Grammaticalization as a linguistic theory has caught remarkable attention from language analysts in recent years, since it provided a promising paradigm for linguistic explanation through a crosslinguistic and panchronic approach. However, the concept `grammaticalization` has been interpreted and applied in diverse ways by the grammaticalization scholars and the foci of interest also changed through time. This paper provides a historical overview of the development of the grammaticalization scholarship, introduces central issues at different periods, including those that are currently in active discussion, and provides a projection as to the trends of the scholarship in the future. The focal issues in the current trends include the topics addressing unidirectionality, semantic change mechanisms, lexicalization. and usage-based approach, among others.


Aesthetic considerations are increasingly being taken into account when forest management decisions are made, but more quantitative studies testing assumptions are needed. This study tests the assumption that mature forests are perceived as being more beautiful than young forests; it also tests the philosophical concept of 'serious beauty', which hypothesises that the more knowledge one has about the ecological functioning of an environment, the more beautiful it will seem. All tests were done in situ. University students (N = 334) rated the mature forest as more beautiful than the young forest. The young forest was rated as less than neutral in appearance, and the mature forest was rated as more beautiful than neutral. Male students rated the forest as more beautiful than the females did. No significant difference was seen between the ratings from before or after an ecology presentation. Thus we did not confirm the serious beauty hypothesis in this instance.


PURPOSE: A planar surface heater and a curing method of cold weather concreting using planar surface heater are provided to maintain constantly the temperature of concrete by improving a structure of the planar surface heater. CONSTITUTION: A planar surface heater includes a fabric member, a first compound yarn, a second compound yarn, a conductive resin, a cover sheet, and a connector. The fabric member has a predetermined area. The first compound yarn and the second compound yarn are formed with a cotton yarn and a metal yarn. The first compound yarn and the second compound yarn are formed on both sides of the fabric member. The conductive resin is formed on the fabric member. The cover sheet(140) is used for covering the conductive resin. The connector(150) is connected to the metal yarn.


Eight rainfall indicators were used to analyze the 5 min. × 5 min. grid-based rainfall characteristics in the central plain region of Thailand. The non-parametric statistics called Mann-Kendall test was applied to 32-year (1980-2011) time series data, statically significant (p-value ≤ 0.05) and Kendall's tau correlation maps were considered for informative examination. Annual rainfall showed increasing trend in the upper basin and statically increasing by 35.8% of the whole basin. A number of rainy days (RD) and number of consecutive wet days (CWD) showed increasing by 70.2% and 57.9% of the basin for RD and CWD, respectively, while a number of consecutive dry days (CDD) exhibited decreasing trend over 85.0% of the study area even only 13.8% satisfied at 95% statically significant. The simple daily rainfall intensity (SDRI), heavy rainy days (HRD), max. 1-day, and max. 3-day demonstrated upward trends. The findings suggest that the region is shifting towards wetter condition. The explicit results of rainfall characteristics maps are expected to facilitate and allow various users to make better water resources management and overcome reluctant interpretation rainfall changes/trends for areas lacking of measured data as well as baseline information for climate change study. Key-words: Chao Phraya River basin; Mann-Kendall test; rainfall indices; trend analysis.


Objectives The aim of this study is to compare the shaping ability (straightening of curved root canals, apical transportation, preparation time) of single and multi-file rotary systems during the preparation of curved root canals in extracted human molar teeth. Methods Sixty mandibular molars were divided according to the instrument used into three groups of 20 teeth each: group PTU (ProTaper Uneiversal), group PTN (ProTaper Next) and group OS (One Shape). Using standardized pre- and post-instrumentation radiographs, straightening of canal curvature was determined using image analysis software. A double-digital standardized radiographic technique was used to determine apical transportation. Preparation time was also recorded. Data were analysed using one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc Tukey's test, and significance was set at P < 0.05. Results During root canal preparation, no instruments fractured. The use of PTN resulted in significantly less canal straightening followed by OS then PT. There were no significant differences between the three groups with respect to apical transportation. PTN were significantly faster than PTU and OS. Conclusion Under the conditions of this study, ProTaper Next Protaper Universal and One Shape instruments respected original canal curvature and were safe to use. Protaper Next was the fastest among them.


The aim of this study was to analyse the type of training situations used in youth basketball practices. The sample includes 394 training tasks from an U12 team and 389 tasks from an U14 team. The variable game situation was analysed. A descriptive analysis of data from each of the teams and an inferential analysis utilising the Mann Whitney U and Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests were done. There


Emergencies happen every day. Many are caused by storms or auto accidents and can be planned for, if not predicted. Emergencies resulting from natural hazards often affect a large number of people, and planning for them can be difficult, since knowledge of the needs of the people involved is generally unavailable. Emergencies resulting from accidents at industrial and military facilities can also be large scale in nature if people must be evacuated or sheltered in place. Federal planning for large scale emergencies is the responsibility of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which provides assistance to various emergency management agencies at the national, state and local level. More information about FEMA is available at http://www.fema.gov/. The purpose of the Special Population Planner (SPP) is to help emergency planners address the needs of persons with special needs. The exact definition of 'special population' is a policy decision. Policymakers have included a variety of groups in this term, such as persons with disabilities, those who do not have vehicles with which to evacuate, children who are unattended at times (latchkey children), and many others. The SPP was developed initially for the Alabama Emergency Management Agency as part of its Chemical Stockpile Emergencymore » Preparedness Program (CSEPP), which aids emergency planning and preparedness in communities surrounding military installations across the United States where chemical weapons are stored pending their destruction under federal law. Like that specialized application, this open-source version contains a set of specialized Geographic Information System (GIS) tools to facilitate emergency planning on behalf of persons with special needs, regardless of how the term is defined. While the original SPP system was developed for emergency planning relating to chemical hazards, it can be applied to other threats as well. It is apparent from Hurricane Katrina and other natural and man-made disasters that many of the problems posed by emergency planning for a chemical weapons agent release are shared by other hazards as well. The notion that emergency planning shares common functions underlies the decision by FEMA to include the Chemical Stockpile Emergency Preparedness Program (CSEPP) in its 'all-hazards' planning approach. The CSEPP's official planning guidance operationalizes this approach by suggesting that state and local CSEPP emergency plans 'should be appended to the existing all-hazards emergency plan.' The SPP is programmed as a set of tools within an ESRI ArcMap 9.1 project. ArcMap is a component of both ESRI ArcGIS 9.1 and ESRI ArcView 9.1, and it provides a rich GIS user interface for viewing spatial and tabular data, analyzing it, and producing output reports and maps. This GIS interface has been augmented with the SPP tools for a user interface that provides custom functionality for emergency planning. The system as released also includes some hypothetical example records for special needs populations, facilities, resources, control points and sirens sufficient for showing how the system would work with real information. A GIS database is included with some publicly available example layers. The SPP is designed to support emergency planners as they address emergency management issues, and includes capabilities that support the collection and importing of data, the review of data in a spatial context, and GIS tools for emergency planning. The SPP system allows for the identification and categorization of response zones to allow for multiple levels of preparedness. An Immediate Response Zone (IRZ) might be designated as the area 0 to 10 miles from a facility where the response would be the most urgent. SPP can support more than one set of planning zones to accommodate different types of emergencies or the different jurisdictions of emergency response organizations. These areas can be delineated by any number of criteria that make sense for the area. An area like New Orleans might designate response zones based on the depth above/below sea level, or an urban area may categorize an IRZ as the 'central business district' with the PAZ encompassing the larger outlying area. Many of the sites involved in the CSEPP currently use an integrated emergency response information system to support their emergency management planning. The D2-Puff system (including or WebPuff 2.1) by Innovative Emergency Management, Inc. is the main software serving this purpose. More information on D2-Puff can be found at www.ieminc.com. SPP differs from D2-Puff in that it is designed for planning, not response to assist those with special needs, is programmed within a popular commercial GIS software system, and can be loaded with large amounts of data to support all hazards emergency planning.« less


It is well known that many defects exist in current stock market,such as information abuse and price manipulation.Anomaly detection is helpful to enhance the integrity,fairness and transparence of stock market so it becomes a key link in financial regulatory system.Unfortunately,existing approaches were low performing as they rarely focused on analyzing the intraday information and mining potential trading behaviors.It proposed a method,which based on market microstructure,to detect abnormal trading behaviors.An experiment was presented demonstrating the feasibility and effectiveness of this approach.


The process of determining groups, features and functions of discourse markers or discourse particle are debateable among language researchers. Various definitions and classification of elements have developed confusion of its status. The efforts to rearrange various opinions related to discourse markers or discourse particles according to certain functions are able to create systematic categories and expose its functions clearly. This article aimed to examine a number of discourse markers concepts or discourse particles and its functions according to the context of grammar and pragmatics as well as the features and domains of discourse markers or discourse particles from views from past studies. The methodology used was the examination of discourse markers or discourse particles into a theory, a model which explained the functions of discourse markers or discourse particles. This explained the research findings which listed the inventory concept of discourse markers or discourse particles, the functions, features and domain of discourse markers or discourse particles in detailed. Distribution of concepts, functions and domain of discourse markers or discourse particles from the views from past studies indicated that discourse markers or discourse particles is a meaningful entity in communication.


A novel Arabidopsis DHDPS gene named DHDPS2 was found through identification of a mutant by promoter trapping. The mutation promotes a reduction of growth resulting from combination of a defect in lysine biosynthesis and accumulation of a toxic level of threonine or derived products. The mutant also modifies the amino acid composition issuing from the pyruvate and aspartate pathways, affecting mainly the root compartment. These data are in accordance with the expression of DHDPS2 in the root apex as visualized by expression of the GUS reporter gene. This suggests that a large proportion of the amino acids derived from pyruvate and aspartate are synthesized in this organ.


Speech Retrieval focuses on retrieving a segment of speech from a speech corpus correspond to a given query. A standard Speech Retrieval system usually composed by two systems, the Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) system and the Information Retrieval (IR) system. The ASR system transcribes the speech and represents the transcript in different formats. The transcript is then indexed and searched by the IR system. As a result, Speech Retrieval is sensitive to the ASR, since IR system is depend on the transcript generated by ASR. The current challenge in Speech Retrieval is the limitation of ASR performance under certain conditions. Two such conditions are Limited Resources and Open Domain. Under Limited resources condition, the training data is not sufficient for creating a robust ASR system. A good example for this condition is to perform Speech Retrieval on limited resources languages such as Tagalog or Assamese. On the other hand, under Open Domain condition, the recorded speech varies in many perspectives. The high diversity of recorded speech limits the performance of a single ASR system. A good example for this condition is to perform Speech Retrieval on YouTube videos, such as online lectures. We believe Speech Retrieval under these conditions can be significantly improved from different approaches. The first one is to apply extra information, such as contexts from conversation. A context includes the other words in the same utterance or conversation. The second approach is to refine the existing IR system, by using better IR search strategy for Speech Retrieval. We analysis existing IR system and present a better search strategy, which is based on the diversity of current approaches. We have investigated how to integrate these two approaches to Speech Retrieval, and determined that the approaches can achieve improvement on Spoken Term Detection (STD) under the limited resources condition. The resulting system has been shown to be effective on multiple languages, implying that the improvement is language independent. Based on our positive result regarding the limited resources condition, we propose to extend existing approaches and develop new techniques for better Speech Retrieval under the open domain condition. We propose a new Speech Retrieval task called Spoken Snippet Retrieval (SSR), which retrieve a moderate size of speech from the speech collection with just enough context. The retrieved snippet is easier for user to listen through compare to the spoken document retrieved by Spoken Document Retrieval (SDR) systems, which has average length of 3 minutes. The snippet is more comprehensible compare to the term location detected by STD systems, since the context are given. The main contribution for the thesis is to complete SSR on the open domain data, which we believe is doing the adequate retrieval on the appropriate data.


Aim:To screen phage clones specifically combined with connective tissue growth factor(CTGF)from a random 12-peptide library.Methods:Thioredoxin(TrxA)and TrxA-CTGF were prepared by gene recombination.A random 12-peptide phage display library was pre-absorbed with TrxA and then screened with TrxA-CTGF.Phage clones were obtained after 4 cycles biopanning by gradually increased selective pressure.The single strand DNAs of ten randomly selected clones were abstracted and sequenced.The specificity of phages combined with CTGF was identified by direct and indirect-ELISA.Results:Eight clones shared a consensus sequence(810A),and two different sequences(810B,810C)were also obtained.Three positive clones can specifically combine with recombinant CTGF.The reaction of positive clones with CTGF was significantly increased compared with those of TrxA and negative control(P0.05).Conclusion:Phage clones specifically combined with CTGF have been obtained successfully,and it is valuable for the study of CTGF inhibitor of small molecule.


Objective
To explore the effects of hyperbaric oxygen preconditioning (HBOP) on close connection of endothelial cells in in-vitro blood-brain barrier and possible mechanism involved.

Methods
The blood-brain barrier model was developed by using hCMEC/D3 cell line. Then, the cultured cells were randomly divided into 3 groups: the blank control group (Group A), the hypoxia group (Group B) and the HBOP group (Group C). Millicell-ERS was used to test TEER, while immunofluorescence was performed to detect changes in the expressions of occludin and ZO-1.

Results
The normal cultured hCMEC/D3 displayed a spindle shape, with the cells closely connected and the value of TEER as high as 80-120 Ω·cm2, indicating that the in vitro blood-brain barrier model was successfully established. Relative to the TEER value of group A [107.17±10.41)Ω·cm2], the TEER values of group B and group C [( 50.02±6.87)Ω·cm2, (83.81±8.22)Ω·cm2] all decreased quite considerably, with the TEER value of group B decreasing more significantly. Immunofluorenscence detection results indicated that as compared with group A, the expression level of occludin in group B decreased significantly, while no significant expression level of occludin was noticed in group C. As compared with group A, ZO-1 expression level in the cell membrane of group B decreased significantly, while the expression level of cytoplasm increased, and there were no significant changes in ZO-1 expression level in group C.

Conclusions
HBO preconditioning could decrease changes in the expression levels of occludin and ZO-1 induced by hypoxia.

Key words:
Hyperbaric oxygen preconditioning; Blood-brain barrier; Close connection


The cultural factors that affect Second Language Acquisition (SLA) result from many aspects, some derived from the level of the acquirer's mother language, other soriginated from the stratum of his native culture. Based on the relations between language and culture - language is the carrier of culture, while culture is the contents of language-it


Queueing models for traffic simulations are interesting models for applications. They can be used to simulate up to 10 cars/s on completely standard hard-ware. Unfortunately, uptonow, there was a catch: they sometimes show weird results, most notably jams that do not run backward. This work shows how queueing models can be made as realistic as most car-following models. Two ingredients are needed: the first is the proper translation of the macroscopic description (flows) into the microscopic headways used in the queueing model, the second is the correct modeling of the interaction between the queues that model the links in the network. Eissfeldt / Gräfe / Wagner 2 INTRODUCTION Queueing models for microscopic traffic flow simulation have been used in a number of different groups worldwide (1-6), see (7) for additional references, including our own (8,9). The idea behind them is very simple: any link of a road network can be regarded as a queue of cars. If the link gets very long, it can be divided into several queues (which does not change the idea), but at first a link is identified with a queue. Upon entering the link, any car gets assigned a proposed leaving time, when this time has been elapsed, it can be put into the next link of its path provided, some capacity constraint is obeyed at exiting and there is enough space on the destination link. These kind of models play an important role in several fields of modelling traffic flow systems, espacially in the context of dynamic traffic assignment (DTA) and ITS applications (4). Their importance is due to the fact that they usually are computationally very efficient without neglecting important dynamic effects of traffic flow. E.g., with respect to the calculation of the user equilibrium for a given travel demand and traffic network iterative approaches are widely used. This assignment procedure can be devided into two main stages, namely the modelling of the route--choice behaviour and the dynamic network loading. For the latter purpose any traffic flow model can be used in principle if it is able to reproduce travel times sufficiently detailed. However, since the two stages of DTA have to be repeated several times (usually up to 10-40 times), computational very fast models are necessary in order to allow for extensive scenario calulations and on-line applications. Queueing models for instance posses an appropriate balance between computational performance and proper modelling of traffic flow with respect to the network loading computation for huge networks. In (9), such a queueing model has been compared to a cellular automaton (10) and to a state-continuous, but time-discrete microscopic traffic flow model (11), with excellent results. However, when using the queue model to compute emissions (12), some strange results were encountered. The basic point is that jams in this model do not run backward but stick at the position where they were initiated. We have the suspicion that this happens with almost all implementations of queueing models in use for the purpose of traffic simulations, except (2,4). This will be further discussed in the following section. It turns out that the tests used in (9) succeeded because a certain, very special situation was utilized for the comparison: a two-lane road with a one lane bottleneck at the end. Which is the queueing scenario per se. Since the results of this comparison where so excellent, nobody realized that it needs more to built a successful queueing model. The paper is structured as follows. In the next section it will be discussed in short what is missing in most queueing approaches. Due to the vast number of different approaches we can only focus on special aspects which seem important to us. Subsequently, we present our queueing approach which is able to fix the mentioned problems, in particular the modelling of backward moving jams. Before concluding, two benchmarks of the proposed model will be presented, testing the models' ability to reproduce measured travel times and measured loop detector data. A SHORT REMARK ON QUEUEING APPROACHES Microscopic modeling of individual car motion is less in the focus of approaches based on classical queueing theory than the connection of flow-density relations with relevant determinants of traffic flow. In terms of queueing theory each link or street segment is to be regarded as a service device operating at a certain service rate. Queues, i.e. congestion, occur whenever the current demand exceeds the capacity of the service. Thus, the resulting travel time on a link is the sum of waiting time plus service time. Depending on the distributions of arrival and service times assumed in such models certain relations for the travel time arise. E.g. assuming a M/M/1 queueing model (13) leads to a type of function Davidson proposed in (14), ttrav(q) ∝ 1 + (c q) / (qmax – q). Here q and qmax are the instant flow on the link and its maximum flow, respectively, c is a parameter which has to be estimated from field measurements. In principle in these models the resulting travel time is always some kind of nonlinear function depending at most on the current state of the queue a car enters. This also holds if nonstationary queueing approaches (3) or state-dependent queueing models (7) are used. In all such models, spill-back with respect to a network is properly modeled. But regarding a sequence of queues that are congested (a jam) one does not observe backward propagation of the jam as one finds in reality (15) . Jams stick at the position where they were generated and queues solely disolve from the back until that position is reached. The lack in the concepts mentioned above is Eissfeldt / Gräfe / Wagner 3 that there is no mechanism introduced to distinguish the two situations, namely the transmission of a car between two queues that are completely congested and the escaping of a car at the downstream front of a jam. Therefore we claim that a queueing model that properly models jamming has to posses service times that do also depend on the state of the queue in front. This point has also been worked out in the cell transmission model (CTM) by Daganzo (2) and the space-time queue concept by Mahut (4) nevertheless both following a different line of thought than we do. In these models the flow between two queues is dependent on the states of both queues, i.e. the sending and the receiving queue. However, in CTM flows are modeled as real valued numbers while we seek for a concept where individual drivers are represented, i.e. a discrete-flow model. In the model by Mahut a minimum time separation between two vehicles is introduced which is fixed by parameters of the flowdensity relation. The temporal separation between two consecutive cars also plays a prominent role in the model we will propose in the following section. In contrast to the model by Mahut arguments are purley on the level of microscopic car motion. IMPROVEMENT OF KNOWN APPROACHES The following arguments are focused on the queueing model (FASTLANE) in (8,9) but from what was discussed above it is clear that they hold in general. This is, since almost all approaches result in a travel time function (composed by running time plus additional waiting times due to flow constraints at the exit of the link) which depend at most on the instant conditions of the link. In particular, FASTLANE fails, because of the implemented waiting time function: Upon entering link i at time tν, a car ν gets assigned an estimated exit time tν exit = tν + ttrav, where the travel time is given by ttrav(ni) = Li vi . In general, this travel time depends on the number of cars already on the link ni, however, in most cases it is choosen to be independent of ni. The symbol Li is the length of the link i and vi max is the speed limit on that link. If time t exceeds tν , the car enters the next link, provided there is at least one site free, i.e. ni+1 < Ni+1, with Ni+1 denoting the maximum number of cars on link i+1. An additional constraint is provided by the maximum flow Qi which the cell can sustain. This maximum capacity, and, in general, any flow q has to be converted into the corresponding time headway between two cars. Since the flow is just q = 1/τ with τ being the temporal headway between two consecutive cars ν-1 and ν, this capacity constraint is easily written down as an additional waiting time τW. i W Q / 1 = τ (1) where τW denotes the waiting time between the car ν-1 and the car ν, under consideration. Only after the time t > tν exit + τW, the car is allowed to leave the link i. (The current implementation used in (9) to ensure the capacity constraint is different from what is proposed here, but that does not change the argument.). As mentioned already above, this simple recipe is not enough to make a valid traffic flow model. Surprisingly, even strongly nonlinear travel time functions such as ttrav(ni) ∝ 1 + 1 / (1 ni / Ni) are not able to generate a backward moving jam. Note, that state-dependent queueing approaches finally result in such kind of functions for the travel time. So, as has been observed already in (9), the detailed form of the travel time function seems to be not very important. This can be understood, since the reason for the non-linearity of empirically observed travel time functions may be just the bottleneck at the end. So what is the trick that transforms a queueing model into a useful traffic flow model? While the upstream jam front in the model behaves as expected, the downstream jam front is fixed. The reason for this is that the inflow into the queue that currently marks the downstream front of the jam is as big as the outflow from this queue, which is equivalent to the outflow from the jam. Therefore, the flaw in the reasonings above is to assume that the waiting time τW at the end of link i is independent of the number of cars in the next link i+1. This can be understood quite simply. Suppose the first car of an otherwi


Few subjects of international economics are so much exposed to heated debates as the exchange rate problem. From monetary crises and balance-of-payments adjustments to monetary zones, dealing with currency swings seems to embody any economist's worries about the rightfulness of economic models and the relevance of empirical analyses he or she has to choose. Is appreciation or depreciation good for a country's welfare? Would that answer still be valid in the long run? The unsettled character of the problem largely resides in the manifest contradiction between the firm theoretical predictions and their unconvincing empirical testing. One of the least uncontroversial tenets refers to the positive correlation between currency depreciation or devaluation (although of different origins, their effects are generally the same) and a country's current account. This paper attempts to test this prediction on the case of Romanian economy and to conclude on possible explanations of the theoretical-empirical conflict.


. We investigate the Berezin-Toeplitz operators that operate on the geometric quantized space corresponding to the SO (3)-Witten-Chern-Simons theory. We conjecture that the SO (3)-Berezin-Toeplitz operators quantized from the A-polynomial annihilate the corresponding SO (3)-knot states.


This paper presents an optimized Radio Frequency Identification chipless tag based on substrate integrated waveguide technology with a reduced size, and a high quality factor. The tag operates in a sub-band of the Ultra Wide Band from 7 to 7.5 GHz. It consists of using the frequency encoding approach based on frequency shifting technique; allows obtaining an important number of encoding states by changing the resonant peak position in the operation band. The frequency shift is achieved when changing the substrate parameters by drilling via holes or metalized via. The tag is designed; simulated and optimized ensuring improved results compared to existed designs based on the same used techniques, which proves that the proposed configuration is very suitable for short range applications of identification.


The paper analyzes the variations of land use and land cover in the last ten years by taking two remote sensing images of 1998 and 2007 of Wuqi County in Shaanxi Province,NDVI values,land-use maps and ground survey data as the basis,with the support of GIS spatial data and using the methods of spatial analysis and statistics.The results are as follows: during the period of 1998—2007,the proportion of cultivated land to the total land area is reduced from 19.68% to 6.79%,the proportion of forest area increased from 12.50% to 38.43%,the proportion of highly covered grass land increased from 14.44% to 20.62%,the proportion of medium-level covered grass land redused from 30.03% to 20.07% and the proportion of housing and construction land is in the trend of steady increases.The outcomes show that the implementation of eco-engineering including the project of conversion of cropland to forest(grassland) has gradually made the land use structure in the trend of reasonable and increased the coverage of vegetation effectively and improved the entironment remarkably.


In this letter, we establish a connection between cooperative control of passivity-short systems, and the regularization of a pair of dual network optimization problems. We build upon existing works that established, under a passivity requirement, an equivalence between the steady-state behavior of diffusively coupled network system and the solutions to a pair of convex-dual optimization problems. We show that when the agents are passivity-short, the resulting optimization problems are no-longer convex. By introducing a regularization term to the problem, we then establish that this corresponds to a feedback passivation of each system via an appropriately chosen linear output-feedback gain. We also obtain conditions on the regularization term such that the resultant closed system possess the so-called maximally equilibrium-independent passivity property and exhibits a solution to their network-level interactions. Finally, we illustrate theoretical results with two case studies.


In the colonial period, the Spanish politics towards the American frontiers was oriented not only to recognition and military protection of the borders, but also to control trade in the regions. During the demarcation of the boundaries in the 18th Century, the smuggling in the borders degenerated in various conflicts between the Spanish and Portuguese authorities. However, illegal trade played an important role en la satisfaction of the provisions in the zone, making possible the establishment of local alliances. This article addresses these questions taking as object the study the border Luso-Spanish in the Amazon Valley, between captaincy of Negro River and the province of Maynas, 1780-1820.


Optical step frequency is studied using serrodyne modulation. The position resolution of this method is determined by the optical frequency modulation width, and the maximum measurement position is determined by optical step frequency. This paper describes the zooming in on defect positions by combining two light sources and performing band pass sampling of optical frequency with the aim of measuring localized defects in optical components. It shows that localized defects in a sample having an optical path length of about 20 mm can be detected at a resolution of about 10 /spl mu/m.


Objective:To explore the clinical efficacy of arthroscopic knee debridement combined sodium hyaluronate in the treatment of osteoarthritis.Methods:92patients with osteoarthritis in our hospital were chosen.They were randomly divided into the treatment group and the control group,and 46 patients in each group.The control group was only taken with knee debridement,and the treatment group was taken with sodium hyaluronate knee joint debridement treatment.The clinical efficacy,knee joint synovial fluid and serum IL-1and NO levels before and after treatment,Lysholm functional score before and after surgery for the two groups were compared.Results:The total efficiency rate of the treatment group was 91.30%,78.26%in the control group,the differences of the total efficiency rate of the two groups were significant,P0.05.After treatment,the IL-1content in the knee joint synovial fluid and NO levels in the serum in the observation group were significantly higher than the control group,P0.05.The Lysholm functional scores for the treatment group after 3months and 12 months were(75.18±15.10)points and(81.21±10.37)points,which were significantly higher than the control group,P0.05.Conclusion:The clinical effect of arthroscopic knee debridement combined sodium hyaluronate in the treatment of osteoarthritis is significant.


They will be pebbles inventing locomotion. They will run for 400 million years, gangsters on the lam from the Rhynie chert. In a cave at the edge of the world, they will tickle the callused foot of the Devil. Their own feet will be eyelashes tipped with wallpaper glue. They will stalk the sweating porcelain rims of bathtubs like Sherpas on stilts. They will cast off a twitching leg to trick lizard or crow. Some folks will claim their hearts are too small to register pain or fear. Praying at the edge of a puddle, they will feel the earth tick like a hot engine. Their shortest treks will be fraught with peril. DA D DY L O N G L E G S


Research efforts of recent years on the protein metabolism of plants have been primarily directed toward clarification of the cellular mechanism of protein synthesis. Less attention has been devoted to the analysis of those factors that determine protein concentration levels in organs of whole plants. A review on this subject is included in the monograph of Webster (18). Past efforts of the present investigator in this area have been concerned with the influence of the ammonium: nitrate ratio of the culture solution on protein level in shoots of young wheat seedlings grown in darkness (19, 20). The shoot protein level of plants provided with a simultaneous supply of ammonium and nitrate was found to be greater than that of plants grown with either ammonium or nitrate alone. The present study concerns itself with the effect of ammoninum and nitrate on protein synthesis in young leaves of sunflower grown in the light. Preliminary experiments indicated that protein levels were again at a maximum under ammonium plus nitrate conditions. Among the factors that may play a role in the determination of leaf protein level, one is the nature of the nitrogenous substances transferred to the leaves from the root system. In an attempt to explain the decline in protein experienced by detached leaves, Chibnall (5) suggested that roots provide some factor or factors necessary for leaves to maintain their protein levels. This hypothesis is relevant to the problem of protein level in attached leaves under investigation in this laboratory. It is possible that the simultaneous presence of ammonium and nitrate in the culture solution may lead to the synthesis in the roots of a complex of nitrogenous compounds which, when transported to the leaves, permits the establishment of a high protein level. Accordingly, a study was made of the amino acids, amides, and inorganic nitrogen ions in the exudate of decapitated sunflower plants that had been grown under ammonium, ammonium plus nitrate, and nitrate conditions.


Motivated by cloud-based computing resources operating with relative priorities, we investigate the strategic interaction between a fixed number of users sharing the capacity of a processor. Each user chooses a payment, which corresponds to his priority level, and submits jobs of variable sizes according to a stochastic process. These jobs have to be completed before some user-specific deadline. They are executed on the processor and receive a share of the capacity that is proportional to the priority level. The users' goal is to choose priority levels so as to minimize their own payment, while guaranteeing that their jobs meet their deadlines. We show that the equilibria in this game always coincides with the social welfare of the system. We fully characterize the solution of the game for two classes of users and exponential service times. For an arbitrary number of classes and general service times, we develop an approximation based on heavy-traffic. We characterize the solution of the game under the heavy-traffic assumption and we numerically investigate the accuracy of the approximation. Our results show that the approximate solution captures accurately the structure of the equilibrium in the original game.


The paper develops a general equilibrium model with incomplete markets where the asset structure is endogenized. This asset structure allows to consider a new class of objective functions of profit maximizing firms. This class of objective functions is independent of the utilities of the stock holders. Corporate equilibrium properties are studied for this model. It is shown that the organization of production is generally efficient. This result is a consequence of the generalization of the separation theorem of the Arrow-Debreu model to incomplete markets. Finally, the paper shows that corporate equilibria are not independent of the firms financial activities.


PURPOSE: To always fix the resist release performance by automatically controlling a resist release solution so that the moisture concentration and the degraded component concentration become prescribed values and properly managing solution replenishment of a resist release processing tank, and to reduce the overall manufacturing cost by reducing the use quantity of the resist release solution and shortening the operation halt time. CONSTITUTION: The aqueous resist release solution management apparatus which manages the aqueous resist release solution used for a resist releasing apparatus in an adjustment tank (1) is provided with a degraded component concentration measuring means (16) which measures the concentration of degraded components derived from the aqueous resist release solution in the adjustment tank (1), solution supply means (24, 25, 26, and 27) which supply at least one of undiluted aqueous resist release solution, a recycled aqueous release solution, pure water and a preliminarily prepared fresh aqueous resist release solution to the adjustment tank, and a solution supply quantity control means (31) which controls the quantity of the solution to be supplied to the adjustment tank on the basis of the measured concentration of degraded components.


An overview of the latest LHCb's measurements in the charm
sector is presented. This includes measurements of angular and CP-violating observables, as well as spectroscopy and production studies in the charmed baryon sector.


Skin is a large, flexible and robust organ that covers and protects the body from external damage. At the same time it has an important sensory role, it is the attachment site for touch, pain and thermoreceptors. This multifunctional biological model is inspiring the development of electronic equivalents — referred to as 'electronic skin' — consisting of large-area networks of sensors that detect pressure, temperature and other environmental stimuli, and are usually realized on pliable or stretchable substrates. These devices have been proposed as advanced biomimetic prostheses and diagnostic tools, as well as a means to provide robots with sensory perceptions, an ambitious technological goal that brings to mind the 'machine-human' in the sciencefiction movie Metropolis or the sentient android Data in Star Trek. Engineers and materials scientists are working on the functional complexity of these sensors — adding data processing and actuation capabilities — and on their mechanical properties, aiming to realize devices that conformably adapt to the skin and ensure a reduced risk of tissue reaction or alteration of the normal biological functions. Writing in Nature Materials, two independent groups now report the fabrication of electronic skins that complement sensing tasks with added functionalities: Ali Javey and co-workers report a flexible touch sensor with integrated output capabilities1 and John Rogers and colleagues describe an array of thermal sensors and heaters that enable full thermal characterization of human skin with an accuracy that is unavailable with other methods at present2. Javey and collaborators1 developed a sophisticated electronic skin that is able to detect pressure stimuli, the intensity of which are simultaneously displayed on an integrated array of organic lightemitting diodes (OLEDs). Each pixel of this electronic skin consists of a pressure sensor and a thin-film transistor that controls the current driving a coloured OLED. It is noteworthy that this complex architecture, comprising materials rather unconventional for the electronics industry, such as carbon nanotubes, organic semiconductors and carbon nanoparticles, can be attained on large areas and with high yield using conventional microfabrication processes. Arrays of 16 × 16 coloured pixels were realized on a polyimide substrate, resulting in a free-standing, flexible electronic display whose brightness can be locally tuned by the touch of a finger (Fig. 1; right inset). Pressure sensing is of course only one example of the possible integrated systems that can be enabled by the fabrication strategy demonstrated by these researchers; it is easy to imagine analogous mapping and direct visualization of other detectable events, such as temperature variations, exposure to chemicals or bonding to biological molecules, achieved by simply modifying the sensing element of each pixel. Immediate applications may be foreseen in interactive input–output devices, for example in autonomous, reusable touch panels that can be adapted to any curved surface and allow the user to directly see the intensity of their touch on it. Rogers and colleagues2 demonstrated an electronic skin that enables precise measurements of temperature variations on human skin. The system uses thin metal films or thin nanoscale silicon membranes to realize temperature-sensitive arrays of resistors or diodes, respectively; these components are embedded between two polyimide layers that have a thickness of just 1 μm, which electrically insulate the devices and provide an effective barrier to moisture. The vertical symmetry of this membrane configuration places the electronic parts in the neutral mechanical plane (the horizontal section where the stress is minimized during mechanical deformations) making the electronic skin remarkably robust against bending. The ultrathin membrane can be directly laminated on the epidermis, which has a comparable elastic modulus: this similarity allows an enhanced conformal contact between the two surfaces (as shown by the laminated array withstanding FLEXIBLE ELECTRONICS


A survey of banded electrostatic emissions observed by the Plasma Wave Experiment on the recently launched spacecraft "CRRES" is presented with an emphasis on the relation of the frequency of the highest intensity waves to multiples of the local electron cyclotron frequency. Because one of its goals is a first look at the CRRES high-frequency electric field data, all the data discussed in this paper were taken in the first 8 months after launch. During this time, emissions are detected chiefly in the postmidnight quadrant of the magnetosphere between L=3.5 and L=7. We confirm that high-intensity emissions are confined to within a few degrees of the magnetic equator. The emissions presented here are all measured below the electron plasma frequency, and we find they generally favor the upper part of the gyroharmonic interval. When ECH emissions are detected both near and far from the equator on the same orbit, it is generally true that a broad band of the same relative frequency emissions are excited in both locations. The difference is that near the equator, a few frequency channels measure much higher intensities. When we compare with one model for convective growth, we find that the observed spectra may not be consistent with predicted ones.


The article discusses issues related to the determination of radial and tangential stresses in the well in the presence of gravitational pressure of the soil mass. The basis is the well-known theoretical solutions of the axisymmetric problem of a thick-walled pipe, namely, the Lame solution. The action of two pressures is considered: the internal pressure р 1 and the external р 2, uniformly distributed over the inner and outer surfaces of the hollow cylinder. As a result of theoretical studies, it was found that the use of the elasticity theory equation to determine radial and tangential stresses in a well with an internal effective pressure s r = р 1, leads to its slow horizontal decrease, which is not observed in practice. The authors proposed solutions that make it possible to obtain closer values of s r for soils. It was also experimentally proved that the value of the active compression region for soil wells with internal effective pressure р 1 is almost two times higher than the value obtained for stamp tests in half-space conditions. The authors obtained mathematical expressions of the strength and stability of wells from gravitational loads of soil.


The Thai Foreign Ministry has recently shifted its orientation from promoting good relations with foreign countries to defending the monarchy at all cost. Since the military coup of 2006 that…


Numerical methods are generally burden by an error, which is an aftermath of unsure determined input data, mainly of improper constitutive law. This is why the results of "in situ" measurements are to be involved in the computation and from the measurements the constitutive law is created. The problem consists of the fact that the in situ measurement is very expensive and carried principally out during or even after construction of underground works.In the first stage of realization of such works the material behavior (constitutive law) is not perfectly known, and is only estimated from a couple of tests "in situ", or existing geological and geotechnical maps. Such those input data serve mostly only as a brief description of the real situation on site.In a natural intermediate step the data being available from above mentioned sources are used and experimental models from physically equivalent materials (scale models) are created, which provide much deeper information about the behavior of the rock in the location being of interest to us. Such tests are carried out in experimental stands that are firmly constructed basins with slippery walls and bottom. The front wall is often glazed. Consequently, the stands enable the researchers to observe the movements, failure, and other possible phenomena in the massif. This is the first and very important property of the experiment being carried out in the stands. The second step is a very extensive measurement using gauges to obtain local stresses and displacement are received from appropriate equipments.In this paper localized deformations are examined and the mathematical model is determined by additional quantities - eigenparameters - which in our case stand for plastic strains. The coupled modeling is applied to assessment of deposits (tailing dams) from open pit mines in northern Bohemia.


Introduction Adapting interventions developed in low-income countries (LICs) to the UK could offer an alternative to current NHS services. The women's' group, Participatory Learning and Action Cycle (PLAC), has successfully reduced neonatal mortality in LICs. It guides participants through a process involving problem identification, planning strategies and post-implementation evaluation. Child health can be influenced by the health of the mother and affected also by factors such as infant nutrition. Sub-optimal nutrition in infancy could be creating high rates of nutrition-related ill-health in British Bangladeshis. Tower Hamlets boasts a large and concentrated population of British Bangladeshis, which presents a receptive environment for participatory programmes. The aim of this project is to utilise existing population knowledge, to adapt the PLAC to encourage optimal infant feeding practices in the Bangladeshi population of Tower Hamlets. Aims Using Braun and Clarke (2006) guidelines, we thematically analysed three focus group discussions with men and women of Bangladeshi origin, in Tower Hamlets. Results The participants perceived British Bangladeshi practices to be distinct from those living in Bangladesh, particularly regarding family dynamics, health professional influence and health priorities. This indicates that the PLAC needs to be available to all family members, be embedded in the NHS and focus on child growth and development. The content of the intervention will include resources such as picture cards, which will include traditional Bangladeshi foods as well as British recipes. Conclusions British Bangladeshi communities identify in terms of their heritage and their environment. This has implications for interventions such as the PLAC that are being adapted from LICs. Minority groups living in the UK may be accustomed to British culture, particularly where food and family ties are concerned. Utilising existing population knowledge is an effective way to adapt for assimilation or acculturation in such populations.


Waters pH/Conductivity Manifolds (P/N 279000612) are filled with a small amount ( ≈ 3 ml ) of non hazardous, aqueous 3M potassium chloride (KCl) solution (21% by weight), for shipping and storage. This is to preserve the integrity and performance of the electrodes when not in service. The Waters pH reference electrode (P/N 279000602) and pH sensing electrode (P/N 279000603) are filled with a very small amount of gelled 3M KCl electrolyte and are not serviceable by the customer. These devices are intended for use with chromatographic devices. Waters pH/Conductivity Manifolds and Electrodes should be used only as directed and in accordance with good laboratory practices.


Through the analyses of the design of the vacuum and external pressure vessels and the mechanical performance of the common engineering materials given by GB150-98,the estimation of the initial value of the cylinder wall thickness of the vacuum and external pressure vessels was studied. The estimation formula of the initial value was: δ e/ D o= K(1/E) 1/3 . The ability of the vacuum steel vessels bearing the external and internal pressures was compared in the condition of the same materials and temperatures. The result shows that when the D o/ δ e of the vessels was 100~114 in general,the ability of bearing the internal pressure was 10~25 times that of bearing the external pressure,and the estimation drawings of the wall thickness of the common materials in engineering were given,the conclusion could be directly used for engineering design.


During the physical culture,the following works are needed: inspiring the students' interestings,correcting their attitudes,culturing their habits of exercising,all that can help establish their training virtues.Another purpose is basic knowledge and skills mastering.


The indicators of soil microbe (the microbial communities and diversity,soil microbial biomass,soil microbial activity),soil enzymatic activity and soil animals are three important biological indicators that token soil quality. These indicators are easily affected by soil environmental factors and actives of men,such as soil water,soil temperature,cultivation and application of organic and inorganic fertilizers. We summarized the effect of organic and inorganic fertilizers application on these bioindicators in soil in this paper.


Abstract Recently great efforts have been made to increase the data access speed and the data storage density of the optical memory disks such as CD-ROM, DVD, ASMO disk, etc. In the viewpoint of increasing the data access speed of the optical disks, it is of great importance to characterize accurately the vibration phenomena of the rotating disk, which is related to the critical speed and the characteristics of the frequency response. In this paper, towards the goal of increasing the data access speed of the optical disks, we have proposed a novel method for improved characteristics of disk vibration without deteriorating any other specification for the optical memory disks such as geometrical and optical characteristics. A possible idea to improve the vibration characteristics of the optical disk is that the tensile initial stress in the radial direction is to be imposed within the optical disk on purpose. By the synergy effect from the residual (initial) tensile stress frozen within the optical disk combined with the stress induced by the centrifugal force occurring in rotating the optical disk, the stiffness of the disk would increase to have a stronger resistance to the disturbance resulting in increase of critical speed. With such a synergy effect in mind, modifications related to the optical disk substrate design, injection mold design and processing conditions of injection molding were presented and partially evaluated. The computer simulation and experiments indicate that the suggested ideas clearly improve the characteristics of disk vibration without deteriorating any other specification for the optical memory disks.


Data is an important component in any reasearch. Data can be newly acquired at the initial stage of a research project or it can be an already available data which has been stored somewhere. In the case of the research conducted by a research team at University of Malaya, the datasets used are cardiac data. These datasets will be processed and most often will yield another new set of data. In this paper, datasets used by a group of researchers in the area of virtual heart modelling in the Faculty of Computer Science & Information Technology, Univeristy of Malaya, were studied to understand the transformation of the datasets from one form into another. This paper will illustrate the different forms and formats of the datasets. For example, a dataset used by this group can transform from a simple set of ASCII data into a very complex mathematical model. On the other hand, an image dataset can be processed to produce a set of textual or numeric data in ASCII form. The final objective of this study is to get a set of requirements to assist in the development of a data repository for the research group. Because of the multiple forms and formats of the data involved, the design and development of the repository will be a challenging task.


Hawai'i's public schools are experiencing an increase in the enrollment of students from Micronesia. The latest data from the Hawai'i Department of Education's (HIDOE's) English for Second Language Learners (ESLL) Program show that 13% of the state's total English as a Second Language (ESL) student population, or 1,671 students, come from the Freely Associated States (FAS): the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM – Chuuk, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Yap), the Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI), and the Republic of Palau (ROP). They represent a region that is not well known but that is vastly diverse linguistically, culturally, and geographically. This briefing paper provides background information about the geography, language, culture, and political history of the Micronesian region. Extensive information on the FAS is given in order to put into context the migration of the FAS people to the U.S. and its island territories. The paper closes with a focus on educational challenges facing Micronesian students from the FAS states and offers suggestions for teachers and other educators who work with them. A section of frequently asked questions begins on page 10.


Objective To investigate the effects of early hyperbaric oxygen therapy on aphasia in acute cerebral injury. Methods Sixty-two patients with acute cerebral injury were admitted into the hospital from January 2004 to August 2007. They were randomly divided into the hyperbaric oxygen (HBO) group and the control group. The control group was administered with routine treatment other than HBO, while the HBO group was given 24-48 sessions of HBO treatment in addition to routine treatment. To know how they recovered, clinical follow-ups were made every 3 months, one year after the patients terminated treatment. The linguistic function of the patients was evaluated and compared by using Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) and CT before and after HBO therapy. Results Results showed that the HBO exposure group had obviously better results when it was compared with the control group ( 83. 8% : 54. 8% ). And test showed that P < 0, 05. CT examination demonstrated that the blocked vessels in the affected area were either recovered or repaired. Conclusions Early HBO therapy will help to improve or recover the linguistic function of patients with acute cerebral injury.

Key words:
Acute cerebral injury; Hyperbaric oxygen; Alogia


Listeria monocytogenes is a Gram-positive intracellular bacterial pathogen responsible for a severe foodborne disease referred to as listeriosis in humans. A novel 86-kDa protein of unknown function, designated IspC, was previously identified by differential immunoscreening of a L. monocytogenes genomic expression library using two kinds of antisera, one (RaL) from rabbits infected with live bacteria and the other (RaK) from animals immunized with heat-killed bacteria. IspC reacted only with RaL but not with RaK, suggesting that it is induced only or significantly upregulated in vivo during L. monocytogenes infection and thus may be important in pathogenicity. IspC is a putative peptidoglycan hydrolase that is likely surface localized, as predicted from its deduced amino acid sequence. The biochemical properties and biological function (s) of IspC and its role in pathogenesis remain to be elucidated. The IspC protein was expressed in Escherichia coli and purified to electrophoretic homogeneity by chromatographic methods. This resulted in sufficient amount of purified recombinant IspC (rlspC) required for production of rabbit polyclonal antibodies to IspC (RalspC) and for biochemical and structural studies. N-terminal sequencing and mass spectrometry analysis showed that IspC contained a 23-residue N-terminal peptide being processed in E. coli. Circular dichroism and Raman spectroscopy analysis of purified rlspC revealed that the dominant secondary structure for the protein is p-sheet, consistent with the prediction by the PSIPRED method. Renaturing SDS-PAGE analysis demonstrated that IspC was capable of hydrolyzing bacterial cell wall substrates from several bacterial sources ii including L. monocytogenes itself, indicating IspC is an autolysin. The native IspC was detected in all growth phases at a relatively stable, low level during a 22-h in vitro culture, although its gene was transiently transcribed only in the early exponential growth phase. This and the previous findings suggest that IspC is upregulated in vivo during infection. The protein was unevenly distributed in clusters on the cell surface, as shown by immunofluorescence and immunogold electron microscopy. Analysis of various truncated forms of IspC has defined two separate functional domains: the N-terminal catalytic domain (aa 24 to 197) responsible for the hydrolytic activity and the C-terminal domain (aa 198 to 774) made up of seven GW (glycine-tryptophan dipeptide) modules responsible for anchoring the protein to the cell wall. The IspC autolysin exhibited peptidoglycan hydrolase activity over a broad pH range between 3 and 9 with an alkaline pH optimum of 7.5 to 9. Interestingly, the separated N-terminal catalytic domain showed hydrolytic activity at acidic pHs with a pH optimum between 4 and 6 and negligible activity at alkaline pHs. This suggests that the cell wall binding domain (CWBD) may be of importance in modulating the activity of the N-terminal


In oncology trials the primary and secondary endpoints are commonly time-to-event endpoints such as: overall survival, progression free survival, and time to progression. To minimize any process-driven variability on endpoint results and to ensure an unbiased review process resulting in enhanced accuracy, it is recommended to involve an independent adjudication committee of experts to review the data related to the endpoint. Clinical trials increasingly rely on this endpoint adjudication to better assess patient outcomes. One of the downfalls of centralized endpoint adjudication is that it is a time-consuming process which might jeopardize study timelines for analysis. Online endpoint coordination and adjudication software offers one solution and makes it easier to manage endpoints in a time efficient manner. Online coordination provides adjudication committee members, sponsors, and other authorized users real-time access to complete and accurate source data and endpoint results, reducing clinical trial timelines. With online software rather than a traditional paper process flow, potential safety risks and efficacy signals can be detected more rapidly and decisions to retain, close a trial, or close or enrich a treatment or dosing arm, can be made more quickly.


According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a wound dressing system is presented. The wound dressing system includes a fluid permeable support layer, the support layer configured for positioning within a wound and adapted to generally conform to a topography of the wound, and to permit exudates from the wound to pass therethrough. The wound dressing system further includes a plurality of beads supported by the support layer, the beads defining an insulated inter-connected elongate member and an electrode embedded within and extending through at least a portion of the elongate member. Also, a current is generated by an external energy source that electrically flows through the electrode.


Three kinds of polymer-supported catalysts loaded L-proline 6a~6c were prepared and their catalytic activity were screened by the direct asymmetric aldol reaction of acetone and 4-nitrobenzaldehyde.The catalyst 6b was the best one among them.The yields and ee values(yield 60 %~68 %,62 %~82 %ee) catalyzed by 6b were as well as that of L-proline(yield 60 %~68 %,60 %~85 %ee).6b could be recoveried and reused by crystallization,and after reuse of the catalyst five times,there was no loss in activity.The DMSO and DMF was the suitable solvent and n(catalyst)∶n(aldehyde)=1∶4 was best.


We analyzed the functional status of patients with spinal cord injury (late period) using the profile with the International classification of functioning, disability and health (ICF) categories. We identified the changes in bodyfunctions, body structures, activity and participation that can be corrected in the rehabilitation hospital.


Objective To explore the the prognostic significance of MMP-9,uPA and uPAR protein expression and its relationship with clinical-pathologic factors in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated by radiotherapy.Methods MMP-9,uPA and uPAR protein expression was measured in 59 esophageal car cinomas and 41 peri-carcinoma tissues with immunohistochemistry.The relationship between the protein expression and the clinical-pathological parameters was analyzed,and the prognostic factors in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma treated by radiotherapy alone was evaluated.Results The rates of positive expression of MMP-9.uPA and uPAR were 85%,76%and 78%in esophageal carcinoma and 39%,49%and 44%in peri-carcinoma tissues(x2=22.54,8.04 and 12.18;P=0.000,0.005 and 0.000).The rates of positive expression of MMP-9 was 79%and 100%when the depth of tumor invasion was≤2 am and>2 cm(P=0.048),respectively.The expression of uPA was significantly correlated with the status of fat interspace between the esophageal lesion and the vertebra in CT seaning image.When the fat interspace existed and disappeared,the rates of strong positive expression was 44%and 70%,respectively(χ2=4.21,P=0.040).The positive expression rate of uPA was significantly correlated with distant metastasis.which was 100%in patients with distant metastasis and 68.89%in those without distant metastasis(χ2=4.12,P=0.042).r11}lepositive expression rate of MMP-9.uPA and uPAR did not affect the prognosis and the short-term result of esoph.ageal carcinoma treated by radiotherapy alone.Conclusions The protein expression of MMP-9,uPA and uPAR may correlate with local infiltration and distant metastasis in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma.Protein expression may not influence the prognosis of esophageal carcinoma treated by radio therapy,though long time followed-up is stil needed.

Key words:
Eesophageal neoplasms/radiotherapy;  Gene protein expression/immunohistochemistry;  Clinical signification


This paper examines the elasticity of critical decision variables with respect to the international inbound tourism demand for South Korea from 14 countries of origin over the period 2005-2012 in the panel data framework. The methodology uses panel ordinary least squares as well as the panel unit root and panel cointegration test to solve the non-stationarity problem and examine long-run relationships among variables. The empirical results show that most of the variables have the expected signs and are statistically significant. The results also reveal that tourism demand is elastic with regard to income, tourism price and distance, but it is inelastic regarding real exchange rate, openness and population. More importantly, it turns out that the income of the origin countries and trade openness are the main determinants of international tourism demand for South Korea. This can be concluded because the coefficients of income of origin countries are greater than one and that of tourism price is 0.51. In consideration of the study results, it is necessary for the government to improve the infrastructure of international tourism to enhance the quality of services for tourists. These should be the priority areas for policy decision makers to attract more international tourists for South Korea in the future.


Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) following cardiac bypass surgery is an uncommon complication, yet leads to potentially fatal complications. It is known to increase morbidity and mortality. The estimated incidence of acute PE ranges between 0.5% and 4%. [1] The diagnosis is often challenging as symptoms such as shortness of breath, chest pain, hypoxia, and leg swelling are often attributed to pre-procedural changes. Therefore, the diagnosis of PE or deep vein thrombosis (DVT) may be challenging. Furthermore, on occasion, DVT may not accompany acute PE after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). In the light of the current literature data, we present a case who developed acute PE after CABG in the absence of detectable DVT along with successful recovery after thrombolytic therapy.


Designing parallel software is a difficult task, but it became essential in modern computing. This is notably true in Operational Research (OR) where many algorithms can benefit greatly from parallelization. It has led to the development of software frameworks that ease the parallel design of OR algorithms, based on object-oriented and template programming. New design possibilities arose with the advances of template metaprogramming, especially in the C++ language.
Our goal is to design a library able to produce efficient parallel implementations of an algorithm from the knowledge of its structure with no runtime overhead. We propose to use algorithmic skeletons in order to describe OR algorithms and make them ready for parallelization. For this purpose, metaprogramming techniques are used first to provide facilities to describe an OR algorithm as a composition of algorithmic skeletons, and secondly to analyze and transform the skeleton, at compile-time, into an efficient code to be executed at runtime. In a first step, we focus on metaheuristics because, as they are generic structures, they naturally adapt to algorithmic skeletons.


The automotive industry is continuously challenged by the growing need for customization of cars and trucks, resulting in increasing demand on flexibility, quality and efficiency. Much investigation and development is carried out in the field of automation of processes. However, in manual assembly this automation approach might not be suitable when the flexibility that human operators contribute with is to be retained. In such manual assembly environments the presentation of information becomes essential to succeed with an assembly task. This paper focuses on supporting manual assembly workers in their information seeking behaviour which is a key factor to respond to the issues of quality, efficiency and customization. It addresses potentially important issues in information design that will allow workers to find, translate, and act on information sources in a demanding situation, for instance under time pressure. The approach will take its base in controlled and automatic human information processes and the demands this creates on information presentation in terms of identifying and acting on information sources. A pilot study in Swedish industry has been performed within the scope of the EU- project myCar, which provides much data for this paper.


Aims  To examine the effect of albuminuria and retinopathy on the risk of cardiovascular and renal events, and all‐cause mortality in patients with Type 2 diabetes.


Abstract Excess activated factor XI (FXIa) in plasma indicates increased activation during the contact phase of blood coagulation. To investigate the relationship between such elevations and coronary atherosclerosis, we examined FXIa values in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) by an enzyme-linked immunorsorbent assay method that we developed that detects FXIa in plasma samples as an FXIa–α1-antitrypsin complex (FXIa-α1AT). The presence and extent of CAD were documented by coronary angiography and assessed by a recently developed scoring system for semiquantitative estimation of coronary atherosclerosis. Plasma FXIa-α1AT levels were significantly increased in patients with angiographically proven CAD (13.9±3.0 μg/L, n=42) compared with age-matched, healthy control subjects (11.9±1.7 μg/L, n=20) as well as patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries (12.0±2.3 μg/L, n=25). Moreover, in the total patient population, the FXIa-α1AT level was related to the number of significant coronary ar...


We prove that for any marriage game with strict preferences, there exists a unique von Neumann-Morgenstern stable set, which is also a unique subsolution of the game.


The acoustic thermometry of ocean climate‐feasibility ascension Cape Town (ATOC‐FACT) propagation experiment took place during November and December of 1992. Explosive charges were detonated near the oceanic sound‐channel axis at five locations in the South Atlantic off Cape Town. The resulting signals were recorded on bottom‐mounted hydrophones at Ascension, Navy horizontal arrays off Bermuda, bottom‐mounted hydrophones off Kaneohe and Wake and from a hydrophone array deployed from a research ship off Southern Tasmania. The primary goal of the experiment was to determine the extent that the acoustic path between Ascension and Cape Town is blocked by Bonaparte's Seamount and other bathymetric features. Secondary goals were to determine the horizontal arrival structure at Bermuda and the temporal arrival structure at Ascension, Hawaii, and off Tasmania. After giving an overview of the experiment, we use recorded data to discuss the question of how precisely arrival‐time differences of explosive signals can be measured. Detonations separated both temporally and spatially are considered. It is hoped this work will contribute to an understanding of the role explosive signals can play in the design of a global ATOC network.


ABSTRACT China's water governance not only involves highly technical interventions from the government but also reflects selected features of neoliberalization. Market and government interventions coexist, making the notion of 'authoritarian neoliberalization' a useful vantage point from which to understand water governance in China. The paper assesses the practices of water governance from the perspective of authoritarian neoliberalization by using the case of China's South–North Water Transfer Project (SNWTP). First, China's water governance practices contain elements of neoliberalization, including marketization, commodification and privatization. Second, its water governance also has authoritarian features that, combined with neoliberal elements, form an authoritarian neoliberalization that is a selective and adaptable expression of neoliberalism. Third, the Communist Party of China's (CPC) claims that effective water governance is a manifestation of its care for people's well-being and is, therefore, a source of the political legitimacy of the CPC. Nonetheless, authoritarian neoliberalization is officially regarded as merely a useful, practical instrument rather than an ideology to be pursued. The interpretation of authoritarian neoliberalization in this paper's case study of water governance in China's SNWTP expands existing understandings of variegated neoliberalization.


s International Section A: Humanities and Social Sciences, 58, 20–88. Papanikolaou, Z., Nikolaidis, D., Patsiaouras, A., & Alexopoulos, P. (2003). The freshman experience: High stress-low grades. Athletic Insight: The Online Journal of Sport Psychology, 5, 1–5. Sudano, L. (2011). The use of externalizing perfectionism to assist collegiate student-athletes with post-injury recovery. Journal of Family Psychotherapy, 22, 349–354. doi: 10.1080/08975353.2011.627807 Wilson, G., & Pritchard, M. (2005). Comparing sources of stress in college student athletes and non-athletes. Athletic Insight: The Online Journal of Sport Psychology, 7 , 1–8.


The qualitative case study examines the role and given meanings of sponsorship of festivals both as a resource and as a strategic marketing choice. The research provides insight into the interests and posited goals for collaboration between festival organizers and companies and to examine what characteristics are involved with managerial aspects when sponsorship thinking might been seen as a leveraging role in partnership negotiations between the parties. The findings indicate that the focus os sponsor-linked relationships has shifted towards interactive design between the festival organizers and their partners. The partners' interests lie in accessing new openings that could leverage their goas regarding their target groups. Conversely, for the festival organizers the focus of their cooperation is on concepts that facilitate experience design in the "festival way". The festival management perspective highlights the need among partners engaged in the discourse of interactive sponsorship not only for management capabilities, but also for innovation skills to ensure the longevity and vitality of the events. The managers' ability to improve and maintain effective and productive relationships with other members of their ecosystem is fundamental to the success of networked festival producing processes.


Computstional Fluid Dynamics is employed to predict aerodynamic coefficients for the second-stage configuration of a missile defense target missile. Models consist of the clean vehicle with fins and two additional models that include rail launch lugs and externally mounted rear facing camera pods. Analyses are performed to estimate wind tunnel test measurement requirements and to assist in planning of the wind tunnel test matrix. Postwind tunnel predictions for the clean configuration show excellent comparison to reduced test data. Both predictions and test measurements indicate that the protuberances contribute an additional axial drag to the clean missile configuration of over ten percent. I. Introduction HE Missile Defense Agency has developed a cost-effective target that can be used to assess missile defense capabilities. The Aegis Readiness Assessment Vehicle-Group C (ARAV-C) is a member of this target vehicle class. This paper documents the prediction of aerodynamic coefficients using CFD models for the ARAV-C second stage. Predictions are made for several points along a proposed flight trajectory as a pre-wind tunnel exercise to estimate effects required for measurement and to assist in planning of the test matrix. Post-wind tunnel predictions are made and compared to reduced test data. Favorable comparison resulted in additional computations requested to extend the wind tunnel data to higher Mach numbers for use in 6DOF simulations. Three separate models are generated: the clean vehicle with fins; a second with the addition of two externally mounted camera pods with no launch lugs; and a third that includes the addition of launch lugs with no camera pods. Predictions using the clean configuration and the configuration with camera pods at four roll angles and eight Mach numbers with angle of attack (AOA) set at 3° are made. Additional computations are made using all three configurations. Nineteen wind tunnel comparison computations are completed. A total of 131 3D viscous CFD computations are performed.


Hey guys! This is my Documentary about the history of computers which I made for my final Media Studies BTEC Project. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. This took 2 months to make, from recording the audio to rendering the final product. Enjoy! Keep...


AFS was applied to the determination of arsenic and antimony in soil.The sample was first treated with a mixed acid of HCl+HNO3+H2O(3+1+4) for 30 min at room temperature and then digested in the microwave digestor under the prescribed program.A mixed solution of thiourea and ascorbic acid was added to the sample solution which was used for AFS determination after diluting to 10.0 mL.A aliquot of 2 mL of the supernatant sample solution was injected into the reactor to react with the reductant(KBH4 solution) and the hydrides of arsenic and antimony were carried over into the quartz atomizer by argon.Details of working condition of the AFS instrument were given.Values of detection limit(3S/N) for both As and Sb were found same as 0.050 μg·L-1.Recovery of the method was tested at 3 concentration levels by adding standard solutions of As and Sb to a soil sample as matrix,values of recovery found were in the ranges of 99.5% to 104.0%(for As) and 98.5% to 99.5%(for Sb).


The performance of pulsed plasma thruster(PPT) is impacted by many factors,including discharge parameters and the thruster structure.This fundamentals of PPT and its physical model were analyzed,relation between the parameters and the performances were provided.An experiment was designed to validate the relations among thrust efficiency,specific and impulse bit and discharge energy,electrode gap.The results showed that the thrust efficiency,specific impulse and impulse bit were all improved when the discharge energy increased.The impulse bit was larger when the electrode gap was 50 mm than that when the electrode gap was 30 mm,40 mm.Based on the experiment,some optimized condition was proposed as for the referrence in PPT designing.


The compression behavior of a silicate-rich oil shale from the Green River formation in the pressure range 0.0−2.4 GPa was studied using in situ high pressure X-ray pair distribution function (PDF) measurements for the sample contained within a Paris−Edinburgh cell. The real-space local structural information in the PDF, G(r), was used to evaluate the compressibility of the oil shale. Specifically, the pressure-induced reduction in the medium- to long-range atom distances (∼6−20 A) yielded an average sample compressibility corresponding to a bulk modulus of ca. 61−67 GPa. A structural model consisting of a three phase mixture of the principal crystalline oil shale components (quartz, albite and Illite) provided a good fit to the ambient pressure PDF data (R ∼ 30.7%). Indeed the features in the PDF beyond ∼6 A, were similarly well fit by a single phase model of the highest symmetry, highly crystalline quartz component. The factors influencing the observed compression behavior are discussed.


A fuel nozzle (50 fig 2) for a gas turbine engine combustor has at least one pilot fuel outlet 102, several primary fuel outlets 104 and several steam outlets 106, arranged at the nozzle tip 100. The steam outlets are spaced circumferentially about the at least one pilot fuel outlet, and the primary fuel outlets are circumferentially aligned with the steam outlets. In use, the arrangement facilitates mixing of the primary fuel with the steam, since the primary fuel is discharged from the nozzle tip at an oblique angle 'P2' with respect to a centerline extending through the nozzle tip. The discharge of steam and pilot fuel may also be at an oblique angle 'P3', 'P1', with respect to a centerline extending through the nozzle tip, and the discharge angles of all outlets may be approximately 15 degrees. The arrangement further facilitates a recirculation zone generated downstream of the tip and towards the nozzle tip center 110, and in use, the improved mixing of gas and steam provides a lower emissions combustor (16 fig 1).


We study the impact of risk on mutual fund flows. Consistent with prior literature, we find evidence that net flows show aversion to risk. We show, however, that gross inflows and outflows are positively related to risk. While this result appears rational for outflows, it appears anomalous for inflows. We find that inflows are positively related to idiosyncratic risk, rather than systematic risk, and that institutional investors and incumbent investors are less susceptible to this behavior. Our results extend a growing body of evidence that finds certain investors making sub-optimal investment decisions, such as buying past winners, regardless of risk.


Magnetron sputtering has found considerable application in the fabrication of integrated circuits because of its suitability for metallization; e.g. the deposition of Al‐Si alloys and silicides. Reactive magnetron sputtering is used to deposit compound films for a variety of applications, including protective coatings for microelectronic devices. One such device may use a variety of compounds; one example is a semiconductor diode laser in which an Al2O3 anti‐reflection coating, an AlN dielectric and a TiN diffusion barrier can all be deposited from Al and Ti sputtering targets. When the reactive gas (O2 or N2) is added, a hysteresis curve in pressure is obtained and operating points along this curve are discussed with respect to deposition rate and film properties, with emphasis on energetic particle bombardment of the film. For example, the stress in polycrystalline TiN and AlN films can be qualitatively explained.


In this paper,the design and plan of the upgrade from 300 MHz CATV network to 750 MHz HFC network in county are proposed.The new network can guarantee the transmission of radio and television signals and digital information transmission.It makes a solid foundation for the development of the integrative value-added services,such as Internet accessing,broadcast with image and characters and paid TV order program.


Abstrack This s tudy aim s to determine the applica tion of income tax Article 25 on PT Armada Antar Lintas Nusa including the calculatios, deposit and reporting . Research data obtained by way of field work practice. Method of datathis research is by qualitative descriptive method. The results of the study conclude that in the installment of income tax of Article 25 for the months before the annual notification letter is submittedthe amount of the paid instalment does not match the amount that should be deposited accordance with applicable taxation rules and regulation . Keywords : calculation, deposit, reporting of income tax article 25


In order to screen soilless cultivation substrate suitable for growth of R.glutinosa,eight kinds of composite substrates that were made of peat soil,vermiculite,perlite,sand and sphagnum were compared.The results showed that the agronomic traits was the best and its yield was the highest on the cultivation substrate(peat soil∶vermiculite∶perlite∶sand∶sphagnum= 3∶1∶1∶3∶0),followed by3∶1∶1∶3∶0,considering the cost of production,3∶1∶1∶3∶0was the optimum matrix proportion suitable for growth of R.glutinosa.


Novel and special finishing of coated textiles such as flame retardency, water repellency, antimicrobial, UV light ageing and encapsulated fragrances etc. has increased demand. Water and soil repellency are the major targets for textile fibres. Nanotechnology develops new techniques for finishing of textiles. Nanotechnology exhibits fibrous materials to develop "lotus-like" surfaces and characterize their morphology and the ability to repel water and self-cleaning without changing the handle and breathable properties of the fabric.


Main results of the paper: (1) For any finite metric space M the Lipschitz free space on M contains a large wellcomplemented subspace which is close to ln1 . (2) Lipschitz free spaces on large classes of recursively defined sequences of graphs are not uniformly isomorphic to ln1 of the corresponding dimensions. These classes contain well-known families of diamond graphs and Laakso graphs. Interesting features of our approach are: (a) We consider averages over groups of cyclepreserving bijections of graphs which are not necessarily graph automorphisms; (b) In the case of such recursive families of graphs as Laakso graphs we use the well-known approach of Grünbaum (1960) and Rudin (1962) for estimating projection constants in the case where invariant projections are not unique. 2010 Mathematics Subject Classification. Primary: 52A21; Secondary: 30L05, 42C10, 46B07, 46B20, 46B85.


FIELD: information technology. SUBSTANCE: first transmitting device and second transmitting device recognise an operating channel and a group of standby channels from communication cannels between two devices. The first transmitting device selects a measuring channel from the group of standby channels and sends a test signal over the measuring channel to the second transmitting device. The second transmitting device uses the test signal to measure communication quality, records measurement data and sends the test signal bearing the measurement data over the measuring channel to the first transmitting device. The first transmitting device records the measurement data contained in the test signal from the second transmitting device, uses the test signal to measure communication quality and records these measurement data. The first transmitting device selects a new measuring channel from the group of standby channels and sends a test signal bearing these measurement data over a new measuring channel to the second transmitting device. EFFECT: shorter time for switching channels between transmitting devices. 10 cl, 8 dwg


In the last issue, I gave an introduction to ultrasound scanner controls'. Although nominally for transvaginal scanning, in general it applied to other applications as well. However, scanner controls cannot be used effectively without a basic understanding of the process that produces the image. This article is intended to provide that basis for users. I hope that the common-sense explanation given here will allow people without particular skills in physics and mathematics to appreciate the process and to develop their own understanding. waves. (More justification for this is given later.) The different scale of waves is illustrated in fig. 1. Rner waves mean more vibrations per second, as described by the "frequency" of the sound. Medical ultrasound waves vibrate several million times per second, denoted by the "megahertz" (MHz) unit. This is a much faster vibration than our ears can respond to. Surprisingly, air and bone cannot support such waves, but water can, and also the water-based soft tissue of the body.


'Hypochondria', 'hypochondriasis', and 'somatisation' are terms long used to characterise individuals who display unrelenting somatic symptoms that cannot be medically explained. A psychiatric aetiology for such phenomena is often assumed on the basis of potential psychological gain, the presence of 'stressors', the co-existence of unexplained somatic symptom and symptoms of depression or anxiety, or merely the absence of a medical explanation.


In view that the importance density function in particle filter is hard to select and the system state covariance matrix is negative definiteness, a new adaptive unscented particle filter based on singular value decomposition(ASVD-UPF) was proposed. The new algorithm is capable of correcting dynamic model error by adaptive factor and restraining the negative definiteness of system state covariance matrix by SVD as well as generating the importance density function to offset defects of PF. With the above advantages, the proposed algorithm is suitable to be applied to the filter calculation of nonlinear and non-Gaussian system model. The proposed algorithm was applied to the GPS/SINS/PL tightly-coupled integrated navigation system and the simulation test was made. The simulation results show that the errors of longitude, latitude, velocity and attitude could be controlled to under(-0.5″, +0.5″),(-0.8 m/s, +0.8 m/s) and(-1′, +1′) respectively by the proposed algorithm. It is proved that the error estimation precision and convergence speed of the proposed algorithm are better than that of UKF and PF, and the positioning precision of integrated navigation is improved.


This analysis of the CONSER Program presents the author's view of the components that give life to the Cooperative Online Serials Program. The seven components that constitute her model include five structural dimensions (a plan, management/structure, standards, members, and the database) and two behavioral dimensions (collegiality and leadership within the information community). She contends that it is the interdependency of these components that gives CONSER its successful "personality."


OBJECTIVE To study the chemical constituents in the Schisandra propinqua(Wall.) Baill var.intermidia A.C.Smith.METHODS The compounds were isolated and purified by using many kinds of chromatography,and their structures were identified according to the physical and chemical constants and spectral data.RESULTS Fifteen compounds were isolated and identified as 3(R),4(R)-epoxy-5(R)-hydroxy-1-cyclohexene-1-carboxylic acid(1),n-butyl-β-D-fructopyranoside(2),(+)-catechin(3),3′,5′,7-trihydroxyflavanone(4),robtin(5),dihydrobinetin(6),robinetin(7),2′,3,4,5,5′,7-hexahydroxy dihydrochalcone(8),butein(9),lignoceric acid-2,3-dihydroxy-propanenyl ester(10),melissic acid(11),daucosterol(12),3-β-hydroxy-5α,8α-epidioxyergosta(13),kadsulactone(14) and β-sitosterol(15).CONCLUSION All these compounds have been obtained from Schisandra propinqua for the first time except the compound 14.


This demo concerns a recently developed prototype of an emotionally-sensitive autonomous HiFi Spoken Conversational Agent, called NEMOHIFI. The baseline agent was developed by the Speech Technology Group (GTH) and has recently been integrated with an emotional engine called NEMO (Need-inspired Emotional Model) to enable it to adapt to users' emotion and respond to the users using appropriate expressive speech. NEMOHIFI controls and manages the HiFi audio system, and for end users, its functions equate a remote control, except that instead of clicking, the user interacts with the agent using voice. A pairwise comparison between the baseline (non-adaptive) and NEMO-HIFI showed that the latter was not only statistically substantially preferred by users to the former, but they are also significantly more satisfied with it than the former.


III TABLE OF CONTENT IV 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1 2. GLOBAL TEXTILE & GARMENT INDUSTRY 3 2.1 Industry segmentation 3 2.2 The Garment Industry 3 2.3 Geographical shifts of production countries 5 2.4 Mode of operations on supplying side 6 2.5 Garment sourcing strategies of buyers 7 3. EXTERNAL ANALYSIS 8 3.1 Country snapshot 8 3.2 Country analysis 8 3.2.1 Political developments & legal framework 8 3.2.2. Technical & social infrastructure 9 3.2.3. Economic situation 10 22.214.171.124 Macro economy analysis 10 184.108.40.206 Garment & textile industry in Myanmar 10 3.3 Country benchmarking – Myanmar vs. Vietnam 11 3.3.1 Garment industry in Myanmar & Vietnam – critical factors of success 12 3.3.2 Weighted-score model assessment 12 3.3. Main benefits & risks 13 4. COMPANY DESCRIPTION 14 4.


In our digitized world, the importance of virtual work environments continues to increase. A prior study showed that, in the collaborative business domain of product costing, adequate collaboration support is still missing and that generic collaboration solutions are not able to cover relevant requirements. We established an approach for e-Collaboration that focuses on its integration into the core process of product costing. This paper investigates the impact of our concept, called Business Domain-Specific e-Collaboration, on different use cases for collaboration in product costing. The evaluation shows that our approach has strong potential to improve the collaborative costing process by increasing transparency, ensuring data consistency, and raising awareness for the process.


In this work we study the preferential concentration of small particles in the turbulent wake behind a spherical-cap object. We present a model predicting the mean particle concentration in the near-wake as a function of the characteristic Stokes number of the problem, the turbulence level and the Froude number. We compare the model with our experimental results on this flow, measured in a vertical water tunnel.


This article presents a 13-b high-speed pipelined-successive-approximation-register (pipelined-SAR) analog-to-digital converter (ADC). By utilizing the comparator metastability, a tri-state SAR logic is introduced to achieve a fast approximation process. The tri-state SAR outputs three states by one comparator after each comparison cycle, and the effective-number-of-bits (ENOBs) can improve up to 1 b when the metastability boundary is set at ±1/4 LSB. In addition, an open-loop inverter-based residue amplifier (RA) is proposed with simple circuit implementation. The RA gain is well defined by <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$g_{m}$ </tex-math></inline-formula> ratio and is immune to process, voltage, and temperature (PVT) variations. Fabricated in 40-nm CMOS technology, the prototype ADC achieves a mean signal-to-noise plus distortion ratio (SNDR) of 59.8–62.8 dB, with 1-<inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\sigma $ </tex-math></inline-formula> than 1.7 dB, at 600–625 MS/s over −40° to 125° temperature range and 1.1–1.2 V power supply range, a 67 dB dynamic range (DR), and a 62.4 dB SNDR for a Nyquist input while sampling at 625 MS/s. The overall power consumption is 7.05 mW.


The present invention relates to a linear compressor. In the linear compressor according to an embodiment of the present invention, the discharge portion shell provided; Cylinder which is provided inside of the shell, define a compression space of a refrigerant; A piston provided to reciprocate within the cylinder in an axial direction; Sikimyeo is provided at one side of the cylinder to selectively discharge the compressed refrigerant from the compression space of the refrigerant, a discharge valve is provided with a insertion protrusion; The is coupled to the discharge valve, the spring body having a central portion (C1) formed at a position corresponding to the center of the valve includes a spring for providing a restoring force to the discharge valve, the valve spring, the cylinder; Is formed in the spring body, and includes a ball insert coupled to the insertion projection of the discharge valve, the center (C1) of the spring body is characterized in that the spacing from the center (C2) of said insertion hole.