This study was concerned with an investigation into the service quality of an independent private physiotherapy practice using a mixed method approach. The Directors of the private physiotherapy practice (the practice) required an understanding of their customer services; however, this did not include the services of the treatment. It was anticipated that the findings of the study would enhance the service quality of the practice in order that it may remain competitive.
A review of the literature revealed a gap for the independent private practice and, in particular, a gap in service quality.
The two main debates in the literature pertained to the instrument of measurement for service quality and the appropriate conceptual model. The literature review suggested that the SERVQUAL Instrument was the most suitable method to meet one of the objectives of this study. It also revealed that there were two main models of service quality (American and Nordic) and that the American model was the conceptual model most related to services and therefore suited to the objectives of this study.
The study comprised of two phases, phase one was the more dominant phase and was accomplished utilising the SERVQUAL Instrument with a sample of 62 practice customers. The analysis in phase one informed the basis for the semi-structured interviews for the second phase. Phase two specifically investigated areas of the service quality where customers had rated their perceptions lower than their expectations. Nine interviews were conducted for phase two.
The key findings for phase one identified, that overall, the service quality of the practice was positive. This was in contrast to other healthcare studies that were in the UK public healthcare sector. On further analysis it was revealed that there were areas of service quality that the customers had rated with a negative perception, in particular the reliability factor. Further, phase one identified that previous experience of physiotherapy services significantly influenced the customers' expectations of services. In addition the study was in accord with previous literature that suggested that expectations were also culture and socio economic dependent.
The key findings for phase two identified that an investigation into negative perceived service quality was crucial to understanding the 'why' of the customers' perception of the service quality of the practice. Phase two revealed that not only were customers' expectations formed through experiences, but also that perceptions were formed through other people's experiences i.e. relatives. Another key finding in phase two was, that despite the customers being informed on several occasions that the study was in relation to service quality and not the treatment, they could not distinguish between the two constructs.
Finally, the study concluded that the SERVQUAL Instrument was suitable for the independent private practice and should be slightly amended to fit the context and culture of the study. In addition, it was concluded that it was of academic and managerial benefit to measure both the expectations and the perceptions of service quality. The core service (service quality and treatment) is required to be taken into consideration in any future healthcare study. Face to face interviews sequentially following the analysis of the SERVQUAL questionnaire provided deeper and perhaps more meaningful information. The data and information gathered could be translated into staff training to maintain the competiveness of the service quality of the practice.


The direct and secondary effects of rapidly changing climate caused large rivers draining the Atlantic passive margin to incise quickly into bedrock beginning about 35,000 years ago. Measured in samples from bedrock fluvial terraces, 10-beryllium shows that both the Susquehanna and Potomac Rivers incised 10- to 20-meter-deep gorges along steep, convex lower reaches during the last glacial cycle. This short-lived pulse of unusually rapid down-cutting ended by 13,000 to 14,000 years ago. The timing and rate of downcutting are similar on the glaciated Susquehanna and unglaciated Potomac Rivers, indicating that regional changes, not simply glacial meltwater, initiated incision.


Sialic acid recognition remains an interesting and challenging target in molecular receptor design. Herein, we report a series of benzoboroxole-based receptors in which cationic hydrogen-bond donors have been introduced and shown to promote multipoint sialic acid recognition. One striking feature revealed by these receptors is that the carboxylate sialic acid residue is the primary binding determinant for recognition by benzoboroxole, in which the presence of charge-reinforced hydrogen bonds results in enhanced selectivity for sialic acid over other carbohydrates and a 4.5-fold increase in affinity. These findings open up wide possibilities for benzoboroxole-based receptors use in life science research, biotechnology, and diagnostics.


This paper contributes to the ongoing discussion about the impact of robotization on welfare democracies. It advances conjectures on possible future scenarios following the examination of past trajectories. The context of analysis is that corresponding to welfare capitalism in the Western hemisphere. An historical examination of the three Ages of Welfare (Golden, 1945-75; Silver, 1976, 2017; and Bronze, 2008--?) provides the historical bases with the purpose of pondering prospective scenarios. Arguably, the structural economic overturn brought about by robotization and related technologies will challenge substantially the provision of social welfare as we have known it until now. Among the various shocks induced by industry 4.0, robotization they will have far-reaching implications for labour markets, employment and welfare arrangements. Neo-feudalism practices and the eventual implementation of minimum income schemes are identified as contrasting future trends.


In 2011 the Journal of Moral Education (JME) celebrated its 40th anniversary of publication. It seemed appropriate to examine and reflect on the JME's achievements by reviewing its evolution and contribution to the emerging field of moral education and development. Moral education trends, as reflected in the 945 articles published in JME from 1971 to 2011, were investigated by content analysis. The research objectives were: to discover the trends in moral education as represented by published articles and special issues (by analysis of disciplinary approaches, key topics, research methodologies and age-related educational levels) and to examine the international and gender-related development of the journal and the influence of its contributors (by analysis of first authors and editorial board members). The findings identify important concerns, key research topics and neglected areas in moral education and development. Analysis offers an insight into the contribution of JME as the main international interdisciplinary journal in this field, to the history of moral education, to theory and practice and in the changing socio-cultural contexts of the past 40 years. Discussion of the findings is offered, limitations are acknowledged and implications for future directions for the journal considered.


In this paper, a critical study into the dynamic form of abrasive particles through polishing are made, which are under "inconsistent curvature contact" status. In this system, some abrasive particles are colored up and mixed with ordinary ones, by utilizing transparent working surface and stroboscopic light as well; motion state of abrasive particles can be photographed by high speed shot technology. This method can get serials of images while polishing. By using digital image processing technology, distribution of abrasive particle field can be obtained finally. In this paper, the abrasive particles field is researched to obtain the perfect abrasive particle field after purposefully control. Then the influence of the removed material caused by abrasive particles field can be improved, so it can provide strong theory foundation and practice guidance to surface polishing practice.


In this study, by-catch reduction in trammel nets used for prawn fishery in Izmir Bay was studied between May and October 2003. In shrimp trammel net fishery catching of discard species is an important problem due to a series of reasons such as disentangle species causes extra work for fishermen and decreases the labour life of nets. A Guarding net was attached to lead line of traditional shrimp trammel net as a modification to minimize this problem. Control Nets (CNet), originated from traditional commercial nets, and were compared against two groups of Experimental nets (Exp1 and Exp2) in two periods. In the first period of the study Exp1 net group caught 36.46% fewer shrimp (Melicertus kerathurus) in comparison to CNet. In addition to this, 35.62% crab (Goneplax rhomboides), 40.71% mantis shrimp (Squila mantis) and 44.77% purple dye murex (Bolinus brandaris) were caught fewer than those in CNet net group. In the second period of the study Exp2 net group were put into the trial. In this period, Exp1 net group compared with CNet net group caught less shrimp (8.09%), crab (66.15%), mantis shrimp (26.79%) and purple dye murex (32.25%). Exp2 net group caught fewer shrimp (0.99%), crab (50.63%), mantis shrimp (17.33%) and purple dye murex (25.92%) than CNet net group. This study indicates that the net modification was capable of reducing bycatch. Raising of trammel net above the lead line from muddy ground prevent discarding of demersal species from net. Therefore the height of guarding net is an important criterion for bycatch reduction.


There has been a growing belief that the rate of admission of candidates into universities in Nigeria through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has been tilted in favour of the males. This apparent anomaly has resulted in the production of fewer female graduates especially in universities in Nigeria. As a result, the needed female manpower is not sufficiently available in almost all production industries that could provide the needed change in the political and economic spheres for a sustainable development in Nigeria. This is the thrust of this paper which examined the admission rates of females from the South-south zone into universities in Nigeria. Data gathered were analyzed using descriptive statistics. It was found that the rate of female admission into universities from the south-south has been increasing but has remained comparatively low. Strategies were proffered to deliberately favour comparative increase in the rate of admission of females into universities in Nigeria to ensure adequate representation of female graduates in the professions and the production sector.

 Key words: Gender access, gender equity, university admission, university education, sustainable development.


Gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is glucose intolerance that begins or is first recognized during pregnancy. Around 1 in 7 pregnant women have GDM, making it one of the most common pregnancy complications. GDM can have short-term and long-term adverse outcomes for both the mother and her baby such as preterm delivery, increased risk of type 2 diabetes and obesity. While risk prediction models have the potential to inform healthcare professionals about which women are at increased risk of adverse outcomes, they are often at high risk of bias in their development and reporting, and lack external validation, thus limiting their clinical utility. The objective of the review is to critically examine the relevant literature on predictions models for short- and longer-term outcomes in pregnant women affected by gestational diabetes. A better understanding of the strengths and limitations of available models will be helpful in the development and validation of future GDM outcomes prognostic models. The search strategy was developed with the guidance of a librarian. Additionally, the search filters used were developed based on previously validated search filters.


New, neutral, slightly puckered aromatic meso-substituted tetrathia[22]porphyrin[188.8.131.52] (TTP) macrocyclic architectures display structure dependent p-type semiconductor behaviour and constitute molecular field effect transistors with a high on/off ratio (1 × 106) and high mobility (0.32 cm2 V−1 s−1) in thin films deposited on octadecyltrichlorosilane (OTS) modified SiO2. In order to study the influence of steric bulk, molecules with an increasing steric bulk at the meso-position have been synthesized and studied both experimentally and theoretically. The charge transport behavior was evaluated from their thin film organic field-effect transistor (OFET) devices. Single crystal analysis and thin film morphologies of the molecules showed that incorporating a branched hydrocarbon group at the meso-phenyl substituents of TTP not only alters face to face stacking patterns but also changes the morphology of the thin films from highly crystalline to amorphous, as well as lowering the solubility in organic solvents. Such features lead to deterioration of the performance of the organic semiconductor (OSC) devices.


The inherent volatility and/or heat sensitivity of many natural antimicrobial (AM) additives can be detrimental to their widespread use in commodity polymer packaging film formulations. In this study, beta-cyclodextrin (β-CD) inclusion complexes with naturally-derived AM agents: thymol, carvacrol, and linalool were prepared using a co-precipitation technique. The complexes were optimised and then characterised by techniques including thermal analysis. They were then incorporated into low-density polyethylene (LDPE) films with AM agents added directly for comparison. The subsequent release of the AM agents into food simulants was studied followed by an investigation of the efficacy of the films in vitro against selected bacteria. The films were later tested on real foods to assess their potential for controlling microbial growth and lipid oxidation.
In the initial experiments, conditions for synthesising the β-CD/AM agent complex including solvent composition, temperature, reaction time, and total solvent volume were investigated to optimise the inclusion efficiency (IE) and yield. Electrospray ionization mass spectrometry and gas chromatography were used to confirm the formation and quantify the amount AM agents that were encapsulated, absorbed onto the surface, or remaining in the filtered solvent. The systematic optimisation of the conditions improved both the yield of the complex and the IE of the AM agents. Using a 1:1 mole ratio of the AM agent to β-CD, the optimised parameters resulted in maximum yields of 87, 84 and 86% (w/w) for thymol, carvacrol and linalool respectively with IE's close to 100% (w/w) for each agent.
The kinetics of the thermal decomposition of the optimised β-CD and complexes of the three AM agents were then investigated using thermogravimetric analysis. Under a linear temperature ramp and in the degree of conversion, α, domain: 0.1 ≤ α ≤ 0.8, the major decomposition steps of the β-CD, and complexes with carvacrol, linalool and thymol occurred at ca. 300°C and followed Avrami-Erofeev kinetics with apparent activation energies, Ea, of: 156 ± 6, 107 ± 7, 96 ± 3 and 110 ± 3 kJ mol-1 respectively. Below ca. 300°C there were staged mass losses from each of the complexes that were not observed for the neat β-CD. These were attributed to lower energy binding interactions and accounted for a little over half of the available guest species in the complex in each case. Lower temperature mass losses for β-CD complexes with carvacrol (ca. 140 to 230°C) and linalool (ca. 95 to 150°C) were analysed and found to be adequately fitted by second-order kinetics with apparent Ea values of: 37 ± 1 and 69 ± 6 kJ mol-1 respectively. The results suggest the optimized complexes are generally thermally stable and would potentially be suitable for high-temperature extrusion processes with acceptably low losses.
The next experiments involved the incorporation of the AM agents into LDPE films either directly or encapsulated in β-CD. Quantification of the AM agents was performed immediately following thermal processing, then six and thirty days after the film samples were stored in an open atmosphere. After six days, no AM agent was detected in the films where the agent was added directly to the film whereas the films containing encapsulated agents showed only small decreases in the concentrations of the agents up to 30 days. The migration of AM agents from LDPE films into 95% (v/v) ethanol/water mixtures food simulants at 4℃ was adequately described using first-order kinetics and Fick's second law of diffusion. For the AM agents added directly to the film, the initial release rates were between four and eight times greater than those of the encapsulated agents. Similarly, the diffusion coefficients of the free agents were ca. four to five times greater than the encapsulated agents.
The free and encapsulated natural AM agents incorporated into LDPE film were tested against Escherichia coli (ATCC 25922) in order to assess the potential of the AM inclusion complexes for use in food packaging films. The direct incorporation of the complexes in the film formulations resulted in little inhibition of the target bacterium as assessed by the agar diffusion method even with AM levels as high as 5% (w/w). In comparison, levels of 2% (w/w) of free thymol and carvacrol added directly to the film demonstrated inhibition. The addition of glycerol to the film formulations was investigated as a means of facilitating the AM agent from the complex. A concentration of 1% (w/w) of glycerol in the film formulation was found to result in microbial inhibition which increased with additional glycerol. The use of 2% (w/w) glycerol resulted in a more pronounced inhibition of targeted microorganism. Upon the addition of glycerol, all of the films showed AM activity against the target bacterium with the exception of those containing linalool in either the free or encapsulated forms. Upon the addition of 2% (w/w) of glycerol to the film formulation, encapsulated thymol at a concentration of 2% (w/w) was more effective than encapsulated carvacrol at a concentration of 3% (w/w) against E. coli with zones of inhibition of 30.70 ± 0.72 and 29.61 ± 0.86 mm respectively.
In the final experiments, the LDPE films containing encapsulated thymol were tested on real food systems. The level of thymol was 1 to 3% (w/w) relative to the LDPE and glycerol was added in order to obtain the optimum controlled release. In the case of packaged minced beef inoculated with E. coli, no inhibition was observed when the concentration of encapsulated thymol was 3% (w/w) with 2% (w/w) glycerol, however, the same film reduced E. coli growth by 0.7 log10 CFU g-1 on chicken breast fillets compared with the control during storage at 4℃ for 12 days. The growth of E. coli was found to be affected by the temperature at 4℃ whereby the bacterial counts remained relatively low with slow growth over the test period under refrigeration. However, when the temperature increased to 10℃ it was also found that the presence of coliforms interfered with growth of E. coli and, in general, the films containing encapsulated thymol effectively reduced coliform growth. Analysis of the antioxidant (AO) activity of films using the diphenyl-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical assay showed a 71% reduction in DPPH concentration for the LDPE/thymol/β-CD films containing 3% (w/w) thymol. Furthermore, a film comprised of 1% (w/w) thymol with glycerol stored at room temperature for 20 months showed a reduction by 23% in DPPH concentration confirming that the films are suitable for extended storage. Analysis of the formation of thiobarbituric acid reactive substances on packaged minced beef showed decreases in lipid oxidation of 60 and 75% for films containing 1% and 3% (w/w) thymol in the film respectively. The films therefore show promise for the dual purpose of AO and AM activity in order to prolong the shelf-life of selected food products.


Objective : to analyze the relationship of climatic variables, temperature and rainfall, - with dengue, in addition to identifying possible areas of greater spatial concentration of confirmed dengue cases. Methods : This is an ecological study with secondary data in the city of Ubirajara / SP. The confirmed cases of Dengue, assumed as an outcome, were obtained from the Aging and Notification Information System (SINAN) of the Ministry of Health; while the climatic data were used as independent variables and temperature and precipitation were provided by IPMet - Center of Meteorology of Bauru / SP, from 2007 to 2015. Pearson's correlation (r) was used for statistical analyzes. The addresses were geocoded and related to the digital cartoFigureic base of the municipality through the software QGIS and elaborated the thematic map through the kernel intensity estimator. Results : 187 cases of dengue were reported in the study period, with 119 cases (63.7%) occurring in 2015 with an incidence coefficient of 25.39 cases per 1,000 inhabitants. Mean annual temperature correlated positively with dengue and (r) (Pearson) cases = 0.6889, p = 0.0401 (α = Type I error) and β = 0.6652 (Type II error). The Kernel map identified four areas of greatest concentration for dengue transmission. Conclusions : The relationship between temperature increase and dengue cases requires adequate responses from the institutions, with continuous monitoring of trends, construction of predictive models for the formulation of plans by using spatial analysis in the identification of the priority areas for actions that will be performed.


Abstract. Local polynomial regression is a generalization of local mean smoothing as described by Nadaraya (1964) and Watson (1964). Instead of fitting a local mean, one instead fits a local pth-order polynomial. Calculations for local polynomial regression are naturally more complex than those for local means, but local polynomial smooths have better statistical properties. The computational complexity may, however, be alleviated by using a Stata plugin. In this article, we describe the locpoly command for performing local polynomial regression. The calculations involved are implemented in both ado-code and with a plugin, allowing the user to assess the speed improvement obtained from using the plugin. Source code for the plugin is also provided as part of the package for this program.


This paper presents the design, assembly and characterization of a fully automated portable gas chromatography system coupled with a purge-and-trap system for the sensitive and rapid field analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in water samples. The VOCs were firstly purged by helium gas in the micro-fabricated preconcentrator/injector and then injected into the downstream capillary column and photoionization detector for separation and detection. The purge-and-trap conditions were optimized to efficiently extract VOCs from water samples. The calibration of 6 VOCs with concentrations ranging from 1 μg L−1 to 500 μg L−1 showed excellent linearity (R2 > 0.99). Detection limits (3σ) of sub-μg L−1 (or sub-parts-per-billion level) were achieved, which are orders of magnitude lower than the maximum contaminant level (MCL) established by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The separation of 26 analytes (in a vapor pressure range from 0.087 Torr to 180 Torr) in a water sample in less than 15 minutes was also demonstrated. Finally, the optimized system was applied to field analysis of a groundwater sample in an environmental remediation site. The quantified results agreed well with those obtained by an analytical lab using standard analytical methods and instruments. Our system offers a lab-on-a-chip solution for sensitive and rapid water analysis compliant with the EPA sample collection method. It will have a wide range of applications in environmental monitoring, industries and healthcare.


The increasing complexity and decreasing technology feature sizes of electronic designs has caused the challenge of testing to grow over the last decades. The purpose of this thesis was to evaluate different hardware test methods/approaches based on their applicability in a complex SoC design. Among the aspects that were investigated are test implementation effort, test efficiency and the performance penalties implicated by the test.This report starts out by presenting a general introduction to the basics of hardware testing. It then moves on to review available standards and methodologies. In the end one of the more interesting methods is investigated through a case study. The method that was chosen for the case study has been implemented on a DSP, and is rather new and not as prolific as many of the standards discussed in the report. This type of method appears to show promising results when compared to more traditional ones.


Any living system possesses internal embedded description and exists as a superposition of different potential realisations, which are reduced in interaction with the environment. This reduction cannot be recursively deduced from the state in time present, it includes unpredictable choice and needs to be modelled also from the state in time future. Such non-recursive establishment of emerging configuration, after its memorisation via formation of reflective loop (sign-creating activity), becomes the inherited recursive action. It leads to increase of complexity of the embedded description, which constitutes the rules of generative grammar defining possible directions of open evolutionary process. The states in time future can be estimated from the point of their perfection, which represents the final cause in the Aristotelian sense and may possess a selective advantage. The limits of unfolding of the reflective process, such as the golden ratio and the golden wurf are considered as the canons of perfection established in the evolutionary process.


N-2-(Mercaptopropionyl)glycine (MPG) is a free-radical scavenger, a detoxicating synthetic aminothiol which also acts as an antioxidant with a wide range of clinical applications. The oxidation of MPG by aqueous bromine and acidified bromate has been studied by spectrophotometric techniques. The stoichiometry for the reaction of acidic bromate with MPG is 1 : 1, HS(CH3)CH(=O)N(H)CH2COOH + BrO3– → HO3S(CH3)CH(=O)N(H)CH2COOH + Br–, with reaction occurring only at the thiol centre. The involvement of thiyl radicals in the oxidation of MPG competes with a non-radical pathway involving two-electron oxidations of the sulfur centre. A bimolecular rate constant of 5.68 (±0.94) × 103 M–1 s–1 for the direct reaction of MPG with bromine was determined. Electrospray ionization spectral data show that MPG is oxidized through its sulfinic acid, by-passing the unstable sulfenic acid. A simplified reaction network consisting of 19 reactions was simulated and it gave a very good fit to the experimental data.


We calculate magnetization and incremental longitudinal and perpendicular susceptibilities for ferromagnets above remanence as functions of longitudinally applied field, assuming a local uniaxial anisotropy to have certain angular distributions. We give analytical formulas, together with computation results, under a wide range of conditions. For anisotropy uniformly oriented in all directions, the classical derivation of the law of approach to saturation is improved by adding a third term, but the resulting formula is inaccurate for most other conditions even if values of the coefficients of the second and third terms are changed. If the longitudinal field is high, the perpendicular incremental susceptibility at uniformly oriented anisotropy can be well approximated by the ratio of spontaneous magnetization to this field, which is the ideal result obtained for zero anisotropy, but a huge departure from this value can be encountered at low fields under certain conditions. Thus, the measurements of perpendicular incremental susceptibility as a function of longitudinal field can be a sensitive probe to the anisotropy and its distribution in ferromagnetic wires.


The consistent economic growth in South America during the last decade, and the emergent development of passenger and freight air transport systems, poses a number of interesting questions about the integration of such a continental scale system. This  paper applies conceptual models from a hub and spoke perspective to suggest possible architectures for a system that needs to address some difficult challenges – widely spaced interacting cities, and a particular locational configuration with several very large cities dominating local systems. The model in this paper allows for a hierarchical type of differentiation as well as maximum service radii thereby permitting mini-hubs to complement the major-hubs.


The ubiquitous nature of microorganisms, especially of biofilm-forming bacteria, makes biofouling a prevalent challenge in many settings, including medical and industrial environments immersed in liquid and subjected to shear forces. Recent studies have shown that zwitterionic groups are effective in suppressing bacteria and protein adhesion as well as biofilm growth. However, the effect of zwitterionic groups on the removal of surface-bound bacteria has not been extensively studied. Here we present a microfluidic approach to evaluate the effectiveness in facilitating bacteria detachment by shear of an antifouling surface treatment using (3-(dimethyl;(3-trimethoxysilyl)propyl)ammonia propane-1-sulfonate), a sulfobetaine silane (SBS). Control studies show that SBS-functionalized surfaces greatly increase protein (bovine serum albumin) removal upon rinsing. On the same surfaces, enhanced bacteria (Pseudomonas aeruginosa) removal is observed under shear. To quantify this enhancement a microfluidic shear device is employed to investigate how SBS-functionalized surfaces promote bacteria detachment under shear. By using a microfluidic channel with five shear zones, we compare the removal of bacteria from zwitterionic and glass surfaces under different shear rates. At times of 15 min, 30 min, and 60 min, bacteria adhesion on SBS-functionalized surfaces is reduced relative to the control surface (glass) under quiescent conditions. However, surface-associated bacteria on the SBS-functionalized glass and control show similar percentages of live cells, suggesting minimal intrinsic biocidal effect from the SBS-functionalized surface. Notably, when exposed to shear rates ranging from 104 to 105 s-1, significantly fewer bacteria remain on the SBS-functionalized surfaces. These results demonstrate the potential of zwitterionic sulfobetaine as effective antifouling coatings that facilitate the removal of bacteria under shear.


In a placebo controlled, double blind crossover study natural progesterone was given by mouth, in increasing doses, to six men and four postmenopausal women with mild to moderate hypertension who were not receiving any other antihypertensive drugs. When compared with values recorded before treatment and during administration of placebo progesterone caused a significant reduction in blood pressure, suggesting that progesterone has an antihypertensive action rather than a hypertensive one as has been previously thought. This possible protective effect of progesterone should be investigated further.


The broad objective of the work presented in this thesis is to consistently
produce an aluminosilicate binder using the typical low calcium fly ash
available in India with an efficient use of alkaline activators. Fly ash is used
as the source m
aterial considering its ready availability in large quantities. The main
challenges associated with the use of fly ash as a source material include:
gauging its reactive potential, determining the influence of process variables
on the dissolution of fly ash and identifying the parameters which influence
the strength achieved by alkali activation of fly ash. Producing an
aluminosilicate binder using fly ash often involves the excessive use of
activators and very high concentrated alkaline solutions. The work outlined in
this thesis addresses the key issue of quantifying the contribution of fly ash in
an activated system. A fundamental understanding of fly ash dissolution in an
alkaline environment and the influence of activated system parameters on the
aluminosilicate production is developed. The outcome of the work is a
procedure for determining the most effective composition of the alkali activator
required to achieve the maximum ultimate compressive strength for a given
fly ash.

This thesis is focused on developing a fundamental understanding of the
activation process of low calcium fly ash using a combination of sodium
hydroxide and sodium silicate. Fly ash characterization is performed using
multiple techniques to establish the typical range of parameters in multiple fly
ash samples collected from different sources. The reactive components in the
glassy phase of low calcium fly ash are identified and quantified. The

dissolution of the glassy phase in low calcium fly ash in an alkaline
environment at different curing temperatures is investigated. The experimental
challenge in quantifying the progress of reaction in an alkali activated fly ash
system is overcome and a new XRD-based direct decomposition technique is
established and calibrated. The extent of dissolution of the fly ash glassy phase
and the reaction product contents are directly determined by applying the
direct decomposition technique to alkali activated fly ash. The product
developed in the alkali activated fly ash system is identified with a sodium
aluminosilicate hydrate. An investigation of the activating solution
composition on the sodium aluminosilicate produced and the strength
development in the alkali activated fly ash systems is presented. The role of
the different reactive oxide ratios and total reactive contents on the sodium
aluminosiliactes product formed and the influence of the product content on
the compressive strength achieved from the alkali-activated fly ash are
evaluated. The requirement of initial alkalinity achieved with the sodium
hydroxide in the activated mix is established for the reactive glassy content
available in the fly ash. The initial solution molarity of sodium hydroxide and
temperature enhance the rate of glassy dissolution resulting in a faster gain in
strength. The reactive alumina content in fly ash is shown to determine the
maximum ultimate compressive strength achieved by alkali activation. The
composition of the activated system considering the relative proportions of
reactive silica, reactive alumina and sodium are shown to significantly
influence the sodium aluminosilicates produced. The ratios of the reactive
oxides in the activated fly ash system required to achieve the maximum
compressive strength are established. Finally, a procedure for determining the
composition of the most efficient activator, with the required sodium hydroxide
and sodium silicate, for achieving the maximum ultimate compressive strength
for a given fly ash is developed. The work presented in this thesis forms the

basis for developing an optimized activator for a low calcium fly ash to produce
an aluminosilicates binder meeting specific performance requirement in
structural applications.


Looking at how young Swiss adults anticipate their future families, we find a pronounced discourse of disapproval of any form of commodified childcare. Interviewees in their mid-twenties insist that children should be cared for at home and by their parents. This paper discusses these empirical findings in the light of recent debates on the commodification of care. On the one hand, the idealised notion of the home as a safe haven for children might reinforce existing inequalities in the gendered division of care work by confining women to the home and excluding them from paid labour; on the other hand, the aversion to commodified care can be read as a challenge to the neoliberal model of a universal adult worker which disregards care obligations. In this respect, the discourse of disapproval of commodified care might signify a tentative step towards a new ethic of care.


Daily ambulatory activity is associated with health and functional status in older adults; however, assessment requires multiple days of activity monitoring. The objective of this study was to determine the relative capabilities of self-selected walking speed (SSWS), maximal walking speed (MWS), and walking speed reserve (WSR) to provide insight into daily ambulatory activity (steps per day) in community-dwelling older adults. Sixty-seven older adults completed testing and activity monitoring (age 80.39 [6.73] years). SSWS (R2 = .51), MWS (R2 = .35), and WSR calculated as a ratio (R2 = .06) were significant predictors of daily ambulatory activity in unadjusted linear regression. Cutpoints for participants achieving < 8,000 steps/day were identified for SSWS (≤ 0.97 m/s, 44.2% sensitivity, 95.7% specificity, 10.28 +LR, 0.58 -LR) and MWS (≤ 1.39 m/s, 60.5% sensitivity, 78.3% specificity, 2.79 +LR, 0.50 -LR). SSWS may be a feasible proxy for assessing and monitoring daily ambulatory activity in older adults.


We propose an experiment to create and verify entanglement between remote mechanical objects by use of an optomechanical interferometer. Two optical cavities, each coupled to a separate mechanical oscillator, are coherently driven such that the oscillators are laser cooled to the quantum regime. The entanglement is induced by optical measurement and comes about by combining the output from the two cavities to erase which-path information. It can be verified through measurements of degrees of higher-order coherence of the optical output field. The experiment is feasible in the regime of weak optomechanical coupling. Realistic parameters for the membrane-in-the-middle geometry suggest entangled state lifetimes on the order of milliseconds.


The Norilsk uprising was a major strike by Gulag inmates in Gorlag, a special camp mostly for political prisoners, in the summer of 1953, shortly after Joseph Stalin's death. About 70% of inmates were Ukrainians, many of whom had been sentenced for 25 years to the so-called «Bandera Standard». It was the first major revolt within the Gulag system in 1953-1954. Between May 26 and August 4, 1953, the inmates of the Gorlag-Main camp went on strike, which lasted 69 days. This was the longest uprising in the history of the Gulag. The preconditions for the uprising can be seen as the following: the arrival of waves of prisoners to the Gorlag, who had participated in the uprisings of 1952, the death of Stalin on March 5, 1953 and the fact that the amnesty that followed his death only applied to (non-political) criminals and convicts with short prison terms, the percentage of which was very low in Gorlag. All categories of inmates took part in the uprising, with the leading roles played by former military men and participants of national liberation movements of western Ukraine, Georgia and the Baltics. Norilsk uprising combined various forms of protest – hunger strike, resignation, riot, armed uprising. One of the leaders of the uprising was Danylo Shumuk, a former employee of one of the UPA's political divisions. The article describes the participation of a Ukrainian political prisoner, a participant in the national liberation movement in Volyn during World War II, Danylo Shumuk in the organization of the Norilsk Uprising of Political Prisoners (June-August 1953). The process of creating a conspiratorial formation by an activist – a «Selfhelp organization», the goals, composition, methods of activity of its members, the relationship between them are shown. On the basis of domestic and foreign sources, the forms of protest of prisoners and their demands were analyzed. The main results of the struggle of political prisoners and their future fate are highlighted. It is evidence-based the Ukrainian central role in Norilsk uprising, which was one of the strongest in the history of the Gulag, and resulted its reformation.


Despite the enormous importance of alpine streams, information about many aspects of their ecology is still insufficient. Alpine lotic systems differ in many environmental characteristics from those lower down, for example because above tree line streams drain catchments where terrestrial vegetation is scarce and allochthonous organic input is expected to be small. The main objectives of this study were to examine seasonal variation of autochthonous and allochthonous energetic inputs and their relationship with macroinvertebrate communities in the Po river, an alpine non-glacial stream (NW Italy). For one year, samplings were monthly performed in a homogeneous 100 m stream reach for discharge, autochthonous energy input (benthic chlorophyll a ), allochthonous energy input (coarse particulate organic matter), abundance and structure of benthic macroinvertebrate community. Chlorophyll a concentrations were in the range of what reported for other alpine streams, but presented a time-lag with respect to what has been reported for glacial-fed mountain rivers. CPOM amounts were lower than those in lowland, forested streams of the same area but exhibited an intriguing, different seasonal variability, probably reported for the first time, with a maximum in spring and a minimum in winter. We collected 29,950 macroinvertebrates belonging to 13 families and 10 orders. Benthic communities were essentially dominated by Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Diptera. Scrapers was the most important FFG, but also Shredders were well represented. Relationships between chlorophyll a concentrations, CPOM availability and macroinvertebrate community characteristics were analysed and discussed considering the existence of different top-down or bottom-up regulation mechanisms. This study confirms that benthic algae constitute an essential resource for macroinvertebrates in alpine streams above the tree line but also underlines the importance of terrestrial organic input, a previously neglected input in environments above the tree line. The major forces shaping energetic inputs and invertebrate communities seemed to be related to the Alpine climate, and especially to snow accumulation and melting, with the consequent substantial discharge variations.


A new species of gobiid fish, Trimma christianeae , is described from 11 specimens, 9.8–18.9 mm SL, collected in 1–4 m depth near the town of Alotau in Milne Bay Province, Papua New Guinea. Diagnostic features include: dorsal-fin elements VI+I,9, second dorsal-fin spine usually with a short filament, extending to the base of the first to fourth segmented dorsal-fin ray when adpressed; anal-fin elements I,7; the fifth segmented pelvic-fin ray with sequential branching consisting of three branch points, its length about 75–90% (mean 83%) length of fourth ray; the basal membrane of the pelvic fin fully developed; well-developed interorbital and postorbital trenches; no scales present on the opercle; the posterior naris large and adnate to the orbital rim; the gill rakers on the first arch 3–4+12–13; color in life mainly orange to brownish red with diffuse brown scale margins forming a reticulated pattern; 6 indistinct narrow white or gray bars (sometimes branching) along the back and dorsalmost part of caudal peduncle; and the pectoral-fin base with a distinctive orange to reddish-brown medial area with large white spots dorsally and ventrally. The new species is most similar in appearance to T. mendelssohni , from the western Indian Ocean, which differs in having scales present on the upper opercle, a pair of small, fleshy lappets on the dorsal surface of the nape, and the absence of upper-limb gill rakers. The general color pattern and well-developed interorbital and postorbital trenches indicate a possible relationship to the Trimma caesiura complex.


This paper considers the interpretation of "Mincer rates of return." We test and reject the Mincer model. It fails to track the time series of true returns. We show how repeated cross section and panel data improves the ability of analysts to estimate the ex ante and ex post marginal rate of returns. Accounting for sequential revelation of information calls into question the validity of the internal rate of return as a tool for policy analysis. The large estimated psychic costs of schooling found in recent work helps to explain why persons do not attend school even though the financial rewards for doing so are high. We present methods for computing distributions of ex post and ex ante returns.


In this paper we ask whether recent claims that the US government should switch from the tax credit system to the exemption system are justified. We study corporate taxation in a model where international capital flows are either greenfield investment projects or acquisitions of existing firms, and where investment is motivated by either cost reduction or market entry reasons. The paper asks how corporate taxation affects the international allocation of capital under different double taxation regimes. We find that the standard view on international taxation only prevails in the case of cost driven greenfield investment. In all other cases the deduction system is no longer optimal from a national perspective and the foreign tax credit system fails to ensure neutrality. However, the desirability of the tax exemption system has to be qualified. We show that the cross border cash flow tax system dominates the exemption system in terms of optimality properties. JEL Code: H25, F23.


Siddha is a natural treatment and the oldest medical system of healing in the world. Nadi which is a pulse-based diagnosis method which is the skill of feeling the pulse, and is known to dictate all the salient features of a human body. In this paper, we provide a complete spectrum of details of our procedure for obtaining three different pulses based on time series. This system contains contains a strain gauge equipped with a diaphragm element , a transmitter and also an amplifier, a digitizer which quantifies the analog signals. The system is designed with 16-bit accuracy in such a way that it provides no interference noise and no external electronics. Compared with the prior systems like ECG, the system provides a detailed classification of the nadi pulses which produces the waveforms with respect to abnormalities. The varying pressure given to the pulse analyzer classifies vadha, pitha, and kapha based on the abnormalities captured from a single artery . The obtained output from this module is been fed to the knowledge management system that identifies the diseases based on body type. The designed system is being evaluated by siddha practitioners as a computer-aided diagnostic tool


OBJECTIVE
To introduce a measure assessing statewide hospital admission patterns for trauma and evaluate its utility in identifying significant admission redistributions in neighboring states as a function of trauma system implementation.

METHODS
A retrospective claims database analysis was performed of hospitalized trauma patients in Washington and Oregon. The site of hospitalization and diagnostic information were used to determine an admission rate difference for each hospital: the rate of index patient admissions minus the rate of non-index patient admissions. Mean admission rate differences for Level II and III versus other hospitals in each state were compared as a function of time.

RESULTS
A bias in favor of admitting more serious injuries to Level II and III hospitals was seen with trauma system implementation in both states, but it was more pronounced in the Oregon trauma system.

CONCLUSION
Assessment of admission rate differences is a helpful method of characterizing the evolution of statewide trauma systems.


On account of their low-cost, earth abundance,
eco-sustainability, and high theoretical charge storage capacity, MnO2
cathodes have attracted a renewed interest in the development of rechargeable
aqueous batteries. However, they currently suffer from limited gravimetric
capacities when operating under the preferred mild aqueous conditions, which
leads to lower performance as compared to similar devices operating in strongly
acidic or basic conditions. Here, we demonstrate how to overcome this limitation
by combining a well-defined 3D nanostructured conductive electrode, which
ensures an efficient reversible MnO2-to-Mn2+ conversion
reaction, with a mild acid buffered electrolyte (pH 5). A reversible
gravimetric capacity of 560 mA·h·g-1
(close to the maximal theoretical capacity of 574 mA·h·g-1
estimated from the MnO2 average oxidation state of 3.86)
was obtained over rates ranging from 1 to 10 A·g-1. The
rate capability was also remarkable, demonstrating a capacity retention of 435 mA·h·g-1 at a
rate of 110 A·g-1. These
good performances have been attributed to optimal regulation of the mass
transport and electronic transfer between the three process actors, i.e. the 3D conductive scaffold, the MnO2
active material filling it, and the soluble species involved in the reversible
conversion reaction. Additionally, the high reversibility and cycling stability
of this conversion reaction is demonstrated over 900 cycles with a Coulombic
efficiency > 99.4 % at a rate of 44 A·g-1.
Besides these good performances, also demonstrated in a Zn/MnO2 cell
configuration, we discuss the key parameters governing the efficiency of the
MnO2-to-Mn2+ conversion. Overall, the present study
provides a comprehensive framework for the rational design and optimization of
MnO2 cathodes involved in rechargeable mild aqueous batteries.


Mixtures of cultivars with contrasting levels of resistance can suppress infectious diseases in wheat, as demonstrated in numerous field experiments. Most studies focused on airborne pathogens in bread wheat, while splash-dispersed pathogens have received less attention, and no studies have been conducted in durum wheat. We conducted a two-year field experiment in Tunisia, to evaluate the performance of cultivar mixtures with varying proportions of resistance (0–100%) in controlling the polycyclic, splash-dispersed disease Septoria tritici blotch (STB) in durum wheat. To measure STB severity, we used a high-throughput method based on digital image analysis of 3074 infected leaves collected from 42 and 40 experimental plots during the first and second years, respectively. This allowed us to quantify pathogen reproduction on wheat leaves and to acquire a large dataset that exceeds previous studies with respect to accuracy and precision. Our analyses show that introducing only 25% of a disease-resistant cultivar into a pure stand of a susceptible cultivar provides a substantial reduction of almost 50% in disease severity compared to the susceptible pure stand. However, comprising the resistant component of two cultivars instead of one did not further improve disease control, contrary to predictions of epidemiological theory. Susceptible cultivars can be agronomically superior to resistant cultivars or be better accepted by growers for other reasons. Hence, if mixtures with only a moderate proportion of the resistant cultivar provide a similar degree of disease control as resistant pure stands, as our analysis indicates, such mixtures are more likely to be accepted by growers.


The biological characteristics of human visual processing can be investigated through the study of optical illusions and their perception, giving rise to intuitions that may improve computer vision to match human performance. Geometric illusions are a specific subfamily in which orientations and angles are misperceived. This paper reports quantifiable predictions of the degree of tilt for a typical geometric illusion called Café Wall, in which the mortar between the tiles seems to tilt or bow. Our study employs a common bioplausible model of retinal processing and we further develop an analytic processing pipeline to quantify and thus predict the specific angle of tilt. We further study the effect of resolution and feature size in order to predict the different perceived tilts in different areas of the fovea and periphery, where resolution varies as the eye saccades to different parts of the image. In the experiments, several different minimal portions of the pattern, modeling monocular and binocular foveal views, are investigated across multiple scales, in order to quantify tilts with confidence intervals and explore the difference between local and global tilt.


Summary: Many chronically ill older patients in the Netherlands have a combination of more than one chronic disease. There is, therefore, a need for self-management programs that address general management problems, rather than the problems related to a specific disease. The Chronic Disease Self-Management Program (CDSMP) seems to be very suitable for this purpose. In evaluations of the CDSMP that have been carried out in the United States and China, positive effects were found on self-management behaviour and health status. However, the CDSMP has not yet been evaluated in the Netherlands. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term and longer-term effects of the CDSMP among chronically ill older people in the Netherlands. One hundred and thirty-nine people aged 59 or older, with a lung disease, a heart disease, diabetes, or arthritis were randomly assigned to an intervention group (CDSMP) or a control group (care-as-usual). Demographic data and data on self-efficacy, self-management behaviour, health status and health care utilization were collected at three measurement moments (baseline, after 6 weeks, and after 6 months). The patients who participated on average rated the program with 8.5 points (range 0-10), and only one dropped out. However, our study did not yield any evidence for the effectiveness of the CDSMP on self-efficacy, self-management behaviour or health status of older patients in the Netherlands. Yet, a significant effect was found between the intervention and the control group with regard to use of home care, but this effect could not be attributed to the intervention. Positive subjective evaluations made by the participants might indicate that other general self-management skills or abilities were addressed, and this may have positively influenced subjective well-being. Therefore, it was investigated whether the CDSMP addressed other self-management skills, in addition to self-efficacy, and whether these skills affected the subjective well-being of chronically ill older people in the Netherlands. However, no effectiveness of the CDSMP was found on any other self-management abilities than self-efficacy, or on subjective well-being. It is possible that the content of the intervention was too implicit with regard to these other self-management abilities. It might also be that we included patients who had little room for improvement. To conclude, the patients who participated were very enthusiastic, which was also indicated by very high mean attendance (5.6 out of 6 sessions) and the fact that there was only one dropout. Therefore, it seems too early to conclude that the program is not beneficial for these patients. Samenvatting Nederlands: Een manier om oudere chronisch zieken te helpen, is ze actief te betrekken bij de dagelijkse zorg voor hun aandoening. Dit kan onder meer gebeuren door middel van zogeheten zelfmanagementinterventies. Amerikaanse onderzoekers stelden dat het CDSMP (Chronic Disease Self-Management Program) een positieve invloed heeft op zelf-effectiviteit, zelfmanagement, zorggebruik en gezondheidsgerelateerde variabelen. Promovendus Henrike Elzen onderzocht of dit ook in Nederland het geval is. Er werden geen positieve effecten gevonden op bovengenoemde terreinen. De patienten uit de voor dit onderzoek samengestelde interventiegroep waren echter wel zeer enthousiast over de methode. Daarom acht Elzen het te vroeg om te stellen dat de interventie onbruikbaar is voor oudere chronisch zieken in Nederland.


The key contribution in this paper is to provide a new approach in estimating the physical distribution of the underlying asset return by using a quadratic Radon-Nikodym derivative function. The latter function transforms a fitted Variance Gamma risk-neutral distribution that is obtained from traded option prices. The generality of the VG distribution helps to avoid unnecessary mis-specification bias. The estimated empirical distribution is then used to find the risk measure of VaR. We show that possible underestimation of VaR risk using existing methods is largely not due to VaR itself but perhaps due to mis-specification errors which we minimize in our approach. Our method of measuring VaR clearly captures large tail risk in the empirical examples on S&P 500 index.


The potential of in-line digital holography to locate and measure the size of particles distributed throughout a volume (in one shot) has been established. These measurements are fundamental for the study of particle trajectories in fluid flow. The most important issues in digital holography today are poor depth positioning accuracy, transverse field-of-view limitations, border artifacts and computational burdens. We recently suggested an 'inverse problem' approach to address some of these issues for the processing of particle digital holograms. The described algorithm improves axial positioning accuracy, gives particle diameters with sub-micrometer accuracy, eliminates border effects and increases the size of the studied volume. This approach for processing particle holograms pushes back some classical constraints. For example, the Nyquist criterion is no longer a restriction for the recording step and the studied volume is no longer confined to the field of view delimited by the sensor borders. In this paper we present a review of the limitations commonly found in digital holography. We then discuss the benefits of the 'inverse problem' approach and the influence of some experimental parameters in this framework.


Listeriosis has the highest case fatality rate of foodborne illnesses in the United States, approximately 30%. One-third of the 2500 cases involve the fetus or neonate. The mechanisms of fetal infection and death are largely unknown. The objectives of this study were to use pregnant guinea pigs 1) to determine effects of exposure to L. monocytogenes on apoptosis in the placenta, 2) to characterize maternal serum cytokine levels after exposure to L. monocytogenes, 3) to determine infection-related changes in placental cytokine expression, 4) to determine the immunoreactivity of a human anti Ecadherin antibody to intestinal and placental tissue. Oral inoculation of pregnant guinea pigs resulted in an increase in the number of placentas undergoing apoptosis at > 10 CFUs L. monocytogenes at 21 days post-treatment. Maternal serum TNF-α levels were significantly decreased 21 days post treatment at > 10 CFUs L. monocytogenes. After maternal treatment with 10 CFUs L. monocytogenes, placental inflammatory cytokine expression was altered as early as six days post-treatment. At 10 CFUs L. monocytogenes, an increasing trend of placental apoptosis was seen as infection proceeded. Guinea pig and rhesus monkey intestinal tissue was immunoreactive to a human anti E-cadherin antibody. In conclusion, the placental cytokine expression and apoptosis is affected after maternal infection with L. monocytogenes. TNF-α concentrations in maternal serum were significantly decreased after oral exposure to L. monocytogenes. A better understanding of mechanisms behind Listeria-induced stillbirths will allow for the development of biomarkers for infection and treatment capabilities. INDEX WORDS: Listeriosis, L. monocytogenes, placenta, apoptosis, infection, cytokines, pregnancy, guinea pigs IMMUNOLOGICAL AND PATHOLOGICAL CHANGES AFTER MATERNAL EXPOSURE WITH LISTERIA MONOCYTOGENES IN PREGNANT GUINEA PIGS


Author(s): Harris, Robert John | Advisor(s): Ellingson, Benjamin M | Abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging is an integral part of medical diagnoses, treatment, and evaluation of patients with brain tumors. While standard anatomical imaging is useful, it does not provide information about molecular-level tumor characteristics that may spatially and temporally vary throughout the tumor. As such, there remains a need for the development of novel MRI techniques that can be used for evaluation of tumor growth and treatment response in patients with glioma undergoing radiochemotherapy. Extracellular acidosis is a hallmark of cancer and is intertwined with other common characteristics of the tumor microenvironment including hypoxia and angiogenesis. Therefore, the central objective of this dissertation was to develop a non-invasive imaging technique for identifying regions of acidosis within glioma and surrounding tissues using MRI. The most common types of glioma are highly aggressive and often require radiochemotherapy, which can result in variable responses across the patient population. Information about the acidity characteristics of these gliomas and the surrounding tissue may allow us to more accurately select targets for biopsy and radiation therapy, identify which patients are responding well to treatment, and predict prognosis.Chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST) MRI is a molecular imaging technique that generates contrast indirectly from protons on labile functional groups such as amines, amides, and hydroxyls. CEST image contrast is dependent on the exchange rate between bulk water protons and these functional groups, which is in turn dependent upon local pH. Because of this, we hypothesized that we could utilize CEST MRI for pH-weighted imaging in human tissues. By developing simulations of the Bloch-McConnell equations governing chemical exchange, we have shown that the CEST contrast generated by fast-exchanging amino acid amine protons increases with decreasing pH within a physiologically relevant range (6.0-7.4). We have also incorporated experimental scan parameters into these simulations to more accurately simulate the CEST contrast obtained during clinical data acquisition. Data were acquired in amino acid phantoms at varying pH and concentration, verifying our image contrast was dependent on pH. Our pH-weighted MRI sequence was also applied in animal models of glioma, providing evidence it can be used to generate unique contrast within tumors and can serve as a potential biomarker for response to treatment.Our CEST MRI method was then applied serially in a cohort of glioblastoma patients undergoing treatment with standard radiochemotherapy, along with select cases of patients undergoing targeted biopsy. Results showed that tumor acidity characteristics were predictive of progression-free survival in the glioblastoma patient cohort. Acidity of targets selected for biopsy on pH-weighted images was indicative of tumor within those biopsy samples. To improve the imaging time of our sequence, we then upgraded the readout to utilize echo-planar imaging (EPI) rather than the standard gradient echo method. This allowed for whole brain coverage and multiple averages within a reduced scan time. The pH-weighted CEST-EPI sequence was applied in healthy volunteers and in a cohort of glioma patients prior to biopsy, in order to select targets for biopsy in regions of acidic and non-acidic tumor tissue. A subset of these patients also underwent PET imaging using 18F-FDOPA, an amino acid analog, near the time of their their pH-weighted scan. 18F-FDOPA uptake was shown to correlate quantitatively and qualitatively with regions of acidity, although pH-weighted imaging provided unique contrast in some cases. pH-weighted MRI was also acquired in recurrent glioblastoma patients before and after the start of treatment with bevacizumab. Acidity was shown to decrease after bevacizumab treatment, and in some cases acidic regions with no apparent contrast enhancement were shown to develop contrast enhancement on follow-up images, indicating that acidic lesions on pH-weighted MRI may be predictive of further tumor growth. Two additional advanced pH-weighted CEST MRI techniques were also implemented. CEST-EPI with a multi-echo readout was developed and acquired in a small cohort of glioma patients. The short and long echoes can provide sensitivity to more and less restricted water molecules, respectively. Separately, our CEST simulation incorporating T1 and T2 maps was used to quantitatively calculate estimates of pH in each image voxel for a subset of patients and animal models. This allows us to correct for T1 and T2 effects and generate numerical estimates of pH rather than pH-weighted images.Together, these experiments and results present a comprehensive description of pH-weighted molecular MRI in gliomas. This technique has the potential to be implemented clinically for detection of acidosis in gliomas and other brain pathologies.


Lactic acid bacteria are used popularly for fruit juice fermentation because they are good sources of probiotics for human. In this study, ten lactic acid bacteria were isolated from 7 samples of naturally fermented pineapple juice. All isolates could grow in the MRS medium pH 1.5 and reach high densities (6.80 – 6.95 log CFU/mL) after 2 h of incubation at 37°C. Moreover, Lactobacillus sp. Y1 produced highest lactic acid concentration (1.20% w/v) and identified as L. acidophilus . The different diluted ratios of pineapple juice (0, 10, 20 and 30% w/v) and different sucrose supplementations (0, 3, 6, and 9% w/v) were used for testing fermenting capacity of L. acidophilus Y1. The undiluted pineapple juice with 9% (w/v) of sucrose supplementation was found to be suitable for fermentation. Based on the results of sensory evaluation and bacterial density determination, the favorable conditions for pineapple fermentation were determined as follow: initial bacterial level at 5.0 log cells/mL, fermentation time for 36 h at 37°C. The results of storage testing showed that the suitable temperature for product storage was 4 – 6°C, bacterial density (8.06 log CFU/mL) of final product was maintained up to 3 weeks.


This paper introduces a method to measure the online strain in the plate shell forming process. It solves the problem that the inside stress online is almost impossible measured in the process of the upper and lower molds forming. The key technology is the design of the moving test frame. This frame can move with the plate's movement to protect the sensors and ensure the output of the test signal, at the same time, it does not interfere with the shell's process conditions. It is the first time to apply this method to the large-sized high-strength steel ball shell plate, and it could accurately measure the stress distribution and changes laws within the shell plate under certain specific condition in the process of punching to online stress test and analysis during the punching forming process. The test results show that the periphery of each pressure point is residual tensile stress, and the inside is the residual compressive stress, more evenly distributed. The existence of residual compressive stress is in favor of the anti-fatigue capacity of the plate.


The paper examines the challenges in the implementation of Open source library management software in academic libraries in Nigeria using the experience of Kano University of Science and Technology, Library. The case study provides an account of the level of implementation of the NewGenLib library management software, which the library has adopted in the operations of the library, the challenges to the effective implementation of the software in the library as well as the strategies for the effective implementation of the software in the library. Qualitative data was gathered from structured interviews with the University Librarian as well as the heads of departments of the library. Findings reveal that the need for effective and adequate dissemination of information to the library users; the desire to ease the work of the library staff and the desire to allow users gain easy access to information material, pushed the library to adopt newer technologies in order to accommodate growing patron demands. Presently the software has only been implemented in the cataloguing and classification operations of the library. The challenges affecting the implementation of the software in the library include lack of funds, technical expertise, power failure and poor ICT infrastructure. Proper planning, prior feasibility studies, training of staff are recommended for any library planning to adopt and implement any ILMS successfully.


Purpose

This paper aims to explore the potential for instructional video to build capacity in culturally responsive teaching, and outline an approach developed at NYU's Metropolitan Center for Research on Equity and the Transformation of Schools (Metro Center) for using inquiry-based, teacher-led teams to study, develop and film culturally responsive teaching in action. The paper explores the use of instructional video in an asset-focused model of professional development that develops culturally responsive teaching through digital videos that can be shared among colleagues, posted online and presented at professional conferences.

Design/methodology/approach

The primary aims of the paper are conceptual and include drawing on a review of the literature on instructional video to map onto one model of professional development the learning goals and reflective activities that are most likely to develop the potential of instructional video to change beliefs and develop critical consciousness, and providing anecdotal evidence to explore the potential for using instructional video in an asset-focused, transformative and responsive model of professional development in culturally responsive teaching.

Findings

Instructional video can be effective for professional development in culturally responsive teaching because people often need to see transformations in teaching and learning before they can believe such transformations are possible. Instructional videos of effective culturally responsive teaching, in this manner, highlight best practices and provide a way for schools to post an "early win" in their work in addressing achievement gaps.

Practical implications

Instructional video can assist educators in confronting and challenging prevailing deficit-based beliefs about ostensibly "low-achieving" students that limit possibilities for culturally responsive teaching; opening up opportunities for transformative learning and inviting the shift to a culturally responsive mindset; and examining and discussing models of excellent teaching. This model of professional development is asset-focused and transformative because it moves teacher voices from margin to center and empowers teachers as models and stewards of transformative learning.

Originality/value

Although numerous studies have documented the potential of instructional video in asset-focused and transformative models of professional development, only two studies explore the potential of instructional video specifically in the development of culturally responsive teaching (Lopez, 2013; Rosaen, 2015). This paper contributes to this nascent literature through documenting an approach to instructional video that was developed for and with teachers at a K-8 public school in Brooklyn.


PURPOSE: To find out whether the opacity of the lens in well-developed cataracts might be so dense as to influence the electrophysiological readings in any way, modifying these to such an extent that they might become pathological. METHOD: A prospective study was carried out on 24 eyes from 21 patients with advanced cataracts (visual acuity from light perception and counting fingers making it impossible to see the retina). During the study, the eyes were subjected to an electrophysiological exploration: electroretinogram (ERG) and visual evoked potentials (VEP), both before and after surgery, analysing the possible changes in the recordings attribuitable to the opacity of the lens. RESULTS: No significant differences were observed in the electrophysiological readings before surgery with respect to postoperative readings, either in terms of latencies or in the amplitude of readings, in either the ERG or in the VEP in all the explored eyes. Although an increase in the amplitude and a slight wave reduction in latencies were indeed observed in the ERG following surgery, these values were not significant. CONCLUSIONS: The opacity of the lens itself does not significantly change the values of the electrophysiological readings, so that electrophysiological exploration in well-developed cataracts is considered to be most accurate test for predicting visual function in these patients.


We examine the dust geometry and Lyα scattering in the galaxies of the Lyman Alpha Reference Sample (LARS), a set of 14 nearby ( ) Lyα-emitting and starbursting systems with Hubble Space Telescope Lyα, Hα, and Hβ imaging. We find that the global dust properties determined by line ratios are consistent with other studies, with some of the LARS galaxies exhibiting clumpy dust media, while others of them show significantly lower Lyα emission compared to their Balmer decrement. With the LARS imaging, we present Lyα/Hα and Hα/Hβ maps with spatial resolutions as low as ∼40 pc, and use these data to show that in most galaxies, the dust geometry is best modeled by three distinct regions: a central core where dust acts as a screen, an annulus where dust is distributed in clumps, and an outer envelope where Lyα photons only scatter. We show that the dust that affects the escape of Lyα is more restricted to the galaxies' central regions, while the larger Lyα halos are generated by scattering at large radii. We present an empirical modeling technique to quantify how much Lyα scatters in the halo, and find that this "characteristic" scattering distance correlates with the measured size of the Lyα halo. We note that there exists a slight anti-correlation between the scattering distance of Lyα and global dust properties.


Cloud computing has led to a lot of improvements in the way we manage our IT infrastructure, but this convenience has led to new security challenges. In this paper, we recreate a cross Virtual Machine Flush+Reload cache timing attack and document our attack methodology in depth. Cache timing attacks are highly technical, and executing them in a virtualized environment makes them more complex. We have not come across any literature that documents these attacks adequately, and so this paper aims to deliver detailed insight into the entire lifecycle of these types of attacks. Our attack methodology dissects the life cycle of a side channel attack in a virtualized environment from beginning to end. We present an in-depth analysis of the environment, the attack setup, the attack execution, and how these attacks can be used to gather and analyse results. This research will shed some valuable insight into what is a very technical and complex topic. By documenting our attack environment and methodology we hope to help new researchers in this field gain a foothold in a research topic that has recently gained popularity and may be difficult to enter. Finally, we examine how meaningful results are collected and analysed by the attacker. We believe this insight will also be valuable for cloud administrators and developers, and that they may use their understanding of the attack lifecycle and result analysis tools to mitigate and disrupt attack attempts.


This paper will analyze the macroeconomic determinants of remittances received for four regions: (1) East Asia and Pacific (EAP), (2) Latin America and Caribbean (LAC), (3) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), and (4) South Asia (SA). In order to better capture developing countries in these regions, high-income countries are excluded from all regions (Table 1). The macroeconomic determinants in each region will be found using multiple regression analysis and yearly remittance data from 1970 through 2016. Past findings have identified a wide variety of significant macroeconomic variables that influence remittances received by the home country. This article is available in The Park Place Economist: https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/parkplace/vol26/iss1/14


This paper focuses on the private and social rates of return to R&D capital in the three vertically linked sectors, primary agriculture, food processing, and farm machinery and equipment. Evidence supporting a divergence between these rates is found for primary agriculture and food processing. Using a cost function approach, the private rates of return to R&D capital ranged from an average of 10.2% per annum for food processing to 22.3% for farm machinery and equipment. In the case of agriculture, the direct return to public R&D averaged 37.3% per annum. The social rates of return to R&D capital in agriculture and food processing are significantly larger than the private rates due to the existence of spillovers. While the divergence between rates is small in the farm machinery and equipment sector, its high direct rate may suggest relatively large intra-sector spillovers. We find that spillovers from public agricultural R&D to food processing exceeds the spillovers from food processing to the other two sectors. Thus, to a degree, public R&D in agriculture mitigates the market's failure in food processing to fully appropriate the returns to their R&D capital.


In this paper, we create an investor sentiment index for Chinese A-share stock market, and use it to predict future market returns. Consistent with studies on the U.S. stock market, we find investor sentiment has a positive relationship with contemporaneous aggregate market returns and can be considered as a contrary predictor of future aggregate market returns in Chinese stock market as it drives current price of stocks extremely far away from their fundamental value. Our study will complement previous work as an important supplementary for theories on Chinese and global investor sentiment and for investors to make their investing decisions.


The products of magnetic reconnection in Saturn's magnetotail are identified in magnetometer observations primarily through characteristic deviations in the north–south component of the magnetic field. These magnetic deflections are caused by traveling plasma structures created during reconnection rapidly passing over the observing spacecraft. Identification of these signatures have long been performed by eye, and more recently through semi-automated methods, however these methods are often limited through a required human verification step. Here, we present a fully automated, supervised learning, feed forward neural network model to identify evidence of reconnection in the Kronian magnetosphere with the three magnetic field components observed by the Cassini spacecraft in Kronocentric radial–theta–phi coordinates as input. This model is constructed from a catalog of reconnection events which covers three years of observations with a total of 2093 classified events, categorized into plasmoids, traveling compression regions and dipolarizations. This neural network model is capable of rapidly identifying reconnection events in large time-span Cassini datasets, tested against the full year 2010 with a high level of accuracy (87%), true skill score (0.76), and Heidke skill score (0.73). From this model, a full cataloging and examination of magnetic reconnection events in the Kronian magnetosphere across Cassini's near Saturn lifetime is now possible.


Traffic sign recognition is critical for advanced driver assistant system and road infrastructure survey. Traditional traffic sign recognition algorithms can't efficiently recognize traffic signs due to its limitation, yet deep learning-based technique requires huge amount of training data before its use, which is time consuming and labor intensive. In this study, transfer learning-based method is introduced for traffic sign recognition and classification, which significantly reduces the amount of training data and alleviates computation expense using Inception-v3 model. In our experiment, Belgium Traffic Sign Database is chosen and augmented by data pre-processing technique. Subsequently the layer-wise features extracted using different convolution and pooling operations are compared and analyzed. Finally transfer learning-based model is repetitively retrained several times with fine-tuning parameters at different learning rate, and excellent reliability and repeatability are observed based on statistical analysis. The results show that transfer learning model can achieve a high-level recognition performance in traffic sign recognition, which is up to 99.18 % of recognition accuracy at 0.05 learning rate (average accuracy of 99.09 %). This study would be beneficial in other traffic infrastructure recognition such as road lane marking and roadside protection facilities, and so on.


Biomass Refinery is a sequential of eleven thermochemical processes and one biological process with two initial basic treatments: prehydrolysis for lignocellulosics and low temperature conversion for biomass with medium-to-high content of lipids and proteins. The other ten processes are: effluent treatment plant, furfural plant, biodiesel plant, cellulignin dryer, calcination, fluidized bed boiler, authotermal reforming of cellulignin for syngas production, combined cycle of two-stroke low-speed engine or syngas turbine with fluidized bed boiler heat recovery, GTL technologies and ethanol from cellulose, prehydrolysate and syngas. Any kind of biomass such as wood, agricultural residues, municipal solid waste, seeds, cakes, sludges, excrements and used tires can be processed at the Biomass Refinery. Twelve basic products are generated such as cellulignin, animal feed, electric energy, fuels (ethanol, crude oil, biodiesel, char), petrochemical substitutes, some materials (ash, gypsum, fertilizers, silica, carbon black) and hydrogen. The technology is clean with recovery of energy and reuse of water, acid and effluents. Based on a holistic integration of various disciplines Biomass Refinery maximizes the simultaneous production of food, electric energy, liquid fuels and chemical products and some materials, achieving a competitive position with conventional and fossil fuel technologies, as well as payment capacity for biomass production. Biomass Refinery has a technical economical capability to complement the depletion of the conventional petroleum sources and to capture its GHGs resulting a biomass + petroleum "green" combination.


From the data presented it appears that acupuncture helped in more than 50% of the patients by either completely or partially controlling pain from certain disorders. Patients helped by acupuncture received 8.55 treatments on the average, while patients not helped by acupuncture only received 4.75 treatments. There is little difference between the male and female patients as to the response to acupuncture. However, we noticed that the younger the patient and the shorter the duration of their problems, the better the response. Patients who had not had surgery to treat the pain syndrome responded better than those who had had previous surgery. Patients with backache who had previously had laminectomy showed better response to acupuncture than patients who had had spinal fusion. It appears that good general health plays an important role in favorable response to acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture may be a valuable extension of a conventional pain clinic and an alternative in patients who are desperate to obtain relief from pain which they failed to obtain from other methods.


The impact of feral Asian water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) and season of fire on growth and survival of mature trees was monitored over 8 years in the eucalypt savannas of Kakadu National Park. Permanently marked plots were paired on either side of a 25-km-long buffalo-proof fence at three locations on an elevational gradient, from ridge-top to the edge of a floodplain; buffalo were removed from one side of the fence. All 750 trees >= 1.4 m height were permanently marked; survival and diameter of each tree was measured annually; 26 species were grouped into four eco-taxonomic groups. The buffalo experiment was maintained for 7 years; trees were monitored an additional year. Fires were excluded from all sites the first 3 years, allowed to occur opportunistically for 4 years and excluded for the final year. Fires were of two main types: low-intensity early dry season and high-intensity late dry season. Growth rates of trees were size-specific and positively related to diameters as exponential functions; trees grew slowest on the two ends of the gradient. Eucalypt mortality rates were 1.5 and 3 times lower than those of pantropics and of arborescent monocots, respectively, but the relative advantage was lost with fires or buffalo grazing. Without buffalo grazing, ground level biomass was 5-8 t ha(-1) compared with 2-3 t ha(-1), within 3 years. In buffalo-absent plots, trees grew significantly slower on the dry ridge and slope, and had higher mortality across the entire gradient, compared with trees in buffalo-present plots. At the floodplain margin, mortality of small palms was higher in buffalo-present sites, most likely due to associated heavy infestations of weeds. Low-intensity fires produced tree growth and mortality values similar to no-fire, in general, but, like buffalo, provided a 'fertilization' effect for Eucalyptus miniata and Eucalyptus tetrodonta, increasing growth in all size classes. High-intensity fires reduced growth and increased mortality of all functional groups, especially the smallest and largest (> 35 cm d.b.h.) trees. When buffalo and fires were excluded in the final year, there were no differences in growth or mortality between paired sites across the environmental gradient. After 8 years, the total numbers of trees in buffalo-absent plots were only 80% of the number in buffalo-present plots, due to relatively greater recruitment of new trees in buffalo-present plots; fire-sensitive pantropics were particularly disadvantaged. Since the removal of buffalo is disadvantageous, at least over the first years, to savanna tree growth and survival due to a rebound effect of the ground-level vegetation and subsequent changes in fire-vegetation interactions, process-orientated management aimed at reducing fuel loads and competitive pressure may be required in order to return the system to a previous state. The 'footprint' of 30 years of heavy grazing by buffalo has implications for the interpretation of previous studies on fire-vegetation dynamics and for current research on vegetation change in these savannas.


Mutants of Escherichia coli K-12 re1A+-strain CP 78 resistant to fusidic acid (Fusr) were isolated and forms sensitive to high concentration of leucine (500 g/ml) were selected. When shifted down from nutrient broth to minimal medium M9 with supplemented glucose and required amino acids, these leucine-sensitive mutants continued RNA synthesis and demonstrated the prolonged lag-phase in contrast to the parent strain CP 78. Both properties are known to be characteristic of the Rel- strains. At the same time withdrawal of the required amino acids results in cessation of RNA synthesis in Fusr mutants, in the parent Rel+ strain. Thus, leucine-sensitive Fusr mutants show Rel- phenotype only upon amino acid starvation caused by shift down from nutrient broth to minimal medium.


A framework for integrating Requirement Engineering (RE) with scientifically tuned Digital Forensics Ontologies (SDFO) envisages a semantic web-driven approach that is able to provide a shared understanding of unifying RE techniques coupled with digital investigation techniques that are tuned from an ontological perspective. In the context of this paper, RE has been portrayed as a discipline that can not only be able to validate, specify, analyse and provide elicitation of the requirements but also to manage them effectively. Nevertheless, SDFO have been employed as bodies of knowledge that provides a shared understanding of knowledge or discipline within the Digital Forensic (DF) domain that helps to solve some given problems. Mainly, this requires the mapping/integrating of RE processes to DF tuned ontologies. The objective of the work presented in this paper, therefore, is to show how RE can be integrated into SDFO with the aim of identifying the most effective scientific approaches using an OntoTuning Matcher (OTM) that has been proposed in this paper. This paper was able to represent a scientifically tuned approach using the Automatic Semantic Mapping of Ontologies (ASMOV) approach. ASMOV provides an approach that is able to align ontologies with other systems such that inconsistencies are eliminated and the accuracy is increased. The contribution of the paper is presented in two folds: Firstly, the author identifies a high-level Onto-Engineered framework for integrating RE and SDFO, thereafter, a more detailed Onto-Engineered framework is discussed. The Onto-Engineered framework that has been discussed in this paper will help to clarify different diversification aspects that exists between RE and SDFO.


External respiration functions were examined in cattle-breeders. An objective evaluation of the curve parameters, flux-volume assisted in distinguishing the groups of cattle-breeders with bronchoobstructive indications for carrying out timely curative and preventive activities. The study revealed that premorbid states and chronic non-obstructive bronchitis caused no significant changes in bronchial permeability. Age-specific values of a number of standard indicators of external respiration functions of practically healthy female cattle-breeders were presented along with the equations for estimating provisional values of the two most sensitive tests.


Abstract Utilizing a plasma to achieve sterilization is a possible alternative to conventional sterilization means as far as sterilization of heat-sensitive materials and innocuity of sterilizing agents are concerned. A major issue of plasma sterilization is the respective roles of ultraviolet (UV) photons and reactive species such as atomic and molecular radicals. At reduced gas pressure (£10 torr) and in mixtures containing oxygen, the UV photons dominate the inactivation process, with a significant contribution of oxygen atoms as an erosion agent. Actually, as erosion of the spore progresses, the number of UV photons successfully interacting with the genetic material increases. The different physicochemical processes at play during plasma sterilization are identified and analyzed, based on the specific characteristics of the spore survival curves.


Progressive coding is an important feature of compression schemes. Wavelet coders are well suited for this purpose because the wavelet coefficients can be naturally ordered according to decreasing importance. Progressive fractal coding is feasible, but it was proposed only for hybrid fractal-wavelet schemes. We introduce a progressive fractal image coder in the spatial domain. A Lagrange optimization based on rate-distortion performance estimates determines an optimal ordering of the code bits. The optimality is in the sense that the reconstruction error is monotonically decreasing and minimum at intermediate rates. The decoder recovers this ordering without side information. As a side effect, our work motivates improved bit allocation strategies for fractal coding.


The objective of this work is two-fold: first, to ascertain whether the application of European Union laws (Directive 2004/113 and Directive 2006/54) governing defined-benefit employment pension plans and incompletely insured but funded pensions was, in fact, discriminatory in several countries, namely France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Having found that such discrimination was the case, our second goal is to calculate the cost of that discrimination to the employers. It is found that the discriminating effect emerged regardless of whether same-gender or different-gender tables were used for calculating benefits; furthermore, the level of discrimination was seen to rise in tandem with the retirement age. This phenomenon can be ascribed to the survival rate of women being higher. The actual cost of the discrimination was determined by isolating the effect of the interest rate and creating ad hoc survival charts that would eliminate the bias inherent in insurance-company tables. These two presentations of data are expressed both in terms of annuity per unit and of GDP, projected until 2015.


Venezuelan shortfin mako shark (Isurus oxyrinchus) catch estimates commenced to be recorded separately and reported to ICCAT in 2004, previously was recorded under the shark category (SHX or SHK). In this document statistical data from various sources, official statistics, publications, grey literature, expert opinion, and several ICCAT monitoring projects for data improvement in Venezuela were used to reconstruct the specific shortfin mako shark catch for the period of 1986-2015 caught by the industrial longline fishery and the artisanal drift-gillnet fishery for the period 1991-2014. Information on size, and sex ratio of shortfin mako shark from the Venezuelan pelagic longline fishery and the artisanal drift-gillnet fishery is presented for the period 1994-2014. The document updates the analyses of spatial and temporal distribution of shortfin mako shark, and other common shark species of concern to ICCAT, including Carcharhinus falciformis, C. longimanus, Alopias spp., and Sphyrna spp. from both fisheries.


This application report presents a simple power tracking technique for efficiency enhancement in CDMA RF power amplifiers. This technique involves the use of a linear-in-dB RF power detector and a DC-DC converter switch. This enhancement scheme switches the DC supply voltage, V CC , of an RF power amplifier into two different levels through a DC-DC converter. Texas Instruments RF power detector LMV225 determines the supply voltage of the RF power amplifier. An off-the-shelf CDMA2000 RF power amplifier can be used in this technique to improve the energy efficiency of the mobile phone.


Using a series of multiplexed experiments we studied the quantitative changes in protein abundance of three Australian bread wheat cultivars (Triticum aestivum L.) in response to a drought stress. Three cultivars differing in their ability to maintain grain yield during drought, Kukri (intolerant), Excalibur (tolerant), and RAC875 (tolerant), were grown in the glasshouse with cyclic drought treatment that mimicked conditions in the field. Proteins were isolated from leaves of mature plants and isobaric tags were used to follow changes in the relative protein abundance of 159 proteins. This is the first shotgun proteomics study in wheat, providing important insights into protein responses to drought as well as identifying the largest number of wheat proteins (1,299) in a single study. The changes in the three cultivars at the different time points reflected their differing physiological responses to drought, with the two drought tolerant varieties (Excalibur and RAC875) differing in their protein responses. Excalibur lacked significant changes in proteins during the initial onset of the water deficit in contrast to RAC875 that had a large number of significant changes. All three cultivars had changes consistent with an increase in oxidative stress metabolism and reactive O2 species (ROS) scavenging capacity seen through increases in superoxide dismutases and catalases as well as ROS avoidance through the decreases in proteins involved in photosynthesis and the Calvin cycle.


The Scholarly Link Specification (S-Link-STM) Framework has been proposed as a possible approach towards a solution to the reference linking problem. S-Link-S provides a language for specifying URL generation formulae, and a metadata vocabulary for describing linkable scholarly internet resources. In this paper, I describe the origin of this approach, outline the architecture of the prospective system, and describe the implementation environment.


Scientific literacy is the ability to use scientific knowledge, identify problems, and draw conclusions based on evidence, in order to understand and make decisions about nature and changes that occur in nature as a result of human activity. This study aims to determine the development of physics teacher candidates' scientific literacy. This is important to prepare the physics teachers in the future. The method used was ex-post facto. The subjects of this research were all students of physics education Department of UIN Sunan Gunung Djati Bandung from the first to the last semester. The data collection used was essayed tests which contained the context of science, the content of science, the process of science, and the attitude of science. Data analysis was done qualitatively and quantitatively. Based on the results of this study, it indicates that the scientific literacy ability possessed by physics teacher candidate students experiencing a continuous development in terms of the context of science, science content, the process of science, and attitude to science. The result of this research may be applied by the Physics Department to make a decision or rule on how to improve the physics student' literacy level


Gene-based vaccination strategies, specifically viral vectors encoding vaccine immunogens are effective at priming strong immune responses. Mucosal routes offer practical advantages for vaccination by ease of needle-free administration, and immunogen delivery at readily accessible oral/nasal sites to efficiently induce immunity at distant gut and genital tissues. However, since mucosal tissues are inherently tolerant for induction of immune responses, incorporation of adjuvants for optimal mucosal vaccination strategies is important. We report here the effectiveness of alpha-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer), a synthetic glycolipid agonist of natural killer T (NKT) cells, as an adjuvant for enhancing immunogenicity of vaccine antigens delivered using viral vectors by mucosal routes in murine and nonhuman primate models. Significant improvement in adaptive immune responses in systemic and mucosal tissues was observed by including α-GalCer adjuvant for intranasal immunization of mice with vesicular stomatitis virus vector encoding the model antigen ovalbumin and adenoviral vectors expressing HIV env and Gag antigens. Activation of NKT cells in systemic and mucosal tissues along with significant increases in adaptive immune responses were observed in rhesus macaques immunized by intranasal and sublingual routes with protein or adenovirus vectored antigens when combined with α-GalCer adjuvant. These results support the utility of α-GalCer adjuvant for enhancing immunogenicity of mucosal vaccines delivered using viral vectors.