It is possible that topographic constraints hide targets in ground target tracking. It is important that hidden targets are tracked effectively when they are invisible during hidden portions of their motion. In addition to that, existence of heavy clutter makes the problem even more challenging. To address this problem, an airborne GMTI radar with a VSIMM-PDAF tracker is considered. Traditional approaches make assumptions regarding the motion of the target during hidden modes, e.g., constant velocity assumption. However, in reality such assumptions do not model the true target behavior and the track is dropped if the assumption is not satisfied. To mitigate the target drop problem a new approach is presented in this paper. Firstly, a stop model is integrated into the VSIMM-PDAF algorithm. Using the flexibility of the stop model, then secondly a hide model is developed. The hide model enables the tracker to track the targets independent of the time spent and independent of the target velocity during the hidden mode. The root mean square position error and velocity error performances of the algorithm show that there exists a short recovery period in which there is a rise in error whenever the target becomes visible again and that tracking continues thereafter.


Among the secondary effects of the salts of Li+, which are widely used in psychiatric treatment, cardiac toxicity appears to be rare. The authors report the case history of a female of 24 years of age, with no previous cardiac history, who presented with Li+ intoxication and a supra-His atrio-ventricular block, followed by episodes of sinus arrest (or of sino-atrial block), accompanied by either a junctional rhythm or by periods of prolonged asystole. The results of the endocavitary electrocardiographic investigation are described. These cardiac effects are compared with the general findings reported in the literature; ECG modifications of the T wave are more common, but Li+ may cause other changes: sinus, atrial or ventricular arrhythmiás, disorders of AV conduction, and cardiomyopathies. The main modes of action which have been suggested are of interference with the other cations (K+, Na+, Ca++) in exchanges across membranes, and an effect on membrane adenyl-cyclase stimulated by catechol-amines.


Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) such as acetate accumulate in fermentative environments, inhibiting many types of bacteria. While it is known that cells accumulate SCFAs to high concentrations internally, the cause of SCFA toxicity is not understood. By forcing Escherichia coli cells to accumulate a variety of "useless metabolites", we establish via extensive 'omic analysis a metabolic sum rule, by which the accumulation of exogenous metabolites such as acetate forces the depletion of endogenous metabolites. The latter leads to bottlenecks in biosynthesis, manifested as a simple linear relation between useless metabolite accumulation and growth reduction. Guided by quantitative models, we show that acetate-stressed cells optimize growth by partially acidifying their own cytoplasm, which reduces acetate accumulation, restoring the endogenous metabolites as allowed by the sum rule.


Background Renal involvement in monoclonal gammopathies presents with different clinico-morphological patterns and can manifest at the onset or the late phase of hematological disease, or after chemotherapy. The spectrum is ever-expanding with advancements in diagnostic methods. Renal biopsy is needed for accurate diagnosis, as each of these patterns carries therapeutic and prognostic implications. Methods A total of 41 cases of monoclonal gammopathies were included in the study. Clinical, biochemical, and hematological details were obtained, and pathological variables were observed. Patients were followed till the maximum possible period, and treatment history and follow-up creatinine details were collected. Results The spectrum of renal biopsy lesions observed included light chain cast nephropathy (LCCN) n=19, amyloidosis n=11, monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition disease (MIDD) n=6, and proliferative glomerulonephritis with monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition (PGNMID) n=5; 10 of these cases can be categorized as monoclonal gammopathy of renal significance (MGRS). Acute kidney injury (AKI) (41%) is the predominant clinical presentation in general whereas the majority of amyloidosis cases presented with nephrotic and sub-nephrotic proteinuria. LCCN cases had high serum creatinine and calcium, positivity for M-spike, as well as a high FLC ratio, compared to the other types. Around 100% of LCCN and MIDD patients had myeloma and 100% of PGNMID cases had normal marrow. Conclusion More than three-fourths of patients were diagnosed with monoclonal gammopathies with biochemical and hematological workups after an initial kidney biopsy. The clinicopathological profile of these patients had a broad spectrum but there were still some consistent findings within the different types. A subgroup of patients (MGRS) had undetectable serum paraproteins but had monoclonal immunoglobulin deposition in the kidney.


Abstract. Aerosol-planetary boundary layer (PBL) interaction has been proposed as a key mechanism for stabilizing the atmosphere and exacerbating surface air pollution. Although the understanding of this process has progressed enormously, its magnitude and impact remain uncertain and vary widely concerning aerosol types, vertical distributions, synoptic conditions, etc. In this study, our primary interest is to distinguish the aerosol-PBL interaction of absorbing and scattering aerosols under contrasting synoptic patterns and aerosol vertical distributions. Detailed in-situ aircraft (KingAir-350) measurements and online coupled model Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) simulations are explored over the North China Plain (NCP). Furthermore, a long-term PBL stability trend from 1980 to 2020 over the NCP is also investigated. The aircraft measurements and surface observations show that the surface air pollution over the Baoding City on 3 January is heavier than that on 4 January, 2020. In addition, the aerosols are restricted to the low layer on 3 January, whereas the aerosols mix more homogeneous upwards on 4 January. Thereupon, we focus on the two days with distinct synoptic circumstances, PBL stability, and aerosol vertical distributions over the NCP. According to the WRF-Chem modelling, the synoptic pattern over the Baoding City differs between the two days. The prevailing wind direction is opposite with a southwest wind on 3 January and a northeast wind on 4 January. The results indicate that the synoptic condition may affect the PBL thermal structure, thus affecting the aerosol vertical distribution. Additionally, the sensitive numerical experiments reveal that the light-absorbing and light-scattering aerosols have different effects on altering the PBL thermal structure. The inhibition effect of scattering aerosols on the PBL appears to be independent of the aerosol height distribution and solely depends on its concentration. However, aerosol-PBL feedback of absorbing aerosols is highly dependent on its vertical distribution. Our analysis highlights that we should principally concentrate on controlling the emissions of scattering aerosols under the stable stratification while cooperating to control the emissions of scattering and absorbing aerosols in an unstable stratification. Moreover, the long-term inter-annual variation in PBL stability shows a strong correlation with the East Asian Winter Monsoon, which seems to be valuable in determining which pollutants to target in different monsoon years and attaining more precise air pollution control. Based on the numerical simulations and observational constraints, a concept scheme description has been concluded to deepen our recognition of the interactions between thermodynamic stability and aerosols within the PBL over the NCP region.


Tissue necrosis at the injection site of enoxaparin is a rare adverse effect. Most of the reported clinical course of this necrosis is uneventful. Here we review a case of tissue necrosis that developed after use of enoxaparin and required debridement followed by reconstructive surgery. Until now, such a case has not been reported in the English-language literature. As enoxaparin is being used more often for prevention of deep vein thrombosis in patients who undergo arthroplasty surgery, awareness and recognition of this adverse event and careful supervision of all patients who receive this medication are essential.


Longline sampling (83 sets) supplemented with 6 pop-off archival transmitting (PAT) tag deployments were used to characterize vertical habitat use by Caribbean reef sharks Carcharhinus perezi at Glover's Reef atoll, Belize. Longline catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) in 2 shallow reef habitats (lagoon <18 m depth, fore-reef < 40 m depth) underwent significant nocturnal increases for sharks larger than 110 cm total length (TL), but not for smaller sharks. Nocturnal CPUE of small sharks appeared to increase in the lagoon and decrease on the fore-reef, suggestive of movements to avoid larger conspecifics. PAT tag deployments (7 to 20 d) indicate that large C. perezi generally increased the amount of time they spent in the upper 40 m of the water column during the night, and inhabited much greater depths and tolerated lower temperatures than previously described. The wide vertical (0 to 356 m) and temperature range (31 to 12.4°C) documented for this top-predator reveals ecologi- cal coupling of deep and shallow reef habitats and has implications for Marine Protected Area (MPA) design.


The estimation of the performance of a modern sailplane should be easy because of the relative simplicity of the sailplane configuration and the generally good quality of aerodynamic surfaces used. Evaluation of the glide perfornance of a sailplane essentially consists of an estimation of drag as a function of forward speed. In this paper, the parameters contributing to drag have been separated out. Some of these are easy to evaluate on theoretical grounds, while others, such as wing-body interference drag for exanple, are very uncertain. Fortunately, the largest contributions to drag are the ones that can be evaluated with good accuracy, and if average values based on analysis of the performance of known sailplanes are assumed for the more uncertain parameters, quite good glide polars can be obtained for any sailplane with not much more input data than is usually given in sales promotion literature. One of the advantages of the drag equation presented here is that it identifies the parameters contributing to drag in such a way that the relative importance of each of these is shown. This equation is particularly useful in the analysis of flight test results because it makes it possible to spot the most likely sources of excess drag if the perfomance is not as good as it should be. An analysis of the published flight test data for a number of modern sailplanes is presented in order to establish average values for the nore uncertain parameters and to show the probable scatter in value of these parameters to be expected. Some further examples of the analysis of flight test data are given.


Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-cellulose nanofibers nanocomposite were prepared by an immersion precipitation method using various nanofiber contents. Solvent exchange was used to disperse the cellulose nanofibers in dimethylacetamide (DMAc) so that they could be easily mixed with PMMA solution. Atomic force microscopy images show that the thickness of the nanofibers dispersed in DMAc is around 2–3 nm. The nanocomposites obtained were translucent. The thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analyses show that with increasing cellulose nanofiber content the thermal stability and the glass transition temperature (Tg) of polymer matrix shift to higher temperature. The tensile modulus and strength increased with increasing nanofiber content. Dynamic mechanical analysis profiles show that the presence of cellulose nanofibers affects the storage modulus of PMMA nanocomposites over the whole range of temperatures studied. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Appl. Polym. Sci., 2013


Although the frequency of use for community facilities in rural villages is growing as well as the importance of the facilities for urban-rural exchange is being highlighted, study on spatial location-analysis of the facilities for such multi-purpose is not so much. This study aims to find the spatial distribution forms of community facilities in rural villages such as community center and rural-pocket park through location-analysis, in order to provide available data for selecting location in the future. As the study area, Sojeong-myeon, Sejong Special City was selected. This study conducted GIS analysis for criteria of the location-evaluation model developed in this study. This study introduced the concept of time-distance for accessibility analysis. This paper also used linear-consecutive scoring method(LCSM) as a scoring method of criteria and Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) method for weighting values of criteria. The application results showed that the new model can generate the intensity of community facilities according to spatial distribution and accessibility from cities to the facilities.


The TIFY gene family is a plant-specific gene family encoding a group of proteins characterized by its namesake, the conservative TIFY domain and members can be organized into four subfamilies: ZML, TIFY, PPD and JAZ (Jasmonate ZIM-domain protein) by presence of additional conserved domains. The TIFY gene family is intensively explored in several model and agriculturally important crop species and here, yet the composition of the TIFY family of maize has remained unresolved. This study increases the number of maize TIFY family members known by 40%, bringing the total to 47 including 38 JAZ, 5 TIFY, and 4 ZML genes. The majority of the newly identified genes were belonging to the JAZ subfamily, six of which had aberrant TIFY domains, suggesting loss JAZ-JAZ or JAZ-NINJA interactions. Six JAZ genes were found to have truncated Jas domain or an altered degron motif, suggesting resistance to classical JAZ degradation. In addition, seven membranes were found to have an LxLxL-type EAR motif which allows them to recruit TPL/TPP co-repressors directly without association to NINJA. Expression analysis revealed that ZmJAZ14 was specifically expressed in the seeds and ZmJAZ19 and 22 in the anthers, while the majority of other ZmJAZs were generally highly expressed across diverse tissue types. Additionally, ZmJAZ genes were highly responsive to wounding and JA treatment. This study provides a comprehensive update of the maize TIFY/JAZ gene family paving the way for functional, physiological, and ecological analysis.


Halide perovskite semiconductors find use in a broad range of optoelectronic applications including photovoltaic solar cells and light‐emitting diodes. In such devices the semiconductor is sandwiched in between interlayers for charge transport, extraction, or injection. When it comes to hole transport layers, the conducting polymer PEDOT:PSS has become an ubiquitous material. The halide perovskite thin film is commonly obtained by crystallization of precursors using solution processing on top of PEDOT:PSS. It is demonstrated here that such a widely spread technique is actually affecting the electrical properties of the underlying conducting polymer. The halide perovskite layer and precursors are drastically doping the PEDOT:PSS, its conductivity being increased by two orders of magnitude from 0.2 to 20 S cm−1. The depth of penetration of halide dopants is determined to be higher than 150 nm, superior to the usual thickness of PEDOT:PSS films. This phenomenon has important impact on diode leakage currents, on emission patterns of perovskite LEDs and on overestimated photocurrent density in perovskite solar cells embedding the PEDOT:PSS interlayer.


Highly maneuverable target tracking under glint noise and nonlinear uncertainties during course changes and terminal maneuvers has been solved suboptimally for many years via the interacting multiple model algorithm with the use of the Kalman filter (KF), unscented Kalman filter, and the extended Kalman filter (EKF). Also, nonlinear KFs such as the cubature Kalman filter have been proposed to improve nonlinear tracking without being able to filter out glint noise. To this end, the particle filter and some KF based on variational Bayesian approach have been proposed with very good results in filtering out glint noise. Nonetheless, it is difficult for state-of-the-art methods to achieve efficient filtering of glint noise and nonlinear tracking at the same time. On the other hand, robust exact differentiators, based on the super-twisting algorithm, have been used for many years in output-feedback control and state observation in order to obtain the derivatives of an input signal with theoretical finite-time exactness. However, their potential for target tracking applications has not been explored sufficiently. In this article, a uniform robust exact filtering differentiator with intrapulse median filtering is proposed to filter out glint noise at the sliding manifold, while offering nonlinear tracking robustness via high-degree super-twisting terms outside the sliding manifold. Numerical simulations comparing the proposed solution to other state-of-the-art methods were conducted, showing promising results.


PurposeConstruction defects in residential buildings are causing significant impacts both on consumers and the industry. As a consequence, several countries have established new home warranty schemes. However, designing a public policy for domestic building warranties can become a difficult task. In fact, many of these programs in the past have failed, collapsed or gone bankrupt. Therefore, the purpose of the current research is to provide a systematic comparative representation of various active programs internationally.Design/methodology/approachThe methodology relied on a multiple-case study research design. The case selection covered a total of nine jurisdictions with compulsory home warranty programs. Those included Japan, France, United Kingdom, three provinces in Canada (Ontario, British Columbia and Alberta), and three states in Australia (New South Wales, Victoria and Queensland). The study applied a data collection protocol to gather all the evidence in a replicable manner for each individual case. Subsequently, a cross-case analysis was conducted to identify similarities and variations between programs.FindingsThe findings unveiled institutional practices that aimed to resolve, compensate, or rectify defects in residential constructions within these countries. The review mostly suggested that every home warranty program presents certain unique characteristics. At the end, this paper proposed an analytical illustration representing the diversification of components adopted by each jurisdiction.Originality/valueNowadays, there is still not a consensus within the academic community on what is an optimal solution when conceiving a new home warranty program. Hence, the current study aims to fill this knowledge gap by presenting the plurality of methods employed by several countries. This paper seeks to help policy makers and industry leaders to improve their home warranty scheme based on awareness derived from observations and analyses of what has been accomplished elsewhere in the world.


ABSTRACT:Although quantitative reasoning (QR) is central to general education, many college students lack fundamental numeracy skills. In response, The City University of New York established a QR faculty development program that trained instructors across the disciplines through teaching exercises, guided discussions, hands-on activities, the development of instructional/assessment materials, and feedback from mentors and peers. Ten cohorts, 2010–2019, responded to surveys that evaluated their motives for participating and the extent to which they felt their goals were met. Faculty joined the program due to factors including their concern for students, their commitment to QR instruction, and their desire to build professional networks. Program completers reported a better understanding of QR, a greater commitment to QR instruction, increased awareness of tools and techniques (e.g., progressive pedagogies, active learning and constructivist approaches), a clearer sense of students' needs, a commitment to assessment, and strong engagement with CUNY's multidisciplinary, multi-institutional QR community. Overall, the perceived benefits of the program match participants' motives for joining. Respondents' comments suggest that faculty development for general education requires motivated participants, opportunities for networking, thoughtful discussion of readings and videos, modeling of best practices, a student-centered curriculum, sensitivity to participants' backgrounds, adequate incentives, effective mentorship, and institutional commitment.


Purpose: This study was done to examine the differences in the fluid volume deficit according to levels of depression and BMI. The results of this study will provide fundamental information for developing nursing interventions for hydration management. Method: The participants were 51 hospitalized elderly people in K province. Data were collected from September 4 to 30, in 2006. A structured questionnaire was used for the data collection. Frequencies, Percentages, Means, Standard Deviation, t-test, Mann-Whitney U test, and Kruskal-Wallis test were used with the SPSS Program to analyze the data. Results: There were significant differences in the fluid volume deficit between elders in the depressed and normal groups. Participants who had a BMI of less than 21㎏/㎡ had the highest fluid volume deficit. Conclusion: Water is an essential part of the human body although it is least studied in elderly people. Health care providers need to increase awareness of the importance of hydration status among hospitalized elderly people with chronic illnesses.


Background
Physical activity is bodily movement produced by skeletal muscle that requires energy expenditure and promotes health benefits. Appropriate physical activity is important in the prevention of cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, obesity, metabolic syndrome, breast cancer, and others.

Objective
The aim of the study was to compare the body composition of the selected group of women in relation to physical activity (group of sporting women (S) versus group of non-sporting women (N-S) using an InBody 230 instrument based on the principle of bioelectric impedance.

Material and Methods
The group consisted of 140 women (nS = 70 vs nN-S = 70) aged 20-63 years (the average age of women doing sport was 41.1 ± 11.9 and 42.3 ± 10.87 for non-sporting women). Anthropometric measurements were made using the InBody 230 (Biospace Co. Ltd., Seoul, Republic of Korea). The Lookin'Body 3.0 software to process the results was used. The collected data concerning the anthropometric measurements were evaluated statistically and graphically in Microsoft Office Excel 2010 (Los Angeles, CA, USA).

Results
The average value of BMI (Body Mass Index) of sporting women was 24.20 ± 3.54 kg.m-2 and non-sporting
women 27.30 ± 5.97 kg.m-2 (P<0.5). Average values of WHR (Waist hip ratio) were higher than 0.85 for both groups. Average BMR (Basal metabolic rate) values of women doing sport ranged from 1364-1585 kcal. The higher percentage of TBW (Total body water), ICW (Intracellular water) and ECW (Extracellular water) from the average body weight was achieved by the group of women doing sport, where the average TBW was 51.51% of body weight, ICW 31.93% and ECW 19.58% of body weight. Higher values of FFM (Fat free mass) were achieved by a group of sporting women. The average BFM in the group of women doing sport was 20.10 ± 6.73 kg, in the non-sporting group 27.60 ± 12.73 kg. The minimum PBF in the sporting group of women was 16.40% and a maximum of 43.30%; the minimum value in the group of women doing not sport was 19.30% and a maximum of 50.40% (p <0.01). The average VFA (Visceral fat area) in the group of women doing sport was 86.70 ± 28.79 cm2 and in the group of non-sporting women 113.90 ± 44.95 cm2 (p<0.01).

Conclusions
The results of the measurements show the positive influence of physical activity on components of body composition in all age categories. Physical activity, along with rational nutrition, should be part of a healthy lifestyle for each individual.


NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4), a major source of reactive oxygen species (ROS) production, has been increasingly reported to be involved in tumorigenesis and/or tumor progression, but limited data are available regarding the role of NOX4 in colorectal carcinoma (CRC). We retrieved six independent investigations from Oncomine database and found that NOX4 is highly expressed in CRC tissues compared with corresponding normal controls. Similar results were also found in clinical specimens at both mRNA and protein levels. Immunohistochemical analysis indicated that NOX4 overexpression was highly correlated with T classification, N classification, distant metastasis, and poor prognosis of CRC patients, which was also confirmed by GSE14333 and GSE17536 datasets from the Gene Expression Omnibus. Furthermore, we demonstrated that when NOX4 expression was knocked down by siRNAs, cell proliferation, cell-cycle and apoptosis, migration and invasion were significantly altered in CRC cell lines HCT116 and LOVO. Meanwhile, NOX4 promoted cancer cell proliferation and apoptosis, migration and invasion by regulating the expression of relevant genes. By these approaches we aim to elucidate NOX4 may be a reliable prognostic factor or therapeutic target in CRC.


Efficient light absorption and high energy of charge carriers of zinc cadmium sulfide (ZCS) make this semiconductor attractive for many photocatalytic reactions. Despite marked successes in shape-controlled synthesis of ZCS central to their photocatalytic performance, recombination of charge carriers as they migrate through the nanoscale particles result in losses of excitation energy markedly reducing photocatalytic activity of ZCS and other heterogeneous photocatalysts. Here we show that electrostatic asymmetry of single-crystalline ZCS with planar geometry assists charge separation and substantially increase the yield of photocatalytic reactions. The synthesized ZCS nanorods and nanoplates with identical chemical composition were found to have markedly different photocatalytic activity for evolution of hydrogen in water. Despite much smaller specific surface areas, the ~ 500 nm wide nanoplates displayed hydrogen evolution rate 12 times higher than the ~ 35 nm long nanorods also outperforming other ZCS photocatalysts. Experimental and computational data indicate that the homo and heterojunction-free ZCS nanoplates with continuous wurtzite lattice behave essentially as nanoscale dipoles. Electric-field-directed migration of charge carriers stimulates their localization on opposite parts of the nanoplates. Direct imaging of intraparticle electrical field using off-axis electron holography confirmed their electrostatic asymmetry. Polarization-enhanced charge separation provides a new pathway to efficient and stable photocatalysts for sustainable energy technologies.


This paper addresses an integrated P-D scheduling model arising in a three-stage supply chain, which involves three stages: a single vehicle after processing by different suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and consumers located in separate geographic regions. The contribution of this paper is to provide an integrated P-D scheduling under fixed departure times in supply chain with consideration of transportation fleet, integration of supplier-manufacturer. The mathematical model was proposed as a mixed integer programming and solved by CPLEX software in small-scale problems to validate the model. Given the complexity of the solution and NP-hard structure of the proposed problem, genetic algorithm was used to find quality solutions by MATLAB software. Finally, the results of research show that managers of the case study can deliver orders to customer in minimum time and cost. According to the results, the proposed algorithm (GA) has a desired level of quality in solving the P-D real problems.


This paper discusses the complex interactions between television and politics and the representation of social events on TV news programs. It is possible to confi rm from the coverage of the testimony of Deputy Roberto Jeff erson given to the Ethics Committee of the Brazil's Chamber of Deputies how the Jornal da Band , the Jornal da Record and the Jornal Nacional newscasts built their reports about the reaffi rmation of the deputy's denunciations and their repercussions. It is observed that each edition of the news programs is a daily version of social reality. While considering television news as an informative genre with unique characteristics and as the most striking information product of our times, this paper suggests that there is a hierarchy of values in the media discourses. Concepts and identities are built through the use of language and narrative techniques. We have identifi ed the responsibility of journalists and researchers in their role of opinion makers and/or articulators of the way Brazil and the world is seen.


Background and Objective: Suicide is a major public health concern in Thailand. The origin of suicidal behavior is multifactorial including genetic, neurobiological and psychosocial correlates. Lacking of specific and sensitive biological markers for suicide identification drives a search for new approaches that can identify biomarkers. The aim of this study was to determine the glycosylation profile of post-mortem brain tissue from suicide victims in order to identify new candidate biological patterns for identification of suicidal behavior. Methods: Post-mortem prefrontal cortex tissue (Brodmann area 10) was derived from control (accident victims) and suicide subjects. Fourteen lectins specific to five main glycan structures were used for screening. Protein lysate from brain tissues were subjected to electrophoresis and lectin blotting. Results and Conclusions: We found that UEA I, SBA and DBA showed significant differences in "glyco-fingerprints" patterns between the control and suicide subjects. These preliminary results suggest that glycosylation profile may be a potential biomarker for assessment the manner of death.


We propose a new efficient singlecast / multicast method for active optical access network using PLZT 10 nsec high-speed optical switches. The Active Optical Network, called ActiON, has been proposed using slot type switched optical network. Compared with Passive Optical Network (PON), ActiON can quadruplicate the number of subscribers (128 users) per OLT and double the maximum transmission distance (40 km) between OLT and ONUs. However, ActiON uses slot based switching method, so it is difficult to realize the multicast delivery. In this paper, we propose the efficient singlecast / multicast method for ActiON by using PLZT optical switch elements which are controlled as "distribution mode" like an optical splitter by applying mid-control voltage. In addition, a new efficient multicast slot allocation method is proposed and formulated as a linear programming problem. This formula develops the maximum number of users which is able to be connected by multicast and the minimum number of slots is used for multicast users.


The use of new media in political communication that is more today is the trend in the government, internet campaigns, online citizen political communication, as well as horizontal relations between citizens and other citizens, both in the form of virtual groups and in the context of political education between citizens. Ahead of the election, a number of educated community groups will emerge seeking to strengthen citizens' political awareness through online dissemination of political information targeting netizens. In the current era, various communication media are used to convey political messages including new media. What is the important role of social media in political communication? What is the role of social media in political communication? One of the roles of social media is to form personal branding as a person or a group. Personal branding is more about desires, skills, goals, and values. It is the result of one's hunt for fulfillment and meaning. Personal branding becomes ammunition in building the character of Gibran in this case because the authenticity of branding oneself helps minimize one's weaknesses. So it can be concluded that, first, Gibran's personal branding by utilizing all social media platforms has succeeded in building an image and generating public opinion that he is able to take advantage of advances in new media technology. Second, the COVID-19 pandemic and the presence of new media have drastically changed the political campaign system so campaign innovation in the COVID-19 pandemic era built Gibran's brand as a young politician. He was able to adapt to conditions and challenges in various conditions.


The incentive of providing protection of intellectual property has been analyzed, both for an emerging economy as well as for a developed economy. The optimal patent length and the optimal patent breadth within a country are found to be positively related to each other for a fixed structure of laws abroad. Moreover, a country can respond to stronger patent protection abroad by weakening its patent protection under certain circumstances and by strengthening its patent protection under other circumstances. These results depend upon the curvature of the R&D production function. Finally, we investigate the impact of an increase in the willingness-to-pay in the emerging economy and find conditions under which there is an improvement in both patent length as well as patent breadth in the emerging economy.


There is no consensus about the investigations which should be performed to detect occult malignancy after an episode of venous thromboembolism. The authors studied 204 patients (167 in-patients and 37 day hospital patients) with deep venous thrombosis or pulmonary embolism to determine the incidence of cancers detected during or after the thrombosis and the diagnostic value of abdomino-pelvic ultrasonography. Of the 167 in-patients, 18 (10.7%) had a known malignancy. After the initial investigations, 7 tumours were detected (4.6%). In all cases, clinical history and examination or chest X-ray were suggestive of neoplasia. Abdomino-pelvic ultrasonography did not detect any cases of occult malignancy. Of the 37 patients seen in the day hospital, only one had known malignant disease and no other cases were detected. After exclusion of the 26 patients with known malignancies or tumours discovered after the initial investigations, the remaining 178 patients were followed up for an average of 27 months. Four cancers (2.5%) were detected in this period. The authors conclude that the occurrence of deep venous thrombosis should lead to investigation for malignant disease: clinical examination, chest X-ray and laboratory tests are sufficient to orientate this investigation. Systematic abdominopelvic ultrasonography does not seem to be worthwhile in this indication.


The role of agricultural credit as a factor of production to facilitate economic growth and development as well as the need to appropriately channel credit to rural areas for economic development of the poor rural farmers cannot be over emphasized. Credit (capital) is viewed as more than just another resource such as labour, land, equipment and raw materials. The objective of this work is to examine agricultural financing in Nigeria and its implications on the growth of Nigerian economy using ordinary least square method and quantitative research design. The study observed that there is significant relationship between agricultural financing and the growth of Nigerian economy and that the level of loan repayment rate over the years has indeed negatively impacted significantly on the growth of Nigerian economy. The result has an important implication in terms of policies that will enhance economic growth through agricultural financing. We therefore recommend that, having seen that there is long-run relationship between NACRDB agricultural financing and economic growth in Nigeria. There is need to increase the level and size of NACRDB agricultural loan through the reduction of interest rate to allow for more economic development in the country.


Objective: To explore the effect of ambient fine particulate matters (PM(2.5)) exposure on nasal oxidative stress level in patients with allergic rhinitis (AR). Methods: A panel of sixty AR patients was recruited as subjects. Four repeated measurements were carried out from June 2017 to January 2018. Nasal irrigation solution was collected and examined for malondialdehyde (MDA) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Monitoring data of atmospheric pollutants and meteorological factors during measurement periods were also collected. Time activity pattern combined with micro-environment monitoring method was used to evaluate PM(2.5) exposure. Mixed effect model was applied to analyze the relationship between PM(2.5) exposure concentration and oxidative stress level. Results: 49 subjects accomplished the four repeated measurements, and the mean±SD of their age was (36.7±8.4) years old. The median of MDA and SOD in four measurement periods was 3.70, 3.70, 5.58, 6.24 nmol/ml, and 105.50, 102.50, 95.00, 96.50 U/ml. The concentration of PM(2.5) exposure in four measurement periods was (40.0±2.7), (41.5±2.5), (52.3±5.9) and (74.7±4.9) μg/m(3), respectively. Results of single pollutant mixed effect model analysis showed that 0-, 1-, 2-, 3-day lag concentrations of PM(2.5) was significantly positively associated with MDA, about β (95%CI) estimated as 0.24 (0.17, 0.30), 0.34 (0.27, 0.41), 0.32 (0.20, 0.44) and 0.33 (0.23, 0.43), respectively. 0-, 1-, 2-day concentrations of PM(2.5) was significantly negatively associated with SOD, about β (95%CI) estimated as -0.99 (-1.66, -0.31), -1.35 (-2.08, -0.62) and -0.94 (-1.80, -0.07), respectively. Multivariate analysis found that lag 1-day concentration of PM(2.5) was still significantly associated with MDA and SOD after controlling for temperature, age and other influencing factors. For a 10 μg/m(3) increase of PM(2.5) concentration, MDA increased 0.26 (95%CI: 0.18, 0.33) nmol/ml, and SOD decreased 0.87 (95%CI: 0.21, 1.53) U/ml. Conclusion: Our results suggested that PM(2.5) exposure can aggravate the nasal oxidative stress response of AR patients.


In this paper, nonlinear models are restricted to mean nonlinear parametric models. Several such models popular in time series econometrics are presented and some of their properties discussed. This includes two models based on universal approximators: the KolmogorovGabor polynomial model and two versions of a simple arti…cial neural network model. Techniques for generating multi-period forecasts from nonlinear models recursively are considered, and the direct (non-recursive) method for this purpose is mentioned as well. Forecasting with complex dynamic systems, albeit less frequently applied to economic forecasting problems, is brie‡y highlighted. A number of large published studies comparing macroeconomic forecasts obtained using di¤erent time series models are discussed, and the paper also contains a small simulation study comparing recursive and direct forecasts in a particular case where the data-generating process is a simple arti…cial neural network model. Suggestions for further reading conclude the paper. Acknowledgements. This research has been supported by the Danish National Research Foundation. A part of the work for this paper was carried out when the second author was visiting the School of Finance and Economics, University of Technology, Sydney, whose kind hospitality is gratefully acknowledged. JEL Classi…cation: C22, C45, C52, C53


To evaluate spontaneous GH secretion in terms of both secretory rate and pulsatile pattern in prepubertal children born small for gestational age (SGA) and still short (below -2 SD scores) at or after 2 yr of age, 24-h GH profiles were investigated in 106 such patients (75 boys and 31 girls; mean age, 7.3 +/- 0.3 yr), 14 of whom (10 boys and 4 girls) had Silver-Russell syndrome. The 24-h secretion of GH was compared with that in 2 reference populations of prepubertal children born at an appropriate size for gestational age (AGA): 179 short healthy children (143 boys and 36 girls; mean age, 10.2 +/- 0.2 yr) and 73 children of normal stature (54 boys and 19 girls; mean age, 10.4 +/- 0.3 yr). Plasma GH concentrations from the 24-h profiles were transformed to GH secretion rates by means of a deconvolution technique. For the SGA children, the mean GH secretion rate was 0.3 U/24 h, with a positive correlation with age, whereas for the reference groups it was higher, 0.5 U/24 h for the short children (P < 0.05) and 0.7 U/24 h for the children of normal stature (P < 0.001). Interestingly, the GH secretion rate correlated positively with weight for height, expressed as the SD score, in girls born SGA (r = 0.40; P < 0.05), whereas an inverse correlation was found for the short AGA girls (r = -0.44; P < 0.05). The mean baseline GH level in the SGA children correlated negatively with age (r = -0.53; P < 0.01), with the highest values found for children younger than 6 yr of age. On the average, 8 GH peaks/24-h period were found in all groups of children, and using Fourier time-series analyses, a similar rhythmicity was found in all groups. In the SGA group, the children younger than 6 yr of age had more GH peaks with lower amplitudes than the older children. It is concluded that children born SGA and still short at or after 2 yr of age spontaneously secrete less GH than healthy children of short stature born AGA. Both of these subgroups of prepubertal short children, however, secrete less GH than children of normal height. This finding might in part explain the growth failure in SGA children. Moreover, in the youngest SGA children (2-6 yr of age) there was another pattern of GH secretion, with a high basal GH level, a low peak amplitude, and a high peak frequency.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)


The photoreaction of 7-cis-rhodopsin derived from 7-cis-retinal and cattle opsin was studied by low-temperature spectrophotometry. Upon irradiation of 7-cis-rhodopsin at liquid nitrogen temperature (-190 degrees C) with blue light, its spectrum shifted to the longer wavelengths, indicating the formation of a bathoproduct. The bathoproduct thus formed was found to be identical with bathorhodopsin formed from rhodopsin in their spectroscopic, photochemical, and thermal properties. Therefore, we believe that the bathoproduct is, in fact, bathorhodopsin. The fact that 7-cis-rhodopsin can be readily converted to rhodopsin and to 9-cis-rhodopsin shows that the identical retinal binding site of opsin is involved in the three isomeric rhodopsins. These results appear to be consistent with the notion that the chromophore of bathorhodopsin is a twisted all-trans isomer, which is readily obtainable from the 7-cis, 9-cis, and 11-cis isomers.


Community-based programs are critical for locally targeted public health education and accessible service delivery. Deriving useful information from such programs is important for their own evaluation and improvement and may facilitate research collaboration with partners and experts. Here we present an interactive Web-based application designed for a community-based oral health outreach program called ElderSmile to demonstrate how data can be summarized, filtered, compared, and visualized by time and place to inform program planning, evaluation, and research. The ElderSmile TimeMap ( http://www.acsu.buffalo.edu/∼smetcalf/resources/timemap.html ) is an emergent product of a US National Institutes of Health-funded collaboration of knowledge sharing among multidisciplinary team members at the University at Buffalo, Columbia University, and New York University.


The New Research on Gender in Political Psychology Conference brought together new and experienced teachers with interests in gender politics. The conference session "Teaching Gender throughout the Curriculum" generated a great deal of discussion concerning the pedagogical practice of gender mainstreaming. Gender mainstreaming—the integration of gendered content into courses required for a major—was recognized as one of 11 recommendations for reforming the undergraduate political science curriculum in the 1991 APSA report "Liberal Learning an The Political Science Major: A Report to the Profession" (popularly referred to as the Wahlke Report). Little information is available on the prevalence of gender courses in the undergraduate curriculum, but the data that does exist suggest such courses are uncommon (Brandes et al. 2001). We found virtually no data on the practice of gender mainstreaming in political science and little data in the way of assessing the impact of gendered content when students are exposed to it. This absence of data suggests gender mainstreaming has not emerged as a serious priority for curricular reform.


We consider $R^4$ corrections to the holographic Schwinger effect in an AdS black hole background and a confining D3-brane background. The potential between a test particle pair are performed for both backgrounds. We find there is no potential barrier in the critical electric field, which means that the system becomes catastrophically unstable. It is shown that for both backgrounds increasing the inverse 't Hooft coupling parameter $1/\lambda$ enhances the Schwinger effect. We also discuss the possible relation between the Schwinger effect and the viscosity-entropy ratio $\eta/s$ in strong coupling.


Beyond Networks critically dissects and systematizes an insightful, well-researched and elegantly written account of the democratic potential carried out by coalitions of civil society actors. Once established a case for studying coalitions of civil society organization through the lens of Global Administrative Law, the book eventually unveils its underlying research question. This volume specifically attempts to explain how civil society networks – which are studied within the broader notion of Global Civil Society (GSC) – drive the development of principles of democratic value at the supranational level. It does so within the broader debate about new modes of global governance and in particular that of experimentalist governance. It proceeds to theorize an autonomous organization network model within GSC: the so-called 'interlocutory coalitions'. Those coalitions are typically made of diverse category of entities whose major – sometimes solely – common feature is the cross-border pursuit of a common cause. In order to build an original and valuable taxonomy of civil society networks, interlocutory coalitions must be contrasted to other forms of networks, including social networks, trans-governmental committees, think tanks, Parallel Summits and QUANGOs. After reconstructing their respective composition, membership, rules of governance and legal status, the book delves into interlocutory coalitions' decision-making. How do coalitions presenting high degree of variation when it comes to their mission, governance, funding and membership coalesce around one common cause? How do they come to existence and get along? How can such coalitions speak with one voice when representing and advocating their common position in front of the relevant international organizations? What kind of techniques and deliberative mechanisms are used to attain a common position and then convey it to the outside world? This book provides a rigorous, constructive and promising stepping stone to embark on such a challenging journey. Yet the case for a global participatory democracy remains to be made.


People's general tendencies to view others as cold-hearted and manipulative (rather than affectionate and trustworthy) may explain defection in social dilemma situations. To capture idiosyncratic tendencies in other-perceptions, we collected mutual judgments in groups of unacquainted individuals in two studies (N1 = 83, N2 = 413) and extracted perceiver effect scores using the Social Relations Model. In both studies, participants later played a public goods game. In Study 1, perceiver effects predicted cooperation beyond self-reported and group-related control variables. However, results were not replicated in a preregistered second study with higher power and a more diverse sample. We discuss implicit group norms as a likely explanation for the inconsistent findings and suggest future directions for addressing generalized expectations in social dilemmas.


Progression of coronary artery disease that causes recurrent angina in patients who have already undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a challenge to cardiac surgeons. The presence of myocardial ischemia that is not due to bypass grafts occlusion, but to the quality of the coronary vessels characterized by diffuse atherosclerotic peripheral disease, makes the situation even more difficult, since it is not possible to perform myocardial revascularization either by percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTCA) or by means of new grafts. We report the case of a patient who, 4 years after triple CABG, developed refractory angina despite patency of bypass grafts (to left anterior descending artery, obtuse marginal branch and posterior descending) and maximally tolerated conventional medical treatment. Native coronary arteries were occluded. Because of the exiguous caliber of the distal portion of epicardial vessels and poor run-off, a redo CABG was judged to be unfeasible. Transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMLR) was performed through left anterior thoracotomy, minimizing the risk of damage to the grafts. Clinical improvement (from CCS class IV to 0) and scintiscan showing improved myocardial perfusion to the laser-treated regions confirm the effectiveness of TMLR in otherwise inoperable coronary artery disease.


The Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) was intended to reduce greenhouse gas emissions while facilitating sustainable development in developing countries. However, most CDM projects contribute little to sustainable development and are inequitably distributed. The 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, which will take place in Copenhagen in December 2009, is an opportunity to create a more effective version of the CDM. This paper argues that the CDM should be modified to include formal sustainable development requirements and to extend eligibility to additional land use, land-use change and forestry projects. In particular, the CDM should include credit for deforestation prevention, provide more scope for afforestation and reforestation projects, and encourage further study of agricultural soil carbon sequestration.


ABSTRACT The heterocyst is the site of nitrogen fixation in aerobically grown cultures of some filamentous cyanobacteria. Heterocyst development in Anabaena sp. strain PCC 7120 is dependent on the global nitrogen regulator NtcA and requires, among others, the products of the hetR and hetC genes. Expression of hetC, tested by RNA- DNA hybridization, was impaired in an ntcA mutant. A nitrogen-regulated, NtcA-dependent putative transcription start point was localized at nucleotide −571 with respect to the hetC translational start. Sequences upstream from this transcription start point exhibit the structure of the canonical cyanobacterial promoter activated by NtcA, and purified NtcA protein specifically bound to a DNA fragment containing this promoter. Activation of expression of hetC during heterocyst development appears thus to be directly operated by NtcA. NtcA-mediated activation of hetR expression was not impaired in a hetC mutant, indicating that HetC is not an NtcA-dependent element required for hetR induction.


A controversy has raged since the U.S. Supreme Court altered the Confrontation Clause landscape in Crawford v. Washington. There, the Court coined the term "testimonial" as a means of determining whether a person who makes an out-of-court statement is a witness against the defendant and must therefore testify in person. This Article advocates a new definition that would be more in keeping with the meaning of the word "testimony" and with the functions served by the Confrontation Clause. Currently the Court determines whether a hearsay declarant is a witness based upon what occurred at the time the person made his out-of-court statement. Instead, this Article proposes that the Court should decide if out-of-court statements constitute testimony based on whether the declarants functioned as witnesses against the defendant at trial. With the recent case of Davis v. Washington, the Supreme Court had a chance to refine the concept of "testimonial." This Article critiques Davis and illustrates how the application of the definition proposed here would have avoided Davis' confused and contradictory reasoning. Shifting the time-frame from the production of evidence to the use of the evidence in the courtroom will create a jurisprudence more in line with Crawford's promise to revive an important trial right for those accused of crimes.


Ethylene-co-methacrylic acid (EMAA) ionomers are incorporated into polyelectrolyte complexes and thin films fabricated with the layer-by-layer technique using mixed solvent systems of THF and water. EMAA ionomers have been reported to have self-healing properties. The thin films were optically clear and can be made as a coating or freestanding. Their composition was determined with elemental analysis. DSC showed these polymer blend materials to have suppressed polyethylene crystallinity compared to bulk EMAA and an increased amount of energy required to create the order-to-disorder transition of disrupting the associations between the ionic groups of the ionomer.


Male gender is an obvious risk factor for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection and mortality rate is higher in men than women. Undoubtedly, gender-related behavioral factors, such as higher amounts of smoking, alcohol consumption, and biological differences in immune systems could make males more vulnerable. The role of androgen-responsive elements (AREs) of transmembrane serine proteases type II (TMPRSS2) gene as one of the major players of male dominancy in severe COVID-19 infection has been under appreciated and needs to be clarified.


Now that the Fermilab muon $g-2$ experiment has released the results of its Run-1 data, which agrees with the results of the Brookhaven experiment, one can examine the potential of simple extensions to explain the combined $4.2\sigma$ discrepancy between the SM prediction and experiment. This proceeding examines a single-, two-, and three-field extension of the standard model and examines their ability to explain the muon $g-2$ anomaly, and where possible, produce a dark matter candidate particle with the observed relic density. This is based on work carried out for Ref. [1]. It is found that one can only explain the $a_\mu$ discrepancy whilst avoiding dark matter and collider constraints when the contributions from BSM fields benefit from a chirality flip enhancement. However, in general without small couplings and/or large masses, these models can be heavily constrained by collider and dark matter experiments.


Abstract:The orchestration of Schumann's Piano Concerto is considered revealing of the composer's particular approach to the concerto orchestra. The rejection of exact doublings, the alternations between different woodwind instruments and the piano, the concerto-like solos in the orchestra, all preclude textural and timbral monotony, add plasticity to the orchestral texture and modify the character of the sound. Processes occur with such dynamic vitality that a "moving orchestration" effect appears. Not only the concerto's aesthetics, style, and form, but surprisingly its orchestration had an impact on Schumann's successors.


We propose a probabilistic generative model for extracting intended path shape qualities of an object moving under human control in real time. At each instant, we decide whether the object is moving in a straight, curved, or random path, or whether it has stopped moving. Our model incorporates sensor noise as well as human imperfections in the intended motion. As well as tracking the object's position, velocity, and motion direction, we compute the posterior probability of each shape quality hypothesis given all sensed-data in the horizon [t - N + 1,t]; the hypothesis maximizing this posterior is taken as the decision. The posterior is computed using the unscented Kalman filter (UKF), as our model is inherently nonlinear. The path-shape quality tracking is successfully embedded in a hybrid physical-digital interface where the position of an illuminated ball, sensed by a low-cost video camera array, triggers multimodal feedback in a mediated learning environment. We show successful results on a variety of real-world motion paths where the participant is given only verbal descriptions of how to move. Our generative model is further validated by user studies involving a simple color-based interaction, where participants discover shape quality controls as they interact.


Abstract. Test planning is a crucial step in the operational modal analysis (OMA) of wind turbines (WT), and it is an essential part of choosing the best positions for installing the sensors of the structures. On the other hand, updating the finite element model (FEM) with the OMA results implies a better prediction of the real structure's dynamic and vibrational behavior. This paper aims to show how the OMA of a nonuniform and two-section wind turbine tower can be performed more effectively, using the required test planning and optimal sensor placement. Then, accordingly, the OMA is used in operating and parked conditions to find the objective bending mode characteristics. Moreover, the updating of the applicable FEM of the multi-sectional wind turbine tower will be described. The tailor-made genetic algorithm (GA) is used to find the MEMS (micro electro-mechanical system) sensors' optimal positions of the WT under study. The OMA was performed and the acquired data analyzed using the stochastic subspace identification (SSI) method. Based on the OMA results, the FEM is updated by applying the sensitivity method. The results show that a tailor-made GA is a practical and quick approach to finding the optimal position of the sensors to obtain the best results for the objective modes of the WT. The OMA results, under operating and parked conditions, prove some modal characteristics of WTs. Based on the sensitivity analysis and engineering judgment, the modulus of elasticity was selected as a parameter for updating. Finally, we found that the updated FEM had less than 1 % error compared to the obtained frequencies from the test.


An additional charge carrier described as its wave function is propagated in imaginary time using stepwise matrix multiplication and a correction to ensure that the simulation is norm-conserving. The propagation Hamilton operator uses the local ionization energy of a rubrene single crystal, calculated with semiempirical molecular orbital theory, as an external potential for holes to model the interaction with the underlying molecular structure. Virtual electrodes are modeled by setting the potentials in the appropriate areas to constant values with the difference corresponding to the source-drain voltage. Although imaginary time cannot be interpreted directly as time, the simulated gate-dependent imaginary transfer rate is in acceptable qualitative agreement with the experimentally measured gate-dependent hole-transfer rate through a rubrene single crystal.


Background: The outbreak of COVID-19 has a signi�cant impact on the health of people around the world. In the clinical condition of COVID-19, the condition of critical cases changes rapidly with a high mortality rate. Therefore, early prediction of disease severity and active intervention play an important role in the prognosis of severe patients. Methods: All the patients with COVID-19 in Taizhou city were retrospectively included and segregated into the non-severe and severe group according to the severity of the disease. The clinical manifestations, laboratory examination results, and imaging �ndings of the 2 groups were analysed for comparing the differences between the 2 groups. Univariate and multivariate logistic regression were used for screening the factors that could predict the disease, and the nomogram was constructed. Results: A total of 143 laboratory-con�rmed cases were included in the study, including 110 non-severe patients and 33 severe patients. The median age of patients was 47 years (range, 4–86 years). Fever (73.4%) and cough (63.6%) were the most common initial clinical symptoms. By using the method of multivariate logistic regression, the variables to construct nomogram include age (OR: 1.052, 95% CI: 1.020–1.086, P = 0.001), body temperature (OR: 2.252, 95% CI: 1.139–4.450, P = 0.020), lymphocyte count (OR: 1.128, 95% CI: 1.000–1.272, P = 0.049), ADA (OR: 1.163, 95% CI: 1.023–1.323, P = 0.021), PaO 2 (OR: 0.972, 95% CI: 0.953–0.992, P = 0.007), IL-10 (OR: 1.184, 95% CI: 1.037–1.351, P = 0.012), and bronchiectasis (OR: 3.818, 95% CI: 1.694–8.605, P = 0.001). The AUC of the established nomogram was 0.877.


In this report we discussed the case of a male infant with a large neurenteric cyst causing respiratory distress. In addition he had Th6-7 hemivertebrae. In the evaluation of the patient, X-ray and computed tomography were used. The cyst did not communicate with spinal column and intestinal tract; it was excised via a right posterolateral thoracotomy. The patient was discharged in good condition.


Electrically detected nuclear magnetic resonance was studied in detail in a two-dimensional electron gas as a function of current bias and temperature. We show that applying a relatively modest dc-current bias ${I}_{\text{dc}}\ensuremath{\simeq}0.5\text{ }\ensuremath{\mu}\text{A}$ can induce an enhanced nuclear-spin signal compared with the signal obtained under similar thermal equilibrium conditions at zero current bias. Our observations suggest that dynamic nuclear-spin polarization by small current flow is possible in a two-dimensional electron gas, allowing for easy manipulation of the nuclear spin by simple switching of a dc current.


Religiosity, especially religious fundamentalism, is often assumed to have an inherent connection with conservative politics. This article proposes that the relationship varies by race in the United States. In Study 1, race moderated the relationships between religiosity indicators and political alignment in a nationally representative sample. In Study 2, the effect replicated in a student sample with more reliable measures. Among both Black and Latino Americans, the relationship between religiosity and conservative politics is far weaker than it is among White Americans, and it is sometimes altogether absent. In Study 3, a tradition-focused view of religion was found to more strongly mediate the link between religiosity and political attitudes among Whites than it did among Blacks and Latinos. It is argued that the relationship between religiosity and political alignment is best understood as a product of cultural—historical conditions associated with group memberships.


The Antarctic Peninsula is a good place for studies that take advantage of its wide range of latitude. Other worthwhile investigations are those that set in context the glacier/climate relationships and provide a framework of basic glaciological data. In order to speed reconnaissance mapping a series of seven 1:250 000 map sheets was published which used satellite imagery as the only source for planimetric detail. In preparation for intermediate depth ice core drilling for glaciological and palaeoclimatic investigations a wide-ranging programme of radio echo sounding has been pursued since 1963; flight tracks now total 80 000 km. Experimental results are presented for an area at the base of the peninsula between latitudes 73 $^\circ$ S and 80 $^\circ$ S. Track plotting was controlled by relating observed subglacial topographic features with the surface expression of the same features revealed in a Landsat image mosaic. Thus navigation was not subject to the cumulative position errors generally encountered on long flights far from fixed points (nunataks). Redefinition of the earlier speculative boundary of the inland ice sheet added 38 000 km $^2$ to the land area of Antarctica while reducing the area of Ronne Ice Shelf by 11%. An unmapped nunatak was found 187 km from the nearest known outcrop. Three major inlets contained the thickest floating ice ever measured. Floating ice 1860 m thick was identified at a point only 17 km from the Ellsworth Mountains; thus within 60 km of the highest mountain in Antarctica (5140 m) there is a trench reaching 1600 m below sea level. Subglacially, there is potentially a channel well below sea level that connects the Bellingshausen Sea with the Weddell Sea. A radio echo sounder was adapted to measure the surface velocity of glaciers by reference to the spatial fading pattern of the bottom echo. Checks on Fleming Glacier with optical survey instruments showed that the true rate of movement was 44% faster than indicated by the fading pattern. It was concluded that the sounder had measured surface velocity with reference to a reflecting horizon which itself was deforming or sliding over the glacier bed. Experiments on ice shelves have been used to extend the flow law of ice to stresses lower than can be studied in the laboratory. At least down to the lowest stress considered (0.04 MN m $^{-2}$ ) the results supported a power law with a stress exponent of 3 as found in the laboratory for higher stresses. Ultra-clean sampling techniques were developed for detecting extremely low levels of impurities in snow (3 x 10 $^{-14}$ g g $^{-1}$ ). Thus DDT concentrations were found to be 40-100 times smaller than earlier reported for snow from central Antarctica. An extensive reconnaissance programme of 10 m ice core drilling has been pursued with the object of studying relationships between oxygen isotope fractionation and ice and air temperatures. The ice, water, and energy balances of two representative local glaciers have been studied as a contribution to the International Hydrological Decade.


The problem considered is that of two rigid surfaces approaching each other with small brittle particles between. The loads required for spherical indenters to penetrate layers of quartz particles and glass spheres (ballotini) have been determined. An electrical resistance technique gave the instant of contact. It is shown that small indenters can penetrate between particles, but larger indenters can only break through the layers by fracturing particles. As analysis is given for an indenter approaching a spherical particle on a flat surface, and the conditions for trapping and sliding of the particle evaluated. The analysis successfully explains the main features of the experimental observations with layers of particles. High speed photographs of a two-dimensional model further confirm the proposed mechanism and conditions for penetration. The relevance of this work to various practical contact and wear situations is discussed.


The relationship between the surface IgM (S-IgM) density and Ia antigens or total S-Ig density and the ability to produce B lymphocyte colonies (BL-C) in agar was examined for small lymphocyte populations in adult CBA bone marrow and spleen. Lymphocyte fractions with various levels of S-IgM sorted by the fluorescence-activated cell sorter (FACS) were relabeled for Ia antigens with a 125I-labeled Protein A sandwich technique. Similar fractions sorted by the FACS on the basis of different S-Ig levels were grown in agar for generating BL-C. Most or all S-IgM-bearing cells, including those with the lowest S-IgM levels, were found to be Ia + ve in both organs. Thus a lag, if any, between S-IgM acquisition and Ia acquisition by the B cells in the adult marrow must be small. Secondly, the Ia density of Ia + ve cells increased in parallel with IgM density in both the organs, indicating a strong functional association between the two surface markers. Most BL-C-forming cells (BL-CFC) were found to be included in the S-Ig + ve class, but the BL-CFC incidence within this class increased with increasing S-Ig density, possibly suggesting a parallel increase in the putative mitogen receptors on B cells. Null (S-Ig - ve, θ - ve) lymphocytes both in the marrow and the spleen showed a small proportion of Ia + ve cells as well as a small incidence of BL-CFC; these subsets remain to be characterized further. These studies reveal that B cell maturation in the adult animal is associated with a concurrent appearance of increasing Ig, Ia, and mitogen responsiveness.


This paper finds that vast disparities exist in new technology commercialisation outputs between a small percentage of high performing universities, and the remaining bulk of under-performers. Theoretical explanations for these findings are as follows. First, high performing universities attract resources, both human and financial, with a much stronger pull than lower performing universities. Second, this study confronts a gap in the literature with regard to the prominence of entrepreneurship within the innovation and technology development process. Third, this study brings new light to bear on the reliability and validity of evaluative tools (variables) currently accepted as indicators of innovation in the university technology transfer context.


Industrial and commercial production losses resulting from voltage sags and other voltage quality disturbances have been well documented in recent years. Electric distribution utilities worldwide are recognizing the increasing voltage sensitivities of many customer devices. These consumers often experience significant economic impacts as a result of subtle voltage quality disturbances. Consequently, many electric utilities have begun developing a service quality monitoring infrastructure so that the data needed to benchmark the level of service provided to the customer base can be obtained. Additionally, indices have been defined to summarize the measurement data collected and quantify service quality based on defined metrics. Situations arise where power quality measurement data is needed, but the capital investment required for monitoring is prohibitive. Methods for estimating power quality measurement data and the associated quality indices from existing field measurements and simulations are discussed. An example case is presented that illustrates the use of power quality measurement estimation by an electric utility for a customer power quality study.


This paper discusses issues in providing immersive audio communication to massively multi-player online games (MMOG). We focus on network and server architectures for creating immersive audio scenes for game clients. We examine advantages and limitations of several architectures, including central server, distributed servers, and peer-to-peer architectures. We focus on a dynamic centralized server architecture which is suitable for the current MMOG in terms of sealability at end users and resource efficiency. We propose algorithms to optimize the performance of a centralized server. Finally, a simulation study is carried out to evaluate the performance of our proposed centralized server architecture and provide some comparisons with others in term of delays and network resource usage.


John of Howden's devotional poem Rossignos, though composed by one of the major Anglo-Latin poets of the thirteenth century, has long remained neglected; this situation, due in great part to the fact that the work was not available in print, is now well on its way to being corrected thanks to the latest volume to be published by the Anglo-Norman Text Society. Glynn Hesketh's edition of the only surviving manuscript of the poem (Cambridge Corpus Christi College MS 471) is a model of scholarly rigour that offers the academic community a reliable and clearly presented text for further research. This, as all students of Anglo-Norman texts will recognize, is no mean feat: the poem itself was composed between 1273 and 1282, but the sole surviving manuscript dates from the late-fourteenth century, and therefore presents the quirks characteristic of late Anglo-Norman scribal (and indeed linguistic) practice which make editing in general and emendation in particular a tricky exercise. Hesketh's editorial principles strike a good balance between respect for the manuscript text and the need for readability; emendation is only resorted to sparingly, and is clearly indicated (in the footnotes to the text). The strength of this edition is that it is based on firm philological foundations as well as on an in-depth understanding of thework itself; the analysis of the versification of theRossignos is clear and to-the-point, with the impact of scribal spellings (and the resulting need to resort to occasional emendation) duly analysed. The 5272-line-long poem is followed by some 53 pages of notes relating to grammatical, orthographical, syntactical or cultural difficulties, by a glossary and, finally, an Index of Proper Names. However, Hesketh assumes a fair level of experience in Anglo-Norman French and in the use of specialized dictionaries: the notes are not geared to the requirements of the non-medievalist, while his glossary does not include words which have survived into Modern French with the same (or similar) meanings, or words very common in Old French or Anglo-Norman. This can occasionally lead to potentially confusing passages not discussed in the notes because they present no obvious linguistic problem: for example, line 2265, the word 'lievre', which could be construed in a number of ways but for which no guidance has been provided; or line 3509, where 'mecine' is clearly a form of 'medecine', but does not appear in the glossary. In other words, the students working on this text are going to need some assistance from their supervisors; for there is little doubt that this edition will be much used, as John of Howden's rhetorical pyrotechnics in the Rossignos and his many references to the sciences (such as astrology or botany) and to legendary and historical figures (such as King Arthur or Lancelot) give the poem a broad appeal. Students of Anglo-Norman literature owe a debt of gratitude to Hesketh for making this delightful text accessible at last.


Speckle de-correlation is a major problem in block matching based ultrasound methodologies as it limits the accuracy of the tracking result. It would be of benefit to have a quantitative measure expressing the local tracking quality as it would allow discarding unreliable motion estimates. We hypothesized that kernels showing sufficient gray scale pattern would more reliably track than kernels with more homogenous gray scale distributions. The aim of this study was to test this hypothesis in-silico. Ultrasound B-mode sequences were simulated from a kinematic model of the carotid artery. Two-dimensional motion was estimated using block matching with the normalized cross-correlation function as similarity measure. For each kernel, two measures of tracking quality were stored: the normalized cross-correlation coefficient (Ccc) and a measure of the amount of edges inside the kernel detected using a canny filter and counted on a pixel-by-pixel basis. As such, a quality measure (Cedge) between 0 (no edges) and 1 (nothing but edges) was obtained. Axial and lateral strains were subsequently obtained by linear regression in regions of interest (ROIs) with best/worst mean tracking quality scores. The root-mean-squared-error (RMSE) was significantly lower in regions with low Ccc (worst ROI) compared to ROIs with high Ccc. However, more edges in the kernel did indeed result in better overall tracking (lower RMSE). Thus, the proposed edge-detection method showed to be a better tracking quality measure than the commonly used Ccc.


I would like to make few comments on Balci and her colleagues' paper entitled "Complex cytogenetic findings in the bone marrow of a chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis patient" which was published in the recent issue of the Journal. [1]. Although the authors' cytogenetic findings looks original, it should be considered that chronic idiopathic myelofibrosis (CIF) is a colonal disorder like chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), polycythemia vera, etc. Among them only Philadelphia chromosome (Ph1) is specific for CML, but mutations are present in all of these clonal disorders. I believe since the cytogenetic changes are not pathognomic or specific, these kind of studies should be carried only on research basis. In addition to radiation as mentioned by the authors makes the interpretation of their findings more questionable. On this occasion, I would specifically like to emphasize the MDMP treatment for these patients which seems to be the only approach in the treatment of this disorder. In addition to some stem cell transplantation reports, MDMP is cheap, safe and easily applicable in all conditions. Although we first reported patient with CIF in 1957 from this country [2], we treated almost a dozen of CIF cases without major complications in children and adults since 1983 [3-13]. MDMP treatment was mentioned in several occasions in this journal, we sorry that despite of its international consideration, except ITP treatment,my colleagues did not take it seriously [14].


Fixation of acute proximal and distal biceps tendon ruptures can be facilitated by the use of suture anchors. Originally designed for open Bankart procedures, suture anchors provide adequate fixation for soft tissue healing, limit the extent of dissection, reduce the incidence of frozen shoulder and damage to neurovascular structures and allow early postoperative rehabilitation. Four consecutive patients were successfully treated by this method with a minimum follow-up period of 1 year.


Feeding rats a hyperlipidic diet in which animals were offered daily a variety of high-energy food resulted in a significant increase of serum free fatty acids and a decrease of phospholipids with respect to controls. On the contrary, there were no significant differences in erythrocyte membrane total lipid composition between the two groups. Erythrocyte membranes showed a significant decrease in saturated fatty acid content and a significant increase in (n-6) polyunsaturated fatty acid content; (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty acids significantly decreased. Membrane fluidity, investigated by fluorescence polarization of diphenylhexatriene, significantly increased in the erythrocyte membranes of the experimental group. These results seem compatible with the decreased saturated/unsaturated fatty acid ratio. A significant decrease of (Na+-K+)ATPase activity occurred in erythrocyte membranes of the experimental group rats with respect to the controls.


The growth and development of the human brain is a long and complex process that requires a precise sequence of genetic and molecular events. This begins in the third week of gestation with the differentiation of neural progenitor cells and extends at least until late adolescence, possibly for life. One of the defects of this development is that we know very little about the signals that modulate this sequence of events. The first 3 years of life, during breastfeeding, is one of the critical periods in brain development. In these first years of life, it is believed that neurodevelopmental problems may be the molecular causes of mental disorders. Therefore, we herein propose a new hypothesis, according to which the chemical signals that could modulate this entire complex sequence of events appear in this early period, and the molecular level study of human breast milk and colostrum of mothers who give birth to children in different gestation periods could give us information on proteins influencing this process. In this work, we collected milk and colostrum samples (term, late preterm and moderate/very preterm) and exosomes were isolated. The samples of exosomes and complete milk from each fraction were analyzed by LC-ESI-MS/MS. In this work, we describe proteins in the different fractions of mature milk and colostrum of mothers with term, late preterm, or very preterm delivery, which could be involved in the regulation of the nervous system by their functions. We describe how they differ in different types of milk, paving the way for the investigation of possible new neuroregulatory pathways as possible candidates to modulate the nervous system.


Two methodologies for modeling commuter exposures are proposed: computer-oriented approach and a manual approach. Both modeling methodologies require that major commuter routes, or pathways, be identified and that the traffic on the remainder of the roadway network be treated as background pollutant sources. Since the majority of pathway exposure is expected to result from emissions on the pathway itself, the emissions and dispersion of non-pathway source pollutant are handled in a simple fashion. Pathway traffic undergoes a more sophisticated treatment in that congestion and delay due to signalization are accounted for and emissions are computed accordingly. The methodology used to simulate the dispersion of pathway emissions utilizes three separate dispersion treatments, according to whether the roadway is limited-access, non-limited access, or a street canyon.


Emerging world lives in villages. Emerging nations have been perceived as agro-based economies mainly depending on traditional technology. With rising income levels and penetration of media, rural markets in emerging economies have become very attractive for a range of goods and services. FMCG market is one of the first to emerge in the transformation of rural areas into huge consumption markets. The current paper emphasizes on the rural consumption of FMCG in South Asian countries, India and Sri Lanka. 1849 fully completed questionnaires were received basing on which analysis was made. Awareness and availability emerged as the most influencing variables emphasizing on effective promotion and distribution of FMCG in rural markets. It was found that rural consumers seek quality and are prepared to buy high priced FMCG. Findings revealed that while product promotions have more influence on female buyers, shop keeper's recommendation has high influence on less educated consumers. Interesting finding was that influence of low price is highly correlated with influence of attractive packaging and not with quality. It was also found that rural consumers who purchase FMCG only when need arises are not significantly influenced by attractive packaging. The current study has implications in South Asian rural markets which are emerging as massive markets for a variety of goods and services.


Objective To study the effects of different traditional Chinese medicines on the expressions of Cyt-c and activated Caspase-3 in neuron around hematoma after intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) in rat models, and the change of hematoma. Methods Ⅻ type collagenase was stereotaxically injected into the globas pallidus of rats to build the ICH model. Immunohistochemical method was used to examine the expressions of Cyt-c and activated Caspase-3 after ICH in rats at different time points, and the haematoma was measured at its biggest diameter. Results Cyt-c began to release in the neurons around the hematoma after ICH in rats at 6 h after operation. One day thereafter, the number of positive cells reached to peak value; 3 days thereafter, the staining became weakening, the positive cells decreased; and 5 days thereafter, the positive cells continue to decrease, which were varied significantly as compared with the sham-operated group (P0.01). The activated Caspase-3 in cytoplasm appeared around the hematoma 6 h after the operation, reached peak value 1 day thereafter, then declined slightly 3 days thereafter, and declined significantly 5 days thereafter as compared with the sham-operated group; the difference was significant (P0.01). The number of positive cells decreased after treatment with different traditional Chinese medicine, and the Pingganxifeng decoction group was superior to the other groups(P0.01). Conclusions The release of Cyt-c and the activated Caspase-3 increase significantly in the neurons around the hematoma after ICH. The expressions of activated Cyt-c and Caspase-3 can be depressed through suppressing wind, removing phlegm, inducing resuscitating, and promoting blood circulation by removing blood stasis, etc. The results suggest that the Pingganxifeng decoction can prohibit neuronal apoptosis, and its efficacy is the best.


Pancreatic cancer is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related death with a poor prognosis and 5-year survival rates of less than 5%. As a contributing member of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR) has committed to generating a comprehensive catalogue of genomic abnormalities found in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas (PDAC). Using next-generation sequencing technologies, 375 independent pancreatic tumors and their matched controls will be characterized over a 3- to 5-year time span. Many of the samples also have derived matching xenografts and a few have cell lines derived from the xenograft tumors. To date, this project has collected 173 ICGC consented matched samples comprised of 85 PDAC tumor/reference and 21 xenograft/ reference pairs. 32 sample sets have matched tumor/xenograft/reference. In addition, there are 16 cell lines derived from some of these xenografts. Whole-genome and exome target-enrichment sequencing is currently performed using the HiSeq 2000 platform. For efficient variant calling, all whole-genome analyses used a minimal depth of 30x reference and 50x tumor/xeno/cell line and exome analyses used greater than 100x target coverage, with most samples exceeding these targets. Sequence alignment is primarily performed with Novoalign (Novocraft.com) and variants called with the Genome Analysis Toolkit (McKenna et al., Genome Res. 20:1297) to identify germline and somatic variants in all matched sample sets. On average 35 coding non-synonymous variants have been observed per primary tumor exome. Validation of the coding non-synonymous variants is ongoing with data deposited in the ICGC Data Coordinating Center (www.icgc. org). Initial data have been combined with PDAC data sets from the Australian ICGC effort (S. Grimmond and A. Biankin) and from sequencing efforts at the Baylor College of Medicine (R. Gibbs) to increase analytical power. Sequencing of primary tumors and xenografts was complicated by human and mouse stroma, respectively. Complete whole-genome sequencing of the host mouse strain was needed for removal of "interspecies SNP" observed due to alignment of both species to regions of similarity in the human reference sequence. The "SNPs" are falsely identified as somatic variants after subtracting the human germline SNP. Methods are under development to improve this removal process. Current sequencing is focusing on expanding the data set of matched normal and primary tumor pairs. It is anticipated that 150 exome pairs will be sequenced by 4th quarter 2012 with whole-genome sequencing following closely. Continued development of xenograft resources is ongoing in parallel. Whole genome sequences will be generated from selected xenografts. Collectively, the sequence data, xenografts, and cell line models will make a rich resource for studying PDAC. Citation Format: Kimberly N. Begley, Debabrata Mukhopadhyay, Gloria M. Petersen, Alexei Protopopov, Sarah Thayer, Lynda Chin, Emin Ibrahimov, Patricia Shaw, Thomas Hudson, Steve Gallinger, Ming-Sound Tsao, Lincoln Stein, John D. McPherson, Lakshmi Muthuswamy, Timothy Beck, Christina Yung, Michelle Sam, Lee Timms, Carson Holt. The pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma project at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Pancreatic Cancer: Progress and Challenges; Jun 18-21, 2012; Lake Tahoe, NV. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2012;72(12 Suppl):Abstract nr A9.


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While catecholamines like epinephrine (E) and norepinephrine (NE) are commonly used in emergency medicine, limited studies have discussed the harm of exogenously induced catecholamine overdose. We investigated the possible toxic effects of excessive catecholamine administration on cardiopulmonary function and structure via continuous 6 h intravenous injection of E and/or NE in rats. Heart rate, echocardiography, and ventricular pressure were measured throughout administration. Cardiopulmonary structure was also assessed by examining heart and lung tissue. Consecutive catecholamine injections induced severe tachycardia. Echocardiography results showed NE caused worse dysfunction than E. Simultaneously, both E and NE led to higher expression of Troponin T and connexin43 in the whole ventricles, which increased further with E+NE administration. The NE and E+NE groups showed severe pulmonary edema while all catecholamine-administering groups demonstrated reduced expression of receptor for advanced glycation end products and increased connexin43 levels in lung tissue. The right ventricle was more vulnerable to catecholamine overdose than the left. Rats injected with NE had a lower survival rate than those injected with E within 6 h. Catecholamine overdose induces acute lung injuries and ventricular cardiomyopathy, and E+NE is associated with a more severe outcome. The similarities of the results between the NE and E+NE groups may indicate a predominant role of NE in determining the overall cardiopulmonary damage. The results provide important clinical insights into the pathogenesis of catecholamine storm.


Traumatic aortic injuries represent a leading cause of death following motor-vehicular accidents. These injuries curry a very high mortality rate even though a significant number of patients reaches the hospital alive. These injuries are identified in the contest of a polytrauma work up and are almost always associated with multiple other severe traumatic injuries which makes the management of these patients very challenging. The technology advancements seen in recent years with radiologic imaging and the progress of the therapeutic options brought up by the uprise of endovascular therapy, along with the sophistication of the techniques of trauma resuscitation and intensive care management, have improved significantly the overall prognosis of these patients. Although traumatic aortic injuries need to be generally considered a life-threatening condition, their degree of severity may differ significantly from case to case requiring immediate repair in some patients, whereas their repair can be delayed in cases when the severity of the aortic injury does not represent an immediate threat to the patient life. Therefore, the challenge of treatment of the polytrauma patients with an aortic injury is to identify the best strategy of therapy able to prioritize the treatment of the injuries based on their lethal potential. In this contest, the ability of properly defining the severity of the aortic injury is the key-factor to allow the appropriate definition of a treatment strategy able to identify treatment priorities. In our experience, radiologic assessment of the aortic injury in correlation with the evaluation of clinical parameters and a comprehensive polytrauma assessment allows to optimize the ability of the trauma team to establish the most appropriate strategy for the care of this complex patients' group.


Internal migration in Southeast Asia raises questions about strains upon traditional systems of support for older adults. While remittances to parents' households play a role in rural household economies, uncertainty remains regarding whether and under what circumstances children interact with their elderly parents. This paper focuses on the adult children of older persons living in rural Cambodia and Thailand and examines the determinants of personal visits, monetary remittances, and more general forms of household support. Analyses consider ways in which geographically distant children support parents, the extent to which characteristics of parents, children, and households enhance or detract from these intergenerational interactions, and how determinants of intergenerational interaction vary between the two countries. Comparisons between countries of conditions and characteristics of families provide insights into how social, economic, and cultural forces motivate provision of support to aging parents.


A heavy-duty system of high performance, RIETAN-2000, has recently been developed for Rietveld refinement, Le Bail refinement, whole-pattern fitting based on a maximum-entropy method (MEM), and individual profile fitting. An original feature called partial profile relaxation is applicable to (nearly) isolated reflections with relatively large residuals, which leads to better fits in these reflections. The state-of-the-art technology of MEM-based wholepattern fitting allows us to represent positional disorder, chemical bonds, and anharmonic thermal motion more adequately than the conventional Rietveld method. Four examples of applying RIETAN-2000 to microporous materials are introduced to demonstrate its high ability to analyze structural details.


Hemangioma in the renal pelvis is a very rare benign tumor that may be mistaken for renal cell carcinoma. We present, herein, a case of a 59-year-old woman with a renal mass that was diagnosed as a cavernous hemangioma in the renal pelvis. The patient underwent intravenous pyelography, urine cytology, retrograde pyelography, kidney dynamic computed tomography (CT), and surgical excision.


Purified toxins of Clostridium botulinum types A, B, C, D and E were converted to toxoids and adsorbed on aluminum phosphate; four preparations of pentavalent toxoid were investigated in groups of 15 to 30 volunteers. Each pentavalent product contained 1.7 Lf of type A, 0.54 Lf of type B, 50,000 LD50 equivalents of type C, 4 Lf of type D, and 0.5 Lf or 100,000 LD50 equivalents of type E toxoid/ml. All flocculation potencies are referred to standard antitoxins prepared by the Microbiological Research Establishment, Porton, England. Doses of the first preparation of pentavalent toxoid (0.5 ml) were administered subcutaneously at 0, 2 and 10 weeks; the other preparations were given in the same way except that a 0-2-12 week schedule was used. Booster doses of 0.5 ml were given 1 year after the initial injection. Serum antitoxin titers of individuals were determined 12 to 14 and 52 weeks after the initial injection, and again 8 weeks after the booster, by neutralization titrations in mice. After the initial series of injections a considerable proportion of the individuals developed antitoxin titers for all or most of the five toxins; the proportion of satisfactory titers varied with the type and also with the preparation. Good booster responses were obtained with all preparations, and antitoxin titers to each of the five types were found in 86 to 100% of the individuals immunized. Stability studies with one preparation showed that the toxoids retained considerable antigenicity for at least 16 months at 4°C.


A discrete spectrum of compressional Alfvén eigenmodes and ion-ion hybrid eigenmodes is found to exist above the tritium ion cyclotron frequency in the deuterium-tritium D-T plasma of a spherical tokamak power plant STPP H. R. Wilson et al., 19th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference IAEA, Lyon, France, 2002 , No. FT/1-4 . An equilibrium magnetic well formed in a STPP, as a result of plasma diamagnetism, causes all externally launched electromagnetic waves to propagate from the side of high total magnetic field, and it is this well that forms discrete spectra in the ion cyclotron resonance heating frequency range near the plasma core. The eigenmodes, as well as the position of the mode conversion layers, are obtained in a one-dimensional magnetic field geometry S. C. Cowley et al., Phys. Fluids B 3, 2066 1991 , relevant for the STPP, which will necessarily operate at high . The possibility of using the discrete spectrum probed with an external antenna, or driven by energetic ions, for measuring the D-T mixture ratio is discussed. © 2007 American Institute of Physics. DOI: 10.1063/1.2752824