Movement of sea lamprey through a vertical‐slot fishway (built at the Coimbra dam, in central Portugal) was continuously monitored between 2013 and 2016 by a video recording system. Visual count data were used to quantify the overall successful movements and identify seasonal and circadian patterns of fishway use. Explicative models (Boosted Regression Trees) were used to study the relationship between frequency of successful movements during the species migration peak and environmental variables. The aim of the study was to identify predictors that may be related with successful sea lamprey upstream migration through the fishway. Collected information was used to support further management recommendations for optimizing the fishway performance. During the 4‐year study, near 50,000 lampreys successfully negotiated the Coimbra dam fishway reaching the upper stretch of river Mondego. Migratory peak occurred between April and May with an increase in passages during the night period (between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.). It was observed an increase in use frequency that was related with the combined effect of flow and temperature. Higher passages were achieved when Coimbra dam discharge flows are lower than 100 m3/s and temperature between 15 and 19°C. Flow discharges higher than 150 m3/s seemed to inhibit successful sea lamprey passage. In dry years, when flows are almost constantly lower than 50 m3/s, temperature was the most important factor influencing fishway use.


This paper discusses the rolling force measurement of strip rolling mill.The results not only provide materials for the practical production,but also a practical basis for the study on the strip rolling mill concerned at present.


This study was designed to assess the differences in learning performance (speed and accuracy) with which field dependent and field independent subjects could complete a set of checkbook management tasks using software employing a user interface making strong use of common checkbook management metaphors versus software employing an interface adhering to a defacto industry standard-based graphical user interface design guideline. It was hypothesized that both field dependent and field independent users would complete tasks more quickly and accurately using both user interface types.
From a population of traditional and non-traditional college students, 64 individuals volunteered to participate in the study. The Group Embedded Figures Test was used to determine field dependence-independence level and four groups of 16 formed for exposure to the 2 interface types in an experimental design. Analysis of variance procedures were used to determine the significance of learning differences between the groups.
The results showed significant correlations between experience level and task performance. There were no significant interaction effects between field dependence-independence and exposure to the two interface types on performance. The findings of this study may have implications for designers of application software user interfaces and for those involved in application software training.


Nowadays, the world population has been affected by two serious psychological disorders, anxiety and depression, but there are few discoveries for new therapies to combat them. Studies have shown that music therapy has its beneficial behavioral effects. Therefore, the aim of the present study it was to investigate the possible effects of two music styles in some lipids and carbohydrate metabolism parameters resulting from behavioral changes related to anxiety and depression. So, mice were used with 30 days of age, divided into 6 groups: G1: saline, G2: Diazepam (DZP), G3: Fluoxetine (FLX), G4: control (no treatment), G5: Rock, and G6: Mozart Sonata. The animals from groups G1, G2 and G3 received treatments by oral route (gavage) for 15 days. The music therapy sessions (2x/day 4 hours/day) occurred in the same period of time at a 65dB frequency for G5 and G6 groups. After being evaluated in spontaneous locomotion, elevated plus maze and forced swimming tests, the animals were euthanized. The lactate, total cholesterol and plasma glucose levels were measured from the blood. No change was observed in spontaneous locomotion test and elevated plus maze. In the forced swimming test animals exposed to Rock showed an increase in immobility time. Furthermore, it was observed an increase in glucose and a reduction in cholesterol levels in the groups exposed to Rock and Mozart, while a decrease of lactate was observed only in group Rock. It was concluded that the auditory stimulus caused by music in mice was able to encourage depressive behavior and alter some lipids and carbohydrate metabolism parameters dependently of the musical style.


Cyberbullying, defined as bullying perpetrated through the use of information technology, is a serious problem among children, adolescents and young adults. In this thesis, we study the detection of cyberbullies and the dynamics of cyberbullying in online social networks. In order to detect cyberbullies, we use learning models based on content features, user features and social network features. Understanding cyberbullying dynamics means predicting the effect of bullying comments on users with history of nonbullying. In the course of this study, we explore the spread of cyberbullying influence through the pairwise interactions between users. Using a dataset from MySpace, we first build a model for identifying bullies and non-bullies. We build a second model formulating the relationship between the influencer and the influenced user, predicting the dynamics by which a user with history of non-bullying turns into a bully. Based on our experimental results, we find that content features are significant in detecting cyberbullies as well as cyberbullying dynamics. We find user features to be significant in detecting cyberbullies but not significant in detecting cyberbullying dynamics. We find social network features not to be significant in detecting cyberbullies but to be significant in detecting cyberbullying dynamics. Our models can provide moderators and network administrators an effective way to identify cyberbullies as well as develop informed insights into the dynamics of cyberbullying.


Innovation lies at the heart of value creation, growth and competitiveness, and receives accrued attention in times of economic turbulence and slowdown. Organizations currently face increasingly dynamic environments and challenging conditions, which leave them exposed to higher levels of complexity and uncertainty. Thus, the ability of organizations to reinvent themselves and to reposition their offerings is critical for their survival. Permanently nurturing this ability to innovate is an essential role for managers and innovation leaders. In this issue we embrace different facets of this ability, and consider it at multiple levels: individual, organizational and inter-organizational.  The two Letters featured in this Issue also reflect this multiplicity of levels needed to comprehend, and support the innovation process. In the first Letter of this Issue, Molina contends that value creation from science can be achieved through the astute combination of "knowledge driven creation" and "society driven innovation".  He further argues of the need for scientific research to address key challenges facing humanity, and to unleash its transformative power on society. This message echoes with the philosophy of this Journal, as connecting academic research with pragmatic reality is embedded in its DNA.


Background: Female representation in gynecologic oncology has increased over the last two decades. Our objective was to compare work-life balance issues faced by female gynecologic oncologists between 1998 and 2015. Material/Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional survey of physician members of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology. A survey sent to female gynecologic oncologists in 1998 was expanded, piloted with 10 volunteers, and administered in electronic format (DatStat Illume) in February 2015. There were 75 fixed response questions regarding 4 domains: demographics, mentoring issues, work-life balance, and caregiving responsibilities. We compared 2015 responses to the 1998 aggregate survey data. Data were analyzed using Stata 10 (Statacorp, College Station TX) with Chi-square/Fisher's exact tests using aggregate data functions. Results: 172 of 643 female gynecologic oncologists (26.7% response rate) completed the 2015 survey. The historical comparison group included 82 females (56.2% response rate). While more women in 2015 versus 1998 reported starting a family during residency or fellowship (57.7% vs. 36.0%, p<0.009), 42% still waited until after training. More than half (55.9%) of respondents in 2015 said the timing of becoming a parent led to some or a great deal of relationship stress compared to only 20% in 1998 (p<0.0001). The majority of divorces were in fellowship for both groups with 8 (50.0%) in 2015 compared to 5 (45.5%) in 1998 (p=0.8). In 2015, 5 (83.4%) women divorced after fellowship and felt their career had a moderate to great influence on their divorce. Conclusions: Despite changes in work-life balance and caregiving responsibilities in female gynecologic oncologists between 1998 and 2015, challenges still exist today. Correspondence to: Ashley R Stuckey, Women and Infants Hospital, 101 Dudley St, Providence, RI 02905, USA, Tel: (401) 453-7520; Fax: (401) 453-7529; E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


Elastic optical networks (EONs) are expected to cover the huge bandwidth demands, which will arise in the coming years from both the applications' evolution and the implementation of 5G and Internet of Things technologies. Harvesting the flexibility offered by EONs in the management of resources, poses challenges for the research community in terms of creating mechanisms that will maximize their efficiency. One of the main research fields in this direction is the prediction of the traffic in the backbone networks and the utilization of this information for efficient resource management. In this work, we present a traffic prediction assisted routing algorithm for elastic optical networks, which improves their overall performance. Detailed simulation scenarios confirm the effectiveness of the proposed routing algorithm, which improves the network blocking probability in comparison to related algorithms from the literature.


Because of the traditional edge detection inadequacy,quaternion's vector rotating theory is used,improved particle swarm algorithm is introduced to quaternion edge detection.A new color image edge detection method is presented.Experimental results show that the proposed method of color image edge detection has good effect.It can extract the image detail,and the algorithm is stable,easy to convergence,edge detection a little faster.


Sketch based image retrieval (SBIR) is a methodology in which the system can recognize an image and retrieve from the database, given an input query sketch. Socio economic importance and relevance of Sketch based image retrieval systems are high as the users of touch screen based devices are rapidly increasing even in remote areas. The main challenge of this task is that sketches contain only an abstract visual information compared to images. The proposed method uses Siamese CNN for the implementation of SBIR. Siamese CNN joins two convolutional neural networks with one loss function. The transfer learning approach is implemented to learn the feature space of both sketch input query and the images. The VGG19 pre-trained model is used to obtain feature descriptors of sketches and images. The dataset Sketchy Database containing 75,471 sketches of 125 categories is used. The results obtained shows that proposed method gives better performance compared to the similar methods.


Should you help a wild rabbit fleeing a wall of flame? What is our responsibility to wildlife affected by wildfire? This paper focuses on two cases of ad hoc public aid to wildlife that occurred during California's 2017 'Thomas Fire' and were subsequently popularised online. We take the discourse surrounding these cases – specifically, a viral video of a man removing a wild rabbit from the fire's flames and the widespread call to leave out buckets of water for displaced animals – as an invitation to engage in broader ethical and theoretical discussion about our individual relationships to wild animals during the age of ecological crisis termed the Anthropocene. Through this case analysis, we identify emerging tensions between what we call 'interventionist' and 'anti-interventionist' positions and assert that, while anti-interventionist positions are generally framed in rational, empirical or technocratic terms, a full consideration of already-existing human entanglements with the natural world troubles this frame. We conclude that the Anthropocene presents unique circumstances that give substantial support to the interventionist position; at the same time, we continue to uphold the value of key critiques present in the anti-interventionist argument, which might yet help to shape the most effective form of human aid to wild animals and alleviate problems of ecological sustainability, more broadly.


This research is an applied research conducted at Agro Sale Pisang industry in Banyuwangi Regency is a small industry of potential agro industry that has potential and has good prospect to be developed in the future. The purpose of this research is to analyze and design fault tree analysis model and task tree diagram to assess and control the performance of agro sale pisang industry in Banyuwangi Regency. This research is included in the type of survey research and using the census method or complete enumeration. The analytical technique used is the fault tree analysis model and the task tree diagram. The result of the research shows that to get a good quality sale pisang (sale pisang is delicious and legit), the management must set the ideal distance on the use of the dough mixer from the embers, set the standard the volume of wood charcoal used in the dough mixing process, using a small fan measuring distance from the dough mixer, controlling the duration of stirring dough, selectively buying charcoal wood and using dry, good quality charcoal as needed, recruit the stirrer in selective, hold job training, and provide motivation on an ongoing basis. Keywords— fault tree analys, task tree diagram, Sale Pisang


This article presents a method for determining the Riley circularity evaluation, a characteristic that defines the shape of a solid particle. To determine this parameter, a working methodology was identified by using Mathcad. To verify this methodology 15 anthracite particles were inserted in the working file, the shape of which is different, to determine the analyzed characteristic.


Objective: To observe the analgesic effect of flurbiprofen axetil injection in the treatment of moderate and severe pain in cancer patients.Methods: The study was conducted in 38 cases of cancer patients.They received 50mg/5ml/day of flurbiprofen axetil injection for 2 weeks.Results: A total effective rate of 71.05% was achieved.Severe adverse effect of flurbiprofen axetil injection was not observed.Conclusion: Flurbiprofen axetil injection was effective for moderate and severe cancer pain with little side effects.


The auto-dispensation system permanent flow control uses the PID adjustment, the current capacity measurement control is measures the deviation and the frequency conversion velocity modulation union. Introduces the flow-control mode and control process of the system based on the systems manufacturing process of the allocation. This essay also illustrates the hardware setting and soft-ware designing of PLC selection, frequency conversion control of allocation system in detail.


This study aims to look at how the relationship between the ratio of the company's performance with other financial ratios on against disclosure of corporate social responsibility in real estate companies listed on the Indonesia stock exchange in 2011-2013 period by using multiple rgresi analysis is simple. The research of using multiple regression analysis method with its independent variable is the variable of CSR. From research performed at the pull of the conclusion that the ratio of the financial performance of companies in doing research significant effect, except for CR kinerja ratio (current ratio)


The purpose of this project is to develop a Majlis Perbandaran Kota Bharu (MPKB) License system, to assist in solving the problem that occur from the current system. Internet is the latest technology that will be used in this system to solve the problem with this new system, it will be more easier to Jabatan Perlesenan MPKB in monitoring the trader records and the trader license which register with them. The customer, especially the trader can achieve at anytime and any places. This project will be focusing only for the trading premises license application, advertisement license application and license renewal in the MPKB area only. The methodology that will be used in developing this system is a prototype methodology with the evolution approach. This system also been developed using the Microsoft Personal Web Server, Microsoft Access 2000 and Micromedia Dreamweaver Ultradev 4.0 software. The operation of the progam is based on client-Server and web concept


The cultivation of college students' personality is the essential condition for training high-quality qualified personnel.To construct a harmonious campus is good for the cultivation of students' sound personality.A harmonious campus involves a strong campus culture,a good school spirit and style of study,an intimate relationship between students and teachers,a clear mental health education mechanism and a reasonable educational management system,which all help contribute to the harmony of college students' inner world and the development of their sound individuality.


The effects of parathyroid hormone (PTH) on tension and intracellular Ca2+ level ([Ca2+]in) were examined in ring preparations of rat mesenteric artery using isometric tension recording and the fura-2 method, respectively. The PTH (30 n M) elicited relaxation in arterial rings precontracted by phenylephrine regardless of the presence or absence of endothelium. In the endothelium-denuded arterial rings precontracted by 3 &mgr;M of phenylephrine or 60 m M of potassium chloride (KCl), PTH-related protein and PTH produced concentration-dependent relaxation to the same extent, but inhibited contraction induced by phenylephrine more effectively than that induced by KCl. Phenylephrine-induced tonic contraction was changed to a phasic one with decreased peak tension in the presence of PTH. Similar changes were observed with extracellular Ca2+ removal or methoxyverapamil plus SK&F96365, respective of voltage-gated and receptor-operated Ca2+ channel inhibitors. Phenylephrine evoked a concentration-dependent contraction concomitant with an increase in [Ca2+]in. PTH reduced both responses to the same extent. In a Ca2+-free solution, PTH inhibited a phasic contraction and a transient increase in [Ca2+]in in response to phenylephrine but not caffeine. Reverse transcriptase–polymerase chain reaction showed that PTH1 and PTH2 receptors were expressed in the rat mesenteric artery. In this tissue, PTH increased cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP) levels. These results suggest that the inhibitory effect of PTH on &agr;1-adrenoceptor-mediated contraction results from the inhibition of Ca2+ influx through receptor-operated and voltage-gated Ca2+ channels, and Ca2+ release from Ca2+ stores, probably via increased cAMP in the rat mesenteric artery.


(1) There is a need for a computerized approach to population studies in medical and veterinaryacarology. (2) MINIZOO is a database devoted to this discipline. It is structured within the general database package SIR and studies the territories of the Benelux countries. MINIZOO is a hierarchical system with a flexible structure. Retrieval procedures are comparatively simple. Parametric and nonparametric statistical procedures are dealt with by SIR or carried out by SPSS. (3) Data entry by cooperators has been made simple by the use of optical mark reading. Other modes of data input are possible. (4) Exchanges between MINIZOO and other computerized data banks are possible. (5) Limitations of SIR in this study include the intricate way of obtaining lower-case characters as well as geographical plots. (6) It is hoped that the ectoparasitic database MINIZOO will develop into a local 'weather forecast' for epidemic forms of parasitic papular urticaria in humans, especially those caused by ticks, chiggers, and other mites.


We have investigated the parameter optimization for the nonlinear dispersive anisotropic perfectly matched layer (A-PML) absorbing boundary conditions (ABCs) for the two- and the three-dimensional (2D and 3D) finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) analyses of optical soliton propagation. The proposed PML is applied to the FDTD method of the standard and the high-spatial-order schemes. We first searched for the optimum values of the loss factor, permittivity, and the order of polynomial grading for particular numbers of APML layers in a two-dimensional (2-D) setting with Kerr and the Raman nonlinearity and Lorentz dispersion, and then we applied the optimized APML to a full three-dimensional (3-D) analysis of nonlinear optical pulse propagation in a glass substrate. An optical pulse of spatial and temporal soliton profile has been launched with sufficient intensity of electric field to yield a soliton pulse, and a reflection of -60dB has been typically obtained both for the 2-D and the 3-D cases.


A patient presented to the emergency department having fallen backwards onto a wooden knitting needle which broke, leaving only a small entry wound. The top CT scan (fig 1A) showed a linear low attenuation track extending towards the left paravertebral region. …


Occurrence of asymmetrical or parasitic conjoined twins (CT) is rare, and currently they are classified analogically to the common unions of symmetrical CT. We report on an infant with a parasitic third limb attached to the back at thoracolumber area , in whom male genitalia was found . Parasite parts included incomplete upper limb, hemipelvis, thoracolumber vertebral column, spinal cord, and one kidney with ureter ,small bowel, lung tissue and adrenal gland. Auto site anomalies comprised evidence of thoracolumbar meningomyelocele. We considered this case to be a rare atypical parasitic rachiopagus CT. The differential diagnosis of the type of twining and other entities with caudal duplications is analyzed briefly . We report a case of rachipagus parasitic twin diagnosed delivered a live baby at 34 weeks of gestation to 30-year-old primgravida woman with history of 10 years secondary infertility .


A sintering process has been developed which makes it possible to utilize semiconductor material which comes in the form of small grains or small dendrite‐like pieces. When pressure, alternating current, and an rf field are applied, this loose material is sintered into rods without using a binder. These rods are used as ``feed'' for a floating zone apparatus.


This paper describes a framework for developing parallel Genetic Algorithms (GAs) on the Hadoop platform, following the paradigm of MapReduce. The framework allows developers to focus on the aspects of GA that are specific to the problem to be addressed. Using the framework a GA application has been devised to address the Feature Subset Selection problem. A preliminary performance analysis showed promising results.


Volunteering in Ghana has been a big industry for a long time now. But when people think of volunteers in Ghana they often think of people flying from all over the world to work on a number of projects (some good and some not so good). However, over the last couple of years we've seen an increase in the recognition and promotion of Ghanaians volunteering. This can is a positive development and something that deserves to be highlighted.


Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine differences between excellent and following groups based on individual and organizational capabilities and operational performance, focusing on Nepalese SMEs. Design/methodology/approach: The proposed research model and a set of hypotheses were developed and tested using T-test analysis based on data collected from 154 (70.32%) responses in Nepal. Findings: From the T-test results showed a significant mean difference between excellent and following groups on change acceptance and technology acquisition on individual capabilities. In addition, the T-test results showed a significant mean difference between excellent and following groups on organizational infrastructure and organizational support, and operational performance showed the or a difference between the two groups. Research limitations/implications: The limitations of this study are the sample size and target respondents. The results of this study suggested practical insights for DX implementation for SMEs. Originality/value: The value of this study will be used as basic guidelines not only for companies that want to implement DX effectively but also for organizations that consider implementing DX.


This proves that I support the most caring team in Britain. West Ham striker Craig Bellamy is investing £650,000 in a grass-roots football scheme in Sierra Leone. Read about it here.


In this study, the importance of the child painting is mentioned in psycho-pedagogical terms. Unlike adult painting, child painting is discussed as a means of communication and its significance for educators is emphasized. Painting has not only artistic value but also educational and clinical value. For specialists, it presents information about mentality of the child and contents of this mentality. Through his drawings, it is possible to find out the cognitive, affective and psychomotor development. Paintings constitute an important data source about the personality of the child, his relationship with immediate environment, attitudes, perception on external world, structure of feelings and thoughts. Painting presents significant information for educators and specialists as well as teachers when used efficiently with other methods.


Photograph of G.E.C., in Electric Avenue, Witton, established in 1902 (heavy electrical engineering). In 1964 the firm employed c. 9000 people. The photograph was taken in early 1968.


Two acylamides and three flavonoids were isolated from aerial part of O.pseudoglandulosa by silica gel column chromatography.They were identified as N-phenylethyl-Benzamide(1),N-(2-hydroxy-2-phenylethyl)cinnamamide(2),5-hydroxy-7-methoxyflavanone(3),5-Hydroxy-7-methoxyflavone(4),7-Hydroxyflavanone(5).The three flavonoids were isolated from this plant for the first time.


The increasing demand for electricity implicates in frequent expansion of distribution systems. It is necessary a long-term planning that respects the dynamics of the evolution of demand and the availability of financial resources. Planning is to determine the necessary investments and what the proper configuration of the network in each stage of the planning horizon to achieve the goals. The definition of multiple objectives features intended to meet the needs of both dealers and consumers, in addition, the multiobjective approach can identify the efficient frontier that represents a collection of trade-offs between the objectives set out, among which the decision maker may choose to play the one that best suits their priorities. This paper presents a model of multi-objective mixed integer programming (MIP), which considers two conflicting objective functions, related costs and lost power for the expansion planning of distribution networks for electricity. Technical and operational constraints are imposed so that the solutions meet the specific characteristics of electrical networks. The model proposed in this work was inspired by Haffner, et al (2008). Some adjustments were made to allow multi-criteria approach to the problem and others in order to adapt it to operate in networks operated by a concessionaire of Parana. The model applies to a primary network to the existing distribution and operating in good condition which is known forecasts of load increase or emergence of new points of demand for different periods of the planning horizon. Assumes prior knowledge of the branches that can be added to the network with the options of size and the definition of what nodes are capable of installing the distribution substation. The proposal to use an exact method to solve such model has been successful when applied to a small network but showed to be restrictive for application in real networks due to their size and characteristics of non-linear inherent power grids. To overcome this difficulty, was used Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) to find solutions good enough for the problem under discussion. Since the decision variables of the model are binary, to allow the efficient resolution of even using PSO, we defined a way to assign continuous variables to binary variables where PSO updates are applied. The resolution of the model using the PSO adapted to the problem of expansion and associated with the technique presented in the study allowed the creation of multi-stage planning for the expansion of networks larger than those handled by exact methodology, resulting in a successful approach to the frontier of efficiency.


In 1888, William Dean Howells moved with his family from Boston to New York City. In the heady years preceding this relocation, Howells undertook a famously unpopular campaign in support of the Haymarket defendants, resigned from his editorship of the Atlantic Monthly--whose readership had precipitously declined under his guidance--and signed a lucrative contract with Harper's New Monthly Magazine. His departure from Boston's Brahmin literary circles for the rough and tumble literary world of New York was initially set in motion by the developing tragedy of his daughter Winnie's illness and death. The Howellses' relocation coincided with the city's historical emergence as the nation's cultural and economic center. During this period--pointedly marked by the rise of Harper's--the literary capital of the nation moved from Boston to New York, or as Van Wyck Brooks reports of common opinion at the time, "[Howells] carried it with him" (2). Upon Howells's arrival, Joseph W. Harper--the reigning head of the "House of Harper"--requested that he write a feuillton for the Weekly which would be a powerful presentation of the life of our great metropolis, social, educational, economical, political--as shown in our schools, colleges, charitable organizations, reformatory institutions, prisons, courts of law, occupations & amusements--the rich & the poor, the idler & the worker, the silly men & bad men & frivolous women--the elevated railroads, the monopolies [and] the nuisances. (qtd. in Prettyman 101) The interest of the project, Harper's editor Henry Mills Alden told Howells, should come from what he called "the social meaning of such sketches" (Prettyman 115). These sketches should have appeared a plum piece of work to Howells. As they call for the comprehensive representation of the nation's new metropolis and the diagnosis of its "social meaning," the sketches were informed by representational and social principles central to the realism he was busy theorizing in his "Editor's Study" column for Harper's. And the feuillton, a mix of careful social observation and commentary, was a form to which Howells already owed much of his literary reputation. Between 1868 and 1870, Howells had attempted a similar task in a series of articles for The Atlantic. These articles, collected as Suburban Sketches, provided comprehensive surveys of the social landscape of Cambridge from its elite enclaves to its immigrant slums. In their 2005 biography of Howells, Susan Goodman and Carl Dawson remind us that Howells's initial literary fame came from the publication of travel literature--books like Venetian Life (1866) and Italian Journeys (1867) that depended upon the mobility and vision of a lightly ironic narrator. Beginning with his first novel, Their Wedding Journey (1871), Howells made frequent recourse to critical elements of travel writing in his practice of the realist novel form. The peculiar drama of travel, as it stages an individual's encounter with various types of alterity, provides Howells's fiction with its cosmopolitanism and cultural relativism. Meanwhile, the mobility, detachment, and heightened perception of Howells's travelers provide his realism a critical purchase on American modernity by giving it scope, movement, and a distanced perspective from which to view and represent the rapid transformations of fin-de-siecle America. When, following the publication of his first novel, Howells confessed to a friend, "there's nothing like having railroads and steamboats transact plot for you," (qtd. in Goodman and Dawson) he both signified a certain amount of embarrassment for his continued dependence on travel writing and coyly announced its continuing value to his novel writing. Nowhere in Howells's fiction does realism's detached, mobile narrative posture receive more sustained reflection than in A Hazard of New Fortunes (1890), the novel that Howells fashioned out of the abandoned project to write Harper's feuillton for The Weekly. …


To control the movement of the moving parts, the apparatus has a first chamber and a second chamber in fluid communication with each other through a variable orifice which reacts to pressure in the first chamber. The movement of the moving parts and thereby are at least partially controlled by the flow of fluid from the first chamber through a variable orifice to a second chamber. Orifice area when the pressure in the first chamber is increased can be increased, also the orifice area when the pressure drops can be reduced. The pressure dependence of the element to change the shape, and / or one or more bypass channels opened and closed based on the pressure it can be used for this purpose. When using the bypass channel, the valve may be movable parts are opened and closed based on operating parameters of the system as a component. Such a system may have an internal combustion engine.


To use the variable delay multipulse (VDMP) chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) approach to obtain clean amide proton transfer (APT) and relayed Nuclear Overhauser enhancement (rNOE) CEST images in the human brain by suppressing the conventional magnetization transfer contrast (MTC) and reducing the direct water saturation contribution.


This paper reports on how a positivist research paradigm was conducted with the aim to assess the information quality of the Blackboard system. It outlines the application of the IS-Impact Measurement Model for the purpose of testing the variables for the construct of "Information Quality." The investigation in this paper is a part of a research project aiming to measure the success of the Blackboard system adopted in a higher education institute. Data for this investigation are gathered from students in Saudi Electronic University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This paper explores the factors related to information quality affecting the success of the use of the Blackboard system. It concludes by confirming that information quality positively affects the use of the Blackboard system.


Supply chain resilience has moved up the corporate agenda in recent years, not least because of the number of crisis events that have caused supply chain disruptions. The aim of this paper is to shed light on the inbound supply chain and its strategic resilience status, using the resources already available to decision-makers within the organization. To do this, we translate a holistic set of previously developed Key Resilience Areas (KRAs) into concrete analytical steps to reveal weaknesses in the network in terms of vulnerable suppliers and materials. We illustrate our thinking with an example that focuses on the inbound side of a fictitious manufacturing company based in Hamburg, Germany.


The optimum integration of chemotherapy and irradiation is of potential clinical significance in the treatment of advanced head and neck carcinomas. In the present study, the interaction of cis‐diamminedichloroplatinum(II) (cisplatin) with fractionated radiotherapy was investigated in a human hypopharynx carcinoma and a cisplatin‐resistant subline of this tumor, both growing in athymic mice. Two radiochemotherapy schedules which tested single as well as combined‐modality treatments were applied. After therapy, the tumor sizes were measured three times per week in order to determine growth delay and treatment:control (T/C) ratios. The results revealed approximately additive effects of both agents in the parent hypopharynx carcinoma. In the resistant subline, such an interaction did not appear after treatment with any of the investigated schedules. However, a significant cross‐resistance between cisplatin and radiation was detectable. It can be concluded that multiple courses of a platinum‐based induction chemotherapy may be disadvantageous, since the treated tumors may develop drug resistance which obviously limits the effectiveness of a subsequent combined‐modality approach.


Bipolar type ion-exchange-membrane electrolyzers AZEC-B 1(70) imported from Japan Asahi Glass Co.,Ltd. were used to produce 120 kt/a ion-exchange-membrane caustic soda in Jinhua Chemical Industry (Group) Co.,Ltd..The structure characteristics of this ion-exchange-membarane electrolyzer and problems in test running and operation were introduced.The problems were analyzed.


Stomach content and stable isotope analysis (δ13C and δ15N from liver and muscle) were used to identify habitat and seasonal prey selection by ringed seals (Pusa hispida; n=21), beluga whales (Delphinapterus leucas; n=13) and narwhals (Monodon monoceros; n=3) in the eastern Canadian Arctic. Arctic cod (Boreogadus saida) was the main prey item of all three species. Diet reconstruction from otoliths and stable isotope analysis revealed that while ringed seal size influenced prey selection patterns, it was variable. Prey-size selection and on-site observations found that ringed seals foraged on smaller, non-schooling cod whereas belugas and narwhals consumed larger individuals in schools. Further interspecific differences were demonstrated by δ13C and δ15N values and indicated that ringed seals consumed inshore Arctic cod compared to belugas and narwhals, which foraged to a greater extent offshore. This study investigated habitat variability and interseasonal variation in the diet of Arctic marine mammals at a local scale and adds to the sparse data sets available in the Arctic. Overall, these findings further demonstrate the critical importance of Arctic cod to Arctic food webs.


The species and the harm of garden pests in TEDA(Tianjin Economic Technological Development Area)was investigated There are four kinds of pests,i.e.defoliating pests,borers,sucking mouthpart pests and underground pest.Environmental pollution free control methods were provided biological control,application of hormones,mimicry pesticide,inorganic pesticide;manual,physical and mechanical control,cultural methods and quarantine.


Stable, well-defined patterns of transverse magnetic disturbances have been observed in the polar regions that persist during periods of strongly positive Bz (≥ 5 nT) and that increase in amplitude as Bz increases. This has been determined from an examination of magnetic field data acquired during 146 orbits of MAGSAT over the south polar regions during November 1979 to January 1980 and supplemented by four consecutive orbits of TRIAD over the north polar region in July 1977. The characteristics of these polar disturbances include the following: (1) they occur at latitudes poleward of the Region 1 Birkeland current system at daytime magnetic local times (0600 MLT through noon to 1800 MLT); (2) the spatial distribution along the dawn-dusk direction resembles the "W"-shaped distribution of electric fields observed in the polar cap during periods of positive Bz (Burke et al. [1979]); (3) these patterns show remarkable stability, showing little change from orbit to orbit, up to seven orbits of MAGSAT (equivalent to a period of 10 hours); and (4) the magnitude of the peak disturbance, ΔB, correlates with a "complementary" magnetospheric transmission function of the form: ϵ* = (By² + Bz²)½ cos θ/2, where θ is the angle between the positive z axis and the interplanetary magnetic field (IMF). If the magnetic disturbances are interpreted in terms of Birkeland currents, they flow downward on the duskside and flow away on the morningside (identical to the cusp current flow reported by Iijima and Potemra [1976b]). During periods of negative By the region of morningside (upward flowing) currents is much larger than the eveningside (downward flowing) current region in the southern hemisphere. The density of the currents in the smaller spatial region is larger than the density of the currents in the larger region. This pattern systematically reverses during periods of positive By. We interpret these observations as evidence for a large-scale, stable Birkeland current system in the polar region that is associated with merging on field lines in the geomagnetic tail. This current system intensifies and is more stable as Bz becomes more northward (reminiscent of the behavior of the Region 1 current system with increasing southward values of Bz). The new stable polar cap current system described here is referred to as the "NBZ" Birkeland current system for "northward Bz" and is important because of its relationship to a variety of other northward By phenomena such as polar cap auroral arcs ("theta aurora") and multicell convective flow patterns. The existence of these stable NBZ currents and the correlation of their amplitudes with the IMF substantiate the fact that energy continues to flow to the earth's polar regions during periods of strongly northward IMF.


consumption of NADPH in the presence of microsomal NADPH-cytochrome P-450 reductase. Exogenous additions of CO, CN-, or N: had no effect on the enzymatic activity. Potentiometric titration of the ferric-ferrous couple of the cytochrome showed that the midpoint reduction potential was -255 mV at pH 7.4. When the reaction of the reduced cytochrome with 02 was analyzed by stopped flow and rapid scanning spectrophotometry, the ferrous form was found to be converted to the ferric form at a rate constant of 9.3 X 10' M-' s-l at 10 "C without showing formation of an oxygenated intermediate. EPR measurement of the ferric cytochrome at 10 K showed that the electronic spin state was in a low spin with g values of 3.2, 2.05, and 1.5. These results suggest that the heme in a six-coordinated low spin state catalyzes one electron reduction of O2 without ligation of O2 to the heme iron during the catalytic cycle.


The approximated process model, such as a First Order Plus Dead Time (FOPDT) or a pure Integrator Plus Dead Time (IPDT), used in designing the controller has inevitably the modeling errors. So the robustness of the control system to modeling errors, parameter variations, and external disturbance has been an important issue in process control. Sliding Mode Control (SMC) is well-known for its property of being insensitive to the above problems. In this paper, unified sliding mode controller design based on the approximated process models is proposed. The parameters of sliding mode controller can be easily and systematically calculated from the parameters of the used model without using the Nedler-Mead searching algorithm. The number of the parameters of the sliding function to be calculated is minimized. Simulation examples verify the robustness of the proposed sliding mode controller.


A method for the engineering calculation of the critical loads that govern the origination and development of plastic deformation during the contact of a spherical indenter has been proposed as applied to the friction of metals and solid lubricating coatings. The available approaches to the investigation of elas toplastic contact deformations have been verified using the finite element method. The effect of a low mod ulus coating on the origination of plastic deformations of the base has been shown.


Few-shot learning (FSL) is one of the significant and hard problems in the field of image classification. However, in contrast to the rapid development of the visible light dataset, the progress in SAR target image classification is much slower. The lack of unified benchmark is a key reason for this phenomenon, which may be severely overlooked by the current literature. The researchers of SAR target image classification always report their new results on their own datasets and experimental setup. It leads to inefficiency in result comparison and impedes the further progress of this area. Motivated by this observation, we propose a novel few-shot SAR image classification benchmark (FewSAR) to address this issue. FewSAR consists of an open-source Python code library of 15 classic methods in three categories for few-shot SAR image classification. It provides an accessible and customizable testbed for different few-shot SAR image classification task. To further understanding the performance of different few-shot methods, we establish evaluation protocols and conduct extensive experiments within the benchmark. By analyzing the quantitative results and runtime under the same setting, we observe that the accuracy of metric learning methods can achieve the best results. Meta-learning methods and fine-tuning methods perform poorly on few-shot SAR images, which is primarily due to the bias of existing datasets. We believe that FewSAR will open up a new avenue for future research and development, on real-world challenges at the intersection of SAR image classification and few-shot deep learning. We will provide our code for the proposed FewSAR at https://github.com/solarlee/FewSAR.


SARS-CoV-2, most generally known as Coronavirus, was arisen first in the Wuhan city of China in the late 2019 and ended up being an exceptional danger to the entire world from that point forward. It has genuinely forced a limitation on living souls in numerous nations and has shown us a better approach for living [1]. Being the second-most crowded country on the planet and one of the forces to be reckoned with in the progression as far as COVID disease, India is looking for outrageous results of this excessive flare-up than numerous different nations comparable. Aside from the wide range of various challenges set forward by the presence of SAR-CoV-2, there is a need of appropriate administration to deal with the various kinds of strong waste particularly Biomedical Waste (BMW) rising up out of various medical care offices, quarantine homes, and focuses, that is showing up in an immense sum each day and the potential difficulties we are confronting while at the same time facing the issue of this waste, that could be a source itself to spread this infectious infection, if not took care of and treated appropriately [2]. In this paper, we have talked about momentarily the powerlessness of the infection because of biomedical waste delivered every day because of relieving tainted patients. We also put across the provokes and the answer for handle this loss in India before it is discarded.


The position of healthcare industry in India is poor in terms of - adoption of IT infrastructure, and capability to harness its benefits. Both these factors entangle to form a catch-22 situation. The fundamental problem lies with either getting insufficient advantages or arousal of new loop holes in the IT solutions. Health Level Seven. They provide the facility to analyze, mine and assess the data. So their attribute of huge data storage go all waste. Ideally, there should be mechanisms which may enable the managers to take better decisions, for development of `communicative and interactive information systems' and `decision support facility' of information systems.


By analyzing the vision of human responds to the image lightness, we proposed a new algorithm of mammogram enhancement in order to dig the X-ray information. We adopted histogram equalization method and enhanced high-pass filtering method, and then synthesized their information by using weighted fusion method. This approach not only improves breast periphery overexposure problem but also enhances mammogram tissue and microcalcifications.


Western Zhejiang is very rich in boun (stone) coal resources. It is widely used in the manufacturing of boun coal products and as fuel in some power plants and in villages of mountainous areas. However, the contents of radioactive nuclides such as uranium, radium and thorium are high in some boun coal and its products. Uranium and thorium are parent elements of radon. They release radon gas unceasingly after decay, polluting the atmosphere and environment of dwelling rooms. The radon concentration in dwelling rooms and the annual radiation dose equivalent of the habitants in the mining areas greatly exceed the standards, to the detriment of the human health. On the basis of an analysis of the pollution of radioactive elements in boun coal mining areas, boun coal power stations, its products and dwelling rooms, this paper puts forward corresponding counter-measures.


Inclusion criteria were best corrected visual acuity of 20/30 or better and normal 24-2 SITA-Standard visual fields (VF) in patients with glaucomatous optic neuropathy. Pre-perimetric glaucoma was defined by the presence of significant retinal nerve fiber layer thinning measured by spectral-domain optical coherence tomography (Spectralis, Heidelberg) whereas normal subjects (control group) had no abnormalities on this test. SD-tVEPs were recorded using the Diopsys NOVA System (Diopsys, Inc. Pine Brook, NJ). Each eye was stimulated with a 15% (Lc) and 85% (Hc) Michelson contrast checkerboard pattern. Test duration was 30 seconds/eye and each test resulted in a lowand high-contrast response. Each response was evaluated for overall waveform quality, P100 latency, and the amplitude difference of the P100 and N75. The two AUC-ROC analysis was performed on the both the Hc and Lc SD-tVEP parameters.


Gonadotropins,including follicle-stimulating hormone(FSH)and luteinizing hormone(LH),are the key regulators of vertebrate controlling reproduction.The physiological function of GTHs depend on their specific receptors,follicle-stimulating hormone receptor(FSH-R) and luteinizing hormone receptor(LH-R).Fish gonadotropin receptors,which expressed mostly in the gonad,as well as in the brain,liver,kidney,and spleen,regulate the maturation of germ cells and the final ovulation and spermiation in fish.


The handling method of debugging and breakdownfauls of frequency converter are introduced.Meanwhile,it can provide reference to the same trade or occupation.


The field trip is one of the significant experiential learning activities to enhance students' cognition of employment opportunities after graduation. The study assesses the value of nine field trips of Hanoi University of Industry students in 2022. Data were collected from 451 second-year students at the faculty of Information Technology through an online survey. The survey consists of two parts, the first related to demographic information and the second for the participants' ratings on the aspects of field trips. Data analyses were performed by spss software (version 26). The result revealed that participants highly valued the university support, enterprise activities and their achievements for the field trips. The findings from the Hanoi University of Industry can act as a successful case for other Vietnamese higher education to organize similar field trips to promote their undergraduates' preparedness of work readiness after graduation.


A 66-year-old man with right-hand dominance and a known history of hypertension and poorly controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus presented with a one-day history of abrupt-onset diplopia and right facial weakness. Extraocular examination showed left eye exotropia, impaired right eye adduction,


The present investigation was carried out with the objective of determining the effect of the use of meat flour in the production of Cobb-500 chickens in the fattening stage, carried out at the National University of Trujillo, also, to calculate the productive indicators of the broiler chicken cobb-500 and the evaluation of the optimum level of inclusion of meat meal, used in the feed at the stage of fattening of the chicken of the cobb.500 line. 80 birds of the cobb-500 line were used, under an experimental research design. Where the following parameters were evaluated: weight gain, feed conversion and mortality rate; data that were analyzed in the Excel program for analysis of variance and comparison of means. Where the results were: 1359.4 gr in weight gain, 1.09 feed conversion and 1.25% mortality rate. It is concluded that meat meal (PROTEIKA) can be used in rations of cobb-500 broilers in a range of 2% to 6% in the fattening stage.


Intermittent positive pressure ventilation was used to treat seven adult patients with respiratory failure due to chest injury, paralysis, pulmonary infection or inhalation of vomit. Of these seven patients, six recovered. The inspired oxygen tension was maintained in the range of 200–300 mm Hg whenever possible. Metabolic balance studies were correlated with daily radiographs of the chest. Retention of sodium occurred in all seven patients, occurring within a few days of starting IPPV in four patients. Radiographs of four patients showed signs of pulmonary oedema developing during IPPV, and the development of pulmonary oedema correlated with periods of sodium retention. During IPPV a diuretic usually caused a natriuresis, and in four instances this was followed by a reduction in the signs of pulmonary oedema. The physiological mechanisms by which IPPV caused sodium retention and pulmonary oedema are not known. Diuretics should be given during IPPV when, in the absence of dehydration, sodium balance is positive for more than 3 days or when the chest radiograph shows signs of pulmonary oedema.


The paper is devoted to inverse problems for the unsteady viscous incompressible fluid flow. In the problems under consideration we estimate the velocity vector on a part of the boundary using velocity measurements in a certain observation subdomain. Optimal control approach reduces this problem to the constrained minimization. For unsteady flow and the discrete measurement data we use discrete optimization methods to solve this problem. New numerical algorithm based on the finite dimensional minimization is proposed and numerical results are discussed.


This study proposes a novel heterogeneous graph convolutional neural network (HGCNN) to handle complex brain fMRI data at regional and across-region levels. We introduce a generic formulation of spectral filters on heterogeneous graphs by introducing the $k-th$ Hodge-Laplacian (HL) operator. In particular, we propose Laguerre polynomial approximations of HL spectral filters and prove that their spatial localization on graphs is related to the polynomial order. Furthermore, based on the bijection property of boundary operators on simplex graphs, we introduce a generic topological graph pooling (TGPool) method that can be used at any dimensional simplices. This study designs HL-node, HL-edge, and HL-HGCNN neural networks to learn signal representation at a graph node, edge levels, and both, respectively. Our experiments employ fMRI from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD; n=7693) to predict general intelligence. Our results demonstrate the advantage of the HL-edge network over the HL-node network when functional brain connectivity is considered as features. The HL-HGCNN outperforms the state-of-the-art graph neural networks (GNNs) approaches, such as GAT, BrainGNN, dGCN, BrainNetCNN, and Hypergraph NN. The functional connectivity features learned from the HL-HGCNN are meaningful in interpreting neural circuits related to general intelligence.


Rubidium atomic clock can provide standard time and frequency reference for the stable operation of satellite navigation system monitoring stations.As the frequency drift characteristic affects the quality of observation data,the periodical frequency calibration is necessary for rubidium atomic clock.At present,the calibration methods used include traditional laboratory calibration,small tester calibration and remote on-line calibration.This paper analyzes the principle and characteristics of three kinds of methods,discusses the advantage and disadvantage of various methods.These results provide effectual reference and support for the rubidium atomic clock calibration engineering implementation of the navigation satellite system monitoring station.


In the absence of a theological account postulating the existence of devils and demons possessing the minds of the godless, the notion of evil and its relationship to ethics might seem incomprehensible. secular theories of evil actions are not only possible, they are essential to quantitatively distinguishing wrongful actions from evil actions and for appropriate, effective and satisfying remedies to be found. The action or project will gratuitously inflict, or bring about, one or more of The Great Harms' to sentient beings of relevant moral standing (eg cause great physical suffering, illness, starvation, death, destruction of home or habitat, and the misery of continual and unrelenting terror or harassment).


The monitoring and warning system of main agro-meteorological disasters in Zhejiang Province is researched and developed herein based on technology of WebGIS. According to SOA and B/S structure, the system is constructed on ASP.NET development platform by using C# and Java computer language, and applied in in Zhejiang Meteorological Department as a subsystem of "Zhejiang Modern Agricultural Meteorology Business System".


We have developed a narrow linewidth (0.3 nm), tunable (1981-2095 nm) Tm fiber-laser for ranging applications with a master oscillator power amplifier with ~100 W configuration. Power scaling to 200 W is underway.


Construction of shoulders using untreated reclaimed asphalt pavement (UNRAP) represents a new construction technique for Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) and other DOTs throughout the country. The objective of this study was to provide practical guidelines that can be used in constructing shoulder base courses with UNRAP material. Field and laboratory tests were performed to determine the physical and mechanical properties of UNRAP material. The results suggest the UNRAP material is well graded and its maximum dry density is comparable to those of other conventional granular materials. However, the optimum moisture content for UNRAP is much lower than that for conventional granular materials. The in-place strength of UNRAP base, as postulated from the Dynaflect test results, is on the order of 70–85% of the strength of the limerock base. The use of UNRAP base in constructing paved shoulders was found to be an economically and technically feasible alternative to traditional limerock. Additional theoretical and experimental studies as well as new test procedures to assess strength characteristics of UNRAP are warranted.


The proceedings of a conference on technology assessment are presented. A survey of recent Federal activity in technology assessment was discussed initially. Emphasis was placed on state and local activities with respect to technology assessment to include the following subjects: (1) the technology assessment desired by states, (2) organization of technology assessment activities, (3) how to perform technology assessments for less than $5,000, and (4) the preparation of environmental impact statements. Specific application of technology assessment to solid waste management in Connecticut is reported.


Protection of witnesses is not based on charity law enforcers, but a right guaranteed by law. Government with members of the legislature has enacted a law on protection of witnesses and victims. The impact of the birth of this legislation to guarantee the physical protection of witnesses from threats and protection of freedom of the witness to ensure the information it conveys no intervention from certain parties. Guarantee the protection of witnesses to be strong after the birth of the witness and victims protection agency is given authority to handle the implementation of protection, the protection of policy-making and supervision. Although this form of protection provided in the statute has not been given guarantees legal protection that is always necessary witness in the face of serious criminal cases.

Keywords: Perlindungan, Saksi, Hukum Pidana


We explore the effectiveness of Support Vector Machines (SVM) for classification in a sparse data set. Non-human primate models are utilized to analyze Alcohol Use Disorders (AUDs); however, the resulting data have a limited sample size. The challenge of low sample numbers and low replicates are explored using a variety of optimization strategies for feature extraction, including correlation, entropy, density, linear support vector machines for regression (SVR), backward SVR, and forward SVR. We investigate these approaches against the backdrop of the relationship between alcohol consumption and tibial bone mineral density. The results indicate that machine learning (ML) can effectively be used in cases of low and diverse biological data sets. The best relevance feature ranking strategies are correlation, SVR forward, and SVR backward.


SummaryEarlier work has shown Nor-pseudopelletierine-N-oxyl (NPPN) to be the most efficient N-oxyl radiosensitizer yet tested in anoxic bacterial systems. In this work comparison of the reaction rates of NPPN and other N-oxyls (TAN and TMPN) with radicals derived from thymine, thymidylic acid, native and denatured DNA is presented. Apart from native DNA, the rates confirmed that the sterically unhindered NPPN molecule reacts between two and four times more rapidly with the bioradicals than do TAN and TMPN.However, it is found that, whereas NPPN still reacts in an apparently straight-forward and predictable manner with native DNA radicals, TAN and TMPN do not, and their behaviour is shown to be more complex. The relevance of these findings to the efficiency of radiosensitization by NPPN is discussed. In the light of these results the molecular processes implicit in current theories of the mechanism of N-oxyl sensitization seem to be inadequate.


Abstract Ecology is about the relationships between diverse entities, human ecology concerns the links between diverse groupings of people. This case study of a prison population and an intervention reveals that ecological thinking can be useful to understand, and then to change the structural and dynamic relationships between members of the free community and those resident in a prison setting. Human ecology then in addition to being a research enterprise, becomes an approach to create effective social change.


The number of mobile device users increases every year. Each mobile device is usually equipped with a Li-ion battery having voltage that varies from a minimum of 2.7V to a maximum of 4.2V. Therefore, as the battery voltage decreases with time, a DC-DC converter is required for a regulated supply lower or higher than the battery voltage. A simple buck converter is not suited for this case, since step-up conversion is not available [1]. Instead, a non-inverting buck-boost converter can be a solution over the entire range of the battery voltage [1–4]. Many research studies related to buck-boost converters operated on Li-ion batteries set the target output voltage at around 3.4V [3,4]. Since Li-ion batteries have a wide plateau from 3.6V to 3.8V and a small energy storage below the plateau, DC-DC converters are generally operated on step-down mode at most of the battery voltage range, as shown in Fig. 10.4.1 top. Notwithstanding, step-up conversion is also required for extracting the energy below the plateau even if it is a small amount in the battery. Therefore, in DC-DC converters, it is critical to maintain high efficiency over the whole range of the battery voltage when it operates on both step-down and step-up modes to prolong the battery usage effectively. However, if the conventional buck-boost topology of Fig. 10.4.1 bottom-left is used for step-up and step-down purposes, there are always two switches (S1 and S3) conducting in the main current path through the inductor. Thus, the switches become large in size to minimize the conduction loss. As the switching loss also increases when the switch size is larger, the efficiency of this structure is usually lower than that of the simple buck (or boost) converter [1]. In this respect, this paper proposes a topology named a flying-capacitor buck-boost (FCBB) converter suitable for such an application by obtaining both step-up and step-down operations with high efficiency throughout the whole range of the battery voltage.


This study investigated the antifreeze activity (AF) of γ-polyglutamic acid (γ-PGA), freezing resistance of yeast cells and sweet dough, and the mechanism influenced by γ-PGA. Properties studied included AF of γ-PGA, water-holding capacity of flour, survival ratio and oxidation resistance capability of yeast cells, ice melting enthalpy (ΔH), and fermentation and breadmaking properties of sweet dough. The AF of γ-PGA was 8.03 g of unfrozen water/g of sample, indicating good AF. γ-PGA was tested on yeast cells and sweet dough stored frozen for 0, 1, 2, 4, and 8 weeks at four levels (0, 0.5, 1, and 3%). Survival ratio of yeast cells with γ-PGA was significantly higher than the corresponding control. A possible mechanism might be related to the modulation of oxidation resistance capability of yeast cells by γ-PGA. A decrease in glutathione release from frozen yeast cells and an increase in water-holding capacity of wheat dough were observed with the addition of γ-PGA. In the presence of γ-PGA, ΔH, ice melting...


In order to develop versatile agents that learn in situated contexts and generalize resulting knowledge to different environments, we explore the possibility of learning both procedural and declarative knowledge in a hybrid connectionist architecture. The architecture, CLARION, is based on the two-level idea proposed earlier by the authors. The architecture integrates reactive routines, rules, learning, and decision-making in a unified framework, and structures different learning components synergistically.


With a view to understanding the effect of rare earth element (Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm and Gd) substitution for the La site in LaMnO3 (LMO), the samples were prepared via solid-state reaction. Structure investigation by X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that structure transformation from trigonal (LMO) to orthorhombic (PMO, NMO, SMO and GMO) occurred when smaller trivalent rare earth element was replaced. The MnO6octahedra were tilted and elongated or compressed, corresponding to the ionic radii of the rare earth inserted. Meanwhile, microstructure study using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) illustrated that La substitution by another rare earth element caused a reduction in grain size. This might due to the changes in enthalpy of fusion by other rare earth ions, where higher enthalpy of fusion favours formation of smaller grain size. However, CeMnO3 did not form under this preparation condition. The magnetic properties studied from the hysteresis plot taken at room temperature indicated that the substitution of La with other magnetic trivalent rare earth ions strongly weakened the magnetic strength of the system.


Two areas of the departure problem in air traffic control are discussed. The first topic is the generation of climb-out trajectories to a fix. The trajectories would be utilized by a scheduling algorithm to allocate runways, sequence the proposed departures, and assign a departure time. The second area is concerned with finding horizontal trajectories to merge aircraft from the TRACON to an open slot in the en-route environment. Solutions are presented for the intercept problem for two cases: (1) the aircraft is traveling at the speed of the aircraft in the jetway, (2) the merging aircraft has to accelerate to reach the speed of the aircraft in the en-route stream. An algorithm is given regarding the computation of a solution for the latter case. For the former, a set of equations is given that allows us to numerically solve for the coordinate where the merge will occur.


Adoptive immunotherapy using ex vivo differentiated and expanded T cell lines can be remarkably efficient to treat cancer and infections. Unfortunately, the process of ex vivo T cell stimulation can lead to terminal effector differentiation and functional exhaustion thereby limiting the persistence and therapeutic effects of these T cells after transfer. Accumulating evidence suggests that, owing to their proliferative capacity, self-renewal ability and long term persistence in vivo, T cells bearing a central memory (CD45RO+/CD62L+ - Tcm) instead of an effector memory (CD45RO+/CD62L- - Tem) phenotype before adoptive transfer can mediate more significant therapeutic activity. Transforming-growth factor-beta (TGF-β) is a pleiotropic cytokine that influences several aspects of T-cell biology and that is best known for its growth suppression and immunosuppressive activity. We show that TGF-β signaling can have a profound impact on the number of CD4 and CD8 T cells expressing the Tcm and Tem phenotype after anti-CD3e and anti-CD28 stimulation without altering the number of cells recovered at the end of the culture and without inducing regulatory T cells. By enhancing the percentage of the lymph-node homing receptors, L-selectin (CD62L) and CC-chemokine receptor 7 (CCR7) expressing cells, exogenous TGF-β, added to the culture medium to a concentration of 5 ng/ml, favors Tcm over Tem cell accumulation at 7 days (CD4+: 55.80 vs 35.51% (P= 0.0074); CD8+: 56.9 vs 40.3% (P= 0.0063)). Reciprocally, the inhibition of TGF-β signaling with a TGF-β receptor kinase inhibitor (GW788388) accentuated Tem phenotype acquisition. Importantly, these effects of TGF-β on Tcm marker expression were maintained in the presence of exogenous cytokines commonly used in ex-vivo cultures for adoptive immunotherapy (IL-2, IL-7 and IL-15). The manipulation of TGF-β signaling did not increase the expression of exhaustion markers (KRLG-1, CD57) but exogenous TGF-β decreased interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) expression. No effect was noted on TNF-α and IL-2 expression as well as on the percentage of polyfunctional cells generated. We also found that modulating TGF-β signaling during the course of clinically relevant cultures capable of expanding T-cells specific for Epstein-Barr virus LMP2 protein antigens, in the presence of IL-7 and IL-15, could increase the number of CD4 Tcm cells, even 2 weeks after the withdrawal of TGF-β from the culture (38.24 vs 27.82, N=3) without compromising antigen-specific IFN-γ release. In conclusion, the modulation of TGF-β signaling can significantly alter Tcm and Tem phenotype acquisition and may therefore be used to optimize Tcm phenotype expression by ex-vivo pathogen/antigen-specific T cells expanded for adoptive immunotherapy. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


"ICES/ELH Symp./FM: Poster 1 - Submitted to: ICES, Symposium on the Early Life History of Fish, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Massachussetts, April 2-5, 1979"


The reaction of nitriles with P 2 Se 5 in the presence of EtOH-H 2 O afforded primary selenocarboxylic amides. The cyclization of these compounds with α-halo ketones afforded a variety of functionalized 1,3-selenazoles. Theuse of P 2 Se 5 also allowed the convenient synthesis of selenocarboxylic diamides which were transformed into bis(selenazol-2-yl)alkanes ('bis-selenazoles'). A practical method for the synthesis of selenourea was developed. This useful small building block was successfully applied to the synthesis of primary 2-amino-1,3-selenazoles.


Objective To observe the safety and efficacy of docetaxel in treating elderly patients with non-small cell lung cancer.Methods Thirty-four cases of elderly patients who were over 70 years with advanced NSCLC were treated with docetaxel 60~75mg/m2,iv,at 1st and 8th day.Chemotherapy was repeated every 3 weeks.Patients would be evaluated for response after two cycles of treatment.Results In the 32 patients who were evaluated,2 cases had complete regression(CR),10 cases PR,14 cases SD and 6 cases PD.The overall response rate was 37.5%.The clinical beneficial response rate was 81.3%.Mean KPS was increased from 75.6 at baseline to 86.8(P0.01).Lung cancer symptom scale(LCSS) scores of cough,chest pain and dyspena were increased(P0.05).The side effects were mild.Conclusion Docetaxel are effective,feasible and well-tolerated,and may improve quality of life monothrapy in elderly patients with advanced NSCLC.


This paper describes a method for calibrating a stereo-camera using its pure translational motion. The left and right cameras translate in several directions simultaneously. For each camera and each translation, an image sequence is obtained, feature points being extracted and tracked. An epipole is estimated for each image sequence and calibration is carried out using the relation between known translations and estimated epipoles. After finding calibration and rotation matrices of each camera, 3D reconstruction of feature points is performed. Reconstructed points are used to find translational relation between both cameras. The method was tested with real image data, and experimental results show that it is applicable in practice.


Summary For the attenuation of ground roll and back scattering, we have tested and improved an adaptive method aimed at effectively removing the noise while minimizing harm to the signal. We tested this adaptive method versus the commonly used deterministic F-K filtering method. In addition to comparing their effectiveness in reducing ground roll, we also paid close attention to how well these methods can preserve the signal. The results were compared by viewing stacks visually and by analyzing them in t-x, f-k and f-x domains. We found that the adaptive method can provide us with good ground roll suppression while preserving the signal, especially in the high frequency components of the data.


Von Meyenburg's complexes are not rare histological entities; their histological features have been well described. However, their sonographic features have, until now, been rarely mentioned. We describe 2 cases of histologically confirmed von Meyenburg's complexes, in which sonography revealed multiple small cysts in the liver, accompanied by comet-tail artifacts. When such artifacts are observed in the liver, the possibility of von Meyenburg's complexes must be taken into account.


Ergot (sugary disease) caused by Claviceps africana has become major constraint particularly in the cultivation of sorghum hybrids and hybrid seed production. The survey data indicated that average disease incidence of 6.6% and severity of 17.56 PDI was recorded in Northern Karnataka. The maximum incidence of 12.02% and severity of 25.94 PDI were observed in Belgaum district followed by Dharwad, Gadag, Haveri and Raichur. Isolation and morphological studies confirmed that C. africana as causal organism of the disease. The pathogen attained maximum growth on 12 th day of incubation in T2 broth. T2 agar and Kirchhoff's agar media were the best for colony growth and sporulation. The maximum dry mycelial weight of C. africana was observed at 20 0 C (114 mg) and it was least at 40 0 C (12 mg). In vitro cent percent inhibition of mycelial growth was observed with Hexaconazole 5% EC, Captan 70% + Hexaconazole 5% and Hexaconazole 4% + Zineb 68%. Adusoge at 10 per cent was found most effective among plant leaf extracts. In vitro cent percent inhibition of mycelial growth was observed with Achook 0.15% EC, Neem Extra Power 10000 ppm and Nimbicidine 0.03% EC @ 15% concentration. The sorghum grain yield loss of 38.47% due to ergot disease was observed with unsprayed treatment over five sprays of Hexaconazole @ 1ml/l. Yield loss due to ergot disease decreased with increased number of Hexaconazole sprays. Hexaconazole 5% EC @ 1 ml/l, Propiconazole 25% EC @ 1 ml/l and Captan 70% + Hexaconazole 5% @ 2 g/l were found effective in reducing the incidence and severity of the disease and thereby increasing the sorghum grain yield. Hexaconazole @1 ml/l was found most effective. None of the plant leaf extracts was effective to as that of Hexaconazole. None of the genotype showed resistant reaction against the disease among the ten genotypes screened under artificial condition.


In this work, we demonstrate the immobilization of carboxylic acid moieties on the surface of ZnO nanowires and its potential for biosensing applications. ZnO nanowires were synthesized via Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD) technique and appropriately characterized. Vibrational spectroscopic techniques were used to determine nature of bonding and orientation of oleic acid molecule at nanowire surface, which is used as model system. Furthermore, on the basis of photoluminescence data on modified- and unmodified ZnO nanowires with oleic acid, a generic approach to sense biomolecules along with mechanism of sensing is proposed.


mzTab is the most recent standard format developed by the Proteomics Standards Initiative. mzTab is a flexible tab‐delimited file that can capture identification and quantification results coming from MS‐based proteomics and metabolomics approaches. We here present an open‐source Java application programming interface for mzTab called jmzTab. The software allows the efficient processing of mzTab files, providing read and write capabilities, and is designed to be embedded in other software packages. The second key feature of the jmzTab model is that it provides a flexible framework to maintain the logical integrity between the metadata and the table‐based sections in the mzTab files. In this article, as two example implementations, we also describe two stand‐alone tools that can be used to validate mzTab files and to convert PRIDE XML files to mzTab. The library is freely available at http://mztab.googlecode.com.


From 1998, SMS text messaging diffused in the UK from an innovation associated with a small minority, mainly adolescents, to a method of written communication practised routinely by people of all ages and social profiles. From its earliest use, and continuing to the time of writing in 2015, SMS texting has attracted strong evaluation in public sphere commentary, often focused on its spelling. This thesis presents analysis of SMS orthographic choice as practised by a sample of adolescents and young adults in England, with data collected between 2000 and 2012. A threelevel analytical framework attends to the textual evidence of SMS orthographic practices in situated use; respondents' accounts of their choices of spelling in text messaging as a literacy practice; and the metadiscursive evaluation of text messaging spelling in situated interaction and in the public sphere. I present analysis of a variety of representations of SMS orthographic choice, including facsimile texts, electronic corpus data, questionnaire survey responses and transcripts of recorded interviews. This mixed methods empirical approach enables a cross-verified, longitudinal perspective on respondents' practices, and on the wider significance of SMS orthographic choice, as expressed in private and public commentary. I argue that the spelling used in SMS exemplifies features, patterns, and behaviours, which are found in other forms of digitally-mediated interaction, and in previous and concurrent vernacular literacy practices. I present SMS text messaging as one of the intertextually-related forms of self-published written interaction which mark a diachronic shift towards re-regulated forms of orthographic convention, so disrupting attitudes to standard English spelling. I consider some implications represented by SMS spelling choice for the future of written conventions in standardised English, and for teaching and learning about spelling and literacy in formal educational settings.


InAlGaAs/InP p-i-n photodiodes epitaxially grown on silicon substrate with a dark current density as low as 1.3 mA/cm2 at −3 V are demonstrated. Responsivity, bandwidth, and output power at 1-dB compression are 0.76 A/W, 8 GHz, and −3.4 dBm, respectively.


abstract:In this paper, I explore what Lady Mary Shepherd means by 'mind,' 'soul,' and 'self,' arguing that, for Shepherd, these terms are interchangeable, although they have a broader and a narrower sense. For Shepherd, mind/soul/self (in the narrow sense) is an enduring capacity that causes conscious perceptions; we know its existence through reasoning (rather than direct introspection), using an argument analogous to Shepherd's argument for the existence of the external world. In the broader sense, mind/soul/self is the capacity to cause sensations, as well as the train of sensations actually produced by that capacity. I end by pointing out a problem Shepherd faces in individuating minds/souls/selves.


Every chapter will be edited into a plain language summary of about 4,000 words. The summaries will be substantive rather than very brief abstracts. This book is not intended to be a popularized brief synopsis of main points or opinions but a sufficiently substantive presentation of research findings to help further inform and educate. It will be a book where readers can start anywhere, depending on the aspect of homelessness they want to learn more about. The book will have a very detailed index.


Wireless sensor networks (WSNs) have wide variety of applications and provide to many future. One of the most important applications is Sensor data collection. The sensor network collects the environment data from all sensor nodes periodically. In this paper used as the Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) concept. The TDMA concept is used to efficiently collecting sensor data for any traffic patterns. There by reducing the latency of data collections. Our proposed schedule improves the energy efficiency and time efficiency of sensor data collection. In this method is used as the Traffic Patterns Oblivious algorithm (TPO). To develop a mathematical models to analysis the performance of the proposed schedule.


Review of the book: Conscience and Compromise: Forgotten Evangelicals of Nineteenth-Century Scotland. By Patricia Meldrum. Studies in Evangelical History and Thought. Carlisle, U.K.: Paternoster, 2006. xxiv + 424 pp. £29.99 paper.


According to the characteristics of the controllable muzzle velocity of projectile launched by new shipbome gun, a method of calculating the firing data based on terminal impact angle constraint is proposed. The projectile muzzle velocity is added as a new firing data element of controllable muzzle velocity of shipbome gun, and when striking the sea target in sight, there is a nonlinear relationship between the hitting probability and projectile muzzle velocity. The model of projectile exterior ballistic and the equation of solving hit problem are established and solved, and according to the terminal impact angle constraint of projectile, the range ofprojectile muzzle velocity is determined. Using the derivative free method, the optimal muzzle velocity of projectile is found. Based on terminal impact angle constraint, and making the maximum hitting probability as optimal conditions, the firing data of the new energy shipbome gun weapon can be calculated effectively.


The variable-compliance-type constitutive equation is employed in this study.The constitutive equation can express the failure process of rock,which has been well proved heretofore.In the constitutive equation,it is assumed that the rock fails at a rate which depends on stress severity.The concept of stress severity Sv is expanded to the stress state where Sv take negative value and the healing parameter Hp=-Sv is introduced.The constitutive equation is also modified assuming that fractured rock is gradually compacted or healed at a rate which depends on the healing parameter.According to the results in this study,it can be said as follows.(1) The equation expresses the behaviors of the fractured rock when the compliance becomes smaller in the compaction test.(2) Though further discussions are essential in the future definitely,it can be said that the modified variable-compliance-type constitutive equation shows much potential for simulating the behaviors of fractured rock in compaction test and interpreting strength recovery of rock in loosening zone or excavation damaged zone around an underground structure.


Although engagement in productive activities is associated with favourable outcomes with respect to the health and well‐being of older individuals, the association between such activities and depression in older populations remains relatively unexplored. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the association among five productive activities (paid work, formal volunteering, caregiving, informal helping and caring for grandchildren) with depression in older adults in 14 European countries.


The 2,3-homopyrrole ring system has been prepared by the copper(I) bromide decomposition of ethyl diazoacetate in the presence of N-methoxycarbonylpyrrole.


The findings reported by Berkowitz (1) -are extremely interesting, informative, and consistent with theoretical formulations and experimental results relating sensory deprivation to stimulus-seeking behaviors, (4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10). It is the intention of this comment to suggest that Berkowitz's conclusion (1, p. 192) that "The results as a whole do not support optimal-arousal theory; nor do they fall under the exclusive domain of any other extant theory of the phenomena" is not entirely correct and that his remarks "while the present data favor a deficit-oriented more than an optimal-arousal stance, unilateral application of the former to the infantile experience and/or sensory reinforcement areas is premature" (1, p. 194) is, in fact, not consistent with the early deprivation and stimulation literature. In the references listed above a theoretical formulation has been offered that sensory deprivation during early development leads to stimulus-seeking behaviors that are related to the sensory system that has been deprived; further, that hyperactivity, hyperreactivity, and increased violent-aggressive behaviors commonly reported following maternal-social deprivation in mammals represent forms of stimulus-seeking behaviors which are attributable to somatosensory deprivation and not to deprivation of the other sensory systems. With respect to underlying mediating neural mechanisms, this writer has extended and emphasized the relevance of Cannon's Law of Denervation Supersensitivity (10) in accounting for the neural-behavior effects of early sensory deprivation, as initially observed by Riesen (14). Riesen (11, 12, 13, 14, 15) can be constructively consulted for a thorough analysis of the many aspects of early sensory deprivation upon neural-behavioral ontogeny. Additionally, Cannon and Rosenbleuth (2), Stavraky (17), and Sharpless (16) may be consulted for a thorough and systematic treatment of denervation supersensitivity phenomena. It is the contention of this writer that early experimental


Many individuals with autism display deficits in spontaneous language. Some also have difficulty completing complex sequences of behavior or multi-step tasks without adult prompting and supervision. These skills deficits can limit access to social situations and produce prompt dependence. Researchers have developed techniques, called Photographic Activity Schedules and Social Scripting/Script Fading, to address these specific deficits. These techniques take advantage of visual discrimination and auditory imitation skills that are often areas of strength for individuals with autism. Descriptions of these techniques, the research behind them, and suggestions for specific ways that they can be used with individuals with autism are described in this chapter.


The modern Jewish quest for a homeland arose in the nineteenth century in Europe. From the beginning there was tension between a secular nationalism and a more religiously based one. Religious fundamentalism is a political factor today in Israel, as elsewhere in the Middle East. Governments in this region would best avoid their overthrow at the hands of religious fundamentalists by working together.


The reactivity of SiO2-supported RhCo3(CO)12 with CO has been studied by IR spectroscopy at room temperature. Under 13 KPa of CO SiO2-supported RhCo3(CO)12 progressively dissociates to Rh6(CO)16 and Co4(CO)12 and high conversion of RhCo3(CO)12 is qualitatively determined according to spectroscopic observations. From the surface reaction mixture, the mixture of Co4(CO)12 and RhCo3(CO)12can be first extracted with n-hexane and subsequently Rh6(CO)16 can be extracted with tetrahydrofuran (THF). The extraction of these products from the surface confirms the results of in situ study. Additional IR study shows that the dissociation of RhCo3(CO)12 does not take place in solution under atmospheric CO pressure and at room temperature. These results unambiguously indicate that the interaction of SiO2 with RhCo3(CO)12 is responsible for the dissociation of RhCo3(CO)12 under CO.


Pancuronium bromide during IPPV has been recommended as a means of reducing pneumothorax, fluctuations in cerebral blood flow velocity and ICH in newborns with RDS. Thirty-three preterm infants, requiring ventilation for severe RDS were randomly assigned to control and treatment groups. Group 1 (BW 1035 ± 197 g; G.A. 28,1 ± 1,86) breathed spontaneously. Group 2 (BW 1205 ± 164 g; G.A; 28,8 ± 1,76) was paralyzed uith pancuronium, bromide 0,1 mg/kg IV, PRN. IMV in the first group and IPPV in the second (Bear BP 2001) uere used to mantain a PaCO2 ≤ 45 mmHg and a PaO2 ≥ 50 mmHg.The infants were kept muscle relaxed until they needed a FiO2 ≤ 0.4 and PI ≤ 15 cm H2O.No significant difference in the incidence of major ICH, periventricular leukomalacia, pneumothorax, BPD, and mortality was found. Our data show no advantages using pancuranium bromide during mechanical ventilation in preterm newborn with RDS.


In 2020, China was also severely affected by the global spread of the new coronavirus (2019-nCoV). In the midst of the epidemic, colleges and universities are turning to online teaching. With the phased success of the epidemic, the spirit of "epidemic power" is an important part of the curriculum construction in colleges and universities. Computer-related majors have the identity of social service and are consistent in social practice. In higher vocational colleges, the curriculum construction of computer-related majors is also an important content, to improve students'study enthusiasm, to strengthen the construction of teachers'team, to improve teachers'professional ability, to give full play to their professional advantages, to put curriculum construction in the first task of teaching.


tag=1 data=Dissolving the Parliament. by Denis O'Brien.

tag=2 data=O'Brien, Denis

tag=3 data=Public Law Review.

tag=4 data=1

tag=5 data=1

tag=6 data=April 1990

tag=7 data=17-20.

tag=8 data=PARLIAMENTARY GOVERNMENT

tag=9 data=DISSOLUTION POWERS

tag=10 data=Dr H V Evatt argued that the rules relating to the exercise by Governors and Governors-General of their reserve powers ought to be defined.

tag=11 data=1990/2/9

tag=12 data=290

tag=13 data=CAB


The molecule of the title compound, C6H5ClN2O2, is close to being planar (rms deviation = 0.032 Å for all non-H atoms), with a maximum deviation of −0.107 (3) Å for an O atom. In the crystal structure, intermolecular N—H⋯O and N—H⋯N interactions link the molecules into a three-dimensional network.


This paper presents prediction path loss models in an urban environment for cellular networks with the help of machine learning methods. For this goal, Support Vector Regression (SVR), Random Forest (RF) and K-Nearest Neighbor (KNN) algorithms are exploited and assessed. The training and testing procedure is carried out with the help of a path loss dataset generated by simulated results considering a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network utilizing a digital terrain model. The simulation takes into account an urban environment for both line-of-sight (LOS) and non-LOS (NLOS) propagation condition. The results reveal that all the evaluated algorithms forecast path loss with a remarkable accuracy, providing root-mean-square errors on the order of 2. 1-2.2dB for LOS and 3. 4-4.1dB for NLOS locations, respectively. Among the examined algorithms, KNN shows the best performance, thus being an appealing option to predict path loss in urban areas. For comparison purposes, the COST231 Walfisch-Ikegami empirical model was applied, which presents the worst performance, providing the highest errors under-predicting path loss, especially in NLOS locations.


Essential oil of cardamom seed can be used as drugs, antibacterials, anti-inflammatories, antioxidants, spices, food flavorings, and perfumes. In addition, the rhizomes and the leaves of cardamom also contain essential oils. The aims of this study were to elucidate the yield, chemical composition, physico-chemical properties, and antioxidant activities of Amomum cardamomum Willd oils from seeds and leaves which were obtained by water distillation and water-steam distillation methods. The results showed that A. cardamomum oils had wet-yield of 0.99 to 4.52% and dry-yield of 4.50 to 5.30%. The highest yield on cardamom seed oil was obtained by water distillation. The main compound contained in these A. cardamomum oils was 1,8-cineole (36.42 to 92.10%), whereas the highest content of 1,8-cineole, optimum physico-chemical values, and antioxidant levels were obtained from cardamom seed oil. A. cardamomum oil in this study possessed mild antioxidant with IC50 values of 2.22 to 4.92 mg/ml and IC90 of 17.05 to 30.25 mg/ml.


Much recent interest in Charles Tomlinson's poetry has centered on his later work, particularly the long, meditative poems and sequences of poems from The Way of a World (1969), Written on Water (1972), and The Way In (1974). Although he has favored the meditative style less in the two volumes since The Way In, for many it has become the characteristic mode of his "major" poetry. As a result, his early work is now neglected, relegated more and more to secondary status and viewed largely in the shadow of the body of work which follows it. What I wish to do here is look in some detail at Tomlinson's early poetry, specifically his first two volumes, The Necklace (1955) and Seeing Is Believing (1958).1 In doing so, I aim to challenge the assumption that his early work is a preface to his real achievement, interesting mainly as the work of a poet whose talent at least initially was in rendering still lifes and in carefully and precisely recording the contours of the visible world. I believe that even a cursory look at his earliest work shows that Tomlinson is far more than a recorder of surfaces. His first two


Introduction: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major and increasing global health problem with enormous amount of expenditure of direct/indirect health-care costs [1]. Quality of life (QOL) is an important domain for measuring the impact of chronic disease. The importance of measurement of quality of life (QOL) in COPD subjects is because no single measurement of lung function can satisfactorily identify the various disturbances that may cause breathlessness and impaired physical functional in patients with COPD [2]. The purpose was to measure physical functional and study quality of life in patients with COPD compared with healthy elderly. Materials and methods: Forty men with moderate COPD (FEV1 53.2 ± 6.1%), age 65.1 ± 8.6; were compared with forty healthy men age 61.8 ± 6.3. Lower limb strength was assessed by 30-second chair stand tests (30sSTST), and Health related quality of life (HRQL) perception was measured by 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) questionnaire. All participants gave their informed consent. Results: Mean total profiles for domains of general instrument SF-36 were significantly lower (p < 0.001) for COPD, with exception of pain domain, physical function (64.7 ± 16.5; 46.3 ± 18.1), physical role (66.2 ± 12.3; 57.9 ± 10.1) and vitality (46.6 ± 16.2; 29.8 ± 16.2). Simultaneously, COPD men had significant lower (p < 0.0001) number of repetitions at 30-second chair stand tests (14.5 ± 1.9 COPD vs 18.2 ± 3.9 healthy). Discussion and conclusions: COPD patients have lower physical functional ability than healthy subjects, with lower limb and trunk strength measured by 30sSTST which reflects lower exercise tolerance with impact on daily life activities [3], affecting negatively health-related quality of life, when compared with healthy subjects.


Robot manipulators are widely used in engineering for solving various tasks in accordance with their purpose. Manipulators usually consist of sequentially connected rigid links and connections between them – joints. One of the most complex types of robot manipulators is the articulated robot, also called the Robotic Arm. It has a structure similar to a human arm with three rigid links and only rotational joints. Such a structure provides greater flexibility, manageability and versatility. At the same time, the accuracy is reduced and the kinematic calculation is complicated. The direct kinematic problem is fairly well known and is uniquely solved using Euler angles or quaternion matrices. At the same time, the inverse kinematic problem has a multivariate solution and, therefore, it must be an optimization. The article proposes a new approach to solving the inverse kinematic problem based on numerical methods and parametric optimization. Formulas of transformations of Cartesian coordinates for a direct kinematic problem act as a mathematical model. However, in the formulas, the angles of rotation of the joints are unknown. Their values are determined during the minimization of the objective function in the form of a sum of squares of the difference between the specified and obtained Cartesian coordinates of the end-effector. The article describes a robot with 6 Degrees of Freedom. Based on the above approach, modeling was performed in the MATLAB software environment. It is proposed to use the sum of the angles of the links of the robot as an optimization criterion. Analysis of the results showed that the optimal solution allows reducing the rotation angles of all links of the robot approximately two times.