ABSTRACT Michael Baer is known for his many achievements in the field of non-adiabatic quantum dynamics and the theory of reaction dynamics. Among his main tools of inquiry is the study of two-state quantum systems. I was fortunate enough to collaborate with him on such models in the first part of the previous decade and the last years of the previous century. Here, I return to the original two-state system, that is Pauli's electron with a spin and show how this system can be interpreted as a vortical fluid. The similarities and difference between spin flows and classical ideal flows are elucidated. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT


In a well-known formulation of the equally well-known difficulties of South African literary historiography, A. C. Partridge states: "The critic who essays to chart the terra incognita of S. A. English prose is, perhaps, less intrepid than foolish. In the state of our knowledge about it all he can safely do is locate the landmarks a pleasant kloof here, a rugged eminence there, a crop of noxious sociological thorns almost everywhere . . ." (1959 [1957], 13). Partridge's accumulation of cartographic and topographic tropes tropes of map and landscape is by no means remarkable in South African literary historiography in English. Such tropes are ritualistically pressed into service as the underside or the other side of the historiographer's consciousness (whether momentary or sustained) of the act of writing a literary history. Every retrospective, every self-proclaimed 'turning point,' every 'new' beginning rehearses a preoccupation with drawing and redrawing the 'map' of the South African literary 'landscape.' Writers with such divergent ideological, institutional and even linguistic affiliations as Andre Brink (1983 [1976], 105-106), Guy Butler (1994 [1956], 46), Tim Couzens (1977, 29), Isabel Hofmeyr (1979, 39), Sarah Christie, Geoffrey Hutchings and Don Maclennan (1980, 7), and Malvern van Wyk Smith (1990, i), among others, all share that carto-topographic drift which one notes in Partridge, here and elsewhere. "A scout who stands upon an ant-heap in the Bushveld, hemmed in by low trees, is unlikely to see much of the surrounding country," he asserts in the opening paragraph of his 1949 article "The Condition of South African English Literature," and continues:


Background: Thromboelastography (TEG) has recently become popular for assessment of whole blood coagulation in the operating room. Ketorolac, a potent injectable nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID), is commonly used for postoperative analgesia. NSAID inhibit platelet aggregation in coagulation process. This study was designed to determine whether ketorolac used for postoperative analgesia can affect hemostatic function using a TEG. Methods: Seventy-four female patients, ASA physical status 1 or 2, scheduled for an elective gynecologic surgery were randomly allocated into one of four groups (Group 1: n = 10, control without patient-controlled analgesia (PCA); Group 2: n = 21, PCA with morphine 60 mg; Group 3: n = 20, PCA with morphine 30 mg + ketorolac 90 mg; Group 4: n = 23, PCA with ketorolac 180 mg). Blood samples were obtained for TEG analysis preoperatively and 24, 48 and 72 h after surgery. Cumulative drug dosage, visual analog pain scale, satisfaction degree and side effects were measured at 24, 48 and 72 h after surgery. Results: There were no significant differences in TEG parameters among the four groups at each time. There were no significant differences in visual analog pain scales and satisfaction degrees among the three groups using PCA for postoperative analgesia. Among the three groups using PCA for postoperative analgesia, Group 2 experienced more side effects. Conclusions: Ketorolac does not affect hemostatic function for 3 days after surgery when administrated as a PCA drug.


between cultures rather than simple "integration" into a dominant culture. In the examination of male authors who narrate from the perspective of woman, Blum argues that migrant authors prefer the female voice because it allows them to "express a fuller range of emotions," raising interesting questions in regard to nostalgia as a means of connection between self, community, past, and present. Although at times her analysis seems sentimental and situated almost exclusively in the maternal capacities of the female body, Blum succeeds in creating vital connections between experiences of difference and their role in critical thought. Migration, even temporary, as Blum masterfully articulates, requires a "continuing movement of transmigration between identities;" and women, building on a tradition of feminist theory and practice, are intellectually suited for negotiating multiple identities and formulating a notion of self that includes, rather than excludes, the Other. Moving toward a conclusion, Blum invokes Langer's mobile perspective of history, which disregards the assumption that societies are pre-established and views history as a contiguous process of "formation and dissolution," as a means for uniting the diverse descriptions of the journey, of writing, and of identity outlined in her book. This shift in perspective recalls the similar interaction of competing perspectives in migration literature and the interplay between feminist theory and creative practices. Blum claims that her inquiry braves new territory, by discrediting Eurocentric ideologies and introducing a notion of subjectivity in progress that advocates "a balanced interaction" between canonized subjectivities and "others." Blum's careful reading of history and theory makes vital connections between previously disparate theories of difference and their various literary applications. Her analysis not only acknowledges difference as a fundamental aspect of Italian literature, but it also highlights the importance of purported "minor" theories and their pivotal contribution to the future of literary scholarship.


Nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has become the gold standard for many imaging applications. It is routinely used to detect diseases and tissue pathologies due to its superior soft tissue contrast and high spatial resolution. Unlike other imaging techniques such as X-rays, computed tomography, it does not harm patients with ionising radiation.However, MRIs are expensive and only a small portion of patients who would benefit from them can access them. The pursuit of higher sensitivity has generated a trend towards increasing the already large static magnetic field. This has improved imaging quality but has made this technology more expensive and further hindered MRI accessibility. The main cost driver of MRI machines is the strong magnet.The collection of techniques being developed to overcome the intrinsic low NMR sensitivity has fostered interest in low field (LF) MRI to improve cost-effectiveness of MRI. First, the purchase and operational cost of LF systems is relatively low. Second, they are more compatible with other instrumentation which enables versatile concepts such as application-specific open systems and intraoperative imaging. LF systems can offer a wide range of configurations by using permanent magnets. Third, the small fringe field lowers the risk to patients and workers and makes the magnet easier to site. Fourth, artefacts which rely on the strength of field are reduced, as well as the specific absorption rate (SAR) in tissues.Ultra-low field (ULF) MRI systems employ field strengths lower than 10 mT. These systems can complement the advantages of LF systems mentioned above with additional potential benefits. The requirement of homogeneity in ULF is relaxed extensively. It is possible to adjust the strength and direction of the measurement field, allowing flexibility in pulse sequences. Moreover, ULF systems operate in the low kHz frequency range, avoiding the need for radio frequency (RF) noise shielding and enhancing T1-weighted contrast.Most ULF MRI research concentrates on using expensive and fragile sensors, produces the magnetic fields through resistive coils and employs linear gradient fields for encoding. Although ULF systems are important low-cost and portable MRI candidates, they still need considerable space to generate linear fields and need expensive and bulky high permeability shielding to suppress ambient noise.This PhD project develops two major solutions towards a portable and low-cost ULF MRI system: a software gradiometer based on machine learning for ambient noise cancellation and a fast iterative algorithm with total variation (TV) regularisation for image reconstruction. In addition, a concept for a dynamical permanent magnet array (PMA) ULF MRI system is proposed with nonlinear 3D spatial encoding.First, I introduce an experimental setup as a platform for evaluating the MR signal in the ULF regime using a Helmholtz coil as a framework. It is composed of a measurement field, an NMR console, a transmit and receive coil, and a shielding box. The NMR signal is successfully acquired and analysed in partial shielding and full shielding. The results suggest that partial shielding of ULF MRI instruments has the potential to generate a strong signal. This system is built for a subsequent study on noise cancellation presented in following chapter.The second study is a convolutional neural network (CNN) based software gradiometer for background noise cancellation. It includes three ambient noise monitoring coils which are placed away from the NMR sensing coil. The noise induced in the sensing coils is estimated using machine learning. The results show that the software gradiometer reduces ambient noise and can be used to relax shielding requirements, thereby reducing the size and weight of the shielding box.The concept of using small magnets for 3D-spatial encoding in dynamical PMA based ULF MRI is described. It uses small rectangular permanent magnets to generate a 3D-spatial encoding field. The encoding magnets move along an optimised trajectory to achieve an encoding matrix with a low condition number. A prototype of the 3D-spatial encoding has been built and its feasibility tested. The described encoding system can reduce the volume and energy requirements and improve the portability of ULF MRI systems.Finally, iterative imaging reconstruction algorithms for ULF MR are studied. The current state-of-the-art methods are evaluated, which includes Simultaneous Iterative Reconstruction Technique (ART/SIRT), Conjugate Gradient Least Squares (CGLS), and the Chambolle-Pock (CP) algorithms. A dynamic weight Column Action Reconstruction Technique (dwCART) method is proposed and applied to image reconstruction with TV regularisation in the setting of undersampling. In the absence of having a finalised prototype to acquire real ULF MRI imaging data, the methods are tested on CT models (using both simulated and real CT data). The dwCART algorithm performed best on the tested CT problems. It paves the way for fast and accurate imaging with the PMA-based ULF MRI system.


1. Introduction: The Making of the Arab Intellectual: Empire, Public Sphere and the Colonial Coordinates of Selfhood Dyala Hamzah 2. Pharaoh's Revenge: Translation, Literary History and Colonial Ambivalence Samah Selim 3. Public Deliberations of the Self in Fin-de-Siecle Egypt (1880-1910) Michael Gasper 4. Inscribing Socialism into the Nahda: al-Muqtataf, al-Hilal, and the Construction of a Leftist Reformist Worldview, 1880-1914 Ilham Khuri-Makdisi 5. From 'Ilm to Sihafa or the Politics of the Public Interest (Maslaha): Muhammad Rashid Rida and his journal al-Manar (1898-1935) Dyala Hamzah 6. Partitioned Pasts: Arab Jewish Intellectuals and the Case of Esther Azhari Moyal, 1873-1948 Lital Levy 7. The "Mahjar" as literary and political territory in the first decades of the 20th century: the example of Amin Rihani (1876-1940) Leyla Dakhli 8. The Generation of Broad Expectations: Nationalism, Education, and Autobiography in Syria and Lebanon, 1930-1958 Christoph Schumann 9. Waiting for the Superman: A New Generation of Arab Nationalists in 1930s Iraq Peter Wien 10. Afterword


One limitation which arises from using PSM-DiD methods to determine the impact of venture capital financing on SMEs growth is that venture capital financing by nature is endogenous. Consequently, the PSM-DiD methods may not adequately be able to address endogeneity problems that may arise from our estimation. Thus, our impact assessment may be inconsistent due to bias selection. Another limitation is that the study only demonstrates a significant impact of venture capital funding on SMEs' growth in a cross-sectional model, while the long-term effect is not included because many of the SMEs are young. Hence, a longitudinal data analysis of our study may show different results.


The objective of the present investigation is to formulate gastroretentive dosage form of Nizatidine, widely prescribed in gastric and duodenal ulcers. The short biological half-life (1 2 hours), maximum absorption in initial part of small intestine, colonic metabolism of Nizatidine favors' development of gastro retentive floating dosage form. In the present study sodium bicarbonate is use as a gas generating agent. The tablets were formulated using direct compression technology by employing semi synthetic polymers like HPMC K15M, and Sodium alginate. The prepared tablets were evaluated for various physicochemical parameters such as flow properties, hardness, weight variation, friability, in vitro buoyancy (floating lag time, total floating time), swelling studies, drug content and in-vitro drug release. Out of all formulations the one prepared with combination of HPMC K15M and Sodium alginate was optimized based on desired sustained release time (12hrs) and acceptable floating properties. The development of controlled-release formulations continues to be a big success for the Pharmaceutical Industry. The success of any technology relies on the ease of its manufacturing process and its reproducibility of desirable biopharmaceutical properties.


This chapter aims to place the study of Lithuanian transnational families1 within a broader body of the most recent theoretical frames through which to understand personal lives (Smart, 2007), family practices (Morgan, 2011; Finch, 2007) and the ways family relationships could be perceived as 'troubled' (Ribbens McCarthy et al., 2013). To date, the Lithuanian academic community does not theorize migrant families, particularly transnational families, as contemporary family forms in their own right. Normative ideals of physical proximity, gender roles and moral imperatives to put children's needs first obscure the literature on families and migration and lead to the consequent assumption that 'distance' and 'absence' (Baldassar and Merla, 2014) prohibit the 'normal' practices and processes in 'good' family life. Against this background, building on transnational family perspective (Bryceson and Vuorela, 2002, amongst others), as well as on my fieldwork (carried out with my students and colleagues) this chapter addresses the transnational families' research frames worked out at Vilnius University since 2004. In analyzing transnational family life, I chose to go beyond the 'family-migration nexus' (Boccagni, 2010) and to engage in the transnational family debate. In my pursuit, I looked at multidimensional and diverse nature of cross-border relations making it clear that these relationships cannot simply be equated with the separation or reunification. The overview of the research frames presented below consists of three parts: firstly, I present how I constructed theoretical and methodological basis for studying Lithuanian migrant families; secondly, I explain how I defined the


Forest fires are a critical environmental problem facing current societies, with serious repercussions at ecological, economic and personal safety levels. Detailed maps enabling identification of areas liable to be affected is an indispensable first step allowing different prevention and protection measures vis-à-vis this kind of phenomenon. These maps could be especially valuable for use in land management and emergency planning at a municipality scale. A methodology is shown for producing local maps of mid- and short-term forest fire risk, integrating both natural and human factors. Among natural factors, variables normally used in hazard models are considered as fuel models, slopes or vegetation moisture stress. From the human perspective, more novel aspects have been evaluated, meant either to assess human-induced hazard (closeness to forestland of causative elements or the ability of people to penetrate the forest environment), or to assess vulnerability, considering the population's location in urban centres and scattered settlements. The methodology is applied in a municipality of Andalusia (Spain) and obtained results were compared to burned areas maps.


Currently, an urgent task related to creating a nuclear frequency standard is the identification of a low‐lying nuclear state in the thorium‐229 isotope. Herein, a method for measuring the single‐photon energy during the decay of an isomeric thorium‐229 nucleus implanted in a wide‐gap dielectric SiO2 (Eg = 9 eV) is developed. The proposed method utilizes thin silicon oxide layers obtained by thermal oxidization of the pure silica wafers, which allows measurement of the energy of photons in the ultraviolet (UV) range using an electronic spectrometer. The modeling study of electronic state excitation is provided via UV radiation from Kr, Xe, and D resonance discharging lamps. The obtained spectra are analyzed, and a method for determining the UV photon's energy is proposed.


The proper functioning of the thyroid gland depends on many factors, which include adequate supply of various trace elements, including iodine, but also selenium or iron. The purpose of this article was to attempt to summarize the current knowledge on the effects of selenium on the thyroid gland and the clinical implications associated with it. Selenium affects the homeostasis of the entire human body, and its main function in the thyroid gland is to counteract damage of oxidative origin. This microelement is part of selenoproteins, which include glutathione peroxidase and thioredoxin reductase. Both selenium deficiency and excess can negatively affect the thyroid gland. The research results show that selenium supplementation may bring benefits in some morbidities, eg Graves-Basedow disease. Currently, I advise recommending semi-annual selenium supplementation in a mild form of thyroid orbitopathy. However, no clinical benefit has been demonstrated in increasing the supply of selenium in the diet of other patients with thyroid disease, including Hashimoto's disease. In conclusion, despite the numerous studies already conducted, further work is necessary to fully explain the mechanisms of action of this element on the thyroid gland, but also to deepen knowledge about the benefits and risks of selenium supplementation in various types of thyroid structural disorders and, most importantly, to establish safe guidelines for possible treatment.


ABSTRACT Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA, nodC, and nifH genes of four bacterial strains isolated from root nodules of Phaseolus vulgaris grown in Morocco soils were identified as Burkholderia phymatum. All four strains formed N2-fixing nodules on P. vulgaris and Mimosa, Acacia, and Prosopis species and reduced acetylene to ethylene when cultured ex planta.


The purpose of the study is to investigate a projection-based deformable registration method between the treatment planning CT and in-room ion-based tomographic imaging (iCT). The rationale of the study is to make use of iCT projections for treatment geometry verification and treatment planning CT image update. The hypothesis to be investigated is the possibility to register the treatment planning CT and the iCT images in the domain of projections, thus postponing iCT image reconstruction to registration. The iCT-CT image fusion in projection domain is expected to join the high spatial resolution of treatment planning CT images with the accurate tissue stopping power information provided by the ion beam projections. The strategy is tested on the anthropomorphic 4D CT NURBS-based cardiac-torso (NCAT) phantom, featuring the respiration induced organ motion. Specific features of the iCT imaging are also mimicked by applying piecewise linear gray level modification and ion (proton) scattering. Different imaging angular ranges (180°-135°-90°-45°) and number of projection views (180-135-90) are simulated. In order to assess the algorithm performance on measured carbon iCT data of the Alderson head phantom, the phantom CT image is rigidly transformed. The strategy suggests potential advantages for those in-beam/in-room imaging techniques where a complete 360° angle acquisition could be geometrically hampered but also when a limited number of projection angles are desirable for reduced dose or acquisition time.


Objective: The aim of this study was to assess both the presence and seasonal variability of Cryptosporidium spp. and Giardia spp. in Eğirdir Lake within the borders of Isparta province, which is used for drinking, agricultural irrigation and recreational purposes. Method: The research was carried out between July 2016 and January 2017 and water samples were taken from five different stations in three different seasons in Lake Eğirdir. After direct microscopic examination of the samples (Native-Lugol method), they were stained with Modified Acid Fast (MAF), and examined under the light microscope for parasites. Results: Cryptosporidium spp and Giardia spp were detected in 15 water samples in summer months, with an average density of 99.2% and 93.3% respectively, in Lake Eğirdir. In addition, both parasites were also detected intensively in autumn and winter Conclusion: The use of Lake Eğirdir for daily needs of people, agriculture andrecreational purposes cause increase in protozoal density. Thus, it is necessary to conduct parasitological studies on Lake Eğirdir, especially during the periods of swimming tourism, to determine the protozoal epidemiology in humans and animals. In addition, it is important to carry out adequate disinfection processes and plan the necessary control programs in terms of public health in the regions where Lake Eğirdir is used as drinking water.


back home in the p.i. i ride the snake i ride the monkey i ride the waterbuffalo i ride the lizard i ride the fish i ride the coconut tree in america i ride the southern pacific boxcar montana snow-bound cries shuffling brown feet in centerville taxi dance halls i chase after the white women in manilatown i ride the stool at blanco's bar scotch on the rocks express dreaming of dark brown pinays i ride the seven seas 1920 golden banjo strumming songs of romance


ABSTRACT In early Finnish reading instruction, hyphens are used to denote syllable boundaries. However, this practice slows down reading already during the 1st grade. It has been hypothesized that hyphenation forces readers to rely more on phonology than orthography. Since hyphenation highlights the phonology of the word, it may facilitate reading during the very first encounters of the word. To assess whether this is the case, Finnish 1st and 2nd graders read stories about fictional animals while their eye movements were registered. Each story included four occurrences of a novel target (pseudo)word, hyphenated at the syllable level in half of the stories. Target words were read faster with repeated exposure but there were no effects regarding grade or hyphenation. The use of hyphenation does not give rise to enhanced processing of phonology in novel words and is likely to hinder the processes connected to the use of orthography.


The main purpose of this research is to explore the history and origin of al-Shabaab movement in East Africa. It studies the deriving ideology and directions of al-Shabaab movement. In fact, the key objectives of this research are to investigate al-Shabaab"s political ideology and its structural leadership, to assess the ideological relationship between al-Shabaab and Al-Qaeda, to comprehend the political future of the group and to ascertain their political and theological ideologies. The research further investigates the political ideals of al-Shabaab. It is crucial to underscore al-Shabaab"s understanding of the shar"ia; the general will of God and its political, social and religious implications. Put differently, this research endeavors to study the political viewpoints, aspirations and talents of al-Shabaab. The study limits itself to and concentrates on the movement within and in relation to East African political settings, history and development. The research employs library-based methodology in seeking wide-range conclusions. In addition, the methodology, partly, involved collecting field data in a form of informal interviews and surveys, but it is mainly an analytical and evaluative approach. The importance of this study lies on the fact that it examines a current issue which draws international attention. The group constitutes obdurate and dogmatic elements and individuals of originally Somali"s salafi movements. The initial findings of this research are that al-Shabaab"s ideology must have originated outside Somalia. The research therefore investigates the leadership structure of al-Shabaab and its organizational settings. My findings indicate that al-Shabaab operate in a flexible multiple cells organizational leadership structure whose components are independent.


Between 1980 and 1984 a number of finds of EBA metalwork were recovered via metal-detecting from an area of rough ground at the head of a small disused quarry. This report considers the character of the metalwork and the context in which that material was deposited. It concludes that the entire assemblage could have resulted from more than one period of votive deposition, and that these activities focused upon a prominent, but natural, long mound and occurred in an area which may have been demarcated by other natural points of reference.


While Quality Assurance and Enhancement (QAE ENQA, 2009; Vettori, 2012), the literature lacks reports of successful bottom-up practices which result in such a culture. This study will present one such case study. Thanks to the election of an international student on the Student-Teacher Committee at the School of International Studies, a need to address issues specifically regarding international students emerged. As part of the EU funded SPEAQ project (Sharing Practices to Enhance and Assure Quality), a micro-project was thus developed which would engage international students in identifying possible actions and initiatives to address these issues. While the project aimed to enhance the learning experience of International Students through


Nonlinear pulse compression by more than a factor of 10 in an 200 µm xenon-filled hollow fiber with subsequent chirped mirror compressor is presented yielding sub-60 fs pulses at repetition rates up to 100 kHz.


Considering the hot spot problem in WSH,this paper proposed a new communication protocol CTMAC(cross-layer tree medium access control).Its combined the method of cross-layer with the energy-balancing mechanism,established a tree structured energy aware routing algorithm through sharing the node energy information between layers,and introduced the FRTS(future request to send)mechanism to SMAC.It could effectively prolong node's sleeping time.NS2 simulation experiments show that CTMAC has a good energy-efficiency and high stability,and can effectively mitigate the hot spot problem.


Abstract Protecting groups are indispensable in organic synthesis and there is a great need for a variety of deprotection methods. Here, we investigated the scope of the application of a deprotection procedure using SO3H silica gel, which we have previously reported as a desilylation procedure. Under these conditions, -OMOM, -OSEM, -OTHP, and -OAc groups and dimethyl acetal were cleaved. Pivaloyloxy, benzyloxy and methoxy carbonyl groups remained intact and selective deprotection of TBS groups in the presence of other protecting groups was accomplished. We succeeded in cleaving an acetyl group on a secondary alcohol in a highly polar nortropine derivative. Our findings here provide another deprotection option and would be helpful in the synthesis of multifunctional compounds. Graphical Abstract


: In industry, commonly yarn can be made and produced by OE Spinning machine. In general, yarn structure is used to determine the quality of yarn, such as yarn count number and yarn strength. Based on theoretical consideration, in this research, a yarn can be analysed by the movement of fibre. According to this research, yarn structure was modelled on torus coordinate influenced by internal force known as stress.


Soy-fortified biscuits were compared with control biscuits for the effects of various levels of fat (20, 25, 30 and 35%) and sugar (28, 31, 34, 37, 40 and 43%), using the traditional creaming method. With increasing levels of fat and sugar in the formulation, attributes such as weight, diameter, spread ratio and percent spread factor of biscuits increased, whereas thickness and hardness of the product decreased irrespective of soy flour incorporation. The results of sensory evaluation revealed that the scores for texture and overall acceptability in control as well as in soy biscuits improved upto 30% fat level and thereafter decreased. However, the effects of increasing levels of sugar on the texture and overall acceptability scores increased upto 37% in control biscuits and thereafter decreased, whereas in soy biscuits improving effects were observed up to maximum level of sugar.


Disrupted stereovision is a feature that accompanies strabismus. This study uses an fMRI adaptation paradigm to assess the amount of cortical binocularity in subjects with normal or impaired stereopsis. We present data from a pilot study of two normally-sighted and one stereodeficient subject with alternating fixation. We adapted one eye to diagonally oriented sinusoidal gratings and tested either the same (monocular test) or the other eye (interocular transfer), using either the same or an orthogonal orientation. In normally-sighted subjects, we observed monocular adaptation but only weak interocular transfer in the striate cortex, whereas in the extrastriate cortex we found strong monocular as well as interocular adaptation. In the stereodeficient subject, monocular adaptation but no interocular transfer was obtained in the extrastriate cortex. These results suggest that impaired stereopsis is related to reduced interocular transfer of adaptation at higher levels of the cortical visual pathway.


In contrast to standardised assessment, dynamic assessment (DA) simultaneously combines teaching and assessment activities. The key difference between standardised and dynamic approaches lies in the fact that, in the latter, an expert is allowed to provide assistance to a novice during the assessment process. Mediation, whether in the form of interventions or in the form of negotiated interactions between mediators and learners, aims not only to help learners complete the task, but also to promote their cognitive development. Whilst an approach to dynamic assessment implies the mediator's participation, it is equally important to note the involvement of the learner during this process. However, the way in which learners contribute to dynamic assessment tends to be overlooked by researchers. This chapter examines a relatively small corpus of 14 language learners' written texts, who were asked to correct themselves with and without assistance by means of a computer-based application. It then investigates how learners responded to interventions, and how they negotiated mediation in terms of acceptance and refusal. Results not only show that learners' acceptance of mediation is unsystematic, but also demonstrate that learners may refuse and argue the mediation offered.


THE SIZE of the money supply, currency and bank deposits, is the subject of much comment and discussion. Since much of the Federal Reserve Board policy revolves around the money supply, this affects the national economy. Moreover, there are, unavoidably, some political overtones. The velocity of the money supply has received scant public attention, which is surprising, since the dollar volume of business done is a product of the amount of money and the velocity with which it passes from hand to hand in payment for goods, services and other considerations. The two dimensions of money are thus equal partners. Possibly the disparity of attention devoted to them is accounted for by the fact that public policy does have a measure of control over the amount of money, while its velocity is determined more directly by the aggregate of the decisions made by those who own or owe it. Money velocity is the quotient between a measure of business done and a measure of the amount of money required. A choice must be made between the numerator and ;the denominator. Most studies have utilized bank clearings or bank debits as the measure of business. This, the author thinks, involves a distortion resulting from periods of high speculative activity. Most measures of money velocity, using clearings or debits, find it necessary to omit data for New York City, for which the figures are particularly subject to this distortion. With the development of other stock exchanges, the decentralization of banking and the gradual diffusion of interest in ownership of stocks outside the major financial centers, the distortion may well affect data for other centers. Since this study is oriented toward the business cycle as a whole, rather than toward the speculative aspect of it, a broader and more general measure of business is required. The Gross National Product, or total expenditure for goods and services, meets this need. It is being used in some recent studies in this field, and figures have been reconstructed for an adequate historical period. It reflects the changing level of commodity prices during the years, as well as the volume of goods and services. The choice of a measure of money supply is more difficult and possibly controversial. The obvious choice is currency outside of banks, plus either demand deposits, adjusted for Treasury deposits, interbank accounts and un,collected items, or these with the addition of time and savings deposits in banks. The choice is complicated by the fact that various temporary stores of value exist, which, while not being bartered, are normally readily converted into money and function as quasi-money. U. S. Savings Bonds, short-term investments, commercial paper, savings and loan share accounts, and credit union balances illustrate these "money extenders.' This study excludes these as components of the money supply, for three reasons: first, because adequate data are lacking or difficult to assemble; second, because they lack the homogeneity likely to characterize a simpler definition of money supply, and third-and most important -because they do not, in fact, pass from hand to hand in transactions entering directly into the production of Gross National Product, but are converted into currency or deposit balances for this purpose.


This paper presents a method for writer retrieval where embeddings of patches extracted at SIFT keypoint locations are learned by a Compact Convolutional Transformer (CCT), a modified attention-based transformer architecture including convolutions, followed by a NetMVLAD layer and Generalized Max Pooling (GMP) to obtain global page descriptors. We introduce the application of CCTs for writer retrieval and show that they outperform Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) used in current State-of-the-Art methods for writer retrieval, namely ResNet18, while at the same time only have one-third of the number of parameters. Additionally, we propose Net-MVLAD, an extension of NetVLAD with multiple vocabularies, to encode information with different vocabulary sizes improving the original NetVLAD. An evaluation of the performance of CCTs compared to ResNet18 is provided on the ICDAR2013 Competition on Writer Identification dataset (ICDAR2013) and CVL dataset. The effect of multiple vocabularies applied within the NetVLAD layer is shown. CCT7 pretrained on CIFAR-100 combined with NetMVLAD achieves 89.3% Mean Average Precision (mAP) on the ICDAR2013 dataset and 96.5% on the CVL dataset.


Introduction: Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) accounts for 10%-15% of all acute myeloid leukemia9s. The use of All-Trans Retinoic Acid/ Arsenic trioxide (ATRA/ATO) in the treatment regimens of low to intermediate-risk patients has led to remarkable cure rates (~80%). However, treatment guidelines of high-risk patients (WBC count≥ 10 x 109/L) remain unclear and these patients are at an increased risk of relapse. Design: Due to ambiguous treatment guidelines for high-risk APL patients as well as limited options for patients with arsenic resistant disease we sought to analyze clinical outcomes in this subset of patients. We conducted a literature search through Pubmed, EBSCO, and JSTOR to identify original articles that evaluated treatment protocols as well as outcomes for high-risk/refractory APL patients. We also evaluated the literature for clinical data involving patients who had arsenic resistant APL. Only relevant articles from 2000 to 2019 were included. Clinical trials where patients did not receive ATRA/ATO treatment were excluded. High risk patients have an increased mortality and decreased overall survival compared to intermediate and low risk patients. Although early death resulting from bleeding complications remains an important clinical hindrance, cases of arsenic resistant disease are becoming more prevalent. Resistant/refractory APL is a rare occurrence; however, no effective treatment exists to overcome resistance in this subset of patients. Of particular interest is the identification of variant translocations in APL; those that differ from the classical PML-RARA (~95%). 12 non-characteristic rearrangements have so far been described; of these, the ZBTB16-RARA and STAT5b-RARA are the most common variants. Both ZBTB16-RARA & STAT5b-RARA are insensitive to ATRA/ATO combination therapy, leaving these patients with limited options. Clinical outcomes have recently been described in a subset of 13 patients with arsenic resistant disease. Of these 13 patients with arsenic resistant disease, 11 eventually died. Mutations in a particular region of the PML protein have been shown to mediate arsenic resistant disease in both in vitro and in vivo models, suggesting a potential benefit of molecular screening to improve clinical outcomes. Neither ATO nor cytotoxic chemotherapy was successful in inducing remissions in this particular subset of patients. Conclusion: Well-defined treatment guidelines in high-risk APL and the need for alternative agents in patients resistant to ATO therapy are needed to improve clinical efficacy and outcomes. 1. Zhu, H.H.; Qin, Y.Z.; Huang, X.J. Resistance to arsenic therapy in acute promyelocytic leukemia. N Engl J Med 2014, 370, 1864-1866, doi:10.1056/NEJMc1316382. Citation Format: Ravinder Singh Chale, Joaquin J. Jimenez. Acute promyelocytic leukemia [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research 2020; 2020 Apr 27-28 and Jun 22-24. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2020;80(16 Suppl):Abstract nr 639.


In this paper, three solid complexes of MCl_2 (M=Hg2+, Cd2+) and Cd (NO_3)_2with cryptand [2. 2.2] have been prepared. The composition of each complex has been determined by elemental analysis. The IR and Raman spectra of these complexes were studied, and some characteristic bands were assigned. With these data, the structure of the complexes can be characterized.


- In this paper, an improved type of CMOS non-Foster circuit with the cross-coupled pair is proposed to produce negative resistance, negative capacitance and negative inductance in the frequency range between 100 MHz and 3 GHz. Non-Foster circuits are also called negative impedance converter (NIC) circuits. The proposed NIC circuit is designed to eliminate the gate-source parasitic capacitances of NMOS transistors which are the core elements of this cross-coupled topology with the help of on-chip inductors. The negative impedance conversion capability of the NIC circuit is shown analytically with the detailed mathematical formulations and proofs. The circuit is also simulated and verified in AWR Design Environment using 0.35µm BiCMOS transistor models comparatively for two cases with and without LC tank sub-circuit. The circuit is tested and verified with the loads of 50Ω resistance, 5 pF capacitance and 10 nH inductance to be converted negatively. The improvement in the negative impedance conversion rate of the NIC circuit is presented clearly with the impedance-frequency curves. The results show that the performance of the proposed NIC circuit is satisfactory with the help of gate-source parasitic cancellation. Additionally, the preliminary on-chip IC component placement of the NIC circuit using 0.35µm BiCMOS models is proposed for the realization and production.


Lack of funds is now the greatest problem in the development of higher education in China.Through decades of exploration and practice,most of the developed countries have diversified the outlays for their higher education,which guaranteed the development of higher education in these countries.To understand and analyze their successful practice in higher education financing will be of great benefit to the revenue reformation of higher education in China.


The preliminary design on how to realize the ocean route automatic selection and optimization is proposed. Based on the full consideration of the important complications, such as the weather and ship situation, the fuzzy synthesis evaluation model is used to process the optimal route choosing, and the mathematical multistage evaluation model is given.


SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics) is a XML based markup language used to describe and integrate vector graphics, raster graphics and text. SVG is developed by the W3C web consortium as an official web standard, with the support of major computer graphics and mobile phone companies, such as Adobe, Canon, Corel, IBM, Kodak, Nokia, Opera, Sun, etc. SVG Mobile was furthermore adopted by the 3GPP consortium as a part of the 3GPP mobile phone standard. SVG graphics can be animated and enriched with interactivity. Scripting languages and network interfaces help build interactive applications. SVG's rich visualization options and the support of interactivity make it a natural candidate for providing graphics and interactive examples in e-learning environments. The ability to access the SVG source code and have a glance "under the hood" to see how things are made, is especially useful for learning and sharing purposes. SVG also provides a fun way to introduce programming and illustrate the functionality of algorithms. Students are usually motivated if they can graphically visualize what they program. The paper first summarizes SVG's capabilities. The second part will discuss strengths and weaknesses of the SVG approach and explain why SVG is a useful technology for e-learning purposes. The following section describes usage scenarios and gives a number of e-learning examples. Domains will include mathematics, geometry, electronics, programming and GIS. Development tools and authoring systems will be mentioned. The last part will discuss and outline current developments regarding the upcoming SVG 1.2 version.


The implementation of rapid response teams (RRTs), also known as medical emergency teams, across the world has happened in parallel with the research to assess their effectiveness.1 The development of RRTs occurred due to observations that associated signs and symptoms are often present hours or days before clear clinical deterioration in the majority of patients.2 By assessing these patients early, RRTs would presumably prevent progression to cardiopulmonary arrest.

The article by Akhtar et al assesses the performance of a RRT in three NHS Acute Hospitals in England within a single NHS Trust, with a particular focus on the variability in duration and diagnostic accuracy of the call placed to trigger the RRT.3 Examining 426 RRT activations, the authors identified significant variation in the duration of the call placed, with the call taking anywhere from 6 s to 92 s. The authors then examined the recording to identify the causes of a longer call time, concluding that a substantial source of delay was confusion over whether to identify a situation as a medical emergency or a cardiac arrest. This leads to the question of whether RRTs should act separate from, or as an extension of, 'code' teams, which primarily focus on resuscitation of patients who have already had a cardiac arrest.

Early studies of RRTs focused on decreasing the frequency of cardiac arrests, suggesting that RRTs were originally created to only respond to a medical emergency before the onset of an arrest. Most of these data came from single-centre studies that used a 'before–after' design, comparing outcomes for the patients cared for before implementation of the RRT with outcomes …


Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is the most common reproductive endocrinopathy and currently considered to be a part of the metabolic syndrome. Women with PCOS cluster risk factors associated with risk of atherosclerosis. These risk factors include insulin resistance, dyslipidemia, hyperandrogenemia, obesity, endothelial dysfunction and oxidative stress. homocysteine and paraoxonase 1 in PCOS in two different regimes of treatment with Metformin and Folic acid in order to elucidate some risk factors that may lead to atherosclerosis and vascular diseases in the corresponding patients. Patients and Methods: Fifty patients with PCOS were enrolled in this study that subdivided into two groups according to type of treatment received i.e. G1 (comprising 25 patients) treated with Metformin only, G2 (comprisin25 patients) with Metformin and Folic acid. Serum Homocysteine (Hcy), Paraoxonase 1(PON1) Apolipoprptein A-1(Apo A-1) and Apolipoprotein B(Apo B) were determind by using enzymelinked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Reduced Glutathion (GSH) and Malondialdehyde (MDA) were determined by using colorimetric method. Results: The results indicated a significant increase in the serum levels of Hcy(p<0.01), PON1 and GSH(p<0.05) anda significantdecreasein thelevels of MDA and Apo B/Apo A-1 ratio(p<0.01)in PCOS group after Metformin only(G1- A).But, after Metformin with Folic acid treatment (G2-A)Hcy, Apo B/Apo A-1 ratio and MDA levels were significantly lower (p<0.01) and PON1 as well as GSH levels were significantly higher (p<0.01) in comparison with those before treatment. Whereas, a significant decreasein level ofHcy, MDA (p<0.01) and Apo B/Apo A-1 ratio(p<0.05) anda significantincrease in PON1(p<0.01) and GSH levels (p<0.05) in (G2-A)as compared with (G1-A). The results revealed a significant positive correlation between Hcywith MDA and Apo B/Apo A-1 ratio as well as between PON1 and GSH. And a significant negative correlation between HcywithGSH, PON1and also, betwe


Background: Electricity has long been regarded as a catalyst for enhancing economy growth in developing countries. The availability of electricity can drive a country's growth by allowing firms to take advantage of it to increase its productivity enhancing technologies, the bulk of which are reliant on electricity. Objective: In view of the above, this study aims to model the willingness to pay of electricity supply to consumers in southwestern states of Nigeria using machine learning approach. Methods: The study was conducted in six southwestern states in Nigeria. This data contain information which was obtained through longitudinal survey using a google form questionnaire. The data contains the category of the respondents, type of commercial activity, average daily electricity supplied, willingness to pay of electricity supply per month and so on. K-Nearest Neighbors (KNN), Random Forest, Support Vector Machine (SVM), Decision Tree and Boosting Classification models were considered. Results: Among the models considered, KNN, SVM and Boosting classification models perform better in classifying whether a consumer is willing to pay for electricity consumption or not. Conclusion: The information obtained from this research can be used to produce insight into electricity production in the states.


unquestionably is growing. Highway construction, public housing, slum clearance, urban renewal and school and utility construction are all activities which typically involve eminent domain. The aggregate scale and growth of such activities is suggested by a comparison of total public construction outlays. New public construction activity for 1959 was approximately $16.0 billion; by 1968 it had reached a yearly level of nearly $28.0 billion.'


We present a photonic technique for generating sub-terahertz noise with an optical amplifier, arrayed waveguide grating (AWG), and uni-travelling carrier photodiode (UTC-PD). This scheme provides a high noise level and good controllability of the noise level and frequency band. The power density of the generated sub-terahertz noise is approximately -130.1 dBm/Hz at 350 GHz, which is 43.9 dB higher than the thermal noise (-174 dBm/Hz). Utilizing the implemented sub-terahertz noise generator with an UTC-PD module, we measured the absorption lines of N2O in the frequency range approximately 280~390 GHz and compared them with simulations.


The territory defines the policy framework and social relationships. The territory is the basis of identity by providing symbols and myths to imagined communities. But the Humanities ignore area as a factor in cultural differences. So far, nobody has given a definition of regional television and drawn a demarcation line between regional and local broadcasting. This article is devoted to the conceptual development of the categories of regional television in scientific research. Relevance of this topic is also connected with the government plans to include one of the regional channels into the second multiplex (digital TV package compulsory for distribution). The article deals with historical changes in views on TV in its spatial dimension. In the Soviet era, only the republics − the most autonomous territorial units − recognized regional specificity. With the deployment of the satellite system of the Central Television local television stations were abolished or reduced to information branches of the Central Television at the causes of the financial constraints of the local broadcasters, constant technological upgrading of the regional TV stations and unnecessary competition between the local TV stations and the All-Union programs. In the television space regionalization of 1990 was reflected in the creation of many private broadcasters, who began their broadcasting activities as an alternative to the Central Television and an opposition to the official forms of culture. The «regional» status that lacked in the Soviet taxonomy appeared in the lexicon of politics, and in the context of mass media. Telecasting is a modern structure of the type of representation of the region and the nation as the highest categories of community. It is due to television that modern people find reasons to believe that other people fancy the same things. A television station of cities and regional studios realize itself if it does not copy or try to imitate the Central TV, but pursues its content strategy and its own programming policy. Its own broadcasters and its authentic television programs are features of the region as a territorial community. Its own infrastructure, including local broadcasters, cable networks and extensive development of Internet resources is a basic life quality indicator in this region. Regional television is a set of broadcasters, covering its entire territory, and partly neighbouring territories and districts. Regional television helps forming a community of people living in the area, through the creation of general information agenda and discusses their common problems. The studies of regional TV in the context of political, economic and social relations are an urgent task of journalism theory and practice.


Background:The heterogeneous pattern of acute lung injury (ALI) predisposes patients to ventilator-associated lung injury. Currently, there is no simple technique that can reliably quantify lung heterogeneity during the dynamic conditions of mechanical ventilation. Such a technique may be of use in optimizing mechanical ventilatory parameters such as rate, tidal volume, or positive end-expiratory pressure. Methods:To determine the impact of heterogeneity on respiratory mechanics, the authors measured respiratory impedance (Zrs), expressed as respiratory resistance (Rrs) and elastance (Ers), in 11 anesthetized dogs from 0.078 to 8.9 Hz using broadband pressure and flow excitations under baseline conditions and after ALI produced by infusion of 0.08 ml/kg oleic acid into the right atrium. Data were obtained at mean airway pressures (&OV0440;ao) of 5, 10, 15, and 20 cm H2O. The Zrs spectra were fit by various models of the respiratory system incorporating different distributions of parallel viscoelastic tissue properties. Results:Under baseline conditions, both Rrs and Ers exhibited dependence on oscillation frequency, reflecting viscoelastic behavior. The Ers demonstrated significant dependence on &OV0440;ao. After ALI, both the level and frequency dependence of Rrs and Ers increased, as well as the apparent heterogeneity of tissue properties. Both Rrs and Ers as well as heterogeneity decreased with increasing &OV0440;ao, approaching baseline levels at the highest levels of &OV0440;ao. Conclusions:These data demonstrate that Zrs can provide specific information regarding the mechanical heterogeneity of injured lungs at different levels of &OV0440;ao. Moderate increases in &OV0440;ao seem to be beneficial in ALI by reducing heterogeneity and recruiting lung units. These noninvasive measurements of lung heterogeneity may ultimately allow for the development of better ventilation protocols that optimize regional lung mechanics in patients with ALI.


Maize Cob has been used for silica production but no research had been reported on the optimization of maize husk for silica production. This study is aimed at developing an approach for the optimization of silica production from Maize Husk (MH) using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The MH was analyzed for crude fiber (CF), crude protein (CP) and ash constituents using standard method. The MH (30kg) was run using Box Behnken Design to determine the experimental combinations of the predictor variables: Temperature (400-700 oC), Time (2-6 h) and MH (5-7 g). Optimal process variables predicted were validated by confirmatory experiments. The silica produced was characterized using Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR). The CF, CP and ash content were 1.52, 10 and 1.5 % respectively. The optimal values of the variables from the RSM, namely: temperature, time and MH were 528 oC, 5.31 hr and 5.85g. There was no significant difference between the values obtained from RSM and that of the validation. FTIR showed noticeable absorption peaks attributed to O-Si-O stretching. It can be concluded that maize husk which is an agricultural waste is a viable product for silica production.


ABSTRACT The ritual sacrifice of the child of La Guardia in 1491 can be seen as a lens to examine anti-Jewish sentiment in fifteenth-century Castile. This article argues that the deposition made by the Jews of La Guardia hinged on a triple set of interpretations that tended to represent the sacrifice of the child of La Guardia as a mockery of pig-slaughtering sacrifices but also as a representation of Jewish medical malpractice. The article further connects the representation of the child of La Guardia with the image of the crucified monk and with the "Vueltas de San Antón", a festival in which a child was crowned as the king of the pigs.


Following the trends of electrification, the energy storage of vehicles is gaining importance as the most expensive part of an electric car. Since lithium-ion batteries are perishable goods and underlie e. g. aging effects, environmental and operating conditions during manufacturing and car usage need close supervision. With regard to the paradigm of digital twins, data from various life cycle phases needs to be collected and processed to improve the general quality of the system. To achieve this complex task, a suitable framework is needed in order to operate the fleet of digital twins during manufacturing processes, the automotive usage and a potential second life. Based on a literature review, we formulate requirements for a digital twin framework in the field of battery systems. We propose a framework to develop and operate a fleet of digital twins during all life cycle phases. Results feature a case study in which we implement the stated framework in a cloud-computing environment using early stages of battery system production as test a bed. With the help of a self-discharge model of li-ion cells, the system can estimate the SOC of battery modules and provide this information to the arrival testing procedures.


Background & Aims Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an important role in intercellular communication, serving as vehicles for the exchange of biological materials and being involved in the regulation of physiological processes. EVs and their associated cargoes are considered a promising source of disease-associated biomarkers. The purpose of this study was to establish an easy-to-use, reproducible, and scalable workflow to efficiently analyze EVs in the context of liver disease. Methods An optimized workflow was established for the pre-analytical processing and isolation of EVs from plasma and serum. Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis (NTA) was used to characterize circulating EVs in the serum of patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), autoimmune liver disease (AIH), and animal models with impaired liver function. EVs were separated from soluble proteins by an optimized, polyethylene glycol (PEG)-based enrichment protocol. Enriched EVs were either labeled and functionally characterized by monitoring cellular uptake or lysed for biomarker identification. Results Circulating EVs in the serum of patients with NAFLD or AIH and in different animal models have been characterized by NTA. Here we show that both the quantity and size of EVs in the serum of patients/animal models are significantly different from those of healthy individuals. We show that isolated EVs are functional, and their uptake by acceptor cells can be quantified after fluorescence labelling. Enriched EVs were directly used to analyze RNA biomarkers. Several microRNAs, including miR-15b, -16, -21, -122 and -223, were found to be significantly up-regulated in EVs isolated from the sera of patients with NAFLD and AIH. We show that EVs transport cytokines, and that IL-2, IL-6 and IL-8 were significantly up-regulated in EVs enriched from patients with cholangiocarcinoma (CCA) compared to healthy controls. Conclusions The workflow presented here represents an accessible and easy-to-use approach that enables the analysis and enrichment of EVs from complex biological fluids and their preparation for functional characterization or downstream analysis. In this study, the levels of several miRNAs were found to be significantly increased in EVs isolated from AIH and NAFLD patients compared with healthy controls. Highlights EVs circulating in crude serum reflect the diseased stage of the donors. Enrichment of EVs with the approach presented here efficiently separates soluble proteins from EVs, providing optimal material for further characterization. Exosomal markers are present in the EVs-enriched fraction. Enriched EVs are intact and are functionally taken up by acceptor cells. Enriched EVs are suitable, and have been used for, biomarkers identification both at RNA and protein level.


In a competitive and economic environment, ever changing, the key to success is represented not by the quality of operational planning, but by the clarity of strategic thinking, even it is matter of an NGO. Currently, no one may talk about the environmental stability, the only constant is the permanence of changing.


Modified orange peel used as biological adsorbent was prepared by chemical modification method,using orange peel as raw material and phosphoric acid as modifier. Its adsorption performance was studied. The effects of the adsorbent dosage,p H,initial concentration and adsorption time on the adsorption performance were studied by single experiment,and the conditions of adsorption were optimized by orthogonal experiment. The results showed that while the adsorbent dosage was 0. 10 g,p H = 6,initial concentration was 5 mol · L-1,adsorption time was 8 min and the adsorption rate could reach 91. 2%,it exhibited the best performance.


In the presented article, the Sacred Text, which is the core of theological research, is considered as the Speech of the Most High, addressed directly to the theologian-researcher, who is ready for a "hermeneutic dialogue" with the living Word and is ca-pable of reflecting on the depths of its meaning. To conduct the presented research, an integrative approach was applied, which consists in understanding the philosophi-cal, cultural and religious hermeneutic concepts. Particular attention is paid to the re-ligious hermeneutical tradition of Orthodoxy and Islam. The principle of the herme-neutic circle (spiral) in biblical hermeneutics is considered; comprehension of spiritual experience in the Orthodox religious tradition; principles of the Sufi hermeneutical tradition and Sufi communication studies. In addition to scientific concepts, frag-ments of the description of the personal feelings of researchers that arise when work-ing with cultural and historical monuments are analyzed. For a deeper understanding of the theologian's inner feelings that arise in the process of their contact with the Sa-cred Text, the process of establishing a non-verbal connection between the reader and the author of an ordinary book or an ancient manuscript is analyzed. Further, the spe-cial ontological status of the Sacred Text is considered, which makes it possible to es-tablish a connection with the Almighty, and the hidden rules of reading (recitation) of the Koran proposed by the medieval Muslim thinker al-Ghazali are given, the ob-servance of which can lead the reader to a "hermeneutic dialogue" with the Sacred text. Then the idea of a hermeneutic spiral is analyzed, the movement along which can lead to the realization of the Event of the soul (spirit), shifting the framework of world perception, which leads to the fulfillment of an epistrophe and the experience of metanoia, which are the most important conditions for approaching the knowledge of a true transcendent being. The paper proposes consideration of the possibility of expanding the field of theological research by presenting the world as a Sacred Text (Primitive Manuscript), which will allow a somewhat different look at the "core of the methodology of theology", significantly enriching the scope of the theologian's scientific activity.


Abstract The effect of filler networking on mechanical and electrical properties of elastomers is discussed on the basis of percolation theory and a recently developed kinetical cluster-cluster agg...


In recent years, many school systems have increased gross intake rates and come closer to meeting Education for All goals. One side effect of this increase is larger numbers of overage pupils in primary and secondary school. This study uses household survey data from 35 countries to measure the extent and effects of school attendance by overage pupils. The study finds that in the lower grades of primary school, older pupils generally outperform younger ones. Younger pupils are far more likely to repeat grades than older pupils. There are particularly high repetition rates of underage pupils in first grade; these suggest there is an unmet need for kindergarten facilities. In higher grades of primary school and in all grades of secondary school, older pupils are less likely to be promoted and more likely to drop out of school, resulting in lower survival rates than those of younger pupils. The two most important policy implications of this study are: 1) the unmet need for education facilities for younger children should be met, and 2) there is need for special focus on older pupils in higher grades to ensure that they remain in school. The Education Policy and Data Center (EPDC), a partnership of FHI 360 and the US Agency for International Development, was founded in 2004 to contribute to better education policy making and planning through improved access to and use of data and analysis. For more information, see www.epdc.org. ‡ This report has been prepared by the Education Policy and Data Center (EPDC) from a series of studies commissioned by the GMR as background to the 2009 EFA Global Monitoring Report. Working papers disseminated by the EPDC reflect ongoing research and have received limited review. Views or opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect the policy or views of FHI 360 or of any of the EPDC sponsors. W I N T E R 2 0 0 9 1 Pupil Performance and Age: A Study of Promotion, Repetition, and Dropout Rates among Pupils in Four Age Groups in 35 Developing Countries EPDC Working Paper No. WP-09-02 BACKGROUND Over attendance is widespread in developing countries. According to one common measure of overage pupils, in 2005 in 20% of countries, more than 20% of primary pupils were overage. In fact, this number underestimates the extent of overage attendance because it only measures the proportion of children attending primary school who are older than the highest primary school age. It does not include the many children who are overage for their grade but still fall within the range of primary school children – all the first graders who are 9, 10, and 11 years old, for example. Grade and age-specific data for 2004 from UIS show that in 40% of 74 developing countries with available data, 20%-61% of the pupils are registered as two or more years older than the official age for their grade. The EPDC background report to the GMR 2008 (EPDC, 2007b:58) shows that overage attendance increased in many Sub-Saharan African countries in the past decade, while it declined in countries in other regions. Figure 1. Change in GIR and change in overage entry in 60 developing countries from 2000-2006. -30 -20 -10 0 10 20 30 -100 -50 0 50 100 Change in gross intake 2000-2006 C ha ng e in n et o ve rag e in ta ke 0 006 In those countries where primary intake increased since 2000, it appears that overage school intake also increased, perhaps partly as a result. Figure 1 shows that there is some correlation between change in the gross intake rate (GIR) and the proportion of overage entrants from 1999-2006 in 60 developing countries. Thus, at least in some countries, the issue of overage students may be getting more pronounced. Overage pupils are a group with unique needs. Overage pupils are more likely to be from disadvantaged groups (UNESCO, 2006:26), and they also have different interests and responsibilities than their official-age peers. There is already some evidence to support the belief that overage pupils have higher repetition and drop-out rates than official age pupils (UNESCO, 2007:43; Cameron, 2005; Mendelson and Roberts, 1996; Wils, 2004). Because the incidence of overage attendance is widespread, and because it is believed that overage pupils have higher than average repetition and drop-out rates, it is worth investigating impacts of pupil age on school performance more carefully. W I N T E R 2 0 0 9 2 Pupil Performance and Age: A Study of Promotion, Repetition, and Dropout Rates among Pupils in Four Age Groups in 35 Developing Countries EPDC Working Paper No. WP-09-02 DATA The data for this study are from 35 Demographic and Health Surveys (DHS). The data from DHS surveys can be used to calculate promotion, repetition and dropout rates of pupils by their age. The surveys used are the most recent ones for which the datasets are available: all are post2000 surveys. The majority (22) of the surveys represent countries in sub-Saharan Africa; six represent countries in Latin America; four are from Asia, two from Eastern Europe, and one from North Africa. Table 1 lists the datasets used in this study. Table 1. DHS datasets included in the study. Armenia 2005 Benin 2006 Burkina Faso 2003 Cambodia 2005 Cameroon 2004 Colombia 2005 Congo, Rep. 2005 Dominican Rep. 2002 Egypt 2005 Ethiopia 2005 Ghana 2003 Guinea 2005 Haiti 2005 Honduras 2005 India 2006 Kenya 2003 Lesotho 2004 Madagascar 2004 Malawi 2004 Mali 2001 Moldova 2005 Mozambique 2003 Namibia 2000 Nepal 2006 Nicaragua 2001 Niger 2006 Nigeria 2003 Peru 2005 Philippines 2003 Rwanda 2005 Senegal 2005 Tanzania 2004 Uganda 2006 Zambia 2002 Zimbabwe 2006 Measurement of pupils flows – promotion, repetition, and dropout The calculation of pupil flows is based on a set of six questions in each DHS survey which, in tandem, can be used to determine the school levels and grades that a pupil attended over a two year period: • Did you attend school in the previous school year? o What school level did you attend that year? o Within that level, what grade did you attend? • Did/Are you attending school in the current school year o What school level are you attending? o Within that level, what grade are you attending? This study analyzes pupils who were in school in the previous school year because it is only for these pupils that flows can be calculated. The flows–promotion, repetition and dropout –are calculated as follows: Promotion rate grade X: Pupils who were attending grade X+1 or higher in the current year and who attended grade X in the previous year, divided by the pupils who were attending grade X in the previous year. Repetition rate grade X: Pupils who were attending grade X or a lower grade in the current year and who attended grade X in the previous year, divided by the pupils who were attending grade X in the previous year. Dropout rate grade X: Children who were not attending school in the current year but did attend grade X in the previous year, divided by the pupils who attended grade X in the previous year. This is a broad definition of dropouts, and includes both 1) pupils who dropped out without completing the grade or level they most recently 2 Pupils who repeat to a lower grade are believed to be a very rare observation, although the data extraction files were not written to count these cases. W I N T E R 2 0 0 9 3 Pupil Performance and Age: A Study of Promotion, Repetition, and Dropout Rates among Pupils in Four Age Groups in 35 Developing Countries EPDC Working Paper No. WP-09-02 W I N T E R 2 0 0 9 4 attended, and 2) pupils who completed a grade or level but did not move on the next. With this definition, pupils who quit school at one of the transition grades, such as the end of primary, basic, mandatory, or lower secondary school, are counted as dropouts – peak dropout rates at these points indicate barriers that prevent pupils from moving on the next level. The study does not extend past the last grade of secondary; so all pupils who report having completed the last grade of secondary are classified as 'promoted'. Promotion rate last grade secondary school: Pupils who were attending the last grade of secondary school in the previous year and report currently having attained "complete secondary", divided by the pupils who were attending the last grade of secondary school in the previous year. Because the study analyzes the pupils who attended school in the previous year for each dataset, New Entrants to the school system in the present year are not considered in this study. A pupil would be classified as a new entrant if they reported not attending school in the previous year, but did attend school in current year. Relative age groups To categorize pupils into underage, on-time and overage groups, the concept of relative age is introduced. The relative age of pupils refers to how many years the pupils' age departs from the official age for their grade. The official ages for each grade are based on UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) definitions. Relative age groupings are designated as follows: 3 For example, in a system where there are five grades of primary, a pupil who completed grade five and graduated from primary school, but did not move on to secondary, would be classified as a 'dropout' along with the pupil who withdrew after attending grade five for just one month. 4 From a different set of questions on educational attainment. Underage: The pupil's age for the previous year is lower than the official age for the grade they reported attending during the previous year. On-time: The pupil's age for the previous year is equal to the official age for the grade they reported attending during the previous year. One year overage: The pupil's age for the previous year is one year higher than the official age for grade they reported attending during the previous year. 2+ years overage: The pupil's age for the previous year is two or more years higher than the official age for grade they reported attending during the previous year. Note that this def


The newly discovered Chamuhan W-Mo deposit is located in the northwest of Keshiketeng county, Inner Mongonia. The Re-Os dating for five molybdenite samples constrains the age of the vein-type Mo mineralization to be 139.3±1.5 Ma (2σ, MSWD=3.3). Given the isotope model ages of between 137.8±2.3 and 139.4±2.1 Ma, averaging 138.8±2.8 Ma (2σ, MSWD=0.044), a perfect isochron line is created at 139.3 Ma. The data indicate that the mineralization in Chamuhan W-Mo deposit occurred in Late Jurassic, and is one of the massive Mo mineralization in East China. Comparing with other Mo or Mo-bearing deposits in the regional, it is believed that the Chamuhan W-Mo deposit is the result of the tectonic transaction in East China. The Re contents of molybdenites in Chamuhan vary in range of 0.127 μg/g to 2.317 μg/g, averaging 0.875 μg/g. As Re content in molybdenite can be used as an important indicator on source of ore-forming material, it is likely that the ore-forming material in the Chamuhan W-Mo deposit was derived from the upper crust.


This study sought to evaluate the budgetary slack in Zimbabwean public institutions. The study suggests that the propensity to create budget slacking is mainly a systems perspective, in view of the communication feedback and the design of the processes in budgets. Bureaucracy in the budgeting process and delays in the approval and submissions of funds from central government provides opportunities for budget holders to put reliance on experience and personal judgement, thus resulting in budget gaming. Sound management procedures must be put in place to enhance efficiency for the benefit of both internal and external stakeholders.


Urban street images have a unique property as they capture visual scenes that are distinctive to their geo-graphical regions. Such images are similar to their neighboring ones while dissimilar to faraway images. We refer to this characteristic of images as the spatial visual locality or the spatial locality of similar visual features. This study focuses on geo-tagged urban street images and hypothesizes that those images demonstrate a local similarity in a certain region but a dissimilarity across different regions, and provides different analysis methods to validate the hypothesis. The paper also evaluates the correctness of the hypothesis using three real geo-tagged street images collected from the Google Street View. Our experimental results demonstrate a high locality of similar visual features among urban street images.


Model validation for submicron SIMOX (separation by implantation of oxygen) transistors by careful comparison of the simulated and measured snapback voltages as a function of gate length is reported. The transistors were fabricated in SIMOX material with an estimated film thickness of 0.2 mu m, a buried insulator thickness of 0.4 mu m, and a gate oxide thickness of 20 nm. The measured threshold voltage of the 1 mu m n-channel transistor was 1.08 V and the subthreshold slope 86 mV/decade. The snapback voltage was defined as the maximum drain voltage at which the transistor turns off, when swept in the direction of decreasing gate voltage. Excellent agreement has been achieved over a range of transistor gate lengths down to 0.5 mu m. Two-dimensional device simulation can be used to determine the optimum transistor structure by considering the factors associated with engineering both the source and drain regions with a view to maximizing the breakdown voltage.<<ETX>>


The final stage is often in supercritical state. When variable conditions are not considered and the effect of back pressure on unit power increment is determined, the effect of supercritical condition on the power increment is investigated based on the turbine power equation. The formulation of power variation with perfect state is established. Considering the effects of variable conditions on final stage, the unit power is corrected, the practicability and accuracy of the calculation is further improved.


The system for four-terminal pair intercomparison of unlike impedances of IEN has now been provided with a new direct-digital synthesis generator, having multiple outputs, isolation among the channels, and high amplitude and frequency stability. Experimental results in the new and old configuration are shown and compared.


The oxygen evolution reaction (OER) is the bottleneck in proton-exchange membrane (PEM) electrolyzers as substantial overpotentials are required for the formation of gaseous oxygen at anode side to reach a satisfying current density. In the past years, substantial research investigations were dedicated to search for electrode materials with an ameliorated OER activity. Therein, different frameworks are proposed in the literature. The conventional method based on the computational hydrogen electrode approach relies on an assessment of simple binding energies by deriving linear scaling relationships that translate to a Volcano plot at zero overpotential. Recently, the traditional Volcano concept was extended, in that the applied overpotential and kinetics were accounted for by deducing overpotential-dependent Volcano curves or kinetic scaling relations, respectively. An alternative framework corresponds to the electrochemical-step symmetry index (ESSI), which was suggested as an improved measure within the ...


In the judgement addressed by the presented gloss, the Supreme Court made an interpretation of two crucial issues connected with the protection of the Community trademarks1 and the scope of their protection. The first one concerns the scope of protection of a trademark consisting of a colour per se. The other issue concerns the difference between the content of art. 296 para. 2 point 3 of the Polish Industrial Property Law2 and Article 9(1), point (c)3 of Regulation 207/20094 regarding


Summary Recently recognised as specifically distinct, the Pro´ncipe Thrush Turdus xanthorhynchus is endemic to the island of Pro´ncipe in the Gulf of Guinea, West Africa. Formerly treated as conspecific with the more abundant T. olivaceofuscus from the nearby island of Sao Tome ´, the Pro´ncipe Thrush is considered rare and likely to be restricted to primary rainforest. A 2007 survey of Pro´ncipe comprising 177 point transect locations covering 13 sites under different land uses (six in primary forest, three in secondary forest and four in plantations) encountered 18 individuals. Thrushes were found only in primary rainforest, where overall densities were 0.10 birds ha 1 , equating to a population size of 435 individuals (95% confidence intervals: 208-913). We adjusted this estimate to take into account the fact that the highest density (0.22 birds ha 1 ) only occurred above 600 m, giving a final estimated population size of only 364 birds (95% confidence intervals: 186-887). In light of evidence of recent declines, possibly driven by hunting pressure, in the number of mature individuals and the limited area of occurrence of the species, the IUCN Red List category for the Pro´ncipe Thrush should be 'Critically Endangered' under both criteria B1a+b(iii and v) and C2a(ii). The recent designation of the primary forests of south- ern Pro´ncipe as a protected area (Parque Natural d'Obodo Pro´ncipe) provides an opportunity for the conservation of this newly described species, which we recommend is used as a flagship for the forests as a whole.


Solid electrolyte interphase (SEI) film resistance is an important parameter in the study of charge transfer kinetics of a Li-ion battery. The passive film affects diffusion process of Li-ions. As such, it becomes essential to include film resistance in battery modelling. However, the traditional method of estimating the SEI film resistance is costly and time consuming. An indirect approach based on Ohm's law is thus presented in this paper. It relies on determining the interfacial polarisation from the difference of open-circuit voltage measured immediately after switching off the applied current and the equilibrium voltage. The technique is simple, easy to implement and can be used for a quick estimation of SEI film resistance with reasonable accuracy. For instance, average value of SEI film resistance for commercial LFP battery cell is measured as 0.004 Ohm · m2 , which was found to be consistent with the values determined using the impedance spectroscopy techhnique in the published literature for lithium-carbon film electrodes.


For such academics, multiculturalism threatens civility. The level of trust, responsibility and solidarity is lower in multicultural than unicultural societies. Mutually suspicious people do not cooperate in pursuit of common social goals. 4 For such journalists, multiculturalism threatens liberty. In otherwise free societies grow ghettoes where women are oppressed and enslaved, gays assaulted, children abused and exploited. 5


A 2year 3 month old male toddler presented with myoclonic jerks, ataxia and progressive cognitive decline over a period of 3 months. He had history suggestive of measles at 9 months of age. A diagnosis of Sub a cute sclerosing panencephalitis was made based on clinical features, typical EEG findings and positive anti-measles IgG titre in cerebro spinal fluid. The latency period between measles infection and the onset of symptoms of subacute sclerosing pan encephalitis is commonly 6-8 years, but in this case along with some other recently published case reports suggests that there is a decreased latency period between measles infection and onset of symptoms of Subacute sclerosing panecephalitis. A differential diagnosis of SSPE should be considered in all cases of acute encephalopathy in younger age group like toddler for early diagnosis and further management.


. During August and November 1988 a number of drosophilid flies Zaprionus Indiana Gupta 1970. were collected from the pomegranate fruit at Taif area in Saudi Arabia. The effects of 25OC, 30° and 35'C on developmental period and survival of different stages in the life cycle of the fly were investi-gated at 75% relative humidity and under continuous light. The mean egg incubation period, larval and pupal duration periods and adult longevity decreased with an increase in temperature from 25¡ to WC. However. the mean hatching percentage, larval and pupal survival, weight of adults, cumulative percen- rage of adult mortality were increased. The reduction in mean adult longevity at 3VCrather than 25OC was associated with great reduction in the mean oviposition period and fecundity from 35.8 2 12.9 to 1.3  0 9 days: and 112.5 2 39.7 to 1.2 2 0.9 eggs, respectively, and all eggs laid at W C failed to hatch. Most of the eggs oviposited at 2S° were laid days 11 to 25 after emergence. At 3S° only the mean larval dura- tion period was prolonged, but the mean incubation period and larval duration period were decreased, and all pupae failed to develop to an adult. The mean generation life span was 22.4 days at 292, shorter than 29.2 days at 3WC.


The criterion of micro-crack initiation on stronger, tougher steel, i.e., fail-safe steel, with an ultrafine elongated grain (UFEG) structure was studied through a combinations of numerical simulation and experimental observations and measurements. The test sample was machined from the rolled bar with 0o and 90o rotation along the rolling direction (RD). The static three-point bending test was conducted in a temperature range from 200 oC to -196 oC. The stresses near the initial notch were analyzed by three-dimensional finite element method. The conventionally quenched and tempered steel with a martensitic structure fractured brittlely with a peak bending loading. On the other hand, the developed steel did not fully fracture due to a lamella fracture even if load drops occurred during the bending test. The load drops are attributed to micro-cracks with normal to the loading direction (LD) or with an angle of 45o to the LD that occurred from near the initial notch root. When the crack orientation, i.e., LD is parallel to the RD, the developed steel showed a catastrophic fracture behavior. In the developed steel, the brittle fracture stress normal to the RD, FRD, was3.2 GPa at temperature over -100 oC and 2.6 GPa at temperature below -170 oC. The F of weak direction in the developed steel was 0.7 times lower than F(QT) of the conventionally steel. When the effective grain size on fracture is assumed to be packet in the martensitic structure, the brittle fracture stress parallel to the RD, F//RD, was estimated to be 6.2 GPa at temperature over -100 oC and 5.0 GPa at temperature below -170 oC. These values are 1.4 times as compared with the F(QT), 1.9 times higher than the FRD regardless of the test temperatures. The anisotropic brittle fracture stress in the fail-safe steel is attributed to the microstructural features, and we would be able to control a fracture of the steel by designing microstructures.


Here we report the first mass spectrometric study of negative ions formed via free electron attachment (EA) to nucleobases (NBs) embedded in helium clusters. Pure and mixed clusters of adenine and thymine have been formed by pickup of isolated NB molecules by cold helium droplets. In contrast to EA of isolated molecules in the gas phase we observe a long-lived parent anion NB- and, in addition, parent cluster ions NB-n up to size n=6. Moreover, we show that a low energy electron penetrating into a doped helium droplet causes efficient damage of the embedded nucleobases via resonant, site selective, dissociative electron attachment.


Developing neuronal populations are assumed to increase their synaptic interactions and generate synchronized activity, such as bursting, during maturation. These effects may arise from increasing interactions of neuronal populations and increasing simultaneous intra-population activity in developing networks. In this paper, we investigated the neuronal network activity and its complexity by means of self-similarity during neuronal network development.


This paper presents a new structure based on a line-commutated inverter (LCI) for photovoltaic (PV) applications. The proposed LCI circuit is able to inject the DC power to the grid at the unity power factor and with reduced harmonic levels. The proposed circuit with voltage-based maximum power point tracking (MPPT) is implemented in grid-connected PV system. The experimental results show that proposed system can extract the maximum power from PV array under varying irradiation levels. Besides, the power factor can be adjusted by modifying firing angle of SCRs. The modified LCI injects sinusoidal currents into the grid, thus the total harmonic distortion (THD) of the grid currents is about 5% or less, which is meet IEEE 1547 grid-connected standard. The results were obtained without any harmonic compensation or filter equipment when compared with the conventional LCI and current source inverter (CSI).


Most practices are familiar with the concept of compliance. Compliance
in the medical office setting is geared mainly at the billing activities,
the office's interaction with third party payers, and the medical record
documentation that supports the services billed.


A boiling water reactor (BWR) plant has a single loop coolant system, in which main steam generated in the reactor core proceeds directly into turbines. Consequently, radioactive 16N (6.2MeV photon emitter) contained in the steam contributes to gamma-ray skyshine dose in the vicinity of the BWR plant. The skyshine dose analysis is generally performed with the line-beam method code SKYSHINE, in which calculational geometry consists of a rectangular turbine building and a set of isotropic point sources corresponding to an actual distribution of 16N sources. For the purpose of upgrading calculational accuracy, the SKYSHINE-CG code has been developed by incorporating the combinatorial geometry (CG) routine into the SKYSHINE code, so that shielding effect of in-building equipment can be properly considered using a three-dimensional model composed of boxes, cylinders, spheres, etc. Skyshine dose rate around a 500 MWe BWR plant was calculated with both SKYSHINE and SKYSHINE-CG codes, and the calculated results were compared with measured data obtained with a Nal(Tl) scintillation detector. The C/E values for SKYSHINE-CG calculation were scattered around 4.0, whereas the ones for SKYSHINE calculation were as large as 6.0. Calculational error was found to be reduced by adopting three-dimensional model based on the combinatorial geometry method.


From LP-MOVPE grown lattice matched GalnP/GaAs layer structures we fabricated conventional Heterojunction Bipolar Transistors (HBTs) and Bipolar Transistors having only a thin GalnP layer between emitter and base (Tunneling Emitter Bipolar Transistors, TEBTs). The base was doped to above 2×1019 cm−3 with carbon, which – due to its low diffusivity – allows precise matching of doping transition and heterojunction even at the high doping levels required for a low base sheet resistance.
 The conventional HBTs exhibit a common emitter current gain of up to 65 at 104 A/cm2 collector current density, whereas TEBTs with a 2 and 5 nm thick GaInP layer show values of 10 and 115, respectively. The devices have nearly ideal output characteristics featuring high Early voltages and small offset voltages.


Amaranth can be considered a very interesting crop for the Mediterranean region, thanks to its inherent tolerance to disadvantageous growing conditions, along with the high nutritional and nutraceutical value of its seeds. The study aims to evaluate the seed yield, and the oil content and quality of two amaranth genotypes (species Amaranthus hypochondriacus L. and Amaranthus cruentu s L., respectively) grown in central Italy, testing two types of soil (loamy and sandy soil). The two species showed a good performance in the tested environment, with satisfactory seed yield and relative short growth cycle. Significant differences between the two genotypes were observed in terms of seed yield. The crude oil content ranged from 7.5% to 6.0%, with linoleic, palmitic and oleic acids as the major fatty acids of the oil in both genotypes. The unsaponifiable fraction was rich in sterols (campesterol, stigmasterol and β- sitosterol), and interesting levels of squalene were found. This study demonstrated the unique nutraceutical properties of the seeds of two genotypes of A. hypochondriacus and A. cruentus , grown in central Italy environment, as a source of polyunsaturated fatty acid and squalene. These characteristics make amaranth a valuable alternative crop for specialty oil production in the Mediterranean region.


The mid-infrared (MIR) emission from Pr-doped KPb2Br5 was investigated for possible applications in solid-state lasers. Under optical pumping at 1.55 and 1.907μm, Pr-doped KPb2Br5 exhibited a broad MIR emission centered at 4.6μm, with a bandwidth of 0.9μm at full width half maximum. The dominant contribution of the MIR emission was assigned to the H53→H43 transition of Pr3+ ions. The decay time of the H53 level was measured to be 26.5ms at room temperature and remained nearly unchanged when cooling the sample to 77K. Consistent with the energy-gap law, multiphonon emission quenching is expected to be small in Pr-doped KPb2Br5. A Judd-Ofelt analysis was performed and yielded a radiative lifetime of 40.7ms for the H53 level, which suggests a radiative quantum efficiency of ∼65%. The slightly reduced quantum efficiency is most likely due to residual impurities in the crystal providing nonradiative relaxation channels. The peak emission cross section for the 4.6μm emission was calculated to be ∼0.4×10−20cm2, ...


The influx of international students in U.S. colleges has resulted in linguistically diverse classrooms, raising attention to translanguaging practices. The purpose of this study is to examine the self-directed translanguaging practices and perspectives of nonnative English-speaking (NNES) graduate students in the U.S. university setting by using narrative stories, individual interviews, and focus group discussion. Twelve NNES graduate students from Asian countries participated in this research. These students demonstrated their self-management, motivation and persistence, and self-monitoring in their academic learning. Although they reported the difficulties from academic English language, they identified the value of translanguaging practices, and they developed some characteristics of autonomous learning due to "teacher-directed translanguaging" and "student-directed translanguaging." Scaffolding and collaborative learning benefited and effectively engaged NNES graduate students in self-directed learning.


Continental extrusion may take up much of the deformation involved in continental collisions. Major strike‐slip zones accommodate the relative extrusion displacement and transfer deformation away from the collision front. The Red River fault zone (RRFZ) accommodated left‐ and right‐lateral displacements when Indochina and South China were extruded during the Indian‐Eurasian collision. The northern Song Hong basin onshore and offshore in the Gulf of Tonkin delineates the direct extension of the RRFZ and thus records detailed information on the collision‐induced continental extrusion. We assess the rapidly evolving kinematics of the fault zone buried within the basin based on seismic analysis. Contrary to previous studies, we do not identify indications for latest Miocene left‐lateral motion across the RRFZ. We tentatively consider the shift from left‐ to right‐lateral motion to have occurred already during the middle Late Miocene as indicated by inversion of NE‐SW‐striking faults in the Bach Long Vi area. Right‐lateral displacement terminated around the end of the Miocene in the Song Hong basin. However, continued inversion in the Bach Long Vi area and NNW‐SSE‐striking normal faulting suggests a stress regime compatible with right‐lateral motion across the onshore part of the RRFZ continuing to the present. Inversion around the Bach Long Vi Island may have accommodated up to a few kilometers of right‐lateral displacement between the Indochina and South China blocks. Comparable NE‐SW‐striking fault zones onshore may have accommodated a larger fraction of the right‐lateral slip across the RRFZ, thus accounting for the restricted transfer of lateral displacement to the offshore basins.


This paper is an introduction to the theory of braidoids. Braidoids are geometric objects analogous to classical braids, forming a counterpart theory to the theory of knotoids. We introduce these objects and their topological equivalences, and we conclude with a potential application to the study of proteins.


Objective:To establish a method for determination of eight residual solvents in meloxicam.Methods:U- sing DB-FFAP capillary column(25.0 m×320 μm×0.5 μm),inlets tempreture at 200℃,FID detector and pro- gramablly tempreture.The initial tempreture was kept at 40℃ for 6 min,then the tempreture was raised to 100℃ at the rate of 10℃·min~(-1),and last the tempreture was raised to 180℃ at the rate of 30℃·min~(-1).Result: There was a good linearity(r=0.9918-0.9998)and eight residual solvents were completely separated.The average recovery rate was in the range of 96.5%-103.7%.Conclusion:The methods proved to be accurate and sensitive.


This paper deals with the invertibility problem for linear finite automata by means of matrix transformation method. It is shown that for any invertible linear finite automaton there exists a linear finite memory automaton as its inverse. Then we discuss the structure of the family of such inverses and give a procedure for synthesizing these inverses and the correspondent invertible finite automata.


In the Quaternery sediments of the vicinity of Rouse three taxa of vertebrates have been found and described. The first one – Cervus sp., was found in the cave "Orlova chuka", on the boundary between the water-gallerian and the sec-gallerian sediments. It coincides with the boundary between the geomagnetic epochs Brunes – Matuyama. This taxon existed under conditions of a comparatively humid and cold climate, in the presence of a forest-steppe vegetation. Taking into account paleomagnetic data as well, we may assume that such climatic conditions were existing during the pluvial of the Giinz. The second taxon – Nannospalax (Mesospalax) leucodon (Nordmann, 1840), was found in the alluvial fossil soil on the terrace T5 in the eastern part of the town of Rouse. This species shows that the climate was hot, comparatively sec, with a steppe vegetation, during the interglacial Mindel-Riss. The third fossil – that of Syncerus sp., was found in the lower part of the fust fossil soil (Würm1 - Würm2). It existed under conditions of a hot climate, at the presence of a humid forest environment.


Obesity has been steadily growing from three decades and strongly associated with several disease. There are several factors has been used for diagnose the obesity and over-weights. In this study, to select, explore and model the data-set of obesity level with food habits and physical activities using classification algorithms. The high accuracy and low error measures of classification algorithm is identified to predict the obesity level based on performance and error measures using WEKA. Index Terms Obesity, Prediction, Descriptive Measures, Chi-Square Test, Classification Algorithms, WEKA. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________