Title of Document: EXPLORING THE VARIABILITY IN HOW EDUCATORS ATTEND TO SCIENCE CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS Colleen Elizabeth Gillespie, Doctor of Philosophy, 2013 Directed By: Associate Professor Andrew Elby, Department of Teaching, Learning, Policy, and Leadership Many researchers assert that educators must develop a shared instructional vision in order for schools to be effective. While this research tends to focus on educators' alignment around goals of science classrooms, in this dissertation I argue that we can't assume that educators agree on what they see when they look at science classrooms. Recent work has explored teacher attention when watching a classroom episode, and in this dissertation I expand that work to explore leaders' attention in addition to teachers' attention. Specifically, I explore the variability in what teachers and leaders notice in science classroom episodes and how they reason about what they notice. I ground my studies in real classroom practice: a videotaped lesson in the first study and a live classroom observation in the second. In Chapter 2, I discuss the importance of grounding discussions about teaching and learning in classroom artifacts, a commitment that motivates my dissertation: educators may have a shared vision when discussing teaching and learning in the abstract but disagree about whether that vision is being realized in a classroom. I then illustrate this phenomenon with my own vision for science teaching and learning. I first describe what I consider to be good teaching and learning in the abstract, a description that I expect all readers to agree with. I then describe and analyze the video clip I used in my interviews, highlighting moments that I consider to be good teaching and learning. I argue that discussing teaching and learning in the context of this episode not only gives a much clearer picture of what I think good teaching and learning is but also gives the reader something to analyze herself and compare her interpretations with mine. In Chapter 3, I present my first study, in which I showed this episode to 15 different science teachers, science instructional leaders, and principals. I found that participants attended to many different features in the episode, which led to significant disagreement about what is happening in the episode. Additionally, I found that these differences in attention corresponded to differences in how participants were framing the activity of watching the clip. In Chapter 4, I explore the attentional variability of one science instructional leader, Valerie, in multiple contexts. In addition to interviewing Valerie about the videotaped lesson, I also observed Valerie engage in an "observation cycle" with a teacher. In all of her teacher observation cycles, Valerie is required to use a district-mandated observation rubric. Even though Valerie is quite skilled at attending to student thinking in some contexts, I found that Valerie's attention is strongly context-dependent and gets pulled away from students' scientific thinking when she uses a district-mandated form. Finally, in Chapter 5 I summarize my findings and describe the implications my work has for both research and practice. I argue that educators must first become more aware of the pulls on their attention to more thoughtfully navigate the complex demands of the classroom. I also call for districts to be more cautious in their adoption of observation tools that might pull observers' attention away from the disciplinary practices that recent educational reforms champion. I consider some alternatives to these observation tools such as distributing the task of classroom observation to disciplinary experts. Finally, I discuss implications for how researchers and educators can work to develop truly shared instructional vision. EXPLORING THE VARIABILITY IN HOW EDUCATORS ATTEND TO SCIENCE CLASSROOM INTERACTIONS


PURPOSE
Lung ventilation function measured from 4D-CT and from breathing correlated CT images is a novel concept to incorporate the lung physiologic function into treatment planning of radiotherapy. The calculated ventilation functions may vary from different breathing patterns, affecting evaluation of the treatment plans. The purpose of this study is to correlate the mean lung ventilation value with the ratio of the total lung volumes obtained from the relevant CTs.

METHODS
A ventilation map was calculated from the variations of voxel-to-voxel CT densities from two breathing phases from either 4D-CT or breathing correlated CTs. An open source image registration tool of Plastimatch was used to deform the inhale phase images to the exhale phase images. To calculate the ventilation map inside lung, the whole lung was delineated and the tissue outside the lung was masked out. With a software tool developed in house, the 3D ventilation map was then converted in the DICOM format associated with the planning CT images. The ventilation map was analyzed on a clinical workstation. To correlate ventilation map thus calculated with lung volume change, the total lung volume change was compared the mean ventilation from our method.

RESULTS
Twenty two patients who underwent stereotactic body irradiation for lung cancer was selected for this retrospective study. For this group of patients, the ratio of lung volumes for the inhale (Vin) and exhale phase (Vex) was shown to be linearly related to the mean of the local ventilation (Vent), Vin/Vex=1.+0.49*Vent (R2=0.93, p<0.01).

CONCLUSION
The total lung volume change is highly correlated with the mean of local ventilation. The mean of local ventilation may be useful to assess the patient's lung capacity.


The teaching of school disciplines seeks to prepare primary school teachers in the teaching of specific contents. "Today, critical thought in the field of social sciences considers this area a basic variable of social events that has an ongoing dialectic relation with society" (Trepat & Comes, 2008:134). As Souto (1999) states, the student should receive our help in learning statistical and verbal cartographic techniques; i.e., the teaching of geography should be supported by solid teaching structures, based on methodological diversity, and should go beyond the use and study of maps which, as Trepat & Comes (2008) point out, has been a constant feature of the geography classroom. Indeed, we consider that a review of the use of cartography in the classroom is an appropriate way of tracking this specific didactic in relation to the epistemological focuses of geographic science. The recent conceptualization of social science teaching and primary school teacher training has focused on professionals of education who are capable of interpreting and transforming the curriculum, of taking complicated decisions in classroom situations and of making a thorough analysis of the teachers, the pupils, the disciplines and the teaching and learning contexts (Santisteban & Pagès, 2011). Thus, we cannot define the teaching of geography as a set of knowledge based on the concepts proper to the subject; in order to teach geography one has to know geography, but also the learning obstacles facing the students; teaching well supposes a mastery of the content to be taught in the classroom, a well organized conceptual discourse and a proposal of tasks; yet all of this is insufficient if we are not aware of how our students learn, the obstacles that hinder their learning, the barriers between our desire to teach and their interest in the learning proposals (Souto, 1999). Boletín de la Asociación de Geógrafos Españoles N.o 72 2016, págs. 591-598


The invention provides a foreign language writing support apparatus used for assisting fluent foreign language writing. According to one embodiment, a foreign language writing support apparatus includes an input unit, a dictionary search unit, a word group generation unit, a candidate generation unit, a machine translation unit and a display unit. The input unit receives input of a foreign language article. The dictionary search unit performs a dictionary search for the word in another language in the foreign language article to acquire a translated word of the word in another language corresponding to the word in the foreign language. The word group generation unit generates expanded word groups including the translated word. The candidate generation unit generates foreign language article candidates by replacing the word in another language with the translated word and each word group. The machine translation unit carries out machine translation on the foreign language article candidates and generates machine translation results. The display unit displays the foreign language sentence candidates together with the machine translation results.


The authors studied decision making in evaluation of residents by 34 faculty members in a university training program by simulating the evaluation process. Twenty-seven hypothetical residents were described in terms of six criteria used by the American Board of Anesthesiology: Pre-operative Evaluation, Anesthetic Management, Technical Ability, Scholarship, Conduct in Stress, and Relationships with Others. Each criterion was studied at three performance levels: poor, average, and outstanding. A factorial design dictated how each resident was portrayed on an evaluation form familiar to the faculty. Each faculty member ranked the residents in order of clinical competence. His ranking was transformed by conjoint measurement into the percentage contribution of each criterion to the evaluation decision. Mean values (in percentages) were Pre-operative Evaluation 21, Anesthetic Management 22, Technical Ability 14, Scholarship 16, Conduct in Stress 18, and Relationships with Others 9. Underlying these values were four decision-making patterns differing in the perceived importances of the criteria. Although one pattern (41 per cent of faculty members) used all performance data supplied, the others used only three or five criteria. Only Pre-operative Evaluation and Anesthetic Management were part of all four patterns; three of the four patterns, used by 59 per cent of faculty members, apparently ignored Relationships with Others in their evaluations. Faculty age and subspecialty interest did not discriminate among evaluative patterns. This study suggests that there is no consensus on the operational definition of competence and that conjoint measurement is particularly appropriate for the analysis of complex decisions like the evaluation of competence.


We study how the quality of corporate governance affects firms' competitive position. Our identification relies on exogenous variations in both corporate governance and product market competition experienced by U.S. firms in late 1980s. While the Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement of 1989 increased foreign competition, the Business Combination laws, passed between 1985 and 1991 in thirty U.S. states, weakened corporate governance. We find that the operating and stock market performance of firms with a worse corporate governance were particularly affected by the subsequent increase in competitive pressures. This effect was stronger for small, young and low-productivity firms. We also find that worse corporate governance impaired the exporters' ability to exploit the reduction in export tariffs to Canada. The differences in performance are related to the better governed firms' ability to raise external finance and increase cash holdings after the competition strengthens.


Phase changing flows are being considered for thermal management in space platforms. The resulting flow patterns are very complicated and extremely sensitive to gravity action. Concerning fluid flow in ducts, the available evidence indicates that although the pressure loss does not depend too much on the fluid flow pattern,the heat transfer (and resulting phase change) does. A simple exercise to illustrate this point is presented in this paper. It deals with condensing flow in straight circular cross-sectional ducts. Two extreme configurations are considered here, one corresponds to a stratified flow and the other to an annular flow. Both types of flow patterns have been extensively considered in the past and from this point of view almost nothing is new in the paper, but past results look conflictive and this could be due to the limitations and computational intricacies of the models used. Thus the problem has been reformulated from the onset and the results are presented as the evolution of the vapor quality (vapor to total mass flow rate) along the duct, in typical cases. The results presented here indicate that within the validity of the present models and the assumed ranges of mass flow rate, duct diameter, thermal conditions and fluid characteristics,the length of the ducts required to achieve complete condensation under zero gravity are an order of magnitude larger than in horizontal tubes under normal terrestrial conditions.


MINICUTTINGROOTING AND VALIDATION PARAMETERS OF IPE-ROXO CLONES FOR VEGETATIVE PROPAGATION AUTHOR: Mhaiandry Benedetti Rodrigues ADVISER: Dilson Antônio Bisognin The objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of shoot length, size and leaf area of minicuttings, application of indolebutyric acid (IBA) and to estimate the Pearson correlation and genetic parameters coefficients of characters of the adventitious rooting of ipe-roxo – Handroanthus heptaphyllus (Vell.) Mattos. In the first experiment, shoots were sectioned in minicuttings of 3 cm in length, with 100%, 50%, 35% or 0% of the original leaf area and treated with 0, 500, 1000 or 2000 mg L -1 of IBA. In the second experiment, shoots were separated into three size classes: I (between 5 and 20 cm), II (between 21 and 40 cm) and III (between 41 and 60 cm), and sectioned in minicuttings of 1,3 and 5 cm in length with a pair of leaves reduced to 50% of the original area. The minicuttings were evaluated for the percentages of survival and rooting, number and length of roots. In the third experiment, the genetic parameters were estimated for seven collection of nine clones of ipe-roxo. The minicuttings were rooted in 110 cm3 tubes containing commercial substrate and vermiculite (1: 2 v / v). After 45 days, the number of rooted minicuttings and the percentage of rooting were determined. The leaf area is necessary for the survival and rooting of minicuttings, but IBA is not necessary for rooting. Minicuttings of ipe-roxo with 5 cm are competent for rooting and can be prepared from shoots up to 40 cm in length. The number of rooted minicuttings showed a high linear correlation with the number of produced minicuttings and rooting percentages. The increase of the number of collections is accompanied by an increase in the coefficient of determination, accuracy and selective efficiency, which reach 80% of the maximum coefficient of determination, high precision and selective efficiency in the fourth collection. The genetic parameters confirm the superiority of the ipe-roxo clones used in vegetative propagation. The length and size of minicuttings and the presence of leaves affect plantlet production of ipe-roxo by minicutting.


Urinary system disorders are concerned with non-communicable as well as communicable diseases. Organs of the system involved in various pathogenesis right from infection to autoimmunity and also complication of diseases. Ayurveda elaborated concept of srotasa in details. Ayurveda mentioned "MutravahaSrotas" with its chief organ "basti and mutravahini". Basti is been included in sadyapranaharamarma. Related to this srotas, Acharyas described mutravahasrotodushti (urinary disorders) in terms of mutraghata, mutrakruccha and bastiroga. Vankshan Pradesh i.e. pelvic region is the location of mutravahasrotas and moolasthana which is under the influence of vatadosha predominantly. Considering the elements related to srotasa and vitiation of doshas in the pathogenesis of srotogatvyadhi, bastichikitsa may prove to be beneficial. The review study reveals with various srotodushti, etiological factors according to Ayurveda and prevention through bastichikitsa.


Successive governments in Britain took great steps towards a more democratic form of government between 1911 and 1928. Universal suffrage, first proposed tentatively by a government in the former year, was completed in the latter. In the same period, the house of lords - the rejuvenation of which was treated at least nominally as vital by both the Liberal government and the Conservative opposition in 1911 - was effectively relegated even by Conservatives to an unimportant role. The attitudes and policies of Conservative politicians towards these changes deserve study for diverse reasons. They were part of a national debate about the wisdom of progress towards democracy; and so they form an important chapter in the development of political attitudes. They also do much to explain both how the process of democratization occurred, and how post-war governments viewed the electorate, as Conservatives participated in or dominated governments for most of the years from 1915 to 1945. Finally, the importance of Conservative views has been overlooked by historians, because they have persistently pre-dated the trend to democracy in Britain and so underestimated the scale of controversy about it. These historiographical tendencies are illustrated by the still lingering myth that the franchise before 1914 was close to manhood suffrage, or by the hitherto general assumption that the reform bill of 1917–18 was uncontroversial.


Abstract : In previous reports, CDL1 -- a computer description language -- has been defined and discussed. The report discusses the implementation of a system of programs, on the RCA Spectra 70 computers, to generate appropriate file structures from computer descriptions written in CDL1. This translation to a DDB -- descriptive data base -- involves syntactic analysis and a certain amount of checking for internal consistency, as well as the creation of directory entries, etc. Once the type of DDB's described in this report can be generated, a variety of design-aid systems can be based upon them, saving a duplication of effort, guaranteeing an integrated overall system, and avoiding built-in obsolescence.


Based on Reddy's higher-order shear deformable plate theory and general von Karman-type equations, analytical solutions of free vibration and dynamic response of simply supported functionally graded plates subjected to transverse dynamic loads and thermal effects are presented using double Fourier series. Heat conduction and temperature-dependent material properties are both taken into account. Effects of volume fraction index and thermal environments on natural frequencies and dynamic response are also studied.


According to market research on Polish consumers, color and aromatic components are very important in coffee beverages as they are the main constituents of the sensory experience of coffee drinkers. This study investigated the impact of degree of roasting on the evolution of coffee sensory features. Furthermore, the aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between selected sensory parameters and L*a*b color values. The aroma profiles of coffee beverages were influenced by the degrees of roasting the coffee beans. Our study showed that there is evolution and change in the aroma characteristics from light to dark roasting coffee. Furthermore, our data do not show the significant correlation between selected sensory attributes and color parameters L*, a*, b.


John Toland was the enfant terrible of the early Enlightenment Republic of Letters. A renegade Roman Catholic, who disappointed the hopes of the Presbyterians who sponsored his education in Scotland and Europe, he shocked both friends and foes with his preparedness to push ideas to unorthodox extremes. Erudite, articulate and philosophically engaged, he was equally at home in coffee houses and court circles. He consorted with the foremost philosophers of his time (Locke, Leibniz and Shaftesbury) and was taken up by the political grandees of late Stuart Britain, who exploited his talents as a propagandist. Renowned for his independence of mind, Toland shot to notoriety as a 'free thinker' with the publication of his Christianity Not Mysterious (1697), which offered a thoroughly rationalist account of Christianity based on a radically independent interpretation of the scriptures. The themes of Toland's writings anticipate the classic themes of Enlightenment thought – religious toleration, critique of 'priestcraft', metaphysical materialism. Assessing Toland as a thinker is challenging, in large part because his reputation has been coloured by the vituperation of his enemies, who successfully perpetrated a negative image of him as a purveyor of dangerously atheistic ideas. He was labelled as a 'libertine', a 'deist' and 'Spinozist'. While this has served to boost his standing as a subversive radical, it also explains, in part, why Toland's stock as a philosopher has never stood very high. But neglect of the philosophical Toland is also to be explained by the fact that he does not fit the modern mould of the serious philosopher. He did not construct a system or write treatises. Instead he adopted discursive and eclectic modes of presentation. In many ways his importance is less his originality than his take-up and application of themes established by others. If it is the role of the philosopher to combat dogmatism, Toland should be given his due for his critique of dogmatism in all its forms – religious, moral, political, philosophical. Although 'Libertinism' was a term of abuse among its enemies, it also signifies a distinct INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF PHILOSOPHICAL STUDIES


Objective To study the electrophysiological parameters of periphe ral nerves in patients with chronic renal failure and the clinical significance .. Methods Selected 35 patients with chronic renal failure and 16 nor mal volunteers. The patients with chronic renal failure were divid ed into 3 groups by the crea tinine of serum. Electrophysiological parameters including motor and sensory ner ves were measured for the median nerve and compared with each other. Results Chronic renal failure compared with normal volunteers,the l atency and nerve conduction velocity had significant differences (P0.05);the nerve conduction velocity had significant differences in the chronic r enal failure (P0.05). Conclusion ①The electrophysiological parameters of peripheral nerv es are prolongation of latency and low nerve conduction velocity. ②There is cor r elation between the degree of deterioration in chronic renal failure and polyneu ropathy. The degree of deterioration in chronic renal failure can be evaluated b y the low nerve conduction velocity.


F ingolimod (FTY), the first oral disease-modifying therapy for relapsing–remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), is a structural analog of intracellular sphingosine and acts as a modulator of sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptors. By crossing the blood–brain barrier, FTY reduces the trafficking of autoreactive lymphocytes and inhibits their infiltration into the central nervous system, reducing local inflammation and neurodegeneration (1). Nevertheless, S1P receptors are ubiquitous in human tissues (1), and at the level of the blood–ocular barrier, they regulate the endothelial cells' integrity and the consequent vascular permeability (2). Among the unwarranted off-target ocular side effects associated with FTY, cystoid macular edema, resulting from endothelial damage and consequent accumulation of the intraretinal fluid, as well as central serous chorioretinopathy (CSCR), acute anterior uveitis, and retinal hemorrhages have been reported (2,3). CSCR is usually a benign condition, characterized by focal retinal ischemia and choriocapillaris (CC) attenuation, with reactive hyperperfusion that may lead to subretinal fluid (SRF) leakage (4). Spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) and OCT angiography (OCTA) are noninvasive innovative imaging tools useful for investigating the structure and integrity of the retinal and choroidal vasculature in several retinal disorders, particularly CSCR. Different from macular edema, for which FTY interruption is recommended, there are no clear indications to manage CSCR during treatment with FTY. Discontinuing the drug (5) and adding on oral acetazolamide, topical anti-inflammatory drops, and sub-Tenon or intravitreal steroid injections have been proposed as rescue approaches (2). However, FTY interruption may result in severe inflammatory MS rebound and should be considered only if there is no alternative strategy for managing drug-related complications (5). Here, we report a case of a 44-year-old male patient with RRMS diagnosed in 1999, who started FTY on July 2016 (Gilenya, Novartis, 0.5-mg oral capsule once daily) after radiological reactivation in the spinal cord associated with disability worsening (EDSS 6.0). At that time, he was not taking any concurrent drug. As for Gilenya summary of product characteristics, before starting the treatment (June 2016), the patient subjected to blood tests and full cardiological, dermatological, and ophthalmological screening. In his right eye (RE), signs of CSCR, that were already known since June 2012, were found, and vision was not affected. Because of the risk of ocular complications, alternative treatment options were considered. However, owing to contraindications to other MS treatments and tolerability issues posed by the patient, the decision of starting FTY and monitoring the patient for macular adverse events was made. He was therefore referred for macular follow-up thereafter. On his first visit at our neuro-ophthalmology unit (November 2017), we found 20/20 Snellen best-corrected visual acuity, normal chromatic function, intraocular pressure, and anterior and posterior segments in both eyes. SDOCT scans showed focal retinal thinning in the macular nasal and inferior sectors by horizontal scans in the RE and a small neuroretinal detachment (NRD) in the macular inferior sector by vertical scans, suggesting relapsed CSCR. Morphology of choroid by enhanced-depth imaging OCT showed macular choroidal thickening. Short-wave fundus autofluorescence showed diffuse hyperautofluorescence corresponding to the NRD with a gravitational track, as for typical chronic CSCR. Two months later (January 2018), increased NRD with extension of fluid to the inferior portion of the fovea and gravitational fluid along the inferior vascular arcade Neurophysiology of Vision and Neuroophthalmology Unit (LZ, LB, VP), IRCCS—Fondazione Bietti, Rome, Italy; Medical Retina Unit (DDG, PG, MP), IRCCS—Fondazione Bietti, Rome, Italy; and Multiple Sclerosis Clinical and Research Unit (DL, GAM, MA), Department of Systems Medicine, Tor Vergata University, Rome, Italy.


A method for image enlargement, making use of the hyperbolic Coons interpolation surface with shape parameters, is investigated in this paper. As a non-polynomial model, the hyperbolic Coons interpolation surface can represent the image better than the general interpolation methods. By altering the values of the shape parameters, the effects of image enlargement can be adjusted until achieving the satisfactory results. Experimental results show that the effects of image enlargement making use of the hyperbolic Coons interpolation surface are better than the general interpolation methods.


Objective: Self-Expanding Metal Stents (SEMS) have been increasing used as a bridge to surgery when compared to traditional diverting colostomy for colon cancer. Prospective studies have shown SEMS to be associated with lower complication rates, shorter hospital stay, and less definitive stoma placement when compared to traditional diverting colostomy for colon cancer. The role of SEMS in the management of obstructing rectal cancers is not well defined. Methods: This is a retrospective case series of 4 patients with obstructing rectal cancer who received a SEMS as a bridge to neoadjuvant and surgical therapy. Results: All SEMS were placed successfully, and patients quickly started and completed neoadjuvant therapy without a diverting stoma. All patients were able to achieve curative local resections. Intra-operatively all patients had significant induration surrounding the SEMS as well as local perforation in 2 patients. The SEMS did have complications of anorectal pain and fecal impaction. Of the 4 patients, 1 is anastomosed without ostomy, 1 is a candidate for anastomosis but lost to follow up, and 2 have permanent colostomies. Conclusions: The use of SEMS for obstructing rectal cancer allows the prompt initiation and successful completion of neoadjuvant therapy. Patients were able to avoid a stoma for a period of time. However, SEMS in the setting of neoadjuvant therapy are not without complication and may compromise anastomotic integrity and have detrimental effects on anastomotic healing.


Abstract At present, the call for information reform in education teaching is increasing, and art education is also facing the demand for online. This paper analyzes the demand for online art education according to the characteristics of existing online education, proposes an online education system based on virtual simulation technology for the special needs of art education, and studies the structure distribution of learning resources, teaching organization and online teaching practice under 3D virtual simulation scenarios respectively. At the same time, a virtual simulation explanation robot is added using Unity3D technology to realize online learning interaction in art education. In the continuity test of the system, the system throughput per second accounted for 42.31% of the maximum throughput on average, with the lowest accounting for only 28.65% and the highest accounting for 56.98%, and the operating efficiency of the system met the teaching needs of art education. In the concurrency test, the success rate of system interface calls remained above 80% as the number of concurrent users increased. In practice, the overall satisfaction rate of students with the art online education system reached 88.3%. The system in this paper can enhance the interest in art teaching and provide a feasible new path for the development of art education in the information era.


We present a new approach to quantum gravity starting from Feynman's formulation for the simplest example, that of a scalar field as the representative matter. We show that we extend his treatment to a calculable framework using resummation techniques already well-tested in other problems. Phenomenological consequences for Newton's law are described.


Abstract Cloud microphysical measurements off the southern California coast are presented and compared with in situ airborne measurements of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) spectra. Large-scale variations in cloud droplet concentrations were due to CCN variations, some medium-scale variations may be a result of the conversion of droplets to drops by coalescence, while small-scale variations were due to different proportions of the CCN spectra being activated because of variations in updraft velocity at cloud base. This latter internal mixing process produces an inverse relationship between droplet concentration and mean size and an increase in droplet spectral width with mean droplet size. Drizzle drop concentrations are strongly associated with lower droplet concentrations, larger droplets, and greater droplet spectral width.


The miRNA-124 was taken as an example,and the miRNA-124 targets prediction information and the microarray data with the down-regulated gene information were integrated so as to screen the candidate of miRNA-124 targets.Thereby,function of the screened candidate was analyzed in depth.The research indicates that function of the miRNA-124 targets is binding action and there are two types of target:direct targets and indirect targets.Also,parts of the indirect targets take effect through regulation of the direct targets.Screening and mining function of the miRNA-124 targets lays a solid foundation for the scientists with selecting and verifying other type of functional miRNA targets.Simultaneously,the method can be extended to the study of other miRNA targets function.


Women are restricted to make any type of business activity, contact outside the family and face other socio-cultural barriers in most of the Gulf countries. Until very recently, the importance of entrepreneurial business, women in business and its contribution to the national economy has been less examined and feels relevant for economic development. This article tries to explore and provide relevant and focused information on the characteristics, contributions and challenges faced by entrepreneurial women in Gulf countries. Several reforms have been done in Gulf countries to bring entrepreneurs into the main stream and affected their upsurge, extension, performance and interest highlighted in this article. Research focuses on empirical evidence to support the analysis highlighting the quantitative measure for the issues of gender differentials in entrepreneurial activities in Middle East countries


............................................................................................................. II ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .......................................................................................III DEDICATION ........................................................................................................ IV LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................. IX LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................. X LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ................................................................................. XI LIST OF APPENDICES ........................................................................................ XII CO-AUTHORSHIP STATEMENT ..................................................................... XIII CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .............................................................................. 1 1.


Over the years, a variety of diets and drugs for the treatment of obesity have come and gone. More recently, newspapers, radio, and television have featured the rise and fall of the latest appetite-suppressants, dexfenfluramine and the combination of fenfluramine and phentermine (fen/phen). The rise occurred after approval of dexfenfluramine by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); the fall was prompted by an unexpected outbreak of valvular heart disease related to the use of anorectic agents.1

The outbreak of valvular heart disease was unexpected. Even though alarms had been sounded of an impending epidemic of pulmonary hypertension that would follow the turning loose of the appetite suppressants by the FDA,2 3 previous experience with these medications had not foretold an epidemic of valvular heart disease.

In this article, the pathogenetic mechanisms involved in the pulmonary vascular and cardiac valvular disease are explored within the larger framework of dietary pulmonary hypertension.4 Insights into these mechanisms appear to be relevant to avoiding similar epidemics caused by anorectic agents and in developing future weight-losing medications.

One major weakness in the war against overweight and obesity is the blurred outlines of the targets. Although any degree of overweight is undesirable, not all degrees of obesity call for the same type or vigor of attack. For example, the goal of a 10% reduction in weight in an individual who is mildly obese and at risk for systemic hypertension and diabetes warrants more aggressive measures than does achieving the same weight loss by an individual determined to fit into last year's bathing suit. In turn, both of these indications are much less compelling than weight loss in a morbidly obese individual in whom quick weight loss may be lifesaving. Moreover, no matter what the goal is in treating overweight and obesity, lasting success …


Introduction: data from the National Surveillance System of Addictions show an increasing prevalence of illegal-drug use, most notably in the country's northern border region and in western states, as well as a trend to earlier ages for illegal-drug use initiation. There are few studies in Mexico that address in detail the onset of illegal-drug use. This paper describes intensity and timing of onset of drug use between ages 10-25 years, using life tables.
Objective: to test the "gateway hypothesis" using a discrete survival regression model with data from the National Survey of addictions 2011.
Method: discrete survival regression model to measure the effect on timing at first illegal-drug use of the age at first use of alcohol, in comparison with the effect of drug use among significant others.
Results: the effects of both variables are different in every moment of life span. The effect of age of alcohol use onset is less significant compared to having significant others using drugs.
Discussion: findings suggest the need to relativize the "gateway hypothesis", incorporating contextual variables that intervene in an early initiation of drug use.


The invention discloses a method for extracting vitamin E and phytosterin from cottonseed oil deodorizer distillate, comprising the following steps that: methanol is added by taking cottonseed oil deodorizer distillate as raw material, reaction is proceeded by taking strong-acid cation exchange resin as catalyst so that free fatty acid in the raw material is converted into relative methyl ester; the catalyst is filtered; the filtrate is evaporated and is then formulated into mixed solution with ethanol after methanol and water are removed, after the mixed solution passes through an adsorptioncolumn filled with adsorbent, bed is washed with ethanol until the effluent solution is transparent and clear, and the effluent solution is collected; the adsorption column is eluted with acetic acidethanol solution, the eluant is collected and then subjected to reduced pressure evaporation, and vitamin E is acquired after the solvent is removed; the material of the effluent solution in which ethanol is removed by evaporation is dissolved in methanol, crystals are separated subsequent to temperature reduction and standing under stirring, and phytosterin crystals are acquired by filtering separation. The invention simplifies the steps for reaction and has the characteristics of small corrosiveness to equipment, no environmental pollution, simple operation and less equipment investment.


This paper uses abstract optimization theory to characterize and analyze the stochastic process describing the current marginal e x p e c t e d v a l u e of p e r f e c t i n f o r m a t i o n in a class of discrete time dynamic stochastic optimization problems which include the familiar optimal control problem with an infinite planning horizon. Using abstract Lagrange multiplier techniques on the usual nonanticipativity constraints treated e x p l i c i t l y in terms of adaptation of the decision sequence, it is shown that the marginal expected value of perfect information is a nonanticipative supermartingale. For a given problem, the statistics of this process are of fundamental practical importance in deciding the necessity for continuing to take account of the stochastic variation in the evolution of the sequence of optimal decisions. This paper uses abstract optimization theory to characterize and analyze the stochastic process describing the current marginal expected value of perfect information in a class of discrete time dynamic stochastic optimization problems.which include the familiar optimal control problem with an infinite planning horizon. Using abstract Lagrange multiplier techniques on the usual nonanticipativity constraints treated zxplicitly in terms of adaptation of the decision sequence, it is shown that the marginal expected value of perfect information in a nonanticipative supermartingale. For a given problem, the statistics of this process are of fundamental practical importance in deciding the necessity for continuing to take account of the stochastic variation in the evolution of the sequence of optimal decisions.


ABSTRACT Building on and going beyond Young and Muller's theory of powerful knowledge, this article seeks to articulate a model of a future-oriented, knowledge-rich curriculum by invoking David Lambert's capabilities approach and Bildung-centred Didaktik. The curriculum is knowledge rich in three respects. First, it is informed by a vision of education centrally concerned with the cultivation of human powers (understanding, capabilities, dispositions) predicated on the contribution of knowledge. Second, the construction of a school subject—in the form of curriculum frameworks, syllabuses, and guidelines–entails selecting and organizing content in terms of educational potential and its realization in classrooms. Third, classroom teaching entails unlocking the educational potential of the content of a school subject for developing human powers. The curriculum is future-oriented in the sense that it aims at the formation of autonomous and responsible individuals who can thrive and flourish in the present and future world.


Total aortic arch replacement is arguably the most complex and invasive operation in cardiovascular surgery. There have been major improvements since the first successful total aortic arch repair in the 1950s, leading to a significant reduction in perioperative morbidity and mortality. Classically, surgical treatment of complex pathologies of the aortic arch involving both the aortic arch and the descending aorta required a two-stage procedure. In 1982, Borst and colleagues introduced the "elephant trunk procedure" to simplify the second-stage operation. In 2001, using stent technology, Borst's classical elephant trunk technique was modified with a distal stented end to develop the so-called frozen elephant trunk (FET) technique. The introduction of commercially available prefabricated straight and branched FET prostheses has led to off-the-shelf solutions. Our center has published extensively on aortic arch surgery and the FET technique. It is an honor to comment on our 7 pillars of the FET.


The potential risk of tissue heating that may occur from radio frequency (RF) energy absorption during medical procedures is well recognized and regulatory bodies have established or recommended limits on specific absorption rate (SAR) of RF energy. The limits are expressed in terms of 1 g or 10 g of tissue. There has been growing concern about the relationship between SAR and tissue temperature elevation, and the appropriateness of 1g or 10 g averaging tissue mass. This paper examines these issues using an anatomical model of the human body exposed to the field produced by an MRI apparatus.


The importance of mental and physical defect has been long recognised by both societies. Sir Arthur Mitchell, LL.D. communicated his valuable researches on the connection between Twin Births and Idiocy, and on Difficult Parturition as a Cause of Idiocy to the Obstetrical Society ninety years ago, and the effects of zymotic disease upon the foetus had been discussed two years earlier. It is not my purpose to review the voluminous literature on this


In 2018, the Oregon Heritage Commission conducted a survey of heritage organizations across the state to capture data regarding digitization efforts. The goal of the survey was to collect a baseline of information on the types of digital collections in Oregon, existing digital infrastructure, and a level of interest in collaborative options. Data gathered was shared with our partners, including the Orbis Cascade Alliance, to aid their work in considering how to create an on-ramp for smaller collections to enter into the Digital Public Library of America. This work followed the 2013 Environmental Scan of Digital Collections conducted by the State Library of Oregon and the outcomes of the 2015 Northwest Digital Summit, which identified overall gaps in support for digital collections at heritage organizations in Oregon and Washington. Unlike previous statewide assessments, the 2018 survey strove to capture data from heritage organizations of all types and sizes, both with and without digital collections, so that the Oregon Heritage Commission and our partners can determine strategies, tools, and trainings to best assist organizations at all stages of the digitization process.


Objective To investigate impact of age on the characteristics of clinic and coronary artery lesions in patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI). Methods 378 AMI patients were involved. Symptoms and history of stroke, hypertension and hyperlipidmia were recorded, and the results of coronary artery angiography were reviewed.The patients were divided into five groups according to their ages: young patients group(40 years=, middle-aged group(40-59 years), junior old patients group(60-69 years), middle old patients group(70-79years) and senior old patients group(≥80 years). Results Significant higher proportion in senior old patients group didn't present typical chest pain, some patients in young patients group presented symptoms of digestive system. The mortality of senior old patients group was significantly higher than the young patients group(P0.01=. With the age increased, the rate of coronary artery angiography decreased and the incidence of 3 branches lesions in the coronary artery angiography increased(P0.01=. Conclusion Some patients in young patients group presented with symptoms of digestive system, which should not be ignored. Coronary artery lesions in senior old patients group patients were severer than that of other group and fewer patients had coronary artery angiography, more attention should be paied on these patients.


In this article, we consider the existence of global solutions and pointwise estimates for the Cauchy problem of a nonlinear damped wave equation. We obtain the existence by using the approach introduced by Li and Chen in [7] and some estimates of the solution. The proofs of the estimates are based on a detailed analysis of the Green function of the linear damped wave equations. Also, we show the Lp convergence rate of the solution.


The composition of amorphous SiN x : H films grown by the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma method was studied by heavy-ion elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA) with 129 Xe ion beams of 1.1 and 1.8 MeV amu -1 and time-of-light (ToF) mass separation. This technique allows simultaneous determination of the absolute atomic concentrations and depth profiles of all involved elements, including hydrogen. Radiation damage at extended ion beam exposure was found to decrease the N/Si ratio and the hydrogen concentration. By measuring the dose dependence, this effect was quantified in order to support correction to zero dose conditions. Monitoring the damage effects by infrared (IR) spectroscopy revealed an increase of the Si-H bond density at the expense of N-H bonds. The results suggest that the damage process is initiated by breaking of N-H bonds and that recapturing of hydrogen by Si appears as an effective competitive process to hydrogen release. Combining the ERDA and IR data, the oscillator strength ratio of the N-H and Si-H stretching bands is found to be 1.4 ± 0.2.


200 patients affected nipple discharge is studied, analyzing the results obtained with different methods and techniques in breast disease diagnostic mammography, telethermography, thermography plate, cytology and pathology study. Galactography value in the study of ductal pathology is highlighted. From an etiological point of view, the iatrogenic occupied an important place. The benign (papillomas and ductal ectasia) was largely responsible for the abnormal nipple discharge.


There are over 100 descendants of my grandmother Belva, my mother June and my older sisters Frances, Lynda, and Lillian. Indian residential schools affected all these women's lives. Some descendants made their way in the world. Our family has artists, social activists, professionals and business people. We also have members who are part of the casualty list found in  Statistics Canada 2006 and in the  National Aboriginal Youth Strategy (NAYS 1999) . So, we also have sick people, people in jail, poor people, and people with addiction problems. Whether my relatives went to residential school and on-reserve schools, we all received an Indian Affairs education that tried to extinguish the Indian in us. Indian residential schools and on-reserve schools were imbued with assimilation goals. The mission to "kill the Indian in the child" remains the dark proclaimed maxim of Indian extinction called by Canada's superintendent of Indian Affairs in the early 1900s. Indian education manuals issued by the federal Department of Indian Affairs instructed teachers to cultivate "obedience to authority." Sometimes handled with care, Indian children were most often subjected to abuses by teachers of obedience. These abuses were acknowledged by the Government of Canada in its June 11, 2008 apology along with their pledge for financial redress.


Objective: A new spectrophotometric method for the gliclazide quantitation in dosage forms has been developedMaterial and Method: The subjects of the study were modified-release tablets ("Diaglizide" 80 mg, "Diaglizide MR" 60 mg, "Diaglizide MR" 30 mg, "Diabeton" MR 60 mg, "Gliklada" 60 mg). As a reagent, bromocresol green in acetone was used. Analytical equipment: spectrophotometer Specord 200, electronic scales АВТ-120-5DM.Result and Discussion: It has been experimentally determined that gliclazide reacts with bromocresol green in acetone medium at room temperature to form a yellow product with maximum absorption at 411 nm. The method was validated for linearity, accuracy, precision, and robustness. The agent's optimal concentration was established and the stability of the investigated solutions was checked by measuring their optical density for 30 minutes. Subordination of Beer's law is observed in the range of 62.00 - 94.00 mg/100 ml. The limit of detection is 4.02∙10-6 g/ml, which indicates a high sensitivity of the reaction. The proposed method is validated according to the requirements of the State Pharmacopoeia of Ukraine. The results of the study show that the developed method is simple and affordable to implement and can be used to determine gliclazide in drugs in laboratories for quality control of dosage forms.


A mathematical model consisting of a uniform, linear, visco-elastic, Euler-Bernoulli beam to represent the ulna or tibia of the vibrating forearm or leg system is developed. The skin and tissue compressed between the probe and bone is represented by a spring in series with the beam. The remaining skin and tissue surrounding the bone is represented by a visco-elastic foundation with mass. An extensive parametric study is carried out to determine the effect of each parameter of the mathematical model on its impedance response. A system identification algorithm is developed and programmed on a digital computer to determine the parametric values of the model which best simulate the data obtained from an impedance test.


Competitive performance industry,an important part of the sports industry,is the sports industry's manifestation of the most influence,driving force and radiation.It is a direct impact on the development of sports field in physical fitness and entertainment,sports venue construction,sports equipment supplies and so on.With the advent of post-Olympic era,people's demand for competition performance services is increasing,which will be an important opportunity of the rapid development of China's competitive performance industry.In the historical background of "overall regional development,building a harmonious society" and the transformation from sporting nation to sports power country,with the guide of scientific concept of development,this article tease out sports competition performance industry's macroeconomic situation in three of China's three metropolitan area,especially economic data,in order to put forward corresponding countermeasures and suggestions for the health and sustainable development of China's competitive performance industry.


For n-normal operators A [2,4,5], equivalently n-th roots A of normal
 Hilbert space operators, both A and A* satisfy the Bishop-Eschmeier-Putinar
 property (?)?, A is decomposable and the quasinilpotent part H0(A-?) of A
 satisfies H0(A-?=)-1(0) = (A-?)-1(0) for every non-zero complex ?. A
 satisfies every Weyl and Browder type theorem, and a sufficient condition for
 A to be normal is that either A is dominant or A is a class A(1,1)
 operator.


This research was motivated by students' low knowledge related to the name, function, and the way of using Chemical laboratory tools during the experiment. This research aimed to create the Encyclopedia of Chemical Laboratory Tools which valid and practical Learning Source for students in SMA Negeri 10 Pontianak. The development model used in this research was adapted and modified from the steps of ADDIE development model consist of an analysis, design, development, implementation, and evaluation. The data collection technique used in this research was an indirect communication technique. The validator of this encyclopedia used a questionnaire with likert scale for the response as the instrument. The analysis result showed that the Encyclopedia of Chemical Laboratory Tools was valid with 1,00 practical values that was reflected from students' and teachers' responses with an average value around 85,5% with a very high criteria. Therefore, it can be concluded that the Encyclopedia of Chemical Laboratory Tools from ADDIE development model has a very good quality. Therefore, it can be properly used as a learning source for students in SMA Negeri 10 Pontianak.


In 72 Morada Nova, Santa Ines and Brazilian Somalis, hairy-breed ewes were determined weight, age and ovulation rate at puberty by means of ovarian endoscopy. The ewes were submitted to endoscopy examination sixty hours after teasing with vasectomized rams. The ewes were divided in two groups, G I and G II, 36 each, and alloted to two treatments as follows: native pasture and confinement. These groups were again arranged in a factorial design (3 x 2 x 2) according to the breeds, type of birth and nutritional management. In the pasture, the age and weight at puberty of Morada Nova, Somalis and Santa Ines breeds were, respectively, 306.9, 346.4 and 360.4 days and, 23.2 kg, 19.3 kg and 27.1 kg; on the other hand, showing in confinement, 250.7, 268.4 and 277.8 days and, 23.8 kg, 23.7 kg and 34.2 kg. The age (P <0.05) and weight (P <0.001) at puberty were affected by nutritional management in the three breeds. The difference ovulation rate was not significant in comparison between groups. The Morada Nova breed exhibited the best physiological adaptation to native pasture, in precocity and ovulation rate. The hairy sheep of Northeast Brazil showed the first estrus (puberty) at around one year of age and with a weight equivalent to 60% to 70% of the adult weight for each breed.


Package integrity assurance for liquid packaging is of paramount importance to safety of packaged products. A transportation related failure mode is described as the development of pinholes in the package. ASTM F392 (Gelbo test) is often used as a screening tool for selecting materials for liquid packages. The objective of the current study is to develop an understanding of the mechanics of the film deformation during this test to help identify mechanical properties of interest. The model predicts that 'bending rigidity' and stiffness/toughness ratio of the film play an important role in the performance of the material in a Gelbo test based on simplified assumptions for material behavior. These predictions were verified with experimental data.


ISIPSÈ—OUR INSTITUTE—HAS STARTED A TRADITION OF BRINGING together the old and the new in order to have available more and more theoretical and clinical elements for working with adolescents. The exchange and discussion on anorexia-bulimia can be very useful if we can cope with the many questions that it raises. These patients bring more questions than answers. K's case, too, provides much input for a theoretical-clinical discussion, especially: regarding some aspects that are very dear to us Self-Psychologists, like:


Inflammation and renal tubular cell death is the most crucial pathophysiological changes in acute kidney ischemic/reperfusion injury(IRI). The miR-181d family plays diverse roles in cell proliferation, apoptosis and inflammation, but its renal target and potential role in IRI are unknown.

 We built hypoxia/reoxygenation (H/R) renal cell model (HK-2 cells) and renal ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) injury mice model. We used observe the expression location of miR-181d-5p and KLF6 by in situ hybridization and immunohistochemistry, the blood creatinine and urea nitrogen levels through fully automatic biochemical detector, the severity of kidney injury by HE staining, the apoptosis and necrosis of renal tubular epithelial cells by TUNEL and Annexin V-FITC/PI flow cytometry, the concentrations of pro-inflammatory factors in the cell supernatant by ELISA and the mRNA and protein levels of related factors and predicted and verified the relationship between miR-181d-5p and KLF6 via bioinformatics systems and luciferase reporter genes.

 We showed that the expression of miR-181d-5p decreased in HK-2 cells of H/R and renal mouse model of I/R injury. Mechanistically, KLF6 was predicted as a new potential target gene of miR-181d-5p through bioinformatics and the Luciferase reporter verification. After renal ischemia/ reperfusion, overexpression of microRNA-181d significantly attenuated the level of KLF6 and inhibited inflammatory mediators such as IL-6, TNF-α, reducing apoptosis and further improving renal function. Critical NF-κB signaling pathways mediated this inflammatory response.

 In conclusion, upregulation of microRNA-181d inhibits KLF6 expression, which have protective anti-apoptosis and anti-inflammatory effects against I/R kidney in vivo, and H/R HK-2 cells in vitro, thereby providing novel insights into the molecular mechanisms associated with ischemia/reperfusion injury and a potential novel therapeutic target.


[1] Lavas from the northern East Pacific Rise with both robust (9°30′N) and nonrobust (10°30′N) ridge morphologies have compositionally diverse populations of plagioclase and/or olivine due to magma mixing. We interpret zoning in olivines to be primarily due to diffusion after mixing events, which allows us to calculate the residence times of individual crystals in the magma. For the four studied samples, olivine populations exhibit exponential distributions of calculated diffusion times, with short times exponentially more abundant than longer times. We model this distribution as resulting from mixing in an open-system axial magma chamber. Magma residence times in axial chambers at East Pacific Rise 9°30′N and 10°30′N for the four studied samples are of the order of months. Surprisingly, we find that the differences in mineralogy and magma residence times between robust and nonrobust East Pacific Rise segments are not significant. Taken together, our observations and measurements suggest that the seismically imaged melt lens of the axial magma chamber does not play a significant role in controlling the crystal content and characters of erupted lavas.


80th (Autumn) Meeting of Ulster Society of Internal Medicine, Friday 17th October 2008 Sir Samuel Irwin Lecture Theatre, Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast.


There are, at the moment, two different personality questionnaires adequately standardized on British school children, both of which purport to measure the same personality dimensions of Introversion-Extraversion and Neuroticism-Stability. These are the Junior Eysenck Personality Inventory (Eysenck, 1965) and the New Junior Maudsley Inventory (Furneaux & Gibson, 1966).

Although these measures both assess two similarly named dimensions (or three, if the Lie scales are included) there has been little, if any, work which has examined the relationship between the tests. Forrest & Hoghughi (1968) have noted that the correlation between the Extraversion scales of the JEPI and the NJMI was far from satisfactory, and 'indicated that only a minor part of the total variance is accounted for by the extraversion element of the scales'. They found, in fact, product-moment correlations of r = +0.42 between the two E scales, and r = +0.66 for the N scales, using a sample of 87 delinquent boys.

As both tests are widely used, it was decided to examine the relationship between them at three age levels with normal children.


Several studies have indicated a link between scalp EEG oscillations of 4 to 9 Hertz and decision making. An unequivocal connection has been lacking, however, as this theta activity has shown a strong correlation with evidence accumulation irrespective of stimulus similarity in a perceptual decision making task, but also increased with the summed similarity of a probe item to studied items in a recognition decision making task. This current study was to deconfound these two variables by recording scalp EEG activity in participants executing two tasks of roughly equal difficulty, but with different similarity computations. The results should provide grounds for establishing a clearer link between either theta oscillations and evidence accumulation independent of stimulus structure, or between theta oscillations and the summing of similarities. In this present study, we showed left parietal theta activity was linked to direct similarity in a perceptional task, and central alpha activity was correlated to response time in a memory task.


Use carbon the maintenance waste products in ceramic weights without application of natural traditional materials for reception heat isolation materials promotes education myllite, anortite, and vollostonite which raise physicomechanical properties of products.


In this survey we first summarize the results on the existence of analytic normalization for general analytically integrable systems to their normal forms and for analytically integrable symplectic Hamiltonian systems to their Birkhoff normal forms. Next we summarize the results on the existence of first integrals for analytic differential systems in a neighborhood of a singularity. Also part of them is related to the existence of embedding flows of analytically integrable diffeomorphisms.


With the frequent occurrences of the violence incidents, research on body armor is paid much attention to. To study the human physiological responses when wearing body armor and to improve the wearing comfort of body armor, a thermal manikin was used to measure the thermal insulation and vapor resistance of two types of body armor (stab-resistance and bulletproof, respectively) in a climate chamber. Results show the coverage levels on body part and material selections on protection layer affect the thermal insulation and vapor resistance of the body armors. Moreover, air temperature and relative humidity of the climate chamber have an influence on the moisture transfer of the body armors. The findings in this study could establish a data support for body armor, with thermophysical property improvement and design optimization. Keywords-stab-resistance; bulletproof; body armor; thermal manikin; thermal insulation; vapor resistance


Steel is one of the strategic products. Its using can influence national economy and national development. Impact of steel using is concern with safety aspect to its users. National Standardization Agency of Indonesia (BSN) have established SNI 07-2052-2002 and then it was adopted as technical regulation, so this SNI became mandatory. Now that of this SNI has been mandatory, producer and infrastructure should have been ready to apply this SNI. Economic benefit of applying this SNI in national can be taken if either sub-standard local or import products are not circulate in the market anymore, so the total economic benefit in applying this standard is Rp. 4.141.905.428.338. This standard Application which is not comprehensive can be burden for producer who apply SNI and circulation of the illegal product will more and more luster and can't be dammed up. So we need to improve quality related to conformity assessment body, surveillance and standard harmonization.


This paper compares the loans granted to male and female entrepreneurs by a French microfinance institution (MFI). The sample period is split in two: before and after the MFI implemented France's regulatory EUR 10,000 loan ceiling. In the first period, the MFI does not co-finance projects with mainstream banks and loan size is gender-insensitive. In the second period, the MFI does co-finance above-ceiling projects with mainstream banks, and we observe a gender gap in loan size. The results suggest that co-financing leads the originally gender-neutral MFI to import disparate treatment from mainstream banks.


A specimen holder with a hard beam tensile device is inserted in a low temperature goniometer stage. The tilting block which has a large convex spherical surface for sliding in the translater block is suspended by two springs above the pole piece and it moves in any direction within about 10° by two driving screws. A low temperature stage installed in the tilting block is cooled by heat conduction through a flexible copper band connected to a liquid nitrogen trap. The specimen holder is easily exchangeable through an air-lock system. The maximum force which can be applied by the specimen holder to the foil specimen is about 3 kg. The dislocation motion in iron and niobium foils was observed at about -100°C.


The purpose of this study was to (a) evaluate the vocal pitch matching skills of college freshman music students and (b) examine the relationships between these skills and selected performance skills, admission criteria used by the School of Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, former music experiences, and personal characteristics of students. The Computer-Based College Pitch Matching Test (CCPMT) employed the first 20 items of the Selected Music Skills Test (SMST) (Etmektsoglou, 1990b) which included single pitches, intervals, and motives/short phrases derived from western tonal music compositions. The SMST was pilot tested on-line and off-line with high school and college students prior to its administration to the CCPMT participants.
The CCPMT was administered individually to 38 music education freshman students during the fall semester of 1990. The test completion time was approximately 15 minutes. Test equipment included a DELL 286 computer (IBM compatible), a Casio MT-240 MIDI keyboard, and an AFI 101 pitch board. The microphone input was converted to digital MIDI information for student assessment. Data were analyzed for accuracy with one percent discrimination. Sampling rate of the AFI interface was 1500 samples/second.
Based on quarter tone tolerance, the vocal pitch matching skills of the freshman music education students who entered the University of Illinois during the fall semester of 1990 were not highly developed as evaluated by the CCPMT. Statistically significant relationships were found between pitch matching, as measured by the CCPMT, and aural skills performance, gender, and aural skills entrance exam. No significant relationships were observed between CCPMT performance and ability to play/sing in tune, SAT/ACT, audition ratings, performance medium, voice tessitura, years of ensemble experience, and years of private instruction. Test results indicated that the CCPMT is a highly discriminating instrument. The reasonably priced hardware was very reliable; therefore, it would be appropriate for use at the grade school, high school and college levels. Further research should focus on software improvements; use of real-time aural and visual feedback; evaluation of sightsinging, sightreading, and instrumental performance; evaluation of rhythm; and systematic analysis of performance mistakes.


The design of platforms for analyzing signals/data requires encoding domain knowledge, defining programming language abstractions and creating an adaptive runtime environment which interfaces with the environment, to enable meaningful inferences. The platform needs to be data driven and context aware. An appropriate computational tool in the platform should enable an automated selection of algorithms and data for making the right inferences with a specified performance. Towards designing a software platform for analyzing data, deriving data driven models, selection of algorithms and enabling feedback mechanisms for adaptation, we propose a service oriented software architecture based on autonomic service components. This approach enables goal relevant decision making and data driven adaptation. The use of Service Component Ensemble Language (SCEL) is highlighted for signal pre-processing based on data driven models. A service broker architecture is proposed to aid in composing services to enable enable algorithm selection and execution for signal preprocessing on biomedical signals for clinical inferences


This work was carried out with the purpose of comparing the chemical composition of papaya fruits (Carica papaya L.) in two stages of ripening, 1 and 5. The analyses indicate that centesimal composition is different according with analyzed part of fruits (skin epicarp, pulp mesocarp and seed) and suggest that there is a change in the content of nutrients between the studied stages of ripening. The contents of proteins (in the skin) and fibers (in the seeds) were the highest in the most advanced stage of maturation. On the other hand, the contents of ethereal extract (in the seeds), ashes (in the pulp) and fibers (in the skin) decreased with ripening.


This retrospective, hospital based, cross sectional study was done at Medical wards of FederalMedical Centre, Umuahia. We reviewed records of unconscious patients that were admitted inthe medical wards over a six month period Oct 2008 to March 2009.During the study period, 135 unconscious patents were admitted, out of a total admission of 604patients. Cardiovascular disease was present in 85 of the unconscious, comprising of stroke (75)hypertensive encephalopathies (7), Cardiac syncope (2) and Transient ischaemic attack (1) .Other causes of uncounsciousness were hyperglycaremic emergencies, 18, HIV encephalopathies10, Hypoglycaemia 6, Seizures 6, Meningitis 6, and Cerebral malaria 4.The results indicate that cardiovascular disease were a major cause of unconsciousness in ourcentre. This study also highlighted the need for comprehensive study of pattern of unconsciousmedical admissions. KEY WORDS : Cardiovascular diseases, Medical Coma, Federal Medical Centre Umuahia


10543 Background: Aberrant methylation of CpG islands is a common mechanism for suppressing gene expression in breast cancer. The methylation profile of primary tumor could serve to detect circulat...


Wellington Chung was a talented scientist and physician educated at Charles University during 1950-55 and practicing in several Czechoslovak cities between 1955 and 1963. Trapped in place without freedom to express his beliefs, opportunity to advance his career, or prospect to reunite with his family, he took his life. Wellington came from a Korean-American family that placed high value on freedom to self-determination and on individual responsibilities in society, and that dedicated their lives to public service. They were nationalists loyal to their homeland, but also appreciative to countries that received them. Wellington himself was resolved to play a responsible role as a student and a marine in the U.S. during his upbringing, then to serve Czechoslovak public during his studies and medical residencies, and to help the Korean society with post-war reconstruction and healing. However, the political regimes in the three countries did not allow him or his family to show their dedication. His relatives were persecuted in the U.S. for their ideological convictions, and his mother perished in Pyongyang for her political connections. Wellington suffered from his isolation and entrapment, as well as from knowing the destiny of his relatives. He knew that his destiny was tightly in the hands of the North Korean and Czechoslovak authorities. Without another way out, he took his life.


This research analyses the way some families experienced the challenge caused by the birth of an abnormal child. Four case studies were investigated (one of them has three families involved) and they all represent histories of success. In this study, I demonstrated how these families were able to promote innovatory changes in order to help their exceptional children overcome many of their complex problems by developing social integration and inclusion. The families and their special children were studied in a daily life and were observed in relation to the services they received in different areas (health, education, habitation,
recreation, religion), after principles of ethics had been taken care of. This study was based in an ethnographic perspective and included the biological, psychic, social and cultural areas. A triangulation of methods was used in a qualitative approach in way which was formed a kaleidoscope in formations and impressions, producing a rich exchange of experiences and Knowledge, in an interdisciplinary perspective. I concluded that the families are a rich source of wisdom and knowledge. The mentally disabled persons assumed gigantic proportions by challenging their limitations and overcoming expectations projected on them. The results showed the benefits achieved by the help of professionals, teachers and institutions and by the intervention of health and education Brazilian politics. It also gave visibility to some unreasonable issues that appeared in the professional and institutional practices.


Interdisciplinary research demonstrates that the extant Hoskins log cabin
(31GF413**), at Tannenbaum Historic Park in Greensboro, North Carolina, is located
on or near an eighteenth-century house site. The Park is part of the Guilford
Courthouse Battlefield National Historic Landmark and is believed to be the location
where General Cornwallis formed the first British line of attack which proceeded into
the current Guilford Courthouse National Military Park. Archaeology and Geography
faculty and students from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro used a
landscape perspective, geographic information systems, and historical archaeology to
explore the occupation of this farm from the American Revolution to the present.


Groundwater offers us few but precious opportunities for alleviating the misery of the poor; but it poses many—and daunting—challenges of preserving the resource itself. A big part of the answer is massive initiatives to augment groundwater recharge in regions suffering depletion; but, in the ultimate analysis, these cannot work without appropriate demand-side interventions. The water vision of a world that future generations will inherit will have to be the one in which groundwater plays its full developmental, productive and environmental role but in a sustainable manner; and the framework of action to realize this vision will mean eschewing the current free-for-all in groundwater appropriation and use, and promoting a more responsible management of this precious resource that is easy to deplete or ruin—through depletion, salinization and pollution


Parents are playing an important role in educating religious values to their children. The morality of future children's behavior is determined by the education and guidance of their parents. In fact, children get their education first in their family. Education in the family runs throughout the ages, through a process of interaction and socialization within the family itself. The value of education is implied in the integrity of the family, both in communication between fellow family members, in the daily behavior of parents and family members. Therefore, parents should always set a good example for their children, because whatever the habits of parents at home will always be imitated by children. The purpose of this study is to focus on the problem of internalization in shaping the morals of children and the values of worship effectively. While in this research, the researcher uses Library Research research that is the collection and analysis of library materials collected from books and various other literature. The results showed that the internalization of religious values that had been embedded from an early age would form good morality. The important role of religious education from parents influences the good behavior of children in the future.


By modifying and optimizing the procedures, which were well described and understood for the synthesis of macroporous alumina, mesoporous alumina–based film has been successfully prepared, In this paper, the orderly mesoporous Al2O3 thin film was prepared by electrochemical workstation, and via supported N‐octyltriethoxysilane (NOS) coupling agent, corrosion inhibitors be loaded into the different pore sizes of mesoporous alumina films. The physicochemical properties of this thin inhibitors carrier film were characterized. Corrosion resistance of mesoporous alumina and honeycomb ceramic macroporous alumina were compared; the conclusion shows that mesoporous alumina film can be used as good corrosion inhibitors carrier and bring out a high‐efficiency inhibition result. Simultaneously, by compared with corrosion inhibition of different pore sizes (20‐50 nm) mesoporous alumina who absorbed NOS, and a general relationship between the different mesoporous alumina pore sizes and the adsorption capacity of NOS was obtained.


Non-intrusive load monitoring (NILM) concerns those techniques used to disaggregate the individual consumption of the different appliances from the aggregated measurements of the electrical power supply. A knowledge about which appliances are used during a time interval may help improve the energy efficiency at home. Furthermore, it may be useful to assist and support the development of independent living of elderly or people with mild cognitive impairments, since it is possible to follow the behaviour of these persons from their energy consumption and the identification of the appliances used over time. In order to reach these objectives, it is necessary to capture the aggregate voltage and current signals at the entrance of the home using a smart meter or a third-party device. Furthermore, the behaviour analysis of a person requires that the collected data are sent to a central node (e.g. a remote server), which carries out the post-processing, thus implying a significant bandwidth. In this work, a proposal for data collection and processing on the edge, as well as the communication and processing on the cloud are presented for a NILM application, which aims to provide assistance in the development of independent living for elderly. For this purpose, the network communication of the smart meter installed at home is described, together with the processing and event detection on the edge. After an event is detected, data are sent to the cloud platform, where the energy disaggregation algorithms are performed, as well as the management of the cloud server. The data acquisition of the voltage and current signals is carried out at 4 ksamples/s and a window of 900 samples around the event for each signal (voltage and current) is sent to the remote server. This reduces the bandwidth required in the cloud communication, sending only the data related to the event while keeping the information required for the energy disaggregation algorithms implemented in the cloud server.


Cold-formed steel (CFS) sections are lightweight material that are made by rolling or pressing thin gauges of sheet steel into goods in a room temperature environment that are usually manufactured into channel sections, Z-sections, hat sections and some other open sections. CFS usage has increased in the recent years as a structural frame not only for residential buildings but also for multi-storey commercial buildings. Therefore, the understanding of the behaviour of CFS sections especially in its connection are important to be studied. This paper describes the behaviour of CFS sections by reviewing the previous studies specifically on bolted connection of cold-formed steel sections, emphasizing on the design guidelines from Euro code 3: BS EN 1993-1-3 and Euro code 3: BS EN 1993-1-8. The findings from previous studies are discussed in this paper.


The 1980 Census Urban Transportation Planning Package (UTPP), a readily available source of recent travel information for all urban areas in the U.S., is useful in development and calibration of work-trip modal split models. Using UTPP data can lead to a successful model calibration without the need for new primary data collection. UTPP provides data for journey-to-work travel only. Models calibrated with UTPP data should be carefully validated against independent data sources, to account for possible differences between the split of workers by usual mode used, and the split of home-based work trips by mode used on an average day.


An ear-insertable protecting device includes a body unit and an integral extending tubular portion adapted to be received in the aperture of the auditory meatus of the ear so it affects a sound seal between the inserted portion and the ear canal with the device having an auditory channel extending therethrough with sound attenuating means located in the auditory channel, includes a cooperating retaining device having a barb at each end which can be plugged into the body unit, in either the auditory channel or another opening provided therefor whereby the device can provide partial or total sound occlusion at the option of the user. In addition, the tubular portion is preferably tapered from the body unit and has a radially extending web wound spirally thereon to facilitate affecting a sound seal with the ear canal without accompanying discomfort. Further, the barb may include a lanyard to prevent loss of the device.


Automated sentiment evaluation techniques are in great demand because of the rising tide of reviews on the internet as well as additional text with emotional nuance. Automatic, granular collection of emotion from written words or phrases is made possible by aspect-based categorization of sentiment (ABSC) owing to the complex structure of natural tongues, the study industry continues to encounter difficulties in accurately identifying and extracting them. In order to anticipate or categorize reviewers' emotions, the authors of this research provide a technique called Attention-based Gated Recurrent Neural Network (A-GRU). It presents the hybrid strategy by integrating word incorporation, POS tagging, & positional contextual data. In contrast to previous research, which has focused on single-channel Recurrent Neural Networks (RNNs), we propose a Multi-Channel Gated Recurrent Neural Networks (MC-GRU). Word insertion, POS tags, & context location information all work together to boost the precision with which aspects & their related attitudes may be identified & predicted. As a result of the filtration applied by the system of attention which initially identified the key phrases, this in turn aids in determining the attributes of entities connected to the stated attitude. Using industry-standard datasets, the empirical study demonstrates the efficacy of the suggested strategy in comparison to the state-of-the-art methods in the aforementioned literature. The experimental findings show that the suggested model outperforms the state-of-the-art methods for the F1-measure, having a total score of 94% on the component extraction test & 98% on the emotional categorization job.


Wood is a sustainable renewable material that is widely used in the building sector. Due to recent trends in green initiatives in European and other countries, wood waste is becoming more popular for sound absorption and insulation because of its renewability. Recycled wood material granulated charcoal is an effective acoustic treatment. In this study, we investigated the sound absorption coefficients of raw wood and granulated charcoal species: birch (Betula pendula), pine (Pinus sylvestris), and oak (Quercus robur). The impedance tube method was used to characterize the sound absorption properties of the granulated charcoal. The maximum bulk densities of the materials investigated were 567 kg/m3 for birch (B. pendula) wood and 247 kg/m3 for granulated charcoal. The airflow resistivity of wood and granulated charcoal was found using the static airflow method according to the standard. The grain size distribution of charcoal was also determined, with the highest percentage (25–29%) of the birch and pine grain distribution of charcoal species having a size of 400 µm and 30.7% of the oak a size of 1 mm. All species had the lowest grain size value, i.e., 900 µm (1–4%). The sound absorption of granulated charcoal does not depend on the carbonization temperature at 400, 500, or 600 °C. Granular charcoal of 25 mm has a better sound absorption thickness coefficient for birch at 600 °C (0.57 at 315 Hz) compared to wood of the same thickness. The effectiveness of absorption for wood and granular charcoal depends on the type of wood (birch > pine > oak), grain size, airflow resistivity, and bulk density.


TAMPERE UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY Master's Degree Programme in Science and Engineering HILLA-MARIA KEIJÄLÄ: Development of a microfluidic liquid handling system for waste water sample analysis Master of Science Thesis, 62 pages, 3 Appendix pages June 2013 Major: Advanced Engineering Physics Examiners: Pasi Kallio, Ilpo Vattulainen


Toward invalidity of the linear ultrasonic technique for nondestructive detection of micro-crack in structures,a frequency-mixing nonlinear ultrasonic technique was developed for micro-crack detecting.Firstly,the mechanism of frequency-mixing and signal processing method for feature extraction were investigated;secondly,By experimental measurement of frequency response of mixing frequencies,the optimum parameters for frequency-fixing detection frequencymixing were determined; experiments for micro-crack detection were conducted in mode of heterolateral excitation,and research focused on the influence of frequencies of excitations on the detection results.It was shown that in mode of heterolateral excitation,not only fatigue micro-cracks in the structure can be detected,but also the position of the defect can be located.Meanwhile,the frequencies of excitations have great influence on signal-to-noise ratio.The performance of damage detection experiments was best when the amplitudes of mixing frequencies are maximum.Therefore,frequency-mixing nonlinear ultrasonic technique is a valid approach for crack detection and location.


The structure of the olivanic acid derivative (1) has been confirmed by a novel β-lactam degradation in dimethyl sulphoxide; application of this reaction has resulted in the structure elucidation of a new antibiotic, MM 17880.


We report on a model for determining spin-spin terms in the optical potential for elastic scattering of a nucleon from a target with nonzero spin. These terms are constructed microscopically by folding a realistic effective nucleon-nucleon interaction, which includes both direct and exchange parts, over the ground state of the target nucleus wave function to generate a nucleon-nucleus potential. The resulting spin-spin tensors are evaluated within DWBA. This general model has been used for the specific calculation of polarization transfer coefficient ${D}_{NN}$, which is unity if there are no spin-spin terms in the optical potential. We have calculated ${D}_{NN}$ for the elastic scattering of 200 MeV protons from ${}^{10}$B, for which relevant experimental data exist. In our model, the folding formalism leads to both local and nonlocal spin-spin tensor interactions, with higher order couplings in the projectile and target spin that have not been explicitly considered before. We have found that the spin-spin interactions derived from this model have a significant effect on the deviation of ${D}_{NN}$ from unity, particularly those derived from the tensor exchange term in the $NN$ interaction. The calculation of ${D}_{NN}$ has also been shown to be particularly sensitive to the parameters of the model used to describe the nuclear structure.


The mission of the International Cartographic Association is to promote the discipline and profession of cartography in an international context.


: The study aimed to identify the knowledge management processes and their role in achieving competitive advantage at Al-Quds Open University. The study was based on the descriptive analytical method, and the study population consists of academic and administrative staff in each of the branches of Al-Quds Open University in (Tulkarm, Nablus and Jenin). The researchers selected a sample of the study population by the intentional non-probability method, the size of (70) employees. A questionnaire was prepared and supervised by a number of specialists in order to obtain the results of the study. The study concluded that there is a positive direct relationship, that is, the higher the degree of application of knowledge management processes, the greater the degree of competitive advantage. Knowledge Technology came first with a score of 80.02% on all items. Competitive advantage came second with 81.74%. In the third place came "knowledge generation" where the total score on all paragraphs in this area (78.24%). In the fourth place, "knowledge transfer" (77.21%). "Developing and storing knowledge" came in fifth place (77.13%). "Acquisition of knowledge" came in sixth place (76.45%). Knowledge Organization ranked seventh (74.26%). The study recommended that the university should enable the employees to benefit from the experiences and expertise available to help generate knowledge. The University encourages the creation of knowledge through the system of incentives and open the way for creators to apply their creations and spread and invest in excellence and creativity. The university should design work performance levels based on the integration of knowledge and organize it according to policies that support freedom of research. The need for Palestinian universities to adopt a knowledge management approach. The need to adopt a system of incentives that rewards cognitive efforts, and give workers enough freedom to enable them to apply their knowledge.


The case of erroneous diagnostics of neuroborreliosis, caused by false-positive serum reactions is described, in particular by an exposure during great while by the method of immunoferment analysis of anti-Borrelia IgM antibody in default of corresponding IgG. Deep serum research – western blotting allowed to eliminate the diagnosis of neuroinfection in behalf on a chronic demyelinating disease.


OF THESIS PERFORMANCE OPTIMIZATION OF A STRUCTURED CFD CODE GHOST ON COMMODITY CLUSTER ARCHITECTURES This thesis focuses on optimizing the performance of an in-house, structured, 2D CFD code – GHOST, on commodity cluster architectures. The basic philosophy of the work is to optimize the cache usage of the code by implementing efficient coding techniques without changing the underlying numerical algorithm. Various optimization techniques that were implemented and the resulting changes in performance have been presented. Two techniques, external and internal blocking that were implemented earlier to tune the performance of this code have been reviewed. What follows is further tuning effort in order to circumvent the problems associated with using the blocking techniques. Later, to establish the universality of the optimization techniques, testing has been done on more complicated test case. All the techniques presented in this thesis have been tested on steady, laminar test cases. It has been proved that optimized versions of the code achieve better performances on variety of commodity cluster architectures chosen in this study.


Results from unconfined compression testing of clay soils have provided evidence that the short term total shearing strength of the soils increased with the presence of randomly distributed polypropyl- ene fiber-reinforcements. The results of a testing program are presented in which the (long term) effective shear strength of fiber-reinforced clay soils is determined utilizing both isotropic consolidated-undrained (ICU) triaxial testing with pore pressure measurement and isotropic consolidated-drained (ICD) triaxial test- ing. Unreinforced and reinforced specimens were prepared at constant water content and density so that ef- fective stress failure envelopes could be defined. The results from the testing program provide insight on the influence of the fiber inclusions on the behavior of the clay specimens during shearing, namely the pore pres- sure generation within the reinforced and unreinforced soil specimens, and the effects of strain rate and drain- age conditions on the effective shearing strength of the reinforced clay. Results from the ICU triaxial testing of fiber-reinforced and unreinforced clay specimens provides evidence that the presence of the fibers changes the behavior of the clay during shearing, which consequently alters the pore pressure generation within the specimens. Results from ICD triaxial tests are presented for the two fiber-reinforced clay soils and compared with the results from the ICU triaxial testing, which provides evidence that the effect of fibers within the clay specimens under ICU testing conditions may lead to a higher estimation of the effective shearing strength as compared to ICD testing conditions.


Objective: To investigate the risk factors of early postoperative death from the modified Fontan operation. Methods: A total of 154 patients received the modified Fontan operation. Right atrio-pulmonary connection was performed in 80 patients, right atrio-ventricular connection in 6 and total cavo-pulmonary connection in 68 cases. Results: The early operative mortality rate was 24.0% (37/154). Preoperative McGoon ratio, preoperative and postoperative atrioventricular valve insufficiency, surgical model, high postoperative right atrial pressure (RAP) (≥ 20mmHg), postoperative arrhythmias and postoperative severe low cardiac output syndrome (LCOS) were risk factors of early postoperative death for the modified Fontan operation. Conclusion: Selecting indication strictly, using of total cavo-pulmonary connection and appropriate postoperative care may improve the outcome of modified Fontan operation.


In this paper, metasurfaces are designed, fabricated and experimentally demonstrated to transmit and receive a mixed-mode orbital angular momentum (OAM) vortex wave. Firstly, the theoretical formula of compensated phase-shift distribution is deduced and used to design the metasurface to produce the mixed-state vortex wave. Then, simulations and near-field scanning experiments are performed to verify that mixed-state vortex waves can be generated and received by using metasurfaces. The receiving experiments for mixed-mode OAM beam are conducted in the near-field zone, covered frequency band from 4.5 GHz to 7.0 GHz. In transceiving experiments, the TX is the proposed reflective metasurface generating the mixed-state OAM wave (P = 2, l1 = 1, l2 = 2), which is composed of square loop elements. The RX is an OAM receiving metasurface composed by crossed dipole elements, which can receive OAM mode l = 1 in vertical polarization but OAM mode l = 2 in horizontal polarization. Experimental results show that mixed-state vortex waves can be detected, received and separated by pure OAM-mode transmitting and receiving reciprocal metasurfaces. The proposed method paves an effective way to generate and detect the OAM vortex wave of mixed modes for microwave wireless communication and detection applications.


Line-averaged values of the structure parameters of temperature and humidity, CT2 and Cq2, were estimated from simultaneous measurements with an optical and a microwave scintillometer over a path of 4.7 km length at the Meteorological Observatory Lindenberg during the LITFASS-2003 experiment. By cross-correlating the detected signals of the two scintillometers, the temperature-humidity structure parameter, CTq, and the temperature-humidity correlation, rTq, were also derived directly from the measurements. Comparison with corresponding values obtained from local measurements with an eddy-covariance system on a meteorological tower show a consistent behaviour in time (with some exceptions especially for Cq2 and rTq during nighttime). The deviations are of a magnitude between 20 % and 35 % of the typical daytime values of the structure parameters.


ABSTRACT Little is known about the status of online learning in the Middle East. This study investigates educational experiences of engineers enrolled in the new joint online ProGreen diploma programme offered by three universities, two in Lebanon and one in Egypt. Forty-eight working engineers responded to an online survey based on the three components of the community of inquiry model: social presence, teaching presence, and cognitive presence. Exploratory factor analysis identified five factors: sense of belonging, self-directedness, self-actualisation, interaction, and instructional guidance. The findings showed that sense of belonging was the factor engineers rated highest but it did not correlate with instructional guidance. However, instructional guidance highly correlated with self-directedness and self-actualisation.


 Are there fire alarms installed on every floor, including the basement, and outside each sleeping area?  Smoke detectors can be on either the ceiling or the wall. If alarms are placed on the wall, they must be between 4 and 12 inches from the ceiling. If alarms are placed on the ceiling, they must be at least 4 inches away from any corners.  Is there an automatic fire sprinkler system?  Make sure you have at least one fire extinguisher.


Let C(V) denote a cofree cocommutative k-coalgebra over a k-linear space V, then C(V) admits a commutative k-Hopf algebra structure. Let B(V) be the irreducible component of C(V) containing the identity element. Some propertien and the structure of B(V) when dim V=1 are given.