-In the present era, World Wide Web has become a popular and unavoidable medium to extract useful and relevant information from the huge and scattered information particularly for education and e-learning. In every educational organization e-learning is becoming an integral part of teaching-learning process. Web mining is the use of data mining techniques to automatically discover and extract relevant and useful information from World Wide Web documents and services. The Web usage mining includes the data from the web server logs, proxy server logs, browser logs, user profiles, registration data, user sessions or transactions, cookies, user profiles, registration data and any other data as the results of interactions. This paper gives the overview of various methods of e-learning and aims to experiment with pattern classification for students' behaviour and their interest in e-learning. It then identifies the problems within e-learning that web usage mining can solve as well as present the existing approaches. Keywords— Data mining, web usage mining, server log, e-learning. A Review Paper On Identifying Students Interest In E-Learning Using Web Usage Mining class of reusable educational resources [1] such as electronic tutorials, textbook, digital libraries and lot more other huge amount of repositories of educational materials are being offered by the World Wide Web. The paper is organised as follows. Section II elaborates on the various e-learning tools and techniques while section III talk about web usage mining section IV presents the various sources of web mining related work. Section V talk about web usage mining process, section VI is about related work and section VII concludes the article with comments on future trends. II. OVERVIEW: E-LEARNING TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES E-Learning is becoming an important tool to support the learning system to achieve its goals. E-Learning became hot topic in the 1990's after the spread of the Internet. Although it has a relative short history, it is becoming an important part of the learning [4]. The majority of the universities adopted some kinds of e-learning within its learning system. E-learning may either be synchronous or asynchronous[19]. Several tools, both general purpose such as database, blogs, Wikis, etc. as well as specific such as Moodle, Blackboard, etc. are used in the context of e-learning [5]. V. Sklyarov et al. [6] proposed advanced e-learning tools and remote laboratories for state-of-art engineering education and discussed about importance of reconfigurable systems in education and proposed effective learning methods and tools, that includes laboratory templates, animated tutorials, education oriented examples, remotely reconfigurable prototyping system, and virtual software hardware co-simulation environment. S. Maria [7] proposed e-learning system development for engineering education and discussed about the availability and quality of e-learning, individualization and integrity of learning, need of advanced technologies. Also discussed about various trends to use cloud computing technology in which computer resources and facilities are available to the user as a web service in the sphere of education. How could this impact engineering education, so as to supply better result of e-learning and enforce its accessibility, diversity and powerfulness. J. Chen et al. [8] designed and implemented a new e-learning system, which incorporated three innovative internet technologies as easy knowledge search and classification, instant chat system and Ideone online compiler system. This new e-learning system is based on a well known e-learning system named Chamilo. Chamilo is an open-source e-learning and content management system, aimed at improving access to education and knowledge globally. R. Caҫão et al. [9] proposed a model of quality in e-learning that composed of three factors. This model implies the perceptions of quality in e-learning can be explained, with comfortable goodness-of-fit, by three factors: the training process, the training attitudes, and the training utilities. The Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) is used there to test and confirm the structure of a model of critical factors of quality in e-learning. III.WEB USAGE MINING Web mining is the application of data mining techniques to extract knowledge from web data. Data mining is the process of extracting knowledge and useful hidden information from a huge amount of incomplete and noisy data. Web data mining is the process that applies data mining technique to these web data bases. Web data mining broadly divided into three distinct categories, according to the kinds of data to be mined, that are web content mining, Web structure mining and Web usage mining. Figure 1 shows the taxonomy. Figure 1: Web Mining Taxonomy Sunil and Prof. M. N. Doja  Web Content Mining Web content mining is the process of extracting useful information from the contents of web pages. Content data is the collection of facts that a web page is designed to contain. Content data consist of text, image, audio, video, hyperlink or structured records such as lists or tables.  Web Structure Mining Web structure mining is the process of obtaining structure information from the web. It generates structure summary of the web page which is known as web graph. The structure of web graph consists of web pages as nodes and hyperlinks as edges connecting related pages. It is further divided into two kinds based on the kind of structure information used. i.e. Hyperlinks and Document Structure.  Web Usage Mining Web Usage Mining is the process of extracting knowledge or useful information from web usage data, in order to understand and better serve the needs of web based allocations [20]. IV.SOURCE OF DATA FOR WEB USAGE MINING The data is the basics of a knowledge discovery process. As it is shown in figure 2 there are several possible data sources for the Web usage mining process. Each type has its own advantages and a little different focus. There are three data sources, they are: Figure 2: Data Sources of different web logs. A. Server Level Collection Server level data collections are often used because of their easy availability – by default every Web server saves logs. For Web Usage Mining process, Web server logs are the best known data source. The log usually contains information about the remote host name or IP address, the user name, requested URI, server status, time and date, and transferred bytes. The Extended Log format adds other two entries: referrer and user agent identification which are very useful for session identification. Similar work as Web server logs is done by packet sniffers which monitor network traffic by watching server incoming and outgoing TCP/IP packets. Their advantages over Web server logs are that they can save POST parameters of CGI scripts and HTTP headers of requests. Another server level data sources are logs from content (or application) servers which serve contents for dynamic Web sites. Their advantage is that they can provide information about all incoming parameters, internal state variables, and outgoing data. B. Client Level Collection Client level data collections are focused on tracking single user sessions across single or multiple Web sites. Their main disadvantage is that they are based on user cooperation. There are two ways – remote agents (JavaScript or Java applets) and modified browsers. The first way is aimed at single user sessions across a single server. It solves the problem with caching and almost with session identifying. The best results for single users or multiple sites are given by special Web browsers that track every user movement. The browser records how much time the user A Review Paper On Identifying Students Interest In E-Learning Using Web Usage Mining spends on a Web page, if he pushes the back or reload button, and many other valuable variables. But it is hard to persuade users to use such a special browser. C. Proxy Level Collection The last data source is proxy server logs. It acts as an intermediate level of caching between client browsers and Web servers. Proxy server logs save multiuser or multisite communication and are suitable for characterizing the browse behaviour of a group of users sharing the same proxy server. V.WEB USAGE MINING PROCESS Web usage mining is the application of data mining techniques to discover interesting usage patterns from web usage data, in order to understand and better serve the needs of web-based applications [10]. Usage data captures the identity or origin of web users along with their browsing behaviour at a web site. Figure 3 shows web usage mining process. The Web usage mining is parsed into these distinctive phases/stages: A. Data Collection and preprocessing Within this stage, usage data from various sources are collected from web servers, clients connected to a server, or from middle sources such as proxy servers and client side, browser based application. The data preprocessing of Web usage mining is usually complex. Purpose of data preprocessing is to offer reliable, structural and integrated data source to pattern discovery. It consists of four processes: Data cleaning, User identification, Session identification, Path completion [11]. B. Pattern Discovery Pattern discovery is the key process of the Web mining, which covers the algorithms and techniques from several research areas, such as data mining, machine learning, statistics and pattern recognition. The techniques such as statistical analysis, association rules, clustering, classification, sequential pattern and dependency modelling are used to discover rules and patterns. The knowledge that can be discovered is represented in the form of rules, tables, charts, graphs, and other visual presentation forms for characterizing, comparing, predicting, or classifying data from the Web access 1og. C. Pattern Analysis The final stage of the whole Web usage m


Reseach on the effect of various GA3 and 6-BA concentrations on breaking-dormancy of Glehnia littoralis Fr.Schm.ex Miq.seeds under constant low temperature and alternating temperatures stratification.The results show that: through alternating temperatures stratification 6-BA of 100mg/L could promote seeds germination remarkably and the highest germination rate reach up to 63.3% in 90 th D.


To solve disadvantage of equipment maintenance in army nowadays, this paper puts forward a design of logistic center based on VMI mode. And also it analysis and design the information of the logistic center, it is a good way to improve the ability of army maintenance.


The introduction of multi-media makes teaching lively and interesting.It has a lot of advantages in Landscape Gardening specialty and improves the efficiency.But it also has some problems.The paper will give some suggestions.Using multimedia approach reasonably and moderately can ensure the teaching quality.


Agricultural extension and mentorship are back on the international development agenda and experiencing a much renewed focus. In the South African (SA) context, emphasis on improved agricultural extension and other support services originate s from the land redistribution program, introduced t, post 1994. Some policy analysts view agricultural extension, mentorship and training as important capacity developmental tools that have the potential to equip emerging small commercial farmers with the much-needed technical and farm business management skills to successfully engage in commercial agriculture. This paper therefore, sugarcane growers in the SA sugar indu development could be enhanced through mentorship and extension. The majority (80 and 91%) of the 43 surveyed NFGs respectively had no educational background in agriculture and busines NFGs had prior experience in general management, with almost 47% of them from the North Coast region. About nine percent of the sample NFGs had prior-experience in managing a sugarcane farm. The surveyed NF mentorship and extension are important sources of skills for sugarcane agronomic aspects, while accountants and formal training are significant in financial management. Own experience was viewed as the most important source of skills in labour management and transport to the sugar mill. Nonetheless, extension accounted for almost 27% as a source of skills in transport to the mill. These results suggest that (a) policy makers should design mentorship and other support services such that th ey address the needs of participants from diverse backgrounds, and (b) mentorship and extension should be used to complement each other and not to replace each other.


Let ccl(G) denote the order of the largest complete minor in a graph G (also called the contraction clique number) and let Gn,p denote a random graph on n vertices with edge probability p. Bollobás, Catlin, and Erdős (Eur J Combin 1 (1980), 195–199) asymptotically determined ccl(Gn,p) when p is a constant. Łuczak, Pittel and Wierman (Trans Am Math Soc 341 (1994) 721–748) gave bounds on ccl(Gn,p) when p is very close to 1/n, i.e. inside the phase transition. We show that for every ε > 0 there exists a constant C such that whenever C/n < p < 1 ‐ ε then asymptotically almost surely ccl(Gn,p) = (1 ± ε)n/ $ \sqrt{\rm {log}_{b}(np)} $, where b := 1/(1 ‐ p). If p = C/n for a constant C > 1, then ccl(Gn,p) = Θ($ \sqrt{n} $). This extends the results in (Bollobás, Catlin, and P. Erdős, Eur J Combin 1 (1980), 195–199) and answers a question of Krivelevich and Sudakov (preprint, 2006). © 2008 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Random Struct. Alg., 2008


'The nature of Islamic law' examines the nature of Islamic law, the understanding of which relates to Islamic legal theory. Many Muslims often claim that Islamic law is the 'law of God', in contrast to secular law as 'man-made law'. This suggests that Islamic law is completely divine, ready-made, and with no human input at all. However, while Islamic law is based textually on immutable divine sources, its interpretation and application are based on mutable human jurisprudence. There are three interconnected questions relating to the nature of Islamic law: Is Islamic law really 'Law'? Does Islamic law apply only to devotional matters? Is Islamic law completely divine and immutable?


PURPOSE: To sensitively detect fog caused by water drops attached onto the inner surface of a front glass. CONSTITUTION: Pulsed light A in a range of specified wave lengths, which flickers with a period higher than that of disturbed light such as sun light, interior lamp light and the like is projected onto the inner surface of a front glass 11 wherein the aforesaid pulsed light A is hit against water drops 43 attached onto the inner surface of the front glass 11 so as to be scattered. In this case, the fogging degree of the front glass 11 can be determined by detecting the luminous energy of the optical component of the aforesaid scattered light B with the same period as that of the pulsed light in a range of the same specified wave lengths as that of the pulsed light. COPYRIGHT: (C)1993,JPO&Japio


v Introduction INTRODUCTION The Making of Non‐Biological Intelligence consists of two books and two software packages, MeaningFinder™ and MatrixReasoning™, based on a new approach to automated reasoning and non‐biological intelligence. Both programs have been implemented using the same algorithmic foundation, but they have different functionality and different application areas. Each program involves its own unique combination of induction and deduction algorithms providing a versatile set of tools for intelligent processing of input data. In this book, we describe MeaningFinder™ (" MF™ v.2.1 "), an intelligent software program for unsupervised analysis of high‐dimensional datasets with up to 20,000 parameters. It is based on a new holistic approach to data processing according to the method described in U.S. Patent 6,640,227 " Unsupervised automated hierarchical data clustering based on simulation of a similarity matrix evolution " [1]. The system of unique algorithms and techniques, such as, for instance, similarity matrix hybridization, metrics for shape and power, parameter multiplication and object cloning techniques, unsupervised construction of trees and dendrograms, and others, are subjects of currently pending patent applications and are explicitly described in this book. MeaningFinder™ concept and software have been a result of our research aimed at development of non‐biological intelligence. Being a fully functional autonomous program for data processing and clustering of closed systems, it also serves as a basic unit of MatrixReasoning™ (" MR™ "), the next‐generation program for analysis of informationally open systems based on the method for hypothesis generation and verification, to be commercially available, along with The Making of Non‐Biological Intelligence, Part II, in 2004. In this book, describing the MeaningFinder concept and software, we also touch upon the functionality and applications of MatrixReasoning™, thus covering the entire methodology and its computerized implementation in the form of two programs. Introduction vi The underlying ideology and the general architecture of MF™ v.2.1 are described in Chapter 1. Chapter 2 contains a detailed description of the algorithmic foundation of the MF™ v.2.1 program. In Chapter 3, we provide examples of processing and analysis of real‐life and artificially generated datasets by MF™ v.2.1, demonstrating the MF™ v.2.1 application potential in various fields of research and practice. Input datasets and data similarity matrices pertaining to the discussed examples are contained in the software library so the MF™ v.2.1 users can both view them when mulling over the presented examples and experiment with them to practice the use of MF™ v.2.1. Chapter 4 …


In the seismic migration, Kirchhoff and reverse time migration are used in general. In the reverse time migration using wave equation, two-way and one-way wave equation are applied. The approach of one-way wave equation uses approximately computed downward continuation extrapolator, it need tess amounts of calculations and core memory in compared to that of two-way wave equation. In this paper, we applied one-way wave equation to pre-stack reverse time migration. In the frequency-space domain, forward propagation of source wavefield and back propagration of measured wavefield were executed by using monochromatic one-way wave equation, and zero-lag cross correlation of two wavefield resulted in the image of subsurface. We had implemented prestack migration on a massively parallel processors (MPP) CRAYT3E, and knew the algorithm studied here is efficiently applied to the prestck migration due to its suitability for parallelization.


Adenosine receptors are widely expressed in the brain and adenosine is a key bioactive substance for neuroprotection. Here, we clarify systematically the role of adenosine A1 receptors during a range of timescales and conditions when a significant amount of adenosine is released. Using acute hippocampal slices obtained from mice that were wild type or null mutant for the adenosine A1 receptor we quantified and characterized the impact of varying durations of experimental ischemia, hypoxia and hypoglycemia on synaptic transmission in the CA1 subregion. In normal tissue, these three stressors rapidly and markedly reduced synaptic transmission, and only treatment of sufficient duration led to incomplete recovery. In contrast, inactivation of adenosine A1 receptors delayed and/or lessened the reduction in synaptic transmission during all three stressors and reduced the magnitude of the recovery significantly. We reproduced the responses to hypoxia and hypoglycemia by applying an adenosine A1 receptor antagonist, validating the clear effects of genetic receptor inactivation on synaptic transmission. We found activation of adenosine A1 receptor inhibited hippocampal synaptic transmission during the acute phase of ischemia, hypoxia or hypoglycemia, and caused the recovery from synaptic impairment after these three stressors with using genetic mutant. These studies quantify the neuroprotective role of the adenosine A1 receptor during a variety of metabolic stresses within the same recording system.


mixing these systems of medical care they are not unknown abroad. The German Medical Association, Dr. Gilder points out, has made this statement: "With aUl due regard to European unity, it would hardly be in the interests of our patients or of the profession to sacrifice our diversified health insurance system in the interests of unification." Under Article 57 the council of the Common Market will act "by issuing directives regarding mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates, and other qualifications." As we stated in a previous leader the council will issue directives on the co-ordination of legislative and administrative provisions " concerning the conditions governing the exercise in the various member states of the medical, paramedical, and pharmaceutical professions." And the progressive removal of restrictions " shall be subject to the co-ordination of conditions for their exercise in the various member states." Dr. Gilder amusingly draws attention to what he considers the vague language of the Treaty of Rome, using such words as "harmonization," " co-ordination," "liberalization," ".equalization." " co-ordination of conditions," and so forth. Nevertheless, such words and phrases may provide a welcome element of ambiguity when British doctors get to grips with the problems of Euromed if Britain finds itself a member of the Common Market. It has been pointed out2 that the regulations of the council of the E.E.C. will have the force of Acts of Parliament, and the council of the Community has " made use of its power to enact supranational legislation." In his article on the legal aspects of the Common Market Professor KahnFreund, drawing attention to the obvious fact of restriction of national sovereignly by entering the Community, writes: " What is far more problematical is the impact which the Treaty may have on the constitutional principle of the sovereignty of parliament." Although the implications of this are perhaps remote from the way medicine will be practised in Britain and the evolution of the Health Service, it nevertheless appears to add point to the conclusion come to by Dr. Walter Hedgcock, Deputy Secretary of the B.M.A.,3 that amendment of the Medical Act may be necessary. Dr. Hedgcock believes that the Six might find unacceptable a U.K. statute which " (a) interposes the discretion of non-Governmentcontrolled agencies (the General Medical Council and the Privy Council) between qualification in their countries and the right of registration here, and (b) debars from registration here British nationals who qualify in one of the countries of the Six." That the General Medical Council is alert to this and other problems of Britain in Euromed was shown by Lord Cohen in his presidential address and in his effective intervention in the recent debate on the Common Market in the House of Lords. Lord Cohen has expressed his concern at the implications of Article 57, a concern which will be widely shared by those properly anxious to maintain the standards of British medlcine, based as they are upon a system of teaching, examination, and registration unequalled, we may be chauvinistic enough to think, in Europe. One thing that must not happen is any deterioration in these standards, whether from any fault of our own or from future conditions affecting the unrestricted entry of doctors to Britain. That there may already have been some diminution in the standards was stated vigorously at the end of last year by Lord Taylor in a debate that echoed for months on end. Lord Cohen gave the same distinguished House a jolt when he pointedly drew attention to the differing standards in certain European universities. While as Europeans we have a common heritage and civilization, and while the best doctors of any oue country are equal to the best in others, it is probable there is still too wide a variation in basic medical standards. Time will bring its own solution to this and many other problems, but a-ll the signs indicate that there is a good deal of apprehension about the conditions of entry into Euromed and the repercussions of these on the standards of medical caTe in Britain.


In 1996 the Information Technology Management Reform Act, now referred to as the Clinger-Cohen Act, called for federal government agencies to "reform acquisition laws and information technology management"-in short-to plan, program, and integrate efforts relating to information technology (IT). The result, Congress expected, would maximize budget dollars while allowing the integration of new and emerging technologies into existing IT structures. The Army is implementing the Clinger-Cohen Act and modernizing the IT infrastructure on its installations worldwide using the unique process established in its I3A. Army I3A captures the existing state of the information infrastructure on an installation and applies a standard technically sound "target architecture model" that fully supports current and projected operational requirements. Using the information derived from the I3A. Army IT managers can cost the difference between the existing infrastructure and the target architecture model, budget to make up the difference, and plan, program, and integrate IT upgrades and modernization. The Army's Chief Information Officer (CIO) monitors I3A by chairing a Configuration Control Board (CCB) composed of IT managers from Major Commands, specialized engineering and technical commands, and the Army's Secretariat and Staff. The CCB serves as the operational management arm of I3A, carrying out its IT responsibilities to the CIO through its Working Groups to document and control configuration items, assess new technologies, and recommend changes. The Army's I3A is flexible enough to assimilate unexpected changes but provides the necessary structure to implement the Clinger-Cohen Act, and, as such, provides an important IT management model.


Investigation of immediate behavioral effects of 5 ethanol dose levels on 30 albino rats was undertaken. Each dose-level group had 5 Ss, with each S on a different water-deprivation schedule. Behavioral indices included respiration, balance, muscle tonus, auditory sensitivity, activity, coordination, and dose-effect length. Low doses resulted in a stimulative effect, while larger doses produced increasing incapacitation of caudorostral progression, with the highest dose of ethanol producing unconsciousness.


Ultrabroad-band chirped multilayer dielectric mirrors providing nearly constant negative group delay dispersion over the wavelength range of 640-950 nm and high reflectance between 590 and 970 nm are demonstrated. A key to this performance has been an improved design method, which also substantially reduces the computing time needed for ultimate optimization. The presented devices constitute an enabling technology for producing high-quality terawatt pulses in the sub-10-fs regime. The generation of 5-fs 0.1-TW pulses by using exclusively these mirrors as negative delay line demonstrates this potential.


385 Comparison of testis cancer‐specifi c survival: an analysis of national cancer registry data from the USA, UK and Germany John Withington, Alexander P. Cole, Christian P. Meyer, Thomas Seisen, Marianne Schmid, Stuart R. Lipsitz, Christopher J. Sweeney, Prokar Dasgupta and Quoc-Dien Trinh Several of the author's of this issue's Article of the Month are from Uppsala University, Sweden. The cover image shows Uppsala cathedral viewed across the Fyris River. ©istock.com/chienmuhou


In article the short characteristic of family rehabilitation strategy is presented and the technique and results of research of the optimum and not optimum family rehabilitation strategy used in families, bringing-up children with moderate intellectual backwardness are considered


A laser combines wth target chamber fulfil a system of high power (PW) ultrashort (~20 fsec) laser beam. It heats the target inside the interaction chamber. The chamber is in vacuum of 10−7mbar and the interaction between the laser and the target causes both an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and electrons to be emitted (~1012) from the target . The T-probe purpose is to supply read of the target current, which is flows in the system. The EMP disturbance can be characterized by number of differential equations and related parameters (based on equivalent circuit of the target probe). The delay parameters (τ1, τ2) in times characterize the EMP interaction (parasitic effects which are second components of EMP) with the chamber, laser and target, and time delay τ3 is related to employ coaxial cable. The investigation of our laser and target chamber system is based on non linear dynamic theory which investigate the behaviour through delay differential equations (DDEs) which is dependent on variable parameters. All of that for optimization of a laser and target chamber system parameters analysis to understand EMP disturbances. The analysis involves graphs of function of τ1, τ2, τ3.


The photoinduced intermolecular electron transfer (ET) reaction between N,N‐dimethylaniline and excited state anthracene in acetonitrile solution is studied theoretically. A solvation coordinate s which represents stochastic one‐dimensional dynamics of the solution phase reaction is defined and a Hamiltonian in terms of s and perpendicular bath modes is derived from the spin‐boson Hamiltonian. This has an advantage that the dynamics of the transferring electron is influenced by the bath only through coupling with the coordinate s. Intra‐ and intermolecular potentials are constructed by using ab initio molecular orbital methods, and a series of molecular dynamics simulation analysis is performed. Mean force potentials as a function of the donor–acceptor distance R are computed and the bimolecular encounter dynamics is investigated. Diabatic free energy curves for the coordinate s are computed and shown to be well approximated by parabolas, indicating that the dielectric saturation effect is negligible. The...


The effect of the protein kinase inhibitor, 6‐dimethylaminopurine (6‐DMAP), on the maturation promoting factor (MPF) activity, pronuclear formation, and parthenogenetic development of electrically activated in vitro matured (IVM) porcine oocytes was investigated. Oocytes were activated by exposure to two DC pulses, each of 1.5 kV/cm field strength and 60 μsec duration, applied 1 sec apart. In the first experiment, subsequent incubation with 2 or 5 mM 6‐DMAP for 3 hr increased the incidence of blastocyst formation compared with no treatment, whereas incubation with 2 or 5 mM 6‐DMAP for 5 hr did not. In the proceeding experiments, oocytes exposed to 6‐DMAP were incubated with 2 mM of the reagent for 3 hr. Assaying histone H1 kinase activity in the second experiment revealed that the levels of active MPF in electrically activated oocytes treated with 6‐DMAP were depleted more rapidly and remained depleted for longer compared with electrical activation alone. The kinetics of MPF activity following 6‐DMAP treatment were similar to that found in inseminated oocytes in the third experiment. The effect of 6‐DMAP was correlated with an increased incidence of parthenogenetic blastocyst formation. A fourth experiment was undertaken to examine the diploidizing effect of 6‐DMAP. Electrically activated oocytes treated with 6‐DMAP and cytochalasin B, either alone or in combination, displayed a higher incidence of second polar body retention compared with those that were untreated or treated with cycloheximide alone. After 6 days of culture in vitro, parthenotes exposed to 6‐DMAP, either alone or in combination with cytochalasin B, formed blastocysts at a greater rate compared with those exposed to cytochalasin B alone, cycloheximide alone or no treatment. The combined 6‐DMAP and cytochalasin B treatment induced the highest rate of blastocyst formation (47%), but the numbers of trophectoderm and total cells in these blastocysts were lower compared with those obtained following exposure to 6‐DMAP alone. These results suggest that the increased developmental potential of 6‐DMAP‐treated parthenotes may be attributable to the MPF‐inactivating effect of 6‐DMAP, rather than the diploidizing effect of 6‐DMAP. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 62: 387–396, 2002. © 2002 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The Hadamard product of power series has been studied for more than one hundred years and has become a classical tool in complex analysis. Nonetheless, this product only concerns functions which are holomorphic near the origin. In 2009, T. Pohlen studied an extension of this Hadamard product on functions defined on open subsets of the Riemann sphere, which do not necessarily contain the origin. Using ad-hoc and explicit constructions, he could define this product thanks to a contour integration formula. However, his construction is non-symmetric with respect to 0 and ∞. The first part of this thesis consists in the study of a generalization of Pohlen's extended Hadamard product. Using singular homology theory, we introduce more symmetric cycles and define a generalized Hadamard product which is equivalent to Pohlen's product when the functions vanish at infinity. Then, we show that this generalized Hadamard product is a particular case of a more general phenomenon called "holomorphic cohomological convolution". We study this convolution in detail on the multiplicative complex Lie group C∗ and provide a contour integration formula to compute it. The second part of the thesis is devoted to the study of holomorphic Paley-Wiener type theorems due to Polya (in the compact case) and to Méril (in the non-compact case). These theorems use a contour integration version of the Laplace transform. Thanks to the theory of enhanced subanalytic sheaves developed by A. D'Agnolo and M. Kashiwara as well as the enhanced Laplace transform introduced by M. Kashiwara and P. Schapira, we show that such theorems can be understood from a cohomological point of view. Under some convex subanalytic conditions, we are even able to provide stronger Laplace isomorphisms between spaces which are described by tempered growth conditions. It appears that these spaces can be linked to certain spaces of analytic functionals. In the non-compact case, we define a convolution product between analytic functionals and conjecture that it is compatible with the additive version of the previously studied holomorphic cohomological convolution. Thanks to our results on the enhanced Laplace transform, we prove the conjecture in the subanalytic case.


The energy spectra of 241Am alpha particles were measured by a detector employing the compound semiconductor InSb at an operating temperature below 4.2 K. The fabrication method and current–voltage curves are shown. Though the energy resolution of the detector is not discussed in this article, this is the first report on an InSb radiation detector.


Descartes asked, how can I know that I am not now dreaming? The Certainty Dream deals with questions of identity, of reality and of the integrity of linguistic representation of the self through poetry. The poem, the mind, the body, and the world become an interrelating series of overlapping circles, all acting as containers for both knowledge and uncertainty. Eschewing the traditional language of philosophy, these poems operate by semiotic transference, allowing us to know something by first recognizing it as something else. Many of these poems employ loose associations, illogical connections, fragmented narratives and run-on syntax to postulate other ways of knowing. Two primary threads inform the manuscript: a series of dream poems and the character 'Mynah'. Mynah is not a literal mynah bird but an aesthetic object that the speaker uses as a mirror for herself and the world. The dream world and the waking world blur together; the poems in each landscape are similarly strange and uncertain. In a world where "duplicity is always shining forth from ordinary objects," one is never sure whether an object, and by extension the poetic self, is real or a mimetic representation (i.e. part of a dreamscape). The dislocation is epistemological, and the poems thus become the speaker's visible negotiation of her own identity in the face of uncertainty. She is not convinced that she exists as more than a symbol, a representation of herself. Trapped in her own narrative, and her own mind, she isn't sure she has access to anything verifiable. Alongside that doubt, however, poetic language and associative leaps become a point of verification


ABSTRACT Introduction Thamnobryum angustifolium (Holt) Nieuwl. is an endemic European species at high risk of extinction and included in British and International red lists. It was previously known only from two localities in England, UK. We report here the discovery of a moss very similar to T. angustifolium during surveys of aquatic vegetation along the bed of the Gesso stream, near Valdieri village, Gesso della Valletta Valley, Maritime Alps, Piedmont, Italy. Methods Material from the new locality was compared morphologically with material from Derbyshire and Cumberland (now combined with Westmorland to form Cumbria) in England and with the adjacent population of Thamnobryum alopecurum (Hedw.) Gangulee. The Italian material resembling T. angustifolium was also investigated using nuclear (ITS2) and plastid (rbcLa and trnH–psbA) markers. The sequences obtained were compared with data available in GenBank. Key results and conclusions Morphologically, the material from the Italian population is very close to the English populations, especially the one from Cumberland, but there are minor differences between all three populations. The differences are not considered sufficient to merit the description of a new taxon. Thamnobryum angustifolium is therefore new to Continental Europe. Analysis of the molecular data revealed no genetic differences between Italian T. angustifolium and the adjacent population of T. alopecurum. This supports the proposition that the populations of T. angustifolium in England and Italy are derived independently from the surrounding populations of T. alopecurum at each of the localities.


The Comment of A. A. Aligia claims that the superperturbation theory (SPT) approach [E. Mu\~noz, C. J. Bolech, and S. Kirchner, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 016601 (2013)] formulated using dual fermions [A. N. Rubtsov, M. I. Katsnelson, and A. I. Lichtenstein, Phys. Rev. B 77, 033101 (2008)] and used by us to compare with numerical renormalization group (NRG) results for the conductance [L. Merker, S. Kirchner, E. Mu\~noz, and T. A. Costi, Phys. Rev. B 87, 165132 (2013)], fails to correctly extend the results of the symmetric Anderson impurity model (SIAM) for general values of the local level ${E}_{d}$ in the Kondo regime. We answer this criticism. We also compare new NRG results for ${c}_{B}$, with ${c}_{B}$ calculated directly from the low-field conductance, with new higher-order SPT calculations for this quantity, finding excellent agreement for all ${E}_{d}$ and for $U/\ensuremath{\pi}\ensuremath{\Delta}$ extending into the strong coupling regime.


Conventionally, force elements in longitudinal train dynamics (LTD) are determined sequentially. Actually, all these force elements are independent from each other, i.e., determination of each one does not require inputs from others. This independent feature makes LTD feasible for parallel computing. A parallel scheme has been proposed and compared with the conventional sequential scheme in regard to computational efficiency. The parallel scheme is tested as not suitable for LTD; computing time of the parallel scheme is about 165% of the sequential scheme on a four-CPU personal computer (PC). A modified parallel scheme named the hybrid scheme was then proposed. The computing time of the hybrid scheme is only 70% of the sequential scheme. The other advantage of the hybrid scheme is that only two processors are required, which means the hybrid scheme can be implemented on PCs.


The process evaluation attaches importance to students' development,pays attention to their individual differences,and compensates for shortages in final evaluation.In teaching practice,we should scientifically evaluate students' emotions,class participation and learning methods to help them realize the goal of stimulating their interest in learning,developing their PE ability and ability in learning.


PurposeDuring the digital media era with an explosion of messages, the prevalence of what is known as "message fatigue" has grown. However, there is a lack of understanding toward message fatigue in using instant messengers. Based on the stressor-strain-outcome framework, this study provides a theoretical model to explore possible predictors and consequences of instant messaging fatigue.Design/methodology/approachThe hypothesized model includes communication overload, social overload, instant messaging fatigue, technology and behavioral intention to use instant messaging. Three hundred and eleven responses are collected using an online survey. The authors conduct structural equation modeling to evaluate the hypothesized model and test the hypotheses.FindingsThis study reveals that (1) communication overload and social overload are positively associated with instant messaging fatigue and technostress; (2) higher levels of instant messaging fatigue and technostress are also related to a higher level of intention to discontinue usage; (3) technostress significantly mediates the relationship between instant messaging fatigue and intention to discontinue usage of instant messaging.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is limited to collect data from one university in the United States with a cross-sectional design. Future research should include other countries, different age groups and longitudinal methods to examine instant messaging fatigue.Originality/valueThis study extends existing findings on fatigue in using mobile communication by applying the stressor-strain-outcome framework to IM fatigue and improves the understanding of the potential negative aspects of instant messaging.


[1] The precipitation regime of Dronning Maud Land (DML), Antarctica, was studied using Antarctic Mesoscale Prediction System (AMPS) archive data. Precipitation is the most important component of the mass balance of the Antarctic ice sheet. Precipitation studies of DML are particularly important because two deep ice core drilling sites, Kohnen Station and Dome Fuji, are located in this region. For the correct interpretation of the ice core properties a thorough understanding of the precipitation regime is necessary. We used the high-resolution AMPS archive data for the years 2001–2006 to investigate the temporal and spatial distribution of precipitation. The results were compared to a recently published mass balance map derived from glaciological data of western DML. The mass balance map and the AMPS mean annual precipitation field show fairly similar patterns, which are mostly related to topography and prevailing wind systems. Precipitation is found to generally decrease from the coast to the inland plateau. Along the escarpment between the low-altitude coastal areas and the interior plateau, local minima and maxima in precipitation correspond to the leeward and windward sides of topographical ridges. Interannual variability of monthly sums of precipitation is fairly high owing to the influence of cyclone activity on precipitation, which affects not only the coastal regions, but also the interior of the continent more than previously thought.


PURPOSE
To experimentally examine the effectiveness of a small sample of commercial denture cleansers in removing Candida albicans cells from denture surfaces.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
A total of 216 specimens from three brands of denture base resins (72 for each acrylic resin) were divided into three groups of 24 specimens that each received a different surface treatment (Ra1, Ra2, and Ra3). The specimens were contaminated by the Candida albicans strain ATCC 90028, immersed for 15 minutes in one of two experimental denture cleanser solutions or in tap water, and placed in Petri dishes with culture medium.

RESULTS
Candida albicans colonies were measured after 24-hour incubation at 37ÆC. There was a statistically significant difference in the cleansing result depending on the denture cleanser used.

CONCLUSION
The use of commercial denture cleansers may under certain conditions be effective in the removal of Candida albicans from denture bases.


Aims: To investigate the mechanism of hyperglycaemia in women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS) by modelling physiological insulin secretion. Methods: 45 non-diabetic women with PCOS (defined by Rotterdam criteria) and 47 controls were studied. Insulin secretion was modelled from glucose and C-peptide concentrations during a 6-point oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and insulin resistance (IR) was determined by the Matsuda Insulin Sensitivity Index (ISI). Results: (1). b-Cell Glucose Sensitivity (bCGS) is not intrinsically impaired in PCOS, but IR is increased. (2) However, women with PCOS and 2-hour hyperglycaemia (glucose >7.5 mmol/l]) were characterized by worse bCGS compared with women with 2-hour glucose <7.5 mmol/l (mean [SD]) 43.5 [23.6] versus 109.0 [68.5] pmol/min/ml/mmol; p 1⁄4 0.04), and had higher waist circumference (116.8 [15.8] vs 93.5 [15.9] cm; p < 0.01) and 120 minute insulin concentrations (964.0 [579.2e1214.7] vs 328.2 [242.2e475.7] pmol/l; p 1⁄4 0.01). (3). In contrast, lean, insulin sensitive women with PCOS were euglycemic, even in the presence of poor bCGS, and exhibited favourable cardiometabolic risk profiles. Conclusions: bCGS is not intrinsically impaired in PCOS, but it is the critical determinant of hyperglycaemia. Women with low bCGS, who also have central adiposity and IR exhibit 2-hour hyperglycaemia, whereas women with high bCGS are able to maintain euglycaemia despite central adiposity and IR. These findings show that (i) waist circumference and 2-hour glucose identify women at higher risk of diabetes, and confirm that (ii) obesity and IR are the key reversible targets for diabetes prevention in women with PCOS. © 2020 The Authors. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of KeAi Communication Co., Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/bync-nd/4.0/). Institute for Health and the Group, Room N6, Plymouth


Author has described the principle of desorption and hydrolysis of urea production plant process condensate,has compared and analyzed the desorption and hydrolysis technology of Stamicarbon and Snam urea process condensate from aspects of operating conditions,equipment features,outside discharged waste water quality and equipment investment etc.,has introduced the common problems in production of above two kinds of desorption and hydrolysis processes and their solution measures.


Most experiments in martensitic phase transformations are performed under quasi-static loading of a specimen. The only well-documented experimental investigation concerning the impact-induced austenite-martensite phase transformations was given by Escobar and Clifton ([1], [2]). As Escobar and Clifton noted, measured velocity profiles provide a difference between the particle velocity and the transverse component of the projectile velocity. This velocity difference, in the absence of any evidence of plastic deformation, is indicative of a stress induced phase transformation that propagates into the crystals from the impact face. We develop a thermomechanical approach to the modeling of phase-transition front propagation based on the balance laws of continuum mechanics in the reference configuration [3] and the thermodynamics of discrete systems [4]. It is shown that the developed model captures the experimentally observed particle velocity difference.


The latest developments of assisted reproductive technology give birth to the problems of epistemology as well as of regulation by law. The problems of regulation by law include the problem of permissibility and the problem of parenthood. In spite of the fact that much attention has been paid to each problem, we are still unequipped by clear legislation and competent judicial decisions. The problems of epistemology, on the other hand, has been addressed to by the bioethical philosophers and theorists, especially in many respects to the problem of human self-understanding including the issue of human enhancement. However, this paper shows the fact that the developments of assisted reproductive technology make the very concept of parenthood changed. It was neither the kind of "essentially contested concept", nor the concept inviting serious disagreement in its usage among people. But we are somewhat lost without the secure concept of parenthood, although we still feel parenthood to be known evidently to ourselves. We cannot fully understand the ethical and legal implications of the assisted reproductive technology, unless we take into account the problem of conceptual change within the parenthood, which can be better seen by employing the concept/conception distinction.


having discussed mental health with one's OBGYN will also be presented. Conclusions: The findings of this study indicate that several new mothers who gave birth during the pandemic experienced post traumatic stress and depression at clinically concerning levels. The results also highlight the role of perceived support from obstetric staff as a protective factor against developing post traumatic stress and depression. These results suggest that it is pertinent to explore risk and protective factors related to mental health following childbirth during the pandemic. These findings have implications for clinical practice and research to improve postpartum mental health.


The objective of this study was to determine bacteriological status, incidence and molecular characterization of E.coli, salmonellae and staph. aureus in both baladi and farm table eggs. A total of 50 random chicken eggs contents samples (25 for each baladi and farm eggs) were collected from different supermarkets in KafrElsheikh Governorate. Aerobic plate count showed mean values of 2.48x10 4 ± 0.39x10 4 for baladi eggs and 6.15x10 3 ± 1.41x10 3 for farm eggs, coliform count showed mean value of 9.53x10 2 ± 2.16x10 2 for baladi eggs and 4.99x10 2 ± 0.72x10 2 for farm eggs and staphylococcal count showed mean value of 2.05x10 3 ± 0.91x10 2 for baladi eggs and 5.00x10 2 ± 0.30x10 2 for farm eggs. Incidence of E. coli isolated from the examined samples of baladi and farm eggs contents (25 for each) were 4 isolates (16%) and 2 isolates (8 %), respectively. Serotypes of isolated E. coli were O1: H7 (1 isolate from farm eggs), O2: H6(1 isolate from baladi eggs), O44: H18 (1 isolate from baladi eggs), O78(2 isolate from baladi eggs and 1 isolate from farm eggs). Incidence of salmonellae isolated from the examined samples of baladi and farm eggs contents (25 for each) were 5 isolates (20%) from baladi eggs (2 isolates for S. enteritidis and 1 isolate for S. typhimurium, S. kentucky and S. virchow) and 3 isolates (12%) from farm eggs (2 isolates for S. enteritidis and 1 isolate for S. kentucky). Incidence of staph.aureus isolated from the examined samples of baladi and farm egg contents (25 for each) 2 isolates (8%) were isolated from each type. Multiplex PCR for identification of tetracycline resistance genes (tetB, tetC and tetD) of E. coli were (O78 and O1) Positive E. coli strains for tetB gene, (O78 and O44) Positive e. coli strains for both tetB and tetD genes, (O78) positive E. coli strain for tetC gene, (O2) positive E. coli strain for tetD gene. Multiplex PCR for identification of B-lactamase resistance genes of Salmonella species were (S. enteritidis) Positive strains for blaCMY gene, (S. enteritidis and S. kentucky) Positive strains for blaCTX gene, (S. typhimurium) Positive strain for blaCTX and blaCMY genes, (S. enteritidis) and (S. virchow) Negative strains for both genes. Multiplex PCR of enterotoxins genes (sea, seb, sec and sed) for characterization of s. aureus, 1 isolate positive s. aureus strain for sea and seb genes, 1 positive isolate s. aureus strain for sec gene, 1 isolate positive s. aureus strain for sea gene and 1 isolate negative s. aureus strain for enterotoxins genes. Farm eggs were bacteriologically better than baladi eggs. We recommend that strict hygienic measures to safe guard eggs from being deteriorated should be adopted in the farms and during handling and processing of eggs and not consumed raw. Key word: Table eggs, hazards bacteria, public health, food poisoning, multiplex PCR.


The economic problems existed in flue gas desulphurization equipmeat in China was investigated.The desulphurization byproduct gypsum which was produced by desulphurization process was effective to improve the alkali soil,making provisions production possible from the improved soil.Therefore,two of Chinese environmental issues,SO2 pollution and alkali soil,can be solved.


The einzel lens has been the subject of many publications but we found that there were no studies that were sufficiently general that we could obtain a clear picture of the lens action. In attempting to generate such a picture, we found that it was very helpful to look at the asymptotic behaviour in the limit of a very weak lens. We were surprised to rind that the simple expressions that can be generated for this approximation are accurate throughout a wide range of conditions


Abstract : 20040 08030 04020LEHIGH UNIV BETHLEHEM PA CENTER FOR THE APPLICATION OF MATHEMATICSThe Interaction of Large Amplitude Shallow Water Waves with an Ambient Shear Flow: Critical and Non-Critical Flows.Technical rept.,Blythe,P. A. ;Kazakia,Y. ;Varley,E. ;CAM-110-23DAAD05-69-C-0053THEMIS-65BRLCR-75(*incompressible flow, water waves), gravity, viscosity, ocean waves, ocean currents, atmospheric motion, partial differential equations, nonlinear differential equations, hydrostatic pressure, numerical analysisair water interactions, shear flow, gravity waves, themis projectA nonlinear analysis is given of the behavior of a gravity wave moving over a horizontal bed into a region where the flow is sheared in a vertical direction. No restriction is placed on the amplitude of the wave. The only assumptions made are that the fluid is inviscid and that the hydrostatic pressure law holds. The results can be used to analyze the behavior of tsunamis and weather fronts. (Author)


Non‐alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) has become a significant concern among people living with HIV (PLHIV), albeit its burden remains unclear. The primary objective of this systematic review (SR) and meta‐analysis (MA) was to estimate the prevalence of NAFLD and significant fibrosis in PLHIV. The secondary objective was to determine the risk factors for NAFLD among PLHIV.


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One of the photokeratitis risk factors is acute reversible radiation of ultraviolet (UV) rays, which injure the cornea's epithelial tissue. Informal welding workers are susceptible populations to UV rays exposure. This study aimed to confirm the influence of UV radiation exposure on photokeratitis complaints in welding workers in Cimanggis, Depok, West Java. A cross-sectional study was conducted from February to June 2019 and used to select 100 welding workers purposively. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to determine photokeratitis complaints, age, education level, eye protection, safety knowledge, and work period; the UV radiation measured by A UV meter. Data were analyzed using a logistic regression test. This study found the proportion of photokeratitis to be 84.0%, with 76.0% of UV radiation exceeding the Threshold Limit Values (TLV). The logistic regression test showed a significant effect of UV radiation on photokeratitis after controlling confounding variables (education level, eye protection, safety knowledge, and welding distance) (p-value = 0.006; AdjOR = 7.236; 95% CI: 1.74–30.07). It can be concluded that UV radiation, more than TLV, constitutes the primary risk factor for photokeratitis complaints. Risks for photo kera titis were influenced by low education level, poor eye protection, limited safety knowledge, and welding distance ≤ 45 cm.


Thermal mass flow meter for determining the flow of a flowable medium (2) through a pipeline (1), comprising at least one next on one with the medium (2) in contact sensor chip (3) arranged first temperature sensor (6) for determining the temperature of the medium ( 2) approaching its measuring signal to an electronic evaluation unit (4) for calculating the mass flow of the medium (2) through the pipeline (1), for detecting a deposit (to the first temperature sensor (10) on the sensor chip (3) spaced 6) a second temperature sensor (7) is arranged, which also thereto connected evaluation unit (4) a heat flow (8) characterizing within the sensor chip (3) temperature difference between two temperature sensors (6, 7) monitored by the by a deposit (10) to eliminate interference effect caused on the measurement computationally, wherein at least one of the two temperature sensors (6; 7) as a heated temperature sensor is adapted to trigger and the heat flow (8) through the sensor chip (3), the heated temperature sensor (6) in such a way on the sensor chip (3) is arranged such that its heating one as a heat transfer (α) characterizable heat flow (9) triggers in the medium (2) which is dependent on the flow around the sensor chip (3).


1. Mental deficiency seems to be consistently more common in the male than in the female sex. 2. This is most strikingly shown in opposite-sex twins. Among 27 pairs of opposite-sex twins, both had mental deficiency in 11 instances, the male alone in 11 instances, and the female alone in 5 instances. 3. It appears in a similarly consistent way that girls make a slightly better showing than boys in intelligence tests and in scholastic record. 4. These facts suggest that gene factors of intelligence may in some cases be carried in the X-chromosomes and not only in the autosomes; or, in other words, that there may be a sex-linked factor in some cases in the genetic history of mental deficiency and of general intelligence. 5. In order to make the simplest provision in biological symbols and formulas for a sex-linked factor, it is necessary to assume the existence of six possible types of males, nine types of females, and 54 types of mating. 6. Theoretically, from 38 of these types of mating only normal offspri...


We present a theoretical method for deriving the stress tensor and elastic response of ordered systems within a Ginzburg-Landau type density field theory in the linear regime. This is based on spatially coarse graining the microscopic stress which is determined by the variation of a free energy with respect to mass displacements. We find simple expressions for the stress tensor for phase field crystal (PFC) models for different crystal symmetries in two and three dimensions. Using tetradic product sums of reciprocal lattice vectors, we calculate elastic constants and show that they are directly related to the symmetries of the reciprocal lattices. We also show that except for bcc lattices, there are regions of model parameters for which the elastic response is isotropic. The predicted elastic stress-strain curves are verified by numerical strain-controlled bulk and shear deformations. Since the method is independent of a reference state, it extends also to defected crystals. We exemplify this by considering an edge and screw dislocation in the simple cubic lattice.


In this study we observe two of Dina Goldstein's most famous photography series: Fallen Princesses and In The Dollhouse . These photographic works show with severity the feminine models which are exposed to children spectators, in particular, the characters created by the Franchise Disney Princesses and the Company Barbie. These Article analyze Goldstein´s work with a qualitative study to observe how a female photographer reinvents female characters created to entertain a female audience. The analysis will focus on the characters of the work. In this way we can compare the works of Goldstein with their specific references —the characters of both franchises—, to find how the artist uses the same tools of the franchises in order to provide a new vision of them.


For interplanetary missions, efficient electric propulsion systems can be used to increase the mass delivered to the destination. Outer planet exploration has experienced new interest with the launch of the Cassini and New Horizons Missions. At the present, new technologies are studied for better use of electric propulsion systems in missions to the outer planets. This paper presents low-thrust trajectories using the method of the transporting trajectory to Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto. They use nuclear and radio isotopic electric propulsion. These direct transfers have continuous electric propulsion of low power along the entire trajectory. The main goal of the paper is to optimize the transfers, that is, to provide maximum mass to be delivered to the outer planets.


Semi-log and typical curve matching methods are used in well test interpretation,but the interpretation results are uncertain for fractured wells of low permeability reservoir and the circumstances of lack of early data and without radial flow.Hence the log-log plot of pressure and the differential of pressure is applied to analyze the characteristic flow sections and typical points on the curve,and to derive the calculation method of formation parameters of well test in vertical fractured wells with closed boundary and nonhomogeneous flux.


In the context of Japanese cultural postmodernism, the phenomenon of resuming literary masterpieces in comic book form appears as a juxtaposition with a specific purpose, resulting in a hybrid form which we would regard as komiXLit. As part of a specific way of knowledge, we interpret komiXLit as an alternative model whose characteristic is that of the combination of two apparently contradicting terms: the "high" literature and the manga pop culture publication, a cultural move placed by the Japanese publishing houses under the credo "understanding literature through manga". Using the illustrative example provided by the masterpiece authored by Yasunari Kawabata Snow Country (1935-1937/ 1948) and its manga version (2010), with drawings by Sakuko Utsugi, the present endeavour proposes a reading in which the komiXLit version is interpreted as an architectonic structure inspired by the former, in an attempt to identify the dominants of the textual poetics. We propose that the term komiXLit designate the cultural and social phenomenon of resuming the masterpieces of the Japanese literature in manga (comics) versions, as a self-sustainable category within the genre, meant to complete the already existing ones: story manga' dramatic pictures, graphic novels, boys'comics, girls'comics, men's comics, ladies' comics.


Terahertz band gap is the range of frequency lying between the microwave band and the optical band, its range spectrum starts from 0.1 THz to 10 THz. This band provides unallocated wide bandwidth as well as very high-speed communication in the futuristic applications. This article presents a broadband microstrip 1  2 array antenna powered by hybrid coupler in terahertz band (around 2.45 THz). To reach this Broadband antenna, at first, a wideband 3 dB hybrid coupler is designed and optimized. After that, two basic elements of square shaped with slots are fed by the two output ports of the coupler. The results obtained reports that the suggested antenna offers – 10 dB wide bandwidth equals to 846 GHz (from 1.91 to 2.77 THz) with good impedance matching, maximum directivity equals to 8.86 dBi at the operating frequency 2.45 THz. Additionally, it offers the capability of beam steering which can be obtained by switching of the input ports of the coupler. Thus, the antenna can produce two beams at  30  . The structure and simulation results of the proposed antenna have been done on Rogers RT/duroid 5880 substrate. The total size of the proposed microstrip array antenna is 110  112  1.56  m 3 . Due to its capability of beam steering and broadband characteristic, the proposed antenna is a potential candidate for Terahertz band applications such as materials characterization in the THz band, medical imaging and future high-speed wireless communication.


New updated! The latest book from a very famous author finally comes out. Book of metabolic and cardiac alterations in shock and trauma, as an amazing reference becomes what you need to get. What's for is this book? Are you still thinking for what the book is? Well, this is what you probably will get. You should have made proper choices for your better life. Book, as a source that may involve the facts, opinion, literature, religion, and many others are the great friends to join with.


A composite and its method for stimulating immune system are disclosed. Such a method includes extracting from polystictus and purifying peptidoglucan or its active components. The said method can beused for preventing and curing the secondary immune deficiency.


ABSTRACTIn coordinate metrology, features of sheet metal parts in early production may be significantly out of nominal, so the inspection path created from its CAD nominal has to be adjusted to avoid cosine error or probe collisions. To solve this problem and seize the advantages of contact and non-contact measurement methods, a multi-sensor blue LED scanner and touch-trigger inspection system was constructed, in which the tactile inspection path was tuned by scanner data. Extrinsic calibration of the scanner was investigated using an angled slot target. Additionally, a lightweight 2-axis rotary table was designed for use with surfaces with non-vertical normal directions. The calibration, qualification, registration, and path correction methods are presented. A stamped sheet metal automobile part was experimentally measured.


The invention relates to an electromagnetic wave wireless drilling-following measurement system capable of being replaced without pullout. The system comprises a drill string unit, an underground measurement emitting unit, a signal receiving unit, a positioning and buffering unit, a lead unit and a salvage locking unit, wherein a measurement device in the underground measurement emitting unit acquires and encodes information and transmits the information to an emitting device; the emitting device transmits the information through electromagnetic waves; and a receiving device in the signal receiving unit receives and processes the information. When an underground device is required to be replaced or maintained in the using process of the system, only the device is salvaged without pullout. A salvaging spear is struck by a salvaging tool, locked and lifted, and a tension spring is pulled up, so that elastic calipers are retracted to be separated from a groove on an elastic caliper hanging short section, a guide head is separated from a positioning joint, and the device is salvaged out of a well. After being replaced or maintained, the device is thrown into the well and taken to a well bottom by self-weight or the impact force of a pump, and is retightened by a damper in cooperation with the guide head. The operation of salvaging, separating and retightening is easy, safe and reliable.


was almost as easy to get consents for thoracoplasty as for artificial pneumothorax; but in 1930 it was difficult to persuade the patient to have a thoracoplastic operation. Of course, many an ineffective pneumothorax with adhesions can be made effective by means of internal pneumonolysis. If there is any doubt as to whether the adhesions can be cut, the patient should receive the benefit of that doubt by a thoracoscopic examination. If the pneumothorax cannot be made effective, it should be abandoned. If the patient survives serious complications, more radical thoracic surgery is indicated. In this survey a great number of patients were in such critical condition that surgical intervention was contra-indicated. But in most of those cases where internal pneumonolysis or some other form of surgery was performed, the patients were able to pass the 3 or 4 year mark from the onset of pneumothorax. Even though the pneumothorax was ineffective at first, it paved the way for further treatment. Many patients have bilateral cavitations and require bilateral pneumothorax. Sometimes a contralateral lesion develops during the successful pneumothorax treatment of one lung and the patient will then require bilateral pneumothorax. It is advisable to get a fairly effective collapse on one side before attempting the other side, even if you must resort to a pneumonolysis. However, if one side is effective and the other side is ineffective, here again, the ineffective pneumothorax should be abandoned for some other form of collapse therapy, provided the patient's condition warrants it. Although pneumothorax therapy is a very effective means of combating pulmonary tuberculosis, it has its limitations. The medical profession must be prepared for all the new modern methods of treatment as soon as they are introduced.


Measurements of gross N transformation rates are important to properly understand N cycling processes in agricultural soils where both productive and consumptive processes occur. The objective of the study was to determine the effect of repeated application of dairywaste compost (DC), liquid dairy-waste (LW), and ammonium sulfate (AS) on gross N mineralization and nitrification rates and N supplying potential of an agricultural soil. Our goal was to examine both production and consumption of inorganic N for their effects on the balance between N supply from treated dairy-wastes and plant N demand. Treatments were applied at rates approximately equivalent to 100 and 200 kg available N ha 21 for 6 yr annually. Field-based N 15 pool dilution techniques and laboratory incubation experiments were employed to measure gross rates and mineralization potential of the soil. Both levels of DC raised the labile organic N pool significantly but only the high level DC significantly increased the decomposition rate constant (k). The mean gross N mineralization rates for 1999 to 2002 for the high levels of DC, LW, and AS were 5.72, 2.89, and 1.27 mg N kg 21 d 21 , whereas gross nitrification rates were 10.24, 1.57, and 0.74 mg N kg 21 d 21 , respectively. Net mineralization rates were ,35% of gross rates while nitrate consumption was not significant under any treatment. Variability in gross rates was high in the soils receiving DC, which could be due to presence of hotspots of labile organic matter. Elevated gross N transformation rates in plots receiving DC indicate the dynamic nature of this agricultural soil after repeated applications of dairy-waste.


It is several decades since the modern state-owned enterprise came into being and developed. The prevalence and decline of western state-owned enterprises were direct correlation with the phases of the capitalism development, and we have that there is room for state-owned enterprises in capitalism countries basing on private ownership. The practice of western state-owned enterprises indicated that the two main objects of state-owned enterprises reform are taking on public functions better and realizing marketization; we also have that stock reconstruction and competitive environment are the path of state-owned enterprises reform.


In this introduction to the forum Quirk Historicism , the editors describe the recent tendency of music scholars, in the wake of New Historicism, to avail themselves of objets trouves and historical micronarratives for interpretation.


Clebsch maps encode velocity fields through functions. These functions contain valuable information about the velocity field. For example, closed integral curves of the associated vorticity field are level lines of the vorticity Clebsch map. This makes Clebsch maps useful for visualization and fluid dynamics analysis. Additionally they can be used in the context of simulations to enhance flows through the introduction of subgrid vorticity. In this paper we study spherical Clebsch maps, which are particularly attractive. Elucidating their geometric structure, we show that such maps can be found as minimizers of a non-linear Dirichlet energy. To illustrate our approach we use a number of benchmark problems and apply it to numerically given flow fields. Code and a video can be found in the ACM Digital Library.


With some analysis on the fundamental and important position that manufacturing industry (especially the equipment manufacturing industry)holds in the whole of the nation's industrial and economic lives,the present compelling importance is pointed out for the development of advanced manufacturing technology(AMTs).The trends in the market of modem manufacturing enterprises are then described,together with some challenges to manufacturing enterprises themselves as well as changes in the whole machine-building industry.Following these,efforts are put on the addressing of the new trends and characteristics in the development of AMTs,which asserts in the following 8 aspects that for the development of AMTs,digitalization is the core,precision holds the key,extremes in functions become the focus,automatization keeps the precondition,integration provides the technique,networking paves the pathway,intelligence forms the prospects,and sustainability stems a necessity.Based on what mentioned above,10 fields which should be developed in priority in the development of AMTs is predicted.


The University of California, Berkeley and the University of Liverpool are developing an information retrieval and digital library system (Cheshire3) that operates in both single-processor and "Grid" distributed computing environments. This paper discusses the architecture of the system and how it performs digital library tasks in a Grid computing environment


An attempt to simplify procedure for analysis of polynuclear hydrocarbons in par-ticulates in town air was carried out. Vacuum sublimation method was employed to extract organic materials from the particulates instead of the method with a Soxhlet apparatus. The sublimate was dissolved in small amount of benzene and the solution was submitted to direct gas chromatographic analysis by utilizing a flame ionization detector or an electron capture detector. It was proved that further purification of the sublimate by partition was unnecessary in this method. Seven polynuclear hy-drocarbons including benzo(a)pyrene were determined on the collected particulatesfrom the air by this method.


The invention provides a liquid composition comprising polymer chains and particles of an inorganic material in a liquid, wherein the polymer chains are linked to particles of the inorganic material by means of a functional group that is present in the polymer chains, wherein the polymer used has a lower critical solution temperature in the liquid used. The invention further provides a gel obtained from said liquid composition, an article comprising said gel, and the use of said liquid composition for the preparation of an implant, a sensor, a culture medium for cell culturing or a fire extinguishing fluid.


(57) Abstract: average hydroxyl functionality of> 2, a hydroxyl number is 25~300mgKOH / g, number average molecular weight is in the range of 500 to 3,000, a polyalkylene oxide groups and, optionally, sulphonate containing group, in branched hydroxyl functional polyester resins, the polyester resin is 1) 50 to 80 mole% of m- and / or p- aromatic and / or cycloaliphatic dicarboxylic acid, 20 to 50 mol% or mixtures of carboxylic acids and 2) at least 4 carbon atoms including from the functional acid of higher order it - aliphatic dicarboxylic acids and / or aliphatic monocarboxylic acids having more than 6 carbon atoms, and optionally tri cycloaliphatic diols with aliphatic diols and / or at least 4 carbon atoms having, 500~3,00 C


Large intelligent surface (LIS) has recently emerged as a potential low-cost solution to reshape the wireless propagation environment for improving the spectral efficiency. In this article, we consider a downlink millimeter-wave (mmWave) multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) system, where an LIS is deployed to assist the downlink data transmission from a base station (BS) to a user equipment (UE). Both the BS and the UE are equipped with a large number of antennas, and a hybrid analog/digital precoding/combining structure is used to reduce the hardware cost and energy consumption. We aim to maximize the spectral efficiency by jointly optimizing the LIS's reflection coefficients and the hybrid precoder (combiner) at the BS (UE). To tackle this non-convex problem, we reformulate the complex optimization problem into a much more friendly optimization problem by exploiting the inherent structure of the effective (cascade) mmWave channel. A manifold optimization (MO)-based algorithm is then developed. Simulation results show that by carefully devising LIS's reflection coefficients, our proposed method can help realize a favorable propagation environment with a small channel matrix condition number. Besides, it can achieve a performance comparable to those of state-of-the-art algorithms, while at a much lower computational complexity.


The invention relates to a device for blocking the water discharging
plug of bath-tubs, of a type operatively associated with a handle (1)
for opening and closing the water discharging plug, wherein the handle
is provided with a pinion-rack system (9) for converting the rotary
movement thereof into a translatory movement adapted to open and close
the plug, characterized in that the device comprises a resilient element
(7), associated with the rack, and including a tooth (6) engaging with a
corresponding fixed housing (8).


Purpose:IMRT can play an important role in the irradiation of head and neck tumors traditionally treated by lateral fields matched with an anterior supraclivicular field. However, due to the complex PTV geometry, these IMRT plans result in large numbers of segments leading to inefficient deliveries. We have developed an alternative IMRT planning technique utilizing Direct Aperture Optimization (DAO) to streamline the planning process and provide significant efficiency gains. Method and Materials: The process begins with the placement of traditional 3D conformal fields (laterals and anerior superclavicular). Next, the dose is calculated with this beam arrangement. The 90% isodose line is converted into a PTV with surrounding critical structures (e.g. spinal cord, parotid glands, posterior medial neck region) excluded from the PTV definition. The resulting PTV serves as the target for IMRT planning. For our planning technique, we have used the DAO algorithm in the Prowess Panther planning system. DAO plans generally result in significantly fewer segments as compared with those generated by traditional IMRT planning techniques. This is of critical importance since traditional IMRT plans for these cases have excessively long treatment times. Using DAO allows practical treatment times without sacrificing plan quality. Results: Fifteen patients were planned and treated with this technique. Seven equispaced beams were used in each. The objectives were PTV dose conformity and low dose to any avoidance regions. The spinal cord limit was 40Gy. For the DAO plans, treatment times ranged from 9 to 17 minutes on an Elekta SL20 acclerator. For corresponding plans produced using Pinnacle3, treatment times ranged from 30 to 45 minutes. Conclusions: An IMRT treatment technique for head and neck cancer has been devised. This technique removes field matching and allows the initial 50Gy to be delivered with a single plan. Using DAO provides significant reductions in treatment times.


The fossil hydrocarbons are not inexhaustible, and their use is not without impact in our need of energy, fuels and hydrocarbons as building blocks for organic materials. The quest for renewable, e ...


In this paper, a new prediction model is proposed that fully considers the various parameters influencing the moment redistribution in statically indeterminate reinforced concrete (RC) structures by using the artificial neural network (ANN) and support vector regression (SVR). Twenty-four continuous RC beams and 12 continuous RC frames with various design parameters were tested to investigate the process of moment redistribution. Based on the experimental results obtained from this study and the published literature, a reliable database with 111 datasets was developed for the training and testing of the models. The predicted values of the proposed models, together with the estimations of the widely used code methods, were compared with the experimental results in the database. The analysis results showed that both the proposed ANN and SVR models exhibit high accuracy and reliability for the prediction of the moment redistribution


. Woody plant encroachment into grasslands and savannas has been globally widespread during the past century, likely driven by interactions between grazing, fire suppression, rising atmospheric CO 2 , and climate change. In the southernmost U.S. Great Plains, Ashe juniper and live oak have increased in abundance. To evaluate potential interactions between this vegetation change and the underlying soil parent material on ecosystem biogeochemistry, we quantified soil 10 organic carbon (SOC), total nitrogen (TN), total phosphorus (TP), and δ 13 C of SOC in soils obtained from trenches passing through grassland, juniper, and oak patches on soils lying atop Edwards vs. Buda limestone formations in central Texas. Soils on the Edwards formation are more shallow and have more rock outcropping than those on Buda. The δ 13 C of SOC under grasslands was -19 ‰, while those under woody patches were -21 to -24 ‰, indicating wooded areas were relatively recent components of the landscape. Compared to grasslands, areas now dominated by juniper or oak had elevated SOC, TN, and TP 15 storage in soils lying atop Edwards limestone. In Buda soils, only oak patches had increased SOC, TN, and TP storage compared to grasslands. Woody encroachment effects on soil nutrients were higher in soils on the Edwards formation, perhaps because root and litter inputs were more concentrated in the relatively shallow layer of soil atop the Edwards bedrock. Our findings suggest geological factors should be considered in predicting responses of nutrient stores in savannas following vegetation change. Given that woody encroachment is occurring globally, our results have important implications for the 20 management and conservation of these ecosystems. The potential interactive effects between vegetation change and soil parent material on C, N, and P


The Chinese House Game is an interactive computer simulation that provides students with experience as leaders making international relations decisions. The program allows students to make a wide array of strategic choices, examine the results of their collective behaviors, and then respond with further rounds of play. Although the documentation is poorly edited, it is rich with insight, and the game provides valuable lessons in prioritization and the maximization of social welfare, GNP, or any other of a variety of userselected goals.


Improving the calibration accuracy of infrared hyperspectral interferometers is a prerequisite for their quantitative application. Updating satellite in-orbit calibration parameters is an important way to keep calibration accuracy. However, how to separate the deviation of one or more calibration parameters from the coupling error of observation data is a key issue that needs to be solved. Therefore, we propose a variational-based calibration parameter optimization algorithm (VarCalPOA), which uses only observation data and reference data to optimize the key calibration parameters based on variational assimilation theory to obtain the optimized values of the calibration parameters, thereby improving the calibration accuracy. Based on the observation and calibration simulation model, we choose <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$T_{\mathrm {ict}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$e_{\mathrm {ict}}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>, and <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$a_{2}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> as the key calibration parameters. Using the VarCalPOA method, the simulation results show that the optimized calibration parameters have a certain positive effect on the improvement of calibration accuracy. This study proves that the VarCalPOA method is potentially an effective method for monitoring the in-orbit state of infrared hyperspectral interferometers.


This study investigates the consensus problem of second-order multi-agent systems which are subject to Markov jumping input delays. A unified framework is established to address both the stationary and dynamic consensus issues in sampled-data settings. The authors first derive the sufficient conditions for consensus in terms of matrix inequalities. Thereafter, a cone complementarity linearisation-based algorithm and its simplified implementation alternative are proposed for the delay-dependent switching controller design. Compared with the existing works, the proposed algorithms possess less conservativeness and larger solution domains. Finally, numerical examples are provided to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approaches.


Since Probabilistic Latent Semantic Analysis (PLSA) and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) were introduced, many revised or extended topic models have appeared. Due to the intractable likelihood of these models, training any topic model requires to use some approximation algorithm such as variational approximation, Laplace approximation, or Markov chain Monte Carlo (MCMC). Although these approximation algorithms perform well, training a topic model is still computationally expensive given the large amount of data it requires. In this paper, we propose a new method, called non-simultaneous sampling deactivation, for efficient approximation of parameters in a topic model. While each random variable is normally sampled or obtained by a single predefined burn-in period in the traditional approximation algorithms, our new method is based on the observation that the random variable nodes in one topic model have all different periods of convergence. During the iterative approximation process, the proposed method allows each random variable node to be terminated or deactivated when it is converged. Therefore, compared to the traditional approximation ways in which usually every node is deactivated concurrently, the proposed method achieves the inference efficiency in terms of time and memory. We do not propose a new approximation algorithm, but a new process applicable to the existing approximation algorithms. Through experiments, we show the time and memory efficiency of the method, and discuss about the tradeoff between the efficiency of the approximation process and the parameter consistency.


Under the new environment of conveniently internet facilities,there are some new characters of chemical science and technology novelty search services which are high quantity,broad subject distribution,heavy tasks in limited time.The countermeasures have been proposed.Some measures have been practiced during working procedure.


Because of its simplicity, the vertex pair contraction operation became very popular in mesh simplification. It allows for topological changes during simplification. In this paper we propose the use of the additional pair contractions of a vertex onto an edge or onto a triangle and the connection of two edges. The generalized contraction operations have several advantages over simple vertex pair contraction. They allow to repair cracks and self-intersections and to sew unconnected components with less error. Due to this property a simple high-quality out-of-core simplification is possible.


Novel approaches to sensing based on new optical materials and optical fiber architectures will be presented, including label-free sensors for viruses and biomarkers, dip sensors capable of sensing within nano-liter scale samples and distributed chemical sensors.


the pencil sketch course for interior design should according to the characteristics of this profession processing the teaching with pertinence. Furthermore, the teaching should resolve proportion, perspective, space imagination and interior structure anatomy of physique to cultivate students' ability of originality and estheticism and build a solid foundation for interior design.


Understanding people's behavior in social interactions is a very interesting problem in Social Computing. In this work, we automatically predict the communication skill of a person in various kinds of social interactions. We consider in particular, 1) Interview-based interactions - asynchronous interviews (web-based interview) Vs. synchronous interviews (regular face-to-face interviews) and 2) Non-interview based interactions - dyad and triad conversations (group discussions). We automatically extract multimodal cues related to verbal and non-verbal behavior content of the interaction. First, in interview-based interactions, we consider previously uninvestigated scenarios of comparing the participant's behavioral and perceptual changes in the two contexts. Second, we address different manifestations of communication skill in different settings (face-to-face interaction vs. group). Third, the non-interview based interactions also leads to answer research questions such as "the relation between a good communicator and other group variables like dominance or leadership" Finally we look at several attributes (manually annotated) and features/feature groups (automatically extracted) that predicts communication skill well in all settings.


We studied the health benefits of acute cranberry beverage consumption on oxidative damage, inflammation, and anti‐bacterial adhesion activity of urine in healthy humans. Six males and 6 females (18–35 yr old; BMI 19–25 kg/m^2) consumed 15.2 oz placebo, cranberry extract beverage (CEB) and low calorie cranberry juice cocktail (LCJC) in a randomized, cross‐over, double‐blind, placebo‐controlled experimental design. Washout between beverages was 1 week. Blood was collected at 0, 2, 4, 8 and 24 h after beverage consumption for measuring oxidative and inflammatory biomarkers. Urine was collected at 0, 0–3, 3–6, 6–9, 9–12 and 24 h post‐intervention. Consumption of CEB elevated (P < 0.05) blood superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx), and decreased (P < 0.05) plasma nitric oxide (NO) compared to placebo. LCJC consumption increased (P < 0.05) SOD and reduced‐glutathione (GSH), and decreased (P < 0.05) NO. Neither cranberry beverage significantly changed concentrations of plasma 8‐hydroxydeoxyguanosine, inflammatory cytokines and total antioxidant capacity. At 0–3 h, participants who consumed cranberry beverages had higher (P < 0.05) ex vivo anti‐adhesion activity against P‐fimbriated E. coli compared to placebo. An acute dose of cranberry beverages reduced oxidative and inflammatory biomarkers and improved inhibition of bacterial adhesion by urine. Funded by Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.


SIR,-Dr Robin Illingworth continued a discussion of the treatment of intact blisters (25 April, p 1400). The simplest effective treatment is neither to deroof nor to drain once, but to leave the "drain" in. Do this by entering the blister with a threaded sewing needle at one side and leaving it at the opposite side, thus laying the cotton through the blister. Cut off the needle and knot the free ends so that the cotton cannot come out. Then you can walk on the blister, which dries out quickly and hardens. Cut away the external part of the drain after a few days if you like, but the buried part will wear through only weeks later. Sometimes I have set out with autoclaved packets of threaded needles, but untreated skin and unsterile needle and cotton have never given trouble.


Image inspection by wavelet packets and a neural network classifier is presented for non-defect and six kinds of defects in knitted fabrics. The types of defect include a hole, set mark (coarse), dropped stitch, oil stain, streak, and tight end. In this study, wavelet packet decomposition of a sample image is carried out based on the best-basis wavelet packet tree with three resolution levels. The lowest-two entropy among all sub-band images and the standard deviation for the original image are selected as feature inputs of the neural network classifier. These textural features are shown in seven groups, which are separately distributed in the feature space. We gathered a total of 112 experimental samples, with 16 samples in each of the seven aforementioned categories. The results demonstrate that with the three features, 56 test samples are correctly inspected. However, the lack of one of the three features yields wrong classification of some samples. Therefore, the three features selected are definitely suitable for recognition of our knitted fabric defects and also are the smallest number of features required to give accurate inspection.


Previous research has recognised the negative psychological distress associated with unemployment for older workers aged over 40 years, as they are considered to be more at risk of being unemployed for a longer duration than other age groups. Several moderating variables of the negative effects of unemployment such as age, length of unemployment and leisure participation have also been identified. In examining the experiences of unemployment with an Australian matureaged group of men, this study also investigated the potential moderating effect of volunteer work participation that had been noted previously but had never been explored. One-hundred and eighteen men aged between 38 and 60 years old (M = 48.85 years) anonymously completed a booklet containing several measures of depression, anxiety, stress, alcohol consumption and abuse, and stress-related growth (ability to thrive as a result of negative life events). Compared to employed men, unemployed men were found to have significantly higher levels of depression, and thriving, but not increased anxiety, stress, or risk of alcohol abuse. Performing volunteer work was found to be related to lower levels of depression and stress in both employed and unemployed men. Results were explained in consideration of Jahoda's (1981, 1982) deprivation theory, Fryer and Payne's (1984) agency theory and Warr's (1987, 1994) vitamin model. Limitations of the study and recommendations for further research are also discussed.


The number of people with HIV in rural areas is small, but it is growing. In rural areas, AIDS organizations must deal with a fragmented client base that is spread out over a large geographic area. The logistics and costs of maintaining these services are higher per person than in urban areas. A description of what it is like to live with HIV in rural Vermont is provided. Although most people in rural Vermont seem to accept the concept of AIDS, few have known someone with the disease. Specialized medical care is difficult to obtain because only one specialty clinic and three part-time sites exist in the state of Vermont. Many who require more complex care, with better treatment options, go out of state to receive it.


In MANET, the mobiles nodes are connected dynamically with the help of wireless links without having a fixed infrastructure or centralized administration. These nodes move freely and organize themselves arbitrarily thus change the network topology rapidly and unpredictably. As a result, there exits frequent link breakages which leads to path failures and route discoveries. The route discovery can lead to overhead which cannot be neglected. Therefore, the fundamental challenge of MANET is to develop a dynamic routing protocol that efficiently establish routes to deliver the packets with minimum overhead, high throughput and low end to end delay. In order to handle overhead issues, the proposed system has presented a novel scheme rebroadcast delay and a rebroadcast probability which will help to reduce the number of retransmissions thereby improving routing performance. In addition, the proposed system is compared with existing routing protocol AODV in terms of packet delivery ratio, packet loss and end to end delay


Properties of vortical fields in an elliptic weakly guiding optical fiber are considered. The eigenfunctions and the spectrum of polarization corrections to the scalar propagation constant in the case of relatively large and small values of a fiber ellipticity are obtained by means of the spin-orbit interaction operator method. It is discussed the conversion process of a spin and orbit angular momenta on a vortex propagation.


The influence of age and the reproductive status has been researched in the blood serum of 75 Merinolandschaf ewes. We have detected statistically very high concentrations of Ca in the blood serum of pregnant and non- pregnant ewes comparing to those in lactation, while the opposite way has been noticed for the concentrations of P-inorganic and Na. Statistically much higher concentrations of K have been found in the lactating and non-pregnant ewes comparing to the pregnant ones. Statistically much higher concentrations of albumin and cholesterol have been detected in the blood of pregnant ewes comparing to the non-pregnant ones, while the opposite way has been noticed for the concentrations of total proteins. GGT activity was statistically much higher in the blood of ewes in lactation comparing to the non-pregnant ones and the CK and ALT activity in the pregnant ones comparing to those in lactation. The ewes up to one year old had statistically very significant high concentrations of P-inorganic, Na, Fe, glucose, AP, GGT, CK activities and in the older ewes the concentrations of cholesterol and total proteins. Due to that, it is necessary to, before the metabolic profile specification of ewes, take into consideration age and the reproductive status of the animals. For the age there have to be taken the concentrations of P-inorganic, Na, Fe, glucose, cholesterol and total proteins as well as AP, GGT, CK activities and for the reproductive status the concentrations of Ca, P-inorganic, Na, albumin, total proteins as well as the ALT, CK, GGT activities. These researches give basis for the regular therapy application and carrying out the prevention of the metabolic disturbances of ewes in the aim of reducing economy losses.