Diversity assessment of landrace crop genetic resources in Myanmar

Thesis (Ph. D. in Biotechnology)--University of Tsukuba, (B), no. 2385, 2008.6.30Includes bibliographical references (leaves 136-156

Europeanization and the Promotion of Political Development in Poland

From introduction: "This study has considered the impacts of EU accession that have resulted in the promotion of political stability and economic transformation in the Central and Eastern European countries (hereafter CEECs). The main target for the EU’s eastern policy after the end of the Cold War is to create a zone of western democracies and liberal economy entities. Given an opportunity to swap the EU’s resources for ideal transformation in the CEECs, Brussels is willing to accept."(...

Social Tolerance for Drug Use Among Junior High School Students in Taipei, Taiwan.

This study examines the degree of social tolerance for drug use among junior high school students in Taipei, Taiwan, and the relationships between their social tolerance for drug use and their individual, family, and drug environment characteristics. The theories of anomie, socialization, social control, and differential association are used as a guide for these examinations. The data for this study were collected from a sample of 604 students from 16 classes in three grades at five schools using a self-administrated questionnaire designed for this purpose. These classes were randomly selected from all 85 junior high schools which were stratified by public and private, school size, and administrative districts. The results reveal that students are more likely to tolerate their friends\u27 use of drugs than their own use of drugs. Among individual influences, third grade students and students who had infrequent interaction with major teachers were more likely to tolerate drug use, controlling for all of the individual, family, and drug environment characteristics. Family influences had almost no effect on the social tolerance for drug use. Among drug environment influences, students who had classmates and friends who encouraged them to use drugs were most tolerant of use of drugs. This study can be the beginning of similar studies conducted annually for tracking the trends of increasing social tolerance for drug use. These studies will contribute to our understanding of juveniles\u27 attitudes toward drugs and help us to predict the change of drug use rates. Some of the variables within individual characteristics and drug environment show more important effects on social tolerance of drug use than other variables. This suggests that socialization, social control, and differential association theories offer a good explanation for drug attitudes

Model reduction of nonsquare linear MIMO systems using multipoint matrix continued-fraction expansions

This paper deals with the multipoint Cauer matrix continued-fraction expansion (MCFE) for model reduction of linear multi-input multi-output (MIMO) systems with various numbers of inputs and outputs. A salient feature of the proposed MCFE approach to model reduction of MIMO systems with square transfer matrices is its equivalence to the matrix Pade approximation approach. The Cauer second form of the ordinary MCFE for a square transfer function matrix is generalized in this paper to a multipoint and nonsquare-matrix version. An interesting connection of the multipoint Cauer MCFE method to the multipoint matrix Pade approximation method is established. Also, algorithms for obtaining the reduced-degree matrix-fraction descriptions and reduced-dimensional state-space models from a transfer function matrix via the multipoint Cauer MCFE algorithm are presented. Practical advantages of using the multipoint Cauer MCFE are discussed and a numerical example is provided to illustrate the algorithms

Evaluation of Safety Performance of Fractured Joints in Steel Truss Bridge

This study aims to evaluate safety performance of fractured joints and failure mechanisms of high-strength friction-grip (HSFG) bolted connections in steel bridge. As a case study, the bolted connections on the Ayeyarwady Bridge (Yadanarbon) in Myanmar have been investigated. Initial inspection of the bridge found that a number of bolts were loosened, missing or had already fractured and most were heavily corroded. The original fractured bolts have been replaced with the new ones as remedial work. The safety performance of fractured joints were evaluated based on simulation results of existing bridge by Midas Civil in accordance with AASHTO standards. The failure mechanisms of the fractured bolts were investigated by analyzing through optical and scanned electron microscopy. The main factors contributed to the failure of the bolted connections at the Ayeyarwady Bridge (Yadanarbon) include delayed fracture, stress corrosion cracking, the fluctuating loads, and the corrosive environment it was subjected to. The failure mechanisms of the fractured bolts were mainly due to pitting corrosion and fretting fatigue.