Automatic assessment of exams is widely preferred by educators than multiple-choice exams because of its efficiency in measuring student performance, lack of subjectivity when evaluating student response, and faster evaluation time than the time consuming manual evaluation. In this study, a new approach for the Automatic Short Answer Grading (ASAG) is proposed using MaLSTM and the sense vectors obtained by SemSpace, a synset based sense embedding method built leveraging WordNet. Synset representations of the Student's answers and reference answers are given as input into parallel LSTM architecture, they are transformed into sentence representations in the hidden layer and the vectorial similarity of these two representation vectors are computed with Manhattan Similarity in the output layer. The proposed approach has been tested using the Mohler ASAG dataset and successful results are obtained in terms of Pearson (r) correlation and RMSE. Also, the proposed approach has been tested as a case study using a specific dataset (CU-NLP) created from the exam of the "Natural Language Processing" course in the Computer Engineering Department of Cukurova University. And it has achieved a successful correlation. The results obtained in the experiments show that the proposed system can be used efficiently and effectively in context-dependent ASAG tasks.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Recent reports have documented rising rates of CEO turnover. This phenomenon can have negative implications for hospitals and their surrounding communities, particularly in under-resourced rural communities. Ostensibly, components of the Affordable Care Act have addressed some of these resource challenges and may have helped to slow the CEO turnover trend in rural areas. We examined this possibility with a longitudinal analysis of U.S. acute care hospitals over an extended period (2006–2015) to examine whether patterns of CEO change differed for hospitals in different types of geographic areas (e.g., rural vs. urban). The rates revealed by our analysis seem to be problematic, with nearly one-quarter of all U.S. hospitals experiencing a change in CEO every 3 to 4 years, on average. Moreover, while the likelihood of a CEO change increased significantly over time for hospitals in nearly all types of geographic areas, it was nearly twice as large for frontier hospitals in areas with fewer than 2,500 residents compared to urban and rural hospitals. Our study suggests that the stability of hospital CEO leadership has declined over the past decade, particularly for vulnerable frontier hospitals, and highlights the need for recruitment and retention strategies to address this challenge.


Magnetosomes are near-perfect intracellular magnetite nanocrystals found in magnetotactic bacteria. Their synthetic imitation, known as superparamagnetic iron oxide nanoparticles (SPIONs), have found applications in a variety of (nano)medicinal fields such as magnetic resonance imaging contrast agents, multimodal imaging and drug carriers. In order to perform these functions in medicine, shape and size control of the SPIONs is vital. We sampled SPIONs at ten-minutes intervals during the high-temperature thermal decomposition reaction. Their shape (sphericity and anisotropy) and geometric description (volume and surface area) were retrieved using three-dimensional imaging techniques, which allowed to reconstruct each particle in three dimensions, followed by stereological quantification methods. The results, supported by small angle X-ray scattering characterization, reveal that SPIONs initially have a spherical shape, then grow increasingly asymmetric and irregular. A high heterogeneity in volume at the initial stages makes place for lower particle volume dispersity at later stages. The SPIONs settled into a preferred orientation on the support used for transmission electron microscopy imaging, which hides the extent of their anisotropic nature in the axial dimension, there by biasing the interpretation of standard 2D micrographs. This information could be feedback into the design of the chemical processes and the characterization strategies to improve the current applications of SPIONs in nanomedicine.


The enhancement technologies in convection heat transfer allow the effectiveness improvement of heat exchangers. The employment of rough surfaces could be taken into account. In fact, in a ribbed channel, turbulators break the laminar sub-layer and create local turbulence in order to reduce the thermal resistance and augment heat transfer rates. Another available technique is represented by the introduction of nanoparticles in the base fluids in order to improve the fluid thermal conductivity. However, both the methods provide increasing pressure drops.In this paper a numerical investigation is carried out on water-Al2O3 nanofluid forced convection in a two-dimensional ribbed channel, heated by a constant heat flux. Ribs have trapezoidal shapes and different geometric arrangements were analyzed. The mixture model was employed in order to describe the nanofluid behaviour and different nanoparticle volume fractions were considered. The aim consists into describe the thermal and fluid-dynamic performances of ribbed channels filled with Al2O3/water based nanofluids in the turbulent regime. Results show increasing heat transfer rates as particle concentrations and Reynolds numbers increase but higher required pumping powers.Copyright © 2012 by ASME


The experiment was designed to test the hypothesis, derived from earlier investigations, that people tend to overestimate compound probabilities, in the rough sense that they think they have a better chance of success than is actually the case. Fifty boys, aged 14+, were presented with various m × n arrays, where m represents the number of stages and n represents the number of alternatives at each stage. There was one correct but unknown alternative at each stage and, in order to win a prize, the subject had to guess them all in turn, only one guess being allowed at each stage. The task of the subject was then to equate what he believed was his chance of winning the prize with one of a set of lotteries. The chance of success in these lotteries ranged from 0·9 to 0·0001. The hypothesis was confirmed and, in addition, what seems to be a 'law' of sequential choice (or decision) seemed to emerge. The 'law' is such that if the number of stages in the array is held constant, the relative overestimation of the chance of guessing correctly at all stages varies directly with a power of the number of alternatives per stage. If, however, the number of alternatives is held constant, the relative overestimation varies exponentially with the number of stages. This 'law', which we call 'the inertial-ψ effect', appears in almost identical form in two independent experiments. It may prove to have a very general application in the characterization of human judgement and its fallibility in many spheres of life.


Purpose The frequency, extent, time frame, and implications of changes to the modified early warning score (MEWS) in the 24 hours prior to cardiac arrest are not known. Our aim was to determine the prevalence and trends of the MEWS prior to in-hospital cardiac arrest (IHCA) on a ward, and to evaluate the association between changes in the MEWS and in-hospital mortality. Methods A total of 501 consecutive adult IHCA patients who were monitored and resuscitated by a medical emergency team on the ward were enrolled in the study between March 2009 and February 2013. The MEWS was calculated at 24 hours (MEWS24), 16 hours (MEWS16), and 8 hours (MEWS8) prior to cardiac arrest. Results Out of 380 patients, 268 (70.5%) had a return of spontaneous circulation. The survival rate to hospital discharge was 25.8%. When the MEWS was divided into three risk groups (low: ≤2, intermediate: 3–4, high: ≥5), the distribution of the low-risk MEWS group decreased at each time point before cardiac arrest. However, even 8 hours prior to cardiac arrest, 45.3% of patients were still in the low MEWS group. The MEWS was associated with in-hospital mortality at each time point. However, increasing MEWS value from MEWS24 to MEWS8 was not associated with in-hospital mortality [OR 1.24 (0.77–1.97), p = 0.38]. Conclusions About half of patients were still in low MEWS group 8 hours prior to cardiac arrest and an increasing MEWS only occurred in 46.8% of patients, suggesting that monitoring the MEWS alone is not enough to predict cardiac arrest.


Most aid spending by governments seeking to rebuild social and political order is based on an opportunity-cost theory of distracting potential recruits. The logic is that gainfully employed young men are less likely to participate in political violence, implying a positive correlation between unemployment and violence in locations with active insurgencies. We test that prediction in Afghanistan, Iraq and the Philippines, using survey data on unemployment and two newly-available measures of insurgency: (1) attacks against government and allied forces; and (2) violence that kills civilians. Contrary to the opportunity-cost theory, the data emphatically reject a positive correlation between unemployment and attacks against government and allied forces (p<.05%). There is no significant relationship between unemployment and the rate of insurgent attacks that kill civilians. We identify several potential explanations, introducing the notion of insurgent precision to adjudicate between the possibilities that predation on the one hand, and security measures and information costs on the other, account for the negative correlation between unemployment and violence in these three conflicts. † We acknowledge the tremendously helpful comments received at the June 2009 Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation conference on Governance, Development, and Political Violence, and at seminars at UC Berkley, UCLA, UC San Diego, the University of Southern California, and the University of Ottawa.. L. Choon Wang, Josh Martin, Lindsay Heger and Luke N. Condra provided invaluable research assistance. Gordon Dahl, James Fearon, Esteban Klor, Daniele Paserman, Kris Ramsay, and our anonymous reviewers provided critical comments. We acknowledge grant #2007-ST-061-000001 by the United States Department of Homeland Security through the National Center for Risk and Economic Analysis of Terrorism Events and grant # FA9550-09-1-0314 by the United States Department of Defense through the Air Force Office of Scientific Research. The opinions, findings, and recommendations in this document are the authors' and do not reflect views of the United States Department of Homeland Security or Department of Defense. All mistakes are ours. Replication data are available on the authors' websites and at http://jcr.sagepub.com/.


Reconstructing 3D objects in natural environments requires solving the ill-posed problem of geometry, spatially-varying material, and lighting estimation. As such, many approaches impractically constrain to a dark environment, use controlled lighting rigs, or use few handheld captures but suffer reduced quality. We develop a method that uses just two smartphone exposures captured in ambient lighting to reconstruct appearance more accurately and practically than baseline methods. Our insight is that we can use a flash/no-flash RGB-D pair to pose an inverse rendering problem using point lighting. This allows efficient differentiable rendering to optimize depth and normals from a good initialization and so also the simultaneous optimization of diffuse environment illumination and SVBRDF material. We find that this reduces diffuse albedo error by 25%, specular error by 46%, and normal error by 30% against single-and paired-image baselines that use learning-based techniques. Given that our approach is practical for everyday solid objects, we enable photorealistic relighting for mobile photography and easier content creation for augmented reality.


The relationship between the noncommutativity of operators and the violation of the Bell inequality is exhibited in the light of the n-particle Bell-type inequality discovered by Mermin [Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 1838 (1990)]. It is shown that the maximal amount of violation of Mermin's inequality predicted by quantum mechanics decreases exponentially by a factor of 2 −m/2 whenever any m among the n single-particle commutators happen to vanish.


For outdoor surveillance, sensitivity and dynamic range are important to deliver reliable images over widely changing illumination. However, constant monitoring with maximum awareness requires large power consumption and is not suitable for energy-limited applications such as battery-operated and/or energy-scavenging wireless sensor nodes. One of the ways to reduce power is voltage scaling [1-4]. However, it significantly reduces the SNR and results in poor image quality [4]. The signal can be easily corrupted from the noise in dark conditions or be saturated in bright conditions. Most imagers with high sensitivity and wide dynamic range [5,6] consume large power >;50mW, unsuitable for wireless imager node applications. Therefore, it is imperative to implement a sensor adaptable to environmental changes: i.e., the sensor keeps monitoring at extremely low power operation and only turns into high-sensitivity or wide-dynamic-range operations when requested due to illumination changes or requested from the host for detailed image transmission. The sensor changes its operation back to the monitoring mode as a default or when enough operating energy is not available from the battery or energy-harvester. In this paper, we report an adaptive CMOS image sensor that employs four different modes: monitoring, normal, high-sensitivity and wide-dynamic-range (WDR) modes. This adaptable feature enables reliable monitoring while significantly enhancing battery lifetime for wireless image-sensor nodes.


Over the past twenty years, regional and international efforts to secure formal protections for sexual minorities in the human rights framework have met with limited success. The prospects of these campaigns changed significantly in November 2006, when a group of activists, intellectuals, and policymakers met in Yogyakarta, Indonesia to draft a document that would outline the rights that sexual minorities enjoy as human persons under the protection of international law. Since then, activists and policymakers in local, national, and international forums have consistently invoked the Yogyakarta Principles as an authoritative document on the rights of sexual minorities worldwide, despite the fact that the document itself is not legally binding for any state or governing body. In this paper, I explore the entrenchment of sexual minorities as an at-risk group protected by human rights and the importance of the Yogyakarta Principles in advancing this "norm that dare not speak its name" on the global stage. I identify three reasons why the Principles have been quickly assimilated into policymaking: the modesty of their demands, the stability of their foundations, and the strategic, inventive ways that activists have framed and deployed them from multiple points of entry in the global system. In doing so, they have fostered a growing consensus that sexual minorities deserve protection, without necessarily creating or promoting the rights or formal protections that typically accompany such claims.


In order to estimate doubly-selective MIMO-OFDM channel meanwhile improve bandwidth efficiency, a superimposed training (ST) method is considered. The time-varying channel is assumed to be approximated by a complex exponential basis expansion model (CE-BEM). A periodic (non-random) training sequence is arithmetically superimposed at a low power to the information sequence at the transmitter, channel parameters could be obtained without loss of bandwidth. The unknown information sequence can be interference to the ST channel estimation method, in this paper an iterative ST (IST) channel estimation method is presented to improve channel estimation performance exploiting equalized information symbols. From the result of computer simulations, we show that the proposed method can achieve good MSE and BER performance.


Three-phase PWM rectifier is one of the core techniques applied in large scale wind power system. DC-bus voltage usually fluctuates as the variation of load and ac voltage, which may hurt the safety and reliability of the system. In order to restrain dc-bus voltage fluctuation and improve system dynamic response, a direct current control and dual close loop control structure in d-q synchronous reference frame are employed. By analyzing the factors which influence the fast transient response, an optimum feed-forward control strategy is proposed based on the power balance relationship between the input and output of rectifier. With this control, the dc-bus voltage is immunized from not only variation of load but also variation of grid voltage, and the capacitance of the dc link capacitors can be reduced at same transient response demand of system. Simulation results show that the proposed control scheme has satisfactory steady-state characteristics and fast transient response.


Al atoms generally adopt the +3 oxidation state and form stoichiometric oxides such as Al2O3 in the bulk phase. Among small cationic gas-phase clusters, near-stoichiometric clusters such as Al3O4+, Al3O5+, Al4O6+, Al4O7+, Al5O7+, and Al5O8+ have been readily generated in experimental studies. However, when a single Au atom was included in the clusters, oxygen-deficient clusters such as AuAl4O5+ were formed in high abundance; in these clusters, the Au atom accepted electron density from the Al atoms. The geometrical structures and atomic charges in the clusters suggest that a single Au atom can substitute for O atoms in Al oxide clusters. This propensity originates from the high electron and low oxygen affinities, which, together, constitute an unusual property of Au.


PURPOSE The current study identified effects of the health risk information strategy on risk perception to diseases related to physical inactivity, and test the relationships between changes in risk perception and changes in physical activity. METHODS A total of 37 adolescents voluntarily participated in the 12-week health risk information strategy. In the initial stage of this study, adolescents were randomly classified into the experimental group and the control group. The experimental group was instructed the health risk information twice a week, while the control group lived a routine life. Health vulnerability, objective risk factors related to physical inactivity, and physical activity were measured to the study variables and 2× 2 repeated measure analysis of variance and hierarchical regression analysis were conducted. RESULTS Results indicated that the adolescents at health risks related to physical inactivity showed significant increase in risk perception on waist size and BMI after the health risk information strategy. In addition, changes in risk perception on obesity and diabetes significantly influenced on changes in physical activity. CONCLUSIONS This study implies that it needs to actively promote not only health risks due to physical inactivity, but health benefits of physical activity in order to reduce diseases associated with physical inactivity in health promotion and preventive medicine.


We introduce an alternative type of quantum repeater for long-range quantum communication with improved scaling with the distance. We show that by employing hashing, a deterministic entanglement distillation protocol with one-way communication, one obtains a scalable scheme that allows one to reach arbitrary distances, with constant overhead in resources per repeater station, and ultrahigh rates. In practical terms, we show that, also with moderate resources of a few hundred qubits at each repeater station, one can reach intercontinental distances. At the same time, a measurement-based implementation allows one to tolerate high loss but also operational and memory errors of the order of several percent per qubit. This opens the way for long-distance communication of big quantum data.


Abstract Professor Wariboko has rightly responded to Fire from Heaven in the context of the entire span of my writing from The Secular City to The Future of Faith and has pointed out some persistent themes. The thesis of The Secular City was that God remains present and active in a secularizing world, albeit not always under "religious" auspices. A new generation of thinkers, including Charles Taylor, has now picked up this theme. Fire from Heaven described the "surfacing" of this primal piety in the global Pentecostal wave, and The Future of Faith suggests what the next stage may be. The Pentecostal movement and the resurgence of Islam have made it clear that the "secular" is now only one possible worldview among others. Also, there are a number of different forms of secularism. The emerging global cosmopolis will be multicultural, a world city "where strangers meet." Using the metaphor of jazz, faith now follows no "score" but improvises within a chord structure, with players responding to each other. The question of whether the Pentecostal movement can "play" in such a setting is still an open one.


Chemical reactions in fluid dynamics deeply modify the flow physical conditions through both the contribution of the energy of reactions and the variation of the mean molecular weight and of the ratio of specific heats. This occurs typically on time scales largely much smaller than diffusive time scales of the produced chemicals, especially for shock waves coming from explosive events. In this work we show how it is possible to include a standing alone algorithm, dealing with both molecular and nuclear thermochemistry in the computational nondiffusive adiabatic flow dynamics in local thermal equilibrium (LTE) in an explicit scheme of integration of fluid dynamics equations, free of the adopted computational framework. In this paper, working in the Free Lagrangian GASPHER framework, belonging to the smooth particle hydrodynamics methods (SPH), some comparisons are made for planar discontinuity flows among reactive to the respective unreactive flow models, assuming the same initial physical conditions and simple chemical composition. Results show the importance of the role not only of the thermochemical reaction energy, but also of the mean molecular weight and of the ratio of specific heats.


The presented course book has been written for the lectures and seminars of the subject Mathematics I, which is in the syllabus of the Faculty of Engineering, University of Debrecen. The book has an unusual approach to the curriculum in mathematics. Although the topics follow the usual thematic of the subject, the aim is not the teaching of mathematical concepts and tools, but the demonstration of their application in different engineering and economic fields, where the students will meet them. In this paper, we report on our experiences of this teaching method and on the application of the book.


In this paper, we study the impact of outdated channel state information (CSI) on a cooperative system based on opportunistic relay selection (ORS). The study is carried out by obtaining an analytical expression for the outage probability, defined as the probability that the instantaneous mutual information is lower than a target rate. Besides, we propose the optimal power allocation aimed at minimizing the outage probability when the available CSI is subject to impairments. As shown in the paper, the proposed strategy provides significant gains when compared with uniform power allocation.


The aim of this study was to evaluate the normalized response speed (Vrn) of the knee musculature (flexor and extensor) in high competitive level volleyball players using tensiomyography (TMG) and to analyze the muscular response of the vastus medialis (VM), rectus femoris (RF), vastus lateralis (VL), and biceps femoris (BF) in accordance with the specific position they play in their teams. One hundred and sixty-six players (83 women and 83 men) were evaluated. They belonged to eight teams in the Spanish women's superleague and eight in the Spanish men's superleague. The use of Vrn allows avoiding possible sample imbalances due to anatomical and functional differences and demands. We found differences between Vrn in each of the muscles responsible for extension (VM, RF, and VL) and flexion (BF) regardless of the sex. Normalized response speed differences seem to be larger in setters, liberos and outside players compared to middle blockers and larger in males when compared to females. These results of Vrn might respond to the differences in the physical and technical demands of each specific position, showing an improved balance response of the knee extensor and flexor musculature in male professional volleyball players.


Low-dose metronomic (LDM) chemotherapy is an alternative to conventional chemotherapy and is the most common use of low-dose levels of traditional chemotherapeutics in patients. The selection of patients, drug dosages and dosing intervals in LDM is empirical. In this study we systematically examined the schedule-dependent interaction of drugs on a breast cancer cell line (BCC) cultured in Lab on a Chip (LOC) microdevices. The LDM studies were combined with cell staining in order to better characterize different cell stages and modes of cell death, including caspase-dependent apoptosis, caspase-independent cell death and autophagy-dependent cell death. Microscope images were examined using the Fiji plugin Trainable Weka Segmentation to analyze cell area in 7500 images showing different types of cell death modes. Paclitaxel combined with LDM chemotherapy demonstrated a reduction in the area covered by live cells. In contrast, there was an induction of high levels of cell death due to caspase-dependent apoptosis. Furthermore, the microdevice used in this study is also an attractive alternative for staining cells in order to characterize and study BCC growth and development in situ.


The introduction of oxygen vacancies (OVs) on the surface of photocatalysts has already been proven to be an effective way to extend the light response to visible light and trap charge carriers, thereby promoting the photocatalytic performance. In this study, h-BN/OV-BiOCl composites were prepared using hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) to further improve the visible-light photocatalytic activity of oxygen-vacancy-enriched bismuth oxychloride (OV-BiOCl). The composition and morphology of these materials were investigated, and the photocatalytic performance experiments showed that the introduction of h-BN could significantly improve the visible-light photocatalytic activity of OV-BiOCl, which was 1.7 and 1.4 times that of pure OV-BiOCl for the degradation of rhodamine B (RhB) and bisphenol A (BPA) when the h-BN content was 5 wt%, respectively. The role of h-BN was comprehensively investigated, and the results revealed that the presence of negatively charged h-BN could improve the separation efficiency of photoinduced electrons (e−) and holes (h+) by promoting the migration of positively charged h+ to the surface of the photocatalyst, as expected. Moreover, the oxygen vacancies in OV-BiOCl were increased in the presence of h-BN; this favored the activation of more adsorbed O2 for the oxidation of pollutants. Finally, a probable mechanism was proposed for the improved photocatalytic activity of the h-BN/OV-BiOCl composites. This study provides an insight into the roles of h-BN in oxygen-vacancy-enriched photocatalysts.


For most of the year, Meyer's parrots in the Okavango Delta do not form large feeding flocks, and groups larger than two or three are probably the result of opportunistic aggregation at favoured food items after dispersion from communal roosts. Communal roosting likely does not facilitate flocking unless the food resources are close to the roost site, but may function in anti-predator defence. Meyer's parrots appear to be dependent on riverine forest, Acacia-Combretum marginal woodland and mopane woodland for roost sites in the Okavango Delta. They aggregated more during the breeding season due to their specialist nutritional requirements, and female dependence on food provisioning by the male parrots. Meyer's parrots may be sedentary in the Okavango Delta, but the possibility of limited local movements in other areas (especially the Zimbabwean highlands) should be investigated.


Statement of Problem: Perforations are significant complications that can occur during root canal therapy and may result in the destruction of adjacent periodontal tissues. An ideal material for repairing a perforation should be biocompatible and have a high sealing ability. Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare histologic tissue responses of experimentally induced pulp chamber perforations in dogs' teeth repaired with amalgam, light-cured glass ionomer and Mineral Trioxide Aggregate (MTA). Materials and Methods: Fifty-four lower premolars of 9 dogs were used for this interventional study. Access cavities were prepared and perforations were created on the floors of the pulp chambers. The samples were divided into three experimental groups of 12 teeth and positive and negative control groups consisted of 12 and 6 teeth, respectively. The perforations in the study groups were sealed with amalgam, lightcured glass ionomer and MTA. All access cavities were filled with light-cured glass ionomer. Five dogs were sacrificed after seven days and 4 dogs were put to death after 28 days. The premolars along with the surrounding alveolar bone were cut in block sections and histologically evaluated for inflammation, bone formation and epithelial proliferation. The data were analyzed by Kruskal-Wallis and Mann-Whitney tests . Results: A statistically significant difference was observed in inflammation and bone regeneration, between amalgam and MTA at both time periods. Conclusion: It appears that MTA and GI are more suitable materials for perforation repair, as compared to amalgam


This essay introduces an anthropological practice that remains largely unexplored in the historical literature on racial science: biometrics. In the early twentieth century, biometricians analyzed skull measurements using novel statistical methods to demonstrate racial biological differences. Drawing on new archival material, the essay reveals how these biometric data practices challenged racist anthropology. Between 1934 and 1952, Geoffrey Morant, an expert on biometry and race in Karl Pearson's Biometric Laboratory in London, mobilized biometry to debunk Nazi racial theories. He informed the public about Nazism's fallacies in The Races of Central Europe (1939) and his UNESCO pamphlet The Significance of Racial Differences (1952). Unlike anti-racism campaigners such as Ashley Montagu, however, Morant did not dismiss the biological reality of race in his fight against Nazi racism. The essay shows that the coexistence of anti-racist and racializing practices was not paradoxical but, rather, an important feature of the anthropological study of human variation in the twentieth century.


Shear horizontal surface acoustic waves (SH-SAWs) have been regarded as good candidates for liquid sensing applications but are inefficient in fluid manipulation due to a minimal fluid coupling between the fluid and acoustic waves. However, in this letter, a vertical jetting function was realized using the SH-SAW generated from a 36° Y-X LiTaO3 SAW device. The jetting of the droplet induced by the SH-SAWs was observed nearly along the vertical direction, and the aspect ratio of the liquid beam is proportional to the applied power before breaking up, which is dramatically different from those generated from the conventional Rayleigh SAWs. By conducting theoretical simulation and experimental investigation on the SH-SAWs systematically, we concluded that the wave/energy pressure dissipated into the sessile droplets causes this vertical ejection on the device surface.


In African cultures, the Ndebele included, a strong society is one that is made up of healthy and robust family relationships, with the family institution serving as a foundation for the survival and continuity of society. However, the frequency of divorce nowadays suggests that the foundations of marriages are not as strong as they ought to be. Thus, this article seeks to examine how traditional Ndebele society has always sought to help couples to prevent or to manage marital challenges that could destabilise marital bonds and trigger marital failure. The article also attempts to find out if there are lessons that could help with marital distress and failure, single parenthood and many more issues on the increase in the embattled marriage institution. This examination is mainly done through a philosophical analysis of traditional wedding songs. Wedding songs are structured cultural expressions that reflect society's marriage values and its efforts in the promotion of marital stability and success. The article adopts the theory of Africana womanism. The theory is critical here because of its commitment towards the stability of the family. The data was collected in Tsholotsho District in Zimbabwe from 2016 to 2019 through interviews, group discussions and participant observation.


Background: Currently, a high-flow nasal cannula (HFNC) has been shown to improve extubation outcomes. However, there is a lack of evidence on the utilisation of HFNC in high-risk chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of HFNC versus non-invasive ventilation (NIV) in preventing re-intubation following planned extubation in high-risk COPD patients. Patients and Methods: In this prospective, randomised, controlled trial, 230 mechanically ventilated COPD patients at high risk for re-intubation who fulfilled the criteria for planned extubation were enrolled. Post-extubation blood gases and vital signs at 1, 24, and 48 hours were recorded. The primary outcome was the re-intubation rate within 72 hours. Secondary outcomes included post-extubation respiratory failure, respiratory infection, intensive care unit and hospital length of stay, and mortality rate at 60 days. Results: 230 patients after planned extubation were randomly allocated to receive either HFNC (n = 120) or NIV (n = 110). Re-intubation within 72 hours was significantly lower in the high-flow group: 8 patients (6.6%) versus 23 patients (20.9%) in the NIV group {absolute difference, 14.3% [95% confidence interval (CI), 10.9–16.3]; P = 0.001}. The frequency of post-extubation respiratory failure was less in patients assigned to HFNC than in those allocated NIV (25% vs. 35.4%) [absolute difference, 10.4% (95% CI, 2.4–14.3); P = 0.001]. There was no significant difference between the two groups regarding reasons for respiratory failure after extubation. It was observed that the 60-day mortality rate was lower in patients who received HFNC than in those assigned to NIV (5% vs. 13.6%) [absolute difference, 8.6 (95% CI, 4.3 to 9.10); P = 0.001]. Conclusion: The use of HFNC after extubation appears to be superior to NIV in reducing the risk of re-intubation within 72 hours and 60-day mortality in high-risk COPD patients.


Proton induced gamma emission (PIGE) method has been developed at the Accelerator Laboratory of Atomic Energy Center, Dhaka (AECD) for the investigation of various human health related specimens. In the present study PIGE analytical technique has been used for the determination of numerous trace elements in some commonly used fish samples which were collected from Islampur area at Savar. During the experimental work the γrays emitted from the prepared fish samples were measured using a Highpurity Germenium (HPGe) detector. The detected 18 elements were Iron, Calcium, Sodium, Magnesium, Aluminum, Potassium, Vanadium, Chromium, Manganese, Copper, Zinc, Selenium, Bromine, Rubidium, Strontium, Cadmium, Iodine, Lead etc. The objective of this study was to measure the concentrations of these trace elements in the collected fish samples and to investigate whether their concentrations are harmful for human health by comparison with limits set by WHO/FAO. The results obtained indicate that Fe, K and Ca concentrations were relatively high in all samples as compared with the other elements. The measured elemental concentration of Fe, Mn, Zn, Cu, Cr and V in all fish samples were found to be above the WHO/FAO recommended limits.


The analysis of biomolecular data from high-throughput screens is typically characterized by the high dimensionality of the measured profiles. Development of diagnostic tools for this kind of data, such as gene expression profiles, is often coupled to an interest of users in obtaining interpretable and low-dimensional classification models; as this facilitates the generation of biological hypotheses on possible causes of a categorization. Purely data driven classification models are limited in this regard. These models only allow for interpreting the data in terms of marker combinations, often gene expression levels, and rarely bridge the gap to higher-level explanations such as molecular signaling pathways. Here, we incorporate into the classification process, additionally to the expression profile data, different data sources that functionally organize these individual gene expression measurements into groups. The members of such a group of measurements share a common property or characterize a more abstract biological concept. These feature subgroups are then used for the generation of individual classifiers. From the set of these classifiers, subsets are combined to a multi-classifier system. Analysing which individual classifiers, and thus which biological concepts such as pathways or ontology terms, are important for classification, make it possible to generate hypotheses about the distinguishing characteristics of the classes on a functional level.


By low-temperature epitaxial growth of group IV semiconductors utilizing electron-cyclotron-resonance (ECR) plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (CVD), atomically controlled plasma processing has been developed in order to achieve atomic-layer doping and heterostructure formation with nanometer-order thickness control as well as smooth and abrupt interfaces. In this paper, typical recent progress in plasma processing is reviewed as follows: (1) By N and B atomic-layer formation and subsequent Si epitaxial growth on Si(100) without substrate heating, heavy atomic-layer doping was demonstrated. Most of the incorporated N or B atoms can be confined in about a 2-nm-thick region of the atomic-layer doped Si film. (2) Using an 84 % relaxed Ge buffer layer formed on Si(100) by ECR plasma enhanced CVD, formation of a B-doped highly strained Si film with nanometer-order thickness was achieved and hole mobility enhancement as high as about 3 was observed in the highly strained Si film.


In the upgrades and innovations of nuclear fuel material, the U-50 wt.% Zr alloy is regarded as one of the most promising metallic fuel materials, due to its excellent thermal response, acceptable irradiation performance, and ease of fuel recycling. Under in-pile irradiation, large temperature gradients and dimensional changes contribute to complicated fuel thermal-mechanical behaviors, including the pore effect induced by fission gas production. However, the deficiency of the physical parameters of the porous U-50 wt.% Zr alloy makes it hardly possible to conduct fuel performance prediction under high irradiation conditions. To obtain Young's modulus and thermal conductivity of porous U-50 wt.% Zr alloy, the molecular dynamics (MD) code LAMMPS and the modified embedded atom method (MEAM) potential for binary U-Zr system were incorporated. In this study, three-dimensional elastic constants were calculated by engineering strain loading method at different ambient temperatures and porosities, and the effective Young's modulus was computed via Voigt averaging scheme. The phonon thermal conductivity was simulated with the Non-Equilibrium Molecular Dynamics (NEMD) method, and the electron thermal conductivity was predicted by semi-empirical correlations and existing density functional theory (DFT) results. The parallel model, series model and effective medium theory (EMT) were adopted to consider the mixture and pores effect. Finally, porosity factors were proposed to establish new semi-empirical correlations, which could give a preliminary prediction of Young's modulus and thermal conductivity for porous U-50 wt.% Zr alloy.


Automated driving is a widely discussed topic nowadays. Impressive demonstrations have shown the potentials of vehicle automation. However, many projects in the context of automated driving use a priori data in order to compensate insufficiencies in perceiving and understanding the vehicle's environment. Additionally, in terms of functional safety and redundancy, it is not yet known whether such localization-and map-based approaches are really path breaking. This is the reason why we focus on on-board perception also of the stationary urban environment. While object tracking is a commonly used approach, the combination of grid-based and object-based representations for environment perception is still a research topic. The sufficient perception of lanes and drivable areas is an unsolved issue in urban environment. Several perception modules have to collaborate for a suitable representation of the vehicles' surroundings. In this paper, we present the latest contributions of the project Stadtpilot to a perception-driven modeling of urban environments. We propose a lane detection approach which is based on a grid-based representation of different environmental features. Our approach is able to detect multi-lane structures and it is capable to deal with complex lane structures which are typical of urban roads. The extracted features are stabilized by a tracking module. Additionally, we incorporate a free-space representation which data is not derived implicitly from detected targets, but based on an explicit ground representation. Extensions of our dynamic classification module focus on the start/stop behavior of other road users in order to enhance the completeness of track list (mobile objects) and grid (stationary environment). The presented algorithms run in real-time on a standard PC and are evaluated with real sensor data.


BACKGROUND
The aim of the study was that to evaluate the post-operative pain in case of ano-rectal diseases wether treated by ketorolac, or buprenorphine or tramadol.

MATERIALS AND METHODS
The intensity of post-operative pain was evaluated in 60 patients with hemorrhoidal diseases, fistulae, abscesses and anal neoplasms, divided into three homogenous groups and treated with intramuscular ketorolac (Group I), transdermal buprenorphine (Group II) and tramadol in elastomeric pump (Group III).

RESULTS
The average index of the visual analogue scale, as mean to evaluate the intensity of the post-operative pain, was 1,85 in the first group, 1,20 in the second one and 1,40 in the third group.

DISCUSSION
In patients treated with transdermal buprenorphine or with tramadol in elastomeric pump there has been a more quick psycho-physical recovery than in those treated with ketorolac; the management of elastomeric pump represents however for patients cause of concern while the transdermal system is a kind of rational and comfortable way of treatment of the pain, with the advantage of being non-invasive.

CONCLUSIONS
Better compliance and lower operating costs have given the preference to the use of transdermal buprenorphine for the treatment of diseases of the post-operative pain in the diseases of the anal canal.


OBJECTIVE
To identify the risk factors of hepatorenal syndrome in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related acute-on-chronic liver failure(ACLF).

METHODS
A total of 726 hospitalized patients with HBV-ACLF were retrospectively analyzed. Data of demographic and clinical parameters (sex, age, family history, and presence of liver cirrhosis and diabetes), common complications (spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, pulmonary infection, hepatic encephalopathy, and upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage), and baseline biochemical parameters (albumin, globulin, total bilirubin, direct bilirubin, alanine aminotransferase, aspartate aminotransferase, gamma-glutamyl transferase, alkaline phosphatase, cholesterol, cholinesterase, K+, Na+, plasma thromboplastin antecedent, alpha-fetoprotein, HBV DNA, white blood cell count, hemoglobin, and platelet count) were collected from the medical records database. Univariate and multiple regression analyses were performed to determine the risk factors of hepatorenal syndrome.

RESULTS
Multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage [risk (R) = 1.313, relative hazard (RH) = 3.716, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.156-6.404], hepatic encephalopathy (R = 1.120, RH = 3.065, 95% CI: 1.900-4.945), spontaneous bacterial peritonitis (R = 1.005, RH = 2.733, 95% CI: 1.379-5.417), pulmonary infection (R = 1.051, RH = 2.862, 95% CI: 1.783-4.592), and white blood cell count (R = 0.056, RH = 1.058, 95% CI: 1.010-1.107) were independent risk factors for hepatorenal syndrome development in patients with HBV-ACLF.

CONCLUSION
Several risk factors were significantly associated with the development of hepatorenal syndrome in HBV-ACLF, including upper gastrointestinal hemorrhage, hepatic encephalopathy, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, pulmonary infection, and elevated white blood cell count.


The methods used for both pre-exposure and post-exposure immunization against rabies were studied. In pre-exposure immunization duck embryo vaccine should be used. In post-exposure immunization either duck embryo or Semple-type vaccine appears to be effective in stimulating antibody production. Both vaccines may cause neurological sequelae. A dose of vaccine should be given 20-50 days after completion of the primary course of vaccination. Immune serum should be used in all severe exposures especially of the head and neck, and in individuals in whom the commencement of vaccination has been unduly delayed. In individuals who have been previously vaccinated reinforcing doses have been found to be effective even as long as 20 years after the primary vaccination. A tissue culture vaccine has been developed and is about to undergo field trials.


We combine Synthetic Aperture Radar Interferometry (InSAR), tide gauge, and continuous GPS measurements to determine the spatial variation in vertical land motion (VLM) along the coast of the Los Angeles basin over the past decade, and to examine the impact of spatially variable VLM on relative sea level trends. By identifying radar scattering targets with long‐term coherence we make height corrections which allow interferogram creation for nearly the entire ERS‐1 catalog and permit estimation of average deformation rates with minimal temporal aliasing. Between Los Angeles Harbor and Newport Beach, mean VLM trends range from ∼3.4 to −4.3 mm/yr, reflecting the high level of ground water and oil extraction activity in the region. West of Los Angeles Harbor, VLM rates and spatial variability are roughly half as large. The 8‐year VLM trends exceed the long‐term sea level trend (0.8 mm/yr) determined from the 80 year Los Angeles Harbor tide gauge. The high degree of observed VLM variability emphasizes the need for the spatially continuous measurements provided by InSAR; a single tide gauge assessment of regional RSL would otherwise have limited applicability.


This research is on curriculum development, the importance of curriculum development in the Industrial Revolution Era 4.0. Previous research has shown that the development of the current curriculum is faced with the demands of society in general to keep up with the development of Technology. The research methodology is a qualitative method and literature study. This research was conducted at SD Muhammadiyah 12 Pamulang Tangerang Selatan. Information is obtained from several informants such as principals and masters. Information collection methods use observation, in-depth interviews, and documentation. Information analysis use the Interactive Analysis Model. The validity of this research information is the level of credibility, transferability, dependency, and affirmability. The elementary School (SD) of Muhammadiyah 12 Pamulang, Banten conducts curriculum development using a technological approach with the implementation of curriculum development consisting of curriculum planning implemented in the creation of annual programs, semester programs, syllabuses, learning implementation plans, and the least completeness criteria namely: (1) the principles and characteristics of syllabus development in SD Muhammadiyah 12 Pamulang Tangerang Selatan is the arrangement of togetherness with general learning or special learning about setting the purpose of character education methods of learning that can develop the curriculum; (2) principles and characteristics of material development at SD Muhammadiyah 12 Pamulang Tangerang Selatan that the materials applied in this school are not only using available school facilities and infrastructure but also the school environment becomes learning objects or materials applied; (3) the principles and characteristics of the lesson plan at SD Muhammadiyah 12 Pamulang Tangerang Selatan.


Research on future teachers' geometrical knowledge mainly focused on comparing their knowledge against a reference body of knowledge. Consequently, these studies were categorized into deficit (what is lacking) and affordance (what knowledge enables) approaches. Yet, research literature is very scarce on what future teachers' geometry knowledge is: what is its content and structure.
In research, under the term of personal epistemology are regrouped studies on people's perceptions on the nature of knowledge and knowing, in particular those of future or in-service teachers. The main research tool of these studies is a closed item questionnaire with questions usually targeting four aspects of knowledge: certainty, simplicity, source, and justification of knowledge. A shortcoming of this approach is in the difference between professed and enacted epistemologies: the questionnaires measure professed epistemologies, yet these can differ from what is manifested in a spontaneous manner, for example during classroom instruction. A different line of research, pertinent to this thesis, is on teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning. Several studies suggest that teachers' conceptions rely on their epistemic beliefs. Both aspects are comprised in the term of teachers' epistemology, introduced by Brousseau (1987). In brief, teachers' epistemology comprises aspects of what, why and how to teach.
The aim of the thesis is to construct a praxeological model of future elementary teacher's envisioned practice of teaching geometric transformations. These praxeologies comprise the tasks future teachers would use in their classroom to teach the topic, as well the techniques they envision students should learn. Along with these elements, we describe the theory underlying the techniques. The theory is the expression of future teachers' geometric knowledge. In addition, by analyzing future teachers' lesson plans, we identify manifestations of their spontaneous, enacted epistemology. By extrapolating from the detailed findings about their praxeologies, a broader characterization of future teachers' epistemology is proposed.
The thesis discusses the potential implications of future teachers' praxeologies for students' learning of mathematics and proposes some recommendations for the preparation of teachers to teach mathematics.


Smooth muscle cells (SMCs) are typically used as a cell source for the reconstruction of hollow organs by conventional tissue engineering techniques. However, the necessity for and advantage of the use of tissue‐specific SMCs are unknown. The present study investigated the phenotypic changes that occur following isolation and in vitro expansion of rat SMC populations isolated from three different tissues: the aorta, oesophagus and urinary bladder. rSMCs were isolated by enzymatic dispersion and expanded by conventional cell culture techniques, yielding microscopically homogeneous populations. SMC phenotypes were monitored according to their expression of marker proteins during the first two passages. Two of the three SMC populations (rSMC‐a and rSMC‐e) showed a marked change in their marker protein profiles during the first two passages, which resulted in a homogeneous phenotype that was neither fully contractile nor fully synthetic. SMCs from the urinary bladder did not show such a shift. Differences between the three rSMC populations were observed with regard to proliferative activity and gene expression patterns, suggesting the retention of some tissue‐specific cell characteristics. In summary, phenotypic changes in SMCs occur as a result of conventional cell isolation and expansion techniques, thus questioning the necessity for a tissue‐specific cell source for regenerative medicine applications. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


Signatures of collective behavior have been measured in highly relativistic p+p collisions, as well as in p+A, d+A, and 3He+A collisions. Numerous particle correlation measurements in these systems have been successfully described by calculations based on viscous hydrodynamic and transport models. These observations raise the question of the minimum necessary conditions for a system to exhibit collectivity. Recently, numerous scientists have raised the question of whether the quarks and gluons generated in e+e- collisions may satisfy these minimum conditions. In this paper we explore possible signatures of collectivity, or lack thereof, in e+e- collisions utilizing A Multi-Phase Transport (AMPT) framework which comprises melted color strings, parton scattering, hadronization, and hadron re-scattering.


Double-skin facades open up new possibilities for clients and planners seeking creative new designs that are intelligently adapted to environmental conditions. This publication gives a comprehensive treatment of the subject, providing both a theoretical framework for the use of this type of construction and numerous illustrations of practical examples. The book studies not only issues such as acoustic and thermal insulation, aerophysics and facade construction, but also the question of economic viability. Double-skin facades have been used mostly in the construction of large buildings such as the debis headquarters on Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. However they can be used with equal success in smaller buildings as a means of reducing the ingress of external noise and improving ventilation.


Background: Acute pancreatitis is a disease of variable severity, and a high index of clinical suspicion supported by relevant laboratory and imaging studies is necessary to make early diagnosis and improve patient outcome. Objective: This study aims to revise the most common presenting symptoms and signs of acute pancreatitis and the diagnostic modalities used in adult Ethiopian patients. Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted among adult patients with acute pancreatitis admitted to St. Paul's Millennium Medical College Hospital from January 2005 - December 2011. Data on clinical presentation and outcome of illness was collected from medical records using a structured and pretested questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS Version 16. Results: A total of 40 patients were admitted to the hospital during the study period. Medical records were retrieved for 30 of them. The male to female ratio was 5:1 and the mean age was 40 years. The majority (76.7%) of patients presented within 3 days of onset of illness. Abdominal pain and vomiting were the most common presenting symptoms seen in 86.7% and 60%, respectively. Tachycardia (60%) abdominal distention (73%) and tenderness (80%) were physical findings. Serum amylase level was elevated in all patients, but was highly elevated in 16 (40%). Ultrasound examination showed features of acute pancreatitis in six (31.6%). Acute pancreatitis was diagnosed on clinical evaluation in 18 (60%) of the cases and intra-operatively in 12 (40%). Six (20%) of the cases died and five of them were among those who underwent surgery.


In primary and secondary education in the Netherlands, 30% of the schools are public, and 70% are private. Both private and public schools are state funded and must follow the national curriculum. Within this context, schools can develop their own identities and teaching methods. With regard to the identity of public education in the Netherlands, three formal legal characteristics are generally mentioned. These characteristics, anchored in the constitution and educational law and shared by all public schools, are: (1) a public school is managed by the government; (2) public education is open to all; and (3) public education is actively diverse. Students develop their identity in relation to their environment. A research project used the Delphi method, by analogy with earlier research into the pedagogical task of education. In three rounds, through written questionnaires, group discussions, and panel discussions, the desired and actual implementation of the pedagogical identity of public education was explored at two pilot schools. Data were collected among students (n=147), parents (n=58), and teachers (n=11). Critical democratic citizenship refers to active participation by all, considerable social concern, and a careful analysis of different views and perspectives. This research shows that these elementary schools make a good start in this respect, but the interaction between individual and group should be less of one adapting to the group norm, mostly set by the teacher, and a more dynamic interaction in which everyone can participate. Critical democratic citizenship demands a strong involvement with others, a concern that is based on an emotionally perceived sense of togetherness. (Contains 32 references and 4 tables.) (BT) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. Moral and Democratic Education in Public Primary Schools W. VEUGELERS & E. DE KAT University of Amsterdam (Graduate School of Teaching and Learning & SCO-Kohnstamm Institute) University for Humanistics Utrecht Paper presented at the Annual conference of AERA, April 21-25 2003, Chicago What is the pedagogical identity of a school? What are the parents', students' and teachers' perceptions of this identity? How do students, parents and teachers judge the way the school is presently implementing its pedagogical responsibilities? Which new ideas have all those concerned about the pedagogical identity of the school? In the Netherlands, denominationalism is greatly influencing the educational system. In primary and secondary education, 30 of the schools is public, and 70% is private (Roman Catholic, Protestant, Montessori or another pedagogical tradition). Both public and private schools are state funded and have to follow the national curriculum. Within this context, schools can develop their own identities and teaching methods. Pedagogical identity of public education The term identity is generally associated with the ideological (religious or philosophical) foundation of a school. Besides the so-called ideological identity, one usually distinguishes an educational identity, the choice for a pedagogical didactic school of thought like for instance Montessori, Jenaplan or traditional education. This educational and pedagogical didactic identity is colored by the ideological identity. With regard to the identity of public education in the Netherlands, three formal legal characteristics are generally mentioned These characteristics, that are anchored in the constitution and educational law and are shared by all schools for public education, are: A public school is managed by the government; Public education is open to all; Public education is actively divers.


We have studied some of the neuroendocrine and social correlates of dexamethasone resistance in a nonhuman primate population. Subjects were 51 male Macaca fascicularis monkeys with known behavioral histories and who had been given dexamethasone (DEX) suppression tests a week prior to killing. We compared the subset of monkeys who were most DEX responsive (post-DEX cortisol values of 3.1 +/- 0.5 micrograms/dl) versus a DEX-resistant subset (cortisol values of 9.2 +/- 2.0 micrograms/dl); we found two features that distinguished these groups: (a) DEX-resistant monkeys had significantly fewer available glucocorticoid receptor (GR) binding sites in the hippocampus; they did not differ in numbers of mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) sites in the hippocampus, nor in numbers for either receptor in the cortex or hypothalamus as a whole. (b) Animals had resided for a number of years in social groups that were either stable or were repeatedly destabilized by changing of group membership; the latter has been shown to constitute a sustained stressor. DEX-resistant animals were more than twice as likely to have come from an unstable group as were DEX-responsive monkeys. Rodent studies have shown that sustained stress can cause a selective downregulatory decrease in the numbers of hippocampal corticosteroid receptors, and that such a loss is associated with DEX resistance. The present data suggest similar associations in the primate, and may be of relevance to the DEX resistance observed in a subset of human depressives.


The 5G communication systems will enable enhanced mobile broadband, ultra-reliable low-latency, and massive connectivity services. Broadband and low-latency services are indispensable to public safety (PS) communication during natural or man-made disasters. Recently, 3GPP-LTE has emerged as a promising candidate to enable broadband PS communications. In this article, first we present six major PS-LTE enabling services and the current status of PS-LTE in 3GPP releases. Then, we discuss the spectrum bands allocated for PS-LTE in major countries by ITU. Finally, we propose a disaster resilient three-layered architecture for PS-LTE (DR-PSLTE). This architecture consists of an SDN layer to provide centralized control, UAV cloudlet layer to facilitate edge computing or to enable the emergency communication link, and a radio access layer. The proposed architecture is flexible and combines the benefits of SDNs and edge computing to efficiently meet the delay requirements of various PS-LTE services. Numerical results verified that under the proposed DR-PSLTE architecture, delay is reduced by 20 percent as compared with the


An important task in visualization is the extraction and highlighting of dominant features in data to support users in their analysis process. Topological methods are a well-known means of identifying such features in deterministic fields. However, many real-world phenom-ena studied today are the result of a chaotic system that cannot be fully described by a single simulation. Instead, the variability of such systems is usually captured with ensemble simulations that pro-duce a variety of possible outcomes of the simulated process. The topological analysis of such ensemble data sets and uncertain data, in general, is less well studied. In this work, we present an approach for the computation and visual representation of confidence intervals for the occurrence probabilities of critical points in ensemble data sets. We demonstrate the added value of our approach over existing methods for critical point prediction in uncertain data on a synthetic data set and show its applicability to a data set from climate research.


The "Carbonates" unit of the Oligocene-Pliocene Barzaman Formation, north of the Oman Mountains at Sultan Qaboos Campus, is at least 10 m thick. It consists of three coralline limestone beds in (1) bedded facies (base; eastern outcrop), (2) very thick-bedded debris facies (middle; western and eastern outcrops) and (3) bedded facies (top; western and eastern outcrops). These three beds can be correlated between two outcrops over a distance of 160 m based on facies, stratigraphic positions and thickness as well as on a seismic refraction survey. The most common bioclasts are poritid corals, red algae and benthic foraminifers. Dasycladacean algae are common, and, sporadically, small gastropods, bryozoans, echinoderms, echinoid spines, bivalves, worm tubes and ostracods occur. Based on facies analysis we suggest that the studied limestones formed in a lagoon with backreef coral facies and that the barrier that separated the lagoon from the open sea (and which is not exposed) was made of coral reefs. Because of the abundance of coral colonies we assume for the studied coral limestones a water depth within the light saturation zone, not deeper than 10 to 20 m for the lagoon. Based on the occurrence of the following foraminifer genera Praerhapydionina, Archaias, Dendritina, Operculina, Spiroclypeus, Lepidocyclina, Miogypsina, Amphistegina and Subterraniphyllum, the "Carbonates" unit can be dated as upper Upper Oligocene to Lower Miocene. This is the first indication of the Upper Oligocene of the Barzaman Formation for the study area.


The move towards multiparty democracy in Zambia in the early 1990s was heralded as the beginning of a new era of more pluralist politics in Africa. The new government's willingness to adopt economic reforms and policies, hitherto resisted, was also seen as a sign that henceforth African governments would be willing to 'own' reforms. A decade later, the optimism seems unjustified. The political reforms floundered, while economic adjustment proved to be much slower than the earlier signs had indicated. Growth ground to a halt and poverty increased in this once rich country. The country's overall dependency on aid increased as well. To increase reform ownership in Zambia, there is need to shift some of the burden of behaviour during adjustment to the government, not just donors. There is scope for the government to take more responsibility for its reforms, including the internal mobilisation of resources for investment. Ultimately, policies enforced from outside will only lead to policy reversal when the conditonalities are removed.


Micronutrients are known to play an important role in the metabolism and physiological activities of the human body. Unfortunately, over three billion people in the world are malnourished. The development of crops with enhanced mineral concentration is one of the most sustainable and cost effective approaches for alleviating micronutrient malnutrition. This review focuses on the progress made in the genetic enhancement of element mineral concentration in crops through plant breeding strategies. Biofortification is considered as a suitable strategy of increasing the bioavailable concentrations of an element in edible portions of crop plants through traditional breeding practices or modern biotechnology to overcome the problem of micronutrient deficiencies. Therefore, the combination of conventional breeding with modern genetic engineering approaches and quantitative trait loci (QTL) analysis is important for developing crop cultivars with enhanced micronutrient concentrations to improve human health.


1. Abstract A new subspace optimization method for performing aero-structural design is introduced. The method relies on a semi-analytic adjoint approach to the sensitivity analysis that includes post-optimality sensitivity information from the structural optimization subproblem. The resulting coupled post-optimality sensitivity (CPOS) approach is used to guide a gradient-based optimization algorithm. The new approach simplifies the system-level problem, thereby reducing the number of calls to the aerodynamics solver. The aero-structural optimization of an aircraft wing is carried out, and it is shown that the proposed method results in a problem equivalent to the conventional approach. The new method is also shown to reduce both the computational time required by the aerodynamic discipline, and the total time required by higher-fidelity optimizations.


We cannot imagine our daily routine without the use of technologies, smart devices which have been around us in all spheres of our life for many years. With the development of the ICT, a vast number of educational platforms and software that can be used in education have been created. Using technology in language learning has become the perfect tool in reaching proficiency and fluency, and English lessons accompanied by technological support are the most effective and attractive for students who want to be successful in their language learning. In this article, I will discuss the methods of using ICT with the help of some educational platforms and software programs which can be used effectively in language teaching and learning.


Purpose. To study the characteristics of wintering of Macrobrachium nipponense in natural conditions of the Lower Dniester basin and experimental assessment of the effect of physical condition, soil composition and type of shelter on the survival of wintering shrimps. Methodology. The results of field and experimental studies conducted in 2018–2020 were used in the study. The locations and conditions of mass wintering of shrimps in natural conditions in the lower reaches of the Dniester River were studied. The abundance of wintering individuals was determined by the method of direct counting and their physical condition was analyzed. Shrimps were kept in a RAS at the Laboratory of Aquatic Bioresources and Aquaculture of Odesa State Ecological University, where environmental parameters were maintained as close as possible to the conditions of wintering under natural conditions. In chronic experiments, the selectivity and effect of the composition of natural substrates and the thickness of the soil bed on shrimp survival were investigated. The selection and effectiveness of the shrimp's use of above-ground shelters of various natural and anthropogenic origin for shrimp wintering was assessed depending on their physical condition (presence or absence of injuries). Shrimp for experiments were caught in October - November in the lower reaches of the Dniester River and the Dniester estuary. The location of mass wintering of shrimps was recorded using a GPS navigator. Findings. It was established that shrimp M. nipponense in natural conditions of the Lower Dniester river winters in aboveground shelters (of natural and anthropogenic origin) or by burrowing into the soil. The shrimp's choice of aboveground shelters for wintering in natural conditions depended on their physical condition. Injured individuals (lost claws and limbs) preferred easily accessible aboveground shelters (sheaves of grass, flooded snags). Healthy individuals wintered in cracks between plant roots and stones. A significant part of shrimps overwintered in aboveground shelters of anthropogenic origin. The most complex and reliable aboveground shelters of natural origin were occupied by the least damaged shrimp individuals. More than 59% of shrimps are buried in the soil (soil shelters) for wintering. Healthy individuals prefer sandy soils or soils that contain sand. The highest yield of healthy shrimp overwintering was observed on sandy or sandy-gravel soils with a thicker soil layer. The depth of burial of shrimp depended on soil composition. It was the maximum in soils consisting of sand, sand-gravel mixture and chernozem or chernozem with inclusions of gravel. The survival of wintering individuals was inversely dependent on the depth of burial. The maximum yield of uninjured individuals from wintering was observed when they were buried in the soil, the minimum — when using aboveground shelters. The share of surviving injured shrimp in soil shelters decreased in proportion to the severity of the injury. Maximum survival of injured individuals was ensured by wintering in aboveground shelters. Originality. For the first time, the data of field observations on wintering of alien shrimp M. nipponense in the conditions of the Lower Dniester basin are presented. Locations and conditions of mass wintering in natural conditions have been established. As a result of experimental studies, an analysis of the selectivity and effectiveness of the use of soil and aboveground shelters of various natural and anthropogenic origins by shrimp during wintering, their selectivity depending on the physical condition of wintering individuals (presence or absence of injuries) is given. Practical value. In the conditions of progressive climatic changes, one of the urgent tasks is the acclimatization of promising objects of aquaculture in new natural ecosystems. The obtained results can be used for the development of methods of anthropogenic reproduction and controlled cultivation of shrimp M. nipponense in aquaculture in the south of Ukraine. Key words: Dniester River, Macrobrachium nipponense, wintering, aboveground shelters, ground shelters, physical condition of individuals, survival.


A complete academic autopsy includes an external examination with inspection of gross dermatologic findings. At our institution, the postmortem examination also includes a standard skin biopsy. We determined the microscopic yield of this standard postmortem skin biopsy and the overall frequency of macroscopic dermatologic diagnoses. We reviewed 389 complete autopsies conducted between 2012 and 2014. Both microscopic and macroscopic dermatologic diagnoses were analyzed. A macroscopic dermatologic diagnosis was made in 32% of cases while a microscopic diagnosis was recorded in 10% of cases. Dermatologic diagnoses were identified as leading directly to cause of death in 4% of patients and as contributing to death in another 20%. Targeted biopsies were more likely to reveal histologic abnormalities than routine biopsies from a standard anatomic site. Better training in skin gross examination in addition to systematic sampling of both skin lesions and grossly normal skin may improve diagnostic accuracy and enhance clinical pathologic correlations.


Most practical FPGA designs of digital signal processing (DSP) applications are limited to fixed-point arithmetic owing to the cost and complexity of floating-point hardware. While mapping DSP applications onto FPGAs, a DSP algorithm designer must determine the dynamic range and desired precision of input, intermediate, and output signals in a design implementation. The first step in a MATLAB-based hardware design flow is the conversion of the floating-point MATLAB code into a fixed-point version using "quantizers" from the filter design and analysis (FDA) toolbox for MATLAB. This paper describes an approach to automate the conversion of floating-point MATLAB programs into fixed-point MATLAB programs, for mapping to FPGAs by profiling the expected inputs to estimate errors. Our algorithm attempts to minimize the hardware resources while constraining the quantization error within a specified limit. Experimental results on five MATLAB benchmarks are reported for Xilinx Virtex II FPGAs.


An analysis has been performed on data generated from the two most recent field deployments of the Aircraft Wake VOrtex Spacing System (A VOSS). The A VOSS provides reduced aircraft spacing criteria for wake vortex avoidance as compared to the FAA spacing applied under Instrument Flight Rules (IFR). Several field deployments culminating in a system demonstration at Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) International Airport in the summer of 2000 were successful in showing a sound operational concept and the system's potential to provide a significant benefit to airport operations. For DFW, a predicted average throughput increase of 6% was observed. This increase implies 6 or 7 more aircraft on the ground in a one-hour period for DFW operations. Several studies of performance correlations to system configuration options, design options, and system inputs are also reported. The studies focus on the validation performance of the system.


Determining the relationship between gun ownership levels and firearm homicide rates is critical to inform public health policy. Previous research has shown that state-level gun ownership, as measured by a widely used proxy, is positively associated with firearm homicide rates. A newly developed proxy measure that incorporates the hunting license rate in addition to the proportion of firearm suicides correlates more highly with state-level gun ownership. To corroborate previous research, we used this new proxy to estimate the association of state-level gun ownership with total, firearm, and non-firearm homicides. Using state-specific data for the years 1981–2010, we modelled these rates as a function of gun ownership level, controlling for potential confounding factors. We used a negative binomial regression model and accounted for clustering of observations among states. We found that state-level gun ownership as measured by the new proxy, is significantly associated with firearm and total homicides but not with non-firearm homicides.


Dichotic listening (DL) procedures are commonly employed in the evaluation of auditory processing in children. Review of the various clinical tests reveals considerable diversity in both the signals employed and their mode of administration. The extent to which other non auditory-specific factors influence the test outcome is often difficult to determine. Individual differences in memory, attention, facility with test stimuli, and report strategy are always of potential concern in the interpretation of results. In the present study, we examined behavioral and electrophysiological (ERP) responses for 20 children during two DL tasks. Two groups of children were evaluated. One group was comprised of children who showed substantial ear differences on clinical measures of DL; the other group showed no such deficits and served as age-matched controls. In one of the DL tasks, participants monitored dichotic stimuli using the divided-attention (unfocused) mode. In the other DL task, a directed-attention (focused) mode was employed. Both tasks involved simple "same-different" judgments for real words presented in a basic reference-probe paradigm. We purposefully sought an easy DL task in order to minimize the number of extra-auditory factors influencing their performance. For control purposes, a diotic procedure involving the same stimuli was also included. Results showed that the amplitude of the elicited late-positive component (LPC) was smaller and prolonged in latency for the group of poor listeners as compared to the control group. This finding occurred only when dichotic stimuli were presented in the divided-attention mode. When participants directed their attention to a single side, or when listening in a diotic mode, the LPC for both groups was more similar. Group differences in the N400 component were apparent for both listening tasks. Results are discussed in relation to an inability of some children to inhibit processing of unattended auditory information. Implications for the clinical administration of dichotic listening tests are also discussed.


Objective(s): Vaccination using inactivated bacteria is one of the most effective ways to protect against EHEC infection. Escherichia coli O157:H7 infections are mainly influenced by Shiga toxins (Stx) and attaching/effacing factors. Among various factors, Stx2B is gaining much attention as a vaccine candidate. Formulating an inactivated bacteria with a suitable adjuvant increases vaccine efficacy and antibody production and can lead to a lasting immune response and protection against O157:H7. Materials and Methods: To assess vaccine efficacy, in this study, we have considered heat and formalin-inactivated bacteria along with chitosan-coated Stx2B/ Stx2B in a mouse model. Ionotropic gelation via tripolyphosphate anions was used to coat Stx2B on chitosan. Subcutaneous injection or oral gavage was used to immunize mice, which were then challenged with E. coli O157:H7. Results: Immunity and protection against E. coli O157:H7 were achieved by all forms of the vaccine. Inactivated E. coli O157:H7 formulated with chitosan-coated Stx2B effectively evoked humoral and mucosal immune responses. However, minimum shedding appeared with the mice groups orally immunized with formalin-inactivated bacteria sublimated with chitosan-coated Stx2B and heat-inactivated bacteria plus Stx2B in subcutaneous immunization. Conclusion: Administration of inactivated whole-cell and toxin was synergistic and increased the protection capacity with both parenteral and oral immunization routes.


Silicones are highly valuable poly- and oligomeric materials with a broad range of applications due to their outstanding physicochemical properties. The core framework of silicone materials consists of siloxane (Si-O-Si) bonds, and thus, the development of efficient siloxane-bond-forming reactions has attracted much attention. However, these reactions, especially "catalytic" siloxane-bond-forming reactions that enable the selective formation of unsymmetrical siloxane bonds, remain relatively underdeveloped. On the other hand, controlled iteration has become a powerful tool for the sequence-controlled synthesis of poly- and oligomeric compounds. Recently, control over the siloxane sequence has been achieved by the one-pot iteration of a B(C6 F5 )3 -catalyzed dehydrocarbonative cross-coupling of alkoxysilanes with hydrosilanes and a B(C6 F5 )3 -catalyzed hydrosilylation of carbonyl compounds. Thus, it is now possible to generate linear, branched, and cyclic sequence-specific oligosiloxanes in a highly selective manner under chloride-free conditions.


Starting virtually from scratch in 1975, Berkshire Medical Center has built a fund raising success story. Its multi-faceted development program centers around the philosophy that donors must feel their gifts have purpose and are appreciated.


Roadway safety is an important aspect of all transportation facilities. With operation and maintenance becoming contracted roles under public-private partnerships (PPP), it is expected that safety rates will improve beyond those experienced in traditional delivery. The international experience shows that PPPs experienced mechanisms designed to provide safer roads. In the United States, PPP is gaining momentum and several states initiated PPP projects. While studies show the potential of PPPs for improving cost efficiency and expediting the delivery time, few researches investigated the correlation between PPP and roadway safety. To fill the gap, this study investigated seventeen PPP projects through content analysis of their agreement and procurement documents. The findings show that PPP projects were lacking further consideration toward safety beyond what is normally available in traditional delivery. Safety was an objective in most (76%) of the projects, however, without direct mechanisms to implement such objective. Around half of the projects have mentioned safety as part of proposal evaluation but only two projects have assigned points/weights in the evaluation. None of the projects provided for a direct link between the compensation to the achievement of improvements in the safety rates. Generally, PPPs are meant to provide public agencies with means to achieve particular objectives. It is recommended to use the particulars of PPPs in performance measures and payment mechanisms to enforce roadway safety in highways infrastructure.


Across the organizational, social, and natural sciences, normative theories of prosocial behavior assert that people will provide more help when others face harm. Experimental research shows that prosocial behavior indeed increases when others face low levels of harm. However, due to ethical and methodological difficulties, it remains unknown whether prosocial behavior increases when others face high levels of harm. In a field study, we overcome these difficulties by analyzing a quasi-experiment that combines a unique, massive dataset (including almost 3 million time-stamped prosocial behaviors by over 19 thousand volunteers) with 108 exogenous shocks that created high levels of harm: major disasters (hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and mass shootings) that affected the U.S. between 2013 and 2018. We find that major disasters actually demotivate prosocial behavior. This result is inconsistent with both normative theories and lay beliefs regarding prosocial behavior, which predict the opposite. We develop and test a simple alternative model of prosocial behavior that we call the Prosocial Prospects Framework (PPF); the PPF can explain both why small harms motivate prosocial behavior (because of loss aversion), and why large harms demotivate prosocial behavior (because of diminishing sensitivity). In randomized laboratory experiments, we provide additional evidence for the PPF.


Reduced-order models that accurately abstract high fidelity models and enable faster simulation is vital for real-time, model-based diagnosis applications. In this paper, we outline a novel hybrid modeling approach that combines machine learning inspired models and physics-based models to generate reduced-order models from high fidelity models. We are using such models for real-time diagnosis applications. Specifically, we have developed machine learning inspired representations to generate reduced order component models that preserve, in part, the physical interpretation of the original high fidelity component models. To ensure the accuracy, scalability and numerical stability of the learning algorithms when training the reduced-order models we use optimization platforms featuring automatic differentiation. Training data is generated by simulating the high-fidelity model. We showcase our approach in the context of fault diagnosis of a rail switch system. Three new model abstractions whose complexities are two orders of magnitude smaller than the complexity of the high fidelity model, both in the number of equations and simulation time are shown. The numerical experiments and results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed hybrid modeling approach.


Background: Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) are synthetic forms of testosterone that can be misused by bodybuilders to increase their athletic performance. This study was conducted to determine the prevalence and characteristics of AAS use among male bodybuilders in Shiraz, Iran.
Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 246 men attending bodybuilding clubs in Shiraz, southern Iran using multistage cluster sampling method. To collect the data, self-administered questionnaire, containing demographic questions, type of AAS used, purpose of consumption, and the recommender of AAS use were completed. Participant's anthropometric indices were assessed using standard methods, and body composition values were measured using bioelectric impedance analysis.
Results: The mean age of participants was 29.09±7.76 years, and the prevalence of AAS use was 39%. Significant difference was observed in distributions of participants by bodybuilding history between AAS users and non-users. A significant higher weight, body mass index, fat free mass, total body water and lower fat mass were observed among AAS users compared with non-users. The main reason for using AAS was muscle mass increase (75.1%), and half of the participants started AAS with their trainer's recommendation (54.1%).
Conclusion: AAS misuse was prevalent amongst male bodybuilders and its consumption seems to be associated with some desirable body composition changes (higher fat free mass and lower fat mass).


The present studies assessed the impact of various sources of garlic and their constituents (water- and ethanol-extracts and S-allylcysteine) on the in vivo binding of the carcinogen 7,12-dimethylbenz[a]anthracene (DMBA) to rat mammary cell DNA. The provision of dietary raw garlic powder (2%) or its water-extract (1.5%) reduced DMBA-DNA binding by 33 and 46% respectively. Dietary supplementation with a commercially available deodorized garlic powder (powder A) at 2 or 4% depressed the occurrence of adducts by 50 and 78% respectively, while providing a commercially available high sulfur garlic preparation (powder B) at 2% reduced binding by 56%. A pair-feeding study revealed that the depression in carcinogen binding was independent of food intake or weight gain. Although 1% raw garlic powder did not significantly influence the occurrence of DMBA-DNA adducts, an equivalent as the water-extract (0.75%), the ethanol-extract (0.015%) or commercially available powders (A and B) reduced DMBA adducts in mammary tissue by 44, 25, 71 and 65% respectively. Dietary fortification with S-allylcysteine (SAC), a water-soluble constituent of processed garlic, caused a progressive decrease in the binding of DMBA to DNA. Studies with SAC suggest the primary effect of garlic and its constituents is on the bioactivation and binding of the carcinogen rather than DNA repair. These data reveal that several forms of garlic are effective, although variable, in altering carcinogen bioactivation and presumably chemically induced carcinogenesis.


# Medical academic staffs conference {#article-title-2}

Medical academic staff have called for the research assessment exercise (RAE) to be fairer and more representative. At their annual conference last week the representatives declared that the use of impact factors was a totally inappropriate method of assessing medical research and called on the BMA to examine fairer alternative methods.

The RAE takes place every four years, and its aim is to measure the quality of research across all higher education and determine central funding for academic units in Britain. The assessment is based on peer review, including examination of published research and information about numbers of research students and research income during the assessment period.

The Medical Academic Staff Committee has criticised the exercise since its inception because of emphasis on research at the expense of teaching and service work. The 1997 Dearing report into higher education recommended a review of the exercise and the Higher Education Funding Council for England has set up a task force.

### Unscientific and unjust

Last week's meeting wholeheartedly endorsed Professor Gareth Williams's forthright account of why he believes the RAE is unscientific and unjust. Professor Williams, professor of medicine at the University of Liverpool, published his views in April (4 April, pp 1079-82).

He told the conference that the RAE had acquired such a momentum that it was almost impossible to stop. He said that it was wasteful of time and money; the data were misleading and unscientific; and the conclusions were biased and unjust. It ignored people who were not funded by the higher education funding councils and ignored total published output. There was potential for abuse—for example, a researcher's publications at one unit are transferred with the researcher to a new post and staff funded by councils were used to submit publications from ineligible researchers. Professor Williams said that the system was totally …


Tailoring light−matter interactions in monolayer MoS2 is critical for its use in optoelectronic and nanophotonic devices. While significant effort has been devoted to enhancing the photoluminescence intensity in monolayer MoS2, tailoring of the emission spectrum including complex excitonic states remains largely unexplored. Here, we demonstrate that the peak emission wavelengths of the A and B excitons can be tuned up to 40 and 25 nm, respectively, by integrating monolayer MoS2 into a plasmonic nanocavity with tunable plasmon resonances. Contrary to the intrinsic photoluminescence spectrum of monolayer MoS2, we are also able to create a dominant B exciton peak when the nanocavity is resonant with its emission. Additionally, we observe a 1200-fold enhancement of the A exciton emission and a 6100-fold enhancement of the B exciton emission when normalized to the area under a single nanocavity and compared to a control sample on thermal oxide.


The V64.3 60MW combustion turbine is the first of a new generation of high temperature gas turbines, designed for 50 and 60Hz simple cycle, combined cycle and cogeneration applications. The prototype engine was tested in 1990 in the Berlin factories under the full range of operation conditions. It was equipped with various measurement systems to monitor pressures, gas and metal temperatures, clearences, strains, vibrations, and exhaust emissions. The paper describes the engine design, the test facility and instrumentation, and the engine performance. Results are given for turbine blade temperatures, compressor and turbine vibrations, exhaust gas temperature, and NOx emissions for combustion of natural gas and fuel oil.Copyright © 1991 by ASME


The paper is devoted to the issue of the genesis and evolution of the problem of using the developing potential of European textbook. It is shown that in antiquity and the Middle Ages didactically entertaining elements were not used for development of cognitive interest. New type of didactical text named "exempla" introduced real examples of life. In a new type of picture book cognitive interest is based on the introduction of elements of entertainment and visualization. The paper presents the characteristics of the original pedagogical views of John Amos Comenius, based on the idea Pansophy. Results of content analytical study of the textbook Orbis Sensualium Pictus are presented. Three meaningful cluster ( "spiritual world", "world of nature", "social world") based on thematic quantification were allocated. It was shown that its textbook reflects the originality of his pansophic ideas. It provides the organization of the educational process on the basis of visual images in the form of didactic illustrations on these topics. Thematic distribution of pedagogical issues showed that Comenius pays great attention to the justification of didactic onomatopoetic principle during learning the alphabet. In the new type illustrated textbook YA Comenius seeks to shape educational interest by introducing elements of entertaining and visibility. The article concludes that in hortatory and educational texts there is the historical trend of transition from verbal instruction to using of images of the real world and entertaining elements.


E-mail: email@example.com Internet: http://www.childlawpractice.org ◆ Major national child welfare organizations agree that youth should participate to some extent in their child welfare hearings. However, little guidance exists to help professionals involve children in court proceedings in meaningful ways. This article addresses the following issues: How and to what extent should children participate.


Abstract Psychologists consider student engagement as a primary pathway by which motivational processes contribute to students' learning and development (Connell & Wellborn, 1991). Academically engaged students self-regulate their learning, make plans for upcoming tasks, and persist when encountering obstacles and challenges. The present study intends to analyses the relationship between students' motivation and engagement and their academic satisfaction and test the effect of some variables (gender, class) on that relation. To accomplish these purposes, this study intends to investigate Malaysian primary school students' motivation, engagement and achievement satisfaction as predictors of achievement satisfaction in science and test the effect of some variables (gender, grade) on that relation. The students - 460 students (43% male, 57% female) of secondary school- responded to the Self-Developed Academic Satisfaction Questionnaire, Students' Engagement Questionnaire and Science Motivation Questionnaire. All the questionnaires are valid and reliable according to the Cronbach's Alpha value. A Multiple linear regression analysis has been used to predict the achievement satisfaction of Science based on the level of students' motivation and level of engagement in Science classroom. The findings showed that students have a good level of motivation, engagement and achievement satisfaction. Even though students' motivation is significantly predicted students' achievement, but neither students' engagement nor achievement satisfaction are a significant predictor of students' achievement.


Studies of infrared photoresponse in high T c superconducting YBa 2 Cu 3 O 7-.delta. (YBCO) thin films are presented in this dissertation. Detectors fabricated from YBCO films of different thicknesses have been investigated, in terms of responsitivity, speed, and detection mechanisms, by the use of semiconductor lasers at near infrared wavelengths and a CO 2 laser at 10.6 µm wavelength. Granular films, thicker than the optical penetration depth, showed only bolometric response and response times in the nanosecond range. Detectors patterned in films from different laboratories displayed large variations in responsivity, which could not be explained by material characterization. When epitaxial films of the same thickness as the optical penetration depth were used, major improvements were observed. Both the speed and the responsivity were considerably higher. The response was found to be mainly bolometric but, for the shortest laser pulses, indications of a vortex depairing response mechanism was found. By the use of even thinner films and a special detector structure, a high speed detection mechanism attributed to nonequilibrium phenomena was revealed. An electron heating mechanism, with the quasiparticles at an elevated temperature compared with the phonons of the superconductor, fitted well with our measured data. Furthermore, the detector was operated as a mixer for infrared radiation at intermediate frequencies up to 18 GHz. Based on the electron heating model, the bandwidth of the electron heating mechanism was calculated to be 130 GHz. The photoresponse from a single YBCO grain boundary Josephson junction was also studied. A bolometric response was found, in which the critical current of the junction was reduced as the impinging radiation raised the temperature. The flexibility of a Josephson junction type bolometer was also discussed.


A technique is presented for the estimation of a set of parameters associated with a geologically motivated model for seafloor microroughness due to Goff and Jordan (1988). The method seeks to connect the spatial covariance of the backscattered acoustic field with the correlation properties of the seafloor by constructing the a posteriori probability density function (pdf) of the parameters that define the seafloor microroughness wavenumber spectrum. The processor maximizes the joint a posteriori probability density of the model parameter set. Due to the complexity of the probability surface, the method of simulated annealing is used to search for the globally optimum solution vector.