In vitro studies have established the classic antipsychotic drug chlorpromazine (CPZ) as an effective antiviral agent against various viruses, including corona viruses [1]. Also, SARS-CoV-2, the cause of the current Covid 19 pandemic, is inhibited by CPZ [2]. CPZ is known to act on clathrin-mediated endocytosis (CME), which affects the formation of clathrin-coated pits on the plasma membrane [3]. This pathway is one of the most important entry routes of viruses, more precisely virions, into host cells. Studies on the antiviral effect of CPZ have shown that it influences different mechanisms of virus formation, including post-entry effects. CPZ belongs to the group of cationic amphiphilic drugs (CADs), which have the propensity to interact with various cell structures, especially membranes. They accumulate in intracellular compartments (acidic), such as early and late endosomes/lysosomes crucial for virus formation (e.g. particle coating, assembly or budding) [4]. In the case of corona viruses (SARS-CoV), CPZ inhibits the cell entry chiefly by CME [5]. However, CPZ it is also known to inhibit membrane fusion processes at the plasma membrane or at an intracellular location following virus uptake by endocytosis. Among them, CME and cathepsin mediated S protein cleavage are two critical steps for viral entry and infection of corona viruses (all coronaviruses are enveloped viruses with a long single-plus stranded RNA) [6]. Notably, SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 use exactly the same attachment receptor (ACE2) and serine protease (TMPRSS2/S protein priming) for cell entry [7]. However, the exact nature of the viral entry is context-dependent, including the type of the virus and the type of the host cells. As mentioned above, SARS-CoV-2 utilizes the ACE2-receptor (angiotensin converting enzyme II) for viral entry into the host cells. ACE2 transcripts was originally only found in heart, kidney and testis of humans. However, it was later found that ACE2 protein expresses abundantly in the epithelia of the human lung, small intestine and brain [8].


In 1953 the government of the newly founded state of Israel sent an elite army unit to attack the village of Kibiyeh, just across the Jordanian border. The attack was in reprisal for violence against Jewish villages on the Israeli side of the border. Since the end of the 1948 war, armed groups from Jordanian border towns had been infiltrating Israel and terrorizing its citizens, and in one such raid on the village of Yehud, a woman and her two young children were killed. The Israeli attack on Kibiyeh was in response to that incident. Kibiyeh was chosen as the target because the perpetrators of the violence in Yehud had apparently come from there. In the Kibiyeh raid, several dozen Arabs were killed, including women and children. Condemnation of the raid from the international community was swift. Opinion in Israel was mostly supportive of the operation, though a vocal minority opposed it.


Code-injection attacks can take place in a large variety of layers, from native code to databases and web applications. The latter case involves mainly client-side code injection in the browser environment, also known as Cross-Site Scripting (XSS). There are numerous ways to defeat XSS attacks, from static and taint analysis to policy enforcement in the web browser. In this paper, we enlist new forms of XSS attacks that seek to bypass browser enforced policies. The attacks outlined in this paper resemble the classic return-tolibc attack in native code. We propose a new form of code isolation, based on browser actions, in order to mitigate the problem.


ABSTRACT On-farm studies were conducted during 2002–2004 to determine fertility status, including sulfur (S) and micronutrients, and crop response to fertilization on farmers' fields in the semi-arid zone of India. Nine hundred-twenty four soil samples taken from farmers' fields, spread in the three districts of Andhra Pradesh (India), were analyzed for soil chemical fertility parameters. Results showed that samples were low in organic carbon (C), total nitrogen (N), and low to moderate in extractable phosphorus (P), but adequate in available potassium (K). Analyses of soil samples for extractable S and micronutrients was most revealing and showed that 73–95% of the farmers' fields were deficient in S, 70–100% in boron (B), and 62–94% in zinc (Zn). On-farm trials conducted during three seasons (2002–2004) showed significant yield responses of maize, castor, groundnut, and mung bean to the applications of S, B, and Zn. The yield responses were larger when S, Zn, and B were applied along with N and P. Applications of S, B and Zn also significantly increased the uptake of N, P, K, S, B, and Zn in the crop biomass. Results show widespread deficiencies of S, B, and Zn under dryland agricultural conditions; results also show that the nutrient deficiencies can be diagnosed by soil testing. It was concluded that the drylands in the semi-arid regions of India were not only thirsty (water shortage), but also hungry (nutrient deficiencies).


A descriptive epidemiologic study on the detection of new leprosy cases was conducted in São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil, from 1993 to 1998. A database was created for the purpose, covering 2,796 reported cases. General detection rates were calculated, as well as specific rates by gender, clinical type, and age group. Linear, exponential, geometric, and log adjustment models were performed to analyze time trends in the disease. An increase in detection was observed, involving mostly female and paucibacillary cases, mainly of tuberculoid leprosy. The increase in detection was most evident in the 15 to 19 year-old population. The percentage of detection under 15 indicated the need for active case search in this group.


ABSTRACT The Vga and Msr resistance determinants, encoded by mobile genetic elements in various staphylococcal strains, belong to a family of ATP-binding cassette (ABC) proteins whose functions and structures are ill defined. Their amino acid sequences are similar to those of proteins involved in the immunity of streptomycetes to the macrolide-lincosamide-streptogramin antibiotics that they produce. Sequence analysis of the genomes of the gram-positive bacteria with low G+C contents revealed that Lmo0919 from Listeria monocytogenes is more closely related to Vga variants than to Msr variants. In the present study we compared the antibiotic resistance profiles conferred by the Vga-like proteins in two staphylococcal hosts. It was shown that Vga(A), the Vga(A) variant [Vga(A)v], and Lmo0919 can confer resistance to lincosamides and streptogramin A compounds, while only Vga(B) is able to increase the level of resistance to pristinamycin, a mixture of streptogramin A and streptogramin B compounds. By using polyclonal antibodies, we found that the Vga(A) protein colocalized with the β subunit of the F1-F0 ATPase in the membrane fractions of staphylococcal cells. In order to identify functional units in these atypical ABC proteins, such as regions that might be involved in substrate specificity and/or membrane targeting, we analyzed the resistance phenotypes conferred by various plasmids carrying parts or modified versions of the vga(A) gene and we determined the subcellular localization of the gene products. Only polypeptides composed of two ABC domains were detected in the cell membranes. No region of drug specificity was identified. Resistance properties were dependent on the integrities of both Walker B motifs.


This brief essay, a reply to a forthcoming essay "Radicals in Robes" by Saikrishna Prakash in the Columbia Law Review, makes two points. The first is that the abstract idea of interpretation cannot support originalism or indeed any judgment about the competing (reasonable) approaches to the Constitution. Any such judgment must be defended on pragmatic grounds, which means that it must be attentive to consequences. The second point is that the consequentialist judgments that support minimalism also suggest that there are times and places in which minimalism is rightly abandoned. For example, broad rulings may well be justified when predictability calls for it; and the Supreme Court was right to refuse minimalism in the late 1930s. While minimalism is generally the proper approach to "frontiers" issue in constitutional law, its own pragmatic foundations suggest that constitutional law should not be insistently or dogmatically minimalist.


Researchers in the field of language teaching have long been fascinated by the qualities of good teachers. Such qualities have rarely been approached qualitatively from different angles in a single study. Thus, this research aimed to unearth the qualities in question by employing a qualitative multimethod approach. To this end, 23 randomly selected standard language teaching textbooks were analyzed by two coders using qualitative content analysis. The judiciously adopted codes from the analysis were employed to design and carry out semi-structured interviews with nine effective language teachers as well as ten good learners nominated via purposeful sampling. The data gleaned from the semi-interviews were once again analyzed through qualitative content analysis. The collective initial coding of the three datasets resulted in thirteen themes: knowledge of pedagogy, rapport, critical thinking, empathy, rhetoric, knowledge of subject matter, enthusiasm, respect, humor, consciousness, fairness, authenticity, and physical attributes. Conducting a second-level coding, we uncovered two broad themes, namely personality and professionalism with the former being significantly weightier collectively. The application of Chi-Square at this point showed that the associations between the three datasets were meaningful. The findings of the semi-structured interviews of participant teachers and students corroborated those of authors in the field of language teaching. Also, rapport and pedagogy were respectively viewed as the most salient attributes associated with good language teachers by the interviewed informants. The study holds clear implications for interested researchers, language teachers, and teacher educators.


Abstract.  This paper offers an insight into the games software development process from a time perspective by drawing on an in‐depth study in a games development organization. The wider market for computer games now exceeds the annual global revenues of cinema. We have, however, only a limited scholarly understanding of how games studios produce games. Games projects require particular attention because their context is unique. Drawing on a case study, the paper offers a theoretical conceptualization of the development process of creative software, such as games software. We found that the process, as constituted by the interactions of developers, oscillates between two modes of practice: routinized and improvised, which sediment and flux the working rhythms in the context. This paper argues that while we may predeterminately lay down the broad stages of creative software development, the activities that constitute each stage, and the transition criteria from one to the next, may be left to the actors in the moment, to the temporality of the situation as it emerges. If all development activities are predefined, as advocated in various process models, this may leave little room for opportunity and the creative fruits that flow from opportunity, such as enhanced features, aesthetics and learning.


This article deals with young urban Saudi women's transgressions of rules regulating dress and public conduct in Riyadh. Many researchers on Middle Eastern societies interpret as resistance the silent practices adopted by subalterns such as women or youth. The existence of such social groupings is scarcely questioned in these works, which focus mainly on the interpretation of practices as political or subversive. In this article, I emphasize the collective and public aspect of transgressions in order to show how transgressive acts participate in shaping collective identifications and in producing young urban Saudi women as a group. In the first section, I argue that transgressions have a public aspect that makes them transformative, as they are tacitly coordinated, reproduced among young women, and repeated every day. The second section states that the transgressions' impact does not imply that they should be interpreted as resistance. In fact, transgressive acts are embedded in shifting power relations in the context of reform. In the third section, I show how transgressions have long-term implications for shaping groupings, identifications, and exclusions. Some transgressive practices that involve specific consumerist self-presentations have become norms among urban young women who conform to prevent rejection from the group. This study draws on ten months of ethnographic fieldwork in Riyadh between 2005 and 2009. I conducted interviews with young, urban Saudi women who studied or worked in Riyadh.


Long considered a hallmark of American deviance, the tattoo has undergone drastic redefinition in recent decades. No longer the purview of bikers, punks and thugs, tattooing is increasingly practiced and appropriated by mainstream, middle class individuals (DeMeIIo 41; Irwin 50). For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. Estimates on the number of Americans with tattoos generally range from one in ten to one in five (Kosut 1036; Stirn, Hinz, and Brahler 533). Despite the fact that millions have been tattooed, not all tattooed bodies are equal in American culture. There is, indeed, a difference between people who have tattoos and the tattooed people (Bell 55-56). People who have tattoos usually have one to a few tattoos strategically placed on areas of their bodies that are easily hidden. While such tattoos may represent the self, they are not usually part of one's (public) self. Tattooed people, on the other hand, get tattoos that are always visible to others. Bold tattoos on the hand, neck and/or face are a prerequisite for tattooed people. Tattooed people readily and regularly display their tattoos to the world - to cover one's tattoos would be to deny one's true self. Though the number of Americans with tattoos has boomed, those who have tattoos and those considering tattoos typically recognize becoming a tattooed person necessitates "fully embracing marginalization" (Bell 55-56), limiting the number of tattooed people. According to Laumann and Derick, more than ninety percent of American tattooees can be classified as people who have tattoos (416). The aim of this article is to better understand how and why people who have tattoos - those with no desire to be associated with the "freak show" surrounding tattooed people (Bell 56) - negotiate their status as tattooees and transition through mainstream society. Considering the vast expansion of tattoos among mainstream Americans since die late 1980s and early 1990s (Rosenblatt 300), the reluctance of social scientists to investigate tattoos as a nondeviant, mainstream phenomenon is noteworthy. While the "Tattoo Renaissance" (Sanders, "Marks" 401) has led to a dramatic shift in the attitudes and arguments put forth by academics concerning tattoos, by no means are the old attitudes disappearing from the literature: [DJespite... path-breaking analyses of tattooing as a contextual and negotiated signifier of identity, sociological statements on the cultural use of tattoos in North America ultimately (re)produce a conceptualization of the practice as contra-normative. The symbiotic relationship between tattooing and illegal behaviour (or otherwise unconventional lifestyles) still dominates in sociological research. Sociologists prefer to study the subversive subcultural uses of tattooing. (Atkinson 127) This quote exposes the academic schism that has formed around this phenomenon. On the one side, researchers portray tattoos negatively by focusing on deviance and mental disorders. On the other, scholars view tattoos as positively contributing to identity formation and fashion. Even more important than the ideological split within the academic community is the one forming within society. For many young Americans, the tattoo has taken on a decidedly different meaning than for previous generations. The tattoo has "undergone dramatic redefinition" (Irwin 50) and has shifted from a form of deviance to an acceptable form of expression - at least as far as the youth are concerned. One contributing factor of this youthful shift is the media, which legitimates tattoos by positively portraying the tattooed "lionized public figures" (Kosut 1038) that many young people admire, such as actors, musicians and athletes. At the same time, however, the media is critical of average people with tattoos. This mixed message contributes to the seemingly contradictory situation wherein individuals use tattoos for identity expression and formation, all the while keeping the existence of their tattoos secret from the general public. …


This paper explores the dichotomy between formal property rights and use value of rights in the field of the right to housing for homeless people, focusing on the entitlement of the squatting practices to claim the collective rights in the public domain. This collective claim can be considered an alternative to the 'traditional' conception of the public property as ́exclusive' domain of State. In the cities of Southern Europe, urban space has become an 'object' of contention by groups of inhabitants, who are organized at various levels, and an object of claiming – through illegal (although not illegitimate) forms of occupation of public or social private properties – the right to housing as primary expression of the broader 'right to the city'. Starting from the evidences emerging from the informal practices of reappropriation of spaces (occupied spaces) in the case study of Palermo, the aim of the paper is to demonstrate that the use value is applicable in the housing field through the lens of the right to the city. The self-help housing practises suggest a "third way" in the theoretic interpretation on the right to housing, overtaking the division between natural rights and legal rights.


Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have seen limited clinical use as antimicrobial agents, largely due to issues relating to toxicity, short biological half-life, and lack of efficacy against Gram-negative bacteria. However, the development of novel AMP-nanomedicines, i.e., AMPs entrapped in nanoparticles, has the potential to ameliorate these clinical problems. The authors investigated two novel nanomedicines based on AA139, an AMP currently in development for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections. ABSTRACT Antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have seen limited clinical use as antimicrobial agents, largely due to issues relating to toxicity, short biological half-life, and lack of efficacy against Gram-negative bacteria. However, the development of novel AMP-nanomedicines, i.e., AMPs entrapped in nanoparticles, has the potential to ameliorate these clinical problems. The authors investigated two novel nanomedicines based on AA139, an AMP currently in development for the treatment of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative infections. AA139 was entrapped in polymeric nanoparticles (PNPs) or lipid-core micelles (MCLs). The antimicrobial activity of AA139-PNP and AA139-MCL was determined in vitro. The biodistribution and limiting doses of AA139-nanomedicines were determined in uninfected rats via endotracheal aerosolization. The early bacterial killing activity of the AA139-nanomedicines in infected lungs was assessed in a rat model of pneumonia-septicemia caused by extended-spectrum β-lactamase-producing Klebsiella pneumoniae. In this model, the therapeutic efficacy was determined by once-daily (q24h) administration over 10 days. Both AA139-nanomedicines showed equivalent in vitro antimicrobial activities (similar to free AA139). In uninfected rats, they exhibited longer residence times in the lungs than free AA139 (∼20% longer for AA139-PNP and ∼80% longer for AA139-MCL), as well as reduced toxicity, enabling a higher limiting dose. In rats with pneumonia-septicemia, both AA139-nanomedicines showed significantly improved therapeutic efficacy in terms of an extended rat survival time, although survival of all rats was not achieved. These results demonstrate potential advantages that can be achieved using AMP-nanomedicines. AA139-PNP and AA139-MCL may be promising novel therapeutic agents for the treatment of patients suffering from multidrug-resistant Gram-negative pneumonia-septicemia.


The installation of green roofs has increased in the world's largest cities in the last 10 yr. Apart from aesthetic aspects, a main objective is to help regulate water fluxes in the urban environment and, under certain conditions, to reduce a building's heating requirements (by increasing thermal resistance) in winter and cooling requirements (by evaporation) in summer. We developed a theoretical approach using relevant thermal properties (heat capacity and thermal conductivity) for substrates being used for green roofs and propose an approach to modeling the interactions between water transport processes and heat flow and exchanges. Substrate water flow (using the van Genuchten approach) and heat flow were simulated for different mixtures of pozzolan and sphagnum peat. The main result was that substrate water retention properties and rain distribution throughout the year were more important for the rain/drainage balance than was substrate thickness. One‐dimensional simulations of water and heat transfer at the scale of a few days showed that the overall thermal properties of the substrate were driven by its capacity to store water. While water storage capacity could appear as an advantage for rainwater management in urban areas, it could be a drawback for insulation purposes in winter. In summer, at relatively low water contents, the substrate layer limits sensible heat transfer toward the roof; however, this transfer probably remains much lower than latent heat flow from a green roof to the atmosphere due to evapotranspiration under non‐limiting water uptake by plants.


This article examines the history of a similarity measure—the Mahalanobis Distance Function—and its movement from colonial India into contemporary artificial intelligence technologies, including facial recognition, and its reapplication into postcolonial India. The article identifies how the creation of the Distance Function was connected to the colonial "problem" of caste and ethnic classification for British bureaucracy in 1920-1930s India. This article demonstrates that the Distance Function is a statistical method, originating to make anthropometric caste distinctions in India, that became both a technical standard and a mobile racialized technique, utilized in machine learning applications. The creation of the Distance Function as a measure of "similitude" at a particular period of colonial state-making helped to model wider categories of classification which have proliferated in facial recognition technology. Overall, we highlight how a measurement function that operates in recognition technologies today can be traced across time and space to other racialized contexts.


INTRODUCTION The need to prepare students for 21st Century Skills (21CS) is widely accepted among educators, researchers, policymakers, and employers alike (Ananiadou & Claro, 2009; Dede, 2007; National Research Council [NRC], 2010). A nationwide poll of registered voters in 2007 showed 99% said teaching 21CS is important for the future economic success of the United States. The same poll noted concern among Americans that the US educational system is not preparing students with the skills and competencies necessary to compete in a globalized knowledge economy (Partnerships for 21st Century Skills [P21], 2009b). In an apparent effort to meet this overwhelming demand, school districts, national advocacy groups and educational policymakers in developed countries have waged an extensive effort to develop plans and guidelines on how to teach 21CS alongside core academic subjects. Notable efforts in this regard include national level initiatives such as the Partnership for 21CS (www.p21.org) and initiatives by major private companies such as Cisco, Intel, and Microsoft (www.atc21s.org) that articulated a vision and plan on how to teach and assess 21CS in the K-12 environment. At the National Research Council, a series of workshops were conducted in which leading experts across the U.S. gathered to discuss and explore the issue of assessment and the degree of overlap between science education and 21CS (NRC, 2010; NRC, 2012; Schunn, 2009). Because of these various efforts, educators now know what 21st Century Skills entail. The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) has developed standards for students (ISTE.NETS.S) and teachers (ISTE.NETS.T) that outline the skills and knowledge needed for both students and teachers to work successfully in a globalized digital world (International Society for Technology in Education [ISTE], 2007; ISTE, 2008). The Partnership for 21st Century Skills, a national organization, provides a framework that integrates different types of literacies into the academic subject areas students are taught. These literacies are configured around three themes, namely: (1) life and career skills, (2) learning and innovation skills, and (3) information, media, and technology skills (P21, 2009b). For example, the learning and innovation skills category has four competency areas that include: (a) creativity and innovation, (b) critical thinking and problem solving, (c) communication, and (d) collaboration. Another study defines 21st Century Skills by student outcomes such as creativity, innovation, critical thinking, problem solving, communication, collaboration, personal responsibility, global awareness, social/ intercultural skills, team learning, and mastery of rigorous academic content (Duran, Yaussy, & Yaussy, 2011). What is not so clear, however, is what it takes to teach 21CS alongside core academic subjects like science. What is the nature of the relationship between science content and 21CS? How do educators teach creativity, collaboration, critical thinking, etc, identified above as 21CS, while teaching science content such as biology, chemistry, and math? Science education inherently involves formulating hypotheses, testing, experimentation, inquiry, systematic investigation, observation, problem solving, and communicating findings that, we are prepared to argue, are closely associated to what students are expected to master by way of 21st Century Skills. A recent book by the National Research Council discusses several practices for K-12 science classrooms in great detail (NRC, 2012, p. 42); however, we, the researchers, cannot help but ask whether these strategies are scientific content knowledge or methodological/pedagogical approaches to learning science by way of reasoning and problem solving. Some of the ideas include: asking questions and defining problems, developing and using models, and planning and carrying out investigations. …


Environmental disasters, such as hurricanes, landslides, and earthquakes, are pervasive and disproportionately affect rural and poor populations. The concept of resilience is typically used in disaster scenarios to describe how a community or person is able to "bounce back" from a disaster event. At the same time, resilience theory also contends that disasters, or environmental shocks, can produce or initiate profound changes in social and ecological systems. This case uses a post-disaster resilience assessment to examine how the series of earthquakes that hit central Nepal in 2015 impacted farming communities. Mid-montane smallholder farming communities near the epicenters of the earthquakes were the most affected and the associated damages impeded traditional and subsistence agricultural practices. Our results show how some aspects of the Nepali farming social–ecological system (SES) bounced back more quickly than others and how farmers used various types of coping strategies, including the adoption of labor-saving cash crops as part of their post-disaster recovery. The increased interest in cash crops after the earthquake accelerates an ongoing transition toward more market activities in subsistence communities and illustrates the potential of environmental shocks to transform and change SESs.


In the cell, proteins bind to DNA elements to regulate such processes as transcription, replication, and chromosome condensation and cohesion. Many recent studies have tried to elucidate the various mechanisms involved in these processes, including specific protein-DNA interactions. For these analyses, researchers have widely used the techniques of chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis and DNA microarrays to examine protein-DNA interactions and gene expression levels, respectively. Ren et al. have now combined these two methods to monitor in vivo protein-DNA interactions across the entire yeast genome. This genome-wide location analysis method was used to characterize two transcriptional activators Gal4 and Ste12. These techniques should allow for a more detailed understanding of global regulatory networks. Ren, B., Robert, F., Wyrick, J.J., Aparicio, O., Jennings, E.G., Simon I., Zeitlinger, J., Schreiber, J., Hannett, N., Kanin, E., Volkert, T.L., Wilson, C.J., Bell, S.P., and Young, R.A. (2000) Genome-wide location and function of DNA binding proteins. Science 290: 2306-2309. [Abstract] [Full Text]


When they apply the doctrine of preemption, courts refuse to hear claims for personal injury on the ground that adjudication of these claims would be inconsistent with a regulatory scheme. Finding that federal law preempts personal injury in those cases where Congress has not made this declaration overt is an inference about congressional purpose and intent. Because what Congress meant to do does not appear in the words of a statute, implied preemption can be more accurately understood as "inferred preemption." Current preemption law asymmetrically assumes that Congress sometimes intends to preempt tort liability yet never intends to abandon this kind of preemptive design once undertaken. This assumption is inaccurate, as a study of one exemplar - consumer product safety regulation - reveals. Because old inferences of preemption can grow obsolete and inaccurate after Congress has moved in a different direction, the judge-made doctrine of implied preemption calls for a complementary doctrine of implied reverse preemption.


User traces are essential for analysis of human behavior and development of opportunistic networking protocols and applications. As user traces are collected with high granularity to apply them in diverse scenarios, they have a high complexity resulting from the large number of user states. We present MobReduce: a methodology for reducing the number of states in user traces. We apply MobReduce to individually to GPS locations and WiFi sightings of the Nokia Mobile Data Challenge data set and show how to trade o state complexity vs. granularity.


Mastitis is the most costly health concern in the dairy industry today. Annual losses have been estimated at $180 to 185 per cow. Based on this figure, annual losses for Kansas producers may exceed $15 million. Nationally, mastitis may cost the industry $1.8 billion annually. Although treatment and premature culling for clinical mastitis are costly, about two-thirds of the cost is associated with reduced milk production caused by subclinical mastitis. Effective mastitis control programs are necessary for the dairy industry today. Prevention of subclinical mastitis is the key to lowering the somatic cell counts (SCC). Elevated bulk tank SCC (>250,000/ml) are an indication that a significant number of the cattle are infected with mastitis-causing bacteria and corrective action is required. Key areas to evaluate are cow housing, milking equipment, and milking procedures. Utilization of milk culture data is necessary to determine if elevated SCC are due to environmental or contagious organisms. In addition, cultures of milk samples from individual cows may be needed to identify cattle infected with contagious organisms. Correction of deficiencies in housing, milking procedures, and milking equipment will effectively control environmental mastitis. Identification, segregation, and future culling of animals infected with contagious organisms are necessary for control of contagious mastitis. An effective monitoring system that includes individual-cow SCC, individual-cow bacterial cultures, and bulktank bacterial cultures will ensure a low bulk-tank SCC and a low level of mastitis. It is a health issue that requires constant attention, because success is achieved with attention to detail on the dairy as a whole, and lack of attention in only one segment of the dairy may result in significant increases in mastitis. Success of the program requires that all employees and the management team (managers, herdsmen, veterinarians, nutritionists, milking equipment technicians, and consultants) emphasize increasing milk quality by controlling mastitis. . (


From the voyage of the Argonauts to the Tailhook scandal, seafaring has long been one of the most glaringly male-dominated occupations. In this groundbreaking interdisciplinary study, Margaret Creighton, Lisa Norling, and their co-authors explore the relationship of gender and seafaring in the Anglo-American age of sail. Drawing on a wide range of American and British sources-from diaries, logbooks, and account ledgers to songs, poetry, fiction, and a range of public sources-the authors show how popular fascination with seafaring and the sailors' rigorous, male-only life led to models of gender behavior based on "iron men" aboard ship and "stoic women" ashore. Yet Iron Men, Wooden Women also offers new material that defies conventional views. The authors investigate such topics as women in the American whaling industry and the role of the captain's wife aboard ship. They explore the careers of the female pirates Anne Bonny and Mary Read, as well as those of other women-"transvestite heroines"-who dressed as men to serve on the crews of sailing ships. And they explore the importance of gender and its connection to race for African American and other seamen in both the American and the British merchant marine. Contributors include both social historians and literary critics: Marcus Rediker, Dianne Dugaw, Ruth Wallis Herndon, Haskell Springer, W. Jeffrey Bolster, Laura Tabili, Lillian Nayder, and Melody Graulich, in addition to Margaret Creighton and Lisa Norling.


Challenges to teaching history have precipitated a number of teaching strategies whereby teachers have achieved mixed success. The Cultural Approach to History (CAH) has been shown to be an effective teaching strategy from its inception in the late 1960s. Advances in neuroscience revealing how the brain functions in the learning process have been proven to show that stimulating affect in students during instruction may result in a greater long-term learning outcomes than if students underwent traditional lecture-based instruction. Students using the CAH have the opportunity to take the perspective of others in addition to their engaging cognitive capabilities thus leading to stronger learning outcomes. This researcher will investigate the relationship in empathetic responses between students who have or have not been taught by teachers who employ the cultural approach. Two research questions are posed. Is there a statistically significant difference in self-reported affect between students who have been taught by teachers using the Cultural Approach and those who have not? Also, what do the data reveal about students who learn history using the Cultural Approach? Key terms: Perspective taking; Empathy; Cultural Approach; History Education


During the last 70 years, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) has developed our knowledge about ultrastructure of the cells and tissues. Another aim is the determi‐ nation of molecular structure, interactions and processes including structure-function relationships at cellular level using a variety of TEM techniques with resolution in atomic to nanometre range. Even with the best transmission electron microscope, it is impossible to obtain real results without optimal sample preparation, respecting both the structure and the antigenicity preservation. Preparation techniques for high-resolution study of both macromolecular complex and organelles within cellular complex are based on fast cryoimmobilisation process, where the sample is in the most native, hydrated state. Next, thin samples are directly visualised under cryo-transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM), while thicker samples require a thinning step via cryo-electron microscopy of vitreous sections (CEMOVIS) or cryo-focused ion beam (cryo-FIB) before visualisation. Alternatively, vitrified samples are freeze substituted and embedded in chosen resin for room temperature ultramicrot‐ omy. This preparation technique is suitable for morphological study, 3D analysis of cellular interior and immunoelectron microscopy. A different route for immunoloc‐ alisation study is cryosectioning according to the Tokuyasu technique that is a choice for rare or methacrylate-sensitive antigens. Most recently, new hybrid techniques have been developed for difficult-to-fix organisms and antigens or labile and anoxia-sensitive tissues. Another preparation technique is, the oldest but still important, conventional chemical fixation dedicated in a wide range of research interest, involving morphological and immunolocalisation study. In this chapter, we present different sample preparation approaches for transmission electron microscopy of biological samples, including its methodological basis and applications.


L-Malic acid (LMA) is a commodity chemical that was first isolated in the crystalline form in the 18th century, yet it has been troublesome for more than 100 years because of its resistance to forming crystals that are suitable for optical or X-ray analysis. LMA crystallizations from the melt and from solutions are reevaluated here. Indeed, LMA crystallizes poorly from water. However, a flowable solid was produced by growth from ethyl acetate at room temperature to give large well-formed trapezoidal prisms of a new LMA polymorph, form II (space group P21, a = 5.7343(6) A, b = 6.7990(7) A, c = 6.9949(7) A, β = 104.9610(10)°, V = 263.47(5) A3, Z = 2). The growth of LMA from ethyl acetate at 4 °C produced hard, near-spherical aggregates of the only previously known phase, which also crystallizes in the space group P21 (form I). From the melt, LMA produces spherulites with helicoidal twisting of its individual fibrils. Polycrystalline ensembles are shown to arise from the inequivalent branching of the ends of a polar crystal which adopt semi-spherulitic morphologies as crystallization intermediates. Tailor-made additives were used to assign the absolute growth direction of the polar spherulite radii as +b.


ABSTRACT: The following paper attempts to analyse Australian aid using the Critical Theory of Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. Accordingly , reason, or the development of thought and cognition, is examined with in a nature dominating discourse. As for Horkheimer and Adorno, knowledge has been shaped by the need to comprehend and control nature. Unlike traditional theories of modernity and enlightenment, the history of humanity is not an inexorable movement towards the ultimate rational state. Instead, reason is located in history. It is an organic entity that changes pari passu with the society in which it is located. The history of humanity has thus been characterized by the ongoing reinterpretation of belief systems that afford humanity the opportunity to comprehend and control our surrounds. State-capitalism is the latest stage in this process. Given increased monopolisation and subsequent stagnation within Western economies, the state has had to intervene. Through expanding control it has provided the impetus for continued growth. As a result, nature-domination has translated into bureaucratic control for system preservation. To maintain our material standing over nature, prosperity must be safeguarded. As without it, our technological and scientific dominance, (or our ability to comprehend and control our surrounds) , may be lost. Hence, aid policy and practice is formulated according to state capitalist reason. It is governed by the need for the state to act as a bulwark. That is, for the state to implement policies that will preserve and enhance our advanced material status.


Combining philosophical rigor with detailed knowledge of a wide range of subjects, Michael Levin presents a thorough examination of feminism as both a theory and as a generator of social policy. His book provides a much-needed counterweight to uncritical feminist scholarship prevalent in so much social science writing. Levin argues that feminists deny that innate sex differences have anything to do with the basic structure of society. He shows how this denial leads feminists to interpret observable differences between male and female roles as the result of discrimination and restrictive social conditioning rather than as the free expression of basic preferences. Levin concludes that feminist proposals for remedying this imaginary oppression systematically thwart individual liberty. The first chapters of Feminism and Freedom show the conflict between feminist ideology and recent developments in anthropology, neurology, child psychology and behavioral genetics, as well as basic principles of scientific method. The author then moves to a wide-ranging discussion of affirmative action, comparable worth, and the impact of feminism on education, military manpower policy, language, family life and sports--showing in each case how feminist policies run counter to classical liberalism. Written in a lively, challenging, and accessible style, as controversial as it is timely, Feminism and Freedom is must reading for anyone interested in understanding society and preserving liberty.


Background: Gastro-oesophageal reflux disease complications may reflect imbalances between protective and injurious factors. Through its effects on cell growth, leptin may influence oesophageal mucosal homeostasis. Aims: To determine whether leptin receptors are present in the oesophagus, and whether serum or gastric leptin levels are associated with oesophageal inflammation and metaplasia. Methods: From patients referred for upper endoscopy, biopsies were obtained from the stomach and distal oesophagus, and serum samples were collected. Patients were classified as having normal, inflamed or Barrett's oesophagus. Quantitative immunohistochemistry was performed on representative sections, and leptin levels in plasma and gastric biopsy samples were determined by specific immunoassay. Results: Of 269 individuals enrolled, 105 were Helicobacter pylori-negative. Of the 88 patients with complete oesophageal biopsies, 44 were normal, 24 were inflamed and 20 were Barrett's oesophagus. Receptors for leptin were highly expressed on oesophageal epithelial cells, with similar density and staining pattern in all three conditions, and plasma and antral leptin levels did not differ significantly. Patients with Barrett's had significantly (p = 0.01) higher fundic leptin levels (median 202 (interquartile range 123–333) pg/mg) compared with normal (126 (78–221) pg/mg) or inflamed (114 (76–195) pg/mg) oesophagus. In multivariate analysis, for every twofold increase in fundic leptin, the odds of having Barrett's was 3.4 times (95% CI 1.5 to 7.6) higher compared with having a normal oesophagus. Conclusions: Leptin receptor expression on oesophageal epithelial cells provides a pathway for leptin-mediated signal transduction. Variation in gastric leptin production could contribute to differential oesophageal healing and metaplasia progression.


Urban wastewater treatment is one of the most important challenges in villages of southern Spain. This is especially outstanding in arid and semiarid regions in which wastewater are discharged to temporary streams or wetlands. The treatment plant of the Fuente de Piedra village discharges its wastewater, passing previously through four semi-natural wetlands, into Fuente de Piedra Lake, a RAMSAR wetland. In summer 2016, a very dry year, water affluent to Fuente de Piedra was limited to wastewater plant effluents without dilution. In order to study the natural assimilation capacity of the wetland system, four key points were sampled. Physico-chemical and biological indicators were analyzed (temperature, pH, conductivity, total phosphorous, total nitrogen, bacteria, phytoplankton and zooplankton). The results show very high chlorophyll a concentration (>500 mg/l) at the water inlet, which decreased to concentration lower than <20 mg/l before discharging into the RAMSAR wetland. Zooplankton, dominated by cladocerans (Daphnia sp.),was lowest in the inlet wetland and highest in the last wetland. Total nitrogen and phosphorus concentration was (14 mg/l and 5mg/l respectively) at the wastewater inlet point and decreased in the first wetland (7 mg/l and 2mg/l respectively). Fecal streptococci was highest at the inlet point (1033 ± 351 ufc/100 mL) and decreased to 1 ± 1 ufc/100 mL before entering in the RAMSAR wetland. In conclusion, during the wetlands circuit (i) phytoplankton reduce the total phosphorous and nitrogen concentration, (ii) then phytoplankton is controlled by zooplankton decreasing drastically the input of nutrient and biomass into the RAMSAR wetland, (iii) fecal bacteria decreases three orders of magnitude. Thus, the negative impact from wastewater treatment plant is reduced. The waterbirds, one of the major tourists attractive of this wetland, benefit from food and water supply in dry years, guaranteeing the possibility of bird watching during high season.


We describe our experiences with the Chubby lock service, which is intended to provide coarse-grained locking as well as reliable (though low-volume) storage for a loosely-coupled distributed system. Chubby provides an interface much like a distributed file system with advisory locks, but the design emphasis is on availability and reliability, as opposed to high performance. Many instances of the service have been used for over a year, with several of them each handling a few tens of thousands of clients concurrently. The paper describes the initial design and expected use, compares it with actual use, and explains how the design had to be modified to accommodate the differences.


XML data warehouses form an interesting basis for decision-support applications that exploit complex data. However, native-XML database management systems (DBMSs) currently bear limited performances and it is necessary to research for ways to optimize them. In this paper, we propose a new join index that is specifically adapted to the multidimensional architecture of XML warehouses. It eliminates join operations while preserving the information contained in the original warehouse. A theoretical study and experimental results demonstrate the efficiency of our join index. They also show that native XML DBMSs can compete with XML-compatible, relational DBMSs when warehousing and analyzing XML data.


This paper provides new evidence on the evolution of the value of travel time (VTT) over time and its relation to income based on two essentially identical Stated Choice experiments conducted at an interval of 13 years. The results indicate that the income elasticity of the VTT is not uniform over income but increasing in income. As a consequence, the average rate at which the VTT increases with income in the cross-sectional samples has itself increased between the two survey years and can be expected to increase further over time. The estimation results support the idea that the income elasticity of the value of time has remained constant at each real income level. This confirms that it is not so much the relationship between income and the value of travel time that has changed over time as it is the level and distribution of income in the samples that has changed.


Since the Reynolds number of motion of microscopic organisms through liquids, defined as LρV/μ, where L is the length of the organism, V the velocity with which it moves, ρ the density of the liquid and μ the viscosity, is small, propulsion is due predominantly to the viscous forces, the effect of the inertial forces being negligible. The best-known problem that neglects all inertial forces is Stokes's solution for the slow steady fluid motion past a sphere, in which the velocity field can be described in terms of singularities situated at the centre of the sphere. The movement of microscopic organisms is determined by placing distributions of these singularities inside the surface of the organism and satisfying all boundary conditions. The motions that are considered are restricted to organisms which propagate some kind of disturbance along filaments of circular cross-section with small radius. The first problem to be considered is that of an infinite thin filament along which are propagated plane waves of lateral displacement. Formulae for the velocity of propulsion are obtained for (i) the limiting case of zero radius and (ii) the case when the amplitude of the displacement is small compared to the wave-length. Computations have been carried out to estimate the propulsion in the case of small non-zero filament radius when the amplitude is larger than that allowed for in case (ii) above. It is also shown that the propulsion of a finite filament which forms itself into a single wave is very near to that of an infinite filament with the same wave motion. The second problem is that of an infinite filament along which any general three-dimensional disturbance is propagated. The movement is then deduced for the propagation of a spiral wave along an infinite filament, and also for the propagation of longitudinal waves along a finite filament.


We use three glass material micromechanical properties (Young s modulus E, hardness H, and fracture toughness Kc) to describe the glass response to the lapping fabrication process. We discuss loose abrasive lapping of 11 commercially available Ohara glasses with the material removal rate varying by a factor of more than 7, and each micromechanical property by more than a factor of 2. We demonstrate that lapping material removal rate may be predicted based on a microindentation model.


This article illustrates how distributed change agency can implement complex organizational changes in the absence of formal management plans, roles, and structures. Distributed change agency typically involves small teams and senior groups. In this qualitative study of service improvements in the treatment of prostate cancer at an acute hospital, Grange, change roles were distributed more widely, with responsibilities `migrating' among a large informal cast supporting four central characters. This distribution appears to have been triggered by the change goals and substance, and by the network organization through which services were delivered. Cross-case comparisons with other hospitals, Henley and Norwood, suggest that a combination of factors contributed to the development of a distributed approach. Analytical generalization invites speculation concerning the transferability of this model, with `nobody in charge', to other settings. One policy implication concerns the provision of development in change agency competencies to staff other than those in senior positions.


OBJECTIVE
The objective of this research was to investigate the possible relationship between tinnitus and certain bony inner ear structures using computed tomography (CT).

MATERIALS AND METHODS
This was a prospective, controlled, double-blind study. The subjects of the study were divided into the following three groups: group 1 (G1), patients with unilateral sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) and unilateral non-pulsatile tinnitus in the same ear; group 2 (G2), patients with normal hearing and unilateral non-pulsatile tinnitus; and group 3 (G3), healthy volunteers with neither tinnitus nor hearing loss. The basal turn length, internal acoustic canal (IAC) width and length, bony cochlear nerve canal (BCNC) width, and IAC diameter at the porus acousticus internus (PAI) were measured.

RESULTS
The mean BCNC width was significantly narrower in G1 and G2 than in the control group (G3) (p<0.001). For patients in G2, BCNC width was significantly narrower in ears with tinnitus (p<0.001) than in ears without tinnitus. The mean IAC diameter at PAI was also narrower in the G1 patients (p=0.007) compared with the other groups.

CONCLUSION
The results of this study suggest that CT evaluation of the inner ear structures is important in patients with tinnitus. According to the results, a narrow BCNC may cause phantom sensations and be related to cochlear nerve dysfunction. Therefore, it is recommended that clinicians evaluate BCNC carefully while assessing such patients.


Lifestyle factors and behaviours are adopted very early in life and tend to persist throughout life. Considering that the parents are the primary gatekeepers for their child's health, there is a need to gain more knowledge and deeper understanding about what causes parents to act and react in order for early preventive efforts to have any effect. The aim was to explore the parental views and considerations concerning 'child health' among parents with infants 8–10 months old. The sample was strategic and 16 parents (aged 23–41) were recruited from three child health centres in Sweden. Open-ended interviews were conducted and a qualitative, manifest content analysis approach was utilized. The parents described the subject 'child health' as a large, multifaceted concept. Three categories emerged during data analysis: developing a sixth sense, being affected by perceptions and believing health and ill health as a continuum. The parents perceived food and feeding issues as one of the most worrying aspects and a significant indicator of 'child health'. In order to meet the parents on their turf, the 'healthy health message' conveyed needs to take the parental perspective into consideration rather than attempting to educate the parents from predetermined assumption, belief and values.


In the background of the Doha Round of trade negotiations, this study proposes a CGE assessment of multilateral liberalisation of market access for non-agricultural products. The scenarios considered include the so-called 'Girard proposal' (with alternative choices for the coefficient involved), the removal of tariff peaks and complete liberalisation. This study is the first to take into account the difference between bound and applied tariffs, while considering all the enforced preferential trade arrangements and computing tariff cuts at the detailed product level (HS-6 classification). Although the liberalisation of market access for non-agricultural products is found to be welfare-enhancing at the world level, cross-country distributive effects prove significant. A soft liberalisation would not significantly reduce applied duties in developing countries, owing to their considerable binding overhang. By contrast, a deep liberalisation would entail fierce price competition among those developing countries that are largely specialised in similar sectors and in the same product quality range.


Abstract Context. Three dolphin species occur in coastal waters of monsoonal northern Australia: the Australian snubfin (Orcaella heinsohni), humpback (Sousa sp.) and the bottlenose (Tursiops sp.). Their overall population size and trends are poorly known, and their conservation status has been difficult to resolve, but can be expected to deteriorate with likely increased development pressures. Aims. We sought to provide an estimate of abundance, and apparent survival, of the three dolphin species at the largely undeveloped harbour of Port Essington (325 km2), Northern Territory, with repeated sampling over a 2.9-year period. Given increasing obligations to undertake population assessments for impact studies at proposed development sites, we assess the strengths and limitations of a systematic sampling program. Methods. We used photo-identification data collected during systematic boat-based transect surveys undertaken from 2008 to 2010 and Pollock's robust capture–recapture design model. Key results. Total abundance estimates for the three species were variable across different sampling periods. The estimated number of individuals in the sampled area varied per sampling episode from 136 (s.e. 62) to 222 (s.e. 48) for snubfin, from 48 (s.e. 7) to 207 (s.e. 14) for humpbacks and from 34 (s.e. 6) to 75 (s.e. 9) for bottlenose dolphins. Apparent survival was estimated for snubfin at 0.81 (s.e. 0.11), humpbacks at 0.59 (s.e. 0.12) and bottlenose at 0.51 (s.e. 0.17) per annum. Key conclusions. (1) The values derived here provide some of the only estimates of local population size for these species across monsoonal northern Australia; (2) population-size estimates varied considerably among seasons or sampling episodes; (3) the low apparent survival probabilities indicated that many individuals may move at scales larger than the study area; (4) density of snubfin and humpback dolphins in the present study area exceeded the few other estimates available for these species elsewhere in Australia. Implications. The present study provided the first baseline estimates of abundance and apparent survival for three coastal dolphin species in monsoonal northern Australia. Such information is becoming increasingly important as development pressures intensify in coastal areas. Sampling protocols for future monitoring and impact assessment need an enhanced consideration of seasonality and scale issues.


This essay examined the critical precepts and emergence of English Studio pottery between 1910 and the early 1930s. It argues that Roger Fry's Formalist theories provided a framework for the appreciation of early studio potters such as William Staite Murray, Bernard Leach, and Reginald Wells. This realigned ceramic practice from being the focus of Antiquarian appreciation to an area of Modernist practice. Through his inclusion and appreciation of Fauve ceramics in the exhibition Manet and the Post Impressionists to his primitivist interpretation of early Chinese and English mediaeval pottery, Fry identified the main idioms of early studio pottery. Herbert Read's ideas of mediaeval pottery as 'plastic art in its most abstract form' augmented Fry's Formalist theories and facilitated the Modernist appreciation of pottery as a form of non-representational art during the 1920s and early 1930s. William Staite Murray, in particular, adopted these ideas and his monumental stoneware pottery and membership of the Seven & Five Society led to Read describing him as 'a canvas free artist'. This description provided a pivotal contrast to Bernard Leach's advocacy of neo-vernacular slipware and the 'Sung Standard' stoneware that promulgated Ruskin and Morris's social concerns and ideas on utility and craft.

This chapter drew on my doctorial research Critical Writing on English Studio Pottery: 1910-1940, R.C.A., 2002, which was the first historiography on English 20th century ceramics. I write regularly for English, European and American journals but believe in the importance of grounding critical debate within historical contexts. This research is ongoing and I have given papers at conferences such as Revisioning Reality: International Japonisme, New York University, U.S.A., 2005. This research also informs my writing on the contemporary such as a recent review for Art in America of the potter Ruth Duckworth's retrospective at the NY Museum of Art & Design.


The purpose of the study is to generalize the conditions that provoke the economic recession of 2020, taking into account the analysis of the pre-crisis dynamics of the Russian economy according to the parameters characterizing its innovative and technological development. The method of studying the relationships between the relevant development parameters is econometric modeling and regression analysis, which allow to identify the specific characteristics of the crisis in the innovative and technological development of the Russian economy. The analysis of the pre-crisis pattern of the movement of labor resources distracted from old industries in favor of new activities, and created specifically for new types of production. The sensitivity of the level of manufacturability to investments in old and new technologies, the influence of innovative agents on the economic dynamics in Russia are determined. The result of the study is the quantitative estimates obtained, which for the Russian economy, in comparison, for example, with other countries confirm the folding of the innovation process in its systemic dimension. Therefore, the diagnosis of the state of this sphere gives a conclusion about its crisis state. The decrease in the rate of economic growth in Russia was accompanied by a decrease in the number of innovative agents, the diversion of resources from old industries decreased, as did the creation of a new labor resource for new industries.


Abstract. The current paper is a part of the scientific category HBIM, with ground photography and photogrammetric processing. The photogrammetry is an important tool for recording, storing, promoting and documenting buildings. The purpose of the work is to construct a three-dimensional model of the Greek-Roman aqueduct of the city of Kavala, in northern Greece. First of all, the aqueduct has a very important historical and aesthetic value for the city, because it is a tourist attraction. Also, it is an urban physical boundary, which separates part of the old town from the new roads of the coastal front. Moreover, the methodology was based on photographic shots, then on photogrammetric processing with Zephyr software. The methodology of the 3D model had as a purpose the terrestrial photography in a rapid and effective way. The result, of the work is the presentation of the three-dimensional model of the aqueduct, the analysis of the methodological steps of photogrammetric processing and the analysis of the historical transformation of the aqueduct area by a medieval and modern coastal city. The advantages of photogrammetric documentation have a role in the storage of the three-dimensional form of the historical building and in the smart promotion of its historical, touristic, urban aspects.


Family members of patients are often considered informal primary caregivers, particularly for those living with chronic diseases including multiple sclerosis (MS). Caregivers often report increased burden and stress when caring for individuals with chronic care needs. It is important to explore the caregiver experience in the context of MS. The aim of this study is to describe the experiences of family caregivers caring for individuals with Multiple Sclerosis. A purposive sampling method was utilized. A total of eighteen family member caregivers of patients with multiple sclerosis participated in this study. Data were collected through semi-structured and in-depth interviews conducted in the multiple sclerosis society and hospitals of Tabriz in Iran. Data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis assisted by MAXQDA 10 software. Three main categories emerged from interviews about their caregiving experiences. These include1) emotional reactions; 2) caregiver needs; and 3) caregiver expectations. Results of this study demonstrate that family caregivers of individuals with MS show different emotional reactions and have complex needs and expectations from other 'non-caregiver relatives and society. This study highlights the psychosocial, physical and economic needs of caregivers of individuals with MS and enhances social understanding of this impact of the condition. This may improve the support clinicians provide to family caregivers. There is need to develop targeted interventions that reduce caregiver burden for those caring for individuals with MS.


A program partition scheme for stratified programs introduced by Apt et al. (1988) is used to study efficient computation of logic programs. We consider three types of program partitions and their corresponding graph representations: 1) the natural partition, 2) stratified partitions, and 3) the reduced partition. The natural (program) partition consists of definitions of relations, each definition being a subprogram. Subprograms of a program partition may consist of several relations. A partition graph is introduced for a program partition, each node of which corresponds to a subprogram. The partition graph for a stratified partition is a directed acyclic graph (DAG). A stratified partition decomposes a program into modules. The stratified partition with the maximum number of modules is the reduced partition. The cost to achieve a reduced partition is linear in the program size, using well known graph algorithms. We introduce the modular interpretations, which are equivalent in semantics to the standard interpretation. The modular interpretations offer encapsulation and may reduce the computation cost for some modules significantly. The modular approach can play an important role in query optimization, efficient termination, programming design, and software engineering. We classify query types and answer types then discuss query optimization for some query types. Many efficient query processing strategies are applicable to restricted subclasses of programs. The program partition method allows us to select the most efficient strategy for each module. For example, if a module is a uniformly bounded recursion, then the module can be terminated efficiently. If a module defines the transitive closure, then efficient program transformations may be applied to this module.


One of the puzzles about the end-Cretaceous extinctions is why some organisms disappeared and others survived. A notable example is the differential extinction of ammonites and survival of nautilids, the two groups of co-occurring, externally shelled cephalopods at the end of the Cretaceous. To investigate the role of geographic distribution in explaining this outcome, we compiled a database of all the occurrences of ammonites and the nautilid genus Eutrephoceras in the last 0.5 m.y. of the Maastrichtian. We also included recently published data on ammonite genera that appear to have briefly survived into the Paleocene. Using two metrics to evaluate the geographic range of each genus (first, a convex hull encompassing all of the occurrences of each genus, and second, the maximum distance between occurrences for each genus), we documented that most ammonite genera at the end of the Maastrichtian were restricted in their geographic distribution, possibly making them more vulnerable to extinction. The geographic distribution of those genera that may have briefly survived into the Paleocene is significantly greater than that of non-surviving genera, implying that more broadly distributed genera were more resistant to extinction. This pattern is further emphasized by the broad distribution of Eutrephoceras , which matches that of the most widely distributed ammonites at the end of the Maastrichtian. However, even the most widely distributed ammonites eventually succumbed to extinction, whereas Eutrephoceras survived. Evidently, a broad geographic distribution may have initially protected some ammonites against extinction, but it did not guarantee their survival.


An algorithm for anonymous sharing of private data among N parties is developed. This technique is used iteratively to assign these nodes ID numbers ranging from 1 to N. This assignment is anonymous in that the identities received are unknown to the other members of the group. Resistance to collusion among other members is verified in an information theoretic sense when private communication channels are used. This assignment of serial numbers allows more complex data to be shared and has applications to other problems in privacy preserving data mining, collision avoidance in communications and distributed database access. The required computations are distributed without using a trusted central authority. Existing and new algorithms for assigning anonymous IDs are examined with respect to trade-offs between communication and computational requirements. The new algorithms are built on top of a secure sum data mining operation using Newton's identities and Sturm's theorem. An algorithm for distributed solution of certain polynomials over finite fields enhances the scalability of the algorithms. Markov chain representations are used to find statistics on the number of iterations required, and computer algebra gives closed form results for the completion rates.


Objectives Although it is widely acknowledged that digital therapeutics will play a significant role in the future delivery of healthcare, the method by which these innovations may be commissioned by the National Health Service, at scale, remains unclear. This study explores English health commissioners' experiences of, and attitudes towards, adopting digital healthcare innovations. Methods 37 commissioners and decision-makers from a range of sectors within the health profession were invited to participate in structured interviews to gather relevant examples of experience and opinions. 14 commissioners participated and the notes from the resulting interviews were interpreted using qualitative content analysis. Controlled interpretation was applied to the categorised responses, paraphrasing and classifying into themes. Results Common determinants and barriers to adoption of digital mental health expressed during the interview process included commissioners' lack of familiarity with technology, information governance, digital literacy of users and decision-makers. Conclusions Recognition of identified barriers may be helpful for innovators when developing engagement and market access strategies and suggest areas for focus and further development within the commissioning process to accommodate digital health solutions.


Abstract Mid-plate South America remains one of the least-studied regions of intraplate seismicity. Little is known about the origin and controlling factors that make this area the least seismically active intraplate region in the world. We analysed the distribution of intraplate seismicity and its correlation with several geophysical lithospheric parameters in an attempt to establish which factors might promote or inhibit the occurrence of intraplate earthquakes. We found that above-average seismicity occurs mostly in Neoproterozoic fold belts, associated with areas having a positive gravity anomaly, lower elastic thickness, higher heat flow, thinned crust and a negative S-wave anomaly at 100 km depth (associated with non-cratonic crust). Cratonic areas with a higher elastic thickness and lower heat flow are associated with low rates of seismicity. Our study suggests that the most important controlling factors are elastic thickness and heat flow. We propose that earthquake-prone areas with these favourable conditions correspond to regions of weakened lithosphere, where most of the regional lithospheric stresses are supported by the overlying brittle upper crust. These areas act as local concentrators of the regional compressional stress field, with the stress build-up then leading to the occurrence of intraplate seismicity. Supplementary material: contains additional statistics and figures considering different filters for the used catalogue as a mean of comparison with the figures presented in the main text. They are available at http://www.geolsoc.org.uk/SUP18872


This thesis is an attempt to study terrorism from a Qur'anic perspective with special reference to selected classical and modern exegeses and how they are understood by modern scholars. The study is divided into an introduction, five main chapters and a conclusion. In the introduction, a brief background about the tafsar (exegesis) genres is provided with special focus on thematic exegesis as a type of exegesis that makes a central contribution to this study. The introduction also includes brief biographical sketches of the selected exegetes, an outline of the thesis methodology, a literature review, and a note on the research questions and the objectives of the thesis. Chapter One is devoted to presenting and evaluating various organizational definitions of terrorism from both Islamic and Western perspectives. Chapter Two discusses the difference between terrorism and arming for deterrence in the light of Qur'an 8: 60. Chapter Three investigates whether or not there is a relationship between jihad and terrorism. It focuses, by way of a case study, on how the actions of the perpetrators of the September 11th 2001 attacks should be judged according to the Qur'an. Chapter Four looks at how terrorist suicide attacks are different from martyrdom. It features another case study, on "martyrdom" or "suicide" operations in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. Chapter Five attempts to identify a punishment for terrorism on the basis of the Qur'anic text. This study finds that terrorism is totally different from jih«d and martyrdom as they are treated in the Qur'ān. It also finds that there is a huge difference between the peaceful, tolerant and inclusive teachings of the Qur'an and the violent, intolerant and exclusive practices of those Muslims whose approach to the Qur'an and its exegesis is marked by selectivity and lacks the essential tools of Islamic scholarship. These and other findings are highlighted in the thesis conclusion, along with other suggestions for future research in the field.


An important advantage of multi-photon microscopy over more traditional single-photon imaging techniques is the elimination of high-energy laser sources that can cause significant photo-damage to delicate biological specimens. This is particularly acute when short wavelength excitation is required. A number of papers (including [1,2]) have investigated the optimum two-photon excitation wavelengths for short-wavelength excitable molecules and have reported that for several fluorochromes the two-photon cross-section increases rapidly at shorter wavelengths. However, most papers thus far have used a Ti:Sapphire laser, which has a wavelength tuning range of 680-1080nm, and therefore few (and mainly cuvette based) data of two-photon excitation efficiency is available for excitation wavelengths shorter than 680nm. Using a new wavelength tunable optical parametric oscillator and frequency mixing system (Coherent Chameleon OPOVis), we have studied the wavelength dependence of two-photon excitation efficiency of a number of common UV excitable dyes, such as the nuclear stain DAPI, starch staining dye Calcofluor White and Alexa 350, in the wavelength range 530nm to 770nm. We will report details of the optical system and biomedical specimens used to make our measurements, together with a summary of our results. One key finding is that DAPI, a very commonly used nuclear marker, when excited at 590nm, results in a 7 times increase in the fluorescence signal output when compared to excitation at 680nm with the Ti:Sapphire laser. We also find that although the rate of photo-bleaching increases at shorter wavelengths, it is still possible to acquire many images with higher fluorescence intensity. This is particularly useful for applications where the aim is to image the structure, rather than monitoring changes in emission intensity over extended periods of time.


Induction motor is widely used due to advantages in terms of performance, size, maintenance and efficiency compared to dc motor. Induction motor is either Scalar Controlled or Vector Controlled. Magnitude of voltage and frequency is controlled in scalar control and drive has better performance under steady state. The coupling effect of flux and torque makes the drive sluggish. In vector control of induction motor drive, the flux and torque producing currents are independent of each other, making the transient response of the system better. Direct and indirect vector control is classified depending upon how the magnitude and position of the flux vector are determined. The specifications or parameters of the induction motor have least effect on the performance of the induction motor drive. This is because the measured or estimated flux is processed in the feedback loop for speed control operation of the drive. However, use of flux sensor within the machine which makes the drive uneconomical. In indirect vector control, rotor position signals are used for instantaneous rotor flux magnitude and position estimation. Motor parameters, used for estimation of flux vector vary with frequency, magnetic saturation and temperature. Vector Control is achieved using any of the rotating flux vectors in the induction motor. The vector control must have independent control of flux and torque, rotor flux orientation provides the independent control or natural decoupling. This decoupling leads to improved stability and enhanced dynamic response. Sensitivity is the problem associated with terminal quantities based flux observers. Research has been carried out to overcome the aforementioned problems by implementing accurate estimation of rotor flux. The selection criterion for the control principle depends upon the cost, accuracy, reliability and stability requirements. The uncertainties in the system parameters give way to a more robust and dynamic controller. The sliding mode control is one of the popular control techniques used to handle the uncertain system parameters, model uncertainties and external load variations which exist in induction motor drives. The induction motors used in traction require low speeds only during starting and low speed operations. The power output of the motor can be maximized by limiting the current drawn by the motor to rated value and lowering the reference voltage. The sliding mode control offers a robust tracking of a given speed demand when subjected to disturbances from both input and output side. This gives better performance compared to other techniques. Control Algorithm: Sliding Mode Controlled three-phase induction motor is shown in Fig. 1. It consists of three-phase rectifier converting the ac grid voltage into dc voltage which forms dc bus for PWM Inverter. Sliding mode algorithm is used for controlling the inverter which powers the three-phase induction motor.The aim of the control algorithm is to control the inverter voltage so that the induction motor tracks the desired speed. Two-line voltages and phase currents are sensed into the controller. These line quantities are converted to α-β components by the conventional 3-phase to 2-phase transformation. Synchronous speed is determined using frequency estimator and then estimated mechanical speed is compared with speed reference to give speed error. This error forms the input for the Sliding Mode control. In addition to this, torque current reference and actual torque current component are compared to give the voltage reference Vds. The voltages are converted to Va, Vb and Vc using the reverse transformation. By conventional Sine-triangle comparison, switching pulses are generated. SIMULATION RESULTS: Motor response with Indirect Field Oriented Control is as shown in Fig. 2. It can be observed that the motor accelerates at the starting with maximum torque. As the motor reaches the desired speed, the generated torque becomes minimum. At t = 0.5 sec, load torque is applied on the motor resulting in the transient shown.Fig. 2 - Electromagnetic torque and Speed of the three phase induction motor with IFOC algorithm. For the same transient conditions, motor is controlled using Sliding Mode control algorithm. The results are shwon in Fig. 3. The motor torque and speed response shows lower ripple which which validates the robustness of the algorithm.Fig. 3 - Electromagnetic torque and speed of the three phase induction motor with Sliding Mode Control.


The Bi₂₋ᵪPbᵪSr₂Ca₂Cu₃Oᵧ (2223) superconductor, has been
prepared by sol-gel technique, using metal acetate precursors. Room
temperature hydrolysis followed by polycondensation and heating
yielded a transparent blue gel. The key to successful gel formation
was due to a firm control of the pH of the solution. It was required to
maintain the pH at 5.5 throughout the sol to gelation process. The
decomposition of the polyhydroxyl metal complex to amorphous gel
was found to be completed at temperatures in the range of 200 to
250'C producing submicron size particles. The amorphous gel
transformed into crystalline powder at 600' C to 700' C.
The effect of heat treatment as a function of sintering time and
temperature have been also studied on Bi₂₋ᵪPbᵪSr₂Ca₂Cu₃Oᵧ
system. The 2223 phase was observed in samples sintered at 8450 C
for 48 h.
The effect of the Pb doping at the bismuth lattice site have been
studied in the Bi₂₋ᵪPbᵪSr₂Ca₂Cu₃Oᵧ ( x= 0.0, 0.4, 0.5 ) samples. Two
samples doped with 20 and 25 mole % of Pb in the bismuth site
yielded single phase sample with T, (R=O) above 102 K. Undoped
sample had mixed phases (2212 and 2223). The study shows that
the doped-sample with 25 mole % of Pb is the most suitable ratio
that gives rise to the best superconducting properties.
New procedure adopted in this work succeeded in getting good
quality gel from carbonates, oxides and nitrates as the starting
materials. The study shows that high-purity single-phase
superconductor with T, (R=O) at 104 K was obtained from carbonate
and oxide as starting materials. This value is comparable to that
obtained from corresponding metal acetates.


Many insurance law commentators believe that judges should regulate the substance of insurance policies by refusing to enforce insurance policy terms that are exploitive or otherwise unfair. The most common guide for the judicial regulation of insurance policies is the "reasonable expectations doctrine," which requires courts to disregard coverage restrictions that are beyond insureds' reasonable expectations unless the insurer specifically informed the insured about the restriction at the time of purchase. This Article argues that although the judiciary has a potential role to play in policing insurance policy terms, that role should not be defined by reference to consumers' reasonable expectations. Instead, by drawing on the parallels between insurance policies and ordinary consumer products, this Article advances a products liability framework for understanding how and why courts should regulate insurance policies. It proposes that, just as firms that make defective products must pay for the resulting injuries, insurers that issue "defective" insurance policies should have to provide coverage to insureds. The Article argues that the usefulness of the analogy to products liability law goes well beyond understanding the normative basis for the judicial regulation of insurance policies. Products liability law offers important insights into how courts can efficiently correct failures in insurance markets by encouraging effective disclosure to consumers and appropriately setting penalties so that insurers take an optimal amount of care in drafting policy terms.


In vivo liver visualization can be realized with Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) since a major part of the iron oxide nanoparticles – intravenously injected and imaged with MPI – is finally taken up by the mononuclear phagocytic system (MPS) of the liver. In this study, the possibility to detect and characterize liver tumors with MPI was analyzed. Genetically modified mice developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) were continuously screened with high-field MRI. In case of liver lesions with diameters larger 5 mm, the mice were sequentially imaged with MRI and MPI after the intravenous injection of ferucarbotran (Resovist ® ). For comparison of liver morphologies represented by MPI and MRI, image data of both modalities were fused assisted by external MPI and MRI fiducial markers. A good correlation between MPI and MRI images was found with image analysis-based 2-D correlation coefficients of around 0.7. Liver lesions – characterized by a missing accumulation of ferucarbotran – led to signal gaps or drops in the MPI signal depending on their actual size and location. While lesions with diameters larger than 5 mm caused visible effects in the MPI signal, smaller sized lesions could not be detected. This was mainly attributed to the comparable low MPI resolution of a few millimeters in this study. The principle feasibility of liver tumor visualizations with MPI was demonstrated motivating more detailed studies on liver MPI for diagnostic and interventional applications.


From the Publisher:
Real Linux users don't use GUIs. No matter how popular, slick and sophisticated the interfaces become for Linux and UNIX, you'll always need to be able to navigate in a text editor. The vi editor is the original standard UNIX full screen editor. It's been around almost since UNIX began and it has changed very little. To get around the limitations of vi the people at Bram Moolenaar created the vim editor (the name stand for VI iMproved). It contains many more features than the old vi editor including: help, multiple windows, syntax highlighting, programmer support, and HTML support. All of the books published to date focus on vi alone not the expanded vim shipping with every major Linux distribution. In true New Riders' form, the vim reference will be a definitive, concise reference for the professional Linux user and developer. This tutorial takes a task oriented approach allowing you to learn only the commands that make your job easier.


Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the internal and marginal adaptation of inlays fabricated from different types of impressions (conventional and digital) and different ceramics (feldspathic and lithium disilicate). Material and Methods: Forty premolars were prepared for all-ceramic inlay restoration and assigned to 4 groups (n=10), according to the impression method (conventional with addition silicone and digital impressions) and ceramic type (lithium disilicate and feldspathic ceramic blocks). For each type of impression, 10 inlays were fabricated from lithium disilicate blocks and the other 10 from feldspathic ceramic blocks, by means of the CAD-CAM system. The internal adaptation was analyzed by replica. The marginal fit was analyzed under a stereomicroscope by directly measuring the gap formed between the inlay and the tooth in the proximal and occlusal regions. Results: The marginal or internal adaptations were not affected by type of impression (conventional = digital impression), irrespective of the ceramic type. Only the internal adaptation was affected by material, i.e., feldspathic ceramic had lower values than disilicate ceramic, when considering the digital impression. Conclusion: The conventional and digital impressions promote similar marginal and internal adaptation of tested feldspathic and disilicate ceramic inlays. For digital impression the feldspathic ceramic showed better internal adaptation than lithium disilicate. KeywordsCeramics; Dental internal adaptation; Dental marginal adaptation; Dental impression technique.


This article presents a novel empirical study that argues the Supreme Court's decision in KSR v. Teleflex has had a significant effect on the law of obviousness. The results presented here suggest that after KSR both the Federal Circuit and the District Courts are more likely to render patents invalid as obvious. This showing contradicts a commonly held belief that KSR did not change the law of obviousness significantly. Next, the study reveals that the effect of KSR is not necessarily connected to the text of the Supreme Court's opinion. Rather, the Federal Circuit reacted to the Supreme Court's granting of cert to KSR by invalidating a relatively high percentage of patents — both for obviousness and anticipation — during the period in which KSR was pending before the Supreme Court. Together, the results of the study signify the positive fact that the Federal Circuit is aware of and sensitive to criticism by members of the patent bar and the academia. But the results also cast doubt on whether the text of judicial opinions is a reliable source of figuring out what the law truly is.


A staple of piece of advice proffered by conflict consultants and practitioners is to "own one's emotions"; that is, to use I messages rather than You messages to express negative emotions. This investigation tested the notion that people react more positively when speakers "own" their emotions. In Study 1, hypothetical self-attributed (I) emotion messages to express emotions about respondents' behavior were compared to other-attributed (You) messages, with an I-You message added in Study 2. In both studies, we assessed the effect of both positive and negative emotion statements on perceived politeness, effectiveness, and emotional reactions, and perceived threat in Study 2. We found no differences in reactions to the message forms for negative emotions, but both studies provided evidence for differences in respondents' reaction for positive emotional expressions. These results suggest a self-serving bias; recipients do not distinguish between ways of phrasing negative emotions expressed to them, but apparently appreciate being given credit for speakers' positive emotions.


The article examines how some culturally shared and corporeally enacted beliefs and norms about sexed and racialized embodiment can form embodied agency, and this with the aid of the concepts of incorporation and excorporation. It discusses how the phenomenological concept of excorporation can help us examine painful experiences of how one's lived body breaks in the encounter with others. The article also examines how a continuous excorporation can result in bodily alienation, and what embodied resistance can mean when one has undergone or undergoes excorporation. Elaborating on the work of, among others, Maurice Merleau‐Ponty, Martin Heidegger, Drew Leder, and Sarah Ahmed, I discuss incorporation and excorporation of beliefs and norms regarding sexual difference, such as beliefs and norms regarding female and male embodiment, through a reading of Jeffrey Eugenides' novel Middlesex. I also suggest that it is useful to understand the postcolonial scholar Frantz Fanon's narrative of how he could not but attend to his own skin color while living in France in the 1940s and 1950s, in terms of excorporation. Whereas these are different narratives in many ways, I regard them as helpful for clarifying what excorporation implies and what analytic work this concept can enable.


The first, objective of this study is to understand the role of environmental motivation and sensation seeking personality in predicting intention to be involved in VT. The second objective is to examine whether the theory of reasoned action could be extended by adding two new variables - environmental motivation and sensation seeking personality. The last objective is to understand the difference intention in difference periods of time – within one, three, and five years; Volunteer tourism is about combination of volunteering and tourism activities that require participants to pay their own costs – transport, accommodation, meals, and even contribute to the project offered in a destination. Researchers claimed that there is an overlap between volunteer tourism and eco-tourism. This claim referred to two reasons: most of projects are relating to environment and part of motivations of the participants relate to environment. The author adapted the theory of reasoned action by adding new variables – sensation seeking personality and environmental motivation. The author considers that this is an experimental study as there has not been documented that a single environmental motivation has an influence on behavioral intention, particularly in the tourism field. The author collected data using an online survey and approached volunteers, tourists, and volunteer tourists to participate in an online survey conveniently. In total, 551 respondents participated, coming from developed and developing countries. Data were analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses (structural equation model). Three fitted models were built representing intention within one year, three years, and five years. Almost all hypotheses in all models were accepted. This quantitative study proves that environmental motivation and sensation seeking personality have different influences on intention to be involved in VT in different periods of time. In addition, it shows that theory of reasoned action can be extended by adding new variables – environmental motivation and sensation seeking personality variables.


Measurement of student learning outcomes in clinical pastoral education has historically been assessed through student self-report instruments and subjective evaluation by CPE supervisors. Valid quantitative measurement is limited. This study utilizes standardized patients and a behavioral interview checklist to measure the impact of an initial summer unit of CPE training. Results demonstrate measurable change in student interview style behavior suggesting that simulation utilizing standardized patients is a valid objective measure of students' behavioral communication styles.


Molly Moon has just found herself in the wrong place at the wrong time! A conniving, super-rich maharaja has abducted Molly and Petula the pug and whisked them back to nineteenth-century India. Using the art of Time-Travel Hypnosis he has also kidnapped four younger versions of Molly, as part of a plan to stop Molly ever learning her hypnotic skills. With not only her past but the future of the world at stake, can Molly outwit the cunning maharaja before it's too late?


OBJECTIVES
The objective of this systematic review was to assess the 5-year survival of implant-supported single crowns (SCs) and to describe the incidence of biological and technical complications.

METHODS
An electronic MEDLINE search complemented by manual searching was conducted to identify prospective and retrospective cohort studies on SCs with a mean follow-up time of at least 5 years. Failure and complication rates were analyzed using random-effects Poisson's regression models to obtain summary estimates of 5-year proportions.

RESULTS
Twenty-six studies from an initial yield of 3601 titles were finally selected and data were extracted. In a meta-analysis of these studies, survival of implants supporting SCs was 96.8% [95% confidence interval (CI): 95.9-97.6%] after 5 years. The survival rate of SCs supported by implants was 94.5% (95% CI: 92.5-95.9%) after 5 years of function. The survival rate of metal-ceramic crowns, 95.4% (95% CI: 93.6-96.7%), was significantly (P=0.005) higher than the survival rate, 91.2% (95% CI: 86.8-94.2%), of all-ceramic crowns. Peri-implantitis and soft tissue complications occurred adjacent to 9.7% of the SCs and 6.3% of the implants had bone loss exceeding 2 mm over the 5-year observation period. The cumulative incidence of implant fractures after 5 years was 0.14%. After 5 years, the cumulative incidence of screw or abutment loosening was 12.7% and 0.35% for screw or abutment fracture. For supra-structure-related complications, the cumulative incidence of ceramic or veneer fractures was 4.5%.

CONCLUSION
It can be concluded that after an observation period of 5 years, high survival rates for implants and implant-supported SCs can be expected. However, biological and particularly technical complications are frequent.


Abstract Blistering and delamination are the primary failure mechanisms during the processing of depleted uranium (DU) hohlraums. These hohlraums consist of a sputter-deposited DU layer sandwiched between two sputter-deposited layers of gold; a final thick gold layer is electrodeposited on the exterior. The hohlraum is deposited on a copper-coated aluminum mandrel; the Al and Cu are removed with chemical etching after the gold and DU layers are deposited. After the mandrel is removed, blistering and delamination are observed on the interiors of some hohlraums, particularly at the radius region. It is hypothesized that blisters are caused by pinholes in the copper and gold layers; etchant leaking through these holes reaches the DU layer and causes it to oxidize, resulting in a blister. Depending on the residual stress in the deposited layers, blistering can initiate larger-scale delamination at layer interfaces. Scanning electron microscopy indicates that inhomogeneities in the machined aluminum mandrel are replicated in the sputter-deposited copper layer. Furthermore, the Cu layer exhibits columnar growth with pinholes that likely allow etchant to come in contact with the gold layer. Any inhomogeneities or pinholes in this initial gold layer then become nucleation sites for blistering. Using a focused ion beam system to etch through the gold layer and extract a cross-sectional sample for transmission electron microscopy, amorphous, intermixed layers at the gold/DU interfaces are observed. Nanometer-sized bubbles in the sputtered and electrodeposited gold layers are also present. Characterization of the morphology and composition of the deposited layers is the first step in determining modifications to processing parameters, with the goal of attaining a significant improvement in hohlraum yield.