Abstract Nutrition demands in aquaculture can be realized through quality aquafeeds as compounded diets that contribute to the growth and health of aquaculture species. Functional additives in feed, notably probiotics, prebiotics, and their admixture synbiotics, have been recently recognized for their biotherapeutic role as immunostimulants capable of conferring disease resistance, stress tolerance, and gastrointestinal health; counteracting the negative effects of anti-nutrients, pathogenic prevalence, and antimicrobials in finfish aquaculture. Formulated diets based on probiotics, prebiotics, and as a supplemental combination for synbiotics can significantly influence fish gut microbiomes, establishing the modalities of microbial dynamics to maximize host-associated benefits. These microbial functional-feed supplements are acclaimed to be biocompatible, biodegradable, and safe for dietary consumption as well as the environment. In fed fish aquaculture, prebiotic appended probiotic diet 'synbiotic' has propounded larger attention for its additional health and nutritional benefits. Synbiotic, prebiotic, and probiotic usage as functional feeds for finfish aquaculture thus provides promising prospects. Developing trends in their intended application are reviewed here forth.


The aim of this investigation is to determine the effect of Friction Stir Welding process parameters such as tool rotational speed, weld speed, tilt angle and tool geometry on Al7075/10%wt./SiC Metal matrix Composite. Composites were prepared   by the mechanical stir casting process. L 27 orthogonal array was chosen for the experimental design. The response characteristics as tensile strength (UTS ) and hardness (VHN) were measured and optimized with Taguchi based grey relational analysis. The experimental result reveals that the rotational speed, weld speed, and tilt angle are the significant process parameters which affecting the Friction Stir Welding performance. The confirmation test shows that the use of grey relational analysis provides an improvement of 24.41% in grades.


Using the Bishop Dynasty Trust, a six billion dollar enterprise designed to protect education excellence for native Hawai'ian students, this article considers the problems of appointed trusteeship over dynasty trusts. It addresses two key questions: 1) whom do trustees represent? and 2) to whom are the trustees of a charitable trust accountable? We suggest a way to preserve both the charitable purpose of the trust and the role of the trust beneficiaries by linking trustee accountability and successor trustee election to the involvement of present and future beneficiaries in addition to the protections offered by the state attorney general.


Silicon positive-intrinsic-negative (p-i-n) diodes have been used in plasma diagnostics by the Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories (LANL and LLNL) since the early seventies. Since the response bandwidth of these detectors is relatively poor (typically, approximately 5 ns FWHM for 1 cm2 sensitive area and 250 micrometers depletion depth), they are too slow for high-speed applications. GaAs photoconductive detectors (PCD) have been developed since the early eighties at LANL and later at LLNL, and can be tailored by judicious neutron damage to provide the required high-speed bandwidth. Unfortunately, for surface absorbed or non-penetrating radiation, we have discovered that the PCD sensitivity is not flat across its gap, where the incident radiation is perpendicular to the bias electric field. This response non-uniformity can lead to erroneous measurements in cases where the radiation is spatially varying. To overcome this problem, we reoriented the GaAs chip to allow the radiation to be incident through the electrode and parallel to the bias electric field. Then to increase bandwidth, we doped the GaAs crystal with chromium to create trapping sites and provide large resistivity (approximately 109 (Omega) cm), thus creating a semi-insulator detector (SID). We present and discuss the merits of the SID versus PCD and p-i-n diode by showing pulse response data of each detector characterized with 16 MeV endpoint gamma and electron radiation created by the EG&G/EM linear accelerator (Linac) and 5 to 16.5 MeV proton radiation produced by the LLNL Tandem Van de Graaff (TVDG). Application of the SID in Compton electron spectrometry also is discussed.


R v MacKenney and Pinfold (1981) has for some 20 years been a well-known authority on the admissibility of expert evidence, more particularly with regard to expert evidence of witness credibility. In that case, the trial judge refused to receive expert evidence challenging a prosecution witness's credibility proffered at trial on behalf of the accused, a decision upheld on appeal. Belatedly, on a recent reference from the Criminal Cases Review Commission, the Court of Appeal has quashed the appellants' convictions, prompting reconsideration of the original determination of inadmissibility. Notwithstanding the Court of Appeal's apparent change of heart, however, it is submitted that the principles rehearsed in R v Pinfold and MacKenney (2003) are entirely consistent with the 'helpfulness' test of admissibility adumbrated in Turner, and that the court's latest remarks on this topic serve chiefly to clarify and reinforce established legal orthodoxy.


We study the partial swapping of the Fano resonance in a correlated double-quantum-dot (DQD) system connected to normal leads by employing the Keldysh non-equilibrium Green function technique in a Coulomb blockade regime. Two types of asymmetries have been considered which occurs when the DQD system undergoes transition from symmetric parallel to i) series and ii) T-shape geometries. It is found that both types of asymmetries exhibit swapping on varying the interdot Coulomb interaction (U12), however, mostly in the first one or first two pairs (out of four pairs) of Fano and Breit-Wigner peaks. Further, for particular values of U12 and dot-lead couplings, one, two or three Fano peaks collapse forming bound states in the continuum (BIC). This partial (non-magnetic) swapping and the formation of BIC is found to result from an interplay of correlation effects and asymmetries in dot-lead couplings.


Abstract Bijective correspondences are established between the radical classes R (in a variety W of rings) with the property that a ring A is in R exactly when its finitely generated subrings are all in R, and certain filters of ideals in a free W-ring. It follows that such classes are determined by the polynomial identities satisfied by the finite subsets of their members. Analogous considerations are applied to radical classes R which, for a fixed integer n, have the property that a ring is in R if and only if its subrings generated by at most n elements are in R.


Although the need for nephrostomy access has decreased with the advent of extracorporeal shockwave lithotripsy (ESWL), we continue to perform a large number of nephrostomy punctures, either to treat or prevent ESWL complications or to relieve obstructive uropathy. The use of the standard Seldinger technique with an 18-gauge needle and a special radiolucent handle' provides reliable entry into the opacified urinary tract with fluoroscopic control for the experienced operator. However, the operator with less experience may require multiple passes. Also, even if the operator is experienced, the guidewire may not advance easily into a small calix, especially if a stone blocks the entry, and it may be difficult to advance a catheter over the guidewire. In this article, we describe a technique in which the search is made for the appropriate calix with a 22-gauge needle, and the needle itself serves as the guide either for single-step placement of a drainage catheter24 or for passage of guidewires for introduction of other instruments.


Recent ecological and case-control studies have indicated elevated lung cancer mortality (LCM) associated with bituminous "smoky" coal (BC) use in China, but no similar study has been conducted using U.S. populations. Early-to-mid 20th century U.S. county-level consumption of BC for home heating was examined in relation to age-specific LCM, focusing on mortality in white women aged 40+ vs. 60+ years (among whom ∼11% vs. ∼5% ever smoked, respectively) during 1950 to 1954. To limit potential confounding due to variations in housing characteristics associated with counties where most vs. few homes used coal for heating, this study focused on domestic BC consumption only in 640 counties in which >75% of homes used coal for heating in 1940. County-level data on domestic net tons of BC consumed per capita for the year 1918 were used to estimate lifetime residential exposure to BC smoke, and analyses focused on a 539-county subset for which estimated BC use remained fairly constant between 1918 and 1940. Significantly positive ecological associations were found between BC use and LCM risk in U.S. white women dying in 1950 to 1954 at age 40+ or 60+ y, after adjusting for age and combinations of 20 socio-demographic/geoclimatic variates. The apparent associations suggest that lifetime exposure to residential BC-combustion smoke may have increased LCM risk by about 25% to 50% among relatively highly exposed U.S. women. While these results must viewed in the context of the inherent limitations of any ecological study design, their consistency with results from studies on Chinese women suggests that some risk reduction might be achieved by increased (or universal) application of inexpensive measures to reduce or eliminate any indoor coal smoke in U.S. homes.


The Yangtze and Yellow Rivers and their tributaries drain mountainous areas of south-central China that are highly susceptible to landslide activity. This paper describes six major cases of landslide damming on these rivers and their tributaries in this century. Five blockages on the Yangtze tributaries overtopped and breached, causing downstream floods of varying magnitudes. The two largest floods, caused by failures of blockages on the Min and Yalong Rivers were 50 m or more deep immediately downstream of the failures and continued downstream for hundreds of kilometers. Much damage was done by both of these floods.


A simple light‐microscopic method for the examination of fine details on cell surfaces is described. When cell specimens on platinum‐coated glass or plastic surfaces are stained with 3,3′‐diaminobenzidine tetrahydrochloride and hydrogen peroxide, fine cytoplasmic processes that cannot be detected using conventional staining techniques for the light microscope are revealed. It is suggested the new technique be applied instead of the scanning electron microscope when the limited resolution of the light microscope is sufficient.


Abstract : The Hamilton Frame is a velocimeter used aboard the Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) drill ship GLOMAR CHALLENGER, and at the Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC), to measure the compressional wave velocity within sediment and rock samples. The design of this instrument has been modified at the Naval Ocean Research and Development Activity (NORDA) to permit both compressional and shear wave velocity measurements. The modified device also monitors the transducer induced stress on the sample material, a factor which is critical to some measurement. This report documents, with mechanical drawings and photographs, the mechanical details of the Modified Hamilton Frame in use at NORDA. (Author)


The design,fabrication and main performance of a novel bi-stable MEMS electromagnetic microrelay were introduced.Bi-directional pulse currents actuate the highly efficient "sandwich" driver mechanism and make the electronic brush move to control the on/off state of the outer circuit.Microrelay can keep stable states without other power contributed to the aided design,permanent magnetic structure,at the interval between the adjacent pulses.The measurement results indicate that the novel microrelay fabricated by MEMS technology has the following merits such as small volume,high response speed,low power consumption and resistance and so on.


"The Broadens Wise Text",an important textbook for children in ancient China,is made up of aphorism and poverbs,in which the moral value,the philosophy of cherishing time,emphasizing the importance of learning and philosophy of life is still of educational value for the young people in nowadays.The book is of great significance in the history of Chinese education.


This paper presents a high-precision bandgap reference with a piecewise-linear curvature-compensation (PCC) circuit that produces a low temperature coefficient (TC). The proposed PCC compensation circuit uses six transistors to generate a piecewise-linear temperature voltage to reduce reference voltage variation within a wide range of temperatures. The proposed bandgap reference was designed using standard TSMC $0.18-\mu \mathrm{m}$ 1P6M CMOS technology. Simulation results indicate that the proposed bandgap reference achieves a TC of 1.33 ppm/°C from −40°C to 140°C with a supply voltage of 1.8 V. The output voltage variation of the proposed circuit improved markedly from 1.13 to 0.24 mV over a temperature range of −40°C to 140°C.


The human experience of loss and grief will touch us all. Grief is a deeply personal experience that will be influenced by culture, spiritual belief, the nature of the loss, gender, and the relationship with the deceased, whether it be as an individual or within a family setting. Grief has been of particular focus in the literature, given the increasing incidence of terrorism and subsequent loss via violence and trauma. Research in this area has a long history and is still evolving, with recent focus on the pathology of ongoing grief and its inclusion within the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, fifth edition (DSM-5). The majority of individuals demonstrate resilience and do not require intervention. This is less so when suffering and distress are acute and ongoing, and there are significant health impacts or functional impairment. This chapter discusses the phenomenology of 'normal grief' and prolonged or complicated grief, risk and protective factors that may influence the course and outcome such as trauma and the nature of the loss, and possible physical and mental health consequences in the context of current assessment and models of management.


This paper introduces an application of PLC control system in high mineralized mine water treatment,and analyzes working principle,hardware structure and software design of the system.The practical application shows that the system is stable,reliable and safe,and carries out autocontrol of water treatment.


We present microlensing calculations for a Galactic model based on that of Han & Gould, which is empirically normalized by star counts. We find good agreement between this model and data recently published by the MACHO and OGLE collaborations for the optical depth in various Galactic fields, and the trends thereof with Galactic longitude l and latitude b. We produce maps of optical depth and, by adopting simple kinematic models, of average event time-scales for microlensing towards the Galactic bulge. We also find that our model predictions are in reasonable agreement with the OGLE data for the expected time-scale distribution. We show that the fractions of events with very long and short time-scales owing to a lens of mass M are weighted by M 2 n(M) dM and M -1 n(M)dM, respectively, independent of the density and kinematics of the lenses.


Networked microgrids (MGs) have a great potential to improve the efficiency, reliability, resilience, security, and sustainability of power supply services. Peer-to-peer (P2P) energy trading built on a smart information system in networked MGs is an emerging economic approach to facilitate energy sharing among networked MGs to achieve mutual cost-effective operation and improve the reliability and stability of energy supply service. Such a distributed and competitive energy trading market urges the need for an efficient energy trading strategy that incentivizes the self-interested MGs with various energy production and consumption profiles to participate in energy trading. In this paper, we propose a distributed real-time P2P energy trading strategy that integrates energy trading into energy management and enables the MGs with renewable energy sources (RESs) and energy storage systems (ESSs) to manage their storage scheduling, energy supply, and energy trading in a dynamic manner, jointly considering the randomness of renewable energy generation and load demand, operational constraints of ESSs and transmission losses associated with energy exchange. The proposed energy control and bidding algorithm allows each MG to dynamically and independently determine its energy control actions and price-quantity bids/offers, while the proposed trading pair matching algorithm matches the MGs on a many-to-many basis with respect to their individual payoffs, which couple price-quantity bids/offers of the MGs with distance-dependent energy transmission losses associated with energy exchange. Numerical simulation results demonstrate that the proposed distributed energy trading system yields significant improvements in terms of energy cost savings and renewable energy utilization efficiency, while reducing energy transmission losses within the system.


Nonlinear propagation experiments on n-type GaAs at room temperature reveal coherent polarizations with lifetimes of more than 1 ps upon excitation with intense ultrashort THz pulses.


Tokunaga M, Mori Y, Ogata Y, Tanaka Y, Uchino K, Maeda Y, Kamiyoshi M. Predicting FIM gain in stroke patients by adding median FIM gain stratified by FIM score at hospital admission to the explanatory variables in multiple regression analysis ─An analysis of the Japan Rehabilitation Database─. Jpn J Compr Rehabil Sci 2016; 7: 13-18. Objective: To clarify whether the accuracy of predicting motor Functional Independence Measure (FIM) gain in stroke patients can be improved by calculating median values of motor FIM gain (median mFIM gain) stratified by motor FIM score at hospital admission, then inserting these standard gain values in multiple regression analysis. Methods: The subjects were 2,542 stroke patients registered in the Japan Rehabilitation Database. Motor FIM score at admission was stratified into 39 groups at 2-point intervals and "median mFIM gain" was calculated for each group. With motor FIM gain as the objective variable, multiple regression analysis was performed with and without median mFIM gain in the explanatory variables. Then, correlations were examined between measured values and predicted values of motor FIM gain. Results: Adding median mFIM gain to the explanatory variables increased the correlation coefficient of measured values and predicted values of motor FIM gain from 0.507 to 0.638. Conclusion: Adding median mFIM gain to the explanatory variables can improve the accuracy of multiple regression analyses to predict motor FIM gain.


The background of the education system for Japanese speech therapists (logopedists) is reported. It took nearly 40 years for speech therapists and medical doctors to come to a consensus in order to define the status and educational system for the 1997 Law for Japanese Speech Therapists. Unfortunately, the IALP Education Guidelines of 1995 received little respect in the process of long negotiation. The present situation and the future goals for Japanese speech therapists are discussed.


In this study, the extraction of Musa paradisiacal L. inflorescences using supercritical CO2 and compressed propane as solvents was investigated. The extractions were performed in a laboratory scale unit. The factors used for such extractions were temperature and pressure of 40-80 °C and 15-25 MPa for the supercritical CO2 and 35-65 °C and 3-10 MPa for compressed propane, respectively. A 2 factorial experimental design with three replicates at central point was employed to evaluate the extraction yields obtained. The higher extraction yields were 3.60 wt% using supercritical CO2 at 40 °C and 25 MPa and 3.16 wt% with compressed propane at 65 °C and 10 MPa. The overall extraction curves were modeled using a model based on the BET theory of adsorption. The kinetic model allowed correlating the different conditions of extraction with both supercritical CO2 and compressed propane. The pressure had a positive effect and the temperature a negative effect on the yield of the extracts obtained with supercritical CO2 within the range studied. For extraction with propane only the temperature had significant effect on the yield of extracts of inflorescences of Musa paradisiacal L. and its effect was positive. The most volatile fraction from the scCO2 extracts was composed by the major compounds: Lupenone, Methyl 2-hydroxy-2-(3-nitrophenyl)-2-(4-nitrophenyl)-acetate, Pentacosane, 3,6,9Nonacosatriene, 10-Hentriacontene and 7,23-Dimethyltritriacontane, while for extracts obtained using compressed propane as solvent the major compounds were Lupenone and 7,23-Dimethyltritriacontane were the major constituents. Only extracts obtained from scCO2 presented larger antioxidant activity by the phosphomolybdenium reducing method (3576.86 mg α-tocopherol / g extract). The inflorescences extracts of Musa paradisiacal L., especially using scCO2 showed that the inflorescences are potentially useful in the development of bioproducts. Keyword: Supercritical extraction, inflorescences of Musa Paradisiaca L., chemical composition, antioxidant activity.


In a WFGD (Wet-method Flue Gas Desulfuration) device,the gradation experiment of a hydrocyclone shows that when the particle-mass concentration of limestone slurry is 15%,at the overflow port it will be 30%. The overflow particle diameter is concentrated at less than 30 μm. With an increase of the particle diameter,the particle recovery rate at the bottom outlet will also increase. When the particle diameter reaches 30μm,the particle recovery rate will already approach 100%. The numerical simulation results show that the Reynolds stress turbulent flow model,free surface multi-phase flow model and Stokes-Lagrange model can depict very well the limestone particle gradation movement and regularity featuring a complex three-dimensional motion in the hydrocyclone. A numerical simulation method with no need to give a flow division ratio for the initial boundary condition and to preset an air column was adopted and the simulation results showed the formation of air column and eddy flow of the fluid. The gradation efficiency of particles in different diameters thus obtained is in relatively good agreement with that tested under the condition of a high inlet mass concentration.


Establishing the system of martial law in state of emergency is not only necessary in perfecting democracy and constitutional govern but also an important element and a requisite in preparation of "anti-taiwan autocephaly" war.Based on the legislation and practice of martial law,the paper puts forward the ideas in establishing the system of martial law.


We study pion production from high energy nuclear collisions by means of a simple statistical model. The shapes of the observed spectra exclude that all pions result from freely decaying delta resonances. Rather, they have to participate in kinetic equilibration processes. Finite particle number effects are found to be very important: equilibration does not occur globally but rather in groups of only a few particles. The pion production rates cannot be explained in terms of a chemical equilibrium.


A short account of a mute artist who hid unbearable pain in old dry colors. To read this article online, open in html page. You may also download the PDF copy of this article. You are permitted to save this article for future reference.


In wireless sensor networks data propagation is usually performed by sensors transmitting data towards a static control center (sink). Inspired by important applications (mostly related to ambient intelligence) and as a first step towards introducing mobility, we propose the idea of having a sink moving in the network area and collecting data from sensors. We propose four characteristic mobility patterns for the sink along with different data collection strategies. Through a detailed simulation study, we evaluate several important performance properties of each protocol. Our findings demonstrate that by taking advantage of the sink's mobility, we can significantly reduce the energy spent in relaying traffic and thus greatly extend the lifetime of the network.


IN continuation of the tables given in .I.A. Vol. LXXIV, pp. 345—349, corrected* central death-rates in age groups for males and females separately in the year 1946 and rates for 1947 and the three years 1945—46—47 are shown in Table I, and the ratios of these death-rates to the corresponding rates for the years 1930-31-32 are shown in Table 2. Both the deaths and the populations from which the death-rates have been derived are limited to civilians, but the few civilian deaths due to war causes are included. The effect of the withdrawal of healthy lives to the Forces should be borne in mind in examining the rates for young adult ages. In order that the trend of mortality rates since 1930-32 may be conveniently studied, group death-rates and ratios to the 1930-32 standard are given in Tables 3 and 4 respectively and the ratios are shown in graphical form on p. 106. In these graphs and tables the age groups have been reduced to six, viz. under age I (infants), 1—4 (young children), 5—14 (children of school age), 15-44 (younger adults), 45-64 (older adults) and 65 and over (elderly). Further, so as to eliminate the effect of the considerable changes in the age distribution of the population that have taken place since 1930-32, the group death-rates and ratios have been standardized on the age distribution of England and Wales at the 1931 Census.


In their commentary, Ericsson and Kintsch address several important issues. While I am more convinced than they are about the substantial similarities shared by our two approaches, and hence their comparability, this short reply will mostly limit itself to matters of disagreement.


This work posits that in most cases conflicts help to build a stronger bond of unity because we agree to disagree. The chapter seeks to demonstrate that African peacebuilding poses great challenge to what looks like a complex, standardized, and globalized understanding of peacebuilding of the international community propelled mainly by achievement of justice. Using the Ibibio of South Nigeria as a case study, the researcher shows that religion, culture, and morality are inseparably bound together and pragmatic. The researcher here presents and discusses the socio-political system in Ibibio land in order to expose the structures therein that invariably ensures a return of peace after relationships have been disrupted by strife. From this investigation, one notices the expression of commitment to peacebuilding through forgiveness, reconciliation, sound teaching, dialogue, which go hand in hand with reconciliation sacrifice. This work recommends the development of a comprehensive healing programme for traumatized people towards sustainable peacebuilding.


The dyeing properties of wool fibre treated with low-temperature plasma (LTP) were investigated kinetically and thermodynamically. Three non-polymerising gases, namely oxygen, nitrogen and a 25% hydrogen/75% nitrogen gas mixture, were used for the LTP treatment. It was found that the dyeing rate, dye uptake, standard affinity, heat of dyeing, entropy of dyeing and activation energy of diffusion were improved after the treatment.


This paper based on experience of author lecture for many years,and combined the teaching law of higher education,have put forward some teaching methods according to the course of " mechanical engineering materials ",and have proved the validity of this method through practicing.


In this paper, a new class of second order (Φ,ρ)-univex and second order (Φ,ρ)-pseudo univex function are introduced with example. A pair Mond-Weir type second order mixed symmetric duality for multiobjective nondifferentiable programming is formulated and the duality results are established under the mild assumption of second order (∅,ρ) univexity and second order pseudo univexity. Special cases are discussed to show that this study extends some of the known results in related domain..


chemical substances is objectionable on grounds of health, and whether it is desirable in the interests of the public health that the practice should be prohibited or restricted, and in the latter case what restrictions should be imposed." The Committee was constituted as follows: Sir H. C. Monio, K.C.B., Chairman; Professor W. E. Dixon, O.B.E., M.D., F.R.S., Sir A. D. Hall, K.C.B., LL.D., F'.R.S., J. M. Hamill, O.B.E., M.D., D.Sc., P. A. Ellis Richards, F.I.C., Professor Sir F. G. Hopkins, M.B., F.R.C.P., F.R.S., G. R. Leighton, O.B.E., M.D., A. P. Luff, C.B.E., M.D., F.R.C.P., Charles Porter, M.D., B.Sc., G. Stubbs, C.B.E., F.I.C. TThe Committee made an interim report, on the use of formaldehyde as a preservative for food, in August, 1924 (BRITISH MEDICAL JOURNAL, August 16th, 1924, p. 289), and the final report of tlle Committee on its original reference vas published at the end of October, and noticed in the JOURNAL of November 1st, 1924 (p. 828). Its report


We present The Golden Guardian, a Virtual Reality (VR) game using multiple senses for spatial cue for creating an immersive game experience. We implemented visual feedback, audio feedback, and haptic feedback that delivering different cues in different situations in the virtual world.


Artisanal solid mineral mining in Sauna Community of Kano State has resulted to environmental consequence.This is due to heavy metal pollution. A study of the environmental effect of Granite mining in Sauna Community of Kano state was carried out. Heavy metals such as Fe, Pb, Cu, Cr, Ni, Zn and Cd were determined using Atomic absorption spectrometry. The water quality of the surface water and mine pit water was evaluated using WQI. The surface water was polluted by cadmium, lead, nickel and chromium as the mean concentration of these four heavy metals occurred at higher concentration than the prescribed levels of WHO and SON. Consequently, the water quality ranking is very poor at WQI value of 213. The mine pit water is also of poor quality having been polluted by cadmium, lead and nickel yielding WQI of 178. Water quality index was employed in the assessment of the water quality of the impacted water bodies so as to ascertain how the quality of such water bodies has been affected by the mining activities. This study assessed pollution of the soils and sediments by heavy metals arising from mining activities using contamination factor, degree of contamination, geochemical accumulation index, pollution load index and potential ecological risk index. The contamination factor (CF) for all the heavy metals in the sediments of the surface water were below the background levels hence indicating there was no contamination of these heavy metals in the sediments. Given the degree of contamination of 0.9 for the sediment which is less than 8.0, the degree of contamination of the sediment is classified as insignificant. The pollution load index (PLI) is less than unity indicating no pollution. The geo-accumulation index (Igeo) is less than zero for each of the heavy metals indicating non-pollution. The potential ecological risk index of the heavy metals in the sediment is evaluated as 2.4 which is far less than 40 indicating low/insignificant ecological risks.


I unashamedly tried to borrow some of Marshall Gregory's teacherly ethos in August 2000 when I spoke to the new teaching assistants (TAs) in my department just before the semester began. I had been inspired by Gregory's (2001) insightful, passionate description of good teaching, and I wanted, in turn, to inspire these new teachers. I read them portions of Gregory's manuscript (thanks, Marshall — I hadn't even asked your permission), particularly the parts on how curriculum isn't the important thing; teaching is. Here's part of what I read:


This paper examines the ability of current balance sheet to explain future earnings. The relationship is studied among manufacturing companies that are listed in Indonesia Stock Exchange between periods of 2008 to 2012. The method used is by analyzing numbers of balance sheet using most common accepted analysis: financial ratio. The ratio chosen are from balance sheet only; that has meaningful attempts to explain future earnings. The important objective of this paper is to enrich the knowledge and tool for investors and analysts to get the best earnings prediction. This study applies eight balance sheet ratios which are divided into two main sections: liquidity and solvency. Using panel data of model, the variables are operating income with proxy of total assets will be influenced by current ratio, quick ratio, cash ratio, working capital to total assets ratio, current liabilities to inventory ratio, debt to equity ratio, total equity to total assets ratio, and total liabilities to total assets ratio. The result shows that balance sheet has significant power to explain future earnings with F-Stat and F-Probability is significant. The variables that are found to significantly influence future earnings are cash ratio with positive effect, working capital to total assets ratio with positive effect, current liability to inventory ratio with negative effect, debt to equity ratio with positive effect, and total equity ratio with negative effect.


In this paper a go-kart has been designed, simulated, fabricated and tested for probable feasibility for undergraduate students to explore different aspect of vehicle and develop their own go-kart. This go-kart will be used to compete with other student karts from various college at national level. The design requirements are as per guidelines by rulebooks provided various association conducting the challenges for participation. A simple mathematical model of the path travelled by go-kart for given steer angle has been simulated. The paper extensively describes about the design, simulation and the fabrication of the go-kart. A novel innovative approach to include sensors and algorithm to system has been implemented for better navigation and driver alertness.


Memory safety invariants extracted from a program can help defend and detect against both software and hardware memory violations. For instance, by allowing only specific instructions to access certain memory locations, system can detect out-of-bound or illegal pointer dereferences that lead to correctness and security issues. In this paper, we propose CPU abstractions, called WHISTLE, to specify and check program invariants to provide defense mechanism against both software and hardware memory violations at runtime. WHISTLE ensures that the invariants must be satisfied at every memory access. We present a fast invariant address translation and retrieval scheme using a specialized cache. It stores and checks invariants related to global, stack and heap objects. The invariant checks can be performed synchronously or asynchronously. WHISTLE uses synchronous checking for high security-critical programs, while others are protected by asynchronous checking. A fast exception is proposed to alert any violations as soon as possible in order to close the gap for transient attacks. Our evaluation shows that WHISTLE can detect both software and hardware, spatial and temporal memory violations. WHISTLE incurs 53% overhead when checking synchronously, or 15% overhead when checking asynchronously.


The research team at ERAU and UTHSCSA analyzed the effects of suborbital flight stressors and various light conditions (red, white, no light) on the Arthrospira platensis (Spirulina), onboard Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle. Commercially available cyanobacterium species were cultivated and closely monitored in mother colonies several months before the suborbital flight mission. The aim of this study was to estimate the biomass production and growth as a potential dietary alternative for prospective human spaceflight's life support system. Spirulina samples were flown in a NanoLab with adjacent avionics supporting the light conditions and sensors to monitor the temperature, relative humidity, and accelerations. The various flight parameters measured in the NanoLab were validated with the flight data gathered by Nanoracks, the flight integrator. Thus, we also assessed the effect of microgravity and different light conditions on the gene expression. Our data indicates that the Spirulina samples onboard the rocket had significant (p < 0.01-0.0001) downregulation of majority of the gene expression.


In the era of precision medicine, immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) have dramatically changed the therapeutic approach towards advanced cancers. Despite an undeniably therapeutic benefit, ICIs have unique and uncharted toxicities known as immune-related adverse events (irAEs).

We report a rare overlap syndrome of inflammatory and necrotizing myopathy with a superimposed myasthenia-like syndrome in a melanoma patient who had received the first dose of pembrolizumab 22 days before symptoms onset. Patient initially presented with muscle weakness and ptosis, and rapidly progressed to tetraparesis, extrinsic ophthalmoplegia, dysarthria, dysphagia, and respiratory difficulty with short-term need of non-invasive ventilation and nasogastric intubation. A transitory myocarditis was also diagnosed. One month after hospital discharge, patient still exhibits mild dysarthria, dysphagia, ptosis and needs walking-assistance.

Although rare, neuromuscular irAEs impose a notable burden in morbidity and even mortality. Early recognition of symptoms and a prompt intervention are crucial for the management of the immunotherapy-related toxicity.


INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVE:The Boari flap remains an excellent surgical technique in the management of ureteral strictures that are not amenable to ureteroneocystostomy or ureteroureterostomy. With...


Objective: To investigate whether polymorphisms in the interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-1 receptor antagonist (IL-1RA) genes are associated with both susceptibility to and clinical characteristics of MS. Background: Genetic susceptibility to MS is determined by many partially identified genes. The genes encoding various cytokines are logical candidates for MS susceptibility and phenotype. Methods: Genotypes were determined from 148 patients with clinically definite MS and 98 healthy controls. All the patients were unrelated, Dutch, and white. Patient files were reviewed for disease type, initial symptoms, age at onset of disease, and rate of disease progression. Results: No significant differences in genotypes, allele frequencies, or carrier frequencies were found between MS patients and healthy controls. Stratification for disease type (relapsing-remitting, primary progressive, or secondary progressive) did not provide significant differences between patients and controls. However, a specific IL-1RA/IL-1β combination was associated with disease severity. MS patients with the IL-1RA allele 2+/IL-1β allele 2− combination had a higher rate of progression on the Expanded Disability Status Scale when compared with the other possible combinations (p = 0.007). Conclusions: IL-1RA and IL-1β are disease severity genes rather than disease susceptibility genes. Furthermore, these gene polymorphisms may define subgroups of patients with a worse prognosis.


The Editorial by Finberg1in the December 1992 issue ofAJDCcontains inaccuracies. Finberg's representation that "a proportion of the population, perhaps 10% in the United States, does develop lactose intolerance because of diminishing intestinal lactase with aging" seriously underestimates the extent of the problem (Table 12-17). Scrimshaw and Murray,18reporting on the prevalence of lactose intolerance from 97 scientific reports over a 20-year period, concluded that "in minority groups in North America and Europe lactose maldigesters are in the majority." They also reported that the percentage of adult African and black maldigesters in the United States ranges from 65% to 100%. Paige17reported that the age-specific prevalence of lactose intolerance increases with age in black children in the United States irrespective of socioeconomic status. At 6 and 12 years of age, 33% and 74%, respectively, were identified as lactose malabsorbers. Although the data may be


Much of dentistry performed today has an esthetic focus, and subsequently more teeth are being restored with porcelain in the attempt to provide the most natural esthetics possible. Unfortunately, along with an increase in the use of dental porcelains comes an increase in risk for fractures, which at times can require an urgent and expedient solution. This Critical Appraisal reviews four studies to determine which method(s) of repair might yield the most predictable results.


There is wide acceptance and use of digital subtraction angiography (DSA) for the evaluation of extracranial carotid vascular disease. Investigation of high-grade stenotic lesions of the carotid bifurcation by arch aortography and noninvasive techniques can be misinterpreted as complete occlusion. Recent communications have implied that intravenous DSA is sufficient to distinguish internal carotid artery occlusion from high-grade stenosis [1 , 2]. We report two patients with DSA diagnosis of "complete" internal carotid artery occlusion in which angiography showed the distal segment of the artery to be patent. This differential diagnosis carries therapeutic consequences. Therefore, we would like to emphasize that angiographic verification of DSA-determined occlusion is probably justified at this time.


Binding of NF-κB p50 homodimers to an interferon response element restricts interferon signaling and antiviral responses to only the appropriate stimuli. NF-κB Interferes Signaling pathways triggered by pattern recognition receptors elicit gene expression programs that culminate in antiviral or proinflammatory responses. Critical to these are members of the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and interferon regulatory factor (IRF) families of transcription factors, which bind to κB sites and interferon response elements (IREs), respectively, in their target genes. In addition to transcriptional activators, the NF-κB family of proteins contains p50, which forms homodimers that act as competitive repressors at κB sites. Noting the importance of transcriptional repressors in preventing inappropriate gene expression, Cheng et al. investigated roles for p50 in immune responses. They showed that p50 homodimers bound to and regulated a subset of IREs that were guanine-rich (G-IREs). Homodimers of p50 set the threshold for the activation of genes by competing with IRFs for binding to G-IREs, effectively acting as promoter "gates" to restrict gene expression to specific stimuli. Together, these data provide evidence of cross-regulation between the main sets of transcription factors that coordinate innate immune responses. The specific binding of transcription factors to cognate sequence elements is thought to be critical for the generation of specific gene expression programs. Members of the nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) and interferon (IFN) regulatory factor (IRF) transcription factor families bind to the κB site and the IFN response element (IRE), respectively, of target genes, and they are activated in macrophages after exposure to pathogens. However, how these factors produce pathogen-specific inflammatory and immune responses remains poorly understood. Combining top-down and bottom-up systems biology approaches, we have identified the NF-κB p50 homodimer as a regulator of IRF responses. Unbiased genome-wide expression and biochemical and structural analyses revealed that the p50 homodimer repressed a subset of IFN-inducible genes through a previously uncharacterized subclass of guanine-rich IRE (G-IRE) sequences. Mathematical modeling predicted that the p50 homodimer might enforce the stimulus specificity of composite promoters. Indeed, the production of the antiviral regulator IFN-β was rendered stimulus-specific by the binding of the p50 homodimer to the G-IRE–containing IFNβ enhancer to suppress cytotoxic IFN signaling. Specifically, a deficiency in p50 resulted in the inappropriate production of IFN-β in response to bacterial DNA sensed by Toll-like receptor 9. This role for the NF-κB p50 homodimer in enforcing the specificity of the cellular response to pathogens by binding to a subset of IRE sequences alters our understanding of how the NF-κB and IRF signaling systems cooperate to regulate antimicrobial immunity.


In this paper the effect of saturation on torque production of a reluctance synchronous motor (RSM), which was originally built as an induction motor (IM), is investigated. The rotor was replaced with new one, designed as synchronous reluctance cageless rotor with barriers, the shape and number of which were optimized to maximize the reluctance ratio. The torque measurement was done while the RSM was fed by frequency converter controlled by a microcontroller with closed loop field oriented control strategy to find out how saturation effects the developed torque at various values of the currents and speeds. It is shown how the load angle at which the maximum torque was achieved is changed. It was found out that the load angle was shifted to higher values depending on the speed of operation.


A study was undertaken to extract essential oils from flowers and leaves of the Lavender plant (Lavanda officinalis) using water distillation method. The extracted oils were further mixed with different proportions of methanol, ethanol and formaldehyde to make perfumes. Although there was no significant difference in the amount of essential oils extracted from flowers and leaves of the lavender plant (P=0.08), flowers gave higher yields of essential oils than leaves. In addition, there was no significant difference in the percentage composition of the different compounds in the essential oils extracts from flowers and leaves (P=0.46). Moreover, a mixture of methanol and formaldehyde gave the highest quality of perfumes in the final products compared to when methanol, ethanol or a mixture of ethanol and formaldehyde is used. Lavender plant is a potential source of essential oils for making perfumes. There is a need for testing the essential oils of lavender plant from Egerton University for other uses such as their antimicrobial properties.


The mad man tied to the chestnut tree in One Hundred Years of Solitude can be seen as a metaphor of the ties that institutionalization can engender. What can be done to make a therapeutic residence perform the role of a transitory space for patients, since there they are not tied down as they would be in a psychiatric institution? Based on Winnicott's concepts we tried to answer this question by making a connection between the facilitating environment and the therapeutic residence environment.


Time frequency transformations have gained increasing attention for the characterization of non-stationary signals in a broad spectrum of science and engineering applications. Signals encountered in rotary machine systems can be broadly classified as being either stationary or nonstationary. This study evaluates the performance of the traditional method-polynomial fit filtering with Fourier spectrum analysis and the new developed method-empirical mode decomposition with Hilbert transform (EMD+HT), in mechanical signal decomposition. The former method is based on the sense of least squares, thus insensitive to noise. However, it demands a predetermined time scale, which is unchangeable once fixed, while EMD is adaptive with multi-resolution and univocal. One shortcoming of the latter approach-sensitive to noise, is alleviated by the wavelet threshold de-noising method. A synthetic signal as well as a path error signal of precision working table is analyzed using the two methods. Evaluation is made upon the mode mixing phenomenon and illusive components problem included in EMD with proposed indicators, which confirms the validity of this method used in mechanical signal decomposition.


In two patients with chronic pulmonary fibrosis their history and findings of autopsy suggested, that X-ray therapy in a 31-year old male and Cytostatica-drug therapy in a 52 years old female have had an influence to development of a scar cancer. These cases are discussed with informations of the literature.


This research is based on the principle tha.t cells exposed to a. toxic agent will augment or repress the expression of specific genes, in order for the cell physiology to a.da.pt to the stress. To identify and quantitate the activity of these genes, the investigators have prepared a. "library" of lucifera.se gene fusions in the ba.cterium Escherichis. coli, and have identified a number of clones whose luminescence changes upon cellular exposure to a. variety of compounds. These clones are being validated for use as luminescent "biosensors" to detect toxic agents. DuBow and colleagues will now focus on bacterial clones which are induced by the antioxidants selenium and DMSO, the pesticides broma.cll, chlordane and dinoseb, and the pla.stic stabiliser tributyl tin. These and related studies will be used to develop molecula.r probes (and ultimately antibodies) for cellular-based assays for toxicity and safety evaluation.


e17021 Background: Papillary thyroid carcinoma(PTC) is the most common type of thyroid cancer. Up to 35% of patients with PTC develop locoregional recurrences and a third patients with local recurrences will eventually die of cancer. However, there is still controversy for PTC patients whether conventional undergo total thyroidectomy(TT)/ or neer total thyroidectomy(NTT). Through analyzing PTC patients with postoperative follow-up, look for the risk factors of recurrence of the disease, and then to propose a more reasonable operation method in the initial treatment. Methods: 694 PTC patients (143 males and 551 females) who underwent initial surgery to be enrolled between 2001-2010. The postoperative follow-up ranged from 24 to 124 months, and was 43.9±19.5 months on average. Results: 18 patients had temporary recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, 8 patient had permanent recurrent laryngeal nerve palsy, 202 patients experienced temporary hypoparathyroidism and 18 patients experienced permanent hypoparathyroidis...


A 64–year–old woman presented at the Emergency Department with worsening dyspnoea and fever. Blood tests revealed normal white blood count, elevated C–reactive protein (244 mg/L) and D–dimer (2618 ng/mL). At arterial blood gases test hypoxaemia and hypocapnia was found (pH 7.48, pO2 83 mmHg, pCO2 30 mmHg, base excess –1.2 mmol/L, lactates 1.0 mmol/L). She underwent thoracic computed tomography (CT), which showed right inferior pulmonary embolism with infarction. A transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) revealed the presence of a mobile heterogeneous iso–hyperechoic neoformation completely occupying the right atrial cavity and moving partially across the tricuspid valve (Figure 1). A right atrial thrombotic formation was hypothesized and, due to its dimension, despite a valid hemodynamic, the patient underwent thrombolysis with rtPA 100 mg iv infusion over 2 hours. However, the next day at CT and TTE the mass was still there and unmodified. The screening for thrombophilia and for cancer markers were negative. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was waived because the clinical conditions were rapidly deteriorating. Indeed, the patient was transferred for urgent cardiac surgery. The excised mass was 5 cm x 3.5 cm large and adherent to the right atrial roof, 1 cm close to the atrioventricular node. It was completely removed by the cardiac surgeon (Figure 2). The subsequent journey was regular, without complications. The histologic exam revealed that the mass was a giant myxoma (Figure 3). At follow–up the patient persisted asymptomatic. Figure 1. Transthoracic echocardiography. Figure 2. The excised right atrial mass. Figure 3. Histologic examination of the right atrial mass.


Myeloperoxidase (MPO) is an important enzyme that found in neutrophils and involved in reactive oxygen species (ROS) production. The aim of the current study was to clarify the potential role of MPO in oxidative stress and liver fibrosis associated with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. This study was conducted on 90 subjects, 10 normal con- trols and 80 patients having HCV infection classified into chronic hepatitis C without cirrhosis (CHC) (50 cases) and CHC with cirrhosis (LC) (30 cases). Myeloperoxidase was assessed in plasma by ELISA technique and in liver tissue by immunohistochemistry. Malondialdehye (MDA), as a marker of lipid peroxidation and oxidative stress was also measured in plasma by spectrophotometric assay. Results revealed significant increase of both plasma and hepatic tissue MPO in cirrhotic patients compared to either controls or CHC patients (p<0.05). Plasma and tissue MPO showed significant direct correlation with liver aminotransferases (ALT and AST), MDA and stage of hepatic fibrosis. Regression analysis revealed that both plasma and tissue MPO are independent determinant for MDA and stage of hepatic fibrosis. The results incrimi- nate MPO in oxidative stress that causes tissue damage in chronic HCV patients and the subsequent development of he- patic cirrhosis.


This year: A CLIA-waived test for blood lead levels, a high-tech hearing screener, nonsurgical help for OME, a quieter electronic stethoscope, great software, and more. Plus, a 25th-birthday salute to the personal computer.


The Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) welcomes this opportunity to testify about federal deposit insurance reform. Over the past several years, those of us who have worked closely with the deposit insurance system have come to realize that the current system is not optimal, and that several areas are in need of reform if the system is to continue to serve the American people well. The current economic period, with few failures and adequate reserves, provides a perfect opportunity to improve the system.


Vocational education is a kind of higher education to train practical specialized talents as its main objective.However,the relationship of the traditional way of teaching with the purpose of vocational education is not close enough,and the teaching methods and contents are divorcesd of real life applications.To change this situation,the paper takes the application of the case teaching method of ″Economical Mathematics″ as the example,explores the basic link of the case implementing of the course,and reflects the relationship which should be coordinated in the ″Economical Mathematics″ teaching.


Performance measurement is regarded as an informative methodology of measurement: indicating how to measure and what to measure. Through a multiple case study, the paper examines a number of research questions about the growth of social performance measurement in the housing association sector namely; why has social performance become the most important factor in the performance measurement procedure and what forms is it taking in the sector?; why is this happening and are there different types of response to different drivers?; How is it being developed by individual housing associations and what are the practical issues involved in this? Through empirical case studies it shows that there are generally positive views of the value of measurement. Concerns are raised about impacts of performance management that have affected some aspects of the social performance of housing associations.


Our paper describes the dependency of luminance component and the skin color detection accuracy in face detection. We use YCbCr color model for skin color modeling. Based on the skin color model face detection is performed. Luminance component is proposed to be irrelevant in face detection, but there is the dependency between luminance component value of skin color and face detection results. We show how the dependency influents face detection and we also give a solution how to gain face detection efficiency for the faces with skin color types with the lower luminance component values.


We experimentally study pork barrel politics in two-candidate majoritarian elections. Candidates form distinct supporter groups by favoring some voters in budget spending at the expense of others. We compare voluntary and compulsory costly voting and find that, on average, the former mode induces more narrowly targeted favors and therefore more inequality among otherwise identical voters. When the same candidates act over many elections, such as with parties, they tend to cultivate policy polarization by frequently favoring their exclusive supporters again and avoiding those of the opponent, and with compulsory voting we find additional frequent policy overlap for a separate subset of voters. Our findings are important for understanding how an inclination towards a sustained "divided society" can arise purely from the political process, absent of any coordination devices such as ideological preferences.


This paper represents a case study which investigated the safety ergonomics
problems faced in the welding workshop of Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka. The
safety welding is investigated to increase the safety awareness of users in the welding
workshop. The ergonomic safety concept will be focused in the interaction between
users and the welding activities. Welders who perform the welding tasks under heat
stress always experience with various types of injuries such as MSD, CTD, low back
pain, skin burns, eyes pain and others. This indirectly influenced concentration in their
welding task because of the injuries suffers. The risk of the hazards and injuries are still
increasing although there are a lot of safety rules created in the welding shop. Most of
the safety devices have been provided in the workshop but the concept about ergonomic
safety do not enhance well. This will affect performance of the welders in their works.
Besides, the project will also brief through a lot on postural analysis. The approach
method used in this thesis is observation method. The welding safety awareness
checklist is used to expose the safety precaution and help to provide suggestions or ideas
in the work improvement while the RULA software is used to assess the welding
postures in the welding workshop. From the results, there are a lot of safety issues that
should be concerned about such as the hazards precaution, personal protective
equipments, workstation etc. The welding postures should be improved since most of the
postures posed are out of the safe range. A lot of revised were done to improve the
working posture. Hence, the ergonomics concept should be introduced so that users can
practice healthier life and avoid from injuries when conducting their works in welding
workshop. A lot of suggestions to improve the safety and welding postures problems are
proposed and presented in this paper.


Objective: Multimodality therapy has been applied for resectable malignant pleural mesothelioma, however, tolerability of the treatment and relapse pattern in detail remain unknown. We reviewed our experience of trimodality therapy as a single institute study in Japan. Methods: Sixteen patients with resectable malignant pleural mesothelioma were intended to treat with an extrapleural pneumonectomy followed by platinum-based chemotherapy and external beam radiation therapy. Histology was epithelioid in 10, sarcomatoid in 4, and biphasic in 2. International mesothelioma interest group staging was stage II in 1, stage III in 11, and stage IV in 4. Tolerability of the combined treatment, survival, and relapse pattern were examined. Results: All patients underwent a macroscopic complete resection. Fourteen patients received chemotherapy and subsequently thirteen patients received radiotherapy, indicating tolerability was 81%. Overall median survival was 28.1 months, and 2-year and 5-year survival rates were 53.3% and 26.7%, respectively. In patients with stage III or lower median survival was 37.9 months. Recurrence was seen in 8 patients; first relapse site was local in 7 and distant in 2. The local recurrences occurred within 24 months, mostly around 12 months, after the extrapleural pneumonectomy, while the distant metastases occurred later. Conclusion: Trimodality therapy showed survival benefit in stage III or lower malignant pleural mesothelioma. The majority of recurrence was local, therefore, better local control would be required to improve prognosis of the disease.


Background: The proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation (PNF) stretching could improve the contractile capacity of respiratory muscles, but the effect on pulmonary function, when it is combined with aerobic training, remains unknown. Objective: To evaluate the effect of PNF combined with aerobic training on respiratory symptoms, pulmonary function and neck/shoulder mobility in patients with COPD. Design: Randomized controlled trial. Analog forced capacity (FVC), expiratory (FEV ), capacity (IC), reserve volume (IRV), 6-minute walk test (6MWT), the range of motion (ROM) of head protraction, shoulder flexion, and the non-dominant pectoralis minor muscle (PmM) length were measured. Results: All the indicators of both groups were significantly improved after 6 weeks of intervention except for FVC, FEV 1 and PmM length. Compared to the control group, the PNF group showed significant improvement in the CAT score, dyspnea VAS score, IC, IRV, 6MWT, as well as head protraction ROM and shoulder flexion ROM. Furthermore, IC was positively correlated with the head protraction ROM and PmM length ( r =0.415, 0.579, P =0.028, 0.001); IRV was positively correlated with the shoulder flexion ROM ( r =0.405, P =0.032) in the PNF group. Conclusion: PNF stretching combined with aerobic training reduces dyspnea and improves some pulmonary function measures, which is associated with neck/shoulder mobility, in COPD patients. therapeutics and pharmacology focusing on concise rapid reporting of clinical studies and reviews in COPD. Special focus is given to the pathophysiological processes underlying the disease, intervention programs, patient focused education, and self management protocols. indexed on PubMed Central, MedLine and CAS. The manuscript management system is completely online and includes a very quick and fair peer-review system, which is all easy to use. to read real quotes from published authors.


Spatiotemporal information plays a critical role in the autonomous driving environment. In the task of lane detection, the features extracted by the existing spatiotemporal work from a video or consecutive frames contain a lot of irrelevant information, which reduces the performance of the model to a certain extent. To address the trouble, we proposed a novel lane detection model with the TARConvGRU module. This module can help our model focus on the feature representation and feature location of lane lines by channel and spatial operations and consciously guides some computing resources tend to the most likely lane line features by capturing the cross-dimension information interaction. Furthermore, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed model on three popular lane detection benchmarks: TuSimple, Unsupervised Labeled Lane Markers (Unsupervised LLAMAS), and Dynamic Vision Sensor Dataset (DET). The experiments show that our model achieves competitive results compared with other state-of-the-art models. In addition, we discuss some significant problems encountered in the designing process in detail in the ablation study.


In the last couple of decades women film makers from Latin America have made films that not only challenge the hierarchical order but also attempt to denounce such terrible things as sexual violence perpetrated against adolescent girls by their own fathers. The two film directors studied in this article construct a feminine perspective from which to denounce the incest suffered by adolescents in an oppressively male-dominated society. In this work I analyse the films, Angel de fuego (1992) of Mexican film director, Dana Rotberg and Madeinusa (2006) of Peruvian film director, Claudia Llosa. I have selected these films because of their subject matter and the great impact they both had in their country of origin and internationally but also because of their great artistic merit.


that problem transcends national and historical borders. Whether one agrees with Derrida's analysis of the problem or not, it is important to realize that it is a universal problem, not something that the Japanese face uniquely because of their historical intellectual dependence on China. Given Pollack's admirable curiosity about contemporary critical theory and his considerable talents with practical criticism and translation, we can expect that his next effort to deal with the problem of language in Japanese letters will be as exacting and persuasive as it is provocative.


Deformed quasiparticle random phase approximation with realistic nucleon-nucleon interactions is employed to investigate beta-decay half-lives and beta-delayed neutron emission probabilities of neutron-rich Kr and Sr isotopes. The residual particle-particle and particle-hole interactions are obtained in terms of the Bruckner G-matrix with the charge-dependent Bonn nucleon-nucleon force. Both allowed Gamow-Teller and first-forbidden transitions are taken into account. The available experimental half-lives are well reproduced with a factor of about three. Predictions on beta-decay properties are made for more neutron-rich isotopes, which could be useful for future experiments.


A novel cantharidin carboxylic derivative( 3) was synthesized by structural modification of norcantharidin( 2) using 5-fluorouracil( 5-Fu) as the modifier in DMSO. The structure was characterized by1H NMR and IR. The effect of material ratio,reaction temperature,reaction time and solvent amount on reaction were investigated by L9( 34) orthogonal experiment. The yield of 3 was 78. 2%under the optimum reaction conditions[2 was 0. 5 mmol,n( 2) ∶ n( 5-Fu) was 1. 2,DMSO was 15mL,at 140 ℃ for 6 h]. Antitumor activity of 3 was tested by MTT method. The results indicated that3 exhibited good inhibition to HepG2 human cancer cells. Inhibition rate of 3 was 89. 5% at 250μmol·L-1,and IC50was 232. 4 μmol·L-1.


In alpine tundra the interannual and seasonal variability of C and N forms in soil and lake water during the short snow-free season could be significant and related to climatic and pedoclimatic variables. The hypothesis that not only the climatic and pedoclimatic parameters recorded during the summer season but also the ones measured during the previous snow-covered season could contribute to explaining the C and N dynamics in soil and surface water was tested along 10 snow-free seasons in 3 sites in the alpine tundra in the north-western Italian Alps (LTER site Istituto Mosso). Among the considered parameters, the snow cover duration (SCD) exerted a primary control on soil N-NH4+, DOC, Cmicr, Nmicr and DOC:DON ratio, with an inverse relationship. A long SCD might cause the consumption of all the subnival substrata by the soil microorganisms, determining a C starvation during the subsequent snow-free season. An opposite trend was observed for the lake water, where a longer SCD corresponded to a higher content of inorganic N forms. Among the pedoclimatic indices, the number of soil freeze/thaw cycles (FTC) recorded during the snow-covered season had a positive relation with most of soil C and N forms and N-NO3− in lake water. Only the soil DON showed an inverse pattern, and this result is consistent with the hypothesis that FTC released soil DON, subsequently decomposed and mineralized. Only N-NO3− had a significant intraseasonal variability, reaching the highest values in September both in soil and water, revealing a significant slowdown of the contribution of soil N immobilization processes.


The paper introduced revise process, thinking, and bases for the YS/T492-2005 standard, and also introduced major technique target origin and formulation situation of the standard with emphasis. It has a guiding function in implementation of the standard.


Through the application of digital imaging and image recognition technology,a quantitative analysis method of the metallographic structure for silver metal-oxide electrical contact materials was presented.The validity of the method was verified by the discussion of the impact of the external factors on analysis results.The quantitative macroscopic evaluation of the metallographic structure for silver metal-oxide electrical contact materials was realized.


The case report of a 60 year-old woman from Mozambique, with a history of infection due to the human immunodeficiency virus and back low pain who was admitted to the Medicine Service from Beira Central Hospital for presenting with pain in the dorsal spine, advanced bony deformity, fever, asthenia, anorexia, weight loss, general discomfort and decrease of the muscles strength in lower limbs for 2 months is described. Image tests confirmed the diagnosis of vertebral tuberculosis. Antituberculous treatment was indicated and she was referred to the Neurosurgery Service for surgical correction of the mentioned deformity.


This paper studies the design of software and hardware of controller for Switched Reluctance Motor based on TMS320F240.Experiments implement on a 4 phases.8/6,3kw model motor.Experiment and simulation results of phase current controlled under current chopping and angle position.


In the objective of a possible performance improvement of the Arabic information retrieval systems, we propose to introduce the latent semantic analysis method to cure the problems arising from the vector- space model. The present contribution describes how linguistic processing and weighting schemes could improve the LSA method, and the comparison between the vector-space model and LSA approach, which aim to reduce the index term number of an Arabic corpus specialized in the environment field. The results of our experiments show clearly a positive influence of the linguistic processing and weighting schemes, and LSA improvement compared to the vector-space model.


MOBILE ad hoc networks (MANETs) are collections of mobile nodes, dynamically forming a temporary network without pre-existing network infrastructure or centralized administration. The dynamic nature of mobile ad-hoc networks make traditional routing protocols unsuitable for MANETs. Their Security requirements and also unlike the traditional networks and are more complicated and stringent. Various routing protocols designed for ad-hoc networks fulfilling a unique set of requirements are ADODV, DSDV, TORA, TBRPF and DSR. The Dynamic Source Routing is a simple and robust protocol designed for use in multi-hop Some nodes though, in order to save resources, may exhibit a selfish behaviour and not co-operate, thus damaging the efficiency of entire network. This paper proposes a set of minor extensions to the DSR protocol proposed by the IETF MANET working group, by implementing the reputation based scheme on it, that enable to increase the performance of the network. The proposed mechanism allows a node to autonomously evaluate the "reputation" of its neighbours based on the completion of the requested services. Simulations will show the increase in throughput and packet delivery ratio, decrease in data drop and routing overhead on the basis of some network metrics used.


Objective To explore the correlation between HP infection and gastric emptying in old patients with anorexia.Method 69 inappetence patients were detected,dot immunogold filtration assay(DIGFA) was used for testing Hp infection and the gastric emptying was detected by 13C-octanoic acid breath test.Results In 69 cases,HP positive cases were 31 and negative cases were 38,Hp positive rate was 44.9%.The half time of gastric emptying in both positive Hp group and negative group were(244.5±35.6)min and(232.4±36.7)min,respectively,and there were no significant difference.Conclusions HP infection was not main cause of old people anorexia,and there was no correlation between HP infection and gastric emptying.


Philosophy teaching must give up traditional teaching pattern,transform ideological concept and make innovation.When teaching,we should deliver wide range of philosophy knowledge not only in class but also outside class. Moreover,we should have the concept that teachers are equal to students.Hence,we can change knowledge- centered teaching into method- centered teaching,conclusion- centered teaching into process- centered teaching and received teaching into looking- for teaching.


AIM To study the pharmacokinetics of lansoprazole injection with a single and multiple-dose intravenous injection administration using a constant speed in Chinese healthy volunteers.METHODS Twenty- four healthy volunteers were randomly divided into three groups,with 4 males and 4 females in each group.The volunteers in three groups were administrated with single dose of lansoprazole 15,30,60 mg,respectively, and those who got dose of 30 mg were administrated once a day till seventh day.Blood samples were collected according to the protocol and serum concentrations of lansoprazole,and in term were measured by validated high pressure liquid chromatography(HPLC).DAS2.0 pharmacokinetic program was performed for calculating pharmacokinetic parameters.RESULTS The main pharmacokinetic parameters of lansoprazole in volunteers who were administrated with a single dose of 15,30,60 mg were as follows:t_(max)(0.669±s0.014),(0.667±0.012),(0.68±0.013) h;c_(max)(1.01±0.05),(1.69±0.06),(3.01±0.08) mg·L~(-1);AUC_(0-t)(3.8±0.3), (6.5±0.3),(10.26±0.24) mg·h·L~(-1);t_(1/2)(1.8±0.6),(3.4±0.8),(2.5±0.5)h;respectively.The main pharmacokinetic parameters of lansoprazole after multiple-dose(30 mg)administration were as follows:t_(max) (0.68±0.011) h;c_(max)(1.74±0.05) mg·L~(-1);c_(min)(0.125±0.012) mg.L~(-1);AUC_(ss)(6.5±0.3) mg·h·L~(-1); t_(1/2) (3.0±0.9)h;CL(3.8±0.4) L·h~(-1);c_(av)(0.271±0.014) mg·L~(-1);DF(6.0±0.4)%.CONCLUSION After administration of multiple-dose lansoprazole,no accumulation occur in vivo.Serum concentrations of lansoprazole have been in steady state till fourth day.Increase of lansoprazole dosage is positively calculated with increase of c_(max),A UC_(0-t) and A UC_(0-∞) and simultaneously with no significant difference of physiological disposition between the male and female.


The concept of a constructive dismissal was imported into our law from English law. Initially, the employee's resignation because of the employer's wrongdoing was compared with the common-law termination of a contract by one party because of the other's wrongful repudiation (Woods v WM Car Services (Peterborough) [1981] IRLR 347 (EAT); Mafomane v Rustenburg Platinum Mines [2003] 10 BLLR 999 (LC) in par 47).


The simulation and evaluation of proposed path selection systems for an autonomous Martian roving vehicle was developed. The package incorporates a number of realistic features, such as the simulation of random effects due to vehicle bounce and sensor-reading uncertainty, to increase the reliability of the results. Qualitative and quantitative evaluation criteria were established. The performance of three different path selection systems was evaluated to determine the effectiveness of the simulation package, and to form some preliminary conclusions regarding the tradeoffs involved in a path selection system design.


A multichannel temperature measurement system based on LabVIEW and modular instruments with general purpose input/output interface is described. External simple electronic components, such as analog switches arrays, sampling resistors and voltage reference are used to expand the analog input channel of the instrument. The interface circuit for 3-wire resistance temperature device powered by the voltage reference was designed and constructed. The feasibility of filtering algorithm based on moving average filter and the data conversion method by direct computation of the polynomial are verified in LabVIEW. A comparison test with the commercial temperature measurement instrument is conducted to test the same point of a li-ion battery. Meanwhile, the temperature in different points on the surface of a battery was clearly captured by the proposed system, when the battery was discharging. The results of the test clearly shows that the two channels for comparison has basically the same curve progression with a deviation of less than 0.2°C. The temperature measurement accuracy is better than ±0.3°C, and the sampling rate reaches 1000 Hz. The temperature measurement system can be used in the development of new energy vehicle thermal management system especially when the number of points to be measured exceeds the number of sampling channels of the instruments.


THERE are not many effective, useful, specific antidotes for poisoning, and their overuse often complicates the initial injury by producing other forms of poisoning. As I mentioned in part I (232:1272,1975), sensible selection and use of drugs and other therapy for symptomatic and supportive treatment of poisoning are more likely to save lives than ill-considered and heroically applied therapy. Tables 1 and 2 list most of the general and all of the specific antidotes now available to the physician for emergency use, and these can be combined with the symptomatic and supportive drugs and measures on hand. The "universal antidote" of burnt toast (charcoal), milk of magnesia (magnesium hydroxide), and strong tea solution (tannic acid) is ineffective and obsolete. It can do more harm than good, mainly because it often gives a false sense of security, and because preparing and administering it takes up valuable time. Antibiotics Antibiotics are often


Nowadays, the main problem of deep learning techniques used in the development of automatic speech recognition (ASR) models is the lack of transcribed data. The goal of this research is to propose a new data augmentation method to improve ASR models for agglutinative and low-resource languages. This novel data augmentation method generates both synthetic text and synthetic audio. Some experiments were conducted using the corpus of the Quechua language, which is an agglutinative and low-resource language. In this study, a sequence-to-sequence (seq2seq) model was applied to generate synthetic text, in addition to generating synthetic speech using a text-to-speech (TTS) model for Quechua. The results show that the new data augmentation method works well to improve the ASR model for Quechua. In this research, an 8.73% improvement in the word-error-rate (WER) of the ASR model is obtained using a combination of synthetic text and synthetic speech.


Department of Ophthalmology, Waikato DHB Hospital, Hamilton, New Zealand; Department of Optometry, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand; Department of Optometry, School of Medicine, Faculty of Health, Deakin University, Geelong, Australia; Department of Ophthalmology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand


The collagen of animal skins mainly contain type I collagen and type III collagen.The compositions and structures of these two collagens,as well as the important properties of skins are summarized.Based on that,some recent technologies and methods on extraction of collagens from pigskin,calf skin and fish skin are introduced.


Although the low-threshold emission from polycrystalline diamond heavily doped with nitrogen has been proposed in our previous report, this is the first report on a practical diamond cold cathode, having pyramidal-shape array structure, promising for battery-driven flat panel displays. We have used urea [(NH3)2CO] as a dopant and grown diamond using hot filament chemical vapor deposition technique, and the mold-based technique is used in order to obtain the pyramidal-shape array structure. The obtained pyramids are identified as diamond from the results of Auger electron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The turn-on field as low as 0.2–0.3 V/μm and the remarkably high stability in the emission properties have been confirmed. In addition, the battery operation of the cathode has been demonstrated.


Libra, Facebook's cryptocurrency, is expected to have an impact on the global monetary system; therefore, it is interesting to investigate Libra's adoption in Thailand. The objectives of this research are to examine the key factors in the acceptance of Libra and to gain an understanding of Libra. Logistic regression analysis was used for data analysis. The results indicate that Libra coins have not been accepted among Thais yet. Factors in influencing the acceptance of Libra are age, career, saving, social media, and knowledge scores. To encourage the adoption of Libra, the chapter suggests that gaining knowledge about cryptocurrency nationwide should be prioritised. Moreover, financial institutions should encourage the usage of cryptocurrency among low-saving clients and small enterprises as these groups tend to accept Libra rather than those with a large amount of savings. If cryptocurrencies are accepted nationwide, it might attract investors and boost Thai economic growth.


This paper presents the use of multi-sensor measurement system to guide autonomous mobile robot in the house. The system allows the 3D image acquisition to global mapping, and algorithms to reduce the dimensionality of images to 2D global map navigation, trajectory design approach using the Lyapunov function method and avoid obstacles bythe potential energy can also be presented. Also, sensor integrated method based on extended Kalman filter allows us to identify the exact location and orientation of the robot in the presence of interference from the environment.


We appreciate the perspective provided by Dr. Culp in describing the acceptance by scientists of the highly regulated environment for classified physics research (1). We agree that as more microbiology research falls into the category of "dual-use research of concern" or DURC, it is important to consider the experience in fields such as physics, whose members had to learn how to deal and work with these challenges. …


An approximation for the distributions of m-dimensional random variables with absolutely continuous cumulative distribution functions and bounded supports is presented. In addition, two easily computed bounds for the error in using the approximation rather than the actual distribution are provided for any measurable region.


Museums and libraries hold many of archives which include photographic prints. These prints are affected by the ultraviolet rays in these places, whether it is from natural or industrial sources. This paper presents the assessment of the effect of UV rays on white and black gelatin photograph prints. Experimental samples were processed. Samples were exposed to ultraviolet rays. Photochemical and mechanical degradation was assessed before and after exposure. Mechanical change was assessed by testing tensile strength, elongation, and penetration strength. Colour change were assessed by using the CIE Lab system. Scanning Electron Microscope with signal unit elemental analysis (SEM-EDX) to assess morphology of surface. XRF analysis was used to identify change in the proportion of the elements that make up the image. ATR-IR spectroscopy to recognize the change in absorption frequency bands and the functional groups in the molecular of gelatin. UV radiation have a negative effect on the image of silver gelatin photograph prints.


The home industry of pemindangan and pengasapan is one of the main potential of the tourist village in Desa Tambaksari, Kecamatan Rowosari, Kabupaten Kendal. But the home industry has not been able to develop optimally because it is constrained by several things, such as the equipment used is still traditional and very simple, the hygiene of production process is still low, limited marketing, limited capital, not licensed business, and no product diversification. Therefore, this empowerment activity aims to empower the home industry actors pemindangan and pengasapan marine fish based pindang pangkon and asap paparasi. While the specific target is to increase the quality and quantity of production through pindang pangkon and asap paparasi, cost efficiency of productive economic activity of coastal communities through improvement of capital system, production system and marketing system. The method to be used is identification of problem, program socialization, giving of pindang pangkon (new technological innovation in the form of combination pans used to accelerate and facilitate the production of pindang), and asap paparasi (is fogging integrated system so hygienic and environment friendly), training and mentoring, demonstration plotting, monitoring and evaluation of the program. The result of this empowerment activity is the increasing of the quality and quantity of the production of pindang fish and asap fish so as to improve the welfare of home industry of pemindangan and pengasapan.


1Department of Thoraciconcology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Tumor Hospital Affiliated to Xinjiang Medical University, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830011, People's Republic of China; 2Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, First People's Hospital of Kashgar, Xinjiang 844000, People's Republic of China; 3Health Corps of the People's Liberation Army 69260 Troops, Urumqi, Xinjiang, 830002, People's Republic of China; 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Chest Hospital of Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, Urumqi, Xinjiang 830049, People's Republic of China Purpose: This study aims to elucidate the biological behavior of Neuritin abnormal expression in pulmonary vascular endothelial cells (VECs) of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), and explore its possible underlying mechanisms. Patients and methods: Primary NSCLC-VECs were isolated from 10 cancer tissues from NSCLC patients, purified and identified by CD34 and Factor VIII staining. Real-time PCR and Western-blot were adopted for detecting the expression levels of Neuritin, Notch1, and VEGFR in NSCLC-VECs and HPMECs. Neuritin-overexpression, Neuritin-knockdown NSCLC-VECs and HPMECs were constructed by transfection of pcDNA3, 1-Neuritin vector, and pBS/U6-Neuritin siRNA. Changes in cell proliferation, migration, cell cycle, and apoptosis were determined by using the MTT assay, scratch assay, transwell migration assay, and flow cytometry, respectively. Post-transfection changes in cell morphology were examined by scanning electron microscopy. Results: The expression of Neuritin in NSCLC-VECs was significantly higher compared to that in HPMECs (p<0.01). Overexpression of Neuritin increased the expression of VEGFR while it reduced the expression of Notch1 (p<0.01); it also promoted cell proliferation, scratch healing, and in vitro migration (p<0.05) in HPMECs and NSCLC-VECs cells. Additionally, overexpression of Neuritin stimulated cell cycle progression and inhibited apoptosis in HPMECs and NSCLC-VECs (p<0.001). Under electron microscope, the pseudopodium of cell surface was obvious, indicating that the intercellular adhesion was upregulated. However, knockdown of Neuritin in HPMECs and NSCLC-VECs played exactly the opposite roles. Conclusion: Neuritin was key in the progression of NSCLC through its biological activities, including anti-apoptosis, promoting VEC proliferation, migration, and cell cycle progression. Neuritin may affect its biological activity by positively regulating VEGFR expression and negatively regulating Notch1 signaling. Neuritin may serve as a potential biomarker for NSCLC.


Summary

1. Morphometric and biochemical endpoints were used to assess growth and energetics in young-of-the-year (YOY) northern pike (Esox lucius), YOY burbot (Lota lota) and slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus) collected upstream and downstream of a uranium mining operation in northern Saskatchewan, Canada.

2. Water sampled at sites downstream of uranium mining and milling effluent discharge was higher in certain trace metals (arsenic, molybdenum), ions (conductivity, hardness, ammonia and sulphate) and total dissolved solids compared with ecologically similar reference sites.

3. Overwinter survival potential was estimated by determining total body lipids and total body triglycerides in fishes collected in late autumn and early spring. Two-factor anova indicated no site or season differences in total body lipids or triglycerides in YOY northern pike. In spring, burbot collected from the exposure site were higher in total body lipids and triglycerides compared with the previous autumn and compared with fish collected from the reference site. Slimy sculpin from both exposure and reference sites had lower total body lipid and triglyceride content in spring compared with the previous autumn. In addition, sculpin from the exposure site had lower total body lipids and triglycerides in spring compared with fish collected from the reference site.

4. Biochemical estimates of fish growth (muscle RNA/DNA ratio and muscle protein concentration) exhibited clear seasonal differences, with consistent decreases in this endpoint for all fish species in spring relative to the previous autumn at both exposure and reference sites.

5. Results for total body lipids and triglycerides were inconclusive and inconsistent between species and exposure scenarios. However, all species exhibited a similar seasonal decrease in muscle protein and to a lesser extent, muscle RNA/DNA ratio.


Abstract. Although the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is on e Multi-Criteria Decision Making techniques, it does not consider the reliabi lity of information. The Z-number contains both uncertain variable and its reliabilit y, which has been applied to uncertain environment including decision making, risk assessm ent, linear programming etc. In this paper, a new method of Multi Criteria Decision Maki ng based on Z-number and Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process is proposed, where the e valuation of each alternative with respect to each criterion is described as a Z-numbe r, including both the evaluation and its reliability from evaluators. Finally, a practical e xample illustrates the steps and effectiveness of the method.


Now a days the major problem, we are facing is contamination of water by the industrial wastages. More than 80% of the world's wastewater flows back into the environment without being treated. The wastewater from industries varies so greatly in both flow and pollution strength. So, it is impossible to assign fixed values to their constituents. In general, industrial wastewaters may contain suspended, colloidal and dissolved (mineral and organic) solids. In addition, they may be either excessively acid or alkaline and may contain high or low concentrations of colored matter. These wastes may contain inert, organic or toxic materials and possibly pathogenic bacteria. These wastes may be discharged into the sewer system provided they have no adverse effect on treatment efficiency or undesirable effects on the sewer system. It may be necessary to pretreat the wastes prior to release to the municipal system or it is necessary to a fully treatment when the wastes will be discharged directly to surface or ground waters. Industrial wastewater, especially from chemical and pharmaceutical production, often contains substances that need to be treated before being discharged into a biological treatment plant and subsequent water bodies. Generally, this can be done close to the site of production itself, in selected wastewater streams before reaching a central treatment plant. And moreover, we cannot use normal methods for removing the toxic substances present in the water. To overcome this problem, we are using IOT technology for monitoring the water. And use filters to remove the chemicals present in the water. Index Terms pH sensor, H202, Gprs, Aurdio, Chloride, LMD35, Pcdtrf.


General relativity is the exact theory of gravity which has been experimentally found to be correct with extremely high accuracy. One of the most surprising predictions of the general theory is that time runs slow in a gravitational field. Its proof formally comes from Schwarzschild metric which is a solution of Einstein field equation for a spherically symmetric mass. However, as Einstein field equation is too complex, attempts have been made earlier to derive gravitational time dilation by direct use of principle of equivalence and special theory of relativity. But, this objective has been accomplished partially till date as the resulting expression agrees with the exact expression only upto first order. In this paper, by using principle of equivalence and special relativity, we present a thought experiment which helps us to derive an expression that exactly matches with the expression for gravitational time delay.


Abstract : This study aims to improve science learning outcomes of students with the application of cooperative learning model Numbered Heads Together at SMPN 2 Sinaboi VIIB class in the academic year 2015/2016. Which was conducted in March 2016. The subjects were students of SMPN 2 Sinaboi VIIB grade school year 2015/2016 with a total of 25 people (11 students and 14 female students). Which lasted for two cycles in which the first cycle with the material classify living things based on the characteristics possessed by the material and the second cycle describes the diversity of the organizational system of life from the cellular level up to 3 times the organism replicates harian. Parameter meetings including that measured learning outcomes students consisting of absorption students and students learning completeness, awards groups, student activities and teacher's activities. Absorptive capacity of the students in the first cycle 73% (enough) and the second cycle 82.4% (good). Mastery learning in the first cycle 80% complete and has increased in the second cycle at 88%. Group awards in the first cycle there is one super group and the second cycle there are two super groups. Average student activity in cycle I 60.38% (or less) and the second cycle increased to 86% (excellent). The average teacher activity increased by 90.5% (excellent) and the second cycle of 100% (excellent). From these results it can be concluded that cooperative learning model NHT can improve learning outcomes IPA class VII SMPN 2 Sinaboi in the academic year 2015/2016. Keywords: Learning Outcomes IPA, Cooperative Learning, Kooperati Type Numbered Heads Together (NHT)


Ingestion of radio-opaque foreign bodies is common. We highlight the need for a careful radiological examination and endoscopy if symptoms of obstruction persist.

A 70 year old man presented to the local hospital while on holiday, having accidentally swallowed part of the metallic tab of a soft drinks can. He complained of retrosternal discomfort and pain on swallowing. Plain radiographs of the chest and neck showed no foreign body and he was consequently discharged.

On returning home he consulted his general practitioner, who referred him to another accident and emergency department, where plain radiographs again showed no abnormality. After four months of persistent retrosternal …


Modern lexicography is being replenished with dictionaries of a new type, which in their content combine information on the language and culture of a particular nation. The study is focused on the theoretical comprehension of such dictionaries, the identification of their most important characteristics and types based on the analysis of publications dealing with Russian culture. The article presents the analysis of the influential lexicographers' theoretical works. As a result, the author specifies the definitions of dictionary types and determines the role of culture dictionaries in modern linguistics and language education. The article also distinguishes the subtypes (genres) of the cultural dictionary: a dictionary of concepts, linguocultural, linguistic and cultural dictionaries, a dictionary of cultural literacy. The author concludes that the dictionary of culture is a specific lexicographic genre, reflecting the achievements of modern directions of linguistics such as cultural linguistics, cognitive linguistics, and linguistic conceptology. These dictionaries combine linguistic, cultural and regional information. The dictionary has become not only a linguistic publication, but a book aimed at providing the reader with information on the culture and mentality of the nation. Dictionaries created to describe the cultural component for the purpose of understanding language and culture, their active use, and solving educational problems including problems of cross-cultural communication can be defined as culture dictionaries. As a result of the analysis of dictionaries of Russian culture, the author distinguishes the following genres: linguistic and cultural dictionaries aimed at describing a foreign language environment and culture, focused mainly on a foreign reader, containing information on geographical, social, political, ideological and other aspects of culture-specific concepts in the life of a particular country; dictionaries of cultural concepts, which are often not dictionaries in the traditional sense of the word, but collections of detailed philosophical and cultural articles; dictionaries of cultural literacy, containing information on culture, knowledge of which is necessary for successful communication; linguistic and cultural dictionaries, which popularize cultural information for a general audience and are especially useful for educational purposes.