Services for the pre-school blind child in India.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--Boston Universit

Assessing the Epistemic Value of Astrology: A Comparative Analysis with Other Sciences

This research paper aims to critically evaluate the epistemic value of astrology in comparison to other scientific disciplines. Astrology has long been a subject of fascination and controversy due to its claims of predicting human behavior and destiny based on celestial positions and relationships. However, its credibility as a scientific field remains a topic of intense debate. The study employs a comparative analysis approach to assess the highness of astrology in relation to other well-established sciences. By examining key criteria such as empirical evidence, testability, falsifiability, explanatory power, and predictive capacity, we aim to determine the epistemic strength of astrology relative to other scientific disciplines. Our findings reveal that astrology falls short in meeting the rigorous standards of scientific inquiry when compared to disciplines such as physics, chemistry, biology, and psychology. The lack of empirical evidence supporting astrological claims, combined with the inability to generate reliable and consistent predictions, limits its validity as a scientific field. In contrast, other sciences have demonstrated significant advancements through experimental verification, peer review, and the development of robust theories and models. They have consistently produced reliable results, contributed to technological advancements, and expanded our understanding of the natural world. While astrology may hold cultural and historical significance, its highness in the realm of science remains questionable. This study emphasizes the importance of critical thinking and evidence-based reasoning when evaluating scientific claims. Furthermore, it highlights the need for rigorous scientific methodologies in distinguishing between pseudoscience and legitimate scientific disciplines

Penerapan Sanksi Pidana Bagi Pelaku Tindak Pidana Aborsi Menurut Peraturan Perundang-undangan yang Berlaku

Aborsi merupakan masalah kesehatan masyarakat karena memberikan dampak pada kematian ibu. Sebagaimana diketahui penyebab utama kematian ibu hamil dan melahirkan adalah perdarahan, infeksi, dan eklampsia namun sebenarnya aborsi juga merupakan penyebab kematian ibu dalam bentuk komplikasi perdarahan sepsis. Dibeberapa negara seperti di Amerika Serikat memperbolehkan aborsi dengan alasan medis tertentu, aborsi ini disebut sebagai aborsi terapeutik di negara Jepang dan Eropa Timur memperbolehkan aborsi dengan alasan terbatasnya jumlah penduduk sehingga praktik aborsi di negara tersebut dilegalkan. Namun di Indonesia melarang keras praktik aborsi dalam bentuk apapun, namun menurut Undang-Undang Kesehatan Tahun 1992 praktik aborsi diperbolehkan dengan indikasi medis, namun dalam ketentuan yang tertera dalam Undang-Undang Kesehatan Tahun 1992 menjadi dilematis antara memperbolehkan atau melarang tindakan aborsi tersebut. Setelah mengalami gejolak yang sangat panjang pemerintah mencabut peraturan tentang Undang-Undang Kesehatan Tahun 1992 dan diganti dengan Undang-Undang Nomor 36 Tahun 2009 seiring dengan perkembangan jaman dan banyak penolakan terhadap peraturan yang lama. Dalam Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana sendiri perbuatan aborsi merupakan tindakan kriminal atau dikatagorikan sebagai kejahatan terhadap nyawa, Pasal yang mengatur terhadap kejahatan terhadap nyawa adalah Pasal 229, Pasal 346, Pasal 349, dan Pasal 535. Penelitian ini dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode pendekatan konseptual dan pendekatan Peraturan Perundang-Undangan. Serta menggunkan sumber bahan hukum sekunder sebagai sumber data utama, yang didasarkan pada bahan hukum primer yaitu Kitab Undang-Undang Hukum Pidana, Undang-Undang Nomor 36 Tahun 2009 tentang Kesehatan, dan bahan hukum sekunder berupa buku, catatan-catatan ilmiah dan sumber bahan hukum lainnya.. Hasil penelitian dapat disimpulkan bahwa hanya Undang-Undang Kesehatan yang memperbolehkan seorang wanita melakukan aborsi dengan alasan faktor penyakit bawaan, dimana ternyata pada ibu hamil yang sudah melakukan pemeriksaan kehamilan mendapatkan Kenyataan bahwa bayi yang dikandungnya mengalami cacat secara fisik sehingga apabila bayi tersebut lahir akan mengancam jiwa ibu maupun bayi yang akan dilahirkan

A New Process for Fabricating Random Silicon Nanotips

An improved process for the fabrication of random arrays of silicon nanotips has been demonstrated to be feasible. Relative to other such processes, this process offers advantages of low cost and simplicity. Moreover, this process can readily be combined with other processes used to fabricate integrated circuits and other monolithic silicon structures. Arrays of silicon nanotips are subjects of research and development efforts directed toward utilizing them as field emitters in flat-panel displays, vacuum microelectronics, and microwave devices. Other silicon-nanotip-fabrication processes developed thus far predominantly include lithography, etching, and/or elaborate deposition steps followed by oxide sharpening steps and are both process intensive as well as expensive. In addition to being cheaper and simpler, the present process can efficiently produce silicon nanotips that range in height from a few microns to several tens of microns and are distributed over large areas. The process mentioned here can be summarized as consisting of (1) the growth of micro-etch masks on a silicon substrate, followed by (2) etching away of the masks, along with some of the substrate, to make an array of sharp tips. In the first step of the process, a cleaned silicon substrate is subjected to reactive ion etching (RIE) in a certain mixture of oxygen and carbon tetrafluoride under radio-frequency excitation. This process step results in the growth of fluorine based compounds in the form of stumps randomly distributed on the substrate. These stumps are known in the art as polymer RIE grass. The dimensions of these stumps are of the order of hundreds of nanometers, the exact values depending on process time and gas composition. The areal density of the stumps decreases with increasing process time as they grow and merge with neighboring stumps. These stumps constitute the micro-etch masks for the next step of the process. In the second step of the process, the substrate covered with the microetch masks is subjected to deep reactive ion etching (DRIE) process, which consists of cycles of reactive ion etching alternating with passivation (the Bosch process). The gas used in the etching substeps is sulfur hexafluoride (SF6); the gas used in the passivation substeps is octafluorocyclobutane (C4F8). The portions of the substrate directly under the RIE grass stubs are etched more slowly than are the portions between the stubs. Hence, what remains at the end of the process, after the stubs and parts of the substrate have been etched away, are silicon spikes where the stubs were (see figure). In a variation of the process, one starts with a silicon or silicon-on-insulator substrate with the intent to etch through the full thickness of the substrate. That is to say, one chooses the thickness so that the DRIE step releases individual nanotips. Such individual silicon nanotips may have utility as microscopic probes in biomedical applications

KORELASI ANTARA AGRESIVITAS INOKULUM SPORANGIA DENGAN TOKSISITAS FILTRAT Phytophthora capsici ASAL TANAMAN LADA (Piper nigrum L.)

ABSTRAKPenggunaan varietas lada tahan penyakit paling praktis dan efektifuntuk menekan serangan Phytophthora capsici, penyebab penyakit busukpangkal batang (BPB) lada, tetapi varietas lada tersebut belum tersedia.Seleksi dini ketahanan lada dapat dilakukan di laboratorium menggunakaninokulum sporangia atau filtrat biakan P. capsici. Tujuan penelitian iniialah membandingkan agresivitas inokulum sporangia dengan toksisitasfiltrat biakan (FB) P. capsici. Penelitian dilakukan dari bulan Juni sampaiSeptember 2009 di laboratorium Biokimia BB Biogen dan Hama danPenyakit Balittro. Penelitian menggunakan 50 isolat P. capsici dariberbagai daerah pertanaman lada yang diisolasi tahun 1982 sampai 2009.Daun-daun lada yang diambil dari varietas Natar-1 (agak tahan terhadap P.capsici) dan Petaling-1 (rentan terhadap P. capsici) diinokulasi denganpotongan agar mengandung sporangia atau 20 µl FB P. capsici. Percobaandilakukan secara faktorial (2 varietas × 50 isolat) dengan rancangan acakkelompok dan tiga ulangan. Derajat agresivitas isolat dan toksisitas FBdiukur berdasarkan luas bercak nekrotik. Hasil penelitian menunjukkanbahwa agresivitas inokulum sporangia dan toksisitas FB bervariasi antarisolat P. capsici. Bercak nekrotik yang disebabkan oleh inokulumsporangia lebih luas (0,0–2.535,2 mm 2 ) dibandingkan dengan FB (0,7–233,0 mm 2 ). Derajat agresivitas isolat dan toksisitas FB sangat dipengaruhioleh asal isolat (P<0,0001), tetapi tidak dipengaruhi oleh varietas daninteraksi isolat×varietas (P>0,05). Derajat ketahanan pada varietas tahanNatar-1 diduga tidak berbasis genetik dan tidak berbeda nyata dari varietasrentan Petaling-1 sehingga kedua metode seleksi ketahanan tidak dapatdibedakan keefektifannya. Luas bercak nekrotik yang diinduksi oleh FBtidak berkorelasi nyata dengan yang ditimbulkan oleh inokulum sporangia(R 2 =0,002; P>0,05), sehingga secara umum FB P. capsici tidak dapatdigunakan sebagai standar pengujian ketahanan lada. Oleh karena itumasih perlu dikembangkan metode inokulasi yang konsisten untuk seleksidini ketahanan lada.Kata kunci: lada, penyakit busuk pangkal batang, Phytophthora capsici,agresivitas, filtrat biakan, seleksi diniABSTRACTResistant varieties are the most practical and effective means tocontrol Phytophthora capsici, the pathogen of foot rot disease of blackpepper. However, no resistant cultivars are available. Early selection ofblack pepper resistance can be performed in laboratory using P. capsiciinocula or culture filtrate. The objective of this study was to compare P.capsici isolate aggressiveness with culture filtrate (CF) toxicity. The studywas conducted from June until September 2009 at the BiochemistryLaboratory of the Indonesian Center for Agriculutral Biotechnology andGenetic Resources Research and Development and the Plant Pest andDisease Laboratory of the Indonesian Research Institute of Spice andMedicinal Crops. The study used 50 P. capsici isolates collected fromvarious black pepper plantations during 1982 until 2009. Detached leavesof two black pepper cultivars, i.e. moderately resistant cv. Natar-1 andsusceptible cv. Petaling-1, were inoculated with agar blocks containingsporangia or 20 µl CF of P. capsici. The experiments were designed asfactorial experiments (2 cultivars × 50 isolates) under a randomizedcompletely block design. Isolate aggressiveness and CF toxicity weremeasured based on the necrotic area of the inoculated leaves. The resultsfrom the two inoculation methods showed varying levels of aggressivenessand CF toxicity among isolates. Necrotic lesions incited by sporangialinoculum were more extensive (0.0-2,535.2 mm 2 ) than those induced byCF (0.7-233.0 mm 2 ). Degree of isolate aggressiveness and CF toxicitywere significantly affected by origins of isolate (P<0.0001), but not bycultivar and isolate×cultivar interaction (P>0.05). Resistance degree in themoderately resistant cv. Natar-1 was presumably not genetically based andwas not different to that in the susceptible cv. Petaling-1, and hence bothselecting agents were unable to discriminate resistance level between thetwo cultivars. Necrotic sizes induced by CF did not well correlate withthose incited by sporangial inocula (R 2 =0.002; P>0.05), indicating that CFis generally not suitable to be used as early selection agent of resistantplants. Therefore, further study is justified to find more reliable inoculationmethod for early detection of resistant black pepper.Key words: black pepper, foot rot disease, Phytophthora capsici,aggressiveness, culture filtrate, early selection in laborator

Carbon nanotube vacuum gauges with wide-dynamic range and processes thereof

A miniature thermal conductivity gauge employs a carbon single-walled-nanotube. The gauge operates on the principle of thermal exchange between the voltage-biased nanotube and the surrounding gas at low levels of power and low temperatures to measure vacuum across a wide dynamic range. The gauge includes two terminals, a source of constant voltage to the terminals, a single-walled carbon nanotube between the terminals, a calibration of measured conductance of the nanotube to magnitudes of surrounding vacuum and a current meter in electrical communication with the source of constant voltage. Employment of the nanotube for measuring vacuum includes calibrating the electrical conductance of the nanotube to magnitudes of vacuum, exposing the nanotube to a vacuum, applying a constant voltage across the nanotube, measuring the electrical conductance of the nanotube in the vacuum with the constant voltage applied and converting the measured electrical conductance to the corresponding calibrated magnitude of vacuum using the calibration. The nanotube may be suspended to minimize heat dissipation through the substrate, increasing sensitivity at even tower pressures

Redesain Kompleks Gereja Katedral Keuskupan Agung Palembang

Church of Santa Maria designated as the Cathedral as there are Cehedral (Bishop Throne). Over time, the number in the parish of Santa Maria continues to grow. Until now, the church building was 59 years old and already inadequate to support the religious activities of Catholics in the parish of Santa Maria. Therefore, it is necessary to design and redesign the Cathedral Complex is equipped with chambers supporting activities. In addition, forward planning, necessary to expand the site for adequate arrangement of parking space, so that the Church of Santa Maria can be the center of spiritual activities, and reduce the level of traffic jam that interfere with the activiies of the surrounding people. With the theme of “Simplicity and Majesty of The Most High”, and use the Neo-Gothic style, the cathedral is expected able to accommodate all spiritual activities, both in the parish until the Archdiocese of Palembang level