1,2-Dihydronaphthalene (DHN) has been studied by matrix isolation infrared absorption spectroscopy, multiphoton infrared photodissociation (IRMPD) action spectroscopy, and density functional theory calculations. Formed by electrospray ionization, protonated 1,2-dihydronapthalene was injected into a Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometer coupled to an infrared-tunable free electron laser and its IRMPD spectrum recorded. Multiphoton infrared irradiation of the protonated parent (m/z 131) yields two dissociation products, one with m/z 129 and the other with m/z 91. Results from density functional theory calculations (B3LYP/6-31++G(d,p)) were compared to the low-temperature matrix isolation infrared spectrum of neutral DHN, with excellent results. Calculations reveal that the most probable site of protonation is the 3-position, producing the trihydronaphthalene (THN) cation, 1,2,3-THN(+). The observed IRMPD spectrum of vapor-phase protonated parent matches well with that computed for 1,2,3-THN(+). Extensive B3LYP/6-31G(d,p) calculations of the potential energy surface of 1,2,3-THN(+) have been performed and provide insight into the mechanism of the two-channel photodissociation. These results provide support for a new model of the formation of H(2) in the interstellar medium. This model involves hydrogenation of a PAH cation to produce one or more aliphatic hydrogen-bearing carbons on the PAH framework, followed by photolytic formation and ejection of H(2).


In this experiment, 4 varieties of Chinese milk vetch (Xinyang, Minzi No. 6, Minzi 8487711, and Shishou) were used as host plants and inoculated with 3 strains of rhizobium (CCBAU 2609, M. h 93, and 7653R). The differences in their morphology, yield, and nodule characteristics at different growth stages were studied and the reasons for these differences were analyzed to explore the exclusivity between different varieties of Chinese milk vetch and strains of rhizobium. Results showed no significant difference in plant height and whole-plant dry weight at seedling stage under different treatments but significant differences in these characteristics at full flowering stage. The results indicated that Minzi 8487711 and Shishou were significantly better than the other varieties. During the whole growth period, the growth indexes and nodule characteristics of the 4 varieties inoculated with strain 7653R were better than those of the varieties inoculated with other strains. At full flowering stage, compared with that of the control group, the biomasses of Xinyang, Minzi No.6, Minzi 8487711, and Shishou had increased by 2.04, 2.84, 1.56, and 2.69-fold, respectively, and nitrogenase activities increased by 3.82, 9.60, 6.21, and 15.18%, respectively. Significant differences in the exclusivity between varieties and strains were observed. Minzi No.6–7653R and Shishou variety–7653R had the strongest exclusivity. The results showed that 7653R was a broad-spectrum and high-efficiency rhizobium strain. 7653R is recommended to be used in combination with Chinese milk vetch varieties, such as Minzi 8487711 and Shishou, to obtain advantages in yield and nitrogen fixation in production.


One quarter of the world's population has latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI). In this form of the disease, the bacteria has a 10 to 15% chance to start replicating and cause the patient to develop active tuberculosis. In those cases, preventive therapy is thus essential to limit the spread of the disease. Unfortunately, the treatment for LTBI can cause severe adverse events which discourages patients. Predicting which patients are most at risk of developing adverse events could thus improve treatment efficacy and help achieving WHO goals of TB elimination by 2050. The goal of this study is to identify whether it is possible to predict the occurrence of adverse events in patients based on their clinical data. To address this, we disposed of a clinical dataset of 6485 patients who had LTBI and went through treatment. A small part of these patients developed adverse events associated to the treatment. First, we reproduced a study by Campbell et al. [1] performed on this dataset using a logistic regression model. We then investigated the predictive power of this model using generalization and established a baseline from the resulting model. Finally, we explored how non-linear machine learning models could improve the performance compared to the baseline. We found that multivariate logistic regression yielded a classifier with the following performance: AUC= 0.65±0.04. Although non-linear techniques matched the baseline performance, they failed to significantly improve the prediction further. These findings suggest that part of the data is linearly separable, while some isolated points in the dataset cannot be easily generalized. Patients with and without adverse events seem to overlap in the variable space, which suggests that an efficient detection of adverse events is difficult to achieve with this dataset. The improvement of the model may require a larger


Abstract A new method for representing topography on a Cartesian grid is applied to a two-dimensional nonhydrostatic atmospheric model to achieve highly precise simulations over steep terrain. The shaved cell method based on finite-volume discretization is used along with a cell-combining approach in which small cut cells are combined with neighboring cells either vertically or horizontally. A unique staggered arrangement of variables enables quite simple computations of momentum equations by avoiding the evaluation of surface pressure and reducing the computational cost of combining cells for the velocity variables. The method successfully reproduces flows over a wide range of slopes, including steep slopes where significant errors are observed in a model using conventional terrain-following coordinates. The advantage of horizontal cell combination on extremely steep slopes is also demonstrated.


The cytosolic free calcium concentration ([Ca2+]i) isolated from the cochlear outer hair cell (OHC) of the guinea pig was measured using microfluorimetric imaging technique and the effects of free radicals were investigated. Hypoxanthine (HX) plus xanthine oxidase (XO) induced a rise in [Ca2+]i in the presence of external Ca2+. Elimination of external Ca2+ (pCa = 7) did not show an increase in [Ca2+i, indicating that the increased [Ca2+]i is dependent on external Ca2+. The elevation of [Ca2+]i induced by HX-XO was reduced by addition of superoxide dismutase or nifedipine but not by addition of catalase. A single admission of HX or XO failed to affect [Ca2+]i. These findings suggest that superoxide anion generated in the OHC increases the Ca2+ influx across the membrane, presumably leading to some pathological changes in the acoustic transduction by modulating the OHC motility.


Grapheme-to-Phoneme conversion (G2P) is usually used within every state-of-the-art ASR system to generalize beyond a fixed set of words. Although the performance is typically already quite good (< 10% phoneme error rate) and pronunciations of important words are checked by a linguist, further improvements are still desirable, especially for end user customization. In this work, we present and compare five methods/tools to tackle the G2P task. Although most of the methods have already been published and/or are available as open source software, the reported experiments are done on large state-of-the-art tasks and the used software is from the actual publications. Besides an experimental comparison on text data for a range of languages (i.e. measuring the G2P accuracy only), our focus in this paper is measuring the effect of improved G2P modeling on LVCSR performance for a challenging ASR task. Additionally, the effect of using n-Best pronunciation variants instead of single best is investigated briefly.


Parsi Zira, Bunium persicum (Boiss.) B. Fedtsch., or Black Zira, a member of the Umbelifereae family, is one of the oldest and economically most important spices. Generally, there is limited information about in vitro culture of Bunium persicum. A new simple method was developed for regeneration of Parsi Zira. This method yielded a large number of shoots within short period of time (30-40 days) without any subculturing. The effect of various combinations of plant growth regulators (PGRs) on callus formation and shoot regeneration were investigated on MS medium. Simultaneous callus and root formation and shoot regeneration were obtained. The experiment was conducted in a completely randomized design with 30 treatments and 10 replications per treatment. The best treatment for regeneration was the medium supplemented with 0.1 mg l a-Naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 2 mg l kinetin (Kin). The highest somatic embryogenesis were obtained in the treatment containing 0.1 mg l NAA and 0.5 mg l Kin. The medium containing 2 mg l NAA and 2 mg l Kin was the best treatment for callus and root induction and regeneration simultaneously.


Hamburg, as any tourist guide will tell you, occupies a unique position within Germany. Now, every city can make this claim, so what constitutes Hamburg's uniqueness? Natives would say it is the harbor (Germany's largest) and the water that flows through the metropolis that claims more bridges than Venice. But ask an outsider, German or not, and he or she will likely say the Reeperbahn, Hamburg's notorious red-light district, known also to music fans as the incubator of The Beatles. Historically speaking, the harbor has been this Hanseatic city's source of trade and prosperity, as well as a major transit point for overseas travelers; the nearby Reeperbahn has long been a magnet for those seeking pleasure and distraction from the cares of life. In the 1950s and 1960s—the years of West Germany's "Economic Miracle" (Wirtschaftswunder)—Hamburg saw greater numbers of visitors than ever before. These guests included Germans from west and east (before the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961); international tourists, particularly from neighboring countries; British NATO troops stationed in the northern Federal Republic; and seamen from around the world. Some chose Hamburg specifically as their destination, others passed through on their way to someplace else.


As-grown crystals of ZnGeP2 are highly compensated and contain significant concentrations of donors and acceptors. The dominant acceptor in ZnGeP2 is believed to be the zinc vacancy. This center is paramagnetic in its normal singly ionized state, and gives rise to an electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) signal characterized by a resolved primary hyperfine interaction with two equivalent phosphorus nuclei adjacent to the vacancy. The present investigation has focused on electron-nuclear double resonance (ENDOR) measurements of additional hyperfine interactions which are not resolved in the regular EPR spectra. Principal values and principal axes directions for four additional phosphorus nuclei are determined from the ENDOR angular dependence. These parameters support the zinc-vacancy assignment for the acceptor and they provide an experimental check of wave functions generated in future computational modeling efforts.


New Delhi metallo-β-lactamase variants and different types of metallo-β-lactamases have attracted enormous consideration for hydrolyzing almost all β-lactam antibiotics, which leads to multi drug resistance bacteria. Metallo-β-lactamases genes have disseminated in hospitals and all parts of the world and became a public health concern. There is no inhibitor for new Delhi metallo-β-lactamase-1 and other metallo-β-lactamases classes, so metallo-β-lactamases inhibitor drugs became an urgent need. In this study, multi-steps virtual screening was done over the NPASS database with 35032 natural compounds. At first Captopril was extracted from 4EXS PDB code and use as a template for the first structural screening and 500 compounds obtained as hit compounds by molecular docking. Then the best ligand, i.e. NPC120633 was used as templet and 800 similar compounds were obtained. As a final point, ten compounds i.e. NPC171932, NPC100251, NPC18185, NPC98583, NPC112380, NPC471403, NPC471404, NPC472454, NPC473010 and NPC300657 had proper docking scores, and a 50 ns molecular dynamics simulation was performed for calculation binding free energy of each compound with new Delhi metallo-β-lactamase. 3D conformational alignment and protein sequence alignment of all new Delhi metallo-β-lactamase variants and all types of metallo-β-lactamases were done. Then the conserved and crucial residues in the catalytic activity of metallo-β-lactamases were detected. These residues had similar 3D coordinates in the 3D conformational alignment. So it is possible that all types of metallo-β-lactamases can inhibit by these ten compounds. Therefore, these compounds were proper to mostly inhibit all new Delhi metallo-β-lactamase and metallo-β-lactamases in experimental studies.


This article argues that two interrelated factors have played important roles in the emergence of academic analyses of child protection policies and practices: the evidence of growing strains and crises in child protection systems over the last forty years; and the development of comparative research on different systems. The latter has demonstrated that child protection policies and practices vary between different countries such that the differences could not be explained by differences in the nature of child maltreatment in the different societies—other political, social, and cultural factors were at play. This paper outlines the nature of these key developments and the conceptual frameworks which have emerged to explain the differences. A significant positive outcome is that such conceptual frameworks can be drawn upon for furthering our analyses of different policies, practices and systems and their possible reform and improvement.


Abstract Surface analysis techniques have been used to study the adsorption behavior of corrosion inhibitors on mild steel in carbon dioxide (CO2)-saturated brine media. In particular, polarized grazing angle Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (PGA-FTIR) and x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) have been used to investigate the adsorption mechanisms of corrosion inhibitors on mild steel surfaces. A number of compounds were analyzed by using PGA-FTIR, and a few selected ones were also examined by XPS. It was shown in this study that n-alkyl/alkenylsuccinic anhydrides, in particular n-hexadecylsuccinic anhydride, were chemisorbed at the surface of mild steel through the formation of an iron carboxylate salt. Adsorption of other carboxylic acid-based and nitrogenous inhibitor compounds could not be detected by using ex-situ surface analyses of washed samples. The PGA-FTIR results showed that several commercially available batch treatment inhibitors were chemisorbed at the surface of mild steel electro...


The American retail investor is dying. In 1950, retail investors owned over 90% of the stock of U.S. corporations. Today, retail investors own less than 30% and represent a very small percentage of U.S. trading volume. Data on the overall level of retail trading in U.S. equity markets are not available. But recent New York Stock Exchange ("NYSE") data reveal that trades by individual investors represent, on average, less than 2% of NYSE trading volume for NYSE-listed firms. There is no question that U.S. securities markets are now dominated by institutional investors.

In his article, "The SEC, Retail Investors, and the Institutionalization of the Securities Markets," Professor Donald Langevoort offers a compelling, original account of the challenges facing the Securities and Exchange Commission as it turns seventy-five years old in the face of securities markets characterized by increasing institutionalization. Professor Langevoort's article offers several interesting insights and serves as an important commentary on the appropriate regulatory model for a marketplace strikingly different from the one existing at the time of the SEC's founding. Despite the enormous contribution of the work, however, I find some of Professor Langevoort's assertions regarding the SEC's focus and capabilities, and his assumptions regarding the contours of an institutionalized marketplace, unconvincing. In this commentary, I address three concerns. First, Professor Langevoort is skeptical that the SEC, with a history of what he terms retail-driven regulation, is equipped to regulate a highly institutionalized marketplace. I question the claim that regulation of the markets for issuer securities is, in any meaningful sense, retail investor driven and argue that there is no reason to think that the SEC is incapable of regulating a marketplace with limited direct individual investor participation. Second, Professor Langevoort conducts a thought experiment regarding the likely emergence of an institutions-only trading market that could substitute for public capital markets and be regulated as antifraud-only. He argues that this is unlikely to ever occur in the current political climate, but nonetheless holds up such a market as clearly preferable to the status quo. I agree that the emergence of such a market is unlikely, but I am skeptical of his idealized notion of an institutions-only marketplace. Finally, Professor Langevoort, in addressing mutual recognition proposals, argues that foreign issuers seeking to sell securities in the United States should be subject only to the laws of their home countries, as long as those laws are "reasonably responsive to institutional investor interests." This would be in lieu of subjecting such issuers to the purportedly retail-driven regulation that is the hallmark of U.S. securities markets. I question exactly what it means for the laws in a foreign issuer's home country to be "responsive to institutional investor interests" and argue that this proposed standard for substantial comparability is insufficiently definite to guide policy decisions in this area.


A Visual Interactive Artificial Neural Network (VIANN) Tutor has been designed in Visual Basic.net, which can be used as a teaching and self-learning tool for an introduction to neural networks. The tutor provides a simple graphical interface for the user to design a Hopfield type of network, and examine its evolution, starting from a prescribed initial state, and ending in a stable state or in a cycle of states mimicking a biological neural network in the brain. The user can change the network during runtime and observe changes in the evolution of the network. The interactive features allow the user to predict the evolution of the network and verify the prediction by running the model network. Initial evaluations of VIANN were conducted in an introductory Computer Science course (Excursions of Computing) open to all students and in an upper-level course in Artificial Intelligence. Responses of students to surveys administered after using the system showed that the tutorial was helpful to both beginner students, as well as those who were further along in the program. In addition, it was interesting to both computer science students as well as students majoring in other disciplines. Feedback from the students indicated that such tutorials would also be very helpful in the other sciences.


We use an extensive panel of 17 million individuals born between 1947 and 1995 from China's largest online marketplace, Taobao, to study the impact of RAE on the propensity to become an entrepreneur. Using events surrounding the Cultural Revolution and the issuance of the Compulsory Education Law whereby COD policies varied, we conceptualize a natural experiment to identify the RAE effects. The youngest students are 5.4% less likely to become an entrepreneur compared to the oldest within the cohort, translating to approximate 43.7 thousand additional sellers born in September with an estimated USD 1.29 billion in additional annual sales.


Echinocystis lobata (Michx.) Torr. et A.Gray is a spontaneous species in the Romanian flora, lesser studied by scientific literature, but which has proved significant activities in traditional medicine. The present study is aimed to provide data on the polyphenolic compounds in the composition of the flowers of this species and to test their biological potential. Polyphenols were identified and quantified using an HPLC-MS method. Tested biological activities were the cytotoxic, anti-plasmodial and antioxidant ones. Methods used for testing the antioxidant activity were the DPPH, CUPRAC, FRAP, TEAC, EPR and SNPAC assays. Cytotoxic activity was tested on cancerous and healthy cell lines and anti-plasmodial activity was assesed on two strains of Plasmodium falciparum. Ethanolic extracts of the flowers of E. lobata proved to contain isoquercitrin, rutin, quercitrin, kaempferol, p-coumaric and ferulic acid. No cytotoxic and anti-plasmodial activity was found, but antioxidant assays showed an important antioxidant capacity. The obtained results show that flowers of E. lobata are important sources of antioxidant compounds. It is the first approach of the kind on the flowers of this species and it offers a new perspective on possible sources of antioxidant compounds.


In the genus one case, we make explicit some constructions of Veech on flat surfaces and generalize some geometric results of Thurston about moduli spaces of flat spheres as well as some equivalent ones but of an analytico-cohomological nature of Deligne-Mostow, which concern the monodromy of Appell-Lauricella hypergeometric functions.
In the twin paper arXiv:1604.01812, we follow Thurston's approach and study moduli spaces of flat tori with conical singularities and prescribed holonomy by means of geometrical methods relying on surgeries for flat surfaces.
In the present paper, we study the same objects making use of analytical and cohomological methods, more in the spirit of Deligne-Mostow's paper.


Partial thyroxine-binding globulin (TBG) deficiency was observed in a euthyroid boy. A family study was conducted in order to trace the defect. Of the 15 members, 3 male subjects were found to be affected, whereas 6 female subjects were shown to be carriers of the trait. The inheritance pattern of the partial TBG deficiency was found to meet the criteria for X chromosome linked transmission. No association with other X-linked characters (colour blindness, glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase activity) was present. Karyotype analysis in the female subjects did not show any abnormality. TBG deficiency does not impair thyroid function. No difference was noted in free thyroxine levels in normal and affected subjects.


Temozolomide (TMZ) is the most widely used for the treatment of glioblastoma. However, despite the effectiveness of TMZ, progression and recurrence are observed in nearly all patients. Here, we report a heretofore unknown mechanism of TMZ chemo-resistance mediated by circulating exosomes. Exosomes are small microvesicles released by cells that efficiently transfer their molecular cargo to other cells, including tumor. We recently found that in response to TMZ treatment, human bone marrow stromal cells (MSCs) release exosomes that confer TMZ chemo-resistance upon glioblastoma cells. MSCs produce exosomes which can be found in circulating blood. TMZ is distributed systemically, thus we tested the effect of TMZ upon MSC-produced exosomes, and the profile of miRNAs within the exosomes. In addition, we tested if MSC exosomes altered the response of glioblastoma cells to TMZ. To test our hypotheses, we treated MSCs with TMZ, and performed miRNA PCR arrays upon exosomes produced by the MSCs (tMSC-exo). Furthermore, we exposed glioblastoma cells to tMSC-exo, and measured the effect upon tumor cell viability, and growth in the presence of TMZ. Finally, we collected serum exosomes from patients with glioblastoma upon resection, and after TMZ treatment. We tested if exosomes from these patients before and after TMZ treatment exhibit different chemo-resistive effects, and if TMZ treatment altered the miRNA profile in circulating exosomes. We report that tMSC-exo elicit a protective effect upon glioblastoma cells treated with TMZ. The miRNA profile of MSC exosomes was also significantly altered by TMZ. Like MSC exosomes, TMZ treatment altered the miRNA profile of circulating exosomes in glioblastoma patients, and resulted in increased chemo-resistance conferred by the exosomes upon tumor cells. Investigations of TMZ chemo-resistance have largely focused upon characteristics of the tumor cells the agent is intended to kill. Here, we elucidate a novel mechanism of resistance to TMZ which does not arise from the tumor itself. Our findings suggest that circulating exosomes may diminish the efficacy of TMZ treatment of glioblastoma. Citation Format: Mark Katakowski, Elizabeth Pikula, Steven Kalkanis, Michael Chopp. Bone marrow stromal cells frustrate temozolomide treatment of glioblastoma. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 107th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2016 Apr 16-20; New Orleans, LA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2016;76(14 Suppl):Abstract nr 4641.


Introduction: A novel intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM) method based on electric stimulation of pelvic autonomic nerves under electromyography of the internal anal sphincter (IAS) has been recently introduced to rectal cancer surgery. The aim of this experimental study was to investigate the impact of selective surgical pelvic autonomic nerve damaging on the evoked IONM signal of the IAS. Methods: For this purpose 12 pigs underwent low anterior rectal resection. The pelvic splanchnic nerves were identified by means of electric stimulation under continuous electromyography of the IAS. For standardized neurostimulation, currents of 3 mA, frequency of 30 Hz and monophasic rectangular pulses with pulse duration of 200 μs were chosen. Surgical autonomic nerve damaging was performed on both pelvic sides while recording the evoked IONM signal of the IAS. Nerve damaging was carried out proximal to the stimulation point at the level of the pelvic splanchnic nerves and then distally at the level of the inferior hypogastric plexus. Scissors, monopolar diathermy, ultracision and waterjet were used for nerve damaging, each in 3 animals. Results: Selective instrumental nerve damaging during neurostimulation resulted in a dissection specific superimposed artefact followed by a change in the evoked electromyographic amplitude, which could be observed online on the monitor of the IONM device. Comparison of the recorded IONM signals before and after proximal nerve damaging demonstrated a significant decrease in the evoked amplitude level (median 2.8 μV (interquartile range (IQR) 1.6; 5.7) vs. median 1.4 μV (IQR 0.6; 2.9), (p=0.026)). Nerve damaging performed distally to the stimulation point resulted in absence of evoked IONM signals. Conclusion: The present study provided first differentiated insights into the dynamic IONM signal behaviour in response to selective pelvic autonomic nerve damaging. Further studies with neurophysiological and surgical IONM signal analysis are mandatory to reach a more accurate IONM resulting in effective nerve sparing pelvic surgery.


Photonic switching systems in wavelength-division-multiplexed (WDM) networks are discussed. By employing collinear acoustooptic (AO) devices as wavelength selective functional devices, the system structure can be simplified with flexibility in wavelength assignment. As the AO devices, collinear AO wavelength separators and switches consisting of an optical directional coupler are investigated in integrated structures. Integrated optic devices such as WDM demultiplexers/multiplexers, wavelength-selective matrix-switches, and routers for delay time selection in buffer memories are described. Wavelength selective characteristics are theoretically estimated for a material combination of TiO2/Ta2O5/proton-exchanged layers on LiNbO3 substrates. The switching capacity in the switching system consisting of AO devices is evaluated. Issues for employing AO switching devices in WDM networks are also discussed.


We report infrared multiple-photon dissociation (IRMPD) spectra of protonated tryptophan, TrpH+, as well as the dissociation products from NH3 loss, [Trp+H−NH3]+, and subsequent CH2CO loss, [Trp+H−NH3−CH2CO]+. These results were obtained using a custom-built mass spectrometer, where the mass-isolated ions were photodissociated by a tunable optical parametric oscillator laser in a reduced-pressure (i.e., 10−5 mbar) "Paul-type" 3D ion trap. A comparison to computed spectra of putative conformations for TrpH+ shows that the protonated amino group, NH3+, interacts with the carboxylic acid carbonyl oxygen and the aromatic indole side chain. Ammonia loss is confirmed to occur via nucleophilic attack from C3 on the indole side chain, as opposed to C2 or C4, resulting in a spirocyclopropane structure with the charge located on the indole side chain. For the consecutive [Trp+H−NH3−CH2CO]+ product, the agreement with theory is slightly less persuasive, even if the qualitative trends are in accordance with the propo...


Discourses of 'sustainable lifestyles' and 'lifestyle change' are becoming ubiquitous in media, comment and environmental policy, but there is ambiguity about what this means and entails. Drawing on qualitative fieldwork exploring 'sustainable lifestyles' from the perspective of persons who identify themselves as living, or attempting to live, in more sustainable and/or environmentally friendly ways, the tensions, constraints, rewards and opportunities detailed in respondents' narratives are described. 'Sustainable lifestyles' are far more complex than the rhetoric would suggest. They need to be understood in relation to wider social and cultural processes. 'Structural changes' to enable 'lifestyle choices' that are conducive to sustainability are needed, but it is important to look beyond 'sustainability' (however defined) and appeal to other agendas and identities in order to motivate pro-environmental behaviour.


Abstract Background Hypochlorous acid (HA) has both anti-microbial and wound-healing properties with a growing role for utilization in pre-procedural care on the face. Objectives The authors sought to compare the antiseptic property of 0.01% HA solution, 5% povidone iodine (PI), 4% chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG), and 70% isopropyl alcohol (IPA) antiseptic on facial skin. Methods This was a prospective single-center clinical trial. Results A total of 21 participants were recruited. Bacterial growth was seen in CHG (10%), IPA (71%), PI (81%), and HA (95%) of specimens (P < 0.001). CHG had less growth compared with HA (P = <0.001), IPA (P = <0.001), and PI (P = <0.001). No difference in bacterial growth was noted between HA and IPA (P = 0.063) or HA and PI (P = 0.25). Significant differences in mono-microbial and poly-microbial growth were seen between HA and IPA (P = 0.046) and HA and CHG (P = <0.001). Staphylococcus epidermidis grew less frequently in CHG (10%), followed by IPA (29%), PI (71%), and HA (71%). Staphylococcus capitis grew less frequently in CHG (0%), followed by PI (14%), HA (24%), and IPA (29%). Conclusions CHG reduced the bacterial growth compared with HA, PI, and IPA. However, HA, PI, and IPA had insignificant differences in bactericidal effects. Our study provides a supporting role of HA to be considered as an antiseptic. Level of Evidence: 2


This article takes a closer look at the legal framework on citizenship of the Union. In particular, it analyzes the amendments that took effect at the end of 2009, due to the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty. Though at first sight, these seem to verge on the trivial, the present paper engages in detailed scrutiny, and hypothesizes that a more fundamental change may be perceived than is commonly acknowledged. It attempts to map the consequences of this supposed watershed with regard to both EU and third country nationals. Ultimately, it argues that the novel place attributed to the concept extends its reach further than ever before, and supplies it with a massive potential that the European Court of Justice is poised to exploit.


A finite element model (FEM) was constructed using specialized three-dimensional (3D) software to investigate the punching shear behavior of interior slab-column connections subjected to a moment-to-shear ratio of 0.15 m. The FEM was then verified against the experimental results of full-scale interior slab-column connections reinforced with glass fiber reinforcement polymer (GFRP) bars previously tested by the authors. The FEM results showed that the constructed model was able to predict the behavior of the slabs with reasonable accuracy. Afterward, the verified model was used to conduct a parametric study to investigate the effects of reinforcement ratio, perimeter-to-depth ratio, and column aspect ratio on the punching shear behavior of such connections. The test results showed that increasing the tested parameters enhanced the overall behavior of the connections in terms of decreasing deflections and reinforcement strain and increasing the ultimate capacity. In addition, the obtained punching shear stresses of the connections were compared to the predictions of the Canadian standard and the American guideline for FRP-reinforced concrete structures.


The Valencian Breast Cancer Early Detection Program (VBCEDP) started in the Valencian Community (Spain) in 1992. Up to now, 24 mammographic units have been installed all over the region. Mammography is used to aid in the diagnosis of breast cancer diseases in women. There is a health risk in the studied women due to ionising radiation that has to be estimated and controlled. A methodology to calculate approximately the radiological detriment in the VBCEDP has been developed based on Monte Carlo techniques. It has been used, as qualitative parameter, the average mean glandular dose from representative sample populations undergoing screening mammography (digital or screenfilm) from each of the twenty-four units in operation. The American College of Radiology Imaging Network reached to conclusion that digital mammography performed significantly better than film for pre and perimenopausal women younger than 50. Women who are undergoing the program are between 45 and 69. This fact allows us to study premenopausic women. Our group uses the software SCREENRISK to estimate induction and mortality rates in order to corroborate American conclusions in an European region. The obtained results confirm the American results about the application of digital mammography in pre and perimenopausal women younger than 50 years.


The Antarctic plateau offers exceptional atmospheric and environmental conditions for astronomical observations over a wide range of wavelengths and uniquely favorable to infrared astronomy. Exceptional low sky brightness throughout the near- and mid-infrared and a telescope facility complying with the highest possible dynamic range for photometry, angular resolution and the widefield leads to the possibility of a modest-sized 2m off-axis telescope achieving comparable sensitivity to that of a larger ground-based 8-10m class telescope or a same sized space-based ones.


Micro/ultra/nano-filtration membranes based on polyvinylidene fluoride, polyethersulfone and polysulfone are advancing steadily in laboratory research and scalable production. Variables associated with the composition, fabrication, and operation are highly diverse, and their quantitative correlations with the core performance in permeability, selectivity and their trade-off are still elusive. To predict the performance based on a comprehensive dataset with 1895 vectors, the coefficient of determination spans from 0.79 to 0.85 for regression models, and the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) reaches from 0.94 to 0.97 for classification models to distinguish the top 20% (Pareto set) and top 50% (balanced set) membranes with superior performance in the separation of macromolecules and salts from water. Further including experimental structural information (porosity, thickness, surface contact angle and roughness) brings significant improvement for regression models, while filling with predicted values only shows marginal improvement. A standalone algorithm that integrated the predictive models was released at https://github.com/polySML/polySML to facilitate the development of advanced filtration membranes through virtual experiments.


Purpose: To determine the dosimetric accuracy of a dose reconstruction method used for verification of helical tomotherapy delivery for four different clinical sites. Method and Materials: A delivery verification and dose reconstruction method has been applied to helical tomotherapy treatment plans of four different treatment sites (prostate, head and neck, lung and total scalp). Treatment plans were generated on a cylindrical measurement phantom (TomoPhantom) using contours, prescriptions and planning objectives taken from clinical patient plans from the four sites. Several film and ion chambermeasurements were made for each plan to simulate the dose variation with multiple deliveries. Additional measurements mere made with intentional changes made to the machine output and leaf open times. A TomoTherapy delivery verification tool uses pulse‐by‐pulse machine CT detector and transmission ion chamber data, extracted at the conclusion of each delivery, to determine the incident energy fluence delivered for each projection. Dose reconstruction with the delivered energy fluence was calculated on the planning CT and compared with both the measured dose distributions and those calculated from the original treatment plan. Differences were compared using dose difference plots. Results:Measured(ion chamber) dose variations in the center of the PTV for repeated daily deliveries of a given treatment plan were small, typically within 2%. Greatest differences in the measured doses occurred with intentional changes in leaf open times. The measured dose variations were well predicted by the dose reconstruction method, which demonstrated agreement with the measured dose within 2%. The dose reconstruction method also demonstrated acceptable agreement with the film dose measurements, for each of the clinical plans. Conclusion: Variations in treatment delivery due to machine output or leaf opening time changes can be determined using the investigated method. Conflict of Interest: Supported in part by a research agreement with TomoTherapy, Inc.


Cadastral map of Ellis County, Texas in the Prairies and Lakes region. There are notes added in red ink. Features are marked on the map, including the north line of Mercer's Colony (also the south line of Peter's Colony). Scale ca. 1:133,334 (4000 varas per inch).


This research investigated the relationship between the corrosion damage characteristics of offshore wind steel substructure and the time of current density application by electrochemical accelerated short-term corrosion test. The galvanostatic corrosion was conducted on the steel specimens in natural seawater with a constant current density ranging from 1 mA/cm 2 to 200 mA/cm 2 for 1 ~ 180 min. Macro and micro observation was carried out on the surface of the corrosion damaged area using SEM and 3-dimensional analysis micro-scope. The weight loss of the specimens before and after was calculated as the difference between the initial weight prior to corrosion and weight after removal of the corrosion product. It was shown that during gal-vanostaic corrosion process, the corrosion behavior could be characterized by the onset of pitting corrosion in the early stage and the uniform corrosion in the late stage, showing damage development in the depth direction with the time of current application. The result of the 3D analysis revealed that both damage depth and surface roughness increased with increasing time of current application. The weight loss curves with time showed that a coefficient of determination (R 2 ) was relatively high for the relationship between the time of current application and weight loss. As a result, the degree of corrosion can be controlled by simply varying the time of current application.


The theory for radiation emission, absorption, and transfer in a thermochemical nonequilibrium flow is presented. The expressions developed reduce correctly to the limit at equilibrium. To implement the theory in a practical computer code, some approximations are used, particularly the smearing of molecular radiation. Details of these approximations are presented and helpful information is included concerning the use of the computer code. This user's manual should benefit both occasional users of the Langley Optimized Radiative Nonequilibrium (LORAN) code and those who wish to use it to experiment with improved models or properties.


This paper finds that coherent regulatory policies can boost investment in network industries of OECD economies. Rate-of-return regulation is generally thought to result in overinvestment, while incentive regulation is believed to entail underinvestment. Yet, previous empirical work has generally found that the introduction of incentive regulation has not systematically changed investment in network industries. According to the theoretical literature, regulatory uncertainty exposes both types of regimes to the danger of underinvestment. However, regulatory uncertainty is arguably higher under rate-of-return regulation because investment decisions (what can be included in the rate base) are usually evaluated in a discretionary manner, while firms operating under incentive regulation are less affected by this behaviour. In addition, incentive regulation encourages investment in cost-reducing technologies. Using Bayesian model averaging techniques, this paper shows that incentive regulation implemented jointly with an independent sector regulator (indicating lower regulatory uncertainty) has a strong positive impact on investment in network industries. In addition, lower barriers to entry are also found to encourage sectoral investment. These results support the importance of implementing policies in a coherent framework.


Objective – The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between stock liquidity and stock returns with a focus on the moderating role of financial constraints. Methodology/Technique – A structural equation modeling approach is applied in this research. The sample of this study consists of companies that were consistently listed on the Tehran Stock Exchange from 2009 to 2017. Findings – The results indicated that the financial constraints associated with stock liquidity and stock returns play a moderating role, and in particular, the relationship of these variables in firms with no financial constraints is much stronger than those with limited constraints. The results indicate that the effect of stock liquidity on stock returns in companies with financial constraints is different from that of the companies without financial constraints in a way that the effect of stock liquidity on stock return in health companies is stronger than that of the companies with financial constraint. Novelty it is suggested that capital market activists, financial analysts and potential and actual investors of stock exchanges, take into consideration the conditions and financial constraints of the companies.


The exponential random graph model (ERGM) is an increasingly popular method for the statistical analysis of networks that can be used to flexibly analyze the processes by which policy actors organize into a network. Often times, interpretation of ERGM results is conducted at the network level, such that effects are related to overall frequencies of network structures (e.g., the number of closed triangles in a network). This limits the utility of the ERGM because there is often interest, particularly in political and policy sciences, in network dynamics at the actor or relationship levels. Micro-level interpretation of the ERGM has been employed in varied applications in sociology and statistics. We present a comprehensive framework for interpretation of the ERGM at all levels of analysis, which casts network formation as block-wise updating of a network. These blocks can represent, for example, each potential link, each dyad, the out- or in-going ties of each actor, or the entire network. We contrast this interpretive framework with the stochastic actor-based model (SABM) of network dynamics. We present the theoretical differences between the ERGM and the SABM and introduce an approach to comparing the models when theory is not sufficiently strong to make the selection a priori. The alternative models we discuss and the interpretation methods we propose are illustrated on previously published data on estuary policy and governance networks.


Social stereotypes negatively impact individuals' judgment about different groups and may have a critical role in how people understand language directed toward minority social groups. Here, we assess the role of social stereotypes in the automated detection of hateful language by examining the relation between individual annotator biases and erroneous classification of texts by hate speech classifiers. Specifically, in Study 1 we investigate the impact of novice annotators' stereotypes on their hate-speech-annotation behavior. In Study 2 we examine the effect of language-embedded stereotypes on expert annotators' judgements in a large annotated corpus. Finally, in Study 3 we demonstrate how language-embedded stereotypes are associated with systematic prediction errors in a neural-network hate speech classifier. Our results demonstrate that hate speech classifiers learn human-like biases which can further perpetuate social inequalities when propagated at scale. This framework, combining social psychological and computational linguistic methods, provides insights into additional sources of bias in hate speech moderation, informing ongoing debates regarding fairness in machine learning.


Dear Editor, Medication-related problems (MRPs) are a major burden on healthcare systems. At the study hospital, clinical incidents including near misses are reported via the state-wide Clinical Incident Management System. The medication incidents were analysed and presented at various hospital committee meetings. Through the discussion of medication incidents, we learnt that such review in a collaborative multidisciplinary manner promotes reflective learning and helps identify strategies to address medication-related errors. However, we have also identified the limitations of our manual analysis: it is time consuming, requires significant data manipulation, has a restricted capacity to undertake trending and requires manual distribution to users. This has subsequently raised the issue of sustainability and loss of current expertise in the creation and manipulation for such a manual process of analysis. The health service Business Information and Performance Unit was engaged to develop the report. Once the most appropriate tool was identified, permission was sought from the data custodian to access the incident data. The data source was created in the data warehouse with data masks applied to patient-specific and confidential data to ensure privacy. Finally, dashboard figures were validated before it was released for user testing. The dashboard user can easily select the reporting period, hospital, division or ward area, error type, medication and route of administration. The most common medications involved and the common types of error are automatically generated within the specific period and specified clinical areas selected by the user. After 3 months of user testing and further data validation, the dashboard was officially released and made available to all employees in four hospitals within the health service. The executive of the health service endorsed the use of the medication incident dashboard. Promotional strategies, including dashboard demonstrations at various meetings and communications to wards, were implemented following its approval to embed organisational awareness of the dashboard. The dashboard has been made a standing agenda item in meetings deemed appropriate within each directorate. The dashboard was also incorporated in medication education sessions presented to junior medical doctors and nursing and midwifery staff on the wards. The dashboard has been well accepted by the staff because it is easy to use and is able to provide area-specific MRPs in a timely manner. Twelve months after implementation of the dashboard, we recommend the medication incidents dashboard as an effective and efficient way to enable on-going, sitespecific, organisation-wide reflective learning.


The 10th International Conference on Differentiation Therapy was held between April 29 and May 3, 2004, in Shanghai, China. In the tradition of previous conferences from this series, which have been held biannually since the first meeting organized 20 years ago by Samuel Waxman and Giovanni Rossi in Sardinia, the organizers of the 10th International Conference on Differentiation Therapy aimed to gather basic and clinical cancer investigators in a setting of plenary sessions, workshops, and poster presentations to maximize the effective exchange of information and foster the establishment of collaborative interactions. Approximately 300 scientists attended the meeting with a mission to discuss targeted approaches to cancer treatment, which stem from our understanding of basic biological processes and the mechanisms of their deregulation during tumorigenesis.


The big problem for neural network models which are trained to count instances is that whenever test range goes high training range generalization error increases i.e. they are not good generalizers outside training range. Consider the case of automating cell counting process where more dense images with higher cell counts are commonly encountered as compared to images used in training data. By making better predictions for higher ranges of cell count we are aiming to create better generalization systems for cell counting. With architecture proposal of neural arithmetic logic units (NALU) for arithmetic operations, task of counting has become feasible for higher numeric ranges which were not included in training data with better accuracy. As a part of our study we used these units and different other activation functions for learning cell counting task with two different architectures namely Fully Convolutional Regression Network and U-Net. These numerically biased units are added in the form of residual concatenated layers to original architectures and a comparative experimental study is done with these newly proposed changes. This comparative study is described in terms of optimizing regression loss problem from these models trained with extensive data augmentation techniques. We were able to achieve better results in our experiments of cell counting tasks with introduction of these numerically biased units to already existing architectures in the form of residual layer concatenation connections. Our results confirm that above stated numerically biased units does help models to learn numeric quantities for better generalization results.


The detailed optical properties of BaFe2As2 have been determined over a wide frequency range above and below the structural and magnetic transition at TN 138 K. A prominent in-plane infrared-active mode is observed at 253 cm−1 31.4 meV at 295 K. The frequency of this vibration shifts discontinuously at TN; for T TN the frequency of this mode displays almost no temperature dependence, yet it nearly doubles in intensity. This anomalous behavior appears to be a consequence of orbital ordering in the Fe-As layers.


This study aimed to analyze social media use in students and map Islamic education teachers' role in counteracting social media's negative impact on students at SMAN 4 Tana Toraja. This research uses a qualitative approach; The research subjects are the principal, Islamic Education teachers, students, and other teachers. The data collection technique involves observing, interviewing, documenting, and data analysis techniques with three stages: data reduction, data display, and data verification. The result findings on the research that social media use has their views, but most students use social media as a tool to get updated information, both related to education or outside education. Social media's impact also depends on the students; if the students use social media for good acts, it will positively impact, but it will impact negatively when the students use it in criminal activity. Islamic education teachers at SMA Negeri 4 Tana Toraja responsibility for providing understanding to the students about the impact of using social media. The responsibility of Islamic education teachers manifested in the character formation of students with noble character. Another finding is that the teachers must be able to divide their time to organize their roles properly. All forms of academic administration are expecting to immediately address so that the teacher's role problems can run optimally. the recommendation about the research is that students' use of social media must also go through the parent's and teachers' collaboration supervision empowerment


We study a dynamic savings game where decision makers rotate in and out of power and value consumption more highly when in power, disagreeing on the utility function. We offer two interpretations: a behavioral economics based one, featuring a single consumer with time-inconsistent preferences, and a political economy based one, where alternating parties value private benefits from spending while they are in power. When disagreement is uniform, so that utility functions are proportional to one another, our setup is equivalent to hyperbolic discounting. We consider more general specifications to allow the degree of disagreement to vary with the level of spending. We focus on Markov equilibria. As is well known, dynamic games with hyperbolic discounting may be ill behaved. Our first contribution is technical, showing that this is not the case for our continuous-time model, proving existence by construction and characterizing equilibria. Our second contribution is to show that when the time-inconsistency problem varies with spending relatively rich dynamics may emerge. In particular, when disagreement is strongest for low spending poverty traps emerge: those with high enough wealth are able to save, but the rest become trapped in poverty. In contrast, when disagreement is strongest for high spending there is convergence to a unique steady state starting from any initial wealth level.


Abstract. Location, specific topography, and hydrographic setting together with climate change and strong anthropogenic pressure are the main factors shaping the biogeochemical functioning and thus also the ecological status of the Baltic Sea. The recent decades have brought significant changes in the Baltic Sea. First, the rising nutrient loads from land in the second half of the 20th century led to eutrophication and spreading of hypoxic and anoxic areas, for which permanent stratification of the water column and limited ventilation of deep-water layers made favourable conditions. Since the 1980s the nutrient loads to the Baltic Sea have been continuously decreasing. This, however, has so far not resulted in significant improvements in oxygen availability in the deep regions, which has revealed a slow response time of the system to the reduction of the land-derived nutrient loads. Responsible for that is the low burial efficiency of phosphorus at anoxic conditions and its remobilization from sediments when conditions change from oxic to anoxic. This results in a stoichiometric excess of phosphorus available for organic-matter production, which promotes the growth of N2-fixing cyanobacteria and in turn supports eutrophication. This assessment reviews the available and published knowledge on the
biogeochemical functioning of the Baltic Sea. In its content, the paper
covers the aspects related to changes in carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorus (C, N, and P) external loads, their transformations in the coastal zone, changes in organic-matter production (eutrophication) and remineralization (oxygen availability), and the role of sediments in burial and turnover of C, N, and P. In addition to that, this paper focuses also on changes in the marine CO2 system, the structure and functioning of the microbial community, and the role of contaminants for biogeochemical processes. This comprehensive assessment allowed also for identifying knowledge gaps and future research needs in the field of marine biogeochemistry in the Baltic Sea.


Prostate specific membrane antigen (PSMA) is a transmembrane glycoprotein that was originally cloned in the membrane of prostate gland epithelial cells. It has been confirmed to be highly expressed in prostate cancer cells, and in some non-prostatic tissues, including the brain and some benign lesions. PSMA-based imaging has been extensively used for the assessment of prostate carcinoma. The high uptake of PSMA imaging in these non-prostate cancer lesions may lead to some misdiagnosis. It is of important clinical significance to explore the possible causes of high PSMA uptake in these lesions. Here, we present a case of a 77-year-old man with prostate carcinoma who underwent a whole-body 18F-PSMA-1007 positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan for staging. The results of the scan showed intense tracer uptake in both the prostatic bed and in multiple subcutaneous lesions. The subcutaneous lesions were later found to be angiolipomas by histopathological examination. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated strong positive cytoplasmic PSMA staining in lesional prostate cancer cells in prostate carcinoma, and mild-to-moderate positive cytoplasmic capillary PSMA staining in angiolipoma fatty density nodules. Our case report therefore demonstrated that 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT uptake in multiple angiolipomas was caused by PSMA expression in capillaries, and further knowledge of PSMA expression in benign lesions may be critical to minimize false-positive findings with 18F-PSMA-1007 PET/CT imaging.


The amount of oxygen delivered to the tissues depends on the product of cardiac output and blood oxygen content. Acute hypoxia can occur early in severe myocardial infarction1 2 not only because a low cardiac output reduces the rate of oxygen transport from the lungs, but also because it causes pulmonary congestion which reduces oxygen transfer to the blood. Bare survival requires at least one quarter of the oxygen carried in health at rest,3 and efficient high-concentration oxygen therapy may therefore be essential. Carbon dioxide retention, which can make oxygen therapy hazardous, is unusual in patients with myocardial infarction.


BACKGROUND It is unclear whether the Bereitschaftspotential (BP) recorded in humans during action preparation mirrors motor areas activation escalation, or if its early and late phases reflect the engagement of different functional networks. OBJECTIVE Here, we aimed at recording the TMS evoked-potentials (TEP) stimulating the supplementary motor area (SMA) to assess whether and how cortical excitability and functional connectivity of this region change as the BP increases. We hypothesize that, at later stages, the SMA functional network should become more connected to regions relevant for the implementation of the final motor plan. METHODS We performed TMS-EEG recordings on fourteen healthy subjects during the performance of a visuomotor Go/No-go task, eliciting and recording cortical activity and functional connectivity at -700 ms and -300 ms before the onset of visual stimuli over the SMA. RESULTS When approaching stimulus onset, and thus BP peak, the SMA increased its functional connectivity with movement-related structures in the gamma and alpha bands, indicating a regional top-down preparation to implement the motor act. Beta-band connectivity, instead, was maintained constant for the whole BP time-course, being potentially related to sustained attention required by the experimental task. CONCLUSION These findings reveal that the BP is not a mere result of increased activation of the SMA, but the functional networks in which this region is involved qualitatively changes over time, becoming more related to the execution of the motor act.


Health professionals and women accessing health care are increasingly recognising the importance of shared decision making (SDM) within pregnancy. Despite recognition, implementing SDM and truly supporting an informed choice is suggested to still be lacking in clinical exchanges. Literature focuses on creating ways and tools to support SDM in health care. One possible way is to incorporate Decision Support Tools (DST) into practice. Evidence within the context of general health care shows they improve knowledge and satisfaction with information, however less is known about DST use in pregnancy. MyBirthplace was developed by a National Health Service (NHS) Trust in response to both a local and national call for information in accessible formats and to enable women to be more informed about their choice regarding place of birth; as hospital birth is still seen as the norm. The primary aim of this thesis was to assess how effective a new DST called MyBirthplace is in helping make this decision. The impact of the DST was assessed using the Stages of Decision Making Scale (SDMS) (O'Connor 2000). Secondary aims were to; identify when women make a decision about place of birth; explore women's information gathering and decision making behaviours during pregnancy to understand women's views and opinions about using the DST; and to determine the use of the DST by their midwives. A mixed method, multiphase, sequential exploratory design was conducted with 172 pregnant women within one large urban NHS Trust. The study involved three phases. Phase 1 utilised questionnaires given to the participants' pre and post the first appointment with the midwife where they had access to the DST. Phase 2 followed up these women via a survey sent at 28 weeks of pregnancy. In phase 3, face to face interviews were conducted with 12 women purposively chosen from the initial two phases. Finally, data were retrieved from the hospital database to identify actual place of birth. This study provides new evidence that the use of MyBirthplace positively affects women's decision making. The DST resulted in a positive increase in decision making (reduced conflict) and by the 28 week follow up there was a significant shift with greater decision-making. Women's views showed a division in the level of information they found acceptable, but in general they valued MyBirthplace as a source of information to help make them aware of their choices. Women highlighted the role a midwife plays in supporting them to be proactive in accessing MyBirthplace and the way in which midwives frame information affects women's choices. Unfortunately, for some women the midwives acted as a barrier, making them rethink their birth options or not providing women with information about MyBirthplace. These findings provide a unique view of both the effectiveness of MyBirthplace and women's views regarding choice for place of birth. The findings fill the gap highlighted by the recent maternity review that asked for more information to be given to women and to be available in different formats. DSTs have been found to be valuable in aiding women in decision making about place of birth but only when the midwives are engaged, supportive and women are introduced to MyBirthplace at the first appointment.


Since 1948, when microelectronics entered the American industrial scene, the rapid growth and advancing technology of the industry has caused production facilities to be spread throughout most industrialized areas in the United States. It is now speculated that microelectronics production will be the fourth largest industry in the United States by the end of the century. This article addresses the questions raised about the safety of this industry both for its workers and for the communities in which production facilities are located.


As feature sizes have diminished the need for extremely thin photoresist films has grown. Given the poor selectivity of typical resists with respect to silicon during plasma etching, it has become common to use an intermediate hardmask to transfer the pattern. Furthermore the use of trilayer etch stacks to amplify the achievable etch aspect ratio is becoming increasingly popular for critical layers. Here we introduce a new fullerene based spin-on-carbon layer for use in a multilayer etch stack. Carbon films of between 20 and 1270 nm were prepared by spin coating. Thin silicon films were deposited on the carbon layer and patterned using a thin photoresist. Patterns were transferred to the carbon layer with high anisotropy at resolutions down to 40 nm using an oxygen plasma, and then subsequently etched into the silicon substrate using an SF 6 /C 4 F 8 etch with high aspect ratio.


The applicability of modified magnetron-type plasma source for SiO2 etching was investigated. The plasma source is comprised of a cylindrical shaped rf electrode with two magnetic rings attached to its outer surface, and an electrically isolated top plate made of Al. The substrate holder lies parallel to the top plate. This basic configuration was slightly modified twice by placing two punched-plates at the height of substrate as a plasma shield at one time and by connecting an LC circuit to the top plate at the other time in order to confine the plasma between the top plate and the substrate. Variations of plasma density, uniformity and etching rates of thermally grown SiO2 for the above different configurations were observed. When the plasma shield is attached, the plasma can be confined between the substrate and the top plate by changing the value of the capacitor of the LC circuit. The plasma generated with this configuration yields a higher plasma density (9.8 × 1010 cm-3) and a higher etch rate (506 nm/min) at 9.1 Pa.


We analyze the probability distributions of the quantum walks induced from Markov chains by Szegedy (2004). The first part of this paper is devoted to the quantum walks induced from finite state Markov chains. It is shown that the probability distribution on the states of the underlying Markov chain is always convergent in the Cesaro sense. In particular, we deduce that the limiting distribution is uniform if the transition matrix is symmetric. In the case of a non-symmetric Markov chain, we exemplify that the limiting distribution of the quantum walk is not necessarily identical with the stationary distribution of the underlying irreducible Markov chain. The Szegedy scheme can be extended to infinite state Markov chains (random walks). In the second part, we formulate the quantum walk induced from a lazy random walk on the line. We then obtain the weak limit of the quantum walk. It is noted that the current quantum walk appears to spread faster than its counterpart-quantum walk on the line driven by the Grover coin discussed in literature. The paper closes with an outlook on possible future directions.


The messenger molecule cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) is produced by different isoforms of the enzyme guanylate cyclase (GC). Natriuretic peptides (ANP and CNP) bind to and activate particulate GCs, whereas NO and CO activate a soluble form of GC. The specific relevance of the cGMP system for reproductive functions has been recently demonstrated by the successful use of sildenafil (Viagra), an inhibitor of cGMP-specific phosphodiesterase type 5, for the treatment of erectile dysfunction. In the testis, cGMP signal transduction pathways are involved in a variety of local functions, based on autocrine or paracrine effects. In particular, cGMP has been suggested to influence motility in spermatozoa, development of testicular germ cells, relaxation of peritubular lamina propria cells, testosterone synthesis in Leydig cells and dilatation of testicular blood vessels. The physiological significance of cGMP accumulation in Scrtoli cells is not yet clear. Taken as a whole, the evidence suggests that cGMP-mediated processes might influence both the potentia coeundi within the penis and the potentia generandi at various levels within the testis.


: Whenever agents choose A instead of B, B instead of C, and C instead of A, a logical contradiction arises. This contradiction – also known as a value anomaly – characterizes genuine choices. Some organizations and firms, but also legal systems, markets, or even the human brain can be regarded as complex systems that manage the value anomaly by operating with multiple mutually incompatible ordering principles. Such a management – as opposed to a mere elimination – of these mutually incompatible values allows these systems to better cope with uncertainty, and to benefit from the recognition of complexity. One of the central implications of these heterarchical systems is that there is no single scale on which unequals can be compared and, consequently, that commensuration is an active process which involves friction and opportunities for entrepreneurship. We argue that in a world that naturally seems to be characterized by these value anomalies, heterarchical organizations and, in particular, heterarchy as a complex system of valuation might well be a good response.


Glaucoma is a leading cause of irreversible blindness. In this study, we investigated if exogenous stem cells are able to rescue a glaucoma mouse model with transgenic myocilin Y437H mutation and explored the possible mechanisms. Human trabecular meshwork stem cells (TMSCs) were intracamerally transplanted which reduced mouse intraocular pressure, increased outflow facility, protected the retinal ganglion cells and preserved their function. TMSC transplantation also significantly increased the TM cellularity, promoted myocilin secretion from TM cells into the aqueous humor to reduce endoplasmic reticulum stress, repaired the TM tissue with extracellular matrix modulation and ultrastructural restoration. Co-culturing TMSCs with myocilin mutant TM cells in vitro promoted TMSCs differentiating into phagocytic functional TM cells. RNA sequencing revealed that TMSCs had upregulated genes related to TM regeneration and neuroprotection. Our results uncovered therapeutic potential of TMSCs for curing glaucoma and elucidated possible mechanisms by which TMSCs achieve the treatment effect.


Based on the ElectroEncephaloGraphy (EEG) signals obtained by noninvasive methods, Brain–Computer Interface (BCI) technologies provide real-time communication of individuals within the cyber-physical systems. However, this research area still needs low-cost solutions to become a research topic widely all around the world. In this paper, a low cost and productive BCI equipment was developed to assist daily living activities for disabled people. The control application of an integrated approach aims to open and close a door equipped with an EEG-based lock system using eye blink signals is developed. The proposed easy-to-use, portable BCI system includes cost-effective hardware/software components, modular and flexible configuration features and Bluetooth-enabled real-time data processing units. The developed BCI hardware is based on Texas Instruments ADS1299 AFE ADC, which features high flexibly in configuring of measure of various biopotentials from the human body using designed active/passive dry electrodes. Besides it is equipped with a built-in real-time data storage unit and accelerometer to make an online diagnosis, and data fusion at the interested signal investigation. Furthermore, desktop software has been implemented in the QT SDK environment, which can integrate remote BCI hardware during configuration. Experimental results of the designed system were compared with the results of the commercial-grade counterpart.


Conventional alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) establishment methods may create considerable potential for erosion. Conservation tillage practices that result in stand establishment without disturbing the soil greatly would be beneficial in reducing soil losses. Thus, field experiments were conducted to evaluate the success of alfalfa establishment without tillage in a perennial grass sod. Variables included rate of carbofuran (2, 3-dihydro-2, 2-dimethyl-7 benzofuranyi methylcarbamate) insecticide and control of existing vegetation with chemicals. Establishment without tillage was compared with a conventional method of establishment. Carbofuran at 1.1 kg ha−1 applied in the row with the seed, when compared with a control, increased yields during the year of planting but no response was observed in the year after seeding. Yields of alfalfa established without tillage using either glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl)glycine) or paraquat (1,1-dimethyl-4, 4-bipyridinium chloride) for sod suppression were equivalent to or better than yields obtained from conventional sowings except for the 2 April sowing. Paraquat was more effective for tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.) suppression when applications were made on 26 April after spring tiller emergence was complete than on 2 April when some of the tillers may have been protected from the spray by basal sheath tissue.

Broadcast application of paraquat resulted in higher alfalfa yields and decreased non-alfalfa components due to more complete sod suppression than application in bands over the row.


Introduction: Hypertension (HTN) and dyslipemia (DYL) are two of the major modifiable cardiovascular (CV) risk factors, determinants in the development of cerebrovascular and coronary heart disease (CHD). Many patients have both risk factors which increase their total CV risk compared with patients with only one risk factor. Treatment guideline recommendations are poorly implemented in real practice, in part due to numerous and complicated drug regimes which hamper patient´s adherence. Areas covered: In this article the authors describe the first combined fixed-dose pill of an antihypertensive and a lipid-lowering agent, the single-pill combination of amlodipine besylate and atorvastatin calcium (SPAA). They summarize the pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties of both compounds and the main randomized clinical studies, as well as real-world observational studies, made with the new combined formulation. Expert opinion: The use of the single-pill amlodipine and atorvastatin is an adequate option for the clinician to treat hypertensive patients with DYL or high CV risk burden, with proven efficacy, tolerability, cost-effectiveness, and the advantage of improving patient treatment compliance.


Lipid proteinosis, also known as Urbach-Wiethe disease, is a rare autosomal recessive disorder. It presents in early childhood with hoarseness of voice, skin infiltration and thickening, beaded papules on the eyelid margin, and facial acneform scars. Oral findings such as woody tongue and papules on the oral mucosa are common findings. To the authors' knowledge, only about 250 cases have been reported to date. The occurrence of this disease in this part of the world is rare.


Diffuse leptomeningeal glioneuronal tumor (DLGNT) is a rare glioneuronal neoplasm newly included in the 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumors of the Central Nervous System. Owing to the wide spectrum of its histopathological and radiological features, accurate diagnosis can be challenging. Recently, molecular testing including DNA methylation array has been introduced with the possibility of improving diagnostic accuracy and contributing to the subtyping especially for brain tumors with ambiguous histology. Two molecularly distinct subtypes of DLGNT have been reported: methylation class‐1 (MC‐1) with an indolent clinical course and MC‐2, the latter aggressive. Herein, we report a case of a 14‐year‐old girl with a conspicuous hypothalamic mass lesion and diffuse leptomeningeal enhancement on magnetic resonance imaging. Biopsy specimens obtained from the hypothalamic lesion endoscopically were mainly composed of oligodendrocyte‐like cells. However, it was difficult to make a definite diagnosis from these non‐specific histological findings. Thus, DNA methylation array analysis was performed additionally by using formalin‐fixed, paraffin‐embedded tissue, resulting in a diagnosis of "MC‐1 subtype of DLGNT" with a high calibrated score (0.99). Consequently, she was treated conservatively, with neither progression of the tumor nor aggravation of symptoms for the next 12 months. It was concluded that DNA methylation array analysis for DLGNT, a rare glioneuronal tumor, could be a powerful tool not only for accurate diagnosis but also decision‐making in selecting the best treatment.


Detailed studies were carried out on all of the verbal products in the 20th century. In this respect, as in many parts of the world, in Turkey too, many legend compilation and editing works were done from different perspectives. Mostly religion based, chopped head legends have been commonly told in the Middle East, Anatolia and the Balkans. As in the natural flow of life, some changes may also occur in cultural elements. Narratives whose telling and transferring are in progress may go under a change. While the change may sometimes be limited to time, character and setting, it can also occur within the whole narrative outside the basic event. In this study, narratives of chopped head legend around "Kesikbaş" Shrine in Şırnak Cizre region and the changes in these narrations will be examined. These legends in which Islamic characters are dominant, will be examined in terms of subject, style, content and function as well as the change that they underwent.


Abstract Populations of the desert tortoise, Gopherus agassizii, have been severely impacted by upper respiratory tract disease (URTD), a potentially fatal condition caused by Mycoplasma agassizii. Because natural communities of microorganisms in animals may serve as barriers to infection by potential pathogens or may influence the course of a disease, we characterized the bacteria in the nasal passages of captive desert tortoises over an entire season. Tortoises housed in outdoor pens at the Adobe Mountain Wildlife Center in Phoenix, AZ, were divided into four groups: three healthy tortoises that were sampled monthly, three tortoises with signs of URTD that were sampled monthly, three healthy tortoises that were sampled bimonthly, and three healthy tortoises that were sampled once at the end of the season. At each sampling time, the health of each tortoise was assessed and the nares were probed with moistened sterile swabs. The bacteria on the swabs were suspended in sterile saline, serially diluted, and plated on tryptic soy agar medium. Total bacterial counts varied among tortoises from about 104 to 107 per ml and were usually higher in tortoises with signs of URTD. The proportions of different colony types varied from month to month within each tortoise. Although the microbial communities were dominated by pigmented Gram-positive cocci, we also found Gram-positive bacilli, Gram-variable coryneforms, and Gram-negative rods. Many of the same bacteria were recovered from both healthy and URTD tortoises, but others were unique to the URTD tortoises. This study indicates that the nasal passages of desert tortoises contain large continuously changing communities of bacteria and suggests that further analysis of these microorganisms may be useful in assessing the health or stress of populations of desert tortoises and the susceptibility of individual tortoises to URTD.


A Magnetorheological damping has evolved as a potential tool in vibration control. The design of magnetorheological damping involves analysis of fluid flow principles and electromagnetic flux analysis. This research paper involves design and analysis of a magnetorheological damper employed for vibration control. The analysis is carried over by considering the domain as an axisymmetric model. The damping force of the damper depends upon the shear stress due to fluid viscosity and yield stress induced due to magnetic flux applied. The damping force generated by the damper is calculated.


The research and development efforts by the U.S. Coast Guard since 1962 on floating aids to navigation (ATON) buoys are reviewed. Interviews are conducted with USCG ATON personnel at the headquarters, the R and D Center, the five district (oan) offices, buoy tender crews, industrial facilities and with a limited number of buoy manufacturers in the United States. The USCG buoy development since 1962 is established in the form of twenty seven Project Summaries and supplemented with a comprehensive Buoy Technology Bibliography and a compilation of Buoy Technology Abstracts for most of the buoy hull related references in the Bibliography. The latter two compilations are input into a USCG computer database. On the basis of data obtained from personnel interviews and from the literature reviews, the status of current USCG buoy technology is established and suggestions for further R and D are recorded. This report is the result of Task A of the Buoy Technology Survey . In Task C of the project, these R and D suggestions are to be evaluated to arrive at recommendations for future buoy development.


A 19-year-old girl was diagnosed as having primary pulmonary hypertension that was confirmed by right heart catheterization. Acute right heart failure was associated with syncope. Stabilization, while not achieved with intravenous epoprostenol (Prostacyclin) alone, was achieved with intravenous prostacyclin and nitroprusside.


Ambush predators provide more persistent cues of predation risk compared to coursing predators and are predicted to exert stronger effects on behaviour of their prey. We studied anti-predator responses of ungulates by means of camera traps to an olfactory cue (fresh scat) of an ambush predator, the Eurasian lynx ( Lynx lynx). Roe deer ( Capreolus capreolus) and red deer ( Cervus elaphus) both important prey species for lynx were not more vigilant when exposed to lynx scent, but reduced their visitation duration. Our results contrast with previously reported responses of red deer to scent from a coursing predator, the wolf ( Canis lupus), where only vigilance and foraging behaviour but not visitation duration changed in response to wolf scat. This indicates that ungulates are able to recognize the risk of predation from predators with differing hunting modes based on olfactory cues and adjust their anti-predatory behaviour.


This report summarises progress made towards the problem submitted by Rusal Aughinish at the 93rd European Study Group with Industry. Rusal Aughinish is a company that refines alumina from bauxite. The problem presented to the study group was to review the percentage of time that the company's inner berth was occupied and how to minimise this percentage. A number of different approaches were taken with this aim in mind. Firstly, data supplied by Rusal Aughinish was analysed. This analysis found that there is an optimal loading rate (with respect to eliminating demurrage costs) and suggested bands of optimal ship sizes. Further to these studies, two models of Rusal Aughinish's shipping process were developed by the group: a simulation model and an analytical model. Both models were found to replicate the shipping process reasonably well and were, hence, used to study alumina output, berth occupancy and demurrage costs.


Background: Researchers have confirmed that breastfeeding disparities persist and that International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs) play a key role in reducing them. However, there continues to be a limited availability of IBCLCs throughout the United States, with racial minorities facing persistent barriers during the certification process. Research aim: Using a critical race theory framework, the aim was to describe the barriers and supports that IBCLCs experience during the course of their certification. Methods: This study used a prospective, cross-sectional, qualitative design with semistructured interviews with IBCLCs (N = 36) from across the United States. Interviews were audio-recorded and professionally transcribed. Results were analyzed using an in-depth thematic analysis from the perspective of critical race theory. Results: Women made up the majority (n = 35; 97.22%) of the sample. People of color made up slightly less than half of the sample (n = 16; 44.44%). Barriers were initially coded by the stages of the certification process. Existing healthcare providers experienced advantages in the certification process because of their connection to social networks and resources in their hospital or place of employment. Cost and racial discrimination were identified, using a structural racism lens, as primary barriers for certification. Race-related barriers were particularly pervasive and were detailed by each stage of the certification process. Conclusion: Lactation organizations and care providers need to consider ways to mitigate these perceived differences in support and infrastructure. These changes could help to ensure equity in the profession and may reduce racial discrimination in lactation care.


The scar is formed following the trauma or severe inflammation, and it is one of the critical problems in the field of plastic and reconstructive surgery. To date, continuous efforts have been made to correct scar. Still, however, it remains challenging to remove scar completely. The scar formation is a process that occurs during the wound healing, which is characterized by the synthesis of abnormal collagen and irregular changes on the skin surface [1]. Various factors that may affect the wound healing process, leads to the formation of various types of scars such as linear scar and depressed one. Most cases of the linear scars are corrected using a scar revision. This leads to good treatment outcomes. In addition, small-sized depressed scars are corrected using a dermal-fat grafting or an autologous fat grafting [2]. But the fillers are disadvantageous in that the rate of absorption is relatively higher and additional surgeries are required to provide filling materials. Various methods have therefore been used to correct deep depressed scars. But the correction of deep depressed scars poses challenging problems for plastic surgeons. In the past, de-epithelialized scar So-Min Hwang, Sang-Hwan Lee, Hong-Il Kim, Yong-Hui Jung, Hyung-Do Kim


The recent and rapid development of open source software tools for the analysis of neurophysiological datasets consisting of simultaneous multiple recordings of spikes, field potentials and other neural signals holds the promise for a significant advance in the standardization, transparency, quality, reproducibility and variety of techniques used to analyze neurophysiological data and for the integration of information obtained at different spatial and temporal scales. In this review we focus on recent advances in open source toolboxes for the information theoretic analysis of neural responses. We also present examples of their use to investigate the role of spike timing precision, correlations across neurons, and field potential fluctuations in the encoding of sensory information. These information toolboxes, available both in MATLAB and Python programming environments, hold the potential to enlarge the domain of application of information theory to neuroscience and to lead to new discoveries about how neurons encode and transmit information.


There are various kind of speech act which is spoken by the teacher on counseling learning. Those speech acts varieties are influenced by the contex of situation and speaker psychology. One of speech acts that is used by the teacher is advisory act. There are always motive or encouragement background in every advisory act. The motive can be come from the inner of the speaker itself (personal motive) or from the outer of the speaker (situational motive). Besides that, if it's seen based on its expression, the speakers (teacher) usually using different speech act strategies in order their speechs to be able to be accepted or to be understood by the listeners. The discussion of the kinds of speech act motives and strategies in advisory act study is related in each other and interested to be studied. The purpose of this research is to describe kinds, expression-based strategies, advisory act motives of counseling teacher. This is a descriptive research which is used qualitative research design. The data of this research are spoken speech included with its contexs which is done by the counseling teacher at State Junior High School 1 Candipuro. The data gathering method is observation method by using recording technique and listen-and-write technique. The result of this research showed that there are four kinds of advisories that are advising, suggesting, encourage, and reminding, by using two strategies of expression that are direct literal, indirect literal, and there are two background motive these are personal and situational. Based on the results and discussion, it can be concluded that advisory act which is done by the teacher as tool to do function of counseling teacher.


This article reveals the basic features of listening comprehensive that are very constituent of communicative activity; listening comprehensive is analyzed, and attention is concentrated on the importance of its development in the teaching of future specialists. The nature of listening comprehension as a foreign-language skill is considered. Essential features of neuro-linguistic programming strategies used to teach listening are outlined. The system of teaching listening and its major levels are analyzed within the framework of communicative language teaching. The structural characteristics of listening comprehension on the basis of its psychophysiological mechanisms are elucidated. Listening comprehension difficulties caused by the physical settings are determined. Phonetic, lexical and grammatical problems encountered in listening are identified. It has been proved that both linguistic and non-linguistic types of knowledge, as well as various factors of communicative situation are essential for efficient listening comprehension. The characteristic features of handouts and worksheets used to overcome listening comprehension difficulties are defined. The study concludes with the integral part of listening comprehension in second language instruction and the need to improve the receptive mechanisms ensuring the efficiency of teaching listening.


(1) Dialysis patients are at high risk of contracting hepatitis B. As standard hepatitis B vaccines are weakly immunogenic in patients with severe renal failure, it is necessary to give more injections or to double the normal vaccine dose at each vaccination session; (2) Fendrix is a hepatitis B vaccine containing the adjuvant AS04C. It is sold in a dozen European countries. No comparative trials with clinical outcome measures have been conducted, only an immunogenicity study focusing on adverse effects; (3) This study included 165 patients over 15 years of age with severe renal failure (creatinine clearance less than or greater than 30 ml/min). Some of the patients were on dialysis. The study compared a single dose of the adjuvanted hepatitis B vaccine versus double doses of Engerix B vaccine (40 micrograms of viral surface antigen) given at each vaccination session. Three months after the first injection the proportion of patients with "protective" antibody titres (at least 10 mlU/ml) was statistically higher in the adjuvant group (74.4% versus 52.4%). Seven months after the first injection, however, a similar proportion of patients in the two groups had "protective" titres (about 90%); (4) 109 of the patients were then monitored for three years, and immunity was found to last longer in the adjuvant group (72.9% versus 52% of patients); (5) Pain at the injection site occurred in respectively 41% and 13% of patients treated with the adjuvanted vaccine and Engerix. A papillomavirus vaccine containing adjuvant AS04C has also been found to cause more local reactions, including pain; (6) The only practical advantages of the adjuvanted hepatitis B vaccine are that immunity is achieved a little more rapidly and that the interval between boosters is somewhat longer.


Osteoarthritis (OA) is a complex and highly prevalent degenerative disease affecting the whole joint, in which factors like genetic predisposition, gender, age, obesity and traumas contribute to joint destruction. ∼50-80% of OA patients develop synovitis. OA-associated risk-factors contribute to joint instability and the release of cartilage matrix fragments, activating the synovium to release pro-inflammatory factors and catabolic enzymes in turn damaging the cartilage creating a vicious circle. Currently, no cure is available for OA. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) have been tested in OA for their chondrogenic and anti-inflammatory properties. Interestingly, MSCs are most effective when administered during synovitis. This review focusses on the interplay between joint inflammation and the immunomodulation by MSCs in OA. We discuss the potential of MSCs to break the vicious circle of inflammation and describe current perspectives and challenges for clinical application of MSCs in treatment and prevention of OA, focusing on preventing post-traumatic OA.


The particulate fluxes of carbonate carbon and organic carbon observed in various oceans have been summarized in this paper and discussed with special reference to the fate of the atmospheric carbon dioxide. The organic carbon fluxes, which act as a sink of atmospheric carbon dioxide, are generally larger than the carbonate carbon fluxes working as a source, but are comparable in the deep subtropical oceans. The areal and vertical variations of the carbonate carbon fluxes are much smaller than those of the organic carbon fluxes, indicating that organisms producing carbonate particles exist rather evenly in the world ocean and that a substantial part of carbonate produced is transported to the ocean bottom. The particulate fluxes are much larger in the coastal and hemipelagic seas. Although the productivity of shallow seas holds a key role in the fate of anthropogenic carbon, the marine biota may not be a large sink when longer time scales are considered. The carbonate carbon fluxes in the productive northern Pacific are larger in the northeast Pacific than in the northwest Pacific, reflecting a difference in the ecosystems. This suggests that the eutrophication of marine environments may not necessarily act as a sink for the atmospheric carbon dioxide. DOI: 10.1034/j.1600-0889.1991.00018.x


Abstract Evans & Levinson (E&L) argue against Universal Grammar on the basis of language diversity. A related and fundamental issue is whether the language input provides sufficient information for a child to acquire it. I briefly discuss the more integrated approaches to language acquisition which focus on the mechanisms, and research showing that input cues provide valuable information for the language learner.


Three triple bond-conjugated naphthalene diimide (NDI) copolymers, poly{[ N, N'-bis(2-R1)-naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]- alt-[(2,5-bis(2-R2)-1,4-phenylene)bis(ethyn-2,1-diyl)]} (PNDIR1-R2), were synthesized via Sonogashira coupling polymerization with varying alkyl side chains at the nitrogen atoms of the imide ring and 2,5-positions of the 1,4-diethynylbenzene moiety. Considering their identical polymer backbone structures, the side chains were found to have a strong influence on the surface morphology/nanostructure, thus playing a critical role in charge-transporting properties of the three NDI-based copolymers. Among the polymers, the one with an octyldodecyl (OD) chain at the nitrogen atoms of imide ring and a hexadecyloxy (HO) chain at the 2,5-positions of 1,4-diethynylbenzene, P(NDIOD-HO), exhibited the highest electron mobility of 0.016 cm2 V-1 s-1, as compared to NDI-based copolymers with an ethylhexyl chain at the 2,5-positions of 1,4-diethynylbenzene. The enhanced charge mobility in the P(NDIOD-HO) layers is attributed to the well-aligned nano-fiber-like surface morphology and highly ordered packing structure with a dominant edge-on orientation, thus enabling efficient in-plane charge transport. Our results on the molecular structure-charge transport property relationship in these materials may provide an insight into novel design of n-type conjugated polymers for applications in the organic electronics of the future.


A 75-year-old female was admitted for cerebral infarction and arteriosclerosis obliterans. Computed tomography with contrast medium revealed occlusion of the superficial femoral artery (SFA). Percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA)was performed for the SFA (length 30 cm), but massive thrombus was seen in the SFA. PTA was continued using a Filtrap deployed at the popliteal artery to prevent distal embolism and the thrombus was captured by the Filtrap. Finally antegrade blood flow was observed. However, the following day, acute stent thrombosis occurred and emergent PTA was performed. Suboptimal stent expansion and dissection were found. Balloon angioplasty was performed using a Filtrap and another stent was deployed. Final angiography revealed good blood flow in the SFA. Filtrap may reduce the risk of distal embolism during PTA for the lower limb.