T.H.E. Journal 

About: T.H.E. Journal is an academic journal. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Educational technology & Higher education. It has an ISSN identifier of 0192-592X. Over the lifetime, 1465 publications have been published receiving 15212 citations.

Inhibition of nitrification by ammonia and nitrous acid

Abstract: THE IMPORTANCE OF NITRIFICATION has been recognized for more than a cen tury. Engineers and scientists continue to investigate the process to obtain a better understanding of the fundamentals and to use the process for the benefit of man. Controlled nitrification may occur during waste treatment, and engineers have begun to incorporate the process as part of nitri fication-denitrification systems for nitrogen control preceding discharge of the treated wastes.

Pharmacology of Schisandra chinensis Bail an overview of Russian research and uses in medicine

Abstract: Schisandra chinensis (Turcz.) Bail. is often referred to as an example of a medicinal plant with use in modern Chinese medicine. However, Schisandra chinensis first gained recognition as an adaptogen in the official medicine of the USSR in the early 1960s, principally as a result of the large number of pharmacological and clinical studies carried out by Russian scientists in the preceding two decades. Schizandra has now secured an established position within the medicine of Russia/USSR as evidenced by the inclusion of the drug in recent editions of the National Pharmacopoeia of the USSR and in the State Register of Drugs. Pharmacological studies on animals have shown that Schizandra increases physical working capacity and affords a stress-protective effect against a broad spectrum of harmful factors including heat shock, skin burn, cooling, frostbite, immobilisation, swimming under load in an atmosphere with decreased air pressure, aseptic inflammation, irradiation, and heavy metal intoxication. The phytoadaptogen exerts an effect on the central nervous, sympathetic, endocrine, immune, respiratory, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal systems, on the development of experimental atherosclerosis, on blood sugar and acid-base balance, and on uterus myotonic activity. Studies on isolated organs, tissues, cells and enzymes have revealed that Schizandra preparations exhibit strong antioxidant activities and affect smooth muscles, arachidonic acid release, biosynthesis of leukotriene B(4) in leukocytes, platelet activating factor activity, carbohydrate-phosphorus metabolism, the formation of heat shock protein and polyamines, tissue respiration and oxygen consumption, and the tolerance of an organism to oxygen intoxication. In healthy subjects, Schizandra increases endurance and accuracy of movement, mental performance and working capacity, and generates alterations in the basal levels of nitric oxide and cortisol in blood and saliva with subsequent effects on the blood cells, vessels and CNS. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated the efficiency of Schizandra in asthenia, neuralgic and psychiatric (neurosis, psychogenic depression, astheno-depressive states, schizophrenia and alcoholism) disorders, in impaired visual function, hypotension and cardiotonic disorders, in epidemic waves of influenza, in chronic sinusitis, otitis, neuritis and otosclerosis, in pneumonia, radioprotection of the fetoplacental system of pregnant women, allergic dermatitis, acute gastrointestinal diseases, gastric hyper- and hypo-secretion, chronic gastritis, stomach and duodenal ulcers, wound healing and trophic ulcers. This review describes the considerable diversity of pharmacological effects of Schisandra chinensis reported in numerous studies carried out in the former USSR and which have been confirmed over more than 40 years of use of the plant as an official medicinal remedy. Such knowledge can be applied in the expansion of the use of Schizandra in the pharmacotherapy of European and other countries as well as for the further discovery of new drugs based on the lignans that constitute the main secondary metabolites of this plant.

Content Delivery in the "Blogosphere"

Abstract: THE INTEREST IN NEW MEDIA FOR teaching and learning has highlighted the potential of innovative software and hardware for education. This has included laptops, hand-helds, wireless systems and Web-based learning environments. Most recently, however, this interest has focused on blogs and blogging. Weblogs, or blogs, are Web pages often likened to online personal journals. They are noted for being the "unedited, published voice of the people" (Winer 2003). Winer provides a more technical definition, suggesting that a Weblog is "a hierarchy of text, images, media objects and data, arranged chronologically, that can be viewed in an HTML browser." Blogging is writing your thoughts into your blog, and the "blogosphere," a term coined by William Quick (2001), is the "intellectual cyberspace" that bloggers (i.e., those who blog) occupy. While a few educators have already started using blogs in the classroom, more have focused on the potential of blogging in teaching and learning (Shachtman 2002; Embrey 2002). For instance, some claim that blogs may further democratize the Internet, addressing some of the concerns under girding the digital divide (Carroll 2003). In this article, we will describe the pedagogy behind blogs. We will address the reasons why blogs should be used as one of many teaching and learning tools, as well as describe the potential benefits of blogs for educators. Drawing on our own research and teaching, we will conclude with specific strategies for using blogs in the classroom. The Pedagogy Behind Blogs Current educational research and theory have demonstrated the importance of social interaction in teaching and learning. Drawing on Vygotsky's educational theory (1978), educators highlight the "knowledge construction" processes of the learner and suggest that "meaning making" develops through the social process of language use over time. As such, knowledge construction is discursive, relational and conversational in nature. Therefore, as students appropriate and transform knowledge, they must have authentic opportunities for publication of knowledge. Through publication, teachers "can infer the process by which students transform meanings and strategies appropriated within the social domain, making those strategies their own" (Gavelek and Raphael 1996). It makes material accessible for subsequent reflection and analysis, allowing students to revisit and revise their artifacts; thus, enriching the learning experience (Krajcik et al. 1994; Olson 1994). Publication also offers the opportunity for feedback, which, in turn, scaffolds a learner in his or her quest for knowledge construction. Blogs are useful teaching and learning tools because they provide a space for students to reflect and publish their thoughts and understandings. And because blogs can he commented on, they provide opportunities for feedback and potential scaffolding of new ideas. Blogs also feature hyperlinks, which help students begin to understand the relational and contextual basis of knowledge, knowledge construction and meaning making. Research suggests that many of these advantages can also be afforded by asynchronous discussion forums. At one level we would agree, because both tools are very similar. As such, many of the same research-based findings about discussion forums would hypothetically apply to blogs. Blogs, therefore, represent the potential to promote interactivity, provide opportunities for active learning, increase student and teacher relationships, increase higher-order thinking skills, and improve flexibility in teaching and learning (Ferdig and Roehler, Unpublished). On the other hand, blogs provide an environment that is more advanced than simple discussion forums. According to O'Shea (1999), technology can offer ways for students to establish personal and intellectual ownership of new concepts while they visualize and interact with abstract ideas. …