Existing studies that consider the techno-economics of residential heating systems typically focus on their performance within present-day energy systems. However, the energy system within which these technologies operate will need to change radically if climate change mitigation is to be achieved. This article addresses this problem by modelling small-scale heating techno-economics in the context of significant electricity system decarbonisation. The current electricity market price regime based on short run marginal costs is seen to provide a very weak investment signal for electricity system investors, so an electricity price regime based on long run marginal energy costs is also considered, using a case study of the UK in 2035. The economic case for conventional boilers remains stronger in most dwelling types. The exception to this is for dwellings with high annual heat demand. Sensitivity studies demonstrate the impact of factors such as price of natural gas, carbon intensity of the central grid and thermodynamic performance. Fuel cell micro combined heat and power shows most potential under the long run electricity price regime, and heat pumps under the short run electricity price regime. This difference highlights the importance of future electricity market structure on consumer choice of heating systems in the future.


An realization of EEG application platform is displayed in this article. EEG signals are gathered and processed by Head-mounted device to obtain control use parameters, which is to be transmitted to the PC platform or the single-chip control system through Bluetooth. The software on the PC platform could make use of the control use parameters, while the single control system could output instructions to control the connected hardware, according to the computation results of the parameters.


This is an updated account of the events which led up to and followed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. The authors aim to answer the many questions that still remain about the events of late 1990 and early 1991 - why did Saddam Hussein invade Kuwait, was a combination of sanctions and diplomacy a viable alternative to war, was the air campaign really precise and how was Saddam Hussein able to survive such a catastrophic defeat?


A free resolution of Z for the integral group ring of the three-dimensional Heisenberg group H 3 has been constructed by extending Lyndon's partial resolution. The integral homology and cohomology have been calculated from there.  AMS Classification: 18G, 20J. Key words: Fox derivatives; free resolution. GANIT J. Bangladesh Math. Soc. (ISSN 1606-3694) 29 (2009) 139-146  DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/ganit.v29i0.8523


The use of biogeochemical zoning of the territories of the Chuvash and Sakha (Yakutia) Republics revealed that due to silicon deficiency in the food biogeochemical chain, the indigenous population had reduced cellular immunity, accumulated residual tuberculous changes leading to higher morbidity, disease aggravation, more frequent complications, high tuberculosis mortality.


This study aims to compare the perceptions and self-efficacy skills of primary school teachers who have taken drama courses to those who have not in terms of the use of drama as a teaching technique. The sample of the study consists of prospective second and third grade teachers enrolled in the Primary School Teaching Department at Ahi Evran University in the 2015-2016 education year spring term. In the Primary School Teaching Department, drama classes are given in the fall term of the third year. Thus, the sample included students from only second and third grades. The study is descriptive, that is, it aims to reveal the current situation in total and makes use of a screening model. The data of the study was gathered using a five-point Likert scale including 40 questions. During the data analysis processes, the researcher made use of frequency, percent, arithmetic average, standard deviation and t-tests. The level of significance of the comparisons was .05. The study findings suggest that the prospective teachers' perspectives on using drama as a teaching method and their self-efficacy skills were moderate. Additionally, there was found to be no significant difference between teachers who have taken drama courses and those who have not in terms of self-efficacy, perceptions and gender.


known as a linguistics popularizer. Then comes his resignation from his university post in 1984 because of the bureaucratic nightmare that his job had become. This sees Crystal moving from Reading back to Holyhead. As an independent scholar he becomes involved in the 'encyclopedia game' (p. 219), broadening his academic scope to include editing the Cambridge University Press general encyclopedia. Crystal describes the 1990s as a 'revolutionary decade' (p. 239) in terms of language, particularly due to the growing influence of the World Wide Web. Crystal's own involvement in language and the internet results in the creation of Crystal Reference Systems. This company leads to the establishment of sense engines with keywords helping to refine searches, useful for advertising and product searches. Crystal sees much more potential for language and the internet and sums up his views of the importance of language with the sentence, 'It is difficult to think of a walk of life which doesn't offer an opportunity for linguistic enquiry' (p. 265). An interesting aspect of Crystal's writing is that he uses a few common themes as analogies for parts of his life. One of these is The Prisoner, a TV series from the 1960s, starring Patrick McGoohan, who Crystal compares to both Randolph Quirk, his lecturer at University College, and himself at different points in the book. Crystal also starts and finishes the book with reference to Dylan Thomas's memories of childhood. In the first chapter he connects Thomas's story to the 'story' (p. 15) of language, noting that neither has a beginning or an end. And in the final chapter he reiterates the point. The discoursal parallelism here emphasizes that language is chaotic and ever changing but that this is its beauty. Studying language reveals its exquisiteness and diverseness, and this is what makes being a linguist so enjoyable. As an entertaining but also an inspiring and educational read I recommend this book wholeheartedly.


Kernel smut, Neovossia horrida (Tilletia barclayana), of rice (Oryza saliva L.) has been a persistent disease in Arkansas for more than 50 yr. Recently, epidemic levels of kernel smut have occurred on highly susceptible cultivars, which have increased awareness within the rice industry of this disease. Nitrogen fertilization treatments consisting of four preflood (50-152 kg N ha -1 ) and three midseason (0-100 kg N ha -1 ) N rates were arranged in a factorial design and used to delineate the effects of N rate and application timing on rice yield and disease incidence and severity in five site-year-cultivar studies (environments). Significant environment × preflood N rate interactions occurred for yield, incidence, and severity. The minimum preflood N rates, averaged across midseason N rates, that produced maximum yields varied among the environments and ranged from 84 to 152 kg N ha -1 . Depending on the environment, disease incidence ranged from 2 to 93% and severity ranged from <0.1 to 4.8% among preflood N rates. Preflood N rate had no significant effect on smut incidence and severity for three environments receiving optimum-to-excessive N and a fourth environment receiving inadequate-to-optimum N. For the remaining environment that received optimum-to-excessive N, incidence increased linearly (43-93%), and severity increased nonlinearly (0.5-4.8%) as preflood N rate increased. Midseason N rate did not affect severity but caused a positive, linear increase for incidence. Data suggest that excessive preflood N has the greater potential to increase kernel smut but only when environmental conditions are favorable for kernel smut.


To provide a theoretical basis for utilizing the resources of Cerasus plants in China, the volatile components among 7 species of Cerasus in Zhejiang Province were compared to understand genetic relationship. The samples were treated by HS-SPME and the pretreatment conditions were optimized. Combined with GC-MS technology, the volatile components from flowers of 7 species of Cerasus were determined, and the difference of them was compared. Then, SPSS 22 software was applied to conduct the PCA of the 7 species of Cerasus flowers. According to the score diagrams, the relationship among the 7 species of Cerasus was visually presented. By optimizing treatment conditions of the samples, the best extraction conditions of SPME were 1.0 g of sample weight, 70°C of heating temperature, 40 min of adsorption. By GC-MS qualitative analysis,42 volatile components were identified from the 7 species of Cerasus, among them, there are 21 kinds of substances identified by Cerasus subhirtella var. ascendens and 7 kinds by Cerasus jingningensis, it is mainly aldehydes, alcohols and esters, with less organic acids, ketones and hydrocarbons, among which aldehydes account for more than 88%, and benzaldehyde is the highest among aldehydes, with the content of more than 80%, this component is not only high in content, but also low in aroma threshold, which plays an important role in the special smell of Cerasus plants. The results of PCA showed that the other Cerasus plants gathered together, except for the macrophytes, which supported the morphological classification to classify them into the Subgen. Micro Cerasus. The results of this study can provide a theoretical basis for the development and utilization of Cerasus resources in China.


Modern Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) are large-scale heterogeneous programmable devices that enable high performance and energy efficiency. Placement is a crucial and computationally intensive step in the FPGA design flow that determines the physical locations of various heterogeneous instances in the design. Several works have employed GPUs and FPGAs to accelerate FPGA placement and have obtained significant runtime improvement. However, with these approaches, it is a non-trivial effort to develop optimized and algorithmic-specific kernels for GPU and FPGA to realize the best acceleration performance. In this work, we present DREAMPlaceFPGA, an open-source deep-learning toolkit-based accelerated placement framework for large-scale heterogeneous FPGAs. Notably, we develop new operators in our framework to handle heterogeneous resources and FPGA architecture-specific legality constraints. The proposed framework requires low development cost and provides an extensible framework to employ different placement optimizations. Our experimental results on the ISPD'2016 benchmarks show very promising results compared to prior approaches.


This study presents a novel approach for simulating the spread of the Omicron variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus using fractional-order COVID-19 models and the Haar wavelet collocation method. The proposed model considers various factors that affect virus transmission, while the Haar wavelet collocation method provides an efficient and accurate solution for the fractional derivatives used in the model. This study analyzes the impact of the Omicron variant and provides valuable insights into its transmission dynamics, which can inform public health policies and strategies that are aimed at controlling its spread. Additionally, this study's findings represent a significant step forward in understanding the COVID-19 pandemic and its evolving variants. The results of the simulation showcase the effectiveness of the proposed method and demonstrate its potential to advance the field of COVID-19 research. The COVID epidemic model is reformulated by using fractional derivatives in the Caputo sense. The existence and uniqueness of the proposed model are illustrated in the model, taking into account some results of fixed point theory. The stability analysis for the system is established by incorporating the Hyers–Ulam method. For numerical treatment and simulations, we apply the Haar wavelet collocation method. The parameter estimation for the recorded COVID-19 cases in Pakistan from 23 June 2022 to 23 August 2022 is presented.


This paper addresses the provision of flexible ramping products by electric vehicle (EV) aggregators under renewable energy production and EV availability uncertainty. The problem is formulated using an adaptive robust optimization model to minimize system operational costs considering the unit commitment decisions, day-ahead, and real-time markets. The solution to this problem provides protection against EV availability, modeled using uncertainty sets while characterizing renewable energy production via scenarios. This problem is solved by Benders decomposition technique using primal cuts. The efficacy of the methodology identifying the robust scheduling of generators and EV aggregators is demonstrated through a realistic case study.


General wave equations for partIcles with arbitrary spin values in de Sitter space are investigated. The particles have generally two sorts of spin like quantum numbers. Solutions of the second order wave equations, which are to be satisfied by each component of wave functions, are obtained. They are composed of only discrete modes of wave oscillations. Behaviours of particles and their potentials in spatially small regions are approximately the same as those of particles with certain other correspon ding masses in the flat space.


We introduced a realized method of taxi dispatch system in detail.In this design,the data transmission is completed via Borland C++.The system can be stored by powerful hardware and software resource of PC.The connecting method is easy.It has broad prospect in application.


The main objective of the paper is to discuss the importance of dynamic optimization models for an effective management of an enterprise. In introduction, there are presented some general ideas about Corporate Governance and its implementation in Romania. In the next section, there are exposed several definitions for Corporate Governance and the principles which must be followed for implementing it. In Section 3 is presented a dynamic model of enterprise management – The Lesourne-Leban model. In the last section we applied the model described above on a corporation in Romania, in order to maximize its market value and we built a dashboard to reflect the results we obtained. The paper ends with some conclusions and with the list of references.


The work of updating the safety analysis report for waste tank operations considers a scenario of explosion due to possible accumulation of hydrogen inside a Type III waste tank. By request of the Interim Waste Technology Division, the structural integrity of the tank and its enclosure vault is evaluated as a consequence of hydrogen explosion.


Trib2 is a member of the Trib family of serine/threonine kinase-like proteins (Trib1, Trib2, Trib3), whose function in hematopoiesis is not documented. To investigate the effects of Trib2 in hematopoietic progenitors, mice were reconstituted with hematopoietic stem cells retrovirally expressing Trib2. Trib2-reconstituted mice uniformly developed fatal transplantable acute myelogenous leukemia (AML), with a median survival of 179 days. Retroviral Trib2 expression in hematopoietic stem cells perturbed myeloid development, enhanced progenitor proliferation, and directly inhibited the function of C/EBPα, a critical transcription factor that is frequently dysregulated in AML. Furthermore, an analysis of microarray data generated from 285 AML patient samples identified elevated Trib2 expression in a distinct subset of patients in a cluster with a high frequency of C/EBPα mutations. In mechanistic studies, we found that Trib2 associated with and led to the proteasomal-dependent degradation of C/EBPα. To determine the structural requirements for Trib2 to inhibit C/EBPα, and to induce AML, we have initiated a structure/function analysis of Trib2. Together, our data identify Trib2 as a novel oncogene that induces AML through a mechanism involving inactivation of C/EBPα. The identification of Trib2 as potent leukemogen points to new pathogenic mechanisms and possible therapeutic opportunities in this aggressive cancer, which is not currently curable in the majority of patients.


In a recent paper, we discussed the formation of black holes in non-symmetric gravity. That paper was then criticized by Cornish and Moffat. In the present paper, we address the arguments raised by Cornish and Moffat. In summary, we do not see any reason to doubt the validity of our former conclusions.


This article analyzes and studies the importance of establishing a real estate information system in the real estate market. The research content of this article includes improving the efficiency of data utilization, formulating the important support of marketing strategy, and the inevitable trend of marketing system reform. The author studies the system technical route analysis, functional module design, logical hierarchical structure design, overall database design, data collection and storage method design, system key technology application, etc. The purpose of this article is to improve the applicability of information systems to regional development and to enhance the use value of big data technology itself.


Objective To explore the frequencies and phenotype of myeloid and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (mDC and pDC) in chronic HCV infection and to investigate the relationships between DC frequencies and HCV viral load and serum ALT level. Methods PBMC were isolated from chronic HCV infected patients and healthy control. Multi-color flow cytometry was used to analyze the frequencies and surface marker expression on mDC and pDC. The relationship between DC frequencies and viral load and ALT level was also calculated. Results In comparison with healthy control, frequencies of mDC and pDC in chronic HCV infection were significantly decreased (0. 37 ± 0. 19 and 0. 19 ± 0. 12 vs 0. 51 ± 0. 18 and 0. 29 ± 0.13, P<0.05). The frequency of mDC was negatively correlated with HCV viral load (r= -0.5878, P < 0. 0001 ) and serum ALT level ( r = - 0. 4628 , P = 0. 003 ). Both costimulatory markers ( HLA-DR, CD83, CD86, and CD40) and coinhibitory marker (PD-L1) expression on mDC and pDC in HCV infection were increased (P<0.01 for costimulatory marker, P<0.05 or F<0.01 for coinhibitory marker). Conclusion The frequencies of mDC and pDC in chronic HCV infection were decreased, while the expression of costimulatory markers and coinhibitory marker were increased or not decreased in HCV infection. The decreased frequency of mDC was probably related to persistance of HCV infection.

Key words:
Hepatitis C;  Myeloid dendritic cells;  Plasmacytoid dendritic cells;  Flow cytometry


The utility model relates to percutaneous puncture focus exenteration device, which comprises a shell, a needle holder, an outer sleeve, a pull handle, a taking inner core, a reset spring, an outer sleeve seat and a nut, wherein the shell is provided with a positioning spring plate; the needle holder is arranged in the shell in a sliding way, the back end of the needle holder is provided with a pull convex edge, and the surface of the needle holder, on which the pull convex edge is positioned, is provided with a positioning convex block; when pulling back the pull handle, the positioning convex block is propped against the free end of the positioning spring plate to lead the needle holder to press the reset spring and lead the needle holder to realize buckling and positioning in the shell; the needle holder is fixedly provided with the outer sleeve seat, the outer sleeve seat can be installed on the outer sleeve through the nut; the front section of the taking inner core is inserted into the outer sleeve, the back end of the taking inner core is fixed on the pull handle, the extending part of the taking inner core, which extends toward the back of the pull handle, is served as an electrode contact, the front end of the pull handle is provided with a pull claw, the front end of the pull claw is provided with a pull hook, and the pull hook is matched with the pull convex edge; and when the pull handle is pushed forward, the pull hook can make the free end of the positioning spring plate separate from the positioning convex block, and the needle holder is reset under the action of the reset spring.


The focus of this research was to analyze the dose rate profile around a waste repository using Monte Carlo techniques. Dose rates at various heights and distances were analyzed outside of the waste repository using MCNPX [1]. The heights measured extended the height of the building and the distances varied between 0 and 22 m away from the waste repository. The simulation data were fitted by smooth analytical functions for different height levels and distances, such that vertical and horizontal dose rates as functions of source-detector distance were achieved.Copyright © 2013 by ASME


The Authors report their experience in the use of Echo color Doppler in acute scrotum. The study is based on the treatment on 121 patients from 2 to 43 years (mean 19 years) affected by acute scrotal disease using an Acuson 128 with a 7 MHz linear probe and a Doppler frequency of 5 MHz. Of 57 patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute torsion of the spermatic cord only 21 (36.8%) had an absence of blood flow confirmed echographically. In 55 patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute epididymal flogosis, 46 (83.6%) were confirmed echographically. In the other subjects 5 acute spermatic cord torsion (9.1%), 2 hematomas in testicular neoplasia (3.6%) and 2 spontaneous hematomas were discovered. In the remaining 9 cases, wjth a history of scrotal trauma, the echographic patterns showed a scrotal hematoma and the integrity of the tunica albuginea or the lack of it. After having compared the US color Doppler with other instrumental techniques for acute scrotum, the Authors conclude by considering this procedure the most indicated for all acute scrotal diseases.


Mass spectrometrical measurements of the off gas composition formed in the anodic oxidation or catalytic decomposition of hydrazine at platinized platinum, Raneynickel and amalgamated sintered nickel as electrocatalysts show that only up to 4% of the oxidation of hydrazine occurs via N -N-bond splitting.


In early project stages often no simulation
results are available for dividing wall columns. Hence, shortcut methods are used
to estimate suitable vapor and liquid splits. In a previous paper it was shown
that Vmin diagrams are a suited
tool to satisfy this need. However, it has turned out that it shows weaknesses
for columns with finite or non-optimal stages. This contribution closes that
gap and presents an extended approach to derive suited initial guesses. For
this purpose, the original Vmin diagram is combined
with a heuristic approach to calculate Pareto-optimal column designs resulting in
a stage-adapted Vmin diagram. A comparative
study shows that the new approach is a powerful tool to generate reliable
guesses for multiple dividing wall column simulations with finite stage
numbers.


The aim of the paper is the usability analysis of the user interface of movie-related websites in terms of universal design. The analysis was performed in order to verify the influence of fulfilling the universal design concepts on services usability. The studies were based on two interfaces: Filmweb and the one designed by the authors. For the purpose of analysis the following research methods were used: questionnaires, eye-tracker and validator tests. Moreover, there was compliance with World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) and Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards checked. Ten participants aged 23-25 took part in the study. Results analysis have shown that fulfilling universal design conceptions significantly increases usability of the interface.


The work of Edward White in analysis, bearer of a narrativity, thematizes a certain mismatch of man with himself that induces a project of initiation towards a demand for identification. Between the concrete nothing and the projected everything arises the difficulty in setting a value. To achieve the union of the self to itself (the ideal to the real), the subject craves for affiliations (amorous/sexual) that enable him to resolve the dualities that mark his existence (life/death, male/female, self/other). From a search for the topophilic space, emerges the feminine as a figure of mediation in familiar recreation (Buescu), by the confluence of motherliness and genitality. However, the possible euphoria in the instant of the erotic encounter is eliminated by the inherent mobility of the female figure that contradicts the desire for fixation in the fullness of the erotic encounter.


ABSTRACT This study discusses the interactions between social policies and aging experiences among immigrant Chinese elders in the U.S. Using a life course perspective, the authors analysed how personal, familial, and environmental factors collectively shaped older immigrants' home-making experiences in a foreign land. Based on qualitative data from 21 in-depth qualitative interviews with older Chinese adults living in Atlanta, Georgia, this study revealed that older Chinese adults experienced a cultural shift after immigration – from an emphasis on inter-generational interdependence to the American value of independence. Favourable social policies and available ethnic-specific social services played a key role in this trans-cultural move to independence. Ethnic-specific social service organisations created a buffer zone that provided transnational social care for these seniors. Findings shed light on the interplay between personal actions, cultural values, and national policies in the lives of older Chinese immigrants in the U.S.


Teaching contents of bridge structural systems are very important in bridge engineering course.Of the traditional teaching method,the structural systems are independently explained according to the text content.The teaching effect is poor,non-systematic,and inconsistent.Starting from the moment diagram of the simple-supported beam bridge,we presented how to reduce the bending moment of beam and performed evolution of all bridge engineering structural systems.


W e sincerely appreciate Moran and colleagues' contributions to the discussion about implementing misoprostol for postabortion care (PAC). Many organizations are now working on this issue and sharing information and best practices, as Moran et al. did in their letter, is beneficial to the whole field. They underscore key issues, especially around stakeholder support and sustainable availability of mis-oprostol. Their data from Zimbabwe about providers' perception of women's preferences are significant, both because those providers also see the need for women to have options for care, and because it is another example Á like ours Á of providers being the voices for women. Currently, data related to women's perspectives regarding misoprostol for PAC (MPAC) are limited to acceptability of this service (1Á5). While acceptability of MPAC is clearly necessary, understanding women's preferences for PAC treatment modalities is an important area for future research, so services can best meet women's needs. Moran et al. additionally highlight the importance of ensuring that information presented to patients regarding MPAC is not only scientifically accurate but also culturally appropriate. We support Moran et al.'s point about introducing misoprostol in sites which do not offer manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and add that a functional referral system must be established for women who may choose vacuum aspiration, who are not eligible for misoprostol, or those who may develop complications that require vacuum aspiration as an intervention. This is consistent with guidance by the World Health Organization (6) but was not part of the design in Kenya where implementation was being done on a pilot basis and before WHO made the recommendation. The model that is promising for the future is to have a referral centre with both services (MVA and MPAC) being fed with referrals from smaller centres that provide MPAC only. Given that misoprostol is inexpensive, stable at room temperature, and easy to use, we expect further expansion of MPAC into sites where it is the sole method available in the future. There is much to be learned by studying such an implementation, particularly across different facilities and among different cadres of health providers. A randomized trial of oral misoprostol versus manual vacuum aspiration for the treatment of incomplete abortion in Kampala, Uganda. B. Comparison of misoprostol and manual vacuum aspiration for the treatment of incomplete abortion. Lankoande J, et al. Is misoprostol a safe, effective, acceptable alternative to manual vacuum aspiration for post abortion …


Based on the objective reality of the ideological and political work in higher education, the paper analyses the importance of strengthening the staff construction of ideological and political work and points out the problems existing in the present staff construction of ideological and political work. The paper also presents some measures for strengthening the staff construction of ideological and political work, focusing on the development of the staff quality.


ABSTRACT Boundaries of land mammal ages have rarely been addressed. Now that North American land mammal ages are well ordered and reasonably well calibrated, it is fitting to seek more rigorous guidelines for the definition and recognition of their boundaries. Criteria for recognizing boundaries of land mammal ages are discussed briefly, with selected examples of problems in boundary recognition. The boundary of a land mammal age should be defined as (a) the appearance of a single taxon, preferably an immigrant, that is morphologically distinctive, widespread and well represented, taxonomically stable; and (b) strata where the boundary event is recorded should be well sampled, both above and below the level where the "boundary event" taxon appears. The Hemingfordian/Barstovian boundary is reviewed and the boundary redefined, based on the appearance of the cricetid rodent Copemys. This small mammal best meets the criteria for a "boundary event" taxon discussed in the text. The revised Hemingfordian/Barstov...


ABSTRACTThe objective of this research are (1) to describe how Dyadic Essay could improve grammar mastery in writing recount text by applying the appropriate type of Dyadic Essay, kind of recount text, and kind of exercises needed by the students; (2) to describe the class situation when the Dyadic Essay is implemented in teaching writing recount text.The method of this research is a classroom action research. The subject of the research is eighth grade students of SMP Negeri 15 Purwonegaran, class VIII-A Surakarta. The research was conducted from October 2014 to October 2015 and the treatment was conducted from January 2015 to February 2015 and it was carried out in two cycles in 8 meetings. The procedures of the research consist of planning, acting, observing, and reflecting. The results of the research were obtained from comparing score among pre-test, test in cycle 1, and test in cycle 2. To analyze the data, I used quantitative and qualitative data.The result of the research showed that Dyadic Essay technique could improve students? grammar mastery in writing recount text especially writing personal recount. The exercises needed by the students are (1) reading the text as a basic material to practice writing; (2) making essay question and model answer at home as homework; and (3) doing the essay based on recount text procedures. Students are able to use the seven specific elements of grammar in recount text better than before conducting the research. The mean score from pre-test is 48.8 increased to 60.51 in cycle 1 and 69.4 in cycle 2. From the classroom situation, I found that (1) the students had stronger intrinsic motivation and greater interest in the topic; (2) the students? active participation in writing class increased; (3) Dyadic Essay technique is helpful for working in pairs and independent activities.Based on the result of the research, it can be concluded that Dyadic Essay technique can improve students? grammar mastery in writing recount text. Therefore, I recommend teachers and students to use Dyadic Essay technique as an alternative technique in teaching-learning of writing.Keywords: grammar, independent activity, working in pairs, writing, and classroom action research


This paper discusses history of choice of law rules for interpreting ambiguous language and criticizes current approaches that apply foreign rules of interpretation and construction when doing so frustrates the intent of parties.


In order to measure the thickness of the rusted bronze layer quickly and accurately, an active infrared thermal imaging technique is developed. Pulse flash lamp was used to excite the surface of the specimen, and infrared thermal imager was used to record the temperature decay of the specimen surface before and after flash. This paper presents a pulse thermal imaging multi-layer analysis method (PTI-MLA) which consists of a pulsed thermal imaging (PTI) system to acquire experimental data and a multilayer analysis (MLA) data-processing algorithm to derive parameters of the corroded bronze. This paper studies a bronze pot fragment from the China's Spring and Autumn period excavated in Sujialong site, Hubei province. The corrosion thickness map of the fragment is calculated and analyzed by PTI-MLA method. Comparing the measured values with the CT scanning results, the error is less than 10%. The final result indicates that the PTI-MLA method can be used to measure the thickness of rust layer on the surface of bronze ware and obtain high-precision thickness images.


Light presents a revealing look at how thick government bureaucracy really is, how and why thickening occurs, what difference it might make, and what can be done to both reverse the process and keep the thickening from growing back. He shows how the management layers between the top and bottom of government-between air traffic controllers and the Secretary of Transportation, food inspectors and the Secretary of Agriculture, and so on-have steadily increased. He explains how a government of managers means the president has very little direct access or control over what happens far below, a basic problem of accountability. The author concludes that practically nothing by way of quality management, service government, or employee involvement can work with these towering government agencies. But practically nothing will fail if a radical "down-layering" is undertaken now.


Through analysis of the drilling load characteristics, considering the drilling speciality, basic power driving requirement of the geological drill and automotive emission requirement, this paper discuss how to select power in design of mobile drill rig, engine selection of DPP100 series.


In order to protect the forest tourist natural resources,to make full use of the superiority of plentiful forest resources and to promote continuous development of forest tourism,a study on this subject in 1998 was made.As a result of years' hard work,Mount Meng forest living communities are steady with tourist surroundings beautiful and gained remarkable bio ecological,social and economic benefits.


We present an overview of phase field modeling of active matter systems as a tool for capturing various aspects of complex and active interfaces. We first describe how interfaces between different phases are characterized in phase field models and provide simple fundamental governing equations that describe their evolution. For a simple model, we then show how physical properties of the interface, such as surface tension and interface thickness, can be recovered from these equations. We then explain how the phase field formulation can be coupled to various active matter realizations and discuss three particular examples of continuum biphasic active matter: active nematic-isotropic interfaces, active matter in viscoelastic environments, and active shells in fluid background. Finally, we describe how multiple phase fields can be used to model active cellular monolayers and present a general framework that can be applied to the study of tissue behaviour and collective migration.


Objective To determine the effectiveness and safety of prolonged versus short course of indomethacin for the treatment of patent ductus arteriosus(PDA)in preterm infants and the plasma 6-Keto PGF1α levels,pre-and post treatment.Methods Totally 56 infants of gestational ages 27 to 36 weeks were randomized to either short course regime group(0.2 mg/kg/dose in 36 hours)or prolonged low-dose indomethacin regime group(0.15 mg/kg/dose in 48 hours).Echocardiography was done 24 to 72 hours after the last dose of the drug.Plasma 6-Keto PGF1α levels were tested before and after treatment.The primary outcome measure was ductal closure rate,and other outcomes,as well as side effects.Results Primary PDA closure occurred more in the prolonged course group(75% vs 64%,RR:1.17,95%CI:0.823-1.654).The incidence of transient oliguria was higher in the short course dose group,32% vs 7%,RR:0.22,95% CI:0.053-0.938.6-Keto PGF1α plasma level)had statistical difference before and after treatment,but had no difference between the 2 dosing regiments.ConclusionsThere was no difference in efficacy between the 2 dosing regimens.The prolonged course indomethecin group had a lower rate of oliguria,with the similar rate of necrotizing enterocolitis and the other short-term morbidities and outcome.The prolonged course indomethecin may be as effective as the short course,with fewer side effects.Plasma level 6-KetoPGF1α dimished after the treatment.


Objective: To study the expression and distribution of laminin(LN) in the mouse early embryos during the various stages of development. And to inquire further the relationship of LN with embryo differentiation and implantation of blastocyst. Methods: Indirect immunofluorescence technique and immunohistochemical ABC method were used to observe LN in mouse early embryos during the various stages of development. Results: Strong immunofluorescence or brown granules for LN staining were found in the blastomere of pronucleus stage, two cell to eight cell stage, but not in the extracellular matrix. In morula, positive LN immunoreactive substance appeared simultaneously in both blastomere and extracellular matrix. LN chiefly distributed in the inner cell mass and between trophoblasts in early blastocyst. When it was later blastocyst, LN expression was enhanced in trophoblast cells, but not in the extracellular matrix. And strong positive LN immunoreactive substance was also found in the inner cell mass and polar trophoblast cells. Conclusion: LN existed in the blastomere during early mouse embryo development; LN appeared in extracellular matrix in morula; LN in the polar trophoblast cells and inner cell mass increased when blastocyst intruded into endometrium; LN in early mouse embryos was related to embryo development, attachment and implantation.


The aim of the paper is to supply updated air convective coefficients by means of three empirical correlations set forth by Zukauskas, Churchill and Hilpert for cylindrical bodies in cross-flow. In this study, low Reynolds numbers and air velocities within the range of were considered, hence, sundry values of convective coefficients were obtained and applied in a lumped heat capacity model. Finite element analysis simulations were implemented, exhibiting good conformity based on these correlations. The findings show that among the three methodologies, Zukauskas's correlation presents minimum standard deviation and the maximum standard deviation is presented by Hilpert's correlation , Churchill correlation presents a standard deviation of . The results are reliable and can therefore be used for analyzing heat convection.


The following natural phenomenom appears to be little known and even less understood, despite the ease with which it may be observed and the elementary nature of the mathematics required for a reasonably accurate explanation: since the daylight is shortest at the winter solstice, one (especially one who must rise early!) would expect sunrise to occur earlier each day following the solstice. Nevertheless, as the data [1] in Table 1 show, the sunrise continues to occur later each day (in fact, for about two weeks) after the winter solstice.


GAIL KERN PASTER, Humoring the Body: Emotions and the Shakespearean Stage. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2004. 288 pp. $35.00.CAROL THOMAS NEELY, Distracted Subjects: Madness and Gender in Shakespeare and Early Modern Culture. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2004. 264 pp. $21.95.SUSAN ZIMMERMAN, The Early Modern Corpse and Shakespeare's Theatre. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2005. 214 pp. £45.00.Shigehisa Kuriyama writes, "the history of the body is ultimately a history of ways of inhabiting the world" (237; qtd. in Paster, Humoring 134). Recovering that ontological and phenomenological history, though, is no easy task. Humans, regardless of the time or culture into which they are born, perceive through their senses, move through time and space, and die. The way we inhabit the world and the meaning we make of our experiences in it feel natural. Our tendency to assume certain human experiences to be universal and natural, to assume a prediscursive essentialism, has produced innumerable flawed readings of other cultures. Many studies of the body's history recapitulate the flaw in Levi-Strauss's theorization of the incest taboo. Levi-Strauss's sex-is-to-gender-as-nature-is-toculture analogy imagines sexual difference as a biological fact, a pre-discursive truth, but as Judith Butler has contended, any gesture to the originary, pre-symbolic body disregards the cultural construction inherent in the terms "sex," "body," and even "materiality" itself (Gender Trouble 37; Bodies 1-12).One recent reiteration of this fallacy occurs in Michael Schoenfeldt's Bodies and Selves in Early Modern England: Physiology and Inwardness in Spenser, Shakespeare, Herbert, and Milton. Schoenfeldt argues that the selfregulation of the humoral body allowed early modern subjects to "produce the parameters of individual subjectivity" (15) and claims that within this "discourse of self-regulation . . . [we] may begin to make a space for something recognizably modern" (39). Schoenfeldt also takes issue with Gail Kern Paster's reading of the humoral body in The Body Embarrassed, stating that Paster "tends to pathologize the leaky body" (15), rather than read it as a site of selffashioning: "humoral theory encouraged not carnivalesque liquefaction but rather the careful maintenance of constitutional solubility" (15). Schoenfeldt's reading of humoral theory, though, ignores the inscription of class, race, and especially gender on the early modern body. As Paster points out in Humoring the Body, his reading "mistakenly presumes an unmarked "'individual' prior to biological-that is to say hierarchical-classification" (21).Our attempts to see ourselves, to inscribe our own ontological "realities" onto other cultures, also reveal themselves in the very foci of our studies. Since Burckhardt, numerous scholars have identified the Renaissance as the midwife to modern subjectivity, the moment when the concept of individuality was born. Even with our acknowledgment of the early modern period as pre-Cartesian, prior to the mind-body split, our studies tend to reproduce this rift: Paster's The Body Embarrassed: Drama and Disciplines of Shame in Early Modern England and Katharine Maus's Inwardness and Theater in the English Renaissance are two of several such studies. Most recently, we have been obsessed with objects, reaching our hands into the past to finger fabrics, taste the exotic, and marvel at the technologies. The movement from new historicism to cultural materialism has ushered in a variety of deliberations on the materiality of the body and the cultural nexus of bodily discourses. How do religious and scientific explanations of the body affect the subject's lived experience in the world? This narcissistic scholarship is not in itself a bad thing, provided we are aware of our predilection to see ourselves in others and provided we resist the urge to view our "nature" and "natural" constructions as normative or pre-discursive. …


A rototiller pushed by operator behind (10) comprising: a body (11); a pair of left and right wheels (13, 13) mounted on opposite ends of a shaft (13a) extending transversely to the feed body; tilling device (15) arranged in the body forward feed wheel; and a handlebar-shaped loop (18) having proximal portions (61, 62) which extend from rear portions of obliquely body backward and upward, and a transverse portion (68), where the tiller pushed by operator behind (10) is configured to exhibit a first movement operation in which the device tillage (15) till the soil, characterized in that the tiller pushed by operator located behind (10) is configured to undergo a second movement operation in which the device tILLING (15) travels along or makes a turn on the ground surface (g) while the device laboreo is arranged separately to the surface of the earth connection and to undergo a third movement operation in wherein the device tILLING (15) is maintained generally horizontal to the ground surface and in that the shaped handle loop includes left and right horizontal grips (64, 65) extending rearwardly substantially horizontally from rear ends proximal portions of the handlebar (61, 62) and configured to be grasped by an operator to hold the device generally horizontal tilling the soil surface during the third movement operation; right (66, 67) extending upwardly from rear ends of the left and right horizontal grips substantially orthogonally to the oblique proximal portions (61, 62) of the handle and configured to be tilted forward left upstream portions and and to down by the operator during the first operation of movement to make the tilling device (15) till the earth; and the transverse portion (68) interposed between the upper end of the left and right rising portions and and configured to be gripped and depressed by the operator to produce a downward force tending to lift the device TILLING (15) upward about the axis rotational (13a) feed wheels (13, 13) to maintain the tilling device (15) in spaced relation from the surface of the earth (g).


ABSTACT The present study was conducted to compare the ability of methanolic and aqueousextracts of shoots of dendrophthoe falcate for antimicrobial activity. An antimicrobial substance that kills or inhibit the growth of microorganisms such as bacteria, fungi, etc. About 2 kg of shade dried powder of shoots of dendrophthoe falcate was extracted with petroleum ether (60°80°) for 24 hrs by using soxhlet apparatus. After completion of extraction the solvent was removed under reduced pressure and the extractive was determined.The marc left after petroleum ether extraction was dried and extracted with methanol for 24hrs. Methanolic and aqueous extracts of dendrophthoe falcate was established. Four human pathogenic microorganisms, such as Shigella flexneri, Staphylococcus epidermidis, Bacillus subtilis, E. coli were used in the study for the evaluation of the antimicrobial activity. The more antimicrobial activity was found with aqueous extracts in the form of zone of inhibition (Shigella flexneri (17 mm), Staphylococcus epidermidis (25mm), Bacillus subtilis (20mm) and E. coli (22mm). All the strains shown zone of inhibition against aqueous extracts, but only two strains shown zone of inhibition against methanol extracts (Staphylococcus epidermidis (15mm), Bacillus subtilis (19mm).


The ontogenesis of the organs of the lateral-line system of the alpine newt (Triturus alpestris) was examined with special emphasis on the ampullary organs using resin embedded thick sections. The mechanoreceptive neuromasts and the electroreceptive ampullary organ were indistinguishable prior to hatching. At hatching only few ampullary organs were found around the eye. These organs consist of one or two egg-shaped sensory cells and a few supporting cells. The ratio of ampullary organs and neuromasts changes from 1:15.6 (stage 36) to 1:1.1 (stage 62). The number of unidentifiable organs decreases constantly over this period of time and becomes zero at the oldest stages observed. Besides an absolute numerical increase in both types of organs both grow by increasing the number of cells per organ. Comparison with the development of the ampullary organs in catfish shows a striking similarity which suggest either similar functional constraints acting on both catfish and newts or can be interpreted as an indication of homology of both types of organs.


This paper presents an efficient yield optimization approach using k-means clustering algorithm to reduce Monte Carlo (MC) simulations. This approach uses a commercial electrical simulator and PDK models for evaluation purposes. The method was integrated in an analog IC design flow that includes the AIDA-C circuit sizing optimization tool. The proposed yield estimation technique reduces the number of required MC simulations during the optimization process. The simulated solutions are the most likely to populate the Pareto optimal front and result from a selection process based on a modified k-means algorithm. The proposed approach leads 75% reduction in the total number of the MC simulations for the presented case study.


During the past few years, there have been dramatic accomplishments and success of high temperature solar thermal systems and significant development of these systems. High temperature technologies, about 500 F and higher, such as dish engines, troughs, central receiver power towers and solar process heat systems, have been tested, demonstrated and used in an array of applications, including many cost-effective utility bulk power production and demand side supply projects in the United States. Large systems provide power and hot water to prisons, schools, nursing homes and other institutions. Joint ventures with industry, utility projects, laboratory design assistance and other activities are building a solid industry of US solar thermal systems ready for use today.


Non-uniform memory access (NUMA) architectures feature asymmetrical memory access latencies on different CPU nodes. Hybrid memory systems composed of non-volatile memory (NVM) and DRAM further diversify memory access latencies due to the relatively large performance gap between NVM and DRAM. Traditional NUMA memory management policies fail to manage hybrid memories effectively and may even hurt application performance. In this paper, we present HiNUMA, a new NUMA abstraction for memory allocation and migration in hybrid memory systems. HiNUMA advocates NUMA topologyaware hybrid memory allocation policies for the initial data placement. HiNUMA also proposes a new NUMA balancing mechanism called HANB for memory migration at runtime. HANB considers both data access frequency and memory bandwidth utilization to reduce the cost of memory accesses in hybrid memory systems. We evaluate the performance of HiNUMA with several typical workloads. Experimental results show that HiNUMA can effectively utilize hybrid memories, and deliver much higher application performance than conventional NUMA memory management policies and other state-of-the-art work.


A new technique has been developed for evaluation of shear wave velocity based soil liquefaction resistance criteria by centrifuge tests. It involves the application of bender elements in centrifuge tests to measure shear wave velocity while investigating the liquefaction features of a saturated model. A total of 6 models were tested. Shear wave velocity and shear modulus profiles of the models were obtained. Currently used case history based soil liquefaction criteria were examined. The results show that there is an obvious difference in soil liquefaction resistance before and after the application of an earthquake. It is concluded that currently used case history based soil liquefaction resistance criteria developed from the mixed parameters measured before and after earthquakes need to be modified to take into account this difference.


The invention discloses a pure Chinese medicine disinfectant and a process for preparing the same, which aim at providing a disinfectant with low cost, simple and convenient use and fine sterilization effect, and solve the technical problem that the existing disinfectant has strong irritation, large toxic effect and side effect and hidden using safety hazards. Selected raw medicinal materials and weight proportions thereof respectively include 20 parts of chinaberry flower, 10 parts of wrinkled gianthyssop herb, 15 parts of Chinese atractylode rhizome, 15 parts of Chinese mugwort leaf, 30 parts of tangerine peel and 30 parts of lightyellow sophora root. The process for preparing the disinfectant is selected from processes of 1, water boiling, 2, distillation, 3, reflux and 4, impregnation. The pure Chinese medicine disinfectant has strong bactericidal effect on gram-negative bacteria and gram-positive bacteria, and has the advantages of no irritation, no toxic effect or side effect, no residues, no pollution and capability of being widely applied to sterilization in environment, livestock and poultry houses and body surfaces of livestock and poultry.


The introduction to the book makes explicit both the focus: "the study of meaning and interpretation in one language: English", and the target readership: "students who are beginning an advanced study of English at university or college" and their teachers. It also makes explicit its writers' aims, which are admirable (and ambitious), the approach used and some of the assumptions underlying the approach. Each of the four sections is written by one of four writers, and there has deliberately been no attempt to homogenize their voices.


The therapeutic failures and the increasingly high costs of treating resistant bacterial infections calls for alternative means of care. The present study was initiated to evaluate the antifungal properties of the Harungana madagascariensis methanol barks extract and potent interactions with some usual drugs. The extract was prepared by maceration of the dry stem bark powder in methanol. Phytochemical analysis was carried out by colorimetric assays. Antifungal activity as well as interactions between extract, Nystatin or Fluconazole was evaluated by broth microdilution method. The therapeutic efficacies of H. madagascariensis extract and Fluconazole – extract mixture as compared to Fluconazole extract was studied in experimental models of oral and vulvovaginal candidiasis in rats by oral route. Results showed that methanol extract of H. madagascariensis stem barks had antifungal activity ranging from 128 to 1024 μg/ml. This extract also had a fungicidal activity on all of the tested yeasts. Moreover, the extract presented in vitro synergetic and additive interactions with Nystatin and Fluconazole. In both oral and vaginal infection model, all the treatment significantly reduced (P < 0.05) the number of colony formant unit (UFC) of C. albicans compared with untreated control. Moreover, significant decrease in the percentage of animals showing positive cultures was observed in rats treated with Fluconazole-extract mixture. In both therapeutic efficacy studies, the histological findings confirmed the microbiological results. The results of this study constitute a base for the usage of H. madagascariensis stem barks in association with Fluconazole to overcome yeast infection.


Treatment of eye lesions with beta radiation from a radon applicator was introduced in Lund in 1949 by EBENIUS et coIl. (CEDERQUIST, CRISTIANSSON, EBENIUS, and LARSSON 1957), who used essentially the same method as that described by ILIFF 1947, in which the radon glass bulb was enclosed in a metal container attached to a 36 em rod. The radiologist was protected against the beta radiation from the applicator by lead rubber gloves and apron, but no special precautions were taken against the gamma radiation. After the introduction of a film badge control in L951 for all the personnel in the department it was found that those radiologists carrying out this type of treatment were receiving a considerable amount of radiation. The hazards were therefore made the object of a detailed investigation. The radiologist stands at the end of the table behind the head of the patient during the treatment and places the applicator on the point to be treated, remaining in this position in order to watch the patient continuously as the treatment is carried out. The treatment time is about 2 minutes for a 50 mC source, which is the one usually employed at this department.


Hypothyroidism and obesity are two major metabolic health problems in current era leading further to many complications. For clinical and subclinical hypothyroidism, oral intake of levothyroxine is the only standard treatment which is also not universally accepted. In present paper, a case of obese, hypothyroid with hair fall and loss of enthusiasm has been described which was treated as a case of obesity with oral administration of 40ml Sesamamum indicum seed oil once a day for ten days. She was on levothyroxine 100mg once a day since 9 years, which was continued during these 10 days. After 10 days her serum thyroxin stimulating hormone (TSH) level, lipid profile values, weigh, waist:hip ratio were decreased remarkably. Sesamum indicum seed oil possess sukshma (~can pass through very minute channels), tikshana (~penetrating) and vyavaati propert¬¬¬¬¬¬ies according to Aayurveda. It enhances effect of co-administered drugs. It is indicated in both lean and obese in Aayurveda. Probably it acts by correcting metabolism because of these properties. From this case study it can be concluded that, Sesamum indium reduces serum TSH level along with reduction in weight and lipid profile values in obese hypothyroid on levothyroxine without any adverse drug reaction or complications.


Recently, a geometrical characterization of vector spaces served to generalize them into a new class of algebras. Instead of the algebraic properties of the underlying fields, we generalized the recently discovered property of such spaces that generates these fields. This property also concerned the semi-linear transformations, which are necessary to define geometrical invariance.Yet, the class of such geometrical generalizations was practically unknown. We only knew that it differs from the class of modules, because of a simple example (the sum monoid of natural numbers). Here, we partly clarify the extent of this class: we prove that it contains at least the one of all commutative based universal algebras and we provide it with four new examples. Again, our further examples are not modules. They exhibit a wider choice of both types and algebraic properties, though they keep the representations by "coordinates".


The global financial crisis has had a devastating effect on poverty levels in developing countries, and the social protection response to date, in the form of social assistance, has been limited, constrained by the weak systems and low coverage of pre-existing provision. Developing countries have struggled to honour pre-crisis social protection policy commitments due to declining revenues, and in this context the potential for expanding coverage to assist those further impoverished and the "new poor" are remote. Despite the expansionary fiscal stance adopted by many developing countries, the focus of policy responses to the crisis has been on protecting and stimulating growth. The focus has not been on social protection provision to assist the poor directly. Where social protection interventions have been made they have, in many cases, been limited to ad hoc and often regressive interventions such as generalized food or fuel subsidies, rather than more systemic and pro-poor interventions. However, there may be some scope for optimism, as the crisis has stimulated a number of initiatives to promote donor coordination and programming coherence, which may result in improvements in the efficiency and impact of future social protection programming.


We consider the recovery of smooth 3D region boundaries with piecewise constant coefficients in Optical Tomography (OT). The method is based on a parametrisation of the closed boundaries of the regions by spherical harmonic coefficients, and a Newton type optimisation process. A boundary integral formulation is used for the forward modelling. An advantage of the proposed method is the implicit regularisation effect arising from the reduced dimensionality of the inverse problem. Results of a numerical experiment are shown which demonstrate the performance of the new method in a realistic situation.


III. D EFINING RELIGION ............................................................................ 370 A. Supreme Court Decisions Defining Religion ............................. 371 1. E arly C ases .......................................................................... 37 1 2. Modem Supreme Court Cases ............................................. 372 a. Torcaso v. W atkins ........................................................ 372 b. United States v. Seeger ................................................. 373 c. W elsh v. United States .................................................. 375 d. W isconsin v. Yoder ....................................................... 377 B. Lower Court Approaches ........................................................... 379 1. Judge Adams's Concurrence in Malnak v. Yogi ................. 379 2. United States v. M eyers ...................................................... 382 C. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's D efi nition of Religion .............................................................. 383


Abstract The validation of the general stress-dilatancy relationship is shown based on biaxial compression test data presented in the literature under drained and undrained conditions. Rowe's and Bolton's relationships can be treated as simplified forms of the general stress-dilatancy relationship. The stress ratio values are a function of not only the dilatancy but also the intermediate principal stress, the non-coaxiality angle defined by Gutierrez and Ishihara and the stress-strain path. For many granular soils, the critical frictional state angle of the shearing resistance Φo = Φ′cv and parameters α and β are functions of the drainage condition, the stress level and the stress and strain paths.


Objective:To investigate the inhibitory effect of telomerase activity by chimeric oligonucleotide. Methods: Here various oligonucleotides were designed and synthesized. Inactivity of the telomerase activity inhibitors was observed with HL-60 cell-lysates in vitro and with U-87 clell in vivo. Results:Both phosphorothioate-modified oligonuclotides (PS-ODNs) and oligonucleotides complementary with telomerase UNA template inhibited telomerase activity. And application of the tow ODNs together increased the inhibition activity in upfold. the various modification extensional oligonucleotides complementary with telomerase RNA template at 3'-end of the PS-ODNs enabled the chimeric oligonucleotides to increase their inhibition efficiency. Conclusion:These cODNs emerged as powerful inhibitors of human telomerase detected so for and might be promising candidates to investigate the effect of permanent of inhibition of telomerse on tumor growth.


We present an update of our time-calibrated supertree of extant and extinct lissamphibians (Marjanović D, Laurin M. 2007. Fossils, molecules, divergence times, and the origin of lissamphibians. Syst Biol 56(3):369–388) and of the divergence dates that can be inferred from it. The present version contains 319 extinct species or possible species of lissamphibians, compared to 223 previously. Discoveries of new fossiliferous sites, advances in phylogeny and recently obtained radiometric dates have offered opportunities to test our results, including the conclusion that the fossil record of Lissamphibia is dense enough to provide reliable calibration constraints for molecular divergence dating. By and large, the results are upheld. Some of the divergence dates we infer from the tree are up to 15 Ma younger than we previously published, some are up to 15 Ma older, some have had their range of uncertainty drastically reduced and the maximum age for the origin of Urodela (the salamander crown group) is no longer well constrained. The dermal bone plates in the gill region of the Jurassic urodeles Beiyanerpeton, Seminobatrachus and Chunerpeton and the grooves for the lateral line organ on the skull of the first require either unexpected reversals or several independent losses in other lissamphibians and indeed other urodeles.


This paper reviews the recent research in the fi eld of application of ultraviolet (UV) protection fi nishes in textile functionalisation. The aim and the UV protecting mechanisms of UV protection fi nishes on textile substrates are described. The standard methods for determination of UV protective properties are presented. Contemporary research directions in the application of environmentally friendly organic UV absorbers and inorganic UV blockers are highlighted and discussed. The bioactive substances as novel organic UV absorbers are exposed. Novel multifunctional properties of textiles including the inorganic UV blockers are described. The ecological issues of the use of UV protection fi nishes are presented.


Helicity transfer in a shell model of turbulence is investigated. We show that a Reynolds-independent helicity flux is present in the model when the large scale forcing breaks inversion symmetry. The equivalent in shell models of the "2/15 law," obtained from helicity conservation in Navier-Stokes equations, is derived and tested. The odd part of the helicity flux statistics is found to be dominated by a few very intense events. In a particular model, we calculate analytically leading and subleading contributions to the scaling of triple velocity correlation.


The electrical properties and structure of solid solutions in Ga/sub 2/O/sub 3/-EO/sub 2/-K/sub 2/O (E = Si, Ge, Ti) are studied. It is established that in all three systems solid solutions based on potassium monogallate are formed which possess high potassium-cation conductivity. The principle factor determining the high conductivity of such solutions is the formation of potassium vacancies resulting from the substitution of Ga/sup 3 +/ ions in KGaO/sub 2/ by ions of quadrivalent elements.


As has already been reported in previous chapters the role and importance of employability has become central within the context of higher education in the UK (Thambar, 2018). Whilst the conceptualisation, operationalisation and utility of 'employability' has long been contested (e.g. Wolf, 1991, Holmes 2000), Higher Education Institutions are nonetheless increasingly under pressure from students, government and employers to ensure that students have the skills, behaviours and attitudes that will enable them to undertake an effective transition into the workplace (Artess, Hooley and Mellors-Bourne, 2017). To address this university careers services now offer a portfolio of activities that support students with effective transition. These can include a wide range of activities including curriculum delivery, employer engagement activities, placement support, job search support and advice and guidance (Christie 2016, Thamber, 2018).


Abstract: This chapter is a review of the issues surrounding the design of environmentally responsible buildings. The brief for the environmental conditions (temperature and humidity, light, sound, air quality and their effect on health) inside a building will affect how much energy is required to achieve the conditions and the ease that low energy and passive solutions can work. A building is not isolated and needs to consider the energy, water, food and material sources needed for its construction and operation, and how they sit in wider local, regional and global context. The design of the building envelope and the building fabric will affect the comfort conditions in the building and the ability to achieve these passively. The design of the facade will affect the day-lighting and the potential for natural ventilation. The choice of materials will also affect the management of the internal environment such as the buffering of the temperature and humidity. A successful building project is as much about the successful procurement, construction and operation as it is about design. These matters need to be dealt with carefully. A brief for materials of the future is one of greater extremes in some instances; higher insulation values, better moisture absorption, higher thermal capacity. Another aspect is to make the materials dynamic in their performance such that they can vary their parameters such as insulation, light transmission and permeability according to need. These materials could come from the living world as much as the inorganic, man-made one.


The kinetics of the adsorption of benzene and toluene on coronene nanolayers was studied using piezoquartz microweighing. The rate of the adsorption and desorption rates of hydrocarbons, as well as adsorption isotherms, were obtained. The specific features of selective adsorption on coronene, an important representative of polycyclic hydrocarbons, were established.


The surface treatment of ultralow-κ dielectric layers by exposure to atomic oxygen is presented as a potential mechanism to modify the chemical composition of the dielectric surface to facilitate copper diffusion barrier layer formation. High carbon content, low-κ dielectric films of varying porosity were exposed to atomic oxygen treatments at room temperature, and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy studies reveal both the depletion of carbon and the incorporation of oxygen at the surface. Subsequent dynamic water contact angle measurements show that the chemically modified surfaces become more hydrophilic after treatment, suggesting that the substrates have become more "SiO2-like" at the near surface region. This treatment is shown to be thermally stable up to 400 °C. High resolution electron energy loss spectroscopy elemental profiles confirm the localised removal of carbon from the surface region. Manganese (≈1 nm) was subsequently deposited on the modified substrates and thermally annealed to form surfa...


Abstract Rif1 mediates telomere length, DNA replication, and DNA damage responses in budding yeast. Previous work identified several posttranslational modifications of Rif1, however none of these was shown to mediate the molecular or cellular responses to DNA damage, including telomere damage. We searched for such modifications using immunoblotting methods and the cdc13-1 and tlc1Δ models of telomere damage. We found that Rif1 is phosphorylated during telomere damage, and that serines 57 and 110 within a novel phospho-gate domain (PGD) of Rif1 are important for this modification, in cdc13-1 cells. The phosphorylation of Rif1 appeared to inhibit its accumulation on damaged chromosomes and the proliferation of cells with telomere damage. Moreover, we found that checkpoint kinases were upstream of this Rif1 phosphorylation and that the Cdk1 activity was essential for maintaining it. Apart from telomere damage, S57 and S110 were essential for Rif1 phosphorylation during the treatment of cells with genotoxic agents or during mitotic stress. We propose a speculative "Pliers" model to explain the role of the PGD phosphorylation during telomere and other types of damage.


The utility model relates to a cooling tower, comprising a cooling tower body and a purifying device, wherein, the purifying device is a barrel body which is provided with a sign post with a floating ball, a feed inlet and an outlet. The pipeline of the outlet is provided with an electromagnetic valve; the drug can be injected in the circulating water through operating the electromagnetic valve. The purpose of preventing various algae bacterium and lung affinitive bacterium from the propagation and the growth and avoiding the scale generation in a circulating water system is realized to stop the air pollution and the transmission of the pathogenic bacterium.


As the distribution grid moves toward a tightly monitored network, it is important to automate the analysis of the enormous amount of data produced by the sensors to increase the operators situational awareness about the system. In this paper, focusing on microphasor measurement unit (<inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{PMU}$ </tex-math></inline-formula>) data, we propose a hierarchical architecture for monitoring the grid and establish a set of analytics and sensor fusion primitives for the detection of abnormal behavior in the control perimeter. Due to the key role of the <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{PMU}$</tex-math></inline-formula> devices in our architecture, an optimal <inline-formula><tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{PMU}$</tex-math></inline-formula> placement with limited number of sensors is also described that finds the best location of the devices with respect to our rules. The effectiveness of the proposed methods are tested through the synthetic and real <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">$\mu \text{PMU}$</tex-math></inline-formula> data.


The impact of different approaches to the adjustment of the diagrams of external power supply of industrial complexes is analyzed for the Astrakhan Gas Processing Plant to determine the most reliable diagrams via calculation including cost-free implementations. Since the processes of gas production and processing are extremely vulnerable even to short-term disruptions of power supply which lead to significant diseconomies attributed to the failure of electrical equipment and shortage of production and, consequently to repeatedly increasing fees for extra emissions of toxic substances, systems of external power supply of oil and gas chemical complexes should be well developed and have a high level of structural redundancy in electrical networks and sufficient power of the sources of electricity.


Received Oct 26, 2020 Revised Nov 09, 2020 Accepted Oct 26, 2020 The intensity of playing online games in Indonesia makes the players addicted to online games and ignore and forget about their daily activities in order to be able to play games continuously. Researchers got as many as 81 subjects, from 15 to 40 years old and who like to play online games, the research method is quantitative using sampling techniques, the results of the research are the significance value of Sig. (2-tailed) between Subjective Well Being and the intensity of playing online games is equal to 0,000; so that the value is greater than 0.05 and the calculated r value of 0.705 is greater than the r table, namely 0.215. This means that there is a relationship between subjective wellbeing in individuals in terms of intensity of playing online games. In conclusion, there is a positive relationship between subjective wellbeing and the intensity of playing online games, showing that the higher the intensity of playing online games, the higher the subjective wellbeing, it is expected that the subject can reduce the intensity of playing so as not to harm themselves and can also spend time with interact with friends and family or do positive activities.


Three new chromones (8, 9, and 12), named 3'-O-angeloylhamaudol, ledebouriellol, and 4'-O-β-D-glucosyl-5-O-methylvisamminol, respectively, were isolated from the root and rhizoma of Ledebouriella seseloides WOLFF (Umbelliferae), together with five known coumarins (1-5) and six known chromones (6, 7, 10, 11, 13 and 14). The structures of 8, 9, and 12 were elucidated as (3S)-3, 4-dihydro-5-hydroxy-3-(2-methyl-2-butenyl) oxy-2, 2, 8-trimethyl-2H, 6H-benzo [1, 2-b : 5, 4-b'] dipyran-6-one, (3S)-3, 4-dihydro-2, 2-dimethyl-5-hydroxy-8-hydroxymethyl-3-(2-methyl-2-butenyl) oxy-2H, 6H-benzo [1, 2-b : 5, 4-b'] dipyran-6-one, and (2S)-2, 3-dihydro-2-(1-β-D-glucopyranosyloxy-1-methylethyl)-4-methoxy-7-methyl-5H-furo [3, 2-g] [1] benzopyran-5-one, respectively, by chemical and spectral studies.


OBJECTIVE
To examine the accuracy of World Health Organization (WHO) growth standard in under-5 year Indian children, and identify a method to contextualize the WHO standard for India.

PARTICIPANTS
Data of Healthy children, defined by WHO selection criteria, extracted from nationally representative Indian surveys (National Family Health Surveys, NFHS-3, NFHS-4, NFHS-5 and Comprehensive National Nutrition Survey, CNNS).

DESIGN
Height for age z score (HAZ) and weight for age z score (WAZ) and weight for height z score (WHZ) distributions in healthy sample were compared against the standard normal. If deviant, age-specific correction factors for z scores were estimated by hierarchical linear mixed effects mean and variance polynomial models. A new term, excess mean risk of growth faltering (EMRGF), was introduced to describe growth faltering.

MAIN OUTCOME
Measure of deviation of HAZ, WAZ and WHZ from standard normal distribution. Correction of WHO growth standards for India leading to accurate prevalence of stunting, underweight and wasting in Indian children using NFHS-5 data.

RESULTS
Data on 10,384 healthy under-5 year children were extracted, of which 5377 were boys. Across surveys and metrics, the mean z scores were significantly lower than zero (-0.52 to -0.79). HAZ and WHZ variability (1.16, 1.07) were significantly higher than 1. Derived age-specific corrections reduced the NFHS-5 prevalence of growth faltering by 50%. The national EMRGF (after applying the age-specific correction) for height for age was 15.5% (95%CI:15.3-15.8), and weight for age was 15.0% (95%CI:14.8-15.3), respectively, in NFHS-5.

CONCLUSION
The WHO growth standards need contextual customization for accurate estimation of the burden of growth faltering in under-5 year children in India. When corrected, the burden of growth faltering is lower, by half or more, in all the three indices.


In the present study, room temperature mechanical properties of pure magnesium, Mg/ZrO2 and Mg/(ZrO2 + Cu) composites with various compositions are investigated. Results revealed that the use of hybrid (ZrO2 + Cu) reinforcements in Mg led to enhanced mechanical properties when compared to that of single reinforcement (ZrO2). Marginal reduction in mechanical properties of Mg/ZrO2 composites were observed mainly due to clustering of ZrO2 particles in Mg matrix and lack of matrix grain refinement. Addition of hybrid reinforcements led to grain size reduction and uniform distribution of hybrid reinforcements, globally and locally, in the hybrid composites. Macro- and micro- hardness, tensile strengths and compressive strengths were all significantly increased in the hybrid composites. With respect to unreinforced magnesium, failure strain was almost unchanged under tensile loading while it was reduced under compressive loading for both Mg/ZrO2 and Mg/(ZrO2 + Cu) composites.


Abstract This article documents how members of the European Economic Community and members of the Arab League negotiated a draft 'mega-regional' investment protection treaty from 1976 to the late 1980s—the first of its kind. The negotiations produced a full draft treaty and came tantalisingly close to completion but ultimately ran into the political sands. Had it been concluded, the Convention would have been the most significant investment protection treaty ever negotiated at the time, and one of the most significant to this day. Negotiations were conducted within the cloak of diplomatic confidentiality, however, so the effort has remained unknown to even specialised scholars and practitioners to this day.


The article focuses on investigating the extant manuscripts entitled Beer Sheva, written in Yiddish by the Prague rabbi Beer Shmuel Issachar (ca. 1650‐ca. 1713) and his wife Bella (Beile) Perlhefter (ca. 1650‐1710) on the threshold of the turn to the eighteenth century. The work is dedicated to the seven deceased children of the married couple as a book of remembrance and solace.The article presents the known versions of the manuscript in their external form, utilizing procedures in paleography and textual criticism. There are a total of nine extant versions of Beer Sheva in various states of preservation, and varying in their completeness, in various libraries around the world. I then provide an overview of the genesis of the work in three phases of editing and the copies made. The number of copies is unusually large for such an extensive Yiddish work.


This paper presents an overview of an integrated approach to the monitoring of the CNC machine tool milling cutting process. In doing so it illustrates how the evolution of ever more powerful, yet affordable, microcontroller devices can support the provision of process management information. This is based upon the acquisition and analysis of machine related data near to the source. The key ability of such an embedded approach is shown to be the sharing of information, which in turn supports enhanced decision making. The communication of these decisions within the established system and via a supported architecture to the wider world is also presented.


Home automation with voice recognition can achieve a high level of performance in real world environment. However, such performance drops significantly in mismatched noisy conditions. To solve this problem, we propose a improvement method to extract Mel Frequency Cepstral Coefficients (MFCC) that increase the accuracy up to 20% than traditional method. This paper describes an approach of speech recognition for home automation in Vietnamese language by using the improvement MFCC and Dynamic Time Warping (DTW).


Established in 1935, Statistics Portugal (Instituto Nacional de Estatistica INE, IP) is the official Portuguese statistical office. Prior to this date, there were other official institutions responsible for maintaining statistics from the end of the 19 century onwards. Statistics Portugal is responsible for vital statistics collection, for the dissemination of demographic statistics for Portugal, as well as for conducting and preparing the population census.


In order to avoid duplication in patents, papers and research subjects, many researchers have to review previous research work and patents with various methods. To reduce the our efforts in preview of research work, in this paper, we present scientometric analysis including Analysis of Index Level, International Cooperation Research Network, Analysis of Key Organizations and their Authors to help researchers to avoid duplication problems in field of smart grid.


A polymerase chain reaction(PCR) methold was applied to detect duck plague virus(DPV) attenuated Cha strain in Ducklings vaccinated in three routes,subcutaneous injection,orally and nose dripping.Heart,liver,spleen,lung,kidney,duodenum,rectum,bursa of Fabricius,thymus,pancreas,medulla oblongata,cerebrum,cerebellum,tongue,musculari,bone marrow,excrement,esophagus and blood from one old ducklings vaccined with Cha strain in three different vaccinated routes were detected by PCR,and the results indicated:(1)heart,liver,spleen,kidney,bursa of Fabricius,thymus,pancreas,medulla oblongata,cerebrum,cerebellum were positive 4 h post vaccinated(PV),subcutaneous injected,and all samples were positive 8 h PV;(2)tongue and esophagus were positive 4 h PV Orally,and heart,liver,spleen,kidney,thymus,pancreas,medulla oblongata,cerebrum,cerebellum,tongue,esophagus and blood were positive 8 h PV;(3)4 h PV nose dripping,all tissues were negative,but heart,liver,spleen,kidney,thymus,medulla oblongata,cerebrum,cerebellum,tongue,esophagus and blood were positive 8 h PV;(4)all samples from three different vaccinated routes were positive from 12 h to 21 d.The research results provide significant data for clarify the immune mechanism of attenuated DPV.


Purpose – An emerging hospitality studies focus amongst British academics prioritizes the study of host and guest transactions as a key feature of hospitality research and publications. This short paper introduces the papers in the special issue.Design/methodology/approach – Provides a brief review of the papers within the issue.Findings – The study of host and guest transactions extends beyond commercial hospitality management activities. A large number of human interactions can be better understood through host and guest transactions. Commercial hospitality management through service quality management, employee relations, customer and employee transactions as well as the development of customer loyalty can also be informed by the study of hospitality through the study of host guest transactions.Originality/value – Outlines how the papers in this special issue provide a flavor of some of the research themes that social science perspectives suggest.


The problem of the reliable transfer of entanglement from one pure bipartite quantum state to another using local operations is analyzed. It is shown that in the case of qubits the amount that can be transferred is restricted to the difference between the entanglement of the two states. In the presence of a catalytic state the range of the transferable amount broadens to a certain degree.


Restricted by narrow bandwidth of the existing high-flow servo valves, dynamic performance of high-flow electro-hydraulic servo systems can only be enhanced to a certain extent by advanced control algorithms. This paper proposes a new hydraulic control circuit, in which two valves are arranged in parallel to control the actuator jointly. Frequency response of the equivalent valve is raised and thereby the performance of high-flow electro-hydraulic servo systems can be improved. A model of the proposed system is built and the principle of improving system dynamic performance using the new circuit is analyzed. Simulation results show that double-valve actuation schemes can quicken system response and increase system bandwidth regardless to if the two valves have the same or different behaviors.


In a vast country like India with continental dimension, the auto industry plays a crucial role by not only linking the producers and consumers from different parts of the country but also acts as a unifying force of the diverse cultural heritage of the country. At a later stage, they multiplied leading to the present trend of faster and efficient means of transport and communication. The study is restricted to Namakkal District of Tamil Nadu, which is economically the richest district famous both for Lorry body building and poultry farming. Objectives of the study, to identify and analyse the factors influencing the purchase of cars. Methodology of the study, Descriptive and analytical research designs have been used in this study. The present study is based on the factors influence the purchase of cars. Primary data as well as secondary data have been used in this study. Important findings of the study, In countries like India often alternative evaluation is done on price consideration which one can afford. In case of a car, consumers decide first the range which is in their reach or affordability or their willingness to spend upon a product. Suggestions of the study, The respondents perceive that driving comfort and fuel economy are the most important features of the passenger car followed by availability of spare parts and price of the car, thus the manufacturers should design the product giving maximum weight age to these factors .Concluding in this study, The socio-economic determinants of consumer behaviour consist of age, marital status, occupation, education, income, family size etc


Summary form only given. Ultrashort pulsed laser excitation of dielectrics has evidenced a material dependent response to radiation, reflected in individualized times necessary to deposit the laser energy into the lattice. Electronic mechanisms are observed in the ultrafast ablation of dielectrics, dependent on either electrostatic energy accumulation in the upper layers following intense photoelectron emission and surface break-up by Coulomb explosion, or excitation-induced lattice displacements associated with defect formation and electron trapping. These non-thermal channels for energy deposition compete with the thermal channels based on electron-phonon coupling with result in local heating. A presentation of the time scales involved in laser coupling with dielectric targets is given for a sapphire (Al/sub 2/O/sub 3/) sample.


Aims: The remarkable non-degradable distinctive feature of the Rudraksha bead renders reutilization of its resources and inexhaustibility of its potentiality to mediate innumerable silver nanoparticle syntheses. The present study is a step forward towards high prospects of manoeuvred nano silver manufactured for many perspective applications. Study design: In this nanoregime we bring forth a glorious green route for flabbergasting silver nanoparticle fabrication, with the intervention of the five faced seed of the plant Elaeocarpus ganitrus Roxb., the Rudraksha bead. Aspects, of the variation in concentration of the precursor as well as the mediator on the physico-chemical nature of the silver nanostructure, its antimicrobial activity, together with the issues of its biocompatibility, have been dealt here. Place and Duration of Study: Chemistry Department and Biotechnology Department, Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, India, between April 2011 and August 2012. Methodology: The Rudraksha extracts were prepared and biosyntheses of silver nanoparticles were conducted and different parameters were studied together with various characterization. Results: The silver nanoparticles produced are chiefly spherical with variable size. There exists also variation in size and silver content depending upon the concentration of precursor and mediator. The antimicrobial activity of the nano silver produced is high with good biocompatibility. Conclusion: The inexhaustible characteristic of the non-degradable Rudraksha facilitates incessant biocompatible nano silver production. 15


OBJECTIVE To investigate the effectiveness,characteristics and side effects of total flavones of Hippophae rhamnoides L.(TFH) in middle and severe hypertension.METHODS With randomized control trial (RCT),78 eligible patients with blood pressure over 160/100 mmHg were randomized into two groups.In the treatment group,TFH was given for six weeks while enalapril was used in the control group.Blood pressure was monitored at least once a week during the trial period.RESULTS Six weeks later,blood pressure in TFH was decreased 18.1±8.2/12.4±10.1 mmHg compared with that in Enalapril without statistical difference.The decrease rate of the TFH group was slower than that of the Enalapril group in the first two weeks.But the decrease rates in both groups were at the same level in the end of four weeks.The side effects of TFH was low and mild.CONCLUSION TFH can decrease blood pressure in patients with middle-severe hypertension and was recommended to be further investigated in large sample size trial.


Although the analysis of ethyl alcohol (ethanol) concentration in exhaled air (breath alcohol content, BrAC) is a method that is widely used for estimation of the alcohol content in the body and assessment of the state of sobriety, the results of measurements are often a source of controversy both during an investigation and during the subsequent trial. One of the most important elements of this controversy is the uncertainty of the measurements and, as a consequence, the reliability of the results. Analysis of data gathered at the Institute of Forensic Research (IFR), which consisted of duplicated measurements performed using both portable and stationary evidential breath analysers (Alcomat V5.4, Alkometr A2.0, Alcometer SD-400P, AlcoQuant 3020, AlcoSensor IV, Alcotest 7110, 7410, 7410+), together with a literature review, allowed us to conclude that the measurement uncertainty connected with duplicated BrAC tests conducted at short intervals for ethanol concentrations up to 0.5 mg/l was equal to 0.03 mg/l. It was also demonstrated that the measurement uncertainty was independent of the analyser, i.e., it was not connected with the type of detector used – electrochemical (fuel cell) or spectrophotometric (infrared detector). However, besides taking into account the measurement uncertainty, the interpretation of a BrAC test result performed in real conditions should be carried out very carefully due to the fact that there are many additional factors which can impact the result obtained.


The state of art results achieved in bulk GaN crystallization by most relevant techniques are reviewed. A special role of HVPE and ammonothermal methods in development of laser quality quasi-bulk GaN substrates and bulk GaN crystals is emphasized. The High Nitrogen Pressure Solution method is presented in more details.


With the expansion of digital library information resources,digital libraries come up with a series of problems,but the generation of cloud computing has brought hope to the digital library.In this paper,the author take a more in-depth study on Hadoop cloud environment,describe the key technology of cloud computing,give the design of the cloud-based digital library framework and some of the features are implemented.


OBJECTIVE: The primary purpose is to share information about 50 individuals with significant intellectual disabilities, the lowest intellectually functioning 1% of those who exited schools, from 1981 to 2003. RESULTS: The 47 who attended the Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) received instruction in integrated nonschool work and related environments as part of their school experiences. After exiting school, the 50 functioned in integrated work settings for over 36 years. Information pertaining to the work environments in which they functioned, the work tasks performed, the reasons for changes in environments and tasks, the hours worked per week, the wages earned, the travel modes used, the lunch supports provided, the extra supports provided by Job Coaches, involvement in Community and Recreation activities and where each resided is presented. Social relationships with coworkers and others without disabilities, the mortality of the 50 workers and their parents and guardianship are also addressed. CONCLUSION: The authors are not aware of any other postschool follow up study of so many workers with significant intellectual disabilities who functioned in integrated work settings for such long periods of time.


T

he purpose of this paper is to examine and present in an orderly fashion the implications of various approaches to the development of learning objects (e.g., instruction, collaboration, practice with hints, and assessment). To promote the learning of variables, types of data, control statements and loops, learning objects were developed in Learning Management System (LMS) E-lessons by college students who are enrolled in a visual programming course. The process of development involved one of the following four approaches: an approach based on instruction, practice with hints, collaboration and evaluation; an approach based on collaboration and practice with hints; an approach based on instruction, collaboration, and evaluation; and an approach based exclusively on instruction. In contrast to learning modules without e-learning practice on post-tests, according to the sample findings, the learning modules with e-learning practice performed better. The attitudes of the group with practice were also more positive. Further, unlike the samples that use instruction only, the samples with complete learning approaches took longer to finish the E-lessons


Abstract:Major powers are advancing strategic competition in infrastructure building in the developing world. They cultivate their infrastructure statecraft by securing financial and technological resources, making institutional arrangements, and managing infrastructure-related consequences. The infrastructure statecraft which covers physical and digital infrastructure as well as hard and soft infrastructure has connotations of geopolitics, geoeconomics and geotechnology. The Sino-U.S. strategic competition in the infrastructure of the Indo-Pacific has intensified in recent years. China has been proactively advancing infrastructure cooperation under the banner of BRI. The United States has proposed the "free and open Indo-Pacific strategy" and "Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment," and it competes with China in the infrastructure field by building networked coalitions with its allies and partners. The infrastructure competition illustrates the development-security nexus challenge of U.S-China rivalry over connectivity in the Indo-Pacific. China has taken measures to readjust the way it advances the Belt and Road Initiative and improves its infrastructure statecraft. This article argues that Sino-U.S. competition on regional infrastructure is not necessarily a zero-sum game.


Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (New York: Bantam Books, 1968); and Supplemental Studies for the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (New York: Frederick A. Praeger, 1968): (Angus Campbell and Howard Schuman, "Racial Attitudes in Fifteen American Cities;" Peter Rossi, Richard A. Beck, David P. Boesel, Bettye K. Eidson, and W. Eugene Groves, "Between White and Black—The Faces of American Institutions in the Ghetto;" and Robert M. Fogelson and Robert B. Hill, "Who Riots? A Study of Participation in the 1967 Riots.")