Synopsis: Measurements have been done on the rates of carbon and oxygen transfer between CO-CO2 mixtures and levitated iron droplet. Supposing that the mass transfers between two phases determine the total reaction rate, the kinetics of this reaction has been considered. Results obtained here are as follows: Type of reaction at the initial period is different from that at the later period. At the initial, a simple absorption of gas takes place independently of the composition of gas mixture. The rate is controlled by the mass transfer at the melt side. At the later period, decarburization or carburization proceeds and the countercurrent flow of CO and CO2 in gas phase controls the total rate. It is concluded that whether iron is melted by the levitation technique or in usual crucibles, there is no essential differences in the mechanism of reaction, and that one or both of the mass transfers at gas and melt determines the total rate of reaction according to the experimental conditions such as the flow rate and composition of gas, mass and violency of stirring of melt. Re-examinations have been done for the previous investigations which proposed the interfacial chemical reaction mechanism as the rate determining step. (Received May 30, 1974)


Fluoride ions in drinking water higher than the permissible level lead to negative effects on the human health. More than 200 million people in the world were adversely affected from the high fluorine water. Endemic fluorosis originating from the consumption of high fluorine water was observed also in some parts of Anatolia, Turkey. Volcanic formations are found in areas with high fluoride concentrations in ground waters. In this study, fluoride concentration in ground water was researched in two villages in Sanliurfa where comprised generally sedimental formations thereupon the identified fluorosis cases on the primary school students.


At first sight, shared decision-making and data science seem like two vastly different fields. Yet, despite their differences, both fields could, if combined, reinforce clinical utility for both. Here we describe a new paradigm called data-driven shared decision-making (dSDM), an extension of the existing shared decision-making paradigm. In dSDM, data's role and its interaction with the patient and doctor are made explicit. Furthermore, we describe the opportunities and challenges of combining data science and shared decision-making into this new paradigm. We believe that dSDM will bridge the gap between the need for patient empowerment and the need for more personalized medicine.


Introduction Salivary gland tumors represent a diverse set of tumors. Pleomorphic adenoma (PA) and mucoepidermoid carcinoma (MEC) are the most common benign and malignant salivary gland tumors respectively. Proliferation markers have been used to determine the behavior and prognosis of benign and malignant tumors. Minichromosome maintenance (MCM) proteins are family of six major members (MCM-2–7), which have similar biochemical functions and are essential for the process of DNA replication. MCM-3 is a member of this family, which present during proliferation of normal cells and neoplastic cells while absent in quiescent ones. Aim To assess the expression of MCM-3 in PA and MEC, and to correlate the expression of MCM-3 with the collected clinical data of PA and MEC. Materials and methods This retrospective study was performed using 40 paraffin-embedded tissue blocks of PA and MEC (20 cases each). Clinical data were collected. The specimens were stained by conventional hematoxylin and eosin staining to confirm the diagnosis and then immunohistochemical staining was performed by using antibody against MCM-3 to evaluate the expression. Results MCM-3 expression was significantly correlated to grades of MEC and significantly different between MEC and PA. Furthermore, MCM-3 expression was positively correlated to female cases of MEC. Conclusion MCM-3 may be used as a sensitive proliferative marker for PA and MEC.


T year's Council of Educators in Landscape Architecture (CELA) conference focused on the theme of place, regionalism, and "essential connections within nature and community" (http://www .uga.edu/cela2005). The organizers adhered closely to the theme in selecting plenary speakers, field trip activities, and the overall location. Papers, plenary presentations, and key events were held in the heart of Athens, Georgia, either at the Classic Center, or a few blocks away in various buildings, gardens, and courtyards of the old north campus of the University of Georgia-Athens (UGA). Downtown Athens (a city of approximately 100,000) is a pedestrian friendly environment with shady streets, wide sidewalks and outdoor cafes. The concentration of cafes, pubs, and restaurants near the conference center offered opportunities to bump into fellow participants and to extend discussion in casual cirberg, Judith Wasserman, and Mary Anne Akers, gave well-considered, sometimes hilarious, speeches and introductions. The conference was quite selective, accepting only 105 short papers and 5 panel sessions. The paper presentations demonstrated a range of effort, from action and survey research to leadership within universities. Topics included the use of woodland ratings to design parks in the United Kingdom; the land planning history of Love Canal, NY; progress in porous pavements; pedagogy and service; data gathering results for the Landscape Architecture Body of Knowledge Survey; and a survey of women in the academy. Data gathering is an important means of understanding the past, present, and future role of the discipline. It is hoped that these efforts will continue. Only a few posters were displayed, but these were of generally high quality and interest. The format of this year's conference was markedly different from that of CELA 2004, held in Christchurch, NZ. That conference used roundtable discussion, rather than formal paper presentations, as a means of exploring topics. The 2005 conference returned to the traditional fifteen-minute format for short papers, followed by five-minute question/answer periods. This allowed cumstances. Student-led tours of the north campus and College of Environmental Design offered insight into the UGA landscape architecture program. Tours also helped attendees understand the history and evolution of the campus, which includes a number of elegant new landscapes. Conference organizers are to be congratulated on their planning efforts. The committee, headed by David Nichols, worked hard at the various tasks— from introducing speakers to heading fieldtrips and tours. Months, if not years, of effort are spent organizing a conference such as this to ensure that it functions seamlessly. Thanks are due to Dean Crowley of the College of Environmental Design, and to Bruce Ferguson, Director of the School, for supporting the effort. David Nichols, an unflagging and reassuring presence, ensured that all needs were met, announcements made, and questions answered. His dry wit contributed much to the pleasant atmosphere. Georgia Harrison and Ron Sawhill should be commended for chairing the papers and having the proceedings finished, bound, and available when the conference started (similar to the 2004 conference). This standard of efficiency is much appreciated and one hopes to see it carried on in the future. Other members of the committee, including Scott WeinConferences & Exhibits


We report a very rare case of giant left atrial thrombus (size: 7.2 × 4.5 mm2) associated with radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial tachycardia in a 72‐year‐old man. After 4 weeks of anticoagulation with warfarin, a repeat echocardiogram demonstrated partial resolution of the thrombus (size: 4.5 × 2.6 mm2) without systemic embolization.


Taking ancient Dachang Town as an example,this paper first points out the particular value of the ancient town and introduces briefly its actuality,and then elaborates the fact that Dachang Town will be rebuilt in other place owing to the construction of Three-gorges project.Finally,this paper expounds how to preserve and keep the traditional style and features in its rebuilding layout and architectural design.


An experimental investigation was conducted to study the effect of some geometric parameters on the efficiency of the cross-flow turbine. Turbine models were constructed with three different numbers of blades, three different angles of water entry to the runner, and three different inner-to-outer diameter ratios. Nozzles were also constructed for the experiments to match the three different angles of water entry to the runner. A total of 27 runners were tested with the three nozzles. The results of the experiments clearly indicated that efficiency increased with increase in the number of blades. Moreover, it was determined that an increase in the angle of attack beyond 24 deg does not improve the maximum turbine efficiency. In addition, as a result of these experiments, it was determine that for a 24 deg angle of attack 0.68 was the most efficient inner-to-outer diameter ratio, whereas for higher angles of attack the maximum efficiency decreases with an increase in the diameter ratio from 0.60 to 0.75.


ABSTRACT Mentoring is a professional leadership contribution of counselor educators resulting in personal and vocational benefits for students. A need to understand research-informed mentoring from the mentor perspective exists as much of the literature is informed by the mentee perspective. In this study, an expert panel of counselor educator mentoring award recipients completed three questionnaire rounds for the purpose of identifying mentoring components. Consensus was reached on 141 items. Recommendations for implementation and training are discussed.


Frances Rosamond, Editor Welcome to the Parameterized Complexity Newsletter. We especially congratulate new graduates. The Newsletter is archived at Mike Ralph Fellows' website (www.mrfellows.net). Please post to the WIKI: www.fpt. wikidot.com and help keep it up-to-date. This fullypacked Newsletter features articles by Georgia Kaouri, Michael Lampis and Valia Mitsou describing new directions in treewidth, continuing work reported at ISAAC, and an article by Serge Gaspers on new uses of measure and conquer for parameterized branching algorithms. We have a report on the marvelous Corsica AGAPE Workshop by Anke Truss and Mathias Weller, and another New Ideas column by Mike Fellows, and some interesting history by Dániel Marx. Many thanks to all who have helped with this newsletter.


BACKGROUND
Although the so-called intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) assay detects not only true 1-84 PTH (1-84PTH) but also large C-terminal PTH fragments, it remains inconclusive whether the 1-84PTH assay is more useful in clinical practice. Previous studies have shown that the results of these two PTH assays in dialysis patients are closely correlated.

METHODS
Chronic dialysis patients whose plasma iPTH levels were >400 pg/ml were selected for inclusion in the present study. Following a 4 week wash-out time during which all vitamin D administration was halted, maxacalcitol was intravenously injected at the end of dialysis sessions three times per week for 24 weeks, at an initial dosage of 10 micro g.

RESULTS
Ninety-seven patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism were included in our analysis. Their serum calcium levels were elevated from the start levels while phosphate levels remained unchanged. The plasma 1-84PTH levels constantly declined throughout the 24 weeks. Although the patients' plasma 1-84PTH and iPTH levels were closely correlated with each other both at the beginning of the study and after 24 weeks of maxacalcitol therapy, the ratio of 1-84PTH/iPTH consistently decreased throughout the study period (P<0.01). The changes in the ratio were significantly correlated with changes in serum calcium levels.

CONCLUSIONS
Twenty-four weeks of intravenous maxacalcitol injection therapy significantly reduced the 1-84PTH/iPTH ratio. Estimated 1-84PTH levels from iPTH levels using a conversion formula obtained before the treatment were 21.0+/-20.4% higher than measured 1-84PTH levels after the therapy. Thus, iPTH measurement has a potential risk to overestimate 1-84PTH levels when evaluating the efficacy of maxacalcitol therapy in dialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.


An accepted and uncharacterized protein sequence with accession number Q9LRJ1 was retrieved from the Uni-Prot Knowledgebase. The physico-chemical properties, presence of conserved domains, presence of secondary structures ( -helix, -sheets or coils), subcellular localization, homology modeling, 3-D structures, Ramachandran plot and Z-scores of the protein sequence and predicted 3-D structure were calculated. The structural and functional analysis of the protein sequence suggested predicting and searching for new functions of many other uncharacterized proteins of plants, animals, bacteria and fungi.


LBL-10384 To be presented at the 9th International Symposium On Reactivity of Solids, Krakow, Poland, September 1980 STRAIN INDUCED PHENOMENA IN Ca(OH) 2 MADE BY REACTION OF CaO WITH WATER VAPOR Daria Beturo, Alan W. Searcy, Luigi Barco, and Gabriele Belleri January 1980 TWO-WEEK LOAN COPY This is a Library Copy wh may be borrowed for two weeks. For a personal copyy call Divisiony Ext. 6782. Prepared for the U.S. Department of Energy under Contract W-7405-ENG-48


Stick-slip vibrations present at the bottom hole assembly (BHA) of a generic oilwell drillstring subject to dry friction are studied. Different nonlinear differential equations-based models of a drillstring are analyzed. The drillstring models presented are oriented to avoid simulation problems due to the discontinuities originated by the presence of dry friction. The influence of different drilling parameters on the stick-slip behaviour are studied and relations between them are established to briefly state some control methodologies for drilling operation.


A. B. Harvard College, summa cum laude in Physics, June 1986 Ph.D. Harvard University, Physics, September 1992 Thesis: Magnetotransport in Uniform and Modulated Electron Gases in Wide Parabolic Quantum Wells Advisor: Prof. R. M. Westervelt 1992-1996 Postdoctoral Researcher, Physics Department, University of California, Berkeley and Materials Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Advisor: Prof. John Clarke


A village development needs a few kinds of capitals for making developmental process and ending up to enhance prosperous communities. In the current Indonesia, the issue of village development is mostly indicated by re-role of the central government by injecting "governmental village development fund" (dana desa). Consequently, on the one hand, the central government takes control over village development, and on the other side, any local initiatives should get confirmation and deal with the government's rule and interests in terms of benefiting this development budget. In dealing with this condition, local communities fortunately have already been creative to being independent in life by activating their entrepreneurial culture to articulate their capability in development process and to catch up better-off condition. This entrepreneurial culture is a capital that includes local rural markets, agricultural and artisan trading, fishery activities, local product skills and any other commercial exchanges. This kind of culture is also a part of how local communities regard economic activities as part of their own way of social development. Local communities are also benefiting their social assets as another capital. These assets or mostly common properties are inherited from their ancestor e.g. social forest, land, rice fields etc. These assets are also common property rights as cultural capital in the village development. The paper will deal with a descriptive analysis of capitals that may be used for village development in Indonesian with the case of west Sumatra context. The purpose of the paper is to provide an alternative model of village development which is regarded as an innovative way in Indonesia..


The Bainbridge limestone is a formation of late Niagaran age cropping out in several places in the area of faulted Paleozoic rocks in Ste. Genevi?ve county and also farther south in Missouri, along the Mississippi River.1 The type section is about three miles north of Bainbridge, in Cape Girardeau county, Missouri. Some of its fossils were described by Rowley in 1900 and 1904.2 Tentative faunal lists were published in 19263 and 1928,4 the one of later date having been prepared by Stuart Weiler much earlier than the list presented in 1926, and published without revision. A more comprehensive faunal list was published in 19275 and a description of a few of the brachiopods appeared in 1931.6 A brief faunal list of the type section of the Bainbridge limestone was read at the Toronto meeting of the Paleontological Society,7 and an abstract of a paper read at the Houston meeting of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists has been published.8


A kind of organically modified montmorillonite (OMMT) treated by cetryltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB) was grafted with 4,4′-diphenylmethane diisocyanate (MDI) by it's hydroxyl group (—OH) acted with isocyanate group (—NCO).This MDI modified montmorillonite was abbreviated as MOMMT.Thenceforth,the MOMMT was applied to prepare polyurethane (PU)/MOMMT nanocomposites based on poly(propylene glycol),1,4-butanediol and MDI via solution intercalation technology.Compared with OMMT,the interlayer spacing of MOMMT was enlarged from 2.07 nm to 2.39 nm.PU chains intervened the galleries between MOMMT layers during solution intercalation,and an intercalated PU/MOMMT nanocomposite was obtained.The tensile strength and tear strength of PU/MOMMT nanocomposites were higher than those of PU/OMMT nanocomposites.Thermal stability of PU/MOMMT nanocomposites was lower than that of the PU/MMT composite because of the degradation of CTAB and MDI in the first step of thermodegradation,whereas in the second step they exhibited higher thermal stability due to the high barrier effect of the silicate layers dispersed on the nanometer scale and strong interface interaction between the silicate layers and the PU chains.


Purpose: The number of suicide attempts has increased in Korea. Depressive disorders are a major cause. This study investigated the clinical characteristics and outcomes of attempted suicide victims who had been admitted to the emergency department based on a psychiatric disorder. Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 168 suicide attempters who visited the Chosun University hospital emergency medical center between June 1st, 2007 and May 31st, 2008. From chart reviews, we divided the victims into three groups by psychiatric histories, especially depressive disorder. We analyzed the effect of various factors including age, sex, previous suicide attempts outcome of suicide attempts. We used Pearson`s chi-square test to chart the statistical data. Results: Depressive patients had significantly more suicide attempts than other psychiatric patients and more than those who had no psychiatric history. Repeated attempts were also more frequent in depressive patients (64%). Sixty percent of depressive patients were admitted into our hospital or local clinic and eight percent of depressive suicide attempters died. Compared to other national statistics, there were fewer persons who consulted with a psychiatrist, but depressive patients had more interviews with psychiatrists (62.9%) than did the other groups. Conclusion: Even if the depressive disorder patient group shows a high recurrence rate, it also shows a high psychiatric interview acceptance rate and a relatively low rank on physical and psychiatric severity. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the recurrence of suicide attempts for the depressive group and to reduce the fatality rate. This can be done through on-going educational opportunities and psychiatric interviews. The rate of psychiatric consultations in Korea are significantly lower than in other countries. This situation requires more active psychiatric consultations and interviews later on.


We prove that any small enough neighborhood of a closed contact submanifold is always tight under a mild assumption on its normal bundle. The non-existence of $C^0$--small positive loops of contactomorphisms in general overtwisted manifolds is shown as a corollary.


Stiffened plates are basic structural members in marine structures as shown in Figure 1, and include also aeronautic and space shuttles among other structures. Due to the simplicity in their fabrication and high strength-to-weight ratio, stiffened plates are also widely used for construction of land based structures such as box girder and plate girder bridges. The stiffened plate has a number of one-sided stiffeners in either one or both directions, the latter configuration being also called a grillage (Figure 2). Ultimate limit state design of Stiffened plates' structures requires accurate knowledge about their behaviour when subjected to extreme loading conditions.


Introduction At the Manchester Metropolitan University Business School (MMUBS) all first year undergraduate students are required to demonstrate competence in a range of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills including word processing, databases and spreadsheets. We are finding that UK students entering HE are generally competent in using features of a word processor, such as spellchecking and text formatting, but are less competent in using features such as automatically generating a table of contents. In contrast, some students come to us with a high level of ICT competence. Hence, it is important to develop a system of learning and teaching that addresses these widely differing levels of ability. In the United Kingdom, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) have concluded that: "Until recently, the terms basic skills or 'skills for life' were widely assumed to cover the skills of adult literacy and adult numeracy. In today's society however, information and communication technology (ICT) can be just as important, particularly in the workplace." (QCA, 2006,). This statement suggests that acquisition and development of appropriate ICT skills will underpin our student's ability to prosper in an academic environment and beyond into their working life. The Blended Learning Approach to Education In the academic year 2007/8, around 1350 undergraduate students were recruited onto first year degree programs. Dealing with such a large cohort brought about some significant challenges. The problem facing our academic staff was how to deliver a high quality learning experience whilst at the same time making effective and efficient use of finite resources. Until 2006 learning, teaching and assessment of ICT skills were tutor-led sessions in computer laboratories. Students would spend one hour per week in a lab over a 10-week term. Each student was provided with a printed copy of a workbook. Students were expected to progress through the workbook and complete 15 practical tasks. At appropriate points, the workbook instructed the students to ask their laboratory tutor to assess their capability in each task. Because of the large amount of students, some undertook the unit in the autumn term and others in the spring term. Hence, if the second group of students had deficiencies in any areas of ICT skills it was at the end of the spring term before the teaching staff became aware of them. The summative assessment was by means of a project that required students to bring together all 15 tasks to solve a substantial business problem. They were then required to demonstrate their project to a tutor. This in itself was a significant burden on the lab tutors. Each student had to demonstrate their knowledge of their project in a face-to-face situation. Twelve tutors were involved in the delivery of the unit many of whom worked on a part-time basis. This was a very time consuming process and the student's learning experience was being compromised because the tutors were spending significantly more time in signing off tasks than they were in helping students to understand key concepts. The labs that were held towards the end of each term were becoming frantic affairs. Almost every student was demanding 10-15 minutes of a tutor's time either to sign off tasks or to ask questions. Clearly, this was not in the student's best interest. It was felt that adopting a blended learning approach would offer a way of dealing with these challenges. MMUBS had already experienced a successful implementation of one form of blended learning through the delivery of the Info Skills unit (Donnelly, Jones, & Matthews, 2006). There are many definitions of blended learning. For example Kovaleski states that blended learning "combines traditional classroom sessions with e-learning and self-study" (2004 , p. 17), whilst Bershin offers "blended learning programs use many different forms of e-learning, perhaps complemented with instructor-led training and other live formats" (1994, p. …


The control of large greenhouse installations, especially of those with hydroponics crops, is based on analysis and utilization of data recorded by sensor grids. In open air plots unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) equipped with spectral sensors scan and map large areas fast and efficiently. However, spectral imaging is not easily performed inside greenhouses since drones do not fly freely indoors. The proposed solution is a prototype solar-powered cablebot, a robotic device that is hung from an overhead cable system that roams freely inside greenhouses. This 3D printed device is equipped with an array of ag-sensors including a spectral sensor. A web-based user interface & control app has also been developed. This robotic system has been primarily tested and now is in installation stage and will operate in a pilot production greenhouse of the Department of Agriculture of the University of Patras.


The fungal communities inhabiting apartments in multifamily buildings ( N = 33 apartments) with natural ventilation were determined during seasonal variation in the south part of Poland (Silesia region). It was found that the average level of CO2 concentration usually not exceeded 1000 ppm. The minimal value was noted in November – 402 ppm, however the maximal concentration was equal 6156 ppm and obtained in June. The average fungal colony forming units (CFU/m3) was calculated as follows: 1.06 × 102 (February), 1.17 × 102 (June) and 2.98 × 102 (November). The most frequently occurred species/genera: yeast and yeast-like fungi, Aspergillus niger, Penicillium spp., Cladosporium cladosporioides, Rhodotorula rubra; Culvaraia lunata, Dematiaceae family, Ulocladium consortiale, Verticillium spp.; Fusarium spp., Alternaria alternata; Oidiodendron griseum. The cluster analysis showed no mutual similarity between communities of air fungi isolated from bathrooms of all studied apartments as well as between communities isolated from other indoor spaces (rooms, kitchens, halls). This suggests that natural ventilation has no (or minimal effect) on the propagation of fungal spores between apartments. Statistically significant positive correlation between the concentration of fungi in the air and external humidity, carbon dioxide levels (February, November), and external temperature (November) were found. This study provides that natural ventilation has no effect on the spread of fungal spores inside the building and are not contributed to increase of fungal airborne health risk transmission. It also shows evidence of seasonal changes in carbon dioxide in multi-family homes with natural ventilation. This may give input to establish CO2 benchmark data in such type of buildings.


On 10 June 1925, the date the United Church of Canada was founded, two-thirds of the congregations of the Presbyterian Church of Canada - including every Presbyterian congregation in Halifax - vanished. Even before the United Church came into existence, however, non-uniting Presbyterians were forming a new congregation. "The Blue Banner" is a case study of the survival of historic denominationalism grounded in resistance to church union. It traces the origins and near demise of Presbyterianism in Nova Scotia and the development of Saint David's from its beginnings as a new congregation and the only site of Presbyterian witness in metropolitan Halifax. The authors look at various aspects of congregational life - corporate structure and governance, education, worship and music, volunteerism, mission and outreach, and stewardship of the historic site and building that has been home to Saint David's since the beginning. Once established, Saint David's - heir to no less than four Scottish Presbyterian traditions - represented a new birth of Presbyterianism in Canada. "The Blue Banner" considers how the story of Saint David's relates to the mainstream of religious historiography and shows what historians can learn from case studies of local churches viewed in historical perspective.


Synaptic proteins were localized in light microscopy on sections of the brachial and lumbosacral enlargements of the spinal cord of postnatal opossums, Monodelphis domestica, to determine whether their expression correlates with the development of major motor pathways and simple motor behaviors. The tissues were fixed, cryoprotected, frozen, cut in 15‐μm sections, and processed immunohistochemically using antibodies against synaptophysin, synaptotagmin‐I, or SNAP‐25. Immunolabeling was observed in the presumptive white matter before the presumptive gray matter, suggesting that the proteins are evidenced in growing axons before the onset of synaptogenesis, and it was observed in presumed propriospinal axons before most presumed descending axons of supraspinal origin. In the newborn opossum, the immunolabeling was scant in the gray matter and was limited to the periphery of the ventral horn, and indeed few synapses were seen in electron microscopy in nonexperimental material. Labeling increased in intensity and spread throughout the gray matter until 5–7 weeks, when it was no longer found in the white matter and resembled the adult pattern of labeling. Considering the location and relative intensity of the immunolabeling for the three proteins over time in the two enlargements, synaptogenesis occurs according to three general gradients: rostrocaudal, ventrodorsal, and lateromedial. These gradients match those of spinal cord and limb development, and of the growth of descending axons into the cord. Synaptogenesis is most intense when the spinal sensorimotor reflexes begin to be expressed. J. Comp. Neurol. 414:551–560, 1999. © 1999 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


The clinical education is considered as the heart of the nursing education. It remains the single most important resource in the development of competent, capable, and caring nurses. It prepares the students for their professional role and provides them with opportunity to apply knowledge, skills, and concepts in the clinical settings. Most importantly, clinical instructors' behaviors in the clinical area play an important part in the learning process of the student. There are few studies that determine and evaluate what constitutes effective teaching behaviors of clinical instructors in the clinical area. Hence, the present study aimed at comparing clinical instructors' teaching behaviors as perceived by themselves with those assessed by their students and also using qualitative analysis to determine positive and negative students' comments for clinical instructor behaviors in the clinical setting. The study was conducted at Faculty of Nursing at Mansoura University. Two groups of subjects were included in the present study; clinical instructors group (n=62) and nursing students group (n=120). Two questionnaire sheets were used for data collection; clinical instructors' questionnaire and student's questionnaire that were developed by researcher based on reviewing literature. The third part of student's questionnaire included open ended questions to establish positive and negative clinical instructors' as perceived by student encountered in clinical training. A major finding of this study was that there was a statistical significance difference between clinical instructors' teaching behaviors as perceived by themselves with those assessed by their students in the clinical setting. At the end of the study, recommendations were given that clinical instructor should offer information and positive feedback in the directions of students, being accessible and also encourage student's creative thinking and freedom in discussion.


Genetic manipulation techniques offer exciting possibilities, especially in agriculture and medicine, but their safe application requires thorough and conscientious risk analysis. Dr Andrew Cottam, of the Health and Safety Executive, explains the current regulatory mechanisms for the production and release of engineered organisms and looks ahead to future legislation. The key is in a balanced approach, to ensure that biotechnology in the UK develops along a prudent and successful course


Medical service has special attributes:consumption is essential and no-reversible;medical supply,in a particular period,is limited.Limited supply and optimal consumption will inevitably lead to the odd high equilibrium prices and consumption overcrowded.On medical services,information asymmetry exists;if no third-party monitoring of doctors,rent-seeking is inevitable.It is the lack of effective supervision of doctors that leads to the difficulty and expense of medical service.To solve this problem,the government can establish third-party monitoring through the Association of Medical Doctors,restrict doctors by the licensing system,adjust the income distribution system of doctors,reform hospitals management,and ultimately accomplish the medical health reform.


This study aimed to determine the views of classroom teachers about mind games in Turkey and a survey model was used. The research was carried out with the phenomenological design from qualitative research methods. Thirty-one primary school teachers were selected by the criterion sampling method which is one of the purposeful sampling methods. In order to collect the data, the opinion form prepared by the researcher was completed by classroom teachers. The documents obtained were analyzed with the content analysis method. It was seen in the study that teachers usually play mind games with students in the Free Activities course, mainly for 2 hours per week, strategy games were played most, memory games were the least played games, and mind games contributed to communication, creativity, problem solving, mathematical and logical thinking, and academic skills. In addition, classroom teachers experienced some problems related to classroom management, to physical conditions and student characteristics while playing mind games. In line with the results, it is suggested that the multi-dimensional development of students be supported by playing mind games at every grade level.


This research aims to examine undergraduate students' argumentation skills during and after the learning process in the classroom setting and their responses toward the implementation of socioscientific issues (SSI) through debate in the learning process. This research involved 32 undergraduate students and implemented design-based research with pretest and posttest in a natural classroom setting using three topics of SSI debate that widely discussed in Indonesia: Nuclear Powerplant (Topic 1), Food Preservation (Topic 2), and Genetically Modified Organism (Topic 3). Data was collected using observation sheets, tests, and questionnaires. Observation is to measure argumentation ability when applying the debate method in class settings, the test measures the improvement of argumentation skills, and questionnaires measure students' responses to the application of the debate method. In this study, argumentation scores were obtained from six indicators and divided by a maximum score of 24 times 100. Normalized gain (N-gain) was calculated to determine the effectiveness of the intervention in the classroom. T-test was also conducted to test the significance of the differences in the pretest and posttest results on argumentation skills.  The results obtained in this study are: the argumentation skills score during the learning process for six groups were 95, 80.6, 90.3, 95, 83.3, and 77.5; the mean score of pretest and posttest were 52.22 ± 6.62 and 85.78 ± 4.72. The consistency of opinions shows the change from "agree" to "disagree" for Topics 1 and 3. The undergraduate students agree and consistently agree toward Topic 2. The paired t-test result also shows that the intervention statistically has a significant difference between the two means, indicating that the undergraduate students' argumentation skills are better than before the intervention. Otherwise, most of the undergraduate students respond positively toward the implementation of the debate related to SSI. Despite some limitations, the debate on SSI can improve argumentation skills in classroom settings, especially in science education majors.


Abstract This paper describes the theoretical rationale, pragmatic implementation issues, and procedure for a particular technique of clinical hypnosis which is designed as an adjunctive therapy within a multidisciplinary adolescent inpatient treatment program. A model of combined auto- and heterohypnosis which features collaborative production of audiocassettes is presented. Advantages and indications for this technique are discussed, and a case study is presented.


With the increasing scale of the power system, short-circuit current (SCC) of power system is growing. This paper proposes a grid optimization model based on sensitivity analysis considering three strategies to limit SCC, including transmission switching, transmission line unconnected to substation, generator outage. In the model, three strategies are modeled as admittance matrix transformation by the Adding Branch Method, which is also an efficient method to calculate the sensitivities for limiting SCC in various strategies. This paper studies the effect of each strategy on SCC limiting. On this basis, a set of measures to limit SCC is determined by the maximum value of comprehensive sensitivity coefficient. The grid optimization model leads to a mixed integer linear programming (MILP), considering power flow constraints and power supply and demand balance constraints. The effectiveness of the grid optimization model is verified by several case studies, which are including IEEE 57-bus test system and local Henan Power System.


Beccntly attention has been recalled to the course of the blood through the fetal heart. Barclay, Barcroft, Barron and Franklin ( '38, '39) have studied the circulation through the heart of fetal sheep by x-ray cinematography, after injecting radio-opaque media into the blood stream. Windle and Becker ('40) have observed directly the flow of india ink through the fetal circulation in the cat and guinea pig. These investigators concluded that the two caval streanis entering the right atrium are kept substantially separate so long as physiologic conditions prevail. Most of the blood from the inferior vena cava is passed through the foramen ovale t o the left side of the heart, while the superior caval blood reaches the right ventricle with a little of the blood from the inferior vena cava. Notes of historical interest and the significance of these observatioiis have been discussed in the cited publications. It was the purpose of the present study to illustrate and demonstrate to students of embryology the facts learned in the above-mentioned investigations. A working model of the fetal right atrium was prepared. In "neoprene" latex was found a material which duplicates to some extent the elasticity of the %rails of the atria of the heart and lends itself to accurate fabrication in reconstruction. A kitten which had been prevented from breathing after natural delivery was fixed in situ in formalin. The heart and


Unbundled network elements (UNEs) are in the midst of a transition. Under current FCC rules, local switching will no longer be available as a UNE after March 2006. (1) This will effectively mean the end of the unbundled network element platform (UNE-P) the combination of unbundled switching with loop, port and transport elements at state-established rates. Nevertheless, even after the demise of unbundled switching and UNE-P, unbundled loop, port and transport elements will continue to be available, (2) and will continue to play a critical part in providing service for many competitive local exchange providers. Facilities-based competitors can use UNE loop, port and transport elements in combination with the competitor's own switching facilities to provide local service to customers. Moreover, during the past year many competitors providing service by means of UNE-P have transitioned their customers to some other permanent service arrangement, such as resale or UNE-P at commercially negotiated (higher) rates. (3)


CIVIC REPUBLICAN IDEALS LIE AT THE HEART OF THE UNITED STATES. Although they have long existed in tension with other political philosophies, there remains in American society a general understanding of the importance of placing the concerns of the commonwealth above self-interest and of the necessity of citizen involvement in the political process. Civic participation ideally supports self-government. Such collective sensibilities may seem foreign in this neoliberal age, but they have never completely disappeared from public discourse. Part of the reason civic republicanism lingers is because of its adaptability to changing contexts and its usefulness for encouraging debate. This persistence is evident in the "greening" of society that began in the late twentieth century. Concepts of civic responsibility for the common good, equality, and autonomy exist comfortably alongside ecological sensibilities that emphasize citizen involvement in developmental decisions and the protection of natural resources for present and future generations. (1) Over the last twenty years, some political scientists have argued for the infusion of civic republicanism into environmental politics. They base their appeals on commonalities between republican and environmental ideologies, especially shared concern for upholding local autonomy and decentralized decision making; encouragement of an active, engaged citizenry; and recognition of people's vulnerability to both human and natural forces. These advocates contend that environmental strategies couched in civic republican terms have the potential to resonate with individuals who may not otherwise understand or accept policies directed toward nonhuman or nonlocal concerns. "Green republican" language can also help dissolve the boundary between private and public that sanctions resource-depleting consumption habits and self-interest; it can mitigate federal and state policies that favor corporations and challenge narrow conceptions of the body politic. Yet civic republicanism centers on difficult processes of deliberation, so proponents concede that under pressure environmentalists risk compromising environmental goals. Further, the overarching political structure needs to encourage citizen engagement in order for civic republicanism "to be effective and sustained." (2) Because much of the research connecting civic republicanism to green politics emanates from political science, one wonders what lessons might be gleaned from historical examples of environmentalists employing republican strategies to mobilize popular support. Did those strategies prove useful for articulating the benefits of protecting natural resources for the common good to populations with different conceptions of land stewardship? Did republican rhetoric compel people to act? What happened when communities with disparate populations engaged in deliberative decision making related to environmental protection? How did green civic republicanism interact with dominant political ideologies both within and beyond a particular locale to influence environmental goals? "Back-to-the-land" migrants provide an excellent opportunity for evaluating the effectiveness of green civic republican strategies in environmental campaigns. In the years surrounding the first Earth Day in 1970, factory closures in the manufacturing belt, urban social unrest, stagflation, and environmental degradation prompted an unprecedented urban-to-rural migration. Southern communities became particularly attractive to people seeking to leave the decaying urban-industrial North. While some people moved for work, others migrated in search of alternative ways of living. Back-to-the-landers--predominantly young, white, and middle-class baby boomers alienated by mainstream consumerism--sought to preserve a classic American vision of the good life based on small-scale farming. They infused their agrarian impulses with a new environmentalism, seeking to live sustainably off the land. …


The invention discloses a decision-making supporting system and method facing road traffic accident emergency treatment. The system is established by utilizing a master-slave type network framework; the master-slave type network framework is composed of a plurality of clients and a server; the method comprises the following steps: circularly monitoring instructions of the clients by the server; requiring dynamic traffic flow data to the server by the clients at fixed time; realizing a vehicle movement model applicable to a road traffic accident region by the clients and simulating a traffic emergency treatment scheme to obtain real-time simulation evaluation data; feeding the simulation evaluation data back to the server; managing the traffic flow data and the simulation evaluation data by using a structured database through the server; and quantitatively evaluating comprehensive benefits of implementing a traffic emergency treatment scheme by using the simulation evaluation data through the server and an auxiliary decision-making module, and determining the optimal traffic emergency treatment scheme. By the aid of the decision-making supporting system and method, the defects that the emergency treatment effect of road traffic accidents in the prior art is not ideal or the instantaneity is not enough are overcome.


Abstract Fans of the National Basketball Association (NBA) have long considered the idea that NBA referees are biased in various ways, such as when certain "star players" benefit from so-called "phantom fouls" committed against them or are sheltered from calls against fouls they commit. Using two data sets, the first based on Wallace, Caudill, and Mixon (2013), and a second based on all player games during the 2011 NBA Playoffs series, including dozens of NBA All Stars, the present study empirically investigates this potential form of referee bias by examining both early- and late-game free throw shooting in these most critical games of any season for NBA players, coaches, owners, and fans. The empirical results suggest that marquee NBA players are the beneficiaries of referee bias that occurs near the end of NBA Playoffs contests. More specifically, through regression models with various fixed effects, we find that NBA All Stars are awarded with an additional 0.32 free attempts per minute during the fourth quarter of NBA Playoff games.


In the domain of image captioning, many pre-trained datasets are available. Using these datasets, models can be trained to automatically generate image descriptions regarding the contents of an image. Researchers usually do not spend much time in creating and training the new dataset before using it for a specific application, instead, they simply use existing pre-trained datasets. MS COCO, ImageNet, Flicker, and Pascal VOC, are well-known datasets that are widely used in the task of generating image captions. In most available image captioning datasets, image textual information, which can play a vital role in generating more precise image descriptions, is missing. This paper presents the process of creating a new dataset that consists of images along with text and captions. Images of the nearby vicinity of the campus of MIT World Peace University-MITWPU, India, were taken for the new dataset named MITWPU-1K. This dataset can be used in object detection and caption generation of images. The objective of this paper is to highlight the steps required for creating a new dataset. This necessitated a review of the existing dataset models prior to creating the new dataset. A sequential convolutional model for detecting objects on a new dataset is also presented. The process of creating a new image captioning dataset and the gained insights are described.


Using rare earth cations (such Ho3+, Tm3+, Er3+, and Yb3+) singly and doubly doped lead lanthanum-modified zirconate titanate ceramic gain media, excellent upconversion was observed and investigated. Intrinsic rich carrier traps and their contributions to optical energy storage and upconversion were investigated under different conditions, such as illumination and electrical fields. A new model was proposed to explain some interesting findings, leading ways towards upconversion-based laser and sensor development.


A novel self-learning hybrid fuzzy genetic algorithm (GA) is proposed to improve the robustness of the adaptive GA (AGA), and to solve more effectively the NP\|hard problem of optimization. In this hybrid algorithm, one special binary-coded standard GA makes it possible for on-line learning the knowledge on AGA . Automatically designing and tuning the fuzzy knowledge-based system, self-learning fuzzy techniques based on GA can find the optimized fuzzy system for AGA by the reinforcement learning method. Simulation experiments show a dynamic parametric AGA system designed by the proposed automatic method, as well as the training results. They also indicate the general applicability of the self-learning hybrid fuzzy AGA to combinatorial optimization similar to the traveling salesman problem.


Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a clinical syndrome representing more than 50% of heart failure cases. Currently, available treatment options do not improve patient outcomes and the mechanics of HFpEF remain largely misunderstood. This makes animal models of HFpEF a valuable resource and currently there are few animal models that replicate the clinical characteristics of this disease. Previous studies have replicated associated cardiac hypertrophy and diastolic dysfunction, however exercise intolerance is a cardinal sign of HFpEF but is rarely investigated in animal models. The aim of this study was to develop a clinically relevant large animal model of HFpEF using the two‐kidney‐one‐clip renovascular hypertension method and investigate exercise intolerance. We hypothesized that chronic hypertension would lead to a reduced cardiac output (CO) and stunted heart rate (HR) response during exercise.


OBJECTIVE
Because 10-15% of all births in Germany are induced with prostaglandins (PG), a survey of the scientific evidence for the efficacy of PG in promoting cervical ripening was undertaken.

PATIENTS AND METHODS
Randomized controlled trials and meta-analyses of the efficacy of the local (intravaginal and intracervical) administration of PGE2 and PGE1 compared to the effects of conservative management (no specific therapy), placebo, and intravenous oxytocin were evaluated.

RESULTS
PGE2 was found to be more effective than conservative management and placebo, and to reduce significantly the incidences of cesarean section and instrumental vaginal delivery, without having any impact on measures of fetal outcome. PGE2 was also found to be more effective than oxytocin, especially when the cervix is unripe (Bishop score < or = 5): unsuccessful induction was less frequent and the induction-delivery intervals were shorter, although fetal outcome and the incidences of cesarean section and instrumental vaginal delivery were unaffected. Initial experience also indicates that PGE1 given at a dosage of 25 micrograms every three hours is more effective than intravenous oxytocin or local PGE2, but this advantage appears to be accompanied by an increase in the incidence of uterine hyperstimulation and associated fetal heart rate changes.

CONCLUSIONS
It is surprising that, even today, there is little hard scientific data concerning the efficacy of PG in the induction of cervical ripening. This fact should be discussed with the parturient. Further randomized controlled trials using well-defined, standardized measures are needed to clarify the situation.


Cost apportionment of instituion change decides whether institution change will go smoothly.At the early stage of reform,the decision-maker of the system change always enables the institution relevant benefit entity to benefit from the new institution with less friction and less cost,in order to gain the greatest possible support,which renders the institution.The paper first analyses the increased effect of accumulation of institution change cost,then puts forward the general ways of resolving and normalizing the accumulated increased cost,and finally it analyses the accumulated cost of insfifution change by taking agriculture as an example.


Based on prior calibration with analogist samples, a system, consisting of a CCD camera, a frame grabber and a computer, is developed to in-situ measure the molten pool parameters during laser cladding. The signals captured by CCD vary with change in substrate or clad material, so that, in order to gain the true data of the molten pool parameters, calibration of the instrument must be performed for every set of substrate and clad materials. In this study, a new strategy for on-line acquisition of molten pool parameters is presented. Before measurement of the objective molten pool, cladding is performed to get some analogist samples of the same materials as those used to generate the objective molten pool. The width of a certain segment of the clad bead on the analogist sample is gauged to calibrate the CCD camera-grabbed image of the molten pool which has solidified to this segment of the clad bead. The pool width in the grabbed image can be confirmed to the gauged bead width times the scaling because the width of the clad bead segment must be equal to the width of the related pool. It is assured which type of area in the grabbed image is located on by the pool, and the CCD is calibrated for this set of substrate and clad materials. After calibration, the CCD system is applied to in-situ measure the molten pool parameters during laser cladding. In the presented experiments, the measured values agree well with the actual ones.


HE PURPOSE OF THIS PRESENTATION IS TO T support the hypothesis that a categorical institution, or a cancer center, is a major health-science educational resource. And further-how such a resource may be involved conjointly in the education of health professionals, be of community benefit, and fulfill our long-term goals. One hesitates to define a cancer center, but, to me, it is a centralized activity in a medical community under a unified direction-working, studying, and teaching together. The five basic ingredients of a successful educational program are teaching manpower, facilities and space, finances, management, and students. A center's education projections must examine possible participation in undergraduate medical school teaching, graduate physician training programs, dental undergraduate and graduate pedagogy, biomedical academic (Ph.D., M.D.) programs, public health education, nursing instruction, allied health training, continuing education at each level, and finally, informing the lay public generally. Therefore, careful consideration must be given to the educational demands; obviously, some judgment, decisions, and sifting in choices is necessary to fit different situations and capabili ties. Maldistribution of health care delivery within an inadequate system is a problem of great moment. As a part of this, the United States has unmet health manpower needs, as outlined specifically by Senate Bill 2219 of the 92nd Congress, 1971, which cites, "that it is


BACKGROUND
Ophthalmic artery occlusion (OAO) and retinal artery occlusion (RAO) after facial filler injection have become increasingly significant due to the increment of cosmetic injection procedures for aesthetic purposes.

OBJECTIVES
To analyze the long-term visual outcomes and complications of cosmetic facial filler related OAO and RAO.

METHODS
This single center, retrospective case series included 17 eyes of 16 filler related OAO or RAO patients with a follow-up period of one year or longer. Main outcome measures were best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA) and long-term complications.

RESULTS
The mean age at diagnosis was 31.7 ± 9.7 years and all patients were female. The mean follow-up period was 5.4 ± 2.4 years. The mean BCVA was 2.34 and 2.41 logMAR at the initial and last visits, respectively, which indicates sustained long-term visual decrement. Ocular complications included retinal atrophy and degeneration (100.0%), optic atrophy and profound visual impairment (82.4%), strabismus (80.0%), retinal fibrous membrane (68.8%), posterior synechiae (35.3%), neovascularization (29.4%), iris atrophy and cataract (23.5%), corneal opacity and phthisis bulbi (17.6%), visual field defect and iris defect (11.8%), ophthalmoplegia (7.7%), and pupillary block (5.9%). Extra-ocular complications of brain infarction and depression were found in 25.0%, while skin necrosis was found in 13.3% of patients.

CONCLUSIONS
Facial filler related OAO or RAO resulted in long-term poor visual outcome, and most of the patients experienced irreversible visual impairment with no light perception despite various treatments. Various long-term ocular and extra-ocular complications were observed, which should be monitored for a long-term follow-up period. Our findings suggest that prevention should be stressed more than treatment.


Background: Cancer is a major public health problem that faces health managers and decision-makers in many countries. Cancer is constantly growing and is one of the major causes of mortality in Libya.
Aim: To estimate the geographical distribution and patterns of cancer among patients admitted to the Oncology Department at Benghazi Medical Center (BMC). Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional study was conducted from March to April 2019. A total of 4649 patients' files with a diagnosis of cancer at the BMC were extracted as hard copies due to the absence of electronic medical files. A sampling approach was performed to facilitate the analyses. The sample size was (206) files out of (4649) files, which was determined via a statistical software program (Epi Info7) Data was collected retrospectively from patients' files; on age, gender, address, and classification of the cancer diagnosis which was made according to (ICD–Oncology) for a specific period (5 years – from January 1st, 2013 to December 31st, 2017).
Results: The results revealed that more than half of the cancer cases admitted to Benghazi Medical Center were from Benghazi City and (52.4%) of cases were females whereas (47.6%) were males, (18.9 %) were (<40y), (49.5 %) were between (40 to 65y), and (31.6%) were > 65y. The most common cancers among females were breast cancer (28.6%) and endometrial cancer (7.3%), whereas among males were colorectal cancer (8.3%), prostate cancer (6.8%), gastrointestinal (6.3%) and lung cancer (6.3%).
Conclusion: The most common cancer among women was breast cancer and among men was colorectal and prostate cancer. The majority of cases were from Benghazi. Further studies are required to confirm such results. Educating people about the risk factors that could increase cancer incidence, especially lifestyle, and dietary patterns.


This paper reviews recent advances in photovoltaic (PV) HgCdTe infrared detector technology. Recent advances have enabled a new generation of spaceborne multispectral instruments for remote sensing applications, and have led to the practicality of dual-band (or two-color) IR focal plane array technology. The focus of this paper is on the back-illuminated HgCdTe PV arrays that have made this new generation of spaceborne instruments possible.


The explicit goal of the inaugural World Open Innovation Conference (WOIC) was to attract both leading academic researchers in open innovation and leading industry practitioners of open innovation, seeking to get these two groups to engage with one another. This introductory article sets the intellectual context of the WOIC, summarizes the "top" four articles resulting from the conference, and provides a research agenda based on a high-level view of all the submissions and sessions.


The HN gene of Newcastle disease virus(NDV) isolated from Luoyang was amplified by RT-PCR and cloned into the eukaryotic expression vector pcDNA3.The recombinants of pcDNA3-HN were further identified by PCR amplification and enzyme digestion.The results showed that the expression vector pcDNA3-HN was successfully constructed.


The vegetable unit used as rice seed is a caryopsis protected by glumes, which obstruct the visualization of internal damages. X-ray radiographs in rice seeds make possible to see and identify fissures, without preparing the seeds. The objective of this work was to determine parameters that may be possible to obtain radiographs of rice seeds to evaluate fissures, after drying process. The experiment was conducted at the Laboratory of Analysis of Images of the Department of Vegetal Production, of the Superior School of Agriculture Luiz de Queiroz (ESALQ/USP), in Piracicaba-SP, Brazil. Seeds of irrigated rice of IRGA 417 and IRGA 420 cultivars were used. Seeds were submitted to different radiation intensities obtained by combinations of 11, 13, 14, 15 and 17 Kv and exposition times of 120, 180, 300, and 360 seconds. Radiographs were obtained in equipment of the FAXITRON X-Ray, with the radiographic film (KodaK, size 18x24cm), in a distance of 35 cm from the X-rays source. Films were developed in an automatic processor (Hope X-ray) and images were digitalized in scanner (Umax, PowerLook 1100), for posterior evaluation in computer. Image interpretation was not affected by cultivars, but by seed position on the film. The lateral position, with the embryo positioned to the left side make fissure visualization. Easy Low X-ray intensities produced very clear images, whith difficult identification of the fissures. The combination of 14Kv and 360s was more satisfactory, because it was possible to identify seed parts, and to show fissure without distortions. Even the best combination of calibration did not permit to clearly visualize embryo different parts.


The recent discovery of the Ledenyov digital waves in the economies of scale and scope led to an origination of considerable scientific interest in the modeling of new types of the discrete-time digital signals generators for the business cycles generation in the macroeconomics. Article aims: 1) to model the discrete-time digital signals generators for the business cycles generation in the macroeconomics, 2) to demonstrate the technical differences between the new model of the discrete-time digital signals generator and the existing models of the continuous-time (continuous wave) signals generators in the macroeconomics; 3) to accurately analyze the spectrum of discrete-time digital signals in the economies of scale and scope, 4) to improve the Ledenyov discrete time digital signals theory to precisely characterize the discrete time digital signals in the macroeconomics, 5) to better develop the complex software program to forecast the business cycles, going from the spectral analysis of the discrete time digital signals and the continuous time signals in the nonlinear dynamic economic system over the selected time period. The developed MicroSA software program intends: 1) to perform the spectrum analysis of the discrete-time digital signals and the continuous-time signals in the macroeconomics; 2) to make the computer modeling and to forecast the business cycles, going from the spectral analysis of the discrete time signals and the continuous time signals in the macroeconomics. The MicroSA can be used by a) the central banks with the purpose to make the strategic decisions on the monetary policies, financial stability policies, and b) the commercial/investment banks with the aim to make the business decisions on the minimum capital allocation, countercyclical capital buffer creation, and capital investments.


Some documents written on bamboo and silk have been found in China since last century, it provides real materials for researching Chinese history. This article deals with adverbs in MAISHU, and the author classifies and summaries it, which is very important for research Chinese history.


Abstract The Hawaiian archipelago was formerly home to one of the most species-rich land snail faunas (> 752 species), with levels of endemism > 99%. Many native Hawaiian land snail species are now extinct, and the remaining fauna is vulnerable. Unfortunately, lack of information on critical habitat requirements for Hawaiian land snails limits the development of effective conservation strategies. The purpose of this study was to examine the plant host preferences of native arboreal land snails in Puʻu Kukui Watershed, West Maui, Hawaiʻi, and compare these patterns to those from similar studies on the islands of Oʻahu and Hawaiʻi. Concordant with studies on other islands, we found that four species from three diverse families of snails in Puʻu Kukui Watershed had preferences for a few species of understorey plants. These were not the most abundant canopy or mid canopy species, indicating that forests without key understorey plants may not support the few remaining lineages of native snails. Preference for Broussaisia arguta among various island endemic snails across all studies indicates that this species is important for restoration to improve snail habitat. As studies examining host plant preferences are often incongruent with studies examining snail feeding, we suggest that we are in the infancy of defining what constitutes critical habitat for most Hawaiian arboreal snails. However, our results indicate that preserving diverse native plant assemblages, particularly understorey plant species, which facilitate key interactions, is critical to the goal of conserving the remaining threatened snail fauna.


Natural rock pools, tinajas, and constructed catchments in the Sonoran Desert provide water for a wide variety of organisms. In 2012, we monitored water quality and amphibian and dragonfly use of wildlife waters in southwestern Arizona, USA. We measured ammonia concentrations that exceeded the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's guidelines for aquatic life and were well above concentrations that cause mortality in amphibians and other aquatic organisms. Both amphibians and dragonflies had lower species richness in catchments than in the tinajas, and amphibian species richness was negatively associated with ammonia concentration. These concentrations of ammonia alone cause concern for the management of biodiversity, specifically for wetland-dependent organisms. Furthermore, ammonia concentrations may be high enough to impact terrestrial organisms of economic and conservation importance including humans. © 2013 The Wildlife Society.


We developed a reduced kinetic model for toluene reference fuel (TRF) including 70 species and 196 reactions for homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) combustion.The low temperature reaction scheme for the TRF was based on the existing low-temperature reaction mechanism developed by Tanaka for primary reference fuel (PRF) oxidation.We added skeletal reactions for PRF oxidation to a reduced toluene sub-mechanism.The high-temperature reaction mechanism was mainly from the previous work of Patel and an important TRF reaction [H+O2+M=O+OH+M] was added.Validation of the ignition delay time was performed for single-component,two-component and three-component fuels and the results were satisfactory for HCCI engine conditions.A comparison of various experimental data available in the literature,including shock tube tests and HCCI engine experiments,shows that the present TRF mechanism performs well.A sensitivity analysis at the moment of maximum heat production shows that the reaction of phenol radicals (C6H5) with O2 is more sensitive as the pressure increases.Formaldehyde (HCHO) is a very important intermediate species and should not be neglected.


The trend of incorporating soft electronic systems in current electronics framework is fast becoming a wide phenomenon in healthcare as they provide a more suitable human‐machine interface making it conveniently possible to achieve real‐time, continuous health monitoring and therapy. However, the effective integration of an entire system with the soft and dynamic human skin has proven to be a strenuous task since the combination of existing hard components and soft materials is difficult to realize. Here, reported is a method of heterogenous rigidity in soft hybrid electronics assembled with rigid elements and soft substrates in order to enhance the stretchability at the system level. Using this scheme, the stretchability is risen from below 50% to beyond 270%. Meanwhile, hybrid 3D printing all‐in‐one manufacturing technology facilitates the fabrication of all the parts in a single process, thus simplifying the operation flow. As a unitary device, a wireless charging electrocardiogram (ECG) circuit integrated with a heterogenous rigidity substrate exhibits exceptional reliability and the acquired ECG signals remain stable while the user is sitting or standing.


Abstract In this article, a methodology is presented regarding thedesign of a segment database for use with a time-domainspeech synthesis system for the Greek language. The mainissue of this process is the systematic generation of a corpuscontaining all possible instances of the segments for thespecific language. Particular issues such as the phoneticcoverage, the sentence selection as well as iterative evaluationtechniques employing custom-built tools are discussed. Theresulting corpus is characterised by a near-minimal size,provides a complete coverage of the Greek language and itsdistribution of phonemes is similar to that of natural corpora.A typical spoken acquisition procedure may then beperformed, resulting in a segment database for use with atime-domain Greek synthesizer. The corpus creationprocedure allows for the fine-tuning of the segment database'slanguage-dependent characteristics and thus assists in thegeneration of high-quality text-to-speech synthesis. 1. Introduction


The present study is to explore the effect of Moodle English journal writing for general purposes on language learners' writing performance, conjunction preferences and English self-efficacy. Self-efficacy, claimed by a large number of researchers, has a direct and powerful influence on learners' academic accomplishments. However, there is little research on enhancing the level of English self-efficacy and writing performance through keeping E-journals, particularly in an EFL context where the learners develop both native and foreign languages and cultures. Multiculturalism should be taken into consideration before language curricula are designed. The participants, in the study, 40 non-English-majored college students in Taiwan, were required to keep a journal through Moodle. The findings of the study reveal that the participants' general perceived English abilities and writing confidence were enhanced after their efforts on Moodle E-journal writing. From the pieces of writing, they present both characteristics of the native and target languages and cultures.


Novel imaging methods permitting real-time, wide-field and quantitative optical mapping of biological tissue properties offer an unprecedented range of potential new applications for clinical use such as guided surgery or patient monitoring. However, significant technical challenges have so far prevented such tools from performing in real-time (for both acquisition and processing) and therefore from being deployed in clinical practice. To overcome these limitations, recent research introduced methods based on Spatial Frequency Domain Imaging (SFDI) that allow real-time (within milliseconds) wide-field imaging of optical properties. In this study we present a novel implementation of general purpose graphic processing unit (GPGPU) direct programming in C CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) for real-time, wide-field and quantitative multispectral imaging using our recently-developed spatio-temporal modulation of light imaging method. Using this new method, we are able to quantitatively obtain optical properties images (1 megapixel) at 2 wavelengths (665 nm and 860 nm) in only 1.52 ms with at most 1% error in comparison with standard Matlab processing.


Welcome to the Applied Data Science Research Group.
We integrate existing tools and algorithms in a simple-to-use process so companies can easily get value from their data.
We offer services for you to solve problems or improve business performance, through the analysis of data.


Parents who wish to enrol their child in post-primary education (11-18 age) in Northern Ireland.BELB, NEELB, SEELB, SELB and WELB Related Information.


Essentially, comics are one of the most significant medium in transmedia storytelling for education. The purpose of this paper is to examine recent strategies used by teachers and instructors in implementing learner-generated comics in classroom.  Hence, the definition and evolution of comics is enlightened, followed up by how comics demystified diverse educational benefits by playing roles as cognitive and affective tool. Then, educational comics characteristics and the concept learner generated comics are discussed. Next, a comparative analysis is conducted on the educational practices in learner-generated comic production. The analysis is based on brief descriptions and disadvantages on the learner-generated comic techniques applied in classroom setting. A qualitative approach is applied to generally compare the listed strategies.


ALICE is a dedicated heavy ion experiment that also collects and analyzes p-Pb and pp collisions. These data are important to provide a reference to the Pb-Pb data, tune MC generators based on the QCD inspired models and complement the results from the other LHC experiments. In this contribution a summary of the most recent results on light flavour identified hadron production in pp collisions is presented.


Students need to be competitive in the present globalised world. Therefore, it is the responsibilities of educators in ensuring the implementation of the recent methodology such as 21st Century teaching and learning pedagogy and Higher Order Thinking Skills (HOTS) in their classroom. In Malaysia, the Ministry of Education has been promoting and ensuring that teachers in Malaysia apply these approaches to that Malaysian students would be able to compete in the increasingly challenging world. However, there is a limit on how much a teacher can do by working on their own. That the reason why the Professional Learning Community (PLC) is trending in the education world now. PLC allows teachers to work collaboratively and by doing so, they are able to help each other to make their teaching better, for the betterment of their students' learning. There are limitations in conducting PLC in schools. So, the Collaborative Instructional Design System (CIDS), the ASIE Model is designed and introduced. This paper aims to find out if the Collaborative Instructional Design System (CIDS), the ASIE Model could be a platform to enhance PLC in schools. Index Terms :collaboration, improve teaching quality, Professional Learning Community (PLC), CIDS, the ASIE Model ——————————  ——————————


One of the methods known to stabilize a passive dynamic walk is to restrict a hip joint angle. The hip restriction method effects as resetting the walking dynamics every time at the beginning of the walk. A Constraining Foot Shape is known to give the same effect by a more compact configuration. However, it was not clear how much this dynamics resetting effect will be given for a specific design parameter such as a length of the foot. This paper shows a numerical approach for this. Firstly, we show a dynamics of walking by 2D stick model with foot length. This is realized by considering a support point exchange effect. Secondly, we show a simulation results by this model. From these, we show that a longer foot will give a more strong effect of resetting walking dynamics. Finally, we demonstrate the validity of the model by making an actual hardware of 2D stick model with foot length. In this model, a scuffing effect was avoided by using landing islands on a slope.


This research aimed to determine the assesing the validity and reliability of the questionnaire on student learning online interests in biology. The type of this research is survey with quantitative description. The subjects in this study were 100 senior high school students year 2018/2019 from five different regions: 33 respondents in DIY, 31 respondents in Central Java, 22 respondents in East Java, 11 respondents in West Java and three respondents in West Sumatera. The respondents were students in Science class of 10-grade (n=11), 11-grade (n=35) and 12-grade (n=54). Data was collected by questionnaire. This instrument used the answer or response category based on a Likert scale, where the level score started from the lowest (1) to the highest (4). In this study, analysis method used to determine the eligibility of items in the questionnaire was carried out with the significance of the reliability coefficient. This was performed to calculate the reliability coefficient per item using the reliability analysis with the Alpha Cronbach formula. Based on the analysis of the statement items using SPSS, out of 22 items, 18 items were recognized as valid and four items were considered invalid. On the reliability test, the 22 questions given to 100 respondents had Cronbach's Alpha value of 0.763, and this showed a sufficient reliability.


A basic setting method of the TASCAM DR-2D portable digital recorder and the live recording techniques are introduced.The users understand its function,find out the features,and reasonably apply it to actual interview.


Let V (ZG) denotes the group of normalized units of the integral group ring ZG of a finite group G. One of the most interesting conjectures in the theory of integral group rings is the conjecture of H. Zassenhaus : Conjecture 1 (ZC). Every torsion unit u in V (ZG) is conjugate to an element in G within the rational group algebra QG; i.e. there exist a group element g in G and a unit w in QG such that w−1uw = g.


Concerning the relationship between teaching and scientific research, it's easily accepted that scientific research promotes teaching.But it's hard to understand teaching also promotes scientific reaearch.Based on it, this article analysed the concrete displays and related conditions of how teaches promotes scientific research, according to the four understandings of the two dimensions of what is teaching.


UV/TiO2 photocatalysis combining electron accepters such as nitrate (NO3^-) and hexavalent chromium (Cr (VI)) was conducted to treat acetaminophen (APAP), an emerging contaminant of the pharmaceutical wastewater. In this work, the degradation of APAP by the TiO2 photocatalyst was investigated under UV light intensity of 2.5W/m^2 (λ=254nm) with various concentration of oxygen, hydraulic retention time (HRT), pH value and dosage of TiO2. The results showed that removal efficiency of APAP was achieved 98.78% for TiO2 dosage of 0.5g/L, pH of 2 and hydraulic retention time (HRT) of 40 min. Moreover, when NO3^- was used as an electron accepter, the removal efficiency of APAP was enhanced up to 99.08% at APAP/NO3^- molar ratio of 1/3. However, the presence of Cr (VI) makes the removal efficiency of APAP slightly decreasing to 91.7% at APAP/Cr(VI) molar ratio of 1/3. In addition, the intermediate species produced in the photocatalytic process were identified by GC/MS analysis.


We present a case study to reveal the detailed process of ionospheric responses to strong disturbances in the lower atmosphere when a strong typhoon lands or approaches the mainland.The ionospheric HF Doppler shift data during the periods of two strong typhoons which occurred in 1988 and 1990 respectively are analyzed in detail.The results show that except the appearance of significant wave-like disturbances(in general,medium scale acoustic-gravity waves AGWs) there are some new phenomena worth noticing: the temporal evolution of these waves in the two cases show clearly the change of both wave main frequency and amplitudes,as time elapses the frequency was getting lower and lower and amplitudes enhanced gradually.After sunset,Spread-F phenomena appeared,showing the role of seeding of the AGWs for exciting of ionospheric irregularities.A comparison is made for the above phenomena with the linear theory of TIDs propagation and also with a non-linear numerical simulation of the dynamic features of AGWs propagation in the atmosphere.All these results are in good agreement.


In this article; The step-by-step design of a 3-phase salient synchronous generator and
efficiency optimization with particle swarm optimization technique are investigated. Unlike other studies in the literature, a system has been studied to minimize mathematical equation errors by using specific loading parameters that simplify the design process. It has been tried to obtain a program structure that minimizes programming problems by minimizing the number of variables used in the design. With the optimization of the specific loading parameters, the effects on the machine volume, cost and efficiency were examined.


Research indicates that firms with high institutional investment outperform firms with low institutional investment, suggesting that institutions have informational advantages over individuals. We investigate whether IPO grading in India enables retail investors to invest more like institutions in the IPO aftermarket. We find that it does not. While institutions hold high grade, high priced IPO firms, small retail investors hold firms with low IPO grades and offer prices. However, individuals do not seem to earn lower returns, perhaps because grading or an open book-building method discourages the worst firms from going public.


Liang Qichao's applied Buddhism played an important role in his political imagination and his social advocacy of building a modern China. Undertaking a case study of his political fiction, this article makes three interconnected arguments. First, the nationalism expressed in Liang's promotion of political fiction was a type of Romantic nationalism originating from Europe but exercised in the context of the late Qing and early Republican China. Second, Liang's applied Buddhism was an integral part of Chinese Buddhist secularization, which was not intended to separate religion from the state as in the case of its European counterpart but was directed toward the dissemination of Buddhist values into the broader popular realm of the Chinese society. Third, Liang's applied Buddhism deserves retroactive recognition as one of the precursors of contemporary socially engaged Buddhism.以小说赋魂予国家:梁启超的应用佛学摘要梁启超的应用佛学在他对构建现代中国的政治想象和社会倡导中起到了重要的作用。本文以梁启超的政治小说为个案提出三个相互关联的论点。第一,梁启超在他倡导政治小说的过程中所表达的民族主义是一种源于欧洲的浪漫民族主义,但是在晚清民初的语境下被推动;第二,梁启超的应用佛学是当时汉传佛教世俗化的一部分,其目的并不像欧洲政教分离式的世俗化,而是致力于把佛教价值观普及到中国社会里;第三,梁启超的应用佛学应该被追认为当代左翼佛教的前驱之一。


This paper analyses the economic benefits from vertical coordination in pig production (i.e. a contract between a specialised piglet and a specialised fattening pig producer) using a static model of a share contract. An empirical illustration is presented for Swedish pig producers considering the impact of growth rates, feed conversion efficiency and mortality rates. Moreover, the variation in pig prices and the biological variation in the growth rates of pigs are considered. Producers are assumed to be risk averse and the risk aversion concept is elaborated by obtaining the producers "desired confidence level" that corresponds to a given risk aversion coefficient. The results suggest that there exists a range of Pareto efficient share allocations. Potential gains in expected utility from vertical coordination compared to independent production are about 25% for both categories of producers.;


Abstract This research was aimed to analyze the difference of men and women in Surakarta in perceiving the shopping value. The values were classified into the hedonic and utilitarian value. Hedonic value occurs when consumers rely on their emotional, social, and psychological aspect, while utilitarian value is more concerned with the functional aspect in carrying out the activity. Result showed that there was difference perception between men and women as retail consumers. In this study, women tended to have hedonic value as their shopping orientation, while men tended to have utilitarian orientation. It implied that gender was an important aspect in structuring business position and segmentation in retail industry.


Resource dependence and transaction cost theories focus on organizations as mitigating their dependence on the task environment through various strategies. However, these theories have predictions as to the conditions under which network alliances are formed. dependency alliances. These findings integration of the two theories into a firm cycle the domain of


ABSTRACT In this study, at first N,N′-bis[2-(methyl-3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)propanoate)]terephthaldiamide, as a new chiral monomer based on tyrosine amino acid, was synthesized from the reaction of S-tyrosine methyl ester and terephthaloyl dichloride. Then novel nanostructured aromatic optically active and eco-friendly poly(ester–amide)s based on tyrosine amino acid were synthesized by the solution polycondensation of the new diol and a number of aromatic diacid chlorides. The resulting poly(ester–amide)s exhibited good yields, solubility, inherent viscosities, and thermal stability. All polymers were characterized by Fourier transform infrared, 1H NMR, elemental analysis, and specific rotation. They were also studied by X-ray diffraction, thermogravimetric analysis, and field emission scanning electron microscopy. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


Purananaru is a Tamil text that consists of four hundred hymns in praise of the object. All events that take place overtly are objective. The text describes well about Politics, Commerce, Histories, Philosophies, War Events and so on. The text beautifully depicts Pari's love for Kapil and the friendship between Pisiranthaiyar and Kopperuncholan. Purananuru is the best text that describes the song of Kapila in the loss of Pari and the bravery in the song of Auvai in the loss of Athiyaman. This article summarizes and examines the characteristics of the text Purananuru.


In this paper we present scanning tunneling microscopy images of cytokeratin proteins and a monoclonal anti‐cytokeratin IgG antibody bound to their carboxyl terminal end. The images are consistent with current models of cytokeratin assembly inferred from biochemical analysis, electron microscopy evaluation of disintegrating cytokeratin filaments, and chemical cross‐linking of coiled‐coils.


This paper introduces a kind of MVB IP that matches the IEC61375-1 standard in brief,and then presents a project of the MVB node based on SoPC technique.At the end of this paper,it constructs TCN system to confirm the transmission of process data according to the TCN standard network structure.This project proves the accuracy and dependability of the MVB IP that designed by the author.The MVB IP is compatible with other standard MVB interface.


At the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in South Australia, the cost of wound care products and the duplication of supplies in individual clinical areas was a growing problem. New technologies, the introduction of new products on the market as well as trends in clinical areas were contributing to spiralling costs. Other issues included inequity of resources, waste and a diverse range of advanced wound dressings that were often used inappropriately. The solution, a sub-store using a banking system called "The Dressing Bank™", that houses advanced wound care products. This system has been in place for 4 years, allowing equity in access, cost-effectiveness, quality control and ongoing evaluation of wound products to achieve a coordinated approach across the organisation.


In this paper, we discuss the optimal design of telecommunications networks prone to failure. The problem concerns mid-range planning objectives. The purpose of the model is to give insight on the cost of protecting the network against failures by balancing the choice of a base routing of the demands and the investment in spare capacity to protect the routings against elementary breakdowns. The problem is formulated as a large linear programming model.


The coordinated use of multiple Autonomous Underwater Vehicles can provide important advantages for oceanographic missions. One important mission application scenario can be the search of underwater plumes such as sources of freshwater of hydrothermal vents. These plumes characterize the environment by creating a gradient field of some measurable physical quantity. An innovative integrated acoustic navigation system and coordination control maneuver for a formation of 3 AUVs and 1 surface craft to gradient search and following missions is proposed. The specific formation geometry and topology takes in account the navigation and coordination requirements. It was designed to achieve an efficient, low cost and technically feasible solution. The system can operate in 3 modes depending on formation distances. Varying pinging rates and offsets are used to communicate parameters and mode changing. No additional underwater communication systems neither acoustic transponder deployment are needed for the vehicle coordination. This way a high degree of energy efficiency and overall mission low cost and simpler logistics is achieved. The hybrid nature of the coordinating maneuver allows the formation gradient survey and following with the efficient exploitation of the environment structuring by the phenomena to be studied. The individual control laws were designed in order to minimize the inter-vehicle communication. The coordination factors are the knowledge by the vehicles of each other behavior (since all vehicles execute the same control laws) and the detection of formation distortions. These distortions are detected by the relative navigation system. The proposed approach allows the low cost implementation of a multiple AUV coordinating control for a large range of oceanographic missions.


Previous studies have recorded the reduction of caries-like lesions or demineralization in extracted human teeth that had been irradiated with CO2 laser, Nd:YAG laser, and Argon laser. This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of three different cw lasers on acid resistance and demineralization of dental enamel. Human enamel was laser irradiated with either Argon, CO2, or Nd:YAG energy densities of 60 - 65 J/cm2 or 120 - 130 J/cm2. The amount of demineralization was determined in a rotating disk assembly (0.1 M acetate buffer, pH - 4.5) for 24 hours and the results determined and plotted against the non-lased control using microradiographs and computerized imaging. The amount of dissolution of tooth structure lost to demineralization in 4.5 pH acid bath in a 24 hour period was reduced from approximately 140 microns for the unlased control to approximately 90 microns for the Argon laser and 70 microns for the CO2 laser at 60 - 65 J/cm2. At 120 - 130 J/cm2 the results were: 120 microns for the Nd:YAG, 70 microns for the Argon, and 45 microns for the CO2 laser. This study shows that demineralization is reduced significantly in vitro when human enamel is exposed to Argon and CO2 laser irradiation.


Traditional forms of media have played a significant role in narrating the military conflict between Israel and Palestine (Said; Aouragh 2; Elmasry). Most recently, the Israeli Defense Forces used their official Twitter account to launch the 2012 Operation Pillar of Cloud in Gaza. This thesis investigates the role played by Twitter in the 'battle of narratives' taking place between pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli communities on 14th June, two days after the #BringBackOurBoys hashtag campaign was launched 2014 and 9th July 2014, a day after Operation Protective Edge commenced in Gaza. The thesis argues that Twitter as a microblogging platform acts as an ambivalent discursive protest space for the battle of narratives between pro-Israelis and pro-Palestinians. Drawing on a range of hashtag case studies, such as #BringBackOurBoys, #GazaUnderAttack and #IsraelUnderFire, the thesis offers a content analysis of 300 tweets in relation to emerging concepts in digital media studies. Pablo Gerbaudo's articulation of 'choreography of assembly', for example, illustrates the role of social media in 'setting the scene' for protest while William Gamson and Andre Modigliani's concept of 'interpretive packages' allows for an exploration of symbolic devices on Twitter such as metaphors, exemplars, injustice symbols and visual images. This thesis draws on these concepts to examine how Twitter's affordances work ambivalently to highlight the victimisation of one side of the conflict while erasing the victimisation of the other.


The family Renicolidae was established by Dollfus in 1939 for the trematodes parasitizing kidney tissues and ureters of birds. This family has been studied by several helminthologists and attempts have been made to present new taxonomic keys for the family. Prominent among the authors who have contributed to the family are: Dollfus (1939 and 1946); Nigrelli and Gandal (1958); Witenberg (1929); Rue (1957); Odening (1962); Riley and Owen (1972); Sudarikov and Staiko (1984); Wright (1954: 1956 and 1957); Stunkard (1958 and 1964) and others. Of the 56 known species of Renicolidae (Munyer et al., 1990), two were described on the basis of cercariae only. The genus Renicola was created by Cohn in 1904. From India the only three species of Renicola which have been described so far are: R.indicola Odening, 1962 in Pelecanus onocrotalus; R.indica Mehra and Kharoo, 1974 in Turdoides tericolor tericolor and R.melastigmai Dhankumari, 2000 in Aplocheilus melastigma (Pisces). A brief review of the history and classification of the family and the genus is presented.


2 The new challenges raised by investment arbitration for the EU legal order 4 Achmea and Opinion 1/17: Why do intra and extra-EU bilateral investment treaties impact differently on the EU legal order? 7


Marine litter has been a persistent problem in the Philippines despite comprehensive legislation on solid waste management in place for more than twenty years in the form of Republic Act No. 9003 or the Ecological Solid Waste Management Act of 2000. Until 2021, the Philippines did not have a national policy and legislation that directly addressed marine litter issues in the country. In 2021, the Philippine government launched the National Plan of Action for the Prevention, Reduction, and Management of Marine Litter (npoa-ml) and in 2022, Congress passed Republic Act No. 11898 or the Extended Producer Responsibility Act of 2022.


The present study was undertaken to investigate the factors involved in determining the metastatic potential of cultured cells derived from solid tumors. We first investigated the effects of cell source and culture conditions on lung colony formation by i.v. injected B16a (B16 amelanotic melanoma) cells and inhibition of tumor colony formation by the thromboxane A2 syn‐thase inhibitor, CGS14854. Prolonged culture resulted in a 10‐fold decrease in the incidence of B16a lung colonies, whereas passage in vivo for 150 days did not affect lung colony formation by tumor cells isolated from enzymatic dispersates by centrifugal elutriation. Cultured BI6a cells maintained at low density (LD) and harvested at low passage (LP) formed significantly more lung colonies than B16a cells harvested at high densities (HD) or high passage (HP). Over‐confluent tumor cells produced even lower number of lung colonies. Lung colony formation by elutriated BI6a cells (i.e., cells freshly isolated from tumor tissue) was consistently inhibited by CGS14854, whereas inhibition of lung colony formation by cultured B16a cells was dependent upon culture conditions. CGS 14854 was ineffective or less effective against HD/HP B16a cells. The differences in lung colony formation between LD, HD and elutriated B16a cells were not due to differential cell‐cycle distribution. Mechanistic studies indicated that LD/LP tumor cells induced aggregation of homologous platelets, whereas HD/HP BI6a cells failed to induce significant platelet aggregation. Aggregation of homologous platelets correlated positively with lung‐colonizing ability. Additionally, LD/LP cells demonstrated higher adhesion to endothelium than HD/HP BI6a cells. Finally, LD/LP BI6a cells expressed higher levels of αIIbβ3 integrins than HD/HP tumor cells, as determined by flow cytometry and immunofluorescence.


Thomas Jefferson is one of three presidents honoured in Washington, DC, yet the reasons for his presence there beside Washington and Lincoln are not altogether obvious. Retrospectively he appears as the personification of the Enlightenment spirit embodied in American nationalism. In this inaugural lecture, Professor Appleby argues, however, that his enduring importance emerged because he offered a view of the world and America's place in it which both created and mediated the central tensions in American nationhood. These tensions emerged because the American claim to represent universal values promoted a new kind of prejudice against differences. Tensions also developed from the expectation of a natural compatibility between equality and liberty when in fact the exercise of the latter diminished the former.