A driver model is designed which relates the driver's action to his perception, driving experience, and preferences over a wide range of possible traffic situations. The basic idea behind the work is that the human uses his sensory perception and his expert knowledge to predict the vehicle's future behavior for the next few seconds (prediction model). At a certain sampling rate the vehicle's future motion is optimized using this prediction model, in order to meet certain objectives. The human tries to follow this optimal behavior using a compensatory controller. Based on this hypothesis, human vehicle driving is modeled by a hierarchical controller. A repetitive nonlinear optimization is employed to plan the vehicle's future motion (trajectory planning task), using an SQP algorithm. This is combined with a PID tracking control to minimize its deviations. The trajectory planning scheme is experimentally verified for undisturbed driving situations employing various objectives, namely ride comfort, lane keeping, and minimized speed variation. The driver model is then applied to study path planning during curve negotiation under various objectives, namely ride comfort, lane keeping, and minimized speed variation. The driver model is then applied to study path planning during curve negotiation under various preferences. A highly dynamic avoidance maneuver (standardized ISO double lane change) is then simulated to investigate the overall stability of the closed loop vehicle/driver system. (A)


Interface roughness and layer thickness fluctuations in superlattices and quantum wells cause a partial breakdown of crystal-momentum conservation in Raman scattering for wave vectors both along (qz) and perpendicular (q||) to the growth direction. In the acoustic-phonon regime this leads to a continuous emission spectrum which reflects features of the foldedphonon density of states. Dispersion gaps at centre and edge of the mini-Brillouin zone as well as internal gaps at anticrossings of longitudinal and transverse phonon dispersions appear as pronounced peaks and dips superimposed on the emission background. We analyse the strength of these features in terms of an in-plane scattering potential and obtain lateral length scales of interface growth islands. From the comparison of crystalmomentum conserving folded-phonon scattering with the continuous emission signal we determine homogeneous and inhomogeneous broadenings of the electronic structure.


Abstract : Proposed vaccine principle relies on secreted gp96 - Ig chaperoning PfCSP and PfAMA1 sporozoite proteins that are efficiently taken up and cross presented by activated DC via MHC I to CD8 CTL, thereby stimulating an avid, antigen specific, cytotoxic T cell response. This vaccine principle has been used successfully in murine models of cancer, in non-human primates for SIV vaccination and is in clinical trials for the treatment of non-small cell lung cancer patients. The generation of a powerful, cytotoxic anti sporozoite CD8 CTL response by the vaccine is expected to provide prophylactic immunity for malaria by removing infected liver cells before sporozoites can replicate and spread to the erythrocyte stage causing parasitemia. We establish collaboration with NMRC to design the vaccine cell lines. NMRC provided plasmid vectors carrying the PfAMA1 and PfCSP transgenes. We generated 293 - gp96 - Ig - PfAMA1 - PfCSP cells by co-transfecting 293 cells with gp96-Ig, PfAMA1 and PfCSP. Completion of the 293-gp96-IgPfAMA1-PfCSP vaccine cell lines serves as the initial 'go', 'no-go' milestone for this application. We reached this milestone within the first year of the grant period, as it was proposed in SOW. We are currently expanding vaccine cells in order to proceed to proposed immunogenicity studies in mouse model.


Rate coefficients are directly determined for the reactions of the Criegee intermediates (CI) CH2OO and CH3CHOO with the two simplest carboxylic acids, formic acid (HCOOH) and acetic acid (CH3COOH), employing two complementary techniques: multiplexed photoionization mass spectrometry and cavity-enhanced broadband ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy. The measured rate coefficients are in excess of 1×10−10 cm3 s−1, several orders of magnitude larger than those suggested from many previous alkene ozonolysis experiments and assumed in atmospheric modeling studies. These results suggest that the reaction with carboxylic acids is a substantially more important loss process for CIs than is presently assumed. Implementing these rate coefficients in global atmospheric models shows that reactions between CI and organic acids make a substantial contribution to removal of these acids in terrestrial equatorial areas and in other regions where high CI concentrations occur such as high northern latitudes, and implies that sources of acids in these areas are larger than previously recognized.


We report on compact focusing polarization diversity grating couplers in silicon-on-insulator, which can be used to overcome the polarization dependence of nanophotonic integrated circuits. The minimum fiber-to-fiber polarization dependent loss is 0.4 dB and the focusing grating couplers are as performant as standard 2-D-grating couplers without focusing. In addition, the focusing property of the gratings results in an 8-fold length reduction of the coupling structure as compared to standard nonfocusing 2-D-grating versions.


In complex areas, the attenuation of specular and diffracted multiples in image space is an attractive alternative to surface-related multiple elimination (SRME) and to data space Radon filtering. We present the equations that map, via wave-equation migration, 2D diffracted and specular water-bottom multiples from data space to image space. We show the equations for both subsurface-offset-domain common-image-gathers (SODCIGs) and angle-domain common-image-gathers (ADCIGs). We demonstrate that when migrated with sediment velocities, the over-migrated multiples map to predictable regions in both SODCIGs and ADCIGs. Specular multiples focus similarly to primaries, whereas diffracted multiples do not. In particular, the apex of the residual moveout curve of diffracted multiples in ADCIGs is not located at the zero aperture angle. We use our equation of the residual moveout of the multiples in ADCIGs to design an apex-shifted Radon transform that maps the 2D ADCIGs into a 3D model space cube whose dimensions are depth, curvature, and apex-shift distance. Well-corrected primaries map to or near the zero-curvature plane and specularly reflected multiples map to or near the zero apex-shift plane. Diffracted multiples map elsewhere in the cube according to their curvature and apex-shift distance. Thus, specularly reflected as well as diffracted multiples can be attenuated simultaneously. We show the application of our apex-shifted Radon transform to a 2D seismic line from the Gulf of Mexico. Diffracted multiples originate at the edges of the salt body and we show that we can successfully attenuate them, along with the specular multiples, in the image Radon domain.


Background: Surveillance data suggest that 75% of Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders (NHPI) in Hawai'i are overweight or obese (BMI ≥ 25), which increases their risk of chronic disease, including cancer. Worksites are an ideal venue for health promotion, as individuals spend 40 hours or more each week at work. To tackle this problem, community members joined with university-based researchers to develop a weight-loss intervention. Community PIs were hired at five sites (including a Hawaiian homestead council, an association of Hawaiian civic clubs, and clinics serving Hawaiian communities) to adapt the Diabetes Prevention Program9s Lifestyle Intervention (DPPLI) to incorporate Hawaiian values of peer support and responsibility and neighborhood context. Initially implemented in community settings, this intervention was further adapted with community PIs from seven Hawaiian-serving agencies for implementation in the worksite. Intervention: The final, 12-month, worksite intervention was called PILI@Work. The name PILI is an acronym for Partnerships to Improve Lifestyle Interventions, and it is also a Hawaiian word that means close relationship, relative, to be with, adhere to, touch and join. The intervention includes a 3-month weight-loss phase, followed by a 9-month weight-loss-maintenance phase. The weight-loss phase includes 8 lessons delivered to small groups. These lessons provide information about and practical tips related to diet and exercise, and peer-educators use motivational interviewing, action planning, and peer support techniques to promote behavior change. Most peer-educators are Native Hawaiian of Pacific Islanders, recruited from the worksite. The weight-loss-maintenance phase includes 11 lessons. Study Design: PILI@Work was tested with a cluster randomized control design, with randomization of worksites into experimental and control conditions. All worksites participated in baseline data collection and received the 3-month, weight-loss portion of the intervention in a small group face to face (FTF) format. After 3-month data were collected, worksites were randomized to receive the weight-loss-maintenance phase either in a small group, FTF format or in DVD format. Those in the DVD group were able to view the DVDs in a small group format or according to their own convenience. The timing of the FTF and DVD lessons was the same across groups. Agencies were recruited if they provided health and/or social services to Native Hawaiians and/or Pacific Islanders, as these worksites tend to employ large percentages of NHPI. All employees, regardless of ethnicity, were eligible if they were overweight or obese (BMI ≥ 25, or ≥ 23 for Filipino and Asian Americans). Collected at baseline were ethnicity, height, age, sex, education, and marital status. At baseline, 3 months, and 12-months, data were collected on weight (lbs), blood pressure (mmHg), physical functioning (measured by a 6-min. walk test, 6MWT), exercise intensity, fat intake, eating self-efficacy, exercise self-efficacy, community support, family support, and external locus of weight control. Paired t-tests and multivariate regression were used to test effects. Results: Recruitment goals were easily met, and about 75% of participants have been retained. To date, 207 overweight/obese employees (62% NHPP) from 14 organizations completed the 3-month, weigh-loss phase. These worksites, comprising 20 groups, 17 of which were randomized separately to either DVD (9 groups with 99 employees total) or FTF arm (8 worksites with 108 total) for the 9-month weight-loss maintenance phase. Baseline characteristics were: mean BMI=34.1 ± 14.5, mean weight=87.2kg ± 21.7, mean age=46.0 ± 11.5, 87% female, and 63% college graduates. om baseline to 3 month follow up, significant (p At 12-month follow up, there were significant improvements in 6MWT [32.1 ± 101.9] and exercise intensity, with 35% of participants losing ≥ 3% of their initial body weight. Of those who lost weight at 3 month follow-up, 93% of FTF and 82% of DVD participants regained Implications: The 12-month intervention appears to be effective with either an in-person or DVD-delivered maintenance phase. As the DVD approach requires fewer resources, this may be a feasible, flexible, and cost-effective means of providing a lifestyle intervention at worksites. Citation Format: Kathryn Braun. Using CBPR to reduce obesity disparities for Hawaiians: Findings from an RCT. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Seventh AACR Conference on The Science of Health Disparities in Racial/Ethnic Minorities and the Medically Underserved; Nov 9-12, 2014; San Antonio, TX. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2015;24(10 Suppl):Abstract nr IA46.


The nonlinear dynamic characteristics and optimal control of a giant magnetostrictive film (GMF)-shaped memory alloy (SMA) composite plate subjected to in-plane stochastic excitation are studied. GMF is prepared based on an SMA plate, and combined into a GMF—SMA composite plate. The Van der Pol item is improved to explain the hysteretic phenomena of GMF and SMA, and the nonlinear dynamics model of a GMF—SMA composite cantilever plate subjected to in-plane stochastic excitation is developed. The stochastic stability of the system is analyzed, and the steady-state probability density function of the dynamic response of the system is obtained. The condition of stochastic Hopf bifurcation is discussed, the reliability function of the system is provided, and then the probability density of the first-passage time is given. Finally, the stochastic optimal control strategy is proposed by the stochastic dynamic programming method. Numerical simulation shows that the stability of the trivial solution varies with bifurcation parameters, and stochastic Hopf bifurcation appears in the process; the system's reliability is improved through stochastic optimal control, and the first-passage time is delayed. A GMF—SMA composite plate combines the advantages of GMF and SMA, and can reduce vibration through passive control and active control effectively. The results are helpful for the engineering applications of GMF—SMA composite plates.


was not on the problems faced by the migrant or the recipient society but rather on the diplomacy, public policy to control numbers, and motivations of the governments, farmers, and farm laborers. From the vantage point of a researcher in another country, this book puts into perspective the need for farm labor in the United States and the attempts to control migration in the southwest, but it also demonstrates clearly that the farm labor problem was one of national, not just regional dimension. Since the book is obviously a photocopy of original pages from the thesis, the quality of typescript is not always high (this was preword-processing days when typewriters were sometimes uneven). Moreover, as a source of information, the many footnotes to correspondence and interviews adds to knowledge but was already available through accessing the thesis on microfilm. Thus, the real benefit in publication is the access that can be achieved by placing the work in university and public libraries where it will serve future historians and specialists in migration. It certainly is too detailed and not well set up for use as a text, but that was not its purpose.


Artocarpus lakoocha Roxb. (Ma-haad) is a medicinal plant commonly used in Thai Traditional Medicine (TTM) for a wide array of indications. In this study, we compared yield of extraction and the Thin Layer Chromatography (TLC) profile of the heartwood of A. lakoocha extracted with the different methods and different material-solvent ratios. Extractions were carried out by maceration and reflux extraction with ethanol as the solvent, in material-solvent ratio of 1:5 and 1:3. The TLC profile was obtained from the separation of the extracts with methylene chloride/methanol (85:15) on silica gel F254 plate. The result exhibited that reflux extraction produced the highest yield of extraction and the material-solvent ratio of 1:3 generated more yield than that of 1:5. Nevertheless, the profile of TLC chromatogram of those extracts were similar.


When manufacturing composite structure, material and structural components are created concurrently. Thus, for composite materials in critical structural applications, it is more important than ever to independently assure structural integrity. Complexity of the advanced composite materials manufacturing and composite in service maintenance represents challenges in developing optimized nondestructive tools and tests. Traditional metals based NDT methods are inappropriate and often misleading when applied to anisotropic and inhomogeneous composite materials. In advanced technology applications such as aerospace and with industrial emphasis on economics and safety, it is critical to use and develop robust and practical composites NDT methods. Composite NDT encompasses a range of modified traditional and new tools including ultrasonic, x-ray, acoustic emission, thermal, optical, electrical and a variety of hybrid methods. This paper provides overview of the current use of the NDT tools in the composite applications.


The water following characteristics of six different drifter types are investigated using two different operational marine environmental prediction systems: one produced by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and the other produced by MET Norway (METNO). These marine prediction systems include ocean circulation models, atmospheric models, and surface wave models. Two leeway models are tested for use in drift object prediction: an implicit leeway model where the Stokes drift is implicit in the leeway coefficient, and an explicit leeway model where the Stokes drift is provided by the wave model. Both leeway coefficients are allowed to vary in direction and time in order to perfectly reproduce the observed drifter trajectory. This creates a time series of the leeway coefficients that exactly reproduce the observed drifter trajectories. Mean values for the leeway coefficients are consistent with previous studies that utilized direct observations of the leeway. For all drifters and models, the largest source of variance in the leeway coefficient occurs at the inertial frequency and the evidence suggests it is related to uncertainties in the ocean inertial currents.


Objective: To evaluate the ultrasonographic charateristics and the diagnostic value in placental implantation abnormality (PIA) with transabdominal Doppler ultrasound, and improve the rate of diagnosis accuracy in the prenatal and postnatal of PIA with transabdominal Doppler ultrasound, for early diagnosis and treatment, to avoid hysterectomy caused by fatal bleeding. Methods: There were 61 cases complicated with PIA by operation and pathologically confirmed in our hospital. 33 cases were prenatal PIA, and 28 cases were postnatal PIA. The sonographic characteristics of PIA were summarized, the sensitivity and false negative rate of transabdominal Doppler ultrasound were analyzed with the results of surgical and pathological diagnosis. Results: In the images of prenatal PIA, the incidence of abundant blood flow signals in muscular layer of the placenta was the highest, which could reached 85.7%, followed by placenta "vortex" and placenta previa; placental remnants were major sonographic performance in postnatal PIA, the incidence rate was 100%, followed by abundant blood flow signals in muscular layer of the placenta and disappeared boundary between myometrium and placenta. 14 cases could be diagnosed as prenatal PIA accurately by transabdominal Doppler ultrasound, the sensitivity was 42.4%, and the false negative rate was 57.6%. 21 cases could be diagnosed as postnatal PIA accurately by transabdominal Doppler ultrasound, the sensitivity was 75.0%, and the false negative rate was 25.0%. Conclusions: The specificity was low in prenatal PIA by transabdominal Doppler ultrasound, but the false negative rate was high. If necessary, the diagnostic accuracy could be improved combined with MRI. The specificity was much higher in postnatal PIA, and the false negative rate was low. The ultrasonography of PIA has some certain characteristics, we should strengthen the consciousness of the diagnosis in PIA, especially in the prenatal PIA, and improve the auxiliary diagnosis.


The muscles of 70 patients with lower limb shortening due to various etiologies were studied using three radiographic diagnostic methods: contrast radiography (CR), ultrasonography (US), and computed tomography (CT). The studies were performed before surgery, during lengthening using the Ilizarov external fixator, during the fixation period following distraction, and after apparatus removal. The data compiled using these modalities described alterations in the muscles during lengthening which enabled us to develop algorithms for patient examination during the process of lower extremity lengthening with the aim of solving tactical tasks.


The objective of this study was to define the role of oxidants and lipid mediators in the leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and albumin leakage elicited in rat mesenteric venules by ischemia-reperfusion (I/R). Intravital fluorescence microscopy was used to monitor leukocyte adherence and emigration, platelet-leukocyte aggregation, mast cell degranulation, and albumin leakage after release of a 20-min arterial occlusion. I/R elicited large increases in leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion and albumin leakage. These responses were significantly attenuated in venules treated with either superoxide dismutase, oxypurinol (an inhibitor of xanthine oxidase), lodoxamide (a mast cell stabilizer), WEB-2086 (a platelet-activating factor antagonist), or SC-41930 (a leukotriene B4-receptor antagonist) but not by U-74006F (an inhibitor of lipid peroxidation). Platelet-leukocyte aggregates and mast cell degranulation induced by I/R were also attenuated by administration of either superoxide dismutase or lodoxamide. These results support the hypothesis that oxidants produced, in part, by xanthine oxidase promote the formation (by mast cells and endothelial cells) of platelet-activating factor and leukotriene B4, which recruit and activate leukocytes in postischemic venules. The adherent and emigrated leukocytes then mediate the increased albumin extravasation observed in the postcapillary venules.


We try to find a physical source for the inertial force,
which contradicts the acceleration of an object. We find that when an object is
accelerated, its gravitational field curves, and the stress force created in
this curved field acts on the object against the accelerating force, thus
supplying part of the inertial force that contradicts the acceleration. We also
find that this force includes a term which is similar to the "fine
structure constant" used in quantum mechanics. As well, we find that this term equals
unity for a black hole object. Further work is needed in order to find whether
the complete inertial force can be found in this way. The experimental results
that may prove this approach are still very limited.


The authors give a closed string field algebra and thereby propose a covariant interacting closed bosonic string field action which looks like the action of general relativity. It is shown that the action is gauge and BRST invariant and can yield the correct physical spectra.


Abstract Background Patients reporting penicillin (PCN) allergies often receive alternative antibiotic therapy associated with significant health and economic disadvantages. The use of penicillin allergy skin testing (PST) to rule out PCN allergies is safe and effective in immunocompetent patients, yet data in immunocompromised patients are limited. Methods A quality improvement process using PST to clarify PCN allergies and guide antibiotic therapy was implemented at MD Anderson Cancer Center (April–October 2017). Patients admitted to Leukemia and Genitourinary Medical Oncology (GUMO) services with a history of Type 1 reactions to PCN were eligible. Results A total of 218 consecutive patients with reported PCN allergies were screened; 100 met inclusion criteria, were consented, and underwent PST (67 Leukemia, 33 GUMO). Sixty-one percent of tested patients reported cutaneous reactions, and 79% reported reactions >20 years ago. The most common reported allergy was to penicillin V/G (64%). Forty-eight percent were on steroids and 49% were on immunosuppresive therapy at the time of PST. For leukemia patients the median absolute neutrophil count was 0.78 (0–64.88 K/μL) and absolute lymphocyte count was 0.81 (0–116.71 K/μL). Ninety-five percent patients tested negative for PCN allergy and 4% were positive (three Leukemia, one GUMO). One test was indeterminate (negative histamine control). After PST, 25 of 67 (37%) patients receiving antibiotic therapy were changed to PCN-based antibiotics (PBA) (Figure 1). During the follow-up period (median: 177; range: 3–316 days), 65 patients who tested negative were readmitted (total 185 readmissions) and PBAs were prescribed in 58 of those readmissions (Figure 2). The most common indications for PBAs included neutropenic fever, pneumonia, and bacteremia. No patients given PBAs after negative PST experienced allergic reactions. Conclusion PST is safe and effective to rule out PCN allergies in immunocompromised patients, with 95% of patients testing negative for PCN allergy, suggesting that patient-reported allergy is unreliable. The rate of negative tests is comparable to data in immunocompetent patients. The use of PST in cancer patients allows for optimization of antimicrobial therapy and stewardship, which is vital in this patient population at increased risk for infections and infectious complications. Disclosures M. Taremi, ALK-Abello: Educational grant recipient, Educational grant.


The AA. report the results obtained with Plasma Exchange (P.E.) therapy on 24 cases of polyradiculoneuritis; eleven patients had typical Guillain-Barré Syndrome (G.B.S.) ten suffered from a chronic progressive form and three were affected by a relapsing form. The acute patients were selected according to criteria established by the NNCDS Committee (1978) while guidelines laid down by Pineas & Load (1978) were followed in choosing chronic cases. Patients with G.B.S. had four sessions of P.E. at intervals of one or two days while those with chronic forms of polyradiculoneuritis had a total of 6 sessions spaced one to three days apart. P.E. produced no apparent change in chronic progressive patients but two out of three cases with the chronic relapsing form showed rapid and steady improvement resulting in complete cure within a few months. Nine of the eleven G.B.S. patients showed after only one or two sessions a clear and rapid improvement which led to a complete cure within a matter of weeks. The remaining 2 cases showed only partial improvement at first and remained stationary thereafter. The findings confirm the usefulness of P.E. in acute and chronic relapsing radiculopolyneuritis. However, potential side effects and the procedure's high cost suggest that its use should be limited to carefully selected cases, and in particular to those involving respiratory disorders.


Conversion electron Mossbauer spectroscopy (CEMS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) was used to investigate the precipitation of carbonitrides by successive implantation of carbon and nitrogen into pure iron. The authors have analysed two samples, differing by the order of implantation of the two ionic species. Although the as-implanted surface compositions are rather different, thermal annealing of both samples at 300 degrees C results in the formation of the same kind of precipitate, namely epsilon -Fe3(C,N).


The aim was the synthesis of chain-extended poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) derivatives containing periodic side-chain carboxyl groups. The chain extension of PEG diols with pyromellitic dianhydride was performed in toluene or dimethylformamide solution and in bulk. The degree of chain extension (DoCE) was between 6 and 21, the highest value being recorded when the reaction was performed using low-molecular-weight PEG. The recorded limited increase of molecular weight could be at least partially attributed to the rather low reactivity of the aromatic dianhydride. To overcome this issue, a more reactive aliphatic dianhydride, ethylenediaminetetraacetic dianhydride (EA), was tested. However, the reaction of PEG with EA only afforded a DoCE of 2.5. Appreciably higher DoCE values were obtained when EA was reacted with bisamino-terminated PEG. Independent of prepolymer and dianhydride structure, all chain-extended products displayed less of a tendency to crystallization than the starting prepolymer, very likely due to interference by anhydride residues. The low in vitro cytotoxicity of the chain-extended polymers and the presence of carboxyl groups point to their possible use in biomedical applications, particularly in controlled drug release and tissue engineering. © 2014 Society of Chemical Industry


A simple and efficient methodology for the first synthesis of tri- and di-fluoromethyl-bis(indolyl)methanols has been demonstrated through a one-pot Friedel-Crafts-type acylation-alkylation of readily available indoles and fluorinated acids. This simple protocol was successfully performed under metal-, additive-, toxic-solvent-, and protective-gas-free conditions, and delivered a wide range of tri- and di-fluoromethyl-bis(indolyl)methanols in moderate to high yields. Notably, this reaction can tolerate diverse vital and reactive functional groups. Furthermore, this one-pot Friedel-Crafts-type acylation-alkylation can be readily expanded to the gram scale with no obvious decrease in the yield, demonstrating its high application potential.


To meet the still growing compression efficiency needs for high definition content, ITU and MPEG are now defining the High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC) standard. The HEVC codec still relies on a hybrid motion compensated predictive video coding architecture as its H.264/AVC ancestor though novel coding tools are introduced. These novel coding tools provide a highly uncorrelated prediction residue for which classical frequency decomposition methods as the discrete cosine transform may not provide an effective energy compaction. Therefore this paper proposes a transform skip mode which allows skipping one or both directions where the transform is applied. The proposed transform skip mode is integrated in the HEVC codec and is able to provide bitrate reductions of up to 5% at the same objective quality when compared with the HEVC reference codec.


Time-space synaesthetes report that time units (e.g., months, days, hours) occupy idiosyncratic spatial locations. For the synaesthete (L), the months of the year are projected out in external space in the shape of a 'scoreboard 7', where January to July extend across the top from left to right and August to December make up the vertical segment from top to bottom. Interestingly, L can change the mental vantage point (MVP) from where she views her month-space depending on whether she sees or hears the month name. We used a spatial cueing task to demonstrate that L's attention could be directed to locations within her time-space and change vantage points automatically - from trial to trial. We also sought to eliminate any influence of strategy on L's performance by shortening the interval between the cue and target onset to only 150 ms, and have the targets fall in synaesthetically cued locations on only 15% of trials. If L's performance was attributable to intentionally using the cue to predict target location, these manipulations should eliminate any cueing effects. In two separate experiments, we found that L still showed an attentional bias consistent with her synaesthesia. Thus, we attribute L's rapid and resilient cueing effects to the automaticity of her spatial forms.


We propose a combination of heuristic methods to prove properties of control signals for regular systems defined by means of affine recurrence equations (AREs). We benefit from the intrinsic regularity of the underlying polyhedral model to handle parameterized systems in a symbolic way. Our techniques apply to safety properties. The general proof process consists in an iteration that alternates two heuristics. We are able to identify the cases when this iteration will stop in a finite number of steps. These techniques have been implemented in a high level synthesis environment based on the polyhedral model.


A novel electron-gun design is proposed with a single carbon nanotube grown in a microfabricated conducting crater within a conducting substrate separated by an insulating layer from an apertured gate. The operating field-emission parameters for such a device are chosen from experiments by using geometric scaling resulting from electrostatic arguments. With these parameters the electron-beam formation and propagation was simulated using a ray-tracing code. The novel design produces a nearly parallel electron beam of high source brightness, low-power leakage, and negligible wall encounters, advantageous for microcolumn scanning electron microscopy, lithography, and other applications.


The avian hippocampus (Hp) is believed to be homologous to mammalian hippocampus both from a developmental and an anatomical view-point. In one-day old domestic chicks (Gallus domesticus), studies have demonstrated that it may play a key role in the acquisition of one trial passive avoidance learning (PAL) where the aversive experience is exposure to a bitter tasting substance, methyl anthranilate.

 In the present study, following PAL the numerical density of asymmetric axospinous synapses decreased by 36% in the dorsal Hp of the right hemisphere of MeA trained compared to control birds, 6 hours after training. In contrast, 24h post PAL there is a 33% decrease in numerical density of asymmetric axodendritic synapses in the MeA trained group in relation to the same area of control chicks.

 Cell proliferation studies using the thymidine analogue, bromodeoxyuridine, (BrdU) demonstrated a 47% reduction in cell proliferation in the dorsal Hp of the MeA trained group 24h later in comparison with controls, which disappears after 9 days. In nucleus taeniae of amygdala and the arcopallium dorsale and intermediale, there are no differences between birds 24h or 9 days post BrdU injection but in olfactory bulb of MeA trained chicks cell labelling increases by 95% and 71.4% respectively, compared to control and water-trained birds, 24 h after PAL. The increase is more dramatic 9 days post PAL, when the MeA-trained group shows a 259% and 314% increase respectively in relation to control and water-trained animals. Following PAL apoptotic studies in the Hp 24h, 5 and 9 days post BrdU injection demonstrated that there were no differences in cell death between the different groups.

 Radioimmunoassay measurements of cortisol in chick forebrain tissue demonstrated longer term increase in levels of steroid in the chick Hp compared to arcopallium and striatum mediale 20 minutes after training, indicating that PAL is a stressful experience which may explain synaptic density and cell proliferation reduction observed after PAL.


We report a highly atom-efficient integrated cofactor/co-product recycling cascade employing cycloalkylamines as multifaceted starting materials for the synthesis of nylon building blocks. Reactions using E. coli whole cells as well as purified enzymes produced excellent conversions ranging from >80 to 95% into desired ω-amino acids, respectively with varying substrate concentrations. The applicability of this tandem biocatalytic cascade was demonstrated to produce the corresponding lactams by employing engineered biocatalysts. For instance, ε-caprolactam, a valuable polymer building block was synthesized with 75% conversion from 10 mM cyclohexylamine by employing whole-cell biocatalysts. This cascade could be an alternative for bio-based production of ω-amino acids and corresponding lactam compounds.


We propose a multimode retina integrating image sensing, normalization, smoothing, differentiation and visual feature extraction by incorporating: 1) a histogram equalization function onto the sensor focal plane, which normalizes the image signal at the same dynamic range under different illumination conditions and results a constant signal amplitude facilitating the post processing; 2) a capacitive Gaussian network and a spatial differentiator, which offer a bandpass filtering on the normalized image; 3) a visual feature extraction, which extracts and localizes the areas enveloping objects of interest. This novel multimode retina, when interfaced with a digital processing unit, does a first step processing and information salient region extraction suited for many real-time vision tasks.


The Number One orebody is the largest and most sulfide-rich ore zone (at least 200,000 tons containing 8.4 wt % Cu) at the Ruby Creek copper deposit, in the southwestern Brooks Range of Alaska. Pyrite and copper-bearing sulfide minerals are concentrated within the matrix of a dolostone breccia body, which is enclosed by phyllite and calcic marble of Middle to Late Devonian age. The Number One orebody has three mineralogical zones that grade into each other: (1) an outer zone, widest toward the hanging wall, containing mostly pyrite with minor amounts of chalcopyrite and traces of carrollitc and sphalerite; (2) an intermediate zone containing major chalcopyrite and pyrite, minor tennantite-tetrahedrite, bornitc, carrollitc, and sphalerite, and traces of galena; and (3) a core zone containing major bornitc, chalcopyrite, pyrite, and chalcocite, minor carrollitc, digenite, and sphalerite, and traces of galena, covellite, and the germanium-bearing sulfides renierite and germanitc. Small clots of anthracitelike organic material (anthraxolite) are found throughout the ore. Much of the pyrite is fine grained and was deposited before the other sulfides, being increasingly replaced by Cu-bearing sulfides from the outer zone to the core. Some of this pyrite recrystallized into coarser grains having cobaltiferous rims, and these grains were generally not replaced. The sulfide minerals are commonly pseudomorphous after lath-shaped crystals within the dolomite clasts; no unreplaced examples were found, though the crystals closely resemble those of marcasite. The abundant fine-grained, porous pyrite also may represent replacement of marcasite. The origin and timing of brecciation and ore deposition remain unknown, though dolomitization and ore deposition appear to have occurred in preexisting carbonate breccia. Close mineralogical and geologic similarities are noted with the Kipushi Cu-Zn-Pb deposit in Zaire and with several other carbonate-hosted copper-rich organic-bearing deposits. The common concentration of the rare metals Co, Ge, and Ga in these structurally and mineralogically complex ores should increase their economic attractiveness.


The stereoselective synthesis of the masked northern half of the antimitotic natural product disorazole A 1 is described involving as key step a Z-selective Wittig olefination of a Cl -C I epoxy aldehyde with a C12-C19 phosphonium iodide.


Semi-empirical formulae for baryon magnetic moments are derived on the analysis of the recent accurate measurements. It is found that corrections which cannot be attributed to quark contributions are quite large and isovector dominant. Our data analysis supports strongly Lipkin's idea of the quenching mechanism and Brown-Myhrer's estimates for the pion cloud.


The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Western blot is indeterminate in 10%-20% of sera reactive by EIA. Eighty-nine individuals with prior repeatedly reactive EIA and indeterminate Western blots were followed prospectively to study the risk of seroconversion and specificity of supplemental tests. Four high-risk cases seroconverted within 10 months after enrollment (seroconversion risk, 4.5%, 95% confidence interval, 1.2%-11.1%). Among cases with p24 bands initially, 4 (18.2%) of 22 high-risk individuals seroconverted compared with 0 of 33 low-risk cases (P = .03). Specificities of HIV-1 culture, serum p24 antigen, polymerase chain reaction, and recombinant ENV 9 EIA were 100%, 100%, 98.6%, and 94.4%, respectively. An expedited evaluation protocol is proposed. Low-risk individuals with nonreactive EIAs upon repeat testing do not need further follow-up; high-risk individuals should be followed serologically for at least 6 months, especially those with p24 bands on Western blot.


Violent outbursts in Paris (2005), London (2011), and Ferguson (2014) illustrate the problematic and disturbing relationship between citizens and police in the 'West'. While these episodes are often portrayed as 'apolitical' and 'criminal' in media and political debates, they are in the academic literature predominantly seen as (unarticulated) forms of political protests against structural inequalities. Building on this political perspective, I will first argue that the interplay between structural, police, and 'private' violence is at the core of these urban uprisings. Subsequently, I will identify four common factors that contributed to the onset and legitimization of collective violence in Paris, London, and Ferguson: an emotive and symbolically significant incident, often with a young inhabitant of a marginalized neighbourhood as protagonist; police involvement; unclarity and pre-violence rumours; and pre-existing us-them divides. In the conclusion, I will emphasize the importance and need of a systemic approach towards police reform.


We investigated the fetal mortality in 903 sibships with at least one member having cleft lip with or without cleft palate [CL(P)] and 213 with at least one individual affected with cleft palate (CP) derived from three different data sources in México. The frequency of fetal wastage (abortion and/or stillbirth) was not increased in sibships where the propositi had cleft lip and palate (CLP) as compared with cleft lip (CL) nor in those where index cases had a bilateral lesion as compared to a unilateral one, nor when the index cases with CL(P) were female rather than males, nor when the index case was a female with bilateral lesion as compared to males with a unilateral one. Similarly fetal mortality was not increased in sibships in which the propositus had CP compared to those in which the index case was a female. These findings are contrary to some reports that claim to support a two-threshold model according to which individuals reaching the first one would be born with an oral cleft, and those reaching the second would be aborted. Our results, together with others, suggest the possibility that liability to oral clefts is independent of liability to fetal wastage.


Background/Aims: We aimed to unravel how symptoms related to gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction impair quality of life (QoL) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods: We enrolled 134 outpatients with type 2 DM and 16 non-DM. In DM patients, mean age was 64.7 years, mean body mass index (BMI) 24.7 kg/m2, mean glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) 7.1%, and mean DM duration 13.7 years. In non-DM, mean age was 66.6 years and mean BMI was 25.2 kg/m2. GI symptom-related QoL was determined using the Izumo scale, based on five factors, i.e., heartburn, gastralgia, postprandial fullness, constipation and diarrhea. The sum of scores obtained for the three questions in each domain was calculated, and subjects with a score of 5 or higher were considered to be symptomatic with impaired QoL. JMP Clinical version 5.0 was used for all statistical analyses. Results: In DM patients, constipation was much greater than non-DM, diarrhea was somewhat higher, other symptoms did not increase significantly. In DM, lower abdominal symptoms were found to be more frequent than those affecting the upper abdomen. Diabetic duration and medications showed associations with GI symptoms. We identified differences in peak prevalences of the five symptoms. Gastralgia and total GI symptoms peaked at a diabetes duration of 15-19 years. Heartburn and postprandial fullness tended to increase with disease duration. Constipation and diarrhea showed bimodal peaks, with the first early and the second late in the disease course. Finally, GI symptoms showed clustering that reflected the region of the GI tract affected, i.e., constipation and diarrhea had similar frequencies. Conclusions: Our study highlights the importance of questioning patients about QoL impairment due to abdominal symptoms, especially in the early and the late periods of diabetes. The heterogeneous nature of the underlying GI symptoms, including medication usage, should be taken into consideration when managing patients with T2DM. Disclosure M. Fujishiro: Research Support; Self; Johnson & Johnson Services, Inc. A. Kushiyama: Research Support; Self; Teijin Pharma Limited, Sanwa Kagaku Kenkyusho Co., Ltd., Kowa Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd, StaGen. Consultant; Self; RIZAP. H. Yamazaki: None. T. Yamamotoya: None. T. Kikuchi: None. H. Sakoda: None. R. Suzuki: Research Support; Self; Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd.. Other Relationship; Self; MSD K.K., Novo Nordisk Pharma Ltd., Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Eli Lilly Japan K.K. T. Kadowaki: Consultant; Self; Novo Nordisk A/S, AstraZeneca, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp.. Research Support; Self; Kissei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Taisho Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Sanofi, Kyowa Hakko Kirin Co., Ltd., Novo Nordisk A/S, Astellas Pharma, Daiichi Sankyo Company, Limited, Takeda, Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co. Ltd.. Speaker9s Bureau; Self; Astellas Pharma, AstraZeneca, Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Takeda, Eli Lilly and Company, Nippon Boehringer Ingelheim Co. Ltd., Novo Nordisk A/S.


ion compared with nonexposed workers. On a test of both selective attention and working memory, directly exposed workers were 3.5 times more likely to score low compared with nonexposed subjects. On a similar test of selective attention and mental flexibility, the exposed individuals were 3.1 times more likely to score low. The exposed men and women processed information less quickly than nonexposed colleagues, although performances of exposed workers were similar to those of the nonexposed if the tasks were slowed. The study participants' symptoms were subclinical and didn't appear to interfere with their work, the team writes, and the participants didn't complain about their cognitive deficits. But they might run into cognitive problems as they age, Baldi notes. "This is why we planned a four-year follow-up of the population [starting in 2001] to assess evolution of performances," she says. One surprising finding: although large amounts of alcohol are neurotoxic, the workers who drank moderately had better test scores than nondrinkers. Other studies have shown a protective effect of moderate wine consumption on cognitive performance. Baldi can't explain the finding, but notes that among these workers alcohol is considered "a noble product." –Tina Adler Lead in Your Body Genotype Determines What Stays, What Goes The same lead exposure can cause widely varying symptoms of lead intoxication and levels of organ dysfunction in different people. According to Howard Hu of Harvard University and his colleagues, an underlying cause may be genetic polymorphism in the δ-aminolevulinic acid dehydratase (ALAD) gene [EHP 109:827–832]. The team studied ALAD polymorphism and its relation to altered concentrations of bone and blood lead among 726 middle-aged and elderly men who had been exposed to lead nonoccupationally. Given their ages, these men would have faced now-obsolete lead exposures such as inhaling combusted leaded gasoline and ingesting food from lead-soldered cans, as well as still-present exposures such as eating vegetables grown in lead-contaminated soil. The men were participants in the Normative Aging Study, a longitudinal study of aging begun in 1963. Middle-aged to elderly men are at the highest risk for the onset of certain chronic diseases such as hypertension, stroke, heart attack, and dementia, and Hu and colleagues believe that cumulative lead exposure may be a signifant risk factor for these problems. Bone lead measurements were taken at the thigh and the knee. These sites were chosen because they consist, respectively, of pure cortical and pure trabecular bone. Cortical bone has very slow turnover; lead that is deposited there persists for many decades and thus provides a good reflection of total lead exposure. Conversely, trabecular bone has a relatively rapid turnover and releases a good deal of lead into the blood. Trabecular bone is therefore a good reflection of bone lead stores that can be mobilized into circulation. The results showed that patella lead was the major predictor of blood lead in this aging nonoccupationally exposed population and that ALAD polymorphism significantly affected this association. For example, when patella lead exceeded 60 μg/g, blood lead concentrations in carriers of the ALAD 2 allele were higher than those in ALAD 1-1 carriers. By contrast, when patella lead concentrations were lower than 40 μg/g, blood lead concentrations were higher in ALAD 1-1 carriers than in ALAD 2 carriers. On the basis of their results, Hu and his colleagues suggest that when blood lead concentrations are relatively low—less than about 8 μg/dL, for instance—ALAD 1-1 carriers will have higher blood lead concentrations than ALAD 2 carriers. Science Selections A 386 VOLUME 109 | NUMBER 8 | August 2001 • Environmental Health Perspectives Lost in thought among the vines. A study conducted on vineyard workers showed for the first time that long-term low-level exposures to pesticides have measurable effects on cognition. Some earlier studies on ALAD polymorphism and blood lead found that individuals with the ALAD 2 allele had higher blood lead concentrations. Others did not find this relationship. The results of Hu's study suggest a possible reason for this discrepancy: the relationship between the ALAD polymorphism and blood lead may actually depend on how much lead is in bone, a parameter that had not been previously measured in most ALAD polymorphism studies. Hu and colleagues caution, however, that this finding is tentative and needs to be verified in other community-exposed population studies. ALAD polymorphism, then, might modify the exchange of lead between blood and bone, which in turn could modify a person's risk for lead toxicity. Several previous studies have indeed found that ALAD polymorphism modifies certain symptoms of lead intoxication, such as impaired kidney, reproductive, and neuropsychological function. For instance, one study found the ALAD 2 allele to correlate with impaired kidney function, yet other studies found this same allele to be protective of neuropsychological and male reproductive function. More research is needed for a precise definition of the mechanism of function and of the potential impact of ALAD polymorphism on lead kinetics and toxicity.


Objective: Given the widespread popularity of social media and the increasing number of medical school admissions
committees who research applicants using social media, the objective of this study is to determine how medical school
applicants feel about the use of their posted social media information by medical school admissions committees to aid in
admissions decisions and what changes they had made or considered making to their social media presence in preparation
for the medical school application process. Methods: With the assistance of 6 different institutions, we recruited individuals
applying to medical school during the 2014-2015 academic year with intent to enroll in Fall 2015 to respond to a 43-item
web-based survey. Potential participants received electronic communications from their university's pre-medical advisor
and/or pre-medical student group with a link to the survey. Results: Seventy-one completed surveys were returned. Only
25% (18/71) of participants had made changes to their social media in preparation for the application process; another 9%
(5/53) planned to do likewise. While many felt it was acceptable for admissions committees to review applicants' social
media pages (52/71, 73%) and use that information to inform admissions decisions (45/71, 63%), a large majority wished
admissions programs would clearly inform applicants whether it might review and use information gained from an applicant's'
social media profile (55/71, 78%). While many participants understood they may be evaluated by admissions committees
based on perceptions of their professionalism on social media, there is still a need for education by undergraduate programs
on the matter. Conclusions: Medical school admissions offices can use these results of this study to decide whether and
how much to communicate with applicants about how online professionalism may be factored into the admissions process.


Registers of the management of infarction can complement information obtained from randomised trials evaluating the methods and practice of treatment. In order to do this, the quality of the registers must be assured, and in particular the accuracy of the recorded cases. The objective of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of a register for the in-hospital and pre-hospital management of acute coronary syndromes with ST segment elevation of less than 12 hours' duration. Using a capture-recapture method, the study compared cases in the register with eligible cases present in the hospital and emergency ambulance service databases at two establishments, giving a recruitment rate of 61%. The rate of accuracy was estimated at 84% (95% CI [82 ; 86]). The independent factors associated with failure of notification were female sex (ORa=6.65 [2.04-21.69]), presentation at nights, weekends or bank holidays (ORa=4.13 [1.33-12.85]), direct admission to hospital without passing by the emergency ambulance service (ORa=2.85 [1.03-7.69]), primary angioplasty (ORa=6.18 [1.60-23.79]) and the absence of reperfusion (ORa=40.38 [6.21-262.40]). With more than 80% accuracy, the results produced by the register are robust. The selection bias linked to the under-representation of certain subgroups, while real, has only a marginal impact on estimates derived from the register. Factors associated with failure of notification should be taken into account when operating such a register.


Within the research project HypoWave, a hydroponic system for plant production was investigated. The hydroponic system was fed with wastewater that had undergone specially adapted treatment. The principal aim was to develop a combined system for water treatment and hydroponic plant production, where water and nutrients were reused efficiently to produce marketable food products. Another goal was to find out whether the reuse of pre-treated wastewater for plant growth in a hydroponic system could also present an additional alternative wastewater treatment step for enhanced nutrient removal. A pilot plant, consisting of various treatment steps such as activated sludge process, ozonation and biological activated carbon filtration, was used to produce lettuce with irrigation water of different qualities. The hydroponic pilot plant was operated in two different modes – flow-through and feed & deplete. This paper focuses on the influence of the various modes of operation and accordingly varying nutrient concentrations (N, P, K) on plant growth. Furthermore, heavy metal content in the various types of treated wastewater and in the produced plants was investigated. In addition, the results of the different modes of operation were verified by mass balances for N, P and K.


Auditory Progress Bars (APB) are non-speech auditory displays that indicate the status and progress of ongoing tasks. In on-hold telephone settings they may provide the caller with a means of estimating when their call will be answered. Here, participants used three distinct APBs to make estimations of the time remaining during a simulated on-hold wait. The benefits of feedback and hearing the APB's endpoint on estimating time remaining were examined. Evidence is found that the accuracy of estimations differs by APB type and that feedback on initial estimations increases accuracy on later estimations. Knowing the APBs endpoint does not appear to increase the accuracy of estimating the time remaining in fixed intervals.


Abstract Radio-collaring is widely used as a monitoring tool in the conservation of the black rhinoceros Diceros bicornis. We examined rates and causes of radio-transmitter collar failure on black rhino in the Sinamatella Intensive Protection Zone (IPZ), Zimbabwe, between September 1993 and February 2000. Two collar designs, hose and strap, were fitted on immobilized rhinos in four main collaring operations. Eighty nine collars were monitored: 28 hose and 61 strap. Within 12 months of placement, all hose collars had failed. Of the strap collars, 73 per cent of those on males and 44 per cent on females had failed within 12 months. Failure rates were significantly higher in males for both collar types. For strap collars older males had higher failure rates than younger males. There was some evidence of a higher failure rate of strap collars during the wet season. Thirteen per cent of strap and 4 per cent of hose collars were removed because of poor transmission; 15 per cent of strap collars were removed because of injury. The implications of collar failure rates and the use of radio-collaring as a routine protection and /or monitoring strategy are discussed.


We report techniques for the fabrication of laser radiation diffusers for interstitial photodynamic therapy. Using chemical etching of the distal end of silica fibre with a core diameter of 200 — 600 μm, we have obtained long (up to 40 mm) diffusers with good scattering uniformity. Laser ablation has been used to produce cylindrical diffusers with high emission contrast and a scattering uniformity no worse than ∼10 % in their middle part. The maximum length of the diffusers produced by this method is 20 — 25 mm.


In this study, the Yuying and Fendou forest farms of Tuqiang Forest Bureau in Daxing'an Mountains were chosen as test areas, and their vegetation type, altitude, slop, aspect, and settlement buffer were selected as the main forest fire factors. The circumstances of forest fire risk were quantified by the factor-weights union method with the support of GIS. Four classes of forest fire risk ranging from low to extreme were generated. The none-, low, moderate, high, and extremely high fire risk zones accounted for 0.37%, 0.63%, 38.67%, 58.63% and 1.70%, respectively, which was in corresponding with normal distribution. About 60.33% of the test areas were predicted to be upper moderate risk zones, indicating that the forest fire management task in these areas is super onerous. There was an obvious regional difference in the distribution of forest fire risk zones, being higher in the center and lower around the center, and the difference in fire factors was also obvious. The GIS-based forest fire risk model of test areas strongly cohered with the actual fire-affected sites in 1987, which suggested that the forest fire risk zone mapping had a higher reliability, and could be used as the reference and guidance of forest fire management.


The densities of states for the periodic Anderson model are evaluated by means of a non-standard perturbation expansion in the kinetic term of the conduction electrons. The calculations are performed at finite temperature, taking into account in an exact way the effect of the on-site Coulomb repulsion U and the hybridization coupling V. The authors reproduce most of the properties that are usually expected for the correlated electrons, especially the peaks in the density of states at energies in f and in f+U and the double peak structure with the hybridization gap in the region around the chemical potential.


During different phases of in vitro culture, plant tissues may be exposed to some stresses that never encounter in their natural habitats. The most significant stresses which interfere with in vitro culture are pathogenic contamination and browning disorder. Since browning sign is occurred during all phases of in vitro culture of Spartium junceum L., the present study was done preventing explants from browning during disinfection and callogenesis phases using exposure time of sterilants (ethanol 0, 30, 60 s and home bleach 0, 10, 15 min), antioxidant compounds (PVP 0.5%, Activated charcoal 0.1%, Curcumin 0.1%), Running water (30 and 60 min) plant growth regulators (2,4-D 0, 0.5, 1 and 2 mg L-1 and BA 0, 0.1 and 0.2 mg L-1), and by changing light/dark conditions was designed. The results showed that ethanol 70% (30 s) in combination with home bleach 20% (10 min) had the best effect in control contaminations and browning sign in nodal explants of S. junceum. The application of PVP 0.5% in medium was the best treatment to control of browning nodal explants in callus induction phase. The highest callus formation and the lowest explant browning were obtained on the medium supplemented with 0.5 mg L-1 2,4-D under the darkness condition. According to the results of this study, how disinfection methods, culture medium compositions and light conditions were effective on the browning and callogenesis of


Fifty eyes with either advanced keratoconus (17), recent corneal transplants (20), or high astigmatism (13) were fitted with soft hydrophilic contact lenses. In all eyes, spectacle correction did not allow for reasonable visual acuity, and hard contact lenses were either intolerable, dangerous to the underlying ocular pathological condition, or did not significantly improve the visual acuity. The hydrophilic contact lenses improved the visual acuity to 20/30 or better in 30 of the 50 eyes, and from 20/40 to 20/60 in 16 additional eyes. Spectacle lenses had to be worn over the soft lenses in 28 of the 50 eyes in this series in order to correct residual astigmatism. This was accepted by the patients who had no other way, short of surgery, to obtain a satisfactory visual acuity.


Background: Lymphocytic alveolitis is a common feature of Wegener's granulomatosis (WG) and sarcoidosis. In pulmonary sarcoidosis analysis of the T cell receptor (TCR) configuration disclosed a biased TCR repertoire in cells obtained by bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL), suggesting that the pulmonary T cell population contains an oligoclonal, probably antigenically selected component. We examined whether this is also a feature of WG. Methods: The distribution of 16 TCR Vβ phenotypes on BAL cells was compared with the distribution on autologous blood cells in 8 WG patients with lymphocytic alveolitis. A control group was composed of 5 patients with active pulmonary sarcoidosis. The two groups were comparable with respect to the lymphocyte count in BAL and the distribution of the CD4+ and CD8+ T cell subsets in BAL and the blood. Overutilization of individual Vβ phenotypes on BAL cells was considered to be significant when the percentage of positive cells in BAL doubled than in the blood and the frequency in BAL was at least 10% of total BAL T cells. Results: All 5 sarcoidosis patients showed substantial overutilization of individual Vβ families in BAL as compared with the blood. By contrast, only 2 of the 8 WG patients showed overutilization of individual Vβ phenotypes in BAL. Conclusions: These findings do not suggest that the T cell population in BAL of WG patients contains a prominent oligoclonal component. While BAL is a convenient approach to obtain T cells from a site of active disease, BAL cells do not appear to be good material for the isolation of clonally selected T cells in WG.


xploring the diverse myriad of female religious identities that exist within the various branches of the Moroccan Sufi Order, Qādiriyya Būdshīshiyya, today, this book evidences a wide array of religious identities, from those more typical of Berber culture, to those characterised by a 'sober' approach to Sufism, as well as those that denote New Age eclecticism.

The book researches the ways in which religious discourses are corporeally endorsed. After providing an overview of the Order historically and today, enunciating the processes by which this local tarīqa from North-eastern Morocco has become the international organization that it is now, the book explores the religious body in movement, in performance, and in relation to the social order. It analyses pilgrimage by assessing the annual visit that followers of Hamza Būdshīsh make to the central lodge of the Order in Madāgh; it explores bodily religious enactments in ritual performance, by discussing the central practices of Sufi ritual as manifested in the Būdshīshiyya, and delves attention into diverse understandings of faith healing and health issues.


SUMMARY Ambient vibration techniques such as the H/V method may have the potential to significantly contribute to site effect evaluation, particularly in urban areas. Previous studies interpret the so-called Nakamura's technique in relation to the ellipticity ratio of Rayleigh waves, which, for a high enough impedance contrast, exhibits a pronounced peak close to the fundamental S-wave resonance frequency. Within the European SESAME project (Site EffectS assessment using AMbient Excitations) this interpretation has been tested through noise numerical simulation under well-controlled conditions in terms of source type and distribution and propagation structure. We will present simulations for a simple realistic site (one sedimentary layer over bedrock) characterized by a rather high impedance contrast and low quality factor. Careful H/V and array analysis on these noise synthetics allow an in-depth investigation of the link between H/V ratio peaks and the noise wavefield composition for the soil model considered here: (1) when sources are near (4 to 50 times the layer thickness) and surficial, H/V curves exhibit one single peak, while the array analysis shows that the wavefield is dominated by Rayleigh waves; (2) when sources are distant (more than 50 times the layer thickness) and located inside the sedimentary layer, two peaks show up on the H/V curve, while the array analysis indicates both Rayleigh waves and strong S head waves; the first peak is due to both fundamental Rayleigh waves and resonance of head S waves, the second is only due to the resonance of head S waves; (3) when sources are deep (located inside the bedrock), whatever their distance, H/V ratio exhibit peaks at the fundamental and harmonic resonance frequencies, while array analyses indicate only non-dispersive body waves; the H/V is thus simply due to multiple reflections of S waves within the layer. Therefore, considering that experimental H/V ratio (i.e. derived from actual noise measured in the field) exhibit in most cases only one peak, we conclude that H/V ratio is (1) mainly controlled by local surface sources, (2) mainly due to the ellipticity of the fundamental Rayleigh waves. Then the amplitude of H/V peak is not able to give a good estimate of site amplification factor.


The decoherence of a central electron spin of an atom coupled to an anti-ferromagnetic spin bath in the presence of a time varying B-Field (VBF) is investigated applying the Holstein-Primak off and Bloch transformations approaches. The Boltzmann entropy and the specific heat capacity at a given temperature are obtained and show the correlation of the coupling of the spin bath and the electron spin of the central atom. At low frequencies, the coherence of the coupled system is dominated by the magnetic field intensity. At low VBF intensity, there is decrease in entropy and heat capacity at increase external magnetic field that show the decoherence suppression of the central electron spin atom. The crossing observed in the specific heat capacity corresponds to the critical field point of the system which represents the point of transition from the anti-ferromagnetic system to the ferromagnetic one. C B


Plant chemicals in the rhizosphere originating from root exudates or sites of previous nematode penetration can influence nematode behaviour, and a number of plant compounds, some present in root exudates, have been shown either to attract nematodes to the roots, or to result in repellence, motility inhibition, or even death. The present work was conducted to isolate small lipophilic molecules (SLMs) emitted by root exudates of Solanum lycopersicum and Oryza sativa to investigate their effect on root-knot nematodes. SLMs extracted, through solid phase extraction, from hydroponically collected root exudates of 40 tomato and rice plants had an inhibitory impact on the motility of second-stage juveniles of Meloidogyne incognita and M. graminicola and showed a nematotoxic or nematostatic (upon dilution) effect on both species. The semiochemicals present in the SLMs induced a very small, albeit statistically significant, effect on stylet thrusting. A small quantity of salivary secretion around the stylet tip and a significant decrease in nematode head movement were observed. The semiochemicals negatively influenced behaviour of M. incognita and M. graminicola by strongly affecting their mobility. Therefore, it is proposed that SLMs present in both tomato and rice root exudates play important roles during the interaction of Meloidogyne spp. with their host plant, and that they might exert a repellent, or allellopathic, effect on these nematodes.


Typhoid fever is a systemic disease caused by Salmonella typhi. It is endemic in Southeast Asia and in Singapore there are about 120 infections notified annually', Salmonella infections present a spectrum of clinical syndromes. In Singapore there are 150 to 200 cases of leptospirosis annually'. We report a case of Salmonella septicaemia with unusual manifestations which made initial diagnosis difficult.


The effect of interfacial toughening porous non-woven fabric (PNF) on the Mode-II fracture toughness (GIIC) of carbon fiber reinforced polymer is studied by performing end notched flexure tests. The PNF with a thickness of 10 μm is selected as the interleaf material, which is modeled by the bilinear cohesive zone model. The vertical displacement of loading points and the corresponding force are measured. The influences of the cohesive shear strength and GIIC of the toughening interlayer on the mechanical response of composites are studied. The main results are obtained as follows. The peak load increases with the increase of the cohesive shear strength, but the increasing amplitude is gradually reduced. Once the delamination propagates steadily, the influence of the cohesive shear strength can be neglected, and at the moment, GIIC of toughening interlayer plays a leading role. Furthermore, the greater GIIC of toughening interlayer is, the greater GIIC of composites and peak load are.


Stephen McManus, Donald Thompson, and Thomas Churchill are clear about the purpose of their book: "to provide a nuts-and-bolts approach to researching an ancestor who served in the Civil War and his military unit" (p. ix). The Civil War Research Guide succeeds in providing the basic instructions on how to begin researching the war and an individual's role in it. It takes the novice researcher, whether genealogist or graduate student, step-by-step toward locating pertinent resources, organizing research trips and materials, and compiling the information into readable documents that will be valuable to family members and Civil War researchers alike. The book's twelve appendixes include sample letters, helpful forms, and lists of important archival organizations and websites. Although the entire volume is a useful reminder to all Civil War researchers that history is made by individuals, the more experienced student will find the book too elementary. The Civil War Research Guide is, however, an excellent resource for those the authors wanted to reach: all who wish to discover their families' Civil War history.


Coastal structures may be built on natural sedimentary intermediate grounds, which mainly consist of silty soils and fine sandy soils. In this study, extensive field and laboratory tests were performed on the natural marine intermediate deposits to demonstrate the difference in behavior between natural marine clayey soils and natural marine intermediate deposits. The natural intermediate deposits have almost the same ratios of natural water content to liquid limit as those of the soft natural marine clays, but the former have much higher in-situ strength and sensitivity than the latter. The research results indicate that grain size distributions of soils affect significantly tip resistance obtained in field cone penetration tests. The mechanical parameters of natural marine intermediate deposits are also significantly affected by sample disturbance due to their high sensitivity and relatively large permeability. Unconfined compression shear tests largely underestimate the strength of natural marine intermediate soils. The triaxial consolidated compression shear tests with simulated in-situ confined pressure give results much better than those of uncomfined compression shear tests.


[1] We used a dynamic, long-term mass balance approach to track cumulative carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) losses to fire in boreal Manitoba over the 6500 years since deglaciation. Estimated C losses to decomposition and fire, combined with measurements of N pools in mature and burned forest floors, suggest that loss of N by combustion has likely resulted in a long-term loss that exceeds the amount of N stored in soil today by 2 to 3 times. These estimates imply that biological N fixation rates could be as high as 5 to 10 times atmospheric deposition rates in boreal regions. At the site scale, the amount of N lost is due to N content of fuels, which varies by stand type and fire severity, which in turn vary with climate and fire dynamics. The interplay of fire frequency, fire severity, and N partitioning during regrowth are important for understanding rates and sustainability of nutrient and carbon cycling over millenia and over broad regions.


Human mobility patterns are quite diverse nowadays and a very singular, extreme pattern is seen in the Brazilian scene: road wandering. Road wanderers are individuals who leave their home, family, work and other territories of a settled life and throw themselves into a life of solitary wandering along Brazilian highways. This study aimed to describe the lifestyle of road wanderers, investigate the reasons that led them choose this way of living and understand it against a background of modern human mobility patterns. A total of 63 interviews were conducted with individuals wandering on road shoulders. We found road wandering is associated with the following determinants: poverty; unemployment; marital conflicts; emotional suffering following the loss of loved ones; desires for adventure and freedom; and cultural symbols related to journey, migration, exodus and other modes of displacement. Despite its particularities, road wandering can be understood as a way of human mobility in the modern world.

 Key words: Wandering, road wanderer, mobility, migration.


Purpose: When healthcare students participate in international service-learning experiences, they are exposed to a culture that is different from their own. This exposure, accomplished through cultural and clinical activities, can help to develop their clinical skills and result in personal growth. However, the individual impact of clinical versus cultural activities on personal growth is poorly understood. This study examines the impact on personal growth of clinical activities and cultural activities during international service-learning in occupational therapy students. Methods: Qualitative interviews using a phenomenological approach were utilized to explore the lived experiences of American occupational therapy students who traveled to Morocco. Responses were coded and analyzed to identify general themes on the impact of different clinical and cultural activities. Qualities of impactful experiences were also identified. Results: Participants identified authentic clinical activities that elicited an emotional response and cultural activities that involved full cultural immersion as being most impactful for their personal growth. Conclusion/Recommendations: To support healthcare students' personal growth, international service-learning should be designed to include authentic clinical activities that elicit emotion and reflection and opportunities for full immersion into the culture of the country abroad.


The radiation produced when a relativistically moving plasma/gas boundary (i.e., an ionization front) passes between alternatively biased capacitor electrodes is studied. Results of an experiment based on a design which incorporates the capacitor electrodes into an X band waveguide are presented. The waveguided design effectively couples nearly three orders of magnitude more power into the output than the previously unguided designs. Linear theory is extended to include the depletion of the laser energy as it propagates through the ionizable gas (i.e., laser depletion), and the effect of finite output pulse duration.


Using both semiparametric and parametric estimation methods, this paper corroborates earlier findings of fractionally integrated behaviour in the forward premium. Two new explanations are also proposed to help reconcile earlier conflicting empirical evidence on the time series properties of the forward premium. Traditional regression approaches used to test the forward rate unbiasedness hypothesis are then evaluated, including regression in levels, in returns (Fama's, 1984, regression), and in error-correction format. Interesting statistical and|or interpretive implications are found in all three cases. For example, the predictions of the appropriate nonstandard limit theory are consistent with many of the standard empirical results reported from Fama's regression, including the commonly occurring, yet puzzling negative correlations between spot returns and the forward premium. It is suggested that the principal failure of unbiasedness, may be due instead to the difference in persistence between these two series. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.


This article aims to understand why extractive firms in the industrial logging industry in central Africa are reluctant to certify or label their activities. The methodology is based on three empirical case studies of logging companies in Cameroon: one opposed to certification and labeling (the model), the other is in the process of being certified (intermediate case) and the last is certified (negative case). The preferred option followed by this study was to avoid the copying of the first case by prospecting an intermediate case. The "negative" case permitted the model to be saturated. The comparative analysis of data collected highlighted some key obstacles to the commitment to environmental labeling: corruption, low turnover, high certification cost and the source of capital.


The implementation of a digital twin presents a challenging environment for simulation. One challenge is the need for fast execution speed to maintain synchronization with the real system. When providing predictive outcomes, the complementary use of simulation with machine learning and optimization software may be employed to achieve this aim. The article investigates the use of simulation, machine learning and optimization in terms of providing a digital twin capability. The article presents a case on Formula 1 or F1 competition, where a decision support system (DSS) framework is presented to explore a digital twin capability.


This study aims to evaluate the effect of recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein-2 (rhBMP-2) on mandibular distraction at routine and rapid distraction rates. Eighteen New Zealand white rabbits were assigned to 2 groups, 1 treated at a routine distraction rate (0.9 mm/d) and the other at a rapid distraction rate (2.7 mm/d). rhBMP-2 was injected into 1 side of the distraction regenerate at the end of the active distraction period; the contralateral side was used as a control. The distraction regenerates were analyzed by plain radiography, microcomputed tomography, and histologic examination. The results showed that rhBMP-2 can promote bone formation at both rapid and routine distraction rates, but no statistically significant difference was observed between the bone morphogenetic protein injection sides of the rapid and routine distraction groups. In conclusion, the study indicates that rhBMP-2 can enhance bone ossification at both routine and rapid distraction rates. The addition of rhBMP-2 seems to be able to compensate for the rapid distraction rate in mandibular distraction osteogenesis. Further longterm follow-up and mechanical strength test for the support of implants or conventional prostheses are necessary.


The present topical issue of Physica Scripta contains the results of a concerted effort to review and expand the cross section data information for collision processes of beryllium and boron atoms and ions in a thermonuclear fusion plasma. These two chemical species are present as dominant impurities in the plasmas of several presently operating large tokamak devices and are anticipated to be among the most abundant impurities in the next generation fusion reactor experiments. Beryllium is attractive as a plasma facing reactor material because of its low atomic number (i.e. low potential for radiative plasma power losses), excellent gettering properties with respect to oxygen (unavoidably present in any fusion plasma) and adequate thermo-mechanical and erosion properties when exposed to plasma energy and particle fluxes. Boron, on the other hand, is frequently used as a dopand in carbon-based plasma facing materials to improve their erosion, hydrogen retention and (some) thermo-mechanical properties. The beryllium and boron atoms enter the plasma edge as a result of plasma-wall interaction and in the course of their penetration into the hot plasma regions become progressively ionized. The variety of collision processes of beryllium and boron atoms and ions with other plasma constituents is very large. In the hot plasma regions, the most important among them are the electron-impact excitation, ionization and recombination. In the cold plasma edge regions which support thermodynamical coexistence of both neutral and ionized species, apart from electron-impact excitation and ionization of neutral Be and B atoms, coffision processes of low charged Be and B ions with the neutral atomic and molecular hydrogen and helium (such as momentum transfer, excitation, ionization and charge exchange) are also important. The inelastic collision processes between Beq+, Bq+ ions and H, He neutrals are particularly important when energetic neutral hydrogen and helium beams are injected into the plasma for heating and diagnostic purposes. The above mentioned collision processes between Be and B atoms and ions and other dominant plasma constituents play a prominent role in determining the transport of these impurity ions in the plasma and their radiating properties. The cross section information on these processes is also essential in the spectroscopic plasma diagnostics based on the analysis of observed radiation from Be and B species. All the important electron and heavy-particle collision processes involving Be and B atoms and ions in a fusion plasma (except the electron-ion recombination) are being addressed in the present volume. While a number of contributions to this volume provide a critical review of already existing cross section data for certain classes of processes, most of the articles report new, previously unavailable cross section information for the studied processes. The present volume of Physica Scripta is, therefore, a significant step towards a better understanding of the collision physics of Be and B ions in fusion plasmas and towards establishing a comprehensive cross section database for their collision processes. It is a great pleasure to express my deep appreciation to all contributors to the present volume for their dedicated effort and friendly cooperation during all stages of its preparation.


Expansion of DNA trinucleotide repeats causes at least 15 hereditary neurological diseases, and these repeats also undergo contraction and fragility. Current models to explain this genetic instability invoke erroneous DNA repair or aberrant replication. Here we show that CAG/CTG tracts are stabilized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae by the alternative clamp loader/unloader Ctf18-Dcc1-Ctf8-RFC complex (Ctf18-RFC). Mutants in Ctf18-RFC increased all three forms of triplet repeat instability—expansions, contractions, and fragility—with effect over a wide range of allele lengths from 20–155 repeats. Ctf18-RFC predominated among the three alternative clamp loaders, with mutants in Elg1-RFC or Rad24-RFC having less effect on trinucleotide repeats. Surprisingly, chl1, scc1-73, or scc2-4 mutants defective in sister chromatid cohesion (SCC) did not increase instability, suggesting that Ctf18-RFC protects triplet repeats independently of SCC. Instead, three results suggest novel roles for Ctf18-RFC in facilitating genomic stability. First, genetic instability in mutants of Ctf18-RFC was exacerbated by simultaneous deletion of the fork stabilizer Mrc1, but suppressed by deletion of the repair protein Rad52. Second, single-cell analysis showed that mutants in Ctf18-RFC had a slowed S phase and a striking G2/M accumulation, often with an abnormal multi-budded morphology. Third, ctf18 cells exhibit increased Rad52 foci in S phase, often persisting into G2, indicative of high levels of DNA damage. The presence of a repeat tract greatly magnified the ctf18 phenotypes. Together these results indicate that Ctf18-RFC has additional important functions in preserving genome stability, besides its role in SCC, which we propose include lesion bypass by replication forks and post-replication repair.


: The risks associated with a traditional wasteload allocation (WLA) analysis were quantified with data from a recent study of the Upper Trinity River (Texas). Risk is define here as the probability of failing to meet an established in-stream water quality standard. The QUAL-TX dissolved oxygen (DO) water quality model was modified to a Monte Carlo framework. Flow augmentation coding was also modified to allow an exact match to be computed between the predicted and an established DO concentration standard, thereby providing an avenue for linking input parameter uncertainty to the assignment of a wasteload permit (allowable mass loading rate).

Monte Carlo simulation techniques were employed to propagate input parameter uncertainties, typically encountered during WLA analysis, to the computed effluent five-day carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand requirements for a single major wastewater treatment plant (WWTP). The risk of failing to meet an established in-stream DO criterion may be as high as 96 percent. The uncertainty associated with estimation of the future total Kjeldahl nitrogen concentration for a single tributary was found to have the greatest impact on the determination of allowable WWTP loadings.


Purpose This study was aimed at developing a risk prediction model for postoperative dysplasia in elderly patients with patellar fractures in China. Patients and methods We conducted a community survey of patients aged ≥55 years who underwent surgery for patellar fractures between January 2013 and October 2018, through telephone interviews, community visits, and outpatient follow-up. We established a predictive model for assessing the risk of sarcopenia after patellar fractures. We developed the prediction model by combining multivariate logistic regression analysis with the least absolute shrinkage model and selection operator regression (Lasso analysis). The predictive quality and clinical utility of the predictive model were determined using C-index, calibration plots, and decision curve analysis. We conducted internal sampling methods for qualitative assessment. Result We recruited 61 participants (males: 20, mean age: 68.1 years). Various risk factors were assessed, and low body mass index and diabetes mellitus were identified as the most important risk factors (P<0.05). The model showed a good prediction rate (C-index: 0.909; 95% confidence interval: 0.81–1.00) and good correction effect. The C-index remained high (0.828) even after internal sample verification. Decision curve analysis showed that the risk of sarcopenia was 8.3–80.0%, suggesting good clinical practicability. Conclusion Our prediction model shows promise as a cost-effective tool for predicting the risk of postoperative sarcopenia in elderly patients based on the following: advanced age, low body mass index, diabetes, longer postoperative hospital stay, no higher education, no postoperative rehabilitation, removal of internal fixation, and less outdoor exercise.


The question of the non-magnetic (NM) vs. antiferromagnetic (AF) nature of the ε phase of solid oxygen is a matter of great interest and continuing debate. In particular, it has been proposed that the ε phase is actually composed of two phases, a low-pressure AF ε1 phase and a higher pressure NM ε0 phase [Crespo et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A., 2014, 111, 10427]. We address this problem through periodic spin-restricted and spin-polarized Kohn-Sham density functional theory calculations at pressures from 10 to 50 GPa using calibrated GGA and hybrid exchange-correlation functionals with Gaussian atomic basis sets. The two possible configurations for the antiferromagnetic (AF1 and AF2) coupling of the 0 ≤ S ≤ 1 O2 molecules in the (O2)4 unit cell were studied. Full enthalpy-driven geometry optimizations of the (O2)4 unit cells were done to study the pressure evolution of the enthalpy difference between the non-magnetic and both antiferromagnetic structures. We also address the evolution of structural parameters and the spin-per-molecule vs. pressure. We find that the spin-less solution becomes more stable than both AF structures above 50 GPa and, crucially, the spin-less solution yields lattice parameters in much better agreement with experimental data at all pressures than the AF structures. The optimized AF2 broken-symmetry structures lead to large errors of the a and b lattice parameters when compared with experiments. The results for the NM model are in much better agreement with the experimental data than those found for both AF models and are consistent with a completely non-magnetic (O2)4 unit cell for the low-pressure regime of the ε phase.


The effect of duration and annealing temperature in the range of 400–800 °C on the thermokinetic EMF value in titanium nickelide, the composition of which is close to the equi-atomic one, at a reverse phase transition was investigated. Thermokinetic EMF was measured directly using a digital millivoltmeter MNIPI V7-72. The phase and elemental composition of the alloy and the kinetics of thermoelastic phase transformations have been checked by X-ray diffraction and calorimetric studies, and X-ray microanalysis. Annealing at temperatures of 500 and 800 °C leads to an increase in the thermokinetic EMF value from 0.22 to 0.25 mV. Removal of the oxide layer from the sample surface annealed at 700 °C for 0.5 h leads to an increase in the thermokinetic EMF value from 0.22 to 0.26 mV for the 1-st thermal cycle. It was found that thermal cycling causes a decrease in the thermokinetic EMF values down to 0.98 mV for the 20th thermal cycle for the samples without an oxide layer and to 0.3 mV for the samples with an oxide layer, respectively. With the increase in annealing time up to 20 h at 700 °C, the decrease in the thermokinetic emf value to 0.16 mV was observed. The thermokinetic EMF value after heat treatment is associated with changes in the physical and mechanical properties of the alloy and characterized by a shift of the characteristic temperatures of the phase transition. The research results are important for understanding the physics of thermoelectric phenomena in shape memory alloys during nonstationary heating and can be used both to control the homogeneity of their physical and mechanical properties and to design smart actuators and sensors, mechanisms of control systems.


Through practices of anonymity electronic music culture has advanced a critique of the
institution of star personality in pop music. This study investigates how academic research
can learn from such pop music-related critical practices.

As it becomes an object of academic knowledge, the notoriously anti-representational
electronic music culture calls for an experimental research methodology. This performance
ethnography experiments, in the tradition of activist and performative anthropology, with
research practice as performance. Resisting the tendency to objectify culture as a factual
research object, this study explores the processuality and performativity of cultural research
matter: instead of substantial, post-personal anonymity states, the practice of fabricating
anonymity in electronic pop music (in discourse and sound) is its starting point. From there, it
focuses on anonymity performances – institution-critical practices of star personality that
operate within the discursive and media institutions of pop music.

Adopting a symmetrical methodology, two personality-critical projects from the field of
electronic pop music are addressed as laboratory cases and consulted for their tactical
operations. Their anonymity performance practices – tactical persona performance, fake or
collaborative imagination of a musical persona – take the form of immanent and particulate
'critical practice' (Butler, Foucault). Rather than distancing themselves from their 'object' of
critique, these laboratory cases engage in concrete, affirmative or self-critical performances
of pop stardom. Their resistance to the frameworks of identification and discursivity in pop
both engages with and corrodes the epistemic-constitutional level of the field of pop music.

How can researchers learn from such musico-artistic knowledge practices? Guided by its
laboratory cases, this study proceeds from a detached reading of an electronic pop music
live performance as a (poststructuralist) study of persona construction in pop music to
become an engaged performance ethnography. Performance is incorporated as critical
academic practice through a reflexive and increasingly performative writing style. The study
concludes with the advocation of an ethnographic research format derived from one
laboratory case: the collaborative investigation of imaginary research objects as a radical
implementation of the performative turn in the cultural studies of music.


Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) is an invasive pest that
ravaging crops in many provinces of China. In order to specifically
control this invasive pest, understanding of the relationship between
the insect and the host is necessary. In this study, we have compared
the biological and nutritional indexes of S. frugiperda by feeding it
with five different host-plants (Zea mays, Triticum aestivum, Digitaria
sanguinalis, Glycine max and Eleusine indica). The biological and
nutritional indexes of Z. mays feeding S. frugiperda were the best.
However, the pupa weight and fecundity of S. frugiperda fed with G. max
and E. indica were significantly lower than those fed with other hosts,
efficiency of conversion of digested food (ECD) and efficiency of
conversion of ingested food (ECI) were also lower than others. The total
phenol content was negatively correlated with the biological and
nutritional indexes of S. frugiperda, while the C/N content was
positively correlated. When fed on different host plants, the biological
and nutritional indexes of S. frugiperda were different, but all of them
could complete the life cycle. Therefore, in the absence of Z. mays, the
S. frugiperda may also harm other host plants, and host plants with high
C/N content can also with the risk of being infected.


The cat's response to visual difference targets in figure-ground and figure-figure arrays (a unique target figure in a field of contrasting identical figures) was studied. Subjects approached the targets of the figure-ground arrays readily when they were presented in a training series, learning to use them as cues to the location of a food reward, and showing no disturbance when stimulus aspects of the arrays were reversed. Response to the figure-figure targets during training was more variable. Some were approached promptly, but others, especially those involving interchanging of target and background elements, required considerable training before consistent approach was achieved. Subjects selected the target with significant frequency in test series with novel figure-ground arrays, even after only brief training; they did not, however, select the target in novel figure-figure arrays until they had extended experience with training stimuli.


The focus of this work is to detect the psychological emotional state of a human and also determine the personality trait of the person using speech samples. Cross-corpus technique has been employed for validation. Various Spectral features of speech along with Domain-Adaptive Least square Regression (DaLSR) and Auto-encoder classifier are considered. Voice samples from the publicly available database of Berlin and Enterface are used. The work is extended to classify the personality of a person into introvert or extrovert using detected psychological state. Using cross-corpus technique an improvement of 15% is obtained for psychological state classification compared to the existing reported work. The technique of personality classification is an initial attempt and needs to be improved for better recognition.


We employ a behavioural measure of trustworthiness obtained from an experiment carried out with a sample of the general British population whose individuals were extensively interviewed on earlier occasions. Our basic finding is that given past income, higher current income increases trustworthiness and, given current income, higher past income reduces trustworthiness. Past income determines the level of financial aspirations and whether or not these are fulfilled by the level of current income affects trustworthiness. We also suspect that past income may also capture heterogeneity in relevant subjects' dispositions, with more opportunistic subjects being less trustworthy and having higher average incomes.


Climate change is a major issue at present and it certainly affects our future generations. Every effort should be used to reduce the impact due to climate change. One way is to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas and the other way is reduce the use of energy. Naturally, if we can use energy efficiently, we will be in a position to minimize our power generation. In this paper, the authors propose an intelligent energy system management framework. Although there have been lots of theories and concepts on intelligent techniques for effective operation and control of power systems, the real application from these theories and concepts are far from trivial. The authors focus the application of intelligent techniques to power and energy management systems. A practical scheme is proposed and its use to real-life system will be demonstrated.