We describe models and algorithms designed to produce efficient and physically consistent dynamic simulations in the context of Intervention Robotics (i.e. for Robotics tasks involving strong physical interaction constraints and non necessarily rigid objects). These models and algorithms have been implemented within the $Robot\Phi$ system which can be potentially configured for a large variety of intervention-style tasks such as dextrous manipulations with a robot hand; manipulation of non-rigid objects; tele-programming the motions of an all-terrain vehicle; and some robot assisted surgery tasks (e.g. positioning of an artificial ligament in knee surgery). The approach uses a novel physically based modeling technique to produce dynamic simulations which are both efficient and consistent according to the laws of the Physics. The main advances over previous works in Robotics and Computer Graphics fields are twofold: the development of a unique framework for simultaneously processing motions, deformations, and physical interactions; and the incorporation of appropriate models and algorithms for obtaining efficient processing times while insuring consistent physical behaviors. These models are based upon three basic principles : the energy-based adaptative time step principle, the inertia-based adaptative discretization principle. and the dynamic surface/surface interactions law.


The most important clinical consequence of coronary disease is acute myocardial infarc- tion caused by an occlusion that limits the irrigation to the heart. Although the gold standard treatment is to restore blood flow, this reperfusion causes inherent damage by increasing the size of the infarcted area primarily through the opening of the mitochondrial permeability transition pore (MPTP). The cardioprotective effect of nitric oxide (NO) has been described to operate through S-nitrosylation of several important proteins in the cardiomyocytes such as the calcium channels RyR2 and the L-type Ca 2+ channel and mitochondrial proteins, including the MPTP. In this sense, an attractive strategy to pre- vent the ischemia-reperfusion damage is to increase the bioavailability of endogenous S-nitrosothiols. S-nitrosoglutathione reductase (GSNOR) is an enzyme involved in the metabolism of NO through denitrosylation, which would limit the cardioprotective effect of NO. Although inhibition of GSNOR has been studied in different organs, its effects on myocardial reperfusion have not yet been fully elucidated. In this chapter, we review the pathophysiology underlying myocardial reperfusion injury and the opening of the MPTP along with the cardioprotective role of S-nitrosothiols and the potential role for GSNOR. two important targets where S-nitrosothiols (SNO) exert cardioprotective effects within the mitochondria. S-nitrosylation of complex I prevents the burst of reactive oxygen species during reperfusion. CyclophylinD, which interacts with mitochondrial permeability transition pore is also S- nitrosylated, reducing its opening.


Current areal of anthrax among live stock and wild animals covers almost all the continents. The cause of human infection is conventionally considered to be the contact with diseased animals in the process of carrying for an animal, forced slaughter or further trimming of carcasses, as well as contact with infected raw materials of animal origin. Licensed vaccines has made an invaluable contribution to the improvement of epidemiological situation on anthrax, however, development of the vaccines complying with current scientific progress remains relevant. We have constructed a vaccine prototype containing recombinant protective antigen and S-layer EA1 protein and added state-of-the-art CpG 2006 adjuvant to the formulation. We have demonstrated the advantage of the lyophilized form of the preparation. Objective — obtainment of anthrax vaccine prototype in lyophilized state and assessment of the prototype compliance with the requirements to vaccine preparations. Materials and methods. Isolation of rPA and EA1 protein was carried out using producer-strain B. anthracis 55ΔTПА-1Spo– on an integrated end-to-end manufacturing line, including concentration, diafiltration and two-phase chromatography. CpG 2006 adjuvant was synthesized according to known sequences. Components were mixed and lyophilized in sublimation unit. Combination of 1% sucrose and 3% glycine was used as cryoprotector. Effectiveness and safety of the preparation were evaluated on the model of BALB/c mice and guinea pigs applying immunological, morphometric, and histological assays. Antibody titers in sera of immunized animals were evaluated using standard ELISA procedures. Protective properties were investigated through LD50 values for the test-strain used on immunized and control animals and immunity index. Results. We have performed complex investigation of the anthrax vaccine prototype, containing B. anthracis 55ΔTПА-1Spo– proteins as main and supplementary antigens, as well as CpG 2006 adjuvant, stabilizers and preservative agent. The prototype meets the requirements to immunobiological medicinal drugs by all physical-chemical properties. Our preparation does not have a toxic effect on the organism of laboratory animals in case of subcutaneous and intraperitoneal administration of single human dose. Pathomorphological study of guinea pigs' organs immunized with double dose of the vaccine prototype has not revealed any evidence of damaging effect on the cells and tissues of macroorganism. The prototype protects BALB/c mice from the infection with B. anthracis 71/12 test-strain.


Three-dimensional microscopic models of powder compacts for viscoplastic finite element analysis are developed to investigate the deformation behavior of powder particles during sintering. The repeating unit cells containing three types of pore with a regular arrangement are analyzed. Pore shrinkage due to surface tension during the intermediate stage of sintering is simulated. The volumetric strain rates of the unit cells are compared with that in a spherical shell model and the effect of the pore shape on the shrinkage rate and the sintering stress is discussed. A constitutive equation for sintering is proposed on the basis of the analyzed results. The sintering is described as the deformation process of viscous porous bodies under the action of the sintering stress. The proposed constitutive equation gives a good fit to the results obtained by experiment as well as the finite element analysis.


— Electioneering process in many developing countries results in election frauds such as double registration, ballot stuffing, under-age voting and other forms of election drawbacks during registration of voters and casting of votes by eligible voters. In some developing countries, electronic biometric registration and verification system have been introduced during the registration and verification of voters. In many cases, some of the genuine registered voters were not recognized by the biometric machine. However, the rules and regulations pertaining to the elections stipulated that a voter would not be allowed to vote until he/she had been registered and verified. This means that before a voter could be allowed to cast his/ her vote, the biometric machine is supposed to recognize him/her first. Furthermore, some citizens that are physically challenged would also be denied the opportunities of exercising their franchise because the system used for the registration made use of fingerprint only. A Multi-modal biometric system is designed to eradicate the problem of eligible registered voters being disenfranchised by the current biometric system. This work presents a multi modal system that allows citizens to use their iris and fingerprint to go through the registration and verification process instead of their fingerprints alone as in the case of Nigeria electioneering process. The introduction of this system for general elections is expected to create room for full participation of all eligible voters, eliminate multiple voting and also increase the confidence of the people in electioneering processes.


We develop a two-country, two-good general equilibrium model of international trade that takes international transport sectors into explicit consideration to examine the effects of environmental policy on international transport. International transportation services are traded between two countries. First, we find that international emission permit trading between the international transport sectors of two countries benefits the country that imports transportation services, regardless of the trading price of emission permits. However, a country that exports transportation services may lose from emissions trading even if it receives all of the direct gains from permit trade by buying (or selling) permits at the current market price of the other country. Our results suggest that the trade pattern in transportation services is crucial to the welfare effects of permit trade in international transport sectors. Second, we demonstrate that a country may gain from unilateral reduction in the emission permit of its transport sector despite the fact that the stricter regulation shrinks its transport sector. Both countries can benefit from the voluntary regulation if environmental regulations on international transport are initially weak.


History and Health Policy in the United States: Putting the Past Back In Edited by Rosemary A. Stevens, Charles E. Rosenberg, and Lawton R. Burns (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2006) (364 pages; $24.95 paper) Since its emergence in the early 1970s, the subfield of policy history has steadily gained a following. In the year 2000, historian Julian Zelizer wrote that "the future of policy history is unclear."1 History and Health Policy in the United States: Putting the Past Back In, substantiates Zelizer's 2005 proclamation that policy history is alive and well.2 In the book's introduction, Rosemary Stevens writes that the purpose of the book is threefold: to demonstrate the relevance of history in policy formation, to reconstruct contemporary health policy issues within the historical context in which they evolved, and to "confirm the place of history as a fundamental policy science" (p. 4). Stevens comments that policy analysts and historians have often worked in isolation but have much to learn from each other. By straddling these two underappreciated disciplines, the authors break down the artificial barriers between state and society to expose how and why tensions between competing social, political, and economic forces often create a misalignment between the issue(s) at hand and the policy solution. History and Health Policy contains thirteen essays written by leading scholars from multiple disciplines, and is organized into four major parts. Part 1 is composed of three essays, by Stevens, Charles Rosenberg, and Lawrence Brown, that reveal the interplay between and among the public and private actors, the concealment of political ideology through the persistent use of evocative rhetoric, and the development of the modern medical marketplace. For example, as Stevens points out, rather than decisions being on an "inevitable trajectory" (p. 8), there is the potential for decisions to be made differently than they have been in the past. As Rosenberg points out, history contributes to the "fundamental sense of context and complexity, of the determined and the negotiated. The setting of policy is contingent, but it is structured contingency" (p. 28). Rosenberg persuasively argues that, in fact, this structured contingency renders policy and its consequences predictable, at least to some degree. In part 2, "Rhetoric, Rights and Responsibilities," the authors explore how and why tensions between the competing forces of conflicting agendas and political expediency shaped interactions among industries, health care institutions, health professionals, and the public's health. Nancy Tomes provides a powerful analysis of the role of the consumer movement in remedying inherent power and information imbalances in health care by redefining patients as "health care consumers" and physicians as "health care providers." While she concludes that the movement ultimately failed to achieve lasting reforms, it did result in an increased public awareness of the necessity of patients' rights and autonomy in health care decision making. Gerald Markowitz and David Rosner raise critical questions about whose rights are given what sort of weight in policy decisions. They demonstrate that certain private industries have created environmental hazards that have profoundly impacted the public's health but have persistently refused to take responsibility for creating these toxic environments. As the authors point out, wealthy industries have funded studies that downplay the health consequences of pollution and have argued that "progress" was their most "important product' " (p. 146). While environmentalists and public health advocates have joined forces to call for unbiased research on the links between environmental toxins and disease, legislators and the private sector have been slow to respond. Much of policy is determined behind closed doors and, thus, hidden from the American public. Within this context, questions remain: what is the source of power in policy determination, how is this power used, and to what degree is responsibility for the consequences of these decisions-both corporate and legislative-factored into the decision-making process? …


RINGKASAN This research presents the integration between the use of technology and teaching process. Taking advantage of technology in classroom like the use of Wattpad helps students to make the classroom activities become more efficient and improves students' motivation since it can be used anytime and anywhere. The use of Wattpad in teaching and learning process is combined with process-genre approach. Taking advantages of process approach and genre approach, this research aims to show the effect of usingWattpad in teaching and learning process by integrating with process-genre approach towards students' writing achievement and motivation. This medium is directed to develop an effective strategy to perform effective communication for students by seeing at students' writing achievement and motivation. The researcher conducts the research by using pre-experimental research design. The research is begun by proposing the use of Wattpad on process genre approach. Deciding the subject and the scope of the research is the next procedure. The researcher asks for aid from experts to validate the researcher's instrument. After the instruments have been validated, the researcher collects the data from the subject by distributing pre-test and first questionnaire in order to know students writing competence and motivation before the treatment in the first meeting. In the end of the treatment, the researcher distributes the post-test and second questionnaire in order to know students writing competence and students' motivation after the implementation of the treatment. The next procedure is data analysis and discussion based on the data collected. The last procedure is analysing the data, discussing, and taking the inference from the result of the treatment. In the end of the treatment, the researcher found that the use of Wattpad in Process-genre approach brought positive effect toward students' writing achievement and students' motivation in learning English. The statistical result showed that the difference of students' achievement and students' motivation were significant. The researcher gave suggestion for English lecturer to use Wattpad as medium to teach English since it could help students to actively and supportively participated in teaching and learning process. For the future researchers, they suggested to consider the other approaches to be collaborated with Wattpad. This research can also be used as reference for further researcher.


In this work, Co3O4 nanosheets were fabricated on indium tin oxide (ITO) substrates by developing a simple electrochemical deposition and annealing method. The as-prepared Co3O4 nanosheets were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), attenuated total reflection infrared (ATR-IR) spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. The Co3O4 nanosheets modified ITO electrode was used for the electrochemical analysis of various trace lead ions by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry. The electrode was found to be highly selective to Pb(II) in the range of 1–100 μg L−1, and exhibited a sensitive current response with a limit of detection (LOD) of 0.52 μg L−1. Furthermore, the developed electrochemical Pb(II) sensor exhibited a high stability and reproducibility with a simple regeneration process.


The purpose of this study was to use the same ice temperature and air temperature as the Pyeongchang Curling Stadium by using an Ice Chamber. Then, launch the stone at the same speed, and move according to the sweeping conditions (perpendicular to the axis of motion, along the axis of motion) of male and female elite curlers. The aim is to provide sports science information required for curling athletes by analyzing the distance of the stone, the change in the speed of a moved stone, the change in broom acceleration, and athletes' muscle activity. The results of experiments conducted on four male and four elite female curlers are as follows. Under gender, the stone's movement distance was long after the sweeping of male athletes, and the speed of the stone was not different according to the conditions. The broom's acceleration did not show a difference in both the sweeping condition and the athlete's gender condition, and the muscle activity did not show a significant difference in both the sweeping condition and the gender condition. In summary, it is thought that male athletes moved the stone farther by raising the ice surface temperature by vertical load than female athletes. Also, there was no statistically significant difference in muscle activity results, but it was found that there was a specific pattern of muscle activity in the pushing and pulling motions during the sweeping of male and female athletes. It is expected to be used as primary data.


Recent experiments using optogenetic tools allow the identification and functional analysis of thirst neurons and vasopressin producing neurons. Two major advances provide a detailed anatomy of taste for water and arginine-vasopressin (AVP) release: (1) thirst and AVP release are regulated not only by the classical homeostatic, intero-sensory plasma osmolality negative feedback, but also by novel, extero-sensory, anticipatory signals. These anticipatory signals for thirst and vasopressin release converge on the same homeostatic neurons of circumventricular organs that monitor the composition of the blood; (2) acid-sensing taste receptor cells (which express polycystic kidney disease 2-like 1 protein) on the tongue that were previously suggested as the sour taste sensors also mediate taste responses to water. The tongue has a taste for water. The median preoptic nucleus (MnPO) of the hypothalamus could integrate multiple thirst-generating stimuli including cardiopulmonary signals, osmolality, angiotensin II, oropharyngeal and gastric signals, the latter possibly representing anticipatory signals. Dehydration is aversive and MnPO neuron activity is proportional to the intensity of this aversive state.


A variety of approaches to knowledge base refinement [3, 8] and rule acquisition [4] have appeared recently. This paper is concerned with the means by which alternative refinement systems themselves may be specified, developed, and studied. The anticipated virtues of taking a metalinguistic approach to these tasks are described, and shown to be confirmed by experience with an actual refinement metalanguage, RM.


The Department of Education has introduced numerous intervention and remediation programs to address the reading needs of learners. Despite these, data showed that majority of the learners still have reading problems when they reach higher grade levels. Henceforth, the study experimented on the innovation – Contextualized English Reading Proficiency Toolkit (CERPT) to help the learners of Kibacania Elementary School improved their reading ability level. All the pupils were exposed to CERPT. A pre-experimental research design was employed in this study. Findings revealed that the learners' reading ability level enhanced from frustration to instructional. There was a significant difference in the learners' reading ability levels before and after exposure to CERPT. Thus, the study commends the use of CERPT to help in the improvement of the learners' reading ability level.


Using a quantum cascade laser emitting at 7.85 μm, a middle infrared active coherent laser spectrometer has been developed for the standoff detection of vapor phase chemicals. The first prototype has been tested using diffuse target backscattering at ranges up to ~30 m. Exploiting the continuous frequency tuning of the laser source, spectra of water vapor, methane, nitrous oxide, and hydrogen peroxide were recorded. A forward model of the instrument was used to perform spectral unmixing and retrieve line-of-sight integrated concentrations and their one-sigma uncertainties. Performance was found to be limited by speckle noise originating from topographic targets. For absorbers with large absorption cross sections such as nitrous oxide (>10(-19) cm(2)·molecule(-1)), normalized detection sensitivities range between 14 and 0.3 ppm·m·Hz(-1/2), depending on the efficiency of the speckle reduction scheme implemented.


Objectives This study is to investigate the effects of oriental medical treatment for traumatic cerebral infarction. Methods We treated the patients with herbal medicine, acupuncture, aroma therapy, rehabilitation, and we evaluated these cases with Activity Index. Results There are some improvements in each patients, such as manual muscle power, finger apraxia after oriental medical treatments. Conclusions We report a change for the better effect of oriental medical treatment on this case. The more clinical studies of oriental medical treatment for traumatic cerebral infarction are needed.


We demonstrated the operation of phase-change memory cells that enabled 1.5-V/100-muA programming through a tungsten-bottom-electrode contact with a diameter of 180 nm. This is the lowest power ever reported. This was achieved with oxygen-doped GeSbTe, and resulted from the high electric resistance of the germanium oxides in this material. Germanium oxides were also estimated to restrain the growth of crystal in GeSbTe, and our cells maintained a 10-year thermal lifetime at 100 degC


Given that today's world is preoccupied with climate change, it comes as no surprise that recent speculative narratives predominantly focus on the future of planet Earth. Yet such Anthropocene novels do not make up the entirety of contemporary speculative narratives. This essay first explores how the genre draws on current societal, political, economic, and ecological trends to create dystopian scenarios, and then goes on to investigate the ethical dimension of these models for the world. In the first step it takes John Lanchester's The Wall (2019), Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1986), and Joanne Ramos's The Farm (2019) as examples and shows how speculative narratives stage ideologies and negotiate human values on the level of both narrative content and narrative transmission. The second step, an investigation into the interplay of the ethics of the telling and the ethics of the told, then serves to illustrate the degree to which the aesthetic form of a narrative can determine the ethical implications of reading speculative fiction in the age of the Anthropocene.


Cooperatively breeding Arabian babblers (Turdoides squamiceps) have a repertoire of different calls that they use in predatorinduced contexts. We investigated their vocal mobbing behavior in two different predator-induced situations. We presented territorial groups of babblers a perched, stuffed owl representing an avian predator and a cat representing a ground predator. Babblers approached in both situations and mobbed the predators with the same two call types. In both predator-induced situations their first call was a short, metallic-sounding ''tzwick.'' In response to the cat, babblers continued to primarily use tzwicks. However, in continued response to the owl, the babblers primarily used long trills. The experiments indicate that differences in use of two common call types during mobbing provide information on differences in predator-induced situations, although no call type per se identified a specific situation. The experiments suggest that the short tzwicks indicate a higher risk or urgency than trills and that combinations of both call types may provide graded information about differences in predatorinduced situations. The relatively stable groups of these cooperative breeders might have favored evolution for using different calls in different mobbing situations. Key words: alarm calling, Arabian babblers, cooperative breeders, mobbing, predator‐prey interactions, Turdoides squamiceps. [Behav Ecol 10:636‐640 (1999)]


Based on the standard canonical quantization principle, this paper gives the quantization scheme for the charge qubits mesoscopic circuit including three Josephson junctions coupled capacitively. By virtue of the Heisenberg equation, the time evolution of the phase difference operators across the polar plates and the number operators of the Cooper-pairs on the island are investigated and the modification of the Josephson equation is discussed. The time evolution of the phase difference operators is analysed when the Josephson junctions are irradiated by the external electrical field, which is referred to as also the obtainable controlling parameter.


An age-cohort decomposition applied to panel data identifies how the mean, overall inequality and income-related inequality of self-assessed health evolve over the life cycle and differ across generations in 11 EU countries. There is a moderate and steady decline in mean health until the age of 70 or so and a steep acceleration in the rate of health deterioration beyond that age. In southern European countries and in Ireland, which have experienced the greatest changes in economic and social development, the average health of younger generations is significantly better than that of older generations. This is not observed in the northern European countries. In almost all countries, health is more dispersed among older generations indicating that Europe has experienced a reduction in overall health inequality over time. Although there is no consistent evidence that health inequality increases as a given cohort ages, this is true in the three largest countries - Britain, France and Germany. In the former two countries and the Netherlands, at least for males, the income gradient in health peaks around retirement age, as has been found for the US, but this pattern is not observed in the other countries. In most European countries, unlike the US, there is no evidence that income-related health inequality is greater among younger than older generations.


The GnRH antagonists (GnRHant) protocol has allowed the use of GnRH agonist (GnRHa) as inductor of ovulatory discharge (OD) replacing human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). An important advantage of GnRHa use in OD is that it significantly decreases the risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) due to its luteolytic effect, important in cases of oocyte donors. Objectives: To compare proportion of oocytes obtained, oocyte/embryo  quality, reproductive result and OHSS incidence in consecutive oocyte donation cycles when OD was done with hCG or GnRHa. Cycles with preimplantation genetic diagnosis were compared. Design: Cohort retrospective study. Setting: Grupo PRANOR, Clinica Concebir, Lima, Peru. Participants: Oocyte donors and receptors. Interventions: A GnRHant protocol was used in 43 oocyte donors for 203 consecutive stimulation cycles and OD with hCG (n=127) or GnRHa (n=76) based in clinical decision and follicular count. Oocytes were assigned either to an oocyte bank (vitrification) or to 303 cycles of oocyte receptors. Main outcome measures: Oocytes aspired, fecundation rate, embryo quality, blastocyst formation. Results: There were significant differences in number of oocytes aspired in favor of the GnRHa group with regards to the hCG group (24.09±12.24 versus 18.69±8.93, p=0.002 respectively). There were no significant differences among the groups compared in the global result of mature oocytes proportion, fecundation rate, embryo qulity, blastocyst formation. The proportion of chromosomically normal embryos was similar between GnRHa (35.2%) and hCG (34.53%) groups, and pregnancy (64.49% versus 62.59%), implantation (45.41% versus 42.38%) and abortion (8.7% versus 8.7%) global rates were comparable. OHSS incidence reduced significantly in the OD group with GnRHa (0%) compared with the hCG group (18.9%, p<0.0001). Conclusions: OD with GnRHa is a safe and efficacious method to use in patients with high risk of OHSS such as oocyte donors, as it completely eliminates OHSS. Embryo quality and reproductive results were identical between OD groups with GnRHa and hCG.


Since current epidemiological evidence suggests that air pollution has harmful effects even at typical ambient concentrations and the dispersion is significant over hundreds to thousands of km, the estimation of total health damage involves consideration of local and regional effects. In recent years, several estimates have been published of health damage due to air pollution from cars, in particular by Delucchi et al of UC Davis and by the ExternE Project of the European Commission. To capture the geographic extent of pollutant dispersion, local and regional models have been used in combination. The present paper addresses a potentially significant contribution to the total damage, not yet taken into account in these studies: the increased concentration of pollutants inside urban street canyons. This canyon effect is appreciable only for primary pollutants, the time constants for the formation of secondary pollutants being long compared to the residence time in the canyon. We assume linearity of incremental health impact with incremental concentration, in view of the lack of epidemiological evidence for no-effect thresholds or significant deviations from linearity at typical ambient concentrations; therefore, only long term average concentrations matter. We use the FLUENT software to model the dispersion inside a street canyon for a wide range of rectangular geometries and wind velocities. Our results suggest that the canyon effect is of marginal significance for total damages, the contribution of the canyon effect being roughly 10 to 20% of the total. The relative importance of the canyon effect is, of course, highly variable with local conditions; it could be much smaller but it is unlikely to add more than 100% to the flat terrain estimate.


Th2 T cell immune-driven inflammation plays an important role in allergic asthma. We studied the effect of counterbalancing Th1 T cells in an asthma model in Brown Norway rats that favors Th2 responses. Rats received i.v. transfers of syngeneic allergen-specific Th1 or Th2 cells, 24 h before aerosol exposure to allergen, and were studied 18–24 h later. Adoptive transfer of OVA-specific Th2 cells, but not Th1 cells, and OVA, but not BSA exposure, induced bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) to acetylcholine and eosinophilia in a cell number-dependent manner. Importantly, cotransfer of OVA-specific Th1 cells dose-dependently reversed BHR and bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) eosinophilia, but not mucosal eosinophilia. OVA-specific Th1 cells transferred alone induced mucosal eosinophilia, but neither BHR nor BAL eosinophilia. Th1 suppression of BHR and BAL eosinophilia was allergen specific, since cotransfer of BSA-specific Th1 cells with the OVA-specific Th2 cells was not inhibitory when OVA aerosol alone was used, but was suppressive with OVA and BSA challenge. Furthermore, recipients of Th1 cells alone had increased gene expression for IFN-γ in the lungs, while those receiving Th2 cells alone showed increased IL-4 mRNA. Importantly, induction of these Th2 cytokines was inhibited in recipients of combined Th1 and Th2 cells. Anti-IFN-γ treatment attenuated the down-regulatory effect of Th1 cells. Allergen-specific Th1 cells down-regulate efferent Th2 cytokine-dependent BHR and BAL eosinophilia in an asthma model via mechanisms that depend on IFN-γ. Therapy designed to control the efferent phase of established asthma by augmenting down-regulatory Th1 counterbalancing mechanisms should be effective.


In the Middle East where giant billion barrel oil fields exist and there is the potential to find additional reserves, efforts to pilot advanced geophysical technologies to overcome carbonate challenges are often under consideration. Passive seismic technologies are a new source of information that has the potential to add value in helping overcome field and exploration challenges. Some passive seismic methods are now considered proven technologies in clastic rocks, such as hydro-frac monitoring and microseismic. There are other passive seismic methods which are still considered to be in a research stage. Whether a method will perform the same in a carbonate environment as in the clastic environment is also an important consideration when considering a new technology project in carbonates. When a challenge presents itself and a potential new technology is identified to overcome the challenge it is common practice to first conduct a small pilot. Field and Exploration challenges or problems that the passive seismic technologies have the potential to overcome include among other things, monitoring the impact of faults and fractures on flood front advance, identification of thin thief zones, sweep efficiency and by-passed reserves, water fingering and in exploration the direct detection of hydrocarbons to identify new reserves. Progress in advancing the microseismic technologies suggests that these technologies are not without limitations and should not be treated as a "silver-bullet". The results of pilots suggest that passive seismic results should be treated like an additional seismic attribute to be integrated with other reservoir characterization and exploration information. The proper matching of passive seismic with other appropriate technologies, such as seismic or VSP images can help overcome limitations and improve interpretation reliability. How to properly pilot a new technology is not always as straight forward and easy as one might think. Difficulties in surface conditions, well integrity, equipment availability and the proper situation to demonstrate value from the passive seismic information often lead to inconclusive results and can make it difficult to get approvals to proceed with yet another redesigned pilot. The following paper documents some of the positive and negative lessons learned from passive seismic pilots.


A systematic analysis on dynamics of stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) in highly pumped ytterbium-doped double-clad fiber amplifiers during amplification of nanosecond pulses at tens-of-kilohertz repetition rates is presented. Energy and waveform evolutions of signal and Raman pulses in the amplifiers under forward, backward and bidirectional pump are depicted respectively. In consideration of the SRS components and incurred energy loss at the amplifier output, the detrimental effects of SRS on signal amplification for three pumping methods are quantitatively compared and comprehensively illustrated upon different signal, fiber and pump conditions. To avoid the performance deterioration, some limitations are also discussed.


Bacillus anthracis(Ba) is a Gram-positive spore-forming bacterium that causes the disease anthrax. The feature of Ba is the presence of two large virulence plasmids, pXO1 and pXO2. Molecular genotyping of Ba has been difficult to the lack of polymorphic DNA marker. Ba isolated from Korea has been genotyped using various nucleotide analysis methods, such as 16s rDNA sequencing and multiple-locus variable-number tandem repeat (MLVA) analysis. We identified genotypes that represent a genetic lineage in the B1 cluster. This study emphasized the need to perform molecular genotyping when attempting to verify a strain-specific Ba.


ABSTRACT Two cases of unilateral micromelia are described in wild juvenile little penguins (Eudyptula minor). The first bird was found at San Remo, Phillip Island, Victoria, Australia. The bird's left flipper was reduced in length, and radiography demonstrated severe shortening and dysplasia of the humerus. The second bird was found having difficulty swimming off the coast near Fremantle, Western Australia. Clinical examination revealed that the bird was underweight (0.55 kg) but otherwise in good condition with subadult plumage and had probably only recently fledged from nearby Garden or Penguin Islands. The left wing was markedly reduced in size and had limited range of elbow and carpal joint movement but sensation and motor control were normal. Radiography demonstrated a severe reduction in size and distortion of the humerus and shortening and fusion of the ulna, radius, metacarpals, and phalanges. The furcula was asymmetrical because the left clavicle was slightly thinner and more radiolucent than the right and was also slightly deviated to the right side. Necropsy results of histopathologic examination revealed no other significant external abnormalities other than a mild focal heterophilic ulcerative proventriculitis from a mild burden of Contracaecum eudyptulae. Concentrations of heavy metals in kidney, liver, and brain were: cadmium, <6 mg/kg; mercury, <0.05 mg/kg; lead, <2 mg/kg; and selenium, 1.30 mg/kg. Possible causes of unilateral micromelia in these penguins are discussed.


Abstract. Multiphoton microscopy provides a suitable technique for imaging biological tissues with submicrometer resolution. Usually a Gaussian beam (GB) is used for illumination, leading to a reduced power efficiency in the multiphoton response and vignetting for a square-shaped imaging area. A flat-top beam (FTB) provides a uniform spatial intensity distribution that equalizes the probability of a multiphoton effect across the imaging area. We employ a customized widefield multiphoton microscope to compare the performance of a square-shaped FTB illumination with that based on using a GB, for both two-photon fluorescence (TPF) and second-harmonic generation (SHG) imaging. The variation in signal-to-noise ratio across TPF images of fluorescent dyes spans ∼5.6  dB for the GB and ∼1.2  dB for the FTB illumination, respectively. For the GB modality, TPF images of mouse colon and Convallaria root, and SHG images of chicken tendon and human breast biopsy tissue showcase ∼20  %   area that are not imaged due to either insufficient or lack of illumination. For quantitative analysis that depends on the illuminated area, this effect can potentially lead to inaccuracies. This work emphasizes the applicability of FTB illumination to multiphoton applications.


The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the concept of building resilience as a strategy for responding to adversity experienced by burns nurses. Nurses who care for patients with severe burn injury are often exposed to patients' pain and disfigurement, encountering emotional exhaustion, distress, reduced self-esteem, and desensitization to pain. Resilience has been identified as an essential characteristic for nurses in their work environment. Resilience assists nurses to bounce back and to cope in the face of adversity, sustaining them through difficult and challenging working environments. Nonetheless, there remains limited information that addresses the concept of building resilience in burns nurses. In 2009, seven burns nurses were recruited from a severe burn injury unit in New South Wales, Australia. A qualitative phenomenological methodology was used to construct themes depicting nurses' experiences. Participants were selected through purposeful sampling, and data were collected through in-depth individual semistructured interviews using open-ended questions. Data were analyzed with Colaizzi's phenomenological method of data analysis. The concept of building resilience as a strategy for coping with adversity was identified and organized into six categories: toughening up, natural selection, emotional toughness, coping with the challenges, regrouping and recharging, and emotional detachment. The findings clearly demonstrate that it is vital for burns nurses to build resilience to endure the emotional trauma of nursing patients with severe burn injury. Knowledge about building resilience could be incorporated into nursing education for both undergraduate and experienced nurses. Building resilience within the domain of burns nursing has the potential to retain nurses within the profession, having implications for staff development, orientation, and retention.


Christina M Ceccato, Nicholas Durham, Tullia Bruno, Christopher Nirschl, Ada Tam, Charles G Drake. When a naïve CD8 T cell encounters antigen, it acquires a cytokine secreting phenotype in addition to cytotoxic capacities. We and others have shown that CD8 cells cultured in the presence of IL-6 and TGFβ acquire the capacity to secrete IL-17 and lyse specific targets in vivo but not in vitro. We also demonstrated in vivo plasticity of the Tc17 phenotype by showing that adoptively transferred Tc17s convert from an IL-17 to an IFNγ secreting phenotype and are maintained in higher numbers than transferred Tc1. Here, we show that sorted IL-17+IFNγ- (pure Tc17 cells) cultured in vitro can convert to secreting IFNλ in the presence of IL-2 alone. Interestingly even in the presence of Tc17 skewing conditions, IL17-IFNγ+ (pure Tc1 cells) do not convert to IL-17 production. These data confirm our original observations showing the plasticity of the Tc17 phenotype - indeed, IL-2 may be sufficient to drive conversion in vitro. However, the molecular mechanisms behind CD8 T cell plasticity have yet to be elucidated; ongoing studies are examining the role of TCR affinity and various transcription factors in this process.


Detection of viable myocardium in patients with left ventricular dysfunction has become an increasingly important guide to prognosis and treatment. This article reviews the current status and future potential for the application of modalities to assess myocardial viability. Imaging and other techniques that are reviewed are myocardial perfusion imaging by single-photon-emission computed tomography, positron-emission tomography, echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance technology, computed tomography and catheter-based endocardial mapping.


BACKGROUND
Live oral rhesus-rhesus-human rotavirus reassortant tetravalent (RRV-TV) vaccine was efficacious against rotavirus gastroenteritis but was withdrawn because of a rare association with intussusception. A corresponding tetravalent (types G1, G2, G3, and G4) reassortant vaccine based on bovine-human (UK) rotavirus reassortant tetravalent (BRV-TV) vaccine was developed concurrently.

METHODS
Before the withdrawal of RRV-TV vaccine, parallel placebo-controlled trials of BRV-TV vaccine (observer blinded) versus RRV-TV vaccine (double blinded) with a 2 : 1 ratio of vaccine : placebo were conducted in Finland in a total of 510 infants. Two doses of study vaccine or placebo were administered at ages 3 and 5 months.

RESULTS
The first dose of RRV-TV vaccine was followed by a significant excess rate of febrile reactions (36%), whereas the rate of fever after the administration of BRV-TV vaccine did not differ significantly from that in the placebo group. Neither vaccine induced diarrhea. A seroresponse was detected in 97% of BRV-TV vaccine recipients and 94% of RRV-TV vaccine recipients. Both vaccines were equally effective, with 68%-69% efficacy against any and 88%-100% efficacy against severe rotavirus gastroenteritis during the first epidemic season.

CONCLUSIONS
BRV-TV vaccine is a promising new candidate rotavirus vaccine, with low reactogenicity and high efficacy. Two doses of BRV-TV or RRV-TV vaccine are sufficient for the induction of protection against severe rotavirus disease.


Students are choosing more and more to enroll in online courses due to convenience or acclimation from distance learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, instructors must learn to utilize principles of cognitive load and student engagement when designing online courses, especially when creating asynchronous lecture videos. This study examined the effects of content difficulty (Easy vs. Hard) and percentage level of engagement effects in videos (10%, 25%, 50%, 75%) on comprehension of course material. Participants were asked to watch one easy content and one hard content video and answer questions on the video topic after each video. Perceived usability, mental effort, and engagement behavior tendencies while watching instructional videos were also measured. Results showed a significant interaction between content difficulty and subject pool, with student participants performing better than Amazon participants, specifically on hard content. Participants rated lower levels of engagement effects as more usable, and participants overall rated easy content requiring less mental effort to understand than hard content. Implications and further research topics based on these findings are discussed.


Climate change particularly threatens the xeric limits of temperate-continental forests. In Hungary, annual temperatures have increased by 1.2 °C–1.8 °C in the last 30 years and the frequency of extreme droughts has grown. With the aim to gain stand-level prospects of sustainability, we have used local forest site variables to identify and project effects of recent and expected changes of climate. We have used a climatic descriptor (FAI index) to compare trends estimated from forest datasets with climatological projections; this is likely for the first time such a comparison has been made. Four independent approaches confirmed the near-linear decline of growth and vitality with increasing hot droughts in summer, using sessile oak as model species. The correlation between droughts and the expansion of pest and disease damages was also found to be significant. Projections of expected changes of main site factors predict a dramatic rise of future drought frequency and, consequently, a substantial shift of forest climate classes, especially at low elevation. Excess water-dependent lowland forests may lose supply from groundwater, which may change vegetation cover and soil development processes. The overall change of site conditions not only causes economic losses, but also challenges long-term sustainability of forest cover at the xeric limits.


This research evelop teamwork internalization model through internship which is based on Participatory Action Research. Participants are students at IAIN Syekh Nurjati Cirebon involved in qualitative deasign. Result shows that internship based on Participatory Action Research has been conducted in group from preparation, implementation, until evaluation. Internalization process of cooperative values in internship occurs when the students have dinamic, participative and collaborative learning making process in making Mapping, Seasonal Calender, Diagram Venn, Time Line, Trend and Change, Matrix ranking and flowchart. Partisipative model can be developed on purpose, content, method, and evaluation


Integrating nanotechnology and membrane technology has resulted in the development of adsorptive nanocomposite membranes with exceptional properties for various applications, including water reclamation. The application of adsorptive membranes in wastewater treatment is a promising technology that combines the advantages of adsorption and membrane filtration techniques. Literature reviews reported that various adsorptive membranes were successfully developed and efficiently removed emerging contaminants such as heavy metals and persistent organic pollutants from water over the last decades. However, grand challenges in developing adsorptive membranes require more attention, such as aggregation and agglomeration of nanoadsorbents within membrane matrix, mechanical strength distortion, extreme water permeability, and alterations in surface charge. These challenges, as mentioned earlier, could deteriorate the performance of adsorptive membranes. Consequently, future research should focus on overcoming these challenges to employ adsorptive membranes to preserve the environment


Abstract IKK2 (IκB kinase 2) inhibitors have been identified as potential drug candidates in the treatment of various immune/inflammatory disorders as well as cancer. So far more than one hundred small molecule inhibitors against IKK2 have been reported publicly. In this investigation, pharmacophore modeling was carried out to clarify the essential structure-activity relationship for the known IKK2 inhibitors. One of the established pharmacophore hypotheses, namely Hypo8, which has the best prediction ability to an external test data set, was suggested as a template for virtual screening. Evaluation of the performances of Hypo8 and a hybrid method (Hypo8+docking) in virtual screening indicated that the use of the hybrid virtual screening considerably increased the hit rate and enrichment factor. The hybrid method was therefore adopted for screening several commercially available chemical databases, including Specs, NCI, Maybridge and Chinese Nature Product Database (CNPD), for novel potent IKK2 inhibitors. The hit compounds were subsequently subjected to filtering by Lipinski's rule of five. Finally some of the final hit compounds were selected and suggested for further experimental investigations.


We determine the small-$x$ asymptotics of the gluon
 helicity distribution in a proton at leading order in
 perturbative QCD at large $N_c$. To achieve this, we begin by
 evaluating the dipole gluon helicity TMD at small $x$. We then
 construct and solve novel small-$x$ large-$N_c$ evolution
 equations for the operator related to the dipole gluon
 helicity TMD. Our main result is the small-$x$ asymptotics
 for the gluon helicity distribution:
\begin{align}\label{dG_final}
 \Delta G \sim \left(
 \frac{1}{x} \right)^{\alpha_h^G} \ \ \ \mbox{with} \ \ \ \alpha_h^G =
 \frac{13}{4 \sqrt{3}} \, \sqrt{\frac{\as \, N_c}{2 \pi}}
 \approx 1.88 \, \sqrt{\frac{\as \, N_c}{2 \pi}}.
\end{align}
We note that the power $\alpha_h^G$ is approximately 20$\%$ lower than
the corresponding power $\alpha_h^q$ for the small-$x$ asymptotics of
the quark helicity distribution defined by
\begin{align}\label{dq_final}
 \Delta q \sim \left(
 \frac{1}{x} \right)^{\alpha_h^q} \ \ \ \mbox{with} \ \ \ \alpha_h^q =
 \frac{4}{\sqrt{3}} \, \sqrt{\frac{\as \, N_c}{2 \pi}} \approx 2.31 \,
 \sqrt{\frac{\as \, N_c}{2 \pi}}
\end{align}
found in our earlier work.


Abstract Blood transfusions are sometimes necessary after a high loss of blood due to injury or surgery. Some people need regular transfusions due to medical conditions such as haemophilia or cancer. Studies have suggested that extracellular DNA including mitochondrial DNA present in the extracellular milieu of transfused blood products has biological actions that are capable of activating the innate immune systems and potentially contribute to some adverse reactions in transfusion. From the present work, it becomes increasingly clear that extracellular DNA encompassed mitochondrial DNA is far from being biologically inert in blood products. It has been demonstrated to be present in eligible blood products and thus can be transfused to blood recipients. Although the presence of extracellular DNA in human plasma was initially detected in 1948, some aspects have not been fully elucidated. In this review, we summarize the potential origins, clearance mechanisms, relevant structures, and potential role of extracellular DNA in the innate immune responses and its relationship with individual adverse reactions in transfusion.


Permissionless blockchains promise to be resilient against censorship by a single entity. This suggests that deterministic rules, and not third-party actors, are responsible for deciding if a transaction is appended to the blockchain or not. In 2022, the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned a Bitcoin mixer and an Ethereum application, putting the neutrality of permissionless blockchains to the test. In this paper, we formalize quantify and analyze the security impact of blockchain censorship. We start by defining censorship, followed by a quantitative assessment of current censorship practices. We find that 46% of Ethereum blocks were made by censoring actors that intend to comply with OFAC sanctions, indicating the significant impact of OFAC sanctions on the neutrality of public blockchains. We further uncover that censorship not only impacts neutrality, but also security. We show how after Ethereum's move to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) and adoption of Proposer-Builder Separation (PBS) the inclusion of censored transactions was delayed by an average of 85%. Inclusion delays compromise a transaction's security by, e.g., strengthening a sandwich adversary. Finally we prove a fundamental limitation of PoS and Proof-of-Work (PoW) protocols against censorship resilience.


Abstract This paper investigates the relationship between the dimensions of the decisionmaking process quality and company performance of top managers' in Slovenia. We found out that companies whose managers exhibit an above-average dimension of openness of spirit in the quality of the decision making process, on average, have a higher stance on foreign markets as companies in which managers show a below-average open spirit. For the managers who work in companies that are present in foreign markets, we could confirm that there is a low/weak correlation between the dimension of effort of the decision-making process quality and the number of employees in a company.


Elemental sulfur (ES), a byproduct of oil and gas processing, could be an alternate sulfur (S) fertilizer source for crop production if its bioavailability is improved. Increasing the specific surface of ES by reducing its particle size can accelerate ES oxidation to enhance its bioavailability. In field trials at six locations across three countries: two each in the USA, Ghana, and Mali, we determined the agronomic effectiveness of micronized ES (MES). Specific objectives were to quantify (i) corn (Zea mays L.) productivity, (ii) S recovery, and (iii) residual soil S concentration; following MES application, compared to ammonium sulfate (AS), a commercially available sulfate fertilizer, at four application rates [(i) locally recommended S application rate (SR), (ii) 50%_SR, (iii) 75%_SR, and (iv) 125%_SR)] and a control where no S was applied. Averaged across all sites and in the three growing seasons, AS at 50%_SR increased corn yield by ≤8% relative to control. Increasing to 75%_SR, SR, and 125%_SR resulted in 12%, 26%, and 28% yield increases, respectively. Applying MES at 50%_SR increased yield by ≤6%, and at 75%_SR, yield increased by ≤26%. Increasing the S application rate to SR and 125%_SR resulted in marginal yield increases. The combined data suggest that MES can be applied at a reduced rate of 75_SR to achieve similar yields as AS applied at SR. We conclude that MES could be an efficient S fertilizer alternative. However, economic analysis is needed to determine the potential profitability of using MES fertilizer products for crop production.This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved


Yield and quality of oilseed crops are principally regulated by nutrient management at field level. Field experiments were conducted to study the effect of sulphur fertilisation on growth, yield and quality of sesame (Sesamum indicum L.) in mid central zone of odisha. The sesame was grown during (August 27th and 25th) during the years 2010 to 2011. The sulphur sources of fertilizers were Gypsum, Zinc sulphate and Elemental sulphur (S) and 2 levels of S (20 and 40 kg ha-1) and absolute control (without S), another with Single Super Phosphate (SSP). Recommended Dose (RD) of SSP was superior over other sulphur fertilizers sources, in increasing yield components and yield in both the years. The quality parameters of sesame such as crude protein, oil content and soluble sugar improved under different sulphur fertilizer treatments, maximum being in RD with SSP. Sulphur fertilizer application, therefore exhibited potential in improving crop yield and quality of sesame under mid central zone of odisha.


Natural resistance of molluscan hosts to the invasion of parasitic trematodes and nematodes, involving both cellular and humoral responses, has been reported and reviewed extensively (Tripp, 1963, 1974; Acton, 1970). The presence of biologically active material in gastropod hemolymph which has an inhibitory effect on maturation and reproduction of a nematode symbiont has been reported recently ( Ratanarat-Brockelman, 1975). This symbiotic relationship involves low infestations (2-8 third stage larvae) of Rhabd it-is inanf>asi in the mantle cavity of the food snail Helix aspcrsa. Mechanical expulsion of worms occurs when higher levels of infestation are made, suggesting two possible regulatory mechanisms : competition among nematodes, or host control over the level of infestation. Although the worm was found free in the mantle cavity of the host in experimental infections, other, naturally-infected, snails have been found with worms within the visceral mass as well (G. J. Jackson, personal communication). Evidently the worms can penetrate the cavity wall, and perhaps routinely irritate or rupture the wall in anchoring and feeding, thus exposing themselves to the inhibitor. This aspect of the relationship, as w r ell as the precise source of nutrition of the worms, needs additional clarification. Third stage larvae that became established in the snail's mantle cavity did not undergo molting or morphological development until the snail died. The nematode larvae then began to grow, molted twice, became sexually mature and reproduced prolifically until the snail tissue was completely consumed. At this time they entered the soil provided, and w r ere capable of reinvesting a new host. An ii. bitor which retards development and reproduction of worm populations cultivated in vitro was isolated from fresh snail plasma (Ratanarat-Brockelman, 1975). This inhibitor interfered with larval development and with differentiation of the re: oductive organs in maturing worms. The action of the inhibitor varied directly wit 1 concentration, and it was found to have two complementary parts : a dift'usable cofactor and a proteinaceous component. The present report presents further results on the analysis of the proteinaceous component.


Electroclinical dissociation of neonatal seizures refers to electrographic seizure activity that is not clinically manifest. Dissociation increases after treatment with Phenobarbital, which increases the GABAA receptor (GABAAR) conductance. The effects of GABAAR activation depend on the intracellular Cl− concentration ([Cl]i) that is determined by the inward Cl− transporter NKCC1 and the outward Cl− transporter KCC2. Differential maturation of Cl− transport observed in cortical vs. subcortical regions should alter the efficacy of GABA-mediated inhibition. In perinatal rat pups, most thalamic neurons maintained low [Cl]i, and were inhibited by GABA. Phenobarbital suppressed thalamic seizure activity. Most neocortical neurons maintained higher [Cl]i, and were excited by GABAAR activation. Phenobarbital had insignificant anticonvulsant responses in the neocortex until NKCC1 was blocked. Regional differences in the ontogeny of Cl− transport may thus explain why seizure activity in the cortex is not suppressed by anticonvulsants that block the transmission of seizure activity through subcortical networks.


Given a two-level regular fractional factorial design of resolution IV, the method of doubling produces another design of resolution IV which doubles both the run size and the number of factors of the initial design. On the other hand, the projection of a design of resolution IV onto a subset of factors is of resolution IV or higher. Recent work in the literature of projective geometry essentially determines the structures of all regular designs of resolution IV with n ≥ N/4 + 1 in terms of doubling and projection, where N is the run size and n is the number of factors. These results imply that, for instance, all regular designs of resolution IV with 5N/ 16 < n ≤ N /2 must be projections of the regular design of resolution IV with N/2 factors. We show that, for 9N/32 < n ≤ 5 N/16, all minimum aberration designs are projections of the design with 5N/16 factors which is constructed by repeatedly doubling the 2 5-1 design defined by I = ABCDE. To prove this result, we also derive some properties of doubling, including an identity that relates the wordlength pattern of a design to that of its double and a result that does the same for the alias patterns of two-factor interactions.


Modern cars use more and more electric power due to more on-board electric systems. A modern car may be equipped with an electric generator (generally an alternator) with an output current of maximum 60-90 A at 12 V. A belt driven generator has a rather low total efficiency and so it is interesting to find alternative solutions for this electricity generation problem. One possible energy source for electricity generation is to use the waste heat from the car's engine, which generally is as much as much as 80% of the total energy from the combustion of the gasoline. Maybe the best location to tap the excess heat is the catalytic converter (Cat) in the exhaust system or perhaps at the exhaust pipes close to the engine. The Cat must be kept within a certain temperature interval. Large amounts of heat are dissipated through the walls of the Cat. A thermionic energy converter (TEC) in a coaxial form could conveniently be located around the ceramic cartridge of the Cat. Since the TEC is a rather good heat insulator before it reaches its working temperature, the Cat will reach working temperature faster and its final temperature can be controlled better when encapsulated in a concentric TEC arrangement. It is also possible to regulate the temperature of the Cat and the TEC by controlling the electrical load of the TEC. The possible working temperatures of present and future Cats appear very suitable for the authors' new low work function collector TEC, which has been demonstrated to work down to 470 K.


The article is devoted to the consideration of the features of the verbalization of the concept HAIR in the English language. The purpose of the work is to examine the structure of the English concept HAIR as a fragment of the English-language picture of the world of the English-speaking society. The main attention is focused on the analysis of the language embodiment of the given concept in the naïve and professional varients of the picture of the world. The English concept HAIR is a fragment of the conceptual picture of the world, which is reflected in the language picture of the world, namely in its three fragments, verbalized by the constituents of the lexical-semantic groups, distinguished according to the somatic feature. They are head hair, facial hair, body hair. The analysis of the language and speech material showed that the structure of the English concept HAIR in the naive picture of the world is a three-component formation, which consists of a core, a nuclear zone and a periphery. The core includes such conceptual features as somatic and gender. The nuclear zone includes objective and various associative conceptual features, namely: age, thinness, protection, beauty, strength / success, value. The periphery of the concept consists of socially-identifying functions - professional, religious and social-group. The core of the concept HAIR in the professional picture of the world includes such conceptual features as somatic, gender, structure and development. The nuclear zone includes objective conceptual features, namely: health, age, protection. The periphery of the concept consists of professional, religious, and social-group social-identifying functions. Thus the periphery of the given concept in the two variants of the picture of the world is identical. The prospects for further research are seen in the consideration of the mentioned aspects of verbalization on the material of English artistic speech as well as professional discourse.


The governing equations of micro double cantilever beam structures interacted by electrostatic forces are obtained employing Galerkin's method based on Euler beam theory. Variations of static and dynamic responses as well as natural frequencies are estimated for applied voltages. In particular, it is investigated how the variations of beam properties resulted by manufacturing process influence the deflections and the modal characteristics. This study can help to design MEMS structures and to predict the performances with respect to manufacturing tolerances.


Nondestructive assay (NDA) refers to techniques and instruments developed to measure nuclear materials in the many forms in which they occur throughout the fuel cycle. These techniques were first developed to support nuclear safeguards inspections and nuclear material accountability; they are also used extensively for process and quality control. Most accountability measurements are based on analytical chemistry and require that a sample be drawn and analyzed destructively. Destructive analysis can not be applied to many of the product materials found in the fuel cycle, such as fuel rods and assemblies, because of their high monetary value. Also, many waste and scrap materials can not be adequately sampled for destructive analysis because of their heterogenous nature. This situation led to the development of nondestructive analysis techniques. This paper presents an overview of the major NDA techniques and instrumentation in use today. The instrumentation described below is now used frequently by safeguards inspectors and facility operators alike. 19 refs., 18 figs., 4 tabs.


Summary
Eleven β-lactamases were tested for their ability to destroy the currently available β-lactam antibiotics. The biochemical activities of the enzymes against cephaloridine and benzylpenicillin were compared by iodometric assay. Their biological activity was tested by mixing various amounts of enzymes and of 13 different β-lactam antibiotic preparations and assaying the residual antibiotic by an agar-diffusion method, with Sarcina lutea as the test organism.
All the enzymes destroyed 500 μg per ml of benzylpenicillin and the more potent ones also destroyed "penicillinase-resistant" penicillins and cephalosporins. Crude enzyme extracts from a strain of Enterobacter aerogenes and of Klebsiella aerogenes compared favourably with the bacillus enzymes in their action on cephalosporins. Suitable β-lactamases can therefore be used to destroy all the available β-lactam antibiotics in specimens from patients, either in blood cultures or to allow the assay of other antibiotics in patients being treated concurrently with both.


Hospital May Lose Federal Funding for Discriminating Against HIVPositive Healthcare Worker A New York state case marks the first time that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has ordered termination of a hospital's federal funds, some 40% of this hospital's revenue, for a civil rights violation since the implementation of Medicare's hospital prospective payment system. This hospital was found to have violated the Federal Rehabilitation Act by discriminating against an HIV-infected pharmacist who was prohibited from preparing intravenous medications for hospital patients, even though he was offered the same rate of pay and advancement opportunities available with other pharmacy jobs. The hospital is actively working to prevent funding termination by reaching an agreement for employment with the pharmacist and demonstrating that this type of discrimination has ended. HHS has also notified a Kansas City, Missouri, hospital that it violated the Rehabilitation Act by transferring an HIV-infected nurse from an intensive care unit to a secretarial position. HHS contended that the hospital's restrictions did not conform to the CDC's July 12, 1991, guidelines on exposure-prone invasive procedures because the nurse follows universal precautions and does not perform invasive procedures during intensive care duties. In January 1993 the hospital reinstated the nurse to his former duties. HHS has also indicated that about six cases involving HIV discrimination are pending before its Civil Rights Reviewing Authority and that about 15-20 legal actions are being pursued by individuals through the courts. Decisions of both the Civil Rights Authority and the courts will send a strong message about discrimination against an HIV-infected healthcare worker and will continue to affect how hospitals determine their fitness for duty. Joint Commission Announces that Infection Control Will Be a Separate Chapter in the 1994 Accreditation Manual Infection control practitioners will be glad to learn that a separate chapter on the surveillance, prevention, and control of infection will be included in the 1994 Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. This was announced by the Joint Commission announced in the November/December issue of Fhspectives. The infection control chapter will appear in the manual section titled "Organizational Functions." Other chapters planned for this section include standards addressing leadership, information management, human resources management, environmental management, and performance and improvement. The original plan for the infection control standards to be included in the "Environmental Management" chapter was widely opposed because surveillance, prevention, and control activities involve critical hospitalwide activities that go beyond the functions of environmental management.


A multi-year research programme is underway to develop and deliver spectral-based digital cameras for imaging cultural heritage at the National Gallery of Art, Washington DC, and the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The cameras will be used for documentation, production imaging, and conservation science. Three approaches have undergone testing: a liquid-crystal tunable filter (LCTF) coupled with a monochrome camera, a six-position filter wheel containing absorption filters coupled with a monochrome camera, and a two-position filter slider containing absorption filters coupled with a colour-filter array (CFA) colour camera. The last approach is the most practical as it uses conventional digital photography methodologies and equipment and can easily be incorporated into existing museum workflows. A virtual camera model was created that predicted camera signals from incident radiation and was used to design a pair of absorption filters. The filters were fabricated and tested using a commercial CFA digital camera. Our first experiments have been very promising: Average accuracy was under 1 CIEDE2000 and about 1.5 per cent RMS for both calibration and verification data. This level of performance was superior to our other, more complex approaches.


The author points out that there has been much progress in the clinical literature in helping people deal with the event of death (e.g., working with the terminally ill, counselling someone who has lost a loved one, etc.). But, he argues, there is great neglect in the literature regarding viewing death as a perspective, and its valuable clinical use. By referring to Heidegger's contributions to existential psychology, he explains what he means by this perspective, how it can be used therapeutically in our counselling, and offers guidelines for its careful application.


Understanding the conditions when litter beds will ignite from firebrands is critical for predicting spot fire occurrence. Such research is either field- or laboratory-based, with limited analysis to compare the approaches. We examined the ability of a laboratory method to represent field-scale ignitability. The laboratory method involved collecting litter-bed samples concurrently with the field experiments and then reconstructing and burning the litter-bed samples in the laboratory. We measured the number of successful and sustained ignitions in the laboratory (n = 5) and field (n = 30 attempts). The laboratory and field results were more similar for successful (bias = 0.05) than sustained ignitions (bias = 0.08). Wind, fuel structure (in the field) and near-surface fuel moisture influenced the differences between the methods. Our study highlights the value in conducting simultaneous laboratory and field experiments to understand the scalability of laboratory studies. For our ignitability method, our results suggest that small-scale laboratory experiments could be an effective substitute for field experiments in forests where litter beds are the dominant fuel layer and where the cover of the near-surface fuel is low.


American nurses facing similar problems to their British counterparts, including increased workloads, skill mix reviews and reduced staffing levels have warned patient care will suffer if the trend continues.


D-dimer is formed during activation of the coagulation system and is commonly assayed in order to diagnose disseminated intravascular coagulation, deep vein thrombosis, and pulmonary embolism. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay has been validated as the reference method, but it is a time-consuming procedure. The objective of this study was to evaluate a new immunoturbidimetric, particle-enhanced, Innovance(®) D-dimer immunoassay. A total of 129 plasma samples from apparently healthy individuals and 298 samples from patients were collected for linearity, precision, and correlation studies. Testing the precision of low- and high-controls yielded CV values of 2.08% and 1.76%, respectively. The central 95% non-parametric reference interval estimated from healthy controls was 0.093-0.68 mg/L Fibrinogen Equivalent Units (FEU; median, 0.26 mg/L FEU). Comparison analysis yielded acceptable correlation with the STA Liatest(®) D-dimer assay (R(2) = 0.9471). At a cut-off level of <0.5 mg/L FEU, the sensitivity and specificity indices of the Innovance D-dimer assay were 99.7% and 89.1%, respectively. Thus the Innovance D-dimer method showed acceptable precision and linearity, and the assay results showed acceptable correlation with the STA Liatest D-dimer method. The Innovance method was relatively unaffected by potential interfering substances such as bilirubin and hemoglobin. In conclusion, the Innovance D-dimer assay is suitable for monitoring D-dimer concentrations in various clinical conditions and should be useful in clinical laboratories.


Speaking skills are very important. Through mastering these skills, a student is able to communicate his ideas, feelings, and emotions easily. Besides, nowadays, almost all job requirements put a strong emphasis on the speaking skills' mastery to its candidates. However, the students seemed to have low motivation in learning it, especially students taking English for Specific Purpose (ESP), such as English for Front Office. Many factores contributed to this phenomenon. One of them was the learning atmosphere and the learning activities. When they were not enjoyable in their learning and they were not given opportunities to practice their language, their learning achievement would become low. When it remained all the time, they could not achieve the learning goal very well. Therefore, they needed to be helped. One strategy that could be done was by implementing a technique which could arouse their motivation. That strategy was task-based learning technique. It provides the learners with an enjoyable learning environment and gives students a lot of chances to practice their speaking. Thus, it can develop to establishing students' communicative competence and provides them a bridge to reach the intended communicative goal. This paper aims at illustrating how the task-based learning is employed in an ESP classroomto enhance students'speaking skills at ESP context.


The purposes of this research is to describe: Javanese social ethics in the novel Ibu by Poerwadhie Atmodihardjo. This research is a qualitative descriptive research with content analysis method. The result of the analysis is Javanese social ethics in the novel Ibu by Poerwadhie Atmodihardjo are principle of harmony, principle of respect, etiquette, ethics in seeking justice, and profession ethics.


Many parents fear that their child or children will not be successful in sports if they do not begin early participation and in some cases, early specialization. In addition to parental pressure on children to participate, there is a youth sport industry that encourages young athletes to purchase the essential equipment for participation in specific sports. This financial investment along with early participation, and often a "win at all cost", places extreme pressure on children to succeed at sports at an early age. This paper offers suggestions for children to participate in sports at an age-appropriate level.


Recent disputes about the relevance of membrane expansion to the mechanism of anesthesia indicate that there is confusion about the concept of membrane expansion and stabilization. One theory suggests that the membrane is expanded when its size is increased by the size of the incorporated anesthetic molecules, whereas another theory contends that extra space must be created over the size of the incorporated anesthetic molecules in order for the membrane to be considered as expanded. This article is intended to clarify the discrepancies between these concepts. The volume theories of anesthesia are reviewed critically. The volume change of the membrane, induced by the interaction of anesthetics, is not a simple summation of membrane volume and anesthetic volume. There are a number of factors that affect the volume when anesthetic molecules interact with the membrane in water. The theories that envision membrane expansion as the increase of volume by the size of anesthetic molecules assume that there is no interaction between membrane and anesthetic molecules (if there is interaction, there is excess volume change) and are incompatible with the pressure reversal of anesthesia. The physical meaning of the pressure reversal of anesthesia is described, and the absolute necessity of the presence of excess volume for pressure to antagonize anesthesia is discussed. Excess volume expansion per se may not be the cause of anesthesia, but the mechanism by which the excess volume is created must be the key event that induces anesthesia. The mean excess volume hypothesis postulates that the size of the membrane is irrelevant to anesthesia.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


The authors describe the concept, development, and operation of an arc-welding industrial robot to which have been joined a vision system and a computer for controlling and synchronizing the integration. The vision system makes it possible to determine the exact point where the robot must perform the arc-weldings. A communications protocol makes it possible to communicate between the robot and the computer and to synchronize the operation of the vision system (robot-computer). It is concluded that the arc-welding robot integrated with a vision system allows improved control of the weld process and the total elimination of welding errors caused by deformations on the weld-piece geometry.<<ETX>>


A 60-year-old man who had had a subtotal esophagectomy for esophageal cancer was given the diagnosis of hepatic metastases ten months after his operation. Systemic chemotherapy was stopped after a short time because of adverse effects. He refused to continue any other systemic chemotherapy. He was going to receive hepatic arterial infusion chemotherapy(HAI)with the prospect of having less systemic effects. Combination regimen of 5-FU with low-dose CDDP was administered for five days every three weeks. Hepatic metastases decreased markedly without adverse effects. The tumor was well controlled for two years until occlusion of hepatic artery. Radiation therapy and liver resection were performed subsequently. The patient lived more than 4 years after the diagnosis of hepatic metastases. HAI can be a treatment of choice for esophageal cancer when metastasis is limited to the liver.


Abstract:This article provides a review and critique of Animal Liberation and Atheism: Dismantling the Procrustean Bed by English professor, activist, and avowed political atheist Kim Socha. Socha engages in a twofold argument as she makes the case for animal liberation as a natural imperative of atheism. On the one hand, she denounces religious arguments for animal liberation as dead ends that rely on intellectual gymnastics and present what is actually secular thinking in religious guise. On the other hand, she identifies contamination of atheist's thinking by religious perspectives, primarily hierarchy, as the root of the failure of atheists to embrace animal liberation. Methodological difficulties are identified and critical questions raised in response to both the premises and conclusions of the work.


Language model pre-training has spurred a great deal of attention for tasks involving natural language understanding, and has been successfully applied to many downstream tasks with impressive results. Within information retrieval, many of these solutions are too costly to stand on their own, requiring multi-stage ranking architectures. Recent work has begun to consider how to "backport" salient aspects of these computationally expensive models to previous stages of the retrieval pipeline. One such instance is DeepCT, which uses BERT to re-weight term importance in a given context at the passage level. This process, which is computed offline, results in an augmented inverted index with re-weighted term frequency values. In this work, we conduct an investigation of query processing efficiency over DeepCT indexes. Using a number of candidate generation algorithms, we reveal how term re-weighting can impact query processing latency, and explore how DeepCT can be used as a static index pruning technique to accelerate query processing without harming search effectiveness.


Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to examine the definitions of global leadership and indigenous leadership, identify leadership capacities inherent in human resource development (HRD) and determine relationships of the three as a means to develop a model to aid and guide opportunities for future research.

Design/methodology/approach
Following a two-stage integrative literature review of HRD, global and indigenous leadership literature, the grounded theory constant comparative method established 31 positive and 1 negative leadership domains, and respective capacities, and compare domains from literature.

Findings
The Global Leadership Capacity Wheel informs researchers of strengths and areas for additional research, has resulted in a more complete model of global leadership and calls for increased clarity for leadership capacity model development, especially for complex, global environments and local constructs and theories.

Research limitations/implications
Although the literature had adequate representation in the business and organizational acumen and managing people and relationships central global leadership domains, more research and reporting is required for managing self and indigenous leadership capacity development subdomains.

Practical implications
Leadership development is a high priority and core function of HRD. The Global Leadership Capacity Wheel provides a tool for scholars and practitioners to guide global leadership development programs and research.

Social implications
Understanding the relationships of leadership capacities from global and indigenous perspectives is helpful to examine cultural, identity and macro-contextual dimensions and their influence on leadership.

Originality/value
The Global Leadership Capacity Wheel provides a type of road-map, a holistic representation, in the context of developing global leaders in today's complex environment.


My dear Colleagues and Friends: It is a great disappointment to me not to be able to come to your country and participate personally in the very important and interesting Symposium.... The preparation of this lecture occupied all my thoughts, my time, and my hopes these last several months, and this work gave me great pleasure and satisfaction.... Ciba Foundation, The British Society of Cultural Relations with the USSR, my friends here and myself all did our best to arrange the trip to Sheffield but the stupidity of the whole arrangement system here, based on the law of counteraction much more than the laws of cooperation, was stronger. This 15 stage (15-wall) arrangement system from low to top level is the most shameful survival of past distrust in people and I hope very much that this system, as any other thing in the world, ages and will die with time.


Marking a new decade of life is always a momentous occasion. It draws celebration. Friends and family gather. Speeches are made. A toast is shared. Here I offer my toast to what has been a tremendous twenty years of published scholarship, critical debate and practice-based reflection for Planning Theory and Practice. In this Editorial I will add to the discussion across the editorials for volume 20 providing further reflection on a couple of challenges and new prospects for planning theory and practice as the Journal enters its third decade of life.


Studies show machine translation systems are vulnerable to adversarial attacks, where a small change to the input produces an undesirable change in system behavior. This work considers whether this vulnerability exists for attacks crafted with limited information about the target: without access to ground truth references or the particular MT system under attack. It also applies a higher threshold of success, taking into account both source language meaning preservation and target language meaning degradation. We propose an attack that generates edits to an input using a finite state transducer over lexical and phrasal paraphrases and selects one perturbation for meaning preservation and expected degradation of a target system. Attacks against eight state-of-the-art translation systems covering English-German, English-Czech and English-Chinese are evaluated under black-box and transfer scenarios, including cross-language and cross-system transfer. Results suggest that successful single-system attacks seldom transfer across models, especially when crafted without ground truth, but ensembles show promise for generalizing attacks.


A digestibility experiment was carried out under conditions of reduced water supply (1/3 in comparison to the control group) and feed supply ad libitum or on maintenance level with 5 wethers of an average body weight of 43.2 kg. They were fed with alfalfa pellets with a Na supplement in the form of NaH2PO4. The water restriction increases the apparent digestibility of the nutrients (except crude fat), significantly so, however, only in the group fed ad libitum as a result of the lower digestibility in ad libitum feed intake. In the group with water restriction the absolute amount of digested nutrients is diminished, however, and in group Ib (feed supply on maintenance level) falls clearly below maintenance requirements. In a comparison of the values of apparent digestibility of the nutrients acquired by various methods (traditional method and indicator method - HCl insoluble remaining ash) the latter method is more susceptible to error. This method is, however, considerably easier in its execution. In comparison to ad libitum water supply the mean retention time of the feed increases due to restricted water supply. The decreased feed intake seems to have a bigger influence on the mean retention time of the marker than water restriction.


Abstract The article contributes to the growing body of research on the politics of basic income by analysing the framing of the idea in the context of Finland, a country with a long history of debate and one of the forerunners in experimenting with this policy. Using a comprehensive dataset of political documents covering 36 years, the study shows how contextual factors and shifts in political climate shaped the framing of the idea. It also shows that the key frames describing basic income were widely shared among the politicians and parties discussing the policy. The study enriches our understanding of the politics of basic income by adding an ideational perspective that has for long been a missing element in this field of research.


The upper catchment of the Olifants River, from its origin near Bethal to its confluence with the Wilge River, north of Witbank, and its tributaries are being subjected to increasing afforestation, mining, power generation, irrigation, domestic and industrial activities. These activities have a profound effect on the water quality. The major point sources of pollution in the study area include mines, industries and very importantly, combined sewage purification works that are located alongside the river. In addition to oxidizable material, these sources contain detergents, nutrients and metals. It was therefore necessary to determine the extent to which these activities affect the water quality of the system. The bioaccumulation of zinc (Zn), copper(Cu), manganese (Mn), lead (Pb), chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), aluminium (Al) and iron (Fe) in the skin, muscle, liver and gill tissues of Clarias gariepinus and Labeo umbratus from the Upper Olifants River and Klein Olifants River was investigated over the period February 1994 to May 1995. The highest concentrations of these metals were found in the gill and liver tissues of both species, with lower concentrations in the skin and muscle tissues. Bioaccumulation patterns were found to vary according to the species of the fish, mainly according to their different feeding habits and the routes of metal uptake. It also varied as a function of the different localities. Accumulation was size specific, with higher concentrations of metals found in smaller fish.


An earthquake is a natural phenomenon that occurs along fault planes within the Earth's crust. It is a result of the release of energy due to the accumulated amounts of strain between two fault lines. This is an interesting area of study due to the frequency of earthquakes on a daily basis. Japan, being so close to the epicenters of a majority of the earthquakes located within the area, is highly affected by the shockwaves and aftershocks. Patterns and trends of minor earthquakes, as well as their positions, can lead us to estimate when a major disaster can occur. In addition, it can also provide information to the Japanese Government about the potential hazards of a major earthquake event, a tsunami for example. This application is a GIS tool showcasing epicenters of the 50 largest earthquakes that occurred in Japan. Users have the ability to click on particular events and see more details on respective web pages. This application tries to be an effective learning tool for students by providing an interactive environment. Users have some ability to customize the application environment to suit their individual interests. This tool has been developed in JAVA. MOJO (Map Objects JAVA Objects) is used to show map of Japan and epicenters of largest earthquakes in the form of points. MOJO is a set of JAVA APIs and is a tool developed by ESRI. Japan map, earthquake location points and their correlation were all designed using the powerful tool MOJO. Along with MOJO, other technical languages used to develop this application are HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript and Java Swing.


Recent advances in diffusion models such as ControlNet have enabled geometrically controllable, high-fidelity text-to-image generation. However, none of them addresses the question of adding such controllability to text-to-3D generation. In response, we propose Text2Control3D, a controllable text-to-3D avatar generation method whose facial expression is controllable given a monocular video casually captured with hand-held camera. Our main strategy is to construct the 3D avatar in Neural Radiance Fields (NeRF) optimized with a set of controlled viewpoint-aware images that we generate from ControlNet, whose condition input is the depth map extracted from the input video. When generating the viewpoint-aware images, we utilize cross-reference attention to inject well-controlled, referential facial expression and appearance via cross attention. We also conduct low-pass filtering of Gaussian latent of the diffusion model in order to ameliorate the viewpoint-agnostic texture problem we observed from our empirical analysis, where the viewpoint-aware images contain identical textures on identical pixel positions that are incomprehensible in 3D. Finally, to train NeRF with the images that are viewpoint-aware yet are not strictly consistent in geometry, our approach considers per-image geometric variation as a view of deformation from a shared 3D canonical space. Consequently, we construct the 3D avatar in a canonical space of deformable NeRF by learning a set of per-image deformation via deformation field table. We demonstrate the empirical results and discuss the effectiveness of our method.


Quality assurance (QA) refers to all activities conducted to ensure that health services meet or surpass expectations of quality. QA activities occur throughout health care organizations and are concerned with the inputs processes and outcomes of health care systems. Such activities must involve to some extent every department and health care worker. This paper examines the organizational choices made by several established national QA programs. The most important QA functions are reviewed followed by consideration of ways in which they can be organized managed and sustained. The most important QA activities are related to capacity building and training the development of standards and guidelines quality design and redesign quality monitoring and improvement and documentation.


Climate change will have an enormous influence on the intertidal wetlands of the Great Barrier Reef
(GBR). Increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and associated increases in air
and sea temperatures, rising sea level, changes in oceanic circulation, rainfall patterns and frequency
and intensity of storms are highly likely to affect the physiology, ecology and ultimately the stability
of wetland habitats (Table 9.1). The intertidal position of mangroves, salt marshes and salt flats makes
them particularly vulnerable to changes in sea level, although other climate change factors will also
exert a strong influence on wetland communities (Table 9.1). Past rises in sea level have led to increases
in the area of mangroves in northern Australia186. However, past climate change has occurred with
limited human modification of the coast compared to current levels of development. Human activities
have resulted in loss of wetlands, disruption to connectivity, enhanced availability of nutrients, changed
sediment dynamics and the creation of structures that will prevent landward migration of wetlands
with sea level rise (eg roads, berms, bunds and sea walls). Many of these human impacts will reduce
the resilience of intertidal wetlands to climate change. To conserve the intertidal wetlands of the GBR
and the ecosystem services they provide, we will need to manage the coastal zone in a way that
enhances the resilience of mangroves, salt marshes and salt flats during climate change.


Thin-walled members are increasingly used in structural applications, especially in light structures like in constructions and aircraft structures because of their high strength-to-weight ratio. Perforations are often made on these structures for reducing weight and to facilitate the services and maintenance works like in aircraft wing ribs. This type of structures suffers from buckling phenomena due to its dimensions, and this suffering increases with the presence of holes in it. This study investigated experimentally and numerically the buckling behavior of aluminum alloy 6061-O thin-walled lipped channel beam with specific holes subjected to compression load. A nonlinear finite elements analysis was used to obtain the buckling loads of the beams. Experimental tests were done to validate the finite element results. Three factors namely; shape of holes, opening ratio D/DO and the spacing ratio S/DO were chosen to study their effects on the buckling strength of the channel beams. Finite elements results were obtained by using Taguchi method to identify the best combination of the three parameters for optimum critical buckling load, whereas determining the contribution of each parameter on buckling strength was implemented by using the analysis of variance technique (ANOVA) method. Results showed that the combination of parameters that gives the best buckling strength is the hexagonal hole shape, D/DO=1.7 and S/DO = 1.3 and the opening ratio (or size of holes) is the most effective on buckling behavior.


Advances in communication technology have outpaced the development of accompanying legal standards and ethics codes. Therapists and physicians who utilize the Internet to provide services may knowingly or inadvertently create a professional relationship that is beholden to ambiguous legal and ethical guidelines. This article will examine these concerns with particular reference to member care professionals. Issues such as confidentiality, competence, consent, and jurisdiction will be addressed and several recommendations will be presented that can help mission organizations and member care professionals promote ethical practice and reduce legal liability when providing online services.


Photothermal effect using biocompatible nanoparticles with near infrared wavelength light is a versatile tool in biomedical applications due to the temperature sensitivity of cells and good penetrability of the light through many biological systems. However, precise patterning of the nanoparticles on biochips to control the location and intensity of the photothermal effect requires suitable fabrication methods. In this report, we show that inkjet printing of aqueous nanoparticle solution on polyelectrolyte layer-by-layer coated substrates enables micron-scale patterning of gold nanorods, and thus application of photothermal effect with good control.