ABSTRACT Moraxella catarrhalis is a human-restricted pathogen that can cause respiratory tract infections. In this study, we identified a previously uncharacterized 24-kDa outer membrane protein with a high degree of similarity to Neisseria Opa protein adhesins, with a predicted β-barrel structure consisting of eight antiparallel β-sheets with four surface-exposed loops. In striking contrast to the antigenically variable Opa proteins, the M. catarrhalis Opa-like protein (OlpA) is highly conserved and constitutively expressed, with 25 of 27 strains corresponding to a single variant. Protease treatment of intact bacteria and isolation of outer membrane vesicles confirm that the protein is surface exposed yet does not bind host cellular receptors recognized by neisserial Opa proteins. Genome-based analyses indicate that OlpA and Opa derive from a conserved family of proteins shared by a broad array of gram-negative bacteria.


The present study has examined the glycine/N-methyl-D-aspartate antagonist, L-701-324 [7-chloro-4-hydroxy-3-(3-phenoxy)-phenyl-2 (H)quinolone] in rodent behavioral tests commonly used to predict antipsychotic potential and side effect liability in humans. Pretreatment with L-701,324 dose-dependently antagonized amphetamine-induced hyperactivity in the mouse (ED50 = 1.12 +/- 0.45 mg/kg p.o.), an effect which was similar to that of the classical neuroleptic, haloperidol, and the atypical neuroleptic, clozapine. In addition, p.o. administration of L-701,324 (2.5 or 5 mg/kg) attenuated the hyperactivity response induced by amphetamine infusion into the rat nucleus accumbens. In contrast to haloperidol, however, stereotyped sniffing and licking/biting, induced by either the systemic administration of apomorphine or infusion of amphetamine into the striatum, was not altered in rats pretreated with L-701,324 (30 or 100 mg/kg p.o.). Furthermore, L-701,324 failed to impair spontaneous locomotor activity or induce catalepsy in the mouse at doses > or = 100 mg/kg. Although a significant reduction in spontaneous activity was observed in rats pretreated with L-701,324, the minimum effective dose (10 mg/kg p.o.) was 2-fold greater than that which abolished amphetamine-induced hyperactivity in this species. Thus, L-701,324 selectively blocks behaviors associated with the activation of the mesolimbic dopamine system suggesting that glycine/N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonists may offer a novel approach to the treatment of schizophrenia in humans.


In this article, the author discusses the Supreme Court's recent decisions in Gratz v. Bollinger and Grutter v. Bollinger, in light of their relationship to Brown v. Board of Education, decided nearly fifty years earlier. Surveying decisions leading from Brown to Grutter, the author documents the evolution in the Court's affirmative action cases from a remedial rationale to a diversity rationale. Testing the diversity justification against the Court's strict scrutiny standard, however, the author finds that the diversity rationale is insufficient to meet the requirements of that test and urges the Court to return to the remedial logic of Brown. First, noting persistent questions about the basis for and scope of the diversity rationale, the author submits that diversity arguments fail to meet the Court's requirement that racial preferences be narrowly tailored to serve a compelling state interest. Second, he suggests that continuing gaps in performance between black and white students show that the task Brown began is still incomplete, firmly establishing a continuing need to remedy past discrimination in education. Rather than restrict remediation to those institutions guilty of past racial discrimination, however, remediation should be more broadly interpreted to permit educators to give racial preferences, but only to the extent that they can show a link between the current gaps in student performance and past discrimination. The author argues that such a broadened remedial rationale, with its resulting heightened burden of proof on educators, would provide both a persuasive reason for giving racial preferences in admissions and a natural end to such racial preferences when the burden of proof can no longer be met. This article concludes by stating that the remedial rationale for considering


For autonomous vehicles 3D, rotating LiDAR sensors are often critically important towards the vehicle's ability to sense its environment. Generally, these sensors scan their environment, using multiple laser beams to gather information about the range and the intensity of the reflection from an object. LiDAR capabilities have evolved such that some autonomous systems employ multiple rotating LiDARs to gather greater amounts of data regarding the vehicle's surroundings. For these multi–LiDAR systems, the placement of the sensors determine the density of the combined point cloud. We perform preliminary research regarding the optimal LiDAR placement strategy on an off–road, autonomous vehicle known as the Halo project. We use the Mississippi State University Autonomous Vehicle Simulator (MAVS) to generate large amounts of labeled LiDAR data that can be used to train and evaluate a neural network used to process LiDAR data in the vehicle. The trained networks are evaluated and their performance metrics are then used to generalize the performance of the sensor pose. Data generation, training, and evaluation, was performed iteratively to perform a parametric analysis of the effectiveness of various LiDAR poses in the Multi–LiDAR system. We also, describe and evaluate intrinsic and extrinsic calibration methods that are applied in the multi–LiDAR system. In conclusion we found that our simulations are an effective way to evaluate the efficacy of various LiDAR placements based on the performance of the neural network used to process that data and the density of the point cloud in areas of interest.


Diabetes is a challenging clinical problem facing ob-stetricians and gynecologists when it comes to in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET). During the COVID-19 pandemic we are living nowadays, COVID-19 becomes a new superimposing challenge for diabetic females need IVF-ET procedures. The persistent lock-down of diabetic health facilities already advised by numerous organizations and con-tributing to challenging diabetes treatment is harmful to the whole population and in particular to patients with infertilities. Around 0.3% of all babies born last year were conceived with IVF-ET therapies worldwide. We recommend remedies to foresee more delicate infertility cases so as to prepare for a resumption of temporarily suspended fertility treatment.. In an age of crucial challenges for our national health services, complication prevention and tension management can help competent agencies and health providers identify patients that should be preferred to begin fertility treatment in a healthy environment. What we consider as a possible possibility is the gradual restart of IVF, which needs many measures for diabetic patients. The problem of restarting IVF installations after the current lockdown is real since each nation follows a certain recovery curve. Especially as a result of silent dissemination, attention should be provided to COVID-19 infection among patients and health-care staff after the restart of IVF therapy.


Background To determine the indications, nature, and rate of early complications of temporary loop ileostomy created in emergency for benign diseases, their management, and to find out the associated risk factors. Methods A total of 630 patients undergoing temporary loop ileostomy for benign diseases were studied prospectively over a period of 6 years. Stoma-related early complications occurring within 6-8 weeks were analyzed. Only emergency cases were included in this study. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the data and statistical significance was evaluated by applying the Pearson's chi-square test. Results Typhoid perforation (n=402) was the most commonpathology, followed by tuberculosis (n=106); trauma (n=81); and intestinal obstruction with gangrenous bowel (n=41). 299 patients had no stoma-related complications. Skin excoriation was the most commonstoma-related complication. Age more than 50 years; shock at presentation; delay in presentation; delay in surgery; presence of comorbidities; and surgery done out of working hours, were associated with increased complications. Conclusion Temporary loop ileostomy for perforation peritonitis due to benign systemic diseases like typhoid fever and tuberculosis confers a very high morbidity.


This paper examines the country specific effect of policy reform on infrastructure spending in China and India. In China we have examined how marketization and decentralization has affected the composition of provincial public expenditure and in the case of India we have examined the impact of fiscal reforms on sub-national infrastructure spending. It is observed that in China with a lower marketization level in 1986–1992, fiscal decentralization had positive effect on development expenditure and negative effect on other expenditure. However, when the marketization level increased, such effects were reversed. In the case of India, the econometric estimates revealed that, in the post-economic liberalization era, financial sector reforms and fiscal reforms have adversely affected the sub-national finances and thereby the infrastructure spending. The fiscal intervention dummy found to be negative for all the sectoral expenditure, though it was expansionary for total expenditure, implying it to be committed/nondevelopmental expenditure driven. Thus, to conclude, as the fiscal space has been shrinking due to reform, there is an urgent need and more so in India for corrective measures to increase the fiscal space for higher infrastructure spending.


This paper presents a real case problem of empty container reuse. The aim of this work is to optimize empty containers reuse between regional consignees, shippers, and port terminal. The minimizing cost consists of reducing the movements of empty containers from port terminal to depot, from consignees to depot, and from depot to shippers. Several constraints must be satisfied as: the empty containers which are needed for shippers must be satisfied, the consignees must be able to supply the empty containers to shippers, and the depot is able to store only the given empty containers. After the definition of real case situation, a mathematical model is presented and explained, then solved by "solver" Excel. The results prove the relevance of this model which reduces the current operations costs.


The Itapeva Ecological Station - EEcI (24o 04' S and 49o 04' W, altitude 750 m), Itapeva, Sao Paulo State, is a Protected Area (PA) predominantly covered by cerrado denso and cerradao, whose occurrence in the region represents the southern limit of distribution of cerrado sensu lato. Aiming to know the regional flora and assuming the existence of floristic peculiarities due to the local weather conditions (incidence of frosts and absence of water deficit), we conducted a floristic survey in this PA from February 2008 to May 2010 and recorded 437 species in seven different physiognomies. In the cerrado sensu lato physiognomies, 346 species, distributed among 87 families and 220 genera, were found. The richest families were Asteraceae (31 species), Fabaceae (27), Myrtaceae (26), Melastomataceae (21), Rubiaceae (15), Lauraceae (12), Bignoniaceae (11) and Poaceae (10). Concerning richness and family representativeness, the EEcI flora does not differ from that of other cerrado sensu lato remnants at lower latitudes. However, frequent species in those remnants - Dimorphandra mollis, Xylopia aromatica, Eugenia aurata and Tocoyena formosa - were not found in the study area region, probably due to frost effects and other limiting climatic factors. On the other hand, geographical distribution models did not predict the occurrence of Annona dioica, Brosimum gaudichaudii, Duguetia furfuracea, Anadenanthera peregrina var. falcata, Caryocar brasiliense and Schefflera vinosa for the region of Itapeva, possibly due to the absence of water deficit. The floristic data obtained in this study may assist in the parameterization of these models. The floristic similarity observed between the physiognomic extremes of the cerrado sensu lato in the EEcI: cerradao and cerrado ralo, 26%, was smaller than the floristic similarity between the swamp grassland physiognomy and the cerrado ralo (27%), and between the former and the cerrado denso (30%). Therefore, considering floristic composition as one of the defining aspects of vegetation type, the swamp grassland can be included in the delimitation of cerrado sensu lato in the EEcI. We recorded eight species threatened with extinction. Due to the PA's small dimensions, we suggest the expansion of its area for a more effective conservation of these species' populations.


Research has consistently shown there is a negative correlation between age of onset (AO) of acquisition and ultimate attainment (UA) of either pronunciation or grammar in a second language (L2). A few studies have indeed reported nativelike behavior in some postpuberty learners with respect to either phonetics/phonology or morphosyntax, a result that has sometimes been taken as evidence against the critical period hypothesis (CPH). However, in the few studies that have employed a wide range of linguistic tests and tasks, adult learners have not exhibited nativelike L2 proficiency across the board of measures, which, according to some, suggests that the hypothesis still holds. The present study investigated the relationship between AO and UA and the incidence of nativelikeness when measures of phonetic and grammatical intuition are combined. An additional aim was to investigate whether children and adults develop the L2 through fundamentally different brain mechanisms—namely, whether children acquire the language (more) implicitly as an interdependent whole, whereas adults learn it (more) explicitly as independent parts of a whole.


One lesson that has been learned from previous approaches to scene analysis is that local methods are insufficient for extracting reliable information about the contents of a scene. Two different procedures that have been tried in order to remedy this deficiency are the use of knowledge via a priori information and internal models and multilevel analysis based on hierarchies of representations such as cone systems. It does not seem appropriate to drive the very first levels of analysis by a priori knowledge. It is doubtful that it will be possible to use knowledge in a way general and versatile enough to direct low level processing, and there is a need for some powerful data driven mechanisms that might at a later stage invoke internal models. It would seem more appropriate to obtain some crude global information through glancing or planning at low resolution levels that can drive a more scrutinous analysis at high resolution levels. While hierarchal systems are therefore good, the way they are currently being constructed is not necessarily good.
In this context the issue of low level representation becomes more and more important, and not enough attention has been paid to this issue. Even Marr's provocative ideas about his primal sketch do not go to a sufficient level of analysis, and it is felt that more of the workload should be thrown onto the first processing levels. In this paper is posited a comprehensive hierarchal data structure that requires no decisions and therefore no parameters for its construction. The technique does not require preselected windows, but rather uses context-dependent criteria. The data structure is versatile, easily computed, and invertible in the sense that the original image is completely recoverable.


ed and/or Indexed in: American Chemical Society, Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) and STN (Scientific and Technical Information Network); ASHRAE Abstract Center; BSRIA (Building Services Research & Information Association), Information Centre Quarterly and IBSA (International Building Services Abstracts); CNKI (Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure); Ei (Engineering Information, Inc.), Ei Compendex and Engineering Index; Gale/Cengage Learning, Academic OneFile and InfoTrac; IIR (International Institute of Refrigeration) and Fridoc; ProQuest Technology Research Database, CSA Materials Research Database with METADEX, CSA Engineering Research Database and CSA High Technology Research Database with Aerospace; SciVerse Scopus and Compendex; Thomson Reuters (formerly Institute for Scientific Information [ISI]) Web of Knowledge, Current


This article offers a critical consideration of current initiatives, and concomitant discourses, exhorting educators to adopt and integrate digital tools on a large scale. Despite immense obstacles standing in the way of full-scale implementation, educational perspectives critical of the e-learning imperative are, for the most part, marginalized and/or ignored, as economic interests are prioritized over more specifically educational ones, and a new breed of entrepreneurial academics give intellectual legitimacy to commercial and corporate ideologies. New 'partnerships' of designers and developers committed to technology for its own sake now create products for the 'education marketplace,' with little or no experience of, or interest in, underlying educational goals, while explicitly educational theories are supplanted by a re-purposed economistic discourse. Two prominent examples of 'educational technology' are describe here: the "integrated learning system" and the "networked e-learning environment", and some contrasts are made to the authors' own, small-scale, school-based technology research and development efforts. This latter type of interventionist work, designed to challenge business-as-usual in the culture of public schooling, offers a critical perspective on the typically under-theorized and unproblematic uptake and mis/uses of new technologies in school-based settings. It is proposed that one way of re-thinking the purposes and uses of new technologies for education might be to re-position common theoretical questions, asking not how education might use these new tools, but instead asking what, educationally, they might offer; instead of theorizing educational technology, then, the focus becomes an educational theory of technology. Adopting this reflexive stance, which views intervention activities as object lessons, provides instructive opportunities to learn from our tools even as we endeavor to rethink, not just their uses, but more fundamentally the prospects of digital technologies for reconceiving the very idea of a truly public education.


Long-haul trucking is linked to almost every industry in America, yet somehow the working-class drivers behind big rigs remain largely hidden from public view. Gritty, inspiring, and often devastating oral histories of gay, transsexual, and minority truck drivers allow award-winning author Anne Balay to shed new light on the harsh realities of truckers' lives behind the wheel. A licensed commercial truck driver herself, Balay discovers that, for people routinely subjected to prejudice, hatred, and violence in their hometowns and in the job market, trucking can provide an opportunity for safety, welcome isolation, and a chance to be themselves--even as the low-wage work is fraught with tightening regulations, constant surveillance, danger, and exploitation. The narratives of minority and queer truckers underscore the working-class struggle to earn a living while preserving one's safety, dignity, and selfhood.
Through the voices of drivers from marginalized communities who spend eleven- to fourteen-hour days hauling America's commodities in treacherous weather and across mountain passes, Semi Queer reveals the stark differences between the trucking industry's crushing labor practices and the perseverance of its most at-risk workers.


Edge cities characterized by high wage office based industries are of particular interest to planners since they reflect the type of development often associated with economic growth in the suburban landscape, but not well understood as shown by the debate over edge and edgeless cities. Very little research has been conducted that looks specifically to address whether Garreau's edge cities of the 90's have improved upon the concerns raised by critics in an effort to further replicate a traditional historical Central Business District (CBD) and sustain future growth or whether suburban landscapes have continued to resemble the edge city pattern at all. Very specifically, this thesis examines the following questions: (1) Can the combination of employment and population data be used to differentiate between edge and edgeless developments? (2) To what extent have edge cities of the 90's adapted to further replicate traditional historical urban employment centers and to sustain future growth? (3) Have suburban landscapes continued to resemble the edge city, edgeless city or office sprawl pattern? (4) Can the existence and use of alternative/active transportation influence the development of edge cities? (5) Will edge cities of suburban Atlanta continue to develop relying on implementation of smart urbanism concepts and alternative transportation options? This research aimed at determining accurate geographic locations and boundaries of edge cities in the Atlanta MSA, using employment densities and characteristics, is able to precisely differentiate between areas that fit into the typology of edge cities, urban and suburban employment centers. It is clear from these findings that edge cities have yet to become the "crucible" of urban America, as Garreau advocated. What is certain is that edge cities are part of a dynamic process that parallels that of the more traditional urban core. The regard for alternative development patterns has diminished in light of recent economic and environmental trends, shown by efforts to "revitalize" existing urban landscapes and strengthen public transportation. This outlook represents a principle theme that is interwoven into this research as it applies to the sustainability of future edge city growth. The research concludes with benchmarks of measurement with the intention of providing a universal understanding as to the where and why of edge city developments in particular.


other than the legal sphere in late medieval Norway. This may be the result of poor archival practices for keeping written material not strictly connected to legal matters, such as the activities carried out by merchants and tradesmen. The present article tries nonetheless to study whether or not it is possible to relate the notion of literacy to trade in this period of time. The lack of evidence written in Roman letters may, it seems, to some extent be remedied by runic inscriptions excavated in medieval Norwegian towns. We must assume that the use of runes within the domain of trade grew out of an increasingly more complex organisation of mercantile activities which we see especially in an important port such as Bergen in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. It is, perhaps, not only due to chance that the discovered evidence seems to reflect the situation before the middle of the fourteenth century, when Bergen in particular was struck by the Great Plague. Whether the dramatic events caused by the Black Death did create a discontinuity in runic literacy connected to trade, we do not know.


ABSTRACT An important public debate in contemporary Europe is whether immigrant-origin Muslims will successfully integrate into mainstream society. We engage those debates by analysing national identification among immigrant-origin Muslim adolescents in England, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. A common argument is that the Islamic religion prevents Muslims from integrating because its practices are incompatible with mainstream European culture. However, we find that religiosity is not the most important predictor of Muslim identification. Instead, citizenship, contact with the native majority, and perceived discrimination are all as important as religiosity for predicting Muslim national identification. In addition, we find the same relationships between these variables and national identification among Muslim and non-Muslim immigrant-origin adolescents. Country of birth, host language proficiency, and socio-economic status, by contrast, are less important predictors of national identification of both groups. In sum, our findings suggest that Muslims are not necessarily a uniquely problematic population, as their national identification is best understood through dynamics that affect immigrants more broadly rather than Muslims specifically, though more research is necessary to identify specific causal pathways.


The number of installed sensors to acquire data, for example electricity meters in smart grids, is increasing rapidly. This huge amount of collected data needs to be analyzed and monitored by transmission system operators. This task is supported by visual analytics techniques, but traditional multi-dimensional data visualization techniques do not scale very well for high-dimensional data. The main contribution of this paper is a framework to efficiently inspect and compare such high-dimensional data. The key idea is to partition the data by the semantics of the underlying data dimensions into groups. Domain experts are familiar with the meta-information of the data and are able to structure these groups into a hierarchy. The proposed system visualizes the subsets of the data by appropriate means. These visual summaries can then be used to support the explorative overview tasks of the user.


This Thesis deals with the development of the monolithic GaInP/GaAs dual-junction solar cell for high concentration applications, including its theoretical analysis and modeling, and the experimental manufacture and characterization of the needed semiconductor structures grown by metal-organic vapour phase epitaxy (MOVPE), and of the final concentrator solar cell devices. A special emphasis is put on the optimization of the solar cell concentration response, as the most important distinctive characteristic when compared to other GaInP/GaAs dual-junction solar cells developed in other laboratories.

In the first part of this Thesis, a theoretical study of the concentrator GaInP/GaAs dual-junction solar cell is presented. The efficiency limit of different configurations of this solar cell, and the intrinsic model of the monolithic, series connected approach are analyzed. The extrinsic properties and distributed effects exhibited by this kind of devices are then studied by using quasi-3D models based on distributed circuit units. The optimum front grid layout for the operation of our GaInP/GaAs dual-junction solar cell under high concentrations is designed, and the effect of non-uniform light profiles is appraised.

The second part begins with an introduction to the experimental research carried out in this Thesis, in which the MOVPE technology available at I.E.S. – U.P.M. is described. A review of the semiconductor material and solar cell device characterization techniques used is also presented, emphasizing on the issues specific to the dual-junction solar cell devices.

The experimental development of the GaInP top cell, the tunnel junction and the complete dual-junction solar cell is then dealt with. As for the GaInP top cell, the MOVPE growth of the GaInP and Al(Ga)InP materials is first tackled. These materials are then used to build the semiconductor structure of the GaInP solar cell, paying an special attention to the front and back surface passivation. As for the tunnel junction, the material research conducted to obtain very high doping levels in GaAs and AlGaAs is firstly treated. Then the experimental work concerning the study of the main tunnel junction semiconductor structure approaches developed in this Thesis is presented. Both the performance of the tunnel junction devices fabricated and the influence of their MOVPE growth on the growth and quality of the GaInP top cell is assessed in each case. A record peak current density of 10100 A/cm2 and a series resistance at zero bias as low as 1.6•10-5 ohms•cm2 are achieved with a AlGaAs/GaAs tunnel junction doped with carbon and tellurium.
In the last chapter of this part, the most representative dual-junction solar cell designs developed in this Thesis are explained and analyzed by means of quantum efficiency, I-V curves and concentration response measurements. The weaknesses of each design are assessed experimentally and theoretically in order to determine the modifications required to improve the performance of the solar cell. An efficiency of 32.6% at 1000 suns is eventually achieved, which is the highest value reported so far for a monolithic dual-junction solar cell. Moreover, the simulations carried out show that an efficiency approaching 34 % is attainable.

In the last part, the summary and global conclusions of this Thesis are outlined and some future research activities are envisaged.


Melvyn Bragg's In Our Time series regularly enlightens and entertains substantial audiences on BBC Radio 4. For this book he has selected episodes which reflect the diversity of the radio programmes, and takes us on an amazing tour through the history of ideas, from philosophy, physics and history to religion, literature and biology. We can discover the reasons for the fall of the Byzantine empire, and why women were persecuted as witches in the seventeenth century. What shape is the origin of life? Where does our calendar come from? We can unearth the influence of prime numbers, Socrates and Tectonic plates. Melvyn Bragg orchestrates the ideas of leading academics in each field so that the dynamic and lively discussion from the programmes comes through vividly on the page. IN OUR TIME brings to life the signposts of history, the moments that significantly changed the world as we know it, and the individuals and ideas that made us what we are today.


Force–distance measurements between supported lipid bilayers mimicking the cytoplasmic surface of myelin at various surface coverages of myelin basic protein (MBP) indicate that maximum adhesion and minimum cytoplasmic spacing occur when each negative lipid in the membrane can bind to a positive arginine or lysine group on MBP. At the optimal lipid/protein ratio, additional attractive forces are provided by hydrophobic, van der Waals, and weak dipolar interactions between zwitterionic groups on the lipids and MBP. When MBP is depleted, the adhesion decreases and the cytoplasmic space swells; when MBP is in excess, the bilayers swell even more. Excess MBP forms a weak gel between the surfaces, which collapses on compression. The organization and proper functioning of myelin can be understood in terms of physical noncovalent forces that are optimized at a particular combination of both the amounts of and ratio between the charged lipids and MBP. Thus loss of adhesion, possibly contributing to demyelination, can be brought about by either an excess or deficit of MBP or anionic lipids.


This study uses longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to provide a descriptive analysis of teacher careers in Australia, looking at transitions in and out of teaching, the length of spells spent teaching, remuneration and job satisfaction in both government and non-government school sectors. Each year, approximately 14 per cent of teachers leave teaching (becoming a principal is not counted as leaving teaching). Most who leave return to teaching at some stage, commonly after a gap of just one or two years. This absence from teaching is typically associated with starting a family. Overall, teachers are just as satisfied with their jobs as other professionals, and express aboveaverage levels of job satisfaction in relation to job security, but below average satisfaction in relation to job flexibility (i.e. work/life balance). Those who left teaching recorded substantially lower job satisfaction on all aspects of their job while teaching, which su gests they were no longer well suited to teaching. The starting wages of full-time teachers are similar to those of other full-time professions, but their wages grow much more slowly with experience than other professions, for both males and females.


It is broadly recognised that CO2 capture and storage (CCS) and associated negative emissions technologies (NETs) are vital to meeting the Paris agreement target. The hitherto failure to deploy CCS on the required scale has led to the search for options to improve its economic return. CO2 capture and utilisation (CCU) has been proposed as an opportunity to generate value from waste CO2 emissions and improve the economic viability of CCS, with the suggestion of using curtailed renewable energy as a core component of this strategy. This study sets out to quantify (a) the amount of curtailed renewable energy that is likely to be available in the coming decades, (b) the amount of fossil CO2 emissions which can be avoided by using this curtailed energy to convert CO2 to methanol for use as a transport fuel – power-to-fuel, with the counterfactual of using that curtailed energy to directly remove CO2 from the atmosphere via direct air capture (DAC) and subsequent underground storage, power-to-DAC. In 2015, the UK curtailed 1277 GWh of renewable power, or 1.5% of total renewable power generated. Our analysis shows that the level of curtailed energy is unlikely to increase beyond 2.5% until renewable power accounts for more than 50% of total installed capacity. This is unlikely to be the case in the UK before 2035. It was found that: (1) power-to-DAC could achieve 0.23–0.67 tCO2 avoided MWh−1 of curtailed power, and (2) power-to-Fuel could achieve 0.13 tCO2 avoided MWh−1. The power-to-fuel concept was estimated to cost $209 tCO2 avoided−1 in addition to requiring an additional $430–660 tCO2 avoided−1 to finally close the carbon cycle by air capture. The power-to-DAC concept was found to cost only the $430–660 tCO2 avoided−1 for air capture. For power-to-fuel to become profitable, hydrogen prices would need to be less than or equal to $1635 tH2−1 or methanol prices must increase to $960 tMeOH−1. Absent this change in H2 price or methanol value, a subsidy of approximately $283 tCO2−1 would be required. A core conclusion of this study is that using (surplus) renewable energy for direct air capture and CO2 storage is a less costly and more effective option to mitigate climate change than using this energy to produce methanol to substitute gasoline.


In metamaterials, electric (magnetic) dipoles can be excited by the electric (magnetic) component of the incident light field. Moreover, in the description of bianisotropic metamaterials, cross terms occur, i.e., magnetic dipoles can also be excited by the electric-field component of the incident light and vice versa. For the cross terms, in the general bianisotropic case, the exciting field and dipole vectors include an arbitrary angle. For the special case of chirality, the angle is zero. In the spirit of a brief tutorial, a very simple electric-circuit description of the split-ring resonator is used to give a basic introduction to the cross terms. Mathematical details of the effective parameter retrieval are presented. Furthermore, we briefly review recent experiments on bianisotropic metamaterials operating at optical frequencies.


Semantic technologies and, in particular, ontologies as formal and shareable representations of a domain play an increasingly important role in computer science, especially for the design, development and execution of interactive systems. Semantic models can serve a number of different purposes in this context. They can be used as functional core or user interface models in model-driven analysis, design, generation, and adaptation of user interfaces. Ontologies may enhance the functional coverage of an interactive system as well as its visualization and interaction capabilities in various ways, e.g., by providing input assistance, intelligently clustering information, guiding collaborative interaction, or adapting the user interface according to the user's context. Especially in the latter case, ontologies can be applied for representing the various kinds of context information for context-aware and adaptive systems. In particular, they have promised to provide a technique for representing external physical context factors such as location, time or technical parameters, as well as "internal" context such as user interest profiles or interaction context in a consistent, generalized manner. Owing to these properties, semantic models can also contribute to bridging gaps, e.g., between user models, context-aware interfaces and model-driven UI generation. There is, therefore, a considerable potential for using semantic models as a basis for adaptive interactive systems. The range of potential adaptations is wide comprising, for example, contextand user-dependent recommendations, interactive assistance when performing application-specific tasks, adaptation of the application functionality, adaptation of the collaboration process, or adaptive retrieval support. Furthermore, a variety of reasoning and machine learning techniques exist, that can be employed to achieve adaptive system behavior. Last, but not least, the advent and rapid growth of Linked Open Data as a large-scale collection of semantic data has paved the way for a new breed of intelligent, knowledge-intensive applications. To explore that potential, we have established a workshop series called Semantic Models for Adaptive Interactive Systems (SEMAIS). The workshop had its debut at the ACM Intelligent User Interfaces conference in Hong Kong in 2010, and was followed by two subsequent editions in Palo Alto in 2011, and in Lisbon in 2012. At the workshop, we have seen cutting edge research spanning from the employment of


The proteasome is a major protein-degrading enzyme, which catalyzes degradation of oxidized and aged proteins, signal transduction factors and cleaves peptides for antigen presentation. Proteasome exists in the equilibrium of 26S and 20S particles. Proteasome function is altered by ethanol metabolism, depending on oxidative stress levels: low oxidative stress induces proteasome activity, while high oxidative stress reduces it. The proposed mechanisms for modulation of proteasome activity are related to oxidative modification of proteasomal proteins with primary and secondary products derived from ethanol oxidation. Decreased proteolysis by the proteasome results in the accumulation of insoluble protein aggregates, which cannot be degraded by proteasome and which further inhibit proteasome function. Mallory bodies, a common signature of alcoholic liver diseases, are formed by liver cells, when proteasome is unable to remove cytokeratins. Proteasome inhibition by ethanol also promotes the accumulation of pro-apoptotic factors in mitochondria of ethanol-metabolizing liver cells that are normally degraded by proteasome. In addition, decreased proteasome function also induces accumulation of the negative regulators of cytokine signaling (I-kappaB and SOCS), thereby blocking cytokine signal transduction. Finally, ethanol-elicited blockade of interferon type 1 and 2 signaling and decreased proteasome function impairs generation of peptides for MHC class I-restricted antigen presentation.


The rates of spontaneous emission and stimulated emission and absorption for a two-level atom in a dielectric microsphere are calculated for weak E1 coupling. The A coefficient for spontaneous emission is proportional to the zero-point fluctuation of the electric field ℰij evaluated in the previous paper [ J. Opt. Soc. Am. B4, 1995 ( 1987)], which shows sharp resonances in frequency (Q > 104). It is verified that the ratio of the A and B coefficients is determined by the spectral density of thermal radiation. The level shift tends to repel the transition line away from the cavity resonance.


A strong correlation is known to exist between the exposure station coordinates and the elements of camera calibration under conditions of flat terrain. It has been shown in this paper how this correlation can be minimized and the elements of camera calibration recovered through a system's approach and simulating geometrical conditions necessary to break the correlation using photo and ground data pertaining to a flat terrain. The method proposed in this paper was tested using Casa Grande Test Range (Arizona) data. Equations have been derived to give a new mathematical model and a different approach as compared to the existing methods. Test results show significant improvement not only for the exterior orientation elements but also demonstrates the possibility of recovering the camera calibration elements.


To realize fully the impact of electronic distance measurement on surveying technology, one must have had the experience of measuring a distance with a steel tape. However, an appreciation of the method used in making a distance measurement and the relative ease with which the measurement is made can be gained by understanding the basic operation of the HP-3805 electronic distance meter. So, this article begins by discussing distance meter operation, and then describes the microprocessor that was incorporated into the electronic distance meter. Next, the criteria considered in choosing the microprocessor are reviewed. Finally, we will point out the benefits of the union of a microprocessor and a distance meter to the design team, the manufacturer, and the customer.


Pollution control and removal of pollutants from groundwater are a challenging and expensive task. The aims of this paper are to determine the aquifer vulnerability of Sefid-Dasht, in Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province, Iran, using the DRASTIC model. In addition, the groundwater quality index (GQI) technique was applied to assess the groundwater quality and study the spatial variability of major ion concentrations using a geographic information system (GIS). The vulnerability index ranged from 65 to 132, classified into two classes: low and moderate vulnerability. In the southern part of the aquifer, the vulnerability was moderate. Furthermore, the results indicate that the magnitude of the GQI index varies from 92% to 95%. This means the water has a suitable quality. However, from the north to the south and southwest of the aquifer, the water quality has been deteriorating, and the highest concentration of major ions was found in the southwest of the Sefid-Dasht aquifer. A comparison of the vulnerability maps with the GQI index map indicated a poor relation between them. In the DRASTIC method, movement of groundwater is not considered and may be the reason for such inconsistency. However, the movement of groundwater can transport contaminants.


Polarization conversion that is photoinduced by means of spatially oscillating photovoltaic currents in bulk LiNbO3:Fe is studied both experimentally and theoretically. We measured nearly complete ordinary-to-extraordinary conversion for input ordinary beam diameters greater than ∼200 μm and almost no conversion for beam diameters less than ∼60 μm. The extraordinary light was scattered perpendicular to the optic axis into a bow-tie-shaped distribution. To analyze the effect, we use the bulk photovoltaic model to derive coupled-wave equations for arbitrary-direction two-beam coupling (one ordinary wave, one extraordinary wave) and multiple-beam coupling (one ordinary wave, multiple extraordinary waves). We include the effect of beam diameter by using an overlap integral of the interacting beam profiles. The theory correctly models both the experimental three-dimensional distribution of extraordinary scattered light and the total polarization conversion as a function of beam diameter.


The transition into married life for rural-urban female migrants in Bangkok impacts their gender identities in unexpected ways. This article uses the experiences of a married migrant woman as a case study to explore and discuss how migrant women mediate the loss of autonomy and the added familial expectations that arise from this transition. The author suggests that given their prior migration experiences as independent income-earners women in this particular community enter marriage with broadened gender identities that fracture under marital gender norms. This places significance and value solely upon their nonpaid homemaking duties. The double burden of work inside and outside the home expands the roles of migrant women as wives and mothers, but at the same time it reinforces existing inequities within the conjugal relationship. Nonetheless, migrant women continue to actively participate in the construction of their conjugal contract and in decision-making within their households. In sum, this case study illustrates how conflicting desires, gender role norms, and particular migration situations are meaningfully mediated by women and how this negotiation affects decision-making regarding family organization and future mobility intentions.


The content published on the Web never stops growing. It is becoming essential to efficiently manage it. Organizations are increasingly searching for more efficient and feasible ways in which to manage the content of their websites. Content Management Systems offer a solution by facilitating the creation of websites and providing content management. Many organizations are now using Management Content Systems. This increasing interest is apparent in the growing market of such systems and in the updates of existing systems. For an organization, the choice of a Content Management System is not easy, since this is a dynamic market shared among many different publishers. The offer evaluation process requires specific tools. In order to help these organizations in their choice, we have attempted to provide an analysis framework for these applications. This analysis framework designed to help organizations choose their application contributes to the evaluation of these applications. This article puts forward a Content Management software analysis framework and explains its application to a sample of 23 products. The size of this sample allows us to asses the strategic grouping of Content Management Systems. Effectively, the analysis results in the identification of two strategic groups whose main differences lay in the software characteristics and their target markets.


When individuals learn facts (e.g., foreign language vocabulary) over multiple study sessions, the temporal spacing of study has a significant impact on memory retention. Behavioral experiments have shown a nonmonotonic relationship between spacing and retention: short or long intervals between study sessions yield lower cued-recall accuracy than intermediate intervals. Appropriate spacing of study can double retention on educationally relevant time scales. We introduce a Multiscale Context Model (MCM) that is able to predict the influence of a particular study schedule on retention for specific material. MCM's prediction is based on empirical data characterizing forgetting of the material following a single study session. MCM is a synthesis of two existing memory models (Staddon, Chelaru, & Higa, 2002; Raaijmakers, 2003). On the surface, these models are unrelated and incompatible, but we show they share a core feature that allows them to be integrated. MCM can determine study schedules that maximize the durability of learning, and has implications for education and training. MCM can be cast either as a neural network with inputs that fluctuate over time, or as a cascade of leaky integrators. MCM is intriguingly similar to a Bayesian multiscale model of memory (Kording, Tenenbaum, & Shadmehr, 2007), yet MCM is better able to account for human declarative memory.


Atrial Preference Pacing (APP) is a pacemaker (PM) algorithm that works by increasing the atrial pacing rate to achieve continuous suppression of a spontaneous atrial rhythm and prevent supraventricular tachyarrhythmias. We have previously shown that atrial preference pacing may significantly reduce the number and the duration of AF episodes in myotonic dystrophy type 1 (DM1) patients who are paced for standard indications. However, the role that APP therapies play in the prevention of AF in a long-term period remains still unclear. Aim of the present prospective study was to evaluate whether this beneficial effect is maintained for 24-months follow-up period. To this aim, 50 patients with Myotonic Dystrophy type 1 who underwent dual-chamber PM implantation for first- and second- degree atrioventricular block, were consecutively enrolled and followed for 2 years. One month later the stabilization period, after the implantation, they were randomized to APP algorithm programmed OFF or ON for 6 months each, using a cross-over design, and remained in the same program for the second year. The results showed that while the number of AF episodes during active treatment (APP ON phases) was lower than that registered during no treatment (APP OFF phases), no statistically significant difference was found in AF episodes duration between the two phases. Furthermore, during the APP OFF and APP ON phases, the percentage of atrial pacing was 0 and 99%, respectively, while the percentage of ventricular pacing did not show differences statistically significant (11 vs. 9%, P = 0.2). Atrial premature beats were significantly higher during APP OFF phases than during APP ON phases. Lead parameters remained stable over time and there were no lead-related complications. Based on these 24-months follow-up data, we can conclude that, in DM1 patients who underwent dual-chamber PM implantation, APP is an efficacy algorithm for preventing paroxysmal AF even in long term periods.


ABSTRACT Progress in studying sedimentary rocks in thin sections would be greatly facilitated if the rates of change in the size, roundness, and sphericity of various minerals in rotating drums were determined by measuring size in diameters, not by screening, and the frequency by (percent of) number, not by weight. These should be two dimensional measurements. A start was made by crushing specimens of four minerals (quartz, microcline, tourmaline and garnet), screened to sand size and rotated dry in glass bottles supplied with three ordinary marbles at 150 RPM, to a total of 180,000 revolutions, or 31.5 kilometers. Small samples, taken from these ball mills periodically via a microsplitter, were measured microscopically. These data were slightly modified by smoothing and replotted as frequency-distribution curves and as cumulative carves. The roundness and sphericity of the grains were determined by direct comparison with patterns slightly modified from those of Krumbein and Rittenhouse. The results are shown graphically. The plotting of the data of the initial samples results in symmetrical frequency-distribution curves (bell shaped) with ne peak. After a short time in the rotating ball mills, a secondary peak is developed in the small size ranges, and the primary peak is reduced and shifted toward small sizes. This increases the sknewness and lowers the sorting. The originally angular grains become slightly rounded and the sphericity increases somewhat. Ultimately the primary peak is destroyed and the secondary peak becomes dominant. The skewness at the start is close to zero, rapidly increases, then slowly decreases. This characteristic is apparently a transitory condition and it seems reasonable to suppose that it may be applied in some cases to natural sediments. The quartz is reduced in size at the fastest rate, the microcline next, followed by tourmaline, and last by garnet. The Mobs hardness does not seem to be the dominant or controlling factor. The brittleness of the quartz, the cleavage of the microcline, and the toughness of the other two seem to be influential. Very small grains are rarely rounded, the larger grains more. The degree of roundness, without specifying the size, means very little; the two are interrelated. These results are the product of mechanical abrasion, not of solution. In nature, solution is an additional process in size reduction, roundness, etc.


Fish-canning industries are closely-linked to, and have an impact on environmental conditions, bringing great challenges to optimality. While entrepreneurship perspectives focus on the survival and profitability of firms, social utility perspectives focus on collective welfare and long-term sustainability. This paper illustrates the theoretical puzzle of the fish-canning industry in examining the historical experience of Portuguese public policies from the point of view of industrial economics and collective welfare.


Thoracic gunshot injury may have variable presentation and the treatment plan differs. The risk of injury to heart, major blood vessels and the lungs should be evaluated in every patient with rapid clinical examination and basic monitoring and surgery should be considered as early as possible whenever indicated. The authors present three cases of thoracic gunshot injury with three different presentations, one with vascular injury, one with parenchymal injury and one case with fortunately no life threatening internal injury. The first case, a 52 year male patient presented with thoracic gunshot with hemothorax and the bullet trajectory passed very near to the vital structures without injuring them. The second case presented with 2 hours history of thoracic gunshot wound with severe hemodynamic instability. Surgical exploration revealed an arterial bleeding from within the left lung. The third case presented with post gunshot open pneumothorax. All three cases managed successfully with resuscitation and thoracotomy. Preoperative on table fluoroscopy was used for localisation of bullet.


Darius Milhaud (1892-1974) was a French composer whose prolific musical output includes a wide variety of genres: operas, ballets, film and radio scores, orchestral and choral works, solo vocal and instrumental works, and chamber music. Grove Music Online lists 44 works in Milhaud's choral oeuvre, many of which consist of multiple movements. They range from short a cappella pieces to major works with orchestral accompaniment. Milhaud set both sacred and secular texts from a variety of sources, including the Bible and famous writers such as Paul Claudel, Rainer Maria Rilke, Paul Verlaine, and Elie Wiesel. Milhaud's choral works include a number of pieces inspired by his Jewish heritage. Outstanding among them is a piece that San Francisco's Temple Emanu-El commissioned him to write in 1947, the Service sacre pour le samedi matin (Sacred Service for Sabbath Morning) . This work is a setting of the Saturday morning Jewish liturgy in Hebrew and English or French written for baritone solo, narrator, mixed chorus, and orchestra or organ and is approximately 55 minutes in length. Milhaud's Sacred Service is a relatively unknown work in the standard western canon of choral literature. Three probable reasons for this lack of knowledge are the absence of scholarly inquiry into the choral music of Milhaud, unfamiliarity with the Jewish liturgy, and unfamiliarity with the Hebrew language. The purpose of this document was to provide a greater understanding of Milhaud's Sacred Service in the context of the Jewish liturgy through a historical, textual, and theoretical analysis. Chapter I includes the introduction and purpose of this document and discusses specific aspects of Milhaud's biography and musical style as related to the Sacred Service . The second chapter includes information on the commissioning, composition, and reception of this work. Chapter III is an explanation of the Reform Jewish liturgy and the text of the Sabbath Morning Service. The fourth chapter is a theoretical analysis of the Sacred Service focusing on form, melody, harmony, texture, and timbre. Chapter V contains a summarization of this document's findings and suggestions for future research. The appendices include a letter from Milhaud to Reuben Rinder, Cantor of Temple Emanu-El, and the reviews of the work's premier performance from the San Francisco Chronicle and the San Francisco Examiner .


BACKGROUND
A majority of cancer-bereaved siblings report long-term unresolved grief, thus it is important to identify factors that may contribute to resolving their grief.

OBJECTIVE
To identify modifiable or avoidable family and care-related factors associated with unresolved grief among siblings two to nine years post loss.

DESIGN
This is a nationwide Swedish postal survey.

MEASUREMENTS
Study-specific questions and the standardized instrument Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Primary outcome was unresolved grief, and family and care-related factors were used as predictors.

SETTING/PARTICIPANTS
Cancer-bereaved sibling (N = 174) who lost a brother/sister to childhood cancer during 2000-2007 in Sweden (participation rate 73%). Seventy-three were males and 101 females. The age of the siblings at time of loss was 12-25 years and at the time of the survey between 19 and 33 years.

RESULTS
Several predictors for unresolved grief were identified: siblings' perception that it was not a peaceful death [odds ratio (OR): 9.86, 95% confidence interval (CI): 2.39-40.65], limited information given to siblings the last month of life (OR: 5.96, 95% CI: 1.87-13.68), information about the impending death communicated the day before it occurred (OR: 2.73, 95% CI: 1.02-7.33), siblings' avoidance of the doctors (OR: 3.22, 95% CI: 0.75-13.76), and lack of communication with family (OR: 2.86, 95% CI: 1.01-8.04) and people outside the family about death (OR: 5.07, 95% CI: 1.64-15.70). Depressive symptoms (OR: 1.27, 95% CI: 1.12-1.45) and time since loss (two to four years: OR: 10.36, 95% CI: 2.87-37.48 and five to seven years: OR: 8.36, 95% CI: 2.36-29.57) also predicted unresolved grief. Together, these predictors explained 54% of the variance of unresolved grief.

CONCLUSION
Siblings' perception that it was not a peaceful death and poor communication with family, friends, and healthcare increased the risk for unresolved grief among the siblings.


Gaucher disease is a rare inherited lysosomal disorder caused by deficiency of the enzyme glucocerebrosidase. Classically, three forms of the disease are recognised: type I or nonneuronopathic, type 2 or acute neuronopathic, and type 3 or subacute or chronic neuronopathic. Neuronopathic Gaucher disease (NGD) is defined as a confirmed diagnosis of Gaucher disease in the presence of neurological symptoms and signs, for which there is no other cause.
Horizontal gaze palsy is the clinical hallmark of NGD. Other neurological manifestations include seizures, cerebellar ataxia and pyramidal tract involvements. However, NGD is very heterogeneous and the neurological features vary greatly from patient to patient, not only in terms of manifestations involved but also in terms of severity. The emergence of enzyme replacement therapy has changed the 'natural history' of the disease, and patients are now living longer where previously they would have succumbed to the visceral complications of the disease. New emerging therapies are being developed for NGD, however a suitable surrogate marker to monitor neurological disease is lacking.

In this study, three different assessment tools were explored to examine their value and sensitivity to assess neurological involvement in NGD. A Severity Scoring Tool developed specifically for NGD was modified and validated to offer a robust assessment tool, with demonstrated sensitivity to track disease progression and distinguish between phenotypes. Additional assessments utilised were gait analysis and diffusion tensor imaging, both of which were sensitive enough to distinguish between the NGD and Type I cohort studied. This is the largest cohort of NGD patients (recruited across three European countries) to be studied prospectively and systematically. It is also the first study to describe the gait pattern of NGD children, and to provide an in-vivo insight of the Gaucher brain utilising diffusion tensor imaging.


Summary

1
Bovine tuberculosis (TB) occurs in cattle and badgers in the UK and control efforts are undertaken to reduce the spread of the disease.

2
This study evaluates relationships predicted by nine epidemiological two-host models of disease spread generated by various combinations of density-dependent, frequency-dependent and environmental pathogen transmission. The relationships of interest are between measures of TB in cattle and in badgers from 10 sites which were randomly selected to be proactive badger culling sites in the UK Randomized Badger Culling Trial. The data are from the initial badger cull only.

3
There was most support (Akaike weight = 0·562, R2 = 0·869) for models that predicted a positive linear relationship between density of infectious cattle per square kilometre and the density index of infectious badgers. There was less support (Akaike weight = 0·060) for a model that predicted a positive linear relationship between density of infectious cattle per square kilometre and the proportion of badgers infectious with Mycobacterium bovis. A correction to reduce effects of badger carcase storage and an examination of effects of the 2001 foot-and-mouth disease epidemic had little impact on estimated relationships.

4
Synthesis and applications. The results provide support for two-host disease models of TB in cattle and wildlife such as badgers, although the form of disease transmission cannot be identified clearly by these analyses. The implication of the results is that the best-fitting models predict that, in the absence of intervention-related changes in badger behaviour, a reduction in density of infectious badgers should reduce the density of infectious cattle. However, analysis of bait-marking data collected following experimental badger culls indicated that culling badgers profoundly alters their spatial organization as well as their population density, potentially influencing contact rates. Effective vaccination of badgers, were it to become available, would be expected to reduce the density of infectious badgers without directly affecting their behaviour.


Detection and tracking of other vehicles and lane geometry will be required for many future intelligent driver assistance systems. By integrating the estimation of these two features into a single filter, a more optimal utilization of the available information can be achieved. For example, it is possible to improve the lane curvature estimate during bad visibility by studying the motion of other vehicles. This paper derives and evaluates various approximations that are needed in order to deal with the non-linearities that are introduced by such an approach.


This paper examines important factors for link prediction in networks and provides a general, high-performance framework for the prediction task. Link prediction in sparse networks presents a significant challenge due to the inherent disproportion of links that can form to links that do form. Previous research has typically approached this as an unsupervised problem. While this is not the first work to explore supervised learning, many factors significant in influencing and guiding classification remain unexplored. In this paper, we consider these factors by first motivating the use of a supervised framework through a careful investigation of issues such as network observational period, generality of existing methods, variance reduction, topological causes and degrees of imbalance, and sampling approaches. We also present an effective flow-based predicting algorithm, offer formal bounds on imbalance in sparse network link prediction, and employ an evaluation method appropriate for the observed imbalance. Our careful consideration of the above issues ultimately leads to a completely general framework that outperforms unsupervised link prediction methods by more than 30% AUC.


This thesis addresses the development and implementation of efficient and parallel algorithms for the numerical simulation of Fluid-Structure Interaction (FSI) problems in hemodynamics. Indeed, hemodynamic conditions in large arteries are significantly affected by the interaction of the pulsatile blood flow with the arterial wall. The simulation of fluid-structure interaction problems requires the approximation of a coupled system of Partial Differential Equations (PDEs) and the set up of efficient numerical solution strategies. Blood is modeled as an incompressible Newtonian fluid whose dynamics is governed by the Navier-Stokes equations. Different constituive models are used to describe the mechanical response of the arterial wall; specifically, we rely on hyperelastic isotropic and anistotropic material laws. The finite element method is used for the space discretization of both the fluid and structure problems. In particular, for the Navier-Stokes equations we consider a semi-discrete formulation based on the Variational Multiscale (VMS) method. Among a wide range of possible solution strategies for the FSI problem, here we focus on strongly coupled monolithic approaches wherein the nonlinearities are treated in a fully implicit mode. To cope with the high computational complexity of the three dimensional FSI problem, a parallel solution framework is often mandatory. To this end, we develop a new block parallel preconditioner for the coupled linearized FSI system obtained after space and time discretization. The proposed preconditioner, named FaCSI, exploits the factorized form of the FSI Jacobian matrix, the use of static condensation to formally eliminate the interface degrees of freedom of the fluid equations, and the use of a SIMPLE preconditioner for unsteady Navier-Stokes equations. In FSI problems, the different resolution requirements in the fluid and structure physical domains, as well as the presence of complex interface geometries make the use of matching fluid and structure meshes problematic. In such situations, it is much simpler to deal with discretizations that are nonconforming at the interface, provided however that the matching conditions at the interface are properly fulfilled. In this thesis we develop a novel interpolation-based method, named INTERNODES, for numerically solving partial differential equations by Galerkin methods on computational domains that are split into two (or several) subdomains featuring nonconforming interfaces. By this we mean that either a priori independent grids and/or local polynomial degrees are used to discretize each subdomain. INTERNODES can be regarded as an alternative to the mortar element method: it combines the accuracy of the latter with the easiness of implementation in a numerical code. The aforementioned techniques have been applied for the numerical simulation of large-scale fluid-structure interaction problems in the context of biomechanics. The parallel algorithms developed showed scalability up to thousands of cores utilized on high performance computing machines.


Everyday life contexts and interactions are influential for the well-being of both postpartum women and their infants. We collected naturalistic observational recordings of the daily environments and social interactions of primiparous postpartum women (N = 50) using the electronically activated recorder (EAR). We addressed two aims. First, we examined the feasibility, acceptability, and compliance of collecting naturalistic ambient sounds with postpartum women. We found the EAR to be acceptable, feasible, and associated with good compliance. Second, we evaluated the frequency and interrater reliability of social-emotional characteristics using a novel coding system developed for this population. In general, the frequency of social and emotion behavior variables was adequate and interrater reliability among trained research assistants was moderate to excellent. This study was the first to use the EAR with postpartum women and suggests that the EAR shows promise as a method to enrich our understanding of social-emotional daily life during the postpartum period. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).


The radial, lateral, and tangential stiffness of spoked bicycle wheels depends upon the rim's bending inertia, torsional inertia, the spoke sizes, and the spoke geometry. The spokes of three rear bicycle wheels of different spoke patterns were instrumented with strain gauges in order to investigate the effect of the spoke pattern on the spoke strain and fatigue resistance properties of the wheels. Spoke strains due to radial loads were measured in the laboratory. Time records of the strain of a right pulling spoke were collected from each of the wheels under actual riding conditions. Analytical, numerical, laboratory, and field studies show that spoke strains due to radial loads and in service conditions are insensitive to the spoke pattern. Small variations in the spoke strains between the wheels in the road tests can be attributed to variations in the loads, but do not significantly affect the fatigue life of the wheels.


It is widely acknowledged that resolutions of difficulties tend to engender new problems. Increasingly, complex systems perpetuate increasing complexity. This discursive essay suggests that the most promising of discoveries, innovations, and inventions are impuissant to obviate once and for all the need for vigilance. For example, the pursuit of safety and prevention of contagion has burdened our societies with a variety of consequential expenses and environmental pollution. How reassuringly might infection control be achieved depends on the human element – on how attentively, thoughtfully are we as individuals able to meet challenges. The questions to be asked in solving any problem are: how much will a given solution cost and how reliable is it?


Noble metal nanostructures attract much interest because of their unique properties, including large optical field enhancements resulting in the strong scattering and absorption of light. The enhancement in the optical and photothermal properties of noble metal nanoparticles arises from resonant oscillation of their free electrons in the presence of light, also known as localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR). The plasmon resonance can either radiate light (Mie scattering), a process that finds great utility in optical and imaging fields, or be rapidly converted to heat (absorption); the latter mechanism of dissipation has opened up applications in several new areas. The ability to integrate metal nanoparticles into biological systems has had greatest impact in biology and biomedicine. In this Account, we discuss the plasmonic properties of gold and silver nanostructures and present examples of how they are being utilized for biodiagnostics, biophysical studies, and medical therapy. For instance, taking advantage of the strong LSPR scattering of gold nanoparticles conjugated with specific targeting molecules allows the molecule-specific imaging and diagnosis of diseases such as cancer. We emphasize in particular how the unique tunability of the plasmon resonance properties of metal nanoparticles through variation of their size, shape, composition, and medium allows chemists to design nanostructures geared for specific bio-applications. We discuss some interesting nanostructure geometries, including nanorods, nanoshells, and nanoparticle pairs, that exhibit dramatically enhanced and tunable plasmon resonances, making them highly suitable for bio-applications. Tuning the nanostructure shape (e.g., nanoprisms, nanorods, or nanoshells) is another means of enhancing the sensitivity of the LSPR to the nanoparticle environment and, thereby, designing effective biosensing agents. Metal nanoparticle pairs or assemblies display distance-dependent plasmon resonances as a result of field coupling. A universal scaling model, relating the plasmon resonance frequency to the interparticle distance in terms of the particle size, becomes potentially useful for measuring nanoscale distances (and their changes) in biological systems. The strong plasmon absorption and photothermal conversion of gold nanoparticles has been exploited in cancer therapy through the selective localized photothermal heating of cancer cells. For nanorods or nanoshells, the LSPR can be tuned to the near-infrared region, making it possible to perform in vivo imaging and therapy. The examples of the applications of noble metal nanostructures provided herein can be readily generalized to other areas of biology and medicine because plasmonic nanomaterials exhibit great range, versatility, and systematic tunability of their optical attributes.


Neo-Darwinian evolution is an established natural inspiration for computational optimisation with a diverse range of forms. A particular feature of models such as Genetic Algorithms (GA) [18, 12] is the incremental combination of partial solutions distributed within a population of solutions. This mechanism in principle allows certain problems to be solved which would not be amenable to a simple local search. Such problems require these partial solutions, generally known as building-blocks, to be handled without disruption. The traditional means for this is a combination of a suitable chromosome ordering with a sympathetic recombination operator. More advanced algorithms attempt to adapt to accommodate these dependencies during the search. The recent approach of Estimation of Distribution Algorithms (EDA) aims to directly infer a probabilistic model of a promising population distribution from a sample of fitter solutions [23]. This model is then sampled to generate a new solution set. A symbiotic view of evolution is behind the recent development of the Compositional Search Evolutionary Algorithms (CSEA) [49, 19, 8] which build up an incremental model of variable dependencies conditional on a series of tests. Building-blocks are retained as explicit genetic structures and conditionally joined to form higher-order structures. These have been shown to be effective on special classes of hierarchical problems but are unproven on less tightly-structured problems. We propose that there exists a simple yet powerful combination of the above approaches: the persistent, adapting dependency model of a compositional pool with the expressive and compact variable weighting of probabilistic models. We review and deconstruct some of the key methods above for the purpose of determining their individual drawbacks and their common principles. By this reasoned approach we aim to arrive at a unifying framework that can adaptively scale to span a range of problem structure classes. This is implemented in a novel algorithm called the Transitional Evolutionary Algorithm (TEA). This is empirically validated in an incremental manner, verifying the various facets of the TEA and comparing it with related algorithms for an increasingly structured series of benchmark problems. This prompts some refinements to result in a simple and general algorithm that is nevertheless competitive with state-of-the-art methods.


Structural damage detection based on the changes of dynamic properties is a major topic for structural health monitoring. In this paper, efforts are made to extend the flexibility-based damage localization methods, especially the damage locating vectors (DLVs) method, to the case of earthquake vibration, where the finite element model and mass matrices are not available. First, a new method using continuous Cauchy wavelet transform (CCWT) and ARX (autoregressive with exogenous input) model is applied to identify the modal parameters of a five-storey steel frame with seismic base isolation system LRB from its simulated acceleration responses under 10% and 100% of Chi-Chi Earthquake excitation (Taiwan, 1999). The DLVs, which determined from the change of flexibility matrix between two cases, are then used to monitor the shock isolation device in the structure through a weighted relative displacement index (WRDI). The proposed scheme is also proved to be superior to mode shape based methods (MAC, COMAC) in monitoring shock isolation system.


An isochronous sequence is a series of repeating events with the same inter-onset-interval. A common finding is that as the length of a sequence increases, so does temporal sensitivity to irregularities — that is, the detection of deviations from isochrony is better with a longer sequence. Several theoretical accounts exist in the literature as to how the brain processes sequences for the detection of irregularities, yet there remains to be a systematic comparison of the predictions that such accounts make. To compare the predictions of these accounts, we asked participants to report whether the last stimulus of a regularly-timed sequence appeared 'earlier' or 'later' than expected. Such task allowed us to separately analyse bias and performance. Sequences lengths (3, 4, 5 or 6 beeps) were either randomly interleaved or presented in separate blocks. We replicate previous findings showing that temporal sensitivity increases with longer sequence in the interleaved condition but not in the blocked condition (where performance is higher overall). Results also indicate that there is a consistent bias in reporting whether the last stimulus is isochronous (irrespectively of how many stimuli the sequence is composed of). Such result is consistent with a perceptual acceleration of stimuli embedded in isochronous sequences. From the comparison of the models' predictions we determine that the improvement in sensitivity is best captured by an averaging of successive estimates, but with an element that limits performance improvement below statistical optimality. None of the models considered, however, provides an exhaustive explanation for the pattern of results found.


In 2014, the United States Supreme Court decided Octane Fitness. LLC v. ICON Health & Fitness, LLC, significantly altering the standard for granting attorneys' fees shifting at the close of a patent litigation. Combine with precedent announced on the same day in Highmark Inc. v. Allcare Health Management Systems, scholars have opined that under the new regime, the standard for proving entitlement to attorneys' fees in patent litigations will be considerably relaxed. Despite the widespread acceptance of the viewpoint, few empirical analyses—if any—have objectively confirmed it. This paper provides a first glimpse into whether the Supreme Court's decision in Octane changed the attorneys' fees standard in practice. By investigating the rate at which courts have granted attorneys' fees motions before and after Octane, broken down by whether the movant was a patentee or accused infringer, the technology of the patent asserted, the circuit and district where the suit was decided, and what factors were considered by each court in its opinion, this research confirms that Octane's reinterpretation of § 285 has had observable effects. In particular, this study finds a statistically significant increase in the rate of attorneys' fee shifting after Octane, particularly for motions filed by accused infringers and in motions concerning electronics and software patents. The results of this study shed light on meaningful and recent changes to the patent litigation incentive structure and will be helpful in predicting future changes to the patent litigation landscape.


The paper focuses on the performance measurement system in the public sector of Lithuania and the changes that the implementation of results-based management principles has resulted in. The analysis is based on a performance management model which comprises performance assessment, institutionalization of performance data and their usage as the main elements of performance management. For the evaluation of advancements in performance management in Lithuania, the systems of performance management criteria and performance monitoring as well as the experience in introducing evidence-based governance measures are discussed. The changes in strategic planning, the systems of financial and human resources and the outcomes of the institutional framework conversion are also considered. Systematic analysis allows for an overall and integral evaluation of the progress in the public governance. The analysis of the performance management system in Lithuania enables to attribute it to a particular type of performance management and makes it possible to identify the shortcomings in the public governance and the spheres to be improved. It also allows to objectively compare the Lithuanian performance management system with those of other countries and organizations. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5755/j01.ppaa.14.1.11412


Undergraduate epistemology typically transitions from an absolute perspective with a reliance on external knowledge authority to a more open epistemology that utilizes metacognition to evaluate knowledge claims. In the undergraduate agricultural classroom, student epistemic development, combined with deeply embedded agricultural beliefs and values, can lead to rigid perspectives that may inhibit effective communication and collaboration between diverse students, and thwart epistemic development necessary for students to entertain and synthesize widely divergent knowledge claims. This research sought to explore the characteristics and sources of knowledge undergraduates considered legitimate, and the internal processes undergraduate agricultural students used to assess the legitimacy of knowledge claims. Findings from this qualitative, multiple case study revealed students utilized specific metacognitive processes to assess the validity of conflicting agricultural knowledge claims. In addition, findings indicated students implemented specific legitimation criteria when assessing professors as credible sources of agricultural knowledge. These findings suggest educators should recognize and validate students' prior experience, social affiliations, and implement pedagogies that facilitate student learning through dialogue involving students holding diverse agricultural perspectives.


A resource guide for art and design students and others looking for resources for the practical creation of artwork and the study of materials and techniques. For art history and theory resources see the Art History LibGuide.


Nicky Marlow needs a job. He's engaged to be married and the employment market in Britain in 1937 is pretty slim. So when his fiancee points out the position with an English armaments manufacturer in Italy, he jumps at the chance. Soon after he arrives, however, he learns the sinister truth about his predecessor's departure and finds himself courted by two agents with dangerously different agendas. In the process, Marlow realizes that it's not so simple just to do the job he's paid for - not in fascist Italy, on the eve of a world war.


This research examines, across 2 studies, the interplay between the valence and arousal components of affective states and the affective tone of a target ad. In the first study, music was used to induce a pleasant or unpleasant mood, while controlling for arousal. Participants were subsequently exposed to an ad that either had a positive-affective tone or was ambiguous in its affective tone. As predicted, the valence of the affective state colored the evaluation of the ad in a mood-congruent direction, but this coloring effect occurred only when the ad had an ambiguous-affective tone. In the second study, the target ad had a clear positive or negative affective tone, and the valence and arousal dimensions of the mood state were manipulated independently. As predicted, the arousal dimension, but not the valence dimension, influenced ad evaluation. Ad evaluations were more polarized in the direction of the ad's affective tone under high arousal than under low arousal. This effect was more pronounced for self-referent evaluations (e.g., "I like the ad") than for object-referent evaluations (e.g., "The ad is good"), favoring an attributional explanation—the excitation transfer hypothesis—over an attention-narrowing explanation—the dynamic complexity hypothesis. Taken together, the results of the 2 studies stress the important contingency of the affective tone of the ad, when examining the effects of the valence and arousal dimensions of a person's affective state on ad evaluation. The results also provide additional insights into how and when affect serves as information in judgment processes.


This research is an ethnography of 30 people on Indigenous experiences, place-making and the cultural practices that are used to construct meaning and cultural renewal that leads to healing and decolonization in the Ottawa, Ontario area. The research explores the lives of those who reside in the city and have never lived in traditional territories, and those who continue to have roots there. These practices are observed through the lens of the three bodies of the individual, social, and body politic. Identity has moved beyond legacies of essentialized and bounded notions which in actuality are multiple and fluid. The study revealed themes of a continuum of experiences and practices including: territorialists who reside in the homeland; returners who have the Indigenous diasporic experience of longing for a homeland; learners who have been displaced from Indigenous communities for various reasons but have initiated cultural renewal; adaptors who have little to no connection to a homeland or Indigenous groups in the city; and urbanites who accept the city-as-home, often with multiple generations of residence in the city. The social body is enacted by Indigenous people who construct communities in cities through social practices such as welcoming others through physical places like Friendship Centres, universities, and social service organizations. Connections also occur in urbans hubs of activity through various practices such as cultural and arts events, ceremonies, and conferences. Cultural renewal is fundamental for the well-being of Indigenous people who have experienced decades of oppression as a result of the regulation of bodies, social actions, land and self-determination by the body politic. The cultural renewal of Indigenous people in cities creates space for healing, decolonization, reclamation, restoration, reconciliation and renewal.


The development of an IS for an organization is a project of a strategic nature. The development process is a time-consuming and special budgeted project that follows the six stages of the System Development Life Cycle (SDLC). Integrating security within the SDLC is a very important issue. The security of an IS is designed at the very early stages of its development. A security object that is nowadays a must is the Disaster Recovery Plan. Security questions like "Is the Information System Security an issue that has to be a matter of concern for the organization from the start of Information System development?" and "At which stage of its development does an Information System begin to be at risk ?" concern both the organizations and the developers. This paper proposes the enhancement of the SDLC stages in order to reduce the risks from the start of a development, by integrating the development of the Disaster Recovery Plan into the SDLC process. Details are given on how to achieve this, as well as the reasons and the benefits to the organization and to the manufacturer.


This paper describes a two-step approach for keyword spotting task in which a query-by-example (QbE) search is followed by noise robust exemplar matching (N-REM) rescoring. In the first stage, subsequence dynamic time warping is performed to detect keywords in search utterances. In the second stage, these target frame sequences are rescored using the reconstruction errors provided by the linear combination of the available exemplars extracted from the training data. Due to data sparsity, we align the target frame sequence and the exemplars to a common frame length and the exemplar weights are obtained by solving a convex optimization problem with nonnegative sparse coding. We run keyword spotting experiments on the Air Traffic Control (ATC) database and evaluate performance of multiple distance metrics for calculating the weights and reconstruction errors using convolutional neural network (CNN) bottleneck features. The results demonstrate that the proposed two-step keyword spotting approach provides better keyword detection compared to a baseline with only QbE search.


The kinetics of metabolism of diazepam, phenytoin, and caffeine have been determined in rat liver slices of 260 microns thickness. The formation of 4'-hydroxy metabolites of diazepam and phenytoin are described by one- and two-site Michaelis-Menten equations, respectively. The other oxidative pathways for diazepam are less readily saturable than the 4'-hydroxylation. This kinetic behavior is consistent with that previously reported for other in vitro systems. In contrast, the metabolism of caffeine, assessed by total metabolism, showed differences from that observed with other systems, and this is believed to result from the incubation conditions used. By determining the hepatocellularity of the standard slice used, CLint (Vmax/KM) data were expressed per million cells and compared with the same parameters derived from incubations with freshly isolated hepatocyte suspensions. Data on diazepam, phenytoin, and caffeine were combined with previously published data on tolbutamide, ethoxycoumarin, and ondansetron to give a total of nine CLint values representing different pathways. CLint values in slices are consistently less than those in hepatocytes (ratio differing from 0.4 to 0.05). The CLint ratio decreased in a regular fashion as the hepatocyte CLint increased from 1.4 microliters/min (caffeine) to 105 microliters/min (ondansetron). It was also observed that the KM value for a particular pathway in slices always exceeded the corresponding value in isolated hepatocytes (ratios differing from 1.09 to 7.59). The KM ratio was positively related to hepatocyte CLint. These observations are consistent with the delayed accessibility of substrate to all the cells within a slice. It is proposed that the parallel processes of drug transport and metabolism within the slice do not allow a distribution equilibrium to be achieved between all the cells within a slice and the incubation media.


When it comes to freedom of expression, there is some tension in the literature on judging. On the one hand, political scientists have long equated liberal judges with a commitment to the First Amendment guarantees of speech, press, assembly, and association. On the other hand, a growing body of descriptive literature (mainly in the law reviews) suggests that these definitions are no longer apt. The punchline in these studies is that an ideological realignment of sorts has occurred, such that conservatives judges are now more likely to embrace free expression and liberals, regulation. We seek to resolve this tension by examining the votes in all Supreme Court cases argued and decided between the 1946-2010 terms that touch on the First Amendment guarantees of speech, press, assembly, association, and petition. Our findings suggest that neither side has it exactly wrong or right. To be sure, liberal justices aren't uniformly attached to the First Amendment and conservative justices aren't uniformly committed to regulation, as the legal literature correctly notes. But ideology isn't absent from their decisions, nor has an ideological reversal occurred. In line with broader theoretical predictions following from literature on in-group bias in economics, psychology, and even early political science work, the justices' votes tend to reflect their preferences toward the expression (or expressor), and not an underlying taste for the First Amendment qua Amendment.


Late preterm infants (LPIs), born between 34 and 36 6/7 weeks gestation, face many challenges. These infants comprise 71% of preterm births and 8.7% of all births in the United States (Hamilton, Martin, & Ventura, 2010). They have a higher incidence of medical complications than their full-term counterparts leading to longer hospital stays or readmissions (Consortium on Safe Labor, 2010; Khashu, Narayanan, Bhargava, & Osiovich, 2009; Pulver et al., 2010). The nurse's role in educating parents of LPIs is pertinent as these babies are at heightened risk for a number of significant complications. The purpose of this project is to determine if adopting an evidence-based parent teaching model of care will improve clinical outcomes, build parents' skills and self-confidence in caring for their LPIs at home, and reduce hospital readmissions. "Late Preterm Infants: What Parents Need to Know," a free patient education brochure, which is available in English and Spanish from Association of Women's Health, Obstetric and Neonatal Nurse's LPI Initiative. The parents were given a pre and post questionnaire on the material presented in the teaching. Follow-up phone calls were made to collect data regarding emergency room visits or hospitalizations to the mother at 1 month from the discharge date.Even though there were no readmissions between the two groups, the study shows a significant gap in the parental knowledge in taking care of these infants. Hence, this researcher felt the implementation of a LPI teaching tool ensures care is evidence-based and provides a framework for measuring patient outcomes.


Additive manufacturing (AM) is becoming one of the most discussed modern technologies. Significant achievements of the AM in metals today are mainly connected to the unprecedented freedom of component shapes this technology allows. But full potential of these methods lies in the development of new materials designed to be used specifically with AM. Proper understanding of the AM process will open up new possibilities, where material and component properties can be specifically tailored by controlling the parameters throughout the whole manufacturing process. Present paper discusses the issues related to the beam melting technologies AM and electron beam welding (EBW). We are speaking of new direction in material science that can be termed "non-stationary metallurgy", using the examples from material and process development for EBW, electron beam melting (EBM®) and other additive manufacturing methods.


Dragons, in stories from Western culture, used to be fearsome monsters which hoarded treasures and were slain by heroes, whereas in today's literature dragons are often accompanied by dragonriders who use them as transports or fighters. This essay explores the different usages of dragons in three works of modern fantasy and science fiction, in relation to the postcolonial concept of "the Other" as defined by Edward Said: J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, Anne McCaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern and Naomi Novik's Temeraire. Smaug from The Hobbit is the closest to "the Other" because he functions the same as the dragons from traditional dragon tales in which the dragon inhabits and represents the uncivilized wilderness. However, as a character Smaug is an inversion of "the Other," as he shares qualities with the British upper-class, having been reared in an industrial environment. In Dragonriders of Pern, the dragons are extraterrestrial creatures that humans have tamed and bred to use them to destroy a dangerous substance. Their minds are mostly impulse-driven and the humans, to whom they are bonded, control them through telepathy. The dragons' impulses affect the humans, their political positions and social norms. Unlike "the Other," the Pernese dragons are not fixed entities but a developing species, undergoing progress in physical and mental attributes. In the 19th century-based Temeraire, dragons are also tamed and bred by humans but they possess human-like intelligence. Treatment of dragons varies between countries, e.g. Chinese dragons are respected and treated as equals to humans whereas in Europe they are treated as mindless animals, used in warfare. The dragons have human handlers, and there is great affection between them but the general attitude towards the dragons is similar to like towards a social minority. They start a campaign, led by the main characters, for draconic freedom and must fight ingrained norms to achieve it.


A new technique has been developed to quickly monitor the changes in polarity of aqueous natural organic matter (NOM) using solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges. This paper introduces the NOM polarity rapid assessment method (PRAM). The PRAM technique characterizes changes in NOM polarity by monitoring the breakthrough curves from different SPE cartridges at UV 254 . The SPE cartridges used in this study include a wide range of polarity from non-polar C-18 materials to anion exchangers. Each individual cartridge run takes 10 minutes and requires about 15 ml of sample. The collected water sample matrix is not changed, i.e. all PRAM analyses were done under ambient conditions on the original sample. Polarity evaluation is completed without the sample being exposed to changes in sample conditions, such as pH, solvent extraction, sequential evaporations or freeze-drying. This technique was able to monitor the weekly changes in NOM polarity entering a water treatment plant and compares the effects of different water treatment processes on this material.


This paper reports on findings from an evaluation of the Bridges Project, a community-based intervention implemented at the Asian and Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA), to reduce disparities in care for Asians and Pacific Islanders (APIs) living with HIV/AIDS in New York. Comparisons of participants by primary language (Asian language vs. English) and immigration status (undocumented vs. documented/citizen) show that Asian-primary-language and undocumented participants at baseline had a significantly lower rate of receipt of primary care services and experienced significantly more barriers per service than English-primary-language and documented participants. At follow-up, however, differences by primary language and immigration status disappeared, indicating that the Bridges Project was effective in improving service utilization and reducing barriers for the Asian-primary-language and undocumented participants. Barriers to services reported most frequently by participants were language and cost barriers, not knowing where to go for services, and confidentiality concerns. Study findings indicate that the capacity to address multiple API languages and cultures is essential in providing culturally competent care to APIs living with HIV.