. Fifty-six jujube cultivars were observed for their flowering habits and fruiting characteristics at Alcalde, New Mexico. Jujube cultivars were classified as morning blooming type or afternoon blooming type. Among the 56 cultivars observed, 24 belonged to the morning type and 32 belonged to the afternoon type. Eighteen out of the 56 cultivars had their blooming type reported for the first time. The sepal splitting for morning type occurred from sunrise to 1000 HR , whereas it occurred between 1300 and 1600 HR for the afternoon type. Even though their opening time differed, pollen release happened during daytime for both—morning type released pollen in the afternoon and afternoon type released pollen in the late afternoon and the next morning. Rainy and cloudy weather delayed blooming for several hours. Each flower experienced the following stages during blooming: sepal splitting, sepal flat, petal standing, petal and anther separation, petal flat and anther standing, anther flat, and stigma browning; the time and duration of each stage varied with cultivar and blooming type. Flower size varied by cultivar and helps with cultivar identification. Cultivars Li, Li-2, Redland, Qiyuexian, Xiangzao, Teapot, and Daguazao were self-pollinating/self-fruitful in New Mexico. For open pollination, fruit set varied greatly by cultivar. 'Abbeville' had the best fruit set each year. Most cultivars had better fruit set from open pollination than self- pollination; however, self-fruitful cultivars Li, Li-2, and Redland had better fruit set with self-pollination than open pollination in some years. Open pollination increased fruit size for all cultivars.


The present work describes the successful functionalization/magnetization of bio-polymeric spores of Lycopodium Clavatum (sporopollenin) with 1-(2-hydroxyethyl) piperazine. Characterization techniques i.e., Fourier Transform Infra-red (FT-IR), Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscope (FESEM), Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS), Powder X-Ray Diffraction (PXRD) and Vibrating Sample Magnetometer (VSM) were used to confirm the formation of 1-(2-hydroxyethyl) piperazine functionalized magnetic sporopollenin (MNPs-Sp-HEP). The proposed material was used as an adsorbent for the adsorption of noxious Pb(II) ions metal ion from aqueous media through a batch-wise method. Adsorption isotherm studies revealed that Langmuir model well-fitted to experimental data as compared to Freundlich isotherm. Maximum adsorption capacity (qm) of Pb(II) ions is 13.29 mg g-1. Thermodynamic parameters such as free energy (ΔG°), entropy (ΔS°) and enthalpy (ΔH°) were also investigated from the adsorption studies and were used to elaborate the mechanism of their confiscation. The successful synthesized modified sporopollenin was future optimized for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) of Pb(II) ions from environmental samples. The pre-concentration and determination of Pb(II) ions were conducted by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (FAAS). The best working conditions were as follow; pH 6.5, 15 min of extraction time, 0.3 mol L-1 HNO3 as elution solvent, 10 min of desorption time and 25 mg of adsorbent dosage. Under the optimized condition, the analytical performances were determined with pre-concentration factor (PF) and limits of detection (LOD) are 47 and 0.005 mg L-1, respectively. The reusability studies suggested that the newly synthesized adsorbent could be used up to five cycles. The proposed method was performed to analyze Pb(II) ions in real water samples from river water, tap water and leachates.


One important feature observed in several complex networks is the structure of communities, or modular structure. Detecting communities is still a big challenge for researchers, specially the development of models to deal with dynamic networks. Here, we propose a new method for detecting communities by using a dynamical model. The first step consists of generating a spatial representation, named particle, for each vertex in the network. With these two representation, network structure and the spatial particles, we define the model's dynamics by means of two interactions types: the first is related to the network structure, or relational, and it is responsible for approaching particles representing neighbor vertices; the second, repulsive, is generated according to the spatial position of each particle and is responsible to make each unrelated particle, according to the network structure, to repel each other. Thus, after a couple of iteration, we observe the formation of groups of particles representing communities. On the other hand, distinct communities are separated according to the spatial positions of their particles. Simulation results show that our model achieves good results on the two benchmark models taken into account and that it can also deal with dynamic networks owing to its intrinsic dynamics.


Recent progress in the development of railway vehicle bogies and other forms of running gear is reviewed, with particular reference to the conflict between stability and curving. It is shown how the demand for much greater performance in terms of speed, ride quality and cost of ownership generated by the renaissance of the railways which has occurred in the last quarter century has been matched by a much more scientific and innovative approach to vehicle dynamics. In this approach, a correct physical understanding of the mechanics of the railway bogie has been converted via mathematical modelling and advanced computer techniques into a tool for innovation which has generated practical improvements in suspension technology.


Bisphenol A (BPA), a synthetic plasticizer, has been repeatedly linked to reproductive disorders. Because of growing human health concerns, manufacturers started seeking alternatives, which resulted in the replacement of BPA with other bisphenols, such as bisphenol S (BPS) and bisphenol Z (BPZ). Whereas numerous studies suggest that BPS may be as toxic as BPA, the impact of BPZ is less understood. To investigate the effect of BPZ on the reproductive health, we used a nematode C. elegans. Previous studies in this model organism have showed that BPA and BPS prevent timely meiotic double‐strand break repair and result in increased apoptosis of the germline nuclei. The worms exposed to BPZ and its three novel analogs appear to be affected in a similar fashion. All four chemicals caused a marked reduction in the brood size compared to the wild type worms. In addition, the number of apoptotic nuclei was significantly increased by the exposure to all evaluated bisphenols. Our preliminary findings suggest that BPZ as well as its analogs alter meiosis in C. elegans resulting in diminished reproductive capacity.


This paper describes the development of a polishing apparatus with the contact pressure control to obtain a smooth surface for metal molds and dies. The apparatus is mounted on the wrist of an industrial robot and composed of an air spindle motor attached with an abrasive wheel, a coiled spring for pressing the spindle motor and a pulse motor to control the relative length of the spring. The features of the polishing robot system are mainly (1) the tool path generation based on the shape data of molds and dies in the CAD/CAM system and (2) the contact pressure control along the tool path on the surface. The tool path is designed so that the apparatus is perpendicular to the surface and the contact pressure is controlled by the relative length of the spring. The experimental results demonstrate that the polishing with the contact pressure control is essential and easily improves the surface roughness less than 0.4μm.


Offshore support vessel (OSV) is the main transportation means to connect the offshore platform and land, and it is an important tool for the offshore platform to supply goods, transfer goods and transfer the crew and engineers. However, as a transport ship, OSV and operational transport ships are different in operation management and operation. Through the study of the definition of transport and the regulation of operation and transportation, from the classification of ship transport types and the requirements of ship type, the paper summarizes the difference of management between OSV and merchant shipping, and obtains the special OSV in Operation Management and operation. Relevant conclusions can provide reference advice for OSV operation Management.


One of the lessons which Hitler has taught us is that it is better not to be too clever. The Jews put forward all kinds of wellfounded arguments to show that he could not come to power when his rise was clear for all to see. I remember a conversation during which a political economist demonstrated-on the basis of the interests of the Bavarian brewers-that the Germans could not be brought into line. Other experts proved that Fascism was impossible in the West. The educated made it easy for the barbarians everywhere by being so stupid. The farsighted judgments, the forecasts based on statistics and experience, the comments beginning "this is a subject I know very well," and the well-rounded, solid statements, are all untrue. -Max Horkheimer and Theodor W. Adorno


AbstractBench scale field trials were initiated for the development of effective technology for recovery of uranium from sea water using acrylonitrile absorbents synthesized by radiation grafting. One of the important needs is to ensure quality assurance for the accurate measurement of heavy metal ion concentrations from lean solutions such as sea water and brine. Efforts have been made at Bioassay Laboratory of Radiation Safety Systems Division in India to improve the radiochemical separation and detection techniques for rapid, sensitive and accurate estimation of uranium in sea water samples. The earlier method using ion exchange had disadvantages of being lengthy and required use of sulphuric acid. Hence, a method was developed for estimation of uranium concentration in natural sea water and brine (desalination plant effluents) samples by solid extraction chromatography (SEC) using UTEVA resin (Uranium and TEtraValents Actinides). This resin consists of dipentyl pentylphosphonate sorbed onto an inert p...


AbstractThis article examines the dynamic of the debate around the political and military leader Jozef Piƚsudski (1867–1935) in Polish postwar historiography, more precisely in the years from 1982 to 1989. During this period, the communist authorities, after considering him a Socialist antihero, tried—in the context of the military regime of Jaruzelski—to rehabilitate him as a great patriot and military leader. They attempted this by the political exploitation of the historians' debate, especially in the historiography of the 1970s and beginning of the 1980s. In the political exploitation of such a national symbol, the communist regime was searching for a way to enter into dialogue with a society completely hostile after the December coup, and one which venerated Pilsudski as an anti-Socialist hero. For most historians, including the Marxists, it presented an occasion to discuss openly the real contribution of Piƚsudski in Second Republic Poland (1918–1939). Ironically, from this very moment, the communis...


It is certainly true that housework requires a wide range of skills and is made up of different types of duties. The tasks that come to mind under the rubric of "housework" typically include cooking, washing, and cleaning, but each of these encompasses a series of sub-tasks. Importantly, however, the types of housework that have symbolic links with child raising will also vary, depending on the particular society and the era. Thus, this chapter sheds light on domestic labor that tends to be categorized under the general term "housework" due to its ordinary, everyday nature, and to take another look at it in the specific cultural context of individual societies. It provides an overview of the changing positions, values, and practices of housework in The Netherlands with particular emphasis on the two aspects of such domestic tasks: housewives' work and mothers' work. Keywords: changing positions; housewives' work; housework; mothers' work; Netherlands


Extended spectrum β-lactamases or ESBLs, which are derived from non-ESBL precursors by point mutation of β-lactamase genes (bla), are spreading rapidly all over the world and have caused considerable problems in the treatment of infections caused by bacteria which harbour them. The mechanism of this resistance is not fully understood and a better understanding of these mechanisms might significantly impact on choosing proper diagnostic and treatment strategies. Previous work on SHV β-lactamase gene, blaSHV, has shown that only Klebsiella pneumoniae strains which contain plasmid-borne blaSHV are able to mutate to phenotypically ESBL-positive strains and there was also evidence of an increase in blaSHV copy number. Therefore, it was hypothesised that although specific point mutation is essential for acquisition of ESBL activity, it is not yet enough, and blaSHV copy number amplification is also essential for an ESBL-positive phenotype, with homologous recombination being the likely mechanism of blaSHV copy number expansion. In this study, we investigated the mutation rate of non-ESBL expressing K. pneumoniae isolates to an ESBL-positive status by using the MSS-maximum likelihood method. Our data showed that blaSHV mutation rate of a non-ESBL expressing isolate is lower than the mutation rate of the other single base changes on the chromosome, even with a plasmid-borne blaSHV gene. On the other hand, mutation rate from a low MIC ESBL-positive (≤ 8 µg/mL for cefotaxime) to high MIC ESBL-positive (≥16 µg/mL for cefotaxime) is very high. This is because only gene copy number increase is needed which is probably mediated by homologous recombination that typically takes place at a much higher frequencies than point mutations. Using a subinhibitory concentration of novobiocin, as a homologous recombination inhibitor, revealed that this is the case.


This chapter considers knowledge creation in relation to improvements on the production line in the manufacturing department of Nissan Motor Company and aims to clarify the substance that enables such knowledge creation. For that purpose, firstly, embodied knowledge observed in the actions of organisational members who enable knowledge creation will be clarified. By adopting an approach that adds a first, second, and third-person's viewpoint to the theory of knowledge creation, this research will attempt to define enablers of knowledge creation. Embodied knowledge, observed in the actions of organisational members who enable knowledge creation, is the continued practice of ethos (in Greek) founded in ethics and reasoning. Ethos is knowledge (intangible) assets for knowledge creating companies. Substantiated analysis classifies ethos into three categories: the individual, team and organisation. This indicates the precise actions of the organisational members in each category during the knowledge creation process and it is easier to commit further to knowledge creation activities.


The effect on human platelets of phospholipase C (Bacillus cereus) has been studied. Platelets prepared by gel filtration lost 20-30% of their phospholipids when incubated with phospholipase C for 20 min. Phosphatidylethanolamine (PE) was reduced by about 50%, whereas phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylserine were reduced each by about 20%. Sphingomyelin was not reduced. These data suggest an asymmetrical distribution of phospholipids in the platelet membrane, PE being more accessible and therefore probably mainly located in the outer part of the membrane. The loss of phospholipids was not accompanied by aggregation, nor did the platelets lose their ability to aggregate with thrombin or ADP. Data on release of serotonin, platelet factor 3 and 4 and scanning electron micrographs of treated platelets will be given.


Digital phenotyping (DP) is a multidisciplinary field of science that quantifies the individual level phenotype through active and passive data. Although DP is a multidisciplinary field, there lacks a technical and a systematic approach to representing DP. This work proposes the development of digital phenotype profile (DPP) to represent a user's physical and behavioural health baseline through systematic investigations with an emphasis on robustness and explainability. To achieve this, a Statistical, Information Theory, and Data-driven (SID) pipeline will develop the foundation of the DPP. SID evaluates the non-linearity of the signal to offer inference for domain-specific feature extraction, evaluates the information theory to rank the DPP parameters, and imputes missing data for robust analysis, respectively. SID was applied to a 24-hr Multi-Level dataset and was able to represent individual DPPs. The respective DPPs were visualized and clusters of awake and asleep were used for individual specific modelling.


In earlier software development all process is completed and implemented but now this is not a scenario. In modern era changes are frequent to any software product or module which is under development phase, due to market competitions priority of requirement changes Due to the fact that the traditional process models are incompatible with these changes, agile methodology is used instead.. Earlier waterfall model was convenient because of less requirement of features and emergency of the application in the short period of time .This Paper Discusses the comparative Analysis of waterfall model and agile methodologies while agile methodologies are taking over, even the waterfall model is older and time consuming it is still use in many sectors The paper will help other software development process models. Agile method plays important role in the areas of software project management, software schedule management etc. The main aim of the agile is Customer satisfaction as well as faster development with low defect rate. This paper reflects the comparison of the agile processes with waterfall model software development life cycle model. Agile processes aren't always beneficial; they have their own set of downsides. Agile method promotes continuous iteration of development and testing throughout the software developed.


After the Black Death, many people began to question their faith, and when the split in the church and the confrontation between the Pope and the Emperor greatly limited the ability of religion to control the minds of the common people, humanism developed and once again put the care of the individual at the centre of humanity, peoples beliefs, and value shift drastically. Art is the reflection of the society so as other factors that exist in the same period. Seeing this revolutionary period of human history from different perspectives from the large western population to the small individual, every part of it is a reflection. The paper aims to reveal and portray the moment from three different points of view Education, Society and Women by studying and analysing related and valuable topics researched. The paper will dive into different categories to analyse the impact and reflection of the Renaissance.


INTRODUCTION IN INFANTS parenchymal diseases of the kidneys other than those associated with congenital anomalies, pyelonephritis and tumors are regarded as rarities. In this age group glomerulonephritis is uncommon and renal disease of vascular origin is virtually unknown. The experience in our laboratory over the last 10 years indicates, however, that a variety of major injuries to the renal parenchyma, based on vascular disturbances, occur in infants with sufficient frequency to warrant attention. Between 1940 and 1950 there were 40 cases of major renal disease associated with vascular dysfunction seen among 2,058 autopsies performed on infants and children in this department. This group does not include cases of renal infarct or focal embolic glomerulonephritis secondary to bacterial endocarditis. Of the 40 patients, 34 were infants. In the same 10 year period 18 patients with acute or chronic glomerulonephritis were studied at autopsy, and only two of these were under 2


This paper identifies a new methodology to design a strategy-based performance-related pay (PRP) system. The proposed methodology is the result of an action research intervention in a leading manufacturing company. Its main value is the capability to encourage the pursuit of company strategy also at the lowest levels of the organisation. The methodology is correlated with a group of tools supporting the operationalization of each phase.


Increased oxidative stress is well known to cause testicular dysfunction in aging males, but the detailed relationships between aging, oxidative stress, and testicular function remain to be elucidated. LIM and cysteine‐rich domains 1 (LMCD1) regulates fundamentally cellular process by interacting with transcription factors. A recent study has identified Lmcd1 as one of the most upregulated nuclear proteins associated with Sertoli cell (SC) differentiation, raising the possibility that testicular actions of LMCD1 are likely to take place. Herein, we reported that LMCD1 was exclusively expressed in the nuclei of SCs. This expression was regulated by TNF‐α signaling produced by apoptotic germ cells (GCs) and was suppressed by oxidative stress in a STAT3‐dependent manner. Ablation of endogenous LMCD1 expression caused lipid accumulation and senescence in GC co‐incubated SCs. Using a previously validated in vivo siRNA approach, we showed that LMCD1 depletion significantly impaired male fertility by inducing oligozoospermia and asthenospermia. Mechanistically, LMCD1 upregulation was associated with the nuclear enrichment of the nuclear factor of activated T cells 1 (NFAT1), a core component of Ca2+/calmodulin‐dependent pathway. LMCD1 facilitated the dephosphorylation and nuclear translocation of NFAT1, which consequently expedited the transactivation of Txlna, a binding partner of the syntaxin family essential for testicular phagocytosis, and thus promoted the removal of apoptotic GCs by phagocytic SCs. Collectively, LMCD1 may operate as a novel pretranscriptional integrator linking SC phagocytosis, lipid homeostasis, and cell senescence.


The fatigue behavior of wood-based panels (plywood: PW, and oriented strandboard: OSB) under cyclic shear load through the thickness was experimentally investigated. Test specimens were cut into sections of 350-mm length and 240-mm width. Pulsating shear load through the thickness was applied along the length of specimens at stress levels corresponding to 60%~100% of static strength. The hysteresis loops of stress-strain curves were determined by measuring the shear load and the shear strain at the center of the specimen surface throughout the fatigue tests. The area enclosed by a hysteresis loop was defined as the energy loss per cycle, and was obtained for each loading cycle. To discuss the fatigue properties of wood-based panels under shear load through the thickness, the energy loss per cycle was examined in relation to the number of loading cycles. The energy loss per cycle at each stress level showed an almost constant value throughout most of the fatigue life, that is, from 5~10 loading cycles to just before fatigue failure. A significant correlation between energy loss during 5~10 loading cycles and fatigue life was obtained. Therefore, fatigue life could be predicted by monitoring energy loss in the cyclic shear-through-thickness test with approximately 10 loading cycles. As fatigue life lengthened, mean energy loss per cycle was found to decrease and seemed to gradually approach a threshold value. The stress level at which mean energy loss per cycle is equal to the threshold value can be regarded as the fatigue limit. A model equation for the relationship between mean energy loss per cycle and fatigue life was proposed and fitted to the data obtained. The threshold values of mean energy loss per cycle for PW and OSB were found to be 0.446 and 0.350 [kJ/m 3 /cycle], respectively. The fatigue limit was estimated to be approximately 40% of the static strength for PW and OSB, respectively, on the basis of the nonlinear relationship between mean energy loss per cycle and stress level.


Background. The history of the development of orchestral music for Chinese traditional instruments covers more than a thousand years. During this time, the traditional orchestra has undergone significant changes. In the article the modern stage of the development of the orchestra of a new type is considered starting from the 1920s, when its modification began and integration with the principles of the Western Symphony Orchestra. The modernization of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments began in the twentieth century after the overthrow of imperial rule and the emerging changes in Chinese society. Nevertheless, the process of integrating the Western musical traditions was carried out in China for several centuries, which prepared the ground for the qualitative changes that began in the 20th century in the field of national musical art. The development of orchestral music for Chinese traditional instruments is not sufficiently studied today in musicology. One of the little studied periods is the initial stage of the formation of the Chinese orchestra of folk instruments of a new type in the 1920s – 1930s. Objectives. The purpose of the article is to reveal the prerequisites and specifics of the formation of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments of a new type in the 1920s and 1930s, to determine the role of outstanding Chinese musicians in the process of modernizing the orchestra and creating the appropriate national repertoire. The methodology of research is based on musical-historical approach combined with musical-theoretical and performer analysis. Results. The first shifts in the integration of Western and national traditions in Chinese traditional orchestral music became possible thanks to the activities of the music society "Datong yuehui", as well as the emergence of higher professional musical institutions in China and the training of Chinese musicians abroad. The most important role in the formation of the Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments of a new type was played by outstanding musicians Zheng Jinwen, Liu Tianhua, Zheng Tisi. Zheng Jinwen was the initiator of the creation of the society "Datong Yuhui" in 1920. He began the process of standardizing various Chinese instruments with the goal of unifying their sound tuning fork. This was necessary for a well-coordinated game in the orchestral ensemble. The musician modernized and developed new methods of tuning traditional instruments for flute dizi, multi-barrel sheng and expanded the orchestra to forty people. Zheng Jinwen adapted the national repertoire to a new type of orchestra, performing as an author of orchestral transcriptions of ancient music for traditional Chinese instruments. Liu Tianhua became the creator of the Society for the Development of National Music at Peking University (1927–1932). The musician reformed the old system of Chinese notation "gongchi" based on hieroglyphs, modernized it and adapted it to the Western musical notation. Substantial achievement of Liu Tianhua was a significant modification of the erhu with the replacement of strings by metal, changing the settings in accordance with the standards of Western stringed instruments. As a result, the erhu acquired the status of a leading or solo instrument in a new type of orchestra. The activity of the first modern Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments, the musical collective of the Broadcasting Company of China, created in Nanjing in 1935, had a great importance. In 1937, from the Second Sino-Japanese War, the orchestra was transferred to Chongqing, and after the victory of the Communists in 1949, he moved to Taiwan. One of the orchestral musicians, Zheng Tisi, played an outstanding role in the formation of this group. The musician carried out the reformation of this orchestra in the field of tuning instruments. The range of the orchestra was expanded by the introduction of additional wooden string instruments dahu and dihu, having a volumetric sound-board and tuned an octave below the violin erhu. Their purpose was to fill the lower register, alike to the cellos and double basses in Western orchestras. For the first time the post of conductor and his assistant was introduced by Zheng Tisi, which was also able to attract professional composers to create a multi-voiced orchestral national repertoire. The innovations of the outstanding musician made his orchestra a role model for all subsequent similar contemporary Chinese orchestras. Conclusions. The process of forming a Chinese orchestra of traditional instruments of a new type in the 1920s and 1930s made it possible to modernize Chinese traditional folk instruments and the ancient Chinese notation system in order to adapt Chinese orchestral music to the integrative processes in musical art. Orchestral music was reformed in accordance with the principles of Western European symphonic and conducting art. In this process, outstanding highly professional Chinese musicians who contributed to the development of orchestral music in their country and the creation of a corresponding national repertoire played the leading role.


Regarding to the input method switch question caused by the coexistence of Chinese and English data item commonly in Chinese application system,the paper put forward a new clue and method to realize the automatic switchover between Chinese and English input method by using the Windows API function,by a brief demonstration,it displayed the implementation in the practical application system.


We present a perceptual image distortion metric based on recent models of primate primary visual cortex (V1). The perceptual metric is similar to that proposed by Teo and Heeger (1994) and includes a linear filtering stage followed by a gain control mechanism, known as "divisive normalization", that explains some of the non-linear behaviour of V1 neurons. The main difference is that in our case, following the latest V1 models, the divisive normalization is more general (it considers not only neighbouring responses in orientation but also in position and scale) and also it is adapted to natural image statistics. In particular, the parameters of the divisive normalization are fixed using a novel statistically-derived model of minimum noticeable distortions in squared linear coefficients of natural images. The results show that the proposed metric fits very well (as well as the metric by Teo and Heeger, 1994) empirical data obtained from contrast masking experiments.


In this paper, three time-domain acoustic holography methods, including time domain holography, real-time near-field acoustic holography and time domain plane wave superposition method (TD-PWSM), are applied to reconstruct the non-stationary sound field radiated by an impacted plate. The reconstruction processes of these methods are briefly described first. And then, an experiment of a clamped rectangular steel plate impacted by a steel ball is investigated to testify the three methods. Experimental results demonstrate that the three methods not only can reconstruct the non-stationary signals from an impacted plate in the time domain, but also can be used to visualize the transient sound field in the space domain. Besides, it also proves that the TD-PWSM possesses the advantages of reducing some errors associated with the finite aperture effect and providing the potential ability of allowing an irregular microphone array.


In this review article, we describe various QTLs that are associated with abiotic stress tolerance in maize. As we know, as global climate is becoming unpredictable and erratic. Yield in maize is affected by abiotic stress caused by unfavourable environment. So, exploiting QTLs associated with abiotic stress is the one of the way to achieve yield increase in maize. This review tells how QTL-based approaches has helped in improving the maize crop to perform well under various kinds of abiotic stresses. Success can be achieved by the identification of large effect QTLs that are linked with abiotic stress tolerance related traits. The QTL approach therefore provides a way to investigate out the various components affecting source sink relationships of maize plants under abiotic stress.


Material parameters of anisotropic plates are determined. Rectangular anisotropic plates are tuned by changing the quotient between the length of the sides, so that the second and third modes of vibration, for free-free boundary conditions, degenerate into the well-known cross-shaped and ring-shaped modes, respectively. The first three modes of vibrations for these plates are determined by optical methods. The propagation of bending waves, generated by the impact of a ballistic pendulum on the plates, has also been optically studied. It is found that bending waves generated in the middle of the tuned plates will reach the boundaries of the plates simultaneously. This gives a relationship between main material parameters. Using this relation and Rayleigh's method for the first three modes of vibrations, the main material parameters for the plates, that is, the effective two Young's moduli, the shear modulus, and the Poisson's ratio, are determined.


The use of ultra-violet light in the deposition of electronic materials from the gas phase is a rapidly emerging technology. Many of the conventional MOCVD precursors that are available however do not absorb light strongly at wavelengths above 200nm and it is, therefore, often necessary to resort to wave lengths of less than 200nm, where most organic materials have significant absorptions. An alternative approach is to synthesize precursors containing chromophores which specifically absorb at wavelengths that are more easily accessible. We have used this approach to produce a number of precursors, for the deposition of A1 203, with photo-absorption in the 240nm to 300nm range. Basing our work on aluminium tri-isoproxide it has been possible to substitute one of the isopropoxide groups with a ~-diketonate group, which forms a six-membered conjugated ring with the aluminium atom. Depending on the nature of the ~-diketonate, these components have absorptions in the 230-320mm range, with molar extinction coefficients in excess of 10,000 at \max. The low temperature deposition of Al~03 for some of these compounds in the presence of UV light from a h1gh pressure Mercury Xenon arc lamp (with a large spectral output between 260 and 320nm) and the frequency doubled line of an argon ion laser (257nm) is discussed.


Authenticity is generally believed to play an important role in our daily lives. Empirical research thus far has made progress in understanding the nature of this important construct. We identify four broad conclusions about authenticity based on this research: (a) People value authenticity in their own behavior and other domains (e.g., life experiences, consumer products), (b) Self-reports of personal authenticity are linked to psychological well-being, (c) People generally believe authentic, or "true," selves are morally good, and (d) Authenticity judgments are guided by cognitive tendencies related to psychological essentialism. Despite this progress, many basic questions about authenticity remain unresolved including (a) What is the best way to define the construct? (b) Why do people care so much about whether something or someone is authentic? and (c) Why is personal authenticity so strongly related to psychological well-being? This special issue presents articles aimed to shed light on some of these basic questions. Although each of the articles offers a unique perspective to understanding authenticity, these collections of articles provide a generative framework to help researchers continue to explore this elusive construct.


A requirements analysis in the emerging field of Semantic Web Services (SWS) (see http://daml.org/services/swsl/requirements/) has identified four major areas of research: intelligent service discovery, automated contracting of services, process modeling, and service enactment. This paper deals with the intersection of two of these areas: process modeling as it pertains to automated contracting. Specifically, we propose a logic, called CTR-S,which captures the dynamic aspects of contracting for services.Since CTR-S is an extension of the classical first-order logic, it is well-suited to model the static aspects of contracting as well. A distinctive feature of contracting is that it involves two or more parties in a potentially adversarial situation. CTR-S is designed to model this adversarial situation through its novel model theory, which incorporates certain game-theoretic concepts. In addition to the model theory, we develop a proof theory for CTR-S and demonstrate the use of the logic formodeling and reasoning about Web service contracts.


The Lloyd Reeds Map Collection has approximately 3,000 WWII maps and charts and has been actively partnering with other institutions to digitize their collections, bringing our current total of maps online to close to 10,000. They can be accessed from the following link:
https://library.mcmaster.ca/wwii-topographic-map-series


Chitosan (CS) is known as a polysaccharide with positive charge and good biocompatibility.Researches showed that CS possesses the advantages of nontoxicity,biodegradability,plasticity and good biocompatibility,and therefore it can be used to repair of neural injury and serve as a biological carrier scaffold in engineered nerve tissue.Recently,the research is performed for the modification of CS structure or mix the CS with different materials to prepare the multiple compound and biological vector to offer three-dimensional scaffold and environment for the reconstruction of defective neural tissue and culture of neural stem cells.In addition,CS engineered biological materials are confirmed to possess the better performance,more diverse functions and more dominant effect on the regeneration of neural tissue,so it is predicted a more extensive application prospect in neural repair and regeneration.The basic properties and biological functions of CS,and its application in neural tissue engineering are reviewed.

Key words:
Chitosan;  Derivative;  Nerve tissue engineering;  Biological material


Based on the study of 5A –class tourist attractions and the complete data from the national tourism bureau,this article counts its user's attention and evaluates its functions.The research shows that the trend of these 50 5A – class tourist attractions website users attention is increasing,while there are still some problems of these tourist attractions websites,such as unobvious features,imperfect functions and less colorful contents,and proposes its optimizing countermeasures including improving the comprehensive functions of websites,scientifically exhibiting the contents of websites,and making the exhibiting methods of websites colorful.


The center for disease control (CDC) defined a pregnancy related death as the death of a woman while pregnant or within 1 year of pregnancy termination regardless of the outcome, the duration or site of the pregnancy, from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management but not from accidental or incidental causes.1 Maternal comorbidities are medical pregnancy complications caused by the pregnancy itself, for example, pregnancyinduced hypertension or underlying diseases aggravated or concurrent with the pregnancy, such as chronic hypertension. Maternal morbidity and mortality (MMM) and birth outcomes are population health measures that reflect the overall health condition of a population. In general, populations with higher standards of care and quality of life should have lower ratios ofMMM.However, between 1990 and 2013 in the U.S.A., the expected 12 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births more than doubled, causing the country to be at the highest ratios of maternal deaths among other high income countries.2 Recent reports estimate that each year 1,200 women in the U.S.A. die from pregnancy-related


Urban land use and land cover (LULC) change is the result of urban population economic activities and national policy. Determining the spatial pattern of land cover types in cities is of particular significance for regional sustainable development. To achieve a better understand the spatiotemporal patterns of land use types in Shenzhen, the fractal dimension of spatial distributions is adopted as an index of the complex evolution of urban land-use. In addition, a long-term sequences LULC datasets are collected to do analysis, which covers the period 1988–2015 by employing Landsat TM/ETM+/OLI of 1988, 1993, 1999, 2001, 2005, 2008, 2011, 2013 and 2015. Last but not least, a granularity analysis is adopted to study the structural changes of each land cover. After analysis, it can be observed that a significant self-similarity law exists in the Shenzhen city. From 1988 to 2015, the fractal dimension of grassland, waterbody and bare land exhibits a bi-fractals dimension. However, grassland and bare land structure show a bi-fractals trend which increases every year, and the water-body bi-fractals trend is weakening. The development of urban land in this region experiences a process of a multiscale differential development with a hierarchical spatial system. These findings will provide some scientific references for the regional planning decisions on evolution of urban land use of Shenzhen city.


At the Federal University of Itajubá, the Center of Physical Education and Sports (CPES) is the sector responsible for the promotion of Physical Education and Sports. The CPES faces management difficulties in general that are related from the lack of knowledge about its institutional objective to the lack of means for evaluating performance, passing by the lack of resources, which results in the dissatisfaction of the clients and the university administrators. The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) is a management tool which method is consolidated. It was created to enable the definition of the organization's strategy and performance evaluation by defining both tangible and intangible actives, allowing to draw a long-term plan based on the organization's mission. Hypothetically, the application of BSC in the CPES would be possible and would act on the identified obstacles. Thus, the overall objective of this study was to provide strategic management to the CPES through the application of the BSC. The initial methodological procedures of this applied study were bibliographic and documentary research; also included action research as the main procedure for a qualitative approach to the effects of BSC application to CPES. Throughout the structuring of the BSC, were diagnosed the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to the management of CPES. Subsequently, the mission, vision, outlook, strategic objectives, strategic actions and evaluation indicators were defined; this set forming an intervention proposal. The analysis of the results pointed out the growth in most of the results when compared with the pre-existing data, especially: Customer Index (29,9%); Services Index (35%); Customer Satisfaction Index (improvement of 15%); And Institution's Administrators Satisfaction Index (improvement of 7,3%). The BSC was applicable with due adaptations, which included expanding the Financial perspective into the Resources perspective, inserting an Institutional Role perspective and setting greater relevance to the Customers' perspective in detriment of the other perspectives. It is concluded, therefore, that the BSC is an applicable tool to the CPES with positive consequences to the management of the sector, because the establishment of parameters provided by the BSC made it possible to compare indicators in different periods and to verify if the planned strategic actions lead to the growth of the sector, allowing to maintain an evaluation-adaptation-evaluation cycle.


Book Review: Contract Workers, Risk, and the War in Iraq: Sierra Leonean Labor Migrants at U.S. Military Bases. By Kevin J. A. Thomas. Montreal: McGill- Queen's University Press, 2017. Pp. viii+243. $110.00 (cloth); $34.95 (paper)


It is once again my privilege to welcome the European Researchers in Didactics of Biology (ERIDOB) to the Journal of Biological Education. The 2012 meeting was held at the Freie Universität in a leafy suburb of Berlin in September. An ERIDOB meeting has a special atmosphere which is unlike other academic conferences I have attended. The numbers are normally quite small, as conferences go, and most participants present a paper or a poster. All papers and posters have to go through a peerreview process to be included in the programme and so the academic quality is high. Most of the participants know each other, making the event academically focused in an almost family atmosphere which welcomes newcomers. For anyone who is passionate about research in biological education at its best and enjoys the company of like-minded people from Europe and farther afield I recommend a few days at ERIDOB. The Berlin meeting departed from previous such meetings in two ways: instead of one theme there were several, and instead of an essentially linear sequence of presentations attended by all delegates in 2012 there were several parallel sessions. The family atmosphere and the opportunity to meet new people extended into an interesting evening river boat trip through Berlin and a memorable banquet in a huge greenhouse at the Berlin Botanic Garden. There are so many good papers at an ERIDOB conference that it is very difficult to select six for a special issue of JBE. A shortlist of papers that had already been peer reviewed was provided by the ERIDOB organising committee. These were further peer reviewed by members of the JBE Board, who made the final choice. I now hand over to Dirk Krueger and Margareta Ekborg to write the Guest Editorial. Dirk Krueger, of the Freie Universität, Berlin, was the local organiser of the 2012 conference. Margareta is from the University of Malmö, Sweden.


This paper presents an important overview on the RF switches for wide-band, broad-band and multi-band RF front-end of wireless communications. This paper is mainly focused on the discussion of the circuit configuration of RF switches that using Time Division Duplex (TDD) switching in wireless communications such as WiMAX, WiFi and LTE. The previous research works on the RF switches for wide-band, broad-band and multi-band RF front-end are discussed in term of technology used, circuit design, performance and its applications.


This paper describes a radio-frequency receiver targeting spread-spectrum wireless local-area-network applications in the 2.4-GHz band. Based on a direct-conversion architecture, the receiver employs partial channel selection filtering, dc offset removal, and baseband amplification. Fabricated in a 0.6m CMOS technology, the receiver achieves a noise figure of 8.3 dB, IP3 of 9 dBm, IP 2 of +22 dBm, and voltage gain of 34 dB while dissipating 80 mW from a 3-V supply.


Simple Summary In this study, we documented the occurrence and abundance of lesser cornstalk borer (LCSB) male moths using a pheromone trap in the Northwest region of the Florida Panhandle. Then, we examined the relationships between the LCSB abundance and the air temperature, relative humidity, and rainfall. Our study indicated that the LCSB abundance occurs from April to December in the Northwest region of the Florida Panhandle, and the flight peak is in August. Additionally, we found that the moth abundance is positively related to increases in temperature. Abstract Elasmopalpus lignosellus Zeller (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), the lesser cornstalk borer (LCSB), is an economically important peanut pest in the southeastern U.S. region, and its occurrence and abundance have been associated with warm and dry conditions. In the Northwestern Florida Panhandle (USA), the LCSB occurrence and abundance are unknown. Thus, a study in this region used commercial sex pheromones to capture male moths year-round from July/2017 to June/2021. Our results indicated that the LCSBs were present in the region from April to December, with higher abundance in August. Moths were also caught from January to March in only 2020. In addition, the number of moths collected increased when the temperature increased. Our results indicate a different pattern for LCSB abundance than previously documented, with peak occurrence in warm and wet conditions (August). These results support that region-specific weather information should be considered when designing IPM recommendations based on the phenology of pest occurrence in the agroecosystem.


Experimental animals, mainly rats and mice, have been used in several studies of neurological diseases. Their performance in behavioral tests are useful to evaluate the success of specific effects of lesions procedures as well as to access the pattern of functional recovery after different types of treatment (Biernaskie & Corbett, 2001; Whishaw et al., 2003; Windle et al., 2006). Despite the widespread use of animal models in functional rehabilitation, sometimes little consideration is given to lineage selection and related effects on skilled forelimb use. The Staircase Test was initially described by Montoya et al., 1991 and allows a sensitive measure of bilateral skilled reaching. The task consists in reach for food inside a special box with a central platform and adjacent staircases. The forelimb ability is assessed by means of the record of pellets eaten, dropped and remaining on the steps. The purpose of present study was the characterization and evaluation of Staircase Test for inbred albino rat Wistar before and after brachial plexus crushing. Fifty eight male adult Wistar rats housed under standard laboratory conditions were used. They were trained during three weeks before the surgery, 2 trials of 15 minutes per day (totalizing 24 trials). Then, they were retested 24 hours and 7 days after the crushing procedure at the same daily frequency and time. Results demonstrated no forelimb preference to do the reaching, 56,9% of animals preferred the right while 25,9% of animals used more the left and 17,2% did not show paw preference. The scores with right paw (11,8?3,5 ) were very similar those obtained with left (11,1?3,6), although more pellets could be reached with the preferred paw (12,6?3,2) when compared with the not preferred one (10,2?3,5; p=0,0002). As to reach the criterion of a minimum of 18 pellets eaten, 10,5? 4,4 trials were necessary, nevertheless just 69% of animals attained that performance. This analyze will be useful to perform another trustworthy behavior studies with Wistar rats.


We present an estimate of the optical performance of the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) after execution of the full telescope alignment plan. The TMT alignment is performed by the Global Metrology System (GMS) and the Alignment and Phasing System (APS). The GMS first measures the locations of the telescope optics and instruments as a function of elevation angle. These initial measurements will be used to adjust the optics positions and build initial elevation look-up tables. Then the telescope is aligned using starlight as the input for the APS at multiple elevation angles. APS measurements are used to refine the telescope alignment to build elevation and temperature dependent look-up tables. Due to the number of degrees of freedom in the telescope (over 10,000), the ability of the primary mirror to correct aberrations on other optics, the tight optical performance requirements and the multiple instrument locations, it is challenging to develop, test and validate these alignment procedures. In this paper, we consider several GMS and APS operational scenarios. We apply the alignment procedures to the model-generated TMT, which consists of various quasi-static errors such as polishing errors, passive supports errors, thermal and gravity deformations and installation position errors. Using an integrated optical model and Monte-Carlo framework, we evaluate the TMT's aligned states using optical performance metrics at multiple instrument and field of view locations. The optical performance metrics include the Normalized Point Source Sensitivity (PSSN), RMS wavefront error before and after Adaptive Optics (AO) correction, pupil position change, and plate scale distortion.


Efforts have been made to establish link coordinates of triangular arrangement of boom including two lift cylinders,and then the kinematics equations on the basis of restriction of multi-closed-chain.The formula is derived from the kinematics equations to calculate the length of supporting cylinder from the given position of the boom.With extra measurement points of pitch angle of supporting cylinders,the formula is simplified,which will reduce the amount of mathematical operations in real-time control and improve the precision for trajectory control of triangle boom.A case calculation is(given) in the end.


OBJECTIVE
Midwives appear to be the health care workers exposed to the highest rates of bloodborne injury. In this paper - based on a national survey - we describe the bloodborne injuries occurring in this profession.

MATERIAL AND METHOD
During the year 2003, 241 hospitals took part in a national survey of bloodborne injuries. Employees registered anonymous standardized reports of bloodborne events with the Occupational Medicine Unit. The data were processed by the coordination center for the fight against nosocomial infections (C. CLIN) which is in charge of the national analysis of all the events reported in this database.

RESULTS
169 of the 6973 bloodborne events reported during 2003 (2.4%), were signed by midwives or midwife students. The first three most frequent accidents reported were: ocular projections during childbirth, pricks when repairing episiotomy, pricks or cuts when handling soiled instruments.

CONCLUSION
Improving knowledge of risk as well as promotion of protection/prevention measures well adapted to this profession should be helpful in optimizing future attitudes.


This paper will examine the support networks that are available to British Indian women studying at a 'new' (post 1992) university in the South East of England, UK. It will examine the support that women draw upon whilst at university and discuss the ways in which these support networks enable women to develop strategies for success. Thirty-two in-depth interviews were carried out with British Indian women who were studying for a Social Sciences or Education Studies degree in one university. All of the interviews were tape-recorded and the data transcribed. The findings suggest that despite the challenges British Indian women face at university they are able to use their support networks to enable them to succeed. The article will draw upon the work of Putnam (2000) to argue that within their communities at university, women engage in their support networks from which they develop 'bonding' and 'bridging' social capital


• Paul, a naked variety, and ND000461, a low lignin genotype, both late maturing, were the highest yielding genotypes. • Ensiler, a forage type from Wisconsin, and ND001304 were the lowest yielding genotypes. • Paul had the highest RFV but lowest crude protein (CP) of the genotypes tested. • AC Assiniboia, a Canadian variety selected for low lignin in the hull, had the second highest RFV and CP content, and signifi cantly less lignin than other named varieties except Paul. • AC Ronald, included one year, had the second highest forage yield and quality. A similar experiment will be conducted in 2004 at four North Dakota locations and in a regional project in western North and South Dakota and eastern Montana and Wyoming.


In the present paper, we have obtained two fractional integral formulae involving the product of a general class of polynomial and the multivariable H-functions, It has been demonstrated that the special cases of these results are well known results of vast literature.


The article describes the ways of creating and decorating gates in the villages of Kukmor district. Since the dawn of time the gates played a great role in the traditional house decoration. Decorative art, and especially gate decoration, is connected with the history and socio-economic life. The article contains the classification and peculiarities of gate decoration that is based on the specificity of the national culture, its creative thinking and way of life. Architectural forms, systems and means of decoration of the past can be eternal only when they meet the needs of the modern society. With the change of life conditions most of the wooden gates are replaced by the iron ones, but in spite of this traditional ornamentation is still developing.


Laser powder bed fusion process (L-PBF) is the most widespread additive manufacturing (AM) process which uses laser source scanning as a moving heat source on powder bed to fully melt the metal powder in a layer-bylayer fashion. During the process, it involves various complex multiphysics such as materials absorption, heat transfer, molten fluid flow, phase transformation etc. These physical phenomena have significant effect on physical properties, mechanical properties and the microstructure of final parts. The present study aims to investigate the influence of laser parameters including scanning speed and hatch spacing (distance between laser scanning track) on the laser melted track width, layer formation, microstructure and microhardness of AISI 316L stainless steel fabricated by Laser powder bed fusion (L-PBF) process with low laser power (Max. 50W). The experimental results presented that the laser melted track width is decreased from 250 to 150 micron when the scanning speed is increased from 5 to 15 mm/s. The discontinuous melted track with balling effect can be observed in the layer formation at the scanning speed of 5 mm/s. When the scanning speed is increased to 10 mm/s, more continuous laser melted track was formed. The microstructure of AISI 316L stainless steel fabricated by L-PBF process consists of cellular columnar structure and dendrite structure oriented according to temperature gradient direction during rapid cooling.


Conyza canadensis L.was used as the research object to study the releasing mode of the allelopathy and the allelochemicals.The allelopathic effect of C.canadensis decomposing in soil on two tested plants(Rassica rapa L.and Solanum lycopersicum) were studied in artificial climate box planted in pots.The results showed that,with the increasing amount of C.canadensis plant residues,it significantly inhibited the growth of two tested plants,the accumulation of biomass and leaf growth.The cell permeability of Rassica rapa L.and Solanum lycopersicum were significantly increased by the content of decomposing products,but no significant inhibited effect was found in composition of chlorophyll content of Rassica rapa L.and Solanum lycopersicum.We concluded that decomposition was an important way of allelopathy in C.canadensis.


A fast and accurate multigroup neutron diffusion calculation method was established for reactor core,and the semi-analytic nodal method(SANM) based on transverse-integrated diffusion equation was introduced within the framework of the analytic coarse mesh finite difference(ACMFD) formulation.Additionally,the ACMFD coupling coefficients were determined analytically from the SANM.In the SANM,the Legendre polynomials were employed to approximate the fission and scattering sources so that the analytic solution of transverse-integrated diffusion equation can be obtained.Furthermore,the 0th,2nd and 4th-order Legendre polynomial representations were used respectively in order to perform fine-mesh and coarse-mesh calculations.The mumerical results show that the method possesses high accuracy and efficiency.


Purpose – This AERI-NEPC eBrief, the fourth in a series titled "Understanding validity issues around the world", looks closely at issues surrounding the validity of test-based actions in educational accountability and school improvement contexts. The specific discussions here focus testing issues in the US. However, the general principles underlying appropriate and inappropriate test use in school reform and high stakes public accountability settings are applicable in both domestic and international settings. This paper aims to present the issues. Design/methodology/approach – This policy brief is based on a synthesis of conference proceedings and review of selected pieces of extant literature. It begins by summarizing perspectives of an invited expert panel on the topic. To that synthesis, the authors add their own analysis of key issues. They conclude by offering recommendations for test developers and test users. Findings – The authors conclude that recurring validity issues arise with tests used in sc...


Jersey crossbred cows (18) were divided into 3 graups (1, 2 and 3) of 6 animals each as unifarmly as possible with regard to their body weights and milk production and maintained on 3 respective isonitrogenous and isocaloric concentrate mixtures A, Band C with varying rumen degradable pratein (RDP) to undegradable dietary protein (UDP) ratios of 37:63; 52:48 and 70:30 for 100 days starting fifth day pastpartum. The feed intake of animals was increased significantly (P<0.01) with increase in UDP levels in the concentrates mixtures, the percent dry matter intake calculated for the entire period of experiment, being 3.70, 3.38 and 3.14 for groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. The data on fortnightly body weights of animals revealed that, while animals maintained on concentrate mixture A with UDP level of63.3 8% had a total gain of 10.38 kg (P<0.01) over a period of 100 days, those fed concentrate mixture B with UDP level of 47.55% and C with UDP level of 29.75%, lost their body weights to the extent of 3.33 and 5.83 kg, respectively, over the same period of experiment. Result on lactation studies revealed significant (P<0.01) differences in total milk yield between the groups fed on the 3 concentrate mixtures. A, Band C the average daily milk yield calculated over a 1 00-day-lactation period being 10.11, 7.18, and 6.32 kg respectively. Efficiency of milk production, though not significant, was also higher with higher levels of UDP over the entire period of experiment. An overall evaluation of results on milk production and feed conversion efficiency indicated that higher levels of UDP in concentrate mixture stimulated feed consumption, resulting in better availability of nutrients for higher milk production. Results of the studies also emphasize the need for formulating suitable feed combinations based on their UDP/by-pass protein levels in addition to total protein for optimum milk production and milk composition.


A novel explosive-emission cathode capable to produce high-current nanosecond electron bunches and enable tuning in terms of size is proposed and demonstrated to performance fit the particular problem. The record parameters, average diode current 6.5 kA and voltage 410 kV, are achieved by covering a conventional, planar copper cathode with a carbon film being composed of graphitic pyrolytic carbon (GrPyC). The demonstrated plasma expansion velocity and current density are comparable with those obtained with conventional graphitic cathodes. However, in contrast to purely graphite cathodes, the shape, size and surface profile of the proposed hybrid GrPyC/Cu cathodes can be readily adjusted allowing adjustments to fit requirements of a variety of high-current electronic applications.


Prescribed fire is an important silvicultural tool. Several factors, including changes in silvicultural techniques, regulations regarding the use of prescribed fire, air quality concerns, and concerns over escaped fires have led to a declining use of prescribed fire for silvicultural purposes in British Columbia. Using records from 351 prescribed fires that escaped control measures in the Prince George Forest Region, we examined the feasibility of using "Control Rank" from Muraro's Prescribed Fire Predictor model as an indicator of the risk of fires escaping from broadcast burning, and estimated the costs of suppressing these fires. We also outline the benefits (including potential dangers) of prescribed burning, and provide recommendations on how to estimate the probability, or the risk, of a fire escaping from a prescribed burn. We found that 84.3% of the escaped fires occurred within control ranks 5 and 6, and control ranks 7 and 8. These control ranks also had the largest and most costly fires to suppress, in some cases running in the hundreds of thousands of dollars. Our results suggest that control rank is a useful indicator of risk. However, we recommend that better records of burning conditions of all prescribed burns be kept to allow for more complete analyses of risk in the future. To reduce the risk of fires escaping from prescribed burning, factors that should be carefully considered are also outlined in this paper.


Christy Ludlow at the National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md, recently reported the use of Clostridium botulinum toxin for treatment of patients with spasmodic dysphonia who had failure of previous recurrent laryngeal nerve section. Her report, presented at the American Academy of Otolaryngology–Head and Neck Surgery meeting in Washington, DC, involved the evaluation of five patients who had previous nerve section and had recurrence of their spasmodic dysphonic symptoms. Her evaluation utilized voice spectrography and electromyographic studies. She found hypertonic activity on the operated-on and supposedly denervated side. These patients were injected with C botulinum toxin in the operated-on cord. In addition, two patients needed additional injections in the unoperated-on cord. All the patients had significant reduction in symptoms. After injection, the hypertonic activity was reduced in the injected and uninjected muscles.


Existence of the H-dibaryon in the flavor SU(3) symmetric limit is studied by full QCD simulations on the lattice, in the approach recently developed for the baryon-baryon (BB) interactions. Potential of the flavor-singlet BB channel is derived from the Nambu-Bethe-Salpeter wave function, and a bound H-dibaryon is discovered from it, with the binding energy of 20--50 MeV for the pseudo-scalar meson mass of 469--1171 MeV.


The invention discloses ginkgo health-care moon cakes. The ginkgo health-care moon cakes comprise moon cake skin and moon cake stuffing in a ratio of 2:8, wherein the moon cake skin comprises 45 parts of weak strength flour, 14 parts of unboiled oil, 37.5 parts of maltitol syrup, 0.75 part of alkaline water and 10 parts of fresh egg yolk; the moon cake stuffing comprises 149 parts of mung bean paste and 120 parts of ginkgo puree; and matcha powder is added in the moon cake skin and the moon cake stuffing. The moon cakes are unique in taste and delicious, have agreeable sweetness, and are health-care food.


This work presents the applicability of an encapsulated long period grating for fuel blends and solvents analysis. It was shown that the optical fiber device sensitivity to changes in the external refractive index is not affected by the encapsulation. In addition to the extra protection to external damages provided by the encapsulation, the device reproducibility was considerably improved. For the employed samples this improvement ranges from 40% to 78%. Finally the transducer performance was assessed in the analysis of ethanol concentration in ethanol-water mixture.


[Introduction]. The ongoing Intergovernmental Conference (IGC 2003) must re-shape Giscard d'Estaing's draft into a Constitutional Treaty that can be signed and subsequently ratified by all 25 members of the enlarged European Union. Things are not going well. The most obvious sticking point concerns the reform of voting rules in the EU's key decisionmaking body, the Council of Ministers. Here is the problem. As it turns out, the voting scheme that Giscard d'Estaing's Praesidium put into the draft Constitutional Treaty is not politically acceptable to all EU members (it concentrates power in the hands of the four largest EU members at the expense of Spain, Poland and many small members). Indeed, Giscard's system is so impolitic that any draft Constitutional Treaty that contains it will almost certainly fail to garner the necessary unanimous support. Yet, if the ongoing IGC does not find an alternative to Giscard's system, the EU will face decision-making paralysis because the fallback position is the blotched voting system from the Nice Treaty. Hence the dilemma: papering over problems with Giscard's unpopular voting rules puts the whole draft Constitutional Treaty at risk, but failing to agree an alternative voting scheme risks decision-making paralysis. In this policy brief, we summarise the findings of our research that uses the quantitative tools of voting game theory to show: Why Giscard's scheme is politically unacceptable to many nations; How various modified voting rules may solve the dilemma. Specifically we identify two possible solutions to the dilemma. First, changing Giscard's double-majority thresholds from 60% of population and 50% of membership to 60% and 60% respectively would go a very long way to reducing the concentration of power in the hands of the four largest nations ('Big-four'), yet still maintain the EU's ability to act; a ratio of 50%-50% would also work. Second, if the IGC decides to stay with the Nice Treaty's triplemajority voting system, modestly lowering two of the three majority thresholds would maintain efficiency without further shifting power to big nations. Before turning to possible solutions, the first task is to show that the Nice voting reforms will not work, and, in the process, to show why Spain and Poland are so attached to the Nice system.


In this paper, we discuss the relationship between the sparse symmetric Broyden (SPSB) method [1, 2] and m-time secant-like multi-projection (SMP) method [3] and prove that when m goes to infinity, the SMP method is corresponding to the SPSB method.


There always exists disease in university and teaching.Currently,the problem gets even more prominent.This paper analyzes the symptoms of the disease in university and teaching from the angle of the combination of history and reality.Meanwhile,the pathology of Darwinian medicine is used to explore the remote cause and proxi-mate cause of university disease.Thus new understanding of university mission and learning can be established based on learning science and theory of complex thinking.Some strategic measures of promoting teaching reform are offered.


ABSTRACT This study aims to describe the process of making the lesson plans of learning (RPP) of PPKn with the scientific approach, and the implementation of PPKn learning with scientific approach in SMP Negeri 1 Prambanan Klaten. This research is a descriptive qualitative research. Determination of the subject using purposive technique. Subject in the study were four teachers of PPKn in SMP Negeri 1 Prambanan Klaten. Technique of data collection is done with the interview, documentetion and observation. Technique examination of data validity used is triangulation method. The data obtained were analyzed using Creswell inductive logic data analysis method, forming themes, categories, patterns, and meanings. Research results show that, 1) teacher PPKn in SMP Negeri 1 Prambanan Klaten in drawing up the RPP PPKn  first teachers choose a core competency, then choose a basic competency, then choose a basic competencies contained in the syallabus, the basic competence is selected leads to the subject matter that will be taught. Then in choosing the teaching method the teacher chooses to use varied methods such as group discussions, lectures, frequently asked questions, value clarification, discovery learning, etc. Then on the determination of teacher learning media determine the media in accordance with the material to be taught. The preparation of the learning steps with the scientific approach of the teacher does not specify the 5M activities in the RPP. The scientific steps detailed in the RPP are based on the specified learning model. 2) implementation learning PPKn with scientific approach that teachers explain the material using the methods vary lecture appropriate key points such as historic dates, figures, plances and content anyway. Competencies obtained after following the PPKn learning with scientific approach are attitude, knowledge and skill. Keywords: application, scientific approach, RPP, PPKn


List of contributors General preface Acknowledgments Introduction to Volume 3 1. The literary historiography of Brazil Benedito Nunes 2. Colonial Brazilian literature David T. Haberly 3. Brazilian poetry from the 1830s to the 1880s Fabio Lucas 4. Brazilian poetry from 1878 to 1902 Massaud Moises 5. The Brazilian theatre up to 1900 Severino Joao Albuquerque 6. Brazilian fiction from 1800 to 1855 Mary L. Daniel 7. The Brazilian novel from 1850 to 1900 David T. Haberly 8. Brazilian fiction from 1900 to 1945 Mary L. Daniel 9. Brazilian prose from 1940 to 1980 John Gledson 10. The Brazilian short story K. David J. Jackson 11. Brazilian poetry from 1900 to 1922 Marta Peixoto 12. Brazilian poetry from modernism to the 1990s Giovanni Pontiero 13. The Brazilian theatre in the twentieth century Severino Joao Albuquerque 14. Brazilian popular literature (the literatura de cordes) Candace Slater 15. Literary criticism in Brazil K. David J. Jackson 16. The essay: architects of Brazilian national identity Thomas E. Skidmore 17. The Brazilian and the Spanish American literary traditions: a contrastive view J. G. Merquior Bibliographies: 1. General bibliography 2. Bibliographies to Volume 1 Bibliographies to Volume 2 Bibliographies to Volume 3 Index.


Because of its importance for indigenous biodiversity and the local Sami culture, the Laponian area, in the north of Sweden, was declared a World Heritage Site Area by the UN organization UNESCO in ...


It is true that the concept of aligning the transmission comb of the FPI with the periodic structures of the absorption cross-section of species has been described by the author in an earlier paper. However, I would have liked to see a bit more description here as well. For instance, the radiometric model of the measurements described in section 2.2 should make clearer that the measured signals IA or IB are made out of photons captured by each transmission peak of the FPI at the same time. Equation (5) could emphasize this by expressing I as the result of this summation process. Alternatively, one could bring equation (6) into section 2.2.


A great quantity of the imported coal could meet the energy requirements of the economic development in China and meanwhile would cause a giant impact to the domestic coal market.The coal oversupply and the coal price falling down had cause a serious challenge to the coal enterprises in China and a large number of the coal enterprise's business is in a difficult position.Faced to the globalized market competition,to reduce the production cost with a great effort,to improve the production efficiency,to speed and adjust the industrial structure and to realize the multi development would be the keys for the coal enterprises to go over the difficult position.


The paper considers the effects associated with a change in the properties of a film heterojunction as a result of the introduction of a nanocluster subsystem.  Such a modified heterojunction exhibits a spectrally invertible photo ventile effect.  A design of a photocell containing two successively coupled p-n transitions of counter action, photoactive in different regions of the spectrum, is proposed.


AIM: This study aims to evaluate and compare the antibacterial potential of mineral trioxide aggregate (MTA) and grape seed extract (GSE) against Streptococcus mutans, Enterococcus faecalis, Staph aureus, Candida albicans, Lactobacillus spp., and Streptococcus sobrinus.

HYPOTHESIS: We hypothesized that GSE could have potent antimicrobial effect against oral pathogens when compared to MTA.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: MTA and GSE were utilized to determine the antibacterial effectiveness against S. mutans, E. faecalis, S. aureus, C. albicans, Lactobacillus spp. and S. sobrinus using the agar well diffusion test. The tested materials were used according to the manufacturer's instructions and put into the prepared wells of agar plates; diluted inocula (105 and 106 CFU/ml) of the tested microorganism strains were also used. For bacteria, all plates were incubated at 37°C in anaerobic conditions, and for C. albicans, at 30°C. The inhibitory zones were determined after 3 days. A digital caliper was used to measure the diameter of bacterial inhibition zones surrounding each well to the nearest size in mm.

RESULTS: GSE-created inhibition zones against all tested microorganisms except C. albicans, zones were significantly larger than MTA-created zones (p < 0.05).

CONCLUSION: Both MTA and GSE showed antimicrobial effect against all tested microorganisms except C. albicans, which will pave the route to use GSE as a natural herbal substitute of MTA.


This paper provides a service-oriented foundation for big data. The foundation has two parts. Part 1 reveals 10 big characteristics of big data. Part 2 presents a service-oriented framework for big data. The framework has fundamental, technological, and socio-economic levels. The fundamental level has four big fundamental characteristics of big data: big volume, big velocity, big variety, and big veracity. The technological level consists of three big technological characteristics of big data: Big intelligence, big analytics, big infrastructure. The socioeconomic level has three big socioeconomic characteristics of big data: big service, big value, and big market. The article looks at each level of the proposed framework from a service-oriented perspective. The multi-level framework will help organizations and researchers understand how the 10 big characteristics relate to big opportunities, big challenges, and big impacts arising from big data. The proposed approach in this paper might facilitate the research and development of big data, big data analytics, business intelligence, and business analytics.


springback is one of the challenges in the final shape of the steel in the cold roll forming process of the steel plate.The precision of the simulation of sheet metal forming processes for prediction of the springback depends on the stress-strain relationship, the yield function the selected hardening model and the anisotropy of the material. In this paper, using alternating tension-compression experiment and using simulation in software LS-OPT, the variables of the Yoshida-Uemori hardening model have been obtained for St37 steel. Springback in the final shape of steel plate deformation is a challenge of the roll forming process. Since consideration of the hardening law is important in the springback, various models of hardening law are proposed for more accurate prediction of material behavior. One of the most accurate models in predicting metal behavior is the Yoshida-Uemori hardening model. The experimental tests were also carried out as well as the simulations in the Ls-dyna simulation software with and without Yoshida-Umari hardening model. It was shown that the prediction of springback with using the Yoshida-Umari hardening model was more accurate.


Having secrets is easy. Keeping secrets is something that has steadily become more difficult as time and technology advanced. In order to keep secrets, the operations surrounding the secret must be secured. This is a process called OPSEC. Branded by the military in the early 20th century, OPSEC has become a topic humans concerned themselves with for as long as they have had secrets. 3. From Ancient Greece to Today


This article addresses three questions. To what extent does the current refugee regime discriminate among refugees? When is such discrimination wrong? Could discrimination ever be justi fi ed pragmatically, for the sake of admitting more refugees given political constraints? In answer to the fi rst question, it fi nds discrimination is rampant. There is the kind of discrimination that gets noticed: discrimination that states choose to enact within the refugee regime. But there is also a kind of discrimination that is missed: discrimination that is a product of the regime itself. The second question proves tricky. Matters are clear at the extremes. Discrimination based on need is permissible. Discrimination based on race or religion is not. In between, we have a set of hard cases that are more dif fi cult to judge. The article searches for relevant criteria. Finally, on the last question, the article concludes that a political leader could be justi fi ed in enacting discrimination as a pragmatic response to political constraints but that, even on such occasions, discrimination remains wrongful.


Several compressed-domain based processing methods such as video downscaling, filtering, inverse motion compensation, etc. have been developed for MPEG compressed digital video. These processing methods assume that the underlying MPEG video was coded in only one mode, namely, frame or field mode. In order to support both frame and field-mode coded video, in this paper, we present a fast algorithm for converting a sequence of DCT blocks in the field mode to a sequence of blocks whose DCT's represent frame-mode coding. A multiplier-free implementation for this algorithm is also developed in this paper. In a typical coding setup, used in MPEG-2, simulations indicate that the image quality degradations resulting from the multiplier-free implementation is around 0.5-1.0 dB; however, a factor of two speedup is obtained compared with a traditional spatial-domain approach.


ABSTRACT Modulation algorithms of indirect matrix converters (IMCs) are complicated and need powerful processors, such as DSP along with FPGA or CPLD for implementation. Using any extra hardware increases the cost and complexity and also reduces the reliability of the system. In this paper, a new realization for the space vector modulation (SVM) of the IMC is proposed so that it can be implemented by using a single low-cost 32-bit ARM-based microcontroller chip without any additional hardware. Therefore, due to the elimination of the extra hardware in the proposed method, the compact design in the control part of the system is provided so the reliability of the system is increased. Moreover, the cost of the system can be significantly reduced in low-power applications. This realization is based on using the timer-counter modules and the interrupt routine of the microcontroller. Therefore, the CPU burden is also minimized and the microcontroller can perform other tasks such as calculation of complex control algorithms. This feature can also be valuable in some applications. The experimental results of an IMC connected to the RL and a motor load demonstrate the validity of the proposed method.


ABSTRACT The intracratonic basins of central Australia are distinguished by their large negative Bouguer gravity anomalies, despite the absence of any significant topography. Over the Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic Officer Basin, the anomalies attain a peak negative amplitude in excess of 150 mGal, amongst the largest of continental anomalies observed on Earth. Using well data from the Officer and Amadeus basins and a data grid of sedimentary thicknesses from the eastern Officer Basin, we have assessed the evolution of these intracratonic basins. One‐dimensional backstripping analysis reveals that Officer and Amadeus basin tectonic subsidence was not entirely synchronous. This implies that the basins evolved as discrete geological features once the Centralian Superbasin was dismembered into its constituent basins. Two‐ and three‐dimensional backstripping and gravity modelling suggest that the eastern Officer Basin evolved from a broad continental sag into a region of intracratonic flexural subsidence from the latest Neoproterozoic, when flexure of the lithosphere deepened the northern basin. The results from gravity modelling improve when the crust is thickened beneath the northern margin of the basin and thinned at the southern margin, as has been suggested by recent deep seismic data. The crustal thickening beneath the basin's northern margin abuts the region of greatest topographic relief and is consistent with the observed structure at the edges of many orogenic belts. If the Officer Basin evolved as a foreland‐type basin from the late Proterozoic and has retained those features to the present, then one implication is that in the absence of any significant topography, cratonic lithosphere must be able to support stresses over very long periods of geological time.


Information of the population for several Eremophilus muusu Humboldt 1805 were provided at the Cundinamarca and Boyaca regions. The main information were concerning the habitat, distrtbunon of altitude. water temperature, oxygen tolerance, sizes and relation of weight/lenght. The fertiltty and relation of eggs number, weight of the gonade as well the relation of reproduction index wight of testicle, the complete weight were also gived. On the other side conditions factor for young and adults, sex for male and female in different time of spawning were also provided.


A method and a system for imbedding multimedia contents during video call in MMoIP(Multi-Media over IP) is provided to achieve efficient resource distribution by separately managing a call server which controls calls and a multimedia gateway which provides multimedia contents. A call server receives a video call request message including multimedia contents from a first user terminal while a call is set between the first user terminal and a second user terminal. The call server selects multimedia contents to be embedded in video call in response to the received video call request message and transmits the selected multimedia to a multimedia gateway. The multimedia gateway receives the multimedia contents from the call server. The call server transmits a media address change message to the first user terminal and the second user terminal. The multimedia gateway transmits a media stream including the multimedia contents to the first user terminal or the second user terminal.


Important goals of undergraduate science courses are to provide students with experiences in thinking and working like a scientist. We used a project based laboratory in an Introduction to Neuroscience course to help achieve these goals. In this course the students carried out eight independent lab exercises and a seven‐week project aimed at demonstrating the effects of gonadal steroid hormones on the brain and behavior of Long Evans rats. Students performed ovariectomies/hormone implants on the rats, examined sexual behavior, and studied spatial learning using the Morris Water Maze. The students then investigated the effects of the treatments on the expression of LTP in hippocampal slices, the size of the sexually dimorphic nucleus, and the phosphorylation of NMDA receptor in different brain regions of these rats. Students utilized statistical techniques to test their hypotheses and were required to use the scientific literature in this field. Student work was evaluated by lab notebook content, weekly lab reports and a final manuscript‐style report that detailed their findings from this project. Students reported significant gains in posing questions and using evidence from one or more disciplines, in determining what valid scientific evidence is, and in communicating their results. The project also had a strong impact on the ability of the students to utilize the scientific literature. Supported by HHMI.


This paper focuses on the use of e-journals by the agricultural scientists and identifies the use and importance of e-journals among the agricultural scientists in the agricultural libraries in Delhi. Data was collected through a questionnaire from 94 agricultural scientists working in IARI, NBPGR, IASRI, NCAP of ICAR system. The study finds that the use of electronic journals is increasing among the agricultural scientists. The demand for e-journals is also increasing day by day. The study suggests that for the optimum utilization of e-journals, libraries should undertake the literacy/orientation programme on regular intervals for their clientele.


This study aims to determine how the role of human development cadres (KPM) in handling stunting and community empowerment strategies in handling stunting in Malutu Village. The method used in this research is a combination research that combines quantitative methods and qualitative methods to be used together in a research activity, so that more comprehensive, valid, reliable and objective data are obtained. Data were collected by interview, area mapping and documentation. Interviews were conducted with key figures, namely the Head of Malutu Village, Posyandu Cadres, Human Development Cadres and Village Empowerment Assistants. The results showed that the problems faced by Human Development Cadres in handling stunting in Malutu Village were that the function of cadres was not optimal, the capacity building given their time was still limited so that field supplies were not sufficient and there was no further training and lack of public awareness about the dangers of stunting. The strategy in community empowerment programs in an effort to deal with stunting in Malutu Village is the strategy of SO or strength and opportunity. SO strategy is a strategy that is determined to get optimal effort. After knowing and taking advantage of the strengths, we can take full advantage of the opportunities that exist. Community empowerment strategies that can be carried out are using the available budget for optimal stunting management, increasing the capacity of human resources through support from the Hulu Sungai Selatan District Government and establishing communication between actors and making joint work plans in handling stunting


Reinvestigation of 90 soil profiles sampled for pH measurements in 1927 revealed a general decrease in pH with 0.3–0.9 units (measured electrometrically on field‐moist samples in water with the same ratio soil/water on both occasions). All soil horizons (A0, A2, B and the subsoil, C, at 70 cm depth) had become more acid beneath all types of canopy (beech, oak, spruce planted during different periods), but the spruce stands were on average more acid than the hardwoods. In the upper soil horizons (A0 and A2), old spruce stands were more acid than the young ones at both samplings, but this effect was small in the B horizon and absent in the C horizon. While the tree species effect and age effect in the spruce stands may be called biological acidification, the acidification of deeper horizons, now often below pH 4.5 and in the aluminium buffer range, seems difficult to explain without assuming an influence of acid deposition.


Navigation and location service are based on navigation, mobile communications, digital map technology to set a service for people,things, location and time tags in the unifiedspace-time datum and the association, provides informed of the focus position and position correlation information of the target service for the public, data is the basis for navigation and location services. Big data has brought a new direction for the navigation and location service industry, summarizes from the big data of navigation and location services, analyzes the opportunity and the challenge of the navigation and location services which brought from big data era, and provides guidance for the development of navigation and location service industry.


A conservative extension to traditional nondeterministic finite automata (NFAs) is proposed to keep track of the positions in the input string for the last uses of selected transitions, by adding "tags" to transitions. The resulting automata are reminiscent of nondeterministic Mealy machines. A formal semantics of automata with tagged transitions is given. An algorithm is given to convert these augmented automata to the corresponding deterministic automata, which can be used to process strings efficiently. The application to regular expressions is discussed, explaining how the algorithms can be used to implement, for example, substring addressing and a lookahead operator, and an informal comparison to other widely-used algorithms is made.


It comes as no surprise that the resource document Professor Richard Bonnie has crafted for the APA Council on Psychiatry and Law to aid in the implementation of Atkins v. Virginia is clearly written and to the point. What was not expected, however, is the document's significantly limited scope. Because the document is intended as a resource for mental health professionals who may be consulted in the development of legislation and policy, its avoidance of such extraneous (and controversial) issues as the rationale for the Court's decision in Atkins may be understandable. But its brevity and narrow focus may short-change policy-makers in states receptive to a broader reading of the decision. The Supreme Court ruled in Atkins that individuals with mental retardation must be spared the death penalty—that execution of such individuals constitutes "cruel and unusual punishment" because no one so diagnosed acts "with the level of moral culpability that characterizes the most serious adult criminal conduct." The Court declared that "[i]f the culpability of the average murderer is insufficient to justify the most extreme sanction available to the state, the lesser culpability of the mentally retarded offender surely does not merit that form of retribution" (Ref. 2). The Court has never offered such a characterization of offenders with other mental disabilities, though some (notably traumatic brain injury) cause deficits closely resembling those of mental retardation. It might be premature to suggest that Atkins signals a willingness among the Justices to consider a broader range of disabilities as incompatible with the death penalty, but certainly legislatures responding to Atkins are free to consider the significance of these disabilities when rethinking their capital sentencing laws. (Although states may not deny protections guaranteed by the Constitution, nothing prevents them from extending additional protections not so guaranteed.) That the APA Council on Psychiatry and Law makes no mention of this possibility is curious. The Council's narrow response to the decision in Atkins may reflect a judgment that, by avoiding questions not squarely addressed by the Court, its recommendations will find broader acceptance among policy-makers across the country. But the Council may be missing a golden opportunity to show these officials the way to a fairer and clinically more meaningful response to the concerns underlying Atkins. The Council expressly excludes from Atkins ' protections individuals with brain injuries suffered after the age of 18, reasoning that the "Court's decision to bar death sentences for persons with mental retardation is grounded in presumed deficits in moral reasoning arising from disordered development" (Ref. 1, p 306). This position may be unduly restrictive, however, as it fails to take account of the Court's other rationales for its decision: (1) that "diminished ability to understand and process information, to learn from experience, to engage in logical reasoning, or to control impulses. . .also make it less likely that [people with mental retardation] can process the information of the possibility of execution as a penalty and, as a result, control their conduct based upon that information"; (2) that exempting people with this level of disability will not "lessen the deterrent effect of the death penalty with respect to offenders Mr. Fitch is Director of Forensic Services for Maryland's Mental Hygiene Administration, Jessup, MD; and Adjunct Associate Professor of Psychiatry, University of Maryland Medical School, and Instructor of Law, University of Maryland Law School, Baltimore, MD. Address correspondence to: W. Lawrence Fitch, JD, Office of Forensic Services, MHA, 8450 Dorsey Run Road, Jessup, MD 20794-1000. Email: firstname.lastname@example.com


Due to the increased use of cannabis plants, objective studies are needed to determine its impact on the organism. By incorporating into the endocannabinoid system of reproductive organs, cannabinoids of cannabis plants might cause many changes in the morphology and function of the reproductive system. It has been confirmed that the use of cannabis leads to short-term changes in the secretion of male and female sex hormones. By developing tolerance to exogenous cannabinoids, the number of sex hormones returns to the initial level. Despite this, the changes in the number of sex hormones have a direct effect on the organs of the reproductive system. Abnormal appearance and dysfunction of sperm cells, as well as the histological and biochemical effects on the testicles are the result of cannabis activity on the male reproductive system. The unusual growth of the uterus and the possible impact on the processes that take place in the oviduct are some of the reasons that confirms the toxicity of the cannabis plant for the female reproductive system. The study of the targets and mechanisms of cannabis effects on the reproductive system allows changes in the regulation of reproductive functions. Precisely for this reason, further research will enable more detailed understanding of the impact of cannabis on the body and possible new ways of treating the reproductive disorders and infertility.