Through guided interviews with experts from the public sector, NGOs and international development aidagencies with experience in the implementation of public policies, this article makes a comparative analysisbetween practice and theory in the implementation of public policies for security food in Cape Verde. It isconcluded that social welfare policies are not entirely safeguarded and that to give this answer there is a pressing need to have an effective sustainable development policy for agriculture, improving the focus on quality of life and in fair economic and social policies and environmentally sustainable. Although there are no legal impediments for the organization of associations, there are also no mechanisms that promote participation in the development process.


A 78-year-old male patient with history of arterial hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypercholesterolemia presented with bone and joint pain of his left hand and a tumefaction of his left index finger (Figure 1a). Seven months before referring to our department he had a fracture of the metacarpal bone of his left second finger which was handled ina conservative way using a splint. The patient could not explain whether the fracture occurred spontaneously or after minor trauma. Several months after removing the splint, the fractured area was still painful and the finger became swollen. Because of the symptoms, he went through a new radiographic study of the hand which showed this time, various lytic lesions of the metacarpal bones, proximal and distal phalanges of the left hand (Figure 1b). Next, a fine-needle aspiration biopsy of the soft tissue was performed which showed increased cellularity with abundant neoplastic monoclonal plasma cells with eccentric nuclei, and occasionally binucleated, consistent with plasmacytoma. A bone marrow biopsy and a trephine aspirate did not reveal bone marrow plasmacytosis (only 2% of bone marrow cells were plasma cells). Moreover, he underwent skeletal bone survey including skull, spine, pelvis, humeri and femurs as required which revealed osteolysis of the pelvis. Magnetic resonance imaging of the spine was also performed which did not demonstrate other plasmacytomas or signs of cord compression. Quantification of serum immunoglobulins was normal [IgG: 11.2 gr/l, IgA: 1.78 gr/l, IgM: 0.56 gr/l, k: 2.1 gr/l, l: 1.21 gr/l, k/l ratio: 1.73, (normal values IgG: 8-17 gr/l, IgA: 0.85-4.9 gr/l, IgM: 0.5-3.7 gr/l, k: 2-4 gr/l, l: 1.1-2.4 gr/l, k/l: 1.35-2.65)] and protein electrophoresis and immunofixation in both serum and urine detected no monoclonal immunoglobulin supporting a diagnosis of a non-secretory myeloma according to pre-established criteria [1]. Initial laboratory values were normal with hemoglobin level of 16.2 gr/dl, white cell blood count 7.910/ml, platelets 134.000/ml, ESR 1 mm/h, CRP 2 mg/dl, creatinine 1.2 mg/dl, urea 46 mg/dl, lactic dehydrogenase 310 IU/l, calcium 10.2 mg/dl, total proteins 7.2 gr/dl, albumin 4.3 gr/dl, and b2microglobulin 3,085 mg/l. The patient was treated by radiation therapy in order to diminish the size of the neoplastic mass and relief from symptoms. He underwent five sessions of low dose radiotherapy (20 Gy) and was then treated with chemotherapy with four cycles of VAD (liposomal doxorubicin) regimen. Four months after completing treatment the patient is free of symptoms and the swelling has disappeared (recent photograph not available). In fact, during the last follow-up visit he presented hemoglobin level of 14.6 gr/dl, white cell blood count 7.240/ml, platelets 138.000/ml, ESR 3 mm/h, CRP 2 mg/dl, creatinine 1.2 mg/dl, urea 54 mg/dl, lactic dehydrogenase 306 IU/l, calcium 10.5 mg/dl, total proteins 7.6 gr/dl, albumin 4.5 gr/dl, and b2-microglobulin 3,118 mg/l, and IgG: 10.6 gr/l, IgA: 1.46 gr/l, IgM: 0.3 gr/l, k: 2.49 gr/l, l: 1.41 gr/l, k/l: 1.77 in the quantification of the serum immunoglobulins.


Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a growing health concern due to its grave impact on nurses' health and patient safety. Nursing inherently carries the risk of developing PTSD. This risk is exacerbated by shift work and resultant sleep disturbances. In recent years, much has been discovered regarding the benefits of REM sleep and its important role in reducing the intensity of PTSD symptoms. This article describes how nurses can prevent and improve the symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder through interventions to optimize sleep. Interventions to reduce PTSD symptoms in nurses struggling with shift work related sleep disturbances are provided. By improving sleep, nurses can reduce not only the symptoms of PTSD, but also the risk of developing the disorder.


Associating documents to relevant categories is critical for effective document retrieval. Here, we compare the well-known k-nearest neighborhood (kNN) algorithm, the centroid-based classifier and the highest average similarity over retrieved documents (HASRD) algorithm, for effective document categorization. We use various measures such as the micro and macro F1 values to evaluate their performance on the Reuters-21578 corpus. The empirical results show that kNN performs the best, followed by our adapted HASRD and the centroid-based classifier for common document categories, while the centroid-based classifier and kNN outperform our adapted HASRD for rare document categories. Additionally, our study clearly indicates that each classifier performs optimally only when a suitable term weighting scheme is used All these significant results lead to many exciting directions for future exploration.


The magnon creation and annihilation operators satisfying the Pauli commutation relations in a ferromagnetic with spin S = 1/2 are expressed in terms of two various types of Fermi operators. The dispersion laws for fermions are obtained by twofold diagonalization of the Hamiltonian. Furthermore, these dispersion laws are used to calculate numerically the magnetization and specific heat of the magnon system. The present results are compared with those obtained by other methods as well as with experimental results.

[Russian Text Ignored]


The invention relates to a piperazine ferulate slow-release drug preparation. The drug preparation consists of piperazine ferulate and pharmaceutically acceptable slow release preparation auxiliary materials and regular release preparation auxiliary materials together; according to a rotative basket method of in-vitro release mensuration of the slow release drug preparation in Chinese Pharmacopoeia 2005 edition, accumulative release amount between 0 and 2 hours is at least 15 to 20 percent of the total preparation amount in 900 ml of a hydrochloric acid solution with PH of between 1.2 and 2.0; and after 900 ml of water as a dissolution medium is continuously transferred, the continuously-released total accumulative dissolution amounts in the fourth hour, the eighth hour and the twelfth hour are 50 to 70 percent, 60 to 80 percent and more than 90 percent of the total preparation amount respectively. The preparation has the characteristics that the piperazine ferulate is perfectly absorbed in each section of human alimentary canal and can effectively ensure effective blood concentration and maintenance concentration of in-vivo drug compositions.


The discovery of the antipsychotic efficacy of the two compounds chlorpromazine and reserpine in the 1950s had a great effect in psychia- try. In contrast to others available at the time, these compounds had a distinct antipsychotic quality, and they were brought into the laboratory with the intention of finding clues to the etiology of schizophrenia. It was soon learned that they impaired brain dopaminergic neurotransmis- sion—chlorpromazine by blocking dopamine (DA) receptors, and reser- pine by depleting storage of the neurotransmitter in nerve endings. Together with the finding that the psychotomimetic compound d- amphetamine releases DA from nerve terminals in the brain, these ob- servations resulted in the formulation of the DA hypothesis of schizo- phrenia (I). Drugs affecting brain dopaminergic neurotransmission produce a variety of effects on animal behavior, as richly documented in the litera- ture. Some of these behavioral changes have been used in screening procedures in the development of new antipsychotic drugs. A related, and more complicated, matter is the formulation of animal models of schizophrenia. Such models, however, usually based on behavioral signs in the Norwegian rat, would be oflittle use in the search for new psycho- active drugs with a different mechanism ofaction. This is not surprising, but to avoid a possible fallacy it should be considered that homology, rather than analogy, is a characteristic feature of such models. The DA hypothesis ofschizophrenia, which has been articulated and worked out in detail, is a good example on the role of a biological hypothesis in the


A class of aluminum-filled epoxy composites were subjected to indentation tests over a wide temperature range. The tests were carried out under constant load and continuously varying temperature. The effect of aluminum content, applied load, and adhesion efficiency between matrix and aluminum particles on the indentation behavior was studied. Measured indentation values were found to lie within limits predicted theoretically.


Many cancers are avoidable and treatable. The broad purpose of cancer registration is to help assess the impact of malignant diseases on the community and the measures taken to control them.


approved: ^ r ~lf~ " " i ■ ■ ff/James R. Baggett Because early stages of an Oregon State University (OSU) pea breeding program suggested there may be unfavorable linkages or associations which could hinder the development of Pea Seedborne Mosaic Virus (PSbMV)-resistant cultivars with acceptable horticultural characteristics, this study was made to determine if it was possible to incorporate PSbMV resistance into pea cultivars having desirable horticultural characteristics and resistance to Pea Enation Mosaic Virus (PEMV), Red Clover Vein Mosaic Virus (RCVMV) and powdery mildew (Erysiphe pisi Syd.)OSU breeding lines with good horticultural characteristics and resistance to PEMV, RCVMV and powdery mildew were crossed with plant introduction lines having PSbMV resistance but several poor horticultural characteristics. 1376 Fo families from these crosses were evaluated for resistance to PSbMV and powdery mildew in the greenhouse. Evaluations for resistance to PEMV and RCVMV, plant habit, number of pods per node, flower color, flavor, seed type and the presence of edible pods were made in the field at the OSU Vegetable Research Farm at Corvallis. Correlations and Chi Square tests indicated that no general relationships existed between PSbMV resistance and PEMV resistance, RCVMV resistance, plant habit or number of pods per node. There was a tendency for PSbMV resistance and smooth seeds to be associated. PSbMV resistance was generally negatively correlated with resistance to powdery mildew although results were inconsistent. An association between PSbMV resistance and the presence of edible pods existed in 1 of the 2 crosses segregating for the edible pod character, but further studies are necessary to determine if this association is general. Associations existed between PSbMV resistance, white flower color, and good flavor, and white flower color was highly correlated with good flavor. Previous findings that PSbMV resistance is conditioned by a single recessive gene were confirmed. Other secondary associations observed included general relationships between PEMV severity and RCVMV severity, and dwarf plant habit and the presence of edible pods. It was concluded from the results obtained that there are no major hindrances to the development of pea cultivars having good horticultural characteristics and PSbMV resistance. Genetic Relationships Between Pea Seedborne Mosaic Virus Resistance and Horticultural Characteristics, Powdery Mildew, Enation Mosaic Virus and Red Clover Vein Mosaic Virus Resistance in Pisum sativum L. by Cathy Hampshire Sewall A THESIS submitted to Oregon State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science Completed July 23, 1985 Commencement June 1986


The realization of the harmonious development of economy and environment is the fundamental requirement for sustainable development,which is also a significant practical problem that human beings are faced with.It is crucial to select a correct route to realize the harmonious development of economy and environment in order to improve the efficiency of environment management and successfully realize the harmonious development of economy and environment.Based on the analysis and evaluation of Environment Kuznets Curve hypothesis and the historical rationality and limitation of the route of development as "Economy first,Environment later" that industrial countries has experienced,which the Environment Kuznets Curve hypothesis reflects,the author in this article,from a new perspective,raised and demonstrated the view of "asymmetry of technological progress is the origin of environment deterioration" and "Eliminating the asymmetry of technological progress is the fundamental route to realize harmonious development of economy and environment" as well as the corresponding solutions.


Objective To evaluate the value of expandable hydrogel coils and guglielmi detachable coil in the treatment of intracranial aneurysms. Materials and Methods Seventeen patients with 19 intracranial aneurysms were treated with endovascular coiling and guglielmi detachable coil for embolization of aneurysm in 2006.11~2008.1, in which 7 cases with Hunt-Hess grade II and 10 grade III. Results Complete occlusion was achieved in 18 aneurysms, neck remnant in 1. Temporary contralateral hemiplegia occurred in 1 case. The neck remnant was not found after 6 months.All 19 aneurysms were not seen recurrence in 6-18 months after this treatment. Conclusion It is safe and effective to treat intracranial aneurysms with expandable hydrogel spring coils and guglielmi detachable coil and could also increase the packing density. However, whether hydrogel spring coil can reduce recurrence depend on long-term angiographic follow-up.


It began with my dad's old 8MM projector. When I was ten my father would let me play projectionist for the movie nights my parents put on at our house. I was hooked right from the start. The projector was one of the first mechanical things I was allowed to play around with and I loved it: I loved threading the film, the feel of the metal teeth of the intermittent sprocket, the rapid-fire hum of the projector's motor and the acetate smell of the film and how it bubbled on screen when a piece got caught in the gate.


In the most common cases, the first generation creates his business, accumulates wealth and waits for the right chance to hand them over to the second generation. The case study on Fotile Co. provides a perspective of both entrepreneurship and succession of family business. In 1996, Mao Li Xiang and his son, Mao Zhong Qun, started together a business on kitchen products. On the view of product life cycle, Mr. Mao Senior produced the clip reeds subcontracting for the state-owned TV set company and electric gas-lighting for international trade which were manufactured with imitation and at last waned after several years, until in 1996 he devoted himself to the third products, Chinese kitchenware, and beat Western technology with domestic technology and design in meeting the needs in Chinese kitchens. On the view of his individual life cycle, Mr. Mao Senior began with the accountant and salesman in commune and brigade enterprise in the 1970's, manager of in the township and village enterprises in the 1980's and the owner of family business in 1990's when he handed over the right of control and finished the professionalization of management, the upgrading of enterprises as well.


A new type of vertical nanowire (NW)/ nanosheet (NS) field-effect transistors (FETs), termed vertical sandwich gate-all-around (GAA) FETs (VSAFETs), is presented in this work. Moreover, an integration flow that is compatible with processes used in the mainstream industry is proposed for the VSAFETs. Si/SiGe epitaxy, isotropic quasi-atomic-layer etching (qALE), and gate replacement were used to fabricate pVSAFETs for the first time. Vertical GAA FETs with self-aligned high-k metal gates and a small effective-gate-length variation were obtained. Isotropic qALE, including Si-selective etching of SiGe, was developed to control the diameter/thickness of the NW/NS channels. NWs with a diameter of 10 nm and NSs with a thickness of 20 nm were successfully fabricated, and good device characteristics were obtained. Finally, the device performance was investigated and is discussed in this work.


Multidrug-resistant (MDR) Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates are increasing worldwide and greatly limit therapeutic options, particularly when considering extensively drug-resistant (XDR) or pandrug-resistant isolates. The resistance profile of P. aeruginosa isolates from a Portuguese central hospital was surveyed during 10 years (n=3,778). About 39.9% were classified as MDR and 2.9% as XDR. Statistical analysis (Mann–Whitney test and regression modeling) revealed a decrease in total MDR rates over time but an increase in XDR rates. This suggests a tendency for higher proportions of XDR isolates in the future, which is of great concern. Isolates of nosocomial origin presented similar results to total population but, when analyzing them according to the different wards of origin, it was still observed a trend of increase in MDR rates in some wards, particularly pneumology, neurology, and neurosurgery. Similar analysis considering the nosocomial specimen source revealed a negative trend of evolution in MDR rat...


Many animal viruses such as togaviruses, rhabdoviruses, myxoviruses, and the RNA tumor viruses are assembled and released by budding from the surface of the host cell. During this process the internal component of these viruses is enveloped by a membrane that is continuous with the plasma membrane of the host cell. Viral envelopes meet all the criteria for cellular membranes. Morphologically they possess a trilaminar or unit membrane structure. Chemically they are composed of proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. The lipids of the viral envelope are derived from the plasma membrane of the host cell. There are only very few proteins in the envelope. There is evidence that they are all virus-specific. The simplicity of the protein pattern greatly facilitates studies on envelope structure and assembly, and on the interactions of proteins and lipids. Therefore studies of the structure and biosynthesis of viral envelopes are not only important for an understanding of virus replication and virus-cell interactions, but they also provide valuable information on the structure and biogenesis of biological membranes in general.'


Two experiments tested the effects of dif ferent winter diets on intake and digestion of pasture by rising 1-yearold red deer returned to pasture with minimal dietary management during early spring. During May 1998 forty calves were randomly allocated to five winter feeding trea tments including pasture only, silage only, 40% concentrate plus silage, 60% concentrate plus silage, and 90% concentrate plus silage. Forage intakes in the five days before and after turnout on 28 September 1998 were higher in weaners fed pasture than those fed winter diets (P<0.05). Of the supplemented weaners the postturnout intake was highest from weaners fed 60% concentrate plus silage and lowest from weaners fed silage only (P<0.05). Pasture digestibility was higher in deer previously fed pasture than those fed silage and concentrate diets in winter (78% and 73% respectively, P<0.05). During May 1999 calves were randomly allocated to three winter feeding treatments including swedes only (Brassica napus var. Doon Major), silage only, and 60% concentrate plus silage. The deer were supplemented with ad libitum lucerne hay during the turnout period. During the first week, after turnout on 6 September 1999, intake was low averaging 1 kg DM/ head/d. Weaners fed swedes only during winter had significantly lower intakes that the other groups (P<0.05). During the second week the intakes increased to be greatest in the weaners fed swedes, and those fed the silage plus concentrate diet compared to the silage only diet (1.9 and 1.8 kg compared to 1.58 kg DM/head/ d respectively, P<0.05). The diet consisted of between 38 and 61% lucerne hay over the two week period. The digestibility of the diet was 62.8% in the first week and 75.2% in the second week. Live weight gain over the two week period ranged between 1.1 and 1.75 kg. The use of lucerne hay improved the overall result from the previous year. These results indica te that effects of winter diet during the transition period between winter and spring diets were small, though greater on poorer quality winter diets.


Aim: The purpose of this research is to investigate in- and out-patients' satisfaction as revealed by their intention to recommend the Konstantopouleio General Hospital of Athens to friends and family. Material/Methodology/Approach: The final sample of the study consisted of 745 inpatients and 420 outpatients from a survey performed from June 2011 till October 2012. An ordered logit approach was used allowing the analysis of the satisfaction's response categories. Results: Findings demonstrate that the attention provided by medical and nursery stuff along with the hospital environment, are positively correlated with patients' satisfaction for both groups of in- and out-patients. Among the demographic factors, the positive age effect is present in both groups, while the perceived health status plays a positive and significant role in shaping in-patient satisfaction, and education and insurance associate with out-patient satisfaction. Conclusions: Our study confirms the important role of all measures with respect to hospital performance. In general, hospitals and healthcare systems that invest in citizens' evaluation evolvement programmes, will acquire valuable information to perform important transformational changes in healthcare services.


Red blood cells (RBCs) are nonnucleated liquid capsules, enclosed in deformable viscoelastic membranes with complex three dimensional geometrical structures. Generally, RBC membranes are highly incompressible and resistant to areal changes. However, RBC membranes show a planar shear deformation and out of plane bending deformation. The behaviour of RBCs in blood vessels is investigated using numerical models. All the characteristics of RBC membranes should be addressed to develop a more accurate and stable model. This article presents an effective methodology to model the three dimensional geometry of the RBC membrane with the aid of commercial software COMSOL Multiphysics 4.2a and Fortran programming. Initially, a mesh is generated for a sphere using the COMSOL Multiphysics software to represent the RBC membrane. The elastic energy of the membrane is considered to determine a stable membrane shape. Then, the actual biconcave shape of the membrane is obtained based on the principle of virtual work, when the total energy is minimised. The geometry of the RBC membrane could be used with meshfree particle methods to simulate motion and deformation of RBCs in micro-capillaries


Objective To understand physical and mental health status of children affected with AIDS and other children living in vulnerable families in a pilot county of the China /UNICEF AIDS Prevention and Care Project.Methods By random sampling,250 children of 0-17 years of age in a project county in Yunnan province were selected from 3 types of family:with family members affected with AIDS,with family members using illicit drugs,and poor family.Height were measured to all 250 children.Psychological questionnaire was used to interview 154 children over 6 years.Results There was no significant difference in height,but significant differences in psychological status among children from the 3 types of families.Among the children affected with AIDS,near 68% had difficulty or were indecisive in coping with problems in their daily life ;58% were worried about peer interaction;67% were relatively self-confident,which was lower than children affected by drug abuse,and the latter was 89%.Conclusion The mental status of children from the 3 types of family is different,and community care should be provided by considering the difference between them.


The purpose of this paper is, through a reading of Jo tambe soc catalana (2004) by Najat El Hachmi, morroccan immigrant living in Barcelone, Spain, to think the ways in which the writer lives what Rogerio Haesbaert calls multiterritoriality. We will observe how through the experience of living various languages, Amazigh, Catalan, and Spanish, the writer reinforces the idea of a hybrid identity.


In order to fulfill the need of frequency domain test in geophysical exploration,with numerical method,the relationship can be obtained between all-levels central frequency and Q value when the two stage cascade filter is critical for offset,according to which,a flattened narrow-belt band pass filter is designed.And the test result indicates that its characteristics are consistent with theoretical calculating curve.Besides,the selectivity,sensitivity,the width of flat-top and Low-Noise bandwidth of the circuit are discussed.And the suggestion of designing a notch filter of 50Hz power frequency by using this circuit comes as a conclusion.。


Pirfenidone for use in the treatment of a patient in need of a conpirfenidone therapy, characterized in that the treatment comprises avoiding, contraindicating or discontinuing concomitant use of fluvoxamine.


In this article, the development, structure, and characteristics of the stepfamily are described and distinguished from those of traditional, intactfamilies. Stepfamily concerns are identified and discussed as typical transitional issues rather than as insurmountable problems. Implications for counseling are discussed.


In the present-day cosmic ray data, the strongest indication of anisotropy of the ultra-high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) is the 20-degree hotspot observed by the Telescope Array with the statistical significance of 3.4{\sigma}. In this work, we study the possibility of detection of such a spot by space-based all-sky observatories. We show that if the detected luminosity of the hotspot is attributed to a physical effect and not a statistical fluctuation, the KLYPVE and JEM-EUSO experiments would need to collect ~300 events with E>57 EeV in order to detect the hotspot at the 5{\sigma} confidence level with the 68% probability. We also study the dependence of the detection prospects on the hotspot luminosity.


IntroductionFor a longtime, agriculture constitutes a dominant sector of Nigeria economy. The economy depends mainly on agriculture both for adequate food production and as source of foreign exchange earnings. Not only did agriculture provided food for the ever increasing population, it also helps in suppling raw materials to our growing industries thereby creating employment opportunities to vast majority of Nigerians.Agricultural finance is the economic study of the acquisition and utilization of capital in agriculture. According to Mellor1, credit is a device which facilitate the temporary transfer of purchasing power from one individual or organisation to another. Credit can be defined as a process of obtaining control over the use of money goods or services, currently in exchange for a promise, to pay at a future date with interest. Baker2 defined credit as borrowing capacity which constitutes an important source of liquidity. Credit permits the use of money, goods or service in the present based upon the anticipation of repayment in the future (Igben3).Fresh4; distinguishes between grand and credit to the effect that grant involves no repayment as a result of which they place minimal burden on recipients, Grants, he further stated are often provided to individuals, low income communities and rural business so as to reduce the need to borrow funds in capital market as well as offset, perceived financial and other market inadequacies.More recently, credit urbanization and interest rate reform have acquired as more positive significant as a result of the "financial repression school" (Mckinnon5). The study view is that subsidized credit policies holds real interest rate at low level.As the role of agriculture in the economy decline, food import, thus leading to the depression of the price of locally produced food which decreased farmers expected income. This phenomenon led many farmers to produce for their household use only. In this type of situation they do not have marketable surpluses and when they have, they are very meager to contribute enough income for household consumption and social obligations as well as reinvestment in the farm.Since income, is very small therefore, most of these farmers resort to borrowing in order to fulfil their farm obligation. The above painted scenario springs up thecentral questions to see answered by this study. What are the borrowing behaviours and sources of loan of farming household in Ose local government area?. What factors influence the demand for credit among farming households?The main objective of this study is to determine the various factors that determines demand for agricultural credit among farming households in the study area.The specific objectives are to :(i) determine the socio-economic characteristics of the respondents,(ii) Investigate the borrowing behaviour and sources of loans of the farming household in the study area,(iii) Identify factors that influence demand for credit among farming household in the study area.Methodology UsedArea of Study and Methods of Data CollectionThe study was carried out in Ose Local GovernmentArea of Ondo State, Nigeria. Ose Local Government Area is approximately on 4°30' East longitude and 5°45' North Latitude. Four villages covered in the local government area studied are Ikare, Oka, Owo and Idanre.The respondents used were the crop farmers in Ose Local Government Area. Primary data were collected through administration of structured interviews schedule. Multistage sampling technique was employed in data collection. In this regard local government area was stratified into four zones of North, West, East and South. The number of villages in the four zones ranges from 4 to 5. From each of these zones, was selected one village in which 25 farmers were randomly selected with the aid of Ondo State Agricultural Development Programme (ONSADEP) farm household listing in each village were secured in the four villages. …


During the heating processing,the formation of soy protein aggregates is prevalent in soy foods.In this paper,heat-induced soy protein aggregates of different protein concentration were prepared,then the molecular weight distribution of them were analyzed by high performance size exclusion chromatography(SEC-HPLC).The SEC-HPLC results suggested that,the heated solutions were composed of aggregate,intermediate species and un-aggregated molecules,and the ratio of aggregate fraction increased as the protein concentration increased.Phase behaviors of 5% soy protein aggregate / κ-carrageenan mixture and 1% soy protein aggregate / κ-carrageenan mixture were also studied.The results suggested that,the mixtures with different protein concentration must add different amount of κ-carrageenan when macro phase separation occurred,and 5% soy protein aggregate /κ-carrageenan mixtures had narrower stable region.It suggested that the size of protein affected the phase behavior of protein / polysaccharide mixtures.


In this paper we introduce a laboratory emulation setup for evaluation of Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobility performance in a co-channel heterogeneous network (HetNet). The setup consists of two eNodeB emulators, signal faders and release 9 LTE User Equipment (UE). It is shown how the LTE HetNet mobility performance varies depending on load conditions and the configuration of UE reporting events. Pico cell outbound handover to the macro cell are found to be particular challenging, especially for higher UE speeds. Finally, we discuss the prospects of the emulation setup and how it can be exploited to conduct further experiments towards gaining additional understanding of HetNet mobility performance for LTE UEs.


We study ergodicity of cylinder flows of the form Tf : T× R→ T× R, Tf (x, y) = (x+ α, y + f(x)), where f : T → R is a measurable cocycle with zero integral. We show a new class of smooth ergodic cocycles. Let k be a natural number and let f be a function such that Df is piecewise absolutely continuous (but not continuous) with zero sum of jumps. We show that if the points of discontinuity of Df have some good properties, then Tf is ergodic. Moreover, there exists εf > 0 such that if v : T → R is a function with zero integral such that Dv is of bounded variation with Var(Dv) < εf , then Tf+v is ergodic.


Nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy has detected elevated phosphocholine levels in human tumor tissues and cells, and in cells that were transformed with the activated Ha‐ras gene and stimulated in vitro with growth‐promoting factors such as platelet‐derived growth factor, epidermal growth factor, and phorbol ester. However, the mechanism of the elevation and the function of the increased phosphocholine levels have not been clearly demonstrated. We studied phosphocholine levels enzymatically and analyzed the activity of choline kinase, which catalyzes the phosphorylation of choline to produce phosphocholine, in human colon cancer and adenoma. Both choline kinase activity and phosphocholine levels were increased in colon cancer and adenoma tissue. The activation of choline kinase and the increased levels of choline kinase α were partly responsible for the elevated phosphocholine levels. This study suggests that choline kinase might play a role in growth promotion or signal transduction in carcinogenesis.


The diagenesis and its effect on reservoir physical property of Hechuan Gas Field were studied by using of physical property analysis,mercury injection experiment,thin section appraisal,and scanning electron microscope.The reservoir space was mainly of secondary dissolution pore because of destruction of primary pore caused by diagenesis of T3x2 reservoir.It was characterized by ultra-low permeability,which was formed through compaction and cementation,improved by denudation and cataclasis.


Displacement-based approaches have been proven to be effective for the seismic design of gravity retaining structures. However, application of these methods to embedded flexible walls, such as Anchored Steel Sheet Pile (ASSP) walls, is still an open issue, as the factors affecting the accumulation of permanent displacements of these systems are not fully understood. This paper presents the results of four dynamic centrifuge tests on small-scale models of ASSP walls in uniform dry sand. The experimental results showed that ASSP walls can experience different failure mechanisms depending on their geometry and on the magnitude of accumulated displacements. During the earthquake, the system exhibits an overall increase of its seismic capacity, caused by: (i) progressive mobilisation of the soil passive strength; (ii) sand densification; (iii) rotation of the walls; and (iv) reduction of the retained height. Accounting for these effects in pseudo-static limit equilibrium solutions improved the predictions of both the critical failure mechanism and the maximum internal forces in the structural members. Moreover, it allowed development of an efficient analytical tool for the prediction of the seismic permanent displacements of these systems, based on Newmark's sliding block approach.


In this paper, we propose a one-stage approach to improve referring expression comprehension (REC) which aims at grounding the referent according to a natural language expression. We observe that humans understand referring expressions through a fine-to-coarse bottom-up way, and bidirectionally obtain vision-language information between image and text. Inspired by this, we define the language granularity and the vision granularity. Otherwise, existing methods do not follow the mentioned way of human understanding in referring expression. Motivated by our observation and to address the limitations of existing methods, we propose a bottom-up and bidirectional alignment (BBA) framework. Our method constructs the cross-modal alignment starting from fine-grained representation to coarse-grained representation and bidirectionally obtains vision-language information between image and text. Based on the structure of BBA, we further propose a progressive visual attribute decomposing approach to decompose visual proposals into several independent spaces to enhance the bottom-up alignment framework. Experiments on five benchmark datasets of RefCOCO, RefCOCO+, ReferItGame, RefCOCOg and Flick30K show that our approach obtains +2.16%, +4.47%, +2.85%, +3.44%, and +2.91% improvements over the one-stage SOTA approaches, which validates the effectiveness of our approach.


This intriguing anthology of 29 original essays about ethical issues in perinatology is unusually complex, not just because of the wide range of topics addressed but because of the relationships among those essays. Following an introduction, the topics are maternal-fetal conflicts: ethical and policy issues; futile treatment: decision making in the context of probability and uncertainty; quality of life as a decision making criterion; the use of epidemiological data for prognostication and decision making; withholding and withdrawing therapy and actively hastening death; organ transplantation; the boundary between therapeutic and nontherapeutic research; informed consent; government regulations in the United States; government regulations in the United Kingdom; the economics of perinatal care in the United States; the economics of perinatal care in the United Kingdom; pediatric nursing ethics; and religious influences on decision making. Each topic is addressed by two authors; essay A, written first, was provided to the author of essay B to consider before writing. But the format is less often that of debate than of deepening discussion. In some cases, there is stark disagreement. For example, Nancy Jecker and Roberta Pagon argue that the terms "futility" and "inhumanity" "have clear medical and moral meanings, and that they can serve as useful guides in the case of hopelessly ill newborns." They then "explore the problem of invoking futility and humanity under conditions of future uncertainty/' In the companion essay, Norman Fost affirms that "I do not find the concepts of futility and inhumanity to be clear or useful. On the contrary, I find them vague, arbitrary, and potentially hazardous, not just to clear thinking but to the welfare of patients, particularly critically ill newborns. . . . " So the reader is presented with directly opposed views regarding the usefulness of the concept of futility in perinatal care. In the following section, however, the second essay is more an extension of the first essay's inquiry than a rebuttal to it. AGM Campbell argues strongly for making decisions on the basis of quality of life considerations, glossing qual-


The nickel ores of Sudbury contain substantial amounts of the gangue mineral pyrrhotite (Fe 6 S 9 ) which causes certain difficulties in the milling of these ores. This paper proposes a process called magnetoflotation as an effective means of dealing with pyrrhotite. The method reduces the pyrrhotite content of concentrates by applying a magnetic field on the froth product as it leaves the flotation cell. Successful performance of magnetoflotation requires the optimization of several variables. In this study, three of the variables (frother concentration, collector concentration, air flowrate) were investigated by Box-Wilson experimental design, and others (magnet speed, grind size, pulp density, flotation time) were examined individually. The process was tested on a Falconbridge nickel ore, assaying 1.92% Ni, and under the best operating conditions, a concentrate was obtained with 13.56% Ni grade and 74.32% recovery in a single step. Further improvements to grade and recovery were possible by cleaning and scavenging. The same ore was also tested with conventional methods for comparison, and results indicated that magneto flotation performed better.


Due to the evolution of the digital production technologies and the transition to the cyber-physical systems, new methods of controlling technological processes and managing business processes of modern enterprises are needed. In the article we investigate the problem of improving quality management methods for the organization and management of modern digital production. Various methods of quality management, both traditional and modern, are considered. The concept of digital production quality management based on artificial intelligence and information technologies is proposed. As a basis for the implementation of the intelligent quality management methods in the management of digital production we consider the development of a knowledge management system for their effective application.


2014 The Lagrangian L03BC (r, 03B8) = 1/2(1 + 03BC)r2 + 1 2r203B82r(03BC cos 03B8) with 1 03BC ~ 3.1 is studied using a surface of section map. Regular and chaotic behaviour is exhibited. The numerical evidence suggests the motion is integrable for 03BC = 3. Integrability is proved by explicitly exhibiting a first integral. J. Physique 46 (1985) 1495-1500 SEPTEMBRE 1985, Classification Physics Abstracts 02.30 03.20


SummaryThe development of solutions for depositing non-chromate conversion coatings on aluminium is described. The solutions are based either on trivalent chromium salts or aluminium salts. The corrosion resistance of these conversion coatings and their ability to secure the adhesion of subsequently applied organic coatings is described.


In the concept "Corporate Project Management" project manager monthly report is the important link between construction enterprise and its project manager departments.By analyzing the characteristics of the project manager monthly report,standardization and information of project management is the advantage to play a basis and guarantee role.Finally,some problems and improvements in the work of standardization and information of project management are briefly analyzed.


The invention discloses an optimization method for improving safety and stability of grid frequency. The optimization method comprises the following steps of: determining a grid size, grid characteristics, an operation mode and a setting condition of a safety and stability control device of a target power system; determining whether the risk that the grid frequency is out of limit exists after a grid fails; implementing a measure for cutting off a pumped storage power station unit; determining a control measure for power of a speed-up or speed-down direct current line; and selecting starting frequency of the power of the speed-up or speed-down direct current line and determining speed-up or speed-down regulating quantity for power of the direct current line through simulating calculation. According to the optimization method, the frequency stability of the grid after failure is improved by using the control measure for the direct current line and a pumped storage power station, the direct current adjustable capacity and the pumped storage power station in the system can be effectively utilized, the frequency maintenance level of the system after failure is improved, the safety and stability control measures such as cut-off of a power set and load shedding are reduced, and the influence of the failure of the power system on power operation, industrial production and life of people is reduced.


We describe a volume holographic associative memory using photorefractive material and conventional planar mirror. Multiple hologram is generated with two angular multiplexed writing beams and Fourier transformed object beam in BaTiO3 crystal at 0.6328 μm. Complete image can be recalled successfully by partial input of original stored image. It is proved that our system is useful for optical implementation of real-time associative memory and location addressable memory.


This paper explores childhood sexual abuse as understood by disabled individuals from their particular locations. The paper reports on qualitative research with disabled adults identifying themselves as survivors/victims of childhood sexual abuse. In the Indian context, Childhood sexual abuse has been understood in a monolithic way, erasing all differences that exist among children from different social locations. The paper attempts to provide an alternative perspective by focusing on the specificities of the experiences of disabled persons. The textual sources examined in the paper investigate the concept of childhood, disability and sexuality and their interconnections, both in the Western and the Indian context. Discourses that construct children as passive and ignorant make it important to provide narratives which capture strategies of resistance within power structures which constrain choices. This paper makes an attempt to document and analyze the experiences of disabled individuals who have undergone childhood sexual abuse within the larger context of Indian laws, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) which engage with the concept and reportage and which represent dominant views on Childhood sexual abuse and disabilities.


Interest in mesenchymal stem cell derived extracellular vesicles (MSC-EVs) as therapeutic agents has dramatically increased over the last decade. Preclinical studies show that MSC-EVs have anti-apoptotic and neuroprotective effects, boost wound healing, and improve the integration of allogeneic grafts through immunomodulation. Current approaches to the characterization and quality control of EV-based therapeutics include particle tracking techniques, Western blotting, and advanced cytometry, but standardized methods are lacking. In this study, we established and verified quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) as highly sensitive label-free immunosensing technique for characterizing clinically approved umbilical cord MSC-EVs enriched by tangential flow filtration and ultracentrifugation. Using QCM in conjunction with common characterization methods, we were able to specifically detect EVs via EV (CD9, CD63, CD81) and MSC (CD44, CD49e, CD73) markers and gauge their prevalence. Additionally, we characterized the topography and elasticity of these EVs by atomic force microscopy (AFM), enabling us to distinguish between EVs and non-vesicular particles (NVPs) in a therapeutic formulation. This measurement modality makes it possible to identify EV sub-fractions, discriminate between EVs and NVPs, and to characterize EV surface proteins, all with minimal sample preparation and using label-free measurement devices with low barriers of entry for labs looking to widen their spectrum of characterization techniques. Our combination of QCM with impedance measurement (QCM-I) and AFM measurements provides a robust multi-marker approach to the characterization of clinically approved EV formulations and opens the door to improved quality control.


This Document shows in detail how you implement management tools to comprehensively strengthen the missionary activity of a company.
The design of the business plan begins with a feedback to the company since the begin research and improvement process, then design the business foundation and corporate image, all capable of guiding the company towards a single horizon, therefore we study the environment in which this company is generating growth strategies, organization and management, it studies the technical feasibility of the company's activity, and finally assesses the economic and financial results to show.


Er3+-ion-doped anatase TiO2 nanocrystals were prepared by simple wet chemical synthesis. Very sharp and intense near-infrared luminescence at approximately 1.53 μm was observed that originated from the lattice site of Er3+ ions incorporated in TiO2 nanocrystals. Based on the high-resolution emission and excitation spectra at 10 K, an efficient energy transfer from the TiO2 host to Er3+ ions was verified. The luminescence decay for the I13/24-->I15/24 transition at 1.53 μm showed nonexponential characteristics, indicating a nonradiative relaxation to the defects in the nanocrystals, and the intrinsic lifetime of the I13/24 state was determined to be 1.56 ms.


The circumferentially folded circular plane grid is an extensive application of the rectangular plane folded plate grid to circular or circular ring building planes.In this paper,the structural configuration study and kinematic analysis of the circumferentially folded circular plane grid are carried out,and the basic structure is proved to be a kind of statically determinate space truss structure.A simplified structural calculation model of the basic structure under axially symmetrical load and the simplified analysis method are presented,and the recursion formulas for the internal forces of the grid members are established.The analysis method for the circumferentially folded circular plane grid with elastic supports is proposed,which can take the cooperative work between the grid and substructures into account.The reinforced structures of circumferentially folded circular plane grid are formed by adding several series of circumferential members,which demonstrates higher stiffness and better mechanical properties than the basic structure.The internal forces and joint displacements of the reinforced structures can also be easily obtained from the simplified structural calculation model.Some practical calculation tables for the circumferentially folded circular plane grid under axial symmetrical load are developed,which are based on the simplified analysis method and correspond to several structural parameters.These tables can help to improve the efficiency of the engineering design of the circumferentially folded circular plane grid structure.Two examples are illustrated.


The invention relates to the control valve of a hydraulic adjuster for the camshaft of an internal combustion engine, wherein an actuator acts on a pressure part (12) embedded into a control piston (5). In order to prevent the piston (5) from being blocked in the valve hausing by the expansion thereof caused by the pressure part embedment, said pressure part (12) and/or control piston (5) is (are) provided with radial recesses (34) in the embedment area (13) which make it possible to limit jointing forces and the resulting radial piston (5) expansion. Alternatively or additionally, the external surface of the control valve (5) has a reduced cross-sections in the embedment area (13).


The elements of composition of crime cannot determine the balance of court discourse power and human rights' protection of the criminal law.The pattern of composition of crime can embody certain procedural rules and judicial functions.Although the layers of composition of crime in the Continental laws may improve judicial efficiency,it may not guarantee justice,and thus,shall not be used for reference.


The Flower of My Secret is a deeply moving portrait of a woman who is brought to the abyss of her own loneliness and despair. Leo, a writer of popular romantic fiction, is forced to remove the rose-tinted spectacles with which she views her relationship with her husband and face the reality of the lies and evasions on which her life is based.


To automatically identify the locating surface and clamping surface for setup planning of machining process,cluster method is used to manipulate the relations of machining feature,machining surface,clamping and to solve the setup planning problem.We put forward the finding same element method to find out the TADfeasible solution.Firstly,the feature-TADarray should transform to get TAD feasible solution.Secondly,find out relevance face and work out the clamp feasible solution based on TADfeasible solution.Finally,on the basis of CATIA platform,software development using CAA and verify the feasibility of this method.This method is important to realize the clamping block.


Polypropylene fiber would enhance impervious performance of concrete through improve early cracking resistance.Firstly immerse modified polypropylene fiber concrete specimens in 3.5% NaCl solution and seawater,then measure chloride ion concentration at different depths in the concrete,and calculate chloride ion diffusion coefficient in different corrosion age.The anti-chloride corrosion is researched by comparing and analysis the different concrete mixing with modified polypropylene fiber and hybrid fibers.The experiments indicate that,modified polypropylene fiber can raise chloride corrosion resistance performance,reduce chloride diffusion rate,and polypropylene hybrid fiber is better than single-doped modified polypropylene fiber.


Media is one of the factors that support the success of the learning process, but there are still several shortcomings in the use of media to support learning. The aim of this research is to produce learning media in the physical education measurement test subject based on interactive multimedia, with product results in the form of mobile applications, interactive VCDs, printed books, and indexed reputable international journals which will later be used both in learning activities and in independent learning to facilitate in delivering learning material for physical education measurement tests. This study used the research and development approach from Borg and Gall. The target products or users in this study were lecturers in the sport's physical education measurement test course. The subjects in this study were all PJKR FIK Unimed students who took the sport physical education measurement test course. The findings of the small group test showed that the questionnaire product had a total score of 565, an average of 28.25, and a total percentage of 70.62% in a small trial with a fairly valid category (used). The product could thus be used in this study, but the authors chose to carry out a large group trial to validate the product. Based on the findings of the large group test, the product questionnaire has a total score of 1369, an average of 34.22, and an overall percentage of 85.56% in a small trial with a very valid (used) category. Paired T-test employed to validate the product. Tcount = 5.11 determined from the findings of the calculation of the effectiveness test data. Pricing t-table = 2.08 calculated from the distribution list t using probability 1- = 0.95 and dk n-1 (30-1) = 1. This is mean there is an effect of learning media on interactive multimedia - sport-based measurement test, so that t count t table. It can be concluded that the interactive sports measurement test learning media in this study are well developed, valid, and effective to improve sport measurement test learning outcome.


From inside China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), two southern tier nations offer contrary perspectives as to the efficacy of Beijing's economic statecraft, namely Indonesia and East Timor. While obviously asymmetric in practically every respect, nevertheless a careful study of these two nations' bilateral links with China over long and short times offers salutary lessons on infrastructure financing in particular. Several interconnected inquiries are interposed. In a nation known for its competing political elites and support bases, how successful has China been in micro-managing its relations with Jakarta over trade and investment deals even carrying through to a post-authoritarian order? How has newly independent albeit aid-dependent Timor-Leste been able to parlay the China connection? Mixing documentary with primary research in situ, the inclusion of the East Timor case adds a missing link in the growing literature on the BRI.


In this study, Lactobacillus plantarum and L. brevis were used as starter cultures in tarhana production. The samples that had L. plantarum (P) and L. brevis (B) added to them had lower acidity values than the control samples (C). In the first 4 days of production, total antioxidant capacity and total phenol contents were not significantly different. B had lower protein in vitro digestibility values than C and, all the samples had generally higher values on the third day of fermentation. The analysis of total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, total lactic acid bacteria, total coliform group bacteria, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and yeast‐mold counts were conducted. These showed that, during fermentation, there were some significant differences in microbial counts, but sample type had no significant effect on the microbiological load of the final dried products. The evaluated data displayed the effect of starter cultures on some properties of tarhana during fermentation.


In the last decade, relevant progresses in the molecular basis of adrenocortical tumors (ACTs) were achieved and abnormalities involving growth pathway deregulation were frequently associated with malignancy. Remarkably, upregulation of insulin-like growth factor 2 (IGF2) and its receptor (IGF1R) has been demonstrated in a significant proportion of ACTs, and the presence of these abnormalities has both prognostic and therapeutic implications (Almeida et al. 2008). In fact, clinical trials involving pharmacological blockade of IGF1R are currently under process. Besides the IGF system, other growth signaling pathways have been suggested to be important for ACC progression and are possible therapeutic targets. Among these, fibroblast growth factor receptor 4 (FGFR4) overexpression has been observed in both adult and pediatric ACT by genome-wide expression studies in the same extent as the IGF system (de Fraipont et al. 2005, Laurell et al. 2009). However, these data have not been validated in an independent cohort and the molecular mechanisms responsible forFGFR4 upregulation have not been assessed. Therefore, we studied the expression levels of FGFR4 and gene amplification in a cohort of ACT patients from our institution. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Hospital das Clinicas, Sao Paulo, Brazil, and an informedwritten consentwas obtained from all patients and/or parents. Our cohort consisted of 57 patients – 32 adults (ageR18 years, 18–66 years) and 25 pediatric (age!18 years, 0.9–17 years) with the diagnosis of ACT, with a mean follow-up period of 77.5G53 months. FGFR4 transcript levels were assessed through quantitative real-time RT-PCR in all 57 samples using TaqMan gene expression assays (Applied Biosystem, Foster City, CA,USA). The endogenous control gene used was ACTB for each sample and the reactions were carried out in triplicate. The relative expression levels of FGFR4 were calculated using the 2t method as described previously (Livak & Schmittgen 2001). A commercial pool of 61 human adrenal glands of autopsy was the reference sample (Clontech). The criteria used for underand overexpression was a twofold change in comparison


The increasing complexity of engineering systems and automation applications asks for systematic design processes and methodologies. In previous work, a progressive simulation-based design methodology was developed. This methodology views simulation as a driving force for designing and testing engineering systems and supports systematic transitions from simulation models to real system realization. This paper applies the methodology to the development of a cognitive radio network on software defined radio. The design process and results are presented.


POEMS syndrome is a rare paraneoplastic syndrome associated with plasma cell dyscrasia. We report a case of solitary plasmacytoma with osteosclerotic lesion in a 53 year-old man treated with local radiotherapy. After four years, the patient experienced peripheral polineuropathy, cutaneous hyperpigmentation, evidence of multiple bone lesions on CT scan, deep venous thrombosis of the lower extremities, and the presence of a serum M protein. The patient was diagnosed with POEMS syndrome. He received a double highdose melphalan with autologous stem-cell support which was followed by a systemic and hematologic improvement. Plasmacytoma is very rare as an initial manifestation of POEMS syndrome. Patients presenting with plasmacytoma and an osteosclerotic lesion should be carefully observed and evaluated for the possible development of POEMS syndrome, as most bone plasmacytomas in POEMS syndrome patients are reported to be osteosclerotic


Intensive global competition of 21st century calls for a systematically aligned set of approaches in all aspects of corporate management including new product development. Success of new products needs the strategic support of corporate executives to establish and deploy coherent policies that are compatible with approaching new paradigms in business and manufacturing. Lean thinking is the widely accepted paradigm in the beginning of 21st century, and this chapter defines challenges and implications that corporate management will face in attempting to adapt to new product development approaches in accordance with the lean thinking perspective. This attempt covers all aspects of the organization in respect to product lifecycle. DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-3658-3.ch004


I'll never forget reading Jorge Luis Borges' short story "The Library of Babel" when I was working in Madrid in the summer of 1976. I was thrilled by Borges' description of this collection of all possible books, and deeply struck by the despair of the librarians, who searched for meaning in the essentially infinite stacks of "senseless cacophony, verbal nonsense, and incoherency." I found it delicious that the librarian's certainty that one of those books contained the answers to all the fundamental mysteries of mankind was accompanied by the unbearable realization that he could never locate such a treasure. He had to accept finding a few phrases embedded in typographical gibberish as the sum of his life's work. I could not imagine spending life wandering that desolate maze.


Studies were conducted at the Felin Experimental Station of the Agricultural University in Lublin in the years 2001-2003 and their aim was to estimate the effect of preparations Arbolin 036SL and Promalin 3,6 SL in the form of lanolin paste on the qual- ity of two-year-old trees 'Sampion' and 'Jonica' cvs. grafted on rootstock M.26. It was shown that the greatest influence on the number of lateral shoots, sum of shoot length and their mean length was exerted by the cultivar and atmospheric conditions in a given year. It was observed that in the majority of trees more lateral shoots were formed by the trees after the application of growth regulators as compared to the control. A singular use of preparations stimulating the branching in the form of lanolin paste in the years with unfa- vourable weather conditions (2003) was not sufficient to obtain satisfactory effect. The genetic features of a cultivar and the weather conditions in the period of young shoots' growth had a significant effect on the growth of the studied trees. Preparations Arbolin and Promalin in the form of lanolin paste had no significant effect on the diameter of the rootstock trunks.


No wonder you activities are, reading will be always needed. It is not only to fulfil the duties that you need to finish in deadline time. Reading will encourage your mind and thoughts. Of course, reading will greatly develop your experiences about everything. Reading invitation to danger is also a way as one of the collective books that gives many advantages. The advantages are not only for you, but for the other peoples with those meaningful benefits.


Wikipedia is the largest and most visited encyclopedia on the World Wide Web [1]. Wikipedia is frequently accessed as an educational resource in computational biology, with the articles on Bioinformatics and CRISPR being viewed 413,000 and 1.18 million times, respectively, in 2019 [2]. However, academics remain skeptical of Wikipedia as a reliable source of knowledge [3]. A common complaint by educators is the perceived lack of quality of information found on Wikipedia. Some educators also worry that the platform discourages deeper learner engagement, providing learners with a crutch instead of ways to engage in rigorous, secondary research within a discipline. Both of these concerns often overshadow the advantages of free and readily available knowledge. Given that Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites and an established platform for knowledge seekers, it makes sense to address these concerns and help learners make the most of what they would do anyway. Mentored contributions from students to open platforms like Wikipedia offer opportunities for improved rigor, quality, depth, and reliability of the information indexed and make it relatable to a wide audience. There have been stellar examples of such mentored contributions, resulting in well-curated additions to domain-specific knowledge amenable for consumption by both public and specialist audiences. For instance, educators around the world have mentored students to either improve or create Wikipedia articles and enter the annual International Society for Computational Biology (ISCB) Wikipedia Competition, a grassroots initiative designed to improve the coverage and depth of computational biology topics [4,5]. Entries are judged based on the quality of writing, figures, and depth of subject knowledge [6]. Winning entries have included important topics in computational biology, such as chromosome conformation capture [7], molecular phylogenetics [8], and the Ruzzo-Tompa algorithm [9]. Some educators have gone further, replacing the writing of traditional term papers with the rigorous editing or creation of new articles in Wikipedia, resulting in class assignments that enhance a vital, publicly accessible resource of field-specific information. Trainees at 24 United States universities participated in a pilot of the Wikipedia Education Program [10] during the 2010–2011 academic year. A 2012 article reviewed the experiences of four professors who participated, each assigning trainees to write Wikipedia articles on a course topic in place of a term paper [11]. Although each professor tailored assignments to her/his particular class, all found the assignments "extremely useful" in improving trainees' learning. Similar positive outcomes have been reported in other studies, including larger introductory courses of over 100 PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY


The acute awareness of the existence of two powerful neighbours is not only of exceptional influence for Polish society, it has significantly influenced modern Polish state formation and has been a decisive factor in Polish foreign policy. An intensive preoccupation with Germany and Russia was an integral part of political and intellectual life in the Second Polish Republic, which also found an expression in the establishment of a vibrant scholarly discussion. Especially in its institutionalised forms, this scholarship showed from the very start its close ties with the state and certain political groups. The Eastern European Studies has focused since the mid-1920s on the one hand on the study of historical Polish eastern territories (Kresy) with a clear view to the Ukraine, on the other hand on the study of the Soviet system and the peoples of the Soviet Union. The Eastern Europe Institute in Warsaw, and the Research Institute for Eastern Europe in Vilnius emerged as centres for this kind of research. In the 1930s, Vilnius became a centre for Sovietology. The political doctrine of Prometheanism proved to be a crucial driving force in interwar East European Studies. This "ideology of salvation" was aimed at supporting national movements and autonomy aspirations among the peoples of the Soviet Union and at winning them as partners in the Polish conflict with its eastern neighbour. There emerged not only a tremendous need for information about events in the east, which for the most part formed the material basis for research, Prometheanism demanded from the research institutes that they provide policy advice and held them to promote practical solutions. Polish East European Studies remained, despite its significant achievements, limited in its international efficacy, but it proved in terms of methodology and results, extraordinarily innovative, shedding light on the role Poland played as a centre of scholarship in the interwar period.


The three dimensional bed configuration and its variation at flood time were observed from the bridge built over the lower reaches of Teshio river by using supersonic sounder.


The photon-driven proton translocator bacteriorhodopsin is considered to be the best understood membrane protein so far. It is nowadays regarded as a model system for photosynthesis, proton pumps and seven transmembrane receptors. The profound knowledge come from the applicability of a variety of modern biophysical techniques which are being been further developed for the research on bacteriorhodopsin and resulted in major contributions also to other areas. Most prominent examples are fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, resonance Raman spectroscopy, solid-state NMR spectroscopy and time-resolved vibrational spectroscopy. The achievement in spectral analysis results will strongly advance our understanding of the photoelectric characteristics of bacteriorhodopsin. And it will have application in light-induced color changing, instant photoelectricity response, nonlinear optical capability and so on.


Abstract: This paper explores privatization and organizational change and is based on lessons from cross-national field research. Privatization of state-owned-enterprises (SOEs) and the introduction of competitive markets have been adopted by nations around the world as a means to reform public infrastructure and to improve delivery of goods and services. Our strategy for analyzing approaches to the study of organizational change in privatized firms is two fold. First, we undertook an extensive meta-analysis of pre and post -privatization changes. Second, we developed a model that identifies the variety of outcomes that the theory suggests are associated with privatization with a focus on changes in organizational culture and behavior. We constructed an interview protocol based on our model and conducted interviews with executives in privatized firms in Brazil, China, and Egypt during 2002 and 2003. Based on the interviews, our research suggests that two factors play an especially critical role in changing organizational behavior in privatized firms. First, our micro-level approach offered insights into the manner in which changes in ownership and control affect the goals, values and work norms that drive organizational performances. Second, we found that changes in human resource policies and compensation systems are crucial in changing organizational cultures. CSGOP-04-28


Malignant transformation test and its relative test system are now used as the main methods for environ-mental carcinogens detection based on varied methods,according to the target material used in tests,in vivo and in vitro,present detecting methods for environmental carcinogens were reviewed.


The purpose of this position paper is to raise awareness about the negative impacts of age-related hearing loss and the importance of providing good hearing healthcare. We also provide an overview of state-of-the-art hearing aids the standard rehabilitative technology for hearing loss – along with some thoughts about the future of hearing healthcare. Provision of hearing intervention is critical because untreated age-related hearing loss is associated with numerous negative impacts on the health and well-being, such as increased odds of falling, social isolation and cognitive decline. We suggest that, hearing technologies that combine intelligent computer systems with user centred approaches to hearing healthcare provision will ensure that hearing aids result in improved quality of life for those with hearing loss.


Simple π Huckel theory has been applied to radicals produced by unimolecular decomposition and by metathetical reactions of methyl radicals, and a correlation has been found between the A-factors of these reactions and the delocalisation and π-electron energies, respectively, of the radicals; the result of hybridisation changes causes a stiffening of the transition state. Activation energies of some of the abstraction reactions can be correlated with the electron density on the hydrogen atom being removed, calculated by σ-framework Huckel theory. The structure of small radicals is discussed, and the implications of the calculations are applied to inhibited pyrolysis and oxidation.


The effects of alpha (α) particles on the transport of helium ash driven by collisionless trapped electron mode (CTEM) turbulence are analytically studied using quasi-linear theory in tokamak deuterium (D) and tritium (T) plasmas. Under the parameters used in this work, the transport of helium ash is mainly determined by the diffusion due to very weak convection. It is found that the ratio between helium ash diffusivity and effective electron thermal conductivity (D He/χ eff) driven by CTEM turbulence, which is a proper normalized parameter for quantifying the efficiency of helium ash removal, is smaller than unity. This indicates the less efficient removal of helium ash through CTEM turbulence as compared with ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence in [Angioni et al 2009 Nucl. Fusion 49 055013]. However, the efficiency of helium ash removal is increased 55% by the presence of 3% α particles with their density gradient being equivalent to that of electrons, and this enhancement can be further strengthened by steeper profile of α particles. This is mainly because the enhancement of helium ash diffusivity by α particles is stronger than that of the effective electron thermal conductivity. Moreover, the higher fraction of T ions, higher temperature ratio between electrons and thermal ions as well as flatter electron density profile, the stronger enhancement of D He/χ eff, and α particles further strengthen the favorable effects of these parameters on the removal of helium ash.


The conjugated heat transfer in regimes of a thermogravitational convection of gas and radiation-convection heat exchange in system <;<;a crystal - environment - walls of the growth chambers>>, geometrically similar upper part of a thermal knot in a Czochralski method is numerically investigated. Calculations are fulfilled in a range of Grashof numbers from 1000 to 16000 at Prandtl number Pr = 0,68. Researches are spent by a finite element method. Calculation of radiation fluxes was made by a zonal method. The relative role of thermal conductivity, a convective heat transfer and a radiation heat exchange is investigated.


The performance of large-scaled peer-to-peer (P2P) video-on-demand (VoD) streaming systems can be very challenging to analyze. In practical P2P VoD systems, each peer only interacts with a small number of other peers/neighbors. Further, its upload capacity may vary randomly, and both its downloading position and content availability change dynamically. In this paper, we rigorously study the achievable streaming capacity of large-scale P2P VoD systems with sparse connectivity among peers, and investigate simple and decentralized P2P control strategies that can provably achieve close-to-optimal streaming capacity. We first focus on a single streaming channel. We show that a closeto-optimal streaming rate can be asymptotically achieved for all peers with high probability as the number of peers N increases, by assigning each peer a random set of Θ(logN) neighbors and using a uniform rate-allocation algorithm. Further, the tracker does not need to obtain detailed knowledge of which chunks each peer caches, and hence incurs low overhead. We then study multiple streaming channels where peers watching one channel may help in another channel with insufficient upload bandwidth. We propose a simple random cache-placement strategy, and show that a close-to-optimal streaming capacity region for all channels can be attained with high probability, again with only Θ(logN) per-peer neighbors. These results provide important insights into the dynamics of large-scale P2P VoD systems, which will be useful for guiding the design of improved P2P control protocols.


Introduction As in many sciences, female representation in economics has grown, but hurdles still exist. Perhaps the most difficult hurdle is the transition from a junior position to a senior one. In academia, this generally takes the form of promotion from Assistant to Associate Professor with tenure. The tenure hurdle is difficult for all academics, but recent evidence suggests it is disproportionately difficult for women, and more difficult for women in economics than in other fields (Ginther and Kahn 2004). After increasing steadily from 1974 through 1990, growth in the representation of women at the Associate Professor level in economics has essentially halted during the past decade (Kahn 2002). Profession (CSWEP) undertook an intervention, a series of workshops, designed to help female junior faculty achieve promotion and tenure. The initiative was funded jointly by the ADVANCE and the Economics Panel of the NSF. We believe that similar programs can be implemented both by other disciplines facing similar challenges and by institutions looking to design an intervention at this critical stage of professional development. In this chapter we 1 describe our workshops, discuss some of the lessons we learned, and offer suggestions for amending our procedures for use by institutions.


This research measured the effect of e-service quality on e-consumer satisfaction which has an impact on repurchase intention. This research aims to describe how the e-service quality conducted by e-commerce, named Bukalapak, affected e-consumer satisfaction, which will impact Bukalapak repurchase intention. This research uses quantitative methods with descriptive analysis. This research sampling technique was non-probability sampling and invited 150 respondents purchased on Bukalapak more than once as experience. Regarding data analysis techniques, this research used descriptive analysis and PLS-SEM analysis through SmartPLS 3.0 software. Based on description analysis, the e-service quality impacts e-consumer satisfaction since e-commerce provider has been provided programs such as the clear direction of giving comments and purchase feedback through online and application. Unfortunately, the repurchase intention on the e-commerce platform is below expectation (under sales). SEM-PLS results showed that e-service quality has a significant impact on e-consumer satisfaction in using e-commerce platforms. E-service quality has a significant impact on repurchase and e-consumer satisfaction has an impact on repurchase intention in using Bukalapak. Based on the results, e-service quality impacts repurchase intention through e-consumer satisfaction as a mediating variable in e-commerce platforms.


Guizhou Province has witnessed its rural area to arrive in an aged society with a relatively under-developed economy.Now the rural aging society has higher rate of the aging population than towns,since more and more rural men of working age are flowing away,with old population behind thus relevantly increasing.As the result and as the rural economy development of Guizhou lags behind,the number of people relying on the state is likely to be relatively large,relations between generations worsen and the medical facilities be in shorter supply,etc.So four countermeasures are put forward accordingly.


Semicontinuous extrusion of the infinite length rods from preliminarily compacted and sintered powder copper is simulated. To minimize the external friction effect, hydrodynamic lubrication mode is used. The dependence of extrusion pressure on the puncheon travel at various die cone angles is presented. A procedure of construction of the grid of finite elements to solve the problems of computer modeling of semicontinuous extrusion of cylindrical samples is proposed. The mechanism of varying the porosity over the bar cross-section at various process stages is investigated. Mathematical models of semicontinuous extrusion are constructed.


With the acceleration of global economic integration,the symmetric equilibrium collapse and volatility of the world economy worsen. What kind of impact such an economic environment will have on service trade? This paper has a research on this issue empirically from the perspective of both imports and exports of services based on extended gravity model. Our study utilizes the bilateral services trade data in STAN Data base from 2000 to 2010. The results indicate that: firstly,home market effect does exist in trade in services; Secondly,the country's economic stability is beneficial to enhance the service trade. In addition,it promotes the imports more obviously than the exports in service sector; thirdly,globalization can promote trade in services by reducing trade costs. At the same time,globalization can strengthen the comparative advantage of countries with high economic stability in service trade. Our study establishes a research framework of globalization, economic stability and trade in service. It will provide a new idea to reverse China's service trade deficit.


In the 1 μm band, broadband light sources are usually based on the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) from a semiconductor diode pumped Yb-doped fibre [1] or InxGa1-xAs1-yPy LED. Coherent broadband sources with flat spectrum are usually generated the supercontinuum from a highly nonlinear fibre [2]. In this contribution, we report a 1 μm coherent broadband source generated directly by a mode-locked Yb-doped fibre laser with a maximum 10-dB spectral width of 69 nm and a maximum 3-dB spectral width of 64 nm. The output spectrum has a good spectral flatness, and covers almost all of the band of ASE from the Yb-doped fibre between 1010 nm and 1080 nm.


Hydroxy-functional polyether and polyester macrodiols, often refered to as soft segments, have found wide applications as reactive building blocks for the synthesis of polyurethane resins and binders. The appropriate choice of soft segments for the synthesis of PUR binders allows for a broad spectra of paint properties. α,ω-Polymethacrylate diols represent a new class of macrodiols which successfully combines positive properties of ester and acrylate structures in one single macrodiol. Depending on the formulation, the following benefits can be shown: higher hardness, better flexibility, good humidity stress resistance, improved hydrolysis resistance, better weathering resistance.


Gaming controllers are attractive devices for research due to their onboard sensing capabilities and low cost. However, a proper quantitative analysis regarding their suitability for motion capture has yet to be fully reported. In this paper, a detailed analysis of the accelerometers of the Nintendo Wiimote is presented. The gravity-compensated acceleration data from the accelerometers of the Wiimote were plotted, compared and correlated with computed acceleration data derived from a six-camera motion capture system. The results show high correlation and low mean absolute error between the gravity-compensated data from the accelerometers of the controllers and computed acceleration from position data of the motion capture system. From the results obtained, it can be inferred that the Wiimote is well suited for motion capture applications where post-processing of data is practical.


We present a formal proof of collision avoidance for a simple distributed hybrid system consisting of an arbitrary finite number of cars on a one dimensional road. Our cars take actions independently from one another and without synchronization, thus behaving in a truly distributed manner. We allow cars to enter and exit the road. For the continuous dynamics, we show how differential invariants and symbolic solutions can be used together harmoniously to prove things that neither could prove alone. We have fully mechanized our formal proof within our theorem prover KeYmaeraD.


In this article, the problems that arise in the procedure of molding by the investment casting method are considered. Information about polymeric metallic materials, their application features is described. The important aspects of the quality of molding manufactures be investment casting method are considered. Some methods for improving the quality of products are proposed. The optimal technological process, to choose the size and number of ingredients of the molding mixture to recycle the shell forms as raw materials, has been found by field experiments and the obtained technological process was resource-saving, highly productive, with a lower cost of the produced details.


A prominent erosion-and-fill feature has been observed in the subsurface of the Sacramento Valley in Northern California. The feature, which has been termed a "gorge," extends for approximately 40 miles along a narrow, sinuous trend that is generally parallel with the course of the Sacramento River. As much as 2,000 feet of Upper Cretaceous section has been removed by erosion and the trough later filled with sediments that have been correlated with the Eocene B-2-B-4 zones of Laiming. It is suggested that submarine erosion of this thick section of Upper Cretaceous deltaic sediments was initiated by the uplift of adjacent land areas with consequent rejuvenation of the stream. A filling of the trough was started as the sediments built up on the basin floor and the marginal landmass had been reduced by erosion. Foraminifera, as well as certain textural features of the sediments, indicate that the entire sequence was laid down in a marine environment. There is no evidence in the fill or in the underlying beds that subaerial processes were involved. This feature is important in exploration in that natural gas is present in sediments within the "gorge" as well as being trapped in Cretaceous sediments truncated by the "gorge." End_of_Article - Last_Page 255------------


A new design of the ultrashort pulse generator based on a step recovery diode (SRD) is presented in this letter. The design schematic features allow us to increase the pulse amplitude, decrease the ringing level, and realize pulse duration tuning. The signal amplitude increase results from the use of an additional inductive energy storage, which accumulates energy of the magnetic field during both charge storing and extraction phases of the generator duty cycle. The ringing level is reduced by including the ringing reduction subcircuit in the design. This subcircuit consists of the Schottky diode to block the negative half-waves of ringing oscillation and the resistor to force oscillation fading. The electronic tuning of the pulse duration is based on the relation between the SRD recovery time and the forward current. In the experiments ultrashort pulses with the duration in a range from 350 ps to 1.5 ns and the 40-V amplitude were obtained for a 50- $\Omega $  load by varying the diode forward current. The output signal has a good symmetry shape, which is shown both in simulation and experimentally. The measured ringing level was −20.5 dB.


Explainable Recommender Systems (XRS) have emerged as a transformative technology that bridges the gap between recommendation accuracy and transparency, providing users with understandable explanations for the AI-driven suggestions. This research paper delves into the critical aspect of Human-AI Collaboration in XRS, aiming to enhance user understanding, trust, and satisfaction in the recommendation process. The paper begins by investigating the dynamics of collaboration between users and AI algorithms within the context of XRS. It explores the intricate interaction between users' preferences and cognitive processes and the explanations generated by the system. This exploration forms the foundation for developing user-centric explanations that cater to individual comprehension levels and preferences. Various techniques for facilitating Human-AI Collaboration are examined, including model-based explanations, post-hoc approaches, interactive interfaces, and hybrid methods. These techniques empower users to interact with the XRS, customize explanations, and gain insights into the recommendation process. Addressing challenges in the implementation of Human-AI Collaboration, the paper explores interpreting complex AI models, balancing explanation simplicity with comprehensiveness, and ensuring user trust and system adoption. Ethical considerations regarding user privacy and fairness are also discussed. To enable user-driven explanation generation, the paper proposes strategies for empowering users to personalize the explanation process, select preferred explanation styles, and provide contextual information. Such user-driven approaches foster a more transparent and collaborative relationship between users and XRS. In order to evaluate the effectiveness of Human-AI Collaborative XRS, the paper introduces a comprehensive evaluation framework. This framework includes metrics for explanation quality, user understanding, satisfaction, trust, and engagement. The results of this evaluation can guide further improvements in XRS, ensuring the delivery of transparent, user-centric, and trustworthy recommendations. The findings of this research contribute to advancing XRS technology and serve as a foundation for future investigations into the collaborative nature of recommendation systems. By fostering collaboration between humans and AI, we can design recommender systems that empower users, promote user satisfaction, and facilitate informed decision-making in various real-world scenarios.


PROPESSOR PATRICK GEDDES long ago made the sociologists familiar with the notion of Symbiosis, organic and social. But few sociologists carried further this fruitful idea. The recent developments of social ecology have strengthened Geddes' methods of social diagnosis. Social ecology envisages man as a part of the biotic assemblage of the region, which is a unified, moving, reverberating whole. Of all animals, man, by increase of his own numbers, his " biotic" interferences with vegetation and animal life and his economic exploitations, disregards most not only his inter-relations with inorganic Nature but also the claims of the other members of the life-conununity. Through his outrage against soil and water, trees and grasses, he sometimes creates scrubs and deserts where once there were fertile valleys. At the expense of the larger mammals of the region, which he indiscriminately exterminates as enemies or competitors, he encourages the multiplication of rats, cockroaches, flies and other insects. The latter eat up his food and materials, or destroy him and his stocks in sudden epidemics. Civilisation thus decays through man's a-symbiodc growth and his assuming the r ^ of the parasite in relation to the harmonic animal and vegetable aggregations, with which he has lived in long-established, intricate balance. The earth not only denies man its familiar gifts, but man himself, due to the biologic pressure, cannot utilise the full benefits of his organic and social heritage, and becomes an easier prey to other animal parasites of his environment.


Nystatin is a polyene antifungal drug that is of particular interest because it exhibits remarkable action against a wide range of pathogenic and non-pathogenic yeast and fungi. Transdermal and topical delivery of drugs provide advantages over conventional oral administration. The benefit of transdermal systems includes convenience, improved patient compliance and elimination of hepatic first pass effect. The aim of this work is to formulate and evaluate topical gel containing nystatin and to improve the antifungal activity of nystatin through using different penetration enhancers namely propylene glycol (PG) 10%, polyethyleneglycol (PEG) 400, ethanol, oleic acid, eucalyptus oil, tween 80 each in concentration of 5% and dimethylformamide (DMF) 3%with objectives of prolonging its action. The formulae showing the best drug release were selected to study the effect of storage on drug content and pH measurements over a period of 3 months and finally for microbiological evaluation. Among different penetration enhancers used, propylene glycol showed the highest effect on the amount drug permeated followed by dimethylformamide. KeywordsNystatin, Enhancers, Geldimethylformamide, propylene glycol, polyethyleneglycol


The possibility of using photon counters based on avalanche photodiodes to implement a quantum system for key distribution is shown. The security of encryption key distribution is realized with application of eavesdropper detection technique. The detection technique uses quantum control signal. The structural scheme of the quantum system is presented. The effect of photodetector parameters and the length of optical fiber on the eavesdropper detection time have been determined. The conditions and characteristics of the system to organize a secure channel for generation and transfer of encryption keys over optical fiber communication lines have been determined.


In reference 1 we have presented the principle of an X-ray detector based upon a screen coupled to an array of multiple CCD sensors. In reference 2 we focus on the characterization of the image quality: resolution (MTF) and noise behavior in the overlap area. Simple (and cheap) low F# lenses likely show distortion which means that not all imaged pixels have the same magnification. This may affect resolution. Lenses with (some) barrel distortion have the benefit of less vignetting. The correction of distortion in combination with a rotation adjustment requires interpolation. Interpolation affects the noise properties so care must be taken in order to avoid that the noise characterization of the reconstructed image mosaic i.e. the noise texture becomes spatially non uniform. We present an analysis of the influence of lens distortion and interpolation in cases of small rotation correction on the image mosaic. The image processing appears not to diminish the image quality provided the processing parameters are set correctly. The calibration of the imaging mosaic geometry is crucial. We therefore present a robust extraction algorithm. In this paper our main interest is on MTF and quantum noise properties. The lab prototype hardware is designed such (cubic spline interpolation) that also the lens distortion can be compensated. For this purpose ASICs are designed by the company AEMICS. This enables relative cheap optical components with low F# and a short building length. We have obtained and will present radiographic exposures of static phantoms.


hinder her progress. To those unacquainted with Goodman's work this book would be more confusing than revealing. To those familiar with Goodman, enough time would be spent catching errors that it makes this work a challenging read. Shottenkirk may be right to hold that Goodman's nominalism creates difficulties for his epistemology and philosophy of art. But Nominal ism and its Aftermath does not show it.


Factoring is a financial service that emerged in the Greek bank market in the mid 90's and has been established since as an alternative and complementary form of financing of businesses. The introduction of the factoring institution came rather late, considering that factoring existed in the USA and the rest of Europe since the late 50's. Since it mostly concerns middle-sized businesses, its development was, for its most part, based in dealing with the liquidity and management of account receivables problem of businesses of this size.
This paper deals with the course of factoring as an alternative source of business financing during the last years, mostly in Greece, but also at an international level. Firstly, we will define factoring, and then we will present the basic services it provides and its individual categories. Also, reference will be made to its disadvantages and advantages. Afterwards, we will proceed to the presentation of the basic economic figures of factoring during the period 2005-2014, and, at the same time, we will examine if the course of this sector in the Greek market has contributed to the Greek economy and has helped the businesses cope with the economic crisis, mostly in reference with the problems of the country's financial system.
Also, we will conduct a research concerning the perspectives for further development of the sector, and the issues that may hinder its growth. Finally, after we identify some critical factors concerning factoring, we will analyze, from an econometric point of view, these factors, in order to research if and at what grade they affect the volume of works of factoring vis-a-vis a group of northern Europe countries and to a group of southern Europe countries.


In computer-assisted text analysis (CTA), high portability is required to dictionaries, because they are usually repurposed with minor or no modification in different research settings. To achieve such portability, dictionaries have to be externally valid across different types of documents. The General Inquirer dictionary compiled by Stone (1966) is one of the highly portable CTA dictionaries, but dictionary created by automated techniques tend to be limited in portability. Wordscore (Benoit and Laver 2003) is a supervised method based on expert coding, and Wordfish (Slapin and Proksch 2008) is an unsupervised method using the maximum likelihood estimator. Although those two techniques proved their ability to scale party manifestos on left-right scale very close to human coding, they are generated from the same type texts that they are aiming to analyze, and highly specific to the type of documents used in training.