Universities and transit agencies across the United States have been finding innovative ways of providing and financing mobility services on and around university campuses. Many transit agencies are providing substantially more service and moving substantially more riders than their counterparts in nonuniversity environments. Determining what types of relationships exist between transit performance and university policies or practices is the research premise. To that end, the purpose is to document the types of transportation policies, demographics, and land use characteristics that exist on university campuses, and to examine the relationship between transit performance, land use on university campuses, types of university communities, university transportation and parking policies, and student demographics. These characteristics of university transportation systems were examined through demographic data and a mailed questionnaire. The questionnaire was sent to 48 universities and transit agencies across the United States, with 23 responding with enough valid data and information to be included in the study. It has been demonstrated in a significant number of university communities across the country that transit performance is enhanced dramatically by certain fare policies. However, that enhancement differs from one community to the next. It is believed that the answer to maximizing transit performance can be found in a combination of factors and that the optimum mix can be identified empirically.


A computer simulation of combat is used to compare outcomes of a red tank attack on a blue defense for variations in mass (density) and firepower. Results suggest the defender's need for improvements in fire power to counterbalance the attacker's advantage gained by massing his forces. 22 figures.


In flat-panel detector-based cone-beam computed-tomography breast imaging (CBCTBI) systems, scatter is an important factor that degrades image quality. It has been shown that despite the use of a large air gap, scatter still causes problems when imaging breast phantoms with our CBCTBI prototype. As a result, linear attenuation coefficient (LAC) distortion is obvious in the reconstruction; it appears as cupping artifacts and contrast loss. A simplified beam-stop array (BSA) algorithm is presented in this paper to solve this problem practically and efficiently. When the breast is positioned along the rotational axis, the scatter profiles from different views along a circular orbit are similar, and thus it is possible to use only one x-ray shot with the BSA in place for scatter pattern estimation, and this BSA image is used to generate a scatter pattern for all projections. The result of this scatter correction algorithm is compared with the reconstruction image over a small field of view, where scatter is assumed to be negligible, and the relative reconstruction error (RRE) is evaluated. The reconstruction is not sensitive to the estimation of scatter profile curvature, but is sensitive to the estimation of scatter intensity. It is shown as well that for any angular position where the BSA image is taken, the RRE is very small. The results show that the BSA algorithm works well for our CBCTBI prototype system with almost unchanged x-ray exposure.


The cooling mechanism of crushed rock revetment of embankment was studied by monitoring the heat transfer in crushed rock layers of revetment at the experimental sections.It was shown that the effect of thermal insulation and natural convection could be occurred in crushed rock layers of revetment.With daily variation and seasonal variation of air temperatures,the combining processes of daily and seasonal variation were shown in the effect of thermal insulation and natural convection in crushed rock layers of revetment.As a consequence,the variation of heat transfer processes in crushed rock layers of revetment results in the variation of permafrost thermal regime under embankments.It was shown by the thermal regime of soil under crushed rock revetment of embankments that the crushed rock revetment could effectively reduce the soil temperature under embankments.


The present invention provides a high-quality polishing pad, which is suitable for chemical mechanical polishing a semiconductor wafer of the object (the CMP), which is not affected by the polishing pad during polishing the polishing condition is changed, it is possible to obtain an excellent polishing rate, elimination step ability and uniformity, using a polyurethane-based foam (12), the foam having a fine and uniform chamber (20), suitable for polishing a semiconductor and other materials, raw materials are dissolved by the foam molding to obtain a gas this material is dissolved by a gas under pressure, an inert gas is dissolved in the polyurethane as the main raw materials and various auxiliary materials or a mixture of polyurea obtained.


This paper shows how ideas from a combination of formal techniques can be used to enable the automatic generation of databases from precise object models. It explores how the specification of an object database design can be formalized in terms of method preconditions, method postconditions, and invariant properties - many of which will correspond to integrity constraints for the data representation. Individual method specifications can be completed to reflect constraints expressed elsewhere in the model, composed to specify transactions, and then translated into executable code, to produce a reliable data store with a programming interface. The process of completion, composition, and translation may be automated to produce a model-driven approach to the development of object databases


This edited volume is an undergraduate textbook focusing on the linkages between environment and economics in the Indian perspective. The book is intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students, researchers and scholars in environmental economics, and general readers with an active interest in ecology and environment related issues.


OBJECTIVES
This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders in the hands and wrists of fishermen working as oyster shuckers, and to identify the risk factors associated with oyster shucking.

MATERIAL AND METHODS
A total of 590 fishery workers including those working as oyster shuckers in 2015-2017 were included in the study analysis. Hand osteoarthritis (OA), carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS), and ulnar impaction syndrome were diagnosed using X-ray, magnetic resonance imaging, and physical examinations according to each diagnostic criterion. The Rapid Entire Body Assessment was used as a measurement tool for analyzing the occupation-related burden factors.

RESULTS
The prevalence of hand OA, CTS, and ulnar impaction syndrome was higher in oyster shuckers than in aquaculture/offshore fishery workers. The prevalence of upper limb disease was higher in oyster shuckers than in other fishery workers, even in the prevalence of exposure to occupational burden factors. In oyster shuckers, the incidence of hand and wrist OA was 84%, that of CTS was 72%, and that of ulnar impaction syndrome was 41%. In addition, oyster shuckers were more likely to be exposed to occupational burden factors than were other types of fishermen.

CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of hand OA, CTS, and ulnar impaction syndrome was higher in oyster shuckers. Therefore, proper stretching or exercises for rest and musculoskeletal relaxation, along with health-care education and promotion, will be needed for the fishermen's repeated posture and impact work.

http://ijomeh.eu/pdf-132173-68221?filename=The prevalence and risk.pdf


Using the Web of Science® database (Institute of Science Information – ISI, Philadelphia, PA, USA) we analysed pre- (1972-2004) and post-tsunami (2005) clues about the protective buffer offered by mangroves and other coastal vegetation in peer-reviewed ISI-rated scientific literature.Apart from providing a literature review on the above topic, this study reveals that papers dealing with or suggesting the protective function of mangroves have been well represented in scientific literature since the 1970s. However, high-profile journals and their associated media engine tremendously failed to pick up the importance of the scientific findings related to mangrove ecosystems. Apparently, the tsunami strike of 26 December 2004 raised the status of mangrove research overnight, and to a level that was of immediate interest to researchers in a broad range of other disciplines, and thus fit for high-profile journals. However, the database showed a highly significant inverse relationship between the impact factor of the journals in which posttsunami mangrove papers were published and the pre-tsunami mangrove expertise of the authors. While suggesting that the above trend is worrying, we present a research framework that should receive much more attention in research in the future by many journals of low and high impact factor. In the light of mangroves and protection against a wide range of water-related impacts - not only tsunamis but also cyclones, sea-level rise, daily tidal action and heavy El-Nino rains - it should be investigated which type of mangrove formation or coast-geomorphological settings has which effect. Root type, vegetation structure and species composition are categories with a lot of variation within, and may be considered in parallel with for instance a lagoonsetting with a fringing forest. Detangling the effect of such complexity under various water-related impacts will allow fully exploring and understanding the power of mangroves and other coastal vegetation as protective buffers. These priorities in fundamental research should be considered in parallel with research and policy measures on the conservation and restoration of mangroves, taking into account links with the socio-economic reality of local communities.


In this paper, pilot-assisted transmission over time-selective flat fading channels is studied. It is assumed that noncausal and causal Wiener filters are employed at the receiver to perform channel estimation with the aid of training symbols sent periodically by the transmitter. For both filters, the variances of estimate errors are obtained from the Doppler power spectrum of the channel. Subsequently, achievable rate expressions are provided. The training period, and data and training power allocations are jointly optimized by maximizing the achievable rate expressions. Numerical results are obtained by modeling the fading as a Gauss-Markov process. The achievable rates of causal and noncausal filtering approaches are compared. For the particular ranges of parameters considered in the paper, the performance loss incurred by using a causal filter as opposed to a noncausal filter is shown to be small. The impact of aliasing that occurs in the undersampled version of the channel Doppler spectrum due to fast fading is analyzed. Finally, energy-per-bit requirements are investigated in the presence of noncausal and causal Wiener filters.


Summary AL amyloidosis results from tissue deposition of immunoglobulin light chains, occurring in 15% of patients with multiple myeloma. Mucocutaneous lesions are often the first manifestations, helping in earlier recognition of monoclonal gamapathy. A 71-year-old man who with cutaneous lesions on the eyelids, retroauricular folds and upper back, which proved to be due to amyloid deposition is reported. Further investigation revealed multiple myeloma.


Greedy algorithms provide a fast and often also effective solution to many combinatorial optimization problems. However, it is well known that they sometimes lead to low quality solutions on certain instances. In this paper, we explore the use of randomness in greedy algorithms for the minimum vertex cover and dominating set problem and compare the resulting performance against their deterministic counterpart. Our algorithms are based on a parameter y which allows to explore the spectrum between uniform and deterministic greedy selection in the steps of the algorithm and our theoretical and experimental investigations point out the benefits of incorporating randomness into greedy algorithms for the two considered combinatorial optimization problems.


Arch rib construction of Zhenzhu Bridge on the road from Wuchuan to Pengshui in Guizhou uses construction technology of vertical casting in the first place, and then vertical rotation, and the total weight of which is 610t. This paper introduces technical points and process of vertical rotation construction, and has made beneficial exploration and summary of such kind of construction technology.OverviewBridge rotation construction has advantages including saving costs for hoisting and erecting frames, reducing risks of frames losing stability when casting arch rib concrete, convenient, flexible, safe, reliable and good integrated construction operation, structural line type and internal forces are easy to adjust and control, small range requirement of construction site, and low impact on surrounding environment. Bridge rotation construction would have a broad application prospect in the practice of bridge construction, especially in Chinas southwest area with wide distribution of deep groove and dangerous gully, such construction method is more advantageous. Therefore, practice and research on such construction technology are very practical and significant.Ordinary vertical rotation construction is to have low casting or arch rib assembling, and then lift upward to reach the designed location. Concrete arch rib construction of Zhenzhu Bridge on the road from Wuchuan to Pengshui in Guizhou uses the technology of negative-angle vertical rotation construction, vertical casting arch rib, and then lowering rotation with weight of 610t. Such construction technology is used in China for the first time, while current vertical rotation of the same type of RC arch rib in China has the maximum weight. Based on emphasis on introducing construction technology characteristics of this bridge, this paper also includes innovation and beneficial exploration on the new construction technology of negative-angle vertical rotation.


THE liver plays an important role in the metabolism of carbohydrates. Clinical investigators have frequently reported observations of disturbed carbohydrate metabolism in the presence of liver disease,1 2 3 4 5 6 and numerous studies have been made of the metabolic alterations found in experimental animals with liver damage induced either by toxic agents or by partial or total hepatectomy.7 8 9 The possibility that alteration of liver function enters into the production of the diabetic syndrome has been considered by many authors, and several reports have been published that emphasize the possible role of the liver in the etiology and pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus in human . . .


EzStego is a steganography algorithm to embed the secret message in the GIF images. The message is embedded into indices of sorted color palette of the images. EzStego is a sequential embedding type of stego-algorithm. There is no key required for embedding, so anyone that know the algorithm can extract the message. For improving security, a modified EzStego algorithm is proposed. Bits of the message are embedded randomly in the image. Locations of embedding is generated from a random permutation which need an initial value as stego key. Before embedding, the message is encrypted with random bit which is generated by a chaos map. Based on experiments, the modified EzStego is more secure than the original EzStego, because anyone who has no information on the key can not extract the message from the stego-images.


Global economies and digital diasporas have led to a rise in fansubbing sites, one of the largest being Viki. Viki uses amateur expert fans to translate media from around the world into over two hundred languages. Global markets and for-profit fansubbing companies encourage volunteers to establish their own work practices. In examining the posts to one large segmenting forum, this article identifies ways Viki segmenters adapt workplace practices to online fan communities as well as ways that volunteers adapt localized community practices to online spaces. Specifically, volunteers adopted localized professional work etiquette to online leisure activities. This research expands understandings of global fan communities, referencing ways localized community practices continue to intersect with understandings of online work and leisure.


A computational analysis of the nonlinear free vibration of corrugated annular plates with shallow sinusoidal corrugations under uniformly static ambient temperature is examined. The governing equations based on Hamilton`s principle and nonlinear bending theory of thin shallow shell are established for a corrugated plate with a concentric rigid mass at the center and rotational springs at the outer edges. A simple harmonic function in time is assumed and the time variable is eliminated from partial differential governing equations using the Kantorovich averaging procedure. The resulting ordinary equations, which form a nonlinear two-point boundary value problem in spatial variable, are then solved numerically by shooting method, and the temperature-dependent characteristic relations of frequency vs. amplitude for nonlinear vibration of heated corrugated annular plates are obtained. Several numerical results are presented in both tabular and graphical forms, which demonstrate the accuracy of present method and illustrate the amplitude frequency dependence for the plate under such parameters as ambient temperature, plate geometry, rigid mass and elastic constrain.


In this research, the adsorption of copper ions from acid mine drainage (AMD) using nanoclay as an adsorbent, was studied. To obtain the nanoclay, a montmorillonite (MMT) was modified with hexadecyltrimethyl ammonium (HDTMA) bromide. It was characterized by XRD and BET by adsorption of N2 to 77K. The AMD was taken from an abandoned mine located in Jauja, Peru, which was analyzed by ICP-MS and gave a copper concentration of 38 mg/L. To determine the appropriate dosage, the nanoclay mass required for adsorption was determined, being 0.07 g/mL. The adsorption experiments were performed in batch system, at pH from 3 to 8 and contact times from 30 to 90 minutes, at room temperature, in aqueous solutions of 50 mg/L of Cu(II). The highest percentage of Cu(II) removal was given at pH 8 and 30 minutes of contact time, with 96% of removal. The mechanism of adsorption was studied at several initial concentrations of copper, using the models of Langmuir and Freundlich, finding that the one that best suited this process was the Langmuir isotherm. The adsorption capacity of the nanoclay, calculated by the Langmuir isotherm for Cu(II) was 7.53 mg/g. Finally, this procedure was applied to samples of AMD, obtaining a final concentration of 0.4 mg/L for Cu(II) after the treatment.


Radio frequency identification (RFID) refers to the use of a transponder or tag affiliated with an object for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. While conceptual ideas and potential applications are widespread, its use within maritime shipping still needs to be advanced. That is, the shipping industry still seems to be hesitant regarding RFID investment decisions. This paper proposes a simple cost model, which is applicable for RFID investment decisions. We show that under reasonable assumptions RFID may provide moderately quick ROI and we discuss relevant factors to be used in business scenarios. In particular, the construction and the origin of these factors are explained, thus allowing an understanding that RFID usage may have real business impact in maritime shipping.


reflected there his physical image, he has unconsciously, perhaps, but none the less surely, been vitally affected by what he sees. In the mirror-the picture-we see reflected the physical traits and characteristics of one's self or of another. Man has always had mirrors and pictures, if no more than the water pool or rough drawings on sand, bark and stone. But what about a mirror or picture of his voice? There has been nothing, until recently, more effective than the "echo" in a cavern or from a mountain side.


Introduction : The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), remains a global challenge since December 2019 cause by its severe symptoms and high mortality rate. Some comorbidities are associated with clinical outcomes in COVID-19 patients, one of them is cardiovascular disease, including coronary heart disease (CHD). Statins are popularly used as the lipid controller in CHD patients. Not only controlling the lipid profile, statins also can reduce the inflammation process in COVID-19 patients. This review aims to determine the activity of statins and its potential to improve the clinical manifestation of COVID-19 patients with CHD. Methods : The method used in this paper is to examine and review the literature journal that has been published last 10 years. Results : Recent studies have shown that statins capable to control the lipid, also lowering the LDL cholesterol and increasing the HDL cholesterol. And other trials have shown that statin also have ability to reduce the inflammation and inhibit further cell damage by binding mpro, a protease produced by SARS-COV2. Conclusions:  Based on those studies, we conclude that statins have the potential effect as adjuvant therapy for clinical improvement in COVID-19 patients with CHD.


The Nuremberg judgement famously held that crimes against international law are committed by men, not by abstract entities – but who, then, is to prevent these crimes? In 2005, all UN Member States agreed that it was their responsibility to protect populations against atrocity crimes (short R2P). In 2010, the idea was born to appoint senior government officials to act as individual R2P Focal Points to help implement this historic pledge. This article critically examines the focal point idea and its practice, focusing on the experience of the Danish R2P Focal Point as well as the role of the Global Network of R2P Focal Point which today has members from 61 UN member states. The article highlights the significant potential of the R2P Focal Points but also a series of pre-conditions that need to be met if the appointment of a R2P Focal Point is not to remain a mere gesture.


 This paper examines the life of Africans, using literature to discuss movements from Africa to other parts of the world as Diasporas. Such movements begin with slavery, to political asylum being sought and now self-initiated movements for trade, education, and labour for the facilitation of both information and industrial development. Relevant literatures are reviewed and analysed for their symbolic implications beyond the texts in order to establish the dialectic of facts and fiction. The relevant literatures include: Olaudah Equaino's (1789) Equaino's Travels , Joseph Conrad's (1995) Heart of Darkness and Other Stories , and Akachi Adimora-Ezeigbo's (2008) Trafficked . This paper posits that prior to the 15th century, Africans were free in their natural milieu with either no threat to their lives or being alienated from their ancestral homes until the period of slavery. Sequel to the attainment of independence by most African countries with the hope for self-governance and development, corruption, civil wars, foreign debts, economic depression, famine, and poverty truncate the people's hope for better living. African citizens therefore seek refuge abroad in countries with viable economy. With globalization, not only education and culture play significant roles, but also modern technology especially information and communication technology (ICT) play key roles in population drift in trade. There lies an absurdity that Africans now flee their once free homeland or countries to foreign lands which are perceived as "heaven on earth" because of their functional systems through effective governance. Thus, this paper concludes that new movements and new Africans in the Diaspora are self-initiated, imposed, and motivated irrespective of their being alienated from home and the risks involved since the end will justify the women were highly esteemed as concubines. The twelfth-century geographer al-Idrisi writes rapturously of them: Their women are of surpassing beauty. They are circumcised and fragrant smelling... their lips are thin, their mouths small and their hair flowing. Of all black women they are best for the pleasures of the bed... It is an account of these qualities of theirs that the rulers of Egypt were so desirous of them and outbid others to purchase them, afterwards fathering children from them.


In this article, we derive a viscous Boussinesq system for surface water waves from Navier-Stokes equations. We use neither the irrotationality assumption, nor the Zakharov-Craig-Sulem formulation. During the derivation, we find the bottom shear stress, and also the decay rate for shallow water. In order to justify our derivation, we derive the viscous Korteweg-de Vries equation from our viscous Boussinesq system and compare it to the ones found in the bibliography. We also extend the system to the 3-D case.


The competition between the Zeeman energy and the Rashba and Dresselhaus spin-orbit couplings is studied for fractional quantum Hall states by including correlation effects. A transition of the direction of the spin polarization is predicted at specific values of the Zeeman energy. We show that these values can be expressed in terms of the pair-correlation function, and thus provide information about the microscopic ground state. We examine the particular examples of the Laughlin wave functions and the 5/2-Pfaffian state. We also include effects of the nuclear bath.


This paper presents a method for fitting a copula‐driven generalized linear mixed models. For added flexibility, the skew‐normal copula is adopted for fitting. The correlation matrix of the skew‐normal copula is used to capture the dependence structure within units, while the fixed and random effects coefficients are estimated through the mean of the copula. For estimation, a Monte Carlo expectation–maximization algorithm is developed. Simulations are shown alongside a real data example from the Framingham Heart Study.


The aim of this work was to study how the location of a carbon source and of bacterial cells in soil can enhance the growth of a bacterial inoculum. Studies were performed using irradiated soil and two pairs of strains of Bradyrhizobium japonicum and Pseudomonas fluorescens. For each species, an antibiotic-resistant mutant was used as inoculant and introduced into a sterile soil pre-colonised with its parent strain. The inocula and a glycerol amendment were introduced together or separately into soil using porous microgranules or by spraying a suspension onto the bulk soil. Competition was assessed by plate counts of both inoculant and established populations. Both B. japonicum and P. fluorescens parent strains established at a high density level (109 cells g−1 of dry soil) in the sterile soil. The effects of the amendment on the inoculant strain in soil were strongly dependent on the way the cells and the substrate were introduced into the soil. Joint introduction of cells and substrate into soil improved the growth of the inoculant strain, but the effect of the amendment was also shown to be dependent on the inoculant carrier. Location of glycerol and the inoculant strain in microgranules gave a competitive advantage to the inoculated bacterium for a part of the amendment. We suggest that diffusion of glycerol from microgranules to the soil limits the competitive advantage of such location effects.


For rudder angle servo mechanism in steer-by-wire (SBW) system of pleasure boats, this paper presents a sliding mode controller with continuous control input. The sliding mode control theory is applied to the controller so as to have high robustness against the normal pressure of a rudder, which is regarded as an unknown disturbance. Designed with the twisting algorithm and the describing function method, a switching input of the proposed controller could enforce a switching function into a limit cycle. As a price of abandoning the perfect sliding mode, the proposed controller can bring not infinite-frequency switching input but continuous control input. As a result, the improvement of the load of the actuator in SBW system can be achieved.


Abstract Mound J, Monte Albán, a building of peculiar orientation and shape, has been mapped and tested for astronomical orientation. At the time of construction of the building, a line perpendicular to the base of the steps of J would have pointed to the rising position of the bright star Capella, which rose heliacally on one of the days of solar zenith passage. We note the existence of a possible zenith sighting tube built into the steps of building r which lies in the line of sight. A second coincidence is discussed in which 5 of the 25 brightest stars are found to have set close to the azimuth of the "point" of the building at the time it was erected.


This paper explores and discusses various design considerations for inverter-based systems. Different load sharing techniques are presented for the integration of renewable energy sources within islanded microgrids. In off-grid connection, renewable energy sources are often configured to share power based on their rated capacity. This paper explores both conventional and dynamic load sharing interaction between distributed generation units, both in an inductive (high voltage) and resistive (low voltage) networks. Load sharing based on the proper design of virtual impedance is also reviewed .


The authors describe the demod-remod method of demodulating two cochannel MEFSK (Manchester-encoded frequency shift keying) signals. The technique uses a conventional demodulator to obtain an estimate of the primary data sequence. The primary data are then remodulated and subtracted from the received signal to obtain an estimate of the secondary signal. The secondary signal is demodulated using conventional demodulation techniques. The authors present a description of phase noise, its effect on demod-remod performance, and methods used to mitigate it. Experimental results showing the range of signal power separations and carrier-to-noise ratios over which the demod-remod technique works are also presented.<<ETX>>


AbstractThe effect of obliquity and CO2 changes on Southern Hemispheric climate is studied with a series of numerical modeling experiments. Using the Earth system model of intermediate complexity Loch–VECODE–ECBilt–CLIO–Agism Model (LOVECLIM) and a coupled general circulation model [Model for Interdisciplinary Research on Climate (MIROC)], it is shown in time-slice simulations that phases of low obliquity enhance the meridional extratropical temperature gradient, increase the atmospheric baroclinicity, and intensify the lower and middle troposphere Southern Hemisphere westerlies and storm tracks. Furthermore, a transient model simulation is conducted with LOVECLIM that covers the greenhouse gas, ice sheet, and orbital forcing history of the past 408 ka. This simulation reproduces reconstructed glacial–interglacial variations in temperature and sea ice qualitatively well and shows that the meridional heat transport associated with the orbitally paced modulation of middle troposphere westerlies and storm tr...


The invention discloses a liquid feeding device for polishing equipment. The liquid feeding device comprises a liquid feeding pipe, a first supporting part and a second supporting part; the liquid feeding pipe is used for feeding liquid for a polishing disc of polishing equipment when the polishing equipment conducts polishing operation; one end of the first supporting part points to the polishing disc, and the first supporting part is used for supporting the liquid feeding pipe; and one end of the second supporting part is connected with the other end of the first supporting part, and the second supporting part is provided with a movable assembly and can move on a baffle in the polishing equipment through the movable assembly. In this way, the second supporting part moves on the baffle through the movable assembly, the first supporting part can be driven to move along the baffle, and therefore the liquid feeding pipe can be driven to move along the baffle, polishing liquid falling points can be adjusted to any position of the polishing disc, and the adjustable scope of the liquid feeding position is enlarged.


Blind methods often separate or identify signals or signal subspaces up to an unknown scaling factor. Sometimes it is necessary to cope with the scaling ambiguity, which can be done through reconstructing signals as they are received by sensors, because scales of the sensor responses (images) have known physical interpretations. In this paper, we analyze two approaches that are widely used for computing the sensor responses, especially, in frequency-domain independent component analysis. One approach is the least-squares projection, whereas the other one assumes a regular mixing matrix and computes its inverse. Both estimators are invariant to the unknown scaling. Although frequently used, their differences were not studied yet. A goal of this paper is to fill this gap. The estimators are compared through a theoretical study, perturbation analysis, and simulations. We point to the fact that the estimators are equivalent when the separated signal subspaces are orthogonal, and vice versa. Two applications are shown, one of which demonstrates a case where the estimators yield substantially different results.


Salma M. Shaban, K. T. Al-Rasoul, A. S. Ahmed  Abstract— CdS nanoparticles are prepared by using liquid – liquid interface reaction. from the XRD and TEM analysis we estimated that the size of particles is about 5 nm , which is very comparable with Bohr radius of the CdS ( aB 3 nm ) . The surface are treated through Immersion the powder of nanoparticles on the solution with mix ratio from pyridine and methanol (1:9) for one hour, then the study the UVVisible spectrum of the solution. The results indicate a blue shift according to the decrease in the size.


The invention discloses a method and a system for data transfer. The method comprises: receiving intermediate data and key value-line location information mapping table; leading each line of the intermediate data respectively into each corresponding line of a target data table, wherein each line of the target data table has a target physical line identifier; and establishing the target index of the target data table based on the identifier of target physical line and the key value - mapping table of line location information. By using the method or the system of the invention, the efficiency of reestablishing the data index is improved after data transfer.


The Juneau Icefield Research Program (JIRP) has been examining the glaciers of the Juneau Icefield since 1946. The height of the transient snowline (TSL) at the end of the summer represents the annual equilibrium line altitude (ELA) for the glacier, where ablation equals accumulation. On Taku Glacier the ELA has been observed annually from 1946 to 2018. Since 1998 multiple annual observations of the TSL in satellite imagery identify both the migration rate of the TSL and ELA. The mean ELA has risen 85 ± 10 m from the 1946–1985 period to the 1986–2018 period. In 2018 the TSL was observed at: 900 m on 5 July; 975 m on 21 July; 1075 m on 30 July; 1400 m on 16 September; and 1425 m on 1 October. This is the first time since 1946 that the TSL has reached or exceeded 1250 m on Taku Glacier. The 500 m TSL rise from 5 July to 30 July, 8.0. md−1, is the fastest rate of rise observed. This combined with the observed balance gradient in this region yields an ablation rate of 40–43 mmd−1, nearly double the average ablation rate. On 22 July a snow pit was completed at 1405 m with 0.93 m w.e. (water equivalent), that subsequently lost all snow cover, prior to 16 September. This is one of eight snow pits completed in July providing field data to verify the ablation rate. The result of the record ELA and rapid ablation is the largest negative annual balance of Taku Glacier since records began in 1946.


Background and Aims:  Current histological scoring systems do not subclassify cirrhosis. Computer‐assisted digital image analysis (DIA) of Sirius Red‐stained sections measures fibrosis morphologically producing a fibrosis ratio (collagen proportionate area [CPA]). CPA could have prognostic value within a disease stage, such as cirrhosis. The aim of the present study was to evaluate CPA in patients with recurrent hepatitis C virus (HCV) allograft cirrhosis and assess its relationship with hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG).


Summary
• Isolation and biochemical characterization is reported here of 5-enol-pyruvyl-shikimate-3-phosphate (EPSP) synthase, the enzyme that catalyses the sixth step in the common prechorismate pathway of aromatic amino acid biosynthesis and the target of the widely used herbicide glyphosate, from the cyanobacterium Spirulina platensis.
• Homogeneous enzyme preparations were obtained by ammonium sulphate fractionation, anion-exchange and substrate-elution chromatography, and chromatofocusing. Protein characterization was carried out by conventional kinetic analysis, PAGE and gel permeation.
• A 2800-fold purification was achieved, with a recovery of 20% of initial activity. Unusually low apparent affinities for both substrates, phosphoenolpyruvate and shikimate-3-phosphate, did not correspond to decreased glyphosate sensitivity. During SDS-PAGE, the protein migrated as a single band corresponding to a molecular mass of c. 49 kDa. The behaviour of the protein upon gel permeation chromatography under nondenaturing conditions was, however, consistent with a mass of c. 91 kDa.
• The native enzyme appears to be homodimeric, a remarkable feature that has not been previously reported for EPSP synthases from either cyanobacteria or higher plants. The presence of mono- and dimeric EPSP synthases could represent an important tool for cyanobacterial classification.


Given today's masses of malware there is a need for fast analysis and comparison of samples. System API usage has been proven to be a very valuable source of information for this e.g. shown by Rieck et al. However, the majority of malware samples is shipped packed, making it hard to get accurate information on their payload's API usage. Today's state of the art to get this information from packed samples is by unpacking them or dumping memory with subsequent reconstruction of imports using tools like ImpREC and Scylla. This has several drawbacks since it is a manual procedure requiring a live process environment and suffers from inaccuracy due to missed dynamic imports.

In this paper, we present ApiScout, a fully automated method to recover API usage information from memory dumps. It does not require a live process environment and is capable of handling dynamic imports leading to more accurate results compared to existing approaches. ApiScout is a two-staged approach. The first stage is a preparation step creating a database of candidate offsets for API functions. In the second step we crawl through a given memory dump of a process and match all possible DWORDs and QWORDs against this database yielding us API reference candidates. We filter and enrich candidates using different procedures leading us to the desired API usage information.

Based on this information, our second contribution in this paper is a concept called ApiVectors. It efficiently stores the information extracted by ApiScout. This enables fast assessment of a malware's potential capabilities and allows similarity analysis of API usage across samples. For the latter the methods imphash and impfuzzy are the de facto standard. However, they both suffer from inaccuracy due to exclusively relying on the import table and non-recoverability of input data. In our approach we use Jaccard and Tanimoto similarity to compare ApiVectors, leading to a much higher accuracy.

Our third contribution is an extensive analysis of API usage across 589 malware families of the Malpedia dataset. The families combined use only about 4500 APIs that can be grouped into 12 semantic groups. The analysis further proves the functionality of ApiScout and shows that ApiVectors clearly outperform imphash and impfuzzy.


Abstract The analytical investigation of vibration of damaged structures is a complicated problem. This problem may be simplified if a structure can be represented in the form of a beam with corresponding boundary and loading conditions. In this connection, free vibrations of an elastic cantilever Bernoulli–Euler beam with a closing edge transverse crack is considered in the present work as a model of a structure with a fatigue crack. The modelling of bending vibrations of a beam with a closing crack is realized based on the solutions for an intact beam and for a beam with an open crack. The algorithm of consecutive (cycle-by-cycle) calculation of beam mode shapes amplitudes is presented. It is shown that at the instant of crack opening and closing, the growth of the so-called concomitant mode shapes which differ from the initially given mode shape takes place. Moreover, each of the half-cycles is characterized by a non-recurrent set of amplitudes of concomitant modes of vibration and these amplitudes are heavily dependent on the crack depth. The vibration characteristics of damage based on the estimation of non-linear distortions of the displacement, acceleration and strain waves of a cracked beam are investigated, and the comparative evaluation of their sensitivity is carried out.


Analyses, critically, the interest in "knowledge work" and the "knowledge age". Arguing that definitions of "knowledge work" and predictions regarding the future trajectories of knowledge organizations are characterized by confusion and ambiguity, calls for a quite different form of analysis. Argues that energy should be directed away from the study of "knowledge work" ‐ the privilege of a minority elite ‐ and redirected to acknowledge the extent of working knowledge across the workforce as a whole.


There was a positive correlation between neurofilament light (NF-L) and the time spent in stage 1 of non-rapid eyes movement (NREM) (N1) sleep and a negative correlation between this marker and the time spent in stage 3 of NREM (N3) sleep. Accordingly, we observed that deep sleep was associated with lower levels of NF-L, whereas light sleep increased the probability of having higher levels of this marker. Furthermore, chitinase-3-like-1 (YKL-40) was negatively correlated with sleep efficiency, the time spent in stage 2 of NREM (N2) sleep, and the time spent in N3 sleep. Conversely, there was a positive correlation between N3 sleep and the oxidative protein damage markers N-ε(carboxyethyl)lysine and N-ε-(malondialdehyde)lysine.


Previous studies (Lee and Green, 1994; Lee and Bacon, 1997) suggested that both AM rate and AM depth discrimination were influenced by the number of AM cycles, instead of the duration of stimuli. AM detection and AM depth discrimination (standard depth=0.1) were measured as a function of the number of AM cycles for modulation rates of 10, 20, 40, 80, 125, 160, and 320 Hz. Different numbers of modulation cycles were used for each modulation rate: 2, 4, or 8 for 10 Hz; 2, 4, 8, or 16 for 20 Hz; 2, 4, 8, 16, or 32 for 40 Hz; 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, or 64 for 80, 125, 160, and 320 Hz. The carrier was a broadband‐noise (10 kHz lowpass), and the carrier was either gated with the modulator or presented 250 ms earlier and 250 ms later than the modulator. The overall level of each presentation was randomized within 6‐dB range from 65 dB SPL. The results suggest that there might be different temporal integration processes for AM detection and AM depth discrimination. The pattern is different for lower and higher modulatio...


Theeffects ofinserting cellular regulatory sequencesfromthemurinetransthyretin (TTR)geneintothe Moloney murineleukemia virus (M-MuLV)longterminal repeat (LTR)were investigated. Transthyretin is expressed predominantly intheliver andchoroid plexus inadult mice, andTTRupstream regulatory elements were previously showntopotentiate transcription inliver-derived cells. Theeffects ofinserting theTTR distal enhancer and/or promoter-proximal sequencesinto an M-MuLVLTR lacking itsenhancers were measured in three ways.(i)Chimeric LTRswere fused tothebacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene(cat) and tested fortransient geneexpression bytransfection into liver-derived cells orNIH3T3fibroblasts. (ii) Infectious M-MuLV containing an altered LTR [AMo+TTR(PD) MuLVIwas generated, andinfectivity inculture on hepatocyte lines andNIH3T3cells was tested. (iii) Infection ofAMo+TTR(PD)MuLV invivo was tested by inoculating NFS/Nmiceandperforming insituhybridization ofwholeanimal sections. Chimeric LTR-cat constructs showedhigher levels ofcatgene expression inliver-derived cell lines thaninNIH 3T3cells, indicating increased LTRactivity inthese cells. However, invitro infection didnotshowsignificantly higher infectivity inhepatocytes forAMo+TTR(PD)M-MuLVthandidwild-type M-MuLV.Invivo, AMo+TTR(PD) MuLV showedexpression inthesame tissues as withwild-type M-MuLV-inoculated mice,i.e., lymphoid


Synthetic replicators can be generated by covalent attachment of two complementary structures to form a self-complementary molecule. The complementarity refers to sizes, shapes, and the weak, intermolecular forces that characterize molecular recognition phenomena. New self-complementary structures were obtained by coupling imides to synthetic receptors for imides, and their properties as replicators were explored. The new structures use hydrogen bonding of thymine derivatives to diaminotriazines as the recognition vehicle, and autocatalytic behavior is experimentally demonstrated during the covalent coupling step


The 75 km2 Ihungia catchment, in the extreme northeast of the North Island of New Zealand, includes part of the northeast-trending, complex belt of Cretaceous and Tertiary rocks forming the eastern continental margin sequence of New Zealand (the East Coast Deformed Belt). Upper Cretaceous "autochthonous" rocks, exposed in the north of the region, are mapped as extensions of the Ngaterian Hikurangi Beds(formation)and overlying Teratan–Haumurian calcareous flysch of Tapuaeroa Formation. The Hikurangi Beds contain 2 new units—the lower Mangarakeke lithofacies(300 m thick, alternating noncalcareous sandstone and mudstone), and the Rangikohua lithofacies(200 m thick, massive, noncalcareous sandstones separated by thin siltstone lenses). These rocks were deformed by north–southtrending isoclinal folding before becoming a repository area for 3 thrust sheets, emplaced by gravity sliding from the north over the "autochthonous" material. The lowest thrust sheet, emplaced following Late Oligocene time, is composed p...


Telescope coronagraph is an instrument to observe faint exoplanets located at very close proximities to their star by shielding the direct starlight. In this paper, the coronagraph pupil-mask system is described through a series of Fourier transforms, which leads to an eigenvalue system described by an integral equation. The method of moments (MoM) is applied to solve such an eigenvalue problem to obtain the eigen modes that represent an optimal set of refractive index distributions on the pupil. Due to the application of the MoM, the shape of coronagraph pupil can be arbitrary. A numerical example considering a circular pupil is given to demonstrate capability of the proposed method. The accuracy of the MoM solution is validate by comparing the numerical solutions with the analytical solutions given by the generalized prolate spheroidal wave functions.


This work analyzes an active fuzzy logic control system in a Rijke type pulse combustor. During the system development, a study of the existing types of control for pulse combustion was carried out and a simulation model was implemented to be used with the package Matlab and Simulink. Blocks which were not available in the simulator library were developed. A fuzzy controller was developed and its membership functions and inference rules were established. The obtained simulation showed that fuzzy logic is viable in the control of combustion instabilities. The obtained results indicated that the control system responded to pulses in an efficient and desirable way. It was verified that the system needed approximately 0.2 s to increase the tube internal pressure from 30 to 90 mbar, with an assumed total delay of 2 ms. The effects of delay variation were studied. Convergence was always obtained and general performance was not affected by the delay. The controller sends a pressure signal in phase with the Rijke tube internal pressure signal, through the speakers, when an increase the oscillations pressure amplitude is desired. On the other hand, when a decrease of the tube internal pressure amplitude is desired, the controller sends a signal 180o out of phase.


Hypothermia is a common complication during anesthetic surgical procedures; this condition causes a few problems in the metabolism of drugs causing difficulties during anesthesia, longer hospital stay, and also variations in the patients that could become irreversible if left untreated. The aim of the present controlled cross-type clinical trial was to generate a normothermic protocol composed of preheating for 30 minutes at 28 degrees centigrade… Ver archive adjunto.


The original formula in [12] is given for the whole space. The expression here on a bounded domain first appeared in Nishiura and Ohnishi [10]. The two unlike monomer units are represented byu = 1 and u = 1 respectively. The connectivity of the monomers in a chain leads to the long range interaction (/ 2)|( ) 1/2 (u m)| 2 in the free energy. Here is viewed as a positive operator, and ( ) 1/2 is the square root of its inverse. The parameter is proportional to the inverse of the square root of the total chain length of the copolymer. ( 2 /2)|ru| 2 represents the interfacial energy density at bonding points. The parameter is proportional to the thickness of interfaces between the two monomers. m stands for the mass ratio of the two monomer units.


Conductive 75 nm diameter nanowires have been self-assembled from aqueous solution between 15μm gap electrodes on a SiO2 substrate at predefined locations. Nanowire assembly was initiated by application an electric field, and it occurred along the direction of field lines where the field is strongest. Certain salts of palladium, but not of related metals, yielded nanowires under comparable conditions. The simple and straightforward approach to nanowire assembly outlined here could be used for nano/microscale device interconnection at precise positions at room temperature, important for device development, integration, and packaging.


In the Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE-A) heterogeneous networks (Het-Nets), smallcell is an emerging and key item, providing improved service coverage and high spectral efficiency with low power. However, the number and location arrangement of smallcell is always changing in reality, the interference scenario is also different. In order to reduce the layer-to-layer interference in uncertain deployment of smallcell, a method of frequency domain self-organizing interference coordination technology is proposed in this paper. In this method, the total spectrum bandwidth is divided into two parts according to a frequency partition ratio. One part of the bandwidth is called protected band where macrocell's transmission power will be reduced in an adaptively controlled way to schedule the edge UEs of smallcell and the center UEs of macrocell, another is named unprotected band to schedule the macro edge UEs and smallcells' center UEs. Thus, the edge UEs of smallcell could be protected under the condition of not losing too much macrocells' performance. The system-level simulation results show that the proposed scheme can achieve superior system performance improvements, and higher cell-edge user data rate.


ing from the object-relatedness of thought and therefore from its content, general logic considers only its form. General logic is thus formal in a sense that goes beyond mere generality. Firstly, it is formal in the sense of non-particularity, as it abstracts from the particular identities of objects and their properties. That is why it is not a special logic, as it abstracts even from the most general conditions of objecthood (these constitute the subject-matter of transcendental logic). Secondly, it is formal in the sense of non-substantiality; since the possibility of being given an object is a necessary condition of having content, according to Kant, pure general logic does not have content. This conclusion and the argument leading to it articulate the characteristically Kantian version of the analyticity-constraint. Since pure general logic is indifferent to the conditions of objecthood and has therefore no content, it cannot make any substantive claims about the world. In other words, Kantian formal logic lacks content in the fol-


Background: NCI-sponsored working group (NCI-WG) criteria for response assessment in CLL (Blood 1996:87; 4990–4997) rely on physical examination, blood, and bone marrow evaluations, with no requirement for CT scan measurements. Recent improvements in CLL therapy provide justification for re-evaluation of these response criteria.

Methods: In a retrospective review of 3 ongoing trials at The Ohio State University in patients (pts) with symptomatic untreated (8) and previously treated (74) CLL, we assessed response in pre- and post-treatment CT scans using international non-Hodgkin's lymphoma (NHL) CT response criteria (JCO 1999:17;1244–1253). These results were compared to response determined by conventional NCI-WG criteria.

Results: In 82 pts, the median age was 60 (range, 38–84), with 60 males. The majority of pts had Rai stage IV disease (39), with a median of 4 prior therapies (range 0–14). Response according to NCI-WG criteria were as follows: CR 5 (6.1%), PR 32 (39%), SD 21 (25.6%), PD 17 (20.7%), and not evaluable (NE) 7 (8.5%). Response by NHL CT criteria were as follows: CR 3 (3.7%), CRu 12 (14.6%), PR 16 (19.5%), SD 26 (31.7%), PD 4 (4.9%), and NE 21 (25.6%). 23 pts were NE by either NCI-WG or NHL CT criteria due to lack of a post-treatment CT or early treatment-related toxicity. The table below provides the discrepancies in response assessment between NCI-WG and NHL CT criteria in the 59 evaluable pts. In all 82 pts, the median OS and PFS were 25.2 mos and 9.0 mos, respectively. In the 75 pts evaluable by NCI-WG criteria, CR, PR, SD, and PD response designations correlated with PFS (p=0.001) by log-rank test, with a median PFS of 27.3 mos for CR, 11.4 mos for PR, 5.6 mos for SD, and 2.5 mos for PD. Response by NCI-WG criteria also correlated with OS (p=0.012), with 12 deaths reported. For the 61 pts evaluable by NHL CT criteria, log-rank test demonstrated a significant correlation with CR, PR, SD, and PD designations and PFS (p=0.001); however, there was no difference between CRu and PR. For pts achieving a CRu, PFS was 11.7 mos; compared to 14.7 mos for a PR, and 18.4 mos for a CR. NHL CT criteria also correlated with OS (p=0.001), with 6 deaths reported. In multi-variate cox regression analysis, NCI-WG CLL response, NHL CT response, age, Rai stage, and number of prior therapies failed to correlate with OS (p-values=0.382–0.999). However, with the same variables, NCI-WG CLL response was the only significant predictor of PFS (p=0.005), with no significant association between NHL CT response and PFS (p=0.061).

Conclusions: These results support current NCI-WG CLL criteria as a significant predictor of response and ultimately PFS in pts with previously treated CLL, with no additional benefit from the inclusion of CT scans. In addition, the CRu response definition has limited prognostic value in CLL, as PFS in this group is similar to those pts achieving PR. Limitations of this study include retrospective design, low CR rate, and a high proportion of previously treated pts. These results nonetheless highlight the importance of prospective validation of CT scans before routine inclusion in response criteria for CLL.

| | Response by NHL CT criteria | |
|:--------------------------- | --------------------------- | --- | -- |
| | CR | CRu | PR | SD | PD | Totals |
| Response by NCI-WG criteria | | | | | | |
| CR | 3 | 2 | | | | 5 |
| PR | | 8 | 14 | 8 | | 30 |
| SD | | 2 | 1 | 9 | 1 | 13 |
| PD | | | | 8 | 3 | 11 |
| Totals | 3 | 12 | 15 | 25 | 4 | 59 |


This thesis consists of two topics: I. Cobalt-Assisted Ferrier-Type Rearrangement to Construct Chiral Alkynyl Cyclohexanones Functionalized 1-C-alkynyl sugars are prepared through so called C-glycosidation from a D-glucose derivative, 2-acetoxy-glucal triacetate with TMS-acetylene under Lewis acid condition. Dicobalt complexes of these C-alkynyl products, sugar acetylenes possess a special chemical character to stabilize the propargylic carbenium cations (known as Nicholas cation) at the anomeric position. This cation could promote the Ferrier-type rearrangement through the above propargyl vinyl cyclic cationic intermediates to afford alkynyl cyclohexanones after decomplexation. High stereoselectivity resulted from the suitably oriented steric interaction between the C-2 O-protecting group and the alkynyl substituents due to gauche effect. Such an effect prompted us to focus on stereochemical course of this rearrangement particularly found in the dihydropyran ring system. II. Stereochemical Course of Wittig Rearrangement of Dihydropyran Allyl Propargyl Ethers [2,3]-Wittig rearrangements of sugar-derived dihydropyran allyl propargyl ethers located at the 2- or 4-position have been studied as a means for extending the carbon chains to the 4- or 2-position with chirality transfer. The stereochemical courses of these reactions depend on the following factors: (1) deprotonation of propargylic pro-R or pro-S-H, (2) equilibration of the lithiated stereogenic carbanion, (3) conformational inversion at the transition state, (4) [2,3]- or [1,2]-Wittig-rearrangement, and (5) workup. The equilibration step-(2) may be skipped depending on the orientational change for the step-(3) leading to a concerted [2,3]-Wittig process. In some cases, a new mechanism occurs leading to allyl-C-O bond-cleavage before either the [2,3]- or [1,2]-Wittig rearrangement. The stereochemical courses of the rearrangements are compared among the lithiated reactants for determining the reaction pathways. This unique mechanism in the poly-oxygenated dihydropyran ring system was further supported by DFT calculations. Indeed, some examples are reported of the [2,3]-process going through a non-concerted process in 2-steps due to strong chelation effects.


Objective In order to improve the accuracy and real-time of intra-operative monitoring, a fixed-point-based adaptive noise canceller(ANC) is used in improving signal to signal -noise ratio (SNR) of Somatosensory Evoke Potential(SEP) extraction. Methods The effect of signal processing in simulation of floating-point algorithm and fixed-point algorithm with ANC to SEP offline browse, the trend of distortion index under different coefficient convergences( )were compared in two filters. Results The distortion coefficient is slightly larger than the fixed-point algorithm in the smaller extent, while the increasing convergence of the factors is differently gradually narrowed. Conclusion By optimizing the value selection, fixed -point algorithm ANC can get as good results as floating -point algorithm.


The finite element discretization of a tower system based on the two-node Euler-Bernoulli beam is carried out by taking the cubic Hermite polynomial as the form function of the beam unit, calculating the structural characteristic matrix of the tower system, and establishing the wind turbine-nacelle-tower multi-degree-of-freedom finite element numerical model. The equation for calculating the aerodynamic load for any nacelle attitude angle is derived. The effect of the flexible tower vibration feedback on the aerodynamic load of the wind turbine is studied. The results show that, when the stiffness of the tower is large, the effect of having tower vibration feedback or not on the aeroelastic load of the wind turbine is small. For the more flexible tower system, wind-induced vibration time-varying feedback will cause larger aeroelastic load variations, especially the top of the tower overturning moment, thus causing a larger impact on the dynamic behavior of the tower downwind and crosswind. As the flexibility of the tower system increases, the interaction between tower vibration and pneumatic load is also gradually increasing. Taking into account the influence of flexible towers on the aeroelastic load of a wind turbine can help predict the pneumatic load of a wind turbine more accurately and improve the efficiency of wind energy utilization on the one hand and analyze the dynamic behavior of the flexible structure of a wind turbine more accurately on the other hand, which is extremely beneficial to the structural optimization of wind turbine.


Religion, politics, and schools are a volatile mixture in the national debate over various proposals for school choice, proposals in which students would no longer be constrained to attend the public-school district in which they live, but could instead use government-supplied vouchers or tuition subsidies to offset the costs of attending a private school. The national debate has reached the level of presidential politics and led to well-known private-school choice experiments such as those currently underway in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Cleveland, Ohio. Underlying the school-choice movement is the widely held belief that private schools respond to competition in ways public schools do not, and consequently are superior to public schools in providing educational services. Some basic empirical evidence seems to bear this contention out: Private-school students routinely perform at a higher level on standardized tests and are more likely to graduate from high school and attend college than their public-school counterparts, even with many other observed differences, such as family income, parental education levels, and school inputs, held constant. Indeed, despite substantial performance differentials between publicand private-school students, private


Starting from historical considerations, the evolution of carotid surgery is analyzed from its origin, when indications and methods used to rely on the insights of operators to date when indications, influenced by improvements in diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, must match the evidence coming from controlled trials. Current indications are herein produced for symptomatic carotid stenosis, which are considered standard, for asymptomatic carotid stenosis and endovascular procedures, which have yet to be defined. Also indications for carotid surgery in emergency are provided, a chapter which has recently been rediscovered and proposed with good results.


The paper looks into the turbulent history of the ancient town of Akrai/Acrae in a mountainous part of southeastern Sicily, encapsulated in the assemblage of finds from a domestic cistern, which was remodeled and adapted in the course of its use. The cistern is considered as an architectural feature against the background of the ancient town, and the assemblage recovered from it is exmined thoroughly category by category, giving insight into the life of the ancient inhabitants of this island in the Mediterranean.


This article deals with cinema in France and its contemporary transformations. It refers to the debates that underlie many recent sociological developments about contemporary evolution of cultural practices. These sociological studies often focus on the rise of cultural eclecticism in higher classes and claim that the findings of Pierre Bourdieu are outdated. This article explores the area of cinema, which is little studied by contemporary sociology of culture, and tries to avoid two problems that generally characterize studies on omnivorousness. These studies tend to pay little attention to the transformations of cultural industries and often use categories that are too approximate to study consumers and cultural goods. This paper is mainly based on a survey of cultural practices conducted in France in 2008 by the Ministry of Culture. The study is complemented by an analysis of the main transformations that have affected the field of film production over the last thirty years and is extended by an analysis of transformations in terms of consumption during the same period. Overall, the article shows that the relationship of homology demonstrated by Pierre Bourdieu is largely verified, all the while emphasizing the changes that have occurred in the cinematographic field, on the one hand, and in the social space where consumers are located on the other hand. These changes are only partially consistent with the theory of the progression of eclecticism. Ultimately, some remarks are made about the limits of the concept and of the theory of omnivorousness.


Automatic media item validation is typically problematic in the case of media items that are damaged or marked. The present invention relates to a method of processing images of media items before automatic validation which addresses this problem. Aberrant image elements are identified, for example, using a bandpass filter. The aberrant image elements are replaced by neutral decision making data. This data is neutral with respect to a decision making process being a specified automatic media item validation process. For example, for each aberrant image element an estimated distribution is accessed for that image position across all images in a training set of images of media items. A value is selected from the estimated distribution on the basis of a significance level which is related to a significance level used by the automatic media item validation process. In this way media items which have tears, holes, marks or soiling may be successfully processed by an automatic media item validator.


Disc degeneration has become a "trending topic" in spine research in recent years, although it was almost a century ago that the first description of something going wrong in the intervertebral discs [1] and the "disc era," with a pathogenic role attributed to intervertebral discs, was born [2]. But even these classic hallmarks have some previous publications focusing toward the intervertebral disc. At this point, I would like to make a remark: disc herniations, disc degeneration and low back pain are related, but they are by no means synonyms. Besides these papers, few people focused on it until late twentieth century. It was Kirkaldy-Willis [3] who first published a description of the degenerative cascade of the spine; and the initial events began in the disc. There have been a myriad paper on disc degeneration since then, on cell cultures, animal models, therapy trials, ... and all finished always with some reference to the need of further research because, for instance, the "chondrocyte-like cells." So, first point: what kind of cells are we dealing with? Which of them and to what degree, are responsible for the cascade?. And then, The Question (with capitals): What ignites all this cascade?. But even, another question: why some patients become symptomatic while others do not with similar images? Of course, low back pain (and neck pain) are quite common in the human beings, as far as 80% lifetime incidence is accepted; being the second reason for medical consultancy only after acute respiratory infections. Then, another issue stands up immediately: is disc degeneration a pathology or just physiological ageing?. The answer to this seems to be that we can define pathological degeneration. Some recent paper in a dog model differentiates painful discs from non-painful degenerated discs [4]. As the authors state: "IDD is a complex process, the pathogenesis of which has not been elucidated to date" [5]. With such an immense horizon to search, with such a huge (80%!) potential incidence, it seems advisable to trim this process of disc degeneration to a model we can control. But the unknown is so much that a tremendous diversity in these models happens. That is the value of this paper, to put some order and classification on the various perspectives that basic research has adopted to try to get into the disc degeneration process. There are changes described (or proposed) in: nucleus pulposus cells senescence, apoptosis, matrix degradation, structural disarrangement of annulus fibrosus, calcification and microfractures of the cartilage endplate. So two main hypotheses have risen: abnormal mechanical stress, and primary dysfunction of nutrient transport; but also a genetic predisposition, so the authors propose that there is first such a genetic predisposition that brings about structural abnormalities, and then a second strike by the imbalance anabolism/catabolism [5]. With such a mess and so many possibilities, a model is clearly needed to try to put order into all these issues linked to disc degeneration. And, in the same line of thought, some order is needed to clarify and define what does exactly each model account for. Having said that, we can differentiate [5]:


The paper presents the results of the study on the influence of various tillage systems on the weed infestation of soft spring wheat of the Siberian Alliance variety. The study was carried out in a long-term stationary experiment (20152019) preceded by bare and green-manured fallow (rapeseed, melilot) in Kemerovo region. The soil of the experimental plot is classified as leached, medium-textured, medium-humus, heavy-loam chernozem. The following soil tillage systems were studied: deep moldboard, deep combined, minimum combined and minimum moldboard. Weather conditions during the research period were varied. Insufficient water supply during the first vegetation period of soft spring wheat (seedlings – leaf-tube formation) was noted in 2015-2017, with HTC (hydrothermal coefficient) being from 0.37 to 0.56. Excessive water content was observed in 2018 (HTC = 2.41) and moderate hydration – in 2019 (HTC = 1.12). Weed infestation was different in the conditions of each year. The impact of the soil tillage system on the number of weeds during the growing season of common spring wheat accounted for 21.6-90.4%, and their share in the total aboveground mass of the phytocenosis was 39.9-68.3%. The segetal flora in soft spring wheat crops is represented by monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous species with all the studied tillage systems. The highest density of weed vegetation during the tillering phase of soft spring wheat was recorded with deep moldboard soil tillage system (control). A reduction in weed infestation by 2.3 times compared to the control was noted with minimum moldboard soil tillage system preceded by bare fallow, 1.6 times – preceded by green-manured fallow with rapeseed, and 1.7 times – preceded by green-manured fallow with melilot. The same trend was observed in the proportion of weeds in the total aboveground mass of the phytocenosis during the wax ripeness phase of soft spring wheat with deep moldboard tillage system (4.3%), deep combined (3.9), minimum combined (4.1), minimum moldboard (2.6%).


Fundamental Concepts and Electronic-structure Theory Conical Intersections in Photoinduced and Collisional Dynamics Detection and Control of Chemical Dynamics at Conical Intersections.


This paper elaborates on the related strategies of streaming media over the internet, including transmission、delivery、congestion control、services and parallel server architecture etc. Transmission strategies of streaming media include streaming、buffering、sureStream、resource reservation and layered coding. Strategies of transmission include: broadcast 、 multicast 、 broad-on-demond , grouping , combination and grouping-combination. Strategies of congestion control include window-based and rate-based congestion control. In addition, this paper introduces the architecture of parallel video server and the key technology. At last, content delivery networks (CDN) has been presented.


The mathematical model describes the electrical and mechanical activity of the cardiac conduction system thought set of differential equations. By changing the value of parameters included in these equations, it is possible to change the amplitude and the period of ECG waves. Although this model is a powerful tool for modeling the electrical activity of the heart, its use is often limited to those familiar with the differential equations that describe the system. The purpose of this work is to provide a system that allows generating an ECG signal using Ryzhii model without knowing the details of differential equations. First, we provide the relationships between the ECG wave features and the model parameters; then we generalize them through fitting neural networks. Finally, putting in series fitting neural network and heart model, we provide a system that allows generating a synthetic signal by setting as input only the morphological ECG feature. We computed numerical simulation in Simulink environment and implemented the fitting neural networks in Matlab. Results show that non-linear trends characterize the correlation functions between ECG morphological features and model parameters and that the fitting neural networks can generalized this trend by providing the model parameters given in input the respectively ECG feature.


Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is an effective method for treating volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In the presence of a photocatalyst, photocatalytic technology can be used to generate a variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Numerous experiments have demonstrated that DBD–photocatalyst synergism is superior to the use of either approach individually. In this study, the degradation mechanism of VOCs under the DBD–photocatalyst system was investigated via the ReaxFF reaction molecular dynamics method. Acetaldehyde, toluene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, cresol, and phenol were selected as representative VOCs and · O, · OH, HO2, and H2O2 were chosen as representative ROS to construct the DBD and DBD–photocatalyst reaction systems. A concentration control group and a component control group were established. Comparison of the various ROS revealed that · O and · OH possess higher activities and are more conducive to cracking VOC molecules. Among the various VOCs, the reaction rate was faster for highly reductive reactants. The carbon conversion rate was only dependent on the molecular complexity and was higher for simpler structures. To simulate the DBD–photocatalyst synergistic conditions, we established concentration control simulation systems. When · OH is used as the ROS, a large number of oxidative adsorption and hydrogen abstraction processes can occur. Increasing the · OH concentration promotes the VOC removal reactions to afford complete cracking of the VOCs into the small-molecule product CO2.Dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is an effective method for treating volatile organic compounds (VOCs). In the presence of a photocatalyst, photocatalytic technology can be used to generate a variety of reactive oxygen species (ROS). Numerous experiments have demonstrated that DBD–photocatalyst synergism is superior to the use of either approach individually. In this study, the degradation mechanism of VOCs under the DBD–photocatalyst system was investigated via the ReaxFF reaction molecular dynamics method. Acetaldehyde, toluene, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, cresol, and phenol were selected as representative VOCs and · O, · OH, HO2, and H2O2 were chosen as representative ROS to construct the DBD and DBD–photocatalyst reaction systems. A concentration control group and a component control group were established. Comparison of the various ROS revealed that · O and · OH possess higher activities and are more conducive to cracking VOC molecules. Among the various VOCs, the reaction rate was faster for highly re...


A novel high-order three-scale (HOTS) computational method for elastic behavior analysis and strength prediction of axisymmetric composite structures with multiple spatial scales is developed in this paper. The multiple heterogeneities of axisymmetric composite structures we investigated are taken into account by periodic distributions of representative unit cells on the mesoscale and microscale. First, the new micro–meso–macro coupled HOTS computational model for elastic problems of axisymmetric composite structures is established based on multiscale asymptotic analysis, which breaks through the traditional multiscale assumptions and includes three main components. Two classes of mesoscopic and microscopic auxiliary cell functions are constructed on the mesoscale and microscale, respectively. The macroscopic homogenization problems are defined on global axisymmetric structures by twice up-scaling procedures from microscale to mesoscale and then from mesoscale to macroscale. Moreover, the asymptotic HOTS solutions are constructed for approximating multiscale elastic problems of axisymmetric structures and the numerical accuracy analysis of the HOTS solutions is given in detail. Then, the strength prediction formulas for axisymmetric composite structures with multiple spatial scales are presented based on the high-accuracy elastic behavior analysis from the proposed HOTS computational model. Furthermore, the corresponding HOTS numerical algorithm based on the finite element method (FEM) is presented for analyzing the mechanical behaviors and predicting the strength of axisymmetric composite structures with multiple spatial scales in detail. Finally, some numerical examples are reported to verify the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed HOTS computational method. In this study, a unified three-scale computational framework is offered, which enables the simulation of mechanical behaviors of axisymmetric composite structures with multiple spatial scales.


Over the years,the crime behavior of college students has the following characteristice: the number is increasing,the rate is growing,the type is diversification and the means is intellegention.The reasons leading to both self-factors and the affect of the external environment.Prevention of the behavior of college studennts is not only the task of the family and society,but also the school;s mandate.Universities should conscientiously strengthen legal education,psychological education,ideological and political education,and strengthen the communication between schools and families.


Abstract: Research on the consequences of young adults' extended coresidence with parents indicates that coresident singles marry later, with a recent study specifically attributing this pattern to these singles' lesser engagement in romantic relationships. Nevertheless, we do not know exactly how coresident singles' relationship dynamics differ from those of individuals living independently and whether the former's relationships are qualitatively different. Using full relationship history data from the Taiwan Educational Panel Survey and Beyond, we examine how coresidence is associated with the paces of entering and exiting romantic relationships among young Taiwanese. We also investigate whether coresident singles exhibit different partner selection patterns from those living apart from parents, based on the argument that the former may be less needy for intimate ties and under greater parental control. Results from random-effects event history models indicate that young Taiwanese who reside in the parental home take longer to form romantic relationships, while ending relationships faster than those living independently. Once entering relationships, coresident singles have lower odds of becoming highly committed to their relationships. Furthermore, men living with parents are more likely than other men to form relationships that are homogamous in age and, to some extent, family economic background. Meanwhile, coresident women are more likely to enter ethnically homogamous relationships than other women. Altogether, the results suggest that the practice of extended coresidence affects both the quantity and the quality of intimate relationships for young people, which has implications for the marriage tempo and patterns in society.


Purpose – This study proposes an adaptive bandwidth management system which can be explicitly used by educational institutions. The primary goal of the system is to increase the bandwidth of the users who access more on educational websites. Through this proposed bandwidth management, the users of the campus networks is encouraged to utilize the internet for educational purposes. Method – The weblog from a university's pfSense proxy server was utilized and undergo Web Usage Mining (WUM) to determine the number of educational and non-educational websites accessed by the users. Certain formulas were used in the computation of the bandwidth which was dynamically assigned to the users. A prototyping technique was applied in developing adaptive bandwidth management system. The prototype was simulated and evaluated by experts in compliance with ISO/IEC 14598-6 and ISO/IEC 9126-1 standards.


This paper presents a novel optimal observer for speed control in 2-inertia dynamic system such as a large scale rolling mill, coupled with flexible shaft which has resonant torsional oscillation. For suppressing oscillation and reducing disturbance load torque, we introduce a full-order observer with concept of Kalman filter on a basis of inverse linear quadratic (ILQ) design method, including disturbance observer. In this paper, the ILQ design method improved by polynomial pole assignment gives an analytical optimal gain, and makes the errors of outputs converge to zero in steady-state. The proposed observer enables to suppress vibration and to control at high precise speed control in the 2-inertia system in spite of the quick speed response.


Lyman-band absorption of H 2 , when compared with the combined opacity of H, C I , Mg I , and Si I , has been found to contribute significantly to the total opacity in the range 912-1900 A in the solar atmosphere. Inclusion of Lyman-band absorption in the solar model may reduce chromospheric temperature from that given by Gingerich et al. and improve agreement between observed and calculated extreme-ultraviolet and microwave intensities. The Lyman-band absorption may also be important in stars as hot as A0.


ABSTRACT One of the features of interwar Romania was a quantitative and qualitative increase in sports. During this epoch, Romania followed a Western pattern, despite the significant differences between it and other European countries, for instance, in the case of its rural and illiterate population. In this context, this article aims to demonstrate how Romanian religious representatives reacted to the development of sport in Romania in the 1930s, when the Orthodox and Greek-Catholic churches were the principal Christian denominations. Moreover, the counter-reactions to religious criticism of sport in Romania will also be examined.


• Application: Paperwork, $10 processing fee, Homebuyer Orientation class • Income Qualification: Household earns below 80% Area Median Income • Purchasing Options: • Homes for Sale: new construction and homes bought by the CLT for sale • Homebuyer Initiated Program (HIP): purchase and rehab • Project Reclaim: partnership with local and state housing programs to offer low-interest contract for deed; requires refinancing into traditional mortgage within two years • Borrowing Options: 3 local banks process CLT mortgages • Meeting with Attorney: third party legal council hired to go over trust, deed and mortgage documents-fee covered by CLT up to $300 • Founded 1991 • Leadership and vision of one individual who saw a need for sustainable, affordable housing in his community • 65 housing units in the trust (single-family houses and condos)


The anticonvulsant action of acetazoleamide, a carbonic amihydrase inhibitor, has been studied in mice, with the use of the maximal electroshock seizure test to determine anticonvulsant potency. Inhibition of carbonic anhydrase is related to the anticonvulsamit activity of sulfonamides containing a free —SO 2 NH 2 group; thus, acetazoleamide and sulfanilamide were found to be anticonvulsants and to inhibit brain carbonic anhydrase, whereas sulfathiazole, in which the —SO 2 NH 2 moiety is substituted, is not an anticonvulsant and does not inhibit the enzyme. Such inhibition is not a property common to all antiepileptic compounds; for example, phenobarbital, diphenylhydantoin and trimethadione, in anticonvulsant doses, were found to have no significant effect on mouse-brain carbonic anhydrase. Acetazoleamide has an anticonvulsant effect which was not abolished by nephrectomy, and which therefore is independent of the action of the drug on the kidney. A direct relation between anticonvulsant effect and inhibition of brain carbonic anhydrase has been shown in mice by comparing the activity of acetazoleamide with that of sulfanilamide, a much less potent inhibitor. The maximum degree of enzyme inhibition by these two drugs corresponded with their time of peak anticonvulsant effect. Acetazoleamide was approximately twice as potent as sulfanilamide, both as an anticonvulsant and as an inihibitor of brain carbonic anhydrase. An anticonvulsant ED 50 of either drug inhibited the brain enzyme activity by about 98 per cent. The ratio of concentrations of acetazoleamide and sulfanilamide in mouse brain at the same dose level was approximately 1:50. Compared with that of sulfanilamide, the anticonvulsant potency of acetazoleamide (2:1 ratio) was therefore reconciled with its much higher potency of enzyme inhibition in vitro (approximately 100:1 ratio). It is anticipated that if potent congeners of acetazoleamide are developed which can reach higher concentrations in the brain, they will exhibit more marked anticonvulsant activity and may have greater clinical value in the treatment of epilepsy.


The basic theory and the condition of regenerative braking for Parallel hybrid electric vehicle are analyzed.Regenerative braking and machine braking are studied based on proportion control strategy for regenerative braking and Braking-by-wire strategy for the torque.The results show that energy consumption of UDDS conditions can be reduced by 11.8% and the mileages increased by 10%—20%,which validates the correctness and necessity of the control strategy.


A voice-activated robot arm with intelligence is presented. The proposed system consists of an IBM PC/AT microcomputer, MICROEAR voice activated hardware, and a Scorbot ER-III robot with a controller. The proposed robot is capable of understanding the meaning of natural language commands. After interpreting the voice commands a series of control data for performing a task are generated. Finally, the robot actually performs the task. Artificial intelligence techniques were used to make the robot understand voice commands and act in the desired mode.<<ETX>>


Objective To compare the curative effects of laparoscopic excision and open surgery on ovarian endometriotic cysts.Methods A total of 276 patients with histologically confirmed ovarian endometriotic cysts,who were admitted to our hospital between January 2003 to December 2007,were divided into laparoscopirc group(107 patients) and open group(169 patients) on a voluntary basis.The curative effects,recurrence rates and effects of surgical procedures on ovarian function were compared between the two groups.Results There were no significant differences in the remission rate of dysmenorrhea between laparoscopirc group(52/62,83.9%)and open group(67/81,82.7%)(P0.05).In laparoscopic group,the postoperative recurrence rate in 1a,2a,5a was 9.3%(8/86),20.5%(16/78) and 34.3%(23/67),respectively.In open group,the recurrence rate was 8.5%(11/130),24.8%(29/117) and 44.4%(34/81),respectively.There were no significant differences between the two groups(P0.05).Serum E2 was not changed obviously compared with its concentration before surgery in both groups,and there were no significant differences in E2 levels before operation and after laparoscopic operation in patients underwent simple electric coagulation(P0.05).Compared with the preoperative level,E2 significantly decreased after operation in patients underwent laparoscopic coagulation and suture and patients underwent open surgery(P0.05).Conclusion The curative effects of laparoscopic excision and open surgery are similar in patients with ovarian endometriotic cysts.Despite laparoscopic surgery causes little injury,too much electric coagulation may lead to damage of ovarian function during operation.


The image-symbol of mountain, a key image-symbol in Skovoroda's poetical and philosophical discourse never was an object of special attention, thus making the article relevant.It aims at an attempt to ascertain the semantic and emotional function of this image in H. Skovoroda's spiritual space, conditioned by the correlation of the Christian written tradition with the signs of its author's interpretation determined by the advancement towards God as an advancement towards yourself, urging to rise above ordinariness and to relinquish the world's temptations.And at the same time, the symbol of spiritual summit matches the images of earthly mountains, with spatiality of feelings enabling the emphasis on the commensurability of the visible and the invisible, of the immanent and the transcendental.This correlation makes Skovoroda's spiritual journey both intensely dramatic and lyrical, earthly and heavenly, and the sign of Christ's visible Crucifixion coexists with His invisible Resurrection.The image of mountain holds an important position in Skovoroda's world.Even the affinity or the identity the images of mountain and rock have reveals this characteristic to be the foundation and the summit at the same time, the aim and the way to that aim, to watch the earth and the heaven, the man's and the God's.H. Skovoroda perceives the heavenly mountain as the Wisdom of God, the place of revelation, meeting with God, announcement of His will, and the earthly mountain as the visible trace of God.The image of mountain connects the visible to the invisible, becomes an equivalent of the measure of human life.

One author's text opens another one, and all of them together path the way to the Holy Scripture because they grow from it.Along these lines, Skovoroda continues the tradition which united different authors preceding him and touched the summits of Ukrainian literature.

Along these lines, Skovoroda continues the tradition which united different authors preceding him and touched the summits of Ukrainian literature.

We make a conclusion that talking about mountains in Skovoroda's sense brings about a certain reverse perspective projected on the general experience of man and the experience of reading in particular.


Topological Matter
A distinguishing characteristic of topological insulators (TIs) is that they have conducting states on their boundary—a surface for a three-dimensional (3D) TI or a line edge for a 2D TI. Sessi et al. used scanning tunneling spectroscopy to discover unusual 1D states in a 3D


Abstract : A probabilistic assessment of single-ship air-defence effectiveness against an attack by a stream or wave of anti-ship capable missiles (ASCMs) has been conducted for ships fitted with a mix of either 'hard kill or 'hard kill/soft kill' weapons systems. Results are expressed in terms of the probability of a ship defeating all threats, or the expected number of hits achieved by the ASCMs.


T HROUGH what twist of fate does one novel reap wide acclaim as innovative, while a very similar contemporary work receives only a few laudatory notices before passing into oblivion? This is precisely what happened to two novels which appeared in Spain in 1962: Tiempo de silencio by Luis Martfn-Santos, and Ritmo lento by Carmen Martin Gaite. The former was widely reviewed and enthusiastically hailed as a literary event; the latter, while also recognized as outstanding, nevertheless fell quickly into obscurity.1 Although even the two authors thought their works to be similar, to this date they have never been compared by critics. In my opinion the accident of fortune that occurred circa 1962 was made more permanent by literary histories written soon after that date. Inevitably, only a brief span of time elapses between modern novels and the reflections on them known as liter-


This paper attempts to identify the effect of education, experiences and firm size on earnings in Sri Lanka incorporated with empirical emphasis of the Mincer's Earning Function. Since distinguished findings are reported pertaining to the log earning profile of education and experiences in literature, this study attempts to investigate, which kind of log earning profile is associated with education and experiences in Sri Lanka by adding a new variable "Firm Size" to the conventional Mincer's earning function. For this purpose, direct personal interviews with structured questionnaire survey were conducted to collect cross sectional data from 115 employees who are employing at firms in different sizes in Maspotha Divisional Secretariat Division of Kurunegala District. OLS Multiple regression analysis and Curvilinear regression techniques were employed as the major data analysis tools of the study. Results revealed by the study show that log-earning is a linear function of education (R2=34.5%) and a quadratic function of experiences (R2= 35.8%). Rate of returns to education (7.4%) was higher than the rate of returns to experiences (2.7%) which implies that the log-earning profile in the area is education oriented. Medium scale enterprises (20.1%) were identified as the most influential firm type on earnings. Overall, it shows that the firm size has a positive effect on earnings in the area. Homogeneous preferences on education stimulated by the provision of free education were identified as the reason for linearity of education while deterioration of skills with declining physical and mental effort with growing age were reasons for the concavity behaviour of experiences. Further investment on education, taking wage policies of firms into consideration and forecasting future expectation of firms in the job market will lead to increase rate of return on the investment of education and experiences.


This paper studies synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging problem which the scatterers are often distributed in block sparse pattern. To exploiting the sparse geometrical feature, a Kronecker constrained SAR imaging algorithm is proposed by combining the block sparse characteristics with the multiway sparse reconstruction framework with Tucker modeling. We validate the proposed algorithm via real data and it shows that the our algorithm can achieve better accuracy and convergence than the reference methods even in the demanding environment. Meanwhile, the complexity is smaller than that of the existing methods. The simulation experiments confirmed the effectiveness of the algorithm as well.


This project presents a hybrid switch that parallels a power MOSFET and an IGBT as the main switch of a zero-voltage switching inverter. The combination features the MOSFET conducting in the low current region and the IGBT conducting in the high current region, and the soft switching avoids the reverse recovery problem during the device turn-on. A custom hybrid switch module has been developed for a variable-timing controlled coupled-magnetic type ZVS inverter with a nominal input voltage of 325 V and the continuous output power of 30-kW for a traction motor drive. Experimental results of the hybrid-switch based inverter with the total loss projected by temperature indicate that the inverter achieves 93% efficiency at the nominal condition and demonstrate ultrahigh efficiency operation over a wide load range. At 375-V input, the maximum measured efficiency through temperature projection and loss separation analysis is 92.3%. Introduction: A soft-switching inverter allows elimination of switching loss, but its conduction loss remains as the major part of the overall loss. If the switching device is a power MOSFET, it is possible to parallel a large number of power MOSFETs to reduce the conduction voltage drop. The problems with excessive number of paralleled MOSFETs are high cost and increased voltage drop at high temperatures. Thus, most highpower inverters have been using the insulated-gate bipolar-transistor (IGBT). In high power dc-dc converter applications, using IGBT as the main switch and MOSFET as the auxiliary switch whether seriesor parallel-connected was suggested for efficiency improvement. Hybrid Switch Configuration for a Soft Switching Inverter: The only concern is during the turn-on process, during which a majority of the load current may flow through the power MOSFET and result in transient overcurrent and turn-on delay only, (2) turn-off delay only, and (3) both turn-on and -off delays. If the MOSFET die area is large enough, it is also possible to delay the MOSFET turn-off so the IGBT turn-off tail current induced loss is minimized. The circuit here is a generic soft-switching leg that can employ different auxiliary circuits to achieve zero-voltage switching. The upper switch consists of M1, Q1, and D1. In a conventional hard-switching inverter, only IGBT Q1 and diode D1 are used. IGBT Q1 is to conduct the positive current, while diode D1 is to conduct the negative freewheeling current. With added M1, the positive load current IL can be shared between M1 and Q1, and the negative freewheeling current can be shared between the body diode of M1 and D1. The lower switch consists of M2, Q2, and D2. IGBT Q2 is to conduct the negative current, while diode D2 is to conduct the positive freewheeling current. With added M2, the positive load current can be shared between M2 and Q2, and the positive freewheeling current can be shared between the body diode of M2 and D2. Only one gate signal is required for each hybrid switch pair. G1 controls both M1 and Q1, and G2 controls both M2 and Q2. The auxiliary resonant current ILr can be created by an auxiliary circuit or the other phase switches. Resonant capacitors C1 and C2 are connected across the hybrid switches to slow down the device voltage slew rate and to reduce the turn-off loss. If MOSFET die size is large enough, then D1 and D2 can be eliminated to save the cost.