ABSTRACT Investment in public transport is on the rise as many cities around the world aim to reduce their carbon footprint and improve population health. One such investment is building or extending Light Rail Transit (LRT). Focusing on studies in the USA, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, this paper reports the results of a systematic review on the associations between LRT and physical activity. This systematic review adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement. Twenty studies were identified through a search of five bibliographic databases (Web of Science, Transport Research International Documentation (TRID), Scopus, Medline, and SPORTDiscus) (n=5,866) and a systematic Google search (n=446). At least two reviewers conducted the search and reviewed the titles and abstract of each identified article to include in the review. Standardized data extraction forms were used to document information from each selected article. The forms included a risk of bias assessment tool. Two reviewers completed the Effective Public Health Practice Project (EPHPP) Quality Assessment Tool for Quantitative Studies. Our findings show that moderate certainty of evidence exists for the relationship between LRT and walking behaviour. Here, all studies, most of which were natural experiments (n = 6), found a positive association between LRT and walking behaviour, with LRT leading to an increase of 7–40% in walking in most studies (n = 7 out of 8). A positive relationship between LRT and moderate-to-vigorous intensity physical activity (MVPA) and between LRT and cycling was also often identified; however, results were inconsistent, and certainty of evidence is low for MPVA, and very low for cycling. Further, some studies (n = 3) identify differences in physical activity participation at different LRT stations, suggesting that station design, surrounding land use, and built environment play important roles in promoting physical activity around LRT. Given this, practitioners can be relatively confident that LRT investments will result in increased walking behaviour.


Torsion micro-mirror is the key structure of MEMS optical devices such as MEMS optical switches, MEMS variable optical attenuator, MEMS scanning micro-mirror array and so on. In this paper, after testing a silicon-based non-silicon micro-mirror fabricated by bulk micromachining, some important measurement data has been achieved. It is clear that this silicon-based non-silicon micro-mirror scheme can has just less than 15 degree rotation at 20V driving voltage while the beam thickness is just 0.5 m m . In order to improving the stability, reliability and optical properties of the micro-mirror, a new scheme has been put forward and the fabricating process using surface-micromachining has been simulated. It is shown that the new scheme will improve the characteristics of the micro-mirror effectively.


Rotary regenerative heat exchangers are commonly used in the industry. However, the corrosion of sheets that are in contact with the operating fluid is considered as the disadvantage of these heat ...


Introduction: The importance of pain control in patients with limb trauma admitted to emergency departments as well as its complications is among the main concerns in post-emergency care, which contributes to the accelerated improvement of patients' conditions in a significant manner. Objectives: The present study was to evaluate the analgesic and sedative effects of intravenous (IV) ketamine versus morphine administration on relieving long/short bone-fracture pain in the upper/lower limbs. Patients and Methods: The present study is as a double-blind randomized clinical trial. For this purpose, the effect of ketamine and morphine were initially examined using IV ketamine and morphine administration, respectively, at the doses of 0.4 and 0.1 mg/kg/IV/10 min in patients, aged 18-65 years with limb trauma, and admitted to hospital emergency departments. Afterward, the duration of the analgesic effect, the amount of pain relief, according to the visual analog scale (VAS) outcomes, and the complications for each drug, including apnea, bradycardia, tachycardia, altered level of consciousness, nausea, vomiting, hypertension/hypotension, seizures and disturbed sleep were compared, and then the preferred method was introduced. Results: In this study, 120 patients in total, including 60 cases receiving ketamine and 60 individuals receiving morphine, were recruited. The participants' age range was between 19 -70 years. The patients' mean age was 47.04±12.57 years of whom 89 patients (74.2%) were male. The study results indicated that the potency of the low-dose ketamine infusion in relieving pain in patients was comparable to that of morphine. Conclusion: It was concluded that ketamine could be administered as an alternative to IV morphine to reduce long/short bone-fracture pain in the upper/lower limbs. Trial Registration: The trial protocol was authorized by the Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, (identifier: IRCT20170716035105N3; https://en.irct.ir/trial/26628, ethical code: IR.AJUMS.REC.1396.248).


Shelley's 1821 pronouncement that "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" (632) probably marks the highpoint of the literary artist's confidence in the ability of literature to engage with and have an impact on the social world. One can think of a few specific examples of such engagement and impact- Melville's White-Jacket (1850) influencing legislation banning flogging on U.S. navy ships, Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin (1852) crystallizing the debate over slavery, or Sinclair's The Jungle (1906) inspiring the creation of the Pure Food and Drug Act - but only a few. Otherwise, we tend to think of the social impact of literature as being more subtly epistemological and ontological: variously confirming or challenging our and our culture's values, raising consciousnesses, occasionally transforming individual lives. If, however, one believes as I do - and, I think, as many fiction writers do - that art's social role is to question, challenge, and reimagine the ideological status quo, or, as Thomas Pynchon put it in a message of support to Salman Rushdie, "that power is as much our sworn enemy as unreason" ("Words" 29), then the kinds of influences (impact is probably too strong a word) literature can have in the social world can seem pretty vague and insubstantial. William Carlos Williams's famous lament that T. S. Eliot's footnotes to The Waste Land had taken poetry out of "local conditions" and given it "back to the academics" (Williams 146), pointy-headed English professors in ivory towers, marks the opposite extreme to Shelley's confidence and represents, I imagine, the anxiety of many authors: they desire their work to intervene in the social arena, but they fear that their work - and literature in general - is increasingly irrelevant.


This paper explains the implementation process of a Performance Measurement System (PMS) at an Electronic industry. It argues that the main reason for the failure of the PMS is directly related to the lack of attention of the implementation process.


Homophobic discourse, influenced by medical theories, has shaped the representations of homosexuality around the notion of gender since the middle of the 20th century by spreading the stereotypes of the effeminate homosexual and the masculine lesbian. Set up as countertypes to the virile or feminine ideal, homosexuals see themselves rejected from national community, treated like foreigners, and held in suspicion during crises and in cases of corruption and treason. The homosexual identity is thus constructed in reaction to the homophobic discourse and practices. The strategies worked out by homosexuals therefore range from claiming an acknowledged difference to the rejection of constraining stereotypes and the subversion of language categories through gender confusion and the camp aesthetics.


Si Mn TRIP steel has a multi phase microstructure,which is mainly composed of ferrite,bainite and retained austenite.The relationship between heat treatment process and microstructure of the steel was investigated by means of tint etching method,together with X ray diffraction,SEM and TEM method in this paper.The results show that in the intercritical phase regions,with the annealing temperature rising,the volume percentage of the ferrite matrix reduces,the bainite increases and the stability of retained austenite fluctuates.In the bainite transformation range,if isothermal temperature is either over high or over low,the volume percentage of the retained austenite will be reduced and the bainite is provided with granular morphology.


The aim of this paper is to discuss the idea that knowledge externalities, as discussed in the Endogenous Growth Theory, can be spread over any kind of space. Although this point has already been discussed by some scholars in the heterodox tradition (Nelson, 1998, Martin and Sunley, 1998, among others), we would like to bring into discussion a new perspective that analyses the validity of this assumption in peripheral regions/countries. It will be argued that there are some peripheral structural conditions that constrain the generation, transfer and absorption of knowledge externalities. Above of all, it will be argued that the construction of "space" in the periphery is determinant for the absence of widespread diffusion of this kind of externality. This conclusion implies that the generality of the New Growth Theory is very difficult to be assumed.


Your educational guide to Internet lesson plans and resources! Designed for busy teachers, educators, students, parents, pre-service teachers, student teachers, and technology support specialists. Grades K-12 Lesson plan categories and resources include: Art, Bilingual/ESL, Classroom Management, Computers, Databases, Digital Photography, Distance Learning, Drama, Educational Standards, Foreign Language, Google Tools, Health and PE, Internet Issues, Journalism, Language Arts, Learning Theorists and Research, Mathematics, Multicultural, Multimedia and Video Technology, Multiple Subjects, Music, Networking and Internet, Science, Social Studies, Software Integration, Special Education, Standards and Mega-Sites, Teacher Support Tools and Software, Technology Coordinators, Technology in Education: Assistive Technology, Technology in the News, The Future, Vocational-Technical Education, Web 2.0, Appendix A: Newsgroups, Appendix: B: Search Tools Features: 3,000+ best educational sites, Easy-to-read descriptions, Online updating of sites, Safe and reliable sites, Loaded with lesson plan sites and free printable material, Pointers on how to search and find educational sites


Photoluminescence from n-GaAs has been measured as a function of applied voltage under excitation with a picosecond laser at three excitation power levels. A large increase in the photoluminescence intensity at the flat band potential is observed as the excitation power is increased. Analysis of the data with the modified dead layer model shows that the surface minority trapping velocity decreases as the laser power is increased. The authors attribute this to a saturation of surface minority carrier traps resulting from picosecond pulse excitation and compare the results with a companion study in which surface minority trapping velocities at the flat band potential are determined from luminescence decay profiles. 8 refs., 3 figs.


Objective To investigate the safety of popularizing the acute hypervolemic hemodilution (AHH) under noninvasive wardship condition.Methods 120 patients were divided into three groups by double blind method.The group A was simple AHH,group B was AHH plus controlled hypertension (CH),and group C was the routine treatment one.The multi function wardship instrument was used to observe ECG and BP and SpO 2 etc.,and Hct and HGB was examined at different times,before anesthesia allurement,after the beginning of operation and 72 hours after operation.The RPP (the product of HP and BP) and the viaration value of ECG ST and urine volume and SpO 2 were recorded at the same time.The hemorrhage and blood transfusion amount was calculated after operation according to the measurement of the blood in inhaled bottle,the weight of pledget and the record of the transfusion amount.Results The RPP of group B was significantly lower after hypervolemic hemodilution (P0.01),while the other two groups increased significantly and there were significant differences among groups (P0.01).The values of Hct and HGB of group A and groups B after the beginning of operation were significantly decreased,as compared with that of group C (P0.01),so that the AHH and the urine volume of group A after operation was significantly increased,as compared with those of the other two groups (P0.01).Although the hemorrhage amount in operation among groups had no significant difference,the blood transfusion amount in operation of group A was significantly lower than those of the other two groups (P0.01),and the values of Hct and Hb were higher than those of the other two groups.Conclusion It is safe to use acute hypervolemic hemodilution under noninvasive wardship condition to protect blood and the AHH plus CH scheme is the best measure.


espanolEl siguiente escrito es parte de la segunda etapa del proyecto �Dibujos sinestesicos: la educacion y las artes� y distinguido con el �Premio Internacional de Creacion Literaria Arete 2010� que otorga la Asociacion Onubense para las Altas Capacidades Intelectuales en Espana. Proyecto realizado de enero de 2006 a diciembre de 2009 adaptado y correlacionado con segmentos de estudio de etapas posteriores y escrito a traves de la inspiracion y motivacion de La Comunidad de Pensamiento Complejo A.C. EnglishThis paper is the second part of the project �sinesthesic drawings: education and arts�, recognized with the �International Award of Literary Creation Arete 2010� given by the Asociacion Onubense para las Altas Capacidades Intelectuales in Spain. This project was conducted from January 2006 to December 2009, adapted and correlated to study segments of subsequent stages and written through the inspiration and motivation of the �Community of Complex Thought A.C.� of Argentina. The researcher and his pupils propose the language and the aesthetic experience as a way towards the holistic growth. We had the opportunity of undergoing the aesthetic experience as far as reaching the poetic revelation which, as a personal experience, was the fulfillment of otherness. This study is divided in three stages: The first one is the research of Mexican culture and education in the latest years by retaking some historical issues to draw an analogy with America. The second one is the practice of arts within the Mexican education through the teacher´s position to confirm the thesis of children´s emotional quotient and instruction as an academy method towards an including human formation. The third stage is the personal experimentation concerning the creative act through the emotional language during the phases of an existential void and confirm the fact human beings learn through pain, and that through love we do the most noble acts, discerning the telos.


Background: HIV/AIDS is a global disease and despite intensive research it is one of the main causes of human death. Postmortem studies have proven accurate in determining the various pathologies in these patients. Aims & Objectives: Our aim was to analyze the post mortem results of individuals who died after HIV infection in the same geographical region. We evaluated the most frequent opportunistic diseases and their clinical and morphological outcomes. Methods: We studied case reports and autopsy research data from 32 patients who died after HIV infection in Smolensk, Russian Federation, between 2003 and 2008. All patients had been diagnosed with HIV infection before death, using HIV-specific enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and immunoblotting. Autopsy specimens of various organs were examined histologically and microbiologically. Findings: The mean survival period from the moment of detection of seropositivity in all the patients was less than five years. Twelve patients had a parenteral mode of contact, six had been infected by sexual contact, and 14 patients had unknown modes of infection. Most patients (69%) had chronic hepatitis C. The main causes of death were various infectious diseases. The most common were generalized miliary tuberculosis and progressive secondary tuberculosis of the lungs. Three (9%) patients had tuberculosis of the meninges and five (16%) had peritoneal infections, but tuberculous peritonitis had not been diagnosed before death. Six patients had pulmonary tuberculosis and bacterial pneumonia simultaneously. Two (6%) patients died from bacterial sepsis as a result of cervical lymphadenitis, and eight (12.5%) from abscess-forming pneumonia. The opportunistic infections revealed were Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia (eight patients), cytomegaloviral pneumonia (three), bronchopulmonary aspergillosis (one) and mucosal candidiasis (three). In three patients, the causes of death were advanced neoplastic processes: two cases of leukemia and one case of cervical cancer.


Today, many organizations are concerned with how to successfully transition to an organization utilizing information technology to its fullest strategic extent. The organization's enterprise architecture plays a key role in this transition. Enterprise architectures are typically comprised of many components and can be very complex. All of these components must be integrated well for the organization to easily evolve and successfully adapt to the frequent technology and business changes that occur. An Enterprise Architecture Framework (EAF) can significantly aid development of an adaptable enterprise architecture. When developing an enterprise architecture, the major areas of focus should be stakeholders' perspectives, contextual awareness interrogatives by which these perspectives are expressed, and System of Systems (SOS) hierarchical levels. This research has led to the identification of an enterprise architectural framework for a complex system of systems. It identifies an enterprise architecture framework and an Architecture Development Process (ADP) to engineer an effective, flexible enterprise architecture. The resulting three-dimensional enterprise architecture framework incorporates hierarchical levels of the system of systems that characterize the enterprise as well as the perspectives of all stakeholders, including such external ones as customers and partners, and contextual awareness interrogatives. The resultant enterprise architecture framework explicitly addresses the complexity of systems and the high degree of integration needed across system of systems levels. Measures of effectiveness for the enterprise architecture framework, architecture development process, and the resulting architecture are briefly discussed as well as an empirical evaluation. The results of the evaluation suggest that use of both the framework and the architecture development process are beneficial.


A turnover box was developed based on the part's characteristics in shape and structure,low requirements for size and geometric tolerances and yield.Appropriate machin ing processes were designed and a simple CNC stamping procedure was programmed to re duce its production cost.The corresponding solution was made by analyzing the cause of problems in the stamping production process.


The ocean's role in climate manifests itself through its high heat capacity, its own rich internal dynamics and its ability to transport vast quantities of heat and freshwater. Of particular interest is the global ocean circulation associated with the Atlantic meridional overturning (AMOC). Because observations are sparse, the detailed global structure of the AMOC remains poorly understood, particularly the pathways along which water returns to the Atlantic to compensate the export of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW). Here we provide the first quantitative 3‐dimensional global view of the AMOC using a Lagrangian reconstruction which integrates hundred of thousands water particle trajectories in an ocean model. The resulting pattern elucidates the role of the wind in structuring the pathways of the AMOC. In particular, the Lagrangian analysis reveals a strong link with the three subtropical gyres of the southern hemisphere (SH), which merge into a "supergyre" spanning the three ocean basins. The coupling between the upper ocean wind‐driven circulation and the overturning in the model suggests that changes in the SH winds can alter the pathways of the AMOC, and therefore the water properties and the associated heat and freshwater transports.


The coprecipitation of barium carbonate and silica spontaneously creates complex micrometer-scale objects such as sheets and helices. These structures consist of densely packed crystalline nanorods that in the case of sheets align in radial direction. We report the existence of an additional level of self-organization that creates oscillatory height variations in biomorph sheets. These topographic features take the form of either concentric rings or disordered, patchy patterns and form immediately in the wake of the crystallization front. Their wavelength varies around 6.5 μm and shows no pronounced dependence on the reactant concentrations. Atomic force microscopy reveals height variations of up to 500 nm which equal 45% of the average sheet thickness. These undulations are accompanied by a systematic out-of-plane displacement of the nanorods. Our results are discussed in the context of an earlier hypothesis that predicts pH oscillations near the crystallization front.


The controls of the unit operations used in the power plants (boilers, heat recovery steam generators, compressor, turbines, combustion controls, cooling towers, and condensers) are discussed in detail in other sections of this chapter. Also, these mechanical packages, as purchased, are often already provided with their integral control systems. For these reasons, this section will give more emphasis to the description of the mechanical equipment, its features, possible combinations, operation, and start-up and shutdown procedures. This section will describe processes that can substantially increase the efficiency of power generation. These processes include cogeneration, combined cycle generation, and the use of both techniques in combination. Cogeneration is a mode of operation when the plant produces both heat (steam or hot water) and electricity. In a combined cycle power plant, electricity is produced by two turbines, a gas and a steam turbine. The gas turbine is operated by the combustion products of the fuel (Brayton cycle), while the steam turbine (Rankine cycle) is operated by the steam generated by the heat content of the exhaust gases leaving the gas turbine. The efficiency of a traditional power station, consisting of a fired boiler, full condensing steam turbine, and electric generator, can hardly reach 40%. The major losses occur in the steam condenser, which wastes more than 45% of the total thermal energy that is supplied to the plant. Therefore, when the total electric power generated is constant, the overall power plant efficiency can be improved by lowering the inlet steam quantity to the condenser.


Abstract : The Articulated Total Body (ATB) Modeling System is needed to address a variety of new technologies and challenges which are changing the operating environment of aircrews. These changes include increasing aircraft performance, which increase the need for expanding the safe ejection envelope. The increasing complexity of the weapon systems, cockpit, and missions have also stimulated the development of equipment to aid the aircrews: night vision goggles, helmet mounted sights, and helmet mounted displays. Each of these devices has the potential for impacting the safe ejection envelope and increasing the injury potential of an ejection (as well as increasing the fatigue of normal flying). While microelectronics, fiber optic technology, and miniaturization can keep the equipment weight small, even these weights at 15 G ejection acceleration may pose a substantial injury hazard.


Comprehensive clinical, laboratory and instrumental examination has been carried out in 52 patients with liver injuries in polytrauma. It was revealed that one of the leading factors, determining the outcome and prognosis of disease, is functional dysfunction of liver cells. Feasibility of the use of amino acid solution for parenteral nutrition with hepatoprotective properties in the complex of intensive therapy for critical care patients has been proved.


Peleg established a fundamental theorem which says that convex effectivity functions are stable. He also proved its partial converse: Within the class of maximal effectivity functions, stability implies convexity. The present paper provides another partial converse: Within the class of α-effectivity functions derived from extensive game forms without chance moves, stability implies convexity. It also provides a geometric characterization of the stability condition for the latter class.


Excellent mechanical and physical properties make carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) the best options for repair, retrofit, and rehabilitation of civil engineering structures. A great success on application of this material in reinforced concrete (RC) structures has attracted much attention from many researchers to develop it in combination with steel. The number of studies on the use of CFRP composites for strengthening steel structures has still been limited and needs to be more explored. To date, the research in this field has mainly focused on CFRP strengthening with adhesively-bonded technique. This paper reports an experimental study to investigate the performance of slender axial compression steel members partially strengthened with unbonded CFRP composites. The requirements for stiffener to prevent buckling occurred in stiffening region are derived from structural equilibrium conditions. Vacuum-assisted Resin Transfer Molding (VaRTM) method is adopted to form CFRP laminates in the strengthened specimens. Totally eight small scale specimens are tested, and it is clear from the test that improvement in load-carrying capacity can be achieved by using CFRP.


49Background: COVID-19 in oncologic patients presents a clinical dilemma. To reduce the risk of adverse events as well as the risk of exposing others, many institutions have established protocols t...


The Industrial Revolution has led to a substantial i ncrease in the generation and release of greenhouse gases (GHG) into environment. These GHGs like CO2 if present in abundance in the atmosphere cause damage to the natural ecosystems through global warming. One of the possible approaches to mitigate the global warming phenomena is by safely and long-term underground disposal of CO2 in suitable geological formations. The sealing capacity of the caprock should be capable to prevent the stored CO2 from escaping or causing other undesirable circumstances for a successful geosequestration project. This paper examines the change in the permeability and strength behaviour of the sedimentary rocks with under different stress conditions during and after the injection of CO2 with regard to the factors that can potentially hamper the caprock's integrity and lead to possible of escaping of CO2 from the reservoir. In addition, the consequences of any sort of leakage, the mechanisms of failure of the cap-rock and migration of the CO2 through the fractured rock mass are als o discussed. The geo-mechanical effects of CO2 storage on cap rock properties and behaviour are analysed further with emphasis on crack initiation and propagation along with the factors responsible for it.


The article presents and discusses the policy of Turkish quasi-government think tanks. The academic and practical activities of these institutions, types of publications, in some cases financial capabilities, as well as their presence on social platforms are presented in detail.


The large number of products sold by the Bill Lights Store resulted in a stockpile of several product items due to the large supply of products that were less attractive to customers, resulting in many unsold and under-sold products. Bill Lights struggles with inventory levels of sold and unsold products, as well as shortages and overstocks. Bill Lights stores should rank each product so that they know which products are in the most demand. The purpose of this research is to solve the problem of using inventory information by grouping inventory products based on product characteristics using data mining techniques. The technique used is the K-Means algorithm method. K-Means algorithm clustering method and RapidMiner software processing. The data mining process starts with data processing (selection, cleaning, transformation, data mining and interpretation/evaluation). So if we start with a dataset of 160 products, we get cluster 0 with 88 products classified as sold, cluster 1 with 26 products classified as unsold, and cluster 2 with 46 fewer products classified as sold. The result of using the K-Means method is grouped into three clusters. To enable Bill Lights Store to implement sales and growth strategies based on products that are selling well.


A general discussion of federal and state school administration.-With the expansion and differentiation of the school system and with the growth of departments and colleges of education in our universities, the problems of school administration have received increased attention. Moreover, the magnitude and the complexity of the task of administering our great systems of education, staffed as they are with undertrained teachers, have tended to increase the authority and the prestige of the administrator. As a consequence, he, rather than the teacher, has become the central figure in American education. Whatever the causes may be, a strong professional interest in educational administration is characteristic of the present period. The appearance of numerous textbooks, monographs, and articles dealing with this subject is one expression of this interest. A recent addition' to the literature presents an elementary and untechnical discussion of the problems of state and federal school administration. According to the author, this book differs somewhat from most of the books which have appeared in the same field in that it was not written for the professional and mature student of administration. It was written rather for the beginner, the ordinary teacher, and the educational layman. Professor Cook contends in the Preface that there is need for such a book. Especially does he argue that the teacher and the citizen are unfamiliar with the basic principles of school administration and that they should be enlightened. The primary object of the book is apparently to provide the necessary enlightenment. The scope of the book is extremely wide. Since its object is to introduce the reader to the field, this is as it should be. The problems of both federal and state school administration are included in the discussion. The initial chapter discusses the school as an institution. Then follows a chapter describing the growth of education as a public function in the United States. The next four chapters deal with the problem as it touches the federal government. The remainder of the book, consisting of eleven chapters, treats of the various problems incident to the administration of education in the state and in the local community. One rather unique feature of the book is a chapter which describes and evaluates certain important nationalizing agencies in education of a private or a quasi-public character. Among the agencies considered are the General Education Board, the Carnegie Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and


The invention relates to a method for computer-assisted, automatic generation of timetables for transportation systems taking into account time limits, which are used within the framework of planning tools as well as online to the timetable disposition as part of control systems. The invention extends the method described in the DE patent application 19533127 to schedule generation. With the new method, in particular upper time limits are considered as operational constraints. According to the invention a non-linear penalty costs (penalties) model is used.


Hair tourniquet was described over 300 years ago but it is still commonly overlooked by physicians today. It most commonly occurs before puberty when a hair or thread strangulates a distal appendage, compromising venous and lymphatic drainage. If the constriction persists long enough, arterial blood supply can be compromised resulting in ischemia and possible gangrene. In this case report we describe a tourniquet-like syndrome but it differs from the other cases described in the literature due to the patient inflicting it upon herself, resulting in an intermittent strangulation of multiple digits. The mechanism likely differs because instead of the increase pressure causing a cyanosis turning the digits blue, we suspect the increased pressure brought about by the tourniquet is forcing red blood cells into the interstitium turning the tips of the digits dark purple.


A community is a cell of society and a harmonious community is the foundation and prerequisite for the construction of harmonious society.Party's construction in a community is the core of building a harmonious community and therefore thinking is to be innovated continuously on party's construction in a community as are the setting of organization and carriers of activities so as to provide solid support for promoting the construction of harmonious community through providing a strong political,ideological and organizational guarantee solid support for party's construction in a community.


A stochastic process can be defined as a function with random parameters.Based on these ideas,an original random function for earthquake accelerograms is proposed.The new model contains two parts: one is the model for the Fourier amplitude spectrum,which is obtained from the physical theorem;the other is the model for the Fourier phase spectrum,which is obtained from the empirical theorem.The Fourier amplitude spectrum model(FASM) can be deduced from the theorem of the pseudo-acceleration spectrum.The Fourier phase spectrum model(FPSM) is built on the accumulated phase spectrum and to be composed by linear polynomial and trigonometric series.Most characters of accelerograms can be reconstructed by the proposed model in the waveform domain as well as at the response spectrum level.


Indoor IR/optical wireless communications channels have been investigated since the late 1970s,1 and subsequent research has characterized this channel up to a frequency of 400MHz.2–4 Optical wireless links can operate in two basic modes, diffuse and line of sight. Advantages of the former are robustness to shadowing and better coverage, although lower received power requires high-sensitivity photodetectors. Line-of-sight channels can provide sufficient power for industrial-grade photodetectors, despite being vulnerable to shadowing. Here, we report on the feasibility of 1Gbit/s transmission rates over a directed non-line-of-sight5 optical link. Figure 1 illustrates our experimental setup. A network analyzer modulates the 808nm-wavelength light from the transmitting laser between 10MHz and 1GHz, and obtains amplitude and phase characteristics from the receiving avalanche photodiode (APD). The laser points toward the ceiling, where light is reflected from a diffuse spot and captured on the photodiode. Amplifiers are incorporated to provide sufficient gain to obtain measurements above the noise floor. We attached a focusing lens (2in diameter) to the APD to achieve higher optical power on the device's active area (0.2mm2). We set the transmitted power level at 50mW and placed the receiving optical elements on a mechanical assembly for pointing. We selected a total of 1601 frequencies to perform our measurements. To obtain the channel characteristics exclusively from the transmitting and receiving elements, we performed calibration measurements by placing the laser and APD back-to-back with a known reduced power level in the linear modulation range. We used the resulting response as reference for calibration and conducted measurements at three different receiver locations. (The transmitter was kept fixed at one location.) In a 7.8 4 3m3 room, the three receiver locations were (2.54, 1.9, 0.5m), (4.14, 1.08, 0.5m), and (6.08, 1.46, 0.5m), with the transmitter residing Figure 1. Experimental setup for indoor IR/optical wireless channel characterization. APD: Avalanche photodiode.


Nerve injury can occur due to penetrating wounds, compression, traumatic stretch, and cold exposure. Despite prompt repair, outcomes are dismal. In an attempt to help resolve this challenge, in this work, a poly-lactic-co-glycolic acid (PLGA) nerve conduit with associated biodegradable drug reservoir was designed, fabricated, and tested. Unlike current nerve conduits, this device is capable of fitting various clinical scenarios by delivering different drugs without reengineering the whole system. To demonstrate the potential of this device for nerve repair, a series of experiments were performed using nerve growth factor (NGF). First, an NGF dosage curve was developed to determine the minimum NGF concentration for optimal axonal outgrowth on chick dorsal root ganglia (DRG) cells. Next, PLGA devices loaded with NGF were evaluated for sustained drug release and axon growth enhancement with the released drug. A 20 d in vitro release test was conducted and the nerve conduit showed the ability to meet and maintain the minimum NGF requirement determined previously. Bioactivity assays of the released NGF showed that drug released from the device between the 15th and 20th day could still promote axon growth (76.6–95.7 μm) in chick DRG cells, which is in the range of maximum growth. These novel drug delivery conduits show the ability to deliver NGF at a dosage that efficiently promotes ex vivo axon growth and have the potential for in vivo application to help bridge peripheral nerve gaps.


boundaries of the urban political system: the 'point of delivery' where power is exercised and challenged face-to-face. Katznelson's attempt to 'locate the urban crisis in the context of capitalist development' is, in contrast, a disappointment. Alone among the others, he is able to take a broad historical sweep, placing his discussion within the contexts of a mounting legitimacy crisis and the changing political economy of the older industrial cities. He makes sensitive parallels between colonial rule and urban government. Yet I was left with a sense of evaporating interest as the sustained analyses of the other authors culminated in the generalities of this last essay. Perhaps the sense of disjuncture is heightened by the expectation that Hawley and Lipsky or Katznelson might have taken the opportunity to draw together some of the threads of this remarkably stimulating set of essays. Ken Young Urban and Regional Studies Unit, University of Kent at Canterbury


In this paper, the authors present an original method for detecting coastlines on synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images. With this method, the processing of image data is performed in three steps: restoration, segmentation and coastline segment extraction. The problem of image restoration is solved via the polynomial transform. Based on the Markov random field theory, a model for image segmentation is applied. Optimization is achieved by a classical stochastic relaxation technique. The polynomial transform is an image description model which incorporates important properties of visual perception, such as the Gaussian-derivative model of early vision. Based on this, the authors present a technique for directional-sensitive image restoration. The restored image is obtained by means of an inverse polynomial transform which consists of interpolating the transformed coefficients with pattern functions that are products of a polynomial and a window function. They show in this paper how the noise reduction task can be improved by detecting the position and orientation of relevant contours in images degraded by speckle. This method is applied in a coarse-to-fine resolution approach, in which, contour location is not degraded even at the stage of high resolution processing. The presented method performs in a semiautomatic fashion to effectively detect coastlines.


Defines prefixes and suffixes and gives usage examples, lists meanings and concepts and identifies root words and forms to express them, and includes a section arranged by theme, such as animals, fear or dislike, and the senses.


This study is a statistical analysis on the authors,the units the authors belongs,the citations and the funds support projects of the articles appeared in Library Tribune since 2000.


In this paper, the influence law was analyzed, the effective parameter range was determined. Based on the signifi-cance analysis of the orthogonal experiment with three factors and three levels, the order of the influence degree of each parameter on the forming quality of the end is obtained. According to the optimized simulation analysis in the effective scheme, the optimal forming process parameters were determined. The results show that the order of the influence of various factors on the diameter of the roll cut is as follows: roll cutting speed> friction factor> baffle gap; the best combination of process parameters is A2B1C1, the friction factor is 0,5, the roll cutting speed is 1/ rad · s –1 and the baffle gap is 0,1/mm.


Light valve using suspended particles was invented first by Edwin H. Land. But it could not be made to large area because it was a liquid cell containing a suspension of the particles between both transparent conductive layers. For several years, so many trials have been to make a large size of light valve. Recently we could make the light valve of large size which is film type by phase separation and/or emulsification methods. In this paper, we are introducing the light valve film made by HGI.


Can an app be an effective learning tool? The results of a study generate a list of qualities that a mathematical learning app should possess.


GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF DEVELOPMENT AND THE PSYCHIATRIC EVALUATION OF CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS Overview of Development The Psychiatric Evaluation AXIS I DISORDERS USUALLY FIRST DIAGNOSED IN INFANCY, CHILDHOOD, OR ADOLESCENCE Developmental Disorders Mental Retardation Learning Disorders Pervasive Developmental Disorders Disruptive Behavior Disorders Attention-deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Conduct Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder Other Disorders of Infancy, Childhood, or Adolescence Separation Anxiety Disorder Selective Mutism Tic Disorders Tourette's and Other Tic Disorders Elimination Disorders Encopresis and Enuresis Feeding and Eating Disorders of Infancy or Early Childhood Pica, Rumination, and Feeding Disorders of Infancy or Early Childhood GENERAL PSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS THAT MAY BEGIN IN CHILDHOOD OR ADOLESCENCE Depressive Disorders Early Onset Bipolar Disorder Anxiety Disorders Psychotic Disorders Eating Disorders Substance Abuse Disorders Trauma Related Disorders Adjustment Disorder SPECIAL CLINICAL CIRCUMSTANCES Psychiatric Emergencies Child Neglect and Abuse TREATMENT Principles of Treatment Planning Psychopharmacology Psychosocial Interventions Psychoeducational Interventions Consultations to Systems of Care APPENDIX Appendix of Rating Scales and Resources


The popularity of image sharing on social media and the engagement it creates between users reflect the important role that visual context plays in everyday conversations. We present a novel task, Image Grounded Conversations (IGC), in which natural-sounding conversations are generated about a shared image. To benchmark progress, we introduce a new multiple reference dataset of crowd-sourced, event-centric conversations on images. IGC falls on the continuum between chit-chat and goal-directed conversation models, where visual grounding constrains the topic of conversation to event-driven utterances. Experiments with models trained on social media data show that the combination of visual and textual context enhances the quality of generated conversational turns. In human evaluation, the gap between human performance and that of both neural and retrieval architectures suggests that multi-modal IGC presents an interesting challenge for dialog research.


In this paper we study the problems of invariant and ergodic expectations under G-expectation framework. In particular, the stochastic differential equations driven by G-Brownian motion (G-SDEs) have the unique invariant and ergodic expectations. Moreover, the invariant and ergodic expectations of G-SDEs are also sublinear expectations. However, the invariant expectations may not coincide with the ergodic expectations, which is different from the classical case.


In the realistic life,people of ten connect religi ons with superstition together but there is an essential difference between the two which belong to different levels of social ideology.Religion and superstitio n exist in different organizations forms;Redigion and superstition have differ ent functions of social influence;The nation has different policy and attitude t o religion and superstiton.Therefore we should not equate one with the other and lump them together.


Data mining and analysis algorithms are known to degrade in performance when facing with many redundant or irrelevant features. Attribute reduction is one of the primary problems of Rough Set theory, the goal of which is to delete irrelevant or unimportant information. Once all attribute reducts are got, the reasoning capability with multi attributes absent can behave well. Thus how to get all attribute reducts is worth a problem to research. In this paper, an algorithm based on golden section and back elimination is presented for getting all attribute reducts of decision system. Experiment results show the validity of our proposed algorithm


We consider a recent work of Pascu and Pascu ['Neighbourhoods of univalent functions', Bull. Aust. Math. Soc. 83(2) (2011), 210–219] and rectify an error that appears in their work. In addition, we study certain analogous results for sense-preserving harmonic mappings in the unit disc |z| < 1. As a corollary to this result, we derive a coefficient condition for a sense-preserving harmonic mapping to be univalent in |z| < 1. 2010 Mathematics subject classification: primary 30C45; secondary 30C50, 30C55.


New approaches to software development have evolved recently. Among these belong not only development tools like IDEs, debuggers and Visual modelling tools but also new, modern 1 styles of programming including Language Oriented


This thesis involves two projects devoted to the development of advanced approaches for simulating molecular and electron dynamics in extended biomolecules. The first project aims at significantly improving the accuracy of redox potentials of proteins by numerical simulations. A sophisticated force field relying on a multipolar description of electrostartic interactions (AMOEBA) is used to perform molecular dynamics simulations onheme proteins. We derived parameters for AMOEBA to accurately describe electrostatic interactions with hemein both ferrous and ferric states. Very encouraging improvements are obtained compared to the standard force fields. The second project aims at developing original approaches for simulating ultrafast electron dynamics in biomolecules in contact to polarizable environments. We devised acombination of Real-time Time-Dependent Density Functional Theory (RT-TDDFT) and polarizable Molecular Mechanics (MMpol). An efficient and robust implementation of this method has been realized in deMon2k software. Density fitting techniques allow to reduce the computational cost of RT-TDDFT/MMpol propagations. The methodology is applied to understand the mechanisms of energy dissipation of a peptide excited by a laser pulse.


Language transfer is a multi-dimensional phenomenon in L2 acquisition,but up to now there has been no single theory which can account for how it occurs.The behaviorists overlook to the complicated factors may play a role in this process and their account is seemingly too simplistic.The UG models,basing themselves on the theory of principles and parameters,explore language transfer in the different phases of interlanguage development,and drawing on the findings in cognitive science.Recent studies focus on the processing constraints of language transfer,which represents a fresh trend in this area.


The aim of this project is to establish models to predict the biomagnification of contaminants present in Baltic Sea biota. In this paper a quantitative model that we term QSBMR—Quantitative Structure Biomagnification Relationships is presented. This model describes the relationship between the biomagnification factors (BMFs) for several organochlorines (OCs) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs), for example, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs) and hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD), and their descriptors, for example, physico‐chemical properties and structural descriptors.


As part of the NASA orbital debris modeling effort, a quantitative model is developed for the large population of spherical electrically conducting objects in 65° inclination circular orbits at the disposal altitude of the Russian Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellite (RORSAT) spacecraft. These are believed to be droplets of liquid sodium-potassium (NaK) reactor coolant released from the RORSAT satellites. Observations of the droplets from 1990 through 2002 have shown slow orbital decay. Data from the Lincoln Laboratory Haystack and HAX radars have been examined for the time period from 1994 to 2002. Electrically conducting spheres produce a distinctive polarization signature allowing their identification, with high probability, among the other objects detected by the radars. The droplets are comparable in diameter to the radar wavelengths. This produces a size ambiguity for a given radar cross-section because of diffraction effects. Previous work, used the NASA orbital debris size estimation model that is based upon radar measurements of randomly shaped objects with the radar wavelength comparable to the object size. Here, the size distribution is estimated using the radar cross section of a conducting sphere, permitting an accurate population size distribution determination. BACKGROUND Prior to 1990 knowledge of the orbital debris environment came only from United States Department of Defense (DOD) radars and from surfaces returned from space. There was no knowledge of the orbital debris population of objects between 100 μ and 10 cm in size and objects of a few mm in size and larger can destroy a space vehicle. In 1990 an agreement was reached between NASA and the DOD whereby NASA would be provided with significant observation time with the LRIR (Haystack) radar and the under construction HAX radar each year until 2004. NASA provided funding construction of near-by HAX Radar as part of the agreement. The first Haystack debris data showed unexpected ~100% polarized return signals (indicating spherical conductors) from debris band between 800 and 1000 km. These objects were soon identified as NaK coolant from ejected cores of Russian Radar Ocean Reconnaissance Satellites (RORSATs). The primary objective of this work is the modeling of the observed NaK population. This report examines Haystack and HAX data from the 1994 –2002 time period. Haystack data from the time period 1990 to 1993 lacks accurate orbital inclination information and has much higher background contamination. CHARACTERISTIC OF HAYSTACK AND HAX RADARS The Haystack radar is operated in a continuous wave monopulse stare mode for the orbital debris measurements. The monopulse range is determined from 8 to 16 overlapping range 54th International Astronautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law 29 September 3 October 2003, Bremen, Germany IAC-03-IAA.5.2.02 This material is declared a work of the U.S. Government and is not subject to copyright protection in the United States. 2 windows. The path through the beam is determined from voltage rations between measurements on opposite sides of the return beam axis. The Haystack dish is 36 meters in diameter. It operates at 10 GHz with 400 kW peak power. The Haystack beam is right circularly polarized and is 0.058° in diameter. Range rate, principal and orthogonal polarization are measured. The HAX radar has a 12-meter disk and operates at 16.67 GHz with 60 kW peak power with a beam diameter of 0.1°. It is identical to Haystack in all other aspects when operated in the orbital debris measurement mode. Figure 1 shows the sensitivity of the Haystack and HAX radars as a function of range. Haystack can reliably detect 5 cm objects at 950 km while HAX can reliably detect objects about 2.5 cm in diameter. The knee in the Haystack curve corresponds to the transition from Rayleigh to Mie / optical regions. 200 400 600 80


Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Immobilization Development and Testing organization (LLNL ID and T) is a Participant in the Plutonium Immobilization Project (PIP). The LLNL D and T has lead responsibilities for form characterization and qualification, ceramic form development, process/equipment development with plutonium, and process systems testing and validation for both conversion and immobilization. This work must be performed in accordance with the graded approach of a Quality Assurance (QA) Program. A QA Program has been developed at LLNL to meet the requirements of the DOE/MD Quality Assurance Requirements. The LLNL QA Program consists of a Quality Assurance Program Description (QAPD) and Quality Implementing Procedures. These documents interface and are a subset of the overall PIP QA Program Documents. The PIP QA Program is described in the PIP ID and T QA Plan, PIP QAPD, and QA Procedures. Other Participant Organizations also must document and describe their PIP compliant QA Programs in a QAPD and implementing procedures. The purpose of this LLNL QAPD is to describe the organization, management processes, QA Controls for Grading, functional responsibilities, levels of authority, and interfaces for those managing, performing, and assessing the adequacy of work.


Preface / Introduction / Data Types and Databases in Molecular Biology / Sequence alignment / Multiple alignment, substitution matrices and phylogenetic trees / Protein and DNA Sequence Analysis / Determination and Analysis of Molecular Structures / Protein Structure Prediction and Protein Folding / Nucleic Acid Structure / Further Reading.


This paper presents the technique of spectrum tuning in the multi-lamp solar simulator's workspace and accuracy (uncertainty) evaluation for measurement results of spectral irradiance in order to determine its suitability for GaInP/Ga(In)As/Ge multi-junction solar cells testing has been performed.


Recently, damage from landslides caused by severe rain storms and typhoons is reported often. Now that due to domestic geomorphological characteristics, many cities are developed and infrastructure such as roads and railways are constructed nearby mountain area the damages of landslides are very serious in Korea. It is important to figure out areas with high landslide-risk and arrange the proper measures in order to prevent such damages effectively. Mountainous region in eastern Korea, which experiences landslides every year, especially requires regional preparation model that reflects its climate characteristic. In this study, landslide-related information such as geomorphological characteristics, soil properties, rainfall, vegetation and forest fire history of 423 sites was investigated through field survey, disaster reports and existing GIS database. Then landslide-risk assessment model was suggested by performing logistic regression analysis on them. The results of comparing calculated probabilities of landslide with the occurrence of actual landslides showed a classification accuracy of 91%.


The reason why Japan can invade other countries militaristically and rule its country militaristically is that most of the common people in Japan have formed militaristic ideology.There are some reasons for that.Japanese have the belief of the emperor of Japan is the "god" and Japan is the "godlike country".Japan is supported by the busido sprit of " absolute obedience".It is influenced by the traditional aggression to other countries.It is also influenced by its geographic situation.Japan has been propagating the theory of breaking away from Asia and joining Europe and the theory of "the line of sovereign rights,the line of interests,the line of life".The schools of Japan performs militaristic education.


By G. Stephenson and C. W. Kilmister London : Longmans Green and Co. Pp. 108. Price 18s. This book is written for the non-specialist in relativity theory, in particular for experimental physicists and students in degree courses in physics or mathematics. In view of this the mathematical demands on the reader are limited to a good working knowledge of three-dimensional vector analysis.


With one in two women delivering surgically, Iran has one of the highest rates of cesarean section (CS) worldwide. CS overuse in low-risk pregnancies potentially exposes women to Maternal Near-Miss ...


This study presents a theoretical approach to calculate the inductive electric field, and it is further applied to global MHD simulations of the magnetosphere. The contribution of the inductive component to the total electric field is found by decomposing the motional electric field into a superposition of an irrotational and a solenoidal vector and assuming that the time‐varying magnetic field vanishes on the boundary. We find that a localized change in the magnetic field generates an inductive electric field whose effect extends over all space, meaning that the effect of the inductive electric field is global even if the changes in the magnetic field are localized. Application of this formalism to disturbed times provides strong evidence that during periods of increased activity the electric field induced by the localized change in magnetic field can be comparable to (or larger than) the potential electric fields in certain regions. This induced field exhibits significant spatial and temporal variations, which means that particles that drift into different regions of space are being exposed to different means of acceleration. These results suggest that the inductive electric field could have a substantial contribution to particle energization in the near‐Earth region even though the changes in the magnetic fields occur at distances of several tens of Earth radii. This finding is particularly important for ring current modeling which in many cases excludes inductive contributions to the total particle drift.


The invention relates to the field of functional food, particularly a low-glycemic-index nutrient powder. The low-glycemic-index nutrient powder comprises the following raw materials in percentage by weight: 5-35% of dietary fiber with the polymerization degree of 10-50, 2-7% of dietary fiber with the polymerization degree of 2-9, 30-35% of nonresistant maltodextrin, 10-30% of protein, 5-10% of vegetable oil, 0.5-2% of mineral and 0.5-2% of vitamin. In order to overcome the defects in the prior art, the invention provides a nutrient powder capable of effectively lowering the glycemic index; the formula has the characteristics of high dietary fiber content, low fat content and low saturated fatty acid content, and is free of cholesterol and trans fatty acid; and the low glycemic index is less than or equal to 25.


This article provides a comprehensive examination of aquatic programming at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). HBCUs consist of public, private, 2-year, and 4-year institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2018). Historically, HBCUs provided descendants of the enslaved access to higher education opportunities (Brown, Donahoo, & Bertrand, 2001). HBCUs now serve a more diverse community and the core focus remains on inclusion, social justice, diversity, empowerment, leadership, and cultural competence (Kennedy, 2012; Rawlins, 2018). Consequently, HBCUs may provide an ideal environment to address aquatic activity and the drowning disparity in the African American community. In the current study, researchers sent a survey to 102 HBCUs to better assess the prevalence of aquatics programming at these institutions. Approximately 38 percent of the HBCUs responded to the survey. The results of this study indicate that there is inconsistent institutional knowledge about competitive and non-competitive swimming programs from the past to the present. However, 31 percent of participants reported offering swim classes to members of the campus community. Additionally, 51 percent of participants reported offering swim courses for college credit. Most importantly, 49 percent of participants indicated a desire to build or expand aquatics programming. The drowning disparity is a result of a cycle that includes historical barriers that denied many African Americans' access to aquatic facilities and programming (Anderson, 2017). Identifying aquatics programming at HBCUs is a critical step to addressing the drowning disparity.


Abstract Every week since January 1959, a trawler has left Wickford Harbor, Rhode Island, to make a 30-minute net tow in the Narragansett Bay estuary and in Rhode Island sound. The net collects animals three inches and larger living on and just above the bottom, explained Perry Jeffries, biological oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island, in a session titled "Detecting Estuarine Change." "Because we do the same thing week after week, we can observe gradual and long-term changes. No record comparable to this 43-year-old data set exists for any coastal area."


Sedimentary, geochemical (total organic carbon TOC, total nitrogen TN, total phosphorus TP, biogenic silica BSi and calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and diatoms data of two sediment cores were used to infer general environmental changes in the northern Gulf of Uraba during the late Holocene. The age models(AMS 14C ) suggested that core of the northeastern margin (SP 9) belong to 960 years BP, while in the core of the northwestern margin (SP 41) the model was adjusted for the last 2845 years BP. The results indicated that drilling sites are affected by different hydrodynamic processes that, in general, have been maintained during the late Holocene. While in the northwestern margin oceanic processes dominate and there is low input of fluvial sediments to this site, in the northeastern margin there are processes that favor the transport and accumulation of terrigenous sediments, which limit the growth of diatoms. Between 2845 and 2489 year BP, a higher sealevel and wet conditions were recorded in the gulf. Since 2445 years BP a gradual decrease in sea level allowed delta progradation towards the eastern side of the gulf. Apparently, this process would have intensified its presence in the last 200 year BP, due to natural and anthropogenic factors. Even though the river discharges are channeled predominantly towards the east side of the Gulf, the trend of increasing TOC and diatoms data suggested fluvial input to the northwestern margin from 800 years BP, which may be associated with a higher activity of Tarenas mouth, the northern branch of the Atrato River.


Combined w ith the new version "Regulations of Automatic Earthquake Quick-reporting Technology "and "Regulations of Earthquake Quick-reporting Technology",we designed and developed the Earthquake Quick-reporting Short Message Service( EQ-SMS) system based on 12322 gatew ays to realize the transformation of the quick-reporting short message sending from the ModemPOOL to 12322 cornet gatew ay. The system resolved the problems of how to match the formal and the automatic EQ messages,and subsequence service problems of automatic EQ messages. At present,the actual test of EQ-SMS system indicated that it play a good benefit.


BACKGROUND
Numerous studies have revealed that nursing students perceive lack of confidence as one of the key barriers to performing physical examination; however, it is not empirically measured. This study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Physical Examination Perceived Self-Efficacy Instrument.

METHOD
The study included three phases: in Phase 1, 51 items were constructed; in Phase 2, 7 field experts rated items for relevancy; and in Phase 3, the instrument was piloted to a convenience sample of 238 students.

RESULTS
The analysis yielded six factors with a factor loading >0.40. The corrected item-total correlation ranged from 0.6 to 0.87. Cronbach's alpha ranged from .84 to .98. The interscale correlation of the instrument was statistically significant (p < .001).

CONCLUSION
We found that the instrument is a psychometrically robust measure of self-efficacy of performing physical examination. The instrument could provide a better understanding of the association between perceived self-efficacy and students' academic performance. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(1):36-40.].


Renal transplantation is widely accepted as the treatment of choice for the end-stage renal failure in childhood, even though mortality and morbidity must be considered. Postoperative care, therapy, immunosuppressive regimens, additional tests and complications involving renal transplants in our hospital are described.


It's considerably common in Taiwan to use ceramic tile as external wall material,which is one of the factors displaying facade feature in house. The attachment between ceramic tile and structure relies on different materials and techniques. Even the nature of ceramic tile is stable,external wall could cause different inferior changes,such as chaps and peeling off. Due to the limited land in Taiwan,global materials cost unceasingly rising and increased construction cost,the number of people who are capable to build houses by their own decreases year by year. According to the issuing numbers of construction licenses by Department of Budget,Accounting and Statistics of Kaohsiung City Government,the number of newly houses dramatically drops,which increases the amounts of people buying old houses. To extend the life of building and indirectly raise repairing cases,external wall improvement will be highly valued in the foreseeable future. The development of ceramic tile upgrades with time,by understanding it's history and time,this research divides ceramic tile into two categories: 1. Mosaic tile during 1971-1980 2. Square brick and Erding hanging bricks during 1981-1990 Even the diversity of house choices,the construction model of townhouse occupies the majority due to the weather and culture in Taiwan. At the first stage,cooperated with house enterprises,the research is mainly on investigating the deterioration of external wall with the provided data of selling house. After analyzing and comparing these cases,further understand the townhouses popular tiles of the regarding times, to learn about the Kaohsiung City houses residential tiled each era over all deterioration of conditions prevalent products are as follows: 1. Mosaic tiles deterioration behavior to cracking, spalling fouling rust spots, as a primary. 2. Square brick deterioration behavior to deface rust spots,mainly,Roberts. 3. Erding hanging bricks deterioration behavior to deface rust spots,mainly,Roberts. By means of the result of first stage,the second stage is to interview experts with surveysheets. To clarify the improving techniques which commonly used in Taiwan,the main purpose is to contrast the deterioration situation and improving technique. Here're five improving techniques: 1. The same tile restart methods of work 2. Another kind of tile restart methods of work 3. Double wall methods of work 4. Coatings Brushing methods of work 5. External Wall Wash methods of work Finally investigation through case deterioration, the analysis results will be tiled in various popular and the resulting deterioration behavior, edition of the mechanic method instead, recommend suitable proposals, the provision of housing people in the reference to sale. 1. Mosaic tiles of residential buildings, it is recommended of Another kind of tile restartmethods of work 2. Square brick of residential buildings, it is recommended of Coatings Brushing methodsof work 3. Erding hanging bricks of residential buildings, it is recommended of External Wall Wash methods of work


Background Recently,whether the epithelial flaps should be removed or preserved during the Epi-LASIK and its affection on clinical results are concerned.Objecfive This system analysis was to evaluate and compare the clinical effectiveness between on-flap Epi-LASIK and off-flap epi-LASIK for myopia. Methods A systematic literature retfieval was conducted in the MEDLINE,EMBase,Coehrane Library,CBM disc,CNKI from 2003 through 2009.The possible differences in reepithelization time,pain sensation,and haze after surgery were compared between on-flap and off-flap Epi-LASIK for myopia.The statistical analysis was performed using a RevMan 4.2 software.The data was extracted,and the methodological quality was evaluated by two reviewers independently with weighted mean difierence(WMD)for the effectiveness analysis and odds ratio(OR)for counting variable.The quality of included literature was scored according to the Jadad Scale. Results A total of 8 studies involving 251 patients(502 eyes)were included in the meta-analysis.Of these eight studies.five studies were randomized clinical trials and the other three studies were retrospective cohort studies.Compared with on-flap Epi-LASIK group,off-flap Epi-LASIK group had a better postoperative outcome in the mean reepithelization time(WMD=1.32,95%CI-1.82to-0.82,P<0.01)and pain scores at 3,5 day(WMD=-O.99,95%CI-1.71 to-0.28,P(0.01)(WMD=-0.94.95%CI-1.35 to-0.54,P<0.01)after surgery.No significant difierenees were found in the eye numbers of haze at 1 month(OR=0.62,95%C1 0.34 to 1.12,P=0.11),3 months(OR=0.70,95%C1 0.31 to 1.55,P=0.38)and 6 months(OR=1.14,95%C1 0.58 to 2.26,P=0.71)between these two types of operation.The pain scores at the first day after surgery was not significantly different between these two groups(WMD=-0.17,95%CI -0.55 to 0.20,P=0.37). Conclusion The effectiveness of off-flap Epi-LASIK is superior to on-flap Epi-LASIK for myopia.Some high-quality randomlizd and control studies are needed for the further clinical evaluation.

Key words:
Epi-LASIK; Corneal epithelial flap; Meta analysis; Evidence-based medicine


We present a framework for margin based active learning of linear separators. We instantiate it for a few important cases, some of which have been previously considered in the literature. We analyze the effectiveness of our framework both in the realizable case and in a specific noisy setting related to the Tsy-bakov small noise condition.


The oxidation behavior of a 2D woven C/SiC composite partly protected with a SiC seal coating and heat-treated (stabilized) at 1,600 C in inert gas has been investigated through an experimental approach based on thermogravimetric analyses and optical/electron microscopy. Results of the tests, performed under flowing oxygen, have shown that the oxidation behavior of the composite material in terms of oxidation kinetics and morphological evolutions is related to the presence of thermal microcracks in the seal coating as well as in the matrix. Three different temperature domains exist. At low temperatures ( 1,100 C), such diffusion mechanisms are limited by sealing of the microcracks by silica; therefore, the degradation of the composite remains superficial. The study of the oxidation behavior of (i) the heat-treated composite in a lower oxygen content environment (dry air) and (ii) themore » as-processed (unstabilized) composite in dry oxygen confirms the different mechanisms proposed to explain the oxidation behavior of the composite material.« less


This paper offers functional explanations on the transitivity of the Actor Focus (AF) and the Patient Focus (PF) constructions in Tagalog. The existing studies with regard to these two structures are ambivalent as to what can be considered as the basic transitive construction .That is, both are posited to have the same functional role of encoding a transitive event. However, in this paper, it will be shown that the AF construction has a functional role of encoding an intransitive event, and the PF construction, a transitive event. Moreover, it will be pointed out that the two clause structures have different meanings and are used in different contexts. I posit the view that AF constructions with –um/m affix including those containing a semantic actor and a semantic patient are intransitive. Conversely, the PF structures with –in, -an, Iaffix in the verb where semantic actor and semantic patient are always present are transitive clauses. Accordingly, in addressing the issue of transitivity, the contention whether it is definiteness or referentiality which triggers the use of Actor Focus (AF) and Patient Focus (PF) construction will be problematized. If sentences (1) Kumain si Maria ng mangga 'Maria ate mangoes/a mango' and (2) Kinain ni Maria ang mangga 'Maria ate the mango' are to be considered, there is an element of truth in claiming that AF construction in (1) correlates with indefiniteness of the patient while definiteness of the patient explains the use of PF construction in (2). There is however an Actor Focus (AF) construction where a patient is definite and the AF verb is a relativized verb, such as (3) Si Maria ang kumain sa mangga 'It is Maria who ate the mango'. Considering (3), the question still remains: what triggers the use of AF and PF constructions? To account for the issues of transitivity and definiteness, I cast my analyses under the transitivity hypothesis of Hopper and Thompson (1980) with particular emphasis on Agency, Affectedness of P and Individuation of O.


To minimize the clanger of the introduction and spread of hcxamite into your flock, do these things: Dispose of all breeding stock and other mature turkeys at least 2 weeks before starting your first brood of poults, or else keep the mature stock on a distant part of the farm that has its own equipment and caretaker, so traffic between the two operations is unnecessary. Have your feed house so arranged that men delivering supplies need not enter buildings or yards occupied by your turkeys or handle equipment that your birds use. Have feeders and watering devices so constructed that they stay free of droppings. Start each brood with houses and equipment scrupulously clean. Keep litter clean and dry always. Isolate all sick birds, quarantine all affected pens, and bury or burn all birds that die. Always take care of clean stock first, pens having shown sick birds next, and isolation quarters last of all. Move birds on the range frequently to avoid excessive contamination of the ground. As far as hexamitiasis is Yearbook of Agriculture 1956


The ortho-metalation of aromatics and heteroaromatics is a powerful method for the functionalization of these ring systems. Although lithium bases and several ate-bases allow the preparation of various ortho-metalated products, there is still a need for more chemoselective bases. Recently, we reported that the reaction of tmpMgCl·LiCl (1; tmp = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidyl) or tmpLi with metallic chlorides, such as ZnCl2, [7] AlCl3, [8] MnCl2·2LiCl, [9] FeCl2·2LiCl, or FeCl3 [10] provides highly chemoselective bases that tolerate a range of functional groups. The presence of MgCl2 and LiCl in these bases ensures good solubility in THF and a high kinetic basicity (compare tmp2Zn·2MgCl2·2LiCl with tmpZnCl·LiCl). [7d] Organolanthanum derivatives are relatively inexpensive organometallic intermediates of low toxicity. They are usually prepared by transmetalation reactions starting from lithium or magnesium reagents as has been pioneered by Imamoto. Several lanthanum amides have been reported, mainly for the performance of hydroamination reactions or for structural studies. Herein, we wish to report a new base, that is, tmp3La·3MgCl2·5LiCl (2, abbreviated, for the sake of clarity, to tmp3[La]). The reaction of tmp3[La] (2) with functionalized arenes and heteroarenes of type 3 allows an expedient access to functionalized aryl and heteroaryl derivatives of type 4 under mild conditions. These unsaturated lanthanum derivatives display a unique reactivity pattern and react with various electrophiles (5) producing a range of polyfunctional products of type 6. The new base 2 is readily prepared by the reaction of tmpMgCl·LiCl (1; 3.0 equiv) with the THF soluble complex LaCl3·2LiCl [15] in THF for 12 h. The resulting dark brown solution (0.33m in THF; 95 % yield as determined by titration) is stable under argon for at least 2 months without decomposition (Scheme 1).


According to environmental justice, environmental degradation and benefits should not be disproportionately shared between communities. Identifying disparities in the spatial distribution of environmental degradation is therefore a prerequisite for validating the state of environmental justice in a geographic region. Under ideal circumstances, environmental risk assessment is a preferred metric, but only when exposure levels have been quantified reliably after estimating the risk. In this study, we adopt a proximity burden metric caused by adjacent hazardous sources, allowing us to evaluate the environmental burden distribution and vulnerability to pollution sources. In close collaboration with a predominantly Latinx community in Chicago, we highlight the usefulness of our approach through a case study that shows how certain community areas in the city are likely to bear a disproportionate burden of environmental pollution caused by industrial roads.


The inhibition of specific flavonoid on the in vitro platelet aggregation induced by collagen, arachidonic acid and thromboxane A2 (TxA2) agonist, seems to be related mostly to their ability to compete for binding to the TxA2 receptor (TP). The aim of this study was to analyze the effect of soy isoflavone and equol in terms of inhibiting the platelet aggregation and sCD40L release stimulated by ristocetin, an in vitro-activator of glycoprotein Ib/IX/V, in platelets from postmenopausal women. When platelets were stimulated by 0.75 mg/ml ristocetin, equol (10 μM) exhibited a greater inhibitory activity on platelet aggregation (~68%) than genistein or daidzein. The effect of equol was dependent on the concentration of platelet aggregation agonist. In the presence of ristocetin (0.75 mg/ml, 1.125 mg/ml and 1.5 mg/ml), the inhibitory effect of 10 μM equol was 68% ± 5%, 54% ± 4% and 31% ± 5%, respectively. Equol (10 μM) was a potent inhibitor (~35%) of sCD40L release when stimulated with 1.5 mg/ml ristocetin. However, no significant differences were noted in platelets incubated in the presence of genistein or daidzein and stimulated by ristocetin. On the other hand, SQ29548, a high TP antagonist, also inhibited the sCD40L release stimulated by ristocetin. Finally, 10 μM of genistein, daidzein or equol did not significantly affect the thromboxane B2 production when platelets were incubated with 1.5 mg/ml ristocetin. The relevance of this study was to find that equol exhibits a potent activity by inhibiting ristocetin-induced sCD40L release, suggesting that soy isoflavone has important biological effects on the hemostatic system. However, clinical trials will be necessary to assess the effect of equol on platelet and their impact on inflammatory markers.


Design of edge devices are driven by the need for the lowest possible cost and energy consumption, which are both strongly affected by on-chip memories. One way to reduce energy consumption is by reducing the supply voltage. However, this causes memory cell hard fault rates to rise exponentially, thus degrading yield at low voltage and increasing cost. Though most of the deep learning Neural Network applications are known to be resilient to faults, beyond a certain voltage, the inference accuracy degrades significantly. We propose DL-FaultLink, a methodology for software managed embedded memories where software construction tools, such as compilers and linkers, are used to efficiently map the critical code/layers onto the nonfaulty segments of the memory and the non-critical fault tolerant sections in the faulty memory segments so that the voltage can be scaled down without degrading the accuracy. Our evaluation on 5 real micro-controller class chip shows that up-to 100mV (average 70mV) reduction in voltage can be achieved without any loss in accuracy for a fully connected network and 50mV reduction for a convolutional neural network, both tested using MNIST dataset. DL-FaultLink can also be considered as an efficient fault tolerance technique as it tolerates 25x (upto 362x) increase in byte error rate with minimal impact on inference accuracy.


It is considered the technology of compacting solid household waste into large blocks eliminating the stages of their firmware and subsequent binding by wire harnesses to avoid their spontaneous destruction during lifting and transportation operations. As a result of computational and theoretical studies and laboratory experiments to determine the dependence of briquette density on the compaction pressure, it is shown that the goal can be achieved when solid household waste will be pressed by conical punch. Experimentally obtained model blocks have strength sufficient for transportation and disposal at the landfill.


In this work, a fully explicit partitioned method for the simulation of Fluid Structure Interaction (FSI) problems is presented. The fluid domain is modelled with an explicit Particle Finite Element Method (PFEM) based on the hypothesis of weak compressibility. The Lagrangian description of the fluid is particularly effective in the simulation of FSI problems with free surface flows and large structural displacements, since the fluid boundaries are automatically defined by the position of the mesh nodes. A distinctive feature of the proposed FSI strategy is that the solid domain is modelled using the explicit integration FEM in an off‐the‐shelf commercial software (Abaqus/Explicit). This allows to perform simulations with a complete and advanced description on the structural domain, including advanced structural material models and contact. The structure‐to‐fluid coupling algorithm is based on a technique derived from the Domain Decomposition Methods, namely, the Gravouil and Combescure algorithm. The method allows for arbitrarily large interface displacements using different time incrementation and nonconforming meshes in the different domains, which is an essential feature for the efficiency of an explicit solver involving different materials. The resulting fully explicit and fully lagrangian finite element approach is particularly appealing for the possibility of its efficient application in a large variety of highly non‐linear engineering problems.


Salmonellosis and campylobacteriosis are the most common food borne diseases occurring worldwide. In addition to the human health significance and associated treatment costs, Salmonellosis and Campylobacteriosis can also result in economic loss from trade disruptions as well as recall of large consignments of poultry products. Among the various potential sources, poultry meat and eggs are identified as major sources for these organisms. Salmonella and Campylobacter are usually commensal organisms seen in the gastrointestinal tract of poultry, which makes control difficult. The use of vectored vaccines, targeted to both systemic and mucosal immunity systems, and containing immune enhancing molecules, is a promising approach in enhancing the food safety of poultry products. Novel recombinant vaccines were developed using vectors such as double – attenuated Salmonella Enteritidis and Bacillus subtilis. Highly conserved antigenic epitopes on the target organisms were identified and inserted into these vectors. In addition, the vectors were also engineered to express immune enhancing molecules CD154 and/or high mobility group box 1 (HMGB1) on their cell surface. Broiler chickens were vaccinated and the immune responses, including both IgG and IgA levels, and/or protection from the target organism were measured. The recovery of Campylobacter jejuni from poultry was reduced by the administration of Salmonella-vectored as well as Bacillus – vectored Campylobacter vaccines. Furthermore, both vaccines increased the levels of C. jejuni – specific IgG, while Salmonella – vectored vaccine also increased the C. jejuni – specific IgA levels. Meanwhile, in another study, a Bacillus – vectored vaccine V.A. Kuttappan et al 590 elicited protection against S. Typhimurium in some treatment groups. Thus, novel food safety vaccines have the advantages of reducing colonization of these pathogens in host tissues, harmless to host, compatible with other control measures, no food residues, and easy – cost effective way of administration.


A replication and extension of the Cogan and Capaldi study was performed, using 60 rats. As in the original study, Ss with alternating reinforcement and nonreinforcement displayed patterned running during runway acquisition; Ss with alternating immediate and delayed reward did not. Additional groups with longer confinement periods exhibited patterned running under both alternating partial and alternating delay of reinforcement. The extinction results were in the opposite direction to those of Cogan and Capaldi; in all comparisons the partially delayed groups ran faster than the corresponding delayed groups.


A new self-aligned ESD (Elevated Source Drain) MOSFET structure which can effectively reduce the GIDL (Gate-Induced Drain Leakage) current is proposed and analyzed. Proposed ESD structure is characterized by sidewall spacer width (W/sub S/) and recessed-channel depth (X/sub R/) which are determined by dry-etching process. Elevation of the Source/Drain extension region is realized so that the low-activation effect caused by low-energy ion implantation can be avoided. The GIDL current in the proposed ESD structure is reduced as the region with the peak electric field is shifted toward the drain side.


The Mu2e experiment at the Fermilab Muon Campus will search for the coherent 23 neutrinoless conversion of a muon into an electron in the field of an aluminum nucleus with a 24 sensitivity improvement by a factor of 10,000 over existing limits. The Mu2e Trigger and Data 25 Acquisition System (TDAQ) uses otsdaq as the online Data Acquisition System (DAQ) solution. 26 Developed at Fermilab, otsdaq integrates both the artdaq DAQ and the art analysis frameworks for 27 event transfer, filtering, and processing. otsdaq is an online DAQ software suite with a focus on 28 flexibility and scalability and provides a multi-user, web-based, interface accessible through a web 29 browser. The data stream from the detector subsystems is read by a software filter algorithm that 30 selects events which are combined with the data flux coming from a Cosmic Ray Veto System. The 31 Detector Control System (DCS) has been developed using the Experimental Physics and Industrial 32 Control System (EPICS) open source platform for monitoring, controlling, alarming, and archiving. 33 The DCS System has been integrated into otsdaq. A prototype of the TDAQ and the DCS systems 34 has been built at Fermilab's Feynman Computing Center. In this paper, we report on the progress 35 of the integration of this prototype in the online otsdaq software. 36


Multilingual Information Retrieval (MLIR) System deals with the use of queries in one language and retrieves the documents in various languages. Here the Query translation plays a central role in MLIR research. In this paper English as the source language and Hindi, French and German as the target languages. We have used multilingual dictionary based word-by-word query translation. The experimental results are evaluated to analyse and compare the performance of proposed MLIR system metrics, Average Precision (APIR), Mean Average Precision (MAPIR), Average Mean Reciprocal Rank (AMRR) and Average Discounted Cumulative Gain (ADCG) metrics of IR system with esteem to the Average Precision (APMLIR), Mean Average Precision (MAPMLIR),Average Mean Reciprocal Rank (AMRR) and Average Discounted Cumulative Gain (ADCG) metrics in MLIR system. Experimental result shows that the effective retrieval and performance ofMAP has improved by 31.4% and and the performance of AMRR, ADCG in MLIR system has been improved 81.67%, 43.93% over IR system respectively.


One of the complications of diabetes mellitus (DM) is diabetic myopathy, which is diagnosed in 88 % of patients. Therefore, the purpose of our study was to establish the age characteristics of histo-ultrastructu-ral changes in the masticatory muscle of 2-month (immature) and 6-month (mature) rats with streptozoto-cin-induced diabetes mellitus (STD). It was induced by a single intraperitoneal injection of streptozotocin 7 mg/100 g body weight in 2-month animals, and 6 mg/100 g body weight in 6-month-old rats. It was found that on the 70th day of STD there was a muscle sequestration and focal aseptic inflammatory cell infiltrates in the masticatory muscle of 2-month-old rats, while in 6-month-old animals the fibrosis and focal lysis of individual muscle fibers (MF), sometimes their necrosis and partial replacement by connective tissue were noticed. Sonography revealed in 6-month-old rats partial necrosis of MF, karyorexis, subsarcolemic edema, fibrosis and lysis of myofibrils, destruction of mitochondria; 2-month animals had intracellular regenerative processes: formation of young mitochondria, appearance of numerous granules of glycogen in the sarcoplasm between myofibrils. Such changes occur against the background of the diabetic microangiopathy. Adult animals had a massive destruction of neuromuscular junctions (NMJs) and it leads to a decrease in the area of axon sprouting by 67 % and is accompanied by partial destruction of neuromuscular synapses. In 2-month-old rats, there was also a decrease in the area of NMJs by 54 %, while in some NMJs the reinnervation processes were noted due to collaterals from neighboring nerve fibers. Thus, diabetic myopathy is diagnosed in the masticatory muscle of SDM rats of different ages, which results from the development of diabetic microangiopathy and peripheral neuropathy. In adult animals, it leads to atrophy and partial sclerosis of MF of the masticatory muscle, and in immature animals, compensatory-restorative processes are observed in the NMJs and MF.


The photodissociation spectrum for collinear CO2 is assigned using the spectral quantization method. The diffuse structure in the spectrum is dramatically enhanced through the use of a newly developed control algorithm. An initial state is variationally designed to suppress the broad direct background, which usually dominates the spectrum, while it simultaneously enhances the intensity of the resonance peaks. All the diffuse structure can be attributed to resonance states trapped near the saddle point. Using time‐independent wave functions, which are extracted by Fourier transforming the wave packet at the frequencies of the spectral peaks, the spectrum is assigned to an assortment of Feshbach and barrier resonances built on the asymmetric and symmetric stretch modes. The influence of periodic orbits on the diffuse structure is also assessed.


Two different adsorption configurations of benzene on the $\mathrm{Si}(001)\text{\ensuremath{-}}(2\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}1)$ surface, the tight-bridge and butterfly structures, were studied using density functional theory. Several exchange and correlation functionals were used, including the recently developed van der Waals density functional (vdW-DF), which accounts for the effect of van der Waals forces. In contrast to the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE), revPBE, and other generalized-gradient approximation functionals, the vdW-DF finds that, for most coverages, the adsorption energy of the butterfly structure is greater than that of the tight-bridge structure.


Hamburg became a major banking center during the Napoleonic wars, and after the Peace of Basel (1795) the neutrality of the city created a favorable climate for the formation of new banks. At first the Warburg Bank, based on a modest money changing business, concentrated on currency trading and on building up close connections with other family banks, particularly the Rothschilds in Frankfurt, London, and Paris. In the first half of the nineteenth century the Warburgs gradually expanded, surviving the crisis of 1857 in large part because of Austrian support to the Hamburg Senate in the shape of a train load of silver bullion sent by Bruck to protect Austrian investments in the city. In the following years the Bank concentrated on brokerage, an aspect of banking that had become particularly important after the 1875 bank act, which allowed two-thirds of circulating notes to be covered by short-term trade bills. The Warburgs were also particularly skillful at the tricky business of foreign currency arbitrage, a branch of banking that became particularly important with the invention of the telegraph. With the firm's reputation as a cautious and conservative bank they were also successful as securities brokers. By the 1890s with increasing demand for capital for new business and for imperialist exploits abroad the Warburg's, with international connections built up through their reputation for reliable business practices and through judicious marriage alliances, were in a particularly strong position. By now the bank was concentrating on the issuing side of banking, particularly in shipping, colonial activities, and foreign financing. In an almost symbolic episode Wilhelm Regendanz, a former foreign office official recruited by the Warburgs and given power of attorney in the firm, was on board the Panther when it arrived in Agadir in 1911. The Bank played an important part in financing the Baghdad Railway and in investment in Central Africa. During World War I the bank experienced many obvious difficulties, and Max Warburg with his connections with neutral countries, particularly Sweden, gained something of a reputation as a liberal by his reasoned opposition to unconditional submarine warfare. Max Warburg was the statesman of the family, and was invited by Prince Max of Baden to become minister of finance, an offer that he prudently refused. He did, however, serve on the German delegation to Versailles, but made sure that he remained in the background. The Bank recovered quickly from the war, and survived the crisis of 1923 without serious loss. During the period of "fulfillment" the War-


Soft Borders. Rethinking Sovereignty and Democracy Julie Mostov New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2008 Coopération et intégration: Perspectives panaméricaines (Cooperation and Integration: Pan‐American Cases) François Taglioni and Jean Marie Théodat (Eds.) (2008) L'Harmattan : Paris, France Building the Borderlands: A Transnational History of Irrigated Cotton along the Mexico‐Texas Border by Casey Walsh Texas A&M University Press, College Station, Texas: 2008, 234pp


Drawing on the literature on social ties, we develop a model toward entrepreneurs' assessments of early international entry. We argue that social ties in foreign markets trigger entrepreneurs' assessed attractiveness of exploiting potentially valuable opportunities contingent on their perceptions of the venture's absorptive capacity and their generalized trust in others. We test these hypotheses using a metric conjoint experiment, and data on 4,352 international entry assessments nested within 136 entrepreneurs. Our findings reveal significant cross–level interactions between the characteristics of entrepreneurs' social ties, venture absorptive capacity, and entrepreneurs' trust in others in explaining how they assess international entry.


The geological condition of Dagangshan Dam site is complicated with many faults and weak layers,which brought difficulties to the construction and threatened the dam safety.In the light of the characteristics of the strict requirement of the excavation size,the quality control of the foundation planes,blasting vibration control,acoustic wave attenuation,and large amount of drilling and blasting and difficult excavation of long and gentle slopes,the outside-in and top-down excavation was designed as the general scheme.The required construction tools were technically improved.The basic construction method and blasting tests were introduced.The summary of pre-splitting over-break balance construction method and drilling-blasting parameters shows that the construction efficiency and quality are greatly improved and the cost is reduced.


This paper investigates the flocking problem of multi‐agents following a leader with communication delays in a noisy environment. Based on potential fields and the LaSalle‐type theorem for stochastic differential delay equations, by introducing the adaptive protocol compensating for the desired velocity, a new neighbor‐based flocking protocol is proposed such that all the agents move with a virtual leader's velocity almost surely, and avoidance of collision between the agents is ensured. A numerical example is given to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed methods.