California oak woodland creates a landscape of renowned beauty, providing the public with essential natural resource services and economic values through ranching. Ranchers however, come under intense pressure and scrutiny from the public to demonstrate stewardship of the land they manage. The solution often chosen to address these concerns is, simply, more regulations. Regulations impose a financial and philosophical burden on California ranchers; in fact, they threaten the very existence of ranching. This paper discusses the development and on-going implementation of the Ranching Sustainability Analysis System (RSA). The RSA is a self-assessment process that guides the rancher through a series of questions that cover social, economic, and natural resource aspects of 11 ranch-management categories. Ranch scores can be submitted to a confidential database. Anonymous summary scores allow ranchers to compare the operation to their peers and to track sustainability progress over time. Essential components for the ongoing implementation of the RSA have been the strong support of an ad hoc committee of ranchers, delivery through a series of workshops, San Luis Obispo County Cattlemen's Association support, and voluntary participation. Although in the early stages of implementation, the RSA has potential to aid private landowners throughout California in implementing and demonstrating sustainable ranching practices.


Objective To summarize clinic experience of laparoscopy,choledochoscopy and duodenoscopy for treatment of extrahepatic bile duct stones and stenosis of papillory with primary closure of bile duct incision during the course of laparoscopy. Methods To accomplish LC and common bile duct exploration firstly,through ureteric catheter and zebra guidewire of common bile duct incision into duodenum,through duodenoscopy via oral into the papillary of duodenum,these approaches were used to cut through the stenosis of papillory for electro-knife by pin-head-like. It was received the primary closure of duct incision. Results It was successful in 199 cases removing the gallbladder and the common bile duct stones. Papillotomy was successful in 197 with primary closure of bile duct incision out of 199 cases,two cases were shifted to T tube drainage. Three patients suffered from a slight pancreatitis. Bile leakage of primary closure of duct incision was cured by patent drainage in 4 cases. perforation of intestine and bile duct,bleeding,severe pancreatitis and death were found in all of the patients. Conclusion If patients are suitable,LEST with primary closure of bile duct incision is safe and effective.


A burgeoning comparative literature has identified the centrality of childcare policy and provision in promoting parental, and specifically maternal, participation in paid employment across countries. This literature has focused on the importance of macro-level institutional arrangements, with a special emphasis on variation in availability of, and access to, formal early childhood education and care services. However, there has been limited comparative exploration of what this means in practice at the micro-level: the everyday challenges parents face when attempting to navigate the childcare system and the labour market simultaneously. Taking inspiration from human geography literature on the concept of 'space–time fixity', we present cross-national findings on the logistical challenges of arranging childcare. Evidence is drawn from interviews with parent- and childcare-related organizations in six European countries: Germany, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK. Our research provides a richer understanding of childcare availability than would a sole focus on formal childcare services, by elucidating the difficulties parents face in organizing access to these services, which can be a challenge to some extent even in contexts where childcare services are comprehensive and affordable.


Isoconversional methods (KAS,OFW,Li-Tang,and Vyazovkin) as well as isokinetic methods ((IKP) and CR) are used to determine the activation energy for crystallization (E), pre-exponential factor (A) and the conversion function f(α), for Fe-based 2605SA1 metallic glass.The non-isothennal differential scanning calorimetry data obtained at different heating rates ranging from 2 to 10 K/min are utilized for the analysis. The E for the peak I and II obtained by the IKP method are in good agreement with the values obtained from various isoconversional methods. The calculated kinetic triplets from IKP for peak I is: E = 445.6 ± 24 kJ/mol, A = 9.4 × 1022 sec−1 and f(α) = [-ln(l-α)]1/4 and for peak II is : E=325.7 ± 8 kJ/mol, A= 7.1 × 1015 sec−1 and f(α) = α1/4. All the above mentioned methods are summarized and discussed elaborately from the point of view of their applicability and correctness.


Chinese classical music has the value of conserving its temperament in the excellent traditional Chinese culture education of college students, making it the value of the times as the inheritor of Chinese cultural emotional experience. The 20dimensional features are obtained by dimensionality reduction optimization, and then the detail coefficients from the first scale to the fourth scale and the approximation coefficients of the fourth scale are extracted as frequency domain features through discrete wavelet transform, which has the power to gather young people to "go up" and "to be kind". We set, using MDI algorithm and conventional linear fitting and exponential fitting algorithms to obtain the corresponding quantitative map of T2 mental characteristics and calculate and display the noise propagation characteristics of the three algorithms by Monte Carlo method is essential and selected as the core of the proposed model.


In this paper, a framework for multi-objective optimization of a hybrid photovoltaic/diesel generator (PV/DG) system has been presented. This study follows the design of the PV/DG system at the lowest cost, lowest emission and highest reliability. The total net present cost (TNPC), CO2 emissions and the loss of power supply probability (LPSP) are selected as the problem objectives. This system has been designed in three scenarios: 1without considering uncertainty and operating reserve, 2with considering uncertainties of the system and 3with considering uncertainties of the system and using DG as operating reserve. In order to effectively solve this problem, multi-objective version of crow search algorithm (MO-CSA) has been developed and the results are compared with the results obtained by well-known non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II (NSGA-II). The coding of the problem has been done in MATLAB environment and the Pareto fronts have been compared. Simulation results indicate that combination of DG and PV is a promising alternative for supplying the electrical demand of stand-alone areas. Moreover, the results obtained by MO-CSA outperform the results obtained by NSGA-II.


In the fission yeast, four genes (rpaP1-1, rpaP1-3, rpaP2-2, and rpaP2-4) encoding two variants of the RpaP1 and RpaP2 ribosomal proteins (rp) have been characterized. We have identified cDNA for additional variants called RpaP1.5 and RpaP2.6. Sequence comparison suggests that RpaP1.5 diverged before RpaP1.1 and RpaP1.3 and that RpaP2.6 is closer to RpaP2.2 than to RpaP2.4. The corresponding genes, rpaP1-5 and rpaP2-6, are transcribed coordinately with other rp genes.


Linear variable differential transformers (LVDT) are high precision linear position sensors and capable of measuring position up to one meter. Especially in environments with high temperatures and temperature variations, the core material used, ferritic or non-ferritic, is critical. In this paper we present simulations and comparative measurements to interpret the dependency of LVDTs. We analyse the performance of the LVDT with respect to changes in the excitation signal, as well as uniform and non-uniform heating of the LVDT. The simulation model presented can be used to model the sensor behavior and reproduce the dependencies of the output voltages. The results show that the behavior of the sensor varies depending on the position of the core. This makes compensation measures difficult.


Meat tenderness is one of the major characteristic quality of beef not only for consumers but for breeders of beef cattle too. Selection of cattle focussed on an increment of meat tenderness is complicated because this trait has large variability not only between different breeds but between individuals of equal breed too. Similarly a measurement of meat tenderness is expensive because it make after slaughter of animal and ageing of meat post mortem. Therefore it was developed a several methods, by the help of which is possible increase tenderness of meat. However still exist variance in values of meat tenderness which are caused by distinctness genetic base of animal. By using molecular genetic methods was described the most significant candidate genes (CAPN1, CAST) coding formation of the calpains-calpastatin proteolytic system, which exercise an influence on tenderness. The single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in these genes were using to design commercially genetic marker panels GeneSTAR Tenderness and Igenity Tender-GENE. By help this commercially test is possible to make genotyping and selection of animals for production of tenderness beef meat in meat industry. doi:10.5219/102


The Anglican presence in Mozambique dates from the late nineteenth century. This article provides a historical overview, with reference to mission, church and diocese. It also examines ecclesiastical and other religious connections between Mozambique and the United Kingdom, South Africa and Portugal. Through focus on the career and writings of the English missionary-priest John Paul and on the episcopacy of the Portuguese-born bishop of Lebombo Daniel de Pina Cabral, the article furthermore examines Anglican affairs in Mozambique during the African struggle for liberation from Portuguese rule.


ACTIVATION OF MILITANT NETWORKS: AN INTRODUCTION Born in the "red" city of Reggio Emilia in 1950, Prospero Gallinari was one of the founders of the Red Brigades in 1970. The son of a peasant, he grew up in a family and community in which resistance against fascism and left-wing political activism was deeply rooted. In his autobiography, he remembers the relevance, in his adolescence, of the "old communists I had the good luck to meet. All people, neighbours or relatives, most of which had been partisans. . .. They were product of the resistance" (Gallinari 2006: 13). In this strongly politicized "red territorial culture" of the 1950s, his political career started when he was still in his early teens. He recalls: I was twelve and, following the habits of the time, I started as a pioneer. I sold the "Milione," the little journal of the very young activists of the PCI, to then move up to distribute the "Unita" [the party daily]. I had just finished primary school when I started to meet with comrades, not just as friends or neighbours, but also as people I met at the party section or the Casa del Popolo. (ibid.: 14) Socialization to left-wing values therefore happened during his childhood, especially while listening to his grandfather's tales not only of the antifascist struggle but also of rebellion as an expression of human dignity. He wrote in fact of his "family path" to politics, which began when he was just six years old, listening to stories of life experiences in 1919–20, "when the fascists started to become aggressive" (ibid.: 20–1), and also of the workers' struggles. The rebellious history of the red Reggio Emilia in fact plays a central role in Gallinari's narrative: it is a story of peasants' struggles, the building of workers' cooperatives, first experiences with socialism at the beginning of the twentieth century, and factories "occupied in 1920 by the workers under the motto 'Ag vol Lenin!' (We need Lenin), with the aim of creating a Soviet inside the factory" (ibid.: 25). The history of Reggio Emilia is therefore a history of contentious confrontation with the state in which the entire community participated.


A finite element code is developed in which all of the computationally expensive steps are performed on a graphics processing unit via the THRUST and the PARALUTION libraries. The code focuses on the simulation of transient problems where the repeated computations per time-step create the computational cost. It is used to solve partial and ordinary differential equations as they arise in thermal-runaway simulations of automotive batteries. The speed-up obtained by utilizing the graphics processing unit for every critical step is compared against the single core and the multi-threading solutions which are also supported by the chosen libraries. This way a high total speed-up on the graphics processing unit is achieved without the need for programming a single classical Compute Unified Device Architecture kernel.


This thesis describes new parallel GPU algorithms that accelerate fundamental CAD operations such as spline evaluations, surface-surface intersections, minimum distance computations, moment computations, etc., thereby improving the interactivity of a CAD system.CAD systems (such as SolidWorks, AutoCAD, ProE, etc.) create graphical user interfaces for solid modeling, which build on fundamental CAD operations that are performed by a modeling kernel. However, since many of these fundamental operations are compute-intensive, the CAD systems make the designer wait until a particular operation is completed before providing visual feedback and allowing new operations to be performed, reducing interactivity. The broad objective of this research is to develop new parallel algorithms for CAD that run on Graphics Processing Units to provide order-of-magnitude better performance than current CPU implementations.A critical operation that all CAD systems have to perform is the evaluation of Non-Uniform Rational B-Splines (NURBS) surfaces. We developed a unified parallel algorithm to evaluate and render a NURBS surface directly using the GPU. The GPU algorithm can render over 100 NURBS surfaces at 30 frames per second, significantly enhancing interactivity.Fundamental modeling operations (such as surface intersections, separation distance computations, etc.) are typically performed repeatedly in a CAD system during modeling. We have developed GPU-accelerated algorithms that perform surface-surface intersections more than 50 times faster than the commercial solid modeling kernel ACIS. We have also developed GPU algorithms to perform minimum distance computations, which have applications in multi-axis machining, path planning, and clearance analysis. These algorithms are not only more than two orders of magnitude faster than the CPU implementations, they often have much tighter error bounds.We have also developed algorithms for computing accurate geometric moments of solid models that are represented using multiple trimmed-NURBS surfaces. We have developed a framework that makes use of NURBS surface data to evaluate surface integrals of trimmed NURBS surfaces in real time. With our framework, we can compute volume and moments of solid models with error estimates. The framework also supports local geometry changes, which is useful for providing interactive feedback to the designer while the solid model is being designed.Finally, the ultimate objective of this research is to provide a generalized framework to overcome some of the GPU programming challenges in CAD. Using this framework, a programmer could easily develop complex CAD algorithms that utilize the GPU to improve the performance of CAD systems.


The study analyzes fresh tomato marketing in Mubi metropolitan area. Primary data was the main source of data collected with the use of wellconstructed questionnaire. Purposive and simple random sampling technique were adopted for the selection of respondents for the study. The analytical tools used include descriptive and inferential statistics such as Gini coefficient and gross margin The result of the study revealed that majority (49.9%) of the sampled fresh tomato marketers are in their most active age (31 to 40 years) with majority of them were male and were married and had no formal education and could not read or write effectively. 100% of the marketers belong to marketers association. The analysis of the study shows that majority of them engaged in marketing of fresh tomato as full time business and do not have any other business apart from it with few of the respondents were in the business for long period of time and (93.9%) of them obtained their initial capital outlay from their personal saving and this led to their (marketers) inability to operate large-scale business in the study area. The analysis also, indicated channel 2 (producer'swholesaler's retailerconsumers was the major channel of fresh tomato marketing and high inequality among fresh tomato marketers. This is an indication that there is fresh tomato marketers exercising control over the market price. The analysis of costs and returns per basket per day of fresh tomato marketing in the study area revealed that, it was a profitable and economically viable means of earning livelihood despite the constraints being encountered such that inadequate capital (rank 1), lack of storage facilities, seasonality and perish ability (rank 2. 3 and 4) were the major problem affecting fresh tomato marketing in the study area. Therefore, it is concluded that fresh tomato marketing in Mubi metropolitan area of Adamawa state is a profitable venture and economically viable means of earning livelihood with the gross margin of N1, 267, net income of N1, 215 and the gross ratio of 0.88 per basket per day, despite the problems encountered by the marketers and recommended that farmers should be encouraged to form cooperative societies so as to enable them obtain loans from commercial banks and agricultural and rural cooperative bank, at regulated interest rates.


ounds and their associated problems have challenged healthcare providers for centuries (Moore and Cowman, 2005). Despite this longevity, they continue to be a problem, with an estimated 1–1.5% of the population suffering with a wound at any given point in time (Posnett et al, 2009). Changing population demographics and the projected increase in the number of older persons suggest that the number of wounds is set to increase correspondingly, considering the association between older age and chronic disease (Moore and Cowman, 2005).Economic appraisal of the provision of wound care indicates that wounds are a significant drain on healthcare resources. Indeed, it is proposed that 4% of the total healthcare expenditure is spent on the provision of wound care and, interestingly, 41% of these costs are associated with nursing time (Posnett et al, 2009). The majority of wounds are managed in the community setting (Moore and Cowman, 2005), and between 20 and 30% of community nursing time is spent on the provision of wound care (O'Keeffe, 2006). Wounds also impact negatively on health-related quality of life (HRQoL), with pain being one of the most frequent issues of concern reported by patients (Spilsbury et al, 2007). Other problems experienced include nausea, fatigue, depression, sepsis, psychological disturbances, loss of function, loss of mobility and personal financial cost


The fluorescence decay analysis of intramolecular two-state excited-state processes with added quencher is discussed in terms of compartments. The kinetics specifying the two excited-state species concentrations are derived. The fluorescence decay surface is expressed in terms of the system parameters, namely the rate constants and the spectroscopic parameters b 1 and c 1 . b 1 and c 1 are respectively the relative absorbance and the normalized spectral emission weighting factor of species 1. The report investigates the prerequisites for obtaining the unique set of system parameters


With a significant proportion of deaths occurring in care homes, it is important for staff to be able to identify residents approaching the end of life. Karen Harrison Dening discusses how to assess pain in dementia and provide pain relief for those in distress and discomfort


The present invention is directed to a laser drilling device that is provided with a laser light oscillating device (21) for projecting laser light to be irradiated to a skin and a protective member (4) arranged on the optical path through which the laser light projected from the laser light oscillating device (21) travels to the skin. The protective member (4) covers a laser light projecting portion of the laser light oscillating device (21) and is comprised of a plurality of laser light transmitting units (42) that permit the laser light to transmit. The protective member (4) is preferably made movable in a direction intersecting with the transmitting direction of the laser light.


A surface protein antigen (PAc) of Streptococcus mutans, particularly the A‐region of the molecule, has been reported to interact with salivary components on the tooth surface. It might be a candidate antigen inducing the production of antibodies against the adherence of S. mutans to the tooth surface. We investigated the effects of monoclonal antibodies (MoAbs) obtained by immunization of synthetic PAc peptides that completely correspond to the amino acid sequence of part of the A‐region. These MoAbs recognize several core B‐cell epitopes in the sequence. Two (KH5 and SH2) of these antibodies reacted with both S. mutans and Streptococcus sobrinus, but not with Streptococcus sanguis, Streptococcus salivarius, Porphyromonas gingivalis or Lactobacillus casei. They clearly inhibited the real‐time adherence of S. mutans to salivary components in a biosensor. KH5, which showed a real‐time inhibition (71%), also significantly prevented the recolonization of S. mutans on the tooth surface in rats. These results suggested that the core B‐cell epitope (‐Y‐‐‐L‐‐Y‐‐‐‐) recognized by KH5 was the essential sequence in the antigenic epitopes of PAc protein recognized specifically by the inhibitory antibody. Therefore, the amino acid residues were found to be important in the initial attachment of S. mutans to the tooth surface. These results provide for the mechanism of PAc molecule in the initial attachment of S. mutans on the tooth surface and more effective designs for the removal of S. mutans and S. sobrinus from the oral cavity.


Employees are often referred to as the main cause of cyber security incidents in organizations. These incidents can lead to huge company risks and enormous losses. Therefore insight in how organizations can improve employees' information security behavior is important, realizing that technical measures alone cannot reduce all security risks. This paper examines the relation between organizational information security climate factors and employees information security behavior. The organizational climate concerns the tangible factors which relate to the atmosphere and work practices in the organization, like management support and openness on information security incidents. After a literature review and semi-structured interviews with information security experts, organizational factors are identified which influence information security behavior. A conceptual model is developed and quantitatively tested, with data collected via a survey under 289 employees. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze these data. The organizational factors education and communication, managerial commitment, employee involvement, work impediment and openness on information security, are confirmed to have a significant relation with the information security behavior of employees. Organizations can use these insights to strengthen their information security climate in order to improve employees' information security behavior.


Back ground: Eucheuma cottonii is either of carrageenophyte sea weed variety of potency to develop in Indonesia. Optimal extraction methods of carrageenan is urgent to exploratory for import reducted. This study was aimed to know the influence of solvent kinds and deeping time on the carrageenan quality. Methods: The experiment used a factorial randomized block design with two factors and three replications. The first factor was solvent kinds (water, calcium oxide) and the second factor was deeping time (12, 18, 24 hours). The indicators of carrageenan quality were content of water, ash, sulfida, rendemen, viscocity, gell force and whiteness degree. Result: The research result showed that solvent kinds and deeping time caused the different quality. The best quality of carrageenan was produced from deeping of 12 hours with calcium oxide solvent.


To solve the defects of slow convergence and prematurity that is common in the known algorithms for Minimum Weight Triangulation(MWT),the conception and algorithm of the maximum of allowable triangulation for point set is proposed,thereby ant colony algorithm can be applied to MWT successfully.Diagonal exchange rule is put forward to speed up convergence ability of algorithm.Experimental result shows that the algorithm's the convergence velocity,the ability to resist prematurity to converge and run time is much better than the existing algorithms.


A platform-based design automation methodology is described. The methodology brings advantages that include supporting configurable platform architecture, improving quality of SoC integration and avoiding manual error and shorten SoC integration schedule. A benchmark is also proposed to realize how the methodology can address the targets and meet time-to-market goal.


ABSTRACT This ethnographic study, conducted by undergraduate student-researchers under the supervision of the author, investigates an academic library that has implemented best practices for learning commons design and embedded information literacy programs. Data from field observations, participant interviews, and artifact analysis revealed conflicting perceptions of student-centeredness as it relates to learning commons design and information literacy pedagogy. The author argues that while the learning commons has been successful in attracting students to the library, there are unintended negative consequences to cross-training librarians, library staff, and partner service personnel working at key service points, which contribute to students' lack of library awareness.


An interesting and diverse set of four presentations stimulated active discussion on a variety of topics in the economic history of less developed countries. Philip Curtin began the session by reporting on his recent work on "Africa and the Wider Monetary World, 1250-1850." Recent research indicates that while the African economy may not have been as monetized as its Asian and European counterparts, there was still a great deal of production that was distributed through market channels. There were three phases of monetary relations between Africa and the rest of the world. During the first phase from the eleventh or twelfth centuries until 1500 it appears that gold flowed out of Africa in return for copper. During the second phase from 1500 to 1850, European maritime contact altered the existing trade and monetary flow patterns. Finally in the third phase old currency systems were destroyed and replaced during the colonial period by systems based on the European monetary system. During the second phase there was a general rise in the level of monetization of the economy, a growth in the monetary use of cowrie shells and copper, and continued use of cloth as the apparently most prevalent medium of exchange. Gold appears to have flowed out of Africa except during the second half of the eighteenth century when high gold prices in Africa appear to have resulted from the increased use of gold as a store of value and medium of exchange for major transactions. Curtin presented evidence on a diverse and complicated set of trends in the use, price, and shipment of cowries, copper, gold, and silver. Important evidence on the monetary history of Africa is being accumulated. John Hanson focused his presentation on "Export Surpluses and Economic Development." Using data from the 1909 U.S. Department of Commerce and Labor study, The Statistical Abstract of Foreign Countries, he was able to construct a series on export surpluses and the flows of precious metals for 34 less-developed countries from the midnineteenth through the early-twentieth centuries. Hanson was attempting to test the assertion in the dependency-school literature that less developed countries consistently ran export surpluses. He found that 16 of his 34 countries did while 18 ran import surpluses. Cumulative export surpluses for the 16 ranged from 1 to 37 percent of cumulative exports and probably did not exceed 5 percent of national income. Hanson concluded that no general pattern emerges and that each country needs to be examined on a case by case basis. Some members of the audience commented that export surpluses were essentially payments for invisibles and the services of foreign factors of production, and questioned their importance or role in development. Others felt that Hanson had ignored the timing of the export surpluses, and had paid insufficient attention to overall and regional trade relations and their effects on development, and thus had not really tested the dependency-school hypothesis. Some suggested that if the size of the cumulative export surpluses were compared with the value of aggregate savings rather than national income, their burden would have appeared to have been more significant. Dan Doeppers presented evidence on occupational mobility among Filipinos in Manila in the 1900-1941 period. The study is part of a larger one on social dynamics and mobility and the role of the middle class in colonial export economies. Doeppers found that upward mobility was rapid during export boom periods, that voluntary turnover rates in the government bureaucracy were inversely related to real government salaries and positively related to private employment opportunities, and that the American policy of Filipinization of the bureaucracy greatly favored the cohort who joined the


Granulomatosis with polyangiitis is an unusual multisystemic inflammatory disease, with vasculitis of small‐ and medium‐sized vessels, with a predilection for upper lower airways and kidneys. The etiology remains unknown although it may originate from different stimuli, in genetically susceptible patients.


This article challenges the view that rhetoric, dialectic and logic are three perspectives on argument, relating respectively to its process, its procedure, and its product. It also questions the view that rhetorical arguments represent a distinctive type. It suggests that, as related to argument, rhetoric is the theory of arguments in speeches, dialectics the theory of arguments in conversations, and logic the theory of good reasoning in each.


Are politicians who are concerned about the public's beliefs regarding their competence and their preferences bad politicians? We consider a model where the public is unsure about the competence of an agent and whether the agent is concerned about the consequences of policy decisions (statesman) or only about the public's beliefs (populist). We show that populists distort their decisions in order to avoid being recognized as incompetent or as populists. If the public bases its reelection decision on competence, policy decisions are extremely distorted. Because of this paradox of competence, voters should reelect candidates mainly based on their beliefs about whether a politician is a statesman. This might explain why politicians are so concerned to be perceived as a statesman.


Technology not only brings benefits such as flexible working practices but can also have negative stressful consequences such as increasing email overload and the blurring of work-home boundaries. We report on an exploratory study that extends the current understanding of email usage by investigating how different professions at a university manage work and personal emails using different devices and how this impacts their work-home boundary management. Our findings lead us to identify two user groups: those with permeable boundaries (primarily academics) and those who have more rigid ones (primarily professional services employees) and that there are differences in when, where and how they manage their work and personal emails. In particular we find that some participants use micro-boundary strategies to manage transitions between work and personal life. Based on these novel findings we propose improvements of email software design to facilitate effective email, work-home boundary management, and support micro-boundary practices.


Wide-temperature-range 10.3 Gbit/s operations of 1.3 µm distributed feedback (DFB) lasers using high-density quantum dots are presented. Clearly opened eye diagrams are obtained from −40 to 80°C with extinction ratios of more than 5.2 dB.


An empirical relationship between baryte fluxes and export production have been proposed by Frangois et al. (1995). This relationship can be used to reconstruct oceanic palaeoproductivities only if i) it is valid under different oceanic environments and ii) the sedimented-baryte signal is well preserved. The synthesis of baryte in surface water is biologically mediated whereas baryte dissolution at depth depends on thermodynamic conditions (Jeandel et al., 1996). In addition, preservation of baryte in sediments depends on the redox conditions prevailing in the sediments (McManus et al, 1996). In this work, we compare exported carbon flux deduced from baryte flux in trapped material with the measured exported production and with sediment data originating from the same locations. Trapped material and sediments were collected offshore Mauritania during EUMELI program (EUtrophic, MEsotrophic and oLIgotrophic sites). Both productivity and dust input decrease drastically from the eutrophic (E-site) to the oligotrophic site (O-site). In addition, redox conditions change from the eutrophic site (anoxic sediments) to the oligotrophic site (oxic sediments).


Submitted for the MAR09 Meeting of The American Physical Society Tuning the gap of the superconducting flux qubit ARKADY FEDOROV, FLOOR PAAUW, KEES HARMANS, HANS MOOIJ, Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, PO Box 5046, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherland — Recent advances in experiments with the flux qubits include demonstration of single and two qubit quantum gates as well as a coupling between the flux qubit and a harmonic oscillator. It was also experimentally confirmed that the best coherence properties were achieved when the qubit was kept at the symmetry point. For these conditions the qubit's energy level splitting is minimal (the gap) and determined solely by the quantum tunnelling in the double-well potential. However, since the potential barrier and the gap of the conventional flux qubit are fully fixed by the fabrication, one needs to tune the qubit out of the symmetry point in order to bring it in resonance with another quantum system. We overcame this limitation by introducing the change in the qubit design and demonstrated the tuning of the gap over a range of several Gigahertz within a few nanoseconds. We believe this could be an important step toward the coupling of the flux qubit to another qubit or the quantum bus. This control also allows a more extensive study of the relaxation time of the qubit as a function of the gap size within a constant environment. Arkady Fedorov Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology, PO Box 5046, 2600 GA Delft, The Netherland Date submitted: 10 Nov 2008 Electronic form version 1.4


First of all the paper elucidates significance,purpose and requirements of bridge strengthening.In the light of characteristics of bridge strengthening,it briefly explains the train of thought of bridge strengthening,proposes the reinforcing methods common in the superstructure and substructure of bridge as well as the determing methods after reinforcement.


[Objective] The effect of ancillary agent of drunken process on the sterilization of the pathogen such as aeromonas in crab was researched.[Method] The carp was artificially infected by the aeromonas bacteria and hydrophila isolated from the diseased crab and the Jiafa rice wine and ancillary agent were used for its sterilization test.[Results] The results showed that the aeromonas could be effectively killed in a short period of time(2~4h) while the agent at certain concentration(30% to 40%) and the wine added at the same time.[Conclusion] The application of Jiafa rice wine and ancillary agent had the effect on the sterilization of pathogenic aeromonas and under certain condition,the effect of both was higher than results of the single one.


Triadic concept analysis (TCA) is an extension of formal concept analysis (dyadic case) which takes into account modi (e.g. time instances, conditions, etc.) in addition to objects and attributes. Thus instead of 2-dimensional binary tables TCA concerns with 3-dimensional binary tables. In our previous work we generalized TCA to work with grades instead of binary data; in the present paper we study TCA in even more general way. In order to cover up an analogy of isotone conceptforming operators (known from dyadic case in fuzzy setting) we developed an unifying framework in which both kinds of concept-forming operators are particular cases of more general operators. We describe the unifying framework, properties of the general concept-forming operators, show their relationship to those we used in our previous work.


The research delivers an analysis of the partial and simultaneous effects of archivist competency and commitment on archive digitalization. It was descriptive research using a quantitative approach. Data were collected using questionaries having been tested for validity and reliability. The results demonstrated that (1) archivist competency had a positive and significant effect on archive digitalization at a partial determination of 15.7%, (2) archivist commitment had a positive and significant effect on archive digitalization at a partial determination of 38.1%, and (3) archivist competency and commitment had a simultaneous positive and significant effect on archive digitalization. As regards the coefficient of determinant, the Adjusted R-Square was 0.519. The figure exhibited that archivist competency and commitment could elucidate archive digitalization variability in Universitas Negeri Gorontalo by 51.9%. Based on the results, as featured in the partial determination of each variable, the archivist commitment was more dominant in affecting the implementation of archive digitalization management than archivist competency. And yet, archivist competency also contributed to defining successful archive digitalization management.


This book addresses recent developments in the study of tense from a cross-paradigm and cross-linguistic point of view. Leading international scholars explore challenging ideas about tense at the interfaces between semantics and syntax as well as syntax and morphology.The book is divided into three main subsections: 1) Tense in tenseless languages; 2) Tense, mood, and modality, and 3) Descriptive approaches to some tense phenonema. The volume can be used for graduate and undergraduate level teaching, though those who will maximally benefit will be researchers at graduate level.


The evolution of the universe and that of most of its subsystems are time asymmetric which contrasts the time symmetric laws of physics. The aim of this paper is to prove that, from causality and the global nature of time asymmetry this asymmetry can be derived at the fundamental quantum level, defining a growing entropy and the outcome of equilibrium, explaining the decaying processes, etc. (AIP)


The WWW is a ubiquitous, mature communication infrastructure for business and scientific information interchange. Since 1997, the Bavarian Archive for SpeechSignals (BAS) has been developing and using web-based annotation tools for large-scale speech databases. Recently it has developed an application for recording speech via the WWW. Both the annotation and the recording tools are now integrated into a web application for the Ph@ttSessionz speech database collection project. The goals of Ph@ttSessionz are a) to demonstrate the feasibility of WWW-based speech recording and annotation, and b) to collect a database of 1000 adolescent German speakers for the development of speech-driven applications and devices. The recordings are performed in more than 35 public schools all over Germany. This paper will describe the recording and annotation software and discuss the technical problems that had to be overcome in the speech database collection.


Novel electro-conductive and mechanically-tough double network polymer hydrogels (E-DN gels) were synthesized by polymerization of 3, 4-ethylenedioxythiophene in the presence of a double network hydrogel (DN gel) matrix. The E-DN gels showed not only excellent mechanical performance, having a fracture stress of 1.4–2.1 MPa, but also electrical conductivity as high as 10−3 S cm−1, both under dry and water-swollen states. The fracture stress and fracture energy of the E-DN gel was increased by 1.7 and 3.4 times, respectively, as compared with the DN gel. From scanning electron microscope and AFM observations, it was found that electro-conductive poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) was incorporated into DN gel matrix, apparently due to the formation of a poly-ion complex with sulfonic acid group of the DN gel network. Thus, PEDOT incorporated into the DN gel matrix greatly improves not only electronic conductivity, but also mechanical properties, reinforcing the double network gel matrix. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Polym Sci Part B: Polym Phys, 2012


The main purpose of this research work was to analyse the most efficient spatial distribution of pig production units in the state of Goias. The model developed required a mixed integer programming structure. The factors considered in the model were: the grain transportation cost (corn and soybeans) from the source to the production unit, the cost of transporting the animals from the production unit to slaughterhouses and the carcass transportation cost from the slaughterhouse to retailers. The consumption market was spatialy defined as comprising the state of Goias, the Distrito Federal and the counties of Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte. Moreover, it was determined the supplies of corn and soybeans for each microregion in the state of Goias and the national per capita pork consumption. Three scenarios, showing different per capita consumption levels, were considered. One of these is the current per capita consumption level and the two other were determined according to sector perspectives.


This chapter documents how Australia has had an increasingly complex perspective on the broad issue of monitoring and assessing the use of technology in education. In particular, the Australian experience documents how to monitor technology use in schools in the context of a complex governance system, as a true recognition of the variance in scope and depth that technology-based innovations have across schools and territories. In addition, the chapter elaborates how Australia is addressing the need for substantial progress in the collection of evidence concerning how young people become equipped with digital literacy skills and, in a broader sense, with 21st century skills.


MENTARI ALDINI HARKART. The Effect of Business Risk, Profitability and Firm Size on Capital Structure at Manufacture Companies on Indonesia Stock Exchange Year 2017. Thesis. Jakarta. Economic Education Study Program, Concentration of Accounting Education, Faculty of Economics, Jakarta State University, 2019.
This study aims to determine the effect of business risk, profitability and firm size on capital structure at manufacture companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange year 2017 either partially or simultaneously. The method used in this research is a quantitative method with statistical descriptive analysis. Data collection using documentation techniques in the form of financial statements and annual company. The affordable population in this study is a company that meets the criteria amounted to 70 companies with 58 research samples of the company. The data analysis technique uses analysis requirements test, classical assumption test, multiple regression equation tests, and hypothesis test consisting of F test and t-test. Result of data analysis yield regression equation DER = 0,272 – 0,012 DOL – 0,946 ROA + 0,009 SIZ. Pursuant to result of this research show that (1) business risk not have an effect to capital structure with Tcount ˂ Ttable (1,449 ˂ 2,00) and significance 0,153 ˃ 0,05 (2) profitability have negative and signified effect to capital structure with Tcount > Ttable (2,595 > 2,00) and significance 0,012 0,05, the correlation coefficient of 0.416 with medium classified and the coefficient of determination of 17,3%.
Keywords: Capital Structure, Business Risk, Profitability, Firm Size


In this study, we give weighted mean and weighted Gaussian curvatures of two types of timelike general rotational surfaces with non-null plane meridian curves in four-dimensional Minkowski space E^4_1 with density e^({\lambda}_1x^2+{\lambda}_2^y2+{\lambda}_3z^2+{\lambda}_4t^2), where {\lambda}_i (i = 1,2,3,4) are not all zero and we give some results about weighted minimal and weighted flat timelike general rotational surfaces in E^4_1 with density. Also, we construct some examples for these surfaces.


Two doses of the vaccine reduced symptomatic cases by 94%, hospitalisation by severe the outcomes at three periods: days 14 to 20 after the first dose of vaccine, days 21 27 after the first dose, and day 7 after the second dose. In the second dose of vaccine is on day 21 in line with the trials and the manufacturer's recommendation. The UK is leaving a 12 week gap between the the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine is effective the B.1.1.7 which identified in the UK. the study an increasing share of SARS-CoV-2 isolates in Israel—up to 80%—were


Based on the characteristic of high vacuum in outer space,in order to study the applicability of IR interference materials in outer space,the IR extinction performance of graphite micro-powder smoke in vacuum is studied experimentally,and the extinction performance in vacuum is compared with the extinction performance in normal pressure.The results show that the graphite micro-powder smoke has high extinction ability in vacuum 0.03MPa,which is less than the normal pressure one.Analysis show that the smoke particles sedimentation velocity is increased with the increasing of the vacuum degree of environment,the decreasing smoke mass concentration and particles number make the smoke IR extinction ability reduced.


A type of higher-order two-dimensional sketch is defined which has models in suitable 2-categories. It has as special cases the ordinary sketches of Ehresmann and certain previously defined generalizations of one-dimensional sketches. These sketches allow the specification of constructions in 2-categories such as weighted limits, as well as higher-order constructions such as exponential objects and subobject classifiers, that cannot be sketched by limits and colimits. These sketches are designed to be the basis of a category-based methodology for the description of functional programming languages, complete with rewrite rules giving the operational semantics, that is independent of the usual specification methods based on formal languages and symbolic logic. A definition of 'path grammar', generalizing the usual notion of grammar, is given as a step towards this goal.


Child health specialists have called for an urgent review of the sanctions against Iraq and warned that the blockade has resulted in a doubling of the death rates among children aged under 5 years.

Mortality is now more than 20 times that of the United Kingdom and about the same as Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, said the International Child Health Group. Maternal mortality has also more than doubled.

The group, a UK based international alliance of paediatricians and other child health specialists, said that before sanctions were imposed, Iraq was relatively affluent and health care had been improving over the previous 20 …


The Coast Guard NVC 1-69 has provided guidelines for the design of automated systems so that human surveillance can be reduced without jeopardizing the vessel. An integral part of these guidelines is the preparation of a test procedure to periodically test the vital safety systems to increase the probability that they will function properly when called on. However, the test procedure guidelines are general and subject to wide interpretation. This paper attempts to provide some insight into what needs to be periodically tested; why the testing is required; what techniques are acceptable and stresses the need for efficient testing. Some examples are also provided of testing procedures that have been found to be efficient and sufficiently comprehensive.


In this chapter we present a study of flake retouching on one level of the Combe Grenal, located in the Black Perigord of France. We use the results to reflect on existing explanations of Middle Paleolithic tool production and diversity. Our evidence indicates the nonstaged and multilinear character of implement production and the apparent importance of blank form in influencing the pattern of retouch distribution and intensity. This inference implies that models of the implement classes, as stages of reduction, are not a viable depiction of the retouching technology represented in Layer 21. Instead, our reconstruction of scraper retouching demonstrated that each of Bordes's implement types has multiple histories of retouching. Some implements received little retouch, whereas others were intensively retouched; retouch sometimes changed a specimen to such an extent that the type into which it was classified was altered, whereas other specimens remained typologically stable even though they received additional retouch. The possibility that different specimens belonging to a type had different histories is a reason that typological groups may make poor analytical units for many technological questions. Introduction Questions of artifact reduction have been central to a number of high-level debates in Paleolithic archaeology. In particular, there have been extensive discussions about whether the traditional practice of analyzing retouched flakes by classifying them into a number of normative categories, called implement types, is valid or problematic, and whether those types represent tools of distinctly different designs or arbitrary divisions in sets of morphologically variable objects.


Abstract Despite repeated calls for retrospective regulatory review by every President since the 1970s, progress on implementing such reviews has been slow. We argue that part of the explanation for the slow progress to date stems from misalignment between the goals of regulatory review and the institutional framework used for the review. We define three distinct goals of regulatory review – the rule relevance goal, the rule improvement goal, and the regulatory learning goal. We then examine the text of the Presidential Executive Orders and major Congressional legislation addressing retrospective review, and document which goals were targeted and which institutions were used to conduct the reviews. We find that the U.S. federal government has almost always sought review of one rule at a time, conducted by the agency that issued or promulgated the rule and that these reviews tend to focus on rule relevance and costs. This institutional framework for retrospective review – one rule, assessed by the promulgating agency, focused on relevance and cost – is only well-suited to a narrow interpretation of the rule improvement goal. We then review alternative institutional structures that could better meet the rule improvement goal and the broader regulatory learning goal across multiple rules and agencies, and we offer recommendations for developing new guidance and institutions to promote multiagency regulatory learning.


The structure of competence model of the future teacher-choreographer is suggested. The author asserts that the art competence plays the key role among the range of the competences as it penetrates all the competence subgroups and constitutes the major basis of professional personal success. The author comes to a conclusion that the art competence determines the specific of content-organizational forms of choreographic education.


A 1.8-V wide-band CMOS synthesizer for cable tuner applications is designed in a 0.18-mum CMOS process. A ring oscillator with switched-capacitor arrays is employed to achieve a wide operating frequency range from 160 MHz to 648 MHz. The measured phase noise is -104.16 dBc/Hz and -110 dBc/Hz at frequency offsets of 10 kHz and 1 MHz respectively. The spur performance is less than -64 dBc at 4-MHz offset. The measured IQ phase mismatch is less than 0.1 degree, and the image rejection measured with on-chip mixers is more than 61dB. The synthesizer dissipates 40mW from a single 1.8-V supply. The core chip area is 2 mm2


Traffic culture is part of the general culture, which relates to traffic participants. The value of such educational work is to prevent and reduce the number of accidents which involves children and adults. Research of the school travel way and the safety of children in traffic are very important and their results provide important information for the school, parents, and eventually the children themselves. Within this work, in March 2018, a questionnaire was conducted with students from the first to the fourth grade in one elementary school near Županja. For questioning purposes, a questionnaire with ten questions was compiled. Questions were answered by completing or supplementing and explaining the answers. The aim of the research is to examine the way that students travel from home to school depending on the student's time and age, and the position of students in traffic. Research results have shown that more than half of the respondents have more than ten minutes of walking from home to school. The results show that more than half of the respondents daily cross over one, two or three roads on their way to school. More than a third of students cross each day a road with light signaling, ie semaphoresis. Students mostly come to school by foot, next is by car. As was also to be assumed when is cold weather, rain or pole students are usually driven by car to school. When it is sunny time, the most frequent arrival at school is on foot. Of the bicycle equipment, whether in leisure or cycling, most do not carry anything. A large number of respondents does not want to change the way they travel to school, and the students are happier when they go on foot and with friends in school.


Mycotoxins are toxins produced by aspergillus, a type of fungus that can be found virtually everywhere and their toxicity occurs at very low concentrations. For good storage condition of the post-harvest grains, the sensitive and reliable methods for detecting mycotoxins are required for long-term sustainability of animals ingesting excessive amounts of the toxin from chronic health problem to death. The aspergillus grows rapidly in the air with high relative humidity contrast to the air with low relative humidity. In this study, the samples of maize were randomly collected in three sectors: Nyamata, Gakenke and Mahembe. Using selective media and biochemical tests, the three strains; A. flavus, capable of producing both B- and G-type aflatoxin and A. pseudotamarii which has not previously detected in our region and A. parasiticus, isolated from the collected maize and the total aflatoxin (AFT) in maize flour was evaluated by Reveal Q+; the mean concentrations of AFT were 52.3±3.93 CFU/ml for Mahembe sector, 49.5±0.98 CFU/ml for Gakenke sector and 43.7±2.15 CFU/ml for Nyamata sector. The level of AFT contamination in a, b, c sectors was higher than the maximum tolerable limit of aflatoxins recommended by the United States Food and Drug Administration guidelines for aflatoxin in animal feeds and human foods at 20 parts per billion (20 ppb).


We develop a theoretical model for slow light using excitonic population oscillation in a semiconductor quantum well. In a two-level system, if the resonant pump and the signal have a difference frequency within the range of inverse of the carrier lifetime, coherent population beating at this frequency will be generated. We analyze the excitonic population oscillation using an atomiclike model extended from semiconductor Bloch equations for both spin subsystems of the excitonic population and the electrical polarization density. The two spin subsystems are coupled by the excitation-induced dephasing rate, which depends on the net population difference in conduction and heavy hole quantized bands and the population exchange due to flip of the spins of electrons or holes. We present our theoretical results for the absorbance, the refractive index spectra, and the slowdown factor due to population oscillation at various pump intensities, and show very good agreement with experimental data. It is shown that a slowdown factor of $3.12\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{10}^{4}$ has been achieved for a semiconductor quantum-well structure. We also obtain analytical solutions from our theory and account for different response behaviors of the signal when its polarization is either parallel or orthogonal to that of the pump, which has also been confirmed by experiments.


Themechanism oftoxicity offoscarnet was studied bymonitoring itseffects on thecell cycle ofexponentially growing,semisynchronous humanembryocells inculture. Theeffects offoscarnet on thecell cycle were dependent ontheconcentration ofdrugused. At1mM,cell division was reduced by50%,whereas thecell flow was mainly reduced intheG2phaseofthecell cycle, leading toan increase intheproportion ofG2+M cells. Theminorreduction ofthymidine incorporation inSphasecells provided additional evidence that1mM foscarnet didnotspecifically inhibit DNAsynthesis. Cell division wasgreatly reduced at2.5mM foscarnet, and theG2phase was markedly affected, whereas Scell flow was less reduced. Scell flow was 10% per h and thymidine incorportation was 25%thatofcontrol cells, while a block intheG2+M phase was evident. Onthe other hand, ataconcentration of5mM foscarnet, thecell flow was greatly reduced intheGIandSphases, with less reduction ofG2cell flow andcells accumulated intheSphase. Theeffects offoscarnet on thecell cycle were more pronounced withincreasing times up to72h,whichcould notbeexplained bytheslowpenetration of foscarnet whichrequired only4to8htoachieve constant levels. At2.5and5mM foscarnet, there was the additional effect ofthecell membranes becoming more leaky as a result offoscarnet toxicity whichmight contribute tothetoxic effects ofthedrugathighconcentrations. Whenfoscarnet was removedfromthe medium, theeffects on thecell cycle wererapidly reversed, inthetimeneeded forfoscarnet todiffuse outfrom thecells, whichindicates thereversible nature ofthetoxic effects offoscarnet. Foscarnet (trisodium phosphonoformate) hasbeenshown tobeaneffective inhibitor ofthemultiplication ofseveral DNAviruses andretroviruses (see reference 8forareview). Theantiviral effect offoscarnet, apyrophosphate analog, is mediated byaninhibition ofDNA synthesis byinterference with thepyrophosphate-binding


A simple inquiry into the cadre personnel in colleges and universities is made on the basis of the elaboration of the development of defense cadre personnel in colleges and universities and the requests of the "Three-Represents" theory for the construction of Cadre personnel.


Dual citizenship we may have to recognize as the rudimentary form of that international citizenship to which, if our words mean anything, we aspire.   (Randolph Bourne, Trans-National America, 1916) What are the rights and obligations of citizens who live outside their country? Political theory has so far focused on immigrants' access to citizenship in countries of settlement and has had little to say about their relations to their countries of origin. External citizenship is, however, of growing importance for large numbers of migrants as well as for sending states, many of which have dramatically changed their attitudes towards expatriates. I have proposed a stakeholder criterion for determining who should have claims to external citizenship status and rights. In this article I summarize how this argument applies to the acquisition and loss of citizenship outside a state's territory, to the right to return, to an external franchise, and to citizenship duties of military service, paying taxes and compulsory voting.


The relative rates and regioselectivities were determined for the reaction of unsubstituted and substituted tropylium ions containing methoxy, methylthio, methyl, phenyl, methoxycarbonyl or cyano with borohydride ion in acetonitrile at 25°C. The rate increases in the order methoxy- < methylthio- < methyl- < unsubstituted-, but it levels off for unsubstituted-, phenyl-, methoxycarbonyl- and cyano-tropylium ions. From the lower limit of the rate constant of the methoxytropylium ion, which was estimated by the stopped-flow technique, and the logarithmic plot of the relative rates against those of the one-electron reduction of the tropylium ions with Cr(II) ion, the reaction with the borohydride ion at the level-off region was concluded to be diffusion-controlled. In spite of the diffusion-controlled behavior, these tropylium ions show regioselectivities. The data indicate that the present cation—anion combination reaction is not a one-step reaction, but proceeds via a cation—anion encounter-pair (or charge-transfer) intermediate, providing a clear example of the presence of intramolecular selectivity in the absence of intermolecular selectivity. CNDO/2 SCF MO calculations suggest that the regioselectivity is primarily frontier orbital controlled.


A cluster analysis of responses of 78 carers of people with learning disabilities to service needs scales identified high- and low-need groups, each with distinct profiles. In comparison with the low-need group, the high-need group reported greater needs for familial social support; help explaining their child's handicap to others; assistance with leisure activities for their handicapped member; extrafamilial social support; financial assistance; information on services for families with a handicapped member; information on child development and management; and respite care and counselling. Those in the high-need group perceived the handicapped person for whom they cared to have more behavioural problems and safety skills deficits. The carers in the high-need group also had lower levels of perceived social support and higher levels of family stress. Although high- and low-need groups displayed these disparate psychosocial profiles, they were demographically similar and did not differ in terms of the level...


A comparative study of the quantity of the fractures of ribs in drivers and passengers of the front seat by front and back anatomic lines during front collisions of cars is performed. The statistically appreciable distinction of the quantity of the fractures of ribs by front and back surfaces in a driver and passenger is proved using the Students criterion providing the importance for determining the location of persons in a car during trauma inside it.


Chronic idiopathic urticaria (CIU) is defined as persistent symptoms of urticaria for 6 weeks or more. It is associated with autoimmunity in approximately 35-40% of the patients. Immunological dysfunction has been described to occur in the patients with CIU, most notably in association with an inflammatory process. Apart from the factors of humoral immunity such as autoantibody, there may be some cellular immunity factors usually mediated by T lymphocytes involved in the pathogenesis of CIU. However, the actions of T lymphocytes and lymphocyte subsets in the pathogenesis of CIU are not fully delineated so far. This present study was aimed to investigate the roles of T lymphocytes and lymphocyte subsets in the pathogenesis of CIU. Thirty patients with CIU and 30 healthy controls were randomly enrolled. Flow cytometry was used to analyze the constituent ratios of CD3+, CD4+, CD8+, Th1, Th2, Th17 and Treg lymphocyte subsets in peripheral blood. The results showed that, as compared with the control group, the ratios of CD8+ and Th2 lymphocyte subsets in patients with CIU significantly increased (P<0.05), while the ratio of Th17 cells decreased significantly (P<0.05). No obvious changes were observed in the constituent ratios of CD3+, CD4+, Th1 and Treg lymphocyte subsets (P>O.O5). There were imbalance of CD4+/CD8+, Th1/Th2 and Th17/Treg cell populations in patients with CIU (P<0.05). The results suggest that the imbalance of lymphocyte subset plays a role in the pathogenesis of CIU.


The purpose of this study was to establish an inverse algorithm to solve the analytic element groundwater modeling equations, developed by Anderson (2001 ), for state parameters based on head data from an appropriate field site. The analytical element model (AEM) equations developed by Anderson (2001) are a complex variable technique to describe flow regimes through a gap in a confining layer that otherwise separates two confined aquifers. Anderson's equations are based on the assumptions that hydraulic conductivity is constant in the respective confined aquifers. It also assumes a hydraulic conductivity of zero for the confining layers in the system. A Levenberg-Marquardt based inverse algorithm was developed and applied to synthetic data created by the forward application of Anderson's AEM equations based on state variables similar to those presented in the literature (Anderson 2001). The inverse algorithm was used to solve for the state parameters describing window length (L) and flux through the window (Q) given four head values observed in the forward solution. The inverse algorithm successfully predicted values for window length and flux through the window within 20% of the values used to create the synthetic head data. A study on the effect of an added observation point in the flow field was also performed. It was observed that an added observation point in the flow field resulted in better approximations of L and Q by the inverse algorithm. The algorithm was then applied to an actual field case, the Shelby Farms Site in Memphis, Tennessee, in an attempt to predict the window extent and flux through the window based on head observations from four wells installed within the window. Based on data from three separate occasions, the algorithm produced a value for window length ofL= 573.9 ft and flow through a unit slice of the window ofQ= -525.0 ft/day, which compares well with the value of 35,627 ft/day for the entire window profile from other recent studies at the Shelby Farms Site.


In this paper,a bi-level variational inequality (VI) model for dynamic user optimal(DUO) problem is proposed.Travelers can choose the departure time and the route at the same time to minimize their disutility and travel time at any decisive point.The chaotic approach is used to solve the bi-level WI model,and the solution can give not only the travel demand of every interval,but also the link inflow rates,the link outflow rates and the link flows at each interval.


OBJECTIVES
To expand the pediatric experience on Hepatitis-B Virus (HBV) reactivation, a known complication in patients with hematologic malignancies or on immunosuppression.

METHODS
Retrospective appraisal of HBV therapy/prophylaxis in immunocompromised children, studied from April/2006 to March/2020.

RESULTS
18 HBV-positive patients, 5 girls, median age 11.1 (4.1-17.9) years were included. 17/18 were immunosuppressed at HBV-infection diagnosis. 17 were at high risk of reactivation, one at moderate risk. 5/18 had acute hepatitis B as first infection or reactivation, 6 had HBeAg-positive infection, 1 an HBeAg-negative infection and 6 HBsAg-negative infection. Median follow-up was 2.7 (0.7-12.5) years. No HBV-related mortality was observed. Prophylaxis had to be repeated in one. Lamivudine was used in 6/12 viremic patients and HBV-DNA negativization obtained in 2/6 (33%). Tenofovir-DF was used in 2/12 and entecavir in 4/12: 100% attained HBV-DNA negativization. Therapy had to be switched from tenofovir-DF to entecavir in one patient, due to renal impairment. Virological breakthroughs were observed in one lamivudine-treated patient, leading to a hepatitis flare; one patient on entecavir had a hepatitis flare at immunoreconstitution. Mortality was 33% in the HBsAg-positive-group.Seven prophylactic treatments were administered to 6 patients with HBsAg-negative infection: tenofovir-DF in two HBV-DNA-positive, lamivudine in 5 HBV-DNA-negative, without reverse HBsAg seroconversion, morbidity or mortality.

CONCLUSIONS
There is a residual risk of acute hepatitis B in immunocompromised children, mortality rate was substantial, potentially related to the delays in commencing chemotherapy caused by liver dysfunction. Tenofovir-DF or entecavir are the drugs of choice for HBV treatment in immunocompromised children.


The issue of how phonological information becomes available in reading Chinese and the role that it plays in lexical access was investigated for Chinese compound words, using pseudohomophone effects in lexical and phonological decision as a diagnostic tool. Pseudohomophones were created by replacing one or both constituents of two-character compound words with orthographically dissimilar homophonic characters. Experiment 1 found that mixed pseudohomophones sharing one constituent with their base words were more difficult to reject than control nonwords in lexical decision. Pure pseudohomophones sharing no constituents with their base words did not show this effect. Experiment 2 used mixed pseudohomophones and found an interaction between base word frequency and the frequency of constituent characters in determining pseudohomophone effects. Experiment 3 used a phonological decision task and found exceptionally poor performance for pure pseudohomophones. These results are interpreted in an interactive framework where the direct mapping from orthography to semantics is dominant and phonology plays a subsidiary role.


Protein-DNA complexes isolated in gel retardation assays can be digested within the acrylamide matrix by the nuclease activity of 1,10-phenanthroline-copper ion (OP-Cu). When the oligonucleotide products are eluted and analyzed on a sequencing gel, a footprint of the DNA-protein complex is obtained. Therefore, any protein-DNA complex isolated by the widely used gel retardation technique can be defined in terms of sequence-specific interactions by this simple methodology. The binding of the lac repressor and Escherichia coli RNA polymerase to an EcoRI fragment containing the lac control region has been studied by the combined gel retardation-1,10-phenanthroline-copper ion footprinting procedure. Footprints of lac repressor binding correspond to those obtained in solution with OP-Cu and DNase I and verify the experimental procedures. In studying E. coli RNA polymerase-promoter complexes, we have found that magnesium ion is required to form single-stranded DNA structures characteristic of kinetically competent open transcription complexes.


Commentary: Deworming externalities and schooling impacts in Kenya: a comment on Aiken et al. (2015) and Davey et al. (2015) Joan Hamory Hicks, Michael Kremer and Edward Miguel* University of California, Center for Effective Global Action, Berkeley, California, USA, Department of Economics, Harvard University and NBER, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and Department of Economics, University of California, Berkeley and NBER


Usually researchers of industrial heritage, pay attention only to material objects: buildings, machines and equipment or project documentation. Meanwhile, the intangible aspect of industrial heritage is also of great interest. It allows us to understand deeper the socio-cultural aspects of production, helps to the preserve the historical memory, and to form the national identity. At the same time, the differentiation of heritage into tangible and intangible can also cause difficulties. The article discusses the main elements of the industrial heritage and offers one of the way for their classification.


Voluminous studies have documented the rise of international standards and their ramifications for the World Trade Organization (WTO), though most of these studies have focused on environment, food safety, public health, and financial regulations issues. An equally important, yet less explored, area is the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. This article seeks to contribute to the literature by examining the concept of an international standard in the ICT industry and its implications for the WTO. Drawing upon empirical data, this article makes four claims. First, today, the WTO policymakers are facing a 'balkanized' standard-setting paradigm in the ICT sector. Global standard-setting in the ICT industry is no longer the sole domain of the 'Big Three': the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), and the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Numerous industry consortia, mostly based in the USA, have emerged on the scene and in some way compete with the Big Three. Second, this paradigm shift engenders intense legal and political interest among major trading partners in the WTO, namely the USA and the EU. Applying the current WTO jurisprudence to this new paradigm, this article suggests that certain consortia may qualify as 'international standardizing bodies' for the purpose of the WTO. To the extent that standards developed by these consortia are recognized by the WTO, firms operating outside the US-based standardizing environment would bear higher costs in global trade. Additionally, this article argues that, while the Big Three seeks to respond to evolving market demands, their structural changes undercut the legitimacy as an international standardizing body. Fourth, intellectual property in the ICT standard-setting context is an eminent threat to the WTO. Ambiguities in licensing rules of the standardizing bodies—be they the Big Three or the industry consortia—may provide loopholes for emerging economies moving up the global value chain to use selectively an international standard.


Composite materials have gained traction in the world today and are becoming of common use in industrial and specialized applications in general due to their flexible nature that involves mixing through layers or matrixes the components of various substances and therefore, a percentage of each substance's physical properties. In recent years there has been an increasing concern for industries to use cost effective reinforcement for metal materials like aluminum which is abundant cheap, with various desirable properties like its lightness, but lacks the strength for various
applications – ceramic materials such as SiC and aluminum oxide are used generally for reinforcing the aluminum MMC. There is a good probability, backed up by tests for certain materials, that reinforcing metals with composites can increase failure displacement, fatigue life, ultimate failure load and energy absorption capacity, amongst many others by substantial amounts.


Thermal field theory is applied to particle production rates in inflationary models, leading to new results for catalyzed or two-stage decay, where massive fields act as decay channels for the production of light fields. A numerical investigation of the Boltzmann equation in an expanding universe shows that the particle distributions produced during small amplitude inflaton oscillations or even alongside slowly moving inflaton fields can thermalize.


In Kenya, welding services are extensively employed in both the formal and informal sectors. The needs continue to increase with increasing population, infrastructure and vehicle fleet, and economic development. Welding need is even currently very important in support of Kenya Vision 2030. This study reports some examples on the role of radiography in assessing quality of welds in Kenya in accordance with Article 2 and 22 of ASME V. Samples were acquired from both informal and formal sectors and tested for volumetric flaws using radiography method. During the sample acquisition visual inspection were carried out before and after welding, and professional Non Destructive Testing investigators witnessed the welding process on site. The study observed a wide variation in welding competency, especially in the informal sector and this has provoked efforts to widen the study with an aim of developing a comprehensive advisory report for Kenyan policy makers.


Introduction P.Annunziato & M.Baldassarri - PART 1: ECONOMIC CYCLE FLUCTUATIONS - Theory and Measurement of Economic Cycles: A Recent Debate M.Lippi - On the Sources of Fluctuation of the Italian Economy: A Structural VAR Analysis P.Onofri, P.Paruolo & B.Salituro - New Measures of the Permanent Component of Output: A Multi-Country Analysis S.Fachin, A.Gavosto & G.Pellegrini - The Real Business Cycle Theory G.Schlitzer - PART 2: CYCLE INDICATORS AND ANALYSIS - The Use of Cyclical Indicators in Business Cycle Analysis P.Annunziato - Leading Indicators for OECD, Central and Eastern European Countries R.Nilsson - A Monthly Model of the Industrial Sector for Business-Cycle Analysis E.Giovannini - Business Cycle Analysis and Industrial Production Forecasts P.Gennari - Death and Rebirth of the Business Cycle I.Cipolletta - Index


nouns Third person subject Collective nouns Examples . . . to prevent the degradation of the environment when it occur . . . . . . construction projects is obviously . . . . . . the involvement are crucial . . . . . . when you has graduated . . . . . . different people has . . . . . . everyone have to go .. . .. . this gender are . . . Structures that involved a relatively wide separation of . . . the engagement of foreign consultants in civil the subject nominal and the verb engineering are . . . . . . the number of females in the civil engineering course are . . . Wrong verb forms in the use of: Unmarked verbs instead of the past participle form Present continuous and simple present/past instead of the simple present Omission of certain grammatical morphemes such as the auxiliary/copula verb Use of inflected verb after infinitive 'to' Redundant inflection of the non-finite forms after the modal verb Errors in noun-pronoun agreement 128 . . . everything has change . . . . . . should be totally blame .. . . . . the project will be reject by client . . . . . . this kind of work is require quality . . . . . . the earthquake, which is occurred in Taiwan . . . . . . it important to know . . . . . . this not mean . . . . . . I still confused about . . . . . . everybody have to responsible . . . . . . up to us to used the knowledge . . . . . . we still need them to shared their knowledge . . . could not found . . . . . . might occurred .. . . . . could clearly understanding . . . . . . everybody should play their role . . . . . . whether he/she can perform based on their . . . Misuse of some prepositions or overgeneralization of I agree with you that in present, there are many the use of certain common prepositions female engineers . . . Double comparative use Errors in the use of pronoun The approval to become a professional engineer depend to . . . There are other causes in pollution . . . Some graduates have been working in ten years . . . . . . more better . . . . . . should we still want to force he/she . . .


The causes of the expansion and cross-national variation in the provision of welfare state goods and services are examined. Social democratic governance is by far the most important determinant of the public delivery of services and is one of the most important determinants of the public funding of the provision of welfare state goods and services. Christian democratic governance is an important determinant of public funding of services, but is not related to public delivery. State structure is also an important determinant. Women's labor force participation is an important determinant of the expansion of public social welfare services net of other social, political, and historical factors. The analysis also shows an interactive effect of women's labor force participation and social democratic governance on public delivery of welfare state services. We conclude that public delivery of a wide range of welfare state services is the most distinctive feature of the social democratic welfare state and that this feature is a product of the direct and interactive effects of social democracy and women's mobilization.


Narratives are the most important means of fixing the meaning of events and of the social and cultural construction of reality. This is the main assertion of this text, together with a detailed explanation of what is to be understood by narratives and narrative research. A particular topic of the paper is what is meant when the concept of narrative is used in the social sciences, for not everyone seems to be talking about the same thing. The misuses of the term borrowed from the common language often pervade scientific speech when dealing with the concept of narratives. Narrative research has gained a lot of ground in the humanities in the past two decades; this paper shows the directions and patterns of this development and how the new branch – enabled by poststructuralist thought – can be put into the older frame of anthropological research. The truth that every truth is socially constructed is taken as granted by the new approach to narratives and this problematic is left behind in order to focus on the how of the construction of meaning. As already stated above, it is my hypothesis that narratives (not to be confused with narrative research in this respect) are one of the most important means of constructing and fixing meaning. Working with narratives can be confusing in a number of ways detailed in the paper, but also clarifying in the respect that it explores more and assumes less than the more traditional approaches of social sciences. 1


The purpose of the article consists in development and experimental check of pedagogical conditions efficiency of students' readiness formation for their own educational cognitive activity in the course of vocational training. The basis of this research forms axiological and competence-based approaches to a problem of students' readiness for their own educational cognitive activity in the course of vocational training in a higher education institution. The following conditions of the process efficiency as pedagogical ones are offered in this article. They are: complex scientific and methodical, educational and syllabus, information and technical providing of students readiness for independent educational cognitive activity in the course of vocational training; the motivational and appreciative attitude of students to independent educational cognitive activity in the course of vocational training; mark and rating monitoring of students readiness formation for independent educational cognitive activity in the course of vocational training. The results of this research are of value at creation and approbation of innovative methods of students' readiness formation for their independent educational cognitive activity, at creation of models of psychological and pedagogical maintenance of this process at the vocational educational institutions.


The invention discloses a natural feed additive and a preparation method thereof. The additive is prepared by taking Saccharicterpenin and origanum oil as raw materials and combining the raw materials according to a proper proportion. The natural feed additive has the advantages of having the capability of improving the immunity and disease resistance of animals, promoting the growth and development of the animals and increasing the productivity.


We explored the everyday experiences of 18‐ to 36‐month‐old toddlers at two study sites and the influence of adaptation to the host culture on the everyday experiences of children from migrant families. First‐ and second‐generation Puerto Rican families in Connecticut, USA, first‐ and second‐generation Turkish families in Bochum, Germany, as well as families of the respective majority cultures were sampled (N = 161). We interviewed mothers to obtain detailed descriptions of a 24‐hour period of a weekday. Study results focused on the activities children engaged in and the social context. The results indicated significant differences between the two sites. Despite site differences, we found parallel processes of adaptation across both sites. Everyday experiences of children of first‐generation mothers differed in important aspects (e.g. self‐feeding) from those of children of the majority cultures. Children of second‐generation mothers were in an intermediate position on most variables, primarily linear pattern of acculturation. Overall, our data suggests that the opportunities and constraints of the physical and social environment of the receiving country as well as the migration experience influence the everyday experiences of children.


The purpose of this paper is to develop a set of elements that Intelligence Community (IC) leadership can use as a framework to transition leadership development courses from the current face-to-face format to the virtual environment. IC employees face unique leadership challenges, and broader application of leadership development is needed. Due to the unique ethical and leadership dilemmas faced by the IC workforce, the unique makeup of the current labor force, the limitations of traditional face-to-face leadership development efforts, and the broad group of stakeholders affected, the IC should transition from face-to-face leadership development to a virtual environment. In this phenomenological qualitative study, eight primary themes emerged as important to include in a virtual leadership development course. INTRODUCTION Background of the Problem. Intelligence professionals routinely face unique and challenging ethical dilemmas (Godfrey & Jacobs, 1978; Allen, 2008; Goldman, 2006). Often concealed from public scrutiny and debate, leaders of the Intelligence Community (IC) must make decisions and gather information in a way that assists the government in protecting the homeland, while also protecting the rights and liberties of individuals (Perry, 1995). Although intelligence forces have become an integral part of the current government (Herman, 1999), decision makers within those organizations are faced with vague statutory authorities that could be perceived by the public as overreaching (Clark, 2010). Traditional leadership development methods have largely targeted those already in leadership positions, while future managers in the IC will likely emerge from the lower ranks of its organizations. Because of this, leadership development that is aimed at the needs of all generations is necessary. The effectiveness of leadership development efforts in the IC impacts policy makers, employees, managers, and other public officials. Therefore, leadership development resources must be available to those within the IC at all levels of command and responsibility. Purpose of the Study. Leadership development skills are defined as individual strengths such as influencing, relationship building, strategic thinking, and executing (Rath & Conchie, 2008). Face-to-face leadership development courses provided by IC agencies to employees is costly and therefore limits the number of employees who can participate in the training. IC employees are faced with unique leadership challenges, and broader administration of leadership development is needed. Unprecedented budget cuts, broad technological advances, and a


In some european areas there are thousands of active companies with quite similar profiles, but the information about the potential for cooperation among the countries in the area is scarce because of the lack of visibility of SME-s, in general, and of transnational connections between companies and the supporting organizations, in particular. To overcome the current situation which is characterized by this lack of an exchange of information among the european zones on the potential for entrepreneurial cooperation, is necessary to have a common european concept and an active implication of the appropiate supporting organizations. On the basis of a context analisys our paper will try to highlighte the need for the following: • Stimulation of productive capacities of companies in order to create cluster networks in the strategic economic sectors, meant to improve the actual integration of the transnational competitive chains of SME-s and contribute thus to the narrowing of regional disparities and to an increase in the attractiveness of the regions lagging behind for FDI; • Improvement of information on the cross-border cooperation potential in these areas of Europe and promote it, so that SME-s in the regions have a bigger visibility • Stepping up the development of some innovative economic policies, of vertical relations among companies, of the visibility and accessibility of local productive systems and continued growth at a regional level. As case study the author chose the Romanian initiatives for transnational clusters promoting in some of the strategic economic sectors.


Logistics is a very dynamic and heterogeneous application area which generates complex requirements regarding the development of information and communication technologies (ICT). For this area, it is a challenge to support mobile workers on-site in an unobtrusive manner. In this contribution, wearable computing technologies are investigated as basis for a "mobile worker supporting system" for tasks at an automobile terminal. The features of wearable computing technologies are checked against the requirements of the application area to come to an usable and acceptable mobile solution in an user-centred design process.


Abstract Seismic terminations and amplitude maps of a 3D seismic volume in offshore Brunei Darussalam show recurrent "valley" shapes of tens to one hundred milliseconds. The seiscrops reveal slightly sinuous, unramified and deeply embanked morphologies with an oblique infilling parallel to the extension. They display alternating high and low amplitudes separated from surrounding homogeneous low amplitudes by strong local incisions. Sparse available well data were inadequate to constrain the interpretation of these geometries. The Jerudong outcrops along the coastline provide section of the same age and located on the same flank of the Berakas syncline. The main depositional system consists of storm-dominated shelf successions. Developed and stacked swaley-cross stratified sand bars suggest a barred morphological coast and relatively protected backshore facies. Fluvial and estuarine stacked channels are isolated inside the shelf deposits. They are laterally lenticular, asymmetrical, of several hundreds of meters in width and vary from a few up to sixty metres in depth. Vertical evolution of environments exhibits abrupt facies shifts revealing stratigraphically significant surfaces. The tremendous changes in water depth suggested by the environments below and above these surfaces highlight the relative importance of the facies shifts with : • sharp-based upper shoreface where swaley-cross stratified sand bars sharply prograde over offshore deposits. • top of storm-dominated deposits eroded by the fluvial and estuarine stacked channels which cut through the backshore-foreshore facies and the shoreface, the lower offshore or the bathyal slope deposits (downward shift surface). The transgressive surface is present in the fill. • wave ravinement surface that separates erosional trough cross beds of fluvial distributaries from overlying hummocky-cross stratifications or offshore marine shales. The patchwork technique with the comparable scale as keystone offers a suitable tool for piecing together outcrops (stacked distributary channel shifting over deltaic storm-dominated shelf) and seiscrops ("valley" shapes) or terminations (infilling patterns).


Direct numerical simulations (DNS) of bypass transition due to high-amplitude free-stream turbulence (FST) are carried out for a flat-plate boundary layer. The computational domain begins upstream of the plate leading edge and extends into the fully turbulent region. Thus, there is no ad hoc treatment to account for the initial ingestion of FST into the laminar boundary layer. We study the effects of both the FST length scale and the disturbance behaviour near the plate leading edge on the details of bypass transition farther downstream. In one set of simulations, the FST parameters are chosen to match the ERCOFTAC benchmark case T3B. The inferred FST integral length scale L11 is significantly larger (RL = UL11/ν = 6580) than that employed in previous simulations of bypass transition (RL ≃ 1000). An additional set of simulations was performed at RL = 1081 to compare the transition behaviour in the T3B case with that of a smaller value of FST length scale. The FST length scale is found to have a profound impact on the mechanism of transition. While streamwise streaks (Klebanoff modes) are observed at both values of the FST length scale, they appear to have clear dynamical significance only at the smaller value of RL, where transition is concomitant with streak breakdown. For the T3B case, turbulent spots form upstream of the region where streaks could be detected. Spot precursors are traced to quasi-periodic spanwise structures, first observed as short wavepackets in the wall-normal velocity component inside the boundary layer. These structures are reoriented to become horseshoe vortices, which break down into young turbulent spots. Two of the four spots examined for this case had a downstream-pointing shape, similar to those found in experimental studies of transitional boundary layers. Additionally, our simulations indicate the importance of leading-edge receptivity for the onset of transition. Specifically, higher fluctuations of the vertical velocity at the leading edge of the plate result in higher levels of streamwise Reynolds stress inside the developing boundary layer, facilitating breakdown to turbulence.


The main goal of this work is to prove that a very generic surface of degree at least 21 in complex projective 3-dimensional space is hyperbolic in the sense of Kobayashi. This means that every entire holomorphic map f : [inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="01i" /] → X to the surface is constant. In 1970, Kobayashi conjectured more generally that a (very) generic hypersurface of sufficiently high degree in projective space is hyperbolic. Our technique follows the stream of ideas initiated by Green and Griffiths in 1979, which consists of considering jet differentials and their associated base loci. However, a key ingredient is the use of a different kind of jet bundle, namely the "Semple jet bundles" previously studied by the first named author. The base locus calculation is achieved through a sequence of Riemann-Roch formulas combined with a suitable generic vanishing theorem for order 2-jets. Our method covers the case of surfaces of general type with Picard group [inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="02i" /] and (13 + 12θ2 ) c 2 1 -9 c 2 0, where θ2 is the "2-jet threshold" (bounded below by -1/6 for surfaces in [inline-graphic xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="03i" /] 3 ). The final conclusion is obtained by using recent results of McQuillan on holomorphic foliations.


As China innate intellectual property rights′3G technical standard,the achievement which of was determined by ITU TD-SCDMA three big mainstream standards,since it has good performance,the frequency spectrum use factor is high,the network planning is simple,covering a wide range of construction and maintenance costs low,and broadband multimedia communication in can meet requirements of in the meantime also can be applied to unsymmetrical transmission characteristics,its has become constructs the Chinese 3G network system′s preferred plan.As TD-SCDMA system is a key technology of smart antenna,international had as a contemporary later mobile communication technology is one of the main development direction of.


We study the impact on New Technologies (NT) on wages using a panel that matches data on individuals and on their firms. In his article on the same topic, Krueger (1993) did not give a definitive answer to the following question: if workers who use NT are better paid, is it because they are abler or because NT increases their productivity. We try to provide an answer to this question. Comparing cross-section estimates and individual fixed-effect estimates, we show that computer-based new technologies are used by abler workers. These workers learn and become more productive when they get more experienced with these NT. In terns of wage differentials, the introduction of computer-based NT contributes to a small increase. The use of firm-level data does not modify these conclusions.


Endomyocardial biopsy has provided a method for assessing the presence of myocarditis in patients [1,2]. But biopsy studies have produced highly variable results, with the incidence of myocarditis ranging from 0% to 80% [3]. This difference may be due to patient selection [4], differences in diagnostic criteria between studies, and differences between the elapsed time from biopsy to the onset of acute myocarditis. Furthermore, occurrence of focal lesions of myocardium in myocarditis and lack of information regarding such focal lesions during biopsy may