Background Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a common and frequently encountered disease of respiratory apparatus and is vulnerable to infection. Increasing studies reveal that bacterial lysates play an encouraging role in preventing exacerbations in these patients. We here investigated the efficacy and safety of bacterial lysates in COPD. Methods We performed systematic research on PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library (CENTRAL), and Web of Science by using the keywords and their synonyms for studies published before January 11, 2022. Two researchers screened the studies of literature independently according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria and extracted data from the included studies. Another two researchers assessed the risk of bias of each included using the Cochrane risk-of-bias tool. Meta-analysis was conducted using R (version 4.1.1, The R Foundation for Statistical Computing) and Review Manager (version 5.4.0, The Cochrane Collaboration). Results A total of 12 studies were included in this meta-analysis, and the pooled results showed that bacterial lysates were effective to reduce exacerbation rate (overall: relative risk [RR] = 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.72–0.96; alkaline bacterial lysate subgroup [OM-85]: RR = 0.87, 95% CI 0.77–0.98; mechanical bacterial lysate subgroup [Ismigen]: RR = 0.70, 95% CI 0.41–1.20) and mean number of exacerbations (overall: MD = −0.42, 95% CI −0.75 to −0.08; alkaline bacterial lysate subgroup [OM-85]: MD = −0.72, 95% CI −1.35 to −0.09; mechanical bacterial lysate subgroup [Ismigen]: MD = −0.02, 95% CI −0.21 to 0.17). Bacterial lysates were also found beneficial in alleviating symptoms. The side effects were acceptable and slight. Conclusion Bacterial lysates can benefit patients with COPD by reducing exacerbations and alleviating symptoms. OM-85 is the preferable product based on the existing evidence. Further studies are needed to validate these findings. Systematic Review Registration [www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/], identifier [CRD42022299420].


Hydrogical Analysis of Flash Flood using GIS in AL-Saff Area, Helwan, Egypt A. Amin1, , A. El Hattab2, M. El Bastawesy3, A. Sharawi4, Marwa Azzam5 ABSTRACT Through the current research, a systematic methodology, for estimating flood hazard and risk maps, based on a geographic approach using Geographical Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS), has been developed. It concludes that GIS and modern ground surveying techniques are a valuable tool as they are capable of integrating all the other techniques of flood risk assessment. The research results can help developers, planners and engineers for flood management and land use planning in many fields, such as:  Calculate the amount of water resulting from the storm.  Guide in risk and its level associated with a particular hazard at areas under investigation.  Calculate the storage capacity of water to determine the level of mitigative structures of the proposed dams in a better position for protection with the help of GIS (disaster managers). However, in the current research, one CompleteHydraulic Model is presented, namely: Interactive-GIS Based Model.


I review lattice QCD results relevant to the recently discovered hadrons: X(3782), Y (4260), and Ds(2317), because these seem, to me at least, to be the most interesting states from the perspective of solving and understanding QCD . The physical picture behind lattice QCD calculations is that an interpolating operator creates a hadron in the QCD vacuum. and after a specific time interval the hadron is destroyed. The choice of interpolating operator is particularly important for hadrons that are thought to be a hybrid meson or a molecule of hadrons. For example, for a 1−− state in the charmonium system, possible interpolating operators are


This paper reviews the recent introduction of management systems into the shipping industry. It presents examples of companies utilizing a Safety Management System for compliance to the ISM Code versus integration of ISO 9000 into a full Quality Management System.


ABSTRACT Objective: To assess psychiatric symptoms, substance use, quality of life and eating behavior of patients undergoing bariatricsurgery before and after the procedure. Methods: We conducted a prospective longitudinal study of 32 women undergoingbariatric surgery. To obtain data, the patients answered specific, self-administered questionnaires. Results: We observed a reductionin depressive and anxious symptoms and also in bulimic behavior, as well as an improved quality of life in the physical, psychologicaland environmental domains. There was also a decrease in use of antidepressants and appetite suppressants, but the surgery was nota cessation factor in smoking and / or alcoholism. Conclusion: a decrease in psychiatric symptoms was observed after bariatricsurgery, as well as the reduction in the use of psychoactive substances. In addition, there was an improvement in quality of life aftersurgical treatment of obesity.Key words: Bariatric surgery. Morbid obesity. Depression. Quality of life.1. Medical School Graduate; 2. Disciplines of General Surgery; 3. Collective Health; 4. Psychiatry,Facudade de Medicina do ABC, Santo Andre,Sao Paulo – SP, Brazil.


The experiment was carried out to study the effect of different weather parameters on incidence of whitefly population. Two varieties of moong viz. SML-668 and KM-22 were sown on two different dates of sowing i.e. 20th July and 6th August during kharif seasons of 2007 and 2008. Whitefly (Bemisia tabaci) population was recorded twice a week. Whitefly population was positively correlated with maximum temperature whereas morning relative humidity showed an inverse relationship with it. Stepwise multiple regression analysis showed higher R2 values when maximum weather parameters were involved. Weather of the previous week significantly affect the incidence of peak whitefly population.


ABSTRACT Adopting a critical literacy perspective in teaching is about how experiences, social contexts, languages, learning and power relations interact in language development. In this article, we explore how students' critical literacies are enhanced and hindered by emotional power relations in the classroom. We investigate what happens when emotionally charged texts – here texts about wolves in Sweden – are used in lower secondary schools. Drawing on two examples we illustrate different ways of enhancing students' critical approach to the argumentative text type. The article highlights the affective aspects of teaching, and thus the unforeseeable aspects of classroom interaction. Emotionally, the wolf issue became very different objects for the persons occupying the classrooms. It invoked, e.g. homosocial relations, racist accounts and nationalistic outbursts. The article stresses the significance of teacher intervention but argues that to facilitate critical literacy in emotionally charged classrooms, the circulation of emotions, including teachers' emotions must be brought to light.


A force amplification apparatus 66 comprises a housing having a fluid inlet; a plurality of pistons 78 , 86 operatively connected to an output shaft extending from the housing; wherein at least two pistons 78 , 86 initially move in tandem in response to fluid pressure at the fluid inlet whereupon a predetermined movement of the output shaft at least one of the pistons engages a travel stop 92 . The housing may further comprise a vent passage which selectively opens as the last of the pistons nears the completion of its stroke to remove driving pressure on the last of the pistons. Piston 78 may have a passage 84 extending through it to provide fluid communication with the lower piston 86 through tube 88 .


With the deepening of the power system reform since 2015, the construction of the electricity retail market continues to accelerate, the activity and competition of the electricity retail market continues to increase. In order to better guide the construction and development of China's electricity retail market, it is necessary to accurately evaluate its construction effectiveness, finding the effectiveness and deficiencies, and making electricity retail market play the decisive role in the allocation of electricity resources. This article proposes a new set of construction effectiveness evaluation model for electricity retail market. It establishes the key factors of power retail market construction effectiveness from the seven aspects of market mechanism, market openness, market concentration, market quality, market performance, electricity retail side service content diversity and market satisfaction, etc. The corresponding evaluation index system is formed to measure the effectiveness of the electricity retail market construction, which helps to guide the discovery of weak links in retail market construction of power system and improve them in a timely manner. The validity of the proposed model is proved by case study.


Introduction PART I. DESERT Chapter 1. Colonial Prologue Chapter 2. Contested Recovery Chapter 3. The Business of War PART II. RECLAMATION Chapter 4. The Right to Rule Chapter 5. Grasstops Democracy Chapter 6. Forecasting the Business Climate Chapter 7. "Second War Between the States" PART III. SPRAWL Chapter 8. Industrial Phoenix Chapter 9. The Conspicuous Grasstops Chapter 10. "A Frankenstein's Monster" Epilogue. Whither Phoenix? List of Abbreviations Notes Index Acknowledgments


Despite the fact that the conclusion of agreements by the so-cal I ed «joint» procedure is not specifically provided for in the EEC founding Treaty, the joint participaron of the Community and its tnember States in the adoption of certain agreements has been standard practice ever since Community activity first began. Although initially this procedure was only used for assoclatlon agreements, at the present time a process of diversification is taking place in the matters with which joint agreements are concerned, as a result of the development of new Community policios. The present study attempts to discover, by means of a detalled analysls of the practice adopted, the principies underlying recourse to the joint procedure. Por thls purpose, four different types of agreement are investigated (co-operatlon, prlmary producis, protection of the environment and the Convention on the Law ot the Sea, to which the EEC Is destlned to be a party), paylng particular attention to several essentlal points: the object and content of the agreements, their legal basis and the ways In which the Community and the member States take part in thelr implementatlon. The conclusion reached by the study is that there is no uniforma criterion for submlttlng agreements to the Jolnt procedure. On the contrary, on many occasions, reasons of a pragmatlc nature have led to its use. The compatibillty of this practice wlth the system for the delimitation of Jurisdlctlon established In the Treaty and developed by jurlsprudence is certainly dubious. Consequently, It would be extremelly useful if the present reform movement were to deal more specifically with jolnt agreements.


Foreword Universities and colleges have experienced a radical shift in circumstances in the past 20 years. The demand for advanced education has soared as the new skill requirements for a good job escalated. Yet, at the same time, governments have been cutting transfers to cover operations. This revenue has been replaced in part by higher tuition fees and more active fundraising programs. But there have also been notable changes in the way university programs are organized such as the increase in class size and greater use of part-time lecturers and sessional teachers. Nevertheless, educational attainment of the Canadian population has increased dramatically as young people and mature workers have expanded their participation in higher education. Canadians are vitally aware of the importance of advanced education. They know that Canada's competitiveness and their own future living standards will depend on the knowledge and skills of the work force. The main worry, as tuition costs increased, has been whether all qualified students have been able to access the appropriate university or college program. Both governments and philanthropists have therefore made significant investments in student aid through loans, grants, and bursaries. And CPRN has contributed several major papers examining their success in ensuring access(available at www.cprn.org). So far, however, few questions have been asked about trends in the quality of the learning experience of students. Are Canada's universities and colleges able to match the quality of teaching and research provided by the best schools in other countries? What policy changes might be needed to allow our post-secondary institutions to realize their potential for excellence without compromising access? With the help of funding from the Wilson Foundation, CPRN has launched a series of studies of quality issues in our post-secondary system. Our goal is to launch a national conversation about this issue. This first report, by Ross Finnie of Queen's University and Alex Usher of the Educational Policy Institute sets the stage. It provides a broad conceptual framework for thinking about the quality of the learning experience. It also surveys of the current state of the measurement of the quality of post-secondary education and identifies strategies for improvement. The authors are optimistic about Canada's capacity to build on existing sources of data to become effective in tracking quality. The next two studies in the Post-secondary Education Quality Series will look at the incentive structure (funding and regulation) facing post-secondary institutions in Canada, and the …


The purpose of this study is to examine the meaning of home education as perceived by Intellectuals during the Patriotic Enlightenment Period (1905-1910). The term 'Home education' first appeared around the early 20th century and is a modern term that began to be used in earnest after the Patriotic Enlightenment Period. The meaning of 'Home education' can be summarized as follows: First, Home education had the meaning of a field of modern education. 'Home education' was new knowledge learned intentionally and professionally through public discussion. Additionally, it was considered intentional and professional education for the holistic development of children, serving as the foundation for all education.
Second, Home education meant parents educating their children as 'educators'. 'Home education' meant parents with modern knowledge educating their own children. Parents had to possess specialized knowledge about child education for their children's happiness and ultimately for the independence and prosperity of their country.
Home Education during the Patriotic Enlightenment Period has value in that it began as education that everyone, regardless of status and gender, should learn as a field of modern regular education, and it provides insights into the 'educational role of parents' today.


fire department and the water department are not, as some may suppose, distant cousins, but full blood brothers. When the fire chief of Pasadena was called out on an early morning alarm and discovered a large frame public garage on fire, with a 70-mile gale blowing, 3,500 trees blown down and 4,000 telephones out of order, he shouted, "Oh, Brother !" Brother Water Department was what he meant; and how he needed that brother. That fire was extinguished as the result of a very well organized fire fighting defense, backed up byquoting the Chief's report "a water supply that was adequate. " Over the years I had formed the impression that the fire department was the most neglected department of the city government; for, in the early days, there was little regulation and less cooperation on the part of the public. As I look back today, with a thought to the men in the water department, however, I am sure that, except for credit for providing water for drinking purposes and occasional baths, the water department was just as badly neglected. An experience in my early days as battalion chief in the Portland Fire Department is illustrative of the difficulties involved in fire fighting at the time. Between 8:00 and 9:00 p.m., I received a telephone alarm of fire from the eastern city limits in my territory. I responded immediately, and with considerable concern for, as I left my quarters, I noticed that the sky in the vicinity was aglow. It made me very thankful that although an east wind was blowing, it was not the high east wind which we of the department had learned to fear. From the location I knew that we must depend upon buckets and garden hose as equipment; and I recall very distinctly that upon


What exactly happens when the solar wind meets the magnetized plasma around the Earth? This question has been puzzling physicists for decades. Besides the inherent difficulty of analysing the interaction between the charged particles in the solar wind, the interplanetary magnetic field and the three-dimensional time-dependent magnetic field at the Earth, most of our data has to be gleaned from expensive, and therefore infrequent, satellite missions to remote space – and not from the relative comfort of well-controlled laboratory experiments. Given this background it is not surprising that space physicists are eagerly awaiting data from the Cluster mission, due to be launched by the European Space Agency in November.


Introduction: Physical librations in longitude are forced periodic variations of a body's rotation rate. If the torque producing the librations can be calculated, then observations of the phase and amplitude of librations can provide information on mass distribution, and effective strength of the body. In the near future prospects for observing physical librations look quite promising. Radio interferometric observations of Venus and Mercury [1] may yield sufficiently accurate rotational observations that librations there may be visible. Range measurements from Earth to networks of landed instrument packages on Mars [2] are likely to yield librational data there as well. We compute expected libration amplitudes from physical and orbital parameters of a set of planets and satellites partially motivated by a desire to identify candidates for future observations. Solar system bodies occupy one of three general rotation states: non-resonant states, resonant states, and the synchronous resonant state. Analytical treatments of forced librations were initially motivated by the Moon. Lunar librations were predicted by Newton, first detected telescopically by Bessel [3], and definitively resolved through lunar laser ranging [4] which has led to quite thorough analysis of of librations for the synchronous case[5, 6, 7, 8]. The synchronous resonant state is commonly observed among satellites. The only known body to exist in a non-synchronous resonance is Mercury [9] which exists in a 3:2 resonance, completing three rotations for every two revolutions about the sun. The analysis of Goldreich and Peale [10] has lead to improved understanding of the general case of half integer resonance states. The dynamics of forced librations in non-resonant rotators has received less attention. While there are few cases in which non-resonant forced librations have been observed, Earth is an important exception, and current observing techniques may have the capacity to detect them on Venus. A comprehensive observing program spanning a range of solar system bodies can address an array of geophysical issues involving interior mass distribution of planets, satellites, and asteroids. Calculations of expected librations can supply amplitude estimates helpful in identifying the likelihood of detecting librations observationally. We present a survey of expected libration amplitudes for a subset of solar system bodies, identifying those bodies with amplitudes likely to be detectable, and commenting on spin state, and radial structure implications. Theory: The equation of librational motion in the absence of tidal torques can be written as


Calculation for water hammer of water transmission project with long distance has already been one of the important technique problems for safety operation of water supply project.This research applies the theory of characteristic method to calculate the partial differential equation of the water hammer.And it calculates the water hammer protection of Yumenkou water supply project through numerical modeling,which supplies necessary technical supports for the optimization design and safety operation of this project.


This edition includes all the texts Bergson published on James and pragmatism. It has been made according to the principles of the first complete critical and annotated edition of Bergson's works directed by Frederic Worms for the Presses Universitaires de France: general presentation of the whole book, distinct introduction to each essay or group of texts, notes, anthology of texts in relation to Bergson's ideas, index of names, concepts, images and examples, general and special bibliographies - for a total of more than 165 000 signs (Bergson's texts not included). From the original gathering of all these texts (beyond the preface Bergson wrote for the French translation of James's Pragmatism) we can deduce two main aspects of Bergson's interpretation of pragmatism which he identifies with James's theory of truth. Firstly, we show that Bergson is one of the first to have proposed a systematic analysis of James's thought, by pointing the dependence of his theory of truth on his conceptions of reality, religion and psychology. He sees the misunderstandings about James's theory as originating from the absence of its contextualization in his whole works. He can thus defend the thesis that James is a realist despite the constructivist strains of his theory. Secondly, we underline the convergences as well as the divergences between the two thinkers. If both agree on the rejection of intellectualism in philosophy, we show that there are two potentially opposed ways to do it: by the primacy of action or of intuition. We thus deconstruct Bergson's way of enlisting James's pragmatism into his own project of positive metaphysics by pointing out two very eloquent silences of Bergson's interpretation despite of his systematic pretentions. On the one hand, he omits pragmatism as a critical method of metaphysics in order to identify experience with intuition as the mean of metaphysical knowledge; on the other hand, he passes over James's naturalistic biological psychology in order to better stress the metaphysical importance of his introspective psychology.


SCADA (Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition) is the most modern tool used for the control and monitoring of technological processes. A SCADA system consists of two main components: the Server (one or more) and the Clients (the Viewers). The aim of OPC (OLE-Object linking and embedding for Process Control) is to define a common interface that once conceived can be reused for any other project, SCADA, HMI (Human Machine Interface) or other software packages. An OPC server is an application which acts as application programming interface (API-Application Programming Interface) or protocol converter. The paper presents an example of OPC server based application software which can be integral to a SCADA system. The application focuses on monitoring a quasi-general industrial process defined by a 2nd order transfer function, on identifying the transfer function and managing the client-server communication of the quantities of interest by online viewing and creating a record using TDMS (Technical Data Management Streaming) files and a MySQL database server.


A series of multifunctional dihydroquinolinone frameworks have been synthesized via synergistic catalysis combining photolysis and Lewis base catalysis utilizing in situ generated ketenes from the visible-light-mediated Wolff rearrangement of α-diazoketones...


Two new high-valent tantalum(V) phosphonio methylidyne complexes, [CpTa(C−PPh3)(CH−PPh3)Cl] (4) and [CpTa(C−PPh3)(CH−PPh3)2] (5), have been obtained respectively via transylidation reactions of CpTaCl4 with 5 and 7 equiv of the phosphorus ylide Ph3PCH2. Complex 4 was structurally analyzed with X-ray diffraction. The possible formation mechanism has been discussed. To our knowledge this presentation is the first example of a stable tantalum complex with a terminal [M⋮C−PPh3] function.


The paper presents the geotechnical characterization of a clay soil subjected to a preloading embankment for the construction of an industrial electronics building in the industrial area (STM M6) of Catania (Sicily, Italy). To determine the geological profile and the geotechnical characteristics of the soil, the site was well investigated by means of in situ and laboratory tests. The following in situ geotechnical tests were carried out: Borings, SPT, CPT, PLT and dynamic in situ tests have been performed. Among them Down-Hole (D-H), Cross-Hole (C-H), SASW and recently Seismic Dilatometer Marchetti Tests (SDMT) have been carried out, with the aim to evaluate the soil profile of shear waves velocity (V s ). Moreover the following laboratory tests were carried out on undisturbed samples retrieved with a 86 mm diameter Shelby sampler: Oedometer tests, Direct shear tests, Triaxial Tests, Resonant Column and Torsional shear tests. Static and dynamic parameters were compared by in situ and laboratory tests. A significantly correspondence between the values of the geotechnical parameters derived from laboratory and in situ tests was observed. The in situ and laboratory geotechnical analysis gives the parameters to evaluate the performance of soil subjected to soil embankment by mathematical modeling.


This paper investigates by scanning and transmission electron microscopy spermiogenesis and spermatozoon morphology of the gonochoristic eutardigrade Xerobiotus pseudohufelandi (Macrobiotidae). During spermiogenesis clusters of spermatids are connected by cytoplasmic bridges that persist up to an advanced stage of maturation. Spermiogenesis is characterized by distinctive modifications of the nucleus and by the differentiation of an acrosome, tail and substantial midpiece. Testicular spermatozoa are folded with the hinge located between the head and midpiece, thus resembling a nut‐cracker. The head includes a rod‐shaped, bilayered acrosome and an elongated, helicoidal nucleus with condensed chromatin. The large kidney‐shaped midpiece has hemispherical swellings/ovoid elements surrounding the centriole and an incomplete mitochondrial sleeve. The flagellum contains a '9+2' axoneme and terminates in a tuft of microtubules. Spermathecal spermatozoa always have linear profiles. The acrosome and nucleus have the same morphological pattern as in testicular spermatozoa, whereas the midpiece is thin and lacks the hemispherical swellings, and the tail is reduced to a short stub. Functional considerations are presented, based upon this different morphology. Moreover, phyletic comparisons are made on the basis of sperm morphology, both for the family Macrobiotidae and the class Eutardigrada. J. Morphol. 234:11–24, 1997. © 1997 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.


To predict the development and clinical course of squamous cell head and neck carcinoma (SCHNC), we studied the level of protein phosphatase 1B (РРМ1В) using the proteomic analysis. Verification of the results of proteomic analysis by ELISA showed that the level of РРМ1В in blood serum of patients with SCHNC depended on the disease stage. The level of РРМ1В in the blood serum of patients with stage T1N0M0 cancer was higher than that observed in the control group and in patients with chronic hyperplastic laryngitis. In tumor tissue, the level of РРМ1В was associated with the size of the primary tumor and the presence of metastases. In tumor tissue, the level of РРМ1В was also higher in patients with stage T1N0M0 than in patients with chronic hyperplastic laryngitis. The data obtained indicate that the level of РРМ1В can be used for early


Summary Human activities are altering ecosystems and threatening the well-being of wildlife. The study of the stressful effects of human disturbances on animal distribution, physiology and behaviour can provide fundamental insights for wildlife conservation. Here, we assess how two declining birds, the European Roller Coracias garrulus and the European Scops Owl Otus scops, cope with alteration by human activities in farming habitats of the south of Spain. We studied nest distribution, quantified nestling physiology (corticosterone levels in plasma and feathers and body weight close to fledgling) and parental behaviour (feeding rates) of both species along a human alteration gradient. Rollers and Scops Owls used the same type of habitat and their spatial distribution was not determined by individual quality. In Rollers, nestlings raised in scrubland areas had high stress-induced corticosterone levels, possibly due to high predation risk in this habitat. In addition, Rollers and Scops Owls showed opposite relationships with farming activity and human disturbance. Nestling Rollers showed the highest corticosterone levels in feathers, weight and parental feeding rates in areas with intense farming activity. These results suggest that despite the disturbance produced by farming activities, inducing a higher stress in these areas, cultivated areas may, simultaneously, provide parents with a higher abundance of prey which would trigger increased feeding rates and, hence, higher nestling weights. Furthermore, nestling Scops Owls showed the highest stress-induced corticosterone levels in areas close to roads, suggesting that they would be affected by human disturbance due to infrastructures that disturb also at night when Scops Owls are active. Therefore, susceptibility to human disturbance may vary between species, probably due to variation in the daily pattern of human activities and the species' activity rhythm, buffering or exacerbating the effects, which should be considered in future studies on human alterations and birds.


The study of the chemical composition of Bacillus tuberculosis has more than a mere theoretical bearing. It appears very suggestive from the study of the pathology of tuberculosis, and mostly from the experimental work done with different tuberculines, that the power of the bacillus in animal organisms is not so much due to the toxine it excretes as to its resistance towards the bacteriolytic influences of the animal cells and fluids. If this is so, it would also appear probable that bacilli of greater virulence will possess a greater resistance. A comparative study of B. tuberculosis of different virulences could therefore throw some light on the cause of its resistance. Considerable work on the chemistry of this bacillus was done by Hammerschlag, Hoffman, de Schweinitz, and Ruppel. However, comparatively little attention was given to the question of the relation between the chemical composition of Tubercle Bacilli grown on various media and their virulence. We have not succeeded thus far at the Saranac Laboratory in growing large quantities of very virulent cultures, and the present investigation is limited only to the study of bacilli of weak virulence grown on beef broth, and the same grown on the synthetic medium containing phosphatic and other salts with mannite. (Proskauer & Beck formula.) Besides the general analysis of the different cultures, those constituents which were not sufficiently analyzed by previous workers were studied with greater care.


Dermatea nidulariformis Rea in Trans. Brit. mycol. Soc. 5: 256 (1916). The badly preserved type, said to have been yellowish when fresh, is now dark sooty brown, about 3 mm. diameter, sessile, cupulate, with the surface of the receptacle corrugated but neither pruinose nor pulverulent. The ascus wall is blued by Melzer's reagent and the eight broadly elliptical ascospores, I3-14 x 8P (I4-17 x 9-Io/k according to Rea) are covered with coarse, closely spaced warts; the paraphyses are straight, enlarged to about 4[L wide at the apex.


This paper addresses the problem of a heat exchanger network (HEN) retrofit considering process changes. Traditionally it is a common practice to fix process conditions before a HEN is retrofitted. However, it has been realized that there exists strong interactions between HENs and processes, and it should simultaneously consider the changes to process conditions (e.g. flow rates, temperatures) and the HEN retrofit. In this paper, new insights for process changes and their impacts on HEN retrofit have been developed and the T-H diagram is used to represent the interactions. On the basis of the newly developed understanding, a systematic method has been developed to deal with process changes and HEN topological changes in a simultaneous way. To demonstrate this, a short-cut crude distillation model has been built up that relates stream temperatures and flow rates to process conditions. This model has been combined with the model for HEN topological changes proposed by Zhu and Asante, which forms a complete model for optimizing the tradeoff between HEN retrofit and process changes. The case study shows significant cost savings by considering process changes and HEN modifications simultaneously.


This paper applies GARCH (p, q) model and non-parametric Run test for studying isolated events of dividend change announcements covering a period of ten years for capturing abnormal returns in the Indian Stock Market using an event window of 61 days.  The results indicate that there is no signalling effect of 'dividend increase/decrease along with financial results announcement' event on the share price of companies. Cumulative abnormal return tendency is observed if share purchase is made prior to any of the events. It is also found that adjustment in prices after event date takes place with a substantial time lag reflecting inefficiencies in the market. Keywords: Signalling effect; market efficiency; dividend announcement; event study; emerging economy


In this paper, we studied the effect of nanoparticles addition on the green density and sintering of injection molded SiC and AlN. Using a bimodal powder mixture increased the solids loading for SiC and AlN systems, respectively. The nanoparticles addition also improved the sinterability of SiC and AlN by reducing the liquid phase formation to 1800 and 1500 °C, respectively. Around 99.3% density is obtained for bimodal μ-n AlN system when pressureless sintered at 1650 °C.


Burma was the most geographically isolated part of the Japanese-occupied Southeast Asia and hosted the largest concentration of Japanese troops in that region. These conditions encouraged political maneuvering, including the grant of nominal independence to Burma in 1943, that complicated Japanese economic goals in Burma. The Japanese both prioritised military needs, including the construction of a railway connecting Thailand and Burma for military purposes, as well as opening up the country for experimentation with strategic crops by Japanese companies and economic advisers. This emphasis on Japan's wartime needs and the decline of Japanese shipping during the war, prevented economic developments that could have made up for the loss of European markets for the former British colony, leaving Burma impoverished and contributing to Burma's defection to the invading Allies in 1945.


Research was conducted to analyze the pollution of waste based on the value resistivity, wherethe relationship is resistivity of BOD and COD at 10 cm depth in the Inlet IPAL PT. RAPPindicates that there is a good correlation between the parameters of waste with a BOD andCOD values resistivity, respectively: BOD = -9.8465 + 552.87 and -645.68 + COD = 18,529.COD has trend greater than the BOD of resistivity for change in other words the presence ofCOD of waste is likely to be greater influence resistivity price. That the value of BOD and CODas a function of depth in the system outlet IPAL PT. RAPP is BOD values are generally smallercompared with the COD value.


Banta Forestry Station in Laian County is situated at the low hills of eastern Anhui province.Its forest coverage rate and stand volume reach to 70 08%,103224 m 3 respectively,with the natural deciduous broad leaf forest and artificial needle leaf forest being the main types of forest vegetation.The great diversity,rich growth and perfect reservation of forest here are singular in the eastern part of Anhui.Its vegetation types,appearance and structure were described and valued in this paper.


Kandelia candel Druce (Rhizophoraceae) is one of the true mangrove species found in South- East Asian mangrove communities, and it is reported that the bark of the plant along with pepper or dried ginger and rose water is found beneficial for the treatment of diabetes. Our aim and objective of the present work was to study pharmacognostic and physio-chemical standards for the bark of the plant Kandelia candel. It includes the macroscopy, microscopy, and powder microscopic characteristics of the bark which provide valuable information for the identification of bark. The barks show greyish to reddishbrown colour, it is slightly curved, and sometimes recurved inner the surface shows slightly yellowish red. The histological section of the bark shows the epidermal layer and mostly it is broken and shows periderm, periderm consists of suberise dead phellem cells, several layers of circular cells found in the cortical region, the interior of the bark shows wide radially oblong aerenchyma tissues, calcium oxalate crystals are very common in the bark which is found as druces and prismatic type crystal forms. Powdered drugs showed the presence of fragments of periderm, cortical parenchyma cells, calcium oxalate crystals, and fibres. Physiochemical constants like ash values, extractive values, foaming, swelling indexes, and fluorescent analysis were performed on the powdered drug which is fairly constant for crude drugs it helps to ascertain the purity of the drug. Preliminary phytochemical screening was performed and it reveals the presence of steroids, phenols, tannins, terpenoids, and flavonoids which may be responsible for the pharmacological effect of the bark of Kandelia candel, the results of the study help in setting the standards for the bark of Kandelia candel which can be useful for the identification and authentication of drugs in future.


The goal of the study is to know the implementation of translation techniques are used by the translator. This research design uses descriptive qualitative research approach. Meanwhile, the findings of this research show that 9 translation techniques were applied in the book 1 "The Field Guide" in rendering 69 words which are classified to CSI's. Translator borrowed the source language terms (pure borrowing and naturalized borrowing) majority applied by the translator which is used to translate terms in anthroponyms, belief and religion concepts, ecology. The translator expected to SL oriented in the execution of translation techniques in rendering culture-specific items in The Field Guide book. Dealing with back translation, translator intends to prevent the culture-specific items in source language. To achieve balance, the translator should decrease in taking the originality of source language words into target language words and prevent the use of strange cultural terminologies.


FIELD: chemistry. SUBSTANCE: invention relates to metallurgy. A recycled mother solution and a dealuminated residue which contains tricalcium hydroaluminate and silica are added to bauxite to conduct a Bayer leaching process. As a result of the Bayer leaching process, a suspension is obtained, which is divided to obtain sodium aluminate solution and red Bayer mud. The sodium aluminate solution is further processed to obtain a mother solution and aluminium oxide. Lime and recycled mother solution are added to the red Bayer mud to conduct wet processing of the red Bayer mud. The obtained suspension is divided to obtain a solution and recycled red mud. The recycled red mud is washed. Lime is added to a portion of the solution obtained after processing the red mud to obtain a dealuminated suspension, which is divided to obtain a dealuminated residue which contains tricalcium hydroaluminate and silica, and a recycled alkaline solution. The dealuminated residue is fed to the leaching step, while the recycled alkaline solution is fed to the red mud wet processing step. EFFECT: invention increases efficiency of the method. 13 cl, 3 dwg, 18 ex


To study the spatial distribution of soil salinization, the temporal and spatial variations of groundwater depth, along the Yellow River saline–alkali land, were analyzed. GIS technology was used to conduct spatial interpolation and quantitative analysis in Shahao, including salinization data obtained before summer irrigation, and groundwater depth data for one hydrological year from long-term observation wells. The results indicate that the groundwater depth gradually shallows from south to north, consistent with the topography of the area, and soil salinization is greater in the central and northern parts of the study area. Alkaline soils are widespread in the surface-to-middle soil, accounting for 55.2–62.5% of the total land area. A total of 28.6% of the surface layer is heavily salinized. The crop emergence rate of heavily salinized cropland is only 30–50%. The high salt content of the Yellow River itself, freeze–thaw change and poor drainage are three important factors causing the high soil salinity along the Yellow River saline–alkali land. The changes of groundwater depth are divided into autumn irrigation, the freezing period and the crop-growth period. The return of soil salt in spring caused by autumn irrigation mainly affects the uppermost soil layer (0–100 mm depth).


Abstract We employ a recent advance in cladistic methodology, the Permutation Tail Probability (PTP) test (Faith & Cranston, 1991), to estimate the likelihood of various proposed phylogenies of the Lemuridae using the datasets of Tattersall & Schwartz (1991) and Groves & Eaglen (1988). In the course of this work we uncover and correct some inaccuracies in past codings, and rectify an important error in the cladistic procedure used by Tattersall & Schwartz (1991). According to the tail probability tests, it appears that Hapalemur is most likely the sister-group of other Lemuridae. We support as valid the genera Eulemur and Varecia . The status of subspecies of Eulemur remains equivocal.


This work is a part of the research on standardization of speech audiometry for hearingimpaired children.In the first phase, the experiment was made on children in nursery classes (aged 3-6 years) at a school for the deaf in order to evaluate a test word list and the procedure for word intelligibility test by picture identification. From the results of the experiment the following suggestions were made:1) The test word list should be consisted of concrete nouns which can be pictorially presented.2) A test sheet with 6 pictures is used for every test word. Therefore 25 test sheets are needed to 25 test words.3) Before the test, it is necessary to ascertain whether each test word is within the recognition vocabulary of each subject.In the second phase, according to the first experiment a test word list was made, and the intelligibility test was carried out on 90 children, aged 3-15 years at a school for the deaf. The results were as followed:1) Mean hearing loss more than 95dB (ASA-1951) was associated with lower score of this test.2) This test was easier than the monosyllabic intelligibility test (67-list of Japan Audiological Society) which has been widely used in Japan, and the test scores distributed over the wider range than those of 67-list. Therefore this test can be utilized for evaluating the speech recognition ability of severely impaired hearing children.


Software was developed that automatically detects minerals that are present in each pixel of a hyperspectral image. An algorithm based on sparse spectral unmixing with Bayesian Positive Source Separation is used to produce mineral abundance maps from hyperspectral images. A superpixel segmentation strategy enables efficient unmixing in an interactive session. The algorithm computes statistically likely combinations of constituents based on a set of possible constituent minerals whose abundances are uncertain. A library of source spectra from laboratory experiments or previous remote observations is used. A superpixel segmentation strategy improves analysis time by orders of magnitude, permitting incorporation into an interactive user session (see figure). Mineralogical search strategies can be categorized as supervised or unsupervised. Supervised methods use a detection function, developed on previous data by hand or statistical techniques, to identify one or more specific target signals. Purely unsupervised results are not always physically meaningful, and may ignore subtle or localized mineralogy since they aim to minimize reconstruction error over the entire image. This algorithm offers advantages of both methods, providing meaningful physical interpretations and sensitivity to subtle or unexpected minerals.


Early transition, early turbulence, and drag reduction were detected in flowing solutions of high molecular weight poly(ethylene oxide) condensates. Progressive addition of salt (magnesium sulfate) increased the onset point characterizing deviations from Newtonian flow for 1 ppm Polyox Coagulant solutions and eliminated early transition in the 10 ppm WSR-35 solutions. No further drag reduction was observed when the salt molarity reached the 0.65 level. In the Coagulant solutions the onset wall shear stress characterizing the flow deviation was an inverse function of the intrinsic viscosity of the polymer in the salt solution.


Palmoplantar pustular psoriasis (PPP), a subtype of pustular psoriasis, is a stubborn disease involving the palms and/or soles that can cause marked physical discomfort, impaired quality of life, and psychiatric morbidity. 1 Acitretin, cyclosporine A, potent topical corticosteroids, and phototherapy are the common treat-ments for PPP but have no high-level evidence. PPP is usually resistant to treatment and recrudesces frequently. Furthermore, the consequent therapy-related adverse events increase the bur-den on patients, and therefore the lack of adequate treatment presently makes the therapy for PPP very challenging. The pathogenesis is clear, however, a previous study showed increased cutaneous expression of IL-17A but decreased expression of IL-23 in PPP, which is dif-ferent from psoriasis vulgaris. 2 Besides IL-17, IL-36 pathways are also involved in the pathogenesis of PPP. 3 The improvement in the understanding of these may aid in the dis-covery of new promising treatments.


The EuroVO technology centre ('VOTech') is a design study for the emergent European Virtual Observatory. VOTech implements and augments the interoperability standards of the International Virtual Observatory Alliance. VOTech has a mandate to facilitate the use of compute grids in astronomy and approaches this in several ways: construction of an application grid as a common facade to regional compute grids; provision of a data grid, VOSpace, that can be made interoperable with local data grids; provision of library software, the 'Astro Runtime', that allows compute-grid jobs to exploit virtual-observatory services; and the formalization of EuroVO as a virtual organization with access rights to


We prove existence and uniqueness of a reaction-diffusion equation whose diffusivity is a non-linear functional of the boundary temperature. We do this by studying systems of one-dimensional reflecting diffusions whose noise is a function of the reflection local time of the system, and by characterizing the largescale (hydrodynamic) behavior by showing propagation of chaos. In addition, we analyze the one-particle case by computing the distribution of the hitting times of its reflection local time. This work is the noise analog of work done by Frank Knight (2001).


Radimetric measurements were performed on an Eucalyptus grandis seedling canopy and in detached leaves from that canopy, considering three growing stages: ol...


Objective: To investigate the clinicopathologic characteristics of salivary duct carcinoma (SDC) in major and minor salivary glands and the possible role of MMP (matrix metalloproteinase)-2 and MMP-9 in SDC. Methods: Clinicopathologic features of 10 SDCs were described. Immunohistochemical expressions of MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins were examined in the paraffin samples of the 10 SDCs and 10 basal cell adenomas (BCA). The scoring of the immunoreactivity was estimated by integrated optical density (IOD) through a digital image analyser. Results: The patients of SDC presented clinically with a local mass or swelling, frequently painful (6 of the 10 cases). The symptoms of facial paralysis or lip numbness (3/10) and lymph node metastasis (6/10) were usually detected. SDCs showed increased expression in both MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins as compared with BCAs. Moreover, MMP-2 and MMP-9 proteins were markedly increased in metastatic compared with non-metastatic SDCs. Conclusion: MMP-2 and MMP-9 may play an important role in invasion and metastasis of SDC. Toothache may be an important clinical characteristic of SDC originated in maxillary sinus. SDC histologically showed various proportions of papillary, comedo, cribriform and sol


Since the fall of communism, the provinces have come to occupy an important place in the drama of Russian politics. If during the Soviet era Russian regions were dominated by local cPsu satrapies, which helped to maintain the rule of the General Secretary through a 'circular flow of power',' today Moscow exercises less control than ever over the course of regional Russian politics. The great majority of western scholarship treating regional Russian politics has concentrated on urban regions, especially Moscow and St Petersburg. This article, based primarily on field research carried out in Russia between 1991 and 1992, seeks to shed more light on the rural factor in Russian politics by focusing on one region in which agricultural production constitutes the single most important component of the local economy - Krasnodar krai.


Statistically based the operational risk management culture is still primitive in the Albanian banking system and that's why it attracts and causes operational risk. Inevitably, the operational risks may only be increasing, as we see growing globalisation, more competitive markets, rapid developments in technology, and periods of economic difficulty... by becoming an emergency for the Albanian banking system. Thus, in this paper we explore on proposing to a/m system a developing strategy for detection, prevention and response to the operational risk with highest standards of professionalism and the utmost integrity in dealing with all stakeholders of the Albanian banking system by providing also to its customers a safe banking business guaranteed from the banks control functions. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2013.v2n8p371


The authors construct the Hamiltonian of a new quantum integrable 'q-boson' lattice model in 1+1 dimensions which has q-bosons as dynamical variables and solve it for its energy eigenstates and energy eigenvalues under periodic boundary conditions of finite period. This model can be regarded as the q-deformation of the integrable lattice Bose gas (the quantum lattice nonlinear Schrodinger (quantum lattice NLS)) model. In appropriate continuum limits both of these lattice models become the quantum repulsive NLS model (the Bose gas). In the lattice case the distinction between the q-bosons and ordinary bosons leads to significant new features-particularly in the energy spectrum for which the q-boson lattice model has an optical branch and bound state spectra as well as the (one) acoustic branch of the quantum lattice NLS model. It is argued that this sort of distinction is generic for discrete systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom as opposed to continuum field theories like the Bose gas where quantization by quantum group quantization or by canonical quantization leads to the same results. Various properties of the q-bosons are given and used. In particular, a q-boson Primakov-Holstein transformation is given which connects the q-boson lattice model with the XXZ models of arbitrary spin.


Prison reformers have long been aware that the cellblock is a school for criminals, the shadow campus where the petty offender graduates into organized crime. Yet strangely, the same insight has for the most part eluded jail keepers in countries now targeted by Islamic terrorists. The usefulness of prisons as universities for terrorists, however, has not escaped Islamic radicals. They have become increasingly sophisticated in their operational methods, especially in devising ways of recruiting and training those who spearhead their assaults. Last spring's devastating train bombings in Madrid, the mishandling of which led to the electoral defeat of the sitting Spanish government, illustrate the phenomenon. A principal conspirator, Jose Emilio Suarez Trashorras, a Spanish mineworker, was not religious or politically aware when he was jailed in 2001 for a drug offense. Incarcerated in the same prison was Jamal Ahmidan, a young Moroccan living in Spain, also convicted of a petty crime. Once in prison, however, both the nominally Christian Trashorras and the nonobservant Muslim Ahmidan enthusiastically embraced radical Islamic fundamentalist beliefs and were recruited into an al-Qaeda–linked Moroccan terrorist group, Takfir wa al-Hijra. The imprisoned Ahmidan quickly gained a leadership position in the cellblock, and on emerging from prison both men were absorbed into an extensive and well-organized radical Islamic organization that trafficked heavily in drugs to support its terrorist activities. Later, Ahmidan led the cell that carried out the Madrid bombings, while Trashorras supplied the explosives and helped plant the 13 backpack bombs that killed 191 people and injured hundreds of others on four Madrid trains crowded with early-morning commuters. The use of prisons as a means of recruiting new members into terrorist organizations while providing advanced training to existing members is hardly a new phenomenon. For more than 30 years, European countries have been beset by a variety of nationalist and leftist terrorist groups, some of them highly sophisticated organizations with large rosters of combat and support personnel. Two groups in particular stand out: the Provisional Irish Republican Army, or Provos, which has waged a sustained campaign to achieve a united Ireland, and the Basque Euskad Ta Askatasuna (ETA), which first fought against the Franco government and now battles Spain's democratic government in its quest for Basque autonomy. Both are classic paramilitary terrorist organizations, with integrated command structures and a high degree of group cohesion, characteristics that persist in a prison setting. Leftist revolutionary groups were organized differently. The Red Army Faction in West Germany, Action Directe in France, and the Red Brigades in Italy, which were active from the late 1960s until the early 1980s, eschewed the paramilitary model and relied instead on a looser cellular structure, with collective decisions guided by charismatic leaders. Targeted governments countered with extensive antiterror legislation and intern-


: Matrix vesicle-mediated mineralization is orchestrated by ultrastructural and biochemical events that lead to crystal nucleation and growth. Osteoblasts secrete extracellular matrix vesicles equipped with a variety of membrane transporters and enzymes, which are necessary for the initial nucleation and subsequent growth of calcium phosphate crystals. The influx of phosphate ions into the matrix vesicle is a complex process mediated by several enzymes and transporters, such as tissue nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP), ecto-nucleotide pyrophosphatase/phosphodiesterase 1 (ENPP1), sodium/phosphate co-transporter type III (Pit1). The catalytic activity of ENPP1 generates pyrophosphate (PPi) using extracellular ATPs as a substrate, and the resultant PPi binds to growing hydroxyapatite crystals to prevent crystal overgrowth. However, TNAP hydrolyzes PPi into phosphate ions (PO 43), a constituent of calcium phosphates, which are then transported into the matrix vesicle through Pit1. Accumulation of calcium ion (Ca 2+ ) and PO 43-inside matrix vesicles then induces crystalline nucleation, with calcium phosphate crystals budding off radially, puncturing the matrix vesicle's membrane and finally growing out of it to form mineralized nodules. Apparently, mineralized nodules - which are globular assemblies of needle-shaped mineral crystals - retain some of those transporters and enzymes. The subsequent growth of mineralized nodules is regulated by surrounding organic compounds, finally leading to collagen mineralization. In this review, ultrastructural and biochemical aspects on matrix vesicle-mediated mineralization will be introduced.


The author attempts to demonstrate that the involuntary movements which characterize the so-called extrapyramidal diseases are not necessarily caused by lesions of the basal ganglia. In a majority of cases the lesions are multiple, and it is not clear which one should be considered as responsible for a given symptom. He reports on a group of 12 patients with involuntary movements and brain tumors (one tumor in the occipital lobe and the others in the frontotemporoparietal region, none being in the basal ganglia). Movements ceased after resection of the brain tumor, thus supporting the idea of a functional, rather than an anatomical, cause of these movements. In each of 30 patients with a variety of involuntary movements, he sectioned the corticospinal tract or the motor cortex. In eight of these patients the movements ceased and the patients were able to return to their previous occupations. He concludes that to obtain


This paper summarizes the important research results of population migration and urbanization,in recent years,especially the "Eleventh Five-Year" period of China,and points out the main weakness links in the subjects.The paper focuses on the future development trend and key research areas of the discipline.The research in the "Twelve Five-Year" period should focus on quantitative analysis and assessment of promotion of population migration and urbanization to economic;population migration and urbanization development under the urban and rural development objectives;household registration reform design of rural-urban migrates in the process of urbanization;population distribution and migration plans of victims in natural disaster-prone areas;international migration and its socio-economic development effects in the context of globalization,and etc..


This study investigated Accounting Exposure Risk Management (AERM) in the Jordanian firms, with special emphasis on exposure through transactions that make them heavily exposed to exchange rate changes through the accounts receivable and accounts payable denominated in foreign currency resulting from exporting and importing.
Based on AE theories, which state that firms with higher linkage with a foreign environment would face higher degree of AE and consequently would hedge more, this study examined this normative theory within the context of Jordanian firms taking into consideration the size and industry effects on the levels of AERM that Jordanian firms use.
Based on a questionnaire survey that was handed to one hundred and fifty four (154) commercial and manufacturing Jordanian firms, the results of the empirical study suggested that Jordanian firms were not heavy users of the AERM instruments, especially the advanced innovations like currency derivatives. The percentages of foreign to total sales and foreign to total debt were significantly correlated with levels of managing accounting exposure. These results were explained as Jordanian firms which have revenues denominated in foreign currency would be able to obtain loans denominated in the same foreign currency which creates natural offsetting between the in and out foreign cash flows.
In addition, while the size seems to have a high effect on the level of managing AE that Jordanian firms use, the sector of the firm revealed insignificant effect on the behaviour of Jordanian firms toward the AE that they face.
In sum, it is possible to conclude that AE theories seem to be somehow applicable in the Jordanian firms. However, they do not provide full explanation about the AERM behaviour, which suggests that there are other factors which play roles in determining the AERM behaviour in the Jordanian firms.


Protein losses in peritoneal dialysate were determined in 220 exchanges from 19 patients undergoing continuous ambulatory peritoneal dialysis. With four exchanges per day, mean protein losses in 79 di


During the summers of 1948 and 1949 the writer investigated the biology of the maple leaf cutter, Paraclemensia acerifoliella (Fitch), near Merivale, Ontario. Various aspects of the bionomics of the stages of the maple leaf cutter are summarized in this paper. Unpublished material in the annual reports prepared by Mr. J. J. de Gryse were kindly made accessible; data are quoted from them and acknowledged herein. Sincere thanks are extended to Howard A. Tripp for his assistance in recording data during field investigations.


Purpose: This research delves into the procedure in the pathogenesis of Cisplatin (CIS)-caused liver and kidney impairment and check the defensive effect of shen-qi-di-huang decoction (SQDH). Methods: It divides adult male Wistar rats into four groups of eight animals each: Regulation; SQDH; CIS and SQDH+CIS group. They performed multiple analysis to dissect the mechanisms constraining the implements of SQDH. Results: The stems display that pretreatment with SQDH protects the rats from CIS-induced experience and kidney trauma, as disclosed by diminished degrees of serum ALT, AST, BUN and creatinine, improved histopathological damage in thriving and courage. SQDH significantly reverses CIS-induced dysregulation of apoptotic proteins in liver and kidney. In supplement, SQDH induces the activations of PI3K/AKT in kidney and p38/MAPK in liver, individually. Conclusion: We confirm that SQDH protects against CIS-induced nephrotoxicity and hepatotoxicity, which is probably correlated with the activation of p38/MAPK in liver and PI3K/AKT in kidney.


The current literature review highlights the need for a two-dimensional rating system for Mexican American acculturation. It demonstrates increased attention to acculturation issues over time despite ongoing lack of the two-dimensional acculturation analysis. Although creators of the Acculturation Rating Scale for Mexican Americans–II (ARSMA-II) originally stated that the measure's Mexican Orientation and Anglo Orientation subscales were orthogonal, they combined the two into a unidimensional acculturation score. A review of usage of the ARSMA-II from 1995 to 2013 revealed that 56% of studies collapsed the two subscales into a single acculturation score. Additional analysis revealed an increase in studies using the ARSMA-II across time, while showing that there was neither a difference in the usage of unidimensional and bidimensional scoring methods nor a shift in choosing scoring methods across time. We recommend that future studies use both the Mexican Orientation and the Anglo Orientation subscales to increase the accuracy of their acculturation research.


The homogeneous plastic flow of fully amorphous and partially crystallized Zr41.2Ti13.8Cu12.5Ni10Be22.5 bulk metallic glass (Vitl) has been investigated by compression tests at high temperatures in supercooled liquid region. Experimental results show that at sufficiently low strain rates, the supercooled liquid of the fully amorphous alloy reveals Newtonian flow with a linear relationship between the flow stress and strain rate. As the strain rate is increased, a transition from linear Newtonian to nonlinear flow is detected, which can be explained by the transition state theory.Over the entire strain rate interval investigated, however, only nonlinear flow is present in the partially crystallized alloy, and the flow stress for each strain rate is much higher. It is found that the strain rate-stress relationship for the partially crystallized alloy at the given temperature of 646 K also obeys the sinh law derived from the transition state theory, similar to that of the initial homogeneous amorphous alloy. Thus, it is proposed that the flow behavior of the nanocrystalline/amorphous composite at 646 K is mainly controlled by the viscous flow of the remaining supercooled liquid.


Containing all drawn figures from the text in full color, with ample space for notes-a valuable resource for both note-taking and reference.


To explore the potentially health modulatory role of most proteinaceous leguminosae plant, Soyabean, the present study was intended to evaluate the in-vitro immunomodulatory activity of dry seeds of Glycine max. L. Effect of ethanolic and methanolic extracts of soyabean was evaluated at various concentrations (800μg/ml to 6.25μg/ml) for secretion of various mediators. Immunomodulatory activity of both extracts was examined on murine macrophage phagocytosis by Nitroblue tetrazolium (NBT) dye reduction, nitric oxide, lysosomal enzyme activity and myeloperoxidase activity. Proliferation of spleenocytes and bone marrow cells was evaluated by 3 (4, 5-dimethylthiazole-2-yl)-2, 5diphenyltetrazolium bromide (MTT) assay with and without lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as mitogen. Both aqueous and acetone extracts presented immunomodulatory activity in peritoneal mouse macrophages, bone marrow cells and spleenocytes without clear dose response relationship. In-vitro phagocytic index and proliferation index showed significant results and thus proving the need for confirmation through


From what I have heard out over Indiana and other states, this Road School is proving a tremendous incentive to wise, efficient road improvement. You gentlemen are interested in railroads because of two reasons: first, they are very large taxpayers; and second, they furnish the transportation you require. The United States, with less than 8% of the world's area and less than 6% of the world's population, has 88% of the world's railway mileage, totalling more than 250,000 miles of railway. Every inhabitant of the United States now requires 35% more freight service than was required in 1911. In other words, in 1911 the railroads carried 2,667 tons one mile for each inhabitant while in 1928 the railroads carried 3,607 tons one mile for each inhabitant—man, woman, and child. No small amount, variously estimated at from 8% to 12%, of this increase is due directly to materials used in building and main taining roads. While the total revenue tons carried on rail roads has increased 45% since 1911, and the total wages paid to employees has increased 142%, the increase in number of men employed is only 4%, thereby indicating the great in crease in efficient handling. The railway taxes have increased in the same period 295%, so that at the present time 6.37% of all operating revenues are paid out in taxes. The transportation systems are interested, therefore, not only in securing additional business when roads are built, but also in seeing that this expenditure of taxes is made in the most efficient manner possible.


The most common bone cement material used clinically today for orthopedic surgeries is poly methyl methacrylate (PMMA). In general, poly Methyl MethAcrylate (PMMA) beads are added to MMA monomer with bead and monomer ratio of 2:1 to prepare the PMMA bone cement. Conventional PMMA bone cement has several mechanical and biological disadvantages. To overcome these disadvantages, researchers investigated several bioactive additives to PMMA bone cement, such as MgO, hydroxyapatite (HAp), chitosan (CS). Additionally, functional monomer, such as glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) was used in addition or substitution to MMA to enhance the properties of PMMA bone cement. A comparative study is required to evaluate the effect that different bioadditives and monomers have on the mechanical and biological performances on PMMA bone cement. The goal of this study is to determine the most suitable additives and alternative monomer for PMMA bone cement that can enhance the mechanical and biological performances of PMMA bone cement. Cobalt™ HV bone cement (referred as CBC), a commercial orthopedic bone cement, was used in this study as PMMA bone cement. MgO, hydroxyapatite (HAp), chitin (CT), chitosan (CS), Barium sulfate (BaSO4 ) and Silica (SiO2 ) were mixed with PMMA beads to prepare CBC-MgO, CBC-HAp, CBC-CT, CBC-CS, CBC-BaSO4 and CBC-SiO2 specimens. Additives included CBC were referred as composite specimen. CBC and composite specimens were further grouped according to the application of GMA as replacement of MMA monomer. Two groups of CBC and composite specimen were prepared. In the first group, CBC and composite specimens were prepared using MMA monomer only, referred as without GMA specimen. In the second group, CBC and composite specimens were prepared using GMA and MMA monomers, referred as with GMA specimen. There are three general research questions: (1) Is there a significant difference in the mechanical and biological performances between CBC (control) and different composite specimens that contain GMA? (2) Is there a significant difference in the in the mechanical and biological performances between CBC (control) and different composite specimens that do not contain GMA? and (3) Is there a significant difference in the mechanical and biological performances between specimens mixed with and without GMA? Elastic and fracture properties of different CBC and composite cements were calculated from three point bend experiments. Osteoblast cell adhesion experiments were performed on different CBC and composite cement on a custom made well plate. This study found that flexural strength and fracture toughness of the CBC specimens that contain GMA is significantly greater than the flexural strengths of all other specimens that contain GMA. In contrast, flexural strength and fracture toughness of the CBC-SiO2 specimens that do not contain GMA is significantly greater than the flexural strengths of all other specimens that contain GMA. This study also found that cell adhesion on the MgO impregnated CBC specimens is significantly greater than the cell adhesion of all other specimens for samples that contain GMA or do not contain GMA.Copyright © 2011 by ASME


A grazing trial of 120 days duration was conducted in goats on rangeland vegetation to record herbage mass and its quality, and nutritional status of animal. Yearling female Barbari goats decided into groups G 1 , G 2 and G 3 of 9 animals each, were allowed to graze on 3 ha of vegetation (@ 9 animals/ha) during winter for 6.5 to 8 h daily following 3 different grazing management practices viz. continuous, rotational and deferred rotational, respectively. They were also supplemented with barley grain (@ 1.0% of body weight) as energy source. Availability of herbage mass (kg DM/ha) of grass dominated vegetation was comparatively higher (2910) under deferred rotational than rotational (2677) and continuous (2365) system of grazing management However, quality of herbage mass in terms of CP (4.57 to 4.70%), NDF (77.8 to 79.7%) and ADF (46.6 to 50.3%) was comparable among the different grazing management practices. Similarly average CP of mouth grab forage samples was comparable amongst the treatment groups and ranged from 10.7 to 11.9%. Daily feed (DM) intake was 506, 512 and 546 g in goats under G 1 , G 2 and G 3 groups, respectively, and the differences were nonsignificant among the groups. The digestibility of nutrients was statistically similar among the groups. Goats were also on similar plane of nutrition consuming comparable quantities of CP and TDN. Concentration of glucose, plasma protein and urea-nitrogen was similar in G 1 , G 2 and G 3 groups. It was concluded that at similar stocking rates, grazing management practices did not have any influence on herbage mass and its quality as well as nutrient utilization and blood metabolites in goats allowed to graze on rangeland vegetation of Bundelkhand with supplementation of barley.


Piper thomsoni, a dioecious Piper species endemic to north eastern India, was coll ected from Totopara forests (New Jalpaiguri District, West Bengal), multiplied and maintained at the Germplasm Conservatory, Experimental Farm, Indian Institute of Spices Research, Peruvannamuzhi (Kerala). The male plants conserved under partial shade exhibited sex change and a few berries developed on the spike. This appears to be the first report of sex change in the genus Piper.


From the viewpoint of "Science and technology is the first productivity"to "It's the centralized expression of the advanced productivity and the main mark";from"Intellectuals are the part of proletariat"to "They are the fundamental power to promote our advanced productivity and social progress";from "Science and technology is the key to the modernization"to "Both of social science and natuarl science must be emphasiced";from"Learning from advanced countries"to "Innovation is the soul of the nation";the leading core of the two generations of C.C.P.made the theory innovation which is advancing with era with regard to the strategy of developing the country by relying on science and education.


An important factor in promoting economic development is the educational capital that should be seen as an investment in those who will generate economic growth. The present paper aims to carry out a statistical analysis of indicators in the field of education: early education, presentation based on statistical indicators disseminated by the two main official institutions: the National Institute of Statistics of Romania and the National Bureau of Statistics of the Republic of Moldova. In order to quantify the educational phenomenon in the two territorial units for statistics regarding the education market, a rather small number of indicators were taken into account due to lack of their dissemination on the desired administrative-territorial units.


Objective: To evaluate and compare the in-vitro dissolution profiles of five generic immediate release (IR) products of Meloxicam (MX) available in Egyptian market with the innovator reference product (Mobic ® , R) using different operational conditions of the flow through dissolution cell (FTC, USP Apparatus 4), in phosphate buffer (pH=7.5). Methods: The comparative in-vitro dissolution studies were performed under different FTC operational conditions such as cell size, tablet position within the cell, open and closed loops setup and type of flow (laminar and turbulent) on MX dissolution rate from different IR products. Results: The study showed that two generic products, out of five, gave similar dissolution profiles with R using a specified well controlled condition of FTC. A selected generic product (Mobitil, G1) was tested versus R under different operational conditions of the FTC such as cell size, type of flow, tablet position and open & closed loops setup. The dissolution profile of MX from R was highly affected by changing the tablet position, slightly affected by the open & closed loops setup and not affected by cell size and type of flow. On the other hand, the dissolution profile of MX from G1 was affected by all the previous operational conditions. Comparing ƒ 2 values between G1 against R among the different operational conditions proposed, only one in-vitro dissolution test showed similar dissolution profile of G1 with respect to R. Conclusion: Three generic products of MX might not be interchangeable with the innovator product (Mobic ® ).


MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate gene expression by pairing to mRNA of the target genes [1]. Dicer, an endonuclease (RNase III), is a protein involved in miRNA biogenesis [1]. During biogenesis, precursor miRNAs are processed by Dicer to generate a short RNA duplex [1]. Mounting evidence indicates that not only miRNAs themselves, but also the genes involved in miRNA biogenesis, play important roles in cancer pathogenesis [1]. Heravi-Moussavi et al . [2] recently identifi ed frequent somatic mutations of DICER1 , the gene encoding Dicer protein, in Sertoli – Leydig cell tumors (60%), and less frequent mutations in juvenile granulosa cell tumors, yolk sac tumors, mature teratomas, testicular non-seminomatous germ cell tumors and embryonal rhabdomyosarcomas. Th e mutations were recurrent in exons 25 and 26 of DICER1 , and most of the mutations were missense mutations occurring at Asp 1709 and Glu 1813 residues [2]. Because miRNA biogenesis and regulation are ubiquitous to all cell types, it is important to know whether any other types of human tumors carry DICER1 recurrent mutations. However, to date, the mutation status of the DICER1 gene in hematologic tumors remains unknown. In the present study, we attempted to determine whether the DICER1 gene is somatically mutated in acute leukemias and other common hematologic tumors. For this, we analyzed somatic mutations of DICER1 gene in fresh bone marrow aspirates of 798 hematologic tumors (acute myelogenous leukemia [AML], acute lymphoblastic leukemia [ALL], multiple myeloma and myelodysplastic syndrome) (Table I) by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and single-strand conformation polymorphism (SSCP) assay. Also, we analyzed the gene in paraffi n-embedded tissues of 132 non-Hodgkin lymphomas (NHLs). Approval was obtained from Th e Catholic University of Korea, College of Medicine ' s institutional review board for this study. To date, all of the recurrent DICER1 somatic mutations in Sertoli – Leydig cell tumors have been detected in exons 25 and 26 [2]. Genomic DNA each from tumor cells and normal cells of the same patients were amplifi ed by PCR with specifi c primer pairs for exon 25 (forward and reverse, respectively: 5 ' -ATGTGGGGATAGTGTAAATGC-3 ' and 5 ' -GGGTCTTCATAAAGGTGCTT-3 ' ) and exon 26 (5 ' -GGCCTTTTTGCTTACAAGTCA-3 ' and 5 ' -GGGATAGTACACCTGCCAGAC-3 ' ). Radioisotope ([ 32 P]dCTP) was incorporated into the PCR products for detection by autoradiography. Other procedures of the PCR-SSCP and DNA sequencing were described in our previous studies [3]. On the SSCP autoradiogram, all of the PCR products were clearly seen. SSCP analysis of aberrantly migrating bands led to the identifi cation of one DICER1 somatic mutation in an NHL (a diff use large B-cell lymphoma), but no DICER1 mutation was detected in the other tumors. Th e mutation was a missense mutation that substituted Glu 1813 residue (c.5438A C [p.Glu1813Ala]) (Figure 1). Importantly, this mutation was the same mutation as previously reported in Sertoli – Leydig cell tumors [2]. We repeated the experiments twice, including PCR-SSCP and direct DNA sequencing analysis to ensure the results, and found that the data were consistent. A main concern in cancer research is to identify whether any mutation found in a cancer type is common in other cancer types as well. In the present study, we analyzed DICER1 somatic mutation in various hematologic tumors. However, the prevalence of the DICER1 mutation in exons 25 and 26 was very low (0.1% of samples). Taken together, our results suggest that DICER1 exons 25 and 26 mutations may be very


Aim: This study aimed at formulating and optimizing the multiparticulate system of Rifaximin by adopting 32 factorial designs with independent variables X1 and X2 as concentrations of two excipients.
Methodology: The pellets were prepared by the Extrusion Spheronization method and evaluated for percentage yield, flow property, percentage drug content, friability, and in-vitro percentage cumulative drug release.
Results: The optimized batch (OR7) displayed excellent flow properties, 0.15±0.03% friability, and 97.85±0.22% drug content with a cumulative drug release of 93.24±0.95%.
Conclusion: The results confirm the usefulness of factorial design to identify the effect of variables on pellet characteristics. The optimized batch can further be coated with different polymers to obtain targeted drug delivery.
Place of Study: Department of Pharmaceutics, M. C. E. Society's Allana College of Pharmacy, Pune.


The United States is home to more than 700 American Indian tribes and Native Alaska villages and corporations located on 96 million acres. Many of these tribes and villages have excellent wind resources that could be commercially developed to meet their electricity needs or for electricity export. The Wind Powering America program engages Native Americans in wind energy development. This poster describes the process and progress of Wind Powering America's involvement with Native American wind energy projects.


The standard "new-Keynesian" model accounts well for the fact that inflation has been stable at a zero interest rate peg. However, If the Fed raises nominal interest rates, the same model model predicts that inflation will smoothly rise, both in the short run and long run. This paper presents a series of failed attempts to escape this prediction. Sticky prices, money, backward-looking Phillips curves, alternative equilibrium selection rules, and active Taylor rules do not convincingly overturn the result. The evidence for lower inflation is weak. Perhaps both theory and data are trying to tell us that, when conditions including adequate fiscal-monetary coordination operate, pegs can be stable and inflation responds positively to nominal interest rate increases. ∗Hoover Institution and NBER. The current version of this paper is posted at http://faculty. chicagobooth.edu/john.cochrane/research/papers/fisher.pdf Please do not post copies. Post a link instead so that people find the most recent version. I thank Edward Nelson for helpful comments.


To the Editor:

We have read with interest the Respiratory Care article entitled "Comparison of proportional assist ventilation plus, T-tube ventilation, and pressure support ventilation as spontaneous breathing trials for extubation: a randomized study" by Teixeira et al.[1][1]

A spontaneous


Switching characteristics of nonuniformly pumped InGaAsP/InP buried-heterostructure bistable lasers are investigated both experimentally and theoretically. The automatic turn-on phenomenon, which is a random process, was observed. For repetitive operation, turn-on delay time and the necessary duration of the switch-off pulse practically limited the maximum repetitive frequency. For switch-on, triggering the saturable absorption region is more effective. For reducing the minimum switch-off pulse width, either higher doping of reverse biasing at the absorption region is recommended. The tradeoff of OFF pulse width with threshold current, and stable operation are discussed. With some improvements in device parameters, bistable operation at a repetitive frequency over 1 GHz is expected. >


Aquatic plants have a natural stem adaptation which permits gases from the atmosphere to be transported to the submerged root system. Sifton (9, 10) has cited various references establishing the role of highly developed intercellular spaces that permit the flow of oxygen from leaf to root. In the case of nonaquatic plants, however, the importance of soil-oxygen stress is not clear. James (2) has questioned the occurrence of oxygen stress in roots under field conditions. He has cited several examples of lysigenous duct formation in roots in association with flooded soil conditions. These data are supported by more recent findings with various upland crops grown in Japan (13). James suggested that under conditions of high water tables plants may not endure anaerobiosis but rather evade it. However, Russell (8) concluded, without quantitative verification, that the large volume of qualitative information seems to justify the thesis that soil aeration, in many instances, is a major factor in plant growth. The compounds which commonly accumulate in higher plants during anaerobiosis are ethanol and lactic acid (12). Ethanol appears to be the common indicator of anaerobiosis in sugar beet roots (2, 11). Ethanol was formed anaerobically in excised barley and rice roots and did not disappear upon return to aerobic conditions (6, 7). These conclusions were based primarily upon nonspecific chemical and physical determinations of ethanol. In the dichromate procedure for ethanol determination, the standard chemical method, substances such as methanol and acetaldehyde are also oxidized (1). These investigations were initiated to determine the feasibility of using an anaerobic end-product of carbohydrate metabolism as an indication of oxygen stress in roots of sugar beet plants. The study was aimed at: A. determining the principal anaerobic end-product in sugar beets, B. ascertaining the pattern of accumulation of an anaerobic end-product in sugar beet root tissue and its rate of elimination during an aerobic recovery period, and C. evaluating the role of foliage in the dissipation of this material from root tissue and as a source of oxygen during normal growth.


Abstract High-need high-risk (HNHR) veterans are medically complex and at the highest risk of hospitalization and long-term institutionalization. Technology can mitigate challenges these veterans have in accessing healthcare. Willingness to use technology as well as access and ability to use technology were assessed in this study. At the time of the survey, 2543 Miami VAHS veterans were listed as HNHR. 634 veterans ultimately completed the questionnaire, and 602 answered the "willingness to use video-visits" question. Of the 602 respondents, 327 (54.3%) reported they were willing for video-visits with the VA, while 275 (45.6%) were not. Those who were willing were significantly younger (P<0.001), with higher educational qualifications (P=0.002), and more health literate than those not willing (P<0.001). They were more also capable of using the Internet, more likely to use email and be enrolled in the VA's patient portal, My HealtheVet (P<0.001). However, of the veterans who were willing, 248 (75.8%) had a device with video-capable technology. Those with video-capable technology were younger (P=0.004), more health literate (P=0.01), and less likely to be Black or African American (P=0.007). They were more capable of using the Internet, more likely to use email, and be enrolled in My HealtheVet than those without (P<0.001). Half of the respondents were willing for video-visits but a quarter of those willing lacked requisite technology, thereby making only about 41.2% of the respondents willing and video-capable. To minimize the digital divide, especially during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, targeted measures need to address these disparities in this vulnerable population.


Abstract: Students' competence is a skill that must be possessed/achieved by students after learning Al-Qur'an as a guide for those who are cautious, who have provided a lot of inspiration related to the concept of education, especially in the letter Al-Alaq verse 1-5. So the purpose of this study is to find out the content of the letter al-Alaq verse 1-5, to know the students' competence concept of 21st century in the law of the national education system article no. 20 of 2003, and know what are the students' competence on 21st century contained in the letter Al-Alaq verse 1-5. This study is a library study (library research) which is qualitative descriptive, which uses documentation and study literature techniques in data collection. While the data analysis method used is the Tahlily interpretation method. The results of this study that: First, the content of this letter is the command to read which is not only limited to the command of reading but also to study, describe, analyze, so that new knowledge arises such as: jurisprudence, Tauhid or Islamic theology, morality, and others. Secondly, as for the relevance of the letter Al-Alaq verse 1 - 5 with the National Education System Law, there is a correspondence with regard to student competencies, namely: critical thinking competencies and problem solving, collaboration, communication, and creativity. Third, the students' competence of 21st century according to Al-Alaq verse 1-5 is that in the first verse alluding to creative competence, the first and third verses allude to critical thinking and solving problems. Keywords: Al-Qur'an Concept, Students' Competence on 21st Century, Interpretation Study


Silk fibroin (SF), chitosan (C), and gelatin (G) blend composition in formic acid have been manufactured by using electrospinning technique in our previous work. The SF: G: C at weight ratios of 10: 20: 1 and 20: 10: 1 (%wt: %wt: ml) were used for crosslinking testing. Glutaraldehyde (GA), and 1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl) cabodiimide (EDC) / N-hydroxy succcinimide (NHS) (EDC/NHS) were chose as crosslinking agents. All samples were treated in such agents by fumigation for 72 hours followed by dipping for 10 minutes. Then those samples were washed in distill water for 3 times (1 time per 10 minutes) and dried in desiccator at room temperature. GA caused immediately shrink in both nanofiber mats and became clearly visible yellowish. However, a little shrinkage occurred after dipping in EDC/NHS. It possibly concluded that the EDC / NHS appropriated for SF: G: C blend nanofiber mats.


Most of the food production connected to crops is located in fluvial corridors because of their suitable morphology and fertile soils. The knowledge and large scale quantification of the agricultural resources at flood risk has a crucial importance for improving urban and regional planning. Recent advances in satellite derived products related to land use, digital terrain and hydrologic variables can give a strong support on extensive analyses on cropland areas in floodplains and their interactions with natural ecosystems and human activities. In this work, we present a global assessment of cropland at flood risk in terms of extension, productivity and the related calories adopting the Global Cropland Area Database (GCAD), the Global Floodplain Dataset (GFPLAIN250m), the Global flood hazard maps (GFHM) in conjunction with continental remotely-sensed data representing free flowing (versus artificially regulated) rivers and urban density maps. Spatially distributed and aggregated results of the research allow to identify the most critical areas in terms of food security and floods, thus allowing to support intervention strategies for food security management at large scale and for different socio-economic contexts.


The Golden Cross mine in the Coromandel, includes a tailings dam which incorporates the main waste rock stack as the downstream shoulder. This paper describes some of the special issues for which the dam had to be designed including zoning the dam to take account of both structural and geochemical considerations, internal and under-drainage measures and provisions for accommodating ground rupture on potentially active faults.


Calibration of weather radar has a direct impact on the accuracy of measurements and therefore is critical for most applications. In this paper, we will focus on reflectivity calibration of X-band solid-state radar. Two test points are selected and three kinds of sphere are used to conduct calibration, including metal and foil. The predicted Z and measured Zm have a mean bias of 2.1dB. Three combinations of the number of sampling pulses and the antenna rotation speed are utilized to examine their impacts on radar reflectivity, which demonstrates that the reflectivity has a downward trend and decreases successively from 0.4 to 0.12dB along with the decent of sampling number. It is also found that the reflectivity of metal sphere at far test point with changing azimuth and elevation angles is closed related to the antenna pattern.


Michael Glawogger's 2005 film Workingman's Death is one of the more striking films to depict the workings of a slaughterhouse. Though the documentary takes on various hellish working conditions, the centerpiece is a sequence shot at a Nigerian open-air marketplace/abattoir. There, workers and customers happily socialize and haggle whilst cows and goats, throats slit, bleed out into the dirt. Workers haul the heads, skins, and meat of slaughtered animals through crowds, over blood-soaked mud; no one reacts with horror. Nowhere is the western desire to deny or sanitize death and suffering in evidence; in fact, quite a different attitude towards animal death applies. As Glawogger explains on the commentary: [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] The slaughtering in the culture of Nigeria is something very normal and simple, and they wouldn't even like to buy the meat when they didn't see the cow. They wouldn't like--they wouldn't even do it--to buy the goat when they don't see the lively goat, and when they don't see the goat was healthy and the goat was worth buying. (1) These attitudes are remarkably different from the prevailing ones in North America, where, as animal liberation advocate Peter Singer puts it, meat is presented in "neat plastic packages," as the "culmination of a long process, of which all but the end product is delicately screened from our eyes." (2) The unfamiliarity of Glawogger's images, and the challenge they present to the viewer to honestly, openly embrace (or at least acknowledge) the animal suffering that goes into the production of meat, lend them a fascination that would likely be lacking in a film produced with more polemical intent. There is, as Glawogger puts it, "a strange mixture of brutality and beauty" to the footage, which makes it "watchable" and "gripping," "because I'm never tired to see that ... I always see something new in it. It opens my thoughts." (3) This is a response quite different from the one engendered by the sort of films produced by animal rights activists to horrify the viewer into swearing off the eating of meat. Such films do not seek to open thoughts but to produce a desired effect, and have generally not been received as cinema; but there is a growing body of films like Glawogger's which are almost as bloody in seeking to show the reality behind the "neat plastic packages" of the grocery store. While equally aimed at breaking down barriers of denial, such films often have a dispassionate or aestheticizing quality to them, which allows the viewer space to contemplate the realities at hand from some safe distance. Such is the case with the first classic of the form, Georges Franju's 1949 documentary Blood of the Beasts, reportedly shot in black and white because the director felt that showing such images in colour would be "too much to take". (4) While a harrowing experience to anyone unaccustomed to images of slaughter, the film need not lead viewers to the conclusion that "meat is murder"; it simply refuses to allow them to lie to themselves about how meat is produced. Often in these films--as is the case with Franju's, with Frederick Wiseman's Meat (1976), or with Rainer Werner Fassbinder's 1978 film In A Year With 13 Moons--social criticism is intended, but this criticism is aimed at targets larger than the abbatoir perse. Meat depicts both animals and workers as pawns in a relentless human institution that is indifferent to the feelings of both, connecting the film to Wiseman's other documentaries on North American institutions. Writing on the Fassbinder film, Ronald Hayman notes that its slaughterhouse sequence "is both a piece of cruelty to the audience and a statement about human cruelty," which will serve to call to mind concentration camps later in the films Concentration camps were also seen as an unsubtle subtext to the Franju film, our inhumanity to animals standing as a cipher for our inhumanity to fellow humans. …


Sphedanolestes minusculus Bergroth lays pale yellow eggs in batches. Eggs are glued to each other and to the substratum with cementing material. The average number of eggs per female was 63.33 ± 21.77. The eggs hatch in 7.80 ± 0.41 days. The average developmental period from I instar to V instar was 48.43 ± 7.39days. The longevity of the male (80.16 ± 5.23) was shorter (96.77 ± 11.88) than that of the female. The preoviposition period was 12.55 ± 3.43 days and the male and female sex ratio was 1: 1.5. The innate capacity of natural increase (r c ) was 0.061 with a gross reproduction rate (mx) of 91.671 females per female. Mean length of generation (T c ) was 76.310 days. Redescriptions of adult and descriptions of egg and nymphal instars are given with illustrations. Predatory and mating behaviour exhibited sequential events as in other reduviids. Prey-deprived predators took less time to approach, capture and pin the prey. Individuals of S. minusculus collected from three different ecological and geomorphological habitats viz., Olavakod tropical rainforest, Sunkankadai scrub jungle and Aralvaimozhi semiarid zone exhibited pronounced diversities in their oviposition pattern, hatchability, incubation and stadial periods, nymphal mortality, adult longevity and sex ratio. These diversities are considered a specially adapted biological function collectively called ecotypism.


Based on the marginal importance of literary creation in language educative processes and the prescriptive a  ention to language surface structure, this article recognizes the literary text as an artistic composition with aesthetic intention, in order to form a distinctive educative practice in comparison to the comprehension and production of other types of texts. It proposes the narrative construction of reality and the exploration of the linguistic code, which favors cognitive processes like symbolization, creativity, and imagination, educating both literary competence and linguistic knowledge.


Indigenous Notions of Ownership and Libraries, Archives and Museums. Camille Callison, Loriene Roy, and Gretchen Alice LeCheminant, eds. Berlin and Boston: DeGruyter, 2016. xi, 376 pp. ISBN 978-3-11-036299-2