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Rapid growth in car ownership in Malaysia plays a major role to traffic congestion. Hence, public transportation is crucial to cater the residents in high-density area especially in Klang Valley. Signage information in public transport station is one of an important passenger information system. Poor placement of sign information will decrease the efficiency of passenger flow and caused congestion in the station. Passenger information system is very useful for trip planning and decision making. Therefore, it is interesting to study the performance of passenger information system in focusing the movement behavior of pedestrian at non-peak period. Thus, the study on pedestrian movement during non-peak period on weekdays and weekends in mass transit stations and bus transit stations in Klang Valley was carried out by using video observation. The observation of the pedestrian movement was made in Mass Transit Station 1 in the middle of Kuala Lumpur and Mass Transit Station 2 in southern of Kuala Lumpur. The other site was focused at Bus Transit Station 1 in Putrajaya and Bus Transit Station 2 in Kajang. Findings shown that Mass Transit Station 1 having the best facility in terms of passenger information which the level of service obtained is LOS A, while the lowest level of service which is LOS E was obtained in Bus Transit Station 2.Rapid growth in car ownership in Malaysia plays a major role to traffic congestion. Hence, public transportation is crucial to cater the residents in high-density area especially in Klang Valley. Signage information in public transport station is one of an important passenger information system. Poor placement of sign information will decrease the efficiency of passenger flow and caused congestion in the station. Passenger information system is very useful for trip planning and decision making. Therefore, it is interesting to study the performance of passenger information system in focusing the movement behavior of pedestrian at non-peak period. Thus, the study on pedestrian movement during non-peak period on weekdays and weekends in mass transit stations and bus transit stations in Klang Valley was carried out by using video observation. The observation of the pedestrian movement was made in Mass Transit Station 1 in the middle of Kuala Lumpur and Mass Transit Station 2 in southern of Kuala Lumpur. The o...

In September 2004, rain from the remnants of Hurricanes Frances and Ivan triggered at least 155 landslides in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. At least 33 debris flows occurred in Macon County, causing 5 deaths, destroying 16 homes, and damaging infrastructure. We mapped debris flows and debris deposits using a light-detecting and ranging digital elevation model, remote imagery and field studies integrated in a geographic information system. Evidence of past debris flows was found at all recent debris flow sites. Orographic rainfall enhancement along topographic escarpments influenced debris flow frequency at higher elevations. A possible trigger for the Wayah and fatal Peeks Creek debris flows was a spiral rain band within Ivan that moved across the area with short duration rainfall rates of 150–230 mm/h. Intersecting bedrock structures in polydeformed metamorphic rock influence the formation of catchments within structural–geomorphic domains where debris flows originate.

An investigation is made of the extent to which variations in Z–R (reflectivity factor–rainfall rate) relations can explain the systematically large offsets of radar-measured rainfall from rain gauge measurements as observed with some National Weather Service (NWS) WSR-88D radars. It is shown that theory predicts that the use by the NWS of the current default Z–R relation (Z = 300R1.4) should underestimate rainfall by about 25% in stratiform rain and overestimate it by about 33% in thunderstorm rain. Yet it is commonly observed that some WSR-88D radars systematically underestimate rainfall by a factor of 2 or more in stratiform rain and produce estimates of rainfall with acceptable accuracy for isolated thunderstorms. It is shown that variations in Z–R law parameters alone cannot explain these discrepancies, and it is proposed that their origin lies in a radar calibration offset. A comparison is made of reflectivity factors measured by the KGSP WSR-88D at Greer, South Carolina, with those determi...

We describe an extension of the fluorogenic PCR 5′-nuclease assay, or “Taq- ManTM” assay. Sequence-specific probes consisted of a novel nonfluorescent quencher, nitrothiazole blue (NTB), at the 3′terminus and six different reporter dyes at the 5′ terminus. The six reporters were 6-FAM, dR110, dR6G, dTMR, dROX and JAZ dyes. The seventh color was from aluminum phthalocyanine tetrasulfonate and was utilized as a “passive reference” to calibrate concentration variations. Our test system was a set of three single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). Each SNP system consisted of two primers and two sequence-specific probes, each labeled with a different reporter dye and NTB. Following PCR, the reactions were diluted with water and measured in a microcuvette on a luminescence spectrometer in synchronous scanning mode. In this method, both the excitation and emission wavelengths were scanned, with a fixed wavelength difference (Δλ) between excitation and emission wavelengths. The spectral overlap in the set was evaluated by calculation of the condition number of the 7 × 7 matrix (dye fluorescence vs. wavelength). The small value of the condition number (1.5) proved that the cross-talk between the dyes was minimal. SNP analyses of known, synthetic target sequences and genomic DNA were plotted both as normalized, subtracted spectra and as data points in three separate dot plots.

In each month for one year 30 perch. Perca fluriutilis L., 1758. were examined for infection with Acanthocephalus lucii (Müller. 1776): 7·78°, of the population was infected with a mean intensity of 2·61 worms/infected fish. No seasonality of occurrcncc of maturation was observed owing to limited data. In older fish the incidence and intensity of infection was greater than in younger specimens. The parasite was significantly over-dispersed within the perch population, k = 00395...P(x2 = 9·07)>0·05. All specimens of A. lucii were found in the third quarter of the intestine from the pyloric caeca to the rectum. Evidence is presented in favour of mutual exclusion between A. lucii and the cestode Proteocephalus percae (Müller, 1780) and the nematode, Camallanus lacustris (Zoega, 1776).

A total of 495 zander, Lucioperca lucioperca L., were marked using two types of tag and released into two lowland English fisheries. A totai of 168 recaptures were recorded and this provided information on zander movements. Zander populations were found to consist of two components, those which moved very little and those which wandered more widely. No relation was noted between zander size and distance or rate of movements.

A review of scientific literature published by workers from the Eurasian mainland, suggested that introductions of zander could lead to changes in the native fish fauna. However, such changes frequently coincide with changes in the habitat which may themselves have been partly responsible for the developments noted. It is suggested that a controlled study of the zander might enable a precise determination of the zander's ecological impact.

Studies of the feeding of the zander (Stizostedion lucioperca L.) required a method of reconstructing digested prey lengths. A linear relationship between pharyngeal bone dimensions and prey fork lengths of roach (Rutilis rutilis L.) and common bream (Abramis brama L.) were determined. For unidentified prey and fish species lacking pharyngeal bones, a scale based on the percentage change in length with stage of digestion was employed.

Magnolol and honokiol are two position isomers isolated from the bark of Magnolia officinalis. Both inhibited the aggregation and ATP release of rabbit platelet-rich plasma induced by collagen and arachidonic acid without affecting that induced by ADP, PAF or thrombin. Aggregation of washed platelets was more markedly inhibited than that of platelet-rich plasma, while the aggregation of whole blood was least affected by both inhibitors. Thromboxane B2 formation caused by collagen, arachidonic acid or thrombin was in each case inhibited by magnolol and honokiol. The rise of intracellular calcium caused by arachidonic acid or collagen was also suppressed by both agents. Collagen-induced intracellular calcium increase in the presence of indomethacin was suppressed by magnolol. It is concluded that the antiplatelet effect of magnolol and honokiol is due to an inhibitory effect on thromboxane formation and also an inhibition of intracellular calcium mobilization.

A rapid sensitive method for the determination of Plasmodium falciparum in in vitro culture is presented. The technique employs a fluorescent flow cytometer equipped with a 15-mwatt argon laser that emits light at 488 nm and a membrane-permeable fluorochrome thiazole orange (TO) that stains RNA. Parasitized red cells are stained by suspending them in 1 ml of phosphate-buffered saline (PBS) containing 10(-5) M of TO and incubating this mixture for 15 min in the dark at room temperature. The stained cells may be analyzed fresh or after fixation with 1% paraformaldehyde/PBS or 0.25% glutaraldehyde/PBS. Alternatively the cells may be fixed first and then stained. There is excellent correspondence between the number of fluorescent-labeled parasitized red cells and Giemsa-stained cells.