This thesis examines an exile community's relation to media. In particular, it focuses on the case of the Cuban-American community and English- as well as Spanish-language media based in Miami, FL. Following the revolution under Fidel Castro in 1959, Miami developed into the capital of the Cuban exile. Over the past decades, the Cuban-American community formed a nucleus which attracted further migration from South America and the Caribbean. The incoming migrants contributed to turning Miami into a flourishing economic urban space. Furthermore, the Cuban-American community was a vital player in creating a vibrant media scene.

This thesis is situated in the context of ongoing debates on diasporic communities, notions of exile and liminality and theories addressing the tensions between the local, the national and the transnational. Empirical data for this project has been gathered in three periods of field work in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Journalists, media executives and active members of the Cuban-American community were targeted as key informants in the field. This thesis argues that the locale of a migrant community is of as much significance as national and transnational ambitions. The tensions between and imbrications of the local, national and transnational are evident in the media's content, aim and scope. By mapping Miami as a place and social space, relations between the Cuban-American and other communities are discussed in detail. The heart of the thesis contains an in-depth analysis of the different media, i.e. the press, radio, television, and the internet. The chapters explore how these media have interacted with early Cuban migrants as well as their relationship to the Cuban-American community today. The findings point towards diverse and complex patterns. Time of migration, cultural background and age are significant factors on an individual's approach to certain media. In turn, some media outlets clearly cater for specific segments of the community. A key point is that the media's role in relation to the Cuban-American community is a balance act of local, national and transnational remits.

The research contributes to debates on media, migration and communication research. It is the first comprehensive study of the Cuban-American community and their relationship to Miami-based media. Secondly, it takes a holistic view of the broader media ecology. The analysis is informed by the wider historical context. It encompasses detailed analysis of a variety of media and how these are interlinked. Moreover, this thesis employs an innovative research methodology in that it takes an etic, non-mediacentric approach to researching the media of a diasporic group.


Instant messages provide not only a new chat medium for people but also an important measure to improve work efficiency after being applied to the enterprises. A realization method of instant messages based on Web is introduced. In this method, socket and applet are employed. And their basic principle are given. An example is shown to explain the realization process.


This project addresses the limitations of existing three -dimensional virtual learning environments (3DVLEs) and aims to raise awareness of the potential of 3DVLEs as generic pedagogical tools for flexible, experiential and community -based disciplinary and cross -disciplinary learning in simulated environments...


12002 Background: The aim of the CARE for CAYA-program (CFC-P) was to implement a multimodal lifestyle program in addition to medical follow-up care for child, adolescents and young adult cancer survivors (CAYAs). Methods: The CFC-P was a multicenter program with an initial randomized clinical trial (RCT) comparing need-based modular interventions to usual care for CAYAs aged between 15 and 39. A comprehensive assessment (questionnaires and medical examination) was conducted to determine individual needs regarding nutrition, physical activity and psycho-oncology. If "high need" was identified, CAYAs could take part in up to three modules over 12 months. In the intervention group (IG), each module included five consultations plus newsletters. The control group (CG) included one baseline counseling in each module. The primary outcome was defined as the rate of CAYAs with "high need(s)" after 12 months of intervention. Secondary outcomes included feasibility, cost-effectiveness, modular-specific endpoints, quality of life (QoL) and fatigue. Results: 791 CAYAs were included at 14 German CAYA survivorship clinics from December 2017 to March 2021. Most common tumor types were lymphoma 26.8% (n = 211), sarcoma 13.2% (n = 104) and leukemia 10.0% (n = 79). 58.0% (n = 457) were female, median age was 23.9 years, time since end of tumor specific therapy was < 5 years in 54.4%, > 5 years in 21.2%, > 10 years in 11.5% and > 15 years in 12.9% of patients (median: 57.0 months). 86.2% (n = 679) reported an initial "high need" in at least one module. After 52 weeks, 83.9% (n = 396 of 472 evaluable participants) continued to report or developed a "high need": 59.3% (n = 235) in IG and non-randomized cohort, 28.8% (n = 114) in CG and 12.7% (n = 47) with no initial "high need". 357 participants were evaluable in the RCT (63% (n = 226) female, median age 25.0 years). 26.2% (n = 94) reported a "high need" in one, 35.7% (n = 128) in two and 37.6% (n = 135) in three modules. 271 patients could be analyzed at 52 weeks, 87.0% of IG (n = 120 of 138) and 86.5% of CG (n = 115 of 133) continued to have at least one "high need". The primary outcome did not differ significantly between groups (p = .905). However, both showed an increase of QoL and a reduction of fatigue. Conclusions: In the CFC-P, the feasibility of a large trial to regularly assess lifestyle habits and the psychosocial situation and determine the efficacy of a need based multimodal interventions in CAYAs was demonstrated. Although a high need for support was revealed in this population, no significant changes with the applied interventions were noted after 12 months. The obtained data will guide the development and implementation of multimodal interventions in long term follow up of CAYAs. Clinical trial information: DRKS00012504 .


Progress in China's Eco-Agriculture(CEA)has proved highly vital.CEA development can be divided into embryonic and formative stage,development and mature stage,and deepening and infiltrating stage.Plenty of experiences and lessons have been learned from widespread practices.It is viewed as the proper way of sustainable agricultural development.Nevertheless,some problems remain unaddressed in CEA development,including structural optimization and functionality of agricultural ecosystem,technological problems and fundamental theory of ecological construction.And much emphasis should be placed on civil eco-education.


Introduction: "AUM" or "Om" is the name or symbol of God which is the combination of three letters, namely, A, U, and M. It is found that previous studies have evaluated only the long term effects of mantra chanting on experienced meditators. There is lacunae in evaluating the immediate effect of short duration of "aum" chanting in untrained subjects which will evaluate the strong potency of "aum" mantra chanting on mind relaxing physiological mechanisms to prevent and counteract the effects of stress related disorders. Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the electroencephalographic pattern, galvanic skin resistance levels and heart rate during 5 minutes of "aum" mantra chanting in untrained subjects. Methodology: The recordings of electroencephalogram, electrocardiogram and values of galvanic skin resistance levels were taken during the control period of rest before "aum" chanting for 5 minutes immediately followed by the test period which was during 5 minutes of "aum" chanting and the recordings continued for 5 minutes after the chanting procedure. Results: Beta wave electroencephalographic pattern of 18-30 Hz. were recorded before chanting. During 5 minutes of "aum" chanting the subjects showed slow wave electroencephalographic patterns of theta and delta waves suggestive of mental relaxation and simultaneously there was a significant decrease in galvanic skin resistance values and an increase in heart rate (p< 0.05) which are suggestive of activation. Thus it is concluded that there is a combination of physiological relaxation and mental alertness even during short duration of "aum" mantra chanting.


In this study, the effect of nanofibers in cement pastes on the compressive and tensile strength of hardened cement pastes was studied. Two types of nanofibers, nylon 66 nanofibers and carbon nanotube-nylon 66 hybrid nanofibers, were manufactured by electrospinning methodology and mixed in cement powder respectively. The specimens for experiments were prepared by water to cement ratio of 0.5 and cured in water for 28 days. The effect of nanofibers on the increase of the compressive and tensile strength were confirmed by the experimental results. The well-linking effect of nanofibers in the microstructure of the hardened cement pastes has been found by scanning electron microscope (SEM) analysis and well-explained for the increase in mechanical strength. Besides, field emission transmission electron microscope (FE-TEM) analysis and thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) have also been conducted to analyze the properties of nanofibers as well as the microstructure of the hardened modified cement pastes.


The purpose of this paper is to show that the relationship between the notions of generation and education in Millán Puelles' La formación de la personalidad humana -which can be considered the key concepts of his Philosophy of Education- can be easily translated, into recent Anthropology of Culture as the relationship between biology and culture.


Abstract Male Sprague‐Oawley rats were separated into nine groups and injected with cadmium (Cd) intraperitoneally every three days for 29 days for a total of nine injections. Injection doses ranged from 0 to 2.5 mg Cd/kg‐1 of body weight. Twenty‐four hours following Cd injections, rats received an acute whole body 60Co gamma radiation dose of 0, 3.62, or 5.43 Gray (Gy) at a dose rate of 3.04 Gy/min. Rats were sacrificed on day January 1994 7, or 21 post‐irradiation. Co‐insult groups which had been irradiated following Cd injections showed lower Cd concentrations in heart tissue than those groups which had been injected with Cd and sham‐irradiated. Our data indicate that radiation contributed to clearance of Cd from the heart. The present study points to a need for researchers to continue to study links between the environment and disease.


The efficiency of elasticity characteristics prediction for the unidirectional polymer composite materials at high temperatures is investigated. The deformation of such materials at the elevated temperature is described using the linear model of mechanics of multiphase media. The mechanical properties of the ablating materials depend on the temperature and the heating rate. It is shown that the specific density of the unreinforced matrix, the bundle of polymer fibers and the unidirectional carbon fiber-reinforced plastics changes significantly at the elevated temperature. The comparison between the calculated elasticity characteristics of the ablating transversely isotropic materials and their experimental results is given.


ABSTRACT The problem of transnational corporate responsibility as it relates to human rights has been conceptualised as arising from a 'governance gap' (or gaps). Such a framing focuses attention on efforts to bridge that gap, including through expansion of private regulation, typically identified with the work of transnational law. This paper problematises that framing. It argues first, that the notion of 'gaps' in law (or governance more broadly) is inapt and second, that their invocation facilitates responses conducive to, rather than constraining of, transnational corporate power and authority. The argument is developed through analysis of decisions issued in the 1950s concerning oil concessions in Middle Eastern states that were formative of a postwar order enabling such power. The problem of (transnational) corporate human rights violations and impunity as it concerns law, the paper concludes, is better understood as arising not from any gap in law's rule, but from how law rules.


Temporal graphs are ubiquitous. Mining communities that are bursting in a period of time is essential to seek emergency events in temporal graphs. Unfortunately, most previous studies for community mining in temporal networks ignore the bursting patterns of communities. In this paper, we are the first to study a problem of seeking bursting communities in a temporal graph. We propose a novel model, called (l, {\delta})-maximal dense core, to represent a bursting community in a temporal graph. Specifically, an (l, {\delta})-maximal dense core is a temporal subgraph in which each node has average degree no less than {\delta} in a time segment with length no less than l. To compute the (l, {\delta})-maximal dense core, we first develop a novel dynamic programming algorithm which can calculate the segment density efficiently. Then, we propose an improved algorithm with several novel pruning techniques to further improve the efficiency. In addition, we also develop an efficient algorithm to enumerate all (l, {\delta})-maximal dense cores that are not dominated by the others in terms of the parameters l and {\delta}. The results of extensive experiments on 9 real-life datasets demonstrate the effectiveness, efficiency and scalability of our algorithms.


Abstract : SBIR phase I results include the development of a novel, aqueous based synthesis of metal chalcogenide quantum dot phosphor materials and the development of a video rate electrically addressed lasing pixel. The development of new phosphor systems will result in improved conversion efficiencies, an increased color palette, and enhanced spatial resolution of direct view and large screen displays. Our efforts have led to the development of ZnSe quantum dots through a novel aqueous based synthesis. In addition to the development of the nanocrystalline materials the phase I SBIR included the development of lasing pixel displays incorporating optical gain and scatterers. In this second area, we have demonstrated an electrically addressed lasing pixel for large screen display applications, which uses liquid crystal technology in a flat micro-cavity laser configuration.


The invention discloses a two-jaw clamp capable of enabling fixed jaw body seats and a movable jaw body seats to be close to the center position of a saw blade, which comprises a base, a left fixed jaw seat, a right fixed jaw seat, a pair of guide rails, sliding seats and sliding seat translation locking devices, wherein the left fixed jaw seat and the right fixed jaw seat are fixed on the base; the guide rails are fixed on the base; the sliding seats are arranged on the guide rails in a sliding way; the sliding seat translation locking devices are fixed on the guide rails; a left fixed jaw body capable of translating and a right fixed jaw body capable of translating are respectively arranged on the left fixed jaw seat and the right fixed jaw seat; a left movable jaw seat is arranged at the left side of each sliding seat, and a left movable jaw body capable of translating is arranged on the left movable jaw seat; and a right movable jaw seat capable of translating is arranged at the right side of each sliding seat, and a right movable jaw body capable of translating is arranged on the right movable jaw seat. By adopting the asymmetric jaw arrangement, the invention ensures that in the process of horizontal sawing at 45 degrees, the saw blade can not saw the left fixed jaw seat and the right movable jaw seat, so that the base can be close to the center of the jaw as much as possible, thereby improving the clamping force of the jaws, improving the processing stability and prolonging the service life of the saw blade.


To explore the effects of surgical treatment on the elderly patients with hyperthyroidis. From January 1990 to January 2004,clinically 162 patients older than 60 years with hyperthyroidism were operated, The results of these patients were reviewed. The different etiologies of hyperthyroidism were followed: toxic multinodular goiter (89 cases); Graves′ disease (41 cases); toxic adenoma (20 cases); TSH-secreting pituitary adenoma (9 cases); subacute thyroiditis (3 cases). no postoperative cases were cracked, 3 cases appeared twitch, 2 cases appeared burking and get right a week later. Following Up 1~3 years, hypothyroidism relapsed in 11 cases, no hyperthyroidism relapsed in all cases. [Conclusion] Surgery should be advised in elderly patient with Graves′ disease and a thyroid nodule; primary hyperthyroidism should be treated with anti-thyroid therapy or radio-iodine because of high possibility of hypothyroidism with surgery. Careful preoperative preparations and correctly post-operative management are very important for achieving well therapy effect.


In this paper, we describe an aspect of collaboration -emergent division of labor- wherein people interactively and contingently organize, maintain, and reorganize the division of labor. Emergent division of labor involves the following characteristics: (1) emergence of division of labor, (2) maintenance of division of labor, and (3) reorganization of division of labor. The authors have claimed that supporting emergent division of labor is a key issue in order to make collaborative learning successful. If this claim is on the right track, then supporting emergent division of labor can be a helpful design principle for developing a Computer Supported Collaborative Learning (CSCL) system. Hence, the authors propose the following prerequisites for a CSCL system in order to support emergent division of labor: (1) awareness of the state of one's own tasks in progress, (2) awareness of the state of others' tasks in progress, and (3) awareness of others' awareness of the state of one's own tasks in progress. As an example of the CSCL system design based on this principle, the authors present a collaborative concept mapping tool termed as "KneadingBoard". KneadingBoard is intended for synchronous use, and its purpose is to help cross-pollination and the wrap-up of ideas for a small group. It is outlined in terms of the design principle based on the concept of emergent division of labor.


Preliminary analysis of the risks associated with on-going geologic carbon storage projects has to be conducted in conditions of limited knowledge about the participating rock formations to assess the feasibility of the potential injection site. Different sources of geomechanical data (e.g., geophysical well logging and laboratory testing) are utilized to initialize numerical models for the preliminary assessment. Both data sources are associated with intrinsic limitations, increasing the uncertainty in the model prediction. In this work, one of the potential CO2 injection sites in the Illinois Basin is considered for the potential leakage through the local fault system in the vicinity of the injection well, with a special attention given to the comparison of the well-log and laboratory geomechanical data. The conducted analysis shows that while the use of geophysical well log is beneficial to make a preliminary assessment, it cannot capture complex sensitivity of material properties to state of stress, temperature, and pore fluid composition. An additional challenge during the preliminary assessment is the presence of formations which properties are unknown or highly uncertain (e.g., properties of the damage zone surrounding the small-scale fault system). It is demonstrated that the numerical model could be significantly simplified for the initial assessment, and consideration of the worst-case scenario can help to overcome the uncertainties in material properties. Preliminary risk assessment suggests that the risk of leakage through the adjacent fault system in the considered case is moderate due to the structural trapping of the injected CO2.

 Over the last few years, increased attention to climate change mitigation resulted in the active development of carbon capture and storage (CCS) facilities. Based on the global review of CCS status, 27 commercial facilities worldwide (with a total of 36.6 Mt of CO2 annual capacity) are operational and about 100 projects with 113 Mtpa capacity are going through different stages of construction and operation (Global CCS Institute, 2021). Even though these numbers correspond to less than 1% of the annual emission volume of CO2, which is close to 40 Gtpa (IPCC, 2022), the current stage of development is essential in establishing safe and effective approaches for further industrial-scale projects. A successful project is aimed at storing CO2 in the subsurface without risks of leakage and induced seismic response since both factors might damage the infrastructure and significantly affect the public perception of geologic carbon storage. The multistage pre-injection assessment of the risks through characterization of the involved formations and intensive monitoring program should guarantee safe operation. However, some of the essential information might not be available during the preliminary examination of risks. One of the possible approaches is to assume the worst-case scenario for the unknown or highly uncertain parameters. Low or moderate risks predicted by the simplified model based on the worst-case scenario indicate that assessment during further stages is unlikely to predict significantly higher risks.


This particular study mainly focuses on the level of brand image influence the UAE nationals while purchasing cars. The primary objective of the study is to identify whether the brand name having a higher influence among the equal price range of cars. In the contemporary world, brand of a company / product not only demonstrating the identity, nevertheless many other significant factors associated like., perceived quality, lifestyle of the consumers, customer preferences & taste etc. The secondary objective of this study is to understand the driving force for the consumer motivation and decision making to purchasing cars in United Arab Emirates. This particular study has been conducted through both primary and secondary data. With the sample size of four hundred, the study has been executed through random sampling technique. The collected data were analyzed with statistical tools like chi square, Garrett ranking and factor analysis, etc., to fulfill the objectives and also to draw conclusions. From the study, it is exposed that when a consumer purchases a car, brand image do influence his/her choice. The study also reveals that branded cars have a great place in the consumer mind, when customers go for purchasing a car; they prefer to purchase a well-known branded car instead experiment the new brand. The study definitely adds benefit to the marketing literature as a whole and specific to the brand branding of automobiles.


Harmonious society is a system as a whole,of which harmonious rule of law is an important part. Harmonious conception of society when embodied in law construction is harmonious rule of law,which is the indispensible guarantee of building harmonious society,while the realization of harmonious rule of law should also be based on harmonious society. This paper makes an attempt to clarify the two terms namely harmonious society and harmonious rule of law and illustrate the important relationship between them.


This study aims to estimate the lecturers' perspective on the Distance Learning Unit (Pendidikan Jarak Jauh Mata Kuliah – PJJ Makul). The implementation of this internet-based lecture can provide convenience and breadth of access for students, especially those constrained by the distance between residence/workplace and campus location. The respondents of this research will voluntarily involve Universitas Sarjanawiyata Tamansiswa (UST) lecturers of Graduate English Education Department who play role as policy makers and have formulated a curriculum in which there are some Distance Learning Units. These units are planned to be implemented by the UST Graduate Education Directorate. The main consideration for the holding of these units is the difficulty of UST Postgraduate students, most of whom have worked as teachers and employees of institutions and have difficulty in time and distance to study in a classroom. Distance Learning Units held by the Graduate English Language Education Department are expected to be able to provide a partial solution to these problems for recent and prospective students.


Abstract : Contents: Molecule microscopy, physical electronics and surface physics, atomic resonance and scattering, quantum electronics, microwave and millimeter wave techniques, radio astronomy, transport phenomena in solids, physical acoustics, plasma dynamics, processing and transmission of information, digital signal processing, linguistics, cognitive information processing, and communications biophysics.


Simple Summary The very poor prognosis and the absence of radical treatment options in cases of unresectable "locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC)" focus its management on palliation. An "overall survival (OS)" benefit has been shown with new systemic therapy agents; however, not all patients are good candidates for systemic treatments at diagnosis, and LAPC is often associated with a high symptom burden that greatly impacts patients' quality of life. Studying dose optimization of radiation as an option for local progression cessation is therefore necessary. Research in this setting as opposed to other treatment sites is under-represented in the literature and the guidelines are based on very scarce data. We aim to present the outcomes of "stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT)" (ablative radiotherapy) vs. non-ablative radiotherapy through our patient population and the available data in the literature. Abstract We studied the dose–local control (LC) relationship in ablative vs. non-ablative radiotherapy in a non-radical treatment setting of "locally advanced pancreatic cancer (LAPC)" by comparing our patients (n = 89) treated with SBRT on the CyberKnife unit vs. conventional radiation between January 2005 and January 2021, and by reviewing the literature. A systematic search was performed leveraging Medline for references on SBRT use in pancreatic cancer without date terms or language restrictions. A total of 3702 references were identified and the search was then repeated in Embase and the Cochrane database. Ultimately, 12 studies were eligible for inclusion, which either compared SBRT to conventional radiation, or SBRT use in dose escalation for primary LAPC in a non-neoadjuvant setting. Our cohort's median overall survival was 152 days (CI 95%, 118–185); including 371 days (CI 95%, 230–511) vs. 126 days (CI 95%, 90–161) favoring SBRT, p = 0.004. The median time to local progression was 170 days (48–923) for SBRT vs. 107 days (27–489) for the non-ablative group. In our SBRT patients, no local progressions were seen with BED10 > 60 Gy. Even when palliating LAPC, SBRT should be considered as an alternative to conventional radiation, especially in patients with a low disease burden. BED10 ≥ 60–70 Gy offers better local control without increasing toxicity rates. Less local progression may provide a better quality of life to those patients who already have a short life expectancy.


Dogs are considered highly social animals, but for many decade dogs' social cognition and communication were not studied separately from other canids. Many new researches carried out with domestic dogs had shown that in the course of domestication they developed utmost interspecific social cognition. It is presumably based on the similarities between human and wolf societies, where high level of dog-human communication was necessary for successful social organisation and coherence during activities. It was confirmed that dogs can understand human body language and they may use it to adjust their own behaviour. They are able to learn by imitation from humans and to generalize. Dogs may follow human signalling such as pointing or gazing to find a food. They may prefer to rely upon human' s instructions instead of making their own decision, even when humans' guidance is misleading. In situations of uncertainty they may search for human assistance and help. Furthermore, dogs are able to transmit a lot of information to human partners. Domestic dogs are more vocal than other canids and they may vocalise to attract human attention, or to convey information about their mood and intentions. When dog and human play together a high level of social compliancy is acquired by mutual exchange of different communicative signals between two species. In conclusion, dogs' social cognition is interesting for science and has a high importance for development of sound pet dog– owner relationship.


Lac insect is an important resource insect with great commercial value. However, the lack of its genome information restricts the fundamental biological research and applied studies of this species. Here, we first assembled the contig of Kerria lacca using Illumina and Nanopore sequencing by Hi-C and T2T techniques to obtain the genome of K. lacca at the chromosome 0 gap level. The genome of K. lacca was 256.62 Mb and the Scaffold N50 was 28.53 Mb. A total of 56.94 Mb of repeat sequences, constituting 22.19% of the assembled genome, were identified. We annotated 10,696 protein-encoding geneswith 89.74% annotated. By horizontal gene transfer analysis, we obtained a putative gene Isoprenyl diphosphate synthase (IPPS), a key enzyme in the isoprene synthesis pathway in the regulation of lac biosynthesis that transferred horizontally from bacteria to the genome of K. lacca. Meanwhile, we constructed the lac synthesis biosynthetic pathway and screened 25 putative key genes in the synthesis pathway by transcriptome analysis in different developmental stages and tissues. It provides new research ideas to reveal the molecular mechanism of lac biosynthesis and regulation. The high-quality chromosomal-level genome of lac insect will provide a basis for the study of development, genetics, and the evolution of scale insects.


Organizational purchasing decisions can be thought of as rule‐discovery tasks in which members of the buying center develop proposals regarding the best choice of products and vendors. The uncertainty associated with buying center decisions causes the group to search for generalizations that describe the distinguishing characteristics of successful suppliers. Such generalizations identify the "rules" used to categorize future vendors; discovery of the best rules is key to accurate classification. Acknowledging the process of searching for patterns not only focuses attention on the information members use to derive patterns, but also provides a mechanism for investigating how members influence each other's assessment of the patterns. Research into rule‐discovery tasks has the potential to enable monitoring of simulated organizational purchasing decision processes in the controlled environment of an experiment. The purpose of this paper is to suggest a set of propositions and a methodology for examining rule discovery task behavior in buying centers.


Abstract : Hypertension and aneurysm are a prevalent problem in our society. Because the risk of these vascular diseases is too important to ignore, our studies are designed to provide exciting and original concepts to examine the etiologies of hypertension and aneurysm with regard to mechanosensory organelles (primary cilia). Especially within polycystic kidney disease, untreated hypertension can worsen kidney function. Aneurysm rupture in PKD patients also remains a devastating complication that often could result in stroke and death. Our studies therefore aim at investigating new ideas in understanding hypertension and aneurysm formation in PKD.


This essay offers some experience-based observations about electoral phenomena that academic political science misses because of a focus on conceptual and theoretical debates that often take pride of place over the empirical phenomena that gave rise to the ideas and concepts that we highly value. We suggest that academic political science is increasingly committed to models and methods that serve a theory or an idea more than they account for observable empirical regularities. Practitioner methods and innovations for persuading voters and winning elections under varying electoral conditions are largely unknown to scholars, with consequences for our collective factual knowledge and ability to test current hypotheses and theories about elections in an appropriate wide range of circumstances.


SUMMARY Seismic hazard maps of central-southern Africa where hazard has been expressed in terms of peak ground acceleration for an annual probability in excess of show relatively high values that distinguish the seismic hazard potential of the Deka fault zone, the mid-Zambezi basin-Luangwa rift and western central Mozambique. In areas such as central-southern Africa where little is known about the geology of the region and the fault systems have not been fully mapped, seismic hazard potential may be estimated from seismicity and broad-scale fault features. For this region, such potential is based on earthquake magnitude M, 2 6. Events of such magnitude have recently occurred in the mid-Zambezi basin, southern Zimbabwe and western-central Mozambique. This paper follows the conventional probabilistic hazard analysis procedure, defining seismic source zones from seismicity based on instrumental records from a cataloque that spans a period of 83 years. Geological and geomorphological features in the region are described on the mesoscale and are correlated with the seismicity as broad fault zones. The scarcity of strong-motion accelerogram data necessitated the formulation of attenuation values based on random vibration theory


Batik dyes are made from natural dyes and chemical dyes (rapid, indigosol, naptol, and remasol). Each batik dye requires a fixation material according to the type of colour used. Remasol colour (vinyl sulfone) is one type of reactive colour whose use is the most suitable to smear. Fixation of Remasol colour is using waterglass/sodium (Na2SiO3). Waterglass has a liquid nature, although it hardens easily after being exposed to the sun, it melts quickly when it contacts with water. Therefore, Remasol with waterglass fixation is not suitable when it is used with other colour combinations. For instance, it is combined with naptol. To produce a suitable combination, it is necessary to use baking soda [sodium bicarbonate (NaHCO3)] as a fixation of remasol. In this study, it is explained about the method of baking soda as a fixation of remasol as a baik dye combined with other types of colours. The result of this research is that baking soda as a fixation of remasol requires a ratio 1 : 1 (1 gram of baking soda : 1 gram of remasol). To produce a colour that matches the quidelines, after being applied, 72 hours of drying is required, after that it is blocked (covered with hot wax). This method can be used to colour batik with the dip dye technique which can be combined with naptol, rapid, and indigosol colours. The result of this study is expected to increase the number of colour variations in one sheet of cloth. For example, one sheet of cloth can use naptol, rapid, and indigosol. Because naptol, rapid, and indigosol have different colours, for example, naptol, rapid, and indigosol do not have turquoise blue. Turquoise only exists in remasol, and vise versa. The shortcoming in this research is that the experimental method carried out is still simple and has not used detailed laboratory test.


Objective : Present research discussed the utilization of pumpkin-seed residue (PSR) after oil extraction with methanol as an adsorbent for methylene blue (MB) removal from aqueous solution.Method : The experiment was carried out to evaluate the influence of PSR adsorbent dose (7.5-25 g/L), initial MB concentration (25-200 mg/L), contact time (30-120 min), pH (3-11), and temperature (293-333 K). Adsorption isotherms were modeled with the Langmuir, Freundlich, and Temkin isotherms. The kinetic data were analyzed using pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models.Results and Discussion : A pseudo-equilibrium state was reached within 30 min of contact time at low initial MB concentration (25-50 mg/L) and 90 min at high concentration (100-200 mg/L). Increasing pH and temperature caused an increase in adsorption capacity. Thermodynamic studies demonstrated that the adsorption process was spontaneous with Gibb's free-energy values ranging between -15.78 to -13.87 kJ/mol and endothermic with an enthalpy value of 0.011 kJ/mol. The adsorption equilibrium data fitted well with the Freundlich adsorption isotherm. The maximum monolayer adsorption capacity was 20.33 mg/g. Tempkin isotherm model clarified that the heat of sorption process was 6.28 J/mol. The adsorption kinetics was found to follow the pseudo-second order kinetics model and its rate constant was 0.002-0.278 g/mg・min.Conclusions : Findings of the present study indicated that the PSR can be successfully used for removal of MB from aqueous solution. Therefore, the PSR was shown to have good potential as a biosorbent for MB removal.


In this piece of work, we have synthesized pure and aluminum doped zinc oxide and then studied their sensing response towards ethanol. We adopted a chemical route to synthesize pure and aluminum doped ZnO, in this work we added different concentrations of aluminum by weight (1% to 4% by percentage weight). The XRD studies revealed that synthesized materials are having wurtzite hexagonal crystalline structures. With the addition of dopant the crystallinity of the structures has decreased. FESEM images have clearly shown the modification of morphology of material with the addition of the dopant. With the addition of dopant sensing responses also have changed significantly.


Organizational culture is a key to the success of business digital-transformation initiatives. The current study presents a bibliometric approach to the current knowledge of culture and digital transformation. For this purpose, 407 relevant documents were analyzed. The descriptive analysis indicated a panorama of great growth in the literature. An analysis of word co-occurrence in titles and abstracts was used to identify four areas of research interest: (1) training and learning among personnel, (2) cultural values that underpin the digital transformation, (3) environmental influences, and (4) technologies that enable digital transformation. Finally, little international collaboration between author networks was found.


Possibility of producing pectinase utilizing fruit wastes of cashew, banana, pineapple, and grape under controlled fermentation with Aspergillus foetidus was studied. Among the different media composition tried, medium containing 5 g fruit waste + 0.05 g urea + 0.25 g ammonium sulphate supported better growth of the microorganism. Enzyme production was maximum in the medium with grape waste. As extractant of the enzyme, distilled water was better than CaCl 2. The ideal temperature and duration of fermentation were 40 o C and 8 days respectively.


Abstract.  1. Water‐filled tree holes provide important freshwater microhabitats for a wide array of aquatic species in rainforest canopies. There is extensive indirect evidence of the distinctiveness of water‐filled tree‐hole faunas, but few direct quantitative comparisons with ground‐based freshwater habitats, in either tropical or temperate regions. Here, we explore the importance of water‐filled tree holes for aquatic invertebrate species in the temperate rainforests of New Zealand. It is well documented that freshwaters in New Zealand are dominated by relatively few ubiquitous genera, many of which are habitat generalists. The key question, therefore, is whether water‐filled tree holes in New Zealand's temperate rainforest are also dominated by habitat generalists that typically utilise ground‐level water bodies, or whether water‐filled tree holes support habitat‐specialist species.


Diabetes is a disease that has the potential to cause death. Based on a report from the IDF (International Diabetes Federation), it was stated that in 2019 there were 463 million people in the world suffering from this disease. According to the Ministry of Health, Indonesia is a country that is included in the top 10 highest in the world by the number of people with diabetes. Machine learning models can be a solution for the early detection of diabetes based on history and available data. The majority of the research that has been done chiefly uses a single classifier. The single classifier model has a weakness when faced with class imbalance conditions in the dataset. Therefore, this study uses the Stacking Model for the classification and prediction process on the diabetes dataset. The goal is to improve the performance of a single classifier. In addition, the Stacking Model is expected to be one of the solutions for the classification of diabetes in the imbalanced class dataset. Based on two test experiments that have been carried out using two different datasets. The Stacking algorithm can produce an accuracy value of 89%, TPR value of 89%, TNR value of 85%, and G-Mean of 86.98% in the first dataset and can produce an accuracy value of 96%, TPR value of 96%, TNR value of 94%, and G-Mean of 94.99% in the second dataset. These results are better than single classifiers such as C4.5, K-NN, and SVM of the four indicators evaluated in both diabetes datasets. Thus, the proposed algorithm, namely Stacking (C4.5-SVM), can be a solution for classifying diabetes datasets with unbalanced class distribution conditions.


Internationalization of the protection of IPR is actually globalization of implementing full western-style IPR standard.The global crisis of public health demonstrates the disharmony of adoption of single IPR regime to diverse background,which causes global discussion on the rationality of international protection of IPR.The WTO General Council successively clarify the provisions relating public health in the TRIPS Agreement,which entitle the developing countries and the least-developed countries procure the essential medicines to address the public health problems.


Objective To evaluate diagnosis value of ST depression in 12-lead Holter in coronary artery disease. Methods 163 cases with ischemic ST segment changes in 12-lead Holter were divided into group A (88 cases) with typical chest pain or group B(75 cases) without typical chest pain. All cases received coronary artery angiography. Results In group A, 79 cases had significant coronary artery stenosis. Of them, 44 cases had single vessel disease, 25 cases had two vessels disease and 10 cases had three vessels disease. Positive rate, specificity and accuracy of 12-lead Holter in diagnosis of coronary artery disease were 89.77%,80.00%, and 85.28%, respectively. In group B, 15 cases had significant coronary artery stenosis. Diagnosis positive rate was 20.0% in group B and significantly lower than that in group A(P0.01). Conclusion ST depression in 12-lead Holter may be more valuable in diagnosis of coronary artery disease in patients with than without typical chest pain.


In recent years, Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) or various types of Auto-Encoders (AEs) have gained attention on facial image de-occlusion and/or in-painting tasks. In this paper, we propose a novel unsupervised technique to remove occlusion from facial images and complete the occluded parts simultaneously with optimized Deep Convolutional Generative Adversarial Networks (DCGANs) in an iterative way. Generally, GANs, as generative models, can estimate the distribution of images using a generator and a discriminator. DCGANs, as its variant, are proposed to conquer its instability during training. Existing facial image in-painting methods manually define a block of pixels as the missing part and the potential content of this block is semantically generated using generative models, such as GANs or AEs. In our method, a mask is inferred from an occluded facial image using a novel loss function, and then this mask is utilized to in-paint the occlusions automatically by pre-trained DCGANs. We evaluate the performance of our method on facial images with various occlusions, such as sunglasses and scarves. The experiments demonstrate that our method can effectively detect certain kinds of occlusions and complete the occluded parts in an unsupervised manner.


Opinion polls are crediting Francois Bayrou, a Christian-democrat and president of the 'centrist' Union for French Democracy (UDF) party, with 22% support on the eve of the first round of France's presidential election. Bayrou has never hidden neither his Catholic faith nor its importance for his vocation as a politician. His positions on issues of modern environmental movement, moratorium on GM foods, support for bio-fuels, and organic farming illustrate why, even though his French critics often attempt to classify Bayrou with the right, he would generally be regarded as centre left on the Australian political spectrum.


In this paper we show that an intuitionistic theory for fixed points is conservative over the Heyting arithmetic with respect to a certain class of formulas. This extends partly the result of mine. The proof is inspired by the quick cut-elimination due to G. Mints.


A burner comprising a tubular body disposed along the longitudinal axis of the burner with a feed tube for receiving solid combustible material, a housing extended from the tubular body through a passage, the housing includes an air inlet tube to supply high velocity air into the tubular body, an inner tubular member defining an inner chamber having a discharge outlet, is arranged in the housing,the inner tubular member includes a chamber inlet tube to supply air or gas to the inner chamber, and an inner tube disposed in the inner tubular member for supplying fuel, the inner tube includes a rotatable screw head which impresses on the air introduced from the inner chamber and the air moves towards the discharge outlet in a spiral movement along the longitudinal axis and entrain the solid combustible material in the tubular body.


The body awarness is a process of perception of the physical sensations and involve the self-knowledge and self-regulation, this is affected for the exposition to traumatic situations like the loss of the limb by a anti-personnel mine. The yoga and integrated danza allow incresing the body´s sensorimotor knowledge and contribute to the body awarness. The objetive is to explore the body awarness in men amputated from the public force belong to the Centro de Rehabilitacion Inclusiva (CRI) through a yoga and integrated dance program. This study was exploratory wotuh qualitative methodology and multimethod technique in which a group of 10 amputee men of lower limb participated, without cognitive, visual or auditory deficit, who voluntary participated in 10 classes of yoga and integrated dance. The Scale of Body Connection was used like a quantitative tool to amplify the knowledge with the semi-strcutured group interview evaluating the category of Body Awarness and Experience with the yoga and integrated dance practice. The outcomes allow to give a value to the quantitative individual result and in general to show that with the yoga and integrated dance create a space to amplify body awarness to increase the register of movements, favors the sensations of tranquility and freedom feeling which contributes to self.aceptance.


Kampar in Perak, Malaysia, is expanding rapidly as a university town. In this paper, we first outlined the sustainable development plans from the Local Planner 2030 by the Kampar District Council, and some joint efforts from the University of Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) as a green campus. We detailed some of the challenges involved and suggested some implementations. Lastly, we propose awareness, commitment and excitement (ACE) to propel the project forward. This paper is the ground work for our subsequent research projects. It is important, not only because it showcases a small developing town; it helps the community understand the practical challenges that we are facing in implementing sustainable plans.


The characteristic feature of "gated communities" in Cracow is the fact that they satisfy the needs of residents, that is individuality, security and contact with nature. Closed "gated communities" form enclaves with a typical kind of building system in the form of a nest. Residential buildings surround a common square and are situated in such a way that they form small courtyards, which are partially or almost completely closed. In this area the public space is concentrated, including playgrounds, squares, promenades, bicycle paths and parking places. The urban features of the "gated communities" include the modernity of buildings, a high standard of building equipment and high aesthetics. An essentially urban feature of the "gated communities" is the fact that the buildings erected in their areas have smaller cubic capacity than traditional urban buildings, with fewer apartments and commercial premises.


The observation of a sizable direct CP asymmetry in the inclusive decays B -> X_s gamma would be a clean signal of New Physics. In the Standard Model, this asymmetry is below 1% in magnitude. In extensions of the Standard Model with new CP-violating couplings, large asymmetries are possible without conflicting with the experimental value of the B -> X_s gamma branching ratio. In particular, large asymmetries arise naturally in models with enhanced chromo-magnetic dipole transitions. Some generic examples of such models are explored and their implications for the semileptonic branching ratio and charm yield in B decays discussed.


With the raising of train speed and the enhancing of railway traffic, the rail corner fine cracks and shelling defects will occur more frequently, and develop more rapidly. According to the large quantity of 60kg/m rail corner fine cracks and shelling defects data gotten by investigating the Tianjin-Pukou, Shanghai-Nanjing and Shanghai-Hangzhou heavy traffic main railway, the mainly basic characteristics and development rule of rail corner fine cracks and shelling defects are summarized, This paper's aim is to analyze the causes that induce rail corner fine cracks and shelling defect by the theory of Hertz contact ,wheel/rail tribology and wheel/rail couple dynamics, some measures for defending ,alleviating and maintaining the defects were put forward at the end of the paper.


This research aims to: 1) Develop an educational game as Tax Administration learning media for student class XI at SMK YPE Sawunggalih Kutoarjo, 2) Determine the feasibility of educational game of Tax Administration Millionaire Quiz based assessment from subject matter expert, media expert, and students. This research adapted and modified from Borg and Gall (1983) development model which is a type of Research and Development (R & D). Data collection technique in this research using a questionnaire. Data analyzed technique was done by descriptive of qualitative and quantitative. The research results showed that


This paper examines whether the number and type of lenders that participate in loan facilities are related to the nature of the troubled debt restructuring process. Using a hand-collected sample of debt restructurings both outside and within bankruptcy, we find that the likelihood of a successful out of court restructuring is significantly related to the identity of the firm's lenders. Overall, we find evidence that loans from traditional bank lenders are much easier to restructure out of court than loans from institutional lenders. Moreover, we find evidence that securitized commercial loans are more difficult to restructure due to holdout problems than publicly traded debt. Consistent with greater holdout problems in the institutional loan market, we find that reliance on institutional loans is positively related to the likelihood of a prepackaged bankruptcy.


A statistical analysis is made mostly about 21 kind of edit and publication journals based on CNKI 1996-2006.Conducted with a co-citation cluster analysis and a core-periphery mode,it purposes on finding the core journals of this discipline.The result compared with General Contents of Chinese Core Journal 2004 shows that it is effective when the journal co-citation analysis is used to evaluate journals.


with joint pains in general are not bone pains but ligament pains. (A similar error attributes the pain in cases of avulsion of lateral processes wrongly to the detached piece of bone.) It is of course quite well known that the pain of spondylitis is worst in the early stages when the X-ray signs are minimal or nil. The pains are referred by either, or both, of the classical routes: (1) Direct excitation of the sensory nerve by implication in the inflammatory process (and by infiltration in most cases of carcinomatous metastases), as is seen also in instances of traumatic neuromata, and in implication of nerves in scar tissue; (2) excitation of the central nervous system via the filaments supplying ligaments, &c., and refercnce out from the segment involved, as in the tvpical phrenic shoulder pain-the neurologists decline even now to be categorical as to the precise mechanism. When such excitation implicates the region between the 4th and 11th dorsal segments it becomes clear that splanchnic as well as parietal and cutaneous svmptoms may arise, simulating visceral disease. Many referred pains in the trunk arise from conditions farther along the course of the nerves than the neural foramina-the intercostal nerves and particularly the subcostal nerve very commonly are implicated in fibrositic patches, the last-named giving lointo-groin pain simulating kidney disease and often being associated with a disappointing appenlicectomy scar. For over ten vears I have taught and practised novocain nerve blocks as both diagnostic and therapeutic measures of the highest value; I published a description in 1936 in Lazncet (ii), 242. In dozens of cases the diagnosis has been established clinicallv in a fewv minutes bv this method in patients who have been submitted to numerous special investigations, often repeated several times-barium meals, cholecvstographs, pyelographv, barium enemata, test meals, and so on. The value of such tests applied with discrimination is not disputed but the expense, time-wasting and mental deterioration of the patient is far too often overlooked; such repeated examinations, it must be insisted, are one of the most certain ways of rendering permanent a fLunctional disorder. Diagnostic analgesia is of most certain application where the site of nerve implication is the intercostal space or the lateral parietes; with paraspinal and spinal forms of irritation it becomes distinctly more difficult-all the more as several segments are apt to be involved; where the irritation has permeated the neural foramen it becomes inapplicable in most cases, as it becomes almost impossible to block the affected area to its proximal limits.


The principle of interference temperature in cognitive radio is analyzed,and the method is used in UWB communication.The affecting factors of the interference temperature at the receiver in UWB communication are presented,that is,when the transmission distance is long and the central frequency is high,the interference temperature at the receiver is low;the interference temperature in LOS channel model is always higher than that in AWGN,and the interference temperature in NLOS channel model is much lower than that in AWGN.The model of a multi-mode terminal with both UWB and the other communication system is established.Simulation results show that when the interference temperature at the multi-mode terminal is low,the channel capacity loss of UWB system with the interference of the other communication system is great;and when the frequency bandwidth of the other communication system is wide and the received power is low,the channel capacity loss of the other communication system with the interference of UWB system is also great.In the premise of the performance guarantee of the other communication system,the best interference temperature and the maximal channel capacity of UWB system are obtained.


In order to further improve the serial ports communication mode of the general FlexPendant for industrial robot, a multiple serial communication mode is put forward. It is used to meet the stability of data transmission, transmission distance, transmission speed, anti-interference and cost-effective. Using ADUM1201 single direction dual channel digital isolator, two pieces of MAX13487E and a piece of MAX3232 chip to transmit data and files, and to control chip's electrical level. Selecting the RS232, RS422 and RS485 communication mode, the serial ports of the general FlexPendant of industrial robot is optimized.


Examples of four types of pathologies have been found on specimens of large pterodactyloid pterosaurs. Osteoarthritis of the intersyncarpal, carpometacarpal, or metacarpophalangeal joints, indicated by grooving of the articular surfaces in the direction of joint motion, is present on at least four pterosaur specimens from the Cambridge Greensand. This pathology has not been found in Pteranodon despite comparably large samples of specimens. Pteranodon most commonly exhibits deformed bones and lumps apparently resulting from injury, necrosis, and subsequent repair. A small number of pathological bone growths apparently not associated with injuries were found, as were healed fractures of a fourth wing phalanx and a pedal phalanx. The absence of healed fractures of other elements suggests that they were either uncommon or catastrophic and fatal. This study suggests that pathologies were not uncommon in large pterosaurs.


There are ways of preventing falls. One method is a prediction based on an individual's sensori-motor function. Unfortunately, current methods, based on statistical analyses of data collected across different tests, are contradictory and impractical because of the test diversity. Hence a simple, highly reliable method is desirous from the practitioners' perspective. The purpose of the research was to develop a practical and quantitative way of diagnosing the age-related degeneration of human sensori-motor function in order to predict the potential fallers. The method was based on individual center of pressure (COP) measurement and an artificial neural network (ANN) model, which was built by using the data of 6 young adults and 4 seniors. The study revealed that one could utilize COP and ANN model to predict sensori-motor degeneration related to age.


The pathogenesis of the neurologic abnormalities associated with the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) is poorly understood. Although human immunodeficiency virus type I (HIV-1) transcripts have been detected in endothelial ceUs and macrophages of the central nervous system in patients with AIDS, infection of neuronal ceUs by HIV-1 has not been established The purpose of this study was to localize HIV-1 transcripts in the central nervous system. 3H and digoxigenin-UTP-labeled riboprobes generated from a 942-bpfragment ofDNAfrom the 5' end of the HIV-1 gag sequence were used for in situ hybridization. The antisense riboprobe hybridized to lymphoid ceUs in the sections of kidney and spleen obtainedfrom patients with AIDS, as weU as to the HIV-1infected A3.01 cell line. The control sense probe did not hybridize to these same ceUs. In contrast, no detectable hybridization was observed to neuronal ceUs when the antisense probe was applied to sections ofbrain obtainedfrom patients with and withoutAIDS. To our surprise, however, specific hybridization was observed to neuronal ceUs when the control sense probe was applied This hybridization with the control sense probe was seen in both patients with and without HIV-1 infection. Northern blot analysis confirmed the in situ hybridization results; a unique 9.0-kb


We obtain analytical expressions for the generating function $\xi_d(\lambda)$ of the sum of $d$-squares arithmetical function $r_d(n)$ where $\lambda$ is a free parameter. The original $d$-dimensional infinite sum is reduced to a formula containing a single finite sum over a convergent series. We compare the formulas to numerical computations and show that the percentage difference is negligible at small $\lambda$ for various values of $d$. $\xi_d(\lambda)$ divides naturally into two terms and we show that one term has a direct physical application to the $d$-dimensional Casimir energy of massless scalar fields in cubic cavities.


The 2002 negotiations between owners and players in major league baseball attracted national attention because of the history of past work stoppages in the sport. This article examines eight reasons why the negotiations successfully avoided a shutdown. Perhaps the most important of these reasons was that the players really did not want to strike— despite their announced intention to do so. The 232-day 1994-95 baseball strike, the longest ever in professional team sports, was devastating to both sides, and neither wanted to go through a similar experience.


The welding of dissimilar materials is one of the challenging issues in thefabrication industry to obtain required quality welds using fusion weldingmethods. However, some processes recently improved interface bondingwith low joint strength. Unfortunately, the major intermetallic compoundscould not alleviate from the joint interface. Alternatively, solid-statewelding methods revealed fewer intermetallics at the joint interface fordissimilar material welds. Among them, friction welding was chosen to joinincompatible materials with the necessary properties successfully. Frictiontime is a critical parameter for obtaining strong welds through frictionwelding, apart from friction pressure, forging pressure, forging time, androtational speed. Variability of friction time can change the strength offriction by changing mechanical properties such as tensile strength. Thischange of tensile strength is typically influenced by the intermixing region,dependent on friction time. In this experiment, carbon steel and stainlesssteel have been friction welded to test the impact of friction time on thejoint interface where the substrate's faying surface meets. This interfaceconsists of the intermixing region of the two materials on which the frictionwelding is performed. The results showed an interesting variation in tensilestrength, with varying friction time. The width of the intermixing zoneincreased gradually with friction time until and decreased with the furtherincreasing. The strength of the welds obtained was the highest of 730 MPaat a friction time of 4 s and fell as friction time's increased value after 4 s.


Thank you very much for downloading digital computer structure and design. As you may know, people have look hundreds times for their chosen readings like this digital computer structure and design, but end up in malicious downloads. Rather than enjoying a good book with a cup of coffee in the afternoon, instead they are facing with some infectious virus inside their laptop. digital computer structure and design is available in our digital library an online access to it is set as public so you can get it instantly. Our digital library hosts in multiple locations, allowing you to get the most less latency time to download any of our books like this one. Kindly say, the digital computer structure and design is universally compatible with any devices to read.


Indicator species are frequently used for biodiversity management but whether indicator species selection is explicit about their ability to improve management decisions remains unclear. We reviewed the scientific literature to assess whether existing methods for selecting indicator species account for the following five monitoring and management "decision factors": objectives, constraints, actions, uncertainties, and biodiversity outcomes. Of the selected studies, most focused only on improving monitoring efficiency rather than on management effectiveness, potentially leading to ineffective indicators for decision making; only 21% of the studies explicitly accounted for management objectives and actions. Crucially, 94% of the reviewed studies and one-half of all indicator selection methods overlooked constraints (eg budgets), as well as uncertainties in indicator responses to management. To improve selection of indicator species, we suggest a systematic approach using key concepts from structured decision making. This approach facilitates explicitly evaluating management outcomes as part of the indicator species selection process and allows for the review of indicator choices over time to improve future monitoring and management decisions.


Data centers are now evolving source of computational hardware which have high potential to bring extraordinary computing capacity to use applications with resource sharing, fault tolerance, security, and scalability. To deliver the user with efficient computational power, with the support of data sharing, resource sharing and abstraction, an operating system-like software stack is needed for cloud computing hardware platforms. Existing distributed operating systems are not scalable to handle thousands of machines in clouds. As a result, current cloud computing environments are more complex at the user side. This paper surveys the existing data center functional platforms and discusses their worth and cost, to emphasis on development of a long-term mechanism with lasting impacts for present and future data center software infrastructure demands by considering all these factors which will help the organizations to select the best operating system for datacenter as per their particular needs and priorities.


While increasing bandwidth might be an acceptable way to maximize user utility, it is not always sufficient. This chapter presents a three-layer model of networked multimedia application based on a division into network, application, and usage. Quality measures for each layer are presented. Mental workload, task performance, and enjoyment are proposed as the most important variables at the usage layer. Interactions between the layers are described. Examples are given of the model which has been used in actual service design work. Finally, it is suggested that the model could also be used for dynamic adaptations.


A reliable guarantee was provided for China's coal mine roadway safety,with bolting and shotcreting technology gradually mature, but the dust shotorete had greatly exceeded the national hygienic standard. Through determination of dust data in anchor spray tunnel operation, the movement rule of dust spray process is simulated by using the mathematical theory, with the aid of fluid dynamics software Fluent, the simulation results are demonstrated. The law of motion and the mass concentration distribution of bolting and shotcreting roadway dust shotcreting are summarized,a solid foundation is laid for future anchor spraying dust control work.


Abstract Discussion of the likely impacts of climate change on archives is significantly deficient in the archival profession. Archives hold rare and unique materials that are irreplaceable and institutional adaptation to climate change is critical to the survival of these resources. The earliest effects of climate change are likely to be increased weather events that threaten the physical safety of holdings. Hurricanes, floods, and fires pose particular risks to archives due to potential damage to buildings as well as from limitations of local infrastructure to rapidly respond to disasters. Disaster preparedness for archives needs to include planning responses to a wide variety of situations that threaten holdings. As societies begin to adapt to climate change, archivists should consider how values of sustainability and resiliency might inform archival practice.


Retroactive approval of the conversion period may occur if sufficient prove is given, that no substances not listed in parts A and B of Annex II have been used on the parcels in question. (Annex I, A, 1.2.)


A SERIES OF TESTS WERE CONDUCTED TO COMPARE THE BEHAVIOR OF SUPPLEMENTARY REINFORCEMENT IN CLASS 3 PRESTRESSED CONCRETE BEAMS. THE PROGRAM INCLUDED TESTS TO DESTRUCTION UNDER SHORT-TERM LOADING AND SOME TESTS UNDER SUSTAINED LOADING AND REPEATED LOADING. THE AUTHORS DEVOTE PARTICULAR ATTENTION TO FLEXURAL STRENGTH, DEFLEXION AND CRACKING. /AUTHOR/


Providing bone, cartilage, or like connective tissue of the soft, a method for preparing a constant matrix and the substrate to support the growth of tissue. Its cyclic structure is ring-opened aldehyde group of the sugar in the polysaccharide is formed a certain polysaccharide reacts with certain oxidizing agents. These aldehyde groups react to form a covalent bond to collagen was mineralized. The substrate is capable of implantation or injection, or may be injected separately to form the matrix in situ the polyaldehyde type polysaccharides and mineralized the respective starting materials of collagen.


Objective To investigate the clinical value of transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound for Cesarean scar pregnancy.Methods The women diagnosed as Cesarean scar pregnancy who had been treated in our hospital during the period of January 2010 to December 2011 were included in this study.The imaging features of transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound were retrospective analyzed.Results 11 women with Cesarean scar pregnancy were treated in our hospital.Gestational cyst occurred in 9 women and mixed mass developed in 2.All the diagnosis were confirmed by traditional surgery,laparoscopic surgery,and pathological examination.Conclusions Transvaginal color Doppler ultrasound can accurately diagnose Cesarean scar pregnancy and determine changes during the treatment process.It is highly valuable in clinical practice.

Key words:
Transvaginal color Doppler; Cesarean scar pregnancy; Clinical value


State of AWS Compute Pricing As flexible as it is, compute in AWS is optimized for the old capex world. https://m.subbu.org/state-of-aws-compute-pricing-600abe1a3ff6


In this paper we propose and evaluate a new method for assigning subcarriers, constellation sizes and power to the users in an OFDMA system. The proposed scheme considers user-individual bit rate and power constraints, maximum constellation sizes and a spectral power density (PSD) mask. The algorithm minimizes the total used bandwidth by reserving as many subcarriers as possible for future users. By applying this algorithm in a WLAN environment we found that only very few additional transmit power is required in order to reserve a significant amount of subcarriers, even when compared to the best-known power-minimizing algorithm. The computational complexity of the algorithm is very low, which makes it suitable for practical implementation.


As the baby boomer generation ages, visual impairment will overtake a significant portion of the US population. At the same time, more and more of our world is becoming digital. These two trends, coupled with the continuing advances in digital electronics, argue for a rethinking in the design of aids for the visually impaired. This paper discusses design issues for electronic vision enhancement systems (EVES) [R.C. Peterson, J.S. Wolffsohn, M. Rubinstein, et al., Am. J. Ophthalmol. 136 1129 (2003)] that will facilitate their wearability and continuous use. We briefly discuss the factors affecting a person's acceptance of wearable devices. We define the concept of operational inertia which plays an important role in our design of wearable devices and systems. We then discuss how design principles based upon operational inertia can be applied to the design of EVES.


Fibrotic tissue involution occurs in a large variety of chronic diseases. As the final phase of follicular atrophy and depletion, a diffuse fibrosis is the more severe consequence of the chronic process of lymph node involution that characterizes HIV infection. This review focuses on the comparison between HIV-induced lymph node fibrosis and other chronic fibroproliferative diseases, in terms of cell types participating in the process and signaling intermediates that together cause the deposition of collagen and remodel normal tissue architecture. Given that the histological quantification of this type of fibrosis cannot be easily introduced as a routine method in clinical pathology, we will discuss the possibility of exploiting some functional modifications, which express the adaptation of T cells to the fibrotic/hypoxic environment, as biochemical markers of the evolution of lymph node damage.


Iris Young, in a work published posthumously gave an important contribution to the theory of social justice based on the concept of responsibility and of what she called "model of social connection", which retrieves the individual and their responsibility as far as injustice is concerned, in order to analyze the various forms of the individual relationship to the social structure. The article in question will examine the main theoretical constructs of Iris Young, it will analyze the relationships that the author proposes between subject and structure, the heuristic value of their theses and their limits. The article initially show the distinction between guilt and responsibility, will pass to the discussion of the concept of responsibility vis-a-vis the social structure, and describe the social connection model proposed by Iris Young.


Orthogonal least squares(OLS) regression utilizes a greedy scheme to tune the parameters of each individual regressor term by term.To improve the performance of the greedy-scheme-based OLS algorithm,a tree structure search algorithm is constructed.At each regressor stage,this proposed OLS algorithm is realized by keeping multiple "best"regressors rather than using the"optimal"one only.The new approach is used in harmonic retrieval.Numerical results show that this new scheme is capable of estimating not only the number of the harmonic components in the given signals but also the parameters of harmonic.


*Corresponding author's address: Department of Planning, Design and Architecture Technology, Section of Environment and Landscape, Roma, Italy; firstname.lastname@example.com. Complete addresses of all authors can be found at the bottom of the paper. The alliance Bromion erecti was originally described by Koch (1926: 20, 121) as including only one association, the Mesobrometum erecti Scherrer ex W. Koch 1926 (see Terzi et al. 2016: 312–313 for the original diagnosis, the author citation and the type of these names). However, according to Koch (1926), the alliance encompassed "all dry grasslands of the montane belt of Central Europe". Following this syntaxonomic concept, Braun-Blanquet (1936: 172) recognized two associations within the Bromion erecti: the "Xerobrometum" for the strictly dry grasslands and the "Mesobrometum" for the more mesophilous ones. The separation between these two grassland types at the suballiance level was subsequently proposed by Braun-Blanquet & Moor (1938: 4, 9, 37) who described the "Xerobromion" [recte: Xerobromenion] as including the regional "Xerobrometum" together with other xeric associations, and the "Mesobromion" [recte: Mesobromenion] as including the "Mesobrometum erecti typicum Scherrer 1925" and other less xeric associations. Although Braun-Blanquet & Moor refer at p. 39 to "Koch 1926 p. 121–124 (mit Subassoz. brachypodietosum pinnati p. 122 f.)" this does not constitute a sufficient bibliographic reference to Koch (1926) in the sense of art. 2b. Hence, formally, the "Mesobrometum" in Braun-Blanquet & Moor (1938) is a later name of the Mesobrometum erecti Scherrer ex W. Koch 1926 and its correct citation is "Mesobrometum Scherrer ex Braun-Blanquet & Moor 1938". To our knowledge, the latter name has not been typified yet. The original diagnosis of the association containing only synoptic tables, a neotype must be selected (art. 21). For the subassociation typicum the indication "Scherrer 1925 p. 59-65" is provided at p. 39. Therefore, we chose here the relevé 10 in the table p. 62– 63 in Scherrer (1925) as the lectotypus hoc loco of the name Mesobrometum Scherrer ex Braun-Blanquet & Moor 1938, making this name a homotypic homonym of the Mesobrometum Scherrer ex Koch 1926. Zoller (1954: 35–36) revised the syntaxonomic concept of the alliance Bromion erecti in Braun-Blanquet & Moor (1938), expressing strong doubts whether the two suballiances Xerobromion and Mesobromion identified by these authors could be included in the same alliance Bromion erecti, owing to their important floristic, chorological, ecological and structural differences. However, although Zoller explicitly refused to include them in the same alliance, he does not formally accept the Xerobromion and Mesobromion as two separate, new alliances and he still uses the sentence "characteristic species of the suballiance Xerobromion" in the vegetation tables 1 and 2 to indicate such species in referring to Braun-Blanquet & Moor (1938). Terzi et al. (2016) considered that Zoller's Xerobromion and Mesobromion are implicitly alliances if Zoller says that they cannot be included as suballiances within the same alliance Bromion. However, there is also some doubt as Zoller uses these names without recognizing them properly as alliances (W. Willner, in litt.). Accordingly, they would not be validly published (art. 3c). Zoller's syntaxonomic position was followed some years later by Oberdorfer (1957) who explicitly raised the suballiance "Mesobromion" (sensu Braun-Blanquet & Moor 1938) to the rank of alliance, and retained the name "Bromion Br.-Bl. 36" for the xeric grasslands. In


The protocol of compare of two secret integers is known as the match protocol. Up to now most of such protocols are either inefficient or insecure under the dictionary attacks. In this paper, we present a new match protocol. It is of semantic security: there exists no probabilistic polynomial time algorithm to distinguish two guessed inputs. It js also efficient: the protocol can compare two large secret integers and require only O(1)rounds of communications and O(1) modular exponentiations, and prevent one player from cheating the other at the cost of only a bit more computations. The protocol is suited to be used in password authentication, electronic lotteries, publicly verifiable encryption, etc.


Notch signaling is an essential cell-cell communication pathway that influences numerous cell fate decisions during development. Structural and biochemical studies of a Notch-Jagged complex dramatically advance current understanding of ligand recognition, and reveal evidence of catchbond behavior in the complex. Notch proteins are large, modular single-pass transmembrane receptors in a fundamental developmental signaling pathway that influences numerous cell fate decisions in all metazoan organisms. Signal transduction relies on the ability of canonical Delta or Jagged/ Serrate family ligands to induce proteolysis of the Notch receptor and liberate its intracellular domain. Prior to ligand stimulation, receptor quiescence is established by a negative regulatory region, which masks a critical ligand-dependent processing site immediately external to the plasma membrane1. Ligand stimulation unmasks this site, enabling cleavage by an ADAM metalloprotease, and the ADAM-truncated receptor then becomes a substrate for gamma secretase, which releases the Notch intracellular region (NICD) from the membrane, allowing it to enter the nucleus and form a transcriptional activation complex that regulates transcription of Notch target genes (Fig. 1a). O-linked sugar modifications of the Notch EGF repeats play an important role as modulators of Notch signal transduction by influencing the responsiveness of Notch receptors to their various Delta and Jagged ligands2. Protein O-fucosyltransferase-1 (POFUT1) transfers O-fucose residues to specific serine and threonine receiver sites on Notch receptors, and these fucosylated residues can be further elaborated with N-acetylglucosamine by fringe glycosyltransferases and with additional sugars thereafter. How ligand recognition occurs, how recognition is modulated by receptor glycosylation, and how engagement of ligands at a binding site distant from the membrane induces sensitivity to proteolytic cleavage at a juxtamembrane site are questions that have been the focus of researchers in the field for more than two decades. In a recent Science article3, Luca and colleagues reported the X-ray structure of a complex between interacting fragments of the Notch1 receptor and a highaffinity evolved Jagged1 ligand, which, together with biochemical studies investigating the force dependence of the affinity of this interaction, provide new insight into how the Notch signal transduction machinery responds to Jagged and Serrate family ligands. The complex visualized in the X-ray structure includes EGF-like domains 8–12 (of 36 total) of the Notch1 receptor, and a high-affinity engineered fragment of Jagged1 that extends from its N-terminal MNNL and DSL domains through its third EGF-like repeat (Figure 1A). HHS Public Access Author manuscript Nat Chem Biol. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2018 May 17. Published in final edited form as: Nat Chem Biol. 2017 May 17; 13(6): 570–571. doi:10.1038/nchembio.2379. A uhor M anscript


ABSTRACT The decolorization and mineralization of two reactive dyes C.I. Reactive Blue 4 (RB 4) and C.I. Reactive Blue 268 (RB 268) were studied using various advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) such as H2O2/UV, H2O2/UV/Fe2+, and the H2O2/UV/Fe°. All processes were performed within a laboratory-scale photo-reactor setup. The experimental results were assessed in terms of absorbance (A) and total organic carbon (TOC) reduction. The main degradation products were identified by high resolution gas chromatography/high resolution mass spectrometry analyses. The results of our study demonstrated that the additions of moderate concentrations of H2O2 and Fe catalyst during the AOPs evidently increased the decolorization efficiencies within the first few minutes of the processing time (5–10 min) for both tested dyes, and prolonged irradiation does not necessarily significantly improve decolorization. On contrary, TOC removal rate increased with the processing time and with the addition of the catalyst from 40–50% up to 70–80% at defined experimental conditions. All the tested AOPs were very successful methods for RB 268 decolorization, having very complex structure and much higher molecular weight compared to the dye RB 4. This is important from both economic and ecological points of view.


The primary objective of microfinance institutions (MFIs) is to provide financial services to low-income clients and underprivileged women. As such, evaluating the efficiency of MFIs should take into account categorical output factors such as outreach and financial intermediation, rather than using the same metrics applied to traditional banks and credit unions. However, under adverse economic situations, one can expect the phenomenon of mission drift of for-profit MFIs such as microfinance banks and credit unions. When a mission drift occurs, MFIs intend to entertain wealthier clients to maximize profits, crowding out the poor ones. This paper empirically examines if such a phenomenon was observed during the global financial crisis period in Latin America and the Caribbean region using categorical Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) data that have not been considered for the analysis of MFI efficiency. In addition, we conducted two-limit Tobit regression to find significant factors for MFI efficiency. We confirm that for-profit MFIs did not experience mission drift during the adverse economic situation while country, disclosure requirements, institutions' age, and scale affected the efficiency of the for-profit MFIs. This indicates that for-profit MFIs in Latin America and the Caribbean region performed well in terms of their missions for micro-finance such as outreach, financial intermediation, as well as profit. The financially underprivileged faced a lack of household and business capital under the economic crisis. Based on the results, we conclude that support policies for younger and non-traditional MFIs to help the socially disadvantaged should be actively established for their sustainability in adverse economic situations.


Want to Achieve Your Revenue Goals? Learn These 7 Things Most B2B companies are successful only to the degree they are able to generate qualified sales leads. So why is lead generation such a mysterious subject to so many?  Considering the stakes, it...


Asa staff nurse based in special schools, I /lam often on the front line of child pro-tection issues, so this article had much to offer in improving my practice. After reading the article ( Stower 2000 ), I set myself some intended learning outcomes, including.


some concessions aimed at saving face for China. The importance of Irick's book, however, is to show that at the very same time, i.e. during the 1870s, China itself was beginning to recognize the need for substance as well as form at the negotiating table. Irick's work is a detailed and thoroughly researched study of a trade which was no less inhuman than that in African slaves abolished in the early part of the century. Before the ending of the coolie trade in 1873, ships of Britain and America had carried a large proportion of the half-million or more Chinese labourers who were transported in virtual slavery from the south China ports, together with Macao and Hong Kong, to the West Indies and South America. It is not a comprehensive study of the trade, it says nothing for example about the social background which tolerated the kidnapping of large numbers of able-bodied men for all too long, but as its title indicates, it examines the reaction of local and central authorities to it and to the foreigners responsible for it, and it therefore turns out to be, like Cooley's book, a study of diplomatic intercourse between Ch'ing officials and Western representatives in China. It shows the Chinese gradually shifting their stance from an initial, traditional refusal to acknowledge the emigration problem to one from which they (and especially Li Hung-chang and Jui-lin) were eventually skilful enough to bring it to an end. It shows them acting with increasing realism and responsibility, and with a hitherto unsuspected concern for the fate of their subjects overseas. A good deal of Iriek's book is the result of original research, and includes careful descriptions and comments on Chinese emigration and the coolie trade. His most interesting and novel proposals come in the penultimate chapter and relate to the Peruvian Treaty of 1876, the Spanish Convention of 1877, and the despatch of overseas missions. The Alcock Convention had been a major turning point in the history of Sino-foreign relations, its rejection lighting the fuse which led to the Chefoo Convention in 1876. Cooley has more to say about the former than Irick, but Chefoo features prominently in both books, and in each the role of Thomas Wade is seen as critical, though for entirely different reasons. Cooley refers to the Minister's success in securing ' most of the concessions he wanted for England and China (italics mine) . . . He believed that the new Convention could provide a new beginning for SinoWestern accord.' Irick is far less generous about the motivation behind what he calls ' this compilation of infamous demands '. He is also more explicit about the diplomatic manoeuvres of 1875—6. In his context, Wade's most significant move consisted of tying negotiations over the Margary affair to those in which he was currently involved with Peru and China and Spain and China over the question of coolie emigration. It was his threat to withdraw from this mediation which apparently gained some of the concessions he sought at Chefoo, though the conduct and outcome of the Peruvian and Spanish talks showed that China itself had learned something, presumably from Wade, about obduracy as well as give and take in negotiation. Irick concludes that the Chinese were the winners in both rounds of debate, that they earned respect for their tough stance, and that the Treaty exchanged with Peru in January 1876 should be regarded as China's first ' almost equal treaty ' (almost equal because it did grant Peruvians some extra-territorial privileges in China). The exchange of treaties preceded the sending of Ch'en Lan-pin's mission to the U.S.A., Spain and Peru in 1878. As early as 1867 a secret memorial from the Tsungli Yamen had linked the coolie issue with the despatch of Chinese envoys abroad, and whereas the absence of any sizeable numbers of Chinese in Western Europe made Kuo Sung-tao's mission appear to be less than essential, the court did finally appreciate the value to its own subjects of Chinese representation in North and South America. The emigrant problem was thus a major propellant in China's adaptation to the Western community. Here, perhaps, behind the scenes, was Thomas Wade's real contribution to China's integration into the family of nations. The contrast in the factual information and the authors' opinions contained in these two books extends, unfortunately, to the standard of their physical production. Whilst it is a pleasure to record the high degree of accuracy achieved by the publisher and printer in Taiwan, Cooley's book abounds with so many printing errors and mistakes of spelling and punctuation that one cannot fail to be distracted from its substance by its form.


Anorexia nervosa is a form of eating distress, with one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder. There are many competing theories about the causal factors involved in its development and there is no clear consensus on effective treatments for adult sufferers. Community mental health team (CMHT) professionals are expected to provide psychological treatment and physical monitoring of people with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa but with a lack of knowledge about how best to be helpful, professionals may find this difficult. This study presents a qualitative exploration of how professionals understand and use their experiences, perceptions and expectations with adults with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa with a view to identify any factors that hinder or facilitate their work to inform future practice. Seven community psychiatric nurses (CPNs) and six chartered psychologists were interviewed and the data were analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (Smith, 1996). A number of themes emerged with three main themes underpinning these: anxiety and risk, team work, and hope. The experiences described within these themes highlight the difficulties and factors that facilitate the work of the professionals with people with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa. It is suggested that teams could work more collaboratively to manage anxieties, alongside greater consideration of the support and supervisory needs of CPNs and of training for all professionals. Research focusing on the factors that facilitate this work would further inform practice in how best to support professionals and people with a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa.


The high cost of congestion caused by incidents such as accidents and other events that reduce the capacity of roads has prompted a growing worldwide interest in developing efficient and effective incident management programs. The success of these programs will depend to a large extent on the development of reliable and efficient automated incident detection (AID) models. These algorithms analyse real-time data collected from traffic detection devices to determine whether an incident has occurred. This paper reviews some of the most widely used AID algorithms and discusses the refinement and further development of an AID model based on fractal dimension analysis. The development of this algorithm was based on the notion that traffic parameters upstream of incidents and bottlenecks show substantial irregular behaviour when compared with downstream conditions. Fractal dimension analysis was used to provide a measure of the irregularity in traffic parameters. A comparative evaluation of the performance of a number of AID algorithms that have been developed from a variety of theoretical foundations is also presented. The results, which were based on the same dataset of 100 field incidents, confirmed the superior performance of the neural network and fractal dimension models over the Comparative or California-type models.


The volume available on small satellites restricts the size of optical apertures to a few centimetres, limiting the Ground-Sampling Distance (GSD) in the visible to typically 3 m at 500 km. We present in this paper the latest development of a laboratory demonstrator of a segmented deployable telescope that will triple the achievable ground resolution and improve photometric capability of CubeSat imagers. Each mirror segment is folded for launch and unfolds in space. We demonstrate through laboratory validation very high deployment repeatability of the mirrors <±5 μm. To enable diffraction-limited imaging, segments are controlled in piston, tip, and tilt. This is achieved by an initial coarse alignment of the mirrors followed by a fine phasing step. Finally, we investigate the impact of the thermal environment on high-order wavefront error and the conceptual design of a deployable secondary fitting inside 1U.


When atoms are exposed to intense laser fields, the Coulomb potential of these atoms is perturbed by the high electric field strengths. It results in highly nonlinear effects, such as multi-photon ionization (MPI) or high-harmonic generation (HHG) [1], [2]. To reach the required high laser intensities, chirped-pulse amplification at kilohertz repetition rates is typically employed [3].


6-Chloro-5-(2-chloroethyl)oxindole, a key intermediate in the manufacturing of the antipsychotic drug, ziprasidone, has been synthesized by a new route. The salient features of the synthesis are (1) bis-dialkylation of 2,4-difluoro-5-chloronitrobenzene with sodium diethyl malonate, (2) decarboxylative hydrolysis to obtain the oxindole derivative, and (3) reduction and chlorination of acetic ester side chain.


ABSTRACT Research Findings: The present study examined the extent to which instructional practices, including curriculum, in pre-K through third grade are vertically aligned. Attention was directed to teachers' grouping practices, academic content, and pedagogical methods given their importance for students' learning. Variable- and person-centered analyses examined these practices for a sample of 1,095 students in 179 pre-K through third-grade classrooms. A comparison of practices indicated that pre-K practices were significantly mis-aligned from those used in kindergarten through third grade, whereas kindergarten practices were well aligned with practices used in the older grades. Examination of profiles of classroom practices showed there to be four profiles, one of which was considered as "academic-light group work," which was dominated by pre-K and kindergarten classrooms. Practice or policy: Overall, this study found that instructional practices in pre-K were starkly different from those in kindergarten through third grade, and that kindergarten appears to be highly academic for about two-thirds of classrooms. This work underscores the importance of practices and policies that promote alignment from pre-K into the primary grades and how it might be enhanced.


A system and a method for cleaning particulate contaminants adhered to the wafer surface. Detergents include detergents suspended in a dispersion of the coupling component is applied to the wafer surface. External energy is applied to the cleaning agent to generate a periodic cut in the cleanser varying stress. The periodic shear force exerts a force on the coupling component, such that the coupling component with the particulate contaminant to interact the particulate contaminants from the wafer surface is removed.


The authors present three interrelated problems facing correctional adminstrators in developing healthy employment and career development programs for the adult offender: (a) socioeconomic status of the offender prior to involvement in the justice system; (b) general failure of typical educational, vocational training, and counseling programs operating in correctional institutions; and (c) the criminal label attached to the ex-offender. Potential help is suggested stemming from theories developed by Donald E. Super and Edmund W. Gordon. Such theories emphasize making fuller use of existing community services and general resources rather than initiating or expanding institutional programs.


Lossy compressors are increasingly adopted in scientific research, tackling volumes of data from experiments or parallel numerical simulations and facilitating data storage and movement. In contrast with the notion of entropy in lossless compression, no theoretical or data-based quantification of lossy compressibility exists for scientific data. Users rely on trial and error to assess lossy compression performance. As a strong data-driven effort toward quantifying lossy compressibility of scientific datasets, we provide a statistical framework to predict compression ratios of lossy compressors. Our method is a two-step framework where (i) compressor-agnostic predictors are computed and (ii) statistical prediction models relying on these predictors are trained on observed compression ratios. Proposed predictors exploit spatial correlations and notions of entropy and lossyness via the quantized entropy. We study 8+ compressors on 6 scientific datasets and achieve a median percentage prediction error less than 12%, which is substantially smaller than that of other methods while achieving at least a 8.8× speedup for searching for a specific compression ratio and 7.8× speedup for determining the best compressor out of a collection.