Knowledge and practices in preventing malaria infection were assessed in a cross-sectional study in Morogoro Municipal. Malaria is a life-threatening parasitic disease transmitted caused by plasmodial species which are plasmodium falciparum, plasmodium vivax, plasmodium ovale, and plasmodium malariae. With most of the cases of malaria being due to Plasmodium falciparum accounting for more than 95% of infections. A total of sixty families were randomly selected from five study areas (Chamwino, Mafiga, Kichangani, Misufini and Manzese) to participate in the study. The questionnaire consisting of closed and open-ended questions was administered. The results indicated that knowledge on malaria transmission and prevention was reasonable as the respondents declared to have a significant knowledge (85%) on malaria transmission and prevention, though there was a knowledge gap among respondents. Breeding sites were also assessed and the results showed that 26.7% reported dark places as breeding sites, 40% mentioned the edges of ponds and stagnant water, 26.7% tagged dirty areas as breeding sites, 1.7% mentioned cattle sheds, and 5% were not aware at all. Methods used for management of malaria in their homes indicate that most of the respondents (73.3%) agreed with indoor residual spraying (IRS) while (26.7%) did not agree with IRS. Most respondents commented on the effectiveness of Home Management of Malaria (HMM) to be somehow helpful in reducing malaria infection cases, while 31.7% strongly agreed that HMM has been effective in reducing malaria infection cases. Therefore, there is a need to improve the emphasis of HMM to ensure that the effectiveness of HMM is being achieved at a great level.


The thesis compares and contrasts some aspects of the philosophical theology of Canadian Jesuit Bernard Lonergan (1904 - 1984) and Anglican Bishop Ian Ramsey (1915 - 1972). We ask whether the views of two theologians from very different backgrounds can be compatible. Lonergan and Ramsey both thought that modern science was a key resource for examining how intentional cognitive activity in humans is undertaken and hence science and scientific method give a strong indication of how we think and talk about God, theology and theological method.

We therefore start with the authors' views of science and scientific method, noting similarities alongside a crucial difference: Ramsey emphasises the scientific use of models, while Lonergan emphasises the precision of mathematics. We then argue that their descriptions of cognitive processes are similar, albeit with some differences. The differences in the views of models are emphasised in our comparison of their understandings of language and meaning. We suggest that while the views are different they are compatible and we propose a hybrid model for religious language based on an integration and synthesis of both authors' views.

The discussion draws together around theological method. Lonergan proposed several methods in his work and we discuss two. Ramsey did not describe an explicit method, but a consistent approach can be found in his theological writings. These methods are then compared with the authors' theological writings in a case study, the atonement. We argue that Lonergan follows neither of his methods and that both he and Ramsey have a flexible approach to the process of doing theology. The discussions of theological method, supplemented by earlier considerations of models and method are used to suggest a hybrid theological method. This generalises Lonergan's method, includes Ramsey's process and yields a model whereby we can discuss how theology is done.


OF DISSERTATION Don't give me that story! – A human-centered framework for usable narrative planning Interactive or branching stories are engaging and can be embedded into digital systems for a variety of purposes, but their size and complexity makes it difficult and time-consuming for humans to author them. Narrative planning algorithms can automatically generate large branching stories with guaranteed causal consistency, using a hand-authored library of story content pieces. The usability of such a system depends on both the quality of the narrative model upon which it is built and the ability of the user to create the story content library. Current narrative planning algorithms use either a limited or no model of character belief, which typically leads to undesireable stories and difficult domain authoring challenges. Domain authoring is further complicated by a lack of intelligent tools for summarizing the content that a domain can produce so that its author can effectively evaluate it. In this work I extend a prior narrative planning framework to model deeply nested character beliefs, thus avoiding common character omniscience problems without overburdening the domain author. Human subjects evaluations demonstrate that the belief model tracks nested beliefs correctly, and that it improves overall character believability in solution spaces over previous models. This model makes domain authoring more intuitive, but also adds complexity to the story generation algorithm, making the planner's output even harder for the author to predict. As a step toward more intelligent domain authoring tools, I present a novel method for measuring story similarity by encoding important story information into a fixedlength numeric vector. This enables automatic clustering of stories based on their semantic similarity, facilitating high-level communication of large story spaces. I compare the story similarity metric to assessments made by humans, and find the metric to be highly accurate in judging how similar two stories are to each other. I then demonstrate its use in clustering solution spaces, and evaluate two strategies for summarizing the content of the resulting clusters. I find both techniques to be more effective than a control in communicating large story spaces to humans. These contributions together advance the usability of narrative planning algorithms by improving their underlying narrative model and providing a basis for more intelligent domain authoring tools.


Abstract There is mounting evidence of the long-term effects of COVID-19 on the central nervous system, with patients experiencing diverse symptoms, often suggesting brain involvement. Conventional brain MRI of these patients shows unspecific patterns, with no clear connection of the symptomatology to brain tissue abnormalities, whereas diffusion tensor studies and volumetric analyses detect measurable changes in the brain after COVID-19. Diffusion MRI exploits the random motion of water molecules to achieve unique sensitivity to structures at the microscopic level, and new sequences employing generalized diffusion encoding provide structural information which are sensitive to intravoxel features. In this observational study, a total of 32 persons were investigated: 16 patients previously hospitalized for COVID-19 with persisting symptoms of post-COVID condition (mean age 60 years: range 41–79, all male) at 7-month follow-up and 16 matched controls, not previously hospitalized for COVID-19, with no post-COVID symptoms (mean age 58 years, range 46–69, 11 males). Standard MRI and generalized diffusion encoding MRI were employed to examine the brain white matter of the subjects. To detect possible group differences, several tissue microstructure descriptors obtainable with the employed diffusion sequence, the fractional anisotropy, mean diffusivity, axial diffusivity, radial diffusivity, microscopic anisotropy, orientational coherence (Cc) and variance in compartment's size (CMD) were analysed using the tract-based spatial statistics framework. The tract-based spatial statistics analysis showed widespread statistically significant differences (P < 0.05, corrected for multiple comparisons using the familywise error rate) in all the considered metrics in the white matter of the patients compared to the controls. Fractional anisotropy, microscopic anisotropy and Cc were lower in the patient group, while axial diffusivity, radial diffusivity, mean diffusivity and CMD were higher. Significant changes in fractional anisotropy, microscopic anisotropy and CMD affected approximately half of the analysed white matter voxels located across all brain lobes, while changes in Cc were mainly found in the occipital parts of the brain. Given the predominant alteration in microscopic anisotropy compared to Cc, the observed changes in diffusion anisotropy are mostly due to loss of local anisotropy, possibly connected to axonal damage, rather than white matter fibre coherence disruption. The increase in radial diffusivity is indicative of demyelination, while the changes in mean diffusivity and CMD are compatible with vasogenic oedema. In summary, these widespread alterations of white matter microstructure are indicative of vasogenic oedema, demyelination and axonal damage. These changes might be a contributing factor to the diversity of central nervous system symptoms that many patients experience after COVID-19.


The rotational spectra of octafluorocyclopentene (C5F8) has been measured for the first time using pulsed jet Fourier transform microwave spectroscopy in a frequency range of 6 to 16 GHz. As in the molecule cyclopentene, the carbon ring is nonplanar, and inversion through the plane results in an inversion pair of ground state vibrational energy levels with an inversion splitting of 18.4 MHz. This large amplitude motion leads to the vibration-rotation coupling of energy levels. The symmetric double minimum ring-puckering potential function was calculated, resulting in a barrier of 222 cm-1. The rotational constants A0 = 962.9590(1) MHz, B0 = 885.1643(4) MHz, C0 = 616.9523(4) MHz, A1 = 962.9590(1) MHz, B1 = 885.1643(4) MHz, C1 = 616.9528(4) MHz, and two centrifugal distortion constants for each state were determined for the parent species and all 13C isotopologues. A mixed coordinate molecular structure was determined from a least-squares fit of the ground state rotational constants of the parent and each 13C isotopologue combined with the equilibrium bond lengths and angles from quantum chemical calculations.


Non-profit organisations (NPOs) play a crucial role in society, largely serving the needs of those members who are most vulnerable. The leaders of these organisations work in challenging circumstances and are often expected to fulfil roles for which they have not been trained. Various leadership development programmes have been designed to equip leaders in this sector with the necessary knowledge and skills to deal effectively with the increasing and more complex demands placed on them. Stand-alone programmes, however, have been shown to have less success in transferring knowledge and skills back to the workplace than blended learning approaches. This means a large proportion of the learning investment is being wasted. Since coaching has proved to be a powerful intervention leading to individual and organisational transformation in many sectors, the main question that this investigation has tried to answer is: To what extent can coaching contribute to enhancing the transfer of learning back into the workplace for NPO leaders who have attended a leadership development programme. Further questions relating to factors influencing the learning transfer process were also addressed during this study, as was the preference for different coaching formats. This investigation involved a case study design and was based on a programme for NPO leaders offered at the University of Stellenbosch Business School, referred to as the NPO Plus programme. The findings of this study are intended to provide insights for trainers on the benefits of using coaching as a component when designing learning interventions, and to shed light on what coaches can expect when coaching NPO leaders. The NPO community, as well as donors, can also get a sense of how coaching can contribute to building and strengthening the overall capacity of leaders in the non-profit sector.


Abstract This study focuses on a comparison between the writing of Brazilian teachers and students, especially the visual organization of handwriting during the third year of primary school. Data was collected from observing eight different classes for 10 school days each. The analytical corpus was mainly composed of handwritten activities and graphical variations to the writing called textual graphic tools, which were classified within a framework based on the fields of graphic and rhetoric communication. The results compared the teacher and student graphical solutions for informational tasks, and while students reproduced the teachers' visual strategies, especially the manipulation of space, they also possessed their own practices, where they displayed several creative means to sequence listed items.


Purpose: The immune system has a key role in glioma progression, especially the tumor associated macrophages (TAMs). In-vivo, we aimed to study the total TAMs and differential M1 and M2 TAM infiltration in low grade (LGG) versus high grade gliomas (HGG). Also, we investigated the implication of total TAMs and differential M1 and M2 TAMs infiltration on glioma progression. In-vitro, we studied the effect of soluble factors present in nanovesicles (NV) released from M1 TAMs on the fate of glioma cells. Methods: In-vivo, we performed immunohistochemistry using iNOS and CD163 (markers for M1 and M2 respectively). In-vitro, we polarized the human monocytes U937 cell line into M1, we isolated the NV from the M1-conditioned medium (CM) by centrifugation and filtration; then, the protein content of the NV was quantified by the protein assay. We added M1-NV on U251 glioma cells and we studied the cellular activation of glioma cells using the MTT assay. To assess the apoptosis of U251, we used the flow-cytometry. Apoptotic cells were identified by annexin V and Propidium Iodide (markers for early and late apoptosis respectively). Results: in-vivo, there is an M1/M2 imbalance in early stages of glioma which is associated with earlier progression to high malignancy. Also, the higher M2 infiltration, the earlier is the progression. In-vitro, M1-NV had a more potent anti-tumor effect compared to its corresponding CM. We assume that our experimental results can be a future treatment for the cerebral glioma.


ABSTRACT Objective: The goal of the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC) study is to explore the effects of concussions among Service Members and Veterans. A factor model was fit to selected neuropsychological measures to identify potentially useful relationships between assessments collected on CENC-enrolled participants. Method: 492 post-9/11 participants with combat exposure were enrolled across four VA study sites. Participants completed assessments including concussion history, neurocognitive functioning, and self-report questionnaires. Exploratory factor analyses (EFA) using four different methods with varimax and promax rotations were used to analyse the cognitive variables. Final model selection was based on factor loadings towards simple structure. Results: The scree plot suggested the number of factors to be extracted was between 4 and 5. EFA produced a 5-factor MINRES model with promax rotation that resulted in a factor loading with variables loading on only one factor with a predefined threshold (0.40). Variables loaded on five cognition domains: list learning, working memory/executive skills, cognitive control, fluency, and memory. Conclusion: These results provide reasonable evidence that data collected from the CENC neuropsychological battery can be reduced to five clinically useful factors. This will enable us to use the factors for further study of the impact of concussion on neurodegeneration.


The airway nerve has gained importance in the field of respiratory research as it is known to have the capacity to release numerous mediators which can cause pulmonary effects in the airways. Meanwhile, a broad range of stimuli including capsaicin, bradykinin, hyperosmolar saline, tobacco smoke, allergens, ozone, inflammatory mediators and cold dry air have been shown to activate sensory nerve fibres to release neuropeptides such as the tachykinins substance P (SP) and neurokinin A (NKA) to mediate neurogenic inflammation. SP is synthesized in cell bodies of airway neurons of the trigeminal, jugulare and nodose ganglia. Following their release, tachykinins are degraded by neutral endopeptidase (NEP) and an angiotensin-converting enzyme. Tachykinins have been proposed to play an important role in human respiratory diseases such as bronchial asthma und chronic obstructive diseases (COPD) as they have been shown to have potent effects on the tone of airway smooth muscle, airway secretions, bronchial circulation and on inflammatory and immune cells by activation of the neurokinin-1 (NK-1) and neurokinin-2 (NK-2) receptors. Recently, new tachykinins such as virokinin and hemokinin were identified and characterised. Different aspects of the neurogenic inflammation have been well studied in animal models of allergic airway inflammation, but only little is known about the role of neurogenic airway inflammation in human diseases. To address the precise role of tachykinins and airway sensory nerves in human asthma und COPD, experiments on sensory nerve sensitisation and neuro-immune interaction have to be carried out in future studies.


Microstructures and mechanical properties including elastic modulus were investigated in terms of ternary alloying elements Si addition, Nb content variations and tensile test. Martensite structure with α'(hcp) or α"(orthorhombic) was observed in Ti-xNb-1.5at.%Si, where x=10-20at.%. The crystal structure of martensite formed from water quenching process was largely dependent upon Nb content but does not on Si content. On the basis of experimental results obtained, it is suggested that Si has an effective role to suppress the precipitation of ω phase leading to reduction in elastic modulus in the metastable β phase region. Metastable β phase region was superior to reduce the elastic modulus than stable β phase region in the present alloy system. The minimum value of elastic modulus was measured to 48GPa. We have found that stress-induced martensitic transformation takes place during the deformation in the present alloys. Within the alloys having β(bcc) phase studied Nb-poor region appeared to exhibit a dominant behavior for stress-induced martensitic transformation than Nb-rich region. This result suggests that metastable β phase is superior to stable β phase for the occurrence of stress-induced martensitic transformation in the present alloy system.


In standard Walrasian auctions, the price of a good is defined as the point where the supply and demand curves intersect. Since both curves are generically regular, the response to small perturbations is linearly small. However, a crucial ingredient is absent of the theory, namely transactions themselves. What happens after they occur? To answer the question, we develop a dynamic theory for supply and demand based on agents with heterogeneous beliefs. When the inter-auction time is infinitely long, the Walrasian mechanism is recovered. When transactions are allowed to happen in continuous time, a peculiar property emerges: close to the price, supply and demand vanish quadratically, which we empirically confirm on the Bitcoin. This explains why price impact in financial markets is universally observed to behave as the square root of the excess volume. The consequences are important, as they imply that the very fact of clearing the market makes prices hypersensitive to small fluctuations.


Highly-efficient separating materials, which can simultaneously remove oil from water and adsorb water-soluble contaminants like dyes, are in high demand for wastewater treatment. Herein, a magnetic, multifunctional melamine foam (MF) containing Fe3O4 nanoparticles, poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA) and polydopamine (PDA) was fabricated via a simple mussel-inspired one-pot process, which not only can separate oil/water mixtures and emulsions but also has cationic-dye selective separation abilities. The addition of poly(sulfobetaine methacrylate) (PSBMA) allows immobilization to bind Fe3O4 nanoparticles tightly on the surface of the melamine foam skeleton so as to endow the 3D foam with superoleophobicity underwater, as well as providing active sites for the adsorption of soluble dyes in water. The special material synergy makes the resultant magnetic MF@Fe3O4@PDA/PSBMA foam quickly absorb cationic dyes and allows for the selective removal (in 2 minutes) of cationic dyes from dye mixtures with high efficiency (>96%), high stability and flexibility even after 10 cycles, when driven by a magnet. Furthermore, the developed 3D magnetic foam is able to separate oil–water mixtures in highly acidic, alkaline, and salty environments. Our strategy may open a new avenue to obtain high-performance 3D magnetic assemblies for wastewater remediation.


In vein with the new energy market rules drafted in the EU this paper presents and discusses two contract types for hedging the risks connected to long-term transmission rights, the financial transmission right (FTR) and the electricity price area differentials (EPAD) that are used in the Nordic electricity markets. The possibility to replicate the FTR contracts with a combination of EPAD contracts is presented and discussed. Based on historical evidence and empirical analysis of ten Nordic interconnectors and twenty bidding areas, we investigate the pricing accuracy of the replicated FTR contracts by quantifying ex-post forward risk premia. The results show that the majority of the studied FTR contain a negative risk premium, especially the monthly and the quarterly contracts. Reverse flow (unnatural) pricing was identified for two interconnectors. From a theoretical policy point of view the results imply that it may be possible to continue with the EPAD-based system by using EPAD Combos in the Nordic countries, even if FTR contracts would prevail elsewhere in the EU. In practice the pricing of bi-directional EPAD contracts is more complex and may not always be very efficient. The efficiency of the EPAD market structure should be discussed from various points of view before accepting their status quo as a replacement for FTRs in the Nordic electricity markets.


This article aims to introduce the concept of enclosure as a category to think about privatization policies in education. The concept of enclosure refers to the process by which communal land rights and uses were removed between the 14th and 18th centuries, making possible the passage from feudalism to capitalism. Nowadays, a discourse named as a "commons paradigm" (Bollier, 2007) exposes privatization dynamics as a contemporary movement of enclosure. This paradigm stablishes an analogy between the enclosures that made possible the primitive accumulation and the contemporary dynamics of privatization. In this text, privatization policies in education are analyzed as a movement of enclosure in the school. The text is divided into four sections. Firstly, it analyzes the state-reform process in the current context of globalization and the blurring of boundaries between the public and the private. Secondly, it focuses in the "commons paradigm", followed by its critics in the next section. The fourth section reflects on the enclosure of the school taking as starting point previous research about privatization policies introduced in Spain and particularly in the Autonomous Region of Madrid.


Gordon Jacob's (1895-1984) Old Wine in New Bottles (1959) and More Old Wine in New Bottles (1977) are regularly performed works within the canon of chamber wind repertoire. Composed for thirteen instruments, the original work and its sequel are a reflection of Jacob's refined compositional style, which emphasizes unique textures, clear formal structures, and recognizable folk melodies. Gordon Jacob was a British composer from Upper Norwood, London. During his youth he studied piano and took up percussion in order to join his school band and orchestra. After serving in the First World War, Jacob enrolled at the Royal College of Music (RCM) where he studied composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams and Sir Charles Villiers Stanford. Shortly after graduation, he was offered an instructor position at the RCM. He remained on faculty for forty-two years, instructing many musicians who would later become internationally recognized composers, including Imogen Holst, Sir Malcolm Arnold, and Philip Cannon. As a composer, he has approximately four-hundred works to his name and is best known in the area of wind band for his compositions William Byrd Suite (1922), An Original Suite (1928), Music for a Festival (1951), Flag of Stars (1954), and Giles Farnaby Suite (1967). This study is an analysis of and conductor's guide for two of Jacob's chamber works that have not been the subject of any previous scholarly publications. The opening chapters include a brief biography of the composer emphasizing the musical developments of his youth, his achievements as an educator, and a discussion of his compositional style. The following two chapters delve into Old Wine in New Bottles and More Old Wine in New Bottles , respectively. Each includes an original historical account of the piece, discussion of the preexisting folk music, theoretical analysis, and suggestions for the conductor. This study is intended to assist conductors in the score-study and preparation process, leading to more effective rehearsals and informed performances.


Receptor-mediated activation of heterotrimeric GTP–binding proteins (G-proteins) was visualized in living Dictyostelium discoideum cells by monitoring fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between α- and β- subunits fused to cyan and yellow fluorescent proteins. The G-protein heterotrimer rapidly dissociated and reassociated upon addition and removal of chemoattractant. During continuous stimulation, G-protein activation reached a dose-dependent steady-state level. Even though physiological responses subsided, the activation did not decline. Thus, adaptation occurs at another point in the signaling pathway, and occupied receptors, whether or not they are phosphorylated, catalyze the G-protein cycle. Construction of similar energy-transfer pairs of mammalian G-proteins should enable direct in situ mechanistic studies and applications such as drug screening and identifying ligands of newly found G-protein–coupled receptors.


Thirty-three strains of Yersinia enterocolitica representing 11 different serotypes were identified from human isolates in California between 1968 and mid-1977. The most frequently encountered serotype, 0:5,27, was identified in 8 cases. Twenty-one strains, representing five serotypes, were esculin- and salicin-negative, and were considered to be the primary cause of disease in the majority of these cases. The remaining strains, representing six serotypes, were esculin- and salicin-positive, and appeared to be 'opportunistic' organisms. They were isolated from 12 patients, 8 of whom had underlying conditions, and 4 or whom were asymptomatic. From 1968 to 1977, 13 strains of Y. pseudotuberculosis isolated from humans were submitted to our laboratory for identification or confirmation. Ten were serotype I and three, serotype III. Sources of isolation included blood (6); blood and liver abscess (1); blood and urine, and liver at autopsy (1); feces (2); biopsy of terminal ileum (1); abdomonal abscess (1); and neck abscess (1). The results of serotyping and biochemical characteristics of the strains, as well as the clinical histories of the patients, are discussed.


Rope-less hoist system driven by permanent magnet linear synchronous motor has the advantages of simple structure, small volume, high force, unlimited hoisting height and speed. So, it is attracting more attention, increasingly becoming a research hot and difficult in the vertical hoist field. In this paper, a design scheme of direct driving high-speed elevator is proposed according to the key technical problems of rope-less hoist system driven by PMLSM, and then a small-sized home elevator prototype is built. Experimental results show the safe and stable operation performance of the experimental device, which offers the reference for the further research and the development and application of PMLSM rope-less hoist system.


Uptake of Cd2+ ions m the presence or absence of glucose by a brewing strain of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was examined in unbuffered, buffered and pH controlled systems. Levels of Cd2+ taken up, and K+ release were influenced by the degree of pH control in each system. A time-dependent component of uptake was observed in the absence of glucose which was attributed to a degree of metabolic activity Subcellulai localisation studies determined that Cd2+ was predominantly bound by insoluble cellular material (approximately 70%) whereas Mn2+ was localised to soluble pools, paiticularly the vacuole (less than 45% bound by insoluble cellular material). In the presence and absence of glucose, Sr2+ was sequestered mainly to bound (50-68%) or soluble (65- 85%) subcellular pools, respectively, but the converse was observed with Cu2+ localisation Perturbation of subcellular Mg2+ pools was observed in the presence of glucose only, and consisted of Mg displacement from vacuolar or bound pools to other subcellular compartments Vacuolar K+ loss was recorded during accumulation of all cations in the absence of glucose but only during Cd2+ uptake in the presence of glucose Growth inhibitory effects of Mn2+ on S c e re v is ia e NCYC 1383 weie eliminated by supplementing with excess Mg2+ ions but not with Ca2+ or K+ Intracellular Mg levels were amenable to manipulation and it was observed that Mg-ennched cells accumulated less Mn2+ (by approximately half) than their unsupplemented counterparts In addition, cells possessing low intracellular. Mg levels were more susceptible to Mn2+ toxicity Toxicity was dependent on the cellular Mg Mn ratio, a critical ratio of 2 0 was identified below which toxicity became acute. An alternative technique for differential extraction of subcellular ion pools was developed utilising specific biochemical markers to characterise separation of cytoplasmic and vacuolar ion pools, and the results obtained compared with the original method Some differences arose between levels of metal cations recovered but similar trends in subcellular localisation patterns were evident. It was concluded that either protocol could be used to characterise subcellular sequestration of accumulated metal cations.


Wettability is one of the most important parameters governing the rate of oil recovery from a porous medium. This thesis is a study of the wettability variations within the Froy field in the North Sea, and its effect on the oil recovery. Several reports regarding the wettability and relative permeability of the Froy field are available, and the conclusions from these reports are presented. The overall conclusion is that Froy is on the oil-wet side of the wettability scale, with measured Amott-Harvey wettability indices ranging from -0.00189 to -0.73. An attempt was made to find wettability trends, relating the wettability index to variables such as distance above the water-oil contact, geological facies, permeability, the core's staining level and so on, based on the measured data. Unfortunately, no such trend was identified. Only nine wettability measurements were available from the Froy field while writing this thesis. This thesis concludes that in order to get a good statistical data set that can be used for establishing wettability trends, several wettability tests should be performed on cores sampled from a variety of distances above the water-oil contact, with different permeabilities and color staining levels, representing different rock types. And it is important to make sure that the cores have their original (native) wettability during the tests. More than 50 simulation cases have been made and run during the work on this thesis, testing the effect of wettability variations on Froy, using the Schlumberger reservoir simulation program Eclipse 100. Wettability variations are simulated by assigning different relative permeability curves to different saturation function regions in the reservoir. For this reason, five sets of relative permeability curves were made, that represents wettabilities ranging from slightly water-wet to oil-wet, and different combinations of these curves were used in the simulation cases. There are many uncertainties in the given data and there are different ways of initializing the simulation model which may affect the simulation results. These issues are discussed in a separate chapter of the thesis. The simulation results showed that when the reservoir rock went from water-wet to oil-wet, the oil production went down, the water production went up, the water breakthrough occurred earlier and the oil recovery factor went down. The different producing wells were not equally affected by changes in the wettability. Two important conclusions were drawn from the simulation results. Firstly, it is difficult to estimate the effect of wettability variations on the production profiles if not the aquifer support and the fault transmissibility factors are modeled correctly, since these parameters also affect the production. And secondly, it is the wettability of the bottom half of the 225 meter thick reservoir zone that affects the production profiles of the wells. The wettability of the top half of the reservoir zone hardly affects the production profiles at all.


We investigate the nonlinear matrix equation , where is a positive integer and . We establish necessary and sufficient conditions for the existence of positive definite solutions of this equation. A sufficient condition for the equation to have a unique positive definite solution is established. An iterative algorithm is provided to compute the positive definite solutions for the equation and error estimate. Finally, some numerical examples are given to show the effectiveness and convergence of this algorithm.


This paper presents a graphical method to optimise the position of outriggers on shear walls with flexible foundations. This location for the outriggers will cause a maximum reduction in lateral deflection at the top of the building. The method can be used for preliminary design of high-rise structures subjected to horizontal loading. The method requires the calculation of six structural parameters: bending stiffnesses for the shear wall and outrigger structure, an overall bending stiffness contribution from the exterior columns, rotational stiffnesses for the shear wall and column foundations in addition to a newly suggested bending stiffness parameter representing the structural behaviour of the flexible foundation beam connecting the foundation of the shear wall to the exterior column foundations. These parameters allow the derivation of two compatibility equations for rotations at the intersections of the neutral lines of the shear wall with the outrigger and foundation structures. They yield expressions for the restraining moments at outrigger and foundation levels that act in the opposing direction to the bending moment from the horizontal loading on the structure. Maximising the influence of the restraining moments on the horizontal deflections leads to the optimum location of the outrigger structure. Combining all stiffness parameters into two non-dimensional characteristic structural parameters allows the optimisation procedure for this type of structure to be represented by a single graph that directly gives the optimum level of the outrigger. It is concluded that all six stiffness parameters need to be included in the preliminary analysis of a proposed tall building structure as the optimum location of the outrigger as well as the reductions in horizontal deformations and internal forces in the structure can be significantly influenced by all the structural components.


Polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) is one of the most promising electroactive polymers; it exhibits excellent electroactive behaviours, good biocompatibility, excellent chemical resistance, and thermal stability, rendering it an attractive material for biomedical, electronic, environmental and energy harvesting applications. This work aims to further improve its properties by the inclusion of powders of piezoactive materials. Polyvinylidene fluoride was formed by electrospinning into fibres with a thickness of 1.5-0.3 µm and then examined in a scanning electron microscope. The work offers a description of the current procedure in the preparation of samples and their modification for examination in a scanning electron microscope, characterizes the individual components of doped fibres and deals with specific instruments used for various analytical methods. The work contains a theoretical introduction to the analytical methods to which the samples will be further subjected, such as energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). The obtained excellent properties of doped PVDF could be used in the design of sensors.


The Book of Revelation is a peculiar text whose special status in early Christianity is manifested by its manuscript attestation, transmission, literary references and discussions among early Church writers. This special status forms the nucleus of these collected essays and is highlighted from various perspectives. Nowadays of course, the Apocalypse has become a treasure trove of famous motifs for artists, composers, poets and novelists. On the other hand, however, it also appears to be something of a bon mot in that its manuscript tradition is rather sparse and highly distinctive. With the help of single phenomena that revolve around the extraordinary attestation and transmission of Revelation, the authors here are able to unveil how its peculiarity was perceived in early Christianity. Its manifestation in manuscripts and in the lively controversy about its value and orthodoxy thus resulted in it being treated as unique.


Polyaniline(PANI) nanofibers were firstly prepared by rapid mixture method, EP/PANI nanocomposite was obtained by in-situ adding the PANI nanofibers to epoxy resin(EP). Scanning electron microscopy(SEM) proves that the type of doped acids has a little effect on the morphologies of PANI, and the PANI doped by different acids present nanofiber structures with the diameter of about 50 nm. The thermal behaviour of EP/PANI nanocomposites were investigated in detail by using a dynamic rate mode of thermogravimetric analyser (TGA) in inert atmosphere, and the results show that the PANI nanofibers obviously improve thermal stability of pure EP. Compared with EP/PANI doped by nitric acid or sulfuric acid, EP/PANI doped by phosphoric acid has best thermal stability.


Temporal and spatial variability are analysed in Greenland instrumental temperature records from 24 coastal and three ice sheet locations. Trends over the longest period available, 1873–2001, at Ilulissat/Jakobshavn indicate statistically significant warming in all seasons: 5°C in winter. Trends over the 1901–2000 century in southern Greenland indicate statistically significant spring and summer cooling. General periods of warming occurred from 1885 to 1947 and 1984 to 2001, and cooling occurred from 1955 to 1984. The standard period 1961–90 was marked by 1–2°C statistically significant cooling. In contrast to Northern Hemisphere mean temperatures, the 1990s do not contain the warmest years on record in Greenland. The warmest years in Greenland were 1932, 1947, 1960, and 1941. The coldest years were 1918, 1984, 1993, and 1972, several of which coincide with major volcanic eruptions. Over 1991–2000, statistically significant 2–4°C warming was observed in western Greenland, 1.1°C warming at the ice sheet summit (3200 m), although this is statistically insignificant. Annual temperature trends are dominated by winter variability. Much of the observed variability is shown to be linked with the North Atlantic oscillation (NAO), sea ice extent, and volcanism. The correlation of coastal temperature anomalies with the NAO is statistically significant, in autumn and winter at western and southern sites. Warming from 1873 to 1930 and subsequent cooling persists after the removal of the NAO signal. Temperature trends are often opposite between west and east Greenland. This apparent teleconnection is spurious, however, given insignificant east–west correlation values. Frequency peaks correspond with periods of 3.7, 14.3, 9.1, 5.5–6.0, 11.1, and 7.1 years in both temperature and NAO. Copyright © 2002 Royal Meteorological Society.


This paper presents on the edge obstacle surmounting method for QuadRunner, a hybrid quadruped robot, to overcome obstacles using hybrid locomotion where both legged and wheel configurations are utilized. When obstacle heights exceed the workspace of its leg, QuadRunner becomes quasi-statically mismatched and fails to achieve the climbing task quasi-statically. By incorporating its body as contact support, the center of gravity (COG) of QuadRunner can be successfully shifted on top of the obstacle to perform surmounting task. The unique design of the QuadRunner leg allows it to behave as a four-bar or slider-crank mechanism depending on the leg's configuration. Here we detail the sub-state strategy for its surmount task, where QuadRunner goes through the sub-states {L}EAN, {H}OOK, {F}OUR-BAR, {S}LIDE, {G}ET-UP to climb obstacles. In addition, limitations of the operation are analyzed and the requirements for climbing are identified. With our proposed method, QuadRunner can surmount obstacles of heights between 10 cm and 22 cm (higher than its kinematic max height of 16 cm) within 25 seconds. Lastly, a reliability test shows that the robot can climb the obstacle with a 70% success rate.


Data stream processing is a fundamental issue in many fields, such as data mining, databases, network traffic measurement. There are five typical tasks in data stream processing: frequency estimation, heavy hitter detection, heavy change detection, frequency distribution estimation, and entropy estimation. Different algorithms are proposed for different tasks, but they seldom achieve high accuracy and high speed at the same time. To address this issue, we propose a novel data structure named HeavyGuardian. The key idea is to intelligently separate and guard the information of hot items while approximately record the frequencies of cold items. We deploy HeavyGuardian on the above five typical tasks. Extensive experimental results show that HeavyGuardian achieves both much higher accuracy and higher speed than the state-of-the-art solutions for each of the five typical tasks. The source codes of HeavyGuardian and other related algorithms are available at GitHub.


This technical final rule updates our display of approved control numbers for the collection of information that have been assigned to us by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). OMB regulations require each agency to include the approval numbers in the agency's rules.


IP network unprecedented develops in the end of the last century and it evolutes to the next generation network. The network service also presents the characteristics of diversification. Thus the traditional real-time services have not already meet people's need. Algorithms proposed in this paper are developed based on network processor IXP2400 and SDK3.1, and observed on advanced router. Measured results show that, ACL processing module realizes filter and classification functions in the QoS model and meet the requirements filter and classification in QoS system.


Based on ethnographic methods, this article provides a perspective on the relationship between state-led modernisation process and the emergence of a new middle class in the post-Soviet urban Azerbaijan. Furthermore, it examines the meaning and the characteristics of the Azerbaijani middle class and the way in which the new aspirations modify the everyday life. Due to natural resources, especially oil and gas, the Azerbaijani economy went through rapid growth, at least during the first decades of this century. This engendered stark changes in the country's social landscape and social stratification. The state used a portion of the revenues from the extractive sector gained during the last two decades to invest in the modernisation of the country and to create new aspirational values for its citizens.


Researchers are developing a fertility preservation technique—testicular tissue cryopreservation (TTCP)—for prepubescent boys who may become infertile as a result of their cancer treatment. Although this technique is still in development, some researchers are calling for its widespread use. They argue that if boys do not bank their tissue now, they will be unable to benefit from any therapies that might be developed in the future. There are, however, risks involved with increasing access to an investigational procedure. This article examines four methods of expanding access to TTCP: (1) expansion of institutional review board (IRB)-approved research trials; (2) offering TTCP as an innovative procedure in hospitals; (3) offering TTCP as a standard practice in hospitals; and (4) commercialization of TTCP. The ethical and practical implications of each are evaluated through a comparison with umbilical cord blood banking (UCBB), a technology that has achieved widespread use based on similar claims of future benefit.


Migration of atoms is presented to be utilized for fabrication of metallic micro/nanomaterials by controlling the phenomenon. Two kinds of migration phenomena are treated; one is electromigration and the other is stress migration. In addition to the formation of micro/nanomaterials, some achievements in enhancing their functions are demonstrated. One is a technique to fabricate nanocoils from the formed Cu nanowires. The others are techniques to weld or cut the micro/nanowires by using Joule heating. Finally, regarding evaluation of mechanical and electrical properties of the micro/nanomaterials, the concentrated-mass cantilever technique in atomic force acoustic microscopy and the four-point atomic force microscope technique are shown to be powerful tools, respectively.


The lifetime of a solder joint is mainly determined by its creep behaviour. Creep arises from the stresses inside the solder joints as a consequence of the thermomechanical mismatch of the board and the substrate. The stress state is heavily influenced by the anisotropy of tin. To understand the damage process in solder joints, the influence of the anisotropic microstructure must be understood. In this paper the influence of different grain sizes, shapes and orientations on the stress state is evaluated, based on numerical experiments.


Necessary conditions for the optimality can provide additional equations to determine the configuration of a redundant arm for a given pose of an end-effector. The optimal control for the motion of redundant manipulators that minimizes an accumulated performance criterion subject to the motion constraints is presented. Necessary conditions for optimality are given. Algorithms for the calculation of a numerical solution to the optimization problem are described. An example for a three-link planar manipulator is presented to illustrate the presentation.<<ETX>>


Working capital management is a vital issue in financial decision making since it is a part of investment in asset and it directly affects the liquidity and profitability of the company. The study tries to investigate the relationship between working capital management components and the profitability of a sample of Indian manufacturing firms using a sample of 311Indian manufacturing firms for a period of 14 years from 1996-97 to2009-10 and have studied the effect of different variables of working capital management including the average collection period, inventory turnover in days, average payment period, cash conversion cycle and current ratio,debt ratio, size of the firm and financial assets to total assets ratio on the net operating profitability of Indian firms. The result suggests a strong negative relationship between the measures of working capital management including the number of days accounts receivable and cash conversion cycle, financial debt ratio with corporate profitability. Previous studies regarding the average days of accounts payable reported negative correlation of this variable and the profitability of the firm. But, we have not found any statistically significant relationship between these variables. Finally, we found insignificant negative relationship between firm size and its net operating profit ratio.


Simulation of vibrational energy transfer and dissociation in O2-N2 collisions is conducted using the quasi-classical trajectory method on an ab initio potential energy surface. Vibrationally resolved rate coefficients are obtained in a high-temperature region between 8000 and 20 000 K by means of the cost-efficient classical trajectory propagation method. A system of master equations is constructed using the new dataset in order to simulate thermal and chemical nonequilibrium observed in shock flows. The O2 relaxation time derived from a solution of the master equations is in good agreement with the Millikan and White correlation at lower temperatures with an increasing discrepancy toward the translational temperature of 20 000 K. At the same time, the N2 master equation relaxation time is similar to that derived under the assumption of a two-state system. The effect of vibrational-vibrational energy transfer appears to be crucial for N2 relaxation and dissociation. Thermal equilibrium and quasi-steady state dissociation rate coefficients in O2-N2 heat bath are reported.


Studies on mammal diversity and distribution are an important source to develop conservation and management strategies. The area located in southern Mongolia, encompassing the Alashan Plateau Semi-Desert and the Eastern Gobi Desert-Steppe ecoregions, is considered strategic for the conservation of threatened species. We surveyed the non-volant mammals in the Small Gobi-A Strictly Protected Area (SPA) and its surroundings, by using camera trapping, live trapping, and occasional sightings. We recorded 18 mammal species belonging to 9 families and 6 orders. Among them, 4 are globally threatened or near-threatened, 2 are included in the CITES Appendix I, and 2 are listed in the Appendix II. Moreover, we provide the southeasternmost record for the Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) in Mongolia, supported by photographic evidence. Our study highlights the importance of this protected area to preserve rare, threatened, and elusive species.


The composite has its own advantages compared to other alternative techniques such material is strong, lightweight,corrosion-resistant, economical and so on. The purpose of this study was to investigate the characteristics of bending strengthfiber composite hybrid coconut trunk / fiber glass using urea formaldehyde resin.Hybrid palm trunk fiber /glass fiber composite have been made by hand lay up which volume fraction fiber hybridvariation namely 10:20, 15:15 and 20:10 (%) with length fiber 2 cm. Every Tests conducted were bending testing with eachvariation performed three times repetition. Bending test specimens in accordance with standard ASTMD 790.The results of bending strength of palm trunk fiber hybrid composite / fiber-glass with random fiber direction that thehighest bending strength in the palm trunk fiber volume fraction 10% and 20% glass fiber that is 22.7 N/mm2.


The definition, history and applications of Microfiltration (MP) are briefly
reviewed in Chapter 1. The physical mechanisms and mathematical models of the
filtration process including concentration polarization (CP), gel polarization (GP) and
pore blocking are given in Chapter 2.
Crossflow microfiltration membrane fouling and the deposition of solids onto the
filter surface have been investigated using a process fluid (seawater), latex and a ground
mineral. The performance of various membrane materials has also been studied,
including: acrylonitrile, polypropylene, PTFE, ceramic and stainless steel. The seawater
filtration work showed in Chapter 3 that good filtrate flux rates can be maintained if
material fouling or depositing on the membrane can be prevented from entering the
membrane structure. A surface deposit may be removed by mechanical means such as
backflushing with permeate or compressed air. This aspect of the work indicated that
a more comprehensive study of fouling was required. Existing crossflow filtration
membrane models did not adequately represent even the simplest filtration when
penetration of the membrane structure applied. Such conditions occurred during latex
filtration in Chapter 4.
Latex of varying sizes and density were manufactured and filtrations using
acrylonitrile membranes were performed. Considerable deposition of latex inside the
membrane pores occurred despite the nominal rating of the membrane being less than
the latex particle diameter. Thus the membranes relied on a depth filtration mechanism
rather than a surface straining mechanism for filtration effectiveness. A standard
filtration blocking model was modified for use in crossflow microfiltration, coupled
with a mass balance on the amount of material filtered. This mathematical model was
then used to predict and correlate the rate of filtration flux decay with respect to filtration
time during crossflow filtration. The model provided acceptable accuracy and is an
improvement on existing empirical models for the flux decay period.
Under the circumstances of membrane penetration it is advisable to minimise the
amount of material entering the membrane structure. Mechanical means to achieve
this were investigated and a novel anti-fouling method using a centrifugal field force
and enhanced shear stress at the membrane surface was developed. The filtration of
limestone slurries with three different tubular filters are presented in Chapter 5, in which
one filter was conventional, the other two novel ones were specially designed for the
separation of particles with a density different from that of the liquid, one used a helical
channel around the filter, and the other had tangential inlet and outlet endcaps. The
centrifugal force produced by the spinning flow around these two filters retarded the
approach of particles towards the membrane surface so that the particle deposition was
reduced. The results showed such a system was energy efficient, saving 20 % of the
energy required to effect a separation of mineral material compared with using the
membrane in a more conventional way.


The high spatial and temporal resolution demands for imaging physiological function in the rodent call for the use of novel ways to combine information from different imaging modalities. This work describes ventilation imaging using hyperpolarized (HP) 3He magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and perfusion imaging using X-ray digital subtraction angiography (DSA). We illustrate the key steps needed to combine the complementary data from the two modalities to provide qualitative and quantitative information on gas exchange in the lungs. The results indicate that multimodality imaging of pulmonary function in small animals can provide functional information at higher spatial and temporal resolution compared to many traditional imaging techniques


ABSTRACT Matthias Alexander Castrén (1813–1852), a great Finnish researcher and fieldworker, the first professor of the Finnish language, undertook a vast range of studies, geographically from Norwegian Lapland to Siberia and in subjects from linguistics to ethnology. His extensive work in the Russian north made him one of the principal figures of Siberian and Finno-Ugrian studies. Castrén's pioneering contributions in Turkology, Mongolian studies and archaeology are also noteworthy. He spent almost ten years on expeditions outside Finland and during his short life, he died at the age of 39, he managed to collect a vast amount of material, which is set out in 32 volumes of his manuscripts. However, his name is less known than are the names of some of his prominent friends. In English there are only few comments on his travels and work and these are in the context of the history of Finnish science in the 19th century. Published materials of Castrén's work include two volumes in Finnish translated from Swedish, six volumes in Swedish, and twelve volumes in German. Castrén was born in a period which is often regarded as a turning point in Finnish history and as a key period in the formation of the Finnish nation. Presenting an overview of different fields of Castrén's research, this article analyses his scientific contribution along two lines: in the context of the rising national awareness in Finland in the 19th century and of the mainstream developments in the scientific scene of this time. Based on Castrén's travel diaries, correspondence and lectures, the article seeks to contribute to understanding the historical aspects that shaped this great researcher situated as he was between three national traditions of his time: his writing was mostly in Swedish, his research activities were mainly carried out on behalf of the Russian Academy of Sciences, and yet he is most prized as a pioneer of Finnish linguistics, ethnography, archaeology and other disciplines.


Municipal health policy planning can include exemplary practices for expanding the population's access to health services. The current study seeks to analyze the limits and possibilities of planning practices for policy implementation by a municipal health department. The empirical data were analyzed based on a concept of planning practices and the theoretical link between the three spheres of government and the postulate of coherence. The use of unstructured strategic planning practices by the management team allowed a significant expansion in the supply of services to the population, but lacked the scope to overcome the limits imposed on the organization's governability by the health services funding model, characterized by strong induction from the federal level. The project was the most robust vertex in the government triangle and led to the development of initial expertise by the municipal management team, thereby ensuring a certain level of governability over the health project. The goals of increasing the supply of health services were constrained by the method's weakness and the organization's institutional insipience.


Experimental investigations of the pial vessels during acutely drug-induced hypertension revealed diffuse or sausage-like distension of arterioles. Degree and type of reactions depended on blood pressure characteristics like steepness of increase, percentual increase, duration and peak value in this order. Such vasodistension is interpreted as mechanical overwhelming of smooth muscle force within the arteriolar wall during acute increase of intraluminal pressure. Clinical consequences of these results are: Vasodilators as well as sedatives with respiratory depression are contraindicated for patients with hypertensive crises. Data also make readily apparent, that short lasting acute hypertension may be fatal for patients with preexisting disturbances of blood-brain barrier function as it accelerates the development of brain edema.


Human monocytes/macrophages produce plasminogen activator-specific inhibitors (PAIs) that form covalent complexes with urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA). We have characterized two functionally and antigenically related forms of PAIs produced by resting and phorbol myristate acetate (PMA)-treated U 937 cells: an Mr 40,000 form, presumably nonglycosylated, with a pI of 5.2, that is constitutively synthetized by these cells and that remains predominantly intracellular; a PMA-induced form of heterogeneous Mr (50,000-65,000) with a pI of 4.7, that is preferentially secreted; this PAI is glycosylated with terminal sialic acid residue(s). Biosynthetic labeling experiments demonstrated that both PAIs are synthetized by U 937 cells. They are inactivated upon treatment with propanol, heat, and acid; the covalent and equimolar complexes formed between these PAIs and 125I-uPA are dissociated by ammonium hydroxide, suggesting that the PAIs are linked to uPA via an ester bond. Human peripheral blood monocytes/macrophages also produce the two forms of PAI. These PAIs are clearly different from the main plasma protease inhibitors and they are both antigenically related to the PAI-2 characterized in human placenta.


[Cp(2)Dy(thf)(μ-Cl)](2) (2) was synthesized from [Cp(2)Dy(μ-Cl)](n), which crystalizes as two polymorphs, with n = 2 (1a) or ∞ (1b). All three compounds show slow relaxation of magnetization, and in 2 the quantum tunnelling was found to be exchange-biased.


A reference material is essential to enable and accelerate commercialization of new materials. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States recently released the world's first reference material of a single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) dispersion known as RM8281. Although the description of the material have been well documented by NIST, the chirality population, one of the most important properties, is yet unidentified for the RM8281. Here, we present for the first time a quantitative chirality assessment of the RM8281 reference material by using a method based on optical absorption spectroscopy. A universal background model has been established for SWCNT solid film samples, which proves to be the key to the successful chirality assessment. Our results show that approximately 75% of SWCNTs in RM8281 have diameters distributing in a narrow range of 0.7–0.9 nm, and about 69% of SWCNTs have chiral angles ranging from 15° to 30°. For the whole population, semi-conducting SWCNTs (∼74%) prevail significantly over metallic ones (∼26%). Importantly, ∼25% of the total RM8281 SWCNT population was found to be (6,5) nanotube. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy and electron diffraction technique were utilized to complete an adequate statistical analysis of chirality distribution in RM8281, giving a satisfactory agreement with the above absorption spectrum measurements, thus, validating absorption spectroscopy serving as a fast and standard protocol for quantifying the SWCNT chirality population.


Background Several motile, filamentous cyanobacteria display the ability to self-assemble into tightly woven or twisted groups of filaments that form macroscopic yarns or ropes, and that are often centimeters long and 50–200 µm in diameter. Traditionally, this trait has been the basis for taxonomic definition of several genera, notably Microcoleus and Hydrocoleum, but the trait has not been associated with any plausible function. Method and Findings Through the use of phylogenetic reconstruction, we demonstrate that pedigreed, rope-building cyanobacteria from various habitats do not form a monophyletic group. This is consistent with the hypothesis that rope-building ability was fixed independently in several discrete clades, likely through processes of convergent evolution or lateral transfer. Because rope-building cyanobacteria share the ability to colonize geologically unstable sedimentary substrates, such as subtidal and intertidal marine sediments and non-vegetated soils, it is also likely that this supracellular differentiation capacity imparts a particular fitness advantage in such habitats. The physics of sediment and soil erosion in fact predict that threads in the 50–200 µm size range will attain optimal characteristics to stabilize such substrates on contact. Conclusions Rope building is a supracellular morphological adaptation in filamentous cyanobacteria that allows them to colonize physically unstable sedimentary environments, and to act as successful pioneers in the biostabilization process.


A novel triplexer chip based on an asymmetric Y branch waveguide and a multimode interference is presented in this paper. Using the novel triplexer chip, a 1310nm channel is multiplexed and 1490nm and 1550nm channels are demultiplexed for FTTH using. The asymmetric Y branch waveguide is used to separate the 1310nm channel from the 1490nm and 1550nm channels. Then the multimode interference is used to demultiplex the 1490nm from 1550nm channel. The simulated spectra show the bandwidths of three response wavelengths are 100nm, 20nm and 10nm, respectively, which can meet the demand of ITU.984 completely. The isolation for 1310nm is more than 48dB, and the isolation between 1490nm and 1550nm is more than 37dB.


We have developed a theoretical model of the electric potential and field for B-DNA in solution to investigate the persistence of structural information in the local field. A Green-function technique is used to account for the phosphate groups, the dominant charges of the polyelectrolyte DNA, as discrete surface charges exhibiting helical geometry. In addition to the DNA macromolecule, a region of condensed ions and bulk solvent are treated as dielectric media with cylindrical symmetry. We have derived analytical expressions that manifest the symmetry of the system. The leading term is equivalent to that of a continuous line charge and thus only reflects cylindrical symmetry. Information reflecting the helical structure is contained in the terms of higher order. The effective decay length for helical information in the local electric field is approximately 5 \AA{} beyond the surface of DNA. These results have significance for investigations of nucleic-acid\char21{}protein interactions and for experimental efforts to image DNA with scanning force microscopies.


`This research focuses on the development of knowledge model for a prediction of the extreme rainfall events by using the air quality parameters. A knowledge model is a model containing a set of knowledge by rules that was obtained from mining certain amount of data. These rules will help in detection of extreme weather changes events and therefore is significant for safety action plans and mitigations measures, in terms of adaptation to the climate change. In this study, an intelligent approach in data mining called a rough set technique has been used based on its capability on handling uncertain database that often occurs in the real world problem. As a result, an association and sequential rules were produced and used for prediction of the extreme rainfall events in Petaling Jaya as a case study. Petaling Jaya is an urban and industrialized city in tropical climate of Malaysia which always experiencing flash floods and severe storms that might due to air pollution. A total of 2102 data were obtained from Malaysian Meteorological Department and Department of Environment Malaysia. There were 7 attributes used as input and one attribute as an output for the intelligent systems. Data has been through a pre-processing stage to facilitate the requirement of the modeling process. A total of ten experiments using ten sets of different data have been conducted. The best model was selected from the total models generated from the experiment. As for conclusion, the model has given a promising result with 100% accuracy and the rules obtained have contributing to knowledge for the extreme rainfall


In the course of studies on Devonian radiolarian faunas from Nanning, Guangxi, SW China (Luo et al., 1997), numerous smooth siliceous microspheres (Fig. 1) are encountered together with abundant spherical entactiniid radiolarians. The present investigation reveals that these microspheres are siliceous casts formed through precipitation of silica between the medullary and cortical shells of entactiniid radiolarians. As these microspheres are commonly the most abundant particles encountered in some Devonian samples, an understanding of their origins is desirable. Examined material is from two bedded chert samples collected from the upper part of the Tanhe Formation at Wuxiangling, 5 km SE of Nanning, Guangxi Province, SW China. Tanhe Formation consists of thin dark grey, brown grey cherty rock and cherty mudstone containing abundant radiolarians (entactiniids, ceratoikiscids and palaeoscenidiids) and tentaculitids. Based on zonation of tentaculitid faunas this formation is Lower to Middle Devonian (Upper Emsian – Lower Givetian) (Zhong et al., 1992; Kuang et al., 1996). A standard method (Pessagno & Newport, 1972) for extraction of radiolarians from cherts using hydroflouric acid was applied. Free microspheres are the most common individuals (Pl. 1, figs 1, 8). All have smooth surfaces and possess some relatively larger holes or pores. Average microsphere diameter (20 specimens) is 92 μm. Hole shapes vary from three-bladed to round with spines rarely seen penetrating the microspheres (Pl. 1, figs 7, 10). A full range of material from microsphere-bearing entactiniids in which there are remnants of the original spongy radiolarian shells (Pl. 1, figs 5–7, 9) to solitary microspheres . . .


This paper analyzes the behavior of residential solar-powered electrical energy storage systems. For this purpose, a simulation model based on MATLAB/Simulink is developed. Investigating both short-time and seasonal hydrogen-based storage systems, simulations on the basis of real weather data are processed on a timescale of 15 min for a consideration period of 3 years. A sensitivity analysis is conducted in order to identify the most important system parameters concerning the proportion of consumption and the degree of self-sufficiency. Therefore, the influences of storage capacity and of storage efficiencies are discussed. A short-time storage system can increase the proportion of consumption by up to 35 percentage points compared to a self-consumption system without storage. However, the seasonal storing system uses almost the entire energy produced by the photovoltaic (PV) system (nearly 100% self-consumption). Thereby, the energy drawn from the grid can be reduced and a degree of self-sufficiency of about 90% is achieved. Based on these findings, some scenarios to reach self-sufficiency are analyzed. The results show that full self-sufficiency will be possible with a seasonal hydrogen-based storage system if PV area and initial storage level are appropriate.


Background and objective The main aim of this study was to examine the biochemical effects of two new natural flavonoid compounds isolated from Justicia ghiesbreghtiana stem extract on diabetes mellitus type II. Materials and methods One kilogram air-dried stems of J. ghiesbreghtiana were exhaustively extracted with 75% aqueous ethanol several times by heat treatment. The resulting extract was fractionated on a Sephadex LH-20 column using water and water/ethanol mixtures as eluents to yield six fractions, from which two new pure natural compounds 1 and 2 were isolated. The antidiabetic effect of compounds 1 and 2 was investigated in this study using 40 adult male rats. Results and conclusion Phytochemical investigation of the ethanolic extract of J. ghiesbreghtiana stem has led to the isolation of nine pure flavonoid compounds of quercetin type; two of them are new and have been identified as quercetin 3-O-α-l-arabinofuranoside-7-O-α-l-rhamnopyranoside-4′-O-β-d-galactopyranoside (1) and quercetin 3-O-α-l-arabinofuranoside-7-O-β-d-glucopyranoside-4′-O-β-d-galactopyranoside (2); in addition, two quercetin diglycosides, four quercetin monoglycosides, and aglycone quercetin were obtained. Their chemical structures have been established by conventional methods of chemical and physical analysis and confirmed by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The biochemical study of compounds 1 and 2 on diabetic rats indicated improvement in kidney functions shown by reductions in both urea and creatinine levels. Moreover, glutathione peroxidase and superoxide dismutase concentrations were increased. Also, albumin and total protein levels were reduced, with an increase in liver functions, aspartate aminotransferase, and alanine aminotransferase levels, with a mild decrease in both cholesterol and triglyceride concentrations.


While bandlimited wavelets and associated IIR filters have shown serious potential in areas of pattern recognition and communications, the dyadic Meyer wavelet is the only known approach to construct bandlimited orthogonal decomposition. The sinc scaling function and wavelet are a special case of the Meyer. Previous works have proposed a M-Band extension of the Meyer wavelet without solving the problem. One key contribution of this paper is the derivation of the correct bandlimits for the scaling function and wavelets to guarantee an orthogonal basis. In addition, the actual construction of the wavelets based upon these bandlimits is developed. A composite wavelet is derived based on the M scale relationships from which we extract the wavelet functions. The proper solution to this task is proposed which generates associated filters with the knowledge of the scaling function and the constraints for M-band orthogonality.


In this paper, we develop a model for estimating canopy opacity tau for sweet corn. We estimate the refractive index based upon moisture distribution in the corn during different stages of growth. The moisture distribution was observed during two season-long field experiments. We found that the moisture content decreased linearly as the height of the corn increased, with the distribution closer to Gaussian in the fruit region during reproductive stages. The tau obtained from our model was compared to that estimated using a widely used Jackson model. In general, our tau estimates were higher than those obtained using the Jackson model, with a root mean-square difference (rmsd) of up to 0.23 Np between the two models. The tau values were used in a microwave emission model at C-band, and the model estimates of brightness were compared with field observations. We found that the model brightness temperatures matched well with observations, with rmsd values of 5.13 and 4.88 K, using our model and the Jackson model for tau, respectively.


PROHIBITIN HOMOLOGY DOMAIN PROTEINS IN CAENORHABDITIS ELEGANS John Ernest Kratz III The PHB-d protein family is an evolutionarily ancient family of integral membrane proteins with members in all taxa that are involved in a wide variety of biological process but share several common molecular properties: oligomerization, detergent resistant membrane (DRM) association, and regulation of other proteins. To better understand the biological roles of the PHB-d gene family and provide a starting point for analysis of their individual functions, I determined the expression patterns of all of the uncharacterized PHB-d genes in the nematode C. elegans. All eight of the proteins similar to mammalian stomatin are detectably expressed in neurons. The specificity of expression varies from 34 neuron types that express sto-4 to only one that expresses sto3. STO-1 protein is localized to amphid sensory cilia and is needed for optimal chemotaxis to diacetyl. This phenotype is likely to affect chemotaxis mediated by the AWA sensory neurons. Involvement of PHB-d proteins in chemosensation may be conserved in mammals. Two murine PHB-d genes are highly expressed in olfactory sensory neurons, but no olfactory phenotype has been described in mice lacking either gene. C. elegans senses gentle body touch via a mechanosensory channel complex that contains two Degenerin/Epithelial sodium channel (DEG/ENaC) subunits and two prohibitin homology domain (PHB-d) proteins. One of the PHB-d proteins (UNC-24) has a C-terminal sterol carrier protein 2 (SCP-2) domain and only a subtle mechanosensory abnormal (Mec) phenotype. The other PHB-d (MEC-2) is essential for channel function. I show here that unc-24 is needed for proper localization of MEC-2 to the channel complex, but that this function is unlikely to underlie the unc-24 phenotype. This result supports the hypothesis that PHB-d/SCP-2 proteins have a conserved role in localizing other PHB-d proteins and demonstrates that UNC-24 must have a second, unknown, role in mechanosensation. MEC-2 is embedded in the plasma membrane via a non-spanning hydrophobic hook. Mutation of a conserved proline (P134S) in the hydrophobic hook leads to complete touch insensitivity. Mutation of the equivalent proline in human stomatin converts the hook to a transmembrane domain and expels the PHB-d and C-terminus of the protein. We show here that the P134S mutation has the same effect on MEC-2 topology in HEK293T cells. This result has implications for MEC-2 function because the P134S mutation has previously been shown to affect some but not all MEC-2 biochemical properties. The conserved proline is found in all C. elegans and human stomatins and its mutation in human podocin leads to kidney failure.


The challenge is to implement research that can estimate the consequences of
climate changes in terms of impact on terrestrial environments and resources.
Emphasis should be placed on regions dependent on natural resources and for
which demographic pressure is strong. Simulations obtained from climate model
projections (using different Representative Concentration Pathways (RCPs))
predict that the Mediterranean basin and its southern periphery are particularly
vulnerable to water resources and environmental impact (IPCC, AR5, 2013).
An annual rainfall decrease by 30% is found for the projection period 2070-2099
(IPCC, AR5, 2013) associated with a decrease in water resources by 30 to 50%
(Milano, 2012). In addition, several studies using regional atmospheric models
indicate an increase in the precipitation inter-annual variability with extreme
events and a spatial heterogeneous signature, superimposed on a decrease in the
total precipitation amount (Giorgi and Lionello, 2008; Raible et al. 2010).
Currently, regional climate projections are highly sensitive to the climate model
used. In particular, spatial resolution as well as local climate conditions seem
to impact significantly on the simulations (Jacob et al. 2014).
The Mediterranean region, at the interface between arid and temperate climates
with several mountainous areas, is a complex climate system affected by the
interactions between mid-latitude and sub-tropical processes. In this context,
Morocco, located at the transition between a temperate climate to the North and
a tropical climate to the south constitutes a key area for an impact and sensitivity
study to global climate changes. The climate is influenced by the Atlantic Ocean,
the Mediterranean Sea and the Sahara, together with a very steep orography in
the Atlas region. The precipitation distribution is therefore characterised by great
spatial variability, and exhibits a marked seasonality, a strong inter-annual
variability (Ouda et al. 2005) and in general a pronounced gradient from north
to south and west to east. At a broader scale, Morocco is located on the subtropical
subsidence path and between the Acores High and the Saharan Low (Agoussine,
2003). Several studies have also identified strong links with inter-annual
precipitation variability and NAO index (Knippertz, 2003) as well as remote
climate modes (Esper et al. 2007).
Continental climate variability at a local/regional scale, if it is to be integrated
in climate predictions, needs to be supported by long-term observation.
Meteorological stations in Morocco provide climatic data mainly for the last
40 years with only a few stations located in the mountainous region (Tramblay
et al. 2012; 2013; Driouech et al. 2010). This climate database is also supported
by the IAEA network providing stations for which isotope tracers have been
applied to daily/monthly rain and water vapour samples over 2 to 3 years between
2000 and 2004. Besides the poor coverage of instrumented areas, lacustrine
systems can provide a climatic data set that offers access to short and long-term
time series of climate parameters when knowledge of modern lake water balance
is combined with lacustrine sedimentary-climate records. Lake sediment records
ideally provide high resolution climate/environmental information of the last
10,000 years (Magny et al. 2013). This time interval (corresponding to the
Holocene) is a key period to investigate short and long-term climate variability
and to improve prediction in a warming climate.
In this study we present an integrated approach focusing on a mountainous lake
(Aguelmam Azigza). The modern lake system study is based on site monitoring
(2012-2016) and available regional hydro-climatic data. These data show that
lake level changes during the instrumented period were mainly driven by
precipitation following the high inter-annual variability. These data are then
compared with accurately dated short sediment cores retrieved in the same lake.
Micro-scale geochemical and sedimentological analyses of these sequences
enable us to identify various sedimentary facies that can be linked with periods
of high (low) lake levels over the past decades.


Enhancement of energy density and safety aspects of Li-ion cells necessitate the usage of 'alloying reaction' based anode materials in lieu of the presently used intercalation-based graphitic carbon. This becomes even more important for the upcoming Na-ion battery system since graphitic carbon does not intercalate sufficient Na-ions to qualify as an anode material. Among the potential 'alloying reaction' based anode materials for Li-ion batteries and beyond (viz., Na-ion, K-ion battery systems), Si and Sn have received the major focus; with the inherently ductile nature of Sn (as against the brittleness of Si) and the considerably better performance in the context of electrochemical Na-/K-storage, of late, tilting the balance somewhat in favor of Sn. Nevertheless, similar to Si and most other 'alloying reaction' based anode materials, Sn also undergoes volume expansion/contraction and phase transformations during alkali metal-ion insertion/removal. These cause stress-induced cracking, pulverization, delamination from current collector, accrued polarization and, thus, rapid capacity fade upon electrochemical cycling. Unlike Si, the aforementioned loss in mechanical integrity is believed to be primarily caused by some of the deleterious 1st order phase transformations and concomitant formation of brittle intermetallic phases during the alloying/de-alloying process. Against this backdrop, this review article focuses on aspects related to deformation, stress development and associated failure mechanisms of Sn-based electrodes for alkali-metal ion batteries; eventually establishing correlations between phase assemblage/transformation, stress development, mechanical integrity, electrode composition/architecture and electrochemical behavior.


Background and Purpose—Prospective studies of red meat consumption and risk of stroke have provided inconsistent results. We performed a meta-analysis to summarize the evidence regarding the effects of red meat (fresh, processed, and total) consumption on stroke risk. Methods—Studies were identified by searching the PubMed database through May 26, 2012, and by reviewing the reference lists of retrieved articles. Prospective studies that reported relative risks (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for the association between red meat consumption and risk of stroke were eligible. Results were combined using a random-effects model. Results—Five articles including results from 6 prospective studies with 10 630 cases of stroke and 329 495 participants were included in the meta-analysis. For each serving per day increase in fresh red meat, processed meat, and total red meat consumption, the RR (95% CI) of total stroke were 1.11 (1.03–1.20), 1.13 (1.03–1.24), and 1.11 (1.06–1.16), respectively, without heterogeneity among studies (P 0.16). Among 4 articles with results for stroke subtypes, the risk of ischemic stroke was positively associated with consumption of fresh red meat (RR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.00–1.27), processed meat (RR, 1.15; 95% CI, 1.06–1.24), and total red meat (RR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.05–1.19); no statistically significant associations were observed for hemorrhagic stroke. Conclusion—Results from this meta-analysis indicate that consumption of fresh red meat and processed red meat as well as total red meat is associated with increased risk of total stroke and ischemic stroke, but not hemorrhagic stroke. (Stroke. 2012;43:2556-2560.)


Presents an object-oriented toolkit for building computer models for water resource planning. The focus is on building a program for flood calculations in river systems with several reservoirs and water transfer structures. The foundation for the flood model is a framework for building hydrological models. The general framework provides the user with tools for describing the structural components of the hydrological system, their relation in the system topology and controlling the behaviour of the system during simulation. Hydrological models are often data-intensive, and the framework is equipped with tools to handle both time series and spatially-distributed data in an efficient way. During development, effort has been put into supporting future changes and extensions to the model system, as well as creating sound reusable components that will benefit future development and maintenance. A flood modelling application in the Norwegian river Gudbrandsdalslagen is described to illustrate the use of the toolkit.


The author maintains that contemporary neuroses can best be understood as grounded in the modern cleft between the self and its roles. In the absence of well-defined and strictly observed rituals and their accompanying ideologies, anxious young person s today are prone to fabricate their own myths of self-idealization in order to achieve a sense of self-worth and well-being. Not surprisingly, these youngsters tend to latch on to one of the different moral traditions embodied in Western culture. Karen H orney's three basic neurotic options--moving emotionally toward, against or away from others--can be seen to correspond, respectively, to the Judeo-Christian exultation of love and compassion, the Greco-Roman ethic of success and competition, and the West ern ideals of freedom and self-reliance. Thus, by focusing on the social structure of the self, the author is able to account for the contributions of moral traditions and social changes to contemporary neurotic processes.


The medieval state of Kievan Rus' took shape in the late 10th century when Vladimir (Volodimer), reportedly a descendant of the semi-legendary Ri͡urik, established his exclusive rule over the Slavs, Finns, and Balts dwelling along the river systems stretching from the southern end of Lake Ladoga to Kiev (Kyiv) and adopted Christianity from Byzantium for his realm. His descendants, collectively known as the Riurikid dynasty, oversaw the growth of Kievan Rus' into a complex federation of principalities, populated mainly by sedentary agriculturalists but also benefiting from urban commerce linked to broad intercontinental trade networks. Riurikid princes repeatedly competed with each other and also contended with nomads of steppe, especially the Pechenegs, Polovt͡sy (Kipchaks, Cumans), and the Mongols who conquered both the nomads of the Pontic steppe and the Rus' principalities in 1237–1240.
 Over the next century the western portions Kievan Rus', located in modern Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, were absorbed by Poland and Lithuania. Its northern principalities continued to be ruled by their Riurikid princes under the hegemony of the khans of the Golden Horde, the portion of the Mongol Empire more accurately known as Juchi's ulus. As the Golden Horde fragmented in the 15th century, those principalities coalesced to form Muscovy, the precursor of modern Russia. Muscovite rulers expanded their realm by seizing territories from Lithuania and in the mid-16th century by annexing the Tatar khanates of Kazan' and Astrakhan', two heirs of the Golden Horde. By the time Riurikid dynastic rule ended in 1598, Muscovy had also subdued the Khanate of Sibir', launching a new phase of development arising from its exploration and incorporation of Siberia and resulting in its transformation from a regional power into a vast Eurasian empire.


Bambara groundnut seeds often show unsynchronized and slow germination even though on newly harvested seeds. This might be due to the presence of seed dormancy. Therefore, the objective of this research was to obtain the information on seed dormancy and germination behaviour of bambara groundnut seeds during desiccation. The experiment was arranged in a nested design. Dormancy breaking treatments (untreated, mechanical scarification, soaking in 1% KNO3 for 2 hours, mechanical scarification followed by KNO3 soaking) were nested in each of the desiccation levels (fresh seeds with 54.7% moisture content (mc), desiccated seeds with 44.4%, 18.0%, 15.4%, and 12.1% mc). The results showed that newly harvested seeds were in dormant state. Seed desiccation did not increase the intensity of seed dormancy, even resulted in an increase in field emergence (at 30 days after planting) from 43.9% in fresh seeds to around 70% in dry seed (12-15% mc). Seed desiccation (from 44.4% mc to 12.1% mc) increased the field emergence, although it was inadequate to break the dormancy completely. Meanwhile, seed desiccation tended to increase the GA/ABA ratio, but the seed permeability was decreased. The fact showed that seed desiccation reduced the intensity of dormancy of bambara groundnut seed, therefore, it is suggested to modify the drying method in order to accelerate the increasing of GA/ABA ratio while keeping the testa permeable.
Keywords: after-ripening, GA/ABA ratio, hard seed, kacang bogor, permeability


The future approach of diagnostic imaging in urology follows the technological progress, which made the visualization of in vivo molecular processes possible. From anatomo-morphological diagnostic imaging and through functional imaging molecular radiology is reached. Based on molecular probes, imaging is aimed at assessing the in vivo molecular processes, their physiology and function at cellular level. The future imaging will investigate the complex tumor functioning as metabolism, aerobic glycolysis in particular, angiogenesis, cell proliferation, metastatic potential, hypoxia, apoptosis and receptors expressed by neoplastic cells. Methods for performing molecular radiology are CT, MRI, PET-CT, PET-MRI, SPECT and optical imaging. Molecular ultrasound combines technological advancement with targeted contrast media based on microbubbles, this allowing the selective registration of microbubble signal while that of stationary tissues is suppressed. An experimental study was carried out where the ultrasound molecular probe BR55 strictly bound to prostate tumor results in strong enhancement in the early phase after contrast, this contrast being maintained in the late phase. This late enhancement is markedly significant for the detection of prostatic cancer foci and to guide the biopsy sampling. The 124I-cG250 molecular antibody which is strictly linked to cellular carbonic anhydrase IX of clear cell renal carcinoma, allows the acquisition of diagnostic PET images of clear cell renal carcinoma without biopsy. This WG-250 (RENCAREX) antibody was used as a therapy in metastatic clear cell renal carcinoma. Future advancements and applications will result in early cancer diagnosis, personalized therapy that will be specific according to the molecular features of cancer and leading to the development of catheter–based multichannel molecular imaging devices for cystoscopy-based molecular imaging diagnosis and intervention.


The recently emerged novel coronavirus, "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus‐2 (SARS‐CoV‐2)," caused a highly contagious disease called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19). It has severely damaged the world's most developed countries and has turned into a major threat for low‐ and middle‐income countries. Since its emergence in late 2019, medical interventions have been substantial, and most countries relied on public health measures collectively known as nonpharmaceutical interventions (NPIs). We aimed to centralize the accumulative knowledge of NPIs against COVID‐19 for each country under one worldwide consortium. International COVID‐19 Research Network collaborators developed a cross‐sectional online survey to assess the implications of NPIs and sanitary supply on the incidence and mortality of COVID‐19. The survey was conducted between January 1 and February 1, 2021, and participants from 92 countries/territories completed it. The association between NPIs, sanitation supplies, and incidence and mortality were examined by multivariate regression, with the log‐transformed value of population as an offset value. The majority of countries/territories applied several preventive strategies, including social distancing (100.0%), quarantine (100.0%), isolation (98.9%), and school closure (97.8%). Individual‐level preventive measures such as personal hygiene (100.0%) and wearing facial masks (94.6% at hospitals; 93.5% at mass transportation; 91.3% in mass gathering facilities) were also frequently applied. Quarantine at a designated place was negatively associated with incidence and mortality compared to home quarantine. Isolation at a designated place was also associated with reduced mortality compared to home isolation. Recommendations to use sanitizer for personal hygiene reduced incidence compared to the recommendation to use soap. Deprivation of masks was associated with increased incidence. Higher incidence and mortality were found in countries/territories with higher economic levels. Mask deprivation was pervasive regardless of economic level. NPIs against COVID‐19 such as using sanitizer, quarantine, and isolation can decrease the incidence and mortality of COVID‐19.


Objective: Antibiotics are considered crucial in preventing and treating many infectious diseases. However, antibiotics use causes major side effects and consequences. Raising public awareness about proper use of antibiotics contributes to improving understanding and preventing irreversible consequences. The aim of this study was to measure the level of awareness of antibiotics use among Omani patients, and to assess the relationship between level of awareness of antibiotics use and selected demographic variables.Methods: A cross-sectional design using a questionnaire, with a convenience sample of 354 patients was employed for this study.Results: The findings of this study indicated that most of the participants (63%) reported poor levels of awareness of antibiotics use. The mean value of level of awareness was 19.3 and the standard deviation was 3. Participants ranked doctors as the most (27%) to receive education from. There were significant relationship between levels of antibiotics awareness and gender [rpb (352) = -.126, p < .05]; levels of antibiotics awareness and employment [rpb (352) = -.149, p < .01]; levels of antibiotics awareness across age groups [F (3, 350) = 2.308, p = .049]; and across levels of education [F (3, 350) = 3.268, p = .014].Conclusions: Such findings are crucial because they form the basis for establishing awareness programs about antibiotics use which should be made accessible to patients and their families.


Silicon is one of the essential ions with a stimulating effect on bone formation. β- tricalcium phosphate ceramic (β-TCP) with a modified surface containing silica was prepared in order to accelerate the bone formation. Sintered β-TCP pellets were spin-coated with a prehydrolyzed silica sol, and subsequently laser-irradiated using CO2 laser at the power of 6.5W. Scanning electron microscopy attached with X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS) showed that the silica was doped into the β-TCP surface. The silicon ion was released into a trisbuffer solution at pH 7.4 at 37 oC during one week of soaking.


The complete plastid genome sequence of the red macroalga Grateloupia taiwanensis S.-M.Lin & H.-Y.Liang (Halymeniaceae, Rhodophyta) is presented here. Comprising 191,270 bp, the circular DNA contains 233 protein-coding genes and 29 tRNA sequences. In addition, several genes previously unknown to red algal plastids are present in the genome of G. taiwanensis. The plastid genomes from G. taiwanensis and another florideophyte, Gracilaria tenuistipitata var. liui, are very similar in sequence and share significant synteny. In contrast, less synteny is shared between G. taiwanensis and the plastid genome representatives of Bangiophyceae and Cyanidiophyceae. Nevertheless, the gene content of all six red algal plastid genomes here studied is highly conserved, and a large core repertoire of plastid genes can be discerned in Rhodophyta.


Work-related musculoskeletal disorders (WMSD) are one of the occupational safety and health problems reported at the Plant 1 & Plant 2 of a semiconductor manufacturer. During the study session, about 48 female operators located at eight departments were interviewed with more than 200 operators were observed in Plant 1. For Plant 2, more than 36 operators were interviewed, and around 95 female operators were observed and measured. Detailed observational methods were used to quantify the task distribution, repetitiveness of hand and upper waistline exertions respectively, work postures and existence of stressors. Risk assessment code and the Rapid entire body assessment method were used to estimate the hazards and risks levels respectively. Awkward posture includes repeated reaching, prolonged standing, twisting and bending posture are major risk factors found on these operators. Three approaches are needed to address the existence of ergonomics risks. First, there needs to improved workstation designs (examples include four tiers oven, diffusion station and CBSM) to reduce high body pains symptoms. Second, improved techniques and training methods for existing and newer operators. Third, needs to improve the awareness regarding safety and health for an improved working environment. WMSD syndromes are highly found at Plant 1 and Plant 2 respectively. This in turn, has made the operators to suffer from several bodily pains including back pain, hips pain, legs, arms and shoulder pains, respectively. Various ergonomics counter-measures are proposed to minimise the impact of WMSD at the plants.