA, I. T. S., LEITE, E. R., LONGO, E., LUCENA, P. R., CARRENO, L. S. S. M., BARRETO, L. S. and SANTOS, R. C. F. A. Materials Letters, 2007, 61, 3341–3344. Characteristics of pH-sensitive hydrogel microsphere of poly(acrylamide-co-meth acrylic acid) with sharp pH-volume transition. NI, H. M., KAWAGUCHI, H. and ENDO, T. Colloid and Polymer Science, 2007, 285, 873–879. Characterization and activity of sonochemically-prepared BSA microspheres containing Taxol—An anticancer drug. GRINBERG, O., HAYUN, M., SREDNI, B. and GEDANKEN, A. Ultrasonics Sonochemistry, 2007, 14, 661–666. Characterization and application of magnetic P (St-co-MAA-co-AM)/SiO2 composite microspheres. LIU, Z. L., LIU, P. D., LIU, C. C., YAO, K. L., NING, Q., XI, D. and XU, H. P. Journal of Materials Science, 2007, 42, 5147–5151. Characterization of the behaviour of flavour microcapsules in cotton fabrics. MONLLOR, P., BONET, M. A. and CASES, F. European Polymer Journal, 2007, 43, 2481–2490. Chemically patterned microspheres for controlled nanoparticle assembly in the construction of SERS hot spots. BRAUN, G., PAVEL, I., MORRILL, A. R., SEFEROS, D. S.,


Fired clay pipes are widely used in many industries but consideration is limited here to underground conveying of sewage and stormwater, and drainage of ground water.


as quickly as possible. Particularly impressive are the chapters dealing with microbial morphology and cytology, which give a comparative approach to these topics, and also sections on metabolism (by Dr. D. H. Simonsen), and genetics (by Dr. R. A. Kroman), which should give the reader a very clear understanding of some extremely complex subject matter. Throughout the book, however, there is little or no reference to important differences between microbiological practice in the U.S.A. and the U.K. This criticism is not such a valid one for those textbooks


The urea is the final product of methabolism nof proteins when the urea bis produced this is deliveried into the cell tissue of the cow and the it apears in cow`s urine, spittle and milk.
The nitrogen of urea is considerated as a tool for making a good diet over milker cows.
The suggestion go on the way for reducing the environment and reproductions problems. There are many factors, like methabolies and minerals that they can affect the productions of milker cows it is known that the trace elements and the vitamins have certain influence over the productions and consume of energy. The intake of proteins you have to take in count in order for taking a good bovine production.
The present search is made in Cayambe, Mejia and Quito cities the goal of this is the interrelation of MUN( Milk urea Nitrogen) with bovine milk physics-chemistry composition in order for stablish the levels of methabolics of environment conditions.
The results show that the dairy`s proteins is the unie that could take a relation with MUN the milk was with major percentage of proteins had less MUN and less proteins had major MUN.


Although numerous papers have been written on the geologic and metallogenic features of the Andes, a satisfactory hypothesis in regard to distribution of mineralization has not been presented. Previous studies of sedimentary rocks, erosion, and structure have shown only that they had local influence. Geochemical studies of igneous rocks for 11 trace elements were plotted with respect to the distance of the rocks from the Peru-Chile trench. Analyses of the geochemical contents permitted the division of the Andean orogene into two main provinces. The western province is characterized by decreasing copper content and increasing nickel, cobalt, and nickel/cobalt ratio from west to east. The eastern province is defined by high contents of lithium, rubidium, lead, and zinc. Three structural divisions were noted. On the west, the Precambrian shield was weakly deformed during the Hercynian orogeny. The Hercynian belt on the east has a highly folded series of sandstones and shales. Between these two zones, the Altiplano is a highly mobile joint between the two mechanically different domains.


To improve the performance of computer systems, special number systems can be used, for example, the residue numeral system (RNS). Replacing integers with their values modulo several pairwise coprime integers (called the moduli) can significantly reduce the complexity of arithmetic operations. However, the different way of representing numbers makes it difficult to use RNS in practice. For example, integers represented in a positional numeral system need to be quickly converted to RNS and vice versa. In addition, the implementation of computing devices operating in the RNS must also take into account the peculiarities of representing numbers as residuals on coprime bases. In this article, we look at the various structures of computing devices in RNS. In particular, we present the arithmetic operations of addition modulo and give examples of adders.


Recently, the generalized sparse iterative covariance-based estimation algorithm was extended to allow for varying norm constraints in scanning radar applications. In this paper, further to this development, we introduce a wideband dictionary framework which can provide a computationally efficient estimation of sparse signals. The technique is formed by initially introducing a coarse grid dictionary constructed from integrating elements, spanning bands of the considered parameter space. After forming estimates of the initially activated bands, these are retained and refined, whereas nonactivated bands are discarded from the further optimization, resulting in a smaller and zoomed dictionary with a finer grid. Implementing this scheme allows for reliable sparse signal reconstruction, at a much lower computational cost as compared to directly forming a larger dictionary spanning the whole parameter space. Simulation and real data processing results demonstrate that the proposed wideband estimator offers significant computational savings, without noticeable loss of performance.


The transfer of LANDSAT remote sensing technology from the research sector to user operational applications requires demonstration of the utility and accuracy of LANDSAT data in solving real problems. This report describes such a demonstration project in the area of water resources, specifically the estimation of non-point source pollutant loads. Non-point source pollutants were estimated from land cover data from LANDSAT images. Classification accuracies for three small watersheds were above 95%. Land cover was converted to pollutant loads for a fourth watershed through the use of coefficients relating significant pollutants to land use and storm runoff volume. These data were input into a simulator model which simulated runoff from average rainfall. The result was the estimation of monthly expected pollutant loads for the 17 subbasins comprising the Magothy watershed.


This research focuses on analyzing the possibilities and limitations that are generated in the process of setting the current public sphere through civic participation of social groups in the Internet. To do this, an approach to the major theories of public opinion and social implications was made; as well as concepts that problematize the dynamics of participation and interaction of individuals and social groups within virtual networks. Emphasis was placed on the generation of new online relationships that exist between individuals who share the same views and interests on specific topics. For this, the virtual community known as 'Yo soy 65' was taken as case study, which sought, by spreading a social media informative campaign...


Abstract Cenomanian to Upper Campanian belemnite faunas of the Bastad Basin, Halland County, southern Sweden are described. The faunas include five species and one group: the Cenomanian Actinocamax ex gr. primus Arkhangelsky/plenus(Blainville) from a well excavation in Bastad; an assemblage from Grasryd consisting of A. verus Miller, Gonioteuthis sp., possibly G. westfalicagranulata (Stolley), and Belemnitella propinqua (Moberg), which is probably upper Middle Santonian; and B. mucronata (Schlotheim) and B. aff. B. langei Jeletzky from Malen, which are probably middle Upper Campanian. B. mucronata is recorded from Gropemollan, and the sediments here are probably middle Upper Campanian. Upper Campanian and Maastrichtian taxa of Belemnitella are discussed, and it is shown that many of these are poorly understood and that the species concept differs from one author to another. The localities are placed in the international stratigraphic framework on the basis of the belemnite faunas. The thickness of the Cre...


Preface and Acknowledgements Notes on the Contributors Introduction L.McKie & N.Watson PART I: THE EMBODIMENT OF POLITICS AND POLICY The Body of Social Policy: Social Policy and the Body G.Lewis, G.Hughes & E.Saraga Redefining the Local Citizen G.Daly & H.Cowen Secure Base? Disabling Design D.Marks Accommodating Bodies: The Organisation of Corporeal Dirt in the Embodied Home C.Gurney PART II: INSTITUTIONS CONSTRUCTING AND REPRESENTING BODIES Moving Bodies/Still Bodies: Embodiment and Agency in Schools T.Gordon, J.Holland & E.Lahelma Feared and Revered Bodies, Racialised and Gendered Bodies: Media Representations of Christopher Clunis and Jayne Zito S.Neal The Body's Double Skin: Forming the Protective Community of Grand Prix Motor Racing A.Twitchen Social Death as Self-fulfilling Prophecy: David Sudnow's Passing On S.Timmermans PART III: WORKING BODIES Making Bodies, Making People, Making Work L.Adkins & C.Lury 'When a Body Meets a Body...': Experiencing the Female Body at Work J.Brewis Equal Opportunities Strategies: Ways of Developing Feminist Embodiment as a Physical Reality in Bureaucracies? C.Bennett Energy and the Body: The Activist as Worker D.King Index


A new, convenient and high-yielding procedure for the one-pot synthesis of diethyl α-aminophosphonates from aldehydes, amines and diethyl phosphite (Kabacknik―Fields reaction) in SDS micellar solution in aqueous media is described. The synthesis of α-aminophosphonates in the present study represents a three-component reaction in which no intermediate formation of either an imine or α-hydroxyphosphonate was observed.


An autonomous mobile robot needs to always obtain a self-position while it moves towards a target position. Conventional methods based upon recognition of landmarks by using image processing have risk of misrecognition by disturbance. It is difficult that the robot obtain the self-position precisely by using external area sensors such as GPS (Global Positioning System), ultrasonic range sensor, and so on. In this paper, we propose an estimation algorithm which obtains the self-position by using a ground image. We developed an application program based on the proposed algorithm, and verified a feasibility of the proposed method.


The present study has been designed to analyse Fourier transform ‐ infrared (FT-IR) spectrum profile of the edible Punica granatum flowers. FT-IR spectrum was done to identify the functional groups of active components based on their peak values in the region of infrared radiation. The results of FT-IR analysis of the present study spectrum revealed the functional constituents such as alkanes, alkynes, amines, alcohol, alkenes, aldehyde and ketone, carboxylic acid, ketone were present in the crude powder of Punica granatum flowers. The results of our study generated the FT ‐ IR spectrum profile of edible flowers of Punica granatum . The flowers provide opportunities to develop as medicines, value added products and dietary supplements which possess potential health benefits. Fourier Transform-Infrared Spectroscopic Studies on Edible Punica


The evolution of three-dimensional, cellular convective flows in a plane horizontal layer of a Boussinesq fluid heated from below is well studied. Here we review results from the investigation of this system as well as a number of related and novel numerical findings. We present theoretical results for pattern formation in Rayleigh-B\'enard convection with solving NS equation under the Boussinesq approximation . System of equations were reduced to 2-dimension form to simplify the analysis.The evolution of the flow agree with the idea of the flow achieving an optimal form.


Biochar is a product of thermal degradation of organic materials in the absence of air (pyrolysis). Slowpyrolyzed and biowaste-derived biochars show excellent adsorption properties. Studies on biochars produced from pine nut shells, sawdust, and cow dung have been carried out in Mongolia determining the technical characteristics and applying for improvement of soil quality. However, a thorough characterization of biochars is still in lack. In this study, we produced 10 biochars from animal bones and dungs, and firewoods and compared their characterization properties. Physico-chemical parameters of biochars such as moisture, ash, volatile matters, fixed carbons, pH, redox potential (pE), electrical conductivity (EC), total dissolved solids (TDS), cation exchange capacity (CEC), and base saturation were determined and SEM-EDX, FTIR, XRD, main elements, and trace metals analysis were obtained. Methylene blue and iodine absorption tests were carried out in terms of surface porosity. All biochars showed high electrical conductivity and base saturation indicating that they were rich in cations. The highest values of pH, EC, TDS, and CEC were found in biochar produced from sheep dung. Among bone chars, biochar produced from sheep spine bone showed the highest CEC. High Ca content in bone biochars resulted from the nature of the raw material. Biochars hardly contained trace metals. XRD analysis showed that the firewood biochar had amorphous, whereas the bone biochars and dungs had crystal structures. Biochars produced from animal and forestry biowastes have shown great values of adsorbent characteristics, thus the application of such biochars can simultaneously reduce waste and be an environmentally friendly valuable product.


Can we identify individuals with a larger basic capacity than Cowan's proposed limit? Thompson et al. (1993) claimed that Rajan Mahadevan had a basic memory span of 13–15 items. Some of their supporting evidence is reconsidered and additional data are presented from study of another memory expert. More detailed analysis of performance in such cases may yield different conclusions.


ABSTRACT Lead white is widely used as a white pigment in the history of Persian painting. This paper focuses on three Persian treatises dated between the twelfth and the sixteenth century, which explained different manufacturing methods of lead white or sefidāb-i-sorb. Experimental reconstruction of each recipe to access the comprehensive meaning of the text and analytical studies with X-ray powder diffraction on products of recipes revealed white compounds other than the previously known products of hydrocerussite (Pb(OH)2 · PbCO3) and cerussite (PbCO3) in samples. Chlorine-containing raw materials mentioned in these recipes lead to the chemical products of laurionite (Pb(OH)Cl), blixite (Pb8O5(OH)2Cl4), and phosgenite (Pb2Cl2(CO)3) in the final products. These data lead to the hypothesis of the discrepancy of the lead white pigment between Iran and Europe and a marked probability of other compounds in historic Persian lead white samples.


My aim in this paper is to find an understanding of the concept of space which could be used in urban design, but which could also be shared by others with an interest in space. Social scientists, geographers, architects, urban planners, and designers use the term space in their academic and professional involvement with the city. But when they meet each other their discourse seems to be handicapped partly because of a difference in their usage and understanding of the concept of space. I will argue that to arrive at a common platform in which a meaningful communication can become possible, we need to confront such fragmentation by moving towards a more unified concept of space. I will argue for a concept of space which would refer to our objective, physical space with its social and psychological dimensions, a dynamic conception which accommodates at the same time constant change and embeddedness, and that can only be understood in monitoring the way space is being made and remade, at the intersection of the development processes and everyday life.


In the present contribution a generic algorithm is developed to simulate resin infusion in a wide range of popular composites manufacturing technologies, such as Liquid Resin Infusion (LRI) and Resin Transfer Molding (RTM). The ultimate goal is to model a complete manufacturing chain, allowing us to predict the final product properties of the composite material. The major challenges to be addressed by in this modelling vary between different processing steps. One of the most important one concerns the migration of the free surface due to resin infiltration into the highly deformable fibrous preform. Considering the LRI process, the modeling challenge is to predict the final shape of a highly deformable preform due to interaction between external loading and the intrinsic fluid pressure. Moreover, in the RTM process the constant compaction load due to rigid top part of the mold needs to be modeled. To resolve both these processes in one single framework, a compressible two-phase porous media formulation is put forward. The developed model involves a fluid compressibility and permeability dependence on the saturation degree. This is to account for the coupled response of partially saturated solid-fluid media, typical for the transition zone at the free surface
between full- and non-saturation. The approach automatically monitors the free surface, whereby the monitoring of the resin front migration using e.g. level
set or front tracking control is completely avoided. The proposed formulation of the manufacturing infusion has been implemented and used for both LRI and RTM simulations, and numerical results are provided for a hat stringer problem.
To complete the manufacturing process chain, the curing step is considered in the present contribution as a simple thermal shrinkage problem, whereby the fiber content obtained from the LRI or RTM–simulations is used for the evaluation of residual stresses and component distortion.


In guided wave pipeline inspection, echoes reflected from closely spaced reflectors generally overlap, meaning useful information is lost. To solve the overlapping problem, sparse deconvolution methods have been developed in the past decade. However, conventional sparse deconvolution methods have limitations in handling guided wave signals, because the input signal is directly used as the prototype of the convolution matrix, without considering the waveform change caused by the dispersion properties of the guided wave. In this paper, an adaptive sparse deconvolution (ASD) method is proposed to overcome these limitations. First, the Gaussian echo model is employed to adaptively estimate the column prototype of the convolution matrix instead of directly using the input signal as the prototype. Then, the convolution matrix is constructed upon the estimated results. Third, the split augmented Lagrangian shrinkage (SALSA) algorithm is introduced to solve the deconvolution problem with high computational efficiency. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, guided wave signals obtained from pipeline inspection are investigated numerically and experimentally. Compared to conventional sparse deconvolution methods, e.g. the l1-norm deconvolution method, the proposed method shows better performance in handling the echo overlap problem in the guided wave signal.


We have studied the effect of triiodothyronine (T3) administered in vivo on RNA synthesis in rat liver nuclei in vitro. Normal (N) rats were compared to hypothyroid (H) rats, and to hypothyroid rats given 15 μg T3/1OO g bw (T rats) for 0.5–24 h prior to sacrifice. Nuclei were prepared by centrifugation through 2.3M sucrose. DNA dependent-RNA polymerase I activity, total DNA-dependent RNA polymerase, and α-amanitin-sensitive polymerase were separately assayed by measuring incorporation of [125I]iodo-CTP. RNA was extracted using a phenolchloroform technique from aliquots of homogenate (unincubated) and from nuclei after in vitro incubation with [125I]iodo-CTP. The Poly-A content of homogenate RNA was assayed by its ability to bind and protect [125I]iodo-Poly-U. In vitro synthesized [125I]labelled RNA was examined by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. α-Glycerophosphate dehydrogenase activity was also measured in mitochondria prepared from the various types of animals. RNA polymerase activity of H rats was ...


Objective: To investigate effects of exposure to aviation noise on blood pressure, prevalence of arterial hypertension and its asymptomatic organ damage i.e. arterial stiffness, left ventricular hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction. Design and method: Study group (n = 101 pts) was randomly recruited among inhabitants of area exposed to high aircraft noise levels, exceeding 60db (A). Control group (n = 100 pts) was recruited accordingly in area of low aircraft noise exposure, below 55 db (A). Sites selection was based upon acoustic maps. Inclusion criteria involved age (40–65 yrs) and time of residence in given area (min. 3 yrs). Anthropometric and demographic data were collected via questionnaire. In both groups following examinations were performed: office blood pressure measurement (SBP, DBP) using Omron M5-I device; arterial stiffness measurements- carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV) and central blood pressure (cSBP, cDBP) using SphygmoCor® device; echocardiographic measurements of left ventricular diastolic function (E/A, E/e'), mass (LVM) followed by mass index determination (LVMI) using VIVID-7 GE device. Results: Both groups were of equal age (53.6 ± 8.9 vs 52.2 ± 10.2 yrs, p = 0.42), BMI (27.1 ± 4.4 vs 26.9 ± 5.3 kg/m2, p = 0.8) and sex ratio (49 % women vs 52 % women). SBP (145.7 ± 20.0 vs 137.6 ± 18.8 mmHg, p = 0.03) and DBP (89.0 ± 11.6 vs 78.6 ± 8.6, p = 0.000001) values were higher in study group. Same as prevalence of hypertension (40% vs 24%, p < 0.05). Indicators of asymptomatic organ damage altered significantly among groups: PWV (10.3 ± 2.0 vs 9.5 ± 1.7 m/s, p = 0.04), cSBP (133.4 ± 19.3 vs 123.3 ± 18.6 mmHg, p = 0.007), cDBP (88.6 ± 11.1 vs 78.7 ± 9.6 mmHg, p = 0.000004), LVMI (108 ± 28.2 vs 102 ± 23.00 g/m2, p = 0.004) were higher in study group, while E/A ratio was lower in study group (1.0 ± 0.33 vs 1.3 ± 0.46, p = 0.009). No difference was observed between groups in E/e' ratio (8.36 ± 2.7 vs 8.15 ± 2.74, p = 0.7). Conclusions: Long-term exposure to aircraft noise is associated with higher office blood pressure values, prevalence of arterial hypertension and incidence of its heart and arterial asymptomatic organ damage.


A simple synthesis of poly(ethylene glycol) methacrylate (PEGMA) coated CuInS2/ZnS quantum dots (QDs) has been developed. X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and atomic force microscopy observations demonstrated that uniform CuInS2/ZnS QDs were successfully prepared. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy indicated no new peak after the coating process, indicating that only physical interactions occurred during coating and that PEGMA did not disturb the crystal structure of the CuInS2/ZnS QDs. After PEGMA coating, the photoluminescence spectra of the CuInS2/ZnS QDs red shifted (from 566 nm to 589 nm) and the QD particle size increased. The concentration and molecular weight of PEGMA play important roles in the water solubility and hydrodynamics of the particles. The PEGMA-coated CuInS2/ZnS QDs showed stable emissions for up to 3 weeks. As a demonstration of a potential biomedical application, PEGMA-coated CuInS2-ZnS QDs were used in labeling human liver carcinoma (HepG2) tumor cells.


COVID-19 has created havoc since its emergence in December 2019 The world we live in today is a world of fear and anxiety When this pandemic started to unfold with drastic changes all over the world, children being silent observers became silent victims of the pandemic The number of children being diagnosed with COVID-19 is far less as compared to adults, however the stress of an ongoing pandemic is evident in pediatric population as well Anxiety, depression, fear in children are few of the main challenges we have to face World Health Organization, Center for Disease Control and UNICEF have also expressed their concerns over the pandemic's mental health and psycho-social consequences for children Practical strategies should be adopted at individual, institutional and national level to counter the ill effects in a timely manner © 2020, Pakistan Pediatric Journal All rights reserved


This paper describes a Two-step Band-split Neural Network (TBNN) approach for full-band acoustic echo cancellation. Specifically, after linear filtering, we split the full-band signal into wideband (16KHz) and high-band (16-48KHz) for residual echo removal with lower modeling difficulty. The wide-band signal is processed by an updated gated convolutional recurrent network (GCRN) with U2 encoder while the high-band signal is processed by a high-band post-filter net with lower complexity. Our approach submitted to ICASSP 2023 AEC Challenge has achieved an overall mean opinion score (MOS) of 4.344 and a word accuracy (WAcc) ratio of 0.795, leading to the 2nd (tied) in the ranking of the non-personalized track.


The study reported here used general ideas about employees' performance to develop and test a model of teachers' effects on students' achievement in mathematics using data from the longitudinal files of the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS:88). A general model of employees' performance suggests that the effects of teachers on students' achievement can be explained by three general classes of variables : teachers' ability, motivation and work situation. This article discusses how these general classes of variables can be operationalized in the NELS:88 data set and presents estimates of models of the combined effects of these classes of variables on students' achievement. The analyses revealed that teachers' knowledge of subject matter and expectancy motivation have direct effects on students' achievement in mathematics and that the size of these effects depends on the average levels of ability of students in a school


: Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) is an international fitness trouble with excessive morbidity, mortality, and different illnesses. Kidney ailment impacts 1 in 10 human beings worldwide. As the quantity of CKD sufferers increases, powerful predictors for early detection of CKD are needed. Therefore, a higher prognosis of persistent kidney ailment is wanted to save you endured progression. Machine learning assist clinicians gain this intention with their rapid and correct prediction capabilities. In this project, we've the usage of Random Forest Algorithm to decide if a person has CKD or Not. The CKD dataset has been taken from the Kaggle repository. This helps in the early detection of persistent kidney ailment.


ABSTRACT The radioimmunoassay for angiotensin II which we previously described has been revised, improved and simplified. Plasma angiotensin II concentration in normal subjects on unrestricted sodium intake averages 21±10 μμg/ml. The method may be applied to measurement of renin activity, giving average values of 0.73±0.32 U/ml plasma in normal subjects. Variation in sodium intake, activity and the administration of diuretics in normal subjects produce expected changes in both circulating angiotensin and renin activity. Anephric subjects show absent circulating angiotensin and very low but measurable renin activities.


In a previous study, we described the occurrence of T-cell receptor (TCR)G gene rearrangements in 9/100 acute myeloid leukemia (AML) cases. In this study, we further characterized these rearrangements by Southern Blot hybridization using a VS2 specific probe and polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Southern Blot analysis revealed that rearrangements involved the V62 gene segment in four patients. Interestingly the restriction fragments detected by the V62 probe differed markedly in size. PCR analysis revealed a complete V62(Dn)J61 gene rearrangement, an incomplete VS2D63 rearrangement and a large amplification product, which cannot be explained with normal VDJ recombinatorial processes, in one case each. Furthermore although V62 and J61 were rearranged, no comigration of rearranged fragments was observed and no PCR product was obtained in one case. Obtained results in AML differ from findings in acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) of R-cell lineage. where a more homogeneous pattern of rearrangements has been described. This heterogeneity might be related to the illegitimate occurrence of TCRS gene rearrangements in AML.


Location awareness and mobility are main factors in pervasive computing. There is a lot of work focusing on develop location aware applications. Generalizing from location awareness is the notion of mobile virtual communities which users enter or leave, analogous to pushing or popping items on or off a stack. The multi-agent paradigm is suitable for modeling distributed systems and can help reduce the complexity of system design. In this paper, we introduce a prototype for the community stack concept that is based on the multi-agent paradigm.


There are a few basic measurements in EMC measurement: peak,quasi-peak,average,and RMS.This paper analyzes the different requirements of the standard on the measured value and measurement of electromagnetic disturbance detector,studies the principles and characteristics of the detector,as well as different kinds of interference signal detector response.Through the analysis and comparison of the typical daily test equipment-electromagnetic disturbance measurement data,to illustrate the peak,quasi-peak,average,RMS in EMC measurement application as well as the difference.


For a conservative system, during an arbitrary time interval [t1,t2], the time‐reversible Hamiltonian equations that describe the motion in the microscopic phase space induce a probabilistic flow in the macroscopic phase space, which is a finite equipartition of the microscopic phase space, whose transition probabilities form a double‐stochastic matrix. As a consequence, the macroscopic entropy at time t2 is larger than or equal to the macroscopic entropy at time t1. Key words: microscopic reversibility, macroscopic irreversibility, generalized H‐theorem.


A fast and simple analytical method for UV-Vis spectrometric determination of Cu (II) in blood serum is presented using flow injection analysis (FIA). The 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2 naphthol (PAN) (2.0×10 –4 mg L –1 ) was used as complexing and NH4Cl/NH4OH as buffer at pH 9.5. It was used PVC pipes of 0.5 mm id. The sample volume and length of the reactor were optimized: 183 µL and 2 m, respectively, with a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The absorption of the complex PAN


Low responsiveness and inflexibility were found to be a challenge to deprived universities in South Africa in promoting virtual learning environments (VLE) during COVID-19 lockdown. This study investigated the level of readiness in transitioning from contact classes to VLE; and to establish whether the university in this study moved at the same pace with other universities in South Africa. Just-In-Time Learning (JITL) theory and interpretivist paradigm informed the theoretical and methodological dimensions of the study. Interview was used to collect data from eight Business Studies students in one university in South Africa. The findings established that the case university was not yet ready for the transitioning to VLE. The Blackboard Learning Management System had serious inadequacies and there was delayed provision of students' laptops and data, and there was a low number of academics using virtual platforms at this university. In conclusion this study recommends that management should prioritise swift transition to VLE during COVID-19 pandemic and future health crisis.


Teachers are the direct organizer and participator of quality education. In order to adapt the need of modem higher vocational requirements, higher quality teachers and staff should be built, and paid much attention to the ideas of modern higher vocational education.


We derive a posteriori error estimates for singularly perturbed reaction-diffusion problems which yield a guaranteed upper bound on the discretization error and are fully and easily computable. Moreover, they are also locally efficient and robust in the sense that they represent local lower bounds for the actual error, up to a generic constant independent in particular of the reaction coefficient. We present our results in the framework of the vertex-centered finite volume method but their nature is general for any conforming method, like the piecewise linear finite element one. Our estimates are based on a H(div)-conforming reconstruction of the diffusive flux in the lowest-order Raviart- Thomas-Nedelec space linked with mesh dual to the original simplicial one, previously introduced by the last author in the pure diffusion case. They also rely on elaborated Poincare, Friedrichs, and trace inequalities-based auxiliary estimates designed to cope optimally with the reaction dominance. In order to bring down the ratio of the estimated and actual overall energy error as close as possible to the optimal value of one, independently of the size of the reaction coefficient, we finally develop the ideas of local minimizations of the estimators by local modifications of the reconstructed diffusive flux. The numerical experiments presented confirm the guaranteed upper bound, robustness, and excellent efficiency of the derived estimates.


The November number of the Proceedings of the Medical Society of Kings is taken up by a discussion upon the treatment of wounds, in the lorm of well-written essays by several authors. Dr. J. D. Rushmore opens the discussion by a paper on the process of healing. He goes very extensively into the general conditions which in fluence the healing of wounds, because they sometimes fail to receive the attention they deserve from surgeons. The author thinks that Es march's bandage is a questionable advantage, inasmuch as he has seen thre&case-s of paralysis resulting after its use. He also objects to it on account of the prolonged oozing which follows its use. It is not stated whether the paralysis in all the cases referred to was permanent. He prefers the ligature over the other methods of controlling hem orrhage. He uses adhesive plaster instead of sutures when possible, and prefers horsehair to other materials for sutures. The rubber drainage-tube with the side perforations has seemed to act better than other varieties of drainage-tubes. After the third or fourth day the wound does better without drainage-tubes.


Real granular media manifest such characters as nonuniformity, anisotropy and lamellar distribution and have gas, liquid and solid phases. Therefore propogation of waves in them is very complex. When their strain number, e 1×10 -4 , they are elastic media. According to this, the authors analyse and give the wave motion equation of elastic waves in isotropic media and the expression of wave propogation velocity and wave energy, as well as the wave motion equation of elastic waves in horizontally isotropic media and the expression of energy penetration coefficient of elastic waves. The tests show that energy attenuation has relation to the density of layered media. Rayleigh wave is a type of superimposition wave forming by vibration of P and S waves. According to the characteristic, the authors analyse the propagation characters of Rayleigh wave in isotropic media and horizontally isotropic media in semi infinite body. In addition, Love wave is a kind of interference wave which is caused by total reflection of SH waves. The study shows that its characters depend on the thickness of granular media and the velocity of shear waves, etc.


The 5S ribosomal DNA (5S rDNA) of higher eukaryotes is organized in repeat units of tandem arrays composed of a 5S rDNA coding region, conserved even among non-related taxa, and a variable non-transcribed spacer sequence (NTS). To contribute to knowledge on the organization and evolution of vertebrate 5S rDNA we used PCR, nucleotide sequencing, Southern blot hybridization and chromosome fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) to investigate 5S rDNA tandem repeats in the South American Curimatidae fish Steindachnerina insculpta and Cyphocharax modesta. 5S rDNA repeats of 180 base pairs (bp) from both species were PCR-generated and sequenced evidencing the shortest 5S rDNA monomer so far described in eukaryote species. Southern blotting revealed that both species contained two tandem 5S rDNA classes, the PCR amplified fragment composed of 180 bp monomers and a class of 1600 bp monomers not detected by PCR. Chromosome mapping of the 5S rDNA repeats identified a major locus in both species and a second minor locus only in C. modesta. The Southern blot and chromosome mapping data indicate the presence of different types of 5S rDNA tandem repeats in the Curimatidae genome.


Remote sensing is a very important tool in the acquisition of information that allows the monitoring of structural characteristics and changes in vegetation in biomes, and with the use of spectral indices of vegetation, it is possible to analyze its dynamics over time. This study aims to analyze the structure of vegetation cover in an area of the Caatinga Biome, comparing multispectral images acquired by satellite with different resolutions and low altitude unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) platforms with high resolution cameras. Automated flights were carried out in November and December 2019 over the study area and the images were processed to generate orthomosaics. Landsat-8 and Sentinel-2 satellite images were acquired free of charge for comparison purposes with the UAV. The vigor of green vegetation was analyzed through the calculation of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and verified through the correlation between high resolution and low altitude products with satellites. Both products from satellites proved to be effective and good indicators of vegetation vigor, with emphasis on Sentinel-2 images, which obtained a better correlation with aerial UAV images reaching (R = 0.7) compared to Landsat-8 (R = 0.6). Satellite products showed good indicators for monitoring the structural characteristics of the Caatinga, however, they are not indicated for assessments of areas with a greater predominance of soil, water or other targets, as they can affect the NDVI values and make a more detailed assessment impossible. of the areas.


Objective To study on a new type of mosquito repellent method for evaporating at room temperature,and determine the active ingredients and solvents.Methods Under the same conditions,by comparing the evaporation rate of different active ingredients and solvents,initially identify a suitable solvent.By comparing the biology efficacy and the evaporation rate of active ingredients in different formulations,and ultimately determine the appropriate active ingredient and solvent.Results Under the same conditions,the volatilization rate of odorless kerosene D110 and D130 was slightly faster than that of most active ingredients,but it was closer.And initially odorless kerosene D110 and D130 were identfied for a suitable solvents.Considerable cost of active ingredients,the biology efficacy of the formulation contained transfluthrin and odorless kerosene D110 was clearly better than the other formulation,its KT50 was 20 minutes by glass tank.Conclusion Transfluthrin and odorless kerosene D110 are optimal active ingredient and solvent for mosquito repellent products evaporated at room temperature.


The effects of the combination of enzymes in commercial laying hens need to be more explored in literature. To determine if the type of protease affects performance, egg quality, nutrient intake, and morphometry of intestinal mucosa of laying hens in peak egg production and fed with phytase, 780 25-weeks Hy-Line W36 hens were assigned to a completely randomized design composed of five treatments/diets (one positive control, two negative controls, and negative controls plus protease A or B), with 12 replicates of 13 birds each. There was no effect of treatments ( P > 0.05) on egg production, egg mass and feed conversion, even though the nutritional restriction imposed by the negative controls reduced egg weight ( P = 0.02), albumen height ( P < 0.01), and Haugh unit ( P < 0.01). Although inclusion of proteases in negative controls did not cause the calculated intake of protein and amino acids to return to the same amount consumed by positive-control hens, egg quality parameters returned to positive control standards with protease A. Intestinal mucosa responded to treatment only at jejunum, where birds fed with protease B showed greater ( P < 0.01) villus height and crypt depth than those treated with protease A. These findings suggest that different proteases and phytases interact distinctly and, in consequence, induce different responses on the birds. Moreover, the behavior of egg quality parameters after protease A inclusion in the diet indicates that the nutritional contribution of the combination of this protease with phytase is greater than the contribution of protease alone.


This study was concerned with ascertaining the extent to which staff working with people with learning disabilities are aware of issues around the topic of sexual abuse. A questionnaire was completed by 107 staff from day care and residential facilities at both Health Authority and Local Authority services. The data generated indicated that nearly a third of staff (32%) never discuss the subject in their worksettings despite the fact that all felt people with learning disabilities to be at risk of sexual abuse, with the majority (68%) believing them to be at a higher degree of risk than other people. The majority of staff (88%) felt that further information should be provided in their workplaces. The implications of these data are considered with respect to staff training, support and empowerment.


The noise of dry core reactor mainly comes from the core,and its noise level is in general higher than that of transformers with same capacity.The abnormal noise of dry core reactor can be controlled within reasonable limits in case of assuring product quality;however,the noise will occur due to improper installation or operation.The abnormal noise of the dry core reactor due to several typical improper installation or operation is analyzed in this paper,pointing out that the abnormal noise needs analysis and elimination,otherwise,it would endanger the safe operation of the equipment.At the same time,some specific suggestions on the installation and operation of the dry core reactor are given.


In this paper, we report in silico study of gallic acid derivativesas novel antihepatitis C virus agents. The derivatives were designed by expanding the carboxyl group of gallic acid with open-chain moiety of L-threonine-allyl esters, as well as to modify the hydroxy groups on the aromatic ring of gallic acid with methoxy group in the derivatives. Designed compounds and the original gallic acid were docked based on their interaction with hepatitis C virus receptor binding target NS5B. Compared to gallic acid, all the twenty designed compounds, exhibited higher binding energy, affinity, and hydrogen bond interaction on receptor target of NS5B, indicating that the designed compounds have a stronger inhibitory activity against NS5B.


PURPOSE: A multifunctional display for an aircraft is provided to set the layout of multiple view ports for displaying various aircraft instrument information using a touch screen mode. CONSTITUTION: A multifunctional display for an aircraft comprises a display device and a controller. The display device is operated using a touch screen mode. The controller controls the display device. The display device arranges multiple view ports(V1,V2,V3,V4) on a screen. First and second icons are displayed on each view port. Aircraft instrument information, which is different from each other, is displayed through the view ports.


Abstract Teleconferencing ranges from full motion video by satellite to the use of home or office telephones. Tutoring by telephone is common in the USA but has had limited use in the UK. PACNET is a national network based at Plymouth Polytechnic, researching and developing the use of the telephone in teaching and training. Implications for continuing education, the disabled and computer links to the home office are considered.


Objective: this article aims to illustrate a case of sialolithiasis in the submandibular gland. Sialolithiasis is among the most common diseases of salivary glands. It is a slow-growing benign pathology, but of uncertain etiology. Most cases occur in the submandibular gland duct, due to the route of Wharton's duct, which is winding and ascending, with easier deposition of calcium salts and consequent stone formation, besides the greater amount of proteins secreted by the submandibular gland, which makes secretion thicker. Diagnosis is


This article examines the distribution of land ownership in the northeastern part of the state of Sao Paulo, Brazil, the leading coffee export region in the world during the early twentieth century. Based on a detailed agricultural census, we find a widespread presence of small and medium-size farms, with varied degrees of land concentration across subregions and municipalities. Still, large farms and latifundia controlled most of the productive resources in northeast Sao Paulo, resulting in high levels of inequality when compared to those of other export regions in South and North America.


The article presents the results of studying the structure of the soil profile, which is formed in a plain, periodic excessive moisture under the meadow plant communities. Meadow-brown soils are common in the plains of the Jewish Autonomous Region and are diverse. The region's territory, on which common meadow-brown soils are composed almost universally Quaternary and Neogene sediments, except for elevated sections. This is a relatively young breed, which are presented deluvial and alluvial deposits in the form of clay, loam, peat, sand, gravel. Meadow-brown soils formed under prairie plant communities that differ in species composition of herbaceous plants and the degree of drainage.


As for promoting the pilots situation awareness,relaying on the integrated utilize the mass information,the large data flow may be transferred and processed with high speed with in the onboard computer system,It is most necessity for networking and standardization of these onboard computers to cope with the efficient usage of the information resources.This paper deals with the design principles and Its new approaches,as well as some new re-quirements,which have had illustrated by some ARINC specifications.


Mass Spectrometry Imaging (MSI) is a sensitive analytical tool for detecting and spatially localising thousands of ions generated across intact tissue samples. The datasets produced by MSI are large both in the number of measurements collected and the total data volume, which effectively prohibits manual analysis and interpretation. However, these datasets can provide insights into tissue composition and variation, and can help identify markers of health and disease, so the development of computational methods are required to aid their interpretation.
To address the challenges of high dimensional data, randomised methods were explored for making data analysis tractable and were found to provide a powerful set of tools for applying automated analysis to MSI datasets. Random projections provided over 90% dimensionality reduction of MALDI MSI datasets, making them amenable to visualisation by image segmentation.
Randomised basis construction was investigated for dimensionality reduction and data compression. Automated data analysis was developed that could be applied data compressed to 1% of its original size, including segmentation and factorisation, providing a direct route to the analysis and interpretation of MSI datasets. Evaluation of these methods alongside established dimensionality reduction pipelines on simulated and real-world datasets showed they could reproducibly extract the chemo-spatial patterns present.


Abstract Penile fracture is a urologic emergency requiring prompt surgical intervention. Ultrasound may help clarify the diagnosis in cases of uncertain history and physical examination. The author presents a case of suspected pediatric penile fracture, in which point-of-care ultrasound helped to rule out the condition and facilitated disposition of the patient.


Twenty years after Tom Peters' seminal 'In Search of Excellence', which probed the reasons why some companies consistently outperformed others, the search still goes on. And among manufacturers, wrestling with the challenges of competition from low-cost overseas economies, the search is even more intense. For every 'dumb, fat and happy' manufacturing business, content to carry on doing tomorrow more or less what it did yesterday, many more are looking to a variety of improvement tools to transform their competitive stance — Lean, Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement and so on. Yet equally evidently, many of those businesses are failing to derive from these tools the scale of improvement that they originally sought. Hype and expectation invariably surpass the prosaic reality of what actually happens on the shop floor. Yes, there have been improvements—but rarely of the scale, scope and durability that management had hoped for.


The invention provides an input buffer circuit. The input buffer circuit comprising: a first current source; a first differential control circuit, configured to generate a first bias voltage at the first couple terminal according to the input signals, and configured to generate first control signals according to the input signals; a second current source; a second differential control circuit, configured to generate a second bias voltage at the second couple terminal according to the input signals, and configured to generate second control signals according to the input signals; a third current source, configured to provide a first current according to the second bias voltage; a first differential output circuit, configured to receive the first control signals to generate output signals; a fourth current source, configured to drain a second current according to the first bias voltage; and a second differential output circuit, configured to receive the second control signals to generate the output signal. The invention can improve system performance.


One of the many changes in India since economic liberalisation began in 1991 is the increased use of private schooling. There has been a growing body of literature to assess whether this is a positive trend and to evaluate the effects on child achievement levels. The challenge is to identify the true private school effect on achievement, isolating the effect of the schools themselves from other variables that might boost private school outcomes, such as a superior (higher ability) student intake. Using the ASER data for 2005 to 2007 a number of methodologies are used to produce a cumulative evidence base on the effectiveness of private schools relative to their government counterparts. Household fixed effects estimates yield a private school achievement advantage of 0.17 standard deviations and village level 3-year panel data analysis yields a private school learning advantage of 0.114 SD. Length: 39 pages


This study aims to examine the relationship between the local community's attitudes and the sustainable development and development of Ketapan Rame Tourist Village, Mojokerto. This research employed quantitative research methods with data analysis using SPSS 18.0 software. The sampling technique used is non-probability sampling, with a total sample of 154 respondents, who are at least 17 years old and over and are local Ketapan Rame village residents. This study indicates a direct relationship between economic benefits, socio-cultural impacts, and local communities' infrastructure on the sustainable development and development of Ketapan Rame tourist village, Mojokerto. Yet, environmental impacts and age aspects are not proven to have a relationship with the sustainable development and development of the village. Testing on gender and education level shows no significant difference in supporting the development of the village.


With the fast development of the information and web technology, internet has become a more and more important access for the university teachers and students to knowledge information, and it also has great influence on the studies, life and ideological concepts of the teachers and students. In this situation, we should be well aware of the development and popularity of the web technology and also new opportunities and challenges it has brought to the ideological work of university.


We present non-viable fungi concentrations from December 2021 to November 2022 in Queensland, Australia taken from outdoor reference samples collected during mould inspections. Our data indicate an average total mould concentration of approximately 6000 FS/m³ across the December 2021-November 2022 period. Trends in the data indicate higher levels of Aspergillus/Penicillium like spores in the December-May period changing to higher levels of Cladosporium in the July to September period. These data may be useful to mould inspectors in gauging normal mould ecology or unusual spore concentration levels in Queensland, Australia.


For an electric power system to meet the demand for electricity depends not only on subsystems of generation, transmission and distribution, but also on the ability to supply primary energy sources such as natural gas, oil and coal. The effects of a contingency in some of the subsystems, including supply networks, can propagate and affect system operations in terms of availability and price. In a vertically integrated industry the operation of electric power systems has omitted energy supply aspects and the use of financial instruments as part of trade policy. In this paper a supply chain model is used to analyze the acquisition of fuel contracts for generating units. Numerical examples are provided.


The absolute configuration fo pectenol isolated from the Japanese sea musels Mytilus coruscus was determined to be (3S, 4R, 3'R)-7', 8'-didehydro-β, β-carotene-3, 4, 3'-triol (8) by means of chemical and spectral methods.


Objective To evaluate the effectiveness of a structured group education programme on biomedical, psychosocial,andlifestylemeasuresinpeoplewithnewly diagnosed type 2 diabetes. Design Multicentre cluster randomised controlled trial in primary care with randomisation at practice level. Setting 207 general practices in 13 primary care sites in the United Kingdom. Participants 824adults(55%men, mean age59.5 years). Intervention A structured group education programme for six hours delivered in the community by two trained healthcare professional educators compared with usual care. Main outcome measures Haemoglobin A 1c levels, blood pressure, weight, blood lipid levels, smoking status, physical activity, quality of life, beliefs about illness, depression,andemotionalimpactofdiabetesatbaseline and up to 12 months. Main results Haemoglobin A 1c levels at 12 months had decreased by 1.49% in the intervention group compared with 1.21% in the control group. After adjusting for baseline and cluster, the difference was not significant: 0.05% (95% confidence interval − 0.10% to 0.20%). The interventiongroupshowedagreaterweightloss: − 2.98kg (95% confidence interval − 3.54 to − 2.41) compared with 1.86kg( − 2.44to − 1.28),P = 0.027at12months.Theodds ofnotsmokingwere3.56(95%confidenceinterval1.11to 11.45), P = 0.033 higher in the intervention group at 12 months. The intervention group showed significantly greater changes in illness belief scores (P = 0.001); directions of change were positive indicating greater understanding of diabetes. The intervention group had a lower depression score at 12 months: mean difference was − 0.50 (95% confidence interval − 0.96 to − 0.04); P = 0.032. A positive association was found between change in perceived personal responsibility and weight loss at 12 months ( β = 0.12; P = 0.008). Conclusion A structured group education programme for patients with newly diagnosedtype 2 diabetes resulted in greater improvements in weight loss and smoking cessation and positive improvements in beliefs about illness but no difference in haemoglobin A 1c levels up to 12 months after diagnosis.


&NA; This report refers to 10 patients treated with hypoglossal‐facial nerve anastomosis and botulinum‐toxin type A after removal of acoustic neurinomas. All patients who underwent this regimen showed reinnervation of mimic muscles after nerve anastomosis in all parts of the mimic musculature. Synkinesis could be observed in all patients. Botulinum‐toxin injections into the orbicularis oculi muscle improved the functional outcome, leading to an approximation of the palpebral fissure width to the healthy side during heterogenous face movements. The mean duration of the toxin effect was 13.8 weeks. Side effects were rare. It can be stated that the combination of hypo‐glossal‐facial nerve anastomosis and botulinum‐toxin injections is suited to optimize mimic rehabilitation after removal of acoustic neurinomas.


The type-II InAs-InGaSb-AlSb interband cascade (IC) laser diode structure has several advantages over the other approaches for the MIR lasers. The type-II IC structure uses interband transitions instead of intersubband, which eliminates the phonon relaxation path while retaining the advantages of electron recycling; therefore, the threshold current density could be much lower.


Entering the era of the industrial revolution 4.0, human life will never be separated from the existence of technology. Currently the internet network has become a primary need for humans. This indirectly opens up business opportunities for internet network provider companies, especially in Indonesia. Indihome as one of these companies, is required to provide and maintain their best service quality so that they can provide a positive brand image to the public. This will ultimately foster customer loyalty which will help Indihome in an effort to maintain their market share. This study aims to examine whether service quality and brand image have a simultaneous and partial influence on Indihome customer loyalty in the city of Surabaya. The number of samples used were 120 respondents who were determined using the Accidental Sampling method. The data analysis technique used multiple linear regression analysis. The results of the analysis show that service quality and brand image simultaneously and partially have a positive effect on customer loyalty


User stories play an important role in agile development systems. In this study, a method of summarising user stories is proposed to reuse them in the future. To enhance the results, quality improvement should be made on user stories. It would help developers build better results, and it may also lead to omitting some essential information. To avoid such issues, user stories are duplicated in two exact similar groups, and quality improvement is made on one set while the other set remains unattained. With the help of a modified bag of words and a verb parser, a collection of keywords and key verbs are extracted for both groups. Afterwards, automatic user stories are made, and then an expert improves them. Next, some experts choose between the results and select the better ones. The result is evaluated by applying different experiments on the framework and prototype implementation on 14 data sets of a user story from industry and a fake data set from Duke University. The result showed 97% of micro F-measure and 93% of macro F-measure, which are promising. These new user stories can be used as the base user stories in future similar projects.


"At the November meeting, the Board reviewed the two bills concerning water project financing which had been reported out by the Interim Legislative Committee on Land and Water Resources. As you will recall, one bill was proposed by the Alliance for Colorado's Future, while the other had been proposed by Rolly Fischer and Jim Robb."


ENEA is currently involved in the design and manufacture of a fully high temperature superconductor (HTS) cable in the cable-in-conduit conductor (CICC) configuration exploiting commercial second generation ReBaCuO (Re: Rare Earth and Y) coated-conductors. The final cable will be composed of five slots obtained in a helically twisted aluminum central core and filled with 2G tape stacks. This conductor is designed to operate above 10 kA in 12 T background field at 4.2 K or at about 10 kA in self-field at 77 K. A first sample of about 1-m length with one fully superconductive slot has been manufactured using 15 tapes provided by Superpower, Inc. and 12 tapes from the SuNAM Company grouped in two sub-stacks divided by a Kapton foil. Each tape of the stack has been characterized individually by measuring critical current values Ic at 77 K (liquid N2 bath) in self-field and n-index. Results revealed that the tapes showed no degradation of critical current values when compared with suppliers specifications confirming that the proposed manufacturing process is fully compatible with commercial coated-conductors. Inter-tape resistance(Rinter) has also been measured and the observed dependence of Rinter on the tape position in the stack has been put in correlation with transverse stress distribution calculated by finite element models. A second sample with a full superconducting slot has been manufactured using 18 SuNAM tapes. Preliminary results on the stack transport measurements performed at 77 K in self-field will be presented and discussed. All the samples were manufactured by using already existing industrial equipments at Tratos Cavi SpA.


This research intends to understand the implications of the Exame Nacional do Ensino Medio (ENEM) in the mathematics teachers' work in high school and identify the extent to which these implications lead the work in classrooms to happenin line with the reference programs of ENEM at the expense of the curricular programs of the high school. For this, it is necessary to raise qu estions about the motivation for conducting such exams, to investigate the list of influences in the preparation of the programs that guide the formulation of the tests and to discuss to whom the results serve in different areas of society. The analyses will occur at the boundaries between curricula, large-scale evaluation and teacher training. In the final version of this research, we intended to outline a notion of curricular responsibility in relation to school mathematics.


The Sickledex test has been proposed as "specific" for hemoglobin S in the absence of a disclosure of the principle and reagents. Its convenience and simplicity has already assured widespread usage. But serious errors will be made unless the chemistry of the test is understood and coupled with the insights of modern molecular hematology. Evidence indicates that the Sickledex test consists of potassium phosphate, sodium dithionite, and saponin. When this test is used with insight, much diagnostically valuable information can be obtained.


A phase enlargement of semi-Markov systems that does not require determining stationary distribution of the embedded Markov chain is considered. Phase enlargement is an equivalent replacement of a semi-Markov system with a common phase state space by a system with a discrete state space.  Finding the stationary distribution of an embedded Markov chain for a system with a continuous phase state space is one of the most time-consuming and not always solvable stage, since in some cases it leads to a solution of integral equations with kernels containing sum and difference of variables.
For such equations there is only a particular solution and there are no general solutions to date. For this purpose a lemma on a type of a distribution function of the difference of two random variables, provided that the first variable is greater than the subtracted variable, is used.
It is shown that the type of the distribution function of difference of two random variables under the indicated condition depends on one constant, which is determined by a numerical method of solving the equation presented in the lemma.
Based on the lemma, a theorem on the difference of a random variable and a complicated recovery flow is built up. The use of this method is demonstrated by the example of modeling a technical system consisting of two series-connected process cells, provided that both cells cannot fail simultaneously. The distribution functions of the system residence times in enlarged states, as well as in a subset of working and non-working states, are determined. The simulation results are compared by the considered and classical method proposed by V. Korolyuk, showed the complete coincidence of the sought quantities.


Abstract. In this study, we present results from 12 years of black
carbon (BC) measurements at 14 sites around the Helsinki metropolitan area (HMA)
and at one background site outside the HMA. The main local sources of BC in
the HMA are traffic and residential wood combustion in fireplaces and sauna
stoves. All BC measurements were conducted optically, and therefore we refer
to the measured BC as equivalent BC (eBC). Measurement stations were located
in different environments that represented traffic environment, detached
housing area, urban background, and regional background. The measurements of
eBC were conducted from 2007 through 2018; however, the times and the
lengths of the time series varied at each site. The largest annual mean eBC
concentrations were measured at the traffic sites (from 0.67 to 2.64 µg m−3) and the lowest at the regional background sites (from 0.16 to
0.48 µg m−3). The annual mean eBC concentrations at the detached
housing and urban background sites varied from 0.64 to 0.80 µg m−3 and from 0.42 to 0.68 µg m−3, respectively. The
clearest seasonal variation was observed at the detached housing sites
where residential wood combustion increased the eBC concentrations during
the cold season. Diurnal variation in eBC concentration in different urban
environments depended clearly on the local sources that were traffic and
residential wood combustion. The dependency was not as clear for the typically measured air quality parameters, which were here NOx concentration and mass concentration of particles smaller that 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5). At four sites which had at least a 4-year-long time series available, the
eBC concentrations had statistically significant decreasing trends that
varied from −10.4 % yr−1 to −5.9 % yr−1. Compared to trends determined at
urban and regional background sites, the absolute trends decreased fastest
at traffic sites, especially during the morning rush hour. Relative
long-term trends in eBC and NOx were similar, and their concentrations
decreased more rapidly than that of PM2.5. The results indicated that
especially emissions from traffic have decreased in the HMA during the last
decade. This shows that air pollution control, new emission standards, and a
newer fleet of vehicles had an effect on air quality.


Emergence and early growth of major perennial paddy weeds, such as Cyperus serotinus, Eleocharis kuroguwai, Sagittaria trifolia, and Potamogeton distinctus were examined under different constant and alternating temperatures conditions. Emergence percentage of C. serotinus, S. trifolia, and P. distinctus was 100% at all temperature conditions, but that of E. kuroguwai was 90% at 20/, and 60 to 70% at the other temperature conditions. Duration of emergence was shortened as temperature increased, and P. distinctus was the shortest followed by C. serotinus, S. trifolia, E. kuroguwai in order. Emergence period of perennial weeds was shorter at 15 and than in 10/15 and 15/, and 20/ than at temperature conditions. The optimum temperature for growth of perennial weeds was 20/25 and . Plant height of C. serotinus was the longest followed by P. distinctus, E. kuroguwai, S. trifolia at 15-. Dry weight of P. distinctus was heavier at 10/ and C. serotinus at 20/25 and conditions