: Histological and biochemical examinations of the adrenals and plasma of rats for 3 months exposed to hypokinesia have shown that low motor activity led to a decrease in blood corticosterone level in spite of adrenal cortex hypertrophy. The decreased corticosterone blood level was not indicative of adrenal exhaustion, as the adrenals produced a greater amount of corticosterone in response to additional stress stimulus (5-hour immobilisation of animals in an extended state), as compared to the control. The increased production of corticosterone in response to stress stimulus caused no structural transformations or delipoidization of the cortical substance. This indicated that the reserve potentials of the adrenals increased with the animal adaptation to hypokinesia. The major morphological indication of higher adrenal functional activity in hypokinetic animals was an enhanced destruction of lymphocytes in the thymus cortex, the target organ for corticosteroids produced by the adrenals in response to an additional stress stimulus.


The durability of cement-based construction materials depends on the environmental conditions during their service life. A further factor is the microstructure of the cement bulk, established by formation of cement hydrates. The development of the phases and microstructure under given conditions is responsible of the high strength of cementitious materials. The investigation on the early hydration behavior of cements and cementing systems has been for a long time a very important area of research: understanding the chemical reactions that lead to hardening is fundamental for the prediction of performances and durability of the materials. The production of 1 ton of Ordinary Portland Cement, OPC, releases into the atmosphere ~0.97 tons of CO2. This implies that the overall CO2 emissions from the cement industry are 6% of all anthropogenic carbon dioxide. An alternative to reduce the CO2 footprint consists on the development of eco-cements composed by less calcite demanding phases, such as belite and ye'elimite. That is the case of Belite-Ye'elimite cements (BY). Since the reactivity of belite is not quick enough, these materials develop low mechanical strengths at intermediate hydration ages. A possible solution to this problem goes through the production of cements which jointly contain alite with the two previously mentioned phases, named as Belite-Alite-Ye'elimite (BAY) cements. The reaction of alite and ye'elimite with water will develop cements with high mechanical strengths at early ages, while belite will contribute to later values. The final goal is to understand the hydration mechanisms of a variety of cementing systems (OPC, BAY and pure phases) as a function of water content, superplasticizer additives and type and content of sulfate source. In order to do so, in-situ laboratory humidity chambers with Molybdenum X-ray Powder diffraction are employed. In the first 2h of hydration, reaction degree (α) of ye'elimite had been decreased for superplasticizer.


Thin film MgB2 is a promising material for technical improvements in superconducting radio frequency (SRF) technology and applications. At present, bulk niobium SRF accelerating cavities suffer from a fundamental upper limit in maximally sustained accelerating gradients; however, a scheme involving multilayered superstructures consisting of superconducting-insulating-superconducting (SIS) layers has been proposed to overcome this fundamental material limit of 50 MV/m. The SIS multilayer paradigm is reliant upon implementing a thin shielding material with a suitably high HC1, which may prevent early field penetration in a bulk material layer and consequently delay the high field breakdown. It has been predicted that for thin superconducting films - thickness less than the London penetration depth ( ~ 120 nm in the case of MgB2) - the lower critical field HC1 can be enhanced with decreasing thickness. Thus, MgB2, with a high TC and relatively low HC1 value, as compared with Nb, is a prime candidate for such SIS structures. Here we present our study on the microstructure, surface morphology, and superconducting properties on a thickness series of MgB2 thin films and correlate the effects of film thickness and surface morphology on HC1.


From the Publisher:
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Online Personal Finance is the novice's guide to personal finance and how to use the Internet to perform personal finance activities. This book provides a basic, easy-to-understand introduction to both personal finance and working online. Chapters on different online personal finance topics act as a reference so you can learn the particular topic without reading the entire book. A motivational approach explains why online personal finance is beneficial, lists the key concepts of personal finance activities, and shows you how to perform those activities on the Internet. The book leads you through a series of organized steps to gain control of your entire personal financial plan.


Atherosclerosis is the disease with the most important social impact in terms of cost and human life. Its study in the prevention and cure of its consequences needs integration using many imaging modalities, and magnetic resonance presents advantages due to its particular characteristics. The Authors make an overview of its indications and potential applications in the assessment of atherosclerotic disease. In vitro studies have demonstrated that it is possible to evaluate the normal and abnormal components of vessel walls by means of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as well as fatty deposition and intraplaque hemorrhage. On the other hand, in the in vivo studies, despite the impossibility to make a too fine structural analysis of the vessel wall, MRI allows to easily discriminate between blood flow and parietal wall. This is of great importance in the study concerning arterial aneurysms, that represent a consequence of atherosclerotic disease. Information as the presence, the site, the extension, the collateral vessel involvement and, finally, the presence or absence of dissection are all obtainable by using MRI. In the early 1990's magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) was developed and is now used in clinical practice. By means of this new application of MRI there is the possibility of increasing the non invasive screening of atherosclerosis especially in some body districts. The evaluation of the plaque obtainable by the combined use of MRA and ultrasound studies allows to decrease the employment of traditional and digital angiography. If, as studies predict, we will able to obtain coronary angiograms in the near future, there will be a further increase in the non invasive evaluation and in the prevention of atherosclerotic disease.


A book on performed Shakespeare, and a collection of essays on the study of Shakespearean performance that, each in its own way, provide exceptionally provocative and useful arguments. Robert Shaughnessy's Representing Shakespeare interrogates the RSC's work on the histories, showing how interrogation has been sidelined. Shaughnessy's cultural-materialist approach does not (as sometimes happens) give the impression that the author is simply demonstrating a comforting assumption that no company in the RSC's social, economic, and geographical position can ever produce truly radical theatre. Rather, he relates the various productions of history plays to their circumstances in the internal politics of the RSC and the wider context of the troublesome reigns of Wilson, Heath, Wilson (again), Callaghan, Thatcher, and Major. Although he does not proceed by giving blowby-blow accounts of the interpretive scenic life of each staging, Shaughnessy draws on vivid and telling details, and a wide range of ancillary material (reviews, directors' and actors' statements, etc.) to support a strongly argued analysis of their general tendencies. The emphasis is not on celebrating or condemning theatrical effect, but on understanding the work these shows have done and, in retrospect, continue to do in society. In Shakespeare, Theory and Performance, eleven authors consider aspects of the analysis and the historiography of Shakespearean production. Particularly interesting (and pungently expressed in James C. Bulman's introductory essay) is the historicizing of the view of Shakespearean stage history exemplified in J. L. Styan's The Shakespeare Revolution. Cary Mazer takes it upon himself to historicize an individual scholar's projects (those of Alan C. Dessen), and Barbara Hodgdon speaks against the marginalization by British reviewers of Robert Lepage's National Theatre Dream: the compare-and-contrast between Brook's white box and Lepage's sea of mud seems likely to haunt accounts of the play in the theatre for some time to come. Other contributions include an examination by Richard Paul Knowles of the politics of the Berry/Linklater/Rodenburg approach to voice teaching; and discussions from a variety of perspectives of the complex existence of 'Shakespeare' as a cultural force. There is plenty in this valuable book to argue with and ponder.


This study, describing computer simulation of a glider crash against a nondeformable ground barrier, is a part of a larger glider crash modeling project. The studies were intended to develop a numerical model of the pilot – glider – environment system, whereby the dynamics of the human body and the composite cockpit structure during a crash would make it possible to analyze flight accidents with focus on the pilot's safety. Notwithstanding that accidents involving glider crash against a rigid barrier (a wall, for example) are not common, establishing a simulation model for such event may prove quite useful considering subsequent research projects. First, it is much easier to observe the process of composite cockpit structure destruction if the crash is against a rigid barrier. Furthermore, the use of a non-deformable barrier allows one to avoid the errors that are associated with the modeling of a deformable substrate, which in most cases in quite problematic. Crash test simulation, carried out using a MAYMO package, involved a glider crash against a wall positioned perpendicularly to the object moving at a speed of 77 km/h. Computations allowed for determination of time intervals of the signals that are required to assess the behavior of the cockpit and pilot's body – accelerations and displacements in selected points of the glider's structure and loads applied to the pilot's body: head and chest accelerations, forces at femur, lumbar spine and safety belts. Computational results were compared with the results of a previous experimental test that had been designed to verify the numerical model. The glider's cockpit was completely destroyed in the crash and the loads transferred to the pilot's body were very substantial – way over the permitted levels. Since modeling results are fairly consistent with the experimental test, the numerical model can be used for simulation of plane crashes in the future.


The steel production from scrap using continuous cast technology has increased in last decades. Sometimes, steels processed via this route display poor ductility at high temperature. This feature is associated to cooling conditions and chemical composition, which in turns affect the segregation pattern and vary the transformation temperatures and the phase transformation kinetics. The material under study was a C40 steel with a dendrite solidification microstructure coming from an industrial continuous casting plant. The high temperature ductility was evaluated by means of tensile tests up to fracture at strain rate of 0.001 s-1 in a temperature range of 1100 to 710°C. The reduction in area at fracture as a function of temperature graphs show a clear reduction of the steel ductility in the intercritical region, but also after the pearlite transformation. Single deformation compression tests were also carried out on the steel in the austenitic temperature domain, 900 to 1100°C, and at strain rate of 0.001 to 1 s-1. A modification of the Garofalo hyperbolic sine equation has been employed to derive the peak and steady stresses of the flow curve. The work hardening, U, and dynamic recovery, Ω, parameters which describe the flow curve before dynamic recrystallization takes place and the k and t50 parameters, based on the JMAK model, to describe the recrystallization kinetics were also calculated for every test and expressed as a function of the Zener Hollomon parameter, Z.


Human epidemiological studies have shown paternal aging as one of the risks for neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism in offspring. A recent study has suggested that factors other than de novo mutations due to aging can influence biology of offspring. Here we are focusing on epigenetic alterations in sperm that can influence offspring developmental programs. In this study, we qualitatively and semi-quantitatively evaluated histone modification patterns in male germ line cells throughout spermatogenesis based on immunostaining of testes taken from young (3 months) and aged (12 months) old mice. Although localization patterns were not obviously changed between young and aged testes, some histone modification showed differences in their intensity. Among histone modifications that repress gene expression, H3K9me3 was decreased in the male germ line cells in the aged testis, while H3K27me2/3 was increased. The intensity of H3K27ac, an active mark, was relatively low in the aged testis. Interestingly, H3K27ac was detected in putative sex chromosomes of round spermatids, while other chromosomes were occupied by a repressive mark H3K27me3. Among other histone modifications that activate gene expression, H3K4me2 was drastically decreased in the male germ line cells in the aged testis. H3K79me3 was contrastingly increased and accumulated on the sex chromosomes at M-phase spermatocytes. Therefore, aging induced alterations in the amount of histone modifications, of which patterns were different in individual histone modifications. Moreover, histone modification seems to be differentially regulated by aging on the sex chromosomes and on others. These findings would help elucidate epigenetic mechanisms underlying influence of paternal aging on offspring's development.


I focus on empathy from an eidetic perspective, that provided by Edith Stein in her work On the Problem of Empathy (1917) and which I call eidetics of empathy. I suggest that the eidetics of empathy allows us to inquire efficaciously into the structure of empathy, and therefore into the relation between empathy on the one hand, and embodied personal identity and intersubjectivity on the other. I argue that the eidetics of empathy sheds light on the complexity, heterogeneity and also fragility of the acts of empathy that we perform in our everyday life with respect to others, and provides us with the conceptual tools to address crucial questions such as: What is the specific and distinctive structure of empathy? What are the conditions of possibility of the performance of acts of empathy? Are there different fulfilment degrees of empathy? What role do living bodies play in the performance of acts of empathy? How is it possible to prevent and correct mistakes of empathy? I deal with these issues in making three points on the eidetics of empathy. My first point is that the eidetics of empathy allows us to understand empathy as one type of acts of perceiving others and their experiences directly and as a whole that is subject to variations of its parts – the limits of possible co-variations of its parts correspond to the essential structure of empathy. Secondly, I focus on the eidetic issue of the possible co-variations of parts of the empathy-type: the content and the degree of fulfilment and accomplishment of empathy acts, the layer of the person they address, the varieties of living beings with whom we can empathize. Thirdly, I argue that the eidetics of empathy exemplifies very well the ontologically qualitative issue of degrees of existence of any entity in relation to its eidetic paradigm, and it is a prime example of how phenomenological eidetics can be a qualitative ontology dealing with qualitative issues that are crucial in our everyday life.


Modern mobile robots navigate uncertain environments using complex compositions of camera, laser, and sonar sensor data. Manual calibration of these sensors is a tedious process that involves determining sensor behavior, geometry and location through model specification and system identification. Instead, we seek to automate the construction of sensor model geometry by mining uninterpreted sensor streams for regularities. Manifold learning methods are powerful techniques for deriving sensor structure from streams of sensor data. In recent years, the proliferation of manifold learning algorithms has led to a variety of choices for autonomously generating models of sensor geometry. We present a series of comparisons between different manifold learning methods for discovering sensor geometry for the specific case of a mobile robot with a variety of sensors. We also explore the effect of control laws and sensor boundary size on the efficacy of manifold learning approaches. We find that "motor babbling" control laws generate better geometric sensor maps than mid-line or wall following control laws and identify a novel method for distinguishing boundary sensor elements. We also present a new learning method, sensorimotor embedding, that takes advantage of the controllable nature of robots to build sensor maps.


A clinical study was performed between two frequent replacement toric soft contact lenses. The following clinical comparisons were made: parameters of the empirical fit versus parameters of the diagnostic fit; number of trial lenses required to achieve the best diagnostic fit; behavior and fit of the diagnostic lens versus the dispensed lens; behavior and fit of the dispensed lens at one week and one month; subjective reports on vision and comfort in the morning versus late in the day and lens handling. It was observed that the empirically calculated fit varied equally from the best diagnostic fit for both brands. Statistically there was no subjective difference in vision, comfort or lens handling between brands. However, a trend was observed that subjects tended to favor the CooperVision lens with regard to handling. Lens reproducibility was also shown to be more accurate for the CooperVision Preference lens.


The paper critically analyzes the enforcement practice of the competition authority as related to the use of commitments decisions to conclude an antitrust investigation. In this perspective – and to derive conclusions about the use, suitability and appropriateness of this legal instrument – a quantitative and qualitative analysis is carried out paying specific attention to its most relevant variables: the adoption rate, the comparison with the EU practice, the typology of commitments and their consistency with the 'concerns' detected in the preliminary investigation phases, the rate of presentation and acceptance, and finally the efficiency of this process in leading to the formal conclusion of the case as compared to the ordinary one. On the basis of the findings of such an analysis, operated since the enactment of the legal rule, it is then assessed the change in the authority enforcement practice induced by an excessive expansion of the scope of the commitments decisions, with the view to suggest a discontinuity.


The model considered here is essentially that formulated in the authors previous paper Conditions for Optimality in the Infinite-Horizon Portfolio-cum Saving Problem with Semimartingale Investments, Stochastics 29 (1990) pp.133-171. In this model, the vector process representing returns to investments is a general semimartingale. Processes defining portfolio plans are here required only to be predictable and non-negative. Existence of an optimal portfolio-cum-saving plan id proved under slight conditions of integrability imposed on the welfare functi nal; the proofs rely on properties of weak precompactness of portfolio and utility sequences in suitable Lp spaces together with dominated and monotone convergence arguments. Conditions are also obtained for the uniqueness of the portfolio plan generating a given returns process and for the uniqueness of an optimal plan; here use is made of random measures associated with the jumps of a semimartingale.


It is well known that the histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor trichostatin A (TSA) acts synergistically with the DNA methyltransferase (DNMT) inhibitor 5-aza-2'-deoxycytidine (ADC) to reactivate DNA methylation-silenced genes. Moreover, in several studies, TSA was capable of inducing DNA demethylation even in the absence of ADC. Here we describe a mechanism by which HDAC inhibitors affect DNA methylation through their regulation on DNMT3B, a methyltransferase responsible for de novo DNA methylation. Using quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot analysis, we show that TSA down-regulates DNMT3B mRNA and protein expression in human endometrial cancer cells. This decrease in DNMT3B mRNA results in a significant reduction in de novo methylation activities. Further experiments indicated that TSA decreases DNMT3B mRNA stability and reduces its half-life from approximately 4 to 2.5 hours. We established that protein synthesis is required for posttranscriptional regulation, suggesting the involvement of an RNase and/or key mRNA stabilization factor(s) controlling the DNMT3B mRNA stability. Therefore, TSA may not only modify histone acetylation, but also potentially alter DNA methylation. Since the HDAC inhibitors are frequently used in epigenetic studies and are considered to be promising anticancer drugs, these new findings will have implications in both laboratory and clinical settings.


In ancient days, the people of Troy opened their gates to a splendid wooden horse--which turned out to be filled with Greek soldiers bearing malicious intent. Once inside the walls of Troy's previously unassailable fortress, the Greeks swarmed out of the horse's belly to wreak havoc within the city. The networks at educational institutions today may bristle with firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and antivirus software, but attacks of malicious code continue to disrupt educational processes and administrative functions. The cost of repairing the damage from these attacks is increasing as the quantity, speed of contagion, and severity of worms and viruses increases. The problem stems from an unfortunate convergence of three factors: the proliferation of mobility through laptop adoption, ubiquitous access to the Internet through less secure means, and the disappointing persistence of operating system vulnerabilities. At the same time, public Internet access points--whether wired or wireless--are seldom governed by security policies as stringent as those guarding internal networks. Now, as wireless access gains increasing popularity, the threat of contamination is not restricted to public Internet access. Trouble can also emerge from "rogue" wireless access points, set up internally by network-savvy community members lacking safeguards of the campuswide infrastructure, as well as the frequent migration of laptops to unprotected home networks during vacations. A Curious Conundrum Reversing a fundamental assumption that information technology yields productivity gains and cost savings, the more educational institutions spend on security, the more support staff and resources are required. The Yankee Group (www.yankeegroup.com) estimates that the cost of patching a single user averages $243 a year, with costs rising as the number of users increases. While the rapid growth of threats and the faster disclosure of vulnerabilities certainly fuel this inversion, it also appears that most security solutions have, until recently, focused on threat containment rather than threat reduction. This has led to an explosion in perimeter security products such as internal firewalls, and brute-force techniques such as shutting off ports. Not only is protecting the security perimeter much more difficult when every legitimate mobile user is the perimeter, but mending individual devices on the edge becomes a highly labor-intensive and expensive task. Simply stopping a virus or worm attack is not enough to reduce the burgeoning cost of support; it actually escalates the cost. Balancing Risk and Responsibility Both network administrators and technology manufacturers are working hard to address the challenge of threat reduction. Most colleges and universities distribute CDs filled with the latest patches and the appropriate client-based software for students to install onto their devices. Online support pages are also frequently updated with notices and software tools. Manufacturers are introducing new features to old standbys. IP firewalls are augmented with internal firewalls, which can cordon off parts of the network occupied by infected machines. Wireless network gateways are outfitted with device-scanning capabilities, and antivirus software is distributed faster and more easily. …


Room temperature investigations on the shear stress and deformation mechanisms of (Mg0:9Fe0:1)SiO3 perovskite are performed in situ up to 32 GPa using radial X-ray diffraction and the diamond anvil cell as a deformation apparatus. The uniaxial stress supported by the perovskite aggregate is found to increase continuously with pressure up to 10.9( 3 1.9) GPa at 32( 3 1) GPa. Our measurements show no development of significant lattice preferred orientations in the sample, which indicates that deformation by dislocation glide is not the dominant deformation mechanism under these conditions. Assuming that the underlying cause for seismic anisotropy in the deep Earth is elastic anisotropy combined with lattice preferred orientation, our results indicate that silicate perovskite deformed under the conditions of this experiment would not be the source of seismic anisotropy. 6 2003 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.


The CONPROF project developed by the automation engineering company IPA SA, the University Politehnica of Bucharest and the Romanian-American University contributes to the sustainable development of the cooperation between higher education institutions and businesses by facilitating the training of students in higher education and the transition from being a student to being employed. It ensures in this way the increased employability of the graduates through counseling, vocational guidance, practical training and integrating three main components: curriculum, the student's initial skills and labor market needs.
A central activity in the instruction is the complementarity of the practical training stage performed in the summer holyday after the third year of study by developing and implementing interactive learning methods using a simulated enterprise.
The roles open in the application are: Admin, Professor and Student. In the simulated enterprise workflow, the activities start with the Admin creating the accounts for Professors and Students. The Student creates an enterprise and the Professor that is associated to the Student validates it. The Professor uploads the templates for the documents of the company and the Student completes them and uploads the files on the platform. The Professor grades the result.
By connecting the simulated company to the simulated enterprise network ROCT (Romanian Coordination of Training Firms), the students come into direct contact with the functioning of public institutions relevant for companies. The role is to interconnect businesses simulated in a national network, giving at the same time services similar to those performed by state institutions such as the Trade Registry, Financial Administration, banks etc...


Summary Background: Gynecomastia describes a benign increase of the mammary gland in men. When medical treatment fails, symptoms and psychological alterations persist. Subdermal mastectomy is the definitive treatment and can be achieved by different incisions, each with potential complications. We undertook this study to present clinical characteristics of 11 patients with gynecomastia and the results obtained with subdermal mastectomy by means of external periareolar incision. Methods: A descriptive cohort study in male patients with gynecomastia was carried out in a third-level medical care hospital. Patients were treated with subdermal mastectomy by means of external periareolar incision. Results: There were 11 male patients with an average age of 19 years (range: 11-60 years), 3 patients (27.2 %) with bilateral gynecomastia and 8 patients (72.7 %) with unilateral gynecomastia. Average time of evolution was 22 months (range: 16-48 months), 9 patients (81.8 %) reported pain, 11 patients (100 %) reported psychological alterations with cutaneous alteration, 11 patients (100 %) had normal secondary sexual characteristics, 1 patient (9 %) had supernumerary nipple development, and 11 patients (100 %) had well-defined lesions. According to Simon's classification: seven patients (63.6 %) were classified as grade I, three patients (27.2 %) as grade II and one patient (9.09 %) as grade III. Each patient had a subdermal mastectomy with external periareolar incision, 11 patients (100 %) had a histopathological report of gynecomastia; 1 patient (9.09 %) displayed keloid healing and none displayed complications inherent to the surgical procedure. Conclusions: Mastectomy by means of external periareolar incision is useful in the treatment of gynecomastia.


This paper presents a systematic study of DNA electrophoresis in microchannels integrated with sub-micron pillar arrays. Electrophoretic mobility of different DNA fragments in channels having pillars of various dimensions is measured. In addition to confirming a previously observed nonlinear relationship with applied electric field following the Biased Reptation with Fluctuations Model, the mobility dependence on DNA size and pillar spacing is characterized and discussed. Similar to conventional slab-gel electrophoresis, short DNA molecules have higher migration mobility. However, a "band inversion"-like phenomenon is observed for larger DNA molecules. The pillar array significantly affects the electric field distribution in the separation channel and, consequently, the resulting mobility. Although this leads to a higher mobility in more closely packed pillars, excessive reduction of the pillar spacing generates a large retarding force. This counteracts the effect of electric field on the overall DNA mobility.


This thesis explore a digital wireless communication system which is intended for commu- nication from the abdominal region to an on-body receiver. Where a capsule is meant for image capturing of the intestine for better diagnosis of a patient. As the capsule carries limited power, which must supply power to light, image capturing and processing of data, the power limits for transmission is evident. In addition to the power limitation, the path loss through human tissue is significant. To obtain reliable communication, an investment in large bandwidth is therefore needed. Where in this thesis pulse-position modulation (PPM) is investigated. Even though the transmitter is subject to large limitations, the receiver on the body surface has unlimited resources and use of multiple receiver antennas are examined. Where the signals are combined using different schemes, and when only the signals with the best signal- to-noise ratio (SNR) are considered. As the capsule will travel through the digestive system the unknown channel will be time-varying. Hence, an adaptive equalizer will be investigated, to prevent distortions made by the expected multipath channel. For adaptive equalization, the least mean square (LMS) and recursive least square (RLS) algorithm are investigated. The results showed that the main obstacle for obtaining a reliable communication link, is the power limitation in combination with high path loss on the channel. Simulation showed that the signal distortion from the multipath channel was significantly mitigated, when multiple receiver antennas were used. Where combining only four out of ten receiver antennas, gave almost equal performance, as for combining all the antennas. In fact, when multiple receiver antennas were used, receivers using equalization did not obtain a better bit error rate (BER) than without equalization. However, the equalizers were not optimized for all signal-to-noise ratios, and are in general less efficient than nonlinear equalizers which should be reviewed in future work. Still, the performance gain in terms of BER the optimal equalizer could achieve, was found to be around 2-3 dB, for bit error probability 10−4. To avoid using designated power for equalizer adaption, blind equalizers should be investigated in future work.


This review examines the status of temperate-zone freshwater wetlands and makes projections of how changes over the 2025 time horizon might affect their biodiversity. The six geographic regions addressed are temperate areas of North America, South America, northern Europe, northern Mediterranean, temperate Russia, Mongolia, north-east China, Korea and Japan, and southern Australia and New Zealand. Information from the recent technical literature, general accounts in books, and some first-hand experience provided the basis for describing major wetland types, their status and major threats. Loss of biodiversity is a consequence both of a reduction in area and deterioration in condition. The information base for either change is highly variable geographically. Many countries lack accurate inventories, and for those with inventories, classifications differ, thus making comparisons difficult. Factors responsible for losses and degradation include diversions and damming of river flows, disconnecting floodplain wetlands from flood flows, eutrophication, contamination, grazing, harvests of plants and animals, global warming, invasions of exotics, and the practices of filling, dyking and draining. In humid regions, drainage of depressions and flats has eliminated large areas of wetlands. In arid regions, irrigated agriculture directly competes with wetlands for water. Eutrophication is widespread, which, together with effects of invasive species, reduces biotic complexity. In northern Europe and the northern Mediterranean, losses have been ongoing for hundreds of years, while losses in North America accelerated during the 1950s through to the 1970s. In contrast, areas such as China appear to be on the cusp of expanding drainage projects and building impoundments that will eliminate and degrade freshwater wetlands. Generalizations and trends gleaned from this paper should be considered only as a starting point for developing world-scale data sets. One trend is that the more industrialized countries are likely to conserve their already impacted, remaining wetlands, while nations with less industrialization are now experiencing accelerated losses, and may continue to do so for the next several decades. Another observation is that countries with both protection and restoration programmes do not necessarily enjoy a net increase in area and improvement in condition. Consequently, both reductions in the rates of wetland loss and increases in the rates of restoration are needed in tandem to achieve overall improvements in wetland area and condition.


In post-Stalin Eastern Europe, international tourism occupied a paradoxical position. For practical and ideological reasons, socialist states continued to implement stringent passport regimes and strictly regulated the movement of people to and from their territories. At the same time (and for similar reasons), socialist entities were also compelled and enticed, albeit with hesitations, to allow their citizens and foreigners to temporarily move across their borders. Examining the tension between these policies and practices, this article explores how political and tourist institutions in Tito's Yugoslavia negotiated and engaged with mobility by Yugoslav citizens and visitors, gradually leading to the country's "open-door policy" of the 1960s. This policy—and with it, international tourism—became a trademark of sorts for Yugoslavia's atypical socialism and, as Yugoslav officials and tourism experts often claimed, served both as a reflection of and a channel for the expression of the country's distinct foreign policy and socioeconomic agenda. Though Yugoslavia's engagement with global tourism was hardly unique during the Cold War, the country's rapid transformation to a relatively successful and recognized tourist destination in the 1960s was remarkable and typically a step ahead of other socialist states. The article argues that this transformation occurred through the enaction of liberal mobility policies that intelligently intersected with the country's foreign policy. Through this, it asserts, Yugoslavia set itself apart in many respects, particularly in terms of its mobility and tourism practices, which were, for the most part, in tune with Western standards.


Occupational safety and health is one of the important issues for workforce activities, especially among the member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Reporting construction work accidents is one of the important things in the construction sector which is an important topic considering that construction has become the most dangerous sector, one of which is due to its unique, dynamic, and temporary nature. The purpose of this study is to get a comparison of the reporting regulations, especially in terms of the regulations of the relevant institutions, the reporting time and the reporting flow of construction work accidents in several countries in the ASEAN region. The International Standard used is the ILO code of practice (ILO Code of Practice on Recording and Notification of Occupational Accidents and Diseases 1996). Meanwhile in Indonesia there is a Work Safety Act (Law No. 1, 1970) with its main agency being the Ministry of Manpower of the Republic of Indonesia. Malaysia has a 1994 Occupational Safety and Health Act with its main agency being the Department of Occupational Safety and Health (DOSH). Singapore has a Workplace Safety and Health Act 2006 with its main agency being the Occupational Safety and Health Division (OSHD). And the Philippines has an Occupational Safety and Health Standards (As Amended 1989) with its main agency being the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE). Further in-depth literature study on reporting patterns of regulation (time, flow, and regulation) investigation of construction work accident in each of these countries. This is very much needed as a basis for comparison in the context of developing patterns of investigation of construction work accident in Indonesia in the future. The research method used is in analyzing secondary juridical normative data. In this study, it was concluded that Malaysia, Singapore, the Philippines did not explicitly separate reporting patterns of work accident investigations between construction and non-construction work accidents, and in their regulations only involved one institution at the ministerial level and or more than one department but still within one related ministry reporting workplace accident investigations from both the construction and non-construction sectors. Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines in the preparation of regulations and legislation related to reports on workplace and non-construction work accident investigations refer to ILO regulations. While the conditions in Indonesia, the data obtained that Indonesia has several investigative institutions under several ministries (Construction Safety Committee, National Transportation Safety Committee, Labor Inspector and others). In Indonesia also does not yet have legislation or framework that integrates the work coordination, authority and responsibility of all investigative institutions of some of the ministries mentioned above. The accuracy of the reporting regulations for construction work accident investigations is expected to be the initial capital in order to get the roots of the problems of construction work accidents and the initial step for the development of further research, especially regarding the framework of construction work accident investigation in Indonesia.


Professor Roudane attempts to provide a comprehensive analysis of the style, literary sources, and critical reaction to Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and in his final chapter to establish thematic links between Albee and Virginia Woolf herself an endeavour which promises more than it delivers. He makes effective use of his conversations with Albee, and includes a useful bibliography. However, whilst justifiably stressing the importance and seriousness of the play, Roudane tends to lapse into the kind of empty rhetoric lampooned by Albee in his drama. Further, he fails to celebrate the brilliant comedy of the piece: and it is rather odd to include the statement that 'In performance, the actress playing Honey provides a much-needed source of comedy'. Roudane is more concerned with the idea that 'Albee's language valourized him', and consequently, in his eagerness to assert the heroic status of the playwright, his language lapses into the portentous.


The present scientific paper outlines in today's contemporary world - where everything is as it seems at first glance, subordinated to the economy, technology and politics are essentially ruled by ethics, value attitudes, which in that or otherwise find embodiment for purposes activities. After all, the question of goals, intentions is the question about values. The paper underlines that modern information technology has sharpened the problem of the values of the human spirit and choice further path of our world civilization. Everyone remembers the 20th century with its socio-cultural contradictions. And the scale of the achievements, and the scale of destruction committed by people in the twentieth century, incomparable with any other times in its history. The present paper emphasizes that if we want to keep human moral values in the information sphere, then is the technology itself sufficient for this, creating suitable programs forcing save them? Of course, working in networks and not consider off-grid the laws impossible. The paper concludes that what will this process lead to, hard to say. One thing is clear now: interacting with a digital computer, we inevitably become different. Society becomes others. And to regret it is nostalgia for past, it is sweet - meaningless. Like us modern peace or not - but this is reality life, and of them desirable proceed if we want to impact on construction our future


We describe a simple algorithm for level-wise enumeration of the global states of a distributed computation. In addition to fast execution, it requires working memory for only two global states plus a variable amount of memory which permits the trading of higher speed for storage. Furthermore, we present a new caching strategy that speeds up the state enumeration algorithm described in [A. Andrzejak et al., (2003)].


1. The reflex role of the crayfish abdominal muscle receptor organ (MRO) was studied in intact preparations under relatively physiological conditions by electro-physiological and photographic methods.

2. By separately stretching the receptor muscles of the two receptors in each half-segment it was found that discharge of the tonic MRO is sufficient to evoke activity in the tonic superficial extensors but has no effect on the deep twitch extensors. No effect on either muscle group was produced by activity in the phasic MRO.

3. Discharge of the tonic MRO was found to activate only one of the five motoneurones supplying the superficial extensors. This motoneurone is generally tonically active and has a low threshold to tactile input. Evidence is given that this motoneuronedoes not innervate the receptor muscle of the tonic MRO.

4. The excitatory effect of tonic MRO output on ipsilateral superficial extensor motoneurones is only one-tenth as great in adjacent segments as in the same segment. The effect contralaterally in the same segment is negligible.

5. Simultaneous electrical recording of tonic MRO output with photographic recording of abdominal position proves that the response of the tonic MRO is a function of the difference between actual segment length and some centrally deter-mined 'desired' length. Evidence is presented supporting the concept that the tonic MRO functions as an error detector in a follow-up length servo control system which governs the posture of the crayfish abdomen. A model of this system is presented anddiscussed.

Supported by grants (to Dr Donald Kennedy) from the U.S. Public Health Service (B-2944) and the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AF-AFOSR).


The nonlinear dynamic behavior of a rotor-bearing system is analyzed with its finite element model based on the analysis of the discrete model, with considering some other important influencing factors such as, material damping, gyroscopic effect, inertia distribution, shear effect and so on, which make the description of the system more embodiment avoiding the casualness of selection with system parameters. With the comparison of the results on the bifurcation map and three-dimensional spectrum, significant difference is appeared with the addition of the considered factors. It is suggested that the substitution of continuum model for the discrete ones can get more accurate and abundant results. Furthermore, these results can provide more accurate verification and reference for the experiment and nonlinear dynamic design of the complex rotor system.


We present a thermodynamic Gibbs free energy model for the finite element simulation of the coupled thermo-magneto-mechanical behavior of ferromagnetic shape memory alloys (FSMAs). Starting from a free energy model for the conventional shape memory effect, additional terms are included to take into account the magnetic anisotropy and the geometry-dependent magnetostatic energy. Different functions are considered for the strain dependence of the anisotropy energy in order to describe the experimentally found strong dependence of the anisotropy energy on the ratio of short and long crystallographic axis c/a. The resulting energy landscape is used to calculate the transition probabilities between three martensite variants and the austenite state under applied stress and external magnetic field. The magnetic shape memory effect is simulated for different loading conditions and sample geometries. We demonstrate the influence of the c/a dependence of the anisotropy energy as well as the influence of twinning strain and elastic modulus on the transition between martensite variants. The model calculations are compared with experimental results on Ni-Mn-Ga single crystals.


Abstract. Leatherback sea turtles (Dermochelys coriacea) are listed as Vulnerable globally by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. To preserve this species, we must protect them during several life stages, including protecting hatchlings emerging from nests. We studied the timing of emergence of leatherback hatchlings at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge, an area created for the protection of this species. We surveyed 524 nests in 2010–2014 and evaluated the time that hatchlings began emerging from the surface of the sand, the time that the last hatchling in the group finished emerging from the sand, the incubation duration of each nest (number of days between deposition and first emergence), and the number of hatchlings in the initial pulse of emergence. In situ clutches (those occurring naturally and not manipulated by location) had an incubation period of 61.4 ± 21.1 d (mean ± SD; n = 332) and emerged from 1825 to 1906 hrs. The incubation duration varied significantly from relocated clutches (those that had been moved at deposition because of erosion threats), had an incubation period of 60.0 ± 2.7 days (n = 192), and emerged from 1827 to 1903 hrs (on average, for all years combined; p < 0.0001). These nests yielded 36.6 ± 21.1 first-emergence hatchlings from in situ clutches, which was different from relocated clutches (14.9 ± 13.6 first-emergence; p < 0.0001). Other studies have found that hard-shelled sea turtles all begin emerging once the sun sets and continue emerging throughout the night. In contrast, we found that leatherback sea turtle hatchlings emerge earlier in the evening, at least at Sandy Point. During the seasons sampled, emergence often began before sunset (between 1834 and 1859 hrs) and hatchlings usually did not continue to emerge through the night. To allocate resources most effectively, beach management programs at Sandy Point National Wildlife Refuge should be maximized between 1700 and 2000 hrs, the period when most hatchlings are emerging and require the most protection from predators. This work provides important information about the timing of leatherback emergence and may be applicable to other leatherback nesting beaches where predation may be a problem. These findings can help ensure that nest protection programs maintain efficiency and protect hatchlings during their vulnerable crawl to the sea.


SUMMARY Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) with the type IV staphylococcal chromosomal cassette mec (SCCmec) is rarely reported as being acquired in hospital. We report a hospital outbreak, in Grampian, Scotland, of eight cases of skin and soft-tissue infections due to such a strain. All patients had been in the labour, delivery and maternity units of a small community hospital during a 7-month period. Typing by pulsed-field gel electrophoresis showed the isolates to be a single strain closely related to the USA800 lineage (paediatric clone) and additional typing confirmed it as ST5-MRSA-IV. Genes for exfoliative toxin A (ETA) and enterotoxin D were detected by PCR in all the isolates although none carried the Panton–Valentine leukocidin gene. Region-wide surveillance of over 6000 MRSA isolates collected from 1998 to 2004 showed that 95 (1·6%) were closely related to the outbreak strain although only 60 carried the ETA gene. The strain has not been seen elsewhere in Scotland.


Hermaphrodism became a zone of frenzied publication in nineteenth-century France, when numerous doctors recommended adding a "neuter sex" or a "doubtful sex" category to the Civil Code alongside those of "male" and "female." Although attempts to add "doubtful sex" to the code were rarely intended to protect hermaphrodites, the legal silence regarding hermaphrodism actually afforded some doctors and patients the leeway to live in ways others wished could be outlawed.


After presenting the concept of communicative autonomy and how it can help professionals with ethical decision-making (micro), I draw on two different visual examples to analyze framing strategies for the profession by society at large (macro). One strategy relies on experiences of identity and belonging, while the other moves away from considerations of identity. I discuss what their respective advantages and disadvantages might be. I connect these strategies to the concept of "identity politics" and its counterpart "identity override". For the final step of this article, I resort to some examples of groups that have made progress in the political agenda with their civil rights claims. It helps me make the case for a bi-faceted strategy for the advancement of community interpreting that both leverages identity group dynamics and is simultaneously able to appeal to the overarching concept of communicative autonomy.


ABSTRACT Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the roadside prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving among drivers and riders in northern Ghana. The study also verifies motorists' perceptions of their own alcohol use and knowledge of the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit in Ghana. Method: With the assistance of police, systematic random sampling was used to collect data at roadblocks using a cross-sectional study design. Breathalyzers were used to screen whether motorists had detectable alcohol in their breath and follow-up breath tests were conducted to measure the actual breath alcohol levels among positive participants. Results: In all, 9.7% of the 789 participants had detectable alcohol, among whom 6% exceeded the legal BAC limit of 0.08%. The prevalence of alcohol-impaired driving/riding was highest among cyclists (10% of all cyclists breath-tested) followed by truck drivers (9%) and motorcyclists (7% of all motorcyclists breath-tested). The occurrence of a positive BAC among cyclists was about 8 times higher (odds ratio [OR] = 7.73; P < .001) and it was 2 times higher among motorcyclists (OR = 2.30; P = .039) compared to private car drivers. The likelihood for detecting a positive BAC among male motorists/riders was higher than that among females (OR = 1.67; P = .354). The odds for detecting a positive BAC among weekend motorists/riders was significantly higher than on weekdays (OR = 2.62; P = .001). Conclusion: Alcohol-impaired driving/riding in Ghana is high by international standards. In order to attenuate the harmful effects of alcohol misuse such as alcohol-impaired driving/riding, there is the need to educate road users about how much alcohol they can consume and stay below the legal limit. The police should also initiate random breath testing to instill the deterrence of detection, certainty of apprehension and punishment, and severity and celerity of punishment among drink-driving motorists and riders.


The microstructure evolution of the extruded Mg-9Li-1Al (LA91) during rolling was investigated taking account of effects of different routes including hot rolling, and cross rolling. The rolling parameters were suggested by thermal compression testing. As a result, the suggested rolling parameters were 250°C and 1.0s-1. Transverse hot rolling would bring a finer microstructure to the as-rolled LA91 sheet. With the enhancement of the rolling reduction during unidirectional hot rolling the α-Mg phase became granular or short rod-like from long strip-like. Transverse + longitudinal hot rolling would improve the microstructure and was a better cross rolling route by which the strength and the elongation of the cross rolled LA91 sheet reached 243MPa and 20% respectively. The over-aging existed in the cross rolled LA91 sheets.


We report the first in vivo analysis of a canonical CP12 regulatory protein, namely the unique CP12 of the model cyanobacterium Synechocystis PCC 6803, which has the advantage of being able to grow photoautotrophically, photomixotrophically, and photoheterotrophically. The data showed that CP12 is dispensable to cell growth under standard (continuous) light and light/dark cycle, whereas it is essential for the catabolism of exogenously added glucose that normally sustains cell growth in absence of photosynthesis. Furthermore, to be active in glucose catabolism, CP12 requires its three conserved features: its AWD_VEEL motif and its two pairs of cysteine residues. Also interestingly, CP12 was found to regulate the redox equilibrium of NADPH, an activity involving its AWD_VEEL motif and its C-ter cysteine residues, but not its N-ter cysteine residues. This finding is important because NADPH powers up the methylerythritol 4-phosphate (MEP) pathway that synthesizes the geranyl-diphosphate (GPP) and farnesyl-diphosphate (FPP) metabolites, which can be transformed into high-value terpenes by recombinant cyanobacteria producing plant terpene synthase enzymes. Therefore, we have introduced into the Δcp12 mutant and the wild-type (control) strain our replicative plasmids directing the production of the monoterpene limonene and the sesquiterpene bisabolene. The photosynthetic production of both bisabolene and limonene appeared to be increased (more than two-fold) in the Δcp12 mutant as compared to the WT strain. Furthermore, the level of bisabolene production was also higher to those previously reported for various strains of Synechocystis PCC 6803 growing under standard (non-optimized) photoautotrophic conditions. Hence, the presently described Δcp12 strain with a healthy photoautotrophic growth and an increased capability to produce terpenes, is an attractive cell chassis for further gene manipulations aiming at engineering cyanobacteria for high-level photoproduction of terpenes.


This thesis explores the emergence of the concept of ethical responsibility in the writings of
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) and Emmanuel Levinas (1906-1995). It argues that 'the
other' and 'language' are both indispensable and correlative elements in the analysis of
ethical responsibility presented by these two authors.
Chapter one outlines the main theories of responsibility that have unfolded down in
the history of philosophy to the twentieth century, noting the need to re-think the concept of
ethical responsibility in light of the challenges offered by both Bonhoeffer and Levinas.
Chapter two addresses the question that Bonhoeffer raises 'What is man?' in relation to the
'boundary' between the possibility and the limitations of man, taking into consideration the
influence of Karl Barth's concerns on the Wholly Other and the Word of God on
Bonhoeffer's 'non-religious interpretation of Christianity'. Chapter three analyses
Heidegger's concepts of Dasein and language. Though inspired by Heidegger's reflections on
the question of the meaning of Being in relation to the existential situation of human being,
both Bonhoeffer and Levinas criticize Heidegger's Dasein analytic because it overlooks the
role of 'the other' and 'language' in the ethical relation that exists between fellow human
beings. Chapter four concentrates on Levinas' s thoughts on the responsible response via the
exteriority of the face and the ethical significance of language, and argues that the response to
'what is the other?' is an answer to Bonhoeffer's question of 'what is man?' The fifth chapter
argues that the ethical structure of responsibility is based on 'the Other' and 'language' as
indispensable elements and applies this structure to a discussion of some central issues in
religion, pluralism and Western-Chinese communication, re-enforcing the need to look again
at the role of 'the Other' and 'language' in the ethical structure of responsibility.


High precision measurements of the proton elastic form factor ratio have been made at four-momentum transfers, Q^2, between 0.2 and 0.5 GeV^2. The new data, while consistent with previous results, clearly show a ratio less than unity and significant differences from the central values of several recent phenomenological fits. By combining the new form-factor ratio data with an existing cross-section measurement, one finds that in this Q^2 range the deviation from unity is primarily due to GEp being smaller than the dipole parameterization.


A brief review of calcaneal fractures is presented with a case report of an Essex-Lopresti type II joint depression fracture sustained from a vertical fall of 18 inches.


The dense structure of polymeric matrices exposes only 10–20% of adsorption (amidoxime) groups, thus detracting from the extraction efficiency of uranium from seawater. Herein, the amidoxime-modified building units were cross-linked via the Scholl reaction into porous aromatic frameworks (PAFs). Due to the formation of open architecture, PAF adsorbents reveal a larger utilization ratio (>60%) of amidoxime groups. Consequently, PAF samples enable an ultrahigh uranium capacity of 702 mg g−1, which creates a 16-fold capacity enhancement and gains a 7-fold adsorption rate improvement compared with polymer-based adsorbents. Notably, PAF solids are able to be integrated into various devices, thus realizing versatile and efficacious uranium extraction from real seawater (meeting the commercial standard ∼6 mg g−1 in 21 days). In addition, the final cost using our PAF-based adsorbent is US $189.77 per kg uranium, it is in accordance with the prevailing market cost ($100–335 per kg).


ABSTRACT In the current paper, we present an analysis of a case study in which we have followed Swedish primary teachers who voluntarily began using translated Finnish curriculum materials, i.e. a textbook and teacher guide, in order to reform their mathematics teaching. The multifaceted data, consisting of questionnaires, interviews, protocols from collegial meetings and classroom observations, were gathered during the period 2010–2014. The analysis of the interplay within this cross-cultural setting reveals the special characteristics and the challenges existing in practice. Both the experienced and inexperienced teachers offloaded a great deal of their agency to the materials in order to become familiar with the ideas they mediated. Yet, the lack of a clear rationale behind the organization of the materials, as well as the suggested activities connected to taken-for-granted features of the Finnish teaching tradition, made fruitful interaction problematic. The changes teachers made in their classroom practice were tightly connected to the support offered in the materials, without which the teachers abandoned their new classroom patterns. Based on the results of this study, we suggest a number of general aspects that we regard as important to consider when implementing curriculum materials developed within another cultural-educational context.


In the Venezuelan Primary Education (MPPE, 2007) the environment was inserted as an integrating axis that connects with the disciplines of the area of mathematics and natural sciences, from this perspective the learning of this concept is fundamental for the understanding of the associated scientific concepts. In order to describe the cognitive dynamics involved in their learning, it was considered necessary to investigate the development of the same in third grade students, from their previous notions to the conceptualization of the environment as a complex system. The study was framed in a Field Investigation, under an action research design. In order to gather the necessary information from 20 selected informants, an open response questionnaire was applied at the beginning and end of the period. For the analysis of the information, the individual and group temporal triangulation was used, identifying the conceptual operators used and the convergent aspects among them. From the analysis made five (5) categories emerged that bring together all the ways of conceptualizing the environment for the moment 1 and Five (5) categories for the moment 2, of these, the latter makes reference to the systemic-complex vision where they were located 11 of the 20 informants. It is concluded that the method used allowed to contrast the advances of the students in the development of their conceptualizations and the cognitive dynamics involved.


In this study, we used a systems biology approach to investigate changes in the proteome and metabolome of shrimp hemocytes infected by the invertebrate virus WSSV (white spot syndrome virus) at the viral genome replication stage (12 hpi) and the late stage (24 hpi). At 12 hpi, but not at 24 hpi, there was significant up-regulation of the markers of several metabolic pathways associated with the vertebrate Warburg effect (or aerobic glycolysis), including glycolysis, the pentose phosphate pathway, nucleotide biosynthesis, glutaminolysis and amino acid biosynthesis. We show that the PI3K-Akt-mTOR pathway was of central importance in triggering this WSSV-induced Warburg effect. Although dsRNA silencing of the mTORC1 activator Rheb had only a relatively minor impact on WSSV replication, in vivo chemical inhibition of Akt, mTORC1 and mTORC2 suppressed the WSSV-induced Warburg effect and reduced both WSSV gene expression and viral genome replication. When the Warburg effect was suppressed by pretreatment with the mTOR inhibitor Torin 1, even the subsequent up-regulation of the TCA cycle was insufficient to satisfy the virus's requirements for energy and macromolecular precursors. The WSSV-induced Warburg effect therefore appears to be essential for successful viral replication.


This study explores biblical terms in contexts of hate speech dissemination on digital social networks and proposes a method to filter hateful terms on Facebook. The objective is to identify and index words and expressions of religious intolerance and violence in Portuguese. Specifically, it aims to identify the biblical terms used in the context of the dissemination of hateful content on Facebook and, based on the results, build a block list that expands the analytical capacity of response, investigation, and timely intervention methods to abusive, fundamentalist, and extremist content. The methodological approach is based on text mining and content analysis procedures, combined with the application of Zipf's law, with the adoption of Goffman's transition point (T). As a result, we collected 4,214,699 comments from the official page of a neo-Pentecostal pastor who served as federal deputy between 2013 and 2016, recognized for intolerant and radical statements against nonpractitioners of his religion, non-Christians, agnostics, atheists, and secularists. In addition, the method determines 108 terms distributed in 3,614 comments. The content analysis verifies 25 terms used in the context of hate and systematizes them about the forms of speech (intolerant, fundamentalist, extremist, curse, or praise), as well as different recipients of the message found. The findings support the validation of the methodological proposal and provide the creation of a controlled vocabulary that organizes and monitors the hateful comments, the speech form, and the message


Univariate semiparametric methods are often used in modeling nonlinear age trajectories for imaging data, which may result in efficiency loss and lower power for identifying important age-related effects that exist in the data. As observed in multiple neuroimaging studies, age trajectories show similar nonlinear patterns for the left and right corresponding regions and for the different parts of a big organ such as the corpus callosum. To incorporate the spatial similarity information without assuming spatial smoothness, we propose a multivariate semiparametric regression model with a spatial similarity penalty, which constrains the variation of the age trajectories among similar regions. The proposed method is applicable to both cross-sectional and longitudinal region-level imaging data. We show the asymptotic rates for the bias and covariance functions of the proposed estimator and its asymptotic normality. Our simulation studies demonstrate that by borrowing information from similar regions, the proposed spatial similarity method improves the efficiency remarkably. We apply the proposed method to two neuroimaging data examples. The results reveal that accounting for the spatial similarity leads to more accurate estimators and better functional clustering results for visualizing brain atrophy pattern.Functional clustering; Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); Penalized B-splines; Region of interest (ROI); Spatial penalty.


The automatic recognition of facial expression presents a significant challenge to the pattern analysis and man-machine interaction research community. Recognition from a single static image is particularly a difficult task. In this paper, we present a methodology for facial expression recognition from a single static image using line-based caricatures. The recognition process is completely automatic. It also addresses the computational expensive problem and is thus suitable for real-time applications. The proposed approach uses structural and geometrical features of a user sketched expression model to match the line edge map (LEM) descriptor of an input face image. A disparity measure that is robust to expression variations is defined. The effectiveness of the proposed technique has been evaluated and promising results are obtained. This work has proven the proposed idea that facial expressions can be characterized and recognized by caricatures.


Between the different traditional learning tools and the rapid rise of technology and ease of access to them, students are presented with a multitude of avenues for learning. With so many resources available, students have to learn to be selective. By finding out what tools and services students use the most, this research aims to determine how students avoid information overload and getting lost in cyberspace. To do this, a survey was carried out at the Ateneo de Manila University in Manila, Philippines. Using a print questionnaire, 942 students were asked 145 questions about their media usage for learning and related topics. Analysis of the data included analysis of variance and comparing mean values by creating rankings of the different media services. It was aimed to find out what services are used the most, and to what extent. The results showed that students are more inclined to use online resources such as Google, online course material and literature, though there is still great appreciation for traditional learning media such as books and printed handouts from teachers. Filipino students seem to prefer self-learning, whether through traditional or non-traditional means, rather than learning through social media.


Organic thin film transistors (TFTs) can be made with materials that allow them to be mechanically stretched during electrical operation. We describe the application of mechanical models of the elasticity of polymers to predict the electrical characteristics of elastic TFTs. The model predicts the current–voltage behavior of TFTs under uniaxial and biaxial deformation assuming stretchable elements for contacts, dielectrics, and the semiconducting layer. The behavior of complementary inverters using elastic TFTs is presented along with criteria for stable operation as digital circuit elements. The mechanical model was also applied to organic electrochemical transistors (OECTs). The behavior of elastic OECTs differs substantially from TFTs and the model predicts that they can provide benefits for the stability of simple digital circuits.


This paper discusses how information and communication technology (ICT) affects the quality and reach of consumer services. These services need to be provided locally, but consist of several components, some of which can be digitised and transmitted over long distances. A general equilibrium model is developed and numerical simulations in a stylised two-factor, two-region, centre-periphery setting are presented. Trade in intermediate services improves the quality of consumer services enormously in the periphery, but may reduce the quality at the centre. Trade in intermediate services also has a dramatic impact on skilled workers' wages in the periphery, both relative to unskilled workers in their own region and relative to skilled workers at the centre and leads to a more equal distribution of income both between the centre and the periphery and within the periphery.


We present an Advanced Spectral Leakage (ASL) scheme to model neutrinos in the context of core-collapse supernovae (CCSNe) and compact binary mergers. Based on previous gray leakage schemes, the ASL scheme computes the neutrino cooling rates by interpolating local production and diffusion rates (relevant in optically thin and thick regimes, respectively) separately for discretized values of the neutrino energy. Neutrino trapped components are also modeled, based on equilibrium and timescale arguments. The better accuracy achieved by the spectral treatment allows a more reliable computation of neutrino heating rates in optically thin conditions. The scheme has been calibrated and tested against Boltzmann transport in the context of Newtonian spherically symmetric models of CCSNe. ASL shows a very good qualitative and a partial quantitative agreement for key quantities from collapse to a few hundreds of milliseconds after core bounce. We have proved the adaptability and flexibility of our ASL scheme, coupling it to an axisymmetric Eulerian and to a three-dimensional smoothed particle hydrodynamics code to simulate core collapse. Therefore, the neutrino treatment presented here is ideal for large parameter-space explorations, parametric studies, high-resolution tests, code developments, and long-term modeling of asymmetric configurations, where more detailed neutrino treatments are not available or are currently computationally too expensive.


The aim of this research was to develop a valid and reliable measurement tool (SSEV) for the determination of the epistemological views of prospective teachers, and to use this scale to elicit the epistemological views of prospective teachers in Turkey. The application was conducted with 930 participants. SSEV was found to account for 48% of the total variance in the participants' epistemological views. SSEV consisted of three sub-dimensions; "authority and accuracy in scientific knowledge", "methodological approach and scientific attitude", and "nature of scientific knowledge". The ω, r, and α reliability coefficients for the whole scale were found to be .868, .838 and .861, respectively. In terms of the results it can be stated that SSEV is a valid and reliable scale to measure teacher candidates' epistemological views. The prospective teachers that constituted the sample of this research generally had mature epistemological views at a slightly higher level than moderate. It was found that the developed/mature epistemological views of the participants were at a high level for the authority and accuracy sub-dimension, above the moderate level for the methodological approaches and scientific attitude, and at a moderate level for nature of scientific knowledge.


Background. In February 2004, students from a college in Iowa, with a high proportion of nonmedical exemptions to vaccination, traveled to India; one fourth of the students contracted measles while there. One exposed, susceptible student returned home during his infectious period, necessitating 2 months of containment efforts in Iowa. Objective. The objective of this study was to measure the direct costs of measles containment from a public health system perspective. Methods. We evaluated activities performed, personnel time/materials allocated, and direct costs incurred in 2004 US dollars by the Iowa public health infrastructure. The study period was defined as March 5, 2004 (when the Iowa Department of Public Health was first contacted about the case), through May 12, 2004 (when a final meeting was held on the containment effort). Results. A total of 2525 hours of personnel time were expended to review flight manifests, contact exposed passengers, set up vaccination clinics, trace >1000 potentially exposed contacts, and institute and enforce quarantine orders for vaccination refusers. Two thousand twenty-five phone calls were received from the public, and 2243 miles were driven by staff. The temporal distribution of personnel time was characterized by marked peaks at the report of potential secondary cases. The total estimated cost was $ 142452. Conclusions. The direct cost to the public health infrastructure of containing 1 case of measles was far greater than the estimated cost of uncomplicated individual illness (less than $100). Economic analyses of vaccine-preventable diseases may need to go beyond the costs of individual illness to account for the costs of protecting society.


Two new surgical procedures are presented for the treatment of upper eyelid retraction. These use a sensory nerve block so that the patients are awake and able to move their eyelids, thereby allowing the surgeon to make controlled adjustments for the amount of surgery to be done. One procedure, excision of Muller's muscle, was done on three lids that had overaction of Muller's muscle alone. The other, a combined procedure of excision of Muller's muscle and partial tenotomy of the levator aponeurosis, was done on four lids that had overaction of both Muller's and levator muscles. The results in all the cases were good in comparison with the results the authors obtained using other surgical techniques described for treating upper lid retraction.


When people at risk of discrimination on multiple grounds or experiencing identity- based oppression meet healthcare and social services, their complex life stories often result in mistrust and prejudice. The aim of this article is to show how individuals themselves locate their multiple dimensions of difference in specific situations and contexts and how they perceive the ways in which healthcare and social services encounter them. We further point out how the different social divisions are enmeshed with and influenced by each other in given situations and contexts. The article points out that dynamics of mistrust and prejudice can not be overcome by treating people equally, as that approach would require abstracting from individuals' specificities and ignoring asymmetries in the relationship between institutions and their clients. As the article shows, what is required instead is a practice of creating trust and responding to individual differences societies produce. Methodologically, we worked with in-depth interviews conducted with 22 persons in the Geneva region (during 2012) who possessed at least two categories of difference related to their sexual orientation, their physical and psychological abilities, and/or their origins. The number of interviewed people was determined by the logic of saturation. Based on these 22 in-depth interviews with people at risk of discrimination on multiple grounds and experiencing identity-based oppression, this study describes dynamics of incomprehension between them and healthcare and social services and how they might be overcome.


Tracing the loss of electricity becomes an important issue under deregulated transmission system. Due to nonlinear nature of power flow, it is difficult to trace the loss of each transmission line that contributed by which generator. Thus, several algorithms have been proposed to solve this problem. This paper presents a study of transmission loss allocation in deregulated power systems. This paper presents the novelty of two methods namely superposition method and proportional tree method (PTM). A number of simulations are performed based on their assumptions to compare their performance and verify the correctness of each method. Finally, conclusions and recommendations are given.


With increasingly large expenditures of public funds being spent to reduce the severity of wildfires around homes, officials and legislators are often interested in knowing the economic benefits these funds provide. However, agencies often do not have funding or expertise to conduct individual state specific benefit estimates, and often rely upon benefit transfer (BT) estimates. We calculate the BT error for transferring California homeowner benefit estimates to Florida and vice-versa for public and private fire risk reduction programs. We use the same choice experiment survey and the same specification of the mixed logit model in both states. In terms of accuracy of benefit transfer, among homeowners that perceive low to moderate fire risk, transferring willingness to pay (WTP) from CA to FL or FL to CA for the Public Program to reduce wildfire risk yields a large BT error (-33.1% to 51.8%). However, these large BT errors for the Public Program become smaller (-23.3% to +30.4%) when the benefit transfer focuses on those homeowners with high risk perceptions of wildfire in their neighborhood. In contrast, the opposite pattern is found for the Private Program. There are low BT errors when transferring WTP for the Private Program to reduce risk (-4.4% to 4.8%) between CA and FL homeowners that perceive low to moderate fire risk. But for high risk perceiving homeowners WTP for the Private Program to reduce wildfire risk immediately around their home has a much larger BT error (-16.4% to 31.8%). While our range of BT errors are generally less than found in the BT convergent validity literature, our BT errors are still higher than expected given the same methodology is used in both states, and the homeowners in the two states report similar effects of wildfires and perceived risk. It is hypothesized that the considerable differences between homeowner demographics in the two states may be contributing to the BT errors.


The aim of this study was to characterise the response of CO2 assimilation (A) of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) to short- and long-term exposures to night chilling. We hypothesised that short-term exposures to night chilling would induce reductions in gs and, therefore, A during the following days, while growth of cotton plants for several weeks in cool night conditions would cause elevated leaf carbohydrate content, leading to the down-regulation of the capacity for A. Transferring warm-grown seedlings of wild type cotton, transgenic cotton with elevated sucrose-phosphate synthase activity (SPS+) that might produce and export more sucrose from the leaf, and a segregating null to cool nights (9°C minimum) for 1 or 2 d caused a small reduction in A (12%) and gs (21-50%) measured at 28°C. Internal CO2 did not change, suggesting some biochemical restriction of A along with a gs restriction. After 30 d, new leaves that developed in cool nights exhibited acclimation of A and partial acclimation of gs. Despite the elevated leaf carbohydrate content when plants were grown to maturity with night chilling, no reduction in A, gs, carboxylation capacity, electron transport capacity, or triose-phosphate utilisation capacity occurred. Instead, growth in cool nights tended to retard the diminishing of photosynthetic parameters and gs for aging stem and subtending leaves. However, elevated SPS activity did not affect any photosynthetic parameters. Therefore, when cotton that is well fertilised with nitrogen is grown with continuous night chilling, photosynthesis should not be negatively affected. However, an occasional exposure to cool nights could result in a small reduction in A and gs for leaves that have developed in warm night conditions.


Nigella sativa L. (N. sativa) has been reported to have biological activities
such as anti-bacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidant and anti-fungal activities.

 This study aims to develop N. Sativa colloidal-emulgel with the evaluation of its antibacterial,
anti-oxidant and in-vivo irritation and sensation testing.

 Colloidal-emulgel formulations were prepared for N. sativa using different surfactants
(Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (S.L.S) and sucrose ester). N. sativa emulsion formulations were prepared
using heat inversion technique. After that, the optimum formulation was mixed with Carbopol to
produce the colloidal-emulgel. The droplet size, size distribution, and rheological behavior were
measured for emulgel formulations. Anti-bacterial and anti-oxidant activities were also reported in
the in vivo studies for sensitivity, irritancy and spreadability.

 It was found that the sucrose ester was able to produce the optimum emulsion formulation
with droplets size of less than 1 μm. In the anti-bacterial test for Staphylococcus aureus, it was
found that emulgel has an inhibition zone of 2.5 cm in diameter, but the oil alone being 1.3 cm.
According to MRSA, the inhibition zone for emulgel was 1.1 cm, but for oil, it was 0.5 cm in diameter.
Emulgel does not show any irritation or sensitivity. Also it has a homogeneous appearance
with a smooth texture. In addition, it shows fair mechanical properties, and easy spreadability with
acceptable bio-adhesion.

 It is concluded that N. sativa emulgel has been prepared with dermatological and cosmeceutical
benefits.


The paper analyses the concept of "sustainable growth" in the context of "green economy". The concept is a recent one, emerging in literature since 2008. The new concept of economic development has emerged in recent years as necessary in the conditions of the economic crisis, when the prevailing model of economic growth failed to meet the increasing demand for consumption of limited resources and also as a result of a limited capacity of the ecosystem. Since this is a genuinely new approach to economic development, it is not surprising that there is not enough literature in this area yet. Consequently, there is no unique and generally accepted definition of green economy nor of the strategy of sustainable growth. This is reflected in the variety of
economic policies concerning the green growth pursued by certain countries, ranging from those that deem it a priority goal to those that do not focus upon it at all. In answer to the lack of an integrated approach to these issues, the Green Growth Knowledge Platform (World Bank, 2012) was adopted. It is meant to serve as a starting point for research and understanding to what extent the new concept of sustainable growth within green economy has come into effect. In addition to the assessment of the results achieved, it is also to determine the guidelines for further development of the green growth concept. Shortly upon its adoption, the Platform was promoted at the
United Nations Summit, in mid-2012 (UNCSD 2012). Despite the efforts made by the international community to promote a new approach to economic development, the extent to which it will come into effect will depend on the governments of certain countries whose responsibility is to create conditions for sustainable growth on the path to a green economy. Namely,the transition to a green economy will vary considerably
from one nation to another, as it depends on the specifics of each country's natural and human capital and on its relative level of development (UNEP,2011).
The first part of this chapter offers a short overview of the definitions of sustainable growth and green economy. This review of literature is to help understand the new
concept of economic growth, but also its importance and what it is expected to be achieved through it. The subject of the following segment will be the review of how sustainability, equity and private sector in the "green economy" have been developed.


Practicing nurses are returning to school to further their education. There is a growing demand for nurses with advanced degrees to meet the needs of an expanding population of patients living with cancer. However, there are many different graduate nursing degree and program options, and several considerations should be taken into account when selecting a degree and a school. Discerning career goals is key to making the best decisions.


Background: Mortality in a 1 1The Deputy Editor Peter Byass, has not had any part in the review and decision process for this paper.population may be clustered in space and time for a variety of reasons, including geography, socio-economics, environment and demographics. Analysing mortality clusters can therefore reveal important insights into patterns and risks of mortality in a particular setting. Objective and design: To investigate the extent of spatio-temporal clustering of mortality in the Butajira District, Ethiopia, from 1987 to 2008. The Health and Demographic Surveillance System (HDSS) dataset recorded 10,696 deaths among 951,842 person-years of observation, with each death located by household, in which population time at risk was also recorded. The surveyed population increased from 28,614 in 1987 to 62,322 in 2008, in an area approximately 25 km in diameter. Spatio-temporal clustering analyses were conducted for overall mortality and by specific age groups, grouping the population into a 0.01° latitude–longitude grid. Results: A number of significantly high- and low-mortality clusters were identified at various times and places. Butajira town was characterised by significantly low mortality throughout the period. A previously documented major mortality crisis in 1998–1999, largely resulting from malaria and diarrhoea, dominated the clustering analysis. Other local high-mortality clusters, appreciably attributable to meningitis, malaria and diarrhoea, occurred in the earlier part of the period. In the later years, a more homogeneous distribution of mortality at lower rates was observed. Conclusions: Mortality was by no means randomly distributed in this community during the period of observation. The clustering analyses revealed a clear epidemiological transition, away from localised infectious epidemics, over a generation. Access the supplementary material to this article: animated graphic – sequence.ppsx – displaying the clusters (viewed over time) shown in Table 1 (see Supplementary files under Reading Tools online).


Bi Sr CaCu O (Bi2212) conductor technology has advanced significantly but the development of magnets is still hampered by difficulties associated with the partial-melt process (for wind&react magnets) and strain limitations (for react& wind magnets). To avoid these problems, the React-Wind-Sinter (RWS) approach has been proposed. Here we report on experiments that investigate three split processes that are based on the conventional partial-melt process within the RWS concept. The partial-melt process was interrupted at , C and . After cooling to room temperature, the conductor is bent to a series of diameters (40 mm–100 mm), replicating magnet construction. The heat treatment process is then resumed on the bent samples from the split point and the heat treatment completed. The critical current is measured at 4.2 K in self-field using the four-probe method and the microstructure and phase composition of the Bi2212/AgMg wire are examined with scanning electron microscopy. For the split processes, the critical current after full heat treatment is as high as those from conventionally processed short samples, and in at least one case it is increased by 40% relative to conventional processing. These results show that a split process is a promising approach to improved Bi2212 conductors and magnets, and more broadly shows that conventional Bi2212 partial-melt processing is far from optimized.


rban catchments in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) are increasingly becoming a major source of phosphorus (P) to downstream ecosystems. This is primarily due to large inputs of untreated wastewater to urban drainage channels, especially in informal settlements (or slums). However, the processes governing the fate of P in these catchments are largely unknown. In this study, these processes are investigated. During high runoff events and a period of base flow, we collected hourly water samples (over 24 h) from a primary channel draining a 28 km2 slum-dominated catchment in Kampala, Uganda, and from a tertiary channel draining one of the contributing slum areas (0.54 km2). The samples were analysed for orthophosphate (PO4-P), particulate P (PP), total P (TP), suspended solids (SS) and hydrochemistry. We also collected channel bed and suspended sediments to determine their geo-available metals, sorption characteristics and the dominant phosphorus forms. Our results showed that the catchment exported high fluxes of P (0.3 kg km2 d?1 for PO4-P and 0.95 for TP), which were several orders of magnitude higher than values normally reported in literature. A large proportion of P exported was particulate (56%of TP) and we inferred that most of it was retained along the channel bed. The retained sediment P was predominantly inorganic (>63% of total sediment P) and consisted of mostly Ca and Fe-bound P, which were present in almost equal proportions. Ca-bound sediment P was attributed to the adsorption of P to calcite because surface water was near saturation with respect to calcite in all the events sampled. Fe-bound sediment P was attributed to the adsorption of P to iron oxides in suspended sediment during runoff events given that surface water was undersaturated with respect to iron phosphates. We also found that the bed sediments were P-saturated and showed a tendency to release P by mineralisation and desorption. During rain events, there was a flushing of PP which we attributed to the resuspension of P-rich bed sediment that accumulated in the channel during low flows. However, firstflush effects were not observed. Our findings provide useful insights into the processes governing the fate and transport of P in urban slum catchments in SSA.


The treatment scheme of 540 patients with acute pneumonia and chronic bronchitis involved a 0.5 g ftivazid three times a day for 15-20 days. Compared with control groups of patients on the standard therapy, the drug presents a more advantageous treatment. Adequate efficacy and tolerance of the drug ftivazid make it appropriate for use in acute pneumonia and chronic bronchitis.


Cyclic adenosine monophosphate, cyclic guanosine monophosphate, glucagon, and isoproterenol each hyperpolarized perfused rat liver cells. The hyperpolarization followed a time course similar to the stimulated increase in potassium efflux and was preceded by the increase in calcium efflux. The hyperpolarization induced by cyclic adenosine monophosphate was blocked by tetracaine. The similarity of the action of the cyclic nucleotides to that of glucagon supports the hypothesis that cyclic adenosine monophosphate is the secondary messenger mediating the action of glucagon.


Introduction. The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends the use of reference tables to monitor the growth pattern and nutritional status of children and adolescents. Body mass index (BMI), weight, and height are the most commonly used variables. The objective of this study was to estimate the BMI, weight, and height percentiles for school-aged children (2009-2011) living in the department of San Rafael (Mendoza) and compare them to the international World Health Organization reference to establish their relevance for the evaluation of the growth pattern and nutritional status of this population. Population and methods. A cross-sectional anthropometric study was conducted in 3448 school-aged children aged 4.00 to 13.49 years. The LMS ChartMarker Pro software was used to estimate the BMIfor-age, weight-for-age, and height-for-age percentiles, by sex and age, and they were compared with the WHO curves. Besides, percentage differences (%D) were calculated to estimate the differences and their statistical significance using the Wilcoxon test. Results. The population of boys and girls in San Rafael showed higher weight and BMI (%D ≈ 7% and 9%, respectively) percentiles, and lower height (%D ≈ 0.8%) values than WHO reference (p < 0.05). Conclusion. The differences found warn about the use of the WHO reference in the school-aged population of San Rafael since it would overestimate the prevalence of overweight, obesity, and chronic malnutrition and underestimate the prevalence of acute and global malnutrition. This situation highlights the importance of having a local reference resource.


In bacterial expression systems, translation initiation is usually the rate limiting and the least pre-dictable stage of protein synthesis. Efficiency of a translation initiation site can vary dramatically depending on the sequence context. This is why many standard expression vectors provide very poor expression levels of some genes. This notion persuaded us to develop an artificial genetic selection protocol, which allows one to find for a given target gene an individual efficient ribosome binding site from a random pool. In order to create Darwinian pressure necessary for the genetic selection, we designed a system based on translational coupling, in which microorganism survival in the presence of antibiotic depends on expression of the target gene, while putting no special requirements on this gene. Using this system we obtained super-producing constructs for the human protein RACK1 (receptor for activated C kinase).


ABSTRACT
Backround: Nurses' behavior in using PPE is considered very important in improvingthe quality of health services as well as the occupational safety and health of nurses inhospitals

Objective: To determine the factors related to the behavior of nurses in nusing personal protective equipment in the inpatient unit Private Hospital at Yogyakarta.
Methods: This study used a quantitative descriptive research design with a cross sectional approach, with a total sample of 30 respondents. The sample obtained by the total population technique. The data collection methods used were questionnaires and observations.

Results: The study showed that most of the nurses had good enough behavior, 63,3%, almost half of them had good behavior, 33,3% and a small proportion of bad behaviorwas 3,3%. As much as 70% have good knowledge, a small proportion of knowledge isgood enough, 13,3% and a small proportion of knowledge is not good 16,7%. Most ofthe attitudes are quite positive 53,3%, almost half are positive attitudes are 40% and a small have negative attitudes 6,7%.

Conclusion: It is hoped that the hospital will provide socialization and practice of usingPPI by PPI to inpatient room nurses once every 3 months and raise awareness and remind fellow nurses to wear PPE according to the SPO.


In order to consider pedagogical activity as dialectical unity one needs to investigate the conditions and circumstances of her/his work. One also needs to research on its specifications from the perspective of the historical dialectical materialism approach, the historical cultural psychology and the activity theory. It is believed that the correspondence among need and aims, actions and operations in the students and educators' main activities create positive situations so that a conscious learning occurs. This fact depends on the educator's and the student's awareness of their ontological function in the teaching-learning process. It seems to be possible to conceive the dialectical unity. But it has to represent one of the conditions to overcoming the nowadays educational system. It is also necessary to conceive man ́s activity as one which transforms the material and social world into a human world.