Liquid crystals (LCs) have fluidity and a long-range orientational order. These properties enable us to use LCs as display materials. Another important property is a positional order. The periodicity is in the range not only of the molecular length periodicity like in smectic LCs but also of visible light wavelength. The latter generally arises from chirality, and in many cases results in helical structures. The most well-known example is cholesteric LCs (CLCs), in which the local structure is nematic and the director rotates to form a helical structure with the helical axis perpendicular to the director. The media that have periodic structures in the optical wavelength are called photonic crystals. Hence, we can call CLC a one-dimensional (1D) photonic crystal. Like an energy gap for electrons propagating in periodic crystal structures, a stop band emerges at the edges of the first Brillouin zone in CLCs. Within the stop band, light dampens and cannot propagate. When the light propagation is limited along any direction, we call it the photonic bandgap (PBG) [1, 2]. In this chapter, the stop band is called PBG in a broad sense. The dispersion relation between angular frequencyo and wavenumber k in vacuo is given by o1⁄4 ck, where c is the velocity of light (Figure 1.1a). In CLCs, the refractive index changes periodically, so the incoming light to the helix undergoes reflection if the light wavelength coincides with the optical pitch (structural pitch multiplied by an average refractive index), that is, Bragg reflection. Helical periodic structure makes the reflection very unique; that is, only a circularly polarized light (CPL) with the same handedness as the helix is reflected and another CPL with opposite handedness just passes through. This is called selective reflection. Such light propagation characteristics along the helical axis are rigorously solved, giving an analytical solution [3]. The dispersion relation thus obtained is shown in Figure 1.1b. Another unique feature compared with the other periodic structure is the sinusoidal


Liqueur is an alcoholic beverage composed of a mixture of water, alcohol, sugar and substances that add flavour and aroma. Wild passion fruit is a product with good agricultural and nutritional characteristics, and is a low-cost, regional fruit that could be used to elaborate new products. The goal of this study was to develop passion fruit (Passiflora cincinnata Mast.) liqueurs and evaluate their chemical, physical and sensory characteristics. 5 formulations were prepared with defined pulp and syrup concentrations (F1, F2, F3, F4 and F5). The following physicochemical parameters were evaluated: alcohol degree (ºGL), density, pH, total titratable acidity, total soluble solids (TSS), reducing and non-reducing sugars and colour parameters. A sensory acceptance test was applied. The formulations F4 and F5, produced with 640g pulp/70ºBrix syrup and 500g pulp/55ºBrix syrup, respectively, showed the highest acceptance scores, probably due to their acid pH, high acidity and soluble solids values. In general, the beverages developed were considered feasible, aimed at aggregating value to a regional fruit and increasing family incomes. The high sensory acceptance indicated market potential for this aggregated value product.


Presidents play a central role in legislative activity in Latin America. Previous research highlights that some form of ideological compromise on behalf of the president is vital to sustain successful legislative coalitions. Yet, primarily due to the lack of a firm empirical basis on which to measure such presidential give-and-take, the extent to which presidents make use of such policy compromise, and under what conditions this is a viable strategy, remains unknown. Applying quantitative text analysis to 305 annual "state of the union" addresses of 73 presidents in 13 Latin American countries, we remedy this situation and provide comparable time-series data for Latin American presidential movements in a one-dimensional issue space between 1980 and 2014. Our results indicate that presidents will compromise in response to changes in the median party, although this effect will be mediated by the institutional context within which the president operates.


A preliminary study of natural radioactivity was conducted on the thermal spas in Methana Peninsula. To carry out this research, a collection of 17 water samples were taken from thermal springs around and underwater of the volcanogenic Peninsula at depths ranging 0–5 m. The Methana peninsula belongs to the Hellenic Volcanic Arc and is characterized by hydrothermal vent activity. A NaI(Tl) scintillator (AMESOS) was used to carry out gamma–ray counting of the samples to deduce the activity concentrations of the natural radionuclides of the 238 U and 232 Th decay series, as well as 40 K in spa waters. Results are expected to provide information on the geological setting of the Methana peninsula. The impact of naturally occurring radioisotopes to human health has also been assessed in terms of the radiation dose risk corresponding to the measured activities


Pediatric obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome is caused by multiple factors. The present study aimed to investigate the potential risks of pediatric obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) and their correlation with the disease severity. A total of 338 pediatric patients with OSAHS (polysomnography (PSG) diagnosis) were enrolled between June 2008 and October 2010. These pediatric patients were divided into mild, moderate and severe subgroups according to the obstructive apnea index (OAI) and/or apnea hypoventilation index (AHI). A total of 338 pediatric patients with vocal nodules who were without obstruction of the upper respiratory tract were enrolled as the control group. The patients were analyzed retrospectively. The average number of upper respiratory tract infections each year and tonsil hypertrophy, adenoid hypertrophy, positive serum tIgE, chronic sinusitis, nasal stenosis, craniofacial features and obesity were significantly higher in OSAHS compared with controls (P<0.01). The parameters the average number of upper respiratory tract infections each year (OR: 1.395, 95% CI: 1.256–1.550), adenoid hypertrophy (OR: 8.632, 95% CI: 3.990–18.672), tonsil hypertrophy (OR: 9.138, 95% CI: 4.621–18.073), nasal stenosis (8.023, 95% CI: 3.633–17.717) and chronic sinusitis (OR: 27.186, 95% CI: 13.310–55.527) were independent factors of pediatric OSAHS (P<0.01). The distribution of chronic sinusitis, nasal stenosis, craniofacial features and obesity indicated a gradual increasing trend in the severity of OSAHS (P<0.01). Number of upper respiratory tract infections per year, adenoid hypertrophy, tonsil hypertrophy, chronic sinusitis, nasal stenosis, infections, allergic reactions, craniofacial features and obesity may be potential risk factors of pediatric OSAHS.


Web personalization is the process of customizing a Web site according to the needs of specific user. It takes advantage of the knowledge acquired from the analysis of the user's navigational behavior (usage data) in correlation with other information collected in the Web context, namely structure, content and user profile data. Due to the explosive growth of the Web, the domain of Web personalization has gained great momentum both in the research and commercial area. A lot of research has been done in this field. This paper is comprised of three parts. First part gives introduction to Web Personalization. Second part tries to summarize the work done in this field and third part does research analysis. This paper tries to throw light on the research areas that are required to


Background: Heel prick blood sampling is a painful and stressful procedure performed in NICUs (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) to collect blood samples for some diagnostic laboratory tests. The local cold is a simple, effective and safe analgesia in newborns. Due to the side effects of pharmacological methods of analgesia and also the relative impact of non-drug methods available, it can be a good alternative for them.
Methods: The current study was a double-blind clinical trial, the infants were born in Imam Khomeini Ahvaz in 2016 and randomly assigned to the case and control groups. In the case group, 20 s after exposure to cold compress on the heels, samples were taken and the control group without exposure to cold compress samples were taken. Pain assessment was performed by CRIES (Pain Scales and Pain Assessment) scale. Data collected by SPSS software version 22 and T-test were analyzed statistically.
Results: The current study was conducted on 68 infants assigned to the case and control groups. Study participants included more boys (60.95%) than girls. All infants enrolled in the current study were 1 d old with Apgar scores of 9-10. In the case group, 90.62% of the subjects had scores 4. In the control group, 40.62% of the subjects had scores 4. There was a statistically significant difference in CRIES score between the groups (P-value 4 indicates severe pain). There was no significant difference between the case and control groups in the level of arterial oxygen saturation.
Conclusions: This study showed that local cold can reduce the level of pain caused by heel prick blood sampling and can decrease early and late complications of pain in infants.


A tightly focused laser pulse with relativistic intensity propagating in a dense plasma is studied by means of 2D particle-in-cell simulation. The results demonstrate that the laser propagation in the plasma is strongly dependent on the laser focus position. It is found that the laser can penetrate deeper in the plasma and create an on-axis plasma channel at certain focus positions, which is due to the suppression of the filamentation instability in the laser plasma interactions. The results are of interest for understanding of the fast ignition related experiments.


Background: Famciclovir and valacyclovir are antiviral agents commonly used to treat herpes zoster. These medications not only reduce the time to complete cessation of zoster-associated pain, but also aid in the healing of the herpes zoster skin lesions. However, only few studies have compared these antiviral agents. Objective: We conducted a randomized clinical trial to evaluate the extent of pain relief and wound healing, and the rate of postherpetic neuralgia associated with these drugs during 4 weeks of treatment. Methods: The study included 69 immunocompetent adult inpatients diagnosed with herpes zoster randomly divided into 2 groups based on the antiviral agent administered. Patient age, date of visit from rash onset, and rash severity at baseline were recorded. Famciclovir or valacyclovir were administered orally for 7 days. Patients reported pain levels through a visual analog scale (VAS) score, and pain durations were assessed on days 1, 3, and 7, and at weeks 2, 3, and 4. Crust formation and reepithelialization times of skin lesions were also recorded. Results: VAS scores, pain durations, ratios of patients undergoing postherpetic neuralgia, and skin lesion healing rates did not differ significantly between the 2 groups. However, rash severity independently correlated with the extent of pain experienced. Conclusion: Famciclovir and valacyclovir are comparable to each other in resolving zoster-associated pain, postherpetic neuralgia, and zoster wound healing. Early antiviral treatment before expansion of the skin lesion would be helpful for rapid relief of herpes zoster pain. (Korean J Dermatol 2014;52(10):720∼727)


The authors describe a case of recurrent macroscopic haematuria which developed after renal biopsy in a young patient with IgA dominant focal and segmental mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis. As conservative treatment was not successful, renal angiography was performed which revealed a false aneurysm of the segmental branch of the renal artery at the site of the assumed puncture. After selective embolization with gelaspon granules macroscopic haematuria receded quickly.


and offer useful supplements to the standard undergraduate history textbooks. Pilcher's volume makes a welcome addition to this continuing series of texts that already spans diverse regions and time periods. This new text provides fifteen original articles written by respected scholars and addressing events in Mexican history since the middle of the eighteenth century. The quality of material in this collection is excellent overall and will provide college-level instructors with a valuable teaching resource. Neirher a textbook nor a documentary collection, the book flows roughly chronologically, but is organized around people rather than events. The articles contained in this text are, in effect, mini-biographies, each detailing the life of an individual while situating their actions and experiences within the broader historical context. The men and women whose lives are dis-


Presented herein is a novel computational approach using the moving element method (MEM) for simulating the dynamic response of Mindlin plate resting on a viscoelastic foundation and subjected to moving loads. The governing equations and the element mass, damping and stiffness matrices are formulated in a convected coordinate system in which the origin is attached to the point of the moving applied load. Thus, the method simply treats moving loads as 'stationary' at the nodes of the plate to avoid updating the locations of moving loads due to the change of the contact points on the plate. To verify the accuracy of the proposed computational approach, static and free vibration analyses of plates are investigated first. Next, the dynamic response of plate resting on a viscoelastic foundation subjected to a moving load is examined. A parametric study is performed to determine the effects of the load's velocity, foundation damping and foundation stiffness on the dynamic response of a plate. Finally, the comparisons of the dynamic response of plates resting on viscoelastic foundation and subjected to moving vehicles with three models of load (single-wheel, single-axle and tandem-axle) are discussed.


Many constrained interfaces are designed to be simpler than the real world by restricting movement, limiting interface actions, and keeping interface objects in a plane. However, the strong utility of pure 3D interfaces for medical, architectural, product design, and scientific visualization means that interface design for pure 3D remains an important challenge. An intriguing possibility is that enhanced 3D interfaces might offer simpler navigation, more compelling functionality, safer movements, and less occlusion, than 3D reality, especially for information exploration and visualization tasks. Such features can enable superhuman capabilities such as faster-than-light teleportation, flying through objects, and X-ray vision. Enhanced 3D interfaces might have supernatural tools such as magic wands for instantly shrinking, enlarging, duplicating, or sending objects and enchanted environments that provide error prevention, history keeping, and programming-by-demonstration. Playful game designers and creative application developers have already pushed the technology further than those who seek merely to mimic reality. Advanced designs are marked by their support of rapid situation awareness through effective overviews, reduced numbers of actions to accomplish tasks; and prompt, meaningful feedback for user actions. This article reviews these clever enhanced 3D-design features and encourages approaches that facilitate user tasks rather than mimic reality.


In this paper, two blind audio watermarking methods using correlated quantization for data embedding with histogram-based detector have been proposed. First, a novel mapping called the point-to-point graph (PPG) is introduced. In this mapping, the value of samples is important as well as the correlation among them. As this mapping increases the dimension of the signal, the data embedding procedure (quantization) will be diversified more securely than that of the 1-D domains such as the time or frequency domains. Hence, two watermarking techniques coined as hard and soft quantization methods based on the quantization of the PPG point radii are suggested. The performance of both techniques is analyzed by obtaining the radii distribution of PPG points after watermarking. Experimental results against AWGN attack confirm the validity of theoretical analysis. Moreover, the robustness of the proposed methods against other common attacks such as echo, low pass, resampling, and MP3 are investigated through extensive simulations.


Background This is a companion paper to our earlier review of psychological treatments for people with personality disorder that examined the evidence from randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Here, we report on the evidence of pharmacological treatments from RCTs for people with personality disorder. As in the previous report, this paper incorporates information from an earlier review that examined the evidence to 2002, and extends it to December 2006. As in the previous paper, this review restricts itself to the findings from RCTs, and excludes evidence from other study designs; however, details of these other studies will be posted in the National Personality Disorder Institute Website (http://www.pdinstitute.org.uk).

Aim This study aimed to examine the evidence from RCTs to justify intervening with pharmacological treatments in people with personality disorder.

Method Fifteen electronic databases (including MEDLINE, EMBASE and PsycINFO) were searched to the end of December 2006 for any RCT of a pharmacological intervention for participants meeting DSM or ICD criteria for personality disorder. Outcomes were grouped using a similar symptomological categorization to that suggested by Soloff in 1998.

Results This methodology identified 35 trials for inclusion. The main positive findings were those favouring the use of anticonvulsants to reduce aggression, and of anti-psychotics to reduce cognitive perceptual and mental state disturbance. However, there were major methodological deficiencies in the trial designs, including small numbers of participants and limited duration of treatment and follow-up.

Conclusion This review identifies a very limited evidence base to justify intervening with drugs in this group. Reasons why this should be so are examined that relate to fundamentally differing conceptualizations of how any intervention might impact in an individual with personality disorder. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


BACKGROUND
Although pheochromocytomas are believed to account for fewer than 0.3% of all cases of hypertension, aggressive diagnostic and surgical intervention is recommended whenever a pheochromocytoma is suspected because uncontrolled catecholamine release from the tumors can lead to catastrophic consequences. Many biochemical diagnostic and imaging localization tests exist for detecting pheochromocytomas. We sought to evaluate the sensitivity of these tests used over a 35-year period at a single institution.

METHODS
Thirty-five patients with complete medical records who had pathologically confirmed pheochromocytomas between 1962 and 1997 at the University of Chicago Hospitals were identified. Sensitivity and 95% confidence intervals were calculated for 12 laboratory diagnostic tests and 5 imaging studies.

RESULTS
The most sensitive laboratory diagnostic tests in our study were plasma total catecholamines (95%) and urine total metanephrines (100%). Testing for urine vanillylmandelic acid, while less expensive and easier to perform than many other tests, had a slightly lower sensitivity (89%). The most sensitive imaging tests in the study were magnetic resonance imaging (100%) and iodine I-131 metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy (100%). The more often used computed tomography had only 88% sensitivity. Localization was safely and successfully performed on two pregnant patients using magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound.

CONCLUSIONS
By properly choosing from the wide array of laboratory diagnostic and imaging tests, pheochromocytomas can be identified and localized with nearly 100% sensitivity. These tests should be performed in any patient for whom the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma is being considered.


In this paper, an optimal gear shifting control strategy based on Dynamic Programming (DP) for a vehicle equipped with a Power-Shift Automated Manual Transmission (PS-AMT) is proposed in order to explore the potential fuel savings. Simulation results on the city part of the New European Drive Cycle (NEDC), called ECE cycle, reveal that the relative fuel economy improvement can be reached up to 15.4% by applying DP shifting strategy compared to the case of applying a prescribed gear shift schedule. A forward facing dynamic power train model and control system are designed and developed for the prototype PS-AMT vehicle in order to validate the system modeling and shifting algorithm implementation. The test results of the prototype vehicle on the roller bench show that 11.2% improvement of fuel economy is achieved. It can be concluded that significant potential fuel savings can be obtained by optimal gear shift control and the proposed design method is consistent.


An inventory of surface debris in designated grid blocks at the White Wing Scrap Yard [Waste Area Grouping 11 (WAG 11)] was conducted intermittently from February through June 1992 by members of the Measurement Applications and Development Group, Health and Safety Research Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) at the request of ORNL Environmental Restoration (ER) Program personnel. The objectives of this project are outlined in the following four phases: (1) estimate the amount (volume) and type (e.g., glass, metal and plastics) of surface waste material in 30 designated grid blocks (100- by 100-ft grids); (2) conduct limited air sampling for organic chemical pollutants at selected locations (e.g., near drums, in holes, or other potentially contaminated areas); (3) conduct a walkover gamma radiation scan extending outward (approximately 50 ft) beyond the proposed location of the WAG 11 perimeter fence; and (4) recommend one grid block as a waste staging area. This recommendation is based on location and accessibility for debris staging/transport activities and on low levels of gamma radiation in the grid block.


19 Artificial neural networks have performed remarkable feats in a wide variety of domains. 20 However, artificial intelligence algorithms lack the flexibility, robustness, and generalization 21 power of biological neural networks. Given the different capabilities of artificial and 22 biological neural networks, it would be advantageous to build systems where the two types 23 of networks are directly connected and can synergistically interact. As proof of principle, 24 here we show how to create such a hybrid system and how it can be harnessed to improve 25 animal performance on biologically relevant tasks. Using optogenetics, we interfaced the 26 nervous system of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans with a deep reinforcement learning 27 agent, enabling the animal to navigate to targets and enhancing its natural ability to search 28 for food. Agents adapted to strikingly different sites of neural integration and learned site- 29 specific activation patterns to improve performance on a target-finding task. The combined 30 animal and agent displayed cooperative computation between artificial and biological neural 31 networks by generalizing target-finding to novel environments. This work constitutes an 32


In "Notes of a Coloured Girl," the Foreword to her Governor-General'sAward-winning, 1997 play, Harlem Duet, African-Canadian playwright Djanet Sears traces a literary and cultural genealogy of her apprenticeship in the theatre : as reader, writer, actor, director, and audience member . Among other spectral encounters with her dramatic forebears, Sears recounts an inevitable confrontation with the ghost of Shakespeare :


The physical optics approximation is used to evaluate the backseattering radar cross section of a semi-infinite metallic elliptic cone. The resulting formula can be directly interpreted as a generalization Of the well-known formula for the baekscattering cross section of a circular cone. In addition the bistatic radar cross section of the elliptic cone is calculated.


Built with networked embedded systems technology, everyday objects like appliances, tools and environnments -- in general: "Digital Artefacts" - become increasingly interconnected, diverse and heterogeneous, raising the challenge of an operative, and semantically meaningful interplay among each other. One approach to address this challenge is to design and implement systems able to "manage" and to "organize" themselves. Self-management stands for the ability of single Digital Artefact to describe itself, to select and use adequate sensors to capture information, and to describe its context. Self-organizing stands for the ability of a group of possibly heterogeneous digital artefacts to establish a spontaneous network based on interest, purpose or goal, and to negotiating and fulfilling a group goal. Thus, while self-management relates to individual artefacts, and concerns adaptation to changing individual goals and conditions at runtime, self-organization relates to whole ensembles, and concerns adaptation in order to meet group goals.
 This presentation will address the issue of spatially constrained spontaneous interaction among Digital Artefacts. An explicit model for spatial proximity is investigated based on geometric descriptions of "Zones of Influence" (ZoI) of artefacts, enabling the triggering of their interactions based on real time verification of relations among ZoIs (intersection, inclusion). Once in spatial proximity to each other, verified by e.g. colliding ZoIs, artefacts coordinate their activities based on the exchange and analysis of self descriptions in metadata format. Self descriptions are encoded in a profile description language, expressing role, preferences, intent and goals of an artefact with respect to the particular context in which an interaction is attempted (like time, geoposition, relative position and orientation, environmental conditions, etc.). I will present the Peer-it platform, able to sense the context of a Digital Artefact, particularly its absolute and relative position and orientation. Together with the ability to exchange self descriptions and ZoIs via wireless communication, the Peer-it technology opens the road towards spatially aware digital artefacts.


Simultaneous measurements of refractive index, surface tension, and evaporation rate in pendant droplets have been conducted in water, ethanol, n-heptane, diesel, and Jet A fuel in a temperature range of 20°C-50°C at atmospheric pressure. The dispersion of the refractive indices has been determined by means of rainbow refractometry. The surface tensions have been measured based on the pendant droplet shape analysis. The Young-Laplace equation and the numerical model have been applied to precisely obtain surface tension from the balance between the droplet distortion of gravity and restoring the force of surface tension. The evaporation of the fuels has also been studied with pure droplets of a few millimeters in diameter in a temperature-controlled environment. The shadowgraph technique has been performed for the precise measurement of the droplet size change with a long-working-distance objective (10× magnification). The evaporation rate has been determined by the temporal rate of droplet diameter change extracted from the subsequent images. The experimental data in this work is compared with the previous work to validate the accuracy and estimate uncertainty. Furthermore, the simultaneous multi-property measurement of Jet A fuel (POSF 4658) has been conducted. These properties of the aviation fuel can be used in computation and modeling to further improve the knowledge of jet injection (atomization and evaporation) and practical combustion processes.


The earnings from non-farm activities are increasingly becoming important back-up income for most ruralhouseholds in many developing countries. The study estimates the determinants of livelihood diversification amongartisanal fisherfolks in North-central and North-western Nigeria. Primary data were collected from 267 fisheryhousehold heads through field survey with the aid of pre tested questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed usingSimpson Index of Diversification (SID) and censored Tobit regression model. Although both activities wereimportant sources of income for all the fishery households sampled, fishing activities were the most important sourceof income (57.3%) which is in tandem with a priori expectation. Result showed that majority of the rural fisheryhouseholds who seek for off- and non-fish activities used the proceeds to remedied food and basic items (40%) orpurchase fishery inputs (22.1%) for their primary occupation. The determinants of livelihood diversification revealedthat adjusted household size, capital expenditure and canoe owned were the significant factors that influenced boththe share of fishery income and level of diversification (SID). However the influence was not by same coefficients,magnitude, and structure but virtually in the same direction. Artisanal fishery households should form a formidablesocial organization to benefit from economy of bulk purchase of fish inputs and access to modern fishing techniques.The rural labour force must also find a way to improve their incomes in rural areas such as farming by irrigationactivities aquaculture and livestock rearing. However, in interim, it is recommended that the non-fishery activitiesshould also be developed among fisher folks households to cater for rural households that are left fallowed duringoff-fish season.


While the number of high school girls' teams has dramatically increased since Title IX, the number of female head coaches has not. In the 10 most popular high school sports in 2011-2012, only three (volleyball, swimming and diving, and competitive spirit squads) had more than 44% female head coaches. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether females or males are coaching high school girls' sport teams and whether female coaches are attaining head coaching positions in the most popular high school girls' sports. Additionally, the study sought to understand better why males and females choose to become head coaches of high school girls' sport teams and what factors might cause head high school girls' coaches to resign from coaching. In the 21–30 age group, there were more female than male head coaches of girls' teams, but after age 40, male head coaches vastly outnumbered female head coaches. Of the coaches with 12 or more years of experience, only 33% were females. Time away from family, player ...


Are there any cultural universals left? Does multiculturalism inevitably involve a slide into moral relativism? This timely and insightful book examines questions of politics and identity in the age of multicultures. It draws together the contribution of outstanding contributors such as Fraser, Honneth, O'Neill, Bauman, Lister, Gilroy and De Swann to explore how difference and multiculturalism take on the arguments of universalist humanism. The approach taken derives from the traditions of cultural sociology and cultural studies rather than political science and philosophy.

The book takes seriously the argument that the social bond and recognition are in danger through globalization and deterritorialization. It is a major contribution to the emerging debate on the form of post-national forms of civil society.


With few exceptions, personal privacy has long been an ethical right and legal mandate. Clinicians, policy makers, and consumers are challenged to find a balance between allowing consumers to be protected and allowing clinicians to meet patient care needs. This article examines the current debate pertaining to new Medical Privacy Guidelines that were issued in April 2001. The ethical principle of patient confidentiality, including the right to personal privacy, is reviewed along with its relationship to computer-generated wound care tracking programs that transcend practice settings. Options for Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliance are presented.


This paper presents a method for vehicle detection based on forward looking CCD camera, where vehicle tail light information is employed to generate vehicle candidate. Color segmentation consists of finding pairs of light blobs and removing the isolated points after morphological closing and opening. Among the horizontal light pairs, it determines to define the vehicle candidate. In vehicle candidate verification step, a feature set by Gabor filters using eight direction and five scales is used to train a back propagation neural network (BPNN). In the experiment, this BPNN classifier is used to detect the vehicle. Total 104 images are tested by this algorithm. 87 vehicle images are detected successfully. These results show that our proposed method is effective for vehicle detection in the daytime.


The use of magnesium alloys meets the need of reducing weight of components (especially in automotive and aerospace industry) keeping unmodified their mechanical properties. The adoption of magnesium alloys in sheet forming processes (which allows optimal mechanical properties) is still limited, due to their low formability at room temperature caused by the hexagonal crystal structure. Conventional sheet forming processes (like Deep Drawing) have to be modified in order to allow the adoption of such lightweight materials. In this work, the authors aim to understand the process conditions and the parameters operating window which can lead to a successful improvement in the formability of a magnesium alloy (AZ31). A numerical Finite Element analysis based on experimental data (both warm DD tests and tensile tests) was performed to properly design the thermal gradient to superimpose during the DD process. The estimation of the critical condition occurrence was based on the calculated local temperature increase.


Many physical phenomena can be described as the evolution of two phases coexisting within the same domain. Examples of such phenomena are the transport of gas and oil, solidification and phase transformations. Each of these phenomena require a description of the dynamics under which the phases change and a technique for tracking the interface between the relevant phases. Currently several techniques exist for describing the evolution of an interface between two phases. We can distinguish these techniques as either interface-tracking or interface-capturing. Interface-tracking techniques commonly describe the interface exactly, for example by representing the interface explicitly in a mesh [15], by assuming a parametric shape of the interface (See for example [19]) or by introducing markers indicating one of the phases [7] or the interface [4], and tracking explicitly the evolution of this interface. The class of interface-capturing techniques describe the interface implicitly by a function, such as the level-set method [12], the volume-of-fluid method [9] and the moment-of-fluid method [5], and track the evolution of this function explicitly. Recently, both methods have been combined to exploit the ease of capturing the location of the interface from the level-set method and the volume-preserving capacities of the volume-of-fluid method. So far, this coupling has only been performed on regular quadrilateral meshes adopting finite-volume discretisations [17] and on triangular meshes in the context of discontinuous-Galerkin finite-elements. In this article we develop a volume-preserving level-set method by coupling a Galerkin level-set formulation based on linear triangles with the volume-of-fluid method on star-shaped polygonal finite-volume meshes. This article will first introduce introduce the level-set method and the volume-of-fluid method and our choice of discretisation for each of the methods. Subsequently we will define the coupling between the two methods and the novel volume-correction algorithm which will ensure volume preservation during advection of the level-set and volume-of-fluid functions. Finally we will investigate the numerical and practical aspects of the volume-correction algorithm by several examples.


Turkey's foreign policy and relations in the early Republican era, before and during World War II, has been subject to systematic and scholarly research, leading to numerous publications since the 1970s. Although no less significant than Britain, Germany, or the Soviet Union in shaping Turkish inter-war foreign policy and priorities, Italy does not seem to have received a similar degree of attention in this growing literature. Italy is usually treated in the works on Turkish foreign relations only as a threat that Turkey's foreign and strategic policy aimed to counter after 1934.


Xylene is one of the representative indoor pollutants, even in ppb levels, that affect human health directly. Due to the non-polar and less reactive nature of xylene, its room temperature detection is challenging. This work demonstrates a metallic tin-doped Sn-SnO2 nanocomposite under controlled pH conditions via a simple solvothermal route. The Sn nanoparticles are uniformly distributed inside the SnO2 nanospheres of ∼70 nm with a high specific surface area of 118.8 m2/g. The surface of the Sn-SnO2 nanocomposite exhibits strong affinity toward benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene (BTEX) compared to other polar volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as ethanol, acetone, isopropyl alcohol, formaldehyde, and chloroform tested in this study. The sensor's response is highest for xylene among BTEX molecules. Under ambient room temperature conditions, the sensor exhibits a linear response to xylene in the 1-100 ppm range with a sensitivity of ∼255% at 60 ppm within ∼1.5 s and recovers in ∼40 s. The sensor is hardly affected by humidity variations (40-70%), leading to enhanced reliability and repeatability under dynamic environmental conditions. The meso and microporous nanosphere morphology act as a nanocontainer for non-polar VOCs to diffuse inside the nanostructures, providing easy accessibility. The metallic Sn increases the affinity for less reactive xylene at room temperature. Thus, the nanocatalytic Sn-SnO2 nanocomposite is an active gas/VOC sensing material and provides an effective solution for sensing major indoor pollutants under humid conditions.


Functions with (linear) phase depend on (linear) combinations of the independent variables. For example plane waves are functions of a single linear combination of the variables. Detection of phase is an important problem in seismic velocity analysis and ocean acoustic signal processing, amongst other applications. Robust estimation of phase by local optimization requires the construction of smooth objective functionals. For this purpose it is useful to characterize those quadratic functionals of functions with linear phase which are smooth in the phase: all such smooth phase detectors are pseudodifferential. Some of these pseudodifferential quadratic forms are globally convex in the phase, hence permit phase estimation using local smooth optimization methods.


With the unprecedented development of perovskite solar cells (PSCs), various interlayers have been investigated. Interlayers have diverse roles in shifting the energy levels, attracting and extracting charges, and passivating surface traps. These can improve the stability of PSCs, as well as their power conversion efficiency (PCE). In this study, a small molecular self-assembled monolayer (2-[carbamimidoyl(methyl)amino]acetic acid) is introduced on a SnO2 layer. The acetic acid is known as creatine, existing naturally in the human body. It is eatable and dosed by athletes for energy. Due to its structural properties, creatine can be anchored on a SnO2 layer, thus, it can strengthen the charge extraction from a perovskite layer by forming interface dipoles and reducing the work function. Also, it can passivate the defects in the perovskite layer. These properties are comprehensively investigated via various experimental techniques. With the creatine layer as a cathode interfacial layer on the SnO2 layer, the PSC employing a triple cation-based perovskite achieves the highest PCE of 20.8% and retained 90% of it after 50 days. Furthermore, 22.1% of PCE is obtained from the formamidinium-based perovskite. This report represents an interesting application of creatine as an interlayer in PSCs and suggests the possible application of other essential amino acids.


We present the state-of-the-art 45nm high performance bulk logic platform technology which utilizes, for the first time in the industry, ultra high NA (1.07) immersion lithography to realize highly down-scaled chip size. Fully renovated MOSFET integration scheme which features reversed extension and SD diffusion formation is established to meet Vt roll-off requirement with excellent transistor performance of Ion=1100muA/mum for nFET and Ion=700muA/mum for pFET at Ioff=100nA/mum. Also, we achieved excellent BEOL reliability and manufacturability by implementing hybrid dual-damascene (DD) structure with porous low-k film (keff=2.7)


CONTEXT
Restricting caloric intake is one of the most effective ways to extend lifespan and to reduce spontaneous tumor occurrence in experimental animals, but whether similar associations hold in humans has not been appropriately studied.

OBJECTIVE
To determine whether caloric restriction in early life reduces the risk of invasive breast cancer.

DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS
Retrospective cohort study using data from the Swedish Inpatient Registry, the Swedish Cancer Registry, the Swedish Death Registry, and the Swedish Fertility Registry. Participants were 7303 Swedish women hospitalized for anorexia nervosa prior to age 40 years between 1965 and 1998. Women were excluded (n = 31) if they were diagnosed with cancer prior to their first discharge from hospitalization for anorexia nervosa.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE
Incidence of invasive breast cancer.

RESULTS
Compared with the Swedish general population, women hospitalized for anorexia nervosa prior to age 40 years had a 53% (95% confidence interval [CI], 3%-81%) lower incidence of breast cancer; nulliparous women with anorexia nervosa had a 23% (95% CI, 79% higher to 75% lower) lower incidence, and parous women with anorexia nervosa had a 76% (95% CI, 13%-97%) lower incidence.

CONCLUSIONS
Severe caloric restriction in humans may confer protection from invasive breast cancer. Low caloric intake prior to first birth followed by a subsequent pregnancy appears to be associated with an even more pronounced reduction in risk.


Background The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in unprecedented uptake of telepsychology services; however, clinicians have mixed attitudes toward virtual technologies. Objective This study (1) explored clinicians' experiences of and intentions to use video, telephone, and in-person services, and (2) tested the utility of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) to predict clinicians' intentions to offer telepsychology after the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Clinician satisfaction and therapeutic alliance were compared across in-person, video, and telephone services, while technology attitudes and intention to use after the pandemic were compared across video and telephone services among 118 addiction and mental health clinicians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results Clinicians reported more positive experiences with in-person services than both virtual technologies; further, clinicians reported greater positive experiences, attitudes, and intentions to use video services than telephone services across measures. Based on the UTAUT, performance expectancy positively predicted concurrent intentions to use video services (β=0.46; P<.001) and telephone services (β=0.35; P<.001) after the pandemic. Social influence (β=0.24; P=.004) and facilitating conditions (β=0.19; P=.03) additionally predicted the intention to use telephone services. Conclusions Clinicians rated in-person services more positively than virtual technologies, with video services perceived more positively than telephone services. Performance expectancy was the primary facilitator of the uptake of both virtual modalities.


Environmentally responsive gel formulation for ocular controlled delivery of carteolol hydrochloride (HCl) was developed in an attempt to improve ocular bioavailability and hence decrease its systemic absorption and side effects. The viscosity and the ability of the prepared formulations to deliver carteolol HCl in vitro and in vivo were monitored and compared with an aqueous commercial solution. The effect of polymer concentration and drug concentration on the in vitro release of carteolol HCl was examined. Gelrite formulations showed pseudoplastic behavior with thixotropic characteristics and the viscosity of the prepared systems increased as the concentration of the polymer increased. At fixed drug concentrations, as the Gelrite concentration increased, the drug release decreased. At fixed polymer concentrations, as the drug concentration increased the release of drug increased. Gelrite formulation (0.4% w/w) containing 1% drug showed significantly improved bioavailability compared with the commercial aqueous solution (Arteoptic® 1%). The developed in situ gel formulation showed potential for use as delivery systems with superior ocular bioavailability of carteolol HCl.


Background: To compare the Helicobacter pylori eradication rate with and without use of Probiotic in conjunction with standard triple regimen. Methods: The patients with symptomatology of Gastritis and Dyspepsia were enrolled for the study. The presence of Helicobacter pylori was confirmed with Urea breath test. The experimental group received probiotic along with triple regimen therapy, while the control group received only triple regimen therapy. After four weeks of completion of treatment, urea breath test was repeated for confirmation of Helicobacter pylori eradication. Patients with negative urea breath test were considered as treatment success. Results: Total 160 patients with Helicobacter pylori infection were enrolled in this study. Patients were divided in two groups i.e. Group-A (Probiotic + triple regimen therapy) and Group-B (Only triple regimen therapy). The mean age of patients in group-A was 35.1±11.2 years and in group-B 37.5±12.9 years. In group-A, H. pylori eradication was seen in 71(88.8%) and 59(73.8%) in group-B with a p-value of 0.015 which is statistically significant. Conclusion: In Helicobacter pylori confirmed Gastritis or Dyspepsia patients, addition of probiotic to standard triple regimen therapy improve eradication rate of H. pylori infection.


This thesis presents four studies investigating (1) whether incidentally primed control-related words can attenuate the impact of activated stereotypes on subsequent evaluation of a target person, (2) the impact of motivated forgetting on the recall of stereotypically congruent and incongruent information, and (3) the impact of a directed forgetting instruction on the false recall and recognition of nonpresented stereotypical information.In three experiments, Study I showed that participants initially primed with the social category, immigrant, and subsequently primed with words that were evocative of control or self-control made less negative impression of a target displaying ambiguous behaviors than participants not exposed to such words.Study II, using a directed-forgetting paradigm, demonstrated in two experiments that participants subliminally primed with Swedish facial photographs who later studied stereotypically incongruent words roughly recalled an equal number of items regardless of the forget or remember instructions. Study III showed that participants primed with the social category, immigrant and then studied a list of stereotypically related and unrelated words falsely recognized more nonpresented stereotypical words when they were furnished with a forget than a remember instruction. Similarly, Study IV (Experiment 2) demonstrated that participants primed with the social category, immigrant, but not with a neutral category, falsely recalled more nonpresented stereotypical words when their cognitive capacity was depleted through a concurrent memory load task. The thesis presents a review and a discussion of some of the theoretical underpinnings of the extant literature on stereotyping and intergroup relations and of the social implications of the present findings.


We introduce protocol-aware recovery (PAR), a new approach that exploits protocol-specific knowledge to correctly recover from storage faults in distributed systems. We demonstrate the efficacy of PAR through the design and implementation of corruption-tolerant replication (CTRL), a PAR mechanism specific to replicated state machine (RSM) systems. We experimentally show that the CTRL versions of two systems, LogCabin and ZooKeeper, safely recover from storage faults and provide high availability, while the unmodified versions can lose data or become unavailable. We also show that the CTRL versions have little performance overhead.


ObjectiveTo investigate the changes of inflammatory factors and hemostatic variable in plasma after a high-fat meal in normocholesterolemic patients with essential hypertension. MethodsA total of 60 hypertensive patients were randomly assigned to accept a single high-fat meal (group 1, n=40) or not (group 2, n=20) in the morning after an overnight fast, and 20 healthy participants (group 3) consumed a single high-fat meal on the same day. Plasma lipid profiles, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hsCRP), tumor necrosis factor &agr; (TNF&agr;), soluble P-selectin and plasminogen activator inhibitor type 1 (PAI-1) antigen levels were measured at fasting and 4 h after meal ingestion. ResultsPostprandial triglyceride levels increased significantly in groups 1 and 3 (P<0.01), whereas levels were higher in group 1 (P<0.001). Postprandial plasma TNF&agr;, hsCRP, soluble P-selectin and PAI-1 antigen levels increased in group 1 (P<0.001) but not in group 3. Postprandial plasma triglyceride level was correlated with log(hsCRP) (P<0.001), TNF&agr; (P<0.001), soluble P-selectin (P<0.01) and PAI-1 antigen (P<0.05) levels, respectively. Both postprandial plasma level of soluble P-selectin and that of PAI-1 antigen were positively and significantly correlated with those of log(hsCRP) (P<0.01) and TNF&agr; (P<0.001), respectively. ConclusionPostprandial hypertriglyceridemia in hypertensive patients is associated with inflammatory response and procoagulant state.


One of the latest achievement in the design of tools for TUR is introduction of a new resectoscope constructed by M. Marberger. Its oval loops can remove 30% more tissue than it is made by a standard resectoscope with semicurcular loops. 203 patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH) were operated using Marberger resectoscope, 54 BPH patients were operated using a standard resectoscope. 12-month follow up results of both TURs did not differ much. The advantage of the new tool is quicker removal of the tissue.


There is an urgent need to quantify if possible the complex phenomena emerging out of the changeable nature and variability of disease processes and resulting from the interactions of man, disease agents, and his environment. Comprehensive care and individualization of treatment is formulated by the physician logically or empirically or intuitively. Methods that can increase the variety, frequency and depth of our observations should assist us. Information flow between the patient and the physician has been scrutinized to develop extensive application of EDP for clinical use and research in chronic disease. A variety of digitation formats is being investigated and used. The assumptions of this experiment and the problems and advantages of present experience with EDP will be considered. Practical technical problems that have been identified will be discussed.


This paper examines the microstructure and mechanical properties of Ta20Nb20Hf20Zr20Ti20. Two casting processes, namely, gravity casting and suction-assisted casting, were applied, both followed by Hot Isostatic Pressing (HIP). The aim of the current study was to investigate the creep and tensile properties of the material, since the literature review revealed no data whatsoever regarding these properties. The main findings are that the HIP process is responsible for the appearance of a Hexagonal Close Packed (HCP) phase that is dispersed differently in these two castings. The HIP process also led to a considerable increase in the mechanical properties of both materials under compression, with values found to be higher than those reported in the literature. Contrary to the compression properties, both materials were found to be highly brittle under tension, either during room temperature tension tests or creep tests conducted at 282 °C. Fractography yielded brittle fracture without any evidence of plastic deformation prior to fracture.


In Wireless Sensor Networks (WSN) nodes are small battery-powered devices and electric power is difficult to supply after the network is activated. Thus, maximizing life time of the network is one of the most important challenges in wireless sensor networks. Also, nodes are allocated at high density because even if some nodes cannot communicate due to breakdown of devices or decrease in battery, network connectivity needs to be maintained. Thus, some nodes that are allocated proximally tend to obtain the same observation information. If a base station node (BS) collects observation information of events from all nodes that detect events, this is not effective from the point of view of power consumption because of communication between some nodes that have the same observation information. This paper proposes a data collecting method that removes redundant communications of observation information for event-driven wireless sensor networks. Our method, which estimates areas of events by communication between nodes and collects events of observation information of only nodes on the edge of the areas, achieves low-energy consumption.


A convenient and effective FeCl3 catalyzed one-pot three component protocol for the synthesis of 1,2,4-trisubstituted imidazoles from arylacetic acids, N-arylbenzamidines and nitromethane via simultaneous C−H and N−H bond activation has been developed. The reaction involves C−H activation of arylacetic acid to form aromatic aldehyde which on condensation with N-arylbenzamidine gives azadiene. Nitromethane on Michael addition with azadiene produces ring annulated intermediate which upon subsequent cyclization-elimination sequence offers imidazole. The process utilizes readily available arylacetic acids and inexpensive catalyst. This user friendly protocol provided 1,2,4-trisubstituted imidazoles in moderate to good yields with high functional group tolerance and ample substrate scope.


Multidrug resistance (MDR)-type transporters mediate the active extrusion of structurally and functionally dissimilar compounds from the cells, thereby rendering cells resistant to a range of drugs. The ydaG and ydbA genes of Lactococcus lactis encode two ATP-binding cassette half-transporters, which both share homology with MDR proteins such as LmrA from L. lactis or the mammalian P-glycoprotein. The ydaG/ydbA genes were cloned and expressed separately and jointly in L. lactis using the nisin-inducible system. When both proteins are co-expressed, several structurally dissimilar drugs such as ethidium, daunomycin, and BCECF-AM are extruded from the cell. YdaG and YdbA could be co-purified as a stable heterodimer. ATPase activity was found to be associated with the YdaG/YdbA heterodimer only and not with the individual subunits. Both the ydaG and ydbA genes are up-regulated in multidrug-resistant L. lactis strains selected for growth in the presence of a variety of toxic compounds. This is the first demonstration of a functional heterodimeric ATP-binding cassette-type MDR transporter.


Highly efficient recycling of carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites into monomers and fibers is a formidable challenge. Herein, we present a closed-loop recycling approach for carbon fiber reinforced polymer composites using reversible amidation chemistry, enabling the complete recovery of intact carbon fibers and pure monomers. The polymer network, synthesized by amidation between a macromonomer linear polyethyleneimine and a bifunctional maleic anhydride cross-linker, serves as matrices for the construction of composites with exceptional mechanical properties, thermal stability and solvent resistance. The matrices can be fully depolymerized under the acidic condition at ambient temperature, allowing for the effective separation and recovery of both carbon fibers and the two monomers. The reclaimed carbon fibers retain nearly identical mechanical properties to pristine ones, while pure monomers are recycled with high separation yields (> 93%). They can be reused in the manufacture of new composites for multiple cycles, whose mechanical properties recover over 95% of their original properties. This line of research presents a promising approach for the design of high-performance and sustainable thermoset composites, offering significant environmental and economic benefits.


The paper presents a circuit model and controllers of fuel -cell -based distributed generation systems (DGS) in a standalone AC power supply. A dynamic model of the fuel cell is considered. To boost low -output DC voltage of the fuel cell to high DC voltage and to compensate for its slow response during the transient, two full-bridge DC-to-DC converters are adopted and their controllers are designed: a unidirectional full-bridge DC-to-DC boost converter for the fuel cell and a bidirectional full-bridge DC-to DC-buck/boost converter for the battery. For a three-phase DC-to-AC inverter, a discrete-time state space model in the stationary dq reference frame is derived, and two discrete-time-sliding mode controllers are designed: a voltage controller in the outer loop and a current controller in the inner loop.


Background : Cancer registries are fundamental for cancer control and multicenter collaborative research. However, there have been discrepancies among pathologists in classifying cancer and assigning the codes according to the International Classification of Disease Oncology 3 (ICD-O3). To improve the quality of cancer registries as well as to prevent the conflict with medical insurance compensation, a guideline for the coding of cancer is mandatory. Methods and Results : Funded by the Management Center for Health Promotion, 40 members of the Gastrointestinal Pathology Study Group and the Cancer Registration Committee of the Korean Society of Pathologists participated in the 1st workshop for gastrointestinal tumor registration. The subjects of gastric epithelial tumor, intramucosal carcinoma of the colon, carcinoid tumor, gastrointestinal stromal tumor and appendiceal mucinous tumor were discussed to create a guideline. A survey to obtain consensus for the guideline proposed by the workshop was carried out by the members of the Korean Society of Pathologists and 240 members completed the questionnaire. Conclusion : Although there are some issues to be discussed further, such as coding of high grade dysplasia/adenoma and intramucosal carcinoma of stomach and colon, the members agreed upon most parts of the proposed guideline. Therefore, we suggest using the ICD-O3 coding guideline for gastrointestinal tumor.


Wnt signaling pathway is a complex protein interaction network, and its function can most commonly or often be seen in embryonic development and cancer treatments, and meanwhile it is also involved in normal physiological processes in adult animals. Recently, with the rapid development of skin tissue engineering, there have been more and more researches on signal pathway in skin wound healing. At present, it is known that Wnt signaling pathway plays a vital role in the epidermal stem cells, epidermal growth factors, hair follicle development and other important factors related to the epidermal repair. The systemic research on Wnt signaling pathway has important clinical significance in the demonstration and functional process of the skin tissue. In this paper, we review the research development of the Wnt signaling pathway in the epidermal repair process.


BACKGROUND
A general view in the study of pollination syndromes is that floral traits usually represent convergent floral adaptations to specific functional pollinator groups. However, the definition of convergence is elusive and contradictory in the literature. Is convergence the independent evolution of either the same trait or similar traits with the same function? A review of the concept of convergence in developmental biology and phylogenetic systematics may shed new light in studies of pollination syndromes.

SCOPE
The aims of this article: (i) to explore the notion of convergence and other concepts (analogy, homoplasy, and parallelism) within the theory and practice of developmental evolution and phylogenetic systematics; (ii) to modify the definitions of syndromes in order to embrace the concepts of analogy and convergence; (iii) to revisit the bat pollination syndrome in the context of the angiosperm phylogeny, with focus on the showy 'petaloid' organs associated with the syndrome; (iv) to revisit the genetic-developmental basis of flower colour; (v) to raise evolutionary hypotheses of the floral evolution associated with the bat pollination syndrome; and (vi) to highlight some of the current frontiers of research on the origin and evolution of flowers and its impact in pollination syndrome studies in the 21st century.

CONCLUSIONS
The inclusion of the concepts of analogy and convergence within the concept of syndromes will constitute a new agenda of inquiry that integrates floral biology, phylogenetic systematics, and developmental biology. Phyllostomid and pteropodid bat pollination syndrome traits in eudicots and monocots represent cases of analogous and convergent evolution. Pollination syndromes are a multivariate concept intrinsically related to the understanding of flower organogenesis and evolution. The formulation of hypotheses of pollination syndromes must consider the phylogenetic levels of universality at both plant and animal taxa, flower development, genetics, homology, and evolution, and a clear definition of evolutionary concepts, including analogy, convergence, homoplasy, and parallelism.


This study adopted the extended parallel process model (EPPM) and dual process models to examine how recipients' reactance proneness affected the appraisal of threat and efficacy, which, in turn, influenced their use of information-processing modes, attitudes, and behavioral intentions regarding the mitigation of microplastic pollutions in Taiwan. An experiment was conducted using 362 college students as the subjects. The results yielded three conclusions: (1) Fear-induced communication was an effective persuasive approach because this approach was more likely to guide the recipients to adopt a systematic mode to process messages. (2) Recipients' reactance proneness was discovered to first affect their perceived threat and perceived efficacy, which, in turn, influenced their attitudes and behavioral intention regarding the prevention of microplastic pollution, demonstrating that individual differences mediate fear-appeal messages to affect persuasive outcomes. (3) Perceived threat was important for fear-appeal messages to obtain persuasive outcomes.


A camera under general motions allows the fixed geometric entities: the absolute conic and the plane at infinity to be determined uniquely for self-calibration. For turntable motions, these two geometric entities cannot be determined, and will lead to ambiguities in 3D reconstruction. However, some fixed points and lines will arise as a result of turntable motions, and can be related to the calibration matrix. We have made two contributions for self-calibration under turntable motion. First, a detailed theoretical analysis of degeneracy is given, and the degrees of the resulting ambiguities are deduced. Second, from some constraints on the physical characteristics of the camera the ambiguities can be removed up to a single parameter family. Experiments on real turntable image sequences verified our findings which are used also to perform a 3D reconstruction.


Anastomotic aneurysms represent late complications of reconstructive surgery. They are preferably localized in the inguinal area. From 1975 to 1989 forty patients were operated for 50 infrainguinal anastomotic aneurysms (46 inguinal, 4 popliteal). They developed after a mean time interval of 60.6 months. In nine cases bilateral inguinal aneurysms occurred. Three of the inguinal aneurysms were infected. The inguinal aneurysms were usually treated by total excision followed by prosthetic graft interposition with distal anastomosis to the deep femoral artery. If the superficial femoral artery was patent, it was inserted into the interposed graft. The infected aneurysms were treated with aseptic extra-anatomic bypass procedures. Five patients died after the operation. In one case a transmetatarsal amputation had to be performed and in one case a relapsing aneurysm occurred after three years. In general surgical repair of anastomotic aneurysms following vascular reconstructions should be performed before complications occur. In the inguinal area this can be performed with low local and general risk and with good longterm results.


The aim of this research was the evaluation of food grain quality-related traits in a collection of maize populations of different origins, currently used in the framework of breeding and genetic programs. A total of 1245 maize samples were scanned by near-infrared (NIR) spectroscopy to develop calibration equations to evaluate the content of crude protein, crude lipid, starch, and floatation area. The performances of the NIR equations developed in our study were assessed using the determination coefficient of cross-validation r(2) (ranging from 0.66 to 0.91) and the ratio of performance deviation (1.71-3.31) in flour starch and grain crude protein, respectively. Among the genotypes considered, 93 landraces belonging to the European Union Maize Landraces Core Collection (EUMLCC) were also analyzed for their content of lutein, zeaxanthin, and total carotenoids. Among the populations of the collection, several accessions, interesting from a nutritional point of view, were identified: VA25, VA158, VA282, VA284, VA285, VA567, VA572, VA814, VA950, VA1057, and VA1179. They showed protein and lipid contents ranging between 12.52 and 15.16% and 5.26 and 7.17%. The range of variation observed for antioxidants in the EUMLCC was quite large. Lutein varied between 1.03 and 21.00 mg kg(-1) dm, zeaxanthin varied between 0.01 and 35.00 mg kg(-1) dm, and total carotenoids ranged from 1.09 to 61.10 mg kg(-1) dm. Recently, a single cross-hybrid was developed from the ITA0370005 population; this hybrid had a high carotenoids content and is currently being used by the Italian food industry.


The authors examined how stability/change in working alliance predicted subsequent symptoms, and how stability/change in symptoms predicted subsequent alliance in a sample of 188 adult clients with 44 doctoral student therapists over the course of 893 eight-session time periods of individual psychodynamic psychotherapy. Clients completed the Working Alliance Inventory-Short Revised (WAI-SR; Hatcher & Gillaspy, 2006) after every session and the Outcome Questionnaire-45 (OQ; Lambert et al., 1996) before intake and every eighth session. The authors used multilevel polynomial regression and response surface analyses to examine within-client effects. The authors found that change in the alliance across an eight-session period did not have an immediate temporal effect on symptoms, but when alliance was stable and stronger compared to other periods, subsequent symptoms were lower. Similarly, change in symptoms across an eight-session period did not have an immediate temporal effect on alliance, but when symptoms were stable and lower compared to other periods, subsequent alliance was stronger. These results suggest that sustained improvements in the alliance contribute to subsequent symptom improvements, and vice versa. The authors conclude that it is important to work to improve and maintain improvements in the working alliance and symptoms. Limitations and future directions are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved).


The thermal deformation of a rectangular plate, subjected to an arbitrary symmetrical temperature distribution, is analyzed for the case where the edges of the plate are clamped in addition to the previous paper for the case of simple support. Taking the finite deformation into account, the fundamentel non-linear simultaneous partial differential equations for the thermoelastic problem are derived from the variational principle and are solved, and it is shown that, if there exists the temperature gradient through the thickness of the plate as seen in the aerodynamic heating, the plate starts to deflect at the moment of heating and does not exhibit the buckling phenomenon according to the mode of temperature distribution and the boundary conditions.Some numerical examples are given i) for the case where the temperature distribution through the thickness is specified as linear, and ii) for the case of instantaneous heating where the temperature distribution through the thickness is a function of time, and then some discussions on the analytical results are given.


Acanthamoeba keratitis seems to be associated with wearing contact lenses. As controls, we surveyed contact lens wearers without keratitis. Contact lens solutions of 93 persons were examined in order to identify risk factors for contamination by Acanthamoeba. Therefore, the contact lens disinfection system and storage schedules were studied in each case. Acanthamoeba organisms were isolated from 4 specimens (4.3%). The incidence of Acanthamoeba was higher in specimens of soft contact lens solution than in those of hard contact lens solution, and all the Acanthamoeba positive cases had been using tap water.


The Bolivian monthly index of economic activity along with ARMA models are used in an attempt to graph and measure the impact of Covid's pandemic on the Bolivian economy. The accumulated difference between the observed and counterfactual values show an overall 12.6% loss of economic activity in the 10 months from February to November 2020 of the first Covid wave, with a tilted W-shape short-run recovery just before the beginning of the second wave in December 2020. Breakdown into the twelve Bolivian economic sectors show wide heterogeneity in depth of impact and speeds of recovery during the same period.


A capacitive approach has been employed to develop a novel method to determine phospholipase activity. The sensing electrodes have a structure like Au/S(CH(2))(17)CH(3)/substrate/electrolyte. Hydrolysis of the substrate, mediated by phospholipase A(2), leads to the formation of water-soluble products from the insoluble substrate. This results in desorption of these products into aqueous phase and corresponding increase of the electrode capacitance. The requirement of high water solubility of the reaction products can be achieved in two ways. In the first, short-chain phospholipids are used as the substrate, in which case, water-soluble products are formed and no additional reagents are required to promote desorption of these products. The sensors prepared by this strategy provide sensitive qualitative detection of phospholipases. The second way is based on the use of a water-soluble acceptor (for example, β-cyclodextrin) to solubilize the products of hydrolysis. It allows semiquantitative detection of phospholipase activity toward long-chain natural substrates. The reaction kinetics for this case was found to be monoexponential and linearly dependent on the phospholipase concentration. The detection limit of this method, as tested with phospholipase A(2) from bee venom and soy bean lecithin as the substrate, is ∼0.5 ng/mL (500 μunits/mL).


In this report we demonstrate that labile intramolecular N→B-Lewis pair formation can serve to tailor the properties of π-conjugated electronic materials. A series of boranes has been prepared by copper-catalyzed 1,3-dipolar azide–alkyne 'click'-cycloaddition with a bifunctional borane (B2-H), which allowed the introduction of electronically varied aryl-substituents on the triazole ring (p-MeOPh, p-MePh, p-F3CPh), and also the preparation of a polymer (PTrz) with number-average molecular weight Mn = 7.2 kDa (PDI = 2.1, DPn ≈ 8.2). The optical and electrochemical properties of the boranes have been investigated in detail, and complemented by DFT calculations and anion binding studies. 11B NMR and dynamic 1H NMR show that the N→B-coordination persists in solution but is comparatively weak, and the boranes undergo rapid thermal exchange between closed, N→B-coordinated and open, non-coordinated conformers. UV-vis-absorption spectra exhibit only a minor impact of the derivatization, while fluorescence measurements show a direct correlation between the peripheral substituents and the observed Stokes shifts (3200 to 10 000 cm−1), fluorescence lifetimes (τ = 23–11 ns) and quantum yields (φ = 17.3–6.4%). Titration with cyanide shows that the strength of the N→B-bond can be incrementally tuned by variation of the peripheral substituents, to allow for direct binding of cyanide to boron.


Background: Intestinal parasitic infections are the most common infections in the developing world. Globally, out of the 1.5 billion annual cases of diarrhea, about 70% or 1.05 billion cases are thought to be caused by biological contamination of food. In Ethiopia, due to poor environmental sanitation, low awareness about personal hygiene, lack of pure potable water, and improper faecal disposal, intestinal parasitic infections are highly prevalent. Thus, the aim of this study was to determine the prevalence and associated factors of intestinal parasitosis among food handlers working in food and drinking establishments in Ginnir town, southeast, Ethiopia.Methods: Cross-sectional study design was employed from May 1 to May 29, 2014 in food and drinking establishments in Ginnir town. A total of 348 food handlers were enrolled and stool specimens were collected, and examined using direct saline and formol-ether concentration methods. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis was performed. A P-value <0.05 was considered as an indicator of statistical significance.Results: The overall prevalence of intestinal parasitosis among food handlers was 48/348 (13.8%) [95%, CI=6.8-20.6]. Entamoeba histolytica/dispar 23/348 (6.6%) followed by Giardia lamblia 16/348 (4.6%), Ascaris lumbricoides 7/348 (2.0%) and Strongyloides stercolaris 2/348 (0.6%) were the detected parasites. Moreover, amongst positives for intestinal parasites, comparable proportions of parasites were detected in males (52%) and females (48%). Habit of eating raw/under cooked vegetables (p=0.00; aOR=2.60; 95%, CI=1.94-8.67), hand washing habit before eating (p=0.03; aOR=1.22; 95%, CI=1.01-3.89), hand washing habit after visiting toilet (p=0.01; aOR=2.85; 95%, CI=2.06-8.31), hand washing habit before food preparation (p=0.02; aOR=1.85; 95%, CI=1.27-4.34) and poor personal hygiene (p=0.00; aOR=3.39; 95%, CI=1.51-10.23) were factors associated with intestinal parasitic infections.Conclusions: The prevalence of intestinal parasitosis among food handlers was relatively low. Though the prevalence was low; regular medical check-up, training and health education on safe food handling and processing should be given to all food handlers.


The high number of marriages and divorces in Indonesia, particularly in the DKI Jakarta area, is caused by the lack of readiness to marry both physically, mentally, and socially to be together in carrying out all of the family's obligations. The purpose of this research is to find out the comparison of knowledge and effectiveness between the use of audio-visual media and lectures on the level of knowledge of young adults about family preparation. This research uses the quasi-experimental method with a cross-sectional design. The population of this study is "Karang Taruna" in the Cipayung District, East Jakarta. The determination of sample size was calculated using a hypothetical test formula of two proportions: the determination of samples with purposive sampling and 33 respondents for audiovisual media and 33 respondents for lectures. The data were tested with statistical tests such as paired t-tests and sample t-tests using the SPSS programme. The results of the study show that there is an influence between audio-visual and lecture methods in family planning on the knowledge of young or early adults, with the method of lectures (p = 0.01) and audio-visual (p = 0.00). There are also significant differences in knowledge between lecture methods and audiovisual methods towards improving young or early adult knowledge about family planning, with a P value of 0.000. The differences in effectiveness have been found for the value of audio-visuals (M value = 41.612 and P value =.001), while the value of lectures is M value = 19,550 and P value =.001. From the result above, it can be concluded that audio-visual have higher effectiveness compared to lectures.


Six monoazo metal complex dyes (VIII a-c and IX a-c) were derived from 5-aryl.azo-4-hydroxy-2-phenylpyridazine-3-ones (VI and VII) respectively and their dyeing performance on wool fibre s was assessed. The compounds VI and VII were obtained by the diazoti sati on of 5-amino-4-chloro-2-phenylpyridazin-3-one (IV) and its coupling with gamma acid and schaffer's acid re spectively . The key compound IV was prepared by the ammonolysis of 4.5-dichloro-2-phenylpyridazin-3-one (III) which was obtained by the condensation of phenylhydrazin (I) and mucochloric acid (II). The metal complex dyes when applied on wool fibres gave reddish violet to brown shades with excellent pi ck-up, light fastness and w~sh fastness .


The satellite system of M31 is the next closest satellite system to our own, and is well within reach of current generations of ground-based instrumentation. We have conducted a survey of this system with the Isaac Newton Telescope Wide Field Camera, particularly focussing on the seven dwarf spheroidal companions, and derived homogeneous, fundamental information for them. This reveals the presence of severe tidal distortion and multiple structural components in some systems. In addition, a comparison of the M31 dwarf spheroidals to their Galactic counterparts shows that the M31 dwarf spheroidals have scale radii generally twice as large as the Galactic dwarfs, suggesting that the tidal field of M31 may be substantially weaker than that for the Galaxy. A Keck/DEIMOS study of the newly discovered satellite And IX suggests that this galaxy has an anomalously large metallicity for its luminosity, and shows it to be strongly dark matter dominated.


Calcium loss and muscle atrophy are two of the main metabolic changes experienced by astronauts and crew members during exposure to microgravity in space. For long-term exposure to space it is crucial to understand the underlying mechanisms for altered physiological functions. Fundamental occurrences in cell biology which are likely to depend on gravity include cytoskeletal dynamics, chromatin and centrosome cycling, and ion immobilization. These events can be studied during fertilization and embryogenesis within invertebrate systems. We have chosen the sea urchin system to study the effects of microgravity on cytoskeletal processes and calcium metabolism during fertilization, cell division, development, and embryogenesis. Experiments during an aircraft parabolic flight (KC-135) demonstrated: (1) the viability of sea urchin eggs prior to fertilization, (2) the suitability of our specimen containment system, (3) the feasibility of fertilization in a reduced gravity environment (which was achieved during 25 seconds of reduced gravity under parabolic flight conditions). Two newly developed pieces of spaceflight hardware made further investigations possible on a spaceflight (STS-77); (1) the Aquatic Research Facility (ARF), and (2) the Fertilization Syringe Unit (FSU). The Canadian Space Agency developed ARF to conduct aquatic spaceflight experiments requiring controlled conditions of temperature, humidity, illumination, and fixation at predetermined time points. It contained a control centrifuge which simulated the 1 g environment of earth during spaceflight. The FSU was developed at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) by the Bionetics Corporation specifically to enable the crew to perform sea urchin fertilization operations in space.


of it means — however, if the reader has previously failed to understand these terms, I doubt that the discussion will help. It may help newcomers. On the other hand, some things are misstated here including "[t]he closer to ±1, the closer to a perfect linear relationship." However, it is easy to obtain a high correlation (over .8) with a nonlinear relationship (Anscombe 1973; Analytical Methods Committee 1988). Finally, Chapter 7 provides help on searching for information. Each chapter ends with an "on your own" section of exercises—I found many of these confusing. The author's website for this book, checked on 10/11/06, is still in the very early stages; most of the material was written before the book. There is no section on correction of errors. The author states that "I plan to add resources when I have time, such as answers to On your Own exercises and a bibliography with live links to the free full text when available." Notwithstanding my negative comments and tone above, there are valuable points here; they are, however, generally too hard to find and some of them are undercut by the author's misguided attempt to be "fair." If the author were to clean up the typographical errors and omissions and highlight the main points, the result would be a much better book.


Intel's SGX architecture allows cloud clients to create enclaves, whose contents are cryptographically protected by the hardware even from the cloud provider. While this feature protects the confidentiality and integrity of the client's enclave content, it also means that enclave content is completely opaque to the cloud provider. Thus, the cloud provider is unable to enforce policy compliance on enclaves. In this paper, we introduce EnGarde, a system that allows cloud providers to ensure SLA compliance on enclave content. In EnGarde, cloud providers and clients mutually agree upon a set of policies that the client's enclave content must satisfy. EnGarde executes when the client provisions the enclave, ensuring that only policy-compliant content is loaded into the enclave. EnGarde is able to achieve its goals without compromising the security guarantees offered by the SGX, and imposes no runtime overhead on the execution of enclave code. We have demonstrated the utility of EnGarde by using it to enforce a variety of security policies on enclave content.


The paper demonstrates that verification techniques developed for relatively large, synchronous circuits can be applied to speed-independent, self-timed circuits. Local formulas are introduced which provide a natural way to specify the input/output behaviour of data-path circuits. The validity of a local formula is independent of the order in which the operations occur in a speed-independent circuit. The approach is demonstrated with the verification of a FIFO and a vector multiplier chip.


Experimental results obtained with endosplenic injection of a new P32 labelled colloidal complex are reported. The measurement of the radioactivity, the autoradiohistography and the scintillografic finding obtained by a double labelling with P32 and Cr51 showed a high fixation and a homogeneous distribution of the radiocolloid within the liver. The application of the described method in the clinical field is suggested.


Five universities have teamed up to develop remote testing and measurement (RTM) strategies and devices to interconnect power system laboratories for advanced, non-destructive testing and measurement of power systems. The aim is to create a large-scale power system laboratory that is virtually connected via the Internet and the RTMs. Through such technology, methodologies for testing and debugging shipboard power systems can be achieved and repeated. Several experiments can be developed utilizing a mix of hardware and software capabilities at each individual university. This paper highlights our initial efforts in the areas of collaboration, modeling, communications and software implementations.


Understanding sound propagation in a shallow ocean environment is complicated but important for naval technologies. Some researchers are currently applying a variety of supervised deep learning methods, such as convolution neural networks, for either source localization or seabed classification. One of the costs of supervised learning is the requirement for large amounts of labeled data. In the present study, unlabeled data are used to train a Transformer model. Transformer-based models have demonstrated ability for predicting sequential data; examples are Google's BERT and OpenAI's GPT-3. In our technique, we train a transformer-based model in a twopart process. First, self-supervised learning is implemented using synthetic ship spectrograms for various shallow ocean environments. The model is trained as an encoder/decoder to perform sequence-to-sequence prediction. Second, the transformer model is fine-tuned to predict the source location and seabed class from a small set of labeled synthetic samples. Data samples measured during the Seabed Characterization Experiment 2017 are utilized as a testing dataset. The advantages of this approach are the ability to train a model with a larger variety of data, including the use of unlabeled data and data of variable input length.


Leprosy is one of the major neglected diseases in Ethiopia. The presence of the disease was detected several years ago, and the prevalence was decreased from its higher level (19.8% per 10,000 populations) in 1983 to its lower level (0.5% per 10,000 populations) in 2012 due to the introduction of the Multi-Drug Therapy (MDT) and the decentralization of the treatment centers. The prevalence has been seen with high disparity across the fourteen regions in the country, but the major contributors for the national prevalence were Oromiya, Amhara, and SNNP (Southern Nations Nationality and People) respectively. Even if, the prevalence in the country dropped to the lower stage and met the WHO goal (1case per 10,000 Populations) the occurrence of new cases remains a challenge. Access to the recently published articles on the specific topic and the narrowed scope of the available published works were a challenge to this review. Further studies to indicate the epidemiological factors of the emerging cases, and cooperation between the national and regional governments for integrated surveillance and staffs training were suggested mainly for the betterment control and prevention of the diseases across the country.


Evaluating distance to collision for robot manipulators is useful for assessing the feasibility of a robot configuration or for defining safe robot motion in unpredictable environments. However, distance estimation is a time-consuming operation, and the sensors involved in measuring the distance are always noisy. A challenge thus exists in evaluating the expected distance to collision for safer robot control and planning. In this work, we propose the use of Gaussian process (GP) regression and the forward kinematics (FK) kernel (a similarity function for robot manipulators) to efficiently and accurately estimate distance to collision. We show that the GP model with the FK kernel achieves almost 70 times faster distance evaluations compared to a standard geometric technique, and up to 18 times more accurate evaluations compared to other regression models, even when the GP is trained on noisy distance measurements. We employ this technique in trajectory optimization tasks and observe 13 times faster optimization than with the noise-free geometric approach yet obtain similar optimized motion plans. We also propose a confidence-based hybrid model that uses model-based predictions in regions of high confidence and switches to a more expensive sensor-based approach in other areas, and we demonstrate the usefulness of this hybrid model in an application involving reaching into a narrow passage.


Abstract. In aquatic ecosystems, the single station diel oxygen model assumes constant ecosystem respiration and aeration rate (notwithstanding temperature effects) over the course of a single night. This assumption was tested for four small streams representing two geologies (Chalk and Greensand) over a one year period, by examining the behaviour of the night-time dissolved oxygen (DO) saturation deficit at points where change in DO is zero. This was then used as a proxy for the ratio of aerobic ecosystem respiration (R) to the aeration rate constant (k) and compared with the corresponding ratio (the regression quotient) obtained from night-time regression analysis (Hornberger and Kelly, 1975). For two streams (one Chalk and one Greensand), the regression quotient persistently underestimated the observed DO deficit. These two streams showed similar timing patterns of oxygen dynamics with the point of minimum DO occurring relatively quickly after sunset in spring and early summer, although the two Chalk streams were more similar to one another in terms of DO magnitudes. Therefore, characterisation of a Chalk stream is not just dependent on geology. Comparisons between different streams using the single station model on the presumption that it is equally appropriate in all cases may lead to misleading conclusions.


We consider the minimal supersymmetric extension of the Standard Model allowing both Dirac and Majorana gauginos. The Dirac masses are obtained by pairing up extra chiral multiplets: a singlet S for U(1)Y, a triplet T for SU(2)w and an octet Og for SU(3)c with the respective gauginos. The electroweak symmetry breaking sector is modified by the couplings of the new fields S and T to the Higgs doublets. We discuss two limits: i) both the adjoint scalars are decoupled with the main effect being the modification of the Higgs quartic coupling; ii) the singlet remaining light, and due to its direct coupling to sfermions, providing a new contribution to the soft masses and inducing new decay/production channels. We discuss the LSP in this scenario; after mentioning the possibility that it may be a Dirac gravitino, we focus on the case where it is identified with the lightest neutralino, and exhibit particular values of the parameter space where the relic density is in agreement with WMAP data. This is illustrated for different scenarios where the LSP is either a bino (in which case it can be a Dirac fermion) or bino-higgsino/wino mixtures. We also point out in each case the peculiarity of the model with respect to dark matter detection experiments.


There are applied chemical substances against the helminthes which parasitize in sheep. These massively applied ant-helminthes are excreted from the organism late along with exerting an influence of 1 direction on the organism of an animal that it sometimes has a cumulative effect on them. We investigated the antihelminthic effect of the plants (clover, absinth) which influence animals in a complex way, are excreted from the organism soon and spread widely in Autonomous Republic. Trifolium pretense L. which we use in our experiences and constitutes the basis of fodder of animals, is perennial herbs-with three leaves and its blossoms are collected in the head blossom group. Artemisia absinthum is mainly used in the treatment of cestodoses by being known as antihelminthic plant since ancient times. ln our research work we investigated the antihelminthic effects and economic efficiencies of clover and absinth in the condition of in vitro and in vivo , at the same time, by grazing the animals which were naturally infected with the helminthes, in the area with the same plants. Plants thoroughly set animals free from parasites by having antihelminthic effect in the high level in the form of separate and together grazing.


ABSTRACT IMPACT: This work may provide new targets for vaccine and immunotherapeutic development against MRSA infections. OBJECTIVES/GOALS: Staphylococcus aureus is the leading cause of skin and skin structure infection (SSSI), a primary portal of entry for invasive infection. Patients with SA SSSI have a high 1-year recurrence. We have shown innate memory protects mice against SA SSSI. The goal of this project is to determine epigenetic mechanisms of protective memory against SA SSSI. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: We have shown macrophages (Mf) afford protective memory against recurrent SA SSSI in mice. Priming by prior infection reduced skin lesion size and MRSA burden, which correlated with increased Mf in abscesses and lymph nodes. Priming potentiated the opsonophagocytic killing of SA by bone-marrow derived Mf (BMDM) in vitro, and their adoptive transfer into naive skin afforded protective efficacy in vivo. Here, we investigated epigenetic mechanisms of anti-SA efficacy in BMDMs. BMDM from naive (uninfected) or primed (SA SSSI) wild-type C57Bl/6 mice were cultured ex vivo. DNA from BMDM groups were isolated and analyzed for methylation changes using reduced representation bisulfite sequencing (RRBS). Pathway analyses of methylation changes were determined with Panther. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Present findings indicate the protective memory afforded by BMDM was mediated by epigenetic modifications of the DNA. Using RRBS, we profiled differentially methylated regions (DMR) in DNA from naive vs. primed BMDM. Primed BMDM exhibited significantly different DMRs as compared to naive BMDM. Proximity to known genes were mapped using GREAT. Pathway analyses revealed DMRs predominant in genes integral to immune modulation, such as integrin signaling, cytokine/chemokine networks, and growth regulation. For example, SA-primed BMDM were hypermethylated proximate to GIMAP8 versus naive BMDM, suggesting repression of this protein. Gimap family ligands are small GTPase immune-associated proteins expressed in immune cells known to regulate macrophage lysosomal fusion during parasite infection. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF FINDINGS: These findings reveal epigenetic mechanisms of macrophage innate memory against recurrent MRSA infection. Functional testing of these genes in response to SA infection is needed to confirm their protective role. These insights may provide new targets for vaccine and immunotherapeutic development against MRSA.


Multilayer magnetic films were deposited by rf sputtering. A Cobalt layer was deposited first and then exposed to air. A Tantalum intermediate layer and a Permalloy top layer were then sputtered. The intermediate layer thickness was varied to study the effect of this thickness on exchange-coupling between the two ferromagnetic layers. Pinhole coupling was observed to occur at a Tantalum thickness of less than 50 A. This thickness is less than that reported for e-beam evaporated films. The interaction fields for exchange-coupled layers are also lower than those reported for e-beam evaporated films. A film with Permalloy as the bottom layer and Cobalt as the top layer and a Tantalum intermediate layer also exhibited pinhole coupling.


That the great cultures of the Near East influenced Mycenaean and Archaic Greek culture has been amply demonstrated by the archaeological record. But did this influence extend to Greek literature? And was it recognized by the ancient Greeks themselves? In this paper I answer these two questions in the affirmative after examining two passages from Homer's Iliad: Hera's identification of Oceanus and Tethys as the parents of the gods (14.201) and Poseidon's account of the division of the world through lot (15.189-193).The analysis of these passages is preceded by a methodological section on how literary parallels between these cultures can be evaluated.


A specter is haunting the workers of the world—the specter of globalization. In recent years the term globalization has been bandied about so much that its meaning seems self-evident. This globalization trend is discussed and accepted as readily as the law of gravity, but the notion itself is seldom called into question. For example, in his discussion paper entitled "A Framework for Economic Policy" Canada's Finance Minister Paul Martin notes three trends that we are told Canadian policy-makers must heed: (1) globalization; (2) the growth of the newly industrializing countries; and (3) the so-called information economy. The unquestioned assumption for Martin and others is that these trends are forces to which we must all adapt and adjust. But why? we should ask. This article can also be found at the Monthly Review website , where most recent articles are published in full. Click here to purchase a PDF version of this article at the Monthly Review website.


MicroRNAs are structural components of an epigenetic mechanism of posttranscriptional regulation of messenger RNA translation. Recently, there has been significant interest in the application of microRNA as a blood-based biomarker of underlying physiological conditions. Dyslipidemia is a complex, heterogeneous condition conferring substantially increased risk for cardiovascular disease. The purpose of this review is to describe the current body of knowledge on the role of microRNA regulation of lipoprotein metabolism in humans and to discuss relevant methodological and study design considerations. We highlight the potential roles for microRNA in gene-environment interactions.


In the paper the in∞uence of following factors: initial imperfections, shape and duration of pulse loading on the dynamic response of plate structures is presented. The efiect of material properties in the plastic range and the estimation of structure capacity to sustain dynamic pulse loadings based on difierent dynamic stability criteria is discussed as well.